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Post by Nako on Sept 6, 2009 16:48:41 GMT -5
  It had taken him a good two years to make the decision, but finally Merlin had it in his mind that he hated his main house. At first, the house on the outskirts seemed like a lovely idea, but the sky had a tendency to be smoggy on this side of his town, and his plants continued to die. He frowned, wiping dirt from his whiskers with the back of his scaled arm as he stared down at the withered tomato plants, prodding the curled leaves with his trowel. No. They were very much too far gone to save. "Well Archimedes, it seems that these will have to be dug up as well, along with the cucumbers... -and- the squash." Genuinely frustrated, Merlin gave out a miserable sigh and stood up from where he crouched. He'd need to go behind the house into the shed to find the plow. The lurking vulture-like creature watched her owner go behind the house, beady eyes staring for a few moments before going to preen herself. She was absolutely stuffed silly, which was in fact the only time she could be handled with some level of safety. In fact, she had been in such a lovely mood that he'd decided to take her out and let her sit on a sturdy branch of a low hanging bush. Of course, he'd tethered her to it, just so she wouldn't get away. Tethered with a metal chain that she couldn't bite through. Then again it wasn't like she had escaping on her mind; the jubjub seemed content to bask in what little sun was coming through the smoggy clouds. |
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Post by Lucca on Sept 7, 2009 5:56:24 GMT -5
 It was a lovely day in Capital City, and Mirriam, to her great delight, had managed to once again lose her escort. Now she could have some real fun exploring! Sadly, this also meant she could get real lost in the big city, and that was precisely what had happened. It didn't distress the energetic young bat though, at any rate not for long, as she soon closed her eyes and flew, trusting her leaf shaped nose and large ears to guide her. When she smelled something funny, something like...rotting tomatoes, the girl opened her eyes, wrinkling her little nose...and saw a vegetable garden that wasn't doing too well. With a sad little bat chirp, the girl fluttered over the fence around the property, words like 'tresspassing' and 'private property' and 'possibly dangerous people' never crossing her mind, as these words were not in her vocabulary, even despite what had happened with Her Highness Mnem. Whose real name Mirriam still didn't know. Hearing something shuffling about somewhere above her, Mirriam's gaze shot to the tree...and her brown eyes widened in surprise at what she saw there. " Hello!" she chirped happily at the vulture-like creature, the like of which she'd never seen before. " What are you, new weird Rat-Bird?" The naive little Seven fluttered towards the tree branch on which the Jubjub bird was perched, no idea of the danger she was in. |
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Post by Nako on Sept 11, 2009 14:24:58 GMT -5
Had the jubjub not been dozing, she might have gotten a clearer warning before she even got to the tree... but the sun was so delightfully warm. Needless to say, Archimedes was more startled than angry, squawking and flapping her wings to escape. But she couldn't escape, tethered to the tree, angrily screeching, she lashed out with her beak. The girl was lucky that the jubjub was losing balance, falling. The beak only managed to lacerate the skin instead of actually piercing skull. Blood spurted, and the jubjub now hung upside down on the branch, shrieking and flapping her wings to try to regain her upright position, blood leaking from above and splashing down on her greytoned feathers.
Shrieks and screams caught Merlin's attention, jumping up so hastily from his crouched position in the shed that he slammed his head on a shelf. Cursing loudly, he stumbled out with his hand clutching the top of his head. Something had happened.. someone was hurt. It sounded like somebody young. Oh, Suits... A rather uncharacteristic panic overcame him as he managed a hasty jog, carefully patting the top of his head to try and soothe the searing pain that was still racing through his brain.
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Post by Lucca on Sept 11, 2009 19:21:11 GMT -5
"Oh! Oh I am sorry! I did not mean to startle you! It's okay!" Mirriam called to the bird as it squawked and fluttered, trying to calm it down, she reached out with a wing...and let out a little squeak of surprise as she saw a talon come for her. Suddenly she felt something warm on her neck, her vision was blurring, and she was falling... She squeaked again, fluttering awkwardly to land on a tree, talons sinking into wood as she swung upside down, trying to focus through the odd dizziness.
She still wasn't feeling the pain from the cut...it was clean and the shock had not yet worn off...her mind felt fuzzy. "I don't have very good luck with animals," she sighed in distress, opening one blurry eye and trying to focus on the bird above her...and then letting out a wail as the pain hit, all at once. "Mommmmmmyyyyyyy," she cried, folding her wings in around herself and trying to curl up. Ow. It hurt to talk, it hurt to move her neck...it just hurt. Burning pain. She'd never felt anything like it, not even with all the scratches from that poisoned bush.
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Post by Nako on Sept 11, 2009 20:12:37 GMT -5
Shit, shit shit! Stumbling out from around the house, the sight he saw made his heart sink. Oh.. it was just as bad as he had feared. There was blood. So much blood. He couldn't discern whose it was at first, being on the both of them, but the gaping wound down the little bat's neck made everything all too clear. There she was, hanging in bat fashion and crying, the blood dripping from the wound on her neck onto her face and into her ears... and there was his jubjub, screeching, and crying. At a split decision, he undid the jubjub's tether and allowed her to fly free. One could only hope she wouldn't go far.
The girl was screaming for her mommy... her -mommy-. He swallowed thickly as he found his words. "There there now.. you'll be alright.. come here...".. Would she truly? His arms reached out to cradle her, support her so she'd be able to release the tree. A darling little Avington... it made his emotion on the issue that much more acute. He desperately tried to assess the situation, to look at her wounds. They looked.. bad.
The blood. the blood was getting everywhere, on his hands.. his chest. Hopefully this fact would obscure the fact that he'd completely forgotten to apply his rank to his chest.
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Post by Lucca on Sept 11, 2009 20:31:32 GMT -5
The little bat continued to cry for her Mommy, coughing a bit as some blood got into her mouth and it tasted nasty and salty and it HURT waaaaaah....Suddenly, a deep voice was speaking, and she felt strong arms wrap around her, and for a moment she thought... blurredly, she opened her eyes, giving a small, shaking sob, and saw...green, a lot of green. It reminded her of home. Reluctantly, she released her death grip on the branch, collapsing in the larger Card's arms and looking, for once, very frail.
"Mommy...where is Mommy?" she sniffled a bit, still crying. Her vision was red; blood was in her eyes and she couldn't see well, so she kept them closed. The thought of checking his Rank would never occur to her at this moment. She'd never been hurt this badly, ever...she didn't understand it. All she knew was she hurt and she wanted someone to comfort her. At least this green someone with the deep voice seemed to want to help. She buried her nose in his fur and tried not to move her neck too much.
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Post by Nako on Sept 11, 2009 21:01:23 GMT -5
She was asking for her mother; it was only natural, such a young child would naturally do so... but his strange eyes roved his yard and he couldn't see a speck of blue on green... aside from the little bundle in his arms. Blue, green, tan and red. So much red.
"I don't know where your mommy is... but you need to calm down. Breathe slowly, it'll be alright." But even as he said that, his heart was pounding, his legs taking him unsteadily towards his house. He fumbled with the door to get it open, shouldering it the rest of the way once the handle clicked open. He looked around, trying to find a place to set her down. On his couch seemed the only open place. There was a moment where he imagined the blood stains that would never come out of the fabric. He'd never been able to clean the nice sofa that had been in his parent's house.. He had to throw it out.
Those were unhappy memories.. memories he'd rather keep locked away. He shook his head, returning to his senses as he set the girl down. "You stay right here. I'll bring some gauze.." He kept all these things close by. Being half owl, and owning a jubjub meant that cuts and broken bloodfeathers happened. He had gauze and cornstarch all in the same box. he applied it to the gauze, bringing it over to the girl and pressing down on the wound. He held it there with a gentle paw, one clawed hand cradling her tiny head and the other applying even pressure, careful not to crush her windpipe. "Shh... It'll be okay..."
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Post by Lucca on Sept 11, 2009 21:21:35 GMT -5
Mirriam's breathing did seem to calm slightly, her sobbing now muffled against his fur. He smelled like...dirt and grass and a bit of something else, and it was, slowly, calming her down. Her neck still throbbed, and blood was still leaking out. "Mommy's gone," she mumbled against his chest. It was hard to say if he'd be able to hear her, though.
She whined slightly in protest as he set her down, more tears coming as this made her cut throb more, and she started to nod but stopped when it hurt too much. Apparently rat-bird things were bad to approach. For some reason. But it hadn't -looked- mean! It had looked relaxed...maybe she had interrupted its naptime? That always had used to make her grumpy.
Her eyes fluttered closed as he started working on her wound, the pain now so great that other than a little squeak, she was distant from it. Though actually, it had changed to more of a duller pain, now that the bleeding was starting to slow a bit. She felt rather dizzy though, like the world was spinning around her a bit. Whoa...she fluttered her wings, though not really trying to get away. Maybe to remind herself where she was and that the rest of her still worked. Her breathing was fast and ragged, but the tears were slightly stopping, as was the blood. Her fur was soaked in red, though, and likely looked a mess.
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Post by Nako on Sept 12, 2009 9:48:15 GMT -5
When the bleeding finally stopped, Merlin was more than relieved. Carefully, he removed the blood soaked gauze and wrapped the wound in fresh. There had been so much blood. How much had she lost? She was such a tiny thing that he feared she just didn't have much to lose. Then there was the issue of who she belonged to. Had he caught the comment that her mother was... gone? That would make things problematic.
He went into the kitchen, finding a towel to dampen so as to wipe the blood away from her fur. It was that moment when he saw his blood spattered chest, blank except for the blood. He gave a little jump, immediately chilled by the prospect that he may have been found out. Immediately, the hearts symbol and the rank of seven materialized on his chest. He took a breath, gathering himself before going back into the living area.
She had been flailing. Carefully, he folded her wings to her side again and began carefully dabbing away the blood on her face.
"My dear.. who is your caretaker? I'll need to get in touch with them." and in touch with a doctor. But all in good time. It seemed like he'd be in need of some information to get in contact with this girl's guardian.. assuming she had one.
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Post by Lucca on Sept 12, 2009 16:06:51 GMT -5
Mirriam took a deep breath, wincing as this set her jaw and neck to throbbing. At least she was no longer bleeding, though all the little bat knew was that she was not in as much pain as before, but moving too much made the pain worse. She shivered, eyes tearing up again as she really and truly wished she knew where her Mommy was. She missed her Mommy, and it had been a long time since she'd seen her.
She had been way too out of it to look for a marking on the man who had saved her's chest. Besides, being a child, she didn't yet 'know' that Suit and Rank were apparently everything, and she probably would just have been confused and maybe a bit curious if she'd noticed Merlin's lack, instead of horrified like most Cards would. She made a small sound as he gently forced her wings back to her side and touched her fur with something warm and wet that made the wound tingle, but not really in a bad way. "No more rat-vultures," she mumbled sleepily.
Brown eyes blinked open at the question, her young, clouded mind telling her this was an Important question. It was, at any rate, the sort of thing that any adult will ask a lost child. "I live at the Court of Diamonds," she said as clearly as she could, though pain made her words a bit slurred. "The one who takes care of me is His Highness Khu...Koosh...Kun..." She frowned, eyes scrunching up in concentration as she tried to pronounce the very difficult name. "Mr. Birdy-Man," she finally finished, thinking that Merlin would surely know who she meant. After all, all three of them had Avington heritage! And both this nice man and her guardian were part bird.
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