Ignore any mentions of stages in this.
What had they done in the past few cycles? Oh, only: fluttering here and there; discovering their ability to coil around tree trunks like a snake; venturing back to the adult-kiss zone; bothering some Gembound about jewelry and trinkets in Pisces; et cetera. Well, maybe it wasn't a few cycles, but more like a solid year and a half. The last time they'd seen the light of the screen was back when they were all hanging out in Polaris, acquiring gemstones or something.
Bah, that was in the distant past.
Now, Kesil was poised atop a branch, feeling particularly dastardly today, and for entirely the wrong reasons. You see, they'd spotted some large beast trundling cautiously through the maw of mosses, sniffing every once in a while and sampling fruit that it apparently had never seen before. The noodle would sometimes scuffle ahead, plucking some manner of berry from the trees as they did, and plonk it right in the beastie's path.
It was none the wiser any of those times - perfect for the next stage of their plan: full-on pouncing and playtime. So, they left a durian-like bit of bait ahead of the kaiju, and stayed above in wait.
A loud crowing punctuated their drop from the heavens, and that was enough for the beast to shuffle out of the way with a harsh growl. "DUN' MOVE! THAT'S NOT fun!" Kesil scuffled to their feet, voice dancing between loud and soft, pitches all off. Clearly, they hadn't heard themselves speak in a long while.
Stage 1, INITIATED
There it was, enjoying another conspicuously placed pile of fruit when a shrill noise came from above and just absolutely blasted its eardrums out. It shuffled back a precious few feet as thirty feet of some feathered beast came tumbling out of the canopy, arching their neck up to appraise it and letting loose a plethora of grating noise. The sound was worse than Deli's voice, and Alpha hissed sharply.
They did not stop - and Alpha growled again, "shut your mouth and get away. Your voice is grating."
Getting its point across, the orthoclase swiped out with a too-long arm, claws not particularly bared but a clear give me every bit of personal space you can gesture.
Oh...
Oh!
Their ears pricked up, not catching as much as they should but still getting a few of those bassy syllables. None were clear enough to understand, but they got the tone and swiping gesture, dancing skillfully out of the way. Beastie - as Kesil was calling it in their mind - couldn't emote much with its stiff face, but that growling certainly parsed wrong. Playtime!
"OH, I can't HEAR you! I have to GET CLOSER!" they shrieked gleefully, plodding forwards without any permission offered and tilting its head to offer an ear, "oh-KAY! Now what, buddy?"
There they go again.
Alpha barked sharply again, profoundly shrieking into the noodly beast's ear "STOP." The damn thing could barely hear, and kept making wide-eyed blinking expressions at it.
(Some part of it couldn't blame them for having a terrible voice when they couldn't hear, but the orthoclase was an asshole and an albeist.)
"Get away," it growled at Kesil, lifting an arm to swing at the hybrid again, arm-blades first this time.
"Get away."
"Why?" they chirped, surprisingly soft, a smile twisting their mouth up and creasing their eyes.
An arm swung into them, catching them by the neck and sending their noodly body capering away a few feet. Twisting onto their stomach, Kesil chirp-laughed, sounding off with a quick "WOAH!" Shaking themselves out, the hybrid snapped their feathers out and stood proudly, "I put all of THOSE FRUIT out, for YOU! SO we can PLAY!"
Grand achievements.
Stage 2... initiated :(
"I put all of those fruit out, for you! So we can play!"
Alpha grimaced, what's with all of these Gembound and wanting to play? running through its thick skull. Wary panic started to course through it at the mention of fruit, offered so suddenly, and it hissed.
The orthoclase lurched forwards, taking several large strides forwards and aiming to put the brunt of its weight on top of Kesil, pin them down via a claw around the neck. They were slender and nimble, but big enough to land an attack. If this one was sly enough to bait it with fruit - know that it would fall for something so stupid! then it could...
"Did you poison them?" It growled, even as Kesil got up and danced away before it could pin them down.
Back to Stage 1
"... poison ..." The noodle's feathers fanned up, eyes widening in mock offense. "WHAT?" Kesil shook their head wildly, coiling up slightly as they danced away from those grabby little hands, "of course NOT!"
Their throat was getting a little sore from talking, voice's maximums starting to get a little more manageable to circumvent that.
"I would never! That's not good to do to people." They stared up at Alpha, "I'm Kesil! I have a brother - somewhere! Ayedunnowhere." Kesil twisted around, as if to look, then gave an incredibly pensive look, "did you like the fruit?"
Just to make sure they heard, they shuffled up again, unheeding of personal space and crowding in.
Alpha watched Kesil's facial expressions with guarded curiosity - they were so exaggerated and clear. Nothing to hide. There wasn't an ounce of fear there, and none spiked at the accusation that they'd poisoned any of the fruit. The orthoclase didn't trust them, but it at least decided that nothing harmful could've come from those offerings.
Maybe Gembound were just really into watching big monsters eat fruit? Awe-inspiring or something.
Kesil spouted more nonsense, albeit quieter, and crowded back up to it again. Its jaws cracked open slightly, snapping with an annoyed sigh near the beast's turned ear. "Get out of my space. I mean it."
Not... quite getting the necessity of that closeness.
Maybe, if it was agreeable, the noodle would buzz off before it ripped them to bits and gave their stone to the Collector (ah, brainwave.) It grunted, "they felt fine."
Beastie made a snip at their ear, and they pulled away, still acting all playful and chirruping in response. They barely caught the warning to stay out of its space, just enunciating, "I can't hear you if I'm not close!" Kesil frowned slightly, "my ears don't work good!"
The noodle was nothing, if not persistent; "felt? How about tasted?"
Back into the close quarters again, this time with a playful nip of a massive, clawed toe, "you're funny! Loosen up."
Ears don't work good - "then stop bothering me." Alpha rumbled, quills rattling up and up until it was imitating a crafts supply puff ball. "It was fine and that's it."
Now, fuck off -
A roar tore out of its throat as the stupid little hybrid darted in with actual contact, teeth snipping at its claws - doing no damage but snapping that rubberband of tension built up. The orthoclase's forearm swung up, but this time with the aim to snare Kesil by their neck, hoist them up to look into its eyes and hold them uncomfortably close to its teeth.
But, Kesil again moved out of the way, igniting a rattly hiss as it prowled forwards.