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 Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 7:07 pm
"They really are very nice if given the chance...s'just their 'abits and appetites...but the shop 'elps with that. They come 'ere instead of 'unting families of otters upstream." She murmured softly before finishing barring the door and turning to lead him out the secret back way past two other dark chambers.
"Trade is all sorts of things, the basics are three clams for a pie and five for a drink. Then some of the predators explained that they 'ad a tough time with gettin clams, they said they could find other trinkets and 'ard to get ingredients." She chuckled "Even 'ad a bear come lumbering up, traded me a honeycomb for some pies, wanted to try em." She nodded.
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Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 7:25 pm
Abel nodded at her explanation, finding the bear interesting. He wasn't aware there were bears in the Oasis... But then that didn't surprise him. It was a forest after all.
They walked side by side back to the priest's territory, occasionally talking this and that. When they got there, he paused and touched his nose to her cheek.
"I'll be right back, wait here for me," he said and walked towards the river. He traced the bank a bit until he found the tiny cove again, a dip in the bank that had filled with water and that he had separated it from the rush of the river itself by large stones. In it, he had placed several clams he had gathered to sit in the cool water until he needed them. He retrieved them and carefully walked back to Sarah, two stuck in his mouth and several more in his paws. He smiled best he could at her and moved his head in a semi-circle-ish arc, basically asking her to choose were they should enjoy their dinner.
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Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 7:32 pm
Sarah followed him enjoying their casual chatter and the company she was in. She felt warm inside, as if she hadn't left her cozy shop at all, Abel provided an inner warmth she had lacked before.
She giggled as she saw him approach juggling clams and moved to help him with some before choosing to sit in a shaded spot to the side of his tree. "Well this is lovely Abel!"
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Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 7:45 pm
Abel smiled as he followed and set the clams down.
"I had hoped you'd say that," he replied, sitting beside her. His paw fumbled in his pocket a bit and he withdrew another clam, slipping in in with the rest, half-hoping she wouldn't notice.
"Did I plan well, then?" he asked, walking over to get a couple of rocks from a little pile he had made next to the trunk of his tree. There were three large ones and several small ones, as Maria and the other three couldn't use the big ones without risking injury. He returned with the stones and offered her one.
"Is your paw better, now?"
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Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 8:18 pm
"Yes you planned it all perfectly!" She smiled and relaxed back against the tree oblivious to his clam swap in. She took the stone and nodded flexing her paw now without the bandage to show it was fine.
"Good as new, I'm sure you'll think me clumsy forever though." She laughed softly and went to work one on of the clams. How good it felt to be in his company and relaxed this way.
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Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 8:57 pm
Abel smiled over her praise and picked up one of the non-empty clams, opening it after taking a look at her paw.
"I'm glad it's all okay. And everyone has a slip of the paw, even me," he chuckled back as he pried open his clam. It was true, he had cut his paws before, when he was first learning. The Oasis was a big step for him, as he'd never lived in the wild before coming to the area he now called home. So hunting and all that was a difficult thing until he got the hang of it. Fighting, it seemed, was the only thing that came natural to him, as even his taste for the blood of evil creatures was an acquired thing. It had been his little sister who discovered it, when they were still pups. After a week of biting each of the attendants to see how good, or bad, they tasted, a new rules was instated and thick gloves hampered any more of those games.
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Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 9:12 pm
Sarah smiled and nibbled at the clam as she released it from it's shell. "This is very fresh, delicious." She licked her lips and stacked the shells. Her tail swayed slowly to and fro as she picked up another clam and worked on opening it.
"'Ow do the lil ones get up into the tree?" She asked him curiously, she knew her claws were sharp and tough enough for such a climb, but still.
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Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 9:59 pm
Abel chuckled at her question and shook his head.
"I'd tell you if I truly knew. It's only Maria that attempts it, and only when she has a problem or something like that, that she does it. All I really know is that she's at it for a long while," he replied and decided the easiest way to give her his present was to do it directly. He "absently" picked up the clam shell and carefully made it look like he used the rock to pry it open. His eyebrows rose and he tilted his head a bit, humming.
"Sarah, I think this one might be for you," he said in a mild tone, looking up at her and turning the clam so that she could see the contents. Inside, was a smooth cross carved from a piece of silvery wood, another flatish pearl set into a hollow in the cross-section with thin strands of white "thread" crossing over it to keep ti contained. A pale ribbon of a soft fabric that had taken a lot of negotiation to obtain from a certain pirate lord made the decoration into a necklace.
"I hope... the shape doesn't bother you. I had been working on it for a while, without much intention, but... I really want you to have it, if you want it, that is..." he trailed off, his cheeks warming as he watched her reaction.
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Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 10:13 pm
Sarah nodded and glanced at the tree her mind wandering to how they managed it. She still remembered falling out of a tree, and was in no hurry to experience that again! She looked over curiously as Abel proclaimed one of the clams for her.
"For me?" She gasped and smiled brightly as she saw the intricate cross. "Oh...Abel...it's so beautiful." She murmured and lightly stroked her paw over the carved cross and delicate set pearl.
"It dosn't bother me at all, It'll remind me of you all the time!" She cooed and pulled her hair up turning her back so he could help her fasten it on.
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Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 10:21 pm
Abel smiled and set the clam down, pushing her paws down from her hair.
"The ribbon's long enough so that it should fit over your head," he said, taking the necklace from its resting place and carefully looking it over her head.
"There," he said when it was situated and he walked behind her. "Now, if you'll put your hair up and tell me how far to pull it back, I can tie a loop so that you can wear it at whatever length and be able to undo it easily," he added, waiting. Once she pushed her hair up again, he would start to fix it.
"Do you know the story about the cross, and why Christians wear them?" he asked idly, waiting.
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Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 10:37 pm
She smiled as he slipped the delicate carved cross over her head and lifted her hair as instructed. She put a paw up to place the cross where she wanted it to fall, not too low and not too high.
"It's a reminder of sorts is'n it?" She murmured and glanced back at him with a soft smile. The token meant so much to her, a gift made with his own two hands, with love.
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Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 12:16 am
"Mmhmm," Abel acknowledge her answer as he tied the loop.
"You see, long ago, the Lord sent down his only son to save the souls of the humans, as the Bible says. But we have souls, too, and there are those that need saving just as much as humans do, so I think he came down to save all of us. Anyways, there were people that were afraid of him, who didn't understand, and so they reacted as one normally does when one is afraid or feel threatened. They executed him on a cross, like they did to thieves and such, back in that time. He gave his mortal life to save the souls of everyone. That's why we wear the cross, to remind us what he sacrificed to save us," he told her the story and dropped his paws, finished. He padded around her and smiled.
"It looks beautiful on you," he said, his voice matching the softness in his eyes.
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Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 9:41 am
Sarah listened intently, curiously, she knew the humans believed all sorts of things, and she herself had faith that something had created all otters. She frowned at first before nodding with a soft smile. "Sacrifice is very important when you love people." She dropped her paw from the cross and tilted her head to show it off.
At his comment she smiled and moved closer to hug him. "Thank you Abel, it's really the most wonderful gift!"
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Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 10:54 am
Abel ran a paw over her cheek and smiled down at her.
"I completely agree with you on that aspect," he told her softly and rubbed his cheek against hers. He was starting to really like the feel of holding her against him. And it wasn't so much that that scared him, either. He sighed, pushing the thought from his mind.
He sat back and smiled at her, offering an actual clam this time.
"Here, no more surprises from me, I promise."
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Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 5:47 pm
She took the clam with a murmur of thanks and chuckled softly "I like surprises." She gave him a coy smirk and flicked her tail back to cross his. Her skin still felt warm and tingly where his paws had touched.
Her throat gave a little flutter and she looked up at him from her clam the words blurting out. "I love you Abel." She flushed and looked down a bit abashed at her own proclamation, it was not something she said lightly, but she had hardly been able to contain so deep an emotion, and it was time to clear the air between them. There was no need for secrets.
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