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 Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 11:32 am
Chase was a little more comfortable than most on the ground and failed to notice the apothecary’s distress. Still the silence of his fellow sentinel was contagious and the gatherer followed Catchfly without making a sound, landing rather heavily on a slightly higher perch.
After taking a moment to preen, the tall shadow finally spoke.
“Where do you live, if you don’t mind me asking?” Chase asked as he straightened up on the branch. “If it’s not too far up to the northern areas, I can take you some berries when you need them. I can take most herbs to you as well, if we plan beforehand. I need to add a thin wooden box to the pack when I carry fragile things like flowers and fresh herbs.”
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Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:18 pm
The offer surprised Catchfly, who had unstrapped the pack and was watching Racket go over the other irises, head tilted slightly as he waited for the small creature's single-voiced litany to cease. Racket was extremely thorough when it came to making sure everything was good. Then again, so was Catchfly. Which was why, between the two of them, they generally managed to ensure the quality of all their ingredients. And as far as Catchfly could tell, the mus was just as satisfied as he was.
Whiskers twitching, Racket climbed out of the pack, looked at Catchfly, gave a nod, and then whipped his head around to listen to Chase, who had just landed and was now speaking. At the end of the offer, he glanced at Catch, who looked mostly surprised. The Gatherer was offering a partnership. Which was...very interesting. Catchfly tended to pick and choose different Gatherers for different supplies. And here was a Sentinel who might well prove useful; he generally had to go to great lengths for berries. He gave a miniscule nod to Racket, who groomed his whiskers and then stood up on his haunches to better look at Chase.
"Would be an exchange, yeah?" the tiny animal enquired, tilting his head. "Get medicines directly from source for little things?" Catchfly clicked his beak to silence the mus. He had a different idea.
"I...live in a willow. Willow grove all 'round." he began, looking at Chase. "Willowbark's fairly valuable for medics. Could fetch you tidy rewards. Exchange, perhaps?"
"Willowbark for berries, yeah!" Racket chimed in. Catchfly gave a miniscule eyeroll and shrugged his wings. Sometimes Racket was redundant. But it was often useful.
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Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 1:55 pm
Chase looked a little surprised when his question was answered by the companion and eyed Racket for a few seconds as if waiting for a hidden sentinel to pop into view from behind the tiny companion… a giggling face laughing at his ingenuity. But no, the voice did indeed come from the small companion (and that was good thing as it would’ve been very embarrassing for a sentinel to be the owner of such a tiny voice).
Lost in silly thoughts, Chase didn’t reply to the mus but realizing he had been staring at the companion with a stunned expression for a few moments, he turned to the apothecary with a sudden movement, as if trying to clear his head by shaking the strange thoughts away. Truth be told, the gatherer didn’t really know how valuable willowbark was but he was more than willing to take the apothecary’s word for it.
“I’d like that. I don’t have much when it comes to trading with medics.” He said softly as the blue gaze drifted unwillingly towards the small companion once again after he silently evaluated the owner’s size and posture. “What kind of berries are you interested in?” He refrained from making another remark related to the companion’s speech and intelligence but his eyes were firmly set on Racket’s furry head, with Chase’s slightly tilted to the side.
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 8:13 am
When Chase couldn't seem to stop ogling his companion, Catchfly felt that perhaps an explanation was in order. It was so rare that he had to make one, he wasn't even the least bit sure how to go about it. After all, how was he to explain to this Gatherer that he was...deficient, broken, almost-but-not-quite tumbleworthy? How on earth could he ever explain that he had been given the mus by the mad old Fletcher, as a bit of a substitute for his own brain? He couldn't do it. It was as simple as that.
And yet he almost felt he had to. Sleeking his feathers in embarrassment, he realized that Chase had asked him a question and rushed to answer it. Preening a shoulder while he thought, he noticed that Chase was still staring at Racket. Giving the mus a slight nudge with his Will, he encouraged the small creature to answer. Racket was a catalogue in some ways; he knew precisely what Catch needed. The mus idly groomed its ears before responding.
"Cranberries are nice," it squeaked, "maybe in more moonrises."
"Not quite ready," Catch interjected by way of explanation. Racket nodded and, suddenly made uncomfortable by Chase's gaze, scampered behind Catch. Catchfly almost laughed. Racket was indomitable. But he had never been appraised like that before. So perhaps that was a part of it. It was up to Catch to speak for himself now. "Cranberries are fine," he said. "Generally, all I use." Then he thought and realized that he could set up more than a business exchange. He sat for a long time, pulling words into one of the longest sentences he had made that wasn't explicitly related to his work.
"It's past season, but when they come again are raspberries possible?" he asked, then looked astounded that such a coherent question had come out of his beak.
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 11:27 am
Chase’s blue gaze narrowed slightly as he began to realize how familiar (and perhaps even involved) this little mus was to the apothecary’s business. Saying Racket was smart was clearly an understatement and only when the companion hid behind its master did the gatherer’s eyes abandon it.
“Oh… sorry, little one. I didn’t mean to scare you.” The shadow said apologetically when the mus seemed to be uncomfortable with his rather rude stare. He waited for some sort of comment from Catchfly but the apothecary seemed to be much more interested in discussing business... that is… when the words actually came out of his beak.
“Cranberries then… and raspberries. Yes, no point in looking for them now. Any preference concerning specific varieties? I tend to find more of the red kind around these parts but I know where I can find some bushes that bare a much darker fruit. And would it be alright if I brought a pack of cranberries on the next full moon like your … very eloquent mus already said?” And as if he was slowly becoming accustomed to the apothecary’s slow responses, Chase preened a few wayward feathers absent-mindedly as he silently tried to make sense of the wildtype’s odd reaction to his own answer. The gatherer’s gaze narrowed as it always happened when he was thinking too hard on something but Chase quickly forced his eyes open to a more pleasant expression.
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Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 12:53 pm
Racket clambered up Catchfly's back at the apology and put his forepaws on his master's head, tilting his head to one side and nodding an acceptance of the apology. "Thank you," he said quickly. Catch sighed when he realized he'd have to eventually explain Racket, and nodded slowly as the conversation came back to business.
Catchfly was so surprised at what he had just managed to negotiate for, he couldn't even begin to think about the colour of the raspberries. To be honest, he didn't care. Sentinels with more discerning palates might have a preference when it came to the colour of the berry, but Catch found them both equally delicious. Perhaps this was because he never got them. "No real preference," he said absently, "whichever is easiest." Mind racing, he tried to think of a way to put his words together and explain his situation. Preening his wings uneasily, he caught Chase's eyes narrowing and marshalled the words together into a semblance of coherent conversation.
"Racket is, ah....my assistant," he said haltingly. "From Fletcher's lines. Good mus from Fletcher." Stopping for a moment, he considered the next bit of his response.
"Um...I need the mus. Someone needs to talk." He paused for a moment. "I don't...talk well," he said, flattening his eartufts. As if Chase hadn't noticed that. Bah. "Good at medicines. Not good at the rest." Like...life and social relationships and anything that involved more than memorization and step-by-step instruction following.
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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 7:37 am
The gatherer’s head tilted ever so slightly as the mus answered his apology and a tiny smirk curled around his beak. He was amused, he admitted only to himself, for he was absolutely sure it was the first time he’d received those words from a companion. He had occasionally heard an automatic “you’re welcome” after thanking a particular companion for a task well accomplished but he was sure that it had never happened the other way around.
“Red, then…” Chase said absent-mindedly as he was abruptly pulled into the conversation by trade details.
“The Fletcher? My, I’ve heard her sp… mus are clever but I thought she was fairly anti… I didn’t know she sold her mus.” Visibly embarrassed by the two lapses that had come out after a brief moment of excitement, Chase felt even more embarrassed when he realized he had somehow forced an explication out of the apothecary. If there was one thing he hated was to expose his weaknesses which only made him more aware of others’. He avoided Catchfly’s gaze as he preened his chest feathers, carefully considering his past and future words. Causing discomfort to an older sentinel was a big no-no for the gatherer.
“I’m sure it doesn’t affect your task in any way. And I’m really sorry if I was showing a little too much interest in your mus.” Chase said softly as he bowed his head apologetically “I’m used to being around gatherer’s mus and I find yours nothing short of fascinating.” Yes, that’s it Chase, divert the attention from Catchfly… just talk about the mus… “Though I’m wondering if with all that cleverness, if he hasn’t been a challenge to teach… Almost like a child, it would seem.” He tried not to focus too much on his fellow sentinel but he was slowly beginning to understand the apothecary’s odd motions and short sentences.
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Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 6:46 pm
"Racket was a gift," Catchfly answered, then shrugged his wings and preened his primaries while Chase talked. He was no great judge of character or behaviour in Sentinels, particularly those who, like Chase, seemed to change subject every few seconds, but he got the feeling that he was making the other one uncomfortable. Glancing back as Chase complimented...or at least started talking in a more comfortable way about Racket, he smiled slightly.
"Racket talks. All the time. Hard to get him to listen. It's where he got his name." Giving what was probably a fully genuine smile, he tried to turn his head and look at the mus, but gave up when Racket remained just out of his field of vision. Eventually giving up, he settled again and cocked his head at Chase while he considered what to say next. "Learns quickly, when he decides to listen, but that's the hard bit. Maybe like a fledgling. I don't know."
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Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2009 3:35 pm
A gift from Fletcher? Now that was rather interesting. Chase eyed the apothecary with a little curious glint, settling himself more comfortably on the branch so that the weight of the pack would fall mostly on the bark.
“Well, he’s certainly interesting. By the way, I didn’t quite get where you live. You mentioned a willow grove... I do know a few. Is it close?” Before the gatherer could even think about it, Chase realized he had been addressing the mus this time and he quickly lifted his eyes back to the apothecary with a small chuckle. “Sorry.” He said jovially to the sentinel, chuckling again.
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Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 2:41 pm
"Quite all right," Catchfly said, realizing that Chase had spoken the last bit to him. Then he simply fluffed his feathers and waited for his mus to clamber back down and answer. Racket didn't deign to climb down, simply clambered up so he was half-sitting on Catchfly's head.
"Not actually willow grove," he chattered. "Willow on the edge of crabapple grove. Lots and lots of crabapple trees, just losing their flowers. Very pretty in springtime. Very pink and yellow." Nodding sagely, the mus groomed its whiskers and squeaked softly, nibbling one of Catchfly's eartufts affectionately. The Sentinel fluffed the feathers around his head and then inclined his head to Chase. If more detailed directions were needed, Catchfly could give them.
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Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 2:40 pm
”Crabapple trees… I think I know the place. Is it near a stream by any chance?” this time Chase made an effort to look at the apothecary’s eyes even if his tufts reacted from time to time as the mus spoke. The gatherer still wasn’t sure if talking directly to the companion was an appropriate conduct but Catchfly didn’t seem all that bothered so the shadow assumed it was something that had happened before. Still, if he could avoid it Chase would rather not have that repeated.
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