That day, Diamond Rat dragged her wingtips through the ice without caring. She hadn't preened for a whole week, nor had she allowed another bird to groom her. Diamond Rat had avoided the chorusing flock that usually hung out on the ice wall of Avanthal. She didn't feel like chirping randomly or hunting for food. If she was hungry, she couldn't tell because she was so cold.
What Rat didn't know was that she hadn't even been bonded to that cute boy in the first place, or else she'd be even worse off. But, it had felt like a bond to her, and when he finally trapped her under a bucket and left in the night, that had been a real blow to Diamond Rat's self-esteem. She'd spent some time in the wilderness, unable to find the boy or her way back home, which explained the twig stuck to her tail.
WORST. BIRTHDAY. EVER.
How had Diamond Rat escaped the bucket? Very carefully, for it had a brick on top of it. There had been no consideration for Rat's safety or well-being. She had been left to die in a cold, iron prison. However, with some scratching, shrieking, and some help from a friendly loon, Rat had just barely been able to extricate herself. The only thing she couldn't escape now was the sense of terrible, crushing loneliness.
Snow whorled in the air, spiraling, dancing, taking the twisty, dragonish shapes of Morwen's Lights, which coudl barely be seen through clouds above. Diamond Rat looked down from her perch in the nook of a building, and saw what--she hoped--was a crumb of food. It was big and white, and it was nestled in some fuzzy brown thing. Rat was hungry enough to have blurry vision. She fell out of the building without thinking, landing spot-on in some dude's sweet dreadlocks.
OOCTag: Talhar!
