he laughed. they sure were cool!! did that mean he was special or somethin? he'd like to think thats what it means. Vanyel has clothes too, but like, his were way better. whoever left them there for him must've been able to tell he was special, then! no offense to vanyel, of course. maybe a little offense. as a treat.

he tilted his head and thought for a moment. "i dont know! what is there to do? are there other people in those places?" he asked. after a loud, disturbed growl from his stomach, he huffed. "is there food?"

he listened, eyes on his book widening in interest. "trees? what are those? can we go see them???" he asked, beaming, hopping around the taller boy in excitement. "who's your mom? is she cool?"

@Vanyel

Vanyel watched Barnabus hop around him and laughed, ”Lotsa stuff. There's my family and there are tons of people around to meet. Honestly you could just yell and someone might come running.”

He stood up and ruffled his wings, ”And there's tons of food at my place! My mama's a dragon and she's super cool!! We can go and I can show you the trees, I think it's better if I show you.”

He grabbed Barnabus's hand and tugged him towards one of the tunnels, ”Let's go!”

@Barnabus

he gasped. whats a dragon? it sounded cool! did she look like vanyel? vanyel kinda looked like him, humanoid-ish, but had wings n scales n stuff! did dragons have those? were dragons just that? oh that'd be so sick.
"she sounds super cool! and the others too, how many are there? why do they all live in eridanus? is it that cool?" he asked, though at some point it sounded like he was just talking to himself. "we should totally, like, eat when we get there. yeah."

he perked up. "wait, now? o-okay!" he said, flinching a bit in surprise at the sudden contact, but didn't protest otherwise at being dragged toward's the tunnel, laughing in giddy excitement.

maybe he'd come back to canis when they were done. just to visit. its not that bad.

@Vanyel

Vanyel laughed and flapped his wings, flying a few feet above the ground for a moment before he touched down again, still too uncoordinated to fly for long.

”It's super cool! I got a family there, my uncle Attikias, Vivilene, Asteri, Thalia-”, he listed off names like ingredients, ”- And then my mom Carja, my dad Talys, and my sister Ascent!”

He looked back at Barnabus and grinned, ”Ha! Why not? My momma would love to get you something to eat.”

@Barnabus

he watched Vanyel attempt to fly, and for a moment, he was a little jealous he didn't have wings too! what the hell, mystery parent? why couldn't he have wings! he wanted to fly! hmph. he supposed he just has to make up for it by being even cooler than whatever wings could do for him.

"thats so many names!!" he laughed. "they sound funny, too. does everyone have funny names like those?" he asked. now, he didn't ever say they were BAD, he just said they were WEIRD. "wonder if theyd like me!"

from beneath the suits collar, Vanyel would be able to see a splitting, toothy griin from a newly formed mouth. "yeah!! we should go see them!! im starving!!" he laughed.

@Vanyel

Vanyel pouted, ”They're not weird, they're cool! And my family has them, I'm not sure about anyone else.”

He continued to pull Barnabus along though, his offense temporary, ”I'll bet she'll have deer for us! Maybe even rabbit! I love rabbit, it's my favorite.”

Meat and fruit were his favorite foods period.

@Barnabus

He huffed. "i never said they were BAD, i just said they were funny! yours is funny too, don't make it bad, just means you ain't boring!!" he argued, huffing as he did so.

he couldn't lie, despite not knowing what either of those were, they did sound delicious, with what the way vanyel all but drolled over the mere idea of them being options. "what's those? they taste good? you say alot of things you assume i know, when in reality, i know very little! you gonna keep doing that?" he teased.

his book flipped open, for a moment, as they walked, moving into barnabus's only free hand as the creature tried to imagine what either of those creatures looked like, or let alone what a dragon looked like. dragons sound big and cool, rabbits... kinda sound small. so do deer but what does he know. the picture on the page reered its head, imagining a rabbit as some vaguely animal-like figure, deer being no more comprehensable than the other. whatever was running through this kid's head was definitely not a deer or a rabbit, but its the thought that counts. "don't think i got it right. what you think?" he asked, yanking Vanyel back gently in hopes he could get them to stop walking, thrusting the book into his line of sight.

@Vanyel

"When I speak"
When I think

Vanyel huffed, ”Sometimes weird in certain contexts means bad. It's difficult making out the differences though.”

He grinned and turned his head, ”Well you gotta see it to know! Dragons have wings and a tail like mine, and scales all over. They've got four legs, a long neck and body, and long faces full of teeth. They're HUGE!! Or at least my mama is.”

He looked over and cooed, eyes wide, ”Woah. That's not what they look like at all but I'm terrible at explaining as you said so... OH! THERE!”

He pointed off towards a rabbit, sitting bunched up with its ears up. It looked over at the shout and ran away, going from bunched up to long and fast in the blink of an eye.

”That's a rabbit,” he said, ”Deer are really tall, with thin legs- four of 'em- and a long neck and big ears, though not as big as rabbit's. They've got hooves, which are like nails but shaped like rocks, on their feet, and short rabbit-like tails. They've got fur like rabbits too, short and soft.”

@Barnabus

Barnabus didn't seem to get that at first, but shut up anyways. he wasn't winning this fight, as much as he'd like to. he never did say weird! he just said funny! he was barely able to pay attention to the extravagant description of what vanyel called a dragon in his annoyance, he has half the mind to ditch if this guy's gonna keep putting words into his- oh whats that!

as vanyel directed his attention to the creature he called a rabbit, his book swiveled out of his hands for a second, before he was able to catch it that is, picking it right back up and admiring silently as the rabbit hopped away. he did a reference image next to his initial thought. he got the size down mostly right. everything else? the DEER? nothing like it. he seemed to get the basic concept of a deer down now though, proudly showing it off to vanyel once more. it DID look closer to what a deer would actually look like, if only a bit. more teeth than really needed. "i think i did rather good this time! why don't you have a... thing? this thing," he paused, pointing to his book. "it'd make explaining things alot easier."

well, it really was logic nobody could argue with, but still, the implication that it wasn't inherently normal to have a book for a head didn't even cross his mind, just that vanyel himself didn't have one. either that or his looked funnier than his.

@Vanyel

"When I speak"
When I think

”Better,” Vanyel hummed, ”I don't have a 'thing' but I do have an idea.”

He picked up a thin bone and cleared the dirt so that it was mostly flat and empty before starting to draw. It was absolute garbage. Two circles, branch-like antlers, four stick legs, and a smaller stick tail. He pursed his lips and kicked the dirt back over it, throwing the bone.

”Nevermind, I'll just show you when we're home,” he grumbled.

Vanyel frowned as he walked forward, a bit miffed at his own lack of drawing skills.

@Barnabus