Flitherness (Khida)

[Colt]

8th of Summer, 512 AV Syna had not quite broken above he horizon when the man awoke, and neither had Leth quite dipped below it. One side of the world was lit with blazing pink and gold while the other was swathed in a blue and purple veil, the last of the stars doing their best to remain until light forced them into oblivion for a day. He did not open his eyes, not at first. First he made himself aware of the warmth created by what had once been a bedroll but was now something that could only be described as a nest. The heat trapped between his skin, his clothes and the heavy cloth piled around him permeated his form with pleasant inertia, the kind of relaxation that can only touch those who are truly content. It was this feeling that informed him that he was well and truly awake and that dawn had come, heralding another cycle of the complex yet simple thing that was called life. The man shifted a half-inch, just enough to feel cloth brush against his skin, and extended his senses to hear the chattering of birds swooping sleepily between trees in an attempt to shake slumber from their feathers. He shifted again, more this time, and turned lazily from the fetal position that he had been holding all night to his knees. He rolled his back upwards in a luxurious stretch, adrenaline flowing through his veins and revitalizing him. He yawned once for good measure, then rose smoothly from the pile of cloth and onto his feet as all trace of sleep left him. He knew he had to move fast; sunrise was when everything roused itself and began to move, searching for whatever they needed before the heat of summer roasted them alive in the sun. He would have to move fast if he wanted to catch the morning’s bustle, and with no time wasted he soon had his knife, a pointed stick and was soon on his way to slip through the small crack that led out of the crater.

[Khida]

The glorious colors of the heavens were lost upon at least one creature who slept beneath them, scorning the shelter of any stone roof. Rather, the falcon roosted amidst tree branches, head tucked beneath a wing, surrounded with the whisper of leaves disturbed by drifts of air. That sussuration did nothing to disturb her sleep, but the songbirds greeting dawn's first glimmers of light, their proclamations of sovereignty and coaxing serenades -- those provided a clear signal that sleep's rightful time had passed by. Rousing, Khida stretched out her wings, sending skittering away the little birds brave enough to forage in a sleeping falcon's tree. She affected not to notice, focusing attention upon herself and the task of preening sleep from her feathers. The peregrine kept her ears tuned to the songbirds all the while, listening to them settle back into complacency. She stilled as the man emerged from his den, canting her head and watching him start for the gap in the crater walls; his business was clearly outside, and that made him none of hers. Or at least, she had learned from their first encounter: the falcon avoided his hunting grounds, and took her own activities elsewhere. Secure in the height of her perch, Khida set her awareness of the man in a corner, fully expecting him to continue on his way -- to leave. Her gaze shifted to the small forms flitting to and fro; her talons tightened on the bough, scoring thin lines in its rough bark. As she observed the patterns of their motion, waiting for an opportune target to present itself, the falcon unconsciously limbered her wings, the curve of their wrists held just slightly away from her body and the length of their primaries fanning outwards, ready to at any moment bear her into the air -- and down again upon feathered prey, of course, for how better to start a morning than with breakfast?

[Colt]

Something gray flitted at the edge of his vision, accompanied by the prickling sensation in the back of his skill that meant that there was something to look at. He turned to throw a glance over his shoulder and frowned when it landed on a falcon. He turned, squinting. Was that… it was! It was the same falcon that he had encountered five days ago. Had it been in the crater all along or had it just returned? Thought of hunting temporarily stilled, the man slipped back the way he had come, weaving between trees until he came to a halt under the one in which the falcon was perched. There was no mistaking it. It was the same falcon. His frown deepened. The falcon seemed to like this crater despite the man’s personal aversion to any predators other than him dwelling within its walls. What did he want to do about that? He settled into a crouch, eyes still trained on the raptor. There was something in his mind forming, but he wasn’t quite sure what it was. An idea that he would have when it finished forming, though it seemed to be taking its time in letting him know what exactly it— He was suddenly hit with a flashback to five days before when he had stolen her kill. It had been easy, much easier than killing pheasants with a sharpened stick or dull knife. And they had both benefited equally. The man rose and dashed back to his camp. He knew what he was going to try. Rummaging through one of the higher shelves of the cave, he managed to retrieve a large portion of leftover meat from the night before. He had been planning on saving it for lunch, but if this worked then he wouldn’t have to. He ran back towards the falcon’s tree and slowed when he caught sight of her. He uttered a sound that was rather like a dog’s bark and displayed the red meat for her to see, waiting and watching to see if she took interest.

[Khida]

Movement, purposeful and intent, and coming closer. It diverted Khida from her study of prospective prey, required the falcon to evaluate a potential threat instead. Him, again; he not only approached but came to stand beneath her perch. To stare up at her. The falcon stared back down at him, shifting her grip on the branch, fluffing out gray feathers in uneasy reflex. So much for a peaceful morning's hunt -- she hadn't even started, and he was being a nuisance already! Maybe she should just leave now, find some hunting ground with less company in it. The falcon gathered herself to take to the air... but then he ran off. Just like that. Baffled, Khida checked her former course of action and watched him go. She felt curious enough to remain on the bough, tipping her head to peer at the cavern mouth; unfortunately, the darkness inside proved proof against her stare. The bird occupied herself with briefly preening feathers instead, keeping the cave in the edge of her vision. It was too much to expect he'd stay gone. And he did come back -- at a run, no less. The peregrine again gathered herself for flight... and again hesitated, this time when the man slowed. Would he never do predictable things? She tipped her head, studying him intently. Him, more than the meat he waved around, though its presence wasn't lost on the raptor. In fact... Khida thought about that for a minute, remembering a pheasant taken and a pheasant returned. She tried to fit his present behavior into limited past experience; since she had nothing for him to steal now, that left only the second deed. Khida judged she could live with taking food from him; if she didn't have to work to eat, so much the better. The falcon crouched and half-flared her wings, then leapt up into the air. She scribed a low arc from the tree's canopy, much as she once had on a previous day, the better to catch an upward-flung carcass. It remained to be seen if he would throw the meat this time -- but she thought it would cost her little to test.

[Colt]

He was pleased that he, or at least the meat he was holding, had the falconess’s rapt attention. She eyed it intently, then crouched and took to the air to hover where she would be within easy reach of whatever he cast upwards. He turned his attention to the carcass. He stripped off two small strings and wound them together before hurling it up for the raptor. It was food, yes, but it would be barely enough to whet her appetite, let alone fill up her stomach to any degree. He took up a squat on top of a small boulder that was in easy view of everywhere nearby. As he waited for her to claim her prize, he stripped two more pieces off and held them away from his body, also in easy view, and settled to wait and watch her.

[Khida]

Tracking the upward-flung tidbit, the peregrine arrowed down to meet it halfway, snatching it out of the air. Small as the shred was, she forwent landing. Rather, Khida stretched her wings wide and glided a short distance, ducking her head to transfer the meat from talons to beak. It felt rather much like being a nestling again -- gifted shreds of meat and injured prey -- except without being stuck on the ground. But the falcon wasn't one to stand on dignity; she swallowed, and it was gone. She recovered altitude with several quick flutters of her wings, then banked until she could catch the human in her view again. He hadn't moved, but crouched still on his boulder; the peregrine found that reassuring, in some fashion. At the very least, no cause for alarm. She could also pick out additional pieces of meat in his hands. Since the first round went well enough, the falcon came around to her earlier position above him, looking for a second piece.

[Colt]

She caught the offered mean gracefully, then locked into a gentle coast to swallow it. Within seconds she was banking back around, looking for more. The man flicked the meat suggestively, then turned and hopped off his perch. He hit the ground in a sprint towards the wall of the canyon and doorway to the outside plains taking the way with the least tree cover and holding both meat and carcass out to his side and in obvious view. He halted a few yards from the crack in the wall and found another boulder to stand on. He drew back his hand and threw the second strip of meat into the air, then crouched down to watch as he had before.

[Khida]

The falcon watched him run with renewed bemusement, marking his progress towards the rift in the crater's perimeter wall. She couldn't fathom his intent, but couldn't imagine threat in his actions either -- only strangeness, and for now, the dual impulses of hunger and curiosity outweighed that. Minute changes in the angles of her feathers adjusted Khida's course to follow, tracing through the voids between tree canopies. She marked his stop, and shifted from level flight to climbing, a few extra feet of altitude gained in expectation. Nor did he disappoint those expectations. The peregrine bore down upon the hapless scrap of meat, snatching it easily from the air; lifeless targets weren't inclined to evasion. An abrupt tilt of her wings and careful spilling of air from beneath brought Khida to a small ledge on the nearby cliffside, just large enough for herself. She landed on that ledge, and downed the second offering about as quickly as the first, with no more decorum; then the falcon shifted position and peered down at the man, her head tipping to one side.

[Colt]

Though she still seemed bemused, the man was confident that she would continue to follow him if he continued to offer her scraps. He exaggerated his movements as he ripped another string of flesh free, flicked it for good measure, then turned and slipped into the crack. He moved swiftly, half crouched and feet barely touching the sandy floor. He’d have to focus on more than just the falcon when he emerged onto the plains. The sun was just barely up and the night’s coolness still clung to the air, so there should still be plenty of activity. He slipped out of the crater and onto the Sea of Grass, then whirled and threw the second string into the sky.

[Khida]

Her attention never wavered from the man and the -- as of yet -- free food he offered, though as he ducked into the crack, the falcon was a bit slower to lift from her perch. She regarded the gap in the walls for a moment, and the grasslands its other side opened to, considering whether she really wanted to go out there. Then again, it's not like the crater and its opportunities wouldn't still be in place, after. Fortunately, it took Khida far less time to fly over the rift than for the man to thread his way through it, once she launched herself back into the air. This put her on the outside for the next tidbit, which he tossed up quite promptly. She tucked her wings partway in and swept down to intercept, snatching the strip just below the apex of its arc and eating this third strip on the fly, as she had the first. The falcon continued forward over the expanse of open grass, maintaining level altitude; after a short period, she banked to one side, tacking back around. She noted along the way small shadows and flashes of movement -- mostly birds and small rodents, the insects some of them fed on, a rabbit here and there. As her arc turned back around towards the man, she shifted her focus back to him, the better to see if more food was forthcoming. Or maybe he'd scare something up again, for her to hunt. They could skip the back-and-forth with the carcass this time, surely.