Skull listened closely as Dragon explained both the area and what lay in the water. She perked up at the knowledge of a great leviathan in the water and wondered what they were like. She discarded the information to think about later and focused on Dragon again.

Skull's nose scrunched slightly at the stench of rotting meat, having not even smelled fresh kill yet. It was... odd. Bad in a way that suggested that it could possibly be food, should she be adventurous enough to try it. She slid off of Dragon and inspected the pile, and made her way to a carcass that was fresher, possibly a day or so old. She sniffed at carefully before grabbing it in her jaws and dragging it back over to Dragon, trying to fit it all in her mouth as once before realizing that it was physically impossible.

She circled the animal and grunted a few times before grabbing it and shaking, managing to tear off a sizable chunk. She repeated the motion until nearly half of it was gone and her tummy was full and visibly plump, and she slid herself towards Dragon again, seeking the safety of a parent's protection.

"... Is they nice?", she asked, referring to 'father'.

Perhaps in the future, they could meet, but for now, she wanted to stay as near to Dragon as was physically possible. She managed to pull her heavier body onto Dragon's back with a bit of effort, kicking her back legs out to try and hop up. She settled once she was back on top of the larger alligator and flopped down, not tired yet, but too new to have a lot of energy.

@Dragon

He watched carefully as she ate, a guardian's eye on her yet again. And when she returned he tilted himself, a bit, to allow her to clamber aboard.

As she questioned him--one, small set of words--he pushed off and turned, drifting with lazy sweeps of his tail out over the Heart of Cetus.

"Is Father nice-?" Dragon asked, thoughtful, unsure if he had the right question. If that's who the child was even asking of. "Aquarian has promised to be our ally, if we serve him," Dragon replied, slowly.

He hadn't, of course, actually ever helped them. And Dragon's own son, reporting back on his mutilation and on Nemean's bitter words, had told him that Aquarian was merely using them. Dragon didn't believe it; Nemean was the Betrayer, after all. But Aquarian had only been called upon for true aid once or twice and of those times, once he'd simply screamed and hidden back beneath the surface. All three hundred feet of him.

"He has never harmed any of us, but he sleeps, mostly. He is very loud," the alligator added, with a rumbling laugh.

Aquarian's screeches could tear the leaves off trees.

For a moment, he drifted on in a silence broken only by the quiet ripple of water trailing in the movement of his tail.

"When I was young, I wished to be like him, when I grew up: larger, even. His head is almost as long as my entire body. That means he is very large," Dragon explained, just in case that wasn't clear.

Somewhere below, Aquarian was resting: one hundred meters of coiled serpent, all teals and yellows in a riot of color, his life a knot of sleep, hunger, and screaming, in that order.

@Skull

Skull looked down at Dragon and listened carefully, a scrap of meat hanging out the side of her mouth from her meal. She didn't seem to notice quite yet.

She thought about how it might be to be so large. She saw a few fish swim away in the water and watched a lesser bird of some kind drift through the trees. She hummed and shook her head.

"I... no want big. Don't want big,", she said, trying to correct herself, "Want to be like you!"

Skull rubbed the bottom of her jaw against Dragon's head and scooted forward to rest on it, pushing her upper body to try and see further. Though... maybe being less squat would be nice. Their forms had pros and cons.

"... Dragon?" she asked, shifting gently, "... Can we sleep? Find place to sleep?"

She felt a yawn part her jaws and snapped up the bit of meat that fell before curling up on Dragon's back, "Thank you."

@Dragon

Dragon blinked, taken aback--insulted, indignant, though in a half-humorous fashion. "I AM big," he replied, then laughed briefly. "Not as large as our father, but I am large. And yes, we can find a place."

He paused, testing his magicka, for a moment. It came--he felt the wisps of black-red chaotic energy flickering up--and he grunted. "Get down; come here, so that I can carry you. I won't harm you," he added, and waited.

If Skull allowed it, he'd take the little one up in his jaws, and then extend his magic out properly: a black-and-crimson flash of dragon's wings, of horns twisting back from his head, draconic. And then he would take flight, a fairly vertical, languid, yet still swift-enough travel inland, away from the deeper water and toward one of the quieter, more remote enclaves of twisted roots and marshy channels. Somewhere they could hide; somewhere he could set the hatchling gently down, before alighting himself, and safely rest.

If Skull doesn't allow it, it's fine, I can edit/respond accordingly!

@Skull

Skull grinned, a big toothy thing as she nodded, "Very big! Bigger than me!"

She flopped off of Dragon's back and swam towards his mouth, tail wiggling and limbs flying in every direction. She crawled into his mouth and settled there were it was nice and warm, and let her head rest between his teeth, her tail hanging out of his mouth still. She startled when they took flight, not prepared for the sudden lurch away from ground, and tensed, stiffening in fear.

Skull relaxed the moment they touched ground again and practically threw herself out of Dragon's mouth, shaking herself off as she gasped, "That was... grrrrr."

She had no word to describe 'scary', so she simply growled and thrashed her tail before stomping her way over to Dragon to glare at him a bit bitterly. Though it didn't last long, for a yawn once again made her pause to assess her exhaustion. She made her way to his belly and curled up against it, eyes remaining open while she waited for Dragon to settle in. Apparently forgiveness came easily when you were a source of comfort.

The hatchling's eyes drooped and she snuggled further into Dragon's side as she fell asleep, her little chest rising and falling as her nostrils flared gently.

Exit Skull to sleep unless stopped.

@Dragon

Dragon's wings and horns receded, and as the hatchling offered him a sputtering growl, he laughed in turn. "That is flight, little one. But you are safe, here; you can rest, and I will watch over you."

When she woke, perhaps he could tell her of Cetus, and the Children, of his family; but he was unsure that, at her age, she would even comprehend. Apparently her language was still, in part, instinctive sounds, as his had been--though his had been the hissing, chirping and snapping of an alligator and not... growling. Odd.

He settled himself, then, sinking into the wet muck and dropping into that lethargic, awake-but-not state where he would become aware of any changes. It was a sort of primal ambush-hunter state, one without thoughts or dreams--but thoughts passed by him now and then, even so. Planning, mostly: what would he do with the child? Why did it have white on it? Were they safe, for now, against any Masters that might pass through?

He stayed quiet, though, and he let Skull sleep; and then he receded into indifference.

exit ambush hunter alligator