With the plans to create more Children, Dragon thought it best to add what he could to the potential baby-pile (somehow, his mind instinctively imagined a conical alligator's nest chock-full of eggs). He knew that once he created one, his magic would need to rest for some time--but for this brief window, he could create a couple more. It was only experience that had taught him this.

But the donor would be a question.

He would need to find stones, and give them life; it was always a treasured possibility for him, the honor of returning one of Cetus's dead for a second chance at that all-important tenet of survival. Of course, he had no idea if the stone he might stumble on might be Lesser or Greater--but it didn't matter, really. Once revived, it would be a Child of Rot, no matter what its blood had been.

It took the alligator quite some time, picking through silt and nudging his way along the bottom of the Heart (albeit closer to its edges, and not its immense, black depths) to find a stone. A flicker of magic, and a few nudges, and he felt certain that this one held enough life to return... well, life, to.

He picked it up oh-so-delicately in his jaws, and headed with a swift thrust of his tail toward the shore. There--so much slower and heavier on land--the alligator hauled himself up, dragging himself through the muck to the little "nest" he'd poorly scrounged together. He'd add to it; but for now, he simply hid the gemstone there, and then splashed back into the swamp to search for another.

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The next two hours were again spent nudging stones and sticks, flipping branches submerged in the Heart and slicked with moss and algae. When he found nothing, he ventured into the mouths of some of the water channels. A couple of what felt (to his sensitive snout) like gemstones held, after a brief check, no magic to speak of; the alligator then risked the deeper depths of the Heart.

This was where Aquarian slumbered. And while Dragon doubted that the Masters would deliberately harm him (they'd exchanged words and the like before, and Aquarian had even promised some form of protection or other to the Children of Rot), he also didn't want to provoke what was essentially a giant, extremely dramatic sea monsters who was very busy sleeping.

He ventured deeper, down where it was dark, bitterly cold, and where pressures mounted on his reptilian body. And it was there, in the soft silt of the bottom (though it still sloped even deeper beyond) that Dragon found a second gemstone.

He picked this one up in his teeth, too, and swam back for the 'nest' he'd built.

It took him time to reach it; it was undisturbed. He circled it once, double-checking that he was satisfied with its location. It was nestled half-under the arching roots of one of the mangrove-like trees at the edge of the Heart, held high enough by mud and reeds that the eggs--err, gemstones--wouldn't quite be submerged. But, if they proved to be water beasts, it'd be easy enough for him to nudge them down to the water, too.

He set the second stone delicately beside the first, and examined them.

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The first gemstone is a Pupil-level Nephrite once belonging to a hybrid of Domestic Chicken and a Elysia maoria Sea Slug. This creature was a slimy green omnivore a little over six inches long, which lived beneath the water but could also breathe air. Its single pair of limbs was a feathered set of wings that extended out from the slug-like "fins" at its sides. Though its main body colors were shades of neon and slightly darker forest greens, a streak of rooster-like brown-red striped its flanks. It mostly ate algae. The gemstone was a little ball that sat where an ear would be situated, if the creature had had one.

The second gemstone is a Pupil-level green Tsavorite once belonging to a brightly-colored Scarlet Macaw. The gemstone is a broad dot that once formed the tip of the Macaw's tongue.

GM Note: usually the stones are rolled after they're given life, but in this case, both will be (attempted) revived, so just for speed I'm doing them here!

Dragon nudged the gemstones into place, and then settled his jaw gently atop the first. He closed his eyes, focusing, and felt that faint, warm hope he often felt when considering children. He had been a father before; he was still a father now, and his paternal instinct was a strong one. Should his magic take, he'd spend much of his time between now and the hatching simply guarding this nest.

He exhaled, focusing on his magic and on the gemstone, and willed it to take his magic. Come back to life, child, he thought at it, and hoped.

He felt the life take--barely a flicker at first, and faint fear struck him. He pushed more, a little too strongly maybe; but... it took. He exhaled sharply, his hastily-drawn breath puffed out in relief. Then he tenderly nudged the stone downward, covering it in wet straw with his jaws as it began to spread and grow.

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As the first gemstone took root, Dragon turned his attention to the second. Both were greenish in color, which interested him--they were almost a matching pair, really. This one was a little larger, but not by much. The first had been difficult to even shift into his jaws--the second only barely less so.

He settled his chin on this one next, offering it the same gentle hopefulness he had the first. With luck, you will both be Children of Rot, and join us here in Cetus, he thought. Even if your past lives have seen it before. He felt a little silly, after thinking it. It was a little... ritualistic, maybe. But still--this was some sort of almost-sacred moment, right?

By now, I ought to have some better tradition around it. Maybe these ones can help me with that. It was a warm thought.

This time, his magic took more strongly. Dragon exhaled again, and tilted his head almost horizontally to offer this stone a warm glance. Then he nudged mud and reeds over this one, too--and crawled atop the nest, defending it as befit an alligator dad.

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exit Dragon