He. Was. Back. In Pegasus, the cave of trees, of rivers, but most importantly: of meadow deer. Callum hadn't forgotten how badly his first attempt at killing the meadow deer has turned out. And now he was back to finish the job. Now, he wasn't overconfident of course. He admitted to himself that he probably wouldn't be able to kill an entire herd. But just one. One would be enough.

His wings carried him into the sky, and the dragon soared high above the trees as he scouted for a herd. Hopefully one that wasn't too big, or else it would be much too hard to pick one off.

The herd that he spotted--twisting up along a ridge where the thick pine forest bordered open fields--numbered that most (in)auspicious of numbers: thirteen.

The majority were adult cows: large, broad, some withi long fur and some simply shaggy. A couple of bulls, one full-grown and two young, led or loitered at the edges. The three calves of varying ages--one small, one half-grown and one near adult--trundled along at the center of the herd.

At the moment, they seemed to be moving from one part of Pegasus to the next, pausing only briefly to browse as they went.

@Callum

As his gaze locked onto the herd of meadow deer, he narrowed his eyes to try and discern the individual deer from the mass. The youngest ones were at the center of the herd, the lightest and easiest to pick up, but also the hardest to get to. He recalled last time how it had turned out horribly when he attempted to dive into the midst of the herd. Callum had not learned his lesson in terms of messing with meadow deer, but he did learn not to do a reckless divebomb into the center. He decided that this time, he would try for one at the edge. Even if it was larger, it was much safer than risking the wrath of them all at once.

The dragon started to descend from the sky, starting out with a spell. Wear them down from a distance first, and then go in. Yup, that was a good plan. Surely it would work this time? Once he was within range, he spit out pyrogel at a young bull at the edge of the herd, continuing to stay in the air and out of reach.

The meadow deer did not notice the dragon-hybrid coming. The wingbeats would undoubtedly tip them off, but so far none tilted a head to glance up or back; they simply ambled on, content. The one at the outer edges did not notice, even, the splatter of flammable goop that splattered over its thick wool. They just carried on, a twitch of hide indicating that it were reacting as though it thought that it had perhaps been attacked by biting flies.

@Callum

He should be celebrating the fact that the meadow deer weren't fleeing or getting into attack position or something at his successful spell cast. Didn't they know he was about the light them on fire!? They should be scared! Terrified! But Callum restrained himself from yelling at them to stir fear in their hearts. A successful hunt came first. The dragon dived down, feeling his paws start to burn. He aimed to ignite the pyrogel on the meadow deer and follow through on the dive to try and knock it over from his momentum. Whether this actually worked however. Well. Questionable.

The sudden impact staggered the beast, knocking its hindquarters--despite its immense size--to the ground. It scrambled back up just as the pyrogel ignited: an explosion of wet, sticky fire in all directions. A few embers struck its herdmates, smoldering and sending up smoke; Callum's target creature briefly flared in bright, flaming light.

A bellow of terror escaped it and it broke away from the herd, angling out into the fields, thankfully not in the direction of the more flammable trees. The rest of the herd, terrified by the sudden light, stink and violence, fled into the trees.

The wool was no more flammable than last time: it mostly just smoked, billowing black and stinky odor. But the flames did catch, sparking and fuming through the wool; air was fed to the flames by the panicked rush of the young bull's flight. A few brightly burning flames survived, licking at the air as they spread across the Meadow Deer's pelt.

@Callum

Callum braced himself, half expecting the rest of the meadow deer to come running over and defend their friend. Family? Or ally? He did not know how meadow deer relations worked. Whatever. A member of their herd. The bright light of fire blinded him while bellows of terror filled his ears. For a moment, he was brought back to when he had attempted to destroy the tree in Cepheus and paid dearly for it.

But he forced himself back into the present. It was not him who was on fire, it was the meadow deer. He was a bit surprised really that the wool wasn't as flammable as he expected. It just looked that way. Callum followed after the meadow deer, taking off into the sky once more. You know what it needed? More fire. But his mouth must've been dry or something because it didn't work. Shoot. Hopefully it didn't run into the river or something.

The creature powered on, a streak of billowing smoke. The flames continued to cross its hide but mostly it seemed to be obtaining a questionable grooming job: large, black swathes of short, burnt hair were left in the wake of the fire.

As the worst of it died down, the creature turned--heading not for the river, but in an arc back for the cover of the trees. The initial panic, it seemed, was wearing off--but it still had a ways to go before rejoining its herd.

@Callum

He couldn't just let it escape! He had worked so hard. This was the closest he had ever gotten to success. And who was to say he would be this lucky next time? No, he had to succeed now. Callum knew that thing had a lot of mass, it wouldn't be a good idea to try and stop it by force. But there was another idea he had in mind. The meadow deer was still on fire, so perhaps there was a way to manipulate that fire to cut it off...

Callum imagined the fire moving, spreading, hoping it would heed his call to move down to the grass and set on fire the very meadow that the deer was in. Hopefully the grass would ignite and cut off its escape route.

The line of fire rippled outward from the Meadow Deer, toward the forest and the herd--and then swept side-to-side, forming a flaming barrier between he and his route.

The young bull slowed, turned, smoke pouring from the dying embers in his coat--and kicked back into a gallop in the other direction, out towards the distant river. A bellow of distress echoed out over the meadow, down the hill before him, as the dust kicked up by his hooves joined the smoke. The whites of his eyes rolled, tongue lolling as he panted.

@Callum