ooc| just open for one or two others!

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This night was darker than the rest, the moon had slipped away into nothingness, bringing about a still in the air. As if the sky was confused and searching for it’s light; the tides danced in a weird way missing their guidance. The stars twinkled a little brighter though, without the moon’s pale glow to lessen their beauty. They dappled the night sky like the speckles of an appaloosa horse, slowly moving around the horizon. He wasn’t sure when he had started staring at them, but he was aware now that he was feeling a little chilly. Though it was never frigid here in El Dorado—at least not to his standards—the lack of motion had let his blood settle.

Val decided not to go home tonight, his den was lonely enough even with Fi and for some reason the stars were oddly enchanting. He puffed up his thick, fluffy Sapphire fur and continued to sit staring. Is this why the Opalites liked the sky so much?

As was typical of his more pensive nature, tongue ran across his teeth inside his lips.

He was really neither here nor there at the moment and instead just looked out across El Dorado from the ledge he’d found himself perched on. The breeze tickled through his feathers and the icy man sighed softly; not dejected but peaceful, for once at least. Valravn wasn’t feeling particularly contemplative tonight, rather he sat and looked out across the packland as if he was hoping something would happen so he wouldn’t have to go home.

Perhaps he should be careful what he wished for?

No, the Roc of Wings wasn't one to walk about at night, he had a strict bedtime that he was usually strict at keeping. That being said, on nights when it was this clear it gave him an opportunity to update the star maps. Opalites fawned over those things like nobody's business, and Itai was never one to push people away from gaining knowledge (as long as there was something in it for him). He was no gatekeeper after all (he was exactly a gatekeeper).

So he was out braving the wilds tonight, looking for a high enough vantage point, with a clear look to the sky. His little lantern in his jaws, climbing up a steep ledge. This ought to do the trick! The glow of the lantern outlining someone ahead of him and he quirked a brow upward, eyes narrowing as he took in the colors. He knew every face in this pack, ever speck of color. Ah, this one, nearly dropping his light source with how bad he curled his lip up in disgust. The Sapphire/Riverine bastard, Valravn. What a scandalous this that was, a botched mess, that lead to a scandalously patched up fix.

Sapphires and Riverines, the whole lot of them truly knew how to make horrible messes. Both those families were so lowly, too low for even the dogs to bite. Like fleas on rats. If the bastard was hoping for no company, then he'd be sadly mistaken by the hellion walking up with a loud and derisive snort. "Didn't take you for a stargazer." There's no masking the disgust in his voice as he addresses the other. Kaxlan was a fool to allow that one to be a raven, he soils up the entire rank, puh.

Beginning to lay out his materials, he'd place his lantern upon a rock, making sure it was firmly in place, grasping firmly at a scroll as he began his work. "You've a reason to be out so late?" He asked absentmindedly, but curiosity glinted in his eyes, though wickedly it looked as if to crucify. A warning, careful what you tell this one, his ears and rank belong to himself, but also another.

k a x l a n

"And what business is that yours, Itai?"
She wasn't too far behind him, able to distinct Itai's voice and his bat-like silhouette from the glow of his lantern. Valravn, however, was lit up by the spotlight. There was a moment of pity that she held for the Raven when she heard the disgust and mockery laced in Itai's voice, but she knew very well the bastard could take care for himself. No need to get too involved, not yet. Trotting around Itai's glowing light and carefully stepping over his mess of materials, Kax found a seat somewhere between him and Valravn, nodding respectfully towards her fellow Raven. A bastard and equally as shamed as she'd been previous to the Civil War. Sometimes even after, especially when dealing with the likes of Itai.

Unlike Kaxlan's counterpart, her dear brother Moxie, she didn't find Itai to be all that despicable. Obnoxious? Of course. But harmless. He seemed to simply enjoy being quite the shitbird, and for that reason Kaxlan did her best to avoid letting him ruffle her feathers. She never understood his obsession with absolutely everything but perhaps, though it'd never be admitted, she found it to be absurdly entertaining.

"Doesn't take anyone special to stargaze." She smirked, side eyeing his scrolls as he mapped and plotted or whatever the hell he found worthy of doing. It was a waste of time, if anyone thought to ask her. The stars didn't mean shit.

If ever someone was to get under his skin, Itai wasn’t the beast for it. Valravn didn’t like the Roc of Wings by any circumstances and thought him the more deplorable creature, perhaps in all the tribal lands. But, Itai wasn’t even an Aviari, and he held himself as if he was as good as a Crystalline, or the Phoenix himself, and that amused Val enough to make up for how much he detested the odd creature. The Roc was delusional at best, and completely past the point of no return at worst, the spectrum and the in-between were all interesting all the way through. Unusual really. One day Val might like to pick the brain of the gangly hellion, though he expected to never really get far with Itai. The bastard just wanted to understand why a hellion thought himself better than over half the general population of the Aviari people, while kissing up to the other part; having no bloodline to have pride in. He also wanted to know what exactly it would take, supply-wise, to burn that entire wretched stock of scribbles and prejudices the Roc kept…

So as the glow of the lantern approached, and nearly caused a fire, Valravn let a vicious grin pull across his face. Only letting the slightest of a perking brow at the snort mar the humored expression on his face. When the hellion spoke, (Valravn wondered how people spoke with their noses so up in the air sometimes) the Raven just chuckled at him. ”Hmm not often. But I use the stars to navigate from time to time, never hurts to have a refresher. Plus I can see most of the tribal land from here, beneficial for night patrols.” Neither were the truth of the moment, listlessness was Val’s only motivation tonight, but he would play with the Roc a bit. He really did know the basic stars, as a Raven if he had a mission outside of the pack, navigation via stars would be a reliable map if he managed to get himself lost. And should something break out or look suspicious, he could remove himself from his roost fairly quickly to intervene if a Jay’s enforcement was needed. Seeing as he’d already answered the hellions next question, the icy male just looked at the Roc’s materials.

Would be such a shame if the lantern burnt up all those papers…

But he’d humor the Roc’s derision, ”Well as you know Roc Itai, I have no family to return to. So I continue my duties into the night until I tire.” He could always attend breakfast with Auntie, but Itai didn’t need to know that, at least… not yet. Kaxlan had appeared sometime during his amusement and he had offered her a nod back but had continued on his comments to the Roc of Wings first. Kaxlan made a comment about stargazing and Val nodded with his characteristic grin still plastered on his face. ”Don’t tell the Opalites that..”

Ears perked at her arrival, but he didn't answer the Roc at first, instead he took to looking around, feigning confusion, he'd give a sideways glance to Val. "Did you hear that?" He asked, brows knitting together as he gave one more glance around and then, finally his eyes landed on Kaxlan. "Ohhh! Kaxlan, my apologies, you're so small I almost missed you." He waved her off, turning back to his little map.

Ear flicking to the male's words and he simply rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say." The hellion said with a curled lip clearly uninterested by the answer, but he wouldn't push the subject further. Glancing over to Kaxlan who also decided it was best to open the only big thing about her, her mouth. The Roc merely rose a brow at her. "The Opalites asked for me to map out stars for them, they're so awful at keeping up to date records." Crooked smile upon that slender maw. "If you want to map these stars then be my guest, but I wouldn't much trust your lines given the nonchalance of your previous statement, Roc Kaxlan." He said simply, glancing to the small female and then sighing loudly

"Goodie, we should be so lucky to have an astute and dutiful jay and raven such as yourself, Valravn." Sarcasm dripped from his words like venom from a pit viper. Large ears perked as he turned his head slightly to the side as he eyed Valravn, a flicker in those bright pink eyes of his. "You've no place to attempt to make fun of any bloodline, considering how muddy your own is." Riverine and Sapphire, how atrocious, though the look Itai gave him was calm and collected, it spoke volumes. "It's best now to learn your place."  A warning, and his eyes would drift back to his scrawling.

k a x l a n

She bobbed her head from side to side, her eyes getting lost in the back of her head as she heard Itai's attempt to insult her. So small! She wasn't sure what was meant to be offensive about it, anyway. Being small carried many advantages, it was the reason she was so excellent at her job. Being small meant she could move quickly and hide in inconspicuous spaces. Her size made her well equipped as Roc of Ravens. Kaxlan knew the comment was another one of Itai's schemes to get under her skin, to enrage her; she wouldn't allow it. What was more fun, she thought, was to reciprocate. "Small, yes... But at least I'm proportionate." A notion was made towards his large, narrow ears and long noodle-like tail; both of which seemed too long for a wolf and more fitting for a rodent. He could take it, but if not she prepared herself for quite the lashing from the hellhound.

Kaxlan did not associate much with the Opalites, their ramblings of the stars and their devotion to them was nauseating; it wasn't the type of conversation she could remotely pretend to be interested in. So when Itai said that they were incapable of mapping out the stars for himself, she could only believe him. As annoying as Itai was, she'd admit he was intelligent. "What is it that they're good for then, if they can't map the same stars they worship?" Valravn seemed to worry that she cared what the Opalites would think had they heard her opinion about the stars, "I don't plan on telling them anything."  She didn't.

Kaxlan stepped towards Itai, looking towards his map, then towards the sky again. Seemed simple enough, draw the dots... connect them. She scoffed, "I guess without the Opalites we wouldn't know who was really pulling their weight around here."

The Roc of Ravens arrived and of course, Itai had a smart ass remark about it. Valravn looked at Itai with the most deadpan “wow that was stupid” expression he could muster about being brought in on the hellion’s mockery of the tiny Obisidian. Hadn’t Itai learned by now that you didn’t insult Obsidians if you like not being wounded. So the Raven would simply perk his brow as the tiny brown woman retorted, allowing himself to chuckle lightly in his throat. He bit back the urge to comment that at least with Itai’s ears he could probably hear when the stars realigned. Instead he simply grinned a half-smirk at the pair of feuding Rocs, watching the firelight flicker across all their faces.

As they continued to bicker about the stars and about the Opalites the Jay simply leaned back into a more relaxed position. Where was the popcorn when one needed it? Kaxlan bit back that she had no intentions of telling the Opalites about his smartass remarks and he simply smiled at her that grin he normally gave. They discussed the usefulness—or rather, lack thereof—of the Opalite family as a whole and the male just watched. His statement had been truthful, Kaxlan didn’t think it was special to stargaze, he simply thought perhaps they wouldn’t want a war of the O families on their hands. Not that he thought the star hippies would put up much of a fight anyway. The Jay had absolutely no reservations about placing all bets on the Obsidians if that ever happened. Those poor hippy dippy Opalite fools wouldn’t know what hit them.

When Itai mocked him the icy blue male just grinned from ear to ear. ”Oh, coming from you Roc Itai. Goodness. I should just. Hang it on my wall. I’ll never receive such a compliment again. I live for validation.” If he hadn’t have snickered part of the way through it, he might have sounded fairly serious. The Roc of Wings was an empty position as far as Valravn was concerned. Itai spent more time scribbling racism in his scrolls than he did doing his job. He was more concerned about the opinion of his own Roc, Kaxlan and he would happily—and respectfully—banter with her any day. But Itai made a comment about his mockery and he cocked his head playfully at the hellion, choosing his next words carefully.

”Hmmm. But that’s where you’re wrong Roc Itai. Since I happily mock all bloodlines and lack thereof with the same treatment, including my own; that’s inclusivity. Unlike some who think they should mock others with no reciprocation. I just like to play fair.” Valravn would blink calmly back at the hellion, wondering what he’d have to say. He’d leave the comment about his place out of it. The whole war was based on the notion that people were tired of having their “place” assigned to them. ”Also, even the muddiest Aviari blood is still Aviari blood.”

Unlike you.