khuioduan | 01 ~ video

[The video shows Naesala casually lounging against the side of a stone building, in his usual dark outfit. It's a wide enough shot to show his wings resting against the wall behind him; he seems to be holding his yimo out at arm's length while he's recording.]

Well then. It's a festival dedicated to tying knots. Makes you wonder what form of the festivities happens in private, doesn't it?

Don't bother scolding me for saying it. I know that's been the question on everyone's mind.

At any rate, I met a most interesting group of people at one of the bars here. They invited me to a Erol'an poetry reading at a place near the docks. I don't know what to expect from it, but it ought to make for an interesting night.

[Naesala seems pretty satisfied with the turn of events, too. Look at him, making friends with hipsters.]

If only all my interactions with the locals were like that. Do yourselves a favor and don't walk close to the colleges if you have any extra appendages. You might not escape with all your feathers intact.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The dragons are quite reclusive, too. You don't want them on your bad side.

How can I even count the ways hawks are exhausting? They don't approve of what we ravens value or how we live our lives. Imagine a bunch of musclebound idiots cawing about how you're not being 'honorable enough' and that's the basic experience of dealing with hawks.

[Naesala's disdain is clear on his face, but there's a part of him that's quite happy that he can complain about hawks here without Tibarn swooping in to pluck out his tailfeathers.]

Yeah, I got that memo.

[The less interacting with her world's dragons, the better.]

[Eve nods along to what he's saying about hawks, the corners of her mouth curling with a faintly suppressed smile.]

Gotcha. Hawks, jocks.

So, new question. How big are you when you shapeshift?

[Is she having a people-sized raven here.]

[That question makes him slowly start to smirk.]

Do you want that in inches?

... To answer your question, I'm large enough to carry a person on my back. If they asked very nicely.

[Do not give her that smirk. ...Even if she possibly accidentally asked for it.]

Try not to measure in public.

[She shakes her head. She's being pulled down to his level.]

That's... a little bigger than the ravens I'm used to.

[He just laughs instead of opting to push the joke any further. Naesala is smart enough to know when to let a topic like that drop.]

What else did you expect? We couldn't hunt or fight if we were big enough to be held in someone's hands. There might be some other reason for it, but I'm no scholar. That's just how it works.

[Probably for the best he's not a scholar.]

I mean, normal-size ravens seem to manage just fine. For things of their size, anyway. I suppose they don't do a lot of fighting humans.

[Or. Human-sized creatures.]

I see fighting as a waste of time, but even I have to admit it's necessary sometimes. Much easier to do that with a big, sharp beak and being able to knock a man off his horse in a pinch.

[Well, okay, that one's actually sort of fun.]

...That one I'll grant you. Hard to do if you're a normal-sized bird.

[This is not a tactical issue she's ever run into, but she'll learn quickly.]

Do that often?

Not very often, but it's a trick that comes in handy sometimes.

Good to know. I'll try to stay on your side of things.

[Said wryly. Aaand she'll just add anti-giant-bird tactics to her list of things to develop, too. Just in case.]

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