A pero shivered. Winter had fallen, and her mother hadn't come back yet. She should've known the flock would've left. She was a teen - most peros left their pack at their adolescent years. Of course, the flock had decided she was wasting too much food only to throw it up. She had a strange condition called bulimia. Which meant that she ate a whole ton of food, just to throw it up later. It was a common sickness among larger creatures, like kendylls or grami - but for a creature as small as a peor, who had to live in a pack this was dangerous. Something landed beside me, and I quickly tried to turn invisible before it roared, trying to chase her. My name was Spectre, and I wouldn't think you would remember it. It banged into all sorts of corners trying to chase me as I frantically wove around in different directions and ducked under small tunnels. I couldn't stay though, since they were too small to fit me completely.
But of course, something weird happened. An angry aeries sprayed gold at the kendyll, watching it roar desperately. It was so swift in the sky, it was hard to keep track of where it was going next. It was dark velvet red I could see, and it's eyes gleamed gold. Its halo shined as it rushed in for some aerial attacks. The kendyll hissed something among the lines of "CAN'T I HUNT IN PEACE?!" With a guilty feeling in my stomach, I thought if this crazed fear was what all the small critters I had teasingly hunted for fun had felt before death. Poor things, I shuddered, remembering the pleading look on the Flixit I had just killed a week before. I suddenly felt like throwing up more than ever.
Once the kendyll had fled, screaming and shouting bloody murder behind them, the aeries landed. Their grin and glowing eyes made me want to look at them more and more - it was hard to ignore something so shiny and huge which wasn't about to kill me. "Hmm. For a pero, you sure are good at surviving." he said, scanning me up and down, from my bleeding and broken wings to the bleeding scratches that had stained my fur red. "Gee, thanks." I muttered, stumbling forward. "Whoa. You fine there?" "MaYBE." I mumbled, trying to upright myself but throwing up. "Did you fly on a draft for an hour? I don't throw up like that and look at how fast I am." "Normal." I said, annoyed and embarrassed at the same time. "I amen't - ohhhh. Throwing up is normal. Ok, right."
"Well, I'm taking you to my friend. She's a puffwump. She could be able to help." the Aeires said briefly before grabbing me and taking to the sky. "HOW DO YOU SURVIVE THIS?" I yelled over the wind "OOPS, SORRY, WIND IN MY EARS, CAN'T HEAR YOU!" I let out a defeated sigh. I had to admit though, they were pretty funny. Now that I heard their voice, I had assumed they were male, but it was better to check than be embarrassed later on. "What are your pronouns." They snorted. "I use they and he pronouns, chill out. I don't think my voice sounds that light, does it?" "N-no" I mumbled, lowering my head. "What were you doing out here by yourself? I thought peros live in flocks." "Well, basically, when a flock is too large they kick out the children once they become adolescents." "You don't look to be an adolescent." You're starblasted right I'm not. my mind shot back, but my mouth didn't even open to get the words audible. He apparently didn't get the hint and said "Well?" "NO. I'm not." I said angrily through a gritted beak. "Wha-OH. Sorry." he said nervously, in a different voice. But soon, he was acting all happy again. "So what do you guys eat?" "We're omnivorous," I explained "We often eat plants, but in migration we do hunt sometimes. We often migrate by Fall and return before the end of Winter since it takes a while to get there and back." "Makes sense. How large is your flock?" "We were a group of about 20 before the flight started. Now we have 10." "What happened to the others-" but seeing the look on Spectre's face, he stopped. "So, what's your name." "It's Spectre. What's yours if you're so bold?" "It's Orpheus." "After that Greek hero Jeffs like?" "Ehe. Yes." he said sheepishly. "No, that's not why I was asking. Do you know Orpheus played a lyre?" "Yes, my parents wouldn't stop TALKING about him." "Wouldn't?" Spectre asked. An awkward silence filled the air for a few minutes.
Spectre had a feeling Orpheus was a lot more complex than she first expected. With his perfect, "I'm a happy Aeries!" facade which seemed so smooth, she wasn't sure how she had broken past so easily. Maybe it was all the personal questions. If she saw an Aeries, she'd expect them to have perfect lives, being able to fly so fast and far with their wings - and leave the world behind she had first presumed. But maybe some worries did chain their wings and souls to the ground. "Anyways ... we're here. I'll catch you later." he muttered. And then flew off seemingly faster than he had attacked the Kendyll.
"What did you do?" a suspicious voice said behind me. It was a Puffwump with weirdly warm dark brown eyes and a bright orange and blue coat. Despite the fact in most cases these colors wouldn't mix together, somehow she seemed beautiful. She was warm in the frosty tundra I had been dropped off on. "Uhhh ... had a rodeo with a Kendyll." I mumbled as she snorted "No, no - I mean to Orpheus. He's just some big narcissist. Did you roast him?" she said excitedly. I could tell she was my age, but she acted a whole lot less mature. Despite that, I laughed. "No, no. He just got upset I ... um ... insulted his flying skills! Yeah, that's it!" I was a horrible liar, and I saw her raise her eyebrow. "You? Really? No, you roasted him - don't be afraid to admit it!" "No, but I just asked him something a bit personal." "Ohhhh- what?" She said, confused as I just shook my head and sighed.
"Well, then," she said, staring into my eyes. Warm brown against glowing white "Let's get you fixed up!"
