ORIGIN

In the cycle since the great dragon had nearly burned down half the caves, and Deli along with it, the dog had taken to wandering around, dragging with them a burlap sack they'd found, filled to the brim with a mix of vials made of glass, crystal, and other materials that held different colors of paint. By this point, they'd collected a fair share of colors and was spreading their work across the cave walls, little by little.

Usually the dragon, painted in different ways, depending on how Deli was feeling. Usually it was as they'd seen it - falling from the ceiling like an angel cast from heaven, rolled in smoke and ablaze with flame, descending to burn down the caves in its fiery rage. Or the great jaws snapping up the lamb and the bird and eating the whole. There were a couple of times that the drawings were detailed (well, as detailed as a drawing could get when it was made with paws) while others were more abstract.

And some were, well, a little more...vulgar.

They seemed to like drawing the dragon with strange parts or getting his head cut off by a certain white dog or eating his own excrement. They'd been inspired by a number of drawings they'd discovered littering Canis's wall, showing a little sprite with odd appendages drawn across her body - something that Deli had soon discovered they'd possessed themselves.

And now, sitting in Canis, on a different wall from the previous jester's drawings, they painted the dragon again, as crude as could be, with a dashing smile and a very large...uh...organ clutched in his claws. Before him, the bird, the sheep, and the black dog cowered, jaws wide open for some reason.

Deli giggled as they put the last touches on the piece of art and stepped back, observing their masterpiece. It wasn't done in too many colors - just a different one for each of the Gembound, and each were drawn simply, but clear enough to tell what they were.

They snickered as they pressed a paw against one of the lines, pushing magic into the drawing to seal it to the stone forever. Nobody was taking that off now.

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@Orthoclase-Alpha

Deli continued to snicker at the art they'd plastered and affixed to the wall, although their mind was already turning towards what they were gonna do next. They shifted through their sack, observing the colors they had left - more red and orange might be needed if they were gonna draw Raheerah more, they'd been burning through those colors pretty quickly.

A rumbling sound caught their attention and they turned just in time to see a hulking mass lumbering towards them. Their eyes lit up with excitement. Oh, perfect! A someone!

Deli wasn't a stranger to others observing their art - it was only natural that others came upon their masterpieces as they plastered them on the walls. So far, it had been fully positive - small remarks of "wow, that's amazing!" and things like that. Their more...humorous interpretations had gotten raised brows and small giggles, a few looks of disgust at what was being depicted, but nothing against their art skills.

So this creature that Deli fully expected to compliment or, at the very least, stop and look at their art, merely walking on with a single insult thrown their way...yeah. Deli wasn't used to that. Criticism, maybe, on how to improve, but a shit on their drawing...

This wouldn't do.

Their smile widened as they hopped forward, stepping right in the way of the massive beast. "Hey!", they barked. "You're supposed to say it's good, you know? Look at it! It's funny! Not ugly!!"

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@Orthoclase-Alpha

Deli's eyes widened and their teeth bared in a grin too wide. They, in fact, did not get out of the way. They were insulted - nobody had been so rude about their drawings before! They barked out a laugh completely devoid of humor at the monster's ignorance. "Not ordering you around, just sayin! It's not lines! It's art!" The massive paw swept them to the side and they had no choice but to be pushed around, but as soon as they had their balance, they were back jumping around Alpha's legs.

They weren't going to leave well enough alone, apparently.

"Ok, ok, look at it! Just stop and look! You see how the lines make form?" They bounced over to their masterpiece and pointed at the drawing of Raheerah. "See? See?! They're not just lines, they all work together to make a dragon! A drawing! See the body, the legs, the wings?" They ignored the large penis that Raheerah was holding. "And the others! A dog - a bird - a lamb. Not lines!"

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@Orthoclase-Alpha

Deli went quiet as Alpha drew close to the wall, staring at the lines and curves and they wondered if they were figuring out what it was. Because of course everyone knew what dragons were. Deli had seen one - everyone else would probably know about them as well. It seemed that they were incapable of realizing that this was untrue.

"Ear?" Deli's ear twitched at they drew closer. Now that they thought about it, they hadn't seen any ears on the dragon. "Didn't have them. Maybe it couldn't hear. Don't know!" They let out a small giggle, eyeing the appendage between the dragon's legs. "That's not a leg - that's a penis! The dragon didn't have one...but I drew one anyways. For fun." They snickered, but didn't explain further - if the alien didn't know what a penis was, well, Deli didn't really feel like explaining.

They shook their head in agreement. "Nope! The dragon is bad! It burned the caves and killed some children! It even got me!" Deli then turned their left shoulder towards the alien, to show off the burn scar that still balded their skin. They didn't look all that upset about it, though, as an idea suddenly lit up their expression.

"Hey, you're kinda cool! Can I draw you? Right now!" They were already pulling out a brown-colored paint as well as the red and green - even if Alpha turned and left, they'd still paint what they remembered of their face on the wall. After all, it was a very unique creature and Deli desired very much to capture them!

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@Orthoclase-Alpha

Deli blinked. Oh, it didn't have any ears, did it! That was kind of weird! They twitched their own ears curiously, wondering what it would be like in a world without ears. How could it hear? Seriously?!

But that musing was cut horribly short when the monstrous creature reached over with their claws to draw over their own art - no, to utterly ruin their art. Their smile vanished in an instant to be replaced with wide eyes and a dropped jaw as their drawing was destroyed and tainted by this...by this...ugly...thing!

Deli wasn't sure what to feel, since not only had nobody ever even given them harsh criticism before, but they'd never had their art insulted before, much less destroyed right before their eyes. And, in that moment, it didn't matter one bit that this thing was bigger then them and definitely more dangerous - they were an art ruiner. They'd disrespected their hard work. They'd scratched out Raheerah's penis and that caused the thin wire holding Deli's composure to snap.

"NO," they screeched as their muzzle twisted in a snarl. "How...HOW DARE YOU! HOW COULD YOU DO TH-RARF ARF ARF RARF" their speech cut off almost immediately as they were overtaken by furious barks, leaping forward to clamp their jaws and teeth around the arm that had scratched up their drawing.

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@Orthoclase-Alpha