[MillietheWarrior]

The air wasn’t just chilly, it was cold.

The cave he’d chosen to sleep in for the past few days did nothing to alleviate that either. Being cold blooded and being caught outdoors during the winter never mixed well, and he found himself to be a bit more sluggish than usual. Blinking open his eyes slowly, the Sauria Battleheart lifted his head from where it lay on his crossed front claws. The sun had risen, most likely rose sometime ago, and the faint light of the winter rays penetrated his cave. He shivered, his massive tail giving itself a good shake to rid the hardened scales of the residual frost that had collected there over the night. He didn’t often spend much time outdoors; he was a creature wary by nature. His strange coloration, and being one of the few and far between Saurias made him a prime and unfortunate target for trophy collectors.

His kind were, by and large, bigger than most Battlehearts, from a strain of ancient stock that no longer existed. He kept to himself, and it was simply safer that way. The frills along his neck had flattened during his slumber, and with a jaw-cracking yawn, he stretched out his neck until he heard it crack sharply. A low, happy sigh left his muzzle, and the Battleheart rose to his feet, lumbering to the edge of his den. The warmth in the small crevice on the side of one of Sekudui’s rare cliffs was far more preferable to the blast of cold air that hit his sensitive scales when he reached the ledge. He spread his wings, the glistening silk of the leathery canvas glimmering in the faint, winter sunlight. The air was too cold, and he’d been stuck in the snow for far too long to be able to fly anywhere. He watched as his breath appeared in the air, bright, white clouds of condensation that floated away as soon as he saw them.

With another stretch, the strange colored Sauria descended the edge of the cliff to the valley of snow below. His body felt slow and cumbersome in the cold, but he was still quite able to move more quickly than most being, and his mind was as fast as it always was. His cautious nature kept him from moving too quickly, his eyes on his claws and the valley below. His body, though massive, moved easily through the deep snowdrifts surrounding his den, and despite his size, he was far quieter than most creatures. As he reached the valley floor, he immediately sank into the snow, feeling it brush coldly against his belly. He shuddered and snorted in the snow, giving himself a good shake, and slowly started moving through it.

[Shieba]

"Rosy! Hurry up, we must look for duckies!" A little Fellox-girl made her way through the snow, sinking into it quite a bit. She balanced a bag on her head so that it wouldn't get wet since she had a box with snails, a bit of bread and, most importantly, one of her duck-plushies - the male one, Jonathan - in it.

Her oldest sister, Rosy, walked after her, less than thrilled about all of this. Since they weren't normal Felloxes, the cold had little impact on them and they also only rarely got sick, but the snow was still wet and icy and her beautiful ribbons were soaked and dragged her tails down. And that only because Laksimi had seen a picture of the farmlands of Sekudui - one with a lake next to a field with some ducks swimming around. So naturally, Laksimi had decided to visit the ducks here. All complaints of Rosy that it was winter, for cying out loud, had been ignored and since she was on duty to look after her sister today, she had had little choice.

Of course, the lake had been frozen and no ducks had been around. And so, Laksimi had started to go to run around like crazy, searching for the ducks. "Hey, queen of duckies, there's no one here! The ducks will be somewhere else, where it's warm!" Rosy tried again.

"Maybe!" Laksimi shouted back since Rosy had started to fall behind quite a bit. "But maybe they're somewhere in the cold and can't find snails anymore! I must check everywhere! It's my duty as a duckie-expert!"

"Right..." Rosy mumbled, rolling her eyes and wondering if her parents had dropped her sister on her head when she had been a baby. But then, she looked up. She was the daughter of the Grim Reaper and while her magical senses still weren't as trained as her father would have liked, she was still able that there was a really huge life force nearby. Hurrying up, she caught up with her little sister, who had by now climbed a little hill to look around better. "Laksimi, there's some really big creature here! We should leave, it might be dangerous!"

"What?" Laksimi, having most of her powers sealed, hadn't noticed anything and looked up to Rosy. "A big creature? Do you think it might have scared the duckies?"

"Maybe", Rosy quickly agreed. "We should definitely look somewhere else for them!"

That was, however, when Laksimi spotted the Sauria a bit away. "Rosy! There!"

Rosy looked to where Laksimi was pointing and froze when she saw the big creature. She didn't know most of Evelon's inhabitants since she spent most of her time in Whisper Forest, but that sure looked like a predator. Rosy could fight a bit with her dark powers, but she didn't want to risk a battle with such a being, especially not with Laksimi around. "Laksimi, we leave at once! Let's teleport home! That thing might very well eat us!" Rosy explained in a hurry.

Big mistake.

"Eat us?" Laksimi carefully asked. "Do you think it would also...eat duckies?" Laksimi, who already hadn't been particulary scared before, now stepped forward, determined. "I will ask it! I will not allow anyone to eat duckies! That's so evil! Daddy should send everyone who eats duckies to hell!" And she marched right down towards the Sauria.

"W-what?! No! Nooo, Laksimi!" Rosy hurried to catch up with the girl, but her soaked ribbons really were a problem and she had trouble to get to Laksimi to hopefully teleport them both home.

"Don't worry!", Laksimi insisted, sounding quite determined, but didn't even turn around. "It's so big, it must be a man! And I remember that you told me to kick a man between the legs when he's evil to me!"

Rosy groaned. Maybe she shouldn't tell her sister so much stuff, really. "I think this thing is too big to be efficiently kicked and also not a human", Rosy tried to argue, because really, she doubted it worked like that for Saurias, because if it did, she definitely didn't want to come closer since it was naked. Oh god, the unwanted images! "Come back, Laksimi!"

But it was all in vain - when Rosy finally caught up with her sister, the Fellox-girl had already stopped right in front of the Sauria, fearlessly looking up to it. "Hello!" she said loudly. "I'm Laksimi and a duckie-expert! Do you like duckies or do you eat them? Because I have my sister with me and if you hurt any duckie, you'll get in trouble with her!"

Rosy stared up, wanting nothing more than to run and actually needed a second to register what her sister had just said. In trouble with-- wait, what? "Splendid...", she mumbled.

[MillietheWarrior]

To say the Sauria had expected to be approached by a fearless little Fellox was absolutely an understatement.

To say he’d expected to be told off by said Fellox was even more unexpected.

The Sauria’s neck frills raised in alarm, and he stopped mid-stride, his large body sliding through the snow in his effort not to plow straight into the Fellox. She was staring up at him with a determined (or what he assumed was determined, what with her wearing a mask) expression on her face. He craned his neck backwards, his eyes widening at her audacity, and then at the fact that she could very well be one of those ‘trophy hunters,’ that were always tailing him. The idea that such a small, fluffy creature would hunt him was almost laughable, but in his very long life, he’d learned never to take anything for granted, and underestimating a hunter was the worst and the last thing he wanted to do.

He carefully slid backwards, the snow brushing against his belly as he slunk away, wings lowered and teeth bared almost defensively. He was such a big creature, such a dangerous one at that, yet it seemed he was…afraid of this tiny, fluffy Fellox. Her words hardly registered with him; he was intelligent, to be certain, and he had the ability to speak telepathically, but when his life was in danger, there was very little rationality left in him. He was, pure and simple, a beast, and any beast in danger reverted to their baser instincts. His wings stretched out, as if to haul his massive body into the air and away, but they were still covered in frost and snow, still too cold to be of any use. So he settled for flaring his neck frills in warning, hissing between his massive jaws.

As he backed up, he bumped into the cliff-face, and knew he could not turn around to head back up it; he couldn’t leave his back exposed to this potential hunter. With the Cliffside at his back, and nowhere left the go, the Sauria settled on another tactic; answering the Fellox’s questions. His voice rumbled through their minds, distant and purring like a living motor. “I do not know what a ‘duckie’ is,” he told them, and the masculine voice quivered at the word ‘duckie.’ It was almost laughable. “I do not eat them....Who are you?” he finally demanded, a low growl rumbling in his chest. “And what do you intend to do to me? If you are hunters, I will assure you now that I will not hesitate to kill you if you try to do the same.”

[Shieba]

Rosy, having fully well expected to need to tackle her sister out of the way of an attack, watched with big eyes how the Sauria almost retreated, not really understanding why. Maybe the creature could sense their father's power in them? But that was highly unlikely, so she was nothing short of very confused. But damn, those teeth were impressive! When the Sauria started hissing and flaring his neck frills, Rosy quickly stepped next to Laksimi, ready to speak the teleportation spell right away. Then, however, the voice in her mind made her stop dead in her tracks and she looked at the creature. This beast was actually intelligent?

Laksimi had still been rather unimpressed through the whole reaction of the Sauria - she could teleport, what was there to fear? - but squeaked in surprise when she got an answer to her questions in such an unusual way. But she quickly ignored that in light of the far bigger shock - this poor creature didn't know what duckies were!

"Duckies are best!" she stated bluntly. "And I already told you who I am - I'm Laksimi and a duckie-expert! I thought you might have eaten the duckies living here since I couldn't find them, but if you haven't, then all is good! Instead, I should tell you more about duckies then because it's so sad that you don't know what they are! See that duckie-plushie in my bag? That's Jonathan and he's a male duckie! Duckies are all fluffy and swim-swim-swim and everything they do is funny - they walk funnily, they make funny noises and they have really funny butts and feet! And they can do everything! I'm here to feed the duckies snails I collected. Have you seen any duckie looking like Jonathan? Or maybe a duckie more brown or really fluffy duckie-babies?"

Rosy groaned. Of course. Of course Laksimi had no other topic even in this situation. "Laksimi!" She quickly stepped in front of her sister, breaking the lecture about ducks. "Ah, yeah." Rosy nervously grimaced behind her mask. "Sorry about that. My sister is obsessed with ducks."

"I am!" Laksimi agreed from behind, not really knowing what that meant, but if it had to do with duckies, it had to be good.

"We aren't hunters", Rosy quickly continued, ignoring Laksimi for the moment. "My sister is just here to feed some animals and I'm supposed to look after her. We're no warriors and we don't mean harm to anyone, unless you count the brain damage caused by all the duckie-talk. I'll just take the duckie-master there and drag her home, alright? Sorry to disturb you."

"Noooo! Rosy! I must educate him about duckies!" Laksimi protested, stepping away when Rosy moved close to her again, probably wanting to teleport. "You want to learn more about duckies, now that you see how cute Jonathan is, don't you? You could become a professional duckie-expert if you try really hard!"

[MillietheWarrior]

“I…do not understand.”

The Sauria was still cautious, but he was more confused now than he was before. The little one -- Laksimi, was her name? -- continued to chatter on and on and on about duckies. The word wasn’t familiar to him, although he had a feeling it was meant to be ‘ducks’ in all actuality. No, he didn’t eat ducks, so he hadn’t lied. He didn’t eat anything but fruit, to be honest, but fruit was rather scarce this time of the year, so he spent much of the winter hibernating. It was just his bad luck that he’d been woken by the cold; he’d need to find another den to hide in that was warmer and protected from the elements. And preferably, far away from little Fellox who talked about duckies and confronted him about the possibility of eating said duckies.

His gaze darted between the Fellox, growing more and more confused and less and less suspicious as they continued to speak. His shoulders relaxed marginally, the neck frills laying flat against his head as he lowered his body so he was on their eye level. He no longer worried they would leap on him and spear him to death or something equally horrid. In fact, they seemed rather harmless, although the one with the ribbons was still up for debate. “There are no…duckies around here. Not at this time of the year. They have flown south, something which I should have done many weeks ago.” He was hungry now, and his stomach rumbled after days and days of not eating.

“I have not eaten in a very long time.” He didn’t anticipate that they might take that sentence the wrong way; he only looked concerned at the idea that he might not find anything edible for quite a while longer. He seemed perplexed by the smaller one’s propensity for saying the word ‘duckies;’ she was indeed obsessed. “I…I suppose I could listen to you talk about duckies. You seem to be an expert on them, it seems. And I have no need to be elsewhere. But first I must ask of you two things…” He leaned further down, until he was only a few feet from the Fellox, his warm breath ghosting over them as the massive creature breathed in the cold air. His own internal heating systems were disrupted by the cold, but the warmth in his heart was still there, and it kept him from freezing over, at least. “Have you seen an…two legged creatures who carry weapons and nets? And…perhaps some fruit?”

[Shieba]

Rosy had to bite back a snort. Of course the poor guy didn't understand - it wasn't like she understood Laksimi, either, and she was her sister, after all. She was glad that despite the confusion Laksimi caused a creature who probably didn't interact socially with smaller creatures that much, he still seemed to calm down and relax, obviously really not willing to attack unless he was forced to do so. Since Rosy herself had the urge to smack Laksimi up the head sometimes after listening to her duckie-talk nonstop, though, she decided that she should remain at least somewhat cautious, though.

Laksimi walked up next to Rosy again when the Sauria talked about duckies. Since he obviously knew that the duckies had flown away, he did know them, after all, despite what he had said? Maybe he normally called them something else? Well, she had educated him, then! But still... "They flew away?" Her tails drooped. "That's so sad! I wanted to make new duckie-friends and be all swim-swim-swim with them!"

"That's what I told you from the beginning! Seems like you're not that much of a duckie-expert yet, huh?" Rosy commented.

"I'm just not professional yet", Laksimi pouted, but then turned back to the Sauria. "If you're hungry, you should eat something! Just not duckies! And...no geese. They're pretty cute, too!" After all, she had some geese-friends as well by now!

And then, she beamed. Someone had recognized her as a real duckie-expert! That had to mean that she was becoming really professional! "I'll tell you everything about duckies!", Laksimi promised excitedly. "I have so many duckie-friends at the Chateau! My favourite one is called 'Boss' and he's the ruler of the duckies of the lake! And--"

"Oh god, please stop!" Rosy cut in and gave the Sauria a pleading look. "Believe me, you don't want her to start about ducks because then she never stops. Never. She's insane when it comes to ducks!"

"I am!" Laksimi agreed again, full of confidence that her sister was complimenting her with adult-speak.

"Aaaaanyway..." Rosy gave Laksimi an amused look before thinking about what the Sauria wanted to know. He obviously meant 'humans' when he said 'two-legged creatures', but if he didn't even know that they were called that, there was the possibility that he would end up feeling threatened even by the farmers. "This is Sekudui, so there are quite a few two-legged creatures living just a bit away. They do have nets and things that can be used as weapons, too, but they aren't hunters - at least not hunting you. They use their nets to fish and their weapons as tools to farm and grow vegetables and fruits, even though there is barely anything of that around at this time of the year. So while we've seen such creatures, I don't think any of those are out to get you, if that's what you're scared of."

"They won't kick you between the legs", Laksimi added, making Rosy suppress another snort.

[MillietheWarrior]

The Sauria was still rather perplexed by these strange, fluffy creatures. He sank lower in the snow, his massive form creating a small wave of snowballs rolling down the drift he was sitting in and making a bee-line straight for the Fellox. “My apologies,” the Sauria rumbled, looking first from one fellox to the other. He seemed genuinely apologetic, the scales above his eyes furrowing in response. “I didn’t meant to…ask?” He was confused; first they wanted to tell him about ducks, and now they didn’t? “But…I do believe they are called ‘ducks.’ I have never he4ard the word ‘duckies’ before. Is it a word of your own creation? Or was it made by the two-legs?”

He shook his massive head, and a full-bodied shiver ran down his back. His skin, though white and gray, seemed to be growing paler as time wore on. He’d never spent such an extended amount of time in the snow, least of all this long, and it was beginning to have an adverse affect on his cold-blooded body. The sunlight was a blessing, but the snow was a curse. “Farmers,” he repeated, rolling the word around in his mind before saying it again. “Farmers. I have heard of them. They are the good two-legged beasts. I have not had dealings with them before. My experiences have been purely…confrontational.” He thought of the many times he’d been forced to fight his way out of trap after trap.

The many scars that littered his body were a testament to his life-long struggles, and to a Sauria, that life was very long indeed. He was nearly one hundred years old, but his distrust and knowledge of humans was both broad and limited, respectively, and he didn’t intend on finding out anything out about them that didn’t benefit him. However, the idea of peaceful two-leggeds who farmed vegetables and fruits was appealing. He was desperately hungry, and extremely cold. “Forgive me,” he said at last, when he realized the silence had stretched on far too long. “I have never been in this part of the land before. My home lies near the volcano, where it is warm. This cold has an adverse affect on my body. I usually hibernate this time of year, but I chose a very…poor place to do so. The frost crept into my cave and woke me. But…I must find somewhere warm, and I must eat. Would these…farmers…would they be willing to help me?”

He seemed unwilling to trust humans, even ones who sounded peaceful. “I have not…had the best experience with the two-leggeds in the past. I am hunted because I am different; it is why I have moved so far from my home.” He sounded wistful, his eyes distant and faraway as his voice seeped into their minds, becoming fainter and fainter as time wore on and the cold bled into his skin and froze him from the outside in.

[Shieba]

"Oh, no, no, I meant my sister, not you, when I asked to stop", Rosy quickly said. She had to remind herself that the Sauria obviously wasn't used to conversations. "But yeah, they're called 'ducks'. No idea who made that up, really. Children just tend to call them 'duckies', really, probably because it sounds cuter."

"It does!" Laksimi insisted. "Everyone should call them 'duckies'! It's the best word ever! All cute and funny, just like duckies are themselves! I want to know who named them that, too! I bet it was a professional duckie-expert who knew everything about duckies! And don't let Rosy tell you to stop asking questions about duckies! If you want to become a professional duckie-expert, nothing should stop you! She's just testing how much you mean it to become one!"

"What the heck, Laksimi...?" Rosy shook her head, but then decided to rather return to the really important topic here (though Laksimi would disagree). "Yeah, the farmers don't attack anyone unless they feel threatened, I think." Rosy didn't know that much about humans herself, living in the middle of Whisper Forest in a Fellox-Chateau. But she could tell that the Sauria was not feeling well and that his life force was not completely alright. "If a creature of your size comes up to the farmers, they'll probably be scared and might try to attack because they would think you would want to attack. The two-legged creatures tend to get scared easily by being bigger than them. There's also the problem that at this time of the year, they live off the fruits they grew during the other seasons and need it for themselves and their families. While some might share a few with you if you can manage to convince them that you don't mean harm, I doubt that it'll be enough for someone of your size. To get more food, you'd need to pay them - give them something in return - and that would be keystones, probably. They're like...something that the two-legged creatures use to trade things with each other, so they could get more food for themselves with it. Without that, things might be difficult...it might be worth a try, though?"

"What's a 'volcano'?" Laksimi chimed in at this point. "Are there duckies living there?"

"No", Rosy quickly replied. "Duckies would die in a volcano. It's too hot for them there."

"Oh! Then that's a bad place!" Laksimi looked at the Sauria. "Maybe you should come to Whisper Forest! There's a lake with duckies there! You could watch them all day long! And feed them snails!" She paused. "Since there are no duckies here and you are hungry, I guess I could give you some snails and bread! Then you could eat the same things as duckies! It'll surely help you to become a professional duckie-expert!"

Rosy snorted, but figured that Laksimi's idea wasn't too dumb. "If you really can't return to the volcano because of some shit two-legged guys, you should maybe consider Whisper Forest. Most of it is as frozen as Sekudui is here, but we Felloxes are different, too. We aren't from this world and one of us is so powerful that she has created an area around our home where it is always sunny and warm. That's why Laksimi here can still feed her ducks at home even in winter. We have quite a few other creatures taking advantage of this, too - Lusikrosses, for example. They're like, big, scaly guys just like you, so I figure it might be an idea?"

"I'd introduce you to all my duckie-friends", Laksimi promised. "To Boss and Gilbert and John and Emilia and--"

"Guess that's the downside of that." Rosy watched her happy, little sister and shook her head, amused.

[MillietheWarrior]

The Sauria chuckled, though the sound was more like a loud, rumbling growl than a laugh. “I have not been around children in ages. There are few of my kind left, so there are very few hatchlings’ around to show us the refreshing qualities of youth.” He dipped his head towards Laksimi, his eyes darting back to Rosy. “You should enjoy her care-free happiness while you can. One day you may miss it, child.” He curled his massive, spiked tail around his front claws, shivering in the cold. “I would be glad to hear what you have to tell me about…duckies, Laksimi. You make them sound rather fascinating.”

Fascinating or not, ‘duckies’ were the last thing on his mind right now. In fact, what rosy told him about the farmers was rather alarming. “I don’t see how size should matter,” he thought, mostly to himself. “I have never hurt another living soul, unless it tried to harm me first.” He seemed genuinely concerned about the fact that the farmers would find him threatening simply because of his size. “I do not have…keystones. Are they like regular stones? There are plenty of rocks around here I could use for payment, if that is the issue.” There was no end to the strangeness of the two-leggeds; frightened by his size even though he was docile, requesting payment in rocks? What was wrong with them, exactly?

At the mention of the forest, he perked up slightly, though it was getting more and more difficult to lift his head. He was afraid the snow would send him into an uncontrolled hibernation, one he would be unable to control and be forced into until the snow melted and the land warmed up again. “Your home sounds nice,” he said at last, a rumble of a growl resounding deep in his throat. It was clear it wasn’t an angry sound, with the way his massive jaws curved ever so slightly into a smile. “I don’t eat snails,” he told Laksimi seriously. “I do not eat anything that is alive. But I would take the bread, if you would be so kind.” He turned to face the two Fellox fully, tilting his head. “How far is your home?”

[Shieba]

Rosy laughed lightly. At first, Laksimi's obsession with ducks had amused her, too, and she had found it rather cute, but really, if you got pelted with duckie-talk around the clock, it got a bit annoying, no matter how cute Laksimi was. "Well, I guess that's true, but I still think she's overdoing it a bit", Rosy sighed. "She doesn't want anything in her room that doesn't look like a duck or has a picture of a duck on it somewhere."

"I must study duckies as much as possible!" Laksimi told her sister in a tone that made it clear that she had heard Rosy's complaint a lot before. But she wasn't upset at all - she had finally found someone who wanted to hear all about duckies! "Duckies are best!" she started. "Boss is the fluffiest! Mommy says he's just fat, but she's not a duckie-expert and--"

"Laksimi", Rosy stopped her sister once more, worried. "I think you should probably wait to tell your new friend about duckies until he has eaten and is in a place he feels more comfortable in." Watching the life force of the Sauria carefully, Rosy was worried and thought about what to do. "Size matters because..." she started explaining to the big creature, but then had problems to think about an answer. Wasn't it obvious, though? "Well, if something is much bigger than you, it's much easier to assume it can do more harm to you than something small. And the two-legged creatures have no scales to protect them, so they tend to be scared rather easily if someone bigger approaches them all of sudden." She herself had been scared, too, after all. "And no, sadly, normal rocks have little value to them. The keystones are special stones marked with some glowing symbol. Laksimi, you have some with you, right?"

"Yes, I think!" Laksimi put her box down, careful to make it not sink into the snow, and started to look through it until she found a small bag. "Here, Rosy!"

Rosy looked at it. "Not that many, but I guess we could try to buy some fruits with them for you", she told the Sauria. "I doubt it'll be enough for a full meal, but..." She smiled at Laksimi. "I'm sure Dad will give us some more for duckie-food when we tell him what we used it for, okay?"

Laksimi was a bit upset, but since there were no duckies here, after all, it didn't sound too bad of an idea. "That's okay! He needs to eat so that he is strong enough to become a great duckie-expert", she agreed and then got her bread out of her box. She had two small loaves with her - enough to feed some ducks, but probably hardly enough to feed a creature as big as the Sauria. "Heeeere's the bread!"

"Our home is sadly far away, on the other continent", Rosy added once Laksimi had gotten out the bread. "But I can teleport..." She considered this. "I have never teleported someone as big as you, though. But even if I can't do it, I still can move on my own there in a second and get someone more powerful than me to do it. So it wouldn't be a problem." She paused. If she would have to ask her father to teleport someone he didn't know to the Chateau, she needed at least some more information. "What's your name, by the way?", she therefore asked since they had never done real introductions. "My name's Rosalind, but everyone calls me Rosy. You have already gathered the duckie-fan is called Laksimi."

[MillietheWarrior]

The Sauria seemed content to observe the interactions between the two. He found Laksimi refreshing, and he found Rosy amusing, if perhaps a little jaded on her sister. But he had never met anyone quite like them; in fact, he hadn’t met many creatures at all. He supposed there was some truth in what she said; when one was as big as he was, one tended to be unable to make any friends. Most animals ran away when they saw him, and although he wasn’t sure why, he had a feeling that it had to do with the fact that other Saurias, or his smaller cousins, the Battlehearts, ate creatures such as them. Why these two had not run when they saw him was a mystery, but perhaps they were far more intelligent than most, and they knew he was not a threat to them. After all, he didn’t even eat meat. he only ate fruits and vegetables (Mangoes were his absolute favorite, but they tended to be harder to find than most fruits. It figured; his favorite foods were always quite scarce).

“I suppose you are right,” he admitted finally, tilting his head in a sort-of-considering manner. “For such a little thing, you are certainly wise.” He peered closely at her, scrutinizing her with one large, golden eye. “I have never given others any reason to fear me. What I do, I do simply in self defense, and nothing more. Perhaps if I was smaller, I would not have so very many problems.” He let out a sigh in a warm puff of air, which must have felt like a very gust of wind to the two Fellox in front of him, and let his head lightly touch the snow bank below him. “And you are very kind. I have never met anyone who would go out of their way to help another creature. I had believed such kindness to be dead. But you continue to prove me wrong, time and again, it seems.”

He eyed the keystones curiously, then lifted one large foot and poked at the bag that Laksimi held with one careful claw. “Humans are so strange, using glowing rocks as currency. But it can’t be helped, I suppose.” He snuffled at the bread when it was presented to him, having never consumed food quite like this. He knew it wasn’t meat, but he wasn’t sure what it was exactly. It smelled of wheat and something cold and musty, nothing like the living fruit plucked form the trees. But he ate the loves obediently, and while they weren’t much for filling him up, he found a faint warmth in his stomach and heart at the kindness of the two fellox. “Such small creatures, so full of wonder,” he mused, eyeing Rosy with a faintly upturned, scaly brow. “I…do not have a name. I have never been given one, nor have I ever…had the need. You may call me what you will. Perhaps your ’duckie expert’ could figure out what to call me for the time being. A temporary name is better than no name at all, is it not?” He dipped his head, slowly, and smiled faintly. “A pleasure to meet you, Rosalind and Laksimi.”

---

((That lat part is where Millie phailed because she never thought of a name for him. XD Feel free to call him whatever you want for the RP. Hehe~))

[Shieba]

(I...fail so much at naming. o3o Also, this is a fail-reply because I'm super-tired.)

"Haha, I don't think I'm all that wise." Rosy chuckled. She wondered what the Sauria would say to her father or other sister if he would meet them if he already considered her smart.

"Rosy is wise?" Laksimi looked at her sister in awe. "Then you must know more about duckies than you admit! I knew it! You are a secret duckie-expert!" Now obviously determined to contribute something to the topic as well, Laksimi thought about it. "Duckies are really small and cute, so no one is scared of them! But the evil people eat duckies! And duckies can't defend themselves well because they're all adorable! So maybe it's good if you're not all that small! Imagine all the duckies that could sit on your back and that you could carry around! They could be all quak-quak-quak!"

Rosy - not really happy about suddenly being promoted to 'secret duckie-expert' - sighed, but smiled behind her mask at her adorable sister because the little Fellox-girl really only meant well. She felt like maybe telling the Sauria about their father, who was companion to the Grim Reaper and cared for souls and had therefore told them much about the value of life and staying on the path of light to stay in tune with your soul. However, she doubted the Sauria had much use for such spiritual knowledge, though if Rosy was to summon her father to teleport the creature to Whisper Forest, there was little hope the Sauria would escape from her father's talks. "I don't think we really go out of our way", she therefore simply said. "We Felloxes have little use for keystones ourselves, for we do eat emotions instead of material food. So the little things we actually do use it for - Laksimi getting some more food for her duckies or me buying some ribbons - are just some extras for us. They can't compare to saving someone from hunger and cold." Rosy looked around. "Shall we try to get some fruits from the farmhouse down there for our keystones then? What kinds of fruits do you eat? All of them?"

"Me?!" Laksimi beamed. She was allowed to give the Sauria a name? That was really awesome! It was also a bit difficult, though, because everyone believed she named the duckies when in reality, the duckies just told her their names (Kind of. Laksimi needed to improvise a bit since she wasn't speaking duckie-language perfectly yet. She wasn't a professional duckie-expert yet, after all).

"Oh dear." Rosy sighed. Well, if the Sauria wanted to get a name from Laksimi, there was little Rosy could do.

"Hmmm..." Laksimi thought hard about this. She was used to duckies, not to such big creatures. "How about...'Robinson'?" she finally asked, ignoring the look she got from her sister.

[MillietheWarrior]

(OMG. I never thought I’d get this out. -shakes Robinson- Y U SO HARD TO WRITE FOR?)

This was blizzard country now. During this time of year, the landscape was covered in snow, much like her homeland in the deep northern parts of Evelon. Yelizaveta spent most, if not all, of her time in the colder areas of Lambastia, but during this time of the year, her home grew warmer, and she migrated to South Barakka. Her journeying had taken her far from her home, and deep into the farmlands of the many humans who inhabited the vast meadows. She soared through the sky, keeping an eye on the ground far below for any signs of life. When it was this deep in the winter, there were very few who were foolish enough to leave the safety and warmth of their homes. However, luck was with Yelizaveta today, as she spied a pair of Fellox crouched in the snow next to a rather large drift. Opening her jaws, she released a magnificent roar, her wings co9llapsing in on themselves as she dove towards the ground.

The Fellox seemed none the wiser, and as she neared, she could practically feel her mouth watering. Just as she was about to snap up the one with the ridiculous bows all over her tails, a sudden movement beside the Felloxes pulled her up short. A head rose from the snow, and it’s jaws opened wide, sending her reeling backwards in the air and nearly crashing into an ungraceful heap in the snow. With a growling rumble, Yelizaveta righted herself and managed to land somewhat normally, disturbing a great cloud of snow in her wake. She blinked, first at the two Fellox, and then at the massive creature who had driven her away from them. “Vat is zis?” she demanded, the words sounding strange in her reptilian mouth and tinged with an unmistakably Russian-like accent.

“Yelizaveta,” the newly named Robinson sighed. He stiffly spread one aching, freezing wing out and swept it over to hover over the Fellox. “Fancy meeting you here.” Yelizaveta looked astonished to see him in the snow, let alone to have been thwarted in her efforts at hunting by her own mate. Robinson tilted his head to gaze at Rosy and Laksimi, blowing warm breath across the two Fellox. “Perhaps our visit to the farms shall have to wait. This is my mate. It has been a while since I have seen her…” He cast the still shocked looking Sauria an amused look. “Unlike me, she does not eat fruit, as you may have noticed.” Yelizaveta seemed to have broken from her stupor, and was regarding the Fellox curiously, moving forward to briefly touch her nose to Robinson’s. She dwarfed the male Sauria by a good few feet or so, and was bulkier and larger. Her brown scales and her pale, almost neon blue wings and horns, stood out starkly against the cold. Unlike her mate, she didn’t seem to have a problem with the snow.

“ Zey are not for eeting den,” she said at last, lowering her head to gaze at the Fellox beneath her mate’s wings and snorting a warm breath of air over them. “You is too soft, dorogaya moya (my dear). Always looking after foods. Learn to eet zem, not make friends.” Robinson  merely shook his massive head, and shivered as his mate cleared the snow from around his body. “I am Yelizaveta,” she introduced. “How you get into snow?” she asked Robinson. Her hold on the English language seemed very tenuous; she seemed to have difficulty pronouncing her words and forming her sentences. “I cannot leaf you alone. Troublesome, troublesome!” She turned to regard Rosie and Laksimi as she settled beside her mate to warm him with her body. “You look after heem? Tank you. Sorry I try to eat.” She waved a clawed hand haphazardly. “How he get here? Is not good for heem. Very, very bad. We go somewhere warm now, yah?” She blinked a the Fellox, as if asking if they‘d lead them away somewhere warm and safe. “You take?”