Birb friends 2

Malakai groaned as he watched Grim once away bounce away from the strange new dragon. 

 

They had been camping out in this cold, snowy plain for a while now. This new dog - Ben - seemed to hang around him too, but he didn't seem to mind all that much considering not only was he warm, but he was also pretty good a cooking and picking out the particular gems he came all the way out here to get in the first place. 

 

Amethyst had been what he was originally coming out for, but considering the vein he'd just found wasn't too far from the surface of a small quarry he'd trekked out to gather from, he was still pretty lucky. 

 

Even down in the dark and windy chasm, he could still clearly see his friends up on the grassy plain above, frolicking around under the moonlight in a way he'd never really seen before from Grim at least. 

 

They were playing with a ball the other dragon had brought with them this time, the night before having shown up in its Spectral glory to curiously poke at Grim's wings. 

 

He'd crashed not long after landing, and frustratingly enough, Malakai had to stop what he was doing and fix his stupid dragon's limbs again. Why he couldn't just learn to land normally, or at least let him change his feet so he could grip the ground unstead of balance on them awkwardly, Malakai had no idea. Ben hadn't seemed to really understand his issues either, but considering he didn't speak common, there wasn't really a way to tell for sure. 

 

Not that Malakai really cared to try any harder then he already had, anyway. He had things to do and gems to gather, and no random fuzzy blue dog with what he could only assume to be a double sided scorpain tail tell him any different. 

 

Grim seemed to have other ideas, though. Because instead of screeching or getting pissy at Spector, he was actually sort of having fun. Not that he'd ever tell anybody so. 

 

He was currently parroting a few words back at the other dragon, recording his squawks or giggles and settling them back in his tinny speakers, Malakai having had to take his original ones out to fix them. Having given him this one for the sake of having at least something to communicate normally with - from Grim, anyway. 

 

As one of their giggled hisses erupted out of Grim's maw though, Spector grinned a wide, beaky grin and shoved  their head nearly into Grim's mouth to try and discover the source of the noise. Grim refused the urge to bite for as long as he could, and eventually, Spector ducked out and chittered excitedly as he darted back for their ball. 

 

Picking it up, they brought it back to Grim, and with a soft sigh, Grim took it and started their game again. 

 

This game of hide and seek seemed to peak the creatures curiosity the most out of any they had attempted to play before. It consisted of the ball being placed somewhere in the area in, or under, Grim's outershell, and Spector having to find it with just their witts. 

 

It wasn't a particularly hard game from an adult dragon, but this one seemed younger, Grim thought. He didn't have to do much to get them excitedly wondering what was going to happen next. 

 

The dragon came over after a moment, and started to nudge and swarm around Grim long enough that he had to shuffle up onto all four legs to stop them nudging him off into the quarry, where he could just about spot Malakai's lamp and Benni's fluffy fur. 

 

Then he had an idea. 

 

Instead of sitting still this time, he started to scramble down the sliding rocks and bark out in his tinny outside voice "Follow! Secret"

 

The dragon's head shot up at that, mildly frustrated that their game wasn't concluded properly. But at the promise of a secret, they looked even more interested and started to slowly try and follow. "Secret..." they repeated in draconic, and Grim snorted. 

 

"Secret, secret, come, come" he added, and started down the hill in earnest. 

 

Mal paused as he heard tumbling rocks and clanging metal, and before he could really work out where the sound was coming from or why it was getting closer, Grim had skidded next to him with his friend in tow and Mal had to do a doubletake at the ball shoved into his wing hole. 

 

There? Of all the places, THATS where he hid it? The delicate socket for his already floating wing? 

 

Ridiculous. 

 

"Why're you down here?" he asked, watching as a flock of birds, disturbed by the noise, drifted lazily through the night sky and crossed infront of the moon briefly. 

 

"Secrets" Grim and Spector echoed - though to Mal's hears, he heard one word in the real world, and a mimicing squak from the blue translucent bird. 

 

At least, Mal was pretty sure it was a brid. 

 

"I don't have any secrets" he tried to explain, frowning at the two of them. 

 

Benni stepped forwards to sniff curiously at Spector's leg, and Spector, interested in the new guy, leaned down their long neck to peer back, red eye glinting.

 

Benni squeaked at the sight of their skull, and sat on his butt a little too quickly. 

 

Grim gestured to the gems. 

 

"Secret treasure"