|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 5:30 pm
Vivi looked pleased; if Zuri was a puffed owl nesting, then Vivi was an over-content cat at watching her. The delicate frei seemed to be charmed with Cesc, and this brought a such a grand smile to Vivi's face, one that would not be denied or dimmed. She aimed it now at Cesc, who returned her look of happiness with one of faint confusion.
"Then more ice you shall have, petite. Come, let us sit together downstairs! I have just had some cookies cooling, perhaps you would like to decorate them with me?" The Frenchwoman waved for the two to follow her and began to make her way down the stairs. Her light tread was an easy rhythm to follow, and her sing-song voice floated behind her as she went. "It is great fun, the frosting!"
"Ah--" Cesc nodded, his look of confusion melting into recognition. He turned to Zurine, his own smile small and friendly. He knew decorating cookies; he had done that with Vivi a few times before and enjoyed it. His own art was not skillful, but people seemed to like the cookies he made all the same. Bad art did not effect their taste. "It is nice, but a little messy. Have you decorated cookies before?"
He began to float toward the stairs, slow enough to let Zuri float with him, should she choose.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 11:23 pm
Zuri had never decorated cookies before, and the idea seemed delightful, so she nodded, nibbling at her lower lip shyly. "Phiel is not so good at making sweets, so I have not done this, no... It's all sugary things?" She floated after Cesc with lazy delight, curious to see what that was all about -- she quite liked the little watercolor set that Phiel had bought for her. Her walls were littered with pretty little paintings, and she rather thought maybe she could paint something pretty on these cookies! Once she'd thought about that, Zuri seemed to light up with glee. "I like watercolor painting... is it anything like that?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 9:24 pm
"It..." Cesc thought a moment, tilting his head gently. "Yes, I think it could be something like that, in a way." He smiled and held his arm out to his shy companion, ready to lead her down the stairs.
* * *
Two hours later, there were delicious frosted cookies. Some of them looked a little awkward, a little ugly, and a little smeared. Others looked shaky and sweet and homemade. And some of them -- mostly Vivi's -- looked gorgeous and professional and downright delectable. But all of them looked like they were made in laughter and fun.
Cesc, his sleeves rolled up and his hair slightly tousled, was trying busily to find where frosting had managed to get on him. His forearms were absolutely covered with the stuff, as he had disastrously leaned into his piping bag while trying to watch over Zurine and her cookie-making. There was some -- unknown to him -- also streaking his hair, when he had wiped his brow with his frosted forearm.
He smiled at Zurine as he looked over the cookies, proud.
"We did a good job, I think," he said with a nod. Cesc lifted one of the cookies, which he had decorated to look like her little pet mouse, and held it over to her. "Did I do alright with his likeness?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 10:34 am
Zurine had enjoyed the cookie-making, and was in fact currently trying to make sure that there weren't any more to decorate. She had her fair share of frosting splatters -- in fact, one of the dainty feathers at her hairline was stained a pretty pink with an accidental frosting dousing. It would wash off eventually, and so she wasn't concerned with it. She looked up from her hunt to find a single square inch to dab when Cesc spoke, and she smiled surprisingly warmly. "I think we did well too," Zuri agreed, fluffing her feathers out with self-satisfied pleasure.
She inspected the offered cookie, and her eyes lit up with delight. That looked just like her beloved little mouse! Right down to the soft colors of his fur and his twitchy pink nose. She beamed as she took hold of the little cookie, her usual cool reserve softened by the fun they'd been having. "It is perfect," Zurine pronounced softly. "You are an artist!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 7:52 pm
Cesc laughed his deep laugh, the sound thrumming from his chest. He leaned forward slightly, trying to clean the feather in Zurine's crown, flicking it gently with his thumb. The frosting only smeared, effectively dying her one pink feather, and Rhedefre could only laugh sheepishly and pull a face.
"I seem to have made it worse..." he apologized.
As for her calling him an artist, he only shook his head. "I was inspired." He grinned, thumbing upward. "Shall we show the model his portrait?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 5:22 pm
Zurine quite liked that laugh, and so she leaned forward and let him try and clean up the feather, though the gentle touch was very ticklish and made every other feather she had fluff up as she did her best to resist bursting into laughter. She chewed on her lower lip until he pulled away, and then she let out a little bleating laugh, low and soft and warm. "It's all right," Zuri said, looking up and watching the pink-sugar-coated feather droop a little under the weight of the frosting. "I suppose it will probably come out in the wash..."
She shifted a little, looking up, and nodded as she grinned at Cesc with utter delight. "I bet he will love it! Let's go?" She set aside her frosting spoon and held out a hand.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 6:09 pm
Cesc floated up the stairs to where they had left Ferdinand's cage after Zurine, preoccupied with the bits of dried frosting all over his forearms. He frowned gently and rubbed at them with one hand, but they pulled at his arm hair in response and refused to budge off of him! He'd have to wash the frosting out, after they had shown the sweet little mouse his sweet little portrait.
Only, as Cesc looked up, something was not quite right in the room. There was a cage, certainly, and a cage top, and a water bottle and all the rest -- but there was no mouse.
Rhedefre leaned forward as he noticed the distinct mouselessness, blinking widely.
There was no denying it. There was definitely, and certainly, no mouse in that cage.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 6:17 pm
Zurine was floating higher than usual with delight, eager to show her tiny pet the fruits of their labors. He always liked sweets, after all -- maybe he'd nibble on his portrait's tail, or one ear...
But when they arrived and she looked into the cage, her eyes widened with shock. She let out a little distressed sound, and floated in closer. "Ferdinaaaand...?" The cage's top was on firmly, but the feeding hatch was half-open, the plastic latch not secured. Zurine's heart plummeted, and she frowned, brows furrowing as she looked around, trying to see if she could immediately see where he had gotten to, but no luck -- the only trace was wood shavings on top of the cage itself.
"I... I must have left the lid undone," she said morosely.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 6:22 pm
Cesc frowned deeper, looking at the cage and then down at Zurine. His heart twisted to see the droop of her mouth, her face so crestfallen that it hurt him to look too long at it. He looked quickly back at the cage, then floated upward, trying to get a wider look at the floor.
"Do not worry," he said, his low voice trying to be reassuring, his eyebrows lifted up in concern. "I am sure he is still wandering here somewhere..."
Suddenly, his fingers went cold. Grumpaws! With a soft cry, he turned quickly toward where the cat had been sleeping. The black ball of fluff was sitting not too far away, turning his head toward them with an unimpressed expression, then yawning widely and licking his chops. Cesc zoomed over, lifting the old cat up, for which he got a paw in the face and a low, aggravated meow -- but underneath there was nothing, no bits of fur or blood or remains, just a clean floor.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 7:03 pm
Zurine nodded -- she was unbearably glad when it came to light that the cat had not eaten her poor mouse. She liked Grumpaws, even if he was just as grumpy as his name suggested, and she didn't want to have to hold a grudge! She cast about helplessly, looking under things, lifting the cage as if he might be hiding under there, then checked inside her bag, where his food had been stored. Maybe he had wanted more...? But no dice -- the container was sealed without any hint of mouse tampering. She sighed, resuming her search.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 7:13 pm
Cesc followed suit, looking under the sofa and chairs, poking his head into various rooms, lifting all the furniture he could get his hands on. It wasn't until he was in his own room, the door ajar, his bed undone and the furniture all a bit askew, that he dropped his shoulders in defeat. He looked out of the doorway at Zuri, who was still searching, that expression still on her face, that he thought of something else.
There were... things he kept finding. Lost things. Wallets, rings, keys, that sort of thing. He couldn't explain it -- he would just get a sort of niggling feeling in his head, hear a strange sort of pulling noise, and then look down and voila! Lately, the feeling had intensified slightly, like his awareness of it amplified the ability, and now... well, now it seemed like it would very much come in handy.
Cesc closed his eyes and thought of Ferdinand the mouse. He tried to picture his fur and his ears and his tiny beady eyes, his twitching nose and his long pink tail. He tried to picture him poking his head out of the cage, struggling to pull himself up, flopping out onto the table...
... something began pulling at his brain.
Cesc opened his eyes and flew out into the living room again.
"Surine," he said quietly, smiling. "I think -- I think I can figure out where he is..." And he launched into a halting, awkwardly-worded explanation of his fledgling power.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 7:40 pm
Zurine had been about to lose hope -- everything was beginning to bleed together, feeling as if she couldn't recall where she had searched yet, her brows furrowed with worry. On top of losing a pet, she didn't want to bring a mouse into the bakery! That would be catastrophic, and then they would have to set out traps and catch him. He might even -die-...
She was so caught up in these sad thoughts that she almost didn't notice when Cesc returned. Her dark eyes were rimmed with frosty tears. But at his announcement she brightened, listening to his explanation. Her heart fluttered with fresh hope as she tilted her head daintily. She'd never heard of anything like that, but she would have believed in anything Cesc told her in her distress. "If you think we can find him, I'll follow you..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 8:11 pm
With a soft grin, Cesc unrolled his shirtsleeves to dab one wrinkled corner at the snowy tears forming in Zurine's eyes. The both of them smelled of sugar, were dusted with pink and white frosting, and were rumpled from searching everywhere they possibly could -- but seeing some of that sadness faded from Zurine's face made the stag feel rejuvenated and determined. He took Zurine's hand gently into his and floated down the stairs with her, following the invisible, tiny sound in his head that beckoned him forward.
He was... Ferdinand was... outside? How on earth had he gotten outside so quickly? Cesc frowned but trusted the feeling, continuing to focus on what he remembered of the mouse.
The bakery was quiet and closed now, with the guardians both upstairs, chatting and enjoying themselves, unaware of what was going on. Cesc held his breath as he unlocked and pushed through the back door. He had a feeling Ferdinand was not so far away, and that alerting the two humans would only further complicate things.
"I think... I think he's somewhere out here," Cesc told Zurine as he lead them into the night, the bloom of fresh air hitting them both in the face as they came out into the alleyway. In front of them, there was the strip of closed shops, dark windows and empty sidewalks, lit streetlights, and a handful of small gardens meant to brighten the seascape. The street was lined with hedges and small trees, as well as bright little peonies, their bright colors dimmed by the darkness.
The tiny sound Cesc followed was starting to dim in the wide, open night. Out here, it had to compete with a thousand other lost things, and a mouse's voice was, well... mouse-sized.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 11:19 am
That gentle touch had made her heart flutter in a way she wasn't familiar with, and she smiled, the soft rime of frosty tears melting gently onto the dabbing sleeve. Zurine felt better even if the mouse wasn't recaptured yet -- and she let herself be led without a struggle, her hand cool in his as they went, her pupils dilating to catch fine details that she'd missed even in the daylight. The nighttime was her favorite place, the cool sea-salted air making her every sense perk up, keener and brighter. To her, the area was much more lovely in the night, when it was cool and dim, and she breathed deeply. She felt more connected, steadier, and her floating height lowered a little, the very end of her ribbon brushing the ground.
"If he's out here, I don't know if we'll ever find him," she said softly, the ribbon's tip slowly brushing back and forth across the pavement. "But we can try! Do you know which way we should look...? My vision is really good at night..." She thought a moment, then said, "Maybe he would have headed for grass..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 25, 2013 3:31 pm
All Cesc could do was smile a hopeful smile at Zurine as she spoke -- his own eyesight was nowhere near as keen as hers in the dark, but at least he had some sort of compass regarding the mouse's whereabouts. He nodded, floating toward the grass, pushing leaves aside in the hedges as he tried to look within for the mouse.
For some minutes, they continued his way, pushing aside bushes and looking through the grass, their hands becoming filthy with sap and sod. Rhedefre tried in vain to try to pinpoint Ferdinand's location more clearly, but he had an off-again-on-again grasp on his power and what he had was as good as he was going to get.
Half an hour later, he righted himself and sighed, brow furrowing. He passed a hand over his forehead, accidentally smearing himself with dirt as he tried to wipe away the sweat that had formed there.
"Do you think he might come when called?" the stag asked, a lame attempt at humor. How did the mouse even get out so quickly? Maybe he hitched a ride on Shepard when the man took out the trash earlier...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
