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 Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 11:41 am
Splash!
There was a brief struggle in which he couldn't tell if the prize was going to get away or not, but in the end, the alcyon emerges from the river's shallow depths with a fairly large fish hanging by the tail.
A beaky grin breaks across the face of the spectator, perched high upon a branch above the riverside, as he watched his companion make his way up to bring them the early dusk's breakfast. He can still see the last of the sun's rays in the horizon, blazing red and orange against the drifting clouds, before night fully settles in. He hated waking up this early, but in the end, it was more than worthwhile when the first catch of the night was made.
It's why he's made it a habit to wake up at the break of sunset.
The alcyon flaps his wings a final stroke before landing next to his master, beady eyes on the large sentinel as he waited for the next set of instructions. It had taken the ghost a rather long time to properly train Streaks. At first, the alcyon wouldn't even listen to a single command and fish on its own delight, keeping whatever was caught for itself. Now, after a lot of hard work and dedicated practice, Sterling was proud to have such a handy graduation present.
"Snap it in half and enjoy your share, Streaks, you've earned it," He said, and with the command finalized, the bird tossed the fish into the air, caught it mid-length and clamped his beak completely shut, letting half of the fish fall to the branch, and quickly scooping up the other for his own consumption.
Sterling reached down and enjoyed his morsel. It was hard to believe that he had recently fathered a clutch, especially since he never quite strayed from his usual schedule. He gets up, he fishes, he brings his catch to those who need it, and then...well, goes back to fishing, or flying, or doing whatever he pleases. He thought having a new family may mean more responsibility, but as it turned out, his counter-part had no desire to raise the family herself, and so it was decided that their offspring would be turned over to the minders.
It was as if the whole ordeal never happened.
"Ah, oh well," Sterling mused to himself, gulping the last bit of his fish down. "Such is life. Ready to find another spot, Streaks?"
And with that, the pair took off. The last bit of light flickered and finally vanished behind the hills as night begins anew.
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Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 9:56 am
 She is attracted by the splash, drawn toward it even though she knows full-well she might be interrupting some Hunter's work. To be honest, she doesn't care. Either the splash means fish, which are very interesting, or Alycon...which are beautiful. And Meadowsweet loves interesting things, and beautiful things even more than interesting things. Flicking her eartufts, she shifts angle and moves toward the sound, shedding a few sweet-scented petals from the garland on her head. The season for her namesake flowers will end soon, and awakening early is worth it if it means she is able to gather up the last of the blooms. Smiling, she nears where she suspects the sound to have come from.
She catches the silhouette through the branches and calls out, not so loudly as to be disturbing, but loudly enough that she can be heard. She would prefer not to be chased from a territory, if she can help it, and she doesn't live well enough within the Deep Woods to know where everything is quite yet. She comes in and lands a few trees away, calling out another greeting to let him know that she certainly isn't moving in on any kill of his.
Now she can see him well, a handsome Ghost male she has never before met. The corners of her beak turn up in a smile as her eyes narrow mischievously. This male is extremely attractive, and his dye job only serves to accentuate the steely blue of his natural plumage. And there, with him, an Alycon...dyed much like he is, and very, very handsome. Just as the male is. What a pair they make. Meadosweet likes hunters. They are so serious and grave, and it is so enjoyable to get them to loosen up. She sweeps her beak through her wings and then looks up.
"Good evening, and good hunting!"
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 6:09 pm
As night settled itself across the horizon and the only natural light left to light one's way was from the moon and stars alone, Sterling and Streaks found their new hunting ground on a low hanging branch by the same river as before. There wasn't much light after all of the branches filtered away until it was as dim can get, but that was obviously not a problem for the nocturnal pair; the fish were still easy to spy.
And so, they were off, silently diving, snatching up a few fish and flying back up to the branch to fill the basket to take to the Matron. It wasn't much, but that's why they traveled to different parts of the river. Sometimes they'll be lucky enough to catch three or five fish, and other times, well, they weren't lucky at all. It was a long process, though beautiful to watch if you were to partake in seeing: the dive in itself was almost reminiscent of a skydancer's, only much more simplified.
The idea was to be quick and silent, and therefore, it was very graceful once someone mastered the technique.
Sterling was concentrating so hard on his hunt that he hardly noticed the calls, and by the time he did, she was there, speaking to them on a very nearby branch. It nearly startled a fish out of his grab, but he quickly saved it with his other talon, and swiftly perched onto his branch and dropped the last fish for the area in the basket. He took his time to ruffle his feathers and give a good preen before turning around to face the female, and what a female she was, he thought to himself.
"Good evening and good hunting it is, young lady," He smoothly replied, "and what brings you out here so early in the dusk? Why, it's not even midnight yet."
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Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:48 pm
Meadowsweet smiled a bit when the Hunter almost dropped the fish, sleeking her feathers and laying her eartufts back in silent, slightly sheepish acknowledgement of the fact that she had surprised him. Her expression shifted quickly back to something blithe and slightly playful as she watched Sterling preen. When he finally looked at her, she flicked her eartufts forward and roused her feathers. The question made her smile sweetly, and she looked out over the stream, watching the very last of the violet tinge fade from the very edge of the western horizon. Then she glanced at the reflected lights in the water. They were lovely. Glancing back at the male when he asked her the question, she smiled and spread her wings in a fairly dramatic gesture.
"The nights are growing longer and the air colder. The season for wildflowers is almost over," she said, tilting her head and shedding another few petals. "I was out for the last of the blooms before they withered." Nodding amiably, she quickly preened one of her wings and then looked at the fish and the alycon.
"Looks like it's been excellent hunting for you," she agreed with a smile. "It's not often you see so many fish. Certainly rare for me," she added with a laugh, tossing her head so the artisan's brush around her neck bounced, drawing attention both to her flashy dye job and to the emblem that said she was one of the dyers. "My name is Meadowsweet," she added lightly, with a silvery laugh.
It was perhaps impractical for Meadowsweet to be so decorative, but there was no price she would not pay for beauty. If only others felt the same. Fish were such a rare commodity to the artisan. "Would there be any way," she began idly, fixing Sterling with winning smile, "that we could arrange some sort of exchange for one of those fish?" she asked. Then she looked away and preened her coverts, shooting Sterling a coy glance and another shy smile.
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Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 10:19 am
Aaah, so that was it, he thought to himself. He was genuinely surprised to see someone out so early, especially one who did not appear to be in any sort of combatant task. "What will you do once the last bloom withers? I hope your trade isn't completely dependent on them." That would certainly be alarming, to have to depend on the seasons for work. Luckily for him, the rivers are in a constant state of motion, so once the snow falls and covers the ground and freezes most with its gentle touches, the rivers stay ever flowing. Granted, sometimes they become too cold to risk fish diving, but that was the marvelous thing about being a hunter: he could always go and catch a few squirrel or mice until the rivers warmed up to fish once more.
At her comment, he couldn't help fluffing his chest feathers with pride. "Aye, it's been an excellent start. Usually we aren't this lucky to catch so many, and if we continue the way we have been, we may even finish early." The alcyon clacked his beak in agreement; it would be nice to have a night off to himself. "My name's Sterling, and my companion here is Streaks. It's a pleasure to meet you, miss." He finishes his introduction with a graceful bow, tail and wing feathers fanned out to show off his own subtle dye job.
Though in all honesty, that would probably be as far as he'd go when it comes to self-embellishments. Any sort of jewelry would only get in the way of his duties, and any brighter dye jobs would just be distracting. So when Meadowsweet ventured to barter for his fish, he was a bit surprised: exactly what would he do with flower blossoms?
"I'm not entirely sure, miss Sweet," He began, "What exactly would you be willing to exchange for one?" Maybe Midnight would like a trinket of some sort, he mused.
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Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 11:18 am
"When the flowers are gone, they are gone," she answered, a bit sadly, but with the same matter-of-factness one would expect of any Sentinel in her situation. "Which is why I'm taking advantage of the last of them." Giving a slight shrug, she nibbled one of her talons. As an Artisan, she always depended on the seasons; the moult was her time to shine, and general little touch-up jobs filled the spaces between. Meadowsweet liked the flexibility afforded by her work. It meant that she had plenty of time to occupy herself in her favourite activities, namely flirting and gossiping.
"The pleasure is all mine," she said sweetly, giving her own bow. And it certainly was a pleasure. Such a handsome Sentinel in the same place as her, and the night so young...well, she was quite excited. Hunters took things so much more seriously. Meadow, like the vast majority of non-combatant Sentinels, did most of her own hunting and augmented her diet with non-meat foods from those Gatherers whose feathers she dyed. But the idea of fish was far too tempting to pass up.
Ah...when Sterling was actually willing to trade with her, Meadowsweet flashed a brilliant smile, covering the fact that she hadn't been expecting to actually luck out. Rushing through the possibilities, she nibbled at the thong of her pendant, watching both Sterling and the alycon as she thought. "Well, I'm certain you have a preferred Artisan for your dye already," she said slowly, "and I'm certain a Hunter has no need for daisy chains," and here she flashed him a wink before straightening up and looking a bit thoughtful. "But I have some rather nice food I could perhaps trade. There are a few Gatherers who quite like their dye jobs and pay handsomely. I have chestnuts and apples just delivered yesterday," she suggested thoughtfully. "Perhaps something of that nature?"
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