Torches in the Night [Open Fighting Prompt]
Ardyn
Master Fighter (250)
Master Hunter (240)
Knight
Bloodletter
6 Years
Male
1051
BrienaSkysong
| Ardyn Cadeyrn Aodhán Phoenix Adravendi |
At half a year old, he was old enough to go outside the den at night mostly alone. Oh, for sure he always had someone watching over him, usually his mother’s companion, when he was around. He left often on his unspecified trips, but his mother seemed to not worry.
Other times he didn’t doubt the adults on patrol kept an eye on him and any of his siblings that wandered out at night since Autumn had settled in, the cusp marking their transcendence into Promise-hood.
Tonight, he’d ventured out in pitch black. No moon, not even stars, because those were tucked comfortably behind a thick blanket of clouds. He was the only light, flickering like a torch as he loped through the woods, tail wagging as he pounced at crickets and leapt after Luna moths,
Eventually, he settled into a patrol, trotting along confidently through the dark. If it weren’t for his own personal light, he’d have blended perfectly with the night, and may even have been even darker. It was about around Justice’s den that he thought he heard something ahead, ears perking with a flash of coal bed light. He shook out his coat, a tactic he’d figured out added a little more illumination, if not a massive amount—he wasn’t anywhere as brilliantly lit as his mother, for sure, but he could put out enough light to match a couple of pitch torches.
“Who’s there?” He called with a hint of challenge, though quietly, not wanting to disturb Justice or her kids if they were asleep in her den, and he settled into a stance, casting his eyes about, prepared to tussle or run for it. He wasn’t just a newborn puppy anymore, and he could definitely defend his pack.
Word Count: 295
Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think |
Ardyn at first glance is as black as can be imagined with a raven sheen.
Closer inspection proves that he shimmers in fire tones in every hair on his hide right down to his lashes.
More obviously, he glows like a bed of coals and flames with every movement and brush of fur. His tail is usually wagging, so blazes like a torch.
His adult teeth are in and his saber canines have grown to their full length (see profile). His mane and tail hair have grown to full length, as well as being lightweight and easily buffeted by breezes.
A look at his front paws will give the impression of hands, with his dew claw dropped low and lengthened into a functioning thumb, and his toes elongated into fingers. He has retractable, solid black cat-like claws on every paw.
Ardyn has developed a glowing mast of intricate markings in fire and ice colors over his face, symmetrical over the last seasons of Year 17 (see profile for details). During hunts or raids/sieges, he will smudge them out with black soot to cover the glow, otherwise, they are bright enough to note at first direct glance at his face. Not all his artwork currently portrays the mask markings.
He is also often bedecked in beads, small bells, feathers in blues, ribbons and braids thanks to the Ooze Event of Halloween 2021, and the Coathanger item that he got. The accessories generally are seen most in his mane and tail hair. He removes the brighter items and bells for hunts or battle.