listen to me + hear my thoughts

Ashtoreth returned home, her mane ruffling in the gentle wind of the cave. She had carefully collected all of her feathers so far and was ready to go home--

But wait.

There was another bird she could snatch feathers from still. Hearing the ruffling of feathers on the wind, she moved into stealth mode, grinning, and started to stalk after her new target...

tag;; @Temere

Death had been sparse within Origin caverns recently, the doom bringer had spent its time instead observing the movements of Hasira as he planned out his next attack along with the white fawn. Preening itself, the presence of another caused it to straighten, sharp eyes scanning the ground below. Who had entered his abode?

@Ashtoreth

listen to me + hear my thoughts

The bird was above her. Baring her teeth in a classic Ash-grin, the child flapped her wings as a test, summoning her magic to her forefront.

The air swelled up underneath her and she leaped upwards, flailing her butt-wings as hard as she could, tossing her paws up at the massive dark bird. She just had to snatch a feather or two--

The magic cut off abruptly and the noddle squeaked as her body fell lamely to the floor.

tag;; @Temere

A disturbance was felt from below and it immediately caught sight of the flash of black feather and fur as she attempted to climb to his resting spot. Just as soon as she had entered the air, she fell back down. Amused, it clicked its beak together and spread its wings. "Child. What are you attempting to do?" Unaware she was after one of its feathers, the lamp that Eve had made for it was sitting just behind.

listen to me + hear my thoughts

Ashtoreth huffed with frustration, glaring up at the growing shadows above. What a pain in her tail! If the bird would just come down here where the noodle could get to them, it would be so much easier.

So she flapped her wings, putting her paws up on the wall, and focused as hard as she could. The air vibrated slightly, and an echo wobbled back up towards the bird.

"Ccch'ld. What ar-- you at' t' tempt' to do?"

She grinned up at him, feeling like a right smartie-pants about the whole situation. Surely he would be curious and come down now!

tag;; @Temere

Amusement wearing off quickly, it clicked its beak again and tilted its head to get a better look. A winged mammal it seemed, never had he seen anything like it other than the two born here to the panther weeks ago. This one was far smaller and its wings were oddly positioned. Shooting mimicry back at it, its brow line didn't pull together as the bones were locked in place, but it peered out from under it in a menacing manner.

"Your purpose for existing. What is it?" Why would such a hybrid creature not suffer existence? Raking its claws across the pire on which it stood, it wondered if she would taste good.

listen to me + hear my thoughts

Ash had no idea she was actually, perhaps, bothering or even inviting the bird to hunt her-- she simply was playing around, trying to get her way. A spoiled little child, she was.

She put her paw in her mouth and flapped her wings more, trying to explain using her father's voice. His question was weird, but perhaps she could answer in a way he would find satisfying.

The air turned crisp, the sound of feathers echoing around them. Three creatures, talons on stone, the faded murmur of a tongue being drawn across a bunch of feathers. The day her sister had hatched and she had been named.

"Hello... daughter." A pause. "Hey, I think your sister needs help. You want to help?" Ashtoreth nodded firmly to herself, carrying on. "You two look like an Ashtoreth, a star..."

tag;; @Temere

Extremely odd. It didn't seem at all like it was relevant to its question and the great eagle merely straightened. Should it be wasting its time with such a creature who couldn't even comprehend its simple speech. Merely an oddity within Origin cave, it assumed that these anomalies appeared sometimes. As speaker for the dead, it could assume that it had leaked out of some hole and gotten trapped within a gem.

"Do you speak anything else other than odd paraphrases?" It was an ironic question coming from it, as all it spoke in itself were broken and mixed up sentences.

@Ashtoreth

listen to me + hear my thoughts

The child blinked as the bird asked her if she spoke in anything else, as though what she was saying wasn't good enough. Now, Ash wasn't particularly immodest, but she thought she was doing a rather good job!

Pouting, the mustelid leaned back on to her hind legs and frantically nodded, waving her paws about in gestures. She could speak just fine to those who understood her voice didn't work and tried a bit harder to understand her-- she did a mean mimicry and a passing amount of charades, really.

But her ears laid back and she settled back down, looking rather sullen. Did the bird think she was stupid, or incapable of better? It was the best she could do, for goodness sake, and she was still just a child! She gave the bird her best puppy eyes, hoping it would be a bit nicer.

tag;; @Temere

Now the thing was waving its arms around spasmodically as though trying to mime something to it. Really, this was less than amusing and finally he had had enough. Spreading its wings, it took off in one beat and angled them to drop down to a perch lower and closer to Ashtoreth, but still out of her reach unless she really tired to flap those oddly positioned wings of her own. Maybe it was its own boredom and curiosity that drew it closer.

Not entirely sure what it should say, it instead drove the topic back around to magic. Something that fascinated it. "Magic made you speak those words I'm assuming?" Unaware there was another motive by which she had wanted it to come closer, it extended its wing towards her in a pointing gesture, "If I wanted to, I could send you to the other side of Origin." The other side referring to... well death. All his speech was in a flat voice.

ooc; real shitpost right here