Hey guys! This is BAWV with a second part to MissLissa4 Request Animal Traits. I couldn't not do Dark Pharaoh after seeing how well Vlad and Leila's turned out. As always, read and review.
Mencheres watched as an avarin couple flew overhead, their feathers flashing in the sunlight as they dipped and spun around one another in the ancient courting ritual. It still surprised Mencheres how open people could be with such activities, doing such things in public for the world to see. While he had no wings, he would never instigate a chase in public. Even in the wilder days of his youth, he had been firmly rooted in the teaching that all things in the bedroom should stay behind closed doors.
His mind drifted to Kira's wings, the eagle wings fitting her personality perfectly. The first time she had shown him had been while they had stayed with Vlad during the Radje debacle. After his admittance of his intent to kill himself in the warehouse, and her confession, her wings had sprung forward with her skyrocketing emotions.
He still felt wonder that she had trusted and cared for him to such an extent after knowing him less than a month. To show ones wings was something special to avarin people. Her wings appearance had further proven her words of love to him and in that instant he had wanted nothing more than to reciprocate her show of emotions. It frustrated him to no end, his inability to return her show of love.
As a member of the feline population, he had no wings to display for her, nor could he take her for a traditional flight. The differences between species courting rituals was a big reason most people chose to remain within their species when dating. While there were still countries where interspecies relations were still illegal, most of the majority allowed it.
Thankfully, the United States was one of the latter. His relationship with Kira would have been strained had it been otherwise. In the beginning of their relationship he had been wary of Kira's thoughts on their different species. He later learned he had nothing to fear, Kira had never put stock in society's norms or its social graces. She loved him and it made no difference to her what animal ancestry he had, to his relief.
Their relationship had bloomed with them becoming inseparable in short order. At the moment he was driving home with Kira, the errands of the day completed left them the afternoon for themselves.
He glanced at Kira's reaction to the exhibitionistic couple still dancing in the sky, only to freeze at her look of longing. She had never made mention of wanting to do such a thing with him, but even if she had. Would it mean the same due to his wingless state? Flights were meant to showcase a person's feathers to their partners as well as their flying prowess. While he was able to fly, he had no feathers to display nor preen.
Did it bother her? Not being able to fly in the way her people's courtship customs demanded?
The thought ate at him throughout the day, even hours after they had arrived home. She had never mentioned any such concerns, but she may hold back any such wishes due to him being unable to change the circumstances.
Kira noticed his far away thoughts ever since they got home from doing errands, but didn't push. Sometimes he got like this, having something on his mind that he needed to work through on his own. It was only when she caught a flash of his emotions, wary and distraught, that she decided to confront him.
Waiting until they were in their sound proofed bedroom, Kira wrapped her arms around him from behind as he was in the process of getting dressed. Freezing momentarily, he relaxed seconds later before leaning into her embrace. "You seem far away today, is everything alright?"
His face shifted into a conflicted grimace, when he spoke his words were carefully chosen. "There is nothing wrong, but I have been thinking intently on a subject that has to do with you."
Blinking in surprise, Kira curled tighter around him before speaking. "Well, whatever it is I'll try my best to help if you tell me about it."
Resting his hand over hers on his abdomen, Mencheres intertwined their fingers as he thought out how to word his question. "Does it bother you, me not being avarin?"
Kira blinked, completely taken off guard. Where had this come from? She had thought they had already discussed her opinion on different species relationships but apparently he still had concerns. Wasting no time in reassuring him, she stroked her fingers against his. "No, I told you before that I love you for you, not for your animal ancestry. Besides, I like your fur. It's soft and silky."
To prove her point, her hand drifted up into his hair and carefully rubbed the cat ears hidden in his long hair. The fur was the exact same stygian shade as his eyes, but softer than anything she had ever felt before. She would love nothing more than to spend hours combing out his ears and tail, if he let her. She hadn't gotten around to asking him yet, but after this she may have to.
Mencheres tilted his head into her touch, the familiar rumble starting low in his chest as her fingers found all the right spots to rub and scratch. He had been delighted to learn that Kira was a natural at ear massages. After long days surrounded by people's loud voices and their equally loud thoughts, he loved having her there to rub the ache away.
Her words made the knot in his chest relax slightly, but not completely. He took great pride in the state of his fur and was exuberant that she enjoyed it so much, but if she was content with his features then why had she looked so longingly earlier?
Kira bit back a chuckle at her husband's purring, the sound always made her want to grin when she heard it. Purring was the feline family's sign of pure enjoyment and she knew she was doing something right when she heard it. Dragging her thoughts back to his original question, before she dragged them both into the nearest bedroom, she asked with an even tone. "What brought that question on?"
Mencheres turned in her arms, returning the gesture silently as he tried to put his worries into words. "Earlier when we were running errands and the avarin couple were doing a mating flight, you looked at them with such longing that I couldn't help but be concerned."
He let his sentence trail off, knowing that he didn't need to complete it. Kira's arms tightened further around him as understanding dawned.
"Mencheres, I was telling the truth when I told you that I love you as you are. While I do wish I could go on a flight with you, I would never change anything about you." Her words rang with conviction, every syllable hammering home to him.
He relaxed the rest of the way at her words, happy to know that she didn't find him lacking due to his lack of certain appendages. His mind turned over her want, having a possible solution but unsure if she would approve or not. "We could still go on a flight, if you wish. I wouldn't be able to display for you, for obvious reasons but we could still do the flight."
Kira blinked up at him, her surprise clear as she mulled over the thought in her head. She had completely forgotten that he could fly and while it wouldn't be quite the same without wings it was more than she had thought she would get.
Taking her silence the wrong way, Mencheres continued on. "Of course I would understand if you wouldn't want to." Before he could bury himself in self consciousness as he was known to do, Kira pulled him down into a gentle kiss that couldn't possibly convey all of her emotions, but was as good a place as any to start.
"I would love to go on a flight with you, but I'm not sure if I can fly." He had stiffened when she said but, only for understanding to wash over him when he continued. Rage drenched his emotions as he mentally pictured her wings, they were glorious but her ex husband had seen to it that patches of feathers had been cruelly ripped out. The uneven amount of feathers may throw off her balance while in flight, but he had never thought about it before.
Bringing their gazes together, he stroked down her spine to the release at her back. His fingers gently prodded it as he spoke. "There is an easy way to test that. If you wish, I can take you out and we can see for ourselves."
Kira bit her lip as she considered, while she would love the chance to go on a real flight with him, her wings weren't exactly pretty with their random bald spots courtesy of Pete. Not to mention, a flight was suppose to be showing your partner how good of a flyer you were, it would be beyond embarrassing if she failed to fly in front of him.
Weighing the pros and the cons, she looked up into his eyes and made her decision at the hope she found in them. He wanted to go on a flight with her and she wanted to go on one with him, the choice was obvious. "Okay, let's try it. I might fail hilariously though, just a heads up. I wasn't a great flyer before he took chunks out of my wings."
She felt a flash of rage before Mencheres smoothed it over with understanding and love. It was nice, knowing how protective he was of her. With their plan set, they wasted no time in heading out to a clearing far enough away to not be seen. Kira bit her lip as she carefully pulled her wings from their hiding place.
Feathers drifted to the ground around her, to her distaste. Mencheres was always so careful to brush her feathers back into order but they never stayed that way for long. Shaking her thoughts back to the present, she carefully lifted her wings and gave a tentative flap to test the muscles.
Soreness immediately greeted her, until her healing kicked in and soothed the under used muscles. Stealing a glance at Mencheres, who was watching her as if incapable of looking away, she tried again.
This time she kept flapping the wings until that air around her kicked the dust up. Slowly building power, she picked up her speed until the muscles tensed in memory of what to do next. Bending her knees, she pushed herself into the air.
For a few terrifying minutes, she thought she was going to fall. Her wings flailed wildly as they tried to remember how to fly. It took her falling a few feet before her wings caught her weight and lifted her again.
It was jerky at best and not at all her best start, but when she turned to see Mencheres beaming grin she felt like she had just accomplished something great. Giving a shaky bow, as tradition stated, she began to rise higher.
The longer she was in the air, the more came back to her. She began doing a set of spins and twirls, getting steadily more elaborate as her confidence grew. Mencheres wasted no time in joining, taking her hands and dancing with her in the sky. He dove and twisted around her body, carefully brushing her wings when they passed each other.
Kira's face was split in a giant grin as they spiraled and moved together, Mencheres easily matching her movements. It was almost an hour later when they touched down, Kira stumbling slightly on the landing, only to trip squarely into Mencheres arms.
If she had still been human she would have been breathless but as she didn't need to breath, she pulled Mencheres into a deep kiss. Her exuberance demanding an outlet and Mencheres was more than happy to provide one. When they pulled back, Kira's eyes shined pink with emotions she didn't want to hold back. She had never thought she would get to go on a flight with her mate after the damage to her wings, but she had never been happier to be wrong.
Curling into his side on the walk home, she kept her wings out and half draped over his shoulder. He had said on multiple occasions he enjoyed the feel of her feathers against his skin and there was no one out here to see them, so there was no reason not to indulge a little.
His tail flicked happily against her wings, brushing her waist every now and then as it stroked back and forth. It wasn't often when another person would go out of their way to learn their partners species courting rituals. Then again, Mencheres had always been in his own category.
Her thoughts turning to his feline heritage, Kira felt her curiosity grow as to what courtship rituals Mencheres had grown up with. They must have changed over the past four and a half millennia. "What kind of courting things do your people do? Has it changed much since you were human?"
Her genuine curiosity and consideration about his culture touched him, tightening his hold in affection as he answered. "While some things have changed, such as couples choosing to groom one another in public, most of the core principles are similar. When I was a human the most common form of courtship was the chase. When you were interested in a potential partner you would instigate a chase, if they caught you then the courting would proceed. After that, you bonded with grooming and similar activities."
Humming under her breath, Kira considered his words. "We have preening, which sounds like the same things as grooming. We just brush out each others feathers or oil them if you're feeling really adventurous. Oiling takes a long time thanks to how many feathers there are, but it feels divine afterwards. You already preen me whenever I sit still long enough, and I return the favor with your ears and tail."
Mencheres nodded, brushes his fingers playfully into her feathers to prove her point about his love of preening her. He was happy that those two courting practices were similar enough to carry over, it was relaxing to groom her wings.
They continued in silence, until Kira grinned impishly up at him as she pulled him to a stop a few hundred feet before they got to the house. Seeing her grin, Mencheres curiosity stoked only to change into pure exuberance in the next instant.
Thinking on his people's courting, Kira knew the perfect way to reassure him that she had no problem with them being different species. Wrapping her arms around him, she pulled him into a languid kiss as her feathers brushed his back. When she ended the kiss, she turned suddenly before he could get his bearings back and shouted over her shoulder. "Catch me if you can!"
Before his next blink, Kira had bolted back into the forest. Mencheres stared in shock momentarily, before an age old instinct sprang to the front. His mouth pulled into a grin as he took off after his wife, his emotions soaring as he raced behind her.
When he caught up with her, he pounced, pinning her to the ground in triumph over his catch. Lowering his head, he nipped her throat before dropping a line of kisses up to her mouth. Kira wrapped him into her arms, her wings bending forward to curl around him as well.
The blissful happiness from the bond made her glad she had chosen to start a chase, even though she knew getting the mud and twigs out of her feathers was going to be hell later.
Brushing the thought to the side, she pulled Mencheres down into another kiss. It wasn't that big of a deal. She had a husband who was more than happy to comb out her feathers for her again, after all.
_
When they finally walked through the door hours later, after multiple more rounds of chase and various other activities, they were both coated in dirt and leaves. Kira had put her wings away, despite the discomfort that came from doing so while they had obstacles jammed into her feathers. Mencheres had offered to order everyone out of the house, but she had insisted it wasn't necessary.
Once in their room, Mencheres was quick to offer the shower since he knew how much the additional weight of the mud would weigh down her wings, therefore making the joints ache fiercely. He had originally offered a shared shower, but Kira knew that they wouldn't get anything done if she accepted.
So instead, she scrubbed the worst of the mud and leaves off of her while keeping her feathers in their hiding place. Wings were tricky to wash and even more so to dry. She would have to use a bowl of water and a brush to work the mud out.
Stepping out of the shower, the first thing that greeted her was Mencheres. He sat shirtless on the bed, the fur on his ears slicked back from his shower and his tail draped across his lap as he carefully ran a towel over it. He stopped drying to glance up at her, standing in the next instant to wrap her into his arms.
His wet fur tickled her where his tail wound around her stomach, a normal show of affection from him. Trailing her fingers up to his ears, she massaged her hands into his fur. His eyes slid shut in bliss as she started at the tips and worked her way down. He only opened them again when she had finished.
"Finished cleansing yourself, my adored?" The nickname rolled down her spine, sending shivers of pleasure through her. But his words brought a slight grimace to her mouth.
"Not really, wings are a pain to clean. I can't just scrub them in the shower, I have to use a bowl and brush to get all the feathers clean again." Mencheres frowned momentarily, he hadn't known how much work went into cleaning her wings. If he had, he wouldn't have tackled her into the dirt. A smile spread as he thought of an easy solution.
"Since it is my fault your wings are in such a state, it is only right I am the one to clean them. I will have someone buy some wing oil from town. By the time they are back with it, I should be done with brushing the mud out of your feathers." Kira glowed, her happiness obvious to anyone as she agreed.
"Only if I get to brush out your fur later, and your hair. I wasn't kidding about it being soft." Mencheres nuzzled her forehead happily as her fingers combed through the fur on his tail.
"I am more than happy to allow you to brush it to your heart's content. Until then, shall we find a brush and bowl?"