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 Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 5:58 pm
The park had proven to be a nice place in the past. The best place she knew of to observe others, particularly other children playing. Being no good at games like tag and hide-and-seek herself, her sources of amusement came from watching those who could.
However, it was an unwelcomed discover to see what winter had cast over the land. The blanket of white might be pretty to most, but the only thing Onoway could see were all the dead (and very frozen) plants. The few that had survived didn't look too well off, and as no one appeared willing to do anything about she came up with a solution herself: plant transportation.
In other words, she'd dig them up, apparently with her hands, and take them back home, put them in her room and keep them alive until the evil that was cold left. Unfortunately, the task proved harder than originally intended with the ground as frozen as it was.
The young child knelt down aside the flower bed, and had almost successfully dug one up when an unlucky snowball zoomed past her, following soon after a child who stomped thoughtlessly on the near-rescued flower. Sighing heavily, she eyed the now dead thing with dissapointment. Hm...
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Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 6:11 pm
Ezra was thoroughly miserable. Polecat had bundled him up in jackets and wrapped his tail in a blanket that made him look like a giant woolly sausage, but the awful cold still crept through.
He slithered slowly through the park, shivering wearily. How could those other kids play games in the snow? He couldn't imagine it. But then, he never really got in on other kids' games anyways.
In addition to chilling him to the bone, the terrible snow covered up the ground completely. He couldn't even look for rocks to add to his collection, or interesting animal tracks. Disappointed, Ezra slithered on through the snow.
Ahead of him, another child was kneeling in the snow, fooling around with some of the frozen plants. As cold as he was, it was difficult to summon up much enthusiasm about anything, but Ezra was interested. At least she wasn't running around screaming and throwing the dreaded "snowballs".
"Hey," he said, slithering up to stand beside her, balanced on his heavy tail. Normally he didn't initiate conversation, but he was too cold and bored to be shy. If she wasn't friendly, well, he could hardly feel worse than he already did. "Whatcha doing?"
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Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 6:27 pm
Chailyn was still sick with a cold, though it had gotten much better. She was tired of being stuck inside and with some work had gotten to come to the park. She was bundled up in a jacket and even had on some snow pants. Her hands were hidden in her coat sleeves, the cold nipping through her gloves.
She toddled through the snow before adjusting her earmuffs. She looked around wrinkling her nose up at the kids throwing snowballs. That didn't seem fun at all. She turned her head spying two tales together away from the others. Curious, she made her way over to them.
"Hi, what are you two doing?" she asked gently.
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Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 6:32 pm
Zayne wasn't crazy about snow. It wasn't the cold that bothered her, but the expanse of white. White was not on her list of favorite colors. It made her feel empty and blank.
Despite this open dislike of the substance, her Aunt had sent her out of them manor and told her not to return until at least an hour had passed. Without a watch, Zayne took this to mean until sundown. And so, she was in the park, dejectedly shuffling about in her usual ensemble of a bright purple jacket and a set of matching yellow hat and gloves.
In her wandering she noticed a crowd gathering in one area and veered in that direction. So long as they didn't throw things, she might just talk to them. Zayne pulled up behind Onoway, Ezra, and Chailyn and peeked into the group. Having caught the tail end of Chailyn's question, she idn't bother to voice her own. She just tried to look like she belonged there.
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Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 6:37 pm
So many people arrived so suddenly, it made even Onoway a bit uneasy. It was harder when you didn't have a voice of your own to be in a crowd like this one. So, which should she use? Slyvester had allowed her his, but he was a boy, and it sounded odd. Her 'mother' was too angry, and her sister too quiet.
With a moments thought, she decided quiet was probably better than outraged or male, and so went with that. "I'm moving these flowers," she said in a soft voice, barely able to be heard above the howling winds passing through. "It's too cold out here for them. Unfortunately, it's not working very well. It's taking a very long time, and people are running past stepping on them."
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Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 6:53 pm
Ezra, too, was startled by the arrival of so many other children. Normally he would have felt uncomfortable in the presence of so many "normal" looking strangers, but he was just too cold to care at the moment.
The words of the flower-girl made him squint dubiously. He could understand someone wanting to save the flowers... but it seemed like a waste of time. And it was so cold, too.
He gave a little wave to the others before turning back to the girl on the ground. "That's mean of 'em to step on the flowers. But how are you gonna save that many flowers, anyway?" He shivered, thinking of digging in the snow himself. If she asked, of course he would help her, but he certainly wasn't looking forward to it.
But then, there were the other children... if they offered first, he would look like a jerk. "I'll help you," he said, trying to keep his voice as upbeat as possible. "M'name's Ezra, by the way," he added, nodding to the other children. With a small sigh, Ezra rearranged himself so that he was closer to the ground, his tail curled tightly around his body to retain as much warmth as possible. He surveyed the dead and dying flowers without much hope.
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Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 7:07 pm
Chailyn wasn't sure what to think of trying to move the flowers. She was curious about what Onoway planned to do with the flowers once she dug them up. She thought silently to herself for a moment before looking to Ezra and then at Zayne.
"I'm Chailyn," she started giving a smile to them. "What happens after you dig them up?" she asked. She was naturally curious about the girl's plan. "Maybe if we made a circle around the flowers we could keep people from stepping on them?" she suggested.
She really didn't know what to do. She figured she should help but it was hard to decide when she had no clue what Onoway was going to do. She looked at Ezra as he volunteered to help. If he was going to help, she could offer to help as well. "I'll help, too."
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Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 7:12 pm
On one hand, Zayne didn't like doing work - but on the other hand, she could appreciate the effort to save something of color from the wasteland of snow. Besides, she certainly couldn't be the only one who didn't help.
"I'm Zayne," she said. Naming one's self seemed to be the thing to do. "I'll help too. We can't let all the color get covered up by the white. But we need somewhere warm to take the flowers."
She fumbled with her gloves, sticking them in her pocket, and then knelt by the others and eyed the flowers.
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Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 7:47 pm
"Well, I figure if I'm unable to save them all, a difference will still be made," Onoway explained to Ezra. "You know, like the story about the starfish. Where the boy goes around the ocean throwing them back in the water." Such a good story. She prefered it over ones about princesses and dragons and things.
Her eyes moved rapidly around at the three, blinking but twice. Wow. Aside from her sister, she'd met only two other around her age. Who knew there were so many friendly ones, as opposed to those who ran around stepping on flowers?
"Thank you all," she said sincerely. "And, my name is Onoway." Motioning toward a large gathering of flowers near by, she said thoughtfully, "I suppose each of you could just try to get those out. Be careful of the roots, if you damage them, the flowers will die anyway."
"When they're withdrawn from the ground, I'll take them home. It's warm there," she answered. "Though, of course you all are welcomed to take some as well. No one seems to mind."
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Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 9:52 pm
Ezra smiled at the other Tales, feeling a little bit better about his decision to help Onoway. At least he wouldn't be the only one digging through the snow.
"'s a good idea, Chal -- uh, Chailyn," he said, scooting over a little bit to form more of a circle around the flowers. He unwound his tail a little bit to help protect the circle, wincing at the cold.
At Onoway's direction, he began digging carefully around the base of a clump of flowers. "I dunno about starfish, but it'll be nice to save the flowers," he said, scraping out snow from the small hole he had made. Maybe saving the flowers would be worthwhile after all... at least it was fun to meet some nice new children who didn't mind his strange appearance. "M'mom lets me take home plants an' stuff, so I can help give homes to the flowers."
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Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 10:09 pm
Chailyn blushed lightly when Ezra said her idea was a good one. She gave a smile kneeling down spaced slightly away from other tales so that she could help protect the flowers. "Thank you, Ezra," she murmured softly.
She glanced at Onoway still a bit confused about things. She wasn't sure what to think really. It seemed like a good idea but what was she going to do after they dug them up and got them home? They couldn't just leave them unplanted and the soil was practically frozen under the snow, making it almost impossible to dig up soil to plant the flowers in. Wouldn't the plants be cramped in a pot? So many thoughts raced through her mind.
Still she began to dig through the snow, letting a moat of dirt appear. She tried to use her hands to dig but was finding the soil too frozen. Peering around her purple eyes noticed a stick, which she picked up rather quickly. Cupping it in her hands she stabbed it into the ground but it broke. A subtle pout of disappointment fell over her face before she shrugged.
Now she was determined to find a way to dig up the flowers. It was too bad she didn't have a hammer, the claw would've been very helpful. Instead she went back to trying to use her hands making little progress.
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Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 6:53 am
Everyone else began digging, so Zayne selected a flower herself and started digging away at it. Underneath about an inch or so the soil appeared to be frozen solid and Zayne's cold and raw hands didn't appear to be having much of an effect. She glanced around and to her eyes everyone else seemed to be making more progress than she, so she started to concentrate on her hands. If she just had something sharper and stronger than normal fingers... and then to distract the others from her now longer and sharper nails, she asked a question.
"How do you keep a flower alive indoors? I've only seen dead ones in wreathes and bouquets."
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Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 10:24 am
So many voices! It was hard to keep up with, really. This was the most people Onoway had spoken with at once, let alone guiding them in a project such as this. "They'll be fine," she assured Zayne. "One of my cousins has a friend who has special abilities with flowers. He can talk to them. I'll take them there and he can say what to do from there." It was a good plan. At least, a better one then just leaving them here to freeze.
With a glance around, she became concerned, however, pausing her work and withdrawing her hand from the ground. It was cold, and the ground was colder. What could be done about it?
"If we had a way to soften the ground a bit this wouldn't be so difficult," Onoway said mostly to herself.
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Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 3:49 pm
Ezra paused to grin at Chai before resuming work on the frozen ground. With his hard, scaled hands and almost claw-like nails, he was making better progress than the others. Unfortunately, he was also cold-blooded, and he had to take a break to blow on his numbed hands every couple of minutes.
Catching Onoway's murmured comment, he looked up from the trench he had made. A way to soften the ground... hmmm. "Maybe we could start a fire... no, the flowers might burn." Not to mention what his mom would say if she found out he'd been playing with fire!
Suddenly brightening, he stuffed one mittened hand into his pocket and rummaged around. "Wait! I almost forgot!" he said, bringing out a small handful of stones. "I brought some of my rock colle'chun. Some of them're sharp... we can use em to dig with!"
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Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 4:12 pm
Chailyn returned Ezra's grin as she pondered how to dig in the soil. She pulled off her new gloves and pulled out a pair from her coat pockets. She didn't want her new ones to get dirty and she'd gotten an old pair of Aislinn's to use before Ane bought her new ones. Putting on the new gloves, she tried to push her thumbs into the dirt, using them like a bird's back talon.
"Do they talk back?" she murmured softly. "The plants, I mean, to your cousin's friend." she added to give more of an explanation. She gave a look over to Zayne to see she was doing better before looking to Ezra. Apparently everyone was making a bit more progress than her.
She couldn't very well give up and thus tried to dig more, glancing over at the two beside her every once in awhile. She noticed Ezra blowing on his hands and peered at her gloves. Before she could offer them, he mentioned his rock collection. She looked them over before nodding, "I think those would make digging easier!"
After approving of his idea she decided of try offering her gloves to him. Picking the gloves up, she handed them out to the reptile tale. "You can use my gloves to keep your hands warm, Ezra."
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