"You aren't serious."

"I am. Why would I lie?"

"And they all surrendered...just like that?" The bemused expression on the large winged canine's face was like a sweet treat to hir companion, as Kiarre, the sizable canid in sprawl upon the springy grasses, took a nip of strip ration and let the ramifications of hir tale sink in. They had plenty of time before they were due to move out. It was merely sunset and the first leg of their successful hike deserved a break. "Without you needing to cuff or claw any of them?"

Without swallowing shi retorted mid-chew, "You don' shee these types ashh often ashh I do. Ulp... They quail in uncertainty. If you project intimidation, they fear it even across a glowing screen, kilometers away. No need to grab the nearest and bite their face in if they know your cruiser can do the same to theirs."

With a low chuckle, Dejah resumed whetting the nicks out of hir halberd's axe head. "I suppose. I'm too used to facing down problems within reach of fang and claw. To figure they would quail in the safety of their own ships among the stars just from your words makes me feel as if they would die just by being face to face." The huskydrake lifted hir head, looking out in the distance.

Where they were, they could speak of conquests and adventures without an eavesdropper; this was free frontier on this world Kiarre had found for them to roam. Hir knowledge of star lanes was lacking compared to Kiarre's, and so shi found hirself taking great delight in the knowledge of a different sector's planets to visit. This one proved mountainous and challenging; a planet with a tumultuous tectonic history which afforded it pleasingly robust, hilly meadows, and spiky teeth of mountainous ranges. It made the normally reclusive canine hybrid more conversational to have a place to loosen up, and a companion who could match hir energies and interests. It also helped that shi knew the feeling was mutual. Even if, Dejah mused, shi was the only one of them who could glide unassisted.

Kiarre had savored an evening dip in the near lake fed by the creek near their camp and, drying bare in the comfortably warm air, shi indulged Dejah's demand for tales of hir campaigns in the stars. The cool twilight air carried the ripe smell of awakening trees and water in whatever season this world was experiencing, and it was enough to lose track of hir little tale. "Mmmn... You want to hear of an old general's sorties in space when we have yet more countryside to roam? There are better pursuits to discuss, Dea.

The huskydrake shrugged, the motion hoisting hir flexing, navy-hued wings in the manner that caused the blue strands of hir fur pelt to shimmer its mild, alluring iridescence. Hir placid, teal eyes fixed their slit-pupiled intensity on Kiarre. "I know lands and mountainsides. When I do take to the stars, I'd like to know what's up there."

"There are stars enough overhead," the solid indigo canid answered, Kiarre's demeanor of enough-but-not-quite canine still captivating the big hybrid's senses. Come: Put that axe down and sit with me. We won't be roughed by wildlife tonight. I can tell you about another tour in defense of a migrant fleet...and toast marshmelons."

"Uhh, I think they're called--"

A lovely little commission done for DoniRoux of two companions, Kiarre and Dejah, enjoying companionable conversation, adventuring across a wilderness frontier on some unnamed world. I leap at the chance to do more atmospheric work, and am grateful for the opportunity with this one, and a pair of large ladies known for their more forceful projections instead showing a moment of peaceful downtime with one another.

Kiarre, by DoniRoux | DoniRoux
Dea'xalir "Dejah" Irixion & Art by DejahPup |