CHULANE
let's set the world on fire
It hadn't been like this the first time. The first time, he'd been so strung out, so anxious and wound up after having been thrown into this world, that he hadn't registered that there was a leopard within him, just waiting to come out. And when he had finally tapped into that, had finally embraced the shift, he felt complete, like he had discovered all that there was to discover about himself, like he had grown into something that fit Caido even if it was just his first night in the realm.But this was different. He felt something within him, fighting to escape, and he couldn't what it was, so he resisted it. But when the sensation of wind rustling feathers and the awesome feeling of flight had been communicated to him (something he had asked for as a distraction) he instead found the sensation growing stronger, fighting, clawing, crying against his sheer will to contain it.
Abruptly, he realised she was back, the bond cut off (and the thing within him raged all the more for losing its link to the sky), her arms around his. He took a steadying breath, managing to murmur "I don't know," which was all the more alarming, because knowing was something he sought to do about most things.
Then it came, a wave, a feeling of succumbing to whatever was trying to claw its way out of him, he dropped the pack he was carrying, hand reaching to cling to hers - only suddenly it wasn't a hand but…
Feathers.
Golden and brown and black, a mixture of the three - they stretched out from his fingertips, and crawled up his body. His nose and mouth transformed into a sharp pointed beak, his hair seeming to rise and then fall back into a slick line as feathers encapsulated him, so much so that in one moment a man knelt in the snow, in another, an eagle stood with wings spread and eyes far keener (but still that icy blue hue) than his pierced the surrounds. As best he could, he looked over himself, always the vet, always the animal enthusiast, seeking to identify, to name and know this change, this shift.
And when he realised what it was, he couldn't help the sheer happiness that rose up within him, that leaked over the bond, for it was a shift from his home, a bird that ruled the Australian skies: A wedge-tailed eagle.
'I think my next shift arrived,' he offered, looking to her as he shuffled his wings, more easily leaning into the instincts this time, letting them tell him how to stand, how to protect one's feathers - how to look to the skies above with a yearning clearly present, before flicking the hard avian stare at Kia, softened only by the simple joy he happily flooded the bond with (to reassure her as much as express how pleased he was by this).
we can burn brighter than the sun
