[Ravok Lakeshore] Rocking with a Raven(Amelia)

[Yonega]

Timestamp: 14, Summer 513

The raven was perched in her roosting tree, about ten chimes (as the human walks) outside of Ravok. The bird was hot, her beak and her feathers ruffled and disorderly, giving her the appearance of a somewhat sickly flyer instead of a relatively healthy winged one. She panted quietly from her perch, looking out on the woods and the shoreline that glinted slightly through the trees, indicating the position of the Lake.

Why must it be so hot?

Temperatures inside the research facility had been relatively well moderated, many of the kelvics not physically made for certain temperatures. That meant the facility had to regulate things either with lots of water or lots of heat. Ice was much harder to come by in the middle of the year. It was no surprise, then, that Yon was extremely uncomfortable right then, her beady eyes looking around. She was still pretty nervous that the handlers from the research institute would come looking for her; afraid that they might wrangle her back up for containment (or worse) until their just reward was received.

Yon had not seen that man who had initially freed her since that day and she wondered if he may have been hurt when the men arrived on the boat. It would have been her fault, in the end, though the shifter could not comprehend why.

Maybe I'll go for a swim... She thought, head turning towards the lake and a low, growling sound expelled from her beak. A good dip in the cool water would be just what she needed, truth be told. She might even Change to do that, the feel of the water on bare skin much nicer than having to spend the next several hours re-waterproofing her feathers. Honestly, how ducks managed that all day long was beyond her!

Walking along the branch towards the edge, Yon heard the caw of another bird in the area; a crow, by the sound of it. Far from possessive of her tree, the Raven simply called back, an echoing 'RAWK' bouncing through the forest to where the crow had called from, but no response was heard back. Shut him up, didn't I! She released a chuffing cluck noise that resembled laughter (if birds could laugh) and took off, twisting around the tree and landing in the next one a few flaps away. Her head tucked down and she pulled a feather that had been loose free; this was quickly dropped and the long black plume floated lonely to the ground. Thought that one was loose. Alright, away we go!

Yon took off again, weaving lazily through the copse, flying over a fox burying a mouse in a cache. Her intrigue caught immediately. She'd seen these pretty red canines doing such things during spring from time to time, but hadn't understood why until later in the season. They hid food so other predators wouldn't eat it! Perched safely in a branch overlooking the fox, Yone knew this would be an easy snack for her. Foxes were clever, but they didn't have her brains!

She was just glad that she'd discovered the fun of eating mice mid-spring! They were fun to toss around, much more so than those wood and steel balls she'd sometimes been given, the researchers trying to make her solve some new problem as if she really was just a dumb animal. Cats were lazy, song birds were flighty, dogs were too clingy...and they'd all been kelvics too. Except for the fact that they tended to want to eat her sometimes, the raptors at least had been interesting to be around; the same with a few of the porpoises and sealions. They had some intelligence in them and were usually interesting to talk to (when she had the rare chance to). But these creatures out here were just dumb. Really, who leaves their food out? Or who buries it in the ground where something can just come along and dig it up! Like her!

Yon watched the fox finish patting the ground where it had buried its food and then sneakily place a specific stone on top of it, her beady eyes watching it all with the curiousness of a child. She crook'd deep in her chest and watched the red-furred canine finally depart, leaving his cache free for her to raid. Kicking off the branch, she descended smoothly with outstretched wings and landed beside the fresh-dug spot, knocked the stone away with her beak, and ruffled up again in pride. A free lunch and then a swim. It was hot, but it was a good day!

[Amelia Cross]

It had been quite some time now, that Amelia was spending out in the wilds. She chose to spend it by the lakeshore, with an occasional horse ride along the lake. She was a city girl, no doubt, as she found it difficult to spend all of her time in the wilds, but she enjoyed it enough to spend almost 10 days out there.

Now, was the time of days she wanted to spend with Fauna, her beloved horse. The two of them loved this time that Amelia spends outside of the city, as it wasn’t that often. That, was probably the only thing she disliked about Ravok. Here, it was so difficult to be with Fauna. Back in Syliras, she could just go riding by the mountains; she could do it without problem every day. But here, it toke her almost half a day to just get to the shore…so the little time she spent with her horse, had to be planned, she had to pack a tent and have food with her. It wasn’t that easy. But did she regret it? Not quite. She would go through bigger trouble for her horse, for her friend.

”don’t you just love the sun” the black haired girl said, as she leaned down on her horse, resting her body against its strong neck. The funny thing was, Amelia expected an answer, an answer that would truly come off as words ‘yes Amelia’ or ‘hot weather makes me tiered’…the chances of receiving it was below zero. None the less, she gained an answer, the horse clapped it’s foot against the ground, two times, Amelia had recognized that two claps meant a firm yes, while tree was a no. ”I’m glad” she stated, a bit lazily as she began humming a melody of an old song, an old, old song from back in Zeltiva, when her father sang her to sleep.

It toke her a chime, but soon enough she was actually singing, softly, but singing.

”a bird once flew away,
Looking for its prey.

The road it flew was long,
long as timeless songs.

Searching all around,
It found its special bound.

One would never think,
It found its way at Ravok’s Lake. ”

Amelia knew she was skipping lines, but she didn’t have the best memory. It was hard enough to remember the song as far as she did. It’s been years, she still hadn’t managed to ask her father, what was the full lyrics and what was the meaning. She could barely put together a guess, with the huge skipping she did.

But, the song wasn’t what made her open her eyes, and shift her body up straight once more. It was the way a crow, a crow was answering her song. It sang along, as if it knew. To Amelia it was a sign, it was a sign Rhaus was still with her! She was sure of it, even though it was not. If she’d be less emotional, she’d realize it was just natural for crows to do it.

She followed the sound, she followed the bird. Until it stopped, she didn’t quite understand why it had tuned mute. But it was still flying, flying from tree to tree, as if it was guiding Amelia somewhere. Her common sense told her to stop, as she saw a fox flee deeper into the woods, but the hope of having Rhaus await her at the end, was too big.

oocpoor, poor, naïve Amelia

[Yonega]

The raven had just gotten the mouse unburied when a noise began to resonate through the woods, her head rising from the half-eaten snack to look cautiously around. She'd heard singing before, in the institute, but the forest made the words sound strange at first, like a ghost cooing on the wind. Her eyes turned skyward, the gears of her mind turning; her eyes turned back to the forest, her ears listening. And then she understood why it didn't sound right. It was the damned crow! Had it found her stash?!

The raven turned towards the cawing and gave out another of those beard-dropping, loud, borderline annoying "RAAAWWK-CUCKCUCKK!!!. The shifter paused, listening once more. Movement through the branches made her freeze, her wings posied and ready to fly in case it was more dangerous predator. But instead of some long-clawed cat or nasty lizard, landing on a branch overhead was that stupid crow again. It caw-caw'd at her and then took off with a rapid flurry of wing beats.

Weird...what's got him all ruffled up? The raven spotted it a moment later and her naivete struck full on. She was completely ill-prepared to see a human, a woman no less, standing a few trees away. The woman hadn't seen her yet, but the others presence made her immediately uneasy. For all her lack of experience surviving in the forest, all that she had not learned from the handlers and researchers, Yon's wit had managed to keep her alive since escaping and separating from Garron. The clever avian mind within that decent sized skull had helped her adapt mostly easily (even if she griped mentally about it). She'd even managed to collect quite a bit of coin over a period of two or so months! All of it had been carefully hidden so that when the time was right she would have it. The only problem was, the bird was still afraid the researchers were looking for.

Such was the case now, her suspicion that this woman who'd not yet spied her might be looking for her. The handlers had well known the raven kelvic loved to sing, cawing out songs both in human and animal form (the latter harder to imitate, though). It wouldn't have been hard for them to send someone with a good knowledge of songs to go out and search for her via singing. Was that why the crow had been making that awful mimicry?

I dunno... She clicked her beak in uncertainty, feathers ruffling up and eyes looking away to search for somewhere she might be able to flee to. Amelia did not appear to have any weapons on her, but Yon had learned that didn't mean they weren't hidden and easily accessible. An arrow could de-flight her; a bolt might down her permanently, not that an arrow wouldn't do the same of course. Maybe if I don't move... And so, the corvid froze, the light filtered through the leaves making the green on the tips of her wings shine a little brighter and turn the iridescent blue a shade of teal. It was light when looked at the whole of the black bird with brown-neck and breast, easily triple the size of that ugly crow, but it was there, and visible.

[Amelia Cross]

Amelia continued to follow the crow, she tried to catch up to it, but as soon as she got closer to it, it jumped to a different branch, then another one, then again. It seemed like an endless game of cat & mouse. Finally the bird seemed to have stopped a few trees away from her. She got down from Fauna, her beloved horse, and was about to move. But, she heard a few exchanges of noise that made her want to stick to her current position, not moving.

The girl looked up, trying to spot the bird once more, the bird of Rhaus, she was sure it was a sign. But she couldn’t find it. Her eyes looking from one branch to the other ”where did it go?” she asked herself, yes looking everywhere. And then she saw it, I flew away. Amelia was disappointed, as she wouldn’t manage to catch it no more, not when she was already off her horse. IT would take her too long to find something to use as a mounting block. ”just your luck Amelia, just your luck” she complained, in a soft whisper as only she and Fauna could hear.

She was about to head back to the shoreline where she was before, but no, something was keeping her here, and the little bump from Fauna’s head made her think over her own doings once more. She looked around, trying to see what was it that Fauna tried to point out, was it some sort of danger? No, in that case, the horse was usually highly aggressive and eager to leave. A friend? What sort of friend could there be here? Did she want to be groomed? No, definitely not. A few more glances around, and she still didn’t see what she was supposed to see.

”My dear Fauna,
My young friend.
Why are you such a Prima Donna?
It might leave us to a bitter end!”

The girl hummed words to a melody, no song, no nothing. It was just words, she sang, she did it whenever she was feeling alone and lost. How many times back in Ravok had the girl sang to herself, sang herself to sleep.

”The hardest part of holding on,
Is letting it go..
But can we really depend upon,
Such pitiful excuse,
la na...na na....”

Still not making sense with her words, she enjoyed it, here nobody could judge her, the trees to judge you, the sky doesn’t and the animals enjoy the sound…she was sure of it…thinking her theory over she looked around again, and finally, finally she spotted someone living…a raven, a raven siting upon a branch. It was a beautiful creature. Amelia just smiled at it, not sure why, but today, reason wasn’t by her side.

However, she didn’t really approach it, not a lot at least. Just a few steps, so she could see it better and actually be sure it’s a raven, not just some game of lights between the leaves.

[Yonega]

There was a frightening moment when her fight or flight response wavered in the corvid before the latter kicked in and she took off in a quick flurry of wing-beats, no feathers this time shed as she rose to the tree overlooking Amelia. The safety of the foliage would shield her, she hoped.

No such luck this time.

The ravens eyes locked with those of the hominid below her and the bird froze. The woman had bees singing something just before take off. It was kind of clumsy sounding, not that she was one to judge, as though the woman below was simply singing her thoughts. Maybe that was what she was doing. Yon tilted her head, hovering low over the branch as she stared back at the other, trying to gauge what this creature wanted. Her pale skin was strange, her eyes stranger...

Stop acting like a fledgling! Do you see any weapons on her? No? Good. Maybe she's friendly like that man on the boat was...what if she's like Garron though? He was...strange.[i] She fluffed up again in thought, shifting slightly and ducking her head beneath a wing to nibble at a scratch. The worst case scenario, this woman was like that fellow she'd met a ten-day ago except that she wanted to hurt her with that stuff. Now he was weird.

The corvid opened her beak then, fixing her memory on the words that the woman had been singing, and began to talk-sing back. It was hard to copy in the warble voice of a bird, but she managed well enough.

"Hork horkrukrukruk."

A single phrase that desolved into whistle like trills as she tilted her head, one eye always kept away as she studied the woman below. When the whistles that mimic'd the sound of the notes Amelia had sung faded, Yon hopped to another branch, wings ruffling as she steadied herself overhead. "[i]Kraa-kraa-kraa! Hork ing!"

Beautiful! Absolutely splendid! Bet those silly parrots can't do that, hah! The raven let out a growly cluck-ruck sound that almost sounded like laughter as she stood there, staring down upon the dame.

[Amelia Cross]

For a brief moment, Amelia felt as if she had gone mad, she thought the bird was looking in her eyes, thinking and speaking to her. It was unusual of a feeling, the only time she has had the feeling like this was with Fauna. And while Amelia could explain her feeling to Fauna, the unusual connection with the bird seemed to be frightening, but inviting. Amelia wanted to get closer to it.

Soon enough, Amelia heard the bird sing. It wasn’t unusual for bird to sing, it was natural. And even though she didn’t find it quite common for a raven to sing, it didn’t surprise her. Until she realized, that the manner of her rhythm was the same as the talk-singing Amelia was doing. Could tie b that the bird was mimicking her? Was it singing the same thing as her or was it answering? It was clear that she couldn’t really tell, but one thing was sure, the raven was singing.

She came closer a few more steps, easy and calm, not wishing to frighten this bird the way she had frightened the crow. Amelia wasn’t as hopeful of the bird being a sign of Rhaus, as she had her wakeup call with the frightened crow. Then again, the crow seemed to just let out sounds, while this bird was singing. Quite pleasant whistling, at least that was how it sounded to Amelia.

”Raven, raven up so high,
Come down, please don’t be shy.
I won’t hurt, I won’t bite,
Just come down, and be polite”

A bit forced, rhyming was never too good with this girl, but she tried. And besides, she doubted the bird understood her singing, it just enjoyed the sounds she made. Making Amelia want to see, would the bird sing back? Would it ignore it?

[Yonega]

The kelvics curiosity had been fully piqued, her head tilting slightly and wings shuffling against her sides. The bird bobbed her head once at the other then tucked it in to preen a few chest feathers before resuming her gaze upon Amelia.

Huh, she's talking to me. There's no other ravens here, and you know that. Why would she want me to come down? Maybe it's a trap! But I don't see any traps on her...or weapons...maybe she won't bite. The bird turned her head at a sound further in the woods, body tensed should the need to fly arise. But the other didn't seem like a threat and the music was pretty. Yon whistled back, bill slightly open and a few hops further along the branch made until she could jump down to a lower one.

The effort to actually talk in this form was hard; the vocal cords of her animal form were ideal for copying certain sounds, but intelligent dialogue was impossible. It was as though the clever mind within knew that it could do more, but the silly body that was owned by it could not reciprocate. This frustration showed when the raven turned and yanked a leaf from the twigs on the limb and crumpled them in her beak. These were then dropped and more of those keruck sounds were made.

Polite; what's that? Maybe it'll be okay...hmmm... Deep thought was extremely difficult for the kelvic as she stared down upon the other, the noise further in the woods making her flinch again, the flight response pounding in her head. But yon maiden didn't seem threatening. If the yeowling she heard (maybe some puma or something! Or a wolf!) in the distance was a true predator the likes of which she'd observed from time to time from the safety of her roost, the woman below might provide an ideal place of safety until the threat passed.

The third cry (emphasized by the dying scream of something that had been caught) was enough to settle her mind. The raven flapped her wings and hopped off the branch, descending quickly to land upon the womans shoulder uninvited. Feathers ruffled as she settled and her beak pointed in the direction of the noise that resonated on, a defensive "KRAA KRAA KRAA!!" expelled to echo towards the thing unseen. This woman would keep her from being eaten until she flew back to her roost.

[Amelia Cross]

For a moment Amelia managed to not pay as much attention to the bird, but to a noise further on in the woods. She was terrified of the idea, as she had managed to encounter the local wolfs, thankfully escaping to the trading post fairly easily. The shore of Lake Ravok was not for those, who couldn’t protect themselves. And sadly, Amelia possessed so little skills of defense, that they could be defined as none.

”not the wolfs, not the wolfs” she prayed in her head as she stepped on a relatively big rock, sing it as a mounting block to get back on the saddles, to get back on Fauna. Better safe than sorry was what defined this situation. After the djed storm, wolfs have become even more aggressive, and if she possessed some chances to escape, Fauna was the biggest bet.

Only when she was safely on Fauna’s back, did Amelia notice that the bird, the beautiful raven had jumped down a few branches. Maybe she really was attempting to approach her? But the thought left her, as the bird toke a hold of the nearby leaves and crumbled them in their beak. Maybe Amelia was wrong, the bird was just politely trying to show her away from its territory? The lands of Rhysol stretched further than just the shore, maybe even the animals have been soaked in the chaotic and aggressive nature of the god.

Another blood chilling sound came from the depts. of the woods. Amelia felt alarmed, but she decided to stick around a bit more, she was far too curios of the bird, and unless the animal who made the horrible sounds came closer, she would stick around as much as she was capable of.

Then another cry, but not as much of a predator, it was more of a prey, a dead one. The sound made Amelia swallow a rock of fear in her through reconsider the desire to stalk the bird. Her own life was much more precious to her than the curiosity she held. Not to mention, her life had been looking up recently. The dark haired girl taking ahold of the horses rein, prepared to give an order of moving. But before that happened, the raven flew onto her shoulder.

At first Amelia was confused, but the ruffled feathers, the beak pointed towards the sound in the woods. It was clear, the bird was scared, in a protective manner Amelia brought her index finger up to the bird, slowly to not frighten it, she let it slide along it’s feathers ”shh, it’s going to be ok” she reassured, as if the bird could understand her. And while still holding Fauna’s rein, she gently hit her side, to let the horse know it was time to move. Amelia directed it towards the clearings by the lake line. From there, it would be a fast and easy trip towards the trading post, if it came to escaping that is.

[Yonega]

Yon had been looking off in the direction of the sound when the finger touched her breast, making her jump a little and eye the index which invaded her space. Her head would cant and beak align as she studied it for signs of malicious intent, her own self-preservation instinct much too high after the insanity that had been the previous season. At least she'd taken to living near the wilds more naturally for a hand-raised kelvic.

When the woman tried to soothe her with words as well, however, Amelia would find herself peering up at her quietly for a moment and then at the horse upon which Amelia sat, her mind mulling over the words and how she might best respond to them. The challenges of communicating in this form were absurd! Clipping her beak twice, the raven eyed the woman once more and spoke. It was the closest thing to words yet, and not a direct mimic of the others voice. Not by far: the raven so complacently settled upon Amelia's shoulder looked her in the eye and said, "Safe."

If that wasn't strange enough, the raven hopped from her shoulder onto the saddlehorn, picking briefly at her own toes and then hopping off completely with a hearty flap of her wings to the ground below. She didn't move very far from the horse, still within reach, and couldn't possibly know what sort of reaction it might have, but the reassurity of this woman's non-threatening nature brought a measure of comfort to the kelvic as she stood on the ground, looking up at the two creatures.

A moment later, it all changed. There was a flash of lights and colors and in the ravens place, nigh a heartbeat later, stood a pretty lass. Her face was round and her hair was raven black, though it lacked some of the natural sheen her feathers had. Her nose was long and slightly hooked, the tip bulging but not unpleasantly and her lips were full with youth and vitality. She was about of a slightly shorter height at right around five foot two, and her hair was clipped raggedly short, the bangs being the longest and hanging just past her chin. The body of the young lady was completely bare of cloth, a large and jagged looking birthmark visible on her left hip and part of abdomen. She was young, that was obvious, and kind of gangly which gave the apperance of malnutrition to the rest of her slender body. Her fingers and toes were long, the lower of which gripped at the grass in the same way the raven had, her weight leaning forwards onto the balls instead of heels of her feet.

The bird-turned-girl clucked her tongue a moment before tilting her head to the right and beginning to speak. It was quick and clipped, her sentences coming right after one another with no sense of hesitancy.

"Safe? I don't know if it's safe, but you seem safe. Are you safe? You look funny sitting up on that horse. Your legs work so why don't you walk? Can you walk okay? Are you hurt? Maybe I can help! I'm a good helper and I know how to wrap a wound and I can straighten a broken bone but they don't like that so much because it hurts and I wouldn't like to do it to someone awake because they scream and frighten me but you don't look like you'd scream; you were singing! I thought the words were kinda funny but your voice is pretty, I can sing too and don't let any of the others tell you I can't because I can." The raven-woman gave a sharp nod of her head to emphasize this as she looked upon Amelia.

[Amelia Cross]

To what happened, Amelia was not prepared. The bird flew off her shoulder and onto the ground. IT was surrounded by light and soon enough, instead of a raven, there stood a woman. She appeared to be young and fairly attractive, but naked. This sort of set Amelia off as she wasn’t used to being surrounded by naked humans, who actually seemed to not be caring. She didn’t have problems with it, but it was offsetting and she couldn’t help but have her eyes drift off into examining the woman’s body, in most of its glory. Clearly, it didn’t leave much to the imagination,.

However, the thought of having a decent conversations drifted away as she began speaking. Amelia couldn’t manage to add in answers to the multiple questions that were thrown her way, she could just try to remember them to answer latter on. Most of them seemed to be bizarre though, as the one about the horse? Had she not seen horse riders? Well, Amelia had to admit, this part of the lake wasn’t a common attraction for travelers, everyone stayed on the roads or clearer paths that have developed over time.

Once she could see that the kelvic was done with the sentence…es? She began recalling what was the first one she began with ”Safe, I’m not dangerous, that’s for sure…but this place most definitely isn’t safe, if you have been around long enough, you must know that the wolfs here are highly aggressive, so sticking to one place for long isn’t smart” what was the next thing, ah yes, the funny question about the horse ”Thank you, but I am fine, but I can’t run fast, if I would to be avoid danger, it is much smarter to do it by horseback” she didn’t question where the kelvic would have learned even the basics of medicine, it somehow didn’t seem all that relevant now.

”funny? Well, I am not good at rhyming, but I can hold a tune…eh, I believe you can sing, don’t worry, you did follow my melody, I believe you” she explained, and then, Fauna became a bit nervous. Amelia’s soft look upon the woman became sharp and turned towards the sound from earlier. Being a leopardbred, she could sense big cats. Meaning, it was no wolf that was out there, it was a cat, and by all that was heard, it was still quote hungry and dangerous. ”come, trust me, this place isn’t safe” Amelia said as she leaned her body downwards and outstretched her arm for the woman to get on the horse.

It would be quite soon, that the predator would become visible, and Amelia, was quite terrified of the idea.