|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 10:13 am
As the female slowed down, Snowpeak pushed forward, getting increasingly motivated as the distance between them lessened.
His eyes met Osprey’s for an instant. Oh, you better not underestimate me…
“Are you getting tired, miss I’m-a-big-scout-now?” he shouted between deep breaths, opening his beak in the wickedest tease of grin he could produce.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 8:33 am
"Oh yes, let me tell ya, m'wings are just gonna drop off!" She shot back in a sarcastic tease as she moved along steadily towards the orange leaves. She made it a point to increase slightly and made it a point to keep ahead of him, even if it was slight.
"Y'better watch out, little-still-practicin'-fledgling." The tease was meant in good humor and she wore a broad grin on her beak and returned her focus on the limb ahead.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 9:25 am
“Ha ha.”
As she matched his teasing words with some of her own, Snowpeak tried move quicker, had a talon slip a little on a branch, landed rather roughly on another and quickly decided to go back to his normal pace in a matter of seconds. The last thing he wanted was to embarrass himself right in front of the female.
But Osprey turned her attention towards their goal and the fledgling found himself both admiring how driven she was and suddenly focusing on that same branch. The orange shape took his mind by assault and the fledgling's narrowed gaze was lit with resolve as he pushed forward, suddenly oblivious to the white sentinel in front of him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 9:55 am
Osprey touched down on the limb of orange leaves with ease and a grace that she had developed while training under Madame Breeze. She folded one wing and began to preen the other as she turned her gaze to the mist fledgling that had been tailing her.
It was a piece of mus, as far as she was concerned, but she was happy to have raced Snowpeak again. He was certainly developing his skills, which was good. Maybe once he graduated it would be a real challenge.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 11:01 am
It took him a while to reach the branch but the moment the fledgling’s talons touched the bark, the mist righted himself at once, standing tensely on the branch with a wild grin on his beak. Breathing deeply and trembling a little under the effect of the adrenaline that still clotted his veins, he scratched the bark with a talon and pulled a leaf from right under his white chest with a spastic movement and looked up to meet Osprey’s eyes. The yellow gaze calmed him considerably and he started to feel a little silly with the leaf on his beak.
Hopping closer to the female, he placed the orange leaf over her eartuft, pushing it gently under her dense plumage. There. That would make it seem like he had done it on purpose. Girls used leafs and flowers like that all the time.
“The prize goes to the lady… this time.” He said in a mocking tone as he took a deep bow. “But one of these days, I’ll graduate and then I’ll be the one to whoop your tail feathers!”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 11:23 am
She had to stifle a chuckle as she observed the younger sentinel's landing and his spastic movements. It was just like before and his antics with the leaf were amusing and actually rather cute.
She leaned over slightly, making it easier on him to tuck the leaf behind her eartuft.
"What a charmer." She hooted in a tease as she righted herself and fluffed her feathers comfortably. "When you graduate we'll have to race again. And I betcha I'll smear y' 'gain, too." She ran her dark beak through her chest feathers and winked at him playfully. There was most definitely still a fledgling beneath that adult plumage.
"You got a task picked out yet?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 11:56 am
He wasn’t quite sure what she meant by “charmer” but he returned her smile with ease.
“I’ll definitely win next time. You better practice.” When she mentioned his career choices, he hesitated for a few moments, preening a wing with deliberately slow movements. “I’ve been told… that I’m more suited to be a Hunter.” He said quietly without letting his eyes drift from his white feathers. He'd rather not discuss their reasons.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 11:59 am
"I practice every night I work, hon." Her response rolled off of her beak cheekily. "You gotta practice to catch up."
Her attention turned from her own feathers as he mentioned the path that he had been told he would be good at. "Really? Well, that's good, yep. A good friend of mine 's a hunter. I do a lot of hunting with scouting too. Hunting, is that what you really wanna do, even if they think you oughtta?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 12:55 pm
"I’m… I feel better when I’m hunting. Even if it’s just practice.” He admitted slowly, looking for the shape of Osprey’s mus. The sheer fact that he had chased the female around for a while made it easier to look at the creature without having an overwhelming feeling that the small companion belonged inside the cold powerful grasp of his talons.
“My minder said…” the fledgling became suddenly quiet and his eartufts dropped and rose rather quickly before he spoke again, changing the subject a little. “Did you always know you wanted to be a scout? What was your teacher like?” his eyes dropped to his chest feathers as he began to preen them looking a little distracted.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 6:36 pm
"Yep! Er, well, I didn't know I wanted to be one for a little while, but I decided 'afore I went to a teacher." She told him cheerily, though she certainly noted the sudden quietness and his slightly drooping eartufts before he changed the subject.
"My teacher, she was awesome! ... But, really hard, too. Holly 'n I trained constantly. Madame Breeze, she works you 'ard. My wings were always sore!" She chuckled softly. She owed so much to Breeze for training her well before graduation.
"She's a really good teacher. If you can manage to get her, I suggest her. Dunno 'bout the other teachers. I ain't heard much. Granny is s'pposed to be good, I think."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 3:56 pm
“There’s this hunting teacher around... A really creepy one with a fake eye between her real eyes. I might get some lessons with her. All the fledglings say she’s really good. And I’ve seen Granny, she’s a friend of my minder. They’re really old, the two of them.” He had an insolent smirk now as if the image of the two very old sentinels together amused him to some degree. “And I don’t care how tough your teacher is… I already beat most of the fledglings my age and some of the slow ones from the older classes. I’ll practice on my own and I'll be able to beat you in a few moons…”
The mist fledgling seemed to have regained most of his energy back and he was now hopping excitedly around Osprey, fiery eyes carefully avoiding the scout’s companion while he moved erratically as if dodging something invisible.
“And next time, I’ll bring you a mouse. No, a rabbit!” He landed heavily next to her as he finished the last sentence, beak agape in a wicked grin. He was teasing again.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2008 7:03 pm
"Sure, when mus fly." Osprey teased as she fluffed her feathers out. She had never particularly enjoyed hanging out with younger sentinels, even as a fledgling, but he was interesting. He had a similarly competative spirit and she liked that. Most would take her teasing as being mean spirited, although that wasn't the case at all, and go peeping to their minders.
"Well, you'll be much better once you get lessons, 'n then I'll actually have to work at it a bit." She hooted as Mus scampered down her back to sit on her talons.
"Besides, I ain't got anything to prove. I 'et a fox, after all."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 7:14 am
“You didn’t!” Snowpeak shouted with a slightly smaller grin. “Typhoon says foxes are dangerous. They bite and scratch fast. All the adults have been talking about a couple of foxes that entered the woods. They’re all worried so you didn’t!” he finished his reasoning with a victorious expression that quickly vanished as if he was silently considering something.
“But… what do you do… as a scout?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 9:53 am
"Did tooo-oooo!" She sang mockingly, but the sheepish grin on her beak said otherwise. Of course she didn't, but it was a bluff that she enjoyed joking about since she was younger.
"Scouting? Oh, I really like it! You gotta be real fast and sometimes you gotta fly high, like in the canopy, so you go faster!" She lifted her wings and pointed her beak to the higher branches. Just the thought of the risks was exhilirating to the young Scout, who still did not exactly have the concept of her own mortality just yet. It wouldn't take long for the hardships of life as an adult to teach her that.
"You go and you fly real fast from one point to another 'n you keep watch over the forest while you do, 'n deliver messeges, 'n hunt, too! You do a lot!" And there it was, the word vomit.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 3:41 pm
“Did not!” Snowpeak said indignantly while keeping his wide smile as he caught Osprey’s grin.
And there she was. The mist he remembered. The girl who couldn’t keep quiet, who was always eating her words and getting excited about the future… that was now her present. He tilted his head as he looked at the female (who seemed to have only changes in appearance) with a clearly mocking expression but didn’t say anything this time.
Her task sounded interesting enough but it seemed to involve a lot of “flying around just to watch business”. Still, he knew better than to criticize someone’s task or their particular way of doing it – he still remembered the time he had lost a few feathers of his eartufts for telling a female minder that for someone who could actually lay eggs she sure sucked (yes, that was the word he had used) at taking care of them and the hatched creatures they originated. Of course, Typhoon had changed his mind about the whole Minder task and while it wasn’t something he could see himself doing (except maybe as some sort of punishment), she had learned to respect the class as a whole.
“Does that mean… you’re very busy?” It was a complicated question. He wanted her to say “yes”, to give more meaning to her visit and to make him feel more… appreciated. But he feared that answer would also mean she would be departing soon… which was very likely and for some reason, also… not good.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
