01-22-2020, 04:17 PM
The business of finding food had been the primary concern in his mind. As scrubby as the foliage was, it was still enough to take the edge from his snarling belly. Strong-smelling sagebrush clouded his nostrils, so it was with a start that he looked up and found himself being watched.
Immediately, the feathers that cloaked him puffed up and out, wings held stiffly up like a defensive raptor. One hoof raised uncertainly, the decision to stay or flee still hovering over him. If it had been a creature any more intimidating, he would have spun away in a blur of sparks and feathers already, escaped to the skies to the thunder of his heartbeats. As it was, they stood in stalemate.
She was no bigger than him. Maybe a little smaller. No gleaming canines winked from her dainty mouth, no slashing claws or spines whistled through the air to snag him. He blinked. Set down the raised hoof with painful slowness, and felt the prickly stiffness of his fluffed feathered hackle begin to settle back against him. She was alone, he thought, and hopefully no threat to him.
Wordless, his finely carved nostrils flared to catch her scent, head stretched closer to her with jerking hesitation as he sought her scent. Like the land around them, she was all sand and sky, the tang of her sweat a light thread that pulled her out from the surroundings. A hough of satisfaction rumbled deep in his throat. A little more brave, he stepped a pace closer, touching her nose with the curve of his own.
"Hello,"
The word felt strange on his tongue. It had been seasons since he'd spoken last. But it came out alright, he believed, and was probably the right thing to say just now. Probably.
@[Dove]
Immediately, the feathers that cloaked him puffed up and out, wings held stiffly up like a defensive raptor. One hoof raised uncertainly, the decision to stay or flee still hovering over him. If it had been a creature any more intimidating, he would have spun away in a blur of sparks and feathers already, escaped to the skies to the thunder of his heartbeats. As it was, they stood in stalemate.
She was no bigger than him. Maybe a little smaller. No gleaming canines winked from her dainty mouth, no slashing claws or spines whistled through the air to snag him. He blinked. Set down the raised hoof with painful slowness, and felt the prickly stiffness of his fluffed feathered hackle begin to settle back against him. She was alone, he thought, and hopefully no threat to him.
Wordless, his finely carved nostrils flared to catch her scent, head stretched closer to her with jerking hesitation as he sought her scent. Like the land around them, she was all sand and sky, the tang of her sweat a light thread that pulled her out from the surroundings. A hough of satisfaction rumbled deep in his throat. A little more brave, he stepped a pace closer, touching her nose with the curve of his own.
"Hello,"
The word felt strange on his tongue. It had been seasons since he'd spoken last. But it came out alright, he believed, and was probably the right thing to say just now. Probably.
@[Dove]