Welcome to Gaia! ::

Being a member of the Royal hierarchy was not always easy. In fact, despite the unusual amount of freedom that Rhapsody and her brother enjoyed compared to many others of the royal lines, sometimes it felt like living in cage. Or being fattened up for some mysterious purpose. At least, it did to the young owl mononoke. And some days were worse than others. Some days the little house she shared with Rook felt too small. Some days the freedom of running their own little shop felt like too much responsibility. Some days even the deep, reverent mystery of the royal library didn't ease the stirring in her blood. Some days, a girl just needed to fly.

Most people who knew Rhapsody in the waking world wouldn't consider her to have a wild or wandering bone in her body, she tended to be so quiet and reserved. In fact, many people who didn't know her well called her cold, distant, aloof, snobbish. None of these things were true in the way the people who said them believed they were, of course, but Rhapsody was most comfortable when she was wandering through people's dreams or taking flight.

It had just so happened that today she had decided that she needed to hunt. Nothing big, just a few mice. Not for food either, but because she collected their skeletons. And while mice could be found all over, the keen talons and sharp eyes of her mononoke form gave her what little excuse she needed to shift. Sitting perched on a rooftop watching the solitary man pass beneath her, Rhapsody fluffed out her feathers a bit. It wasn't like she really needed an excuse, not with Rook at any rate. Her brother, who she had talked into joining her for the hunt, understood the need to fly. They were, after all, twins.

The man's behavior seemed strange and Rhapsody didn't recognize him. Vivid blue eyes blinked within a feathered face and she clicked her beak in what could almost be considered a commentary. He was acting mysterious and she did love a good mystery. The puzzles of human nature were, after all, her favorites to piece together. He was escaping into the woods and Rhapsody was loathe to let him get away. Spinning her head around, her gaze sought that of her brother's and she fanned her wings out. Shall we go? Will you follow?

Once he was outside of town, and able to relax, the blond shifted his pack on his good arm, the other one as always resting behind his back in a manner that often had people thinking him a soldier... though he was far from it. If you asked him he would say he was little more then a traveling monk which was closer to the truth then anything else. Lifting a hand to his chest where two colored rings were located, rings that matched the colors in his eye, he gave it a little scratch. It always seemed to itch when it was going to rain the next day, a strange sort of sixth sense he'd realized that he had when he was much younger. Raising his gaze upward he looked toward the sky, taking in the clouds that were gathering slowly, and he gave a little sigh. He would need to find a good place to bed down, somewhere amongst the trees, where he could avoid the rain were it to start up when he was still sleeping. While he knew that the rain was coming he had zero idea exactly when it would show up, something that led him to waking up to the sounds of rain on many occasions.

Oblivious to the pair of owls that seemed to find so much interest in him the man gave pause to inspect the area around him, then after spotting what he felt would be a good tree, one that seemed to have lots of thick branches that would help to fend off the rain were it to start up during the night. Giving a nod he walked toward it, shrugging out of his pack, and removed the fan from his belt with his good hand. Setting it down on the ground, resting it against his pack, before his attention was then turned to the fallen bits and pieces of wood that was scattered around under the trees. Summoning up a weak, swirling vortex of wind the blond set that to work gathering up some of the sticks, a slightly lazy move on his part but figured that since it was getting close to night fall it would be alright for him to use some of his power on such a chore. Were it daylight though he'd of actually gone about gathering it himself. With that taken care of he set to picking up some rocks one at a time to build a small circle of them to keep a fire contained. When the circle was built, and vortex had come over to drop the wood into a pile before dissipating, the blond lowered himself down to the ground alongside his fire circle, "This will do." It was as basic as camping came but it was preferable to sleeping in town any day if you asked him.

Tossing some sticks into the fire pit he dug around in his pack with his good hand getting out his newly bought, and filled, water skin, some dried fruits and meat, "Mmm, I really need to learn a fire spell." He murmured to himself as he kicked off his thick soled boots, setting them out of the way, then took hold of one stick with his feet, picked up and picked up another, rubbing them together to get a fire going. The moment it started up he jerked his feet back to avoid burns, then tossed the two sticks into the fire pit, "There we go." He said, watching as the kindling caught and soon enough he had a nice, warm fire going. Once he tossed a few more sticks in he leaned back against his pack, one arm resting on his stomach, while he ate slowly with the other one. It was a meal as simple as his camp, but it was how the blond seemed to like things, nice and simple, easy to deal with. Once done, and he'd returned everything to his pack, leaned against it once more, he let his good eye sink closed seemingly dozing before the fire.

Rook had been mildly amused to see the mysterious stranger using magic for such a mundane chore. It fascinated him even at his age to see gifts put to use in ways like that. The young man had no idea why it didn't bother him or make him judge others as lazy but when it came to magic he was most often just enthralled by the many ways a single variation of it could be used. His own gift had multiple applications although he'd never found a way to apply it to chores or any form of hard labor.

It was a bit of a struggle to stay settled upon the branch he had landed upon once the fire was lit. Rook had no problems with a campfire most of the time but in his owl form there was some sort of natural instinct inside him that made the normally warm and inviting flames make him feel antsy. He had been about to given Rhapsody a look to ask' what now?' when she'd suddenly dove towards a mouse that had likely been investigating the source of nearby heat and food smells.

Rook's heart leapt into his throat, they knew nothing about this man yet except that he too was a witch! The best thing he could do for the moment was remain perched and watch the stranger closely, how he reacted would determined what course of action Rook must take next.