Calisthenics (Kale & Val)

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The sun was settling lower in the sky by the time the pair reached the open fields, gratefully empty at the moment. The faun drew in a deep breath. The air was beginning to chill already, promising a particularly nippy night, but that was perhaps perferable since he was certain burning off some energy would soon make the cold rather inviting.

Shimmying quickly out of his clothes, Valentin denied a shiver and left the textiles crumpled in a haphazard pile on the grass. The fur that grew up to a little below his hips speedily sprouted over his torso as he lowered his front hooves to the earth, and reared his head up high to toss out the uncomfortable kinks that came with the muscle growth in his neck as it lengthened and thickened.

The shift only took a very brief moment, like he had simply knelt down towards the ground and stood back up a stag, the minor popping of bones snaping, rearranging and resettling--probably louder to the harpy's keen hearing that even to Valentin himself--the only proof that the transformation had been anything more complicated than an illusion.

The deer stomped the earth eagerly and regarded the owl with some anticipation, assuming she would take to the air while he flew over the grass. The deviously restless glint in his eye challenged her to a race.

The harpy followed the boy out, it seemed an interesting prospect, to run until you burst. She couldn't help but laugh lightly. She likewise took a deep breath of the chilled air. It was invigorating, really, and she couldn't help the small bubble of excitement that started in her chest. She smiled and looked about the field and sky, the weather was nice, the wind steady and strong. It ruffled her feathers lightly and urged her wings open, a call to which they readily responded, opening up to feel the caress.

She paid no mind as Valentin disrobed, having traveled with the faun for too long and neither really caring. She did, however, turn her gaze to him at the series of pops and audible twists as muscles moved beneath the skin. She did find it fascinating how that piece of his species worked. As the deer then turned his attention to her, however, she raised an eyebrow at the challenging look. She scoffed and turned her head away.

"Oh Valentin, don't be childish." Kale tsked in a haughty, proper manner, nose in the air as if too high and important for such a foolish thing as racing. She paused only a moment though, as if serious, before crouching, her extended wings coming down with a great gust as she launched into the air swiftly. There was no determined end to this track, but that wasn't the point really. Twisting, she beat her wings to gain altitude before angling down and letting gravity help her gain speed, streaming through the air mostly parallel to the ground towards the other end of the field.

Valentin didn't buy her 'childish' gig for a moment. He tossed his head forwards again with an amused snort, and pawed up the dirt beneath the grass. In the moment Kale erupted into the air above them, his hooves danced backwards with restless energy, tensing like a wind-up-toy, and the releasing. With a kick that rocketed chunks of root-filled mud off behind him, the deer raced forwards. Each time he connected with the earth, the shock of the impact shot up his legs, and he pushed harder and harder with each stride until he was nearly ghosting over the surface, and couldn't even register the blades of grass sighing around his ankles every time he descended.

Pushing himself so hard ached, and quickly, especially considering how little exercise he indulged in these past few months. But he knew that keeping up with Kale demanded all the effort and power he could flood into each stride. And in a bizarre, distracting and possibly masochistic way, the burning felt amazing. If his frustrations couldn't permit tearing someone's throat out with the claw end of a hammer, then this was probably the second best option.

As they raced, Valentin snuck glances at the harpy to make sure he was keeping pace. He kicked hard and leapt over a fallen log--silently cursing the obstacles of the ground-path, even as he relished in the challenge of catching up again.

Creamy wings were partially opened, flicking open to beat out quickly and surge her forward. Her arms were tight in by her sides, legs out. She could feel the strain, not built for speed. She was built for swift silence and gliding for long periods of time. But this, this was fun. The burning started in her back, but she ignored it well. She was focused ahead, but did take a glance down to spot Valentin and see where he was. She smiled as he lagged behind, having no choice as he evaded the challenges the ground presented him.

"Run run little Bambi!" She called down, laughing brightly. Wavering on the wind, the harpy glided lower, straining to reach to his front left, angled to buffet him with the wind of each powerful downbeat. The end of the field was fast approaching. She couldn't wipe the smile from her face or the bubbling light from her narrowed eye. "You going to be able to make that turn there, Val?"

As they ran, Valentin became very distracted by the movement of Kale's wings. He watched with awe, the way that they bent up, reached forwards, and then stretched back with a force like the air was something tangible and the feathers were simply grabbing and pulling, dragging Kale's small body along in their wake. He found himself entirely envious of and inspired by this.

When the harpy's words filtered down to his ears, it broke his daydreaming, which was a lucky fact since he had just approached a small stream trickling perpendicular to his path. The small rocky divot was an easy leap, but surely would have surprised his footing had he remained distracted. Throwing his mind back into the race, he snorted in response to her friendly taunting. The buffeting of Kale's wings tore across his coat in steady gusts, and he couldn't bring himself to be annoyed by the powerful rhythm, except that each rush of air slamming into his face made breathing more labored. He swerved a little farther to the left to slip out of the wing's range.

The next question gave him pause and he stared at the approaching treeline ahead. Sure, it would be a tragically sharp turn if he intended to keep this pace straight through to the very edge of the field, and still intended to veer before he tore into the foliage. Could he manage it? In response, the faun laughed with some hesitancy in the level of sanity, before the sound was quickly swallowed away by the passing wind.

"Not a chance!"

He wasn't sure if Kale would be making the turn either, but he wasn't willing to give out first.

Smirking at the faun, Kale directed her gaze forward. She didn't tilt to keep Valentin in the gust of her wings as he moved away, for the boy was right, this turn was not going to be easy. Her eye flickered over the tree edge and she calculated the distance they had left, which was steadily becoming less and less. Of course, she could pull it off, but, should she save herself or try and save herself and her bumbling student?

Ah, well, he could take care of himself. Or maybe he couldn't. It would be funny for her either way.

"Ha! Then good luck, kid!" Narrowing her gaze, she pumped her wings harder, focused and directing herself completely on a head-on collision with a rather large oak. She gathered as much speed as she could in to this. As it neared, the harpy swung her legs down, wings arched back and broad, talons outstretched so the pads of her feet would hit the bark. Her knees bent as her legs absorbed the shock and she let her body dip into, coiling like a loading spring. Transferring the energy, she released it again, beating her thrown-back wings down, bludgeoning the poor old wood with a large gust of air as she rocketed back off the surface, extending her legs and shooting back the way she had come.

The move completed, Kale laughed brightly at her success, at the thrill and the fun of having been so needlessly reckless. The power that had loaded into her body just before bouncing off the tree. If was the power of her flight, all her, compressed in to her. It was strong, it was addictive. And now it felt like coming down from a high, her muscles pleasantly used and she let herself glide, looking down and under her to see what had become of her little dear.

The sound of Kale calling to him again drew Valentin's attention from the looming tree line. Good luck? His eyes found her in time to witness her collide gracefully with the tree--How did anyone manage to collide with a tree gracefully?!--and simply kick-off like a swimming rounding a lap. All while he admired her technique, his legs didn't slow, and suddenly the trees were upon him.

With eyes widened in alarm, the deer leapt at the last possible moment, managing to clear the thick brush that grew around the base of the treeline before it could trip up his ankles. He stretched his neck forwards and tucked his front legs tight under his belly until he'd ridden out the jump as far as it would carry him. Upon reconnecting with the earth, he yanked his head back to compensate the unbalance of twisting his body to sharply kick off at a 90 degree turn. The following pair of hops directed him back out of the dense foliage, and it was with burst and leaves and an nest of twigs in his antlers that the faun erupted back into the open space of the meadow. But he didn't stop running.

His eyes immediately searched the sky for the harpy to see what distance she had managed to pull ahead of him thanks to his detour with the trees.

The harpy couldn't help the bubble of laughter that burst from her, seeing Valentin leap from the trees looking like he had nearly become one himself with the twigs and leaves caught there upon his antlers. She was a distant distance ahead, but found that with a slight adjustment, he could be in stride with her.

So, she took it. Tilting her wings, and with a surging down beat, Kale arched her back and made a loop over backwards. It was almost a leisurely motion as she came level again, trying to line herself with the faun running below so that she was flying over his back.

"Have fun? You've got something stuck in your antlers there..." She called with a smirk.