The Outside World

[keany-beany]

"I'm not about to let anyone get too seriously hurt. This is only a duel for bragging rights, not a duel to the death," Caecus sighed, he had to let Helkaril get her way this time, there was no point in going against the flow.  

[Gylfie531]

Helkaril grinned. Not waiting another second, she leapt straight into the air, using her wings to propel herself over Lingil. She threw her knives at her, but the feline dodged easily to one side, drawing her sword. Helkaril did a flip in midair and flew upside-down, towards her blades, catching them before they hit the ground, and righted herself, flying straight at Lingil.
She watched as the avian approached. Too easy. She held her sword easily in one hand, though it was a two-hand blade. Leaping forward, she rolled, spring to her feet behind the avian. She banked and flew higher, dive-bombing her, blades like glittering blurs. She laughed, crouching and springing directly up at her. She twisted to one side, so Helkaril missed, though the avian managed to slash to one side and clip her shoulder. She ignored it; merely a scratch. Catching her claws into the girl's wing, she tore through feathers and muscle, kicking the blade in her right hand from her grasp and leaving long red scratches down her flesh. She dug the tip of her blade into the girl's shoulder. She had began to spiral out of control, so Lingil swung herself away, landing easily on her feet.
Helkaril pulled herself out of the spin, fighting against the pain in her wing, and touched down running towards Lingil. She threw the blade in her left hand towards the feline girl, all of her strength in it, and watched her roll to her left. Helkaril intercepted her and came with an overhead blow, but her single knife was deflected easily. She came on with a blindingly fast series of blows, twisting and twirling this way and that, moving with her blade, but it was hopeless with one knife alone. She dived towards the other, and caught it up just in time, crossing the blades to stop a powerful overhand blow. She was on her back, but soon made Lingil retreat by aiming cuts at her ankles. Then she was back on her feet.
Lingil swept her sword with energy and power, but the two were evenly matched. Sweeping to one side, she ran around Helkaril too quickly for her eyes to track, and kicked her hard in the back. The avian fell over, face in the dirt. She spat and scrabbled to her feet. Laughing, tail swishing, Lingil ran back and forth, kicking off the trees, and ended up right in front of Helkaril. She flicked her swordpoint into Helkaril's palm, relieving her of her right-hand knife, and backed off.
Helkaril was astonished at this girl's speed. It was incredible. She couldn't even fly that fast, she didn't think. She could be a great ally, if she was even on their side. She flexed her right shoulder, which was bleeding steadily. It burned. She didn't wait for her to make the next move. She was just as skilled with her left hand, and approached her slowly, paces steady and even, blade raised. When she was about ten feet from Lingil, she leaped, springing towards her, her wings pushing her the extra distance. Anger burned in her eyes.
Lingil watched the girl with some interest. As her shadow fell on her, she lifted her blade, slashing to one side with both hands. Her blow fell on the girl's knife, and it spun from her hand. She smirked, catching it by the hilt.
Helkaril's right hand flew to her left wrist. The blow had sent a shockwave like she'd never felt before up her arm, breaking the ice on her cuts, which started bleeding again. How could she be so strong?
Lingil flicked the knife's edge to Helkaril's wing, using the girl's momentum to drive the blade into her flesh. She slashed in a long, straight line, leaving a gap in the feathers. It bit deep, and dark blood ebbed around the silver.
"As I said," Lingil said condensendingly, "you must master your blade to fight as a pro. Otherwise, your blade can bite you just as easily." She laughed harshly.
Helkaril inhaled sharply, turning in midair and landing on her feet. But she soon fell to her knees, as the blood ebbed from her body, slipping through her dark feathers and soaking the earth. She had already lost too much blood that day. Her eyes closed and she fell unconscious, exhausted from the battle. She couldn't believe she'd lost...  

[keany-beany]

Once Helkaril was down it was almost an instant reaction to cause her wounds to stop bleeding. Pupil's narrowed, Caecus managed to seperate and purify Helkril's blood from the surrounding dirt and trees and get it back into her body. Once this was done he caused the wounds to scab over. 'If only I knew how to speed up the healing process' Caecus thought to himself.  

[Gylfie531]

Lingil smirked over Helkaril's prone form. She set the pathetic little knives next to the girl. But, she decided, she should probably say something to make up for her actions before she lost their trust.
"I didn't mean for her to get seriously hurt. Sorry," she said, hanging her head.
Did. For something to do, she began pacing the clearing, waiting for the girl to wake up. She hoped they wouldn't be too pissed.

~~~~~

Helkaril stirred some minutes later. Her wings hurt like fire, as did her wrist, but she sat up and smiled weakly.
"Ouch," she said, grimacing, as her shoulder ached. She picked up her knives, wiped her own and Lingil's blood from them, and sheathed them. She spread her wings slowly. "Note to self: scabs are far more flexible than ice," she said aloud. "Thanks," she said to Caecus, not looking at him. That girl Lingil was still here. She was really good. Not someone to be messed with. She stood and walked to her slowly.
"Hey, great fight. You're really good." She did not respond aloud, but simply smiled warmly. Helkaril nodded, then tested her wings more thoroughly. They would work well enough. She flew a few circles over the trees, then landed once more, not wanting to stress them too much. Breathing through her teeth, she rolled her shoulders, feeling the scab stretch and bend. She walked back to Caecus.
"Let me know when Taka and Amy show up. I need to think." Helkaril walked into the woods for a few minutes, and stopped when she found a downed tree to sit on. She shook her wings out, feeling the gentle breeze rustle her feathers. She bowed her head.
How did I lose?
Because you didn't know what you were up against.
Oh, great, you're back.
It's been more than five minutes, but I couldn't just pop up while you were out, now could I?
Yeah, I suppose not. Hey, why didn't you stop this fight? Did you know I was going to lose?
For one, I can't make you do anything. I can only advise. And I didn't know any more about this Lingil than you did. Remember, I am you, nothing more. Helkaril sighed.
So I'm talking to myself? Great. That makes me feel really sane.
You're thinking to yourself, not talking. It's far more sensible than speaking this aloud.
Whatever.
No, the difference is important. You don't understand yet, do you? Well, I suppose you do, because I do, but you don't recognize it. Well, let me enlighten you. You are far more logical than any other being that's been created. And yet you can manage to be creative, eloquent, sarcastic... You can disobey your roots. That is important.
How so?
You feel for your friends. You have empathy. That's not very logical. But you have it. You are sane.
Says you, which is really just more proof of my insanity, is it not?
Not, I think. For I am only part of you. You're simply thinking things through.
Yeah, with rude interruption.
No, logical interruption. Think. How are you going to sort through all these new faces? How will you analyze them all?
All right, all right! I was getting to that. ...I could take a lot of watches.
Good, good. And see who's up and about, who's not really sleeping, and who has a good heart. Watch for these things.
Ugh, this is starting to sound like my training.
And that was very logical, was it not?
Yeah, I guess so. But...
Don't worry about me now. I'll let you think on what I've told you. But please, focus on how to keep your friends safe.
I thought you wanted me to leave them...?
I've decided it's illogical to keep up a fight I cannot win.
Ah.
And her head was quiet again.
Well, that was certainly annoying. But instead of worrying about Logic coming back to get her, she instead went over what she'd seen of the new people.
Amy: She hadn't led us astray yet. She seemed to be helpful. Taka trusted her. She could read minds, but hadn't used it except to communicate. So far, not so bad.
Natalie: She was seemingly innocent. She hadn't ripped off their heads yet, which was a good sign. If any Erasers showed up and didn't attack her, that would be a really bad sign. But nothing too suspicious yet.
Kami and Macy: A little creepy with the whole mind-reading, finishing each other's sentences thing. Also, they accused me of being a spy, which could cover up their being spies. These two needed have an eye on them. Also, they quickly befriended Natalie, an Eraser. Possibly a bad sign for all three of them, if they knew each other before coming to the flock.
Lingil: Nearly killed me. Very powerful, and extremely fast. Claws are a big problem. She shouldn't have hurt me as badly as she did. I will definitely be watching her.
Satisfied, Helkaril leaned sideways against the trunk of the tree and closed her eyes. She was starting to wish she'd eaten more, but then didn't, as she felt like crap. Her stomach churned, her head pounded, and her wounds burned. Most of her energy was spent, and they had a long flight ahead of them. She closed her eyes, shifted slightly, and began breathing deeply. She had nearly fallen asleep when she remembered that any of these new flock members could kill her in her sleep. She stood immediately and lit a fire in the air next to her. If floated along beside her as she headed wearily back towards the others. She launched into the air, and the flame followed her. She left the silver flame burning in the air below her, and circled slowly through the air in the clouds, letting the cool, moist air envelop her. She knew she shouldn't be flying, a fact she was constantly reminded of as her wings protested, but it was peaceful nonetheless.  

[keany-beany]

Caecus sighed as he watched Helkaril fly. "You know you've only damaged her pride," Caecus said to Lingil. "Was hurting her that much really your goal? I got a pretty good look at her wounds and they're not too serious, but still....." Caecus dropped off the end of his sentence. Slowly he reached his hand out to touch Lingil's shoulder. Maybe he could glance inside her mind, just maybe.  

[Gylfie531]

Lingil flicked her gaze to Caecus, and raised one eyebrow. She did not protest his touching her, but her tail tip twitched in annoyance. What was with this guy? He was rather strange.
"I didn't mean to really hurt her, but it's hard to turn off years of training to kill. I've killed many an Eraser as they jumped over me in a format similar to the way she was jumping, so... I didn't kill her, at least." Lingil tried to look abashed, embarrassed, something. She didn't need them turning on her. But no matter. She would find the rest of them, and then they would all be history. Lingil pushed those thoughts out of her mind. She needed to stay in character if she was to find the other avians that these had left behind.  

[keany-beany]

Caecus tried and tried to get into Lingil's mind, but it was like running into a brick wall. Quickly taking his hand off of her shoulder he looked down. This was strange, he had always been able to get into someone's mind when he wanted to. It was like she had the ability to block him from her mind. "I need to take a walk for a little while, I should be back soon," Caecus said as he walked off into the woods. He was so angry at himself for not being able to get into Lingil's mind. He had to take out some of this anger before it got to be too much to handle. As soon as Caecus got out of hearing distance from Lingil his pupils went narrow in the way they always did. Caecus focused on the ground all around him, he could feel the root systems of the trees. He willed the roots to fly out of the ground and take the trees with them. There was a huge ripping sound as five trees flew out of the ground suspended by their roots. Caecus suddenly made them smash together, forming a huge pile of splinters. Suddenly feeling tired he had to stop using his powers. Caecus felt a lot better now, it was just so hard knowing that he couldn't do something for once.  

[Gylfie531]

Lingil's eyes widened. She had followed Caecus from a distance, walking silently around the leaves on the forest floor. He had some great power, one to rival her own speed.
Interesting, she thought. Very, very interesting. But, not to worry. He'll go in his sleep. But what made him so angry? Perhaps...that was him trying to penetrate my mind? It had been a minor attack, and she had ignored it, but was that this avian? It would make sense. The powers went together well. A nice combination. Lucky little birdy, wasn't he? Well, no matter. He would be gone before he suspected her in the slightest. She could play her part well.
Backing off, Lingil swept aroung to the other side of the clearing, as if she had just gone for a walk around the area, not following Caecus. He wouldn't know anything had even happened. How foolish.  

[keany-beany]

Caecus saw Lingil walking out of the clearing. Pupils still narrowed, he made all of the splinters of wood gather into a pile and burst into dust.
"You go for a walk in the woods too?" Caecus asked Lingil.  

[Gylfie531]

"Oh, yeah. The trees are always really calming, the way the wind blows through them, it makes a kind of music. Beautiful." Lingil adopted a whistful look, and she did like the woods, but not so much as she now pretended. They were all right, but she liked the swordpractice arena and that heat of battle far better. Now that was glorious.  

[keany-beany]

"I love the water. Any forest stream makes me feel calm. Hey, there's a stream a little ways down that hill, I can feel it," Caecus said as he pointed down a hill not far away. "Want to go see if we can find it?"

(( Trying to get sidetracked for a little while))  

[Gylfie531]

"Sure," Lingil said, shrugging. She didn't like water that much, as she was part feline, but could use a drink. Running as fast as she did made her thirsty. She listened intently for a few moments, hearing the trickle of water, and began to walk slowly towards it, tracking it as she moved silently along.

((lol, ok then.))  

[keany-beany]

Caecus didn't even have to second guess where the stream was. He just followed the feeling in his gut until he was at the stream. "I feel better already!" Caecus said as he put his feet in the water.  

[Gylfie531]

Lingil hung back, standing in the shadows just inside the treeline. She watching the water running over smooth stones. She shook her head as Caecus went into the water, taking a pace backwards. She ran forwards and leaped high over the stream, not wanting to get wet. These was thicker forest on this side of the stream, and she faded back into it a few feet, closing her eyes as the scents and sounds of the forest overtook those of the water. she breathed in deeply, letting her breath out in a soft sigh.