_-Captain BRM-_
Post Tenebras Lux.
- Feb 1, 2021
- 2,337
- 25,462
- 831
For the next two weeks, Cersei faithfully visited my lot, coming back from work with me every night.
The SolarWing began to move. He began to step out of his cage, both mentally and physically. But most importantly- he began to trust.
We started out slow.
My daily routine with the dragon didn’t change much. I’d make him unfurl his wings completely, stretch the tight muscles in his back legs and foretalons, and I’d lead him around the lot, watching his muscles tense and spasm in pain and fear.
He was on multiple pain drugs, but it was always an adventure to get him to accept the medicine. I could no longer pin him down, or force him to take a serum by mouth- he was much too strong, even though he was still healing and sick.
The dragon was never aggressive with me.
Even when I forced each, tight claw back, helping work the blood down into his continually clenched, pale back-talons.
Even when I reopened closed wounds to clean the injury out and keep infection at bay.
Even when Cersei and I would corral him to the back corner, and pin his neck against the cell bars so that one of us could administer whatever medicine necessary.
He hid pain well when he was the one in control. But if I ever had to restrain him in any way, the horrid fear would return, the awful terror. His breaths would come in short, desperate gasps of anticipation, and he’d wear himself down over nothing. It wasn’t good for him, and I knew it. But what else was there to do? Sedatives were hard on the body, and I feared I’d reset our progress completely if I stole the SolarWing’s consciousness.
Sometimes silent tears would roll down his broad cheeks as I worked, leaving me to wonder whether they were my doing, or the tramazing fear that never left his eyes.
It hurt to see any creature this way, but every ounce of pain felt by the dragon only kindled my fierce loyalty towards him.
The dragon began to listen to me, too, his ears and eyes alert as I spoke and moved. He began to grow eager every night when I returned from work, waiting silently at the cage door.
He still hadn’t spoken to me with his own voice, his own words, but I knew he was capable of the action due to the countless nights I awoke to the dragon's fevered dreams. He would say words with little meaning, sometimes stringing them together to create a nonsensical sentence, or he’d mutter bits and pieces, leaving me to guess, and try to connect dots which never really existed.
Progress was being made, albeit slowly, but progress all the same.
A new hope began to germinate, and I looked at the SolarWing with a caring, loving air, no longer holding back reserved emotions for the creature, my spirit considerably lifted.
“So.” Cersei started, trotting up to my side. “Have you thought of a name?”
This was a question which had been nagging at me for weeks.
Last night, before she left, Cersei had tried to coax the dragon into speaking. We wanted to learn his name. He had stared back at her with gentle, knowing eyes, but remained silent, eventually growing tired of her questions.
“Yeah,” I nodded, stopping beside my lot door, “but I want to hear what you came up with first.” I pushed the door open.
Cersei moved straight for the dragon, her dark, straight hair tied back in a disastrous clump.
He was waiting for us, his ears alert, standing beside the cage door.
“I couldn’t really come up with anything good.” Cersei admitted, opening the cage door. “Honestly, I don’t feel like I know him well enough yet. Every day he seems to change.”
I sighed. This was true. Somedays I would think we made significant progress, only to wake and find the SolarWing huddled in the far corner of the cage, tremors racking his spine.
His personality was never predictable.
I set my pack down beside my bed, retrieving the regular vials and a syringe, then moved towards the lab cage. “I know,” I offered Cersei the short, narrow vials. “But he’s gotten a bit better.”
Cersei took the vials as she entered the lab cage. “I’m getting rather tired of calling him ‘SolarWing.’”
Cersei reached towards the red dragon, and he jerked his head away, retreating a few steps back. I frowned, leaning up against the cage bars as Cersei whispered a quick apology, slowing her movement.
He pulled away from her again, stumbling back quickly, and I motioned Cersei towards me, recognizing the all too familiar look of fear in the dragon’s eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Cersei whispered, meeting my gaze for a moment as she backed against the cage bars.
With a quick shake of my head, I walked around the cage, keeping the bars between us as I approached the dragon.
I was pleased to see him putting weight on his left wing and back talon. He usually favored the entire left side of his body, due to a torn ligament in his left shoulder, and an infection in the back of his left heel.
The dragon approached me with a calm air, and I extended my hand, running fingers along his curved cheekbone.
I glanced back at Cersei with a playful grin. "How the tables have turned."
She smiled, but shook her head, advancing slowly towards the dragon. "I must be missing something…"
Immediately he rushed back, trapping himself in the corner, crouching low to the ground.
My heart leapt as a low growl vibrated through the lot.
"Cersei, get out." I whispered, nodding towards the cage door, not daring to move.
Cersei froze, and I could see the hurt in her eyes.
But the SolarWing crouched lower to the ground, bearing his teeth, legs shaking as he awoke weak muscles.
"Get out." I repeated, and Cersei listened, backing away slowly.
The dragon's growling died out as Cersei retreated, slipping out of the cage a moment later.
His eyes followed her across the room, and I could see him struggling to focus as he stumbled to counter her movement, shifting to the opposite end of the cage.
"What do you think it is?" Cersei asked quietly.
English was my first language- but hearing her speak it in my lot somehow caught me off guard. I was so used to speaking Dragon around the SolarWing, it took me a moment to reply.
"I wonder…" I began in English, trailing off when the SolarWing's ears moved flat against his head. I switched back to Dragon. "Take your hair out, Cer. I wonder if he can't recognize you."
Cersei hardly ever tied her hair back. I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen it pulled away from her face, but the idea of this upsetting the dragon seemed quite probable, given that nothing else about Cersei had changed even remotely.
It might be a stretch, but worth a shot.
I took the vials from Cersei as she removed the binder, her black hair brushing her shoulders as she looped the band around her wrist.
She approached the SolarWing, holding her hands out, and I found myself holding my breath, hoping my reasoning was correct.
"Hey, bud. It's just me." Cersei whispered, stopping in front of the cage doorway. "Just me." She offered her empty hand, and I watched the fear dissipate from his eyes.
"There we go." I breathed. "Maybe he's struggling to see. Strange that he couldn't recognize you."
"Strange that he responded that way." Cersei mumbled, and I was in complete agreement.
I had yet to hear the dragon growl, or see him respond with any sort of aggression. It was unnerving to see him go so far- the dragon had no fire restricting drugs in his system, nor had he been fitted with the commonly seen shock collars so many trainers used to keep the dragon in line. I’d hate to use anything of that sort and risk a setback on our already fragile relationship.
But the SolarWing truly was dangerous. He could easily kill us both if he desired to do so.
"Do you think he's okay?" Cersei asked, nodding when the dragon nudged her hand, taking a step forward.
I joined Cersei, offering the vials once again.
The SolarWing stepped back, moving out of Cersei's reach.
No way.
I moved my hand back.
No. He was smart. Of course he had recognized Cersei. It was the drugs, the vials which had scared him away.
Yes, I used syringes and vials around the SolarWing regularly, and he had been on multiple medications for the past several weeks- but just today I had added one to the mix. Straight biotin. It wasn’t even that important. I wanted to bring the shine back to the SolarWing's dull, sickly scales.
I wasn't sure how the dragon had noticed the added vial. It looked no different than the five other slender bottles. Perhaps he'd seen me collecting the vials from across the room, perhaps he had noticed me add the sixth. Whatever the case, a sudden realization crept down my spine.
Had he really fooled us this entire time?
He was smart. He was stupid smart. And, though continually blinded by broken fear, I had a feeling this dragon was so much more that he seemed.
We only saw the fear and the pain.
Oh, how I desired to be in his mind, to read his thoughts, to know what was really going on in his mind.
The SolarWing met my gaze with a knowing look.
I shivered, scoffing in awe.
The SolarWing began to move. He began to step out of his cage, both mentally and physically. But most importantly- he began to trust.
We started out slow.
My daily routine with the dragon didn’t change much. I’d make him unfurl his wings completely, stretch the tight muscles in his back legs and foretalons, and I’d lead him around the lot, watching his muscles tense and spasm in pain and fear.
He was on multiple pain drugs, but it was always an adventure to get him to accept the medicine. I could no longer pin him down, or force him to take a serum by mouth- he was much too strong, even though he was still healing and sick.
The dragon was never aggressive with me.
Even when I forced each, tight claw back, helping work the blood down into his continually clenched, pale back-talons.
Even when I reopened closed wounds to clean the injury out and keep infection at bay.
Even when Cersei and I would corral him to the back corner, and pin his neck against the cell bars so that one of us could administer whatever medicine necessary.
He hid pain well when he was the one in control. But if I ever had to restrain him in any way, the horrid fear would return, the awful terror. His breaths would come in short, desperate gasps of anticipation, and he’d wear himself down over nothing. It wasn’t good for him, and I knew it. But what else was there to do? Sedatives were hard on the body, and I feared I’d reset our progress completely if I stole the SolarWing’s consciousness.
Sometimes silent tears would roll down his broad cheeks as I worked, leaving me to wonder whether they were my doing, or the tramazing fear that never left his eyes.
It hurt to see any creature this way, but every ounce of pain felt by the dragon only kindled my fierce loyalty towards him.
The dragon began to listen to me, too, his ears and eyes alert as I spoke and moved. He began to grow eager every night when I returned from work, waiting silently at the cage door.
He still hadn’t spoken to me with his own voice, his own words, but I knew he was capable of the action due to the countless nights I awoke to the dragon's fevered dreams. He would say words with little meaning, sometimes stringing them together to create a nonsensical sentence, or he’d mutter bits and pieces, leaving me to guess, and try to connect dots which never really existed.
Progress was being made, albeit slowly, but progress all the same.
A new hope began to germinate, and I looked at the SolarWing with a caring, loving air, no longer holding back reserved emotions for the creature, my spirit considerably lifted.
“So.” Cersei started, trotting up to my side. “Have you thought of a name?”
This was a question which had been nagging at me for weeks.
Last night, before she left, Cersei had tried to coax the dragon into speaking. We wanted to learn his name. He had stared back at her with gentle, knowing eyes, but remained silent, eventually growing tired of her questions.
“Yeah,” I nodded, stopping beside my lot door, “but I want to hear what you came up with first.” I pushed the door open.
Cersei moved straight for the dragon, her dark, straight hair tied back in a disastrous clump.
He was waiting for us, his ears alert, standing beside the cage door.
“I couldn’t really come up with anything good.” Cersei admitted, opening the cage door. “Honestly, I don’t feel like I know him well enough yet. Every day he seems to change.”
I sighed. This was true. Somedays I would think we made significant progress, only to wake and find the SolarWing huddled in the far corner of the cage, tremors racking his spine.
His personality was never predictable.
I set my pack down beside my bed, retrieving the regular vials and a syringe, then moved towards the lab cage. “I know,” I offered Cersei the short, narrow vials. “But he’s gotten a bit better.”
Cersei took the vials as she entered the lab cage. “I’m getting rather tired of calling him ‘SolarWing.’”
Cersei reached towards the red dragon, and he jerked his head away, retreating a few steps back. I frowned, leaning up against the cage bars as Cersei whispered a quick apology, slowing her movement.
He pulled away from her again, stumbling back quickly, and I motioned Cersei towards me, recognizing the all too familiar look of fear in the dragon’s eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Cersei whispered, meeting my gaze for a moment as she backed against the cage bars.
With a quick shake of my head, I walked around the cage, keeping the bars between us as I approached the dragon.
I was pleased to see him putting weight on his left wing and back talon. He usually favored the entire left side of his body, due to a torn ligament in his left shoulder, and an infection in the back of his left heel.
The dragon approached me with a calm air, and I extended my hand, running fingers along his curved cheekbone.
I glanced back at Cersei with a playful grin. "How the tables have turned."
She smiled, but shook her head, advancing slowly towards the dragon. "I must be missing something…"
Immediately he rushed back, trapping himself in the corner, crouching low to the ground.
My heart leapt as a low growl vibrated through the lot.
"Cersei, get out." I whispered, nodding towards the cage door, not daring to move.
Cersei froze, and I could see the hurt in her eyes.
But the SolarWing crouched lower to the ground, bearing his teeth, legs shaking as he awoke weak muscles.
"Get out." I repeated, and Cersei listened, backing away slowly.
The dragon's growling died out as Cersei retreated, slipping out of the cage a moment later.
His eyes followed her across the room, and I could see him struggling to focus as he stumbled to counter her movement, shifting to the opposite end of the cage.
"What do you think it is?" Cersei asked quietly.
English was my first language- but hearing her speak it in my lot somehow caught me off guard. I was so used to speaking Dragon around the SolarWing, it took me a moment to reply.
"I wonder…" I began in English, trailing off when the SolarWing's ears moved flat against his head. I switched back to Dragon. "Take your hair out, Cer. I wonder if he can't recognize you."
Cersei hardly ever tied her hair back. I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen it pulled away from her face, but the idea of this upsetting the dragon seemed quite probable, given that nothing else about Cersei had changed even remotely.
It might be a stretch, but worth a shot.
I took the vials from Cersei as she removed the binder, her black hair brushing her shoulders as she looped the band around her wrist.
She approached the SolarWing, holding her hands out, and I found myself holding my breath, hoping my reasoning was correct.
"Hey, bud. It's just me." Cersei whispered, stopping in front of the cage doorway. "Just me." She offered her empty hand, and I watched the fear dissipate from his eyes.
"There we go." I breathed. "Maybe he's struggling to see. Strange that he couldn't recognize you."
"Strange that he responded that way." Cersei mumbled, and I was in complete agreement.
I had yet to hear the dragon growl, or see him respond with any sort of aggression. It was unnerving to see him go so far- the dragon had no fire restricting drugs in his system, nor had he been fitted with the commonly seen shock collars so many trainers used to keep the dragon in line. I’d hate to use anything of that sort and risk a setback on our already fragile relationship.
But the SolarWing truly was dangerous. He could easily kill us both if he desired to do so.
"Do you think he's okay?" Cersei asked, nodding when the dragon nudged her hand, taking a step forward.
I joined Cersei, offering the vials once again.
The SolarWing stepped back, moving out of Cersei's reach.
No way.
I moved my hand back.
No. He was smart. Of course he had recognized Cersei. It was the drugs, the vials which had scared him away.
Yes, I used syringes and vials around the SolarWing regularly, and he had been on multiple medications for the past several weeks- but just today I had added one to the mix. Straight biotin. It wasn’t even that important. I wanted to bring the shine back to the SolarWing's dull, sickly scales.
I wasn't sure how the dragon had noticed the added vial. It looked no different than the five other slender bottles. Perhaps he'd seen me collecting the vials from across the room, perhaps he had noticed me add the sixth. Whatever the case, a sudden realization crept down my spine.
Had he really fooled us this entire time?
He was smart. He was stupid smart. And, though continually blinded by broken fear, I had a feeling this dragon was so much more that he seemed.
We only saw the fear and the pain.
Oh, how I desired to be in his mind, to read his thoughts, to know what was really going on in his mind.
The SolarWing met my gaze with a knowing look.
I shivered, scoffing in awe.
Yah, yeh, YAA, it's GUNNA GET exciting, gotta build it, yo. Appreciate feedback.
@-Shade-
@-Kiwi-
@Crestcrazy2
