The currently-flightless juvenile walked with enthusiasm, all the while her eyes glued to the ceiling. Her bloodstone beak glinted and shined under the stars of the cave, blue eyes reflecting the lights brightly. Yinehi didn't look down at all. Which, unfortunately, led to her tripping over rubble. Her wings sprawled out and she made a solid "oof" as she landed. It to her a moment to recover from the fall, but was quick to shake it off, then carry on.

Freed of her aw, she once again felt her hunger pains. She was sure she could smell death somewhere, so she picked up the pace and followed her nose. Her half-assed wings lifted and held out, she flapped them occasionally and jumped, trying to cover more ground despite her inability to take flight.

"Yes!" she said happily, scurrying up to the small carcass of some small animal that was already half-way decayed. There was no hesitation to bite into it, however. As a vulture, clean-up of the dead was in her very nature. She was not picky, although she did go for the moister parts in the center. She made quick word of the small amount of remains.

The next step was the post-meal preening. She did her best to clean up the stench and food from herself, even using her feet to wipe it from her face and beak, occasionally rubbing against the ground for a little more abrasive measures. When all tied up, she gave herself a good body shake, a stretch, then wandered onward until she found a good place to perch. From that point, she spent much of her time watching the flickering of the stars and the crumbled city.

@Hasira

Resting, that's what he did a lot of nowadays. He hardly had the energy to get up and even see about his city which was a shame because little King told him that everything was growing. They were gaining new members, loyal little followers that would ensure the clean takeover of the cave. The carnivores would tremble and he would launch the first attack on Arkrael's home base. As soon as he was ready to fight he would lead them with King at his side. His son was young but he was the spawn of a Goddess and a Lord so there was no doubt that he was a strong one.

His position was adventitious today. When normally he could be seen near his throne the stag was now in the lee of an old dilapidated building. Sitting in the shadow as he was it was probably hard to see the weathered stag with his many scars but he was there. Ever watchful of anything new in his territory. He had mostly faded into the background but even then he always watched and always listened to the progress. It was because of his ever watchful nature that he saw the tiniest flicker of movement. A tiny bird come to eat at the remains of some dead gembound.

It disgusted him, this little carrion-eater. It was probably too weak to kill anything on its own so it had to feed from what the other carnivores left behind. It was like the Carrie of its own species... but because of that it was probably better. It didn't kill on its own, it waited until something was already dead. Even feeding on the carnivores. It was a decomposer of the caves, disgusting and yet necessary all the same.

But he still hated it.

Slate gray eyes narrowed as he peered at the thing. He was too weak to assault it so he simply sat and after he'd gained enough energy he spoke. "Carrion-eater, why are you in my lands?" He wheezed, voice not nearly as strong as it once was. "Did you follow some disgusting carnivore to my realm? Or are you just as ignorant as those you must beg for food?" His voice was peppered with barely tempered anger. She'd better have a good reason for being here or else he'd do something about it. If she had been a true blue carnivore he'd have chased her away or had someone else do it but since she was simply a half step below an omnivore in his book --despite his hatred- he allowed her to explain.

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"This is how I talk!"
This is how I think!

434
@Gigatsuhali
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6/10

A rough, but quiet voice snapped her attention from the beauty of what was before her. She adjusted herself on her perch to look toward the voice, then hopped down and approached it before fluttering up to a new perch much closer. She looked him over as well as the shadows he hid in allowed, feeling a sudden sadness for him. He had been hurt so many times. His body showed the brutal cruelness of the world she'd entered.

"My heart to you," she said sincerely. She tilted her head as he spoke to her, seeming very bitter in his ways. She pondered the possibilities of what could have made him so, but none of her ideas were remotely close to his truth. Little did she know the weight of his existence and power. "Beg? I beg not. I scavenge, not because I have to, but because I choose to. Life is too precious to create more death. Life is too great to kill, when there is much to recycle."

Giga smiled a little, the corners of her mouth as far up as her beak would allow. "I am Gigatsuhali Yinehi, but you can call me Fairy, if it is easier to say. My dream is to be a healer for all, no heart too bright nor too dark." She bounced a little in place, her wings spread just a little and her shoulders accentuating her bounces. "I am sorry my birth was not in time to heal you." Her bouncing stopped and she looked him over again, sadness taking her smile away. She didn't like to see anyone hurt. She regretted not being able to help him, even though his pain was before her first life.

@Hasira

What? Her heart to him? His eyes narrowed suspiciously, not wanting to believe that there was a sincere kindness in this carnivore. No... Not carnivore, carrion-eater. Not exactly a carnivore. Not as bad. Still, he guarded his heart... Too many times had he been burned by those that were like her kind... the decomposers. He said nothing else as he listened to her, the words soft and kind. Something he sincerely hadn't heard in a while. They were not like Carrie's words who speak in the way that a coward would, nor were they like Yarrow's who was far too timid with the world. The other herbivores in his lands were harsher, crueler, more keen to the harsh way of life. Just like he'd raised them. This one... she was not a coward but not harsh either. She was a strange mixture of... something.

His tattered ears tilted towards her as he considered what she said. He was so used to navigating landmines that he knew not what to do with a field of flowers. "Thanks... decomposer." It was not exactly spoken in an insult but more just naming what she was. He debated, gauging, and then finally nodded his head. "Fairy. You speak like an herbivore yet you are not. You only take what is already dead... that is necessary I suppose. I would like to believe what you say but carnivores are careless in their killing and manipulative in their words." He tilted his head to the side as he peered at her shrewdly before narrowing his eyes. "Let's hope you are not trying to dupe the Lord the of the Herbivores." That was his first and only threat.

A series of coughs wracked his frame at the expenditure of words. This was wearing on him severely but this decomposer had piqued his interest. She spoke of being a healer, he had none of those in his lands. "If you speak truly and if you are not some emissary from my enemies your services could be useful. You would be welcome in my lands if you are a healer as we have none of those here." He seemed to be considering something before he spoke again. "Heal me? Nothing in this world could heal me... Nothing save someone that could turn back time." Something rasped from his throat. It might sound strange a mixture of wheezing and a harsh bark... The tired old stag was laughing. It went on for a few seconds before he shook his head and fixed the bird with his eyes again.

"Save your pity. It only will only help if you are true to your words and are not into killing like the carnivores." Because that at least would be a good thing.

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"This is how I talk!"
This is how I think!

460
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7/10

Decomposer was an interesting word to her. She tilted an ear toward him to hear him better, to understand his words by how he said them. He used many big words she hadn't heard before, but could hear what it meant to him in his grated voice. She heard hate and pain. The angst that could only be inflicted to a person's heart or soul. She didn't necessarily understand everything, but she knew in her own heart that this was something she wished she could fix... that she could heal.

"I think there is no proof from me to you, but...", she started, "...but I know that what I do will be good." She nodded to it in a very matter-o-fact way, feeling it was an efficient enough response to all of his negative ramblings. She knew nothing of the conflicts between herbivores and carnivores, but decided it was best to keep her beak out of it.

Giga found a new position on her perch and looked him over one more time, overwhelmed by the sight of the massive scarring. "Thelordoftheherbivores, may I practice Fauna Cleanse on you?" She assumed his name was that thing he said. It was long and odd like hers and obviously had something to do with devouring plants. Perhaps it had to do with her lack of knowledge on what it meant to be "the lord of" something.

@Hasira

He blinked slowly, still turning over her words and actions in his mind before he finally nodded. If there was one thing this almost-carnivore was it was respectful. Usually he received the ignorant act or outright defiance but she hadn't objected to anything and was polite to boot. If she was trying to fool him then she was doing a good job. The stag snorted and shook his head, the great antlers ripping through the air at the motion. "I will believe you. Do not stand with the carnivores, do not kill for food, recognize that the Lord and his kin are the leaders of the herbivores. That is what is needed to be the Lord's ally." She was still young, perhaps she was impressionable as well. Maybe that was why she was so willing to listen to him.

In any case, perhaps she didn't even have the inherent darkness in her heart that all carnivores had because her nature was not to kill but simply to recycle.

At her next words he was silent as he thought about it. Wouldn't it test her true intentions if she did this thing? In any case if she were trying to kill him he didn't fear death and it would also help him see if there was any true darkness in her heart. "Practice, Fairy, but be careful with what you do. If I find you are trying to harm me..." He let the words in a wheezing growl. He didn't need to finish that sentence to get his point across.

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"This is how I talk!"
This is how I think!

259
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7/10

She listened, nodded, and decided that agreeing with these silly things would be better off than just telling him she would side with no one. She gave him her full attention with bright blue eyes. Giga felt very excited to be able to practice on such an beast, even if it didn't work... although she admitted to herself that she really hoped there would be some improvement. At least in his mood, if nothing else.

Giga poised herself, stretched out her wonky wings, then jumped. She chicken flapped to his back and still managed to land softly, being sure to remain mindful of her baby talons. She lowered herself down into a more relaxed, perched pose. Her feathers ruffled before she fully relaxed and began to focus on using her magicka for the first time in her life. "Please feel better," she breathed, not even realizing she had spoke allowed as she tried hard to build up everything she had for him. With a good inhale, she released a soft exhale and began to feel the surges flow from her body to his.

When her spell was cast, she opened her eyes and blinked hard, feeling a bit tired after only one try. She looked toward his head, wondering how he felt. It felt like it worked, but did he?

@Hasira

The little bird leaped and landed on top of him causing the injured Lord to flinch slightly with displeasure. It felt weird to be having its sharp talons against his sensitive hide but she seemed to be moving gently just for him. What a strange thing... It reminded him of what the Plague God had said. To search for the warmth if he lived. He hadn't lived... had he? He'd died and had only been brought back because of the Goddess. It made him question why this bird was being so nice. Was she sent by the Plague God to help him go to the light? If she was it was too little too late. His course was set, her kindness did not matter. The carnivores must be stopped because they had come to him and mobbed him. Stinking cowards.

The stag sneered and looked away over the buildings in front of him while the thoughts twisted around over and over in his mind. Something began to tingle along his body where the wounds were. For a moment he tensed, feeling like the bird had tricked him but... no. He could feel the wounds being cleaned, the bad being fleshed out by the good. A sense of relaxation and relief washed over him. One tattered ear turned to Fairy followed by a slate gray eye as Hasira focused on her.

"I half expected you to use your magick to poison me." What game was she playing at? "Thanks." It seemed like an after thought forced through clenched teeth. There was absolutely nothing wrong with this bird other than the fact that it ate dead meat. It was infuriating and relieving all at the same time. He sighed. "Why do you help me when everyone else wants to kill me? It is not enough that you are just kind... no one is that kind. Kindness gets taken advantage of by carnivores, it gets you killed... like my brother..." It sounded like he was rambling but really it was a warning. Not about him but about... them.

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"This is how I talk!"
This is how I think!

345
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7/10

She tilted her head at him, confused. Why would he think she would poison him? It wasn't an answer she would know. At this point, she wasn't sure she wanted the details, but was also dying of curiosity. She resisted it, though. She resisted with the restraint one might expect of a matured adult, yet here she was. A moral code before she understood what it's purpose even was.

Then... then he asked her why. Everyone wanted to kill him, that death was a consequence of the very thing she was showing him. She hopped to the ground, then found a perch that was almost directly in front of him. She studied his face, trying to read the history in the lines that were there. She blinked, tilted her head both ways, then looked up to the stars.

"Are you going to kill me?" she asked, then looked back at him quizzically. "You say kindness kills. I have shown kindness from my first breath. Does this mean you are going to kill me, now?"

In the back of her mind, she was terrified. This was probably too bold, but she wanted to make him think as much as he made her think. Clearly there was something going on and he was involved. Whether he was good or bad, Giga found herself unable to care. All she wanted to know was... "Must death and murder always be the answer?" She paused, tilted her head a little, then looked up again, watching the twinkle of the stars far above. They were beautiful.

"I am Gigatsuhali Yinehi; I will heal all."

@Hasira

Hasira's gray gaze followed behind the bird as she hopped to the ground, never missing a beat as he stared t her. At her words he seemed almost confused. Kill her? Why would he do that? She wasn't a carnivore and even if she was she was one of the most respectful ones he'd ever met. Not speaking a single foul word and aiming to help him without being asked to do so. "No, of course not. You have not wronged me. The carrion-eaters have not wronged me, therefore it would be wrong of me to kill you for nothing. I only speak of others that would kill you, the carnivores who would trick you then turn around and kill you for your troubles." He shook his head, eyes closing briefly before he spoke again after her.

"Until the evil is cleansed from this cave... then, yes. It must." He'd told himself the same thing over and over again. He was the goodness in this cave... He was what would cleanse it. First he and then his son, just as he'd spoken many times over before. "Some simply cannot be healed." He spoke, of course, about the meat-eaters... but who's to say that was all he spoke about.

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"This is how I talk!"
This is how I think!

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@Gigatsuhali
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7/10