In most cases, herb collecting was relatively stress free for Roan. All it involved was patrolling around his usual areas, and looking to see if anything had grown since his last go around. Most of the time, he didn't have anything falling on him from above, hitting him on the head as he grew close to the trees. The young sage's head had been lowered, his jaws just about to clamp down on the base of a catmint plant, when all of a sudden he felt something solid collide with his skull. A soft yelp left the draconic feline as he wildly looked around, trying to identify what had fallen on his head. It wouldn't have surprised him if it was some prank 0ut in place by Trygve, but it seemed like a lot of preparation, especially to set up in a random tree that Roan only visited every so often. With his tail twitching and lashing behind him, the feline eventually found the squirrel child, pausing in confusion when he saw the creature. He was used to most squirrels staying firmly within the trees, and he was also used to them not using weaponry, but this one hardly seemed to be all that normal, considering the bone he had with him, and the hat he was wearing.

Roan seemed to hesitate for a moment, trying to parse out if the squirrel was just a piece of prey playing dress up, or a legitimately intelligent being. Pushing away his aggravation from earlier – it was now replaced by heavy curiosity – the feline found himself muttering, "Uh... hello there, little guy..." He glanced around after he spoke, as if trying to make sure that nobody else was watching, just to make sure he wouldn't look too crazy. Turning his gaze back down to the prey animal, Roan found himself questioning softly, "Sorry about the whole... collision? Can you understand me? Do you have a name?" He felt a bit silly asking such things of a squirrel, but he figured it was only right to do so before just adding him to the prey pile.

Oh, shit. Some part of Roan knew that he had been communicating with the squirrel, hoping for it to be able to understand him. However, a larger part of him had thought that nothing would come of it, and the creature would just stare at him blankly. Instead, when the other nodded his head, the sage found himself slightly flabbergasted, blue eyes wide. He opened his muzzle to ask more questions of the tiny creature, but was cut off by the prey animal pointing wildly at his bone, clearly trying to communicate something. It took a moment before the draconic feline spoke again, his head tilting to one side, "Chickenbone? Is that your name? A bit of an odd name for a squirrel, but... I guess I wouldn't really know squirrel culture." He still felt a little bit silly talking to Chickenbone, but at least he knew that the thing could actually understand him, and he wasn't just talking to the open air.

However, his quiet conversation with Chickenbone was interrupted by the presence of Devland, which was less than ideal for a number of reasons. Upon hearing the other, Roan's ears briefly pinned down, narrowly avoiding snagging on his horns, "He's not food... at least I don't think. I asked if he could understand me, and he nodded. And I asked him what his name was... I think it's something to do with bone. I said Chickenbone." The sage's tail then flicked back and forth as he looked back to the tiny squirrel, reaching a paw out to curiously tap him on the head, "And yeah, I saw the hat..." He hesitated for a moment before he questioned Chicken further, a soft hum leaving him, "If you can understand me... you must be intelligent, right? Are you looking for a place to stay?" He had no doubt Devland would use this as further teasing fodder later, but Roan also knew he wouldn't run out of fodder no matter what he said or did.

Lucifer could honestly say this wasn’t the strangest joiner end ever seen.

There had been that strange sea creature - and snakes and even a mouse once he was sure.

And it wouldn’t be the first time nonverbal communication was a barrier - still the dragon inclined his head as he happened upon the group now attempting to parse said barrier with the squirrel.

The dragon would hum ”well, it’s not the strangest name I’ve ever heard” he mused, dipping down to be eye height with Roan and Devland and closer to the squirrel if he was to better see the gestures.

”I would say yes to the intelligence” he inclined his head to Roan ”as for the latter I would presume so - unless it’s a request for something, not many prey animals actively seek out predators”