[Gift] Early Days - Amox, Dingo, Sihue

- PROVIDENCE TRIAL -

Two thin, serpentine figures wound their way through the foliage and gnarled trunks of the forest they found themselves in. One slightly larger then the other, the female, coloured bright as any macaw in the jungle they trudged through.

They had been at it for some time now. They couldn't have just any base of operations for their little scheme. It had to be the perfect place, especially if it were to store all their dreamed of riches. Something that might inspire power and awe would, of course, be preferred - but none of it was guaranteed. Nothing ever had been for Anzu and Tozi, though. For the female herself, her cardinal sin that had got her thrown from the Metropolis had been repeated mismanagement of her poisons that had gotten another killed, along with various other minor crimes that lead up to that. Unsociable behaviour, violent outbursts and fraud three examples that float to the top of her mind. Though, she believed that Quetzal she killed had it coming, even if it had been an accident. She would do it again. Even if she now stood, starving and no bigger then a horse and weaker then the bird  her colours held a similarity to. Before she'd met up with Anzu, she'd been barely getting by - but WITH him, survival was even harder with an extra mouth to feed.

But they had a plan... and the dragon she'd unintentionally ended up bonding with while scrounging for food one day that she had dubbed 'Dingo' was playing a part in that. Dingo had helped the two struggling Quetzal's a lot, actually. He'd also helped Anzu find his own little helper in the form of a weird (in Tozi's opinion) little frog horse... thing, not too long after. Tozi couldn't understand her appeal, but, she didn't have to. She wasn't her dragon. For such a strange creature though, she sure knew a lot about the jungle they were currently IN, which Dingo turned out not as knowledgeable about as he was with getting food, so... Tozi appreciated that at least. Sihuehuet and Dingo practically led the charge, so to speak, with the two quetzals following like begrudging ducklings as they stumbled over roots and griped about the fact flying right now would be near impossible in their weakened state.

"You really think that this temple they keep talking about is actually real? Tozi murmured over her shoulder to Anzu as she wound her serpentine body over a fallen, twisted log across the Jungle floor and half sat back on her haunches to offer one of her forelegs to help pull Anzu over it too. Watching as the two other dragons pulled somewhat ahead and sniffed around at the scattered debris and rocks that dotted their self forged path. Dingo threw one wing out towards the dangling vines that blocked the current leader, Sihue's, way as she pressed her nose into a patch of curled ferns and chipped ceramic. Both pairs of their antennae twitching in silent communication with each other.

Anzu pulled a face, exposing his long fangs as his thickly feathered crest fluffed up slightly. Neither Queztal especially liked needing to rely on the other quite so much, but... they didn't have a choice. So despite himself, he swallowed what little pride he had left and reached forwards, taking her talons in his own and using her offered strength. His wings flapped a little awkwardly as he tried to lift himself up over the log, beating wind into Tozi's face, which drew a hiss from the female, but. She didn't bite him at least.

They both nearly tripped over hidden debris in the vines underfoot once he was over. Then it was Anzu's turn to swear.

"It had better" he grumbled, brushing down his downy, tawny feathers with his own talons before he started back on their march. Tozi huffed as well and slowly followed, swiping some of the more sparkling debris up from the ground to store in her little satchel. Being the strongest of the two, she was carrying what meagre little possessions they owned - and if Anzu or her found anything interesting or seemingly worthwhile on the road, and IF this temple turned out to be real, then... they'd have a good start on those dreams of riches
.

The group made it from their messy path to a wide open clearing after a while, and the leading two local dragons seemed to get excitable as a result. The scattered 'treasures' seemed to have become more and more common as well, the Queztel's noted. To the point where Tozi just wasn't able to keep carrying all of it, handing the satchel over to Dingo so they could keep collecting.

"What is it?" Anzu called, shaking himself free of sticky weeds and pollen that had stuck to his feathers. Tozi had come off a little better in that department then her companion, but she was still busy cleaning off scraps of vines and petals that had caught on her mantle and necklaces. She looked over to see the two orange dragons pacing around some particularly large leaves. Granted, Tozi thought, they were a considerably impressive size for what could maybe even be... banana leaves? Palms? She had no idea. But-

'It is a dragon' Dingo murmured in her mind. 'The dragon who guards the temple'

'What dragon? I don't see a dragon' she scoffed back.

Anzu seemed to have gotten a similar reply from his own companion though, and the two exchanged unimpressed glances. Then Dingo jumped straight up onto the leafy edge of the clearing, and... it twitched. It twitched.

Sihue looked smug as she held her head up a little higher at being proven right, and Dingo couldn't help but wrly smile in his own way, canine like tongue lolling out in a gentle pant at the blistering heat of the day beating down onto them without the canopy of the trees for cover. Tozi, for one, enjoyed it.

"So..." she said aloud, letting the whole group hear her words. "Wheres this promised temple, then?"


The Temple, as it turned out, was hidden from the clearing by a cluster of trees and overgrowth. But walking directly on the colossal dragon's strange body seemed to be the best way up for the first little bit. It carved a straight path all the way to the monumental set of small, crumbling stone stairs. It had clearly been built with bipeds in mind, which didn't help the currently flightless Quetzals at all. So they continued on the enormous creatures back for ease of rest while Dingo flew his way ahead to check for danger. Sihue stayed with their riders, her amphibious feet easily able to stick to pretty much any surface she damn well pleased to walk, picking up little trinkets and brushing overgrowth off of the ginormous creature they were stepping on in a way that told Tozi and Anzu that she, if not BOTH of their dragons, were familiar with them. Tozi in particular was feeling a very strange pull from her compass.

"You feel that...?" she whispered. It felt... familiar. Somehow. But she couldn't place her talon on why.

Anzu raised a reptilian brow and looked her over. "Is this heat getting to you?"

Tozi opened her maw to shoot a reply back, but just huffed instead. "You know what? Nevermind" she huffed, struggling with the climb despite the pliant flesh below them. Anzu chuckled and turned his head down to concentrate on climbing, only to realize... the body beneath them was changing. No longer were they stepping on leaves, but... a pond? No, that didn't make sense. What his talons were standing on was relatively solid, and had the ghost of ripple like markings across its surface, but he was very, very sure that the shark sized tropical fish he could see swimming beneath his talons were very, very real.

Maybe they were both hallucinating. But the coral Tozi bumped into as she was stepping over a carpet sized string of what looked like kelp certainly felt real, as it scraped its sharp, brittle surface painfully over her shoulder. She hissed and stepped back, calling a belated warning back towards him. Both secretly hoped it was going to be worth the climb.

As the altitude grew, and the steps began to seem less and less crumbled, the party eventually left the body of the dragon to instead actually climb the stairs themselves, surprised by how... together, this whole place looked. For some ancient temple, there were no bandits, no sizable holes in the architecture, and a lot of things remained that looked... well, valuable would be an understatement. How had this place stayed so relatively pristine all this time...?

When, after many hours, they eventually crested the final step and collapsed onto the floor in a heaving pile of feathers and bone - the Quetzel's got their answer in the filtered amber-red light of the encroaching sunset. The huge dragon who had served as both their guide and temporary bridge ended abruptly in the side of one wall. A hole had been bored straight into the surface, and looked very, very old, the wall - and much of the interior structuring now they looked closer - only held together by vines. The whole temple hummed with magical essence. Sihue shook herself out as she waited for Anzu to pull himself up with the help of her back, looking at the yawning palace door with some trepidation. While they had passed a pair of legs many many hours ago, they had yet to find a head, and he had an aching suspicion they were nearby it by now. The dragon had coiled itself around the temple in a gentle curve, the fish in its strange body swimming like they were living in a living aquarium. Neither Quetzal had seen anything like it in their generously long lives.

The palace sized stone door, carved with intricate figures and skull and serpent like patterns that felt familiar to Tozi, shakily standing as Dingo landed not three feet away from her, his fur relaxed and his tail gently wagging, ears forward. Neither her or Anzu's companions seemed stressed at all, and thinking about it... she wasn't either. Infact, she felt the pull even stronger now they had reached the top. Not waiting for Anzu, she could do nothing else but follow it. Her will bending.

"Wait!" the male Quetzal snapped. 'She is bonding', Sinhue hummed in her gentle voice. Cutting off his train of thought instantly "She's what?"

Dingo seemed to agree, considering he hadn't followed her yet. Staying behind to check on Anzu instead of following his master. It proved to only convince him further that his companion was... somehow telling the truth?

"This one is more trouble then she seems... finding a soulmate in dread wyrm..." he mumbled to himself. Finally recovering from his winded state, and with the help of both dragons, he entered the temple to me met with... an aw inspiring sight.

He had never seen so many gems. So much gold, stone, silver and bronze. So much ancient statues, gold plated engravings, intricate mosaics and... and...

He struggled to take it all in as he weaved between the endless treasures and towering pillars that held its cavernous ceiling up. Vines with strange flowers and even stranger scents held anything that might have looked ready to collapse together, and right in the centre of it all, sat the front half of the behemoth. It looked amphibious, but its frog like eyes were unfocused and clouded, like its sight wasn't something it had particularly needed for however many years it had dwelled both inside and around this structure. Spines jutted from the crown of its skull and angled down over the back of its neck. Its front legs lay loosely clutching pillars and treasures, as it laid like a proud fire dragon across its horde.

Though what it seemed to crave the most? The sunlight that filtered through the holes in the roof. There was a purposeful sunlight up there that, as the sun faded from the sky into a twinkling twilight, the dragon was slowly closing. Tozi sat with one foreleg placed gently on the dragons nose, tilting her head this way and that. The essence of magic was as thick as miasma inside the room, and Anzu finally understood why. This dragon was this temple - and had protected it, and all its precious contents, all this time; And this dragon had bonded with Tozi, not moments before he'd entered the room.

With a wide, fanged smile, the female turned to eye Anzu with one ultraviolet eye. Her salvaged treasures looking dull in the room of wonders.

"Anzu... I think we may have found our future home. This is Amoxtli"

- STRENGTH TRIAL - 

Dingo had been spending more time then not with Amoxtli of late, bringing her the gems and scattered treasures for their 'communal horde', which was what Tozi called it - its what he was doing now, hauling a satchel full of random citrines and emeralds he'd collected near the base of the temple, glittering oranges and greens. He wasn't as close to the dragon more then triple his own size as Sihuehuet - she was often up in the temple over helping with the clearing with their riders, but she made up for it tenfold by helping him move around the trees and foliage to make a much clearer path. That, and talk Amox into helping them as well. Being earth, the big dragon could help move the boulders with her tail, the fish in her body gathering as low down as they could reach to watch the work curiously.

Amox seemed to use her magic without barely moving at all. Dingo had to at least move his body a little bit to get plants to do what he wanted it to, but Amoxtli...? Things just... happened around her. Like instead of needing to use her legs to move rocks or earth, crystals would shoot out the ground and push it that way - or the earth would just shift in a wave outwards. Rolling it. Rolling a boulder! He didn't know who this temple and its surrounding jungles belonged to in the past, or what could have possibly happened to make Amox feel like she needed to grow this large to accommodate them. But she was kind of scary - not that he would ever let her know he thought that, though. He thought that sharing a rider would mean he'd understand Amox's mind a little more, but, that hadn't happened. She  never had any thoughts, it felt like. Besides maybe appreciating how warm the sunlight was that day. In fact most of her communications were sunlight and nap driven. It was all she did. Lay still and nap. If and when she ate was a mystery to Dingo, too. Though she must, because, she'd be dead otherwise surely? What did she eat? Did she have poisons or venoms?

He sat where he was, dropping his satchel thoughtfully and watching his fellow dragon from the cracked temple door. His wings tucked to his sides and his tail resting on the warm stones. There had been another two dragons here earlier, one that hadn't seemed to bother either of them, and one that was slightly more annoying. The first was fluffy, spotted and almost seemed like a lynx, but... lynx's don't show up in that kind of size range. He was a wild creature, never seemed to sit still, but he didn't seem to have ill intent and didn't steal any treasure, so neither local dragons really took note of him. Which turned out to be something of a trip hazard later that afternoon. The second had been an entirely black dragon with lumnious blue spots - maybe even eyes? - all over their smooth scaled body. He'd been making a mischief of himself, teasing Dingo in particular by tugging at his wings, blowing gentle currents over his antennae with his wings, and generally just being a menace. 

When shadows began to flicker over the stones, Dingo didn't take much notice - especially as Lumi had returned by this point, starting up his storm magic shenanigans. Both Tozi and Anzu flew now after having had one or two nice meals out of passing travellers lured in by well placed treasure traps, and there were always wild dragons flying around once or twice a day. But these shadows were almost as relentless as Lumi was, and finally had him looking up with all four eyes fixed to the sky. His lips pulled back as true rage filled his heart, ignoring Lumi completely and making the other dragon look up too.

Raiders.

They were circling the temple, their riders armed with guns and crossbows, their dragons snorting flame from their nostrils. Dingo backed up and ended up tripping up over Link, who had returned at the commotion. Or had been chasing the raiders himself. Dingo didn't know, or care, as he was sent tumbling off the side of the temple. He fell for a breath taking, nervous moment before his wings flared out and he caught himself. He was outnumbered, and these other two dragons... they were smaller then him. He'd need to protect them but he wasn't sure he could. Even Link looked like he was getting ready for a fight, relishing the thought of a battle. But as it turned out... none of them needed to lift a paw. Or wing, in Lumi's case, as the strange dragon came to flutter beside him in the air. Then the three of them were taken by almost as much surprise as the raiders themselves were, at what Amoxtli awoke to do. 

Suddenly, from every crack and crevasse of the tower came winding, whip like vines. Some of them began to grow plump, fat flowers that Dingo had never seen before. Not the kinds that flowered around the temple at all - these almost looked... pressurised. The whip like, flowerless ones reached for the party and managed to snag one of the leading panicked fire dragons, holding it in place in the air like some strange kite made of organic material. In the same motion, the others, the ones with the flowers began to track the now scattered remainders, all trying to get higher to avoid getting caught as well. Dingo and Link watched in awed horror as the flowers suddenly exploded, shard like thorns made from the surrounding rocks firing with surprising precision. Some pierced wings, while others missed entirely or hit home on the riders themselves, causing the dragons they rode to screech in their shared agony and fall like flies from the sky. The few surviving ones left, likely feeling lucky to still have both their hides and lives intact.

Link stared at Amox with an impressed glee as her head slowly rose to slide out the palace door, yawning wide and sleepily. She looked up to the sky in an almost bored manner, not noticing Dingo, Lumi and the lynx like dragon still bouncing and cheering on the steps of the rocky temple - watching instead the still wildly struggling rider and their dragon ensnared in her vines, belching flames from its nostrils in shear panic as both was reeled slowly in and tied up with even more, shorter vines to prevent escape. 

Plucking the rider from the dragon, she wrapped him up tight and cast her gaze to the far away clearing far, far below. At the blurred yellow and blue shape of Tozi as she leaped from the ground and began to wing towards them. Anzu not far behind.

Amox smiled, and suddenly, Dingo realized why she had taken care to try and catch at least one young rider. He shivered.

Link, oblivious, bounced his joy towards the larger dragon, before quickly leaving to avoid having to deal with with hungry Quetzals. Lumi took a letter from his book, and with one little bounce off of Dingo's head, followed to instead make a nuisance of himself with the lynx instead. 

- FLEXIBILITY TRIAL  -

It had been many days now, since they had first moved into the temple's lands. Travellers had become their main source of nutrients, besides monkeys or other sentient creatures of course. The dragons had been fine, since they could easily sustain themselves off of regular food, but while the quetzels weren't starving anymore... they weren't getting any bigger either. Tozi didn't want to just limp along, she wanted to thrive. Dingo knew that. But there wasn't a whole lot he could really do about it right now, besides maybe lurking around and trying to draw others closer to their camp.

Tozi, Anzu and the other dragons had no idea how to run an encampment. Any human they brought in were either terrified of them, or tried to fight them, and neither ended up working out long term. Infact, Tozi had got an arrow to the chest for all her attempts to be nice to these filthy monkey people. The animal-like ones seemed much more reasonable, though, so while she healed from that, they were the ones she focused on personally. Dingo found himself agreeing for the most part. A lot of the poachers that had chased him anyway had been fleshy and fangless, besides their weapons or dragons of course.

So today... they had a different plan. At least they had when they'd set off that day. Capture and return. Or, maybe release? Tozi and Dingo weren't sure yet, but they'd come to understand that they needed to spread word about their... settlement. Prove it was safe, and attract humanoids over. Once it was big enough, they could start taking one now and again, and nobody would even notice - these creatures were stupid, even if their lifeforce was strong.

Dingo wasn't sure he totally agreed with that sentiment. But he followed along regardless, the satchel of their gathered herbs and fruits along the way hanging from his neck and gently bumping against his chest as he moved. Tozi had transformed into her more humanoid form in an attempt to look more... approachable. She hated being in this form, but there was no question that the people of this world seemed more agreeable to talk to someone who looked like them instead of a great beast. Nobody really knew what a Quetzel was, and even expelled from the metropolis as they were, neither Anzu or herself felt like spreading about their presence in that way. It wasn't advantageous. Someone might come sniffing, and that wouldn't be helpful at all right now. They didn't have a lot of firepower, or...

Her thoughts trailed off. As did Dingo's, pausing mid bite on the stem of a great bunch of bananas. A quiet chirping, followed by a loud swear in the local tongue. Tozi paused, draconic eyes narrowing, before she brushed her hands together and started towards the noise.

'Might be our mark' she passed along the bond to Dingo. The canine like dragon snorted and finished ripping the bananas from the tree before following.

In the nearby clearing, a pair of humanoid creatures - 'Bestia', Dingo annoyingly reminded her in her mind - were arguing with a large white bird like dragon with too many wings and a sizable gem lodged in her chest. Momentarily distracted by how exquisite that particular gem looked, though, Tozi missed what the men were saying.

"We told you not to eat that!" the cat-like man exasperatedly shouted. The white dragon warbled in her distress, clutching her stomach.

"He better be sick soon - we need those to finish our bounty!" a more bear like beastia hissed. The cat pinched the bridge of his nose.

Wait... he? This dragon was a male? Tozi blinked in surprise, but Dingo didn't comment at all. She felt a little amusement through the bond through. Jerk. Before she could make a snide comment though, Dingo translated a thought over to her. 'We could use them. If he needs to be sick, we can make him sick. Accommodate and release. The plan'.

Tozi sighed. The plan...

"Go back and warn the others. If Anzu can't shift, tell him to hide for now. I'll be back soon.

"But-" Dingo went to argue, but Tozi smacked her wing against his muzzle and set him with a hard glare. He huffed, antennae twitching with irritation, but... he obeyed. Turning, he slinked silently back off towards camp, while Tozi steeled her irritation with having to interact with beings she found lower then herself - this was all part of the plan... remember the plan...

She stepped out of the foliage, revealing herself. At almost seven foot tall with a parrot-coloured wingspan to rival a small light aircraft, she wasn't exactly missable in the first place, but her tendency to adorn her in the plundered good she'd found in the temple made it virtually impossible. All three turned to stare in mild horror, mild curiosity, at the new figure walking towards them.


Tozi's attempt to put them at ease had been something akin to a bear trying to cover himself in sequins to not scare the salmon. She spoke in ways people of this day in age never did, her accent was strong, her eyes were a little too draconic, and her mannerisms were... off. But despite all of that, this time, it seemed to work for some reason. Her offer to help the white dragon 'give up' their spoils seemed to do a lot of heavy lifting however. She turned, her long feathered tail swishing behind her as she beckoned them to follow.

Dingo had returned by the time they were half way back, and Tozi introduced him - the other dragon was named Kitten, apparently. She passed that knowledge on to their companions once Dingo had told her, and asked them how they got tied up with Kitten while Dingo lingered behind to try and comfort their gastrointestinally compromised friend.

It turns out that Kitten had been trailing them through their whole adventure. They had made the mistake offering them food near the beginning of their trails, and as a result, they'd never left. There was another dragon, the bear man noted, but they didn't know where they might be. Dingo informed her a moment later that it was his pair bonded mate. Ah. That may be an issue later, she thought. No matter. They were almost there.

"What is this treasure he ate?" she asked, noting absently as she glanced between the jungle's rocky ruins and realized it was starting to get darker, the canopy above them starving the ground of the dimmer sunlight. She could still see perfectly well though, and considering the animal make up of her companions, she theorized they probably could as well. So she didn't slow or stop.

"Its this special bejewelled plant this crafter put out a bounty for," he cat explained, "Its really not meant to be eaten. It was for research. It could even be poisonous for all we know"

Tozi hummed.

"Well then. Its a good thing I'm a healer, isn't it?" she lied. Her jungle dragons should help. She prayed it would, because otherwise, this was all pointless and she'd of wasted an entire day for no reason.  The three of them seemed to instantly perk up, even Kitten, who was looking greener by the minute.

"Do you happen to have anymore of that plant, by the way? I'll need it to heal him. Just a small piece, not the whole thing."

The men exchanged looks. Not looking especially happy. But the cat reached into the bag, and offered her a root. "This broke off from the stem when that dragon snapped it out our hands..." he explained.

"More then enough" Tozi hummed, tucking it into her clothes


By the time they made it back to the encampment at the foot of temple, Tozi was exhausted. She wasn't used to walking around on two legs, and she was getting sick of it already, especially by how much these idiots behind her kept almost treading on her tail. With a sigh, she handed them over to Anzu and Sihue, much to her partner in crime's annoyance at having to host these people with only maybe twenty minutes warning to make this presentable.

He pulled her aside by the arm as Dingo, still helping support Kitten, lead her towards the temple away from the adventurers. His semi-human form was similar to hers in skintone and general racial traits, but, that was where it stopped. He was shorter then her by half a foot, and his feathers were downy browns and whites compared to the rainbow of her own - and much to her irritation, his wings looked much bigger then hers like this as well. Despite all that, he still towered over these bestia at a respectable 6.9. Her half a foot on him is something she was smug about though, and glad it had carried over. His bright orange eyes locked with her own violet ones, the green speckles almost making her feel a little dizzy. She almost didn't catch what he whisper-hissed to her.

"What is this about?"

Right. She'd not told him the change to the plans.

"Anzu," she started, holding up her hands slightly, "Dingo and had a brilliant idea... just listen. What if we impress them, and then... let them go" she offered. It sounded ridiculous, she knew that. But Anzu surprised her with a furrowed brow as he actually considered it.

"How exactly are we going to do that?" he asked finally, letting go of her upper arms with a jangle of his gold bangles at the movement. Then it sunk in too. "Jungle..."

"... Magic" Tozi finished, a wide, wicked grin spreading on her face. Hinting at their more monsterous true forms.

"I see..." Anzu  hummed, folding his arms and tilting his head from one side to the other. "Then let them go and tell others... is your idea to come off as some pair of healers?"

"Well, why not?" she shrugged. "Being 'hospitable' hasn't worked"

"They would bring their own things I suppose as well, if they make pilgrimages..." Anzu agreed. Neither of them especially sure even still what these other creatures actually required to 'thrive'. Or what their places would actually be within that plan. It was as good as anything, he supposed.

Ultimately. He shrugged. "Worth a shot" he grumbled. "I'll play it up to these two while you're off 'healing'. Dingo gave me your satchel, so, I can offer them food I suppose... don't take all day"

"I wont" she winked, playfully slapping her tail into his legs as she turned to leave. Anzu rolled his eyes, resisting the urge to nip at her in response. "Oh - and before I go, they mentioned a second dragon was with this white one. Keep an eye out. Think its his mate"

"Great..." he mumbled. Then, with one gathered breat, he turned to the Bestia. Studying them briefly before clapping his hands together.

"Welcome, my children" he started, playing up the persona that they were some weird mountain healers flawlessly. He was a good grifter, after all. "Come sit by the fire. You must be very tired..."



Tozi flew up to join the struggling dragons - the two had made it about halfway up the first long set of steps before the white dragon had been sick. She passed the plan along to Dingo and Amoxtli, who was going to be the star of the show right now. Dingo pulled a face, but... whatever worked.

As she sailed up towards the main palace to feed the root to the larger dragon, Dingo looked towards Kitten.

"This is going to sound strange..." he murmured. "But you need to lick this other dragon behind us."

Kitten chirped queasily. Confused, he looked behind them back down the steps where the bestia were watching them. Dingo shook his head, and moved to land ontop of Amox's back. The fish that swam inside her torrent were gathering around Kitten like he was a new specimen to oggle at. He didn't seem frightened though. Dingo had to give him credit for that. "This is Amoxtli. She's going to use Jungle magic to get rid of the poison"

Kitten looked so relieved, he nearly fainted on the spot, the strong winds this far up the temple steps not helping, even if they'd usually be releaving outside of the strong heat of the day

Amox was, as she always was these days, napping peacefully in the last rays of sunlight before twilight fully set in. The moon and stars were already in the sky, fighting for space with the dying sun the filtering clouds in the sky. Dark shadows creeping over stone and vines, and highlighting the shinier pieces of treasures and amethyst and ruby geodes they'd collected earlier that week themselves,  sculptures in the horde around her head. Tozi landed and headed over to join her large companion.

Amox lifted her head, cracking  her jaw in a wide, wide yawn that almost literally shook the walls. Looking to her rider with sleepy amphibian eyes as her spined crest flexed. Silently, she poked out her wide, smooth tongue for the offered root. Tozi beamed. "You were listening, sweet girl" she purred.

Getting the root from her clothes, she tossed it onto her tongue, and the dragon slowly ate it. She considered it carefully. The texture, the chemicals, the magic. The poison. Ah, yes. She knew what this flower was.

With a soft groan of approval that reverberated all the way down to where Dingo was perched, she began to produce an antidote, having luckily eaten the herbs needed earlier in the day for lunch. Tozi flew back down to where they were sitting, only to find another dragon had beat her to it. A black, skeletal figure was currently yelling at Dingo, who was carefully flying out of its range. looking ruffled and startled himself. The black bird like dragon was circling Kitten in a protective, aggressive panic. Kitten couldn't get close to Amox, and... that was a problem.

Tozi winced. Great. She'd had a feeling this might happen.

She flew down, landing carefully and shifting into her true form to appear less threatening. It seemed to somewhat work. It calmed down the new dragon enough to allow Kitten to take the antidote at least, licking some of the ooze produced by Amox's torrent. He immediately vomited, but... that was the point.

Feeling better, both dragons left. Dingo looking a little worse for ware by helping them, but, relaxed. Amox seemed to be pretty happy that she'd been able to help too, her nose poking from the entrance of the temple as usual, peering down into the clearing. She lifted her tail, just enough. Just enough to make the bestia look up and spot Tozi.

They screamed, and Tozi winced. But... they weren't running. Not even when Anzu decided fuck it, and turned himself. Not much liking his entirely human form either.

She landed by the group once more. "We have healed those dragons, but we could not retrieve your plant. It had already been mostly digested, and, that is my apologies. However..."

She produced a few vials of the antidote ooze from her talons. A childs magic trick, but still. It made the bestia flinch, awed as Anzu came to stand beside her.

"I think your research bounty might prefer this instead. I can only imagine they were looking for a way to battle its effects, yes?" she hummed.

The bear man shakily took the vials, his eyes never leaving their great forms. "T-Thank you" he breathed. Then, they scampered. Scampered as fast as they could.

"I have a good feeling about these two" Tozi hummed. Attempting to think somewhat positively. It had all been a mess near the end.

"Hopefully. Or we just missed too very easy, very irritating meals" Anzu sighed.