An Apple a Day Keeps the Wereworms Away
The Long Patrol
Players: Taye, Ava, Praxi, Jinora
Salamandastron: Garden
- -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Salamandastron *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
The garden of Salamandastron is nestled neatly into the mountainside. It is
quite cleverly arranged, hidden from passer-bys on the beach below by being
situated on the lee side of a large outcropping of rock. Upon reaching the
garden from the craggy path above, one first comes upon a pleasing grassy
area, with stone benches situated here and there and a little section of
cobblestones where the leverets have chalked out hop scotch squares and
other such youthful games.
The garden itself is arranged in tiers, four separate levels which step
down the slope of the mountainside. A path cuts down the center of each
tier, as well as wrapping around each, for easy access of gardening. The
tiers appear to be organized by what's growing; the top consisting of berry
bushes, the second vegetables, the third herbs, and the fourth a small
orchard of fruit trees.
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Sometimes, you just have to put the recruits to work. They've got all that excess, youthful energy to burn. It's almost sickening! Taye is leaning against a tree trunk amongst the fruit trees, a hat down low over his brow as the recruits work around him, gathering fruit for the harvest. It's totally the right season. >.> "Keep it up, lads 'n' lasses! Ya may not be squirrels, but climbin' a tree might save yer life in combat one day." He gestures vaguely with a paw.
Heading up to the garden is Ava, having just finished a shift in the infirmary. Having decided to get some fresh air and enjoy the view, she carries with her a small sketch pad and a piece of graphite to work with. Dressed in her civilians, she watches the recruits work before giving an amused look towards Taye. "Cute."
The major isn't the only one putting hares to work, though the greatest authority Praxi boasts is strictly over the below-the-knee variety. "Oh, great, there's your mum," she utters to a small doe in tow, quickening the leveret with a light push. "Appo!" the leveret squeaks. Praxi rolls her eyes. "Apple," she corrects. "Today you'll learn how to pick your own."
Taye's muzzle can be seen to curve upward. "They are, aren't they?" He tilts the brim of his hat up, then, and smiles to Ava. "'Llo, Ava." He hasn't noticed Praxi or the leverets approach, yet.
"Major." Ava says as she steps up to his side to survey the work with an amused grin. Her ears perk upwards as she looks over to Praxi and spies her young daughter with a warm smile crossing her muzzle. "How are you doing today, sir?" She asks as she starts to scribble along the paper with her writing tool.
Taye lets out a very satisfied sigh, as he surveys the determined recruits. They really are quite good workers when they want to be. He watches a young buck scrabbling up a tree trunk, trying desperately for purchase in the bark. He puts up his paw, trying to stifle a chuckle. "Oh, you could say I'm doin' all right." He flashes Praxi a light salute, and spies the leveret. "'Llo! Anothah worker, I see. Bit short, but we've got a couple 10-foot laddahs."
"Aaah! Pole," tests the leveret, mouth still hanging around the 'L' as she looks up for approval. Praxi grants a faint nod and offers another shove toward the gardens, catching Taye's salute and returning it with an exaggerated smile. "All right, now watch what these recruits do. It's actually quite simple. You'll be up there grabbing your own fruit in no time." The leveret's ears wiggle as if she might be following Praxi's instruction.
"I think my daughter is a bit young to be climbing trees. Grace! Come here!" Ava calls out to her daughter she kneels down and opens her arms out for the young child. "She is my moon and stars." Calling out to her daughter again, she says, "Grace, come meet Major Taye!"
Taye looks to the leveret with slightly increased interest, but also kind of the way an unblooded fighter looks at an oncoming horde. "She looks like a sweetheart," Taye allows with what he hopes is the right amount of fondness. And then: "If you don't like the laddah idea, I s'pose we could toss her up there. Hm."
Praxi tries to maintain an air of surprise as the youngster flees her side but a tell-all smirk denies her authenticity. Finally, she's free! Taye's suggestion forces a near-snort but a cough steals the breath from her laughter. "Ahem! Ava, I do think she's more capable than you give her credit. The moon and stars reach much higher than any tree, after all."
Ava catches her daughter and pulls her close for a firm hug, followed by a kiss between her ears. "Hey you." Standing up, she slides her hand into hers for a gentle squeeze. The young girl looks up at Taye with wide eyes, then ducks behind her mother's leg in a tight clutch. "Is she behaving for you, Praxi?" Plucking her up, she holds her daughter up in her arms to a low hanging branch so that her fingers can wiggle outwards and snag an apple, giving it a few tugs.
At Ava's non-response, Taye can only smile. Okay, okay. Maybe mama hares don't like joking about their offspring being tossed about. He turns his attention briefly to the recruits, who are still hard at work and rapidly filling their baskets. And then back to Praxi, and Ava. He raises a paw, as if in oath. "I'm sorry. I promise not t' encourage dangerous activity or throw yer leveret." This is promised to both of them, as one is the mum and the other's the caretaker! He spies the leveret behind her mum's knee and winks.
"Aside from the drool, aye. S'why I brought her up here, so she could, uh, earn herself a treat." The doe closes the distance between herself, the major, and the corporal, stealing an apple to occupy her face with while Taye makes his vow. Munching, crunching, bobbing her head, she affirms his pledge, then after a hard swallow, adds to it, "Aye, aye- let the leverets throw themselves." She holds her free paw out to the buck. "Major Taye, is it? I'm Praxi."
Giving Taye a grin out the corner of her eye, Ava pulls Grace back down and lets her eat the apple with a fond pat to her head. "I know you wouldn't really throw her up there. You're a true gentleman after all." Giggling, she curls her arm about the young child. "Do you want to climb the tree?" She asks her daughter who nods her head quickly. Relenting, she says, "Okay, just be careful. Promise mommy you won't break anything?" "PROMISE!" "Okay, go have fun." The young girl scampers to the tree next to them and starts up it, slowly, though she only gets a few inches up at a time before sliding back down.
Taye watches the kid make her way to the other tree, but stops short of watching her efforts. After all, a true gentleman returns a greeting! He takes Praxi's paw in a warm shake, and smiles to the young doe. "I think I may've seen you around," and here he leans in a fraction, "but just between me 'n' you, I avoid leverets like the plague. So my apologies for not introducin' myself soonah. Pleasure t'meetcha, Praxi."
Praxi locks eyes with Taye while feigning a smile and sympathetic nod, though her gaze is pleading, as if she were an innocent committed to a prison ward populated entirely by the mentally infirm. "Yes. Of course. No apology necessary. According to legend, we will all find ourselves someday surrounded by our own lot of lovely little leverets to have and to hold forever till the end of time. I have been told so by every mother this side of Mossflower, so it must be true." The forced smile drops when she glances at Ava and Grace and she returns to eating her apple.
Glancing back over to the pair, Ava smirks. "They are not leverets forever, you know. They do grow up to be fully functional adults at some point. Least that is the rumor." As Grace makes her way up to a low hanging branch, she balances upon it with it between her legs. "Be careful, honey." She calls up to her before looking to Taye. "You don't want any lil ones of your own?"
"They're leverets for long enough," Taye allows, once pleasantries have been exchanged with Praxi. He returns to leaning against his tree, though from the look of the recruits, they're almost done. The question gives him pause, though, and he gives Ava kind of a double take. Him? What? Is she talking to him? "... No. No. I've got this far in life without 'em, 'n' I expect things to continue on that trajectory from here on out."
"I don't know, Major. Perhaps a little one may shake up your day to day a bit. Give you some excitement." Ava giggles as she slips down to her rump after using the tree as a guide. She continues to keep an eye on her daughter who seems to have a fairly good hand at her tree climbing. Beginner's luck or she has done this before? "Got plans for the rest of the day?"
"If by excitement you mean they smell 'n' drool on you a lot, these fine fellows have me well-covahed in that regard," Taye replies with a gesture to the recruits. He interrupts their chat briefly to yell out, using his Officer Voice. "All righ', good work! Now haul those baskets down t' the cellah. I don't want t' see you droppin' any, now!" From all their various positions, in trees and afoot, they shoot him salutes - which he returns with one sharp salute - and relents, a bit. "An' go get yerself some grub aftah that!" To Ava, he says, "Prep-work, this evenin'. I've got a maps 'n' navigation course t'teach t'morrow."
"Ah, well, I suppose I will have to head to the archery field by myself tonight and practice. Mayhaps another time then," Ava says as she she folds her arms over her chest.
Once the recruits have cleared out, it is considerably quieter in the garden. Less chatter! Taye enjoys the silence for a moment, sinking down a bit and letting his hat slip down over his eyes again. He nudges Ava next to him with his elbow and grins. Nothing much to say, now.
When he nudges her, Ava looks back to him and nudges him back, then slips her arm into his as she leans against him a bit. Reaching up with her other hand, she gives his hat a gentle tug downwards farther to cover more of his face. "Tomorrow, let's go shooting if you have the time."
Finished with her apple, Praxi reels back to pitch its core off the mountain- where it lands, no one knows. She wipes its dribbled juice onto her skirts and absent-mindedly begins to follow the leveret through the garden's levels. "Watch out for were-worms," she warns.
Taye has just enough clearance beneath the hat to glance down and to the side at Ava and smirk, as she leans. He'll go with it. "You want t'do the running thing t'gethah in the AM? We c'n take our bows 'n' have a bit o' target practice along the way." Pause. His ears flicker at Praxi's words. "I like her. You should definitely keep her."
Relief from recruits is not a luxury that Taye will enjoy for long, as one more wanders in. Jinora, still a fresh faced and wide eyed new recruit, looks to be there entirely by mistake, and her ears go red as she realizes that she's wandered in on a conversation. "Oh, ah, my apologies!" She offers to the beasts gathered, stiff and embarrassed at her perceived intrusion.
"She is my best friend's little sister. I remember when she was knee high. Definitely a handful," Ava says with a smile as she watches Praxi head off after her daughter. Leaning in a bit more for another shoulder bump to Taye, she gives him a nod of the head. "Of course. Running before the sun and some shooting after. Sounds like a plan to me." Her paw dips down, giving his a squeeze before she hops up to her feet. "I should gather my girl up and head to bed. I will see you in the morning, sir."
Taye tips his hat back up and grins to Ava as she stands. He nods his agreement, and tips a two-fingered salute her way. "It's a plan," he agrees. "Bright 'n' early." His eyes shift to the young doe - a recruit. Oh, no! They've found him. Ahem. Hem. He pushes up to standing. "Didn't I just send you lot t'eat? Or were you lookin' t'pick anothah basketful?" he queries of the doe.
"Me? Ah - no, sah." Jinora, suddenly very aware of her posture, snaps into a straighter, more up-tight position. "I was jus' tryin'a get a better feel fer the mountain while I 'ad some free time, sah." A fancier way of saying that her exciting evening of exploring her new home got her hopelessly, hopelessly lost.
Praxi's ears prick from her terrorizing to overhear Jinora's chagrin, though it's the pair sat on their rumps that attracts her scrutiny more. She squints as if in disbelief, but her hunch is temporarily suspended when the pair extricate themselves for each other. The tiny doe is retrieved from her hiding spot, bright eyes wide from shadowy would-be were-creatures. "Oi, here you are," Praxi grunts then scuttles to the elder doe, handing Grace over. "Here she is, all ready for bed. Thank me with coin or don't thank me at all."
Hm. Taye scrutinizes the recruit with a steady eye, considering her up and down with the critical eye of a spider to a fly. The slash scars across his face gives the look /just/ the right touch. Finally... he grunts. And nods. "All right. Well. What's yer name, then, lass?"
The intimidating scrutiny Jinora finds herself under does little to ease her nubile nerves. "M'name is Jinora Stoneoak, sah." Her ears flick back nervously - what does a lowly recruit do in this situation? Ask a name in return? Offer a paw? She chooses, instead, to maintain her stiff formality and keep her mouth shut, which seems to have worked for her thus far.
"Jinora," Taye echoes. He seems lost in thought as he considers her a moment longer... and then relaxes. His muzzle twitches in a small grin, and he extends a paw to shake. "... Well, I s'pose you'll do. The name's Majah Taye. How long've you been here, now, lass?"
Jinora visibly relaxes, taking the offered paw with relief. See? Uncomfortable silence and good posture fix all problems! "Tis an honah, sah." She allows a shy smile at his question. "Today would've been me third day, sah. Tis all very new an' confusin' still." She looks quickly to Praxi and dips her head politely, still not sure enough of the whole situation to offer a more personable greeting.
Taye whistles low. "Only three days? No wondah you look like you think everyone's going t'swallow you up in one gulp." He grins, giving her paw a firm shake before releasing it back to her. "You'll do fine, heah. The feah will do you good. An officah comes at you, you just play dead 'n' most of us'll leave you alone." Hm. "So, do you know what your specialty'll be, yet?"
With her last charge departed, Praxi is free to be the poorest example for today's youth the mountain has to offer. She discreetly slips out a petite waterskin, taking a sip that makes her mouth squirm, while her feet begin to carry her away. She pauses when the rich soil of the garden turns to rocks, recalling to mind her manners, and spins on a heel to belatedly bow farewell to both the major and the recruit. "Good to have met you, Taye," she says, then, "Jinora, I'm Praxi, resident leveret launcher." After a tick, she appends, "I'm positive I will see you both around."
Jinora laughs, the apprehensive edge finally creeping from her tone. "Aye, I'll be sure ta give tha' a go nex'time since wide-eyed starin' hasn't seemed ta get me too fah." She raises a paw to Praxi as she departs, her own uptight, goody-two-paws nature cringing at the sight of such youthful abandon. "I'm trainin' ta be a fighter, sah. Like mah grandfahthah was befah me." She adds the latter part of her sentence with a smidgeon of pride. "I do'nae want te keep ye though..." He probably has loads of important Long Patrol business to tend to: The safety of the mountain and the intimidation of young recruits are pretty important tasks.
The latter /most/ important, really. At mention of keeping him, Taye glances at the angle of the sun and - blinks. "Oh!" Shoot. He laughs. "You're right, actually. If I don't get down there the recruits'll mass a coup." He nods to the doe, then, and shoots her a casual salute. "Good t'meetcha, lass. I'll see you in yer general archery class, m'sure." And with that, he turns and is gone.
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