Once again Shadowed Moon found himself wandering, partially in an attempt to help himself think, and partially to spare his herd another moment of Sunrise's calls. The bird, along with several of its fellows, had been lurking in the trees around the Obelisk through which the buck had returned to The Swamp. Though they had been quite a surprise as he didn't originally notice them in his joy at returning and the sudden sounds and noises they'd made when he began to walk away had nearly scared him out of this skin. For a moment he'd thought he hadn't actually made it out of the Obelisk, and even once he saw the birds he still wasn't sure he'd made it out (after all, birds aren't supposed to be able to make those kinds of sounds) but after he stared around at them and nothing else strange and unusual started to occur the buck breathed a sigh of relief and began his way back to his herd's Resting Place. The bird's had began to get louder and more frantic when he ignored them but that wasn't exactly uncommon for bird's, so being quite done with strange and unusual he continued to ignore it. It wasn't until one of the bird's took flight and decided to dive at his head the buck was forced to pay attention to them again as he ducked his head and just barely avoiding the bird's body, it's tail feathers brushing over his head. Dodging a few more times as the bird continued to dive at him the buck was so surprised when it screamed "HEY!" that he stopped and stared at it, quickly finding himself with a face full of bird. Leaning backward in shock as the bird's wings wrapped around the top of his head, blocking his eyes and it's small claws rested on his nose scales the buck started to try to shake it off before he noticed the bird was simply... holding onto his head. Pausing for a moment the buck looked up and saw the bird staring into his face, blocking his vision so all he could do was look at it as it bobbed its head back and forth.
After a few moments of staring at each other, the bird bobbing in front of his eyes ever time he tried to look away, the buck wasn't sure if he'd have to take drastic measures when the bird suddenly leaned in, staring into his eyes. After a few moments, it hopped up onto his horns, nestled in and whistled. Confused and rather worn out emotionally from everything that was going on, the buck decided he wasn't going to worry about it and just started heading home. The bird seemed content with this and the two returned together, in fact, it took quite some time before the bird would leave his side. It only seemed to leave when he was asleep, and the moment he awake or tried to leave, it would swoop in and stick itself to his side (or head, or back) and refuse to leave. Eventually it would roam when he sat or rested, and after a while it began to explore itself once it realized he wasn't going to vanish. Once or twice when he'd gone on a night walk while the bird was asleep he'd found himself with a face full of screaming bird and another few days of it sticking to him before it got comfortable again, before it seemed to realize he wasn't just going to vanish into the winds. As of now, the bird seemed more comfortable with the two of them doing as they willed (especially after he'd given it a name), though it was still surprisingly attached to him, and he still found himself with a face full of bird now and again if he left without it. While no one in his herd seemed to know anything about Sunrise, they all had gotten to experience was the bird's ability to speak and create sounds just like a kin. Some of them hadn't believed him at first until the bird did it in front of them. While that in and of itself wasn't the worst thing, Sunrise seemed to enjoy the attention it got when making said noises, and would randomly break out into hours of screaming. This was one of those times, and as such Shadowed Moon had decided to spare his tribe of such things, as this time the bird was screaming for help, and making loud groaning noises. Right now Sunrise was sitting between the buck's antlers going "Help! Help! ...help!" and groaning before doing it all over again, only pausing to make happy little chirps and nuzzling the buck's head. "Yes, yes, I know. Hello to you too..." Shadowed Moon said with a sigh and he stepped over a tree root, looking down at his hooves absentmindedly.
seru_ame wrote:
Where had time gone? Heavy hooves carried the massive Totoma through the swamp with surprising grace. His time on the Cres had given him some grace he had not, in nearly half a decade, mastered, with the way the ground shifted and sucked. Abandons Fear was unsure of his heading, listlessly meandering about. While he could go back to "his" herd, Abandon didn't feel quite... right. Or ready to answer their questions- he'd been gone so very long, and he was- certainly in a questionable state, his belly slightly swollen. He didn't let his mind linger long on that, though- the hush of feathers and scales slid over his back plates, and he lifted his head to peer back. He nosed against the broad snout, and huffed at the feathered serpent, stilled, and let it drop off his back. Well, if it wanted to move of its own volition, so be it. Perhaps he would hunt, and share some of the meal with Abandon.