It was a clear, star-filled night as a blue jay alighted on the fallen and frosted leaves that crackled under his weight. The blue jay shifted anxiously and rustled his wings; he raised his head and scanned the sky above. He'd been waiting for this meeting since his uneventful day had started, hopefully it would end far better than it had begun.
A brief, harsh croaking filled the air as a raven swept into the clearing and landed across from the blue jay. Light, dark-blue, and white speckled wings wrapped around the bigger bird, who moved in and ran his beak through the lighter-blue, and rather messy, head feathers.
Seconds later, the blue jay shifted into a tall, pale-skinned, black-haired and brown-eyed man as the raven shifted into a slightly taller, tan-skinned, brown-haired and bright-blue eyed man. Despite his form, Neo was the quietest of the pair and Smith was the louder one. Smith who'd saved him from being hawk food by attacking and drawing it off in this same clearing.
They both said simultaneously, "I missed you.", and laughed.
The blue-jay shifter ran a hand through his hair and asked, "What do you want to do ?"
"I want to stay here, I have had a far too eventful day, today."
In response to that, as he lay down on the leaves, he pulled the other with him. "Hmm, well, at least, you had something happen to you today, I didn't. Work was boring as always."
Smith replied, "Maybe I can change that."
"How so ?"
His heartbeat fluttered as the raven shifter murmured something in his ear. He smiled and chuckled, "You asked before I could, but, yes, I will."
Two plain, silver rings were slipped on and they lay content as Mother Nature sang them to sleep.
