Blackfeather Woods ultraviolet

she's skirting the edge of the mire, unwilling to step into the stinky mud but equally unwilling to step back onto solid ground. she's quite convinced her brother is here, she'd seen a raven she was sure was one of his four. "@Rowan?" she whisper-yells, not really wanting to draw attention to herself, either. her siblings are the only fledglings she dares interact with; the sisters are bitey, and the older boy is a stranger. the younger ones she's not all that sure of, and so better avoided. she's not really keen, then, on accidentally drawing their attention should they be nearby. 

chewing her lip, ears splayed down with uncertainty, she continues her careful way around the mire, hoping desperately to find her brother soon.

Rowan wasn't the biggest fan of the mire but it heralded treats.
If you could catch them.
He'd found a pool full of little wiggling things that had back legs (They were tadpoles but Rowan was no naturalist). They tasted sweet but were very hard to catch and you got all wet. However the roots around this pool were strong and there were some rocks, so he didn't feel too worried about falling in completely.

Stone took from his perch where he was watching Rowan, causing the boy to stop hunting and listen. Ah, it was Moonshine. He looked to Altar, perched asleep above and decided he'd be the marker for the pool while he slipped away to find his sister.
"Hey!" He called out, trotting up to Shine, "Are you ok?" It was always his first question to his family. 

eventually, the breaking of twigs and the sucking sound of the mire alerted her to her brother's presence, and she paused. "yeah," she assures him, clarifying, "I was bored." unlike her brother, who seems to walk the wood so easily, it seems to moonshine to be actively working against her. the stinking mire, the toxic tree, the ravens and bones, and great ravine - she simply could not love blackfeather as the other's did. 

a raven wings by overhead, startlingly close to her skull, and she jolts. head whipping up, she follows it's flight path until it abruptly vanishes into the canopy. "how do you get them to like you, anyways?" she says, in reference to the crows. she swears one has a grudge against her, for the keeps finding the grisly and putrid remains of something rotten at her favorite spots.

He grinned, glad she'd come to see him. It wasn't often he wandered with his siblings but, for now, he was glad to show his sister of his world.
"How can you be bored? This place is epic!" He'd not even found the toxic tree yet, but would probably dislike it.

Stone swooped close by, seemingly in game. He was about to bounce after him when his sister questioned. She could join the game too, he supposed.
"I feed them. Come, he wants to race!" He grinned wickedly and bounded off, forgetting about the pool. He'd probably find it again anyway.

she blinks, her stomach churning oddly at his words. is it jealousy? she wants to feel the same, way, see the potential wonder in all the mysteries the woods hold rather than the horror. 

but her brother suggests a game, shortly after revealing his secret. she has no time to ask questions before he's speeding off. he follows the bird, and she him, running hard at his flank but not quite willing to overtake him. she's not quite able to follow the bird as easily and would hate to run in the wrong direction and look like an idiot, again. short laugh escapes her throat, bubbling up and out of her muzzle. running's easy, exhilarating. and then a forelimb hits a root and she's head over heels, again, and then she's a crumpled pile of legs on the ground, again. the breath is forced from her lungs, and she's struck mute by the suddenness of it.

The game was fun, while it lasted. Stick came down and joined him close on his flank, wondering who Shine was. He laughed too, happy to have this. Family, safety. It made him feel complete.

He felt his sister's presence at his flank, knowing she was following rather than racing. He didn't mind though.
Then she wasn't there.
He stopped, called with a chirrp to Stone that the game had ended as Stick landed next to his crumpled sister, wondering what was wrong. 
He rushed back, "Shine! Are you ok?" He quickly nosed her, wanting a response. He hoped she hadn't hurt her leg like the weird girl in the ravine.
Stone perched next to Stick, watching.

somehow, she was breathing again, and blinking at her brother's face. "I'm ok. I'm fine." she got to her feet a beat later, slightly unsteady but straightening after a moment. glancing backward, her gaze found the root she'd tripped over, forming a little arch of the forest floor. she could have sworn she hadn't seen it beforehand. 

her gaze found the two birds, next, they received a soft "hi." attention leaving them and returning to Rowan, she offered a "sorry," she knew she'd ruined the game, surely.

"Are you sure?" Concern etched his voice, looking and prodding he rleg to see if it hung weirdly. It didn't.
He breathed a soft sigh of relief as she looked to the birds, which seemed satisfied with the inspection.

"Don't be sorry, I'm glad you ok." He smiled, tilting his head softly. They'd managed to move to the edges of the mire now and he wondered where to go next.
"What you wanna do now?"
Probably not another game, but he'd be up for it if she were.

he offered her the chance to choose their next adventure, which she was glad for - she doesn't want to be the one holding him back, and she's curious about what he'd said earlier. "can you teach me how you feed the birds?" she asks after a beat, hopeful. it'd sure be nice to have companions like Rowan did, but she'd settle for the knowledge that the birds weren't conspiring against her - perhaps food would change their opinion of her.

Her choice almost surprised him, but he didn't mind. He'd already been feeding them today, but what's one more scrap?
"I'll quickly get something from a cache, stay here because I don't want them raiding them." He smirked then trotted away, hoping they'd stay fixated on shine.
He rarely took from the caches these days, preferring to hunt small things for them like mice, toads and now fish. They ate anything.

He took a rabbits leg, something for them to flick about with, and trotted back to make sure Stone wasn't prodding Shine. He doubted she'd like it much.
He grinned, putting the rabbit foot under his paw. Only Stick and Stone were here, so he'd have to call Void and Altar.
"Watch this." He chirruped, the best bird noise he could make bu rolling his tongue and making sound. 
The colony above carried out caws, easily making the forest hum with sound.
A few beats pass, the two blackbirds getting impatient and trying to steal the foot from under him, earning a snap of teeth. 
The other pair land neatly behind them, inquisitive eyes watching until Rowan flicked the foot out for them.

The four birds swarmed on it, pecking at it and tugging at the fur and flesh. He grinned, looking to Shine.
"Whatcha think?"

she nods and stays put, watching the ravens a little warily. they blink at her, until one prods the other, and they quickly become absorbed in one another. Rowan doesn't take long to return, thankfully, and when he places the leg under his paw, she takes a wary step back. she doesn't want to be in the way. 

the sound he makes is utterly strange coming from his mouth, and the shift in the canopy is obvious. they're paying attention to him, now. not all—she spots one raven winging its way in the other direction, but two more join the two already on the ground. these must be his four, and she watches with rapt fascination as they feed. "can you teach me? that sound—" she tries, but it lodged in her throat and comes out a stunted growl. this must be the secret, she thinks fervently, if only she can learn it.

He watched the blackbirds devour the meal before squabbling over scraps of fluff and bones.
Naturally, Altar took off with several in his beak.
His sister questioned the noise and he grinned.
"Honestly, it takes practice." He didn't want his sister expecting to do it straight away.

"So you have to fold your tongue up to the roof of your mouth, then make a sound, like a soft growl, and gently blow. I think that's how I do it." He wasn't certain, but it's the best he could describe the sound. He demonstrated the best he could too, causing. Altar to return with an expectant caw. 
"If not, train them to a different sound." He didn't mind if she did. She could probably get her own flock -- or singular companion like Tundra -- but it might help if they have different sounds, so the birds know who is calling them.

with her brother's help, she seeks to replicate the call he's making. she comes close, but not quite - hers is more a wolfish sound than his chirp, though to her ears, it sounds good enough. when she's got it down well enough, she takes her leave from her brother and his crows, eager to try out the sounds on her own.