ORIGIN - headpiece filled with straw

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enna
sweet and soft
ooc ;; gasp

Bevy stared, trembling, sorries stumbling out of her beak as quickly as she could produce them, fear dripping like the blood down her dark feathers. His words made sense, they did, sure-- she was meant to help. She had worked so hard to help. Too hard. It was all backfiring on her now and she couldn't shake the voice that enveloped her mind, trapping her and her fears.

Yet, all of it seemed to be left behind in the dust as Dark began to show signs of sickness. His body tried to get rid of whatever harmful thing that tried to take hold on him, and she watched only for a second before launching into action. The toxins. Dark had gotten to close to the child-- and if Teyomua had her bacterial magic, had the ability to amplify health or sickness-- oh, what had she done?

"Dark, dear, oh, it's alright-- I can fix this, I can fix-- just stay calm, thank you. Oh Dark, thank you," she chirped, approaching his squirming, puking body. Perhaps she was hysterical, even then, but she seemed to find comfort in something she understood, a problem she understood. It wasn't a good thing, but she knew Dark and she thought she could reverse the toxin, somehow.

"The feathers are poisonous-- its a toxin-- Teyomua, he got it from me. I gave it to him, you must have ingested it. Your body will reject it, you're strong. I'll help, but this is why... I tried to protect you, protect everyone, from the poison... I should have realized," she was speaking softly, but now she was working. The bacteria, she pulled it from her body, pulled it from the blood, pulled it from everywhere she could, and she started to bring the cloud towards Dark, to give him to breathe, to help. To heal. She could fix this--

"...Why do I have to be the one to fix everything?" She peeped softly, the spell cutting off abruptly. Enna was in no state-- none at all-- to be trying to heal anyone. The bird spoke again, louder, more clearly, to the sick owl-- her tone harsh, matter-of-fact. "Dark? Listen. Dark, make your way to the pools, wash off your feathers. Try to drink something, and don't push yourself too much." She wasn't a doctor, but she had common sense at the very least. Something that Enna, in her haste to fix things, was neglecting.

perfect strangers in the night
here we are come together ~ <3
to the world we'll testify

@Dark

The owl listened, trembling and miserable in his pain, then mumbled acquiescence. He turned, half-stumbling, half-flying, crying out as he paused to vomit bile onto the rock again before managing to tumble into Pisces' water. There he stayed, shivering and cold and too weak to do much else, simply sitting in the shallows, looking as if he might just be carried away by the current.

The water naturally swept the toxins away, but unfortunately for Dark, it didn't immediately relieve the symptoms the poison had already inflicted on him. Added to that the biting, icy cold of the water, and the owl soon had to turn and drag himself out to lie wings-spread over the rock, half-conscious, panting through parted beak.

"Bevy...?" he croaked blindly.

Am I dying? he thought, and the thought didn't bother him all that much, bar a slight twinge of fear. The sickness was too much, too much to think about to have to worry about death, too. But he couldn't tell if he was dying; after all, I've never died before.

The owl let loose another piteous cry before finally just resting on the stone, shivering and feverish and cold all at once, absolutely sure that his world was ending around him.

________________

@Bevy

calypso
critical and melodic
ooc ;; poor caly

Calypso watched as Dark flew off, blindly and pathetically, and knew her job was not yet over. She spread her wings and started to take off after him, hissing under her breath as her wing stung and she landed clumsily on her feet, nearly toppling right over. What the hell had Enna been up to? Go after it. Kill it. Leave him. Kill it, came the voice in her head in response, and she clenched her beak tight. Enna might not have been thinking straight enough to understand, but Calypso had a better idea of what was going on. It wasn't good.

Regardless, she pressed on, ignoring the cackling, sobbing demands of the other voice. She hopped after the much larger bird, and waited for him to crawl back out, shivering and crying out for his mother. Of course he would. It was frustrating for Calypso, who had not a single feather of motherly instinct in her body-- she could hardly be bothered to care about Maji Walezi as a whole. Yet here she was, the only one with enough sense to do anything productive. At least her wing wasn't bleeding as much anymore; the blood was scabbing nicely.

"I'm right here, Dark," she told the owl calmly, observing him. "Take a few deep breaths, preen yourself if you can." The black and red bird stood only a few hops away from the much larger owl, focusing on instructing the other as best as she could.

perfect strangers in the night
here we are come together ~ <3
to the world we'll testify

@Dark

The shivering owl listened and obeyed, trying his best to preen his feathers, but in his feverish state he found it hard to come upright--let alone stay that way. Still, his attempts to do so were admirable, and he struggled along without complaint. He even found it in him to force his mind to Teyouma; he'd known nothing about the monkey's impending hatching. Bevy had never mentioned him--so just who was he? And why had he been kept a secret? Had it been mere convenience, or something more?

"Who is that? And... why is he hurting?" Dark asked, very quietly. He lifted his blind gaze to Bevy, peering worriedly at her, even if he couldn't see.

While he didn't know the details, he'd heard the pain in the other's voice, heard someone shout that the creature was mutilating himself. Fear and worry gnawed at him--not for them, but for the stranger. Nobody should be in that much pain, and alone, and afraid.

"Sh-shouldn't we go find him?"

________________

@Bevy

calypso
critical and melodic
ooc ;; poor caly

Dark was a good bird, for all the flack Calypso tended to give him. He was a well behaved, observant even in his blindness. Useful, fearless. She watched him try to clean up, and he managed to do decently, for all that he was ill and likely having trouble. When the green eyed bird spoke, she tilted her head and hopped just a single hop closer, considering what to tell him.

Perhaps the whole story, if he wanted to hear it. "That, Dark, was the gem of a dead gembound named Teyouma, revived by our magic by Enna. Something I didn't know was possible. Perhaps something that should never have been done." Whether or not to chase after the feathered, poisonous monkey, was another idea entirely. Risky. "Enna tore out some of our flight feathers-- we can't fly. The best thing to do is probably get Leon or one of the others to track him down, but everyone is busy with the wedding..." Did Dark even know about the wedding? She tried to remember... Had he been missing from that meeting, or was he there? Too many things had been happening lately for her to keep any of them straight.

"Besides, there is another Bevy, who thinks we should kill him. It might very well be safer to keep him far away from Enna and the rest of the Bevy's." She didn't let any note of fear creep in to her voice, though it was hard to avoid how unsettling the entire situation was. Thankfully the owl couldn't see how puffed up her feathers were, how the crest on her head rose straight up and how her talons dug into the stone bellow her tightly.

perfect strangers in the night
here we are come together ~ <3
to the world we'll testify

@Dark

Dark did not know about the wedding, but any curiosity about the meaning of the word was very quickly dispelled by Bevy's next words.

Kill him?

Dark stared toward her, his mind working. Kill the newborn...? Why? Surely the others could just... not touch him, the way nobody touched Bevy? And anyway...

"...But he's scared," Dark croaked plaintively. He'd felt it strongly enough during their brief touch of minds, his to Teyouma's; he was no mind reader but the emotion had been strong enough to bleed through anyway.

Bevy wasn't a killer, so why kill a baby...? He knew Bevy had many Bevys, but this--this was the first he'd heard her speak of murder. Of killing.

________________

@Bevy

calypso
critical and melodic
ooc ;; poor caly

Calypso nodded softly, her feathers ruffling at the owl's croak. "I know," she agreed simply, wishing for a moment that she could do something to not only comfort Dark, but the rest of her trembling form. Enna had confused the thoughts of murderous intent for her own, but as they lingered longer and longer, the self-appointed leader was sure that it was something different entirely.

A fraction of Calypso wanted to admit that she was scared as well-- but what good would that do. She was quiet for a long moment, trying to sort out just the right thing to say. So careful, so precise, filtered down to something acceptable. "... When we were younger, Teyouma tried to hurt us," she started finally, grasping at straws. "He tripped, dropping a bunch of shiny rocks. We had just hatched, and I... I wanted one of his rocks. So I took one, and he was incredibly angry. Thanks to another gembound, we were able to get away." She had never before admitted to being the one who had stolen from Teyouma-- Enna had spent practically a whole cycle blaming herself.

"After Maji Walezi was formed, Teyouma stumbled into Pisces. I don't think he knew that we were there, but Enna was scared he would hurt someone. She cried out for help, and a gembound named Midas came out and tried to restrain him..." The bird was getting it off her chest, to some degree, but to another, she was rationalizing the fear and anger of the others. Was it any wonder that they had handled the situation so poorly, once again? "It was an accident, but Enna was so upset. She had never wanted Teyouma to die."

Calypso fell silent for a moment, a growling growing in her mind. A monster. Kill it. She wondered if there was any way to make the new voice calm down, or if she would have to deal with this new headmate always saying such drastic things. Surely she could handle it, but Enna? It was quite the dilemma.

perfect strangers in the night
here we are come together ~ <3
to the world we'll testify

@Dark

The owl fluffed up as he listened; he felt a little better, though not much. He had many questions. Did Bevy still feel guilty? Did she blame herself? Why kill Teyouma, though?

"Does it bother you?" he asked, at length. "If it does--if you were young... He's young? Is he still young? Shouldn't we help him? Find him? Make him not-scared?" the owl hooted, softly.

"Why kill him? Do you think he'd hurt you again? Can't we talk to him?"

The owl was worried for Bevy. He was worried for the newborn, too. He was naive, kind; it seemed to him that everyone should make peace, should work out the problems at hand and help Teyouma recover. To help him grow. But then... didn't Bevy know best? If Teyouma was dangerous, maybe they should do something about it.

It was just that... killing him didn't seem right.

________________

@Bevy

calypso
critical and melodic
ooc ;; poor caly

Good question. What do you think? She wondered, reaching out to the dark, vengeful thoughts. It is evil. It is a monster. It must be killed. Kill it. Can't we talk to him? She repeated Dark's questions, cautiously, calmly. Why kill him? She gave It power over you. It will grow powerful, then destroy you. Kill It before It kills you.

She shook her head and then, softly, gave her own answers to the owl. "He is young, and if we can help, Enna would want us to. I don't think we should kill him... I think it is merely our fear speaking for us, and we shouldn't let such irrational thoughts drive us. Still, I... It does bother me. I don't like the fact that any part of me wants to kill a child. I won't let it come to that, anyway..." There were more pressing questions, such as if something like that could survive on its own. Was it important that they immediately give chase, or would it be safe to leave it, to let the child grow on its own as each of them had? She didn't ask Dark such things because Enna had, regretfully, mothered the bird since he had hatched and as such would likely be biased. Perhaps Leon or Makyna would have an idea of what to do.

"No one else knows about Teyouma, though. I think, first of all, I should tell them. Spread word through the cave. I doubt he's dangerous-- yet..." Calypso cleared her throat, trying to push back the violent, malevolent one. "He's just scared, and injured." That seemed to be the most rational train of thought. She paused to let Dark continue with his questions, or say something else. She was, after all, still trying to work things out with the new, angry voice in their head.

perfect strangers in the night
here we are come together ~ <3
to the world we'll testify

@Dark

Dark sat quiet, dripping wet. He wasn't shivering so much now; the pain was fading. But this... Everything about this troubled him.

Bevy still sounded as if she were trying to mother him, and some part of him, deep down, was faintly impatient with this. But he loved his mother-bird, and she took care of him, and so the impulse didn't even make it from the soup of his half-dreamt thoughts into his true consciousness. Instead he ruffled those wet feathers and peered at her blindly.

"...Bevy," he began at last, voice tremulous and soft. "I am going to look for him. I will try to help him while you talk to the others, but I need to know... before I go. Are you okay?"

He knew the likelihood of him being able to find Teyouma was slim. He knew Bevy probably wouldn't want him to go. He also knew he would not feel right just staying here while that terrified young one was fleeing, alone and in pain.

But... something wasn't right with Bevy, and that--and only that--kept him lingering, for the moment at least.

________________

@Bevy

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