Post by Cansi on Jul 8, 2011 0:58:21 GMT -5
((OOC: Leaving this open so anyone can pop in as they please. Set maybe a candlemark / hour after the outlaw Hatching.))
Having just got done taking a bath- well, what passed for one under these conditions- and giving tiny little Tith a good scrub too, Alezri was almost ready to take a nap. He dimly remembered what it was like to be around human infants, going in cycles of hunger, to napping, and hunger again with astonishing swiftness. Apparently, with dragon babies, the need to play developed much more quickly.
Why are you taking so long? Tith called curiously. Her shimmery claws click-click-clicked their way across the dusty stone of the cavern floor, the flow of her movements lovely to Hers. She sat to rest her head on Alezri's knee.
He opened one blue eye to look at her drowsily. "What do you mean?" he said with a wide yawn.
Tith grabbed the still-wet jumpsuit by the knee and tugged hard. You promised we would have fun. I'm not having fun, she grumbled. The fabric started to give with a rrrrrp, and she let go immediately, eyes briefly yellowed. Her baby teeth had punctured the cloth, and a few strands were sliced clean through and dangling now.
Alezri was sleepy enough that he didn't care. "Now I have to... find a way... to fix it," he said through another cavernous yawn. His eye started to creep shut again. Man, it was tiring being connected to a ball of energy.
Tith snorted disparagingly, and climbed up on his lap, taking her time to arrange herself so she draped at the best possible angle across his legs. Wings tucked just so, dainty feet tucked well under, tiny purple head resting sideways against his belly. He was just resting a moment, surely. If he'd intended to sleep he wouldn't be propped against the wall of the cave mouth, visible to anyone and everyone. Nobody better dare touch him, or they'd have a firelizard-sized fury scolding the shards out of them.
Eventually, the rhythm of Alezri's breathing lulled the purple's first set of eyelids shut. Then her pleasantly full stomach finished the job, and she was asleep.
The young bronze firelizard, Squall, was enjoying time to himself. More and more he was discovering the joys of hunting. It was quite a leap of reasoning from following his human's commands to predicting what His would need, but that wasn't quite what had happened this time around. The little bronze loved to eat, and he had slowly come to understand that his person did too. There was no mess hall here to keep them fed, and in fact his Alezri hadn't been able to offer him much in the way of tidbits. But Alezri shared what he did get, and it was clear that when Squall shared in return, the man got happy.
Now, it should be said that Squall was a much easier firelizard to deal with than some of those back at Warden's. Nature or nurturing had made him into the sort that enjoys making their person happy. That's why he was out here, diving for fish. He had been hungry enough to eat the first catch without wanting to share, but his human would never know, would he!
Something strange had been going on with Alezri ever since he'd sent the flit away. Something important. Something that had the human's mind whirling through a broad spectrum of emotions, predominantly either worry or fear, but finally settling into sheer bliss. In the crafty but simple manner of firelizards, Squall figured that whatever danger there had been was past and he could return to his person now. The second fish he caught would make Alezri happy.
He chirruped at the world at large, clutching the fish in his teeth and with his forefeet- it wasn't huge, but he was inordinately proud anyway- as he hauled it off between.
Tith was in the middle of pitch blackness in her mind, a dreamless sleep, when she was dragged unceremoniously out of it by shrilly indignant squawking and something thwacking into her side. Hard enough to sting. Mine! she shrieked, eyes flying open as she leaped off Alezri's lap and into what would have been a laughable imitation of a battle stance, if her eyes hadn't been so brightly red.
Some cheeky bronze firelizard, almost as big as she was, whirled midflight and dove down as though to attack her. His foreclaws were fisted, not outstretched, which gave her pause.
"Squall!" Alezri said, the slur of sleep sharpened by surprise. "No!"
The firelizard veered at the last moment, Tith ducking sideways with her upper lip curled slightly. What, who, and why! she demanded, tossing her head in a pretty show of being upset. Only halfway pretending at that. She didn't actually need an answer; the thoughts most strongly passing through Alezri's mind was more than enough to explain.
The flitter landed on the wall above them, almost vertical, with his wings outstretched along the rock. He chittered morosely at Alezri, eyes whirling unhappily. "Squall, boy," Alezri called softly, "It's okay. She's part of the family now."
The bronze stayed where he was, creeling pitifully as his person stood to try and coax him down onto an arm perch.
I smell something, Tith informed Hers distractedly.
Don't you dare, the young man said severely. This little guy was the whole reason I was able to fetch the wherry you fed from earlier. We hunt together. Squall dropped, harder than was strictly necessary, onto Alezri's waiting shoulder, head shoved into his sunbleached locks. "Come now," the man said soothingly. "This is Tith. Tith is good. You're good too. That's right, my loves." What else could he say to the flitter? He'd be shocked if Squall even understood that much.
Oh, he understood all right, and he didn't like it one bit. Squall kept his head safely hidden, making soft distress noises that were pretty much 100% sulk. His person had something new. Something bigger, a dragon. Pssh, she wasn't even that much bigger. Bet she couldn't do this! The flit pushed off from his human's shoulder and stooped down to snatch the fish from under Tith's inquisitive nose, scolding her indignantly as he turned to bring it to His. The chirps became inquisitive, almost begging for reassurance and comfort.
Alezri took the fish with due praise, and when the firelizard finally deigned to permit himself to be sniffed by the somewhat-larger Tith, the young man rubbed his temples roughly. Now, in addition to everything else the entire camp had to worry about, he had what would have been sibling rivalry if those two were humans.
What a pretty boy you are, the purple crooned to the firelizard. Squall perked up immediately, peeping like he was newly hatched. Tith wasn't stupid. She could see potential here. (Not just that, but she genuinely thought it.)
The human part of the odd trio finished cutting the fish up. Looked like he was going to go hungry again. But Squall only accepted a token bite, followed hesitantly by Tith (curious as to a flavor to link to the smell). It wasn't much of a meal- more of a snack really- but by this point Alezri had no intention of complaining. He trotted over to snag a sharpened stick they had all been using to roast kabobs on, and came back to slide the chunks of fish onto it.
Now, to build a fire.
As soon as she knew what he wanted- sticks mostly- the little purple bounced on her toes. Yes, yes! A game!
Alezri was sleepy enough that he didn't mind letting her go just a few yards away to gather kindling, especially with Squall deciding to help her once he caught on. Looked like training the bronze was about to get a whole lot easier. Tith was so wonderful! The little things certainly added up.
Having just got done taking a bath- well, what passed for one under these conditions- and giving tiny little Tith a good scrub too, Alezri was almost ready to take a nap. He dimly remembered what it was like to be around human infants, going in cycles of hunger, to napping, and hunger again with astonishing swiftness. Apparently, with dragon babies, the need to play developed much more quickly.
Why are you taking so long? Tith called curiously. Her shimmery claws click-click-clicked their way across the dusty stone of the cavern floor, the flow of her movements lovely to Hers. She sat to rest her head on Alezri's knee.
He opened one blue eye to look at her drowsily. "What do you mean?" he said with a wide yawn.
Tith grabbed the still-wet jumpsuit by the knee and tugged hard. You promised we would have fun. I'm not having fun, she grumbled. The fabric started to give with a rrrrrp, and she let go immediately, eyes briefly yellowed. Her baby teeth had punctured the cloth, and a few strands were sliced clean through and dangling now.
Alezri was sleepy enough that he didn't care. "Now I have to... find a way... to fix it," he said through another cavernous yawn. His eye started to creep shut again. Man, it was tiring being connected to a ball of energy.
Tith snorted disparagingly, and climbed up on his lap, taking her time to arrange herself so she draped at the best possible angle across his legs. Wings tucked just so, dainty feet tucked well under, tiny purple head resting sideways against his belly. He was just resting a moment, surely. If he'd intended to sleep he wouldn't be propped against the wall of the cave mouth, visible to anyone and everyone. Nobody better dare touch him, or they'd have a firelizard-sized fury scolding the shards out of them.
Eventually, the rhythm of Alezri's breathing lulled the purple's first set of eyelids shut. Then her pleasantly full stomach finished the job, and she was asleep.
~*~
The young bronze firelizard, Squall, was enjoying time to himself. More and more he was discovering the joys of hunting. It was quite a leap of reasoning from following his human's commands to predicting what His would need, but that wasn't quite what had happened this time around. The little bronze loved to eat, and he had slowly come to understand that his person did too. There was no mess hall here to keep them fed, and in fact his Alezri hadn't been able to offer him much in the way of tidbits. But Alezri shared what he did get, and it was clear that when Squall shared in return, the man got happy.
Now, it should be said that Squall was a much easier firelizard to deal with than some of those back at Warden's. Nature or nurturing had made him into the sort that enjoys making their person happy. That's why he was out here, diving for fish. He had been hungry enough to eat the first catch without wanting to share, but his human would never know, would he!
Something strange had been going on with Alezri ever since he'd sent the flit away. Something important. Something that had the human's mind whirling through a broad spectrum of emotions, predominantly either worry or fear, but finally settling into sheer bliss. In the crafty but simple manner of firelizards, Squall figured that whatever danger there had been was past and he could return to his person now. The second fish he caught would make Alezri happy.
He chirruped at the world at large, clutching the fish in his teeth and with his forefeet- it wasn't huge, but he was inordinately proud anyway- as he hauled it off between.
~*~
Tith was in the middle of pitch blackness in her mind, a dreamless sleep, when she was dragged unceremoniously out of it by shrilly indignant squawking and something thwacking into her side. Hard enough to sting. Mine! she shrieked, eyes flying open as she leaped off Alezri's lap and into what would have been a laughable imitation of a battle stance, if her eyes hadn't been so brightly red.
Some cheeky bronze firelizard, almost as big as she was, whirled midflight and dove down as though to attack her. His foreclaws were fisted, not outstretched, which gave her pause.
"Squall!" Alezri said, the slur of sleep sharpened by surprise. "No!"
The firelizard veered at the last moment, Tith ducking sideways with her upper lip curled slightly. What, who, and why! she demanded, tossing her head in a pretty show of being upset. Only halfway pretending at that. She didn't actually need an answer; the thoughts most strongly passing through Alezri's mind was more than enough to explain.
The flitter landed on the wall above them, almost vertical, with his wings outstretched along the rock. He chittered morosely at Alezri, eyes whirling unhappily. "Squall, boy," Alezri called softly, "It's okay. She's part of the family now."
The bronze stayed where he was, creeling pitifully as his person stood to try and coax him down onto an arm perch.
I smell something, Tith informed Hers distractedly.
Don't you dare, the young man said severely. This little guy was the whole reason I was able to fetch the wherry you fed from earlier. We hunt together. Squall dropped, harder than was strictly necessary, onto Alezri's waiting shoulder, head shoved into his sunbleached locks. "Come now," the man said soothingly. "This is Tith. Tith is good. You're good too. That's right, my loves." What else could he say to the flitter? He'd be shocked if Squall even understood that much.
Oh, he understood all right, and he didn't like it one bit. Squall kept his head safely hidden, making soft distress noises that were pretty much 100% sulk. His person had something new. Something bigger, a dragon. Pssh, she wasn't even that much bigger. Bet she couldn't do this! The flit pushed off from his human's shoulder and stooped down to snatch the fish from under Tith's inquisitive nose, scolding her indignantly as he turned to bring it to His. The chirps became inquisitive, almost begging for reassurance and comfort.
Alezri took the fish with due praise, and when the firelizard finally deigned to permit himself to be sniffed by the somewhat-larger Tith, the young man rubbed his temples roughly. Now, in addition to everything else the entire camp had to worry about, he had what would have been sibling rivalry if those two were humans.
What a pretty boy you are, the purple crooned to the firelizard. Squall perked up immediately, peeping like he was newly hatched. Tith wasn't stupid. She could see potential here. (Not just that, but she genuinely thought it.)
The human part of the odd trio finished cutting the fish up. Looked like he was going to go hungry again. But Squall only accepted a token bite, followed hesitantly by Tith (curious as to a flavor to link to the smell). It wasn't much of a meal- more of a snack really- but by this point Alezri had no intention of complaining. He trotted over to snag a sharpened stick they had all been using to roast kabobs on, and came back to slide the chunks of fish onto it.
Now, to build a fire.
As soon as she knew what he wanted- sticks mostly- the little purple bounced on her toes. Yes, yes! A game!
Alezri was sleepy enough that he didn't mind letting her go just a few yards away to gather kindling, especially with Squall deciding to help her once he caught on. Looked like training the bronze was about to get a whole lot easier. Tith was so wonderful! The little things certainly added up.
