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Unlike Verity, Nicolae Draculesti's wings were pristine. His black and white feathers beat against the air as the wind threatened to overturn him. With the wind billowing through his mane and distant lightning flashing across the sky, he felt full of vigor and life. He usually wasn't one for daring acts, but something about today was different. He hadn't meant to be caught out in an approaching storm, but it had happened all the same. Now, he knew that he should descend but simply could not bring himself to. Something about the air called for him to remain. He may have stayed up there until he was struck by lightning himself if he hadn't caught a glint of gold on the ground far below.

What was that?

He turned a circle midair and peered down at the distant green smudge. It looked like some sort of soquili, but he could tell little else from this height. Curiosity overcoming recklessness, he began to spiral downwards. As he did, he realized that the metallic glinting was reflecting off armor. It was some sort of warrior, then? And a mare too... an angeni mare. Now, even more intrigued, he decided to make his landing.

A particularly strong gust blew at Nicolae as he was setting himself down, but he kept level. Proud of his descent, he let a satisfied smile creep onto his face. This smile slowly drifted away when he saw the look the mare was giving him. She watched him like he had just eaten her last apple.

Brow furrowing, he blinked at her. "Am I bothering you?"

"Perhaps not," admitted Nicolae. He had visited many herds and spoken to many soquili in his quest to find information about his grandfather, but there was something awkward about this encounter that made him more uncomfortable about the rest. He met so few angeni that he hoped to be able to speak pleasantly with them when he discovered them. This mare looked like a warrior, something that Nicolae himself aspired to. Certainly, they ought to have things to speak about if she only might listen!

"My name is Nicolae Draculesti," he said, an apology in the tone of his voice. Belatedly, he wondered if he should have introduced himself with his last name. Maybe it was his fangs and red eyes that bothered her now, even though his usual cloud of bat followers were asleep.

Nicolae paused a little. Was that all she was going to say? He felt the strangeness of the situation grow even stranger. He felt like he should apologize for something, but without knowing quite what it was he had done to bother her, he didn't know what it was he should be apologizing for. Instead, he found his eyes straying to her lower left wing. It was tied with a bandage and the injury looked like it was still healing. Concerned, his brow furrowed.

"I'm sorry for asking, but you didn't receive that injury nearby, did you?" He looked around, as if he might see a lurking villain. "This place is not far from where my family lives, and we don't tolerate dangerous interlopers."

The jungle. That made Nicolae frown. This was not the first story that he had heard about misdoings in the jungle. He'd spoken to a kelpi several months ago who had spoken of being chased from his river home in the jungle by a pack of ravening kalonas. Now that he met this mare, Nicolae wished that he had asked more questions of the kelpi. Could it be the same kalona pack that had chased the kelpi that had torn off the wing of this angeni mare as well? He opened his mouth to ask about it when he heard the thunder.

He looked up at the sky, watching the clouds and feeling which way the wind tugged at his mane. "That storm is coming closer," he said. "I'd suggest that we find shelter, but I don't know that there is much of anything to be found here." He looked at the mostly featureless landscape. What few trees there were could provide them with barely more cover than standing in the open would.

Once more, Nicolae looked to the approaching clouds. He really didn't like the look of those, but perhaps she was right. There was nowhere to go, and no soquili had ever died from being rained on. He had very rarely seen lightning strike the ground. Though it wasn't pleasant to think that it might be arcing over their heads, they would probably be safe, if a little damp.

"You're right," he replied after going through these thoughts. "As long as we're not in the air, we should be fine."

"Of course," replied Nicolae swiftly. He knew little of t he fate of armor in storms. He instead imagined that it would be horribly uncomfortable to be wearing armor when the rain struck. Even his small collar could become soggy and uncomfortable when it was laden down with water. He imagined that armor would be all the more unpleasant to wear with wet fur beneath.

He was not adept with straps and latches, but he mouthed at them the best that he could. With Verity's guidance he was able to work his way from armor piece to armor piece, detaching them and trying to lay them carefully on the ground. A few slipped through his lips to clang noisily to the ground. He could feel the stares that Verity gave him whenever he let one fall, but he tried not to let that spook him. The armor was already dinged from use. A tumble to the grass wouldn't do it much harm.