01.15.09 - Jealous

Location: Redwall Fire Pit

Characters Involved: Harper, Tameus, Sivaine

It is oh-so-dark! Save for the large fire that rages and warms the creature's present. There's a fire most nights, a welcome distraction for those seeking escape from the inside. Harper is one such beast. A group have started up a spot of dancing, to the tune of a fiddler. And Harper? Is dancing! His energy has been quick to return as he dances a squirrel Novice of similar age near the fire. You can picture it now. 'Come on, Harper! Dance! It'll be good for you.' And of course he's just such a good guy and all, so. There he is. Dancing. And he actually looks to be enjoying himself, at that! You can tell by the grin!

Tameus is not enjoying himself quite so much. He has on his cloak and gloves and boots as he trudges from the comfortable warmth of inside out to where Harper is... doing something very strange. The leveret looks kind of bewildered, head tilting, breath coming thick and misty. He stands at the edge of the firelight and scrubs at his muzzle with one hand.

And all she wanted to do was go for a walk, out of the increasingly stuffy air of the main abbey building and away from, just for a bit, the constant work of the infirmary. And then she heard the strains of music, and saw dark shapes leaping around the blaze, casting weird shadows like she'd come upon a midnight fairy fete. Out of some idle curiosity and wish to haunt the sidelines, Sivaine drifts closer, a silent hooded shape in dark blue.

He and the Novice are chattering as lightly as one can in the given atmosphere. They appear to share a joke, because suddenly they are laughing and leaning on each other, steadying each other with their arms. The lurkers go unnoticed.

Tameus's eyes slide sideways and up to the looming cloaked thing that is Sivaine. His brows lift, and he asks her in a mumble, "... who's that?"

"I haven't the faintest idea," Sivaine answers honestly, her words leaving her in puffs of mist. In the depths of her deep cowl, she squints to make out the squirrel's features better. "Hnh. Novice Rosethorn, maybe."

"That's a stupid name," is Tam's comment.

Sivaine glances down at the leveret. "You don't like her."

"'course I don'," Tam says, glancing up at Sivaine again. "Lookit 'er. Lookit /'um/. .. 'course I don'." He hunches his shoulders and brings his hands up, rubbing the against his muzzle and giving a faint cough into them.

Certainly not Novice Star! She wouldn't be laughing so freely, even if she DOES match the squirrel appearance. For that matter, she wouldn't be DANCING. Harper and "Rose", if you will, seem to find themselves enough to go back to dancing. Harper twirls her out as the fiddle music picks up. It's a popular tune and many of the gathered jump in with the words, Harper among them.

A noncommittal "Hmm" is all Sivaine has to say to that; her hood twitches, as if an ear flicks beneath, and she looks more fully at him now, turning a fraction. "..it's a dance. Dances don't always mean anything." Her gaze flicks out to the partnered beasts again. Up to the abbey building. Back to Tam. "You sound cold."

Sivaine says, "And he's up, and he's walking, and he's happy. These are good things."

"That 'appens s'mtimes in winter," Tam points out, and heads away from her. He wanders the outskirts of the firelight, shivering a little, headed for an upturned bucket that was previously being used as a seat.

Someone taps Harper on the shoulder and makes a paws-open gesture towards Rose and, with a bowing grin, Harper gives way! He scoots his butt over to a smaller fire, on which some sort of warm drink - /not/ tea - sits heating. He pours himself a cup and sips, eyes scanning the grouping. And he /does/ look happy, at that. Looks /refreshed/. He spies Siv first and so, after pouring a second cup, it is she who he approaches. He holds it out. "'Llo," he grins. "Wouldn't expect t'see you out here. You don't seem the dancin' sort."

Meanwhile Tam tugs the bucket up, flips it right side up, and starts shoveling snow into it with his hands.

"Right, well," Sivaine snorts, following after. "We try not to let that happen. Especially when there's plague about. Evening. Thanks." This last is to Harper, who catches her up; a paw emerges from the dusky folds of fabric to accept the drink. "I'm not, under usual circumstances. Seems to be doing you good, though."

Full buckets are harder to carry than empty ones. Nonetheless, Tam starts dragging this one toward the larger fire. No one seems to notice him, either. Being tiny has its advantages.

Aha! "'Llo, Tammy!" He grins, allowing the least of his paws as possible to show beyond warm habit! He sips. "If I'd seen you, I would've gotten a third drink." And to Siv! "But aye - the dancing's good. You 'n' Tam ought t'have a go. 'Tis warmin'!"

Okay .. no one but Harper. Who is distracted by Sivaine anyway. Tam reaches the edge of the fire, hefts the bucket, and upturns it on top of the blaze.

"I think he's about to have a go at-" Sivaine is cut off by the hiss of rising steam.

And suddenly it is much darker.

"..and there he goes."

... And then the fire gutters back to life! Harharhar. But it is kind of on life support. But then no one's much concerned about the fire, because now everyone's turning with words of protest to - Tam. Glowering.

Harper, on the other hand, walks immediately forward and lifts the bucket from Tam's grasp. "You. Inside. /Now/."

Tameus hadn't really considered an escape plan. It did, however, have something to do with the /darkness/ which ... lasted for only about two seconds. What luck he has! The bucket is taken and the leveret stands there, muzzle twitching, looking at the fire and then up at Harper. And he just heads inside again.

Sivaine just takes a careful sip of her drink, blinking for a moment after the bite of cider hits her tongue. It's impossible to tell under that cloak, but if anything, she seems faintly relieved not to be in the middle of things this time.

Harper watches Tam go without a word and - there is a rather ringing silence around what's left of the fire, now. Once Tam's disappeared beyond the light of the fire, Harper turns his attention to those present, "... Sorry, folks. It's all righ', I'll fix the fire. Go back t'dancin'!" And with that, and a shooing gesture at the fiddler, the music starts again and Harper tends the fire. At least there's still the smaller one to see by.

There is a conspicuous lack of comments of disapproving silence from Sivaine - not that either would make it past the deafening lull of disapproval and 'what just happened?' emanating from everyone else. "H'm," she murmurs, having another sip of cider, and just watches from her post at the edge of the diminished light. "..need some help?" she asks after a minute - a sort of perfunctory offer.

Harper is slowly but surely adding tinder and logs to the fire. It's slowly growing again and - folks seem to be getting back to things, well enough. Except for Harper, anyway, and apparently Siv. "Pass me that log," and he points.

Tameus is gone not very long before he reappears - not having gone inside, but waited near the entrance long enough to figure out his dad wasn't following. Now he approaches Harper from behind, reaches to tap him arm. "C'mon."

It would help if she'd been in things to start with, but probably not - Sivaine seems perfectly content not to be dancing, or mingling, or refilling her cup. Instead she obliges, dipping at the knees to grasp the chunk of wood indicated and hold it out. Tam is noted, but nothing is said.

"What'd I tell you, Tam? Inside. I will talk t'you later. Right now I want you t'go inside 'n' think about what you did." He's keeping his voice low so as not to disturb the others. "Think about what you were tryin' t'do with the Play 'n' how much of that you undid t'night."

Tameus's nose twitches a little, and he's silent for a moment. Then he says, "Bu' y' haft' come yell 't me now."

Sivaine turns her gaze skyward, picking out constellations.

"No, I don't." Why? Because then he'd be getting what he wanted out of this incident. And the yelling? Wouldn't make a lick of difference. Harper has taken the log from Siv by this point, and feeds it to the fire, still back-to. "Now inside, Tam, now."

".. no. No y' haft' /yell/ 't me," Tam insists, and reaches for Harper's arm. He tugs at it. "Y' haft' come inside wit' me an' y' haft' get mad an'. An'. Yell. 'r summat."

Harper doesn't say a single thing. He gently extracts his paw from Tam's grasp. Points. His mood's certainly ruined, but he's not angry. Nope. Something else.

The log taken, Sivaine recedes from the fireside.

"Da'," Tam says, blinking at him with confusion. "Da'. I w's bad. Y' haft' yell 't me when 'm bad."

Harper gives him nothing.

Tameus says, "D'ddy."

Harper picks up another, closer log and turns, feeding this to the fire. "/Go/," is all he says.

Tameus shakes his head, stubborn as ever. "No."

Harper's shoulders shrug. 'Fine', in other words. But he doesn't say anything, either. Some more tinder is added and the fire's raging quite well once more.

Tameus says, "D'ddy.." His voice is lower, unsure. He reaches for the buck again. "D'ddy. C'mon. 's n' funny."

... Nope, nothing.

"'s n' /funny/," Tam says again. His fingers clench on Harper's sleeve.

There's a murmur, followed by a bark of laughter from an older otter on the other side of the fire. Siv's doing a little mingling after all.

"No, it's not. And that's why you're going inside 'n' I'm not. It's called a 'punishment'. Now get inside before I have t'carry you in 'n' leave you with one of the Novices." Harper doesn't even turn, just keeps feeding that fire. It's getting /bigger/ than before, which is good. The laughter perks Harper's ears, but doesn't really penetrate.

Tameus ducks his head, saying nothing. He then steps to the side of Harper, gets down on his knees, and picks up a piece of wood. This is added to the fire.

Harper doesn't say anything, but he's not snatching Tam up and dragging him inside, either. He watches him without giving way he's watching him.

Tameus is quiet now, focused, his expression frowning and concentrative. He adds pieces of wood carefully to the fire, one by one.

Harper has stopped feeding the fire himself. Instead he nudges Tam's arm with a piece of wood, offering it.

Tameus glances over, not looking at Harper's face. He takes the piece of wood and sets it on the fire, hand flinching back when the flame gets too close. He picks up another.

Harper reaches out, stilling Tam's paw. The fire's... well-recovered, now. "That's enough," he murmurs.

Tameus's hand tugs back a little on reflex. His gaze lifts to Harper's face. ".. y'. Nnh. Yell now?" he asks in a small voice, and brings that hand up, coughing into it.

"Wasn't plannin' on yellin'," is his answer to that. He stands back from the fire, indicating that Tam should do the same. "You're still punished, though. I want you t'present yerself to the Novices t'morrow mornin' 'n' tell them you're t'help with any chores they want, 'til they finish cleanin' up after lunch. Got that?"

Tameus just looks unhappy as he's told this - and not for the reason one might think. He lowers his head and rubs at his face. "'d rather b' yelled 't. ... 'r yelled 't /also/."

"Can't help ya there, kiddo," Harper answers, brushing his paws off one with the other.

"Yes y' c'n," Tam mutters. He hasn't stood up or backed off from the fire yet. The flames lick at the new wood and the fire grows, the orange light on one side of Tam's face and his muzzle scrunched from the increased heat. "Y'r m' da', y'r s'posed t' yell when I do summat wron'."

"And you're my son 'n' you're s'posed t'do what I say when I tell you somethin', but that doesn't seem t'be the case either," is Harper's reply.

Tameus opens his mouth, and shuts it. He snuffles into his glove and coughs, then nods. "'ll do better," he promises. "'ll b' better. I know 'm n' a good son bu'. 'll b' better."

"You're not a bad son, you just need t'learn that you can't just do whatever you want. What you /do/ hurts others, Tammy." And the sweet spot? "It hurts /me/."

Tameus's nose twitches. "'ow's 't 'urt y'?" he asks, confused and sad. "I jus' put th' fire ou', I didn' d' nothin' t' y'...".

Harper says, "It's not the fire, it's why ya did it."

Tameus asks, "So why'd I d' 't?"

Harper says, "You tell me."

Tameus says, "...'cause," and shrugs. "'cause I.. hh."

Tameus finally supplies, in a mumble, "'cause I wan'ed y' t' pay 'ttention'a me, okay."

Harper shakes his head. "No," he disagrees. "That's not right." He waits a few seconds, and his muzzles twitch with a frown. "You didn't want /me/ t'pay attention t'anyone /else/. If you wanted me t'pay attention to you 'n' that was it, you'd have come over 'n' said something. That's not what you did. You were jealous. You wanted t'stop /someone else/ other than you from makin' me happy."

Tameus stays silent. His muzzle drops again and he picks up a small, charred twig from the edge of the fire, poking at the frozen dirt with it. Finally his shoulders move in a bit of a shrug. ".. s' m' job t' make y' 'appy. Y' don' need n'one else."

"That's not the way it works, Tam. I'm not yer pet, I'm your Father. I don't belong t'you." Harper crouches then, touching his fingertips to Tam's chin to lift his eyes to his face. "An' that's why I don't want you t'ever do somethin' like this again. You can't decide who or what makes someone else happy, just like I can't tell you 'stop lovin' yer Gran'parents' - Zoe 'n' Ender 'n' Jarril, just on the offchance they might make you happy instead o' me. Because I /want/ you t'be happy no matter where it comes from, because I love you. That's what you do when you love someone - you want their happiness more'n your own. Do you understand what I'm tellin' you?"

The leveret's muzzle lifts, brows furrowed as their eyes meet. He swallows, head turning away, and brings his hands up to cough into them. As he does so he just. Nods.

"Go on inside, Tam. Get outta the cold. It's not good for you. I'll be comin' along in a bit," and he nods towards the buildings.

"'d .. rather wai' f' y'," Tam mumbles.

"I know you would, but that's not what I said." Harp nods towards the buildings again. "Go on, Tam. I'll be up in a bit t'tuck you in."

Tameus hesitates, then pushes his hands against the ground and gets up. He takes a step back, about to go - then steps forward quickly to hug his dad around the middle.

And he mumbles, "'m s'ry."

"I know ya are, Tammy." He bends his head down to kiss the top of his head, then releases him.

Tameus holds on for a moment, then lets go, and turns to head inside.