The Crow and The Dog

@Corvie Munin & @Mutt have a playdate in Arcadia.

 

Mutt - it's been nearly a year since you met Legion and Even... or at least that's what they tell you.

Legion has her arm over your shoulder, humming, explaining that they've got a special treat for you, today. That you have a new friend to meet - and that you need to remember the rules, but she shouldn't be a threat. That if you're good, they'll make sure you get a cake for your new birthday, a celebration with just the three of you.

The land changes as you walk, turning from a crystaline garden to something new, and she makes sure the necklace around your neck - matching that on her own - before you head up a spiralling rainbow staircase to a strange land out of one of Even's stories and legends.

Even grins. "Welcome to the Queen's Asgard."

"Keep your necklace on, kiddo, it'll let them know you're not theirs to keep." Legion grins wide.

"Run on, we'll be around." Even leans out of Legion's chest to ruffle Mutt's hair and give them a gentle push.

 

Mutt grins and looks back at them for a moment before running ahead. Everything is big and bright, and they spin around trying to take it all in.

 

The land is gently sloping, with a grand vista sweeping away in one direction across tangled grasses and twisted shrubs to a river, so blue that it's almost painful, smooth as a sheet of glass. Across from the river, lichen-plastered stones climb upwards into a craggy mountain, which gallops up towards the sky to catch at the clouds. In the other direction, up the slope, trees, twisty cedars and ambitious pines, scatter the land until they turn into a proper forest, the trunks soaring as the trees grow dense.
Mutt's nearly under one of the nearby trees, a twisty cedar that forms a rough arch with one bowed trunk. Other trunks climb higher, and it's on one of them, hooked to make a horizontal spot, that Mutt's potential playmate is perched. She's small, covered from head to knees in a dense coat of glossy black feathers. Her head is a crow's head, or close to, though her eyes and beak are a little more mobile than should be technically possible. Her hands and feet look like bird talons, grey-black and clawed, her shins featherless and covered in scaly-looking skin of the same colour. She's wearing a vest of tooled leather, deep blue, and a brown cuff on one ankle. Both ankles are also wrapped with purple velvet rope, tied neatly into bows for the moment. She laughs when Mutt spins, her voice musical rather than harsh.

 

Mutt looks up to find the source of the noise. "Are you...are you who I'm supposed to meet?" they ask the bird. "I'm Mutt."

 

"Yeah!" She clambers down the tree swiftly, feathery tail spread for balance. Her arms have long feathers, suggesting wings, but there's only a fringe of them. She hops the last ways to the ground, landing lightly. "I'm Munin!" She's smiling, beak definitely curving in a way beaks don't on real birds, dark eyes bright. "We're gonna play?"

 

"Okay! Can I touch your feathers? They look soft." They're bouncing a little already; Munin seems really cool and they're excited.

 

"Only if you don't pull! That's not nice." She says sternly, holding her arm out with the fringe of pinions extended. Her head feathers are standing up a bit, she's excited to finally have a playmate who isn't mean or grouchy all the time, like Hugin.

 

Mutt runs their hand gently over her arm feathers, watching to make sure they don't hurt her. "You're really cool. What are we gonna play?"

 

"Ummmm..." She tilts her head, thinking, and clacks her beak. "I dunno... Hugin always picks hide and seek, but then sometimes he leaves when he's 'it'... What do you like to play?"

 

They shrug. "I play cards with Legion and Even sometimes." They're not sure what hide and seek is, but they don't want to admit that to Munin.

 

"Cards is no fun with me, 'cause they tell." She admits. "Wanna explore?" She gestures to the trees, and the shadowy land under them.

 

"Tell what? Cards don't talk."

 

She giggles. "Yeah they do! You just gotta know how to hear it. Lots of stuff tells me stuff." She wiggles her hands in front of her. "Cards and clothes and hair and spoons..."

 

"Really? What does my hair say?" They tilt their head for a moment as they realize what they've said, then look back at Munin. "You don't have to say if you don't want to."

 

"Lemme see!" She reaches out for their hair. "It'll tell me stuff that's happened to you."

 

They duck their head down so she can get to it easier, and hold still.

 

She presses her hands to their tangles, and closes her eyes. After a while, she gives a frightened caw, and then a sad croon. She opens her eyes with a blink, looking at Mutt, then hops forward and hugs them.

 

Mutt stumbles backwards, startled. "What - what did - I'm sorry, I didn't mean -"

 

"Oops." She lets go, dropping her arms, and cocks her head at them. "Sorry... I saw cards with the hands lady and smoke person, and some.... knife stuff... and lots of lonely."