Ravensblood Forest /ˈraʊdɪ/

"AW" but tagging @Shiv! :)

After a few days of traveling, it was good to be home in Ravensblood Forest with the rest of Pandora. Although Ultraviolet kept her own small nest made of twigs and mud, she made a point to visit her parents' nest and tell her mother all about her recent adventures. Iridescent was all at once intrigued by her daughter's stories and frightened by them. Most of the flock did not stray far from the forest, after all. They parted with Iridescent fussing over UV and making her promise she wouldn't leave the Teekon Wilds.

"Yes, mother," she said sweetly, perhaps a bit too sweetly. It wasn't a promise she intended to keep forever. Just happy to have avoided the subject of finding a mate, Ultraviolet pecked her mother's cheek and then took flight, weaving between the treetops until she floated down into the crook of a towering oak. Most of the jays in the flock preferred the coniferous trees but UV loved the old oak tree. Clacking her beak and puffing out her feathers, she settled down in her nest of one.

The next morning, she rose just before the sun, hopped to one of the oak's scraggliest uppermost branches and sang an obnoxiously loud song to greet the day. With a chuckle, she then thrust upward through the canopy and quickly located one of the coast's many thermals. Ultraviolet was drifting lazily, pondering whether to venture out or stick close to home today, when she saw three familiar members of her flock break from the treetops and rise toward her...

Thanks for starting! :D

Despite her species being notorious for sitting out in the open, Shiv much preferred to hang out in the dark, shaded forests. While she wasn't afraid of being preyed upon by foxes and coyotes out in the fields and clearings, she found that her favourite subjects — wolves! — were most often lurking through woodlands and hiding in amongst the foliage. So that was where she herself lurked. Though, today, the magpie seemed to have no luck in finding an unsuspecting wolf to play with. The forest was suspiciously quiet and still.

That was until a loud song echoed throughout the treetops.

Startled, Shiv suddenly looked up from the dirt she had been scraping at near the base of a tree. It was an unfamiliar call, and the magpie was instantly curious about who had made it. Perhaps a seagull? No, no, they were much too tone-deaf. A movement caught her eye and she spun, watching with a tilt of her head as three blue streaks suddenly disappeared into the treetops overhead. With an intrigued chirp, Shiv took off after them, abandoning her search for breakfast. She'd find it later. She now had a much more important mission! Trailing the curious blue creatures, Shiv soared out into the open skies, veering to the left as her gaze scoured the horizon, quickly zoning in on a lone bird who seemed to be drifting lazily on the thermals overhead.

"Hi, guys!" Ultraviolet greeted the trio of male jays as they circled upward toward her. Truthfully, she would have preferred to be left to her own devices, yet they were her friends. "Good morning! What are you up to today?"

They flapped in circles around her, chattering away, and UV pretended to be listening. She didn't notice the tension between them, nor the way they closed in like sharks circling prey. She was oblivious that all three of them were interested in taking her as a mate. Her mother always told her she should settle down and start popping out eggs, yet Ultraviolet just wasn't ready for all of that yet.

"Hey, I'm gonna go explore..." she called halfheartedly, pumping her wings to put space between herself and the trio. They hardly noticed, as they were now busily squabbling among themselves, unaware that the object of their affections was quickly disappearing into the distance. "Bye, guys!"

Nearly at the same moment, she saw a black speck rising up toward her. "Oh, hey!" she shouted to her fellow avian. "You're a crow—no, wait, a magpie!" UV guessed as their flight paths prepared to cross.

The trio made their way towards the single female, their feathers flashing all shades of blue in the rising sun's light. Shiv admired them from afar, feeling rather dull in comparison. She had her own streaks of blue and green that shone in certain lights upon her tail and wings but they were nothing like what these birds had. Jealousy threatened to bubble within her chest but she quelled it. At least she still had her fabulously long tail; it both served an aesthetic and practical purpose.

Suddenly, the girl noticed her and Shiv gave a few more flaps of her wings to rise to the stranger's level. She gave a gleeful laugh at her mistake, honoured that she had been mistaken for being a crow. "Shiv is magpie, yes, yes," she chirped, playfully swooping at the brightly-coloured girl as she got closer. She tried to recall what the other bird was, but she really was unlike anything Shiv had seen before. She cocked her head curiously as she circled back towards her. "What is?" she questioned in her broken language. What was she?

The other bird swooped toward her, laughing and agreeing with her astute observation. Ultraviolet gave a few sharp, happy chirps and leaned left, cruising in a semicircle. She thrust out her blueish black crest and squawked again, inviting the magpie to fly alongside her. They could catch a thermal and drift while they talked.

"'What is'?" she repeated, not quite understanding the question. Then, "Oh!" UV chuckled, not batting an eyelash (do birds even have eyelashes?) at the magpie's simplistic speech. "I'm a Steller's jay, if that's what you're asking! My name is UV; what's yours?"

i hope you don't mind me joining this birdy thread! i wasn't sure how high up in the trees they are so i just mentioned hearing bird sounds and checking it's shiv JUST IN CASE. :p

This very same situation had happened various times over the past weeks. However, every single time it happened, it turned out that it was just another not-Shiv-magpie that would scoff at him, refuse to even say anything useful, and/or just fly off struck with fear if they were anywhere near a level he could reach.

However, every time he saw a magpie, Charon did it anyway, unable to contain himself.

Hearing the magpie, Charon galopped up to a tree and shouted loudly: "[size=9]SHIIIIIIV![/size] Is that you? Are you up there? Hello? Can you hear me? It's me, Charon! The crab wolf!" He wasn't sure he had heard proper, but he certainly hoped that he did! Seeing Shiv again would be so absolutely rad.

Haha, yey! I don't mind! :D

Shiv stared at the other's crest that suddenly sprung from the fluff on her head with wonder, eyes widening comically. She wasn't entirely sure what it was or if it had any purpose but, to the simple-minded bird, it was awesome. She replied to her squawk with a twitter of her own, lazily letting herself glide alongside the colourful bird. Or Stellar's jay, as it were. Well, she certainly was stellar! In appearance, anyway. But she seemed nice enough so far and Shiv had nothing against jays.

She opened her beak to respond with her own name as UV asked but was interrupted by a bellowing voice that answered for her. She looked down with a startled chirp, halting her flight with a few flaps of her wings as she begun to hover in place. She knew that voice! The crab wolf? Oh, Charon! With an excited trill, Shiv glanced back up to UV. "Come, come! Shiv will show UV wolf-friend!" she said, the thought that UV might not like wolves not occurring to the magpie.

Sharply turning, she tucked her wings beside her body and disappeared below the treetops again, eyes eagerly scanning the ground for her freckled friend.

Me neither. :)

Right after UV asked for the magpie's name, a voice answered from below: "SHIIIV!" The jay peeped in surprise, glancing downward and then blinking at her flight companion... who was suddenly diving downward toward the voice, though not without inviting Ultraviolet to follow first!

The jay flapped her wings, hovering in place for just a moment, then tilted forward and began to drop like a bomb. She wouldn't pass up the opportunity for an adventure! The cold air whipped around her body as she fell, though she spread her wings again as they hit the treetops and dropped expertly between a few outspread branches. She momentarily lost the magpie, then spotted her and winged in her direction, still dropping, nearly to the forest floor...

"A wolf!" UV cried, not in fear but surprise. "I think?" she added, noticing the strange, freckled pattern of its fur. It looked like no wolf UV had ever seen before.

The far-off chattering of birds continued, and for a moment Charon thought it was just the so-manieth time that a bunch of other birds were talking. Disappointed, but quickly forgetting what happened, Charon continued on his way, until he suddenly saw figures flitting through the trees; one magpie, one shiny-coloured. His ears perked up and Charon called, "Over here!" to help Shiv and her shiny-coloured friend find him down on the forest floor. He couldn't help but follow the shiny-feathered bird with his eyes as it approached, entranced by the beautiful feathers. It was so... blue!

He caught the blue bird's words as the two birds neared him and called out, "Of course I'm a wolf, what else would I be?" Silly birds. Charon tilted his head and watched the birds as they neared. He decided to contain himself from immediately running up to the blue bird to check it out, and instead gave them time to land and settle. Birds could be skittish (and with reason, for another day Charon might be the one trying to catch one when he ran up to it), so he knew not to run up to them when his intentions were non-violent as it would startle them.

Pleased that UV decided to follow along to meet Charon, she scoured the forest floor for the pup, quickly spotting his pale form among the trees as he called out to them. She didn't check to see if her newest friend was behind her, and came to a stop with outstretched wings upon the ground, skidding along for a few paces before chirring happily at her wolf friend. He seemed bigger than when she had last met him.

She turned as UV dropped down beside her, yelling out uncertainly in surprise. Shiv gave a cackle, glancing back at Charon as he replied. True, he was a wolf, though he certainly was a strange-looking one. What wolf had freckles? His coat reminded her a little of the speckled eggs that she sometimes saw bundled away in nests. Shaking off the dirt that had gathered in her feathers from her landing, Shiv introduced her friend to her...well, friend. "UV, this is Charon!" she said with a nod towards the young boy. "Charon, this is UV."

The magpie then lowered her voice and craned her neck towards the jay so only she could hear. "Charon is actually crab in wolf-disguise," she snickered quietly.

As a rule, the jay didn't like to land on the ground without carefully checking if the coast was clear first. Yet in her excitement to meet the freckled wolf—and her desire to keep pace with her new magpie friend—she alighted behind Shiv. UV firmly planted her scaled feet into the cold soil, then ruffled her feathers a bit before peering upward at her latest lupine acquaintance.

"Hi, Charon!" Ultraviolet peeped when the magpie made introductions. Her eyes, though black, shone brightly with curiosity and the fluffy crest upon her head flickered with interest. "You have a beautiful coat," she said, emphasizing the word Scarlett had taught her not so long ago.

That was when Shiv murmured something to her out of the side of her beak. Ultraviolet craned her own neck to receive the whispered message. "A what?" she asked, crest quivering even more now. "What's that?"

Shiv and her bird friend landed, and Shiv was quick to make introductions. Charon nodded at UV as he was introduced, as though confirming that his name was, indeed, Charon. He looked at the colourful bird, intrigued by the many shiny feathers. When the beautiful bird complimented him on his coat, Charon puffed up his chest a little in pride and said, "Yeah, it's pretty beautiful!" He wouldn't have thought of those words himself, but now that they were out there, he may as well use them too. "You have a pretty beautiful, uh, coat? yourself." He hoped he used the word right, because he wasn't sure if you said 'coat' to feathers.

The two birds commenced whispering among themselves, and Charon arched his neck to hear, but he just couldn't manage to hear what they were on about. "Hey, what'cha talking about?" he asked after a few whispers went back and forth between the two birds, ever the curious creature.

Sorry for the wait! x_x Uni ate me

Shiv was glad that they immediately got along, both complimenting each other on their beautiful coats. The magpie felt a small pang of jealousy again as she turned to both UV and Charon as they spoke. She didn't show it, however, not wanting to offend her friends and sour the mood. She was a vain thing, though, and couldn't let the bird steal away all of the pup's attention. With a subtle flick of her tail, she aimed for it to catch a small ray of sunlight to illuminate the iridescent feathers on her long tail, showing them off to show she, too, could be beautiful despite her largely drab and monochromatic body.

It was when UV returned her whisper that she dropped her act of being inconspicuous and respectful. With a shrill cry of surprise, she jumped back theatrically and stared at the jay. "UV DOES NOT KNOW WHAT CRAB IS?" she squawked in utter disbelief. Well, Charon had his answer.

no problem! since UV is no longer around i figured i would wrap this thread up :) thanks for the thread though, i liked it <3

When Shiv's shiny tailfeather reflected in the light, Charon looked at it in amazement. He hadn't known before that Shiv had a really cool feather, too! However, before he managed to verbally praise her for the beautiful feather he was drawn back to his curiosity at what the two birds were on about whispering secretively. He hated secrets! Well, unless he was in on them, anyway.

Charon couldn't hear what the two birds were twittering about; not until Shiv suddenly shirked that UV didn't know what a crab was. "What? That's silly!" Charon cheerily said and he chuckled, always happy to put someone else down to make himself look better. His right ear perked up and he looked to the side, growing sadder. "Oh man, I should really go home before Thistle and Ragnar get worried. Sorry guys! It was nice to meet you, UV, even if you're kinda dumb!" With those well-meant words, Charon smiled at the two birds and started to run off in Stavanger Bay's direction, hoping that Thistle and Ragnar wouldn't mind that he had wandered off again.