Entering the Earthwings [EWs Only]

Rafej stalked through the unknown land, his eyes wide and alert. What would he do if he was caught? Would he be killed? Welcomed? Would he be able to escape? Rafej shuddered at the thought. He didn't like intruding, but he was so hungry... Suddenly the scent of sheep flooded Rafej's nostrils. He crouched down to the ground and crept forward until the sheep was a leap away. Right when he was about to leap, he heard the sound of leaves crackling. The sheep must have, too, for it jumped and waddled away. Slowly, Rafej turned around, not daring to breathe.

Rylatha was prowling through the abandoned Lush Forest in the form of a fox to prevent the humans from killing her, or making a move to assault her. She leapt easily over logs. She saw a few human camps, but avoided them. Just because she was a fox at the moment didn't mean that a few humans may be hungry....

Rylatha jumped unto a boulder atop a cliff, tired from the long climb needed to reach there. She panted, swishing her short red-furred bushy tail. But as she fixed her amber eyes on the horizon, she noticed something... Someone...

Rylatha transformed into an EarthWing once again, hating the feeling of bones grinding against one another and fur melting into stone-hard scales. Rylatha was certain that humans would see her, but she flew over the territory. She flew over the dragon that she saw a few moments ago. She saw that it was male, and his scales were light brown with a goldish shine.
What is he doing here? Rylatha thought, curiosity burning in her pelt.

She circled the area for a short while, her mane whipping in the breeze, then she descended her flight to the earth. She landed before the dragon lightly, not daring to shake the ground. Rylatha shook the dust off her pelt, then stared down at the male, gaze serious and slightly fretful.

"What are you doing here?!" she demanded. "Do you not know that this a perilous place, swarming with humans?"

Baldirak had followed his sister. Not because he was feeling overprotective, but because he had foreseen her travel to the EarthWing's old home. Why would she go there? She knows it's too dangerous... Of course, the old one had made a trip or two there himself. So he understood his sister's desire to return. Everyone in the tribe longed to return, and perhaps one day they would. Baldirak only hoped it would happen before he left the world. His pale gaze fell to his left leg as he flew on. Everyday it reminded him of the attack, of the clouded days of his captivity. But more annoyingly, it reminded him that he didn't have too many years left. He shook his head and sighed. He was letting his mind wander too much and dwell on the wrong things. Rylatha... where had she gone to? By now, he was far enough away to just be able to make out her amongst the trees. She'd changed back to her normal, dragon form. He saw her land and then he saw... Was that another EarthWing? Suddenly, Baldirak became very excited. Perhaps this dragon was another survivor of the attack. And if so, how had he managed to survive in the Forest? He landed a few feet away from where Rylatha had and walked up beside her, though he didn't bother to be as quiet, for there was nothing to be done about his limp. "And if you do know that, why are you still here?" he added, having heard Rylatha's last sentence.

Rafej stared in shock at the two dragons. "I-I didn't know," he said defensively, wrapping his tail around himself. Rafej wondered whether or not these dragons would hurt him. Not wanting to act cowardly, he straightened himself up and narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?" he asked. "My name is Rafej. I am here because I was abandoned when I was born and I have lived by myself since then. I was hungry, and I thought there might be something here for me to eat." Rafej sniffed the air. "Now that you mention it, I can smell humans. I am sorry," he said. Suddenly, Rafej remembered how the female had scared away his prey. "You!" he hissed. "I was hunting that sheep, and you scared it away!"

Baldirak looked at Rafej and dug his claws into the ground. His pale eyes darkened and for a few minutes, remained that way. He saw a few fragments of Rafej's past, particularly of his abandonment. And then his eyes paled again and he removed his claws from the earth. "Hello, Rafej. I'm Baldirak. If you're as old as I think you are, it is likely you weren't intentionally abandoned. And its alright that you weren't aware of the danger here. We used to live here, my sister and I--" He waved a wing at Rylatha, "Our tribe. But we were attack by an army of humans and driven out. Now we live... somewhere else." Baldirak frowned when Rafej shouted at his sister. "Careful, you wouldn't want to anger a semi-god... or her brother, for that matter. She didn't mean to scare it off. Besides... that sheep probably belongs to a human, you wouldn't want to eat it."

Rylatha glanced in surprise as her brother appeared. She gazed at the ground at his question of what she was doing there, and muttered, "Memories."

At the male's accustation, Rylatha flexed her claws into the soil. How dare him. Her mane bristled, and Rylatha lashed her tail. Ever since she had 4 hatchlings, she had been cranky (lol), and rarely had free time. Now this EarthWing was accusing her.

Rylatha gave out a small snarl, raising her head. What she wanted to say was, 'Is that a challenge?' but remembered that this was a hatchling. Rylatha only glanced at Baldirak in gratitude, but stared down angrily at the other male.

"I'm Rylatha, Goddess of the Hunt and Beasts," she said. "I didn't mean to scare off that sheep."


~Rylatha has been easily angered since she had four kids, so yeah...~

Rafej shuddered. If these two dragons had as much power as they had said, they defiantly had the authority to destroy him. "I am sorry," he rumbled. "I am a seven year old hatchling. True, my parents didn't abandon me... They were killed by humans. But it helps me to not be sad when I say that they simply abandoned me." Rafej felt pools of water form in his eyes but he quickly shook them away. He had gotten over his loss a few years before, no need to bring it back up now. "Thanks for the warning, Baldirak. I probably couldn't have caught it anyways. Sorry, Rylatha. I was just so hungry..." Rafej trailed off, staring at the colossal dragons in awe. Even though they seemed kind, despite his provoking them, what would they do with him? Kill him and eat him? Leave him to starve? Or take him with them - into the unknown?

Baldirak frowned as he listened to Rafej's story. Without a word he turned to the tree nearest him and removed a branch from it. Holding it with his tail, he used a claw to sharpen an end of it to a point. The EarthWing then walked off onto a game trail. At a group of trees on the side of the trail, he stopped and sat between them. He blended in with them and waited silently. Eventually, a deer came along the path and Baldirak's tail shot forward with the speed of a snake. The sharpened end of the branch piercing the deer's neck in just the right place to give it a quick death, free of suffering. Baldirak brought his tail back and moved forward to pick up the deer in his maw. He carried it back to his sister and Rafej, placing it in front of the latter. "Here. And when you are done, you can come with us."

Rafej stared in amazement, his maw open. "Y-you did that for me?" he gasped, his eyes wide in shock and his legs trembling. "I've always had to hunt for myself." Rafej tilted his head when the dragon told him that he could tag along. Go where? he thought. Follow them to my death or my haven? Rafej blinked. "C-come with you, where?" he asked.

"Yes, of course. A Hatchling needs all the food they can get, after all. And we will take you to your new home." Baldirak laid down to wait while Rafej ate. He watched him silently with a small smile. He brought his tail up to rest his chin on it. "There's no need to be afraid."

"Uh, I guess so. And what do you mean, 'new home'? I don't have a home. Where is it? Are the people there nice?" Rafej let his words spill out. He thought he could trust Baldirak and his sister, but he wasn't positive. "If you say so," he murmured.

Rafej nodded, his eyes huge. He shuffled his wings so that he could rise, and then looked at Rylatha, who had not said anything for a while. "Okay... I guess I will come. I don't really have anything else to do..."

((Sorry, my schedule... Yeah...))

Rylatha just curled her tail over her forepaws and sat down, watching the other two converse. She occasionally nodded in agreement, and when Rafej decided to come with them to the EarthWing Haven, she finally stood up and stretched, muscles flexing underneath her forest green hide.

"Very well," she agreed at last, and gazed at the other two EarthWings. "Let's go."

(It's fine; mine's been a bit wacky as well)

Rafej began to flap his wings as he rose into the sky, his heart thumping with nervousness and excitement. "Where is home?" he trilled. Rafej curled and uncurled his claws in anticipation. Would he be accepted? I hope so, he thought as he raised his head higher and felt the sun shining on his golden-brown scales.

"Yes, Mother." he mumbled as he too stood. Baldirak then lifted his and lowered his wings, lifting himself into the air. "Home, Rafej, is a haven below ground. Safe from everything." He looked around, trying to remember where his old den was. There was something inside he wished to retrieve. Baldirak flew off toward the eastern edge of the forest, where a cave sat. That cave was his den--had been. He landed just outside then moved within. In the center, he began digging, and eventually unearthed a lunar rock--half of one, anyway. With a light smile, he existed the cave and returned to the sky, the rock clutched in his right paw.

"Underneath the ground? Cool!" Rafej trilled. He watched as Baldirak flew away to retrieve something, and looked on in interest as he returned with a stone clutched in his claws. "Hey - what's that?" he asked, flying closer and peering to get a better look.

Rylatha flew up after Rafej. She glared at Baldirak, ears flattened as he called her 'mother', but whipped her back to him with a huff. When Dirak flew off and returned with a stone, she looked at it along with Rafej with the same interest. Her mane still bristled, as the female was not slow-to-anger like she once was.

Rafej watched as Ryla's mane rose. Was this rock bad? Why did Baldi want it? He flexed his claws in anticipation, eager to get to the EarthWings' underground tunnels.

Baldirak gave his sister a lick on the top of her head, a apology for caller her 'Mother'. It had occurred to him after he left that it might upset her, and in fact, he upset himself a bit. He then looked at Rafej before begging to fly off toward the Haven. "I was once allowed to visit the moon and to take this--" he lifted his paw to indicate he was talking about the rock. "A gift, from the Goddess Astral. It was bigger than this, but I broke it in half and hid it. I used the other half to make some armor. By the way, Ryla, do you think Cosmos will like the idea of rock/metal armor? I have to make a few more adjustments before I'll be ready to reveal it to everyone. Anyway, I'm not sure what I'll do with this half, yet. Perhaps just leave it alone and keep it in my den somewhere."

Rylatha's mane lowered slightly, and twitched her tail. She looked at the moonstone. It did seem strong. But she wasn't sure if her father, King Cosmos of the EarthWings, would approve. But she also wasn't sure if he would not approve.

"It does appear efficient," was what she said in a bland voice. Then she added, "I think we have been using metal armor, but I imagine rock armor would be an age-old technique that could be performed by only the most professional of Vulcans. One of them may be you."

Rafej watched the two dragons converse, taking in everything they said. "Who is Cosmos? Your King?" he asked, tilting his head. Rafej liked the thought of metal or rock armor, but would it be heavy? He listened as they discussed Vulcans. True, it would be cool to make armor and weapons, but Rafej wanted to fight, to sink his venomous tooth into his enemies' bodies. He usually wasn't violent, but he needed to change his personality - have a better impression.

Baldirak glanced behind him to look at Rafej. "Yes, he is. Tell me, Rafej, what will you become when you're older?" The EarthWing stilled his wings, letting himself be carried by an air current. His pale eyes moved about constantly, making sure there was no one below who would see them and perhaps follow.

"I-I want to fight," Rafej whispered. "I have a poisonous fang - I can poison my enemies and prey," he told Baldi. "Is that normal?" Watching Baldirak, Rafej stilled his wings as well. He looked at the sun to see that it was sinking - dusk was coming soon. When would they get to the EarthWing Haven?