(Untitled)

[alsoagreengrass]

If the day is nice enough, why not spend it outside? That's how a few people in Milliways think and Scorpius happens to be one of them. And it was with that thought in mind, he had grabbed his Arthimancy book and his book-bag and headed out toward the lake

Comments

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus is definitely one of those people who think nice days should be spent outside.

He's also one of those people who think that activity is (generally) better than non-activity, so when he sees the boy with the cat on his knees, napping in the sunshine, he quietly moves to sit against a tree nearby and starts to strum softly on his guitar.

It's not a song that would mean much to Scorpius, but to Red it's a song about pesky little bugs and tempting mice and possibly just a bit of catnip.

[alsoagreengrass]

Catnip? Like the seedling Demeter gave Scorpius? Red likes that, though it's taking an awfully long time to grow. But bugs and mice are just as well.

Red stretches, giving a cat yawn, at the first notes of the song. She turns her head in Orpheus' direction, resting her chin on an outstretched paw. Her tail swishes.

Scorpius merely shifts in his sleep.

[golden_lyre]

Bugs and mice, of course. Bugs like the one that, sung there by Orpheus, rests, unsuspecting, between Scorpius' shoulder blades.

[alsoagreengrass]

What.

Red flicks her tail again and then slowly turns her gaze toward Scorpius.

She stills. And then hunkers down low enough as she possibly can, readying to pounce.

[golden_lyre]

And Orpheus sings her to it: quiet, secretive, the stealthy song of a seasoned hunter, hidden in the grass, ready to strike, power coiled and mighty prowess just waiting to be unleashed.

[alsoagreengrass]

And unleashed it is.

Red pounces.

Startling Scorpius awake with a yelp from his peaceful nap.

He twists out from beneath Red's gripping paws, red in the face and barely awake.

"Are you mad?"

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus laughs. Loudly. Joyous enough you'd almost never guess he was the same man who played so very sadly on Valentine's Day.

(And he plays too, because that pounce deserves a song of triumph.)

"Sorry. I couldn't resist."

[alsoagreengrass]

" - What."

Scorpius, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, only just notices Orpheus when the triumphant song pricks his ears.

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus gives him a grin that is probably somewhere in the realm of attempting to be sheepish and failing utterly.

[alsoagreengrass]

Scorpius turns a bleary gaze to Red, who merely licks at her paws, tail twitching. He frowns.

"Did he coerce you into attacking me?" he asks the cat, disbelieving.

[golden_lyre]

"I didn't coerce," he says sincerely. "I merely...provided temptation."

[alsoagreengrass]

Scorpius redirects his frown briefly toward Orpheus before hissing, quite lowly, at Red, "He's not that good looking."

Then he turns away from her. Because she's a traitor and he wants nothing more to do with her for the next minute or so.

"You could have only mentioned the idea and she'd have done it anyway," he mutters to Orpheus as he rubs a hand down his face, awake now.

[golden_lyre]

"Think of it that way, then, if it makes me come out looking better."

He just mentioned it with a suggestion and an opportunity.

[alsoagreengrass]

"Oh, no. You're about as mad as her," he says, dragging Red into his lap when he sits back against the tree.

Because she gives him the most pitiful look and he really can't stay mad at her for very long.

"Do you go around disturbing people from their naps all the time?"

[golden_lyre]

"Hey! I'm not mad. A little eccentric maybe, but not made." There's a touch of madness in the refrain he picks out, as though he's testing to see if it fits.

"Only when the means is so readily available. And she looked bored, anyway."

[alsoagreengrass]

"Oh, well, thank you for entertaining my cat then. I don't know what she would have done otherwise," Scorpius mutters.

He personally thinks she would have been perfectly fine.