The Moon is Mozzarella
Characters: Mayeul and Zen
Location: Mossflower Woods
After closely following in on his uncle, Zen and Mayeul end up sitting down and having a nice chat, also relieving some more personal feelings...
Mayeul is resting by a tree (where else in a forest?!), about to doze off when he hears a sound... the older mouse is up instantly, alert even at his age and the time of night. He produces a dagger in a flash, one strikingly similar to those the fox carried around. "Who... who's there? I can circle around you in an instant and be upon your back, so you'd better show yourself!" He squints in every directly, turning his head at last to peer past the trunk of the tree behind him. "Out in the open with you!"
Zen grins as he sits down, watching Mayeul. Oh yes, he was not going to leave this young mouse's sight, not for a second after what happened last time! The mouse didn't think that he should have sat down a bit more quietly. Either way, his ears perk up under his hood as he listens to Mayeul's threat about circling around him. Managing to stifle a snicker at the thought, he cups both of his paws over his mouth, making his voice sound a bit akward and hollow. "It is me, Mayeul... I am the ghost of Redwall's possessed cheese wheel.. Why? Why did you eat me?!?" He didn't see any harm in playing a foolish game as such, after all... everybeast knew ghosts didn't exist... right?
Mayeul frowns, processing the distorted voice for a moment, before grinning, "Zen! Nephew, where are you? You'd think I could track you from here to there, but I'm completely washed from doing that all day... have you been following me??" He finally sees Zen sitting, and smiles again, patting the ground, "No need to hide, nephew, but you should have told me you were out here sooner..."
Zen giggles once he's easily found out, springing up to his feet as he chuckles. "Hi Uncle Mayeul!!" With a bit of a skip to his step, he made his way over and went to give Mayeul a hug, letting his hood fall down of fhis head. "Of course I've been following you! How else did I get here?" After he finished hugging and such, he planted his rear where the ground was patted. "I wanted to know what you're doing. Uh huh! Had to make sure you came back and all." As his ears flatten out a bit, he tilts his head and nods. "You were coming back, right?"
Mayeul hugs the little mouse back, chuckling, "Haha, not so hard, mmmm... honing the skills of a tracker, that makes me a proud uncle..." He claps the mouse on the back once he's seated, taking on a more serious tone, "Well... Gwennythe has been missing for quite some time from the abbey... it seems this is unusual, even for her... so I've taken it upon myself, as a free-lancing mouse without a king to bother with, to find her. Least I can do, to give back to the abbey..." He sighs, "I hope what I find isn't dangerous, but if it is, I should send you home, Zen."
Zen smiles a bit and grins, "Glad I make you proud! You make me proud too!" He then tilts his head a bit as he nods. "Gwennythe... I know Gwennythe... Nice bat, right?" He tilts his head a bit as he rubs his neck, reaching for his hood. "Well... I don' care if you give to the abbey or not 'cause you give plenty to me... so if there is somethn' dangerous, I'm staying with you. You won't send me back to the abbey on my own after all..."
Mayeul nods, "She's very nice, to everyone... I'm genuinely concerned for her..." He looks over at Zen, "Well you got this far, I've no doubt you could do it - I'd be more concerned if that fox were on the loose, three times as concerned in fact. I don't think he's going anywhere - I watched that one for five straight nights. He'd have done something by then if he could, I imagine..." His features now betray his worry; the older mouse looks anxious and ill at ease in his thoughts.
Zen nods his head a bit, sulking. "Drats... I guses you're right... Oh, the fox? Where is that fox, Anba_Hor, was he?" He grumbles a bit, "I... I don't see why he's still alive... Where is he? Did someone kill him? Please tell me someone killed him, right? They... they -HAD- to kill him... He's dead, right? He has to be?" As if a broken record, he repeated his question over and over again, even though it may have been reworded the next time around. He then snaps out of it as he thinks of that possibility. "If... he... he's dead, he won't escape.. He'll escape though if he's not dead..." He then starts to realize the anxious look his uncle had, making him feel a bit tense as well.
Mayeul brushes through the fur on Zen's head, scratching at it comfortingly, "'Fraid not, mister.. that fox is as alive as you or me... they have him locked up in that bell tower, but I hope they decide on something soon, before he's able to plot his usual escapes and charades... I'd probably be the first on his to-do list..." He smiles, but the spirit isn't there, "Cheer up, though, I'm sure we'll find Miss Bat, and she may even teach that fox a thing or two about occupying her space in the belfry. I'd like to see her swoop on a few times and scratch at that fox's head!" He mimics the same thing with Zen, growling and 'swooping' down on him. "Haha!"
Zen's eyes seem to widen, though he quickly slips his hood over his head to hide his face regardless of what comfort Mayeul was offering. "They... should kill him... He'll... get me too..." He squeaks softly, a rather monotoned sound to his voice. "He won't escape... I'll make sure.." Once told to cheer up, he nods his head as he lets his mind drift to Gwennythe. "Oh yes, I'm sure we'll find her... heheh, maybe that would be very nice!" Soon, an army of giggles escape the mouse once's he's swooped down upon, curling up and chuckling! "OH Mayeul! Stop it!", he says with a playfull tone.
Mayeul finishes attacking and brings an arm around the curled up Zen, rolling him close, "It would, wouldn't it? To gain something rather than lose it? I'm used to finding things, Zen, but lately I've only managed to lose them... lost you I thought, lost my family back home, lost a king, lost my own way, lost a brother again... I needed to go looking for something, to take my mind off of it all." He leans back against the tree, looking up at the clearing in the canopy above them at the stars. "I wish my father were looking at those stars, like I told you I was... I wish I even knew he was alive, Zen..."
Zen smiles and chuckles, then leans into him a bit and nods his head. As he listens though, he tilts his head a bit. Still though, he refused to show his face. "M-Mayeul? I... you won't loose me... I promice... I don't.. don't want to loose you either. Hehe, all I've got is you, you know?" He then pauses a moment as the shade that masked his face seemed to grow darker as he leaned his head forward a bit. "And... I... I wish your father was too... B-because then.. he... the stars would tell him that you had such a wonderful nephew and.. and that you were ok.." As his voice starts to cut out, a soft squeak escapes him as he tries to hug Mayeul again. "Heh, and I'm sure all the stars would listen too... Then, the... the moon, made of cheese? Hehe, the stars would make a cheese grater big enough to... to make it snow everywhere. They do that every year you know?"
Mayeul listens to the logic of a dibbun and smiles, thinking it must be nice to be young and have a resilient mind... he hugs Zen back and nods, "Thank you, Zen... I hope so..." He sits there a while, poking at a dying fire and trying to nurse it back to life, leaning forward to put more tinder in the flames, "Here's good for now, we'll continue on our way tomorrow..."
Zen nods his head a bit and smiles. "I... I hope so too.. Hehe, do... you remember that nasty time at the abbey, when everyone was sick? Heh, that's... when me and my step pa decided to run away from the abbey and we escaped... Before we did, I... I was sitting outside and he came up on me and we talked." He lets his hood fall down as he rubs his eyes, grinning happily. "Know what we talked about? How snow was cheese from the moon, and that a giant cheese grater was making it into a half moon." He snickers a bit more, then smiles as he glances at the fire, gazing into it for a moment.
Mayeul listens intently, and smiles, "That's certainly a tasty moon, I'd like to roll it down here from the sky and eat it, I'm starving!" He chuckles and looks at Zen after tending to the fire some more, "Where is he now?"
Zen snickers a bit and laughs! "Oh yes, I bet it's peperjack or mozzarella!" He then lets out a soft sigh. "I... don't know... I came home and... they, they were gone... My step pa and my erm, step sissy. I really wish I knew... I already lost one pa and ma, I don't want to loose another." Thinking a moment, he looks back up and hrmms. "Do you think... if the moon is really cheese, that there would be another wheel of cheese out there?"
Mayeul nods as he listens, looking up at the moon when the conversation comes back to that, "I don't know, Zen... but I know where there is one there usually are more... try to think of something there's only one of!! Well, you I guess... but you're a mouse and I'm a mouse and there are countless dozens back at the abbey... so maybe? Always hope in abundance, I say..."
Zen chuckles a bit, then nods his head as he giggles. "Oh yes, of course... but erm... we have to find Gwennythe, right? I know what there's only one of. Uh, at least for me." He smiles a bit happily and grins, "Hehe, there's only one adventure I'll ever has." He lets his feet sway back and forth a bit as he smiles, then lets a soft yawn escape him,
Mayeul looks back up at the stars, "Good point..." he yawns, "Very good point... time to get some rest now, I think... and an early start tomorrow..." He closes his eyes and rests his head against the unforgiving, yet familiar bark.
Mayeul looks back up at the stars, "Good point..." he yawns, "Very good point... time to get some rest now, I think... and an early start tomorrow..." He closes his eyes and rests his head against the unforgiving, yet familiar bark.
Zen nods his head as he rests his head against Mayeul, pulling his hood back over his head again. "Heh, ok.... good night Mayeul..." Before one could count to ten, the mouse seemed to already be asleep...
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