Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Tzirret angled his head to one side, thinking. "Most of the time, when Tzirret was around you, he was nervous because he did not want to say something stupid around you." Tzirret swallowed, "He ended up doing that anyway, but...there were plenty of other things. The voyage, the slavers, getting found by Vile's forces...there are very few times when Tzirret is not nervous about something, but he thinks that when he was around Ma'tanza over the past few weeks, he was nervous because of his feelings."

Tzirret looked at the ground ahead of him and added, "Oh, there was also the first week or so that he met you, it was your body." Tzirret immediately got the feeling that he had left his words up to too much interpretation, so he tried to clear the air. His tone became progressively faster and more flustered, "B-but you are probably used to that from other boys. This one is used to it now- um...not his body, but your body. Tzirret never had to deal with people staring." Tzirret blinked hard, widened his eyes, and tried to snap out of it, "Anyway! It was that, then it wasn't, because Tzirret grew fond of you for your kindness and strength, and..." Tzirret let out the rest of his breath. "This one hopes he is not being annoying..."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sure thing. We probably won't have much left unless you think of something to play out.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Well, he was going to try," Tzirret said, "Gallus kind of...interrupted. It got this one thinking, though...Tzirret has never been good at keeping secrets, especially about himself. He gets nervous when they are brought up, then people push him, and he is not good at hiding such things. Not like other people." Tzirret looked down, took the end of Ma'tanza's tail gently with his free hand and ran the soft, thick fur between his fingers. He couldn't help but bring his own tail around her waist as well. He continued with a more curious tone, "But, it sounds like Ma'tanza was still surprised for Tzirret to admit his feelings just now." Tzirret turned his eyes to look at Ma'tanza, "Did this one really hide them that well?"

---

No matter how hard she tried, Sabine could not see it possible to cast a spell more powerful, let alone as powerful, as Meesei's blizzard. She could imagine the image, and it was exhilarating, but she could not feel herself doing it. "I think I will need much more practice," Sabine concluded again.

Smelling something nearby, Sabine turned her head and spotted a few clan members watching on through the trees. They all looked as awestruck as Sabine was a moment ago. "We have attracted attention," Sabine said with mild surprise. She offered an unsure wave, but the onlookers did not respond with anything except leaning to one another and murmuring.

Normally, their magic lessons were not spectacular enough to attract an audience. Sabine found herself feeling a little uneasy about being watched during training by strangers, but she did not feel right telling them to leave. She turned her head to look up at Meesei again, "Should we...try more absorbing practice?" Sabine asked. The relatively repetitive exercise might bore the strangers into walking away.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Tzirret looked around aimlessly, twisting his mouth in thought. He didn't really mind what they did either, as long as he could be closed to her. After a mildly awkward silence, Tzirret looked to Ma'tanza with a suggestion, though not a particularly inspired one. "Well, what were we doing earlier? We could just lay here and talk. This one enjoyed that."

Without any better ideas, Tzirret slid his hands down from Ma'tanza's neck to her hands and lowered himself to be seated, opting to keep one arm affectionately around her shoulder if she joined him. Of course, sitting and talking meant they would need something to talk about. Tzirret had not thought that far ahead. One thing eventually came to mind. "You know, Tzirret was going to try this in Leyawiin. You remember in the chapel?"

---

Sabine unquestioningly distanced herself as necessary, but even with the warning, she had to shield her face with her arms with the force of the wind and the cold. What Meesei created was nothing short of amazing. Sabine stood in awe as the effect of one of her smaller ice storm spells came forth with greater destructive power, centred on Meesei, and orders of magnitude larger. The spinning wind and ice looked like it would lacerate and freeze anything or anyone unfortunate enough to be caught inside. This made Sabine concerned, for Meesei was in the centre of it.

It took a while, but when the spell died down and the spinning snow settled, Meesei stood unharmed in the centre. Everything around her was in the depths of winter, but now steaming in the sun. The grass was flattened and covered in frost, bent in a spiral pattern around her. Sabine was open-mouthed and dumbstruck.

"That..." Sabine's eyes skipped around the shrinking snow and ice on the ground. She took some furtive steps over the affected ground and found that the frost crunched under her feet. It was uncomfortably cold against her bare soles. "That was so much power..." Sabine looked to Meesei with shock, "How is that possible?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Tzirret gave a nod to both warnings. He smiled at what Bheja might do, but he was more appreciative of the warning about S'nishi. Tzirret would have been very easily terrified of any threat from a Senche-raht.

Although, when Ma'tanza hugged Tzirret, all the words disappeared. Tzirret hugged her tightly in return as an automatic response, one hand on her back and another on the back of her head. He slowly released a breath that he did not realise he was holding and felt his neck and shoulders pleasantly release their tension. Another slow breath had his nose lower onto Ma'tanza's shoulder. He missed how good it felt just to hold someone he loved, but he had a feeling that it would cause Ma'tanza more fluster to tell her as much.

Ideally, Tzirret did not want to let Ma'tanza go, but in an effort not to embarrass himself with his body's involuntary response to such physical contact, he pulled away reluctantly. He kept his arms around the back of Ma'tanza's neck as he regarded her, somewhat abashed. "So, um...what does Ma'tanza feel like doing now?" Tzirret said in an attempt to Keep Ma'tanza's attention upward, "We could keep swimming, or just talk, or head back to camp?"

---

Sabine knew Meesei well enough that she understood what she had actually meant when there was a laugh. Sabine chuckled uneasily with a little embarrassment. "Right," Sabine responded, "Yes, I would like to see. Do I...have to stand back?" Sabine took a few steps back anyway. She had seen some powerful spells before, but she did not know what was the highest level. She was a little tense, but also excited and curious.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"What Ma'tanza and Qa'habi had?" Tzirret repeated. He looked unsure for a moment, but not for obvious reasons. "Tzirret cannot know exactly what you two had, but Tzirret could try."

After a moment of just looking into Ma'tanza's eyes again, a small, hopeful smile crept onto Tzirret's face. He had been so certain that he had destroyed his chances a moment ago. He brought both of Ma'tanza's hands in front of both of them and his tone became lighter, "This one wishes he did not make so much of a fool of himself." He let out a light laugh.

Noticing that Ma'tanza still had the pendant in her hand, Tzirret looked to it and gently took up the leather cord with one hand. "Ma'tanza does not have to love Tzirret. But, she still deserves this. She should keep it." Tzirret carefully took both ends of the cord, placed the pendant around Ma'tanza's neck with both hands, and began to tie it closed. Standing this close to Ma'tanza, Tzirret just wanted to hug her, perhaps even kiss her, but he was still quite nervous. Tzirret finished tying the pendant so it was sitting just at Ma'tanza's collarbone, and then he left his hands on her shoulders. "This one thinks it suits you," he added.

---

Sabine nodded to Meesei's advice. It made sense as it always seemed like timing was an issue. "Very well. Two weeks is not impossible."

As for seeing the most powerful destruction spells, Sabine looked at Meesei with wide eyes. "Um, I do not think I could ward them, let alone absorb them. Do we have to try that?" Sabine said quickly. She seemed a bit shocked, not knowing that Meesei was not intending to use them against her for ward practice.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Well, it turned out that suited me fine anyway, haha.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

There was no resistance from Tzirret as Ma'tanza turned him around. He looked to her again, but did not look like he had much hope.

In the end, Ma'tanza's words left Tzirret in a state of conflict. On one hand, he wanted to experience mutual love and be in that kind of relationship with Ma'tanza right now, else let the pain of uncertainty go and leave her alone for good. On the other hand, he understood her apprehension and did not want to impose on her feelings by tearing apart what they already had. It was something, even if it wasn't love to Ma'tanza. Tzirret, in his state of high anxiety, was torn and wordless.

For a while, Tzirret just stood, breathing in to speak and releasing his breath wordlessly over and over. The conclusion of his thoughts was clear, so he was honest. "Tzirret does not know what to do," he said sadly. He looked to Ma'tanza's hand on his shoulder and reached his hand up to put it on hers. That much made him bow his head and scrunch his eyes shut for a moment, but he did not quite produce tears. He continued in a tired voice, "He cannot just pretend that he did not say all of those things, but...maybe Ma'tanza is right." He looked up to Ma'tanza's eyes with some hope nudging through the sadness, "Could we try to keep that...something that she mentioned, does she think?"

---

After sitting down and closing her eyes while her magicka reserves regenerated, Sabine felt as though she could hold a ward up to something stronger than a simple stamina spell. Although, absorbing it? That was something that she was not so certain about.

Sabine charged a light blue spell in her left hand and allowed it to spread forth a translucent half-bubble that covered her front. She blocked Meesei's first spell entirely without absorbing it, misjudging how to use the technique. The next attempt had Sabine accidentally absorb the full effects of the spell into herself. She muttered a small curse under her breath as she felt her energy get rejuvenated a little, but no doubt it would have been very painful had it been an offensive spell.

Variations of the two scenarios repeated themselves for a little under half an hour before Sabine properly extracted the magicka of a spell for the first time that day. It seemed to be a bit of a fluke. Indeed, the technique she was trying to pull off was not very intuitive. She still congratulated herself and grinned, nonetheless.

Practising some more lead to more success, but not without a greater proportion of failure. The technique was just so...odd and precise. "Meesei, how long did it take you to perfect this?" Sabine asked curiously between attempts.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Tzirret opened his eyes when Ma'tanza began to respond. Her answer was not something he could have anticipated, not because it was outright rejection, but because it implied that Tzirret had attempted this at the wrong time.

In immediate response, Tzirret let his fingers slip free of Ma'tanza's and took a step back. He was about to run, just like he had with La'khay. Back with La'khay, however, Tzirret was anticipating rejection because he knew the outcome already. This here was a shock. He had already decided that he would not break down crying, but somewhere along the process, he decided not to run. He would be okay after this, he knew because he had been there before. Unfortunately, that left him in front of a likely equally shocked Ma'tanza with little to nothing he could think to say.

"Um..." Tzirret's eyes went to the ground, giving Ma'tanza the occasional sideways glance. He began to think out loud, though it was filtered from his roiling worries and sadness. "Tzirret understands," he said flatly. That was a good start. "Perhaps he could try...just...like? Instead of love? For a while?" He brought one hand up to rub his forehead, that was a bit odd. "W-what he wants to say is, he is sorry. This one did not read properly how Ma'tanza felt and...he has made a mistake." Tzirret began to turn away, "He understands if Ma'tanza does not want to be his friend anymore."

---

It was quite the contrast for Sabine to go from the overwhelming thought that she might surpass Meesei as a mage to suddenly needing to bring up a ward. She of course could not hold the ward for more than two seconds, and it broke easily under Meesei spell, but that made it a motivator to keep listening.

Sabine was a little rusty on how to absorb spells into a ward, though she attempted it all the same. "I...do not think I could sustain a ward without end under spell fire," she commented.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Man, I think even if I had the normal amount of time before work, I wouldn't have gotten that post done. It took a long time to get Tzirret's dialogue right without him giving a half-hour lecture or coming off as uncharacteristically confident. I wonder how Ma'tanza will react?

Also, I am going to be busy for much of tomorrow. It's going to be Australia Day, but I'll be spending the day playing a tabletop RPG. The most patriotic activity ever, I know. Anyway, I'll probably only get in one — maybe two posts.

In other news, my posts might be set to slow down in general. I have a project that I'd like to get stuck into before uni starts again in a few weeks.