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Post by Aalis Fairclaw on Sept 21, 2013 2:01:15 GMT -6
"Fair river! in thy bright, clear flow Of crystal, wandering water, Thou art an emblem of the glow Of beauty-the unhidden heart- The playful maziness of art In old Alberto's daughter; But when within thy wave she looks- Which glistens then, and trembles- Why, then, the prettiest of brooks Her worshipper resembles; For in his heart, as in thy stream, Her image deeply lies- His heart which trembles at the beam Of her soul-searching eyes." Her book of poetry closed with a soft but satisfying thud. She had come down to the river to clear her mind, and it reminded her of a poem by one of her favourite authors. She hadn't been able to remember it in its entirety, so she had searched for it among the rest of her gathered poems and recited it out loud to herself quietly. She was soothed by the sound of the water mixing with the words that she had spoken out loud. Ally slowly knelt and carefully spread out her over-skirt so that the rest of her clothes would stay dry despite the damp ground. She looked up at the sky that was mostly clear, and though it was chilly as mornings often are, it told of a pleasantly warm day ahead. "I sing a song of a blue sky and a babbling brook..." she began, but trailed off as she was unable to find any further words. Though she tried, she could never think of any new stories to tell. I guess that's just a side effect of loneliness, she thought somewhat bitterly. The best stories that she had to tell were of the days of the Bardic Duo, after all. Sighing softly, she lowered her eyes again, and sifting blindly through one of her books, she let her mind drift back into her memories.
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Post by Aalis Fairclaw on Sept 21, 2013 2:01:34 GMT -6
A raccoon crawled across tree branches near the river with fabric in it's mouth. To any passerby, it would look like an ordinary pest creature, stealing some fabric for it's den. But this particular raccoon was not an average quadruped on it's way to her kits, she was a kinto, shifted into full animal form as many call it. In her mouth was not stolen goods but her own cloak, carried to cover her nudity when she shifted back to her humanoid form.
Down at the bank of the river sat a familiar cat. Nabbi knew her as Ally, a friendly and musical feline. Slinking down from the tree she made her way towards Alley, still keeping the shape of a raccoon.
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Post by Aalis Fairclaw on Sept 21, 2013 2:02:34 GMT -6
The book in Ally's lap was no longer rustled by her flighty fingers, however her tail still swished behind her in a slightly irritated fashion. Her eyes had drifted back to the churning waters in front of her as they shimmered and sent reflections of light in all directions. Many iridescent hues that easily caught the eye beamed at her, yet the kintu was still distracted by her thoughts. The wind gently rustled the page that laid open in front of her, which had eight short poems, all of from different authors -- a few of which were anonymous. The top left page had a poem that read; Sir, I admit your general rule That every poet is a fool; But you yourself may serve to show it, That every fool is not a poet. It was a poem very familiar to Ally and it rarely didn't manage to make her smile at the very least, but at the moment the words did no jumping off of the page and no tantalizing of the tongue as they often did. Her reverie was still too deep to allow such bardic nonesense to enter her mind. So instead she remained with her head slightly tilted to one side, hair just so slightly moving with the light morning breeze over her right shoulder. Her ear twitched slightly at the moving air as it tickled the sensitive tufty fur in the inside, but it did not break her reverie. Rather, she put her head back down and let her hair spill in front of her. It acted like a curtain of sorts, putting a barrier between herself and the surrounding world. A soft sigh escaped Ally's lips as she curled her tail protectively around her with a rustling of fabric and skirts.
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Post by Aalis Fairclaw on Sept 21, 2013 2:02:47 GMT -6
Alley had let her head down over the book, hair obscuring her view of the world. Nabbi inched cautiously closer to her, unsure whether the cat would be in a mood or not. She set her cloak down and prodded Alley with her nose in the same manner that a house cat would ask for attention.
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Post by Aalis Fairclaw on Sept 21, 2013 2:03:01 GMT -6
Surprise caused a bristling of tair fur and a matching strangled noise to escape Ally's throat. She had jumped in surprise and reeled away from what had caught her so off guard. When she looked down to see what had startled her out of her thoughts, she saw but a raccoon. With... a cloak. Not wearing it of course, but it had obviuosly placed it on the ground beside itself. It seemed vaguely familiar, as did the raccoon itself...
Letting her muscles relax, Ally Cat let a smile play across her lips as she looked down at the small creature. It was visible in the eyes that the raccoon was a Kintu much like herself, just in full animal form. Ally liked being in cat form, but found it tedious to have to dress and undress between forms. As as to what to do with the clothes in between was just as tedious. With her many layers of skirts, it just wasn't practical. And anyway, it was easier to be a bard while human. Trying to speak in English while being a cat was hard enough by itself, though over time she had taught herself to do it. However, humans tended to be unnerved by it somehow, so she found it wasn't profitable to use her shapeshifting abilities for her preformances.
"I do believe I may know you somehow. Would you care to join me in a more conversational form?" Ally spoke in a lighthearted manner, though her earlier cloudy mood wasn't exactly entirely dispelled. "Unless you would just like to sit quietly for some ear scritches." she finished speaking with a small chuckle and reached over to the small stranger, aiming for right behind its left ear.
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Post by Aalis Fairclaw on Sept 21, 2013 2:03:19 GMT -6
Nabbi flinched when Alley jumped at her arrival, though relaxed easy with her calming words. Skritches. Skritches were good. She sat down and leaned into the hand, making a sound somewhere between purring and chirping.
After a moment she moved away from Alley's hand and onto her lap, examining the book set between her legs. If only she could read better, she thought. Nabbi knew some letters and words, but not nearly enough to read beyond a few syllables. Education for Raccoons seldom went beyond 'steal without being seen.'
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Post by Aalis Fairclaw on Sept 21, 2013 2:03:38 GMT -6
A flash of teeth shone and a quiet laugh left Ally as the raccoon crawled into her lap. She continued stroking the sleek fur, patting it down where it had been ruffled. She noticed that the small creature was interested in her poetry book. She wasn't sure if it was capable, but she didn't want to be insulting by asking upon a presumption. With some hesitation, she asked another question instead.
"Would you like me to read to you...?" The question trailed off slightly at the end. Ally was used to putting on a persona when preforming and it was usually in decently sized groups of people. She never really read to specific people any more. She used to only do that to test out new poems and songs and stories before actually preforming them. When she wasn't fully prepared for something, Ally actually tended to succumb to her nervousness. Because it had been such a long time since she'd had a companion, she couldn't help but still feel wary of this raccoon. She figured she'd just read out a poem or story that she has already practiced before though. It was the easiest way to solve the issue, so she searched her mind frantically, trying to remember a poem she could recite that wouldn't seem out of place.
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Post by Aalis Fairclaw on Sept 21, 2013 2:03:51 GMT -6
The Kinto made herself comfortable in the cat's lap, eyes scanning the page for words she could read. A few 'the's, 'and's, an 'ool' sound or two... Yes, she would very much like her to read it. She tilted her head back 'till her eyes met Ally's, and let out a squeak. Hopefully that would send something of a message across.
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Post by Aalis Fairclaw on Sept 21, 2013 2:05:05 GMT -6
Finally! I found it! Ally had flipped through the pages of her book trying to find a poem that had popped into her mind. It was of simpler language, and though it was of a decent length, the meter and short style of each verse gave it a softer, lilting, and uplifting manner of speech when recited. Though it was a bit late to read it as Spring had finally arrived in the land, the memory of snow was still close enough at hand that she didn't feel it was too out of place. "I think you might like this one," she started. "It's called The Fawn in the Snow and was written by someone named William Benet." With a soft noise she cleared her throat, and with only a short pause as she inhaled, she began to read. The brown-dappled fawn Bereft of the doe Shivers in blue shadow Of the glaring snow,
His whole world bright As a jewel, and hard, Diamond white, Turquoise barred.
The trees are black, The needles gold, Their bough crack In the keen cold.
The brown-dappled fawn Bereft of the doe Trembles and shudders At the bright snow.
The air whets The warm throat, The frost frets At the smooth coat.
Brown agate eyes Opened round Agonize At the cold ground,
At the cold heaven Enameled pale, At the earth shriven By the snowy gale,
At magic glitter Burning to blind, At beauty bitter As an almost rind.
Fawn, fawn, Seek for your south, For kind dawn With her cool mouth,
For green sod With gold and blue Dappled, as God Has dappled you,
For slumberous ease, Firm turf to run Through fruited trees Into full sun!
The shivering fawn Paws at the snow. South and dawn Lie below;
Richness and mirth, Dearth forgiven, A happy earth, A warm heaven,
The sleet streams; The snow flies; The fawn dreams With wide brown eyes.
When she finished, she quickly ran her tongue over her lips as she realized they had gotten dry. She hadn't a drinking vessel with her though, so she wet her lips a few more times and decided to just ignore her thirst for now. She looked from her book to the small creature in her lap with an imploring look. Ally hoped that her poem had been received well and liked, but she wasn't sure. Rather than saying something out loud and disturbing the quiet after she had finished speaking, she simply waited, and let the river be the only sound to fill the air.
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Post by Aalis Fairclaw on Sept 21, 2013 2:05:20 GMT -6
With eager ears Nabbi listened to the rhymes from Ally's mouth. How she could keep such a clear voice while still flowing perfectly was amazing, and she got more caught up in Ally's talent than the actual poem. When it was finished, she stretched in Ally's lap and yawned. She wanted to shift to tell Ally she liked it, but didn't want to expose herself to the wind and any eyes. Instead she stretched up and licked Ally's face. That was a polite gesture, right? From an animal? Nabbi wondered that to herself, hoping Ally wouldn't take offense.
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Post by Aalis Fairclaw on Sept 21, 2013 2:05:35 GMT -6
One cheek was now slimy with raccoon slobber. With one eye closed and her facial expression skewed to one side, Ally laughed and smiled. She took it as a positive reaction. At the same time, she took the long flowing part of the end of her sleeve and wiped it away. The skin was still slightly damp and the breeze chilled it slightly, however Ally deigned to ignore it and set her attention back to her book. She glanced over the page another time for little reason, and then went to close it in her lap. However, as she did so, she noticed a piece of paper somewhere near the back flutter as it was out of place. She pulled it out and set her book aside.
It was a small folded piece of paper. Unfolding it, her eyes flew open wider and her mouth opened slightly. "The Bardic Circle!" she exclaimed out loud, "I had forgotten all about it!" Ally was still fully unprepared and didn't even know what song she was going to sing. She looked up and around frantically as though the answer to her predicament would be written in blazen letters in the nature around her. It wasn't. Mentally chastising herself, she put her head in one of her hands. "Now what am I going to do?" she muttered to herself, having almost entirely forgotten about the raccoon friend she had just made. "I can't even be a bard right anymore..."
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Post by Aalis Fairclaw on Sept 21, 2013 2:05:53 GMT -6
Surprised by the bard's change of attitude, Nabbi made a sound. Just a sound. It wasn't her usual purr-chirp, nor was it a squeak or a growl. It wasn't a humm, and as far away from a burp one could get. Just a sound. She pawed at her arm gently, and when she knew Ally was looking, she hopped off her lap and stood on her hind legs. The Raccoon made a dramatic gesture putting her paws over her eyes, hoping Ally would get the message.
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Post by Aalis Fairclaw on Sept 21, 2013 2:06:08 GMT -6
Her head was still in one of her hands, and Ally raised the other one so that she was now craddling her face is both. Her hair had spilled forward and her ears were pointed back. Now she wasn't sure she was even going to be able to prepare something in time. Her tail twitched in agitation for a few moments, before curling around her protectively. With a deep sigh, she leaned forward and her posture dropped considerably. "Who am I kidding?" she spat vemonously to herself. By this point in time, she had entirely forgotten about the raccoon."I'll never be Aalis the Bard again. I'm just Ally Cat. A hopeless street preformer and homeless... a homeless nothing."
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Post by Aalis Fairclaw on Sept 21, 2013 2:06:24 GMT -6
When Ally placed her head in her hands, Nabbi took the opportunity to shift and conceal herself within her cloak. She paced around to Ally's right and sat down.
"Hey." She said as Ally became melancholy. "What gives? You're a wonderful bard."
Nabbi did not know what a Bard was.
"Just because you're homeless doesn't mean you can't be good at things. I like your performances."
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Post by Aalis Fairclaw on Sept 21, 2013 2:06:36 GMT -6
Hands falling frmo her face and limply into her lap, she turned her head slightly to the left to hide her face somewhat bhind her hair. She took a deep breath... and sighed. She exhaled as much as she could, not air, but everything she was feeling, trying to calm herself. Her distress simmered into a feeling of heaviness and she suddenly just felt tired. A person was on her right, and she suddenly remembered the raccoon. Resisting the urge to lean against the other kinto, Ally listened in stillness as she spoke. Though the gesture and words were kind, she wasn't much comforted.
"I'm not inadequate because I'm homeless," she sighed, the distress creeping back into her voice slightly, "I'm homeless because I'm inadequate." Her eyes turned to the right, almost pleading. "I don't even know how I managed to survive three years like this. I'm just not good enough. and now the bardic circle is coming up... and I just can't do it."
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