| Title: Stone kitties, and the way to the witch's heart. Time: Tuesday, March 23, 2004 The Thespians: Otter O'Dell, Toby Darling, Matthias (NPC Chaos) and Pascal Curio Location: Scattergood Grounds - River |
| +---[ Scattergood Grounds - River ]------------------------------------------+ | | | The rippling waters of a fast paced river cut across the landscape, | | rushing over occasionally visible rocks 'neath its surface. The width | | varies as much as the depth does; at times it stretches wide and shallow, | | then slim and deep, then other combinations, but always seeming to go | | roughly the same speed: fairly quickly. The water's banks differ as well, | | from sandy and low to pebbly, to grassy and high with a foot drop to the | | river's surface. The slim path narrows more, the trampled dirt hardly | | visible under a collage of weeds and grasses, while on the opposite side | | trees from the forest grow, some stretching directly up against the | | water's path. | | | +-[ Exits: ]-----------------------------------------------------------------+ |
| The colour has somewhat returned to Pascal Curio's cheeks, and already her usual sour look is slowly regaining its strength upon her features. She strolls in quietly from the lake area, lightly juggling a few small pebbles in her hand as she walks along the river bank here, down from the area of the treas. Every few steps she pauses to throw another pebble in the bank, and as she continues to wander further and further along the river bank, she stops. A stretch, and then the girl continues to walk, wrapping her robe around her more tightly. Its far too cold, and before she can wander /too/ far, she turns around, and then starts heading back slowly along the bank, skipping rocks here and there, a thoughtful gleam in her emerald eyes as she moves. |
| Otter O'Dell walks down the sloped hill at a shuffled pace. His feet move awkwardly, as a person who is lost in a large city and not quite sure where to go. The boy cranes his neck, looking this way and that. Suddenly Otter wrenches forward, the toe of his boot caught in a stray root on the path. Rogan, the red owl on his shoulder gives an annoyed squawk, beating his feathers and digging his talons in to keep his balance. Otter quickly regains himself and waves a hand at Rogan to cut it out. The blue eyes from the boy sweep the scene and he spies the girl tossing pebbles. Making sure he didn't trip on anything, the boy scuttled forward, eager to meet someone new. |
| The squawk, as it slices through the silence in the area, reaches Pascal's ears. She stiffens slightly, but being accustomed to interruption, she turns to the producer of the noise. She squints just slightly to focus on the other person in the area, and the squint only makes her face look narrower. Otter doesn't look all that familiar, so Pascal says nothing and gives the boy a curt nod. He's still a little too far for her to say much of anything to him, and so she holds her tongue until he gets a little bit closer, keeping her back turned towards him as she just listens for his steps as they get slightly louder on his approach. |
| The wet grass clings to Otter O'Dell's boots as he patters forward, coming closer to the girl. He began to see her more clearly, she was much bigger than him, and much older from what he could tell. This fact struck him for a second, and a falt in his steps could be heard. Otter quickly shrugged this off, as to him a friend was a friend. He moved forward again, stopping a few feet behind her. "Errmm... Hullo." His voice says in a squeak. Rogan ruffled his feathers in a small hoot, also acknowledging the girl. |
| Toby Darling, who is just out for a leisurely stroll in the barely-spring air is summoned toward the lake bank by a commotion. Of course he finds none other than Pascal... and some other boy he hasn't met yet. "Pascal! Would you mind keeping it down? There are people trying to go on leisurely strolls in the barely-springtime air here!" |
| Otter's lucky that he's got Rogan perched on his shoulder. Pascal was always more kind with animals than she was with humans, but she was never really kind to humans anyway. She looks at the boy carefully, and then looks at the owl on his shoulder and still she doesn't even crack a smile. "Having speech difficulties today?" She inquires with that fake sort of politeness that's meant to be rude, before she launches into her own, "Hello." Cut short though, is the greeting as Toby enters into the picture. Cue internal groan, which is reflected on her face as a furrow of her brow. "I can help you keep it down Toby, just let me think of a way," she says flatly, staring at Toby the same way she did before she... well... hexed him. |
| Otter steps back a step, startled by this rash girl. He reaches a hand up to Rogan, petting the owl under the feathers on his neck. His eyes flash over to the boy approaching. The smile that had faded sprang back to life. This boy looked a bit more to the age of Otter himself. He was about to reply but decided against it, letting these two dish it out first. |
| "Don't even /think/ about it, Pascal." Toby refutes in just as flat a tone and stare as Pascal. Then, abruptly he remembers his manners and turns to the boy he hasn't met quite yet. "Hi, I'm Toby Darling. It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. ??" Toby extends a hand in greeting, keeping he other hand in his pocket grasping his wand, just in case Pascal gets any ideas. |
| Pascal Curio wouldn't dare hex a boy in the middle of the day, in front of a complete stranger, would she? No one knows, but her own hands are hanging loosely by her sides as she watches the two boys interact. She leans towards Otter. "Watch out for him. He's got some... issues," she whispers loudly to the new boy, her finger making circles around her temple as she speaks. She winks at Toby, fairly sure that her voice is loud enough, and that his ears are alert enough to hear her talk trash about him. |
| Pascal had better not hex a boy in the middle of the day, in front of a complete stranger, and also (as it just so happened) in front of the school's Guardian himself. That would make an interesting scene, indeed, and the girl probably wanted to avoid such a scene at all costs. Speaking of costs... Matthias strolls in up the river, or on the opposite side to be exact, looking bemused for whatever reason of his own. The water does not seem to present any sort of barrier at all to him (though he does paw at it idly for a moment), for he trods right in. Unfortunately, being made of stone and weighing roughly a ton, he is not carried away by the current - he simply disappears for a good ten seconds before his ears, followed by head, shoulders, and finally tail, emerge on the other side. Obsidian eyes blink at the students, as though this were some sort of usual occasion. "Hello, Toby, Otter, Pascal." |
| Otter lets his eyes follow the stone cat. A smile tickles his face as he remembers first meeting this creature, and being quite scared. He relaxed, though Rogan seemed uncomfortable, launching himself from Otter's shoulder to flutter about the boy's head. "Aw... cut it out, Ro." Otter moans and furrows his brow. Ruddy owl, always embarassing him! He holds up a hand to Matthias. "Hey, Mat." He says and continues the same hand on it's course upwards to try to bat away Rogan. |
| Toby manages a "Shut up, Pascal." just before Matthias emerges from the water. "Hi, Matthias! What brings you out on this fine day? Hunting for really big mice?" Toby forgets that Matthias doesn't usually appreciate his jokes. |
| Pascal forces a very serene look and smile over her face towards Toby, though she can't help but express a little bit of dissatisfaction in her eyes that she couldn't say anything back to him. The first thing that runs through her mind when she looks at the school's guardian: Don't Pet The Stone Kitty. The serene smile grows even larger as she smiles broadly at the guardian. "Hello, Matthias. What brings you into our company today?" She darts a look over at Otter and his /poor/ owl, and she tsks gently at the boy. "Ro," she doesn't know what else to call the owl, "he's just nervous. Don't bat him away. Can you blame him for being nervous?" Small owl meet giant stone cougar. If anything, she sounds a little cross at Otter's behavior towards his /dear/ companion. |
| No, in fact Matthias doesn't ever understand jokes. He merely shakes his head, something that looks awkward for a cougar to do, taking the question literally. "Unfortunately, no, for such a thing they have yet to make. Just on a patrol; I have been debating trotting in to Boulder," And yes, though it was a two hour drive away, he did mean 'trotting', "To see if I can procure any dingle balls." The word 'dingle balls', even spoken by himself, makes the cat's ears fly up. He could picture the little morsels now... so ball-like. And dingly. "What are you all up to?" A suspicious gaze flicks between them all individually. In the Guardian's experience, student gatherings in random places only very rarely meant that they were studying. At Pascal's words, his features split into a grin, which happens to reveal a large number of teeth. "Hardly. I would be nervous too, if I were small, and made of feathers." Mmm. Feathers. No - bad kitty! His tail twitches. He tears his eyes off the bird. |
| Otter sighs and stops batting at Ro, letting the owl settle nervously on his head, mussing up the boy's hair. "Yes yes... I know. Rogan is a good owl, a bit moody sometimes, but loyal." His eyes dart up to try to get a look at the small owl on his head. Otter smiles and reaches a hand up to let Rogan step on it. "There you go. Bit uncomfortable up there, eh?" He chuckles and holds the owl close. His gaze floats over to Matthias, a suspicion held in his gaze. He was certainly glad Rogen did not have his bell collar on today! |
| "Uh... what are we up to?" Toby doesn't really want to tell Matthias that they're not up to anything, really, because he's sure he won't believe him. But, of course, he tries it anyway. "Nothing. We are up to absolutely nothing, Matthias. Just out for a walk. Not causing any trouble." Toby is telling the honest truth, of course, but the story sounds a little fishy even to himself. |
| The sight of all those stone teeth in the Guardian's mouth as he grins is enough to make any student a little worrisome. Pascal saw that look Matthias gave Rogan though, and she darts her own look at the small owl with Otter. The exact minute that Toby says 'nothing' however, is the exact minute that someone else decides to come out of Pascal's mouth. "Just making a new friend," jumbles all together with what Toby says, and Pascal just blinks, not sure that she even made sense, and so she repeats it again. "Just making a new friend," she turns to look at Otter with a grin that's all entirely too friendly for her, and then turns back to Matthias. "Toby just stumbled upon Otter and I, is all. Not that his intrusion is unwelcome, or yours, for that matter..." she trails off before she digs herself into a hole. "So... dingle-balls." Now would probably be a good time to mention that she's got one in her dorm for her cat, maybe. |
| Otter bobs his head. "'Tis true. I'm new... as you know, Mat... And I was looking for some new friends." The boy squirms and shifts his weight, hoping the cat does not have mind reading powers. Not that it was a lie, but he was not sure this Pascal girl wanted to be his friend, anyways. A false grin is plastered on his face as he looks to the others, nodding his head stiffly. Clearing his throat, Otter occupies himself by smoothing Rogan's already smooth feather. |
| Yes, Pascal. If your intentions were to make Matthias forget where he was and what he was doing, if you wanted him to be completely and utterly distracted onto some sort of random side topic, then now would most definitely be the ideal time to mention dingle balls. "Oh. That sounds reasonable, I suppose. Not out hunting otters, at least?" See, there was this girl, who six years ago... and now she owns six of the damned little beasties... ahem. The cat perks up again. "Well, friends are excellent. If your delightful-looking bird is bothering you, Otter, you may settle him in the Aviary also, in the Mundainger Biology building - you'll remember it from the tour?" As though Otter should be able to remember everything that he had said, ever, particularly during The Tour. |
| Toby notices Matthias has been paying a little too much attention to the owl on what's his name's shoulder. He takes a step away from the owl toting boy so that if Matthias is going to be adressing him, Toby, again he'll have to be looking away from the owl. "Yes, friends are awesome. I love my buddy Pascal, here. We hang out /all the time/. She helps me study sometimes." Toby throws an arm up around Pascal's shoulder, giving her a half-hug. Yeah, he'll regret that later. At least it's sort of a convincing charade. Well, at least Toby thinks so... |
| Otter chokes on his own spit at the cat's interest in the bird. "Erk! No no Matt... I'll watch him myself for... a, errr... while..." His voice seems strained and even Rogan hoots nervously. Otter pulls him in close and changes the subject. "Merf... hunting otters...?" He asks strangely. And shakes his head. "I should hope not. I don't believe that would land /me/ in a very comfortable position..." He says with a small laugh, trying to lighten the mood. Stone cats make Otter uncomfortable, as he was beginning to find out. |
| Oh no. Toby did /not/ just touch her. But he did, and he's got his arm thrown around her just like they're /chums/. The blood starts to drain from Pascal's face as she glares darts of death at the boy standing next to her, but the colour quickly rushes back as she thinks of a plan. Yet another smile is plastered on her face, and hopefully since Matthias is more of the take-things-as-they-are type being, she throws her own arm around Toby as well, a solid grip on his shoulder. "Oh yes. Toby and I, we're tight. Just like this." She crosses two fingers and gives Toby a shake. "Good buddies. Best." A look at Otter as their new acquaintance backs away uncomfortably from the stone kitty. "We're hoping Otter will be just like that /too/." She turns and glares at Toby again. To Otter, "Right?" Bright fake smile. |
| I know! Let's play 'get whiplash!' "Aha aha aha aha aha." gets shaken out of Toby, but he plasters a smile onto his face anyway. It's his fault, and he knows it. Best not cause a fuss in front of the school guardian, though. He's kinda in charge of keeping the peace, ya know. Silently he fears for Otter. "Otter? Your name's Otter? Good to meet you, Otter." He never /did/ tell Toby his name... at least that Toby heard in all the fuss. |
| Matthias might take jokes as they are said, but literalness still stands, and it's a literal fact that Pascal's face is plastered with a 'I'm lying out of my teeth' grin. "You don't have to make friends with everybody." Had he any brows, he would have long since raised them. "I will never understand any of you. Just when I think I know - blasted away, like that." Because he happens to lack fingers to snap, he instead clicks his teeth together. Back to Otter (and his rather scrumptious-looking bird-of-prey): "It's just as well. We really have more random wild animals than we can support. Toby is given a sort of look. 'Your name's Otter'? Good friends. U-huh. |
| Otter laughs nervously and sticks a hand in his robe pockets, nodding. "Oh... uhh, right! Friends like those. It would be nice... yeah." He turns his head to Matt and nods again, to assure what he said. "Friends... like all your other... errr... stone cat friends..." Merf. Otter bit on his on tongue, drawing the sour taste of blood to his mouth. He knew the second it came out of his mouth what a dumb thing it was to say. Lowering his gaze, he becomes very interested in the ground, rubbing his boots in the moist grass. Otter's face grew flushed as he tried to hide it from the others. |
| Pascal Curio still keeps the 'I'm lying out of my teeth' grin on her face, but she loosens her hold on Toby considerably. She may be able to play the game, but she's young and has only so much tolerance herself. Matthias' little comment about understanding isn't new to Pascal, and she really has nothing to say to him about that other than, "We're tricky. You don't want to understand, really." She darts a glance over at Otter, clearly missing just exactly what the boy said to make him so embarrassed. See? Even Pascal doesn't understand. |
| Happy to be out of Pascal's death grip Toby takes a step away from the girl and addresses the group: "Well, I think I'll be going now." Great time to make an exit, Toby! Run from Pascal when she's not going to chase you. Thanks, Matthias! "I've got some, er, homework to finish up for charms. Tough stuff." He nods to the three as he turns to make his exit. |
| In reply to Otter's stuttering, Matthias merely bobs his head. "We don't see each other often enough, I'm afraid. They all live in obscure locations, like Alabama and Arkansas and Tennessee and Washington. Mostly, I am afraid to say, I hang out with far-too-happy stone dogs, and one extraordinarily annoying bird." He blinks. "But I chatter on. I should leave, if I am to make it to Boulder before their lovely dingle ball shop closes..." Mmm. Dingle balls, and owls! All in the same store! It really didn't get much better. Unless they stocked mice too. The Guardian nearly salavated (well... if he had those glands) at the thought. |
| Otter blinked at the cat's repsonse. So he /did/ have other cat friends. How fortunate. The normal color came back to Otter's cheeks and the boy smiled. Ah, another chance to save this conversation! "Yes... I suppose it would be nice for you to see them more often..." He says and nods at Matt's goodbye. "Dingle balls... they sound very... interesting." He says and then stumbles again. Another chance lost. "Well... not for me, y'know. But for cats... stone cats... and real ones, I would suppose. With fur." Otter's eyes grew and Rogan leaned over to nip him on the ear in a 'Stop talking while you're ahead' sort of way. Otter coughed. "Yeah... fur..." |
| Aww, and they're leaving. Pascal offers Toby a small wave, and then shouts just for the effects, "If you need help with your charms you know where I am, bestest buddy!" She turns back to Matthias to give the Guardian his own goodbye. "Goodluck on your hunt for dingle balls, Matthias. If you do not happen to get there in time, I'm sure that Samson (her companion) wouldn't mind lending you two or three of his own." That and they cause far /too/ much noise in her part of the dorm when she's trying to get some sleep at night. She looks over at Otter, then at Rogan, and asks in what will probably be one of her more civiler tones, "How long has Rogan been your companion?" |
| Otter lets his gaze flash up to his moody owl. "Oh, I just got him a few months ago when I found out I was accepted here. My parents are muggles, y'see..." He smiles lightly at his owl who had started to sleep on his shoulder. "We're still getting to know each other. I like him a lot." He said, casting a wary look to the departing Mat. "Y'see... his name is Rogan... 'tis an Irish name for Red Haired Warrior." Otter comments as he rubs his nipped ear. "An' Ro is a warrior, all right." |
| "He looks like a very nice owl," Pascal finally lets herself admit, though she'd rather be talking to just the owl, instead of the boy and the owl. For the sake of the Rogan, she'll be nice to Otter. "That's a very nice present, from your parents," she says, not really staring at him as she talks. There's not a comment made at all about him being Muggle, since she is herself a pureblood, and she looks at him out of the corner of her eyes. Now she's actually speaking to the owl. "Do you get into fights, Rogan? Is that why Otter named you what he named you?" |
| Otter chuckled at the thought and nods. "With /me/, mostly. He is a good owl, but gets rather bossy." A small laugh erupts from his throat. Rogan cracks a single eye open, studies Pascal, and closes it, giving a friendly hoot. Otter gives a playful sigh and reaches into a pocket, pulling out a small cashew, and feeds it to the owl. "My parents liked him a lot. They bought him for me right away. I told them they didn't have to..." Once again Rogan gives a hoot, and Otter quickly finishes his statment. "But I liked him too, so I didn't argue /too/ much." He remarks, casting a narrow glance to Rogan. "I suppose you have a cat?" He inquires, noticing animals were the thing to talk to her about. |
| Smart boy, Otter is. Pascal's whole body seems to relax, and she stoops down, crouching down to get a little more comfortable by the bank of the river. "I do. His name is Samson." She stops her and seems off in her own little world as she chuckles. "He's a little clumsy, but he was my gift before I started school at Scattergood." She doesn't say much about the cat's history, and looks up briefly at Otter. "Sometimes I think he bosses me around more than I boss him around." Another pause. |
| Otter snorts a laugh and bobs his head, agreeing. "Cat's can be that way. I lived on a ranch before coming here. My mother was in /love/ with cats. My favorite was a manx named Gus. Y'know what Manx's are, I would guess? The tailless ones." He reminds her and nods. "I always feel more comfortable around animals. Easier to get along with." He nods to Rogan. "Well... sometimes..." |
| Pascal Curio smiles at Rogan, and then actually does the same for Otter. "Rogan was just nervous, that's all. But really, think of what it'd be like if you were in his place, a big fat," well, maybe not fat, "stone cat with so many teeth." Pascal smirks and shrugs, and then stands up again. "Anyway, I gotta get going." She groans. "Need to hit the books and all. The crappy thing about summer coming is that you gotta get through exams first." A slight smirk, and she nods her head at Otter. "Take care of Rogan, eh?" With that, she heads out of the area, back towards the dorms. |
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