ORIGIN - Birth

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nervous |ˈnərvəs|
adjective
1 easily agitated or alarmed; tending to be anxious; highly strung: a sensitive, nervous person | these quick, nervous birds.
• anxious or apprehensive: staying in the house on her own made her nervous | I was nervous about my new job.
• (of a feeling or reaction) resulting from anxiety or anticipation: nervous energy.
2 relating to or affecting the nerves: a nervous disorder.

Bayard hopped back a bit more when Usui crouched down to be eye-level with him. He nervously noted his friend’s twitching tail and giant sharp teeth. He wanted to trust this Gembound, but suddenly he felt trapped up here with this giant… lion, apparently. He tucked the word away into his expanding vocabulary, still keeping his beady eyes on the lion’s teeth. But then Usui was bounding down the makeshift stairs, with Bayard staring dumbly at his retreating form for a few seconds, wondering what had just happened. He swallowed nervously when he noted that the stairs all shattered as Usui ran down them. He’d have no way down now. Unless…

Fly? Usui had told him to fly, to stretch his wings out and use them. Mm. The thought made Bayard incredibly nervous. He lifted his wings and flapped them multiple times. They seemed dry enough now. The raven hopped towards the edge of the Spire, looking down. Before, he’d had no issue with this. He’d taken in the sight of all of Polaris before him and reveled in it. Now he realized for the first time just how far away the ground was. If this didn’t work, he was going to die. He knew that. Thirty-two feet (ten meters) was a very long drop. Somehow his friend’s promises of catching him didn’t really make him feel all that much better about this…

Still, his instincts as a bird got the better of him in the end. He took a deep breath, and then another, and then one more. And then he hopped off the edge of the Spire, flapping wildly at the same time. His eyes were squeezed shut, but he quickly realized that not being able to see was worse than watching himself fall to his death, so he snapped them open. To his surprise, and immense relief, he was flying just fine! Already, he was feet away from the Spire, held aloft by the breezes that wafted through Polaris, and his own ability as a bird. The raven let out a triumphant caw, looked briefly down at Usui below him, and then let his wings stop flapping, spread them wide, and glided around the giant room gracefully, feeling proud of himself.

The lion was nervous for Bayard, the little gembound. He hoped that the raven would make that flight successfully. The raven took to the skies easily, laying rest his fears although Bayard seemed unaware of his own success till moments later when he let out a triumphant caw. Usui reared onto his hind limbs and pranced his fore paws onto the ground, head tossed high with a bright grin on his face. "Woohoo! YOU'RE DOING IT BAYARD YOU'RE FLYING!"he laughed and cheered for his raven pal.

He fell into silence, tail waving behind him in joy as he let the raven make a couple more rounds and savour his natural element - the wind and soaring skies. Usui decided that the raven needed to eat something then - would it succeed in catching its first meal? "HEY BAYARD, CATCH SOME INSECT TO EAT?" he yelled to the bird flying overhead. The raven was an extremely quick learner, perhaps he might be the first gembound he met who could catch his own meal from birth!

flight |flīt|
noun
1 the action or process of flying through the air: an eagle in flight | the history of space flight.
• an act of flying; a journey made through the air or in space, esp. a scheduled journey made by an airline: I got the first flight.

All of Bayard’s nervousness was long gone by the time Usui called up to him. Try to catch an insect? Hmm… The raven assumed he could do it. It would just take patience and concentration, and, for one so young, he already had those qualities. How was he supposed to learn things if he wasn’t patient enough to learn them. So, yes. He was up to the challenge of figuring out how to catch an insect. While flying. Maybe this wouldn’t be so easy… Where to start?

Bayard circled a particular area for a minute, trying to spot any insects buzzing around. The air seemed pretty clear from up here… Hmm. Perhaps he needed to go lower to the ground? He tipped his body towards the ground and gracefully swooped downwards. Then he pulled up again and began circling once more, searching for any buzzing insects with his keen and beady eyes… There! There was some sort of buzzing, fast insect flying around about ten feet to his right. It looked like a red stick with a double set of wings on its body (dragonfly). It was actually rather big for him, but he was determined to try and catch it. However, it moved so quickly, darting here and there seemingly at random that he knew he’d never get it without a little help…

He called upon his Magic again, knowing that if this worked, he’d definitely have to rest afterwards. Even sending that puff of air towards the Spire had tired him out earlier, so he’d have to eat the thing and land after this. And it would be sort of difficult to wrap his mind around what he was about to do. He was going to have to keep flapping, while sending a Gust of air towards him, to force the dragonfly in his direction, so that it wouldn’t be able to escape while he went after it.

With a breath, he released the Magic, and, miraculously, it worked! He felt the breeze blow over him, and watched the dragonfly struggle against it, and fail. It flew straight for him, and he opened his beak and snapped down on it just as it began to pass him. It buzzed angrily in his beak so he quickly swallowed it, smiling in satisfaction as his hunger left him a little. Then, with another caw to let Usui know he was landing, he tilted himself towards the ground again and spiraled downwards in a show of acrobatics. He even twirled ‘round in the air a little, and then he swooped upwards to slow himself down and landed lightly beside Usui, feeling just a little cocky.

Usui relaxed as he observed Bayard in flight, content to be a spectator while the bird did his stunts and attempted his first hunt. He saw the raven swoop lower to the ground and start circling, sharp eyes looking out for prey. He chuckled in approval and decided to take a sit, feline tail thumping on the floor good-naturedly as he waited for the show to unravel. Occasionally, the lion cub would lift a paw and smoothen out his whiskers almost in deep observation. Bayard came to a halt then, though his beady eyes were focused on a fast-moving insect in the air. Usui could not see it from a distance but knew then that the raven had found his prey. Green eyes lit up in interest as the young gembound called forth his magic, succeeding in bringing the food to his beak rather than darting forward in a wild chase. He laughed and brought his forepaws up and thumped them together in a clapping action. "Bravo Bayard, bravo!” he called out with a rough chuckle as the raven completed his antic, spiralling down beautifully to land lightly beside Usui. "Aren’t you a smart one young lad!” he exclaimed, beaming at the raven whom he was becoming rather fond of. "And a pressure magic user too! Well done.” Having congratulated Bayard, he flopped over to his side lazily and let his thick skull thump to the ground, four limbs splayed out to the left. He waited to see what the raven would want to do next. In the meantime, he was going to take a nice rest against the cool ground.

sleep |slēp|
noun
1 a condition of body and mind such as that which typically recurs for several hours every night, in which the nervous system is relatively inactive, the eyes closed, the postural muscles relaxed, and consciousness practically suspended: I was on the verge of sleep | [ in sing. ] : a good night's sleep.

Usui had the right idea, Bayard thought. He was exhausted from his first encounter in the Origin Cave. Climbing the Spire, flying for the first time, using his Magic twice. This was a lot for him to do within a short amount of time, and he was feeling the effects of it all. He decided that all he wanted to do now that he had eaten was curl up and sleep for a good long while. Usui was looking at him expectantly, but he sort of just shrugged and hopped over to the lion. He snuggled his body up against the bigger creature’s warm belly, tucked his head under his wing, and went to sleep…

[Exit Bayard]

The lion looked on kindly at the Raven, wondering what he would like to do next. Bayard must have a very good idea for he started to show signs of baby gembound fatigue. Usui chuckled and lifted one paw, beckoning for the raven to come closer. As Bayard snuggled against his belly, Usui brought his paw down and placed it protectively over Bayard, protecting him for potential predators and the elements. Feeling tired from creating those staircase bits, he too, closed his eyes and fell asleep.
-Exit Usui-

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