The Knights of the Talon are pretty obvious. They have badges and tabards, all depicting stylized birds, and Raucous spots three or four of them between the restaurant and the attic he's squatting in.
They seem pretty busy, moving folk around and telling people to batten stuff down. I could interrupt and get some information, but..
There is a wall of lightning in the distance, headed this way. Thick, dense clouds and a continual roll of lightning. At this point the thunder is starting to be audible, and it's apparent that the storm will be upon the town in a few hours. Raucous can't actually see any creature, though, no 'avian', not past the wall of thunderheads, but this storm looks big enough to hide anything that flies.
Yeah. That's looking kind of serious. I'll hold off on questions for the moment. Time to get safe.
Still, the bird would like some answers. So he sticks his head down out of the attic, and pushes himself into the living areas. The family below is all hunkered down. The youngest one, a tiny child not that much bigger than the crow spots him first.
"Look mommy, it's the avian! And it's black!"
"What?"
"Up there! up there, coming out of the ceiling. There's a hole in it."
"Aah, it's.." "No, that's not an avian, it's way too small. It's just a bird."
"A bird? There are black birds?"
"There must be. It must have gotten lost and is hiding from the storm. It's not attacking, so it isn't some kind of monster. Must be an animal."
"Mommy, what's an animal?"
"They're like monsters but they don't hurt people. They just live their lives and do their things, but they aren't smart or dangerous."
At this, the bird interrupts.
"Pardon, but I'm quite smart. As smart as any other human, at least."
It takes some time, and they are frightened, but after showing his ID the family eventually lets the bird stand on the corner of the hearth, well out of the way of anything. Outside the wind is howling and the thunder is more or less continuous, becoming too loud to properly talk over. Everyone has cloth wrapped over their ears, including the bird, despite not having proper ears. The kids are also huddled together, hands on top of the cloth, hiding from the thunder. There are steady flashes of light through the window shutters, and under the secured door, accompanied by the endless drumroll of hammers.
Things get steadily worse until the climax, when the storm is directly overhead. Lightning strikes the house, as it did all their neighbours, leading to an immediate krack-boom as the lightning rod is struck, grounding out the strike with further charges of ozone, and flashing the blue light through the cracks, stronger than ever. There is a faint tingle of charge coming through the ground, affecting the air as it flows in an ionic wind.
And then the moment is passed. The storm has passed its peak, and is on its way out. The house has survived intact, and the avian never actually attacked the town. And after a good half hour, with the thunder getting less overwhelming, the family begins taking off their ear coverings. The mother than goes to the bird and shouts one thing, still barely audible over the continual drumroll.
.."You should get out, we're clear of the lightning. And you can see the avian much better from the backside of the storm."
That sounds like my best chance.
With that, the bird struggles up through the attic and squeezes through the small hole in the wall. Inside, the reeds and plant insulation is soaked, and the hole probably needs some repair.. but it survived.
Outside things are less dark. Behind the storm there is the evening sun, as it sets behind the storm, and things are much better illuminated. Above, the sky is clear. To the east.. there is more storm, great walls of thunderheads to the left and right, and a thick layer of cloud below. And above the clouds is an immense flying beast, wings filling an arc of the sky, wider than the moon. It's vaguely bird-like, but beyond the capacity of the world to sustain such an animal, much less keep it flying. Whatever forces it uses to survive, those aren't the same as the forces the bird knows.. the food, warmth, gravity, air.. the things which dominate the lives of all living creatures. The great avian works by different functions, functions beyond everything Raucous knows.
I.. think that I might turn down a job to mess with that thing.
The Knights of the Talon are pretty obvious. They have badges and tabards, all depicting stylized birds, and Raucous spots three or four of them between the restaurant and the attic he's squatting in.
They seem pretty busy, moving folk around and telling people to batten stuff down. I could interrupt and get some information, but..
There is a wall of lightning in the distance, headed this way. Thick, dense clouds and a continual roll of lightning. At this point the thunder is starting to be audible, and it's apparent that the storm will be upon the town in a few hours. Raucous can't actually see any creature, though, no 'avian', not past the wall of thunderheads, but this storm looks big enough to hide anything that flies.
Yeah. That's looking kind of serious. I'll hold off on questions for the moment. Time to get safe.
Still, the bird would like some answers. So he sticks his head down out of the attic, and pushes himself into the living areas. The family below is all hunkered down. The youngest one, a tiny child not that much bigger than the crow spots him first.
"Look mommy, it's the avian! And it's black!"
"What?"
"Up there! up there, coming out of the ceiling. There's a hole in it."
"Aah, it's.." "No, that's not an avian, it's way too small. It's just a bird."
"A bird? There are black birds?"
"There must be. It must have gotten lost and is hiding from the storm. It's not attacking, so it isn't some kind of monster. Must be an animal."
"Mommy, what's an animal?"
"They're like monsters but they don't hurt people. They just live their lives and do their things, but they aren't smart or dangerous."
At this, the bird interrupts.
"Pardon, but I'm quite smart. As smart as any other human, at least."
It takes some time, and they are frightened, but after showing his ID the family eventually lets the bird stand on the corner of the hearth, well out of the way of anything. Outside the wind is howling and the thunder is more or less continuous, becoming too loud to properly talk over. Everyone has cloth wrapped over their ears, including the bird, despite not having proper ears. The kids are also huddled together, hands on top of the cloth, hiding from the thunder. There are steady flashes of light through the window shutters, and under the secured door, accompanied by the endless drumroll of hammers.
Things get steadily worse until the climax, when the storm is directly overhead. Lightning strikes the house, as it did all their neighbours, leading to an immediate krack-boom as the lightning rod is struck, grounding out the strike with further charges of ozone, and flashing the blue light through the cracks, stronger than ever. There is a faint tingle of charge coming through the ground, affecting the air as it flows in an ionic wind.
And then the moment is passed. The storm has passed its peak, and is on its way out. The house has survived intact, and the avian never actually attacked the town. And after a good half hour, with the thunder getting less overwhelming, the family begins taking off their ear coverings. The mother than goes to the bird and shouts one thing, still barely audible over the continual drumroll.
.."You should get out, we're clear of the lightning. And you can see the avian much better from the backside of the storm."
That sounds like my best chance.
With that, the bird struggles up through the attic and squeezes through the small hole in the wall. Inside, the reeds and plant insulation is soaked, and the hole probably needs some repair.. but it survived.
Outside things are less dark. Behind the storm there is the evening sun, as it sets behind the storm, and things are much better illuminated. Above, the sky is clear. To the east.. there is more storm, great walls of thunderheads to the left and right, and a thick layer of cloud below. And above the clouds is an immense flying beast, wings filling an arc of the sky, wider than the moon. It's vaguely bird-like, but beyond the capacity of the world to sustain such an animal, much less keep it flying. Whatever forces it uses to survive, those aren't the same as the forces the bird knows.. the food, warmth, gravity, air.. the things which dominate the lives of all living creatures. The great avian works by different functions, functions beyond everything Raucous knows.
I.. think that I might turn down a job to mess with that thing.
