Business as Usual (Tyree and Nekela)

[Nekela Sandrunner]

One might not be too aware of it, but Nekela does not lack the normal appetite of her species, only suppresses the urge to dig in as shamelessly as the rest of them. She wants to be set apart from the rest, be noticed as different. Plus she finds it kind of an unacknowledged embarrassment for hares to eat so outrageously and she really doesn’t want to be a part of that. And, another besides, she likes to enjoy the taste of good food instead of ruining the experience in a few huge mouthfuls. Oh, the other hares can do what they want with her food, but she’ll stick to what she’s been doing.

She’s about a third done with her meal, which is absolutely delicious by the way, but the time Tyree has finished his and she flicks her ears at him in amazement. Nekela might not agree with tucking it away, but she does find it amusing to see how quickly they can actually do it. How they do not get indigestion every time is beyond her (or even how they can chew their food properly). The female finds herself smiling though, shaking her head slowly and digging her fork into what will be another bite as she pokes good-natured fun at him. “Why don’t you lick the plate too, Ty, you glutton?” This time the entertained expression is obvious.

“A cook, eh?” she catches herself muttering around a her food. Hey, I said she didn’t like to eat quickly, not that she was a lady of etiquette. “Yeah, I could see that.” She smirks and glances at him almost suspiciously, what with that floppy eared look and all. He’s so weird, how’d she get saddled with him? And she means that in the most affectionate way possible. She’s answering his question without putting thought into it first, her mouth gabbing before the smart side of her brain can catch it.

“I thought pirate life sounded fun. The sea fascinated me, and not having to be told what to do. I had the name and everything figured out too.” She waves her fork around as she talks, not even realizing she is doing it. Neke has opened up with Tyree more than she has opened up to anybody in her whole life. Later on, when she’s thinking about this, she is going to find that a little disturbing, maybe even scary. “I did think about traveling this way a time or two, since my mother told me my parents were from the west coast somewhere.” She shrugs her shoulders lightly and stuffs two forkfuls in her mouth. Dang, it must be Tyree. First she’s saying ‘bally’ and now she’s shoveling food in her gob just like the rest of them. Bad influence, he is.
~Nekela Sandrunner

[Nekela Sandrunner]

Tyree
Tyree listened to Nekela graciously, smiling when she spoke about the ocean. He found it more than a little amusing that they were all hares who lived near the ocean, and yet he had never had a particularly great desire to actually jump onto a ship and go sailing. He watched her begin to stuff the food into her mouth, which made him chuckle quietly. More and more like a hare every moment they were together. "On the west coast, eh?" he asked about her parents. "not a bad place to live, I think. More than enough space. But I always wanted to go to Mossflower."

Nekela
Out of the corner of her eye she notices that he notices the way that she's eating and slows herself down considerably, trying to look completely casual about it as she takes a moment away from the food to talk. "Yeah, somewhere, but haven't seen anything familiar," she goes on and then shrugs, "never was told much about them." She's more than comfortable with a change of subject, since it's a little awkward not to know her roots. She doesn't even know how to answer her own questions, let alone someone else's. "Mossflower, hm? Passed through a small part of that when I was younger, nice and green."

Tyree
"Yes, green," Tyree said. "Green like the salad. Not like the ocean. There's only so many nights one can go to sleep to the sound of the ocean right outside," he added with a smile. "I've gotten used to it, though. I always wonder what it will be like to go somewhere where it's completely quiet at night... to not have that slow, steady rhythm in your ears."

Nekela
"It's nice," she says, "but sometimes it can get a little eerie and you miss hearing something. Besides the occassion bug buzzing in your ear." Her ear twitches at the thought of it as if to contest to the statement. She hasn't found a particular scene that has pleased her more than others, she's still waiting to find something like that, she guesses. Not that she believes she'd settle down anywhere.

Tyree
Tyree smiled mildly when Nekela spoke, finishing up his plate. "Ahh... to be surrounded by trees. Nice and secure. I've never been to Redwall you know," he remarked simply. "Up and down the coast more than a few times, but never Redwall. It's one of my dreams to finally go there, see what it's like at a place that isn't all military all the time... sample the food of course," he said with a nudge of his elbow to her arm, finding it easier to talk to her as the night wore on. Even the drunken patrons in the background aren't disturbing him anymore. "Of course I've never been to Southsward either..."