Lux hadn’t flown in ages. At least not for the pleasure of it. Now if he flew it was strictly out of necessity. He didn’t do planes. The idea of cramming himself into a tin tube with a bunch of smelly, loud and callous humans was by far his definition of hell. In fact a vast majority of travel types required him to be to close for comfort to humans. He could do a train every once in a while, but he always tried to stick to the empty cars. Which meant any time he traveled a great distance he was using his wings. However, today wasn’t a day for need. Instead Lux was spreading his wings purely for the pleasure of it.
He woke early. Long before any other soul on the ranch was out and about. Even the animals were still sleeping. Though he still made his way to the far edges of the ranch. Lux removed his shirt so not to have anything constricting his movements. It took him a moment to stretch out his wings to their full capacity. He rolled them around a bit and flapped them several times, not hard enough to do anything just enough to reacquaint himself with muscles long not been used. When he was certain he’d stretched them completely he gave a real flap of his wings.
That one flap was all it took for his feet to leave the ground, and the moment they did Lux couldn’t help but ascend into the sky. Up and up he went until he was high up above the clouds. Lux continued soaring until he felt comfortable. It was then he started playing around. Tucking his wings away so he could dive down before spreading them back out and rebounding right back up for the heavens. Lux kept growing until he could feel beads of sweat on his brow and his throat parched.
He noted the sun was finally rising and figured now was a good time to land while mostly everyone was still sleep and the likeliness of anyone seeing him still slim. Lux chuckled to himself as he landed back on the ground. Flying once in years and it already felt strange to be on his legs again. He knew he’d have to tuck his wings away and his his true appearance once more before he went to head back inside to get a drink and have breakfast. Lux was a little sadden by that thought, but his need for self preservation was stronger than his desire to freely be himself. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to feel the wind tickle his feathers for a moment longer.
Xavier wasn’t usually an early riser. He preferred to stay up with the moon and get up late, a natural urge amongst wolves, he’d found. They were tied to the moon, so it made sense that they were more energetic when it came around.
The same, it seemed, could not be said of puppies. Beowoof seemed to need out every two hours, and desperately wanted to go for a walk as soon as the sun peaked over the horizon. Personally, Xavier preferred to sleep for another few hours, but with an insistent puppy licking his face, it made it difficult to accomplish that goal.
He was still bleary-eyed as he stepped into the sunlight, although he had stopped at the kitchen to get a cup of coffee, so he was half certain that he wasn’t hallucinating as he wandered after the puppy.
“So you do more than change your eye color.” He called as he approached the man. The wings were certainly something to brag about, he had to admit. The man looked like an angel, which was the point, obviously.
