Wolf RPG

The cold gray sea flashed past beneath her as Ultraviolet winged south down the coastline. She experienced occasional turbulence and blamed the afternoon's incoming cold front. The morning had been much warmer and sunnier, which was more to her tastes. Ah, well! she thought as she banked to her left, gliding inland now. The sun will come out tomorrow!

The sleek jay began to descend toward the beach, her scaled legs stretching out like an airplane's landing gear. She was getting kind of hungry, so maybe she would find some interesting food here. UV coasted over a cluster of driftwood and landed softly on the cool sand just beyond it, beating her wings and ruffling her feathers as she went into terrestrial mode.

Hopping lightly, she scanned the grainy substrate for anything edible. Her head cocked this way and that way as she skipped about and she shot occasional glances toward the crashing surf nearby. The area seemed strangely desolate. Even though UV was quite a socialite, she enjoyed the quiet, wintry stillness. Soon enough, she would be back among the flock, with her mother quite literally squawking in her ears and the flock's ceaseless cacophony providing the background music.

Aesop had decided to try his luck with the creatures of the ocean. He knew they were there, scuttling crabs and creeping shellfish, but he didn't know much else about them. A crab had many legs, and a hard shell to protect itself, but what he imagined most likely did not look like the real deal.

He knew, also, that there were fish, and large gulls whose cacophonous cries blended with the crash of the waves. Birds and fish were more within his comfort zone, and so if his luck failed with the stranger creatures he had not yet seen, there was always that to fall back on.

The cold, winter waters drove him from his hunt sooner than he'd have liked. Exhausted and shivering, he shook the water from his fur and emerged from the waves, just in time to see a bird settle on a pile of driftwood not too far off. By now, he was hungry, hungry enough to chance eating the strange, bright crested bird. So he crept, stalking nearer and nearer to where she was perched, hoping for a quick, easy meal. That he would get, so long as he wasn't spotted and he was quick enough to pounce.

She plucked an object from the sand and swallowed it, only to realize a second too late that it was a pebble. Oops. Oh, well, she thought, then flapped her wings delicately, lifting her body a few feet into the air so that she could reach out and clutch one of the gnarled limbs of driftwood. Perhaps she could see more with the advantage of a few extra feet...

The instant she settled on the branch, she saw what appeared to be a glob of sand moving toward her. With a jarring shriek, UV launched into the air like a bottle rocket. As she gained altitude, she realized with a jolt that it was a wolf, a large and burly one with a pale, sandy coat, green eyes and frightening scars. Once high enough, the jay banked, dipping her left side to turn and circle over him.

She should have been frightened and she might have exercised some caution if she had realized he had been stalking her. But UV didn't know this and she was an extremely inquisitive creature. She didn't quite dare to drop back onto the sands, though she alighted on a rocky bluff perhaps fifty yards further down the beach, her black beak pointed at the wolf.

"Hi!" she squawked, puffing out her feathers, then shaking out her long black tail. "If I come closer, you won't try to eat me, will you?" she asked cheerily, hoping the wolf could understand her shrill songbird voice.

The bird was close, now, and had yet to notice him. From this vantage point, he could make out more of it, and now the beauty of its bright plumage was plain to him. Were he not a practical man, he might have been caught by the beauty and, perhaps, had mercy on the poor bird. Unfortunately, Aesop was a practical man, one who did not favor beauty over a full stomach.

Fortunately (at least for the bird) he was spotted. With a cry that made him flinch, the bird alighted with shocking speed. She wheeled above him for a few moments, and Aesop watched with keen eyes, squinting against clouded sun. When the bird broke her circle and began to fly towards the rocks, Aesop followed, loping beneath and barking at her occasionally. He had now given up on an easy meal, but there was hope yet that he might succeed.

He stopped when she landed, puffed up and looking so very tasty. When she spoke, her voice shrill yet not wholly unpleasant, he cringed again. It would take some getting used to. She asked if he meant to eat her, and he shrugged. "I dunno. If you come closer, will you try n' eat me?" he called. If she didn't prove to be a meal, the least she could do was entertain him. At this point, he'd be satisfied with just that, and a cold meal from the Bay's caches.

His question was so unexpected that it caused her to burst into laughter, a noise like high-pitched gunfire. Her black crest seemed to dance on her forehead and her tail feathers quivered gleefully. UV event flapped her wings lightly and danced on the spot, as if laughter was as much a fully body experience as a simple sound.

"I would," she joked after catching her breath, "but it would take me about one hundred years to pick you apart into bite-sized pieces!" The jay laughed again, the noise quite shrill. "I think I'll leave you to the raptors—they might actually have a chance."

She eyed him calmly for a moment, turning her head sideways to have a better look. "I'm a friend, not food," she told him in an almost stern voice, though her black eyes danced. "My name's UV! What's yours?"

Now Aesop openly cringed at the unpleasant cackle that issued from the bird. Had he known his joke would cause that to happen, he might have been a bit more thoughtful about making it. He noticed the way she seemed to be laughter, rather than the usual method of simply doing. That interested him, but not enough to make him give up on the possibility of a meal. There would be other birds.

"Guess you're right, there," he replied, "don't seem like much of a bird of prey yourself. Bird prey, maybe, but ain't nothin' but the worms afraid of you, it seems."

At her words he laughed. "Maybe, but it's easy enough to be both," Aesop told her. "UV ain't the sorta name you hear often. Fuck it, I'll give you mine. Name's Aesop. Why don't you tell me a bit about the bird life, then? Make the lost meal worth my while n'all."

"Worms, bugs and all the creepy, crawly critters of the earth!" she corrected in her high-pitched voice, winking one beady black eye. "It's the crest, I think; it makes me look fierce! Don't you think so?" She tittered again, flicking the feathery black crest back and forth on her forehead.

"It's short for Ultraviolet," the jay explained, then yelled, "Hey! Language!" when he cursed. It was a habit picked up from her mother. "It's nice to meet you, Aesop, despite your filthy mouth." She gave him a look of reproof, though was back to her merry mood in the next beat. "I'd love to tell you anything you want to know! Just ask!"

"Delightful," he returned, though it was clear that he thought her diet was anything but. He wasn't sure what to make of the wink, but did get rather caught up on the fact that he didn't think he had ever actually seen a bird wink before. It was new and... sort of uncomfortable. Like, he really could have gone through life without getting winked at by a bird. "Right, yeah. 's gotta be the crest. Fierce as fuck, girl. Work it."

"Ultraviolet?" he repeated, "that's much-" then the bird screams, so basically fuck whatever he was about to try and say. "Jesus, what the fucking- don't do that again. Sorry." Stress on the ry. He shook himself out, as though physically ridding himself of the emotional whiplash. Right. Bird questions. "So... do ya'll do like, flocks, right? How's that work?"

When he cursed yet again, Ultraviolet squawked loudly in disapproval. It was just a short blast of sound, which did not cover a third utterance of "fuck." "You!" she said, her body trembling with indignation. She didn't know quite what she meant to say, so she spluttered for a moment before abruptly rocketing into the air and flapping up and away.

"I won't be spoken to that way!" she screeched over her shoulder. "Hmph!" UV then faced forward, her crest quivering as she climbed higher and higher into the sky. Aesop soon became nothing more than a cream speck on the beach, then he disappeared entirely when she winged further up the coastline.

Whatever reaction Aesop had expected was the one he should have expected, yet somehow did not. The bird screeched, seemingly too offended to continue the conversation. Offended, indignant, she took to the air in a flutter of wings. He watched her ascent lackadaisically, snorting at her parting remark. For a few moments after, he watched her departure, unconcerned by the development. The bird, in the end, had failed to provide him entertainment nor a meal. This development was fine with him, though unexpected. Nonplussed, he continued on his way back into the forest.