Kyren had wandered a distance away from his friends for a bit of time grazing in the forest.  The reindeer was as relaxed as he could be while alone.  The weather was pleasant and the grass was fresh and springy.  An ear twitched, swatting away an irritating fly.  The cream-colored deer was large, even for his kind, standing approximately 5 ½ feet tall at his shoulders, he looked down on a lot of the world.  To add to his confidence, not only were his antlers growing back for the season, still covered in fuzzy velvet but he also sported a pair of sharp saber-like fangs.  

Meandering along from one tree and towards the next, he would stop, kick a bit idly at the earth then eat a bit more grass.  A sound of branch cracking jerked his head up, the deer swinging its head about to look for danger.  Nothing came after a few moments with a soft huff he stomped a hoof looking for someone to intimidate.  


"Speech"

Iðunn looked up as she walked, mouth slightly ajar in wonder as she gazed at the immense size of the redwood trees. They were absolutely massive, and the expansive canopy blocked out so much of the daylight that everything seemed dim and moist under her paws. This would also make a good place to forage for moss and lichen, and perhaps the branches and trunks of the much smaller trees could be used for certain things around their camp closer to the wall. Her nose twitched as the scent of prey wafted her way, but as she'd recently eaten her fill it didn't cause her to salivate as it would have if she had an empty belly. But nevertheless she was curious, and had time to spare during her day, so she began to wandered idly in its direction, not wanting to spook it. Sometimes she liked to just watch the herbivores as they grazed on the grass, it was relaxing for her mind, and gave her an excuse to get out away from the others for a short while under the guise of searching for their next meal. With the carpet of moss on the ground Iðunn wasn't aware of the branch until it cracked as she stepped on it. The sound was loud in the silence of the forest, and she cursed inwardly at her misstep. Unless the creature was deaf, it definitely would have heard that. She continued forwards, hearing a dull thud from up ahead, and with a quick peer around one of the large redwoods she spotted the familiar sight of a reindeer, looking as alert as ever. The herbivore was huge, even by reindeer standards, and she huffed softly under breath, unsure of what to do next. Purposefully chase it off for a but of fun, or simply sneak away and let it be. Hmm.

Kyren scented the wolf finally and took a few strides towards it and that was more than enough to see it.  Only one snap of a branch suggested it had been attempting to avoid making noise up to that point.  He regarded the wolf with mild concern thoush his ears were up and searching for other sounds, those large nostrils soaking in the air.  One wolf wasn’t anything to be worried about.  It had to know that, didn’t it?  If it was fool enough to try and attack it’d end up with either broken ribs or a ripped open neck.  Kyren would use his antlers as a last resort while still in velvet.

“Hello wolf,” the reindeer spoke boldly towards it.  The wolf surely would eat his kind if given a chance but Kyren wouldn’t hold it against him.  It was how nature had set them into play.  Still, Kyren kept his eyes on the wolf’s, making sure it knew he wasn’t at all afraid. “Coming for a friendly chat?” There was a hint of dry wit in the words.  Wolves didn’t come to say hi to deer.


"Speech"

The reindeer had definitely seen her, so sneaking away unnoticed was no longer an option, and it proceeded to watch her warily, if not more boldly than most herbivores would. But given it's larger size, she supposed it was used to being larger and more imposing than the average reindeer. It spoke to her, and she simply canted her muzzle to the side in response, a new curious glint in her icy blue eyes. Most herbivores chose not to speak to predators, or couldn't even, and she found herself now more curious about the reindeer than anything else. Had she been hungry she might've still considered calling her cousins and harassing it to maybe get a meal, but as it was her belly was full, and instead she simply watched it silently. It continued to speak, almost taunting her with its dry and humourless tone, and had she been more of a fiery spirited wolf Iðunn might risen to the bait and thrown a snide comment of her own right back at it. Instead she moved so her body wasn't shrouded behind the large redwood tree, and sat beside it as she gazed at the reindeer, a slight upwards curl to her lips. "Reindeer usually flee at the sight of a wolf," she said, her words thick with her native accent. It seemed the two were at a bit of an impasse, neither acting as most creatures of their species would, but sometimes that made for a far more interesting day. "Where is the rest of your..." her voice trailed off as she scrunched her nose in thought, trying to think of the common tongue equivalent of the word she had in mind. "Herd?" The Swedish word rolled smoothly off her tongue, even as she sat there, trying to think of the correctly translated term, but it wasn't coming to mind and she instead resorted to simply asking the reindeer. "What is the word for a group of herbivores again? I seem to have forgotten it." Today seemed to be one of the bad days where she struggled more than usual in translating from her native language, but she held no insecurities from asking the herbivore what the proper word to use was. Shame was not often an emotion she felt.

The wolf was neither running nor acting aggressive.  Well, so long as they had a clear understanding Kyren had no care if it wanted to stay near. She mentioned fleeing and the reindeer grinned, the unusual saber fangs at the front of his mouth showed off well with the lips pulled back that way. “One wolf versus me? I like my odds.” He was bigger, kicked harder, bite deep, and toss farther.  His antlers were still in velvet so while they could be used, he’d use the other options first.

“Herd,” The deer nodded his head, “They aren’t too far.  Ya know, I’m not the biggest in my herd either.” Would the wolf believe him?  Kyren felt fine against one wolf but if she wanted to call friends he could do the same.  If they saw Beru that might change the wolf's mind as well.  “So, wolf, I can’t say any of your kind have bothered talking with me before.  So, what makes you a different sort?”


"Speech"

The reindeer grinned at her, but instead of a mouthful of molars used for chewing foliage and grass, she could see two sharp fangs extending down from the upper jaw. Well that settled it, she had no plans on attacking this strange herbivore, as who knew what other predator-like characteristics it had hidden. But at the same time the sight of the fangs only sought to increase her innate curiosity. "That's assuming I play fair," she said with a wolfish grin to show off her own, unfortunately quite normal, teeth. Iðunn dipped her head slightly in thanks at the affirmation of the word she was looking for. Yes, herd, she would do well to try and remember it for the future, even if it felt weird to say in the common tongue. She peered around the reindeer with a squinted gaze, not seeing any signs of other herbivores nearby, but this was a strange creature so perhaps it had wandered quite a distance away from the rest of its herd. Not to mention these woods were quite dim to begin with, so it was difficult to see further distances away with clear vision. His question had her raising her shoulders in a shrug, her gaze returning back to him with a somewhat indifferent expression, even if there was still a curious look in her eyes. "My relationship with non-predator creatures is a little different from the normal wolf. I like to... observe them, sometimes." Or offer them up as a sacrifice instead of eating them, but the reindeer didn't need to know that. "Your fangs, quite unusual for a herbivore... have you always had them?"