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 Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 4:56 pm
(( Hawthorn, Stonecast, and Dodger - if she so pleases~ )) 
This certainly was not the best day for Stonecast.
As the Hunter drifted past the slender arms of the trees that reached out for her, she began to feel their prickly fingers pluck and clip her outstretched wings and leaves crackle against her luminous eyes. Barreling through the closely bunched foliage wasn’t one of the smarter ideas she had come up with as of late, but it was an effective way for cutting corners, even at the cost of disheveled feathers. Drawing her wings up, Stone plummeted to a thick bough, her talons scraping appreciatively over the wood.
The scaled, green body of her companion-Waral glittered through the leaves like a beacon of mockery; eyes – black eyes, as black as oil wells – sparkled menacingly through the branches that divided them. She couldn’t see it, but she knew there was a plump Mus caught between his greedy jaws, a kill that had been intended for the cache, but one of which he was not too keen on giving up.
“First.…” she began, voice low and tremulous. She shuffled to the left and ducked forward, hoping to catch a better glimpse of the monitor. “That capture was neither mine nor yours – it was for the others.” Might as well have been belly-up. A flick of his tongue and a soft, breathy hiss and First had captured the taste of her failed reasoning. The Waral gave his tail an idle snap and turned towards the trunk:
“Come!” he taunted. His throat wrinkled as he twisted around to peer at his keeper, “Chaa!” And with a shimmy, the monitor was sliding down the trunk and towards the below-ground.
Clearly frustrated, Stonecast pursued. Well, she tried. She got as far as four branches below her previous roost before she hastily pulled up and landed – ungracefully – on a slender bough that thrummed beneath the weight of her fall. The last vestiges of lizard-claw scratching against soft bark trickled into the surrounding gloom as First scrambled just out of her reach.
She would not go down there, she told herself. Not for one silly Mus. But even as she sat nestled against the curve of the trees, bright eyes unblinking, she wasn’t convinced. It may have been just one Mus, but for Stonecast it was yet another affirmation of her overall lack of reassertion. How embarrassing was it when you couldn’t even get your companion to take heed of your words?
Very, she decided. Very.
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Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 10:37 am
"Is that one of Snagtalon's? They're just like she is-- stubborn to the bone." The voice is sympathetic and startlingly close: it comes from a sleek-looking male Shadow, half-hidden in the branches of a nearby tree. From the sound of things, he's been a silent witness to Stonecast's Waral trouble.
Hawthorn has spent the majority of the morning doing his laps and visiting Sentinels all over the Deep Woods. There are those who owe him favours, those who he owes favours, and those who he likes to keep in touch with 'just in case'. And just like a Keeper carefully tending (and pruning) a particular bloodline in order to get the result they've been working towards, Hawthorn takes very good care of his social contacts. Especially now that he's taken on an new student.
For now, he is alone-- Hawthorn has nothing with him at all, save a nice plump dead mouse tucked in the sharp talons of one foot. The male tilts his head, still watching Stonecast. "Anything I can help with?"
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Jaeger Erdarastrix Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 3:45 pm
Perhaps it had been a blessing in disguise that that disembodied voice had reached her before she had time to settle into the stew of her own personal angst. Startled, Stonecast twisted her face towards the source, the minute bristling of her disheveled feathers the only testament to her surprise. The few seconds she took to stare in abject horror seemed like years; she had not been expecting company—no, no witnesses—not out here. It was a good thing that the female Shadow had no clue when it came to proper social etiquette – or, at least, that the other was half in gloom. He was positively immaculate, while she…well, she looked like she had been crashing through trees. Of course, she had been but…. A flick of her eyes broke her from her reverie.
“No—he’s mi—" she paused, broke off and ducked her head, abashed with sudden understanding. “Yes, I mean. Of course. Once upon a time.”
It was clear by the way she had lowered her head, the way her eyes scoured the leaves as though to push them away, that her curiosity had been piqued. His appearance had left her disoriented; the ‘had he seen’s and ‘did he pity her’s racing quickly enough through her mind to give her a headache. Though she tried to play it cool, she looked nothing but on-edge. And a mess. Yes, that too especially.
Anything I can help with?
Stonecast attempted a smile that was more apologetic than it was self-deprecating, “U-unless you enjoy arguing with Warals, then by all means…. Though I must confess there hasn’t been an argument that we haven’t had that he hasn’t come out victor.”
The corners of her eyes crinkled gently, and those same eyes again followed the path her companion had taken. She ached to give a good, heaving sigh. Instead she swallowed it.
“It...it was just one Mus, anyway.”
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Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 6:36 pm
The male ducks his head slightly; while Hawthorn certainly has a bad habit of accidentally (or purposely) sneaking up on other Sentinels, he has the grace at least to look abashed at having startled Stonecast. If he notices her ruffled feathers, he gives no outward sign-- on the contrary, Hawthorn lifts his head after a moment to give her a smile. "Well, I don't particularly enjoy arguing with anyone, but I do have some experience with the Waral that Snagtalon breeds. She's an old... 'friend', if anyone could claim that of Snag."
He sidesteps on his branch, coming out of the shadows for the sake of being polite, and smiles at Stonecast. Unsettled or not, there's something about the female that has caught Hawthorn's attention. "Please, I didn't mean to startle you." Stonecast looks edgy enough to shred rocks into slivers, and Hawthorn stays still and calm in an attempt to use body language to make her comfortable. "Perhaps a deal? If I can't get your wayward Waral to return the Mus, you can have this plump mouse in exchange. Not as big as a Mus, perhaps, but guaranteed fresh."
With a short ruffle of his feathers, the Shadow male tilts his head further and gapes his beak in a grin. "What do you say?"
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Jaeger Erdarastrix Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 7:49 am
She must have looked some sort of distressed for him to say something. The female Shadow willed herself to relax, pushing past the tenseness in her wings and body and shoving it all to her feet like shedding a second skin. Of course, the end result left her feeling exposed, but she rode it out - she wanted desperately to be polite. The male Shadow seemed kind enough. Of course, that didn't stop her talons from sinking into the soft bark of the tree and gripping as though she were preparing for a strong gust of wind.
Stonecast's apology was no more than a soft utterance. Though his grin was infectious, working its way across her own beak, she managed to wrinkle her brow, "Oh, I don't know. Dealing with First is a messy business, I don't think...."
Her voice trailed off the moment she dropped her eyes to peer at the mouse beneath his talons. However, it wasn't the mouse that she noticed, if not the talons themselves, hooked and sharp and ready for engagement. Stonecast's eyes leapt upward again - was he a fellow Hunter? The question was in her eyes, but tumbled differently from her beak.
"You certainly do look ready to do battle with a Waral," she said with a quick and appreciative smile. Her resolve crumbled. "I never have been good at saying 'no'."
Stonecast turned her face away momentarily and peered at him from the corner of her eyes like a suspicious fledgling - sweet and joking and unsuspecting; dealing with one Sentinel at a time was much better than a horde the Hunter decided.
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Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 6:29 am
Hawthorn's smile does not grow wider, but it does perhaps grow warmer. "Dealing with a petulant Waral is certainly messy, yes-- I had one once, almost the spitting image of your... 'First', did you say his name was? Mine-- 'Whiptail'-- unfortunately met with an untimely end, and I haven't had the heart to get another one." That, and he acquired an appreciation for Waral as a meal rather than as a Companion; Snagtalon and the other Waral keepers will only furnish him with culls now, as they know he will eventually eat them.
The teacher is not sure why he's volunteering information to a Sentinel whose name he does not even know. He's not even sure why he's having this conversation to begin with, save that he feels no pressing desire to leave Stonecast's presence and a great desire to impress her. His tufts raise slightly in surprise. He hasn't felt like this since... well! Nevermind that. He'll see first if he can get away without making a great fool of himself, and go from there.
"...At any rate," Hawthorn says, drawing himself to his full height with a decisive air, "I'll save you the trouble of saying no; I wholeheartedly volunteer." At this, the Shadow male executes an elaborate, sweeping bow that ends with a flourish of both wings and a full tail spread. It is more than even the Brigadier would demand, but Hawthorn completes the tribute with a sudden wink at the female-- before abruptly launching himself off his branch, mouse in foot, and plummeting silently down in the direction First had disappeared in.
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Jaeger Erdarastrix Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:14 am
Stonecast admired his openness as she often did with those who bothered to remain in conversation with her. Slight of words, she offered a look of consolation – despite First being the bane of her existence at times, she didn’t know what she’d do without him; he was an anchor to reality, a link within the lonely life of a hunter and the socially inept. She well, appreciated his company more than anything else, despite the quarrels that often had her chasing him down trees. At least the Waral kept her active.
Taken aback by his bow, Stonecast’s feathers rippled in obvious surprise, the length of her body straightening. Her fluster was uncontrollable, passing through her like a lightening bolt and the unnamed male’s wink only made it intensify. Embarrassment was something she felt often, but this was most definitely a different genre altogether! She was completely awash in it. As he sprang from the branch, she shuffled down her own to watch with worried eagerness after his descent.
“Be…be careful,” she said long after his presence had gone. Her feathered brow dimpled against the gloom.
First, on the other hand, had been skillfully dropping from branch to branch. The Mus was still secure in his jaws, and his mouth salivated with hunger. He knew his ward would not be coming after him, but the sooner he fell to the safety of the forest floor, the sooner he’d be out of harm’s way completely. Not that he was scared, oh no, no, no! First was intimidated by no Sentinel!
His scaled body fell upon a sapling, which bent and splintered beneath the heavy weight of his body. He slid on his belly and gripped the fresh branch firmly and before leaping into low-lying brush with a crunch.
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Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 6:42 am
If the wayward Waral thinks that going to ground will make him completely safe, he has never met a Sentinel like Hawthorn before. Hawthorn has already decided that he will not return without the stolen Mus, and that decision means that he will follow First wherever he goes until the Teacher gets what he wants. If First ends up in a badger-burrow, then Hawthorn will follow-- even to his own death, although the Shadow male is confident it won't come to that.
With the noise First is making, it doesn't take long for Hawthorn to find him, and by continuing his silent plummet he catches up with the Companion rather quickly. Hawthorn drops like a rock, landing abruptly in front of the Waral on a distressingly low sapling springing out of the brush First had landed in. He still has the mouse clutched in his talons.
"Snagtalon would come and cull you in a heartbeat if she found out what a thief you are," Hawthorn says, his voice harsh and sharp. "You are a disgrace to your Keeper and your owner. I know many fledglings that need that Mus more than you do! Fat, fat First!" The onslaught is accompanied by threatening posture-- completely different from Stonecast's approach, perhaps, but worth a shot. "Drop the kill!"
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Jaeger Erdarastrix Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 9:43 pm
First almost reared up when the strange Sentinel landed in front of him: it looked remarkably like his Shadow, but was not his Shadow, and looked far too masculine anyway! The Waral hissed - at least, the spluttering around the Mus' fat body sounded vaguely like a hiss - throat inflating in defense. Though startled, the monitor knew better than to lash out at the large, taloned bird, and chose instead to whip his tail in agitation, ripping it through some bramble.
What was he doing!
At the mentioning of Snagtalon, and one little word that began with a 'c' and ended with an 'ull', the Waral flinched away with a curl of his lips. He was unused to having a Sentinel reassert their authority on him - after being with Stonecast for some time, it had become easier and easier for him to act up without a firm castigation here and there to put him back in place.
But this was not his Sentinel! Darting back, First gave another faltering hiss from around his kill. He was hard pressed to drop the rodent, but simultaneously it was easy to see that the Waral was beginning to second guess his decision in the first place.
"Mine!" he snapped, Mus flopping in his grasp. His voice, like a flat belly passing through gravel, sounded cautious, unsure.
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