The Clan of Raven (Ryden)

{one}

The birds are quiet as they fly past him, far above. It's a flock of seagulls, scattered and uncoordinated, almost invisible against the pale sky. The clouds are hanging low as if threatening the ground below with heavy rain that is about to start any minute now.

Ryan lies on his back on the grass and watches the bellowing rain clouds as they sail across the sky. He's fidgeting absently with one of his many wristbands, hands laid idly across his stomach. He can feel the for-now dry grass itching his skin where his shirt fails to connect with the waistband of his faded shorts. It's been dry for so long now that the soon-to-be falling rain is a welcomed change. Ryan stretches, feels the grass cutting slightly into the skin of his lower back, but he's too tired to get up just yet. A few more minutes - it doesn't look like the rain is going to start within that time frame. He closes his eyes for a while and breathes deeply, listening to the wind swirling around the trees and bushes. It's not cold, though, and the air feels thick and pressing just like it always does before a storm.

"Dude," Ryan suddenly hears from somewhere nearby. "I am hungry. And we're in the middle of nowhere."

"You're always hungry," another voice states, exasperated. "And I wouldn't say a park is in the middle of nowhere." The tone is dry, almost dripping sarcasm.

"Too far from civilization," the first voice whines pathetically. "Not even an ice cream vendor within a mile's radius."

"Didn't you just have pancakes and strawberries like five minutes before we left?" A third voice accompanies the first two. "And like, a loaf of bread?"

"Yes," the first voice admits, sadly. "But I need something else, too. Like, uh, ice cream?"

"It's gonna rain soon and you want ice cream?" the sarcastic voice states.

The voices are coming closer, their friendly bickering becoming louder and louder by the second. Ryan contemplates getting up and leaving, but before he has time to move the voice that was craving ice cream shouts, "Hey check that out, there's someone lying on the ground."

Ryan's eyes snap open and he looks up to see three faces, funnily upside down from his perspective, and they're all staring down at him. "Are you alright?" asks one of them. Ryan recognizes the voice to belong to the one who spoke about pancakes and strawberries. Ryan looks at the slightly older dapper-ish boy who is wearing a pair of jeans cut to denim shorts and a shirt that is missing a button at the hem; then Ryan shifts his gaze to meet two more pairs of eyes aimed at him. One boy is standing with a hand braced on his hip, his gaze is measuring, and the other bounces just slightly on the balls of his feet, grinning lopsidedly at Ryan. The boy has dark hair and his hand is twitching slightly against the side of his thigh, as if some part of his body has to be constantly on the move.

"I'm okay," Ryan assures and sits up, brushing his sides. He turns to look at the three boys standing in front of him, curious eyes locked on him. Two pairs of brown, one pair of piercing blue.

The small dark-haired boy seems to have this inexplicable bouncy energy-aura around him, but he stills for a moment and side-glances at the other two. They seem to have a silent conversation with their eyes and eyebrows, and then the ball of energy turns back to Ryan. "I'm Brendon. These are Spencer and Jon. Wanna hang out with us?"

And that's how Ryan meets the Clan of Raven.