ORIGIN

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The tunnel had been icy cold and he hated that, but now he was home, and he crawled faster and faster toward the Heart of Cetus. His bright, excited eyes were now locked on the path ahead, or rather the black channel of marsh water, alligator smile even broader than usual. He dropped into the swamp, pushing forward with feet and lashing thick tail.

Never mind that he was carrying a bundled red cape, or that on his back sat a fluffy black crow chick holding a glowing rock.

They were an odd sight, to be sure, and as they approached the half-hidden pile of rotting flesh ahead, the rock lit it up with a sickly and lurid yellow glare.

Dragon hauled himself out of the water, here, looking over his pile with pride. The long, gangly legs of a Gembound deer--dismembered and thrust onto the offering pile--stuck out hooves-first; dozens of fish, rats, cave rats, mice and so on were stacked onto it, in various states of rancid decomposition. Some places had clearly been gnawed away in his absence--indeed, as he stopped, the sound of a small retreating rat could be heard splashing away.

Dragon very delicately reached his large head forward, climbing up and placing the golden collar with its tattered crimson cloak at the top, so that the cloak draped over the pyre of death. He then looked back to Eve, joy and triumph lighting his eyes.

"This will all be for him. You can put that on, and you can eat something, too, if you want," he explained. He was letting her eat rather begrudgingly, but it was good food (so thought the alligator), and little birds needed to eat. Probably.

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Eve had come to realise she despised travelling with others. Although this trip hadn't been as bad as the flight to Canis, the cold was practically unbareable, especially when the thing you're riding is a rough, scaley thing that holds no warmth. She'd noticed upon exiting that wretched ice-tunnel, Dragon began to speed up.

The land the alligator was romping through was covered in fog. The glowing magic-rock in her beak lit the way, somewhat, but she felt that the light was perhaps unneeded. The 'gator seemed to know where he was going.

And where he was going was directly into the filthy swamp-water.

This was no water Eve would even drink, nevermind bathe in. She croaked and scuttled around Dragon's back, trying not to get her feet wet - though to much failure. The water was different to the clearer water in Eridanus - this water felt riddled with mud. Gross, slimy. She didn't appreciate it getting the white-blue stone on her talons dirty.

She lifted her head as Dragon spoke, to his much-loved pile. Some parts of it looked broken, chewed at. Nothing she'd expect a giant lizard-thing to do. She climbed off the alligator and neatly placed the glowing rock on the rotting pile.

Not hungry. Aquarian eats?

Eve still didn't seem too enthusiastic to chomp into the dragon-pile. She fluffed herself up and peered at the treasure and the rock on the pile, quiet.


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The alligator scrambled fully to the top of the pile and turned to face the little bird as she dismounted.

"He will," Dragon explained excitedly. "He said he wanted food, and this is all food! Do you see the swamp?"

Dragon turned fully, eyeing Eve slyly. He looked out toward the vast, black swamp, its distant reaches barely touched by the shimmering glow of the light-orbs high above. "See the swamp? See how big it is? Aquarian's bigger. So big he has to lay part on land when he comes out. He lives allll the way down below. Very deep. Cold. Black water." Dragon was babbling excitedly, now, dragging himself to the edge of the pile, disturbing little corpses with pops and hisses of escaping gas.

"Hardly a mouthful for him. Need more." Then he turned, eyeing Eve again. "Need to rest. Then I can take you back, if you want. Dangerous, here. Lots of things to eat you, without Dragon to protect." He puffed himself up proudly, smiling from atop his pile of death.

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Aquarian can't be bigger than swamp, or he not fit.

But the tiny fuzzball wasn't done speaking. She watched Dragon closely as she let her beak run with questions. Occasionally, she'd peer at the pile of corpses.

Aquarian magic? Food magic? What if Aquarian eat treasure? What else Aquarian-sized things he eat? He eat treasure before? What if Aquarian not like food?

After what would seem like an eternity and managing to ask several dozen questions, she stopped and tilted her head. Apparently, she was waiting patiently for Dragon to answer them. All of them. She briefly glanced around, maybe for swamp-monsters or giant dragons.


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Dragon had utterly frozen, staring at Eve with horrified realization. Her questions had battered him like hail in a storm, but one of them stuck with him.

What if he DOES eat the treasure? ...What if he lunges out like he did at that kicking deer, and just swallows it all whole? Without looking?!

Suddenly frantic, Dragon began to grab the pieces of "treasure" and haul them away from the pile entirely. The glowing rock, the piece of armor with cape, a few small stones and gems, and a dead light orb he'd tugged down from a tunnel wall. This took him a few moments of frenzied movement, and in between, he answered what questions he remembered, panting as he did so.

"He's magic. I think. Of course he's magic. ...The food isn't magic. I think?" Dragon paused in his scurrying, glancing up at Eve. "I don't know how to turn things on. You check? You know how," he added, a bit reluctantly. The bird could do a magic that he could not, and he had to admit it--but for finding out if any of the food was magic, for Aquarian, it'd be worth it.

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The crow peered cautiously at the food pile.

What if it only worked for rocks? What if the magic had rotted away?

She croaked quietly to herself and moves to scramble up onto a rotting, gnarled deer. She padded around it's belly for a while, uncertainly, before she stopped and concentrated, focusing on the rotting pelt and her dirty feet as she grinded her beak a little.

She gave out a startled squawk as the body began faintly shimmering under her. Her gaze darted between the deer and Dragon rapidly as she quickly scrambled off the corpse, squawking.

The bodies are maybe magic. Aquarian eat magic?

She sounded anxious, unsure (to say the keast), hopping around Dragon with wide eyes. She was unsure if she wanted to check any other bodies.


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Dragon widened his eyes at the sight of a faintly-glowing carcass on the pile--a large one, too. Ooh, what would Aquarian make of this?! Not only food, but magic food!

"It's MAGIC?!" he squeaked, excitedly. "Magic food?! Ooh! Aquarian will love that! It's good! A good offering! ..." Suddenly he paused, deep in thought. An instant later, his status as "still a child" was made clear again. "...Do you think if you eat magic glowy food, your poop glows too?"

These were important questions, and they needed answering. Could poop become magic...? Dragon stared at the little fluffball of a black crow, clearly expecting her to know the answers. All the answers.

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... I dunnno. Dragon try it.

The crow sulked a little behind the alligator, peering at the glowing corpse. It didn't look particularly appetizing to her, even if it were magic. There was something weird about it too. A magic dead thing. This would be a weird story to tell whenever she got back to Canis.

Eve croaked and glanced at Dragon, before she lifted a talon to lightly pat the side of his face, urging him on to eat a piece of the carcass, accompanied by soft chirping.

Do it. Dooo iiiit. I don't wanna watch Dragon poop, though. But do it.


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Dragon blinked, staring at the bird. He looked at her, then looked reluctantly at the glowing carcass.

"But... this is for Aquarian," he answered. He didn't really want to damage the offering... But then again...

The alligator debated, glancing at the crow chick that was staring at him. He wasn't a coward! Was she thinking he was a coward?! ...Damn it.

Dragon sighed inwardly, then leaned forward and took one shredding bite from the underside of the body, twisting free and gulping down the glowing flesh. For a moment his face and maw were illuminated, eyes glinting brightly--and then down it went, vanishing into his gut.

He stared at Eve.

"What now? You want to stay here? Eat some glowmeat? Turn on more bodies, make them glow? Go back home? What?" The little alligator seemed energetic again already, staring sharply at Eve.

He hiccuped, briefly--and a bubble of glowing liquid popped from his mouth and burst, vanishing. Dragon stared blankly.

"...Huh."

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"Eve think that was magic leaving Dragon's body," croaked the crow, guesturing at the glowbubble before it popped. She then concluded; "Dragon not have magic poop."

Eve looked around Cetus, briefly. "What dragon do for fun?"

This was a question Eve almost immediately regretted, because she probably already knew the answer. Hunt. Gather treasure. Though, now that she thought about it, what did she do for fun? Hunt and stare at shiny things? Maybe their pastimes were just as pathetic as the other.

That said, Dragon wasn't the gembound that just made a corpse become magic. But she wasn't the one that ate it. She didn't really want to eat it at all, actually.

Still, the crow fluffed herself up with a sigh and waited for Dragon's answer.

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