At the crossroads of Tunnel H lay something... unusual. A massive black dragon huddled there, the wind gusting past him and leaving him hissing and shivering, his baleful ember stare looking this way and then that.

He'd meant to make his way to Fornax; he'd been in the mood to soar over its seas, to visit again the place of his hatching. And he knew the way; he knew two ways, in fact, and he'd thought he was entering Tunnel O. At first he'd wondered why it was so icy--if he'd somehow skipped to Tunnel M without realizing; and now, sitting perched uncertaintly (and with distinct aggravation) at the crossroads, he was realizing that he was in the wrong place altogether.

Another shiver passed through his black-scaled muscles, and he shook himself and grumbled, focusing for a moment on his inner heat. Smoke, abrupt and thick, plumed from his nostrils; and the air around him rapidly grew warmer.

Dread relaxed, some, and then looked around, his head now lifting into a peering arch as he tried to figure out just where the heck he was.

@Kalama

Rated M for Kalamas one hot, spicy word.

Kalama didn't like many of the caves. It wasn't a stretch to say she hated most of them--they were either too cold or too windy or too wet. So it wasn't surprising that she hated the tunnel she was currently in. It was all of her least favorite characteristics combined into one hellish maze of a tunnel. She rarely travelled out of Canis, and this tunnel, which she mentally dubbed Shit Tube, was a pretty good reminder why.

She needed to find the collector though-wherever he may be. Her best guess was Polaris, so here she was, wandering tunnel H. She didn't exactly know where she was. She wasn't lost. There was no way she was lost. She was just familiarizing herself with her surroundings. Kalama didn't get lost. She squawked in annoyance as a drop of water landed on her back, and resisted the urge to attack the tunnel's ceiling. She was better than that. More controlled, cooler than the ice against the walls. Kalama did, however, scream at the tunnel. A wordless, rage filled thing. She shook herself out, and continued down the tunnel.

Kalama was relieved, albeit confused when the air ahead began to warm. She fluffed her feathers, trying to trap in as much of that warm air as possible. She paused as she looked ahead. There was a massive black creature there, looking around with bright orange eyes and plumes of smoke coming from its nostrils. It was strange and terrifying, unlike anything she'd seen in the caves so far. And Kalama didn't like that. She didn't like that One Bit. She swallowed, trying to hide the tremble in her voice and spoke.
"Fat rock! Get out of my way! I'll pummel you if you move!"




Speech. Thought

The dragon turned, quizzically, at the sound of the voice. His body shuffled, and for a moment he had to look around for its source--Ahh.

Great ember eyes peered as the gold-adorned black dragon tilted his head this way and that, scrutinizing Kalama.

He had no way of knowing that the chicken had had a similar encounter, once before--or that the creature she'd encountered had shared a similar reaction to her threats. Fire-element creatures had a tendency to be brash--as Kalama herself seemed to prove, and Dread was no exception, though his age and size had brought him patience. He turned to face her fully, inhaling, feeling magic and heat welling up inside him. The cold air rushing into his lungs, though, did little to help the deep breath and he immediately felt it falter. He shook himself, all the spines down his throat, neck and back clattering together, and then debated roaring, instead.

He liked roaring. But it was cold, and probably not worth the effort.

"I AM NOT A ROCK," he bellowed, instead. And then, after turning quizzically to inspect his lean flanks and tucked-up abdomen he added--"AND I AM NOT FAT." The horn-studded head swung back around to scrutinize the chicken.

"ANYWAY, THAT IS NOT POLITE. YOU MUST SAY THANK YOU, IF YOU WANT ME TO-..." And here, Dread paused.

First, it must be noted that his ideas of "please" and "thank you" were inexorably tangled and only wound up reverting to the latter.

Second, he was now puzzling over just what the chicken had demanded. To move--and also, not to move. He also wasn't sure what "pummel" was, but he filed that away under "probably rude?" and chose to focus (as he only could) on one thing at a time.

"DO YOU WANT ME TO MOVE? OR NOT TO MOVE?" he questioned, head tilting as he peered down.

@Kalama

All the spikes and the webbed wings reminded Kalama of something. Someone she'd met before. What, or who, she wasn't quite sure of at the moment. Kalama was startled when the rock spoke, with a bellowing, deep voice. It sounded more intimidating than her, and Kalama found herself immediately jealous of the creature. It mixed strangely with her fear.

She cleared her throat, aiming to match it's bellowing voice, and narrowed a sharp, angry gaze upon it. Perhaps she could intimidate the big rock more than she was intimidated.

"If you're not a rock, then why do you have spikes like a rock, and look like a rock. Gembound don't have spikes or look like rocks!" She clucked, annoyed, as if what she were saying were both common knowledge and common sense. She was disappointed, inwardly, to find her voice couldn't match the same intimidating rumble as Dread's voice. She kept up her imitation, however. Maybe the big thing found it scary.

The dragon talking about manners was shocking to Kalama, to say the least. The last thing she was expecting was for the much larger (and scarier) animal to lecture her about manners. She was plenty polite! She hadn't attacked the giant rock when she first saw it. That was extremely polite. Her mentor had taught her well, she thought proudly."I'm plenty polite! You should be thanking me! I didn't attack you when I first saw you. I've attacked much scarier monsters than you!" She raised her wings slightly, trying to make herself look bigger.

"And I want you to move!" She snapped at it. "Don't mock me, rock lizard. I know what I mean, I have very important business to get to!" She wasn't sure where exactly she was. And she wasn't looking forward to losing the heat that big-rock-monster-thing gave off, but at the same time she didn't want to be near something that scary for much longer. But, maybe if she scared it into submission, it could be her personal cave heater. She liked the idea quite a bit, and mulled it over mentally.


Speech. Thought

@Dread

Dread stared down, nonplussed.

"ROCKS DO NOT HAVE SPINES," he said, after a very long moment--and then, "AND I DO NOT LOOK LIKE A ROCK. HAVE YOU NEVER SEEN A ROCK?"

He was not a very prideful creature--at least, not vain--but when she suggested that she had done him a favor by not attacking him, he drew himself up. Wings spread (at least, as far as the tunnel would allow), arching overhead, splayed: and he rose to his full height, rocking back and twisting his neck into a curve, head faced town toward the chicken. His jaws snapped open, and he let out an ear-shattering roar: and twinned with this he sent a surge of magicka, a fearful mind-rending flash. He'd done this before, done it to bring terror with his roar, to instill fear of what he was! -The fear that his enemies should feel! "I AM DREAD!" He could feel that it wasn't quite as terrifying a magic as it should have been, but that didn't matter much, to him. The effect was there, and that was-... something, right?

When the final echoes faded, he rocked back down, wings hitting the rock with a snow-settling thump. "IF YOU WANT ME TO MOVE," he declared, coming to a decision, "THEN YOU WILL NEED TO BE POLITE!"

@Kalama

Kalama was now determined to find a big spiky rock. She'd find a rock--or carve it, most likely, then throw it at this manners obsessed dragon.

Kalama wasn't often scared bad enough to knock down her wall of bravado and general lack of self preservation. But the Dread creature rising to its full height, combined with that awful roar and flash of light was enough to send her scrambling back, eyes wild. She hadn't encountered any creature with that ability. Had she known other creatures like this, she may not have been so rattled.

Kalama had never lost her composure so hard. And she resented the feeling. She would be the protector of the bonebound, she would fear nothing! The thought of showing herself so rattled, filled her with rage. This Dread's biggest mistake was assuming Kalama had the barest grasp of manners. She would not be polite. It was draconian of Dread to suggest such a thing. It was the hill would Kalama chose to die on. Her eyes hardened, and she stared at the dragon. She wasn't eager to get closer to Dread, however, she could not leave without asserting herself as the terrifying cave beast she was. Her wings snapped open, and she puffed her neck feathers.

"No! I refuse! I am Kalama, defender of the Bonebound, and you will move now!" And with that, the chicken charged at Dread.
Speech. Thought

@Dread

Dread stared down, quizzically. He did not think to wonder why this thing was unafraid of him. Some creatures, even small, might have wielded powerful magics... but this one was just charging at him.

The dragon rumbled.

"I AM GOING TO BREATHE FIRE," he declared--loudly; "ALL IN FRONT OF ME. IF YOU DO NOT MOVE BACK, YOU WILL BE BURNED, DIE, AND THEN I WILL EAT YOU." He even paused, for a moment, to let that sink in. He'd put the fire there: it'd be up to her whether to run face-first into it.

He then opened his jaws, inhaling again, feeling that heat blossom, feeling annoyance prickle through him. It was not a big flame, a vast billowing torrent, either--though he'd meant it to be. It was still fire, but a rather mundane stream of it. Regardless of his words, though, he did not intend to actually incinerate the chicken. If she did keep running at him, he'd blast it close enough, just before her or overhead--maybe singe her feathers.

But he was already growing irritated with this creature. His patience was wearing thin, the politeness he'd been taught rapidly waning toward a vague Well, if it insists, I am sort of hungry... vein of thought. So far, he was restraining himself; but he was beginning to lose sight of the reason why.

@Kalama

Kalama wasn't really listening to Dread, the rumble in his voice muffled by the rumble in her ears. That was, until she heard the word die. "You think you can kill me?" She scoffed, growing even angrier. How dare this creature think she was so easily beaten. "Eat me? I'm un-killable!"

Her lack of attention made the sudden surge of fire from Dread all the more terrifying. She screeched in terror, a rare display. Kalama flapped her wings in an attempt to slow down her charge. And not a moment too soon. She felt the heat of Dread's flame roll over her head, singeing her already dark feathers. Somewhere in the back of Kalama's mind, her common sense told her that Dread was a dangerous gembound, and what she was doing was extremely stupid. Kalama easily ignored it. She clapped her beak angrily, and began strutting backwards, away from Dread.

"You're dead, Dread. You won't win against me. I fear no fire. I'll be taking your gemstone as a trophy, unless you give up, rock!" Teacher told her not to start fights, but Dread had attacked back, meaning it was ok to fight him now, she was sure. Plus, he had started by asking her to be polite. The Bonebound would love it if she brought dragon bones back, right? They loved all bones. She crowed loudly, in an attempt to intimidate him, still backing up. "Bow to me, and you can live as my cave warmer."


Speech. Thought

@Dread

He listened in silence, the fire guttering along the floor and quickly going out, melting the ice between them. The chicken was talking--threatening him--and this had two effects.

First, the dragon had lost his patience. He wanted this interaction to cease, and he was not a complex enough creature to come up with much other than violence.

Second, she was worrying him. He'd seen magic in action; she was confident, fearless. What if she had something that could kill him? This, too, led him to the simplest conclusion: violence.

With no further warning, the dragon lurched forward, wing-walking rapidly toward Kalama, his jaws opening and his neck lunging down, aiming to snap up the chicken--likely to crush her, and swallow her down.

@Kalama

Kalama stared at Dread expectantly, waiting for him to accept her as superior.

"Well? Do you give in?" She said, and tilted her head.

What she wasn't expecting, however, was the dragon deciding to attack her. At least, not so suddenly. Dread charged at her, all 8 foot of dragon against all 2 feet of Kalama. Beneath all the bravado, Kalama was still afraid of Dread, and the small bit of prey drive left in Kalama took over, and she attempted to sprint away, but she was a chicken, and Dread was a dragon. Kalama was quickly overtaken by the much larger creature, and his jaws closed over her.

Kalama screeched in pain. She had felt pain before, nicks and bites, minor burns and prickles, but nothing like this. Nothing like the agony of getting her limbs and ribs crushed by Dread like brittle sticks. She lost consciousness quickly in the face of such pain, and the brownish grey stone of her flint surged over her, starting around her spur, and slowly wrapping around the rest of her leg, then her torso, until she was entombed in an odd, oblong chrysalis of hard flint.

Speech. Thought

@Dread
;exit Kalama WHOOPS