"He's so pretty!" The little girl giggled, smile wide. The children squealed as they jumped around with Besu.
"Try not to get him too excited; we wouldn't want him to hurt himself." The guide said. The children acknowledged it, but kept cooing and laughing and bouncing with the dragon.
"No, no, that's good." Virdan furrowed his brow thought as he took a bite of his sandwich. "The display building closes at 10:pm, so we could go then because it'd be darker. There are only five people allowed in a tour group at a time; we'd need two in there and the rest of the rescue group waiting someplace outside the building. Someplace camouflaged, but easy to reach once the inside group comes out." He swallowed and hummed for a second. "There's also the event groups, which are bigger, and we'd be able to hide and sneak away more easily…"
Riverpaw flinched as Horace smacked the podium she was on, and she lifted her wings, which had started to fall from their place. She was still a bit tired, and the upright position she was in was not helping.
"Alright." Horace huffed, smacking his red-handled crop into his other hand to get the row of dragon's attention. "Wings up!" The five dragons lifted their wings a bit above their heads. "Down." They lowered them to their chests. "Up. Down. Up. Left wing in, right wing out. Switch. Switch." He paced in front of the podiums as he directed the same sequence he had been for the past twenty minutes, and they followed near perfectly, as they usually did. They sped up soon enough, the practiced motions syncing as they moved around their separate podiums.
Charlie nodded slowly once "Your call I guess. The others might have some input as well." He suggested.
Besu lay down and rolled onto his side, breathing sparks at the glass. He chirped happily whenever the kids squealed, recognizing it as excited sounds. His eyes glimmered with excitement and he stuck out his tongue, still pulsating brightly with light.
"Mhm. Come on." Virdan nodded at the kitchen doorway, then took his plate and cup of tea and headed out. "Silas, Keira, Jamie! Meeting Room, please!" He called into the main room, making a few of the other group members jump, and he went down a hall, towards said Meeting Room.
"Mama, look, he's glowing!" The girl said, gesturing for her mother to get closer, while the boy attempted to copy Besu's chirps. The woman was already close enough, but she leaned in a bit. "Yes, he is. Um, why is he glowing?" She asked the guide, who smiled and waved her hand. "Another thing that happens when he's excited or uses his magic." She said. "Alright, just another minute and then we should head on to the rest of the section."
Besu licked the glass again and made a strange gurgling sound when they left, seeming upset. He tried to bite the glass so he could get through and see the kids closer, but he failed. He lay down sadly on the ground, his light fading slowly until the room was back to its dim state. It was hardly lit since they knew he'd light up the room just fine in excitement whenever people came along to see him.
Keira looked up as she heard her name called. She stood from the couch and followed behind their leader. She hadnt really been paying attentuon to the conversation at hand. She was lost in her own world, daydreaming one would call it.
(Idk how to put my dragon in this)
Charlie followed Virdan out of the kitchen and to the meeting room, waiting for the others to get there.
A man dressed in a soft grey shirt and pants slid the hidden door open and entered Besu's enclosure, a bucket of fruit in his hand. He locked the door behind himself and whistled at the little dragon, placing the bucket on the ground and sitting down next to it.
Virdan sat at the metal table in the center of the room, setting his stuff aside and pressing a button on the side of the table. A digital map of the Hunted Wings Facility and the area surrounding it appeared, and he looked over it as he waited for Silas and Jamie. The latter walked into the room a moment later, trying to balance a small, grey-silver dragon that wouldn't stop climbing around her shoulders and head.
(You can maybe have him chilling with some of the other dragons already in the base's holding area? Unless he doesn't do well with other dragons?)
(He doesn't do well with other dragons)
Besu noticed the man and stood up, hopping over to him. He recognized this man as being the one who usually fed him, so they were on pretty decent terms. He jumped around the man before grabbing a shiny apple from the bucket and flipping onto his back, holding the fruit close to himself.
Charlie sat down at the metal table and waited for the others. He hoped they would be able to get the dragons out of that horrible place with their new plan. He slouched back in his seat and crossed his arms in front of him.
Besu decided to hop around the man and pull down the latch that locked the door, successfully wrenching it open. Before the man could stop him, he tugged open the door and ran out into the hall.
(If someone wants to help out, one of the group members could be with him, trying to help him be more trusting of them)
"Ah- Bee, no!" The man jumped up and ran to the door checked the halls to make sure no-one was around, then chased after Besu. "Come back!" He whisper-yelled.
Besu glanced back at the man before continuing his dashing down the hallway, trilling happily. He looked around for the kids from before since he'd liked them. At the same time, he didn't want to be locked in his enclosure again. He hated being cooped up.
"Bee, come back! Please!" The man ran after the speedy dragon, thankful that there weren't too many people around that day. They turned a corner and the man grabbed at Besu's tail but missed. He dug into one of the pouches on his hip and pulled out a small biscuit - a kind of "dragon treat" the facility had developed. "Besu, look what I have!" He called.
Besu stumbled and turned around at the smell of the treat. He approached slowly, crouched down, but suddenly pounced on the man, effectively tackling him to the ground. He stole the treat and started running off again, thinking this was some sort of fun game.
(He just wants food and fun lol)
(I love him)
The man huffed and stayed on the floor for a moment. "Gosh dang- BESU." He rolled over and got to his feet, but froze when he saw someone a few feet away. "Jeremy." The other man smirked. "Having trouble with Bee?"
Jeremy sighed. "Just help me get him back, Jay."
The two of them rushed to catch up with Besu before he could leave their sight.
Besu chirped loudly, his claws skittering across the hard, slippery floor. He chased the scent of the kids from before, running quickly through the halls and avoiding the hands of the guards.
Jeremy nearly skidded into a wall when he stopped himself, and Jay questioned why they'd stopped running. The shorter man pointed down one of the halls and started to panic a bit as they watched the tour group from earlier turn the corner and head their way.
"Ooh, look! Dragon!" One of the children yelled, pointing down the hall at Besu.
Besu trilled with excitement and ran towards the kids, his tail wagging. He honestly just really wanted to play with them and not have to be behind glass.
"Whoa, whoa, hang on!" Jay stepped in front of the group as Jeremy grabbed Besu and held him back. They knew he didn't intend on hurting anyone, but he was big for a young dragon and could still cause some damage. Not to mention that the three adults in the group were probably very worried about a loose dragon now.
Jeremy slid a collar onto Besu and clipped a lead to it. "Sorry about that." He said to the group.
Besu struggled against the leash, making distressed huffing noises. He looked over at the kids and tugged harder at his leash, trying to get to them.
The little girl waved. "Hi, Bee!" She and the boy tried to get closer but were held back by the adults. The woman leaned down next to them. "No, no, little ones, that's a big dragon a-and…is he supposed to be out here?" She looked up at the two handlers.
"Ah, well, not exactly." Jeremy said, petting Besu to try and get him to calm down. "I went in to feed him and he slipped out. We'll be getting him back to his enclosure right away."
"Aw no! I wanna pet him!" The boy whined. "Please?"
"Um…I don't know about that. Jay?" Jeremy gently held Besu to the floor. Jay shrugged. "I mean, I'm his primary handler so I technically get to decide, but we really aren't supposed to let anyone who isn't staff interact with the dragons like this."
The children whined and begged, and Jeremy soon gave in to their wide eyes. "Okay, okay, look. If it's alright with your guardians, and if you promise to be gentle…" The woman allowed them to approach slowly, staying crouched and holding out their hands.
Besu stopped struggling at the sight of the children and sat down, leaning his head out towards them. He closed his eyes and made a soft trilling noise almost like a purr when he was pet, his tail thumping on the ground. The small, harmless bursts of light appeared around him again.
The little girl patted Besu's head, and the boy rubbed his back and neck. "He feels funny." The boy giggled. Jeremy waved his hand to disperse some of the light from his vision. "Yeah, he's young so his scales are thin and feel a little soft, but they are quite tough. Different dragons have different kinds of scales and aging rules, though."
"Okay, I think that's enough." One of the group men said, after he pet the dragon himself. He took the kids' hands and moved them away, much to their displeasure. "Can we take him home? He likes us!" The girl asked, and Jeremy laughed. "I don't think that'd be the greatest idea. Sorry, sweetie."
"Actually," Jay started, "the facility has been making some arrangements to possibly start a "Domestic Dragons" program, in which people can come and take one dragon home to live with them for a number of days. Like a dragon fostering kind of thing."
"That sounds dangerous." The woman said.
"Well, that's because it kind of is. Which is why we'd make sure the dragons available to take are the calmest and best-trained we have, and that whoever takes them has the proper requirements."
