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 Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 4:48 am
The comfortable feeling that had slowly started to calm the little Deep Woods sank away again, replaced by an intesifying feeling of embarrassment. So he had noticed her at that time - and even seen her undignified little episode of stage fright afterwards... and how much more? She preened herself almost obsessively so that she wouldn't have to look up into his eyes anymore. She had done so many awkward, embarrassing things on that night!
"Um..." She said, stalling for time while she looked for places of her plumage that she hadn't already been over once. Finding none, she focused her attention on her feet instead. "I'm... I'm... ehm... Tousled. Pleased to meet you."
She shuffled her feet embarrassedly, and stole a quick glance up at Chase's blue eyes. "And... well... actually... yes, he did. We did. It was just... Um... just for fun." Partly encouraged by the mischievous glint in the Shadow's eyes, she went on: "But-but we didn't intend to hurt anyone, and when that old lady started yelling at him I just... I just... I... still can't believe I did that," she finished, her voice reduced to an introspective whisper somewhere between awe and 'Oh Noctus, I think I might faint again!'
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Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 5:56 pm
Birch turned to look at the other wildtype male and nodded to show that he had heard. Another crafter? Interesting. If she was about to graduate she would probably need a lot of training, but a talented crafter was always welcome. He had seen crafters work together in groups to accomplish great things.
"Did you hear," he whispered to Char, "It's raining crafters."
He wondered how hard it would be to talk Tousled into taking this new girl as an apprentice. Birch scanned the crowd without thinking and was content to note that Tousled was sitting in her usual place. Right next to that large... Shadow... male. Wait a minute. He wasn't threatening her, was he? It was difficult to see from this position, but Tousled looked a bit uncomfortable. Perhaps he should go there and ask if everything was alright?
No. If he tried to get to her he would surely distract the audience. He wouldn't even have to trip or bump against someone, since the movement alone would be enough to shift the focus from Fjord. On the pride for his task - he would not disturb another bards performance. Unsure about how to handle the situation Birch shifted anxiously from one foot to the other.
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Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 7:36 pm
Oh, boy. She really was a shy one.
Chase could barely understand the little ruffled deep wood’s name and he could see she was visibly uncomfortable. So he took a discrete step back and his eyes turned to the bard again. “Right, Tousled... No, I didn’t hear it the last time. Anyway, glad you’re alright now. Say, I think I missed a part of the story…” He tried to sound cheerful and smiled widely without facing her, preening a feather or two and winking at Fjord’s companion.
“Is that so? I’m so glad! Now that think about it, I’d be terribly disappointed if you two hadn’t planned the whole thing… Oh don’t worry, don’t worry. There was no harm done and I daresay it was rather amusing for most of the involved.”
Granny might disagree of course but Chase sensed the little female was getting rather uneasy and tried to assure her as best as he could.
Her shyness had easily driven his own anxiety away and he certainly didn’t want to feel embarrassed again by mentioning the subject. But he knew that one of the easiest ways to make someone feel more at ease was to expose a weakness… not that he hadn’t shown enough of that already but next to Tousled, he couldn’t quite explain it, he didn’t really feel threatened. Even if he had shown her something he was so keen to hide, he didn’t feel she would mock him, tease him, use it against him, run around spreading his worries to the others Sentinels behind his back. And it wasn’t just her insecurity, no. He’d know many individuals that though insecure as they were, they proved to be vile to the core. And this kind of information could be so easily misinterpreted by nosy ears. It was not like he was afraid of them, even if sometimes it looked as if he were. And he certainly didn’t want anyone to assume that he had been some kind of classic fledgling-attacked-by-the-unsupervised-carnivorous-companion case… or any other dramatic situation like that.
He looked back at the martes and felt a small involuntary shiver move a wave of ruffled feathers through his body. His voiced sounded lower and more subdued that it normally did when he slowly asked the next question, half trying to show Tousled a less determined side of him and half asking for her opinion.
“Do you think… I should go apologize? I... I don’t want the owner to think her companion did something terribly wrong… and the little creature is probably a bit offended as well.”
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Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 9:56 am
Amusing? Tousled's ear tufts perked up with hopefulness. Birch had said that she had put on a good performance - no actually, the word he had used was 'brilliant', but she really wasn't sure that she deserved such lavish praise, so she avoided the word even in her own mind - and she was actually quite curious to know if anyone else shared that opinion. Not that she didn't trust Birch, but... It would just be nice to know.
She pondered asking Chase a more specific question of some sort, but before she had come up with anything, he turned to her with a question of his own.
The little Deep Woods blinked thoughtfully at Chase and looked over at where the martes had run off to, noticing its master for the first time. With a slight frown, she turned back towards Chase, but kept her eyes focused on his chest while she spoke, so she would better be able to follow her own train of thought.
"I think... That that would be really nice of you. As long as you think you'll be okay..." She let that sentence die out, not really wanting to embarrass him by dragging up the subject of his apparent fear again now that they were starting to get along a little. "But if you do that then I should apologize as well. I was a bit harsh with the little critter. I just... hate being startled like that."
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Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 2:40 pm
“Uh…? Why would you apologize? You seemed calm enough when you where asking her to leave.” Chase turned to Tousled again and somewhat of a benevolent smile changed his mildly confused expression as he realized she wasn’t looking at him directly. He didn’t consider what might have happened while he was under the earlier daze. Or perhaps he was just trying to forget it as quickly as possible by ignoring it completely. And he kept thinking of the furry companion as a “she”. For a very long time now, Chase unconsciously regarded all martes as female.
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Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:33 pm
Perception. Despite her many shortcomings, that one quality was one that Raine had not missed. Just as she had not missed the slightest shivering of the Shadow male, as he had glanced at Hazel. She knew that something was up. For some reason, he had seemed uneasy around her Martes...but she had dismissed that as the natural hatchling-instilled reaction towards a predator...But no, no, this Sentinel was by far, the most uncomfortable around her Martes. Something just hadn't seemed quite right about the way he had looked at Hazel. And Raine knew that it wasn't fear that was evident in that slightly-blank stare...
"Actually, Hazel, why don't you go down there alone...Just for a second, I believe I shall linger here for but a moment." Not that Raine was sadistic or anything in forcing Chase to see Hazel again, but she was oh-so interested in his reaction...curious, really...
Innocent, and rather unable to hold (or even to remember, for that matter) a grudge for very long, Hazel waved cheerily at the Shadow male and the ruffled Deep Woods. "Okiee! Rae-Rae follow! Kay-kay?" The Martes was rather clever, however, and had rather noticed something strange about the Shadow male. He had acted awfully strange...Hazel did not know that Chase's behavior was likely because of him...but he did approach more cautiously this time. Perhaps he had accidentally offended yet another Sentinel, and they were mad at him...
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Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:33 pm
Tousled glanced up at the large Shadow's gently smiling blue eyes, and shuffled her feet self-consciously.
"Well... I... You probably didn't notice, but I... I got a bit angry, and... Well, in any case," she lowered her voice even more and threw a meaningful glance down at the performing bard, "I think we should probably wait until this story is over, before we fly over to apologize. We've caused a bit of a scene already, I'm afraid... Or, well, at least I have." She hid her face in her chest feathers while she preened, trying not to think about how loud she had gotten for a moment. Oh dear, she might even have been heard all the way down to Fjord, himself!
She glanced over at the colourful pica, and whispered through a half-clenched beak: "Tell Fjord that I am reeeally sorry, okay? I didn't mean to raise my voice like that!"
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Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 7:10 pm
Chase lifted his gaze from Tousled as soon as she spoke and turned to the bard at once hoping he hadn’t noticed what was going on just a few branches away. The last thing he wanted was for his “little problem” to cause an interruption to his friend’s story telling. He also thought about Tousled for a few moments as he silently looked at Fjord, hoping to catch his gaze. He couldn’t really imagine the little deep woods angry… she probably even had a different definition of the word… either way he had made her upset and that hardly seemed natural on the female… he had gone to the trouble of checking up on her, wondering if she was doing alright… and ended up causing even more problems… he was just being a nuisance.
Chase’s eartufts flattened almost disappearing between the shadow’s dark plumage as he shrunk in size. “I’m really, really sorry, Tousled… I didn’t mean to worry you…” With his back turned to the deep wood’s ranger and his eyes still firmly fixed on the bard, he couldn’t possibly notice the approaching martes.
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Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 7:29 pm
"The mischeivous duo winged through the Above without a single word to eachother. Their hearts pounded so hard that they could hear nothing else..."
Feather listened to the two sentinels silently. The silent part about him was odd, but he seemed to understand full well that there was something wrong. He opened his little black beak to state something, when a movement caught his eye. He turned his head in a sharp, peckish manner, and eyed the martes. "Chasechasechasechasechase?" He babbled quietly, with unease. "Chasechasechasechasechase, fluffytreeclimbereggeaterhere." He chattered hastily and bumped the shadow male with his head. He was itching to head towards the bard, for his entrance was coming soon and he couldn't leave Fjord hanging without him.
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Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 5:31 am
"Oh? ...Oh, no! Not at all!" Tousled flustered with embarrassment at seeing Chase suddenly look so guilty, and hurriedly tried to amend herself - she had never meant to make him feel like a nuisance! Her words almost stumbled over each other in their eagerness to escape her beak. "I-it's not that I'm worried, I just... I feel bad for raising my voice... I'm sure even Fjord heard me when that martes came out of nowhere and I... You haven't done..." Her erratic tirade was cut short when Feather suddenly sounded his quiet warning, and she turned her head to look in the direction that the pica had indicated.
Her brows furrowed in consternation. the Martes was coming back? She glanced over at the owner, and found her to be keenly watching the furry companion's progress. What was this, now? Had she sent the martes away to apologise? All by himself?
"Chase..." She said, adding her own surreptitious prodding to the pica's eager ones, her eyes fixed on the companion that closed in behind him.
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Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:29 am
Chase’s head turned around so abruptly that he could swear something cracked. Fluffing up, he instinctively gave three silly agile hops behind leaving a much larger space between himself and Tousled. Suddenly aware of he had done and feeling a rush of embarrassment flooding him, his eyes turned brusquely to the little deep woods with a pitiful expression that just begged her not to laugh though obviously expected her to do so.
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Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:25 am
Initially startled by Chase's sudden reaction, Tousled caught his embarrassed glance and noted the pitiful, imploring expression on his face. She wasn't sure really what he was expecting her to do, but she recognised his discomfort and instictively put herself smoothly in the martes' path, directly between it and the Shadow. He obviously didn't want to deal with it, but since she herself wasn't at all afraid of the companion anymore, she resolved to do her best to keep it at a distance from him.
"Hello there," she said quietly to the martes as soon as it came within speaking range. "I'm glad you came back, little one. I wanted to say sorry for being so mean to you, before - I was just surprised because you showed up so suddenly. Okay?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:17 pm
When Tousled moved hiding the martes from his view, Chase’s feathers immediately sleeked back into place. He felt himself relax considerably which could only emphasize his embarrassment even if it was mingled with a great sense of gratefulness. He strutted to her side only stopping when his wing feathers gently brushed against some of her most ill-behaved ones and eyed the cautious martes. True, the shape was the same, but the dark furry creature was anything but similar to the one that had made so adverse to the close proximity of the species. It was a pathetic weakness that he had to overcome. So when Tousled spoke, he felt obliged to follow suit.
“Yes, I apologize from my reaction as well. You didn’t do anything wrong… except jumping on me, but that’s no reason to shove you away like that.” Talking to it made him feel much more at ease and he dared to make a little bit of fun of himself, whispering to deep woods female: “Dear Notcus, Tousled you must think I’m an idiot!”
It was fine like this, he guessed. He would not be caught off guard anymore. Now he just hoped the furry companion wouldn’t get too close.
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Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 4:11 pm
Approaching more cautiously this time, Hazel seemed to gain confidence when both Sentinels assured him that he was forgiven. Unable to hold back his excitement, the Martes piped up in a friendly voice, "Hazel sowwy, also! No mean jump like dat." Poor dear, he was still rather clueless to the real trouble he had caused with Chase.
The shiny gold flecks of Chase's plumage caught Hazel's eye. He couldn't help but stare at the...the... "Oooohh...shinniiiee..."
"Sential fetha?" Still, his initial curiosity had not been sated. Apparently fascinated with Tousled's feathers, Hazel insisted on poking and prodding them. To his delight, they seemed to, as Birch had put it, have a life of their own. After curling up by Tousled's floofy feet, the Martes suddenly seem to realize that poking Tousled might be impolite...Hazel sat on his haunches abashedly. "Again. Hazel bad again?"
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Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 4:19 am
After receiving Hazel’s apology, Tousled turned her head to give Chase an honestly confused glance.
“Of course not, Chase,” she whispered back, at the same time surreptitiously studying his face to make sure that he was really all right with being so close to the martes again. “Why would I think tha- hic!” Feathers rippling with surprised discomfort, she snapped her head back and down to stare at the furry companion by her feet. It was poking her!
If Hazel had been a sentinel and done the same, Tousled would have pulled away immediately and probably gotten angry for real, but… it was just a companion. Getting angry at Hazel for prodding her unusual feathers would be as bad as getting angry with a hatchling for eating the food that you left unattended right next to them.
The little Deep Woods frowned, her ear tufts half way back in irritation, and then slowly relaxed with a quiet sigh. “It’s… okay, Hazel. I don’t like it when you do that, but I’m not angry with you.”
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