ORIGIN

The very young dragon had picked his way through the ice tunnel, and a water-place past that, and now stared a bit bewilderedly at the display going on some distance away. His shimmering coal-black scales glinted in the strange light of the crystals; his black spines raised along his back in wariness, the webbed red-brown skin between them lifting like a long line of fabric.

He wasn't sure what was happening, but he could see two things: first, that there were many creatures taking shiny things from a pile, and second, that the shiny things were very pretty.

Dread hesitated. He wanted one. He wanted the best one. Some instinct drove him to grab a shiny and haul it back to a hoard he didn't have--or well, he did, but for the moment it consisted entirely of pebbles.

That, and it was very far away.

With a huff he gathered himself, warily watching for an opening--and then scampered forward, spreading wings to leap into the air. He beat his wings and rose higher, tail lashing behind him for balance, then swept forward and down, snagging a rather ornate egg between his hind talons.

He realized immediately that it was very, very heavy. Stone?! With a defiant shriek he lifted off, wings laboring under the weight, hissing and squeaking as he made his way out of Polaris with his new prize clutched precariously in his feet.

Mine!

The black dog watched the others before him take their eggs, and he himself paced quietly over, snuffling at them.

"What are these?" he barked to those around him. "Are they children? Perhaps they are dangerous. Perhaps not children at all," he said, brow furrowed. Polaris was not known for being a kind and friendly place. The frequent appearance of golems--some more hostile than others--and of huge, angry dragons, and fisher-electrocuting Spire crystals--and Betrayers... It wasn't a safe place.

Brow furrowed in concern, Black eyed the eggs.

I will take one. Either it is a child, and will need protection; or it is not, and should be removed for the protection of others.

The dog opened his jaws, picking up a fairly plain one that he could actually fit into his mouth, and turned, moving quickly off. By the looks of things, soon there'd be none left--and given Polaris's history, that was, he thought, for the best.

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Giggle hadn't ever really travelled the cave. Even now she was only here on rumors of Senka's origins--and Vahi's. But before she had a chance to really look at Polaris, the hubbub ahead caught her eye. There were Gembound practically diving into a pile of--well, of gems.

Her hallowed caller swept overhead, a haunting cry echoing forth, and Giggle broke into a trot.

She would take one. She wasn't sure why, or what was being done, but if everyone else was taking them, she would take one too, and investigate it. Take it back to the bones, perhaps, and see what they had to say on the subject.

The others seemed to be taking the prettiest, shiniest eggs, so Giggle quickly picked a fairly plain, mostly dull brown thing. Like her: simple, plain, mildly off-putting. She lifted the thing in her jaws, flashing a baleful glance toward the other Gembound present before hurrying off like a scavenger with a leg of stolen meat.

I wonder what this is? And what the bones will make of it...

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ROLL THE BONES

Imp was perched on a dull crystal outcropping, watching the hilarity unfold. They were all stealing rocks. Stupid, stupid rocks. He didn't want one of those; he did kind of want to steal one from someone else. He--HEY. Hey, was that an ACTUAL DRAGON? He stared.

He'd seen his own father take one, but an actual, real dragon?!

Immediately jealous, he spread his forelimbs and glided down, himself, trying to imitate the dragon's grace in movement--if not its rather clumsy takeoff with its egg. But Imp was grotesque, misformed, and his flight thick and strong rather than gracile and agile. He thumped down amongst the eggs, scattering a few, hissing like his alligator parent before snatching one egg up in his jaws. He flicked a baleful glare after Dread, irritated that the other hadn't even stayed around long enough to notice him.

After flying off, however, and setting his new prize down to inspect it (with much less trouble than Dread had shown, at least), he was far more content. His egg was the best. It was pretty, and shiny, and glittering and all sorts of colors.

Yessss. It's mine. I've no idea what it is, but it's mine!

The young dragon had returned.

He had gone to sleep in a nice, hidden niche within one of the tunnels, tucking his egg beside him. He'd awoken to the sound of it cracking--and after scrambling backward, alarmed, found that it was hatchling in a glorious display of lights. For a moment he'd been transfixed, both fascinated and afraid, but then it had turned into something sweet.

He'd eaten it.

Now he was back to look for more shiny stones, but there seemed to be none left! The little dragon squeaked, upset by this new development, and circled overhead. Batlike wings fluttered as he banked to loop around the Spire, ember eyes searching for any shiny objects he could find.

At length he landed among the crystals, and huffed, focusing his magic. His intent was to blast flame into the air, but his mind was on other things.

There was another sparkle of light, and--suddenly a banana.

He stared. He wasn't sure what to DO about it, but hell, the first one had tasted all right, so he ate this one, too--clawing at it and sloppily consuming its flesh until only half-shredded peel remained.

He abandoned this and (now faintly sparkling) began to crawl about on the stone, looking for any sign of the shiny eggs, until he found himself sniffing over a huge, clawed footprint. This-... This looked familiar, somehow. He plonked his own hind foot into it, comparing--then backed up, looking from his tiny foot, to the HUGE clawmarks that surrounded his entire body.

He slowly looked around.

...Big me? he thought, both worried and curious.