- Jason 735
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- Exalted Member
So, there's this bird that lives on my parent's property. A pheasant, if I am not mistaken. It had a habit of sleeping in the tall grass at the edge of a pond in our cow pasture on cold november nights. The moisture in the water would cause a 5 foot high fog layer to form across the pasture, and it was usually very quiet. After going to see a movie or something like that, my friends and brother and I would ususally hang out in the pasture and walk about as we talked about the movie or whatever. On rare enough occasion to be always a surprise we would scare up this pheasant.
The sound of a terrified pheasant suddenly taking flight from four feet of tall grass obscured by silencing fog is enough to freeze a human heart for three beats. The first thought to run through the deepest primal part of your mind is that a giant lizard is about to eat you. The primal part of your mind ways all the evidence, concludes it is sound, and forwards the thought directly to your feet.
You can run quite a ways in the space of three heartbeats, even if your heart isn't beating at the time.
Eventully, we took to carrying stick when we walked through that part of the field. Not for protection, mind you, but in case we got to take a whack at that gorram bird before its wings and our feet carried us to opposite ends of the property!