DracoStryx Scavenging: Threes | Teapot, Badallaioc, Helagnus, (Laverito)

Laverito = Laverito (rider)

Badallaioc = Badallaioc

Helagnus = Helagnus

Teapot = the casua (owned by SheepMomther)

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The casua had a certain fascination with Laverito’s wings.

After this much time traveling together, Laverito was willing to give the casua about as much trust as he gave Badallaioc. It wasn't much. Laverito imagined that he was very tasty, and he was always wary of getting eaten by a stryx. 

So, Laverito did really wish that the casua would stop pausing to stare and even poke at Laverito's slim-fingered wings. Laverito had paused for a moment to scratch one of his long ears, and lo and behold the casua had taken the opportunity to examine Laverito some more. 

Still, despite the persistent poking, it helped that the casua continued to ply Laverito with gifts, always bestowing them with careful precision and hopeful anticipation, blue eyes wide and pink beak gentle. What could any demon do, in the face of such adorable generosity? There was no recourse for Laverito but to accept the little gifts graciously.

Badallaioc did not share the same opinion, and neither did Helagnus.

Helagnus, orange-feathered and white-masked, was embroiled in a single long and winding argument with Badallaioc. The pair of them squawked and scrabbled about everything under sun, moon, and whatever other celestial bodies happened to be handy. So, that was an unending source of amusement, though Laverito was careful not to chuckle out loud. Best not to get on Badallaioc’s bad side - even if it was fun to watch Helagnus flounder around exactly there. 

And even while mired in that ongoing argument, Badallaioc still made time to be offended whenever the casua found another unlikely treasure. Badallaioc did not enjoy being outshone, ever. Hence, Badallaioc's bone-pale feathers were ruffling around in the undergrowth, searching for treasures of his own. Badallaioc tended to haunt the roots of trees, circling over them like a particularly ghastly ghost on patrol. He carved furrows into the bark with his blood-red talons as he looked here and there. 

The casua, brown as the tree trunks they were wandering through, continued on with seemingly unbreakable cheerfulness. The wandering looked rather aimless, but now and again the casua paused to inspect a particular root or patch of leaf litter, tilting a white-masked head in contemplation. Occasionally, a bark-brown foot would paw at the ground, always with precisely as much force as the casua intended.

But if Badallaioc looked clumsy compared to the casua, Helagnus was an outright disaster. 

Laverito wasn't certain why Helagnus was still hanging around. After being so neatly bested in that race, Helagnus' wounded pride ought to have seen her flying furiously away, never to be seen again. For some reason, though, Helagnus was following them, always lurking around the edges of Laverito's senses, perpetually simmering with rage.

Ornery Helagnus, her orange neck-feathers bunched up grumpily, was grumbling as she hacked at the ground with grey talons. Dried pine needles and bits of twigs went scattering in a wide radius around Helagnus, with every jab at the ground aimed in a different direction. Unlike the casua or Badallaoic, Helagnus searched with no sense of strategy at all, hopping and swinging this way and that so sharply that Laverito thought she was surely going to throw herself against one of the trees.

Laverito rolled his eyes, accompanying it with a wide swing of his ears. Surely, she'd never find anything, scrambling around like a drunk squirrel.

So it was a shock to everyone, Helagnus included, when she found something. The discovery was announced with a sharp, startling clang. Badallaioc twisted his head around to glare. The casua ambled out of the trees towards the commotion, looking curious. Laverito jumped five feet into the air, and then did his best to look as though he hadn't been startled one bit.

Helagnus scuffled around in the dusty forest litter, before leaning down to pull something free with her beak. She shook it furiously, exactly like a stray village dog shaking a caught rat. The detritus fell away, and there in Helagnus' beak was a shiny, almost new-looking scabbard. 

"Nice, there," Laverito commented, wrangling the stryx-like squawks out of his beakless mouth. "Pity the blade's gone."

The casua turned away and began poking around under one particular bush. Blue eyes scanned through the leaves with an unusual intensity. Laverito watched out of the corner of his eye, as a once-again outdone Badallaioc scoffed and blustered. A fluffy dark-brown tail twitched, not unlike a hunting cat, as brown thumb-claws carefully combed through the gnarled little twigs under the bush. Pushing them aside allowed for the inspection of one particular patch of ground. This became the subject of some serious, methodically-pecked-at study.

"What are you even going to do with a human thing?" Badallaioc was sneering.

Helagnus, bristling, snapped, "Better done than you, dirtfeathers! You've found nothing!"

Laverito announced, "There's the blade!" to interrupt them. 

And, indeed, the casua pulled a weather-worn blade free of the earth, bearing it aloft so that the few shiny patches left glinted in the sun. This gift, too, was presented to Laverito, who took it and rubbed at the dirt with a sleeve. "Here's a good one," he commented. "Well-made!"

Helagnus, looking sour about it, reluctantly asked, "Goes with this thing?"

Laverito nodded, his long ears bobbing. He gingerly held out a hand, wary of having it bitten off, but Helagnus lobbed the scabbard at him without taking even one step closer. Laverito knocked the scabbard against the nearest tree, to loosen at least some of the dirt, before showing Helagnus how a blade was sheathed. 

Badallaioc huffed. "Just another blade."

Laverito looked at Badallaioc serenely, and replied, "Look, I bet there's a belt that goes with this. You can find that much, can't you?"

Ooh, the challenge was on. Badallaioc's feathers ruffled up until he resembled a cranky cloud, and then Badallaioc stomped off to start searching again. The casua wandered away too, but Laverito was uncomfortably conscious of Helagnus staying and staring at him. He, a large and probably tasty hare-man, did not enjoy being eyed up by any carnivore.

Badallaioc, oblivious to Laverito’s plight, hunted for the supposed belt. The soot-black feathers over Badallaioc’s shoulders were rucked up with irritation, and each swipe of a blood-red thumb through the forest litter was sharp and curt. Badallaioc stopped frequently to scratch at the ground like a chicken, head nearly tucked under his silky belly so as to see what he was scratching. Eventually, though, Badallaioc paused to lift his head and look about the clearing intensely, clearly sussing out where a stray belt might be more likely to land. 

Badallaioc marched towards the bush where the casua had found the blade, and gave that whole area another lookover. He rooted through the litter with his beak. He yanked at twigs and bushy branches with his thumbs. He dug a series of shallow furrows into the ground in several places. At last, a success! Something clinked beneath foot talons and then went flying, and Badallaioc twisted around to chase after his prize.

It was not a belt after all, but an empty canteen, missing the lid. Still, it had some pretty designs etched into the metal, once Laverito brushed some of the dirt off with a hand. Laverito might even be able to pawn it off. 

“Nice job,” Laverito told Badallaioc. 

“Spineless rabbit,” Badallaioc muttered, but it was almost affectionate. 

Helagnus snorted, the living picture of utter disdain. 

And the casua returned once again, bearing more gifts of tiny wildflowers.