ORIGIN - Dragon and the Dragon

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The draconian huffed out more droplets of goop, and dipped her head in a nod- she understood. One couldn't learn secrets if they were dead, and perhaps those secrets could help them to survive longer and thus discover more secrets. A moment later, she nodded again, opening her jaws to peer at Dragon. She had never had a 'father', but the title was taken for granted, its meaning long lost to her.

"Yesss," Nox hissed softly, at length. She had never had any enemies before, but she liked dragon, and she would have liked to protect him. She was glad that Dragon did not find her unpleasant at least, the words sending a warm ripple throughout her skin. Dragon then asked what was her favourite food. Nox did not have one, really; she was not fussy. she'd never really considered the question before. "Meat fillssss me sooner. I must eat lessss of it. But meat causssesss problemsss." The dragon was silent for a moment- the texture of her skin changing slowly. She was thinking back to Hikari, how consuming the bird had so frightened him- the bird's gem now lying heavy in her gizzard. It had started to itch recently, and she knew that she ought to get rid of it- regurgitate it, along with the softly tinkling labradorite, into the swamp where Hikari would never find it.

"Plantssss feel no pain. But they leave me very hungry."

"Speech"

@Dragon

"Then we are allies!" he agreed.

As for the food situation, Dragon considered. He had never concerned himself with the lessers he ate, with their feeling pain; he acted on instinct, hunting fish and anything that lowered a neck to drink at the water's edge. He had snagged many a cave deer this way, and even lain in ambush beside Aquarian's offering pile to snap up (or blow flame at) the cave rats that were invariably drawn to the scent of rotting flesh.

He hadn't ever deliberately tormented them, either; that would have been... undignified.  He wouldn't have lowered himself to such a thing, nor did he have a desire to. But he also never considered their fear, their well-being--well, and why should he? He had to eat, either way. He certainly wouldn't starve simply because his fish had a moment of panic.

That said, he had had one--unpleasant incident.

"I do not normally think of such things!" he began. (Loudly.) "I do not eat plants, only fish, only flesh! But I do not eat those that speak," he continued firmly. "Yet one time, there was one who did not speak until it was too late." Now his voice held something rare--regret, albeit faint. He hadn't felt a great deal for the dingo, but it had certainly been a mistake on his part.

"It was an orange dog, or wolf perhaps. It came to drink by the water's edge and I grabbed it, as I do. If it were able to speak, it should have spoken! But it did not, it only fought me. It spoke only as it died, and that was far too late! I took its stone, though, and brought it to life. The child left, but it looked like me, and like it!"

Content, Dragon rumbled a little, ridged tail slowly moving to and fro in the muck as he remembered the situation. It had been accidental, but still a shame.

@Nox

"If I find dead thingssss, I will eat thosssse, too."

Nox was comforted by the loud sureness of Dragon's words, and she rumbled softly as she listened. "I have not thought of it for a long time," she agreed, voice a low throb. "But I brought a child here. To watch over him. We were attacked by a bird. Ssssssmall to me, but awfully big next to him. It attacked. Got too closssse. I sssswallowed it, and he felt it dying to its very last thrash insssside of me."

Guilt- it was there, and it was raw. She was still uncertain of how it had happened, but fearful, and repulsed by the magic that could cause her to feel in such a way.

Nox listened, skin moving in slow curiosity as Dragon described the struggle with the orange dog. She felt sadness at its loss, but also confusion. Dragon had brought it back to life, and it was reborn? "How isssss that posssssible?"she rumbled quietly, her tone laced with wonder. She had thought what was dead, was dead. Hybrids were a concept foreign to her, and almost frightening. But she also felt respect for the dragon, too; how he showed remorse, and yet did not allow it to weigh him down as she would have. If she had been the one to destroy the dog, she would have surely retreated back into the swamp and never again emerged.

"Speech"

@Dragon

Dragon listened, his boat-like head tilting just a little at the mention of one bird 'feeling' another dying. "How did it feel it? Do birds feel one anothers' feelings?" Eve had never mentioned this, nor Willow! ...Had they kept this from him?!

As he pondered this deeply unsettling concept, the black mud-dragon spoke again. Dragon glanced to her. "How is what possible? Reviving a stone? It happens!" He settled down further against the swamp's grass and mud, content to just sink a little like a fat frog. Dragon prepared himself to explain, thinking.

"Our stones are, I think, our life and our magic! If we are badly hurt it comes out to close us in again until we heal. I have seen this! And we can break small pieces off, and another can put life into it, and it closes up and then a young one comes out. ...Not immediately," he added, narrowing his eyes as he tried to imagine a baby immediately popping out of one. "But I have done this twice! With the orange dog, and with a bat, of the Children. The bat is gone, but the child is still somewhere. He is as me, but can fly, and I believe he is investigating the caves!"

Dragon had no idea that his wayward son was a lazy, mischievous layabout.

He eyed Nox, curiously.

"Your stone is the red bit?" he asked. He was uncertain, and had caught only glimpses. "Have you never tried? Had you a piece, I could show you how to bring it to life! --But that would make a child," he added. Maybe a bit too much responsibility just for a demonstration.

"Although! A thing half mud-dragon and half Dragon-dragon could be powerful!" Dragon considered.

In his mind, he did not see a black-dripping alligator crouched in the swamp; he saw a tall, proud, Raheerah-like beast, with flashing orange eyes and a pitch-black hide.

@Nox

Nox was just as mystified as Dragon. "It issss beyond me," she rumbled. "Magic, perhapsss? But he issss young."

She felt her skin ripple with curiosity. Although Dragon said that revivals happened- Nox had never seen it. Almost didn't believe it. But she nodded as Dark talked about their stones coming out to enclose them. She had broke out herself, more than once- somewhere in Eridanus, the 12-foot ruins of her last chrysalis lay like a shattered egg.

Nox had seen young ones emerge. She had tried to help them on their way. But never had she ever thought about where they had come from. Curiosity was audible, a low throbbing sound deep in her chest. She was uncertain of the answer to Dragon's question, though. All she ever saw was red! "Red isss all I sssee," she answered slowly. "But perhapssss." Then she shook her head. No, she had never tried.

The dragon's musings brought another soft rumbling sound. "Could you?" And then... Dragon spoke of a dragon-dragon hybrid being powerful, a creature to be reckoned with. Nox's skin rippled in a small flinch. Was that a good thing? or a bad thing?

"Speech"

@Dragon

The alligator lashed his ridged tail through the swamp, slowly trailing it back and forth through the muck.

"Well, that is sad, but if he is young, and strong, he will only learn from it. He will know in time that you saved him!" His tail fell still, and he lay silent for a moment, thinking.

"Yes! --At least, I think so. There is magic you can use to cut a little of your stone away, without it causing harm. And then the other puts life into it, with more magic! It becomes alive, and grows, and then it breaks, and a child falls out. And then it must be cared for, and taught." Dragon sounded very sure of himself, at this part at least. He had carried many children through the swamp, perched atop his head. He had taught them to hunt, how to avoid the cave spiders and rats, how to use their magic--and, of course, never to trust the Elders.

He was, he reflected, a very good father.

It was then that he remembered the great boar Czernobog, as he had been as a piglet--riding Dragon's head and happily squealing "Boat!" Where was Czernobog now..? An unexpected melancholy descended on the alligator, and he rumbled a little sadly.

"I miss the ones I have known, that have moved on."

@Nox

Nox's skin shuddered. Dragon's words were a comfort. A small comfort, but one that saw the guilt gradually trickling back into the recesses of her mind, leaving her, once again, warm at the thought of the little peachick. "I hope ssso," she murmured, voice low.

She listened, and fell into wondering, the dragon's skin moving slowly in thought. She considered how it would be to take care of a child- not one that she had just found, but one that she had made... perhaps one with the same slime. Suddenly, she was afraid. Her skin writhed. No, the caves would be a worse place with more of her. She was frightened. But what if, as Dragon said, they were cared for and taught? What if they became defenders of the swamp, protecting Dragon and the Children of Rot. What if they could be better? And... what if they were born without slime...?

"I have met few. I fear getting too clossssse. But I help when I can."

She thought back. She remembered, vaguely, the shape of a small dog, and a young kitten. A tiny, tiny bat atop a leaf. More little birds. Names were long forgotten, but their faces remained. And she was certain that there were others long lost to the cycles of hibernation. Dragon's moment of melancholy seeped into her, too, and for a moment the dragon's skin was smooth; for a single moment, she felt like she understood, and was understood. "I misssss them too. I do not remember their names. But I remember their company."

She paused. How many times had it been that she'd had to spray down an unfortunate youngster who'd tried to give her a hug, or played in her slime? It was a strange, thought, useless. It came unbidden. A ripple passed over her that might have been some sort of smile.

"I hope to stay closssse for the tiny bird." She had never asked his name. It didn't matter to her, much; so long as the feeling was strong.

"Speech"

@Dragon

Dragon listened.

Had he known Nox's inner thoughts, he'd have simply recommended that she make some babies so that she could hug them, oil and all.

But he didn't, and so all he did was stare at Nox as his melancholy receded. He liked her; what more could he offer her? ...Being the glutton that he was, a single-minded ever-hungry predator, he immediately thought of food.

"Have you seen the pile?" he asked cheerfully. "The offering pile I add to for Aquarian? It is very impressive! It is by the water's edge. We can go to see it, if you wish. Then you would know where to find me, should you need me." He wasn't quite sure if he should offer her a meal--he stole bits now and again, of course, but he saw it as necessary sustenance, his own share of adding to his grand Father's food.

He wasn't sure if Nox--even an ally of the Children--should be allowed to nibble off it, or not. Not unless she really needed to. Otherwise the Children would do so, and there'd never be any left! It'd get whittled away, bit by bit, until it was empty.

But she could look at it. That would be okay.

@Nox

Nox shook her head. No, she hadn't seen the offering pile. At least, not recently; although she could have sworn she'd stumbled on it before and... maybe secretly snaffled a cave deer or something here and there. Her skin trembled. To her, it was only food. And when it had started to rot, it became certain to her that nothing else would have eaten it.

She kept her beak shut, though- if he was offering now, she didn't think Dragon would be best pleased if he knew she'd already eaten there- but then again, if she had, he might have already seen the slime trails. Perhaps it was well hidden, or in an area of the marsh that Nox liked to avoid. Still, the thought of food brought forth an appreciative rumble, and turned the draconian's attention back onto her stomach from a momentary distraction. But, oh- was he offering, or was he simply thinking of it as a meeting place? Nox's skin shivered with nerves. She dipped her head; she supposed that she would like to see it. She would like to see dragon again, after all.

Still, there was an unmistakable air of melancholy hanging over her- skin moving slowly in deep thoughts. Although she had been distracted by food, part of her still lingered in the past- and on the faces whose names had been long lost. Or, perhaps, she'd never known.

"Speech"

@dragon

There were two defining points about Dragon.

The first was his confidence: he was a realist, even a cynic, perhaps--but always optimistic on top of that. Though it may have seemed contradictory to some, there was a certain truth in his humorous stubbornness as he tackled the hostile world around him. The second, was his immeasurable obliviousness. He took others at their word, and unless closely inspecting them for signs of falsehood, or if they showed some sign, he would simply never notice. This was not because he was unintelligent--for he was not, by any means--but because he was not a particularly emotional creature. He had the flat cold logic of an alligator, much of the time--the patience of an ambush predator--and the rest of the time, the warmth of a father beast.

Right now, he had no idea what the hell Nox was thinking.

This was, of course, not helped by the fact that Nox was in fact a towering mass of dripping black oil.

So Dragon turned, slogging onward until he came to a water channel. He plopped in with a splash, and began to make his way off--back toward the Heart of Cetus, his ridged tail swaying as he thrust his way along the waterway. "It is this way," he explained, unnecessarily.

To his credit, he did wonder if the various ripples and movements of Nox's skin meant anything--but being a blunt creature, and a non-emotional one, he was also completely tactless at times. Thus, he spoke--loudly--as he moved along. 

"I have seen your skin moving, in different ways! The mud on you. What does it mean?"

Plain honesty, from a plain creature. Or, just a painfully oblivious one.

@Nox

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