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Friendly Conversationalist
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 Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 12:05 am
Ivy was all charm to the newcomer, hand extended for a firm shake while a lilt of laughter still carried through her introduction, until the briefing of the situation at hand began and she sobered, tacking on what she could to Duncan's explanation. Claire was distantly aware of it, laughing inwardly at her mother's overly friendly behavior (or was she borderline flirting?; sometimes she was not sure) while she knelt next to Aina. She looked quite warm in her thick coat and ensemble, and nodded along with Mordekai as he walked the tiny Frei through what to do should they get separated. She reared back at her loud tone and laughed.
"Thatta girl." Claire smiled warmly at Aina and gave her another reassuring squeeze of the shoulder before standing up. Aaron had been quick with to grumble about his lack of strong memories, but Mordekai and Duncan were quicker on the uptake and she giggled appreciatively. He was lucky that he did not have the sort of memories she carried with her - ones that, if she were perfectly honest, still troubled her from time to time. If they could be of use tonight, though...
"Oh no, nothing against them at all, I mostly meant me." Aaron laughed, hands up against the joke that Mordekai shot at him. "My memories are weak and will not last the winter." Ivy rolled her eyes as she drew up closer once Stephen was settled inside with the proffered leftovers, nodding along to Duncan's words, arms crossed over her chest. Aaron rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged under her scrutiny, to which Ivy raised both eyebrows and smiled knowingly at her son-in-law. "Maybe?" And when he grinned nervously, she snorted and smacked him hard in the middle of the back as he elicited a startled, half-amused yelp. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" She smirked and flicked her flashlight on.
"Well get walking, jokester, we got ground to cover." She did not playfully smack him as hard as before but instead nudged him on with the tip of her flashlight. "Best be dreamin' of your wedding day there or as Duncan said, we're gonna have words." Claire and Aaron laughed, the male voice louder than the other, and Claire busied herself with turning on her own flashlight. She looked at the three behind them, then up to Mordekai, and finally down to Aina, offering her free hand.
"Ready?" She squeezed her tiny fingers and led the way down the garden path towards the forest, the flashlight cutting a beam through the grass and flowers into the dim wood. Summer frogs played their entrance into the woods as the party moved forward, and Claire once again squeezed Aina's tiny hand in reflex. She had not been in the woods since the summer, and now all the memories were playing nice and strongly in her head. She tried to pick out the more pleasant ones but the darker ones bubbled; she steeled herself and kept on - if it drew this forest's leshy out, then so be it. To ease her own anxiety at her memories, she asked Aina with a smile, "Got a good strong memory going, honey?" She hoped the Frei's memory was a happy one.
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 6:08 pm
“Ooh, Aaron’s on thin ice now,” Mordekai quipped, laughing and tapping Duncan on the arm. Duncan chuckled, too, but most of the friendly jabs between Ivy and Aaron went right over Aina’s head, though she didn’t seem to notice much either way - the looming darkness of the forest overhead seemed to stretch closer to her even while they hadn’t moved, wavering her courage some. Thankfully, the laughter from the adults managed to bring Aina back from her worries, and she clung closer to Claire with the reassurance of her voice.
“I’m ready,” Aina replied meekly, holding tightly onto Claire’s hand as they steeled on through the forest pathway. Mordekai watched Claire and Aina go as his smile dimmed with their mission at hand, and he waved toward the remaining three in the party.
“Alright, field’s not too far, so you guys start walkin’ in three minutes. My phone’s with me, call if you see somethin’ weird…”
“If we can’t, shall we just put the flashlight on blinking?” Duncan asked, clicking his flashlight a few times to find the setting, then turning it off again.
“Uhuh. Alright, guys, see you on the other side,” Mordekai smiled, waving at the three before pacing to make up the short distance between him, Claire, and Aina.
While Mordekai was catching up to them, Aina’s mind wandered between memory to memory. It had been less than one year since she woke up a Frei in this big, blue world, but in that time the Frei felt she had enough adventures already to fill up three storybooks. It was hard for her to decide on which adventure the leshy might like best, and though Claire’s hope was fulfilled, Aina replied with an uncertain hum.
“I dunno what to think about… I got a lotta stories to tell the leshy… do I have to pick just one?” she asked; curiously, she tugged lightly at Claire’s hand. “Miss Claire, what’re you thinkin’ about?”
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Friendly Conversationalist
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 7:02 pm
"Sounds good," Aaron agreed, clapping Mordekai on the arm before he hustled to catch up to Claire and Aina. His hand hung uncertainly in the air, and he pulled it back, glanced towards the ground before raising it to cup around his voice and call after the group, "Be careful, alright? And call us!!" Ivy turned away from Duncan as they puzzled over the flashlight and lifted an eyebrow at Aaron's tagged-on warning, arms folded.
"A bit of a worrier tonight, aren't ya?" It was clear he was a little on edge - magical creatures were far out of his comfort zone. For his part, though, he was doing his best to keep it reined in and instead shot her a semi-pouty look. She softened. "They'll be fine, don't worry."
Claire smiled at Aina's uncertainty, feeling likewise uncertain herself, and she gave the child's hand a squeeze of reassurance meant just as much for her as it was for herself. "I think it's alright to think about lots of things, as long as they're all important to you. Besides, that's normal, isn't it? At least I think so." She chuckled nervously, a slightly tittering sound, before her own expression drooped just a touch at Aina's next question. It was a moment before she answered, as she did not necessarily want to paint a false picture for the small Frei, but she also did not want to give voice to the darker memories that were playing in her head the deeper they wandered into the woods. She answered with a wan smile, "My mind's wandering a lot, too. There's lots of memories to pick from, but I can't stay on just one. Hopefully between the three of us, we can coax him out." Her eyes glanced skyward, where she was able to pick out stars against the darkening sky and the canopy of trees. "If not us, maybe Duncan, Aaron, and Ma can."
Walking in the woods, flashlight in hand and thinking deeply on strong memories felt very familiar, but it also felt distinctly different. This time there were others with her. 'Between the three of us,' she had said; there was power in numbers. She just hoped desperately that, should it turn out to be what Aina suspected it was, they could avoid a tragedy like the one she had experienced that summer. The crunch of leaves behind her drew her attention and she smiled over at Mordekai as he finally caught up to them. "Welcome back, stranger." Now that they were all together, it was time to get down to business. The other three would set off in just a few short minutes - it was time to flush the leshy out.
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Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 3:34 pm
Aina’s eyes kept glued onto Claire as she spoke, not wanting to stare out into the deep-dark that surrounded every side of them. The Frei was grateful to see Claire’s face through the rising moonlight that sieved between the trees, and she smiled a bit at her.
“We’ll find ‘em, Miss Claire,” Aina reassured, swinging their arms a bit while they walked onward to the field, which seemed so far away from where they were. She glanced back at the ground that trailed beneath her glowing rune, thinking on what Miss Claire had said. When she noticed the dull blue reflecting on the dirt and cobblestone beneath her, she giggled. “‘M a flashlight, too,” she whispered, and wondered why she was ever so afraid of the dark.
“Hi hey,” Mordekai called out from behind them, the leaves crunching below his feet quieting some as he slowed his pace. Aina glanced back, waving at him until he caught up to their side. “Find Leshy yet?” he asked jokingly, glancing back and aiming his flashlight around the more neglected part of the woods that stood beside them. “Told Aaron an’ our folks to call us if anythin’s outta place. He seemed kinda worried.”
“Papa, what’re you thinkin’ about?” Aina asked, mirroring what she’d asked Claire moments before. “Miss Claire told me it’s okay if you think about more than one thing,” she added, eager to help. Mordekai laughed, adjusting the back of his beanie in a gesture of uncertainty.
“You’re askin’ me, mamzelle?” he glanced back at Claire and Aina, grinning. “Haven’t really started yet. But I was thinkin’ ‘bout when you first came home. You remember that?”
Giggling, Aina shrugged shyly. “A little bit…”
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Friendly Conversationalist
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Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 11:35 pm
News of Aaron's anxiety over their splitting up brought a puzzled frown to her lips and a warm glow to her chest. There were still tricky spots in their marriage from years of miscommunication that they were trying to navigate, but to know that he was actively worried enough that Mordekai noticed stirred her. The puzzled frown became a small smile and a short giggle in reply. "He gets anxious when he feels like a fish out of water. Can't say that I blame him, though." The situation they were all in was very surprising, and certainly the last thing Claire had expected when they had come out for dinner tonight. But she was more used to working around sudden decisions, whereas Aaron was not - a stark difference between being a child of a mother in the Peace Corps and a child of a successful local business owner. She gave Aina's fingers another squeeze to get her attention. "Let us know when we're getting close to where we need to be, okay?"
Claire, mind flitting between various happier memories and the darker ones that refused to stay buried for long, found herself distracted as the conversation shifted, and she was smiling at Mordekai and Aina. She could hear the chirps of crickets, and, somewhere more distantly, the call of frogs, but for the time being she was focused on the two before her as they tripped down Memory Lane. She had not gotten to see the two of them interact together very much, but it mirrored a lot of what she hoped to bring to her future Raevan. Sharing their memories together from their earliest days sounded so nostalgic.
"Maybe talking about it will help you focus on it," she suggested, with a glint of curiosity in her eye. "I'd love to hear about it, if you want to share." Claire had a fondness for such talk and was eager to get to know them both better. If it served their mission, then all the better for them.
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Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2016 9:38 pm
“Really can’t blame’ im, but we got this,” Mordekai laughed, a bit winded himself. He sucked in his breath, attention focused out past the dark where their flashlights couldn’t reach. Like all of them, Mordekai hadn’t anticipated something like this to happen in the middle of their pleasant evening, but his reactions to most surprises was to expect them in some form, at any moment, which both helped and hindered him most days. “Yeah,” he murmured, in tandem to Claire’s suggestion, “Jus’ as quiet as possible, okay?” he smiled back at Aina.
“Okay,” Aina whispered back, nodding diligently. One hasty look around the forest told her they weren’t anywhere close, and she couldn’t spot the silhouette of that familiar leshy anywhere. “We’re not there yet,” she assured, squeezing Claire’s hand back.
Mordekai’s smile waned some as Claire and Aina spoke, thoughts drifting to the various moments he’d had alone in the forest. His reply to them both was somewhat of a hopeful bluff; it was hard concentrating on much at all, but Claire’s suggestion brought him back from his more idle thoughts. “Ah… if that’s okay,” his smile relaxed, and he brightened some. “I’m kinna a scatterbrain,” he admit, flustering a bit, “So…”
“We can take turns tellin' stories!” Aina piped up, her voice echoing through the forest - she immediately clasped her hand over her mouth, giggling. Glancing down at her flashlight, she tucked it carefully between her jacket and her scarf, freeing her occupied hand to hold onto Mordekai’s. “Would that help, papa?” she asked, smiling. Turning to Claire, she tugged her sleeve, too, wings fluttering curiously. “Can you tell us more about when you went to Russia, Miss Claire?”
“Y-yeah, that would help,” Mordekai replied, stuttering some at Aina’s inquiry to Claire - he was quick to remember the silence that fell between Claire and her family at the mention of her trip there, and he couldn’t help but wonder if Aina and him knowing much more would step on any toes. “Hearin’ some happy stories would be nice,” he suggested, smiling carefully; “Who should go first, huh?”
“Hmm…” Aina glanced down, wiggling her shoulders to adjust the flashlight tucked into the front of her hoodie. “Rock paper scissors?”
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Friendly Conversationalist
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2016 9:03 pm
Claire smiled gently at Mordekai's flustering. "That's okay, I mean it's easy to do," she admitted, likewise, with a laugh. "Especially with the spotlight on you." She was not sure of the kind of memories that Mordekai and Aina had, but she dearly hoped they were happier than most of the ones that cycled through her brain. The casually-dropped hint about Aina's first day home helped her keep her smile, and she wondered if her future Raevan's homecoming would bring up such a fond callback. She wanted something equally happy to share as that, and Aina's suggestion of taking turns sounded like an excellent solution. Perhaps one of their stories would prompt a happier memory to float to the surface.
"Wonderful idea," Claire praised, her smile nothing but sunshine for the small girl. But the smile faltered just a touch in the dimmed light as the frei asked her about one source of her fretful memories for the second time that evening - Russia. She was glad that it was dark and the shift in her expression not easily discernable, but it took a small effort to keep her body language equally relaxed as the trio walked on. She opened her mouth, hoping that something would dart to the tip of her tongue, but her thoughts were flying faster than she could catch them, and she realized that it was her turn to be scatterbrained under the spotlight. It was Mordekai who came to her rescue, and once Aina's gaze left her she let some of her relief show in the scrunch of her eyebrows and the upswing of her lips towards the older man. Finding her voice, she leaned towards the pomegranate Frei with a somewhat automatic smile as the trio slowed.
"How about this, Aina?" She unlinkied her hands with the child and crouched just a bit to be more level with her, balling her fist and placing it on her upturned palm. "If I lose, I'll tell you about Russia." There was a chance that she would actually lose the turn, but she figured while the game was going on, she would have time to better prepare herself. Just because her mind automatically went straight to the most distressing parts of her trip did not mean that there were not good things about it. She remembered the way the leshy fed the birds and squirrels perched on his great shoulders, and his rumbling laugh, and the way his eyes shone with hurt when he talked about the loss of his wife - there would be plenty to share. Her eyes flashed to Mordekai and she tilted her head to address him next. "If you lose, Mordekai, you tell us about the day that Aina first came home." Finally, she returned her attention towards Aina, her smile more relaxed despite the complaints in her lower back from her low crouch. "If you lose, hmm.." She tapped her chin in thought. "If you lose, you've got to tell me all about the most exciting thing you did this summer. Sound like a deal?" Her hands resumed the proper position and the fist rose gently above the palm. "Ready?"
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Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2016 1:06 am
Aina bristled with excitement as Claire crouched closer to her, hugging Mordekai's arm for safety now that one hand was free. Mordekai knelt down next to the two to close the distance between all three of them, listening just as carefully as his daughter was as Claire explained the terms of their little game of roshambo. The tinge of worry that made the blond frown soon faded, and he smiled, giving Aina a kiss on the temple before he let go of her hand to ball his fist against his palm. “Sounds good,” he replied, and Aina glanced between her papa and Claire to mimic their stances.
“Ready!” she said, raising her fist up high above her head. Mordekai couldn’t help but laugh.
“Okay,” Mordekai breathed in, knocking his fist against his palm as he counted down, “Three, two, one… go!”
Mordekai felt his heart skip the second he saw their hands displayed in the concentrated brightness of their flashlights - both him and Aina had dealt scissors, and Claire rock, making her the decisive winner. As much as he wanted to apologize for what seemed like such a heavy memory, it felt out of place as soon as Aina cheered, raising her hands up.
"Miss Claire gets to tell us 'bout Russia!" she exclaimed, holding her hand out to Claire with a bright, excited smile. She reached out to hold Mordekai's hand as he stood, too, eager to move forward. "Can we tell Miss Claire 'bout our stories, too?"
"If we got 'nough time," Mordekai laughed, "What d'you wanna know 'bout Russia, Aina?"
"I wanna learn about... everything!" Aina giggled; she looked up at Claire. "What's it like? Where did the leshy you meet live...? Can-- oh!" she bounced, "Can I go to Russia with you?" Her papa giggled.
"Russia's pretty far away, Aina! You gotta fly a real long time to get there."
"We gotta fly to get there?" she asked, gasping.
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Friendly Conversationalist
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2016 9:01 pm
"Oh no!" Claire's head drooped playfully in mock defeat. "Fair is fair, I suppose." With hands on her thighs, she rose to stand again. She was, like Mordekai, thankful that there were plenty of happy memories to pick from, even the Russia trip. And with Aina's abundance of enthusiasm, radiating from her very smile, Claire found it hard to resist. With another smile to Mordekai, she took Aina's extended hand, giving it a squeeze to set them walking. "I would love to hear about your stories too -" she agreed, but the little frei was full of so much curiosity that all Claire could do was listen and let her smile grow with each new question. Little Aina was fast earning a permanent place in her heart, bless her soul.
"Oh yes, Ma and I had to take three planes to get there," she giggled. "It was a very long trip. But if you want to go someday, it's a very lovely place to visit." The scenery had been beautiful, as had the weather, if not unseasonably hot. "Lots of greenery where we went, and the river Volga is very large." She remembered the smoke and the traffic as she and Ivy tried to return to Arina's house but she forcibly shoved that thought away. Focusing on her other question, Claire hummed thoughtfully. "Our family friend Arina, she used to work for the government and the parks. When she retired, she wanted to live near the forest she helped to look after, so she built a little house in a nearby village, just across the way from one of the national park entrances. I ended up meeting the leshy when I was taking a walk in the woods." It felt funny to think of it now, how she had been so panic-stricken in that first meeting and how the leshy had found amusement in her nervousness. The darker ending of her tale loomed at the edge of it and she focused determinedly on doing her best to tell Aina a good story. With the earliest of fall leaves crunching under their feet and flashlight beams lighting the way before them, she was reminded of the leshy's glen, and she conveyed that bit to Aina with a renewed smile. "He lived in a big glen in the forest, and he had lots of animal friends who trusted him very much." She swung their linked hands gently. "We used to have lunch together there! He was very fond of peanut butter."
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Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2016 2:21 pm
The sounds of scurrying animals scattered through the brush as the three walked on through the forest. Aina closed her eyes as Claire told her story, imagining Russia the best she could; she imagined the country like a giant garden, abloom with flowers and surrounded on all sides by tall trees, decorated like cabins and the small houses and buildings she saw near Auntie Leigh's flat.
The river Volga ran through it all, a constant stream of glimmering water. She tilted her head up at the leshy's, name, imagining the giant, old forest creature out in its glen (a word, she thought, meant a house for leshiye), playing chess with the grandfather deer and birds. She couldn't help but giggle at the thought, and mention of peanut butter brought the Frei right back home. Opening her eyes, she nudged Claire's arm.
"Papa's dog Seabiscuit likes peanut butter, too," she mentioned, "Do they really have peanut butter in Russia? Are we gonna have to make your baby lots of peanut butter sandwiches?"
"Havin' lunch with a giant," Mordekai giggled, whistling, "Eatin' a jar of peanut butter must be like eatin' an M&M, huh? That's awesome."
The moonlight began shining brighter through the trees as the leaves and branches began to thin above them, the cobblestone road replaced by dirt and unkempt grass. "Must be reachin' the creek," Mordekai explained, carefully letting go of Aina's hand, "Road's gunna get a little narrow. Keep close."
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Friendly Conversationalist
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Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2016 4:17 pm
"Is that so? I can't say I blame him." Claire replied with a giggle. She had yet to meet the dog and wondered for a moment if he was in the backyard somewhere at the house, but that thought was derailed by another observation from Aina. "It's not easy to find, so Arina buys as much of it as she can when she makes it into Ulyanovsk. They sell the European brands at the grocery stores there." Like any good expat, some foods were harder to give up, and her mother's mentor had been quite fond of peanut butter during the time she had lived in Gaia. Aina's whimsical observation brought another smile to her lips. "It's possible. I can have you over for PB & J when you both get your tummies, how does that sound?" Her fingers squeezed the pomegranate Frei's softly.
"Usually when he'd share his lunch with the birds and squirrels," Claire noted to Mordekai, her smile growing. "But sometimes.." Her free hand rose and she opened her mouth, miming a candy being tossed in. "Just like an M & M, yeah." Mordekai's warning came just as she stepped off the path, her foot landing on compact dirt and grass.
"We're getting close, then?" Claire's voice dropped to whisper level without fully intending to. Her heartbeat was steadily climbing and she kept her gaze wandering, and she suddenly felt woefully underprepared to see another leshy. She was worried that all she would be able to do was think of the one that had died before her, and, unbidden, those thoughts played over and over in her mind. She had not wished to focus on the negative, but if this leshy needed help, maybe thoughts of his brethren would coax him out. Chewing her lip, she closed space to both Mordekai and Aina, eyes peering down the moonlit dirt path ahead of them.
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Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2016 1:39 pm
"I wanna eat everything," Aina whispered, wings bristling with excitement. Despite grandpa and papa's warnings against growing up too soon, she was eager to have a tummy. Humming, she looked down at her rune - the talk of food was enough to flare her appetite. "I wanna try M&Ms too... mister leshy sounds really nice," she replied, nearly fumbling where she floated when Mordekai and Claire had come to a complete stop.
In all their talk, Aina had forgotten about the many threats of the mission at hand. What if they couldn't find the leshy at all, or what if he didn't like them? She glanced helplessly up at Claire at the inquiry. "I dunno," she replied in a loud whisper, floating lower to the ground. She had assumed that Claire had been asking about the leshy's closeness, and she hadn't noticed a single strange thing out in the woods just yet.
"S'okay, Aina. We're gettin' close to the field," Mordekai added, lighting the narrow path in front of them for Claire and Aina. Just beyond it was a thin stream, crossable by a few wide rocks that inlaid the ground. The woods seemed to thin out beyond them from where they were, only a few branches and small trees framing the exit to the Bass'ken fields ahead of them. The water of the stream was rippling calmly, shining with the moonlight.
The sound of crunching leaves resonated through the silence in front of them.
Aina startled, the dirt beneath her feet jutting up and floating below her ribbon. She quickly latched onto Claire's back, hiding her face against her shirt.
Hopeful that the memories had worked, Mordekai dimmed the head of his flashlight with his palm. "Sounds too heavy to be just game, but..." he murmured, brows furrowed as he concentrated on the sound in front of them.
It was getting closer, but slowly. But the ground beneath them scarcely rumbled, and the moonlight wasn't overshadowed by the silhouette of a giant among the forest.
Something felt off.
"Wait," Mordekai whispered, tapping on Claire's shoulder as he quietly squeezed past her.
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Friendly Conversationalist
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Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2016 6:05 pm
Claire's heart leaped into her throat at the crunch of leaves on the forest floor - and not from anyone in their party. Her arm automatically went back towards Aina as the child clung to her shirt and her hand rested on the girl's arm. She backpedaled a step out of reflex, her eyes nervously finding Mordekai in the half-light when he spoke. He was right, it was too heavy to be just a deer or anything similar to that. The leshy had been able to catch her off guard when she had first met him, rising from the grass as he grew to enormous heights.
"He might be waiting -" she whispered back, eyes darting back to the path ahead of them as the footsteps grew ever closer. They were slow, lumbering, but there was not as much weight behind it. She remembered the leshy's measured steps, and this felt different. Was this a younger leshy? Or was it even a leshy at all? Claire jolted when Mordekai tapped her shoulder and moved ahead, and she quietly told him "be careful" as he passed. But they did not need to wait long as there was a snuffling ahead of them, and a grunt. Claire froze, her fingers clutching Aina's arm.
"Mordekai," she muttered insistently, fretfully, trying to call him back.
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Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2016 12:11 pm
Aina clung tightly to Claire's clothes as Mordekai stepped farther into the clearing. "Be careful," the Frei whispered, mirroring Claire's own words. Too wrapped up in her father's movements, she didn't notice the strangeness of the leshy's supposed presence. She hung onto Claire ever tighter when she felt her fingers clutching onto her arm, and the Frei whimpered, tears beading from her cheeks.
"Papa," she whispered, urgently. When he didn't respond, so far into the clearing he was dappled by the moonlight, she called again; "Papa," she said, louder.
Not long after Mordekai rounded the clearing, poking his head past the brush to see what was ahead of them, he turned swiftly back. As quiet as he was, Aina didn't seem to notice his return, her eyes squeezed shut as she buried her face against Claire's stomach.
Leaning forward, he gave Aina a soft pat on the head. "It's okay, s'all okay, but we gotta go, Miss," he whispered; with Aina so frozen in place, he gently held her to his shoulders. Whimpering, Aina quickly clung to Mordekai's arms, and he held her up as he stood straight. He urged Claire in front of him, closer to the path back home, and took a quick glance back at the clearing.
"We gotta turn around, Claire. That ain't a leshy. It's, uh--" gripping the flashlight in his teeth and holding Aina in one arm, it was a clumsy effort trying to find the cellphone in his pocket. "S'a hungwy bear," he said, muffled by the flashlight in his mouth. When he finally found his cellphone, he flipped it open to dole out a quick few texts.
"Papa? It's not a leshy?" Aina asked, voice wavering.
"Mm-mm," he replied; flustering, the Frei crumpled against his shoulder. Shoving the cellphone back into his pocket once the texts were done, he held the flashlight again. "It's okay," he tried to reassure, smiling wanly, "Hey..."
"S'not a leshy," Aina murmured, muffled against Mordekai's shirt, "'M sorry..."
Duncan stopped for a moment as a string of texts brightened his cellphone. He stopped walking to scrutinize them for a moment amid the darkness. They were still far from the thin creek and somewhere near the foot of the forest, unable to see where the three ahead of them were in the thick darkness.
Not big guy
Big bear !
We r ok go back
"A bear," he called out, glancing up from his phone, "Aaron, Ivy, they've found a bear."
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Friendly Conversationalist
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Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2016 2:52 pm
That was all Claire needed to hear, and she turned as quietly as she could once Mordekai pulled Aina into his arms. 'Not a leshy,' she thought, her heart in her throat as she walked ahead of Mordekai. The snuffling of the bear behind them did not follow them, luckily, but she took care to keep her steps light and quiet. Aina's muffled disappointment behind her came in as though through a haze, but she turned for a moment during the escape and rested a hand on Aina's arm.
By the time the three of them rejoined the others, the sky had darkened considerably and the air was getting chillier, and Claire rubbed her arms as the groups met up. They had not paused since meeting the bear and she hunched over to catch her breath. Aaron was upon her immediately, a hand on her back as he rubbed a calming circle.
"Thank God," Ivy said, coming forward towards Mordekai and Aina. "Are you alright? Nobody hurt, right?" Anxiety was written clearly on her face as she looked over the two in front of her for any sign of injury. "Aina, honey, are you okay? What's the matter?"
Given the moment to reflect, Claire remained hunched, hands on her knees as she took a few deep breaths. The palpitations from her heart were slowly calming and from that came a feeling of, to her surprise, immense relief - and from her throat came a quiet, hoarse chuckling. Aaron's hand lifted from her back and he bent down to look at her in concern and she just shook her head and held a hand up to reassure him, as she continued to laugh quietly. "Hey.." he said.
"I think.." she said after a moment, taking in a calming breath, the laughter subsiding for the moment. "I think.. honestly, I'm kind of relieved." She stood up fully. "I don't think I was really ready to meet another leshy. Not yet, anyway." Try as she did to convince herself, holding onto any thoughts stronger than the leshy's death had been difficult, so perhaps narrowly escaping a hungry bear in the woods had been for the best. "I think the bear was much better." She wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand, ridding herself of the couple of laughter-induced tears, and she cast Aina a sympathetic glance, letting out a relieved sigh. "You did a good thing though, wanting to help. If there was a leshy, I think he'd be grateful to know you care so much about him and his forest." She smiled warmly at the Frei, and Aaron opened his mouth to say something, likely on how a hungry bear was still a concern despite, but Ivy swatted him quickly in the chest and turned to Aina.
"I think everybody's had enough excitement for today, and you were a brave lil' explorer." Ivy beamed. "I think brave explorers deserve a warm living room and lotsa blankets, don't you think, Duncan?" She flashed her smile over to Duncan as she pivoted, a hand on her hip. It had been on the tip of her tongue to offer hot chocolate, but she was not sure how much Aina would be able to enjoy that, given her lack of stomach. The girl looked in need of a pick-me-up.
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