Mar 27 — [Quest] EMERGENT INFLUENCE (READ MORE) Mar 8 — [Event] Spring Regrowth! (READ MORE) Feb 6 — Domain Migration Complete! (READ MORE)
CAVE STATUS
QUESTS/EVENTS
Torrential downpours cause localized flooding and many upset cats. Along with these frequent rain, from gentle drizzles to heavy rainfall, there seems to be a flux of Magicka drawn in particular to water sources. Occasional jet streams of warm air make narrower tunnels harder to navigate. On occasion, the rain intensifies, becoming howling storms with sleet or large hail. However, the temperatures overall are a little warmer, with snow and ice in temperate caves somewhat receding.
She agreed with him that the plants needed good earth to rest in, her home was nothing but good earth, rich and loamy and always smelling of life and mud and moss. She wondered where Eridanus was. Was that another room with lots of plants? Or..was that the name of her home?
She pondered that. She really liked the sound of it. It didn't quite beat the name Orion in terms of grandness, but just matched it, she thought. Cayenne looked around the room and noticed the bare dusty ground and the scorch marks everywhere, wondering ambiguously where they came from. The question wasn't nearly as interesting as what Tenn was suggesting. "Baskets? Weaving? Maybe we could get a friend of ours to carry them. I know two giants that look like those cave deer over there that would be happy to help carry the earth. We would need a lot, though...." She looked over the ground. "It would take an incredibly long time to cover the area to a good degree for the plants to take hold. We would need a lot of help. And a lot of baskets."
She brightened. "But, at the same time, we could continue cataloging as we go back and forth! Gather seeds and ideas and keep writing in that book of yours."
He mentioned teaching her how to write and draw, saying that it wasn't too hard, and she smiled. She would take his word for it, remembering his beautiful drawings of the plants she recognized.
Then he was looking at her and her wounds in a worried way, and he frantically ran around and grabbed something for her to rest on. She felt her face growing warm. "I'm not- I'm not hurt that badly, Tenn," She said quietly with her raspy voice. "They're only flesh wounds. Skin. But....thank you." No one had considered her like that before, as someone to take care of. It was nice, like hugging. She saw him sitting down next to her with his book and suddenly really wanted another hug.
But she kept that to herself, instead focusing on his book and his question. She took one of the flowers from her satchel and started at it, twisting it around in her fingers. "Well, it's a sleepy one, a calm one. How about the Dormire flower? That sounds pretty, I think. How would you write that, Tenn?" She leaned in and half-rested on his shoulder to better see him with his feather and berry juice.
"Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam,
Where the deer and the antelope play"
The lemur nodded, yes, they'd need tons of help but he was certain with all the gembounds in the cave that they would be able to find someone to lend a paw. He wasn't worried about it. Besides! All that work would be really fun! "Don't worry, this cave is filled with plenny'a critters that'll lend a paw! I even talked to a bear th'other day an' he even said he knew some critters that would jump at this idea!" Well, maybe not exactly jump but just be okay with giving aid. "Exactly!" So, not only would they be building this place up but they'd be building up his journal! Killing two birds with one stone, as it were.
"Nonsense nonsense! I insist!" And with that they were both sitting together, looking into his book while they began her lessons. The lemur turned to a page in his book with a list of letters, a practice page from when he was first learning to write. "I think that's a fantastic name, Miss Cayenne." He said with feeling and truly he did. It fit perfectly for such a delicate and sleep-inducing flower. Now he pointed with one finger to the letters in his book. "These symbols here are letters and they all make different sounds. How ya spell out 'Dormire Flower' is with a D-O-R-M-I-R-E and then flower is F-L-O-W-E-R," As he spelled out each word he pointed to the letters and then proceeded to explain how they worked. He looked eagerly up at the lemur after he finished his explanation. "You wanna try writin'em now?"
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"This is how I talk!" This is how I think!
He liked the name she gave it! She grinned at him and grabbed her tail, feeling embarrassed and proud at the same time. Then he took out his book and she leaned in more.
She watched intently as Tenn pointed to each letter and sounded them out, frowning. She mouthed the sound of the letter after him, slow and clumsy, and probably getting a few of them wrong. With a worried look, she took the book from him, and the feather and berry juice, and started to write out each letter that he had pointed out. Her D was shaky and wobbly, her O was lopsided and incomplete, and she refused to look at her R after she made it. Her progress was incredibly slow, and he had to remind her which one was which, patiently pointing them out again and helping her when she made a mistake. The M looked too much like an N, so she did it again after scribbling the M out, but after that, she got fairly better. The rest of the two words were still shaky and painstakingly written, but they kept getting clearer as her hand steadied.
It took even less time to write it again underneath, and the difference was enough to make her blink and shake her head. "Who taught you how to write, Tenn?" She asked after the third try, which she tried to make smaller so she wouldn't take up the entire page. "Did it just come to you? How long did it take?"
"Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam,
Where the deer and the antelope play"
Tennessee didn't mind helping his friend out at all. In fact, he rather enjoyed it. When she took the book for personal practice he, at first, sat on the ground and tried to peek up into the book then he gave up with that and sat up on the flap rock with her. His own fur brushed against hers in the process and he had to throw one paw around her shoulder so that he could more easily help her when needed. Patiently he would point out letters, helping her sound them out and helping her to rewrite them when it was needed.
He smiled and gave her a friendly pat on the back, careful of his large paws not hurting her, when she seemed to be getting better. At her question he pondered for a moment, his free paw scratching underneath his chin. "No one! I jus' sorta picked it up on m'own. Strange really... It was jus' like... er.. uh... muscle mem'ry. Jus' made the dye an' the bird feather idea came to me an' then so did the letters." It was actually sort of strange how he knew how to make things like his banjo, his hat, even his idea for riding cave deer. It was almost like a past life or something...
He shook his head. "It took me a while 'a trial'n'error but eventually it got easier'n'easier. Like I'm sure it'll do fer you! Jus' gotta focus an' maybe you'll have the muscle mem'ry thingie too!" Why not? She was just like him! They had the same ideas and the same aspirations! She was so perfect... He felt the flutters in his stomach again and he gave a nervous grin as he stared at her... and stared... and stared... Not realizing how long he was staring at her pretty face until Daisy walked up and rubbed her flank against his leg.
Suddenly conscious of how long he'd been staring he took off his hat and began to fidget with it with a nervous laugh. "Sorry, 'bout that! Jus' couldn't help m'self... Feel like I could stare at ya all day since yer so pretty'n'all..." Cheeks and ears grew hot as he started fidgeting with his hat more rapidly.
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"This is how I talk!" This is how I think!
They both sat there peacefully, and she felt....content, at peace, wanted, and happy with his arm wrapped around her like that while they sat hip to hip on the flat rock, just pouring over the book, speaking softly to one another. With the brilliant crystals casting beautiful light and the gentle sounds of the cave deer nearby, she felt warm inside, inside this intimate embrace.
She laughed. "Tenn, I don't think muscle memory works like that. But I have to agree...I know things that no one's explained to me - speaking, vocabulary, basic facts about our anatomy..." She looked off to the distance, smiling and thinking. "Where does this memory come from? Why is it so easy?"
She looked back at Tenn, who was staring at her with a funny expression, his eyes bright, his smile odd. Cayenne blinked, waiting for an answer, and said softly, "Tenn?"
He laughed and fidgeted with his hat, and he started to remove his arm from her shoulder, but she touched it, making it stay there. "What do you mean?" She asked. "I'm not pretty, Tenn. I'm the ugliest cat in existence." Her voice said this as a fact, nothing more, nothing less. With a smile, she teased, "You're much prettier than I am, Tenn. With your pretty blue eyes and your red fur."
"Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam,
Where the deer and the antelope play"
Her former words echoed in his ears and around in his head but he had found himself unable to reply. The beauty of his companion held him, with her honeyed gaze and midnight fur. He could just lose himself forever, if it weren't for the real world beckoning him back. His pale eyes blinked at her briefly, sidelong, when she called his name. Oh, why did her voice have to be so sweet? Her touch so soft that it sent his head in a whirl and caused his belly to turn flips with nervousness. No other girls made him feel this way... Only she did where he turned into a blabbering, staring fool.
At her next utterance he turned to her sharply, mouth falling open in shock. Not pretty? Why? Who'd told her that? He'd find and... and boy howdy would he give them a piece of his mind. The red lemur took her paw with his free one and said firmly, "No way, Miss Cayenne, yer the prettiest gal I've ever laid eyes on. Now I don't know about cat standards but with us, with lemur standards, yer th'prettiest one in the whole entire cave. I mean that!" He nearly melted into a puddle when she complimented his fur and eyes but he had to stay resolute. She needed to know just how gorgeous she was! It was a crime that she didn't! "My eyes an' fur ain't nothin' compared t'yer own... Yer fur is so dark and goreous an'-an'-an' yer eyes why... Golly! They're absolutely stunnin' like warm brandy butter on a nice cold day. An' I mean that! Don't let nobody tell you that you ain't gorgeous... because ya are, Miss Cayenne." While he spoke he met her eyes, staring intensely with all of his true emotions. He truly did feel like she was the most important gal on the planet.
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"This is how I talk!" This is how I think!
He took her hand and looked her right in the eye, and she frowned at his serious tone. "Tenn, I don't know what a lemur is, but I'm a cat. Dove told me, when I woke up for the first time in Eridanus that I was sick and twisted and wrong. I'm an ugly cat. I mean, have you met a cat, Tenn? My head is too small, my ears look like their bitten off, my eyes are way too big for my head - I don't even want to look in water, it makes me feel terrible." The more she spoke, the more bitter she felt, and suddenly his embrace was too much, and she stood up, leaving the intimate embrace.
Doing so felt like exactly when she ripped a plant out of her skin, and she winced, but she kept going, ignoring it like she ignored the pain at the time. "Sure I might have nice fur and nicely colored eyes, Tenn, but I am wrong. I'm not pretty. Dove said I was a cat, and that's what I am. I've....accepted it by now."
She took one look at that intense, pure look in his eyes, like he was offering his heart in his hands, and she turned away, her mouth twisting, looking at the ground. "I don't know what you see, but it's not what I see."
"Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam,
Where the deer and the antelope play"
The red lemur felt himself becoming shocked again. He didn't know who Dove was but she was wrong, oh so wrong. Cayenne wasn't a cat, she was a lemur and she had to know that nothing was wrong with her at all. He watched her with hurt in his eyes as she got up and turned away. However, he wasn't hurt because she turned away his embrace... He was hurt because she talked so horribly about herself. He sat his book gently on the ground and peered after her. Horribly upset that anyone would tell her that she was anything else but perfect.
The red lemur stood up and walked behind her, putting his two hands on her shoulders. "No, Miss Cayenne, everythin' about you is perfect. I don't know who this 'Dove' is but she's wrong. So so wrong..." With that he came around to her front, hands still on her shoulders as he spoke to her. For once in his life he actually felt anger... A burning anger in his chest that anyone would say such cruel things to such a kind and beautiful creature like her. He wanted to meet Dove just to give it to her how wrong she was. Ruining a perfect gal's self esteem.. why, it was criminal! "What I see is someone like me- No! Someone even better than me! Yer so sweet and kind fer wantin' to help others an' yer smart fer helpin' me think up these plans an' you've got th'looks t'match! Yer perfect, Miss Cayenne!" He used one finger to try and gentle lift her head so that she could meet his soft gaze. She needed to know how he felt and how she was not what she thought she was.
"Lissen, t'me. An' really lissen, sweetie... Yer not a cat. Look at us. We're the same. We've got the same ears, we got th'same big ole eyes, we got the same paws," While he spoke he used his paws to indicate his own ears --now uncovered because his hat was removed-- then he pointed to his own large eyes and finally he grabbed one of her paws and lifted it so that he could place his own hand against it to show how they were exactly the same. "Now, if'n you were a cat... Then how come we both look like lemurs, hmm?" These last words were spoken lightly, humorously as if it was a truth she just refused to open her eyes and see. Hopefully she would notice too.
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"This is how I talk!" This is how I think!
Nov 17 2015, 11:45 PM (This post was last modified: Nov 18 2015, 01:50 AM by Cayenne.)
MAGICKA LEVEL 100% RESTORED TO 100%
CAYENNE
I've been longing for daisies to push through the floor I've never really felt like this before And I wish plant life would grow all around me so I won't feel dead anymore
She felt his hands on her shoulders and she bit down on her lip. There was no reason Dove would lie to her, she even tried to keep the information from her, pairing the unfortunate twists of her form with compliments and advice, trying to keep it hopeful. She didn't present the information with the attitude of a liar, she spoke like a wise adult pitying a young cripple.
The more Tenn spoke about how wonderful and perfect she was, the more sick inside she felt. Why was Tenn doing this? She was wrong. But she felt his anger and hurt in his hands, and she listened, looking at him when he lifted her chin.
"There are many different kinds of cats, Tenn," She said in a low rasp, fighting back her emotions, trying to argue back. "There are big ones with spots and differently formed ears, there are black ones that slink around low to the ground, there are ones with stripes. There are ones that are very small, and those with red fur," She fought back the sickness in her stomach. "Like you and me. I didn't ask to be made like this, but it's what I've been given. I have never met a 'lemur', and you're the only one I've met that looks like me. What kind of species only has two creatures, Tenn? It's much more likely we're just mutations, made wrong in our shells. It's happened before." She frowned. "I mean, I've seen a bat with his gem as his face. It happens."
She looked at their hands, how they fit together, how they looked exactly the same, and the sickness twisted, and tears sprang to her eyes. She wanted to believe she was different, that she wasn't wrong, but it would be a lie she told herself to think herself pretty, and that was just pathetic. "Don't speak to me like a child, Tenn." She said softly. "Look - our perspectives are different, and we see different things. You can think I'm pretty, but saying it to me makes me uncomfortable. Just...let's just focus on our project."
Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam, Where the deer and the antelope play
How could he argue? There were different types of cats, many many different kinds but deep down in his heart he knew that he wasn't a cat nor was she. It was just like with his writing and drawing, it was just something that he knew. Even though he woke up with Inima, his cat sister, he knew that she was a different animal than he despite their being siblings. "But it didn't jus' happen... We're lemurs, I promise... I know there're different sorts 'a cats'n'stuff but we're not cats. I jus'... I jus' know..." It was a lame reason but he couldn't think of a true way to dispute it besides his gut feeling. How could he? However, he couldn't keep on. It was upsetting her and the last thing in the world he wanted was for her to be upset. He would just have to drop it and hope one day that she would learn.
"I'm sorry, I don't mean t'cause no upset. I don't mean t'make ya sad when I call ya pretty but that's just how I see ya an' if I say it out loud then I'm sorry, I can't help it. Please don't make me not say it because it's truly what I think..." In his eyes there was sadness because she didn't think of herself as the beautiful creature that he was. She didn't even want him to think it and it hurt him deeply but he would push through and try to honor her wishes... Even if it hurt because he cared. To upset her was the last thing she wanted.
It hurt him even more when she suggested that they continue with their project instead of talking more but he simply kept a stiff upper lip and smiled... for her sake. "Alrighty then, let's... continue on. How about we go t'Eridanus fer some dirt an' makin' baskets? I think that would be best, eh?" He tried to sound cheerful but it hurt him... However, there was nothing a little hard labor couldn't cure, right?
