(Set just after he leaves Abaven) Starling was on the move with a lot more determination and bravery than he had been the first time he and Arian made this trip. As much as he didn't want to leave Abaven for another extended period of time, he knew he had too. This was a fantastic opportunity to learn, to meet wolves in another pack and especially to see plants that don't grow in his side of the world. He had a special bundle of herbs in his jaws that he carried with delicacy. Perhaps he could even give Arian a lesson on the plants from his home and what they could do, things that don't grow in places where she had lived before. Not that he knew where she had lived before. He thought of Shrike, and his siblings and how much he missed them, but oh...he'd be back soon. Hopefully Lillianna's jaw healed properly too, and she was doing her excersizes. With a gentle sigh he trotted along the base of a mighty volcano, his eyes either staring ahead of him or focused on the ground to find rarities growing amongst the base. Soil around volcano's were incredibly fertile, right? Beautiful and helpful things could be growing at his very paws and he wouldn't know it. His ears perked slightly when his trained eyes landed on the soft blue petals of a juniper bush, his tail swishing delicately as he stepped towards it, tilting his head. He knew this one, but he couldn't remember exactly what it did. He would gently lay his bundle on the ground at his paws and step forward to try and extract a flower as close to the roots as he could. Perhaps he could question Arian, maybe she knew exactly what it did. "Talk" | "Italian"

There was half a tree hanging out of the corner of his mouth. Okay, not really, but it was a reaaally big branch. In fact, it was the biggest branch he could find. It was longer than his whole body and with the branches (which he'd chewed off except for a large puff at the thin end) it had been thicker around than his middle. Too unwieldy to be carried, most of the branch drug along beside him. The branches at the end made the whole thing bounce with each step and the faster he drug it the faster it bounced, springing along beside him like an exuberant companion. In all honesty Angelus was rather pleased with himself. It was a simple pleasure, but nonetheless he was proud of his ability to not only be able to pick a good branch for the task ahead, but chew it off the tree like a beaver. He'd spent quite a lot of time and energy on working it free, and he was sure it would be worth the effort in the long run. His excitement obvious, the yearling trotted towards to the top of the volcano with branch in tow. With his head turned to the right to better grip the thick end of the branch, Angelus didn't see the boy picking the flower on his left side. Unbeknownst to him, Starling was facing away from him and bending down to pick the flower - and almost directly in his path. The way it was going, Angelus' left shoulder was sure to make contact with Starling's right butt cheek unless something changed...

Starling was happily digging for his plants, too intent to even notice the thumping/dragging sound of the tree. He was humming to himself, digging deeper in the bush to try and dig the plant up by it's root when suddenly something bumped into him, with momentum. He yelped (completely out of surprise and nothing else) as he fell forward from the hit. He hadn't been expecting it, and for a boy who constantly tripped over his own paws with no reason, this nearly knocked him on his face. He puffed into the flowers, crushing most beneath his weight as he huffed. For a second he'd lay there before lifting his head and shake it, re-orientating himself to his surroundings when suddenly... A loud gasp burst from his lungs as he leapt to his paws and off the bush before spinning in a cloud of dust. He inspected the fragile leaves, the delicate stems but only a few survived...and those hadn't been the prettiest of the bunch to begin with. A sniffle would suddenly fall from him as he lifted large sky blue eyes to the boy. "H-hey!" He shouted, anger and sadness in his voice. Those flowers! The beautiful plants! "Guarda cosa hai fatto! Sapete quanto è importante quelli sono? Oh, non ancora di guardare dove siete a piedi!" He ranted much louder than he was used too, his ears pinned as he stomped his foot for emphasis. Those plants, they could have...maybe saved someone's life, perhaps. He couldn't exactly remember what Juniper was for... "Talk" | "Italian"

The boy continued to trot along merrily. He was so excited! This was going to be so cool, so unbelievably awesome, he just knew it! There was a- SMACK! Angelus yelped as his shoulder made contact with something. Somehow that little bit of resistance managed to trip him up and Angelus found himself sprawling onto the collapsed form of...wait, what? He stared down at the boy for a split second before it registered that he was indeed laying on a strange person. Instantly Angelus was reeling back, frantically flailing off the other boy as if he had cooties. Somehow he managed, in his haste, to trip over his hind paws and fall back on his rump. Suddenly the other boy was up too. He stared at a mashed wad of green (where those...flowers?) before spinning around and parting with angry words that made no sense. Angelus blinked in confusion. He had no idea what was being said, but he knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was guilty. "I'm..." his ears flicked back, "sorry. I didn't see you there."

Starling could feel the buises forming along his back where the boy's weight had fallen, but he was most concerned for the flowers. Spring was gone, and there was only so much more time before fall and winter wiped it all out. Then where would he be? But even as he huffed, his eyes narrowed as he stared at the boy, he couldn't hold onto the anger for so long. The guilt was evident on the stranger's face, and despite the ache that was blossoming along his back, he couldn't feel too mad with the other boy. So with a heavy sigh he glanced away, his own ears pinned. "I-it's fine but...y-you should w-watch where you're g-going...next time." He said softly, his nose wrinkling before he glanced quickly back to the boy. He couldn't help but feel curious, however, as to why he managed to knock right into Starling, and why he had a rather peculiar branch with him. "Wh-what are you doing?" He asked lightly, tilting his head slightly as he glanced to the branch, noting the teeth marks and it's rather large size. Why was he even dragging it around? He looked back up at the boy, and up was the perfect word. For his entire life Starling had always felt gawky, with legs too long for the size of the rest of his body, but he had never felt short before, even to his father. "Talk" | "Italian"

Now his shoulder and his bum hurt. Gingerly Angelus got to his paws all the while resisting the urge to check his rump. He pacified himself by licking at his smarting shoulder instead. "I couldn't see you with my head turned," he explained. "That branch is pretty heavy." "Wh-what are you doing?" Instantly his smarting bum was forgotten and Angelus' face brightened. "I'm taking this branch all the way to the top. There's a big, oozy pool of liquid fire up there and I'm going to poke it," he said excitedly. "It's hot enough that all you have to do is hold a branch over it and after a bit the leaves will catch on fire." Was that not the coolest thing ever? The boy's eyes trailed down to the smashed plants at the stranger's feet. "Is that what you're doing? Dropping stuff in too?" Why else would someone be carrying plants around up here?

Starling would nod slightly, embarrassment quickly replacing his anger, coloring his cheeks beneath his fur as his eyes shifted away and back again. He felt bad for yelling at the boy, even if he probably didn't understand half of what Starling had said. It was an accident, right? He obviously couldn't see. And Starling...could have been more perceptive of his surroundings and got out of the way. "O-okay.." He said with a sniff, turning to look back at the boy and smiling softly. He'd tilt his head in curiousity as he explained exactly why he was carrying such a branch, and Starling couldn't help it as his eyes widened just slightly. "O-oh? Isn't...th-that dangerous?" He asked curiously but he couldn't help but be...intrigued. How exactly did that work? Was the air really that hot that it just...caught fire? When the boy asked if that's what he was doing, Starling would very quickly shake his head, shifting as if to protect his bundle and the crushed plants at his paws. "N-no! These...a-are important. Th-they're herbs I-I'm taking back t-to Sonticus...Th-they help! You c-can't set them on fire." He said, shaking his head quickly as he lifted a paw, gently petting the leaf of a certain pretty flower. He would smile lightly then before looking sheepishly up at the boy, and at the branch. "C-can...I come? I-I w-would like t-to see i-if it really d-does that...catch on f-fire thing." He said with a smile, sky blue eyes twinkling as his tail swayed behind him in excitment, looking hopefully at the stranger boy. "Oh! M-my name is Starling Destruction..." He said quickly, so that he wouldn't be even more rude later on. It wasn't polite not to introduce himself for a while, right? He wasn't very good at social...things, but that seemed to be right. "Talk" | "Italian"

"Isn't...th-that dangerous?" Angelus beamed down at the smaller boy, an impish grin almost splitting him from ear to ear. "Definitely!" The big oozy fire dribbled and rolled down the slopes like drool out of a hungry mouth. It wasn't fast moving and it didn't look like much, but you could feel the heat from a distance and the air was filled with an intangible danger. Just being within sight of the lava made his heart speed up. "But it's worth it." Important plants? ...was this boy one of those snooty healers like Evangeline? No way, he didn't believe it! He was, even when angry, too nice to be like Angel's sister. He hadn't shrieked or chased him or tried to bite him. It couldn't possibly be true. In his excitement Angelus' tail started to beat the air behind him. Of course the boy could come with him! Having an audience would make it so much better. "Sure you can come along! And it really does - it's super cool!" Bending down, the boy grabbed the thick end of the branch and was preparing to lead the way when Starling introduced himself. Not to be left out, he dropped the branch again so he could speak. "And I'm Angelus Imperialis," he said proudly, "Now come on, Starling, it's this way!" Grabbing up the branch once more, Angelus began to drag it in the direction of the lava flow.

Starling gawked at the boy, shifting on his paws as he glanced down at his herbs. Dangerous...was fun? He had never done anything remotely dangerous if you didn't count travelling. Which...starling kind of did. But travelling was necessary to have a well rounded store. But that was beside the point! He was hesitant, but the smile on the other boy's face, and the way he seemed so...excited about this adventure, he couldn't help but feel a little excited as well. It was a very weird feeling. Starling had never quite been an...adventurer, for sure. He really wasn't all that good at excitement. Infact, his excitement was hunting herbs. It was weird. He took a step forward when the boy dropped the plant again, and introduced himself. Angelus, huh? He couldn't help the bright smile that crossed his face when the boy...when Angelus, said his name and he quickly fell in step behind him. "I-i don't u-usually...d-do stuff like this...d-dangerous stuff" He said with a small, nervous laugh. "S-so if I d-do it wrong, don't laugh." He smiled softly, stepping up to his side as he looked at the branch that Angel dragged. "D-do you n-need help?" He asked gently, motioning to the branch slightly. "Burn Baby Burn" | "Italian"

"I-i don't u-usually...d-do stuff like this...d-dangerous stuff." Whaaaat? But dangerous stuff was usually the best, most fun stuff to do! "Awwwh," he said around the branch, "wealley? You," his tongue kept hitting the branch and making him slur, "aw missssthing ouwt." Starling mentioned him laughing and Angelus made a partially open-mouthed harrumphing noise before teasing, "No pommises." If he did something funny of course Angel was going to laugh! He wouldn't laugh at him for not knowing something, but if Starling tripped over his paws and faceplanted of course that was going to earn him a laugh. "D-do you n-need help?" Panting, Angelus paused for a second and released the branch so he could draw air in more efficiently. The branch wasn't all that heavy, but it was long and spread out enough that it created enough drag to make it difficult. Licking his lips first, the boy then said, "Yeah, if you wouldn't mind. Not sure where the best place to grab it would be though." His gaze drifted up the mountainside. "It's not that much farther."

Starling would blink at him before giggling softly, happy and content as they walked towards this...pit of fire, or whatever it was. "Y-you shouldnt t-talk with your m-mouth full." He said with a laugh, his eyes bright with happiness as they walked. He would have to come back down this way, to gather up the bundle of herbs he had dropped, but they were fine there for now he decided. He wanted to experiance something "fun", something dangerous. Had Lark done this? He wasnt sure, and after that initial thought he didn't care too much. When Angel confirmed he needed help, Starling would laugh softly but not say another word as he stepped in closer. Chosing a spot on the branch he'd carefully pick it up in his jaws and glance sidelong at Angel expectantly, ready to start again towards this grand adventure. "Burn Baby Burn" | "Italian"