When the word "market" came to mind--for those who knew its meaning, at least--they probably did not think of a dragon hulking over a haphazard pile of knick-knacks and eclectically-gathered nonsense. Dragons took what they wanted. They dominated. They stole. They killed.

...This dragon, however, had been taught to say "thank you." (Please was a lesson that had eluded him; but "thank you" seemed to serve the same purpose, in his mind, so that was okay.) And although he was not, growing up, the sharpest fang in the maw, he'd gradually matured into a beast with something resembling wisdom.

________

He'd slept through Raheerah's distant roars, and when he woke, the idea of a bellowing dragon with dominion over the caves stuck with him. And he'd thought, and thought, on how to get what he wanted.

He wanted two things: power (so as not to be in danger) in Monoceros, at least; and gold. Gold was, in fact, ninety percent his priority. And as he had looked over his hoard, he realized--picking at it with an absent wing-talon--that he didn't want a lot of this stuff. Or rather, he wanted gold moreso.

________

Dread now mantled, like a bird of prey over a kill, except his "kill" was a huge pile of stuff strewn out near the entrance to Tunnel J. It was his hope that anyone entering or leaving would see him there, and maybe approach, and ask what it was all about. It didn't occur to him that anyone might be too frightened to try. He was big, sure; but he was not (though he didn't know it) Raheerah large. ...He was not even the weight, most likely, of the great dragon Master's head.

The pile included such gems as:

Actual gemstones, of a wide variety of colors and shapes (though he'd left his prized singing crystal back up top).

Bones. He had lots of bones, from his kills, as well as scraps of hide and hair, and many feathers. Some of the feathers had been shed; some were from the cave's Lesser denizens. There were claws, too, and talons and hooves; all the makings for a craftsman's work.

Scraps of armor, taken from the tunnel itself, rooted out and carried off over the cycles. There were all sorts of metals there, some bent, some burnt; some were chipped or rusted. They came from creatures of all sizes, too.

Charcoal. Pieces of coal, large and small. There was rather a lot of this, since Dread tended to burn things to, well, coal when bored, or hunting too enthusiastically.

Rocks. Caves knew why he had these; but there were dozens of them, of different sizes and shapes, as with the gems. Anything with flickers of mica, or a unique color or an interesting sheen, he seemed to have collected.

There was even meat, there: two cave deer, one hours old, one a few questionable, fly-buzzing, blackening days. They were still with their hides on, too, and Dread occasionally picked at one, as if trying to restrain himself from just eating it outright.

And last of all, the foliage. For whatever reason, as he'd scoured the cave for things to add to this new idea of his, he'd decided that the only thing he'd left untouched--plant life--should probably not be untouched at all. There were long bits of smooth, dead wood, and sheafs of sharp, dry grasses, and clusters of branches with yellow-green pine needles still attached. It wasn't clear why these were here, but in truth Dread had just added them for the sake of completeness. Who knew what people might like, or not?

________

He couldn't trade for power; but he could built up influence. More than that, he could trade things for gold; or trade things for other things, which he could then trade for gold.

The question was whether it would actually work, at all. And whether other Gembound wanted his... rocks, and meat, and branches.

The eagle was slowly making his way through Tunnel J, holding beneath him a basket filled with ore from Orion, heavy enough to make flight difficult, but light enough so that he could still stay airborne. It was a struggle and he wasn't looking forward to the gales in Monoceros making it even more difficult, but he'd done this before, he could do it again.

However, as he emerged from the entrance into the main cave, he immediately caught sight of the very large black figure that usually wasn't standing right there. It caught him off guard and he stopped in his flight right there, eyes raking over the piles of...stuff that Dread was displaying. He didn't often see the dragon come out of his cave, and even more rare was him, well, looking like he was tending to a little shop.

Without really thinking, he flew over and set down his basket, folding in his wings and perching on top. "Dread!" he called up to the beast, although he probably would have seen him already. "What are you doing? What is all of this?"

@Dread

ATTIKIAS
violence for violence
is the rule of the beasts

Attikias hadn't been here in, well, forever. He'd visited the carvings sometimes, wandered about every so often, but he didn't typically draw himself further than he really needed to when his spear broke. Anything not so rusted was good enough for him, and he didn't have a calling to explore as much as he did in his childhood days.

Except today, he supposed. He'd gone farther in this time, bravery spurred on by a refusal of complacency to explore his cavernous homeland more than he'd given thought to before. Who knew what lay beyond- more carvings? More weapons? An extension of the buildings of the star-mapped cave?

Apparently, no- it was a dragon setting himself up a nice shopping stall to offer. Even with his lackluster vision, the moment he laid eyes on it all Attikias was struck by an immediate stillness. ...What? Is this? Is this normal? Was this a beast, like the purple one- the Overseer? It certainly looked big enough to be an overseer (at least, so he thought in his mind). Swallowing down his unease, Attikias swung his free arm back behind him to grip at the spear trapped between his bag's leather strip and his back. As interesting as this was, how was he to know this wasn't a trap?

But, he couldn't figure that out without approaching it. Squinting his eyes in minor disbelief, Attik sidled closer with his eyes flicking between the dragon and his wares. "How long's this been here?" The question was posed more to himself, under his breath. Had he just not gone down far enough down the tunnel to ever see this being? They had some interesting collections, that was for sure- scraps of, well, everything that held an interest for the humanoid, but he had to make sure he was even welcome to be here.

His thoughts were cut short as another being- this time, one with a shape he recognized as a bird, swooped down from behind him. He had wares, too- was this an exchange location? Hm. He'd had carvings of his own he could offer, along with a few spearheads (he'd managed to break off a few extra this time) and odds and ends stuffed into his bag. The two were speaking and- well, he'd already walked up, so he might as well approach.

Removing his hand from his spear, Attik moved his attention to his own bag as he came close. He was quiet with only a surprisingly soft "hello," eyeing over everything as the others spoke, raking over the offered goods. Would he give up things of his own for this dragon? He... He had some extra overseer carvings on his person, if they liked that sort of thing.

The dragon watched the humanoid slipping along, with things--things, he noted, eyes gleaming with interest--strapped to him, and carried, and so on. And there was Glory--flying, and with stuff!

Dread arched his neck up, spines raising, pleased to see his eagle friend. Though he did not shout, his voice was still very loud with glee. "GLORY. IT IS GOOD TO SEE YOU!-" He paused, and glanced at Attikias; the little one (who was not at all little, but from Dread's perspective that was debatable) was speaking, and he decided to address them both at once.

"HELLO. IT IS..." He hesitated. What was it? "A pile of stuff I want to trade for gold" didn't sound nearly catchy enough. "GOODS," he decided. And then, suddenly inspired, he elaborated. "THERE ARE MANY THINGS!" (as if they could not see this-) "ALL VALUABLE TREASURES! THERE ARE GEMSTONES AND SOME ARE VERY RARE," and Dread was just making this up as he went along, now. Sure, he'd never seen any like some of these; and sure, he'd spent many cycles collecting them. But the spirit of the merchant with questionable honesty was now upon him, as though he were channeling many universes worth of traders and bad salesmen. It was the essence of the thing. "AND THIS MEAT IS VERY FRESH. THIS ONE, AT LEAST," he admitted.

"I WANT GOLD. SO I WANT TO TRADE THEM FOR GOLD," he clarified. In case they didn't grasp that bit. "OR TRADE THINGS FOR OTHER THINGS, SO I CAN TRADE THEM FOR GOLD. MORE THINGS IS GOOD. MORE THINGS MEANS MORE WILL COME AND THEN I WILL GET MORE GOLD." And in a strange sense, his logic was true; a wider variety of goods, certainly, would draw in more custom.

The dragon then waited--still arched up, and staring intently, and hopefully, at the two before him.

@Glory @Attikias

Glory's eyes widened with surprise when he realized that Dread really had just set up a market stall at the front of Monoceros. The eagle had noted that the dragon's cave had become, well, pretty full lately, but he hadn't really thought that Dread would do anything about it. He was protective of his possessions and guarded them jealously and Glory didn't even consider the possibility that he would even sell them for other things.

He seemed excited enough, though, so Glory didn't complain. Instead, he stared a little blankly at all the stuff for a moment, considering.

And then an idea popped into his head - a very very wonderful idea, probably the best one he'd had in a long time. A sparkle appeared in his eyes as he fluttered off of the basket's handle in his excitement. "HEY, hold on, this is great! What a fantastic idea, Dread! I'd love to help out, if you'd like! You can sell some of my equipment - I don't really need any gold or whatever you sell them for but maybe a trade - my stuff for some food or supplies so I can focus more on my work! What do ya think?"

@Dread

Dread was silent for a good long while. It wasn't that he was debating--he was just trying to work out the logistics in his head.

It was a slow, sort of "step one, step two..." process.

Glory gives me stuff. I sell stuff for gold. But I also trade stuff... for food? But there's only one set of stuff. I sell some for gold? Confusion gripped him. He tried again. Glory trades me stuff for food... I sell for gold?

That sounded better, and he at length spoke aloud, peering at the eagle.

"So... I give you meat, you give me shiny things you made. And I keep gold I get for those?" He paused, and then lifted his head a little, pleased with this idea. It was, in essence (his mind grasped for once) trading meat for gold, and that was easy. Hunting was easy.

Ever the good merchant (since five minutes ago) the dragon continued with an intelligent question. "What kind of supplies do you need?"

@Glory

ATTIKIAS
violence for violence
is the rule of the beasts

Attik winced at the greetings. That, uh. That was a hell of a voice. He didn't mean to rub at his ears, but the ache in them drove him to do it without thinking. There was certainly a lot of things, though, he'd recognized as the ringing stalled in his head. The elf knelt by the aforementioned rare gemstones first. His eyes wandered as he moved from item to item. Gold- he wanted gold, but honestly, Attik had no clue where to get gold other than the creations that laid in the tunnel between these two caves. And. Well, that was picked through already. Not a lot of gold remained, as far as he was aware- maybe little trinkets here and there, yeah, but nothing else, really.

He had some stuff he could offer this being for him to help get gold, maybe. Though the bird had already begun speaking, and Attik deferred to him first, watching him with curious eyes. Glory- he'd have to remember the name, maybe. Equipment would be good- hell, Attik would trade him for some if he weren't already making an offer to the dragon (Dread, he remembered).

Although, he stayed back as they exchanged words of services and the like. He was too busy contemplating his own choice- and if, perhaps, Dread would even want the figurines he held in his bag. Oh- maybe he'd want one of himself? That'd be cool, maybe. There was a particular few items Attik had in mind as he hovered over them, scooting in ever closer to look. Would this be a fair exchange? Some of these things, he'd wagered, he could find in the tunnel, yeah- but, hey, look at that sizable chunk of rock! And there was this dusty black material- ooh, he could do his own sort of carvings, like he saw in that one tunnel. But... Flat? Hm. As he picked up various items to inspect, he'd discovered a black mark across his calloused palms from the charcoal. Funky. It wasn't permanent, as far as he was aware, as he brushed it off onto the cloth hanging from his waist. It reminded him of the ashes of his small fires, albeit much, much larger.

But, really, he could find some of this stuff himself. But was he just talking himself out of it? He'd had various figures he wasn't doing things with, and he could sell them in a trade. Ah, to hell with it- pulling the bag over from his hip to in front of him, Attik pulled it open to inspect what he had.

It wasn't a lot, apparently. He'd meant to keep the bag empty to carry materials back to his home, not bring things to sell. He did have a little Overseer made of wood? Or he could make an object glow. He'd figured out the latter on accident a few days ago, so he could try it now. ... If it wanted to work.

But he had to make a decision. There was the charcoal he had in his mind, yes, but he couldn't use it right away- not in his forest, at least- but a faintly translucent orange stopped the thought where it was. That would be good, maybe? Yeah- maybe if he offered to make a figure of Dread, he could take even more gems in exchange. That'd be worth the effort, right? Maybe he wanted gold, but what if he'd want that? He'd already picked out some of the gems he might take, but the orange was pulled close to his body as he thought.

Waiting for a lull in the conversation, Attikias cleared his throat when all was said and done. He wasn't going to interrupt, no, but he looked expectantly at Dread with the wooden carving of Overseer (Vargas, though he forgot the name) in one hand.

@Dread (@ Glory? Not sure if I should ping. Also, sorry for long post; Attik is just sort of clearing his throat to get Dread's attention is all.)

Dread's head swung around at the quiet clearing-of-throat, ember eyes focusing on Attikias. With sudden, swift and jerky movements he lurched toward the elf, his thorn-horned head swinging down to peer closely at the tiny wooden figure in the creature's hand.

He turned his head this way and that.

"I have seen things like that," the dragon declared, at length, with a tone of interest. It wasn't clear at first whether he meant carvings, or Vargas, but he quickly elaborated, eyeing Attikias curiously. "Asimona made things of ice! STATUES," he added, proudly remembering the word. He eyed the carving again. It was well-made. Was Attikias offering to trade it, or about to; or was he merely carrying it about? "I burned a thing that looked like that. It wanted to fight, but it cannot fly," he offered--and then, to clarify, "but it was bigger. And NOT WOOD!" Dread then reared back his head and--laughed; that was the only word for it. It was a deep and coughing bellow of a laugh, and then he was back down on his wings again, blinking at Attikias.

"Are you trading that? -Did you make it? Or did you turn him into small wood with magic?" Dread leaned closer, inspecting the carving, wondering if somehow the Overseer had been magicked into a tiny statuette.

@Attikias

ATTIKIAS
violence for violence
is the rule of the beasts

When he noticed the dragon being very interested in his carving, he held it up higher for him to inspect. After all, it was pretty small compared to Dread. The way he moved reminded Attikias of an overgrown, scaly bird rather than fierce beast.

His voice told him differently. Even with his sub-par hearing, the dragon was still loud, but he'd manage. At least he knew what he was being offered? Attikias expected ice carving would be a bit harder, with the chance of it melting. Wood was solid- the only thing that could happen was it getting blunted or burned, really. Both things easy to prevent if you knew what you were doing.

"Like this?" The elf held the statue closer, inspecting it. There were things that looked like the Overseer? Funky. He startled, though, at the raise in volume, smiling but with his eyebrows furrowed together. "There's something out there bigger than this guy?- Or, shoot, you meant the figure, I uh- I misunderstood."

A lot of things were bigger than the wooden Overseer, but he'd never seen a thing that spoke that was close to the real deal. Maybe he hadn't looked hard enough.

Enough about his wonderings, though. "Oh- Yeah! And yeah, I made it. I was looking at this gem," he pointed with a free hand, squatting down with his tail laying flat on the rock. "I don't-- No, he's not tiny magic." He chuckled, putting it down in front of him, next to the transparent orange in question. "I thought you'd want one of yourself but if you want this one, I'll trade it! I... Can really only do wood, though."

He didn't touch the rough hunk of orange gem before him- not with Dread looking at him, but something about it caught his eye. It was like... A tiny fire. What if he somehow incorporated it into one of his carvings? That'd be a bit of a stretch but he could try it.

"I could... Show you how? Or I could try to make somethin' bigger so you don't have to squint so much." The offer was given- maybe this being was narcissistic to want a statue of himself. Or maybe there was a special someone? No way of telling.

@Dread

Dread eyed Attikias, and the translucent, orange gemstone he'd seemed to take a fancy to. No sooner had he finally noticed this, though, that Attikias hauled his attention swinging back the other way.

Toward himself.

It wasn't that the dragon was narcissistic, no; it was more that he was childlike, and the idea of a something like him, made in his own image, tickled his fancy greatly. It would be a novelty, a great toy, a thing to marvel at, if only because of its newness.

"YOU CAN CREATE ONE OF ME?" he cried, forgetting, in his excitement, to keep his damn voice down. Then he hesitated. "But would it not burn?!" ...Exactly why fireproofing a statue of himself was important, he did not say, but he seemed to come to a conclusion quickly nonetheless.

He seemed, even, nervous that what he had might not be enough. "If you will trade carvings for gemstones, or other things you need, I will buy as many as you can sell!" It could be brilliant, really; he could absolutely see Gembound wanting more to trade for beautiful statuettes rather than random scraps of leather or stone.

@Attikias