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 Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 9:10 am
Stopping her singing and squinting down towards the base of the tree, Lenore thought she could see a little white dot waving at her.
"Ike...? IKE!" she screeched, delighted for company at last. Throwing herself off the branch, she glided down at breakneck speed before flapping wildly to slow herself. She landed hard on her knees but sprang up grinning.
"Heya, Ike!"
Sweeping him up in a hug on a whim and releasing him quickly, she threw herself to the ground in a leisurely way and lounged on the bed of pine needles at the tree's base.
"What're you doing here?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 9:21 am
Ike squirmed a bit when hugged, but soon dropped to his stomach beside Len, swishing his tail absently.
"Mummy brought Ike cuz he gotta quest but we can'n't do't yet," he sighed, "How Len?"
Having a growth quest and not being able to do it right away was quite possibly the worst torture in the cosmos.
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 9:29 am
"A quest, huh? Bummer." Lenore said mildly, rolling onto her back and looking up through the branches of the tree. She loathed quests - the last one had officially made her the worst pirate in history. Ugh.
"I'm okay - just a lil' bored. Mum's off at work, Julian's probably burying evidence, and 'Dako just ditched me. Kinda lonely, really."
Prying off a piece of bark from the tree, she toyed with it a little before trying to stick it back onto the trunk.
"What's your quest? Have to rescue kittens from trees?" she asked, thinking sourly on the subject of her own last one. Doing good left quite a bitter taste in her mouth.
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 9:34 am
"Nuh-uh," Ike's tail ceased its happy twitching at the mention of Julian, but he attempted to hide the hatred in his voice, "Ike gotsta stop chewin' on stuff. Ike dun'n't even notice!"
The little boy rolled over and peered up into the trees.
"Ike a squirrel n' can't even climb yet."
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 9:39 am
Chewing stuff? Meh, could've been worse. He could've been tearing innocent bystanders' throats open.
"You don't know how to climb? That's a lil' unusual for a squirrel," she said lightly, sitting up and burshing off stray pine needles from her hair. Rapping her knuckles against the trunk of the tree, she nodded speculatively.
"This one'd be pretty easy to climb - the barks all rough and easy to hold on to."
Shifting so that she was sitting against the massive trunk, Lenore stretched her arms and flared her wings, joints crackling in and out of place.
"Haven't you ever climbed anythin' before?" she asked. Not that she was the best climber herself - but she'd figured Ike could scale Everest and be back home in time for lunch.
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 9:46 am
"Ike no how," the squirrel boy sighed, "Ike just can't. Ike never tried neeth'r." He stood and walked over to the tree, running his long fingers over the bark. It was rough, sure, but weren't branches for climbing?
"Len teach Ike?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 9:53 am
Hesitating slightly, Lenore looked at the tree again. It looked pretty easy to climb... eh, why not.
"Okay."
Standing and trying to find a good grip to start with, Lenore latched her spindly fingers onto the bark and hoisted herself up. Her feet scrabbled for a proper hold, toes biting into the rough trunk.
"First off, ya gotta find a good place to start climbin', otherwise...yeah."
She began to climb, fingers seeking places to hold onto. It was easy once she found her pace, though her wings got in the way here and there. Folding them as flat as she could, she looked down at Ike again. She'd gone up about two feet, which was disappointing considering the effort.
"Just take it easy and try to keep a grip - I'm goin' slower because of these things. " she said, holding out an arm and flaring a wing slightly.
"Why don't you try now? It's pretty easy."
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 10:00 am
'Nervous' doesn't even begin to explain how terrified Ike was of trying this. He'd seen squirrels scale trees in seconds flat, but he was Human and Vampiric too, and that seemed like it would complicate things. Now...to try like a squirrel or to try like Len?
"If Ike fall," he said as he reached above him and latched his fingers over a strip of bark, "it all tree fault." He latched the claws on his feet onto the bottom of the tree and began to inch them up ever so slowly. His feet eventually got too close to his hands, and he moved said hands up further. He repeated the process twice more, and only then did he hazard a look down.
He'd gone no higher than Len.
"Erf. Ike baaaad climber."
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 10:04 am
Cocking her head to one side as she regarded Ike, Lenore gave him a patient look.
"Don't worry 'bout falling - I fell here once, and there's some sorta magic thingamabob that keeps you from getting killed."
Climbing a little higher until she reached a low-growing branch, she swung onto it and stood carefully, perching like a bird.
"C'mon, Bah. It's the best way to practice - no matter how many times you fall, you don't die. That's good, right?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 10:10 am
"Ike no die 'nyway," Ike groaned and pulled himself up. This wasn't going to work. It was the squirrel way or no way at all. He took a deep breath and used his feet to launch himself upward, snagging his fingers in a higher piece of bark and re-attacking his feet. LEAPcatchLEAPcatch.
Ike leaped a final time, reaching a thin, low branch. He wrapped his arms and legs around the branch beneath him, his eyes wide and his ears folded all the way back.
"Ike dizzy," he panted, "Sqwurls 'r looneez."
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 10:18 am
Watching with gleeful interest, Len tried to bite back a giggle.
"Maybe you just have to get used to it, Ike. You went pretty fast - you're better than me already."
Ditching her perch, she flapped off and glided upwards, latching back onto the trunk and climbing up a little higher.
"Wish you were a flying squirrel - then I'd be able to teach you better," she said a little regretfully, scooching up to a branch above Ike's.
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 10:23 am
"Len can fly," Ike stated as he gripped the bark behind him and slowly stood, "'S no fair." He teetered for a moment and went stone-still before launching himself at another branch above him. His arms caught, but his legs and tail dangles helplessly.
He kicked his feet, frustrated and losing his grip. It was then he remembered that kicking did nothing. He swung back and forth, kind of like Mummy had taught him on the swings. His legs were soon high enough to latch onto the branch, and he hung from it upside-down.
"Uh-oh..."
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 6:18 pm
"Oh, jeez!"
Scrambling back onto the trunk and sliding down, Lenore tried to grab at Ike. When she couldn't reach, she tried to perch on the branch, and stepped off it quickly at an ominous cracking sound.
"Huh. Maybe you should just let go, Ike," she said mildly, looking down speculatively. "I don't think you'll be able to, er, get upright again."
Len herself was losing her grip where the bark had grown smoother, and it was difficult to support even her slight weight against the pull of gravity. Scrabbling to get back up to her branch, she gave a small sound of surprise as the chunk of bark she'd used as a hand-grip came loose. She plummeted downwards, flapping wildly out of instinct.
"Oh CRAP-"
Forgetting in her surprise about the safeguard, Len twisted to watch the ground coming up to meet her. She gave a yelp as she nearly crashed, though an invisible Something seemed to cushion and catch her seconds before contact. Getting to her feet and shrugging off her instinctive panic as silly surprise, she craned her head up to look at Malachi.
"See? Nothin' to it."
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 6:23 pm
Okay, so he couldn't die. Fear he could deal with. Even pain wasn't that bad. It was when it felt like your stomach had leaped into your throat as you fell that made him not want to drop.
Ike closed his eyes and took a deep breath before swinging clear of the branches and plummeting toward the ground. His tail smacked against a branch and produced a disheartening snapping sound.
It took him a while to notice after he'd stopped falling. He opened his eyes, peered around, and stood.
"Ike's naw-shoes," he shook his head to try and clear it. His face then split into a wide grin.
"Falling is fun."
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 6:37 pm
Lenore gave a bark of laughter, leaning against the tree and grinning like an idiot.
"Yeah, it kinda is. You feel better 'bout practice climbing, now?"
Not really waiting for a reply, Lenore began the tough journey up the tree trunk again, scrabbling quickly upwards until she was far higher than before. Pushing herself free of the trunk, she didn't bother to unfold her wings as she plummeted down, laughing with child-like pleasure. Turning a somersault as the invisible force caught and cushioned her again, she rolled in mid-air and landed on her feet.
"It's almost like flying," she said a little breathlessly, her face alight in rare unfettered happiness.
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