A great time ... but maybe a little too muddy

[Gwaihir]

As Gwaihir headed back to his room, he wasn't sure what he was supposed to be doing but he knew there was something. Then he opened the door and saw the thirty postits on his closet door. If there had been only a few, he would have ignored them, but he knew that when he put that many postits up, it mattered. Every single one said "DATE TONIGHT. LOOK DECENT!" Gwaihir opened up his closet and blushed. He could wear the blue button down, that would be okay, but what to wear for pants? Every pair of pants he had was a pair of gardening pants or they had huge rips in them....and there was the pair of pants that still had cake stains... Zariah seemed pretty neat, so the goofy elf knew he HAD to get some decent pants or she'd probably be disgusted or something.

Gwaihir set off to borrow a pair. First door he saw was Finninus' so he knocked. The blue mage laughed cheerfully at the elf's predicament, but he laughed harder at the idea of Gwaihir wearing his pants. He held up a pair to illustrate. They were so short that the pants would have made a great pair if one wanted to wear shorts.

Next door was Tzimfemme's and Gwai almost knocked on it before he realized why that one wouldn't work.

Gyrfalcon probably would have been the right height and he was nice enough to lend a pair....but a knock on his door gave no results.

Orlan laughed and might have helped...but he'd lost his so he couldn't.

Gwaihir thought a while and tried to figure out who else he knew well enough to ask... And then the obvious hit him. Peredhil....of course. He was way too nice to refuse and his pants would be nice to boot.

[Zariah]

Excited as she was, Zariah knew that this date would be her very first ever.

At almost 21, she had never had TAKEN any of the opportunities she had be given, to get to know any guys at all....and, well the only one she could begin to think of that was certainly unreliable and sort of like a brother....Crow was pretty sure it was better left at a dead end there.

 

She remembered the episode at the Ball and laughed to herself. It was quite a disaster, but SO MUCH fun! She had been opened into a new world of interesting characters and friends that she could only relate to the way she could with her Crow Clan back home. And at first, Crow was her only friend, but now she was getting to know so many more!

 

She wondered how she was going to act tonight, since she was feeling a bit light headed and knots in her tummy.

 

Nervous? I'm nervous? What could I POSSIBLY be nervous about? It's just Gwai and he's not scary or anything....and...I mean, I WON him at the bachelors auction....so it's like probably a chore to him or charity or something....this shouldn't be making me nervous!!!

 

Scatterbrained, Zariah sat on her bed and looked around her room for inspiration. She opened the wooden trunk at the bottom of her bed and pulled out a small package wrapped in brown paper and a pretty red bow.

 

I've saved this for a special occasion....and it's better now than I can see it being used in the future....

 

Carefully, she untied the ribbon and opened it up. Inside was a black strapless knee length dress, with satin trim on the top and bottom.

 

I guess this would count as my 'sexy black dress'??? I've never worn anything like this before....let's just hope I don’t trip in my heels...errr....maybe I SHOULDN'T wear any heels....

 

After laying out her dress, she found some white evening gloves and a pear tiara....and last but not least, her pear earrings and necklace were piled on the bed.

 

Browsing through the bottom of her closet, she found a pair of strappy white heels, (luckily short heels) and sighed as she set them at the foot of her bed.

 

Exhausted, Zariah plopped on the floor, and glanced at the ceiling....her stomach no longer tightened....it fluttered with excitement, knowing tonight would be a night she'd never forget (be it splendorous or disastrous, she knew it'd be fun).

[Gwaihir]

Never had Gwaihir been more relieved than when he knocked on Peredhil's door and saw it open. Maybe if he had been bit less relieved he wouldn't have run into the door as Peredhil opened it. That probably would have made an unsightly bruise but long before the spacier of the two had noticed it, his fellow had healed it.

 

Peredhil smiled kindly as Gwaihir tried to remember what he had come about. ...ohhh yes "Umm, I've lost my pants.....I mean, I've lost my nice pants....well I stained them...oh my...I mean I have a date with Zariah tonight." If Peredhil chuckled slightly here his nervous companion didn't notice that either. "I mean, she'll look nice, she always looks nice." Here the blush got more obvious. "I mean, I never manage to look very nice and I always manage to offend someone...usually my date when I have one and I'm sure it would be quite bad not to wear pants...that is not to wear nice pants..Oh my!"

 

Peredhil blinked slightly at the onslaught. "Stop and take a breath." His hand was calming and Gwaihir tried to look elven and composed. "When do you need the pants? I can take you to my tailor."

 

"Oh, it's no hurry. I don't pick Zariah up until eight pm."

 

"So, in five minutes? Then you don't even have time for London."

 

Gwaihir gulped. He had no idea that he was doing so badly on time. Now no matter how quickly he dressed he would be late to pick up Zariah. He put his head in his hands, panicing, but fortunately meanwhile Peredhil was being more productive. When Gwaihir looked up, stuttering, he found Peredhil had left. 'And I didn't even notice' the confused elf muttered. 'Did I offend him? Should I go look for him?' But, in moments Peredhil had returned with a very nice pair of black dress pants. "I think 'Dan should be just your size."

 

I hope Gwaihir stopped to thank Peredhil before he rushed out of the room to change and I wish he had thought to tuck in his shirt before he knocked on Zariah's door instead of only tucking it in as she came to the door. However, when she opened it, he was completely distracted....

 

OOC: No time, no time at all! GAAR. May edit if anything seems bad, but there at least I've gotten it posted.

[Zariah]

The sky was getting darker, as Zariah awoke from her nap. Grasping the blanket around her, she saw all the items she had laid on her bad strewn across the floor beside her….she grumbled as she realized that she had pulled her blanket from her bed toppling everything to the floor…..

 

A bit frazzled, she picked everything up, and looked at the clock on her desk.

 

Six forty-five? I need to get started right away! Oh my…how am I going to be ready by eight if I don’t start now???

 

Dressing took her fifteen minutes and quite surprised, Zariah didn’t know what to do for an hour. She pulled out a new book, titled “Angels and Demons” and began to read. She liked the other book she had read by Dan Brown entitled “The Da Vinci Code” so she had high hopes for this one as well.

 

“….and on went the….”

 

Knock, knock.

 

Zariah jumped out of her seat, completely startled and sweetly spoke a few words to gain some spare seconds.

 

“Just a minute, please.”

 

Zariah looked at the clock. 8:03 PM. She had lost track of time, but she was fully dressed and looking rather dashing. She brushed off her dress and fixed her hair. She opened the door to find Gwaihir dressed rather nicely…at least the pants were nice. He was quite taken aback…

 

Zariah blushed as she spoke quietly.

 

“Hello, let me get my purse and we can be on our way.”

 

With that, she grabbed her bag from the bed and linked arms with him as she shut the door behind her.

[Gwaihir]

As Zariah left her room she offered Gwaihir her arm and he almost blushed as he took it. Everything was a big deal to him and this dashing lady had just given him her arm without even him having to ask. Was that just a casual thing? Was she being formal, he'd been told that at the kind of formal parties he was never invited to, it was quite common for men to take a ladies arm and walk her to dinner or out to dance. Surely Zariah didn't think he was quite that formal though? And regardless he was impressed that she let him so near her...I mean, wasn't she worried that he would steer her into a cake again?

 

He looked down (though not too far down) at Zariah and smiled, "Well, I had an idea about what we might want to do tonight, but some people think my entertainments are weird, so if you don't want to I will Really understand. You may know of the jungle that is sort of near here?" Seeing Zariah's face, "Or you may not, I guess it isn't the kind of thing everyone would go to anyway, but there is a jungle near enough. It's such a wonderful place. Every plant there I can talk to and we could go converse with so many species. Just imagine a whole forest of verdant greenery all wanting to talk to you. And plants know ever so many things. I mean, have you ever thought about how different your point of view would be if you were a parasitical plant?" If Zariah blinked a bit at this, Gwaihir certainly didn't notice. "Mistletoe like plants...Well, I don't know how much you know about plants, but Mistletoe lives by drinking the strength of the Oaks it grows on. Sometimes it even kills the Oak but it tries not to because then the Mistletoe dies too. Parasitical plants like Mistletoe have the most interesting ethical debates. Some of them feel very bad that they're hurting their hosts and sometimes they try to live wholly off themselves and not to drink from their host...but that's pretty rare because they always die when they do that. Sometimes you'll even find a Mistletoe-Oak partnership. They fall in love and the Oak willingly supports the Mistletoe which is very careful not to take too much. The strangest things happen in the plant kindom!"

 

Zariah blinked again. This was going to be a mighty odd date. Certainly Gwaihir was excited about this stuff and the stories he told made it seem like a world she'd never dreamed of. If Gwaihir would talk to plants for her then indeed that might be very interesting...but in a jungle? "Is this a real jungle?" she asked. After all, Gwaihir wasn't known for his thinking ahead or his practical nature. It would probably be best not to get eaten by roving tigers or anything.

 

He nodded. "It is a real wild jungle but don't worry about the danger. The only predator types are grizzly bears."

 

If Zariah was thrilled or relieved by that news she hid it remarkably well.

 

However, Gwaihir went on. "Grizzly bears may eat meat but they don't have that cruel predator mind. Bears just blunder and want food. They don't hate or want the pain of their victims. All plant-eating animals I can communicate with. That means that if we meet a hungry bear, I'll just ask him not to eat us and to leave us alone. He may grumble, but he'll do it. Also, I'll ask the plants not to catch your dress on their thorns, so that'll be all right."

 

She laughed. That certainly was a novel way of doing things. "Are we going to dinner?" she asked. After all, she certainly hadn't eaten yet.

 

"Wwwell," Gwaihir stuttered, "I don't go to restraunts because there's just too much out there that I can't eat. I certainly don't want anyone to kill plants for me. They're sentient and they're beautiful...it would be like eating people. However, I don't mind eating vegetables and fruits as long as they don't kill the plant to do it. Also, I don't eat herbivores. I have too much sympathy with them. There are a lot of things I don't eat, but I wanted you to have a beautiful dinner, so I made us food and it's warming up downstairs as we speak. I was going to warm it up myself but some very nice person whose name I should know stopped me and said she didn't need me burning the pen down. If we go downstairs, we can take it and have a picnic omlette lunch in the jungle?"

[Zariah]

As Zariah left her room she offered Gwaihir her arm and he almost blushed as he took it. Everything was a big deal to him and this dashing lady had just given him her arm without even him having to ask. Was that just a casual thing? Was she being formal, he'd been told that at the kind of formal parties he was never invited to, it was quite common for men to take a ladies arm and walk her to dinner or out to dance. Surely Zariah didn't think he was quite that formal though? And regardless he was impressed that she let him so near her...I mean, wasn't she worried that he would steer her into a cake again?

As she followed Gwai's lead, she resolved to keep her fluttery tummy and swelling giddiness to herself.

 

I don't know if he even knows how I am feeling about all of this. Should I tell him that this is my first date? Should I just act casual? I think I might scare him away if I share how I am feeling....so I'm just gonna act like my OLD self....and put up my best (errr...straightest) poker face.....

 

She remembered the Ball and giggled in her head, careful to act as strict as a Crow observing his prey.

 

He looked down (though not too far down) at Zariah and smiled, "Well, I had an idea about what we might want to do tonight, but some people think my entertainments are weird, so if you don't want to I will Really understand. You may know of the jungle that is sort of near here?" Seeing Zariah's face, "Or you may not, I guess it isn't the kind of thing everyone would go to anyway, but there is a jungle near enough. It's such a wonderful place. Every plant there I can talk to and we could go converse with so many species. Just imagine a whole forest of verdant greenery all wanting to talk to you. And plants know ever so many things. I mean, have you ever thought about how different your point of view would be if you were a parasitical plant?" If Zariah blinked a bit at this, Gwaihir certainly didn't notice. "Mistletoe like plants...Well, I don't know how much you know about plants, but Mistletoe lives by drinking the strength of the Oaks it grows on. Sometimes it even kills the Oak but it tries not to because then the Mistletoe dies too. Parasitical plants like Mistletoe have the most interesting ethical debates. Some of them feel very bad that they're hurting their hosts and sometimes they try to live wholly off themselves and not to drink from their host...but that's pretty rare because they always die when they do that. Sometimes you'll even find a Mistletoe-Oak partnership. They fall in love and the Oak willingly supports the Mistletoe which is very careful not to take too much. The strangest things happen in the plant kingdom!"

As Gwai began to elaborate about the location of the date being in the jungle, she was shocked that he enjoyed the outdoors as much as he did. She had never been to a tropical-like jungle, but the vast forests and terrain she had spent her lifetime exploring had given her the passion that he was sharing with her.

 

He's QUITE a talker....I wonder if it's nervousness or just his way of talking....He's talking about partnerships between the plants....*sigh* That’s so romantic....is he hinting at something...or just blabbing...or....(Whew, I'm good at this poker-face thing).....he's so *sigh*.....(No, Zariah! This is BAD, snap OUT of it! Jungle ODD, Jungle WEIRD! A normal girl would think this strange...act like it's weird!)

 

Zariah blinked again. This was going to be a mighty odd date. Certainly Gwaihir was excited about this stuff and the stories he told made it seem like a world she'd never dreamed of. If Gwaihir would talk to plants for her then indeed that might be very interesting...but in a jungle? "Is this a real jungle?" she asked. After all, Gwaihir wasn't known for his thinking ahead or his practical nature. It would probably be best not to get eaten by roving tigers or anything.

 

He nodded. "It is a real wild jungle but don't worry about the danger. The only predator types are grizzly bears."

 

If Zariah was thrilled or relieved by that news she hid it remarkably well.

Grizzlies, I remember fighting one of those once....it was quite a challenge, but I ended up cornering him into a cliff side and spearing him in the leg....he panicked and I climbed up and tree and jumped on the cliff and watched him run deep into the woods...Mother Crow told me later that the medicine hermit healed his wounds

and the bear made an oath to never attack me again....but Grizzlies in the jungle??? Is he sure about this??? I should probably go back and get my weaponry...as for clomping around in heels in the jungle....

 

Zariah wondered if she should reveal her past experiences or let him proceed with his explanation....she chose to humor him and play the role of clueless and carefree girl.

 

However, Gwaihir went on. "Grizzly bears may eat meat but they don't have that cruel predator mind. Bears just blunder and want food. They don't hate or want the pain of their victims. All plant-eating animals I can communicate with. That means that if we meet a hungry bear, I'll just ask him not to eat us and to leave us alone. He may grumble, but he'll do it. Also, I'll ask the plants not to catch your dress on their thorns, so that'll be all right."

 

She laughed. That certainly was a novel way of doing things. "Are we going to dinner?" she asked. After all, she certainly hadn't eaten yet.

He's so cute (as in look at him so interested in telling me about all this....)...and he wants to play protector....

 

As he spoke of the hypothetical bear grumbling, her tummy lost the butterflies and began to feel a hunger grumble herself....

 

Awwww, and he'll ASK the plants to not hurt my dress....that's so cute!

 

She lost disciple and laughed out loud.

 

"Are we going to dinner?" Her tummy was getting louder.

 

"Wwwell," Gwaihir stuttered, "I don't go to restraunts because there's just too much out there that I can't eat. I certainly don't want anyone to kill plants for me. They're sentient and they're beautiful...it would be like eating people. However, I don't mind eating vegetables and fruits as long as they don't kill the plant to do it. Also, I don't eat herbivores. I have too much sympathy with them. There are a lot of things I don't eat, but I wanted you to have a beautiful dinner, so I made us food and it's warming up downstairs as we speak. I was going to warm it up myself but some very nice person whose name I should know stopped me and said she didn't need me burning the pen down. If we go downstairs, we can take it and have a picnic omlette lunch in the jungle?"

Too much out there? He's shy too! What am I thinking?! This is absurd....he's so child-like....it's as if he's innocent and all....

 

She then heard that he was a vegetarian.

 

His kindness overwhelms me....awww BEAUTIFUL dinner....omlette...errrr...OMLETTE?? Oooh perhaps he's clumsy like me....heeheehee....

 

Again losing her disciple, she giggled wildly.

 

"Oh! Err...Yes, should pretty neat."

 

Neat??!! That’s the word I used?? Oh great! He must think I HATE this idea!

 

"I mean, I think it's a great idea. And I respect your vegetarianism."

 

VEGITARIANISM??!! What has gotten in to me???!!

 

"I....eh...heh...." Zariah gave him a look of shame and was beet red. She plopped down on the floor and covered her face with her hands.

 

"I dihdnt mehn to beh suh...", she removed her hands, "I didn't mean to be so difficult. Let me start over. I'll wait right here and compose myself while you get the picnic ready for our excursion."

 

She smiled for the first time, and glanced into Gwai's eyes with her own teary expression of resolution to make this date work.

[Gwaihir]

Again losing her discipline, she giggled wildly.

 

"Oh! Err...Yes, should pretty neat."

Gwaihr watched Zariah helplessly giggling and wondered. Well, I guess she isn't offended or mad at me yet. She seems to think I'm pretty funny though, and I don't think I've made any jokes recently. Perhaps she hates omlettes? Oh no! What if she does! Maybe I should have made her something else. I could have tried to make a souflée, those sound more fancy perhaps. But, they collapse if you jump or yell around them, so they'd probably collapse when I fell around them. Also, maybe it was good to stick to my rule of never using an oven. I can just imagine how many burns I would get...and my hands would shake more than usual since I was nervous. Oy!

 

 

"I mean, I think it's a great idea. And I respect your vegetarianism."

Well, I'm not really a vegetarian Gwaihir thought. I mean, I don't have an objection to eating meat, but just to eating kind animals that don't hurt other animals. I wouldn't eat a bear because they listen when I ask them not to eat me, but if tiger meat tasted good, I would have no problem with eating it. Still, I guess it all works out to be the same thing and it probably wouldn't be very romantic if I explained all that to her. But, what am I thinking? I'm sure she has no interest in me at all and I'm sure that she doesn't want a romantic date! She just wanted this date to support the pen, becuase that's where the geld she payed went. No interest in me at all, remember that, Gwaihir! He was mad at himself and certainly wasn't thinking all this to soothe his nerves. However, once he'd convinced himself that Zariah clearly had absolutely no interest in him, he wasn't nervous anymore and suddenly he sort of knew how to do this without being quite as awkward as he'd been before. It was high time since his Zariah was quickly falling to nervous pieces.

 

"I....eh...heh...." Zariah gave him a look of shame and was beet red. She plopped down on the floor and covered her face with her hands.

No reasonable guy would have assumed that Zariah was giggling and blushing because she was disgusted or because she disliked Gwaihir. However, the clumsy elf was not a reasonable guy.

 

"Oh! I didn't mean to offend you" he muttered, but that didn't help

 

"I dihdnt mehn to beh suh...", she removed her hands, "I didn't mean to be so difficult. Let me start over. I'll wait right here and compose myself while you get the picnic ready for our excursion."

 

 

She smiled for the first time, and glanced into Gwai's eyes with her own teary expression of resolution to make this date work. 

Gwaihir looked back and in his own silly way he found what to say. "Oh! You're like a plant, but ...but I don't quite know how to communicate with you like I do with the plants....and ....and you're ever so much prettier. OH, there now I've gone and done it. Now you're going to hate me. Well, ummm, I'll...get dinner!" Gwaihir turned and ran for the kitchen, as fast as an elf or a man who knows he's offended a woman.

 

Normally, if Gwahir walked into the kitchen and saw Wyvern holding a cook by the ear and hissing cruelly, he would have either addressed Wyvern or left. However, today Gwaihir was too frazzled. His omlette was sitting on the counter, nicely heated up and he could (should) have just taken it, but there was a whole tray sitting nearby On it a fine italian bread sat next to a dish of sauteed peppers and other Gwaihir-safe vegetables on some sort of thin noodle with sauteed onions on the side. On the other plate sat fragrant brownies with carmel on top. Clearly they had something to do with Wyvern's plan because he was saying. "There! I WIll have these and with this food I am SURE to win." Gwaihir was no thief, but who wanted Wyvern to win....and he did feel sorry for that cook. Besides, Zariah might not like omlette! Gwaihir winked at the miserable cook and then whisked his omlette onto the tray and ran.

[Zariah]

As Gwaihir exited toward the kitchen, Zariah stood up and leaned against the wall….she could hear some commotion going on from where he had gone, and wondered what was going on. Quietly, she inched toward the kitchen to spy on what he was up to.

 

She peered into the doorway and saw Wyvern harassing the cook. Gwaihir looked confused and didn’t know what dish to pick up off the table. She then heard Wyvern mention something about thinking he’d win a contest of some sort, and she wondered what he was up to…

 

Suddenly, Gwaihir winked at the miserable cook and then whisked his omelets onto the tray and ran. Ran right into Zariah, that is. She wasn’t fast enough to avoid his sprint and he fell right on top of her. Oddly enough, the omelets flipped in the air and landed back on the grounded tray. Zariah turned bright red, because she was underneath Gwaihir and knew that she was unable to pretend that she was uninterested any longer. She suddenly spoke a river of words that seemed to catch Gwaihir more off guard then their clash and collapse.

 

“I like plants and I like communicating with you even if you can’t understand me, and I like being told I a, pretty, thank you, and….and…I DON’T hate you at all….I’ve never been on a date before…and I do like the jungle because I lived in the woods most of my life….and I speak to crows….and didn’t mean to make you feel bad, I was laughing at how silly I was being so nervous….and I sounded like a really foolish icky person, because I used to be emotionless and then I cam here to the Pen and I am not anymore….but it’s hard sometimes because I get confused about what I feel and what means what….and…”

 

All of a sudden, she looked over to her side and saw the omelets were unscathed. She laughed and smiled at Gwaihir and said, “Hey, at least the food is okay? Let’s get out of here and go on our date? What do you say?”

 

All of a sudden, a complete relief flowed through her, and she was no longer feeling out of place.

[Gwaihir]

"You speak to crows? What sorts of minds do they have?" Gwaihir's eyes were sheer anticipation and very quickly the awkwardness was forgotten as the two were lost in deep conversation.

 

Utter peace to walk in quiet converse through nature Gwaihir thought. The sun was shining cheerfully so all the plants around were happy. There was a mouse sitting and chewing on berries and he sat up and grinned at the two as they walked by. He recognized the elf and probably expected a response because Gwaihir always noticed animals or plants who addressed him. There's a first for everything though and Gwaihir did not even notice that there was a rodent laughing at him.

 

However, it took a plant to tell Gwaihir that Zariah's stomach was rumbling in a very hungry way. Her words were too absorbing, all else was forgotten--particularly things like hunger--in the walk. Who would have ever thought that crows and sunflowers would react to each other that way! But, he was carrying a large tray with five or so different dishes (including a re-flipped omlette) and now was a logical time to eat.

 

The two sat down--no not on the daisyies, they hate to be sat on, thank you--and spread the various foods out...and then stopped. Zariah looked up at Gwaihir expectantly waiting...he didn't notice. She paused a moment, and still no response so finally she grinned, maybe a bit shyly and asked "Did we bring silverware?"

 

He blushed. "Umm...

[Zariah]

As they strolled forward, Zariah began her monologue in response to Gwai's interested question.

 

"Oh yes, Crows carry an intelligence that only an interested creature could comprehend. Often keen to sound and movements, Crows remain scavengers because they do not wish to harm a living animal. You would think that they'd hunt for mice and other smaller birds like the owl or falcon might do, but most kind Crows, live on the remains from other kills.

 

Crows, naturally love to fly and find amusement in terrifying and annoying farmers....they hesitate to tell me why, but there is a humor they share with one another over the matter, and I assume it carries some sort of tradition carrying back hundreds of years....I leave it to them to enjoy.

 

What I appreciate about Crows is that they share with me the humors they find in each day. Unlike vultures, they carry a more justified and mature stance when it comes to living....and they don’t really get along with other scavenger bird species.

 

Since they raised me, I have learned the different crow languages. They vary from their particular flocks, but most carry a singular similar language- just as English flows as a worldwide connector language. They can tell me about what other plants and animals are saying, feeling....but I do understand the trees. Perhaps it is because I lived in them, they were my home for years....but I am connected to them in a way that no other place can possibly be for me. That is why I am always in the forest...."

 

With this, she felt a grumble in her tummy, this time quite loud. Embarrassed, she followed Gwai to their destination place and watched him spread the various foods down.

 

Oh, finally! I am so ready to eat....now, where's the silverware???

 

She paused a moment and still no response so finally she grinned, maybe a bit shyly and asked "Did we bring silverware?"

 

He blushed. "Umm...

 

She broke out into a giggling fit and smiled at him.

 

"It seems to fit this date, anyways....I am used to eating with my hands anyways...let's dig in!!!!"

 

Gwaihir still seemed a bit embarrassed, but followed Zariah's lead as she began to scarf down the food.

 

Halfway through the omelet, she realized her bad manners, and slowed down.

 

"Errr, so sorry, I was really hungry."

 

Her flushed face was as red as an apple.