1x1 with sugarbird

[sugarbird]

-----Orion felt like such a fool when Lehra pointed out how bad he was at flying, and landing. Still, he was too enamored by this brand new world he stumbled into to feel too ashamed for his clumsiness. The shock of this new environment wore off, and his senses adjusted to the forest. To say he loved this place was an understatement. "It's.." he began, pausing for another second while his head slowly turned this way and that. "...better. So much better." He turned down at the grass again, rubbing his palms across it back and forth to feel every blade brush his foot. This grass stuff was insane!

-----Orion suddenly perked his head up to look at Lehra. "This is what grass feels like- w-w-what does sand feel like? A-am I ever going to feel sand? What's the desert like?" The drake's face lit up upon thinking about the whole world that was still left to explore. He was like a child in a candy store for a minute. But of course, Orion suddenly remembered that he was still a house pet in a giant, unforgiving world. Still, he was more than excited to experience this hard new life he'd have to take on. So long as Lehra, his only friend, would be here to experience it with him. And if he died, or if she ended up leaving him to die, that'd be fine too. He wouldn't be dying in that dusty old mansion he's lived in his entire life. He'd be dying in a place he loved dearly, even though he hasn't been in it for more than five minutes.

-----"Oh, Lehra. You have to show me your home sometime. If.. w-well, you don't mind." he asked timidly. "You must miss your home. I b-bet the desert is.. unforgiving and.. t-terrifying. B-but great! It must be just as beautiful as this forest." His tail wagged slowly, still looking around and trying to take a few steps in this grass substance. Felt weird, but it wouldn't take long to adjust to. "If I live to see it, that is. Ahah.." Orion just thought about what he was saying, and felt a sudden surge of embarrassment hit him. He was acting like a child.

-----"Ahem- er, sorry." Lowering his head a little to be more on level with Lehra's slightly shorter height, he looked to her for instructions. From now on, she'd be his leader. "To answer your previous question, I can't recall the last time I flew. Probably since I was a fledgling." Orion put a talon to his chin as he thought about it. "W-which was.. two hundred.. something years ago." he huffed with shame. "Alphonse would n-never let me fly in the mansion. And.. I'm afraid he wouldn't have let you fly in the mansion either, i-if you stayed." The drake sat on his haunches, surprised at how soft the ground beneath him was. It was like carpet, but better. Less stiff. "I can tell you more later.. perhaps we shouldn't stick in one place for too long?"

[Bronzewing]

"The natural world is always better." she said with a nod of her head. "You should see the travesties the scroll did to my home! Nothing but sand- hah! Didn't even pay attention to the old ruins out there." She shook her head- at least dragonmade scrolls should know about them! She would prefer the humans stayed out of the ruins, a place a bit too far into the rough sands for most of them to make it to- and besides, why would they even want to go there? It wasn't as dragon-filled as it used to be, but it was their place... and she wanted to stop thinking about it. This forest would be her new home now.

"This is real, fully organic, green grass." she said- the wonder in Orion's voice amazing her. This was so new to them that they were amazed by something as simple as grass? Well, at least it wasn't hardwood flooring or some other humanmade material. Lehra hated having her claws on those. "Sand is...pretty different. Like dirt, but softer. Runs easier through your claws, but some of it gets stuck behind and is immensely annoying. Gets hot quick, but not burning dragon feet- and it feels kind of nice to walk on. Safe, warm, all the good parts." Was that even a good description of sand? She had never had to describe it before- everybody she knew of course heard of sand, they lived surrounded by it!

"Once everything cools down, and maybe if the humans stop bothering us- I can show you. But don't get your hopes up- it'll take a long time before we head there." she admitted with a shake of her head. She sighed- she would have preferred to be there right about now, but of course not! She had to deal with this whole human debacle and trying not to get herself killed! Sure, she was Lehra the Warmaker- but waging war against the humans was never her plan! "Actually, I don't even know how long it'll take them to calm down. They did seem pretty upset- and when it comes to making money, I doubt they'll stop anytime soon."Shame.

She walked around, motioning with her barbed tail for the other dragon to follow her. "Oh, I can confirm that
I wouldn't ever be staying. Even if we didn't escape and he didn't take his revenge on me, I would burn things until they had to do something about me!" she said, a small laugh escaping her jaws. "Besides, that's all in the past. We're out now, and we can fly as much as we want! Once I find a spot with clear skies, I can teach you how flight works. But for now, just follow me."

This wasn't the best, but at least they got out- things would be better for the both of them from now on.

[sugarbird]

-----"I see.." It was a shame that Lehra seemed doubtful about ever going to see her desert home. Perhaps mentioning it wasn't the brightest idea- he had no idea how much she was possibly missing it right about now. But it was almost as upsetting to him as it was to her that they'll never probably see that place again. Orion's always wanted to see a desert in person. Well, he's wanted to see any environment in person, really. So the fact that he'd be missing out on that was very disappointing. But no matter. He's made it outside of the mansion, and he's therefor seen so much more than he could've ever dreamed of before this escape. "Well, we can never know, right?" Being a domesticated dragon meant that he didn't have the same pessimism or caution that a wild dragon had.

-----He chuckled a bit at her saying that she never would've stayed there anyway. That was the confidence of a dragon with the title of "War Maker." The drake got off his haunches and obeyed as she suggested that he follow her. He absentmindedly matched her footsteps while he trailed about a few good paces behind. Orion's neck was craned, ears alert. They swiveled and aimed at the slightest sounds of chirping birds or humming insects. His trance wasn't broken yet.

-----There was still a ton of questions he wanted to ask her. What was it like being wild in general, for a start? What countless challenges were there to face? How does she hunt? How does she live for so long? Orion wasn't a good judge, but he guessed she was at least a hundred years old based on her maturity. He suspected she was a little bit younger than himself. Boy, how embarrassing would that be? Feeling like an uneducated child in the midst of a master while still being older. "M-might I ask where we're going?" he brought up timidly. He had a bad feeling that, whatever she was trying to do with him probably wasn't good. But no matter what she planned on doing to him, he was thankful she played such a huge role in letting him experience freedom for the first time in almost two centuries.

[Bronzewing]

Lehra really didn't want to think about the fact that she wouldn't be going back home. She would love to incinerate all the humans, to make them regret what they had done! They took her away from her home, they kept Orion away from the wild he should have lived in all his life, they killed her kind... she kind of wanted to go back there and fight to the death, but what was the point of that? Nothing would be accomplished, and she already got her claws on all of them she would be able to. "Yeah." she sighed, twitching her tail as she spoke, looking down at the ground for a moment before picking her head back up like the strong dragoness she was. She was a Warmaker, after all!

Maybe she should ask him if he wanted a title of his own? Orion the...not Warmaker, that wouldn't work at all. Orion the Freed? Orion the Liberator? Maybe she should ask, but it did feel strange to give a title to a dragon only a day out in the open. After all, titles were given to dragons known for what they did, and Orion was not yet famous for escaping. Well, maybe among the humans, but who cared about them?

"As for where we're going, I have no clue. I guess we can walk around, see what's around, get further away until it gets darker. It has been a long day, after all." She looked up at the sky, wondering what was even out here. Humans? Of course, but not this far in. Some other creatures? Maybe, but she had no clue what would be out this far. Dragons? No- the humans would have already combed this place. Dragons were probably gone from forests. The best she could think of at the moment was just to keep walking, maybe see if Orion's book knowledge would come in handy.

[sugarbird]

-----Oh, great. She had no clue. Both of them had no clue what to do. She did say she was a desert dragon, he supposed. Not so much a forest dragon. Lehra sounded like this was something she was used to, though. She must've been in plenty of situations where she didn't know what to do out in the wild but felt her way through things. Orion figured she immediately had a plan, though. A plan as to what to do once they escaped. She seemed so confident in the fact that she would escape while she was in there. Confident enough to plan ahead afterwards. Well, no matter. So long as she was around, he stood a bit of a chance out in the wilds, plan or no plan.

-----"Okay.." While they walked, the fear of a completely new environment slowly started to sink in. With excitement and freedom, came new experiences and fear. Lots of fear. His tail was slightly tucked between his legs as he followed her, keeping a sharp ear out for anything that sounded like a hunter. They still had quite a while left of the day before they could rest and unwind from the escape.

-----"I-I've read a lot about forests, but-- n-now that I'm actually in one, my memories of what I read escape me." he began, deciding to start a conversation to pass time while they searched for a suitable place to stay for the time being. "I wonder what there is to eat in this place.. wait. Wait! Mushrooms! Berries!" he spouted, talking more so to himself than her. "There must be some here we can swipe for ourselves in this place. Though, this doesn't seem to be the kind of forest to hold berries. Maybe there'd be truffles here? Chanterelles.. maybe some other fungus." he rambled. "Oh. But I'd have to consider our diets. I don't really remember what I ate while living in that mansion.. I think I mostly had some weird mix of- meat and some kind of green stuff ground together and poured in a bowl. Sometimes I'd get a slab of wild meat, but that was luxury." Orion then shut his mouth when realizing how unhelpful and annoying he was probably being. He shifted his gaze away from hers and tried to avoid embarrassing himself further.

-----"B-but uh, I don't know. I-I don't even remember what region this is, or what would grow here." he chuckled to himself. "I'll have to live on plants and such if I want to live out here.. c-considering how.. p-p-pitiful I'd be at hunting."

[Bronzewing]

Was she SUPPOSED to have an idea? Her idea was "get out, fly far, fly fast" not whatever this was. She had done her part, now they just walk around until they thought of something. She had no reason to plan this far ahead when she wouldn't even know what WAS ahead. Maybe...they would find something? Or something- preferably not humans- would find them? She had absolutely no clue about forests, and while she wasn't as out of her element as Orion was, she...wasn't a hundred percent knowledgable.

"Yeah." she said, continuing to walk with a brisk pace. Maybe they would run into something? Or, looking at Orion, maybe he heard something useful from a book...

Nope.

Mushrooms? Berries? Why would she eat mushrooms or berries? Those were just small plants, nothing but a mouthful- she had tried things like that before, mostly when the traders brought them in from far before the whole trouble started. She only tried berry-splattered meat once, and it was fairly good, just a lot more...planty and less sandy than expected. But hey, better than cacti. But eating them on their own? Fungi? What in the world was a truffle or chanterelle? She might have asked, but then he would go off on a larger tangent.

She thought to herself- if they found wild meat and berries, could they cook something like she had that one time almost 70 years ago? Did she even remember as well as she thought she did? It shouldn't be that hard...and maybe food, or at least seeing if there was a decent source of it, would be a good place to start. Yes- that was good.

I...don't think I would eat any of that, at least not on its own. But that does bring up a good idea- we should look for food, at least for a good source of it. Better to do it now when we're not as hungry then when we're starving and can't find a thing. How hard even was it to find food in a forest? She heard it was full of tons of food- and there was the chatter of small animals (small, meaty animals) that could lead to food. "Besides, I can deal with the hunting for now. We just need to find something to hunt, and then not end up burning down the whole forest doing it!" she said with a small laugh.

[sugarbird]

-----It was exactly as he feared. Lehra seemed to be more of a meat eater it seems. Well, she was from the desert habitat. There was really nothing much there to eat in the form of plants. Cacti, maybe. Some rare dry little shrubs. The real nutrients one would get from the desert are the prey, from what he's read. Lehra would be slightly more of a carnivore than him. And if that was the case, they absolutely needed to hunt something instead of just foraging for food that doesn't move. Great.. great. Time to make himself look like an idiot in front of his savior.

-----Orion gulped. Yes- hopefully she wouldn't burn this whole place down trying to kill something. He wasn't really looking foreword to watching her kill something either, if it means he has to witness it. He's never watched things get killed before, unless it was a robber being struck down immediately by a guard. They never got far in that mansion. Already the drake was feeling immense embarrassment, and he hadn't even started hunting yet. "Right.. hunt." he mumbled in response. He followed behind her closely, hoping that she wouldn't make him of all dragons hunt their first meal in freedom.

-----To imply as much as possible he's never hunted before without directly saying it, he cleared his throat and asked a question. "So, what kind of things did you typically hunt? And.. h-how did you do it?" If Lehra, by some miracle, didn't know he couldn't hunt, then she for sure would know that now. Orion was already fairly humble, but it was even more humbling to be in the wild floundering about aimlessly alongside an untamed dragon who actually knew what she was doing.

[Bronzewing]

She looked around, taking in the sights of the forest, having no clue what Orion was thinking at the moment- she had turned away from him, busying herself by turning over rocks and stones and looking at various things scattered around. She could say that this place had a LOT more stuff to look at than her usual desert home did. What even was half of this stuff? She kicked a stone, watching it roll across the ground, like...a heavier, weirder sand grain. Huh.

"I can tell you've never hunted something. I'll be a dear and not ask you to find something." Knowing him, he would fall over and scare away every bit of food in the whole forest! No- she would do it herself, maybe having Orion put out any fires she started on the way. "But you're gonna follow me as I go find something. Good?" She didn't even wait for an answer, already raising her wings and starting to soar just over the ground. Wasn't an easy thing to do since of the trees, but at least using her wings to propel her forward gave a bit more speed.

"Out in the desert? Mostly hunting various camels, snakes and lizards some times, larger creatures that wander close. There's not much, but we don't need much anyway." And...how? You just leapt on it, scratch it to death with tearing claws! What else did they want from her, to teach him how to use a sword? Each one of his claws was enough to take out whatever came near. "Not sure what we have in the forest, but we should know what's edible once we see it."

How in the world would she even start on training them? She had never done something like that before, since all dragons knew how to get their own food, and he sure wasn't going to survive out alone that way!

[sugarbird]

-----Orion was thankful that she just knew right away how bad he would be at finding food for them and offered to do the work instead. Even though he had nothing to be ashamed of for not knowing how to hunt something, he was still very embarrassed that he was a dragon, a powerful force of nature, that couldn't hunt even a tiny rabbit for the life of him. Lehra seemed like the type to be incredibly impatient, at least, in his eyes. Being a teacher probably wasn't her strong suit. He was dreading the time when he would actually have to earn his keep, and do some hunting himself.

-----But she did ask him to follow behind her for the time being. He could do that, seemed simple enough. Even for him. "Uh- y-yes! Good! I can do that!" But by the time his full answer was stammered out, Lehra was already a good few paces ahead of him, expecting him to follow immediately. Orion quickly caught up to her, making sure not to stir up too much noise as he did so. It wasn't too hard for him though, as his natural grace and lightness on his feet made it hard for him to be too loud. He was quite dainty for a drake.

-----While Orion followed behind Lehra, he finally paid attention to the wounds he had. Tiny little arrows fired at them from earlier were stuck in his hide like porcupine quills. He plucked them out from his shoulders and his back one by one as Lehra searched for their food, keeping quiet as he did so. This hurt less than he imagined it would- he's never been attacked by Alphonse's guards before. But he supposed he was bigger than any human, and weapons made to hurt other humans meant nothing to a dragon like him. While he suddenly spiraled into thoughts about cannons and dragon arrows, and about how terrifying human weapons could potentially be, a tiny little sound caught his ears.

-----Rustling. It was rustling coming from a good distance away, maybe from some bushes or from foliage on the forest floor. Whatever it was, as miniscule as it sounded, caught his attention. Orion's head shot up to face the sound, suddenly stopping as still as a statue. Though they were looking for prey, and this was probably good news, the first thought that came to his head was "danger." What if it was a poacher already? Or an aggressive animal? Though, it sounded too small to be from another dragon. "What was that?" Orion questioned in a whisper. Surely Lehra must've heard it too. Some dragons had exceptional hearing.

[Bronzewing]

Following behind her should be easy enough for Orion, she reckoned. They were light on their feet, like one of the cats that wandered the desert, much quieter than her heavier steps were. The sand tended to muffle sounds, but the grass didn't do the same and her heavy steps were rather audible. Prey animals with better ears would definitely hear her, but soaring in the air was at least a little better.

Lehra had, of course, heard the sound. Rustling- didn't sound like something as large as a dragon, and it did smell edible. Most likely prey. She thought about how she wanted to approach this- she could fly in from the sky, using her large size and power to deal damage and take out whatever it was. Or she can crouch down, moving slowly... but she wasn't a desert cat, and trying to crawl up to her prey would only lead to it running after it heard or saw the large winged creature coming up to it.

Shhh. Could be food. she warned, moving a tad closer- and there it was. A strange forest beastie, but it moved with the unintelligent strides of an animal, brushing through the leaves for...whatever it wanted. Wonderful. She crouched down, watching it come closer, before springing up into the air- heating up her dark scales as she did so. If her claws didn't kill it, the heat from her body would do it.

She lunged at the animal, rolling around with it- a flick of her heated tail started to burn the ground below her. Lehra didn't even notice, the animal squeaking as it was roasted, the grass starting to smoke up from her movements.