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ARELI
Do you still believe in love, I wonder?
Do you still believe in love, I wonder?
Spring has arrived, and with it, the last of your primary feathers. In the span of your first year, your downy wings have grown glossy and strong, filling out with soft brown plumes and slender muscles, virgin and untested. In the past few months, you watched the transformation with delight, and now that your wings are fully grown, you have taken to admiring them greatly, preening them unceasingly and ruffling the feathers at every opportunity. Though the last season has brought many changes, this is a welcome one. And it is not the only improvement: as your vision and hearing finally catch up with your development, your sense of balance slowly strengthens—not that you notice much, for you’re still growing into your leggy body and are nearly as clumsy as before. At least, you think, tripping over your own hooves as you trot away from home, at least you’ve mastered the art of catching yourself now.
Mama had promised to teach you how to fly come spring (and you are itching to learn), but when the last of the snow had melted a few days ago, she was nowhere to be found. Her absence didn’t alarm you, for you figured that she had gone off to patrol somewhere and you were no longer glued to her side, but still, you were impatient. The stone dragon she had crafted for you could only entertain you for so long, and so after a good day of tossing the figurine back and forth and a lively one-sided conversation, you had knotted the little doll into your tail for safekeeping and had set off to seek your fun elsewhere.
Naturally, the thistle meadow had called to you, and you had instinctively headed in that direction, longing for the open space that would make takeoff easy. You may not know how to fly, but the stirrings in the more hollow bones you possessed serve as a subconscious guide, and likely play a large role in the brilliant idea that strikes you as the meadow unfolds before you in all of its prickly glory. What if you could figure out how to fly by yourself? Now that you had all of the feathers, it couldn’t be that hard—and wouldn’t Mama be surprised! The thought sends you into a near convulsion of private giggling as you imagine the look of shock and pride on her face. And so it’s settled: today you will achieve flight.
Now, you think, looking around brightly, how did Mama do it again? You knew that sometimes she took off from a standstill, but you also remembered seeing Ilios fly, and sometimes he got a running start. Illy’s method seems slightly easier, and a lot more fun, so that’s what you decide to try first. Spreading your wings like dark sails, you are the picture of elegance for a brief moment…and then you charge forward into the meadow, squawking and leaping and flapping, but mostly sending dandelion fluff everywhere as you carve a chaotic path into the weeds.
You do get some lift, you think, when you feel your stomach flip giddily as your hooves leave the ground and you feel air under your primaries. But really, it is nothing more than the consequence of your last enthusiastic hop towards the sky, and you come tumbling down to earth with your dreams of flight unachieved. However, you had been so excited at the prospect of success that you forget to catch yourself. Luckily, the thistles provide a springy (if not itchy) cushion, so only your ego is a bit bruised when you roll over yourself. Winded but exhilarated, you lie still, resting your cheek on the damp plants…and that’s when the egg catches your eye.
It is larger than any egg you have ever seen in nature, and unlike the smaller eggs you’ve seen, no nest cradles it. It merely sits amongst the thistles, round and fragile, looking rather vulnerable…and you feel your heart go out to it. “Poor little lonely egg,” you coo, rearranging your limbs into more of an upright sprawl. “Whatcha doing out here all by yourself?”
OOC: Hatching thread for Are; anyone's welcome!
"speech"
@Volterra perhaps, if you're interested?
![[Image: areli_by_moonstone_designs-d9dgh47.png]](http://orig05.deviantart.net/fac3/f/2015/290/f/c/areli_by_moonstone_designs-d9dgh47.png)
