thehometree | Hey, diddle-diddle, the cat and the fiddle...

Entry tags:

Hey, diddle-diddle, the cat and the fiddle...

| characters | Kit, the NPC Violinist, and anyone

| date/time | Backdated to evening on the 26th

| location | Flying around outside, and later near the edge of the mist

| rating | PG? It has the corpse-like Violinist in it

| summary | After the cries and moans of the previous night, Kit is restless. And the appearance of the Violinist isn't helping matters.

For everyone

Kit couldn't stop thinking about the noises they'd heard the previous night. Who or what had made them? Whatever it was, it had sounded like it was dying, which was disturbing. She didn't like to think of anybody dying, probably alone, in this huge forest.

But since the cries came from beyond the mist, there was nothing she could do to help. Nothing any of them could do to help, really. She could only hope that it hadn't been as bad as it sounded.

Still, whatever it had been, she couldn't relax, and thus opted to head outside for a little flight. Maybe some fresh air would help.

For the Violinist

The answer to the mystery appeared that evening, crawling and dragging himself through the woods. It was the corpse-like musician from the pond, his instrument still broken from their attack. He'd looked dangerous then, towering over their tiny forms, playing music that controlled and threatened to drown them.

But when they'd broken his instrument, he hadn't looked angry. Just dismayed and sad. Almost as if he couldn't understand why they'd done it.

Now? Now he didn't look threatening at all. Just weak and sad. Was this because of what they'd done?

Kit landed on a rock just inside the mist, near where she could see him on the other side. "I'm sorry," she said to him, even though she was unsure if he could understand her. "I... we never meant for this to happen to you." They'd meant to stop him, and to save themselves, but not to make him suffer.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Fuu nodded. "Good idea. Music is a universal language, it seems." No matter what country you were from or the idiosyncrasies of scales and compositions, anyone could tell a happy song from a sad one.

She watched the violinist as Kit began to play, but the sound of the song made Fuu's eyes stray back to the girl now and again. It was a truly lovely little song, and Fuu could feel the edge of the magic that was in it. Fuu doubted her own magic could make it through the barrier, but magic carried on music rather than spun up from willpower--perhaps the mist would be unable to contain that.

The Violinist seems slightly stunned by the music from Kit's flupe, staring at her with the milky eyes and opening his mouth slightly as if he wanted to speak. Nothing comes out, and he hugs the broken violin close like an injured child, stroking the snapped strings.

The next moment, he's dragging his rotten fingers over the mist again with an agonized wail.

Like Fuu, Orcelito remains watchful as Kit begins to play. He’s familiar with the flupe’s music by now – and its’ effects – so he’s prepared for the feeling of calm it brings. Still, he is unwilling to drop his guard.

When the ghostly musician appears to speak, Orcelito leans forward, waiting to hear the foreign language. But alas, there’s only silence, and a simple gesture that needs no translation. Not having spent much time with musicians, Orcelito does not fully understand the sentiment. Yes, a broken violin is a regrettable sight to any artist, but that violin nearly killed him and Orcelito isn’t going to mourn it.

He may have been willing to try to understand, but the fingers reaching for them and that graveyard wail send Orcelito stumbling back. He moves closer to Kit, curling one wing around her in a protective gesture. “That’s enough.” More gently, he adds, “I appreciate your kindness in trying, but I don’t think he wants to hear someone play for him right now. We should go.”

At first it seems as though she's getting through. The musician definitely responds, or tries to. But in the end, the music only seems to hurt him more.

She stops with a sad sigh as Orcelito wraps a protective wing around her, tucking her flupe back into her pouch. She looks back out through the mist at the musician, expression sorrowful; she hates to see any creature suffering as much as the musician seems to be, but doesn't know what she can do to help. She's almost ready to heed Orcelito's suggestion to leave... until her gaze falls on the broken instrument.

Squinting a bit to focus through the mist she moves a little away from Orcelito to free up her wings then flutters upwards a little to get a better angle. The strings, snapped and broken as they are, have an oddly ethereal sheen to them that she's only seen in one material before. "Hey, guys," she says, pointing at the damaged instrument, "don't those strings kinda look like the same kind of hair that the Hollow Lady left us a little while ago? You think that might be what he's after?"

Oh dear, that seemed to have backfired quite badly. Did the violinist think they were taunting him by having Kit make music when he no longer could? Fuu took a step forward in front of Kit as he clawed at the mist again.

She was giving serious consideration to attempting a healing spell on him (as much as Orcelito was sensible in suggesting that they leave), though she still hesitated about the effects on an undead being, when Kit made a new suggestion.

"Ah... yes it does, now that you mention it," Fuu said. It had looked like horsehair, but it was clearly magical in nature--just the thing for an enchanted instrument. "You think we should give it to him, then?"

This is precisely why he didn’t want her to stay in the first place! (Obvious dangers aside.) Orcelito values Kit’s heart as much as her physical health, and in his opinion this is beyond what she should have to witness. He is less worried about Fuu, as she appears to maintain emotional distance.

There’s a disturbance against his scales and Orcelito draws back his wing. He presumes Kit is going back to the Tree, but no? He watches anxiously as she flutters closer to the mist than he’d like.

Orcelito grits his teeth; was it necessary to speak that aloud? “How could he know?” He asks Fuu in a lowered voice.

Kit had already witnessed things that frightened her far more than this creature. War. Death. Cruelty. Beings that reveled in the suffering of others, or callously disregarded it. True monsters, without any magical excuses for their nature.

The creature on the other side of the mist was frightening and ugly, and not without things he needed to answer for. But Kit couldn't bring herself to call him a monster. Maybe he would prove her wrong later. But until then, she couldn't just allow him to suffer if there was something she could do.

"Maybe the Hollow Lady told him," Kit said settling back on the rock. "Or someone else that speaks their language did. Or maybe he can just feel it somehow, 'cause of his instrument."

Kit took a deep breath. "I'm going to get a little bit of it and see if that's what he really wants," she said. "And if it is, I'm going to put some in the stream and send it out to him. He might have done bad things before, but I think he's suffered enough to pay for them, and I can't just leave him there like that if there's something I can do."

"If you guys want to help me, you can," she said, "I'm doing it because I think it's the right thing to do, but if you don't, I won't make you. I just know... I can't let fear keep me from doing what I think is right. That's not what Thundercats do."

"So I'm gonna go get the hair now," Kit said. "'Scuse me." She bowed slightly in both Orcelito and Fuu's directions before flying off towards where they'd stored the hair.

Fuu took a deep breath as Kit spoke her mind. She'd known that Kit was mature for her age; that was plain from just a few minutes of talking with her. Still, it was quite a statement from one so young.

It was also one that Fuu could agree with wholeheartedly. Yes, it was certainly risky, but the violinist was so hurt and wretched... she bowed back as Kit flew off, and turned to Orcelito.

"I've never met any Thundercats before Miss Kit, but they seem to have very good principles if she's any example," she said, with a faint smile. "Will you be staying as well?"

Orcelito sighs, as though under a familiar weight. He accepts the speech without a word and watches her dart away towards the Tree.

A number of unsavory thoughts force their way into his mind under the guise of prudence. He could chase after Kit and argue reason. He could stop her. He could call someone on the amber slice to finish the Violinist. But in the end he restrains himself. He treasures Kit’s warm heart and her free will even more. If he interferes with either of those he is no better than the creature wailing at the mist, or his own enemies back home.

He glances at Fuu, silently echoing the sentiment. The king whom Kit serves under must be a force to be reckoned with indeed, to afford to uphold such principles. Orcelito wouldn’t mind meeting him.

“Of course I’ll stay.” He manages a smile. He won’t let her do this without him, whatever the consequences.

Kit doesn't often feel the need to make speeches, but sometimes the only way to get through to grown ups is to talk like one of them. She's just glad she doesn't have to do it that often.

Upon reaching where they stored the hair, Kit pulls out several strands from the bunch- as one might not be that visible through the mist- and carefully coils them up like a loop of rope. She then flies back with it to the rock by the mist where her friends are waiting, holding up the small coil of shimmering hair where the musician could see it.

"Is this what you need?", Kit asked, pointing to the hair, then to the musician, with a somewhat exaggerated questioning look and tone. Even if he couldn't understand her words, her gestures and tone of voice should hopefully convey the message adequately.

The Violinist's milky eyes widen at the sight of the hair, the broken, jagged nails dragging against the mist's barrier.

He gives a low, keening cry, desperately trying to reach the shimmery fibers.

Fuu gave Orcelito a warm smile in reply. She had expected him to say that, but it was clear that he was still reluctant to go so far as to help the creature. "I'm nervous too, and I wasn't even in the fight with Mr. Violinist. Thank you for going along with us."

She looked up when Kit returned with the shimmering hair, but turned sharply when the violinist reacted so strongly to them and began clawing at the mist, like a stranded man reaching for water.

"Oh--" Fuu looked around and spotted what they needed: a broad oak leaf. She dragged it over by its stem. "Miss Kit, we can send it through using this as a raft."

He silently watches Kit return, then raises his head to study the reactions of their visitor. Orcelito hopes her words will not get through; that the Violinist will not understand or show interest. When the creature lunges at the barrier, it’s a finality that makes Orcelito wince.

Well… so be it then. If he’s going to be involved, he may as well take advantage of the situation. Kind gestures to enemies can be wonderfully manipulative when done right.

He assists Fuu with carrying the leaf to the stream. His expression is carefully neutral, his real thoughts on the matter tucked away for the time being. Though, he gives Kit a brief, questioning look. He wants to make sure she’s confident about this decision; no one would blame her if she changed her mind.

The musician's reaction is immediate and very clear. "I'll take that as a 'yes'," Kit says.

But how to get it to him? Just dropping it in the stream risked it being washed away or sinking and getting lost. Luckily Fuu provides a timely solution to that problem though. "Yeah, that should work great," Kit says.

She starts to fly down to deposit her hairs on the leaf before pausing and darting back to her previous place for just a moment. "It'll take us a few minutes to get everything together," she says to the musician, holding up one finger in what she hopes is a fairly understandable 'just a minute' gesture. "Just wait right there. And no more trying to claw the mist; it won't get you the hair any faster and you could end up hurting yourself more." She accompanies the last bit with a scolding finger-wag and a 'settle down' gesture with her free hand.

Only when she flies back to deposit her hairs on the leaf for real does she notice the look Orcelito's giving her. "I know you think this isn't the best idea," Kit says. "I'm not sure he's really bad, but he still might be dangerous, whether or not he means to be."

"But he's also a person, who's suffering," she says. "And I can't just ignore him. I think the Hollow Lady counted on that, and that's why she left us the hair."

"Besides," Kit says as she flutters off to retrieve more hair to add to the leaf-boat, "if there's more than just him and the Hollow Lady out there, then helping him instead of attacking him shows them we're not looking for trouble. Even if it keeps finding us."

He’s silent for this speech too. There’s a lot he wants to say… but not here. He settles for a quiet reply. “I’m not discounting that possibility. I just want you to be certain before you do this.” She is arming their opponent, after all, while her friends are standing vulnerable here at the foot of the mist.

It seems peculiar to him. Kit must have experienced kind gestures that turned sour and false fronts. Surely she’s learned much from living on the streets and then traveling with the Thundercats. He thought she’d seen enough of life to be more prudent.

He watches her fly away again. Perhaps stubborn kindness runs in her family like it does in his. This reminds him of his elder brother, and that awakens a cold feeling inside of him. He takes a deep breath and tries to draw strength from Fuu’s quiet confidence. At least they aren’t doing this alone.

Kit hesitates slightly at Orcelitos words and winds up thinking about them as she flies. Is she certain? Not really, if she's being honest with herself. She's working more on feeling than logic; what she's doing probably isn't the smart thing.

But the fact remains that she can't allow the musician to continue to suffer if she can prevent it. To do that would make her as cruel as Orcelito accuses the musician of being. And even if he's right, she's seen that repaying cruelty with cruelty only leads to destruction.

She returns to the leaf boat with as large a coil of the hair as she can easily carry. She doesn't look up as she arranges it, but she does makes a soft, belated reply to Orcelito as she does so. "No," she says, "I'm not really certain. You can't ever really be certain about people. And assuming the worst of them is easier, and a good way to protect yourself from being hurt. But... Kat and I tried that for awhile, and it just made us miserable."

"Trust is hard, and it's risky," Kit says. "But most really good things are. And... it's worth it to me, I guess." She straightens up and gazes up at the tree they all live in. "Kinda has to be around here." A bunch of strangers thrown together in a strange place by strange forces. What choice did they have but to trust?

"Such lessons are often learned through experience, aren't they?" Fuu said. No, this really was an uncertain thing they were doing; there was no getting around it. But she would rather make an error out of kindness and mercy than mistrust and fear.

She bent to help Kit settle the hair in their makeshift raft. "We have had to trust each other right away, haven't we?" she said with a small smile, taking Kit's point. She looked up at Orcelito. In spite of his continued warnings, he had to trust the two of them a great deal to still be here at all, standing by as they took this risk.

"But I won't say don't worry. There are plenty of good reasons to. It's always good to keep the worst-case scenario in mind--that has also been my experience."

Not being able to trust is miserable… yes. He’s come to feel that way too. It is a part of his life now, to jump at shadows and be on the defensive. It’s why he’s still alive. But before he learned this fear, life was… lighter. The only strings attached to kindness were like ribbons hiding a present. He yearns for those days again. Taking in Kit was a way to invite that serendipity back in.

He meets Fuu’s gaze, considering. It is a delicate balance she speaks of – hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Something he’s still learning. When confronted with fear as powerful as what that violin inspires in him, it is a struggle to give a second chance. Because that second chance may be his last.

Yet kindness is also a survival tactic for him. He won’t say it’s honest or from the heart, but he can at least participate in the gesture of goodwill in an effort to dissuade further attacks. If it does not work… he will know better next time, they all will. For now, it will honor that sense of humanity that is vital to their community’s well-being.

“I agree that cruelty only invites more of the same.” He says, with a certainty born from past experience. “If we agree that this act of generosity is in the interest of good relations with the forest’s inhabitants and we accept the consequences… I can accept this decision.” He glances back at Kit. “So long as you have thought it through.”

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hey, diddle-diddle, the cat and the fiddle...

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject