[private] when I'm losing my control, the city spins around

[Gale]

Gale this is going to break me clean in two -- this is going to bring me close to you He drifts through the air as a Hyalinean raven, his pastel green feathers blending well with those of the companions among which he flies. The flock circles Bolder a few times before Gale swoops down from their midst and lands on a rock near the chestnut boy. As he lands, his coloring changes, becoming a deep iridescent navy streaked with glowing cream. A continuous line of white runs from the top of his beak to the end of his feathered tail, pale as the snow on the mountaintops above. Even in spring, the snow never fades from the highest peaks. The flock of ravens moves on, no longer guided by the creature that perches on a granite boulder at eye level to the young Taigan. “Have you flown as a bird before?” he asks, recalling the elation that Gale had felt when he’d first taken the shape of a creature meant for the skies. The boy might like that, he thinks, might enjoy it so much he’ll want to stay in Hyaline to learn more. It is strange to use tactics other than violence to sway someone, Gale thinks. The Cursed creature tilts its head, and remembers the promise to Mazikeen as he draws in the extended sharp claws he could so quickly place in Bolder’s throat. Patience. Bolder is more useful alive than dead, Gale reminds himself, and it is often fun to shift with him. Those two reasons outweigh the soft rumble of hunger in Gale’s belly but it remains in his too-bright blue eyes as he surveys the larger golden creature with ravenous interest. @bolder

current appearance: pastel green raven -> mostly iridescent navy blue raven with glowing cremello stripes/markings
and blue lightnings, white stripe from beak to tail, white wings, red V-shape on left wing

[bolder]

As Bolder acquaints himself better with his shifting, he also better acquaints himself with the Hyalinean wildlife.

He hadn't been allowed to shift in Taiga. While he watched the various creatures of the Redwood Forest with the curiosity of youth, it was different in Hyaline. He could do more than just change the color of his coat, his height, or the angles of his slightly-dished face. So he took care to learn more.

In Hyaline, Bolder was learning what it was to shift. But thanks to Mazikeen, he was also learning what it was to become. (The striped boy most often takes the shape of a chestnut wolf prowling the woods.) Today, though, he is just himself and he takes a keen interest in the flock of dark birds above his moon-marked head. His first instinct is to darken his hide and the chestnut becomes a type of iridescent dark, a shadow that takes on multiple shades of blue, purple, and green.

Bolder momentarily flares his wings, allowing the odd color to shimmer in the sunlight.

One of the circling flock overhead breaks away from the group and as it flies towards the young pegasus, the color changes into a familiar pattern that Bolder recognizes as his Uncle. His grey eyes brighten, fascinated with how quickly and fluidly the elder horse can change. His own shifts aren't as swift and the way that Gale uses his gifts is admirable to the adolescent.

His russet ears flick back as he reveals, "I've shifted into a hawk." Bolder swallows his shame, "but I've never flown as one."

@ Gale

[Gale]

Gale this is going to break me clean in two -- this is going to bring me close to you Gale had few memories of his childhood for the Curse to rifle through. Those that had survived death and a possession are fragmented and incomplete, but there is enough for him to piece together at least a few things a boy of Bolder’s age would enjoy doing. Flying as a bird is one such thing. Learning that Bolder has never done it causes the blue raven to shrug its shoulders delightedly. A hawk, he’d said, and Gale decides that yes - a soaring bird will do well for what he has in mind. He does not register the shame in the boy’s voice at all. Even if he had, it is not Bolder’s fault his family had failed him. The raven glances to either side of him, then leaps to Bolder’s mane with a flap of his wings and looks again. Content - having checked to see that Mazikeen is not within earshot - he returns to the boulder. “How fast do you think you can shift to a hawk? If I dropped you over the lake, do you think you could shift before you hit the water?” Though he sounds excited, he speaks in a remarkably quiet voice for a raven. Being dropped over a lake is commonplace, his enthusiasm suggests. It’s totally something that he can do without issue. He does not mention that he sometimes accidentally teleports to the Tephran volcano. He has no reason for why it happens. He only knows that it does, and that Mazikeen might be bothered if he burnt Bolder. But he’s pretty sure it won’t happen this time, and he’s keeping his voice down out of an overabundance of caution. @bolder

current appearance: mostly iridescent navy blue raven with glowing cremello stripes/markings
and blue lightnings, white stripe from beak to tail, white wings, red V-shape on left wing

[bolder]

In Taiga, Bolder had never felt brave enough to shift. But in Hyaline? The yearling has been trying on several types of shapes, trailing Mazikeen when he can and hoping one day that he might have the same kind of ease when it comes to transforming from one animal to another. She makes it look so effortless while he still has to concentrate so hard on what skin he wants to wear.

But he's done it more in Hyaline than he has ever done before.

The moon-marked pegasus turns his head to regard his Uncle as the iridescent blue raven settles on his withers. What Gale asks him is tempting because it is exactly the kind of thing that he has been practicing. He wants to be as good as shifter as Maze - as Gale - one day and to have his Uncle take such a direct interest in him makes the youth hum with excitement. His copper ears flick forward to the raven on his shoulders and Bolder flares his wings as the bird leaps to a nearby rock. He doesn't know if his Uncle means now or later, but he focuses his mind on the image of a red-tail hawk. The shift isn't skilled or as quick as either of his shifter relatives but soon Bolder takes to the air as a raptor and settles atop the boulder, looking down towards Gale.

"Maybe I could shift into a fish," he adds, eager to practice more.  He flaps his speckled wings excitedly before settling down again. His feathers start to change color - moving from a sienna brown to an auburn shade - while the youth attempts to stay still. "Have you always been able to shift?" he squawks, suddenly curious to know, and tilts his avian head towards the other bird.

@ Gale

[Gale]

Gale this is going to break me clean in two -- this is going to bring me close to you Bolder shifts quickly, joining Gale on the rock in the shape of a red-tailed hawk with the suggestion of becoming a fish. The brindle creature is fond of swimming in the clear lake, even though the depths are chilly year round. “What about a whale shark?” Gale asks, and sends the boy the image of the enormous shape he’d first taken while battling Mazikeen. That will make a colossal splash. It will also be large enough for Gale to find if him he hits the water with lungs that still require air. He is not sure why this occurs to him, or why he thinks it might slightly perturb him if the boy died, but he pushes it aside to answer Bolder’s question. “No,” answers the Curse, which is true for the host he wears as well. “I learned it as an adult.” The Curse had learned as Wyrm, and Gale while on Islandres. “It runs in the family, but it was Carnage who gave it back to me, Carnage and the Monsters from the dark times.” Gale had Looked Carnage in the eye, and there was no recovering from such a slight. His fury festered, merged with the darkness, and pulled out the last remnants of the Curse that had felled Wolfbane and been felled in return. That is what inhabits Gale now, that thing and all the emotions that a creature can feel, and everything positive he’d been able to steal from Mazikeen. The Cursed creature is no longer quiet certain what it is anymore, but it does know that it had come to shifting later even than Bolder has. There is hope for him still, says the appraising look he gives his nephew’s shift. With a ripple of feathers, Gale becomes a hawk as well. There is no blood or death or chaos in this, and some part of him is aware of that even as he goads the boy into a race, taking to the sky and soaring up. The adrenaline of flight is enough, and the swoop is his belly when he flips once, twice, three times. The telepathy that never seems to work with Mazikeen tells the boy it’s nearly time, and then Gale is diving down toward the water far below, and preparing to shift while also keeping a careful eye on the boy beside him.

@bolder

[bolder]

Bolder briefly preens his feathers, trying to fight off his growing excitement. There is something about his Uncle that always leaves the young shifter wanting to impress him and the sienna-colored hawk thinks that fluttering wings might not suffice. With Gale, the young Taigan finds himself wanting to appear much older and more mature than he actually is. His sharp beak works a little mindlessly until the larger bird shares an image of something (else) that he has never seen.

It reminds Bolder of the porpoises that swam in small pods on the Northern coast but those were much smaller than whatever... that was. The adolescent stops cleaning his feathers and turns his silver eyes towards Gale as they widen slightly. "I could try," he chirps, undeterred by the mammoth shape. He's never done anything larger than the wolf - and though he's considered a bear or cougar - attempting such a creature appeals to the brazeness in his blood.

He's still thinking about it as his Uncle goes on to explain that he hadn't become a shifter later in his life, but more curiously (and something that Bolder finds comforting), it runs in the family. He knew that Lumi could shift as well but the most he had ever seen his older sister do was change her color or lengthen her limbs when Elegance had insisted that she was the taller twin. It runs in the family, his Uncle explains, but his particular gift had been restored by Carnage. Though Bolder growing up sheltered in the Taiga knows little about the Dark God, he knows enough to recognize the name and respect it.

A ripple floods over the current shape that Gale wears and then he is a hawk, encouraging his nephew into the air.

There is no hesitation in Bolder as he rises to the chase and soars after the other raptor. He flaps his wings faster and though he is not as skilled a flier as his Father or Uncle, Bolder moves swift enough. The young hawk attempts a single flip to Gale's three, feeling a rush of thrill and pride as he mostly completes the maneuver. When he glances back to the larger hawk, he tells him without words that it's time to shift as Gale dives towards the lake. Bolder follows, taking a moment to reach towards the water with his talons (imagining for a moment what it must be to snatch something from the water - a fish, a turtle, another bird) before he recalls the aquatic creature that his Uncle had sent him.

The auburn-hued hawk becomes something much larger and massive: something blue and gilled and spotted. The tail isn't quite right but as Bolder feels his weight shift towards the soon-to-come water, the way that the freefall shapes his overly-wide mouth makes it appear that the boy is grinning up at Gale.

@ Gale

[Gale]

Gale this is going to break me clean in two -- this is going to bring me close to you Despite his inexperience with children and his (previous) complete disinterest, Gale has found his interactions with Bolder mostly pleasant. ‘Mostly’ only because he must always reign in some part of himself to do so, sealing off behaviors that are less socially acceptable. Mazikeen has already taken the boy on a hunt that ended in a kill, laying the foundation for future exploits, but Gale knows not to push him too far, too soon. They have time still, time before the North truly tries to take him back. There is much to be done in the coming months, and convincing Bolder to stay in Taiga is not the least of them. It is, however, the task that has resulted in his current situation. Bolder, falling through the air below him, grinning up as he hurtles toward the distant lake. Gale laughs, shifts, and joins him. The wind against his skin is cold and thrilling, and though he sees stars when his belly hits the water, the resulting splash and pull of the depths around him more than make up for the sensation. He rolls in the water, slipping into a sleeker shape (an orca, deep navy blue and white) and peers through the dark liquid for Bolder, unable to wipe the elated expression from his face.

@bolder

[bolder]

He hadn't been prepared for the rush of water against it. Hyaline's lake had swallowed (the sort-of) brown-and-gold spotted Whale Shark whole. There is a roar in what should be ears and the cold water prickles a thousand new sensations against this blubbery skin. Bolder panics - just a second - before he hears (feels the vibration of) Gale hitting the lake's surface.

Bolder tries to see him but this body is bulkier than he used to, and he struggles to turn on his side.

His glow starts to emanate and that's when the young pelagic creature can see Gale. What he wears is a sleeker, more streamlined shape that looks easier to maneuver (though he hopes this one made a splash). Bolder twists his hefty shape and moves his large fin so that it propels him down into the murky depths of the lake. He turns and spins, all the while trying to eye the blue-and-white Orca. He decides to keep his gold spots but when he finally spirals up to Gale, the adolescent looks like a smaller tan version of the whale.

Despite that the way Gale had previously communicated in his mind, Bolder finds himself clicking excitedly to the other Orca. He stops short - unused to the sound - but even more unused to the feeling that bounces back at him. It's instinct, he tries to tell himself. Just like Aunt Maze had said - just part of the shape. But still young and learning, Bolder looks to his Uncle for some kind of insight.

@ Gale

[Gale]

Gale this is going to break me clean in two -- this is going to bring me close to you The dark entity that inhabits this blue body has no shape of its own. Its very nature is mutable, and it has clung to this particular family for how readily they take to shifting. The ability to transform is in their very blood, and as hosts it has had few better. Bolder would be a good candidate too, it muses, watching the boy change from one sea creature to another. The white patches of their white markings gleam almost skeletal beneath the murky water, a sight that pleases Gale. He clicks back at Bolder when the boy communicates as a whale, unsure why the boy had stopped, and though the sound is far different, they communicate as clearly as spoken words: “That was a good shift; you’re getting faster too.” Then he’s moving, heading toward the surface of the lake. Bolder will follow, he assumes. He breaks the still surface, leaping into the sky in a glittering arc of water, before crashing back into the water.

@bolder

[bolder]

During his time in Hyaline, Bolder has mostly spent it as a young timber wolf. When he had not been prowling the grounds in that shape, he had tried a bear and some kind bird and took to watching his Aunt and Uncle whenever he could for inspiration.

Between the pair of them, Bolder has seen them take shapes that he wouldn't have ever thought of trying. And as he has come to watch them grow more fantastic in their powers, it has made the young shifter consider how he might grow more fantastic in his. His abilities had started out being able to alter his coat, his build, his eyes. And then as he became older, more began to change.

His first visit to Hyaline revealed that he was capable of more and now Bolder wonders if it might be possible to be more like his mentors. Perhaps he could become something more than just animals.

But for now, he dives beneath the navy-and-blue orca and practices spinning, unused to being in any aquatic form. Gale, though, cuts through the water with ease. "I'm trying," he clicks brightly back to his Uncle, watching as the larger whale propels himself towards the surface of Hyaline's lake. Bolder - still adjusting to this underwater world - follows a few moments later and breaches with his white belly gleaming towards the sun.

When they are both below the surface, the young killer whale clicks back: "I want to be a good shifter, like you and Aunt Maze."

@ Gale