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Character: Dysarrin
Stage: Apprentice
Current lvl: 8
Luck: 4
Creatures: Dunkel x7: Level 16, LUK ≥ 2 (71-100)
Uuuuugh, Dys you aren't impressive stop rolling 100sssssss.

Battle outcome: Lose x 4, Win x 3

16 x 3 (wins vs Dunkel) = 48 + [16 / 2 x 4] (loss vs Dunkel) =
80

Left over Exp Bin: 5/8 --> 8/15 with 7 lvls gained (Lvl 15)
LUK: 4 --> 7 (3 Victories in Range)
Luck loss count: 2/3 --> 3/3 (+1 LUK) -->3/3 (+1 LUK) --> 0/3
LUK: 7 --> 8 --> 9

+3 Dunkel Wing

It wouldn't have been irrational to leave her there. Or even to finish off the work the dragons had started. As she was, she wouldn't be able to stop him. Besides a few pitifully weak whimpers, she probably couldn't even vocalize her concerns. So why shouldn't he? The golden Orderite was pureblooded, a temperamental, stubborn, thoughtless creature. A danger to his home and his clan. A shining blight upon this earth, spurred by the radical notion that they were somehow the top race, despite being clearly inferior. Sparing her was as much as treason.

But Dys stared at her unmoving frame through narrowed eyes. He had yet to move from where he'd landed after the last battle, and his female companion showed little sign of even being awake, let alone capable of travel. The girl wasn't large or particularly intimidating. She hadn't shown any degree of strength or prowess when faced with death. She was loud, but that wasn't much of a benefit.

She'd healed him.

He rolled to his stomach and scooted closer to her on all fours. That short fact coincided with nothing he'd learned from his elders. Did she gain something from casting her magic on him with what could've been her last burst of strength? He leaned in close enough to catch the sound of ragged, rushed breathing escaping her lips. Golden girl was still alive, at least, something she wouldn't have been unless she bestowed Dysarrin with her curing powers. But had she known this would happen? So teeny and weak... She couldn't possibly have thought about it.

She would be spared this day. From the hybrid boy, if nothing else. Perhaps when she awoke, she'd explain herself. And if he didn't like what he heard, then he could dispose of her. For now, he needed to get her away from this dragon-infested crag and to someplace his tribe-mates wouldn't intrude upon, which was... slightly harder to determine, since he'd never actually been out with them...

He cast the thought to the back of his mind as he carelessly bundled the blond witch across his back. If she whimpered and mewled as he moved her, Dys ignored it.

The trek was long, dull, and the pureblooded girl somehow became heavier with each passing moment. Originally, Dys had thought to take her outside of the clan's territory, but... that was too much work for an Orderite; too far of a walk for him to make on her behalf. Instead he found a shallow dip in the rocks. Fronds of grass stabbed up through them like tiny needles, and a short distance away there was a smattering of gnarled trees. Tiny bugs flit about, and he could almost taste the creatures scurrying along the tree roots. She could stay here and have all the supplies for nest building, if she wanted.

He deposited her in the nook and collected a few things from the outside to bundle around her for warmth or security or whatever else a pureblood might need. He'd wanted to stay by her side until she awoke, but since she was taking her precious time with that and making him wait, he decided to leave her behind for the day. Check back again tomorrow. With a final nudge to a few twigs to hold them in line, he departed back for his clan.

The next few days were tougher than expected. When he visited her the next, she was awake, but unable (or maybe just unwilling) to do much moving. She whimpered when she spotted him and drew in upon herself, but as it usually did, the sight and smell of food made her much more welcoming.

The time after that, he brought her a pelt, a big soft one that her tiny frame could easily roll up in and be comfortable all night. As he smoothed it out in her nook, she experimentally brushed his arm, and then recoiled with a startled squeak when he turned to stare at her.

By the third day, Dys was starting to realize that her magic must be exceptionally weak (perhaps because she was a pureblood), or maybe she just didn't know how to use it. When he sat on the rocks before her, he shoved a wrapped bundle of herbs at her. The Orderite's confusion was evident, but with a little growling persistence, she amassed that she was supposed to eat them to regain her strength.

Something in the way he knew which herbs to give her must have struck the Orderite girl as mildly intelligent (or at least capable of intelligence), because her brows furrowed as she glanced at him, and she whispered on a puff of air, "What's your name? Do you understand? N-a-m-e?" with each syllable slowly enunciated for his convenience.

His wings flicked and he scooted closer. She hadn't really spoken to him, yet. She'd said a few things when they were with the dragons, but she'd never said much to him, outside of whimpers or maybe a muttered thanks. He leaned in, staring inquisitively at her before rumbling out in a low, scratchy voice, "Dysarrin."

Her eyes lit up and her mouth popped open into a tiny 'o.' "Y-you know? You understand what I'm saying? I'm Angelique. Th-that day, with my parents? You were trying to save me from those bad people, weren't you?" He didn't see a need to correct her. "And then with the dragons, and now this... You're really trying to help me, but those bad people are still out there. The really big ones, the hybrids." Dys's nose wrinkled at her disgust. "I want to go home... I want to go back to Serenia... But I'm not strong enough. You are, I think." He sat a little straighter, giving a pleased puff of his chest. Yes, he was much stronger than some pureb- "Will you take me?"

Leave? His shoulders sank and his eyes narrowed. A hiss slipped from between his lips. "Can't," he growled. "Too far. Day too short."

"Oh..." Her golden wings sank to the ground and her gaze turned down. "Yeah, I guess... You're pretty young too. I can't take you away from home just so I can go back to mine... But, maybe..." She glanced to the side, rolling her shoulders as she thought. Against his will, Dys found himself intrigued, and he leaned forward as encouragement for her to continue her thought. "If I was strong like you-" Another surge of pride swept through him. "-I could go by myself. Can you show me how to be like you?"

Dysarrin tilted his head, wings flicking as he considered her words. She was so scrawny and pitiful. She could never be like him. But she did have magic that she could use on him- that she actually would use on him. That made her valuable. Too much value to let her leave, anyway. But since she couldn't be like him anyway, he could show her good things. And if he got in trouble she could heal him so his clan wouldn't be suspicious. Mmm, yes, she could watch him. That would be okay. He gave a tight nod before rising to his feet. "But only next day."

As early as Dys could escape his clan when the sun rose the next day, he did. As always, the girl was where he left her, tucked in her nook and bundled in the furs as she scraped a sharp stone against the ground to draw pictures with. Angelique looked up at his approach, and a smile stretched across her face. "Dysarrin!" She chirped in excitement as she flung the pelt off of herself and ran to greet him. "It's tomorr- Er, next day. So you'll show me how to be strong now?"

A rumbled consent was as much of an answer as she was going to get. He took her by the arm and started tugging her away from the safety of the nook. When he'd last left her, he'd carefully scoped out a good place to bring a teeny pureblooded Orderite. Dys was still new to the lands outside of the clan's encampment, so when he found something interesting, of course he'd want to share it.

Today's show-and-tell led the two young one's to the dark and gaping entryway of a cave carved out in the mountainside. Dys's wings flicked in delight. More new territory to explore and a blond to light it for him. He nudged her forward, flicking his wrist as a sigh for her to use her magic and light the way in.

Angelique seemed slightly less enthused now than she'd once been, but with a quiet huff of determination, she gathered flecks of light magic in her hand. "This will help me go home...?" She whispered uncertainly. At Dys's vigorous nodding, she took her first steps in, with the hybrid boy right behind her, then peering up the cave walls, then scampering ahead. He yipped in delight as her lights caught on something embedded in the wall. It shined and shimmered, and with some difficulty, Dys plucked it free and stored it away in his clothes for later.

The pureblood could see all the best things in the darkness. She was good. He could keep her.

He moved ahead again, claws scraping along the rocks in his excitement. But the light dimmed and wavered, and the hybrid turned around to see that Angelique had paused. "That," she whispered, fingers pointing up toward the cave's roof. "What is that?"

Dys followed her gaze, tipping his head back to see a small mass of leathery bundles stuck to the roof, each carefully swaddled in a web of black protection. They didn't move or twitch, just hung there, limply, strangely. Dysarrin yipped at them, and his voice carried the length of the cave, but still the bundles didn't move. They were so high... He could climb the cave wall, but still wouldn't be able to reach one... It would be a good thing to have too. A bundle like that.

He scrabbled around on the ground until he could produce a rock suitable for throwing. His attack nailed one of the bundles right in the side. It violently thrashed to the side, unfurling as it tumbled to the ground, and Dys ran to greet it. When he approached, it screeched, and suddenly, the other bundles quivered and wavered in a flurry of activity.

More screeches, dark mottled across his vision as the creature's wings violently flapped around them. His girl's lights flickered and went out. She whined over the noise, then her magic burst forward again.

It was suddenly quite overwhelming.

With a snarl, Dys leaped, catching a creature between his claws before flinging it at the ground and pouncing on it. Another fluttered to close to his face and was shredded by pointed teeth. Others bustled around him, berating him (and supposedly the girl) with the flapping of their wings and adamant flopping of their bodies against the children's. Rocks suddenly became better projectiles, sailing through the air and crashing into the swirling menaces. Sometimes they'd draw too near, and would fall prey to a powerful swat that sent them careening to the ground.

But mostly, Dys was aware of the girl's whimperings. She mewled for help and whined, tossing her orb this way and that as the light from her magic warded off the creatures. In the flurry, she found Dys's arm and latched, adamantly tugging him back the way they'd came. Only once he collected what pieces of his kills he could find did Dys allow himself to be pulled away.

The creatures didn't follow out into the daylight. Though he was a little battered and bruised, Dysarrin still smiled upon his victories: the shredded remains of the creature's bodies in his hands, plus a few added shining stones that he'd picked up along the way. Great new things to add to his growing collection among the dragon orbs. His wings flicked in delight.

Angelique wasn't so amused. She huffed and puffed and flopped to the ground at his side. "That wasn't being strong, that was just foolishness!" She murmured. "If we hadn't caught those dunkel off guard, they probably could've drank us to death... The light must've disoriented them..."

Her words were complete nonsense. Dysarrin peeled back a leathery strip from one of his catches. These strange creatures were obviously not suited to the task of living, full of gooey pink meat as they were. He dipped a claw in and scraped up a mouthful before popping it in his mouth. Kinda funny. Almost gross, really.

Almost.

When he offered some to the Orderite, a green tinge swept across her face and she whipped away from him. The sounds of her revulsion weren't quite enough to encourage him to let the meat go to waste, even if it was a little peculiar.

((2153/2100))