Nightingale's Lullaby: Main Chapter

Callum scanned the area as he stepped away from the guildmaster, ignoring Gavin's attempts at bribery in favor of figuring out where to start working. Kestrel would probably complain later if she learned of it but for now the furfrou didn't really care, sometimes she was too honest for her own good. Was she always that way or was she just too afraid of this new world? He pushed the thought away as his gaze finally landed on a pile of watermelons just begging to be craved and started walking over, his tail flicking at Gavin to encourage the newest recruit to work. "Hungry Kiwi?"

The flapplin nestled between his shoulder blades and the mysterious egg shifted, uncurling zir wings just enough to sniff at the air. "Watermelon? Sure, are we craving them into anything special?"

"Whatever you want, maybe not too scary though..." If the whole point of the festival was to relax and reassure citizens then maybe leaning too far into the scary side of halloween wasn't the best plan. Callum stopped beside the watermelons and braced his wings, using them to carefully ease the egg off his back and help Kiwi settle into a shadier spot. "Keep an eye on Talon too, we'll be nearby."

Kiwi nodded as ze slipped from zir apple and into the nearest watermelon, the thicker rind proving only moderately more difficult to breach than zir usual abode.

"Come on Gavin, let's put that reach of yours to work on these streamers." The furfrou waited until the little apple worm had settled into zir meal before turning to another area of decorations waiting to be put to use and stretched his wings to their fullest. It had been days since he'd gotten a proper workout, taking care of the egg meant he could barely leave the ground much less go for a proper fly. It'll be worth it...little Talon... He really couldn't explain why he'd grown so attached to the egg, it's not like it was his child. He didn't even know what was in it or where it had come from and yet somewhere deep down he knew it was important. He spared a glance back at it sitting quietly beside Kiwi's empty apple shell, still no signs of life, before finally springing into the air above the main street.

By now Gavin had already grabbed a roll of streamer, grumbling the whole time as he'd been doing since Kestrel dragged him 'home', and was climbing one of the barren light poles that dotted the side of the street. Callum sighed quietly and dipped down, grabbing a second streamer roll and a pawful of banners, and angled to come up again beside the grafaiai and shove the extra roll in his free hand. "Going to need more color than that, try winding them."

Gavin gave the hovering furfrou a look, his tail curling around the light pole as he settled at a spot as near as he could get to the light itself and started unrolling the streamers. "Why don't you try..."

The words were lost as Callum shifted again, leaving the grafaiai to his work and grumbling without further comment, as the furfrou did a quick flyby of the area before settling on the side of a building just behind where Kiwi was still busy with the jack-o-lantern melons. The banners were a little unwieldy for paw work but he did his best tying them off and stretching them out to a nice length one by one with only the occasional glance spared to check-in on his teammates doing their own work below.

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Hours later as the sun was beginning to dip towards the horizon Callum rounded up his teammates and carefully settled the egg between his wings again for the walk back to base. The evening was quiet, a gentle breeze blowing between the buildings of the capital and even Gavin had stopped his grumbling for now. The irritable grafaiai almost looked thoughtful, side-eyeing the festival decorations as they left the main street behind.

Callum slowed as the base came into view, spotting Kestrel's group returning from a patrol of the nearby forest, and settled into step beside the riolu. "Any trouble?" She shook her head absentmindedly, her focus still seeming to be elsewhere with only a side-eye from Halcyon suggesting that wasn't the whole story. The furfrou sighed and stretched a wing just enough to brush her side, letting the rest of the team file inside before trying again. "You know you can talk to me, what's up?"

Kestrel obediently stopped, something unreadable flashing through her eyes before she turned away again and stared into the forest. "I don't really know..."

The furfrou shifted the wing near her again, wanting to push further but before he could find the right words movement on his back drew his attention. The egg was suddenly rocking steadily, the motion nearly knocking it over and he braced his wings almost instantly to absorb the momentum and guide it back to the ground. Kiwi, who had fallen asleep on his shoulders after zir meal also stirred, lazily rolling off and catching zirself with zir wings before drifting down as well.

An ear twitched at the disturbance as Kestrel's gaze locked onto the rocking egg, cracks now spiderwebbing across the top as the entire thing seemed to swell in size. A low growl started and Kiwi was back in the air, almost bristling at the rising tension. Callum tried speaking again, his wings curling protectively around himself with their tips brushing the the eggshell and then everything seemed to explode. The growl increased in volume, seeming to multiply and echo at the same time and a sharp hiss joined it as the light faded and full night set in.

A cry of pain drew the furfrou to action again, his jaws snapping forward and grabbing whatever had just hatched by the nape of its neck as his gaze locked with Kestrel's wide eyes. Time seemed to slow as he pulled away, securing his grip on Talon as the riolu moved to cover her now bleeding arm and the other one came into view. The second creature from the egg was smaller, quieter and moved between the two partners to stare up at its sibling now hanging limply. Something passed between them and then their tails intertwined and they started hovering, the larger one slipping from Callum's shocked grasp as they rose and just as suddenly as they appeared they both vanished.