listen to me + hear my thoughts

Look, Fisher was great and all, but a noodle could only take so much of being smothered. On the bright side, her fathers apparently only shared one singular brain cell, and all it took was her wandering off at a casual pace when her father got caught up in some weird, exciting new thing for her to leave him behind for good. She wasn't a baby bird anymore, after all.

That had been several cycles ago. She hadn't even heard a single "Ashtoreth?" ringing through the caves. Some days, she was certain that no one actually cared about her, and that thought more than not tried to consume her. She kept the good memories close as best as she could to fight it back. Fisher had been good company, a goofy, weird uncle more than a proper dad, but still. He had taught her some pretty valuable things, and now it was time to move on.

Ash had figured moving on would be, well, easy. She knew what she wanted to do-- be a hero, protect the caves, make a name for herself... But honestly, she hadn't found a good way to start. Most days she just wandered around the caves and tunnels, catching snacks, finding new feathers for her cloak... She practiced flying to death. It felt like her life was stuck on a repeating loop where nothing ever changed. She had thought that getting rid of Fisher would have fixed that, that she would have struck out and become her own gembound once and for all-- but no. Nothing.

Obviously the problem was with her.

She needed to find something... some problem to solve. Something to push her forward. She didn't know what exactly she was looking for, but she found herself deep in the heart of Cetus's groves, claws digging into bark as she scampered from branch to branch.

The wind rustled behind her, under her wings, carrying her when the jumps might have otherwise been too far. Moving was often the only thing that kept her spirits high, but today she was hunting for something that wasn't prey. She didn't even know what it was. She wouldn't until she ran right into it, she suspected.

tag;; @lethe

Lounging in one of the trees was a large bush of black fur, tail draped over thick and sturdy (at least she hoped) branch that she had found today. It wasn't her usual branch, mainly because she couldn't remember where her usual branch was. If she even had one. She didn't even recognize this area, although she had, at the very least, been here long enough to know the place as Cetus. It seemed the only thing that could break through Lethe's horrific memory problem was repetition. Good to keep that in mind.

Something was making a whole forest-full of noise somewhere around, but she couldn't be bothered to even turn her head to look. She wasn't sleeping, though, her eyes were open (although she arguably wasn't really "awake" either), she just didn't see the point in even using the energy to turn her head. This branch was comfortable. She had learned enough that if she left her branch, she'd forget where it was. And she had to leave her branch to find food. And the more energy she expended, the more food she had to catch. And moving the head meant using energy. So, obviously, her final conclusion that moving her head would mean she'd have to leave the branch. She didn't want to leave the branch.

So she lounged and just tried to forget about it. It wouldn't be too hard.

Except...that it was getting louder. And closer. An ear twitched, but still she stubbornly didn't move. It would be fine. No one was going to attack her. She'd been around here for cycles and no one had physically attacked her.

Apparently not until today, however.

She wasn't at all prepared, then, for something to slam right into her. It could be excused, of course - in the darkness of Cetus, her fur could easily be mistaken for a shadow or a clump of dark leaves. But that didn't make the sudden hit any less surprising. She shrieked as her balance on the branch was thrown off and she tumbled off, swinging her tail around to grab a hold before she fell. However, the momentum was too much and she was too slow and her (most likely over)weight jerked the tail right out of the tree.

She crashed down into the mud, hissing all the way, which only increased in volume and angriness when moisture soaked into her thick, heavy fur. She immediately tried to right herself, pushing onto her back legs and turning towards the creature that had barreled right into her. "Hey, what the FUCK? I was trying to sleep!"

@Ashtoreth

listen to me + hear my thoughts

Ashtoreth barreled right into a lump on a branch, throwing it, and herself, out of the trees entirely. The wind under her wings caught around her as she fell, sending her tumbling nearly head first into the ground-- only barely did she manage to twist and roll to avoid breaking something. It helped that Cetus was mostly mud, as well. Hissing through her teeth-- a sound made only by breathing through clenched jaws-- she scrambled on to her feet and stared with large, dark eyes at the muddy lump of black fur she had disturbed.

For a half second, she thought she had knocked a black bear or something out of the tree, and that would've been pretty bad. It wasn't a bear though-- if anything, it looked kind of like her, just less... noodly. About as long, with an even longer tail, and a pointy snout. Whatever it was (rich, coming from the avian-mammal hybrid with buttwings), it was sure pissed off that she had disturbed it.

In a panic, she answered, in a tone that was much more mocking than intended: "Hey, what the FUCK? I was trying to-- go!" The last sound was warbled, distorted as she did her best to make the sound using just the air waves.

... Pretty much immediately she knew that didn't come out right, so she crouched lower into the mud, lowering her wings flatly and trying to shrink down and be, uh, less intimidating. It had been a bit since she had used her magic to talk to anyone, and she wasn't entirely certain that this gembound even wanted to have a conversation.

Hopefully it wouldn't end up in a fight.

tag;; @Lethe

Lethe glared down at the thing, waiting for it to respond, for something along the line of "oh, I'm sorry I didn't see you there" or "you shouldn't have been in my way" but what she didn't expect at all was her own voice and her exact words to come out of its mouth.

Her jaw dropped and she just...stared, her brain trying to figure out what was just said to her. "Uh.....excuse me?" It took a moment for her to catch the mocking tone, and yeah, THAT she understood and recognized. Was it trying to copy her? No, because it ended something different and it didn't look like it was copying her. All low to the ground and bowing. Now why was it doing that? She couldn't remember. She thought she'd seen something like it before but....no, no memory coming up.

Still, any kind of teasing stung Lethe sharply and her expression twisted. "Shut up! You ran into me!" She raised her paw and grumpily flicked some mud at the hybrid creature in an attempt to express her displeasure in the situation and just to release a bit of anger. She was never very good at expressing her emotions.

@Ashtoreth

listen to me + hear my thoughts

Ashtoreth winced as the gembound took offense; okay, fair, that was fair-- she had ran right into the stranger, but it was hard not to when they were just... Why had they even been sleeping on a branch in the first place? Okay, wait, no, that was stupid. Ash slept in trees all the time.

Before Ashtoreth could attempt to do or say anything else, the longtailed mustelid-like slapped some mud in her direction, and though it wasn't a lot, it still splattered on her face and through her feathers. She blinked, stunned for a second-- but... But it wasn't a fight. Not a real fight, like she was worried about.

It was kind of like a play fight. She raised her paw, and then slapped it down hard into the mud between them, kicking up more mud on both of them. With a delighted, soundless shake through her chest, she fluttered her wings, getting even more muck all over her feathers.

"Whoops! Sorry about that!" The air chattered around them, pattering in a deep voice that didn't seem fitting for the wriggly, mud covered noodle. "What the FUCK!" Lethe's voice came up again, followed by a laughter that seemed to fluctuate through a few different kinds of giggles and snorts.

She dared to scamper forward, raising her nose up right into the stranger's face. A bird's voice crowed, careful and gentle, like a parent to a child. "Ashtoreth," the voice said. "Who's that?"

tag;; @Lethe

Apparently, throwing mud at the hybrid wasn't going to get her anger message across, since not a few seconds later, there was a spray of mud and the sound of laughter. Already caked in the stuff, it didn't both Lethe too much, but the action certainly did. Her fur (the dry parts at least) bushed furiously. "STOP IT," she yowled. She hated this! Why did everyone laugh at her? Why did everyone make fun of her?! Had they heard of the big, stupid, dumb binturong that could barely remember her own name? Did they come here to mock her too?

When they got right up close to her, Lethe panicked. She didn't like people being near her. She didn't like them being close. "Get away from me!" she cried out as she scrambled back. Her magic reacted to the stranger growing closer and she felt something shift in her stomach. Without really thinking, she lunged forward, snapping at the muzzle in front of her. They'd gotten too close to her. They weren't going to tease her anymore.

@Ashtoreth