Survival of the Youngest

[Aether_Tea]

 

The piercing screech that burst forth from one of the eggs was all it took to send the pygmy hatchling skittering away. He rocketed out of the cave, bounded down the hill leading up to it, and came to a rest after tumbling snout-first into the tall grass. He took a moment to collect himself, his chest heaving as he gulped down air, and then finally glanced around himself.

 

Or rather, he tried to. The grass, dry and whispering in the breeze, towered over him. Carefully, he sat back on his haunches and wobbled like a drunkard as he struggled to keep his balance. He rose, haltingly, until his eyes just barely peeped over the grass and the tips tickled his nose. While he could make out the looming forest at the edge of the clearing, it felt as if the meadow stretched on forever.

 

It was the crickets, though, that drove him to investigate. Their cacophony of chirps was so bizarre that it lured him closer to the woods. It was slow going, no matter how he tried to make his way over; trying to bound over and through the grass drained him of energy and resulted in a nasty bump more often than not, but nosing through the weeds only made slow, creeping progress. It felt like ages before the shadows of the trees fell on him, and even longer until he was actually scrabbling up on to the root of one.

 

It was such a drastic shift for the newly hatched; the air here was cool and rich, and the leaves fluttered softly in the breeze. Some part of him wondered if the woods could speak to the meadow – they certainly sounded like they were trying to share some secret with one another, and the thought of being privy to it sent a tingle down his spine. He had no idea how he'd figure out what they were saying, or how important it was, but he was absolutely certain there had to be a way to learn the language.

 

He plopped down at the base of the tree and stared up at it for a long time, hissing along with the rustle of the leaves, when a snapping of sticks and a different kind of rustling caught his attention. Several yards away, the pygmy hatchling could make out what looked like some kind of wriggling vine. It was black and flecked with green splotches, and from where he sat it looked like it was coming directly from one of the larger bushes. He sank down on to all fours and slunk closer, snaking through the grass until he was nearly upon the vine.

 

Then, all at once, he lunged at the wriggling thing and chomped at it with all of his (seriously lacking) strength! It wasn't until afterward that he'd realize the “vine” was actually Kumma's tail.

[HomeForFlowers]

Venus let out a savage squeal as there was sudden vibration coursing through her companion's body. She crawled out of the cradle of his back and made her way to his hindquarters. She glanced down from the black mass to see a small yellow shape, close to her size, batting at her friend's tail. At first, Venus wasn't sure how to respond. But now, that she thought about it, Venus began to feel negative towards this hatchling. Would it be like the other loud ones? That big blue one was mean to Kumma and her. Was it going to hurt them.

No! I won't let it.

Feeling protective of the larger hatchling, Venus leaped down from his hindquarters and let out a vicious hiss at the other hatchling. It sounded pitiful in all honesty, but, to Venus, it was her only way of startling the pygmy and, possibly, making him retreat.

[Aether_Tea]

 

The pygmy hatchling lurched back at Venus' sudden appearance, all hostility towards Kumma's tail draining away and rapidly being replaced by fear and confusion. Whether or not Venus's hiss had been vicious or not scarcely mattered to him -- he had been caught completely off guard.

 

The pygmy bounded backwards a pace, nearly tumbling over himself as he tried to whirl around to hiss back. The sound died in his throat the moment he caught sight of her, though, and he cocked his head to the side as he drank in her appearance. While he had no idea what he actually looked like, he could tell that they were at least similar. They were both small and orange. They both hissed. They both even had all four legs, not two like one of the other hatchlings he had glimpsed back in the cave.

 

So he plopped his little butt down on the grass and let out a cooing chirp of curiousity.

Edited December 11, 2013 by Aether_Tea

[LegendOfKorraFan]

Kummaline yipped as the Pygmy hatchling chomped on his tail. The Spotted Greenwing threw himself into the sickly brown bush.

What in the world was that?!

Kumma flinched as the jagged thorns nipped at his soft scales. It was an unpleasant sensation that made him uncomfortable, yet intrigued him. It was interesting to him that there were all these feelings that he could feel, and not just hunger.

Note to self; avoid things that look similar to the things on the thing I am inside of, he casually thought to himself.

Adjusting his focus back on the orange dragon that attacked his tail, he noticed that Venus had assaulted it! But why on Earth would she do that?

"Venu-!".

Hush yourself! This would be an excellent time to learn! Time to be observant!

Kummaline sat in the bush silently and watched the two attentively, studying their every move, and asking himself thoughtful questions along the way.

 

--------------------------------------------------

 

Liliana was livid at this point. She was tired, frustrated, and definitely wanting out of her egg. Now.

Liliana placed both of her hind hooves on the softest part of his prison and proceeded to kick and claw and smash until...

Crack! Crunch!

 

 

Liliana practically flew out of her shell! The Hellhorse laid there limp as the life giving oxygen filled her weak lungs. She had used all of her strength just to break through a thin film that held her captive all this time! Liliana groaned in pain as a dull rock pushed against her ribs.

Edited December 11, 2013 by LegendOfKorraFan

[HomeForFlowers]

Venus let her tongue flicker out as the other hatchling watched her curiously. It didn't seem to be attacking anymore.

Maybe that's a trick! Maybe it's waiting for me to lower my guard!

Venus cocked her head to the side. Not that she looked at it, she realized just how similar it and she were. They were both smaller than the other hatchlings, they were orange, and had the same body structure. This other hatchling didn't have Venus's glittering green eyes, but it was more similar to her than any other hatchling. But, yet...

He still attacked Kumma. I can't trust him... just yet.

"Whuv ar you?" Venus asked, her words starting to become more formal. Venus let her hackles lower and she let her claws slide back in. If this hatchling did attack, she would have the advantage. He was sitting and she was standing. He had to get up and attack while she could just let he claws come out and bite him.

[Aether_Tea]

 

The pygmy's head tilted to the other side as he tried to make sense of Venus' words, his gaze shifting between her and the larger one he'd chased into the bushes. Pride welled up in his chest for just a moment as he realized, yes, he had chased a bigger hatchling into hiding. The thought dominated his mind until he remembered he was supposed to be answering something.

 

Oh. Yes. An answer. He snapped his attention back to Venus, cooing and chirping wordlessly, in a vain attempt to let her know he was thinking on it, and then started to glance around. He understood she wanted to know what -- who? He was, and some part of him understood that that meant he needed a name.

 

His gaze drifted upwards as he scrabbled for anything-- an unsurprisingly difficult task for a creature so new to the world -- and he caught sight of the sun again. He strained for words, but the only thing that wormed its way forwards was a quiet understanding of fire, instinctual for most dragons. "Ember," he murmured as he thought. Another word sprang to mind, and he added, "Thief. Emberthief. Emberthief!" The name delighted him, and he quietly chanted it over and over until it sounded just right to his ear. Then, he remembered the other hatchlings and grew quiet. After a moment he mimicked Venus' question, "Whuv are you?"

[Spark-Dragon]

As he heard the trill, the hatchling tried again to mimic the noises, but they came out much lower and rougher, they didn't sound as happy and friendly. A low grumble he made tickled his throat but never the less he tried again. Why couldn't he make such funny sounds?

 

Then the finned one started circling him and he watched, what was he doing?

All of this confused him, but he didn't like how he had to turn around every time the other hatchling disappeared behind him!

He got up and started turning with the finned one, using his front legs for balance.

 

One more time he tried to make sound, a low purring came from his throat, but it sounded like none of the noises the finned one made.

[GreatDragon]

 

Rim listened as the other hatchling seemed to reply to him, making its own sounds. They sounded really interesting, different from his own trills but in a intriguing way. It tried to follow him as he circled around it.

 

Stopping abruptly, he stuck his face in the other hatchlings face, flaring his fin up. To him, it seemed like the hatchling was copying him. It wasn't exactly a bad thing, but it was fascinating to Rim. Madeline hadn't tried to copy him, but maybe that was because she was a 'Swallowtail'.

 

Maybe Swallowtails don't copy others. Maybe others copy others.

[HomeForFlowers]

Ember thief? What was that? His name? Venus was puzzled as the pygmy quietly chanted the name to himself.

Why would you put two words together to form a name? Why not use just one word? It sounds silly when you put two words together...

"Whuv are you?"

Venus's mind reeled back into reality as Emberthief (she wasn't sure she liked that name) repeated her question back to her. Well, it wasn't her exact question to him. She had said "ar" and he had said "are". But, that didn't matter. He had mimicked her, and Venus didn't fancy that one bit. Letting out a hot-headed snort, Venus let her tail lash.

"Veeenuuss," the Pumpkin replied, letting the word roll on her tongue. She didn't reply kindly, however. Her reply was more of a hiss. Her head wavered forward and back and her brilliant green eyes burned in the sunlight.

"No attuck," Venus barked, her head pointing over to where Kumma was hiding momentarily.

"Attack and consequence." Venus was getting better at speaking. Words began to rumble in her throat just as clearly as they were in her head. She was no where near perfect, but she was getting better, and that was what mattered.

[Aether_Tea]

 

Emberthief was too intrigued by their similarities to let Venus' attitude bother him just yet. Not to mention she was touching on words that still meant nothing to him. In fact, he just bobbed his head along as he listened, his tail swaying slowly from side to side, and then bounced a few steps closer to her.

 

He reasoned she was just hissing and annoyed because of two reasons -- either that's how she just communicated, or she had clearly failed to recognize how similar they were. There was no way it could have anything to do with him or his actions, of course. So, he did what any rational dragon would have done: he clued her in to his amazing powers of perception.

 

"We are same," he chirped softly, quite proud of himself. Then, he added more, in spite of his halting speech, and how he was often forced to pause and strain to tap into his internal word bank. "Small to small. Orange to orange. Claws to claws. What make you?"

[HomeForFlowers]

Venus leaped back as Emberthief, (couldn't she just call him Ember) pounced forward. Her tail was dangerously lashing to and fro. It whipped through the air just as sharp as Venus's tongue. Her green eyes narrowed as the hatchling began talking about how similar they were.

"I can clearly swueh tat," she growled at the pygmy. "I'm not blind." Wait, what was "blind"? For a moment Venus let her attitude drain out of her as she tried to figure out what the word meant. Her tail stopped lashing and her eyes flitted up the sky in wonder.

"Blind, blund, blint, blunt, blunk, blue," Venus said to herself quietly. "See, saw, no sight, blind, blund blint, bloop..." Aha! She knew what it meant. Blind meant you weren't able to see! Your eyes were all funky and wouldn't work! What marvels in her mind could produce such a word?

Hold on, how are we even talking? How can we think? How am I processing the words I'm thinking right this moment?

The Pumpkin knew the answer, but it did not satisfy her. She just knew how to talk. She didn't learn, she just knew. How she just knew she hadn't a clue. She just knew.

"Not good," she mumbled quietly to herself. "Won't work, doesn't make any sense." Venus had temporarily forgotten about Ember and was now primarily consumed by her wandering thoughts. Absentmindedly, Venus sat herself down, her guard now completely gone. Words formed on her lips, yet no words came out. The sound that the words were recognized with were all produced in the little Pumpkin's head.

[LegendOfKorraFan]

Kummaline has absolutely bewildered at this point; the neurons were firing in his brain so fast that he could barely keep up with them.

This is remarkable! These two are very alike, and the new dragon realized that so quickly; they must be related some how. Possibly coming from the same egg?

Kumma placed a claw on his muzzle and pondered his thoughts for a moment.

Impossible. I would have seen the other one, Emberthief was it? Anyways, I would have seen him when I saw Venus. Curious...

Kummaline's attention was brought back to Emberthief and Venus when she started to whip her tail around like a mace. It really was a sight to see. When Emberthief batted his tail, Venus displayed signs of immense aggression. Was she trying to protect him was she feeling threatened by Emberthief?

Note to self: Closer watching examination of these two is in order.

Kummaline placed his paws on the ground firmly and continued to observe.

 

((Why is it that when I write my posts they seem so much smaller after posting? ;n; ))

Edited December 12, 2013 by LegendOfKorraFan

[Aether_Tea]

 

Emberthief crept closer to Venus, still too curious for his own good about her. His eyes darted between different parts of her body, and then to what little he could see of his own as he started to slink closer. He wasn't sure what it meant to be so similar to her-- something special, surely, as so far every other dragon he'd encountered was radically different.

 

"You are from," he paused to glance back the way he came, his eyes sliding right past Kumma's hiding spot. "From dark. Same, yes? There are more? Here? With you?" His attention flipped back to the pumpkin dragon, then out to the rest of the woods. "Many us?"

 

It made sense to him, after all, even if she were to disagree. There had to be more. He had just stumbled across Venus, after all. Surely there were others like the both of them nearby, and his face lit up with giddiness at the prospect of more little orange dragons. "Maybe many! Maybe hiding? Or lost?"

 

((The board is so wiiideeeeee. It eats length.))

[HomeForFlowers]

Venus nearly yelped as Ember began talking once more. She backed up slightly as he came closer. Was he this close a moment ago? She didn't think so, but, then again, she hadn't seen him move. Her fury ebbed away, Venus listened carefully as Ember spoke.

"Yes, there are many us," Venus replied. Pride burst from her chest as she spoke more fluently. "Big blue hatchling, glowing green and black one, sparkling blue one, big blue and gray one, all big hatchlings." Venus paused for a moment. Did she see anymore hatchlings?

"I saw no others," she confirmed with a nod. "Most stayed inside. Small party went out here. Don't know where they are, I didn't pay attention to them."

Bigger words! Longer sentences! I can do so much more with my vocabulary!

[Spark-Dragon]

he fell back onto his hind legs as the finned one came closer and their snouts bumped, instead of scaring him it made him excited! He let another funny noise out as he tried to get up again, and he bumped the finned one, only to stumble himself.

 

He saw this as an invite to play or fight, he didn't know which one but the blunt, rocky spikes on his back rose up slightly as he got ready for both with an excited squeak.

[skiddajane]

Madeline looked at Rim with a strange look. Why was he making so many weird noises? She poked him again. "Poke." She said. It was fun to poke him.

[GreatDragon]

 

Rim watched as the other hatchling fell back and then made some more noises. Tilting his head, fin flared up, Rim trilled softly, tongue flicking out for a second.

 

Then Madeline poked him. "Poke."

 

He glanced at her and then the other hatchling, wondering why the Swallowtail always was poking him.

 

Maybe Swallowtails always poke others? Maybe it good thing?

 

The other hatchling seemed excited, which easily broke Rim out of his 'deep' thoughts and got him excited as well. He suddenly had an idea where he should poke both Madeline and the other hatchling and then hide behind one of the eggs in the area.

 

Which he carried out with excitement.

[LegendOfKorraFan]

Kummaline nibbled on the bitter berries that were scattered on the ground. The texture of the sand didn't bother him one bit. Tossing another red one into his tiny jaws, he noticed how advanced Venus's speech was becoming already; Kumma was a bit jealous to be honest. The Spotted Greenwing bit down on his lip as the overpowering taste of the berry, but it was food none the less.

I wonder what they would do if I tossed one in between the two of them? Would they fight over it like the blue one? Let's see.

Kummaline rustled up a handful of black, red, and green berries, then tossed them over the bush. Many landed far away from the two, Kumma even thought he saw a few hit one of the dragons!

"Let's see h-hoow it goo-se".

 

((You don't need the berries to hit any of them if you guys don't want. It was just a little word padding poetic inspiration))

 

Edit: If someone could interact with Liliana (who is in the original cave) that would be great thanks

Edited December 13, 2013 by LegendOfKorraFan

[HomeForFlowers]

Small round spheres appeared out of no where and scattered all around Venus and Ember. The Pumpkin let out a yelp of surprise and glared in the direction of which the berries came from.

Kumma! What do you think you're doing?

With a small snort, Venus glanced back at the berries. They seemed to be all of the same species, but at differently levels of ripeness. Venus bent down and sniffed a green one curiously. She wrinkled her nose in disgust as a sour scent floated into her nostrils.

"Putrid!" she barked as she kicked away the green berry. "Fliwthy, rotwen, bollocks," she hissed as curse words formed into her vocabulary. Venus sat down on her rump and sniffed. Why did Kumma throw berries at them? What was the purpose of that?

[Aether_Tea]

Emberthief bared his teeth as he was pelted with a sudden berrystorm, and his teeth bared in confusion and alarm as the under-ripe berries bounced off of his hide and the over-ripe ones just splattered against him."Bush is mad! Very, very mad," he tittered fearfully, fully believing the assault was the direct result of his earlier actions. It was the only thing that made sense as far as he was concerned, and it left a knot of worry in his gut. He'd been right to think the trees were talking earlier; clearly plants were surprisingly vicious and spiteful.

 

Venus' kicked a berry between them, and he eyed it with trepidation. If biting the bush had been enough to get it to fight back, kicking what it lobbed at them would surely make things worse. He mimicked her, sniffing it, then backed away from the fruit as a worm of fear wriggled its way through his brain. "Maybe poison? No good to eat? Other things gooder to eat, I think." It was a simple point, but it made sense to him.

 

"If we go, maybe we can... we can hunt," he grinned a bit as the words started to flow easier. It seemed like the more he spoke the more his vocabulary bubbled up. "We can find more like us. Orange and small, but with four legs. Maybe they left the dark before we did. But... hunt, first. Am hungry."

Edited December 13, 2013 by Aether_Tea

[HomeForFlowers]

Venus swayed back and forth as Ember began rambling on. At the mention of other hatchlings that could also be small and orange, Venus stopped swaying and began pondering an excessive amount of thoughts.

"Don't know how to hunt," Venus replied. "Not know how, not know what it is. Does hunting have to do with 'food'?" Venus remembered Kumma mentioning food and decided to see if "hunt" and "food" were related somehow. Venus clicked her tongue as she let the two words dance in her thoughts.

Hunt, food, hunt, food, hunt, food, hunt, food....

[Spark-Dragon]

he watched as the finned one ran away, curiously he followed but had no idea where to go... turning back he looked at the other hatchling and chirped, "hwep!" maybe she knew how to find him?

[GreatDragon]

 

Rim had planned to hide behind one of the larger eggs in the area and then wait until either the other hatchling or Madeline found him. This plan, while good, turned against him when he tripped over something-or someone.

 

It wasn't a graceful trip and he rolled to a stop in a heap of bruises. The hatchling didn't make a sound in his meeting with the ground; he was much too surprised to try. Little pin pricks of pain flashed over his legs and belly and Rim winced, letting out a little whine.

 

What made me ow? What give ow? Why?

 

Though moving felt like it was going to be torture, Rim had to know what he had tripped over. It had made him hurt and he wanted to know why it would do such a thing. He raised his head slowly and looked over back to where he had first started to roll.

 

It was another hatchling. It was laying down and had purple skin, with a broken egg behind it.

 

His bruises still hurt, but Rim let out a little weak trill as a greeting. It probably wasn't the hatchlings fault that he tripped.

 

At least, he didn't think it was.

[LegendOfKorraFan]

((GreatDragon, did Rim trip over Liliana? If so, she doesn't have a broken leg))

[GreatDragon]

(I wrote that she had a broken egg behind her. Nothing about legs; at least, I hope I didn't.)