Chapter Text
Terror.
That’s all he has known for as far back as he could remember.
Terror as flames surrounded him and debris fell. Fear even as he was scooped up into the safe arms of a being he can’t remember. Horror as the being tripped and he fell from those arms even as something tried to hold onto him. Panic as they never came back for him.
The world doesn’t stop just because you’re scared though. He’s learned that lesson well.
He learned it as the tall creatures that seemed to run this world would chase him away with brooms or stomp at him just to see him skitter away in fear.
He learned it as he had to fight the other, smaller creatures for anything to sustain him in the dirty alleys of the city.
He learned it as many such fights lead to him getting injured and scarred. (He still can’t put his full weight on his right leg since that feline got ahold of it and thrashed him around like a ragdoll.)
The world is cruel.
Perhaps some would say he learned that too young, but he’d be dead if he hadn’t.
Terror keeps you alive. It keeps you prepared. If having a pool of dread and anxiety in your stomach is what it takes to stay alive then he will take it.
It’s not his time after all. Not even close.
He still has things he wants to do. Things he might be able to do once he’s bigger.
He wants to learn.
Nothing gives him more satisfaction than learning something new, no matter how trivial it may seem.
One day he will learn to read those strange patterns on signs and the litter left on the ground. One day he will learn to understand the tall creatures as well as he does the small ones like him. One day he will learn everything.
So he must fight. He must make it to the day he does learn. What meaning would his life have if he doesn’t?
He’s meant to do something- be something great. He’s meant to leave a mark on this planet.
But for now, he will merely survive.
For now, he will be afraid.
Stupid teacher!
Stupid school!
Stupid April!
She is a genius! Baba says so! She’s a genius and she knows more than her dum dum classmate!
April was wrong and she needed to be told so. Who cares how she says it?
Everyone, apparently.
And now she has this stupid red slip to give to her parents to sign which means a boring lecture on how she’s supposed to be better than this and that it’s not right.
She is better! Better than all of them but that’s what got her in trouble.
It doesn’t make any sense!
“Ugh!!” She shouts as she kicks a can into the alley she’s in front of.
She listens to it bang against one of the trash cans before huffing and stomping off.
Or she would have if the can was the only sound she heard.
She hears the sound of skittering. It’s definitely an animal but she can’t put her finger on what kind.
It sounds too large to be a rat or even a cat. It could be a dog but for some reason she doubts it.
Crouching by the wall at the mouth of the alley she’s made up her mind. She needs to investigate this. As a scientist it’s her job to explore every curiosity, and this is certainly piquing hers.
Shifting her backpack off she rifles through her lunch pack to find the cheese she took off her sandwich. (It’s Swiss, she hates Swiss. For some reason she can never get that through her mom’s skull.)
It’s always good to have a treat to offer an animal. She’d prefer not to make an enemy today.
She clicks her tongue several times in the way her father does to get her attention as she makes her way into the alley still bent low.
This is probably really stupid. It might be a trap for all she knows. New York might be an awesome city but it’s a dangerous one too and she knows it. Her parents ingrained “stranger danger” in the creases of her brain.
However she’s already come this far and nothing is really rattling her alarm bells, so onward she presses.
Clicking her tongue again she holds out the cheese as she strains her eyes to look for anything in the shadows.
A gasp leaves her suddenly as a pair of mismatched eyes are suddenly staring back at her in the dark.
Neither of them move.
She’s not sure whether to be scared or intrigued.
This definitely isn’t a dog. Dogs can’t have eyes in those colors or have that much of the sclera showing.
Dog eyes don’t look so… human.
“Hi.” She says to it after a moment of staring at each other.
The creature responds with only a hiss and a growl.
“Don’t growl at me!”
Here she is just trying to find out what it is for science and give it a little treat and it treats her like a hostile!
This is why she doesn’t do anything nice.
“Here.” She says, holding out the slice of cheese.
The creature glares at her in a studying manner. It’s assessing her.
So it seems somewhat intelligent then. She’ll have to write that down somewhere. She probably has an extra notebook at home.
She continues to hold it out, wiggling it a couple times, as she waits for it to come to a decision.
She appreciates the caution but come on! She’s getting impatient.
“Fine! If you don’t want it-” She says, pulling her hand back before she’s cut off by the creature (she really needs to find a better name for it) as its face suddenly lunges at her and snaps the slice out of her hand.
It pulls back fast but she got a glimpse. It seems to be reptilian, but unlike any she’s ever seen. It’s too big to be any native species and, if she had to hypothesize, its anatomy is likely very different as well. A face isn’t a lot to go off of but it’s enough to pique her curiosity further.
Before she can do anything, however, the creature begins to back away slowly before skittering out of sight.
Well it’s getting late anyway, and she really needs to get home before her baba worries she died or something equally as overdramatic.
“I’ll be back tomorrow. You better still be here.” She tells it.
Whether or not it heard or even understood she doesn’t know. She’s just going to have to hope.
Readjusting her backpack she makes her way out of the alley, glancing at the street sign a few yards away to make sure she remembers the location.
In her room after dinner and presenting her parents with her latest red slip, she opens an empty notebook.
“The Dragon” she entitles it.
She knows that the creature probably isn’t a dragon since the likelihood of them existing is extremely low but that didn’t stop her from making them her favorite animal too. It’s just a title anyway and if this is a new species she can name it whatever she wants.
She writes down the date and all the notes she compiled in her brain about it as well as a list of all the things she needs to study and find out.
“Kendra! Lights out!” She hears her mother say as she passes her room.
“Ok ok!”
Putting the notebook into a pocket in her backpack she climbs into bed.
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow she’ll return to that alley, and tomorrow she will be a step closer to finding out exactly what she’s discovered.