The Price of Feathers

birds of a feather

Raven was ready to tuck tail and run away from this whole thing. She wanted to run across the forest and tell her roommate precisely what was coming her way, but that wasn't smart. She would lead them right to her not to mention that lost her advantage. She needed to stay with the Light and figure out precisely what they had planned. This wasn't ideal or safe considering the grey area of occupying another person's memories but if anything, that solidified the fact that she needed to keep Amara safe. If that meant playing nice with the Light, then that's what she would do. The second thing she needed to focus on is getting Dagne away from these people. Sure, she hadn't known Dags for that long but she was a good person and she wasn't a traitor. The way that she and Amara spoke to each other made it sound like they were friends as well and that means that she has to be playing them too.

"When do we head out?" She asked the group. Godric has left to hunt in the woods with another of their group, a shifter named Vex. They were gone for a few hours. Now it was nearing night fall and another person had joined the ensemble since she met the Light. Zeek. He was a siren and that meant that he would be a direct contender for against Aphrodite. She was wracking her brain for tactics. She wasn't sure who the Dark had on their side still considering Silver was dead and Dagne and her were here. That left Amara, Leech, Aphrodite, Viper and Skin. That being said, she couldn't guarantee that anyone was alive still. She had no idea how long they had been fighting but based on what Dagne said, it had been months. That meant that the chances of a large Dark force were slim to none and right now Amara needed all the help she could get. She suddenly got an idea.

"I think Dagne and I should scout overhead. Amara is their treasure so I doubt she'll expose herself when she knows we have the numbers. They don't have an arial scouts so that gives us the edge. I'm sure Godric and Vex will be back with game soon," Raven said. She shocked herself with her tactical strategy but she figured that was as good a time as ever to learn how to fly.

Angelica looked at Raven like she was ready to rip her clothing off her and take her on the floor of the cave.

"I don't know where that came from but you should talk like that more often," she purred in her girlfriend's ear. "I don't really like the idea of you heading out without me." She added the second sentience in a louder voice and this time Dagne spoke up.

"Come on, she survived Sabre and handled herself all alone in the colosseum. I think she'll be fine, Ang," she said with a giggle.

Tinkerbell piped up as well, "Yeah, I think she'll be perfectly okay," she glared at Raven with an exaggerated smile on her face. She was definitely a fan of any plan that put the orphan in the line of fire. Raven caught her eyes and smirked. At least Tinkerbell being butt hurt about Angelica was familiar. This time she cast aside any thoughts of strategy, Sage or Amara. She turned towards the purple eyed blonde and gave her the best seductive look she could muster. She raised her hand and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before leaning closer.

"Don't worry, babe, I'll be quick and get back to you as soon as possible," she stage whispered and pressed herself up against Angelica. The Angel was eating it up and wrapped her arms around Raven's lower back, bringing their body impossibly close. She was very aware of the heat settling at base of her stomach. She wanted nothing more than to ravish the South African right now but for the sake of the mission, they needed to restrain themselves. Raven glanced at Tinkerbell to see if the fairy was still watching them. She was. So she decided to seal the deal. So she leaned forward and captured Angelica's lips in a passionate kiss that made the taller girl weak in the knees. She moaned into the kiss but this caused Raven to pull back and smile before pulling Dagne by her arm out of the cave. Tinkerbell was fuming while Angelica's entire body was enflamed for an entirely different reason.

Once they were at least 50 metres out of the cave, she turned towards Dagne and asked.

"What are you playing at?" she asked her teammate. The girl looked at her with curious eyes and then she shook her head chuckling. "I know that they're intense but come on. You should be used to them by now. Especially that girlfriend of yours. She can be a bit of a headache but based on that kiss in there, you know how to handle her just find, sestra." Dagne chuckled and slapped Raven's shoulder. The craziness of the last few hours was placed behind her and the pair of friends walked further into the woods. They would need full coverage for the minutes that it took to transform.

Raven stared at Dagne while she shed the coat and twisted her body into strange positions. Before she knew it, her friend was gone and an massive green dragon stood in her place. She didn't question it, she repeated what Dagne did and soon she could feel her muscles and bones shift under her skin. It felt kind of irritating and strange but she gave herself over to the sensations and soon enough she was on hands and ... paws. What did dragons call their hands anyways? That didn't matter because she had wings. Two metallic looking purple black wings to be precise. There was a slight purple tint to her scales. But there was also a mirage effect as the light refracted off her scales that made it look almost translucent. Maybe this mean that she would look invisible to others when they flew over te playground terrain. Here's hoping.

She tried to fly or move her wings. But they wouldn't budge. She thought she could play it off as an anomaly to Dagne, so she complained out loud.

"I don't know what's wrong with my wings. They're not moving," she pretended to complain out loud but Dagne chuckled, in her mind no less. "You need to connect with them properly. Visualise your bond to them and they're respond. You always forget that part, Ash, I swear." The Russian's voice was clear in her mind and she found this funny. That being said, this entire scene meant played through Raven's head and she realised that Dagne truly believed that she was part of the Light. Raven needed to protect her thoughts from Dagne while they were in this form. The only way to do that was to avoid giving her a reason to look through her thoughts.

"Let's go," Raven finally said once she felt her wings lift up and flap down successfully. At least she was finally going to fly. That's the only thing she'd wanted since she realised she's a dragon in this strange place. Now she was going to fly and experience what real freedom felt like. They both leaped into the air and made a streamline to the sky. Once their, almost automatic, her scales turned translucent and she glided through the sky alongside her best friend in this place without any fear of being spotted. She immediately spotted the waterfall up ahead and Raven mind linked with Dagne to signal towards the water source. That was their target and they needed to see what the defences looked like. They covered the distance in no time flat and soon they were just before the treeline, on their way to single handedly, well with two of them, infiltrate the Dark territory. Raven was so excited to warn Amara about what she heard at the Light's camp that she charged ahead and soared towards the waterfalls. She didn't hear Dagne's warning to be careful and look for traps. Raven soared directly into an electrified forcefield and her entire body seized up, causing her muscles to instantly lock up and she started to plummet towards the ground. Two figures, waiting in the treeline ran towards the body. Dagne didn't want to attack and give away her positions, so she retreated and flew back to the Light team cave to call in reinforcements. They needed to rescue Raven now!

Raven on the other hands had no strategy in mind. Her mind was black and her body was completely limb when two figures picked her up and carried her in the territory beyond the forcefield. At least she was going to see Amara, even if she wasn't awake to do so.