Blackout's question jerked Whitestar out of his silent spiral into darker memories. Get ahold of yourself, she thought furiously. He turned to look at the two calm, colorful dragons. He knew their scales could turn invisible, and they possessed a deadly poison that could probably kill a human on contact. But he wasn't sure if these Rainwings would be able to handle the Den. It was a dangerous and sickening place. But there wasn't much to risk in telling them anyway. He glanced at Blackout and gave the slightest nod.
She laughed out loud when Apple translated what Bamboo had said for her. It was nice to be laid back and joking with friends for a change. Alyssia walked up to the rainwing and began examining her eyes. She was surprised that the dragon didn't back away at all and seemed to be allowing her to see her eyes. The milky white was actually pretty and held an aura of kindness in them. She heard the other dragons conversing and tuned her ears to try and understand. Bamboo inquired what they had been talking about and she looked at Blackout and Whitestar to see their reactions to the inquiry. Waiting for this moment, she was excited to finally tell them what she had been thinking about: her plan for the rescue. Not waiting for Whitestar and Blackout, she went ahead and started to explain to Apple, relieved that Apple could understand English.
"So, we were just talking about the place apparently called the Scorpion Den, that scary ol' city out in the desert where they apparently buy and sell dragons. I was trapped there but, somehow, I escaped with the help of another dragon and then I ran into a group of other dragons in the desert and accidentally led a group of nightwings to them. They were all taken captive but I got away. I met Blackwing who was actually in the patrol that fought us but he escaped from them. And, Whitestar here has a friend in the group that we're gonna go save. We were just talking about how we are gonna do it." She grinned mischievously again, "And, I've been brewing a plan to get in and get them." She laughed at herself and looked back at the other three dragons, expecting full well a confused look from the English she was speaking.
"I don't know what y'all were doing before this or where you live and when you need to be home, but we could always use more dragons to help us get in and save them." You would definitely be very helpful, she thought. "Thought, it's totally up to you," she added. "This isn't your fight so you don't have to help us if you don't want to. Though, if you have any information on the Scorpion Den, that would be just as helpful." She smiled at Apple, knowing full well that she couldn't see the smile, but wanting to just to make the other dragons wonder what she had just said, she waited for Apple's response to her story.
Apple was slightly embarrassed. All her life she had trained herself to listen well and hear what others were saying, and yes, it had gotten her into trouble before, but she always hated accidentally eavesdropping.
She concentrated on not listening, instead.
She searched for Bamboo, opening her wings slightly til her left wing brushed his nose. She felt him move his body slightly so she could properly feel where he was.
"Bamboo, start talking louder. Give me something else to concentrate on please." She murmured softly, so only he could hear.
Bamboo's grin faltered for a second, taking on a concerned look briefly. In the past, they had asked each other for a distraction when they felt scared or down- then he realized why. He glanced back towards Blackout and Whitestar, seeing them conversing.
Subtly, his back leg moved and his claw tapped once on her back left talon.
Yes.
He gave a wide smile again.
As Alyssia began chattering to Apple, Bamboo knew it would keep her distracted so she wouldn't accidentally overhear anything the other two would say.
But still, she had asked something of him.
He smiled almost imperceptibly.
Bamboo moved back a few paces, where he could see all of them at once, and began humming a silly little tune and bouncing on his talons in one place. He quickly grinned at the others in case he was receiving strange looks.
But now, his mind was racing.
Of course, he was being silly and crazy per usual, and yet suddenly his mind had frozen with one thought.
What if this was stupid? Like- more stupid than my normal ideas?
He looked over at Apple, who was listening curiously and silently to Alyssia.
If I did something bad, I might've led her into a trap... We don't know them... They could do anything. And what am I supposed to do? I can't protect the both of us.
Apple, unaware of his thoughts, was conversing with the human still.
"Wow! You're a quick planner!" She said quietly with an amused smile. "I'm curious about this thought of yours."
She felt Bamboo looking at her, and turned her head slightly so her sightless eyes were in his direction. Giving him a grateful smile for his humming, she turned back to the human.
Bamboo stopped bouncing and humming for a moment. His unseeing sister always felt him looking at her, and for the millionth time, he wished she could see his smile. He wanted so badly to show her a smile, the millions of colors, and everything in the world.
But he couldn't.
And her not being able to see wasn't helping this situation. If the others decided to attack for some reason, he didn't know if he could bundle her away in time.
Bamboo realized abruptly that he was appearing too serious. He wasn't a very serious dragon anyways, but he didn't like to appear that way even when he was. A fun appearance put others at ease, and he didn't want others to be tense or uncomfortable.
He went to his little happy place in his brain. "Welp, I'm curious what's going on here!" He announced, his mind happy and carefree again. As he bounded over to Whitestar and Blackout again, Apple thought about how everything had gone still and silent a moment ago around Bamboo.
She had noticed something change for a moment. Her silly brother was serious for a moment, and that meant he was thinking about something. She made a mental note to ask him about it later; but for the moment, he was back to his usual self.
Blackout waited for a moment for Whitestar's response. When he nodded, Blackout turned away so he could face the two Rainwings and the human better.
He saw Apple and Alyssia talking, and he felt a sudden happiness seeing a human and dragon get along so well. Where he was from, there wasn't a whole lot of that.
He paused for a second. For a split instant, there was no smile on Bamboo's face and he was watching his sister closely.
He wasn't bouncing or humming. He was perfectly still and looked as though he was pondering something heavy.
But before Blackout could fully register if anything was actually wrong, the usual grin was on Bamboo's face again. He hopped over to them, chipperly asking what was going on.
Apple turned, obviously curious but too quiet and polite to ask.
Blackout quickly ran through an overview of what had been happening.
"Well, basically, I am from the Scorpion Den." Seeing a horrified look on the other two's faces, he hurried to fix it. In the back of his mind, he felt a respect and slight admiration for Bamboo as the Rainwing had just barely shifted and spread his wings slightly to place himself between Blackout and Apple.
Blackout winced inwardly. "No- no I left because I hated the fighting and the violence," He assured them.
Bamboo relaxed slightly, but kept his eyes fixed on Blackout with his wings just barely in front of Apple.
Blackout mentally commended Bamboo for his bravery.
"I couldn't stand the bloodshed. I was taken along with others to go fight a small battle near the Den, and when I couldn't kill a dragon, I fled because I knew I'd be punished and I didn't want to go back anyways. I entered the jungle and heard Whitestar and Alyssia conversing. When I approached them, I found out that Whitestar is a friend of one of the dragons that was taken into the Den; actually one of the dragons I was sent to go fight. Alyssia had run into them as well, and now all three of us are trying to come up with ways to save them."
Bamboo looked at Apple, and Apple leaned forward against his wing. He lowered it slowly, and she stepped closer to Blackout.
"Alyssia told me she has a plan. If you are open to my translating, I'd like to help." Light blue shimmered and swirled across her scales, and Blackout recognized curiosity.
He glanced at Bamboo. Yellow and teal warred across his body, and Blackout caught eyes with him. An equal mix of worry and excitement.
Yellow won, though, as excitement took hold and Bamboo got closer too. "I wanna help! I wanna join!" He said eagerly.
Blackout blinked. Their quick enthusiasm took him by surprise.
she is gonna want to kick some butt of those who are nasty hearted.... LES GOOOOO
