Supremacy

She leaned close, her features sparkling with bemusement as she assured him that there were some ravens who were special to her. There was an undeniable undercurrent of fondness as she recounted the origin of her ties to two particular ravens, Vita and Amos, who had become her friends longer ago than he had been alive. Who had let her join their enormous family as one of their own, and taught her the values of being close with others. The boy's eyes lit up, silvery sage wide with delight. When a pair of kohl dark birds descended from the treetops a few moments later, they greeted his mother by name and title. They lingered nearby, and he couldn't help but be transfixed. None of the ravens let him get this close for very long, he was too curious and overbearing. This time, he was practically vibrating with excitement but managed to contain himself. Sitting still as he could manage at his mother's side, watching the corvids move and communicate.

As his mother answered his next series of demanding queries, he flicked his ears in her direction to take it in, but couldn't tear his gaze away from the sharp movements of the ravens. Trying to make note of the differences in their movements as his mother explained them, and what traits set the birds apart. Flying, communicating, moving on the ground. The two ravens before him certainly moved differently, one of them bold enough to draw closer while the other hung back and observed the wolves with a bobbing head. Unconsciously the boy tried to mirror the motion, but his neck wasn't quite so mobile as to perfectly mimic the fluidity of the low undulating pattern.

And then the attention was on him, he lifted his face to stare up at his mother as she asked him if he understood. If he saw the ravens like she did. He hesitated. He could see that they were unique, that they were individual entities as much as they were a portion of an immense whole, but did he truly see? He nodded his head slowly, eyes flicking back to the pair of ravens nearby. Absinth promised that soon enough he would be able to tell them all apart, it would just be a waiting game of watching them all interact. Indica was determined to integrate himself into the murder as soon as he could, he craved the oneness that they had.

There was a lingering, nagging flood of curiosity that threatened to break away and tumble from his jaws. He needed to ask more. "How will I know when they love me like you? Will some of the ravens choose me, like Vita and Amos? I want to have friends like them, too." his voice was soft, reverent in the chill of dawn, vocals escaping his jaws in a cloud of mist that obscured his features as the font of inquisition was unleashed. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the birds again, gaze roving from the pair on the ground to those overhead, to the branches of the trees all around them. To be surrounded but not included was a vexation he did not seek to entertain for very long.