butterfly chasing [★] WATCHA LOOKING FOR?

[aine.]

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— aine | the pitt | fae druid —

Something crackled beneath petite inky paws.  The snap of a twig.  Crunch of a fallen leaf.  Dark ears snapped up in attention, wary.  Breath slow as a feather's descent.  Quiet.  She would be silent incarnate.  Well.  Mostly.  A white-tipped tail twitched, rustling overgrowth.  For heaven's sake.  Shut up.

Hazel eyes, gleaming the shade of gold, narrowed.  Flutter of brightly colored wings.  Hazy from far away.  The small vixen crept forward.  Silent incarnate.  So long as the shift of her paws didn't count.  Or her breath.  Or her tail.

The quarry drifted calmly through the trees even as the child bolted forward.  Indifference.  Aine danced behind it, eyes luminescent as it avoided every swipe of her paws.  Perhaps it knew the girl sought only the game, not any sort of harm.  Indeed, as the fae grew tired and plopped herself to the ground, the butterfly found a place to rest on the fox's nose.

"Oh." That tickles.  "Dia dhut."

— I'll come back when you call me —

[Kydobi]

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Better to be hurt by the truth than comforted by a lie -
♕tags-powers♕

[OOC: ]

Eyes would watch from above, silent and observing with natural curiosity. How easily she had assimilated into the Pitt. But she and him were still relatively new as Kydobi was. Getting up from his perch the shadow followed, leaping to tree with ease and skill.

Paws would kiss the tree silently like a mute lover. Eventually she stopped and so did he. He smiled as the brave bug landed on her nose. Knowing he could suddenly fall through due to his newly acquired power, the jaguar climbed down not making a sound unless he wanted.

"Seems you've become friends with your prey."

[sub][W]isker[/sub]

[gael]

♛

Inevitable curiosity of the young was no doubt the culprit when the cross fox noticed his daughter had disappeared from the confines of the Pitt's camp.  The faerie flicked an ear.  And so it goes, he mused absently, having grown well-accustomed to his daughter's tendency to wander.

It was just the two of them now, and however much he knew he could probably trust her to stay in sight of someone, he did not resist the pull to follow.  He was still learning the layout of the pyramids, let alone the jungle, but he let his nose guide him.  She could not have wandered far.  No farther than the jungle at least.  Running into the desert would be foolish, even for a child.

Sure enough, the jaguar known as Kydobi had been tailing her as well.  And all is well.  He cocked his head as he examined the brightly colored insect adorning Aine's nose.  Her prey, their fellow Pittian had called it.  She must have been chasing it then.  He raised a brow.  An unsurprising predicament in all honesty.  The child was naive and soft; she would never have harmed the creature.

Idly he wondered if these traits would prove troublesome in the future.  His kingly cousin was soft, and pacifistic.  Both our families suffered for it.  He could certainly work on that a little, enough at least, so that she was at least capable of fending for herself.

"An bhfuil tú féin ag baint taitnimh as, Lottie?" The vulpine inquired lightly, regarding his child thoughtfully.  "Looks as if you've made a new friend."  Another matter of concern he would have to take in account in their new home.  Heaven knows he had not seen any other youth running about.

"ISN'T IT LOVELY?" —-- gael ó broin / faerie / pittian / lamby

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[aine.]

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— aine | the pitt | fae druid —

It took a moment for the child to register the jaguar's sudden appearance.  Even then, she still visibly flinched.  The funny feeling that had encompassed her nose disappeared as the butterfly drifted away on a light wings.  Hazel hues locked for a few seconds, tailing her new 'friend' until it grew too fuzzy to truly focus on.  Absently, teeth caught on the inside of her cheek.  She had not meant to jump.  Now Kydobi must thought she was a scaredy-fox.

Her father too, though he was smiling.  'Prey' was an interesting term she slowly began puzzling over now that said prey, or 'friend', was gone.  In confusion, Aine's head inclined to the side, one of her ears flopping sideways with the movement.  A soft but enthusiastic hum built in her throat in response to her father.  She had been enjoying herself at least.  Chasing was fun.

Sheepishly, her paws shuffled over each other.  "I wasn' huntin' it," she explained brightly.  "Jus' chasin'.  's fun."  Doubtless, the petite vixen would go 'hunting' for more butterflies later.  Their bright colors always made her smile and they never seem too bothered by her antics.

"Can' chase it now... Can' see it," she grinned, although her cheeks felt warm.  Even if she had not been hunting the butterfly, it was no good to lose sight of your quarry, was it?  "But we could find another one!" She decided optimistically, rocking on her paws. 

"You and da can help."

Of course, the fact was, the original butterfly was still well within everyone's line of sight.  With colorful wings fluttering, it continued to dance merrily through the trees, indifferent.  Aine's line of sight simply grew fuzzier after an usually small amount of distance, though she didn't know it.  She just figured everyone had sharper eyes than her, which made sense of course, since she was still growing.

Although Aine was eager to move again, she didn't want to force the two to follow her, thus she remained in her spot, fidgeting.  They were grown ups after all and thus smarter.  They probably knew the perfect direction to search for more butterflies.

— I'll come back when you call me —

[Kydobi]

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Better to be hurt by the truth than comforted by a lie -
♕tags-powers♕

[OOC: ]

Fiery hues would look at Gael, he had arrived shortly speaking in that foreign tongue. Didn't bother Kydobi. Heavens knew that if he spoke another language he and his... family would used it prior to his flee.

While he would never ever waste time, chasing butterflies had a hidden purpose. That particular game taught the children speed and agility to catch such a nimble and graceful being. Often it made the youths more acquainted with their often too clumsy bodies.

"Yes, I don't see why not. Have you met [member=3295]ramona.[/member] ? She is around your age, I think you two would get along very well. Very sweet and brave girl. You'd have fun chasing butterflies together. A canine as well." As if the shared species would make her more appealing. At least it was the case for Kydobi, he was very partial to fellow jaguars for they reminded him of happier times of a kingdom with nothing but jaguars. He had also learned it can be nice to be around others of your own kind.  But he didn't mind Ramona, or anyone other than Jervis for that matter. Plus he promised the child he would train her and decided this could be a fun type of lesson.

But he wasn't going to waste time looking for her, if fate would have her come then she would.


He turned to Gael, "So what made you come to the Pitt?"

[sub][W]isker[/sub]

[gael]

♛

Heaven knows the red and black fox would not chase butterflies.  He could however, encourage the practice with the consideration it could be an educational benefit for Aine.  As such, he gave the child a smile, shrugging his shoulders.  "'Course.  We should start this way then, child," he directed with a thoughtful crease in his brow.  For he was watching Aine's first butterfly with wary eyes.  Perhaps she had simply lost sight of it due to the distraction of all of the plant life.

Or it may be another problem.  Gael made a quick mental note to address the matter when they were alone.  For the moment he passed it off as the child's overactive and easily distracted mind.

He directed his attention to the jaguar at their side, curious.  So there was another youth among the Pitt.  Not a name he knew but he'd keep an ear out for.  Having grown up with cousins his age, Gael asserted that having other children to interact with was important for developing youth.  He nodded silently as if in approval, before tilting his head as Kydobi poised his inquiry.

"Nothing good I am afraid," he began with a light frown.  He cast Aine a considered glance before continuing, "we come from a nation of others like us; the Fae call it Ardis." Of course, the Fae lived all across the known world.  It was the reason they all possessed different traits, accents and even species.  Ardis simply found importance in being the royal seat. "Our nation unfortunately lived among mortal neighbors of the unruly sort."

"I will not bore any of us with a detailing of the conflicts that followed," he was not interested in such exposition.  "Know that they drug us into the conflict through the attempted assassination of our royal family.  And some of them did die, leaving us a new king in my cousin, Raziel."

"Conflict lasted for years and years.  Then our king won peace through his words."  But he is soft and foolish; too hopeful. "But the tensions never truly faded.  Centuries of bloodshed between three nations; you cannot forget something like that, much less when you suffer from immortality."

"I had something of a death mark on my head.  The mortals remember me from my time as a soldier.  A small band of them, acting independently," as if it matters, "targeted me and my family." And then there were two.  His eyes softened as they darted towards Aine.

"We have nothing but a broken home to return to, so I decided it may be time to move on from that place.  Plenty of the Fae live elsewhere around the world, away from our kingdom.  I only stayed for my family and cousins, but one is gone, and my cousins move about as well.  I would protect Aine before I let stubbornness keep me in Ardis."

"The Pitt may seem an odd choice, but see how difficult it is to breach this jungle." An easily defendable place among people who claimed great strength.  Of course, all seemed quiet for now but the id a had not changed. "I can watch over Aine here and bring her up strong, without dividing my thoughts with the politics of that distant kingdom." Perhaps he had left things out, but Gael did not plan on revealing anything extra from the bare facts.  His quarrel with his cousin, for example, was his alone.

"As I said, nothing good, other than the idea we might have a new home I suppose."

// Mobile

"ISN'T IT LOVELY?" —-- gael ó broin / faerie / pittian / lamby

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