Carja craned her head to try to see, keeping her hands out of the way if she fidgeted, trying not to, though. She watched curiously, eyes big and inquisitive, before she looked at Azure questioningly.

"Um- okay," she said, "Is it bad? Why is it important?"

She crossed her paws before uncrossing them, trying her diddly-darn best to stay still, occasionally licking her lips, anxious to see the final result. At least she was already mostly covered in dye from her earlier attempts at doing so, and sniffed at the bottle Azure had.

"Hey, what's that?" she asked curiously, "Is it holding the water?"

That was amazing! She wanted one!

@Azure

Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:

mentions of

child death

abuse

violence

+

strong language

She was still trying to figure out how to explain all of this when Carja sniffed at the bottle. Azure smiled, with her eyes at least, as her clawed forelimbs carefully attempted to begin patting black dye all over Carja's skin.

"It's a bottle, yeah. My sister, Dip? She's a blacksmith. There's a couple blacksmiths in this cave; they can make all sorts of things. Dip makes armor, weapons, stuff like that. She's fixed things for the Collector, if you've heard of him," she added. It's how she'd gotten them their rather questionable wagon, for one thing. "She could probably make stuff for you, if you wanted. We sell it--trade it for things we need, like food and supplies."

Pat, pat, pat, the black footprints leaving their mark, slowly obscuring the gray, if allowed; and Azure tried to turn her mind to more serious matters. "Yeah, uh, kinda. Listen, I don't--know your family so I can't judge, or anything? But when I was a kid, just--a stupid kid, I thought something like that myself. My mother said stuff like that, but... she wasn't great. Uh. She was bad, in fact. She'd ask my brothers to do... bad things. Harmful things, to others. To prove our loyalty, and our, uh, 'love.' But she didn't love. It ended up with a lot of Gembound hurt, or dead, so... just keep an eye open for that sorta thing, yeah? Uh... Protect your family from themselves if they get outta hand. Don't just follow along. -Sorry if that's, you know, unasked-for advice but I wish someone had told me when I was a kid."

She didn't go through all the details, like how her own creation had been from a murdered fuckin' stone or how her 'brother' had turned out to be her dad who'd been forced to kill that stonebearer or any of that crap. Holy shit it was all grim, and this was meant to be happy dye time.

She just hoped her warnings weren't needed. It's just... well. "Just that 'family' and 'chaos' kinda sets off all my alarms, you know?" she explained, a little awkwardly. "That's how the ice dragon factored in, uh--I think she realized who my mother was and she almost killed me. I got better, at least. Normally dragons make me, you know, nervous after that, but you seem nice," she added.

...Topic change time!

"...So, uh, nose still gray, huh? Can I ask, um--why do you glow? Those parts? Like--these bits on your neck; what are those? They're cool," Azure added, pausing to inspect them.

@Carja

Carja blinked and shuffled, "Well... if it makes you feel better, they're kind of obsessed with snails. The leader, Sunny- or um, Voidmother, is a snail. She's so tiny and really really sweet, and is really nice to all of us. The only things she's ever gotten me to do are fly her around Cetus and through the caves because she's so slow. But my family don't really go anywhere. I love them, I do, but they're so... boring. So I'm going to do this because it feels... right? I guess."

She shrugged and smiled, "Thank you. If anything like that happens, I'll be sure to keep it in mind."

Carja lowered her head and tapped her nose, making a faint stripe up her snort, from her top lip nearly to her eyes, "Yeah! My friend Sunny can't see very well, so I want to make a little spot where my head and eyes are so she can see me better."

"Oh! My vents are super cool- I can use them to cool myself down or warm myself up really fast. If I'm too hot, I open them all the way, and if I'm too cold, then I close them."

She opened the vents, steam wafting up from them as she grinned, "I run a bit hot, but that's just because I'm a dragon. I'm water and ice, weirdly enough. But I guess it helps me stay warm?"

@Azure

"-Snails, huh? That's--nice. Uhh--I don't think I've ever met a snail," Azure remarked quietly. There was a smile in her voice as she worked.

Carja's description of the glowing vents had her peering curiously, pausing in her work to blink at them. "Huh. Never seen anything like them." Carja didn't comment on Asimona's prior attack, so Azure didn't mention it; maybe this dragon had never met her. She wasn't sure, and didn't really care--so long as the bitch never came back. When Carja mentioned the bare patch, though, she squinted. "For the--uhh--snail to see? I thought it was for your other family, the uh, bare patch--or am I missing--should there be two spots without it-?" Azure hesitated, confused; Carja'd given two reasons, both entirely different, so maybe she'd wanted two bare spots--or maybe it was both..?

"Okay, lemme get the glowing dye," she said, after a moment. It would take awhile but the dragon would eventually be covered in black--and now Azure wandered off, returning with the starlight dye. She started to apply this, too, slathering broad swathes of glittering 'stars' over Carja's hide everywhere she could reach. "Uh, can you--duck your head down here a little and, the wings if you want the... skin-parts done? Let me know if you want me to leave the whole wings un-dyed or what," she added, friendly. The hybrid leaned back, regarding the dragon-creature with a brief, critical eye. "It's looking good so far, though!" she decided, and then went back to work.

@Carja

Carja didn't say anything about Asimona because what her grandma had done and why she had done it was none of her business. She could see that the dragon was turning over a new leaf. Not only did Carja reunite her and Wyvern, but Asimona had a new child. Charon. A spiky little thing that really really liked to eat people's tails.

"It's both!", she said, "I want my nose grey for both! I hope my family recognizes me after this."

Which family? Both, she supposed. The Voidcrawlers and her family. She wondered if Svartis would like her new scales. She hoped so.

Carja lowered her head and stretched out her wings, "Could you leave the skin between my wing-fingers bare? They're sensitive, and I like their colors. And the fin on my tail!"

She raised her tail and waved it around, the two fins flaring out before she lowered her tail again. This was going well!

"Have you ever dyed your feathers?", Carja asked, "They're very pretty- I like how they shine blue and green."

She moved her head a bit so Azure could get at everything, tail wagging gently in excitement.

@Azure

It took time to apply the last of the dye, with Azure smiling gently with eyes and voice. "I like their colors, too," she assured Carja. "And I wouldn't worry; I'm sure they'll recognize you. You're hard to miss," and she offered a short laugh.

Splash, smear, swipe. "Me? Oh, naw, these are just my colors. I used to be more... dusty brown? I like these better, now. It's why I picked my name, it's like-... blue. I'm glad you like them." Her words trailed off, then, in concentration.

For a time she worked in silence, amiable and intent, lost in the work of an artist--dabs of starlight here, streaks across the dragon-beast's neck and flanks. She tried to distribute the starlight as best she could--a little less intensely-clustered than it might have been on a smaller creature, but the charcoal Carja'd brought meant it wasn't thinned, at least. It was black, really black, with streaks here and there like galaxies, and the white stars scattered evenly throughout.

At last Azure stepped back, squinting. She eyed over Carja from this angle and that, and then she nodded to herself. "Okay, here goes. Let me know if there's anything you want changed--I can change it--but lemme just... finalize this, for now." A breath, and concentration.

She felt it take--weaker than she would've liked, but a tentative sense through the spell didn't feel like the dye would fail, at least. And it looked good! At least in Azure's mind, and, she hoped, to Carja too. "What do you think?" she asked, at last; she'd done her best to leave all the teal glowing bits free, and to cover the gray--except that nose patch--in black sky and starlight.

@Carja

Carja raised her wings and turned her head, standing up and letting her tail swing around. She admired her claws, her scales, her lovely new colors, looking at everything she could. She grinned and ran her paw over it, admiring the dye as it stayed on her scales.

"It's... it's amazing!", she said, craning her neck to try and see her back and the new colors she had, "Oh my gosh- it's amazing!"

She wiggled around excitedly and walked around in a circle, neck stretching to gaze at her new colors, "Oh my gosh- this is even better than I imagined! It's like... It's like you took the starts of Orion and put them direction onto my scales!"

Carja laughed in delight and turned to Azure, grinning widely, "Thank you!! Oh thank you so much!"

"What do I owe you? I can hunt for you or get you fruit from Eridanus-", she said, unable to stop looking at her beautiful scales.

She had to show Svartis and Asimona and Dread- oh she hoped they loved how she looked now!! She could just barely see the grey on her snout, a constant, in-her-face reminder of where she came from. Her beautiful family, her friends. It was amazing.

@Azure

Azure laughed again. It wasn't often she was able to just sort of relax, to let her creativity flow and not feel pressured toward one thing or another. Well--aside from getting the paint right, but she'd ensured it was all in place before fixing it there, of course.

"I'm glad you like it. You don't owe me anything," and here she paused, considering good-naturedly as she eyed the strange dragon over. "-But I wouldn't say no to the fruit, maybe another time? You know, visit, and a chat? It'd let me make sure none of the dye is coming off, too," she pointed out. "But no rush, and you don't have to. It's... just good to see my stuff out there."

This was a little quieter, but no less earnest or content. There was enough pain and destruction in the world--it was nice to see something happy and new, something created instead, for a change.

@Carja

Carja cooed and nodded, "Okay!! I'll come back with the fruit once I'm back. I have to go to one of the caves near Polaris! Some stupid mushroom tried to hurt my family, so I'm gonna save them and beat it up!"

She grinned and flared her wings, looking like the night sky as she reared, readying herself to take off, "Bye, Azure! I'll make sure to be a hero in style!"

She offered only the gentlest of nose bumps, the tip of her snout as gentle as a breeze on Azure before she turned away and took flight, powerful wings lifting her into the air. She let out a roar, her bellow echoing around the cave, powerful and full of determination, her neck expanding and vibrating as she did. She snapped her jaws shut and rumbled, her sunshine-rainbows fairy voice completely contrasting the sheer power of the dragon and the deep, rumbling of her roar.

She waved one last time, smiling brightly, before taking off, wings flapping to allow her to surge upwards on the winds, riding them as if they were nothing.

Perhaps her colors weren't just that. Perhaps... they were warpaint.

@Azure
Exit Carja?

She watched her go, faint surprise in her. Mushroom..? Bemusement at the friendly bump, and her own farewell was a murmured thing. The roar had her flinching, scrambling back a few paces with a wince. That was a familiar sound, and an unpleasant one, and she found her feathers ruffled and a trembling running through her. No wave was returned, then--but it hardly mattered; from a distance, Azure's discomfort wasn't all that visible.

With a grimace she watched the dragon go. The dye was pretty, that was for sure; she thought she'd done a good job. She just wished Carja hadn't roared at the end.

With a shudder she turned, starting the long task of clean-up; some charcoal'd been left over, and she could use that much, at least...

Maybe in the future, there would be fruit. But hopefully no warpaint.

exit Azure