Of Geese and Gander {Brebre}

[Lan]

"C'mere... over here you little lover..." A man had been chasing a goose for quite some time, holding in his hands a leather-made device that was, in short, crudely designed. This was not a normal observation to be made. Usually the saddler and tanner was not so run off his heels. Well, not about livestock anyway. Fowl usually didn't hold his attention quite so much as the fairer sex did. Yet, he had had an idea that had driven him quite mad most of the morning, and so that afternoon he was desperate to try it out. Such workaholic tendencies were not the norm, but fanaticism about his craft certainly wasn't out of place. So there he was. Chasing a goose about with little concern for his own safety or welfare and looking rather ridiculous at that.

"Just a little--oh!" He tripped, rolling into a spread-eagle position on the muddy ground. Feeling mud in his hair and all over his body and clothing, Hilton sighed. He was defeated by a goose. A goose! Of all birds to be outsmarted by! Simourv could probably outsmart him, this he knew. But a goose! A goose! It was a rather silly idea. After the moment of soul-searching was over, up bust up laughing and hopped back up on his own two feet. Well, if the goose was going to lead him on a wild goose chase... he'd be happy to play along. A slight smirk tugging at one corner of his mouth, he played dumb as a goose passed him by and then, quite suddenly, he pounced. Feathers flew. Quacks were upraised. Arms were pecked. And then... there was silence.

The goose looked down at itself, nibbling with its beak at the light leather straps that bound it. It had given up attacking Hilton in its newfound mission to get the blasted thing off of it... whatever it was. The tanner chortled at the scene, taking in the sight with a very amused grin. Yes! He had conquered the goose! And the new harness design wasn't looking half bad either. True, this particular type of bird probably wasn't the best to test new ideas on, but short of wasting so much material to test such a thing on an actual-sized simourv it was the best choice. Hilton stroked his chin, watching the bird waddle about as the saddler in him took over from his delightful moment of triumph. Still looked a bit odd. The goose was holding its wings a bit funny. He'd have to try again.

"Next time it'll work! I promise!" He offered the goose as consolation. Once he got his design to work, it would greatly improve the comfort and performance of simourv in battle during flight and on the ground while still keeping their rider secure and safely strapped in. Or that was the idea, anyway. With a sigh of temporary defeat, he reached down to snatch up the goose again to remove the offending bad design of harness. However, it was an action not to be completed, for he came out of it with a bitten hand and a further wounded ego. "Damn it, you bloody bird! I'm trying to help get it off ya!" He called in vain. It was worthless trying to reason with the creature. He hardly believed it could understand English.

[Bre]

I came upon mother goose . . .

Where, oh where, had that little blue goose gone? Emi surveyed her gaggle again. It was smaller than normal, but she knew someone was missing. They'd just stopped by the grain stores so she could fetch some for them all. Upon leaving and then stopping in one of the empty paddocks, she had realized that she was short one. She had thought she was missing Jok as well at first, but then her pet came trundling along after the others. He didn't like to get himself too mixed up in the common rabble. He was not the most social of geese in all respects. It was a snow goose. Emi knew which one she was missing, a large blue female with a lovely gray head. Frowning to herself, she tugged absently at her lower lip. She was going to be in trouble if she lost one of her charges, but wherever could it have gone? She had only left them outside alone for a moment.

Pulling a handful of grain out of each of her pockets, Emi tossed the seed all over the ground. Then she picked up her switch, briefly dropped so she could count using her fingers, and clucked to Jok. He came over to her and she started off, briefly abandoning the rest without much fear that another might wander away from good food. She retraced her steps, only to find nothing. Then the sound of honking greeted her ears. She had gotten closer. Now where was the goose she wanted? Jok gave a quack. She turned her head and was greeted with an interesting sight. As she watched, her frown slowly turned into a smile. There was a grown man chasing a goose all over the yard, specifically a large blue goose with a lovely gray head. He failed several times while she was there. Then he finally managed to catch the animal and appeared to be dressing it. How odd.

Emi approached just as the man was bitten in a second attempt to pick up the goose and forced to release the creature. Seeing all of this, Jok stayed back, but she approached without fear. "Have you been stealing my geese?" She put her hands on her hips and shook her head at him, but he was significantly taller and she wore a smile as she scolded. Being threatening or angry weren't things she did well. Soon enough, she turned her head away from the man and focused on the goose. The poor creature was hopping about, trying to pull off a set of leather straps that were wrapped around it. Raising an eyebrow, Emi looked up at the man again, smile tucking itself into the corners of her lips. "Have you been torturing my poor geese?" She shook her head again and then knelt down. The goose did not appear to notice her as it continued to flounder.

"Hush, bunny, it'll be alright;" the herder murmured quietly to the goose, who looked up in surprise. When she reached it, the goose scrambled back, not appearing to remember her in the slightest. Then Jok came quacking over to his kindred goose spirit. Emi did not look at her pet, instead keeping her eyes on the scared creature in front of her. She slowly extended one hand, wiggling the tips of her fingers invitingly. She crept forward in a squatted position, taking little tiny steps, Jok coming up beside her. Then she finally scooped up the poor blue goose. Her fingers wrapped deftly over the bird's wings and she tucked the flustered animal into her arms, the head and beak propped over one arm so that it was not anywhere near her fingers. Emi made cooing noises under her breath, surveyed the leather contraption that was weighing the goose down, and frowned.

. . . so I turned her loose.

[Lan]

"Have you been stealing my geese?" Hilton stopped, twitching his shoulders up like a child that had just been scolded. Stealing? He would never steal a goose! He couldn't really find any reason to. It was more like... borrowing. Yes, borrowing. That was his story and he would stick to it. With a not-so-innocent grin he turned to face his accuser, scratching the back of his head with one hand as he still held his injured one up to his mouth. However, his gaze came just above the intruder's head. He blinked. Tilting his chin down he finally managed to stare into the eyes of a girl, and it sort of left him stunned. For a couple of heartbeats he made not a move, frozen as some sort of game trapped in a bright beam of light. What? He had been the subject of castigation of many a young lady in his time, from his many pursuits to his younger sister... but never had he been so reproved by a child that was not part of his family. The usually loquacious man became quite speechless.

"Have you been torturing my poor geese?" His hands dropped and instead of a dumb-founded smile there came a scowl. The tanner scoffed. "Well, no! I-" As she made a move he was silenced again, mouth half-open as he stopped mid sentence. It hardly looked tortured! Hilton hadn't tortured a damn thing in his entire life... at least not intentionally. His brother and sister might say that his nonchalant attitude had probably tortured many a heart of a young lady, but he couldn't agree. He was always upfront about his opinions and attitudes. If that tortured anyone it wasn't his fault. And the goose was fine! He watched her with quiet attention as she calmed the fowl down and managed to get it to settle down in her arms. Well, she certainly had a way with the creatures. His countenance settled into a calm half-smile, even as she frowned. There was a logical explanation to all of this.

"There's a simple explanation, I assure you." He offered, his eloquence much more than that of a normal tanner. While he had grown up in the profession, he liked the wonderful power of words and chose to string them together as charmingly as possible. It was probably what made him more successful with women than his older brother. "I'm a tanner, you see... well, a saddler... and I was trying out my new design on your much obliging subject there." He gestured to the now much calmer bird with one hand, "But... well... there's a few kinks in my design. It's still binding up around the wings."

Unafraid, he took a couple of steps toward her and then paused. While he was sure the girl wouldn't cause him any pain, he wasn't too sure about the goose. He felt it would be best if he took the harness off now, both to comfort the bird and so that he could have it in his possession to help with the modifications of his design. With that darling little smile of his, he caught the gaze of the girl with kind hazel eyes. It was not a sharp look, but a gentle one... he would cause her or her geese no further harm.

"May I? I promise I'll get the thing off quick 'n' painless as possible." He waited for her command.

[Bre]

Walked down by the bathing pond . . .

Emi listened to his explanation, nodding along and comforting her new charge with soft noises. She didn't feel any need to disbelieve Hilton. She had just been teasing him. Holding her spot as he approached, so as not jostle the goose, she was appropriately dazzled and bewitched by his smile. She returned it with a wide view of her white teeth. "So, you're one of the people who makes harnesses for the simourvs! Oh, and I'm Emi. Or Emillabbea, but really just Emi. Hi." When he asked for her charge, she shifted her grip, to keep the goose's gaze away from her pursuer, and started to extend her arms to offer the poor creature to him.

Then Jok came flapping right over, protesting the entire affair loudly. Honk! Honk!

"I didn't know you cared about others of your kind so much, Jok."

Emi's amused words incited another loud cry from the goose. Honk!

"Oh! Perhaps you're falling in love with her! She is very pretty."

Honk, honk, honk! Jok did not sound very agreeable.

"Now you're just being silly. I have crushes sometimes. You can fall in love."

Squawk. Jok was quieter then, the noise more a low and long.

"Yes, I like boys! And girls too! Which is perfectly normal! I am thirteen. Don't make me tell you off like you're F'ric, Jok."

Honk! Jok immediately responded.

"No, it is not F'ric that I currently like. Or will ever like. You don't know who I like, because I can not take you into polite company!"

Emi turned her back to Jok after that and focused on Hilton. "Ignore him. He's being totally unreasonable." With those obviously totally logical words and a roll of her eyes, she gently. deposited the blue goose she held into his arms.

. . . to try and catch some sun.

[Lan]

As Emi, as he found she was called, offered the goose to him he went to gently take the creature, but Jok seemed to have other plans. He complained rather loudly, causing the tanner to withdraw his reach a bit too quickly than maybe was pertinent. While he was normally very good with simourvs and humans alike, he was never overly fond of geese. He thought he remembered one biting him and being generally inhospitable when he was a child, so perhaps he still was occasionally a bit skittish around them. It was a funny thing to be skittish of, really, so his usual course of action was to pretend he was not. Right now, however, was one of the times he had decided it was appropriate.

What happened next, however, gave him much more leave to be a bit on the awkward side. Usually in any conversation Hilton liked to think he had a flair for being able to always provide something at the very least amusing to say. Yet right now as Emi and Jok conversed, he found himself feeling sufficiently left-out. Perhaps it would have helped if he, like his new little friend here, was capable of understanding and decoding the plaintive goose's exclamations he could have added something more meaningful. As the conversation continued on, though, his only contribution would be a patient if not slightly awkward smirk. He caught names and other random facts here and there. F'ric, apparently, was a friend that she liked to tell-off for being silly. She was thirteen. She was bisexual. And, as a matter of some emphasis, Jok was not a very polite goose. It probably seemed like a longer time to him than it was for her before she addressed him again.

"Clearly!" Hilton merely laughed. "Any goose that could talk so much about a girl's interests in boys must be unreasonable, indeed! I'm Hilton, by the way." He flashed another boyish grin at her before swooping down to pick up the blue goose who was still wearing his make-shift harness. After some fumbling he managed to get it off and put down the goose again to go honking about his way. Once he had straightened he offered his hand, holding the discarded harness in the opposite one. "It's nice to meet you, Emi. And may I thank you for rescuing me from your clearly unruly goose..."

[Bre]

I don't believe they knew . . .

Emi grinned at Hilton when he agreed with her. If anyone thought she couldn't talk to a goose, they were the crazy ones. She knew perfectly well what Jok was saying and thinking. He was a very smart creature and he made his mind very clear to her. Unlike some very nice people in the world, he had no tact or flare for subtlety. The freedom of youth meant that Emi could be her own person. She could believe what she wanted. Of course, age was not even close to beginning to temper her view of the world. She wasn't likely to stop talking to geese any time soon. Jok cut off, she watched Hilton carefully remove the harness from her harassed charge. When the blue goose was released, she went quacking off to join Jok. Emi grinned extra wide at the sight of the pair, glad that everything was back to where it should be. Geese where not meant to be harnessed.

Upon being offered a hand, Emillabbea immediately accepted, shaking it vigorously as she smiled at Hilton. "It's nice to meet you too;" she said. She giggled at his description of the goose he'd so obviously harassed. She didn't fault it of him, but being bitten was the least of his worries and she counted him lucky in his own right. "I don't think she was being that unruly. She is a goose, after all, and how would you feel if your mother chased your full-grown self around all the time trying to get you to were an extra coat you really don't need?" It seemed like a sound enough analogy to her. Geese had all their down to keep them warm. "Also, she isn't mine. I'm a herder. They belong to the eyrie. Or to people in the eyrie. Different flocks have different distributions. The chickens are easier to remember." Her correction of him was light and happy.

. . . that I was Long John Silver.