{PRP} The Finer Points {Vaiva x Nasrin}

[magnadearel]

Vaiva couldn’t believe her luck at finding a nice little familiar on her first attempt to get one. She’d taken very good care of the young chick to be sure she grew up healthy. Now that chick was a young bird. Vaiva had been watching the brown and white falcon exercising her wings in short flights. Now young Nasrin seemed to have the hang of this flying business.

In fact, currently she was so high the cheetah couldn’t easily see her. That could also be because some trees were in the way. It was time, she felt, for them to start practicing hunting together. That was the whole purpose she’d asked the bird to join her.







It’d taken several months for her to grow and finally fledge into her adult feathers. Then had come the scariest part! Learning to fly. Nasrin had started by gliding from Vaiva’s back to the ground. The cheetah had been very patient with her. She’d practiced daily on her flying. Soon she found she could fly comfortably from tree to tree in their home.

Today she’d taken the final step. She’d flown as high as she could. Nasrin crowed with delight at the feel of the wind against her nares and feathers. This was the best feeling ever! Eventually her wings were getting tired and she knew it was time to return before she fell. The falcon circled down until she came to rest upon the white and rainbow back of her partner. “That was awesome!”
 

[magnadearel]

The cheetahess chuckled as the bird came in to land on her shoulders. The growing weight of her familiar had indeed become an comfortable and familiar weight to her. “That’s why birds have wings silly. Since you’re comfortable up there now, I was thinking we could go put you to the test. See how sharp your eye is and work out a system so you can communicate with me from afar.”

Vaiva glanced back over her shoulder to see the bird’s reaction. With a beak, Nasrin’s expression could be hard to read, but she’d learned to watch the eyes. She saw thoughtfulness soon replaced with eagerness. “You remember seeing what prey I’ve brought back. We’ll head out and you’ll look for similar ones and then report back to me.”


She’d grown up knowing all along why the cheetah wanted her as her companion. Now it was real. This was the practical for all the theories they’d been discussing as she’d been learning to fly. This would be her job for…. Well as long as she wanted it!

Nasrin nodded eagerly. She was ready to start learning for real now! The falcon tightened her grip carefully so she’d stay on her perch without hurting the cheetah. “Ok. You were talking about signals. I guess it doesn’t make sense for me to fly to your shoulder each time to report.” She felt the cheetah nod as she thought. “What about whistles? I can do those.”
 

[magnadearel]

How quickly Nasrin caught on! Vaiva couldn’t have been more pleased with her choice. Feeling the bird get a firm grip, she headed out toward an area where there would be a good chance to spot some prey. They weren’t really hunting, just going through the motions to find it.

She laughed softly. “It would be a lot of extra work for you and require you to come down out of the sky each time you had to tell me something.” Vaiva looked thoughtful as Nasrin suggested whistles. “That could work quite well I think. We’ll have to work out the meaning for each whistle of course, and then practice until its second nature to us.”


She gave a chirp of pleasure as Vaiva liked her idea. Surely there were other signal options, but whistles she felt were the best one. First Vaiva wouldn’t have to keep her eyes out for her. She’d need to watch where she was going and for hazards or prey. But she could listen just as easily, and sound could be heard at quite a distance.

“So what kind of signals do we need you think? Probably forward, left, and right?” If she was directing the cheetah to prey, those were the basic ones she could think of right away.
 

[magnadearel]

They were quickly leaving the pride’s lands and getting out into scrubbier brush. She was pleased by the eager contributions to their cause. Nasrin didn’t just wait for Vaiva to tell her what she wanted done, but thought on her own. This was going to be an idea partnership.

“Right. Those three will probably be our basic foundations. I think we should add backward, turn around, and danger too.” The cheetah grinned. How many commands could they think up and implement? Ironic that she’d be taking orders from a bird. “Alright you over stuffed turkey. Pick your three whistles and teach them to me, then we’ll start practicing.”


Vaiva’s additions to the commands made very good sense. It’d be good to be able to warn her of danger around. She was sure they’d come up with more as they practiced and got better. For now they’d start with three. A short whistle for forward, two short whistles for left, and one long whistle for right, she decided. Calling them out and letting the cheetah hear.

The landscape changed, and from her vantage point on the cheetah’s shoulders Nasrin couldn’t see any prey around. It was easy to appreciate Vaiva’s problem. The falcon took to the skies and circled overhead, using her vantage point to spot prey further away. She gave a short whistle to send the cheetah on her way.
 

[magnadearel]

She listened closely to the whistles and their designated meaning. They were pretty simple right now, but she could easily see how she might get confused once they got more numerous or complicated. Vaiva waited for the bird to climb, and then got a short whistle. That was the signal for forward.

Obediently she started forward at a trot. It wasn’t long before another whistle came down from the sky above. Vaiva paused as she realized she’d already forgotten what the others meant. Uncertainly she took a left. It wasn’t long before her bird landed back on her shoulder.


This was going to be harder than she thought, or maybe they just needed practice. Lots of it. Nasrin watched the cheetah take an uncertain left after she’d signaled a right. Perhaps they were jumping ahead of themselves. She swooped down to land on the rainbow shoulder.

“That last one was right turn. What should I do if you get it wrong? I think perhaps I should sit on your shoulder for now awhile we practice until we’re both more familiar with it.” They needed teamwork for this to work out. Nasrin thought just practicing their signals at first would be good.


Vaiva winced as the falcon landed and said she'd gone the wrong way. Shoot. Already she was messing up. "Uh well, I'd say keep giving the signal until I get it right?" She nodded, "yeah, let's practice together then we'll get you up there. Ok let's try this again."