As Deimos retreated from the tree the owl ceased her attacks and circled back to her mate, but she remained standing on the bole and glaring at the warrior, clearly ready to attack again if he came too close. His shouting upset her and she flew up a little ways, circling in distress, but she wouldn’t leave her companion, and he ducked back into the hole in the trunk to hide from Deimos’s rumbling shout. The circling female dropped back down again as soon as the echoes had faded and she perched again, feathers bristled and fluffed out to try and make herself as intimidating as possible against this roaring predator who threatened her home.
She mantled and hooted warningly as the ogre approached, shaking the ground with its steps, but whenLoren made no attempt to get close (and the ogre disappeared), she settled back into her wary watchfulness. Her mate came a little further out of the hole in the trunk to support her, and it was obvious that his wing had been broken – likely in the tree’s recent fall, before Deimos had arrived. There were no eggs to worry about in this season, but even if she were inclined to find a new home it was clear that the injured male had no such option. Riled as they were, they weren’t likely to go quietly either way, but as long as the two men didn’t try to approach the tree the owls made no effort to attack them further. The male seemed calmer than his mate, or perhaps he was simply more dazed by pain. Either way the threat was clearly in her sharp talons and wicked beak, while he seemed more confused and frightened.
Hotaru and Jigano had a quieter tree, and though Deimos’s voice called out through the woods, the ogre’s unsubtle footsteps had the bard cocking his head ruefully. ”Surely between the two of them they can move a nest?” It wasn’t an entirely facetious question; he’d already seen Loren do miracles with his magic, and Deimos was notoriously self-sufficient. However bruised his feelings had been by their arrival, it wasn’t their abilities he doubted.
The lady’s joke brought the sad, wistful smile back to his face, and he nodded at her teasing, his heart twisting hard in his chest with loss. ”I have heard that before, yes,” he agreed softly. The work made a welcome distraction and direction to pour his emotions into, tiring him pleasantly and blunting the blight even though his shaking hands made his axe strokes less than perfect in their accuracy. Luckily Hotaru had better aim, and soon enough they had a tree down that was more than tall enough for their purposes. ”You know…” he mused thoughtfully as they rested and admired their work. ”We could probably just take the bottom twenty-five feet or so of this old pine.” Hotaru had been lucky in her choice of victim, the tree sound and strong, as was clear from its newly-revealed growth rings. It was at least thrice that tall, and at the midway point still thick and strong. Better yet, there were only a few branches lower down, most of the lower half of the tree being fairly straight and clean. ”Use half for a post, and the rest for the crossbeam.”
Since Hotaru was already cutting the few limbs that would get in their way, Jigano steeled himself and set to work chopping where he had indicated, severing the trunk so that they would have an easier time taking the timber out. ”Could you… cut it in half... from this point??” He grunted in between swings, nodding to the point halfway between his own growing notch and the base they had already severed. ”It will be a lot easier to carry out, if we only take what we need.” Even in his horse form he wouldn’t have been able to haul a whole tree that large out by himself!
Maybe it was the heat she’d worked up, or maybe it was the soothing rhythm of their work, but from an overhanging branch of a neighboring tree, a slender length descended to plop onto Hotaru ‘s shoulders, trying to wriggle into the warmth of her coat through whatever opening the little hanging snake could reach.
Deimos and Loren have teamed up vs. the Owls! Can teamwork make the dream work?
Jigano and Hotaru have made good progress and have obtained one whole tree! And Hotaru has found a … friend?
Posting Order:
1. Deimos
2. Loren
3. Hotaru
She mantled and hooted warningly as the ogre approached, shaking the ground with its steps, but when
Hotaru and Jigano had a quieter tree, and though Deimos’s voice called out through the woods, the ogre’s unsubtle footsteps had the bard cocking his head ruefully. ”Surely between the two of them they can move a nest?” It wasn’t an entirely facetious question; he’d already seen Loren do miracles with his magic, and Deimos was notoriously self-sufficient. However bruised his feelings had been by their arrival, it wasn’t their abilities he doubted.
The lady’s joke brought the sad, wistful smile back to his face, and he nodded at her teasing, his heart twisting hard in his chest with loss. ”I have heard that before, yes,” he agreed softly. The work made a welcome distraction and direction to pour his emotions into, tiring him pleasantly and blunting the blight even though his shaking hands made his axe strokes less than perfect in their accuracy. Luckily Hotaru had better aim, and soon enough they had a tree down that was more than tall enough for their purposes. ”You know…” he mused thoughtfully as they rested and admired their work. ”We could probably just take the bottom twenty-five feet or so of this old pine.” Hotaru had been lucky in her choice of victim, the tree sound and strong, as was clear from its newly-revealed growth rings. It was at least thrice that tall, and at the midway point still thick and strong. Better yet, there were only a few branches lower down, most of the lower half of the tree being fairly straight and clean. ”Use half for a post, and the rest for the crossbeam.”
Since Hotaru was already cutting the few limbs that would get in their way, Jigano steeled himself and set to work chopping where he had indicated, severing the trunk so that they would have an easier time taking the timber out. ”Could you… cut it in half... from this point??” He grunted in between swings, nodding to the point halfway between his own growing notch and the base they had already severed. ”It will be a lot easier to carry out, if we only take what we need.” Even in his horse form he wouldn’t have been able to haul a whole tree that large out by himself!
Maybe it was the heat she’d worked up, or maybe it was the soothing rhythm of their work, but from an overhanging branch of a neighboring tree, a slender length descended to plop onto Hotaru ‘s shoulders, trying to wriggle into the warmth of her coat through whatever opening the little hanging snake could reach.
Deimos and Loren have teamed up vs. the Owls! Can teamwork make the dream work?
Jigano and Hotaru have made good progress and have obtained one whole tree! And Hotaru has found a … friend?
1. Deimos
2. Loren
3. Hotaru
