"Seems as though you do not care to be here." Tarsier remarked.
"No, being chained and dragonnapped against my will is not one of my favorite pastimes." Azalea growled.
"Ugh, why do you have to be so dufficult? Do you know what that means?" He sighed, turning away from her.
"No, tell me." Azalea said with mock interest.
"Torture. You see, there are many ways of getting information and getting people on our side, but we try to keep torture for extreme cases." Tarsier explained.
"How would torture get me on your side?" Azalea flared her wings, "And I'd like to see you try. Being tortured for the first 7 years of life teaches you a few things about pain tolerance." she hissed the last words.
"Ever heard of Stockholm Syndrome? It's a strange phenomenon." Tarsier turned to her, "Listen, are you willing to actually listen and think about what I say?"
Azalea rolled her eyes, and before she could respond, Tarsier flicked his tail, and two burly MudWings entered behind him.
"Take our friend here to the isolation chambers. She needs some time." Tarsier turned to them, and they rushed forward.
"GET OFF OF ME YOU- HEY DON'T TOUCH ME YOU POTUS BERRYED FOOL!" Azalea roared as the two MudWings struggled to grab her arms and wings to drag her off.
Azalea turned to them, and let the venom fly. They didn't scream, to her surprise, just grunted in a very infuriating way.
Using the trick Blowdart taught her, she went limp, surprising her enemy before going into a frenzy.
Her claws caused multiple gashes, and finally, she got out of their grasps and escaped the room into the shop.
She ran out of the jewelry store and took flight. Well, being caught by the Base's probably biggest enemy wasn't in her plan, but fair enough.
She was about to touch her ear to contact Blowdart before she realized that telling him about her capture and the when-you-get-captured-you-die pouch didn't work probably wasn't the best report. Specially the part about having Debris in prison.
The Rainforest was below her, and without thinking, she plunged into the leaves.
Safety, for now Azalea thought as she settled down in the thick leaves.
A few nights later...
The cicadas buzzed, making Azalea's goal to stay awake easier. It had been a few days since her escape, and she was unable to find food as of late.
She sighed, getting up from her spot beneath a young banana tree to find some fruit.
It seemed she was right in the wrong season, where no fruit was ready except the rotten ones on the ground.
Exhausted, hungry, and itchy, Azalea frowned under the small tree.
Something caught her attention. A large purple frog jumped past her, and Azalea's stomache growled.
Azalea crouched, hunting the frog before pouncing. She held the head between two claws, staring into the dark black eyes.
Without even considering the markings, she popped it in her mouth, the texture making her gag.
The trees reached to grab her, the floor became lush and soft.
The sky pulled her like puppet strings, the clouds giggling and taunting her.
A palm tree gave her a kind smile, reaching out it's fronds to hug her.
"Mr. Palm!" she cried, hugging the tree around the middle.
Tarsier's POV
He landed near Azalea, who was hugging a tree. Confused, he took a step toward her.
Azalea's POV
The deafening sound of a talonstep tore her away from Mr. Palm. Looking over, she saw a tiny dragonet that started swelling and blocking out the sun.
Tarsier's POVAzalea was looking at the sky with horror, and Tarsier was now thouroughly confused and concered, "Um. Azalea? What are you doing?"
Azalea's POV
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" the voice was deep and rung like a gong.
"SAVE ME MR. PALM!!" Azalea grabbed the tree's trunk before passing out.
Tarsier's POV
"Sir, what happened?" A dragon behind him asked.
Tarsier approached her body and saw the frog's bright pink skin on her lip.
"Ah, um. J-Just take her away." Tariser turned away, feeling embarrased for Azalea.
Azalea's POV
She blinked awake, dreamily looking around. The bars in front of her looked delicious and was starving.
She licked them, the taste sweeter than honey.
Prisoner's POVLooking over at the strange sound next to him, he saw a female RainWing salivating all over the iron bars.
Watching in confusion, he turned away slowly, facing the NightWing guard, "Hey, um, is she alright?"
The NightWing took a glance over at Azalea, who now had a sizable puddle of drool from mouthing the bar.
His eyes turned from disinterested to weirded out as he hit the voicebox on his desk, "Um, Tarsier, sir, the prisoner in Sector B 13 is, uh, acting strange."
The box was silent for maybe a second, "Ah, don't mind her, she had a run-in with a purple lymphatus frog." he explained.
"Mhm..." he stared wildly at Azalea.
Azalea soon fell into deep slumber.
Azalea's POVShe sat up, groggy. Her mind still buzzed, her eyes hard to open. Something cold and solid was in her mouth
Looking around, she took in the bars and stone walls around her, and then seeing her jaws around one of the cast iron rods.
With a start, she sat up, looking for her enemy. There was a pile of drool, and the bar was wet. Geez, I hope that's not mine...
Shaking her head, she was dimly aware of the dragon in the cell next to her staring at her like she was gonna grow another head.
"Feeling better?" he chuckled, but before she could answer, he turned to the guard, "Looks like she's awake, without licking the bars. Money please," he stuck his talons through the bars at the guard.
With a grunt, the guard gave him a fish before pressing the voicebox again, "She's awake, sir."
A response came moments after, "Ah, thank you. I will be down momentarily."I really need to get on my cover art, see ya later!
