Thump.

Thump.

...Thump.

The sound, for a moment, was distant--bass, the thundrous but muffled displacement of air by massive wings. When the black dragon shot around the rock formation near the Twister, it was in pursuit--his ember eyes fixed intently--of a cave deer. Its eyes were wild and its tongue lolling, its hooves scurrying over the rock.

The dragon's neck reared back very slightly, jaws parting. A brief gout of flame guttered forth, catching the deer and sending it bleating and tumbling over the rock.

Dread swept over, thudding to the ground just beyond it, turning and snapping at the scrabbling prey. A moment later he had it in his jaws, shaking it, and it was dead.

He pinned it with one foot, and began to eat, tearing it apart and swallowing it piece by piece--the smoke still rising from its fur.

It smelled pretty awful, all things considered.

@Siren

It wasn't the noises that alerted Serendipity to the fact that something might not be right, but the smell. A smelly smell that she hadn't ever quite smelled before, except for the times when she'd use magic.

She was padding into Monoceros with her Latest Findings when a deep-bass thumping came over the room-- not the most unusual thing, of course, Monoceros was always a little strange with the noises she heard in there. It must have been the wind, or the giant wind-monsters that would spawn.

What drove her to seek it out was, of course, the smell of burning. She turned tail immediately, pacing away from the makeshift den she'd made near her chrysalis to pursue it, her New Things still in arm. These New Things were fairly light, after all-- and considerably shinier to the dull, dusted and rusty things she'd taken out of the tunnel already.

She turned past a rock formation when she saw it-- a massive black shape with smouldering patterns up either side of it, crunching into what likely used to be a deer, now just a vague mass of red and smoke.

Serendipity noted she was hungry, in this moment.

Food could come later, though! She had a New Friend to investigate. A very big new friend, who could have made use out of that big hilt she'd found some time prior.

Cheerfully, without a concern in the world that perhaps Dread might just turn around and eat her, too, the child went wandering up to the hulking dragon, eyeing up the magma-like patterns up his neck before focusing on his face.

His deer-gore-soaked face.

"Hello!" Siren called up, unhooking an arm from her treasures to wave. "You're real big! Do you do fire? 'Cause it sorta smells like fire."

It, being the deer, of course.

@Dread

Dread started at the sound of a voice beside him, and turned, nostrils flaring and eyes narrowing. He lowered his head and shifted, shuffling, to face it--bringing himself down to her level. Two golden rings were settled on his largest, right-side horn--the one that curved back from his skull. One was a plain, shining band. The other was marked with elegant etchings similar to his flaming "tattoos."

He blinked, considering the little one's words, and then seemed to come to a decision.

"YES, I LIKE FIRE," he answered, and thrust his head forward to sniff.

...She was tiny.

His gaze caught the glint of the metal she was carrying--or were they gemstones? They were shinies, he could see that, and he twisted his head this way and that to try and see what it was that she held.

"WHAT ARE THOSE?" he demanded, after a moment.

@Siren

Most might have turned and ran, if a dragon some seven feet taller than you turned to stare.

Siren, however, was fascinated with the way he decorated his horns. She had horns, too-- she could make them look pretty like that, surely? The child touched one growing stump coming out of her forehead with a thoughtful blink.

She wasn't able to think of much, however, before he was yelling. Maybe he couldn't hear her if she wasn't yelling? "COOL," she bellowed shrilly in return, her voice almost immediately going hoarse. "I LIKE FIRE TOO BUT IT HURTS MY HANDS SOMETIMES. IT'S BURNY."

When Dread came even closer, the child lifted one little hand to pat his nose a few times. She could hear him sniffing; feel the air around her shifting briefly. It wasn't entirely unpleasant, but it sure was a difference to Laurel's little puppy nose.

"Oh!" she blinked, and settled her things on the ground in front of Dread. There were five items in total; two of them just plain sheets of thin, shiny metal. There was a single gauntlet far too big for Serendipity and likely far too small for Dread's use, padded with leather and plated with shiny bits of metal. The dulled-down head of a spear, and an oddly-shaped helmet with matted tufts of fur coming out of the head. "I found these!" Siren said.

A pause.

"I FOUND THESE," she called up, much louder. "I LIKE LOOKING FOR THEM 'CAUSE IT'S FUN. THERE'S ALL KINDA COOL STUFF IN THE TUNNEL OUTSIDE OF HERE, Y'KNOW?"

She wondered how he was able to shout so much. She needed some water and she needed it now. The little humanoid cleared her throat, ears flicking briefly, before she continued. "I FOUND THIS KINDA WOODEN THING THAT I THINK USED TO HAVE METAL IN IT SO I'M TRYING TO FIND WHERE THE METAL BIT WENT," she pointed between the sheets of metal and the spearhead. "I DUNNO IF THESE'LL FIT THOUGH? I WANNA SEE IF I CAN FIX IT OR SOMETHING."

Her plans to fix it, as it should be noted, were to just stuff bits of metal onto the hilt until something looked coherent. It wasn't, by any means, elaborate.

@Dread

Dread ignored the patting hand upon his nose; it seemed he didn't mind. He did however shake himself, a little, at the stranger's shrill and tiny voice. It irritated his hearing.

"WHY ARE YOU YELLING?!" he demanded, voice booming.

Dread did not see the irony.

For a moment, he leaned down to closely inspect the treasure. None of it much interested him, bar--for whatever reason--the glove, which he nudged and sniffed at for a time.

Dread then pushed back, eyeing the tiny creature over and thinking. He still hadn't introduced himself, and seemed to decide that now--before offering further information with another name--was the time to do so. "I AM DREAD! I know of another in this cave who works armor, and repairs it. I have seen a spear, and a shield, that he has made. He is an eagle, and his name is Glory. He made these," the dragon added, tilting his head down so that Siren could see the rings.

"I can show you where he is! He might help you. I can show you but--..." and here Dread's ember eyes rapidly searched the little trasure pile--"IT WILL COST ONE SHINY!"

@Siren

"'CAUSE YOU'RE YELLING," she yelled back-- though it seemed as though he could hear her just fine, at least. Maybe he didn't realise he was doing it, or maybe big people just had big voices and he always sounded like that. Serendipity shrugged it off.

She sat back and watched Dread lean in to sniff the treasure pile, her tail curling over into her lap absent-mindedly. He seemed to either appreciate them, or very much just liked how the glove smelled. She couldn't tell, and didn't really care to ask in that exact moment.

"Hi, Dread," she replied cheerfully. "I'm Sirendippity but that's a big mouthful so sometimes I just call myself Siren." She hadn't exactly introduced herself to many, yet, but simpler names, she found, were easier to remember. Like Dread and Glory.

She lifted her head to get a closer look at the rings around Dread's horn, humming with thought. If she wanted a ring of her own she'd probably have to ask Glory, or ask Glory how to make them or something. At least if she learned, she could make as many as she wanted, and she could have The Best rings.

Though, it seemed Dread was yelling about something again, for now.

"Cost?" She asked, looking at the alledged Shinies. Did things Cost here? Would she have to pay people a Cost for wanting to learn, or to find people? Her little mind began working to try to find a way around this-- else she'd end up losing everything she had in a manner of minutes with this learning business.

She came up with something fairly quickly, at least. "Well!" She said, scooting closer to her precious pile. "If you showed me where Glory is, I could get him to teach me how to make shinies. And then I could make you whatever shiny you wanted! I could make you better, shinier rings, and I could make you shinier, uhh- whatever this is," she said, picking up the glove and inspecting it.

Warily, she glanced back up to the dragon. "Shinier shinies than these," she added, waggling the glove loosely.

@Dread

"I AM NOT YELLING," he bellowed. Then he thought about this, reflecting. WELL, MAYBE A LITTLE. (Even the dragon's thoughts were loud.)

Dread considered, his eyes narrowing reluctantly. He liked shiny things. And he had no guarantee this thing'd come back later and actually pay up. But a version of this thing, in gold, might be... awesome.

...Whatever the thing was. Gold was good, really, was the point of it.

"GIVE ME THAT THING," he answered--loudly--and then decided (somewhat reluctantly, but a little hopefully) on a compromise. "THEN WHEN YOU CAN MAKE THINGS, BRING ME A GOLD ONE. AND I WILL GIVE THIS ONE BACK," he added. Oh, right--noisy... "And I will give this one back," he repeated, correcting his voice to be a little quieter.

This was not exactly a deal weighted in Siren's favor--a payment up front, to be traded out later for something even shinier--but for Dread, it seemed perfectly reasonable.

The dragon waited, then hopeful--trusting that his haggling skills were somehow up to scratch.

@Siren

Was this a bad deal for Siren?

Yes.

Did Siren care?

No.

The child shrugged a bit, weighing this compromise in her mind. She did like silver, and she liked the leathery feel. She was reluctant-- she had a good feeling about this thing, whatever it was --but if she could get it back? Serendipity offered the glove out to Dread.

"Okay," she said, trying not to mind the shouting. At least the dragon was starting to quieten himself down a ltitle. "You can have this 'cause you sniffed it a lot and one day I'll come back and make you a shinier shiny than Glory's shiny shinies."

She was convinced, at least, that she'd be better at making them.

As she waited for the dragon to take his new-found shiny, she eyed up the deer carcass behind him. Not entirely bothered by the sight as much as she was bothered by the smell of the fur still smoking and burning away.

"Are you, uh," she began, quietly. "Gonna finish that?"

If he were done with it, she could use with a quick snack, at least. It'd save her from having to run after another cave rat with a knife, trying to stab it. She didn't have a big mouth like Dread had, or big claws, or quick like Laurel. Sometimes she could eat plants but she liked meat better.

Even if it smelled gross.

@Dread

Dread's foot pushed forward, lifting, its massive talons picking up the gauntlet. "'Cause you sniffed it a lot" seemed, in his mind, a perfectly reasonable... well, reason, for handing it over.

Then he remembered his manners. "Thank you," he blurted automatically--and at Siren's question, turned to peer over his shoulder.

"Yes," he answered, "But you CAN ALSO HAVE SOME, IF YOU WANT," he went on, his apparent enthusiasm--or reluctance, perhaps--spurring him back into a booming tone.

Quietly he shuffled over to the prey, tearing pieces away; he lobbed a relatively unidentifiable, large piece of meat with bone--haunch? ribs?--over toward the little one. It was probably far too large for her, but he--not really able to judge these tiny sizes--shouted anyway. "IS THAT ENOUGH?"

He shared his kills, at least, more easily than he shared his shinies--and she couldn't need to eat that much, anyway, he reasoned.

@Siren

There was definitely something odd-- or at least unexpected --about Dread saying thank you. Perhaps she just didn't think such a phrase could come tumbling out of a big yelling dragon's maw but it wasn't like Siren was going to protest or get angry about the words 'thank you.'

"You're welcome!" she came out with in response.

Before she could answer if she wanted some or not (which she most definitely did), a mass of red meat was flying towards her. The child scooted out the way before she was crushed under venison, but she leaned over to sniff it once it came onto the ground. It was, as it happened, a lot of food, but Dread would probably want some if she couldn't finish it.

"Yeah, thanks!" she said cheerfully, returning some Manners of her own, and sat down next to her meal. She planted both hands over the fleshy mound, concentrating. Fire flared up in her little palms, searing the meat underneath.

Cooking flesh was a kinder smell than burning fur and hair was, at least-- she kept her hands there for as long as she could bear it, until the meat was smoking and hot and sizzling, and then pulled away. It hurt, just a little, but her hands were naturally thick and calloused and difficult to cause injury to via heat.

She had no claws, but she had a knife-- which she used to tear away small strips of meat into sizable pieces she could reasonably fit into her mouth. For a moment, she just ate what she'd cooked in silence, watching Dread curiously.

"How come you got so big?" She asked, a mouth full of venison. "I like your glowy bits, too. Did you grow glowy bits too?"

@Dread