Hatchlings

[ressamp]

After he introduced himself to the new dragon, Mihari wandered off, figuring the others could handle them. He didn't want to seem rude for leaving, but he wanted to check the area to see if anyone else was there.

 

After a while Mihari stumbled back to see the commotion. "Sorry, I had to leave for a moment. What happened?"

 

((I hope this doesn't interfere with anything. I didn't read much so I hope someone is still there.))

[Renhart]

"Not much. Zeditha told me a bit about what happened to her while she was awake..." replied Crusher. "...But that's not important right now. Why don't you go look in the cave to see if there's anything you want to bring with you?"

Crusher didn't want to give Mihari the brush-off, but he currently had a lot on his mind and felt a bit overwhelmed so he wasn't exactly in the mood for chitchat. He was about to say something else when he heard a loud roar in the distance. It sounded like it came from down by the river and Crusher turned to see a small plume of smoke rise up from that area.

"Artemis, would you go check to see what that was and report back to me?"

Artemis sighed "Alright..." and headed for the path, taking her time to walk down it while on the lookout. She really didn't want to go, mainly because she didn't want to approach a possible threat on her own, but she wasn't going to say no and potentially put the hatchlings in more danger.

 

On the way down, Artemis came across a junction point and turned left in the direction of the river. There weren't as many trees around here and she could hear rushing water. When she finally reached the riverbank, the sight in front of her wasn't one she expected. A tree had caught fire and had fallen over, lying not far from it was a broken crimson dragon egg with pieces of its shell scattered in the sand. Thankfully the lack of surrounding foliage and the rainy weather they had recently meant that the fire most likely wouldn't spread.

Artemis stood still for a few seconds, looking around and listening in case the mother was close by before she ran over to the burning tree and pushed it into the water. "Well, that's that then." she told herself, satisfied with how easy that was. She then approached the egg to check if the baby dragon inside was still alive and hoped that her quick-thinking wasn't for nothing. She sat down and picked it up; "Still warm..." she thought and peered through the hole in its shell.

Edited May 11, 2016 by Booo

[LeBoringJacques]

In a small cranny within a damp, dark, shallow cave, an egg began to wobble. Within just a few hours, the wobbling egg began to make sounds, before the egg erupted in a shower of fragments, revealing a small, shaking creature, shivering in the dark. The newborn attempted to make her way outside the cave, but tripped over herself as she hobbled to the exit. Prickling her ears, the hatchling heard a rushing river and voices.

 

Her natural instinct told her to rush towards the voices. As she began to limp over there, the voices grew louder and she did not feel the need to prick her ears. The Soulpeace hatchling looked to see a large, red expanse and some moving forms.

[Captain_Gunzou]

"Not much. Zeditha told me a bit about what happened to her while she was awake..." replied Crusher. "...But that's not important right now. Why don't you go look in the cave to see if there's  anything you want to bring with you?"

Crusher didn't want to give Mihari the brush-off, but he currently had a lot on his mind and felt a bit overwhelmed so he wasn't exactly in the mood for chitchat. He was about to say something else when he heard a loud roar in the distance. It sounded like it came from down by the river and Crusher turned to see a small plume of smoke rise up from that area.

"Artemis, would you go check to see what that was and report back to me?"

Artemis sighed "Alright..." and headed for the path, taking her time to walk down it while on the lookout. She really didn't want to go, mainly because she didn't want to approach a possible threat on her own, but she wasn't going to say no and potentially put the hatchlings in more danger.

 

On the way down, Artemis came across a junction point and turned left in the direction of the river. There weren't as many trees around here and she could hear rushing water. When she finally reached the riverbank, the sight in front of her wasn't one she expected. A tree had caught fire and had fallen over, lying not far from it was a broken crimson dragon egg with pieces of its shell scattered in the sand. Thankfully the lack of surrounding foliage and the rainy weather they had recently meant that the fire most likely wouldn't spread.

Artemis stood still for a few seconds, looking around and listening in case the mother was close by before she ran over to the burning tree and pushed it into the water. "Well, that's that then." she told herself, satisfied with how easy it was. She then approached the egg to check if the baby dragon inside was still alive and hoped that her quick-thinking wasn't for nothing. She sat down and picked it up; "Still warm..." she thought and peered through the hole in its shell.

Inside Liger's black form with blood red inner scales was visible with this much sunlight. He wrinkled his nose. Chu! A small wisp of flame appeared between The dragon and Liger. Then vanished after about two seconds. Liger turned his face now completely revealed. He couldn't see, It was dark. He tried to open his eyes. His little eyebrows wiggled and slowly but surely they opened. His eyes were congenital Heterochromia. His eyes looked like flames. His inner central around the pupil-iris was yellow while the outer part was blood red.

Edited May 10, 2016 by Captain_Gunzou

[Renhart]

Artemis jerked her head back and held the egg further away after being startled by the flame.

"Well, you certainly are alive!" she said amused.

The fact that the newborn could do that so early in his life probably meant that his fire-breathing ability was different from the norm and that it would develop into something much greater. But....what was with his eyes? Was something wrong with him? Even if there was, Artemis wasn't going to throw him into the river in fear that he was a demon. Instead, she held his egg up to the sunlight to examine him further. Some of his scales looked charred, but that was probably caused by him burning himself while remaining cooped up in his egg. "I bet you've taken quite a tumble, but you're safe with me now." she said and cradled him with one arm. Artemis then thought she heard the sound of small feet in the sand and turned to see another hatchling standing a short distance away. Artemis looked around again, expecting to see its parents show up, but this hatchling appeared to be alone as well. "Hello there little one." she called in her usual gentle tone before glancing over at the fallen tree. It bobbed in the water while the current kept it stuck against a rock, the fire extinguished. "Wow. What a day it's been..." she thought.

Edited May 11, 2016 by Booo

[Captain_Gunzou]

Liger's mother while still pregnant with him and his siblings went for a swim in lava. Liger's mother when he was still in her body, she had made sure that the egg shell he was in was resistance enough to handle lava, considering they lived next to an active volcano. Liger DNA, however, programmed to protect him from the said lava made Liger cough then made him do choking sounds for several seconds before "BLEEEEHHH" A good biles worth of lava spewed out into the air and landed hissing onto the sandy shore bank.

[LeBoringJacques]

The newly-hatched dragon ran towards Artemis, stumbling and tumbling. Ranu, as she was to be known, curled up around her tail. "Mama. Mama." The young one appeared to believe that Artemis was her mother. The warmth of her body soothed Ranu as she pricked her ears. "Mama! Mama! Something over there!" The Soulpeace newborn softened her ears and began to feel drowsy.

[skwerl56767]

((Sorry for the delay! I intended to post sooner but was sidetracked.))

 

Much to his dismay, Cetn couldn't sleep. Instead he simply lay there, paw draped over his muzzle, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to nap while the sun somehow beat down on his face, despite his choice vegetation cover.

Not going to work. His tired mind grumbled. He rolled over onto his side and put his wing over his face, but then he grew overheated and had to stretch out again, where the light could trickle through the leaves and keep him up.

" Grr..." Cetn growled and planted his rump to the sun, burying his face into a crevice between the rock face and a boulder. Now though he couldn't breathe from the limited air space, and ended up flopping over on his side, trying to cover his face while being stretched out at the same time.

It's. Not. WORKING! Cetn felt like bashing his face into the ground out of frustration. The advantage to the disgruntled tossing and turning is that he could still hear the conversation outside the cave, just up above his overhang.

" ...Might have been sent by someone, and that certainly seems to be the case." The first dragon was saying. " But whether that's true or not isn't important right now. I've decided that this place is no longer safe, and we'll be leaving here as soon as we can. You can join us if you'd like, but our destination is very far away."

 

Cetn's eyes opened up, a child-like curiosity peaking within him. Going away? Where were they going?

Who cares? Once they leave you will have the cave to yourself! His conscious said.

But I want to know where they're going! Maybe it's covered in snow! He argued silently. The mountain isn't snowy.

Not right here, but it is on the peak.

What if it's even snowier where they're going? An everlasting winter!

Oh please, you're daydreaming! You have a cave!

Not yet I don't!

In the midst of his mental arguing, Cetn barely noticed the fact that a dragon was being sent out until he heard the clacking of claws on stone. He looked up at the overhang, his flow of thoughts changing to internal panic.

Did I make too much noise? Am I caught trespassing? These dragons weren't territorial, were they?! Oh, drat, I'm going to have the living scales beat out of me...

Much to the luck of the young dragon though, the clacking of claws went away from him, before fading down into the forest below. He let out a huge sigh of relief; that could have been bad! Though, now he was back to square one with fighting the daylight, and it's not like-

 

No, wait. When that dragon left the talking stopped. That meant that there was only one other dragon near the cave, right? But the one speaker said "you can join us if you'd like", which implies that there were at least two other dragons. But wouldn't they still be talking?

The Bleeding Moon, with his scales curled up from having been in the sun too long, sat and pondered going into the cave. The thought of a nice, cool, dark corner to sleep in was tantalizing, but he didn't want to just butt in. He could try driving the other dragons away, but they could not only be bigger than him, there could be more of them too! Besides, he was tired. But this stupid overhang nook was just downright uncomfortable, especially so because he was not as small as he used to be, and these stupid plants weren't giving him enough shade...

This is ridiculous. His conscious grumbled. I'm going up!... Politely...

Blinking the sun out of his dried-out eyes, Cetn uprooted himself from the nook and wavered on weary legs before dragging himself up the side of the overhang. He managed to scramble awkwardly up a gravelly slope before coming up to the cave opening; there, the dragons stood.

He didn't bother counting them, or trying to figure out what they were. He just hoped they were nice to let him stay for the night-... er, day.

" Hi. I'm... (yawn)... nap her someplace you dun mind." The words came out garbled. Not bothering to correct his sentence, Cetn dragged himself inside the cave and plopped down up against a wall, curling up without thinking twice about his decision.

Edited May 25, 2016 by skwerl56767

[Renhart]

((Actually the conversation is happening outside the cave. Their standing in front of it.))

[skwerl56767]

((Ehm, that requires me to completely rewrite several posts, because the whole time I supposed that they were just behind the entrance within the cave; so close to the entrance, but not outside of the cave. Cetn was napping (or at least trying to) outside of the cave to the side of the entrance and back a little in a nook; but he couldn't have even climbed up the mountain without them noticing if they were outside of it.

Uh... I have no idea what to do now...

 

EDIT: Changed Cetn's position to an overhang just underneath the cave in some bushes and scraggly trees. Hopefully the post is better.))

Edited May 12, 2016 by skwerl56767

[Renhart]

((Sorry I'm late. I'm going to add Crusher's part later tonight tomorrow (dangit).))

 

When the Royal Crimson began to make choking sounds, Artemis immediately turned the egg's hole away from her to avoid having fire blown at her face again. He then threw up something red hot that hissed and turned a darker color when it landed in the wet sand. Huh, that was odd... thought Artemis. She barely knew anything about Royal Crimsons so she didn't know if this behavior was normal or not. Either way, Crusher would be the one to ultimately decide whether or not they would keep him.

The other hatchling then came running up to her who also appeared to have just hatched. This one knew a few words and said something that concerned her. "Did...did you just call me mama?" questioned Artemis, unsure what else to say. She then placed the egg down beside her and wrapped her tail around it so that she could tend to both of them. Seeing how relaxed the little blue one became, Artemis knew she'd have to bring this one home too, but deep down she felt that having two newborns may prove to be too much of a burden for her.

Edited May 25, 2016 by Booo

[ressamp]

Mihari moved back into the cave, trying to decide what to bring with him. He slowly stepped to his corner of the cave, even though he didn't have much. His collection consisted of a small pile of mana crystals, which he used for practicing magic (though he hasn't learned a lot yet, being too shy to ask). I might as well take a few, he thought to himself as he decided on three large (to him) ones.

 

As he picked them up, he remembered asking Artemis to teach him, but he hasn't talked to her about it. He is able to make a crystal glow again without draining a lot of energy, by becoming calm and concentrating more. Doing so gave the shards a hue similar to his blue scales.

 

Mihari looked around the cave again. He had become used to living here with the group, his... friends. Mihari hadn't really had anyone lile them before, even in his old cave. He had been mostly alone, except for his parents.

 

Mihari shook his head, not wanting to be to emotional. He didn't need much, so he was ready to leave the cave, though he didn't know when. He looked to see if anyone else was inside the cave.

"Hello?" he chirped, feeling another pain in his back.

[LeBoringJacques]

The newborn Soulpeace pawed at Artemis, trying to get her attention. Ranu's miniscule hands stroked Artemis' tail as she said "Mama, mama, hungry! Mama, hungry!" She struggled to get her 'mother's' attention, but she did feel substantially warmer and more comfortable.

[Renhart]

((Late again. ><'))

 

Irah came running back up from the lower level with the jewel in her mouth and went into Crusher's chamber. Crusher didn't keep much in there so Irah was able to quickly locate his satchel, the one that once belonged to a Sunstone dragon he became acquainted with. She bent over and slipped the jewel inside, making sure it rested at the bottom before she went around grabbing Crusher's books and packing them on top.

"Hello?"

She pulled her head out from the satchel and went running over to Mihari. "I'm here!" she exclaimed (even though he didn't call her name) and skidded to a stop. She then noticed something move out of the corner of her eye and looked to her left to see a blue dragon covered in red spots. He appeared to be sleeping against the wall and her eyes became fixated on his spear-like tail. "Any idea who that is?" she asked.

 

~~~

 

"Alright then. Let's get you two something to eat." answered Artemis, knowing that the blue hatchling was probably starving. Crusher, however, wanted Artemis to report back to him so she would have to bring the two hatchlings home first before she could hunt or forage.

Artemis picked up the blue one first and hoisted her up onto Artemis's shoulder. She then stood up on all fours and gently nudged the egg towards her, hoping she could coax the Royal Crimson out of his shell. "Well? Isn't fire-eyes coming with us?" she said, looking down at him.

Edited May 19, 2016 by Booo

[Captain_Gunzou]

Liger tilted his head left then right before doing an adult size sneeze sending both him and the egg he had been in backwards obliterating the eggshell apart against a rotting tree trunk. Liger shook his head vigorously. He stumbled falling flat onto his stomach. He tried to get up but failed at the first attempt. However; on the second attempt he managed to stand straight. Liger focused on getting to Artermis tried to move towards her; However, his body swayed zig-zagging for a bit before he fell. Determination setting in, Liger once again attempted to walk on all fours to Artermis. He made it close to her foot but still fell.

Edited May 23, 2016 by Captain_Gunzou

[Renhart]

"Wow, that was unexpected." said Artemis, having never seen a hatchling make that big of a sneeze before. However, Artemis let herself relax when he rose from the shell pieces unharmed and watched as he attempted to walk towards her. "It's okay, it just takes some practice." she reassured him even though he probably didn't understand her completely. She then carefully kneeled down so that it would be easier for him to climb onto her back and join the other hatchling.

Edited May 24, 2016 by Booo

[Captain_Gunzou]

Liger shimmied up her leg and back to where the other hatchling was and got himself ready for the ride. His head turned from one side to the other in a sweep as he scanned his current surroundings taking it in then came back to full center ready to go.

Edited May 25, 2016 by Captain_Gunzou

[LeBoringJacques]

This being her first flight, Ranu was understandably worried. The Soulpeace shimmied up to Artemis' neck and Ranu's hands, with impressive grip for a newborn, dug her paws tightly into her skin. "Sorry, Mama!"

Edited May 24, 2016 by LeBoringJacques

[Renhart]

Artemis looked back to make sure the Royal Crimson was ready to go before she walked towards the path, going slow at first so that they could get used to it. The Soulpeace's claws were sharp and dug into her scales but she didn't mind as long as the Soulpeace was comfortable and she thought it was cute when she apologised. "That's alright, little one." she said with a slight chuckle. "I think I'll call you Ranu from now on; I like the sound of that." she decided and smiled at the fact that she had already thought of a name for her. It might take Artemis a while longer to think of one for the crimson hatchling, that is unless he decides on one by himself. It's not unusual for parent dragons to speak to their young while they're still in their egg and it's funny what the hatchlings sometimes pick up.

 

~~~

 

Judging by Mihari's silence, he most likely didn't know who this mysterious dragon was either. Irah took a deep breath before going over to him and tapping him on the shoulder. "Um...excuse me." she said nervously and took a few steps back in case he got angry.

Edited May 25, 2016 by Booo

[skwerl56767]

((Spontaneously decided to color Cent's dialogue, if that's all right.))

 

Cetn was settling in pretty well inside the cave - nice, dark, cool... - until he felt something tap him on the shoulder. He figuratively shrugged it off as just a pebble or drop of water falling, until some telepathy came up:

" Um... excuse me."

Cetn huffed and lay still for a little while longer, before finally deciding to turn his head and look at the speaker.

Oh hey, a dragon... His mind slurred. Pretty red dragon... Oh, did she say something? Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was her. Unless is was that blue - nah, it was her.

" Eh?" Cetn grunted at first, before deciding to be more gentlemanly and pick himself up off the ground; his wings hung as dead weights, causing him to almost trip.

" Oh, um... hi... just napping here.... if that works." He yawned loudly. " 'Cause, you know, caves... it's bright out, you know?" He was practically asleep on his feet. He would love to chat, sure, but it was quite the climb up the mountainside, and his scales still filled him with a torpid warmth from being in the sun too long.

Actually, hold on, this might be her cave and she wants you to lea-zzzzzz..... Cetn began to doze, cutting off his own thoughts.

Edited May 25, 2016 by skwerl56767

[Captain_Gunzou]

Liger looked to Artermis, "My name is Liger. My parents gave my siblings and me our names as we were still in our eggs. My mother would call out each of our names as she would tap our eggshell's." A pair of roars could be heard in the distance,"I wonder if those roar's are the same two I heard fighting as I came this direction down the river? I assume that there was lots of invaders that attacked my nest cause I could hearing clanging of metal and men voices. While my parents fought, I was picked up and dad roaring shot hot flames at whoever picked up my egg. I then felt like I was falling, and splashed down into the water was under then came back up as I went along with the current."

Edited June 4, 2016 by Captain_Gunzou

[Renhart]

Irah wasn't happy with the answer she got. "But...are you allowed in here? Have you met Crusher?" she asked, tapping his shoulder again.

 

~~~

 

Crusher was completely silent as he watched Artemis leave. He then sighed and brought a claw to his head as he wondered how he would get everyone safely to the desert.

He was too distracted to further address Echo until they were approached by tired looking Bleeding Moon dragon who briefly muttered something before promptly entering the cave. "Did you just see that?" Crusher asked Echo in disbelief. "He's got some nerve to just walk into someone else's cave like that."

Crusher was noticeably irritated now, he huffed loudly in annoyance. "I bet he has no idea what he's up against." he stated as he marched towards the cave and looked in. To his surprise, the Bleeding Moon appeared to only want a comfortable place to sleep, but Irah wasn't letting him.

 

((Just catching up with Crusher and Irah for now. I'm not sure what else to do with them.))

Edited May 29, 2016 by Booo

[skwerl56767]

" Zz - Huh? Heh, who's Crusher?" Cetn asked stupidly, pairing his comment with a grin. " He own this cave it's a good cave you know, cave?" His speech slurred. " I slept not dawn so yeah n' such..."

 

In his horribly-butchered attempt to explain how tired he was (and also that he doesn't know who Crusher is), Cetn barely noticed a larger male dragon entering the cave, a bit irked about his uninvited guest. Although, when Cetn yawned hugely though and flopped back over onto his side, he saw the silhouette which gave him just enough of a "Oh drat he's huge he's probably mad!" adrenaline rush that he woke up a little more.

" Hiiiiiii... Just nappin'..." Cetn faltered, keeping his grin plastered to his face and swishing his tail close, just in case. With any luck though, the dragon shouldn't mind, right? Hopefully? Unless he's the "Crusher" that coppery dragon was talking about...

[Dream_Dragon]

Sky gave out a noncommittal grunt as Irah ran off. He settled into a comfortable position, curling his tail slightly around himself. Shortly after, a blue dragon speckled with red spots came lumbering in and slumped against the wall. Sky raised the dragon equivalent of an eyebrow as the dragon seemed to doze right off but stayed put, watching as Irah and Crusher addressed the issue. Sky was content to stay where he was and observe. If the Bleeding Moon proved to be a threat, he'd intervene if need be.

[Renhart]

"Irah, let him be." called Crusher. "I have no quarrels if all he wants to do is sleep, but you know how I feel about you approaching strangers at a time like this. "

 

Irah turned to look at Crusher and stepped away from the Bleeding Moon dragon. She hadn't understood what exactly their uninvited guest had said, but he definitely didn't seem like he was there to cause trouble. "Sorry..." she said quietly, "I was just making sure..."

 

Crusher approached them and smirked at Irah's protective nature. "That's alright. You were trying to guard the cave while I wasn't here, but next time you should come looking for me if you think something's wrong."

He then turned his attention to the Bleeding Moon and tried to hide his agitation. He really didn't have a problem with someone napping in their cave since they planned on leaving anyway, but he still had questions about why he had chosen Shatterpoint peak. "I don't suppose you're from around here? Travelling abroad?" asked Crusher.

 

~~~

 

Artemis was silent for a moment before responding with "Oh, I see."

She was surprised at how detailed of an answer she got and wondered how long Liger could have possibly been in his egg. Perhaps he had actually hatched earlier but didn't want to leave his shell behind. Whatever happened, it wasn't worth dwelling on these questions. She had a job to do and Liger might not want to relive the memories of his abandonment.

 

"Hold on tight." warned Artemis before she began to walk up a steep slope. Their trip to the cave was mostly uphill and soon they wouldn't be able to see the river through the mountainous woods.

Edited June 6, 2016 by Booo