|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2012 5:46 pm
Elki was stuck. It had been a perfectly peaceful morning up until his quest for mushrooms had extended to a hole in the tree that was just a little bit smaller than he was. But the greatest problem was the woven basket containing the morning’s haul that was currently squished between the tree and his back. He was worried that if he pushed backwards too roughly, it would break the basket and scatter his earnings. In hindsight, he really should have taken it off before climbing down to the out-of-the-way tree hollow. Of course, then he wouldn’t have been able to collect as many of these absolutely perfect pale orange mushrooms.
He wriggled a bit, legs held rigid against the tree trunk. Despite the predicament, he was not in any sort of panic and he calmly pondered his options. It seemed such a shame, but he had no other choice than to take the risk of losing everything. The fungi would be returned to the forest. Those who sought him out for his supplies would have to do without until tomorrow.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2012 5:55 pm
"I am going to go out on a limb--ha ha--and assume you are Elki?"
The voice comes down from above. It is boyish, almost childish; should Elki be in a position to look upwards he will see a head silhouetted against the canopy above, the backlit fur at his cheeks and ears pale brown.
"Awful predicament you seem to be in! I guess mushroom hunting is a dangerous business. They told me you'd be around here somewhere but I was expecting a bit more than the top of someone's head."
The speaker is cheery, and pushes his head a little further into the hollow to peer downwards, removing what little of Elki's light remains.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2012 6:09 pm
A long silence stretched out from Elki, eyes owlishly wide and head tilted awkwardly to the side to try catching a glimpse of the speaker. He was mortified to be found in such a position, especially by a stranger… and a stranger that had been looking for him. It was all terribly embarrassing. “I misjudged the space.” He murmured quietly as he was plunged into darkness. “It’s quite alright though.” Elki assured Fixx hurriedly, as if he usually found himself in such predicaments. He fidgeted nervously, realising that trying to convince the newcomer to leave him be wasn’t really the best plan. “You were looking for me?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2012 6:22 pm
"Sort of," is the brightly-delivered answer. "More like looking for what you had. I uh... I seek enlightenment, or something. You know. The flora-induced kind. Look, do you need a hand?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2012 6:30 pm
It didn’t sound like enlightenment was quite what the other male was after, but Elki was not one to judge. “I can help you with that.” He said softly and then pondered the offer. If he was going to be giving over any mushrooms, help was a necessity. “Well, yes, thank you. It’s the basket… if you could just…manoeuvre it… I don’t want to lose the contents.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2012 7:52 pm
"I don't want you to either," says the stranger gravely. "That would be disastrous."
Grabbing the edge of the hollow in his feet, he leans in and reaches for the basket. He gets a gentle hold and manages, after a moment, to slide the basket to safety. And then he's reaching back in to offer his Elki a hand, and his fur is scented with spices. There are nobles in the Tree of the Sun that bathe in basins of water steeped with fragrant leaves--he must hail from that life, because his fingers are far too fine to be a merchant's or a working person's, smooth and unblemished as though he barely climbs.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2012 8:12 pm
“Thank you.” Elki gave a soft sigh of relief as the basket was moved to safety, and not a mushroom spilt. Taking the proffered hand, it didn’t take long for him to be free of the hollow.
It took him a moment, and a good whiff of the spices, to realize his saviour was of noble descent. “I appreciate your help. May the Goddess be watching.” He added the soft prayer by habit, offering the male a shy smile.
There was a second’s hesitation and then, “I have mushrooms that are… much more potent than the ones you have been told about.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 2:10 pm
"You are a man right after my own heart," is the visitor's chirpy rejoinder. He hardly looks like a noble--looks a bit underfed, actually--but that splash of bright paint under his eye, remarkably cheerful and showy, only adds to the impression of his perfumed fur. "Took one look and knew just what I wanted to hear." He offers the basket back to Elki after shamelessly peering inside, and his own smile is not shy at all, but broad and open.
"Name of Fixx, by the way," he says. But even to the well-versed in nobility, the name probably doesn't ring a bell. "Tree of the Sun."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 6:19 pm
“It’s the least I can do…” He motioned towards the hollow with a wave of his hand, “… after the help.” Elki accepted the basket with another murmured thanks, returning it to his back after a quick check of the contests.
Fixx was unlike anyone Elki had ever met before. Many of those who lived at The Grandmother Tree (or rather, the few he had contact with) were generally reserved and he found being faced by that big smile was unsettling. Not that it wasn’t also nice to see, of course.
“Elki of The Grandmother Tree.” He responded, despite his name already being known and his origin fairly obvious. “My house… follow me please.” Another little smile and he began to lead the way, occasionally stopping to look back and make sure Fixx was climbing after him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2012 9:15 pm
And he is, of course, in a strange and jaunty fashion that seems more like a dance than anything: full of unnecessary flourishes, as though Fixx derives an intense pleasure from the way it feels to move his limbs.
"It's awfully quiet here," he comments cheerily. He has a voice like a finch, all happy chirps. "I don't know if you spend much time in the Tree of the Sun but it's so loud there sometimes you can't hear yourself think unless you go find a good branch high up. But there's always sort of a buzz, you know, like being close to a hive. I would go stir crazy here. I need a little racket or I start to think." Clearly, Fixx considers thinking--at least if he's doing it--a bad thing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
