[aw] volant aspirations
#1
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422 → Optime form. For absolutely anyone! Big Grin



Summer sunlight broke in beams through the dark, clawing branches of the aptly-named ruins. It seemed even a bright day, full of birdsong and rich scents in other areas, could not penetrate the dreary atmosphere of the grove where the ravens lived. The dark birds flapped from perch to perch, cawing and croaking and making all matter of noise as they went about their day. It was a harsh cacophony to any coyote's ears, but as the Centurion moved slowly through the stained trees, she was surprised to understand bits and pieces of the noise.

Her expression must have shown her wonder, because the large raven perched on her shoulder preened smugly and said, Not so hard as boy thinking, eh?

Vesper smirked and reached up to cuff the corvine, who flapped up into a tree above and quorked once to a companion. The other raven was sleeker, smaller, her indigo iridescence more obvious than the scruffy male's. She peered down at the coywolf, and Stark lifted his head. Midnight having few words, he explained. Trying to say hello, now, boy. He cocked his head expectantly.

It embarrassed her, but with her winged partner watching and no luperci in sight, the scarred woman let out an accented croak that was somewhat standard greeting among the birds. After a pause, in which the ravens shared an amused glance, the one named Midnight returned the greeting. She then let out a harsher noise, one that Ves was used to hearing when she came into their midst.

Is this how you build relationships? Vesper asked her companion wryly. She had some slivers of meat in one hand, and she threw some at the female raven, who wolfed them down greedily.

Midnight bobbed her head violently as if in answer, and Stark chuckled in the queer way of ravens. He waggled a wing at the other, and with a grouchy peck, she left him to wing her way through the high branches where the others lurked.

Being a start, Stark admitted finally. Making friends, giving food, getting spy. Today learning hellos and foods, later learning about orders.

She smirked in defeat and started to weave her way through the wooded area again, stopping from time to time with introductions and meat-throwing. In one way, she knew, this was no different from first making her way through Inferni to meet her comrades. Commands and true partnership would come afterward, and until then, she would make a fool of herself cawing at the sky.


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#2
The Lykoi woman was not as tiny as she once had been. Her body had remained well rounded and plump after having given birth to the future of Inferni. She had not minded the added weight to her frame, she was a tiny thing still, but atleast the few added pounds made her seem a little larger than she really was. Life was content in most ways but for a dark shadow that hung over her world. She tried to ignore the presence in the clan but it was hard to do.

Today though she had decided to take out the smallest member of the clan into the warm humid woods to rest. Timori had stayed in the mansion to watch her older daughter while she tended to the little boy Chico. She sighed softly as she toted the tiny boy across the woods in her lupus form. She hadn't gone far before the sound of another moving through the forest caught her attention. The tiny woman turned towards the sound as an involuntary growl escaped her throat.

The call of the ravens made her glance up for a moment before she caught the scent of the second in command. Her heckles, which had begun to raise slowly flattened against her spine again as she turned her eyes towards the figure of Vesper as she came into view. The small Lykoi woman placed her child between her forepaws as she lowered her head respectfully towards Vesper. "Hello..." she said softly before nudging the small boy further behind her paws, trying to hide his inferior size from the eyes of the leader.
#3
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out of character here


The lesson went slowly, but it went. Big Thor liked to try to bully the coyotes who spoke to him, but a cold front deterred him. Cocky Broken-claws used his high speech to crow riddles at passing Infernians, but all it took was someone to talk to him for him to fall silent and greedily absorb the attention. Small, quick Lucy was timid around luperci, but she liked to listen to whistling.

Vesper was almost amazed at how diverse the ravens’ personalities were, and even more so that she hadn’t noticed when she came here before. Only her current partner had cared to pay attention to her, and it was only under his guidance that she learned the names and quirks of the birds croaking and flapping overhead.

The meat had run out a while back, save for a last chunk that Stark nibbled from her claws. She ran a finger over his head, met his wise eyes with a smile, then lifted her head at the sound of a greeting.

“Hi, Zana,” the Centurion replied, her voice perhaps oddly bright. She corrected this with a smooth smirk and scratched at her messily-cropped mane. Light blue eyes widened then as she remembered the news, and quickly she asked, “How are you doing? How are the—” Her eyes dropped to the tiny thing between the woman’s dark forepaws, and a curious look overtook the subleader’s face—softness and interest crossed with a tinge of awkward fear, having no maternal instincts to name.

“Who is this?” Vesper asked, blinking as she took in as much as she could of the cub hidden underneath his mother.




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