Blackbeak Bluff as you climb up hillside, forest and fen

@Elijah Cross
70F, rain, early evening

caw feels very wet.

he does not feel good about feeling so wet. there are things to do, yes! but he also feels like he would rather be hiding under the cliffs with the ravens. still! it is essential he finds the plants he needs. and they cannot all grow in one place. and he does like wandering! there are many things to discover here. again, he just feels very wet. and it is hard to smell what he needs in the rain.

it is also very salty. caw knows the sea, a little! he has just never spent much time by it. forests are much nicer, with much prettier birds that do not snatch his food right out of his mouth. and they are darker, and quieter, and they still have fish, and they do not have sheer cliffs that make him remember vrána is the only one who gets to fly.

he also has no cover here. this does not help things. there are nice green fields with nothing at all in them to hide behind, which is good for finding things at least! but vrána cannot see as well in the rain. and he cannot see anything over the cliff. he has already leaned over once and made vrána very upset, so much that his nose still hurts from where she pecked him. he has learned his lesson, though! he is not supposed to jump off cliffs. he has not done this since he was very small. and the cliff was nowhere as large as this!

in retaliation, he has asked vrána to go under the cliffs to look, since he cannot get down there any other way. she is gone now; he cannot see her through the rain but he keeps a polite distance from the edge nonetheless, so when she comes back she does not peck him again. but there is not much to be seen other than grass.

he stops curiously to nibble some of it. it is just (very salty) grass. then he turns his attention to snapping at the raindrops instead. they are also very salty. in the end he just trudges along in grumpy silence, waiting for vrána to show herself. she is probably doing this just to scold him.

yes, everything was extremely wet. right down to his skin did the rain soak through, the salty air didn't help with how thick the air felt and how heavy it made it all seem in this weather. Sluggishly he made it through the bluffs, the steep edge of the immediate drop was enough to make his stomach churn and walk with enough respectable distance between himself and the cliffs. He wasn't afraid of heights if he was being honest, to fly would be a dream, but the immediate stop at the end is what Elijah wanted to avoid most of all. 

tranquil. though wet and uncomfortable, the white noise of the raindrops hitting the ground and everything they touched had a calming effect. in this moment he didn't hate or love being out here, he simply existed and hoped to continue existing for a while longer without falling off the edge. 

every once in a while to kill the creeping boredom and suffocating loneliness of solitude, he'd try to catch a rain drop here and there. snapping his jaws here and there in little attempts to grab a drop and swallow it like some kind of giant whelp who was having some kind of fun in the rain, all the while mindful enough of the sudden drop to his one side. 

off in the distance, he spotted someone else doing the same, biting at the rain. they were strange-looking too, more colourful than himself in a mono-type fashion, only upon further inspection did he spot the brilliant ruby eyes he was sporting. How ominous, he thought to himself even though he was a little excited in his own twisted way.

But now that he was here... he noticed something. He didn't have anything prepared to say and simply stood there awkwardly gawking at the other guy.

his worry for the state of his nose has landed him several feet from the cliff’s edge; when vrána sweeps up from the water below he does not startle. instead he follows her, eyes bright, wagging his tail already, as she sweeps down and lands. she does not have any plants. but her beak is clasped around a brittle-looking starfish, and there is a pretty white shell in her claws.

with an eager noise, caw noses closer to them. the starfish smells briny and of salt. he is careful when he flips it over, as he has broken the limbs of more than one. the shell is just a seashell, but seashells can be important too. and this one is very nice, a uniform ivory with streaks of soft pink laced up its sides.

“these are good. thank you!” caw chirps at her and, in the process of lowering his head to gather up his prizes, catches a glimpse of something large and white out of the corner of one eye.

his head lifts, but he is not expecting much when he looks up, and his thought process – largely oriented around the collection of seashells he is about to restart – grinds to a cartoonish halt when he sees the figure looming out of the rain.

he was not aware there are people who were that big – bright white like snow with mismatched eyes. everyone here has pretty eyes! caw likes his own red, of course. it is a good color! and they match with vrána! but they are still both the same.

“hello!” caw squints at him through the rain, tail wagging eagerly, and blinks. yes, he should know this as well! “you have pretty eyes! they nice.” he tiptoes forwards. “am caw! and vrána,” he gestures up with his nose towards the crow, who has now settled back on his shoulder. “why you here?”

Something flies up from the depths of the cliffside and onto the other guy, some big black bird and for a moment he thought the thing would gouge his eyes out or something and Elijah would have to sit here and think of either helping him against an avian foe - or flee from the winged beast and save himself from whatever disaster such a thing could bring on someone. 

Thankfully none of that occurred. They seemed to be close, partners even. Unusual, but not unheard of. The guy spots him and the two met for a moment, exchanging gazes, and almost immediately the other broke the silence in a friendly greeting. Friendly was good. With a delighted nod of his head, he approached a little closer. Hey to you too. That sounded lame, but he rolled with it regardless. Maybe Elijah could make lame look and sound good. 

The compliment made him smile. Thanks man, you too - red is uncommon and it looks good on you. They were bright too, demonic like some stories he had heard of demons and what-not possessing others to do some kind of evil deed. Freaky stuff. Eyes blood red to foreshadow the grim story ahead, but this guy didn't seem like one of those... it sure did make this exciting to think of though. 

No reason, wandering, trying to find a place to belong to. Or someone, whatever comes my way I suppose. Yeah that kind of explains it. What's with the bird? he nodded in the direction of the red-eyed guy's companion... vrahnaw?

happily for elijah, caw is just as thoroughly clueless about the proper way to greet someone, so any awkwardness sails directly over his head. he is friendly! and he also gives nice complements back! this is all that matters to caw, who signals this with another eager wag of his tail.

“thanks!” caw parrots. he is not sure this is an actual word, but this man certainly knows more than he does! so it must be correct.

“oh! yes. was wandering too!” caw nods. “am staying now with faerie court! but need to find plants for rituals, to read signs…cannot find everything there! also do not have seashells.” caw noses at the shell in question, lying near his paw. “are very pretty! good to collect.”

caw meets his next question with a confused blink. “vrána is friend,” caw explains, wide-eyed, as though this is all the explanation that anyone could possibly need. “some call familiar! is not,” he hesitates, searching for the correct word, “…completely right. but is close!”