It's A Bird! It's A Squirrel! It's An Usdia Stuck In A Tree!

[Jackariah Beckett]

This is a private rollplay between Kytica Zalubenych (Jackariah Beckett) and Zlatohrbitek (Nori Ishida)

 

[Jackariah Beckett]

Kyt hummed to herself as she walked down the new trail she had found. A happy little bounce in her step as she absorbed the happy chittering and chirping of forest life around her. Here there were thick growing trees, taller than she had ever seen before. She wondered if she would ever be strong enough to fly above their gently swaying tops. She mused to herself that at a proper leap, she may be able to reach one of the solid thick branches. Not that she would know what to do once she got up there except maybe try and see what lay in the distance, or see if any of the birds were smart enough to start up a conversation.

Kyt gave a small sigh. The scenery this new area offered was truly lovely, but if it was missing anything, it was to have someone to oo and awe at everything with. She had not been able to convince anyone she knew to take the weekend hike she had been curious in. They had all said it was too far and too unknown. Kyt on the other hand had been starting to get the itch of monotony and thought this was the perfect way to scratch it. So on she hummed, tail swishing side to side happily as she walked.  

[Nori Ishida]

As Zlatohrbitek padded along the earthy trail, he let out a long, heavy sigh. The oppressive heat of the summer had been subsiding and he had begun to see more and more creatures of the earth frolicking and playing with each other. This time of year always reminded him of his loneliness. He knew the stigmas that surrounded his kind, and though he did tend to have…rarer appetites compared to grass-eating soquili, he was generally a kind fellow and meant no harm. However, fear of rejection kept him from making friends and approaching other soquili. Too many times, he had made attempts at friendship only to be met with shrieks and looks of fear, or even just flat-out being run away from.

He sighed again, trying to push these sad thoughts from his head and enjoy the nature around him. Squirrels diligently hiding nuts to store for the winter, birds chirping, bees and butterflies flitting from flower to flower. They weren’t scared of him. As he approached a flowering shrub full of pollinating insects, he heard a humming coming from further down the trail. He caught sight of the brightly-colored Usdia and froze. This winged pony seemed friendly enough, singing and bouncing down the trail, but he did not want to startle her. As she approached, he lowered his head to appear less threatening, and tried to put on a friendly expression through his anxiety.  

[Jackariah Beckett]

Kyt had decided to bend over and inspect a bushel of mushrooms under a tree that had caught her eye. It had grown in the shade of the tree and still held onto the mornings dew. She was almost tempted to lick the small drops off, curious if they had absorbed the essence it sat on. She sniffed at it tentatively, suddenly quizzical at the new scent that flowed into her nostrils.

Her head whipped up and she locked eyes with the shifter that stood a little ways across from her. A few thousand thoughts running through her mind, two deafening over the others. One, that she had been a fool for being so absorbed that she had walked up on a shifter and not noticed. And two, that she needed to do everything she could to get as far away as quickly as she could. With every thought in her mind suddenly gone, her limbs bent and thrust her upward, wings bursting three pumps till her limbs wrapped tightly around a thick limb. Her chest heaved heavily as she blinked down at the shifter.

"Do--Don't try anything funny! I've got an endless amount of amo to throw down from here!" She hoped for once she could pull off a convincing poker face.  

[Nori Ishida]

Though this type of reaction was certainly nothing new for Zlato, it didn’t hurt any less. He lowered his head even more, his eyes downcast and a tired frown pulling at his lips. He didn’t know why he even bothered anymore. Despite his kind nature, it seemed he was destined to live and die alone, friendless and feared. He turned to leave and double back the way he had come, glancing up into the low branches where the Usdia had landed.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you. I was merely out enjoying the change of season. I’m sorry to have startled you, I’ll leave you be.”

Trying not to mope too much in front of this stranger, Zlatohrbitek turned sullenly and headed back down the trail the way he had come.  

[Jackariah Beckett]

Kyt's limbs screamed at her to loosen her grip. She watched the shifter slowly retreat and complied to them. Her eyebrows knitted together as fear slowly drained from her and was replaced by confusion. True, she had never met a shifter herself, but of course she had heard of all the warnings! A shifter would hunt you down with no mercy. This fellow was actually retreating without even a single projectile thrown. He even seemed more like the tamer wolf companions she had seen others with.

Kyt looked around her and suddenly realized where she had landed. As much as her dream was to fly above the tree tops one day, she had never been this high above the ground. It looked to be over 30 feet and her chest started to heave slightly again. Her eyes darted to the shifter again. Did she dare call out to him? There was no soft brush for her to land on and her wings were suddenly cramped, feeling thinner than gossamer.

A thin voice came out from her quietly "he--elp".  

[Nori Ishida]

Zlatohrbitek paused and turned to look back over his shoulder. Had the Usdia called out to him? He thought he had heard a small plea for help. Turning completely around to face the small stranger again, he looked up into the low branches of the tree where she hung. Was this some game? Very few others had even bothered to have a conversation with him before, let alone ask him for help. As he slowly approached the tree, he kept his voice calm and level.

“Again, I promise I will not hurt you…it sounded like you asked for help? Are you stuck?” As he reached the bottom of the tree, he gazed straight up at the Usdia, trying to force a kind smile to his face through his confusion and fear. Perhaps this was some trick to taunt and torment him? But he wanted the chance to prove his kindness.

“If you’re stuck, I might be able to help you. I can’t make it up that high at my size, but maybe you could climb down my back?” He hoped this Usdia was truly in need and had no ulterior motives for calling him back to the tree. “My name is Zlatohrbitek, but you can call me Zlato.”  

[Jackariah Beckett]

Kyt hid her head reflexively as the shifter walked back towards her. His voice sounded nothing like the harsh tones her parents had mimicked in their tales. She forced herself to look over the edge again as he closed the distance. He had even offered to help. She took as deep a breath as her relaxing lungs would allow and called down to him, her voice still thin with the fear that had not yet fully released her from its grasp.

"And you're sure you won't eat me? Or use my bones for toothpicks? Or my wings as a cape?" At the mention of her own wings they fluttered. The cramp of fear draining from her, all of her muscles suddenly felt exhausted, as if she had run and flew her whole way here. "If you promise you aren't going to hurt me....." She nibbled her bottom lip as she weighed her options. "I don't think I can hold on for much longer and my wings are shaking too much for me to fly down"

She judged the distance again and frowned. "If I just had something soft enough to land in, like a pile of leaves or a bush, I could try and flap my wings to slow my fall. But i dont know if i could handle more than a few flaps." She didn't realize it but tears started to well up in her eyes. How long could she last up here if this stallion wasn't able to help her?  

[Nori Ishida]

Zlato looked around for something soft. There were a number of leaves coating the ground, soft and crunchy after falling from the trees as the season turned. He glanced back up the tree at the little Usdia, trying to put on a reassuring face. “Give me just a few seconds and I’ll gather some leaves for you to land in!”

Frantically, he quickly gathered up all the leaves he could in the area, sweeping them together with his big, bushy tail, and creating a pile beneath the tree the Usdia hung from. He hoped it was enough to cushion her as she descended the tree, but made sure he stuck close by in case he needed to catch her.

“I think this pile should be enough to catch you, but if you can’t make it that far, you can land on my back, then jump down from there. I promise I won’t hurt you.” He gazed up into the low branches of the tree, hoping the little Usdia would trust him and flit down to safety.
 

[Jackariah Beckett]

Kyt nodded as she listened to him, finally able to make eye contact with him. She watched nervously as he hurridly collected leaf litter for her to make a soft landing. He called back up to her and her attention came back to the pile and away from how far it looked. Kyt nodded as he gave her permission to land on his back. By now her feelings had shifted in favor of him over the heights and the ground that would surely break her if the Shifter had left her.

She squeezed her eyes shut as she took in a deep breath and let herself fall towards the leaf pile. She screamed at her wings in her mind, telling them that if they didn't want to be as damaged as the rest of her after a straight plunge they better beat now. She landed in a poof of leaves, her still beating wings spreading them every which way. Her eyes blinked dazedly, then surprised up at the shifter. This time a small quivering smile on her lips as her wings stilled and the leaves fluttered around and on her. "It worked! Thank you!"