Neverwinter Forest Fate and Destiny were never friends

Kinusi stood at the 3dge of the large forest. Ears quivering as she stared. Snatches of the song she jad just sung finally fading. But she did not feel any better. Kinusi was finding she didn't think she belonged here. Another healer and singer had chosen to make a home. And already had garnered more favor than Kini could.

And perhaps it was simply ugly jealousy, but she wanted to leave. Ahe wanted to go somewhere, where she actually mattered. Her. Kinusi. Where her songs mattered, her skills. Instead of feeling like a wolf following along others. That was the real tub she supposed. She felt out of sorts because she did not feel she had a voice here. And perhaps that was an unkindness.

A soft hum of another song. And she shifted. Letting the notes flow from the forest.

no blood here.

the forest was quiet today, as he set his wings wide for gliding; he had listened for crowcall, for shrieking of fox, or signs of terror (which inevitably meant something had entered the path to death, either as prey or as a failed combatant) and there was nothing.

a frustrated trill crawled up his throat. he took to roosting on an oak branch, and as he balanced there, a sound came from below. it wasn't the kind of sound that usually interested him - a song, of sorts.

with a heave and a drop, he was shifting with the air and spiraling down - landing again on an open patch of grass, and up popped his bald head a moment later.

There was nothing to be found in the forest, by those who were looking for a precaught meal. Instead Kinusi simply walked and nunnered to herself as she did so. No one really spoke to her among the pack of Forneskja and as such she kept to herself more than she had before. She briefly wondered if she should return home.

A noise caused her pause. It was not the normal sound of the forest. It was a call of something that was a bird obviously, but what kind she did not know. She only knew it was bird as it was above her somewhere. 

Suddenly she froze as something fully dived down and disappeared among the loam and grass. Then the bald head that popped up. Kini stared open mouthed. What the hell was it?

the wolf was not far. qapnuk looked one way, then the other, looking more like an angry middle finger than a bird with the way his body was hidden in the green. a few moments of surveying later — and he sees the looming figure of a wolf, darkly colored and very close.

a hiss issues forth from his beak. too close! ignoring the fact that it was his own fault that he'd landed in this particular patch of fern and clover.

with a lurch he was up and hopping in a way that was both comical and unnerving. as qapnuk freed himself of the cushion of green growth, he waddled awkwardly a few more paces and gave another turn of his head; thankfully his long neck meant the rest of him could stay stationary.

his beak clattered, but he did not make another sound.

what was the wolf doing if not hunting? qapnuk was hungry!

The bird hopped, skipped and jumped. And Kinusi was polite enough at least to cover her mouth to hide the small smile. She was unsure whether to be fascinated or horrified. Such ungainly things on the ground, birds.

She hissed back softly as it hissed at her. He was the one that felt a need to land in front of her like some sort of sky diving beast. He had been the rude one, sir.

She made a soft noise in return to his clack. Then bent her head to the ground for  a pull of scents. Perhaps a rabbit. She could hunt maybe. Do something useful.

hmph! maybe it was lame? qapnuk stared at the wolf, moving his head and neck in a gross snake-like manner as he assessed. he could not tell if there was any deeper injury to the creature—but there was no blood scent, and no sweet milk smell, and nothing to indicate any wrongness.

the vulture opened its wings and tried to thrust itself up again—as if the singular motion might bring him back in to the air, regardless of how fat and ungainly his body was. it did not work, and he gave a croak as if it were the wolf's fault.

a few lurching hops later and he was running to try again, only to trip on his own feet and go plodding in to dirt.

Kini was not sure what to make of this creature. Who flopped it's head like a dead thing. Was it sick? Did it have an injury? She looked it over. Saw no wounds. No pin Feathers out. Just bald and big and well not pretty.

It tried to fly and she stared again assessing. It couldn't get off the ground perhaps it was wounded. She eyed it's legs it's wings. And made a nose in her throat. How perplexing,  it seemed fine. She shrugged and was about to go about her business.

She was startled as it tried to fly and fell further, feathered rear,over bald head. She moved a little closer studying it again. Eyes casting for any blood. An entanglement around his feet?

he needed a proper running start, that was all. he had big wings that weren't broken, but he flared them out to check himself and looked crookedly at one, then the other. flexing them, waving them up and down and glaring as if they were purposefully being disobedient.

the problem wasn't the wings.

with a grumbling deep in his throat, qapnuk waddled a few more steps. his legs weren't built for walking for long stretches. it didn't help that his body was so round, and this particular vulture appeared to be more akin to a bulbous torso than anything.

again, with the running - away from the wolf, and with his wings tucked in for the first half, then spreading for the second. running might activate the wolf's desire to chase—but qapnuk had to hope he wasn't too fat to fly.

with a furious beat of his wings, and then another, he gave a hop and thrust himself in to the air.

freedom!