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Post by Sharei on Mar 14, 2019 11:23:36 GMT -6
The hatchling hadn’t thought he would see the strange tiercel again and was very grateful - as was his rumbling tummy - to be wrong. Unlike the other times they’d crossed paths, however, there was no hissing and spitting. Rather than show any reticence at all, the young dragon perked up and practically pranced over.
Before Kanagi could get on about the goat hanging from his jaws, however, the hatchling carefully and proudly put the rock on the ground. It sat down, shoulders straight and shifted excitedly in place.
“Gift!” it chittered, and when Kanagi did not immediately take the small stone he lowered his head and nudged the stone forward with the tip of his snout. The dragon’s tail wagged behind him. “Take. Is for you!”
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Post by MP on Mar 14, 2019 11:24:06 GMT -6
The tiercel paused, tipping his head at the strange speech. He understood enough to get by, but it was as much the tone and the pup’s eager posture as words. The language had changed too much for any real communicating. But maybe it wouldn’t have mattered. The pup was very young.
Adjusting his grip on the goat, Kanagi turned his head and set the carcass down. Then he looked at the stone, tipping one fierce yellow eye down to examine it. Icarim put little store in possessions - memories were kept through stories rather than trinkets, and they had no way of carrying anything but the humblest objects, or any place to keep the ones they could. Still, it was clearly important to the pup. A sentiment.
The pale jaws parted and, with utmost delicacy, closed around the stone. It was a very small thing, easily held between his teeth, and when he lifted his head again, it remained there in his jaws. He blinked at the pup, a peaceable gesture. Then with a slight bob of his head, he nodded toward the kill.
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Post by Sharei on Mar 14, 2019 11:24:31 GMT -6
The hatchling’s tail thumped the ground excitedly when Kanagi picked up the rock, pleased with himself for having done such a fine job of gift giving. Sentiment received, there was no longer any need to fuss about it, and the young dragon got up right away. He needed no prompting from the tiercel to eat, all too eager to free food and used to the kills his mother had brought him.
He did take a moment to trot up to the larger creature and rub up against him. It was an affectionate thing, a full nuzzle before it descended on the goat with vigor.
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Post by MP on Mar 14, 2019 11:25:08 GMT -6
Kanagi started a little at the touch. He made a tiny half movement as if to pull back. Shuffled the nuzzled talon. Closed it over the ground again. Must be desperate for company - poor thing, he thought. But in spite of himself, he was touched by its easy affection. And where he might have otherwise left it to its feeding, the tiercel stayed in the vicinity, watching their surroundings a little ways up the slope so that the pup could eat its meal undisturbed.
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Post by Sharei on Mar 14, 2019 11:26:01 GMT -6
He ate nearly every scrap, munching through even the smaller bones, and happily thumped his tail against the ground. Every once and a while he looked up from his feast to see if the tiercel was still there and content with the continued company, returned to eating when he found all was well.
It didn’t take the dragon very long to polish off the meal. When he was done he nudged the bones aside and trotted over to where Kanagi was resting, all fear of the stranger gone. The hatchling sat down next to him, head tilted up, eyes wide and wondering. Watching.
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Post by MP on Mar 14, 2019 11:26:53 GMT -6
When he felt the wide-eyed stare on him, Kanagi turned. Yellow eyes regarded the blue, patiently amused. If he’d had eyebrows, he might have raised them in response. As it was, the tiercel puffed a warm breath at the dragon’s face and returned his gaze to the slope. It was calm on the mountain. He hoped it would stay that way - at least until the pup got clear of the region.
The thoughtful quiet was interrupted a flutter of wingbeats. With a twitter and a flash of green plumage, a sparrow alighted on the tiercel’s crest. Seemingly indifferent to either predator, it ruffled its feathers, hopped jauntily along its perch to better view its surroundings, and even molted a few tufts of down onto the tiercel’s muzzle. Kanagi flattened his crests with amusement - jostling the indignantly chirrupping bird in the process - but otherwise ignored her. She would have told him if anything was wrong.
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Post by Sharei on Mar 14, 2019 11:28:02 GMT -6
The warm breath tickled his face and the hatchling huffed in amusement, one paw coming up to swipe at his own muzzle. He pretended like it was to brush the tickling sensation away, but it was really just a fakeout so that he could make a playful lunge for the tiercel.
Before he could, however, there came a bold little bird that landed square on the other creature. The hatchling stood up and looked at it, head tilted, the end of his tail twitching back and forth. The dragon crept closer. The sight of birds wasn’t uncommon at the aerie and he was used to them landing on the older dragons sunning on the ledges. They would often pick their scales clean.
“Bird,” he said and looked at Kanagi, then back at the sparrow. “Your friend? Good bird? Can I have bird?”
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Post by MP on Mar 14, 2019 11:29:03 GMT -6
Both bird and tiercel looked down at the question. Kanagi puffed in a friendly way, but it was the bird whose response drew the gaze. As its eyes fixed on the pup, a luminous depths seemed to rise in them - a green light that seemed to near rather than brighten, as the lure of some deep sea thing might approach down a narrow tunnel. It looked like a light, but it felt like a shadow, falling over the pup in a gaze that looked through all that he had done, and all he might ever be.
Then there was a bright chirrup. Its shape, which for a moment had seemed wrongly proportioned, was only that of a sparrow again. And the moment passed. With no more acknowledgement, it hopped up the tiercel’s crests, fluffing its plumage and stopping to lean to the tiercel’s ear.
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Post by Sharei on Mar 14, 2019 11:29:16 GMT -6
“No, bird.”
The hatchling shrank back and retreated a handful of steps, the little stubs of his spines lifting defensively, feeling threatened and just a touch frightened. He hadn’t liked the shadow’s looming and his tail curled around himself as he hunkered down against the forest floor.
“No, bird.”
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Post by MP on Mar 14, 2019 11:30:02 GMT -6
With a lazy twist of his head, Kanagi dislodged the sparrow from its perch, catching it gently in his jaws. Beyond a tiny chirrup, the bird made no complaint. It hung there placidly, wings pressed to its sides, tiny feet dangling, until he dropped it casually to the ground. Harmless, the gesture seemed to say.
The sparrow all but bounced, hopping the moment it hit the ground. Two chipper steps toward the dragon. Whatever had happened before, there was nothing ominous or unordinary in the beady stare now. It tipped its head this way and that, regarding the dragon. Then with a final twitter, it took to the wing, circling the dragon’s head twice in a playful manner before winging off to the south.
Kanagi watched her go, feeling worlds better for her whispered words. Freed of his former concerns, he lowered his narrow snout and nudged the pup in an encouraging sort of way.
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Post by Sharei on Mar 14, 2019 11:30:20 GMT -6
The dragon nearly fell over as he reared back, in part trying to avoid the bird and in part tickled by the air of its wings. He pawed after the space it had been in as it swooped away, cheered by its playful antics. It would take a day to get over the unsettling moment, but he sort of wished it would come back.
“Funny bird.”
Kanagi nudged the hatchling then and he turned his head to regard the tiercel, head tilting in a bird-like gesture that directly mimicked the sparrow. He got up on all fours, tail swishing over the dirt and patchy grass and nudged Kanagi back. It was a bit like a mouse trying to push over a rock, but he tried anyway.
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Post by MP on Mar 14, 2019 11:30:44 GMT -6
A huff of amusement. With a low grunt and a great gust of expelled aether, the tiercel flopped onto his side, allowing the dragon to push him over. It was a passive, forbearing kind of play. But he had never dealt with a pup before, and he had not played such games since he was a pup himself, romping with his sisters over the cliffs of their mother’s highlands.
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Post by Sharei on Mar 14, 2019 11:31:34 GMT -6
Kanagi’s action was met with a squeak of excitement and the hatchling jumped on him. Because of their size difference and the weight he had lost, he wasn’t all that heavy, and he sprawled across Kanagi’s middle with limbs and paws and wings. His tail thumped the ground with happy twitches, while young, soft jaws found anything and everything to playfully nip and nuzzle.
Before long he was pulling on Kanagi’s ear in a playful way, as he might pull on an adult's horns, inviting him to try and get the youngling off him.
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Post by MP on Mar 14, 2019 11:32:35 GMT -6
When the dragon tugged on the delicate webbing of the tiercel’s crest, the latter decided enough was enough. He uttered a faint growl of reprimand, flattening the abused crest against his head to return it to its natural angle. Nips and body slams he would tolerate, but a tiercel’s crests were personal.
When the sharp little teeth retreated, Kanagi rolled to his haunches to remove his head from reach. He shook out his mane with a soft huff and eyed the pup with a sharp, but not unfriendly eye.
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Post by Sharei on Mar 14, 2019 11:32:48 GMT -6
The hatchling shrank back from Kanagi’s reprimand, though he didn’t go far and certainly didn’t get off the tiercel. His head ducked behind one paw, nose buried, and he watched him with a side-eye. When Kanagi showed no further signs of distress the dragon, undeterred by it, resumed its playfulness. Though this time he avoided the crests.
Eventually the playfulness turned to grooming, and the grooming to nuzzling. Storm dragons were free with their affections and he’d taken a liking to this strange hunter.
“Name?” it said finally, looking up at Kanagi. “Your name?”
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