Post by abyss on Feb 2, 2009 17:34:49 GMT -5
Characters involved:
Blaze, male cat
Mercury, male mockingbird
Synopsis: Mercury tries to strike a deal with a cat.
Barnyard
================================================================================
The barnyard is arguably the heart of the farm - and at its center stands a tall, centuries-old oak tree with long, gnarled branches. The ancient behemoth creaks and groans, thick leaves rustling in even the slightest breeze.
But what would a barnyard be without the barn itself? Fashioned from long planks of rotten wood, the namesake seems to have fallen into a state of disrepair. Here and there, chipped bits of white paint can be found clinging to the structure's exterior - a reminder of better days. Beside the barn is a tall woodpile, overgrown with weeds and dry moss, a notorious nesting ground for spiders, centipedes and a plethora of nasty insects.
The farmhouse sits across the dirt road from the barn and is in better condition. It's a white, modest, one-story dwelling that looks more like a cottage than a house.
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It is early morning and Blaze has taken up residency on one of the many old rotted fence posts streaching and yawning having just woken up. Ah what a nice mornign! He thinks gazing about with a happy little purr digging his claws intot he fence abit he looks around hoping to spot a stray mouse out int he open. To his dismay he spys nothing.
A particularly fat mockingbird swoops down from the sky, flying over the roof of the barn before landing on top of the woodpile beside it. Quick, beady eyes dart around the barnyard, watchful, even a touch nervous. The bird is bold enough in the forest, but he has spied cats here before. Yes indeed--/cats./ The very idea causes Mercury to huff, feathers ruffling indignantly. Still, this pile of rotting wood is a treasure trove of insects, and this bird simply cannot keep himself away from it. Before he finishes surveying the yard, a scuttling beetle catches his eye and he hops gleefully after it, eyes gleaming.
Blaze is jsut about to go off to his favorite hunting spot when he spies the bird and blinks a little. He shifts his body to watch the creature and smiles gently. He considers it too big to be dinner atleast for his young size. "Hi there.." He offers slowly shifting to lay on the fence post intently watching the bird chasing down the beetle.
The beetle hastens toward a crack in the rotting wood, but Mercury is faster. His beak flashes down and he snatches up the insect, flapping his wings in a brief struggle to keep his balance. The beetle is gone in an instant, leaving the bird looking very smug and satisfied with himself. That is not to say his /hunger/ is satisfied--if given ample time, he will gorge himself until he can hardly fly. He is beginning to look around for his next course when a voice drifts over to him. Blinking, obviously startled, the bird looks around quickly until he spots the cat. "How rude!" the mockingbird booms at him. "Rude, rude! Sneaking, slinking... /cat/!" He says the word as if it is a curse.
Blaze blinks a bit obviously more then a little confused. "I jsut been sitting here, I haven't snuck up on anyone.." He comments slowly streching out his paws. "I am Blaze, who are you?" he asks couriously not makign a inkling of moving twords the bird.
Mercury can see that the cat is still stretched out on the fence. If the cat began to approach him, he would most likely take wing, but the cat has not moved... and the bird is reluctant to leave the table before he has finished his meal. His feathers ruffle and he paces a few steps, clearly flustered. "Cats are always sneaky, sneaky," he says, seeming to glare at the feline. The distance between them makes the bird feel bold. "But they will never catch Mercury." His chest puffs out and he fans out his wings in a display of arrogance.
Blaze blinks as frowns a bit at the birds comments and shakes his head. "I am just wanting to say hi." He says then shaking his head a bit as he then starts to lap his paw and groom his cheek as he watches theird. "So yuo like eating bugs... are they tastey?" he asks his attention shifting suddenly.
The mockingbird cocks his head, looking skeptical. Why on earth would a cat want to talk to him like a civilized bird? He hops to the edge of the woodpile and leans forward on stick-like legs, peering at the feline on the fence. His eyes glimmer with greed when the cat switches to a more gastronomic subject. "Very tasty, mmmm, oh yes, very tasty," Mercury trills, nodding his head vigorously. He narrows his eyes to thin slits. "And what do cats eat, hmmm, I wonder?" he continues slyly, as though he already knows the answer.
Blaze blinks a bit as he ponders on this and as if he was actully asked the question he starts listing off things. "Mice, Rats, rabbits, hares, and the occasional sprig of catmint!" He swipes his tounge over his muzzle letting free a shiver of delight as he thinks of the lovley cat mint.
Keeping an eye on the cat, Mercury nodnodnods his head as Blaze rattles off a list of the animals he dines on. When the cat finishes with no mention of any bird, the mockingbird cocks his head and fixes Blaze with a keen golden eye. "Surely, surely, yes indeed," Merc agrees in his musical voice. "All of those and more, more, more." The fat little bird hops sideways and cocks his head the other way, regarding the cat with what seems to be consideration. "Hmmm. Perhaps the cat will make a deal, yes, a very good deal, for a very good meal."
Blaze blinks and shakes his head. "No... jsut those really, I gusse I am sposta eat bat according to Cayenne but Bat's are nice and friendly.. and I just can't see eating friends as a good thing.." He then hears the part about a deal and blinks tilting his head couriously. "What type of deal?" he asks watching the bird intently and couriously. in honesty ever since that Eagle terrorized him and Muddy he really hasn't really seen birds as a good Menu item..
Mercury listens to the cat with his head still tilted, blinking beady eyes. He does not respond directly to Blaze's explanation, but he certainly files the information away for later. Meanwhile, he focuses on the question. "A deal, a deal," the mockingbird echoes, in an uncanny mimic of Blaze's voice. His beak gapes open in what might be an avian grin. "I will tell the mice of a barn, yes, a barn," he announces, returning to his own lilting voice. "A barn full of hay and corn, corn, corn. The mice will come here, yes, here!" Hopping forward again, teetering on the edge of the woodpile, he peers at the cat to see how he reacts to this idea.
Blaze blinks a bit as the bird makes offers of juicy mice. However stupid he may look, his thought process has slowly been getting quicker and quicker. "In exchange for?" He knows how this works, theres something he gets out of the deal. Mimiteh got shelter ine xchange for acting as a early warning system for preditors at night. Cayenne well, they didn't much get anything from her. Yet her affection twords the two probably ensured shed help them if the need arised. In exchange well, they sometimes caught prey for her. Yes everything has a price. So he watches the bird intently, though the bird would notice this isn't like a preditor watching a meal, more like a equal watching a equal.
The mockingbird bobs his head with approval. The cat is quicker than he looks. "This, here," Mercury says, hopping up and down on the top of the decaying woodpile. "Mine, mine, all mine." He flares his wings and glares warningly at Blaze. "No cats. None! Mine!" After a few seconds the bird settles down again, fluttering back to his original perch on the edge of the pile. He peers down at Blaze again, cocking his head questioningly. "Deal?"
Blaze tilts his head lookign at the old woodpile and frowns a bit. This little deal needs a modification. "Well, how about if all the bugs in there are your's and we can still use it as a sunning spot?" He asks with a tilt of his head. "Because that my favorite spot to lie in the mornign and take in the wonderfull sunrays.." He says lookign at the bird hopefully.
Mercury hops back a step, feathers ruffling in offense. Cats lounging all over /his/ woodpile--the very thought of it--! "No, no, no! Absolutely not!" His feathers are so ruffled by now that he appears to have doubled in size. Flapping his wings, the mockingbird takes flight, swooping up into the air above the barnyard. He flies in circles above the cat's perch, well out of reach. "I will tell the mice, yes," he counters, "Of a barn full of cats, cats, /cats/!"
Blaze watches the bird flying around above him loosing its temper fairly quickly. He can't help but chuckle. "Well, if you are gonna be that way." He says shaking his head. "The mice already /know/ this barn and that is why they don't bother to live here." He says with a sly grin. "So if your just gonna ruffle your feathers and get upset, they go ahead and go tell them, heck tell them to go away!" He says rather coldly and uncaring twords the bird. It was a bluff, well the part about having them go away, but the mice have gathered that they are in the barn, and this is why the barn is empty of mice now.
The pudgy mockingbird continues to circle above the fencepost, listening closely to the cat's reply. He cries out in frustration when Blaze fails to take his threat seriously, sharply clacking his beak. Mercury himself is harmless to a cat; even if he had the nerve to swoop closer, his beak and claws would do little damage. Nevertheless, he knows how he will retaliate. His threat was not an idle one. "Fool, fool, fool of a cat!" Mercury sings, spiralling higher into the sky. "The cats will be hungry soon!" And with that joyful promise, the bird flies away.
Blaze shakes his head a little and grins a bit calling out to the bird as he flys away. "Then I shall just tear down the wood pile with my own claws so it is no use to you or me!" She calls out looking at it. "And smush all of those stupid bugs!" He knows the bird probably has other harder to get bugs. But what the bird dosn't know is the cats fortunatly have a spare mouse supply out farther in the feilds, and there was large amounts of mice infesting the house. Far too many mice, and most of them too stupid to take warnings, afterall they stay where they are after they watch him snatch one fo there brethern. He watches and waits to see if that threat might bring things to a mor even keel but betting the bird will jsut contiue on.
Though he may have heard Blaze calling after him, Mercury's shape grows more distant, until the bird finally disappears over the orchard trees.
Blaze, male cat
Mercury, male mockingbird
Synopsis: Mercury tries to strike a deal with a cat.
Barnyard
================================================================================
The barnyard is arguably the heart of the farm - and at its center stands a tall, centuries-old oak tree with long, gnarled branches. The ancient behemoth creaks and groans, thick leaves rustling in even the slightest breeze.
But what would a barnyard be without the barn itself? Fashioned from long planks of rotten wood, the namesake seems to have fallen into a state of disrepair. Here and there, chipped bits of white paint can be found clinging to the structure's exterior - a reminder of better days. Beside the barn is a tall woodpile, overgrown with weeds and dry moss, a notorious nesting ground for spiders, centipedes and a plethora of nasty insects.
The farmhouse sits across the dirt road from the barn and is in better condition. It's a white, modest, one-story dwelling that looks more like a cottage than a house.
================================================================================
It is early morning and Blaze has taken up residency on one of the many old rotted fence posts streaching and yawning having just woken up. Ah what a nice mornign! He thinks gazing about with a happy little purr digging his claws intot he fence abit he looks around hoping to spot a stray mouse out int he open. To his dismay he spys nothing.
A particularly fat mockingbird swoops down from the sky, flying over the roof of the barn before landing on top of the woodpile beside it. Quick, beady eyes dart around the barnyard, watchful, even a touch nervous. The bird is bold enough in the forest, but he has spied cats here before. Yes indeed--/cats./ The very idea causes Mercury to huff, feathers ruffling indignantly. Still, this pile of rotting wood is a treasure trove of insects, and this bird simply cannot keep himself away from it. Before he finishes surveying the yard, a scuttling beetle catches his eye and he hops gleefully after it, eyes gleaming.
Blaze is jsut about to go off to his favorite hunting spot when he spies the bird and blinks a little. He shifts his body to watch the creature and smiles gently. He considers it too big to be dinner atleast for his young size. "Hi there.." He offers slowly shifting to lay on the fence post intently watching the bird chasing down the beetle.
The beetle hastens toward a crack in the rotting wood, but Mercury is faster. His beak flashes down and he snatches up the insect, flapping his wings in a brief struggle to keep his balance. The beetle is gone in an instant, leaving the bird looking very smug and satisfied with himself. That is not to say his /hunger/ is satisfied--if given ample time, he will gorge himself until he can hardly fly. He is beginning to look around for his next course when a voice drifts over to him. Blinking, obviously startled, the bird looks around quickly until he spots the cat. "How rude!" the mockingbird booms at him. "Rude, rude! Sneaking, slinking... /cat/!" He says the word as if it is a curse.
Blaze blinks a bit obviously more then a little confused. "I jsut been sitting here, I haven't snuck up on anyone.." He comments slowly streching out his paws. "I am Blaze, who are you?" he asks couriously not makign a inkling of moving twords the bird.
Mercury can see that the cat is still stretched out on the fence. If the cat began to approach him, he would most likely take wing, but the cat has not moved... and the bird is reluctant to leave the table before he has finished his meal. His feathers ruffle and he paces a few steps, clearly flustered. "Cats are always sneaky, sneaky," he says, seeming to glare at the feline. The distance between them makes the bird feel bold. "But they will never catch Mercury." His chest puffs out and he fans out his wings in a display of arrogance.
Blaze blinks as frowns a bit at the birds comments and shakes his head. "I am just wanting to say hi." He says then shaking his head a bit as he then starts to lap his paw and groom his cheek as he watches theird. "So yuo like eating bugs... are they tastey?" he asks his attention shifting suddenly.
The mockingbird cocks his head, looking skeptical. Why on earth would a cat want to talk to him like a civilized bird? He hops to the edge of the woodpile and leans forward on stick-like legs, peering at the feline on the fence. His eyes glimmer with greed when the cat switches to a more gastronomic subject. "Very tasty, mmmm, oh yes, very tasty," Mercury trills, nodding his head vigorously. He narrows his eyes to thin slits. "And what do cats eat, hmmm, I wonder?" he continues slyly, as though he already knows the answer.
Blaze blinks a bit as he ponders on this and as if he was actully asked the question he starts listing off things. "Mice, Rats, rabbits, hares, and the occasional sprig of catmint!" He swipes his tounge over his muzzle letting free a shiver of delight as he thinks of the lovley cat mint.
Keeping an eye on the cat, Mercury nodnodnods his head as Blaze rattles off a list of the animals he dines on. When the cat finishes with no mention of any bird, the mockingbird cocks his head and fixes Blaze with a keen golden eye. "Surely, surely, yes indeed," Merc agrees in his musical voice. "All of those and more, more, more." The fat little bird hops sideways and cocks his head the other way, regarding the cat with what seems to be consideration. "Hmmm. Perhaps the cat will make a deal, yes, a very good deal, for a very good meal."
Blaze blinks and shakes his head. "No... jsut those really, I gusse I am sposta eat bat according to Cayenne but Bat's are nice and friendly.. and I just can't see eating friends as a good thing.." He then hears the part about a deal and blinks tilting his head couriously. "What type of deal?" he asks watching the bird intently and couriously. in honesty ever since that Eagle terrorized him and Muddy he really hasn't really seen birds as a good Menu item..
Mercury listens to the cat with his head still tilted, blinking beady eyes. He does not respond directly to Blaze's explanation, but he certainly files the information away for later. Meanwhile, he focuses on the question. "A deal, a deal," the mockingbird echoes, in an uncanny mimic of Blaze's voice. His beak gapes open in what might be an avian grin. "I will tell the mice of a barn, yes, a barn," he announces, returning to his own lilting voice. "A barn full of hay and corn, corn, corn. The mice will come here, yes, here!" Hopping forward again, teetering on the edge of the woodpile, he peers at the cat to see how he reacts to this idea.
Blaze blinks a bit as the bird makes offers of juicy mice. However stupid he may look, his thought process has slowly been getting quicker and quicker. "In exchange for?" He knows how this works, theres something he gets out of the deal. Mimiteh got shelter ine xchange for acting as a early warning system for preditors at night. Cayenne well, they didn't much get anything from her. Yet her affection twords the two probably ensured shed help them if the need arised. In exchange well, they sometimes caught prey for her. Yes everything has a price. So he watches the bird intently, though the bird would notice this isn't like a preditor watching a meal, more like a equal watching a equal.
The mockingbird bobs his head with approval. The cat is quicker than he looks. "This, here," Mercury says, hopping up and down on the top of the decaying woodpile. "Mine, mine, all mine." He flares his wings and glares warningly at Blaze. "No cats. None! Mine!" After a few seconds the bird settles down again, fluttering back to his original perch on the edge of the pile. He peers down at Blaze again, cocking his head questioningly. "Deal?"
Blaze tilts his head lookign at the old woodpile and frowns a bit. This little deal needs a modification. "Well, how about if all the bugs in there are your's and we can still use it as a sunning spot?" He asks with a tilt of his head. "Because that my favorite spot to lie in the mornign and take in the wonderfull sunrays.." He says lookign at the bird hopefully.
Mercury hops back a step, feathers ruffling in offense. Cats lounging all over /his/ woodpile--the very thought of it--! "No, no, no! Absolutely not!" His feathers are so ruffled by now that he appears to have doubled in size. Flapping his wings, the mockingbird takes flight, swooping up into the air above the barnyard. He flies in circles above the cat's perch, well out of reach. "I will tell the mice, yes," he counters, "Of a barn full of cats, cats, /cats/!"
Blaze watches the bird flying around above him loosing its temper fairly quickly. He can't help but chuckle. "Well, if you are gonna be that way." He says shaking his head. "The mice already /know/ this barn and that is why they don't bother to live here." He says with a sly grin. "So if your just gonna ruffle your feathers and get upset, they go ahead and go tell them, heck tell them to go away!" He says rather coldly and uncaring twords the bird. It was a bluff, well the part about having them go away, but the mice have gathered that they are in the barn, and this is why the barn is empty of mice now.
The pudgy mockingbird continues to circle above the fencepost, listening closely to the cat's reply. He cries out in frustration when Blaze fails to take his threat seriously, sharply clacking his beak. Mercury himself is harmless to a cat; even if he had the nerve to swoop closer, his beak and claws would do little damage. Nevertheless, he knows how he will retaliate. His threat was not an idle one. "Fool, fool, fool of a cat!" Mercury sings, spiralling higher into the sky. "The cats will be hungry soon!" And with that joyful promise, the bird flies away.
Blaze shakes his head a little and grins a bit calling out to the bird as he flys away. "Then I shall just tear down the wood pile with my own claws so it is no use to you or me!" She calls out looking at it. "And smush all of those stupid bugs!" He knows the bird probably has other harder to get bugs. But what the bird dosn't know is the cats fortunatly have a spare mouse supply out farther in the feilds, and there was large amounts of mice infesting the house. Far too many mice, and most of them too stupid to take warnings, afterall they stay where they are after they watch him snatch one fo there brethern. He watches and waits to see if that threat might bring things to a mor even keel but betting the bird will jsut contiue on.
Though he may have heard Blaze calling after him, Mercury's shape grows more distant, until the bird finally disappears over the orchard trees.