Songs from the Past 1- Casper and Shandar

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Thu, 01/31/2013 - 06:44

OOC: So I was originally thinking this could be right after DoraRose and Leon's wedding, but then I realized it was at high noon MUCK time, and it seems unlikely it would go until after dibbun bedtime. Being tired (and lazy), I decided to post as is and not change the beginning. Go with the flow, yes? ;)

Things to know- Casper wrapped Shandar’s mandolin strings, so she could have something to do during the wedding if she ever got bored and it wouldn’t make noise. Shandar borrowed a plain white dress from her friend Ahndia, so she wouldn’t be wearing her usual (often dirty) pale pink tunic to a wedding. (You can guess that was her brother’s idea, too ;) ) You can see the log for more information: The Healer and the Warrior get Married

There is a song in here- note that I did not write it, I have no claims to it. The original song is “My Wish”, by Rascal Flatts. I changed a few things about it to make it fit more into my little story here- hope that isn’t an issue at all XP.

So! After all that, here it is! Excessively long, probably mostly unnecessary, and at least slightly boring! Enjoy.

Great Hall

    Shandar can barely remember ever eating so much- she’s stuffed. It being past her bedtime, the nice food, and happy chatter around her evokes a yawn. She politely raises a paw, in an ‘excuse me’ gesture to cover her mouth, her eyes squinting shut, as her tongue curls over her teeth and she emits a squeak with the yawn. Casper watches her, and smiles softly. He gets caught, and the yawn turns into a glare, her tongue sticking out. He grins, placing his remaining pizza back on his plate as he gives his sister a one armed hug. He drains his drink, tilting his head back to get the remaining drops, before releasing Shandar. He pushes back his chair and stands, stifling his own yawn.

    “Where’r ya goin’?” Shandar looks up, curious, brows drawn together to accentuate the question.

    “Bed!” Casper exclaims as he stretches himself out by pulling his paws out in front of him, cramped after having sat for so long.      “Yer not the only one who’s tired. We can give that,” he juts his chin towards the basket on the floor, “to DoraRose and Leon tomorrow.”

    “Kay.” Shandar shrugs and slides off her chair, bare footpaws hitting the ground with a slight thump that is lost in the general noise of the room.

    Casper leans down to pick up his staff (which was leaning against his chair armrest), and the basket. The basket slides down his arm to his elbow as he grips the sea-polished staff  handle- the nearly perfect rounded knob that seems to fit his right paw perfectly.

    Shandar feels his paw gently push the small of her back, and she takes the hint, walking forward towards the stairs heading up. As she and her brother leave, she waves to a few of her friends, Casper smiling happily at them as they wave back.

    As the little mouse reaches the base of the stairs, she yawns again, tilting her head back as she covers her mouth, but continuing to walk. As it turns out, one should not walk while one is yawning- Shandar,  not watching her step, resorts back to her clumsy, tired little dibbun self. She stubs a foot paw on the bottom step, nearly falling on her face. She squeaks loudly, curses.

Casper knows he shouldn’t laugh- nice dibbuns shouldn’t be swearing- but he can’t help a chuckle from escaping as he scoops her body up from where she sat heavily on the ground. Pretending to frown, he chucks her under the chin as he balances her in his arms with the other things he has.

    “Now where’d ye learn language like that, huh? Don’t tell me it was Wildefray.”

    Shandar leans against his chest as he carries her up the stairs, rubbing her eyes as she responds sleepily.

    “Yeah...I picked it up from her.”

    Casper, having reached the dibbuns dormitory, pushes his back against the solid door. He can’t use his paws, full as they are with Shandar, the basket, and his staff. He still manages to shrug, though.

“She’s quite a character, isn’t she?” He muses, lowering his voice as they near the girl’s room. “I don’t mind so much- But mind- I won’t be gettin’ ye out of trouble for swearing in the presence of any Brothers, though.” Shandar wrinkles her nose playfully and quirks a grin.

    “Aw, cummon Cas. Please?”

    Casper wants to start into the playful banter, but he realizes that something important needs to be said. He laughs lightly, then looks down at her seriously. “No. Ye get yourself in trouble, I can’t help ye. Not for something as silly as talking dirty. Ye get hurt by someone- come get me. Not for something ye deserve, though. I won’t be that guy.”

    He enters the girls dorm, paws tapping the floor as he waves his way through the aisles, and places Shandar on the edge of her bed, lying down. Of course, this comes at the cost of his other items. They go clattering to the ground, and he kneels down to pick them up, moving them to the foot of the bed so they aren’t in the way. As he straightens, he looks about to make sure he didn’t wake any of the little beasties. Most are asleep still- a volemaid snuffles in her sleep. A few have created a tent under someone’s covers and are whispering softly. Overall, none seem to have been disturbed by either him or his sister's entrance.

    “Mkay.” Shandar shrugs, sitting up, and watching Casper. She understands what he has said, but feels no need to elaborate on it.

Once her brother stands and gets out of the way, she hops/falls off of the bed, standing in front of the little wooden nightstand by her bed. Pulling open the bottom drawer, she pulls out a folded nightdress. Shaking it out to unfold it, Shandar looks it over critically. White, like the dress she’s currently wearing, long sleeved, and devoid of any decoration. Nice and clean, freshly pressed. Shandar ducks under the mandolin strap, lowering it gently to the floor. She pulls off her borrowed dress over her head and lets it drop, crumpled to the floor. Then she pulls the nightgown over her large ears and regular under-clothes.

    Casper kneels down once more, picking up the dress, smoothing it out, and folding it into thirds. As he stands, he places it on the top of the nightstand, next to the dimly lit candle. The flame flickers as he moves, the air current causing it to wink out quickly, then revive, the wax crackling as it melts.

    Shandar turns back the bedcovers, muttering a ‘’scuse me’ as she yawns again, crawling in and pulling the blankets over herself.      Casper perches on the edge of the counterpane, wrinkling it, waiting for Shadar to get settled so he can say goodnight. He’s not awkward in the girl’s dormitory, (even is he really /shouldn’t/ be there). probably because he used to share a room with his little sister when they were younger. WHen they lived with their parents in Mossflower woods.

    Shandar, lying on her back, paws resting on her abdomen, looks up at Casper. “Tell me a story, Cas. Or sing something. Please? It can be quick.” She whispers.

    Casper sighs, rubbing his face with a paw as he turns away slightly. “Fine. Whatta ye want t’ hear? I probably shouldn’t be telling any stories- I may wake up the other young ones. And having a group of Redwall Sisters after me would not be a nice end to today.” He chuckles softly at his own joke, turing back to wait for an answer from Shandar, or at the very least a request for a particular story or song.

    Shandar closes her eyes momentarily, thinking, then they open slowly as she voices her request. “Kay. Sing something. Anything.”

    “You sure?” Casper asks, leaning back on his paws. Shandar nods silently. “Alrighty then.” He leans over the edge of the bed, grabbing Shandar’s mandolin by the neck, and hauling it up into his lap. With a deft movement of his paw, he pulls the cloth off, dropping the pieces unceremoniously to the floor. He thinks for a moment, staring at the strings for inspiration. Shandar’s eyes drift close, but she isn’t asleep yet- not without a song.

    Something in Casper’s mind clicks, and his eyes brighten as he pulls some memory of a song from his mind. Playing a few intro bars, he sings, softly, so as not to wake up anybeast that shouldn’t be awake. He has a pleasant voice. It isn’t quite deep yet, as he is still an adolescent, but it has a warm ring to it.

“I hope the days come easy and the moments pass slow,

and each road leads you where you want to go.

If you’re faced with a choice and you have to chose,

I hope you chose the one that means the most to you.

If one door opens to another door closed,

I hope you keep walking ‘till you find the window.

If it’s cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile.

I hope you never look back, but you never forget

all the ones who love you in the place you left.

I hope you always forgive and you never regret,

and you help somebody every chance you get.

Find some grace in every mistake,

and always give more than you take.

More than anything, my wish for you is that this life becomes all you want it to,

your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,

you never need to carry more than you can hold.

While you’re out there getting where you’re going to,

I hope you know somebody loves you.

May all your dreams come true.

This is my wish."

    Casper leans over, wanting to see if he’s put Shandar to sleep yet. She’s turned over on her side, anything but asleep. She’s crying, very quietly, and when she notices that Casper’s seen, she rubs her eyes and pretends she /wasn’t/ crying. Very typical of her.

Twisting to put the instrument on the stand, on top of the borrowed dress, Casper suddenly feels very, very guilty. He could have sung anything in the whole world, and of course he chose that one. Good going, Cas. You made your sister cry.

    Turning back, Casper takes his sister by the shoulders, pulling her up, so she’s leaning into his lap. He wraps her in a hug, and she doesn’t protest. After a few minutes, she sniffs.

    “Mummy used to sing that. Right?”

    Casper nods slowly. “Aye. Every night when we went to bed. She’d tuck us in, and sing it to us, and Da would come in and sing it with her.”

    “Tell me more.”

Casper sighs and pulls his paws up onto the edge of the bed, trying to get more comfortable. “Well...if you remember the song, you should remember that Mum had the most beautiful voice. Of course-” He chuckles. “That’s only relative. But she sounded very nice. You always went out like a light, but I stayed awake to hear the end of the song every time.” He strokes her headfur gently, wondering how long he has until a Sister comes in a shoos him out.

    Shandar remains silent for a moment, then sits up and wraps her arms around her brother’s neck. He hugs her back, holding her tightly, chin resting on her shoulder. Around her head, he can see an abbey Sister leaning in the doorway, arms crossed, watching them. She doesn’t look angry- just...sad. Casper pats Shandar’s back gently and she releases him, burrowing deeper under the covers as she  lies back down. She hasn’t noticed the Sister, and it’s unlikely she will.

    Casper leans down and kisses his sister’s forehead. As she closes her eyes, he stands, taking his staff with him. He nears the doorway, and the Sister approaches him. He stalls, expecting to be told off for being in the girls dormitory late at night, but instead, the older squirrel beckons to him. Casper follows the silent command, and the squirrel wraps him in a hug like he just did for Shandar.

    After a  moment, the Sister releases Casper and follows him out. They pass a few words between them before Casper heads off for his own bed, wondering why his parents had to be dead. It served no purpose in the grand scheme of things- he couldn’t even fathom it having anything to do with Vladmir Stormfeather. But yet.

    Casper pauses mid-thought and takes a deep breath. You can't change the past- you can only grow to live with it, he reminds himself.

OOC: If you got to the end of this, congrats! And thanks for reading!

Sometime soon-ish I'll remember to post pictures of my characters!

And that thing with Shandar falling up the stairs- I just had to add it. Maybe I'm a klutz, but I /have/ fallen up the stairs. So annoying. (And then, of course, everything you were carrying falls back /down/ the stairs.) X)

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