Comet

Arctic Wolf

It was amazing what you could do in the snow. Even after her many visits to Polaris she still managed to find things to do. But today was not about the snow, at least not completely. Comet had come here to practice her magic, and perhaps do some other stuff. She had done it before, in other places with plenty of water like Fornax, but snow was a different form of water. Plus, it was colder, which she liked. She always started out with a simple spell, bubbles.

Nemo

Nemo was...

Stressed. Stressed was a good word for it. His feathers seem a bit thin on his chest, and he can feel where he'd been plucking them thanks to the cold winds parting the layers of insulation and making him shiver just slightly.

"At least my feathers are long on my legs," he mutters, shaking himself out and ruffling his feathers along his back and on his shoulders to keep some warmer air close, and promptly becoming distracted by the fluffy snow he flung with the action.

It had been a while since he'd allowed himself to play, and so he dives into the snow beak first, rolling in it and letting the dark dust in his feathers slowly get cleaned away, his natural white color finally shining through and bright bauble flinging about as he uses his wings and legs to kick up the powder, and finally deciding to use his oh so finnicky magic to see exactly how much of the snow he could move-

So he focuses, lets the energy in the room finally register on his feathers, it feels like... like ice cold water running along his quills and towards his tail as he pulls from inside himself and pushes at the air in front of him.

To his absolute delight, he's able to force up the top layer with his wind, whipping it up and sending swirling flurries away with a celebratory "Whoooa!" as he flutters after his small snowstorm, and although it quickly fades he continues flying, getting just... just a few meters up but honestly that's the highest he's gotten in a few days so it adds onto his feeling of victory.

@Comet

Comet

Arctic Wolf

Comet was still busy inspecting her bubbles when she spotted the bird making fuss in the snow. She saw that he looked cold. His feathers must not be thick enough to protect him from the snow, unlike her own thick fur. He was also looking pretty darned proud of himself for making a small snowstorm with his wind and then flying in the air. He looked like he had gotten first place in a championship or something for flying a few meters. Oh well, she couldn't fly at all, so she wouldn't judge.

"Hello there!" she trotted over happily. "Nice mini snowstorm!" she tried making a couple of bubbles, which liked to do whenever she met others. She liked popping bubbles herself. They floated up into the air, and she popped one with her nose.

@Nemo

Nemo

The approaching wolf was greeted with a squawk of alarm, as every other canine in his history had been blessed with, and Nemo lands in the snow with a thump that betrays his weight behind his feathers - more out of alarm than anything else.

"Who- Hi yourself! I'm pretty proud of the wind more than the snow- my caves be cursed magic doesn't like to work," he explains, straightening up and letting his feathers fluff out in glee, and he gestures broadly with one massive wing. "I think I made something mad when I first hatched, but I've been working on it for a while. How about you?"

Now, Nemo doesn't mean to be rude, but here he sounds... haughty. His ego is in a slightly less bruised state than usual, and he's getting a bit cocky. Little does he know that this hatchling is much better than.. he will probably ever be to be quite honest.

The lammergeier does, however, open his beak in his usual smile at the bubbles, and make a pecking attempt at popping one or two with a sharp snap-clack of his beak, and then proceed to try and blow some of the higher ones down towards them... and instead proceeds to blast them away and up from the pair. Okay, okay... he can pretend he did that on purpose. Right?

... Right?

@Comet

Comet

Arctic Wolf

Comet was not surprised to hear his squawk of alarm, she had been quite used to it now, even though she was less than a cycle old many other animals treated her like she was a monster or something. The thud as the bird landed in the snow was louder than she thought it would be, telling her that he was more meat than feathers.

"Comet." she had caught the first part, "My magic isn't feeling the best today either." his wind magic was pretty cool. There were so many possibilities for what could be done with it, and from what he did with the snow, he seemed to be a master at it, but she couldn't be sure, he was the first animal she had ever met with wind magic after all. "I have water magic, but I'm no expert. I'm still practicing." she said. his voice was friendly, but there was another tone to it. She wasn't really sure what that tone was, as she hadn't encountered it too much, but it made him sound... superior? Not being too sure, she did not comment on it.

The wolf was pleased when the bird joined her in popping the bubbles she had produced. That meant she made a good impression on the bird, right? First impressions matter, and that was a good one... probably. She couldn't be too sure about anything honestly.

Comet held her breath when she saw that he was going to try some more of his magic, so exciting! His gust of wind blew the higher bubbles... even higher. Was that what he was going for? Weren't you supposed to blow them down? But either way, she cheered at the gust of wind, whether it had done what he wanted it to or not, because she wasn't sure anyway. "Cool! Do more, do more!" wind magic was exciting, and she decided to produce more bubbles, because that was what she did instinctively when she was excited. The many bubbles drifted into the air, and she waited for what spectacle he was going to do next.

@Nemo

Nemo

"Water magic is cool- wait!" Nemo had lit up at the statement, but then doubled right back down into concentrating for only a second , mumbling, " let me see if I can..." before he perks up again and- "Oh. M'names Nemo, by the way. Now lemme see if i can get this to work, I've never actually... done this before."

He, of course, winds himself up a bit too much, and so shakes himself out once more with an irritated chirp. Well, more like a grating hiss-clack, but it's quick enough to pass for a squeak like someone had landed on a mouse if we were to be honest. "I can do something water... I think. Wind is easier for me, though, and even that's kind of hard. I seem to have horrible luck," he jokes, before taking one final deep breath, and pulling on that wet, air changing magic he'd felt soak into his stone from that pearl so many months ago, and forces it out and above him- hoping for, at the very least, a scattering of water or a small cloud...

Alas, his horrible luck with his magic comes to bite him in his tail feathers once again, and the cloud he'd managed to pull together, although small-
"Ye-"
Waaaaaas dropping massive hunks of ice on him. Them. Whatever-
"-OW CRAP!"

@Comet

Comet

Arctic Wolf

Comet waited patiently for whatever spectacle the bird was going to do next. From how he said it, it sounded really grand. Nemo, that name was easy to remember. She was surprised that he could do something with water too, she thought that you could only use magic of your own type. Maybe if you practiced a lot it would be possible? She did want to try learning some plant magic, and her own dad had plant magic, so it would be easier for her to learn.

The wolf laughed along with his joke, then waited. She wondered what kind of water magic he could do, and if she knew the same spell herself. Comet held her breath, she felt that he needed to concentrate, and focus on the spell. She was about to start cheering with him when he started proclaiming his success, when the cloud he had summoned suddenly started raining huge chunks of ice. That wasn't right! She could see his look of both confusion and anger on his face.

Her quick paws and nimble movements kept any ice from falling on her, and when the falling chunks of ice had ended, she was unscathed. It was actually really easy dodging all that ice, but she didn't say that, because it would hurt Nemo's feelings. Comet felt disappointed whenever she failed a spell too. Now that it had ended, she worked on digging the poor bird out of the snow. "Are you okay?"

@Nemo

Nemo

A few panicked squawks and fluttering later, he makes his way quickly out of his small snowdrift, using some of the unfortunate ice to stand on above the snow.

"I'm fine, yeah, yeah, but oh boy was that not what I wanted... the water was supposed to be liquid, I swear! You didn't get clipped, right?"

Bobbing back and forth, tilting his head upside down to check the fluffy pup for any sort of scraping, and he ruffles his feathers, before narrowing his eyes in concentration.

"I did warn you I had bad luck, but... lets play it safe if we keep casting, yeah? I don't wanna risk whipping you away into the great white and cold beyond..." He's half joking, and offering his beakish smile and a theatrical wing wave to the surrounding snow, but there's a thread of genuine concern under all that, and although the white wolf doesn't know it, Nemo has hurt himself more than a few times with his own magic and felt horrible, and does NOT want to find out what guilt would come with hurting another.

@Comet

"I'm fine." she laughed as he bobbed his head and even tilted it upside down. This was one funny bird! She was happy to see that he didn't seem to be injured or anything either.

The bird waved his wing, and the snow was blown upwards in a flurry. It was like he really could blow her away. "Yes, nothing dangerous." Comet agreed. Although the 'great white and cold beyond' sounded quite inviting to the arctic wolf. She could see that the bird really liked being dramatic at times. But it looked cool!

"Well, I can't do anything cool like that but I can get us some water to drink." Of course, it was not entirely necessary, as they were in the snow which could be melted into water. But Comet knew that water was just easier to drink and wasn't sure if birds could eat snow as easily.

The water pooled at her feet and she bent down to take a few sips. "A nice drink!" It looked like the bird was out of more cool spells to do, so she thought of what spells she could show him.

@Nemo

Nemo

Comet's giggling has him more at ease than any reassurances could, to be quite honest, and he manages to flatten all his feathers, grooming a small bit at his shoulder and managing to jiggle the bauble around his neck in the process.

Intriguingly enough, the pale blue light from the bauble glints just barely in the water around the pup's paws, and Nemo watches the small pool finish growing with glee. "Are you kidding? That's really neat! Imagine all the plants you could water, or maybe keep a fish in one of those?" The 'geier dips down as well and sticks his beak in the puddle, testing the depth before opening his beak and then blowing out some air, snapping his beak closed and open quickly so as to make splashes and bubbles, underlaid with a "Hu-brubrubrubru!"
Yes he's a grown Gembound. No, he doesn't care if he looks like a child. It's fun.

@Comet