[PRP] A Bird in the Hand (Eden x Argent)

[ashes to the wind]

The sun beamed down gently in the dome. The light danced with the shadows in an interesting pattern. Eden had grown tired of laying about in the shade of the trees. He had watched the shadows move across the ground until his ears perked at the faint sound of chirping. He stretched his limbs and looked up into the trees. His tail delicately bounced after him with his quiet steps. He had hopefully found something of interest.

His prey, he had spotted it. A bird perched on a branch, preening itself. It looked like it had a... Bundle of some sort in that tree. It was pretty high up, but not too much for the boy. He had been climbing trees almost as soon as he had hatched. It was a nice vantage point, but he tried not to make a habit of being up there too often. He'd already fallen out of a couple and bruised himself up pretty badly. But now was not the time for that. He was interested in what the bird was beside. He leaned against the tree, raking his sharp claws against the wood, readying himself for the first jump.  

[Lural]

He had to get tough, and he had to learn the land. At least he could learn what was in the dome... for now. He had been exploring the forest, and tried working on his endurance. He pushed himself a little farther each time he came out here. Today, he was climbing trees. Argent wasn't really the most stealthy climber, and as he tried reaching a higher branch in the tree he was in, the limb broke under him. The silver-haired child tumbled, frightening birds every which way from the trees. He caught himself on the branch of a tree near by as the boughs had overlapped and grown together in a tangle of foliage. He didn't realize there was another in the brush below him.  

[ashes to the wind]

The feline couldn't help but hear the tumble. And he wasn't the only one, the bird had been startled and it flew from it's bundle of twigs. Eden had to curse his bad luck. He looked up at where the person had fallen, noticing that familiar silver hair.

"Argent!" He easily climbed up to a sturdy branch adjacent to the genome. "Why are you out here disturbing my hunt?" He frowned, pointing a finger at the boy. "You're too noisy! You scare everything away!" He would had though that a trained warrior such as Argent would know that it is necessary to be silent and stealthy.  

[Lural]

Argent looked up and saw the feline now perched on a near by branch. He frowned slightly. "Eden." He struggled a little, trying to pull himself up onto the branch he was on. His fall had knocked his wits about, and his hands were raw from grabbing the limb on his way down, making it painful to get into the tree. But eventually, he was on the branch, and in little danger of falling. "If you don't like my being out here you could hunt somewhere else." He retorted. "It's not like I intended to break that branch." He huffed.  

[ashes to the wind]

Eden frowned. "It's not like I knew there was going to be a noisy genome ruining my hunt." He reached over to poke Argent before climbing higher. "What are you doing anyway? If you're not trying to break branches maybe you just like falling out of trees?" He laughed a little, showing off by standing on the branch higher that Argent. He walked out a little ways, testing it's strength. The bundle was still a bit higher. He looked back down at the silver haired genome. "Do you know what that is?" He pointed up to the bundle of twigs the bird had been preening by.  

[Lural]

Argent frowned at Eden's snarky reply and as the cat moved higher, he reached out and gave the boy's dangling tail a tug. "Training. I'm building stamina and working on... myself." He didn't have to explain himself to Eden! But at the question, Argent looked up. "Oh. I think that's where the birds sleep. I've seen a few of them today."  

[ashes to the wind]

Eden instinctively latched on to the tree's trunk when Argent gave his tail a tug. "I'm not trying to fall out of trees like you!" He stuck his tongue out at the silver haired boy before climbing to the last branch that was sturdy enough to hold his weight. He was in perfect view of the bundle, but couldn't reach it without falling. He looked down at the boy below, careful not to let his tail trail too close to the genome. "Well you need a lot more training. You'll fall and hurt yourself, you know?" He looked back at the bundle of twigs. Something was blue and shiny inside of it. "Why would it sleep on... A rock?" He looked back at Argent. "It looks like a rock is in there." He frowned puzzled. "Did all the birds you saw sleep on rocks like that?" He eyed the bundle of twigs, trying to decide what would be the best way to get the rock from it.  

[Lural]

"That's why I'm training, stupid." Argent said to the cat. "I don't know. I doubt it's a rock. That doesn't seem comfortable. Maybe it's a baby." That seemed as likely as it being a rock.

Actually... Genomes were born of seeds, and the natives like Robyn and Eden were from eggs... "That might be an egg. So it probably is a baby. You shouldn't touch it."  

[ashes to the wind]

Eden chuckled at Argent. "Train harder!! And maybe you'll be as good as me." He turned back to the bundle of twigs. "Oh! Like how I hatched from an egg?" He still kept his eyes trained on it. "But sleeping on an egg doesn't seem too comfortable either." This got him thinking... Was there someone who had sat on him when he was an egg? He shook those silly thoughts from his head.

"Can't I have it? I wanna see it hatch!" He wouldn't eat it either, not a baby. It was like him in a way. "Do you think the bird will come back?" Now he fretted about the egg's safety.  

[Lural]

"Stupid, do I need to beat you up again?" He watched the cat. "It's probably like that, yeah. I don't know really, but that's my guess. I bet it's watching you right now, wanting you to get away from the baby. If you leave it alone, come back every day and look to see if it hatches, but let the..." He figured it was a mother "mother care for it. I bet it will do that better then you."  

[ashes to the wind]

"Well I've been training!" He didn't look back at the genome this time, still contemplating whether or not to take the egg. "But what if the mother doesn't come back?" He slowly made himself a bit more comfortable on the branch. "And how would you know that I wouldn't be a good mother?"  

[Lural]

"You're too fat to sit on the egg for one. You'd kill it." He replied. "And what if the mother does come back but you stole the baby? That would be sad." Argent started climbing up towards Eden. "Really, just leave it alone."  

[ashes to the wind]

The feline scoffed. "I'm probably lighter than you are." He did have a point. He would be much heavier than a mother bird and probably crush the egg. He felt the genome trying to climb higher. "Stop. You'll fall." He whipped his tail at Argent. "A few of them are going to break... Let's just get down."  

[Lural]

Argent snorted. "I will not." But he did pause his climb. "I'll stop if you come down away from the bird's bed." Then added "And leave the egg alone."  

[ashes to the wind]

"Fine." Eden rolled his eyes at the boy and flicked his tail. "But you have to go down first or we'll both fall out of the tree." He looked back at the nest before prodding Argent gently with his foot.