ORIGIN - Of Mango and Love

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The owl sat in a tree high in Eridanus, relatively silent. She did not hate this place as much as her soulmate did, but the thought of the room often left a bad taste in her mouth. Regardless, the owl sat and watched over the maw of moss for a while.

She reached out with her talons, at length, to wrap her digits around a ripe mango, nails digging into the flesh of the fruit. She felt the juice run down her leg as she pulled it off it's branch and she looked closely at it, beak clicking.

A curious thing, it was. She herself considered it to be a vile thing, but she knew that other gembounds (such as her soulmate) enjoyed eating them over the tangy taste of mouse - to which she found bizzare, but regardless, Eridanus seemed to be the only place to find such a fruit.

Willow stared further at the dripping mango in her talon before she looked away from it and abruptly, though rather idly, dropped the mango. She didn't bother to watch as it dropped all the way down and splattered on the ground but if she were to imagine it, she would imagine it to be the suicide of a gembound instead of the simple dropping of a mango.

Suicide. Her mind lingered on it. To end one's life, not another's, like she had thought of before - but one's own. She had often considered suicide to be a horribly cowardly thing, but as the mango fell and fell to the ground she wondered, perhaps it was a brave thing instead?

The owl shook the thought out of her head and looked down at the fallen mango.

@Adeyemi

King Adeyemi

AND THEN THE EARTH AND THE SKY, THEY ALL FIT TOGETHER
AND CARRY ME AWAY AS LIGHT AS A FEATHER

[Image: tumblr_n4ja2o7ZIW1ri1x2fo1_500.gif]

Eridanus. Again. The place, with its bright green foliage, its towering trees, and its strange inhabitants, absolutely infuriated Adeyemi. The tiny self-proclaimed king stalked through the brush, ferns and weeds smacking at his wings and legs, wincing and scowling all the way.

It seemed everything had been going wrong today - first, he'd once more been sprayed with gore during one of his son's ambitious hunts, and he'd yet to successfully groom away the blood, making him as red as a very tiny apple. Then, he'd been unable to find a single mango in the entirety of his usual hunting grounds, and with a stern warning not to over hunt to his rapidly growing feline heir, the turaco had waddled off in a huff.

Really, he just wanted one nice thing today. One thing. Just one! Completely submersed in his own grumbling thoughts, the bird squawked in fear as something fell directly in front of him, only just missing his pointed beak to splatter on the ground. Peering at it with bloodstained feathers fluffed up to their fullest degree, Adeyemi blinked in confusion at the sight of a... mango? Finally! He moved to stare up at the tree it had fallen from, eager to drink in the vision of a fruit tree, at last.

Instead, he found something better. "Willow!" With a grin and a flap of his wings, the king hopped up and over the crushed fruit, feathers smoothing down to the dull sheen of dried gore. "Hello, dear! I didn't know you'd come to Eridanus," Adeyemi called, blinking wide eyes up at his soulmate.

"Trying to vary your diet?" The question was warmed with humor, followed by a chuckle as the turaco wiggled his tail feathers expectantly. After all, he'd either have to climb up, or she would have to fly down... no use trying to fly with his stubby wings, no matter how entirely unfair that little tidbit was.

@Willow

Willow hadn't recongized Adeyemi - or perhaps just not noticed him. She was busy staring at the remains of the mango, even as the red bird came close to it. The owl only jerked herself awake as the turaco spoke, causing the owl to look towards him.

She was silent for a moment before she unfolded her wings to glide down to Adeyemi and the dead mango, peering almost critically at his plumage. "I could ask you the same thing," she said simply.

She reached over to pick her beak at his feathers. "You look terrible. Are you hungry?"

King Adeyemi

AND THEN THE EARTH AND THE SKY, THEY ALL FIT TOGETHER
AND CARRY ME AWAY AS LIGHT AS A FEATHER

[Image: tumblr_n4ja2o7ZIW1ri1x2fo1_500.gif]

Adeyemi watched, happily, as his hatch mate swooped down from her perch, landing in front of him with scrutinizing eyes. Even though she was now safely on terra firma, the king's head was still tilted up to meet her gaze - after all, she was easily three times his height, with a wingspan big enough to encompass him twofold. Sometimes, he wondered how it came to be that both of his family members were so much larger than he.

Then again, something as dangerous as the fire should be stored in a contained place - or so the turaco thought. With a conduit too large, the flame could grow out of control, consuming everything in its path; that had been the giant Polaris-destroying dragon's problem, in Adeyemi's mind. Too much bulk, not enough control; too much rage, and no pinpointed objective to aim it at.

Adeyemi didn't have this problem. When the time came, he knew exactly who and what would be deemed worthy to burn in the brilliant red-orange glow. Protection, a bartering system, defense - fire had never been intended to be a weapon. No, fire was the greatest shield nature had ever created.

"Unfortunately, Alexander is as uncontrolled with his hunting as I am with my spellwork," the king admitted with a grimace, watching as some of the leftover bits of skin slid to the ground. "He is very... exuberant, during the hunt. I don't know whether to teach him to control it or simply to focus it. Unbridled strength could be... useful." A beat, and the bird cooed at Willow's preening.

"I assure you, I feel at least twice as well as I look," Adeyemi mumbled, huffing out a laugh as he reached out to straighten a loose feather on the owl's neck with his only slightly bloodstained beak. "Hungry is most definitely something I am. I'm afraid I was having difficulty finding anything that didn't have a heartbeat."

A glance up at Willow's tree, and the king's crest rose just a touch. "It appears, however, that you are, as always, something of a beacon. Luck seems a bit too base."

"Base," the owl repeated simply, perhaps thoughtfully. She was silent for a moment as she continued to pick and clean the turaco's feathers. "I do not believe luck has been better for me. A friend seems to have injured himself."

Willow almost surprised herself as she realised that, for once, Adeyemi was not the one to be injured - in fact the turaco seemed to be in prime health, if you ignored the scars on his legs and the blood staining his feathers with, thankfully, wasn't his own.

The owl abruptly flew up into the trees, turning no more than a minute later with a mango in her talons - thumping down on one foot to place the fruit in front of Adeyemi. "Of course, he is not to be worried about. Bigger than you and I combined, my dear. Such things that would kill us would only be a scratch to him, I believe," she was as soft-spoken as she was the day she first spoke. "As for Alexander, I believe it would be useful for him to practice control and perhaps self-discipline. Letting him go wild is perhaps more dangerous than it is useful."

The owl tilted her head. The corners of her eyes briefly creased; and only barely at that. A short frown, though to the unobservant it would look like the same neutral expression she always had.

The lion-child will be the end of him, something called out in the back of her mind - perhaps frantically, which almost scared her. Almost. But, it was enough to cause a sigh to escape her lungs. She just had to hope that Adeyemi, as a father, could control his son.

Like hell he can, the thought came.

"Adeyemi," she began, quietly. "Please be careful."

King Adeyemi

AND THEN THE EARTH AND THE SKY, THEY ALL FIT TOGETHER
AND CARRY ME AWAY AS LIGHT AS A FEATHER

[Image: tumblr_n4ja2o7ZIW1ri1x2fo1_500.gif]

Adeyemi almost gave in to the urge to ask who this friend was, exactly, before coming to the rather strange realization that he'd never met... well... any friend of Willow's that hadn't been one of his, as well. The turaco's natural curiosity made him listen closer, leaning in, only to startle back when his other half burst into flight, returning just as swiftly - to gift him with a plump, yellow-orange mango.

The king blinked once, gaze flickering from Willow to the fruit, before he cooed softly, settling in to listen, gently tapping the owl's beak with his own in thanks before dividing his attention between her words and the first meal he'd had in at least two days. He only responded when she was done, juice sticking to and dripping off of his beak in turn.

"A being bigger than you and I combined... hm. Not as big as the fire-breather in Polaris, I would hope," Adeyemi joked, half-truthful. After all, he had no doubt someone as perfect as Willow would be able to befriend a massive beast such as the dragon, but he'd rather prefer she wouldn't, if only for the health of his heart.

The tiny frown she donned made him open his mouth to interject, but her sigh made him wilt back just a bit. It was a bit hilarious, really - the self-entitled great and powerful wielder of the flame himself, melting under the very gestures of his hatch mate. She was, without a doubt, the only Gembound who would ever have such sway over him. "I... will endeavor to be careful, my love," he promised, voice just as quiet, leaning forward enough to groom at her cheek, as gentle as a kiss.

"I am taking a great risk, raising Alexander. I know this. And I know you have your doubts, though you are very kind in voicing them," he added, a touch of humor warming his murmured response. "I will try to impart on him the control I have yet to reach... but I cannot leave him. Not one so young, who's birth was so like my own, who has shown me nothing but loyalty and... perhaps love, though in a different way than my own love for you."

The king's voice trembled just a bit, and he turned away with a sigh to match Willow's own, sounding much too old for one so young. "I am tired. I do not know how to be a father, or a king, nor do I know how to be the kind of man you deserve as your soulmate. But I am... trying. I promise you this, Willow," the turaco whispered, turning back to the owl with a tiny nod and a puff of his chest. "I promise you, I am trying."