Days Like These (Open) {COMPLETED}

Dark clouds blocked out the sun's light over the forest. It didn't smell like it was going to rain, but that could change in an instant. The air was the perfect temperature for flying however. Airen Adler was doing just that.

Weaving in and out of the trees, the hairan stayed near the top branches. There was some sound whenever the woman would flap her wings, but the forest was otherwise fairly quiet. Airen flew on, twirling and doing somersaults as she went. It was only when she saw a fairly large sized tree that Airen leveled out and began to glide over to a large branch. Her bare feet reached out towards the branch, making sure her aim was right. Hooking her knees around the tree branch, Airen continued to flap her wings. The hairan spun on the tree branch until she reached a comfortable sitting position. A soft smile on her face, Airen folded her arms close to her with her hands grasping the back of her neck. The position made her wings open like a parachute to her sides. The flying fox smiled and closed her eyes, enjoying the wind through her short hair.

A soft smile graced Airen's face. The wind felt amazing, and there was no one around. There were a few birds chirping around her. They looked at her strangely, seemingly daring each other to get closer to the strange being. The hairan shook out her golden orange hair and began to hum a tune. She flapped her wings a couple of times to stretch them out, and then began to sing.

"In the shade of a weeping willow
Once I played as an innocent child
And the earth was my only pillow
As I gazed at the clouds passing by..."

Airen swayed softly to the beat, enjoying the weather. Her amber eyes open slightly to check her surroundings, but closed just as quickly. The air didn't smell of rain yet, and everything seemed to be in order.

Order was quickly disrupted however when a raven thought it would be funny to land on Airen's head. "Hey! What-!" The flying fox flapped her wings in an attempt to throw the bird off of her head. It just cawed and stayed in place. Huffing angrily, Airen flapped harder, launching off of the tree and into the forest. She struggled to avoid trees, but also spiraled and looped in an attempt to get that darn bird off of her head.

In a flapping, cawing, cursing mess, the duo of winged beings broke the canopy surface many times. The sight wasn't unlike a fish out of water (if water were trees, that is). "Okay, I am DONE with you!" Airen flew straight up above a clearing. Smirking wickedly, she folded her wings in, plummeting towards the earth. The raven cawed and let go of Airen's orange hair, leaving her free falling. At the last moment, purple brown wings unfurled and flapped, letting Airen land with little to no damage.

"Guh....ravens are such bad luck..." The woman plucked a black feather from her hair.

Twirling the black feather between her fingers for a few moments, Airen enjoyed the weather for a bit longer. The feather stopped moving abruptly. Airen's face adopted a worried and frustrated expression as she looked at the sky. A sunset. This wasn't good..... The hairan dropped the feather like a bomb and started to flap her wings. Her eyesight was already beginning to get blurry. Hovering for a few moments off of the ground, Airen tried to find a tree of the right height.

There one was, right ahead of her. Airen squinted and flew forwards, hoping that the tree had a branch at the right height. She flew faster, trying to beat the sun. With a loud thump and a muttered curse from Airen, the flying fox slammed right into the branch. Her hands scrabbled for a hold on the bark, and finally latched on. She hauled herself onto the branch and lied on her stomach.

The branch was high enough that animals like bears couldn't reach her, but low enough that people could see her laying there (if they could see in the dark). Airen wished she couldn't be seen, but it couldn't be helped. The sun went down, and the moon rose in the sky. Airen was night blind, and just remained on the branch. She would be sleeping there for the night. Airen sat up, steadying herself by flapping her wings. She sung softly, resuming the lullaby once sung to her by an elder of the clan.

"What became of the weeping willow?
Branches bare
Cracking concrete and grime
Swaying there in the freeway's shadow
From the breeze of a car passing by...."

The young woman struggled to keep her eyes open, but sung the rest of the song all the way through to the last verse. At the end of the song, Airen's mouth gaped open in a yawn. Even though she couldn't see anything, she could practically feel the moon rising. Although the moon could not give her sight with its light, any artificial light would give her a small amount of sight. Airen lied on her stomach on the tree branch, shutting her eyes and going to sleep. A comfortable bed it was not, but it was safe enough. The flying fox drifted into a land of dreams, wondering what would happen tomorrow.