?Come out come out where ever you are.?
Junbao mindful of his step, wandered between the dusk colored trunks of autumn trees and the cold mossy body of crumbled stone. It had taken him a better part of his day to venture out to the remote and forgotten area. The sun had already begun to set and cast the long shadowing fingers of night fall, crawling and reaching from the solitude of the thicker part of the forest.
?What are you doing here, mix blood?? The feminine voice hissed from the falling darkness causing is black ears to flattened back against his snow white hair.
?I could say the same for you.? Junbao?s voice demanded. Though he was the visitor, he knew a commanding and confident presence was vital.
Dominique?s balking visible at his words. Short lived as it was. Dominique?s home was made in ruins of building whose purpose was lost long ago. It was a short walk from a tree line to very impressive set of cliffs. This had not been Junbao?s first visit to the parts. He and his friend Tibs had quite literally stumbled across the area. Jun had stumbled across an old hearth stone to a fire place one night; it was Tibs who?d pointed out the remains of several other buildings along the way. None of the buildings seemed to be the same leading them to guess the area had been re-purposed more than once. In the spot the dragoness appeared, toppled head stones gave hints that it could have been a grave yard or a chapel area once upon a time. The dragoness had more than one entrance to a lair she kept in the area. The graveyard?s chapel flooring was a frame for a pool of darkness and rot. Junbao?s eyes as well as his nose, could sense this dragon was definitely calling this home.
?What do you want?? Dominique showed herself in her half human form finally, slinking out from behind a tall but rotting tree.
Junbao thanks the heavens for small favors, While she was tall, provocatively, and powerfully built her dragon form was still one of pestilence, the other id within the warped dragon?s mind.
?What do I want? Why, I just want to be friends, dragoness.? He put on one of his best smiles and opened his arms to assure he was hiding nothing in the folds of his long black sleeves.
?Why would I want friends?? She draped herself backwards over the trunk of a fallen tree, odd eyes watching as if bored as Junbao moved.
?Because friends help friends, as simple as that.? He put up a hand as soon as he saw she was about to say something else. She narrowed her eyes and growled being cut off like that. A roll of her neck sent the sound of several sharp pops and cracks into the still darkening air of the cemetery.
?I am very aware of your specialized diet, And I know you have not exactly been eating well.?
?What would you know demon mutt??
?I know you often go and hunt food this side of the valley. You have a deal struck with them; you leave their livestock alone since. Well, you know.?
?Yes I am aware of my own crimes. Crimes, those were committed against me!? Dominque?s voices started to rise, growing louder in volume and causing a great gurgle to rise in her throat. She rolled like a serpent from the tree trunk to her feet facing Junbao in anger.
Junbao simply stood his ground and never flinched.
?Unjust, unfairly, I agree, great Dominique. But, I have come to help you, I cannot do it alone. For I do not possess your strength, cunning, nor is it my place to fight your battles??
Dominque stopped in her tracks. Her eyes shifted back and forth to things that were no doubt invisible to Junbao?s senses.
?You lose your kills, the kills you leave to rot. The game runs from the new weapons these other hunters use or test. Those that don?t run, they come to hunt and eat themselves. Even in season, they still take the lion?s? I mean, dragon?s share.? Junbao watched the dragoness carefully, watching to see if the seed was truly planted. Junbao was a young nue, but he picked up more than a few of his mother?s traits. He hoped that this being one of the first times testing them would pay off, even for just a little while.
Many a silent moment passed as they both stood as silent as the dead under their feet. The night had grown fully dark, devouring the last bit of light that clung to the trees in which Junbao would have to pass through to go home. He was unable to decide if the sound he heard was the waves breaking on the rocks below the cliffs, or the poison filled lungs of the beast before him. It was Dominique who broke the silence and spoke first.
?And what is in it for you. I could just as easily wait until you show them to me, then kill and bury you to rot.? Dominique paced slowly around Junbao, studying him as she studied her own thoughts.
?But you smell my mother??
??I know your mother?s scent.?
?Then you won?t touch a hair on my head.?
?But there is nothing to gain for you. As I have said I know your mother?s scent therefor I know your mother?s way.?
?Then you know there is always something I want.? It was Junbao?s turn to pace the much taller being.
?What is it mutt??
?Now, I?m wounded. I thought we were becoming friends Dominique.? Jun?s smile and fake pout greeted the blinking dragoness.
?All I ask for is a few loosened scales that fall from time to time.? ? he saw her tilt her head to the side the way a dog might when they didn?t understand. Junbao did the same back, his long white hair falling in ribbons past his shoulders as he mimicked her.
?Not just any dragon scales, yours. I need yours. Just a few of them, just once or twice, not all nor forever.?
---------------------------------
Another young man sat on the side of the road, much further away than he would have liked from the ruins on the cliff. The night had grown much colder as autumn had some to the area and sent a chill down his spine causing him to shiver. He wasn't sure if it was the weather he wasn't dressed for, or that he?d sensed an all too haunting presence come so close. Red eyes in the blackness of the trees turned green as another normal young man of silvery white hair stepped into the clearing of the road. It would be a while longer before they would be in the city, but he had to ask, he had to know.
?Did she take the bait?? Tib's asked as he fell into step with Jun.
?Of course. I made her an offer she couldn't refuse.?
(co-op & thanks w/Junbao & Dominque)
Junbao mindful of his step, wandered between the dusk colored trunks of autumn trees and the cold mossy body of crumbled stone. It had taken him a better part of his day to venture out to the remote and forgotten area. The sun had already begun to set and cast the long shadowing fingers of night fall, crawling and reaching from the solitude of the thicker part of the forest.
?What are you doing here, mix blood?? The feminine voice hissed from the falling darkness causing is black ears to flattened back against his snow white hair.
?I could say the same for you.? Junbao?s voice demanded. Though he was the visitor, he knew a commanding and confident presence was vital.
Dominique?s balking visible at his words. Short lived as it was. Dominique?s home was made in ruins of building whose purpose was lost long ago. It was a short walk from a tree line to very impressive set of cliffs. This had not been Junbao?s first visit to the parts. He and his friend Tibs had quite literally stumbled across the area. Jun had stumbled across an old hearth stone to a fire place one night; it was Tibs who?d pointed out the remains of several other buildings along the way. None of the buildings seemed to be the same leading them to guess the area had been re-purposed more than once. In the spot the dragoness appeared, toppled head stones gave hints that it could have been a grave yard or a chapel area once upon a time. The dragoness had more than one entrance to a lair she kept in the area. The graveyard?s chapel flooring was a frame for a pool of darkness and rot. Junbao?s eyes as well as his nose, could sense this dragon was definitely calling this home.
?What do you want?? Dominique showed herself in her half human form finally, slinking out from behind a tall but rotting tree.
Junbao thanks the heavens for small favors, While she was tall, provocatively, and powerfully built her dragon form was still one of pestilence, the other id within the warped dragon?s mind.
?What do I want? Why, I just want to be friends, dragoness.? He put on one of his best smiles and opened his arms to assure he was hiding nothing in the folds of his long black sleeves.
?Why would I want friends?? She draped herself backwards over the trunk of a fallen tree, odd eyes watching as if bored as Junbao moved.
?Because friends help friends, as simple as that.? He put up a hand as soon as he saw she was about to say something else. She narrowed her eyes and growled being cut off like that. A roll of her neck sent the sound of several sharp pops and cracks into the still darkening air of the cemetery.
?I am very aware of your specialized diet, And I know you have not exactly been eating well.?
?What would you know demon mutt??
?I know you often go and hunt food this side of the valley. You have a deal struck with them; you leave their livestock alone since. Well, you know.?
?Yes I am aware of my own crimes. Crimes, those were committed against me!? Dominque?s voices started to rise, growing louder in volume and causing a great gurgle to rise in her throat. She rolled like a serpent from the tree trunk to her feet facing Junbao in anger.
Junbao simply stood his ground and never flinched.
?Unjust, unfairly, I agree, great Dominique. But, I have come to help you, I cannot do it alone. For I do not possess your strength, cunning, nor is it my place to fight your battles??
Dominque stopped in her tracks. Her eyes shifted back and forth to things that were no doubt invisible to Junbao?s senses.
?You lose your kills, the kills you leave to rot. The game runs from the new weapons these other hunters use or test. Those that don?t run, they come to hunt and eat themselves. Even in season, they still take the lion?s? I mean, dragon?s share.? Junbao watched the dragoness carefully, watching to see if the seed was truly planted. Junbao was a young nue, but he picked up more than a few of his mother?s traits. He hoped that this being one of the first times testing them would pay off, even for just a little while.
Many a silent moment passed as they both stood as silent as the dead under their feet. The night had grown fully dark, devouring the last bit of light that clung to the trees in which Junbao would have to pass through to go home. He was unable to decide if the sound he heard was the waves breaking on the rocks below the cliffs, or the poison filled lungs of the beast before him. It was Dominique who broke the silence and spoke first.
?And what is in it for you. I could just as easily wait until you show them to me, then kill and bury you to rot.? Dominique paced slowly around Junbao, studying him as she studied her own thoughts.
?But you smell my mother??
??I know your mother?s scent.?
?Then you won?t touch a hair on my head.?
?But there is nothing to gain for you. As I have said I know your mother?s scent therefor I know your mother?s way.?
?Then you know there is always something I want.? It was Junbao?s turn to pace the much taller being.
?What is it mutt??
?Now, I?m wounded. I thought we were becoming friends Dominique.? Jun?s smile and fake pout greeted the blinking dragoness.
?All I ask for is a few loosened scales that fall from time to time.? ? he saw her tilt her head to the side the way a dog might when they didn?t understand. Junbao did the same back, his long white hair falling in ribbons past his shoulders as he mimicked her.
?Not just any dragon scales, yours. I need yours. Just a few of them, just once or twice, not all nor forever.?
---------------------------------
Another young man sat on the side of the road, much further away than he would have liked from the ruins on the cliff. The night had grown much colder as autumn had some to the area and sent a chill down his spine causing him to shiver. He wasn't sure if it was the weather he wasn't dressed for, or that he?d sensed an all too haunting presence come so close. Red eyes in the blackness of the trees turned green as another normal young man of silvery white hair stepped into the clearing of the road. It would be a while longer before they would be in the city, but he had to ask, he had to know.
?Did she take the bait?? Tib's asked as he fell into step with Jun.
?Of course. I made her an offer she couldn't refuse.?
(co-op & thanks w/Junbao & Dominque)