Chapter Text
Hound and Artur were some of the last people on the dropship when they finally arrived. Artur just had to scrounge around the whole house trying to find any leftover food or treats to scarf down before Hound came out of their room ready to leave.
Hound taught Artur from an early age that it wasn't okay to open jars or rip open bags to get food. And Artur followed that rule to a T. However, his owner said nothing about food lying around on the counters of the kitchen or wherever else they left out accidentally.
And unfortunately today this involved Hound spending 15 minutes trying to wrestle a huge portabella mushroom out of their raven's mouth, cursing him out all the while.
Flying into their room in the dropship, Artur made his usual way to his cage and waited for Hound to close the door. Artur didn't like being free in the room when the dropship was in the air, not feeling safe on his feet when the ship when through its' usual turbulence to either map of the Arena.
'Parent need cage closed. Do not like the big shakes from metal bird.' he squawked at Hound, who was busy organizing their belongings that they brought with them onto the small desk in their dorm.
"Just a moment, Artur." They responded with a wave of their hand. Making sure everything was in its' proper place, they walked over to Artur. "Such an impatient bird you are."
Before they could close the door to the cage, a knock on the door sounded, startling both hunter and raven, who croaked angrily at the scare. They both heard Elliott-or Mirage as he went by in the Arena-call out:
"Hey Houndie! Sorry, didn't mean to scare your bird. Mind if I come in? Wanna talk about some strategy from today's match."
Artur noticed his owner's sudden shift in posture, straightening their spine and clearing their throat before responding "Yes, come in Mirage. The door should be open."
True to their word, in walked the trickster, a smile on his face and a hand raking through his curly brown hair. Artur saw he had something in his right hip pocket, judging by the rustling it made as he strolled up to Hound.
"Hey there! Uh-again, sorry for freaking out your bird. I just wanted to be corn-co-cord-polite when I came in. Didn't wanna barge in suddenly, what if you were like naked or something?" The confidence Elliott exuded faltered as he started to stutter and backtrack his sentence, flusteredly explaining that he didn't mean to say naked.
Artur noticed Hound's shoulders shuddering and muffled sounds, like they were trying to stifle something. 'Strange' the bird thought 'Parent is shaking. Is parent afraid? Are they scared of trick man? Do they cry with fear? Don't worry parent! Will protect! Will not let trick man scare parent!'
With a caw, Artur jumped out his cage and flew over to the edge of his desk where Elliott was leaning on. Quickly acting, the raven bit the trickster's pointer finger with an angry gurgle.
"Ow!"
"Artur!"
Artur felt his owner's hands around his wings, pinning him effectively and bringing the bird to eye (or goggle) level to Hound. Artur could see in his peripheral that Elliott had his finger in his mouth and was sucking to stop the small bloodflow coming out of the cut that the bird made.
'What you get for scaring parent!' Artur let out a croak of victory before being lightly shook and scolded by Hound.
"Bad raven! We do not bite vinir, óþekkur fugl." they walked over to the cage and set Artur on his perch, quickly shutting and locking the door before turning to Elliott.
"My apologies. I don't know what came over him. Are you alright, Mirage?"
Elliott waved them off with his other hand, taking his finger out of his mouth "Nah it's okay! I guess that was the little guy's revenge for spookin' him" He let out a nervous chuckle " I-uh-heh-I just hope he doesn't hold a grudge. We are gonna be on a team today."
Artur fluffed in feathers in anger 'Do not want to slatra with trick man. Trick man scares parent. Will not let him scare parent!'
"If he does not behave, he will not get to participate in the Arena" Hound shot a goggled glare at the cage that Artur couldn't see. He was confused. Why did the hunter scold him for attacking? He was just trying to protect them.
'Will keep eye on trick man. He will not hurt parent. Will see what intentions trick man has'
Artur calmly waited in his cage, plan ruminating in his head as the dropship alarm sounded for the Legends to gather to the platforms where they would decend and look for places to drop on the map.
It was time for slatra.