Furlizard in Flight

[The Legion]

(TAKE 2, because Proboards hates my thread...)

Bell had been trying to sleep.  She was curled around her bonded's precious opalescent egg, belly pressed to its side while her limbs curled about it, both of them nestled within its basket and snuggled partly under the faded blanket that covered the egg.  Her bonded (all three parts of it) were out, as were all the other shinies that made up her funny family, so sleep should have come easily.  Nature, however, had other plans, and the rising tide of hormones within the Noon disturbed her efforts at dozing.  For her smooth-hided relatives there would have been a brightness to her hide, but being furred there were no such ready indicators.  Still, her time had come, and eventually even she could deny it no longer.

With a disgruntled hiss the furlizard dragged herself out from under the blanket, pausing a moment to ensure it covered the egg still, and launched herself out of their home into the skies over the mountain.  Tail lashing with irritation, wings flared wide, the Noon tipped her head back and voices a clarion trumpet call, beckoning forth any suitors.  The imperative to hunt before the flight woke within her, and the furred Noon stooped low over the terraced side of the mountain to snatch up a stoat-like creature.  It was the work of moments to slay it, then the furlizard mantled over her meal on a rocky outcrop, eating with a will while she waited for her suitors to arrive.

(OOC: Open to all - PC or NPC, regular firelizards or furlizards, male or female.  I'll try to post each weekend at least.  This will close to new participants next Saturday, 1/13, at 11:59pm EST.)

Victor:
PC Quake Apache -- Meow Mix

Participants:
PC Midnight Nova -- Tiberius
NPC Cyclone Gustav -- Rashmikael
PC Quake Apache -- Meow Mix

12/20 egg

[Deleted]

(PC Midnight Nova the furlizard)

There was simply too much going on in her bonded's cave for Nova to want to hang out right now. Between the stress over taking care of an egg that no one knew anything about, to the constant bickering between Tiberius and Qos, to the whers hunting down any and all remainders of peppermint candies, well. The fuzzy little midnight was rather sick of it. She didn't want peace and quiet, but that kind of chaos was grating on her right now. Lack of sleep, hormones, a bad mood...who knew. She just needed out.

And out she went, eager to explore the forest and mountainside beyond her bonded's home. It didn't take all that long for her to find something interesting. She heard the call, and closer to the area, smelled the fresh blood. And well, why not? The Midnight might be a bit on the quiet side, but there was another like her, and she was interested.

With a chirped greeting, the Midnight landed, giving the Noon plenty of space. The tip of her tail twitched in excitement as she watched and waited, eager.


(Egg 6/20)

[Deleted]

(NPC Cyclone Gustav!)

He looked like a zebra and had the grace of a gazelle with one leg, if that gazelle was also dealing with three glasses of wine and a sprained ankle.

When he heard a ladylizard call politely for other f'lizards, he screamed back like that gazebra had been stepped on by an elephant and the elephant was also screaming, but like, in a manly way.

He landed by smashing his face against the mountain until he stopped, then picked himself up in a crinkly mess of legs and tail and face and wings and creaked mouthsounds at them in greeting.

Gustav was here!

[Deleted]

(PC Quake Apache)

Apache was the oldest firelizard in Mixie's household (by multiple minutes), and the biggest, and this meant several things. One, he got fed first (he was quick to assure this, too). Two, he always got to be King of the Egg and had the best perch on it until they got too loud and got shooed out by an exasperated Meow Mix. And three, he was the first to start understanding that Hormones Were A Thing.

Because hey, Hormones Were A Thing.

The camo-colored Quake was certainly not going to judge when it came to the difference between smooth hide and fur. His own bonded was fuzzier than Bell, and a damned sight less appealing to him right now, too. With a loud trill of curiosity, he circled the outcrop, reveling as always in the freedom and sensation of flight, and just waiting in anticipation for the Noon to make her move.

((Egg 16/20))

[The Legion]

Bell glanced up as Nova arrived, instinct prompting her to pull her messy meal closer and hiss at the Midnight - this was her food, not sharing!  But when the other female stayed back, leaving Bell with plenty of space, the Noon eased off, bobbing her head briefly toward Nova and turning back to her meal.  She didn't manage more than another couple of bites before a strained sound that could not really be called a bugle announced the arrival of the next firelizard - followed by disturbing thump of impact when the newly arrived Cyclone crashed into the mountainside.  Bell stared at the striped Cyclone in bafflement as he picked himself up and turned toward her, making a horrendously awful racket.  It was absolutely a relief to have Apache's far more melodious calls distract her from the Cyclone's haphazard presence, sparing her the need to find a diplomatic way to greet Gustav.

The camo-colored Quake's circling was the last prompting her hindbrain required to throw the pudgy Noon off the deep end - or in this case, off the outcrop, as she dropped the sad remains of her meal and launched off the side of the mountain with a clarion cry to catch her if they could.  She dropped like a stone for a heartbeat before her wings canted, catching the updraft of warm air currents eddying up the side of the mountain, and rapidly began to climb the current in tight spirals.  Her lazy days of snuggling an egg may have encouraged the Noon to a pudgy shape, but she was a firelizard, made for the skies, and her wings were perfectly functional.

(OOC: This remains open until the end of the day for any latecomers.)

Egg 17/20

[Deleted]

Nova was...kind of concerned when Gustav showed up. Was there something wrong with the Cyclone? ...okay, silly question. There appeared to be a lot wrong with the male. And his arrive almost made the Midnight consider turning around, going home, and cuddling up to a certain egg. But she was sure she had more patience than that, and also, perhaps she had to save the Noon from the odd Cyclone. Yes, yes. That sounded like a plan.

At least the Quake that arrived seemed far more put together.

Tail twitching, she watched Bell curiously. She made no move as the Noon got possessive over her meal -- she wasn't her for that. Crooning a little, she stayed still, unwilling to back down, but not stepping forward, either. Just watching and waiting.

And she didn't have to wait long.

With an excited chirp, Nova launched herself into the air. She might not be as good at flight as Apache seemed to be, but she was determined and eager to strut her stuff. Chittering happily, she followed Bell upwards. She didn't much care what either male were doing right now, or their plans, but she was most certainly here to show off. With a quick loop-da-loop in the air, she straightened herself to continue to follow thee Noon. This was going to be fun!

(Egg 13/20)

[Deleted]

Apache was, of course, not oblivious to Gustav's... um... dramatic arrival. He'd have to be blind and deaf to miss the sight of a cyclone crashing into the side of the mountain like a soft-hided meteor. What took him a little longer to figure out was that Gustav was actually competition for the fair Bell's attention, and not just some lost or desperately ill stranger who couldn't keep aloft.

Well. It was the lady's choice, of course, and one could not speak for the tastes of the lady in question. That would be presumptuous.

And if the Lady picked someone who seemed to have hatched out of a cracked egg? That was her prerogative. (He could only hope that the egg he and his sisters had been tending would produce something a bit less, uh... erratic.)

With a triumphant trill, Apache took off to follow the fuzzy-coated Noon, reveling in the challenge ahead of him. He'd been custom designed by nature to be in the air, and flying was his forte. Being already airborne, he had a bit of an advantage, but he didn't push it. He could conserve his energy a bit. In the meantime, he pulled himself up to gain a decent amount of height, before wrapping his wings close to him and plummeting down in a daring dip, opening his wings again a few mere handspans above the cliff and barreling back upwards again like a camo-dappled rocket. Whee!

((Egg 24/20))

[The Legion]

OOC: Sorry this is later than planned, it's been a rough week.

This being Bell's maiden flight, she was not entirely sure what she was looking for in her suitors.  Or exactly what she was doing.  She had not had the benefit of an older female to coach her through this process, and the hive mind she was attached to was anything but orderly.  All she really had going for her was hormones, instinct, and some vague ancestral memories imprinted while in the egg, nudging her to make her chasers show how strong and skilled they are so she could make the best choice.  Of course, Bell's idea of a 'best choice' had a lot more to do with skill at cuddling than aerial acrobatics, but her body was not on board with holding a snuggle competition just now.  It demanded she fly, and fly she did.

But the pudgy Noon was far from acrobatic.  As Nova spun a loop-da-loop and Apache dove and rocketed back up, Bell stuck to a determine, spiraling rise up the thermal - right up until the moment that she ran out of thermal, that is.  As the warm air cooled and the current faded away, the Noon quorked in irritation at actually having to work her fuzzy wings to continue climbing upward. Nope, that was too much work.  Instead, she spread them wide, tilted the leading edge steeply, and dove on down - right back down the edge of the thermal she just spent so much time spiraling up, dropping suddenly amidst her suitors.

Okay, so maybe Bell wasn't the brightest firelizard around.  Or maybe all that egg-sitting just made her lazy?  Eh, probably a mixture of both.

(Egg 18/20)

[Deleted]

With the young ages of the suitors around here, Bell was certainly not alone in her inexperience. Apache hadn't yet seen his first summer, and had been raised by a rat in a mechanical suit rather than by a firelizardy mother. He certainly wasn't sure what a proper flight did or did not entail. He just knew that he loved to fly and that the fuzzy little lady he was chasing was appealing in a very not-PG-13 sort of way. He certainly wasn't going to judge the pretty lady for her lackadaisical flying skills.

He was going to judge the OTHERS, especially Gustav, but not Bell.

Apache's lack of judgmentalness might have been put to the task when the lazy little lady came soaring back down practically on top of him with all the grace of a stuffed animal flung by an angry toddler, but hey- a lizard couldn't argue with results. His goal suddenly a lot more in reach than before, Apache made a daring swoop, putting on a little speed with the full intent of tackling Bell right out of the air.

[Deleted]

Being raised by a sulking teenager also didn't help anyone's experiences in anything, but Nova certainly wasn't judging anyone, either. Mostly. She was, if nothing else, polite enough to keep it to herself, at least. Besides, there were here for flying and other fun activities, and not for mocking each other over their lack of skill. Or maybe everyone just looked awesome after Gustav's entrance, but hey, whatever worked.

After having spent time watching over a boring egg, the Midnight was finding this much more enjoyable. She wanted to stretch her little wings and just fly, soar to the heavens and maybe never come back, but that certainly wouldn't get her anywhere. Bell was still going up and up, Apache was perhaps a bit better at this whole flying thing than she, but she was going to enjoy herself, gosh darnit.

And then Bell ran out of an easy way up, and was suddenly diving down and there, on the same level as her and the Quake, and...oh. That looked like a possible collision waiting to happen, and Nova was so not interested in getting in the middle of that.

She screeched a half hearted warning, and pulled off to the side, flapping a bit to try and stay hovering. She couldn't help but watch, like a train wreck, and hey, she could dive down and help pick up the pieces after the possible disaster occurred. Wasn't she helpful?

(Egg 18/20)

[The Legion]

(OOC: Sorry to rush wrapping this up, but I don't want to leave folks hanging while I deal with RL. It has been fun, thank you all for coming out to play. <3)

Bell's 'I have no clue what I am doing' only extended so far. That is: she had no real clue what the deal was right up until Apache plowed into her. Then instinct met vague associations and fireworks of 'oh, THAT'S what this is about!' happened. PopFizzBOOM! So instead of pulling away from the amorous Quake the fuzzy Noon crooned delightedly and locked paws with him, wings flaring to start the ever important mating glide as her tail south to twine about his. She hardly noticed Nova's hovering watchfulness, though when it was all over she would make a point of thanking the Midnight for her attentiveness. And if Gustav was to be found she... might thank him. Maybe. If he wasn't making those wretched mouthsounds again, anyway.