Momma would have told her not to stare, but Killakee wouldn’t have listened.
It was the oddest creature, all scraggly hair and foreign humps. It was cumbersome and somewhat ungainly, like Killakee imagined a boulder would be if it were covered in hair. There were some horse-like shapes in the mass so Killakee assumed then it must be a horse, albeit the strangest one she had ever laid her young eyes on. Momma told her that their home was full of strange creatures, and she had seen her fair share. Even her own skeleton wings were an anomaly; but this was without a doubt the strangest of the bunch. Killakee wondered what momma would say about it.
“Now Killakee, you mind your manners and be nice to the hairy tusked horse!”
Momma thought Killakee needed good manners, but curiosity trumped manners any day. So instead, Killakee stared with reckless abandon, feasting her eyes on the hair and humps and wee little tusks. And then it spoke, and the voice that came from the odd mouth was feminine, so Killakee assumed it was a girl…thing. “Bones.” she muttered and it was clear she hadn’t done much in the way of speaking before. Odd for a first word, but Killakee could appreciate the oddness. She liked bones too. But when she reached forward, ivory tusks scraping skeletal wings, Killakee had to force herself not to recoil. It was one thing to meet a new beast, it was an entirely different thing to be touched by it.
But the hairy horse was the least of her worries, and even Momma would have approved of rudeness to the new arrival. She may have even encouraged it.
Before the little bone winged girl could do more than snort in disdain (Momma would not have approved), another had approached. While he was purely horse, he was much darker than the hairy horse and not just by his color. While Killakee often thought of herself as scary, this stallion outdid her. From the sneer of his lips to the leer of his voice, Killakee was spooked. Not outwardly, but inwardly. Outwardly she returned his grimace, stretching her bone wings as far as they would go. Had she been a dog her hackles would have stood straight up along the ridge of her spine. “Ain’t none of your business, I don’t reckon. But not alone.” she said, her voice defiant (Momma would be proud). “Me and…Bone, we were getting along just fine, thanks.” For lack of a proper name, she decided right there on the spot to call her new companion Bone. Killakee was nothing if not resourceful. In any case, Killakee wasn’t stupid, and she would much rather take her chances with the little hairy beast as opposed to the leering big beast.
killakee
i am a dragon, and i'll eat you whole