Landscape or Portrait

With fluffy white clouds floating lazily overhead, and warm Spring sunshine lighting the landscape, the beauty of the mountainous area is out in full glory. In the distance, one can see others following the road, and even a few Egalrin flying high above.

A short distance off the path, a green blanket has been rolled out. A small picnic spread has been laid out: a plate of cheese, crackers and thin slices of meat, a basket of fruits fresh from the markets, and paper-wrapped packages roughly the size of a sandwich.

Simony sits upon one corner of the blanket, staring out onto the countryside below. A small canvas is balanced on an easel in front of her. In one hand she holds a palette, strewn with paints of a variety of colours. Her other hand holds a small paintbrush, delicately applying paint to the landscape unfolding on the canvas.

A red, white, and rainbow blur shoots by in the distance upon the beautiful vista, only to vanish from view from the cliff face.

A moment later, and the same blur shoots back up, large wings spread wide in their fifteen foot span. They barely flap, an updraft against the mountain keeping the colorful figure mostly afloat. "What'cha dooooooooooooooooin'~?" a familiar voice caws, Slixvah grinning as the occasional flap of her wings keeps her stable. Some peering from her airborn vantage point. "'tis a mighty fine day ta paint! Clear!"

No clear bright sky without a dark shadow lurking somewhere. Especially one that seems to glide down along the ground behind Slixvah, dark wings spread to come down to a brief hop. And another hop.

Then like most corvids seem to want to do, they stand still and look about from their not as high - but still pretty high - vantage point.

Crik had a massive urge not to let out a low 'caw' as he did his best to blend into the mossy, growth covered stone.

The Goblin laughs at the sudden arrival of Slixvah, and she stares up at the Egalrin with wide eyes and a wider grin. "It's certainly a beautiful day for flying!", Simony calls up. "Want to share in my picnic? Fruits, cheese, sammiches." A pale hand gestures to the laden blanket.

She blinks then, looking in Crik's general direction, squinting at a shadow. Looking back to the hovering birdfolk, the Gobbo holds up her landscape painting, showing off the colourful splashes of nature's grandeur."

Slixvah cranes her head back at the movement, her tilting her head to the side before shaking her head and writing it off. Probably a stray cloud. Happens all the time. "Oooh! That looks pretty so far!" she coos before folding her wings in and dropping rapidly.

And just as quick as they were tucked away, they flare back out so she can swoop, come to an apex just above the road, and land with a soft >clack< of talons. Slix ambles over and crouchs down on her haunches. "Ooooh, fruit! Sure, I'll have some takies~"

Crik picks up a notebook, looks at it. Then after a moment, he picks up another notebook, looks at it. The third one he lifts up, he pecks at with his beak. There's a moment, before he just lets all off them fall under his particularly green and grey, ragtag cloak.

Few minutes later, a shambling figure is strutting up the road, stepping with an occasional hop. Eyes gazing about, he finally focuses on the picnic happening in place. "Greetings," He says with a particularly low, ruminating voice and a slow bow, with his stretched fingers. They were far less than Slixvah's; but he had been clipping their feathers recently. "May I join you?" He asks, looking towards Simony. Then towards Slixvah. Then towards Simony. It was all he could not to stare at Slixvah's waist.

Simony stands then, and comes to stand next to Slixvah, offering up an orange. "These are tasty, but be warned the skin is rather tough and chewy. Very sour too." The Goblin has one for herself, and bites into the side of it. Chewing noisily, she swallows. "Thank you very much. I like using lots of colours, it's why you were a lot of fun to paint."

She blinks at Crik, and slowly grins, "That was you...", the Gobbo says with a snort. Her hand gestures at the blanket, "You're welcome to have some of my picnic.

Simony turns then, and hugs at Slixvah.

Slixvah takes the orange, snickering. "I know what an orange is, silly," she teases before pecking into the fruit and tearing it open with ease. "Ah, yes. Totall' get ya. You like ta paint loads of colors. And I like wearin' 'em!"

She peers at the shambling figure coming down along the way, feathered brows raising. "Oh. Heya Crik. What's up, shug?" she waves. Beak peck into orange pieces as a wing unfurls to wrap around Simony, returning the hug.

Crik takes a slow step forward, gauging Slixvah for a bit more. Then like one would, he moves to sit near and opposite of the hugging pair. His black hand reaches out towards the two. He was wearing black weathered, fingerless glove. "Can I taste the orange too?" He asks with a completely polite tone.

A small, barely longer than a thumb, knife is pulled from his cloak. It was more a scraper than a knife, really, to get rid of dirt and gunk from things; but this one looked very pristine.

The Goblin giggles, "Well it was new to me." Another giggle as she is wrapping in feathery softness, disappearing briefly. A squeeze or two is had, before she slips free, moving to the fruit basket to hunt down an orange.

Finding one, she rolls it across the blanket, taping one of Crik's feet. Simony begins to gnaw off the peel around hers before shoving the rest of the orange into her mouth.

Squishing it with her teeth has some of the juices dribbling down her chin. "Theesh fings rr amaaashing!"

Slixvah releases Simony before finishing up the snack. A small incantation cleanses the rine, and she nibbles on that too. She looks at Crik. Waits a beat while he's partaking of the orange (or slipping it into his pocket). Then reaches into one of her many robes and pulls out a folded piece of paper.

"You know, Crik," she starts. "You /can/ just ask about things. Instead of snooping," she half teases, half chides.

Crik gets jostled a bit by the orange that is rolled over to him - and very slowly and hesitantly he lifts it up. The knife is duly pulled over the skin, as he opens up his mouth, trying to -

There it is. Crik's hands stop moving and he glances at Slixvah. The lemon forgotten in his hand, his eyes stare at the piece of paper. "That obvious?" He asks from Slixvah. "I suspected I was being too open." He opens up his beak. And leaves it open.

Simony smiles at Slixvah's teasing... until Crik confirms it's not teasing. She swallows down her orange, and her mouth opens a moment, then closes with a click. "You're kidding, right?", she asks of Crik.

The Gobbo's eyes slowly moves to the paper in Slixvah's hand. "What do you have there?", she wonders. A grin starts slowly and broadens into a full on toothy affair.

The Goblin returns to her easel, carefully removing the partially painted canvas, and replacing it with a blank one. Humming to herself, her paintbrush is thrust into a small mug of water, and shaken furiously.

"It's the bit of scrap that Crik dropped back at the tower," Slixvah says to Simony, folding it open and showing her. It has a tiny sketch of what looks like the inside of an eyrie, with repeated question marks. "Where are they?" "Why did they disappear?" "Who took them?" in scribbled Egalrin; and plenty of crossed over nonsensical words.

She turns to Crik, brow raised. "The only thing open about you is your beak and desire for nonsense," she chuckles, holding the piece of paper back and away from Crik. It's her ace at present. "C'mon man, birds of a feather and all that shiz. What's wit' all thi'?"

Those black fingers begin to reach out for the scrap of paper - but so clearly denied. "Do you believe we of the sky joke around, Simony Smithsdottir?" He asks - but there was a squint in his eye as he keeps his beak open. A low click leaves his throat.

Black fingers slowly lower from the air as the hooded corvid turns to look towards Slixvah instead. "A scrap of paper. She recognizes the eyrie - what more should there be to it?" He asks in turn. "Can you not tell from the old writing it's peculiarity, but not its insignificance?"

There's another movement in his cloak and then he holds out one of his black feathers to her.

The Goblin stares at Crik, then looks to Slixvah, then back at Crik. "Yes, yes you do."

Simony crosses her arms. "Who is missing? Where did who all go? Are you speaking of the Khazad, Crik, and why they abandoned the home that the Egalrin have claimed as their own?"

She smacks the now wetted paintbrush against the leg of her easel, and stoops to pick up her palette. Dipping the brush into a green colour, she begins to paint across the fresh canvas.

"Or was this your way to get closer to a certain beautiful Egalrin lady?"

Slixvah raises a finger. "Some do, like me," she teases. Though, her eyes narrow a bit. "Crik, honey, sweetie. Ya said ya were worried about being too open, but you're bein' tighter than a noble's coin purse on national pickpocket day." A hand gestures to Simony, echoing her thoughts on the information.

She takes the black feather, and exchanges it for the scrap that was left behind. But glances to Simony. "If that's the case, I thinks he needs to reconsider his methods," she says bluntly. At least she's honest.

GAME: Crik rolls sleight of hand: (7)+9: 16
GAME: Simony rolls perception: (14)+10: 24
GAME: Slixvah rolls alertness: aliased to perception+2: (3)+13+2: 18

So close to the eyrie and air station, it wasn't that unlikely for yet another egalrin to be gliding by. A small figure in the distance growing larger, and circling the picnic and painting station once to get right in front of it. The egalrin stopped with wings outstretched and posed for as long as they could possibly manage, before continuing to dive and land a small distance away.

Reithak stops to fish a large white hat out of their pack and place it on their head before striding over, but it didn't remain there for long before it was doffed in a sweeping bow. "A fine feathered day to both of my kin." The egalrin laughs loudly, fixing the two with an eye, followed by the goblin. "And to you as well! I hope I ruined neither your concentration or composition, but I would just love to know what you're painting there."

The dark egalrin waits for Slixvah to reach for his dark feather - but then his finger makes a very obvious move as she instead picks up a tiny black scrap of cloth. Slixvah could probably easily tell the little palmed up trick. Fingerless gloves and their little hideaways, sister. "Then why would you go for the coin purse?"

There's a bit of a cackling set of clicks as he holds his beak open, hacking throat set of clicks - before his neck feathers poof up. His hands fold up in his lap, and he looks between Simony and Slixvah, beak shut. Chided. "This is from my eyrie." He finally says in egalrin, opening up the scrap of paper. He then holds it a bit fuurther open... "... what else should this open up with?" He asks, with a tilt of his head.

The appearance of a new feathered folk gives Crik a pause, and the paper disappears from his hand. Up, down, left, up, back towards Reithak. Finally back towards Slixvah, and a tilt of his head towards Reithak.

The Goblin nods to Slixvah, "Indeed I would say jalapeno firewater goes down more smoothly than he's been." The brush continues along, dipping into black, the green darkening on the canvas.

Simony squints, peering at the form slowly descending. It's lengthy pause in one spot in the air causes one of the Goblin's eyebrows to rise up. When Reithak is close enough to begins speaking, Simony offers a small bow. Her grin is toothy and cheeky. "Luckily I am painting the scene here before me..." A gesture with the brush to Slix, Crik and the picnic blanket with assorted food bits causes a few spots of dark green paint to splatter on the brighter, green blanket.

"And that's quite cheeky of you to hover there in the air for several long moments, and then say you hope you didn't spoil my painting." The Goblin giggles and shakes her head.

"Perhaps you could explain what the questions are about. Or how you keep ending up in my cell, hmm?", she asks of Crik.

Slixvah visibly frowns at the deception, her turning her hand over and flicking the black cloth at his face. "Because I figure at thi' point, I'd have garnered some iota of rapport with you," she says, mildly exasperated.

A sigh leaves her, chuckles, and puts her hands in her pockets. Her brows narrow. Pause. Wait. She rolls a hand, "... go on?-"

Huh? What was that? She turns to only just now spy the newcomer striding in. Slix cranes her neck back, looking up... up... up...

Her face feathers floof. "Why hello there! Clear skies ta ya! Ain't you a work of art?" she coos warmly, looking the tall eglarin down and up. "You from the Aerie nearby? I ain't seen ya 'round, hon."

"Oh that? That wasn't hovering, that was just falling with style, hence the pose." The egalrin laughs again. "Otherwise I might have stayed up there as long as I could manage, until you were done or shooed me away. I don't think I'd have spoiled it, hopefully sparked a bit of creativity, at least."

The egalrin crouches down and turns back to the other egalrin. They tilt their head to Crik, and laugh again. "Nice to meet you! Though it sounds like things aren't completely great, hopefully I'm not causing trouble with my presence. Still, always best to have worries and concerns out in the open air when you can, and if you need a mediator, well, I can promise that I'll listen fairly."

"Me, a work of art? I'd say that would me the goblin miss' painting over there." They correct again. "Not from the Aerie here, no, and I sure would have recognized egalrin like you two if I saw you. Just got in town actually, figured I'd take a look from the airstation to see what's what with the city."

Crik twists his head and snags the cloth from the air, spreading it between his fingers. "You did force a body search." He points out. "... and I did tell you. My eyrie, the latest digsite" Beak opens up again, flicking the black cloth between his fingers. "That is what the paper is a sketch of." Yet, he was outdone, by the majestic creature that fluttered down from above. What a lowly corvid can do?

Let out a series of clicking sounds and have his beak open.

Shutting up suddenly, the dark feathered egalrin looks towards Simony, switching away from egalrin again. "Her window was open - coincidence. Her window was open again - people never check twice..." And then he tilts his head. "... the monastery had a curious view."

Crik keeps staring at the other egalrin. A low 'click' leaves his throat. "Only perplexion she is inducing is from the feathered friend here." Beak opens.

The Gobbo offers a bow to Reithak, "My name is Simony Smithsdottir. A pleasure to meet a new resident of the area. I'm at the Monastery at the bottom of the Spire, if you wish to visit?"

She snorts at Crik... "Of course you would consider an open window to be an open invitation. Next time use the door, and knock." Simony shakes a little fist at the crow-like Egalrin.

The Gobbo darts back to Slixvah, and hugs at her once more. "It was good to see you again. May I ask a wee favour? Share out the food here with our two guests? I'll come back in a little while and collect everything up. I need to run off to check something..."

Slixvah raises a brow. "Shug, you went into a restricted area of study. Of course there's gonna be a body search," she says in plain Trade. At that, though, she just throws her hands up. "Fine, keep your secrets. I ain' gonna play twenty questions. Lemme know when you actually want a hand fo' ya missin' peoples."

She turns and- oh gods she's crouching down to get eye level. "No no, you are," she says easily and readily." Head tilt to the side, sky blue eye glancing down the road. "Came in from the airstation? Or on foot up the mountain road? Where you comin' in from, hon?" She shakes her head. "It's fine, we'll hash it out later, don't you worry 'bout it," the rainbow egalrin dismisses. It'd be useless to try anyways, as Crik was quite insular about information, especially with strangers.

A wing gives Simony a brisk hug, her bobbing her head. "Catch ya on th' flip, shug," she hums, kneeling down to scoop up some of the food stuffs. Fruits, sandwhiches, breads, cheese. She offers some to Reithak and Crik as Simony scoots off.

Oh. Good point. Crik looks up towards the sky for a moment. He needs to get a better cover story for the next time. Then at her frustration at him, he looks towards the ribboned egalrin for a moment, then quietly folds open the note. He examines it for a moment before, it suddenly disappears from his hand. He looks after Simony running away, before his eyes turn towards the two other egalrin.

The corvid doesn't touch any of the food as he just tilts his head between the two egalrin - though then his head turns towards the stranger. "Leave her bags in the Airstation?"

"Reithak Seinlag, and it's always a pleasure to meet new people, and a patron of the arts at that." The large egalrin greets. "When I find out where the monastery is, I should definitely stop by to visit, especially if you would be willing to show me your finished artwork. Fair winds and clear skies to you, Simony."

Reithak waves away to the gobber accompanied by one large wing, before their attention is back to the two other egalrin. "Well, if there's perplexion, then that needs to be cleared up, doesn't it? You already got my name so that's a good start." The egalrin laughs again, reaching for a sandwich that very quickly vanishes with a few clacks of their beak. "Thank you very much, I'll have to thank Simony properly another time. I'm flattered, miss, but I missed another work of art here. Those ribbons are absolutely stunning, and I'd be happy to hear about how you put that look together."

"I've got a few supplies at the airstation, but I try to travel light anyways, I'll go pick them up later. Most of my worldly posessions fit on my back, and I'm fine with that. But, you caught me, I'm not able to fly straight from the air station here, had to make a few stops."

Slixvah eyes Crik briefly as he does exactly what she expected: close up and stash everything away. She turns to Reithak bobbing her head as she steals a few more morsels for herself and sets it down on the picnic blanket. "My my, Reithak Seinlag, what a name," she hums. Her face feathers floof once again, only briefly as she smooths them down with the back of a hand. "I much appreciate your kind words and generosity. Given time, perhaps I can tell ya all 'bout how I put this lil' ensemble together."

She taps her talon against the stonework, swaying from side to side. "It's a bit of a process. But lemme assess before we digress. Ain't no distress but I must confess, I do possess an address! Tons too dressy, a tinge pesky, and its easy ta impress me, m'name Slixvah Unmesi!" she coos in singsong, holding out a hand up to the tall egalrin.

Watching the other two birds preen at each other, Crik slowly gets up on his toe claws - and sneaks away. With a flick of his cloak, he begins to hop off towards the road. Suspiciously towards the Airstation.

"What a name in a good way, I do hope." The egalrin replies with another laugh as they stop to listen to the euphonious egalrin. There is an almost imperceptible pause as the name is given, but it is quickly replaced by twinkle of mirth in their eyes as they take the offered hand. "And a singer and poet as well? There are no worries there, time is something we tend to have plenty of, no? Lots of time for me to listen to everything you might be able to teach me. I'm a weaver and tailor by trade you see, and meeting kin from different places is an excellent way to learn new clothing styles."

"Are you telling me you have an address to share it, or just that you have one, miss Unmesi, or would you prefer Slixvah? And I would like to meet up with you as well-"

eithak turns to where Crik just was, and blinks. "Aw, I hope I didn't scare him off, I was curious about him as well. Hopefully he isn't too hard to track down later." They sigh.

Slixvah sways from side to side, shaking the hand eagerly and pulling away. "Oh, just little lyrical miracles is all, nothin' to it really." She raises a brow. "Weaver /and/ tailor? My my. I may need ta hit you up fo' some textiles once ya get ya feathers settled in Alexandria."

She laughs. "Naw naw, an address, like, a message, it was my name," she giggles. "You can call me what ev' ya want, hon-"

She turns, just now noticing the dark figure hop-hop-hopping away. A sigh escapes her. "Crik is... a strange man. And uh... good luck. He's slippery."

"Hey, sometimes you need to know both, everyone has to contribute, right?" The egalrin laughs as they take a seat down on the picnic blanket. "Besides, it let me and my ma' control the quality of the products. When you know what's going in, you know what you can do with it, right? I'd be more than happy to get some stuff for you when I have a place to stay and work. Something I should at least start considering before it gets too dark out."

"Ah, address all official like? Well, I'll just have to hope I run into you another time so we can talk if that's the case. I'll just call you cute for now, and Slix if I have to address you."

"I take it you're friends with Simoni? I may have to leave you to make sure her things are taken care of." The egalrin notes with a glance to where the corvid just was. "Strange isn't a bad thing, and they seem interesting enough, maybe I'll be able to get them talking a bit more next time."

"Totally," Slix hums, watching Reithak sit down. They're finally at eye level. "There's an inn on the far side of the city, called th' Fernwood pub. Decent place ta stay," she hums, pointing out into the open sky over the cliff, across the river. "If ya think ya can glide from here, get past th' river, and you'll be fairly close ta it."

At that though, Slixvah perks. Eyes squinting in a massive grin. "Acceptable. I have absolutely zero qualms with this, Rei-Rei," she hums, running a hand through her plumage. Is she preening? Yep. She's preening.

A slow nod. "Yeah, Simony. I can totes hang here to keep an eye on her things. Not like I got anyplace ta be right now. Just chillin', glidin' 'round. And... it'll take him a bit. He's quite secretive."

"Fernwood pub, far side across the river with rooms. Got it. Appreciate it, Slixvah." The egalrin nods happily, reaching out with one massive wing to pat the witch on the shoulder. "I think I could make it, but that could be overconfidence. Still, I'll save that for another time, I think I'd like to take in the sights and sounds of the city from the ground level first, that'll give me the best impression of it."

"Ceinara sure is smiling on me to meet a bunch of interesting people first thing in a new place, aren't they?" Reithak laughs, ruffling their cheek feathers with one hand. "If only I had more time to talk, but if I need to go grab my things and make for the other side of the city, I'll unfortunately and reluctantly have to take my leave of your company and Simony's hospitality."

The large egalrin stretches, and reaches for one last piece of cheese to pop in their mouth. "We've got plenty of time, right? Might take a week, month, years, but depending on how long I stay around a place like this, I'm sure I'll have enough time to get him to open up."

Slixvah giggles, her returning the shoulder pat with her own wing. Which is... compared to her, quite large. The ribbons softly rattle from the motion before she folds it back. "Then ya can aim a little shorter then," she hums.

"Hopefully enough ta draw inspiration! Least, fo' the Lady of Flame," she snickers. "Ya interesting yaself, wit' ya fancy hat an' neato dyes." A small 'ah' leaves her. "And I reluctantly will have ta let ya go!"

The rainbow egalrin sways slightly. "Plenty of time indeed. Ain't in no rush fo' nothin'. Pleasure ta meet ya, Reithak Seinlag. May Ceiwen and Cernan bless ya wit' clear skies, and Ceinara ignite ya passion, shug," she bows slightly before plopping herself onto Simony's picnic blanket.

"Always have to keep your goals in the scope of your own abilities, or, make them something you can work towards." Reithak laughs as they rise to their feet as Slixvah flops downwards. "Thank you kindly Slix, if we're both leaving reluctantly, that just means hopefully you'll be happy to meet me another time!" They giggle again.

"May the gods look favorably upon you Slixvah, and you never want for passion or inspiration." They reply. The large egalrin quickly crouched down, and booped the witch on the beak before they turned to jog off back to the airstation, cackling.

Slixvah bobs her head, brightly grinning. "Oh trust me hon, I'd totally be happy ta meet ya once mo'," she coos warmly. Though, she blinks, eyes going cross as the boop, then tries to get her gaze sorted as she bursts into laughter.

Her chuckles die down as Reithak becomes nothing more than a small dot on the road, and out of sight past the bend. "Intriguing woman," Slixvah hums, all by herself now.

Or, is she? A tiny, white plumed bird pops free from a fold in her robs. "Eccentric and bold. Akin to you," they state in a tinny voice. "Be wary: triumphant pride precipitates a dizzying fall."

"... Fifi what the hell are you talking about."

Fiadh returns to their slumber.

-End Scene-