Ashmedai was all for some festival shenanigans. More so, he had always loved lightning bugs. He had some rather fond memories of squishing them into his pelt and trying to make himself glow while younger. He saw many others working together with their companions in order to catch the flickering bugs. It made him miss Pongolo a good deal. The bird could be rather annoying, but he did a good job finding trinkets and other things. Like fireflies. Ah well, Ash figured he would just have to do his best tonight by himself and rub it in their faces later.

The last event of the night was catching fireflies. This had been one hell of an interesting day considering his lack of sight, but it had never stopped him before. With jar in tow, Dragon and his companions made their way over to the bug catching spot. Shiva had decided to help him on this one, while Kimahri would wait with the jar. "Alright, let's do this!" He exclaimed. Only...he wasn't totally sure where the bugs were. "Follow my footsteps," The Jaguaress murmured. She moved ahead a bit, sending fireflies in her wake. "Now!" She herself jumped forward to clap a couple between her paws. And Dragon? Well, he didn't give no fucks. The armored Male had drifted away from her and gone his own way, jumping forward with an open mouth to try and catch them...only, he probably caught an Ashmedai instead. The strong scent of the Imperialis Male infiltrated his nose but Dragon was already airborne by the time he realized. Oops. "Dragon"||Kimahri||Shiva

Deciding to try his luck in a different location, Brandr picked up his jar and continued walking through the wooded area around the lake. A flash of color caught his attention in the moonlight and he paused to see a large man wearing a brightly colored thing on his body, bound to it by some strange looking armor. Brandr wasn't quite sure what to make of what he was looking at but as he stared another man bumbled into him. Perhaps he had trouble seeing in the dark. Brandr was swiftly distracted by a pair of lightning bugs that landed right on the bridge of his muzzle. Oh dear, were they mating on him? He quickly tried to sweep them off into the jar before turning his attention back to the others. "Good evening!" "Talk" "You" Think

Ash was pretty excited with all the bugs he was catching even if it wasn't a ton compared to other wolves. He wasn't paying them any mind until he felt a clamping on his tail. Ash spun around, half expecting to see Sparrow, but instead saw a different familiar face- Dragon. Ash smirked and aimed to flick his paw over Dragon's nose.

"I might be bright, but I ain't no firefly, Dragon." Ash took it easy on the man, knowing he was blind, "If you wanted a guide, all ya had to do was ask, old pal."

Dragon and Ashmedai had some history. It was Dragon and his companions who gave Ashmedai his X scar on his chest. The scar was mostly hidden by his gear, however.

Ashmedai was caught off guard when another man came and greeted them. As he did, a pair of fireflies flew past Ash and he made motion to catch them. He didn't miss that this man smelled of Abaven, but decided it probably wouldn't be an issue anyway. "Evening!"

In his efforts, he had managed to catch an Ashmedai instead of a firefly. Luckily he hadn't bitten hard since he had been trying for fireflies to begin with, so he had practically just mouthed Ash's tail. He felt the flick of a paw on his nose and he released as Ash spoke. Well, that was embarrassing! Tattered ear fell sideways as he apologetically grinned. "Heh, sorry Ash. Guess I got a little too excited," He wasn't surprised to run into him here. After all, if he gathered anything about the other guy is that he was always where the fun was, but he was glad to have encountered him again. He quite liked him very much, he was easygoing but could kick ass when he needed to. He had proven that in their last fight. "Thanks for the offer Ash. I trust you're having good luck with it?"

Head turned at the approach of another and he nodded and returned Brandr's greeting. "Good evening stranger!" He felt something buzz by his ear and quickly turned to snap at it. Shiva meanwhile, strolled over and aimed to swipe a paw at some more bugs as she turned her attention to Ash. "Evening Ashmedai," She greeted gently.

Dragon 2nd attempt

"Dragon"||"Kimahri"||"Shiva"

Well, after having a pair of fireflies breeding on him Brandr decided that that was his cue to call it quits in regards to the firefly hunting. Thankfully the isle was rich in little pools and streams. He could try his paw at fishing again while still being able to enjoy the company of the other wolves. Both men seemed to be in good spirits and as one of the jaguars with the earthen man spoke Brandr paused. He knew of wolves having companions, so many in Abaven did but he'd never really seen a jaguar this close before. "My name is Brandr, who might I have the company of sharing?" He glanced at the man in the strange shirt and leather. "I have to say I feel like I've seen you around Abaven before?" As he spoke he settled down at the edge of a nearby creek and swiped a paw into the water to try and flip out a fish. Perhaps he could snack and enjoy the spectacle for a bit. "Talk" "You" Think

Dragon didn't take his mistake too hard and Ash was glad. He rather liked the man and didn't want to embarrass him or hurt his feelings or cause any animosity. Dragon accepted Ash's offer and mentioned that he must have been having good luck. Ash shrugged, forgetting that Dragon wouldn't be able to pick up on it. "I haven't seen anyone else, but I think I'm doing alright."

It was then Dragon greeted the stranger and the stranger greeted the two back. Crap, he said Ash looked familiar. Well... he wasn't there for the while Peggy issue, so Ash decided he could play it cool enough for now. If he figured out later, it wasn't a huge deal. "If you've been there long enough, probably." Ashmedai snapped at some fireflies as he spoke, totally nonchalant. "I was good friends with Sparrow and also... my little brother is your alpha." There, he said it. Firefly time, chomp chomp.

Sightless gaze turned towards Ash as he listened, though it seemed Ash was doing just alright. Well, he could relate. By some miracle, he had managed to catch some bugs and he passed them off to Shiva to put away before trying for more wherever Shiva had indicated. He snapped his jaws in the air in an attempt to catch more while Shiva continued to swat and bat at them, too. Honestly, he wouldn't be disappointed if he didn't do too well. He couldn't do certain things as well without sight but that didn't matter anymore. It was a part of him and had been for a while now, what he cared more about was just having a good time and that's what he was doing.

He turned to the strangers voice as they were asked who they were, and after Ashmedai spoke, Dragon spoke. "Dragon Ancora, pleasure." He greeted with a dip of his head. He looked Ash's way for a minute as he responded to Brandr. Sparrow...he hadn't seen her in a long while and wasn't aware she had passed away. So he was confused when Ash mentioned his..younger brother was the alpha now? He remained quiet about it for now.

Attempt 3


"Dragon"||"Kimahri"||"Shiva"

Brandr sat down and stretched for a moment. He felt like he was getting too old for this but that was clearly a ridiculous statement as both the men before him were clearly older. He glanced to Ash and wondered for a moment if the other had heard news of Sparrow's death. He opted not to say anything figuring it had been long enough that important parties had been informed and he didn't want to drag up any sad memories at a festival. "Ah, well that explains it. I'm sure I saw you at one of the meetings. I didn't realize Rhyme was your younger brother. What's your name?" "A pleasure as well Dragon Ancora. If I'm not mistaken you both smell like pack wolves but I can't say I'm familiar with the scent. Did you journey far for the festival?" While he talked he pulled over a scrap of deer hide which held a number of little projects he was working on, namely a few rabbit pelts and feathers. He pulled out part of a deers shoulder blade and set himself to gnawing on it. The goal was to craft it into a better scrapper to clean flesh off of hides he wished to tan. "Talk" "You" Think

Ash was well aware of Sparrow's death, although he wasn't going to mention that he went on a season long bender in her honor either. He smiled loosely as Brandr spoke, but flashed a toothy smile as the man asked for his name. "Ashmedai Imperialis, King of the Pirates," he said, his smile glittering for a moment. Oh yeah, it was possible they'd see Sparrow too... maybe he should explain that. "My daughter is here too and- uh... goes by Sparrow. If you meet her... maybe don't tell her about it, mmkay?"

He said they smelled like pack wolves and Ash wondered if he should tell the truth or not. Oh, he could have a lot of fun with this but he wasn't sure if he should. Ash snapped at a few more fireflies while he thought. "Aw, c'mon, Dragon travels all the time," Ash said as he nudged his friend. "But, nah, I'm used to traveling."

He had managed to catch more bugs, and it was the main thing he focused on after greeting Brandr for the moment. He blindly tried to catch more of them while Shiva swatted at some more, though now she seemed to be more into it. Maybe it was a cat thing...he wasn't too focused on the conversation between Brandr and Ash until the Abaven Male asked if they had traveled far. That's when he abandoned his wild bug hunting for now.

He strode back over towards Ash, nose gently touching the fur along his side as he felt his way forward, mostly so he wouldn't accidentally walk right into Brandr or something. He chuckled at the way Ash introduced himself, and then felt surprised when he mentioned he had a daughter who he had named Sparrow. He glanced in his direction, and if the armor hadn't been covering his face, Ash might have seen the surprise on his face.

He felt Ash nudge him, momentarily distracting him from all the questions now swimming in his head. "He's not wrong," He chuckled. And..."I suppose since we're throwing titles out there, consider me the Jaguar King. Literally," He grinned as he gestured towards his two companions.

Brandr cocked his head to the side as Ash introduced himself as the King of the Pirates. He hadn't heard of any pirates but he'd make sure to keep an eye out for them. What was perhaps more perplexing was the man had a daughter named Sparrow that he didn't want to know about him. "I… find it unlikely I would run into her but as a father myself I… I must say I'm a bit confused." He nodded to Dragon but continued to express his confusion. A wolf being a king of jaguars? It all sounded like nonsense to him and for a moment he wondered if these men were pulling his leg. "Ah well, I am not a king of any sort. Just a humble hunter." He continued to work at the shoulder blade, working the curve down to where he wanted it. It was slow going and the sound of teeth on bone wasn't exactly music to his ears. "Talk" "You" Think

Dragon's touch surprised Ash. He usually reserved that kind of physical touch for more sensual things, but he was able to dismiss it after a quick surprised glance in the man's direction. Dragon called himself the Jaguar king and Ahs let out a hearty chuckle, already giving away the fact that he was coming up with a snarky comeback. "So are you their king, or do they rule you cause... there's two of them and I can say from fighting them that I dunno if they'd be letting a wolf be their king." He gave Dragon another ligter nudge to let him know he really was just joking. It was meant to be a compliment kinda but Ash wasn't sure if he was clear so he added the nudge for affect.

When Brandr said he couldn't understand, Ash sighed. He didn't wanna get into it, but he also undecided to just spell it out for him. "I don't want her knowing she was named after my best friend and kinda cousin who got mauled to death by a bear because her pack was too weak to keep the predators away. Kind of gruesome for a kid. So she knows she's named after an old friend. That's it till she's older." Maybe this guy was one of the reasons Sparrow died, who knew? Maybe he didn't even really know Sparrow. Ash couldn't speculate, but if he was one of the guys who let Sparrow down,  then Ashmedai hoped he had struck a nerve.

In reality, Brandr and Ash had misunderstood what the other had meant.  Ash just didn't want his daughter learning of the bloody and pathetic end to her namesake.

Ash let a forced smile slide onto his face. He wasn't  bothered. See? Easy. "But I heard Shaye's doing good despite the whole incest ordeal. Girl really knows how to make things interesting on the battlefield- I like it. Pack seems to have grown a good deal. Kudos to her."

Okay, he was being bitter. His half insults turned compliments was a cheap and obvious deflection of the hurt he was feeling thinking about Sparrow Sr. He was bringing up things from the past, but he felt it was deserved. Abaven wolves were fools more often than not, and if this man wasn't privy to the flaws of the pack, then he should be asking more questions.

Ash decided maybe he should leave before he started a war or something. He clicked his tongue in disappointing.  "Well, I don't see any other fireflies here. I'm gonna go look somewhere else. You can come if you want, Dragon, since you might need the help." Ash turned towards Brandr. "A pleasure, let's do this again sometime." Ashmedai flashed an all too sharp smile and turned away. Man, he was starting to think he needed a drink.

-exit ash?-

Brandr continued working diligently at the shoulder blade, his teeth carving into the bone as he worked his jaws back and forth. He was getting there. With a bit more work he'd have a new hide scrapper so he didn't feel like he was wearing his tongue down to nothing every time he needed to clean a hide. Of course he wasn't quite sure how useful it would be to use with paws. He'd seen a number of talented bird and primate companions and was quickly deciding he needed to learn how to make friends with other animals. He glanced over as Ash sighed and as the man spoke Brandr's brow only wrinkled in confusion. If he was embarrassed about naming the girl after Sparrow then why name her so in the first place? He'd heard rumors that the two had been lovers and while he personally didn't believe it he wouldn't say it was out of the realm of possibility. Why else would this strange man name his kid after her? Brandr didn't say anything about the pack. He hadn't been there when Sparrow had died but if he remember correctly she'd been taking fighting lessons from Ash and some strange earthen colored woman. Perhaps it was guilt then that drove him to blame her death on Abaven when it could very well be the failing of her teacher to prepare her for the dangers of the world. Or perhaps, like Brandr, it was guilt for leaving. He wasn't interested in starting a fight and so he said nothing. Clearly the other man was dealing with some turmoil and Brandr had better things to do than be his counselor. Brandr nodded as Ash spoke, skipping over the incest bit. "Yes, she's been a surprisingly effective leader. I hope this means good things to come for the pack." He couldn't say much about the incestuous relationship. It wasn't something done where he was from but he was aware that it was common place in many cultures. Brandr dipped his head in a goodby gesture to Ash before packing his hide scraper in with the rest of his items and turning to Dragon. "It was a pleasure to meet you Dragon. I best be off as well." -exit- "Talk" "You" Think