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 Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 1:30 pm
A day ago, Highfog got nice Mus pieces for lunch. It first reminded her of Liana, and their talk about companions a while ago. But another idea struck her very strongly. She was sure she could improve hunting lessons vastly with something better than dried or rotten fruits, which she liked to use before…
… Muses.
She didn’t need to go ask many Sentinels to know what kind of Keeper would agree with her and give her these new “accessories”. Someone with a weird reputation supposedly lived in the west part of the outskirts, a wildtype with a big amount of Muses he has never quite treated as companions himself.
Cliffside, they said, was trying something new with his rodents. It was worth checking; Fog would be too embarrassed to ask a new friend to give her precious companions that might end up being too mutilated by the students to even serve as food afterwards.
She flew a while and arrived at the right location. At first, she wondered if she was actually lost, as she couldn’t see anything special. However, a second glance at a farther oak tree with cages convinced her she wasn’t wrong. Slowly, she approached Cliff’s home. It seemed that the rodents were living on the Ground around the roots, with little protection. Maybe it’s the right way to take care of them? The Teacher didn’t go as far as becoming suspicious, since she never quite cared about companions in the first place; however, she simply didn’t expect this sight.
The Ghost had prepared a nice speech to convince the guy if he were to disagree at all, and a very confident face. A hop later, she was at the boundaries of his territory, or so she thought. She preened, put all her feathers in place, and slightly excited, called the Keeper: “I need to speak with Cliffside, please!”
She added happily, to make sure he’d be interested and come: “We have business to make!”
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Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 1:11 pm
If he were to be honest with himself, he’d agree that he’d been acting like a pompous clog-vent. Tact was never part of his arsenal. He just frankly insisted on the values he was raised with. He couldn’t help but believe it was the way things were. The only way. The truth of the matter was that he defended the old ways without really knowing why.
It was after midnight that he finally left his roost to stretch and tend to his livestock – the infamous stupid-but-tasty Mus. He had a team of bright white Chirops that fed them by dropping grain and sometimes freshly-caught insects by the mouths of their dens in the roots of his favorite oak tree. After this task was complete, the skin-wings dispersed to their guard posts, leaving Cliff to examine his dumb charges in peace. They all seemed healthy so far, and several of the females were showing signs of carrying young. Not that it mattered. Nothing really mattered just then.
A warning chirp from one of the guards caught his attention, along with the voice of another Sentinel. He would have liked to dismiss it, but the lady’s mention of business sealed his fate. He had a reputation, odd as it was, to uphold.
With a surprisingly cheerful hoot to let her know he was on his way, he took wing. The female’s silver plumage stood out like a beacon, making it easy to find her. The Wildtype landed on a branch not far from her, hooting again in greeting. “I’m Cliffside,” he said. “What can I do for you, Miss?”
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Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 1:53 pm
Highfog hooted back. “Nice to meet you!” She then happily introduced herself without hesitation, since she prepared that very same speech hours before. “My name is Highfog. I’m a Teacher, and my speciality, you see, is hunting lessons. My hobby is finding new ways to make them more interesting and efficient.” With a sunny face, she explained Cliff’s role: “I have heard you too are experimenting something new. I do not know all the details, but it seems you are the best Keeper when it comes to my specific order.”
She stopped speaking briefly to breathe, calm down, and let Cliffside process what she just said. With a little bit of excitement left, she said more slowly: “I like using accessories during my lessons. Fledglings learn better than way. And there’s nothing more similar to most preys than Muses. Don't you agree?”
Fog knew she was getting slowly at the point, but the idea seemed too good not to share it with someone who apparently shared her thoughts on companions. They were somewhat overrated, and unless they had a practical utility, they shouldn’t be considered more than tools. Or snacks. She was sure this Keeper included that last use, but she would feel awkward asking a confirmation out loud. There was always the possibility of a misunderstanding somewhere, after all.
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Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 3:19 pm
Wow. She talked… fast. Cliff’s polite smile froze on his face as he devoted his consciousness to making sense of everything the lady said. Once he understood, though, he quickly decided that he liked this teacher. There was a definite stroke to his very sore ego somewhere in her rapid speech.
Her request was more than acceptable, too. Cliffside was on the practical end when it came to companions. He didn’t breed for intelligence, just blessed silence and good flavor. He had one smart Mus as his personal companion, but that had come from another breeder.
“So, Miss Highfog, you want something for your students to practice on?” he inquired of the female. The smile again spread across his beak as he continued, “I can definitely help you there. What size would you like?”
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Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 4:04 pm
Highfog gave a half-hearted laugh. “Excuse me, I’m so excited! It’s been a while since something new crossed my mind.” She shook her feathers back in place, breathed more slowly, and replied more clearly. “Exactly. Actually, the size doesn’t matter. If I can afford to train them with different sizes of prey, I will take both larger and smaller Muses.”
Fog hoped there was enough variety to do that. Catching a tiny rodent wasn’t the same as hunting bigger mammals, and she could at least give her students the notion of size difference.
Her eyes wandered in direction of the Above, not looking at anything specifically. Lost in thought, she looked for other useful information to give him. “If you happen to have dead ones at the moment, I will take them, but that is not necessary.” The Ghost rose her eyes thoughtfully “Well, you are the specialist, and you know your Muses better than I do, so let me ask… do they run fast? Could they attempt to defend themselves?” She justified her question with a slow whisper that absolutely no fledgling around could overhear: “I wonder if the best students could have exams of sort, where they would chase and kill these rodents themselves. Of course, I’d need to see first how efficient the training is...”
The Teacher didn’t want the kids to know what to expect before the lessons actually began. She didn’t want to have to get dozens of rodents so that inexperienced fledglings could spend countless hours to break them. Or worse, playing with them in such ways they would become impossible to swallow afterwards as is. Her career as a Teacher taught her you should never underestimate kids when it comes to damages inflicted.
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Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 4:58 pm
“Oh, believe me, you’re excused,” Cliff chuckled. It seemed that the company of another Sentinel was going to be good for him. It got his mind off of Twilla, for the moment.
He listened while the teacher went over her more specific needs, his smile widening. He very much enjoyed the idea of supplying the fledglings with interesting game. He enjoyed the idea of fledglings, period. Not that he wanted his own (not yet anyways), but those little feather-brains were such fun to play with and show off for, with their big eyes and big dreams.
The keeper was very enthusiastic now, bobbing a little as he spoke. “I’ve got everything you need. If you’ll just wait a moment, I’ll have some samples brought over.” With a flare of his wings, he moved to a lower branch, facing his big oak tree. “Come, Bee!” he called.
At his command, a fat brown Mus with black stripes on its back came up from one of the burrows in the roots of the oak. It scampered up the tree trunk and along the branches until it stood at Cliffside’s talons. He quietly gave instructions to it, and then it ran back to the burrows. Cliff flew back to his previous perch near Highfog. “Any moment, now,” he promised her.
On cue, Bee poked her nose out of a burrow. She exited and went up the tree again, this time followed by several other Mus of varying sizes. Some were very young and small, and some were even bigger than Bee. These she led to her master’s branch, and kept them there with nips and squeaks whenever they tried to return to their holes.
Cliff nodded at these newcomers. “For your inspection, Miss Highfog. Feel free to speak any concerns plainly. These Mus have very low intelligence and wouldn’t understand that they might soon be killed and eaten.” He glanced down at his companion. “Oh, and Bee — go find a fast one in the stock, please. A Mus that runs fast, that is. Bring it here.”
Bee, who had considerable intelligence and did understand the concept of being killed and eaten, frowned and waddled off to do her master’s bidding, squeaking irritably all the way.
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Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 9:01 am
Samples? Even better! She calmly waited for Cliff to be done. To her surprise, it was another Mus that did most of the job and brought a variety of critters back up. She watched this strange phenomenon with curiosity, and went down at the same height as the Wildtype’s.
Grinning, she watched carefully every single sample. Different sizes and even slightly different builds… very good. She tried not to look at Bee, which was a fine and able individual, but had no place among students. Maybe one day, if she ever gets students serious enough not to practice on an accessory, and interested enough to observe how behave smart animals. Which was not likely to happen at all. Some ideas are meant to be left in a corner of your brain and become sweet dreams.
Without asking, she touched the largest ones, softly, with her talon. One of them reacted in a way she deemed inappropriate for an accessory, but didn’t notice nothing special about the others..
Fog nodded and stayed where she was, waiting for the runner to be brought. “Well, they all look very nice! Let me think…”
The Teacher couldn’t afford to take them all; she would have to take care of them until they were all used! And besides, she wondered if such snacks would cost more or less than normal companions. She could get grains and fruits, since she was used to pick up rotten ones, but what amount?
“I’m sorry, sir, I can’t decide… I think I’ll have a bit of everything. Let’s say 4 Muses for now. If it goes well, you can expect seeing me again very soon. If it doesn’t… depends how tasty they are. I may come back for private use.” She pondered, and vaguely designated 4 critters with her paw.
With silent amusement, she wondered what creature Bee will come back with.
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Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 2:15 pm
With a nod, Cliffside gathered the teacher’s choices and shooed the rest of the mus away with a pointed sweep of his wings. Highfog’s four were put into one of the hanging cages to keep them from running off.
It took some time, but Bee came back with a lean gray mus that constantly looked around, poised to flee for its life. “Fast,” Cliff’s fuzzy helper stated, her high-pitched voice coming in a gasp as she tried to catch her breath. “Bee chase… all over roots.”
“Nice job,” the Wildtype chuckled. He had a mind to put that little fatty on a diet, but didn’t mention it aloud. He wanted Bee to stay cooperative, at least until their customer went home. To Highfog he said, “Here’s your runner. Do you want to test him out before we seal the deal?”
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Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:04 pm
At last, after her chosen ‘’accessories’’ were put in a cage, the fast rodent she expected arrived. “Yes, please”, she replied to Cliff as she approached it with sadistic eyes. The Ghost waited… and suddenly pushed softly the Mus with her Will.
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Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 9:11 pm
The grey mus instantly took off, terrified by the strange pressure that had pushed it. Cliffside tried to block it with his talons, but it just scrambled over them and zoomed away. The keeper looked at Bee, who rolled her beady little eyes and waddled tiredly after it.
“Mark it for me, would you?” he called after his fat companion. “We don’t want to lose him.”
Bee only gave a terse squeak in reply, not even bothering to speak Sentinel. Slightly embarrassed by the sullen attitude of his personal mus, Cliff chuckled nervously and turned back to Highfog. “Would you like your order dead, or would you prefer to let your students have the honor?”
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Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 1:26 pm
Highfog nodded with barely hidden joy, looking at the grey rodent. She could already imagine a couple fledglings on either sides of a platform, waiting the perfect moment to strike their assigned target…
Oh, right, the other Muses. She came back to reality.
“I’d love it if they were dead beforehand, please. Not all students deserve this honour, alas…” she replied.
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