Survival of the Youngest

[Dream_Dragon]

Sparkly Scaler said nothing as the others discussed among themselves. She listened to the crunching sounds of grass under their stumbling paws (or hooves, in her case). She ducked her head hurriedly as a few flies buzzed past, twitching her ears. The forest seemed full of life and also a bit scary now. She looked around, spotting a few birds sitting on treetops, chirping and taking off to sit on another branch every now and then. She slipped for a moment, her hoof sliding into soft, wed mud and she hurriedly took it out, scraping most of the mud off on the damp, dark green grass. She looked up as one of the other hatchlings, the fierce blue one with grey paws, came up with an idea, that they should split up. She agreed that his idea made sense, but where would they meet? What if one group got lost?

 

"It-it's a g-good pl-plan, b-but...wh-where do we m-meet up la-later?" she asked, voicing her first question.

[skiddajane]

Noelle smiled at Madila. "Yeah.. I'm okay with it." She turned to face Calearn. "We will all meet back at the cave, when..the sun starts making pretty colors in the sky. I saw them when I first hatched, but they went away. I think they'll come back." She and Madila turned, and headed in a different direction than Calearn, Refrar, and Sparkly. "Like I said earlier, I think we...should head towards the thicker forest. What do you think?" She asked Madila as she waited for her to finish reasting.

Edited November 14, 2013 by skiddajane

[KoalaNoob]

Salta trotted to the cave's entrance; following Rale Rock. Food...What do I eat? What are we SUPPOSED to eat? Once Rale Rock turned around, she voiced her problem. "What do I eat? I don't wanna eat the yucky food that the stinky dragon would like." Stinky dragon? Oh yeah! I was mad at her! Oh well, it doesn't matter. I get food and she doesn't!

 

Running outside before she could get an answer, a strange, albeit delectable scent wafted into Salta's nostrils. Food. Fick? Shish? No...that's not it... Um...fosh? Fish? Fish! Yeah! I wanna eat the fish! So...where are the fish?... "I want the fish!" She wailed. Then suddenly, something else hit her, quite literally. A drop of water splashed onto her leg. Glancing wildly around, Salta couldn't find the cave's entrance. There what looked like a mound if rock, but no entrance. Where am I? Should I find the fish first? Or should I find the cave-inside first? Suddenly, a small creature leapt out of the water before returning to the murky depths with a quiet plop. Fish first.

 

Edited November 15, 2013 by KoalaNoob

[mipuppy1]

Malina gasped for air, she struggled to keep her eyes opened, to see, try to reach the sky with white puffy clouds floating lazily by. The short stubs that were suppose to be her arms and legs made quick desperate strokes, trying to reach the soft blue surface. Her lungs felt like they were on fire. She opened her mouth to scream, call for help, only resulting in getting a mouthful of water. She was sinking, she knew because everything was slowly getting dim, as if some unknown force was sucking all the light from her eyes, the world. Was this the 'night' she had heard so much about? Something told her it wasn't, that if she didn't reach the surface soon, she would stop 'living' cease and to exist.

What was 'living?' wasn't it suppose to be something wonderful? All Malina had known since she had woke wasn't anything wonderful at all, fighting, yelling, chaos, hunger, did anyone even acknowledge her existence? Was she being selfish? All she had done since she was 'born' was think about herself, why hadn't anyone noticed her? Why wasn't anyone nice to her? She had stood up for a cannibal, she had just ran out on them like that. Maybe then, she deserved what was coming for her.

Malina knew no one would miss her, they wouldn't even know that she was gone. Someone would have been sent. She could only hope them the best wishes now, for them to go places she would never be able to go, see the green lights in the sky, the vast endless ocean, the white sparkling sand of a beach, clear green waters, try all the delicious foods, anything and everything she wouldn't be able to do. She hoped that maybe they would do it for her, for them to live their 'lives' to the fullest.

 

Malina was in a dark room- a tunnel. There was a warm light at the end, it was quickly fading away. She didn't want it to go. She begun to move, walking and quickly picking up her pace until she was running. Until she finally caught up with it. It completely surrounded her before she knew,

I don't want to die yet!

Edited November 15, 2013 by mipuppy1

[Dream_Dragon]

Sparkly Scaler shifted awkwardly as Madlia and Noelle separated from them. Now what? She wasn't exactly sure if she knew how to hunt or if she even wanted to.

 

"S-so...umm, I g-guess we sh-should l-look for f-food n-now?" she asked. It was a rhetorical question; she only wanted to fill up the silence.

 

~~~

Rale Rock didn't have time to answer the Teimarr's question as she dashed off out of the cave towards the stream. He smiled, shrugging, and followed her, not noticing that they were going quite far away from the cave.

 

"F-fish?..." he murmured, watching the slender creatures swim along in the fast-flowing water, occasionally leaping out and splashing back in.

 

"H-how do we c-catch th-them?" Rale dipped his tail into the water, shuddering as the ice-cold temperatures of the water bit into his tail. However, it was to no avail as the fish merely swam around the tail. Some tried to turn back but the water pushed them onward. Tilting his head, Rale pulled his tail out, shrugging.

Edited November 16, 2013 by Dream_Dragon

[skiddajane]

((Sorry, no approved sprite yet))

 

Madeline:

 

Madeline had been watching everything from the comfort of the already broken egg. A few hours ago, the painfully cramped space turned into a cold, open, bright hollow. It was as if... she was missing something. Her other half, her best friend, warmth.... She had just come to the conclusion that she had once shared this cramped space with someone else. And she missed them. She wasn't sure exactly WHO "them" was, but she wanted to be near "them" again. She didn't want to leave the safety of the egg, and instead watched events unfold. One of the first things she noticed, was a dragon EATING one of the things she was inside of. Madeline made the connection right away. I come out of those things..... What if he had eaten me?!!! Her thoughts didn't last long, as she randomly fell asleep, being the baby dragon that she was.

 

Madeline woke up later, startled by the absence of someone again. She flexed her...two...tails. She stumbled out of the cracked eggshell, and wandered around aimlessly, trying to find her sibling. She needed the warmth and comfort of a familiar. NOW. As she was running around, she realized that there were other dragons in the cave. A little Pumpkin dragon, a Greenwing, a Dorsal, and an Olive. The Greenwing, she was afraid of. She simply sat down on her haunches, and looked at them, waiting for them to make the first move.

[GreatDragon]

 

The hatchling stopped as the glowing hatchling moved off of the ledge with an orange hatchling by its side. The other hatchlings were moving around, dispersing from the group that had been surrounding the green light hatchling.

 

And then another hatchling appeared from an already broken egg, causing him to flare his fin up in surprise.

 

Who that? Where from?

 

The confidence that he had felt when he had first started to make his way to the other hatchlings was fading away, and he suddenly wondered if he was supposed to get their attention. No one was looking at him or coming up to him.

 

What suppose to do? All others looking at different others, but I be ignore? I suppose to be ignore by others? Or I suppose to ignore others?

 

He sat down, his fin still flared up above his head. Twisting his head around this way and that, he could see the other hatchlings moving around and talking to each other, and some of them moved away from his line of sight, disappearing though a white opening.

 

One of the hatchlings near the white opening had yellow lights flickering around it, catching his interest. But then he turned his head to the hatchling that came out of the already cracked egg.

 

They were sitting and looking around, just like him.

 

Maybe not be ignore by that other. Or...yellow light other. But what other I ignore and what other I look at?

 

Switching his view between the moving hatchling and the sitting hatchling, he made up his mind. Shakily standing up, his legs still feeling heavy, he made his way to the hatchling that had came out of the broken egg.

 

Yellow light other might ignore me. I...I ignore yellow light other. Yellow light going through whiteness, so maybe they ignore me. Sitting other...might no ignore me. Might show me open close and be loud. Or no be loud, if other no like loud. But both fine, sitting other will look at me, no ignore me.

 

Stumbling up to the sitting hatchling, he closed and opened his dorsal fin quickly, wondering how he was supposed to greet another creature.

 

Thinking back to when he first came out of his egg, he remembered making some sort of noise. Deciding to try to recreate it, he started to make a rough purring noise, though he kept his mouth shut and thus muffled it.

[MasterWeavile898]

The creature was in the dark. It hadn't minded before, but it had just realized how much it abhorred the dark. Well, not abhorred, hate was such a strong emotion, the creature didn't want to hate. But it did want out of the dark. It began clawing at the edge of the darkness, trying to break through.

 

From outside, what the creature viewed as darkness was actually a glimmering golden egg. As the creature clawed the egg trembled, as if in anticipation. A small hole, about the size of a pencil, opened on its surface. The hole slowly widened as the creature chipped away at it's prison. After several minutes, the baby dragon finally tumbled unceremoniously out of its egg.

 

The creature nearly jumped at the brightness that suddenly show through as it finally poked its claw through the wall of the darkness. It wasn't so sure it liked light either. But it was too late to turn back. It clawed at the shell for some time before finally managing to slip through. The new hatchling took a moment to get its bearings; but once it had, it frowned in triumph.

 

But sadness wasn't the proper emotion for such a joyous occasion. Even the hatchling could see that. It pondered what it was supposed to do a moment. But pondering wasn't enough, it needed to feel. It tried being angry to no avail. Being so young, it could only think of one other emotion. It attempted to be happy, but it could not. Through its attempts it knew it should be happy. But it couldn't happy, not with the pain from hitting it's head on the way out. It was unsure how to change that, it had to continue being sad. The realization of this made it sadder.

 

After a little bit, the young tinsel couldn't perceive time properly yet, the pain in the hatchling's head subsided. He was finally able to be happy about his accomplishment. He smiled the brightest smile he would ever smile. And then his stomach rumbled.

So much stuff wants me unhappy. I guess new feelings are good too. But happy is the most good. But what to do about hunger so I can have happy more?

He seemed to be in a predicament, he had no clue how to get rid of hunger.

[skiddajane]

Madeline wasn't sure how to respond to the Dorsal, except for mimicking the noise it made. It came out a bit differently, and she wasn't sure if she was even supposed to be able to sound like that. After making the noise over and over, she decided to try making real words. She took a deep breath and gave it a try. "we best friends now we makey makie little noisies? Friendies forever yes?" It didn't really come out as she had expected, but she sat down and smiled anyway. She waited for him to respond, and examined her white scales. Something told her that she was called, a..... Swallowtail? Yes. But something was off.

[Narath]

((OOC: I'm sorry, but I've been a bit busy this past week. Anyone mind catching me up?))

[Kitkat10]

Tahbaki's heart dropped. Split up? They were all going to split up into the scary, dark unknown woods? Who knew what was out there! Tahbaki wanted to ask the other hatchlings for assistance, but he knew that they couldn't be bothered. They would probably shoo him off- and he didn't want that. He didn't know them much, anyways. He turned to Refar again. "M-mind if I tag along?" He asked.

[LegendOfKorraFan]

Kumma let out a loud chirp of excitement as the young Pumpkin hatchling pounced on his head. This dragon seemed to be the friendliest of all the ones he's met so far! This is definitely his brothers and sisters.

Note to self: refrain from eating any more of the eggs from the cave. It agitates the other dragons and I may eat a friend by accident

Kummaline batted his eyes at the orange blob on his head inquisitively as the glowing began to stop.

"D-d-do you-u-u li-ike m-m-me?" The Spotted Greenwing stammered.

Were those words? Speech! Thank goodness! Now I can share my knowledge with the others without looking like a bafoon!

Kumma's eyes lit up with excitement, but the feeling didn't connect to his face. A emotionless stare sat on his face, as if there was something dreadfully wrong. His face scrunched together, not to be silly, but it was tight. His black eyes peered into his friends, then he tilted his head to the side, opening his maw slightly.

"Vvvvvveeeeen-n-uss-s-s".

 

((I hope that's okay Doc. If not, then please let me know [regarding Kumma "calling" her 'Venus']))

[HomeForFlowers]

The Pumpkin tilted her head at the Spotted Greenwing's words.

"Wvenus?" she replied, trying to mimic his words. "Wenus? Quenus? Vvvvenwus?" The Pumpkin sat down on her rump with a snort. She twitched her nose and stared into the Greenwing's eyes. They seemed to be a plain black, a dip into the endless beyond. Her own green eyes, dancing with hues and contrast of greens, started into the pits. The Pumpkin chirped and rubbed her head. An itch had formed there and she was not enjoying it. She dug her needle sharp claws onto the scales and scratched back and forth in an effort to be rid of the itch,

 

((OOC: It's fine, but discuss it with me next time. I didn't exactly give you permission to do so.))

[Dream_Dragon]

"Sure, wh-why not?" Sparkly shrugged, answering Tahbaki's question without noticing that it had been directed at Refrar. She was looking around elsewhere before her gaze rested on Calearn. She walked up to him, her hoofsteps still a little clumsy. She didn't say anything, but she was wary of his presence.

 

~~~

Rale found his question unanswered as Salta just sat there, looking at the fish. He shrugged to himself and faced the stream. Leaning over, he caught his reflection in the water. Curious, he batted at it and his reflection rippled. Tilting his head, he put his wet paw back on the ground but he slipped...and splashed right inside the stream.

Edited November 18, 2013 by Dream_Dragon

[GreatDragon]

 

He smiled and raised his fin up in excitement, continuing to trill little noises with the white hatchling.

 

"we best friends now we makey makie little noisies? Friendies forever yes?"

 

Tilting his head, the hatchling sat down with the other hatchling, tail flicking against the ground.

 

Friends? Friends nice, best friends better nice? Forever friends best better nice? If, then yes. Friends forever, going be best friends forever, then all best nice. Make loud-noisies-make friends, best friends.

 

Nodding his head quickly, the hatchling tried to copy the other hatchlings sounds. Opening his mouth wide, tiny fanged teeth flashing, he gurgled a few mixed words.

 

"Kwe bresththss frithends. Meke leetle looudsss."

 

It excited him that he actually was making noise close to what was being said by others and he hopped to his feet, flexing his little claws into the ground.

[Shibadruid]

((OOC: Once again, sorry for not posting, but I have a lot to juggle))

 

Madlia smiled as she stood up once more, and replied, sure, Noelle. A-also, since t-there are others now, m-maybe we could bring s-somebody else? Then, turning to the Balloon hatchling, she asked, d-do you want to j-join us? Stretching her weak limbs, Madlia started padding towards the deeper forest, keeping an eye out for berry bushes. The Balloon hatchling would make finding berries much easier.

 

~~~~~

 

Calearn shrugged at the question of how to hunt, and replied, I-it's easy. Y-ou just f-find a l-little a-animal, and u-use y-your claws to k-kill it. Ugh. W-why c-can I o-only s-speak when I-i'm a-angry? Irritated, Calearn began to walk briskly in the opposite direction of the other group, ignoring the Horse hatchling for the moment. If they didn't want to kill things, then tough. They'd just have to starve.

 

((OOC: Calearn, always the hot-head.))

[skiddajane]

Madeline smiled even bigger at the hatchling. She tried to make bigger words, now.

"I..am...Maddie...line...madline..madeline. I..a..swallowed..tail....swallowtail. What are you?" She was sounding more sophisticated already! Feeling proud of herself, she momentarily forgot about her lost sibling.

[GreatDragon]

 

"I..am...Maddie...line...madline..madeline. I..a..swallowed..tail....swallowtail. What are you?"

 

Turning his head, fin only halfway up, he went over the other hatchlings words.

 

Maddie, Madeline mean white other, mean...Swallowtail? Yes...Madeline mean white mean Swallowtail...Then, what I?

 

Sitting down again, lost in thought, the hatchling tapped his tail on the ground in an unconscious rhythm. After a few seconds, he turned his attention to the Swallowtail and opened his mouth, trying to form clear words.

 

"KkI...Ki...I...Shorsal? Thuorsal? Dorsal? Dorsal!" Nodding his head quickly, he continued on in excitement. "I Dorsal...caand...errr....rrrrr...rri...Rim? Riim? Rim! I Dorsal aand Rim! Rim!"

 

The newly appointed Rim tapped his tail on the ground happily, watching Madeline.

[skiddajane]

Madeline:

 

Madeline was interested in his species. His fins were so pretty! Purple! A Purple..Dorsal. A purple purple dorsal. She couldn't contain her joy, and simply started shouting it for the world to hear. "Purple! Purple! Purple! Purple! A Purple Dorsal! So pretty!!" Why was she getting so excited about this? She didn't care, she really liked purple. She went up and poked his fin, and giggled. "Poke." She said. She poked him again. And again. "Poke, poke, poke, poke, pokepokepokepoke!" Purple felt cool.

[MasterWeavile898]

(OOC: no, I don't think it's ever too late to join. Grab the charrie sheet from the first post, fill it out, and PM it to Shiba)

[GreatDragon]

 

"Purple! Purple! Purple! Purple! A Purple Dorsal! So pretty!!"

 

Rim was surprised by the excitement that Swallowtail was showing. His fin flared up and the membrane showed off his purple coloring.

 

I purple? Purple Dorsal? Pretty purple Dorsal? I pretty?

 

"Poke, poke, poke, poke, pokepokepokepoke!"

 

The hatchling stayed put as Madeline poked his fin, wondering what was so special about it.

 

Fin pretty purple? I purple Dorsal fin that pretty to Madeline?

 

Raising his head a little higher, tail curled on the ground, Rim kept his fin up.

 

I pretty to Madeline! Pretty Purple Dorsal! I pretty!

 

A scent distracted him from his thoughts and Rim lifted his head up, opening his mouth slightly.

 

Taking a few steps forward, the Dorsal hatchling tilted his head to the right, trying to see past a few eggs that were grouped together. It was rather close to the ledge that the glowing green hatchling had been at and the scent smelled funny.

 

Funny smell. Weird funny smell. Kind of...nice? Yummy, maybe?

 

Glancing at Madeline, Rim took another step forward.

 

Madeline smell it? Funny smell, weird and nice.

 

When his eyes did get past the eggs, however, he flared his frill up in surprise and shock. He lowered himself to his belly, staring wide eyed at what seemed to be another hatchling, except it didn't look right.

 

A little ways away from it was a broken egg, shattered into sizable bits, and fluid was leaking from it and soaking into the ground. The hatchling itself had its neck, chest, and side torn up, red speckling the area around it and its pale skin. The fluid around it was streaked with red and yellow veins, and the creatures stomach was distended.

 

Rim started to tremble at what seemed to be the most horrific image he has ever seen. He had two different inputs attacking each other in his head. On one side, the scent surrounding the place and the creature smelled good, giving him the thought that it was supposed to look that way. On the other side, the image was making his sentience go into a panic, as if the creature was supposed to be something that he interacted with.

 

"Ma-Maddelinee...."

 

(Changed it up because I forgot about the dead hatchling lying around.)

Edited November 26, 2013 by GreatDragon

[GreatDragon]

(Bumb?)

[Dream_Dragon]

<OOC: Why do things always (most of the time) stop moving the very second I disappear? Also, sorry Shiba for posting an OOC here...the last post in the OOC topic was by me and I don't like to double-post ('cause it's against the rules...right?)...>

 

Sparkly Scaler glared at the Royal Blue's back. "Alright, smart guy, then what do I do with hooves then? Just slam them into 'some animal'?" Reluctantly, she clip-clopped behind the Royal Blue. Much as she would have liked to go away from him, she knew that now wasn't the time to get separated. They needed to keep together. Sparkly made an irritated click with her mouth as she scanned the bushes for any kind of possible prey. What would make prey? Small animals? Right. What kind of small animals should she kill? What if prey was scarce here? Sparkly shook her disturbing thoughts from her head. She should concentrate, right? Right.

 

~~~

Rale Rock gasped, his senses frozen by the sudden shock of cold from the water. He waited for himself to sink, to plunge down into the unknown. Instead he stayed there, head above the water. Puzzled, he looked down. Then, he smiled with relief.

 

He'd only fallen into a shallow part of the river! "Phew!" Stretching out his paws, he pulled himself slowly out of the water and flopped by the riverside, panting. He curled up, trying to gain some warmth. It didn't even occur to him to shake of the rivulets of water that were running down his scales. "I...I'm so stupid..."

Edited November 28, 2013 by Dream_Dragon

[LegendOfKorraFan]

Kummaline nudged the Pumpkin dragon with his black muzzle, trying to take her mind off of whatever she was thinking of.

"H-h-hungggr-y!" he spat angrily.

Kumma was pleased with his stead grasp of speech, but what was he to eat? He couldn't eat eggs, hatchlings; but what else was there to eat?

"Let's g-g-go p-ple-eease. I-I wan-nt food".

Kumma wedged his snout under Venus's belly and wiggled her down his neck onto his back.

I like this one; she seems rather adequate to be my friend.

[Kitkat10]

Relieved, the balloon dragon trotted closely behind the canopy. "S-sure. I would love to join.." Tahbaki licked his lips at the thought of fresh fruits and berries of all kind. He eyed some oranges hanging from a tree at the end of their stem. They looked delicious, but sadly, he couldn't fly and he didn't know any strategies that could get them safely back down. Maybe they could climb? He sighed. No, they were probably all too weak for that. Then, something popped up in his mind. Of course! He was a balloon dragon! He didn't need wings! He could push some air into his stomach and bam!.

It was a great idea, but last time that happened, he couldn't even control himself! He was just twisting and twirling through the air. As much as he'd love to get those fruits, Tahbaki decided it would be a while before he'd get back into the air again. His thoughts dissipated and his gaze drifted to the colorful, vibrant markings on the female canopy's legs. 'Pretty..'