Amy At The Abbey Part Two: A Pesky Squirrel And A Noisy Mouse
Characters: Amethyst, Treaglo, Thalion
Location: Redwall Abbey
Redwall Abbey: Great Hall
After talking with the kitchen staff the dibbuns were sat down with some cake and a sister or two to watch them and more than likely whisk them off for baths as soon as the cake was gone. Amy is also eating cake and is sitting off to one end of the room far from the tapestry with her cake. She's sitting here because it is away from the others and away from the weird feeling spot in the room which happens to be where the tapestry is.
Treaglo comes out of the kitchen as well, a plate with a cherry crisp held tightly in her paw. She glances about and finally notices Amethyst on the other side of the room...being persistant in her conversation with the ratwife, she walks over, trying to be audible so she does not surprise her. In this attempt, she succeeds in bumping into all kinds of things awkwardly, but eventually plops down across from Amethyst and greets her...again. Then begins to nibble on her cherry crisp.
And Amethyst continues to ignore the squirrel. The rat leisurely eats cake while tuning her lute. Like most musicians she tunes her instrument more than she plays it and she plays is quite often.
Treaglo grins mischeviously and puts down her cherry crisp. The little bells tinkle lightly as she reaches behind her back and pulls out her own instrument. She starts tuning as well, that smiles still on her face, though she's aware the rat doesn't see it. She waits to see how Amethyst will react...she /will/ get the ratwife to talk.
Amethyst abandons her cake in favor of her lute and focuses on it completely til the squirrel starts tuning her whatever it is. The rat can't quite place the sound. "Do you want something?" she asks stoping as she can't tune her lute when somebeast is making noise. She needs relative quiet for lute tuning.
Treaglo stops her tuning suddenly as well and lifts her head up. "Do you ever play duets?" She says with a silent beaming smile.
Amethyst has half a mind to break her lute over the nosey squirrel's head but then she'd have to get /another/ new lute. "Depends. What do you play and what song did you have in mind?" the rat asks sounding bored.
Treaglo can sense the rat's irritation, but chooses to ignore it. "Well this, my friend, is called a Ruddlestrummer. I don't know many songs...but I can catch a tune pretty quickly." This is /definitely/ going to break this rat's annoyed shell.
"You don't know many songs," the rat echoes. She snorts, "I had t sing for my supper many a time and have picked up more than a few. Which ones /do/ you know?" she asks wondering just how musical this squirrel could be if she doesn't known but a few songs. Sure the squirrel may do good at playing the songs she does know but it takes real talent to be able to pick up on a song you don't know.
- Bam!* Thalion enters from the kitchen, kicking the door open before him and entering the Great Hall. Held aloft in his paws is a small plate of assorted snacks, ranging from sweet breads to candied nuts and back again. The mouse looks around, looking for any familiar faces. Sighting Treaglo, he heads her way.
Treaglo doesn't even look up at Thalion, already knowing it's him. She smiles quickly though at him and invites him over with a wave of her paw. Shifting her voice toward Amethyst, she narrows her eyes challengingly, but with good intentions. "Actually, I usually make up my own songs..." She pauses. "But I can never remember them. C'mon, why don't you just try me?" She winks secretly at Thalion.
When the banging of the door isn't followed by an attack Amy scowls at the door that was banged. As the beast that did the banging likely isn't there still. "Don't you know how to use a door?!" she asks, "Even /I/ know how to do that!" Yes even the not so big not so bad (not that she'd admit it) 'vermin' knows the correct way to use a door. Once the door abuser sits down Amy turns her attention back to Treaglo. "I tried making my own but I'm not much of a songwriter apparently. One was fairly good but has sense lost it's meaning unfortunately. It was in celebration of an enemy's capture and hoped for death. That didn't work out /somehow/." Yes as if that were the fault of this squirrel. It's not. Maybe the fault of the abbey but not of Treaglo personally.
Having taken his seat, Thalion cooly regards Amethyst, unflustered by her tirade on the eitiquette of door-use. He selects a candied nut, popping it into his mouth and crunching down. "'Course I know how to use a door."
Treaglo grins and shakes her head, looking at Thalion with a 'you are really something' kind of look. She asks him cheekily, "But...apparantly you are still too weak to fix it?" She looks to Amethyst and comments, "Maybe you need to motivate him." She smirks at Thalion, then starts up a tune on her Rudlestrummer. "Ok, Amethyst, since you insist I start..." She quickly stops herself from the rest of her sentence, afraid she might offend the ratwife. "Well, you gotta know this one..."
"Old Ninian mouse and his goodwife, Needed a house to build, They had a family grown so large, Their tent was overfilled," the rat sings out while playing her lute along with Treaglo's instrument. It's an old old silly song. The rat continues with the second verse, "To setting sun the old wife toiled, From daybreak in the east, But Ninian was a lazy mouse, Who loved to sleep and feast.
Treaglo grins widely, joining the ratwife in harmony while playing her instrument. She's gotten plenty of practice singing by herself while traveling...her voice is sweet, yet there's something in it that's a little bit unique.
As the long song ends Amy pokes the squirrelmaid with her staff, which she's moved to lean against her side between herself and the squirrel. "Do you know any shrew songs?" she asks. Amy was born near a river and is part river rat which may or may not explain her fondness for shrew music.
"We could sing some pirate songs," Thalion suggests. "Scholar Higgins sang sea shanties all the time."
Treaglo chuckles happily, and looks back and forth from Thalion to Amethyst. "Well, I'll play along with anything really, but I've never heard a pirate song before." She smiles. "Whatever you'd like to sing Amethyst, I'll try and catch on..."
The door banger gets a smile. Amy may fit in here better than she thought. The ratwife starts up a personal favorite which isn't allowed back home, "Im the babe of a bloodripper, Born in the teeth of a gale, Im the one who wields a sword, An makes the foebeast wail. Im as sharp as the reef rock, I carry death in me paw, Go were I like, slay who I will, Thats the corsairs law! Bloods me favorite color, Im swiftern lightnin aye, Stand out me way, stand out I say, Step aside now, or die! Cos Im the spawn O nightstorm, An death sails in me wake, I sheath me blade in innards, An what I want, I take! Come one, come all, Im waitin, Ill flay your carcass bare, So everyplace I go theyll say, Ahoy, you bold corsaaaaiiiirrrrrr!"
Thalion's reaction is an uproarious laugh, along with intermittent applause. "Oh, oh, do you know the Ballad of the Rusty Chain? That was the Scholar's favorite."
Treaglo sits with her mouth slightly agape...but she's extremely amused. She had caught on to the tune a bit, but the lyrics...she left to the ratwife. "My goodness, I'm not sure if the elders would quite like that, huh Thalion?" She suddenly hears him laugh, and burst out into laughter too. "No, hahaha, I don't think they would, hehehheh, but it sure was entertaining..."
Amethyst sighs, "I don't remember that one off the top of my head no but given some time I might recall it. Now I suppose we should sing something nicer. It takes Amy a moment of plinking at her lute before she hit on the song she wants,
"There was an otter by a stream, Come ringle dum o lady, Who fell asleep and had a dream, All on the bank so shady. He dreamt the stream was made of wine, It flowed along so merry, And when he drank it tasted fine, Like plum and elderberry. And all the banks were made of cake, Come ringle ding my dearie, As nice as any cook could bake, That otter felt quite cheery. He drank and ate with right good will, Till wakened by his daughter. She said, I hope youve had your fill, Of mud and cold streamwater! Come ringle doo fol doodle day, Come wisebeast or come witty, A fool who dreams to dine that way, Must waken to self-pity."
Amy waits for a bit to listen to what the other two think of it. "How was that one? My father-in-law isn't too fond of it but I don't know if many otters are."
"Well, I know the words," Thalion begins, but then decides to let it go. "That was nice, I suppose."
Treaglo sits back for this one, enjoying it instead. She chuckles as the song finishes, and eyes Thalion. "Oh, you, I thought it was really good. I liked it a lot." Something was bothering her a bit, so she inquires of Amethyst, "It's not any of my business or anything, but where did you learn that other pirate song anyway?" She's a slightly intimidated by how the ratwife might react, but she couldn't hold it in...
"From my father. He used to go off to sea as part of a crew every so often when I was young and before I was born. There were twelve of us children. It takes a lot of hard work to feed that many hungry mouths," Amethyst answers matter-of-factly."
Thalion shrugs, leaning back in his chair. "Makes sense to me."
Treaglo lets her shoulders down, relieved, but tries not to show it. "Oh, I see, I just wasn't sure if you were actually..." She looks about, trying desperately not to eat her words. "Never mind. Your father must have been a hard worker, for sure." She doesn't ask how he got the money to feed those mouths...
And Amy doesn't provide an answer. "I've never been on a boat or ship willingly. Wouldn't dare set a claw on one if I could avoid it. I get dreadfully ill on those things. Which is why I'm here and with the others on their little boat trip," the rat says.
"Oh, I've spent /seasons/ on ships," Thalion announces, munching on a roll, now. "Not that bad, once you get used to it."
Treaglo looks down at the table, and is happy to re-discover her cherry crisp. Chewing on it, she asks curiously between bites, "What exactly did you do as a slave on that ship, Thalion?"
Amethyst blinks as she doesn't recall Thalion meantion having been a slave but figures the other squirrel must have already know it. "I don't plan on getting used to it," she says to his comment about ships. And is puzzled by Theaglo's question as what he did on the ship. Didn't slaves just row. That's what she'd always been told. "Were you a slave or part of the crew?" she asks hearing him list things he did on ship. "I thought the slaves did the rowing and aside from escaping on the rare occasion not much else?" Amy only knows a little about oar slaves and a little more about slavery in general from a previous adventure of her own that didn't go well.
"Well, it was sort of a unique situation, really," Thalion says, swallowing. "Y'see, Scholar Higgins and Jack the Blade were m' masters, and while I'm sure they were fearsome back in the day, when I knew 'em they were old. Real old."
Treaglo moves her dessert out of Thalion's sight, and added to Thalion's reply. "Plus they were pro'bly quite fond o' Thalion, I mean really, who couldn't resist that face." She gives a wide grin to the mouse, satisfied at her sarcasm.
Amethyst ahs, "They were old and likely a bit soft in th head from age." The rat nods as this makes much more sense.
"Whatever it was, I never complained." Thalion's plate is empty. Where'd that cherry crisp get to?
Treaglo raises her eyebrows. "Well whatever suits you. I'm not sure I'd like it." She sighs, realizing that she's eaten all her crisp. "I'm getting kinda tired...all that singing and playing really gets to me." She smiles quietly. "Shall we go to bed?"
Amethyst is about to ask if the squirrel also sleeping in the dorms when she remember her father-in-law used to have his own room here once. "Do you know if the room used by Aikuen the otter is still unused around here?" she asks.
"Sounds like a plan to me, Treeglow." Thalion gathers up his plate to deliver it to the kitchen.
Treaglo looks to Amethyst, a blank expression on her face. "I haven't been here for very long, I really have no idea. Sorry Amethyst." She shrugs, then waves goodnight to Thalion. "Night."
Amethyst nods, "I'll see if I can find it." the blind ratwife heads off back to the stairs. If Aik's old room is still empty Amy can use it. And why not? Sure it may be dusty as the attic by now but at least it would be private.
It seems Aikuen's old room does still exist and hasn't been taken over anyone new. Maybe they forgot it was here. No matter, Amy is here now to claim the room on Aik's behalf. The rat flops down on the bed and quickly regrets it as a cloud of dust covers her. Coughing the rat pulls the outermost blanket off the bed andn drops it onto the floor. The bed unerneath is less dusty so the rat will sleep sans one blanket tonight.
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