ORIGIN

Adeyemi sighed, his feet ambling aimlessly, as he once again ended up circling back around and landing in Eridanus. His navigation of the tunnels was just about as poor as it could get, and the turaco silently fumed - why did he have to be cursed with such a broken inner compass? Kicking a pebble away with his purple-blue gemstone talon, the prince waddled on, figuring he'd at least gather some food, considering nowhere else in this damnable place seemed to grow the berries and fruits of the forest.

Slowly, he made his way up into the trees, scaling their bark with clucks and squawks, gliding from branch to branch with permanently unsteady wings. He'd never been able to truly fly, not like Willow, and the disability burned at him, more than his fire ever could. Still, the royal continued on, sharp eyes darting about, trying to find food in the overgrown green below. His feathers blended in rather well with the forest - unless you happened to be looking up as he flew, as the bottoms of his wings were stained a deep, dark red. Adeyemi croaked as he landed close to the treeline, where the growth tapered down to the coasts of several small, crystal-clear pools.

He almost dived down into one - before he spotted a white dot in the water, stilling the bird's jump. He cocked his head from side to side, trying to determine what, exactly, it was. Leaning over the edge of the branch, he stared, and stared, until suddenly a fierce bark ripped through the air, catching him just off-guard enough to lose his balance, falling down, down, down into the water. Landing with a rather spectacular splash and an angry screech, Adeyemi waded to the edge of the water, fussing and flapping his wings wildly, raising a claw and jabbing it in the air towards the dog. "You! Do try not to scare me to death, yes?"

This might have been intimidating... if he didn't look quite so much like a drowned rat, who'd been painted rainbow and topped with a heap of injured pride.

[ Before reunion with Delphine. ]

Instead of scaring the creep off that had been watching her, Athena ended up scaring them so much they fell right into the water next to her. She couldn't stifle the laugh at the sight of the completely drenched Gembound. And even though the bird yelled at her, trying to scold her, Athena couldn't help but laugh. "You not dead." If she wanted to say anything else, the words were lost as the canine had to sit down so she didn't end up falling over in laughter.

The drenched bird was easily the funniest thing she'd seen in all of her - admittedly still short - life.
It took her quite some time to calm down and after that Athena felt a little drained from all the laughing. Still - totally worth it. "Sorry." The Alaskan Malamute rasped out, her huge blue puppy eyes starring at the stranger.


"Listen to me."

Adeyemi fumed at the pup's laughter, puffing up and dripping everywhere, shaking off as much of the water as he could with a majorly put-off expression. "Dead, no! Mildly drowned, I'd say that is a resounding yes," the turaco huffed out, wringing out one of his wings with a grimace. At the soft apology from the tiny creature, the prince stopped, sighed, had a rather large silent argument with himself, and finally turned to her with a shrug, flapping his wings to their full extent to sluice off more pond water. "I suppose it is quite alright," he admitted gruffly, leaning down to preen at his soaking wet chest feathers. "It is not your fault that I happen to be so clumsy today."

The assurance was awkward, stilted; although Delphine had allowed Adeyemi a glimpse at how to act around children, he still found he had little idea of what to say and how. "What are you doing here, anyhow? This place is only good for hunting," the bird insisted, glancing about at the forest with clear disdain. "Are you lost?"

Some of the water the colorful bird shook off landed on Athena, which in turn made the pup shake her double-coat to get rid of the water clinging to it. "You didn't drown." She said, voice thick with amusement again. "Didn't want to scare you, I thought you wanted to attack me." Athena admitted, suddenly with a surprising amount of seriousness in her tone. "Oh, I live here!" The puppy said, grinning. "My hunt is over." Lifting a paw, the Alaskan Malamute pointed over the rest of the rabbit she'd just had for dinner. Athena had created a mess, a heap of blood and guts remaining - the untasty bits.

"Not lost, no. Are you?" The gembound cocked her head, blue orbs watching the curiously colored bird. She'd only seen two birds before this one and both had been very different - from this one and from each other. Maybe they were all unique and no one looked like someone else..but what about Niru and Anux? They had looked quite alike! And there was Winter Snow, who looked somewhat like her, save for her white pelt and haunting red eyes.. "I'm Athena, who are you?" She asked, her previous meetings having taught her that asking for someone's name and introducing yourself was something you should do right away when meeting someone new.


"Listen to me."

"Attack you?" The prince looked downright puzzled, obviously not expecting that response. "And why on Origin would I want to do that? You're obviously not a mango, and I don't think pup would taste very good, anyway," Adeyemi added, grimacing at the thought. At her next words, he shuddered theatrically, raising a wing to his brow as if about to faint. "Live here? I was born here and I hate it. You must have a higher tolerance for unending green," the turaco muttered, raising an eyebrow. "I only return when food is needed. Otherwise, I try to steer clear of this place." Turning to glance at the kill the pup pointed out, Adeyemi clicked his beak, impressed. "Though I will say that you've clearly learned how to make the best of it. Quite proper, to dissect it so."

At her query, he huffed, chest feathers lifting cockily. "Oh no, my dear, royalty does not get lost. I am on a hunt of my own, though not for anything so... bloody. I feed on the fruit," the bird explained, pointing to a berry bush idly. "Athena," he repeated, as if testing the name. A moment's inspection, and he bowed, wings sweeping low to the forest floor, head raised to peer at the girl. "I am Prince Adeyemi, of the flame." As if on cue, a small flame licked up the bird's talons, reopening his scars. It didn't seem to bother him much, idly blowing on the fire to put it out, leaving behind the scent of lightly roasted turaco.

"I don't know." Athena admitted, not understanding the other's confusion at her words. Wasn't that what it all was about? Eat or be eaten? "A mango? What is a mango?" The Alaskan Malamute knew only a few fruits (some of the berries in Eridanus; she'd tried to taste them but found them far too sweet) and a mango was not one of them. "Hey!" Athena exclaimed, having misunderstood the bird's words and mistaking it for an insult. "Why shouldn't I taste good?" She asked somewhat arrogantly, a defiant pout playing around her lips.

"I was born in Polaris, but I like it better here." The canine said simply, quite fine with all the trees and bushes around. Something about the forest in Eridanus felt like a naturally perfect home. "I'm a good hunter." Athena insisted with a nod, proudly standing a little taller.

Royalty? Did Athena actually stumble upon someone of royal blood here? Or did the bird just fashion himself a prince? "What are you hunting then?" Athena cocked her head, blue eyes wide with confusion and wonder. What else was there to hunt but for meat? "I was born in fire! I'm not a princess but..I'm the daughter of fire!"


"Listen to me."

Adeyemi seemed rather unimpressed, if the blank stare was to be trusted, though he did rise from his bow. "Well," he finally settled on, cocking his head to one side, "if you don't know, then I shall tell you: I don't eat pups." At the question of the mango, he perked up, crest rising, raising a wing as if in a signal to wait before hopping toward a nearby tree, scaling the bark up to the first limb, and plucking free a bright orange and yellow fruit. The food tumbled to the forest floor, and the prince hussled to leave the tree, rolling the mango over to Athena with a satisfied chirrup. "There! That is a mango. Much more satisfying than anything so paltry as meat," he added with a huff, digging a talon into the fruit's flesh and beginning to eat.

The turaco chortled at her obvious displeasure, shaking a pulp-covered foot through the air. "I'm sure you'd taste wonderful to some of the larger peasantry, my dear, but royalty does not eat those that speak." Rustling his wings, Adeyemi nudged the fruit forward just a bit, clicking his beak curiously. "You are welcome to try it, though I think you're more of the type for rats. My hatch mate is the same way," the chick added with an exaggerated grimace, thinking of the first time he'd seen Willow eat with a shudder.

"Ah, Polaris. It was quite nice before it was on fire," the prince mused, snickering at his own joke. "As for what I am hunting, it is two-fold. Mangos... and allies." A speculative nod, and Adeyemi leaned in closer to the pup, inspecting her as if she were a particularly curious cave creature. "The daughter of fire. A title deserving of royalty... curiouser and curiouser," the turaco murmured, humming. "Born in fire you may be. But does it burn within you?" He paused, clucking, before releasing a mouthful of red-hot steam into the air, as if in example.