Legend of Ransera

The trip to the was not an unfamiliar one for Destyn, whose quondam clan had tended to travel close to bodies of water- Lake Udori being a long and frequent stop on their perennial pilgrimage. Those had, by definition, not been day trips like the one upon which Destyn and his friends were headed, however. Torin had a spot he liked and had hired horses for the terrestrial members of their picnicking party. Destyn thought the horses were a cute novelty, but that wings were a more efficient form of travel- especially through well-wooded areas like those they traversed today. Wings, he explained unnecessarily, enabled one to overperch the many obstacles that humans and horses had to circumnavigate. Gryphons, he supposed, were more expensive to rent, though- And so he flitted alongside the riders.

At first the horses were less than pleased with the stiff breeze and loud, buzzing din of Destyn's wings, but he would break off every now and again and return with food for them. After a few of these instances, the horses grew to associate Destyn with snacks and were no longer rankled by the side effects of his flight.

Destyn wondered whether he would recognise Torin's spot when they arrived, as he did note several familiar landmarks en route. He was a bit disappointed to find that his knowledge of the spot was only cursory. He was sure he'd passed by, but had likely been distracted or focused elsewhere as it hadn't been one of the clan's camp sites.

"I suppose," Destyn began, as he alighted on the bank of the lake, "The horsies are worth it so we did not have to carry everything ourselves. That would have been tiring flying all that way with big old baskets in our arms." He strutted up to Sivan and poked his nose,

"Are you as hungry as I am?"

Destyn giggled,

"Hey! Do not eat my fingies! I need those!" Destyn protested, making a fist and withdrawing his hand. He held both behind his back until Sivan stepped away and returned with food.

"Ooh!" Suddenly his fingies were fair game again, as he reached both out toward the offered fruit. He pouted when Torin snatched them up before he could, but replied to Sivan with a vigorous nod.

"There are always good buggies by the water! And lots of buggies that eat people, um... I do not know what they are called- the ones that stick you and suck your blood out? I like to eat them. They are not very nourishing, but... fuck those guys, am I right?" Destyn grinned guilelessly and accepted the pear as Torin offered it.

"Oh, good!" That was the one he'd been reaching for anyway, and he promptly munched down on it with relish. "Yummy." He noted, and tilted his head.

"Is this true, Torin??? Will you manufacture false wings so that you and my other friends can fly like I can? I could teach you good technique so that you do not fly like the Avialaes. You must make good wings like these." He said, gesturing over his shoulder and stretching them behind him. "That beat fast so that you have more control. Avialaes cannot, you know, hover. I feel very sad for them. They bluster through the air. They are, I think, a mess. Very dangerous."

Destyn nodded profusely at Sivan's clarification.

"Yes, yes! Musky toes!"

The fae narrowed his eyes at Torin's reply to his suggestion about the wing construction.

"Suit yourself, Torin." He responded, curtly. "But your wings will, you know, be not very good, then." He reminded the human, "Because they can't hover. So..." He trailed off as he took another bite of pear. He shrugged one shoulder, but Torin's further explanation seemed to assuage his umbrage enough for him to let the matter lie.

His wing flicked away reflexively when Torin first reached to touch it, but then he let it slowly return to brush against his palm lightly.

"But that tickles, though." He observed, as his attention turned briefly to where Timon was splashing through the shallow waters with his lupine companion. Torin started to amble off to where Sivan had already fled, and so Destyn followed, continuing to munch on his pear.

"I have been thinking about growing a froggy tongue to help me better nab buggies." He mused, sticking out his human-like tongue as far as he could and trying his best to see it, though only the tip was visible at its current length. He wiggled it back and forth to see the different angles of what was available to him and then shrugged.

"Do you think that you would like me less if I had a froggy tongue? I know that, sometimes, people are, you know, repulsed by things that diverge. I do not wish to be repulsive." He glanced to a nearby cicada buzzing bym "But I do wish to catch more buggies, though."

Destyn smiled, warmly.

"Thank you, Sivan. You are, you know, a good friend." He turned next to Torin, and blinked at his response. "I..." He stuck his tongue out again, and then retracted it and began to try speaking without moving it.

"I hink I 'ould thee athle to talk thut ngot ath gud." He attempted, before wrinkling his nose and shaking his head, letting his tongue relax. "I sound worse than..." He suddenly paused, eyes wide and made sure the youngest biped of their group was far enough away, before whispering: "...Timon." But he immediately felt guilty for uttering a comment at the boy's expense.

"I am sorry. Anyway, maybe I will not make the froggy tongue because of, you know, strangers." He sighed, as if slightly crestfallen at having to suffer such considerations but such, he supposed, was civilisation. "And talking." He added, seeming to feel that was a more valid foundation for his decision.

His expression lit up at Sivan's suggestion.

"Yes, yes! See? Sivan understands!" Destyn was hopping up and down and his wings were beating rapidly at odd intervals, so his hops went about four feet into the air each time before he fluttered back to the ground.

"These are better!" He pointed at his back with both thumbs and on his finally hop, ascended into a noisy, buzzing hover above his friends. He started to execute different poses with his arms and legs, even as his torso hovered in roughly the same spot. "See?" He had to yell to be heard, but that was neither here nor there to the Fae.

With Torin focused on the water, he ceased his demonstration and alighted on the grass.

"Sure!" He said, quickly doffing his vest and lifting one foot at a time to slip off his turn-shoes.