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Summary: The chase is on for a tricksy squirrel in the woods near Xavier School. The chase may have wound up a bust but the conversation between students is interesting enough.
Date: June 10, 2011
Log Title: Of Squirrels and Stories
Rating: PG
Xavier Mansion- Woods
Pine, Oak, Birch, and many other trees can be found in these woods. Paths lead all through out them for students to take walks. The occasional bench can be found along the paths. Students shouldn't worry about wandering too deep in these woods as its almost impossible for them to get lost here.
The woods around Xavier school grounds are quite beautiful as there are various types of trees, flowers, and even a vast assortment of woodland creatures. Paths wind in and out of the forrest so students can walk without fear of getting lost as well as find benches here and there to relax. Squirrels drag acorns up tree trunks high into the canopy, and a fox darts across a path to disapear into the bushes.
Somewhere amongst the winds rustling with a gentle afternoon breeze and the sound of frogs is Tyler. The teen is not hard to miss as he's wearing a dark blue longsleeve t-shirt that has dragons flowing down the arms, a pair of black cargo shorts and on his feet silver sneakers with blue laces. In his lap is a sketchbook, in his left hand a pencil, and behind his ear is what appears to be a large black capped marker.
The peace and serenity of the forest don't last long, although they rarely do at Xaviers. But woodland serenity is even less common when Evelyns hunting instincts have started to grind down her self control. Which is why the most fearsome of wildcats (if you're a squirrel at least) can be seen in hectic pursuit of her prey, leaping from branches so thin they bend alarmingly she moves from tree to tree keeping at a pace which would be reckless even if she was on the ground. Her passage in the treetops sends birds flying skywards in alarm and all manner of woodland creatures decide it might be time to make a hasty retreat.
It's a nice day to be wandering the woods. Kieran decided to go for a walk his guitar actually strapped across his back in its case as he moves slowly through the woods. He was looking for a quiet place to place in the shade. He's dressed in a hjet black t-shirt with stone henge in blue with the afterimage of an old man's face above it and dark red celtic knot bands set vertically on either side, and a pair of black cargo pants and well… sandals. Humming softly to himself as he moves with his hands in his pockets, he's pretty unaware at the moment.
The creatures of the forest panic as a furry student bounds through the overhead disturbing their homes, scaring years off their small lives, and breaks all sorts of branches that could have been solid construction materials. The prey at the moment is doing it's level best to get away though is fastly losing the chance to make a clean get away. Down below the peaceful environment is disturbed by the squeals of fuzzy creatures, and the panicked flapping of bird wings. Tyler peers up above him in time to see a familiar fuzzy landing on a very small branch. "Evelyn?!" He calls upward. Probably not the best idea considering how she's standing at the moment but it was part surprise and fear the branch would break off.
Falling back on that most effective squirrel defence trick the small woodland creature does what has always worked before. It simply changes direction and comes hurtling down the trunk of a tree. Of course this is quite possibly the first treetop chase involving a Margay and without pause Evelyn pursues, charging vertically down. Claws dig into bark and instead of falling she gives chase until disaster strikes. Or rather Richard Cheese strikes, in the form of Evelyns cellphone going off playing a lounge version of 'Suck my kiss'. There is a startled maowing as she glances up, letting the squirrel spring off to safety, just in time to see Tylers leg before she slams into it.
Well the concept of a margay in this weather is probably something rather foreign. Kieran blinks a little bit as he hears the sound of the cellphone and begins looking around to find the source of the sound and instead of seeing the source sees Tyler and can't help but smile a little bit as he moves towards the other blonde teen,"Hey Tyler and … What is that sound?" He asks looking about trying to find the source of the sound.
"Hey, Ki!" Tyler calls out brightly. What in the world is that song? It's the Peppers but not the Peppers and it's coming from somewhere…OOMPH! "What the?!?!?!" Jumping up in a panic Tyler flails a bit then peers down to see Evelyn crumpled from the impact no doubt. "Shit! Are you ok?" A quick glance to where Ki is searching for the source of the music before he knees down extending a hand towards Evelyn pondering whether or not he should touch her or leave her be. "I think it's Evelyn's purse maybe."
Evelyn practically bounces off upon impact. Then, from her new position in a scraggly bush at the base of a tree, sits up and glances around. Finally with an imperious swish of her tail she begins idly licking at her fur as if her goal all along was to end up in that exact spot. The cellphone, which is tucked inside a little chewed black purse dangling from a nearby branch, makes it through just about the entire version (all fifty four seconds of it) before suddenly going silent presumably as the caller is switched to voicemail.
"Umm… Who's Evelyn?" Kieran asks sounding a little bit confused at the moment,"What kind of cat is that? Doesn't look like any that I've seen…" He says blinking even more and standing there with hands in his pockets,"Think it's ok? That's a pretty good height to fall from. Although I guess that it would be fine since it's a cat and they're pretty good at surviving jumping from trees…"
It would seem that Evelyn landed on her feet and is alright. Must be that cat thing about always landing the proper way and having SICK balance skills. "Evelyn…" Tyler points towards the kitty licking her fur for Kieran to spot. "She's a shifter. I should introduce you guys. Erm, Margay? I think that's what she said she was. The purse…" A lone finger points up at the mangled purse hanging nearby as Tyler smiles over at Kieran with his eyes before seeing how Evelyn is fairing. "Are you all kitty-kitty mew mew'd out? Not sure if you go totally hot cross paws or if you're in control or something."
Evelyn blinks a few times, then tilts her head at Tyler. "Maow?" She intones, before shaking her head almost as if with dismay. As if to prove a point she then turns, scampers up the tree again, before turning and running back down face first. Evidently the insinuation she fell has offended her fine feline sensibilities. Or maybe she's just looking for that squirrel! Once back on the ground she ambles into a nearby bush, which is suddenly the source of some odd noises. Mostly breaking twigs.
"Ah." Kieran says glancing towards Evelyn and following her movements with his eyes as she disappears once more into the brush,"Seems very much like your typical house cat in personality." He says with a bit of a laugh and then glances up towards the purse,"Not sure if I would be able to get that purse down without doing something bad to the cellphone in the process." He says seriously as he moves closer to the teen,"Working on something?" He asks curiously.
"I could try hovering up there but I'm a lil worried about her." Tyler's not sure if Evelyn has tripped out again and is stuck in her adorable fuzzy form or if she's alright. Keeping eyes on the bush that the young woman disappeared into Tyler answers his boyfriends question. "I was just drawing a few things. I could show you later if you like. It's nothing super awesome or anything like that." Cuts a glance Ki's way, "Out to play something?" Eyes dart back to the bush to see if he can make anything out.
"My personality is far from typical," Evelyn informs from mostly inside the bush. "I hope that wasn't my dad calling. I was supposed to be asking for money for getting new clothes…" Slowly but surely she wriggles her way out, dressed as ever in her two piece unstable molecule outfit. "Why were you worried out of interest? And is your leg okay… I didn't catch you with my claws or anything?"
Tyler grins, "Hey, Evelyn!" The teen is clearly glad that everything appears to be alright. Must be if there's a talking bush. There's a red tinge to his ears which is a sign that the boy is flushing from embarrassment. "I remembered what you told me about the park and thought you might not be altogether there. Sorry, Evelyn. Oh! My legs alright. Scared the hell out of me there for a second but I lived." Quickly peers down at his leg twisting it this way and that to make sure there's nothing wrong. "Nope, not a scratch. You were on the hunt? Catch anything? Maybe I don't want to know. That could be kinda gross."
Evelyn instantly goes bright red. "Catch anything… No not at all. You saw how my chase went and I wouldn't ever consider.. That would be bad, wrong and gross." She glances around then, springing to her feet, begins brushing the mud and leaves off. "So what brings you out this way? Getting an early start on the weekends relaxation?"
"Good, definitely good. I'm sure the squirrel population would be happy if only we could let them know you're not out to kill them." Tyler hooks his thumbs into the loops at his waist and tugs on his shorts a second. "Oh me? I wanted a quiet spot to come up with ideas for a new painting. Thought I might sketch out some landscape or something and maybe use it in the piece. Been a crazy week so the quiet is nice. Oh! Forgive my manners," Tyler gasps and reaches for Kieran to draw him over. "Evelyn, I'd like you to meet my boyfriend Kieran. Kieran, this is Evelyn."
Evelyn waves, still a little distracted by all the bits of bush stuck in her hair. "A please to meet you," she greets, her accent slipping into a fancy boarding school style of English. "Sorry if I just disrupted some secret romantic alone time! As for the squirrels I'm pretty sure they're not going to be happy with me sharing the trees. They still smell like food and I must smell like the fuzzy wrath of the squirrel god." And of course there is the whole secretly going round eating them bit. "The woods a little bit… tamed for my liking. At least from an artistic point of view. Although it's a whole lot easier to walk around than in a jungle."
Tyler facepalms to cover up a laugh. "Totally not a clandestine romantic encounter. Is that disappointing?" Turns toward Kieran, "Disappointing for us maybe." Beaming grin firmly in place he bounces on the balls of his feet. "The birds weren't too thrilled with your romp either. I'd not have known you were up there if they hadn't made this mass exodus fleeing for their lives. They're probably forming up a committee somewhere on a power line coming up with ways to get their quiet community back." Just a little bit of teasing Evelyn. "Wouldn't it be muggy and well slimey?"
Evelyn shrugs. "Well I don't have my camera with me. So it's probably for the best," she admits. "No point catching boys kissing if you can't capture the moment! But anyway jungles are a little muggy at first but you get used to them after a while. I've been to enough now that I get acclimatised in no time at all. Although remembering which bits of the local wildlife are deadly can be a bit of strain. I remember once mixing up two plants and coming very close to making the entire group very very ill. Thankfully I burnt it beyond recognition before anyone could taste it…"
Tyler waggles a finger at Evelyn, "Hey, stuff like that isn't for free. No turning paparazzi either! Though when we're famous celebrities you can be our photographer." Freeing up a belt loop Tyler lifts up a hand for Evelyn to see, like he's asking for permission, and if it's given he reaches towards her to free some pieces of stick from her hair. "This must be murder on your hair. Do you have to use special product to keep breaks and split ends under control? But back on subject…I'm glad you didn't make people ill."
"Oh it's really not that bad," Evelyn assures, switching to brushing mud off now that Tyler is helping with stick duty. "Ever since I was little I've had a knack for falling into bushes or down hills. I think my secret mutant power might be nearly indestructible hair." She giggles. "You pay someone to take pictures and it removes some of the magic, because then people /know/ they'll get photographed. Doing it discreetly means you capture… the pictures are more… pure I guess."
Tyler giggles as he frees sticks from Evelyn's hair. "If only you could find a way to give others that power you'd make a killing. You remember those commercials awhile back where they totted out the woman who had split ends and her hair was standing out like this far…." He demonstrates by holding his hands out around his head as to the length of how they ironed the poor womans head for the commercial. "I thought it was hilarious." The description of photographic images is so true and he nods in agreement with that, "Yes, but I'm of the mind that when photographing people in moments that if you don't know them it's kinda intrusive. Ya know?"
Evelyn winks. "You're just worried that all the girls would want to buy copies aren't you?" she teases. "And then they'd begin writing… Actually that's a fair point. At the last boarding school I was at this girl used to write short stories about boys dating boys and… she made me read it once." She twitches. "I've had trips to the dentist which I enjoyed more."
"I've been found out," Tyler moans pitifully. He'd rather not think about what teenage girls would get up to writing. It could be some cutesy love story that would make teeth rot out of one's mouth or it could be scandalous. "Ahh, you've suffered it personally then. Eugh. Probably sounded completely unrealistic." Seeks Kierans opinion here with a raised eyebrow that's noticeable once he's flipped his hair out of his eyes.
"I think I could destroy any camera that tries to take my photo when I don't want it to be taken." Kieran says smiling a little bit,"I've never read those kind of stories but whenever you get teenage girls writing about love it usually ends up cavity inducing. If it's a teenage boy writing a relationship it's usually something highly inappropriate." He says laughing a little bit,"And fanfiction is usually the worst of the worst."
Evelyn pouts. "You would never destroy my camera," she says seriously. "At least I hope you wouldn't. It's utterly irreplacable. They don't even make lenses for it anymore, I have to get my dad to hand grind and fit new ones for me. And I'm pretty sure girls can write things just as inappropriate as boys can. We're just less likely to get caught is all." Her tail begins swishing again. "If you want I can promise not to develop any pictures I end up taking which might hint at your forbidden romance without express permission. I keep all my undeveloped film in a locked box to stop anyone accidentally ruining it."
Tyler is surprised that Evelyn's camera is a one of a kind that requires a lot of work to repair/make parts for and such. "As with anything there is the good and the terribad. At least I can get away with painting whatever I want. Life models, homage to the great Renaissance paintings etc." Speaking of his art he spins about to make sure that his sketchbook hasn't blown away while they've been talking. "Not much forbidden about it really but I do appreciate that you wouldn't go waving pictures around."
"I wouldn't want to but if you're being invasive about it…" Kieran says shrugging a little bit,"And it's usually. THere's always boys that write cavity inducing love stories as well." He says smiling a bit at Evelyn,"Just don't go after us when we're /trying/ not to be seen." He points out casually to the girl,"And yeah, it's not really forbidden since this isn't the middle ages or something."
"Poetic license. Besides if you're trying not to be seen then you'll have to try /really/ hard. Ever looked at just how many security cameras this place has?" Evelyn says cheerfully. "Life models? Does the school actually hire proper nudes? And if they do I have to wonder if they also get in mutant ones too?"
Tyler folds his arms across his chest looking thoughtful. "No idea how we got on this tangent but I'm not lurkin at all. I also don't know if they actually have models come in or not. Was just giving an example of something else AND if they did I'd hope they brought in a bit of everything. You know skinny, fat, old, young, be-winged and such." Glancing back and forth between Kieran and Evelyn he presses his lips firmly together for a tick. "Well, don't let me hang either of you up. There's squirrels that need to be caught, and songs that need to be sang after all."
Moving to give Tyler a soft kiss, Kieran says,"Only if you're going to be doing some art as well. I don't have the skill to do anything with art." He says laughing a little bit as he glances towards Evelyn,"And yeah. I've noticed that there's a lot of them, but they're there to protect us so I just ignore them. Sides, I don't think we'd be trying really hard anyway. I prefer being seen with Tyler than not." He says laughing a bit.
Evelyn runs her fingers through her hair one final time. "You do make a cute couple and it's nice to know it's the kind of school were people feel okay dating," she proclaims. "Some of the boarding schools I've been to have been a little… strict on the dating policy. Thankfully I went to a more normal school before I started thinking about romance, but a couple of my friend from back then occasional send me sulky emails telling me about how much it sucks."
"I like to be seen," Tyler nods in agreement as he slips an arm around Kieran. "Up until right now I'd not noticed them at all." There's laughter for that as he hugs Kieran close. "Thank you for the compliment Evelyn. Some boarding schools aren't cool with dating? Would suck to be at that school. Well, it also sucks to be the one flying solo in a sea of dating peers. Glad you didn't have to suffer that environment. So…. no romance for you huh?" Tyler playfully ruffles Kieran's hair before draping his arm again.
"I think they realize that trying to stop people from dating just doesn't work." Kieran says laughing a bit,"People will date and just not tell the powers that be." He says casually and grinning at his boyfriend and hugging him back,"Well I thought we sort of did, that's why I think we ended up agreeing to dating. The fact we each make up for the areas that the other lacks. I am going to teach him to play soccer though." He says cheerfully, and moving to sneakily tickle his boyfriend's side for the hair ruffle.
Evelyn blinks, then carefully heads over to grab her purse. "No romance for me? I've only been here a little while," she points out. "Besides I never know how long I'm even going to be staying in a country for. Long distance relationships are way too hard." Idly she begins checking her call records. "Oops. Missed some important calls! I better head back and hope my parents aren't too mad."
Tyler eeps for the tickling and attempts to wrestle Kieran into a headlock made ever more easier by the fact he has three inches on his boyfriend and his arm was right there as it is. "So I have I," Ty chuckles about the time being on campus. "I do hope you get to stay here awhile. Maybe you could convince your parents that there's a lot of reasons to set rots here in New York. I'll see you later Evelyn!" Now back to tormenting Kieran! Can't let the guy know he has a ticklish spot.
