Little Black Songbirds [Shae]

[Jasmine Krisp]

It was clear spring was starting to come. The very air seemed thicker with approaching warmth, much like the slowly melting snow was making the ground thick with excess water. Mud seemed more abundant than the trees! With a surface like that walking was a pain in the behind…and for somebody as little as Jasmine, it could be dangerous. Plants already tried to eat you on the forest floor; she didn’t need to be swallowed by a sinkhole. So instead of walking the hazardous earth, the Boogie hopped along the canopy, her braid and dress bouncing behind her. It wasn’t unusual for Jazz to be hopping about at this hour, nor was it odd for her to take the high road.

But this time she was balancing a basket on her arm.

Behind her by about a foot, also hopping along the branches, was her trusty (HAH!) familiar Hades. He was hopping rather than flying, as it would be easier to catch Jasmine if she fell if he was closer to her. That basket was filled with snacks after all. He didn’t want such yummy things to get dirty. Asides from protecting the food and his owner the bright blue bird was a make-shift lantern, his eerie cerulean glow lighting the forest around him and Jasmine in the moon-less night. That she’d picked the darkest night of the month was sheer luck for the light-avoiding Boogie, and in a way, it made the evening more interesting.

Throwing a glance behind her, she wondered how far back her other playmate was. Maybe the mud was slowing him down? He better not get lost. Either way, Jasmine had a tune in her head, so she started to sing it as she hopped along. Hades chirped in time behind her. After she'd finished the first chorus, Jasmine shouted behind her with a little chortle.

"Come along, dawdler! Or has the earth swallowed you up?"

It will be midnight before we reach the clearing! Such silly children...

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

A journey through the dark of the woods was not a pleasant journey at all. Boogie eyes were adjusted to the dim light of their world, but dark was dark. A guiding wisp would make seeing in the dark woods slightly easier, but it would hardly make navigating the floor a better endeavor. Jumping from branch to branch was hardly Shaehern's niche--he was no chickadee like Jasmine. The idea of swinging from branch to branch occurred to him in casual thought, but he was no monkey either.

Swimming would have been preferable, even with all the local so-called dangers threatening to nip him, but the water never ran in the direction he seemed to want to go.

So it was that Shaehern was left leaping from one patch of moss to another. He spun about with his loose-fitting clothes flowing outward as he leaped from place to place. There was a sort of satisfaction to it and he wondered if he looked like a flower from the perception of those above.

"Nary a lost child in the woods, nor a fissure or ravine of sufficient size to swallow me." Shaehern's response was pleasant, sing-song, and perhaps just a little perverse, but that was just Shae for you.

Almost on cue, he tripped and caught himself on a low-lying branch to keep himself from a face full of mud.

For one reason or another, Zalamel had chosen not to come this evening. Shaehern missed the little carrion-muncher when he wasn't around, but it was probably better that the fellow stay back at the Palace tonight anyways. Things were getting rather busy there, after all.

[Jasmine Krisp]

Jasmine laughed a little at the response she got, happy enough that her fruit basket hadn't been swallowed up just yet, nor distracted by some poor child. Honestly it'd be a wonder that a lost child wouldn't be sunk already. Either way. Pausing on a somewhat lower branch, the plum woman looked back on Shaehern just as he had an rather graceful trip. She laughed even louder, doubling over a little and closing her eyes.

"I think you jinxed yourself, dear."

Seriously, snakes and birds never tripped. How silly was he.

Of course they were near enough to their destination that Jazz found no reason to stay in the trees rather than walk along the hazardous path with her best friend. Like a leaf, or perhaps a bird, the little woman stepped lightly over the edge of the branch and fluttered to land on a root of one of the trees. The held the basket by it's handle in both hands at her waist. It was comically large in her hold. Hades stayed above them, drenching the ground around them with light like he was the moon in himself.

With a gentle grin, the little Boogie stepped lightly to the next root, avoiding a hungry-looking weed that reached toward her as she moved.

"Sorry bout the timing, but you know me and sunlight."

Jazz turned her head to glance at a space between the trees, where just beyond them she could see a space with some flat rocks, looking a little dryer than the area they were in now. That would be the perfect spot for their little picnic. Gold eyes returned to her blue friend as she leaped, almost like a dancer, to the next dry root. "So tell me, dear one, how have you been?" she mused, wobbling a bit as the root itself lifted to meet her. "Any new stories to tell me? Or do I have to pay for them."

A little jab at his whore-for-knowledge status. Hey, somebody had to.

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

Shaehern felt it was fairly obvious that he had managed to jinx or hex or curse himself in a myriad of ways. A plethora of tragedies seemed to build up wherever he went, yet he tried not to let those things cling to him for very long. Wearing your tragedy like a badge only came across as mopey and self-serving. Shaehern was very much of the philosophy 'help yourself', but earning pity was hardly the way he preferred to go about it.

So it was that Shaehern remained cheerful even after a near faceplant in the mud. "It certainly would have revolutionized the term 'dirt on your face', yes?" Wordplay was some of the best kind of play.

Once again he was the graceful little fairy fluttering about and leaping safely from patch to patch. He hardly had to concern himself over Jasmine's well-being. There was no doubts in his mind that she could handle herself far better than he in this mucky little forest.

"Stories? I always have loads of stories. Rumors abound about me and my peers and some of them even have grains of truth at the center. Just the other week I heard a story about how I robbed some man's wife of her virtue seven times. Isn't that a hoot? Hoo hoo." Shaehern's mimicry of an owl cry felt a little oddly placed considering that owls had a tendency to move at dawn and dusk. It was clearly well beyond either of those thresholds, but it was an amusing mimicry all the same.

"I can weave stories all day long and never have it get dull or boring, but if you want truths, then you should say so." One friendly jab deserved another.

[Jasmine Krisp]

Jasmine hummed as she finally managed to balance on this one moving root, then hopped over to the next one. Odd enough this one didn’t move. She wondered why some trees had that little spark of life inside them and some didn’t…oh well, everything was unique. At Shaehern’s little word play her lips twitched into a smirk and she took another little leap. “Wouldn’t be the first time you’d have to wash incriminating evidence off your face, I’m quite sure.” She seemed to recall him almost using a comment like that not so long ago. Maybe he’d remember.

“Seven times. I'm impressed,” the little plum mused at such ridiculous things. “And how many times did you rob the husband of his?”

With this last step she’d entered the clearing, stepping from the unmoving root to one of the flat stones that lay in the grass like they’d simply grown there themselves. They glistened a little as she looked down at them, the water-shined surface reflecting the mysterious golden glow. Hades also entered the clearing from his higher position, using his wings like a parachute as he landed gently in the center of a larger stone. He lit the entire area up. Thank goodness or they’d be fumbling to eat in the pitch-black…or at least Shaehern would be.

Jasmine was more than capable of seeing in the dark of night.

That little smart-ass comment of hers got snapped back. Jazz laughed again, placing the basket on one of the rocks before wrapping her braid up and around her neck like a scarf. “Fine then, tell me some pretty and un-pretty truths, whichever is cheaper. Is there a discount for friends or long-term buyers?” Hades stuck his beak a bit too close to the basket, and the little Boogie woman rolled her eyes and whacked at him.

She was always surrounded by birdbrains, wasn't she?

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

Incriminating evidence was a loaded term. All evidence was incriminating under the right circumstances. The trick to getting out with a clean nose was playing the circumstances so that evidence seemed to support something else entirely. The conclusion? Shaehern was a weapon of mass confusion.

"Yes, seven whole times. I only got to do the man once before he realized I wasn't his wife, and then once more as a parting gift. How did the exchange go?" Shaehern cleared his throat noisily for a moment in order to better shift his tones. "It's you! 'Fraid so. But isn't it nice!"

Shaehern began to chuckle as though it was a reference that only he might get. It was all a matter of how well indoctrinated Jasmine was into the human culture that could be scraped up from the bottom of their barrel. Some of their best stuff was there, ironically.

He almost felt a twinge of guilt for poor little Hades trying to sneak up a snack. The gluttonous bird of brilliance would get his treats soon enough with a little patience. Then again, Shaehern supposed it was hard to be patient when you knew just how delicious the forbidden fruit within arm's reach was going to be.

"What I charge always depends on what the information is worth, friend or not. That said, I usually charge double for anything related directly to me." Shaehern gave Jasmine a crooked little smile. So far as most anyone was concerned he had just told her the absolute truth of his business model. "Double nothing is still nothing, so if there's anything specific you want to hear about, feel free to ask. Otherwise I may just ramble on and on about things that don't really interest you."

Shaehern debated what anecdotes he might relate to Jasmine. "Naelona and I had a quarrel not so long ago." It would be somewhat difficult to deny involvement with a half-drowned Naelona Ezel walking around later that particular day.

[Jasmine Krisp]

True to her human-loving nature, the plum woman did indeed get the reference and raised a hand to her mouth, giggling behind it. She expected nothing less from Shaehern. After all it had been him who’d entered her world singing ‘Sweet Transvestite’. He should remember her calling him out on not using ‘Time Warp’…sponges of human culture attracted each other it seemed. Hades tried again while Jazz laughed only to be hit with the end of her abnormally long braid in a rather whip-like fashion. “Wait ‘til at least half the table is seated before eating, glutton.” She sighed and tossed her braid back again.

The magnificent bird let out an undignified screech and spread his wings, a threat to blow the little woman back. Jasmine’s eyes went wide and she hesitantly stepped to the side. To this Hades let out a laugh of his own. Jazz wanted to slit his gut open.

Turning back to the other blue being in her life--this one thankfully gave her a lot less headaches--she listened to his ‘business’ model. The little Boogie met his grin with one of her own, though something along the lines of “Insight whore” might have slipped out of her pretty pale lips. “So I’m a special case? I’m honored,” sarcasm might have laid under her words, but in all honesty she was a little happy that he was willing to share with her without a price-tag on his words.

Jazz plopped herself onto a raised stone and dug into the basket, pulling out a little bowl of grapes. She tossed one to Hades since she knew he’d try at them anyway.

“A quarrel with Naelona…of all the people in the palace, Naelona? Really?” the plum woman plucked a little round fruit from its vine and looked it over, thinking, “You know, I ran into her in the garden not long ago…she told me you two have known each other since you were children. Course you’re both still children to me, but I digress.” She popped the little fruit over her shoulder and into the beak of her familiar. “What was it about? Something to do with that blond one?”

Call it a hunch based on completely sensible evidence.

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

Shaehern loved having a friend to get all of his references and jokes. It was a fun change of pace from dealing with the dumb doldrums that mindlessly wandered the hallways in the palace. It was just a bunch of straw-headed fools living an empty and unexamined life. Garland was a glaring exception to that broad and sweeping generalization.

It was peculiar that his best friends were both plenty old enough to fill the roles of father and mother figure to him. They were hardly his peers, but they were not held back by the perceived lines that divided social classes.

"Oh, you're special all right," Shaehern finally muttered with a wry grin as he came back to thinking about the conversation at hand. Talking with Jasmine was a pleasure and there was never a need to get lost in his own mind while trying to come up with creative little stories.

Shaehern figured that his fight with Nae would be a hushed rumor in the Palace by this time. Then again, it was never really much in the way of news that Naelona and he would have the occasional spat over silly things like slaves and rules. Shaehern felt like he was given a great deal of leeway, all things considering.

"A very real quarrel with Naelona, really. However, not about the boy." It would have been a fair assumption, but Kristopher Roberts really had not been a part of the equation at all. "Not this time, at least."

Shaehern looked up through the branches of the trees and into the sky for a moment. "It could be said that it was about the boy on the surface, but Naelona is a deep individual. The fight was more so about her personal frustrations with me, and to some degree about the fact that we were playmates as children."

Shaehern paused for a moment and bit the tip of his finger. "I think I may want to eat before I say anything more about it."

[Jasmine Krisp]

Jasmine smiled right back at the younger man as he spoke, calling her "special". He always said the right things, didn't he? Of course it was saying such things that landed them in some awkward situations not so long ago, but did she really care? Not much. Again the little woman plucked a couple grapes from the vine and popped one back to Hades, who was sitting with his mouth open ready for it, then nibbled the other herself. The subject of her friends quarreling was troubling.

Now that she knew a little more about their relationship, it just seemed all the more troubling.

"“Not this time implies this isn't the first argument you've had lately,"” she mumbled in the old tongue before swallowing the grape. So Shaehern and Naelona were fighting, and not only a couple times if she could make a guess. And yet they were childhood companions and knew each other for so long...it didn't seem right for them to be at odd like this. "A shame, really...I don't know my friends from childhood, but I imagine they should be precious to you..." tilting her head slightly, Jazz's bright golden eyes dug into his.

Am I wrong?

With a little nod the little woman lifted the lid of the basket and peeked inside. "I have these grapes and some sweets, as well as a few bottles of lemonade," the plum giggled softly, "One regular and two alcoholic. What would you prefer, dear one?"

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

Watching Shaehern was always something of a show because the man was constantly in motion. For just a moment he paused halfway through a step. It was nothing more than a second of motionlessness, but it was long enough to be uncharacteristic.

When Shaehern resumed motion he could be found groaning as he stretched his arms and back with arms that looked like they were reaching for the branches just overhead. Then he returned to that little dance of liquid motion he always was doing with the trace of a smile on his lips.

He had heard Jasmine speak in Ancient, and something prompted him to answer her in kind. "Late has been many arguments, but... previous clocks have been cleaned." Why was it so tricky to speak in such a manner? It felt like Jasmine spoke very quickly when Shaehern was listening.

One should wonder that he even understood the original nature of the comment given his response.

"I had no friends growing up--my parents were very clear on making certain I knew it. Naelona and Anolean were the only playmates near my age in the area, but Anolean was more likely to torment me than Naelona if you separated the two." And separating the twins when they were younger approached a statistical impossibility. The Shadow Twins always clung together.

"I believe a nip of the soft lemonade would be best. Otherwise I'll be needing my sea legs, and I left those behind with the rest of the swashbuckling outfit." Shaehern giggled lightly as he mimicked a seaman's walk for a few seconds. "And the grapes, most certainly."

[Jasmine Krisp]

For once Jasmine really saw the gap between herself and Shaehern's age, right in the spot she'd expected to see it most. Half-way to an answer she broke out in a fit of giggles. His grammar was atrocious, and some of her words just sounded garbled. Did he mean for the last half of that sentence to sound like that? Then again there was about an eight-thousand year difference between her learning the language and him learning it, so it really should surprise her he was so off…

Maybe Naelona’s way of speech made her forget how little this generation knew their roots. “Nice conjugating,” the little plum pulled the soft lemonade out of the basket, “Care to try again in English?”

Jazz blinked a couple times at the next words to come out of his mouth. No friends? Because of his parents? Her eyes narrowed a little at this. What kind of parents were like that? So he and Naelona and Anolean had been all the others had…that thought was terribly sad in its own way. Looking at the trio’s relationships now it seemed even sadder. “I see…at least you all had each other.” There was that odd gentleness in her voice that had slipped when talking to Nae in the garden.

It was popping up a lot more now then it used too...odd.

Looking up a little more as Shae got closer, the plum Boogie smiled softly and handed him the bottle in her little hands. But the bowl of grapes stayed in her lap. “If you want them, ask nicely dear. Ask me to feed you and I will shove them up your nose.”

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

Shaehern grasped hold of the lemonade and took a healthy sip of the liquid within. It was refreshing to have something to parch his thirst. Nothing ever felt quite as satisfying as a nice and cool liquid trickling down your warm and dry throat. Pleasure was amplified by contrasting it directly with displeasure and the greatest joy could be gleaned from where the two interacted.

So long as you focused on the good parts, anyways.

"Conjugation? In English?" Shaehern seemed to be a little confused. Mostly he had just tried to repeat the relevant words to her phrase in order to minimize reliance on his own limited vocabulary. His parents never had spoken in the ways of the ancestors, so Shaehern considered it miraculous that he understood the little bit that he could.

"The pair of us have been at odds for years, but there never was a first time or a last time. We never sealed the deal with a dance of the horizontal persuasion, since you were curious." What the hell did Shaehern think Jasmine asked?

He pressed his back against one of the trees in order to help relax for a moment. The note of sorrow did not pass undetected in Shaehern's ears. His own vocal tones took a more serious and somber tone. "If you're feeling sorry for me, please do not. I would prefer that people look at me and see something that either brings a smile to their face or gives them something to laugh about."

Whatever flash of maturity had been present at that moment quickly dissipated as Shaehern plastered another smile on his face. "As for those grapes, if you insist fair maiden. I should never wish to imply that you should feed them to me." Actually, Shaehern would imply such a thing and do it willingly simply to gather the comedic response he wanted.

Seriously, the image of Jasmine trying to shove grapes up his nostrils was hilarious. She'd do it too, and that was why Shaehern would not admit that feeding him was exactly what he had been insinuating moments before.

"I would be most appreciative if you would pass the grapes, chickadee."

[Jasmine Krisp]

Houston, we have lost in translation.

Jasmine had a grape in her mouth the next time Shaehern tried to explain he and Naelona’s relationship. Needless to say he’d gotten her question horribly wrong and caused the little plum to nearly die by choking, then by the laughter that simply wouldn’t let her breath. “Th-Tha--I di--dn’t ask t-that!!” Hades was sitting calmly by the basket, almost like a guard dog-bird, and even he let out a squawk of laughter at the blue man’s language fail.

“I said--uh, hol…hold on…” she took a few deeper breaths, “I said…hehehe…oh, never mind. I didn’t ask that.”

Now the laughter stopped, rather abruptly, as her ears caught the tone of gravity in her best friend’s voice. Normally one would be concerned by this swing in mood but the smile didn’t leave Jasmine’s face. It merely softened, as did the glow in her honey orbs. “I can’t help it. I’m going to worry about you now and then, Shae-hen. You’re my friend. Friends make each other laugh and smile, but they also worry and argue…” Another grape tossed to the awaiting blue bird's beak.

The bowl was then passed from her hands to Shaehern’s. “Besides, what kind of a friend would I be if I didn’t directly disobey your wishes?”

It is my job, after all.

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

Well, whatever it was that she had said to Shaehern went unanswered. Perhaps it was for the best. Shaehern was confident that this would pretty much solidify all serious conversations being set in the language in which he was most proficient in the future. Deviation from it would no doubt turn into a hilarious disaster of grammatical snafus.

The man pleasantly took the grapes and popped a few into his own mouth. He burst them and all their delicious juices between his tongue and the roof of his mouth. It was a pleasant piece of food to play with and eat. Not wanting to be pestered too much by Hades, he plucked off the occasional plump grape and tossed it over to the phoenix.

Let no one ever say that Shaehern ignored a hungry familiar. He actually considered that the bird might have a bigger stomach than Jasmine and he combined. He was not certain how such a thing was possible, but it could be true. Regardless, Shaehern was not really willing to go through the necessary steps to find out the truth in this matter.

"On that note, it's amazing you didn't stick a grape up my nose simply for comedic effect," he said with a grin. "And worry if you will, just don't let me catch you being a glum plum about it."

Suddenly the thought of eating grapes became absolutely hilarious to Shaehern and he started to laugh. It really was a silly thing to be thinking about, but it was silly enough to warrant a giggle out of the man. "Plums and grapes. That's a good one," he managed to say in order to end and explain his little laughing fit.

"Still, maybe you want me to feed you instead?"

[Jasmine Krisp]

A glum plum Jasmine may be at times, but she was Shaehern’s glum plum. As he laughed the little woman rested her elbows on her knees and leaned her head into her hands, looking at him with wide, warm eyes. She stuck out her tongue. “I would have, but your nose wasn’t close enough. C’mere and I’ll do it for real.” So what if serious topics were all but dust in the wind when it came to these two. They had some little moments now and then.

Maybe Jasmine just worried too much because she’d been a mother once upon a time, and once you’re a mother you worry about everything. Thinking about her friends now, she was still somewhat of a mother hen…or chickadee.

Hades merrily accepted the fruits tossed to him, catching them on the very end of his beak before leaning his head back and swallowing them whole. He was a fan of fruit, though not as much as he was of flesh. He was just happy to be fed. Rolling her little head in her hands like a ball, the older Boogie giggled a little at the offer to be fed. What, were they in Rome? “You can if you want,” she mused, leaning forward a bit, “But be wary, I bite.”

...that wasn't supposed to sound as sexual as it did...

I've been hanging out with Shaehern too much.