ORIGIN

BARATHEON

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That fight he'd had with the little not-lamb a few days ago had left him reeling. Not even because he was still a little sore and aching from the various bites and scratches, most of which were still visible on his downy fur. He was reeling because of what had happened. The poor baby dragon had lost control of himself, even now when he thought back on the whole encounter he couldn't be entirely sure what had really happened. A red haze had come over his vision and then he remembered wanting to kill and to eat the other creature. The thought of doing that now made him feel sick to his stomach but as he thought back on the vision, the blurry haze of a memory, he remembered the taste of blood. He remembered how delicious it had been. Even now as he thought about it the taste left saliva pooling in his maw and he was certain if he let himself he could be taken by the fever again.

He shook his head, trying to knock some sense back into himself. He was so hungry... The beetles that he'd eaten didn't seem to cut it anymore. He needed something else. Something that would really sate his hunger and not just stave it off. Something with blood. Was it wrong that he needed something with blood? He didn't know... He just knew he needed it. What about Flafe? Poor sweet Flafe didn't know what her brother was. Was he really a lamb? Flafe never went off like that when she saw blood... or he was sure she didn't. Why was he this way? He just wanted to be a good lamb. Not one that hurt people.

The poor little dragon sat beneath a tree, back up against the bark while his head and wings drooped beside him. His eyes were open and as he stared at the muddy ground. What was he? What was he really? Was he truly a lamb at all?

His belly rumbled fiercely, cramping with hunger. Again he thought of the fight and the taste of blood came unbidden to his maw, causing drool to fall from his lips and onto the ground. He didn't bother to clean himself up. Why should he? He was probably just a monster anyway... Who cared? The little dragon shivered but it wasn't exactly cold, it was just some sort of reaction. Still, he focused his magic and made the place heat up around him but it didn't stop his shivering.

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The lion padded through Cetus being the nomad that he was. An old leather pouch containing a couple of stones and metal was snugly slung over his haunches.. As he walked through the mud, Usui stopped for moments to observe his paw prints. They were larger and firmer now compared to the time when he was a little newborn cub. Usui had realized his growth with time, from observing random tufts of fur scattered around his neck. Though he did not feel much older, the cub was wiser on account of his recent near-death experiences. It was armed with this knowledge that the self-declared sensei trudge through this desolate, depressing area with an incredibly balanced, neutral aura and was able to carry himself with a great dignity and well-placed intention.

The cub decided to let tendrils of his magic seep out to alert him to other gembounds. . Alas, his magic failed to activate. Perhaps the fog here was too great. Usui decided to rely on his intincts instead. He closed his eyes and steadied his footing for a moment, then inhaled deeply. The dingy scent of marsh and black water greeted him but there was something more than that. A creature’s scent he’d never come across before. Usui was curious, yet cautious – his encounter with raptors had been far from pleasant. As silently as he could, the lion padded to the mystery gembound. A fluffy white-pink creature – a dragon not too different from the cave carvings he had seen – was sitting slumped behind a tree and drooling terribly. Did he need to feed? Was he dangerous? It was odd though, all the carvings depicting dragons were ferocious and powerful so, why did this one seem so dejected? The lion moved closer to him and stopped a couple paces away - realizing that the air had gotten extremely hot. Being an african lion, he could tolerate the heat for now, but not if he kept going at it. "Hey, y’ ok?” he called out, concerned, muscles tense and ready to attack or defend should such a situation arise.

BARATHEON

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The drool was pooling around his mouth and dripping to the ground but he still didn't care. He was too far into his thoughts, too far gone and thinking about what had happened to him. The dragon's tail absently thumped the ground while he pondered the taste of blood. He craved it but felt guilty about it. It excited him but worried him all the same. What would he do? His stomach gave another growl and he stirred from his thoughts. He had to eat at some point... Ignoring it would only bring on something awful, he was certain of that.

"Hey, y’ ok?”

His overly large ears twitched upwards towards the sound, followed by his pink gaze. It was some strange not-lamb with golden fur and green eyes. He was furry like him and that made him a little bit happy. The dragon wagged his tail gently in a kind greeting while a smile started to form on his face. Just then he remembered the drool around his lips and he quickly used his leg to wipe it away, smearing his face with mud in the process. The young one didn't care about mud though. His coat could turn completely brown for all he cared.

He gave a nod of his head to show that "yes, he was okay" but he said nothing more. He opted only to stare at the lion with large, kind eyes... Eyes that held just a bit of weariness to them. Another loud grumble of his stomach made the dragon clutch it painfully with a paw as he looked at his pink belly. Would this creature that was like him yet not know what to do? He'd fed Kerberos a rat once... Was it okay if he partook too?

First, there was a question he needed answered. The dragon pointed with a claw to himself and asked, "Lamb?" This other not-lamb looked older than he did, more knowledgeable. He had to know if Baratheon really was a lamb or not. He needed to know because having the Bloodlust made him feel distinctly un-lamb-like.

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Usui realized that what he had first failed to consider was, why in Origin was there a dragon here! It seemed almost ridiculous that such an ancient species would enter the world suddenly. Would it spell chaos, doom and imbalance? The boy's brows furrowed slightly as the gembound proceeded to wipe drool away in a most clumsy and harmless fashion. His behaviour was odd, perhaps he was a sick dragon? Claws, teeth and sharp screams - those were the images that leapt into the lion's mind. Gazing at his fluffy pink fur, large oversized ears and innocent gaze though, Usui was unable to decipher if it was truly dragon or instead a docile hybrid, if it was male or female, friend or foe. He nervously tightened his grip on the earth beneath him as the pink creature smiled at him. Usui smiled nervously in return. At the moment, the ground upon which he stood seemed to be the only thing rooting him to reality.

The dragon's stomach growled then and Usui saw it shift a furry paw over its tummy to indicate it. This pink thing was indeed young if it knew not what it really meant to satiate its hunger, or actively ask another for help. The lion flicked his tail wearily, not willing to get closer till he had further assessment of the situation. He did not wish to get turned into roasted meat! As Usui's eyes shifted from the dragon's stomach back to its face, he realized that it was wounded with scratches. Immediately, he threw caution to the wind and scrambled closer, gaze falling onto the wounds in worry. "It hurts?" He asked with pale green eyes latching onto the other's, genuinely not wanting it to drop dead here. The atmosphere was warm though. "The heat will make your wounds worse, dragon."

In other words, Usui wanted it to bring back the temperature to normal so that his wound could heal quickly. The lion flicked one ear as he recalled what the dragon had just asked. With a chuckle, he nervously shuffled his paws and looked at it. "No, not lamb. You're a dragon. Wings, claws, teeth...fierce creatures." Usui was almost tempted to say that dragons were fearsome enough to be carved into Tunnels but he did not want to impress bad ideas in the young 'un's mind and so kept quiet.

Returning back to the hunger issue...Usui gave the dragon a brief nod to indicate that it was to wait here, and that the lion will settle the issue. Immediately, Usui trotted over some leaves and relied on his strong lion senses. He smelt a rat. Immediately, he deposited his satchel, crouched low, and dashed towards it. The rat ran but the boy was powerful, and so with outstretched paw clamped down on it, and carried it a half-dead wriggling mess back to the dragon - stopping mid-way to pick up his satchel.

Usui then placed the rat beneath his paw to hold it in place. As much as he was a teacher, food and survival were lessons without mercy for him. His compassion did not run into the category of "lesser gembounds" who he believed to be partially developed only and lacked conscience, and whose destiny was to serve as fuel for larger gembounds in the natural order of things. "Eat," he spoke, and waited for the dragon to retrieve the mouse from beneath his paw and deliver the final blow.

BARATHEON

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The young dragon didn't move from his position as the other creature crept closer. He knew that it didn't want to hurt him and truth be told it was kind of nice to have someone fawn over his scratches. Though he felt a swell of pride that though his scratches did hurt they didn't bother him very much. It was all part of the fight and showed that he was strong enough to go into one and make it out alive again.

At the mention of the heat making the wounds worse there was a bit of confusion in his gaze. They would? How? Still, he didn't question it and dropped the heat around him. Allowing it to go back to the normal temperature. One word clung with him though. Dragon. What was that? Baratheon wasn't a dragon, he was a lamb, wasn't he?

Dragon. The word brought with it the connotation of huge ferocious beasts. Something that after a few days ago seemed to fit with him quite well. Fierce creatures? He looked up at the lion with wonder in his eyes but there was still an inkling of doubt. "Dragon..." He tasted the word on his tongue, liking the way it sounded.

He was left to his thoughts when the creature left to go do... something or other. The young dragon thought back to the last few days. How he'd Bloodlusted, how he loved to fight, how plants tasted absolutely awful. So far everything seemed to point to him being a dragon. What would that mean though? Could he not be siblings with Flafe anymore? Would he always want to kill and eat things? He shook his head. No. He just simply wanted to be him. He still loved Flafe, still loved to play... he just loved blood and fighting too. Couldn't he have both worlds? Still be a dragon but still also be Baratheon that loved to play?

His thoughts were interrupted as the creature came back with a rat. Not just a rat... a bleeding half dead rat. Immediately the dragon rose to his paws, lips curling into a snarl as the blood took over his senses. All thoughts were gone as his eyes took on a distinctly red tint. He wanted that rat and he could no more have resisted his urges than he could not breath. With a violent hiss he charged forwards, fangs bared as he attempted to push the lion away with his body while turning his head towards the rat.

In one swift movement he had the rat by the tail and quite violently he began to shake it. Blood was thrown all over his coat as he threw the rat and then tossed it into the air. After his "play" was done he grabbed the shredded rat and with a toss of his head gobbled it up. Bones, skins, fur, and all slid down his throat as he didn't even bother to chew.

Now his attention was turned to the lion and for a moment the red haze persisted and it looked as if Baratheon would attack but after a few blinks and a shake of his head he stopped himself. "No!" He stepped back, eyes closing as he attempted to get a grip on himself. Compared to before when he fought Kerberos it was easy. He'd gotten his blood and eaten so the Bloodlust was quelled, for now.

His eyes opened, pink once more, as he stared with horror at the lion. "Sorry! Sorry!" He backed away, back into the tree as he curled up in a furry white ball. Why did that keep happening?

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The dragon took the bait. Its large pink eyes honed in onto the rat and a fog overwhelmed him. Usui tightened his muscles, ready to pounce the moment the dragon approached. It saw that the rat was good and lunged forward. Immediately, Usui side-stepped such that the gembound would not collide with him. The cub did not mind that it revelled in his food, after all, he had done the same with a spider. They both had a fierce, carnivorous nature but it seemed thta this creature lost his mind when he saw food with blood. Usui jotted this down in his mind: ,Young dragon - loses control when blood-awakened. Though the lion had expected it to be fierce, he had not expected a personal encounter where this young 'un would have just pushed him away to feast upon grub. Caution levels rose steadily within Usui but other than a quickly beating heart, there were no other outwards signs of it.

Now that it was done with its food, the pink fluffy creature turned to him with the same gaze in his eyes. Usui's first instinct was to freeze. The boy's heart thudded fiercely in his chest. Then, slowly, he drew himself to his full height and raised his head defiantly, almost mechanically, to "look down" upon the dragon. The boy remained cool while his gaze was fierce and bore into the other's to tell him NO. He was not the same as the rat. They stared each other down, and then, it broke out of its blood-thirsty reverie and scrambled backwards with a string of apologies. It was back to normal, it seemed. Usui let out a sigh beneath his breath and sat down.

"You." He addressed Baratheon sternly, like the teacher he was. "Blood is good." Yes, he would teach him about that. Then, he swept away the sand at his feet and traced the outline of a mouse, rabbit, spider. "Eat." Then, he drew much larger gembounds. All the kinds he knew. Lion, fox, leopard, bird...and he looked to Baratheon, then brought his paw down mercilessly across the sand twice, to form a huge "x". "NO EAT. Understand?" The cub didn't need the dragon's apology, he just needed him to understand this fact. Neither was he there to comfort Baratheon in his misery. The dragon had to overcome this by himself, man to man, and not take cuddles from the lion sensei. "Any other questions?" He asked, this time in a gentler tone and with more relaxed muscles.

BARATHEON

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He had expected to be coddled. Expected a pat on the head and the lion to tell him "it's okay, it was just an accident" but that wasn't what he received. While still curled in a ball he heard the stern voice of the lion. His ear perked upwards and he peeked out from himself. He expected to hear that he was horrible, awful for ripping the rat apart. That wasn't what he heard... Blood was good? Oh yes, blood was the most delicious thing there was. After that taste, he wasn't sure if he could go back to insects now. Not after eating that rat... It filled him up like no bug had ever done.

The draogn uncurled himself and raised to a sitting position. The lion had started drawing in the sand with his claws. For some reason the dragon easily understood what the little symbols meant and what they were. Small prey animals, things that seemed absolutely tasty. He nodded his head. Yes. He could eat those. He had to eat those. The taste was in his mouth and there was no going back.

Then the creature drew other creatures, bigger ones. The ones he felt guilty about attacking. They tasted good still, Kerberos had proved that, but he knew deep down that he wasn't supposed to eat them. No matter how good all of the blood was. Still, he nodded his head. "Understand." He knew what he was supposed to do and what he wasn't but it wasn't that simple. He couldn't control himself. It had been a miracle that he'd been able to pull out of it then.

The dragon then shook his head. No. He didn't have any other questions... but he did have a concern. "Bloodlust." He stated simply. It was a fact about him... a cruel and violent fact that was uncontrollable. Surely the lion knew he hadn't meant to try and attack him, it was just out of control. Fortunately for him it was the rat that was bleeding and not the lion himself. He feared what would happen if Usui cut his paw or something else.
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Thankfully, the young dragon seemed to be kind, and teachable. It listened intently to Usui, which made the lion very grateful. He would never turn such allies/students/friends down where he wished to impart a bit more common sense into the world. The lion noted that his words fell short of what the dragon wished to expressed though, and so nodded encouragingly as it sought to speak. The lion's words were not magical - when said, Usui often waited to hear a response that corrected his wrong deductions, or a responses that followed his guide but went beyond that - where the individual dug deeper within themselves. All of these allowed the individual to pin point their own source of problems and come to self-realization, as did the dragon.

"Bloodlust," it spoke, matter of factly. Immediately, Usui replied graciously. "That's honest, thank you." The lion nodded encouragingly, then proceeded to probe further. "Tell me more about yourself, that I may help. What's your name? Bloodlust...can you control it at all?" Usui wrapped his feline tail around his paws patiently, waiting to hear the dragon to better help him overcome this.

BARATHEON

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He nodded his head. At least the lion understood that he wasn't just a bloodthirsty killer --not most of the time-- out to destroy everything he found. Then were the big questions. More about himself? Well, the name part was at least easy. He raised a claw and pointed to himself, "Baratheon." The dragon... Still rather new but not unwelcome. For some reason the name Baratheon seemed to fit with a species like "dragon".

The lion said that he might be able to help which caused the dragon's tail to wag happily. Help? Why, that was just fantastic! He'd be able to control the bloodlust and everything! He could play and bite and roughhouse without losing control! Wouldn't that be fantastic? His eyes shone with hope as he stared at the lion. This hope caused him to do something that broke his normal rules. "You can really help me?" It didn't hurt so bad the second time to talk. When he'd done it with Kerberos it was because he had no choice but this time it was because he wanted to. Someone that would take time out of their day to help a creature like him deserved it.

"I have a sister. Her name is Flafe but she's a lamb and she told me I was a lamb too. That's why I thought I was one too." He shook his head then wrinkled his nose as he thought about the Bloodlust. It was still a new thing and still as far as he knew uncontrollable. "No... I can't. I only found out about it a few days ago. I got into a fight and bit this three-headed dog named Kerberos then... everything turned red and I just wanted to kill stuff." Just like when he'd gotten the rat. "I don't know why I didn't try to attack you today when it happened... Maybe it was because you weren't bleeding so I could get control of myself again?" He asked quietly, musing to himself about what had happened. Perhaps this fellow with his kind and smart words would help him get to the bottom of this.
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The cub sat down and let his tail whip around behind him as he readied himself to hear what the dragon had to say. Usui mimicked Baratheon’s action following his introduction. The boy raised a paw to his chest and said, "Usui.” As Baratheon echoed his doubts, the lion nodded. Yes, he could help him – the boy sincerely believed. No creature, he believed, was beyond redemption if they were willing to learn such as the pink, fluffy dragon opposite of him right now. The lion felt that Baratheon was sweet and nice, but just did not have the guidance he needed to control his bloodlust. And if left to run around like that when adult…the cub shivered. No, Baratheon needed a community to keep him in check, and if not anyone now, then this nomadic lion cub was willing to help.

Then, the dragon recounted a story and Usui found himself pleasantly surprised, and very pleased to have the privilege of Baratheon trusting him. He nodded as the pink beast spoke, definitely very interested to hear about the three-headed dog and this bloodlust. It seemed a lot for the cub to take in, but so much more for the dragon to bear. When he was done, Usui spoke gently. "Flafe. You’re afraid that one day you’ll turn on her.” He paused for a moment, then continued. ”Your trigger,”he spoke, "is blood, as you have felt.” If Baratheon had been able to connect the dots and reach this conclusion, then there was truth to it. Usui let out a “hmmm” and then proceeded on a happier note. "What do you like, what makes you feel comforted?” Pale green eyes met the gaze of the other’s as he asked the other this question.