Pierre cocked his head to the side, looking genuinely confused, "My beast? What... what beast?" He looked around, as a monster was going to appear out of the woods. When none appeared, Pierre turned back to the other boy, "Well, I don't have a beast, but I do have a dragon friend, but right now he's hunting. Plus he's shy and doesn't like to meet strangers, so you are totally good! No death on the schedule!"

Driven by his craving for gobberberries, twined his fingers through the net and shook it lightly, uncaring of the creaking branch above, "Please, please, please, please, please let me down. I totally promise that you will stay alive and unharmed, 'cause I have realized that I get airsick, and that realization really doesn't have a happy ending from inside of this net."

Morven couldn't tell if the guy was joking or not, did he seriously not realize that Ven was literally talking about his dragon? It seemed as if the trap had captured the least threatening thing in the entire forest. This guy was about as tough as old lady Cory's fluffy Persian cat.

At the other boy's promise to not harm Ven once he was free, the last bit of Ven's wariness evaporated. "If that's the case then yea I'll let you down. I just really didn't want your dragon to murder me for doing it." With that, Morven trotted on over to a nearby tree and grabbed the rope off it's hook.

"Oh yea, just so you know you'll probably fall for the last.. two-ish feet because you're too heavy for me to lower down for so long." Once Morven was done, he slipped the rope off the hook and slowly began to lower the boy. The strain of the task was evident, from Ven's bright red cheeks and shaking arms as he tried his best to not let the boy fall.

Just like he'd said, at around three feet from the ground, his arms gave out and both him and the other boy fell to the ground. "Ow," Morven muttered, rubbing his sore arms as he sat up.

Pierre had shot the stranger a thumbs up rather than verbally responding. Pocketing his knife, Pierre tried to set himself up to be able to land on his feet, but the net simply didn't allow that to happen.

So, like the stranger had said, Pierre fell the last three feet. Luckily there were no rocks below him (although part of the gobberberry bush was crushed, which Pierre silently mourned) so the fall, while it did knock the breath out of him, didn't do any more than that.

"Thanks for your help, dude! That was like, super cool of you. I suppose now that you've saved my life, I should introduce myself!" Pierre straightened himself up to his full height (although it was done sarcastically), and performed the continents customary greeting, "Greetings, stranger. I am Pierre, and I am thankful that our paths have crossed." It was paired with a his right hand thumping his chest firmly, and a slight nod of his head.

After the greeting was completed Pierre's posture relaxed, and he grinned, "Isn't that so stuffy? I literally don't get why a greeting has to be so long."

Unlike the boy who'd been stuck in the net Ven took a moment to recover and didn't immediately bounce back up after falling. His arms were shaking from the strain of trying to slowly lower down the larger boy and that was more than enough to keep him from standing for a moment. Right as Pierre began to introduce himself, Morven stood. His eyebrows raised as Pierre did the customary introduction, he hadn't thought that the boy had enough maturity to do such a thing.

Of course, Pierre's words expressed exactly what Morven had thought only moments past, and he privately smirked as his thoughts were proved right. "And I am Morven, I would say it's a pleasure to meet you but I don't think the circumstances are partial to that," Morven huffed. "I guess it is stuffy but it's just the proper way to do things, I wouldn't question it too much. Tell me, Pierre, what are you doing on this side of the wood? The border of Castow is almost a league away, it isn't safe here for your people."

As he spoke Morven's eyes scanned the trees, his arms crossed against his chest. He kept an ear out for his father's party, he would never hear the end of it if he was caught talking to one of the Bystam fools. Traitor, they'd call him, a disappointment to his family's name, he'd be cast out as quickly as possible and he doubted his father would even try to protect him. If anything, he'd be the one to say Ven should be banished for treason. No, Morven had to make sure what took place in the clearing stayed there and was never spoken of again.

Pierre couldn't help but roll his eyes as Morven defended the absolutely ancient form of greeting. It was obvious what kind of person Morven was, just from that defense: a goody-two-shoes rule stickler - or at least, someone who tries to be that. Since the other boy did just save him, rather than turning him in to some spear-wielding dragon-haters, Pierre supposed that he has at least a rebellious bone or two.

As Morven questioned why Pierre was this far out, an embarrassed flush briefly crossed Pierre's face, and he scratched his neck, looking anywhere but at his new friend, "Um... mydragonsortofdroppedmeoffinatree," he spilled out in a quick rush, "And I don't know where I am, so I just wandered. Then I got stuck in your net. To be fair, Fish doesn't really get why Castow hates dragons, so I don't think the connection was made, or else he probably wouldn't have left me so close."

At first, Morven couldn't quite believe what he was hearing, and his brows furrowed as he tried to decipher whether or not Pierre was being serious or not. As the other boy finished, a small grin floated onto Ven's face, and he released a tiny, tiny chuckle. He'd never heard of a dragon leaving his rider for dead. It seemed like the boy in front of him had even worse luck than he did, not many could say such a thing.

"Well, I can't say I've ever heard of a dragon abandoning his rider before, it certainly seems like you have the most rotten of luck huh? Well, do you need help getting back to your side? We must be quick either way, there is a party out right now searching for dragon or," he eyes Pierre, "their riders." Morven had not the slightest intention of ever harming a person or any living being if he could stand not to. His father refused the idea of vegetarianism in his home, so despite Morven's pleas he still was required to choke down meat. Just thinking about harming a living creature made Ven's skin crawl, and if he could save any person or animal from the torture his father would put them through, he would in a heartbeat.

It seemed like Morven had the idea that Fish had abandoned him, rather than what was actually happened, which was Pierre falling asleep on Fish's back, and the dragon stashing him in a tree. However, he wouldn't disagree with the fact that he had rotten luck, considering the other boy had just found him stuck in a dragon trap, so Pierre simply waved his hand a bit, saying, "Fish'll be back, eventually. Probably once he's eaten and napped. But I'm not one to turn down help!"

Pierre grinned, and was about to ask for directions when he remembered - gobberberries! With the level of glee only a hungry, food-loving teen has, Pierre squatted down on the spot and began to pick some of the berries, eating a few while putting the extras in his pants pocket for later.

"Oh! Wait, yes, help," Pierre eventually remembered his original train of thought as he shoved another handful of gobberberries into his pocket, "Which way is my town? I'll just start walking that way and meet up with Fish eventually."

Morven stood in stunned silence as Pierre referred to his dragon as Fish and then proceeded to run off for gobberberries as if Morven hadn't just informed him of a hunting party headed straight for them. It was official, this guy was the most oblivious guy Ven had ever met.

He was just about to point out that they should probably leave when Pierre seemed to digest his words and accept his offer. "Oh, you just want me to point the way? In that case," Morven looked up, peering through the trees at the sun. He squinted as the rays' found his face and cast a bright glow across his skin. Finally looking back down, he pointed North. "Head Northwest for about half a league then turn fully West so you can avoid the ravine. That should lead right to your village, just watch out for bears and, you know, dragons." The word made Ven wince as if he'd summon the great beasts just by saying the word.

Pierre looked up at the sky, brow furrowing in concentration. He definitely wouldn't make it all the way back to his village tonight - nor did he want to - but now he had a direction to walk in that was away from hostile people. Pierre figured that he would stop when he found fresh water a decent distance away, then meet up with Fish.

Perhaps they would start exploring toward the East - where Pierre knew there was an ocean many leagues away. Fish was a fast flier, and he might be able to spot some water dragons - something he had only heard about....

Pierre shook his head, pushing away ideas of adventure. That would be for later. For now, he needed to leave, so he didn't get his new friend in trouble.

"Thank you for your help, 'Ven! I'll get out of your hair now," Pierre gave the other boy his signature smile - wonky, yet horribly attractive - "Maybe we can meet up again in the future! You're a funny guy."

Morven squinted at the other boy as he seemingly complimented him. That combined with the wonky smile made Ven roll his eyes and hide a smirk. "Yea maybe we will," and Ven meant it, although Pierre was an oddball, and a big idiot, he was a breath of fresh air compared to the stuffy assholes in his town. It would be nice to have someone that was removed from all that. "Now get out of here before they get here," Morven waved the other boy off, worriedly looking over his shoulder, expecting his father to appear at any given moment.