[Open] If You Can't Take the Heat, Go Into the Forest!

[Danyal Brights]

The egg hunt even was done and over with, and Danny was celebrating his particularly pleasant victory. He'd only acquired two eggs, but the first he'd gotten had contained the greatest prize he could have even imagined - a gorgeous Salamander familiar. He had bonded with the strange creature immediately, and decided to take it out of the city for a trip around the woods. It was only natural, he thought, to take the creature to Solas Circle, where he had found it. It was a beautiful area, to be sure, and he thought the salamander may enjoy the view.

And so, with familiar perched upon his shoulder, Danyal the Nightwatcher made his way out into Solas Circle once evening had hit and the sun had started to recede below the horizon. The glowing nature of these woods made sure that one could still see out here, and he loved the atmosphere it had. As he walked, he left his hands tucked in his pockets, glancing around all the while, ever present of his surroundings. "So, little guy, what am I gonna call ya?" he mused aloud as he walked. "I'm thinking Sal is a little too simplistic. But maybe that's not such a bad thing, huh?" He chuckled at that and turned his head to look at the coal-colored creature on his shoulder, which looked back at him with a look that was indescernable, because it was a freaking salamander. "You feel damn warm, little guy. I'm pretty excited to see what you can do. What we can do together, especially!"

He thought a moment about the magic he had practiced, about his elemental magic he'd worked on, and he rubbed his palms together quickly. After a moment, he pulled his hands apart, and resting in his right palm was a ball of fire about two inches in diameter. He smiled once again to the salamander, who flicked its tongue out, and winked. "We've got a little bit in common, at least." He laughed and clapped his hands together, causing the ball of flame to disperse in waves of heat licking up and around his arm. Then, he moved to a large rock, about five or six feet tall, and climbed up to the top of it. From his new perch, he let his legs dangle and rested his elbows on his knees, staring ahead of himself.

What a day.

At least there were no explosions this time, eh?

[Eldak]

I SEE FIRE

♛ 390 ♛  Danyal Brights open!

Danyal wasn't the only one with a familiar at Solas Circle that day. Green eyes were narrowed against the dying red rays, though the warm hues did make the fire-based elf quite literally glow red for a moment. Reddish lights bathed the hummingbird familiar, who had been named Rhosyn by the elf after the egg-hunt. A mellow tune escaped the blond's lips and he sang a wordless song as the circle, carefully avoiding the mushrooms.

He was constantly aware of his surroundings, but at this moment he simply wasn't bothered to do anything. The turquoise throated hummingbird momentarily left his side to examine the forest plants before it reappeared, wings beating way too fast for the naked eye to catch. "Rhosyn?" The tune stopped as the elf turned to watch the bird, eyes following the small figure as it dove into the mess atop his head that was his hair. The bird wiggled around for a bit before settling down, its little head peeking out amongst a perpetually messy bedhead.

Eldak moved through the circle, movements eerily cat-like as he chose a spot on a low branch, hauling himself into it with one fluid movement. A quick adjustment and he was leaning comfortably against the rough bark, eyes closed as he let his senses flow. Solas Circle was one of the few places the fiery thirst for adventure died down a little, just to enjoy the atmosphere.

Hold on. Was that fire? Another fire-element mage? His eyes shot open and the elf jerked upright, now scanning his surroundings. The blond hadn't met any other mages who used fire yet, and a childish curiosity overwhelmed him. The spirit element he was born with was now active, pinpointing the location of this fire wielder.

A short laugh escaped him as he spotted someone stop a large rock. An effortless leap from the tree had him amongst a particularly dense bunch of mushrooms, before he made his way towards the stranger. Rhosyn let out a chirp, momentarily unseated. It wasn't long before Eldak stood in front of the large stone, squinting at the man above before settling on another low branch that made their heights more or less equal.

"Heylo!" He was unusually cheerful. Maybe it was the atmosphere? "You can use fire, right?" Straightforward, blunt and absolutely tactless. Way to go, Eldak. 

CODED BY ELECTRIC OF GANGNAM STYLE

[Danyal Brights]

Danyal was good at keeping his wits about him, but those pesky elves were just quiet by their nature, light-footed bastards. Still, he was able to pick up on Eldak's footsteps before he was actually in sight, and he looked toward the man, watching him come toward the rock. He raised an eyebrow and studied the man and his hummingbird - that was an interesting looking creature. Had the elf found a purple egg as well? Danny had been desperately curious what the other purple eggs had contained, and he studied that bird closely as they approached.

When Eldak was near the foot of the rock he was perched atop of, Danny grinned from ear to ear, nodding down to the straightforward pirate. "Hey hey. How's it --" Before he could get out his response, Eldak's tactless but innoffensive question broke into the conversation, causing Danny to laugh and nod slowly. "I can, yeah. I suspect the salamander here is probably more skilled with it than I am, but I can use a bit." He reached a hand up toward the charcoal salamander, extending a finger to stroke underneath the creature's chin. "Not opposed to learning more, but I've only got the one trick for now."

And, with that, he clasped his hands together and started rubbing them vigorously. He pulled them apart and, just as before, there was a small ball of flame hovering between them. He extended his right palm out in front of himself, the flame resting in it, gently flickering in a light breeze. Then, he closed his hand into a fist, and the fire died out, licking little flames out from between his fingers before sputtering in a small cloud of smoke. "It's hand enough, especially when you're stuck outside at midnight with no shelter. That fire can save your life." He tilted his head and studied Eldak now, grinning. "Suppose I don't need to tell you how useful fire is, though. You seem the fire-y type."

[Onork]

Well, Onork was lost again. At least this time, he could say it wasn't entirely his fault. The pale squid that was now his familiar had made him dizzy floating around his head, and sometimes obscured his vision when it decided it wanted to be a hat. Right now, it was serving as Onork's hat, but with its tentacles out of his eyes. Onork couldn't bring himself to scold the little thing, since it was so comfortable and squishy. He wasn't quite sure where the little squid came from, but it had popped out of his pocket shortly after that whole Egg Hunt. Onork was still upset that he had miscounted and got one more egg than he had wanted, but fortunately, the squid was enough to make him forget about those dastardly green eggs.

Onork noticed a light ahead. It looked like a small fire, and fire meant one of three things. One: the space-time continuum was disposing of an extra Onork in a particularly mean way. Two: the forest was on fire. Three: there were people. Onork liked the idea of people, was morbidly curious about dead Onorks, and should probably do something if the forest was on fire. For those reasons, Onork pressed forward, and was relieved to see that there were people there. He recognized them as people he had met in the Egg Hunt, and remembered the Danyal was that guy who was nice to him.

They seemed to be having a conversation, so Onork was in a dilemma. He didn't want to interrupt, but he also thought it would be rude to just stand there. To resolve this dilemma, Onork chose the silent resolution, and just waved. Onork's squid familiar, noticing its daddy's strange new behavior, began waving a tentacle from atop his head.

[Eldak]

I SEE FIRE

♛ 140♛  Danyal Brights Onork open!

He was a little guilty for interrupting the other's greetings, so he opted for an apologetic smile before he was once against swept up in curiosity, leaning forward to observe. A grin broke out on his face as Eldak saw the fire and he clapped in appreciation. At the man's words, the elf laughed. "Right-o! I'm Eldak, and you are?" He held out his hand for a handshake, but as he reached out, Eldak snapped his fingers, and little green flames glowed at the tips of his fingers for a moment.

A movement caught his eye, and the elf spun around, eyes landing on a vaguely familiar figure. They had met in the Egg Hunt, right? Rhosyn took this opportunity to wiggle out of his hair, flying towards the small figure, tiny eyes looking over the newcomers with great interest.

CODED BY ELECTRIC OF GANGNAM STYLE

[Danyal Brights]

Danny leaned forward to accept the handshake, grinning from all the smiles and clapping, and held his hand out toward Eldak. When that little fire appeared at the last moment, Danny laughed aloud and shook his head. "Very nice, man." That's when he, too, heard the footsteps and saw movement.

Danny noticed another familiar face (er .. y'know .. glowing set of eyes) near the area, and he grinned, bringing a hand up to wave. "Hey there, Onork." He laughed a bit as he saw the wizard's reluctance to join the conversation of his own accord, and motioned for him to come forward. He made a note of the squid-thing, and nodded appreciatively. "Seems we all made out pretty well in that egg hunt, huh? Didn't have that when I saw ya last."

"Well, Onork, this is Eldak. And I'm Danny. Looks like we're the three Familiar amigos, huh?"

[Onork]

Aha! Onork had been invited to the conversation! Now he just had to come up with something to say. Maybe something about familiars? That seemed to be where the conversation was going. And Onork could talk to them, right? They were his friends. At least Danny was. Where was he with Eldak? Were they at the acquaintances stage, or just the "some guy I saw once" stage?

"Hello Eldak and Danny." Onork waved a bit longer before putting down his arm. The squid did not get the memo and continued waving. It seemed quite happy with the exercise. Alright, now what did he say? Something about his familiar? "This is Tops." Onork said, pointing at his familiar. "I named him that because he likes sitting on my head, right Tops?" Tops wiggled his tentacles in agreement. "He floats around sometimes, but mostly likes sitting." Alright, Onork was doing good, next he had to open the conversation back to them, right? Someone probably told him that once. "So...do your familiars do weird stuff?"

[Danyal Brights]

Danyal couldn't help but chuckle as the squid continued its happy waving, and he even gave a little wave to it. He grinned at the odd floating creature. Weird shit all over this place. "Tops, huh? I'm not sure what this little guy's name is yet. He hasn't told me, so I've gotta come up with one all on my own." He laughed and shrugged, reaching up to pick up the salamander and hold it in his hands. It looked at Danny, blinking one eye slowly, and then the other, and underneath the coal-grey scales, a dim orange glow could be seen. It closed its eyes and lay down, nuzzling Danny's thumb and drifting to sleep.

"I'm not sure what Mr. Salamander does yet. I know he .. glows. And he gets hot as hell." He chuckled and shrugged, holding the salamander near his face and staring at it. "Other than that, I'm not sure." He lowered it, then looked at Onork. "What about yours? Any .. acid streams or .. I dunno, time/space manipulation?" He laughed aloud, grinning warmly.

(( Since this thread was started before I named my familiar and decided its gender, Danny doesn't know it's a girl yet, and he hasn't named her. ))

[Onork]

Onork tilted his head to the side. Were familiars supposed to come up with their own names? Fortunately, Tops seemed to like being called Tops, so Onork wasn't too worried about hurting its feelings by being so presumptuous. Onork poked Tops a few times, its squishy body bouncing back into place after each poke.

"Hmmm...Tops is squishy," Onork said as if that were the most profound answer he could give to Danyal's question. "And floats around. And sits on my head."

Onork nodded. He still had no idea that Tops had a spell up its sleeve. Or tentacle. Or tentacle sleeve. Or pant-leg. Were tentacles arms or legs? Maybe a combination? What would something you would wear on a cross between and arm and a leg be called? Onork tilted his head and pondered these new questions, forgetting almost everything else about the current situation until someone snapped him out of it.

[Danyal Brights]

Danny chuckled and nodded as he watched Tops' squishy body be poked and bounce back, smiling all the while. Onork was certainly an interesting individual, and with such power, he was a good friend to have, to be sure. "Well, that's the perfect name for him, then!" He laughed and nodded, stroking the salamander's scales.

Then, Onork went off into his own little world. Danny pondered saying something for a moment, then just sat there and watched him, not wanting to interupt .. whatever it was that was going on in the little guy's mind.