ORIGIN

"Speech"

At first she waddled sneakily, laying her paws soft against the stone. But as soon as she was out of earshot, Eira picked up the pace and bounded, giggling quietly to herself. The reason she was so wary was simple; she'd wanted to explore. At her own pace this time. Although they were friends almost joined by the hip at this point, Eira had to admit that her best friend Kimen could be a bit of a drag sometimes, and not just with his slowness.

Okay... so she was being a little harsh. She felt a little tug of guilt in her chest. It wasn't his fault his gem was where it was. But maybe it was his fault he seemed rather obsessed with 'nature' and the 'unnatural'. Everything he looked at had to be one of those things. Eira rolled her eyes a little at the thought. Why couldn't he be simple like she was? Everything was just demons to her. Simple as that. No complicated words. Just demons. Bad things were demons. Good things were... things. She hadn't considered it very much, she often seemed to take it for granted.

But it didn't really matter anywho, she figured she'd be back before he even knew she was gone.

The plan was, she'd sneak out. She'd have a quick look around here, in this room that had really piqued her interest. And then, she'd go back to him. Kimen wouldn't even know. He couldn't. Ack.

Eira had been so focused on her thoughts she hadn't even properly looked around yet. She was annoyed with herself. She breathed deeply and gazed at the world around. Wow. Glittery rocks and funny-shaped ones. How exciting. I'd better head back before the demons get Kimen...

She slowly turned back the way she'd come.

"Speech"

Eira was alerted to the fact she wasn't alone by the sudden rush of wingbeats filling the air, and she looked around just in time to see the outstretched talons of a bright green bird looming right there, aiming right for her. Immediately, anger flooded her chest and she let out a piercing squeal of the very first thing that crossed her mind.

"DEMON!" she yelled, her entire body flexing as she leaped upwards to face her assailant head on without thought for the consequences.

But alas, it was not meant to be. Eira was only a baby, and a water creature at that. She jumped up, expected to soar higher than she did, and instead tumbled to a halt face-first. Luckily, she'd narrowly avoided those seeking talons with her fall. She opened her red eyes wide, stunned, and the fur along her spine rose angrily. She quickly stumbled up onto her paws and shrieked again, trying to appear heroic, dignified, and... not scared at all.

"IDENTIFY YOURSELF, DEMON!" she bellowed, puffing out her chest.

"Speech"

Eira snarled and growled, in as fierce a way as she could manage. Her fur all bristling and her brow creased with fury, she prepared herself to face off this 'demon', in what she felt was her first true chance at being a hero. Digging her claws into the ground, huffing and heaving, Eira saw those glinting talons coming for her and crouched down, flexing her muscles as she prepared to dive out of the way.

Closer, closer, closer they came, close enough that she could see the bird's wicked claw tips... and then Eira was gone! Heroically she skidded to one side and waited with a glint in her eye for the bird to crash into the ground...

The naive little creature waited patiently for the chance to gloat.