Cedarwood Forest All eyes on me

RE: Hundreds of crows litter the skies. Could it be a bad omen?

The overwhelming rasping of crows had stirred Deirdre from her afternoon nap, squinting at the sunlight when it hit her already sensitive eyes as she poked her head from the foxhole she had taken refuge in. Blearily blinking, she snuffled softly at the cacophony of the winged beasts flying in amongst the forest.

It had to be a sign of sort. But of what?

She still required guidance from her mother and Ra on spiritual omens, but that wouldn't stop her from making assumptions and wild guesses until she was able to speak with them.

Some believed a group of crows to be a bad omen, of incoming death, and if they were then they were a few months too late. But Deirdre knew crows to be cunning and wise, able to learn, even, which meant they couldn't be all bad.

Deirdre stepped forth from the foxhole, staring up at the mass of black wings up above with a sense of awe. "What are you trying to tell me?"

I let it fall, my heart

set fire to the rain

She wandered further from the familiar, and in many ways that terrified Brielle… but then again what didn’t right now? Her mother was gone, so was her father… she had nothing left except the hunger that burned in her stomach and her brother’s careful eye though even he seemed to keep a bit of a distance. A frown found her features as she moved throughout the tall cedars, her eyes glancing around carefully.

The last thing she was expecting was to run into another wolf… much less a pup just like her. Her eyes widened when she heard her voice, seeking the way that she was staring up at the sky. It caused Brielle to look up, and it caught her off guard and she jumped a little. “Bad! Bad!” She hollered out, causing the crows to begin to scatter at the loud and intruding voice. “Crows mauvaise! Pas bon! Méchant!” She would call out, remembering superstitions from her parents littering through it.

She watched as they scattered. “Silly girl! Crows bad. Crows bring bad luck!” The thick French accent hung over the air as she scolded her agemate.

(// Tasha

Her reverie was broken by the yelling of another girls, dark ears momentarily laying flat upon her skull at the piercing quality of the voice. The girl's accent twisted her words, but they were still intelligible for Deirdre to understand her.

Blue eyes scanned over the pale girl, happy to finally see someone else of her age for once. "Not always bad!" She countered stubbornly, stomping the ground with one forepaw to emphasise her point. Deirdre sought a deeper meaning in the world around her, often requiring help from Ra to make the connections, but of this she would stand her ground on her own merits.

"Crows are very smart, they must be trying to warn us of something." Her gaze returned to the birds which had initially scattered at the yelling, but were now regrouping into one winged mass. Deirdre wasn't sure what they wanted her to know, but she was eager to find out.

I let it fall, my heart

set fire to the rain

She found displeasure on her features as the girl countered her statement stubbornly. She had not expected such a response, because she’d never been faced down with that kind of a reaction before. She stated that crows were smart, and that perhaps they were trying to warn them? What audacity was there? Was she implying that her parents had lied to her? Anger burned in her when she heard that, her eyes narrowed. They were regrouping and she sighed.

The sympathizer was keeping them around, and that did not set right with her. “Toi idiot!” She cursed again as she raised her voice in an attempt to scare the crows away once more. “Allez-vous en corbeaux! Nous ne voulons pas de votre mal!” She called out again with her tail whipping from side to side in determination to get them to flee, a snarl from her voice directed towards the sky.

She had seen enough of this life, with her parents disappearing on her. “Idiot girl, crows are bad. They always bad luck.” She spoke, a certain vindictive nature to her voice.

(// Tasha

The other girl replied back just as stubbornly, once more yelling at the bird with words that Deirdre could not understand. Her dark ears flicked back momentarily at the loudness of the girl's voice, but ultimately she was intrigued by her. The superstition of crows being bad luck appeared to be common between groups of wolves, which was a fascinating idea in and of itself.

She stomped her front paw again, brows furrowing deeply as she frowned. "Not always!" Wasn't the girl understanding her or something? Deirdre wanted to try and explain why, but she was struggling to find the words.

"Crows just warn us of what's going to happen, it is up to us to figure out if it's good or bad." That was about as simple as she could figure out how to explain it given her own understanding. But perhaps the girl was too superstitious to believe her. That didn't mean Deirdre wouldn't try and educate her on the matter.

I let it fall, my heart

set fire to the rain

She didn’t even know the girl’s name, just that she was something of an idiot. She clearly didn’t know what she was talking about. She insisted that it was not always the case and she simply snorted, sticking her nose into the air before looking down at the other girl with a puffed out chest. “Not always? Have you ever seen crows and had something good happen after? I thought not!” She would not even wait for the girl to response to it.

She insisted that it could be a warning and she shook her head. “No! See, that is bad! Warnings are for wicked things about to happen!” Her vernacular was a little more built, her nose twitching as she turned once more to bark at the crows and cause them to scatter, but they kept returning, with more seeming to gather each time she scared some away.

Perhaps she ought to have been nicer both to the winged creatures and to her newfound companion, especially given the hunger gnawing in her belly and her general aloneness… but no, there was nothing else that she could do other than state her mind. She would not lie to anyone.

(// Tasha

The other girl was persistent, that was obvious. Deirdre had to hold back an audible groan of frustration, instead trying her best to be as conversational and less argumentative as she could. "They can lead us to food! You just need to have patience and understanding," she said in an exasperated tone, managing to stop herself from stomping her forepaw yet again.

"If you listen to their caws it can help figure out what they are trying to say," she continued on. But perhaps with the swarm and cacophony of squawks it was not the best piece of information; in more normal circumstances when there were just a few crows around it would've been more helpful.

She turned her muzzle up to look at the birds once again, unable to notice anything beyond the mass of crows flying in the air and skittering across the branches, although her subpar eyesight was certainly not doing her any favours. If only her mother or Ra were here to help shed some light on the matter.

I let it fall, my heart

set fire to the rain

It wasn’t until the other girl spoke of the crows being able to lead them to food that she paused, hesitating for a moment as her stomach growled and rumbled uncomfortably, reminding her of the struggles she had faced over the past couple weeks with that very topic. It felt almost targeted, and yet Brielle, for perhaps the first time in her life, held her tongue before she made some snide comment to the other girl about how the crows were likely feasting on rotten food… at this point, rotten was better than nothing, even if there were serious health implications that could come with it.

“How do you listen to their caws? They all sound the same.” She stated, a stubborn defiance still though it wasn’t as serious as it had been in the past. “What are they saying then? Éduque-moi!.” Though she was speaking a language the girl clearly did not understand based on the look on her face, she was willing to bet the presence the challenge in her tone would serve purpose enough.

If the girl thought she was so clever, then Brielle wanted to see her listen to the crows and then guide them to good… only then might she believe that what the girl said was true. She still highly doubted that she would be successful. If it were possible, her parents would have told her… then again, perhaps her parents weren’t people she could rely on.

(// Tasha

Finally the girl seemed to listen to reason, no longer yelling at the birds to go away, and Deirdre's ears were thankful for that. It was inevitable that she would ask how to identify their different caws, a question which Deirdre probably should have seen coming. But alas she had not really thought that far ahead in her insistence at correcting the other girl.

She turned her attention on the birds, ears rotating forward and up to catch all their cawing. Some were hoarsely cooing to themselves, others making those strange clicking sounds, but most were simply angrily cawing at seemingly nothing in particular. Her ears twisted back as she frowned; there was simply too much noise going on for her to really pick out anything in particular beyond an overwhelming wall of bird sounds.

"I'm still learning, and there's just too many for me to get specifics," she said to the other girl, the bravado she had earlier slipping away. "My mother or aunt would know if they were here." But that was not exactly helpful to them. Deirdre felt a bit like a letdown.

I let it fall, my heart

set fire to the rain

She was hesitant, and did not think the girl could actually do what she said she could. It seemed so outlandish! It was utterly preposterous, actually. Her nose twitched once more, huffing as she spoke that she was still learning. “And where are they?” She asked with a judgmental tone, her tail lashing from side to side in aggravation. It was disappointing, to know that she was right.

A part of her had wished she was wrong, and that the woman had unlocked some kind of awe-inspiring skill by talking to the crows and guiding them to a meal… or perhaps it was her hunger that sought to pull for it. “Then you are useless to me, oui?” She would state, turning on her heels to get away from the cursed crows and the idiot wolf who thought she could commune with them.

It didn’t occur to her that perhaps the girl was going through the same as her, nor that they could help each other. She had not yet expanded to have that frame of mind. She had not yet learned to accept the reality of the situation.

That reality was that she couldn’t afford to turn down any opportunity or situation, like she was currently doing.

(// Tasha