How I met the Marchesa.
I don't feel like I won Marchesa to me in so much as she took to Lokke at first. Lokke and I came upon her in what I assumed to be an accident on a little camping trip. The first thing I saw of her was those gorgeous butter yellow eyes peering from some thick foliage. The placement of the olfactory sensors to either side and flashes of intelligence told me what she was immediately. "Lokke, look. Another Zver." I whispered and nodded off the direction she was, rather than point. She was looking directly at us, studying us I guessed.
Lokke is young though not a babe. He stood up on his hind legs and sniffed at her from what I saw. Whatever he had said or done the golden eyed zver took off. Wild and free roaming as they are.
I let it go. That was not the first time we had come across another Zver while exploring. I always wondered about them afterwards, and that was no exception this time around. With her hiding in a bush I could not tell what she looked like. Either a brown or brick red color around her face with butterscotch spotting on her snout and by those eyes was not much to go on. Some were more bold than others. I wondered if she was a lab baby or an original from Quartan3. Lokke is a lab escapee and more accustomed to humans even before he became my pain in the butt friend.
"Female" the pervasive manner of his mental speech interrupted my thoughts. He seldom communicated outside of body language, but when he did I was reminded just how intelligent and alien these creatures were. "Older." While he's spoken to me complex sentences, even sung at me once because he was upset with me, he cherishes his words as though they all have a cost, and here showed it well in his single word explanations of who we just saw.
"Thank you. Think we'll see her again?"
He simply gave what passed for a shrug and trotted off, leaving me to follow. That's Lokke for you.
We did see her again the following day. Basking in the middle of the trail we were meandering down. Her pose was nothing short of relaxed predator. Being that that is exactly what she is, this made sense. Lokke was not surprised to see her, and even came to sit halfway between her and I.
"I go home with you~" Her words were elegant but barbed with caution. I don't know where this came from at all. Rubbing my temple I just looked at her, confused. In turn she looked at Lokke, who was watching me now over his shoulder. Her projection clearly was in his hearing too.
Lokke rose and came over to me. I swear to you his look was one of patient humor like adults give to children. "Marchesa is coming home with us Lady Aime. You slept and we communicated through much of the evening. She chooses to go home now. We will go home now." He offered me what passed as a smile, even affectionately patting me as this other one, Marchesa, stretched and shook out her coat. She came sauntering over to me, dignity in her step.
Now, I, like other beings, have adjusted to the Zvers being here. But it's still a little unnerving having a predator as long as you are tall stalk up to you. In the sunlight I got the full effect of her coat. The subtle tinting and patterns. She's gorgeous and seems to know it. Larger that Lokke by just above one size. "Stunning." I softly said, and let my fingers trail through her fur as she brushed me. Tense at the touch it was clear she was not quite ready for that so I withdrew. While I didn't hear it in her color, I think I heard a thank you.
Respect is important.
So this wild Zver apparently named Marchesa came home with us. Female by sex and gender and indeed older that Lokke, she was actually one of the crash survivors from Quartan3. I watched them spending hours. Lokke getting education from the older Zver about the home he never saw. Meanwhile I did what I do best. I played music, I invited her to play with Lokke and I at dancing and trying things. She warmed to me as she was friendly with Lokke. And decided that her visit was to become a permanent fix at our residence.
So there would be no conflict between her and my friends I made up a dossier for her as I had with Lokke, and posted it by my door. What follows is the posting by my door.
The name Marchesa:It is a title of Nobility, the Female Equivalent of a Marquise and comes in many spellings/pronunciations.
The Marquise and Marchesa ruled over land at the boarder or March, and were chosen for their strengths and wit to fortify and hold the boarder lands from the country next door. These were the trusted people of a ruling Monarch.
So why Marchesa?The name is noble, as this Zver looks to be. It also subtly points out the strengths that she possesses while looking of the genteel class.
The little joke for me as well is that modeled after the Monarch butterfly. Monarch being a ruling class. So the humor is Royalty in Butterflies.
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