Aik and Amy

Characters: Amethyst, Will, Aikuen, Fira

Location: Moledeep

Moledeep: Dibbun's Garden

Amethyst sits on the knoll singing playing 'the bard's song' on her lute.

Will, bored, has taken to practicing with his sling in the hot Summer sun. Playing at attacking invisible tree-rats in the trees nearby.

Amethyst puts her lute away as the song ends and takes up her new temporary staff Aik had made her out of one of his javelins. Hearing the stones hit the tree she wonders to herself walking closer to the sound, stick held out before her waving to and fro.

Will's aim is getting better now and tired of his game he aims at a tree trunk to /just practice/. His shots hit the tree and bounce off in different directions each time. He tries to aim his next shot so the rock will bounce off to his right but the rock doesn't cooperate and bounce off to the left and behind him somewhere. "Darn it," the dibbun growls starting to reload his sling.

Amethyst hears the rock coming toward her and raises her stick to block it. It bounces off and onto the grass, jolting her a bit. "Why are you throwing rocks at me?" she asks.

Will blinks and lowers his sling as he turns to Amy, "I wasn't. It bounced off th tree. I didn't know you'd moved."

Amethyst nods a little, "Ok ... I think I'll go sit somewhere else then so you can practice ..."

Will cocks his head at the maid, "I can stop."

Amethyst shakes her head, "No, it's fine I need to walk around anyway," She smiles at him, "You said you needed to practice so I won't bother you while you do that." She walks off toward the shed, stick in paw.

Will shrugs, "Ok. If you want to." He watches her go for a moment or two before turning back to the tree and continues to work with his sling.

Moledeep

Aikuen has been wandering the grounds, alone, just thinking and walking. Fira is off in Moledeep cleaning some more, and he was also there with her, but he wanted to get some fresh air. He'll be back before to long. He has changed clothes, back into his regular pants and belt. He feels better with it on, the tunic was uncomfortable in the heat. After turning one of his javelins into a staff for Amy, he made himself another and he hefts it in his right paw. He hears the odd clunk sound bouncing off the trees, and heads off toward the sound. He sees Amy off in the rose garden. She doesn't look like she is making the clunking sound, unless she is hitting random rocks with her new staff. He walks slowly up to her and says, "Hello Amy, like your new stick?" He watches her carefully, see if she is the cause of the noise.

Amethyst stops walking and turns her head at the familiar voice. "Hello, Aik. It's fine. Kept me from getting hit by a rock, that's always a good trait for a stick to have," she says trying to sound cheerful.

Aikuen hears a random clunk coming from the dibbuns garden, and checks off the list that Amy is not the cause of the sound. He asks, "Somebeast throwing rocks at you or something?" He can guess who it was, but... just to make sure.

Amethyst says, "He didn't throw it at me, it hit a tree and bounced off or something so I thought it'd be better if I stayed out of his way for a while."

Aikuen tilts his head at her, "He is throwing rocks at a Tree?... OH... his sling... alright things make sense now..." He chuckles somewhat, "Ricochet rocks tend to have a mind of their own, and since you can't see them... moving away would be best..." He hmms a little bit, as he goes about the garden, prodding the ground at random points. An old farmer trick to see if he needs to water them or not.

Amethyst follows the otter having nothing else to do and not wanting to be around Will while he's practicing with his sling. She moves her stick along the ground, looking puzzled when she finds the holes the otter is making. "What are you doing?" she asks trying to remember what little she used to know about farming.

Amethyst nods, that makes sense. "How do you know how much water to put on it?" she asks remembering when she and her siblings had poured water over a patch of dry ground to water it and just ended up with a boggy mud puddle. It had been a big mess but they did have fun splashing around in the mud til their parents caught them at it.

Aikuen is confused about this particular spot, as he picks up a hunk of the dirt and rolls it in his paws, "That's simple, just water up to the point where the dirt no longer sucks it in... Like when the water just rolls off... That's how you can tell..." He chuckles a little bit. Amy is being... quite nice right now, "If you water it anymore... you can actually kill the plant... and have a big mucky mess to deal with." He crushes the dirt in his paws and tosses it back in the ground, but he remains kneeling in that spot.

Amethyst had been humming 'My Rose of Old Redwall' to fill the silence between them. She hated silence ever since becoming blind, though she didn't blame the otter too much for the silence, after all she'd heard him talking the other day and knew he didn't like her. But none the less he was a voice in the barely changing grayness that was now her world. She nods at his answer trying to be polite. "You think much on Will's idea of making a pond?" she asks.

Aikuen gets up and looks back to Amy, smiling a little bit, "Actually I have... It would be difficult... I would either have to irrigate the river here... or find a large water source underground..." He reaches out and scruffs her head fur, before going to another spot. He listens to her hum, but doesn't say anything... yet. The dirt here is odd... not like the dirt where he is from.

Amethyst puts a paw to her head after it's scruffed, what an odd thing for him to do. She continues humming but is now humming that song she likes, not really thinking about it as she does so. She likes the song and it fills the silence, that's a win/win in her book. "Well, there's a well so must be some water underground some place. Then on the other paw the river isn't too far from here either," she's trying to be helpful but knows nothing about making ponds.

Aikuen says, "I cant irrigate the river... First of all, even though it's close it would still take a very large and long ditch to help reroute the water... and the ground level here is higher then at the river... I would have to dig the ditch lower then that... it would be just a mess... And second of all, river makes an easy path for unwanted beasts... It's just not a good idea..." He gets up and walks to another patch, "As for the well, There is not a lot of water being pumped in there... we would need a 'Yanglen', or you might know them as a aquifer..." he hmms, as he digs a small hole.

Amethyst blinks, "Uh ok." She has no idea what an aquifer is and 'Yaglen' doesn't even sound like a real word to her. She listens to him digging and starts humming the song again.

Aikuen gets up, obviously getting the tone that she may not get it, "Er a 'Yanglen' is an underground water source... You know what a water spring is right? A 'Yanglen' is that... that just hasn't been tapped yet..." He tilts his head at her humming, "Don't like the quiet do you?" he dusts the dirt off him, and stretches a little bit, getting ready to go get some water.

"Ah, strange word for it," she says before catching his question. "No. I HATE it!" she growls throwing a great deal of venom into the last two words as if the look on her face didn't emphasize it enough.

Aikuen goes wide eyed, and actually takes a step back instinctively. He says quietly, "Er... Sorry I brought it up... I'm gonna go now... So... See yah." Not wanting to anger the rat-maid anymore, he walks off toward Molehall. And yes he does know he left abruptly, but he doesn't know what to say... to pacify the maid. He enters the study where Fira has been organizing some of the books, he gives her a sneak attack kiss and says "Hello, My lovely!... I think Amy is starting to get it!" He chuckles as he sits down, and begins to tell her of what happened.

Moledeep: Gardens

Will had abandoned practicing with his sling after a while due to the heat and had began dozing in the dibbun's garden.

Amethyst sits in the gardens under a tree tuning her lute once again, not really doing much of anything right now.

Aikuen, after telling Fira of what happened, goes back outside because he forgot to water the plants before he left abruptly. He takes one of the unbroken buckets and fills it from the well. He then goes back to the garden, and can see that Amy is still there... Eh, don't bother her right now... Just water the flowers... then leave. He slowly pours the water over the areas that need them. Trying to remain quiet... but pouring water, and being quiet... don't work well together.

Amethyst's ears turn toward the sound of a large beast coming near and then they stop and some liquid is falling to the ground. Whoever it is is probably watering the plants she assumes turning to face the beast. "Hello," she calls over experimentally, not sure which otter it is.

Aikuen grunts a little bit as he is caught, "Eh... Hello, Amy..." He goes to another area to start watering. Just trying not to do anything to upset her again, after her little outbrurst.

Amethyst smiles, ah good the otter that can hear her. "Hello, again Aikuen," she tilts her head as if watching him, actually she's listening to him but it looks similar to watching. "Forget something?" she asks.

Aikuen looks back to the rat-maid and says, "Umm... I just forgot to water... eh... the plants..." He goes to the odd patch and kneels down giving it a light drench, then testing the ground. He does this for a little bit before asking, "Sooo... how are you...?"

Amethyst shrugs, "Fine. Why?" The maid's blind eyes a little red rimmed but she doesn't appear to be upset anymore.

Aikuen nods a little bit, as a habit, "Well... Eh... That's good... Sorry again... Just... Just I've never seen you just burst out like that... it... it surprised me... that's all" He can see her eyes... but expected that. He continues to work on the ground.

"Don't get used to it," Amy states sharply. She had shown weakness /again/. True he was just an otter but even so she shouldn't get careless

Aikuen Is still quite confused with this ground... So, he just pours the rest of the water in that area... he will figure it out later. He gets up and tilts his head at her, "Why? It was the first major emotion that I've seen from you, since I meet you..." He states bluntly, twirling the bucket in is paws.

Amethyst doesn't answer and goes to plucking at her lute's strings with the duck quill.

Aikuen waits for an answer, and then she goes to pluck her lute. He chuckles at that fact that he may have stumped her. He goes off back to the well and returns with another bucketful. Starting about watering the plants again. After awhile of her tuning he finally just asks, "Why does the silence bother you? And yes I know you're blind... But, do you not still enjoy the quiet?"

The maid had taken the quill in her paw at the chuckling, holding it like a dart, threw it at the otter. She really doubt it would hurt him any if it did hit him but he was being annoying. "There is quiet and there is quiet. One is at times peaceful while the other ... is not."

Aikuen watches the 'dart' sadly drop to the ground, a few feet from where he stands. He places the bucket down and goes to pick it up, taking the end and rubbing the feather end against his nose. He laughs a little bit and says, "Alright I'll give you that... but there is not always silence... like right now... what do you hear? Is it the peaceable quiet? Or the other one?" he asks walking up too her, tickling the end of her nose with the feather tip

Amethyst reaches out to grab the feather away, she doesn't want to play this game right now. "All I hear is your talking. Now stop it," she orders as though he were a overly curious dibbun and she was the adult.

Aikuen chuckles as he relinquishes the feather, "Alright, I'll be quiet..." He walks a few feet away, before turning and sticking his tongue at her. He smirks and goes to another tree not too far away, plopping down and listens. He finally says, "I can hear the river... just barely... but you can hear it... can you?"

Yes she can hear the river and the birds in the trees not to mention the lilac scented otter across from her. "Worse than Bent Fang," she grumbles to herself, again not answering the otter.

Aikuen blinks a few times and scratches his head, "Bent fang? Who's Bent Fang? If you don't mind me asking?" Yes, he will ask... She's have peaked this otter's interests. And, she didn't answer him... she doesn't leave him much choice!

Amethyst is surprised the otter heard her. "Just another annoying beast like yourself. Nearly killed him stealing my lute back from him," she says with a shrug.

Aikuen chuckles a little bit. She is just full of surprises!, "Did you now?... You know, I was gonna take you lute from you... Now I have to think twice next time! And I'm not annoying... just curious... and I want to get to know you better!... Okay I'm annoying... so throw rocks at me!" He laughs, wondering if she will get the connection or not.

Amethyst scoops up her lute and hugs it to her chest, "You better not. You want to know me ask and /maybe/ I'll talk to you." She tilts her ears hearing movement off somewhere, "If I did you'd likely just throw th rocks back at me."

Aikuen nods, "Nah... Well maybe..." He snorts with laughter, and he goes to tap his claws together, "I wouldn't dream of taking it... Will would probably kill me or something..." He places his paws behind his head and yawns, "Now for a... a little nap... in the cool of summer!" more laughing, as it is very hot out.

Will walks up from the dibbun's garden, a little dusty from sleeping in one of the small tunnels out there. "Ugh, it's hotter now than it was before," he groans plopping down in the shade by Amy.

Amethyst waves a little in the direction of Will's voice but keep her face toward where she last heard the otter, still cradling her lute protectively.

Aikuen waves a paw in the air, "It's not that hot out... its just a little toasty! Hahah... Think I'll make some biscuits and use the air as the oven! Heyo Will, Nice day isn't," More laughing ensues.

Will rolls his eye at the otter and looks over the garden. The ground is still wet and he soon spies the bucket the otter had used to water it with. Ah still some water in it. He sits down next to the bucket and picks it up, the holes in it makes it easier for him to dump the remaining water over himself before scooping up a pawful of wet dirt which is soon formed into a ball and thrown at the otter for his making light of the heat, which plagues his hot blooded son.

Amethyst slips her lute into her bag feeling a little silly that she's been holding it like it was a baby. She says, "I'm fine. It is hot but I'm fine. I'd go in if I wasn't."

Will scowls at the otter cranky from the heat, he's never known such heat before. He briefly envies lizards for their lack of fur but the heat isn't conductive to thinking so he doesn't envy them for very long ... too much effort and it's too hot, in his opinion

Aikuen stretches in his spot in the shade and says, "Just remember to drink a lot of water..." He pops his back, and yawns, "AH! Its so nice out..." He chuckles at the discomfort of the others, "The very back of the cellars is quite cool. Dark, dank, and humid... but cool, if you need it..." He hums a very happy tune, "Summer... isn't it just the best!"

Will grumbles something unintelligible, from the tone and sound of it one would guess some sort of 'fitting' curses at the sun, as he walks off toward Moledeep.

Amethyst hears Will leave, probably going inside she decides and remembers he'd said he didn't much like Summer. "True," she says to the otter, "but I think you've forgotten that's not th cellar anymore, like you'd need one with the rules you have. That's /my room/ now.

Aikuen crosses his paws, "Even though you live in it... doesn't remove the fact its still a cellar, even if all the drink is removed... I'll... store tea or something... everybeast likes cool tea!" He gets up and dusts the dirt on the back of his pants, "I'll think I'll get started on it... JUST to prove you wrong! It will never be 'your room'! Neva!" He laughs.

"Will doesn't like tea, at all," she looks rather smug as she pulls herself to her feet with the aid of her staff and makes her way back toward Moledeep. Not being able to leave it at that she calls back, "I'll be in /my room/ if any beast needs me."

Aikuen watches her go, and scoffs, "Yah well... Humph..." He is stumped... Grunting he goes to pick up his long lost javelin an goes about walking the grounds again. Amy was bearable today, odd! Oh well, maybe this otter is finally growing on her, he chuckles at that. After a few hours, he chunks the javelin into the ground, and walks back into Moledeep. Finding Fira he goes to her and says, "Hey" He smirks, giving her small kiss, "You think summer is nice right?... What do you think about tea?" as he begins to tell her what happened.