The Last Hunt (Adventure, possible other tags)

Star looked at Sharp and shrugged. "Yeah I just unmuzzled the dragon. Deal with it." He then blinked as Aerv talked to him. He then smiled a little at the dragon when he asked for fruit. "I have an ap-" He was cut off when Nuria banged against the cart. He blinked at her for a moment before shrugging. "What am I doing? I feeding the dragon of course. Can't have it starve to death before we get it...err...him to the two sisters." He said, huffing a bit. He then dug in his saddlebags trying to find fruit for the dragon. He pulled out a apple in his hoof and a mango in his mouth. He put the apple next to Aerv's mouth and bit into the mango in his mouth. He then took a bit of it before swallowing. "Oh um. Right. Name. Star Sentinel." He said as he continued eating his mango.

Aerv lightly growled at Nuria as she banged the cart, visibly upset at Star's good actions. He then looked at Star and Sharp. "Pleased to meet you, Sharp and Star Sentinel. And yes, I do speak your language. Books can certainly be educative, can't they?" he said and chuckled before eating the apple. "So you're taking me to the two sisters... Luna and Celestia, if I am not mistaken? I do believe at least one of the books mentioned them." he smiled before lightly tugging at his binds again. "Well, I suppose getting me out of these things is completely out of the question, isn't it... I would really like to stretch my limbs. " he added and sighed. "Well, thanks for freeing my mouth at least. You have no idea how unpleasant it is to have your mouth tied down for two days." he chuckled and lowered his head. "And don't worry, I won't breathe fire or attack you. I'm not like the rest."

The collection of birds did indeed fly off when the sudden boom of noise echoed out. A loud series of 'caws' and 'chirps' as dozens of feathered wings took to the wind. It wasn't long however before the mass of birds started to come back. Only a few at first, and then more and more until several branches were laden down with the little winged creatures that watched the series of events with wide eyes. Otherwise however, nothing seemed interested in disturbing the camp for the moment as the night wore on.

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OOG: Just a little update bit here, NOT a stopper on the multi posting. The rules of post until you have your character go to bed is still in effect.

Nuria gave the dragon a growl in return and hit the cage again before turning back to Star. "It is a dragon and a prisoner. Not some helpless baby for you to pander to." She said. "I'm sure I don't need to remind you of all the villages burned to the ground, ponies eaten, and a personal offense to me, the prejudices my kind face."

She took a moment from her rant to look at all of the birds returning to the area. That was a little bit more than strange. "Just put the muzzle back on it and leave it be before it tricks you into setting it free."

Star Sentinel’s provocative statement went largely ignored by Sharp, she was determined to tolerate him… no matter how much of an insufferable brat he proved to be. “Quite so… on all accounts, I’m afraid. ” she said in response to Aerv’s questions. The return of the birds proved another curiosity for Sharp, indeed, it seemed tonight was a night of peculiarities; Suspiciously civilized dragons, suicidal birds, Kirin… curiouser and curiouser.

“Come now, Nuria, our companion’s innocence is hardly something you should crucify him for. We are all well aware of the tragedy that follows most dragons. However… you do have a point. They are incredibly dangerous, and should be treated as such. Allow Aerv to finish his apple, and then I will insist he accept his muzzle once more.” As she spoke, she further pondered the dragon’s remarkably nonchalant attitude.

“The stage is set… play me your best, Aerv Xereth.” Sharp thought, wondering how the dragon would respond.

"Ah...yes books...I don't care to read them much but they are enjoyable when I do. In the educational sense and entertainment sense." Star shrugged as he bit into his mango again. He looked over at Nuria with an unamused look as she banged the cart again. He swallowed whatever mango was in his mouth to free himself to talk. "Would you stop banging the cart? You might break it, though I don't doubt earth pony engineering, I'd rather not have to drag the dragon behind us without a cart if it does happen to break." He said with a roll of his eyes. He actually laughed a little at her. "Me? Tricked? Hardly. Maybe I will get tricked by my own self by having a heart and soul and feeling a bit of sympathy. But no. I won't be tricked." He rolled his eyes a little.

He then turned his gaze to Aerv again. "Aye...Sorry, Aerv. Wish there were some other way, but ponies and dragons don't really...like each other." He smiled sadly at the dragon before looking over at Sharp. "Fine. I guess you have a point. A little point." He muttered as he threw the dragon's muzzle at Sharp and hoped she would catch it. "Though I think you two might want to get some rest. We got a long walk ahead of us to Canterlot in the morning and we should get moving at the break of dawn." He said as he trotted closer to the fire and sat down, eating his mango.

"You seriously think you're scaring me with that banging and growling?" The dragon groaned at Nuria "With all due respect, I am a he, not it. And at least I'm not a weird mix between ponies and lizards." he angrily responded to her. "Now if you would be so kind to stop treating me like a pile of mud, I'd be happy. I have personally never done anything to you, and I will not talk for my kin, as they mostly refuse to accept me as their own. And with that attitude of yours, I'm just going to warn you, scaled pony. Do. Not. Provoke. Me. I don't want any more trouble that there already is. Also you should really consider trying to reach Star Sentinel's attitude if you don't want to get on my darker side." he added before going back to eating one apple, hoping that it would satisfy his stomach until the morning, even though it wasn't much.

He lowered his head sadly as his attempt to persuade the other two ponies that did at least slightly care about his health. Aerv released a slight chuckle at Star's comment about dragging him around "Oh don't you worry, Star Sentinel. I can walk." he playfully responded before watching his muzzle being passed to Sharp, who might supposedly strip him of speech very soon. "Oh, and before you put that damned thing on my mouth again... What is the reason you are keeping me alive for the two sisters? As far as I know, like ... Nuria? over here, they want me dead for the sins I did not do. Or was there a change of plans? Oh, and one last thing, is there a chance for me to prove that I am not gonna run away, attack or eat you if you release me? Oh, and I hope you don't mind if I snore."

"You only need be alive when you reach the princesses, dragon." Nuria says harshly. "You don't need your tongue to keep you so." She turns back to Star. "Take my advice and keep your sympathy for yourself. There's no trusting dragons." She walks away from the cage and goes to lay on her own bedroll. "Keep your new pet quiet, Star. Or I really will cut its tongue out."

Sharp listened quietly as her companions, and the dragon, verbally bashed one another with slight disappointment. When the muzzle was thrown at her, she caught it with her magic, thanking Star sentinel.  Nuria’s final comment prompted Sharp to shake her head when both the mare and the thestral were out of eyesight.

“Hunters are payed to bring in dragons, Aerv. You're the first to be brought in alive. The only reason you were kept as such was the hope that bringing in a living dragon would increase the payment received. As it stands, I haven’t the slightest idea what is to happen to you simply because nothing like it has ever happened before. However, the princesses are two very intelligent individuals, and I’m sure that your relative civility will play into what is to happen to you upon arrival. Provided, of course, you continue to comply with us.” Sharp explained, holding off on muzzling the dragon to allow him to respond.

"You can only walk so much with those restrains though, Aerv. But I suppose it's better than dragging you." Star said with a shrug and he ate the rest of his mango. He listened to Nuria talk patiently, holding the pit of the mango when he was done. "Pet? He is not a pet. I don't have pets. He is a being and as a being, I am allowed to feel sympathy for him if I want." He threw the pit of the mango at her as he huffed. He then shifted a little to make sure he was ready if Nuria decided to pull something. "Honestly...You want to prove yourself, Aerv? There might be a way to prove yourself, but Nuria here doesn't appear to want you to prove yourself. And snoring is a small thing to me. When half the foals in your orphanage snore, you're bound to get use to it eventually." He rolled his eyes a little.

The dragon chuckled at Nuria's false threats of cutting his tongue. "It's funny when you realize that my tongue will be far more important than yours in front of the two sisters. Especially since I can actually talk in your language unlike the rest of my kin." he said and lightly chuckled again before looking at Sharp.

"The first alive, huh... Well, I suppose that's a honor in its own, and hopefully I can talk my way into actual freedom... somehow. I never arrived here with intention to raid or anything, although I have heard of them. My main intention in pony lands was to see if you would accept peace... if not from the whole kin, at least from one of them. And seeing as most don't even accept me as their own, I alone can not demand the whole race to stop something." he explained to Sharp before sighing and murmuring "..I talk too much sometimes. Apologies." he said as he lowered the head in light shame before lifting it back up. "I will continue to comply with you on one condition." He said before attempting to motion Sharp and Star to come closer to his head. Once they would, he would whisper quietly enough for Nuria to not even hear it. "You keep that psycho mixture away from me and not let it touch me. Deal?" he stated before lowering his head. "You can now put that damned muzzle on me again, and please don't tighten it up as it was in the first place. I still need to actually breathe." he said, waiting to have muzzle put on him again.

Nuria simply "hmph"ed at the dragon's remark about her and made herself comfortable on her bedroll. "Keep talking and I'll show you psycho." She said. She was definitely going to keep an eye on that dragon. She hardly thought him worth talking to, much less the way Sharp and Star were. She wasn't going to let their kindness put her in danger.

“I’m sure we can all agree to keep our hooves, claws, or other appendages off of one another until we get you to the princesses, Aerv.” Sharp said in an attempt to humor away the awkward situation that was Star Sentinel’s foalhood mixed with Nuria’s threats.

“Deal.” She elaborated, floating the dragon’s muzzle into place and locking it tight enough to be effective. “Feel free to take a quick nap, Star, I’ll handle first watch.”

Star leaned in close to Aerv and listened to him. He raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Yeah sure. It's a deal." He said before leaning back towards the fire. He rolled his eyes at Sharp's attempted humor but it did but a smile on his face. He then frowned and looked towards the mare when she said she would take first watch. "You? Why you? I'll have you know thestrals are far better at night watch. We're better adapted to see in the dark and hear the smallest of things. I should be the most logical choice for first watch." He said, crossing his hooves in front of his chest as he huffed. "And I'll have you know, I won't be sleeping any time soon."

This time around, Aerv decided to ignore the very hateful mixture of a pony and lizard and lied his head down on the cart, lightly groaning at the extremely uncomfortable position before observing Star and Sharp have a light argument over the night watches. He decided to intervene and attempted to do his best to be as understandable as possible, seeing as the muzzle wasn't as tight as before. "Why even bother having a night watch? You should get some sleep. You're gonna need all the energy tomorrow if you're planning on towing me all the way to your rulers." he said through his teeth, being mostly understandable. "Besides, I'm not going anywhere with these on. And if anyone's gonna be staying up tonight, it's me. " he added before making a lightly visible smile towards Star. "Sleeping in these bindings is, of course, impossible. Oh, and if you need warmth, you're welcome to come closer." he said, not moving a single muscle. If Star was still close to him, he could feel sudden heat radiating from the dragon, though it would only be lightly warm at a distance while very warm right next to Aerv.

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((OOC towards Alpha, Just wanted to say to read the details in the future. Kthxbai))

"If it bothers you ponies so much, why don't you both take watch so I can get some sleep?" Nuria hissed at her two companions. Then she eyed the dragon once more and curled up again. She didn't trust him one bit. "You thestrals aren't that impressive anyway. Just oversized bats if you ask me." She smirked at the insult she had just thrown, finding it rather clever herself. She wouldn't say it out loud, but she had it in her mind that a kirin would be much better suited for a night of watch. Her hearing was just as good as Stars, and who needed to see in the dark when you could light your way with fire?

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((OOC: My bad, I'll pay better attention next time.))

Sharp sighed at the thestral’s reluctance. She had been afraid he’d try something like this. “Look, kid, let me level with you.” She began, dropping all formalities. “I get it, you feel bad for Aerv. I can understand that. But if you have any intentions of freeing him, I suggest you shelve them right now. He has been a dear so far, and that’s great, but  he’s still a dragon. Don’t forget that just because he has bedside manners. If you insist, you may handle the night watch.”

She then turned to Nuria. “You’re part lizard. Big. Deal. That is in no way shape or form any of our faults, and you’ve been nothing but a rude and aggressive bully to what I assume are the only two ponies to treat you like anything other than ‘dragon pony hellspawn’. Get down off your cross, Nuria. It would do you well to be nicer to your companions. Now, good night.” Sharp finished, moving to her own bedroll, laying down and dozing off shortly after.

Star ground his teeth, clearly not happy at being called an oversized bat. He scooted closer to Aerv and felt that he was indeed warm. He looked at the dragon curiously for a moment before shrugging. "I had no plan of freeing him, Sharp. And don't call me a kid." He said to Sharp as she went over to her bed roll. He watched his companions carefully for a few minutes before looking around the area, keeping an eye on any danger. He waited for both of his companions to sleep patiently.

The blue dragon continued emanating warmth while observing Sharp attempting to end Nuria's extreme rudeness and chuckled at the words. 'Nice going, Sharp!' he thought while chucking and saying "Goodnight" to Sharp as she went to sleep. 'It was about time somebody shut Nuria up. I am liking this pony named Sharp a lot more now.' he added to his thoughts before turning his eyes at Star. "You can sit down by me, at least you'll be warm. Don't worry, I'm all tied up, I can't do much to you." Aerv whispered to Star before giving him a smile and laying his head down. He would pretend to fall asleep while still staying completely awake.

"I am not part lizard." Nuria barked back, not taking the reciprocation of insult. "I am a Kirin. And you would do best to remember it, else your tail go missing in the middle of the night." She gave Sharp a mean look and laid her head down once again.

Star's ears perked up when Aerv started to whisper to him. He turned his head and looked at the dragon for a moment, smiling. "I wouldn't think you'd do anything to me." He whispered back to him as he scooted closer. He waited for a few more minutes before standing up and turning to Aerv. He reached a hoof into the cart and carefully undid his muzzle. He then quietly opened his saddlebag and pulled out an apple, putting it down near Aerv's mouth. "Have another apple. I'm sure one can't fill anyone's hunger except maybe a foals'." He whispered as he pulled out a mango of his own and ate it as quietly as he could. He really didn't want to risk waking his companions up right now. They might get the wrong idea.

Aerv suddenly opened his eyes in slight surprise as he felt his muzzle being undone again, obviously expecting it to stay on for the rest of the night. He was about to ask Star what was he doing, disobeying the companions' orders, but when another apple was placed next to his mouth, he smiled and whispered "Thank you kindly, Star." before beginning to munch on the apple as quietly as possible. When he finished, he looked up at Star in light disbelief. "Are you sure this is a good idea? What if they see us?" he worryingly whispered to young stallion next to him.

Star nodded to the dragon as he continued eating his mango. He tapped a hoof to his muzzle for a moment and shook his head. "Is it a good idea? No. Definitely not. If they see us? I'll tell them I'm feeding you more. They must know that one fruit can not fuel anyone's hunger." He whispered quietly, smiling. "Plus they're asleep." He turned his head towards the moon and looked at it as he ate his mango. He let out a quiet sigh as he sat down.

Aerv sighed quietly at the answer. "Well, I hope you're right." he whispered back and laid his head down, hoping the companions don't suddenly wake up. "So how did you get in all that dragonhunting business?" he asked after a few moments, lightly tugging at his binds in attempt to get into a more comfortable position, silently groaning at failed attempt.

"Of course I'm right." Star whispered back at Aerv. "Though you might want to hurry up and eat that apple just in case they do wake up. Unless you want another apple..." He finished eating his mango and threw the pit as far away from him and his companions as possible. His ears perked up at Aerv's question. He hummed quietly, thinking. He rubbed the back of his neck with a hoof. "The same old reason anyone would do this. I need the money. I could probably be a royal guard but...I donno. This seems more...exciting I guess." He whispered, as he looked around for any danger.