Where The Canals Lead

[Lief]

Somewhere along the Canal Banks​

Abregado​

​

Ripples formed against the surface of the water as mighty talons reached out and trailed through its motionless surf. On the bank of the canal, a girl and her hound lay lazily - basking in the heat of a sun they had sorely taken for granted before their time on the icy world which had housed them for countless years. Decades, perhaps. A squawk half-roused her from her sleepy state, and with eyelids barely open she looked toward the sky as small droplets fell from Ariel's scaly toes.

The hound lifted his great maw just enough to exert a slack-jawed yawn, before resting his chin back over his paw, nuzzling against the side of the child. She stroked the short, almost skin-like fur of his neck, and let out the smallest of sighs, free hand lifting to toy with a strand of her own, somewhat matted hair. It was impossible to make her look cared for, at least to keep her that way. Two minutes after she had been bathed, and the tangles removed from her hair, and she found a way back out into the muddy landscape, running through underbrush and catching her hair on low hanging branches.

Today was no different, of course. Still, the sun had reached its peak in the sky and that always meant one thing... It was time to rest. She turned over, nestling her face against the tuk'ata though the day was more than warm enough that such was not warranted, and murmured. It was rare that a noise which escaped her was not animalistic in nature, that she sounded as she looked, and more often that not it wasn't until she let her guard down, or drifted into a sleepy state, that such would arise.

A sound in the distance, however, drew more than just her avian companion's attention. With a huff of frustration, she forced herself to sit upright, as the distinct sound of her funny silver friend made itself known. Even in grass, he seemed to clank... Even if it wasn't inherently obvious to your every day upright, she could hear the subtleties with her overly delicate ears. It seemed as though her day of jovial shenanigans was swiftly coming to a close...

 

[HK-36]

[member="Kida"],

Yes all shenanigans had to cease whenever HK was around, although the droid did not mind letting the child spend her days in peace and happiness, frolicking around or doing whatever she pleased on the relatively peaceful nature-oriented planet he called his home for so long, taking advantage of his position there and the resources available to him. However this position would not last forever as the droid was planning on surrendering his titles soon and switching his focus to another project, leading the Metal Lords in their project towards expanding and supporting droid civil liberties.

For that purpose they had to relocate to Denon and lay claim on their own territory, the machine knew however that becoming even more public and changing his locations to somewhat unknown to him political environment would put not only himself but Kida on risk as well, for she would either have to follow him into the lion's den, or stay on Abregado where he could not watch over her so closely with his attention divided. The machine knew what he had to do then to maximize her chances of survival outside of his help,

It was time for her training to begin.


So moving as lightly as he could through the grass, outside of the noise of his black cloak being dragged on the ground behind him, HK would move towards the trio, leaning down towards Kida as he would close in,

"Hello Kida."

He would begin by greeting her before raising up his hand in front of her, with his palm open and his six fingers splayed out a bit,

"Tell me, little one, do you know how to fight?"

HK would ask before repeating,

"Fight? Do you know that word?"

Kida probably had more practice with common since when the droid found her once more on Midvinter, since outside of HK there would also be various other droids, servants, politicians, and just general common folk from Abregado that she might have interacted with. Still, the droid was not sure on how much of what was said to her Kida would understand.

 

[Lief]

All of that frustration faded in a heartbeat when her gaze actually fell upon her funny silver friend. How could she remain that way in his presence? His was one of the earliest faces she remembered, he had gifted her food, and created floral crowns, he always knew the best spots to scratch her, and booped her on the nose. Nevermind the fact that his chirpy voice was far more kind to her ears than many uprights.

So, with all the control of a puppy, she rushed from the side of her companions and all but pounced at him. Which hurt, as might be expected when flesh meets with metal. That did not seem to bother her though, as she dropped into the grass and stared up at him. He spoke the funny words of the uprights; though she had been around more and more people who spoke, there remained little that she fully comprehended. Nobody had actually sat down with her to teach her how to speak, after all, and many thought it pointless to speak to her directly.

She was grateful that her funny friend at least tried.

"Eh-Lo, Drrr....!" she responded, still not having quite mastered 'droid', reaching out to touch his splayed fingers as they came up before her, resulting in a tiny giggle from the girl. What was said next had her raising a brow in curiosity, so many words to try and remember. He repeated one in particular though, and she tipped her head to one side. Fight?

A sudden flashback caught her offguard, to the Halls of Atrisia, to the man who made himself look like Groom as effortlessly as Kida looked like a Daux. Fight... Yes. She knew that word. Fighting, scrapping, hunting, those were things that she could do.

With a very slight growl, intended to make herself seem fierce yet in truth it was more like a little lion cub failing at a roar, she gave a short nod of her head. Yes... She definitely knew what fighting was.

[member="HK-36"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Kida"],

The droid petted Kida, running his hands through her hair after she sat down on the ground from pouncing on him and then growled when he asked her about fighting,

"Good, Kida. I am going to teach you how to fight."

He spoke slowly, letting her have more time to think about each word,

"Teach fight."

The droid repeated as he held up his hand again, opening his palm to splay his fingers, Phrik talons would extend out, small scalpel knives from his fingertips like claws.

"Can you do that?"

HK asked as his talons pulled in before extending out again, wanting to see if Kida could repeat the gesture using her shapeshifting skills to sharpen and strengthen her finger nails into claws.

"Claws."

He named the gesture, or rather the small knives at his fingertips.

 

[Lief]

Her Silver Friend's patience was unparalleled.

Sat there by his feet she looked up at him as he spoke, and then spelled out his intentions for her to properly understand. Her eyes shone with comprehension, learning to fight, just as the strange man who could turn into Groom had tried to teach her, this would be interesting. Neither Groom nor Ariel decided to move from their lazy spots beside the canal, which was good. Perhaps they wouldn't try to intervene. Not that they were so silly, they could tell when she was in genuine need of assistance, and when she was fine.

"Fff.... Ff...-ite!"

Her eyes lit up when the funny droid extended a hand and shot unexpected talons from his fingertips. They reminded her of Ariel's, sharp and somewhat curved, they'd tear any hunt to shreds if given a chance.

At first she did not understand what he was wanting her to do. She held up her own hand and stared at her grubby fingernails which were chipped from all her mucking around.

When he did it again, however, she realized he was trying to get her to mimic it. To form them out of nothing. How curious... Could she do that? She frowned, more of a pout than anything, and stared at her fingertips. Nothing happened, and she let out a frustrated growl. She had such things in her Daux form, but she knew that wasn't what he was getting at.

Or he'd have just told her to change entirely.

Her eyes narrowed, before ever so slightly her nails began to grow. Not talon-like, not particularly sharp, but it was a start, wasn't it? She looked up to him, eyes wide with wonder. It was clear she hadn't even thought such was possible before.

[member="HK-36"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Kida"],

"Good, just like that."

The machine commended Kida, seeing the minuscule change in her fingertips, as small as it was it was still a big step in the changeling's discovery of her abilities. To show his approval of her newfound power the droid would reach with his other hand and run the fingers through her hair, petting the young girl as a reward for her struggle in trying to mimic her,

"Now again."

He would command the child, holding his hand up in front of her, slowly moving his talons in and out of his finger tips, retracting them back just to shoot the curved little Phrik blades out.

"Fight. Claws."

He would repeat the key words to his little shapeshifting companion, hoping in the process of learning to fight she would also memorize them and the meaning behind them, expanding her vocabulary a bit as well. HK was hopeful in where they could take that, perhaps to teach her how to form whole blade-like horns out of her own bones and skin, maybe toughen her skin into armored scales as if she was clad in mechanical armor as well, maybe even change her body to appear taller. If Kida would continue to show promise he would have to find another shapeshifter to train with her, and he knew just the one that technically owed him a favor.

But before that would come to pass, she would need to learn how to grow claws first.

 

[Lief]

Her surprise did not last long.

While he was clearly pleased with her progress, evidenced by the gentle ruffle of her hair which she lived for, and leaned into with a purr, her funny silver friend was not done. He continued to push her, wanting her to do it again, or likely to make it more pronounced, and that only made her frown.

This was surprisingly tiring work.

"Fff...Ite!"

Once again she lifted up her hand, and narrowed her eyes in focus. Her tongue stuck out in the process, a surprisingly childish action that was rather out of place within her more feral state.

Again nothing happened at first, before another inch or so was added to the length of her nails, more so than she had managed last time. They seemed to be more pronounced, sharper, talon-like rather than ordinary finger nails, mimicking the shape and style of his.

"C...Caaaw" she said, waving her hand in his face with genuine amazement, a grin on her face, "looook, drrr.... Caaaw!"

[member="HK-36"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Kida"],

HK would nod once more as Kida showed him her abilities to form bigger, stronger claws,

"Very good."

He reached out, there came another tussle of the young changeling's hair to reward her for following his instructions and practicing the technique.

"Now again."

The droid said again as he repeated the gesture to her, retracting his Phrik talons in and pushing them out.

"Fight. Claws."

He repeated the words to Kida, this time adding another word afterwards.

"Focus."

And the machine would bent his fingers, presenting them angled out away from his palm as if he was about to cut someone with his claws. Showing the hand formation to Kida, making sure the young shapeshifter saw it, hoping that she would be able to replicate it as well.

While he was on it, he would sent out a transmission to one of the servant drones in the area, giving it order to prepare a training dummy and bring it to them.

 

[Lief]

Once again her solid attempts earned her a ruffle to her hair, and she affectionately nuzzled against his cold metallic hand.

It was rather soothing, despite its chill, after all the day was warm and the child was used to the fierce snows of Midvinter. She had spent a few days adjusting, by that of course she meant laying beside the canals and basking in the sun. Likely not the wisest of things to do, but at least she hadn't faced sunburn or anything similar.

Again.

Again?

How many more agains?

She pouted up at him, holding back a growl which threatened to rise within her, and simply sighed. This was tiring work, and they hadn't been at it very long. Thankfully it wasn't as painful as her full-body transformations, they left her feeling weak, particularly when she went from Daux to Child. The other way was much more forgiving.

This time she tried to mimic the way he pulled them back, retracting them back to their natural state, and looked at her hands. The talon-like fingernails began to shrink, not completely becoming as they had been, but a good effort all the same.

"No caw" she mumbled, before narrowing her eyes even more and focusing. Willing it to happen. Her usual transformations happened without much thought, so her brain was starting to hurt!

"Caw..."

Pointing her hand toward her silver friend, the same way he was presenting his to hers, she let out a teeny tiny roar and the talon-like claws protruded from her the way she had been shown.

Much easier this time.

Much stronger.

She grinned up at him, beaming a smile that spread across her face.

"Keeeda do it!"

[member="HK-36"]