Welcome to Gaia! ::

The small foal had wandered around for a good while looking for the perfect perch, but now that she had found it, she had settled in like she had been there all along. It was a low hanging branch of one of the biggest trees Avia had ever seen. It stuck out almost on it's own, and had a rather convenient step upto her perch by way of a large rock and some knotted roots. Following those steps up she had (with some maneuvering and careful balancing) managed to successfully climb up into this branch. She lay there for a while, tummy lengthwise with the branch, with a limb hanging over each side, gently swinging back and forth... but it wasn't long before she got bored.

What should she do now that she had found her favorite perch? She could climb back down and have a dust bath! Peering over the edge of the branch she scanned the ground below but didn't find any dust-piles. Well now, that wouldn't do at all: she needed a dust-pile to have herself a dust-bath! Something else then! Tilting her head to one side she lifted a taloned paw and scratched behind an ear, thinking. Thinking. Thinking. Aha! The most brilliant activity for a young bird!

Slowly she lifted herself up, claws digging into the bark for stability as she turned herself perpendicular to the branch, rump in the air, and tail out for balance. Eyes ahead of her, she was getting ready to jump. She was going to practice flying.

With a deep breath and a puffed out chest, the clawed foal tensed her muscles and pushed off with a strong leap, launching herself into the air in a somewhat graceful (excluding some of the instinctual kicks) glide.

The first few moments of flight were the most marvelous. Apart from her limbs flailing a bit, the wind was gently carressing the foal, and keeping her aloft the breeze, rustling her feathers and guiding her tail back and forth in its' steering. So much so, that Avia allowed her eyes to begin sliding closed, but just as they were about to shut completely there was a small black blur beneath her. By the time her eyes snapped open all she had caught sight of was more blur dodging between her legs and then crashing into a clump of grass up ahead. Speaking of which... was getting dangerously close to her...

Suddenly realizing that she was no longer as high in the air as she had been moments ago, Avia began to panic. Wings flapped and tail slashed the air as she tried to push forward with those and push back with her limbs when they began to scrape at the earth below. Dirt began to build up in front of each of her claws as she planted her feet down firmly into the ground to help her slide to a stop a mere stride away from the grass. Catching her breath, Avia stood there and flapped her little wings a few more times to straighten out the feathers that had bent in all her flailing, but did not end up folding them away just yet. What had she chased into the grass? Curious, the foal proceeded to find out.

Lowering her front half so that she could crawl forward slowly, her rump stayed in the air, where her tail flicked back and forth playfully. Just as she reached the first blade of grass, the bird-foal held her breath and as one, her fore paws parted the grass just the slightest, enough for her to nudge her nose inside. Eyes closed so as not to get them poked or otherwise, Avia stayed where she was but finally had to breathe, so let out the air she had been holding in a soft series of snuffles, trying to take in the scent of whatever she had chased into the grass.

She only managed a snuffle or two before whatever it was that had been hiding in the grass began to talk and almost simultaneously popped up and out into plain view. Pulling back a few shuffles, Avia stood up from her playbow to get a better look at just what was whizzing circles around her excitedly. It was another foal! Though had she only glanced at it, she could have mistaken it for a rabbit without a second thought. Just to be sure she glanced down to check for hooves, and sure enough they were there. How strange! She had already met a colt that had many cat-like features, and now a tiny foal that looked so much like a bunny!

Smiling at the smaller foal, Avia stood still so as to let the little one get all her inspections in. Even if she had tried to interject, she wouldn't have been able to find a place to cut in, so fast was the filly speaking. Wings, tails (at the showing of the fluffy tail Avia stuck her nose out closer but by the time she got past her owns claws the other was already turning back around), giant relatives and finally claws! My, could this one rattle things off like it was nothing!

When the other paused Avia finally had a chance to respond. "Avia! My name is Avia. I thought you were a bunny, because you're so small and quick!" A small giggle as her tail flicked back and forth a few times. Sinking back down into a playbow, the grey filly stretched her claws, digging them into the dirt a little as she kneaded the ground. "Claws are very good at digging, see?" Turning her head she looked back at the lines that had been left behind her in the dirt from her... landing. "Though... I wasn't trying to dig there," some more girly laughter though somewhat embarrassed this time. Flying was hard, and landing was even harder. And this newest attempt was haphazard and panicked, not graceful at all. But it would have been better had she not almost run over the other little foal! A sheepish smile formed on her lips as she looked back over at the bunny-filly once more.

Smiling, she mumbled a small thank you amid the little one's ramblings. Avia watched curiously as Lapin built up in energy and essentially burst back into action. It was strange, almost as if the filly had an itch all over and the only way to scratch it was to keep moving and doing things. She supposed she could understand that... after all, a place got boring eventually, just a matter of time really. Granted, Lapin's timer seemed almost non-existent.

How did she get her claws? "I..." brow furrowed as she concentrated and tried to figure out an answer. "I... don't know how I got claws! Mommy doesn't have any... so I guess I must have got them from my daddy?" It was almost a question, she wasn't sure really. She would have to ask her momma later and see if she knew. "Mommy's told me I look like my daddy though! Says he had long black hair and red markings just like mine! I hope I have long hair one day!" Shaking her short mane out she finished answering the question with a definite statement, "All birds have claws though! So it makes sense for me to have them." A firm nod and a shake of her wings showed her birdlike features to Lapin. Glancing back to the drag-marks in the ground brought her sheepish smile back right quick.

"You surprised me when I was flying and I tried to land real quick, you see! I didn't want to fall on top of you or anything. So I stuck out my paws and flapped my wings really hard and stopped right in front of your grass." Nodding at the patch of grass where the slide-marks came to an end.

Ears flicking back to the other foal, there was mention of home and running. "Mommy's somewhere closeby, and my sister too! We were out looking for berries and a walk." She licked her lips at the remembrance of some of the munchies they had found along the way. Melian, her mother, had stopped for a rest, basking in the warmth and let her two daughters run off and play for a bit, which was why Avia had ended up out here practicing her flight abilities.

Talking with little Lapin was like a race. If you didn't put your word in when you had your first instinct to, it would get lost in the conversation and pass by unnoticed. Avia was learning to follow her instincts, as she trained to become a better bird, and so this was as good practice as any. Interjecting politely, Avia would reply to as many of the young usdia's questions as she could.

A small blush, at the compliment, and a duck of the head to try to hide the vivid pink arousing in her white cheeks. But she could quickly delve back into the conversation and hope that it hadn't been noticed. Turning her head she looked once more to the wiggling deer-like tail that the other filly had inherited, and then to the long rounded ears, and finally to the horns. If one could really call them horns yet. But with her own vivid imagination she could see just the same funny image that the little one described of having giant antlers one day that would cause her to topple head over hooves. Giggling aloud at the thought, Avia piped in with, "That would be funny! Hahaha!"

It was interesting how similar they had both been told that they were to each of their fathers, now that Avia had it brought to her attention. Was it common for foals to look only like one of their parents? Or were they unusual in being so similar to just their fathers? The thought didn't last long, as she was soon puffing her chest out and holding her head high to really show off all her feathers and finally to answer about her wings. "Wings are so much fun! But I don't know if my daddy had them... Momma didn't say that he had some... but then... where would I have gotten them?" Her eyes grew wide and she looked a bit startled for a few moments, as if the world were about to crash down around her, but again, it didn't last long because it was quickly followed up by more conversation.

Perking back up, and smiling a wide smile, the bird foal replied happily, "We do have a lot in common, don't we! I think that means we could be friends." Cocking her head to one side to look at Lapin with just one eye, as many birds do to inspect something, she asked in all seriousness, "Would you like to be my friend?" And thus it was said. She might be going out on a limb here, but everyone needed friends! Besides, she liked lapin's company. She was interesting, and she didn't argue that she wasn't a bird.

Avia's insides grew all warm and she suddenly felt very full, as if she had just finished an amazing meal, when Lapin jumped on the question with the full-hearted yes's. Her smile grew wider than normal and her eyes almost seemed to glow in her happiness. "Well then we shall be best of friends!" A firm nod, as if it needed confirming, if not for them, then for the surrounding area to know that they had agreed to this unwritten pact of friendship.

And thus, Avia earned her first friendship. Thinking about the other foal's words, she too technically had a friend in her sister, but she would have to agree that that wasn't the same. Sisters almost had to be friends to one another. No, no, this was very different. And Avia liked it.

Watching the little usdia run circles once more, Avia almost got dizzy herself. Her mind was spinning with all of the possible adventures the pair could go on together, and all of the things they could see while they were out together. Why, it could be the most fun she could imagine! Admittedly she was really just spinning ideas in her mind in the excitement of making her very first real friend, but time would probably tell whether the two could in fact stay friends throughout their lives. Neither one of them, of course, knew what would happen in their futures, but as it stood now, Avia hoped that she could forevermore keep this friendship with the spunky Lapin, and that it wouldn't be too long from now that she would get to see her again. But that being said, she suddenly felt a tugging at the back of her mind. Momma would be looking for her no doubt, and she really shouldn't keep her waiting.

Taking a breath to interject, Avia waited for Lapin to pause before saying, "Momma will start getting worried. I should probably go back now." A little sheepishly, she added, "But we'll see each other again, soon?" A spark in her eye, "Maybe we can go on a grand adventure together!"

She posed it as a question, but she had already decided in her mind that she would come out looking for Lapin sometime in the near future. Afterall, isn't that what best friends did? Spend time together and go on grand adventures? She hoped it wouldn't have to be too long before they could go, but she could be patient if she needed to be. She felt a little like what she would imagine Lapin to feel like when she runs circles a hundred miles an hour: restless and itching to go. Smiling to herself, she deemed that today had been a very productive day.