|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2012 3:32 pm
Paige & Paoma
Time of Day - Mid-Afternoon (approximately 2 pm)
Weather - Overcast with a Slight Breeze, but no Rain
Where - Paoma's Garden
There was a nudge at her side, making Paige jump and snap out of her little trance. Alcyone was there, nosing at her Chosen's ribs with rather firm force, as if to push her away from the little fence she crouched behind. The little girl frowned, placing her palm on the doe's nose and pushing it down slightly. "Alcyone, please. We just need a potato or two, I'm starving," she whispered, stroking her Guardian's nose. "I know you must be hungry, too?" At this, the deer backed off a bit, but her cream-colored ears folded back to display her uncertainty. She'd never been fond of Paige's habit of theft. Sadly, one had few options when living on the street.
Murky green eyes returned to the patch of vegetation growing on the other side of the fence. She'd seen a little girl around her age wandering about here earlier; did she own this plot? Paige chewed on her chapped lower lip as she tried to find the perfect target: something she could swipe very easily without being noticed, and make a quick getaway. There! A few potatoes had already been dug up and set aside for washing, and were just on the other side of the fence. Paige reached her skinny little arm through the slats of the fence, holding her tongue just right as she reached for the small pile.
She was stretching so far, because the pile was just out of reach, that she lost her sense of balance on her toes and one hand and toppled forward, slamming into the fence. It fell over with a creak, making a racket once the slats hit the ground and a few pieces of wood splintered. The orphan cried out in frustration, and began to scramble to gather as many potatoes and other things as she could before the owner came running out to see what had happened; might as well go for the jackpot. Alcyone, in the meantime, had begun to panic, and was stomping her feet, nudging Paige in all sorts of places, getting more and more insistent. Eventually, Paige stood up, arms full of vegetables, and started to run away. However, she dropped a few things and bent to pick them up, desperate for a long-lasting hoard, and tripped over her own hurried feet. The vegetables went everywhere, and she growled in anger. She'd certainly be caught now!
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2012 4:43 pm
Throughout all this, a pair of pale, glowing eyes the color of a soft morning sky watched, though its owner made no noise and no movement save for impatient twitch in his bushy tail. His pink nose seemed to be working, taking in the smells of the two intruders, and his ears pricked to catch the girl's words.
If either Paige or Alcyone had looked toward the far corner of the house, they would have seen him, the striped grimalkin that inhabited this particular plot of land along with his bonded. He had been fiddling about on the roof prior, and had no doubt seen the pair approaching from a long way off, but by the time the girl and deer had arrived at his garden, he had settled into position to peer silently (and creepily) around the corner of the house at them.
Now what could they be up to?
Since Paoma was inside the house patching up an old apron, the grimalkin assumed that these were, in fact, trespassers. And thieves, too, from the look of it! He watched as the girl reached through the fence, groping for the fat potatoes sitting in the shade, watched her fingers stretching for the pile... he licked his lips in amusement. But didn't she know that she had but to ask? There were too many potatoes anyway. Paoma would only end up having to sell them in the city, or even give them to the fat lady across the river who never allowed him into her inn.
And then.... she fell. There was a clank as she hit the fence, and then the wood creaked and shattered against the ground and-- "Little Brother!" Oh, dear. Now she had gotten him into trouble! "If you break one more thing out there, you'll have to come indoors."
And as if that hadn't enough... the girl was making a break for it! Never before had the grimalkin been framed in such manner - in fact, he had never been framed before in his life (mostly due to the fact that he usually earned whatever trouble he found himself in, but that was another story). Well, this was unfairness through and through and Little Brother refused to sit for it. In fact, he refused to sit, period.
Leaping into a flurry of motion, the striped cat burst out of "hiding" in hot pursuit, yowling indignantly at the girl, even as he saw her trip and watched the stolen food spill all over the ground. Ever one to take advantage of an opportunity, the grimalkin sprinted to where the girl sprawled on the ground and launched himself at her, intent on landing square on her chest and sitting there until backup arrived.
And through it all, he did not stop voicing his displeasure, loud and proud as his yowling rang out. It must have worked, too, because moments later, the front door opened and little Paoma came running out to investigate. "Well... what...?" She managed to speak, but only barely as she regarded the scene unfolding before her.
Oh, yes. Little Brother had done good.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 10:12 pm
The sound of a voice from inside the little house made Paige jump, and she struggled to get a footing in order to run away. Her guardian, golden eyes frantic as they glanced back and forth between the orphan and the door to the house. She sent frantic plea after frantic plea along their connection, resorting to nudging and pushing at Paige to get to her her feet. But they were too late.
A flash of fur caught Paige off guard, and she yelped as she fell to the ground again. The yowling of the cat made her yell back, fighting with the unusually large animal and trying to get it off of her. "Get off of me, you stupid cat! Get off!" Alcyone did her best to help, stomping her hooves right next to Paige's body in an attempt to scare the cat away. She did not want to stop on the cat, simply because it was on top of Paige, but she might have had it not been. Letting out huffs of foggy breath as she tried to scare the cat away, the doe was getting frustrated.
The voice they'd heard earlier sounded again, and this time the owner was outside. Both Paige and Alcyone looked up at the girl, both sets of eyes stretched wide, and Alcyone began to prance about anxiously. Paige continued to struggle beneath the large cat, glaring at it and gritting her teeth as she shoved at it. "Damn it, get off! Damn it!" Eventually, she simply gave up. She'd been seen, this cat was too heavy to move, and Alcyone was not the type to just knock the cat off with a good kick of her hind legs. She avoided looking at the girl, who no doubt owned this stupid cat, instead deciding to frown and let her arms fall to the ground beside her with a huff. Well, if she was going to be punished, she might as well just accept it and take responsibility for it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 10:46 pm
Little Brother was unimpressed. He simply flattened his ears in response to the doe's threatening hooves and, if anything, just sat heavier on the poor girl sprawled on the ground underneath his paws. And when the little thief verbally demanded that he release her, the grimalkin answered in kind, all but sticking his muzzle into her face and meowing indignantly.
That he must be quite a heavy burden to carry either didn't occur to him or didn't interest. He sat like a dead weight on his runaway thief, tail twitching nonchalantly as he watched her companion deer with wide, careful eyes. When the girl tried to bodily shove him off, he simply leaned all his weight back against her. There was that same aura of wonderfulness that usually seemed surrounded beings with magical properties, and any other time, the grimalkin would likely have reacted positively. But the insult of being framed was still fresh in the cat's mind, and he didn't seem too intent on letting them going without a reprimand. Not that being sat on was not punishment in and of itself.
"What's happening here?" Paoma demanded, though the evidence seemed to speak for itself. It wasn't characteristic of Little Brother to falsely accuse anyone - and in fact, Paoma wasn't sure he was capable of dishonesty - but he did react negatively to ill behavior near their home. And he seemed rather adamant about this one.
"Well, get off, Little Brother, that's not nice!" Paoma said finally, making a shooing motion at the striped grimalkin. Little Brother seemed to frown. When he didn't move, the girl stepped over and wrapped her arms around him behind his front legs and scooped his front half up, physically walking him off his prisoner. At that, the grimalkin acquiesced, but reluctantly at best, and immediately got to his feet to watch the runaway like a hawk.
"I'm sorry about that, he's not got very good manners," Paoma added, seeing the deer standing beside the girl and watching with interest. "And he's quite protective of our vegetables, even though, I suppose, there's far too many in there anyway."Cynnybun XD No worries! I had a busy few weeks myself.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 12:17 am
When the other girl drew nearer, Paige let out an indignant huff and crossed her arms over her chest. She glared at the stupid cat as it was lifted off of her chest, quickly getting to her feet and brushing herself off. Alcyone came up behind her and nosed at her cloak to get most of the dirt off; thankfully it wasn't wet out today, so there wasn't much mud. She soon came to stand next to Paige but put one hoof out in front, as a sort of warning to the girl and the cat to stay back. It was her duty to protect her Chosen, after all, even if Paige was in the wrong.
Paige, however, was not as gracious. A wide grimace stretched her lips downward at the corners and she avoided the other girl's gaze, crossing her arms over her chest. Her legs were twitching, telling her to run, but her brain was telling her to apologize like a decent human being. She cleared her throat, but let out a soft little snort of laughter at the girl's apology for the cat. "Yeah, I can see that. He's quite the loudmouth," she murmured, giving the beast another dirty look. But she supposed it was probably his job; he probably shouldn't be blamed for doing it, even if he'd possibly gotten her in trouble.
She finally dared a glance at the other young girl, ashen green eyes displaying her embarrassment. "Look, uh... I'm really sorry about your fence. And for, um, you know, trying to steal your stuff." She fidgeted, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, and rubbed her arms gently. "There just seemed to be a lot there, and... Well, it's not a good excuse, but I was hungry," she mumbled, realizing that she wasn't being very logical. Just because she was hungry didn't give her the right to steal someone's food, even if it was the only real way she could survive on the streets. And this girl seemed nice enough, which only made her feel worse.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 6:20 am
Paoma smiled. "He's good at his job," she agreed. When it came to keeping the house safe from intruders, even a guard dog couldn't have done as good a job as the grimalkin did.
Not one to miss out on competition, Little Brother reacted almost instantly to Alcyone's warning by sliding himself in front of Paoma, pinning his ears and hissing back at the doe. If it was Alcyone's duty to protect her Chosen, then it was just as much the grimalkin's duty to protect his little girl. And Little Brother had teeth and claws, a point he did not fail to flaunt with raised lip and unsheathed claws and bristling hair. With half his fur standing angrily on end, he looked twice as big as he really was.
The girl knelt to smooth back the fur on his head, scratching the grimalkin under his chin. "Oh, leave it out, Little Brother. She's not going to hurt me. Or the precious potatoes," she reassured him. The cat did not seem convinced, but slowly his fur stopped bristling and he resorted instead to watching the pair with a distinctly disgruntled look fixed upon his face.
With one companion more or less tamed, Paoma turned her attention to the would-be thieves, and her mouth twisted thoughtfully as she listened to the other girl's apology. There was no doubt in her mind that she had narrowly escaped a similar fate; if not for her parents' house and the fact that it was located outside of the city, she might have ended up wandering the streets looking desperately for her next meal.
"How's this," the girl said finally. "I can't fix the fence on my own, but if you help me, I'll make us both dinner when we finish and you can take some potatoes when you leave. And your deer can help herself to some of the plants, as long as she doesn't uproot anything." She could almost hear Little Brother's frantic complaint ringing in her ears, protesting that she was letting a thief off the hook and giving her food to boot! But the other girl hadn't managed to steal anything at the end of the day, and they all had to eat somehow.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2013 10:40 pm
Paige watched as the seemingly very intelligent cat bristled in response to Alcyone, and reached to the side to place her palm on the doe's nose. She understood at it was Alcyone's job to protect her, judging from the feelings she could sense along their connection, but this was just a cat; he may be heavy, but he didn't seem like much of a threat. Alcyone appeared to relax a bit, but toed uneasily at the dirt with a hoof, letting out a harsh huff of air from her nostrils as she eyed the cat carefully. She would still keep an eye on him.
Paige let out a sigh as she awaited the other girl's wrath, doing a mixture of petting Alcyone's flank uneasily and looking off to the side. When Paoma spoke, suggesting that Paige help her clean up in exchange for a meal, the little blond blinked at her in surprise. She wasn't angry? Well that was...great! Paige couldn't help herself. She grinned widely and nodded, taking a small step forward. "Y-yeah! Sure, I'll help you," she said, looking at the broken fence. "It seems fitting, seeing how I destroyed it and all..." She paused, before giving a more sheepish (but sincere) expression and tucking a piece of dingy hair behind her ear.
"Er, thank you for being so nice about this. I really don't deserve it," she said, holding her hand out so that Alcyone could lick her palm in agitation as she continued to eye Little Brother warily. Paige held out her other hand for Paoma. "My name is Paige, Paige Matthews."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 1:57 pm
Only backward pointing ears and a lingering stare remained to convey Little Brother's continued reluctance to accept their company. The grimalkin stood and lashed his tail to one side before twining around Paoma's ankles and crouching down on her feet with a purr. It was clear he would be no less watchful of Alcyone than the doe would be of him.
"Wonderful!" Paoma looked almost as pleased as Paige did. Indeed, she had learned to revel in the little successes. Neighbors were few and far between, and finding someone to help her fix the fence would have been almost impossible. It might even have remained shattered and unusable for half a year before Paoma found some willing hands to help. "There ought to be some wood in the shed, and some tools. We'll just have to replace the broken pieces." The new slats would have to be hammered down, however, and that seemed to be the trickiest part.
The girl shook Paige's hand with a smile. "Paoma Laurelai," she said in response and then shrugged. "We all have to do what we need to do. Just because I'm lucky enough to have all this doesn't mean everyone else does. I understand."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
