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 Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2025 10:01 am
Stressing.
To all things there was a balance, and the balance of their current homestead was...off. The river that ran through nearly the exact middle of their territory was flooding, choking the land with mud and keeping new growth from coming in. Most members of the Gryps Nimoris herd had wings, so crossing the river wasn't a problem for them, but not all of its membership did - the healers, the ones who would take care of any baskets or younglings. Some of them didn't have wings, which meant fording the river to access the other half of their territory had become a challenge, and the river was only rising. It had to stop eventually, right? It would evaporate, or the snowmelt from the mountains would eventually all dissipate. It had to. Didn't it?
Ayaz had - briefly - considered not caring. He had briefly considered letting someone else worry about it, letting someone else fix it.
But nobody was.
Sure, prey was available, plentiful even as more animals made their way to the wider river, but the more the river rose, the less that would be true; it would only take a few little rabbits or a deer to get swept away for word to spread that this area was unsafe, for reasons beyond the usual predator/prey intensity. Soon, the prey would vacate for safer pastures, ones not occupied by a natural disaster waiting to happen and a herd of Soquili that could wipe them out just as easily.
But then again, not all of them ate meat. Ayaz himself didn't, unless he was on the road and really needed the extra strength or had no other choice. Maybe this was less of a concern that he felt it was, or could become.
Ayaz could feel it, though. Deep in his bones. Smell it, maybe; change was coming to his herd, and if he was the only one aware of it, then wasn't it his responsibility to guide the rest of them to safety? The herd wasn't meant to be stationary, at least not for this long - they were nomadic by nature, and Ayaz couldn't help but feel that this area had given them everything it could, and that nature itself was telling them it was time to move on.
He hadn't shared his feelings with his brothers - not yet. Because...what if he was wrong? What if he threw a fit, made everyone move, and then they didn't find a better place, a safer place? What if they gave up this home that had been perfectly fine for them and got something worse in the bargain?
What if he was wrong, and the herd suffered - and it was all his fault?
Ayaz had taken to staring at the river, a deep frown on his face as he weighed the different options, the different choices and the responsibilities on his shoulders. Someday, soon, an answer would come to him - it had to.
Didn't it?
((WC: 507))
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Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2025 7:43 pm
Adonis was not one for sentimentality, or care, or kindness, or… alright, well, he wasn’t one to feel much of anything for others, really. Concern was another afterthought that was rarely activated, even for his brothers and even rarer for the herd as a whole. He had never been able to pinpoint if there was something wrong with him, deep down, or if life hadn’t given him a reason to feel anything else. He didn’t like to think too hard on it either, finding the musings of whether one fit into the general “normalness” of life boring, in the end.
You know what was more exciting: mushrooms, poisons, seeds, and work. Those things thrilled him– left his feathers ruffled and his chest thumping. Those things were worth worrying about, right now, and the rushing river had begun to encroach on his interests. His herd would be fine, they always were. Local plantlife, however? They were fickle, fragile, and prone to withering under the slightest of changes. He wasn’t done cultivating the local flora for his potions, river be damned or not, and he wasn’t going to leave these lands without successfully growing his own small cluster of rare, glowing mushrooms from the local cave system, either. The recent weather wasn’t left unnoticed by his eye– something was amiss, and with peculiarities came change.
Was it time for them to begin moving again?
No.
Not until he had everything the local land had to offer.
He had taken to wandering out near the river in the last passing days, scooping up remnants of debris that might be useful and nipping vegetation already sprouting alongside its banks. He planned to cross soon, get the spores from the cave, and test their breeding conditions, but the river was all too distracting, providing him too much to pitter and patter over for his constantly running brain. Today would be the day, he decided, no matter what washed onto the bank. He had seen Ayaz in passing, staring at the water as if it’d suddenly provide answers to whatever boring thoughts ran through one of the driving forces behind the herd. At first, he had been content to pass by with a nod, leaving Ayaz to brood in peace. That was until right now, on this sunny day, when he realized that, perhaps, he could influence the herd to stay just a little longer.
Or maybe he was just bored.
“As loud as it is, you won’t hear words.” Adonis came from behind, trailing towards Ayaz side with a wide berth between the two. “Coin for your thoughts?”
WC: 431
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Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2025 8:04 pm
Ayaz was always aware of his brothers - of the herd in general, but especially his brothers. They were like poles, each with their own particular magnetism that repelled or attracted him, all creating a delicate dance that, collectively, kept the herd alive and afloat.
Adonis was a repellent. Not that Ayaz didn't like him, but that Adonis mostly kept to himself and - quite obviously - liked it that way. Ayaz was different; he liked people. People was why he did this job, one way or another - good people needed saving, bad people needed punishing. Either way, it came down to people for Ayaz, no matter which way you sliced it.
He shook his head in response to Adonis' question - or maybe just to clear those thoughts that Adonis was asking after. "Just...wondering how long this place can sustain us," he said, shrugging one great shoulder half-heartedly. "It seems as though the land itself is trying to force us out. At what point do we listen to what she's saying, even if she's not speaking with words?"
((WC: 175))
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Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2025 8:19 pm
Ah, he was right to ask. Of course, Ayaz was fretting over the herd; when wasn’t he? Ayaz cared. Ayaz had what Adonis lacked – he had enough heart for the two of them.
“The land doesn’t speak,” Adonis sighed. Spirituality did not become him, nor did “listening to the earth”. If it wanted to be heard, then it ought to just outright say it, he felt. “Storms cause floods, floods scare prey. When it calms, they come back in search of water– that’s how it always is. It’s not water that makes land barren.” He shrugged, a wing rustling. It was all a cycle, anyway. “We just adapt, like we always have. The bounty has been good, hasn’t it? Who's to say this isn’t a chance to claim what the river has carved for us?”
Sure, half of what he was saying was to push his own agenda– no, most of it, if he was honest –, but he believed it, too. How many phenomena had been viewed as threats from the supposed gods above, or Mother Nature herself, until proven otherwise? With change came an opportunity to take what was left behind before anything else could. Weren’t they fighters? Scrappers?
He also really wanted those mushrooms, too.
WC: 209
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Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2025 8:29 pm
Ayaz was glad for the mask hiding his face, so that the surprise wouldn't show quite as obviously as it played across his face. Even so, he did turn to look at his brother - just to make sure he hadn't mistaken him for another member of the herd. One that had opinions about things.
"That's true," Ayaz allowed - too much water was, in some ways, a 'better' problem to have than not enough water, but was still a problem. "But part of our adaptation is never lingering so long we bleed a land dry," Ayaz paused, looking down at the muck that was beginning to cake his hooves. "Not that dryness is the current issue," he muttered with a snort, shaking one hoof clean and then the other. He moved a bit downstream, not so far or so quickly that Adonis couldn't join him, just seeking higher ground and firmer land.
"What has the river given us to claim?" Ayaz asked. "Other than mud, of course. What bounty do you see?" He wasn't being sarcastic - Adonis had skills that Ayaz couldn't begin to fathom. He saw whole universes in the trees and plants and growing things, while Ayaz only ever learned enough to know what would kill him, what would fill his belly, and what would heal him.
(And sometimes he didn't even get that right, leading to days on the road where his lack of confidence led to an empty stomach and a very bad mood, because he'd rather be hungry than poisoned by a plant, of all things.)
((WC: 260))
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Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2025 8:59 pm
Ah, he had Ayaz’s full attention– great. It’d be harder to break free from the conversation and get to his original task now, but he had helped breed this situation, hadn’t he? Woe was he to open his mouth and disturb the great ponderings of his brother and the river, which claimed Ayaz’s mind so fiercely. He withheld the sigh and settled for a deadpan stare– not that either brother could see much of the other's face, anyway.
He hesitated when Ayaz wandered further downstream, his own claws buried snugly in the mud. Fine, fine– mushrooms could wait just a tad longer. He trailed after his brother, maintaining a comfortable distance, wading deeper into the slick shoreline until the mud tugged at his feathered fetlocks and dragged his claws under. There, he stopped, rummaging within the mess of it all, as though the muck was his element– not air, not fire, not earth, but rot.
“Skullcap,” he said after a moment, almost absently. “A cluster of it, ripped up and tangled in driftwood. Perhaps too waterlogged to keep, but I took it home nevertheless. Willow bark, too– fresh, stripped from a fallen branch. Calms nerves.” He paused and glanced over his shoulder. “You could probably use that.”
He dipped low, dredging in the muck, pulling at a glowing, thick clump. He tossed the muddy bundle towards Ayaz’s claws– mostly root, partially bulb, something grotesque and faintly luminescent at the edges. “And this? This I do not know, but I intend to decipher all that the river brings us. There’s more unknown drifting in these waters, and more beyond. It’s not time to give up on these lands.”
He shrugged again, returning to faintly pawing through mud and crud. “Prey will come back, and so will the plants. But it is when the world comes apart that we find the unknown. For me, it is the flora– scattered and ripped across this river, waiting to either drown or be found. I’m sure there’s more for others of… different interests.”
WC: 338
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Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2025 8:49 am
Ayaz snorted a chuckle - yeah, chewing on tree bark would fix all his problems. Classic Adonis. It would do nothing but get stuck in his teeth, but he didn't bother arguing the point with his brother about it, because it would just lead to an incomprehensible lecture on the positive and/or negative effects of certain plants on the mind, and he didn't really need a nap at the moment.
Ayaz looked down at the messy bundle of - whatever this was that Adonis tossed to him, after intentionally walking further into the mud.
Ayaz and Adonis were not the same.
But the plant intentionally walking further into the mud[i]was[//i] glowing. Faintly, but glowing all the same. Ayaz, personally, was of the opinion that plants should not glow, but again, he didn't bother voicing this opinion to his brother - another lecture avoided, as far as Ayaz was concerned.
"You make a point," Ayaz said, unsure yet if it was a good point or a bad point. "There is still information we can gather about this area that may prove beneficial." Ayaz cast him a look and decided to cut straight to the point. "You want to stay, brother? For how long? We don't know how long it might take for the river to recede."
((WC: 214))
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Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2025 7:15 pm
It was Adonis' turn for surprise, his head cocked to the side like a bird– owlish, almost reverent. For a moment, it looked as if he might ask his brother to repeat himself. Had he swayed his brother’s mind? Surely not– should he pinch himself?
No, he wasn’t going to waste this opportunity.
“If it were up to me,” he said, claws flexing thoughtfully in the mud. “I’d stay another two, perhaps three weeks. By then, the river’s bounty will have been picked clean like a carcass by every beak and creeping thing– and I imagine that’s ample time for whatever schemes and concoctions you’re brewing in that thoughtful little brain of yours.” One claw lifted, tapping against the side of his mask.
“Or longer?” He added, gentler this time. “Until spring recedes?” His words were softer, airy, touched with a rare tone of hope he didn’t often allow others to partake in, unless it benefited him. He knew it was a reach, that Ayaz would likely want to leave the lands before the month was over, but he could try.
WC: 181
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Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2025 7:38 pm
Ayaz considered this. A couple of weeks, in truth, probably wouldn't make much of a difference, and it was rare enough for Adonis to express an opinion of any kind that he was willing to give it considerable weight. Furthermore, the idea of benefiting from the river's potential destruction hadn't occurred to him, at least not in the way Adonis described. Ayaz studied the little glowing bulb between his talons, pondering just how much information or benefit they could get from it, or from other bits of hardscrabble detritus like it.
"Come summer, we might be grateful for the rising river," Ayaz admitted with a soft chuckle. He still felt the itch in his paws, the urge to wander, the resounding pull of the nomadic instinct, but... he didn't want to be ruled by anxiety or fear. And Adonis was right - this land had been good to them, and while it was becoming a bit more difficult to traverse it, that didn't mean they should give up on it.
Not yet, anyway.
Shaking his head goodnaturedly, he looked back to Adonis. "Make the most out of the next couple of weeks," he advised him, "because I don't know if I can convince the rest of the herd that there aren't safer pastures out there somewhere, but...I guess there's something to be said for finding blessings in what can feel like a curse, or at least an inconvenience."
A good leader, Ayaz told himself, did not just listen to his own heart - he listened to the thoughts of those he trusted, and he trusted his brother. If Adonis believed it would be better for everyone to stay, even for just a little while longer, Ayaz could believe it too.
((WC: 288
TWC: 1444))
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Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2025 8:24 pm
Adonis watched his brother, observing how Ayaz turned the little glowing bulb over in his talons, almost reminiscent of Adonis’ own curiosity. Moments like these, rare and far between, reminded Adonis of their relation. Where had their paths differed and molded who they were now? It was odd, being heard– not just tolerated, or indulged, as several of the herd often did with the odd and peculiar toxicologist. Odd enough for him to let the moment stretch, savoring it.
Maybe he should speak his mind more often?
No… too much effort.
He shifted his weight, slick talons squelching deeper in the mud as he stepped forward, not towards Ayaz, but further down the engulfed, battered bank, claws gripping for any purchase in the mud. His wings lazily rustled, balancing him as he leaned down to nudge aside a curled, half-wilted plant with the edge of his muzzle. Still alive, barely. His now.
“Summer always comes with complaints,” he replied, tone flat. “Too dry, too hot, too many insects. Everyone forgets the months before it in favor of grieving the present.”
He nosed the plant from its claim in the mud, gripping it between a beaked muzzle. He set the wilted plant into the folds of his hood. “I’m not here to romanticize rot and mud.” Well, it was romantic in a sense, but he had long accepted others just didn’t see the world as he did. “I’ve found more worth salvaging in the aftermath than I ever have during the calm. Storms shake things loose– gives back to those who survive.”
When had this become an excursion for mushrooms and now a dive into his actual feelings about the chaos surrounding them? It was true, though– every word he spoke was honest, albeit heavy-handed in favor of his interests. He wanted to stay; he wasn’t done with the river or forest.
He ducked his head, a mock bow of respect to his brother, his wings stretched as gracefully as the king of rot could manage. “I trust you to drag me out of the decay when it’s time for our departure, dear brother.” The tone was light, playful, and a tad sarcastic, but he meant it. Even if he failed to understand Ayaz’s sincerity and compassion, Adonis held a certain level of respect for his leader. He never would have just tagged along because they were blood, after all. He trusted Ayaz’s intentions, although he was woefully unwilling to admit it verbally.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I did have other plans needing attending to.”
WC: 425
TC: 1584
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