Ardyn Cadeyrn Aodhán Phoenix Adravendi

He’d come across the tantalizing trail of a bull elk that had, by the smell of it, been injured during the rut. The smell of blood was fetid with infection, and the bull’s tracks were uneven, the right hind hoof dragging instead of firmly planted. He must have been gored during a rumble with another bull. Ardyn smiled to himself. Though a yearling, he was still large enough that an injured elk shouldn’t be too difficult, especially if he was innovative in his approach. He flagged his tail, catching Lyr’s attention, and the raven stooped, dropping to land on the Destiny’s shoulder. Ardyn gestured ahead, speaking low, though the elk was about a half hour’s travel ahead of them by the smell of it, and the freshness of the tainted blood droplets left behind, “I’d like to take this elk down, but it’ll take some doing. Could you fly ahead and scout the elk and then a good spot to ambush it into a trap?” The raven dipped his shining beak and pushed off, glimmering away into the evening sky while Ardyn moved to get a vantage point to wait, practicing the virtue of patience. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Tail waving haughtily above her hips, the purple and black coated yearling sauntered through the autumn-gold grasses. Tansy had disappeared into them some time ago but reappeared now licking the last traces of blood from her whiskers in satisfaction. She flicked one ear then paused. Flicking it again, she grabbed Ari's ankle in her claws to pull her to a stop. Ari tilted her own head to listen, and caught a voice speaking quietly nearby. Tansy clearly wanted to avoid said voice and go their own way but Ari ignored her hiss and changed direction. Resuming her saunter she found herself coming up to a rather fluffy, glowy male around her age. Huh. His fur glow shifted as he moved. He seemed intent on something, so of course she had to butt her nose in and interrupt. "Hey, what you up to?" she asked the complete stranger casually, stopped next to him, and, just as casually, bringing her paw up to poke him in the shoulder, grinning as the light reacted to her touch. Oh this could be fun.

Ardyn Cadeyrn Aodhán Phoenix Adravendi

With how light the steps were, he almost expected to turn and see Aoife, maybe carrying something, but the voice and the paw were unfamiliar, though his easy nature wasn’t ruffled by the touch as he offered the tiny yearling a grin, nodding ahead toward the trail and sky. “Seeing if I can get lucky and bring a bull elk down with some brain-power. My friend’s flown ahead to scout the area and see if there’s a good spot to run ahead and build something to do some of the heavy work for me. Maybe a very strong snare if I can find a strong enough sapling… or build a pit if he’s bedding down for the night. Should be fun.” He lowered himself to his belly, letting his hind end roll to the side, tail flicking clear of his hips to drape over his hind legs as he devoted half of his attention to the girl and the rest to the sky and the trail, watching the darkening gloom for Lyr’s telltale bi-colored glowing plumage. “I’m Ardyn, by the way.” Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think

The male didn't snap at her for poking him, which was ok though she'd have been down for a tussle if he had taken offense too. He talked about trapping some elk with a snare or something, which Ari personally thought was a much better way to hunt, though Tansy made a disgusted noise behind her. Of course the cat would find something to be offended by in someone hunting using tools instead of tradition, she was a stickler like that. A real stick in the mud, though the metaphor broke down a bit when you realized that she'd never get within a hundred yards of mud. Ari just rolled her eyes at the cat and plopped down on her haunches next to the other yearling to keep him company. "Ari," she offered in return. "Bet the traps come in real handy since your butt glows too much for you to hide from your prey." She patted his hip in mock affection just to watch the shinies shimmer across it again. She grinned, then shifted a bit and just so happened to raise the spines on her back. Casual-like. No big deal, just being amazing. "So that's what you do for your pack, you hunt?" For she had a nose just as anyone else did, and could smell the unfamiliar pack scent on his fur, so clearly he wasn't just the dirty lost urchin that she more closely resembled despite the pack scent on her fur. Besides, he had to have someone around to brush out all that hair for him. Just imagine getting burrs stuck in that. It would take hours to bite them out yourself. Ugh! No thanks, she'd stick to her own awesomeness.

Ardyn Cadeyrn Aodhán Phoenix Adravendi

An amused twinkle lit in his mismatched, fire and ice eyes at the scoff from the cat that accompanied the girl, though he nodded to the cat as though he would have preferred to take the bull down the traditional way – and he truly would have, but he was no use to his pack if he got badly hurt trying to take down the elk on his own without a little leverage. He nodded at Ari’s returned introduction, remarking, “Nice to meet ya.” He squinted briefly at the sky as he caught a flicker of light, but it was just the first star twinkling into life in the heavens. Was his grandfather there, watching over him? He hoped he’d make the crimson man proud. His mother was still grieving, though her way of grieving was to hurl herself headlong into hard labor on the tower, or long patrols, or throwing herself into the traces of a sledge full of stone brought from beyond the border. Although, if his birds and bees lesson had made any impression, it was that his mother was also in heat, and this was her way of burning the extra energy off… maybe he’d have little siblings to dote on? He hoped so. To Ari’s words about the ease of traps, he chuckled, not offended in the slightest. “I have a cloak that covers me well enough to be sneaky, but I was mostly exploring, so my stuff’s at my camp, aside from the pouch here,” He reached a forepaw around and patted the pouch strapped to his ribs. It had a few of the essentials, like quick travel jerky, a blade of metal from the plateau, and several bundles of sinew and cordage, as well as an extra fire kit in case he needed it. His eyes did note the raised quills in her fur, and a grin flashed over his features, echoed in the fiery glow before it faded a few beats after the expression had gone. He'd have to tell Aoife that he'd met someone who had quills, too. At her last question, he smiled, almost enigmatically, as he suggested, “Among many things. Grizzly bear defense, is another.” Much to his mother’s chagrin. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Aris snorted, a lopsided grin on her maw as she sent him a sideways glance. "Have enough bear trouble that you need to do it for a living eh? Though I guess that's why you're hunting in your off time." She wouldn't admit even to herself that she was jealous, damn it. She wanted to fight off bears. Maybe she should go find one and chase it off a kill or something, just to prove she could too. "I'm a healer," which wasn't super true since she had very little formal training at all, "And a fighter," also a stretch since again, she hadn't had formal training since their puppy training. "My pack's the strongest in Boreas because of our warriors," she added with a casual air, as if she wasn't bragging on her own skills by saying that. You know, no bid deal, I'm just one of the strongest warriors in Boreas, you don't need to bow or anything but if you insist. Tansy was thoroughly ignoring them now so she didn't even roll her eyes at Ari's outrageous claims.

Ardyn Cadeyrn Aodhán Phoenix Adravendi

Ardyn laughed softly, rolling his shoulders as he remembered the battle that he’d had with a bear that had wandered into Valhallan lands. “A bear managed to slip through a patrol when I was a pup. And me, being an idiot, took it on myself, alone. Pretty sure I saw most of my short life flashing past my eyes and if I recall right, I got clobbered. The bear died anyway but it wasn’t me that killed it.” At least, he added silently to himself, it wasn’t him that killed that bear. The next one he’d been just big enough, and not alone enough, to kill. Ari pronounced that she was a healer, and a fighter, and he grinned, glossing over her remark about the strength of her pack and suggesting, “We could spar some time. I’m always open to working on my skills. Win or lose, I’ll always learn something.” A flash in the sky, moving quickly toward them, caught his attention, and he rose, smiling as Lyr dropped from the now-dark sky to land on his withers in a flutter of glowing white and black-red plumage, casting a quick beady glance to the girl and her cat before reporting to Ardyn. “There’s a spot about two miles ahead down the trail. It’s narrow and there are no easy deviations for the bull to take between his position and there, and he looks like he may be resting a bit. He’s gored badly, looks like he took on two at once. Hello, I’m Lyr, miss’s.” He nodded his bi-parted bill at the tiny yearling and her cat, chipper through his croaking Welsh accent. Ardyn nodded, and Lyr caught the look the Destiny pointed at him, adding, “There’s an alternate path that connects back onto this one, but he’s already too far past it, and the path’s too narrow for him to turn around where he is.” Ardyn grinned. “Should give enough time to build a surprise. Could you lead us, and then when we’re setting up – if, that is, you want to come along, Ari – I’d like you to keep an eye on the elk and warn when it’s headed on.” The bird nodded and pushed off, drifting ahead and to the right of the path as Ardyn pressed on after him, tossing a quick grin of invitation to the girl as he went. It was up to the tiny girl if she wanted to help out. Ardyn followed the raven’s glowing figure along a path at a brisk trot, long legs and fur where it was exposed to the air crackling and simmering with fiery light, until Lyr dropped to a stone outcropping where the trail connected with the one the elk was on. Ardyn looked around, shaking out his ruff and mane to shed more light as he took in the materials available, stamping his forepaws on the ground and testing the soil’s texture. Good for digging, and there were saplings at hand nearby that he could shop down, or perhaps use for a snare, though the elk’s antlers would probably be too large to fit through the loop of a noose. He glanced uphill, taking note of the stones and boulders there. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Aris squinted dubiously at Ardyn when he described getting his ass handed to him by the bear. Was this... humility? Seemed counter productive to tell stories in a way that made you seem weaker than everyone around you. That was just asking to be bullied and bossed around.

"Yeah, sure, why not?" she shrugged when he mentioned a spar sometime, but her eyes gleamed at the thought. Ok, so she liked fighting even though she didn't get to do it much. It was a thrill to pit yourself against another - probably bigger - opponent and vie to come out on top. Part fueled by her ambition to be the best and part by pure pleasure in the adrenaline rush. She'd have probably suggested they spar right then and there if the weird colored carrion bird hadn't come back to jabber at Ardyn.

And that sure got Tansy's attention, the cat's suddenly tense posture and eyes nearly all pupil as she focused 100000% of her attention on the bird. On the one hand, Ari hoped that Tansy'd remember her manners and not murder Ari's new friend's bird, but on the other hand it would be kind of fucking super hilarious, so Ari refrained from saying anything to her to influence what happened. She just sat, grinning as she watched the undercurrents.

"Love to come along!" she chirped. She wouldn't miss for the world seeing Tansy's reaction to the continued presence of her favorite prey animal. She'd been like this with Dirk for a while too, but the jay's constant rude commentary and corruption of Ari had offended her right out of her fascination.

Tansy twitched hard when the bird took off again, the abortive movement clearly an instinctive reaction to the flurry of wings but the blackfooted cat barely kept herself in check and didn't throw herself onto the bird. Pity. Probably for the best though! She got the feeling that Ardyn would be the type to get upset about that sort of thing.

The cat continued to practically vibrate as they followed Ardyn along behind the bird, and her attention was super fixated on the glowing thing even as Ari bounced up next to Ardyn. "Soooo what you thinking?" she asked curiously, studying the stuff he was studying to see if she could puzzle out what his plan was for it.