the sound of humming emanated out of a bright green Lizard folk 2 feet in height as he immersed himself in his work. A piece of grass connected to a larger pile to his right sat on one of his hands and on the other, he held a bone knife with serrated teeth. Using the tool, he stripped the long piece of grass held into small pieces, turning it into a group of fibrous threads that was millimeters in size. He continued to strip until he had a small ball of green yarn and when he does, he quickly throws it to his left, adding the small ball of fibre to a pile of the same kind, one that almost reached the lower half of his seated height.

"that should be enough, Adexios." an Elder, the same one who has been teaching Adexios this past month told him as she grabbed the pile fibre that could barely fit on her large, wrinkly palm.

Adexios' movement stopped entirely as he turned to face the Elder, "but-" she hushed him, giving him a smile as she sat crossed leg before patting the ground right next to her, "this should be enough for you to learn how to tie them together to make a rope," she calmly says as the bright green Adexios stood up and moved to the spot she tapped, "then after this, your gonna learn how to make tar,"

that got the hatchling's, - now at two months old, - attention as he eagerly nodded and watched as the hands of the elder moved to weave the thin lines of fiber together. As she worked, her fingers started dancing and as he watched, Adexios got mesmerized.

almost as if he was under some sort of influence, the young reptilian focused in on the elder's weaving as he tried to understand how the old Lizard woman did it. His mind went on fire as his eyes burned themselves unto her actions, his gaze never left her hands and his focus only wavered once he saw that the elder stopped moving, a long rope that was smaller than he expected on her hands.

"did you get it?" she asked, expecting the hatchling to give her the usual positive answer that he learned after just a single glance, something that she had grown accustomed to in her long streak of teaching the young reptilian how to craft these past two months. Contrary to her expectations though, he shook his head and she returned the Adexios' negative gesture by giving out a positive smile. "it's okay," she replied as she grabbed another thread from the pile of fibres, "watch, I'll show you how to do it."

...

Adexios sighed as he watched the blood from the open wound on his palm drop into the bowl of transparent, viscous liquid. Once the bowl started to turn reddish, the reptile grabbed the twig sitting right beside his thigh before mixing it around. Once he considered the mixture to be good enough, Adexios stopped and opened his mouth; thin, viscous fluid started flowing down his fangs and out his jaws, it dropped into the mixture, slowly filling it up and when the hatchling felt his throat dry up, he closed his mouth before gulping down the built up saliva.

He gave the mixture bit of a stir, swirling it until it was soft and once it was, he dropped the stick he was holding and grabbed an clay jar from his right side, smooth, green liquid was poured down the mixture, and it hissed, releasing a tangy smell that made the hatchling's nosetrils shrink. Once again, Adexios grabbed the stick he dropped and after tapping it a few times to remove the accumulated dirt, he once again stirred his mixture.

he smiled once he felt the liquid on the bowl go soft, it easily made way for the stick as it pushed against the liquid and he continued to stir, his hands moved over and over again until the mixture started to relent against the stick's push. His mixture was slowly starting to become viscous, and with time, it will blacken and create the Tar-like substance that his fellow Lizard men, - according to what the elders told him, - use as a multi purpose adhesive.

a few more stirs later and he stopped, waited for the mixture to settle, and smiled as he put down the stick he was holding. He then grabbed a pair of ropes he placed on the center area right between his crossed thighs, these two were recently made and he was planning on tying it together to make a stronger nylon whilst he waited for the mixture to settle. He gave said mixture one last glance before he placed the two pieces of rope right next to each other before coiling them against one another, wrapping the two pieces up.

As he grabbed the edge of the now coiled pair to tie them together, he felt a sharp tap on his back and he turned around to face a broodmate with dark-blue hide glaring at him.

"why... do you bother?" the reptile asks as Adexios titled his head in question. He didn't answer his fellow's question and watched as he frowned before moving around him to look at his latest work, "see this?" he says, pointing at the bowl of mixture before moving his claw to directly face the nylon on his hands, "and this?" he adds, "it's all pointless!"

his broodmate stomped his food, nearly breaking the bowl which made Adexios flinch. He quickly recovered and dragged the bowl closer to him, "you're a male!" he says, "the elders say all we need to do is hunt!" he opened his hands to reveal five sets of claws, brandished and ready to scratch, "all we need are these!"

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Adexios tilted his head, "what do you mean?" he inquired, "I do this because it's fun," he lifted the nylon he was coiling and let his broodmate see it, "I can make traps and weapons with this," he says, "or atleast, that's what the elders told me."

"like I said! all you need are your claws and you're good!" his broodmate once again brandished his claws, he added a gesture of snapping his mouth along with it. "you don't need tools!"

"I... guess your right?" he replied, backing down from the argument as his eyes moved down to continue with his rope-work. "but I want to do this,"

he heard a humf as his broodmate and he felt his broodmate leave, his footsteps causing a bunch of small shushing sounds as his feet grazed against the scales of the carpeted floor. The sounds slowly died down as his broodmate, with it completely dissapearing as an indication that the reptile has long since dissapeared from his general vicinity.

Adexios put the encounter at the back of his mind and continued with his work as he tied the end of the nylon together, after a while, he managed to tie the two pairs together, creating a piece of rope that was stronger than the last.

...

"can you tell me why this was necessary?" Adexios asked as he looked around, the male with the dark-blue hide from a few hours ago had come back and he pointed at the broken bowl of tar as he glared at his broodmate.

his question went unanswered as someone from the crowd that surrounded him shouted for the male to charge at him and Adexios turned to the source of the sound, he was unable to find just who said those words but judging from the expressions, he was able to pinpoint to a broodmate whom, just like him, had light green hide guiltily shutting up his mouth with an expression that he didn't want to get caught and a glare that gave someone the impression that's a contrast to the former argument.

he turned back and locked eyes with the male who broke his latest work, one, that he was supposed to use once he was done carving the piece of bone that was handed to him by the elders. "I was supposed to create a knife." he explained to the idiotic broodmate as he bent down and grabbed the bone he was carving. The edge of the sides he had initially broken off to create a stabbing point had already been sharpened.

he waved the sharpened bone around, "see this?" Adexios placed the bone right between his fingers, "I have been told that if you don't have a handle, you can always do this right as long as the end that's facing your hand is blunt." the fingers of his free hand started to fix the position of the sharpened bone that's right in between his fingers, wedging it just enough that should he attempt to stab, his new weapon wouldn't just slide off nor would it push against his palm.

his broodmate narrowed his eyes as the crowd around him cheered, "beat him!" they said, repeatedly. Adexios meanwhile, looked at the guy that he was facing, the fact that everyone is cheering for him meant that he wouldn't just back down and if this continues, it would escalate even further but if he were to just let this guy go and back down, he would probably come back just to prove a point and make himself feel good.

enough of it would mean that this thing would become dependent on him should he get beaten, and that means, he's gonna come for obvious abuse should it actually happen and enough of that would result in him being reliant to the point that if anyone were to ask him, he would go to Adexios and through that, the numbers would increase.

of course, a part of Adexios actually argued that he may be thinking too far ahead but-

he charged and stabbed his broodmate in the hand that he quickly raised to block Adexios' stab. Bleeding, his broodmate glared at him as he took his arm back, pushed it to the back of his head, and sent it forward as a punch,

halfway through his broodmate's actions, Adexios has already moved back and he prepared to grab the hand once it reached its limited with his free hand,

the punched stop a few inches away from his face and Adexios took the oppurtunity to move his feet forward before grabbing the elbow of his assailant, twisting it before moving downard and sending another stab at his broodmate's gut. Blood flowed and dripped down the floor.

Adexios pulled back his knife and blood gushed out. All the while the arm that he was twisting tried to struggle free and not wanting to waste time, he sent in another stab,

then another,

and another, up until he felt someone grab his armpits before lifting him up. He didn't struggle as his vision went higher and higher but instead, he watched as his broodmate dropped to the floor, blood on his mouth as another elder took him up before dragging him away to administer first aid.

Adexios soon left the crowd and he felt himself get put down and a hand soon reached to grab the knife he wedged in between his fingers. He let go of his weapon and he heard a sigh,

he didn't want to look at the elder that had just brought him away and instead, he looked down. "look," he heard a feminine voice, "I know you have a good reason for doing what you did but-" he felt a hand smack his head, "why the hell did you stab him repeatedly?"

he looked up to see the elder gazing at the direction where he had fought and following her gaze, he saw a wounded broodmate sitting on top of an elder's thigh amidst a group that was mostly glaring at him. The elder poured a water-like transparent liquid down the wounds of his broodmate and foam started to form on top of the wounds as the bleeding stopped.

Adexios sighed but didn't speak. "next time, just say it to us and we'll tell them to stop okay?" he nodded subconciously as he locked eyes with his now fearful broodmate.