Capella grinned cheerfully as the boy's attention was suddenly taken completely by the sword she'd stolen during her last battle. Yes, this boy was certainly dragon-like in his innocent eye for treasures. Again she thought of what a shame it was that he be born to such a boring, overbearing and petty race. Even if his temperament left a few things to be desired, such as cleverness and control over both himself and those around him - judging by the fact that he was trying so desperately to ruffle his master's feathers, she had a feeling his success rate was rather low, and she hadn't exactly found it difficult to absorb his attention completely from the moment she had appeared to him - those were problems that could still be worked out. Actually, she was impressed that, despite his Human heritage, he still had managed to reach such a high mentality. It was like finding a scholar amongst a race of savages, or a prince amongst a lower, baser crowd. While he was far from perfect by dragon standards, looking at him as a Human showed his true worth. Yes, yes, she could work with this, to be sure! There were many advantages that came with a treasure like this lad, even more numerous and more valuable than the brightest, rarest jewel in her hoard. Were she to lay claim to him before anyone else could, she could certainly make good use of him. Already, he was showing her the many ways in which he could alleviate her boredom, and, if properly trained, he might also be able to serve as a guardian for her hoard while she was away. Or maybe he could help her steal new treasures? A Human would certainly draw less attention than she did, and would be able to acquire supplies as well as precious items with comparative ease. And, although she was loathe to admit it, it was so tedious, just sitting in a cave surrounded by gleaming objects with nothing to do, nowhere to go, and nobody to talk to. Unlike all the other Humans she had met, this boy was actually enjoyable to converse with. While she, a proud dragon, would never admit to being lonely, she wouldn't have to now that she had a chance to claim for herself some tolerable company. The boy wasn't trying to kill her, wasn't treating her like some sort of creature to be gawked at - well, to be fair, he had been gawking at her, but it had been for different reasons entirely, and had been done in the same manner as he would stare at a suitably attractive member of his own species, which technically didn't count - and was actually trying his best to treat her with at least some level of respect, something it was pretty clear was somewhat foreign to him. That effort alone, even if it hadn't exactly worked, given his childish and innocent nature, was enough to satisfy the Dragoness. And so, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad if she were to procure for herself a pet Human? It would certainly be a new and interesting divergence from her usual trinkets and precious things.
But therein lay the problem. After all, it was pretty plain to see that this boy was already, in some manner, bound to the other traveler, Khrae. That man seemed dangerously single-minded, and, in the event that she were to claim his student for her hoard, she had a feeling that he would intervene. She would have a great deal more trouble stealing from under his watchful eye than she did taking what she wished from most Humans. She would need a plan, and a situation that was advantageous to her in which to set it into motion. Naturally, the first thought that struck her was to simply take the man by surprise and snatch the boy outright in a moment of opportunity. And yet, that's exactly what Khrae would expect her to do, was it not? He seemed very knowledgeable, especially of her kind. He had predicted her little mind games even before she had set them into motion, and identified her purpose with a single glance. Surely he'd notice if she, say, tried to abduct his student while he was attending whatever meeting it was the two of them were traveling to. And, although her hoard was well hidden, she had no means of knowing what method of tracking down the boy this man, with his strange powers, might possess. Capella was a very prudent dragon, and, even for this goal's immediate achievement, she wasn't willing to risk both her own safety, and the safety of her precious things, in a prospective battle where she'd have nowhere to run. Even if she was confident enough in her own strength, there was no telling what might happen to her treasure, and that was an uncertainty that absolutely could not be tolerated. In that case, she'd need a different plan. Well, in that case, she supposed there were a few other options. There were plenty of Human customs by which one person could be bound to another. An apprenticeship like the boy's was just one of those. Yet, she had a feeling that she wouldn't be able to weasel her way into Khrae's position, which left this course of action entirely out of the question. But maybe another, similar social convention could be utilized? Hmm... Could she made the boy swear an oath of fealty to her? Perhaps she could, either by cunning or through charm, make him sign himself into her servitude, or cause him to submit to a geas under which he'd have to be recognized as her possession? Or maybe a sworn brotherhood - no, this was out of the question. She liked the boy's dragon-like mentality, but she wouldn't become family to a Human. Similarly, courses of action such as adoption, marriage, a protectorate, or other similar mandates were all immediately crossed off the list. She didn't know much about Human familial relations, but all of these were pretty clearly not what she had in mind. Aww, curse it, she couldn't think of anything else! Well, actually, that wasn't entirely true. There was one other option, but that was so disgraceful as to be completely unthinkable. She was a dragon. Even if she was pressed for options, under no circumstance would she even consider abandoning her freedom just because of a particularly attractive treasure. She lived as she liked now. She would never give that life up, least of all to a Human, no matter how dragon-like that Human might be! Not after she'd fought so hard to attain that liberty.
But in that case, what was there to be done...? The way she saw it, all she could do at the moment was keep on her current course. If she stayed with the traveling party, she could at least get a feel for the treasure she right now so craved, as well as for the mind of its current owner. If she did that, then maybe she'd be able to come up with a plan to claim her prize? At the same time, she could also slowly gain the trust of both the boy and the old man, which would give her the advantage later when she decided to finally make her move. She didn't like the prospect of simply biding her time, being a very impatient dragon with a peerless craving for both treasure and entertainment, but right now, it seemed to Capella like that was the only option. She sighed slightly. I suppose that means I'll have to abandon the plan of "Distract boy, then grab him and fly off. When he asks what you're doing, tell him you're heading to Lethandrill ahead of Khrae, and making him walk is just a plan to annoy him. Then abruptly change plans and abduct the boy once he grows complacent, and make him part of your hoard." A shame. His reaction to that would have been worth his body weight in gold. In that case, I'll need another distraction. Fortunately, I have an idea, and better yet, this kid is dragon enough for it to work. You know, it was admittedly my best practical joke of all time, but I never thought the sheep incident would be useful for my plans after this many years, Capella thought, smirking as an idea came to her.
"Thanks for the compliment," Capella replied as the boy sized up the sword. "I only just got it. Knights are always fun to play with, but that one was even more worthwhile than usual. Here, want to see it? I'm in a good mood today, so I suppose I'll let you look at it, even though it's part of my hoard." Adding this by way of explanation and using her offer as a means of concealing the movement, she covertly shuffled closer to the boy, turning her shoulder towards him and detaching the scabbard from it while allowing her to place her head next to his ear.
"Your companion is coming back, boy. Just follow my lead for now," She whispered, spreading her wings to allow her to catch the scabbard with her tail, at the same time covering her face from view so Khrae wouldn't be able to see her lips moving. "I'll explain the plan later." Taking the sheathed blade, she stepped back, holding up the weapon so the boy could appraise it. At the same time, she took her freed up hands - using her tail to do things like manipulating nearby objects was so much more convenient than bothering with her arms, in her opinion - and stretched slightly, before rubbing her stomach sadly.
"Ah," She grumbled. "I'm so hungry, I could eat a whole sheep, probably without even skinning it first. Have you tried eating a sheep that still has its coat? Horrible, wooly things, those. Most unappetizing. The worst part is that to get to the juicy, tasty meat, you have to get all that fluff out of the way, or it just ruins the texture - not to mention the flavor. And you can't even just scorch the wool off with dragon flames, 'cause then the rest of the body lights on fire and burns to ashes! Like any dragon, I love a good sheep now and again, but it's so annoying, all the preparations you have to do before you can eat them." She stopped for a moment, as though pondering the very serious dilemma of the consumption of sheep by dragons. "But, I'm getting a little carried away. Point is, do you guys have anything to eat? I'm staaaaaarviiiiiing!~" The Dragoness declared loudly.
(H.H.)"You're hungry? Then, you, my friend, are in luck! I have here a prime dragon steak! You're gonna have to cut off all the...fat and sarcasm to get to it, but I'm sure it's in there. Somewhere," Said a voice from behind Capella, who, without thinking, replied without missing a beat.
"No thanks. I'm not a cannibal, and even if I was that desperate, I would think a dragon's hide would be much harder to skin than a sheep's meager coat," The Dragoness said dismissively. "Anyway, where was I-" She stopped abruptly, as though only just realizing a few important things. Firstly, that voice had come from behind her, and had been female. That meant somebody new had just showed up. Secondly, they apparently had a dragon, which was apparently alive, and were trying to sell it to her as food...?
"Wait, what?" Capella said, for a moment actually confused into abandoning her usual deadpan as she did a double take, spinning about to see just who exactly was behind her. The Dragoness' incredulous gaze fell upon a somewhat unexpected sight: a young girl with violently red hair, clad in a simple suit of golden armor, around whose shoulders was indeed wrapped a young, rather chubby red dragon, who, to Capella's amazement, didn't even seem overly concerned with the girl's brazen treatment of him, and who was instead arguing quietly with the girl over what was evidently a very normal point of conversation for them.
"Really. You're going back to the fat jokes?" The dragon asked irritably, deadpan.
"Yes. Now shut up, Stephano. I'm trying to make a sale. Or not. Maybe I'll give you away as a freebie." The girl's reply should have been enough of an insult to the dragon's pride to enrage him, yet, as Capella watched, the big red lug just passed it off with a sarcastic joke. Just what kind of dragon was this, that he'd stoop so low as allowing himself to be insulted so by a Human? Had he no pride? Honestly, she couldn't believe what she was looking at. This was the first dragon she'd seen since she had started her wild and free wanderings? This "Stephano" - what kind of name was that for a dragon, anyway? - was content with just being an oversized, scaly mantle and possible emergency ration/bargaining piece for some random Human girl? Who was whose hoard in this situation, and in what way could this shameless serpent justify the arrangement? It was pitiful just to look at. She was just glad that the dragon wasn't of her own tribe, or of an even remotely similar color. Had he been, she probably would have died from the shame against her blood - or what was left of it. Then again, all things considered in her own personal situation, she could hardly be said to be much better a representative of her kind than this lazy lout, but that wasn't something the proud Dragoness liked to think about. In any case, she had a feeling she knew what sort of ties bound this girl and her servile beast. Dragon Rider, huh? The mere thought disgusted her. To think that such a creature existed, who would abandon his tribe, his pride, and his very nature to serve a lowly Human... How pathetic.
"I am so honoured that you think so much of me, dear."
"Be quiet, fatty. The grown ups are talking." Clapping her hand over the dragon's mouth, the red-haired girl turned back to the group in front of her, only to begin flailing about and making a wide variety of noises ranging from disgusted squeaks to angry shouts a moment later as, evidently, the scaled carpet on her shoulders decided to lick her palm instead of perhaps biting a finger off in retaliation. Was this even a dragon to begin with?
"Not to interrupt your little moment," Capella called pointedly, interrupting their little conversation. There was none of the innocent, carefree tone she had used before on the boy left in her words, and her demeanor had suddenly become a very bitter, cold mask of distrust. In an instant, her entire attitude had been completely reversed. She wasn't playing around anymore. She was deathly serious, and wasn't trying to hide it. To those who had seen her antics before, this might come as a surprise - or, more likely in the case of the wiser of the two travelers, a validation of previous suspicions. Capella might have enjoyed playing around with Humans, but if there was one thing she despised above all else, it was to see the degradation of what was supposedly her own kind at the hands of such a low, base creature as the Human now standing before her. Rage boiled up from the core of her being at the very sight of this insult, and, if one looked closely, they might have seen faint black flames snapping and crackling across the surface of her scales. "But I'd like to know what Human exactly I'm looking at. Who is it who dares try to sell a dragon the flesh of her own kind? If such a creature could be called such, that is."
Evidently, the Human wasn't fazed by this at all, however. Perhaps her experience with dragons was so limited by the pathetic being that served her that she didn't understand how formidable a real dragon's wrath could be, as instead of simply introducing herself, she began boasting in a manner that made it seem like she thought she was the dragon here, rather than the other way around. Pointing rather rudely at Capella with one hand and spreading the other in a showman's pose - the effect of which was completely ruined by her trying to shake off the saliva her "dragon" had left on said palm - she began an altogether silly introduction, striking new and increasingly obnoxious poses - most of which just consisted of her drawing a vast array of concealed weaponry and trying to look "heroic," as it were, by dropping into several clearly embellished poses which might have once been actual fighting stances - all the while, and several times stopping to argue with her "dragon."
"I am the angel of death, the archer of pain, the ninja...of awesome!" She began.
"Is there a point to this?" Capella asked skeptically, crossing her arms as she was ought to do and raising an eyebrow slightly, her tail shifting irritably back and forth as the curving talons on her heels were turned slowly back and forth, slowly carving out small holes in the ground where the Dragoness stood.
"And occasional creeper," her pet, Stephano - in fact, Capella decided, she couldn't keep calling that thing a "dragon," as it clearly didn't possess the necessary mindset, so she would just refer to it as a Stephano from now on - interrupted. Capella didn't overly like his attitude, but she had to at least give him credit for cutting off that inane introduction. The Dragoness didn't know what this "ninja" thing was that the girl was talking about, but it sounded like some kind of herb. Probably the sort that made you sick if you ate it. Blegh.
The girl, meanwhile, had stopped her posturing and had begun arguing with her Stephano once more. She really wasn't very good at this whole self-aggrandizement process, was she?
"OK. That was ONE. TIME. I had no idea that those two assassins would be doing that. I mean, ewwwww. Some things you can NEVER unsee..."
"Should I even know or care what you're talking about, is this just a waste of time like I think it is?" Capella asked, her voice scarcely heard beneath that of the girl.
"I am Stephano and this is Astrid," Said the Stephano, ignoring the girl's arguments and getting right to the point. Well, that was at least better than this maniac's speechifying.
"I am the amazing assassin of amazingness named T'vali. Astrid T'vali."
"How redundant. Also, I'm fairly sure the Human concept of grammar doesn't work that way," The Dragoness snarked, smirking condescendingly at the girl as she struck a final idiotic pose, before abruptly dropping the act altogether and pointing offhandedly at the Stephano on her shoulder.
"This is my dragon." Hah. As if. "He is called Stephano. I'm currently trying to sell him to the highest bidder. He's kinda fat. He'd make a good steak. Or roast. Really, it's up to you," She finished boredly, her tone standing in stark contrast to the overly manic, bombastic introduction from before.
"Ignore her please. She is not used to conversation that doesn't include bodily harm, crude hand gestures or killing someone. And you are?" The Stephano said.
"Or boasting, evidently. She seemed quite at home doing that, if not very experienced nor creative in said department," The Dragoness added sarcastically, smirking as she swept out her wings and tail into full view, just in case she hadn't hammered home exactly who they were talking to quite yet. At the same time, though, although it was subtle, so that most of those standing around her might not notice it, she momentarily shot a glance at Stephano, a glare that was the complete opposite of her usual casual attitude. It lasted only for a split second, to most seeming like her eyes had just momentarily stopped on the creature before passing over him, yet if he had any dragon blood at all in him, then he himself would recognize the expression, although it came from a Human face. It was the expression of a superior dragon making plain that this was her territory, and that she would accept no intruders, nor insults to herself, her pride, or her possessions. If the so-called red dragon did anything to undermine her, then she had just made it clear that he would get no second chances to save himself. That glare, containing every last ounce of malice in the serpent's cold heart, was a declaration of dominance, from one predator to a lower form of the same.
In the next instant, however, it had passed, not even lasting a whole second. It was as though nothing had ever happened, and throughout the entire course of the momentary contact, it seemed like her face hadn't even changed its expression. And, in the next moment, she, too, had begun to introduce herself.
"I am Capella of the Elder Grey Dragons, the final and only heiress of my tribe. I am servant to none, and ruler of all things I choose to possess. I collect only the most precious of treasures, and own a hoard of at least 30 Szendats." The Szendat was a draconic unit of measurement, in essence weighing the value of a dragon's possessions. One Szendat was roughly equivalent to the worth of a small estate, in Human terms. And, although her hoard was small, she owned enough decent rare objects - mostly weaponry of particularly fine craftsmanship, or other such enchanted trinkets - to have earned the worth she assessed her modest collection at, if not more. Of course, none of the Humans in the group would even know what she was talking about, but it sounded impressive enough, and the Stephano might understand, at least, which would give a certain weight and validation to her earlier declaration of dominance. "My home is elsewhere, but my territory extends to wherever I happen to grace the ground by standing, or upon whatever winds I choose to fly. Perhaps you might know me better as 'The Grey Sword,' the title a few of your fellow Humans gave me after they goaded me into leveling their village." Actually, this title was fairly well known in the region, and it was under this name that the Humans had hunted her for the past several years. In short, she was pretty much declaring herself to be the enemy of the entire surrounding countryside, and she quite clearly knew it, and, in fact, reveled in the distinction.
"It's pretty simple, really," She added, abruptly sweeping out her tail and snatching the sword she'd only moments before handed to the boy. "Because I'm grey, and I have a sword. Not too hard to remember, really, although it's hardly necessary to." In the instant she had finished making her condescending, sarcastic comment, she'd handed the sword off to the boy once again, and, her smirk as implacable as ever, she concluded.
"So, while we're on the subjects of introductions, I think I should like to ask you what exactly you're doing all the way out here. A girl and her oversized, bloated salamander are almost as unusual a sight out here as I am," She asked coldly.
(Capella Trolling Count: OFFLINE. Capella Tranquil Rage Mode Count: 1.)