They had only just started their trip around Dierne Hrof, but already she surprised him - she leapt ahead of him and turned to face him, a smile upon her kissers and giggles of laughter falling from the same place. Aindreas ceased his motions and leaned back slightly on his haunches, confused. She was... playful. And it was completely alien to Aindreas. He had been abandoned as a pup, and had only had a few brief days with his orbs unglued before his mother had lifted him up by his scruff and carried him him miles upon miles away from their den. She had gone throughout the night, while his siblings were sleeping, and had unceremoniously deposited him into a little ditch below a dead tree. Somewhere along the way, he had fallen asleep, and when he had awoken, he had found himself alone there. He had eventually found himself an adoptive mother, though he had refused to call her as such. Casey had been her name... and she had collected pups and hoarded them as if they were a resource. but But each of the pups had been hunted down and killed along with Casey herself... basically the moral of the story was that he did not understand the concept of play, and had never been playful himself. In fact, Mai was more playful as an adult that he had ever been even as a pup.

'You know how long I've been in Blossom, I'd just gotten here when we first met, so how long have you been here? What's your favorite place here? Or would it be Dierne Hrof?'

She had been flirting with him, but that fact completely passed over his head. Even with the past females that he had been interested in, he had never flirted. Nor was he able to comprehend the idea of it. As stated before, he had grown up essentially without parents, and had never seen affection first hand. His idea of affection was usually protecting those who he cared about from harm, or by finding them a healer, or catching them a meal. But being witty? It wasn't something he knew how to do. Being sweet? That was an alien idea.

So her questions fell onto his audettes as just that - questions, and nothing more. "I have been here for... well years. This is actually my second time within Blossom Forest. The first time was when I was younger, only a pup. But I left while still young. And then... I returned when I was older. But this time around it has been years. I have had enough time to live in three different packs, had enough time to have pups of my own and have them... grow... up." The ivoro paused and peered at her, wondering how she would take the news that he already had pups. They had been the result of a one night stand, a mistake he had made in a time of loneliness and desperation. And if Mai stuck around, like he was hoping she would, she would have eventually met Pandora and Drizzt anyway. But whether or not it had been wise of him to mention them this early in their... relationship? Could that even be the right terminology considering they had met each other only one other time before this one? Would friendship be a more... appropriate term? Perhaps.

No matter how she reacted, Aindreas would continue talking after a few moments of watching for her reaction, his facade stoic as he did not want to influence her emotions. "Their mother is... not in the picture any more. She was only involved in the creation and birth, nothing more than that. As for your other question, my favorite spot in all of the land is a set of cascades that is found at one point along the river that runs through the center of the land, called Glaesfaet Sceawere. Although whether or not it still exists after magic rearranged all of Blossom Forest... I do not know. I will have to find out at some point. It was ... my father's favorite spot. I supposed it is really the only thing that I have left of him." He fell silent, his words drifting off into nothing, his timber quieting as he watched her stalk a groundhog while he still spoke. He did not understand it - how she was so happy, so carefree, so sweet an innocent.

And then she had turned around to look back at him, after the groundhog had gotten away from her, hiding within its hold, he nearly laughed - she had soil plastered on her nose. And she was completely oblivious about it. Aindreas smiled at her, his grin curling his kissers and folding the skin around his eyes into soft crinkles. His pools sparkled with amusement and slowly he moved to her side and simultaneously lifted one of his and reached out his snout. He would attempt to push down on the top of her head so that he could swipe her nares gently and clean off her nose. "if you are hungry we can dig it out, Mai." Groundhogs were not the easiest thing to dig out, but if she really wanted it, he was willing to give it a go, and hope that it had not dug a fully functional burrow yet... or else they would be digging for a good long while.