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 Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 6:25 pm
 Demeter flitted lightly through the air, pumpkin carefully tucked among her tails, her little squirrel companion enjoying the view from upon her head. Demeter rather thought the brisk air of the winter days was enjoyable, provided there wasn't a very cold wind, and the world had obliged her today with perfect conditions for flight. The sun shone brightly upon the blanket of white beneath her, and the slight breeze cooled off her warm wings without chilling them.
Gliding now, she descended towards a small stream that babbled happily despite the cold. Moments from landing, her eyes caught a flash of bright red among the white. Landing lightly upon the snow, she curiously headed towards the spot where she'd seen the glimpse of color.
"Hello?" she called ahead, not wanting to startle anyone unduly.
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 10:45 am
Vash, in the meantime had taken the opportunity to practice flying. It had become part of his morning routine of meditation, training, and breakfast. Albeit, he knew very little of just how this whole thing worked - flap, jump, flap some more but that was about it. As as result of his ability to truly grasp the concept of flight, he rather disliked his wings. They were useless if you couldn't use them, right? And it just meant more surface area to get shot should be caught in yet another gunfight.
When Demeter called out, he blinked and paused, covered in snow and more then a little wet. "Hello?" He called back, turning. Why would anyone be out here? Were they alright? Stepping forward, he pushed his face through a bush and found himself face to face with Demeter. Screeching, he flailed and pulled back at the unexpected encounter.
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 11:07 am
A gentle sounding voice echoed her greeting from someplace behind a bush, soothing her worries that she'd run into a Nightmare. However, before she could push through to see the owner of the bright red color and the gentle voice, she found herself face to face with him. She didn't get a very good look at him, just a confusing glimpse of yellow, orange, and red, before he screeched and dissapeared.
Giving voice to her own startled cry, Demeter leaped into the air again, wings beating frantically to gain height. At a safe distance from the screaming whatever-it-was, she hovered, and, from her superior vantage point, peered over the bush at the red-clad and winged Kitsu. A moment's observation showed that her glimpse of firey colors were really the Kitsu's gravity-defying blond hair, and a pair of small orange glasses. She was too far away to see what color his eyes were, but she thought he was rather cute, and not at all a flame demon, as she'd thought. She remained aloft, though, in plain view so that he could see that she wasn't threatening.
"Um, are you okay?" she called down, curiously.
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 11:32 am
With a huff of relief as some sort of kitsu rose into the air before him. Following her ascent, he blinked and nodded, "You scared me!" There was a slightly wounded tone to his exclamation as he backed up to make room for her. "Are you okay?" He returned, cocking his head to the side. She'd screamed and that normally wasn't a good thing.
Ruffling his wings, Vash tucked them tightly against his side and smiled at her. A visitor!... At least he hoped she was a visitor. Would be disappointing just to have someone going around scaring the daylights out of people for kicks and giggles all the time.
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 12:18 pm
"Oh, I am sorry!" Demeter exclaimed sincerely, cupping air beneath her wings so she could gently float to a landing in the space the other Kitsu had made for her. There was a slightly wounded tone to his reply, and Demeter couldn't bare the thought of having scared him. Upon touchdown, she tucked her own wings to her back, and her little squirrel poked his head out from her tails to peer curiously at the other Kitsu.
"I'm fine! I guess I just screamed because you screamed." she reassured him, blushing a bit. She returned his smile, glad he wasn't angry. "I didn't mean to scare you! I just saw a bit of your coat from the air, and I was wondering what it was, so I investigated."
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 12:43 pm
He blinked as a squirrel poked it's head out, surprised that she would have such a thing around. Shrugging, he returned his gaze to hers and laughed self-consciously. He had screamed, hadn't he? "My coat...? Oh. Yeah, I'm just training." Vash nodded as he spoke, quirking his lips into a thoughtful expression, "Wings don't do what I want.
"Wings mean flight and flight would be awesome but... I don't know how." Another quiet laugh as he adjusted his glasses, pulling them from his muzzle and deftly making them disappear inside his coat. Bright turqoise-blue eyes blinked in the bright light.
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 5:12 pm
Demeter saw the other Kitsu blink in surprise and followed his line of sight to the form of her squirrel among her tails. Chuckling lightly, she held out a paw, and the squirrel scampered willingly to it, then proceeded to clean itself fastidiously.
"This is just my little friend. Don't let him worry you!" she assured him, smiling fondly down at him. She set her paw back down, and the squirrel quickly climbed up to her shoulder. Returning her attention to the Kitsu's conversation, Demeter's face quickly grew puzzled. He couldn't fly? Looking a bit more closely at his wings, she couldn't see any problem with them. Perhaps he hadn't learned how?
He pulled off his glasses, and she could finally see the color of his eyes. Their bright blue color took some of the fire from his color, and Demeter felt something relax that she hadn't realize was tensed. When he laughed at himself, her heart went out to him, and she spoke before thinking.
"Let me teach you!"
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 5:34 pm
"Oooh..." He murmured, curiosity piqued by the tamed little creature. Interesting little thing. Realizing he'd been leaning forward to better peer at the squirrel, Vash looked up as she spoke, "Huh?" Tilting his head to the side, the red-clad kitsu paused thoughtfully, "Teach me what?" There was a mirthful sort of glitter to his eyes, as though the innocence of youth hadn't been completely put out.
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 6:23 pm
"To fly!" she replied, down-beating once with her wings which lifted a little ways into the air. "I'd love it if you'd let me teach you!" She smiled eagerly at him, enthusiastic about the idea. She was certain she could teach him if he'd let her!
When Vash looked away, the squirrel took the advantage to leap onto him. It nimbly scampered all around his shoulders before diving into his hair. Poking his nose out from within the dense mass of spikes, it looked down at Vash's face and chittered at him.
Demeter laughed at her companion's antics, exclaiming "He likes you!"
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Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 10:06 am
"Oh!" Understanding dawned and his expression turned bright, "Real-" He was cut off, however, by the squirrel as it ran into his spiky locks. Blinking repeatedly, he looked up - or rather, tried to. It was difficult to see the top of one's own head.
"I guess he does...." He smiled and gently shook his head, making sure the little familiar wasn't going to try anything and glanced back at her, "You'll teach me to fly? But..." He frowned and poked at his coat, turning a pocket or two inside out, "I won't be able to repay you..." If she was anything like Wolfwood had been, and offered service was likely to cost something and Vash wasn't exactly wealthy despite the giant sum upon his head.
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Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 10:27 am
"Repay?" Demeter repeated, confused. The concept of reciprocity was rather foreign to the Angelic Kitsu, and she simply blinked at him for a few seconds whilst attempting figure out what he meant. Something in return for her lesson? There was nothing she wanted from him besides what she wanted from all Kitsus; that he do his best to promote peace in the Realms. And he seemed to be very peaceful, even a bit innocent.
"You don't need to give me anything in return!" she said finally, figuring that was what he had meant. "I'd be happy to teach you for nothing at all." The squirrel chattered from within the other Kitsu's hair, as if in agreement.
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Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 10:47 am
"Oh! Alright!" He grinned and squared his shoulders, watching her intently. Free training was almost as good as free beer and donuts. And she was pretty too. Vash was definitely a happy kitsu at the moment. "What first?" His expression hardened a little, growing focused as those bright blue-green eyes sparked with an inner fire.
Time to get down to work.
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Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 11:44 am
Demeter smiled brilliantly as he accepted, and paused to think, eyebrows scrunching together cutely.
"Hmmm. How about you show me what you've been doing to try and fly? That way I can get a good idea of where to start!" she said, turning back to him with excitement dancing in her eyes. She moved back to give him space, and motioned that he should go ahead.
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Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 12:19 pm
"Okay." Inhaling, Vash bit his lip and attempted what he had been doing before she showed up - hopping into the air and beating wings to try to stay aloft for as long as possible. It was, well, ungainly and awkward but he was hovering for a few moments. When he set back down, Vash pumped his wings a few times with a huff. "I've been able to stay up longer..." He murmured, a little embarrassed.
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Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 11:52 am
Demeter shielded her eyes with a paw as Vash forced himself into the air for a few moments. Watching how he moved his wings, she could see that he wasn't really beating so much as flailing them in sync. The resultant down draft was powerful enough to push him off the ground, but it also prevented him from going any higher.
Once he'd set back down, Demeter came forward again, and nodded at his comment.
"Yes, I bet you can! You have to be really strong to hover like that for any amount of time." she said, spreading her own wings. "The biggest problem I noticed is that you're moving your wings like they're sheets of wood."
She demonstrated, plowing her wings up and down, but keeping them completely rigid. It kicked up a great deal of snow, but she didn't rise so much as an inch above the ground. Stopping, she reformed her wings into a more natural relaxed stance.
"Try copying this position with your wings. The trick is not to beat at the air, but to cup it with your wings, and push it beneath you. On the upstroke, let you wing bend beneath the wind, and cup your wings at the top of the stroke."
She went through the motion very slowly, letting him observe.
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