Call of Freedom (Private Rp with Leafygreenss)

[leafygreenss]

Flicker nodded, taking after Solstice's example and drawing a few rather large mouthfuls from the lake. It eased the stinging in her throat. Sort of. She nodded again, still processing. "I hope our humans died." She muttered. "Handlers- whatever. I hope they all burned to ashes. They deserved it." She tilted her head to the side, "You talk like you know how things work. Have you ever been out here- free? I was raised in the nursery and I basically know nothing." She let out a long sigh, which ended up evolving into a short cough. "How bad are your burns?" She asked tentatively, "The one on my side is worse than the one I got on my foreleg before."

[brooke0518]

Swallowing another mouthful of water, Solstice tries to remember just what her youth was like. "I can't remember, honestly. I just know that my parents were not from the compound, nor were my siblings. I probably was snatched away from my home, when I was very small. So small, that I don't remember much of my life before fighting. So don't completely believe what I say, regarding my past. It's so far away and distant, that there is no way for me to confirm anything," She says, folding her wings close to her body. Looking at her sides, she surveys the burns. "I certainly got burned, but they'll heal. I haven't gotten this badly burned before, but that's usually because my handler kept me away from fire and lava dragons. I don't know why they threw one against me. Maybe there was something wrong with the stone dragon, that I was supposed to fight," She says.

[leafygreenss]

Flicker blinked, "I hatched at the compound. I'm pretty sure my human bought me before i'd hatched. He always told me I was supposed to be 'big and scary' like my parents, so I suppose that they'd lived there too. Or perhaps at another one nearby." She tilted her head to the side. Her mind was clearing. Thinking wasn't so hard anymore. When Solstice folded her wings, she looked to her own in a state of awe. "I suppose that's what happened." She said, thinking briefly of the lava dragon, her main focus on her wings. She flared her them quickly, then tucked them close to her over and over, ignoring the bursts of pain from her side. She laughed. When have I ever laughed? Her wings were a blend of black and iridescent purple and they glimmered in the sunlight. She loved it. "I've never been able to fully flex my wings." She said, looking shocked, amazed. "My cage was too small. My human would get mad if I used them in a fight. We weren't allowed to fly in the nursery." She kept flaring and folding them. Again and again. Free.

[brooke0518]

"Well, now we'll both get the chance to truly use our wings to their full potential. I think that we should take it slow, though. My wings were definitely hurting after flying us this far from the compound. I wasn't used to this, so I'll have to start slow, and fly lower than what I just did. It'll be a process to build up strength in these wings," Solstice says, looking at Flicker. "Do you think that you'll get much bigger than that? You aren't exactly the biggest dragon that I've ever seen. It'll be interesting to see if you can get as big as me. But now, you'll have access to more food, food that you won't have to fight tooth and nail over. We can work together to hunt, since neither of us have hunted for our own food before. But first, I think that it would be important, to find somewhere that we can sleep in for the night, and the closer we are to water, the better. I suppose we can try fishing first, to build up our strength and endurance," She says.

[leafygreenss]

Flicker listened, but still flared her wings a final time before tucking them away for the day. “I still can’t wait. Flying sounds amazing. One of the old dragons that was kept next to me used to talk about flying in the wild. I miss her stories. She didn’t come back after one of her fights.” She winced as she tried to curl into a more comfortable position. Without the heat and the smoke aggravating her wounds, they still hurt, but were clearly much more manageable. She laughed again at the prospect of growing larger, “Honestly? I have no clue. I’ve always been smaller than any other dragon, even as a hatchling. I think I’m just tiny. Maybe I’ll get a bit bigger if we can hunt well, but I definitely won’t get as big as you, even with all the food in the world.” Flicker gave a wicked smile, “If all else fails with hunting, I can always electrocute the lake.” She suggested sweetly, “Endless fish, anyone?” She pointed her tail at the waters. The woods beyond wouldn’t be an awful place to stay, perhaps.

[brooke0518]

"It'll definitely be interesting to try flying more. We'll learn together. I think that we have a lot to learn about living out here, in the wild. We'll still need to fight, of course, because living int he wild, is not easy. There are other dragons, and there are bound to be large animals to contend with. We're not used to this, so we may be on the losing end, until we get comfortable with our surroundings, and physically stronger," Solstice says, looking up at the sky. She could see birds flying in the sky, smaller than them by a lot, but they had so much more freedom than they ever did. "It's amazing that such small creatures....never had to go through what we went through. While we were fighting for our lives, they were flying free out here. I'm sure that that older dragon was released into the wild, after she lost her battle. That's what happens to most, if not all the losers. If it seems like there is no hope for a losing dragon, they are discarded out here. You were brought back, because your handler believed that you would eventually win," She says. Pausing for a few minutes, she looks over at Flicker, nodding. "Let's catch some fish, then search for somewhere to sleep for the night," She says.

[leafygreenss]

"I hope she was released." She murmured, "She was very kind." She shook her head, and Flicker flashed her friend a smile at the mention of fish, scrambling up. The smoke really had made everything feel worse, her side stung but it didn't feel like she was dying anymore. With dragons' heightened healing abilities, the both of them would be better much sooner than any injured human. Flicker tilted her head to the side. How is one supposed to fish? It can't be that hard, right? "Here we go." She muttered. She peered down into the lake, but all she could see was her own reflection. Without the slightest hint of hesitation, she plunged her muzzle underwater, opening her eyes and looking around for shining scales. Her vision wasn't bad underwater, odd, though helpful. A few cage-lengths offshore there was a school of some small silvery-looking fish. She slunk into the water after them, using her tail and wings to propel her. The cool water felt wonderful against her wounds.

[brooke0518]

"We'll probably see her, while we're out here. Many of the dragons here, formed some sort of bond or friendship, the way that we have. They'll all likely have formed little groups, since we all have been through the exact same experience. We were forced to entertain humans, ever since we were small. Which means that we have no survival instincts. It's better to group up with others, to increase our chances of survival, rather than push forward alone, and hoping for the best. Life out here is going to be hard, there's no question about that. We left a nightmare and now we have to either relearn or figure out how to make a life for ourselves out here," Solstice says, as she watches Flicker walk over to the lake. "I think that you can do it. There's no harm in trying to use your electricity. Water is weak to that, so anything that lives in this lake, would probably be very vulnerable," She says.

[leafygreenss]

With Solstice's last words to her in mind, she focused on the small school of silver fish. She could either go at them physically, trying to outswim them- which was unlikely to work- or she could use her shock. Worth a shot I suppose. She squinted, staring at one of the fish. She willed a very small, concentrated stream of electricity towards it. The fish practically froze, then started floating up. It was more effective than she could have asked for... but she'd only wanted to kill one or two of the fish. She'd electrocuted them all. Oops. She shot a sheepish look at Solstice, "That... did not go as planned." She muttered, swimming out and snatching up three of the slightly charred fish and hauling herself to shore. Her body did not like being in so much motion, and her wounds stung slightly. "I'm gonna have to learn how to swim." She said with a huff, dropping her catch at Solstice's claws, "I don't want to electrocute the whole lake anytime i'm hungry."

[brooke0518]

Looking at the fish, that had risen to the surface, Solstice shook her head just a bit. "I should've known that that would happen. Water is very weak to electricity, so anything that lives in it, gets quite a shock. But perhaps, all of these fish will feed passing dragons. They won't have to worry about catching their food for the first night or two," She says, as she gives Flicker some room to step out of the lake. "Let's eat, and then we can search for a cave to sleep in," She says, taking one of the fish from off of the ground. Finding shelter was something that was going to be a bit of a challenge for them. Flicker was small, so finding a cave that was her size, was going to be easy. But she was much larger, and she had a feeling, that finding a cave that was big enough to fit her and her wings, was going to be a challenge in and of itself.

[leafygreenss]

Flicker nodded, snatching up the smaller of the two remaining fish. Her tail flicked from side to side as she ate, water spraying off her feathers and hitting the ground with little zaps. She hadn't toned down her shocks since they'd ran. It felt nice for a change. Although, she would definitely have to be careful about water. She picked at the bones of the silver fish. Where would they hide for the night? Solstice was so large, it was sure to be hard to find a place for them both to sleep. "Do you think we'll see any other dragons from the compound?" She asked, curious, "Like you said earlier, we'd probably have better strength in numbers. I can't imagine humans capturing an entire flock of dragons." She said with a huff, "I doubt even they'd know it'd be foolish to prey on such a large group."
(can i have a size comparison for solstice lol?)

[brooke0518]

Pulling meat away from the fish carcass, Solstice begins to eat, slowly gulping them down. Given how they all had to fight for food, something told her, that she needed to eat slowly. If she ate too fast, when food hadn't been consistent...then there was a chance that she would get some form of stomach upset. The fish meat was very good, compared to the food she often got from the humans. That food tasted like it was frozen. like it had been a while, since it was alive. These fish were fresh, and as such, the taste was completely different. It was incredibly delicious. Looking over at Flicker, she nods, "I think so. Many of those dragons were large. Of course, there is a big question....how many of them will survive out here....without survival instincts. Either they'll learn or not. There's no way to know. We're free, but there's no denying that we'll have a lot to try and figure out," She says.

[leafygreenss]

She smiled slightly, "I'll enjoy this, the learning. It can be... tedious... I suppose, but it's new, fresh. And, no dragon is without instincts-" She pointed out, gnawing at the fish bones, "-Just without experience. We still have our gut sense." She shook her tail again, annoyed at the still floppy, wet feathering. With a huff, she sent the little zaps through the feathers, they made little noise but she felt them dry, and when she turned to look at them again, they were standing straight up with the static. She snorted at the sight, she probably looked absolutely ridiculous.

[brooke0518]

"I still have a lot to learn too. I can't recall what my life was like, before I was captured. It was so long ago. There is so much to learn, but we'll learn together. We'll learn where to get food and water, what things to avoid. There will be a lot to take in. But we're free. Soon....we'll be strong enough to fly above the highest tress, maybe even up to the mountain tops. Your wings look very underdeveloped, so we'll build up some strength in them, so that you'll be able to fly. I think that, with your size, you'll be the fastest dragon in the valley, behind the wind dragons of course. Those guys are always such show offs, even in that cramped space," Solstice says.

[leafygreenss]

Flicker tilted her head slightly, snorting at Solstice's jibe at wind dragons. "I've never flown." She paused, thinking. "How does one even fly?" She asked, suddenly curious to understand how dragons could even get into the air. She'd glided slightly in the arena, mainly when she'd leap away from another dragon during the fights. But flying? It was such a foreign, unbelievable concept. Her wings were very, very weak now. Would they ever be able to carry her into the clouds? Up towards the stars and the sun?