kethri !

Kethri approached the nest she'd made for her two new apprentices. It was lined with moss and some down, and it was warm and sheltered in the hollow of a tree. She landed at the entrance and hopped inside, fluffing up her feathers and laying herself down, dropping the rat she'd caught.

"Arquia," she said, "I need to speak with you."

Namely... her venom. Her wings. She was a dragon and she knew Vargas would be thrilled to have a trained disciple ready to join the Chaos-Forge. Once she was done with the two, they'd be perfect.

But she had to start with Arquia. She'd nurture Anselm first, because they were young and a healthy brain was better in the long run.

@Arquia

Arquia was still cautious about being with this owl, but this was the safest that she had felt in a long time. As in her whole life. To be fair, she was quite young, but it really wasn't easy to find such a nice and comfortable place, and someone who wouldn't kill you. Maybe. She still wasn't sure about that part too much yet. But so far nothing too bad had happened, and she had been rescued from that super cold place by the owl, so she felt there was no reason to fear that she would be killed so far. Arquia was still cautious about the rabbit though, making sure to keep a distance between herself and that creature. Although she was the dangerous one here.

Kethri's arrival back at the hollow of the tree was near silent, and the small dragon gave a small jolt when the owl appeared. "Arquia, I need to speak with you." That was her name! Arquia jumped onto her feet and looked at the owl, tilting her head and letting out a low rumble in her throat as if she were saying "Yes?"

@Kethri

kethri !

"Come eat," she said, nudging the rat towards her, "I have questions about you. You're older than Anselm, been around for a week or so."

Kethri ruffled her feathers and shook herself out, "You have venom. What does it do?"

And why didn't Arquia fly? Her wings looked perfectly functional. At least she thought so. She wasn't very knowledgeable in terms of dragon anatomy.

"And why can't you fly?", she said, "Inability?"

She hoped not. Weakness wouldn't be tolerated- though, to be fair, she herself was weak. Almost crippled. Not quite. She was still kicking.

@Arquia

Kethri nudged the rat towards her, with the statement of wanting her to eat. Arquia took a small sniff, and gagged. It wasn't that she was not able to eat it, she couldn't eat it. The thought of it was disgusting. "Ew, bad. Me want fruit." replied the small dragon, pushing away the rat. It was alright, she wasn't feeling too hungry anyway at the moment. Now onto questions.

Venom... she knew what that meant. She had that! It was a horrible thing, a curse. One she wished she could be rid of. Why did she have to have something so dangerous? Sure, it was useful when she needed it, but it caused more pain than it was worth. Or so she thought. "It bad." Arquia unconsciously pulled back her lips, revealing her fangs. A single drop of venom leaked out, and dribbled down her scales. "N-- no use. Too dangerous." She wondered why the owl was even asking about it.

Then, there was the question about flight. Arquia unfolded her wings for a moment at the question, but folded them back again. She did not know what inability meant, but she could tell Kethri wanted to know why she couldn't fly from the rest of her words. "Wings... weak. No like fly. Can't fly." To prove her point, she gave a flap of her wings, lifting her a bit into the air. Which completely disproved her point. There was a lurch in her stomach as her legs left the ground, and she snapped her wings shut, landing back on solid tree.

@Kethri

kethri !

Kethri frowned, "... You're a dragon. Why don't you eat meat?"

Even that crippled Chaos-Two ate meat. Was this one defective?

No. It ate fruit. Of course.

"Fine. Come with me," she said with a sigh, "We'll get you food and talk more... what do you mean, weak? They work fine."

She gulped down the rat in a few lurches of her throat before looking at Arquia, "... If you're to impress my master, you'll need to learn to fly."

She got behind Arquia and nudged her towards the opening, "Just spread your wings and flap them. If you fall I'll... I'll catch you."

Maybe.

@Arquia

A frown... ah yes! That meant unhappiness. Why was the owl unhappy? Apparently because dragons were supposed to eat meat. She didn't know what to make of that, since plants were much easier to find than prey anyway. You didn't even have to try and catch them! They stood still and let you eat them. Meat didn't really taste good anyway, although it wasn't like she had tried eating any before. Hunting them down also meant using her venom which... she wasn't going to do.

Arquia did not expect her wings to work, but they did, to her surprise. But now Kethri was telling her that she needed to learn how to fly to impress someone. She did not care if other people were impressed with her or not, that was the least of her worries. A nudge from the owl, and some instructions encourage her to take a cautious step closer to the edge. Yeah, um, she wasn't going to do it.

Starting to back further into the den, she suddenly felt something stopping her from going back. And that same something pushed her right out of the tree! Arquia instinctively spread out her wings, and flapped them wildly as she hurtled towards the ground.

Even though she had never done it before, she was able to stop herself from hitting the ground, her wings beating frantically as she finally came to a clumsy landing in a bush. Poking up her head, she gave Kethri a glare.

@Kethri

kethri !

Kethri poked her head out, a smug smirk on her face, "Oh, would you look at that. Your wings do work!"

She pushed out of the nest and spread her own wings, taking flight and circling down to land beside the dragon, "There. Nothing terrible landed- and look! You even landed in a berry bush. Now you will learn to fly, alright? Not optional. It'll get you places faster and allow you to run away from things easier. You can also grab fruit that are on thinner branches, those are the best kinds, you know."

She plucked a berry off a branch and popped it in her mouth before pointing at Arquia again.

"Eat up," she said, "Then I'm teaching you how to fly. Lucky for you I can't push you out of a tree anymore, but now that you know your wings will catch you, I hope you aren't so reluctant anymore."

@Arquia

Kethri's smug grin did nothing to calm Arquia's irritation, but it was wasn't exactly supposed to. Then there was also the problem that now, the owl knew about her wings working. She didn't even know herself! Although she had probably just gotten lucky this time. They would fail her the next time she tried. The owl swooped down on her own wings and landed beside her.

She didn't understand much, but she could already get the impression from the bits of words she did know that Kethri wanted her to learn to fly. Even though many reasons were given for why it would be a good idea to learn, the whole prospect of flying was not possible. Her wings were weak, or so she thought.

The simple 'no' was on the tip of her tongue, then came the words: "Not optional." Arquia didn't know what this owl was thinking, but Kethri had absolutely NO POWER over her! Sure the owl has rescued her from that snowy place, but just because she saved her doesn't mean Kethri could control her! She was NOT letting that happening! The way the owl was so casually picking off berries and popping them in her mouth bothered her too. Starting to shake from anger, the small dragon's scales also started a rippling effect. Arquia waited for Kethri to finish talking, not even seeming to care that she could've been injured from being pushed out of the tree.

"N-- NO!" she screeched in response, hating the idea of learning to fly. The dragon jumped out of the bush and glared at the owl, as if daring the bird to try and force her.

@Kethri

Kethri cocked his head and stared Arquia down, eyes narrowing, glowing dangerously, "I saved you from blistering cold, whelp. You would not be alive, if not for me."

He reached forward and took Arquia by the chin, talons dangerously close to her face, "You will learn what I teach, or I will carry you back to the snow and drop you in it."

He purred and lovingly dragged a talon down her face, his demeanor changing, seemingly for no reason, voice deepening, feathers fluffing up to make her seem larger.

"Now... eat," he said, pulling away and plucking berries off the bush, gathering them in his talons before holding them out.

His temper wasn't something to be pushed. He would lash out if she kept pushing, but she'd have to learn that herself. Their bond would be one of respect and fear, if Kethri had his way.

"Master Vargas will eat you if he finds out I hid you and then didn't even manage to do my job right," he scoffed, waving his claw carelessly, "You don't even understand me, do you?"

@Arquia

Arquia held the stare for only a second, before breaking off. There was something that Kethri's eyes that scared her. It told her that the owl was not someone too be messed with. Oops. Kethri said something, again not something that she knew too well. 'Saved' That was a word she knew at least. Although it was true that the owl had gotten her out of the snow, she still didn't feel too much gratitude towards him. To die or to live, it didn't really matter all that much to her. Though in reality she just didn't want to admit that she was glad he had saved her. That didn't mean he had any control over her though!

She continued glaring, but this time at the ground, afraid to look back into his eyes. There was no struggle as Kethri took her by the chin, forcing her to look at him. Arquia could see a reflection of her face in his eyes, the fear clearly evident on her face. Shaking, the little dragon forced herself not to recoil away from his touch as the talon was dragged down her face. Then it was over, and she was released with the order that she should eat.

Reluctantly taking the berries from Kethri's claws, Arquia gulped them down. They actually tasted exceptionally good! The owl had been right about that part. Along with fear, her respect for Kethri grew just a little bit. Perhaps he was really quite knowledgeable about some things.

Hearing the owl begin to talk again, she made sure to give him her attention, and stared at his forehead. It may have looked like she was looking straight at him, when in fact she wasn't. It was quite a good trick when she still couldn't bear to look him in the eye. Kethri said some things, mentioning what sounded like a name. She didn't really listen to hard to the other things, although she was able to catch the idea that the owl would get in trouble if the someone found out about her. Arquia was brought out of her stupor when the owl asked her if she understood.

Thinking back to her previous experiences, she decided not to say 'no'. That hadn't gone very well. So the dragon nodded a yes. Turning back to the berries, she accidentally bit one the wrong way, sinking her fang into the fruit instead of her teeth. The poison injected into the berry turned it a bright shade of red. Shoot, now she couldn't eat it. Discarding it to the ground, Arquia looked at Kethri.

@Kethri