[Training] Birds of a Feather

Ravens were not an uncommon sight in the woods, or foraging along the outskirts, as a trio were doing again today in the waning Leafchange afternoon. The days were growing shorter again, and as the shadows lengthened the air took on the slightest of chills, a welcome refreshment after the punishing warmth of Longheat. The three birds - one black, one white, and one grey - croaked and chirred to each other with small, companionable noises as they foraged through the long grasses for summer-fattened bugs or small rodents. Other birds flitted and sang their autumn songs nearby, and a large falcon sat perched in a tree, watching with interest to see if the ravens would stir up anything he could try to snag. Hidden in the grasses at the base of a tree, a rusty-grey gryphon napped in the honey-gold sunshine, camouflaged into the fall colors and virtually invisible against dry grass and reddish bark.

For most it was an unremarkable scene, an autumn idyll painted in rustic brushstrokes and scented with ripening apples and just a dash of cinnamon. For Kiada, however, the tree would be a landmark for the message asking her to meet a feathered fellow for a friendly fracas in the fading fall light.

He had seen her name on the board, after all. And perhaps they both had a few tricks they could teach each other to help get through the coming Trials.

Kiada

KIADA

The only true sound of her arrival is Auni as he runs toward the meeting place. Kiada, soars high above, eyes following the pale deer as he bolts along the trail faster and faster. His main mission is to make sure Kiada makes it to the meeting point (though she’s certain she could find it without him, she allows him to feel important anyway) and croaks a quiet note of encouragement toward the Luxere from above the treetops.

When Auni sees the mark and smells the scent, he breaks off the trail to follow it toward Jigano and their meeting place. Kiada begins to dive, slowly but surely until she’s soaring through the underbrush of the trees, her talons brushing against the grasses that peak up from the ground below. Finally, she makes it into the circle of the meeting place, spotting the ravens and croaking a hello. Auni, having done his job, lays down fully off to the side, his fuzzy belly stretched out across the cool grass before he flops to his side to watch everything unfold.

“Hope I’m not too late.” She mentally calls to Jigano, side eyeing Auni as though to blame him.

Auni's arrival stirred the sleeping gryphlet awake, and she reep!ed a joyful greeting as she bounded over to pounce on the much larger luxere, determined to bowl her friend over (however physically impossible it was). It was the effort that mattered, after all, not the result! And she was very happy to see him again, when their human companions were not so sad and full of pain.

Not at all! The gray raven assured his friend, taking wing to flutter over to his much larger avian ally, blue eyes glinting wicked mischief as the falcon in the tree shifted her claws uneasily at the appearance of the much larger bird. With things as they are, well... this Trials business might be a good way to test ourselves and blow off some steam, he admitted, fluffing his feathers up in uneasy reminder of the dark times that they had recently endured, and were still enduring. I've carried and dropped things in this feathered form before, but I've never really tried to fight in it. Do you think we could try some aerial combat practice today? he asked hopefully. Hopefully we won't need it but... just in case we do... well, I'd rather practice with a friend than find myself facing an enemy unprepared.

KIADA

She watches her feathered friend as Isuma rushes toward Auni, the Luxere grunting a huff of acceptance as he rolls over onto his back and rubs his back along the grasses before flopping over and directing his head and antlers toward Isuma, almost appearing as though he grins to her. Kiada, folds her wings behind her back as Jigano moves toward her and speaks, she dips her head in a slight nod, feathers ruffling below the collar of her neck. “Indeed it does!” She agrees with a tilt to her head and a bit of humor passing through her mental connection.

When he asks about practicing in their avian forms, she cracks her beak open slightly as though she’s grinning to him. “That sounds great, actually.” She acknowledges, briefly remembering her attack on the Landshark that attacked Deimos and ripped his arm to the bone. She had been successful in raking her talons along his back, but not enough to keep it down. She grimaces with the memory internally before tilting her head.

She also takes into consideration their size; Jigano was smaller and more agile than she, but she had the power behind her large set of wings and huge feet pointed sharply — not to mention a beak strong enough to break bone as she’d watched Khairi do multiple times.

The Harpy spreads her wings wide, feeling the slight breeze dance along her feathers for a brief moment before she shoots up into the sky and circles until he joins her, scarlet eyes constantly on the raven as she expects an attack.

It was good to feel her humor, and Jigano returned a pulse of mischief and affection, even though events of recent days had left both more blunted than they had been before. Still, he was healing with the help of his friends, and it felt good to share some time with the displaced warrior that was as much game as training. Up and away, then! he called, smaller wings bursting into flight and startling the falcon as he flapped swiftly into the sky after Kiada.

Below, Isuma saw Auni's little antlers as something to explore, curious talons reaching for them as she balanced on her hind legs, wings half-spread for balance.

Above, Jigano strove for height, and the speed and momentum it would give him as he sought to overtake the Harpy. On your left! he called out cheerfully - a blatant lie, it turned out, when he aimed not for her left but for her tail, clever toes trying to snag and tug a tailfeather as he attempted to pass her and keep rising, trying to gain the high ground.

KIADA

Auni watches as Isuma inspects his antlers, something he’s quite proud of. Where over Longnight, his antlers had been nothing more than little nubs, but they have grown in strong and somewhat large, so far with only two tines on either side. But if Auni was being honest, it seemed more likely to fit Isuma as a little perch, and he lowers his head to the ground, pale blue eyes watching and encouraging his friend to climb on up.

Up above, Kiada notices it doesn’t take long before Jigano joins her. His small stature and speed a huge contender in the training as he moves to overtake her. As he calls out to her left, she wonders with a small bit of humor in her mind if he thinks she’d fall for it, and she banks to the left — though not before two tail feathers are plucked from her tail. She clamps her beak shut tight, an audible clack before she realizes perhaps she needs to not try to overtake him but to trick him.

And so she dives, wings pulled in tight as she dives to the ground, hoping he might follow her if he chooses to remain on her tailfeathers. But before she gets halfway down, she opens one wing to spin herself around so her stomach is pointed toward the sky. Her other wing comes out to catch herself and stop her main fall and she leans up with both talons and beak aiming to catch and pull at his feathers.

Isuma peeped excitedly at the invitation, hopping lightly into Auni's crown, stretched and balancing across the spread of glowing antlers like small tree branches, perfect for perching in! She dipped her head to nuzzle the luxere's forehead happily, a little purr rumbling from her fluffy chest as her tail lashed in excitement and wrapped around the farthest tine.

Jigano had hoped the Harpy would fall for his (admittedly, not very convincing) ruse, but his speed helped to make up for his lack of verbal feinting. The tail feathers are his, rather to his surprise, but then Kiada tucked and dived, giving him the height advantage he had desired - at the price of losing his target! He squawked a brief protest before turning and chasing her, relying on his greater agility to dodge or avoid her own inevitable attack, but he hadn't counted on his lack of practice in fighting on the wing.

He wasn't ready for her to reverse herself in the air, and he croaked an apology as he landed on her chest - then squawked again in outrage as he felt his feathers tugged. His less-than-elegant scramble to disentangle himself left more than one grey feather behind in the Harpy's sizeable claws, and he turned his dive into a dodging descent through the tree branches before coasting over the heads of the companions throwing a taunting cry up at Kiada to entice her back to the chase.

KIADA

There’s a breathless laugh that passes mentally from Kiada to Jigano as he collided with her, and she grins internally as the feathers sit in her talons. She’s falling now, and she tucks her wings in tight to try and reorient herself as Jigano dives below her. She lets go of the feathers, watching with her scarlet eyes as he dives through the trees and she knows she can’t follow through the tight branches like he can. Her wings are too big, and she knows she’ll collide with a tree or two on her attempt.

Auni watches as Isuma perches in his antlers, the tines glowing slightly with contentment as he sits up; as he does, Jigano soars quickly above them and his tail wags as he watches, wondering if Isuma has gotten a good view of it all. He croons a small sound to Kiada before flaring his nostrils and growing disinterested, watching the trees now rather than his bonded.

Kiada, following Jigano from above, notices a break in the trees and tucks her wings in tight to dive toward him, hoping her outstretched talons might be enough to knock into his wings and throw him off course as she descends into the trees.

Isuma reeped! excitedly, cheering her companion on from her new and much better perch as he glided by overhead, but when he disappeared into the foliage she returned her attention to where Auni was pointing them, the luxere's feathered crown happy to go where he wanted.

Jigano thought he had a good plan, and he momentarily shook the larger bird from his (figurative and literal) tailfeathers as he dodged among the trees. But where was the fun in simply hiding? This was a fight, after all, and he angled towards a clearing so they could continue their exchanges. Kiada had the same thought, though, and he barely realized she was already diving before she was on him. There was no time to escape, so instead he used her own move - flipping onto his back - and tried to wrap his talons around hers. If he was successful he would fold his wings, becoming dead weight she could carry for a few moments, using his heavy beak to fend off her sharper one if she tried to steal a nibble of feathers from her surprise passenger.

KIADA

She isn’t successful as she descends onto him, at least not in the way she initially thought. While she had aimed to knock into his wings, Jigano seemed to have learned her little trick she had just pulled on him. Only this time, instead of grappling for feathers, he grapples for her own talons. She squawks a bit of surprise as she beats her wings to try and hold him up as he becomes deadweight, and she can’t shake him as she tries to let go with her own feet. And as her large head and beak aim toward him, he’s prepared, meeting her own large beak with his with a loud audible clack. She uses the weight of him, then, to tuck in her wings and dive down with him before she spreads them wide once more, hoping the abrupt change in their fall will shake his talons loose from her, and she lets go hoping to send him spiraling away.

Auni, during the whole exchange, sits content with Isuma in his antlers, but as he hears the squawk from Kiada, he stands — grunting slightly to Isuma to hold on, before he starts walking toward the clearing that Kiada and Jigano are in, crossing carefully over fallen branches as though he’s carrying precious cargo.

His plan worked like a charm, and he let himself bask in a moment of pride before Kiada began to dive and he had to reevaluate his life choices on the fly - so to speak. There was a moment of panic while he thought she meant to scrape him off against a rock or tree, and it was enough of a worry that he had already begun loosening his grip before she came to an abrupt slow down in the air above him--

--and he continued to fall, talons slipping loose at the sudden change in speed. He had to scramble inelegantly to flip himself over and fill his wings with air again, flapping a madly steep ascent as he tried to make up for in agility what he lacked in mass. The tree branches worked in his favor as he slipped his smaller profile through them, trying to get high enough above Kiada that he could drop - not on her tail this time, but aiming for her shoulders, to engage in the time-honored tradition of raptor-surfing - and to give her head a gentle tap with his beak, if he managed to stick the landing.

Isuma was perfectly happy to investigate the world from her new home, and she balanced herself at Auni's warning, chirruping excitedly as he rose and gave her a better view. She leaned forward a little, encouraging him with little peeps and gentle pats of a talon as they began their trek to find their silly companions, and join in their game.

KIADA

The Luxere’s tail wags in time with Isuma’s little pats, the attention and company of his closest friend something he enjoys more than meeting new people; and he takes the two of them toward the clearing easily before the trees break and they get a good view of them all. Once he finds a spot he can watch them comfortably, he settles down, standing to observe their avian companions with a soft huff of laughter to Isuma.

Kiada, watches as Jigano struggles, a moment of pride beneath the pale feathers of her avian form as she beats her wings and begins to circle up after the stressed raven. But she loses him quickly as he farts into the branches and disappears from her view, her head shifting side to side to try and find him. Then, suddenly, he’s upon her — she feels his feet on her shoulders and the small “thwack” on her head as he surfs upon her back. She waits a moment, pretending as though nothing is wrong, before she pulls her wings in tight to dive and roll, hoping to fling him off, before she spreads her wings wide to hover momentarily in an attempt at recovery.

He almost - almost - has time to puff himself out and preen a little at his success before Kiada dropped away beneath him, her wing catching him as she rolled and knocking the overconfident raven sideways through the air with an undignified croak of surprise. He caught himself after a moment of freefall, wings beating to steady himself a little ways away from his friend, a peal of laughter echoing through the Attuned link.

That was entirely too much fun, he crowed, spiraling down at a more sedate pace to land beside their companions, taking a moment to blink at the sight of Auni crowned with Isuma, the pair watching their bird-brained friends with evident interest and amusement. Jigano straightened himself up, as tall as his raven-shape would allow, making a pretense of regaining his dignity though his pale blue eyes sparkled with mirth. They were the one part of himself that he couldn't easily change with dye or disguises, but few people got close enough to his animal forms to notice them.

I'm going to keep that rolling trick in mind. Thank you for teaching me that! He tilted a wicked wink at the bigger bird, an almost-human chuckle in his corvid throat. Shall we go collect our lost feathers before it gets too dark?

KIADA

The Harpy takes him by surprise, flinging him off and away from her as she chuckles quietly through their mental connection. Jigano’s ringing voice reaches her and she begins her circling descent down toward their companions with a squawk of agreement. “It was!” She replies with humor lacing through her voice. As her talons reach the ground, she lands with a quiet muffled thud before she tucks her wings in tight along her back, her shoulders sore from the workout. As Jigano mentions the trick he’d learned from her, she dips her head and mock bows with a single wing as though it’s a cape.

“I had a companion before Auni that was a bearded vulture. I learned quite a bit from him.” She replies with a wink sent his way too before she looks over to see Auni, tail wagging and content with Isuma perched in his antlers. She laughs quietly as a throaty caw before she shakes her head and turns her scarlet gaze back toward Jigano. “Let’s get some tea after.” She adds, agreeing through it to go get their feathers and meander their way back home.

As if to get a head start she hops a bit toward where she’d last seen her tail feathers, beckoning Auni and Isuma to come with — to which the Luxere obliges.

{fin!}