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 Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 10:38 am
“Don’t worry too much, Osprey. There’s a small medic post nearby. Also, it is my job to worry not yours.” The teacher seemed slightly distracted. “There were two owls there. Did you notice? They seem to have gone quiet… a scout? Yes, a fine choice. You will need to focus on increasing your stamina and flying abilities.” After a brief hesitation she decided it was best to refrain from mentioning the fledgling’s lack of grace at that particular moment. “Of course, you will get much better when… ah, I see. It seems that another one of my students has arrived.” She nodded at the minder clearly appreciating how fleeting her appearance was and placed her intent gaze on the new arrival.
“Ma’am will be fine. You are late.”
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Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 7:07 pm
"Oh! Oh! Hello, Holly!" Osprey ignored the minder and sidestepped slightly closer to her friend. The fact taht the minder preened him in public did not phase her much, as she often recieved the same amount of attention. She gave Holly a quick and cheerful preen before settling down to peer up at Breeze again. "Oh, yes Ma'am. I'll practice 'ven more than I have been. I swear it on my feathers."
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Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 7:27 pm
Holly clicked his beak in a somewhat absent response to Ossie's greeting but was already focused on Breeze. Quailing under her sharp red gaze, he flattened his eartufts and lowered his own eyes.
"I am late, Ma'am," he agreed. "And I'm really sorry. It'll never happen again." And thoroughly chastized, he continued to stare at his feet, wondering what Breeze was going to do. How embarrassing, to be punished at his first real lesson.
But after a moment, the little Deep Woods fledgling decided that he was never going to learn anything if he kept staring at his feet, and looked back up. "I really am sorry," he added for good measure, avoiding Breeze's gaze. She sort of scared him already. "I'm Hollyhock, Holly for short."
And he fluffed a little bit before sleeking his feathers and settling down more fully to watch.
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Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 4:53 pm
“Don’t give me that anxious look, child. Classes haven’t started yet. If they had, I assure you I wouldn’t have allowed such a lax greeting towards a lady.” Breeze made a soft motion of the head in Osprey’s direction. Her voice might sound harsh but, so far, the teacher had to admit she was pleased. Osprey and Hollyhock seemed both eager and respectful. They just required a little bit of tweaking…
“When meeting a lady, even one as young as Osprey here, the least you must do is give a polite nod. A bow is usually fine as well but it can be considered an exaggerated response. So it is important to judge the situation and act accordingly to it.” The ghost nodded gracefully as if setting the example, first tilting her head to the side and then moving her head to the front, tilting it slightly in the opposite direction. “But since you have so graciously given me your name, there will be no consequences this time.”
She took a few steps forward until her back was facing the fledglings and sat at the edge of the platform, red gaze glancing at the surroundings for a few moments until it suddenly froze as she spoke. “By the way, Hollyhock… I heard you met Sagebrush. I will be teaching him as well. What do you think of him?”
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Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 8:29 pm
As Breeze instructed her friend, Osprey fluffed her feathers and listened closely. The youngster had never been so eager or quick to please, other than when she was trying to upstage Songbloom when Twistumbler was around.
She dipped her beak and absentmindedly preened a light feather on her chest and her eartufts raised as Breeze spoke.
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Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 7:54 pm
Hollyhock glanced over at Ossie, back at Breeze, and then nodded seriously, committing all of that information to memory. “And if she’s a friend, Ma’am...is there a greeting for that?”
Finally feeling relatively free from the chastisement, he leaned over and preened one of Ossie’s eartufts in return. While he would never admit it to his bright, eager classmate or his stern teacher, he was secretly relieved that he had escaped punishment. To be in such trouble in his first lesson would have been embarrassing.
The question caught him off guard, and his first response was a quiet sort of, “Hurk?”
Swallowing twice and considering the question, he tilted his head first to one side, then to the other. “Well...I haven’t got to know him well, Ma’am. But I think he’s probably nice. At least, he’s not mean or angry.” Stopping and ducking his head, feeling like he should have been able to respond better, he quickly preened one of his primaries before looking up. “I think you’ll like him, Ma’am.” As much as you like anyone, he added in his head. But that bit, he kept to himself.
For all his young age, he was tactful.
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Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 5:56 pm
Breeze’s head turned to eye the young deep woods with renewed interest.
“A friend…? If you are certain the feeling is mutual, then you are allowed to take some liberties, of course. Your feelings of respect and appreciation will have to be conveyed solely through your tone and posture but between very close friends, a gentle preen or a soft nudge can also be acceptable. Although… that kind of familiarity can sometimes make very good friends become something more… but past that point, I’ll leave it entirely at your discretion. It’s not as if you’ll have to worry about it anytime soon.” The teacher’s gaze uncharacteristically dodged the fledglings’ eyes for an instant and a discreet wave of ruffled feathers crossed Breeze’s ghostly plumage. She was quite glad for the quick change of subject. “He’s late. Not what others might consider very late but for me any fledgling that turns up after the first student has arrived is late. That will also apply to the classes, mind you. But we’ll discuss that later. The Rules, I mean. Right now, we will wait in silence for your classmate.”
So far, Osprey seemed to be the most active of the two but quite capable of remaining still and attentive. Well, they all did at first. Holly was particularly polite and chose his words more carefully and the ghost teacher sat quietly as her gaze travelled through the darkness already foreseeing every potential problem. She expected a certain amount of competition from her students but she was having a hard time picturing the little pair fighting for her praise. Also… Osprey… she would have to make a little lady out of her. And Holly… a bit of toughing up might be in order…
----------------------------
A few moments passed and the moon moved languidly through the clear sky until the teacher stood up brusquely without any sort of warning. “Very well, it’s enough. Something must have happened. I’ll send a chirop later to find out what. Osprey, Holly…stand up. We will begin with a test. Ally I trust everything is ready.”
"All ready, yes."
(Mriae is really really busy so she might pop up later and we’ll create an excuse for Sagebrush’s delay)
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Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 8:58 pm
The silence was like agony for the active little mist fledgling. She sat in silence, as she was not about to act up on her very first day under Breeze. She was eager to prove her worth and to do well...
But the silence!
While she was sitting, she wiggled her talons and watched their blunt tips quietly. She wanted to sharpen them, but had yet to learn how. Her eyes fell on a scurrying insect and she longed to give chase, but she feared upsetting her teacher if she tried to nab the little creature.
She preened a wayward feather, watched the wafting leaves of the tree in which they sat, and had to hold her beak tightly shut to keep from peeping or rambling to herself, which she was prone to at times.
Finally Breeze spoke and Osprey was on her paws as soon as her teacher said stand.
There was some concern for what had happened to Sagebrush, though she was not too terribly worried. At such a young age, fledglings were not often able to concept mortality to it's fullest extent. Sage would be fine, just as she, Holly, Twistumbler, Breeze, even Songbloom would always be.
"A test?" She inquired curiously.
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Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 11:08 am
Holly nodded to Breeze's explanation, although his expression shifted from politely attentive to puzzled when Breeze seemed to lose track of herself. Then she was back and the subject shifted quickly, and Holly committed the idea that anyone after the first was late to memory. He would not be late again.
He could feel Ossie's energy beside him, and while the silence stretched a bit, he looked around and contemplated nibbling a few things: the platform, Ossie again, his talons, the little bug that Ossie had already noticed..though he thought he might get in trouble for chewing on things (he often did). But then Breeze spoke, and his attention snapped back to her.
Though he was not on his feet as quickly as Ossie, he was standing soon enough, watching Breeze with interest, feathers ruffling in energetic curiosity. When the Skurri spoke, his attention shifted to it sharply, but then he looked back when Ossie replied.
'A test?' indeed. Holly let Ossie's curiosity speak for him as well, though he indicated agreement to the question, tilting his head to look at Breeze from a sharper, almost ninety-degree angle.
What would it be? Would it be scary, or fun? Would it hurt?
He shook his wings in anticipation.
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Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 2:40 pm
“A simple test, yes. I want to know the extent of your abilities before I start teaching you. Osprey,“ the teacher called out suddenly, secretly pleased that both fledglings had somehow managed to remain quiet for a rather long period of time “you go first as you were the first one to arrive. As you can see we’re on the higher platform. You will go to the main platform and walk through every corner before going to the lower platform. After that I want you to move between the higher and lower platforms until you are tired. And by tired I mean exhausted as in “there is no way I can possibly take one more step”. I should warn you that I’m not too fond of slackers. Holly, you will start doing the same as soon as Osprey reaches the lower platform for the first time. They’re not too high… three, four flaps between them should be enough. In case you fall from a platform, the foliage below will brace your fall and if needed, I’ll be ready to dive for you and bring you back to safety where the consequences of your clumsiness shall be decided. Osprey, you should walk on the main platform on the first lap. After that you’ll just use it as a stepping stone between the other two. Begin.”
Ally moved forward for the first time and nibbled Osprey softly as if giving her a small confidence boost. Then she hopped to the tree trunk and slid down the branches until she reached the middle platform, scurrying to the center where a few small objects had been gathered. The tan skurri smiled as she stood tall and sang softly “Osprey then Holly, Osprey then Holly…”
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Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 8:56 pm
Osprey bobbed her head. "Yes'm -- Yes Ma'am."
She corrected herself quickly and inched near the edge of the platform. For a moent it seemed her confidence was wavering, but she quickly puffed her chestfeathers out and lifted her head to glance back at her teacher and friend.
"H'okay... Here I go..."
She was not stalling, or at least that was what she was telling herself. She took a deep breath and leapt from the highest platform and beat her wings hard.
She stumbled as she landed on the main platform, but quickly regained her balance and began moving from corner to corner.
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Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 5:06 pm
Listening to the directions, Hollyhock was glad that Osprey was to go before he was. He wasn’t entirely sure what Breeze had said. But watching his little mist friend going through the motions, he quickly caught onto what the task was supposed to be. Blinking his nictitating membranes but keeping himself focused on Ossie, he waited for her to finish on the main platform. As soon as she did, he was down, determined to prove himself, despite his initial lateness. More of a quick flutter than anything, and he almost landed on his face, but like Ossie, he was up quickly.
As he walked corner to corner, he kept his eyes on Ally for a moment, trying to figure out what the small objects were. But when he almost walked straight off the platform, he caught himself and looked where he was going with renewed interest.
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Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 5:33 pm
The intent red gaze followed the fledgling’s movements for a few instants before the teacher stretched her wings and glided silently to the main platform. Out of the corner of her eye she caught Holly’s almost-fall and wondered if she would really have to dive to catch him. But as Holly quickly focused his attention on the path ahead of him, the teacher’s humorous plans for a suitable punished were cut all too short.
“By the way, Holly…” she said softly with a kind of mellow tone that never boded well “… as you started after Osprey, I obviously expect you to finish after her.”
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Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 9:19 pm
By this point, Osprey was on the lowest platform. Her golden eyes were wide as she peered up at the highest one. It would be difficult for the youngster, but she had been practicing hard.
"Here i'goes..." She murmered to herself and promptly began beating her wings.
The flight to the highest platform was an awkward one and she almost did not make it. She stumbled on her landing, after tripping over the edge of the platform.
She did not dwell on this long, however, and abruptly turned about to start her decent.
This was where the youngster messed up. She launched as she had been practicing and beat her wings, but miscalculated. She stretched out her talons, and snagged the lowest deck, but her talons scraped and she slipped backwards. She beat her wings wildly, but could not regain her balance.
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Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 8:17 pm
Holly, on the second platform and on his way to his first ascent when Ossie made her first attempt donward, made a sharp noise of alarm when his little mist friend lost her balance. Halfway in the air, he aborted his attempt, landing with an undignified thud and scooting towards the edge to look at Ossie, unsure of how to help but intending to help her nonetheless, no matter what Breeze said.
Fluffed out in alarm, he looked for some way to help Ossie, but she was already out of his abilities. Looking up at Breeze, he flapped twice. "Ossie missed! She's gonna fall!" he said, and launched himself upwards, flapping to reach Breeze.
This time, without thinking, the little deep woods made the platform and landed in a much more dignified way than was typical for him. "Ma'am, Ossie fell!" he repeated, then flared and scooted to the edge, looking down and preparing his own descent.
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