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T H E E C L E C T I C

[[Runewing is an old mystic that is a teacher and scout for her mysterious profession. Just testing the waters here for RP, feel free to run into her, I have her in the Deepwoods for now, but seeing as though she's scouting around, she is likely on the move. She is keeping a particular eye out for Minders in case they have news of a gifted hatchling is in their care.]]

Runewing shifted her weight on the skeletal remains of the charred oak. The massive tree was partially dead after being struck by lightning many years ago, and the branches were gnarled and twisted, swaying as her weight off-balanced them. Her large observing eyes blinked slowly as she scanned the area around her. Satisfied, Rune crouched before pushing down with her massive wings and weaving into the more secure foliage of the oak. She had hallowed out a nook in the center of the tree and had adorned the branches of the remainder of the tree with baubles and shiny objects, giving her abode its name: The Eclectic.

Syz had an affinity of collecting things that caught his fancy and reflected the light of the sun. She knew he loved to bring them back to her and she made good use of them. The collection of these objects gave the oak a mystery and touch of magic, and other Sentinels knew not to enter the mysterious domain of this mystic by the sounds and chimes the branches made when the wind brushed past.

As she thought of her bouncing and lively companion, Syz alighted on a branch next to her and began his incessant happy ramblings. "Look what I found Rune! Look!" In his beak he clutched a small green pebble that gleamed, placing it down on a nook in the branch. Rune lifted it lightly with her Will and twirled it before her, nodding her proud head. "Where did you find this?" She questioned him, knowing it wouldn't be the first time he might have taken it from someone else. She hated dealing with others who wanted their stuff back, though few dared to boldly cross into her territory to get it back, they had been known to create quite the ruckus at her border.

"Well first I was just prodding around for some food and, oh I found this great place! I'll tell you about it sometime, it has-"

"Focus..."

"Oh right, so I was rooting around and I hit something hard under the bark of this dead tree- gnarled old thing, practically falling apart, anyways, I found it wedged in there and I brought it back to you! See, isn't it pretty? Hold it in the light!" Hopping up and down on his perch, he fluttered his wings in excitement.

"For later little one, we have rounds to make." Rune tucked the stone into her roost for later observation and crouched before springing off the branch and swooping low over the ground, pushing down with her massive wings and arcing higher into the air. Navigating the trees with ease, she tilted and turned in such a way to accommodate her broad wingspan. Finding the tree she had been heading towards, she stretched her talons forward to grasp her perch and balanced herself as the branch swayed to accommodate her.

She was here to observe for the Enclave.

Runewing gave an indignant fluttering of her wings before replying coolly, "There are ways to keep things silent little one." She looked the small fledgling up and down before continuing, "I am Runewing, and this is Syz." Syz perched above her and peered down at the new Sentinel, making happy little noises to be in more lively company than Runewing. He fluttered down to the branch next to Dodger and hopped up and down on his small legs. "What're you doing about here?" he inquired as Rune situated the very beads mentioned in her wings, finding them to her liking before drawing herself back to her new company.

She reminded her of all the adolescent Sentinels she had taught and calmly called upon this experience now as she did whenever she was in younger company. Which was often for only a few were as old or older than she. Sighing she decided to at least see if this young one had any grasp of her Will, though she doubted, sometimes it wasn't readily obvious. If anything she could inquire if she knew of any others that would interest her.

"Young one, have your Minders ever taught you of your Will?" She wouldn't be surprised they had not she sarcastically remarked to herself, they had failed to do a good job teaching this one to fly silently though she supposed it had come up as a concern to them. Which was always something.

Rune sighed in slight disappointment, having not been entirely hopeful that Dodger had a talent with her Will in the first place. It was a rare find to discover a young Sentinel with exceptional use of their Will that had remained unnoticed, but it was always a possibility to never rule out. She grumbled to herself at the misfortune of running into such company as Dodger, the lively adolescent gibbering on and on about the curious soundings of words.

Syz on the other hand was flitting back and forth, until he landed next to Dodger and bobbed his head up and down as he joined them. "Rune found me! I was just little and she found me! But hey-" Syz straightened himself and a curious expression crossed his features. "I don't even know where I came from! Where'd I come from Rune?" The Pica tilted his head to the side as if in thought, peering anxiously at Rune as if in dire suspense.

"I found you...Over there." She muttered as she flicked a wing in some random direction that she deemed best suited. It was a well kept secret among the Mystics concerning the Pica, and to get off the topic would be wise of her. Best to entertain them, She thought.

Syz's eye lit up, "Over there?!" He puffed out his chest in pride at the generalized direction of his origins. "I was found over there," he whispered to Dodger, flicking out a wing in confirmation and boastfulness, nodding his head slowly all the while. Rune rolled her eyes, ....Pica

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your perspective), Dodger is completely oblivious to Runewing's disappointment. Her gaze is pinned to the Pica, eartufts flicking in time to his headbobs, her head swiveling to follow the corvid's every move.

"Yeah, where'd he come from?" She chimes in as Syz asks, her expression every bit as full of suspense as his. Maybe she could find one too! And at the favourable response, well, the young Sentinel's body fairly quivers with excitement, her previous interest in silly word games and bright feathers completely forgotten. "Over there... wow!"

Aaand she's off in a flash, moving in leaps and scrabbling bounds, flapping her wings and taking to the air whenever possible to help cover the distance more quickly. "Let's go! Over there!" As young and untrained as she is, the patchy fledgling does manage to move with a surprising amount of speed... directly towards Lore.

...and then she moves directly past Lore, skidding to a stop only long enough to blurt out excitedly, "Wowyourebrightandpretty! There's Pica overthereandIwannasee!" Dodger pauses for a gasping breath, silence falling not quite long enough to let anyone else slip a word in edgewise (it's a skill she spent an entire afternoon learning, you see), before she continues, "Wanna come? Gottago!"

And with another over-excited bound and a hasty (and far too audible) flapping of her wings, Dodger continues in search of the Pica... over there.

Runewing's wings drooped a bit at the seer obliviousness of some creatures as Dodger raced off to wherever she had pointed. Deciding she would have to be much more careful with what she said around the young fledgling, Runewing toyed with the idea of simply leaving Dodger to her own adventures. She turned to tell Syz that they were leaving only to find that her companion had dashed off on the adventure as well. "Oh of all the-" She trailed off, arching her wings above her head to loosen them up. "I am far too old for this," she muttered to herself before launching from the branch silently, "Alright, now where did they even go?"

She found the answer considerably too easy to distinguish Dodger's path, after all it was a simple task of following the ruckus that seemed to arouse in the fledgling's wake. Weaving through the trees with ease, she tucked her wings in a little closer to avoid snagging herself on rogue branches before finally catching up to Dodger and the new fledgling that had recently accompanied her.

"And who might you be?" She questioned, a tinge of annoyance seeping through due to her stiff wings.

Lore hears Dodger's breathless speech but while she takes a moment to try to comprehend it Rune comes up behind her. Lore starts, and runs into anouther small branch in her momentary panic. A mystic! The branch knocked her off balance and Lore was forced to land on a neaby branch that came up fairly fast in front of her. Taking a better look there seemed to be an odd looking parus flying with the mystic as well. Was this the Pica? Lore remembered Dodger's hasty explanation and realized the mystic must be named Rune while the pica was Syz. Or was it the other way around? Lore blinked as the others came in to land near her. "Er... I'm Lorevalliant. Lore! Iwasn'thidinginthebushesiSWEAR! Reeally!" she said hastily, almost as quickly as Dodger.

Lore was slightly confused. The mystic didn't seem to mind her hiding in the bushes. How odd. Well, better not to push the issue. "Er, no, I haven't really seen her before." she said truefully. "It looks kinda that way, though. And, er...." Lore's attention was diverted by Szy before she could ask the mystic her name. Lore stared. She had never heard her name pronounced quite that way before. The little bird was funny. She wanted to know the answer to his next question to Dodger too. Well, mostly what Szy seemed to be short for. Lore couldn't think of anything that made any sense. Szynce? Szymonia? Lore clicked her beak as she thought, but snuck a look at the mystic to see what she was doing first. The bigger Sentinal was definaly a mystic, and not just because she seemed to live in the creaky tree. She had shiny feathers and glowy beads on her like Dodger had said. Plus, she just seemed... kinda exasperated, true, but also like she had an odd aura about her. A mystic as far as she could tell. Lore looked back to Szy just as he and Dodger continued their rapid chat.

"It's Syzygy!" He exclaimed, "You say it like this: Siz-I-gee!" Bouncing he paused and twisted back to Rune, "Hey Rune! What does it mean?! It does mean something right?" He despaired, as if the fact that his name might just be a fun sound was heartbreaking.

Rune doubted whether any in her company would know anything of the sort but she decided to just state it matter-of-factly. "It's the name for when the twinkling lights in the sky are in a straight line." She explained as simple as she could, hoping to not encourage the youths from venturing anywhere near the open skies. She glanced as Syz who was besides himself in joy at the word "twinkling," his eyes alight with liveliness before going back to his previous conversation with Lore, "So how do you pronounce your name?" He was rather fond of his rendition of her name, but had decided it wasn't polite to just go around saying names wrong when another thought hit him. "If Rune is Runewing, I'm Syzygy, and Lore is," He paused unsure still of the correct pronunciation before skipping forward, "Then you're the only one without a longer name Dodger! We should give you one!" He frowned in the deepest though he could conjure, "Dodger..." He mumbled to himself before looking up, "I can't think of anything! I guess it's perfect the way it is!"

Rune rolled her eyes, noticing Dodger's shifty movements as if she planned escape, and though the only reason this concerned her was because Syz would probably follow her again. As a result, Rune kept an eye on her from the corner of her vision.