The forest laid tranquil as, two lonely figures made their way along a well-trodden hiking trail. Jannick and Mala had left the clearing a few minutes ago and remained silent so far, each trapped in their own thoughts.
It took until their next break for Mala to break the silence, "So, did you hear that voice as well, the one that made your whole mind echo. And said that weird line about dreams" "Yeah, I heard it as well, but that wasn't all. You know how, how you asked me what bird I want to be?", Mala nodded, "Well turns out I would like to be a swallow, I was just thinking about it, when the voice came, but after the voice left, I couldn't stop thinking about the dream, the same few images of me flying as a swallow, just kept repeating . Then the voice spoke again, it congratulated me, said I gained the skill [Dream of Flight]".
"Wait hold on, you gained a Skill like in a Game or Anime, that's wild.", Mala exclaimed. "I mean yeah, I guess but being able to turn into a bird and freaking fly, is the part I would focus on.", Jannick replied amused. "But I already knew that part", Mala explained herself, "More importantly does that, mean you can do it again?" Jannick replied, "I'm not sure, when I transformed last time I kind of went through [Dream of Flight] and then I fell...." "And is that [Dream of Flight] still there?", Mala probed further. "It is somewhere in the back of my mind.", Jannick mused, "I could try replicating the felling." "Do it, but please stay here ok?", Jannick didn't need to hear Malas request, that was what he wanted to do anyway.
The Skill was in his mind, ever present, always slipping into his thought. The construct itself however, proved to be extremely slippery. He remembered it, sure, a memory full of wonder fear and confusion. Reliving those moments was easy, sadly this didn't include the image, it had lost a lot of its luster. The words dream of flight, were easy to imagine, simple words, free of too many emotions and free of the magic and gravitas of the original. The impressions of being a swallow were fresh in his mind the beat of his wings his aerial dance, his triumph over the challenger. He missed this feeling, now that he thought about it, walking was so much worse. If only he could fly again, [Dream of Flight] the skill shimmered through his fantasies. It was in reach, he just had to grab it.
He felt the soft wood of the trunk they were sitting on give way, heard a soft thud as well as an excited voice: "Jannick you did it!" "Wiit", he replied equally excited. Mala leaned down to him, "Lemme take a look at you, you are so shiny and the blue and red, awwwh, so cute." Jannick preened at the praise, he and cute well that was new, but he didn't hate it, it was a compliment after all. When Mala started to gush about his forked, tail feathers, it was a different story, deeply unsettling, he didn't want to hear, "what a beautiful tail", over and over. That was just wrong on a lot of levels.
To escape the inspection, he turned around, unfolded his wings, to the cheers of his audience, and with just a single flap he was in the air, lazily circling his earthbound friend. Mala on her end enjoyed the show greatly. The proficiency on display impressed her deeply, in no way inferior to a normal swallow, was this really the same person, that nearly fell out of the air less than an hour ago. She wasn't sure about the facial cues of swallows, but she could imagine, that Jannick enjoyed himself greatly. It reminded her of how he would always be the dragon, when they played save the princess in preschool, or how he was a Pokemon, when they had fantasy battles in elementary school. Him getting to transform made sense to her. Although, she was pretty sure, his younger self, would be just a little disappointed right now.
The circles of his fly kept widening, he just couldn't help himself. As he slowly gained speed, he naturally had to expand them, slowing down was such a waste. From one of his eyes, he could see Mala trapped in thought, clearly amazed by his awesome flying. His circles slowly reached the trees of the clearing, and he started circling around the trees. Then he remembered the devastated Mala on his last return and decided he would do something else.
He dove behind the next tree, but instead of continuing with his gently curved path, he made a sharp turn, directly heading not for his friend but about fifty centimeters to her left. He saw Mala, softly breathing out in relive, the emotion quickly vanishing from her face. His Birdseye view, however, caught it anyway. "Scrii, scriii", Jannick had to stop her, she was leaning down anticipating his landing, that was completely wrong. Of course, she understood his message. He was certain that his maneuver would work, they were going to look awesome.
Mala watched him slowly glide towards her; she had no idea what he wanted to do. She only knew, leaning down was a no. The only option was to sit back up and watch his antics. Would he graze her again, no she was safe. He swerved up, flapping his wings to stop his momentum, claws forward, it looked like, yes, he was trying to land, in thin air. An idea flashed through her mind, his position, the length of her arm, oh, oh her wants to land on my arm, awesome. We are gonna be like a falconer.
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She stretched out her arm, offering it to her wildly flapping friend. Raised halfway the landing site was almost ready, when the bird, dropped a little. "Scrii, flitt, wiii", Jannick complained. She rolled her eyes; how could she possibly guess his plan that fast. "Come on just try again.", she encouraged instead of complaining, having her birdfriend on her arm, would be awesome after all. "Wiii!!!", he cried out and quickly circling back around.
With a wide grin on her face, she stretched her arm and he quickly closed in on her, slowed down, tilted his body a bit stretched out his claws and touched down on her arm. A quick hop and he faced her, looking up triumphantly. Her smile stiffened a bit, "Uhm Jannick, your claws, are really sharp". The swallow quickly looked up, "Wiiit, fii.", he apologized softly and tried loosening, his grip, only to quickly stop, this wasn't stable. He tilted his head in thought, his gaze landed on the thin fingers, of her hand. He was really light in this form; his claws were perfect for thinner branches.
Carefully, he hopped along the arm of his friend, each hop making her wince a little, as he tried his best not to fall. Luckily, they prevailed, Mala had gritted her teeth a bit and didn't flinch when Jannick was unstable, while he had carefully held on when she did. When he finally reached, her hand, he gently poked it with his beak, she gave him a confused look and he poked her a second time and mimicked another hop. Understanding dawned upon her, and she unfolded her hand, carefully unfolding her hand, the thump thoughtfully held to the side. He made one final big hop a single wing flap and landed safely on her index finger.
"Wii,wiii,wiiiiii", he let out in contentment, this felt much more secure. The claws on his feet safely wrapped around the finger not piercing into it at all. Malas smile lost the strain as well. Jannick looked back at the arm, the contentment quickly leaving him, six small drops of blood had formed were he touched down. He flicked his head up the arm and apologized again, "wiiiee, fiiii, wii". "It's okay don't feel bad, about that, it will quickly heal up. You just didn't remember your claws, that's all.", she soothed his worries. Slowly carefully, she raised her arm. Jannick let out a surprised, "flit", but quickly calmed down again, he was still secure.
Mala pulled her arm up to her face, seeing her friend this close, was so cool. He really looked indistinguishable from a normal swallow and so relaxed. The eyes loosely focused on her, his feathers puffed a little, to fell the warmth just a tiny bit better. Just like Jannick would snuggle into his jacket. "This is really cool, fells a lot more personal, than when you are sitting on the ground.", she shared. "Wii", he readily agreed.
"My arm is getting heavy; can you start from here?" Mala asked after a few minutes. "Spi!", Jannick replied, starting from here would be no problem for him. It was as easy as flapping his wings once and opening his claws, just like this he was in the air. A few more quick flaps heaved him over Malas head, the downdraft ruffling the few lose hairs, that had escaped her braid. After having cleared the obstacle once more, he returned to circling around her. A little confused were to go next.
Mala seemed to sense his confusion and called out to him, "How about, we go a little up the trail like this?" "Splee!!", Jannick happily agreed, he really liked the idea. "Don't worry, I can carry your backpack no problem.", she added. He confirmed again, grateful for his friends thoughtfulness, he had totally forgotten about his stiff.
They hiked and flew up the mountain side by side. It turned out to be almost impossible for Jannick to slow down enough to match Malas speed, instead he circled around her, made short trips into the forest or flew a little ahead only landed on her finger again when he returned. Mala chuckled a little from his antics, it reminded Mala of a child on a Bicycle going on a walk with their parents. Sometimes she would tell Jannick a few stories about life at Uni, the few friends she had made, the terrifying exams she recently survived or about her runs through the peaceful fields just outside of town. Jannick happily listened to all of it, chirping in a few comments sometimes. Not being able to talk more, sucked but it wasn't so bad, he had already told most of his stories earlier anyway.
They had made their way up most of the mountain this way. Currently, stopping just a little away from the top and the restaurant there. Mala had asked him, to transform back to his human form, before they meet other people. Carrying two backpacks was a little unusual after all, and then there was the fact, she was talking to a friendly bird. One that shouldn't be here this time of year nor land on someones finger. Just like the first time, he dreaded going back to walking, but he looked forward to talking with his friend a lot.
Jannick had once again landed on her outstretched finger, happily noting, that the small wounds he had caused earlier were already scraped over. He once again focused on his desire to talk to her; [Dream of Flight] flashed in his mind, just a little less radiant, than the first time he saw it. He was back in his human form. Mala released his hand, why, how was he holding on to it in the first place. Then his wrist started to vibrate over and over, it seems like his phone just connected to the internet.