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+--- Thread: Birds of a feather (/showthread.php?tid=11733)
Birds of a feather - Aran - May 09 2024
It'd been a while since Aran took a visit to Pegasus. It's one of his favorite caves - the perfect temperature no matter the cycle, the scenery that makes him feel at home. It is not his home, at least not right now. Living in one place has never been Aran's thing, but that place was where he revived his kids. So Lacerta is where his home is for now. He'd rather ignore the pulls his familiar sends to him when they go to many of the caves anyway. (He ignores that its only in the ones with the white fungus)
Said bird is with him always now. Not phased by the bird skull pendant he wears, nor his sudden bouts of terror. All things considered, it is a good bird. And not a species he's seen since that day.
This visit to Pegasus was actually planned this time. There's just enough space here for him to feel comfortable enough stretching his wings out in the meadows. It's still a new feeling despite the spell he's known as long as he can remember (which frankly, isnt that long). The mix of feathers and leather fan out to full wingspan allowing the muscles to get a well needed stretch. It's unfortunate that he gained the wings of someone he attacked, but Aran is not banking on seeing whoever that was again.
Yeah, this is the perfect place for practicing. He's going to fly today.
@Arquia
RE: Birds of a feather - Arquia - May 09 2024
Arquia hadn't been doing much out of the ordinary in all the time that had gone by. She had mainly lingered around Pegasus which she considered her home, after all. After the incident the last time she had left this cave, her thirst for adventure had been quenched. She didn't feel much for others, but that didn't make her completely heartless. And it seemed in all the time that passed, she felt no better about it at all. She wondered, too, what had happened to that deer she had met.
She was soaring over the fields of Pegasus when she took a double-take upon catching sight of a particular gembound. It was a deer, or, well, as close as you could get to a deer who had been through quite a lot. Arquia dipped down, coming to a landing not too far away and approaching Aran. Was it him? No, he didn't have wings, nor the strange coloring... still, she should check. "Greetings..." she approached, "deer." She continued looking him up and down, more sizing him down rather than up considering his size. But if this really was the deer she knew from that long ago, then his magic was scarier than his appearance gave away.
@Aran
RE: Birds of a feather - Aran - May 12 2024
Hydra both blessed and cursed him with new additions, and it would only be normal for those he knew before to not recognize him. So when Arquia found herself landing near him Aran did not startle, did not move while she sized him up. Some anxiety in the back of his mind told him to run because she'd eat him, a creature of hunger. Except he knows she would not.
"Greetings." He pauses for a moment, considering what to do. "Dragon."
He considered pulling a little prank on her, but Aran also does not want to be on the receiving end of a dragon's scorn.
"Arquia." There we go. "It seems the desert cave has given me some new additions." He lifts a wing up to wave it about. Thankfully not as heavy as they were upon waking.
Frankly, Aran should be a lot more worried about what happened that day. There were deaths. Aran himself got injured quite badly and still did not win. For some reason the topic does not bring dread when he thinks of it. Just disappointment with himself for not being better. Perhaps next time, if there ever is one.
"I came here to practice using them." Of course he could fly before with magic, but this is a bit different. He just hopes Arquia wont notice who's wings these are and ask questions. It's not like he could control what he got.
He wonders if she would like to meet the stone she helped him kill. His son is surely around somewhere.
@Arquia
RE: Birds of a feather - Arquia - May 13 2024
She did not know of a desert cave. She did not even know about the Trials of Hydra or that anything like that had occurred. "You died to get wings." she states. Many many cycles ago, she thought wings to be a curse. It was only sometime later that she learned how useful they really could be. "They do not match you." Perhaps the comment was a jab at his fashion senses, or perhaps she really was suspicious of how he came about them. Either way, she would not elaborate further on this point.
"Flying is not so hard, you need a tree." Arquia was remembering how she had first learned to fly. It involved a very scary owl, and a tree. She was not a scary owl. She was a scary dragon. But that was replacement enough. Then she looked down at his hooves and realized that he probably would not be able to balance very well on a tree. Not that the purpose of a tree was to stay on there for very long either way. "Or I can drop you. It is the most efficient way of practice."
But oh, now that she was thinking about these things, she was reminded of that tree all the way in Lacerta where the deinocornus had been. Arquia narrowed her eyes ever so slightly. "What came of the stone from Lacerta? Have you been taking care of it?" Look, she still felt bad about all that had happened. The gemstone was all that was left of it now, though it had been in Aran's possession.
@Aran
RE: Birds of a feather - Aran - May 13 2024
Aran stares at her blankly. Well, he stares at everyone blankly - he's blind.
"I guess so." He had died, sure, but it was more... An accomplishment.
Though his definition of death and hers seem to be different. Aran is still alive and walking - he has not become a pile of rot like those deinocornus they killed together. A defeat for the creatures who are now dead, but a victory for the mutated deer and the dragon. They'd won. Even if Aran feels bad about it, perhaps they should've chosen to run away before he decided he wanted the stones.
"I don't think it is truly death. I am alive and walking." For now. Aran cannot predict when he will die, but it will come to him one day. Just as it will come to everyone in time.
He turns to stare at his new galactic-colored appendages.
"They do not. It seems like they match someone else's I have met once." He turns away from them. "I don't think it means anything, though." It probably doesn't, and Aran most likely won't run into that gembound again.
The claws are that of a vulture's, sort of funny since he cannot digest the meats of any creature.
"I don't think a tree would be a good idea." He suppresses a grimace. Aran probably could balance somewhat fine with the claws, but he's not willing to take that chance.
"Dropping will probably work best." He nods, though the idea of it is terrifying.
Aran is not afraid of heights, though he would rather keep things safe. Worst case there are spells he can use for it.
Aran debates not telling Arquia about the child. He did wonder if she wanted to meet him.
"Unfortunately, one of the two stones did not take. However one of them did take and is around here somewhere. His name is Ajit."
It's been some cycles since the deinocornus were murdered and Ajit hatched. Aran thinks the kid is doing good enough.
"He seems to have a knack for reading the past, even though his element is mine."
@Arquia
RE: Birds of a feather - Arquia - May 13 2024
"Interesting." Aran getting wings was something she had not expected, and he was also being a bit weird about the whole thing. She wasn't sure if she expected him to be more talkative and open or what it was, but she was a bit suspicious. But then again, she was always suspicious.
She looked him up and down, trying to judge how far she would have to drop him from to get the full effect. Heavy things drop faster. Also took more time for wings to kick in. Hm, yes, it would have to be from as high as she could get. Above the treetops at the very least. Perhaps it was a good thing then that he did not choose the tree.
Ah, the mention of the kid. Wait- he made a kid!? She knew stones were supposed to be made into kids and all that, but she didn't think he would actually go through with it. Like, it was some level of messed up to revive the stone who you murdered. "Does Ajit know of their past? And stand still, I will pick you up."
Arquia takes off into the air and hovers over Aran. Then she reaches down with her claws and takes hold of his body, lifting up him into the air. The darned deer is much heavier than she expected, and a strain on her muscles as she beats her wings to fly higher. Soon they are a bit higher than the treetops, but that's as far as she can take him. "Ready?"
@Aran