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 Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 2:50 pm
"Uh? Of course you can come back. It would be cruel to block you when you're obviously wet and cold." Spur nodded to Atticus. She was greatly relieved that he hadn't decided to shun her, or anything else equalivant. Maybe they'll be somewhat friends... Maybe.
"Is reading hard?" The Modifox asked, but quickly rephrased that. "I mean, is it hard to learn? I'm sure that it's probably easy to read once you've learned it properly..." She glanced at the open book, shaking her head at her inability to understand those written words.
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Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 3:41 pm
Once admitted to the porch, Atticus dived at once under a thick, tattered towel that lay beside the door. Several of his hairs were already caught in it - perhaps it had been left there for his use. The towel wriggled and squirmed for a while, and eventually the dark shaman emerged with his fur in an amusing state of disarray. He shook himself, though there was no standing water left to fly off him, and only made it worse.
"Difficult?" He considered this. "We-ell...for some it's harder than others. Sonia is finding it quite taxing, but she has little time to devote to practising. I remember it being tough at the start, but gradually getting easier. It's better once you...once you know how to learn, if that makes sense. There's a certain knack to reading in general, and once you have that you improve faster."
Moving back over to his book, he scanned the open pages with a glance. "...Mm. One of the first things humans learn when reading is what your name looks like. We foxes seldom have that luxury, but not long ago I discovered a book that had my name in it. Come see the letters, and I'll see if I can spell yours out for you...ah, here we go. S...that's the little snake over there. P, that one looks like a little bus stop sign...there. U, it's a bucket with no handle...there, and R...that one looks like a walking stick, there, or a bit like a strange P...there. S-P-U-R. Spur."
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Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 6:25 pm
"S-P-U-R. Spur. My name." The said fox muttered quietly. She imprinted the four letters into her mind, remembering them so she could read her name whenever it appeared. It was unlikely that was going to happen, but it made her feel proud of herself for once, knowing how to read her name when many others cannot.
"Is your name.... Atticus... Is it in this book?" She glanced at the many pages nestled in between the covers. With so many words that could be contained in there, it was possible.
Spur gracefully jumped off the railing, like a cat would, and peered at the writing more closely. She recgonized the letters that made up her name, but not much else.
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Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 12:48 am
"Unfortunately not," Atticus said with a grin, "but this human has taken quite a liking to me. We communicate in patches, though it can't speak our language. I've taught it my name - it knows how to read, and we've got a sign for "turn the page" - and it was kind enough to get it written somewhere for me. It thinks it's a fox sometimes, it's so clever. Here, look."
He indicated a small terracotta dish underneath the hanging bench on the verandah. It was about three quarters full of clean, fresh, cool water. Painted along one side, in bold, black type, were the letters A-T-T-I-C-U-S.
"A tee tee eye see you ess," the dark shaman pronounced carefully. "Atticus. Hm. It wants to get me a studded collar, and a little steel disc with my name on it, but I'm not convinced a collar would suit me. Besides, as good as the disc idea is I don't know that I want to wear anything a dog thinks is high fashion."
It wasn't that he didn't want to think of himself as a pet, either. He wouldn't mind being this human's pet. The creature wasn't possessive or overbearing, it gave him books to read and good meat and fresh water, and it had even played host to his Sanguinite companions on some rougher nights. And sometimes, when the air was pleasant and neither had any particular demands on their time, they would sit on the verandah and talk at one another. Many a pleasant evening had been whiled away in this manner - if the human was anything like him, which Atticus suspected it was, it felt safer in the knowledge that he didn't understand a word it was saying.
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Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 2:46 pm
Spur listened to Atticus quietly as he spoke about the human, that she assumed lived in the house they were louging around on. She wasn't surprised that the human would read, since it was they after all that invented the langauge to read in. Though was it really that kind enough to teach another being to read? The humans she met were greedy and selfish, possesive of their secrets. Save for one girl that visits her every now and then. And she has other Modifoxes with her, so that human couldn't be so bad...
She peered through the window, hoping to find the human Atticus spoke fondly about. Seeing nothing, Spur sighed and noticed that he was slipping into the dream-like trance of thoughts.
"Um... If you can read... Then..." She stared at the tuft of fur of her tail, thinking the markings on it were letters that were readable. "Atticus, could you tell me what these words mean?" Spur waved her tail in front of him, wondering if she really did want to know what it meant.
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Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 8:52 am
He watched the tail wave in front of him, and carefully stilled it with a paw. "I can't read it if you shake it, Spur," he chided gently. "Now, let's see..."
I <3 You
Atticus blinked, astonished. This vixen was surely touched by the gods.
"...The first letter is an I, a capital I," he said slowly, quietly. "They use that to mean "I" as in "I myself". The last three letters are Y, O and U - that spells "you", as in "you yourself". And in the middle...these are mathematical signs, to do with numbers and counting. On the left here, this sign means that whatever's on the left is smaller than whatever's on the right. It's called a "less than" sign. And this...is the number three. Less than three. But if you turn it just so..."
Gentle paws turned the tail tuft so that Spur could see.
"...do you see the shape there? That is what the humans call a heart shape, and it signifies love. So what is here...what was written upon your fur by the modeity that created you...is simply this: "I Love You". ...Spur, my dear, you are blessed indeed to be thus marked."
He was grinning now, delighted by his discovery. How had he not noticed the writing before? - It didn't matter. He had seen it, and he had deciphered it for her. Pride swelled warm within his chest.
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Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 2:16 pm
"... I love you? I know what that means... but... who is this apply to? Me? Or... " Spur couldn't believe that all this time, the innocent looking markings on her tail were something special. Were they really placed there by the gods? Thinking about that sent shivers across her fur. Being involved with the gods was a huge deal...
She continued to stare at the words some more, before something clicked in her brain. The <3 marking was not just on her tail, Spur remembered. Glancing up to the tuft of hair that rested on her forehead, she recalled the same marking on it as well. She opened her mouth to say something about it, before shutting it. She didn't want Atticus nor herself to feel anymore special. Prehaps someone was playing a prank on her, a rather cruel one.
"Does.... does the Sanguinite Syndicate know of any gods? Could they communicate with them, in some way...?"
Spur was becoming afraid of the blessed writings on her tail, but maybe this tribe could help her somehow.
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Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 3:50 pm
"We're still trying," Atticus said, "just like everyone else. Most of us feel sure that they must be out there - I'm not a great advocate of it, but when I see things like this...well, I have to wonder, don't I? And what about the power of the Elders? How can a fox suddenly just...grow like that when they become a leader? Nature doesn't know about things like politics. As to who the writings apply to, my best guess is either that your coat is a living message from lover to beloved...or that whoever designed you wanted you to know that they loved you."
He closed the book with one paw, pushing it carefully up against the blanket. "Rain's stopping at last, looks like," he said, glancing out into the night. "Come with me to our camp, if you will. If anyone in the Syndicate's going to get in touch with a Modeity it'll be Sonia. Until then, though..." The dark shaman sighed, and smiled. "Don't worry about it, Spur. Love is never a bad or cruel thing, no matter how many bad or cruel things have been done in its name. No matter who those writings are from or intended for, they are a beautiful thing to wear. Be proud of them."
Padding slowly out into the cool air, he found the rain far more pleasant now that it was lighter. "It's this way," he called back, turning left and heading down the road. "So long as you stay close to me, you're under the Syndicate's protection."
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Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 1:50 pm
Spur nodded numbly and obediantly trotted after Atticus. Her mind was still whirling about the mysterious righting to even care about the absence of rain. Though the fresh air was a plesant change from the damp air earlier, she was still worried about many other things, besides the love message.
"Uh... Atticus?" Spur spoke up while frowning. "What is your elder, Sonia, like? Is she..." She bit her tongue trying to think of the right word that won't offend him. "... Is she nice to new people?"
((Please note that I've been on an RP block and can't RP as well. O_o; ))
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Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 10:30 am
Atticus chuckled at the question, the image of Sonia flashing across his mind. "Nice" wasn't really the best word for her usual manner of greeting a new person - he still remembered how she had spoken to him upon their first meeting, and judging by the way she usually treated vixens Spur was in for a bit of a shock.
"You could say that," he answered, smiling. "Don't worry - she won't harm you. She can be a bit overwhelming at first, but once you get used to her I think you'll like her very well. Most people do."
Sonia was one of those enviable people who seemed to attract hearts. She whirled through life in a semi-permanent state of rapture that was utterly infectious, passing on her adoration of all that was good and beautiful to everyone around her. The shaman was fairly certain that at least a small part of every Sanguinite was hopelessly in love with her, and he was no exception.
"And I think she'll like you, you know," he added as an afterthought. "Probably more than you expect."
((Don't worry about it - I've been the same. ^^))
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Posted: Sat May 26, 2007 2:14 pm
Atticus's opinion of the Elder worried Spur, but relieved her at the same time. She was glad that Sonia wasn't a mean and uncaring Modifox, but what would it mean if she's 'overwhelming'? She was afraid that she was like that book Atticus was reading, too dramatic and flamboyant in telling a simple story.
While being absorbed in these thoughts, Spur didn't notice a rusty nail in her path and stepped on it. Stumbling, she uttered a sharp yelp and looked down. The nail entered quite deep into her pawpad and it was bleeding a steady stream of blood.
"Ow..." muttered Spur and licked her paw in hopes of easing the pain. The blood and the metal of the nail was bitter, and she spat out in disgust.
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Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 4:25 pm
Atticus stopped at Spur's yelp, hurrying back to her side. When he saw the nail, he groaned. "Oh, no, that's not good - here, let me see..." But the cut was bleeding steadily, at least, which was a good sign. "Nails like this shouldn't be left around," he grumbled. "Someone stepping on one of those can easily catch something very nasty indeed. At least your wound looks clean, but it's deep enough that I'd advise human assistance. Once we've spoken to Sonia, I'll alert my friend back at the house if you like - she'll know what to do. ...Ergh, that must taste horrible. Do suck it clean, though, as much as you can bear to. I haven't anything we can bind it with here."
There was no point in continuing until Spur was able to go on, so he sat at her side and kept an eye out for danger. As gentle as this neighbourhood was, one could never be too careful.
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Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 3:36 pm
Spur, her mind being in a panicked flurry, could think of nothing else but to obey Atticus. She suck on the injured paw some more, and spat out crimson blood when the taste became unbearable. At least the pain was finally receding, and Spur thought that the blood stream was pulsing out more slowly.
"Loved by the gods indeed." She muttered to herself while placing her paw on the sidewalk. Applying pressure to the foot, it didn't take much for her to wince in pain and was forced to lift it.
A bloody smear was left on the ground and Spur instinctively licked her tender paw more.
"I might be able to walk if I don't use the leg a lot." She said in a slightly scared voice. "The faster we can see your friend the better, after all."
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