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 Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2011 6:10 pm
 Tia wandered very slowly through the trees, reaching out with a paw and making sure it was firmly set against the ground before shifting her weight and bringing her body forward, then repeating the action with her other paw. Her long, bushy tail, held just barely touching the ground, would sweap back and forth as she went, encountering undergrowth or trees and giving her a mental map of her surroundings.
Frequently her questing paws encountered these things, forcing her to shift her weight back so that she could find a new direction to move in.
It was because she was somewhere new, with no one to guide her, that Tia was now making this slow journey. Born without sight, she relied heavily on other senses to guide her. When in known territory this wasn't as much an issue as it seemed, for she had an excellent memory and could move as freely as one with sight. Rarely did she go beyond her known boundaries.
Rarely, but not never. This was one such moment, as Tia looked to expand her knowledge and increase her roaming space. It was slow going, and she was now perhaps five or six days away from the boundry. She wasn't quite sure when she was going to call it enough, mark a new boundry, then begin exploring. Maybe just once it felt right.
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Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2011 7:52 pm
 The wind blowing through Cathair's feathers reminded him of what a blessing it was to be alive in the moving air. Leaf-fall had come, and soon it would be leaf-bare. His friends might tease him about his odd way of thinking, but there was no way to deny the n** in the air, the last gentle rush before snow blanketed the earth. In one last huzzah, the sun was shining bright in the October sky. On such a beautiful day, Cathair and his father had decided that it was high time they checked out the boundaries to what they jokingly considered their territory. The rabbits would soon be scarce, but Cathair had, admittedly, had a brief meal of one on his way here, thanking StarClan--his warrior ancestors--for the life of the rabbit. That was only honorable, after all.
The wind brought with it new scents. Here and there, Cathair could pick out the scents of friends and acquaintances who had passed here recently; werewolves, vampires, and the undead. It's definitely October, he thought in amusement. The dead are already stalking the earth. Some of his friends and housemates were the "undead," though, so he didn't think much about the scents. He certainly didn't worry about them--the werewolves only registered by a slightly doggier scent, the vampires by the faintest scent of blood, the undead by...well, they smelled like crow-food, carrion, any way you looked at it, but their scent was very scarce.
A strange scent met Cathair's nose--stranger than the walking undead. He flew down for a closer look at the road in the woods. He normally didn't go out here--where the meadow met the trees there was a region of scrub and it never seemed worth it to hunt out here--but he knew an unfamiliar scent when he smelled it. He perched on a tree limb with a rattling of the dead leaves, digging his claws into the bark. There, that was the stranger--a grey and brown fox with one wing. One wing...It was rare to see a noodle with only one. He wondered if she was like his friend Forty, someone with only one wing because only one of her parents had a wing. "Hello down there," he called out.
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Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 12:30 am
Tia paused, both ears swiveling forward and in an alert position. Up ahead, a noise. Leaves brushing against each other and the protesting creak of wood as pressure was put upon it. She sniffed at the air, but the wind was against her in this. She felt a stab of regret, for she’d chosen to walk in such a position so the wind didn’t fill her ears with its babble, but that was neither here nor there at the moment.
At least she wasn’t left to wonder for long.
“Hello down there,” came a voice, drifting to her sensitive ears before the wind could pluck it away. Tia’s head turned sharply to face the voice, ears still poised to catch the least little sound. It had a masculine timbre, with overtones of curiosity and confidence. Whoever was speaking to Tia, male or deep-voiced female, she was willing to bet they were a fighter of some kind. It would account for that subconscious confidence she heard. There could be other reasons for it of course and she tried to keep all of them in mind just in case her first impression was incorrect.
Well, standing here and speculating wouldn’t do much good in finding out, and it was rude after she’d been greeted in a courteous fashion. “Hello,” she called back, a hint of uncertainly coloring the word. Not that she’d called in the wrong direction, she was quite sure of where the newcomer was at the moment. No, it was just that Tia always got a little nervous meeting new people.
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Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 4:17 pm
Cathair paused, watching the stranger as she flicked her ears to listen. She did it expertly--clearly, she must have had some training. He flicked his tail, oddly impressed by it. Not that he was a snob--he tried desperately not to be a snob. But he had spent so long training as a hunter and a fighter that he couldn't help but be fascinated and excited by the prospect of someone else who knew the importance of taking in every sense, every cue in the environment, from the scent trail left by a rabbit to the scrabbling of mice in the undergrowth. Every thing that could be heard, everything that could be smelt, everything that could be--
Startled, Cathair wobbled on the branch. He overbalanced and fell to the ground in an undignified heap. Embarrassed by his landing and ashamed of his reaction, he sat back upright, pulling his tail and wings in tight. He had to remind himself of his canid heritage to prevent himself from grooming himself like a cat. Everyone's different, that's no reason to overreact! he scolded himself. Beneath his tan fur, his cheeks heated up. "Sorry," he said with a wry smile (even if she couldn't see it). "I, um..." He kneaded the ground with his paws, summoned all of his courage, and continued on, "I'm Cathair. I don't think I've--um, met you. Are you new around here?" He refused to think that one description. It wasn't right, it wasn't fair. He would only think it once he got to know her, could identify her as someone else. To reinforce that decision, he took a deep breath, scenting her.
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Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 7:12 pm
"Sorry?" Tia's voice was confused. "Why should you be sorry for falling?"
He (and she was confident that he was a he) could be speaking of something else, that would make more sense. Tia ran the two most likely scenarios through her head. He sounded a embarassed, so it could have been an automatic reaction to apologize for an act of clumsiness. And the other...
It was something Tia still didn't have much experience with, but it had been explained to her. This darkness she lived it was somewhat unnatural to other noodles. It wasn't so much that she was blind, for some noodles lost their sight during the course of their lives or were even born blind as she had been. But they had eyes with which to lose their sight, and she had none. Just like her father and one of her brothers.
It was normal to her, this lack of eyes. Herself, her brother, and her father aside, her eldest brother and one of her sisters had one eye and lacked the other. The only ones who actually had both eyes were Mother and her baby sister, and Vita's eyes were apparently very delicate. However normal it might be to her though, she'd been warned it might startle others.
If it had startled the male who introduced himself as Cathair, it would explain why he'd fallen out of the tree and why he felt it necessary to apologize for doing do.
Tia smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring way. If she was correct, then her questioning his apology would probably make the poor male feel that much more awkward! "I go by Tia. No one ever uses my full name unless I'm in trouble, which I hope isn't the case in this situation." She chuckled quietly, then drew in a deep breath of air.
Still too far away to get a proper scent, with the wind against her, but Tia was able to pick up interesting hints. Grass, but with that vague sweetness of nighttime about it, when dew formed and made the scents of the earth richer. And....rabbits? Tia took another pull of air into her lungs tasting it and getting confirmation. Maybe it was his favorite thing to eat, or maybe he'd been in a rabbit warren for some reason.
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Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 8:45 pm
She smelled a bit like...cinnamon. Yes, she did, and was that a halo over her head? Cathair had never seen something like that. He'd never even heard of someone with a halo over their head. He tried to think about that instead of what a fool he'd just made of himself. Serves me right--that was rude!
"I don't think you're in trouble," Cathair replied. "I mean, unless you're lost--like I said, I don't think I've seen you around here. I mean, unless I haven't been looking around enough recently." He curled his tail around his feet awkwardly. She definitely smelled warm--comforting, homey scents, though "homey" to Cathair meant gorse, heather, and rabbits. He had an odd sense of "home" by most people's definition. She didn't seem like she belonged out here. She seemed like she'd be more at home, oh...he didn't know where, but she didn't smell like he did, like someone who spent day and night in the outdoors. Not that I spend all my time outdoors. My friends live indoors, and pretty soon winter will come and I'll have to come inside again. Cathair took a few steps closer in order to get a better scent. He returned her smile, even if she couldn't see it. I'll just have to hope that she can hear it in my voice.
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Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 12:45 am
Tia listened to Cathair speak, feeling a touch amused. Of course she didn't mean to make anyone feel awkward, but there was something about it that gave her an urge to giggle. That would have been rude though, so Tia waited until she was positive she had the emotion well in hand before she spoke.
"Depends on what you mean by lost," she said. "I don't know this particular stretch of land at all and so I have no idea what I might encounter. However my scent trail is very clear to me and I can easily follow it back into familiar territory. If a major storm were to strike I suppose I would feel very lost, depending on how well my scent was destroyed and the land changed."
At that moment a wave of self-consciousness hit Tia. Here she was, alone in a place she wasn't familiar with, with what was considered a major handicap to most. Cathair must think she was a half-wit. That he was also male and not family didn't help. Tia unconsciously tug her claws into the soil as her own wave of embarassment struck.
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Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 10:31 am
Was there a storm coming? Cathair lifted his head up and scented the wind. There didn't seem to be the smell of a storm--what was it Ganaia had called it? Ozone? It didn't matter, he didn't smell anything like a storm quite yet. "I think we're good in terms of weather," he assured her. "For now at least. I don't normally check the weather report."
Cathair was impressed with her forethought--and with her sense of smell. Some part of him that had approved earlier nodded once again. She was very skilled. He wanted to get to know her better. "If a storm does pop up, though," he added, "and you need help, don't hesitate to ask." He suddenly wondered if that was rude. Probably not. It would be more rude not to help someone who needed it. "So, where's home for you, Tia? I live on the other side of the meadow." He couldn't stop himself from sweeping an arm out towards it. He didn't even realize it until his foot landed back among the fallen leaves. No, bad, unhelpful! He berated himself silently. The thought occurred to him that she probably knew where the meadow was--he could smell it, she could probably smell it, too.
The thought also occurred to him that she might have heard the crunching of leaves as he settled his paw down. I need to be more careful. Or, I need to stop worrying about what I do and just act natural, another part of himself argued back.
((Poor Cathair, doesn't know what to do!))
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Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 1:17 pm
((lol Tia's in the same boat. She hasn't really ever talked to anyone outside her family before.))
Tia listened carefully. She'd heard the light padding noises of paws brushing against dirt and small bits of debris, and figured Cathair had moved closer to her. That suspcion was confirmed when his scent grew a tad bit stronger, and his voice was nearer than before. When he spoke of his meadow home she heard a light scrapping followed by the crunching of leaves. She wasn't quite sure what that was, some kind of gesture with his paws or shifting to a more comfortable position, perhaps.
"I'm not too worried about the possibility of rain catching me unawares. It's very hard not to notice when a storm's about to spring up," she said, tilting her head back and sniffing the air. Nope, it all still smelled and felt like it would be a lovely day.
"Home for me... It's a three-day walk behind me, about seven miles. I've been traveling slowly. She shifted her single bandaged wing on her back, still aware that she probably seemed weak. Who took three days to travel seven miles? She sighed and attempted to distract herself.
"What does your meadow smell like? I scent grass and other plants that don't grow around forest floors for lack of sunlight, it that part of it?"
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Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2011 12:34 pm
Who takes three days to-- That wasn't very charitable. She must have had good reason. "Taking in all the smells?" he asked. That was the best reason he could think of that she had taken so long. Sure, she couldn't fly, but she could still have walked...? She might be new to wandering so far. Or if she grew up in the city, all the smells could be overwhelming. If I had nothing to do but explore, I'd make sure I did a good job of it. He realized suddenly that he had moved closer to her without thinking. Weird, but then, there was something he liked about Tia, something about her warm scent and her skills...
He thought about the smell of the meadows, thought about it hard. "Well," he said slowly, "it smells like grass. And gorse. And heather. And rabbits. We have no idea how the gorse bushes got there, they're not exactly native to the area." A thought occurred to him. "Have you ever smelled a meadow before?" he asked. He wasn't sure how to explain different scents!
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Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2011 1:10 am
Tia's nose twitched curiously. She was trying to puzzle out Cathair from the tones he used, since he was an entirely new person to her and she had no clue what to really expect from him. His first question had been a touch disbelieving, but in a nonmalicious way.
Well, it wasn't anything definitive. Seven miles in three days was kinda slow, even the most out-of-shape Noodles could have managed better than that. She hadn't been moving directly forward and the land was all new though, so maybe she should toss that out there?
While she puzzled Tia noticed Cathair's scent was a bit stronger. Warmer too, like she was getting it from his body rather than carried on the wind. The rabbit smell was definitly there; did he maybe have rabbit-fur decorations somewhere? It wasn't unpleasant though. In fact, mixed with the various scents of plants she knew and plants she didn't, it just worked for Cathair.
"Perhaps a rabbit ate the gorse plant and carried the seeds in its belly when it traveled looking for a new place to live," Tia suggested. "Or maybe the wind carried the seeds, or someone planted them for some reason. It would be interesting to know how they got there."
She mulled for a moment, mixing her previous thoughts together with the second question Cathair had asked.
"Meadows.... I know what they are in theory, and I don't think I've ever been in one. Places without trees, right? This would be the first one I've encountered."
She flexed her legs, feeling whether or not her bandages needed adjustments, and trying to think of a way to explain her method of traveling without being confusing. "If there are any others around here I might have missed them. I move back and forth as I go forward, about a mile both ways, so I have more than a straight line of land memorized. Just in case a detour is necessary or if I have to move fast for some reason. I feel more secure with a wider stretch of land to work with, if that makes sense. It's been nothing but trees the whole way."
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Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 2:50 pm
Cathair thought he understood suddenly. Oh, maybe that's what she meant! Seven miles in three days as the crow flies, not as the paw steps. At least, I think that's what she meant. "I haven't walked much in the woods. Maybe I ought to try that sometime. I'm not sure I could stand sleeping out here, though--the only time I sleep with a roof over my head is during the winter, and sometimes not even then. I like to be able to see the stars when I sleep. Makes me feel safe." Was he babbling now, or just making conversation? Who cared, anyway? They were friends, right?
"I'm not sure how gorse grows," he confessed. "I learned a lot from my father, and I love him dearly, but he's not the sort to question why. The meadow has gorse, and gorse should be in meadows, in his experience, so he just accepts it. Some people worry because it's a fire hazard, though." He shrugged. They would have to worry about that when the time came. For now, there was no real reason to worry much about it. "You should come s--smell it," he added. "I don't know if you'll like it--I do, but you're different--but..." He faltered. He was honest enough with himself to admit that he wanted her to be there and to like it. "It's another experience, y'know?" he said lamely.
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 10:33 am
Tia chuckled softy. She found herself warming to Cathair more and more as he spoke. He seemed nice and he was certainly trying to make the mental shift required when talking with a blind person. It was harder than it seemed.
"I've always asked how more than why," she said. "I like understanding things, even stuff that seems inconsequental. And if I know the how, sometimes I can predict the when, where, and why. I think I would enjoy the new experience of smelling a meadow."
Tia moved forward at a slow pace. She was pretty sure the path was clear, but until she was able to follow Cathair's movements she made it a habit to opt for caution. Running into branches tended to make lessons in moving stick.
"You know, I've never been able to comprehend a star," she said as she walked. "I do prefer being outside cause scents and sounds are purer, but when people try to explain stars they use words like twinkle or glow or some word for light." She stopped when Cathair's scent reached its strongest level yet and she could feel the heat eminating from him, indicators she was now quite close to him. Tia shrugged. "I only really know what darkness looks like."
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 11:05 pm
Cathair nodded. "I like the how, too, but sometimes...well, sometimes I forget to ask the how," he admitted. "I mean, sometimes I get so caught up in what things are supposed to be like, what I've been taught, the stories I hear, that I forget to ask the how, and the why. Do you think everyone is like that? Maybe that's why people are in conflict all the time. No hows, no whys." He had never even thought about this before. Funny how a shift in paradigm could be so easily achieved.
The stars... As Cathair fell in step alongside Tia, trying not to move too far ahead, he realized that he wanted to explain them to her. Why? To cover up for embarrassment before? To prove that he understood hows and whys? No. It's because stars are important. They're what we are. They're what we were. And someday, they're what we will be. "Stars," he said slowly, "they're...well, my housemates say they're big balls of gas so big that they burn. They're so far away that they don't have a scent, and there's no sound--Ganaia says that sound and smell have to have a medium to travel through, and there's a vacuum between us, so no sound or smell. Sorry, I'm just thinking out loud." He looked up at the sun. "It's just like our sun, so stars are probably warm. But they don't make us warm. So..." Now he felt more embarrassed than ever. He wanted to...what, impress her? With scientific knowledge? Because talk of gorse and grass had made them talk about hows and whys, and that was scientific talk. And stars couldn't be described like that. Not to someone who had never, never experienced them, not like everyone else had.
Unbidden, his mind drifted to his father's stories, and with his mind, his tongue. "Dad says that when we die, our spirits join StarClan, our ancestors. When we die, there are no bounds between Clans. Everyone remembers their Clans, but they're not important. There's a land where there's always food and shelter, and the herbs grow thick and lush. There's always peace, and our ancestors watch us with stars in their fur." Now he was rambling, but he didn't know what else to say. "I guess, if you can't describe the, the look of stars, I'd say that stars...stars are the other side of the cold of ages, the other side of the dark of night. They smell like clear skies, and they sound like hope. They're ripples on the sea, they're friends on hard days, wisdom in mad times. Stars aren't so much the spirit of the land, the spirit of space, but the spirit of, of time, I guess." He smiled wryly. "Or does that sound like a load of superstition to you?" He hoped she wouldn't say yes. For all of his talk, for all that he was reluctant to admit it to other people...he believed it. He really did.
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Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2012 11:01 am
Tia had turned her head towards Cathair, almost like she was watching him intently. It was absurdly easy to follow him when he spoke, since she knew not only where they were going but if he ducked to avoid something. That made it easier to actually listen to what Cathair was saying.
Her steps slowed before she spoke, since having her own voice in her ears would make it harder to hear Cathair's footsteps. "I've never heard it explained that way before," she said softly, then sighed.
"I have always been most firmly grounded on the earth. I've heard various opinions from others about what they think will happen when they die." Tia struggled to find a way to explain it. "I think belief comes harder for me than it does for others. I've "seen" many things with these paws of mine and will "see" many more, but there's always going to be some things I'll never comprehend. Sometimes I can find.....alternates? Different associations. Like when people say "red hot" I know it means something with an extreme heat level which I can feel. "Towering thunderheads" means a big storm which I can sense coming. It's not the same, but it's as close as I'll get."
Tia sighed again. "Life after death. There is nothing that smells, sounds, tastes, or feels like it. Descriptions either mean nothing to me, or sound just like life is now. Every single common theme is that life after death is supposed to be grander than it is here though."
She shook her head as though ridding herself of an annoying fly, and suddenly laughed. "I guess I'm being pessimistic and cynical. Certainly I believe it's all quite possible, and perhaps one day it'll suddenly make sense. Your description of stars was the best I've been given, though I don't know what vacuums are or what ripples on the sea look like."
((*trying to remember the books* Meadows, gorse, and rabbits. Is Cathair from WindClan?))
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