"Huh?" Raven blinked as she started chanting that she was hungry. He realized he'd forgotten he was cooking food when she revealed those things and quickly doused his own fire. The food hadn't burnt, but it'd cooked longer than he would have liked. Sighing he held out the chunk that she'd put on and shrugged.
"You know spanning about being hungry makes you hungrier right?" Raven said raising an eyebrow at the child dragon. It was hard to believe Draco might have once been like that. Rolling his eyes he started to take a bite of his food and then realized that, with his hands full he hadn't seasoned iit any. Oh what a day this had turned into....
Of course Tyr knew complaining about hunger made her hungrier. She wasn't born yesterday. Nope. she was born a whole bunch of yesterdays ago. How old was she again? Ugh this was going to get tedius in a few thousand years. "How old are you, Tyr?" they'd ask, and she'd say "Uh, I dunno. I lost track around two thousand." and then they'd all look at her like she'd lost her mind. That was going to be fun.
Fortunately, the food was done, and rather than complaining further, she took the crispy meat. She tore into it like she hadn't eaten in weeks, though in all honesty, if you didn't count the wind snacks... it had probably been more like twelve hours or so. Before even a couple of minutes was up, the deer steak was gone and Tyr was eyeing Raven's choice cut hungrily. She needed to stop sharing if she wanted to get full. "Are you going to finish that?"
"Hmm?" Raven raised an eyebrow. He stopped himself from taking another bite long enough to regard her warily. Instinct said to hoard and chase her off. It was his food. The rational part of hiis miind was angry that she'd offer to share then take it back. The common sense part of him that had been drilled in over past mistakes was trying to win out, but he decided to put his foot down instead. "You offered this piece to me," Raven said shaking his head slowly. He held the food defensively as he stared at the young dragon. "You can't justt take back a gift. That's rude and mean and not how a dragon should behave at all."
When Raven reminded the young dragon that she had given him a piece, she immediately regretted it. She was rewarded with being told she couldn't just take back a gift, and that it was rude and mean and unbecoming of a dragon. It wasn't often that she felt like a kid in the actual sense, like a human child would, but at that moment she sort of did. Her longing stare turned into a glare before she stopped talking, instead settling for her air snack for the moment while she determinedly didn't look at the meat until it was gone.
She felt better after a few minutes though, with her stomach full and the smell of cooked meat dissipating into the air, and soon her sunny disposition returned. It only proved that dragons didn't grow up at the pace of human children. They might have more knowledge, but they were still prone to being children. "You knooooow, I know a pretty dragon with green hair that knows a thing or two about controlling dragon magic," she pointed out, finally addressing what she'd refused to address before in her hunger. "I bet if someone asked reeeeeally nicely, she'd even be willing to share a few pointers!" She waited about five seconds before elaborating. "Me. I'm talking about me. I'm pretty and know things you claim you don't," she chuckled, pleased with her own idea.
Raven was quiet,, but ate quickly. The goal wasn't to torment the little thing after all. Once he was finished he pulled out the canteen he had in the bag. There was a small cup attached via a chain that sat on the neck. He held it out for Tyr to have a drink. There was nothing like washing down a hot meal with a glass of cool water. At least in his opinion.
She rattled on about subtly hinting, and then not so subtly hinting about wanting to teach him a few tricks. At first he wanted to roll his eyes and tell her he didn't need anymore power. It was true... he could kill dragons as he was now. But he reigned in his pride and simply sat in silence for a long moment. When he spoke, it was a neutral tone coupled with a curious gaze. "And just what would you teach me, Tyr?"
"Duh, you've got power and stuff," The excitable wyrm reminded Raven. "Enough to fight dragons. Strong ones, not runts like me I mean." At least she wasn't ashamed of who she was, right? She adopted what was probably one of the most unconvincing nonchalant poses ever. "All I'm saying is, if you wanted old lady Tyr to teach you a few triiiicks to control your powers a little better, maybe you could do all those things you pretend isn't worth doing even though you don't wanna die~"
In reality, Tyr had never been much of a teacher. She was excitable, impatient, and well, literally the type of personality that made a better student, though likely the kind of student that made a teacher roll her eyes at every turn at best. She was smart and could do most anything... but she always seemed to prefer to do the fun thing. "I mean, I know a human's life is like a blink of an eye and all, but really. Yours doesn't have to blink faster because you're a stubborn old man before you're even three decades old. Dragons like me know how to do stuff to help people like you, even if it isn't with neat little dragon blood tricks."
"Most of what I wanted to do in life I can't now," Raven said pointedly as he stretched and then linked his hands behind his head. Layinng back he closed his eyes, looking more carefree than he sounded. He could feel the sunlight starting to break through the clouds on his face. The warmer breeze was also nice. He could possibly nap... Not that he really wanted to. The nightmares that chased him never went away.
"And it's not like I deserve to live longer," He continued somberly. It was true, helping almost destroy Fiore, and then killing his father figure... he hadn't exactly done a lot to live longer than everyone else. "I've screwed up big time Tyr. I'm not some great hero riding in to save everyone. A longer life would suit someone who actually makes a positive difference."
Tyr watched the redheaded man with a look that became steadily less amused as he prattled on about 'woe is me, I'm not a superhero' or whatever. She was having a hard time listening to him when he argued against her flawless logic, especially with boring and depressing things. "That's stupid," the old him bluntly, somehow managing to have a positive tone of voice despite what she was saying. "If you really wanted to be dead that badly, you could have let your dragon teacher kill you. Or, you know, you could just meet one of my siblings. I bet they wouldn't mind the snack. Not me though." She was certainly the least aggressive of any dragon she knew, to the point that intelligent creatures weren't supposed to be hurt by her if she could help it.
"Besiiides, living isn't about deserving to live. Who gets to decide that? Some arbitrary person who thinks he's better than everyone else? Psh. Humans. You're all so short sighted, you know that?" Her statement might have been undermined by the fact that her stomach growled again. It wanted more meat. She tried to ignore it. "If anyone should decide what humans should live, it should be someone with a bunch of knowledge, like a dragon." She grinned a wide grin. "So when your elders tell you that you should perk up, yoooou should say 'Yes, oh great and pretty Tyr, whoes voice is like a gentle breeze and whose looks are cuter than a thousand fields of flowers."
"I never said I wanted to die," Raven opened one eye to stare at her. Though it would probably be easier on everyone if he was out of the picture. He could never outright go through with the whole dying thing. He supposed it would be easy enough, but he just felt liike he shouldn't. "I simply said that there are others who're better suited to having that extra time. The extra time to build something more than I could."
"And frankly," Raven shrugged slightly before pointing to his eye. His stubbornness was showing true now. Coupled with the confidence he earned beating Draco, he was now in a bit of a mood. "As you can see I've kind of rejected the whole learning from dragon's thing and walk my own path."
Tyr crossed her arms and sat Indian style, her mouth scrunched up with an expression not unlike that of a frustrated human girl. Parallels could be drawn, and they would probably be drawn rightly, though Tyr might or might not agree, depending on how flattering it sounded. Yeah, she liked being like a child, but she didn't like being treated like one unless it was to her advantage.
"You can't just give people your extra time. Even dragons can't just give their time to other people. If you're gone it's wasted, you know." To his next statement, she stuck out her tongue slightly, closing her eyes as she did so. "You sound like a kid. Humans can't take care of themselves that well. They're pack creatures or something. Not at all like us dragons, who can go like, hundreds of years alone and not mind." Wait, where had she been going with that? Her face scrunched into a confused look as she recounted what had been said right before that. "The point is!" she spoke up a bit louder as if to sound like she'd known what she was working up to. "Us dragons know how to take care of ourselves and that makes us better at walking our own paths, so you should really listen to us when we try to give you advice that might help you take care of yourself." or... something.
"You sorely misunderstand humans then," Raven shook his head slowly before smirking slightly. As he spoke, there was a certain amount of amusement in his voice that he was holding back. "I may have given up my own humanity by killing Draco, but I understand what they're capable of. They might need to lean on each other once in awhile, but even the individual is capable of great things."
"If anything, not living long is what gives humans their drive," Raven said with a small shrug. "With so little time they strive to do so much. And it's that determination that keeps them on their feet and moving. They can't just sleep all the trouble away like dragons can."
"And as for not taking care of myself..." Raven added quickly. "I've been a wanted man for the last few years, and what few friends I might have had don't want to see me after the whole killing Draco thing. So I think I happen to be doing well enough right now."
Tyr yawned while Raven continued arguing. His arguments were so very... skirting around his issues, and frankly, the green-haired dragon wasn't much of a shrink. Especially not since she wasn't able to keep listening. Something about humans having drive and being a wanted man by other humans for killing a dragon. Why did the humans care if he killed a dragon? She cared more than she let on, but she knew enough to know what necessity was and didn't place blame on him.
"Well enough then," she yawned again, waving her hand nonchalantly as she stretched out on the ground. The sun coming through the trees felt so good. She could just... close her eyes... the human dragon person could keep defending himself and saying how proud he was and be happy with his argument and she could...
Before long Tyr had fallen asleep, for all appearances looking like a pointy-eared pre-teen just napping on the side of the road. It was peaceful too; apparently she really did trust Raven, for better or for worse.
Raven couldn't help but sigh when he realized she was asleep. At the end of the day she was a child, and only fun things would interest her. Scratching the back of his head he found himself unable to be angry at her. She was adorable as she slept... he would admit that. Even if she was a pain in his butt. Though, life had a very cruel sense of humor. He shouldn't be left alone near dragons. The crushing guilt was always there, and seeing her laying there reminded him just how much he hated himself.
"I guess it can't be helped," Raven murmured quietly. He stood up slowly and pulled off his jacket. He gently laid it over her like a blanket and then set about making a small camp. And by camp he just cleared out the twigs and such so he would be more comfortable sitting there. He wasn't just going to let her be alone next to a road people might be traveling. They could part ways when she woke up. He did take that time to sneak his sunglasses back out though. Sliding them back onto his face, he spotted a large chunk of wood and picked it up. He pulled out a knife and started slowly carving chips out of it. It'd be something to do...
A couple of hours passed as the dragon girl slept peacefully. She barely moved, though she did sigh in her sleep a time or two. Suddenly, her eyes popped open and she sat up quickly, a small gust of wind coming off of the dragon girl. Emerald eyes looked around for a moment, but it wasn't long before a wide grin reappeared on her face as she remembered what she'd been doing last. She stretched, tossing the coat to the side before getting up with a large yawn that revealed her own elongated canines. "I haven't slept that well in forever," she stated as wind surrounded her and blew away the leaves and sticks that had clung to her in her sleep.
She gave the red-headed dragon slayer a wink - had she been older physically it might have been misconstrued as flirty by some people, but thoughts such as that were almost impossible to form when looking at Tyr. Really she was just being a bit ornery. "Well, it was nice talking to you, and thanks for keeping me company, but I should probably get going if I want to keep up my schedule." She grinned a teasing grin. She obviously had no desire to tell Raven what she was up to in these parts. "Say, do you know where the nearest town is? I haven't been in this country very long."
Raven watched his jacket get tossed aside witth no small amount of disdain. Sure, he'd had to have it remade entirely after the fight with Draco, but still! It was like he was the only one who cared about it's well being... He stood up, holding the knife and partially carved block of wood in one hand as he picked up his jacket. He gave it a quick shake to knock the leaves and dirt free before throwing it over his shoulder.
"If memory serves, there's a crossroad up ahead," Raven pointed down the road in the direction he'd come from. "One path takes you to the western frontier cities, namely Dawn Town. The other will swing into Era. Though, if I'm honest I'm probably wrong. I haven't paid attention to locations and such in the last few years.
