ORIGIN

"Let's have a look around," Bez suggested, pushing off the tree he'd leaned on and wandering into the forest. "Look for prints, or sniff for signs..." He looked around, but himself saw nothing; he hoped the kid was a better hunter than he was.

The child had asked, 'what else,' and Bez found himself puzzling over this. Was he asking for... general advice-? Or had it been something specific, and Bezaliel had sort of missed it? He frowned, stepping over a thick tree root and planting claws carefully in the leaf-strewn dirt on the other side. "What do you mean by 'what else?'" he asked, at length. And then, tilting his head slightly, he realized he had no idea if this child had a name, yet.

Which... seemed a good thing to ask, really. Probably, he should've questioned that sooner. "Hmm. What would you like me to call you?" was how he asked it--doing his best to sound sophisticated--with a glance at the creature with his striking coat of fur.

Forgot. Fair. That was a child's attention span; Bez was not so old that he couldn't remember this himself. He'd been a focused and--it must be said--malicious little child. Or mischievious?... no, malicioius was right. But keeping a lot in his tiny, growing little brain had been tough.

But maybe the kid had-... A thought hit him. "If you were asking if you can use Lessers to practice on? Absolutely. The crueller, the better. You learn faster that way," he explained, nodding wisely.

"Rat-? Ahh. Okay. Those are... some of the Lessers, they're called Rats. But you are no lesser; you're the King of Eridanus. Or Queen, if you prefer." Bez was an equal opportunity sadist. "But see if you can find something like that--a rat, or a mouse, and I can show you how to claim your rulership."

He was still thinking about what to teach this kid. But it was time to at least start his questionable lesson. "To begin with, you must always ensure your subjects fear you. If they're afraid, they won't try to take over your cave. And for that, you must become powerful. This way you can hurt them if they fight back, you see? And then they will be afraid."

Bez was nodding along, supremely pleased with how all this was going, when Rat threw him for a loop. 'Are we still looking?' Bez glanced down. "I was following you," he blurted, and blinked. He'd thought the kid had smelled something-...

"Yes, we are still looking," he clarified, struggling to keep a straight face. He felt sort of like an idiot, now. He'd just been... strolling along! Assuming that a newly hatched Gembound would settle into a routine! Ugh. He really needed practice with all of this.

He lifted and flicked a finger, and a small red light shot out ahead, before slowing and bobbing in that general "ahead" sort of direction. It wasn't bright, but it illuminated the spaces beneath the underbrush well enough. "There; does that help?" he asked.

He kept the wisp bobbing, a beacon of light, but not in a position just in front of either himself or in front of Rat--he didn't want to blind them. And when the child at last stopped, going quiet, he did the same--and plunged his wisp into darkness, extinguishing it.

"That is a deer," he murmured, squatting low as he drew up alongside Rat. He went still, then, studying it. "If you distract it, to face away, you may be able to snag it. I can help you kill it, and then you can feast... Or we could try to capture it, and practice your powers on it." He had no idea how that would work, really. He himself wasn't a fast being; he had wings, but he wasn't built for straight-up combat.

He usually, as embarrassing as it was, had to rely on fish.

But he had to play the part he'd set for himself, so for now, he made it seem like an option; and who knew? Maybe they would manage, somehow.

Bez stared. It was definitely distracted, that deer: in fact, he'd never seen a more distracted deer than this. It was frozen, staring. Maybe Bez could use that..? He grimaced, thinking fast, and then he flexed his wings.

He held out a hand rather theatrically, wiggling black-clawed fingers toward the deer as he took sudden flight. That, of course, made noise. And it took a great deal of concentration, but even as the devil moved, his magic reached for the cave deer's mind. He took advantage of the fabulous distraction, adding to it: an insistence of a sudden, beastly snarl in the deer's mind. He hoped it would think it was about to be attacked, and from the other direction, and it worked. As Bez simply threw himself at the deer, after lifting himself up with a single flap of wings (as quiet as he could manage), it turned to run.

If Rat's simple pebble toss hadn't been so damn accurate... but it had, and Bez came crashing down a moment later in a tangle of limbs, a bleating of deer, and a lashing of claws... and kicking feet. He had its throat a moment later and he was squeezing and tearing as best he could.

It was still a dirty, gruesome kill by anyone's standards--not something anyone could ever call "clean." But the deer did die, and Bez stood, panting and wiping his flanks down as if trying to regain some dignity.

His eyes were a little wild with adrenaline as he tried for a reassuring smile. "There we go. An easy meal," he said, glancing down at the cuts the deer had inflicted on his skin. Easy? It looked like it'd been anything but.