Dread considered.

"Okay," he agreed. That being said, he was a little taken aback at the idea of... a child. Of raising one. That was something he hadn't thought about. "They should stay here first though. 'Cause one kid alone is stupid! -Lonely," he explained, with sudden, vivid memories of his own lonesome hatching. "Too cold here, though," he added.

He curled his tail around before him, and stared at it. He wasn't quite sure how to do this--and it certainly, as Asimona suspected, didn't strike him as something intimate or loving. Personal, yes; it was the ultimate treasure, a part of his own body and he wouldn't just hand that off to anyone.

He nudged at his own tail, at the blunter broad-side of its razor edge, and huffed; magicka flickered, and like--well, like magic--a piece sheared off. He nudged this toward Asimona, and looked up at her expectantly, like a dog hoping to be praised.

Would this make his friend happy?

@Asimona

Asimona watched in fascination as Dread curled his tail forward and a piece came clattering off. She'd given life to gems before, sure, but she'd never seen anyone take a piece of their gemstone away. As he nudged it towards her, she reached forward and ever so carefully picked it up off the ground. "Thank you, Dread, this means a lot." And it did mean a lot. He was trusting her with part of himself.

She set it onto the ground and turned back, realizing that she wouldn't really be able to reach her gemstone. She frowned and wondered if she had to do that and...a surge of magicka raced through her body towards her tail, filling the gemstone and a piece of it suddenly parted from the rest and clattered to the ground.

Well, that was easy.

She picked up the piece and handed it over, setting it down in front of Dread. It was a bit of a weird feeling, handing him a piece of herself.

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

tags: @Dread
notes:

Dread peered down, two things simultaneously racing through his brain. First, he was trying to remember what the right polite response was to "thank you." And second, he was peering at the gemstone that the slender ice dragon had cleaved from the base of her tail.

Some vague emotion struck him; this was special, though he hadn't the poetic nature to describe it whatsoever. Still, his motions as he left the gold beneath him and--very carefully--used first snout, and then talons, to delicately lift the diamond--showed clearly enough that he valued it. His ember eyes did not lift from the sparkle of the gemstone shard.

He hesitated. He'd never done this before. After a moment, he touched his nose back to it, mentally willing it to somehow become another child--a flying child--to keep Asimona company. He felt the flicker of magicka, then--and the diamond seemed to flash. Dread hastened to pick it up, plodding over and placing it down in Asimona's nest with his jaws.

"I think it worked," he said doubtfully, eyeing the gemstone as it fused to the rock beneath. "And you're welcome!"

That was it!

@Asimona

Asimona watched Dread for a moment as he leaned down to send his magic racing through the gemstone before she took the obsidian in her palm and closed her claws around it, eyes closing for a moment as a surge of life ran through her spine and through her arm, to rest within the black stone she carried. Warmth pooled on her skin for a moment before it died away, leaving the shard of obsidian looking as it did before.

Eyes blinked open and she turned to follow Dread, setting down the obsidian next to the diamond before she finally released her breath, a bright sense of joy rushing through her body. "Thank you Dread. Thank you so much. I'll treasure these too more then anything else." She leaned forward and touched both of them gently, happily. "When they hatch, you can come here, if you like. Or I'll bring them to you."

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

tags: @Dread
notes:

"Bring," he agreed at once, and blinked a little. He found himself suddenly weary from the use of the magicka. "It is too cold here for babies! Maybe that is why they couldn't fly," he mused.

Never mind the whole "didn't have wings" thing.

He blinked a few times, looking somewhat dazed, and then craned his head down to the gold before looking at Asimona again. "That made me tired," he complained. And then he peered at her, as if hoping she had a suggestion on how to deal with that.

@Asimona

Asimona looked up at Dread, a little flabbergasted that he'd make that suggestion. It also stung a little, chasing out the warmth of the moment before. It wasn't that cold, was it? Sometimes she forgot how much more she thrived in the cold then other creatures. "I don't think that was the problem," she pointed out. "And your cave is windy! I hope they're strong enough to fly through those gales." It was, perhaps, a little childish to jibe back, but she tried to let some good humor slip into her voice.

"Yeah," she sighed, the weariness having settled on her as well. "I had to deal with that before. A good meal and some rest will help. I have some of my last meal left, if you'd like to share." She raised a claw and gestured to a deer carcass set against the wall under the overhand. "It's probably a little cold by now, but I'm sure you can heat it up without much effort. You could also...stay if you'd like, and rest for a while. The nests are warm at least."

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

tags: @Dread
notes:

It didn't even occur to Dread that Asimona might take offense. He'd meant no insult, and when she spoke of Monoceros' winds (though it took him a moment to grasp her meaning) he puffed up proudly, instead of being insulted in turn. "IT MADE MY WINGS STRONG!" he declared, loudly, and then immediately slumped down a little, looking around.

He settled the gold chunk--polished and beautiful, and he wasn't about to let it go--in one foot and hobbled over toward the deer. "I will eat some and rest but then I will bring more food!" he decided--and then turned, squinting at Asimona. "I will help bring food for the rocks. For babies," he corrected himself. He glanced back at the gemstones, then, nestled into the nest, and wondered about them. "-What do you think they'll look like?" he asked, again more quietly than usual.

He rather ruined the gentle moment by immediately turning and tearing into the remains of the deer carcass--but his attention remained half on Asimona, at least, and on the 'eggs' that lay nearby.

@Asimona

Asimona shrugged and tried to ignore that stinging in her chest, turning instead to the nest in the back. The one that Wyvern would always sleep on. It was the closest one to Dread's size so she picked her way over and sat down, spreading it out a little more and adding more material from the other piles to make it a little more comfortable for Dread to sleep in - and warm, hopefully. Layers of fur and hides and feathers made them up, hopefully warm enough for him to handle.

Once she was done, she joined him next to the carcass and leaned over, taking a mouthful and chewing slowly. She glanced over at the gems as Dread did and quickly swallowed to voice her thoughts. "They won't need food, at least not until they hatch. It'll be a cycle before they do. But when they hatch...yeah, we'll both hunt for them." They'd figure out all those logistics later. It made her head spin trying to think about how this was all going to work.

As for what they'd look like? Asimona thought about it for a minute, staring at Dread and observing everything he had. He had four limbs, she had six. His horns curved backwards, hers around her face. His tail had a hook, hers was straight. He had lots of spines and scales, she had thick skin and hard plates. "I'm not sure. Maybe they'll look all like your or all like me. Or maybe one will be white with two legs or black with four. I wonder if they'll be a mix of black and white, or each separate colors."

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

tags: @Dread
notes:

Dread gulped back the bit of meat he'd taken, and peered at Asimona.

"I will bring food to replace this food," he clarified, "and more later!" He tried, too, to visualize the young as Asimona spoke. First he imagined adult dragons--perhaps larger than either of them, and immediately he felt defensive, and worried.

Who knew whether dragons were by nature social, or whether they ended up chasing off their young; Dread turned his mind to hatchlings, though, instead. And this thought, at least, brought contentment. The imagery of baby dragons bouncing around and squeaking had him shaking his neck, spines rattling, like a tail-wagging dog. "They will be perfect," he decided. Whatever color they were, or however many limbs they had. Somehow he imagined metallic black--black, like him, but with a silvery Asimona sheen. Chrome dragons, somehow.

That sounded nice.

After a couple more gulps of meat he wing-walked over to where Asimona had rearranged the nest, and--with a glance at her as if to ask permission, first--curled up to lay down in it. He let out a breath, and settled the polished gold to rest before his nose, his tail-tip resting beneath his chin.

Then he lay there, gaze alternating between the gold, and the forming chrysalises.

"You will not be alone, now," he said, and he sounded satisfied, at least, with this.

exit Dread
@Asimona

The unexpected tender sentence, even if he didn't say it in a gentle voice, caught Asimona off guard - as Dread usually did - and she found herself nodding in agreement. "They will be," she said quietly. And even if they weren't to others, even if they were ugly, she'd love them all the same because they were her's and they were Dread's. They would be perfect.

Once Dread had taken a few more bites, Asimona quickly finished the carcass, running her tongue over her jowls to clean off the residual blood, head turning to watch Dread as settled in Wyvern's old nest. She gave him a small nod - permission - before walking over to hers, where the two chrysalis rested. Stepping over them carefully, she settled herself in her own nest of furs, pressing her body against them and curling her tail around the other side, as if the chrysalis needed heat to survive. It simply felt right like this, protecting them.

A small smile appeared on her face. Dread's last words sent a very powerful emotion through her. Her heart seemed to tremble at how much that meant to her, not being alone. "Thank you," she whispered, a little hoarsely. She wouldn't have to be alone with her thoughts anymore, the nights when darkness crept at the corner of her reality, when she looked at three empty nests and remembered how she had utterly failed them and darker thoughts besides. She wouldn't have to handle her mind's drifting to the things that wouldn't go away.

"Like me. Are you forgetting your real family?" A deep bass growled in her ear. She didn't respond, only curling tighter around the gemstones. This is my family now. When she closed her eyes, he didn't walk in her dreams.

*exit

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

tags: @Dread
notes: