Chapter Text
There’s something glittering on the wind.
Techno’s never seen anything like it before. The smallest amount of hesitance rears its head at the novelty, like it knows that anything against the norm isn’t a good thing, surely, but the rest of him is far too zoned in on the shininess to listen.
His steadfast task of following the faint paths towards the berry bushes fades to the back of his mind as he shifts from one foot to the other. Until, finally, he gives in and steps off the path towards the shiny.
It hangs from the air among some tree branches, swaying and swinging in the breeze. In fact, it doesn’t appear to be particularly heavy or substantial like he’d expect from metal or jewels. But it sparkles just as much as any of them, forcing a line between his eyebrows.
How hard would it be to shimmy up the tree, just to take a peek at the thing? After all, Techno’s about at the age where dragons start making hordes. And he wants this.
His eyes hardly want to glance away to climb the tree. But, he forces himself to sink his short claws into the bark and kick up on the trunk till he reaches a branch. Luckily it holds his weight as he grabs on and pulls himself up. Though the wood chips a bit as he grabs on tighter, blinking down at the ground. It’s practically swirling from this high up. Perhaps there really is a reason that little dragons can’t fly yet.
Regardless, Techno shakes his head and turns his sight back on the shiny. The fluttering strip, since that seems to be the shape, above his head is twisting and turning unimpeded in the air.
That just can’t do.
Every branch that he reaches up to and climbs his way on top of takes all of his strength and focus. It’s a really hard task and he’s nearly panting by the time he gets about halfway up the tree. Though his chest simmers happily regardless. Surely, earning his prize will feel even better.
Techno jumps towards the last branch, nearly falling, but just about getting his claws in. His skin burns against the scraping, rough bark. With a determined face, Techno shoves up and turns towards the shiny.
The thing is as thin as a leaf, obvious from up here. And the texture seems to be the same as cloth. It billows like clothes, but even more. Probably because it’s so light.
Despite the oddity of the object, Techno wraps his legs around the tree branch until he can lean forward with his hands out. Up close, he likes how the shiny moves so much in his eyes. But he wants it in his hands to move. He can probably make it shake about and shine even more than the wind.
With a toothy smile, Techno finally snags the shiny within his fingers, tugging it towards his chest immediately. The feeling against his skin is kind of strange, but that’s not his main thought as something tries to tug the shiny right back.
Automatically, a growl leaves Techno’s lips and he tries to pull faster. How dare whatever it is steal his shiny! A glare darkens his features.
Though, there’s no one apparent to catch the look. The shiny is in his hands and no other hands are grabbing at it. Instead, it’s like something is caught on it. Still rumbling, he tentatively opens his fingers enough to peek in at the shiny.
Just as pretty, or maybe a smidge less without the sunlight. Should he show it to his mom? She might take it. Maybe he should just keep it to himself—
The shiny tugs again as he tried to hold it close. Oh, right. The something.
Looking all over, more properly now, Techno realizes that a thread is stuck to the back of the shiny. Though it’s hardly a thread at all, considering it’s completely invisible! Or very nearly. Techno has to look real hard to see the clear string sewed into the shiny.
He follows the thread with a displeased frown, not liking it at all. Who did this to his shiny? It’s rude!
Barely, he holds back a growl, and instead finds the string wrapped around a branch above his head. It loops around once or twice, before disappearing off into the leaves and trees.
That explains how the shiny was able to float through the air. Pretty, but keeping his shiny away from him. Techno pulls on the thread with all his might.
The thread does give some, enough that Techno almost upends off of the branch and slips and whoops! He scrambles and shakily grabs onto the limb, heart slightly floppy in his chest. A big breath blows out of his nose.
Okay, not that. So then he can…
Techno lifts the thread to his mouth and bites down.
Mostly it’s his teeth smashing together, and a little bit of his tongue, but the thread is obvious in his mouth. It feels kind of shiny too, but in a weird way. Must be what makes it see-through.
None of his concern. He bites harder and starts grinding his teeth together. He’s bit through tougher things than a little string. He can bite through anything! Like bones and hard shell beetles and even a rock one time! Like, one of those chalky flint rocks, but it was a rock.
After a few chomps and yanks with his jaw, the clear thread snaps and flies away. It circles the twisted up branch till it’s free, and then soars through the air out of sight.
Techno watches with slight interest and then turns to the shiny with a smile.
He grabs each end of the strip with his fingers, stretching it out to full length. It’s a few inches long, double the size of his palms just about. When he pushes his fingers together and wiggles them, the surface of the cloth shimmers pink and blue and purple on the white.
A tiny squee escapes his lips, tail wagging excitedly. Too excitedly, since the weight jerks backwards and sends him pinwheeling. He goes to grab onto the branch automatically, but his hands are full of shiny. The thought alone makes his fingers tighten, squishing up the cloth to his chest as he lists backwards.
All of his body, except for his occupied hands, flap about in an attempt to get him upright again. His legs hook over the branch, and it’s almost enough to keep him against it. But his heel slips free and sends him into free fall, past the branches and chunks of jutting out wood.
His eyes snap shut in a flinch, occupied hands covering them up too. There’s hardly time to gasp through the fear.
But, there is one good, functional thing involved in the flapping. His wings!
They snap out and catch on the wind, painful on his back and joints. Techno makes a noise like he’s already hit the ground, even while still in the air. Though, still falling. Just, slower.
With one eye peeled open, Techno watches as the ground billows closer. He puts an elbow out before him as the wings on his back wobble and flap sloppily. The uneven treatment makes him cast to the side, all of his weight sinking into the arm.
“Ow,” Techno whines, curling on the ground.
His hair has blown over his face and his wings are all tingly and splayed out across him. They feel weird, and hurt when he gives them a poke. But they do move a bit in response, so they’re probably okay.
With a sniff, he sits up a little and rubs on his arm. That hurts too. The ground is too hard, it’s not fair. He wants the nest and all the soft things inside. He sniffles again.
Though when he looks down at his achy arm, the shiny clutched in his rubbing fingers catches his eyes again. From down here, the leaves don’t block the sun as much. It sparkles even with only one hand moving it.
He flaps the shiny around for a short moment, breathing easier and even smiling a little. Techno did get the shiny. And his wings worked! Even though they’re small and can’t hold all of him, he practically flew! A soft, huffy giggle leaves his lips.
While the thought of his mom taking the shiny does cross his mind sourly, it’s overridden now with the pride. He’s got to show her his prize! And tell her about how his wings are good enough to fly, really!
Shakily, he pushes off of the ground and turns to trot back to the den.
Though, he only gets a few feet away before his ears twitch violently. There was a clink behind him, sounding like metal. What could that be—?
As Techno turns to look, he’s suddenly smacked into the chest. The momentum carries him into the ground, just as hard as the fall from the tree. In fact, this one is far worse, since he lands solidly on his painful wings.
A high-pitched howl leaves him as he tries to curl inwards. But it hardly works, since there’s something twisted around him, catching on his limbs and pulling. It’s rough and tough, digging into his skin. Quieter yelps leave his lips as he looks around while kicking.
“Nice! You nailed it,” A voice says, far too close and dark and unfamiliar.
Techno feels his pupils thin into slivers. The pained noises refuse to stop, but he makes his chest rumble with a growl alongside them.
“It wasn’t moving fast,” A lighter voice responds. “Is it a juvenile?”
“Seems like it.”
The growling crests louder as footsteps draw near. It’s rope, Techno realizes, as he tries to roll onto his hands and knees but can’t. Rows of rope, wrapped tight around him. He glares outwards instead.
Two people stand over him, tall and old. Not as much as his mom, obviously. They’re squishy and gross looking. Humans.
With a hiccup, Techno pauses before letting out a loud shriek.
The humans flinch. The sound even hurts Techno’s ears, so it’s no surprise. But he just cries louder, curling his scaled tail and wings around him as much as he can. They hurt.
“Fuck!” One of the humans swear, jerking down towards him.
“It’s parents must be nearby!”
“No shit! Help me!”
Before whatever help means in this context can happen, there’s a big, fleshy hand shoving at his mouth. The fingers smell like dirt and the callouses scratch his skin. With a yell, Techno jerks forwards and bites.
He only manages to snag a finger, since the human pulled away. Techno bites down till he tastes blood. His growls grow wet as he tries to twist backwards, finger still between his teeth.
The human is screaming now too.
“Get it off! Stop it!”
Techno bites harder.
If it was his mom biting, the finger would have flayed off like a slab of wet mud. Or she probably would have been fast enough to bite something better, weaker and more vulnerable. Something that would kill.
His mom isn’t here. Techno’s teeth hurt when they touch the bone.
The other human swings towards him, too quick to react. Techno tries to let go and turn his teeth towards them, but there’s no time.
Something hard strikes the soft part of his skull, forcing his body to crumple limply as his eyes roll upwards.
—
There’s no corners in the cage, since it’s a circle, but Techno tries to tuck himself into one. All of his body curls against the bars tightly, trying to disappear under a pair of wings. A bigger pair, preferably, but there aren’t any here. Just his.
But even they protest to move, bound together in cheaply painted metal.
It had just been rope, once. But Techno chewed them off, painstakingly, and tried to jump away the next time his cage opened. He didn’t even get off the ground. Now the bindings are metal.
At least if they were real gold, he could look at them. But the metal is dirty and impure, cheap as it can be without breaking with a little force. Someone slathered the thing with fake golden, practically yellow, paint. That just makes Techno hate it all the more.
As though closing his eyes tighter will rid his mind of the images, he squeezes his eyelids together. At least he can sleep. He doesn’t have to see them when he’s asleep.
Soft sniffles leaves him, quieted instantly when a thump answers him. All of Techno stills, frozen in fear and anticipation. When his limbs shake, he tucks them in tighter.
A few minutes pass with nothing more happening, so he releases a silent breath. The ground is faintly, nauseously moving below him, so perhaps it was just a bump. Techno makes no move to test one way or the other. He’s too tired for punishment.
Not like the punishments ever worth it. Even if he manages to bite or scratch up a bit of blood, he spills double as much. Triple, quadruple, ten-tiple.
As much as he can, he curls up beneath his messy hair. It’s better than nothing.
It hardly feels like it, especially when there’s another jolt from outside the cage. If Techno could sink into the floor right now, he would. Down below the cage, and maybe the ground too. It’s enough for him to want to try clawing out, but he’s tried that before. It never goes well.
The rumbling of movement suddenly pauses, bringing a hitch to Techno’s lungs. Are they at the next place already?
Considering that voices pick up around him, it seems likely.
Though no one bothers to pull the blanket off of the cage or do anything else to him while they set up camp. Or, perhaps because they have been moving for so many days, it'll be the whole proper set up.
The circus. As the humans call it.
Techno's not looking forward to it. Sure, travel is cramped in the cage and uncomfortable, but at least there's none of the “performing.” Less people staring at him. Less chances to screw up.
At least, that should be what’s happening, at least for a little while longer, until a something smacks right into his face.
With a flinch, Techno snaps his eyes open.
A tiny hand is pawing the floor in front of his face, snaked underneath the tarp. It doesn’t seem to be really grabbing in Techno’s direction, but only because they don’t know where he is. The hand flops about like a small, chubby fish.
As is the usual now, a growl begins to roil out of his chest. He tries to bite down on it, eyes going ever wider, since that sound never gets good reactions. Alongside the bitten down, almost whiny growl, his body starts to shake all over.
Instead of darting out towards him, guided by the sound like the hand usually would, it pauses. Techno only stares harder, vibrating with mounting anticipation.
The hand pulls back, almost leaving the tarp completely. Before it simply grabs the edge and shoves it up.
A sound practically like a bark pops out of Techno, shocking him almost as much as the little face that has peeked into view. When they jerk back, Techno can see in the faint light, multi-colored hair around a squishy child’s face. The startled mismatched eyes clear in a second, turning inquisitive as the child tilts their head to the side.
Techno calms slightly, still flattened to the ground. Children are annoying, always yanking and pulling on him, especially his tail and wings. But they’re also less of a threat than adults.
Instead of hissing properly, Techno makes a short hiss of warning.
The child does flinch back at the noise, as though afraid of Techno. A strange mixture of pride and sickliness fills his chest. He tries not to let it show.
“Oh, um,” The child stutters slightly, seeming to waver.
Techno tries to glare. His ears are already flattened back, but he tries to sharpen all of his features. He ends up the slightest bit more crushed into the ground, tail flicking in warning. No matter how much his eyes want to water and waver, he doesn’t let them.
Unsurprisingly, the child does not heed the warning. They reach out their little hand through the bars towards him again.
The almost painful growls bubble up again, shaking his whole body and the cage along with it. The kid keeps reaching.
Soft, slightly damp fingers press against Techno’s cheek. He freezes on instinct, preparing for the hit or the fingernails or the yank.
It doesn’t come. The fingers just drag downwards, almost petting.
When the fingers become parallel with his mouth, Techno wrenches to the side and sinks his teeth into the skin.
A yelp leaves the black and white haired child, hand snagging Techno’s face with how quickly he pulls away. It’s gone so fast that the taste of blood doesn’t get left behind, but he can see a bit of red before the hand gets clutched to a chest.
With a whimper, Techno tucks himself against the bars again.
Perhaps the child says something more, but his ears are pressed down so much and whining is creaking out of his chest so loudly that he can’t hear it. From how much his wings pull on the chains, the pain is too much that he’s almost sure blood must be creeping free from them too. No teeth bringing it forth, just the biting metal.
By the time that Techno realizes his eyes are closed and he snaps them open, the kid is gone.
He closes his eyes again till someone comes to get him.
—
The circus is a mishmash of light and color and swinging fabric. And swinging people. The people grab onto ropes and hands, twisting so fluidly they almost look like they’re flying. If Techno had the time, he’d almost be interested to watch it all.
A loud horn blows far too close to him when he gets distracted, snapping him back to the moment. The noise, too, is overwhelming. Perhaps more than anything else.
At the very least, the ring masters don’t have Techno doing any of the fancy difficult looking things. Not yet, anyway. He’s one of the smallest hybrids, and the only dragon one that he’s ever seen since being, well.
Most people just look at him.
He does have to do a couple things though. Like flexing his wings as far as the chains let them, past the point where it hurts. Thrashing his tail about and barring his teeth behind the metal frame they put on his face during shows after he bit someone. That hurts too. At least he rarely gets punished for growling in this state. He’s not sure he could force himself to stay quiet.
Then he poses in silly little ways that the lithe forms around him model before the show. It feels supremely stupid. But it’s the least of his worries, so he does it.
The other part of what he has to do is…
“Beware its claws and gruesome fangs! Despite the small size, they can take down a man double it’s!” A voice booms.
That’s the cue, the same every time. Techno huffs before stepping forwards, closer to the people. A few shriek, like he’s actually attacking. Like he’d even be able to. But he stalks onwards regardless.
Though it’s hard with all the bodies and the noise and sights and everything, Techno can smell gold if he concentrates hard enough. The ring masters really like that. Or, they like him finding pocket watches and rings tucked into people’s pockets that he can pull out and stash away in his loose clothes.
Techno hates this part.
It’s not the gold, obviously. Even being so close and touching it and pressing it to his body, his growls could almost melt away to a pleased purr. If only he was allowed to keep it.
Handing over the treasure feels like cutting off his own hands. If he didn’t know from experience that everything but that would happen should he try and keep the gold, he wouldn’t give it up. But he has to.
“Take a look at those wings, though! They shift color under the right light!”
This part, too, majorly sucks. As hands reach out and touch on his wings, pulling on them and digging their nails in, he tries to focus on sniffing out anything precious.
A woman’s arm jolting upwards with fear grabs his eyes, forcing his pupils to dilate. His wings snap out and make everyone ooh and ah. There’s a shiny bracelet on her wrist, hanging at almost exactly eye level. He nearly snatches at it on instinct, but holds himself back with a hiss. No amount of fireworks can stop someone from noticing that their wrist is being robbed.
Shimmying past them, Techno sniffs the air as subtly as he can. It’s hard, since it smells so much like people, pretty gross, but he’s got a job to do. And shinies to find.
Someone does a flip through the air, drawing eyes upwards as Techno catches sight of a purse that reeks of gold. It’s hanging off a tall person’s elbow, one hand clutching it shut like they know someone’s snooping around to grab at it. Techno slinks a singular hand upwards, behind his wings, and slips his fingers into the tiny opening. As his hand closes around a palm full of coin, he tugs it back to his chest and skips away.
The heavy feeling of the coins falling into his pocket makes his chest tighten. Nearly in a good way. His tail whips even faster.
The show has really gotten going now, most people are distracted even with him walking about them. Of course people look when he gets close, but some big boom or shout draws their eyes away. He does his best to bite down on the hisses and other sounds, eyes on the flicker.
The tang of metal in the air grows strong enough to poke Techno into a jump. Beneath the fire dancing through the air, a shimmer of gold wraps around a man’s waist. It doesn’t take getting much closer to make out that it’s a chain, attached to a pocket watch, if he had to guess.
This is the perfect catch. He could be content in a nest for years with just that beauty to hoard.
Techno creeps closer, ears perked up.
There’s a crack and a cheer, a precursor to sparkles flying through the air. It hurts his ears but the man’s eyes are pulled away. He can grab it in a second a hide away forever—
The second that Techno’s fingers wrap around the chill of what he knows in his soul is pure gold, a vice closes around his wrist and pulls.
His whole body goes along with the pulling, shoulder straining as his wings try to flap uselessly. The gold gets wicked out of his reach, even as he scrambles to try and grab it again. As he turns up to the scowling man, a wicked growl bites out of him, scratching his lungs to the limit when his teeth can’t be barred properly.
It doesn’t matter, since the man seems unmoved. Instead, he just tosses Techno to the ground roughly, cutting off his angered noises momentarily.
“The beast stole from me!” The man shouts. “What’s the meaning of this?!”
Techno rolls over onto his hands and knees, squinting around at the growing attention. No one is quite closing in on him yet, instead backing up and forming a bit of a circle around him, but it feels the same as if they were all taking up nets and spears to pin him down with. Maybe part of that is the chains and metal binding him together. They suddenly feel like a million pounds.
“What the f— Please hold on a moment, ladies and gentlemen! This shall be settled!”
The booming voice of the ring leader only adds to the weight on him. Any dilation sticking to his pupils is gone like dandelion fluff in a hurricane. All of him stills completely with indecision and fear of how to react.
That’s his real mistake, as the shiny black boots of the ringmaster stomp through the crowd right towards him.
Well, no, this isn’t his real mistake. If he stood and bolted away, he’d simply be snatched back and punished further. His mistake was getting caught by the hybrid hunters, tricked by their stupid little trap. If they had never caught him, he’d still be safe in the nest with his mom—
The ringmaster plucks him up by the bindings around his face, practically scruffing him off the ground. A pained noise coils in his throat, but the sharp shake to his body kills it.
“Apologies, good sir. I did warn you that he’s a feral thing, there’s only so much training we can do!” The ringmaster says to the peeved off man, laughing slightly.
It does not seem to soothe the guy.
“It’s unprofessional that you employ thieves like this. If I hadn’t seen it, I’d be out hundreds!”
Everyone’s turned away from the real show now. This seems far more entertaining in their eyes, since no one seems afraid or anything. Other than Techno. This is simply more exciting than the best of performers.
Techno shrinks below the hold further, wishing he could disappear. Fingers dig into his neck in response.
“We’d have got it back to you, I promise. Of course we check the hybrids for things like this.” More laughter, but it’s strained this time.
“I want my money back,” The man says.
A few rumbles of interest resound around the crowd, like the idea is spurring something within them. Uh oh, losing money is the worst thing that can happen to the ringmaster. Techno peeks towards him and his face reflects that idea.
“Now, now, let’s not be so drastic. There’s plenty of night for you to enjoy still. Here, we shall punish the beast swiftly and thoroughly to ensure he doesn’t get away with this.”
Ears falling down, Techno finds himself looking around like something will pop out to save him. Nothing ever does though.
“I suppose…” The man looks at Techno, seeming almost bored.
“Of course. Take a load off!”
The ringmaster turns to Techno, looking at him with lines between his eyebrows. It feels unfair to be tossed to the ground. He did what he was told! Even if he wanted the gold so badly, can still smell it, he wouldn’t have kept it. It was for the ringmasters.
But this punishment isn’t truly for stealing, is it? It’s for getting caught. Techno understands that clearly as the fancy stripped cane of the ringmaster is lifted up and smacked onto his back.
All the air in his lungs gets knocked out with a snarl. That’s the wrong noise to make in punishment, shown by a tsk from the ringmaster. The cane changes direction and slams against his cheek instead, sending his face to the side. His teeth pierce his tongue with the force. The message is obvious: shut up.
“Naughty monster! Don’t touch any of guest’s things!”
The movements and the words, they’re all theatrical, as much a show as the contortionists. Something to please the crowds. Something to draw eyes.
The only real thing is the pain driving into Techno. It always is.
He brings his hands up to cover his head, mournful of the blows to his wings that can do nothing but lay against him and try to act as a useless shield.
His lips shake with the force of his curdling insides. A part of him wants to scream out, but it’ll only make it worse. No one will swoop him away, no matter how much he cries and howls. Hot tears break free from his eyes, seemingly from that thought alone. Stupid…
With a hitch to his breath, a bit of moisture escapes the corner of his lips as well. It splashes red as it hits the ground. He doesn’t know if it’s from the hits or the biting back of noises.
It doesn’t exactly matter.
Right when Techno is sure he’s going to explode despite it all, there’s a roar from outside his body. He almost thinks that it is him, it sounds so angry and pained. But a singular, almost stunted smack hits his back before the cane stutters to a stop.
There’s an audible caught breath in the air, before high pitched human screaming splits it.
Techno’s upper body hurts so bad that even a twitch sends him falling into the dirt. Though only him, seemingly, since the screams have picked up among everyone and bodies are running away.
His ears twitch as there’s bangs and booms shaking the air. Is something breaking?
Then those noises get overcast by a guttural, deafening growl and all of Techno turns to ice.
Violently, he shoves at the ground and flips over, just barely. Pain erupts throughout his entire skeleton when all the soon to be bruises and contusions press into the ground. But his eyes are wide and his lungs won’t work.
Beside the circus tent, towering over it at far larger than double the size, is a sparkling, sharp edged, dragon.
As much as he can while his jaw is smashed together with fetters, his mouth falls open. He can feel the heat of surely some more blood dripping free, but he doesn’t pay it any mind. And no one else does either, since they’re all running.
It’s awe and it’s fear and it’s something indescribable. Techno… has never seen a dragon this big. Well, scratch that, he’s never seen a dragon that is fully a dragon. Hybrids, as the humans call him and presumably his mother if they had caught her, only have a few key features and the instincts to boot. This thing is… a monster, in the most magnificent way.
A hand suddenly grabs Techno’s hair and yanks on it, forcing his eyes to close on the dark, roiling sight. The ringmaster is screaming about something, trying to run alongside the others, but the pain is too much as his body is jolted and dragged. All he can hear is the keening in his throat. And, the continued roaring of the dragon that sets his ears ablaze.
The weight of his wings tearing downwards breaks through the mess. He snarls, glaring at the ringmaster. The man meets his eyes for a second, while Techno’s forced instincts tell him not to move or fight back.
He drags his under ripe, but terribly sharp, claws over the ringmaster’s wrist and hand.
The man curses as he lets go, clutching at the scratch marks as blood blossoms. He’s not the only one that feels the pain, Techno’s fingers burn more like fire than the broken fingernails he’s surely earned.
Another growl fills the air, almost directly over Techno’s head this time. All of his features perk up like electricity is running through him, but he doesn’t dare look.
Instead, Techno pushes himself up and takes off towards the trees.
It’s not an elegant run, or even something that most people would class as running. He’s more so falling in the general direction of the woods, using the momentum of his shaky knees to send him in that direction. But considering that every footfall sends pain all over his wings and spine, it’s the best that he can manage.
The shouting has continued behind him, and he’s sure that the ringmaster must have tried to grab him back. But his escape is just fast enough to get away. Either that, or the hulking dragon has descended on them and scared them all off.
Either option sounds really good.
Though as Techno skids into the treeline, trying to disappear within the foliage, the sound of breaking trees puts a kick to his step too. While a dragon is better than humans easily, he does not particularly want to mess with the angry thing. That’s just common sense.
So he keeps running.
The wooded area almost makes it more difficult, considering every plant and hole in the ground tries to drag him down. His limbs start to take on the pain that they had blessedly been spared of before.
Every time that his arms shake and don’t want to push him up, he remembers the sharp hands of the humans. He remembers the chains all over his body and the objects striking him. And he remembers the beautiful killer teeth on the dragon. Then he gets up and keeps running desperately.
Soon, the sounds behind him disappear completely under his gasping breaths. And then, even when he holds his breath, he can’t hear any of the chaos. He keeps running.
Techno starts to think that he’s going to make it. All of his escape attempts in the past had gone terribly, and this one isn’t exactly amazing, but he is away. He’s never gotten this far!
Maybe this is going to go well—
The second that the thought crosses his mind, Techno’s foot suddenly sinks into the open air and he crashes downwards. Except it’s not a small hole or hill that he’s fallen into this time. He rolls and crashes for a few long seconds, before his body hits hard rocks.
He bounces off of them painfully, right into a swirling mass of water.
A shocked yelp leaves Techno, only filling his mouth with water. He flails on intuition, trying to drag his head upwards. The kicking and clawing he knows he needs to do to tread a river come to the front of his mind, but the water refuses to cooperate.
His weak limbs get dragged beneath the violent churning current.
All of him gets dragged along, spinning in every which way till he doesn’t know up from down. Soon, he can’t even try to thrash. Everything is too shocked by the bright sting of the water. All he can do is try to gasp when his face touches the chill of air. Water invades his airway every time regardless.
The chill is starting to burn along his tongue and fingertips. It violent, almost to the point of numbing how his body parts scrap against the ground over and over. It hurts, he can’t breathe, he can’t—
Harder than the smack of ten canes on his wings, something hard hits his entire back side. His brain seems to slide out of his ears at the force, going all fuzzy like the bubbles escaping his lips. But as he falls fully limp, he belatedly notices that he’s no longer being flipped about.
With flimsy fingers, Techno paws at the rough surface digging into him. It’s hard and craggy, overly slick with the water. But he pushes past the pain it brings to his abused claws and sinks them in to start pulling himself upwards.
It’s almost impossible. His limbs have gone jelly, completely numb except for molten liquid in his joints. A desperate hiss escapes him, just as his wings start to flap.
They don’t do much. They’re still tied up and feel about broken at this point. But the agony seems to jolt him forward, just enough to slip onto the surface of the rock.
An involuntary, overly large inhale grips his body the second he gets something solid below him. His lungs, and then the rest of his body soon after, spasm at the onslaught. Coughing violently, the water invading the gaps in his body and organs squeezes out forcibly. Somehow, it hurts worse than blood oozing out.
Wheezy noises fight out of him as he curls into a shivering ball. The rock in the center of the river is large enough to fit his whole body, but he can’t seem to move beyond it anyway. No amount of internal prodding can force him onwards beyond this.
Closing his eyes, Techno folds himself beneath his bent wings and tries to breathe.
—
The woods really are thick and lush as he stumbles through them at a slower pace. He thinks this is a type of safety. Surely humans couldn’t traverse this so easily. But he tries not to let himself sit still too much either.
Which is harder than it sounds!
Techno is cold, even after his clothes eventually dry. Curling up into a ball forever sounds really appealing. And even beyond that, the pain all over him hurts. He’s poked at his wings, but he can’t really tell how bad it is. All he knows is that it feels bad and he wants to sleep till it’s gone.
But he can’t because he’ll get caught again.
That’s the only thing keeping him going. He wants to be away from the humans and return to his nest… Though, he has no clue where that is. Or where he is now.
Slouching into himself, Techno ignores that and keeps walking.
Pain squeezes his abdomen to the point that he has to slow down a little. It's not much compared to the rest of his body, let alone the worst spots. But the cramping has become so consistent that it is distracting.
He’s hungry.
That’s nothing he’s not used to. Withholding food was a common punishment from about all humans he’s had the misfortune of meeting. Or just a consequence of forgetting that he needs food. Or that he exists in general.
Honestly that’s all the better, but he can only go so long without eating before it becomes an actual problem, regardless of his practice.
It’s seeming like he’ll have to find food in the woods if he wants to eat.
As if taking in the fact, Techno looks around the area. There’s trees and bushes and the river where he almost drowned isn’t too far, because he’s at least smart enough to know he needs water. Nothing that is particularly bursting with the whole food thing though…
Look, Techno’s a real dragon boy, he’s lived in the woods much of his life! He can forage and catch small animals to eat. It’s no problem for him!
But this place really is foreign to him. There’s none of the typical looking berry bushes in the typical places and he’s scarcely seen a lizard. Plus, the thought of running after anything living right now makes him exhausted enough to turn into a bowl of jelly.
This is a conundrum.
With a frown on his face, he keeps walking and looking about.
Which is why he happens to notice, with his astute senses, the rabbit hanging from a tree. Right in front of his face.
Blinking widely at the slightly swaying animal, Techno tilts his head to the side. He can feel his pupils dilate slightly, taking in all the fluffy brown fur and vacant eyes. A rope is looped around its neck, obviously the thing hanging it from the tree.
Huh.
Automatically, he wants to snatch the thing out of the tree and see about making it edible somehow. Or just eating it in general. Seems like a good idea.
But he pauses as he reaches towards it.
This is a suspicious situation. And, upon obvious reflection, this rabbit has been caught by a person.
Techno retracts his hand to his chest, staring at the rabbit with betrayal. No way is he falling for that trick again. He wishes he could explode the rabbit with his mind so that his distaste gets across, but that would probably be just as interactive as if he grabbed it, which—
The distinct sound of feet snapping twigs makes Techno jump and swing around. Then, he jumps into a bush.
It’s a few seconds before the owner of the footsteps shows themself. In that time, Techno manages to sink into the foliage and completely still, hands cupped over his mouth. If nothing else, it reminds him to keep in the automatic growls that try to come out. His teeth poking into his tongue help too.
The person that steps out of the trees is obviously an adult, and upon closer inspection, a human. Of course it is.
They have hanging blond hair and flowy green clothes, kind of like the people in the circus, but not flashy enough. Techno doesn’t recognize the man. He technically doesn’t know everyone in the circus though, so it could be someone in it. Though why would they be catching rabbits like this? That’s not really the sort of things the traveling circus does, surely they’re long gone by now.
With a vague hum, the man crouches by the tree and unties something. It makes the rabbit fall, until he catches the rope and pulls it into his self. In a couple moves, the rabbit is wrapped up in a cloth and tucked away in the man’s stuff.
There’s not much more preamble before the man sets off out of the clearing again. Techno watches after him, before creeping out of the bush into the space.
He sniffs around the area, and gives it a look over, but it’s all untouched again. The man even brought the rope with him. Hm.
Could this man be a normal guy just hunting for himself?
Techno thinks that it is possible. Most of the humans he would meet in the circus were just random people that surely didn’t mess with others while living their lives. They weren’t kind to him by any means, but he doesn’t think most of them would have snatched him away.
It’s been a few days of walking on Techno’s part. And with all the chaos, the circus must be long gone by now. One hybrid like him isn’t worth sticking around, right?
Brain churning slightly, Techno tentatively takes off in the direction that the man disappeared.
Techno should run in the opposite direction. It was lucky that he didn’t get seen by the man, and he shouldn’t push it. But, well…
He’s hungry.
Sticking close to the ground, he creeps after the oblivious man.
It seems that the blond is on his own little foraging path. There’s a couple other traps that he pauses to take down, seemingly on a set track. Techno stays where he can almost not see the man, scuttling through the foliage. At one point he thinks he’s almost heard, but then a bird swoops down and thoroughly catches the man’s attention. Phew.
After a few long minutes of sneaking behind the man, the sight of a small building crops up among the trees. Techno squints in intrigue. It seems like a small house, nestled in a little clearing. Phil walks in like he owns the place.
Techno thinks he might own the place.
Sitting back in a bush, his tail wiggles a bit as he thinks.
There’s a house here with at least one human in it. Though, the surrounding area seems secluded. This may be the only building for ages around. Which means it should be easy to avoid… And it will also be the only place with easily attainable supplies anywhere around here.
Surely, in a normal setting Techno could get all he needs from the woods. He did before! Well, with help from his mom, who was a fully mature, adult, seven foot, buffer than any human he’s ever seen by far, dragon hybrid. But he was so responsible and independent even back then!
Right now though… He’s tired and sore and starving. He kind of wishes he snatched that rabbit, even if it would have possibly gotten him caught.
But Techno’s sneaky and resourceful. Last time he tried to steal the guy caught him, but that was really a fluke. He’s good at stealing! And with food on the line…
Techno’s talked himself into it.
Not bothering to stand, Techno stalks around the edge of the clearing, checking the entire place out. Luckily, the house is hidden away, which means that being near it leaves him well hidden too. It’s not a horrible place to live undisturbed, he reluctantly admits to himself. Hopefully this guy isn’t too competent in other regards.
Before he can settle down in a bush, the door to the house actually swings open again. Techno freezes mid yawn, as much as he can with his jaw already severely impeded.
The man does not go far, pausing on the edge of the clearing where there’s a table and such. Once again, he hangs the rabbits up, before cutting them so the blood can drain out. Techno squishes his nose up a little, but watches keenly.
Shockingly, after cleaning the animals up a bit, the blond man leaves them hanging there and heads back inside. Techno looks back and forth between the two sights, not quite believing it. But then he starts quickly shimmying closer so he can snag a free rabbit before he does come back.
They're hanging pretty high off the ground, forcing Techno to climb the rickety, kind of gross, table, and leap off of it to grab one. For a few long seconds, he hangs from the rope too, feet dangling over the ground. He truly expects the man to walk out and catch him in that position, since it’d really be his luck. But, the rope snaps and he falls on his butt with the rabbit in his hands.
Pleased, Techno flips around and takes off into the woods with his prize.
While his tail waggles in the wind behind him, he darts below the brush and branches. No one is chasing him, he’s almost certain. It was the perfect heist! But something urges his heels on regardless.
He makes it little ways away before his toes catch upon the ground, nearly making him trip. But he catches himself, because he’s a very good crook. Still, he lets himself fall to the ground in the little shadowed indent in the ground, looking over his prize with a pride filled barring of his teeth.
The rabbit is floppy in his hands, lifeless and covered in the fluids one would expect. His face goes from squished in excitement to slight disgust.
Well, if there is one thing humans are good at, it’s cooking. Heating food up and covering it in spices and such, it does taste better than the things he’d have eaten before getting kidnapped. Which in the grand scheme of things was like the smallest little thing he noticed.
But now, looking at the meal before him, he does wish for some salt. Or at least a fire to put the meat over.
Still, his mouth waters with hunger alone. The pain had overshadowed the feeling, but it’s coming back stronger than ever.
Techno puts his fangs to use for something other than biting hands.
Admittedly, the hunger makes the meat taste better than it would otherwise, but he still finds himself huffing through his nose. It's fine. It's perfectly acceptable food that he won fair and square.
He glances over his shoulder anyway.
Maybe this guy has some better stuff in his house. If Techno snuck this meal this easily, something better can't be that much harder.
He's too hungry to stop eating, but he mulls over his options. If he's stuck in this area while he's too hurt to forage and hunt for himself, this is a good option. He just has to keep being super sneaky and get out of dodge before anyone catches on.
Easy!