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Post by Carrow on Jan 8, 2011 17:45:05 GMT -5
Caden needn't have worried anyhow - Selvis wasn't in a particular hurry. The longtail really did just want to get outside for a short while before he put on his performance. The mustelid was the kind of creature that spent the majority of his time out in the open air, and while the atmosphere in the room had been far from stifling (as opposed to around the table where it had been superb), he still preferred the great outdoors.
He needed to clear his head first. The good food had made him feel relatively sluggish; that is to say, to most onlookers he would have still seemed to be on top form, but he himself felt he needed to perk up slightly before he could show the others his act. He knew for certain that he would have a mimimum of one very interested audience member.
His mind went back to how taken Carrow, in particular, had seemed when he'd watched the brief display of the longtail's juggling abilities back in the Ferlsuanian's home town, and was sure that the mouse would want a good look at the proceedings. Having a member of the audience as interested as that would certainly help his confidence.
There are those that would have said Selvis overflowed with confidence and self-belief. He didn't exactly do that (even though his near-perpetually cheerful disposition could often suggest otherwise) but even so he liked to carry himself well. There wasn't a day that went by without him thinking of his disadvantaged mother on her own back home, but he didn't pity either himself or her for the situation, knowing full well that she'd be doing her best and not letting it get her down and would want him to do the same. He tried not to brood on such matters.
His thoughts were interrupted by the wondrous sight that greeted his eyes on his arrival in the garden. Having not spoken much about Janey's hobbies, he wasn't fully aware that she had such an interest in growing things, but he could put two and two together easily enough. 'Passion' was in fact selling that interest short, he reckoned. Smiling, he turned to Edgar, mischief dancing in his eyes.
"I'd hardly have suspected you had an interest in this kind of thing, Edgar," he quipped, winking at the albino beech marten. His tail whipped to and fro behind him as he spoke, completely thrilled with how his night was going and glad that Caden and Carrow seemed to be enjoying themselves. He didn't need to worry about the mouse on a night like this. He had seen that his moodswings could be devastating, but was sure there was nothing to get him down today.
He spotted the rodent being coaxed over to the bench by Janey and smiled a little wider. He could see why the wood mouse as so fond of her company. She was everything that a creature of his shy, nervous disposition could look for in company. He stood still, drinking in the peaceful scene with his eyes, planning to refrain from starting until everybeast was there, wanting neither of the beech marten striplings to miss the entertainment.
Carrow's eyes were wide and lit up with sheer delight as he surveyed the scene around him. He was rendered almost unable to speak by the beauty that surrounded him, very nearly entranced by the combination of sight and smell - as the scents of the flowers that surrounded him had combined to enchant the young rodent - but he tore his gaze away and felt his tongue loosen as he heard Janey call to him, once again using her pet name for him, something that helped to put him further at ease.
Smiling at her, he jogged over, seemingly invigorated by what he saw. Taking a seat beside her, his eyes sparkled as he met her gaze. There were still a few inches in height between the two, but the wood mouse mgave it his best attempt. "This is like nothing I've ever seen before - quite literally. We had nothing like this back in Muggidrear. I don't remember even seeing a green landscape until I was about seven when Archie took me out to the country for a day... but even that pales in comparison to this. Everything just comes together so perfectly...," he said softly, awed by what surrounded him.
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Post by bookity101 on Jan 10, 2011 17:35:33 GMT -5
Elle grinned happily when Caden agreed to her request. Swiftly she pulled him through the garden, taking the long way around so they wouldn't have to passthrough the center of the garden. Finally reaching what she wanted to show him, she stopped and knelt by a bush of lilies, plucking one before she turned to him, holding the flower by her side.
"Jane has always loved flowers, and she likes to mix and match them, trying to make new colors like this one." She held up the lilly, showing him the change that had occurred in this bulb. It started a deep red orange in the center changing and mellowing to a brilliant yellow along the outer rim.
"Jane's, and mine, favorite flowers are roses." She moved over the rose bush that was directly behind him, calling his attention to the rose bush that grew as part of the hedge. She began to carefully run her paw down the stem, trying her hardest to not get pricked by the thorns.
"Did you know that is a language out there that uses only flowers?" She plucked one of the roses out, then reached for another, still wary of the thorns.
"And roses have so many different meanings. There's yellow ones for friendship, black ones for morning, pink ones for, well I can't quite remember what pinks is." She smiled as she turned to face him again, keeping the two plucked roses behind her back for a moment longer.
"Then most everyone knows that red ones stand for love." Elle withdrew the roses from behind her back, holding them just below eye level.
"Jane and one of her new friends worked on these ones," The rose in her paw was also dual colored flower, this one in red and yellow, with a burnt orange where the two intermingled before becoming solid. She spun them around in her claws, not able to find the courage to take her eyes off of them and look at Caden.
"Jane said that these particular ones are her favorite, because they symbolize her relationship with Edgar." Elle's free paw floated up, pointing at each color as she spoke;
"First they were friends, later they fell in love; and in between... they were something more than friends, but not yet in love." She sighed, placing one of the roses behind her ear, extending her paw to give the other one to Caden.
"I'm not so good with words, and I pawdled what you said badly..." Finally she was able to look up at him, barely.
"What I meant was, I think about you a lot too, but we are just friends...for now." Elle found putting an extra emphasis on 'now' to convey, hopefully that this was a temporary arrangement as she twirled the dual toned flower in her paw, hoeing desperately hat Caden wasn't as dense as Edgar had been when Elle had begun hinting at to him that Jane liked him too...
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Jane smiled as Carrow took a seat beside her, and it only widened as he complemented her garden. This place was her pride and joy of physical accomplishments, and few gardens in their neighborhood could compare to it.
"Well, I can only take credit for the flowers," Her smile changed direction for moment to her husband as he moved to talk to Selvis, a small ways away from the bench. "Edgar's brother is an architect, the design was all his doing." Jane saw the flash of brown and white that signaled her cousin and her companion had entered the garden and were heading around behind them, heading for her rose bushes. Hmm... Turning her attention back to the mouse, adopting a mock-serious expression, she asked;
"Well then Mousey, I'm afraid, that since we are in a garden, I'm going to have to ask you what your favorite flower is."
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"I enjoy walking through the garden. Not many beasts with a green claw on my side of the family." Edgar returned the wink before sending a found glance over his shoulder at his wife before stating;
"It's more of a black one actually." He shrugged before removing his glasses to give them a buff on his sleeve. The crazy fish had managed to splash him again, causing the speckles to appear on them. Satisfied that they were once again pristine, he placed them back on his nose.
"Well then Selvis, as we are still waiting for Elle and Caden to join us," At this Edgar turned a quizzical glance towards the dining room, thankfully he did not have x-ray vision, and couldn't see that the two aforementioned striplings were indeed not still talking in there.
".... wouldt you tell me how you learned to juggle?"
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Post by Carrow on Jan 11, 2011 6:32:24 GMT -5
"He certainly knew what he was about, anyway; I'm not into architecture or anything but I think I'd like to congratulate him on his work!," Carrow exclaimed with a smile. "Even I can see how good a job he did on this garden. You all seem quite talented," the mouse told her.
The rodent was hoping such compliments didn't cause her to blush, but first it was his turn to go red at her question. "Er, I don't really know, actually - 's just that I've never really been asked this kind of question before. Let me think a moment... I remember being told something about..."
His eyes brightened and he launched in to his explanation - unaware that a very similar line of conversation was being pursued between his two marten friends. "Ah yes. Archie used to tell me that flowers are used to symbolise emotions, and even gave me a few every so often.
"She told me that a flower like myrtle was for remembrance; and harebell, for grief. I remember the latter quite well - it was often she put a sprig of harebell on display in our house in early January... because my father died around then, eight years ago... and that's when everything changed for me..."
The field mouse sniffed, sighing. "Then there was hawthorn. She told me that that was for hope. I think that might be my favourite, now that I think about it, She used to be fond of it. I'm not sure if it was because she liked it for what it was or what it symbolised, but I like to think it was the latter."
A smile lit up his whiskery features again. "How about you? I know you have a passion for flowers after all, so I'd like you to speak to me a little about your choice. It might mean something to you, too. The best things always do," he added in a softer voice. Like friendships, he thought - they mean everything to me.
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"There aren't? Well, thanks for clearing that up," Selvis said gently. "You all have your own special fields of interest, I'm sure. Back home they used to say I was an unusual creature because of my likes and dislikes. I heard them, but paid them no mind, because I like to be stand out, if I can.
"It's better to have certain things that make you unique and help you to be noticed, rather than just being a face in the crowd. Everybeast I know has something that makes them unique - even if some of them think they don't - and I'm drawn to that. Uniqueness - in any shape or form - should be treasured, not derided or mocked."
From what the weasel was saying it was clear whom he was thinking of as he spoke. Caden had so much going for him that he didn't deserve to be given a hard time about his albinism. There's so much more to him after all. I wonder how creatures like Spender might think of him if they could see what he was truly made of.
Carrow, too, had hidden strengths, but he was convinced there was nothing about him that made him worthwhile. He never gave himself his due when speaking about himself; the only comment he would ever make was when he was putting himself down. Selvis could see he was worth much more than he thought, and he was going to work with everybeast else to try and get him to start believing he wasn't worthless - no matter how long that took.
Once again, a Shakespeare quote popped into the longtail's mind: "So may the outward shows be least themselves, the world is still deceived with ornament. He recognised it as being from 'The Merchant of Venice', and a smile sprang to his lips. The smile widened when he heard Edgar's proposal.
"I'm certainly not going to start without them, so while I'm here I shall certainly tell you a little about how I became interested in... well, generally entertaining creatures. I went to a magic show when I was around eight, and as clichéd as it sounds, it really did change my life.
"I was fascinated by what I saw on the stage; it ignited a spark inside me and convinced me I should take up similar interests. While I can perform magic adequately enough, my real passion is for juggling." The mustelid chuckled as he thought, once again, of that day in Crittenden.
"It astounds me that something so simple as watching coloured balls be tossed and caught, guided by a juggler's paws, can inspire such delight in others. In the end it's the simple things that are the best; I took that and applied it to my interest. I started it properly when I was nine, and I haven't looked back since. Even though I can do other things to entertain, as said, my passion is for juggling."
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Post by Ladorak on Jan 11, 2011 11:57:48 GMT -5
Caden was led into the garden, away from the others. He wasn't sure what this was all about, but his heart was quickening its pace, realizing that maybe she needed to reveal things to him that she couldn't say in front of the others. A secret that he could keep with him, away from everyone else. A secret he could carry with him on his travels.
He stood by silently, letting her explain the nature of roses to him. Roses...was that what this was about? He nodded as she picked each one and explained its color. He'd never known roses could grow in black, but he had seen others. He had thought that white was friends, but if yellow meant friends, he'd take her word on that. He wasn't a flower expert by any means, at least by his own admission.
He felt himself tensing up when she mentioned love. No...he was too young for that, wasn't he? Or was he? He admitted that he wanted to pour out his feelings to Elle in a manner she could easily understand, but he felt like it would just lead to him getting tongue tied over it. His pulse slowed when she started to explain the yellow/orange/red flower to him. Was this it? Was she going to...and then his heart stopped.
The anxiety, the buildup, the anticipation...and then the announcement that they were just friends. He realized he was no longer breathing, and he quickly expelled his breath and inhaled, the initial shock of the revelation passing. Just...friends? That's all they could be? Well of course...that's all they could be. Caden didn't live in Welkin anymore like she did...he couldn't possibly be there for her...or live life with her. That was the crushing reality of it.
With numb paw he accepted the rose, staring at it until he realized she wasn't speaking anymore. He was a foolish young marten rushing into things too quickly...as much as it hurt and stung his innards...he realized that this was true. He wasn't ready for this...because clearly she wasn't. It took him a moment...took him a moment to move past the feeling of let down and disappointment to see the rose's significance. Some day...maybe some day...they could move past friends.
He didn't trust himself to be capable of doing so...after all, what made him think he'd make a good interest for Elle over the years he was away? It was with a sinking feeling that he knew he couldn't be there for her...to grow with her. So while there was a possibility, he was still very scared of himself, and of how he looked and came off to her.
He nodded, looking from the rose he held in his paw up to her. She wasn't fully looking at him he noticed. "Thank you." was all he said, and he guarded his tone to make it sound neutral, not wanting to betray his feelings right now. "We should probably go watch Selvis's show, huh?" he asked, rolling the rose's stem in his claws as he waited for her to lead the way.
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