_{Looking for an easy start for Harpy, so please only positive encounters!}

Way up high on the ceiling of Eridanus sat a peculiar stone. Black and white like zebra stripes, polished and clean, it appeared like some strange blot of ink as if entirely by the compulsion of something chaotic and strange.

Of course, in these caves, it could only be one thing.

Inside had grown a neonate. A bird, to be specific. Sooty feathers had grown and spread in recent days and now the space inside its banded egg had grown much too small. Suffocating, even.

The fledgling's mind told her quite simply, it's time to hatch.

As if in response, she felt the urge to tense her jaw as magicka pooled in her stone, then burst out with a force just strong enough to split the stone egg that held her to the cave's ceiling.

She plummeted with the discarded shell bits like a rock.

Thankfully, she landed on something rather porous and squishy. Its dome top suited her flared wings and tail perfectly and as the stone bits of her egg fell away, she remained in place at its peak.

The little sooty black and yellow bird didn't move. Little was, of course, an operative word for a bird with wings that could envelope a cat with little effort, not that meat was on the menu. Her stomach growled at the thought of food and though she could place no images to the words in her head, she knew their general meaning as if someone had whispered these words to her in the centuries it took for her magicka to settle and finally take form. She didn't think of these things quite so clearly, of course. A faintest thought like a lingering dream as her mind settled and dulled with all the new stimulation it was suddenly receiving.

She turned her head and eyed the space above her, pupils pinning to try and spot where she'd fallen from.

Much too far away for such small eyes to see. She opted to focus on something closer. She turned her head the other way and spotted the leaves of a tree nearby.

That looked inviting... but so far away. She'd have to be clever to get there. Perhaps she would find something to settle the growling in her stomach as well.

Except, she wasn't quite certain how to get up. Her wings were keeping her firmly in place and should she move them even the slightest, perhaps she could fall to her doom.

Falling even that short height had felt sincerely wrong.

Only doom could await her in the place she couldn't see, below whatever it was she'd landed on, which was high up, because as she looked to either side, it was obvious that the trees were stretching to reach the same height as this.

Quite a predicament.

why change the past

when you could own this day

Eridanus, this was Riffi's home. The famous Maw of Moss, it had been destroyed twice over, and yet it still manage to make a comeback. It seems this place was a fire hazard, and that fact it strangely thrilled a part of Riffi. The blue jay had left her sparkling nest of treasures in search of a nice juicy bug to eat. Since this was Eridanus, it shouldn't be that hard. She flew through the canopy, skillfully dodging the sweeping limbs with aerial grace. Riffi swooped under a large, moss covered branch, and her destination yawned before her. The Monarch. She found that this colossal fungi attracted a myriad of insects. It was practically a buffet.

Her sharp eyes spotted something clinging to a mottled limb. She soared closer. It was a fat millipede, a green wallcrawler. That thing could feed her for days! She landed beside it and began to peck at its green carapace. Suddenly, a soft thud came from the cap of the Monarch. She jumped, startled, and her big, juicy meal fell to the forest floor below, lost to the clutter of overlapping leaves. Riffi sighed in annoyance and she turned her head to the source. With her meal gone, she might as well figure out what all that noise was. Maybe it was large pile millipedes, that would certainly make up for her troubles, but it was unlikely

Riffi hopped along the branch until it thinned out, and what she saw.. disappointed her. It was no heap of wallcrawlers, but another avian. Well, she did not know what she expected. Taking a closer look she saw that the it was young, with shards of crystals strewn around it. It must have fell from way up there.

"Lucky catch." She whispered to herself.

The poor thing seemed unsure. It looked frozen in place with its large wings unfurled. From one avian to another, perhaps she could give it some encouragement. So Riffi flew to a closer perch and from her standpoint, she called out to the newborn.

"Hey kiddo! You alright?."

"Listen to me."
Thoughts

TAG: @Harpy // OOC:

"Hey kiddo, you alright?"

Curved face snapped to find the source of the new sounds, a singsong but warbling voice of sorts. Pinning eyes settled on the blue bird above her on a tree branch. Her first impression? Handsome! Though, she couldn't put words to the feeling yet. The darker fledgling keened softly in her throat, finding her voice.

The long moment before she found any words at all seemed to drag on.

What words she spoke were not in any language yet. A universal noise like a whine or a whimper but whistling and wispy. From the little bird's standpoint this was the only way to ask for help; the words just refused to come to mind.

why change the past

when you could own this day

So, the kid had some communication issues. Well, Riffi hoped she could understand her. The blue jay dropped down to branch closer to the young one. The fledgling did not look hurt, just scared. Her wings seemed to have feathers on them, so that must mean she could fly, right? Riffi whistled playfully to the cockatoo to grab her attention. "C'mon kid!" She shouted, flapping her wings eagerly. "You can do it!."

"Fly! Fly to me!"

There was most certainly a learning curb to flight, and it did not help that they were a long ways from the ground, but Riffi was confident that a bird with that wingspan could effortlessly soar to her perch. She was sure of it!

"Listen to me."
Thoughts

TAG: @Harpy // OOC:

The blue bird above her flapped her wings and shouted encouragement. The flapping caught the cockatoo's eye, that pinning action showing her interest, excitement and thought as she worked out the meaning of the other's words.

Oh. Fly. That felt like a familiar concept. Familiar like a story, though.

Not an experience.

She wasn't sure she knew how. Maybe the flapping had something to do with it?

Certainly that little blue jaybird hadn't climbed that high.

She wasn't sure how she'd get into the air, but maybe she could try?

She slid ungracefully the moment her wings moved and the shock was enough for her body to follow the motion and curl forward. Perhaps this spooked reaction saved her, however, because just as she felt gravity's full force, her wings caught the air. Instinct took over from there, though not very gracefully.

She screeched out an instinctive contact call the moment her wings began their rapid fluttering. Wide tail spread like a flat fan and four-toed feet became lost to the void of her under-plumage. She flickered back and forth between the trees until finally her little feet (and much of the rest of her) found a branch somewhere close to the cap she'd landed on. She'd lost sight of her new friend in the ruckus.

Another call, this time longer, not as screechy, still a contact call, searching for the little blue jaybird.

@Riffi

why change the past

when you could own this day

Riffi watched as the young bird took to the air for the first time. It wasn't graceful, but her first time was worst. She literally go stuck in the Cetus mud and it took weeks to groom out all the gunk! She had to admit it, from falling from the ceiling to landing on a branch, this kid must have luck on her side.

Riffi hopped down to a lower branch just in time to hear the young bird's call. She peered down at the young gembound and opened her beak, playfully echoing the cockatoo's call almost perfectly. Riffi was kind of impress with herself, though it still sounded a little blue jayish to a trained ear such as hers.

"Up here kid." She called down to her. Rifffi stayed put, wondering if the little cockatoo would use her wings once more.

"Listen to me."
Thoughts

TAG: @Harpy // OOC: