Electrum


There had been far too much conflict lately for his taste. Too much strain, scarring, drama, and general uncertainty. The lapis dragon has been sitting on an idea for... quite a bit to make his life easier, and hunting safer for his mate and daughter.

Keeping food in a hole.

Well, kind of a hole. He realized after some quick thought that whatever he caught needed to eat, too, or it would die as well. So, he goes looking for some more grassy dunes, or a formation of rocks that made a bowl of some sort with moss and grass in the center. Something he could simply make into more with less effort.

Electrum would never been subtle even before his mutations, but now he's even more flashy, glowing subtly from markings all up and down his body that compliment his mate's and daughters, and nodes up and down his back along his fin a bright gold like his blood. They weren't weak points by any means, but generated more electricity than he was used to, making him feel wary about approaching water until he's got the new muscles and such under control.

The now even more gold and blue fins are raised high as he scales across the sands, enjoying the feeling of his scales buffing beneath him and the warmth soaking into his body. He's got lines that look like curling currents across his body, gold scars and missing scales along them from the Kraken battle, and the underside of his jaw is streaked with Lichtenberg scars of a similar hue from his own magic.

Surprisingly, though, he's not pausing to admire himself in any tide pools or turn to stare at his scales- he's on a mission.

First thing's first, then- to find some grass, or some dunes covered in it, he could use as a base for his ideas.

Electrum

Finally, he finds a broad enough stretch of beach that he feels he could start... something, here. There's some shrubbage up against the rocks, and the cliff is sheer enough that he doesn't thing anything will be able to climb it... right?

So, that leaves blocking the beach to the sides with some sort of wall, or fence, and then seeing what the different deer eat... lots of work.

But, one step at a time.

One thing at a time. First thing, then. Block off the beach... maybe rocks would be a good start near the water. Big ones, that won't wash away and will hold the sand in place for some dirt on it, maybe. Oh, he'd have to go get the dirt from under the trees up further, wouldn't he?

All the effort seems less and less appealing, until he remembers the scarring on his family.

Right.

Rocks first, then.

He takes a deep breath, and opens his fins wide in an attempt to start whatever process he's got going on in those new nodes down his spine, and it... kind of sparks.

Electrum manages to fire off a decent arc of electricity higher up the cliffs, of course after going closer to the water to ensure he doesn't get crushed by whatever boulders result.

Haven swooped over the potable water below, her talons skimming the water as she followed the scent trail of her mate. She perched in a tree for a moment, hung upside-down like a bat as she heard the struggles of her mate. Falling rocks to be precise.

She came in from above, absolutely silent with mischief on her mind. She snapped out her wings and let them billow so she didn't crash into her mate, and instead tackled him as gently as possible, cackling like mad.

"Did I scare you?", she asked with a bright smile, wings mantled as she found a nice spot on her mate's back to lay down on, perfectly happy to do so. Even better if it meant Electrum had to lay down too.

"What are you doing?", she asked, setting her head on his shoulder and nuzzling into his neck, purring and grumbling happily, practically rolling all over him. She was very affectionate today.

@Electrum

Electrum

He watches the rocks fall, as many as he has toes on his rear legs, so... a satisfying amount. Fofr now, at least. Unless tides change when he brings back his-

"OOOHF-" he nearly opens up another shock on whomever grabbed him, recent memories of lashing limbs fronting his mind until the scent and sensation of his mate fully registers in his mind. So, he remains still in whatever position Haven's little tackle put him in, and he chuckles, winding his head back up to nuzzle her in turn and rumbling happily deep in his chest.

Electrum lets that hum rumble into a chuckle before he responds, "Yes you did, dear, startled me enough that I nearly shocked you. As for what I'm doing- Ow, careful, watch that scar there dear - I'm making a pen for some deer. I have an idea to make sure all three of us can hunt more regularly, and... well. Safely. I never really liked hunting the way I did, it was quite the journey, so... I decided that I could bring a bunch here to keep for eating."

He shrugs as best her can with her perched on his back, and he sighs, laying his head down in the sand. "It's turning out to be more complicated the more I think on it."


@Haven

Haven shifted off the scar in question and instead tucked herself under one of Electrum's wings, purring and trilling happily, her throat expanding out into a lovely display for her beloved mate.

"That's a nice idea," she cooed, "Bringing the deer in to catch easier. Might end up making us fat, though."

She giggled and bumped her head into his, her new ear-like nubs on her head waving back and forth. The mutations from the city were doing her so much good now. Her burned skin had taken away so much of her sense of touch, but with the new feelers, it had returned. Not to mention the lights that occasionally dotted her skin.

"Do you need some help?", she asked, moving to preen him, picking sand out of his scales and any mites or debris that was stuck in them.

@Electrum

Electrum

Cupping his wing around his mate, he tries to pull her in towards his body and give her the wiggly draconic equivalent of a hug, before loosening his grip and allowing her to move as she deems fit. Her grooming him gets a smile, so he presses the front of his snout against her neck and he crinkles his nose in a grin. Then he uses his barbells to do the same to her, his tongue flicking out every so often to dislodge anything he locates.

"I'd rather be fat than risk breaking a wing, or getting hurt... anywhere near as badly as we did with that Kraken thing," he sighs between soft licks before pulling back to eye his handiwork with a critical eye, and his own markings thrumming in time with hers in contentment. "Though, help would be nice. It's going to be quite the undertaking since we need to bring a bunch of them back here... alive."

Electrum sighs, and looks at the fallen rocks. "We also need to make a pen big enough to fit the whole bunch of them, around... what? Three toe counts? Maybe four. So that's eighteen. A.. lot of deer and some of the plants they eat.... oh boy..." his whole body droops, and he lays his head back down into the sand to pout. "I should learn how to grow things with magic... instead of blow things up. That would make life easier here..."

He's not whining, or sulking. Of course not. He's responsibly bemoaning things like an adult dragon does.

... he's whining.

@Haven

Haven hissed, though not unkindly. More of an audible wince than anything.

"Don't remind me...", she mumbled, fluffing her wings as her scars twinged. None of them were as horrendous as the ones on her face and shoulders, though.

"Anyway, plant magic would be useful," she hummed, "Or we could start a crop. We could grow things they eat or gather from the forests. Or we could build a huge fence around a chunk of forest!"

She grinned at him, "That way they have more room and we can still sort of hunt them."

She purred and kneaded the ground, her tail lashing behind her as she snuggled under the other, bumping up against his chin with a coo. Haven playfully nipped at his chin and rolled onto her side, pawing at him and trying to get him to reciprocate.

@Electrum

Electrum

He winces in time- yeah. Bad memories indeed, he's just glad no-one died from all of that.

"I don't know how to do any of that, I was thinking of changing some of this beach here..." he swings his head and tail sidewise to indicate the stretch of beach they're on, decently flat and backed by the cliff with shrubbery. "It's got one wall already that they can't climb, I don't think, and then the rocks you heard me blast down can be used as part of the wall with a fence over it- I have no idea if anything in this cave will want to eat the herd, so it's got to be hard to get in and out until I know this is all worth the effort."

A snort, then, at Haven pressing against him, and it devolves into a giggle as she paws at him, and hips back at the side of her jaw in return in good fun. "We should get moving, Haven, if we get started I won't have the energy to finish this project fast enough to be happy with it. I'd... uh. Like to at least get the fencing ready to make above the rocks by the time the lights go dim."

Oh, he'd love to play, chase Haven through the surf and sand, but he's feeling... some sort of responsible, some sort of... guilt.

So, he rubs up under her chin with his snout, careful of his horns, and then he steps away - only to flick her across the chest teasingly with his tail fin.

Heh.

"Fencing off a part of the forest would be good, but that risks other not knowing the herd is managed by someone, or like I said earlier, some predators. I've seen signs of something big in this cave, other than the Gembound we know. It makes my scales stand on end."

@Haven

Haven nodded gently and sighed, "You're right, as per usual. That damned Dread would probably eat everything. Stupid, fat, dumb-"

She stalked forward, spitting obscenities as she pawed at the sand, tail lashing. She was still more than a little pissed at that.

"Just tell me what to do-", she said, only to get whapped by a tail.

"Hey!!", she squawked, and crouched down, butt wiggling, "I'll get you for that!"

She lunged forward, jaws open but teeth not extended, meaning this was all for play. She tried to tackle Electrum again, unable to help but giggle like an idiot.

"Graaawr!!", she shouted, not a true roar in the slightest, moreso a spoken one instead, only serving to make her laugh more than to add to her 'ferocity'.

@Electrum

Electrum

Electrum can't help but chuckle at Haven's irritation, glad he's not the only one with a livid rage- and knowing that she's angry instead of scared makes him feel better in some... odd way.

Her promise to get him back, though, gets a raspberry blown in her direction, then he tries to sprint away.

But of course. Sand. He has no traction, gets nowhere, and he takes Haven's pounce full force to the side with a loud, "WhhhuuUOPF-"

By the caves he loves her.

Tucking his fins tight against his body to ensure he doesn't get pinned by them, he makes an attempt to wrap his whole body around her in a sort of spiral to attempt to gain an upper hand and barely gets a grip in the sand, most likely drawing the two equal instead of completely flipping himself on top like he'd planned.

He mirrors her playful roar in turn, humming before the joking, "Grrrar!" he makes back, before devolving into absolutely gleeful chuckling at the amount of sand and what looks like some dried sea kelp draped around them from their tussle.

A few deep breaths after some laughing, and he manages out- "Okay, okay. I deserved that, but we really do need to focus- let's line up the boulders I blew down, and see if they're enough for my idea first and foremost. I'm flying by my fins here..."


@Haven