Bird in the Hand

Log Info

• Title: Bird in the Hand
• Emitter: Slixvah
• Characters: Slixvah, Aelwyn, Eztli
• Place: Lower Gardens
• Time: July 2nd, 2022
• Summary: Slix is trying to stretch her wings out, as they've been a pain in her back. Aelwyn and Eztli show up and chat with her, speaking about an adventure into the sewers. Separate ones. She fixes the sewer aura with her new gloves, and in exchange, her wings have been hurting, and the two give her a hand with stretching them out. Eztli speaks about her past in Dragonier, as well as some Draonic knowledge before they split.

Lower Gardens, Afternoon

The weather hasn't faired any better. Everything is grey. The sky is grey. The horizon, the lack of shadows. And to top it all off, a veil of mist wafts through the streets. Thankfully, Alethea's domain in the gardens provides some respite from worst of the blanket of heat, though it still doesn't help that the air is still and soupy.

An egalrin woman is draped over a bench upside down, feet kicking off the back of it as their wings take up the entire span of the seat.

Some bird tweets away nearby.

"It improves bloodflow, baby doll," the woman chirps.

More twittering.

"Look like a fool? Me? Pssh, nonsense."

Tweet tweet.

"... Oh, boo, hoo, little miss sleepy. Unlike you, these suckers are /constantly/ hurting."

Chirp chirp.

"Ugh, whatev's shug," she caps off, sticking her tongue out before pulling down a rainbow ribbon wrapped around her forehead over her eyes.

Clack. Rolling set of clicks. Another clack. Another rolling set of clicks. The sounds continue playing out, until their steady cadence slows and then halts. "Fell from the sky, Sugar?" Perhaps a familiar voice asks with a little hiss - but this time around the voice was not so muffled. Only partly. Actually there was quite a strong scent around the newcomer. Very floral.

"There are worse places to land, suppose." Aelwyn continues with a sneeze and wipes his face - which was largely covered in flowers. In fact, most of his neck was wrapped around in flowers of different variety. The loincloth clad and glaive wielding sith-makar didn't mind the heat so much, but his exposed ruddy scales were sticky with pollen and fallen petals in this humid heat.

The lower gardens districts were a welcome respite from the bustle of the city proper on many days. While overwhelming with scents, especially with so many flowers in bloom, they were more pleasant than the majority of odors that were in the city.

Eztli was taking advantage of this situation in order to relax a bit, as she wandered around the grounds with her nose in a book. Quite literally, as she kept hersnout braced against it so she could read while walking without it swaying out of view too much. Though when she decided to take a break, she stopped, and found the bench she planned on using currently occupied.

"Oh, peace on your nest, Slixvah. That doesn't look like a pleasant way to sleep though. Do you want me to move you onto your back or something?" The small makari asks.

Then she looks and regards the sneezing sith-makar. "Ah, and peace to you, Aelwyn. were you dancing in a flower bush, or something?"

Sniff sniff. A feathered arm reaches up (down?) to tug at the multi-hued ribbon so that a sky blue eye could peek out. Blink. A healthy chuckle. "Totes. Crash landed here, thought I've give it a lil' chill time. Maybe a nap, yeah?"

The tip of a wing gives a flicking wave to Eztli as she shakes her head, snickering. "Naw. Wings hurt, I'm layin' on 'em to stretch 'em out. I'm gooood." She taps the bench, her laying right where her wings connect to her back. The egalrin does a streeeetch before twisting and grumbling to herself as she tries to sit properly. "Heya. Peace on your nests. Yeah, Flutter, did you fly and crash in a bush?"

The flowerly sith turns to look towards Eztli as she makes her way over - then bows his head. For some reason though, he takes a subtle step back away from the other sith-makar. "Peace on the nest, Spellreader."

The Dragoon stands there for a moment whilst rubbing the flowers underneath his nostrils, watching the two others, before suddenly it hits him. "... has that floating eye been misspelling 'Dragoon' again?" He asks from Slixvah with a flat voice. "No, the flowers were torn and scattered across the scales. They are too flammable."

With the slight undercurrent of scent of sewage festering upon him, some of the subtler noses can guess why.

"Well, I'm not sure if wings hurting is good. But if you're fine where you are, then more power to you. Not like I have wings, so I can't really say what is and isn't proper. Would a massage or something help?" Eztli shrugs after closing the book and stuffing it back in her robes.

"Huh. that's a different name, not that I mind. Did I do something wrong though?" She asks Aelwyn. "Or is it something to do with smelling like you came out of a waste disposal tunnel?"

Slixvah cocks her head to the side one way. Then another before perking up with slight crinkle to her eyes. "Tch. Naw. Tell ya what, the lil' rollin' ball actually was really a Navos messenger. Damn thing got raptured right outta the gates a few days ago! Saw it with my own two eyes!" she exclaims while rifling around in one of her robes. A pair of while gloves are produced, and she slides them on while talking. A little gleam of mischief. "What, are you offering, Eztli? Suckers can hurt after coasting around a long while. Like doing a long jog." she coos.

A final tug, and there's a little >paff< of glittery white chaff. "Let me guess, the smell didn't come out?"

"Want me to make it go poof?" she adds.

The ruddy draconian's slit pupils dart over Slixvah, "They do rapture everything nowadays, don't they?"&

"Rolls off the tongue easier than 'Crier'. Appropriate?" Aelwyn asks from Eztli - and then his typically self-assured posture just visibly deflates when she points the smell around him. "... she is bluntly accurate..." The draconian rumbles, slowly sliding some of the flowers to try and clean off the smell.

And absolutely with 'no' defeat in his voice, Aelwyn asks from the elgarin. "I'd be in Sugar's debt." He bows his head. "We both can massage the wings."

"Oh, that's what that was about? I heard some rumors about that. Weird business, you had something to do with it?" Eztli asks. "And of course it's blunt, I'm trying to figure out why you're acting like you are. It's just sewage, I've been in there myself, and it's pretty bad, but it's not like I'm not used to it at this point." Eztli chuckles. "I could take care of it if you don't want Slixvah too, and of course! I was asking in case you'd want one. Supposedly it helps with sore muscles, but I just think it feels nice when they're sore."

Slix looks to Aelwyn. Then flicks her head over towards Eztli. Without missing a single beat- "Deal from both of ya's," she chirps, flexing her fingers. "Used these un's ta git rid of it. Pret' nice, I do say. I got it Ez."

She starts snapping her fingers. A one, a one, a one-two-three. Poof!

The white gloves glimmer and sparkle as a similar effect swaddles Aelwyn. And before long, he's all clean. Even the flower scent is gone too. "Damn I wish I had these things in the sewers..."

She rights herself, looking expectantly at both of them as she addresses the mixed scale. "Yeah, we did a lil' sewer delving with a weird orb golem thing. Got a thing, did a thing, didn't die while doing the thing, all kosher!" she happily chirps.

"Would like to present as not sewage, Spellreader. We should be more valuable than that." Aelwyn insistently rubs the bright yellow daffodil against his nostrils. All it did was spread yellow color about. "Better for the nose, too."

The ruddy Dragoon watches as the elagrin starts doing her magic with the white gloves - and magic it was. Carefully, he inhales - and then deeply inhales as a heavy fog leaves him. "-nnh!" A momentarily muttered blessing leaves his lips, and then he slowly exhales. "Air tastes nice." Picking up his spear, he (carefully) nears towards Eztli and with eyes looking over Slixvah, he whispers, "... where does one massage the wings?"

"Yeah, it is really handy." Eztli chuckles, not elaborating on the need for the gloves. "But you might not have liked having them. Because everyone needs to stay clean, it's pretty exhausting."

"Not a big deal, like I said, just a bit of muck." Eztli shrugs as she steps off to one side of the bench near the Egalrin. "Well, I'm assuming you know how to massage muscles, Aelwyn, so it's just like that." The small makari chuckles back, too close for whispering to be of much use. "From what I'm aware, egalrin wings function much like a dragon's do. Which means, the majority of the main muscle groups are before and after the first wing joint."

She picks up the wing to demonstrate, gently massaging the areas in question. "Sure is a lot easier without claws, though."

"Sewage sucks," Slix concurs, looking between the two before pointing a gloved finger at Eztli. "Yeah, she's got the right of it. Though dragons got a little bit more goin' on with the wings and their skeletal structure due to their quadrupedal nature."

A white bird peeks out of the egalrin's robes, staring at her. Slix looks down. "What? I read. Don't give me that."

The golden eyed bird slowly sinks back into the robe pocket. "Anyways, sass aside-"

The fortune teller shuts up promptly, closes her eyes, and lulls her head back with a content hum.

Aelwyn just stands there, mouth agape. With all the sharp teeth. And a bit of flower sticking out from between his teeth. "... you have massaged /dragons/?" Incredulous, he stares after Eztli.

The egalrin's voice snaps him out of it, and he quickly moves around the bench to take his respective part of the wings. The glaive is carefully set aside, before his scaled palms begin to roam in search of that joint. "But, dragons? Both of you?" He looks at where the golden bird disappeared. "What?"

"A bit, definitely, but the main idea remains the same. Egalrin and dragons both have wings closer to the fore limbs, or in the case of egalrin, arms, which is different in terms of flying compared to most birds, which tend to have wings more centrally located."

"Doesn't hurt to know things." Eztli chuckles to the tiny bird. "Nice to meet you today, thought I heard someone making noise earlier."

"Massaged dragons? Can't say that I have." Eztli snorts to Aelwyn. "I've just read a few books on the subject. Now, giving massages, I do know a bit about that. It's a good idea to know how to give a cute girl a massage Aelwyn, you can take my word on that."

The small makari stops chuckling, and instead sighs. "I did know a few dragons, though. But that's in the past now."

Slixvah shakes her head slowly, eyes half lidded. "Naw... just read a lot," she hums. "Ain't ever seen one. Ya... got a bit of flower in ya teeth sugar. Unless you want tea later."

"Ez has a lot of knowledge in many thing," the egalrin mentions cryptically. She's about to speak more, but the extra pair of hands shuts her right up. Them wings are tense.

Instead, the little bird that was there before pokes its head out. Gold eyes settling on the two. It opens its tiny beak, and a tinny voice squeaks out, "Fiadh. Pleasure."

The ruddy sith gives a toothy grin. Flower and all. "Only for cute girls?" Then Slixvah mentions the flower, and Aelwyn's hand snaps to grab it out from between the sharp bony protrusions. "... didn't even taste..." He mutters by himself as he feels around those wings - and then with a grunt, heaves into the massage. Obviously, he was not there to be gentle, but to murder the tension.

"She 'knew' dragons?" The draconian asks, while knead knead. "Did something happen?"

When the bird pokes its head out again, Aelwyn turns his own orange eyes towards it. "Fire...Firahd, peace on the nest." He bows his head.

"Well, I think that anyone can appreciate a decent massage, really. Just good to know how to do, really." Eztli chuckles. "Wrong type of flower for tea, perhaps? Could try chamomile next time."

Eztli was much more gentle, but the massage stopped when the bird popped it's head out. "Ah, Fiadh! Pleasure to meet you as well." The small makari greets. "Yes, I knew dragons. That tends to be the case for most who lived in Dragonier, what with them being mostly in charge, there. But, most of them perished when Heth rose, along with a large portion of the people living there. I have not heard of any who have survived or escaped." She answers quietly.

Slixvah is totally fine with murder.

Tension murder, that is, judging by how zonked out she is at the moment. A moment. Eztli stops, and Slix reaches back to tug the smaller makari's attention back to what they were doing.

"Close enough," says the small bird towards Aelwyn. Slix has nothing to add, nor does Fiadh, as the latter seems to be paying attention to the conversation. The former-

The former is indisposed.

Aelwyn continues to grind and knead the wings. He didn't know anything about bird (or dragon) anatomy, but those fingers were sure looking to find the knowledge by sheer killing. "... ah." The draconian finally says, and then reaches out to put his hand briefly on Eztli's shoulder. "Apologies." Then he gives a toothy grin that splits his cheeks. "... so cute girls enjoy the massage more than guys?" The draconian pointedly glances between the two of the others.

"Ah, right." Eztli mumbles when she's brought back to the present, and she resumes the massage. "I don't think I told you about that, but, it happened, and is what it is." The small makari sighs.

She was quiet for a moment, before she finally laughs again. "No, I don't think that they do. I'm just saying, that knowing how to give a cute girl a massage was a valuable skill to have, and I thought you'd probably want to know it's worth knowing, Aelwyn." Eztli chuckles. "Doesn't mean it couldn't be reciprocated back to you, though."

Slixvah gets some sembelance of lucidity back as she holds up a finger. "Both like it, just some guys won't admit it's nice," she chirps. "What's important is that they're cool wit' ya."

She waves them both off, the wings extending some to give a gentle push. "Aight- mmph- that's a lo' betta, I'd say. Thank ya, cuties."

She rises to her feet, stretching her arms. Chuckling, she watches Eztli for a moment before Fiadh flutters to the top of Slix's head and pecks her twice. "Mhmm," she hums in agreement with something or another. "Tho, gotta watch them talons on ya'lls. Most ain't got them scales or feathers to keep from getting shanked."

Aelwyn leans back when they get pushed aside, holding up his hands. "Hands don't discriminate against cute." The draconian says, then gives a final light rake with his claws across Slixvah's feathers. "So it is praise to be considered thus by Spellreader." He teases with a toothy grin, before bending down to pick up his spear.

Giving a deep respectful bow towards Slixvah, "My gratitude for the help, Sugar. Let us trade those ribbons one day. Firebird," He nods appropriately towards Fiadh, then finally at Eztli, "Be well, Spellreader." And just like that, he turns to walk away.

"Yeah, that's important." Eztli nods when she's able to step aside. The small makari chuckles and reaches to scratch around one of her horns. "Making sure people are okay with it. I wanted to see if it'd help you feel better though, no ulterior motives here from me."

"So, I'm glad you're feeling better, Slixvah."

She sighs, and nods to Aelwyn. "It was good to see you too, Aelwyn, I hope you're feeling better after that magic. I imagine dealing with that smell would get exhausting for another sith-makar. Take care!"

She waves him off, before turning back to the Egalrin. "Yeah, It's something to be mindful of. That's why you kind of curl them inwards for things like that, which is awkward, but better than hurting someone."

Slix does a double finger snap-gun towards Aelwyn as she winks at him. "Hell yeah I'm cute, don't you forget it," she chuckles happily before giving him a wave off. "Catch ya later, Flutter. Can trade later."

She turns to Eztli. "It /is/ awkward. Tried being a sith for a bit, pretty cool on some stuff, kinda odd on others. Anyways, ya wanna read, bench is open now. I gotta get back in the Defense over yonder and give some peeps some magic hands."

"Healing," elaborates Fiadh.

Slix looks up at the bird on her head. "You really know how to take the flow outta' things."

"My specialty."

"Kindly go f-"

Peck.

"-for a long walk off a pier."

"I fly."

"Uuuugh," Slix moans before reaching up, grabbing the thrush, and shoving them into a pocket. "Anyways, boo, I gotta split, catch on the flippity flip." She winks, gives a little wave, and skedaddles.

-End Scene-