[FIN] But Getting There is Half the Fun [Harps]

[Lucca]

The sun was bright and the air was clear as a little green Bat fluttered down a street in Capital City, large ears perked forward as she ran after her quarry...a butterfly. "Come back! I just want to observe you for my Nature badge!" she called after it, laughing. She'd found it sitting on one of the flowers in the park that she always stayed in while her guardian of the day went and had tea, but before she could get real close, it had flown off into the city.

"Silly butterfly, you're not going to find any flowers over there," she laughed again, tail wiggling as she followed the small insect's erratic flight. Her antlers nearly snagged on a piece of ivy hanging from one of the apartment buildings, but she shook herself free...glancing hurriedly around for the butterfly, worried it might have gotten away from her in her distraction, but then she spotted it: settled in on top of some geraniums hanging in a window box. Grinning, she clung to the wall with her wing claws and feet, carefully inching towards it...

[Harpsdesire]

Oooh! Butterfly!

The heavily-built Corvie raised his head as a colorful insect fluttered past. Now THAT had an interesting exoskeleton! Light and strong, flexible enough to allow flight, elegant lines... it was a marvel of natural engineering!

Although he was a mere seven years old, Joel's obsession with science (and his pet topic in particular) was well developed. Abandoning the 'common' anthill he had been observing, he clambered to his mis-matched feet and started after the butterfly. If he could figure out how to grow an exoskeleton like the butterfly had-- plus maybe get a mechanical Corvie to give him some nice wings-- he'd practically have super powers!

He quickly stuffed away the obvious thought: he was definitely not built for flying. At 7, Joel was already nearly solid muscle and almost as big as most children twice his age. Also more than a little on the clumsy side, with hooves on his back feet and over-large paws in front.

He was rudely reminded of his lack of butterfly-like grace as he spotted his winged quarry high on a wall, tripped over the curb below and went sprawling unceremoniously across the sidewalk with a disgruntled "Oof!"

[Lucca]

Mirriam, intent on stalking the butterfly, jumped in surprise, releasing her hold on the wall, as she heard something definitely un-Butterfly-ish from below her. She fluttered quickly to remain airborne, but when she looked for the colorful insect, it was gone. "Awwww, sour grapes!" she exclaimed loudly in frustration, looking around to see what direction it might have flown, but there was no sign of it. She huffed in annoyance, but thought she might as well see what the noise was. So she fluttered to the other side of the building, and looked down. Her eyes widened as she saw a little Corvie Feline, who looked like he had just fallen over.

Mirriam flitted down toward the ground, landing gently on the sidewalk and looking curiously at the kid. "Are you okay?" she asked, ears perked forward to look at him. He seemed to be older than her, or at least that's what the Bat guessed from his huge size. "My name's Mirriam. What's yours? How old are you? Why do you have hooves are you part deer?" Her voice was curious, friendly, and very young.

[Harpsdesire]

"Er, yeah. I'm ok." Joel gave the little bat a friendly (albeit somewhat toothy) grin. His open face wore a curious look as he inspected the child's strange form. He'd never seen an actual bat before. Before he had a chance to say anything further, Mirriam attacked him with a barrage of questions. It was, he thought, a very friendly sort of attack.

"I'm Joel. And I'm seven!" He proclaimed this with the pure pride at his maturity only a small boy can muster. "Aaaaand I lost track of the other stuff you asked." He admitted.

"Hey, your nose is pretty awesome." He had never seen a nose shaped like a leaf before, either. It looked like it might be rubbery, and he had a distinct urge to poke it and find out, but Joel was afraid that might make her fly away. After all, bugs always flew away when he poked them, even if he was trying to be friendly and see what they felt like. Which reminded him...

"Sorry I scared the butterfly away. I didn't know you were studying it first." His tone was a touch sheepish, as interfering with research was considered a major infraction by most Corvies. Hopefully she would accept his apology. He would much rather play than be yelled at.

[Lucca]

Mirriam gave a delighted gasp as he told her his age. So despite his huge size, he was actually around the same age as her...and just a tad younger! She -never- met anyone younger than her! "I'm eight!" she said excitedly, tail wiggling as she moved a bit closer to Joel. She giggled a bit at his admission. "I like you!" she proclaimed with all the friendly innocence a young girl could have.

"Oh, thank you! All bats have this kinda nose...though I don't meet many Bats around here...I guess we're rare or something." She crossed her brown eyes, trying to see her own nose, the little leaf-shaped thing wiggling a bit. She, obviously, was not an insect, and would not fly away if he touched her...but since she had no way of knowing what he was thinking about, she just smiled toothily at him, feeling a bit dizzy from trying to see her own nose.

"Aw, it's okay. I can always find another one when I go back home," she said cheerfully. "There's lots and lots of them in the Court garden. They love flowers and fruit as much as I do! Cuz, y'know, I'm a fruit bat." She beamed proudly, happy to be making a new friend.

[Harpsdesire]

"I kinda like you too!" Joel bounced in place with playful energy. "You're nice, and you look cool! I haven't met bats before either. But my momma is a bird."

He giggled as Mirriam crossed her eyes and wiggled her nose. She was fun and silly and Joel was very pleased with himself for finding her, even it was a result of a clumsy fall (which he had already mostly forgotten about). One side effect of his fast growth was that Joel never seemed to quite know where his own feet were going. He didn't know his own strength either, which made rough-housing with him a slightly risky game. All in all, the number of broken lamps and accidental bruises on his much smaller litter-mates led to the feline/deer being sent to play outside absolutely any time the weather would permit.

"I like fruit, too. And veggables. And meat. I guess I just like food." The corvie made a funny face and wiggled his deer-like ears. It was true-- at the rate he was growing, Joel was always hungry, and as a result would eat just about anything. And just about everything, for that matter.

"Hey, I know! We should go look for another one right now! I bet there's lots of butterflies in the park, over by that flower garden." He bounced again, proud of his idea. Even though he had siblings to play with, it was always more exciting to make a new friend.

[Lucca]

Mirriam fluttered excitedly, tail wiggling joyfully. This was definitely a great way to spend the afternoon! She grinned as he talked about all the foods he liked. "Well, that's cool! That makes you an om...on...onmivore!" She smiled, proud of herself for knowing this word, which she had just learned recently. "That's a creature that eats EVERYthing!" She stretched out her leathery wings to indicate all the varieties of food there were in the world, giggling.

Her ears perked up at his suggestion. "Oh oh that's a great idea! I love the park!" The thought that there might be more than one park in the Capital didn't even cross her mind. "I came from there, that's where this butterfly came from, too! Now..." She looked around, then...blinked, young face wrinkling her nose a bit.

"Joel, do you know where we are? Because I don't really think I do," she said, not sounding really worried though...being someplace new was fun!...well, unless you couldn't find your way back.

[Harpsdesire]

"Rawrr!" Joel stomped his front paws and growled playfully. "I'm Joel, a creature that eats EVERYTHING!" He chuckled, returning Mirriam's smile with a wide, goofy grin.

"Yay!" Joel was glad that his new friend liked his idea. The park was one of his favorite places, so full of interesting bugs to study and so much space to play. Although he tended to be more focused and relaxed than many little boys, he was still a child with lots of energy to burn.

"Well. Hmm." The Corvie considered Mirriam's words for a few seconds before answering. "I was just at the park before I ran over here and met you. That means... that means... Since I'm facing this way, the park must be back that way!" He turned around to face the opposite way and indicated the direction to go with more enthusiasm than accuracy.

Joel was feeling rather good about his 'logical' method of navigating and completely failed to realize that in the process of falling down, getting back up, and fidgeting around while he talked to Mirriam, he had actually changed direction several times. So much for logic.

[Lucca]

Mirriam giggled at his impression of some sort of ferocious creature...which, she knew from talking to him so far, he obviously wasn't! Her eyes widened suddenly and she ducked, pretending to be scared...but made sure she exaggerated it enough that he knew it was fake. "Oh no! Don't eat ME! I don't think I taste very good!" she cried, but wasn't able to hold the mock-scared expression for long before bursting into giggles again. She also tried to lick her foot...possibly trying to see if she was right about not tasting good. She mostly got a mouthful of fur, and made a face. "Yep, no good at all!"

Her head tilted to the side as she listened to what he was saying. "Oooh! Yeah, that makes a lot of sense!" she cried, flapping her wings and starting to go in the direction he'd pointed out. It didn't occur to the little Bat that it would make a lot more sense to have the one who knew where he was going (or at least, supposedly did) in the lead. She was a spirited child and would generally take charge of social situations unless the other child was significantly older than her. And Joel was actually younger! "Come on then! We'll find the park in no time! And I'm sure it will have lots of butterflies and bees and flowers and ants and birds..."

[Harpsdesire]

There was a bit of swagger to Joel's step as the pair set off in the direction he had chosen. Mirriam thought his idea made sense. In fact, she liked all his ideas! He was childishly pleased to be the initiator of an adventure, even if his new friend soon pulled ahead. The boy was happy enough to follow in her footsteps, a leader in his own mind.

"Yeah! There are ants there, I saw them." Joel chatted happily as they wandered through increasingly deserted streets. "The big black ones, too, not the little red bitey kind."

"Flowers too, I think." He added, with much less interest. Even though she was cool, Mirriam was still a girl, so Joel figured she was probably interested in pretty plants, although he was rather indifferent to them.

Several minutes later, Joel started to get impatient. It certainly seemed to be taking a long time to get to the park... then again, he had been running when he left the park, and it was bound to take longer walking than running. He shrugged to himself and walked a little faster to keep up with Mirriam's energetic pace.