Tell Me a Story [Open]

[Ishara Dossari]

28th Day of Spring, Year 512 AV "Come, sit close. I shall tell you the story of why the Coyote sings to the moon." Ishara knelt on the grass beneathe the spread of a young sappling in full flower. The gentle breeze wound through the boughs, tugging loose a few petals to spread them at the feet of the small gathering below. Lately, Ishara had discovered her late afternoon visits to this grassy knoll frequented by more than just her and Raj. A little over a week ago, she had encountered a young girl who was crying piteously over a broken crown of flowers. To console her, Ishara had taught her how to weave one from slender grass reeds, all the while sharing one of her many stories. Hardly a day had passed, when Ishara was joined by the young girl again, this time with another little friend in tow. In the week that followed the group had grown to five children, all who frequented the park in the late afternoon to hear another of Ishara's stories should she and Raj choose to visit. "If you were not aware of it before, I must tell you now that before young coyotes can find their voice, they are among the very best dancers in our world. They are long of limb and graceful, and their large ears and bushy tails help them float gently back to earth at the end of their long, spiraling leaps," a bubble of laughter greeted this small pronouncement, and Ishara flashed a quick smile before continuing. "The story I am about to share with you involves one such coyote named Inka, and how he learned to sing." Raj chose that moment to flop down alongside Ishara, stretching his head out so that one of the children could be persuaded to rub his ears. "One night while Inka was dancing across the sand beneath the stars, he lifted his large ears and heard a whisper on the wind. The words were faint, and he could not make them out, but he thought he caught some kind of melody. He had never heard such melody before, and he was very intrigued. Following the sound across the sand, Inka came to an oasis. There, standing in a pool of clear water, and shining softly in the starlight, was a white crane. She was singing to herself, gazing thoughtfully at her reflection in the rippling water." Ishara smiled and produced a white feather from her satchel, twirling it between her fingers as the children watched, entranced. She'd come across the feather earlier that day, and it had given her the inspiration for what story she chose this afternoon. "Inka was mesmerized. He swore that he had never seen a more beautiful creature, and as her song wove softly through the night air, Inka crept closer. When the crane spotted him, she tilted her elegant head and took a long, graceful step in his direction. Inka watched in fascination, trying to imagine her dancing across the water, because surely if any creature was made for dancing, it was her. They observed one another for many long minutes, until suddenly the crane asked, 'I have not seen you here before, could you be a desert spirit come to haunt me?' Inka shook his head quite slowly, and sat down just on the edge of the water before answering her, 'I am no spirit, just a coyote out dancing until I heard your song.' 'Dancing?' said she, 'what is dancing?' Inka blinked at the beautiful crane in astonishment. How could such a lovely being not know how to dance? He stood up tall and straight, waving his bushy tail, 'I would be happy to show you.' With a flip of his tail and a waggle of his ears, Inca sprang into a beautiful dance, sending the sand at his feet skittering along the bank as he leaped and twisted and frolicked. The crane was quite impressed, and before long she joined him. Together they skipped and soared, bounced and flapped, twirled and spun beneath the twinkling stars. The crane began to sing, and overcome with such joy and love that his heart was near bursting, Inka raised his voice in song with her. Hours slipped away, until the sky blushed with the arrival of dawn. In a final flurry of fur and feathers, the two were soaring through the air when the sun peeked over the horizon, momentarily blinding Inka and causing him to duck his head. When he looked up, the crane was gone. All day, he searched, and in vain, for he found not even a single trace of her. Determined to see her again, he stood by the oasis and waited for night to fall." The children had grown hushed and quiet, and Raj nosed the hand that had suddenly stilled across his ears. Ishara gave them a reassuring grin, and continued... "But when the sky darkened into night, the crane did not appear. Instead, a bright globe surfaced on the horizon, rising slowly into the sky to sit like a silvery beacon amidst the many stars that glistened overhead--" "The moon!" chirped one of the children, and Ishara nodded softly. "Yes, it was the moon. Inka had never seen it so bright before, and as he stared up at it, there came a shifting of light and it looked as though a piece suddenly fell away. It started as a tiny spark, drifting and spiraling closer and closer to the earth. Inka tracked it, pacing to and fro as it fell. Finally it was within range, and Inka gave one of his graceful leaps and captured the piece between his teeth. It was the softest, silkiest, and most silvery white feather Inka had ever seen, and immediately he knew it had come from his crane. His heart swelled as he looked from the feather to the moon high above, and then Inka tipped his head back and sang, willing his mournful song to be carried amongst the stars to the beautiful bird he so loved." As Ishara finished her story, Raj gave a great gusty sigh, causing a few of the children to giggle. One of the girls aimed her dark eyes up at Ishara, her expression grave... "But wont he ever see his crane again?" "Every night, little one, every night as he sings to her," and with a bright smile, Isha leaned forward and offered her the white feather. With a shout of laughter, the girl plucked the feather up, and bounced to her feet. Holding it aloft, she began to dance in circles, and the other children all scrambled to their feet to join her.

[Ishara Dossari]

((I changed the status to Open, if anyone wants to pop in. I spent too long writing this for it to just sit unused... ))

[Dex]

Dex had recently gathered his wits from .... well, he wasn't going to dwell on that. Some things happened, but they were in his past. He wasn't thinking on those any more, especially since he'd finally found his goal. A port city full of large blue people. Time to explore it, this time not seeking for trouble. As always though, trouble found him. He'd been scouting out the park where he'd made his den, seeing what other animals had homes around him. Several unfamiliar scents wafted on the wind to him, most smelling like people. One however, had a scent of an animal, some sort of animal unknown to him. Silently racing across the grass, he found a group of mini people, who were all around another person, who's scent was quite interesting. Ignoring the animal scent which was much stronger, he crawled forward to the edge of the group. The mini people seemed totally fascinated by the big person. He crawled up against the big person, not noticing that the source of the animal scent was just on the other side. He rubbed his fur lovingly against the person, trying to get a good back scratch and sniffing her interesting scent. oocHe's a Ferret if you didn't get that from the pictures.

[Ishara Dossari]

Ishara blinked in surprise as she felt something nuzzling and snuffling in the grass alongside her.  The creature was...a rodent of some sort?  Raj lifted his head abruptly, nostrils quivering at the new scent...but Ishara placed a hand on his flank, stilling his impulse to investigate it further.  She held completely still, unwilling to frighten the animal that seemed so out of place, and clearly some ones pet of some kind. "Greetings." Ishara lowered her hand, the back of her fingers slowly proffered for the small creature's acceptance.  The children squealed nearby, still entertained by their own whims... "Be careful, daring one...for you're cute enough these children would scoop you up without a second thought." Smiling at the small mammals nuzzling quests for attention, Ishara scritched behind his tiny ears, tucking one finger beneath his chin for an affectionate rub.  Dissuaded from his prey, Raj gave a huff and averted his eyes.  If it wasn't bolting, he wasn't interested. "Do you have a name?  A home?..."  Ishara combed the park with a speculative glance, expecting to find the animals keeper near frantic in their efforts to locate him...or her, as the case may be.  But she saw nothing.  Frowning softly, she tickled behind those tiny ears again. "Be you lost or simply wandering, you must not do too bad. You seem in fine shape."

[Dex]

Ahhhhhh, ferret heaven. The larger human started scratching his ears, and rubbing his chin, and making him feel oh so good. He flopped half over, his back leg scratching his side in response to the head scratches. A few different hands tounched him, petting his fur, feeling his paws. John wobbled to his feet and promptly placed himself in her lap, rubbing against her affectionately. Then at one point, he spotted the .... the thing next to her. His attitude changed and he was on his feet in an instant. Crouching low in her lap, his nails digging into her legs, he hissed loudly at the predator. If the thing showed any interest in getting near him, it was going to get a smell overload from his scent glands.

[Ishara Dossari]

"Shh... Raj here will not hurt you, brave one. So long as you are not streaking through the grasses. He is a sight hound, a hunter of slightly larger things...but you will not tempt him so long as you sit here and face him." Ishara's words were soft, slightly acented and ushered in the same tone as that she might use to carry on a casual conversation between friends. As if to give credit to her words, Raj flicked a silken ear and stretched out on the grass once again, resuming his sun-bathing. "You see? Not a worry..." Her fingers hovered slightly before the ferret's nose, an offering of more scritches, should he accept. His aversion to her companion did not surprise her in the least, and she considered herself fortunate that Raj was not driven solely by his instincts. That being said, had the small mammal decided to bolt off across the lawns, Raj would have been tempted to press after him in hard pursuit. Luckily, his collar was within easy reach should that still present a possibility. "What brought you out here?" Ishara murmured, studying her newfound friend's miniscule traits and mischievious expression. She'd never seen anything quite like him before...more noble than a rat, and yet less haughty than a cat, and yet something between the two... Yes, certainly some one must be searching for him.

[Dex]

After hearing her statement that the mutt wouldn't chase him, though still some what edgy, he rubbed his nose against her finger, happily getting scratches across his nose. Relaxing happily in her lap again, he flopped over on his back in her lap, gazing at the children who were starting to rub and scratch his stomach a little, causing his back legs to kick out in a nerve reaction. Being decidedly estactic with the love around him, he even slid out of the lap and nuzzled against the predator dog thing, lightly bumping noses slightly. Sniffing back and forth at each other, John crawled around the side of his head and plopped himself on the back of the dog, scratching lightly along his ears in the back.

[Ishara Dossari]

Raj was not quite certain what to take of this. His would-be prey was tumbling about his shoulders, digging sharp nails into his pelt and digging about. He tried shifting to one side...but that only brought the creature atop his back, little paws scrambling for purchase. Raj lifted his head, and the ferret began scratching behind his ears...and those little feet tickled! He rocked to his feet, carrying the ferret with him atop his shoulders. Being a sighthound, he was mostly leg, and so by ferret standards he stood quite a ways from the ground. Still unnerved by the little pest, Raj rolled his eyes and glared back at the slinky mammal... Ishara laughed, the kids burst into giggles, and poor Raj huffed and lowered his head, tossing a long-suffering look in his keeper's direction. "My poor hound, and yet you make such a handsome horse," Ishara crooned, reaching forward to give the dog a reassuring scratch on the whithers.

[Dex]

Dex was feeling great. People to smell, dogs to pick on, and all the pets and scratches he could wish for. When the dog stood up though, Dex was not quite prepared for it. Still being on it's back, just now much higher, he gave a small leap across onto the big persons shoulder. Once he was there, he saw this large amount of something fuzzy. He stuck his nose into it, and it spread out over his head. Feeling confused, he started scratching through it, but getting more and more surrounded by this long fur coming out of her head. Finding the touch of it weird and tingly, he pulled his head out and looked at the mini people. Then he proceeded to leap again, this time onto one of their heads. From there, he leaped again quickly onto another head. He went back and forth across their heads, leaping to and fro. When one of the heads started falling backward, he leaped again for the closest landing, the dogs head.

[Ishara Dossari]

Raj ducked his head as he saw the ferret coming for him, dodging his leap and slinking around to stand behind Ishara. With the children giggling over the little mammal's antics, Ishara was hard pressed not to join in. Rising to her feet and dusting the scrubby grass from her pants, she shook her head softly, smiling. "You, little one, have far too much imp in you!" She shook an admonishing finger in the ferret's direction, but the severity of the reprimand melted away as she smiled. Raj nudged her from behind, and she lowered a hand to the back of his neck. "We should be going," she glanced down at the sighthound, meeting his liquid gaze. The children had begun to wander off, too...each called home by the hour or the beckoning call of a parent. Smiling after them, Ishara was already considering what story she would bring with her on her next visit...The Raven and the Bee, perhaps? Reaching over her head, Ishara stretched the stiffness from her joints and sucked in a deep breath. Her eyes found the ferret again, and she frowned at him speculatively. "I hope you have somewhere to go, little one...Yahal protect you, you are so small."