turn of a feather (myth/ruby)

[Fin]

R A L E I G H

Fog covered the forests of Tyto, the difficult weather stretching as far as the edges of the Sea of Hoolemere. It was almost impossible to see far enough ahead of you to tell you where you were going, and you wouldn't be able to see any other owls in it anyway - perfect for what was about to unfold. Through the fog emerged a troop of owls. Two wore heavy battle armour - a helmet and claws. The owls ranged in size, but it was clear they were all of the Tyto race.

These owls were not guardians. They were not of the 'noble' tree. In fact, they spat at the Guardians, screeching vengeance until the end. A collection of cowards, that's what they were. The vicious thoughts formed in young Raleigh's mind, his battle-claws clamping as he imagined a weak Guardian in his grasp. Shaking his head slightly when he realised a strong current of wind impacting on his wings, he tilted his body slightly, his port wing going higher to angle himself correctly. He couldn't allow himself to be blown away, not when he was flying with his captain. Their mission was to escort two Turnfeathers of the remnants - a pretty Alba named Uria, and a vibrant Soumagnei called Lannaera - to the Beaks, where they would then attempt to find a Guardians patrol to take them back to the tree. A grin formed on the owls face as he imagined infiltrating the blasted tree, setting their home alight.

Thinking of the estranged owl, he squinted his eyes at the older owl, recognising him in the low visibility. His leader was inspiring, though not of the Tyto Alba race, he was still a fierce owl. Distracted by his own thoughts, it was a few minutes before Raleigh noticed they were slowly being surrounded by tall rock formations that were getting bigger the further they headed into the fabled area. The wind was stranger here as it curved around the formations and attempted to pull any stray owl in. However, all Remnants are taught the art of flying well as they cared about their soldiers.

Flapping his wings strongly, Raleigh tried to catch up with his Captain, coming close enough to him to speak: "Captain Hedyn, we've reached the Beaks, sir. What is our plan of action with the two Turnfeathers, sir?" When he mentioned the other two owls behind with no battle armour, he flicked his head over to emphasize.

[◦myth ♫◦]

The female Soumagnei, her brilliant red feathers glowing in what light could find it's way through thick, rolling fog, glinted and glimmered off her feathers. Her eyes, though they appeared to not be open, they were, if only the smallest of openings, her vibrant eyes could see where she was going; following the two Alba's before her, adjusting her wings if only the slightest of angles to drift to the left slightly, flapping her wings gracefully in an effort to retain her flight pattern. She could hear the male Alba speak to his captain, an eccentric but brutally strong Glaucops owl. His large black eyes looked behind at the turnfeathers as he spoke again.

"Yesh," came his voice. The odd lips would have been comical on any other owl, but it made Hedyn even more terrifying to the turnfeather; her vibrant feathers shook in both fear and anticipation of the job ahead. Imagining destroying the Guardians, though there was one part of her mind that did not wish to (the part she had buried away when Regardo was murdered), she wanted them all dead, their bones crushed between her claws. "We shall eshcort them to where our shcoutsh have sheen the Guardiansh regularly. Perhapsh today they shall be there, and we shall let theshe two on their way to infiltrate the Guardiansh. A shimple plan." he breathed, flapping his wings and propelling himself upwards. "We shall leave them, fly a dishtanshe away then wait and watch until the Guardiansh find them. Lannaera shall act inshured and Uria shall call for help. They cannot deny an owl in pain; after all, they will act innoshent." he looked over at the owls again, evil glimmering in his eyes.

[Ruby]

Uria tried to block out what the Captain and Raleigh were discussing. She instead focused on what little she could see ahead of their group and the mission that she and Lannaera must complete.

To bring down the Guardians... To help put an end to the villains and sworn enemies of the Tytos. If we aren't taken in by the Guardians, we will both be as good as dead, by Guardian claws or by Remnant claws for being incompetent. She shivered at the prospect of that. We have to succeed. Uria meant this with total resolve. She didn't want to die and would stop at nothing to succeed.

She looked over Raleigh to distract herself. He is a strong flier and a strong fighter... She had seen him fight another before and he was a very skilled soldier. She couldn't help but admire the owl for putting his all into everything he did. She then looked over at her fellow turnfeather, Lannaera. Uria admired this owl. She flew with a kind of grace that Uria wasn't used to seeing. It was at this time that Hedyn turned to give them an evil glance. Uria felt the need to fly away from the group and never turn back but she knew that would help nothing. Lannaera seemed just as intimidated by Hedyn as Uria herself was, which made Uria believe that the two of them could probably be friends, if the lived long enough that is.

Uria focused her dark eyes ahead, and hoped for the best outcome.

[Fin]

R A L E I G H

The young Alba nodded his head as enthusiastically as he could with the wind assailing his head as his captain spoke. Though his armour weighted him down a little more than usual as he had never really used it before now, Raleigh wore it with pride, happy to finally have his own helmet. He looked forward to the day he would get one that actually fit as he felt the helmet slide a little, but it would stay on his head as there was a metal wire beneath his facial-disk keeping it on.

"Excellent plan, sir. Rather perfect, I should think, sir." Raleigh said, adding the second half hastily. Ever since he joined the company, he wanted to impress his Captain, or at least get on his good side. There was no harm in beign polite, he thought. Trying to make himself useful and make his captain happy, he turned his head to the left and glared at the two owls behind, hooting: "Keep up or we'll leave you behind. Wouldn't want the High-tyto to know you were slacking on this mission!"

Okay, so he didn't have anything against the owls and they weren't that far behind at all, but he had to make himself noticeable. There was only one way up in the world being a Alba - you had to grab it like the wind. Swiveling his head back around again, he noticed a darker patch up ahead in the fog. A glint of gold caught Raleigh's eyes, and he instantly knew what it meant.

"Guardians ahead-d sir-r!" Raleigh said worridley, quiet enough not to be heard by the evil owls but loud enough for his comrades to hear. Instinctively, he dived, hoping that his fellow owls had caught his warning before it was too late.

(My next post will be Raleigh and Arctus, so the two turnfeathers will need to announce themselves xD)

[Nessa]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=width,450,true][atrb=background,http://i56.tinypic.com/1zpn02s.jpg] The mist was like a physical weight on her wings, soaking her to the core and chilling her to the bone. Even over the cool canopy of the trees it stuck to everything it could find. Not even the quick little songbirds escaped it, but those were sparse. Not the best of flying conditions. Wet wing feathers did not aid an owl in flight and the sun would do nothing to dry them until they were out of it. She wouldn't even be flying in it were it not for their orders. But not one word of complaint. That was weak. An owl that could not fly through something as simple as mist? Bah. They deserved to be plucked and left for food for some other hungry scavenger. She tolerated no weakness – not that she had any right to decide on what was tolerated - and she was sure that her Captain wouldn't tolerate such behaviour either. She was hoping for one other armoured owl to just shiver earn himself some sort of punishment. Sprinking golden boy. Eerin gripped the air in front of her claws before dropping behind even more, less interested in what the alba had to say to their Captain and more interested in orders. Let the young thing do as he wanted to. If he wanted to make a fool of himself then so be it, she wasn't going to suffer for it. Two owls were to be escorted to the Beaks, turnfeathers, and that was were she stopped caring. Intelligence would be brought to the Company when it was needed and they would use it wisely. There was of course no way of knowing if she'd be able to wheedle it out of someone else from another Company who knew. Hedyn glanced back and she stilled for a moment, wings adjusting to a current of air as easily as they would had she been paying attention but her mind refused to connect to the movement. He was a strong, brave Captain. He was perfect. More importantly he was not alba. He had proven himself to the High Tyto and he had gained his rank where albas before him might have been given it. That alone was enough to make her respect him more than the young thing flying next to him. She rolled her eyes at his call to the two turnfeathers. He wouldn't impress the captain that way. Or at least she hoped not. Inexperienced little...Eerin almost didn't believe his call of Guardian until he dived. Her wings pushed her up for a moment before she caught the flash herself. She dived, wings dipping to allow her to bank towards the rocks, hoping that the grey would offer at least some camouflage even if the wind would cause some problems. She prayed that the rocks would offer some camouflage while she waited for their orders. To fight? Her breath caught in her throat, and not just because the angled wind was pushing at her beak. She didn't hear the clink of metal as her claws clenched. words| 513 tag| *points up* notes| fin invited meh!

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[◦myth ♫◦]

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[atrb=background,http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii286/Shiny_Pikachu/Lanmiddle.png,true] As soon as Raleigh had said the Guardians were near, Hedyn pulled in his wings, diving down towards the rocks. At the last moment, he opened out his wings and the clink of metal went against rock, his hard eyes looking at them. They're golden armour glinted in the light as the others landed beside him. Lannaera and Uria landed, and he nodded to them both. "Thish ish where you leave ush." came his voice, flashing at them. Lannaera gulped and nodded. She pushed out her wings and leapt from the rock. To make this seem more realistic, and hoping Uria was following her, she banked into a hard, rolling dive, towards some trees. She braced herself for impact and yelped as leaves and thorns tore at her feathers and face. She landed at the base of the tree, and swore under her breath. "Not my greatest," she moved her wings in pain. "plan ever." she moaned, her eyelids scrunching up tighter than they would normally be when her eyes were closed. It was no wonder that it hurt; she vowed never to leap into a tree again. Lanna called out, and though not faking the pain, it was evident in her voice. "U... Uria!" she called, hoping it was loud enough for the Guardians to hear. "Uria!" she shouted again, this time louder than before. She kept her wings open for the pain, and any owl going past could see, whatever she had done, Lanna hurt. Description = ffffff Speech = c5c5c5

[Ruby]

Uria felt liking run her claws over the soldiers wings. He obviously was trying to get on their captain's good side. It was actually PAINFULLY obvious. So much so she found herself stuck between laughing at the barn owl or attacking him for making barn owls look bad, possibly both. She didn't laugh or attack though, because Raleigh suddenly called out about guardians. Uria felt her gizzard twist. This is it...

Uria folded her wings to her sides and dived down with the other owls. She unfolded them a distance from the rock and slowed herself. She landed gracefully and immediately tuned into what the Captain was saying. She gave Lannaera a few seconds ahead of her to set the stage. She looked over each of the owls and a wave of disgust ran through her gizzard. She didn't let it show though and took off in pursuit of Lannaera's cries.

Uria followed the cries Lannaera made and found her on the ground after a crash with a tree. Uria could tell right away that the owl had experienced more realistic pain than she had wanted. Uria landed next to her with her feathers fluffed in panic, real panic it turns out.

"Lannaera! What happened? Are you okay!?" She frantically moved around her fallen companion. She had spoken somewhat loudly, in hopes of getting the attention of the approaching guardians. Inside her gizzard was twisting with fear.

[Fin]

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[atrb=background,http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/9782/arctustable2.png,true] Confident strides pushed the thick fog into a swirling spiral as a group of majestic owls made their way effortlessly through the conditions. They made a formation of sorts and, right at the front at the point led a large male Long-eared owl. Upon his head lay a intricate, golden helmet with matching regalia adorning his talons. The metal never clinked together, and his flight was expertly silent, like the rest of his group. Not afraid of anything lurking inthe fog, these owls prided themselves on their aerial skills, developed over many years of training at their home - the Great Tree. They were Guardians. Most of them had a few mice and voles in their grasp, caught somewhere on their journey, whilst the other owls had buckets that glowed amber. The head owl held a rabbit in his ashen talons that marked the rabbit with grey stains. They had most likely just visited a small forest fire near Ambala, and had patrolled over the Forest of Tyto looking for Remnants. "Approaching the Beaks, my friends. Straddle the wind with caution." The golden-decorated owl hooted out at the front to warn his comrades. The beaks was notoriously scary to fly in during fog as the tall, thin rock formations could easily take out an unaware owl. This would be no problem for those in this group. Raising his head, the front owl slowly turned his head to survey either side of the formation of birds flying with him before tilting his wings to starboard. He began to bank right around a large structure that was approaching, though not quickly, he wanted to avoid it anyhow. Raising his voice again in a hoot, he called out to his group once more: "Set for the Sea of Hoolemere, chaps. Will arrive shortly." He began to pick up speed with a few flaps of his wings, the hold of the rabbit in his claws becoming a little tigher as not to drop it. It was then he heard a call. Instinctively, he slowed his speed cautiously, trying to pinpoint the source of the sound, but in the fog it was harder than usual. It muffled any sound made. Understanding it was an owl in trouble, he turned to the owl closest to hm and flicked his head, indicating he wanted that owl to fly with him to investigate and for the rest of the group to remain where they were. Instantly ducking as soon as he knew the owl had seen his instruction, he dived downwards, flexing his wings outward to take advantage of the speed. Through the limited visibility he saw a tree that was still moving, hinting that something had hit it, sound he flew over to it slowly and, almost invisible above in the fog, circled the two owls on the floor for a few moments. Tytos. His first fear was they were stray Remnants, and he knew his fellow Guardians wouldn't be happy if he helped them but on closer inspection he found that they weren't carrying any battle armour or any marks of being Pure Ones. They just seemed to be two owls, one injured and one trying to help. Finally deciding what to do, he called out and dived again, this time landing quickly next to them and he towered above them,amber eyes glinting through his armour, before hooting: "I am King Arctus, leader of the Guardians. I see you are hurt." He hooted to them, tucking his wings under and puffing his chest out a little.

[Fin]

R A L E I G H

The Alba landed eagerly after his captain and hopped along the rock with his metal-covered talons clanking noisily against the hard surface. When his Captain stopped, Raleigh lowered himself to the rock, his head low but with his eyes trained on where he knew theturnfeathers would be. This was his first time seeing the Guardians properly, and boy was he flared. He wanted to fly right over to their king and slice his throat, or to scour his wings so badly he could not fly. He wanted to make them all go yeep with just a battle cry, with just one look at the Remnants, but he knew his dreams were far from reality. They were outnumbered currently, but when the Remnants armies gathered, oh the Guardians would fall.

The thought raced in his mind as he watched closely, inching forward the more impatient he got. Had the Guardians discovered them? Had they killed the turnfeathers? If the 'noble' scums attacked the two turnfeathers, his company would have an excuse to attack them, but his hopes were dashed when two owls landed calmly beside the two.

"What do we do now, sir?" Raleigh hooted very quietly, turning his head to Hedyn as he did.

[Nessa]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=width,450,true][atrb=background,http://i56.tinypic.com/1zpn02s.jpg] When she flared her wings to stop herself from crashing into the rocks she was almost shaking. They were right there. So close. They had no idea that the Remnants were there, even if they numbered only three. To slink around the other side of the rock and climb to the heights...The damage they could do with a single crash through their ranks. Surprise and the heights, what a brilliant combination. But her Captain did not order it, it would ruin the plan. The Turnfeathers had to get into the Guardian's tree without any suspicion. There were plans that would allow them to fight and still let the Turnfeathers gain the Guardians' trust, but the Captain hadn't considered them. No one had considered asking her for them now, had they? Well, there was no point brooding about it. Breathing quickly she hopped across the rock with the rest of the Company, head low and face down to keep her as camouflaged as possible. Eerin allowed herself a little pride on the inside. Neither the young soldier or the captain had the feathers to hide on the rocks with ease. She did. Risking a quick glance towards the Guardians her breathe caught for a moment before she was beside Releigh. That armour. How did they not crask under the weight of it? How did it survive the crushing claws ot the Remnants? How did he see with it? It was the most ridiculous piece of trash she'd ever seen. Orante without through for function. What if someone dug their claws into it? Then what? It would be ripped from his head without a care for the fragile neck and chin beneath. "Do we head back, sir?" she murmered, daring to speak. "Or stay hidden?" If they broke cover now what were the chances of being seen? Had she been Captain she'd have kept her Company hidden until the danger had passed and she knew they were safe. Or moved them so they were less...Obvious. Even hopping along the ground was better than quivering on the rocks. Eerin lowered her head, masked front facing away from the Guardians again and directly at Hedyn. Nothing the younger tyto said had any meaning for her. words| 385 tag| myth? notes| rawr!

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[Fin]

(myyyyth pleeeaaaase post or i may have to go offline watch a rubbish movie then kill myself - you don't want me watching twilight on your conscience do you?)

[◦myth ♫◦]

[-flails- soz been busy]

"Be quieeeet," Hedyn hissed at the two owls. "The turnfeathersh are on their ownsh now. We musht report to Ashashel." he continued, flapping his wings and gliding back.

Lanna looked up at the owls as they swooped down. 'No turning back now. Ha, turning back.' she thought, as the leader called out to them. He was the king of the guardians! Lanna coughed.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, your highness.. I am Lanna, this is my friend, Uria... I... I'm not the best flier and I lost control and hit a tree. It kinda hurt." Lanna explained. She was perfect at flying, but that was the only explanation she could think of at the moment. She stared at the guardians, trying not to flick her eyes up to where they had come from. "Uria and I... we had just come across a... ruined nest. The eggs were smashed and feathers were everywhere, like a predator had gone there." she lied. "We've heard about the guardians, but... we always thought you were just a myth, but when the remnants..." she trailed off. "We are both Tyto, so... We hoped we could escape them."

[lanna you SUCK >U]

[Ruby]

Uria stood next to Lanna, her feathers ruffled at the appearance of the king of the Guardians. She had expected a small group of no name guardians to show up, not the king himself.

She made no sounds as Lanna spoke. Her gizzard was quivering and she found herself want to fly away from this situation as fast as her wings could carry her but she stood her ground next to her injured companion.

As Lanna gave her explanation, Uria found herself wishing she had introduced them instead. Lanna must have been thrown off by the king as much as Uria herself.

She took in the Guardian king and after a more inspecting look, she found him to be nothing like she imagined. She was expecting a hardened owl but instead found kindness in his eyes. She hoped that she was seeing right. She kept her beak closed without a single sound. Uria anchored herself onto the only familiar thing present, Lanna. She didn't look at the guardians only the injury of Lanna.

[Fin]

R A L E I G H

The Tyto Alba trembled as he watched. It was so difficult not to fly over and attack - they were so close! He could hear them, smell them, see them, but he wasn't allowed to do anything. It was terrible, the itching in his talons becoming unbearable. What were they talking about, though? The fog seemed to cloak their words, making them inaudible.

Thankfully, his captain glided away, meaning the rest of the Company was to follow. Slowly moving along the rock with his eyes trained on the group of owls ahead, Raleigh reluctantly opened his wings and silently followed after Hedyn, looking back the whole time. It took a lot of reasoning in his mind, but he supposed they would do a lot more damage after the turnfeathers did their job, and it was then that he would get his revenge.

^{(raleigh exit stage left - myth, could you start a thread of them flying home? thats when they will be attacked by the Talons)}

The Great-horned straightened up, keeping his amber eyes on the two owls before turning his head around to face some of the members of his group. He hooted an instruction to check the area, and three or four of them rose and glided off, disappearing into the fog. He turned back around, focusing on the two.

"I see. Running from the Remnants." He paused, before continuing, "You will be safe at the tree. You may stay a while, or for the rest of your lives, depending on how Parliament sees it. But fear not, my two little ones, we will not leave you to those monsters. Come now." He added the last part as he saw the owls return with no news. Opening his wings wide, he stopped to look at Lanna with sympathetic eyes.

"Will you be able to travel?" He asked, hoping she would be strong enough. It was a short flight, and there was little chance of them getting lost.

_{(sorry, short.)}