Nano snippet #3

[nekostef]

Skua shifted his gaze to the gull's stout, pointed beak, which he could see with increasing clarity as he focused in on it closer and closer. Its tip was sharp and gleamed with red, raw potential, and in examining it closely, he found a new and interesting complexity in it. It was apparently a very useful, functional part of the gull; as Skua delved closer and closer with his mind, it opened up its history to him. The gull knew the taste of meat, as Skua himself knew it, though he was not sure how he knew -- was he tapping into its memories? Did birds have memories at all? The boy was surprised to learn that the bird knew meat as warm, since he knew of course that birds don't cook. Though it makes sense, he thought, because when he eats a crab, it is alive. He looked deeply and learned, but as he got closer, he began to see images and taste flavors of things he could not identify, things with feelers and claws, the rasp of pecking at a cracked open clam shell. His senses argued with him -- rotten fish is fragrant and delicious, the gull's mind insisted, while Skua's own thoughts were repulsed by the borrowed memory of the smell, the slimy texture, the strong fishy flavor. Two minds in one, it was not good, no no no, Skua was too close. A familiar shape -- a starfish -- had an unpleasant texture for him, though the gull seemed to relish it. Skua flailed under the onslaught of sensations, smells, screeching sounds territory my food community mating, the powerful feel of a swooping dive folded wings a thrill nature vertigo up is down. And with a decided effort, Skua coiled his mind into a tight, protective knot, back go back i am a boy i do not fly get back go back back back to da, and pushed himself back from the gull's mind at once.

Too close, he thought, sick to his stomach. He hadn't indulged in his little game for quite some time, and only rarely with animals bigger or more complicated than worms and beetles, and now he had a harsh reminder of why. The game could turn nightmarish quickly, if he got too nosy and forgot to be careful.