ORIGIN - Payback

a BIT of a finagle to get someone a hybrid-

Dread could not know how terrible his timing was.

He'd decided he wanted a new child. He'd done Pride the favor of giving life to a stone for the stag to raise; so now, with no real other options, he'd decided to wing his way to the stag for payback. It seemed only fair that Pride would give one back--right?

It didn't occur to him in the slightest that the stag might not immediately jump at the opportunity and acquiesce. His mind had skated over that possibility entirely. So when he thudded down, bellowing--"PRIDE?!"--he was somewhat taken aback to find that Pride was blinking up at him, lying beside another chrysalis... miserable.

Even to Dread, he was clearly miserable.

The dragon blinked.

"-ARE YOU DYING?" he demanded, a little bit concerned.

Well, that was remarkably... perceptive of the dragon. I dare not think 'empathetic,' he thought, wryly. Dread was a brute at the best of times, though hardly a villain.

Pride pulled himself upright, and tried to pull himself together, too. "I'm all right," he assured the dragon. "I certainly hope I'm not dying."

He glanced down at the brown gemstone growing on the rock. He'd... had a long day, and not enough rest; he'd not been sure if he could revive the stone of the previous owner (a dog who had died in Hydra) and so he'd spent time delving into glimpses of its past with magic. Though he'd gained memories of the life of the previous owner--the better to remember and honor him with--he'd also accidentally stumbled upon scenes of the deaths of some of his own friends and acquaintances there, as well.

It had been neither pleasant nor pretty, and he still felt rather drained.

But Pride was the polite sort, and so he nodded up to the black dragon (he was so weary that he'd hardly startled at his arrival) and spoke as welcomingly as he could. "What can I do for you, Dread? It is good to see you," he added, and somehow, it was true. Somehow, the company--after that deep loneliness (even his familiar was avoiding his misery)--was pleasant.

He didn't bother with small talk. He looked Pride over, nostrils flaring, and then turned to regard his own tail.

The long blade beneath had a few chips in it by now, and he was about to add another, but he didn't mind that. "I GAVE YOU A STONE FOR A CHILD," he explained. "I WANT ONE TOO. I WANT ONE BACK," came the clarification. And then, in what might've been a second rather surprising display of empathy, he glanced back toward Pride and added, "MY CHILDREN ARE FAMILY! I WILL TAKE GOOD CARE OF THEM."

He thwapped his tail down as his magic struggled to impart a piece, and the chip fell away; Dread lifted it carefully in his jaws and deposited it at Pride's feet (well, hooves) before staring at him expectantly.

"No, don't-" he tried to warn Dread, but it was too late. Pride winced. "It isn't that I mind," he hastened to assure the dragon, and nodded back at the stone. "It's just that I have just given life to another one, and I do not know if I am able to do it for a second." Often, after he created a new child, it was many cycles before he felt capable of trying it again.

He took a breath, and winced--Dread had given up a piece of stone already. The least he could do was try. "I know you do," he added, a little quieter--he'd met a couple of the dragon's kids, and they all seemed surprisingly well-adapted, confident and friendly. Somehow, they'd all turned out better than their father--though Pride would hardly say that aloud.

"I will try."

He stepped forward, hesitating, and pressed his nose to the stone. "Be ready to take it back quickly, if this works, or else it will grow here," he warned. And a moment later his magic was flaring out--easily enough, he thought--granting his element and his life to the stone.

Quickly, he stepped back again, hastily wishing the child well in his mind. "Let me know when they hatch," he pleaded at once, looking up at Dread. Does he understand-? Understand that this will be my child, too? Probably, actually--he, in turn, had been similarly concerned about Ember. "I would like to meet them. Good luck," he added, exhaling heavily.

Dread hastened to pluck the stone up in his talons; he could already feel it searching for the ground, trying to take root. "I WILL NEED TO FLY FAST. I WOULD STAY," he added, hesitating, looking at Pride.

The deer looked very... alone, out here.

"YOU CAN COME WITH ME-?" He started to offer to carry him, but Pride was already shaking his head--with another nod at the growing chrysalis. Before the stag could speak, Dread had blurted an interruption. "YOU HAVE YOUR OWN!" Of course! "ALL RIGHT. I WILL COME BACK IN A COUPLE DAYS."

For a visit, at the very least. Pride seemed to be an okay sort.

For now, Dread's mind was already, quickly, turning toward the new child that he'd hatch. (He had, in his mind, the very wrong idea that he had to sit on a chrysalis to keep ti warm--and nobody's ever told him otherwise.) Excitement already thrummed in him, and hope, and pride; he'd have another to add to his family!

A moment later he'd taken wing, flapping swiftly back the way he'd come.

exit both