Dread perched near to the Spire, on an outcrop of stone, quiet. His bulk was horizontal, his long neck stretched forward, gold-rimmed horns glinting in the Spirelight as his head twisted slowly this way and that. His tail, too, swayed slowly behind him--catlike--and his massive wings, upon which he leaned heavily, rustled with leathery whispers at his sides.

A few small, new scars--small compared to the dragon, perhaps, but large enough that their wounds might have killed a smaller Gembound--raked over the ebony scales beside the base of one wing, and had torn small shreds from the wing-leather. It was a slight injury, and affected more his aesthetics than his abilities: a little bit of weathering for a beast growing into his prime.

Ember eyes flicked over the stone below.

Dread was hunting, though not for food; he had fed, already, though lightly, torching out and snapping up a dozen cave rats from where they'd hidden beneath an outcrop of easily-shattered stone. No; he searched now for gemstones for his collection. His den in Monoceros was full of gold, of scraps of armor, of glowing and singing gemstones of all varieties, shapes, and shades. Even now, laid between the talons of his hind legs, lay several jewels: rough, scratched, one cloudy with black ore to a side of it, but all brightly-colored enough to attract the attention of this magpie of a dragon.

He shook himself, the spines along his neck softly rattling, and peered sidelong at the Spire. Though Dread was partially-hidden in the shadows atop this perch, from some angles that blue light shone, flowing over him like the reflections of a dancing pool.

He wished he could have that stone. But he knew of no way to take the Spire with him, and certainly no way to break it without it breaking him. He'd been thinking of using magic against it--to try and shear off a part--but others had warned him to stay away. They'd warned that it could kill.

With a rumble, he looked back downwards, shifting his position on the ledge as he searched by keen eye for any shine of a new treasure.

@Asimona

Polaris had almost become a head-clearing space for Asimona - the open, cool, illuminated cave made for a good energizer and she felt more alive when she was flying through it. And now was a good a time as any for a good head clearing. Reseda's dark memories still lingered in her thoughts and a mindless, soaring flight was just the thing she really needed to give it a good mull-about. She didn't have to focus on anything besides avoiding stalactites and some of the larger flying lessers when they chose not to remove themselves from her path.

She was so wrapped up in her head that she almost missed the dark shadow of an old friend perched near the Spire.

She caught herself just in time and flared her wings forward to slow her gliding, beating them quickly to hold her place in the air. She looked down, blinking them out to make sure that it really was Dread perched there, before slowing her wingbeats to slowly descend down towards him, stinger-ended tail hanging beneath her

She hadn't seen him in a while, not since she'd visited him in Monoceros - and speaking of the cave, she hadn't seen him out of it since they were children, save for a few brief visions of him in Reseda's memories. "Dread," she called down to him, but he probably would have heard her wingbeats long before her voice. "You're far from home."

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags: @Dread
notes:

He was just about to launch down toward a suspect glitter on the ground when he heard the thump of approaching wingbeats. Half-crouched to spring, he paused and pulled back, blinking and swinging his head toward the sound with narrowed eyes. A puff of smoke threaded from his nostrils, heat blossoming in his chest, as instinct prodded him to prepare for potential combat.

But, to his delight, he recognized the approaching form--six-limbed, silver-white, her presence always a joy. His head came up, the gold-ringed horn glinting in the light, and he wing-walked quickly over toward the edge of his ledge to greet her.

"Asimona. Do you still have your singing stone?" The question was a friendly one; it was one of the three gifts he'd given her last time, and shinies were very important, he knew. "I AM far from home. Where is your home?"he asked, realizing he didn't know. -Had she told him? He couldn't remember.

What if this is her home? The thought was sudden, and worrying, and he fidgeted with a glance around him. Though he did not consider Asimona an intruder when she came to Monoceros, he worried with that same strange instinct: was this her home? Her den? Had he intruded, hunting shinies uninvited? "Is this your home? I did not come to take things if it is your home!"

Awkwardly-worded, perhaps; of course he'd come to collect glittering stones and chips of precious metal. Hell, the scattering of them at his feet made that much clear. But he'd put them back, of course, if this was her home.

@Asimona

Asimona glanced down at the stone as Dread turned to face her. There was another, smaller ledge, just big enough to accommodate her and she reached forward with her hind legs. As they touched down, she allowed her front legs to fall forward and grab at the stone while her wings gave one last flap before they folded in against her body. Her head arched up to look her friend in the eye, eyes glancing over the golden rings over his horns.

And, of course, the first question he asked was exactly the kind of thing she expected and she smiled. "Of course I do! It's at my nest, along with the other gifts you gave me. My home is in Pisces - that's the cave with the waterfall. So don't worry, you're not taking anything from me." She snorted softly. "I doubt anybody would live this close to the Spire, so I think you're good."

Her head turned and she glanced along the ground that Dread had been observing moments before. She could guess what he was here for - looking for new things to add to his hoard. She'd never felt the same jealous desire for hoarding that Dread displayed, but she still had a collection of trinkets back at her den. "Were you looking for something?"

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags: @Dread
notes:

Dread listened, his wings relaxing some from their tense "uh-oh" posture when Asimona reassured him that this was not, in fact, her place.

But her question sparked confusion in him, and like someone who'd wandered into the kitchen for a midnight snack and forgotten what they'd had in mind, he looked blankly around him. He couldn't remember, for a moment, why he was here.

Then it clicked, and he blinked.

"I forgot, for a moment!" he exclaimed. His language was still improving, bit by bit--and this time, at least, he did not bellow. "I was going to Fornax! Where I was born. I wanted the hot water. But I went the wrong way. I found ice, and a thing that wanted to kill me. There have been things that wanted to fight me," he added, with obvious puzzlement. He wasn't sure why anyone would be going out of their way to attack him; many just seemed to want to fight him, without any obvious reason as to why. "I WON," he then hastened to assure Asimona, in case she worried that maybe he'd lost, and died. (This logic then confused him for a moment further, and it took him a beat to regain his train of thought.) "Then I came here! This is the way home; and there are many shinies here. So I stopped to look." He paused. "...For some." Explanation clarified, he shook himself a little, spines rattling, and peered at Asimona.

"I would like to see your den, some time! I will not steal from it. No one comes to my cave. And when they do, they try to steal from me, or attack me. Except for Glory," he added. "I give him shinies, and he makes me shinies." The dragon sounded satisfied, at that; which was good, considering the first bit--about being stolen from, and attacked--had been delivered in a rather mournful lament.

@Asimona

Asimona had to think for a second to remember Fornax - it had been a while since she'd been there, but the memory that stuck in her head wasn't going away - playing with Dread as children, but leaving because it was way too hot. No wonder he liked going there. It made her wonder if he would at all enjoy the damp, close-to-freezing atmosphere that she called home, since his borderline hot, dry, and airy cave of Monoceros wasn't really to her tastes.

Her brow lowered with confusion. "Why would someone attack you? Did you make them mad?" She offered him a small snort and a smile, however. "Of course you one, I doubt anyone could take you down, Dread." It was casual flattery, bordering on teasing, but she meant it and watched the dragon with barely disguised admiration. Wish I was that confident, huh. But, then again, it seemed that a lot of Dread's confidence was born out of ignorance. Unfortunately, Asimona did not have that luxury.

"Do you want some help finding some? I'll give you what I find, I don't really need a lot of shinies. And you can come see my den whenever you want! I'm sorry that people try to steal from you, that's a very mean thing to do."

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags: @Dread
notes:

The dragon shook himself, looking genuinely confused. "I didn't make them mad! I was cold. In a tunnel. They came up and yelled at me! And tried to attack me. I told them to be polite and they said they would eat me." He then turned, and hauled one of the stones--a flint hardly the size of his talon--out to show Asimona. "It was a bird. It's in this rock," he explained. "Maybe it will come out later. But I thought it might have strong magic. So I ate it. Except it turned into a rock before I could swallow!"

At Asimona's flattery, his head came up proudly, the spines and webbing all along his back and neck standing up straight. He looked puffed-up and happy, blinking ember eyes at the other dragon. "Yes! Good. You too," he added, as if to also compliment Asimona. (Dread was not very good at compliments.) "I bet nothing could kill you, also. There was a big purple thing with green eyes all over it that attacked me too. It wanted to fight. And a monkey-thing that tried to steal my shinies. But I won," he went on, and as he recounted the fight, his spines slowly laid back down. "I made LOTS OF FIRE and burned them. And holes in the ground! I can do that. Watch-" Here Dread turned, lifting his tail entirely from the stone. A moment later the entirety of it slammed down, whipping with the power of muscle and the crackle of magicka twinned.

There was indeed a crack, but--as was probably a good thing given that the dragon was on a ledge--it wasn't all that deep or fissure-ey. Instead a thin line split along the stone. He studied it for a moment, head craned backward, then blinked back to Asimona. "...Usually it's bigger."

As to her offer, he considered. "We can both find shinies, and trade them!? PRESENTS," he added, his spines all raising and clattering again as he moved, apparently from excitement this time. "I like gold," he hastened to add, glancing sidelong at Asimona as if hoping she had gotten the not-so-subtle "hint."

Clearly thrilled by his own idea, Dread spread his wings and flapped a distance down along the rock, immediately picking over it in search of something pretty for the white dragon.

@Asimona

Asimona rolled her eyes. She knew a number of gembounds that would run up to attack a dragon, unfortunately, and peered down at the flint Dread held out to her. She'd honestly thought for a moment that it was Blackberry, since she'd had a very similar experience with that insane goose, but the flint was smaller then her, and she was pretty sure she was locked up in Eridanus, last she'd heard. "I wouldn't recommend eating Gembound that can talk, Dread, unless they're actually a threat on your life. I don't see how a bird that small could pose a threat to you without magic."

She grinned to herself when Dread puffed up happily. He was easy to please and it was funny seeing him so flattered by only a simple compliment. But her smile dropped quickly when he mentioned something "purple with green eyes all over it". She knew....she knew who that was. She'd glimpsed him across the sands, behind the gembounds struggling through the desert. She didn't know his name, or if he was even a Master or if he just worked for them, but something was up if he was just attacking random gembounds around the caves.

She noted it for later - she'd have to do something about this, maybe investigate it further down the line. For now, she focused back on Dread, displaying his magic proudly. She glanced back at the crack he'd made on the ledge, wings flinching in case the stone gave way, but nothing happened and Asimona sighed. "Oh, I'm sure! I can see that being really really impressive, especially if you have a lot of space to work with."

At least she had a task, now, to distract her from a sudden torrent of troubled thoughts. She lifted her wings as well as Dread took off. "Deal!" She jumped from the ledge, soaring down to the floor of Polaris, a little ways from Dread, and began searching through the rocks for something to give him. After a few seconds of searching, she pulled out a light-colored, rough piece of sapphire from the rubble, but it wasn't exactly something that she'd call "shiny". She glanced over at Dread, doubting that he'd find any real value in it. So she set it to the side to keep searching.

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags: @Dread
notes:

Dread nosed about along the rock, ember eyes searching the crevices and dimpled surfaces, nostrils flaring for scent. He spoke, as he searched, glancing back at Asimona, raising his voice just enough to be heard.

"I do not eat things that can talk. I ask, first. But it said that it would eat me, and I don't know what magic it had!" He paused, and then with perhaps surprising wisdom, added--"Even small things can be very powerful."

He'd seen what the various members of the Seven could do, what Reseda had done, what Alastor had been capable of. Size was no indicator of magic, he knew. "I told it to leave me alone and it didn't! I told it I would eat it, and I breathed fire, and it still tried to attack me. I was not going to wait and see what it could do."

Still, the faintest traces of guilt--or maybe indifference?--were tugging at him. He didn't really care enough to finish the job, and he wasn't a vengeful or vicious creature. If it hatched, so long as they didn't have a repeat performance, he was perfectly happy to let it be.

Dread abruptly paused, sniffing at the rock. Oh, here was something! A faint glint was visible in the slightly-wet, silty earth, and for a few moments the dragon went silent as he very, very carefully scraped the dirt away. Using his hind talons, his wing-claws, and his snout, he gradually isolated the gemstone from the dirt in which it had been laying.

He then rocked back to examine his (slightly dirty) prize.

It was a great, smooth, shining sphere of pearl, with an exotic and strange color to it. It was pale--but tinged with blue, tending toward green, almost metallic in its sheen. Dread gave a cry of excitement--a hard-to-describe sound something like the attempt of a massive dragon (which he was) to squeak with enthusiasm (which he also was). He then quickly scooped the big pearl into one hind foot, and rapidly (and very awkwardly) hobbled over toward Asimona, neck arched back and firelit eyes bright. "I found one for you!" he exclaimed--and he was excited, because to him, it was an icy color that put him in mind of Asimona's watery hues. It matched, certainly; and he was sure that she would like it.

Of course, that didn't stop him half-forgetting the gift at once, peering eagerly to see if she'd found anything that he could take, too.

@Asimona

Asimona continue to dig around the pile of rocks she was currently searching through when she heard Dread coming over, awkwardly, with something clutched in his leg. Oh shit, she needed to find something for him! She wasn't sure if he'd like the sapphire she'd found so she continued to search through the pile of rubble until something glittered...gold.

Quickly, she reached it and grabbed it with her claws, pulling the stone out of its little nook. But at second glance, it wasn't actually gold - it was pyrite, but it was certainly shiny. She turned towards Dread as he bellowed and presented his prize. She set down the pyrite to look closer at the pearl he was holding out. It was certainly something beautiful and she could see why Dread was so eager for her to see it. IT was surprisingly similar to the color of her hide, just with a bit of a green tint.

"Wow, that's beautiful," she responded happily, pulling her head back up. "I wish I could have find something as nice, but I found a couple of things." She held out the sapphire and pyrite for Dread to inspect. "It's not real gold but it certainly looks a bit like gold."

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags: @Dread
notes: