Carja flew high over the peaks of Ursa, her breath fogging as she searched high and low for wooly deer to take back home. She banked off to one side, careful not to jostle her passenger too much.

"Everything okay back there?", she said, turning her head around to face Hunter, her eyes bright and full of excitement.

She faced back down and scanned the snow below, snorting softly. The snow that was falling from above made it difficult to see and it seemed the wooly deer's camouflage was working a little too well.

"Attikias said I could make a herd!", she said with a happy rumble, drawing her legs up as she angled down to hopefully see if there were any deer hanging out in the nooks and crannies of the mountains. "I want these wooly deer for their fur so Attikias can shave them and make pillows and bedding out of them," she said, "And then a HUGE meadow deer!"

Why the meadow deer? Why not?

@Hunter

Hunter was glad that he had one of his father's pelts hung around his shoulders when Carja flew into the high reaches of Ursa's massive mountain range. Wind buffeted his face, ruffling his wild hair behind him. He reached his arms out to catch the falling flakes of snow, a grin stretching across his face. It was only a moment later that Carja turned, and he felt his stomach lurch-- and with a gasp he dropped back down to grab at her neck, fur prickling.

He was not afraid of heights. He loved the view, even as he stared with wide eyes down at the small dots of trees... but, uh. He really didn't want to fall. When Carja looked back at him, he couldn't help the nervous laughter that spilled forward, and definitely not the big grin he flashed back at her. "I'm alright!" He replied, "This is amazing!"

It was the first time Carja had ever taken him flying, and part of him never wanted to be on the ground again. What would it be like to have wings, to be in complete control...? Another part of him thought he might be sick, but that was hardly enough to put him off from the exciting, one-in-a-lifetime experience of this particular adventure.

Carja dove and with another lurch of Hunter's stomach, the ground grew bellow them. Details he hadn't been able to pick out before-- between the snow and the distance-- started to become visible once more. "Wait--" He called out, throwing one arm forward with the other still tightly holding on to Carja. "-- I think I saw something... Is that a herd, over that hill? No, to the left! There! See?" He pointed fiercely, squinting through the snowstorm toward the small, faint white-grey blobs that seemed to be shuffling along the mountain side.

@Carja

Carja had made sure she wore the saddle Attikias had made, since her spikes weren't exactly the best hand holds. Not to mention the possible sores Hunter could get on his thighs because of her sharp scales. It was a precaution, definitely.

"I'm glad!!", she chirped, flapping once, twice, and then leveling out again.

Her head turned and she banked gently, circling around the herd, ensuring they were far enough away that they weren't spooked.

"Okay, we're looking for babies," she said, "If we can grab some fawns, they'll trust us more as we feed them and hang out with them. But I'm going to need your small hands, ok? There's some rags tied to my tail, do you see them?"

She flicked her tail up for a moment, showing the strips of leather briefly before she lowered it back down so she could fly properly again.

"So the plan is, I swoop down and snatch two of them if I can," she explained, "Then we land somewhere and you can wrap their faces. Then we can head back! Easy peasy lemon... uh... cheesy."

@Hunter

The algid air bit Hunter's nose as they swept down, snow sticking to his fur. Now that were closer, he could start to make out individuals, but his ears twitched as he listened to Carja's explanation.

"Makes sense to me!" Hunter replied with a grin, glancing back at the leather. Seemed easy enough... Hopefully Carja wouldn't injure the babies when she scooped them up.

Was it kind of messed up that they were planning to kidnap deer children for the family farm? Maybe a little. Hunter figured they would give them a loving home, anyway, and it wasn't like lessers showed the same mental capacity as other gembounds, either.

At the end of the day, if Attikias supported the idea, then Hunter was behind it too. His father wasn't cruel; he was kind, and loving, and would never do something evil.

Hunter focused on the task at hand, dismissing his moral quandaries. "Okay, I think-- see those little ones in the middle? Those have to be babies. I think the herd is protecting them," he pointed out, reaching forward one of his fingers again to point toward the smaller deer.

@Carja

Carja looked where Hunter was pointing and nodded, able to see him despite him being behind her head. Those extra two pairs of eyes were useful for that!

"I see them," she said, "I'll grab two for now. They're not for meat, they're for wool, so hopefully two will be enough for now and we can raise them to not fear us so much. We can keep them safe!"

She swooped down, both sets of claws extended. In one fell swoop she grabbed two fawns, wincing at their frightened bleats as they struggled in her claws. The rest of the herd scattered, running for their lives, the poor mothers down below bleating in vain for their babies.

"Okay, Hunter?", she said, looking behind her, "I'm going to land and pin them down, make sure you tie those rags tight! If they can't see or hear much then I think they won't be able to know what's going on and won't be as scared."

Carja carefully made her way towards a flat section of ground, aiming to set the fawns down and grab them before they ran off. She hovered as low as she dared, her tail touching the ground. Hunter could dismount using it and grab the rags on the way down. The faster they did this the less stress the babies went through and the less likely they were to pass away from it.

@Hunter

"Couldn't we use them for both?" Hunter asked, "y'know, once we get have a herd." It seemed like a good idea, plus raising a whole herd sounded fascinating to the young upstart gembound. They definitely couldn't afford to eat their meat until they had a group, though, huh...?

Carja grabbed two of them, one for each of her claws, and Hunter threw his arms into the air with a whoop. "Good job!" He called out, reaching back to start grabbing the leather straps and burlap they would need to restrain and blind the poor things.

The dragon lowered them to the ground, and it was his turn. This was the truly tricky part. "Hoop," he grunted as he jumped off of the saddle-- foolishly ignoring the easy route of Carja's tail for sake of quickness-- landing on the soft snow.

He got to work quickly, sweeping around to approach the first baby who struggled weakly in Carja's talons. "Shhh, it's alright," he hushed urgently before he tossed the first rag over the babe's head. It jerked and bleated at this, but Hunter quickly secured it with the strap of leather.

Hunter thought that might scare them more, but at least now they weren't going to be overwhelmed. "That's it," he promised, "we're gonna take good care of you." He hurried to the next one, repeating the process with efficient, though the second one tried to kick at him. He slipped out of the way and wrapped the second one's head.

"Alright, I think they're good to go, Carja," Hunter announced, glancing up to grin at her. "Y'know, I bet I could hogtie 'em too, so they don't squirm so much," Maybe that wasn't necessary, maybe that would stress them out too much. Okay, okay, but he was having fun out here, his tail flicking up snow as it swished behind him.

@Carja

Carja awkwardly landed and used a hand and a foot to pin both babies to the ground, bringing them closer gently to pin them and stroke them gently, trying to calm them.

"Good idea, Hunter," she said, "I don't want to accidentally drop them if they kick or something. I won't be flying high anyway but still."

She looked down at the little fawns and cooed, petting over soft wool gently, wincing as one tried to kick her, "It's okay! Settle down, little ones, it's okay."

"That's a good idea, about the meat thing... but I don't know, if I'm going to raise them and stuff, I don't know if I can kill them," Carja said, biting her lip as she looked down at the fawns and whuffed, concerned.

She was too soft for her own good.

@Hunter