Minty minty party

Keeping his eyes closed wasn't really protecting him from anything, but he still felt better. Two voices. One was Phlorian's. The other was...who was that. That was the grumpy purple one. Had to be. Second scariest voice he'd braced for.

"...karma happened," he dodged the interrogation. He peeped through one eye at the feet around him, and carefully addressed the toes, "it's nothing...critical, please let me be."

He sighed. That's not what he'd meant to say. "It's...I lost a scuffle with a bramble patch, this is the best example of superficial damage you'll ever see. I'm just filthy," he said as he felt paws and more cold water on his skin, "I promise. Please, while I have the energy, I wish you'd all just...I'm here for my tongue-lashing, and I'd appreciate it if," ugh this is hard! "It just stings, burns like you wouldn't believe. I deserved it. Still deserve it."

He was painfully aware of just how badly he was reading people today.

"Short version, I'm too worn out to be anything but present and polite anymore," except that, 'polite' isn't going very well yet, "I'm trying to focus on what...is happening, and could happen because of what...did happen," could that have been any more infuriatingly ambiguous??? "Please let me suffer what I've brought upon myself."

"Please tell me how I can fix this." He finally figured out what he'd wanted to say this whole time. "All along, I've...I wanted to build bridges, new connections with people. Please keep me from burning them down first..."

((Nirasi's mortified by his behavior and how he fled - he won't get into the details of the past hour right now, not so long as he's focused on recovering from his earlier panic. BUT if you're curious, click here for what went down.))

“Stop talking.” She said, placing a paw on top of his nose. Not pushing down. But enough to make him go quiet. “You’ll wake Pip. And good Daila she does not wake up nicely.” She said.

She scooped more water and continued wiping away the mud and dirt. "Phlorian. Are you a healer?" The grey one said.

“No I’m not, my mate is but he’s not around as far as I’m aware.” She paused and looked up at Phlo. “I’m Alkyone Zabatos, I don’t think I managed a proper introduction.” She said nodding to him. She jerked her chin at the sleeping bundle of fluff. “That’s Pipistella.”

She poked Nirasi’s horn. “Bridges are easy, you just shouldn’t leap out a waterfall when the structure gets wobbly.” She chided. “I was a social recluse for over half my life. Now it seems every Shinlai I met has heard about me somehow.” She said with a slight frown, it had up sides and downsides... “Now stay still.” She ordered, summoning more water and pouring it over him and wiping the dirt off. She could heal small wounds so the bramble cuts she could help with.

"...karma happened," Nirasi mumbled and then sort of half blurted out a story about brambles and bridges. Phlorian rolled his eyes and started forcing light onto the largest cuts. A faint smile came on his face when Nirasi told about a lost match to a bramble patch.

“I’m Alkyone Zabatos, I don’t think I managed a proper introduction,” the purple female said. “That’s Pipistella.” Phlo craned his neck to see who she was referring too and smiled at her. "She seems as floofy as her mother. I must say, I have never actually met a purple Shinlai before," he said. Nirasi tried to continue his apology, but Alkyone stopped him.

"Zee, it's not like you've 'hurt your cause forever' as they say."

(TIME PARADOX))


after taking a break in the woods Lynn returned to the scene of the 'party' he had stumbled upon earlier just to see if everything was alright, he felt somewhat awkward leaving but he would have felt worse staying in the home of an absent host.

coming up again through the waterfall he shook the excess water away and after he dried himself he made his way to the main room where it looked like the host had returned, though he looked like he'd been shredded, though it seemed Alkyone and a semi familiar looking shinlai had it covered, he was about to leave before anyone noticed him, feeling a tad out of place when suddenly he went into one of his regular coughing fits, hacking violently by the door where he tried to slip back out.

Nirasi made a mental note to amend Grumpy Purple's title to include Bossy. Then he dismissed it in favor of just using her name, since it was much shorter. "You'll be at this all night," he groused quietly. "If the fussing has to wait until I'm clean, then I'll have gotten away with this scot-free," he mumbled, feeling oddly juvenile with this disapproving female giving him a makeover. Phlo's touch seemed much...gentler. Though that could have just been familiarity.

He felt like the primping was unnecessary, and was just stalling the swat to the rear he'd come for in the first place. Yeah, he definitely felt like a pup waiting for a spanking.

He took a deep breath and moved to get up, feeling better with Phlorian's help. He pushed away the water from his face and front half, moving in a slow ripple to the end of his tail. He succeeded in getting much of the mud and slime pushed away with it, but his fur was still crusty with burrs and dried debris. He looked pretty ratty, standing in a shallow puddle of forest gruel.

Then, suddenly the hallway erupted into echoes of awful strangled hacking.

"You'll be at this all night, if the fussing has to wait until I'm clean, then I'll have gotten away with this scot-free," Nirasi said, standing up and pushing the water and dirt away.

Alkyone sighed and sent the dirty water hurtling out the waterfall with a flick of her paw. “The fussing is to stop infection.” She said quietly. “We don’t want you losing a limb to infection... Just let us finish healing you.” she said, looking at him with a slightly sad expression.

Loud coughing sounded from the hall, making her look around. “Lynn?” She said.

“Hugh, blughh, mommy?” A surprised and small voice said. Alkyone looked over Nirasi’s back. Pip’s head was up but her eyes were half glued shut, ears flicking back and forth with the sounds.

“It’s okay Pip. I’m over here.” She said sweetly. Pip stumbled off the pillow and wobbled over towards them, falling over Phlo’s tail and promptly falling asleep again. Front legs stuck out in front of her, back lags trailing behind. Alkyone raised her eyebrows at her pup now fast asleep in Phlo’s fur. “I’m going to be honest, that’s one of the more dignified ways she’s fell asleep...” She said.

after the scrawny Shinlai was finished hacking he cleared his throat and stepped fully into the room, "ah, yes it's me, I didn't mean to intrude" he said awkwardly "I just wanted to make sure everything was alright." his horse and wheezy tone was much quieter after he'd had a hacking episode.

shaking his social awkwardness for a moment he trotted over and sat down next to Nirasi and Alkyone. he noted the pup now sleeping in Phlorian's tail fur and smiled. "my apologies. I didn't mean to disturb her. "

It took a while for the small commotion to break through his concentration. He looked up absentmindly, accidentally increasing the light to an unpleasant hotnes. When he realised what he was doing, he quickly stopped.

"Oh snap, sorry Zee," Phlo said apologetic, patting his friends side. "Lynn?" he heard his purple companion say as an awfully thin Shinlai approached them. Phlorian didn't think he knew him, but before he could introduce himself something seemed to pull at his tail. A tiny, purple pup had somehow fallen asleep in there. He smiled faintly in Alks direction. "I reckon she's yource?"

With the burning on his back and Alkyone pawing through the rest of his fur, he half expected to leave this encounter with a perm. As soon as he smelled singed hair or spotted any curls he was outta there.

"You do realize it takes much longer to die from infection than from the wrath of a woman scorned?" he glanced past Grum- er, Alkyone to see whether Candy was still there. She wasn't. As far as suicide missions, this one's going terribly, he thought, not without relief.

He sat back down and sighed. "I don't suppose you're going to let me do anything until you two are done. Your window to yell at me is closing though, because I'm about to die on my own, just from soreness. At least let me say that I know I was stupid, I know I shouldn't have run, and that I'm grateful at least you guys stayed around. Would have been better for me to tough out my own injuries, but I guess that's a sacrifice you make for friendship...seems like friends help you out even when you're dumb."

Careful to keep his voice low and not fidget too far away from Pip-pinned Phlo, he wanted to move onto a different subject. "I still don't really feel comfortable penned up like this, though. I'd still like to be outside, if you trust that I'm too exhausted to flee again. I was hoping as the sun started to go down, that I could ask a favor of you, Phlorian and Lynn?"

"My apologies. I didn't mean to disturb her." Lynn said, walking back into the room.

Alkyone glanced at her pup before moving to another cut. “Eh, she’ll be fine.” She said with a light shrug. Loud noises tended to wake Pip up otherwise she’d sleep through anything. Including being picked up and moved around.

"You do realize it takes much longer to die from infection than from the wrath of a woman scorned?" Nirasi said, Alkyone rolled her eyes. If he thought she was angry then she’d dread to see what he thought when she was angry. Right now she was more interested in healing him rather than berating him.

"I still don't really feel comfortable penned up like this, though. I'd still like to be outside, if you trust that I'm too exhausted to flee again. I was hoping as the sun started to go down, that I could ask a favor of you, Phlorian and Lynn?" Nirasi said after rambling a bit.

Alkyone looked up at Phlo and glanced at Lynn, a questioning expression. Although looking at the two made her wonder something. What happened when you combined fire and light?

Nirasi was back to being sorry, spilling out his heart and finishing with an apologetic"Seems like friends help you out even when you're dumb."

Phlorian smirked at his friend. "That's right my floofy friend. Guess you're stuck with us." Quickly, he pulled out the singed hair so no-one would notice. Hrmmm, such long fur ought to be curled or something, he thought, happily combing through it.

"I still don't really feel comfortable penned up like this, though. I'd still like to be outside, if you trust that I'm too exhausted to flee again. I was hoping as the sun started to go down, that I could ask a favor of you, Phlorian and Lynn?" the blue one said, still sounding quite unhappy.

"That depends entirely on what the favour would be."

Lynn smiled at Alkyone happy she wasn't upset he disturbed pips nap. he missed being such an easy sleeper. now if he was woken up he had a difficult time falling back asleep. 'lucky pups.' he thought before Narasi spoke again.
rolling his eyes at the words Lynn shook his head.

"many of us simply have compassionate hearts, at least you came back. I might not know you very well, but I can tell you're a friend worth having." Lynn was honest to a fault but in the short time he'd been in this area he'd made some glorious friendships because of it. he couldn't be scornful even if he had been offended at Narasi's sudden exit, after-all he had a similar episode but no one was happy -let alone forgiving- when he came back.

shaking memory lane from his mind he looked over at Phlorian and nodded.
"yes, what kind of favor did you have in mind?" Lynn asked in agreement with the dark furred male. he was happy to do a favor if he was able.

He wanted to come up with a grandiose tale of dances and pup-balancing, but he just did not have the energy right now. "I was just wondering whether you'd help me outside...I need some air, and it's important that everyone can leave when they want to leave, and do so dry and warm. Difficult to do if I'm still in here. Would you two mind joining me outside for a bit of a pool party? It could be quite comfortable if Lynn, you could keep the waters warm, and Phlo, you could keep it nicely lit as the day dies down? We could play and relax and chat, swim a bit, and when everyone gets ready to go, I can send them off dry, and hopefully happy? Despite my flimsy excuse to leave, there's some naturally-growing snacking down there, and I could bring the rest of this," he nodded at the untouched bowls on the tables, "with us down there. I'd really like to take it easy."

"many of us simply have compassionate hearts, at least you came back. I might not know you very well, but I can tell you're a friend worth having." Lynn said.

Alkyone nodded in agreement, not wanting to say much, Nirasi didn’t seem to be fond of her. She listened to Nirasi’s idea of a ‘pool party’. She found it an interesting idea, warm water, lit into the night. ‘Sounds interesting’ She mused to herself. She stood, and picked up Pip from Phlo’s tail, smiling apologetically at him, before dropping Pip on her back. The small pup didn’t wake up, just snuffled and curled slightly across her back.

“I’ll give you a hand down.” She said smiling at Nirasi, she held out a paw to help him up.

Still healing scratches, he listened to the plan unfold. "You know Zee, I think that would be quite a nice ending to this episode," he told his friend when the blue one had set out his idea. Gently, he pulled light of Nirasis body and let go. He looked around. Quite a still shinlai were still around. It would be good to leave everyone with a pleasant memory, that much was sure.

"Hey Zee," he asked. "Would I survive a jump of this waterfal of yource?"

"I feel it's a safe bet that you will survive. Lots of experience to back up my bold claim, too," he smiled sheepishly, "Skjoldur and I would clear a path and race through the curtain, see who gets farther out. He'd always win if I didn't cheat, too. But I usually win the 'biggest splash' contest." It's so...strange, that people are here, and Skjoldur's not one of them, Nirasi thought. Had to be quick to shake those thoughts if he ever hoped to recover his scene. "Hey, thanks for the patch-up, Phlorian. I can't wait to get a real bath though!"

((Seems like it's pretty much dead now, so I'll wind up with a 'happily ever after' summary))

The next few hours were relaxing and uneventful as the sun set. Everyone was gently ushered out to the base of the waterfall, be it by walking down the hall or leaping through the veil of water, and a low-key time was had by all. Everyone left whenever they wanted to, and Nirasi sent them off with a bit of trail mix and a quick drying, and wished them well.

Nirasi was unbelievably glad the day was finally over. Taxing as it could be at times, he was much more accustomed to solo anxiety, and this was as good a time for it as any.

He re-entered his home from the hollow, shook/pushed the water from his fur, and walked slowly up the carpet to the main chamber. It was pretty tidy - he had no idea why, with all the people who'd been there, spilling various things in places. Without any mindless cleaning to do, he stalked around the room a few times, pushed the pillows back into lines against the wall, and finally had to face the re-closed box sitting off in the corner where he'd last seen Candy.

This box makes my heart feel so heavy, he thought with sadness. He knew what was in it, but didn't have any desire to open it right now. He didn't feel like he deserved to wear such a beautiful gift from such a beautiful 'lai. I really need to make it up to her, he pined, his shame lanced open again.

He took the box to his room at the head of the hallway and set it on the table by his pallet. He finally succumbed to the physical and emotional exhaustion of his day, and fell into a fitful sleep while staring at his box.

((From here, Nirasi spends the next few days as a miserable blue emo kid, left to his thoughts and free to relive everything without interruption. That is, until he forces his own interruption in, and buries himself in a couple projects for his friends - immersing himself in the betterment of his peers was always a surefire way to silence his demons. He finishes Skjoldur's first, desperately hoping his friend does actually come back like he said he would, and begins work on Callandrea's...and it's one that he could work on forever, adding to it in small ways until something shook him from his obsessive tinkering with it.

When Skjoldur comes back, Nirasi will be all puppies and rainbows again, outwardly. He doesn't like to bring anyone else down with his insular behavior - especially not when there's reason to be happy!))