Leering Into Unexplored Caverns [Private/Shudaar]

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Okay, now Xasheski knew he was lost. Well, not totally lost, just somewhere he had never been before. Much more rocky than he was used to. How had this happened? Well, while he been lounging about, he had stumbled upon a herd of deer. Why was this so surprising? Because lately, the deer he had been finding had been deathly ill.

Normally, this wasn’t a problem, but their sickness had been unlike anything the young Xasheski had seen before. He had steered clear away from them, in case it was dangerous, and something that needed to be avoided. Thus, he had ended up desperately hungry. He had been laying in a tree near his little cave, tired from lack of food, when he had heard the stampede of hooves, and the screeches of dragons.

Instantly, he had perked his ears up, and had cautiously approached the scene. Two dragons were chasing after a herd of deer. The herd had split into two, with the second being much smaller. The dragons, seemingly too focused on a specific target, hadn’t noticed it, and so Xasheski had taken it as his opportunity. He had rushed forward, licking his lips in anticipation, as he began to skulk towards the deer.

Because of his hunger, Xasheski hadn’t wanted to chase after them like the other ambitious dragons had. He prefered to lay low for a while, until they tired. Perhaps they would realize the larger dragons were gone, and slow down, not anticipating a smaller, young night fury to pounce on them.

This ended up taking longer than the young Xasheski had thought it would. Darn, since when were deer this resilient? But after a while, the animals finally began to slow down. Smiling in victory, Xasheski would creep forward. He then launched himself forward, only for the deer he was targeting to see him too soon, and dart off. Snarling in frustration, Xasheski would chase after the pesky animal, spreading his wings, and flying after it. The young deer made a noise of fear, and continued. At this point, most of the deer had fled, so this was Xasheski’s one chance at a meal.

He would continue swooping after it, and, after a while, he managed to leap down, biting into its neck. The animal would struggle for a moment, before it finally fell limp, dead. The night fury nodded his head in triumph. He would pick the animal up by the neck, and look around. The area he was standing on was much rockier than where he had settled. He blinked cautiously. Had he wandered too far out of bounds?

Well, he couldn’t carry this thing all the way back home. So, he decided to walk over to a nearby tree, setting the deer down, and feasting on it there. He was also dreadfully unaware of how close he was to Vuari territory.

He was still somewhat awestruck that there was another one of his species sitting, or laying, in front of him. Shudaar had not had contact with his own kind ever before, not knowing his parents. Observing the smaller night fury's tail swaying back and forth behind him, he could only guess that the stranger was either amused or curious. When Xasheski spoke his name, Shudaar visibly relaxed, now that some sort of knowledge about one another had been established. With his ear fins sticking up, he listened as Xash asked him a question, albeit a quiet one. As he heard the last bit, his ears slowly fell back to their normal position, looking slightly down at Xash's paws to not make eye contact. Tribal status was always fickle with him. He was part of a tribe, but he just never felt like he fit in, a stranger. "W-well, its nice to meet you Xaseski?" he said, hoping to have pronounced his name correctly. "I-um well...
I do ish belong to a tribe, the Vuari, the ones that are high up on that mountain over yonder.
Cold and windy... reason I like to come down here often instead of staying up there," he chuckled nervously, casting a glance back at Xash's face and making eye contact if he was looking back.

So his suspicions had been proven correct. The fellow Night fury was in fact a tribes dragon. A member of the Vuari, even. Curiously enough, the young dragon seemed to speak fluent universal, despite the fact that, from his response, he didn't seem to fit into his tribe all that well. Had the Vuari always been his tribe? Even though Xasheski pondered these questions, he wouldn't dare to voice his concerns out loud. After all, he had experienced enough childhood trauma to know that he shouldn't try to pry history out of someone. After all, he wouldn't want that to happen to him...

Xasheski was silently glad for this dragon. It was a relief, really, to be able to allow yourself to relax. He couldn't remember the last time he had done that. The idea of it made him genuinely smile. Then, Xash turned, glancing over at the meat next to him, which he had pushed aside when the other dragon had came over.

Carefully, the night fury removed a small piece of venison, offering it to Shudaar, "You wouldn't happen to be hungry, are you?" he asked, though his voice was a bit stuffled by the meat.

Feeling like he had spoken too much, Shudaar clammed up as he realized how much he had been talking. Blinking, he would look at Xasheski, then glance around, before glancing back at the smaller night fury. It all felt awkward to Shudaar, socializing without being yelled at in return. Most of the time he would do some stunt and then get yelled at for annoying so and so or how dangerous x y and z was. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Xasheski was moving, and turned his head to watch, ears extending as he stared, without realizing it much. He watched as the smaller night fury cut a piece of meat off from his kill, before offering it to Shudaar. Staring quietly at Xash for a second, he realized that he was actually being offered food, and smiled sheepishly. "S-sure... I could use a bite after the flight.... thank you Xaseki," he said, taking the meat as gently as he could, before tentatively taking a bite out of it. "Catch this yourself?"

When Shudaar agreed, Xasheski happily would begin to cut out a chunk of meat for him. It wasn't very often that Xash shared food in this kill-or-be-killed world. And it was especially valuable because, for some reason, a lot of the prey had started acting strangely. But then again, that had been at the lower altitudes, and nowhere near any territorial land of the tribes. Perhaps the prey in the tribelands was better regulated? To be honest, even if Xash could remember what his life in a tribe was like, there was no way he'd remember something as specific as that.

He finished cutting a piece of the hip out for Shuudar and passing it to him. Shudaar then asked him if he had caught it himself, to which Xash nodded, "Yeah, I did. Certainly wasn't easy though. All the prey has been vanishing down where I live. I don't usually venture this far north..." he said, being surprisingly open about the situation despite his inner fears. Maybe it was the fact this dragon seemed so similar to him? Who knows.

Taking the chunk, he ate lightly, taking small bites out of the meat. Meat wasn't all that common, as one had to fly down to catch it, and bringing it back up a large mountain made it even more difficult. And due to his incredible reliability to not do what he was told, Shudaar never bothered to carry much food up, and any food he did was usually fish. His palette was suited towards the aquatic creatures. They are? I don't really go hunting that often... fishing is usually calmer... I don't venture far out either way." Looking down at the chunk of meat, he ripped half of it off and swallowed it. "But this is pretty delicious I must say." Looking up at the smaller night fury, he tried to age him. He would probably be younger... but he could also just be a smaller build in body. Part of him wanted to ask... but then again, he didn't want to head down that trail of thought himself so he kept quiet and chewed the last half of meat down.

Xasheski flicked his ear, staring off absently at the water. Well, this was certainly unexpected, to say the least. He hadn't been thinking he'd be having a conversation with this stranger. Under normal circumstances, Xash would have simply ran off. What had compelled him to stay? The dragon honestly had no clue. Perhaps, somewhere deep inside him, his primal instinct had told him there was nothing to fear. But at the same time.... well, there was no use in worrying about it. On top of it all, Xash certainly hadn't thought he would share a meal with anybody he met, considering how valuable food was getting to rogues.

Honestly, food shouldn't be this difficult to come by. The tribes only held a small, northern portion of Layrian. The whole rest of Layrian was practically fair game. Of course, there were always those buff, strong, ambitious young male rogues, who thought that they could claim big patches of territory for themselves, and scare off any other rogues daring enough to come hunting in it. Xash hadn't encountered as much of that in Shveki as he had in Layrian, though. Which had been a good thing. But then again, Shveki's faults outweighed its bright sides.

Glancing down at his meal, which was all but finished, Xash sighed. "I suppose it must be nice, living in a tribe. You probably rarely have to go out and hunt for yourself... and even if you don't catch anything, there's always a guarantee that somebody else caught something, and that you won't go home with an empty stomach..." he said, his voice sounding distant. Oddly enough, he also sounded more relaxed now.