Prologue: City of Wonders - Scene 2

[Admin]

The raven was flying over the sprawling city, as birds often did. It had been a little while since the last fight broke out and as a result food had been slightly scarcer than usually. Surely, one would occur soon. It always did.

As she was looking for bits and scraps, carefully avoiding conflict with adults (at least without backup), a shiny glitter struck her eyes...

[Genevieve]

Her current flight path didn't bring her close to the shiny object, so she did the only thing she could do and abruptly changed direction by diving down towards it. It was a dangerous maneuver, one that she hardly performed unless she felt threatened and needed a quick escape. But she needed to move fast to come closer to that shiny object; it might no longer be present if she takes the time for a delicate turn. The Shiny was much to important to her to lose.

Strange, she didn't even bother to understand why she needed the Shiny.

[Admin]

She managed the maneuver quite easily, she even dodged the edges of the two converging roofs slowing down only dangerously too close. But it did not matter. The shiny was right there. Like a long lost treasure. It reflected the light in a succulent way that made it irresistible.

But what was it? Humans used those things, they put them at the ends of other things that contained liquids. And then they removed it and dumped it everywhere. It made not a lick of sense and did not matter in the least. It was SHINY and it was right there.

[Genevieve]

It was right before her, she could get it. And she did. She snapped her beak around it and held it close. She quickly scanned around her to make sure no one was there to steal it from her. She wondered why humans would throw these things away. Then realized that if this one was discarded, then other ones were as well. She needed to find them!

But first, she needed to secure her treasure in a safe location. She took flight and headed towards a food cache. There wasn't anything in there, she emptied it a while ago. But it would be the perfect place to keep the shiny safe. She had to make sure that no-one would notice it. So, she took the long way there.

[Admin]

With her treasure well hidden, it was safe to go out and find more. She left and soon returned. Left again...

After a dozens of Bottle caps, some broken glass, four of glossy playing cards, one mirror (fallen from the side of a car), a cup with silver lines, a glass eye, five teeth, two silver jewels (a ring and an ankle chain) and one golden earring her hiding place was well and truly filled to the brim. Yet, she had a problem. Now that she was paying attention, she knew. There were many, many, many more to find.

[Genevieve]

She had to find them all. However, she was getting hungry; most of her energy was spend trying to find her treasure instead of finding food. She was torn.

She decided to head towards a well known dumpster behind one of the human's food place. She might be able to find food, and of course, some more treasure.

[Admin]

She flew into the darkening skies to seek out food. The dumpster was in the familiar place, as usual the bulk of the food was protected by the huge metal container covered by heavy plastic. Some bits here and there were left on the ground. Likely fallen when the human tried to unload into the dumpster. Of those, various cats, rats and dogs had already taken their pick. Some were still eating nearby. Whatever was left was half-chewed or not that interesting. She knew, however, that new batches of food came in regularly and that all she needed to do was find something to kill the time with until delivery. She also needed to stay close so as to have time to eat before the rest of the animals arrived.

In the meantime, light catching (treasures) items lying about includes strips of plastic wrap (including bubble-wrap!), broken glass and chewing gum wrappings.

[Genevieve]

She didn't like the nearby cats. Although they were currently eating, which meant that that wouldn't try to attack her for fear of losing their food to another, she didn't like them. They were crafty little beast that, if hungry enough they might try to tackle her down even if they were almost the same size.

The dogs, on the other hand, were too dumb to catch her. She watched them as the scarfed down the food. She was bored, and hungry. She croaked an insult towards them.

She skipped close to one of the dogs, making sure that all the other animals couldn't blindside her with an attack. She targeted a tail and gave a sharp tug on it, before retreating away. She croaked an other insult to get the dogs attention. Distracting a dog would entertain her. If she was lucky enough, the stupid mutt would try and chase her. She could pilfer its food before it had a chance to return.

[Admin]

The dog did not react to the insults, but it turned around at the tug. It was surprised and confused. It barked stupidly at the air, as if asking the cosmos for answers to the great enigma of "Wha? Who did dat?". That he did, even though only the raven was close enough to have done it. A fact that did not seem to register.

[Genevieve]

She croaked a laugh at the dog's idiocy. She allowed it to return to its food before she repeated her taunt. This would amuse her until a food opportunity presents itself.

[Admin]

The dog almost barked, but didn't quite get the sound out of his throat. It made it seem pathetically clueless and inefficient. This time, however, it did seem to accept the extremely far fetched theory that the only creature alive nearby was possibly responsible for tugging its tail. It turned towards the bird and came after her. Not in anger, not with a murderous bark. If anything, it seemed cautiously playful.

[Genevieve]

The raven croaked at the dog, was if to say "Yeah, it was me. What are you going to do about it?".

Still, she didn't take any chances and flew high and landed on a perch out of the mutt's reach if ever it tried something.

She then cocked her head to look at the door that usually opened when a human was ready to deliver to food in the dumpster. She was wondering when the next meal would come.

[Admin]

The dog barked to its heart's content for a while. Trying to reach the bird, but such a dog was lacking in the field of grace, finesse and wings and therefore could not, for all of its effort, manage to leave the ground no matter how much it wiggled its tail or cursed its feathered tormentor.

The noise seemed to attract the attention of someone inside the human nest. It opened a door and yelled at the dog chasing it away along with several of her other competitors. With the path clear, the human dragged a box filled with flavorful cooked meat to the dumpster. He opened the hatch and began to unload.

[Genevieve]

Great, the raven thought, food was here!

She waited for the human to leave before diving into the dumpster to grab prime food parts. She targeted the meat item and gulped them down.

After a few bites, she flew out and scanned her surroundings to make sure that the competitors weren't on their way back. If they weren't, she'd take another dive.

[Admin]

Unfortunately, they were never too far away and already closing in. The dog was back, chewing on his previous morsel and a couple of cats were sure to be on the way. Probably rats too. Those she knew it was wise to avoid altogether. She had seen them a few times swarming both cats and dogs. They were quite dangerous in large numbers, and they were usually in ridiculously large numbers.

[Genevieve]

Contrary to the ground-dwellers, she had an advantage over the rats. She as able to take her food up to the skies and find a safe haven to eat in peace.

So, she spotted a morcel she considered tasty, then spied around her to make sure that there were no surrounding dangers. After a careful observation around her, she took to the airs to gather her food.

[Admin]

The bird began by taking altitude and positioning herself on a strategic ledge in just the right position to dive, grab and flee. After one last look to make sure the path was safe, she flapped once then twice - just enough to clearly lift off - before allowing herself to fully expand her wing span. In this way, she could control her slower descent snap her beak at her food and disappear before anyone could react.

Now remained the task of finding a good place to eat in peace.

[Genevieve]

The raven flew to one of her regular perch. It was high, at the top of a metal tower that the humans had raised. But they never used it for lodging. Still, it was one of her preferred spots; it was high and there was nothing surrounding it allowing her to look around with ease. Not to mention that sometimes when the sun was bright, it hit the metal tower just right to make it shine.

[Admin]

Nearby...

Down below on the streets, a silly dog would soon learn the prize of his folly. For the incoming rats, the meal was never the scraps of food left behind. For the swarm, the meal was the fresh prey lured there by the uninteresting scraps. When the silly dog realized danger was afoot, he darted as fast he could, but the rats clever and had quickly cut off most possible paths of escape...

A few hours later, the man came back to his dumpster with more trash. The smell assaulted his nose and summoned forth his curiosity. He didn't have to go far to find the carcass that had been abandoned with almost nothing left on the bones. He cursed and spit on the ground.

"Fucking Rats."

---

On the roof of the building, the raven was eating in peace. A fine meal, all in all. The view was nice too. From here, she could see all the shiny, shiny treasures the world was hiding. Not long after she was done ingesting, one such glow caught her eye.

[Genevieve]

She was curious about what caught her eye. She decided to investigate it. She left her perch and drew near to the site.

[Admin]

With the glint as a target she dove through the night as an eagle would towards its prey. Tearing the wind apart like she was already there, she could feel victory between her talons. Any second now she would be to take it in -

It was gone!

There was a sudden flash of movement, and then the wonderful sparkly disappeared. Looking around, the little bird's tiny heart skipped a beat as it realized that another raven had stolen her treasure.

[Genevieve]

She let out an angry croak towards the other raven. That was the only warning she would give before she aggressively dove towards the other to strike enough fear to make the other raven drop her treasure!

[Admin]

It almost worked. The other raven was surprised by her over-aggressive croak and did actually drop the shiny rock. But he was FAST. He dove and retrieved it before she could and darted towards a nearby roof. She kept up with him as best she could and managed not to lose him. When she got there, he'd hidden under a loud metallic machine. The kind that seemed to blow hot air out into the sky for some reason. The structure was large above their heads, but it was held in place by tiny struts that allowed her to have a good look at the thief.

The thief was lean, built for speed and dexterous efforts. He was also tired and old. Sure, he'd been faster than her up to here, but, his age showed. While he did stand proud over his prize, he was also huffing and puffing and wheezing. Easy pickings.

And then something new happened.

"Wait! We need to talk! Just listen, and I'll let you have it."

He'd croaked, like any other raven before him ever had. But, somehow, instinctively, she'd understood far more out of the subtle pitches and nuances, combined with the movements of his head. She had understood every word.

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