Open Eat Crow [Buras]

[Gad]

Spring 2, 514AV The Dust Bed "Uah...ugh. Rrmm." Gad groaned and tossed and turned in his bed. The unkind squawking of a flock of ravens roused him from coma-like slumber. That, and the pile of dirt landing in his face. Gad spit the mound of soil out of his mouth and shot up. He looked around him and it didn't take a master of observation to tell this wasn't his home. He tried blinking to clear things up but it didn't help. Gad caught another face full of dirt before he could figure out what was happening. He craned his neck back and squinted- the stark light made everything bleak- and spotted a silhouette with a shovel raking up dirt and tossing it down on him. Gad looked around and realized he'd spent the night in an empty grave. Nearly 12 feet above him, he could hear laughing. "Heheheh. Risen shine! The sun is ou- well, kind of behind the clouds, and the birds are singing- I guess. Time to face a new day kido!" As Gad's vision began to focus he made out the caretaker of Sunberth's graveyard, Jebediah, as the one with the shovel. "And what- in the name of Ivak's bloody pit- is going on here?" "If it ain't obvious, yah fell in here drunk last night." "And you decided to just- just go ahead and start burying me!?" "Well I stopped didn't I? Jesh. If you don't want to get buried don't go layin down in any graves, and then you wouldn't be runnin into this sorta problem now would ya? 'Sides, you oughta be more grateful considerin I put you up for a night rent-free, in a bed already reserved! " The undertaker gave a short cackled, tossed his shovel over his shoulder and walked away whistling a happy tune. Gad brushed the dirt out of his face and spit the soil out of his mouth before standing up. He must've gotten more shyke-faced than he'd intended; he could barely remember last night, or any of yesterday for that matter. His head was throbbing and his lower back -where his kidneys were- was feeling sore. He massaged his temples at he looked about. The mouth of the grave was just about at eye level, and he could see the gnarly roots at the base of a tree. He followed them up to see a leaf-bare old oak, on which was perched the black crowing choir of that flock of crows. Gad winced at their black forms, made featureless against the pale sky, and shouted "SHUDDUP ALREADY!"

[Buras]

Buras was sitting with his brothers and sisters when he heard it, "SHUDDUP ALREADY". Startled, Buras flapped and squawked around until he realized he was in no harm. Deciding to investigate what that noise was, Buras flies in the direction of the noise. Seeing that the noise came from a hole in the ground, Buras flaps over and sees that there is a person in there. Backing up so the man wouldn't see him, Buras morphs into his human form. Walking over to the edge he says "You seem to be a bit stuck. Need a hand?" Another customer, I wonder what he can do for me. Reaching down to grab the mans hand, Buras braces himself to pull the man out and go after him if he decides to bolt. "Comon then, I won't stand here all day"

[Gad]

At first, Gad was glad to hear someone who wasn't the undertaker was hanging around this place. The thought crossed his mind as to why a person would be hanging around here, but he pushed it out with the notion that there where indeed some people who had dead relatives they'd like to visit. Whoever the person was had heard him, and was offering to help. Gad wasn't one to ask for it, but when it was offered he wasn't too proud to take advantage either. "Huh? Yeah, over here." When the man approached the edge, and Gad looked up he couldn't make out the man because the bright daylight and the blur of the hangover. After a few blinks, though, Gad could tell the guy was in the nude, and turned away and put his hand up. "Oh! Gods I hope not. Come on buddy, put some pants on!" Gad winced. Now he was a little more curious as to who'd be visiting the dead, and in the nude. But, the man's necrophilia problem wasn't any of Gad's business, seeing as how he wasn't dead, and so he decided at this point any help he might receive was more relevant than why the man was enjoying the Spring breeze. "Wait- wait, help me up first." Gad took the man by the wrist and pulled himself outward and upward. Gad scrambled to his feet and went to work brushing himself off before looking over his shoulder to his new found aide. "Well, thanks. I was going ask you if you saw me come this way last night, but you seem like you're having trouble keeping track of your own clothes, so I'm gonna just skip that line of questioning and jump to the part where you tell me why you're-... hanging around this place like that? Don't you have any reverence for the dead, man?"

[Rend]

A small stone crypt sat, short and fat, nearby. It's form low and hulking like the man who was laid to rest inside it a fair 200 years ago and two, circular windows sat with dark iron bars looking like cold eyes. The real eyes were watching from the doorway however.

Rend had made her way inside shortly after dawn.The rising sun had been glaring and harsh, Rend was in no real rush to spend time out in that so had slipped into the darkness to take a nap and pass the time until it started growing darker... That or she grew too bored to bother waiting any longer. She'd gotten comfortable curled up in a small ledge that was laid out to receive a sarcophagus sometime in the future and there she had napped until 'SHUDDUP ALREADY' snapped her back to wakefulness.

She crawled her way over to the doorway, keeping low and quiet, to watch what was going on and who'd dare wake her up from that nice dream of flight on dark wings and hot blood. The bright light outside makes it hard to see clearly but there were two of them, playing about by some great big hole. 'No good, can't see. Get closer' Slowly, tucking her wings in close, Rend began to crawl along keeping low to the backs of grave markers.

[Buras]

"...why you're-... hanging around this place like that? Don't you have any reverence for the dead, man?" This was when Buras realized how strange it might seam. A naked man walking around a cemetery, and helping a man out of a hole. "Well, you see, I'm not exactly human. You see those crows over there?" Buras says pointing to the crows still in the tree. "Those are my brothers and sisters, in a way. If you haven't figured it out by now, I can't help you" As he was talking, thoughts were running through Buras' head. Will he try to kill me? If he tries, can I get away? If not, can I strike a deal with him? So what brings you out to the graveyard and in a hole. That is what I want to know. I feel like it would be an interesting story" Well, the ice has been chipped at. If he answers, we can both have a bit of a laugh, and maybe I can squeeze a favor out of him. He did not notice the shadow slipping from headstone to headstone. He thought nothing of it, thinking it was some clouds crossing the clear sky.

[Gad]

Gad cleared his nose as he directed his gaze to the tree. It was just a bunch of ravens. Gad looked back to the man, then to the tree. Whatever, I'm not gonna sit here all day trying to figure out what this guy's been smoking. Gad smiled and nodded his head, but his eyes stayed joyless slits, narrowed and aimed at Buras from the corner. "Oh, yeah of course! Right. I knew that. Totally obvious. "Gad stepped out of the guy's arm's length. Even though it made him inconveniently recognizable, Gad thanked his Benshira blood for his gangly height. It provided him with long arms and decent range, and he could easily stay out of arm's reach of this werido and Gad could still land a punch himself if need be. His ears twitched. "You know, it probably would be, but- it's funny- I don't really remember. Last night is kinda hazy, so it musta been fun, know what I mean? Heh. Yeah. In fact, I was going to ask you if you had seen anything, but I'm guessing not." Gad yawned. "Well, it's been fun talking to you nudist guy. Real enlightening. Made me look at life in a whole new light, honest. " The wizard couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. Some subconscious registration of subtle stimuli must've aroused his attention however, and he started looking all around him. He scanned the gravestones, and thought he spotted some movement, but when he looked he couldn't make out anything that caught his eye. Gad even looked over his shoulder, on both sides, which was funny since his back was to the grave, and nothing could've actually been sneaking up on him from that direction. He rubbed the back of his neck to smooth down the standing hairs. "Hey, you wanna make yourself useful pal? You see which way the under keeper went? Real creepy fella, carrying a shovel?"

[Rend]

Rend continued to slink across the ground till she was nearly at the pair, her mind easily accepting that she was good enough to sneak up on the pair, she was after all the little Rend. She strained her ears to listen closely to the pair talking by the small pit but could barely make anything out against the passing breeze over the open ground. She reached a nearby, low, wide platform of stone that must have some purpose and coiled up low behind it.

Rend should kill them, stupid weaklings waking her. Rend should make them dead... Or... Rend could use them. Rend get's there stuff like she did with Garl and Hiss... Yes! They seem as dumb. Yes!

With a steady grip on the edge of the tomb she pulled herself up slowly and laid herself out on it as casually as one might lay upon a couch in the parlor at some party. Remember how they do, act like them Her mind scurried over a fistful of meetings she'd observed and latched onto the only one she could find that seemed to match... sort of.

With a languid stretch and a half yawn she turned to look at the pair and in a soft, sultry voice said "Good morrning Sweet thing".

[Buras]

Buras smiled when he heard the man say he understood. Good, now to get a favor out of him. "Hey, you wanna make yourself useful pal? You see which way the under keeper went? Real creepy fella, carrying a shovel?" This is my chance. "I do not know where this person is, but I can find him. A favor will be owed." Before he was able to morph and fly off in search of this other man, Buras heard something. "Good morning Sweet thing." Buras jumped a little in surprise. Turning towards the sound and getting ready for a fight, Buras sees the source of the sound. It was Rend, the Zith that owed him a favor. At that moment, he wished he had the token she gave him. She probably didn't remember him at all. Then again, she might remember me.

[Gad]

Gad had woken up in a grave, met a guy who was naked and raving about how the birds were his brothers and sisters, but it was only now that things were really getting uncomfortably strange. In a seductive tone, a bat-person slunk out from behind a tombstone bidding them a good morning and calling them "sweet thing". Somehow, though, the look in her eyes when she said it made Gad think it was less a term of endearment and more a proper designation. Like they were just "sweet" "things'' to her; delicacies, or desserts. Gad was already scanning the area for his passage out of here, though he did so subtly. The young wizard had some limited experience with their kind. In his opinion they could be cunning, but not particularly bright. They were useful, but dangerous. Gad turned to Buras and said it low enough for the Zith woman not to hear. "Actually, it might be a better look right now if you waited around here for awhile." Now, louder, and in a sweet and even tone. "Good morning yourself, beautiful!" He called over to her. "What brings a flying fox like yourself over to some decrepit crypts like these, huh?" Gad stuck his hands in his pockets. His right hand tumbled over his set of lucky dice, but the left slowly started to give way to numbness. As the Zith woman approached, Gad was slowly working his astral hand free of the physical one, from joint to finger-tip, so that soon he'd have an incorporeal appendage to use if need be. Projection really was his answer to everything.

[Rend]

Rend Rolled onto her front and brought herself up onto all fours, her wings reflexively stretching out behind her. She loosed a soft chuckle at seeing the naked one jump and watched as the other, the shouty one, looked about. Shouty leaned over to Naked and mumbled out "Actually, it might be a better look right now if you waited around here for awhile.", Silly little Shouty, you'd need to be much quieter for me not to hear you

"Good morning yourself, beautiful!" The acknowledgement made a gentle warmth bloom in her, she liked this. "What brings a flying fox like yourself over to some decrepit crypts like these, huh?", That not so much. Rend pushed forward and, with a beat of her wings to stabalize her, moved forward off the tomb and onto her feet. Walking slowly towards Shouty with her eyes narrowed. "I am no Fox, Shouty one, I am Zith, I am Rend"