Merule

When the Roar Falls ~ PopeAlessandros x Raafling

By the time the afternoon comes around, he at least manages to hit the stump more often than he misses it. Still, it will not be nearly enough to hit anything that was actively trying to get away from him. With this setback he has to have an exceptional stroke of luck or he's simply going to embarrass himself in front of his host. The thought of doing so is more... troubling than he might have imagined. After all, what does it matter how good he is with the bow and arrow when he knows he can alter the course of the wind at a whim or strike the greatest of beasts down with tooth and claw? The opinion of one mortal shouldn't matter. It is illogical of him to want to impress Viltez, especially since this form of his is inferior in every aspect to his true form.

'He might be an interesting mortal, but a mortal nonetheless,' he thinks to himself as he cocks another arrow. 'I owe him some small amount of respect since he is my host, but I needn't care what he thinks of anything except for the tribute I offer in return.' He smiles in satisfaction when the arrow strikes true and reaches for another one. 'And any opinion he might have about me is flawed in the first place. If he knew what I truly was like, he would have no choice but to be impressed.' It's not that hard to imagine what Viltez might look like should he ever see his true form. A mix of respect and just the right amount of fear as he reveals himself- perhaps in his cave surrounded by his treasures. The expression of joy that would surely follow once he got a chance to show off his flying tricks, the questions he would-

Someone suddenly coughs and Autharyx lets out a completely undignified yelp as the arrow he was aiming flies wide of his target. He turns around with a jerk, ckeeks burning slightly with what he refuses to acknowledge as shame.

"Ah, Viltez," he says calmly, brushing a non-existent spot of dust of his sleeve with the air of a startled cat pretending he was calm all along. "I was just, er, practising. Brushing up, really." He doesn't miss the glance to the arrow stuck on the roof, and he has to mentally clamp down on the blood vessels in his face to keep a blush from spreading. At least Viltez had complemented his shooting, but that is a meagre consolation when faced with the truth.

"Heading out sounds good," he says quickly, before scurrying away to pick up the arrows he'd shot away. It doesn't take long and he gestures for Viltez to lead the way.

"Was your day agreeable thus far?"

Who Will Break? ~ PopeAlessandros x Raafling

Zach decides not to push his luck this time, and it isn't long before the dream started to fade. He makes sure to get out in time, leaving a shade of himself behind so he won't disturb the priest by disappearing. Outside the sky is slowly starting to brighten and he makes his way back to 'his' room before checking that all the bruises are still in place. He waits quietly until he could hear the priest leave, and then makes his way to the kitchen, an idea forming in his mind.

It only takes a bit of searching before he manages to scrounge up some eggs and bacon, which he sets out on the counter so he can look for a frying pan. The gas is easy enough to figure out, and after a while he iss well on his way to making some breakfast for him and the priest. Or was at least making an attempt to do so. The bacon is simple enough, if a little crispy in the end, but the eggs keep sticking to the pan. By the time he realises that he should have used butter or something, he had already scraped and mixed several blackened bits into the scrambled eggs. Ah well, it probably helps his disguise that he was a bad cook, even if it did mean he wouldn't enjoy his own breakfast as much as yesterday...

By the time the priest comes back in, he's laying out the results of his cookery on two plates. He looks up with a startled expression on his face, but it morphs into a small smile when he sees the priest.

"Morning! I made breakfast," he says, letting a bit of vulnerable eagerness seep into his voice. "or uh... Tried to is more like it," he continues sheepishly. "I hope I didn't ruin anything..."

Who Will Break? ~ PopeAlessandros x Raafling

~Zach closes his eyes and leans into the touch with a small sigh. He doesn't need to act in that regard, of course, as it had been quite some time since someone'd touched him without any motives behind it. There was a reason his kind were drawn to pure people rather than sinners, after all. The greatest power was found where affections were freely given, even if people were not aware of what they were offering. If power could simply be taken, why would demons be known as tempters rather than conquerors? No, taking was what humans did, be it to their own kind or Zach's.

When the priest's hand falls away, Zach slowly lets his eyes blink open again, catching the other man's gaze. He can see the anguish behind them, as he can always see the minds of mortals in the dream world. There is no answer he could give that would satisfy the human, of course. All he can offer is what he already knows, as he has no intention of revealing this to be anything other than a dream.

"I'm not alone," he says instead, shyly bringing his hand up until he can lay it over the priest's. While there can be merit to delving into the darker parts of the mind, for now Zach just wants the priest to feel good about him. He spends enough time obsessing about whatever happened to the 'little one' that washed up on his doorstep in his waking hours.~

When the Roar Falls ~ PopeAlessandros x Raafling

Since he has very little to call his own, it doesn't take Autharyx long to get his stuff together so he can head out. He makes sure the room is tidy before going out of the front door and closing it, per Viltez' request. The sky is clear as he heads for the town, and he makes sure to enjoy the sun on his skin as he walks. This day should be a bit more interesting than a long hike through the forest, even though he has small expectations of what the town will have to offer. After all, he would get to go hunting with Viltez!

As he walks he muses on how that will go. Humans seem so. .. frail, and even though Viltez at least has his tail, he'd said that he never really made use of it. How sad it must be to be fully human, with their blunt teeth and no claws to speak of. Of course they have their instruments, making them more successful that many a real predator, but it's kind of like cheating if you cant catch anything on your own merit. No, much better to be a majestic dragon, swift and-

Autharyx suddenly freezes, standing dumbly in the middle of the road. He is going to hunt. With Viltez. When he'd offered to catch some meat, he'd planned to impress the other, but he hadn't spent a thought as to exactly how he was going to manage to catch anything with his stubby fingers, fangless mouth and flightless body. He couldn't well back out now, at least not without losing face. He just had to think of something.

A thoughtful frown comes over his face as he starts walking again. He is at least somewhat familiar with the weapons humans use, like the bow and arrow. He'd never paid too much attention to the specifics, but if humans can use them, how hard can it really be? You just... point the little stick at the prey and let go off the rope. He has the entire morning to practice, if he can buy one in the town. Yes, if even human younglings can do it, of course a dragon like himself will be able to figure it out. Mind made up, he walks in with a spring in his step. He has an entire afternoon with Viltez to look forward to, and he wasn't going to be brought low just because humans are such pitiful hunters.

At the markets he makes sure to keep a lower profile than he had yesterday, though he can still feel several pairs of eyes on his back as he goes about his business. He even manages to ignore the peddlers offering various shiny trinkets as he looks for a bow. What he eventually finds isn't quite up to his standards, but the bow a travelling merchant is willing to trade for a handful of pearls seems serviceable enough, if not terribly beautiful. He casts a last eye on some jewellery laid out on a stall, before finally tearing himself away to make his way back to Viltez' house.

The whole endeavour took a couple of hours, which should give him at least several more to practice before Viltez will be returning as well. He sets a small stump up as a target some distance from the house, before stringing the bow as the merchant had shown him. The human had looked incredulous at his purchase, but Autharyx had decided not to bother taking offence. He knows what his capabilities are, and that's good enough for him. wroth a little smirk he knocks the arrow on his second try, before pointing it at his target and letting it fly.

Archery, he had to admit after two hours of non-stop practice, is not quite as easy as it looks. No matter how well he points the arrow, whether it actually hits still seems more up to chance than anything else. After a couple of misses he found that he had to focus on keeping the winds around him flare up in irritation, as he had already lost an arrow when a sudden gust of wind had thrown it on the roof. His temper was steadily declining as time went on, but even then he was making slow, but noticeable progress. Perhaps if they encountered a exceptionally lazy deer?

Another arrow burrows itself into the grass and Autharyx heaves a sigh before trotting over to pick up what he had shot away. Perhaps he should have gone with Viltez after all, as any job he could do had to be better than this. ..

Who Will Break? ~ PopeAlessandros x Raafling

~Zach carefully kept back as the priest's subconsciousness reformed the dream around them. The dog was a bit of a gamble, but in the past he'd found that it was easier to snap people out of it through having them take care of something else- especially something cute. With the preist's apparent predilection of collecting strays, it seemed a perfect match.

He smiles to himself as the colours gradually become brighter, the ravaged wasteland fading away as the priest leads the way. All fear seems forgotten when they finally come into the park. Zach mirrors the priest's smile even as he looks around to take in the choice of environment. This was the second time the human conjured up some idyllic garden in a search for safety, plus there was the tree at the beginning of the dream. Kiel obviously has a thing for nature, and Zach files it away for later use.

Zach lets out a bright laugh as he follows the priest's example, running through the grass before letting himself flop to the ground unceremoniously. He lies at an angle to the priest, their heads close together so he only has to turn a little to look at him. He decides to let the priest lead the conversation, lest he bring up something that can disturb the peace.~

Who Will Break? ~ PopeAlessandros x Raafling

~From the way the priest is looking around, Zach finds it hard to believe that this landscape comes solely out of the human's imagination. It seems. .. too real somehow. Not that it matters any to his plans, he supposes, so he gets his head back in the game and focuses on his plan. There is a darkness clawing at the edges of the dream, the kind that has little to do with threats of any kind, and more with primal, distilled fear. The only thing it can do is turn the priest further inwards, and that's useless to Zach.

He watches for a while, following the priest as the darkness curls around his ankles. There are a few things in the dream realm that can harm him, but nameless fear is not one of them. When the priest reaches out for him, he sees his chance to try and snap him out of it. He lets the man catch his hand and focuses on making the sensation as vivid as possible- making the skin-to-skin contact feel more real than the dark closing in on them. When he feels the priest's attention on him, he carefully adds a little dog to their surroundings, hoping the man's mind will go with it and give them a new locale. ~

When the Roar Falls ~ PopeAlessandros x Raafling

eheheh, oh you're mean :p I like it. Let's get to the hunting first, thpugh everything is shaping up to be quite interesting. Autharyx had yet to realise he has no skills whatsoever in human methods of hunting ^^

When the Roar Falls ~ PopeAlessandros x Raafling

sounds like a plan ^^ Though you'll have to explain the difference between ordinary trouble and big trouble :p

When the Roar Falls ~ PopeAlessandros x Raafling

what do you think about getting Autharyx in trpuble with the locals? fun, or would ratherdo the hunting first?

When the Roar Falls ~ PopeAlessandros x Raafling

Autharyx isn't sure if he's supposed to watch as his host wraps his tail around his waist, but he can't really bring himself to deny his own curiosity. The sinuous movement of the appendage bring the night before to his mind when it had wrapped around his wrist and arm in a similar manner. Was the drag of soft fur as distracting to Viltez as it was to him, or was he used to it, as he was slowly getting used to his clothes still?

As breakfast starts, Autharyx finds that sharing boss food comes easier to him than expected. He even kind of likes seeing Viltez enjoying the offer, rather than feeling resentful for having to give something of his up. It's... novel in a not entirely unpleasant way and he keeps a thoughtful silence as he carefully eats the sticky fruit.

"I haven't seen all of the wastes yet, so I was thinking of going to the market stalls again, " he says after licking the last of the sticky juice from his fingers. "I wouldn't want to impose on your work time," he continues carefully, trying really hard not to convey that watching someone do work was only slightly lower on his list off things not to do than actually doing work himself.

"Perhaps we could set a time and place to meet again? "