[private] wish I could tell you by now that I felt more indifferent

[bolder]

He had gotten into something the night before. The gold-striped pegasus was sure of it. His head was pounding horribly, and no matter what he did, he couldn’t shake the sluggish feeling of sleep from his limbs.

Bolder had been in Tephra (again). He remembered that much. There had been some sweet fruits that he had been urged to try by a pretty companion, and rather strange looking flowers. But that was where his memory grew hazy. The young mare he had been courting finally gave Bolder her name, which he now had trouble recalling in the practically-blinding morning light above him. They had moved on to other ways of getting better acquainted, and the maturing shapeshifter had certainly enjoyed her company.

The golden girl from Tephra (even if she giggled a little more than he was used to), he wouldn’t mind finding again. The purple-and-red berries, the flowers with yellow stripes, he learned, were best avoided.

Making his way back to Hyaline, Bolder was careful to stay beneath the tree canopy. He moved at a leisurely pace, as quick as his body would currently allow him to go. Deciding that his wings were too much effort, they shifted away in a few blinks of an eye, leaving only a chestnut horse with gold stripes and an upright mane. Nothing too unusual, but there was a certain confidence in his gait. No harm would come to him - not even while he moved so slow - when he could simply shift himself out of any situation.

And in a world where Bolder has learned to fear little, the sight of a circling blue bird (if he had a clearer view, he might have recognized Oceanus) in the distance quickly prompts him into curiosity. His stomach still feels too sour for a meal, but as he silently stalks the creature from the ground, he thought that a few of the blue feathers might make a good gift for Viszla, or perhaps his newest cousin, if they had arrived. He shifted then, disappearing beneath thick brambles, and emerged as a copper-colored mountain lion.

How to get the creature to land? Trade this skin for something suited for the sky?

Climbing up the trunk of one tree, Bolder moved carefully from one thick branch to another, and then another until they grew more sparse. The foothills of Hyaline - and the purple peaks of her mountains - loomed ahead. He was still eyeing the bird above, attempting to come closer while he still (blearily) tried to form a plan. Something about the raptor was familiar, and it nagged at the back of mind.

It nagged enough that it made Bolder pause, and while briefly glancing down, he was met with surprise. "Sickle?” the large cat growled out, unable to conceal his shock at seeing this former playmate.

@Sickle