freak show [Kat!]

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M'rao was freezing. Bundled up in her warmest clothes, and with a fuzzy scarf wrapped tightly around her neck, she still managed to shiver. Despite that, she was enjoying her walk in the gardens. The stark forms of the leafless trees stabbing into the sky made her smile a little at their morbid beauty. To all appearances they were dead (though they'd bloom again come spring), and it was this that made the greenrider happy. Beside her, Seiliph snorted and shook her head. You're a freak, Mine, she commented with dry affection, and the winglet reached out to stroke the soft green feathers on her simourv's back. "That I am," she agreed wholeheartedly, and let her arm remain draped over her bonded's shoulders. Seiliph didn't object, and even leaned lightly against Hers as they walked, flicking her tail idly behind her. Together they made quite the sight: M'rao, wearing a warm, padded linen jacket and pea green scarf (to match Seiliph), and then of course the green simourv herself.

Considering what her bonded had said, the redhead walked along in thoughtful silence for a while. It was snowing lightly, but the black and brown striped toque on her head was keeping it mostly off her. Watching the flakes come down and land soundlessly on the earth and the trees, she smiled slightly, the ice cold smile she always used. "Isn't there something beautiful about the death of the world, Seiliph?" she finally asked, walking beneath the bare branches of an apple tree. Next to her, the simourv flicked her ears back, and turned her head to look at Hers flatly. Sort of, she reluctantly agreed, and then slapped the ground with her tail, moving on and adding, but it'd be a lot prettier if there were a dead animal or two lying around. At least those are edible, unlike the stupid trees. Why can't trees be edible, M'rao? It's completely ridiculous. Looking up in irritation at the trees in question, Seiliph hissed and then began to walk faster, her slender frame powering along the path.

Breaking into a jog to keep up, the human smiled again and shook her head, passing her simourv and glancing back over her shoulder to look at her. If you want a dead animal, she pointed out, you'll have to go to the feeding pens. Trees really don't make very good corpses, at least if you want blood. Hearing the green behind her pick up her pace, the girl bent down and gathered up a ball of snow, then turned and smacked it between Seiliph's eyes with perfect aim. Screaming in sudden rage, the green lunged for Hers, intending to tackle her, but M'rao danced fleetly out of the way, and struck a low curtsy, grinning maliciously. "Catch me if you can," she challenged, and whirled around to dart down the path. Even in her boots she was an excellent runner, and she soon had her green well outpaced. Simourvs were built to fly, not run, so it was a few minutes before the green caught up. When she did, she was practically steaming with irritation. Not funny! she snapped, and heaved herself forward in a last-ditch effort to catch Hers. She succeeded, and the pair of them crashed into a snowbank with a muffled thump. Mildly dazed, M'rao coughed and pushed her simourv off, then adjusted her toque and scarf, and shook her head slightly. "Ow," she muttered, much to Seiliph's amusement. The green chirped, pleased, and got off of Hers, puling her out of the snow by her shirt. Don't annoy me, Mine, she ordered dramatically, and the redhead lifted a brow. "I'll annoy you if I want to," she retorted, but then they were at peace, and walking once more down the garden path, leaving a demolished snowbank in their wake. Of course, now they were both covered in snow.

[Kat]

Morgana loves her cold weather clothing. Her cloak was a fabulous edition to her over all appearance, mysterious, vibrant, and utterly posh. Morgana loved it perhaps, more than any other item in her possession. It was a thick crimson velvet, and the lining was a deep purple silk, painted with a large, floral print. Overall, the cloak was lovely, bright, and absolutely defined as an item of Morgana’s. She wrapped it around her shoulders, tugging the edges closer together, and she held the lapels of the cloak with one of her gloved hands. Her gloves were pretty, too, soft leather dyed a dark shade of blue and printed with small stars. When she had been given them by her father last winter, Morgana had thought that the gloves were too subtle, that the little star imprints needed to be painted in a gold or silver color, but the more time Morgan spent with them, the more she appreciated the way that they were just interesting enough to provide her with some visual excitement, but not overwhelming. She could wear them, for example, with her cloak, which would otherwise clash with brighter prints. Morgana’s head was covered by her hood, which obscured half of her face, and kept her neck and head warm. She sometimes wore a scarf with the cloak, but currently, she allowed her hair to act as a second layer of isolation. She had lovely hair, and it was thick and textured, which meant that it worked fine as a warming agent.

And dressed as she was, with her legs incased in a pair of silk stockings, red, and her body covered by a cream-colored dress with long sleeves and a full skirt, Morgana was rather warm despite the cold weather. The Eyrie was much colder than Sayaie had been, but Morgana had very warm winter garments, from when she had to travel between Sayaie and Chydyn in the winter. Zephyrus had ensured that his daughter could remain warm in the winter when they were between the walled cities. Morgana wondered if Itnala was cold in the winter. It did not have a wall to protect it from the wind, nor did it have the trees that cloaked Chydyn. Morgana wished she knew the climate in Itnala, as that was where she planned to head when she left this Eyrie, and she would like to know what to expect. While she had the proper clothing for traveling, she might not have any clothing for any colder climates.

As Morgana walked through the gardens, which she decided to use to clear her thoughts, Morgana spotted another girl she did not know and a green simourv. The green was much smaller than the other simourvs she had seen. It looked awfully young and little. Maybe it was one of the newly hatched chicks from Eceph’s clutch that Morgana kept hearing about. The chicks were constantly mentioned by Amira, who seemed to know many of them by name, Othokenph, T’gan’s blue, Dionyph, Eoreph, Amira knew many of them. So, Morgana knew of them, even if she did not know them herself, and this simourv did not look nearly as large as K’ean’s red, which, to Morgana, meant that she must be a young chick. The hatchling was rather bland. Morgana thought that the other greens she had seen were more colorful. Morgana wondered how much variation could exist in the definitions of the colors. This green was almost yellow. Morgana knew that she stared at the snow-covered girl and her snow-covered hatchling, but Morgana did not care. Let the girl think she was standing, because Morgana was. With the hatching approaching, Morgana was becoming more and more interested in who the simourvs picked. What made a person worthy? A part of Morgana longed to stay at the Eyrie to find out if she was fit enough. And even though she knew she was going to leave, Morgana wanted to know who was fit, because she wanted to see Amira and Embry paired off. They were her friends, and they deserved to be selected if they wanted it.

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Not in the least perturbed to have lumps of snow sitting on her shoulders and on top of her head, M'rao did have the decency to brush some of it off her green. Flicking bits of snow off Seiliph's neck and back, she stroked the feathers lovingly, struck once again by how much she loved this creature. All her life she'd been aiming towards being important and fascinating, and now, because she had a simourv, she really was. Lies didn't need to glorify her now; she just told them because it was fun. And the moody green, with her vicious tendencies and short fuse, almost felt like a second brain for M'rao. Amazing, she mused, how one green simourv - the smallest one, even! - can make you feel like this. Too bad people aren't as engaging. Leaning lightly on Seiliph (who leaned contently back against her), the winglet began to sing softly for both of them. It was, of course, a song about winter, and it made her simourv's ears flick back to listen. There was no comment from the green but she apparently liked it, for she hissed when a distraction appeared.

Distracting it most certainly was. Standing in the middle of the path ahead of them was some girl neither of them knew. She didn't have a simourv, which made Seiliph vindictively happy, but she appeared to be rather interested in the greenpair, judging by her frank staring. M'rao wasn't bothered by this - she picked up her head a little and shook the snow off her head at the attention - but the green was not so happy to be noticed. Stopping, she raised her unfledged wings and released a long, low growl, feathers bristling. Pausing as her simourv did, the redhead lifted a brow slightly. Seiliph, it's fine. Let's go have a little fun with her, shall we?

If you insist. Ruffling her feathers in annoyance, the green began moving again, and soon the wingletpair was standing relatively close to the stranger. Not at all bothered by this apparition, the human half of the partnership tilted her head slightly, grey eyes calmly curious, and let her lips twitch upward in a cool smile. "Admiring my green?" she inquired cheerfully, adopting one of her favourite personae. Today she felt like being the mellow but cheerful M'rao, one that thrived on praise and was gloriously selfish. Not that she wasn't anyway, she reflected, but that wasn't the point. This girl wasn't likely to know that she was being duped, and that made it much more fun. Reaching out with one hand, the redhead rubbed Seiliph's ears soothingly, feeling her bristle at having to be so close to this stupid human. Humans were stupid: she'd chosen M'rao because she was brilliant. All of the other candidates had been fools and she didn't like fools. Worthless, they were! Hers was intelligent and a skilled manipulator. Any other kind of human was just stupid. Of course, egotistical M'rao completely agreed with her. But, unlike her simourv, she believed that it was entirely worthwhile to mess with peoples' heads. And that was exactly what she planned to do today.

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