RARA AVIS IN TERRIS NIGROQUE SIMILLIMA CYGNO || Joinnig

[MYERS]

[align=center][div style="text-align:justify;width:55%;font-family:verdana;"]In the most literal sense, the bird is intruding - he flew into their territory and landed smack in the middle of it. Though he knows he shouldn't worry so much, Ahab cannot help the prickle of nerves that bundle up tight in his chest. It's an unfamiliar feeling, being so concerned for anything beyond his own survival. Surely a swan on their shore wouldn't stand a chance against his massive claws, but he recognizes that it isn't his own livelihood that concerns him. Strangely enough, it's the kitten and his mother, much smaller than himself and far more likely to be a target of any intruder that was looking for easy prey.

He isn't sure what to make of all that; there's a cold, unfeeling static building in the peripheral of his conscious thought, along with the pressing feeling that he's deviating ever-further from a plan that he never needed to know, or understand. Roxanne and her child were not important to the execution of his original mission. Those goals had long since been met, but he still felt the instinctive urge to adhere to what kept him in line. Another part of him, still vying for freedom, wants to assure that they remain unharmed by any stranger that tread upon this territory. He was intended to be alone in life yet wanted to draw things close to him and never let go. Love was not his language. Family was a myth. Danger was something to hide his treasures from and wait out the storm - not something to lunge at with blind intent to kill.

He was never supposed to be making these choices, was he?

The grizzly quells all of that budding anxiety with a huff. Finding his center, he tethers himself to it, giving pause in his motions until the blanked-out feeling washes over in a passing tide. Then, he focuses back on the present. "Rest?" Ahab tests the words out carefully, pondering the bird's request. Again, all of his trained senses are telling him that this is not safe to the survival of his newly-acquired cargo. And, yet, he is willing to go out on a limb to protect them. With risk comes reward - and his rational mind presses that a swan was hardly vicious in battle. "I... Think it will be alright to let you stay here." The bear cannot help the cautious edge to his voice. "But not in her home. We can find you someplace else to sleep. Is that alright with you?"