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Here you may witness the young Jenna and how she was treated by Kerash as she was raised by her. Eventually, if this thread really really matures, it can lead up to the defection and destruction of Halcyon, but for now we’ll leave it as Jenna being 6-8 years old.
Concept sketch for size/visual assistance: http://www.seferia.net/kat_aclysm/stuff/rawr_dragon.jpg
More than likely will throw Seph in somehow.
Rakaerum was a rather dull colored bronze/brown dragon. Two smooth dark brown horns grew back and up from her head, smaller spines grew from the sides of the head. Her skull was rather thick and tough, designed for ramming and shoving down trees, prey, and other dragons. Large spines and frills grew from her neck and tail. She was not much of a sight to behold however. She was all but 3ft in height from the top of her shoulder, and 9ft long from nose to tail tip, hardly a grand dragon by any means. She belonged to a subspecies of omnivorous lesser dragons specialized for stalk-hunting in sub-tropical forest area and so as a result, grew to a smaller adult size than her grander and more archaic species counterparts.
Whereas the grand and older generation dragons grew to colossal sizes, her species had shrunk through the path of evolution, causing them to be overall much smaller, yet much more lithe and fast, and some of them would even say more intelligent (though this was widely disputed by larger dragons). The grassland bronze/brown subspecies were also faster growing and faster breeding than their old-world counterparts. They were built for running, stalking, and moderate distance flight. Their breath weapon was dismal however, and was only fueled by whatever combustible digestive gasses were made in the gut. At most, they could manage a small plume of flame that was good enough to start brushfires in the open plains of Africa in which they had hunted and lived in before the grand culling of dragon kind everywhere.Like many other species of dragons, they had become refugees on the island of Halcyon. What little of them left had migrated, even fewer had survived on the island to continue breeding. They had made very generous sized meals for larger dragons once their relatively unprotected wings had been bitten off. This had made subsequent generations of them very alert, jumpy, quick to flee, and exceedingly defensive of their mates and offspring. And because of their size and reluctance to fight, larger dragons had classed them near the bottom social rung of their hierarchy.
Rakaerum herself had been born on the island, and raised by a rather strict and angry mother who never allowed her clutch of three to wander more than about seven feet at any given time. They mostly fed on rabbits, small lizards and lots and lots of fruit. She herself had never eaten anything more interesting than that.The young adult female was scavenging in the area when she had heard overheard the discussion from others gossiping nearby. There was a new refugee to the island, a lowly human at that. Rakaerum had never seen a human before and was quite curious. She trotted off to investigate, remaining on high alert should any others attack her, or tell her to go away.
Kerash was a great warrior born to be a great leader. Kerash was the daughter of the residing Clan leader and General over the protective forces. Kerash was the strongest, fastest, and deadliest hunter on the island. Kerash was supposed to be at her father’s side taking lessons from him. Kerash was not a babysitter! Kerash was not supposed to run around for half the day chasing some little human child! Kerash was not supposed to have this job at all!
The nearly eight foot high, orangery-brown raptor never understood what she had done wrong to be given the job of watching this little human. Either way, she hoped that they reconsidered their plans soon. She had already wasted two years caring for the child and taking care of her every need, and it was becoming quite annoying. Kerash could think of a thousand more interesting and better things that she could be spending her time on than watching Shekreh, the word she preferred to refer to the girl as, which meant spoiled brat for the most part.
At lest Shrekreh was approximately four by now, at least Kerash assumed that the girl was two by the time she had found her huddled on the forest floor. Hrmph, if she had not found the child at all, it probably would be dead by now and not her problem at all.
Kerash loudly snorted at her thoughts and scowled as she finally spotted the child. Shrekreh was hiding in a corner of the main walkway in and out of the underground caverns, just seeming to be watching everyone else pass by. Her eyes had turned cold in the past year, most likely because the child had lost the feeling of wonderment at every little thing she found. Instead, she seemed to be sizing up everyone who passed her by.
Kerash shook her head in annoyance and grumbled, “One day I’ll understand what goes on inside that child’s small mind.”
Kerash stormed over to Shrekreh and snorted at her, making the little girl jump. Once recovered from the shock of the noise, the girl slowly turned around and looked up at Kerash. The girl’s eyes seemed to be begging for forgiveness as the child feigned innocence.
“Yes, Kerash… I just standing here… You told me no go outside today, so I didn’t… See,” The child softly spoke, not wanting to get in trouble for not doing anything wrong.
Kerash loudly snorted, “No, I told you to stay in the room. This is not my room, now is it.” The rapor-type creature furiously swished her tail then quickly moved behind Shrehreh and thumped the girl’s back with her snout in order to get her to move. “Now, come. Raim is going to watch you for the rest of the day while I meet with my father.”
Shrekreh frowned and looked back at Kerash, “Please, I know how to behave and take care of myself. Raim’s an idiot. Why do I have to watch him make stuff that doesn’t work again?”
Kerash scowled and thumped the girls back once more. “No more arguments. Now, get moving.”
The child decided to give up her protests, though she was still quite miffed over the situation. So, she just slowly nodded and began walking down to Raim’s laboratory. Kerash closely followed behind Shrekreh, wanting to insure that she goes where told.
Rakaerum flared out her wings and kept her head held high as larger creatures hissed at her when she made her way past them. The dull bronze and brown dragon just held her proud posture as she headed across the open territory and towards the protective underground caverns.
However, she stopped dead in her tracks as she spotted Kerash, knowing full well not to get anywhere near the alpha female raptor at any point if she could help it. And normally Rakaerum would heed such a warning, as Kerash was probably more than capable of crushing her skull in a single bite of her jaws.Today though, curiousity had gotten the better of her. She listened to Kerash exchange conversation with the small fleshy pink one that everyone else had been talking about, and then they began to walk further down into the protective caverns. It was against every rule that she had ever been taught, but curiousity had gotten the better of her and she followed them, keeping her distance should she have the need to flee.
Kerash had more on her mind than the fact that she may be followed by a miniature dragon. In fact, being the favored daughter, not to mention child of either sex, of the current leader of her clan and military leader for Halcyon, she could care less about some other creature trying to stalk her. They’d be crazy to attempt anything.
So, Kerash simply lead the small human child down into a small laboratory that was filled with mechanics and half-finished to barely working complete creations. Half of the contraptions that were built within this specific laboratory never worked at all and never left the room, but there were the occasional machine that worked brilliantly, such as the central computer that regulated the entire complex, that emerged from these walls.
In the middle of the giant mess, was a tall, slender green male being. He was one of the species that had evolved from the omnivorous raptor-like creatures such as Oviraptors into highly intelligent bipeds. Meanwhile, Kerash’s on race had kept there basic form throughout the entire span of the millions of years that they’ve been evolving, highlighting the strength and maneuverability of their forms, and simply developed more bulk and more brains. Nonetheless, the creature within the room was a dull green color for the most part, with specks of orange and yellow on his backside. He had a long slender neck and soft brown feathers that decorated the back of his neck and head. His slender tail also had a plume of feathers at the tip. Everything about the creature seemed as if he was about to break, of course, Kerash thought such about all of his race. Still, in the end, it fit Raim’s personality perfectly.
The human child frowned as she entered the room and softly spoke. “This guy’s an idiot. I don’t like him.” Nonetheless, she moved away from Kerash and wandered into the back of the room where she began to fiddle with one of the half-completed machines.
Kerash shook her head at the child then snorted at Raim. “I am going to train with my father some more. You, watch the child. You’ve done this before and know what to do.”
Raim jumped slightly at the sound of Kerash’s snort and sighed as he spotted the currently beta raptor. “Cheerful as usual, I see.” He slowly shook his head at Kerash’s attitude. “I’ll watch your charge as if she were my own, dear friend. And I promise to spoil her just as much as you do.”
Kerash snorted once more. “You’d better. And we are not dear friends.” She swished her tail once, though there is not any real animosity in her actions then quickly moves out of the room.
Raim shook his head at Kerash’s attitude and sighed. “One day that one will learn to lighten up…” He blinked and tilted his head as he spotted a small dragon in the background and waved at her. “Hello, may I help you?”
Rakaerum curled her wings up and lowered her head as she was spoken to, saying nothing at first. She had done her best not to be noticed as she followed behind Kerash and the strange bipedal non-scaled child to the lower levels of the complex and now didn’t want to be attacked or hissed at for being where she wasn’t supposed to be.
When the featherheadded one just looked at her, waiting for a response, only then she did reply as she figured that she wasn’t going to be scolded.“I do not need help,” She bowed her head low and in a recessive manner, not knowing the social status of this plumed male. “I just wish to see the non-scaled creature under your care currently.”
Raim: *Tilts his head at the weird behavior of the newcomer to his lab and shrugs* Well, come on in. All are welcome within my doors. Just don’t touch any of the projects. They are very sensitive. The human is just- *pauses for a moment, searching for Kerash’s ward*
Shrekreh: *is behind one of the machines that Raim has previously proclaimed a failure. She is fiddling with it and suddenly gets the machine to start up. She steps to the side of it and looks at Raim, not saying anything at the moment. However, there is a look in her eyes as if to say that fix was way too easy and he should have been able to do it himself*
Raim: *spots Shrekreh and is speachless for a few moments as he notices the mechanism is working. He stands there for a few moments then quickly shakes his head* There’s the human.. *moves over to the machine to see what Shrekreh had done* Amazing..
Rakaerum: *curls her wings up tightly against her back as Raim invites her into the area. The gesture is both a recessive one, as well as her not wishing to break anything she passes by. She stares at ‘Shrekreh’ rather curiously, finally being able to get a better look at her* Its a human? Is that what it’s called? *she tilts her head as she watches Shrekreh fix the machine, frowning as she realizes that this living creature is probably highly intelligent, and likely to insult her soon* I am just here to look. Please tell me to leave if you find me to be disruptive.
Raim: *is now busy examining his now working perpetual motion machine to even pay any attention to what the small dragon is doing. He softly mutters to himself as he tries to determine what Shrekreh had done to correct his creation*
Shrekreh: *narrows her eyes as she spots the visitor then loudly snorts in a disdainful manner. She despised strangers, half of them would only come to her to poke at her and cause her trouble, so she had little to no reason to warm up at the sight of this one. She screwed her face into a scowl then snorted once more.*
*So, the girl decided to turn her attention to Raim and firmly spoke* You going to finish my claws soon? I really like to have them. *hopefully grins at him* Then I can go get my food and no wait for Kerash any longer.
Rakaerum: *is feeling more brave now, and so walks right up to Shrekreh, sniffing her arm curiously. She wonders how something so small and devoid of scales can be on-par intelligence with dragonkind, even moreso intelligent than some. There is no anger or hostility in her expression or eyes as she sniffs the girl, purely curious and nothing more* You do not smell like food, nor anything I have ever smelled before. What are you?
Shrekreh: *scowls as the small dragon sniffs her and quickly moves to stick her small fingers into the dragon’s nose in order to deter it from doing such again* Go away. I do not want to deal with idiots today. *she looks back up at Raim* So, when will my claws be ready?
Raim: *Frowns at Shrekreh’s behavior. The feathers on the back of his head droop and he shakes his head* Shrekreh, be nice for once. Not everyone is out ot mock you.
Shrekreh: *Grumbles* They do it anyway…
Raim: *ignores the girl’s complaint* And the claw gloves will be ready soon. I just want to insure that the nueral network will work as planned. That way you’ll be able to feel through them as if they were your own skin. *broadly smirks* I think it’ll be a great invention if I don’t say so myself.
Rakaerum: *makes a rather upset noise as the Shrekreh human pokes it’s fingers into her nasal cavities and she backs up immediately, loudly snorting to get rid of the horrible feeling. She pins her wings up against her back and retreats to the far side of the lab, frowning, wondering what she had done wrong.*
Shrekreh: *grumbles* You always think your next invention is your greatest.. *the girl looks back at Rakaerum once more then sticks her toungue out at the dragon. She clearly has little to no respect for the stranger and is more than willing to mock her*
Raim: *frowns then moves over to Rakaerum. He bends down to the dragon’s level and pats the top of her head* Shh… don’t let the girl bother you. She has several rough edges, but if you are good to her, she’ll warm up to you. Just remember that she has Kerash as a role model, ok?
Rakaerum: *lowers her head as she is patted and listens to to Raim, nodding* I only came to look at the female. It’s interesting – how can a creature like that survive? It has no claws, no teeth, no weapons it can use. And yet, her kind drove us out of our homes in the thousands. It does not make sense.
Shrekreh: *defensively speaks, seeming insulted* I never killed no dragons! Don’t blame me for what humans do. *snorts* They sound stupid. *walks over to Raim’s workbench and tries to hop onto his chair, grunting because she’s not exactly tall enough to get up onto it*
Raim: *sighs and shakes his head* What they lack in natural weapons, they make up with ingenuity. The way that girl there just fix my machines without even asking anything about them proves that they are a very intelligent race and capable of improvising quite a bit of things. *he stands up to his full height then chuckles at Shrekreh’s attempts to get onto his chair* For now, that little one is too small to be able to properly demonstrate what the humans who persecuted your kind are like.
Rakaerum: Yes, she seems much too small to be able to demonstrate or orchestrate anything so drastic. She is a very interesting one, however. Bad tempered, but interesting. *watches Shrekreh stumble and struggle for a moment, then timidly walks over to her, lowering her hard bony snout under one of her feet to help her up into the chair*
Raim: *grins and nods as he watches the minature dragon* Yes, show her that you respect her and she’s certain to warm up to you. At least as much respect as that little one is capable of.
Shrekreh: *yelps slighly as she’s pushed up, not having expected the assistand and quickly scrambles onto the bench. She takes a moment to look down at Rakaerum and slowly nods at her* Thank you.. *quickly scowls* But I didn’t need any help at all!
Rakaerum: *just makes a soft huckering noise that resembles a laugh as she moves away from Shrekreh once more. She is about to turn and head towards the door when something catches her attention – some small gadgets on a nearby table. She raises her head up to cautiously sniff them, then makes a loud querying noise as she turns her head back towards Raim* What are these strange devices? The things in here are certainly a lot different to what I see outside…
Raim: *looks over at Rakaerum as he hears her question. He examines which exact machiens that she is studying for a brief moment before responding* Oh, those. Well, not that you’d understand the mechanics of any of the obejcts in this room but-
Shrekreh: *Snorts in irritation at Raim, cutting him off* You no think nobody can understand. *scowls* Those be broken. He want to make machine tha breaks time. Those no work.
Raim: *Frowns at Shrekreh’s interruption* Well, yes, they are failed prototypes. They were intended to allow the holder to go wherever they wanted to, no matter the distance or time. You do know what a machine is, right?
Rakaerum: *flaps her wings slightly, seeming a little insulted by the question. However, she does not give much more indication than this and simply nods her head* Yes, I know what a machine is. I’ve seen them used a few times. But there are not normally any on the outer territories of this land. *stares at the machines curiously* Why would you intend to move through time?
Shrekerh: Nothing! *snorts* Raim not good enough to make work stuff. *crosses her arms* Never will get machine to work. Never!
Raim: *sighs at Shrekreh’s statements* That one needs a nap, by the sounds of it. *shakes his head then reaches up to scratch the back of his head* Well, if I get the theories to work, I plan on sending a few of our people to various times so that we can take notes on what happened in the past and what can happen in the future. Maybe, if a great catastrophe heads toward the earth like when Halcyon was formed, we’d use it to escape.
Shrekreh: *loudly snorts* I no need nap! And I no believe that big catastrophe happen. The records too distorted to confirm something like that at all.
Rakaerum: That’s an effective idea. *wags her tail a bit, seeming to like the concept and general idea of what he’s up to* Worthwhile endeavor it is. The ability to see the future, to foresee, to plan ahead… preparedness makes one powerful. *bows her head in a respecting manner* May you go with the blessing of the gods. Such a machine would only save us from further despair.
Shrekreh: *Snorts* Raim not skill enough to make machine. He alway makes mistakes. *frowns at Raim then points to her hand* When will make claws for me? I wan claws.
Raim: *gratefully bows at Rakaerum’s comments* I appreciate your words. Unfortunately, the science behind this device is rather fiddly, so I must act with care. *sighs at Shrekreh’s words* Yes, yes. I’ll finish up your claws soon, child. Just be calm and patient.
Rakaerum: Claws? You are building claws for the non-scaled hatchling? *wanders closer, her curiousity getting the better of her* May I see? I would like to see how you plan to give them to this defenseless one. *retracts and draws her own front claws, grinning* To climb trees, to hunt. That would be enjoyable.
Shrekreh: *growls as she watches the dragon flex her claws and hisses in irritation* I not defenseless! I have defences. I will show all.. *crosses her arms and pouts, disliking the fact that no one has faith in her abilities*
Raim: You want to see what will be her claws? Well, alright, but they’re still a work in progress. *he picks up a pair of clawed iron gloves off the table and lowers them to show Rakaerum* Here, just don’t ruin them. I’ve put many hours into them so far.
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