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 Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 7:30 pm
 Typhoon floated silently from his tree in the Minder's enclave to one nearby, flapping his wings once, twice, before he settled onto the other tree, mindlessly preening. He hadn't had a hatchling to watch since he'd returned, and he honestly missed their excitable little faces. He'd heard tell of eggs hatching, so soon there would be hatchlings to keep warm and fed. But fledglings were so much more fun, and more terrifying because they tried to fly all the time, and failed most of the time.
Dune skittered from branch to branch, clinging to the bark with his tiny claws. He reached Ty out of breath, and flopped down on his Sentinel's feet. Typhoon laughed heartily, running the top edge of his beak gently over his mus' head.
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Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 8:45 am
 Ravenmoon wandered into the Minder's enclave. She poorly half flew half fell to the landing. She was unsure where to go and who to talk to. Her parents dropped her off and told her it was time to be a big girl now and that it will be okay. She was happy Coal was with her, he stayed close to her side as she slowly hopped around. As much as she was excited to finally meet a minder she was still nervous. This was going to be a big step for her.
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Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 3:51 pm
At hearing the familiar sounds of a fledgling trying (and failing) to make a graceful landing on the landing in the middle of the enclave.
"Looks like we might be lucky, Dune." Typhoon whispered, and Dune, his mus, squirreled his way up onto Ty's back as the grey Minder spread his wings, the branch he'd been sitting on shaking slightly at his takeoff. He landed a wing length from the Shadow fledgling, tucking his wings close and leaning down to the fledgling's height.
"Hello there, little one. What's your name?" He asked, hoping that he was making his seemingly large body small enough to not intimidate the dark fledgling.
Dune wiggled down from his Sentinel's back, taking a seat next to Ty's claws. He obviously felt safe next to Ty. Dune flicks his whiskers rapidly, sniffing at the fledgling's mus. "Friend?" asked the sand colored mus.
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Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 6:08 pm
Ravenmoon looked around and smiled cheerfully as she watched the incoming sentinel. Butterflies danced in her stomach. He was quite big and it looked like he carried a mus companion.
"My name is Ravenmoon sir" She whispered softly. "Are you a minder?" She felt dumb asking that after casue more than likely he was. She shifted some and almost toppled over.She was quite nervous.
Coal crittered, took a step forward and held out his paw with a small seed in it. "Friend yes!"
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Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 7:08 pm
Typhoon smiled gently, holding out a wing to support the fledgling. "Yes I am, little Ravenmoon. You have nothing to fear, we're here to watch Sentinel your age. Are you hungry? I bet I have a snack around here somewhere." His eyes glittered happily, knowing the priorities of the normal fledgling: food, sleep, and trying to fly.
Dune squeaked happily, taking the seed and popping it in his mouth. He did a backflip and bounced off to his little stash in the tree that he and Typhoon shared, returning with a juicy raspberry. He held it out to Coal somewhat bashfully. It had been quite a while since Dune had been around his own kind.
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Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 12:15 pm
"A snack! a snack sounds great!" she said excitably; her eyes beamed. "So what kind of fun stuff do ya do around here?" She looked up at him smiling. Feeling more comfortable now she was up for a chat. "Coal and I have been play gathering mostly...I'm not very good at flying yet" She sighed. "But I'm working hard on getting better" She rambled cheerfully. "You have a cute Mus. Mum and dad got me mine while I was still a hatchling. His name his Coal."
Coal accepted the berry and nibbled on it in glee. "Thank you" he bowed. "Name?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 7:32 pm
Ty grinned at her talk of a snack, and led Ravenmoon back to his tree with a gentle wing behind her back. Good thing the trees grew so close together in Typhoon's Minder's enclave, the fledgling could nearly hop from branch to branch to get back to his tree.
"I think I have a mouse tucked away in my little hideyhole that has your name on it. We do a lot of fun stuff around here. We play games and practice flying and hunting, and learn how to fly. My favorite game is Tag," he confessed to the little Sentinel, hop-flying along branches and motioning with one wing for her to follow.
"It's okay to not be good at flying yet..how long have you been practicing? Not very long, I bet. I've been practicing for a long time, and I still mess up." Ty waited patiently for her to get close enough to him that he could grab her, if she fell, and hop-flew another branch ahead.
"Thank you!" yipped Dune at the compliment, "I Dune." He said to both Coal and Ravenmoon. He jumped after Typhoon, on noticing him leaving, and waved for Coal to follow.
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Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 9:27 am
The little shadow female hopped along after him. She watched as he continued across the trees with no trouble at all. If he could do it she could do it. She leaped, flapped hard then landed on a bit further spaced branch with ease. She was proud of that and smiled. She shifted her feet and flapped her small wings to catch her balanced. She then continued on to the next branch.
"No I haven't been practicing for too long. Mostly around my folks while they are home from hunting. They worry about me falling and something nasty happening." She looked down at the ground and fluffed up.
"I would mostly just stick around our tree...I wouldn't dare go far. Coal would keep watch and let me know if there was any danger." She petted Coal on the head.
"They knew I was eager to fly so that's why they dropped me off here. They told me I should be able to find someone to help me improve." She hopped to the last branch.
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Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 10:03 pm
Typhoon puffed up a little with pride watching the fledgling hop-fly along the branches he'd moved across with ease. He enjoyed watching fledglings begin to fly with more confidence, despite the fact they always flew away to bigger and better things. Ah well, that was the burden of a minder.
"Oh of course, that's what we Minders are here for. Would you like to try after your snack?" The Ghost Sentinel dipped his beak into a small hollow in his tree, digging out a mouse he'd caught earlier that evening. He tore it into a few pieces that would be easy for her smaller beak to handle, and offered them to her one at a time in his beak, either for her to grab for herself or simply swallow.
"Mus are always good for keeping an eye out, you make sure to remember that, Ravenmoon. Coal should act as a second pair of ears and eyes for you. At least, that's what Dune provides for me." Ty smiled at his mus, who was making a face at the mouse remains and digging in a hollow a branch up from Ty for some good nuts he'd hidden there a few days ago. Now that he had someone to share with, Dune was eager to bring out his best food.
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Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 1:32 pm
Raven nibbled on the juicy mouse bits. It was so good it made her tasty buds dance.Coal skittered up up a few branches to where Dune was. The little shadow fledgling was trying not to talk with her mouth full.
"Yes please Sir......it will be fun!" She finished off what Ty was offering her, sat down and preened her feathers. They should be in the best shape during flight she thought.
"Yeah Coal is pretty protective of me." She smiled up at her lil friend. "Even though he's up there I can see him looking about all the time." She hoped back up and ruffled her tail feathers. "
"I'm ready when you are!" She beamed with confidence.
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Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 7:36 pm
Typhoon nodded at seeing Ravenmoon preen. It was the most important lesson he could teach a fledgling--without a good preening, feathers were likely to falter. And Noctua only knows, fledglings needed all the help they could get at flying.
"Very good of you to preen, remember how important preening is to flying, there is nowhere important enough to go without a full preen first." The Ghost Minder gave a prime example and started with his chest feathers, moving to his primaries and ending by checking his claws for anything that needed cleaning. He gnawed lightly at one claw, removing some fur that was left over from Raven's snack.
"The first thing you'll ever use in flight is your legs, to take off. You almost bounce into the air." Ty laughed at this, and gave another example. He flexes his leg muscles, moving them as he would to take off. His wings reflexively moved outward, and he tucked them back against his body.
"Now you try. Just practice leaning down close to the branch and spreading your wings." Typhoon watched the fledgling carefully, knowing this was the easy part. Actually getting into the air was hard.
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Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 9:14 am
Raven turned to face the branch on a good angle. Squinting her eyes she focused on her destination. She squat down and jumped with all her might. She extended her wings and let them beat down naturally. She didn't get all that far up, maybe a foot, before she felt herself start to descend. She scrambled to get her claws into the branch before she fell off; her wings beat frantically to help her from falling.
"Hmmm I think I got the jumping part right but I get all off balance when I try to land." She twisted her face up and dug her small talons into the soft wood.
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Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 6:02 pm
"Ah ha, I see now!" Typhoon exclaimed, cocking his head to the side and watching Ravenmoon land. "Let's find some branches that are close to each other, and practice landing.
"Think about leaning your wings back and the bottom of your wings up to slow you down," the Mist Minder paused to show the dark fledgling. He flapped his wings in a large sweeping motion, landing on a close branch as slowly as he could, hoping the fledgling was watching his feet, and he finished with, "and reach out with your claws towards the branch."
Ty turned his head almost 180 degrees, eyes sparkling as he looked at Raven. "Give it a try?" He asked.
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Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 10:54 am
"Ah okay...I think I was not turning my wings right." She nodded.
Raven hopped up the branch she was on then over to the next tree where she spotted some close enough branches for her to practice on. Flexing her feet she pushed off and nearly missed the upcoming branch yet again. Flapping her wings hard she caught herself. She shook her head, turned herself around and tried again; going back to the branch she just left. Think about leaning your wings back and the bottom of your wings up to slow you down and reach out with your claws towards the branch.
She concentrated. Squat down and took off to her destination. This time she tipped her wings just enough to land fairly well but still a bit shaky.
Coal jumped back and forth between the branches that Raven was practicing on.
Raven noticed what Coal was doing and laughed. "Watch it ya don't fall."
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Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 9:06 pm
Typhoon beamed, landing next to Ravenmoon and preening her eartufts out of pride.
"Good job, little one! You're making great progress." The Mist Minder smiled, encouraging her with a grey wing behind her to keep practicing.
Dune bounced on the branch they were all sitting on, making the branch shake. He didn't mean to shake it so much, but he was so excited to have another mus to make friends with. The tan mus followed along with Coal, bouncing between branches.
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