Kaylum honestly had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. Getting right into it, aren’t we? Not even attempting to hide the potential motives behind such a question.
“It’s not like Kevra’s, that’s for sure,” he said, almost automatically.
Seren let out a disappointed sigh, shaking his head a little bit. "Wrong answer." he pulled back, and snapped forward with the whip.
He might have made a noise, he wasn’t sure, but all his mind could focus on was the line of fire that alighted on his skin. Tongues of pain licked at him, digging deep, scorching him. Instinct screamed at him, contracted his muscles, begging him to shift into the form that would protect him from this pain. But he gritted his teeth and steeled himself. His breath came out in soft gasps.
Seren pulled back again, looking at Kaylum with a frown on his face. "Ready to answer now?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
Kaylum was silent at first, still gasping with pain. His eyes were fixed on the floor. C’mon brain. Think of something. Anything.
“Look,” he said, his breath rattled. “I don’t really know. Shifters live a long time, and I haven’t— haven’t lived that long. My parents still saw me as a child, s— so they didn’t… really think I needed to know until— until later.”
Seren let out a sharp, disappointed breath. "So you claim to know nothing about it?" he demanded, shifting the whip in his hands and shaking his head a little bit.
The pain was slow to fade. Kaylum did not answer, taking time to refocus his mind away from the pain and onto survival. In Tesh, your mind was your most valued asset, so it was of great importance to control it. Although Kaylum wasn’t the best at it, he knew the tricks many used to keep their wits about themselves, and now was the time to use them.
Seren waited silently for a response from the dragon shifter, shaking his head again. This endeavour could prove fruitless if Kaylum would not answer.
Though he could still feel the pain, of course, he was able to get his mind out of panic mode. After another moment, he said, with a hint of teasing in his voice, “Not nothing, of course.”
Seren exhaled very slowly. "You are not nearly as funny as you believe yourself to be."
Despite everything, Kaylum somehow smiled. “Really? How tragic. And I had thought this whole time…” he trailed off, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Seren sighed loudly. "Answer the questions, Kaylum, or I will bring Nikolas in here."
(Seren is so done dijdijdjid)
(yeah lol jgbdfh)
He was tempted to say that he had technically already answered the question, but that was probably the wrong thing to say. Faintly, Kaylum winced with pain before immediately taking control of his mind again. “Yeah, yeah, I’m answering them. What was the question again?”
"That you claim to know nothing. Is this true?" he demanded, frowning as he stared down at the dragon shifter.
Kaylum frowned back at him. He answered the question, he was being serious. Well, mostly. It was lie, but a serious one.
“I told you. Not nothing, but certainly not enough that would be useful to you.”
"Entertain me." he said, voice dry as a stone. "Tell me what you do know."
Kaylum rolled his eyes. “Oh, great ancestors up above…” he murmured to himself. The pain came back again, but it seemed to be fading too. He took deep breaths and tried to focus on what Seren said. “Um… I know that the Oré family has been ruling for some 1,200 years up until this point. They overthrew the Sundam line in the some kind of battle… the Battle of Ashep. It was some territory dispute I guess, the Oré family had accumulated enough power to complete with the Sundam, and both wanted Anthemian’s Tooth.”
"And what is Anthemian's Tooth?" Seren asked, cocking his head faintly as Kaylum spoke. He was not sure if he had heard of this tooth before, and if it was important, then he needed to know more about it.
He sighed. There was some risk in telling Seren anything about Tesh in general, but this seemed so small a detail. He had already given a grossly simplified portion of its history.
“It’s the tallest mountain in Tesh,” he replied, a tone that suggested it should be obvious.
"And why did that matter so much?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. He had thought maybe the tooth would be some sort of sumbolic relic, but if it was a mountain…why had it mattered? Why was it important.
Kaylum frowned. “I told you. It was a territorial dispute,” he said, and all he felt like saying.
"Over a mountain?" Seren replied, sounding rather disappointed by this news.
(Seren, whimpering: over a— a m— mountain?)
“Over a mountain,” Kaylum affirmed. “Don’t humans have that stereotype… that dragons like to hoard things?” He shrugged.