Stone's Throw

[NPCs]

Near the end of his meal, Charon felt the familiar brush of scales against his leg. He thought nothing of it, Dil's size and ambivalence towards personal space means it's a very common sensation, and there's a far more urgent task in front of him; that minced chicken and scallion omelet won't eat itself! The soft, not quite chirp that came from the same place, begging for food, is something he'd heard often enough before too.

[Charon Tethras]

Charon had slipped the beggar a little bit of chicken before he realized Dil's not here. Pausing, he ducked his head to check under the table. 

[NPCs]

A brightly feathered reptile in the shape of a typical bird peered back at him with big, wet eyes filled with hopeful pleading. They chirred softly, again a sound that's remarkably similar to one Dil makes when he's not trying to fit in, and licked the outside of their narrow, needle teeth filled, maw. It's smaller than Beka at least, maybe a third the mass but spread out.

[Charon Tethras]

"Gah!"

Thump.

"Owwwww."

[NPCs]

There was a startled squeak, which Charon would have to admit was rather adorable were it not for his shock, then a scramble of talons on hardwood. When Charon refocused after his encounter with the table, it wasn't hard to spot the edges of a feathered body poorly hidden behind a table leg.

[Charon Tethras]

Why is there a monster trying to eat my breakfast?! "Good dog. Good boy. Nice pet."

[NPCs]

The second Charon said 'good boy,' the critter bounded out from behind the table leg and assumed a very obvious begging pose; eyes wide, neck stretched out and up, mouth wide open and soft, cooing noises. They-- or evidently, he?-- thankfully refrained from crowding Charon. He got close enough that it would be an easy reach to give him more food, but there's still a foot and some between them.

[Charon Tethras]

"So you are tame. Do you do tricks? Sit boy," said Charon, crawling back so he's no longer fully under the table. 

[NPCs]

"روست. پسر خوب."

The critter goes from stretched upwards to beg, to settled back on his haunches in a blink. Thanks to his familiarity with Dil, Charon is able to read, with fair certainty, that the critter looked mildly panicked. When he looked towards the source of the voice, he sees his... father's... girlfriend? leaning against the door to the breakfast. "Good morning, مرد جوان. I see you have met Bahram."

[Charon Tethras]

"Uh." nice, very smooth. "Yeah, he wanted some of my breakfast." A pause. "He can eat chicken, right? That's not like... cannibalism?"

[NPCs]

Nyessia laughed, low and smooth, before squatting down. She held out her hand and spoke something else in catfolk-- fuck he needs to learn that soon, somehow-- that caused the dimorphodon to scramble over to her and flop down on his stomach. "No, not at all," she added. "No more than you eating a deer would be, I would think. Was he any trouble?"

[Charon Tethras]

Deer aren't cats though? he wondered, but let it go. "No, I was just surprised."

[NPCs]

"I imagine so!" Nyessia exclaimed with a laugh. "Especially after my warnings and ramblings last night. But thankfully Bahram is very sociable for his kind. Almost meek. It makes him less as a hunter, but very good for training children who wish to become hunters."

[Charon Tethras]

"Yeah? Can you teach me some tricks?"

[NPCs]

Nyessia gave him a long look, reevaluating him, then hummed. "You wish to learn commands for Bahram? Or to hunt yourself?"