Hatchlings

[MyaMouse]

"But, why is that new cave better than the old one? What's different? It's just a cave anyway. Is there something more significant about this one that the other one doesn't ha-" Galletian's rant stopped abruptly as he tripped on a rock and fell down a tunnel. He opened his wings quickly to slow his decent, resulting in a painful shock through his hurt left wing and nearly dropping Enzy's egg.

Wait, Enzy? Where had that name come from?

Odd. But Galletian accepted it nonetheless as the baby hatchling's name. But how's not the time for naming baby dragons, you're stuck in a tunnel you can't fly out of, and the walls are too steep and smooth to climb up. He needed to activate his powers to melt some notches in the walls. But oddly enough, even in his unappealing predicament, he didn't feel any stress. He couldn't turn on his powers. He... Was useless.

 

"Uh, a little... Help here?"

Edited November 19, 2014 by MyaMouse

[MessengerDragon]

((Sorry, I've been busy with homework))

 

"What's wrong? What is it?" Float quickly went over to where Torque was. "Oh." he said, trying to keep his voice from shaking. "What's wrong with you two?" asked Cree, trying to catch up."You look decidedly greenish. What's in the fire? What are you- oh." Cree couldn't find words to express his horror, disgust and anger at those, those monsters!

 

"Look guys, could we go back to the trees? I don't fancy being here when those horrible people come back. Please?"

[Brotato]

((S'okay. I just got the results from my university project in Electronics and Electrical Engineering. 88/100 Woop woop!))

 

You two go. I'll leave these folks an eviction notice.

despite not showing it, he was to some extent fuming on the inside. Such a crime against his kind, let alone by a species he disliked, would not go without repercussions.

 

Gritting his teeth, Torque sped off back towards the encampment, claws at the ready. He made short work of the tent, leaving nothing but shredded pieces of cloth and scattered remnants of the equipment within it, before turning his attention to the rest of the camp. Wrecking everything he got his claws on until all that was left was the fire and the carcass above it, he paused for a moment.

 

In his old clan, they dealt with the bodies of the deceased in two ways. Burning them, and burying them. Torque sadly lacked the characteristic trait of most types of dragon, namely the ability to breathe fire. Thus, he removed the carcass from its place, and carefully laid it on the ground, before rapidly digging a hole roughly one meter deep, and then berrying it within.

 

Then, he rounded up everything that looked flammable, and piled it up on one large pile, before taking one of the broken pieces of wood, igniting it within the still lit fireplace, and setting the camp wreckage ablaze. Whoever these people were, they'd crossed him. And for a brief moment, Torque wished it was their mangled corpses he was burning right then and there, rather then just their possessions.

 

He turned around and went to meet up with his new acquaintances, leaving the fires burning behind himself, hoping that it's owners would be smart enough to leave the area.

 

 

...but deep down he somehow knew that it would definitely not play out like that.

[Renhart]

((Zeditha is outside the cave actually.))

 

Quorran closed his eyes for a moment and snarled. "Alright! I have to deliver something to Crusher anyway." He grudgingly walked over to the dead eagle he had dropped earlier; by now there were insects buzzing around it but he didn't seem to care. He picked it up and skipped along the grass before leaping into the air. He flapped his wings vigorously until he was above tree level and maintained a steady glide.

Irah stared at Quorran with a look of bewilderment as Zeditha turned around. Why was he not excited like she was? And surely a rotting animal in his mouth would dirty his teeth again. He was an odd fellow...

[Brotato]

A rotting bird? Either there's more to that carcass then meets the eye, or this "Crusher" fellow has a terrible taste in food. -thought Zeditha as she traced the disgruntled Quorran with a glance on his path away from them. She had no experience with anyone or anything so sensitive as to turn down shelter, food and safety out of fear of getting the sniffles, and in all honesty, she didn't like it. It's a hard world for a seemingly soft dragon like him to survive in.

 

Say, Irah? Remind me, who is this Crusher person? Did he name himself that, or did his parents have exceedingly high hopes, I wonder? -she arced an eyebrow, curiosity sparked by the peculiar self-advertising name.

 

((Gonna get going with the group any time soon?))

Edited November 19, 2014 by Brotato

[MyaMouse]

((If the group is not already walking, I'm just gonna say that he was walking along the edge of the clearing when he fell into an abandoned mineshaft that was hidden by some tall grass and bushes that he stumbled into.))

Edited November 21, 2014 by MyaMouse

[Renhart]

Irah knelt forward and gripped between Zeditha's shoulders as they ascended. She glanced back at her home one last time as they flew further away before addressing Zeditha's question. "He's my father and he helps protect everyone from this monster who follows us sometimes. I don't know where he got his name; he rarely talks about his past, but he seems sad when he does."

Black feather's flew in the wind behind Quorran as his prey began to fall apart. He was on the lookout for Crusher who would be easiest to spot beneath the canopy. As soon he saw something bright orange he did a somersault and dove down.

 

Artemis whipped around and looked down the tunnel. "Well this is tough one...." she said, unsure what to do. She nor anyone else could manipulate the earth and the tunnel was hard as rock, not easy to penetrate. That gave her an idea. Maybe she could bring up some emotions in him again, but how? She barely knew him let alone knew what made him angry. "Since you're stuck down there, maybe you can tell me a bit about yourself."

 

((Bleh...that wasn't my best. Anyway yes they're walking, the ones who are flying will get there a lot sooner. Quorran is a bit of a showoff as you've probably noticed.))

Edited November 21, 2014 by Booo

[MyaMouse]

((I need my color-tags... ._.))

 

Galletian shrugged. "Um, well, I got my name from my parents, Queen Redstone and Galletian Sunbeam. Um, after I hatched and they found out I was a boy, the left me in a neighboring kingdom. Guess you can figure out who's kingdom that is." He felt nothing but regret. "Um, after my adoptive mother, the queen, took me in and I met her husband King Jackson Marii and her son Red Spades, who hadn't a mate yet, they got settled with keeping me."

 

"After a few contented years with my new family, Red found a mate, an Ice named Belle Froste. They had an egg very soon. It was another Ice. His name was quite simple, Ice Froste.

A year after that, this egg right here was laid." He gestured to Enzy's egg. "And then disaster struck. You know. What's-his-face, I think either the Skywing or Quorran said his name was... Ah, now I can't remember! Crusher said it too, earlier... Um. Ah, I remember now. I think. Anyway, they said it was an 'Evil Crusher' or something? But to be fair, I really don't know who -or what- caused our kingdom to be obliterated. He just was.. A vampire, I think. But anyway, that's my history." ((When I hear "tell me about yourself" I go all out history and name if there's a reason, and powers if there is, as well as anything minor like parents divorced if was humans or etc. Sort if not what you ars looking for but that's how I am.)) "I know my powers well, but they're pretty uncontrollable. I'm trying to find another trigger other than stress, but... No luck. Sometimes everything gets to my head, like... Earlier," he said, pretending to clear his throat, "But sometimes the situation doesn't faze me, and that tends to be in accidents. Like now. So, yeeeaah. I guess I'm pretty accident-prone."

 

Galletian looked around. It was no ordinary, natural cave. It looked man-made. A natural cave's walls wouldn't be so hard unless it was deeper underground, which it wasn't. It also wouldn't be so round, and most likely would've branched out to elsewhere. But why would a human make this? Just a deep hole in the ground, covered by a shrub. And more importantly, if a human made it, a human got out of it. After all, there was no skeleton or body. "Hey, I have an idea."

 

((Don't ask about Ice. I'm warping my scroll here to fit this. His original mate was Wynter Froste but because of lack of planning ahead I messed up and now a few generations ahead, Belle is his new mate. So, meh.))

Edited November 22, 2014 by MyaMouse

[Brotato]

The brooding protector type. Figures... -Zeditha thought cynically. she wasn't generally the judgemental type, but after getting to know Quorran even as little as she did, she certainly felt like it. Keeping quiet for a few moments after Irah had finished explaining, she mulled over her response and decided against asking Irah of her mother. Somehow, she felt like it was a touchy subject, and ruled against potentially upsetting her little passenger.

 

I see... -is all she said, before going silent once more. Prodding for personal information seemed trivial at this point, and they had somewhere to go, quickly. If memory served, their next home would need some work, and with Quorran destined to not be there to help with the de-bugging, Zeditha wanted to get started even sooner then 'soon'.

 

Luckily, the winds were with them, and she felt like the trip wouldn't take them long at all.

[Renhart]

Artemis wasn't surprised to hear about Evil Crusher but being abandoned for being male was something she couldn't wrap her mind around. "I'm so sorry to hear that....we'll help in any way we can." said Artemis, clearly empathetic as usual. "But first, let's get you out there. What's your plan?"

Crusher was listening in but didn't feel that he needed to intervene. It was best for Galletian's learning curve to solve some problems on his own, he would only step in if emergency struck.

[MyaMouse]

"It's too unnatural. The walls wouldn't be this thick this close to the surface, and I really don't see why there would be a bush and a pile of leaves over a super-thick-walled, 7 feet deep hole naturally, as there is not many trees around and a shrub wouldn't naturally grow over a cave. So, it may have been made by a human as a trap of some sort. Notice the 'may have been,' not 'was,' because I'm not 100% sure," Galletian explained carefully, making sure to get every detail correct as to not look like a fool, "And so if it was indeed made by a human, a human got out. There's no skeleton or body."

 

He began to feel the surface of the walls. Soon he found a loose stone. "Please, oh, please, oh PLEASE do NOT cave in on me," the young dragon mumbled as he pulled out the stone.

 

And guess what? It caved in on him. He turned quickly as soon as the wall caved in, covering the delicate Black Tea egg that he carried. Soon the rumbling stopped, and it was dark and dusty. Two large stones had covered his body and so he was in a dimly lit, dirt-filled space, but he wasn't crushed. He groaned, and laughed. "Well that didn't work. And guess what?" Galletian was giggling like a lunatic at this point. "Still no powers. Still no stress. Gosh dang it."

 

((Explanation! It was indeed the exit. But as time went on the stones relied on that one enough that if the exit was opened it would collapse.))

Edited November 24, 2014 by MyaMouse

[Brotato]

Time seemed to pass them right by as the two flew. Zeditha made it her business to make it to their destination as soon as possible, and she was indeed making it so. Being an avid flyer, crossing the relatively small distance between their last outpost and their new one was as easy as an evening stroll to her.

 

Hang on! -Zeditha said to her little passenger, before starting on a rather steep vertical climb. They'd flown low, and the gem cave was somewhat high up. Once they'd reached the right altitude, Zeditha flew a few circles around what looked like an inconspicuous peak, before beginning her descent towards it's side.

 

At that point, a moderately large cave entrance was clearly visible, but what was most peculiar, was the coloration of the stones that composed the peak itself. Well, they did look normal, but somehow unnaturally clean. As if they'd never been stained with mud or dirt.

 

When Zeditha touched down on the stone floor in front of the cavern's maw, the mere sounds of her talons touching the hard surface reverberated within. From the outside, it was night impossible to see more thne a few flickering lights within the cavern itself. Zeditha reached back and gently lifted Irah off of her back, setting her down on the ground.

 

This is it. -she stated nonchalantly.

Doesn't look like much, yet. But... this place has it's secrets. I know some of them, at least enough to make this a spot worth staying. But even if that weren't the case, the view from up here would make it worthwhile anyway.

 

And right she was, as from up there, not too far above the ground, they were located at the top of a steep mountain, with but a single path etched into its side, leading past the cavern entrance and up towards a different peak that was even higher altogether.

 

From where they stood, they had a clear picture of the surrounding lands, clearings, forests, everything! They had nigh unlimited visibility, which to Zeditha was always a tactical advantage. To add to that, the aforementioned single path passed directly in plain sight of from whence they stood. If anyone was coming by land, they'd be seen.

 

As for what was inside...

You, you would want to stay outsite for now. I think I need to do some pest control in there before it's safe to enter. -she spoke in a serious as can be tone.

[Renhart]

Irah had tried not to grip too tightly but as Zeditha flew vertically she felt that she had to hold on for dear life. When they finally reached their destination Irah relaxed once her feet touched the ground. The air was colder here and the surrounding foliage was unfamiliar to her; it was perfect in her mind. "What kind of secrets are there? she asked, already keen to explore the area. The immaculate stone made it easy to spot a trail of muddy footprints that looked reptilian. Another dragon perhaps? She would have to investigate.

Edited November 30, 2014 by Booo

[DefunctAccount]

(page 666 huuuuu)

(Ok, I read the past few pages so I get what's going on. :])

 

Maple followed Galletian and Artemis across the clearing, running to keep up. Suddenly, the Sunstone hatchling disappeared from her view, as if swallowed by the earth. "Galletian?" The Canopy called, panic rising in her voice. She ran forward, relieved when it turned out he had only fallen into a tunnel. She watched as he conversed with Artemis, feeling to shy to join the conversation. Suddenly, the tunnel collapsed, and she jumped, turning invisible for a moment. "Woah…" Maple gaped at the place where the rock wall had caved in. It was a long, narrow tunnel, like that of a mineshaft, with old wooden pillars supporting the roof. The hatchling cringed when she noticed that most of the pillars were broken, and she wondered how long they had stood there. Her thoughts returned to Galletian. "Galletian! Are you okay?" She yelled, flying down to him.

 

(When I say she turned invisible for a moment, that mean that the image of her body flickered. She can bend light to make things appear invisible, and it happens when she's scared, so she turns invisible for a moment…)

[Renhart]

((Sparks, why you gotta leave without telling us? I'm glad your back but please try not take month long breaks between posts, m'kay?))

 

Artemis almost let out a yelp when the wall came crashing down. She couldn't see Galletian through the cloud of dust but she let out a sigh of relief when she heard him laugh. "I think that's the least of our worries." she said laughing a little aswell. Maple however seemed to be on the verge of panic regardless as she flew down to help. "Relax, Maple. I'm sure he's—wait, did you just turn invisible?" she asked having noticed her transparent form, even if only for a few seconds.

Edited November 26, 2014 by Booo

[Renhart]

((*Sigh* Really?))

[Brotato]

((At times like this I do what every RPer in my old forum used to hate being done to them. De-limbo. But sometimes, there was no alternative. It's a cruel thing to do that could upset whoever you were in limbo with, but... it's the only way to get on with your character sometimes. It's basically either take a dive and run away, or derail the subplot by having your character snap-to from a bad/weird/nice dream. That's what I usually did.))

[Renhart]

((Another idea is fast-forward to Crusher and crew approaching Zeditha's cave but I don't know what change would come of that.))

[MessengerDragon]

The hatchlings retreated to the trees, and watched Torque raging. Cree found he quite agreed with the way their new friend quickly and efficiently shredded everything physically possible. The fire worried him though, and he saw from Floats face that he had realised too. When Torque returned, they simultaneously asked him, "Won't the fire spread to the trees?"

[Dream_Dragon]

<OOC: Okay! I'm back! For now! Sorry for disappearing again, fellas...>

 

After a little hesitation, Sky Shiner had flown after the flying group without a word, though he felt a little uneasy about Irah riding on Zeditha. What if she slipped? Then again, she'd done it plenty of times with Crusher before so he supposed he had nothing to worry about. Sighing softly to himself, he flapped his wings once more, carefully following the Nhiostrife's lead. Really, who could blame him for his cautiousness after what had taken place the previous night? Sky wasn't eager to have Evil Crusher flying over again and taking one of them down again. He flinched slightly at the reminder of why Crusher couldn't fly with them just yet.

 

The flight was uneventful and soon when Zeditha started veering upwards, Sky found himself, once again, hesitating, before gulping and hurriedly following. Any other time, he would be whooping with joy at the opportunity to fly up so high but right now, he was steadily growing nervous at the increasing chance of Evil Crusher popping out of nowhere with his bared, bloodied fangs and his nasty, growling cackle...

 

Oh good! They were here. Well, that's great. Everything was going smoothly so far and Sky wanted it to stay that way. Looking around, the view was just so...breath-taking! It was definitely worth risking it to get here. Oh wait, on second thought, no, it wasn't. Sky slapped a wing onto his face, snapping himself out of his thoughts and instead looked over at the others as they talked.

 

"Pest control?" he questioned Zeditha's choice of words.

Edited November 29, 2014 by Dream_Dragon

[Brotato]

Peeking inside the dark cavernous entrance, Zeditha nodded in response to Sky's question: Yes, hope you lot aren't scared of spiders... -she said calmly, before taking a deep breath, and releasing a small inferno towards the cave's roofing.

 

An ear-piercing screech broke the relative silence! It was a call of suffering and anguish, as if a thousand little voices shrieked in mortal terror and pain! The fires illuminated the inside for a moment, revealing just how huge the place actually was. You couldn't see the bottom, which seemed to stretch out infinitely, but the ceiling was lined with crystalline and gem-like fragments everywhere. Stalactites hung low, and some broke right off due to the sudden change in temperature. A great number of small things caught fire and started falling downwards, while others simply detached and flailed around wildly in the air for a bit, before they too took the plunge.

 

After a few seconds, it became apparent what those things were. A great number of bats started pouring out of the cave in great numbers, some charred, others perfectly healthy. In addition to which, hundreds upon thousands of little bugs scattered across the hard stone floor, frantically trying to get away from the blaze! The little buggers moved really fast, but Zeditha knew exactly what they were, she wouldn't torch them if she didn't. And she really hated spiders.

 

The long-legged pests were out and gone within seconds, and the bats stopped pouring out soon after. Zeditha shut her maw, and held in what looked like a really big belch, before smoke started coming out her nostrils. She spat out a dense puff of smoke, and inhaled.

 

That wasn't all of them. There are bound to be more in the lower levels. -she commented, flicking one of the roasted dead spiders off of her foot. Truth be told, she had no clue what was way down at the deepest part of that gem cave. But one thing was certain, the lower they went, the bigger and more unnatural the insects and other such pests would be.

 

But for now, that should have cleaned up the first level. -she stated, before looking back inside, content with her pyre. The fires had not only torched all the bats and spiders on the cavern ceiling, and evicted the ones on the first levels, but had also taken care of all the webbing, preventing the crystalline stones that naturally illuminated the insides from doing their thing.

 

With them glowing again, it was quite easy to see inside, and the view was quite wondrous. The insides were a complex of multi-leveled platform-based stone paths and patches, lined with decorative inscriptions and the occasional remaining spider web. Even remnants of furnishings could be seen. Old rags that served as bedding here and there, carved stone bookcases, mostly empty. Bioluminescent crystals hung over each platform as if specifically placed to provide light for its occupant. In addition to which, the spiraling stone walkway that lead downwards was lined with passageways that lead to who-knew-where. Zeditha knew some of them were alternative entrances to the complex, but she'd blocked them up to protect the place's location as best as possible. Maybe it was time to open them up again?

 

She stepped inside, and took a nice deep breath. The familiar warmth and barely audible humm of the crystals were a refreshing thing to experience. Of all her dens, this one was her favorite, and for a great many reasons indeed.

Edited November 29, 2014 by Brotato

[Lily14130]

((Alright... time to do my first post to introduce Rimaline!))

 

Rimaline shivered and curled up tighter to brace herself against the wind.

The wind sure is strong - and cold - up here, she thought. She was nestled in a small nook in some stone cold, but unnaturally cleanish, rock. Although the view was beautiful, she was too tired, hungry, and scared to appreciate it.

 

Rimaline had laboriously climbed up to this spot after spotting a cave entrance. Since the white hatchling had not yet grown her wings yet, she had struggled to climb all the way up. But once she had gotten to the cave entrance, a swarm of bats and spiders had already inhabited it, and Rimaline decided that she would just take shelter in one of the shallow shelfs in the rock. Although it was slightly warmer in her little cranny, the wind was still bitter cold and cut right through her thin feathers.

 

Now, Rimaline was hiding in the small nook, resting to get her strength back.

She looked at her muddy feet, and started to preen them, just to keep herself busy. That only reminded her of her mother, though, and how she used to fuss over her muddy feet all of the time. This led to scarier memories of being alone and scared, though, and she whimpered.

Stop thinking about them, Rimaline thought to herself. This is not the time to be grieving, or scared. First, you have to figure out how to survive by yourself. Getting some sleep is probably a good first step.

 

Just as Rimaline was drifting off, she realized that she hadn't covered her tracks from when she was investigating the cave. But she was too tired to do anything about it.

Edited December 1, 2014 by Lily14130

[Renhart]

Irah watched as Zeditha's blue fire lit the cave along with all the gems that covered the ceiling. The cave didn't look like anything special on the outside but now Irah could see what Zeditha was talking about. She was going to compliment on how beautiful it was but that's when the swarm rushed out from deep within. The bats came first which didn't bother her that much but as soon as the spiders began to scurry outside she leaped out of the way and into a bush, determined not to get covered in them.

She sat in her hiding spot and waited till the spiders were burnt to a crisp but even then she hadn't moved just yet. Peering through the leaves her eyes focused on the tracks she had discovered; they went over the rocks and passed Irah, through the grass and over a ledge. Whatever it was it was possibly still on the move so Irah would have to go searching now if she wanted to catch it in time.

 

((I'll wait for Sky & Frostee. @Brotato Don't forget about Torque. ))

Edited December 5, 2014 by Booo

[Brotato]

It won't. -he responded flatly.

Just as he looked back at the fires, he felt a familiar sensation. It was hunger. He'd worked himself up quite a bit, what with all that'd happened. He needed to find his usual fix so as to stay in top shape.

You two, listen. Get out of the area. Whoever that accursed campsite belonged to is bound to be around. If you have anywhere to be, be on your way. I have to say farewell, for now. I'm sorry you saw what you saw. Hell, I'm sorry I saw what I saw. -he grinned slightly, before popping a neck joint, stomping in place twice with each foot... Sayonara. ... and dashing off, kicking up a whole lot of dust and disappearing out of sight and into the woods.

 

((I've got a little plan for him. Yes...))

[Frostee]

Raven was tired. She wasn’t sure how long or how far she had walked, but she knew she had set out before dawn. Her legs felt numb and her steps were sluggish and slow. I wish I had wings, she thought for the millionth time, looking up at the sky. Her keen eyesight noticed a small group of dragons flying high above her, and she felt a flash of longing. With wings I could fly up there and find them. She often saw dragons flying overhead, but they were always too high up to hear her cries.

She let out a small sigh and continued trudging forward, impulsively lifting her head and calling out again.

“Hello? Is anyone there?”

Raven wasn’t expecting an answer, since she hadn’t been granted one in the week she had been wandering. Her voice was hoarse from repeated calls, but she persisted, clinging to a final strand of hope.

She jumped and squeaked in surprise when she was answered with a blood-curdling screech coming from somewhere to her right.

“I’m coming!” she yelled excitedly, forcing her tired body into a run. She was stopped short by a huge rock looming in front of her. Craning her head back, she saw a black cloud pouring out of the top. Bats! Raven hated bats, but she was sure that there must have been someone who had disturbed them at the top. Adrenaline rushed through her and she forgot about her aching limbs. Her legs were strong from playing on the cliff near their old cave with her brother, and she crawled up the rocky face like an oversized lizard. She determinedly heaved herself up, so focused on what looked like a cave entrance at the top that she didn’t notice the sleeping White hatchling until she bumped into something soft and feathery.

“I’m so sorry! Oh, hi! Who are you? I’m Raven. Are you lost too?” she babbled, so excited at seeing the first dragon in almost two weeks that she bombarded the poor White with questions.

 

((I hope this is okay!))