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Faraday watched the dragons leave as she dropped down next to Axis. Her clawed hand rested on his furry back and the other hand stroked a wing. Axis finally closed all his eyes as he lay there, content. Faraday started to examine his wing, pulling out bits of grass, twigs and leaves and loose feathers. Axis' other wing fluttered and Faraday grinned, reaching over his broad back to give the other wing the same attention.

After a few minutes, Faraday's stomach started to growl. She clutched at it and poked Axis.

"Axis, I'm hungry."

Axis rolled his lion eyes.

I know, Faraday. I'm hungry too. Even though we ate only hours ago, I'm starving.

Faraday sighed and stood up, stretching her wings out behind her. Axis also stood, stretching his tired limbs.

"So I guess we go to hunt as well, hm?" Faraday asked. Axis just gave her a look and started off in the opposite direction of Ophelia and Enero. Faraday hesitated and glanced the way the dragons had gone before hurrying after Axis.

Soon enough, Faraday caught the scent of squirrels. As Faraday's stomach growled, she hoped that it was a large family of squirrels. Axis stopped under the tree where the scent was strongest. He looked at Faraday and shimmered out of visibility. Faraday heard him scale the tree, though Axis became silent as he neared the nest. Seeing through Axis' eyes, Faraday could see inside the hole in the tree. A family of six squirrels lay in there, sleeping beside a pile of nuts. Her mouth watered. Axis quickly snapped up a squirrel with each head and swallowed them whole. The other three, now awake and terrified of the invisible enemy, were snapped up as well, though Axis did not swallow. He dropped back down to the ground to meet a chimera Faraday. He dropped the squirrels and Faraday lunged before they could escape. Each head snapped up a squirrel and quickly swallowed.

Faraday stood in human form and licked her lips.

"That wasn't too filling but--" she quickly stopped as a strange scent filled her nose. Axis stared at her.

What is it? Wha- He quickly cut off as he too caught the scent.

"What is it?" Faraday asked fearfully. The scent was familiar and strange at the same time; deadly yet alluring. Faraday's insticts told her to hide--quickly.

Basilisks. Axis' eyes narrowed, as did Faraday's.

Keep your eyes narrowed. One glare and... Faraday bit her lip and nodded.

"Perhaps... perhaps they aren't... hostile?" Faraday's mouth quirked into a smile, despite her fear. Axis shrugged and started forward. A knot of fear twisted in Faraday's stomach.

"Axis, no!" she cried. "I don't wanna see them."

Axis just gave her a sharp look before following the scent of the basilisks. Faraday shifted into chimera form as she followed him hesitantly.

Dream of the Infinite Beauty

"I feel you're right." Arronen spoke to all of them now. "There is strength in numbers after all." He began to move out of the way of Caden, but she preferred to stay behind him, and so moved with him.

She noticed she was being watched, and began to twist her hair in her hands gently. She used to be very bright and outgoing, and would have loved the attention. That had all changed though, and now, after all she'd been through, it made her feel a bit like she was under observation again. She didn't say anything, though. She had learned a long time ago that speaking out can get you in trouble. Arronen felt her anxiety.

"Come. Let us hurry. Caden, shift back. I don't have the energy to carry you today." Though his voice seemed cold and distant, Caden obliged with a hurry. He was always an old grump, but Caden love Arronen with all the love she could give. She knew he felt the same as well. That was enough for her to obey his every command. Even in the proud, beautiful shape of a unicorn, though, she fidgeted; stamping her hooves gently and twitching her tail. She always stayed silent in the presence of strangers.

|| Thank you! ^^ I wasn't waiting for anyone in particular ||

Madoc's senses were just as honed as Ruad's, which was to say "very". In most respects, actually, they were alike. What that meant now, though, was that they spotted the two approaching beings from fairly far away, even given the poor lighting. The red eyes really did help, though the fact that there seemed to be six of... whatever was coming was fairly disconcerting. Madoc sniffed the air; it was a very, very strange smell. Sort of lion-y, and bug-y, and human-y... Human? Madoc looked sideways at Ruad, kind of wanting to ask the angel what he made of it. After all, despite how old Ruad looked, he'd been around for many, many years.

Ruad seemed to catch Madoc's thought. At least, that was what Madoc took the small twitch of a smile to be. The human scowled at that; Ruad was not supposed to be in his mind! "Get out," Madoc hissed, staring forwards again. Ruad mirrored his scowl, then spoke. "Chimeras. Pay more attention next time. The same smell was around the alchemists' labs," the angel said softly, though anger was apparent in his voice. What problem does he have?! Doesn't he realise mind-to-mind communication would be infinitely more practical at the moment? Ruad thought, moving to stand in front of Madoc. He didn't look back to see the expression of outrage he was sure would be there. This was just practical... And Ruad would probably kill himself if he ever let anything happen to Madoc. Well, anything he didn't do himself, anyway...

The appearance of the two creatures surprised Madoc - less so Ruad, who had dealt with them in the past. Madoc was more than happy to see that there were only two of them, not six, but the fact that each had three heads... And wings, Madoc reminded himself, absentmindedly reaching up to lay a couple fingers on one of his own. That meant they couldn't escape by flying, though Madoc was sure they were far more aerodynamic than the creatures in front of them. Madoc could probably fly comfortably in the forest, but they? They were too large for that. Small comfort, the human thought, secretly more than glad that Ruad was willing to stand between them. Glad, and... Shut up. Don't think about that, Madoc reminded himself, firmly focusing on the creatures before him.

"Are you from the labs?" Ruad asked cautiously, his head tilted slightly downwards and to the side. He wanted to make sure that these two were not, in fact, wild chimeras. That would be very, very bad. "I don't need protecting!" Madoc hissed at Ruad from behind, distracting him from his observation of the two beasts. Ruad just clenched his jaw angrily, turning his head so that Madoc could hear him. "Yes you do, little "harm none". Now shut up and let me potentially keep us alive. We don't know if they're going to try to eat us or not!" the angel whispered back, his eyes only betraying his anger. Madoc ground his teeth in frustration, because he knew Ruad was right. He's always right... the human thought with a little more fondness than he was comfortable with.

Faraday shifted uncomfortably as she shrank behind Axis. The bird-men were staring, and their unnatural beauty and looks made her shameful of herself. Axis sensed her thought and turned away from the bird-men to face her. His fierce glare made her ashamed that she had thought such a thing and she quickly resumed human form, her wings shuffling dryly. Axis snorted and turned back to the bird-men, Icarii, as he called such beings.

"Yes, we're from the labs," Faraday replied, meeting the Icariis' gaze with her mismatched eyes. "But we do not work for them," she added fiercely, fingers digging into Axis' fur where she clutched his back. Axis shifted uncomfortably as her claws dug into him, and Faraday realized what she was doing and pulled her fingers away from him. Axis turned back to the Icarii.

They're angels, Faraday whispered in his mind, glad for the mental comfort Axis' mind brought to her.

Axis nodded slightly.

My kind call them Icarii, an old name for angels. Chimeras and angels go way back. However, I wouldn't say that they had a good relationship. Faraday prodded at his mind but Axis wouldn't explain further.

"Are you two from the labs as well?" Faraday asked warily, slowly moving from Axis' side. He started to shift himself to block her again, but she pushed him back. Faraday wanted a better look at these angels, or Icarii or whatever. They did not seem comfortable with each other. This puzzled Faraday. If they knew about the labs, they were surely bonded, right? And if they were bonded, why would they be so uncomfortable with each other? One seemed to have a tattoo over his eye, but Faraday couldn't really see it. She crossed her arms, not as intimidated as she was before.

Suddenly, Axis stiffened. He caught the sound of cans and shouting, and a strong whiff told him that basilisks were about. Axis bristled and stretched out his wings. Faraday threw him an alarmed glance.

Where are you going?

Axis launched into the air and within a few powerful beats he was over the treetops.

Stay here, he warned her. Keep an eye on the Icarii, and I'll go invesigate those basilisks. He glared down at her, daring her to follow. Faraday glared right back but stayed on the ground.

Whatever.

Axis snorted again and flew off in the direction of the basilisk smell. He didn't go very far before spotting a basilisk and a young woman down on the ground. Axis circled them a few times in the air before gathering the courage to land. He kept his wings out and his eyes down, ready to lift off if the basilisks decided to attack or meet his eyes.

Far down below, a family of badgers snarled, bit, and played with each other. In a small clearing, where burrows were made into the old trees underneath their roots, they popped in and out, hissing, and yelping their calls. Above, as Enero and Ophelia danced with the skies and winds, it was almost unbearable to listen to their play as their stomaches growled hungrilly. The smaller, earthen dragon, the young female who could form into such a thing from human, was growling annoyingly at Enero, beckoning him to go down with her. But, as usual, Enero wanted to stay in the skies, to watch and decipher her moves. "Training" one would call it, but ti Ophelia, pure torture. They had only been in the wild for little under two weeks, and Ophelia could be marked as one of the clumsiest, worst hunter a dragon could ever be. When she dived, claws outstretched for the attack, jaws ready to snap, she couldn't seem to steady herself right with her legs, and she would either land on the prey and hit the ground... or hit the ground only. Enero would be up in the sky, laughing through her mind, and with soar wings, she'd have to go up while growling and listen to more lectures on how to do it. Eventually, he'd be the one hunting again, to her own disgust.

I don't see why we can't just do it together, Enero. Her voice cooed in his head, trying to persuade such manner, as her wing nipped against his side. Enero quickly darted ahead with only one surge of his wingbeats, and actually flung her back a little bit through the air. It was Ophelia's turn to snort and snarl at her companion, much louder in the skies overhead than the badgers below. But, through her anger, she finally sustained herself in the air; ahead, Enero did the same thing, staring at her as his golden sliver of eyes continued to glance at the badgers. With a stubborn movement of her body, Ophelia moved forward slowly, gliding in a wide circle as she stared down at her prey. She'd give in again, but this time, she would do it. I'll show him!

'I can hear you. Enero's voice chuckled deeply. She had completely forgotten for a moment. Ignoring him, Ophelia made a sharp turn, and beat her wings downward, as hard as she could. Before she was even close to the badgers, or even the forest top, she folded her wings in and dived, mouth opening only slightly for a quick snap, hind legs and forearms stretched forward like an eagles with her claws erect. She gained speed quickly, and before she was over the badgers, just barely skimming the top of the trees, she snapped her wings open, a father badger not even knowing she was there. Ophelia landed on the badger as all the rest scurried off in the action fo a second, squeeling and frightened, while the one under her snarled, yelped, growled and tried to bite it's way through her claws. Before he could do anything to the palm of her claws, where there were no strong scales, Ophelia snapped the poor things neck.

Although she hadn't brought herself up, forgetting to, she had gotten a badger. As she looked up in the sky, she was surprised to Enero wasn't there. Huh. Probably catching a deer or something. he probably was indeed; badgers were too small to feed such a large creature. This adult badger would only feed Ophelia's stomache alone, and probably not even fill her stomache completely. And, just as she thought, there was a loud snarl in the distance, and beating, as Enero rised from the clearing of trees, a dead figure held in his back talons. Ophelia quickly opened her wings, all the way, and surged into the air and he whipped past her area overhead. As she trailed behind him, trying to catch up, Enero's voice laughed in her head. He was obviously in a good mood.

'You forget to surge upward. Remember that next time. But at least you got it; I'm proud of you.'

But Ophelia didn't answer. She only tried to figure out how to do it in her head, again.. the mistakes she made, how to fix it. Enero only told her the same thing over and over again; how was she to learn from that? Ahead, Enero spotted another break in the trees, the very spot they claimed 'Home' for now. But, with thoughts of hunting past, her stomache so starving for food as flying drained her, it was almost welcoming.

Ruad and Madoc exchanged nervous looks when the formerly-human of the two said that they were from the labs, though Madoc broke the contact as soon as he realised that Ruad was looking back. Instead, he glared fiercely at the ground, lifting his eyes to look at the two chimeras only when he didn't look so angry. He wasn't, for all his piss and vinegar, stupid. Starting a fight with two potential allies would be folly, especially since they'd only just escaped the labs. Madoc's opinion of the two as "potential allies" only solidified as the girl added that she didn't serve the labs. "Sounds pretty vehement about it, too," Ruad murmured to Madoc. the human responded by shifting away a little bit.

Ruad eyed the true chimera not warily, but respectfully. He had known many chimeras in his long life, but had had a mixed bag with them. Furthermore, the history between angels and chimeras was a little... dark. Angelic lore told of the first chimera being created by Lucifer himself, for use in his war against God. They were not all evil, to be sure, but they were still absolutely not creations of God. But then, the angel thought, his eyes shifting over to Madoc, is he, anymore, either? It was something Ruad had thought about often. At any rate, it had made him a little more disposed towards ungodly creations.

"We are," Madoc called back to the girl in reply, his voice still sounding with the leftovers of anger. He found it interesting, how the one moved to protect the other. That was supposed to be Ruad and me, wasn't it... the human thought, anger burning in his throat. But it can't be. Ever. Madoc punctuated the last thought by strongly pushing the image of Ruad out of his mind. He saw his angel wince out of the corner of his eye, and wondered if it had somehow been more than a mental image. Madoc shoved down the twinge of regret he felt at having possibly hurt Ruad, too, and instead smoothed the hair over his left eye. The girl had been looking towards it as though there were something there.

It rather surprised Madoc when the larger chimera took off, though Ruad had expected it. After all, while the human had been daydreaming, Ruad had remained alert. He, too, had caught the scent of basilisks, and he figured that the chimera had flown off to check it out. Ruad cocked his head to the side a bit, then decided to stand. Madoc scrambled furiously to stand up before he did, but ended up almost tripping. He caught his balance again by using his wings, which caught the light of the moon in a way that made them almost glow. It made his blunder seem somehow graceful, even.

They were silent for a bit, then - silently watching eachother, the angels and the chimera-girl, until the latter posed a question. Ruad smiled, and Madoc scowled at his apparent pleasure. "I do, yes. I doubt Madoc knows anything of them - " the angel began, though he was cut off by Madoc's swift rabbit-punch to his side. They both stumbled a little bit, as Madoc felt the pain as acutely as Ruad did, then straightened, fire in both of their eyes. "Don't be such a moron!" Ruad snapped, falling into a fighter's crouch with an almost eerie ease for an angel. Madoc snorted, glaring. "Don't imply that I am!" the blond retorted hotly. Ruad clenched his fist hard, then glanced at the girl. "Do you have to be a p***k even in front of guests?" the angel asked slowly, knowing he had Madoc there. Indeed, the human turned beet red and looked down, glancing sideways at Faraday.

Ruad straightened also, brushing his hair back with one hand. "Sorry about that," he said, his tone implying Madoc's stupidity. "But what did you want to know?" Madoc crossed his arms and looked away, hunching his wings a little bit. Who knew an angel could look so petulant?

Ruad's eyes narrowed, and he glared at Madoc. Faraday's tone told him that they'd just managed to do exactly what he hadn't wanted to - make her uncomfortable. Madoc knew it, too, and knew it was his fault. He ground his teeth a bit in frustration with himself and his short temper, and frustration with all of this. Why couldn't he just not have been born?

Ruad winced at that, too, though Madoc didn't notice. He turned halfway to look at his bonded, his expression one of worry and conflicted love. Madoc's thought there hurt Ruad more, and on a more important level, than when the human had landed the mental blow. Whenever Madoc had thoughts like that... It made Ruad's heart bleed for the human, and perhaps see it all in another light. Madoc still drove him crazy, but... How easy can any of this have been for him? He, a human? Ruad made a motion as if to reach out to Madoc, then let his hand fall and turned away. He would have shaken me off anyway, Ruad thought, taking a deep breath to recompose. Madoc pretended he hadn't noticed any of it.

Ruad was about to finally answer the chimera-girl when she blurted... Both Madoc's and Ruad's heads snapped towards her, though neither seemed particularly offended. Madoc just laughed when she continued on to ask "why". "Because I hate him," he said, not looking at his bonded. Something in the tone of his voice, though, made it sound as though he were trying to convince himself... His words simply rang with the hollow tone of a continuously repeated lie. Ruad clenched his jaw and looked pointedly away from Madoc. "We don't get along," the true angel amended flatly, though something in his voice hinted that there was something more to it as well.

We get along too well, really... Ruad thought, sighing inwardly. Too well for Madoc's taste... A flash of anger crossed his face in the aftermath of his thoughts. Ruad's fist clenched and unclenched briefly by his side before he let it rest. We can fight later... Just not in front of her. We probably need her help, the angel told himself, looking at her. "Sorry about that. We'll try not to fight... Right, Madoc?" Ruad asked pointedly. The human glared. "Just wait until we're alone," he muttered, too quietly for the girl's ears but easily heard by Ruad's. To the question, though, he nodded. Ruad smiled grimly, knowing the fight that would take place then. But for now, it looked like he and his bonded would be feigning peace.

Good. Finally... The thought echoed in both of their heads, coming from neither one in particular. Both let out an inner sigh of relief. Even if it was just "pretend", it was something they both wished for.