May 2, 2010 - 2:57pm — Harakka
... Letting you assume that Death is soon upon its wing. Up there the wind dances with its frostbitten breath, shedding the tears of a dying element. The sky is depressed. So is this little breeze that flows in your neck, that grand being on legs, whom this colorless bird now have placed its black and glistening eyes upon. This bitter, yet gentle snowfall have merely but tainted this ground with these shades of grey. The soil is as hard as stone under your feet/hooves, and might it even be a bit slippery, down this little path and lake. The wind, the snow, has the mind in their might, and for whatever reason is eagerly forcing one to listen at this silence over this place. A very sad scenery, is what this magpie above your head is witnessing. She is listening to the shallow breaths of yours, curious, awaiting... Prove to her that you're not as computed, as what she may be thinking. Are you heading, slowly pacing, forth to that water to see if you could get a glimpse of your portrait in that soon crystalized mirror?
[interaction, human/deer.]
An odd looking creature is
It pauses to look at the sky, reckless wind tangles around his antlers, teasing the candle flames. The creature rears suddenly, struggles to make a few steps while on his hind legs, but to no avail. Frozen mud gravitates towards the soil, as usual, carrying him along. Down.
Too heavy, perhaps?
It shakes his head and attempts a dash towards the water.. only to stumble over an unexpected tree stump. The being falls to the ground with a dull cracking sound.
It doesn't get up, doesn't move. Near the fracture-pelted creature the grass is being stained by hot candle wax.
Quietly the wind swings this
A spasm dragged down the magpie's spine, and it twitched as most corvids characteristically do, a slight skittish about the sudden sound. Then silence drew upon. She glared at the dark, immovable creature beneath her tree. She blinks, she cocks her head, adjust her wings, holding back...
Nothing.
The curiosity, or might it even be worry, takes at hand at last... And the bird lifts from its branch, to gently, sail down to the uncomfortable ground. Not afraid to be too close, she jumps forward and around the to her, large body, not more than a meter away. Sneaking, with a peculiar expression, she finds the wax quite interesting, yet as soon as it sticks on her beak, she swiftly flaps away. How... Sickly...
Pecking against the cold ground, she tries to hack it off, a bit angered.
'Caw!' she coughs. Who might that be?
It flicks his ear and shrinks
Then, after quite a few awkward breaths, he whispers: 'Hello?'
The magpie quickly reacts on
She answers low, '... Hell-o...' sounds the a bit torn, shallow voice from her beaks. She swayed a bit with her featertail, quite unsure whether to laugh or be concerned, looking him straight in the eyes with black marble mirrors.
That voice.. Something
Something inside the creature's chest comes off, unfolds into a cold and sharp yet obscure picture, a portrait painted in rain and torn blades of grass upon a river's flow.
He shudders slightly, astonished.
' I'm sorry. Do hope my collapse haven't hurt or startle you in any way. '
The image fades. It didn't look like one of his well-stored memories.
What..
oh..
He feels the gaze and tries to focus his own, to catch a glimpse of his feathered companion. Little can be seen in or out of the mask, for the eyeholes are partially covered with crust of mud. However, upon the closer look, it can be revealed that the being has eyes similar to those of the magpie.
... What a gentle being... Is
'No... No, no...~' the bird says, with a try to smile, yet can a bird smile...? She observes him from tip to toe, considering for herself that this wreck has wandered a long path. Dirty, still, maybe he has a story to tell... The wind bites cold and flows under her feathers, making her shiver a slight. These flickering little flames upon his horns does seem tempting, hope they can stay alive from this whirly air...
'...Can't you rise?'
The magpie nicks its head, throwing a glance at the side of him which hit the ground. 'Does it... Hurt?' she asks with a rather eerie voice, seeking of his eyes again.
The creature stirs his front
'I don't feel.. most of it. Nothing but a concussion', he replies, in voice still soft, uncertain.
His head turns in the direction of water, shakes twice. The being puts itself into more comfortable position and welcomes the bird to rest between his antlers:
'This weather, although grand and inspiring, seems to be cruel as well. You're freezing.'
A faint expression of sadness and concern can be noticed upon his countenance.
The bird looked at his
'... Oh...~' she like whispered, sounding a bit harsch nearly.
She threw a quick glance in the same direction as him, out on the all grey little shore, and looked back again as he spoke. Blinking her black eyes in a bit confusion. 'M-may I... Sit on your crown?' she asked looking slight like a question mark, adjusting her one wing again.
'Yes. It would be my pleasure
She nicked her head like a
Still... She thought it was a quite pleasant... Even though no sky was visible, through all the thick grey. Strange thoughts for a bird, but this blindness was something she adored.
The being flicked his ears in
As soon as the bird made herself comfortable, he held his breath.
It could not be seen, that his antlers swung, and the tines grew a little, forming a nest-like construction around the magpie. A sudden, but gentle embrace of warmth protecting against the wind, was all she could have noticed.
The creature ruffled his coat, laid back his ears.
Losing himself in the bird's heartbeat, in the elusive dance of trees, soil, air and fire, he completely forgot to breathe.
She reacted on his reply, as
The still magpie never opened her eyes again, for what seemed as an soft mantle carefully hold a stand against the cold breezes, made her fall into a gentle rest, nearly half-sleep. It was warm... After this she would come to have great respect for candle-bearers...
Swallowing randomly, right after the little cluck only she heard, the bird laid notice to the stag's very quiet breathing... Not breathing... Not startled, she knew what he was doing. Actually very delighted, about have found a character of this kind, they are rare... Rare...... Once she knew many...
Though she would follow and listen carefully, interrupting when it's no longer healthy...
'Such a luscious stranger...', repeated again in her head.
'Do you travel.. alone?' The
The creature asked, voice carrying a tune of crumbling book pages beind turned feverishly. Colourless and shy, as if standing at the edge of a chasm and asking for help, only to stumble awkwardly into abyss just a few seconds later.
The bird's company stirred up many a sudden change in this once void being.
He could not recognize the reason, however. To the creature it seemed as if a stray run of wind had been caught in his ribcage. And in desperate attempt to free itself, it laughed, and danced, and stomped, darting from wall to wall, strewing broken things all over the floor.
For him, it wasn't such an impossible thing, after all. Maybe his pelt had a tear or two..
As long as he didn't breathe, it was quite bearable, though. He could focus, he could have control, maybe lock it up somewhere far.. whatever it was..
[[I can't help.. but comment.. Your writing captivates. It has an air of humble perfection. So vivid..]]
His sudden speech echoed in
'No... Not anymore, I assume...?' was her unexpected answer, did she mean it? It was hard to tell if the magpie was asking, or just sighing slight for herself, yet she bend her neck and leaned over the stag's head, trying to get a good look at his eyes. Although his mask, she liked it, was a bit in the way... She blinked, and did these twichings of her head, asking with the shredded voice; '... Are you?'
She stared, trying to see through the little bit of the mask which hid his forehead. Sort of hoping he would say something different, she would love to hear what was his doing... A curiosity she had never lost, but hidden, to not seem like an intrusive stalker. And extraordinary how cold her beek suddenly felt while leaning out of the warm ring of candles... The frost smelled icy and fresh, as newly arrived, only just had gotten time to herd the moss to sleep, again... For wasn't it really spring?
[Thank you, I must say the same... Your visualizations are expressive and strong.]
He looked up with a subtle
'Not anymore.'
An ember of happiness flared up through his usual way of speech, only to tumble, shattering, down the unlit and dusty stairs, as he continued,
'I've met many friends since I was.. hm.. appeared in the forest. I try my best to keep them company or help.. whenever they need it. Yet I know, I do not belong here. I've never spoken to any of them, they might think I'm mute. I keep my distance, run, and, sometimes, hide.'
The being drew a deep breath, his sides crackling loudly.
Perhaps he had just given out too much about himself. Had he?
A defensive stance it was. He spoke and reacted as little as he could, still in fear that something would scare the magpie away.
The magpie smiled a bit,
'... Not spoken to anyone?' she asked with a very wondering and concerned tone, twitching a slight with her head. Oh, she really was such a skilled replier... She never seemed to get everything out that she really wondered and had on her mind. Her formulatings wasn't ever expressive or clear enough. 'Are you... Antisocial?' she asked quite awkward with her eerie voice of a woman with a smoking addiction.
She glanced back at his rib and neck, 'Why was he in so poor shape?', but she waited for asking a question of that kind, she didn't liked always poking about someone too much, she was afraid of getting pictured the wrong way. In any way, she felt a bit sorry.
His ears turned, as if
'I've made a mistake, haven't I ?', more like the fire devouring some twigs it felt, than an actual speech. Still, the voice was calm and gentle, a little curious, at the same time.
'I've never had a wish to do it. In most cases, gestures are quite enough.
There isn't much I could put into words, either.
Antisocial.. No.
Just confused.. Thrilled, maybe. I've discovered the warmth, the heartbeat, the bond..'
The creature fell silent as he moved his front legs from underneath the massive body, one limb noticeably thinner than the other.
She looked away, in a
'... I see...' she said a bit low.
She had misunderstood him. But was delighted about it, she understood exactly what he meant. She wasn't really known herself for being rather talkative, though surely for other reasons...? Oh, she really liked how open he was for a stranger like her... Maybe she could aswell, afterall, they still were just strangers, either one not knowing who they really were. Spacing out again...
The magpie's wings extended for a brief second as a reflex, as the stag moved. She twitched a bit with her head, looking what he was doing, and she did found his one leg a bit odd. 'What is wrong with him...' she couldn't help but think. ...Oh, that must have been why he fell... So she, well if a bird had eyebrows,... Raised an eyebrow at it, and asked gently yet with even a slight try at irony; 'What happened...?' She was just about to change her question, for at first she was thinking of his leg, which he didn't really saw that the bird was looking at, but kept silent, hoping he would also tell a bit of... Well, why did his voice fade?
He didn't insist. Yet,
Some trees, swaying, murmuring lightly, suddenly caught his attention.
He wandered away in his thoughts, 'Can a tree freeze to death? If so, is there any way to help it keep warm? Candles are obviously harmful. Even if they weren't..'
'Happened?'
His ears jerked in confusion.
Watching.
She was thinking she had made
She threw a quick glance at the shoreline, at the bleak sky and at the icy ground again. Why was she really sitting here, between his warm, lighted antlers... Suddenly she thought of herself as a bit rude, somehow. Pft, how scattered her mind was. This was an very interesting and soothing moment. She enjoyed it.
[I deeply apologize! I've been both sick, away and busy with school. ):
Serenai; you're welcome to join if you'd feel like it. (:]
(Oh, I'm usually more of a
Uitleger is absent at the moment for a... Possibly significant period of time. I do not know why or anything like that; we didn't start talking very long ago. I'm just letting you know so you don't feel abandoned or anything of the sort. <3
I can occupy your time, though~ If you'd like. ;D
My character, in fact, often takes the form of a blue jay. Don't you love irony?)
Oh, I see... o: I thought I
Ofcourse! 8D Though I'll warn you that I'm a slow replier, if you haven't noticed already... XDXD Shall we go with the form -points up- or make another introduction? 8DD
His voice, sounding a bit
'Has it always been like that?'
Not at all a question, nor a statement, but an odd confusing hatch of both, and somehow it managed to deliver the idea ''This limb has been different ever since I.. appeared. I am unaware of.. the reason. Maybe it's a mistake. Maybe it is supposed to be. Maybe it has a certain purpose.''
[Harakka; Ah, it's alright. I, too, find myself entangled in some problems and occupations every now and then..
Serenai; Hello and thank you.>]
(UIT. YOU'RE BACK. 8D
I believe I'll just let you two continue and watch, miss Harakka~ <33
I sort of had a feeling I'd say this and Uitleger would show up. > >'''' <33)
She was very surprised and a
'Well as long as I've known you, in these minutes atleast...~' she smiled at the end of the meaning, a cheezy way of mellowing up the moment-saying. And she cleared her throat, which sounded like a hoarsch, strangled seagull with hiccough. 'Oh, poor one, don't say that he was born with it, if he's so used to it, he hasn't... Bothered?' Her curiosity for others' lifes and fates shone through again, like an hopeless addiction. Just like the unbearable attraction for silvery, shiny objects...
[Phew, okei XD I felt so bad after been away for a full week...! ♥
Ah, Serenai, you may whenever join! ♥]
'Oh, I.. I forgot to
Uit-'
Abruptly, the creature burst out into a violent cough. He tried his best to restrain the fit, yet.. it started to look like convulsions.
Puffs of dust broke loose from under the mask. And within several seconds, something small hit the ground in front of him.
It stopped. The being breathed heavily. Grinding and rustling could still be heard, faint, greatly subdued by the pelt, the ribs, and the crust. Sitting motionless, ears laid back and tightly pressed to the head, he uttered, 'Uitleger'.
She smiled greatly inside as
She swiftly flapped down on the cold ground, right in front of the stag. A little 'fiss!' was heard from a longer feather of her left wing, for it accidentally touched by the flame of a candle, yet she didn't seem to notice, or care? Her gaze was a bit shaken, and she asked 'A-are you alright,... Uitleger...?' with a different tone to his name, as if uncertain that she pronounced it right, or even heard right. She was ignorant and didn't told him her name.
The magpie's feet had barely
A single spasm down the spine. It was the first time somebody called him by his name..
His ears moved in eights and circles as he wondered to himself. Why? Uitleger could never get used to acts of kindness and care aimed towards him. So confusing..
'I'm.. better..', his voice fading swiftly like a snake of smoke being devoured by some discharge flues.
The fallen piece seized the creature's attention. His head jerked to the right so that the left eye could get a better view of it.
He rather wished the magpie could not see that, yet couldn't find the right words to invite her back, to the crown.
The creature hesitated a slight, before asking, 'And.. your.. The name of yours?'
Maybe it would distract.. somehow..
She looked back at her slight
The bird looked sceptic at him, and threw her gaze on and back between him and that... Thing... Was it clay... Stone? Ceramics? 'Was that in his his throat?' Her eyes was piercing black, and she looked quite accusing. She flicked with her tailfeathers, then without blinking a single time said; 'I have no real name, it's long forgotten, though I go by the nickname Isole. Her voice was cold, as if she hated to tell folks her name. That was not her name. But really, she disliked when a weak and beaten being tried to hide their wounds and act as if they've never been better. That was not exactly the case here, but a sort of... She was acting rather eerie, she more of wanted him to tell her, than she would be having to ask about it. She was not known for being polite towards strangers, inside her she always thought that though, yet her expressions was just wrong. She was annoyed over her carelessness, he had fell, stopped breathing, and now choked, and yet she had been sitting between his warm, enlighted antlers with claws buried deep in his fur...!
A piece of glass. Dark blue,
The creature lowered his head and gently touched it with his beak.
His gaze met the one of Isole.
'I deeply apologize.. For disturbing you. For my awkwardness. Things akin happen.. From time to time.
Though, I admit, the friend of mine has grown quite possessive of me, while I wasn't looking.'
As he spoke, Isole suddenly
'Hrm, I uh... I'm sorry, it's a bad habit of mine... Hrm.' she sorta chuckled in embaressment and turned her head to the side, pretending to look at something of no importance. Damn. Now would be the time to stop playing with her image and start being the more welcoming. She blinked her black eyes, flicked with her tail-feathers and changed her tone; '...' Oh, well she didn't knew what to say. She looked at him in a pathetic, hilarious way, as if she was a startled hatchling, about to say something of no meaning.
'Please, laugh at me and break the ice!' Or she would start to nervously giggling out of nothing... Or maybe he was of a gentle kind that never laughs and waits for them to get ease at their tongue-tie... She was very afraid...
'The dirt. Sometimes, I can't
He slowly got up to his feet, stretching himself.
The staccato of sloughing resumed.
A glance in the direction of water.. one wavering step..
'I'm very.. pleased by your company. A bit fascinated, even..
By everything.. from a word to a gesture,' the creature whispered, smiling subtly, head held low, eyes seeking the bird's gaze.
'Eating'...? hit her head
The magpie smiled back with her shimmering black eyes, a bit stirred. 'Th-thank you... You are very kind...' she whispered back, a bit honored indeed. Then feeling a slight dumb for her short reply. She decided to be honest, although it was not really her character. 'I suppose I didn't stray your path then, I'm so glad I saw you wandering hither...' her dark, yet friendly voice sounded. '... Now I'm eager to find out a bit of you...~', with a hint of 'if you don't mind' in the end.
She felt awfully calm. As if it was a bit familiar, yet surely not. Her vision of him changed.
'Oh, you will..', he said
'Would you, perhaps, accompany me to the shore? I have to get this husk dissolved..'
Uitleger slightly shook his coat, cast a glance at Isole, and directed his steps to the benumbed waves, his neck stretched, and the beak reaching out up and forth as if trying to grasp an invisible thread.
The magpie shone up, and with
'... Mind if I ask...?' she started with gentle voice. '... Wherefrom do you reside?' she asked while scanning the frozen ground after something peculiar. She sounded much more serious and interested than she looked. 'I've seen quite the many deer here around, but not you before...' She threw her gaze at the grey, transparent water. It was ghastly still, surely it was freezing. A little breath of the wind touched by her black and white coat, scruffing up her feathers so she had to stretch out and back one wing.
His head jolted to the side,
It was.. invigorating, to be able to move somewhat freely again, and his thoughts seemed to rush from a new direction, at last. Maybe he would even be able to speak in a more coherent way..
'I've been around for quite some time, I just tend to avoid being encountered, usually. Sometimes it works, sometimes not..', he replied in a slipping tone, one eye looking toward the magpie, the other facing a trembling grayish eyelid of the sky.
A spasm ran through his sides, as he reached the verge.
Very, very slowly the creature's head lowered itself, heavily tilting on the way down. He sniffed at the surface, looked up abruptly, almost dislocating his neck, then looked down again.
She watched his every
'Kaw!' she chuckled at him, as the icy water bite him. 'Is it freezing or just cold?' she asked with a brighter tone. Well it was a stupid question, but anyway... She tried to be nice, but smiling with a beek is complicated. Actually she had been waiting for this all the time, while sitting on that stiff branch... For someone who would go near the water, perhaps... She could find that shining thing... How exploiting of her, but none need to know that. In any way, she was a magpie, right?, a harmless excuse.
'Even from afar, or while
I'm quite content with being a listener', his voice flowed and twisted in tune to the scene which was taking place far above their heads.
'I cannot feel it.. this way.'
Uitleger tried to bend deeper, so he could touch the water with his beak.
His front legs had always been unreliable. A joint dislodged, and the creature's head tumbled down with a splash, startled him into making several ibex-like jumps aside. The being sneezed and gazed at the newborn waves, shaking his ears in agitation.
His talk made her silence at
'Ka!' the magpie uttered, and flapped backwards a bit naturally when the water stenched. Oh no... 'A-are you okay?' she hesitated and skipped forwards again. Stupid question... Why did she had to jump backwards... '... Your leg, am I right?'. Her voice was scared. She didn't do all too well with sick or injured beings as a magpie, certainly not if it was a something that she could not help with. '... I'm so sorry...!'
Uitleger looked around a bit,
He looked uncomfortable, much like a strange desolated framework, while being supported by his three legs, the fourth now crooked, short and dangling in the air obnoxiously.
'There's something happening. Between the sky and the lake. I wish I could be more precise..'
The large dark body swayed a little, the posture of his stiffened ears, and head and neck, somewhat bent to the left, revealed both suspicion and fascination with whatever sight was then before his senses.
'She is..? Ah, the limb..'
This flick of thought attracted his attention, turning him to face Isole.
'Would you.. wait for me, while I have a dive in the water?', he asked, his tone unusually serious, even anxious a slight.
Isole studied the broken stag
Her gaze fell down, at a little spot on the ground which was covered in small, yet sharp crystals. They were dirty, like someone had shed sand in the wind, and had flown there. She listened at his every move, helding her breath, with her beak open. Her heart beat a slight, she did not like situations where she could be portrayed as soft-headed...
'...Are you... The earth?' the magpie asked low, looking at the dusty ice.
The head bowed in gratitude,
Despite the limp, the creature moved fast.
Two thirds of his legs were already submerged in the devilish rippling mirror when he heard the question.
"...Are you..."
It made him draw such a deep breath, his sides bent deeply inwards, his underside briefly resembling the one of a wooden boat.
Uitleger's breath carried out not vapor, but a desperate hollow gust of wind. Drilling into the air. Dispersing. Letting several grains of sand be. Letting them get devoured by the water.
He shook his crown and lunged forward and out of sight.
The surface overhead was storming with indignation at the sudden trespasser..
The magpie slowly let her
The birds breathing stopped in an inch. The little heart beat so slow yet hard as a drum. She felt the cold dragging in around her, the eerie ambience creeped into her flesh. ... Whereto... Why did he...? Why, where, did he flee? Did he... Flee...?
'KHA!'
...
'Kha...'
Gone. Her heart sank to the abyss. She... Couldn't ever search for him in this biting frost? No. She stared at the spot right between the still, stiff water surface and the chilly air. Blinking an eye, waving a tailfeather. 'Uitleger...'
The water accepted him too
Too dense. It could easily tear him apart. But it also had the power to drive the dirt away.
The large body hung, almost useless, debris of thoughts cluttered in the back of the head.
He sensed.
Isole?
Short, pale corpses of candles floated to the surface of the lake.
An invisible fire curled around the magpie, scorching the frost away, whispering, not in words, but in spirit:
"I'm here. Just underwater. I will come out soon."
The magpie's heart skipped
'Okey.' she blinked. She hardened a bit, and inhaled a deep breath, which wasn't so deep at all. The much harder look in her gaze returned, she felt that she had left out a bit too much again.
She hated water. And she hated being alone. Most of all she hated... Her mind for forthbringing such thoughts.
..... He breathed liquid for
He breathed liquid for several minutes. The soil, indeed, was all gone, dissolved. It would never get in the way again.
But his consciousness was just about to follow suit.
Too much. Too many. Just like in one of the memories..
The motion was difficult, so sluggish.
I promised..
.......
A spot near the shore, the water started to sway. The tall figure erupted, his pelt pouring heavily.
Few strides carried him fast to the dry and left him there. Collapsed.
The bird reacted at the
Yet she jumped fast forward, as the great deer fell handless to the ground.
'Uitleger..!' she called quickly, and sank her head to meet his eye trough the mask. She stood just a few inches away, with a sort of crave in her look to help, yet useless due to her state of shape. She pittied him. And hated the water even more.
'You... There is nothing I can do, right?' her thin, scorched voice said. How her speaking was really awkward, yet she didn't care. He had token something of her, a something that earned her deep interest and care.
( Can i RP with tobbie? )
The body seemed smaller a
"Krrr-khh.."
"It's only dangerous to hang deep in the water. Or carry the dust around for too long. I feel better. I can recover now."
The space around the stag thickened, as he spoke, almost buzzed with hardly suppressed energy.
"I could have never escaped without your help.. without you waiting for me. Thank you."
He added, stirring his head a bit, involuntarily attempting to touch the magpie's neck with his beak, but was quick to realize and restrain himself.
The forest had given him lessons about good manners and personal space, and while he was never really bothered by odd actions of others, he would hardly dare break those boundaries himself, especially when unsure about the other's reaction.