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Erin rests alone in a tent of his making, the quietness of the night having long drifted him unto unconsciousness. His breath is slow and silent and rhythmic in its pattern.
In and out, in and out, in and out, in and… a moment of change shifts the energy… then the dragon breathes out through lungs not their own.
Erin’s eyes flutter open revealing piercing yellow irises, a grin stretches across his face as it sits up. With unnatural calmness it saunters out of the tent and takes in the campsite its host had set up.
A small campfire was slowly dying yet still held enough embers to illuminate the logs set up as chairs around it. It seemed a little confused as it noted how few of its host entourage were in sight.
This was quickly corrected by the sudden swipe of claws that it had only barely managed to dodge in time. The furry figure of a ferin growled at the possessing dragon.
“ Why hello, you must be the ferin… Falst correct? ” The Dragon asks smugly, tilting its head as it examines its apparent foe with amusement.
The lion man narrows his eyes aggressively and replies with dangerous calmness yet claws at the ready. “Dragon. I don’t believe we’ve met.”
“ No. I don’t suppose we have, not in any meaningful sense. ” Void!Erin nods sagely then casually gestures towards the campfire “ Come, sit down. Let's fix that. ”
Before Falst can react properly, his target walks towards the log and takes a seat. Caught completely off guard Falst slinks forward towards his possessed ally.
“ Take a seat, let's chat. I’m starving. Do we have anything to eat? ” It claps his hands together and looks around the remnants of pots and pans they’d used to cook a couple hours before.
Falst carefully takes a seat across from the strangely acting eldritch horror. The cat-like companion glares daggers into the almost oblivious Dragon who seems disappointed by how it probably won’t be able to make a meal with the scraps leftover.
“ A shame. Well, the food wasn’t the point, now how are you feeling? ” it asks as if it were a gracious politely questioning a guest.
Falst doesn’t respond and continues staring angrily at him, eventually this is broken by the arrival of Dainix who seems just as surprised to find them both here.
“Uh- what.” is all that falls from the crucible's mouth.
“ Ah, the mortal swallowed by fire. ” The Dragon notes with odd cheerfulness “ Would you like to sit with us? ”
Dainix has to take a moment to load as he slowly takes a tentative seat next to Falst who shifts slightly to give him more room.
“So… what is happening?” Dainix asks with earnest confusion “Why are you here?”
“ That’s simple. I wish to get to know you all. ” he chuckles sinisterly, and with the casual wave of a hand re-lights the embering fire. “ Ruuanaser has brought to my attention your potential as an asset despite your function as my enemy. ”
Dainix is about to say something before he’s suddenly cut off by the hisses of his feline-ish friend.
“You’re looking for weaknesses, is that it?” Falst accuses the monster
The Dragon smirks “ I already know your weaknesses, little lion. If I wanted to kill you I would’ve already done so. ”
Dainix rubs the bridge of his nose as he tries to pull apart the disparate feelings reflecting upon him, Falst is hostile and distrustful because that’s just how he is… but the Dragon, the Dragon is malicious beyond belief and too intelligent to not be lying.
“So you want to get to know us huh? Fine. What do you want to know?” Dainix said with a heavy sigh of ‘this might as well happen’
The Dragon clasped Erin’s hands together and smiled manically “ Good, glad one of you is cooperative to this little game. ” then it takes a second to ponder its question.
“ You are much like Fire, Ignan. So much feeling in that fury, in that destructive flame. So I must ask… are there moments where it feels good? ” it leans forward, hands templed in fascination as those slitted eyes analyze their response.
Dainix doesn’t know what to say, he feels the gaze of his interrogator and then looks over into the concerned and protective look Falst is giving him.
“Whether or not it feels good doesn’t matter to me, often it doesn’t. It's a primal feeling, that’s it.” Dainix says succinctly, letting out a quiet sigh as he does so.
“
Primal… like a beast?
” the Dragon hums looking over to Falst who hisses in offense.
“Like fire… you said it yourself. A lot of feeling and fury.” Dainix replies, placing a gentle hand on his companion to hopefully calm him down some.
“ Falst, are you going to keep hissing at me or do you want to add something constructive to this lovely conversation? ” The Dragon continues to verbally prod.
“Fuck. You.” Falst answers.
As the moons rise above reaching their peak, a chat by the campfire continues late into the night and the shadows stretch deeper below the surface where an eternally hungering monster sleeps…
The End.