Tangerine. [Cykins!]

[Fox]

Winter had come with a vengeance, L'nan mused sourly, as she slid off Eoreph's back to the ground. The latest Hatching had taken place late in the Autumn, and it had not been cold yet at that point. In fact, it had not been very cold at all right up until last night, when the temperature had taken a bit of a nosedive. The cold had done nothing to improve the tawnyrider's burgeoning bad mood, and it was only compounded by the fact that cold fingers made knitting an absolute chore. In fact, as Eoreph moved with a purposeful stalk towards the feeding pens, leaving her rider at the fence, L'nan was busy rewrapping her own precious brightly-coloured scarf around her head, so that every part of her face save her eyes was swathed in eye-watering orange. The other, darker gift scarf for Ri'ley was balanced in her lap.

Now, of course, she looked rather like some sort of weird, tangerine-creature with a dark brown ponytail.

But whatever it was, L'nan totally did not care. There was only one thing worse than the cold, in her opinion, and that was boredom. There was only so long the woman could go staring at the same four walls before she drove herself and her simourv absolutely batty. So she'd gone for a change of scenery; the feeding pens as Eoreph went for her morning meal. Granted, it was not the most scenic place she could have gone to work on her knitting project, but the Gardens were rather depressing at this time of year in the cold, the Kitchens were too crowded, and other places were too lonely. Here, at least, once one ignored the sights and sounds of a feeding simourv, there were the animals to provide the physical company of other living beings without the noise generated by other people. And L'nan wasn't quite in the mood for useless chatter today.

I still think you would have done better to stay in the room, Mine. You might catch a cold.[/color] Eoreph said to her, as the tawny paused to observe the livestock milling about nervously as they sensed a large predator. She had tried to dissuade L'nan from coming out here with her, but to no avail seeing as the woman had still come out to the pens anyway. The simourv clicked her beak in mild disapproval as her dark brown eyes flickered to her rider, perched precariously on the top bar of the fence, now fortified against the chill with her head swathed in a scarf. L'nan made a face, or attempted to, as the only visible difference was the narrowing of her eyes at Eoreph. "It's boring in the room, Eo. And I've got a stronger constitution than that, even though it is bloody cold." She answered aloud, her voice muffled through the layers of wool. It was highly tempting to stick her tongue out at her simourv as Eoreph sighed and returned to her stakeout of the goats, eventually selecting one to sate her. But that would do nothing but give her a mouthful of wool fibres, so L'nan simply settled for a loud "Hmph!" before bowing her head over the unfinished scarf in her lap, the clicking of wooden needles held in gloved fingers soon filling the silence between the sounds of Eoreph's meal. [/size]

[Cy]

[/b]

. . .

“Dareph, please.”

. . .

Finally, there was a sigh as the man abruptly tossed aside his carving and shoved his knife into the leather sheath attached to his belt. As Ze'el picked himself up to begin dressing warmly for the cold outside, boots laced tight and jacket pulled snug, Dar perked up immediately, sending faint vibes of pride and relief to the man as he complied. Outside, the chilled air nipped at his face and he buried his hands in his pocket, ducking his head down and listening to the crunch of iced grass beneath his feet. His hair had grown longer, warming the nape of his neck and his ears, bangs brushing against the lashes of his eyes and flopping about as it was teased by the wind. Dareph flew happily ahead, though never too far. As such, he spotted the familiar tawnypair already at the feeding pens long before Ze'el did. Joy swelled through him so strongly that there was no keeping it from his bonded, dragging the man's attention up to see the source of his simourv's sudden happiness.

He was a little paused by the bright orange spot seated on the fence, narrowing his light eyes on the figure as he slowed his pace down to a crawl, watching the woman and feeling a pit opening up in his stomach. He wanted to turn back, but he tensed his jaw, looked elsewhere, and continued forward.

Above, Dareph circled the pen where the goats were kept, simply thrilled. 'Eoreph, my sister.' He greeted, deep voice displaying his pleasure transparently. Tucking his wings close to his side, he tilted to plunge downwards, pouncing on his prey of choice and sending the already skittish herd darting away in a fit of panicked noises and hoofbeats, breaking the beast's neck mercifully. With confidence, he plunged himself into the company of his lovely tawny clutchmate and Hers, even while His continued to dawdle senselessly on the sidelines.[/ul][/size]

[Fox]

When the shadow first flashed overhead, L'nan thought nothing of it. They lived in a place full of riders and simourvs, after all; it was not a strange occurrence to have such large shadows flashing over you from the sky overhead. The woman merely assumed that it was yet another rider, off for a shift or for some other duty, not quite realising that other simourvs might use the same lull in the day to feed. She just went gamely on with her knitting-- clumsily though, with her gloves on, and sank blithely into the state of absent dreaminess that immersed her when involved in her handiwork. L'nan would likely not have registered Dareph at all, in fact, had Eoreph not lifted her head at her brother's voice and, delighted at his presence, greeted him in return. Dareph![/color] Eoreph was aware that her sudden awareness of her much-adored red sibling had surprised Hers, enough that L'nan jumped, startled, and had to regain her balance on the fence, but she did not much care at that point. Her burgundy brown eyes followed the red's form as he descended on one of the goats, admiring for the briefest instant his grace and mercy in the takedown.

Dareph.[/color] The tawny repeated happily, leaning over the short distance in order to touch her beak gently to his side. Her warm, soft voice was suffused with pleasure nearly as transparent at his joy, simply at his presence. For the moment, her meal was quite forgotten, as she had managed to sate the more insistent pangs of hunger, eating in quick, clean bites (blood was rather distasteful to get out of feathers). Instead, she turned her attention to the arrival of one of her favourite siblings; moreso even than Dionyph, whose presence Eoreph found herself in most often. It has been a while, brother. I have missed you.[/color] Candid and concise as always, Eoreph dipped her head in a faintly embarrassed manner as the echo of truth rang in her words. She truly had rather missed Dareph's benevolent company, as the tawny had found that there really was no substitute for his particular brand of kindness. Her other siblings were wonderful as well, of course, but Dareph was not quite like them. He was different.

L'nan, meanwhile, was viewing the exchange with raised eyebrows, hidden mouth twisted in amusement. So this was how it was, hm? And Eoreph had been teasing her about such perceived... attachments? This was beginning to look very much like a case of the pot calling the kettle black, and L'nan informed her simourv so tartly in the privacy of their minds. As Eoreph shot her rider a faintly narrow-eyed glance, the woman stifled a laugh and took the opportunity to greet the red, whom she quite liked herself, regardless of Eoreph's bias. "Hello, Dareph!" She called cheerily, good mood partially restored by the unusual advent of her simourv opening herself up to teasing. It was true that L'nan had not been particularly in the mood for inane chatter, but a conversation with Dareph--... or even with Dareph's bonded, Ze'el (provided she could draw any conversation out of him at all) would hardly be inane, she reasoned. Quizzically, she tilted her head to one side, lifting a hand to pull down her improvised mask and cringing a little as the renewed cold hit her face. "Are you here alone?"

A stirring of awareness from Eoreph rendered the question posed to Dareph quite moot, as the tawny's eyes fastened on to the lingering form of Dareph's rider. She could tell almost immediately that he was as lonely as ever, if only from the tenseness in his posture. Much as she had when she was only newly hatched, Eoreph felt sorry for him, for even though she was not the most social of simourvs, she could not imagine a life without at least one of her siblings to speak to on occasion. Laraph or Dionyph or Dareph... Without them, even with Hers, Eoreph thought it must be terribly lonely. But she did not venture to speak to the man as he approached, only dipping her head slowly to him in greeting and acknowledgement, though L'nan twisted in her seat to look. A slightly nervous smile tugged at her lips and she raised a hand, as much to catch his eye (because he was looking determinedly elsewhere, the silly boy) as to say hello, half-finished scarf briefly abandoned in her lap. "Good morning, Ze'el!" She called lightly, though in truth it was probably closer to noon. "Having a nice walk?" Eoreph's amusement did nothing to damper the tawnyrider's determination to speak to the man, since on the mental list of priorities L'nan had in her head, befriending Ze'el was worth braving conversation even when she wasn't quite in the mood for such thins. [/size]

[Cy]

[/i][/color] He returned as boldly, a light note of a chuckle rumbling beneath his statement. Before his forced hermithood, he'd spent far too much time with Dionyph, but a little poetic dramatics never hurt. He rather quite enjoyed them.

Oblivious to the discreet exchange between his sibling and Hers, he turned his attentions smoothly to L'nan as the woman greeted him, his gaze remaining as warm as ever as he nodded his head in acknowledgment. He liked the one that his sister had chosen. She suited Eoreph as much as Eoreph suited her, they took care of each other and the love was clear. He felt comfortable around the woman, she was of a nice spirit. On top of all of that, she made the effort to break into the tough shell that his Ze'el kept firmly in place and he could only respect her for that. Getting through to his bull-headed bonded was no easy task; it took strength, but L'nan was certainly strong. He could see what Eoreph saw. At her question, his dark eyes slipped off to the side instead of answering aloud, focusing on the man that lingered in the background, hoping to remain unseen and yet unable to do much help as attentions were brought on him.

Ze'el was certain that he could feel the eyes on him like physical weights dropping onto his shoulders, anxieties pressing forcefully against his chest and into his stomach. He kept his eyes aimed downwards and his fists buried deep into his pockets, his feet carrying him slowly and hesitantly forward, an inch of space taking the longest stretch of time to cross. The tension wound itself tight around stiff muscles and set limbs. Then the woman spoke and, if at all possible, it all grew tighter, more suffocating, but a tendril of assurance and calm was quick to weave itself into his core from Dareph. As the red turned his attentions back to his tawny sibling, seeking permission to join her in eating, Ze'el managed to lift his eyes up to focus on the fellow Alpha propped on the top fence post, head wrapped in orange and a hand raised. She greeted him and spoke his name as if they were something akin to best friends. It felt odd. It was something strange, something foreign, but he found her name popping into his head smoothly. He bit his tongue against using it though. They weren't best friends. There was no reason to encourage false hopes or anything of the sort by letting her know that he clung to her name with familiarity.

His eyes narrowed and then slipped away, focusing on their simourv instead for a moment before dropping back down to the ground as he brought himself to pick up a bit more speed, crossing the space separating them, pulling back to a slow drift a couple of paces away, angled just enough that he approached the fence with plenty of empty air between them. He shrugged his shoulders lightly. “What're you doin'?” He questioned lowly, pulling his hands out of his pockets to cross his arms against the fence, leaning against the pen. His eyes slid over to the side in L'nan's direction, intent on forcing himself to look to her face, if only for a moment, but instead found himself stopping at the knitting needles in her hands. Not necessarily because the instruments greatly struck his curiosity in any particular way, but they were a lot easier to look at than establishing eye contact would be.[/ul]

(ooc | I feel rusty, so this isn't the greatest! 'M'sorry! xD)[/size]