Birdhouse in Your Soul [Part II]

[Destyn]

Birdhouse in Your Soul Part II

35 Ash, 122

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Destyn frowned, his concerns not having been assuaged by Imogen's clarification.

"I suppose if one is going to be broken apart and made into tools it is better to be able to have a say in who wields your bits..." Destyn conceded, "But I think, given the choice, I would prefer not to be broken apart and made into tools at all. Even if I had veto power. If the primals like it, then I guess that is all right. It is not for me to judge, but if they are forced into this fate it seems terribly cruel to me." He pondered the point further.

"But I think that it is all right to use someone's parts after they are dead. But if primals cannot die it is not fair to use their parts. For instance, if I were to die and you were hungry I would not be mad if you ate my body to nourish you. That would be good. But I would not want you to kill me so that you could eat me, because that is mean." He paused a beat, "So do not do that, please."

The fae followed the albatross' descent, seeming chuffed at being complimented on the questions he posed.

"Thank you for noticing this. I am told that I am naturally inquisitive." That observation had rarely been noted in a complimentary tone, but he seemed to take pride in it all the same. As Imogen landed and shifted into another form, Destyn remained hovering above. He weighed significantly more than an albatross and seemingly more than whatever she was shifting into. The branch didn't look as though it would support him, as well.

When she finished her transition, Destyn clapped his hands,

"But Imogen! You are so cute like that! I see that you still have wings, but can I carry you? I would like to carry you." He extended his arms, "I can take us to wherever your nose points!"

Birdhouse in Your Soul Part II

[Imogen]

That was a funny thought- she hadn't been carried anywhere since she was about seven years old, not counting the unfortunate incident with the giant bees where she'd been rescued by the Shield Legion. But as she was still experimenting with incorporating wings into chimeric forms in any event, she quickly acquiesced, climbing up Destyn's arm and hanging on to a shoulder as he fluttered in the noonday air.

"Well, if you insist." Her long white tail curled around Destyn's forearm like a bracelet as she leaned forward, sniffing the breeze, straining to catch each sent wafting above the canopy.

It was a strange endeavor, to mix the senses of two animals together, but it seemed she had quite a knack for animism. The albatross' nose (such as a bird's nose was, anyway) was well-adapted to the sea air, where a salt-laden gust of wind could easily travel for miles, slowly dissipating but seldom intermixing with anything else. The lemur's sense of smell, to the contrary, was designed for a habitat where a thousand different animals and plants could be fighting, growing, fruiting and dying in a hundred-meter range. Too much life nearby, lacking the ocean's natural buffer, and the albatross was easily overwhelmed beneath a riot of unfamiliar smells. Too much distance in between, and the smells of sugar and flowers were shredded by the winds, undetectable to the lemur. Held just in tandem, though...

"Yes... yes, that way for sure. It's faint, but I think there is fruit, and a lot of it. But also..." She closed her eyes, screwing up her face as a very strange scent hit. "Smoke? Charred wood... seared flesh?"

Could that be other travelers? Perhaps some sailors from The Duck had joined them after all, but decided to encamp deeper within the jungle? Or maybe there were natives here? It was even possible that there were explorers from the far city to the north, though her trip to the edge of the great desert had been harrowing enough; trying to pass through it and this jungle, all without the power to fly day and night? It would be a horrendous ordeal.

"Hmm. I don't smell the scents of people, though. No metal, no draft horses..." She wasn't totally sure her hybrid nose would be able to detect that anyway, but some scent truly was missing. "Well! Now it's a mystery, and we shall have to investigate. That way, gallant Destyn!"

Imogen pointed northward with her tiny lemur hand. The trees grew thicker to the north, and taller, though they still seemed miniscule next to Imogen's memory of the towering forest of Northern Ecith. As they drifted closer, large green pods were visible near the tops of the wide, flat leaves, and a squint beneath the high sun revealed occasional wisps of smoke rising from the canopy ahead. Not as if from a campfire, though- finger-sized clouds, rising only a few inches above the trees before being obliterated by the gentle breezes. They came from no particular place an with no pattern, either.

[Destyn]

Birdhouse in Your Soul Part II

35 Ash, 122

The Fae of Summer beamed at the easy acquiescence, extending his arms ever farther toward the lemur thingie. He adjusted his wings slightly to position himself in such a way as to be easier for a creature of her current size to ride. Once she seemed secure with her tail coiled about his arm, he backed off of the bough and started to flit along a Northerly path as she continued to assess the area with her heightened senses.

"Hm..." At her latest observation, Destyn grimaced slightly. "Lots of fruits sounds good, but seared flesh is, I think, less good." The youth was mostly a fruitarian, buggies notwithstanding. Communing with plants and even having elements of flora presenting upon his body, it made it difficult to simply tear them apart like some unfortunate primal to feast upon their flesh. Fruit, however, was grown to be eaten as a means of reproduction. It often fell from the plant on its own, and so it was actually a boon to the parent plant to eat them, rather than a harm. Whatever the details of his diet, he certainly wasn't of an ilk to dine on the meat of creatures that kept the bulk of their bones on the inside.

Knitting his brow in uncertainty, Destyn took a deep breath and obliged Imogen's order to advance. He was quite ambivalent about this course of action. Fruit was yummy, but smoke reminded him of the black clouds of industry that had presaged the doom of his clan. Smoke plumed forth from the weapons that thundered as they sent their searing projectiles through the flesh of his loved ones and through his own leg. 'Seared flesh' brought to mind daunting memories indeed.

"Are... you certain about this, Imogen? It seems as though it could be, you know, dangerous..." He might have flown faster, but his trepidation kept him slow. He couldn't really be quiet, given the mechanics required for wings of his sort to function on the back of a creature his size. Fortunately, the jungle was a place rife with other noises into which his own clangour might blend.

As they neared the spot from whence rose the smoke, he slowly descended to get a peek below the canopy. He found a branch thick enough to bear their weight and alighted there, squinting his eyes to peer out at the little fires that seemed to burn in a few spots in the distance.

"Oh no..." He whispered, "The jungle here is on fire..." He'd encountered forest fires before in the temperate North, but this jungle was so damp that it seemed strange anything should be able to catch. It was also strange that the fires were all small and separate, unlike the billowing masses of flame he'd seen ravaging those northerly groves. Also...

"The fires are moving strangely... They are moving... toward us?"

Birdhouse in Your Soul Part II

[Imogen]

"Dangerous?" The tiny monkey demanded, incredulous, "Of course it is! That's why we've got to find it! Unless you want it to be dangerous while you're sleeping soundly some night."

There was a great deal more to add on the subject, including introducing Destyn to the philosophical concept of the thrill of death, the phenomenon in which one found fear of death most distant when confronted with immanent peril, and how it enlivened the mind and soul to understand at last that fear was a fleeting thing which could be donned or doffed as one might a cloak, to make the most of caution in the good times and courage in the bad. Unfortunately, Imogen had no time to recite speeches or explain the nature of instinct, so she settled for waving her finger insistently northward.

Thankfully, riding a terrified fae lad through the air as a monkey was actually quite exhilarating, and the adrenalin had entirely kicked in. For all his busy futzing and hovering in the air, Destyn could certainly move quickly in a straight line when he needed to.

"Never fear, I've got plenty of swords, we'll be fine."

As Destyn settled onto the bough and took in the fires which seemed to be milling about randomly in the forest below, Imogen set her eyes on the aftermath. Well, no, the lack of aftermath, rather. A forest fire, large or small, would move about by consuming fuel and being spread on the winds- but no such thing seemed in evidence here. The groves of trees were healthy; there were some black marks here and there, but on the whole no evidence of wide-spread conflagration. What was going on?

Imogen peered forward as the fires seemed to change direction, converging. "Yes, they are. And there's movement? Movement in the flames, there's..."

As the first flame closed in, it began to ascend the tree. In a matter of seconds, it became clear what was going on: "Fire monkey."

The little mammal surged up the tree towards the two. It was impossible to tell if it was approaching with violent intent; Imogen certainly didn't know what a marmoset on the attack looked like. Taking no chances, however, as soon as the monkey was nearing arm's reach of Destyn, she threw both tiny lemur arms forward, summoning a six-foot diameter round shield in the air between the two travelers and the elemental ape. The marmoset ran directly into the shield and bounced right off, squeaking as it clawed at the tree to slow its descent.

"Oh no, Destyn... they're all monkeys."

[Destyn]

Birdhouse in Your Soul Part II

35 Ash, 122

The Fae exclaimed:

“Yessss! I do like to be asleep. Sleep is very nice and danger is very bad! I used to think danger was fun. I was a rascal and would pull pranks on strangers, but then I chose the wrong part of the world to be playful in and now I am the last of my clan!” It was not something about which he spoke frequently. Not even with his closest friends did he broach it, but he was to blame for the demise of his clan. He’d been sent into town for supplies, but he couldn’t just fulfill his task. He had to take stupid risks in the interest of fun, and he’d offended the wrong people in so doing. People already predisposed to hating him and his ilk.

But despite his personal reservations, Destyn was obliging and eager to please. He would take his new friend at her word that she was armed enough to thwart whatever threats might arise ahead.

As they stood perched, observing the strange phenomenon prancing through the trees ahead of them, Destyn’s eyes widened as the nearest approaching entity drew into clearer view.

“But that is absurd!” Destyn protested his own eyes as much as Imogen’s declaration. Her assessment seemed perfectly sound based on what he could see, but that made the matter no less outlandish.

Regarding the little creature as it bounced against Imogen’s protective aura, shaking its head in confusion and annoyance, he supposed if such a creature was to exist, a rainforest seemed as sound a place as any. More than most. Perhaps the natural moisture prevented their fires from destroying the food and shelter provided by their surroundings. In a dry climate, they’d likely have gone extinct from starvation or exposure, if their species concerned itself with such mundane affairs.

“Sorry!” He called out to the monkey as it regained its wits after the self-inflicted blow to the head. Squeaking loudly and then letting out a heralding howl into the air to summon its comrades, the marmoset took to poking at Imogen’s shield.

“I think you have vexed it! I wish that I spoke South Ecithian fire monkey, but I do not. Do you think we can sue for peace, or…” The monkey’s call was being answered by a dozen or so of its ostensible kin.

“…I hope you are handy with those swords. I am not a fighter.”

Birdhouse in Your Soul Part II

[Imogen]

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"...this is the second time I have had to do battle with a swarm of monkeys this year." Imogen replied, voice heavy with some exotic emotion-a mixture of disbelief and... an almost karmic resignation, perhaps? "And I am getting entirely too good at it."

The lemur detatched herself from Destyn's upper arm and scampered upwards, to the top of his head. She took care not to step on any important organs on her way up, though she was only moderately successful at avoiding his ears. Perched on the fae boy's brow like a lumpy, furry crown, Imogen manifested three weapons.

First, the Sunsinger reached upwards, little paw grasping at the sky. She channeled aether, opening a gateway to her own soul and projecting it upwards, where it manifested with a silent flash of silver. This was followed, a moment later, by a zweihander descending comically from the sky, whirling as it fell past Destyn's head. As it crashed into the ground below, the sword's blade erupted into a bonfire of argent light, scattering the nearby marmosets and sending them hooting in alarm.

Next, Imogen dropped her arms to chest level, holding out both as though grasping something. A moment later, the Rune made life imitate art, filling her hands with a gold-varnished partisan which was easily a foot longer than Destyn was tall, and certainly should have tumbled out of the tree and taken the tiny lemur with it. Imogen kept it suspended, instead, with an act of will, and turned it, aiming for another one of the advancing little monkeys and hurling it like a bolt.

Finally, the lemur summoned a polished oaken staff to her side, shod with caps of brass and gemstone. This weapon she did not hurl downwards, but instead pole-vaulted off Destyn's head and onto the bough on which he stood, which she grasped firmly with one hand and both feet before leaning downward as far as she could and using the long weapon to knock advancing monkeys off the tree.

"That's right!" she hollered down at the hooting horde below, "I've got more fire than all you little-" she stopped, not wanting to swear with Destyn right there. "-dumb little monkeys combined!"

Although knocking the monkeys off the tree with her staff was an effective tactic, given how much more range she had than any of the little beasts, the real spectacle was below. Both of Imogen's summoned weapons had begun to move of their own accord, the blade and spear making wide, lazy swings to catch the marmosets on their sides and fling them into the jungle. It was a very effective way to create space, as the marmosets who focused on avoiding the weapons were easy prey to Imogen's barrage of pokes and thwacks, while those who did not caught the broadside of a broadsword on their backsides and were airborne in moments.

However proud Imogen might have been about her impromptu monkey defense, however, it left her far too focused on the battle at hand to notice that the monkeys were regrouping on neighboring trees, plotting a new assault. The little marmosets ran from branch to branch, finding dead leaves and thrusting flaming limbs against them, attempting to surround the two interlopers with a ring of fire.

[Destyn]

Birdhouse in Your Soul Part II

35 Ash, 122

Destyn grimaced at Imogen’s revelation. On the one hand, it was a boon that she had tactical experience against a comparable foe. On the other hand, he had to wonder why little primates took such an issue with her. He’d rarely been assailed by monkeys on his own, so perhaps Imogen was some sort of aggressor. Whatever the case in the past, he hadn’t noted any apparent provocative action on her part in this instance. Besides, lacking any means of communicating an apology for the inconvenience dealt the first fire marmoset, it seemed aggression was the spundest alternative.

As Lemur-Imogen scampered up his lithe body, he shifted his stance to plant himself more firmly. His wings tensed, and spread slightly to better balance him against whatever shift in weight Imogen might embark upon in her martial ministrations. This position would also make it easier to take flight, if a retreat seemed called for.

As Imogen went on the offence, Destyn just planted himself and observed, wide-eyed and attentive, with his hands out to either side, fingers spread as if poised to spring into action should the need arise. He very much hoped the need would not arise.

The well-armed lemur seemed to have things well in hand, wielding multiple weapons via multiple means, though her focus needed to be fixed in ways Destyn’s didn’t. He was able to regard the battlefield from a broader vantage, which was further enhanced by his natural cryptochrome vision. Seeing not only the fiery lemurs before them, which were difficult to miss, he could sense the shifts in the magnetic fields that surrounded them.

“Uh, Imogen?” It was too late to warn her about the marmosets’ latest tactic, as the pair was surrounded by their flame barrier. “Hold fast.” He suggested, as he spread his wings to their full width behind his back. Now he could be useful.

He let out his best approximation of a battle cry, ululating in a high pitched falsetto as his wings took to beating so fast they were but a translucent blur at his back. Crouching slightly and shifting his feet to grip at the branch beneath him with his toes, the gale force of his wing-borne winds sent the kindling flying back toward the assailants who had gathered it. As he slowly oscillated, he sent a rain of ash and cinders down toward the forest floor below them. When he’d made his full rotation, the fire ring was no more- completely scattered to the winds.

Realising this, he halted the beating of his wings abruptly enough that he had to stagger a bit to hold his posture on the bough. Grinning at his handiwork, he looked to Imogen.

“If they make another salvo, hold to me and we will make, you know, a aerial attack, or… well I guess you have your own wings still if you would prefer.”

Birdhouse in Your Soul Part II

[Imogen]

Fighting against monkeys was actually quite fun, in a weird way. They were a lot faster and more nimble than the men she'd been trained to tussle with far north, but the risk was also a lot lower; even these flaming marmosets probably couldn't do more than leave a few extra burns around the bites if they forced her to flee. It was almost calming, compared to her duels with Timeon or the concussion she'd gotten from the giant lizard months back.

Imogen's telekinetic use of the Pact Weapons was much improved after her initial journey to Ecith, and so letting three weapons dance at once was not the all-encompassing strain it once was. It wasn't quite easy yet, however, and between the regulation of her aether and keeping an eye on the marmosets who got close enough to thwack with her staff, she found herself in something of a detached, meditative perspective. Not quite a fugue state, but certainly in the right neighborhood.

So it was that she didn't really register that Destyn had said anything, or gone anywhere, until he was abruptly returned and talking again.

"Huh? What are you..." Imogen surveyed the monkeys at tree-height, observing the fallout of Destyn's approach. "Oh! Right. Um."

Imogen idly prodded another marmoset on the nose, the little monkey screeching as she lightly pried it from the tree trunk below the bough and sent it spinning back to earth, where it was caught immediately by her spinning blade and sent flying. She tracked the marmoset's progress through the air, idly, watching as it took a few moments to recover before sprinting for the tree once again.

"Mmm. I could do this all day, but they don't seem to be backing off. We might need a new approach. Stealth, maybe? Are you any good at sneaking?"

[Destyn]

Birdhouse in Your Soul Part II

35 Ash, 122

Destyn found himself having a bit of fun, as well. He wasn't actively attacking the monkeys, but he was enough of a target that he needed to parry little projectiles being thrown- Some of which caught fire in the hands of the creatures, making them a bit more daunting than your usual acorn in flight. He was able to serve as something of a decoy to keep some of the literal heat off of Imogen who, even with her weapons serving as seemingly independent agents, was vastly outnumbered by their arboreal adversary.

The fae shook his head at Imogen's question.

"I am not particularly good at sneaking, but I am not terrible as long as I am not in flight." His wing beats were rather thunderous, after all. "But I am, you know, very fast and precise in the air..." He suspected more preceise than Imogen, given the shape of her wings, though he hadn't actually seen her put them to use in the current form, so he wasn't certain in this assessment.

"You keep them busy and I will fetch us some of the fruit. Then we may retreat and eat which, you know, rhymes." With that he crouched in a balletic plié and leapt from the branch, his wings springing to action and catching him in mid-air before gravity even had a chance to make him dip below the branch.

He straightened his legs and held his arms flush to his sides as he rocketed upward through the canopy and into the open air above. Up here it was near impossible to see him from beneath the camouflaging leaves and branches, but he had an advantage- Smoke. The residual grey-black clouds produced by the marmosets were wafting up from one concentrated area, which enabled him to deduce, without even needing to see their orange glow, where their foes were located. Thus was he able to dart below the canopy at some distance from the skirmish with Imogen. From there he was able to see what the lemur-Ork had smelled- A treasure trove of fruit, abundant and eclectic. Some still hung from the trees, but much of it had clearly been collected by the monkeys since some of the skin was singed.

Typically Destyn would not have been keen to steal from other creatures, but the marmosets had been so hostile with so little provocation, that he did not hesitate to rob them of some small fraction of their bounty. He gathered a nice little collection, sticking handfuls of nuts into his pockets and filling his arms with as much fruit as he could.

With his hoard in hand, he flitted toward the conflagration, calling out-

"Mission accomplished! Time to retreat!" And with that he darted above the canopy and out of sight once more.

Birdhouse in Your Soul Part II

[Imogen]

If there was one philosophical point on which Imogen was absolutely, entirely, 100% convinced, it was that it is basically always justified to steal things from monkeys. After all, the monkeys would happily do the same thing to you, and unlike more enlightened species of thieves there was essentially no chance that a stint in the local justice system would reform them. They simply had a very underdeveloped model of property ownership when it came to property that they wanted to own.

Plus, Imogen took a certain joy in the juxtaposition of the moment. Months ago, she'd been beset in the jungles of Ecith by a horde of golden lemurs, which she had fought to a standstill until one had taken advantage of her distraction to steal her shit. Surely this was a balancing of the scales of sorts, where she and Destyn took advantage of the monkeys' distraction to steal their shit.

...although later she had repeatedly hired those same monkeys. Did that portend that these monkeys, in turn, would hire her? Would she guide these monkeys on a journey through a strange land, where they would attain everything except the very thing they sought?

No, that was a stupid idea. These monkeys were far too poor to afford her services.

"Right!" Lemurgen replied as Destyn soared past with an armful of colorful fruits, "On my way!"

Exfiltration was somewhat complicated, however, by the very jungle canopy itself. As a lemur, her first instinct was to scamper down a branch, leap to a bough on an adjoining tree, and then continue scamper-leaping until she had described a path through the trees which would make a trapeze artist gasp. Two obstacles prevented this- first, the southern trees were squat, and the upper paths of the canopy few and narrow compared to the winding highways of the northern clime. Second, the little fire marmosets were climbing other trees nearby to cut off her escape. No scampering; she would have to fly.

Imogen ran up the central trunk, dismissing her Pact Weapons one by one as she went until only her staff remained. When she reached the top of the tree, she leapt, flapping her albatross' wings... only to find great difficulty in attaining sufficient lift.

Shit, I knew the bones were too dense.

She tried again, without additional success. Even if she widened the wings, she wasn't going to get initial lift like this. She was going to need a boost, and she knew exactly how to do it.

Telekinetically, Imogen dispatched her quarterstaff to stand upright at the top of the tree, scampering up it as the tide of fire marmosets below finally reached the highest boughs. Ignoring the hooting and screaming of the monkeys below, the lemur-ork directed the quarterstaff to bend backwards... and then fling her into the air.

The lemur caught the breeze above the jungle on her grey wings, this time moving fast enough to obtain a motion more horizontal than vertical, and flew after Destyn, hooting with triumph. Her quarterstaff spun once on the tree behind her, then disintegrated into silver sparks, dumping the screaming marmosets which had climbed up after her onto the ground far below.