[PRP] Intertwined Feathers [Symphony&Nirvana]

[Chaifuzz]

Symphony dipped a hoof into the lake as she swooped over it. The cool water washed the dust from it, leaving it sparkly clean. She giggled, then dipped the other three hooves in the water, thinking how funny she would look with only one clean hoof. The water felt so good, she folded her wings in and dove below the surface. She opened her eyes, and took in all the life that teemed down in the lake bottom. Lake weeds were growing in loads on the bottom, and colorful schools of salmon were everywhere. Symphony hovered for a moment, then shot up back into the air above the surface, exhaling a few deep breaths.

She looked up, and realized that this was where she had first met that grounded, Nirvana. She wondered longingly if he would be here today. She remembered what she had told him, that every wind knows where her feathers lie. She had a feeling he would be here today, and hoped it was right.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Today feels like a day fated to be meaningful. Nirvana couldn't explain it. He never could. Every so often he'd wake up filled with a sense of meaning and the rest of his day would be spent looking for the source of it. Most of the time it was nothing more than waking up in a strange mood... but today felt real.

Of course, they always do. That was the thought that amused him. Even though his quest might not bear fruit he would search for that meaning that eluded him.

His hooves carried him forward while he was lost in these thoughts. It was only as he emerged near the lake that he realized where he was. It is the lake that I met Symphony at. It was an odd distinction for him. He rarely named locations after the one he had met there but he couldn't help but think of this one in that way. She had been the one to make the location anything other than pretty scenery, after all. She had been the one to....

And there she was.

Like their first meeting, Nirvana did not greet her upon first seeing her. Again he watched, admiring the way she swooped and darted. He was not and never had been an envious person... but he had never seen flight used so perfectly and it filled him with longing.

Ah, even if I could fly I would not be able to fly so beautifully...  

[Chaifuzz]

Her face lit up as she spotted Nirvana on the hill, watching her. Feeling a little show offish today, she did a series of tight loops, then dive bombed into the lake again, zooming to the bottom. She stayed there for a few seconds, then shot up back into the air and flew towards him, spraying water droplets everywhere. They caught the light and looked like a trail of sparkles coming off her tail. She giggled once, and sang out, "Hey there Nirvana!" She felt a little shy being around him again, something had changed. She felt a tingle in her tail from where she had put the feather Nirvana gave her, but wasn't sure if it ment something more..

She alighted gracefully on the ground, and shook her wings out, spraying him with water droplets. Her tail was a little featheryer than usual from being 'wind dried'.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Though he was loathe to take her from his sight Nirvana closed his eyes against the flung droplets. He opened them again with droplets of water clinging to the lashes. The droplets blurred his vision somewhat and gave Symphony a sparkling glow to her.... but even after he blinked the water from his eyes a mist of the glow seemed to remain. It was doubtlessly the sun shining off her damp feathers, or so was the first thought in his rambling mind.

"Symphony," he greeted back. "Our first meeting was auspicious but this second meeting I am convinced was fated to occur."

Normally he would say airy things about fate without another thought but today it felt... a little more true. Why was that? Was it because he had woken with the desire to search for meaning? Was he even now looking for meaning where there was none, or was he truthfully inferring the fortunate nature of the encounter?  

[Chaifuzz]

Symphony raised an eyebrow at Nirvana's airy speech, a little baffled. She looked around his body, then saw it, tucked gently into his tail, her feather. She smiled with delight, and said warmly, "Nirvana, it has been far too long. And perhapes the fates did intend for us to be here today, or perhapes it was something else." A quirky smile flitted accross her face.

She gave him a onceover, he had become so much taller, so much filled out. This was not the gangly new adult she had seen only weeks ago. Now he rippled with power and speed. I wonder if he can run as fast as I can fly... Symphony thought to herself, thinking it would be a very interesting matchup.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Even though he was not prone to vanity Nirvana found himself straightening up when examined by Symphony. The attention of a beautiful mare would make any stallion puff himself up, he bemusedly reflected before another thought occurred to him. Beautiful? First her flight is beautiful and now she is? It was not far as leaps of logic went. No... not logic. It was just an observation. She flew beautifully and her form matched that. The spread of her wings, her white coat spotted brown, her smile. All of these features combined to make beauty. Or perhaps, like she had suggested about their meeting, it was something else entirely.

He realized he had been spacing out. I hope she won't take that as a slight.

"Whatever it was that brought us here again, I am glad for it." He tilted his head to one side and favored her with a quirky smile of his own. "Is it better to question such meetings or not? Both are equally dangerous in their own ways."  

[Chaifuzz]

Symphony noticed him straighten up, it made him look so much more regal in a sense, and she hadn't even been sure a grounded could achieve that. Somehow, Nirvana had perfectetly captured that look, with the wind lightly ruffling his mane and tail, and that tell tail sparkle of his eyes. She felt small by comparrison, and with a slight tweek of her primary's gave her wings a little extra lift in them. She felt a little silly, but if Nirvana was going to look his best, she should too.

She noticed he had drifted off, and shuffled her feet nerveously, she hoped he wasn't boring him. She tossed her head, and answered confidantly, "I am too, but there are many dangereous things in this world." Feeling especially daring, she raised a wing tip and tapped his nose gently with it. "Even you and me." She felt a tingle run down the fine bone of her wing.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

The slight change in Symphony's posture did not escape Nirvana's notice. They made her wings even fuller and the new angle let the sunlight glitter and gleam upon every feather. He who had grown up among angenis found himself awed by this one who had none of their magical blood. It was a new experience... one that he could not draw himself away from.

And then came the nose tap that shook him from his reverie back into reality. As much as possible, at least. "Us, dangerous?" He looked at her and his smile grew, if not more serious, more meaningful. "Me, perhaps not... but you have the same danger as the sun glittering upon the ocean. Blinding but too beautiful to look away from."

It was not unusual or strange for Nirvana to make statements like that. There was nothing he loved more than to expound upon something he found lovely. That was the reason the words came so easily from his lips but it did not make it any less true to him. It was only after he had said it that he wondered whether he had ever made such a statement about a soquili before. Had he? He didn't think so....  

[Chaifuzz]

Symphony withdrew her wing hesitantly, unsure of if she wanted to, or it was an unconcious reaction. A soft laugh escaped from her lips at Nirvana's comment. He was such a gentleman, yet not as old as a gentleman usually was. He must be around the same age as her surely. She grinned, and said, "Dangereous indeed." She blushed at his compliment, and raised a wing in front of her face.

She said dramatically, "Am I so bright the very stars are marred by my comparison?" She laughed lightly, and removed the wing away from her face slightly, fanning out the feathers so her eyes peered out at him from behind the feathers. "Or are the stars so bright it is impossible to outshine them?"  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Nirvana gave an airy and clear laugh. "I am afraid that you have mistaken me for a flatterer." He watched her with both fondness and amusement. "I'm not very skilled at giving out practiced and thought out compliments. It's in the spontaneous observation that I excel."

He let his words hang in midair before continuing with a bright smile. "If I was the sort, however, I would most certainly be saying such things. I would say things like how the stars shine brightly but not so bright as the sun... and that even the sun dulls in comparison to yourself. I suppose I might also say something like how when you and the sun both hang in the sky I would be rid of the sun sooner than I would be rid of you." At first as he spoke he was joking and unserious but his tone gradually changed. By the time he finished he found that his joking had fallen away to earnestness, a change that made him blink in disgruntled confusion.

"And now it seems like I have started saying those things...." He looked at Symphony with the confusion still evident in his eyes. "I am saying them rather honestly as well. You seem to have brought about a strange change in me..."  

[Chaifuzz]

Symphony felt a tingle run the length of her body as she heard his laugh. It was cold, but made her feel warm and safe. "Well, that is certaintly a talent above many." She folded her wings in and shuffled a few steps.

"Well, I am glad you are not that sort, because then my life would be very boring only being complimented. Without critisism, would compliments really exist?" She liked thinking of things that couldn't be answered on a normal basis. It gave her something to do during long flights, way up in the sky with no one else but Veln. She wondered where he was, it would be nice to see her little ferret famaliar again. Symphony grinned, he was probably somewhere by the beach right now, he did love the beach. Preferred it more than flying actually, though she couldn't really understand why. Flying was such a magical experience.

That made her wonder, and she asked, "Nirvana?" she paused, not wanting to offend him, "Do you ever wish you had wings? To be like the rest of your family, to fit in?" She streached out a wing, and slowly ran it down from the top of the middle feather on his head, the bridge of his nose, down to his muzzle. It was the lightest of touch.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

The movement of the feather down his face tickled and shivered through his senses but he did not pull away from it. The sensation was almost strong enough to distract him from the question at hand. It was only with a force of will that he made himself think about the meaning of flight instead of the feeling of her touch.

The question itself was a weighty one. Part of it was easier to answer so he slowly began to speak while his mind was still working out the rest.

"My family always were caring and loving to me so it was hard for me to feel envious of them." His smile was a little less carefree though it did not fade from his face. "Their wings were an awe to me and something that I respected." He smiled a little easier after that admission. "I'd be lying if I said that I didn't wish I had their wings at times... but I don't think that I've really suffered for that loss.... I am who I am."  

[Chaifuzz]

Symphony nodded her head gently, it must have been hard at first though, for him to be one out among many. She knew that feeling, when everyone else is different from you, but you're the one who is seen different. It was hard, very hard, but Nirvana seemed to achieve some sort of peace, some sort of middle ground between it all. She said, "That is very selfless of you, extremely so."

She felt his shiver under her wing tip and quickly drew away. She asked in a small voice, "Are you...happy?" She didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable, but she didn't know if his shiver was that of nerveousness, or of joy. Not being able to distinguish between them made her scared by one, and attracted to the other. What was happening here?  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Fortunately that was a much easier question for him to answer. "Happy?" He flicked his head back to sweep away the stray strands of mane that had crept in front of his eyes. When his head fell back down again he was looking as cheerful as he could be. "Yes, I'm happy. Rather happy on a whole."

The wind had already tugged his mane back across his face but he wouldn't let that bother him. That was his life philosophy, after all. "It's all a matter of perspective. I can't fly but I can run, can't I? I think that everyone has things that they could be unhappy about even if they have wings or other things that others might be jealous about. I might as well be cheerful about it all as long as I have that choice. Like you."

He inclined his head at her at the mention. "Wouldn't you rather be happy than sullen and envious?"  

[Chaifuzz]

She smiled, Nirvana sounded like he had a happy full life, and didn't care that he didn't have wings. She raised her head and said, her voice a little sad, "Happyness, but much must be achieved to find that." She sighed once, and a whole set of thoughts exploded inside her. Everyone has a Nirvana, they just have to find it.
A tingling feeling ran down her spine when she touched him
I have yet to find my Nirvana, could it be so far away?
Nirvana is a haven, a safe place. The place that makes you feel at home...

home...

Symphony was caught by a full revelation. She needed to find her Nirvana. That was what she needed, but the question was, had she found it already. She said in a slightly scared and hopeful voice, "There is one last thing required for my happyness, and I'm not sure if I've found it or not. I think...though-I think I have. But, I'm not sure if my Nirvana is a place," She finished almost in a whisper,

"or another soquili"