The Dog Days of Summer [Fleur/Archie]

[Fleur]

[Summer]

"It's hot." Hermes the bird taguel spoke with tone of both boredom and annoyance. He hated the summer weather. Sweat made his feathers feel gross, it made his clothes all clingy, and it caused an uncomfortable sensation in his feet with each step. He walked behind the group of four taguel. He had stripped down to nothing more then just pants and shoes. His 'shirt' if one could call it that was wrapped around his head in a small effort to keep the sweat from dripping down his forehead and into his sensitive eyes. An Owl taguel's greatest strength lay in their vision. 

"We know. If you say that one more time I'll rip that beak off your face." The old wolf snapped back to the young bird. Mavis was morphed fully into her wolf form and displayed her fangs menacingly towards the young owl. She then turned around and merely followed the two others. Her fur contained a veritable mix of black, brown, and grey. Her muzzle, forehead, and neck were peppered several white and grey hairs. A symbol of her age. 

The rabbit of the group was walking along side her. She was in her human form. Mavis had managed to fuss with Fleur's long white hair earlier. As a result the Rabbit Taguel's long white hair was braided and pinned up towards the top of her head with a fresh green vine. She was silent for most of the trip. A sign that she was annoyed with everything around her. She disliked the summer heat too but she was mature enough not to whine about it constantly. Also, she knew from experience that the group of four were close to their destination.

The leader of the troop, was Ferrus. The cat taguel. He was a smaller breed of taguel with strong Lynx features. He was born on the mountains of Holm peaks and used to all sorts of terrain and weather. He was normally not the leader of the group of four but he was the one who was most familiar with the path to get to Hurtlepool. He too was annoyed at their young owl's consistence to create annoying noise with his mouth parts. He, Fleur, and Mavis, knew taguel mature at different rates and the owl should technically be considered an adult by now. But, his youthful nature made the three of them wonder if he ever did reach maturity. As the four of them reached the peak of the hill they finally saw the end of their destination below. 

"Finally! Race you down!" Hermes the owl shouted. Then promptly ran right past the other three in an eager attempt to get to the cold refreshing water first. Completely, forgetting the fact that he did not know how to swim. Mavis was supposed to teach him at one point but she'd forgotten. Large bodies of water were something the four of them usually did not come across. And the old wolf found herself chasing after their damned brat to keep him from eagerly drowning himself.

[Archie]

Whether a surprising development or not, it appears that the group of four wasn't the only party making use of Hurtlepool. Long advertised as a place perfect for combat training, the area seemed surprisingly devoid of those training for warfare... But, instead, a rather peculiar sight indeed. Apparently someone had appeared to leave their bag unattended near the water, and a rather large wolf was inspecting something leaning against it. The grey beast paced back and forth in front of the bag, staring at whatever was resting against it and occasionally making small, short barking sounds.

After a few more of these getting slightly louder, the wolf sat down in front of the bag and raised its head to the sky. The emotions it conveyed were unknown, although judging from how its tail was swishing, something appeared to be wrong. After one more small whine, the beast's form... Changed. The transformation was abrupt, but mere moments later it was gone. In its place, a child sat back with one hand resting behind him and another scratching the back of his head. "Nah, that's not right either! Okay, so this is gonna be a lot harder than I thought it was gonna be. I can read it just fine like this, but not... Nyeh, too much work," the boy complained, leaning forward to grab whatever was resting on the bag- now revealing the object to have been a book.

For whatever reason, Archie had decided to travel all the way to Hurtlepool before seeking out Dawsbury. While it is true that he knew about the lake-surrounded town as a popular training ground, he missed the memo about its purpose being for combat training. "Whoever said this place is great to train is full of it. Been sitting here all day, I'm bored, I can't figure it out, and-" he continued complaining openly, only to have his attention drawn to the sounds of an owl being chased by a wolf down to the waterfront. Yay, strangers!

"Huh?! Oh! Hey! Hey, wait wait wait a sec! Chase? I'm good at chase! Gimme a sec!~" the playful child cheered, snapping the book shut and stuffing it right back into his bag. Any excuse to stop the monotonous studying of literacy while transformed was a good enough reason to stop for now and enjoy himself a little bit. He slung the bag right back over his shoulder before jogging over closer to the group with excited laughter and a friendly wave. Rule 1 of making a first impression to strangers: always look kind and be nice!