Solo Queen of the Sky

[Deadfang]

Timestamp: Spring 1, 513 AV Syna would be rising soon, as Deadfang looked out over the lake from her perch. Her stomach grumbled, as she hadn’t eaten for a nearly a full day. She was nearly a bell from the peaceful city of The Spires, one of the few towns that truly accepted her kind, or so her mother had said. She didn't know how she knew, but her body was telling her that spring started today. She languished there, wondering when she would find a mate. Most of the males in her colony were claimed, too old, or not strong enough. She shook off the breeding urge, to focus on her task of getting her next meal. Her deep blue, nearly purple-black eyes scanned the darkened skies, hoping to find a target before the burning gaze of Syna came. Her sight moved over the still lake, seeing the occasional fish jumping out, silver, flopping, before splashing back down, the only disturbance so early in the morning. She didn't like to eat fish, so many bones and scales, and it was hard to get the bigger ones. But she decided to study the fish, just in case she'd have to make them a last resort. Scrutinizing the surface of the pond, she wondered why they leapt out. She extended her wings, determined to go investigate this self proclaimed phenomenon. A few quick beats of her leathery wings, and she had enough air beneath her. She floated up from the branch, then leaned her body forward, tilting into a glide. Beating powerfully, she took off down toward the lake. There wasn't much wind so early in the day, the air still holding Morwen's bite, as she soared down to the water. She let her course take her down, until she was skimming just above the glassy waters. She looked down into the depths, making out the occasional, wiggling critter. She pulled her face upwards, trying to find the source of these leaping prey. Up ahead, she watched one leap out, arc through a blur, then fall back into the depths once more. She slowed her flight to as low as she could, without dropping like a stone into the lake. And soon the blur became clear. It was a school of insects, some sort of gnat or mosquito, her ears picking up on a very distinctive whining buzz. Satisfied by what she'd discovered, she continued to fly around the surface, her ears twitching this way and that, locating several sources of the noise. She quickly determined that the fish wasn't just a prey, but a very wise predator as well. It probably sat just beneath the surface of the water, waiting for a large bunch of these insects to congregate above, then with a powerful leap, consumed several of them in a single go. Deadfang wondered if she could do that with small prey as well, with a flock of small birds perhaps, or a colony of squirrels. She saw a rock out in the middle of the lake, and glided over to it. On her approach, she tilted her body upward, then with several powerful flaps of her wings, came to a gentle landing upon the slick, mossy stone. She crouched down, wrapping her wings over her body to help hide her form, as well as keep Morwen's breath at bay. She looked up at the approaching horizon, estimating that she had a chime or two until Syna brought the daylight to pass. Then her ears picked up the sound of flapping wings, feathered, not leathered, approaching. She looked over to her right, and saw a large bird approaching. It had a black body and a bright white head. It's wing span wasn't nearly as large as hers, but larger than most birds' she'd seen since she started hunting on her own. She watched it swoop down on the water just as she'd done, and then a fish exploded out of the water before it. But the bird wasn't surprised, if anything, it had been expecting it. Its claws grasped at the fish, ripping a few scales from it, but the fish managed to wriggle away, and back into the waters. The bird turned its glide upwards and returned to a large tree. She watched it from there, as it watched the waters. Fish eats bug. Bird eats fish. Zith eats bird. While she couldn't make out the fish in the water, save for those directly next to the stone she sat upon, she assumed that the bird could. She figured it would watch waters until a fish was spotted, waiting on a bug swarm. Then, when a bug swarm would appear, the bird would take off. When the fish attacked the bugs, the bird attacked the fish. So now, Deadfang had prey and bait, to bag a large meal. She waited, until she heard the tell tale sign of the wings again. She watched the bird soar down over the water once more, her back and wing muscles tensing for flight. She could hear the buzzing of only one swarm in the path of the bird, and knew that would be the point of contact. As the bird neared it, Deadfang's claws gripped the slippery rock hard, then her feet pushed her off powerfully into a dive. Then her wings extended, catching the air as she began beating them hard, forcing air down into the lake, splashing the waters in small sprays. The bird hadn't noticed her, locked in on its own meal, as she buffeted closer to the meeting point. A spear's throw away, it seemed as if Tanroa had slowed time, for Deadfang saw the fish's lips pierce the surface. She saw the bird ungrip its claws, and flap its wings to slow for just a moment. Then the scaled body launched upward, and the talons bit deep this time. The bird flapped again to regain speed, when it noticed her. But it was too late, for she was at full speed and it was at a near stop. Deadfang's claws on her hands and feet were extended, sharpened, shining. She sunk her feet talons into the bird's chest, puncturing heart and lungs. Her body bent forward at the waist, as her hand claws sunk into its back. Her feet claws shicked from their corpse sheath, allowing her to pull the dying avian to her chest. She heard a slipping sound, and her mind instantly perceived it as the bird dropping the fish. Her feet claws struck downwards, and much to her surprise, gripped around a wriggling fish. It was too small for her claws to stab at this angle, so she just gripped hard until it crunched and stopped moving. Her wings buffeted hard as she took off from the lake with both her prizes.

[Deadfang]

Deadfang decided a good place to land would be the same tree she'd seen the eagle take off from. The bird clearly preferred the tree in life, so it would have to make do in death. She floated up to the tree, her wings flapping slowly as she alighted upon a thick branch, on one foot, for the other held the fish. Balancing precariously, her wings extended to help her, she set the limp bird upon the wood, then passed the fish to her hands. She then set the fish atop the bird, and pulled her wings in behind her, folding up like a vein filled cloak. She licked the blood from her talons, enjoying the metallic taste, followed by cleaning her fur from the red liquid. She sat upon the branch, leaning back against the trunk, and grabbed the fish. She held it up in front of her, as the first blinding rays of Syna came over the land. She'd considered cursing Syna, but without her, many of her prey wouldn't be available. She wondered how a world that only lived beneath Leth's light would fare. Would her kind be able to rule this world? She extended a single claw, picking at a single scale on the dead fish. It popped out easily enough, but she really had no desire to pull them all out, one by one. So much against her mother's teachings, she played with her food. She ran her claw one way over the fish, then another. As the long edge of her claw scraped from tail to head, she watched scales just pop up, like those fish that leapt from the lake. Now in an excited fervor, she ran her claw quickly over the fish's sides and belly, scales flying off, falling to the forest floor below. After she'd removed all of the scales, she snipped off the fins as well, all the white flesh shining in front of her. Her fangs flashed bright as she bit into the fish, its juices flowing down her chin and torso, dampening her fur. She spit out the tiny bones as she came across them, further littering the ground below. When she finished, there was simply a skeleton, with a head and tail on it. She tossed this away, looking down to see several scales had fallen into her fur. She grabbed one of the pouches from her belt, and dropped the handful of scales within. Now that her immediate hunger was temporarily sated, she turned to the bird. She hated the taste and texture of feathers, so plucking came first. She decided to start near the feet, away from the wounds, so she wouldn't tear the flesh. She first plucked several of the largest feathers, the most prominent she could find upon the bird. She stashed these in a separate pouch from the earlier scales. Then she started grabbing handfuls of plumage, ripping them out, exposing the pink flesh beneath. She tossed the feathers below, ripping them out faster and faster, a high pitched laugh escaping her maw. When she was done, she studied the naked bird, laughing at the sight of the pink critter, proud of the puncture wounds she'd made. She snapped the wings close to the body, then ripped them off. She threw them down into her garbage pile, wondering if bugs or other animals would eat or collect them. She hoped so, for she hated the idea of waste, but she only had so much use for certain parts. Using a single claw, she sliced the bird's feet off, and slipped those into a third pouch. Deadfang then grabbed its head, marveling that a bird was so big. She began twisting the head, meeting resistance, until she snapped its neck. She twisted the head around several times, and pulled, until the head finally popped off. Smiling, for she loved skulls the best, when it came to bones. She stowed it in the same pouch as the feet. Her prize now ready to eat. She used her claws to lazily carve chunks of the pink meat from the bird, plopping them into her mouth, one at a time, comfortable in her throne. When she was finished, her belly full, near to bursting, she slide down in her seat, to take a nap. Her eyes looked up to the heavens, when she noticed a massive clump of twigs and leaves. A bird's nest, much larger than any other she'd seen. Her head cocked to the side, when she realized that the largest nest she'd seen must belong to the largest bird she'd seen. And bird nests, usually had a treat that Deadfang loved. Eggs. She stood up, turning toward the trunk. Shick. All of her claws were extended, and those in her hand, she gored into the trunk. She extended her wings, lazily flapping them, using her hand and feet claws to slowly climb up the trunk. Bits of wood and bark fell away as she ascended, until she'd reached the nest. She pulled herself up onto the branch, sitting upon it. Looking over to the side, she saw two massive eggs. She didn't know if this bird type was raised by one parent or two, but she decided to not be greedy. For more birds mean more eggs, and more eggs mean more birds, which meant more meals for her. She plucked one of the eggs gently, cradling it in her hands. Quite a great way to start the day. She leaned forward on the branch, falling into a dive. She twisted her body until her stomach was parallel to the tree, then she extended her wings, pulling the egg in between her small breasts. She pulled up, gliding over the ground, and once more out over the lake. Syna's light was blinding, so Deadfang decided to head southwest away from the sun, toward her colony. She took a lazy route, following her ears to fly through the bug swarms that made all of this bounty possible, fish leaping in the sunrise behind her.

[Capricious]

Deadfang

Award

Skill	XP Earned	Lore Earned
Observation	3	• Fish Leap Out of Water after Insects
Flying	2	• Fish are Prey and Predators
Investigation	1	• Cycle of Life: Fish, Bug, Bird, Zith
Hunting	2	• Birds Watch and Wait
Philosophy	1	• How to Pluck a Bird
Skinning	2	• Lore
Climbing	1	• Lore

+1 Handful of Bird Feathers
+2 Bird Feet
+1 Large Bird Skull
+1 Handful of Fish Scales
+1 Egg

This solo was packed full of information and actions! If I missed something, please let me know. I did give you investigation for investigating why the fish acted the way it did. You also received philosophy for contemplating Syna and the ways of life. The rest should be self-explanatory!

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can figure it out.