Birds of another Feather

The spring air is clean and clear, with the fine rays of noon-time sunshine dappling down onto the world below. This is a day that Corey would call a blessing, for it's the exact kind of day that he'd have spent in the woods, enjoying the bounty of nature in his surveys of the land. The paladin is, as a result, in very good spirits as he walks in Alexandria. Life is something to be savored, and despite everything... He will not let the darkness of recent events cast a shadow on domesticity. Not when he's called to be the light.

And not when Wuya is riding on his shoulder.

"How're you doing, Wu-wu?" Corey asks of the raven on his shoulder, a grin crossing his face as he gives the raven a little scritch along the throat feathers. "Feeling a little better since yesterday?" He's strolling along the streets that lead to the Market District, wearing the gleaming full-plate armor of mithral that helps with making him look more like a paladin, despite the fact there's a raven on his shoulder and a rapier on his hip.

The bird glances around cagily and then rubs into the fingers that touch him so gently. "Corey?" The bird almost never calls Cor'ethil by his nickname. "Can we... Talk?" The words are cautiously given, but then the bird usually acts under the pretense of being little more than a dumb animal.

The Gnome glides along, floating a few inches from the ground, which allows her to avoid the bits of mud left behind by the prodigious spring rains in recent days. She is laden with a large (for her) basket filled with fresh fruits and vegetables, and she seems to be in a likewise happy mood.

Floating by Corey, she blinks and does a loop around the paladin, to giggle lightly at the sight of the bird riding on his shoulder. "A fine steed!", Xasany says of Corey, apparently to the bird.

Farther away from the heart of the district, more and more buildings were set aside for residential use, often by the same folks who sought to hawk their wares in the markets. It was not uncommon to see signs of day to day life giving the streets their character. Not too far off were signs of someone doing their laundry, with carpets and clothing hung far down one of the stone fences.

On further inspection, the white cloth and shaggy looking rug were in fact a large egalrin that was sprawled over the stonework, wings draped over either side. The inquisitor lifts their beak, no longer hidden by the large hat on their head, and Reithak gives a lazy wave of one wing in the passersby’s direction.

Another being with avian rider appears. This one a Tsuran woman with a peacock on her shoulder, its tail of feathers draped down her back as as second cloak.

The recent rains that bring muddy streets do not seem to bother her much. Her slippers pulling free from the earth easily and stay both on her feet and clean.

She smiles to those she passes by. Giving an extra wave to a young boy who points at the colorful bird. "You see that, Emp? You have another admirer!" The bird lets out a haunting cry and shifts it's feathers.

Corey smiles pleasantly at Wuya with the bird's request for talking. "Of course we can," he says. "You know we're friends, right? Or at least, _I_ think we're friends." The paladin of Gilead's smile has a more bashful note now. "You can talk to me about anything."

Then there's a gnome floating a few inches off the ground commenting at Wuya, and Corey flushes a little. "Oh, I'm just doing as I should," he says, chuckling in embarrassment. "Poor Wuya here had a rough day yesterday, so I'm spoiling him. How are you?" So goes the casual conversationalist--or at least, one trying to improve.

Reithak gets a little wave and a smile, too. "And someone I recognize! Hello and good noon," Corey greets, before he looks at the Tsuran lady passing by with a peacock on her shoulder. "Lovely bird," he comments. "It is a blessed day of Gilead, that is for certain." After all, the day is lovely, and there are people about who seems pleasant and friendly. What's not to like?

Wuya - the raven - looks at Xasany in blank confusion, and then does a little uncomfortable shuffle toward Corey's face and croaks. Nothing to see here. Just an ordinary raven.

Xasany smiles brightly at Corey, and giggles a little at his embarrassment. "I am well, thank you. How are you faring? I am galled Xasany, but you may call me Xas is you wish. A nice familiar you have there. Mine is also a bird, a wee grey owl. Who right now is slumbering in the Inn's attic, sleeping off a nice of feasting on mice.", the Gnome says in Sildanyari. She wobbles a little in the air, and glances down at her feet. "Oh right!" A blink, and her boots make a little sound as she drops to the ground. /Then/ she offers a curtsey to the Llyranesi.

"A fine bird indeed!"

A curt look is given to the Egalrin, the Gnome's head canting slightly. "You may wish to find some shade to sleep off the night's drinking, you'll get sunburnt." She gasps then, and steps over to Sabina, to gawk at the peacock on her shoulder. "Goodness, where did you find this one? The Jade Isles?"

"Goodness, almost feels like I'm back at the aerie with so many birds!" The egalrin laughs, managing to pull herself to a sitting position with a somewhat impressive stretch that manages to blot out a good portion of the sun at their full wingspan, before flapping back to a resting position. "Glad to see you're still out and about, how the cutie that was with you the other day is in similar spirits." They greet. "That is a cool bird ya got there too! Wish I was that colorful." They point out with another laugh. "Nah, I'm not sleeping of any drinks, just taking a rest. Sides, don't get burnt in the sun like most of you folk do! I can stay out and enjoy the sun as much as I please."

Sabina pauses and turns to face all the speakers in turn, her smile widening. Then her hands reach up to eaither side of the peacock's head as if to cover it's ears that aren't there. "Shhh.. not so loud. You'll give Emp an even bigger head then he already has." Her reward for her actions is to be pecked repeatedly on her hands and then once on her head. She chuckles and takes this abuse in stride. "Thank you for you kind words, each one of you. Emp may have come from the Jade isles to start but he I found him in the head priest's collection of birds. And it was he who answered my open call for a familiar at the time. Much to the head priest's dismay." She chuckles again, "I see we are all birds of a feather today."

Corey smiles brightly at Xasany's Sildanyari. "I greatly appreciate your words; your Sildanyari is quite good," he replies in his mother tongue. He has all the effortless cadence of a man who's spoken the tongue since he was very young. But he quickly switches back to Tradespeak. "It's nice to meet you. I'm afraid this isn't my familiar; he's just a friend."

His silver eyes go onto Wuya and he gives the bird a little look of concern. He leans in and murmurs to what passes for an ear in on the raven's head, before he smiles brightly at the small crowd. "Well, you know what they say about birds and feathers and flocks," he says.

And then he has a think on it. His brows furrow. "No, that's not how it translates," he says. "What's the phrase again?" This is going to bother him all day.

The raven whistles in a non-committal way and bobs his head. Looking cheerful but perhaps a bit dumb. He ruffles his feathers and whistles again in the same manner as before. He might be talking, but it's all raven.

"The hidden village I was born in is relatively close to a Sil settlement, so we Gnomes there are quite conversant in Sildanyari." Xasany smiles brightly as she returns to standing in front of Corey. "You are most polite and complimentary." She eyes Wuya, her head canting to once side. "Ah, I see, just a friendly neighborhood bird. Do you feed him? I've got a few pomegranates here in my basket, would you like one? Birds tend to love these."

The Gnome sets the basket down to rummage in it, pausing to smile at Sabina. "Birds of a feather, flock together!"

A wink is offered Corey's way, before the green-haired woman looks to Reithak. "Oh. My apologies!"

"Birds of a feather flock together, that's it!" Reithak nods slowly, taking stock of the situation and scratching at the side of their head pulling a pair of squared goggles off of their forehead beneath the hat down over their eyes. "No hard feelings, don't worry about it. If I'm going out for a night of excess drinking and partying, I'd never want to darken someone's fence afterwards." The egalrin laughs. "I thought peacocks were more ground birds, surprised to see one perched like that. That beak looks like it hurts, though."

Sabina chuckles and nods to the dark feathered one. "Oh his beak hurts. Yes it does. He is reminding me that I am his familiar and not the other way around. Emp is short for Emperor, which is what he claims to be. He's even tried to square off against a griffon. That..was almost a disaster." She says this last bit fondly, strangely enough. To the gnome woman she grins wide and nods. "Indeed. Birds of a feather." Then taking in Corey as well, "And speaking of flocking I was just on my way to the TarRaCe to visit my friend. That and get a bath. It's been over six months at least. Er..since I've seen my friend. The bath was more recent."

GAME: Corey rolls Sense Motive: (14)+18: 32

Corey grins. "I was raised a certain way," he says. "After all, I am my mother's only son--I must make her proud wherever I go. And while I am far from home, I am reminded that the wind carries my reputation." Then he blinks. "And I've been very rude and not introduced myself, so there's that."

He puts a hand to his armored chest in a respectful manner. "I am called Cor'ethil Cari'thana, or Corey for short. I am a Warden of Gilead hailing from Llyranost, ancestral home of the sildanyari in the Greatwoods. I'm here to learn more about the world beyond the woods, however." Here he's grinning again. "And I've just learned that peacocks can be familiars, _and_ they can be shoulder birds. The world never ceases to amaze!"

The dawn elf chuckles a little. "He's not a neighborhood bird," he explains regarding Wuya on his shoulder. "Somewhat implies he's a freewheeling agent, no? He's a friend's bird. Let's see... Wuya, would you like a pomegranate?" He looks expectantly at the raven on his shoulder.

Wuya gives Corey a long look and then gives a little short chirp that is followed by a leftward tilt of the head. If Wuya is actually a terribly smart bird he puts up a good 'dumb' act. His head tilts to the right and he chirps again. Same sound as before. If only another raven were around to understand him surely…

"Well, he certainly has the regal colors one would expect from an emperor.", Xas offers with a grin, and shortly afterwards, she curtsey's again in Emp's direction. "One doesn't often run into a royal bird." The Gnome gently underhands a pomegranate Cory's way. "Catch!" Laughing, she nods to Corey. "So rude, making us wait for your name." She laughs and shakes her head. "Well met, Cor'ethli Cari'thana, Corey for short. You've certainly come to the right place to learn about the world. A whole bunch of it comes through the port here, the markets nearby will give you a taste of it too. Literally."

A bright orange fruit is pulled from the basket, bounced off the inside of her elbow and snagged with a hand. "Such a wide array of foods from afar." Xasany begins to methodically peel the orange.

"Ah, I get it. Only child too, so I know you got the weight of their expectations solely on you." The egalrin sighs, doffing their hat and setting it in their lap. "On the bright side, usually means you've got the majority of their love, care and support on ya too, so it counteracts a fair deal."

"You're right! It's really rare to run into a bird that's particularly noteworthy in bird society." Reithak laughs loudly. "I like pomegranates and people giving me them, maybe you could toss one my way?"

Sabina giggles at all the banter from the very different trio of persons. "This is why I came back. Yes indeed." She says mostly to herself. "I hope to see you all again. Oh.. introductions.. as I'm leaving. So rude of me. I'm Sabina." She laughs and then disappears from sight with only chuckles fading off as she moves away unseen.

Corey catches the pomegranate, but he puts it away into a pouch on his belt. For the moment, it seems, Wuya is not getting the fruit. "It's been quite the place so far," he says. "I've enjoyed my time here."

He looks and... Sabina's gone! Right after introducing herself. He blinks and murmurs, "Odd way to exit a conversation, but I've had worse." A little smirk plays across his lips as he seems to remember something. Then he looks at Reithak.

"Actually, I'm not an only child," he says. "I have two sisters. One's my twin, and the other's the eldest who'll inherit everything. But... I love my family a lot, and my mother's a wonderful person who's done so much for me and my siblings." His eyes and voice turn soft and affectionate. "Since I'm the only son, I've kind of taken it on myself to be someone she'd be proud of." Almost absent-mindedly, he pets Wuya. Lots of nice feathers to pet under that throat!

Wuya seems quite satisfied with the petting, responding with a pleased purring. One may be unaware that ravens can purr, but they can. It is not unalike that of a cat, but born from a bird instead. Wuya shutters his eyes halfway.

The Gnome waves excitedly to the retreating Sabina, "Hope to see you around, nice meeting you!"

"I wouldn't know what bird is or isn't noteworthy, only which ones are colourful and which are not.", Xas says to Reithak. "I know what I like, at least." Smiling to Corey then, "Well, I am sure she knows that she has a well mannered, good thinking son, and you already make her proud."

She pauses to laugh at the purring and seemingly sleeping bird. "Purrs just like a cat, I see." She rubs at a cheek. "I am an only child, sadly the world went a little uhm... screwy a short time after I was born, and my parents never had the courage to build a bigger family. But I've always found it easy to make family as I go along in life. Stronger bonds are made than inherited."

"Well, now that introductions are out of the way, name's Reithak! Nice to meet you!, and goodbye! Enjoy the batths, I know I always do." Reithak laughs, waving one person away. "Guess I don't really get it in that case then! But that's alright, everyone's different, don't gotta be equal to empathize with something. World would be a real boring place if everyone was exactly the same after all."

If an egalrin could pout however, Reithak likely would be, instead they settle for huffing loudly. "If I spent any more time on being colorful, I'd never get any work done. Wish it was easy for me to just be bright red with no effort involved."

Corey laughs a little. "Wuya's a sweetheart," he says. "I've never had cats, so I don't know, but I like Wuya the way he is." That gets the raven a pointed little look of mirth from the tall sildanyar man. "It seems the world at large is going through strange and interesting times. The Archmage Lupecyll-Atlon appears to be organizing mage-hunting efforts, to recapture the arcanists that left the dungeons. And more beyond that."

He smiles brightly. "But that's the nice thing about the world. There's darkness, yes, but there's so much light. There's chaos, but there's order, too. I'm just honored I get to spend every day as a Warden to do my duty in that part."

The paladin eyes Wuya again. "Now, I'm beginning to think I ought to take this friendly little fellow to the market proper to buy some things. What do you lot think I ought to buy him? Something colorful? Shiny, maybe?" There's a little laugh threatening to leave him, like a private little joke.

Wuya makes a reserved but hopeful noise then hops on Corey's shoulder. This is a bit of warning before Wuya flaps down to the pocket with the pomegranate and gives it a little nudge. He can't actually get the pomegranate out without hands but he gives an extra flap to land again on Cor'ehtil's shoulder and looks at Reithak pointedly.

The Gnome smiles at Reithak, "Aww, you're fine just the way you are. You can't help the coloration you're born with. But you can choose your own accents and clothing, right? You look pretty as is!"

Xasany glances back to Corey. "Well, it depends on what he likes. I am sure there are plenty of nuts available from elsewhere that you could buy a basket of. Should be able to find peanuts, I would think. And many other kinds besides. Or perhaps he's a seed bird?'

"Ah, yeah, things are certainly awkward at times, just trying to make the best of things." The egalrin shrugs, resting their hands in their lap and letting their feet kick off the stonework. "Maybe it's not the best, but hey, just cause times are tough, well that just means you need to work even harder to keep spirits up. It's when folks rise to the occasion, after all."

"Aw, thanks there, you look nice yourself. Love the hair color, is it natural or do you dye it?" She asks before turning her attention back to Corey and the raven, tilting her head to one side. "Hey there, something I can do for you? Maybe he'd like something soft to nest in, or something shiny to hang on to? Hard to say really."

Corey laughs loudly with Wuya's little stunt. "He's a troublemaker bird, is what he is," he says, before taking the pomegranate out of the pocket that Wuya had nudged at. "I think that _he_ thinks that if you're looking for color... You can't go wrong with a fruit that'll dye most fingers, feathers, and clothes red." He holds it out for Reithak to take. "Call it a hunch. Ravens are kind of funny like that."

He smiles brightly again. "Now, he's not my bird--he's a friend's bird--but maybe I can convince my nightingale to allow _his_ bird some kind of treat. Something shiny might do. Ravens do rather like their shiny trinkets. Although when I was at the Temple of Vardama, I was told there's a white one that eats snacks? Belongs to the Archmage's wife? Something like that."

Wuya seems quite satisfied with himself at this point. At least Corey understands. That's what's important. He preens himself a bit proudly. He peers keenly at those gathered and then lifts a wing to aid in his self-care actions.

"Aw, but he's adorable, so I don't think I would mind so much if he were my troublemaking bird. Ellington, my familiar, is a very reserved bird, which suits an owl I think. He's hardly any trouble, though sometimes he carries on at night when I am trying to sleep. Always wants to show off his kills for the night. A good mouser, he is..", the Gnome says in reply to Corey. She laughs at he mention of pomegranates staining things red. "Not to mention your teeth! Found that out the hard way the first time around. My mother laughed and laughed at my naivety."

Xas' cheeks colour lightly and she nods to Reithak. "Yes, it is my natural hair colour." She gestures to her eyebrows. "I have tried dying my hair once, and never again. It is such a pain in the behind, I was so flustered from that I couldn't bring myself to dye my eyebrows. Since then, I just leave it, and just work on keeping it tamed as best as possible."

"Well, who am I to argue if that's the conclusion that has been reached?" Reithak asks, taking the pomegranate and dipping her head once. "Thank you kindly Wuya and Corey, and Xasany, by extension. You're real lucky you know, having a natural hair color like that. I couldn't see myself getting tired of it."

The large egalrin cracks open the the fruit with one claw and tears out a wedge, exposing the ruby red seeds inside in one portion held back out to the raven, the other larger portion taken in the inquisitors beak as she fishes around in a bag. "S'only fair t'give ya something in return." She mumbles through her beak, pulling out two brightly colored red and purple kerchiefs. "One for you Corey, and one for Xasany since it's her fruit. Appreciate it!"

The paladin is clearly humbled by being offered anything, but Corey smiles brightly. "I appreciate your generosity," he says, taking the red kerchief. However, there's a little hint of mirth in his silver eyes as he looks at Wuya.

"Hold still~"

Corey gets to tying the kerchief around Wuya, making him look a little like he has a cape now. He seems immensely pleased with himself for the result. "There," he says. "Now, he's a red raven, and he looks fetching."

Here he offers a small wave to the group. "And now that he's dressed to go to market... I think I ought to take him there. It was nice to meet you, Xasany, and it was nice to meet you again, Reithak."

Wuya wears his new red cape with pride, his head held high and his little wings twitching eagerly. He does indeed look quite fetching. CAW! There's a short pleased noise from Wuya toward Reithak and he shifts his tail feathers in approval. He's ready to go!

"Oh, so soon? Well, take care, Corey, it was nice meeting you, as well as Wuya. Please compliment your friend on his nice raven!" Xasany offers the Sil an enthusiastic wave. "Hopefully we'll run into each other again!"

She blinks at the purple handkerchief and smiles. "Thanks, Reithak!" The Gnome makes to tie it around her head.

Reithak shrugs, and takes a bite out of the inside of the fruit, and giving the two a thumbs up. "Aw, doesn't that just look great? Like a famous knight of a grand heroic story!" The inquisitor laughs. "Nice to see you too, take care! And you too, Xasany!" she adds, waving to the two before they're off, flopping back down onto the wall to enjoy their snack, as birds in the city were wont to do.

-End