Flo's Challenge to me

[Ranger of the North]

YOU VILLAIN!!

[TheSongOfTheStars]

Who? Me?

[Ranger of the North]

YES.

[TheSongOfTheStars]

"We could be heroes!"
464
"You did what?" Jasmine stared in shock at her own name sighed by her sister's hand along the line at the bottom of the page.
"I..." Jade smiled awkwardly "signed us up to the Imperial army."
"Why would you do such a thing!?" Jasmine croaked, the paper crumpling in her fists "Why Jade!? Why?"
"Because!" Jade continued grinning, but it was strained with nervous fear "We can't take care of the farm by ourselves and this... This will keep us fed and clothed and we-"
"No!" Jasmine threw the papers to the ground "You can't just sign our lives away to the military!"
"But Jas! We could be heroes!"
"I don't want to be a hero!" Jasmine stepped on the paper as she came closer to her sister "And you can't be one either! No matter what you think."
Jade's ears tucked down and her eyes curved into sad green puddles "Jasmine... Yes we can be heroes."
"It isn't even about being heroes! Or soldiers! Or warriors or any of that!"
"Oh really?" Jade crossed her arms and glared "Then what's it really about then, huh? Since you know so much?"
"It's about Ma and Ba and how you feel weak because you couldn't do anything and it's not your fault and why can't you realize that!?"
Jade stared at her sister, her jaw clicking as she shuddered with tears "No, Jasmine- no you don't understand it's not about them!"
"Yes it is!"
"No!" Jade snatched Jasmine's paper off the ground "We just have to do this!"
"Why? We don't!"
"We do! I signed us and the contract's binding. We're um...stuck."
"Oh my..."
There was a heavy think as Jasmine planted her forehead against the wall.
Shaking, Jade carefully pulled Jasmine away from the wall.
"How could you do this?" Jasmine whispered between the anger and the tears as Jade tried to hug her.
"I'm sorry. I just wanted...I want us to be heroes..."
"All you want is to learn how to use a sword."
"I want to learn to use a sword because I don't want...it to happen again...and I don't want to watch it again."
"You don't want to be weak and you're not."
"I am," Jade smoothed out Jasmine's paper "But we won't be for much longer."
"We're not going to be heroes."
Jade sniffled "I know. That chance passed. But I'm not going to let what happened to Ma and Ba and the MacThatches happen again to anyone else."
"That's not very realistic."
"No. But we need to be at the nearest training grounds by tomorrow morning, so we need to get going."
Jasmine sighed and plucked her paper out of Jade's hand "Three transfers by river and at least nine hours of walking. We're going to be sore."

[Ranger of the North]

D: really not the greatest move there, Jade...

[TheSongOfTheStars]

The majority of Jade's life could be described with that statement.

[Ranger of the North]

The majority of Jade's life could be described with that statement.

Pff, oh dear XD

[TheSongOfTheStars]

"We should be friends..."

825 words

Lionel smiled self-consciously at the small arrangement of food on the clay plate. He'd gotten so much better at cooking after he'd decided to actually apply himself.
He paused and corrected his thoughts with a soft laugh.
When Freeta decided to apply him to cooking.

He set another honey cake on the plate, next to the crystallized strawberries and beamed.
It had been a year since he'd come to Greenshade Mont. A year since that day on the cliff.
He shivered and corrected his thoughts again. The day he'd met Freeta.
Albeit he was nearly dead and more than half mad with pain.
He licked the edge of the spoon he'd used for mixing, trying to ignore the shiver in his leg at the simple thought of the pain.
Right now, he wasn't going to think about that.
Setting the spoon down he carefully picked up the plate ad balanced it along his right arm while using his left hand to hold his stick. Then, focused on keeping the plate, loaded with treats, steady, he began making his way through the long halls to the infirmary.

He thought that he was being quiet and he assumed that whatever noise he was making would be masked by the activity inside the infirmary, but when he opened the door, prepared to slip in, he was greeted by a small white fox planted squarely in the opening, paws on hips.

"What are you doing here?" She snapped, not backing up as he tried to enter "You should be eating lunch."
"So should you," he pointed out, attempting to step around her "I'm busy, what's your excuse?"

He held out the plate with a smile "You."
The ears that had been flattened against her head relaxed as she leaned forwards to sniff the sweet smells wafting off the plate, then she stepped back, an eyebrow raised "Alright what do you want?"

He manuvered his way around her to the counters where the medicinces were kept and set the plate down "How did you know I wanted something?"
She gave him a deadpan look as she strained to sniff again at the plate "Honey cakes, crystalized strawberries, sugared nuts, blueberry muffins, and cimmon cookies."
He laughed "Alright, so I'm not subtle."
"What do you want?" She pulled herself up onto the counter and let her legs dangle over the edge with a honey cake in her hand.
"I want to talk," he rested his stick against the counter and pulled himself up alongside her.
"Mmkay," she snapped her jaws, sticky from the honey "What?"
He grit his teeth and smiled nervously "Promise not to laugh."
She gave him a look.
"No, seriously, you're going to have to promise, or I'm going to leave you in peace with your busyness."
"Alright, I promise, since you're so skittery about it."

He folded his paws together nervously and smiled again "So, I'm not very good with talking to others, as I've found out-"
"I know."
"Good, so you'll understand why this sounds so pathetic."
"Sure. What is it?"
She tilted her ears, her face softening as she noticed the clench to his jaw "Go on. I promise not to bite you either."
"I want to be your friend."

There was dead silence between them, as he bit down on his lip and she stared, ears held back and mouth slightly hanging open.
"I've only had one friend. Real friend. And I don't know why he was my friend because I think we were friends since we young children and I don't have him any more and...and I don't know how to make more," Lionel spilled out, then stood up and snatched his stick and faced her "So, I'm sorry if this makes you uncomfortable, I think I lost a lot of what I thought I understood about conversations up in that cave. So I can't tell if you think I'm crazy or just plain pathetic."

There was another dead silence, then Freeta barked with an uncomfortable laugh and Lionel flinched.
"I think we should be friends...."

He gasped softly and began to smile again.

"Thing is, I've never had a friend, not like you have."
"That's okay," he beamed and sat back down next to her, plucking up one of the strawberries.
She tilted her ears and swallowed "You don't know anything about me, I never told you any of it."
"That's okay," He bit into the strawberries "I've heard things-"
She flinched, hard, drawing away from him.
"And I've decided to ignore them. Whatever your story is, it's yours and you keep it as secret as you like. It doesn't matter, I still want you to be my friend."

She sniffled "What?"
"I want you to be my friend. Please."
She swiped at her eyes "Okay."
"Okay," he held his handkerchief "I...didn't mean to upset you."
"I'm not upset!" She scrubbed at her face "I'm happy! Now give me another honey cake."

[TheSongOfTheStars]

"YOU PLAGIARIZING PIG!"

1,567

"Hey Adrian?" Avery called to the other side of their small shared room "Have you seen my draft?"

Adrian's head appeared out of the drawer of the desk and he glanced around at the paper hanging alongside him out of the drawer.
"Uhmm, which one?"

"The one for my final anaological reveiw!" The eagle shuffled off the bed, her feathers a mess "Did it get mixed up with your's?"

"I'll check," Adrian disapeared again and Avery listened with her talons digging nervously against the floor while Adrian bumped around inside the drawer.
"I can't find it," he reappeared with dust sticking to his snout "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure, all that's in here are my notes and some of Lionel's recepie cards. Did you leave it in the Scriptoreum?"
"I don't know, maybe," she hopped over to the door, flapping wings in agitation "I'll go check."
"Wait, I'll come with you," Adrian wound his way down the desk leg "We'll fly."
"Are you sure? You need to work on your reveiw."
He slithered up her up wings and coiled up between her shoulders "I've got all my notes lined up and besides it's better with two sets of eyes."
"Alright," she spun her head around and touched her beak to his nose "Thank you."
"No problem, " he nudged her beak with a smile "Now let's go find it."

"Right here, I would have left them right here," Avery fluttered around the small table, whimpering "I know I did, I know I did!"
"Calm down, we'll find them," Adrian poked out from the pile of scrolls he'd been rooting through "Maybe someone picked it up."
Avery's face went blank with horror "Do you think they threw it away!?"
"No, they probably left it with the Head Scribe-"
"Oh no, here's one of the pages!" Avery plucked up a page of paper that had drifted across the floor "And there's another one," she picked up a second piece of paper, her eyes searching "But I don't see any more."
"Let's go ask the Head Scribe if any papers were turned in."

Hours later, Avery stared dejectedly at the two pages of the recovered draft, sniffling and trying to clamp her beak down over the sobs in the back of her throat.

"Well," Adrian reached up and brushed away the beginning of a tear from Avery's eye "It could be worse. It could've been your whole review."
"I guess so," she turned away from him and buried her head under her wing.
"Oh, come on, you need to get started on redoing the draft" Adrian nudged her "You can do it, you still have the notes and outline right?"
"Mm-hm," Avery whiped her eyes dry against her wing "I can do it."
"Yes you can," he smiled "We still have a few days left and when I finish mine, I'll help you with yours."
"No...I can do it."
"Are you certain?"
"Yes, anyway we're supposed to do it without any help," she sighed "Let's get to work."

"You two-" Lionel said as he set down the tray of tea and soup "look like you haven't slept for a couple of days."
Adrian and Avery exchanged weary glances and Adrian laugh weakly.
Lionel's eyebrows shot up "You're joking."

"No," Adrian replied dully "Not much anyway."
"Oh no, and Avery, the Head Scribe said he wanted you to come speak with him as soon as possible," Lionel held his hand up as Avery pulled herself up from the pillow "You should take a nap first."
"We'll go as soon as we've rested," Adrian sipped at his tea, eyes closing "Thanks for the tea."
"Of course," Lionel smiled and gently patted the snake's coils "Now get some rest, kay?"
"We will."

"I believe I called for Avery alone on this matter," the Head Scribe scowled down at Adrian "But since you may have something to do with this issue, you may stay."
"And what is the issue, sir?" Adrian asked, coiling himself on Avery's back and raising his head up higher.

The monkey paused, then gestured towards the door.
Adrian and Avery turned together as the thin crane came forwards, clawed feet scraping against the tile.
"You have met student Quijing?"
They tilted their heads up to meet the crane's eyes, but she kept her gaze focused forwards on the Head Scribe.
"Avery, your reveiw and Quijing's were concerningly similar, both in style and in topic. You both wrote on the Old Border Wars and followed along the same lines of reasoning: if the chain of command had not collapsed and the undermining done by Chorolin had been reversed then the Sykans would not have tried to take the oppertunity to push their borders. Simillar conclusions, openings, aside from minor details almost identical," the monkey folded his hands together and leaned forwards "This neer happens, save when a student has tried to take an unfair advantage."

"Cheating," Adrian said, breaking the silence that followed the Head Scribe's statment.
"Indeed. As Avery's roommate you wouldn't happen to know anything about it?"
Adrian's scales tightened and his body stiffened "Yes, actually, if you remember, we came to you a few days ago because Avery lost some of the pages of her first draft in the Scriptoreum, but you didn't have them, so we assumed that they had been thrown away," Adrian turned to give Quijing a hard glare.
"Quijing, you didn't happen to find several pages of a draft missplaced in the Scriptoreum, did you?"
The crane shook her head sikently.
The Head Scribe sighed tersely "Well, I'm afraid there's really only one way to handle this then. You'll both be expelled."
Quijing's head jerked up and Adrian hissed in anger, while Avery shook beneath him.
"You can't expell Avery! She didn't cheat!"
"There's no way to prove that, Adrian, you are dismissed."
Avery started to turn alongside Quiijing, but Adrian slipped down off her back, still hissing as he climbed up the desk.
"I beg your pardon, Adrian, get off my desk," the Head zscribe leeaned back.
"This isn't fair," Adrian leaned forwards "And it's not allowed either."
"Adrian do you want me to rescend your reveiw?"
"No. The rules state that if multiple students are involved in a cheating incident during a reveiw then they both must retake the review with specific topics given to them by the Head Scribe in order to fully assess their abilities," Adrian beat his tail against the desk "You don't want to do it, though, because it means reprocessing the students involved and holding back the entire class for the next three weeks, which means more work for you."

The Head Scribe stared down at the heaving snake, eyes wide.
"That....is on page seventy-nine of the rulebook," he whispered in shocked awe.
"The rulebook that every student is required to read before applying for apprenticeship," Adrian snapped back "Which I did. Thoroughly."

Silence, dead as night...Then...
"Avery, your prescibed topic is the myths and legends of scroll seventeen by Antashargra. Quijing, your topic is the foundation and construction of the Impearial city, found in the historical scrolls two hundred and ten and two hundred and eleven. You are dismissed. Adrian, consider yourself lucky that I am not requiring your to rewrite your review as well."

With a tight nod, Adrian slipped down off the desk and alongside his friend, they exited the Head Scribe's study.

As soon as they did, Quijing spread her wings and Adrian wrapped wrappdd his tail around her foot, preventing her from taking off.
"Let go of me, you piece of dirty string!" She shouted, trying to flick him off, but he yanked back, pullkng her off balance.
"I know what you did," he hissed "I know it was you who stole Avery's draft. If you try that agai -"
"Adrian!" Avery hooked her talon under one of his coils "Stop. You can't do that to her. You can't threaten her."
Adrian relaxed, still breathin hard as he realized that Quijing was shaking so hard that bits of down were coming loose from her wings.
"Just stay away from us, you plagerizing-"
"Adrian let's [i]go[/]," Avery pulled him away "Please. Let's go. I need to start my new reveiw."
Quijing took off, blasting dusty air into their faces and leaving them coughing away the tears in their eyes.

Silently Adrian climbed up her wing, but she didn't take off, instead started walking slowly, talons dragging.
Finally Adrian sighed "I'm sorry, Ree."
She sighed as well "Don't be. You got me a second chance."
"Yes, but you didn't need it, you didn't cheat."
"No, but at least this way it's fair," she stopped walking and swivled her head around to face him "You got mad at Quijing."
"She cheated!"
"It was the wrong sort of anger."
Adrian looked away as he saw his reflection in her eyes .
"You know it is."
He laid his head back against his own coil and closed his eyes.
"Battle anger doesn't have a place here."
"I know. I'm tired...and upset."
"It' okay. You need to rest."
"But you need help starting your reveiw."
"I'll do it myself. You need to rest some more. Besides, I practically have that scroll memorized, it'll be easy."
"Just promise me you'll take breaks and actually go to sleep at night."
She smiled and spread her wings "Promise."

[TheSongOfTheStars]

"I'm a mess."
448

"You're holding her wrong," Freeta relived Achran of the squirming bundle "You look like you need something to eat."
"Y-yeah," he turned "Do you want something to eat Freya?"
"Sure," Freya smiled weakly "Any...anything is fine."
"Alright, I'll....be right back," he hesitated, his fingers trailing along the edge of the blanket and he beamed before bouncing out the door.

"Here, you want her back?" Freeta stepped back to the bed and Freya reached out for her newborn daughter, then wrapped her arms around the tiny girl.

"So, what was the name again?" Freeta sat on the edge of the bed, straightening the blankets.
"Ariel. Ariel Piper," Freya replied distractedly as she tried to sooth the baby as she began to whimper.
"Why Piper?"
"Well, my mother..." Freya broke off as she sat up, trying to cradle Ariel's head and hold her body still "My mother loved the name. If I had ever had a sibling...They would have been named Piper."
"That's a nice name. She's hungry that's why she's fussing."
"What I wouldn't give to have her here now," Freya stared down in utter terror at her daughter "I don't know what I'm doing."
Her voice cracked as she looked up at Freeta, tears in her eyes and her ears pinnned back "I don't know."
"O-oh," Freeta reached out and brushed away the tears "It's okay, it's okay. You're doing fine."
"No I'm not!" Freya sank back against the headboard, more tears slipping down her face "I am not fine. I can't...do this."
"Yes you can," Freeta tilted her ears back "You will. I know I'm a poor substitute-"
"You're the next best thing," Freeta gave her a strained smile "What do I do?"

By the time Achran returned Freya was falling asleep and Ariel was nursing contently.
He took in a breath to greet her and was immediately cut off by Freeta's paw wrapping around his mouth.
"You. Be. Very. Quiet."
Eyes wide he nodded and Freeta let him go. Then slowly he edged towards the bed, holding out the small basket of food.
"How are ya feeling love?" he asked in a raspy whisper "Ya look tired."
"Mm," she stared at the basket, but didn't take it "I'm a mess."
"A beautiful mess," he quipped, pulling a slice of nut bread out of the basket and handing it to her "How's our wee lass?"
"Hungry," Freya accepted the bread and started gnawing on it "I'm hungry too."
He laughed a little louder, then cut himself short, glancing back at Freeta, who was scowling at him.
"Well, get some rest," he leaned closer and kissed her forehead "My beautiful mess."
She laughed wearily, her eyes falling shut.