| [#80] |
Who: Chutzpah! New charrie, so huzzah!
When: 23th Day in the Moon of First Green 2009, Late Afternoon/Early Evening
Where: Starts in the overgrown vicinity of 118 West Forester Drive
"Ode to the bebbies in the bran' new WERLD!"
bellowed a (only somewhat) melodious voice, cracking mid-way from a tenor to a baritone and back again.
Chutzpah had arrived to his newest abode in Whitehart just two days ago, and the white, half-deaf tom was in jolly spirits. Well, he always was, but right now he was especially so!
He'd been a-roaming and a-wanderin' over hill and dale for Lord knows how long, just sort of drifting where the whim took him, when his sore paws and gummy coat and empty belly forced him, happily enough, to root out food.
Food, and shelter, and easy friendship, too, came in the form of humans. Or Twolegs, as his old mentor Nettletongue used to call 'em.
"Ode to the bee-uty o' da stars!
Here's to the sumthin', n' sumthin' such, and mhhm nhhm upon thars.
Chutzpah's here, my love,
with blessin's from above
Let the Day Begin . . ."
And so Chutzpah's rendition of "Let the Day Begin" by The Call went.
Bard, beadle, hefty and fluffy tomcat. A true gen'elman 'n solitary, pensive knight, he danced this way and that, humming now, bellowing later, as he meandered aimlessly through the overgrown lot of his new home.
| Posted by Fae~o~the~Wind (administrator) on 23 February 2016 at 15:19. |
|
 Let us hold the die uncast
Maelstrom usually didn't come this far across the streets. She was very much outside of Camelot territory now, but what a freedom she felt!
And there's no rule saying I can't, the big grey tabby thought as she kept walking. If anyone asked, she could say she was unofficially scouting. Surely Pendragon would want to expand the realm some day...
She found a lot so unlike the houses and yards of her friends and neighbors. No one's owners had tended to it, that was certain. The grass wasn't cut, there were so many plants, and all the new smells and... song? Maelstrom's ears picked up a tune that she did not know, but it and its singer called back memories of her parents. Her father sang odd songs sometimes, when he wasn't telling tales.
Maelstrom's gold-green eyes flitted around as she looked for the singer, but it didn't take long to find him. He's huge! she thought when she spied the white tom. Huge like she was and his fur was long! Messy, but long. There weren't enough cats like them in Camelot, in her opinion.
"That's a lovely tune you were singing!" she called to him and stepped into the unkempt grasses. "What's it called?"
Free to come as free to go
| Posted by Nagini on 23 February 2016 at 15:20. |
| ((Yay! Thanks Nagini!))
When the voice of a stranger sounded in Chutzpah's one good ear, he quit his singing and turned with delight.
Usually he might shout out Be you Friend or Foe? to a stranger, but this cat--one of the female persuasion, no less--had complimented his singing! That automatically made her a friend.
"You like it? 'Tis 'Let the Day Begin!' Or at least my version of it. May have gotten a few words mixed up ...Though, it's not 'zactly the right time o' day for it anyway..." He couldn't very well sing a song of day's beginning when evening was falling! The odd-eyed tom paused for a moment.
"Ah!" He brightened. "Ahem," he continued much more formally, "Where're my manners? Milady! May I, Chutzpah, be so forward as to have this dance?"
Without waiting for an answer (for Chutzpah rarely thought before he spoke), he chanted in a singsong voice (trying for an Irish accent, but it sounding more like a muddled Scottish):
"Good lady, pray I thee,
For of sainted charity
Come and daunce with me!"
One blue eye and one hazel eye twinkled as he bowed a fool's bow, raising his fluffy tail high into the air as he, with a skip, extended a foreleg and did his best to touch his nose to the rain-damp grass without tipping over.
All in all, he looked rather ridiculous. And he was loving it. Chutzpah performed best when he had an audience.
| Posted by Fae~o~the~Wind (administrator) on 23 February 2016 at 15:21. |
| ((Sorry this took so long!))
Let us hold the die uncast
Ah, so that was the song! Maelstrom chuckled at his mannerisms. "You may, Chutzpah," she meowed brightly and dipped her head to him in return, "but I'm afraid I don't know how to dance and I'm no lady of any importance. I'm just Maelstrom."
Come to think of it, did Camelot currently have ladies? There were dames, of course, but she couldn't recall anyone's rank elevating recently.
"Are you from around here?" Maelstrom asked. "I can't believe I've never met such a fascinating cat before if you are."
Free to come as free to go
| Posted by Nagini on 23 February 2016 at 15:21. |
| "Not a lady of any importance? Preposterous!" His voice boomed out incredulously as he straightened up from his fool's bow. Chutzpah shook the mane of dirty white fur around his neck and shoulders disapprovingly.
"Poppycock, hogwash, and balderdash! You can't simply be just Maelstrom, Milady!" The tomcat had already formed a high opinion of the large, courteous tabby, and in his pig-headed way, was determined to call her as he saw fit.
When she claimed she didn't know how to dance, Chutzpah was quick to reply: " I can teach you, Milady, if you are so willing. Everyone can dance!" Chutzpah beamed. It had been so long since he'd a dancing partner! (Although he wasn't sure if he'd ever had one...) And if Maelstrom was really as inexperienced as she claimed, then he welcomed the challenge.
"You’re the first cat I’ve ever met named Maelstrom. It is a name with power. Did you know it means whirling stream? Or mebbe whirlpool would be a better translation…" Chutzpah's eyes took on a distant look as a snippet of a story he'd heard long ago came bubbling up to the forefront of his mind.
" 'Divine Charybdis sucks down the black water of the sea, and thrice a day belches it forth.' ... Charybdis was the name of a maelstrom long ago, or so I reckon," he explained helpfully. Then, mischievously: "Betcha can't guess what my name means!" It was hard to tell if Chutzpah was joking or not.
His almond-shaped eyes brightened when Maelstrom called him "fascinating", and he chortled before answering.
"Oh, I've been here at this house fer two days now. They're nice folks, these Twolegs. They didn't mind sharing their supper with a scruffily regal roamer like me." Indeed, Chutzpah had gotten his first taste of Chicken McNuggets last night. (He preferred prey he caught himself. Or at least scrambled eggs.)
Chutzpah hesitated then, remembering where he'd been before he'd come to this end of Whitehart. The abandoned house (200 First Avenue) where he'd buried his murdered brother. It had been too painful to stay there, sleeping where Snow's earthly remains dwelt; but Chutzpah was determined to stay in Whitehart, seeking out his brother's killer.
Chutzpah suddenly sneezed, interrupted his memories. As if for the first time, he realized that soft rain was falling down upon both him and his "guest" (Chutzpah hardly cared if he got wet, but a friend was another matter entirely). He gestured with his tail towards the largish tree that stood south of the driveway.
"Does Milady Maelstrom prefer to sit beneath a canopy of leaves? I beg your pardon for not offering a drier place sooner."
The white tom was burning to know if Maelstrom knew anything about Snow's death, but seeing as he'd just met her, he figured waiting to she if she would volunteer any information would be prudent. Plus he didn't want to scare her away before their first dancing lesson.}}
| Posted by Fae~o~the~Wind (administrator) on 23 February 2016 at 15:22. |
| ((Sorry again for taking so long!))
Let us hold the die uncast
"If you'd like," Maelstrom mewed heartily when he offered to teach her to dance. "I do love to learn new things."
When he mentioned her name's meaning, she thought back to what her father had told her. "I was always told it meant whirlpool, but I have heard stories of Charybdis as well," she went on excitedly. "I grew up near the sea and my father believes she still exists with her sister Scylla."
The meaning of Chutzpah's name, however, she did not know. "I have not a clue what your name means," she admitted as her fluffy tail-tip curled, "but it sounds strong. Very bold. I think I've heard a few humans say it before, but I never listen very intently to them. Their voices are so odd compared to ours."
The raindrops didn't bother her--they felt good--but Chutzpah's sneeze got her attention. "I don't mind getting wet, but that tree does look nice," she told him after he pointed out the tree. "And I wouldn't want you to get sick!" she added with a laugh. "You must teach me to dance after all. You need your health for that."
Free to come as free to go
| Posted by Nagini on 23 February 2016 at 15:23. |
| "It would be my honor and my pleasure," Chutzpah stated grandly, "...to be the tom to teach Lady Maelstrom to dance." Then he sneezed again.
"Oh! Bless me! And Gesundheit!" He wrinkled his pale nose ruefully. Before, in a different time and place, Chutzpah would have scoffed at the notion of him weakening to anything, much less a mere disease, but the times when he thought himself invincible were long gone. "Well, let us retire 'neath yonder shady boughs and take our repose whilst we discuss - oh, so many things!"
Giving way to easy laughter, he started to skip over to the tree, chanting as he did so: "The time has come! To talk of many things! Of ships - and cats - and sealing wax! Of cabbages, and kings!"
He led the way over to the large oak, then gestured gallantly with his plume of a tail for the tabby she-cat to enter under its great canopy before him. "Ladies first," he said, nearly purring, "and once you've taken your seat, I shall tell you how I came to be Chutzpah. Unless, of course, first you'd rather take a wild guess as to what it means?" He was sure the intriguing Maelstrom could come up with a number of likely - and unlikely - definitions of Chutzpah, if she put her mind to it. The large tom wanted Maelstrom to get to know him first before he sprung the question of: seen any murderers lately? on her.
Posted by Fae~o~the~Wind (administrator) on 4 April 2016 at 03:54.
Edited by Fae~o~the~Wind (administrator) on 4 April 2016 at 03:55. |
| Let us hold the die uncast
Retiring to the boughs sounded like a very good idea. Maelstrom followed eagerly and stood beneath the oak.
"How chivalrous," she mewed brightly. "I think I shall try to guess the meaning your name again, although I'm not as sure of it as I am about the lines your recited on the way over. Was that from a story about oysters? I have a memory of my father telling it to me and then trying to explain how large a walrus was."
Maelstrom paused in thought. "Hmm... Does your name mean 'very large'?"
Free to come as free to go
| Posted by Nagini on 24 August 2016 at 02:36. |
| O frabjous day! Chutzpah grinned a feline grin. " Aye, oysters, and a walrus and a carpenter walking along a briny beach on a night when the sun was shining with all his might. The walrus and the carpenter lured oysters out of the frothy waves and then ate them all up with their butter and bread! I've never tried oysters, myself, so I've no idea of the taste, but I do know that Jonathan Swift once said, 'He was a brave man who first ate an oyster'."
Chutzpah half-closed one bright blue eye as he himself tried to picture how large a walrus was, again, when his companion guessed about his name. He laughed and shook his head, his fluffy white mane swaying with the motion.
" No, but good guess! Shall I tell you, or would you like to guess some more? I'll give you a hint; it has to do with personality." Callooh! Callay! He chortled in his joy. | Posted by Fae~o~the~Wind (administrator) on 18 September 2016 at 21:48. |
| Let us hold the die uncast
"I do not know Jonathan Swift and I've never eaten an oyster, but I saw the inside of one's shell and it was very strange. Very wet, though I would expect nothing less of something that came from the sea." Maelstrom scrunched up her nose a little as she remembered the incident. Her old human had opened one at the beach and showed it to her and her siblings. "I sniffed it and decided I didn't care to taste it."
At the offer of another guess, Maelstrom swished her tail tip. "I'll guess a little more," she mewed and looked Chutzpah over intently. "Personality, you say... How about 'charismatic'?"
Free to come as free to go
| Posted by Nagini on 20 October 2016 at 01:14. |
| O frabjous day! " Ah, then I am jealous indeed, for I have never seen an oyster."
Chutzpah was once again consumed with laughter at Maelstrom's next guess.
" You think me charismatic? I'm flattered!" With a rueful grin, the large, half-deaf tom explained cheerfully, " I'm afraid that the cat who dubbed me Chutzpah did not think so. I really think he meant it as a reproval. But I think it is a good quality in me, personally." Callooh! Callay! He chortled in his joy. | Posted by Fae~o~the~Wind (administrator) on 31 October 2016 at 14:26. |
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