[aleka!]

Originally Posted by Duskflight

Icarius had his attention elsewhere at the moment, not even looking for specific trees anymore, just kind of taking in the area around them. It was still fairly forested, but not as much as the territory of the fallen Syndicate. There were bushes and other shrubs here and there, yellowing grass and plenty of leaves and pine needles on the ground. Those could probably be nice to sleep on, if we take them up into a tree! Wait no, I don't want to do that. We can probably take some leaves from the tree to make a nice comfy bedding!
Quickly shaking his head, his ears perked up as Shadow called out. The young tom's head turned just in time to see her crouch down and then climb up to one of the lower branches, explaining as she went. "You don't have to tell me Shadow, I've climbed like a ton of trees!"
That was a lie, he's never climbed a tree in his life. But he was quickly documenting what she said to try and put it to use so he didn't look bad when it was his turn to climb up. And he was about to begin his attempt when he heard a quiet patter of running paws and, well he didn't notice the scent right away, but he did smell them!
Bristling, Icarius made himself puff out and look at least a little bigger than he already was {which was fairly large for his age!}.
"Who are you!" With his back hunched up, he edged to the side, trying to get a look at who he smelled. In hindsight, it probably would have been best not to say anything and try to pin them first but.. He didn't really know that. Not yet anyways.

Mercury bristled, arching his spine. He didn't really want to hurt the younger feline, not to mention he wasn't in the mood to fight at all. "I'm Merucry," He announced, willing his fur to flatten, but to no avail. A moment later, he tried to correct his posture, but all that changed was that his spine was slightly more lax, which most of been unnoticeable.
Since the younger tom was with Shadow, it was a fair guess that he was her trainee, though he didn't really remember her mentioning it, or maybe she
didn't after all. He kind of was faced with the problem of, what else was he supposed to say to him? The words, 'I'm, Mercury' seemed just bland in his opinion, and what exactly was he supposed to say in greeting? A part of his mind hoped that Shadow had told this rambunctious cat about him, but then, wouldn't he kind of make assumptions about seeing the pewter-blue Egyptian mau? He just didn't really know.