Armando had been fast asleep in the boughs of a tree when the fire had broken out. Were it not for a very sudden and very loud howl directly below him, the thicket may very well have been his grave. As it was, Rhyme's howl had startled him awake. He'd had just enough to sit up and rub at his eyes before the smoke wafted over him. Aghast, the portly little fiend had taken off as fast as his chubby legs could carry him. He'd flown from limb to limb, leaping gaps and scaling bark with a speed he'd thought he'd lost after gaining that last pound.

Fast as he may have felt, Armando watched as animal after animal overtook him on the ground. The deer, the rabbits, the wolves, they all ran by and disappeared out of sight and presumably into the arms of safety. The fire soon was nipping at his heels and the smoke hung as thick around him as fog.

With a squeak Armando plummeted to the ground, his paws still clutching the branch that had broken beneath him. He hit the dirt hard and then skidded end over end down a steep embankment. Had there been time for it the little furball would have laid there and wheezed dramatically for awhile. He was on the verge of doing that anyway when he looked up and noticed the red hot embers floating overhead on the breeze. They landed on the dry brush around him and on the tangle of dry vines above, and he watched as they smoldered. Yeah, okay, hint taken - no time for theatrics.

He rolled to his paws and took off running. Short legs or not, he ran like the wind. He ran so fast and so heedlessly that he very nearly ran into the legs of a big purpley, red-eyed wolf who was headed in the wrong direction. What an idiot - the fire was that way! Armando skittered around the wolf and kept on running. He ran until the the rapids were in front of him and then, catching wind of all the big predators milling around nearby, he bolted up a tree. It would be his luck to escape a fire only to be eaten by a predator moments later.

With a wheeze the little fiend collapsed on a chunky limb and lay there panting. His eyes stunk fiercely and his lungs felt a little crispy, but he was alive. He was alive and... Armando opened his eyes slowly. His tail felt unusually warm. He peeked over his shoulder and then promptly screamed as he caught sight of the tiny ember smoldering on the end of his tail. Forgetting that he was high up in a tree, Armando flailed at the ember and promptly lost his footing on the branch. Once more he plummeted to the ground, this time trailing smoke.

Striking the ground probably hurt, but he was too busy worrying about his tail to feel it. He flailed at it, yelping curses and ow's as the tiny flames burned his paws and worked their way through the fur on the end of his tail.

Winter took very seriously her job of leading others to safety. Most of the time this meant getting in front of Shaye as she rescued members of her pack, but at the moment the Alpha was in the rapids, getting a drink before seeing that the injured were receiving care. Winter was doing a sweep of the thicket, looking for wolves that might have gotten lost or stuck in the flaming disaster.

The updrafts from the heat where a nuisance, and occasionally pushed her off course. The rising smoke made seeing and breathing difficult, and she knew she would have to give up the course soon. Before she did, she would notice the little red creature that ran through the burning grasses, curious she would see him climb a tree instead of heading for the rapids as the wolves did. Perhaps it wasn’t as smart as a wolf, or a raven.

Her eyes moved on, looking for wolves, and she circled the tree as her eyes scanned the floor, only to see the flames licking at his trees end. She debated going down there and waking the creature, only so that she didn’t have to listen to its screams as it burnt to death. She didn’t need that nightmare.

The creature woke with a fright and fell from the branches, rolling in circles as it tried to put out the flames. What it didn’t see, was the fire that raged closer, one spark jumping to the bushes on his right, before it went up in flames.

With a sigh, the raven descended, grabbing a flat rock in her claws before she approached. “hold still!” she barked, and if the creature complied, she would push the rock onto his flaming fur in an effort to smother it. If he didn’t comply, she might debate dropping it on his head. “If you want to live, follow me, I can lead you to water. Waaaaa-ter” did the silly creature understand her?

Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch. He'd made it to the rapids and he thought he was safe so close to the water, but the breeze seemed to be carrying the embers far ahead of the main body of the fire. Armando lay on the ground on his back flinging dirt onto his smoldering tail and trying to pat the low burning but persistent flames into submission. They refused to die. If he'd been thinking he'd have leaped into the water and put it out that way, but his world had narrowed down to the flames on his tail and he could think of nothing else.

"Hold still!" The white raven pushed a stone onto his tail. Armando could hear the flames smother with an angry hiss. Gingerly he tugged his tail free and began to cradle it. The end was bare and blistered but it had escaped major harm. "Oh my poor tail!" he cried as he stroked his patchy fur.

"If you want to live, follow me, I can lead you to water! Waaaaa-ter." Still clutching his tail Armando looked up at the bird uncomprehendingly. He almost pointed to the shallows behind him, thinking perhaps she hadn't seen it, but then he saw the small fire steadily growing around the base of the tree he'd been in and decided there was no time for questions. Maybe she meant safer water.

Thinking maybe the bird was a bit slow (that would explain the weird emphasis on the word 'water') he said slowly and loudly, "Ohh-kay. Leeead the waaay." How could he argue with an offer of free help? From the air the bird could see farther than he could and she'd be able to guide him effortlessly to safer waters.

The raven blinked beady eyes at the creature as it spoke back in equally slow and simple ways. Winter was right, the creature was an idiot. No matter, she wouldn’t have let it burn regardless. Besides, Shaye had some affection to a great many animals, it was hard to keep it straight what one was allowed to kill and what one wasn’t.

He agreed to follow her, so she pushed into the sky again, wings feeling heavy and laiden, and she took a moment in the air to orientate herself, there that was the wolves, and safety. She didn’t fly too high, not knowing how good a red-tree-mouse’s eyesight was, as she moved in the direction of the rapids and Shaye’s party.

She cawd before she reached them, gathering Shaye’s attention. The Alpha moved towards her at a run, perhaps thinking she was leading an injured wolf. Not quite. She hoped she was right about the Shaye-wanting-to-save-this-creature thing.

Shaye stopped beneath her and Winter landed in her coat. “This creature s-peaks” she said with a crack of her beak. “I s-aved it from the fire.” she shuffled a talon in Shaye’s coat, moving restlessly. “It’s silly, like a mascot.” Winter said, more quietly so only Shaye could hear.

The wolf looked to her companion, and the red panda, and found herself laughing. She had no idea why winter had done such a thing, and realised she needed this release. Strange raven. “Very well, I grant you safety for a day and a night, since your home has been lost as well. After that, well, we can speak then” she said to the panda

His poor, poor tail. Armando eyed the reddening, glistening skin balefully. It was a good thing he hadn't seen any red pandas in awhile. The last thing he needed was for a woman to see him like this. The very thought embarrassed him.

The bird was off suddenly and Armando had to scramble to right himself and take off after her. He took great bounding leaps after her, his gaze quickly bouncing between her, the ground and back again. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the fire growing. It was a good thing the bird had decided to help him when it did, because he'd been sure was a safe haven was about to go up in smoke.

Armando started to wheeze again as he ran. He wasn't made for this. This was why he'd loved that big ole moose in the first place. With his long legs and warm back. Had he been less winded and pressed for time Armando might have sighed nostalgically. He'd grown fat riding around on Atlas' back. It was that fat that was now making it difficult to keep up with the bird.

His world narrowed down to the bird above and his fear of being burned alive. The fear fueled him long after his stamina ran out. It was run or die and he was much too fond of living to let a fat belly be the end of him. He was sure his ragged breaths were loud enough to compete with the crackle of the fire.

Suddenly a wolf loomed over him and Armando put on the brakes. He skidded to a halt with a squeak and then backpedaled several steps. That foul sky rat! It was a trap, a trick! It had brought him to its master so she could eat him. Somehow they must have found out about his scheme. They were onto him; they knew why he was there. They were-

Wait what, asylum? Armando froze. That's what she'd say, wasn't it? Slowly his look of horror faded. So they didn't know. Okay, that was good. Safety for a day or two. Also good. He wasn't sure why the wolf was policing non-wolf species, but hey, when in the presence of a big predator, keep your mouth shut and don't complain, right? Armando swallowed and then cleared his throat. "Yes well...thank you. Thank you, Sh-" He very nearly said Shaye, but caught himself at the last second. Okay, so he'd been around for a few days. Learned enough about the wolves to know who the leaders where and what their names were at least. And this wolf? This one was the reason he was here. He really liked her feather - and he wanted it. He'd been casing the place for days trying to learn the best method to acquire it."She-wolf," he finished lamely.

Slowly he drew his right forepaw to his chest, feinting an injury. "I...am in need of a healer. I would be happy to trade for treatment if you have someone who wouldn't mind treating a little guy like me." After a beat he drew his scorched tail around and patted at it sadly with his left forepaw. Yes, he was a sad wee thing. An innocent sad wee thing.

It was true, the little red panda could speak, and did so after realizing she was offering him safety for a moment. It would at least give him time to get patched up, and head out of Abaven if he so desired, and who knew, perhaps at the end of this she wouldn’t mind if he stuck around. No need to push it however, especially fi food became scarce in the days to come. She couldn’t offer him anything more, for she wouldn’t punish one of her wolves for murder if they happened to be hungry enough to eat a panda. Unintentional reference to murder, dammit

She was curious what he was able to say, but didn’t push it, he was a chubby little creature out of breath and panting, and more then a little singed. If he had been able to say a wolfy insult and retracted it, she wasn’t about to push him.

When he drew his injured paw inwards, and nudged his scourced tail, it was all the right buttons to push. She sighed softly, rubbing her forehead against a sooty shoulder, and doing no more then rubbing the black stuff around. “I was trained as a healer, i’ll patch you up, sit by the stream with Winter well i get some supplies, but if you wander off from her I can’t guarantee someone won't take a bite before you can tell them I said no” she warned him.

Armando cast a sidelong glance at the white sky rat when Shaye told him to stay with her. He should have been grateful for Winter's help but he couldn't help but feel he'd been set up. Perhaps this was for the best. Sure, he was officially meeting one of his targets a bit earlier than he would have liked, but she was also going to be personally tending to his wounds which would get him closer to her than he could have hoped.

He looked up at Shaye with big sad eyes, his tail still clutched against his chest, and then sniffed dejectedly. "Thank you. I'll stay right here, Miss...?" Hopefully that would prompt her to give her name. Heaven forbid he have another slip of the tongue.

"I'll pay you back, I promise. I can fashion all kinds of things and I can speak to the dead. I'll do anything to make it up to you," he said, injecting the words with every ounce of sincerity he could muster.

Winter huffed at looked at the tree mouse, and remembered how it had looked with its tail toasting up. Her beak clapped together in what she called a smile. She could babysit the creature a little longer, at least it had amused her so far. “I will guard Tree-Mouse against harm” she declared

Shaye shook her head at the bird with a sigh. “He’s a red panda, silly” she corrected her. “I’m Shaye Destruction, the Alpha here.” she explained, waiting a polite moment to hear the panda’s name, before she moved off to get herbs.

The raven gave the tree mouse a sidelong look of her own, having caught his early. “Trash-mouse” she clacked, prepared to take to the skies if it looked as though he might retaliate. Of course, it would be foolish if he did. He was a half-cooked morsel amung hungry wolves.

Shaye wasn’t long, she grabbed some marigold, sadly they had no aloe vera to spare, as well as a bandage and some pain killers. She would return about ten minutes after her departure.

Tree-mouse? Well that certainly was a new one. He'd been called a great many thing, catbear, firefox, sleepy bastard and so on, but never Tree-Mouse. Sky Rat: 1 Red panda: 0

He peeked up at the bird with wide, innocent eyes and chirped, "Indeed, a red panda. My name is," And this was were it got complicated. What persona did he pick? Neither Shaye nor the bird had jumped on his offer to trade, craft or commune with the dead, so Armando was at a loss at what to pick. "Kirby. Thank you again, Miss Shaye. I didn't know wolves could be so...so nice."

And then the big wolf was off in a whirlwind of ash, her brilliant blue feather glinting tantalizingly in the light. It was a bit big for his head, but maybe he could trim it down. Perhaps fashion two feathers out of it. One feather or two, the blue would look quite striking against his red coat. Oh, how he envied it.

"Trash-mouse," the bird squawked with what he thought might be a rude expression, but he couldn't quite tell. Bird faces were, in his opinion, a bit limited when it came to expressions. Their beady eyes and inflexible mouths meant that they were stuck with the same dumb expression no matter their intent.

Feinting offense, Armando looked up at Winter with wide eyes. He stammered and rung his hands, but held off on saying something until Shaye's return. Even then, he spoke only to Winter as though the two had been engaged in conversation while she was gone. "Why I never," he squeaked in a dismayed voice. "To escape a fire and then, without so much as a chance to recover, to be insulted so!" He wheezed as though still struggling with the smoke in his lungs and drew his "injured" paw up to his chest again. This time the limb shook just a little. "Perhaps I should go..."

She hurried back to the red panda and Raven, not wishing to spend too much time on healing the newest creature that had wondered into Abaven. As much as she wished to get to know the strange chubby little man who spoke of craft - always an interest to Rhyme and Shaye - she just didn’t have the time or resources.

She tried not to look hurried as she settled down before the smaller creature, scowling up at the raven as the panda mentioned insults and gave a very sad show of his injuries. “Oh, be off with you Winter.” she growled to the bird, knowing her companion could come off as arrogant at times. The bird squawked at her, fluffing out its wings and fanning them once, before hopping to the sky. “Tricky trickster!’ she snapped.

Shaking her head at the antics of the bird, she turned her attention back to the red panda. “I offered you safety Mr Kirby, short as it was, and I won’t go back on that.” she promised him. “Let’s have a look at these injuries, shall we?” she said as she sniffed carefully over the burnt areas, and applied the marigold, offering him the pain killer herbs first if he wished for them. Once she had smeared some herbs over him and bandaged him up, she rocked back on her heels. “Alright, I can’t stay for long. You best get yourself into a tree to recover without being destrubed. I’ll let people know your here. Also, there's a lion taking refuge in the pack at the moment. Cannival can climb, so if I see her I'll let her know your off limits, too” she promised him.

Had anyone else been present it would have been obvious what Armando had done. The time between Winter's comment and Shaye's return was too great. Upon hearing that Winter was being rude to their guest Shaye was quick to dismiss the raven. Good. That's what Armando had been hoping for. It was hard not to smirk at the bird, but Armando resisted the temptation and kept his expression innocent. He had appearances to keep up.

"I can't tell you enough how much I appreciate it, Miss Shaye," he said as he offered up his tail for her to look at it. She really was a nice wolf. Armando was fond of nice wolves. They were the probably the easiest to work with. Their niceness made it easy for them to overlook his mistakes and chalk it up to him being a funny little creature, which made his grift easier.

After she took care of his injuries - he threw in a pained whimper here and there for good measure - she instructed him to climb a tree to recover. The interesting bit, though, was the part about a lion. They had a lion. A lion. Oh ho, he was going to have to see that for himself. Who knew what he could do with a lion at his side! He simply had to meet it.

He let his eyes go wide after Shaye mentioned the lion and then nodded rapidly. "Okay I will. Thanks again, Miss Shaye. I think you're the nicest predator I've ever met."

-exit?-