Moonrise

1 - Outside

     Flare was starving. They couldn't remember the last time they ate, they and her pack had been hunting for moons.  They were grateful for her lunar blessing- the ability to smell prey from miles and miles away, but even then this had been the harshest winter the raptors had seen for many, many years, and the meager scraps her and their pack had been able to scavenge weren't cutting it...

     Flare heard footsteps behind them, and turned to see her girlfriend River walking towards her in the dark, the full moon illuminating the depth of her sapphire scales, and the golden flecks in the green feathers on her arms and down her neck.  It was no question that River was beautiful, the kind of beautiful that made every raptor turn their head when they saw her pass, and it was by some kind of miracle that out of everyone to ever admire her, River chose Flare, a plain blueish grey raptor with nothing but mediocre cooking skills to offer.  Bless the moons. 

  "Any news of Pine?" Flare asked, Pine was the most recent to be incapacitated from his hunger, him having passed out just a few hours before she went out hunting.

River shakes her head "He's gotten worse, still passed out cold... he's thin as a mouse's tail at this point... poor kid, his father had him working too hard on that foraging expedition of his."

Flare sighed "the situation just keeps getting worse and worse... Maybe one day there'll be none of us left..."

"Hey! Don't think like that!" River's feathers fluffed up in protest* "Most of the hunters are still up and running, and we can always ask the kingdoms for help if we-"

"The Kingdoms!?" Now it was Flare's turn to fluff out her feathers in disbelief "Hah, as if they'd help Scraps like us. The reason we're out here in the first place is because they exiled our ancestors for their gifts, they're probably glad to see us starving out here."

River looks away, seeming a bit hurt. "I just thought..." Flare realized that she may have gone a bit over the line with that outburst-- they quickly skitter over to their girlfriend's side, hugging her close.

"Hey, you know all I want to do is protect you... I'm sorry if I come off as a bit.. harsh. sometimes..."

"I know..." River sighed, hugging Flare back "..you've been out here hunting since sunrise.. ...let's go back to camp. We can try again tomorrow."

"...okay..." Flare said this reluctantly- several hours of hunting, and she had nothing to show for it but a mere squirrel, who too had gone out desperate for food, and resembled a scrap of bare fur more than anything else. "Let's go home..."

And so the two walked off, towards the firelight of their camp in the somewhat distant hills, hope in their hearts that the snow would soon thaw. Hope that everything would turn out alright.