Dread had spent the days, for the most part, as he normally did: drifting around on the warm wind, hunting and fishing, basking in the light or feeding scraps to his accompaniment of seabirds. From time to time he checked up faithfully on Haven's den. The rest of the time, though, he'd spent worrying over the chrysalises.
First, the raspite: the big glimmering stone that had grown from the little piece the white wolf had given him. This one had seemed to grow well enough, taking up a large portion of the top of his sea stack island--an island with a bowl-shaped top, a couple stunted trees offering a little shade, some sea grass a rough carpet. The crash of the sea far below against the sheer walls of the sea stack was a soothing sound, and he'd fallen asleep watching the raspite grow more than once.
The next two were both flints. One had grown quite large, and the other, well... the other was Kalama. Dread thought she was rather taking her time in waking back up, and was growing a little worried that maybe he'd been slightly too strong in their 'fight.' She'd said fight me; so he had. Maybe he should've held back. SHE SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME TO, THEN, he thought to himself, but a thread of guilt (an unfamiliar notion) ran through it. The other flint, though, was big, and would undoubtedly spill out a fine dragon-chicken some time soon.
In any case, he lay curled up there again now, content with the feel of heat on black scales and the scent and brush of sea winds over him. Ember eyes half-closed lazily as he watched the stones. They would be his children, yes--and Kalama could hang out here, if she wanted to, he'd decided. She'd been in his den before, albeit an older den, and only briefly. But he felt he could trust her not to steal his shit.
He eyed the helmet he'd sat beside the stone, and then looked to the chrysalises again, half-drowsing in the light.
(if you wanna join?) - chicken baby's rper is away sadly ;(
The fiery orange of the Raspite chrysalis stood out against the dull brown and green colors of the sea stack. Inside, a young gembound was waking up for the first time. Callum's eyes sprung open, and a single thought came into mind. Warm. It was warm in here. It took a few more moments, but then he decided that warm = good. Yes, it was a very comfortable feeling. Then came another thought. Although it was warm, it was also very cramped. His wings were pressed against his side, and and he couldn't move his tail. It did not matter how good it felt in here, it was tight, and he didn't like that. He needed to get out!
His paws pushed against the side of the chrysalis, but the stone was too hard to break. Stupid stone! He would teach it a lesson. Once he got out of here of course, which was the main problem he was facing at the moment.
@Dread
@Kalama
The kicking stopped for a moment as Dread's encouraging words reached his ears. Someone was out there, and they were cheering him on! At least, he thought they were. But it was nice to know that there was someone there, perhaps waiting for him. It washed away some uncertainties at least, about how safe it really was outside of the chrysalis.
He focused now, on a single point. There was a small crack there already forming. He thrust his paw forward at the middle of the crack. Callum could feel the stone move a bit, and the crack spiderwebbed out until it was as large as an entire side of the chrysalis. A small kick, and the entire side broke apart, dumping the hatchling onto the ground.
As he laid in the gooey Raspite puddle, he blinked, trying to adjust his eyes to the sudden brightness of his surroundings. He pulled himself up into a sitting position, eyes squinted as he looked around.
@Dread