soup salad - p, beck

[fulzanin]

WE'LL MAKE A WAY WHERE YOU CAN FIND YOUR PLACE
- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Feza didn't know a whole lot about having neighbors. She hadn't had any before coming to Tanglewood. There hadn't been anyone living in a house beside her, although that was likely due to the fact that she hadn't been staying in a house in the first place. Then came staying in Tanglewood. She had neighbors now! Did she know how to interact with them? No. That's what parties were for. Nice, lovely and fun festivities to get not just neighbors, but the whole group together! A thrilling idea. Feza was so happy that she'd discovered such to be her calling. She was great at it! It was fun, once the task was complete of course. Setting things up usually was exhausting. Sometimes it paid off, and there was a great turn out. Other times? She wasn't really sure what had gone wrong with all of her kazoo classes. Feza knew she'd figure it out someday. Today would not be that day, because she was busy doing things that were far more important. Figuring out issues came second to throwing things at the wall and seeing what stuck.

It wasn't exactly a festivity that the snow leopard was devoting her time to currently. Instead, the snow leopard was working with her current neighbors: the caterpillars. She'd amassed a lot more than she'd originally found, and Feza couldn't help but question where these new ones had come from. Perhaps word had spread about how wonderful their little oasis was? If that was the case, then Feza was absolutely overjoyed. They seemed happy enough, despite Feza not able to actually see any smiles on their faces. She was plopped next to their awkward, enclosed 'home', string tangled up in her claws and crossing over her small form several times over. She was trying to make a special net to go over the top to keep the sun and birds out. It was slow going, but Feza was certain she was nearing the finishing point. Sure, her claws were aching from the constant strain alongside her wrists due to the unnatural positioning, but it was totally worth it!

Feza figured she was around halfway done when she had to take a break. She untwined the string and fabric from her claws and arms, carefully setting such down beside her. Stretching followed, rolling her shoulders to ease up the aches of her arms having been locked into somewhat knitting position. Blue eyes fell to the caterpillars inside. They seemed to be having fun wriggling about. "I need to make them a slide or somethin'," the guardsman mused, her fluffy tail slowly swinging behind her. Not right now. She had problems with not staying focused on a task for long. The rarest instance where she could keep herself marginally on track was presenting itself. A small break would be good. Her ears twitched a little and her fluffy head raised up.

"Hey! Delight curled around Feza's words, grin slathered across her countenance. "Y' here to, to uh, check out the caterpillars?" She couldn't think of any other reason for a... ghost? Were they a ghost? She felt like she'd interacted with this person before but at the same time her mind refused to forfeit the information. She blinked, refocusing. Her mind had derailed again, and Feza quite frankly hardly had the strength to note it anymore. Certainly the reason for this visit was to come and see all the cute caterpillars. Feza shuffled a little more upright, icy eyes glittering with interest and curiosity. None had come to actually see her caterpillar sanctuary before - or perhaps her sporadic mind had failed to yield more information once more.

Fluffy wings fell to a different position as they grew tired of the last one that was more suited for a locked-in working position. "Er, caterpillar sanctuary, technically." Feza blathers on, rolling her shoulder before the paw raised to gesture at the festively crafted semi-enclosure. It was more for keeping predators out rather the caterpillars in, and Feza felt mighty proud of how well it'd worked so far. Why wouldn't someone want to see the expert craft? What other reason would someone have to come over right now? She wasn't throwing a party. There was no reason other than caterpillars. Excitement coursed through her and banished faint exhaustion, kneading at the ground once her paws both returned to the ground before her.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -
THE EMPTY CHAIRS WILL BE RESERVED FOR OUR PITY

[beck.]

[align=center]

    Curiosity guided his restless paws to the quaint, dare he say, festive little home. Scoping out different possible replacements for his houseboat proved to be dull, a mournful gloom hovered over the ghost as Beck drifted from unclaimed yard to yard, longing for the secluded and shipwrecked sanctuary he called his haunt for months, maybe even years. Nowhere he sought could he be satisfied with a replacement, his woes and pities sinking further into the abyss.

    Lost in thought, he hadn't expected a voice to interrupt his perpetual melancholia; Beck reared his head in identical fashion, blinking in bewilderment at the brightly-furred leopard. "Oh- hi, Feza," the boy replied, shuffling bandaged paws as he glanced behind her at the netting. If he craned his neck, he could just barely discern colorful squiggles scattered among blurred foliage like fuzz on an ugly sweater, undoubtedly the caterpillars she spoke of.

    The little poltergeist numbly nodded in response to her question, studying the enclosure. Nose flaring, he crept forward and crouched low to the ground, remaining stub of a tail wagging. His head tilted in interest with his ears swiveling forward. "Did you build this?" he mumbled, strumming a woven thread to test its integrity with a soft twang. Before now, Beck wouldn't have considered Feza a fellow craftsman -- craftscat? A fellow artisan. It made sense, however; where else would all the lingering decorations spawn from if not her own paws? Paws tacky with glitter glue and passionate talent. His scabbed lips curved neatly, up into a taut corner on the right while his missing cheek twitched with what remaining muscles it cut through.

    She would be a great new friend. If she wanted to tolerate him, that is.

[fulzanin]

WE'LL MAKE A WAY WHERE YOU CAN FIND YOUR PLACE
- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Some of the caterpillars were quite big. Feza attributed to that more as her supplying the correct food rather than some species simply being larger than others. There were all sorts of leaves for them to eat, and Feza made sure to provide the variety. What leaves were munched the greatest Feza usually took care of providing in a firmer amount the next time around. What were the names of the leaves? Their species? It was lost to Feza, something that she couldn't quite explain nor think of how to figure out. Leaves were leaves, just like food was food. Preferences were important. She would only provide the utmost quality for her new neighbors. She wanted to try and see if they'd like a night light of some sort. Not that Feza felt like she had the skills to actually make one, but she was certain that fireflies would suffice. Or would it be morbid, because of dynamics between glowing flies and caterpillars?

Her icy eyes blinked a few times, recovering from the sharp derailment that her mind had raced off on. The other had come over, and was looking at the enclosure that she'd created. Feza wondered if enclosure was even the best word, for the caterpillars certainly could leave whenever they pleased. Then again, at the same time, she'd noted that most of them tended to stay within their constructed place. She'd have to make sure they were actually capable of leaving as they pleased, later. "Yea! I, I built it," Feza answers, her ears swiveling a little. She watches the caterpillars continue to mill about, doing as caterpillars often did. Eat, sleep, wriggle. Very intriguing. "It took a little while but I wanted to make sure that it was perfect for, for m' neighbors," she adds on, fluffy tail swinging behind her.

Realization sprung forth, realizing that now she had an opportunity to speak about what she, currently, was working on. After all, most of her constructive behavior was done within her home - and equally as destructive behavior as well. She smiles, the grin spreading across her face giddily. Feza shuffles to pull over what she currently was working on. "This is like, it's gonna be like a roof! There's little holes so water c'n get through so, so they get water. Mostly to keep the uh, the birds out." Feza explains, claws gently hooking on her most recent craft so that she could hold it with ease. The small holes certainly allowed for such to be done, her fluffy tail wagging behind her with excitement. "I was gonna put glitter on it but, but I, I figured that they would probably mistake it for a pretty starry sky an' then they'd be, y'know, sleepin' all the time," Feza rambles.

She twists her wrists, turning over the small patch for a small project. Feathered wings briefly shift in a restless manner, her head then jerking a little as she noticed one of the caterpillars slowly crawling in a direction that was both without meaning, and closer. "Oh! That's uh, that's 'jehkl'. I think that's how their name is pronounced. Look! They wanna say hi! Aren't they cute?" Feza chatters, dropping her work as her mind flung itself onto the train of adorable, squirming caterpillars that mostly were curious about the 'twang' noise that had sounded. Her gaze remains on the caterpillar for a moment, then returning to the poltergeist that was present. "They're very, very friendly. They love new friends!" Feza declared with a soft nod of her head.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -
THE EMPTY CHAIRS WILL BE RESERVED FOR OUR PITY

[beck.]

[align=center]

    He simply nodded along to her rambling, his own mouth unaccustomed to such jovial conversation, although he was quite familiar with the disjointed nature of her thoughts. Upon confirmation that she, in fact, did construct the netting and sanctuary on her lonesome, Beck couldn't refrain from a sympathetic smile. Many nights he worked into the morning hours, whittling useless figurines of exotic creatures or stitching the hides of local ones. The boy's hands -- er, paws were nicked from years of his attempts at occupying himself, from slipped blades and loosened splinters. Callouses roughed his pads, the skin worn with friction. Honey-brown eyes strayed from her colorful face to his paws, scars and scabs hidden beneath layers of gauze. Were hers just as rugged? Did her wrists ache too after a day of crafting?

    Glancing back up just in time for her to present the newest addition to her neighbors' home, a crooked smile parted his half-disfigured snout. "A roof? That's really smart," he wheezed, investigating her handiwork before complimenting, "Good job." Feza certainly was eccentric, something noticed even before her twitches and skips from thought to thought. But there were a handful of creative geniuses that could be called eccentric as well, even more so than the festive leopard. And fortunately, she didn't seem like the type to lob off one of her ears.

    Beck swivels his head in time with Feza, blurred vision flitting across the area she gestured to before focusing on the wriggling caterpillar in question. "'Jehkyl'?" he hoarsely parroted, "Like... Dr. Jekyll?" The boy grinned madly; finally, someone could appreciate his horror-inspired naming method. Then the odd phrasing struck him. "...How do you know that's his name? Can you talk to them?" Beck mused aloud, looking back to Feza with brows raised in surprised curiosity. Speaking with insects shouldn't have seemed so outlandish by now, considering the two giant spiders dwelling among them and communicating aptly even without mouths. But the idea of a novel superpower appealed to his perpetual youth; Feza could very well be the undiscovered Aquaman for arthropods.

    Settling to lay on his belly with intact cheek resting on his paws, the poltergeist idly watched her squirming neighbors through the peepholes of their netting, bobbed tail beginning to aimlessly wag.

[fulzanin]

WE'LL MAKE A WAY WHERE YOU CAN FIND YOUR PLACE
- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Feza's ears swiveled a little upon noticing the other's smile. This wasn't exactly a festivity of a sort and briefly her mind struggled to grasp what she'd done to warrant such a thing. All that she had done was state that she had built the entire enclosure of sorts from the ground up. It had taken a couple long hours and lots of trial and error to get it exactly how she wanted it. How the caterpillars would probably want it, too. Feza wasn't sure too sure about their exact opinions of the enclosure, but she figured that they had to be happy if more and more of them kept on arriving. "Yup! A roof, keep the- it'll keep the rain off. An' birds away. I think. Hopefully." Feza had already said such a thing, but her sporadic mind assured her that this would simply be the first time. The guardsman nodded her head to add emphasis to her words. "Ah its not... that smart. Just figured it'd be a nice, it'd be a real nice thing to do for them," the snow leopard added. What neighbor would she be if she let birds swoop down and snatch the caterpillars away? Not a good one, and that was why the netting for a roof had to be made.

Feza knew that the names for the caterpillars were a little odd. Yet again, Feza figured her name was quite odd. It wasn't common for certain, but Feza didn't really grasp what 'common' was. Being alone a lot, she figured as well, would cause for such a thing. Her pleased expression falters a little when the term 'doctor' is placed before the near same pronunciation of the caterpillar's name and her face scrunches up. "He's a doctor? I had no idea a caterpillar could be so talented!" She cheers with a happy wag of her tail. "Where's your degree? Come on! You can show us!" She moves her head closer to the wriggling caterpillar that does not even pause in its constant squirming towards whatever it was that had snatched its attention.

When asked about how they got their name the festive feline raised one of her paws. They were free of any sort of ailment from her craft although the sheer fluffiness of her paws likely was just as good at hiding scabbed paws as actual covering would be. Aches, however, could not be accounted for on the basis of visualization alone. "Oh. Uh. I can't talk to them. But I met someone who can! So I'll get a few caterpillars and go out and find him. Ask for their names, usually. Don't wanna bother, don't wanna bother someone with way more important stuff to do." Feza rambles while she settles down more on the ground. Her wings flex into a more comfortable position, the last one having grown uncomfortable. "I had no idea caterpillars could be doctors though. It, it totally makes sense though. Because they're, they're small, you know? Can probably see stuff way better," Feza says as she flexes a paw towards the enclosure of wriggling insects.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -
THE EMPTY CHAIRS WILL BE RESERVED FOR OUR PITY