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Characters Name: Alionse
Animal being tamed: Olrawk
Total taming tries: Second attempt
Taming tries with this particular animal: Second attempt

Orderite Flying Bonus: +5
Helper Bonus: +5
Familiarity Bonus: +5

Success: 81-100

Failed!

Janatheil opened his mouth, and then shut it, eyeing the other instead as he gathered what remained of his things and turned to leave. It would have been simple enough, then, to turn on his way and head off as he had been, on his own and left to his own devices. The other boy, however, who still had yet to tell him his name, did look young — moreso than himself, even — and it seemed foolish, even by his standards, to leave him to the night woods.

Besides, it wasn’t as though poking about the dark forest on his own was likely to be a great deal more exciting, somehow, than learning what he could about his new ‘acquaintance.’ So, in a split second decision, Janatheil started after him.

“So, rawk tamer…Derrin? No, you don’t look like a Derrin, let’s see…” He studied his company. “Loranth. Lora for short. Nice as it was meeting you, Lora, it’d be a pity to find out something happened to you soon after you were blessed with my company, so if you need someone to walk you back to safety, somewhere y’know…where you won’t be eaten, I’m happy to volunteer my services. Unless your plan was to not-catch more nightbirds with broken nets…in which case, I suppose it’d be entertaining enough to spectate for a bit.”

Alionse.

Janatheil mentally noted the name, cataloguing it and keeping it for reference while his attention moved on. An amused smirk climbed to the corners of his lips at the boy’s stomping. There were a great many other things he could have said or asked — whether anyone knew where they boy was, whether in all his ‘experience’ being out in the forests he had actually done so at night before and how well his past occasions had gone, whether he had any practical fighting experience — but Janatheil supposed those things could wait. He had nothing better to do, really, and why not gather a little practice on olrawk catching? If nothing else, the other boy’s (failed) attempts were not boring yet.

Thus, chuckling to himself, he followed at an easy pace behind the other and, when bid, he raised his eyebrows, but moved over without objection, settling to a low crouch at Alionse’s side.

“So,” he said, “is the plan, then, to do exactly what you did last time, this time beginning with a broken net already, and to pray to the goddess for different or better results despite following the same course that lead you to failing last round?” Janatheil sat back a bit, shifting his weight to get comfortable. “And how long do you generally wait for something worthwhile to happen? Doesn’t it or didn’t it get a touch boring, sitting on your own, in the woods, staring at some seeds waiting for something with a brain the size of your smallest fingernail to decide it’s hungry and time to hop down a few branches to check out that new food conveniently close to the smell of Magescians?”

A pause.

“Because I am bored.” ‘If that wasn’t already painfully obvious.’ Janatheil squinted upwards towards the olrawk’s current nesting place. “Y’know…I bet I could just catch one…”

Janatheil blinked, startled, and glanced sharply over at the commentary. He opened his mouth at several points, intent on disputing near everything to come out of the other boy’s mouth, but his eyes narrowed, feathers bristling a touch at the final comment. After a moment, he huffed.

“I am nothing like other nobles,” he said and rolled his shoulders, turning to squint up to where the nearest nest was. “Clearly you’ve spent no time with any if you think I am. They’re boring and—well, a great lot of other things that I’m also not, but most importantly I am not boring…” He paused, considering his options as he stretched and then tucked his wings in, thoughtful. “I am also neither an expert at olrawk taming or any other sort of taming for that matter or unpleasant, you should know. I’m a magnificent person to be around, highly likeable, friendly, and charming to boot…and, all that aside, I’m not the one who wants one to begin with, but…” A half grin teased up at the corner of his lips, “…if you’ve nothing better to do than watch…”

Janatheil edged out, keeping himself in a crouch for a moment as he watched, listening to the grating hoot of the target bird as he unfurled his own wings — slowly — and then folded them back in. One, two…

When the olrawk shifted, tucking its beak in for a moment to nose at its chest feathers and shift its own wings, Janatheil dove. One leap up, a beat of his wings. In retrospect, the display was not particularly graceful and likely looked worse from a spectator’s point of view. He landed somewhere near the branch, crashing into leaves and dive-reaching for the fowl. Squawking sounded. Bird screetches. Rapid movement. The target took flight and Janatheil, from his new perch in the tree, took after it briefly, but between darkness, tree branches, and wings that didn’t yet fully support his weight but for short hops, he didn’t get far.

Thus, several hundred paces or so from where he started, Janatheil grunted, half tucked atop another branch, and shook his head. One minute up, crouched on the branch. The next, he gripped it, letting his weight fall backwards and catching his legs in a notch at the knees over the branch in order to hang there, upside down, like a dangling corpse.

“Very well!” he called out into the dark, letting his eyes shut as his wings drooped low to hang from him and brush towards the forest floor. “You may laugh now if you like! It will please you to note, though, that I managed not to die at the hands of vicious, terrible songbirds, so you’ll continue to be blessed with my company…”