Suspicious Scents (Open to All)

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Although sunlight was an often ever-present commodity during the daytime, it rarely reached the deepest recesses of Shiveki’s swamps. Thick, choking foliage was in constant competition for the sun’s radiance, often overshadowing what lay beneath. Deep within the swamplands, it would be as dark as the evening, even at noontime. The buzzing and chirping of various creatures often filled the air and kept the silence away, but every now and then, a song is cut violently short by the jaws of something with bigger plans. The air was often filled with a variety of scents, some pleasant, some not so much. More often than not, the sweet scent of the flowers was overpowered by the sickening aroma of fresh blood.

The day was at its peak, with narrow beams of sun piercing through the leafy roof wherever they could find a point of weakness. Small critters hopped and crawled about, desperate in their search for food while also avoiding certain death. Beautiful flowers did their best to grasp at what little sunlight they could find, leaving many of them wilting and rotten. Lizards lay in waiting atop the surface of the bog, waiting for an opportune moment to strike against an unsuspecting or incredibly idiotic critter. With the choking plant live, the dark and murky waters, as well as the vicious wildlife, one would have to be either lost or stupid to wander here.

Amongst this quick-acting microcosm of the food chain, a scent stronger than the rest filled the air. It was not the viscous stench of a rotting corpse, nor the vile odor of the swamp waters. It was a sweet, sugary scent, wafting through the air above the heads of common critters. That appealing smell could be traced easily back to a large flower, sprouted from a mound of mud and other plants. It was gigantic as far as flowers go, possessing a thick green stem and wide-stretching petals. The petals had a wavy pattern of yellow and orange, which was a feast for the eyes in among the dense world of dark green. From the center of the flower, a smooth bud sat, cracked open ever so slightly. A thick, golden fluid flowed from the cracked bud, giving off the intense scent. It seemed to be waiting for some other creature to take the fluid and pollinate another flower, but there were no other plants even close to similar anywhere else within the swamp.

Tinuviel didn't like the fact that there was a small congregation now in the clearing. When one of them called out to her, she hid deeper in the tree. It would probably be best to just show herself...
She just let her eyes show through her invisibility, their crimson depths staring down Tharasis with great distrust.
"Who are you...?"
She said quietly, keeping the rest of her form hidden.

As the weird glowy creature turned and looked at her, despite the fact that Thorn was cleverly concealed in the brush, disappointment boiled into anger. She did not like the unnamed male’s companions, not one bit. Of course, she would tolerate them for the time being, given there was something bigger at play, but she swore she’d find a way to deal with them later. In fact, she made a mental note to ditch the group, that was if she didn’t murder them on the way out. Perhaps if she dealt with him, the others would leave. A flicker of her conscience made her remember the sympathy she’d felt for him earlier, sympathy which she deemed misplaced. 

Alas, much of her thinking was disrupted by the call of a voice. The words came from above and startled Thorn enough to make her skulk back deeper into the brush. If one were to look keenly, it would be obvious that there was something off about the way the foliage parted, though it wouldn’t be evident to the untrained eye that there was a creature lurking there. Rather than responding or making her presence known, Thorn simply waited, biding her time for the chance to strike. If it were truly a dragon and not some cruel trick, perhaps she could finally get the meal she’d been denied.

When they saw the pair of eyes appear to them, all would stare back at it. His essence dragons only moving their heads, and though they were not attacking the still possible threat. If the supposed dragon were to attack then nothing is stopping them from attacking this dragon except for their masters orders.

To which he told them to stand down, and stand down they did. But kept their blank stares at the dragons above.

Tharasis would give the dragon a friendly smile, before he would speak.

" Hello there. I am Tharasis, you can reveal yourself now. " He paused for a moment and realized  his essence dragons still looked rather. intimidating to ones eye. And he would give the dragon above a reassuring smile as he spoke once more.

" Don't worry. They wont hurt you. " He said this as genuinely as he can. Trying to convince the dragon that everything was alright.

" Might you come down from there so that we can talk a little easier? " As he asked this he had forgotten about Thorn. And as a result he didn't know what her intentions were in staying quiet and hiding. Nor did the fact did he not even know what she was doing at the moment.

Tinuviel slowly let her invisibility down. Her grey scales a stark contrast to the green of the trees. The dense dark grey eye marks on her limbs looking almost like splotches from the distance. She spotted a boulder to the side of Tharasis and hopped down onto it, her wing attachments scraping against the stone a little.
“I thought there was two of you? Or was the other one, one of those?”
She pointed to one of the ethereal dragons. The look of them made her spine crawl, and her webbed spines and fins rose a little instinctually.

As Tinuvel descended from the tree, Thorn tensed in surprise. She didn’t quite comprehend the realm of invisibility, thus the way this dragon eluded her so easily was baffling. However, it was not time for her to try and think about the circumstances, as none of those would matter in a moment or so. The dragoness was small, but she was not too small. Small enough to be easy prey, yet large enough to be a decent meal. As Thorn poised herself to strike, she hesitated upon hearing their conversation. It dawned on her that she had been seen earlier, likely when she was hunting. It only assisted in reminding her why she hunted in the thick of the swamp in opposition to the barren plains. 

Still, Thorn wasn’t going to let that entirely dissuade her. She figured that would only mean she had to be more decisive in her attack time. The thought of Tharasis trying to stop her, as well as this dragoness’ potential abilities, none of the technical hodge-podge crossed Thorn’s mind as she readied herself, only waiting for the right moment...

Tharasis was happy to see that she had revealed herself. And he kept his gaze fixed on her as she hopped down to a nearby boulder to perch on.

" Oh, there are two of us. Shes just hiding, I think... " He said in an unsure voice, and looking around he couldn't see her.

But as one of his essence dragons that had spotted her before had told Tharasis where she was. And he took note of how Thorn is acting really sneaky, and the possibility of her attacking this dragon was something he took account of.

And so, he instructed his essence dragon silently to move in front of Thorns general direction. So if she had any plans of pouncing the dragoness she would first have to get through the wall that was the essence dragon.

To add to this the cyan dragon even extended its wings, taking a stance of defensiveness as it braced the ground to counter any force she could give it should she had attempted to pounce.

And as Tharasis saw how Tinuviel had her spines rise up he had guest she was still not too comfortable, and most likely still has her guard raised. So he would give her a warm smile, before he spoke.

" Dont worry, I think she'll reveal herself eventually. " He reassured her. Hoping this would be enough to make Thorn who he now knows is up to something, reconsider her plans.

"I see..."
Tinuviel said quietly, eyes darting towards the ethereal dragon who had its wings open. Her claws gripped the boulder slightly, forcing her spines and fin's to lower. It was clear she wasn't in any danger but... why did she feel threatened? The feeling definitely wasn't coming from Tharasis. Perhaps the fact that the other dragon was hiding was putting her off. She silently loosened the soil around a tree behind the cyan dragon with its wings open with her abilities, just in case she needed to use it for self-defense.

To say that Thorn was displeased with the situation unfolding wouldn’t be doing it justice. It wasn’t cooked to the point of anger, but annoyance was beginning to boil over the rim of the pot. In fact, the whole dish was beginning to spoil due to the essence dragons, of which she despised oh so much. Her plan fizzled away, though was not discarded, simply stowed in the fridge for a later date. Of course, she’d love to murder the ethereal beings, but how? She was a plant, how does a plant fight magic? Magic was something she usually tried not to think about for that very reason, but that was difficult when the very idea of it was blocking her way to a nice meal.

On the brighter side of things, Thorn was at least pleased to see that the others were getting defensive. It was nice to know that she was still able to instill fear, or at least concern at that. Alas, she didn’t figure she’d get a meal out of this dragon either, given how protective Tharasis had decided to be. At the rate of which food was being made unavailable, Thorn figured it was much more opportunistic to leave the lovebirds to whatever nonsense they intended, she herself returning to the swamp. The idea sounded at least feasible, but it wasn’t ideal.

Oh, bother. She at least ought to make herself known, as there wasn’t any way for her to do it sneakily anymore. Deception was her greatest ally, so perhaps she could still manipulate the situation in a beneficial way. Finally making a move, Thorn lifted herself upright, stepping slowly out of the bush, completely ignoring the presence of the essence dragon. She was mere inches away from it, yet disregarded its existence. Instead, she stared at Tinuviel, her piercing gaze dripping with an ooze of somewhat-genuine loathing.

“Very vell. Here I am,” Thorn sighed in introduction, “no thanks to YOU.” She glared at Tharasis upon the emphasis of “YOU”, clearly upset with another meal made unavailable.

Tharasis expected, but nonetheless was still surprised by her saddened and a little hostile tone.

" Whoa there Thorn. Calm yourself, I think there is plenty of food here for all of us. " He said gesturing with his wing at the pile of game that his essence dragons had caught. And a brief pause would go on till he would look at her with a warm smile.

" So Thorn, meet our friend here. Uhh. " Tharasis still did not knew the name of this dragon, but he hoped his tone was enough to let her know he was asking for her to fill up the blanks of his sentence.

And while they would talk the essence dragons got about to do their work, separating the catches into equal piles for the 3 dragons. before they would stand at attention to the right side.

Tharasis at this point could feel they were getting very weak, a sign that their essence was nearing to complete depletion and it would only be a matter of minutes till they began to dissipate one by one. But everything was done at this point. So Tharasis did not worry about it.

Tinuviel crouched back a bit at Thorn's tone, webbed spines and her ears shooting upwards defensively.
She watched Tharasis as he talked from her peripheral vision, eyes fixed on Thorn.
"My name is Tinuviel.. and she is Thorn I'm guessing?" She couldn't get why Thorn was looking at her so, had she done something to her the in past that she couldn't quite remember? Insulted her by accident? That couldn't be right, she'd never met her before now.
"Am I intruding? I can leave if i'm invading anyones private space. I was just going to grab a buck and toddle off.."

Alas, Tharasis’ offering of the already-caught deer didn’t seem to ease Thorn. Instead, her glare shifted between the two of them before every-so-slightly fading. At the very least, this "Tinuvel" was alarmed by her presence, thus telling her she was doing something right. In truth, the glare was more so fueled by disdain for Tharasis revealing her.
All of a sudden, Thorn’s glare vanished, replaced with a suspiciously sweet smile.
“No, no, of course not. You’re not intruding on anyvhan, sveetheart.” There was nothing overtly odd about her voice, though it was a contrast to the tone she had greeted with.
“Ve vere just… Curious. A vanishing dragon isn’t somezhing one sees every day.” With that, she snuck a warning glare to Tharasis, as if to tell him not to mess the story up.

Tinuviel stepped back a little, caught off guard by the sudden change in attitude.
"...Vanishing dragon...?" She echoed, still confused. Tinuviel could feel something was wrong, a gut feeling perhaps. Her abilities pushed against the her normally strong hold over them, as acting as a secondary warning to whatever was occurring. Thorn didn't seem to be the type to change moods so quickly..
But what did Tinuviel know? Thorn may very well of been that type. She had just met these two odd drakes, she knew nothing about them.
"Are...you sure i'm not intruding...you seemed pretty mad."
Subconsciously, Tinuviel reached for her small leg pouch of little pointy metal ball bearings she had fixed on her hind leg, somehow knowing she may need to use them to get away.

Tharasis could sense the hostility in Thorn, and his thoughts were confirmed when he saw how she gave him a glare. And though he just gave her a simply smile he knew what she was capable of. But he has yet to see it. And hopefully he wouldn't have too.

At Tinuviels word he would turn to look at her, a soft smile on his face as he came close.

" Of course not. Its just well, Thorn can be a bit of a... well moody dragoness. " He said not sure how to best describe her. And when he noticed how she reached for a leg pouch he was worried that at any moment these two dragons could start killing each other.

He quickly moved about, ordering his essence dragons to gather up wood and form a small pile of it. Before he would light it on fire. The small fire would be enough to cook all the catches. Though he was not sure if Thorn would like cooked meals.

Still he gathered up the catches and sat down close to the fire. Using his essence liquid he would begin to form a grill over the fire. Allowing him to easily cook the catches.

He would then gesture for both Tinuviel and Thorn to sit on either side of him. So that he could act as a barrier between the two.

His essence dragons at this point would have been drained of their essence. And one by one would slowly begin to dissipate into nothing but mist.

" So Thorn. Would you like yours cooked? " He asked, as he had already placed 4 catches on the fire for him and Tinuviel.

Thorn’s smile faltered ever so slightly as Tharasis spoke. It wasn’t a very calming smile to begin with, her lips and her teeth were the same part, but it certainly didn’t improve. She completely ignored what Tinuvel had said, simultaneously overlooking the preparation of the pouch. Instead, Thorn turned to Tharasis, raising her brow. 

“I am not moody,” she growled defensively, innocent tone peeling away like old wallpaper, “and I am NOT a dragoness.”  

Having felt that she’d conveyed her point effectively enough, Thorn’s smile dropped entirely, watching as Tharasis went about his business with the fire. Notably so, she flinched visibly as the fire was lit, taking a fair few steps away from it and sitting down there instead. Although Thorn breathed a sigh of relief as the essence dragons dissipated, something was evidently still keeping her on edge. She stared at the fire, keeping an eye on both Tharasis and Tinuvel.

“No,” she finally answered, “leave zem raw.”

Tinuviel curled up a little, not feeling comfortable around Thorn. She stayed quiet, hoping Silex, who had come hunting with her, was around.
"So uh...uhm....are you two in a tr-tribe...?" She tried to hold in her emotions, out of fear that her fear of Thorn would cause her abilities to lash out and attack her.

"Or are you guys...rogues?"