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 Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 12:04 pm
It had been a while since Osprey had dropped by Typhoon's, not since before her graduation.
Flying through the familiar territory of another one of her minders was nostalgic, especially for the young Scout. Though she hated to even admit it to herself, she missed the minders and the other fledglings she was raised with.
This was what promted her sudden idea to drop by, to visit the little mist she had raced with a while ago. She brought with her a hybrid mouse/mus that she had caught along the way.
As she came to the edges of the minder's territory, she gave a greeting hoot and perched on one of the thinner limbs, which swayed under her weight. Her mus, creatively named Mus, was perched between her shoulders and peered over her head to get a look at this territory.
"Here?"
"Yup. This is it, Mus. Be good, okay?"
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Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 7:39 pm
 Snowpeak was unusually quiet. To anyone who knew the mist fledgling this might look like a sign of alarm, a small warning that the mist was up to no good. Snowpeak's expression, however, showed a surprising amount of happiness, something not often seen on this particular fledgling.
He left the smaller fledgling he had been playing with (a poor shadow who was visibly glad to get rid of his rough company) without so much as a word and flapped ungracefully towards the female. He remembered her. The Elite. One of the leaders and punishers of Noctua, authority figures to all Sentinels. He was particularly grateful to Typhoon right now, the minder who had given him some precious flying lessons. He approached the female proudly, trying to show her how much he had improved as his eyes darted in every direction looking for the awesome companion... but instead of a Lani his eyes found... a mus???
"Who are you?" he asked suddenly with a surprised (almost offended) tone as he landed with a loud thud next to the female.
Dyed mus. Dyed mus. Don't look at it.
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 2:43 pm
"You don't remember? Heheheh." Osprey dropped the snack she had brought with her and shifted it between both she and the smaller sentinel with her Will.
The grown mist sentinel fluffed her feathers proudly and ran her dark ebony beak through her light feathers and her golden eyes glanced over Snowpeak. He had grown a bit, maybe his wings were stronger than they were...
"I whomped you and another fledgling in a race here a while back, eh? Ossie? Osprey?" Her tone was a cheery chuckle and her picking was meant in jest. "I came back to see how you're doing. Flying going well?"
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 4:20 pm
“Ah… ah.” Snowpeak lowered his wings slowly realizing they were in a slightly defensive position. It wasn’t the Elite. Now that he could see the female more clearly, he remembered Moonstride being darker… much larger (or at it had seemed at the time to such a small fledgling)… and this female’s dark feathers didn’t look quite natural… and she spoke as if she knew him… of a race.
“Ah! The mist!” he said abruptly hopping backwards. “You! You’re huge… and different!”
Had he heard it right? She had come to see him? He had a visitor? He never had visitors. Other fledglings had parents… some just had teachers… but he had neither… at least not yet.
“Better…” that was his delayed response to the mist’s question. He was still shocked he had mistaken Osprey for an Elite and even more confused to be receiving a visit from the girl.
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 8:49 am
"I'm grown." She replied with a slight chuckle as Snowpeak came to recognize her. "All grown and graduated 'n whatnot. I'm a Scout, now."
As if to accent her words, she stretched out her painted, developed wings.
"Oh, n' I brought this, too. I caught it when I was out scoutin'." She lifted the dead mus hybrid with her Will and nudged it towards the fledgling. It was not as warm as 'just killed,' but still warm and soft. "You c'n have it, if you're hungry. I already dropped some off at the platform."
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 2:35 pm
“A scout? That’s really good. You have to be pretty fast to be scout, right?” Snowpeak took a short hop closer to Osprey, twisting his head around the female as he inspected every inch of her body.
“You still speak a little funny but not as much as you used to...” he said with a teasing chuckle. “And the dye is good. You… blend well.” She was probably a great hunter now. With dark dye covering her back, it would probably be a lot harder to spot her in the dark woods. The fledgling’s eyes were fixed on Osprey’s wings, adoring her long feathers with a content smile when she offered her catch. The fiery gaze narrowed as it followed the offering.
“Isn’t that a mus…? I thought… we weren’t supposed to eat those…” He swallowed loudly and held his breath as if trying to avoid the captivating odor in front of him. Just for an instant, his eyes darted to the white and grey mus that he was trying so hard to ignore and the fledgling shuddered as if recalling some unpleasant memory.
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Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 6:30 am
"Definitely. Trained for speed and stamina." She replied as she let the little mist inspect her wings and dye job. His comment about her speech caught her off guard and she was about to say something or another in her own defense, but caught his confusion about the offered prey and the glance towards her own mus.
"Y'aren't supposed to eat companion mus. This lil' bugger, he's wild. He's got mus blood, but he's a good bit mouse, too. You'll learn t' tell the difference, soon. Go ahead and eat up."
Mus's little, rounded ears flattened and she slipped behind Osprey's eartufts... Something about that fledgling's gaze made the companion worried.
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Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 2:51 pm
“Oh, I get it.” Snowpeak whispered softly looking unconvinced. Well, it did look kind of mousy… and there wasn’t any dye on the small body… so it was okay… right? He hated to accept food from adult strangers but Osprey wasn’t exactly a stranger… as she was barely an adult, too. He grinned at that last thought as he took the gift in his mouth and closed his eyes as he proceeded to swallow it whole, trying his best to ignore the mus characteristics and the tantalizing taste of blood.
“Why a mus?” he asked trying to force the conversation when he failed to ignore the live companion perched on Osprey’s head. “Why didn’t you get something more… scouty? Like a Lani….?”
He wasn’t just asking out of curiosity. He needed to know. He needed to know the creature’s purpose. How useful the little thing was to the scout. That always made things easier, even if just a little.
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Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 5:42 pm
"They're the smartest, even if they ain't all that awesome." She replied and as she did so, Mus seemed almost indignant.
"They're good with their paws 'n are small 'nough not to get in the way. An plus, they're good talkers. Useful, I guess. And they're kind of cute." The last bit seemed to appease the gray and white companion, who scrambled down Osprey's back and sat on her haunches beside her master's talons.
"Us good, see? Good at talking. Good at seeing. Good at smelling. Good at helping." She parroted what she gathered and could remember from Ossie's little example.
"I'm gonna get somethin' real neat in the future, though. I like Lanis and all, but these are pretty and awesome, they take a lot of work, though. You ever seen a alcyon 'afore?" She didn't expect that he had, as she had recently discovered the neat companions along the stream's edge.
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Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 4:24 pm
Well… good with their paws. Not really sure what she meant by that. Cute… now that was pretty useless and strange considering it came from a scout. The mist fledgling was sure he there were some uses to them but he knew he’d never have a companion that could fit so easily inside his beak.
“I see…” he said softly, tilting his head at the talking mus, unsure on whether to address it or its master. No, Snowpeak decided quietly. He’d never have a companion that he could almost swallow by accident. His talons pierced the bark silent and steadily and the fiery gaze raised to meet Osprey’s eyes as he tried to clear his mind of the previous thoughts. His head was now held high as he looked for an angle from which he could avoid seeing the companion’s tiny head.
“Oh, thanks!” he said abruptly finally remembering his manners. “For the mu… m-mouse.”
“My minder taught me about companions but I haven’t seen all of them yet. Alcyons are the birds that fish, right? Typhoon told me not to get too close to them because of their beaks. They hurt, he said.” The fledgling’s sudden grin, however, showed that he was not only unafraid of such an occurrence but that he would actually welcome it as something of a challenge.
“So… wanna race?” he shot with a teasing laugh, repeating the dare he had once given her. Not that he had any hopes of actually winning, but he was eager to show her how much he had improved.
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Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 7:08 pm
"Very sharp." She added with a nod. "They could tear a fledgling up. I've got to find a good keeper 'afore I can get mine. Plus I gotta wait until I got the time to train it. I'll be sure to let you see it when I do get 'round to it."
“So… wanna race?”
She grinned as she heard the familiar echo of words from this older fledgling.
"You know I'll whoop 'ya again. Sure, if you think you're up for it." She flexed her painted wings once more and gave the fledgling a sideways glance. She did want to see just how far along things were coming for him.
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Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 9:57 am
“It won’t be as easy this time.” He said more quietly with a wicked grin as he positioned himself next to Osprey carefully making sure they were exactly side by side. “That branch. Up there. The one with the orange leaves. Think you can make it?” he teased her ruthlessly, hoping that she wouldn’t underestimate him and move as fast as she could even though he had a feeling the mist female never did things halfheartedly.
As soon he saw Osprey getting ready he counted to three before his talons pushed the bark as if his life depended on it.
“One… Two… Three! Go! Careful not to drop the mus!” And he really meant those last words.
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Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 3:19 pm
Osprey shot off at the word "Go!" She could remember well his sense of right, as far as races were concerned. He had seemed so upset when Holly took off ahead of her on the day that they had first raced.
So she was certain not to make him feel like he was cheating.
"Don't worry 'bout us!" She replied as she pushed on, aiming towards the orange leaved branch.
Mus was well used to making herself scarce and safe during flights, so she had scampered up to Ossie's neck, were she hung tight to the leather necklace.
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Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 4:01 pm
Damn, she was fast. Was it too much to ask for her abilities to stop improving after the night he had first raced her? Of course it was. She was an adult now. An adult like Moonstride. She had graduated and lived on her own, hunted for herself and served the Clan. But she still found the time to come and race him.
He grinned as she began to put some distance between them just as he’d expected. He had to stop before pushing a branch again, white wings taking him a lot further than they had the last time. His landings were heavy and clumsy but he got up on his talons quickly every time he landed and kept flying closer to Osprey and the orange leaves.
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Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 7:10 pm
She slowed enough to glance back, to see how the younger sentinel was doing.
He had improved, though he was still clumsy. He reminded her of her time with Breeze and her own clumsy attempts on the platforms while practicing. He was growing fast, though, and it wouldn't be too long before he and the rest of his agemates would be joining the ranks of adults, too.
Osprey never did anything half heartedly and here, while she felt determined to land on the orange branches, she also wanted to slow down a little bit, at least to give Snowpeak a little time to catch up. This was conflicting in her mind. She did not want him to think poorly of her for giving him a little bit of help or that she was not as fast as she claimed to be.
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