darkSpyro

While Latnok hunted, Angora was slowly started to wake up. She felt quite awful. Despite having slept profoundly for a while, she dreamed too many things to be peaceful. It was quite the miracle nobody wanted to wake her up just to annoy her. She felt hot in there, perhaps as a result of the cave getting more cramped. She looked around and saw Latnok was nowhere to be seen. She smiled at the prospect of not having him around for a while, but he was probably going to be back soon. She saw the storm claw snacking on a boar, and was quite glad to see him with much more liberty than before.

After briefly inspecting the catwolf, Latnok squatted down, and came up throwing it on his back. He wasn't too far from the cave - near the forest that Star was found in. He began walking back, staying wary of scavengers.

Sere identified Latnok walking in, armor still bloodied, with an unusual creature on his back - a carnivore, or potentially an omnivore, by the looks of it. "Pretty good catch," Sere said, as he walked over to the carcass. "Did it put up any sort of a fight?"
"Not really," Latnok said. "Tracked it, and it tried to ambush me by jumping out of a tree, but I saw it coming, dodged and struck an artery. Tried to get away, but it collapsed shortly after."
"Interesting. Please lay it down for now," Sere ordered, as he took out his notebook. "I will do some studies on it and take notes. I do appreciate you being efficient and bringing the creature mostly intact. You may prepare it as soon as I'm done."
Latnok complied, laying the catwolf creature down. Sere, after taking notes of what Latnok told him, began a thorough inspection of the catwolf. "Hmm... canines and flat teeth, mark of an omnivore..."

Angora looked at what Latnok caught, and then quickly ignored him and Sere as they examined the dead creature. They thought they were all mighty and smart experimenting on everything they catch and kill. It even made her feel bad for hunting down that giant sloth. Even though it gave her a great fight, the animal didn't even want to fight her. He just looked at her and continued with his digging business until she attacked. She only killed it because she had navigated for too long and didn't want to find anything else, but she really felt bad for what she did. She rather fight creatures that start the fight, but the damage was already done, and she doubted Veris wouldn't have minded what she found, as long as it had meat.

As Sere continued to take notes, Latnok began carving the leftover wood, to prepare spits. Sere meticulously gutted the catwolf, taking care to not shift its organs too much, as he began making a professional illustration.
Veris looked on with anticipation - even if Sere hunted something and intended to eat the meat, he always had the guts. After Sere finished his illustration, he disemboweled the catwolf, leaving the guts in a stack.
"Veris, eat." Veris didn't need to be told twice - he darted his head into the pile of guts, pulling it out seconds later with most of them eaten and his face bloodied, as he hunted down the stray leftovers. "Latnok, we're done. You can begin preparing the animal." Latnok obliged - grabbing what was left, pulling out a knife, and skinning it.

OOC: Hey SC, you forgot to reply to Maverick.

Angora watched everything greener than a nauseous ogre. Human meat carving was truly disgusting. She never made such a mess, and simply left behind the inedible instead of tearing it all apart. How typical they left the worst part for Veris, although she knew he didn't mind. As long as he got something in his stomach, she knew he was happy.

She then focused her attention on the almost loose storm claw, looking to share his meal.
"Isn't that something? The poor little beast wants to share the meal to prevent becoming one." Angora said, thinking out loud. It was both amusing and sad. Maybe storm claws were more sapient than everyone in that cave gave them credit for.

Veris, wary of the creature which had attacked them previously, sniffed at the boar for a few seconds. As predictably as ever, however, he devoured the whole mess in seconds.
"Well, Veris probably won't be flying for a few hours," Sere said nonchalantly. "He'll be walking along with the rest of us."
Latnok had the meat skinned relatively quickly, in no small part thanks to his familiarity with the process. With the knife, he cut up three relatively equal sections, skewering them on shafts of wood and laying them on three spits over three fires, all formed from the leftover wood. With the assistance of a modified air cooling spell, he had the meat thoroughly cooking inside and out. Before too long, a delicious smell began wafting throughout the cave. Latnok cut off a tiny piece off of one to taste test it.
"WOW. These are actually delicious. Color me surprised. Can't wait for the next one to decide to pick a fight with me." Focusing, he continued to cook the three pieces with great care.

Raclaw simply watched the activities-- relaxing while being partly lost in thought. Watching Storm interact with the party for a purpose other than eating them brought him to his youth once again. Whereas Storm had him and possibly Veris to talk to, Raclaw had the family dog and had even grown to learn the creatures language. Back then, his purpose was very simple-- growing up and simply enjoying life to the best of his ability. He had first lacked the grand desires (finding his past) and had settled for simply being what he was. It was probably a smart play for Storm to share food with the creature that would otherwise happily devour him. He both sympathized with and related to the Storm Claw and wondered just how its life would change should the Guardians officially "let it go" down the road. Would it revert to its old life or would it start to desire... more? Only time would tell.

The smell of the cooking catdog meat soon brought Raclaw back to his senses; and he realised that it had been awhile since he had last eaten. His stomach was actually growling and he didn't say anything when Storm stepped outside. He trusted the Storm Claw and knew that it wouldn't go anywhere, at least not permanently. He smelled the ever growing hint of-- something. 'They sure know how to cook.,' he thought to himself as his stomach growled once again. The mysterious meat did indeed smell delicious and although he was never too picky, he was glad to have the Guardians' excellent cooking skills to take advantage of during this journey.

Angora made no attempt to interact with anyone in the cave, not the storm claw or the newcomers. She loved this alone time, and it finally seemed that everyone left her in peace. She was certain it was because it was meal time, but still, it was a sacred moment. She briefly looked at Raclaw, not angry at him anymore. The ride, him being unable to defend her from the racist Raclaw, all was forgiven, but she didn't want to let the fur dragon know. She wanted to do a casual comment, but desisted. She was too afraid that Latnok would interrupt once more and distrupt this sacred moment of peace that was so rare lately with him in the group.

Quote: Spyroconvexity

"Place the item on the Crystal and pass this point." The voice said. "Be warned though the great Galaxy Dragon Orion himself is present on this mountain. Show respect and you'll be fine."

"The Galaxy dragon?" Maverick repeated, even him having heard about the Galaxy dragon. While he did believed in some fantastic creatures like krakens and sea serpents, the Galaxy dragon was just too fantastic to be true.

"Oh, I get it. It's one of your test thingies, right? Well no importa, have your gift, and if that's all, I'll be on my way." Maverick said like a high school boy saying goodbye to his friends, raising his hand as if expecting a high five. He knew he wasn't going to get a response, but he liked doing that anyway. He thought the Galaxy dragon was some sort of symbolism. But now that the little ritual was over, Maverick went ahead, cautious but exited. The less one expected something, the more fun it was going to be he always believed. Still, that didn't mean he would lower his guard, so he was prepared to take off his shield and defend himself just in case things got out of hand...

Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, Latnok deemed the food ready. Removing each piece from the spits they were on, he laid them out on the tarp, hacking the meat into smaller and smaller portions. Eventually, the meat was cut up enough to share, whether it be a dragon or... the ballet dancer thing. "Eat up, everyone - no, not you, Veris, you're stuffed as is! Anyway, I'll be brining any leftovers, so don't feel forced to finish the whole thing. But everyone will have at least a decently full belly before we move out." Latnok took one of the pieces, as did Sere, and they both began to eat.

Angora didn't want to eat, having her share of boar meat and unwilling to accept anything that came from Latnok. She only accepted the strange apple and nothing else, and refused to accept anything else. She wasn't hungry anyway, so she simply lied down, relaxing.

About two miles ahead of the cave, the young Maverick was looking at the new realm, almost drooling with amazement. How could a place like this even exist? He felt like he was in a different planet. Maybe even a different dimension. There was no way this place was made naturally, was it? Many of the plants were grayish in color, and the soil felt damp and slippery. It almost felt like he was standing on quicksand. Making sure it wasn't sinkable, he continued walking, picking up plants, rock and soil as he walked and placing them in his bag. He made sure to scan the area well and memorize where he came from so that he could get back without getting lost. So far, he hasn't spotted any animals save from some bugs and birds in the sky that were too distant to distinguish. No hostiles so far, but that was most likely thanks to his painted cape.

Soon enough, he was less than a mile from the cave. Since he was behind the entrance, the cave looked like a really large rock in the distance.
"This place is unbelievable. All this time I've been wasting my life at sea when there's so much more to see on land." Maverick said to himself, spotting the rock and heading there to her a better view of the realm. Even though he didn't like this place as somewhere to live in, it was still marvelous to explore, collect and learn.

Latnok and Sere continued to eat heartily, downing the meal with plenty of water. "You know, Latnok, this isn't bad at all," Sere complimented.
"Eh, just your typical field cooking," Latnok said. "Raw meat takes longer to eat, so if I'm going to cook the meat, I might as well do a good job of it. Plus, it's really good for the spirits. The hunting party always appreciates a good meal.
"With so many different kinds of meat we get the opportunity to try, I've kept sort of a log on what kinds of animals you can find in what areas and whether they're good for cooking or not. This one is definitely going in the log," Latnok said, stuffing his face with another chunk of meat.
"You know, speaking of spirits, it would seem some wine would go well with this..." Sere said. "When this is all over, we should make this with seasonings, wine, vegetables, the whole nine yards - a celebration feast, as you will."
"Gladly."
"I have some other things to offer to some when this is all over, but that is a story for another day," Sere said, as he grabbed another piece of meat. "We'll see how it all turns out."
"Don't forget my Pioneer medal!" Latnok added. "Actually, I think that's two now. The others back at base will be pretty jealous."

Angora said nothing about their seasoning, thinking they were showing off. The smell was getting to her though. She has never tried to cook meat, thinking it a waste of time, and the stronger smell would simply attract too many animals to her. But this group was big though, so she doubted that any other creature would attack, unless they were as dumb and desperate as the storm claw earlier. Unable to resist the smell, Angora hid behind Veris and helped herself with some of the cooked meat, wanting to know if cooked meat was as delicious as it smelled...

The troll wasn't the only one temped by the smell. At the very top of the cave, just outside the commotion, Maverick was admiring the view until he also picked up the smell. Even though he didn't eat meat, he knew how cooked one smells like.
"Cooking? Here?" he whispered to himself, the smell being unmistakable. Was someone living on this foreign territory? Or did the animals were intelligent enough to cook? It was an intriguing mysery, but he wouldn't be able to follow the smell from above there. He slowly climbed down the rock the same way he came from, being a free fall from the other side. From above, he couldn't see the entrance of the cave, so he simply went down the same direction, trying not to throw off any rocks. If there was indeed some sort of intelligent animal feeding, he didnMt want to interrupt...

As Latnok declared the food was ready, Raclaw perked up-- something that much unlike the fur dragon. As he ate his fair share of the now cooked catdog meat, he was pleasantly surprised. It was actually quite delicious and one of the best meats he had ever tasted. And even though he usually didn't eat more than he had to, he actually came back for seconds as well. "Latnok-- you are quite the cook. Compliments to the chef.," he said with a nod as he started to finish his second helping. Similar to the other dragonoid-type creatures in the party, he was perfectly capable of eating raw meat. However, he had also grown up on human-cooked food and wouldn't be one to pass down a good meal. To a much lesser extent of certain others like Veris of course.

Veris laid about lazily, obviously sated - his appetite finally caught up to him. He became much more static, yawning audibly, his teeth still bloody.
Latnok noted Angora taking some meat - he didn't care, however. If she needed to eat, so be it. "Why, thank you," Latnok said. "It makes me happy to know that others enjoy my cooking. It's actually something I've been working on for a long time, like I said - having a cook makes any trip out to the field more enjoyable, so I practiced since I was a Hunter. By the time I got my current rank, I was solid enough that others would look forward to me leading the hunting party they were on. I take pride in everything I do - no half measures."
Latnok noticed Angora taking some meat, but he didn't say anything - if she needed to eat, then she should be eating. Inviting her would probably have the opposite effect, so he pretended not to see her.

Angora didn't care whether Latnok noticed her or not. She went to her corner, using Veris bloated body to be away from everyone else's line of sight. She took her part... and could finally see what all the fuzz was about with cooked meat. It was as delicious as it smelled. It was no wonder humans decided to cook meat instead of eating it raw. However, Angora didn't expressed any happiness, nor complimented Latnok's cooking like everyone else. Instead, she remained with a neutral face, not wanting Latnok to get a big head if he noticed she really enjoyed this meal.

She chewed pleasantly before swallowing, wanting to make sure she enjoyed the flavor. She felt bad for Veris for being denied such a heavenly meal, but if he wasn't so gluttonous, he would've had the privilege. Just as she was about to have her second helping, Angora heard what sounded like rocks falling behind the cave. Maverick tripped while he was climbing down, something that rarely happened to him, and since Angora was resting her head on the wall of the cave, she could clearly hear the rolling rocks. Perhaps an animal that was attracted by the delicious scent? Whatever the case, Angora's curiosity got the better of her. She statched away the remaining meat, and taking advantage of everyone's distraction, she quietly went to investigate, keeping a close eye on Veris and hoping he didn't hear a thing. Knowing that silly wyvern, he probably would want to devour whatever creature was behind the cave, so Angora wanted to make sure she took a close look at the intruder before the wyvern went crazy...

"And it shows.," Raclaw said licking off a scrap of meat that had gotten stuck on one of his more visible fang-like teeth. He tried to hide the action with a slight smile. It was obvious that he had enjoyed the meat, perhaps more so than he should have. By the time they moved out, everyone would no doubt be on a full stomach and happily so. He glanced over at the stuffed Veris, simply shaking his head at the glutinous Wyvern. "He really does over endurge, doesn't he?," he half-jokingly asked noting how obviously full Veris had become. He had been too distracted in the pleasantly delicious meal to notice the near intruder.

Veris, almost as if in response, rolled over onto his side. "He does that, but he'll be ready to move with the rest of us," Sere said. "No flying for him for a bit but he'll be fine on foot."
Latnok, though not really trying, noticed Angora leaving in the corner of his eye - that wasn't his problem, though. She was probably just being her typical, moody, anti-social self. He instead started preparing the brine solutions for any meat the group could not finish.

Angora was relieved when nobody followed her or tried to stop her. The wyvern either didn't hear a thing or was too bloated to care. And she thought that if Latnok had seen her sneaking out, he would've stopped her just to annoy her. Certain nobody was behind her, especially Veris, Angora went to investigate the source of the sound. Behind the cave was something ducking and black, and it wasn't identifiable until it got up and extended it's arms. Angora was at first startled, but was experienced enough to remain quiet even after the scare. It was upon closer inspection she realized this black thing with teeth was just a hideous hood with a bad painting job, but who was wearing it? Only muggers would wear something this ugly and sinister, so it made Angora distrust the stranger immediately. She wasn't going to take any chances...

Maverick has fallen in his attempt to climb down the mountain. This rock was very unpredictable, and it made him feel embarrassed that he made such an obvious mistake. Maverick got down to check his knee. It was cut, but thankfully, it wasn't severe enough to make him limp. He got up relieved and stretched himself, and when he was about to check the source of the scent, something got locked on his neck!
"Hey hey!" he yelled startled, struggling with the small figure trying to strange him.

Angora had jumped on the stranger and firmly grabbed his neck. She didn't intend to kill him, but wanted to disable him and discover if he was indeed a mugger. The two struggled until they rolled themselves near the entrance of the cave, with Maverick trying very hard to get the hostile animal off him while Angora tried to suffocotate the mugger into unconsciousness. None of them were budging, and it didn't seem like any of them wanted to give up. They were evenly matched...

"Get off me!" Maverick yelled, unable to see what was attacking it! In all the struggle, he couldn't see this was the only being present at the moment. Angora continued pressing his neck, surprised that such a skinny fellow managed to be this strong. She didn't have this much trouble with the sloth.
"Just stand still you mugger!" Angora screamed, refusing to let go. Time stood still for the both of them in this struggle... and not one of them recognized the other. Maverick didn't know who the owner of the voice was, but whoever it was, it was a creature intelligent enough for speech. Was it a dwarf? A goblin? An elf? He couldn't see a thing with the creature grasping his neck. If a creature or anything else can talk, he always believed there was a chance he could reason with the attacker. He tried to say anything, but by this time, his neck was pressed so hard that he couldn't talk. He would've been unconscious if it wasn't for his shield, hidden by the hood, which was obstructing Angora's grasp...

OOC: Wha... I come back and find the post count exploded. Summary (AGAIN!)

OOC: Storm claw hunts some food. Latnok kills some cat-wolf hybrid with horns, cooks it, and shares with the others after Sere dissects it and feeds the guts to Veris. The food is surprisingly good. Exposition on why he's a skilled cook. Maverick enters the mountains, Angora finds him but can't identify him, and the two are fighting right now.

Angora and Maverick continued fighting, refusing to give up. It really looked like this could take hours, but unaware to the both of them, this ceaseless struggle has become playful, triggering a long forgotten event buried deep into their subconsciousness.
"Give it up already!" Angora urged, hating people who struggled too much. Maverick responded by falling onto his back in order to crush her and make her let go, but it simply made the troll grasp even more. Panting and nearly out of breath, the man resorted to roll around to get free, with the two of them rolling towards the cave, crashing into almost everyone inside and knocking the remaining meat aside. In their rolling, they even went below Orion, Shade and then Veris, with Angora not even noticing they were inside the cave and Maverick still failing to see the creature behind him wasn't alone. The two of them looked more like children wrestling each other, with one refusing to lose to the other...

Sere and Latnok continued to eat in peace. "Keeping wyverns fed is very mich a costly venture," Sere said, "both monetarily and logistically. Though fruits make for nice treats, we constantly have to bring meat in. Those are things we have to head out and acquire - they don't just roll in like-"
Sere was interrupted by the noisy arrival of Angora, who seemed to have brought along a straggler. Sere nodded at Latnok - they both had a similar idea. Without the identity of the straggler, they weren't going to just kill him.
Sere grabbed his halberd near him. With a quick step towards the ball of mayhem, and with the assistance of combat prescience to aid his aim, he thrust the bottom of his halberd between the two - and, with one quick motion, he swiped the pole one way, as he had his shadow swipe in the opposite direction. Latnok, quick on the draw with his bow, shot three arrows in rapid succession, near the assailant, and activated an arrow web.
"Okay, troll, you mind explaining what this thing that you wrestled here is?!" Latnok asked, somewhat confused by the whole ordeal - while it looked like a fight, neither appeared to be using deadly force.

Maverick was trapped by then net, but in all the struggle, his eyes and teeth painted hood covered his eyes, and he was unable to see what was going on. He still could hear though.
"Troll?" he repeated, fearing that he may have come upon a troll society, and he knew how dangerous they could be.
"I caught this mugger behind the cave. I think he was about to sneak up on us." Angora replied, showing the paint in the hood.
"Just look at his clothes. Only a cowardly mugger would wear something this ugly." she added.
"Hey hey, for your information, this is a very classy hood. And it has helped me make wild animals think twice before attacking me!" The trapped man replied, not taking the comment very nicely.
"Oh come on. I can't believe you even dare to show up in public with such a hideous thing!" Angora talked back, unable to even look at such disgraceful choice for clothes.
"Stop insulting my hood troll. If you're going to kill me, at least do it with some dignity. What coward kills an opponent trapped like this?" Maverick said, with him and the troll still talking like strangers. It was impossible to tell they knew each other, since not even they knew that...

"Mugger? I'll be the judge of that," Latnok said skeptically, as he walked up to the entangled assailant. He began a brief inspection of his items, feeling them, and patting his clothes. In the end, the only remotely dangerous thing he could find was a shield.
"What kind of mugger carries a shield and no weapon?" Latnom asked, only half-rhetorically. "Couldn't mug anyone like that unless he was planning to pull something out of that bag of his, or he was a vampire... which would explain the hood." With a brief flip, Latnok removed the hood, and came face-to-face - or rather, face to faceless helmet - with what appeared to be a human... mostly.
"This guy seems like a typical human - well, not quite typical, but you get what I mean. Something tells me he's not going to hurt us." Latnok backed off as he dispelled the web, freeing the stranger. "The name's Latnok. What business do you have here?"

"I..." Maverick began to say, but his attention focused on the enormous dragons around him. He didn't even looked at Angora, the humans, or the rest of the smaller beings like the Pokemon. The dragons were too overwhelming to ignore. He only saw a sea serpent once, which was the closest thing to a dragon. Now he was looking at many land versions of them at once, and the shock was quite a lot. He tried to reply to Latnok, but only a few mutterings came. The man really believed he was in trouble now. As experienced he was in combat, there was no way he could defend himself from them, and if it was true that they breathed fire, they would simply fry him before he had the chance to approach.

Finally, it was Angora who broke the silence. Even seeing the mugger face to face wasn't enough for her to recognize him.
"Well first of all, the shield was concealed by the hood. And even with that, he could've concealed the weapon inside the shield, or even that dumb little bag. Maybe even his boots? Who cares! I've dealt with muggers before, and they always look like pathetic citizens until they attack! Too bad this one was too dumb to wear that incredibly ugly hood!" Angora said, wanting to justify her actions. Maverick would've defended himself if he still wasn't too shocked by the dragons, and their very different appearances. There was one with fur... or feathers? And even one who only had only two legs and wings. What kind of animal pride was this?

Latnok noted the stranger's distraction - that was none of his concern, however. Annoyed by his complete lack of respect, he thrust our a palm to shove the stranger. "PAY. ATTENTION," he growled. "They are not your concern - I am. And you will answer my questions, or I will take the troll's advice and chop your head off. Now, who are you and what are you doing here?" he demanded. "We can be friends, or we can play games. Your choice."

The thrust was enough to wake Maverick from his trance, but he didn't like being treated that way.
"Hey! Hold it there amigo... say, you're human, aren't you? Are these dragons your pets?" He immediately asked, forgetting he was defending himself.

Despite Angora really distrusting the stranger, she hated the way Latnok was taking care of things.
"Is it always violence with you lot?" She asked Sere, unable to take so much savagery. Latnok himself confirmed that the stranger didn't even have a weapon on him, and Latnok was already threatening him. It was disgraceful and despicable to her how anyone would threat somebody that didn't even had a weapon to counterattack and have a chance to defend themselves.

"You were just fighting the man," Sere replied, indignant. "If he's a mugger, then we will treat him like one. It is pretty typical to kill someone who attempts to attack you - unless you feel your judgment was in error?. But I highly doubt Latnok will attempt to kill him. Now... if you could not question every single thing we do, as if we haven't been doing this for a while, it would enable us to get along much better, and I would much appreciate it. Our deal rests upon mutual cooperation."

"I'M asking the questions," Latnok said. "You answer my questions, and I may give you a response to yours. Now, I will ask one more time - who are you, and what are you doing here?"

Angora sighed forcefully, wondering why she didn't suspect Sere would take Latnok's side. He always did no matter how wrong he was. She wanted to disable the mugger, not kill him like a bloodthirsty savage.

"Easy there amigo! Why so harsh? You don't even know me! Sheesh, I just came here through that voice gate that asks for rewards so I could enter here and collect some materials for my journey. I'm just a traveling merchant." Maverick explained calmly, knowing too well that people like Latnok were a dime a dozen. He just met the guy and he was already rude to him, like so many he has encountered. Reminded him so much about his old, pirating days.

Latnok's tone changed completely. "See? That wasn't so hard now, was it! To answer your question, the dragons are not our pets - with the exception of Veris, who is Godfather Sere's mount, he being the tall man in red dragonhide. Now, you're welcome to stay for a bit - there is still plenty of whatever that cat-wolf-gazelle thing was left to eat." Latnok motioned, indicating the food. "Now, what may we call you?"

"You should have a little more faith in us," Sere said. "We have one goal in mind - accomplish the mission. We don't kill for fun, despite what you may think, and we calculate our actions."

"Oh... eh, it's Maverick." the young man answered, rather uncomfortable with the sudden change of behavior. He saw the meat and didn't want to be rude by saying he didn't eat it.
"And no thank you. I should be on my way..." he then said, grabbing his still hurted neck. Whoever grasped him from behind really had some serious strength. He looked below to see who attacked him... and gave a quiet gasp when he saw the most peculiar member of the group...

Angora said nothing to Sere, not believing in him too much. Or maybe he was indeed telling the truth and it was Latnok the one who ruined the guardian's image? Who knows? She still held much resent to Sere for always taking Latnok's size... but her despise train of thoughts was suddenly interrupted when somebody picked her up and locked her up in a hug.
"Oh no no no! I can't believe this! But it MUST be YOU! Nobody LOOKS like you Angorita! Oh santos! What are the chances? It's been so long!" the suddenly ecstatic Maverick said, trapping Angora in that painful hug. The very startled troll released herself and pushed his knees.

"Get off me you psycho! Who do you think you are?" Angora said, startled and very angry... until the word Angorita triggered something in her mind. No, it was impossible! Only one being ever called her that, and it was somebody that wouldn't dream of stepping on land.

"Come on Angorita! Don't tell me you have forgotten me so pronto! Look at you! You're bigger and plumper for sure, but you're still the goblin... pardon me, the troll I know! Who else has THAT orange hair? Or that attitude? Or who else can wrestle someone bigger and win?" Maverick said without changing his happy tone, and he embraced Angora in another hug. She didn't hugged him back, but didn't struggled either, having her eyes so wide you could see more white than iris. Angora wanted to believe this was the case of mistaken identity, but that was exaggeratedly unlikely. Nobody else had that firery hair and silly Spanish accent. Like Maverick said, what were indeed the chances of them meeting in a place like that?

Raclaw watched in amusement as Angora got trapped in Maverick's hug-- seemingly against her will. He wasn't so fond on immediately being accused of being a pet, but honestly couldn't blame the mostly human-looking mugger and let the moment slide. They were a group of humans, dragons, and smaller creatures-- with many of the members wearing collars or collar-like necklaces. It was a safe assumption-- and he waited for ether Angora or Maverick to explain exactly how they knew each other. Or at least, how they thought they knew each other.

Latnok and Sere watched as the two old friends had their reunion. Of course this clown is her friend... Latnok thought. Regardless, he was a fellow human - and he was looking to get through these mountains.
"Well, I hate to interrupt your whole public display of affection," Latnok said. "But you said you are looking to get through these mountains. Godfather Sere and I are duty-bound to protect our fellow men - those who don't mean us ill, anyway - so you should stick with us. There is strength in numbers." Godfather Sere looked on, letting Latnok do all of the work - and wondering about the odd human.

Maverick let go of the still motionless Angora, proceeding to reply to Latnok.
"Well no can do. I wasn't planning on climbing the mountain anyway. I was just exploring, collecting stuff to sell you see, but I didn't plan of going too far on such a strange terrain." he explained, before completely ignoring him to focus on Angora.
"And what about your vida Angora? Last time I saw you, you were this small. How fancy meeting you in a place like this... surrounded by..." Maverick began to say, not know how to describe this group. He was relieved when Angora interrupted.
"What am I doing here? The question is, what are YOU doing here? Where's your father? The crew? What are you doing away from the ship?" she asked, feeling like she missed so much about his life.
"Shipwreck you see... and... I was the only one who made it so..." Maverick casually explained, as if it was no big deal at all.
"My life changed so much. I became a traveling merchant and was mostly alone, but boy did destiny smiled at me. Never in a million years would I have imagined I would find a familiar face." he said with a goofy smile, annoying Angora. She had put behind her painful, buccaneering days, and now the idiot Maverick had to appear again in her life to make things worse than they already were.

"So... you had all that junk with the gate... and you were just here for a few moments for the hell of it?" Latnok asked, somewhat confused. "That's quite a lot of commitment... but different strokes for different blokes. If you have any magical artifacts, you should note that they don't work here - the magic in our gauntlets don't work, for instance, and our hyperspace bags expand and explode unless we renew the spell every so often. Other than that, I wish you the best of luck on your journey."

"Well..." Maverick said, thinking things better. All of them have been longer here for what he could tell, and could help him. He was surprised the two humans had their own hyperspace bag, but his didn't need a spell to be kept that way.
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt staying for a little long, you know, just to get... reacquainted?" he said looking at Angora, with the troll moaning in frustration and going to her spot.
"Oh? I see you found your corner in the cave. Good for you." he said as he sat besides her, like that annoying neighbor or relative who always got in your space. He read Angora like a book, and knew her habit of always choosing a spot of her own wherever she went. Even though Maverick had been ready to leave the cave and continue on his own, Angora being here made him reconsider. And after being assured that nobody there, not even the dragons, meant any harm, he looked forward to get to know so many wonderful creatures better... from a distance of course.

With nothing else to say, Latnok began brining the remaining meat, to be carried about. Veris, rolling over, somewhat recovering from his stupor, noted the newcomer - somewhat suspicious, he walked up and, before he could be prompted otherwise, started to sniff him.
"Get back, Veris," Sere ordered. The wyvern complied, lazily strolling back to Sere. "Now, if we're done here, we should be on the move soon, before first watch." The Guardians typically split the night up into watches, and named each quarter of the night aptly. "The sun has already passed its zenith a while ago, and we haven't progressed." Sere grabbed his halberd, mounting it on Veris.

Raclaw had wanted to introduce himself to the newcomer, but decided to stay back knowing how sensitive Angora could be and not knowing how similar her friends were. And then there was the whole deal between her and Latnok-- with Raclaw not wanting to too involved again. Or at least... not so soon after the last fight and Latnok's threats. And so he stayed back and waited for the group to begin moving out.

Maverick almost had a heart attack when Veris approached him, much to Angora's amusement. He loved animals, but was deeply scared of the larger ones. His fear turned into fascination when he saw Sere mounting the wyvern.
"That looks so awesome! I wonder how he was able to domesticate that thing." Maverick said exitedly, looking like a child entering an amusement park for the first time.
"Through cruelty and torture I'm sure. And don't you get too exited. That wyvern will eat you if given the order." Angora said, giving him a warning, even though he didn't listen too much. She then decided to let Maverick find out for himself just how limited and obedient the carefully bred dragon was.

Latnok, overhearing Maverick's question, decided to enlighten him. "Well, it's a variety of factors. To start with, the breeders in the Ardent Guardians have managed to breed wyverns which are generally more cooperative with trainers. We have a program of strong behavioral reinforcement in place - a reward for following instructions, a punishment for failing to, et cetera. The reward is typically along the lines of food and praise - the more intelligent wyverns respond well to praise, and even more strongly to food, as this fat thing can tell you.
As for punishments - painful punishments are generally a last resort, and are only used if the wyvern is being violent or threatening. The last thing you want is for the wyvern to view you as a threat, because then they become significantly more withdrawn and less cooperative. "Generally, other things like an unpleasant sound, a jerk on the tail, or a simple admonishment will do, depending on the severity - just not getting something done right won't elicit a harsh sound as a response, for example.
"That way, the wyverns learn what is and what isn't proper behavior, and they learn to trust us. Having the creature trust you is pretty important - you don't want it to throw you off when you're a mile in the sky. They are fed more than they could ever realistically get in the wild, which leads to them growing stronger and larger than they would typically grow in the wild, and happier as well.
"Besides that, we, on account of various factors, have more than enough resources to house as many wyverns as we need. It's actually pretty demanding logistically, but we have people who are good at that. I am not one of them." Latnok had the whole explanation memorized, from the multitude of trainees who asked him the same question, and he was always happy to expand the knowledge of his fellow men.

Maverick was stuck between looking at Orion and listening to Latnok's explanation. He was very interested to know how Sere trained the wyvern, but at the same time, hearing about the Galaxy dragon was too much to miss. Couldn't be the one from the legends, could it? Why would someone like him be on the land of mortals. Finally, he only had one thing to say.
"Well... there's certainly an interesting collection of dragons here. And I'm sure that wyvern eats a lot. It's belly looks like you could use it as a trampoline." Maverick joked, with Angora face palming herself. He hasn't changed a bit. He always made lame jokes and said the stupidest of things.

Sere chuckled, somewhat amused at Maverick's joke. "Well, this fat thing certainly is a shameless glutton. He always eats like he has no idea when he will ever have a chance to eat again, even though he is fed generously and regularly. But... that's about his only flaw. Even helpful, in a way. Makes him more eager to work with you if you feed him."
"He, like all of our other wyverns, is very comfortable with humans," Latnok added. "Other species, not so much... with perhaps a few particular exceptions," he continued, begrudgingly. "You're lucky he didn't mistake you for an ape with all of that hair. Most of us are almost completely hairless." With that, Latnok removed his helmet to demonstrate his bald head, with eyebrows and eyelashes being the only visible hair. "Most of our hair stops growing, and the rest of it grows more slowly. Our head hair grows, but we typically go bald - I do it by burning the hair every now and again. Just one less thing for the opponent to grab."

Maverick was rather surprised to see him bald, but he has seen bald people before. One of his dad's crew mates was so bald, Maverick thought he was an Orc.
"I guess just then... occupational hazard perhaps?" Maverick said, in another attempt to be funny.
"But I'm glad the wyvern was intelligent enough to identify me as a human then. He is smart. I know too much body hair may not be too appealing to some, but it's just a little ancestral heritage you see. Nothing to it. Can't complain though. Ladies dig the hair. It's not hard hair like most. Makes them feel like they're with a man AND an overgrown puppy." Maverick said cheekily, with Angora groaning. Maverick was as much a bit of a showoff as the last time she saw him. It made her want to punch him.