Dread opened his mouth to retort, to protest that of course only dragons could breathe fire--but then he remembered that this wasn't true. And there were other sorts of magic, weren't there? With a huff he considered, before trying his best to explain. Truth be told, he was quite ignorant of magic as a whole; still, he tried.

"No! The eagle Glory can create fire. I have seen one who can make things glow with light and those who can make others sick--or heal them. I have been sick," he informed Brontide again, a mournful lament to his bass voice.

He considered, for a moment, and then abruptly declared--"I will return!"

The dragon turned, shuffling, then leaping up into the air, powerful wingbeats aiding him to launch heavily skyward. For a few moments he flew to and fro--he swept up to his ledge, then dove down to where Brontide had been hatched. There he gathered further bits of shining stone, which he again flew up and deposited in his den. They were darker than much of his rock--but they were shinies, and that's all he cared about.

At length he landed with a thump and a puff of dust back beside the bear cub. There, he asked a question that he had found, in his brief journey elsewhere, to be rather distracting.

"What does Brontide mean?"

He liked the name--he couldn't say why, but he liked it. But did it hold meaning? He wasn't sure.

@Brontide

So more could make fire. They could do a lot of things! Maybe she could make fire?

As Dread flew up again, Brontide walked in circles again to entertain herself. It was easy to get bored with just nothing to do but feel the wind and dust. She quickly broke into a run. Why did it feel so good to run, to watch the ground disappear behind you and the wall in front come rapidly closer? Well, it wasn’t like she was complaining.

An her third lap she noticed something on the ground give off light. Brontide tried to stop in time, but miscalculated the distance and only resulted in tripping over herself. She tumbled headfirst and cried out in surprise. Looking up, she could still see the object and walked carefully towards it now, feet wide apart.

It was one of her stones. A small piece, but definitely from that stick she threw. Happy to have found something all by herself, she picked up the black gem and cradled it in her paw just like Dread did.

“Umm, I don’t know what it means. I didn’t know names meant things.” she replied idly, lost in the reflected light of the gem. If she tilted it a certain way speckled if green shone. “It probably means..” she stuck out her tongue and made a face. Then the cub laughed at her own joke.

@Dread

The dragon peered, watching the little cub run to and fro. He was more than bemused by it. What was it doing? With a huff, he pushed up, rocking back so most of his weight was on his hind legs, and his towering height was drawn quite up. His neck craned down to peer.

"What are you doing?" he questioned. "And I do not think your name means-..." He did his best to imitate the face, but could not. His scaly hide simply wasn't flexible, the way a bear's softer, furred skin was. With an irritated, brief, quiet roar he tilted his head back.

For a moment he was about to breathe fire--to prove just how impressive fire could be, and in particular his fire, of course. But then he remembered something else he had learned. Perhaps the cub was hungry? It had given him shinies. He would grant one in return! ...An EDIBLE one!

When the dragon lurched forward, jaws springing open, what poured forth was not fire--but a small bunch of sparkling, beautifully ripe, golden bananas. They tumbled over the floor, and he eyed them proudly, the spines along the arched crest of his neck raising up. "EAT!" he bellowed. He was proud enough of himself that he forgot to be at all polite; and anyway, the "please" lesson had never caught on very well.

@Brontide

Brontide huffed. He didn’t get the joke. Dread always asked what she was doing, but she didn’t always understand his behavior either. He stood up on two legs just like she could do, then bowed downwards. She cocked her head in confusion.

A small yellow bundle fell out of his mouth. Brontide has no clue what it was and shuffled nearer. It smelled sweet. She started drooling. “EAT!” Dread told her. Brontide didn’t need to be told. She eagerly bit down on one of the fruits.

Immediately the rubbery sour outside disappointed her. But her teeth pierced through to a starchy sweet inside. The cub sat down and drew the stringy skin off with her claws as she held it in her mouth. Then she mushed the fruit in and began eating. She wanted all of them! Before she finished the first she started working on another, picking it off and tearing at the tough yellow peels. She wasn’t a graceful eater; she didn’t quite get yet that she couldn’t eat and breathe at the same time, so her breath was in gasps. Sometimes food fell out if she opened her mouth too wide, and the stringy outside was quite hard to fully get off and got stuck in her teeth. Nonetheless, she seemed completely enamored by the gift.

So absorbed in her meal was Brontide, she was completely oblivious to the soft glittery glow shifting up her skin until she stopped to clean her paws. She shook one in surprise, then looked down at her belly to see more shine. At a loss for words, she turned her gaze up to Dread.

“Do they always do that?” She asked wide-eyed. A ‘thank you’ had slipped her mind.

@Dread

Dread peered down, eyes narrowing--then swept his head lower to more closely inspect the sparkles.

He'd forgotten that the bananas did that. Surprising, perhaps, considering his utter obsession with shiny objects.

"Yes!" he decided loudly, before adding--"I think so."

Unlike Brontide, he did not forget politeness--or at least the version of it he understood. His spines raised in indignation as he peered at the cub--and then loudly reminded her: "You must say thank you for gifts!" He was, himself, barely beyond adolescence mentally, and emotionally. His interactions with others had been few, so his understanding of most things--including the limitations of hatchlings--was limited.

He did not realize that a young one probably had already forgotten what he'd mentioned--had he even mentioned it? He now couldn't remember, himself. And he had no idea that they should be forgiven, really, for forgetting so soon after birth. There was so much to learn, after all!

But the bear seemed rather preoccupied. With a huff the dragon turned; she was safe, at least, and would hopefully be able to find her own way from here. Though his concern rapidly trickled away as he promptly forgot about Brontide's existence, the moment his back was turned.

With a few powerful movements he had taken wing, his flight carrying him rapidly away, and his mind was soon on soaring winds and the hot light warming him from above.

- exit Dread

@Brontide

edited into an exit due to inactivity--if you return and want to pick back up in a new thread, let me know!