Azure glanced back at Wyvern at the whiny tone, half-annoyed, half-amused, but both in mild measure. She was more focused on how wobbly her legs felt after however-long asleep. "Hey, there's nothin' wrong with being a bird," she replied, but with feigned insult, and a bit of humor in her tone. "Remember, I'm part bird, and I'm cool as shit," she went on. Immediately, insecurity struck.

I'm not cool, though, am I? I'm a PIECE of shit. And so are all the fuckin' birds I've known. Her humor quickly bled away, and she shrugged a little, the feathered mane ruffling with the movement. "I mean... I just don't know anything else that's got feathers, that's all. But if you're a--a wyvern, and that's like, a bird-dragon, that's cool too," Azure added, though with less enthusiasm, her thoughts straying to darker places and her mind now only half on-topic.

At Wyvern's comment about talking to lessers, though, her attention swung back. "No, nah, I didn't mean like--literally. I don't think they'd understand," she explained--but she realized that it would probably be kinda pointless to explain the details of what she meant. After a beat, she settled on saying "It's a cool beak, that's all."

The water was up ahead. She paced toward it, and--it not being too far away--as they neared, she walked a little faster. Damn, but she was thirsty. Azure was so distracted by her thirst that she almost didn't notice Wyvern's question. She was taking long sips, tilting her head back to swallow, when it fully registered in her mind--and then she choked, water spewing from her beak, as she broke into laughter. "What?! No! I don't eat LITERAL shit. It's uhh. Well, shit's poop. You know? It's a bad word for it. You probably shouldn't say it, if you're a kid," she admitted reluctantly. "But uhh--it also just means 'stuff.' Like, I eat seeds, and other... stuff. In my case, plants, like--this stuff--"

Azure turned, eyeing over the water with quick, birdlike jerks of her head, then drove her beak down beneath. It had been easier, she found, with a soft mouth shaped like a duck's bill. The pointed magpie beak did nothing good to trying to strip water-plants from the moving river current, and she had to come up for air twice before she managed to pull a length of sopping green from the flow. This she dropped onto the shore, nodding to it.

"That kinda shit," she explained. "...Er. Stuff." She realized then how hungry she was, and for a moment, she just snapped up and swallowed the water-plant--then lobbed a torn-off leaf with a bit of stem Wyvern's way. "You can try some, if you want."

She glanced around, then, folding herself up to rest for a moment on the riverbank. "Weird how you can get tired from sleeping," she observed wryly. "Gonna be shit-boring if I have to keep just going to sleep. Speaking of--what do you do for fun?" she asked, her blue eyes glittering with genuine interest.

Azure had no idea what sort of fun activities others might indulge in, and Wyvern seemed nice enough. Maybe there were other things, things outside her own experience, that could alleviate boredom--because Azure sure as hell knew that what was within her sphere of experience wasn't interesting to her anymore.

@Wyvern

As soon as Azure feigned insult, Wyvern's entire brain went into overdrive. She didn't understand that it was a tease, just a little joke. She didn't understand that it wasn't supposed to be taken literally. She thought she'd really hurt Azure's feelings. Even if it was a small thing, Wyvern could not handle it. Pain like no other bloomed in her chest and tears jumped into her widening eyes. "I'm sorry!" she gasped. "I'm sorry!! I didn't mean it, I'm sorry!" She began to cry, noisily, sitting back on her hind legs and bringing up her wings to try and physically stop the tears that were now pouring from her eyes. She cried and whined and felt really really terrible about what she had said. After about a minute of this, she suddenly made a jerking movement, her wings flaring out, and she collapsed forward, her wings reaching out to try and pull Azure in closer.

"I'm sorry," she wailed. "I'm so mean! I didn't mean to make you upset! I didn't! I'm sorry!" She continued to cry and wail like this for a moment, drowning out whatever Azure was saying to her, ignoring everything else besides her own self-pity before she crawled herself back to her feet, sniffling and shaking, reaching for the little leaf that Azure tossed her way. She curiously nibbled on the corner and then stuffed the rest of it in her beak. If Azure was even still there in front of her, she mumbled. "I-It's good."

@Azure

Well, that had been unexpected.

Despite her immediate reassurances, attempts to interrupt the sobbing, and startled scuffle as she was dragged in for an embrace, Wyvern seemed entirely unresponsive. Azure kept trying to interrupt, to explain that no, that was a joke; and no, Wyvern didn't need to be bawling her eyes out.

She gave up, eventually, and only when the hybrid went to eating a leave did she try again.

"I wasn't serious, Wyvern, uhh. It's humor? I thought you'd know it, sorry. I didn't mean to upset you." She was feeling pretty uneasy now, though. She'd thought that maybe Wyvern was one of the more... normal examples of the cave's inhabitants. Now she was very much doubting that assessment.

Maybe she's just a kid..? Or maybe this is how they all are... Or maybe there's something wrong with her, Azure thought, uncertainly. She, for one, didn't really have the experience necessary with any of those to make that call. Well, maybe except the "something wrong" bit. Jarringly, Azure was suddenly reminded of Huckleberry, and the sudden rise of frothing anger was something she had to shove right down. She's not him. She's not. Him, she reminded herself savagely. It definitely wasn't the sort of behavior she wanted to be around, but she'd been alone for so long that she wasn't about to just run off over it, yet, either.

She took a deep breath.

"...Right, so. There's more of that all over. Eridanus is good for plants, if you're into 'em." She then waited there, a little awkwardly. Her question had gone unanswered, and the memory of Huckleberry had rather soured her interaction. She wasn't sure where to go, from here. She didn't really want to hang around much longer... but she didn't want to alienate the hybrid, either, to make her feel bad or anything.

"So listen," she blurted, all bright cheer. "Why don't you go do that, and check out all the fruit and stuff while you're there? You can come back and let me know how it is, maybe, some day. I'll probably be here," she added, with a shrug.

@Wyvern

Wyvern continued to munch on the leaf, finally back to being able to comprehend basic speech and glanced up at the hybrid. "Eridanus?" Asimona had told her about it once. Green and full of plants. She looked at the place where Azure had grabbed the leaves from and brightened up a bit. She didn't really catch the souring of Azure's mood and instead assumed that she was trying to introduce her to something really cool and fun.

"Yeah, I can do that!" she chirped. "I'll go and bring back some things that aren't 'shit'!" She leaned forward, as if nothing had happened and tried to give Azure a soft nuzzle with her beak. She spread her giant wings and leaped into the sky, still for a moment as she gained a little altitude, before leaning forward and gliding towards the exit of the cave.

Unfortunately, or, perhaps, fortunately, she'd forget quickly about why she was going to Eridanus, too caught up in the fruits and plants and little creatures to remember properly.

*exit

@Azure

Azure breathed a sigh of relief.

Not-Huckleberry was leaving.

Granted, she hoped that Wyvern would enjoy herself--but the tantrum, or well, sobbing fit, had left her shaken. Unpleasant memories and more unpleasant emotions had been stirred up.

Most of all, she was disappointed; for a moment, she'd held out hope that she might have found a friend. But Wyvern was... well. Wyvern was definitely something. Maybe she'd grow out of whatever it was, but for now, Azure needed some time, some space, to breathe and think.

exit Azure