His market was still open, if you could call a pile of haphazard belongings a 'market.' He was mantling over it, again, so one could call that 'open.'

But the dragon lacked the cheer he'd had before. Instead he seemed almost to be moping, as much as a twenty-five-foot-plus-long-dragon could mope. It was complete with heavy sighs and huffs, now and then, as he shifted from foot to foot, staring morosely at the tunnel.

It wasn't clear why he was like this--his collection seemed large enough, and shiny--but the dragon seemed almost sad.

@Wilder

Wilder trotted into Monoceros, looking quite cheerful - tail waving behind her as she walked, ears erect, eyes glowing. It was always nice to break pace and leave the two caves that she constantly drifted between. She hadn't been to this one in a while! As she stepped into it, she was caught a little off guard by the winds, stumbling forward a bit before she gathered her balance, but her attention was quickly diverted by a very large dragon that was standing right there over a collection of wares.

Purring, she turned and bounded over and leaned forward to sniff at the pile of stuff. "Oh, wow, what are you doing with this stuff?"

@Dread

Dread looked up, blinking at Wilder. He huffed softly, and he also puffed, and he halfheartedly looked for something to blow down but nothing seemed immediately available and he gave up.

"I am selling them," he answered, in a saddened sort of way. "I want gold." But there was a moroseness to the way he said it, rather than his normal... well, one couldn't call it bright, or cheer, but maybe "intensity" was a good word.

He turned and scraped talons briefly through part of the pile, showing Wilder gemstones and pieces of armor.

"I have gemstones. And armor. And--hair." He stared, for a moment, at the deer hides that lay there, and then looked to Wilder.

And, just in case it wasn't clear that he was sad, he sighed again.

@Wilder

Wilder's face lit up as the dragon moved some of the pile, apparently completely missing his saddened voice, probably because her brain didn't register it as anything else but the dragon is speaking, enthusiastically stepping forward to look at all the cool wares he had to offer. Wow, gemstones and armor and stuff? A lot of it looked like it was from Tunnel J but some of it was very nice! Like some greenish gemstone that she pulled out of the pile and observed. She looked up at the dragon, about to voice her enthusiasm, when she at last caught sight of his downcast face.

She set the gem down and stepped back, tilting her head curiously. "What's wrong, Mr. Dragon?" She chirped up, trying to sound sympathetic and not giving her head a chance to roam back to the Stuff.

@Dread

Dread watched the black cat approach, and even had the presence of mind to back up, a pace, in case his looming size intimidated. She seemed unafraid, though, even enthusiastic, as she pulled a greenish stone from the pile.

He started to say that nothing was wrong--not in a dismissive way, but Dread wasn't exactly in touch with his own emotions. He had to stop, and consider, and actually think about why he was sad, for a moment.

"WE MADE CHILDREN BUT I DID NOT GET TO KEEP THEM. I WANT ONE," and his voice was a mourning moan. He had a nest. And it was nice and warm, here! He could teach a child how to fly. His exchange of stones and life with Asimona had triggered some fathering instinct he hadn't known he'd had, and now he wanted family.

The fact that the children would undoubtedly factor into his life through visits and so on didn't factor in; in his mind, their 'eggs' were with their mother, and he was here, and it was cold there, and anyway his stuff was here, and...

Dread huffed again, half-miserably. The idea of asking for a bit of life-magic or gemstone in return for an object from his hoard hadn't occurred to him yet, though if Wilder didn't think of it first, he'd probably come up with it eventually.

But for now, remembering that he was meant to be a vendor, he tried to do what any merchant anywhere would do; to sell the item his customer was interested in. "That's green," he informed her miserably, as if somehow this was an insightful piece of science which would make it more valuable. "It's a good rock."

@Wilder

Wilder's gentle smile slowly drained away. He had a family, or at least he'd started one, and he didn't get to keep the stones? Why didn't he just live with the other parent? There had to be a reason or he'd be with them and not upset. In her mind, the image of the labradorite, grown as big as her, but refusing to hatch. And of Regalia's rejection and its drifting form as it disappeared into Polaris. Her expression fell a little. "Yeah, I know how that feels. It hurts." Yeah...it hurt a lot.

Okay, but how could she solve this? She didn't really...know this dragon at all, but simply seeing someone in pain, in need, made her want to help, even more so that she understood his plight and related to it. She looked up at him and squinted for a second, sparsely used gears starting to turn in her head, before she came on an idea - a really stupid one, a reckless one, but she found a smile splitting her face at the thought. Exactly her kind of idea. "Hey...what if you just make another one? Like, uh, with someone else? Unless that'd make it awkward in the relationship, in which case I wouldn't recommend but I mean, yeah! Then you'll have one all to yourself!"

@Dread

Dread considered. He looked back at his tail, peering for a moment at it, considering; and--and a piece, with the flicker of magicka, cleaved off. OH NO.

Half-panicked, the dragon let out what could only be described as a short squawk.

"A PIECE CAME OFF," he cried, alarmed, and scrabbled backwards. He'd heard it clink to the stone, but it took him a moment of nudging around on the rock to find it.

It was a tiny sliver of razor-sharp obsidian, and Dread made a sound like a whimper--rather wretchedly pathetic coming from such a large, imposing beast. "I WAS THINKING ABOUT DOING IT AND IT FELL OFF!" Worriedly, he looked to Wilder.

He then nudged the stone toward her. "CAN YOU FIX IT?! I WILL GIVE YOU THE GREEN," he offered, anxiety in his tone.

It was not exactly the graceful beauty of some reproduction, but it was...

It was something. Definitely... something.

@Wilder

Wilder followed Dread's tail with her eyes and flinched when 1. a piece just came falling off and 2. a very large dragon that was standing right in front of her panicked and squawked. She, herself, jumped almost a foot in the air and squeaked with surprise at this sudden movement and why did a piece of his tail just fall off?!

She stepped back, a little overwhelmed by all his sudden movements and very very loud voice and suddenly he was pushing a very sharp piece of obsidian towards her. She wasn't sure what she should do. "Um...uhm..." She glanced down at it and reached a paw forward to poke it. Just as she did, magicka rushed forward from her paw into the gemstone and it glowed faintly pink for a second before settling back to black. Wilder blinked. Oops.

"Uh, I did a thing. I don't know if I can put it back but I, uh..." She looked up at the dragon, barely comprehending what in the hell just happened. "It's a baby now."

@Dread

Dread stared, for a long moment.

He blinked.

He looked at the forming stone.

He squawked again, and hastened to pick it very carefully up in his jaws. He paused, first, only briefly to speak.

"I NEED TO PUT IT IN MY NEST!" he cried. "THANK YOU TAKE WHAT YOU WANT I WILL COME BACK IF YOU STAY," he added, all in a frantic rush.

Like every worried father ever--though maybe a little more "dragon with a crystal" than most--he hastily swept up his "child" and launched into Monoceros' air. Wings beat powerfully, lifting him off to his right and toward the den that lay in the high ledges of the southern wall. In mere moments he was out of sight.

Once in his den he landed heavily, quickly scraping out a space among his hoarded treasure. He gave a brief glance to the Flint chrysalis locked to the stone, there, and carefully placed the obsidian sliver a little ways away. Then he moved what treasure remained up here around it--as if to hide it--but not so close as to obscure it, resulting in a nest-like ring of singing crystals and chunks of gold around the little gemstone.

exit Dread
@Wilder

Wilder followed the dragon with her eyes for a moment, taking away the obsidian shard. Well, he didn't seem upset about it. Actually it seemed to have cheered him up quite significantly. Wilder looked down at the stone that rested in front of her - the green one - and shrugged. This was all very strange but she had a very cool looking rock now - and she was determined to inspect it!

She poked at it curiously, reaching forward with magic to check if there was any life inside of it, inspired a little by the dragon's sudden enthusiasm to become a parent. But when her spell touched it, nothing came back. No thrumming of life, no pulsing magic within. It was quite dead.

Well, it didn't matter much. It was still pretty! Wilder stood and picked it up in her jaws, turning away and trotting back through the tunnel, unwilling to explore anymore with the weariness from giving life and the mental whiplash from the interaction.

*exit