the beast into a man. [Killy!]

[Cy]

[/I]. Neglecting the bowl of meat and nut mash that the farmer had prepared for him, his warm brown eyes observed Ze’el as he worked to mend the break that he’d discovered in the fence that surrounded the small herd of sheep grazing in the farthest corner of the established paddock. Heavy hands worked and manipulated crooked nails out of wood, using available tools to aid in the process. His movements were experienced, but harsh and they jerked, much in the way they did when he was angry – and yet he wasn’t. He simply was, tossing aside the freed half and working on the other. As Dareph watched, it steadily became clear that this was simply how his Ze’el moved. It wasn’t especially graceful or smooth, but it was effective and strong. It was purpose.

‘Mine.’ The man didn’t respond or even glance the red’s way, instead continuing uninterrupted in his series of actions as he dropped useless nails to the ground, but Dareph was not deterred. He could feel His listening. ‘I believe fixing the fences is a chore for the candidates,’ he stated with a curious tilt of his head. This time, Ze’el looked over his shoulder to the simourv that lay upon the ground with a meal sitting ignored in front of him. The glance was fleeting though, as glances often are, and the Sayaie native was soon looking away as he tossed the other half of the board towards the first half. He seemed to find the resulting noise of the two halves clapping together to be answer enough as he continued on about his task. Unoffended, and yet still confused, the red finally stopped watching the actions of the farmer to dip his head and return to his bowl, snapping up pieces of meat in his strengthening beak and licking up nut mash.

In the meantime, Ze’el continued about the task without pause, picking up the fresh board and placing it against the posts to fill up the space that he’d just cleared up for it. He missed work like this. Hard work that demanded strength and effort, work that caused aches in the joints and captured his attention without requiring too much thought at all. He missed the menial tasks of the life he’d left behind and in a strange way that he wouldn’t have expected he missed home. He missed the farm that he’d managed on his own for a whole year and alongside his father for nearly a decade longer. There’d be some other lad working the fields in his place as Zelig was still nursing his injured ankle, but the winglet tried not to think about that. Instead, he thought about the taste of metal as he held three long nails between his teeth and leaned against the board to both test its sturdiness and hold it in place.

He loved Dareph, he truly did – and for the first few weeks, taking care of him had been enough. Keeping him groomed and satisfying his hunger around every turn had been enough of a chore to keep him calm. He’d enjoyed it, he was good at it, and the red hatchling was a consistent source of praise and companionship. As confusing and unsettling as it had been in the beginning, he’d come to genuinely savor the feeling of making someone proud. It wasn’t a feeling that had come to him often in his life. However, back at home, he’d taken care of a menagerie of animals in the same way that he took care of Dareph. There’d been horses and cows and sheep and pigs and chickens – it had been a farm, prosperous and well stocked. He’d taken care of them and still balanced a number of other chores. His days had been filled with back-breaking work from sunrise to sunset and so the task of simply caring to one animal’s needs inevitably left him feeling restless with seemingly so much free time on his hands. So he found things to do, regardless of whether it was his responsibility as an Alpha class winglet or not. And that definitely included mending fences.

Freeing up a hand to pluck a nail from between his lips, he shifted his weight to use his hip and thigh to better support the plank against the twin posts. Holding it between thumb and forefinger, he propped the tip of the nail in the proper place and touched the hammer gently against the head, fixing his aim with a few false strokes before moving to carefully and firmly tap the nail into the wood until it was able to be able in place without his help. And then he moved his hand aside, holding the board, and he pulled his arm further back to deliver swifter and heavier swings, pounding the metal length through the board and into the post with seemingly little effort. [/ul][/size]

[Kilnarak]

Today was a slow day. Since his move to the winglets' quarters, N'raan had often found his time spent in seeing to Teimoph and arranging the room in such a manner that pleased him. This latter goal would remain unachievable for some time yet - he didn't own much beyond a few trinkets, his clothing, and the furniture provided with the room. He could only spend so much time moving furniture before he tired of it, and while Teimoph refused to leave his side for long, the young red hardly required constant care - he had hatched fully able and willing to stand on his own, and seemed inclined to believe that it was His who needed to be looked after.

Thus, N'raan's dilemma today was a common one that fell upon him most days - he was bored. He couldn't go out and hunt - Teimoph refused to leave his side, and the Eyrie's guards similarly refused to allow a hatchling to leave the canyons - and while he could seek out Kenii and pester the boy, he had been doing his best to stay away from his brother lately. The boy's simourv seemed to dislike him - and while he was damned if he'd let that stand in his way, he felt it was best perhaps to let the other seek him out. Kenii would come to see him eventually, it was inevitable, he merely had to wait. While he could resume his game of playing the ghost, sneaking about the grounds and the rooms of his peers and poking through their belongings, this was only truly a viable source of entertainment when Teimoph was asleep - the red insisted upon going with him and wasn't a particularly subtle creature, unsuited to skulking about in the shadows.

Of course, boredom was a problem solved easily enough - usually it would solve itself as soon as someone or something interesting caught his attention. The dark-skinned winglet and his broad-shouldered red meandered through the halls of the Eyrie - Teimoph leading with his head held high and his small black-banded wings folded tightly to his back, and N'raan falling into a languid stride behind, his gaze constantly searching for anything of interest. He was dressed fairly plainly today in a black tunic and trousers, and soft boots that made little noise when he walked; and he had bound his hair back into a loose tail at the nape of his neck, leaving only his long bangs and his braid to fall about his face.

The red-pair continued their circuitous wandering for some time, making their way down from their own room to the ground-floor of the canyon. Their progress through the merchants quarters, replete with stalls being set up to sell their wares, was slow - N'raan stopped now and then to glance at wares or chat with their owners; nothing really held his interest, however. Teimoph called for a halt only once, to gaze thoughtfully at a piece of jewelry on display at one stall - he had seen that a handful of the older simourv wore such bangles, and a part of him wanted one as well. However the objects on display were much to small for him, and he only urged His to move on again.

They are all too small. They should be made bigger, the young red growled softly as they left that section of the canyon. While he already afforded a clear space in which to walk, Teimoph's growling only earned him a wider berth. Behind him, N'raan only laughed softly, testing his growing knowledge of mental communication: We'll find something nice for you. The red's ears flicked back - not in irritation, however, but instead inquisitive. Perhaps His meant to ask Canph's where he had acquired the larger red's bangle? While he wanted something similar, he could not approve of this idea - he did not care particularly much for Canph's. N'raan didn't offer any further input on his idea, however, and eventually Teimoph chose to change the subject.

I am growing hungry, the red announced none-to-subtly as they neared the side-path branching off toward the feeding pens. Teimoph adjusted their course, leading on and leaving N'raan with little course other than to follow - even if His made a face at the 'suggestion.' "Again, Tei? Y' ate this mornin' t'... Y' gon' make m' butcher 'nother cow fer y'?" Teimoph flicked his ears back at the complaint, clacking his beak. Not a cow. Maybe a chicken. I am not so hungry...[/color] The red's internal voice trailed off somewhat abruptly as his large ears pricked forward. There was a sound ahead, a pounding noise. It wasn't long before N'raan heard it as well - apparently someone was working in the pens now, perhaps they might be interesting?

As the two came into sight of the source of the noise - another red hatchling and his bonded - they slowed to a halt. Teimoph continued a few paces past His, his manner serious and intent, if also slightly suspicious. The young red's attention was focused solely on his sibling, however, and he hardly spared a glance for the young man mending fences. He hadn't expected another of his siblings to be here as it was late enough in the day that the normal breakfast time was past, however his suspicion faded as he realized that Dareph was also eating. Apparently his brother had harbored similar ideas of taking a snack. Teimoph padded another pace forward, crowing hoarsely at the other simourv by means of greeting. Dareph.

For his part, N'raan's attention had fallen first upon the other red - he was larger than Teimoph, although not by all that much and he wasn't quite as broad. But the simourv didn't hold his attention particularly long, and soon enough his eyes flickered away from the bird and instead focused upon rugged young man hammering away at the fence. Unlike his simourv, he didn't feel particularly inclined to offer a greeting - rather, for the moment he simply enjoyed the view. He was certainly the most interesting thing N'raan had seen yet today - attractive enough with the strength that was obvious as he pounded the nail into the fence-board. The blonde boy loosed a low whistle to announce himself as the dark-haired youth finished with that nail. "Well ain' tha' impressive?" he purred from where he had come to a halt, leaning against a corral for livestock.

[Cy]

[/I][/color] he crooned with a small respectful dip of his head, but his gaze remained focused up on his brother. There was business to attend here, business that he found it solely his responsibility to handle.

Ze’el, meanwhile, remained oblivious. If he caught on to any shift in the mental presence of Dareph in his head, he ignored it as efficiently as he ignored the rest of the world, busy pounding the nail through a thick slab of wood. Once it was embedded to the point that it could be ground no further into the post, he relented in his hammering, moving his hand to stroke a thumb over the space where the metal circle stood out among the wood that surrounded it. One down, five more to go.

The whistle caught on his ears, but it caused him no alarm. It might have if he were better able to tell the difference between the whistle of a bird and the appraising whistle of another human, but he wasn’t and he carelessly assumed the noise was Dareph. And if Dareph truly needed his attention for anything right at that moment, the simourv had better ways to speak to him than through whistles and clicks. So it was truly a surprise when a voice sounded out, unfamiliar and unexpected; a jolt to the system and he whipped his head around quickly to focus on the stranger. He said nothing to the words used as an announcement. In fact, he didn’t really acknowledge them at all outside of looking to the boy due to them. His eyes assessed the other male with a quick glance over him, sizing him up and absorbing necessary details, as his hand rose up to carefully pluck a second nail from between his lips. Then, with just about nothing more to offer, he turned away again to set the nail up where it would go and proceeded to once more continue with the process of hammering the metal piece through the plank and into the post.[/ul][/size]

[Kilnarak]

Teimoph straightened as he waited for Dareph to look up from his meal, holding his head high and striking an almost comically regal pose. He hungered, but he would wait until Dareph acknowledged his greeting - and then once that pleasantry was over and done with, he would have His find him something suitable to eat. Perhaps a goat, rather than poultry; something larger, but not so large as a cow, and sturdier with fewer fine bones to worry about. A goat would certainly be best, even if it meant that His must spend more time gutting and cleaning the carcass.

The young red's ears flicked back as Dareph acknowledged him, his gaze refocusing on his brother after being distracted by visions of delicious red meat. Dareph had been wanting to see him? What reason could he have? Teimoph inclined his head slightly, offering up another hoarse caw. Did you have something to say, Dareph? His eyes narrowed a bit as they sized Dareph up, still holding to that hint of suspicion. Be quick. I am hungry.

Mine, I would like a goat. Teimoph's voice rang in N'raan's head, insistent and commanding. The dark-skinned boy cast a glance aside to the red, wrinkling his nose slightly. For all that he had come here for just that purpose, he didn't particularly like being ordered around. Thus, N'raan did not immediately move to see to his red's command, instead offering the demanding hatchling a sense of annoyance and resistance as he remained leaning upon the animal pen.

It was near solely that sense of stubbornness that stayed him. While the man working still made a lovely view, his lack of any sort of response at all displeased N'raan. That was boring, the least he could do was say hello. Or perhaps get offended, that might prove entertaining. "Ain' y' gonna say anythin', pretty-boy? Or are y' mute? Mayb' y' can't say nothin' 't all, hmm?" His lips curled into something of a sneer, and he leaned a bit more heavily upon his seat, the wooden structure creaking softly with the shift in weight. He continued speaking after a moment, ignoring the fact that the current object of his attention did not seem inclined to acknowledge him, "'r mayb' yer jus' speechless, haa?"

Teimoph risked a brief glance away from the other red, his narrowed eyes seeking out His as he returned the wave of annoyance. He wasn't particularly pleased - N'raan refused to do as he wanted, and then there was Dareph's who was being rude. The young red snorted softly, turning his attention back to his clutch-sibling. Is Yours always so silent? Teimoph's mental voice was still colored with annoyance, and to the side N'raan chuckled quietly - apparently amused by it.

[Cy]

[/I] in such a manner. He should have known that one who could argue in front of their gray sister would bear little mind for who they confronted elsewhere, but still. Perhaps he’d allowed Dionyph’s pleasant cooperation to dull him more than they should have. After all, he’d approached the black with expectations of more of a fight than he’d gotten and he’d greeted Teimoph without them. He was most backwards, it would seem. ‘I wanted to talk to you about your altercation with our brother Dionyph at our hatching, in front of Laraph. I would like to hear what you have to say about it.’ He presented with no further pause, watching the other male with a steady gaze as he picked his head up higher, straight to business as directed.

The sound of the hammer tapping against the nail was a comforting sound, but the repetitive tick of it was ruined by the fact that it did nothing to drown out the boy as he continued to speak despite the blatant dismissal. Fingertips poised along the length of the nail, he paused in his tapping at the name offered to him – ‘pretty-boy’. His eyes narrowed down on the stretch of metal that he pinched to hold in place, tension growing in the clench of his jaw. The gears of his mind whirled and chomped around the rest of what the stranger prattled on about, outwardly theorizing what a working man’s silence could be all about. A temper sizzled and blossomed with considerably less self-control than his simourv had been able to establish. He moved to clench the plank in a strong grip to hold it in place even though, with a nail already firmly embedded, the action was no longer necessary and he readjusted the way the handle of the hammer fit in his other fist. Quietly, he turned his head towards his shoulder as if to look back to the dark-skinned boy, only his gaze fell short of accomplishing this feat, rising no higher than the boy’s shoes before he was looking back to the task at hand.

Prompted by Teimoph’s question, Dareph dared to tear his gaze away from his bright red brother to focus instead on his bonded. Finally, there was the anger that he’d expected, strong and growing. Ze’el was wound so tightly, painfully so and it hurt his head. He was humiliated and frustrated and defensive. His was always silent though. In so short a time, he knew His better than anyone possibly could. He knew the crippling insecurities, the awkward timidity and the gaping loneliness. However, it seemed wrong to explain such anxieties to a male as abrupt as Teimoph could be. ‘He is working now and he can be very focused.’ Not entirely the case for this instant, but honesty all the same. ‘Ze’el…’ The red crept cautiously into the head of his bonded, his voice gentle and yet warning. A warrior needed to keep his temper in check at all times.

Intent on ignoring the boy still further, he pursed his lips tighter about the remaining nail and pulled his arm back to smack the nail, to drive it deeply into the wood. Unfortunately, through his upset, his aim proved off and the force of the blow bent the nail far too much to be fixed. Teeth clenched about the metal still propped in his mouth, he cursed and straightened his back with jaw tight. Flipping the hammer over in one fluid motion, he jammed the claw under the bend and yanked it free with a sharp tug. Snatching it up, he turned to toss it off to where he’d abandoned the broken plank, his light eyes then lifting up to the distracting boy as he took the nail from between his lips. “I’m busy.” He stressed, voice low and clenched before he was turning back around to set the new nail to replace the second.[/ul][/size]

[Kilnarak]

Teimoph's eyes narrowed further and his ears twitched slightly as Dareph answered him, however they remained pinned back against his skull. The altercation between he and Dionyph? How did that concern Dareph? His brother didn't seem a gossip, but still it made Teimoph's feathers ruffle up in suspicion. Dionyph was disrespectful. Laraph did not deign to respond to his offense, so I was offended on her behalf, Teimoph's voice was a growl, and he shifted his stance slightly, the set of his shoulders hinting at a threat left unvoiced. Was Dareph trying to say he had been in the wrong? Was he siding with that misguided fool, Dionyph? The thought made him angry, the suspicion that his own red brother would side with that fool over him. Teimoph's claws flexed, digging furrrows into the sandy ground about the feeding pens. Would you call me wrong, Dareph?

Teimoph's growing anger spread like wildfire, the burning edge of it licking up against N'raan's mind. He flinched slightly as he noticed it, unintentionally, his mask slipping a moment as his gaze shot to the side to focus on the young red. The hint of a frown tugged at his lips, all of his amusement and attention for the other winglet discarded in an instant. ...Tei... He reached out carefully toward the hatchling's mind, intending to soothe him, only to feel Teimoph's indignant rage backlash at him across the tentative contact. He dropped contact near immediately, recoiling as if he had been burned.

N'raan pushed himself away from his seat on the fence, exhaling a quiet hissing breath between his teeth. He looked away from the hatchling, his eyes glancing briefly over the other boy a moment - back to work on his fence. As interesting as it might have been to harass him until he snapped - and from the strength he displayed with hammer and board, it might prove quite interesting - that brief taste of Teimoph's mind had soured the idea. Perhaps a spark of the simourv's anger had caught in him and begun to smolder, as when the boy finally replied, N'raan only felt annoyance. His face was a mask again, however, hinting at nothing - smooth as a statue's frozen countenance, unfeeling; no smirks, no smiles, no frowns.

"Au, 't speaks?" he barked a laugh at the other's response, "Doin' work tha' ain' even yer own, haa?" N'raan shook his head, glancing briefly back to Teimoph once more before he began to move - brushing past Ze'el, closer than was necessary, as he made his way back toward where the livestock were penned. "Ain' ev'ryone busy?" he murmured distastefully as he passed. He didn't much feel like playing this game anymore. He'd see that Teimoph was fed, and then that he was comfortably sleeping... then, perhaps, he'd find a new game. One where he wouldn't be inadvertently burned.

For his part, however, the young red had cooled slightly. He had felt His close off abruptly and withdraw, it had startled him and now it worried him. For all that he attempted, now, to more subtly reach out to His, the boy wasn't listening. It also annoyed him, but for the moment Teimoph had enough self control not to express that, not directed at His at least. His stance had shifted again, and he sat back on his haunches, lowering his head to fix his baleful gaze on Dareph. Is that all?

[Cy]

[/I][/color] He returned, unmoving and solid. These were his opinions, his judgments, and he stuck by them. He would not waver just because his sibling was so unfathomably sensitive.

Being called out on doing work that was not his own, Ze’el had half a mind to think the boy sounded like Dareph. Which was annoying. It was tolerable when Dareph was the one sounding like Dareph, but he had little patience for when others ended up doing so. Though, technically, he had little patience for a lot of things. He clenched his teeth and attempted to push it aside though, label it as nothing more than a ridiculous thought and carry on, positioning the nail in the place it would live for a hopefully long while before it would need to be pulled out again. He was, however, interrupted. It wasn’t the grumpy words that did it, those were easily ignored and blanked out entirely; it was the physical presence. It was the way that lithe frame passed by so much closer than was even necessary considering the room that they stood in and the pen that the lad was apparently going for. In a knee-jerk reaction, he straightened and shifted closer to the fence that he was working on, shoving increments of space between the two of them for the time that it took the boy to pass by. His jaw felt tight as he lowered his gaze, held his breath, then looked over to size the boy up once more. He would have groaned his annoyance if it weren’t for the attention he knew it would bring. Instead, he said nothing as he slowly released his breath and looked back down to the fence, gradually bringing himself to bend once more until he could resume his work, pounding the nail quickly into its new place.

Still watching his brother with a quiet smolder, Dareph didn’t move as the hotheaded simourv seemed to back down, cooled and ready to move on. ‘Yes, that is all.’ He answered, his tone formal and clipped. A part of him wanted to press more, to have the audacity to dismiss the other male as if he were something inferior, but he had to remember that he was not childish and Teimoph was his brother. So he bit his tongue against such unnecessary cruelties and merely answered the question, leaving it open for the male to interpret it as he wished. A cue to walk away if he wanted or an allowance to continue interacting despite his display of poor self-control mere seconds before. Dareph, somehow, did not expect the latter at all.[/ul][/size]

[Kilnarak]

Teimoph loosed a huffing breath as he regarded his brother, narrow-eyed and irritated - but at least his temper wasn't boiling over. He stared at the other red for a long few moments, then with a muted snarl turned to stride away - stiff-legged and tense. Then I will eat. He didn't offer anything more by way of response, padding briskly after his - the volatile red's head was still held high, proud, and he did not look back at Dareph for all that his brother had returned his threat posturing. He didn't feel threatened by the other red, even if his brother was a bit larger than himself - all things considered, he perhaps even felt a touch of respect for his brother, for returning his threat in kind. Of course, neither did he appreciate being called wrong - but at the very least Dareph called Dionyph wrong as well.

He had no intention of striking at Ze'el, and he didn't even look at Dareph's as he strode past the boy. A low growling did start up deep in his throat, however, like the rumbling before an earthquake - the young red didn't even seem entirely aware of the sound emitting from his throat. He still bristled, he was still angry, but that anger was directed in part at himself, and in a small part at His for closing off so abruptly. He shouldn't have reached out then, he shouldn't have touched him, he should have known better (but he didn't and he hadn't and now he was sulking).

He wouldn't admit it, really, but N'raan was sulking. The dark-skinned boy had already killed Teimoph's goat, incising quick and deep into the carotid artery in the creature's neck. The beast had died quickly enough, bleeding out onto the ground in great spurts. Once it had fully stilled, N'raan began to take the creature apart piece by piece - slicing through skin and cartilage, scraping flesh from bone onto one of the butcher's blocks set up around the area to cut into more manageable chunks. He didn't wait for the young red to arrive before he began working - usually, Teimoph would make an attempt at tearing into the carcass on his own first, and then N'raan would butcher it; the red had been growing more and more adept at the practice, although still it was difficult for him to tear off chunks of meat. N'raan didn't look up from his work as he felt his bond nearing, and he didn't speak - keeping his mind as closed as he was able ('though his mental walls were weak, he could still feel tendrils of Teimoph's own presence slipping around the cracks).

The young red paused as he reached His, regarding the boy as he worked. He still bristled, and he still growled softly; his golden eyes were focused and intent. After a long few moments, just as His was finishing carving the goat-carcass, Teimoph began to move again. He padded slowly to the boy's side and butted his head against N'raan's side. He rubbed his fluffy cheeks against His, nuzzling and showing an uncharacteristic amount of affection before he sat back and resumed simply gazing at the boy. Waiting, silent. While a number of feelings slipped through to N'raan - guilt, apology, worry, love - Teimoph did not form any of it into words.

N'raan had tensed a moment as the red came to him, holding completely still for a long moment before relaxing with a tired sigh. "Yeh, know y' didn' mean 't," he mumbled, low, and gathered the meat to feed Teimoph, chunk by bloody chunk. After a few pieces had disappeared down the red's throat, he absently began to stroke his blood-sticky fingers through the simourv's ruff, offering meat with his other hand. For the moment they ignored the presence of Ze'el and Dareph - neither of the pair could see them from where they had been left - but they would likely need to pass the two again when they chose to leave.

[ Kind of cruddy no-contact post, but. x.x Can pick up next post. At least make another comment at Ze'el. >> ]

[Cy]