Hushed Willows My arms are wide

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The falls — Izumi had been quietly eyeing them for a while now. Such grandiose scenery yet too little time to stop and admire it — or at least thats what the dame has been telling herself. She'd been so busy between searching for her missing family and finding ways in which she can contribute to the Court, as if some sort of spark would magicly fall from the sky and grant her hunting abilities, maybe even medical skills — but nothing.

The crane woman waltzed quietly into the territory while stressing over both of these subjects, eyes of violet glued purposelessly to the ground with a face of stone and a heart of conflict.

Tagging: @Caw (but all welcome either way)
Setting: Herbalist Falls. Early evening w/mild wind (76°F)
Overview: Vibin' near the falls. Having a minor Identity crisis. Th'usual.

thank you for starting!! <3

the sun is setting, and at the foot of the falls caw gazes raptly after the falling water.

it is not a new sight to him! but the falls are always very pretty, and now that it has finally stopped raining and being so wet everywhere he can start to appreciate water again. the setting sun glitters off the water, all orange and red, and he blinks up at it, enjoying the mist that rises up over his nose.

but he cannot wait forever! he has things to do and to plan, and so after a handful of minutes he chirps up to vrána, calling her back to his shoulder, and turns to wander down along the edge of the river.

his fur is becoming very patchy again, ready for the winter. it is not quite cold now, but it has been getting there in the night. caw chews at his itchy shoulder until vrána smacks his head with a wing; with a little yip of protest, he looks up after her, and catches an unfamiliar black-and-white figure out of the corner of his eye.

vrána is immediately forgotten. caw turns about and trots after her, ears forward and tail wagging as he sniffs at the air. he does not smell anything strange yet, but he should maybe be careful and check.

"hello!" caw chirps as he nears her, the glint of his blood-bright eyes and forward thrust of his head more than enough to indicate he does not intend to stop any time soon.

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It was previously assumed that Izumi occupied the area in solitude, with the falls blocking out any stray sounds from afar, but this was no more. 

The young crane was nearly scared shitless as a loud voice rang from nearby, loud and chipper, to call out to her with a ‘hello’. Fur along Izumi’s neck and tail bristled like porcupine spikes in alarm, snapping her neck with wide eyes to see who it was. If it wasn’t for the familiar pair of ruby red eyes staring back at her own amethyst hues, Fujiwara would’ve immediately bolted up and ran away.

It was none other than Caw; ah yes, the strange one with dark feathers decorating his scruff. He was a boy of notably smaller stature and around the same age as she — even barring a similar black and white coloration like Izumi. And although the girl did not know much about him beyond these frivolous details, the crow which always mingled within his thick plumage was hard to miss — just like how queen Lumiya carried a pale owl around her back. Was this, perhaps, some sort of untold tradition that Izu did not know of? Carrying avains around as companions? There was never a day in her life where she’d saw prey animals like birds as anything other than food, so the fae found the action otherworldly. There was no snide behind her discomfort behind the idea however — just complete and utter ignorance.

“You Caw, right?” she asked to him, a soft ethereal voice attempting to combat gallons of water plumbing against the earth. “I see you before during flood, but know little about.”   

Np! <3

at first she does not seem too happy to have him approach. her scruff bristles up into thin white spines, and caw blinks and slows his approach, still sniffing at the air. close up she does smell like faeries, and very much not like saints, and as soon as he finds this to be the case he relaxes, settling back with a quick shake of his fur and wagging his tail happily when she looks to vrána, who shifts, her claws pricking against his skin.

she does have a very quiet voice, though. his ears prick forward to hear it. caw is not nearly so quiet when he speaks, but then that is not something he thinks about so often.

it is probably harder to speak with someone who also does not know english so well, but nonetheless caw grins toothily at her, glad to see he is not the only one who is having this problem! sometimes it seems like it.

"yes! am caw. this vrána." he noses at her demonstratively before returning his gaze to the new faerie. "am sorry! do not know your name so well. what is?"

the cadence to her voice does not sound like his own, but she is a faerie, so he is hopeful! introductions thus made, he continues, "am from north! came to faerie court only few months ago." a tilt of his head, curious; he blinks before continuing, "an labhraíonn tú Gaeilge?"

"I never see wolf keep prey around, other than Lumiya..." The crane's violet eyes settle on the avian for a moment, and then back to Caw. He first introduces himself, confirming Izumi's preconcived knowledge, and would then introduce his corvid companion; Vrána. Interesting — the crimson eyed crow was given a name as well. Hell, Caw even managed to nose them a little without having the urge to bite. Such a sight made the young princess wonder if an interspecies companionship like that really was possible....

"You call me Izumi. Nice to meet you." polite words met with a polite wave of her tail. If only she could produce a simple smile as well then it would've made her gesture all the more meaningful, but non. A face that still mimicked stone. So Instead, Izumi would sit down infont of him in hopes that she seemed welcoming enough.

The dame's ears flicked and head tilted in a brief moment of perplexity. Caw spoke in a similar broken english as she did, that much the crane noticed and was curious about, but the words he'd spoken to her just now....they weren't japanese. A completely different language Izumi never heard of, but what of? "I...." the damsel took a moment to figure out what to say, and then figured it was best to respond in her home language to let Caw know the problem here.

"Anata no itte iru koto ga wakarimasen. Gomen'nasai...." she'd tell the smaller male apologetically with a dip of her cranium. Izumi couldn't understand a word of what he just said, let alone that much of the common language spoken around here. It did feel good to know that there was someone living in the court with the dame that shared her troubles, but a barrier in foreign tounge still remained between them. "I never heard language. Where you from, Caw?"

caw sniffs. well. he supposes at least she has not completely ignored vrána like taikon has, so that is okay. and she is not trying to hurt her either, and vrána does not even seem so bothered for once! he hopes that is because she is finally adjusting to the faerie court as well. after all! nobody here has tried to hurt either of them, yet. she is very protective, but this is home now, much like the valley. so she does not need to be!

"lumiya has loinnir! he is her friend." he has only seen loinnir once or twice, but is nonetheless assured of this. "and vrána is my friend...familiar, i think in english. not prey."

vrána responds with a sharp caw. exhaling heavily through his nostrils, he nonetheless gives a quick wag of his tail to show he does not actually mind her words so much. it is clear with her next words she is not from anywhere near home or from the faerie court, so she just does not know these things. and that is okay! not even the faerie queen knows all of them.

"am sorry. do not speak language. have not heard before, either." he would know this if he had heard it before! he is good at remembering things, like the names of plants, and the names of people, and where to find his caches as long as he has given some thought to mark them.

"am from north! gleann dearg." he grins. "is good place! has many crows." he says this as though it is the only metric of a place that matters. and it is, mostly! faeries it is usually good to stay away from – he has very neatly ignored that rule – but crows and ravens are good luck, and he is meant to follow them. "we speak Gaeilge! some in faerie court have these names. fionn, orlaith, loinnir...my name too. is caróg! is just hard to pronounce for some, so use caw also." he tilts his head to the side, blinking at izumi. "where you from?"

There he went again with those names -- If it weren't for Caw, she wouldn't have known that Lumiya's pale owl even had a name. Intriguing how these wolves lived in a completely different world than her own, huh?

Just as the duotone crane expected, her smaller companion didn't have a damn clue what came out of her mouth and only regarded Izumi with similar perplexity -- she almost felt a little bad for purposefully confusing him. Though it didn't seem as if Caw minded at all, because the young male soon went back to mouthing away with that chipper tone of his. 

Chipper.

How could someone express themselves so....openly like this to others, without feeling flustered? Didn't they feel too vulnerable? Too open for everyone to see and judge with every word and action made? Or maybe it was just.....her. Her who had been deprived the right to be like this long ago for the sake of not making a fool out of her kin and clan. There was no denying it would free Fujiwara if insecurities didn't weigh her heart down like chain links -- but hopefully, it wasn't too late to break those chains soon.

The young damsel may have been staring at caw for longer than intended while observing his euphoria -- words largely going in one ear and out the other. A part of Izumi naively felt like she could learn a thing or two by doing this -- though she eventually backed away and regained her senses at his question.

"I'm from, mmmm..." the crane hummed nervously; home felt like a sensitive topic nowadays. Carog was a packmate though, so he was bound to find out about Izumi oneway or another "Wisteria Grove -- Old clan used to reside. We call ourselves Fujiwara Clan."