Runningstar bloodrage: I'm glad you think she's cute. I tried to make her at least a little attractive in thought.
The Constitutionalist: I'm happy you find it interesting, as I do try hard to make it so. I will be updating a little more sparingly, but I'm not abandoning this until it's done!
Runningstar bloodrage: Don't mind him. He was from one of my other stories that went through a bit of controversy. Rest assured, he is not welcome here and his reviews will be deleted if he shows up again.
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Nergigante sniffed at the food curiously as the woman and the Hunter spoke in another part of the room.
The meat didn't give off the familiar smell of Bio-Energy that Nergigante preferred, but it seemed to be just as tasty.
The meat was warm, but not like the warm meat of Elder Dragons. It was a warmth that wasn't natural, but achieved through an outside factor.
Nergigante felt her stomach growl again, drawing the attention of the two humans in the room.
The woman in yellow, who Nergigante easily identified as Hether, gave a smile before returning to the communication she was having with the Hunter.
The Elded Dragon gave another suspicious look to the meat. She shrugged and lifted the meat from the metal object it rested on.
She sniffed it again before sinking her teeth into the large piece. She tore off a part of said piece and began to chew.
Before her change, Nergigante rarely chewed her food. Her mouth used to be big enough to simply swallow big chunks of food, but now her mouth was small and cramped.
That didn't stop her from nearly melting at the taste of the meat. It tasted different from Elder Dragon meat, but it was better in that respect.
Elder Dragon meat was normally tough but tasty, but this meat was soft and easy to chew. With each bite the meat seemed to get even tastier, making Nergigante eager to eat the rest of it.
There were four large slices of meat on the metal object, and Nergigante had only tasted the first one.
She eagerly began to consume the rest of the meat, paying no heed to what the Hunter and Hether were speaking about.
-Transition-
Eclipsen watched from the corner of his eye as the humanized Elder Dragon discovered the miracles of cooked food.
Hether giggled at the scene before her. The woman seemed like a child enjoying their favorite meal, if that child was a ferocious Elder Dragon.
Eclipsen allowed himself a smile, finding that the scene before him was without a doubt one of the most precious things he had seen, besides Sundancer playing with his toys when he was but a kitten.
A sudden jolt a pain ripped it's way through his sternum, breaking Eclipsen away from the warm feeling in his chest. He grimaced at the sensation, placing a hand on his collar in response to the sudden electrical feeling.
Hether have a worried look before her gaze shifted to one of slight anger. She placed her hands on her hips in a haughty manner, her eyes almost burning with fire.
"You're supposed to be in bed!"
She said, her voice a little louder than a regular speaking volume. It made Eclipsen jump nonetheless, forcing him to meet her gaze. She seemed to glow with anger from the corner of Eclipsen's eye, and her staring was almost burning a hole into him.
Eclipsen sighed, deciding that it was pointless to fight against the Handler. She could be more terrifying than most monsters he had faced when she was enraged. He walked slowly over to the bed and sat down on the side, rolling his shoulder in order to dispel the remnants of pain from his chest.
Hether maintained eye contact with the Hunter, making sure that he did as he was bidden. She watched as he leaned back into the bed, ignoring the blush that was creeping into her cheeks.
Nergigante continued to eat to the side of the room, half of her plate having been cleaned off. Her spines began to vibrate in content, producing an unsettling shaking sound not unlike a rattlesnake.
The sound managed to draw Hether's attention, distracting her from staring a whole into the Hunter. She glanced between the two, before walking quietly over to Nergigante. Hether bent down quietly, whispering something into the humanized Elder Dragon's ear.
Nergigante perked up at the words being spoken into her ear. She listened intently, her ear swiveling a bit in order to fully allow the sound into her head. Eclipsen watched from the corner of his eye, not bothering to listen as Hether had long since learned to whisper quieter than normal in order for him not to hear.
The Handler backed away from Nergigante with a smile plastered onto her face. She strode over to the door and set her hand on the doorknob, giving a sickeningly sweet smile to Eclipsen.
"You two get along now!"
She said with a mischeviousness that was impossible to hide and a hint of a chuckle. Eclipsen raised a silver eyebrow, already very curious as to what she had said to Nergigante. Hether opened the door and left with a suspicious bounce in her step, leaving the Elder Dragon alone with the Hunter.
Nergigante began to eat the last of her meal, visibly ignoring Eclipsen. The Hunter simply sunk into his bed, threading his arm behind his pillow for some neck support.
His body was still sore, with the broken ribs amounting to the greatest of the pain. His cracked forearm was a simple dull sting, and it was like a lightning strike if he accidently bumped something with it.
He closed his eye in preparation to sleep. He had missed a good amount of rest the previous night thanks to Nergigante's thunderous snoring.
He laid in silence for a few minutes, listening to the muffled sound of the water wheel outside of the Private Quarters. Eventually it began to fade out, with the feeling of sleep invading his mind and quieting the sounds around him.
-Transition-
Nergigante ate away at her meal, holding herself back a little bit to make it last.
The human named Hether had requested that she watch the Hunter closely.
The gall of that human, to request something from a being such as her. Nergigante bit down on the meat a little harder, easily cleaving it in half. She had to admit that she respected the courage of the Handler, but it didn't make her request any less repulsive.
Nergigante cursed her luck. To be shifted into a human form and forced to watch over her captor. Her claws dug into the wood of the floor as she tried to contain her rage. She knew full well that the entirety of the human settlement would be upon her if she were to begin a rampage, and her new shape made it so that she could not properly defend herself.
Nergigante growled a little, finishing off the last slice of meat on the silver plate. She would get revenge eventually, but now she had to do it with a weak and useless body. Nergigante glanced at the Hunter, who lay on the bed.
She quietly lifted herself into a crouch, crawling onto the bed as quietly and lightly as she could. She looked at Eclipsen from above, once again inspecting his body.
His chest moved in a soft rhythm, with each muscle visibly doing its part to expand and contract with the Hunter's breath. His right arm was tucked under the soft piece of fabric that his head lay on, and his left arm rested on his stomach. His legs were covered by a thin blanket that didn't look to provide any warmth or heat.
Her eyes locked onto Eclipsen's eyepatch. It was made of some kind of leather that was obviously stronger than normal leather. The strap that kept the piece on the Hunter's face was buried in his silver hair and seemed to be fairly thin for such a weak material as leather. The main piece of the eyepatch was embroidered with the same symbol the rest of the Human settlement bore.
The Elder Dragon had always wondered what was behind the eyepatch. A damaged eye perhaps? Or maybe he was simply born with a blind eye, or wore it for the looks? The curiosity was eating away at Nergigante. She unconsciously reached forward, her deadly sharp claws pinching the leather of the eyepatch and gently pulling.
The leather stretched as the main piece moved away from Eclipsen's eye and then moved back into place as Nergigante slid the patch onto his forehead.
The sight was ugly, even to her.
The Hunter's eye had a long jagged scar down the middle, and the flesh around the socket had even more tiny slash marks. The lid looked to have been re-attached from peices and allowed to heal naturally, giving it multiple strips of lifted scar tissue. The long jagged scar stretched only a quarter of an inch onto Eclipsen's face, but it was still noticeable. It also extended a fair amount onto his cheek, but was little more than pale scar tissue.
"Are you done looking? It's somewhat embarrassing."
Nergigante jumped at the voice, accidently catching some of the blanket on her claws and flailing it around to dislodge the meterial. A chuckle emanated from the Hunter, who Nergigante had assumed was asleep.
Eclipsen cracked his eye open, staring at the humanized Elder Dragon as she pulled the blanket from her claws.
He watched her for a few seconds before closing his eye again.
"You can look at it all you want, but just don't touch it. I missed a good amount of sleep last night, so you're free to join me."
He said before shifting his head to the right and relaxing. Nergigante huffed.
Today would be a long one.