The Age of Dragons (Year 1051)

[spiderwrangler]

Tha'kzrel looks down at the partially charred rat, confused and disappointed by his mother's gentle admonishment. Perhaps his siblings would still like some... if not, he intends to not let it go to waste, Mother's favorite or not. He turns to the deep red young dragon and projects thought images of "<food><share><eat>" accompanied by an emotional sense to make it clear he is asking and offering. He looks around for the purple, but doesn't see him...

((Theis, I'm going with not seeing you attacking... because that seems more fun. Unless Badge wants to use our upcoming (mock) fight to illustrate any game mechanics, I'm happy to let you RP your gliding attack and I'll respond afterwards.))

[thinkslogically]

Krazk snorts a little huff of steam and pouts.

"But I want a story nooooowwwwww...!!!! What's so great about a presenting... thing anyway?"

► Show Spoiler

You can fluff it into "she tells a story" if you like I'm not looking to make your life difficult here or force you to create ALL THE WORLDLORE just because some baby yellow dragon keeps asking "why?" Besides, if she's going to go down the learning-everything-about-everything route, you're going to be asked for a LOT of stories!

[Runsaround]

Malarack turns to Thaz'krel and looks at him quizzically.

<gratitude><unknown><brother><wary>

He then leaps off his mother to accept the offered flesh.

[spiderwrangler]

Tha'kzrel backs up as his red brother accepts his offering. As he looks on proudly, he's completely unaware of the Purple Death spiraling down from above.

((Runs, you were vague about your dragon's sex initially, but since you referred to him as such, I'm calling him a brother.))

[Arch Lich Burns]

"what is so special about the hiarchy? Seems like other dragons thinking they are special when they are not special in the slightest." He speaks loud enough for Panterna to hear him.

[Quarg]

Cyrano ponders for a moment..."What does Father teach?" He asks his mother...His attention is taken by the purple nest mate as he watches what he does while sailing across the room and down on the charcoal dragonet.

[GathersIngredients]

Sapphire tilts hear head at the mention of meeting the others tonight. "There's more dragons? How many?"
And before, her mom had mentioned a presenting ceremony, too. Sapphire didn't understand what that meant, but it did sound important. "Do we need to prepare for tonight?"

[Theis2]

Shrak'laræ glides down at his brother with the utmost precision or so he imagined before the ground came a bit faster than expected. He lands on the ground with only his hind legs with a thump, but quickly jumps the last bit of distance and attacks his brother from behind. He uses his legs to try hold Tha'zkrels wings down while he attempts to gently bite his neck.

He can't help but let out a little "gotcha!" as he jumps the other dragon.

► Show Spoiler

This is what I had the time to make in my little break from studying, but from tomorrow I'll have more time at my hands (still occupied by studying for exams, but I have more time between them at least!

[spiderwrangler]

Tha'kzrel lets out a hiss as he feels claws scrabbling at his back. He tucks his wings and leaps to the side trying to roll around and see just who is attacking him. If he can get a bead on his attacker and see that it's his brother, he'll let loose his breath, going not for fire, but trying to recreate the noxious sulfur breath he belched forth on his first attempt at charring the rat.

[Runsaround]

Shrugging mentally, Malerack jumps into the fray, batting at his brothers with his forelegs and trying to replicate the fire trick that Tha'kzrel can do.

[BadgeAddict]

Unwilling to allow "later" to be an answer Krazk started to throw a fit at her mother "But I want a story nooooowwwwww...!!!! What's so great about a presenting... thing anyway?" Pantera let out a short sigh, this daughter was beginning to remind her more and more of herself when she was a child. "So be it daughter, I will tell you a short story of the Golden Sun; as for the Presenting tonight, it will be your father's first chance to meet you." Pantera drew in a long breathe before beginning to speak, her voice, where once motherly and soft, changed slightly to a tone...of adventure. She told one of the most well known stories of The Golden Sun and how he was the most beautiful of all of the Seven, his scales the color of molten gold....(Her story ends abruptly when a fireball explodes, see below)

Azabik tries to extract more information about this hierarchy stuff from his mother, but she sees in his eyes what he wants to ask before he even asks it. Kora responds with a great amount of love "You will learn about the history of dragons and their rules when you go through your first teachings which will take place up through your first hatching day." She takes a side glance at Pantera before continuing "You must keep your mind in check..." (Any further words of wisdom end when a fireball explodes, see below)

Corazon's children, bright eyed and spikey tailed, looked up at her, questions continuing to spring to their minds. "What does Father teach?" her son asked, whose eyes started to stray over to where the small purple dragon was sailed down through the air. "Your father is expertly skilled in mental communication." she laughs a bit to herself as she thinks about him. "To the point that he believes he can talk to the world itself." "There's more dragons? How many?" Sapphire asked "do we need to prepare for tonight?" Corazon counted on her foreclaws, mentally calculating something "Including the you, the newly hatched, there are roughly 25 dragons living here. As for preparing for tonight, that is my concern dear child, not yours."

Tha'kzrel looks only slightly upset that he killed his mother's favorite Rat, but not upset enough not to keep eating it, it is dead after all. He focuses on his red brother and projects: <food><share><eat>. He looks around for his purple brother, but is unable to find him.

Malarack, the red dragon in question, responds graciously to his brothers thoughts: <gratitude><unknown><brother><wary> and leaps from his mothers side to pounce on the body of the rat, devouring it in a few short gulps, barely stopping to chew.

High above them both, Shrak'laræ trains his eye on Tha'kzrel as he tries to direct his glide toward him. His flightpath, while erratic, was staying on course, but the ground came up at him quicker than he had thought it should. Stretching out his legs to land, he found that his speed gave him extra momentum which threw him forward toward his brother the last few yards. Shrak'laræ plowed into his brother, knocking them both to the ground. Popping his head from the fray of scales and heads he yells "gotcha!" and then begins to tussle with his brother.

Dazed and confused, Tha'kzrel lets out a hiss of defiance and tries to roll out of the fray in order to face his attacker. Seeing that it's his brother, he attempts to recreate the sulfuric breathe that he had fumigated the rat with. Drawing a deep breathe he spat forth a noxious cloud of gas which swirled over and around his brother. Startled by the attack, Shrak'laræ shuffled back from his brother in confusion. Feeling left out, Malarack runs over to his battling brothers and tries to make a fire of his own. Drawing in a deep breathe, he shoots out a stream of fire at the space between his two brothers. A loud WHOOSH sounds as a ball of fire engulfs the two young dragons before almost immediately goes out.

Slightly singed by the fire, their scales covered in a film of black residue, the three brothers tried to disappear from view as the four mothers stared them down. (Katia does the equivalent of a dragon facepalm)

[Arch Lich Burns]

"what do you mean-" azabik, interupted by the fireball, starts snickering, before barkingcwith laughter, forgetting what he was going to ask.

[GathersIngredients]

Sapphire does her best to disregard and stay well out of the outbreaking brawl of the three siblings.

Although she's not vain, she figures she might as well try and make herself presentable for meeting the other dragons for the first time and starts preening herself (or however it is called when a dragon does that). When she's done with whichever parts of herself she can reach, she looks up to her brother and offers: "You clean my back, I'll clean yours?

My name is Sapphire, by the way. What would you like me to call you?" smiling at him genuinely.

[Quarg]

Cyrano laughs at the fireball. Then watches his sitter start apparently cleaning herself. He turns to his mother and gives thor a queer look for a moment as though you heard something. When Saphire asks about cleaning her back he pauses and looks around. "Where did you find water?" He asks and then realizes she was using her own tounge and seems a bit repulsed. "Well Mom though I looked like Cyrano...so I'm Cyrano...If we want to get really clean we should find some water to wash in..."

► Show Spoiler

I just see one of Cyrano's faults as being something fastidious and liking to bathe in water...And I took some liberties with the naming...but that isn't my heart/true name

[thinkslogically]

Krazk sits and stares at her mother, so absorbed by the story that when the fireball explodes, she jumps and lets out a squeak of surprise. Embarrassed, her shock quickly turns to anger and she growls disapprovingly at the three squabbling younglings.

"Stop that! It's not funny! You ruined my story!" she says loudly towards the three (safely perched on her mother's paws).

[Runsaround]

"Hey! It's not my fault my brother was spitting defective firebreath! Anyway, it was an accident, so step off!"

[Theis2]

"We are just making our own stories! Though I didn't expect fire.."

Shrak'laræ stops hiding behind his mother and proudly walks a bit closer in a little happy walk while ignoring his brothers outburst.

"But it might be more fun for you if you joined the story as well."

He gives his best toothy smile. He still feels a bit special from the glances all the adult dragons gave him when he went to stand on his mother.

[thinkslogically]

For a moment Krazk seriously considers taking him up on that offer, if only to teach them a lesson for interrupting the tale of the Golden Sun, but quickly changes her mind when she sees the stocky residue covering the other younglings and decides that she'd far rather stay out of reach and clean. She sits up straight with her paws neatly together like a cat and looks down on the others with the most condescending look she can muster.

No thank you. I have to look my best for the Presentation Ceremony and I don't want you getting me all slimy and smelly before I meet my father.

Turning away from the others, she whispers to her mother:

Can everyone make fire like that? Can I do it?

[spiderwrangler]

Tha'kzrel glares at the shiny prissy one and steaks over to the bone pile. If he finds a fairly fresh bone, he'll gnaw on it and try to get to the tasty stuff inside.

[BadgeAddict]

The Presenting Ceremony

Though initially shocked by the conflagration, Cyrano and Azabik burst into laughter at the three naughty dragons, caught in the blast. Krazk glares at them bitterly for ruining the ending of the story that her mother had been telling her and Sapphire did her best to ignore the commotion. A squabble ensues among the children and Cyrano and Sapphire begin trying to clean themselves. The others, caught up with wonder and excitement about the ceremony that night, began to question their mothers about what they must do to get ready for the evening.

A knowing smile passes between the four mothers as they began to work themselves into a frenzy of activity, alternating between using the small pool in the hatching cave to wash their children and a small sand pile in A corner to polish them. Yelps and cries echoed throughout the large cavern as children were dunked repeatedly underwater and polished with the coarse volcanic sand. Several hours later, seven polished children stood with not-so-happy looks on their faces. Each mother continued to worry over their children, looking them over carefully for any defects among their scales that missed being polished.

As the light in the cavern started to dim, Corazon looked at each of the other mothers and with a simple nod of her head in the direction of the entrance, led the way out. The other mothers followed her out into the frosty landscape that crunched underfoot as the dragons walked. They carried their children in their front hands, their wings wrapped around their body in an attempt to keep their children from becoming overly chilled. The four females slowly and carefully moved their way up the mountainside toward a large crack among the rocks. They stepped with confidence into the crevice and down into the suffocating darkness. They continued moving until finally, the shaft opened up to a large chamber, deep within the mountain. The room looked as if it had been created by humans, but there were no humans, nor was their scent still lingering on any of the carefully cut pieces of stone. Seven mighty columns rose from floor to ceiling and were intricately carved to look like the Seven original dragons.

All around the chamber, notches had been created to allow fires to burn within them, which cast ominous shadows around the giant room. Inside of the seven columns, at the far side of the chamber, a stone dais rose to about 8 feet off of the stone floor. On either side of the room sat several dragons of varying ages and colors and upon the dais itself sat a perfectly white female dragon. Directly in front of the dais sat four male dragons, sitting patiently awaiting the presentation of their children.

The white dragon held up a clawed hand before the assembly of dragons before speaking to them. ÔÇ£It has been too many years since we have had children in this room. These children are our chance to unite the world once again and reclaim the skies for all DragonKind. To do this, we must try again to make peace with humanity and work side by side with them for a better world.ÔÇØ Several dragons let out dissatisfied hisses, interrupting the queen's speech. The Queen raised her and waited until silence had settled over the room before continuing. ÔÇ£We must work with humans to survive, the last of the Great Wars taught us that much.ÔÇØ At the mention of the Great Wars, Azabik feels his mother Kora stiffen.

Finishing her speech, Havidia reflected on the the dragons gathered in the chamber and wished that her life mate was still alive, he would have been able to talk sense into these dragons. As she continued to think about days gone by and how the great wars had taken her husband from her, her mind slipped to the reason why. The bitter taste of bile rose in her throat as her thoughts settled on her grandson, Dagon the Traitor; letting him live had been too merciful. Her mouth twisted into a look somewhere between pain and disgust as she thought of him, it took several moments for her to regain her composure. Wiping the grimace from her face, she raised her head and stared at the children, each assembled before their mothers. ÔÇ£It is time to present your children to their fathers, as is our custom, let it begin.ÔÇØ

Corazon, being the oldest, stepped forward first and bowed low to the queen before herding her two children forward to the largest dragon in the room. His scales the color of stone, he sat so still that had Corazon not looked at him so lovingly, you would have thought him but another expertly carved statue. Bowing to her life mate, she spoke reverently ÔÇ£Husband, I present to you, our son and daughter.ÔÇØ Large eyes opened slowly and a head bent down from to look at each child carefully. Over and around each child he inhaled, taking in their scent until he was fully satisfied. Though large in stature, his voice was soft, but his words were few, he raised his voice to all in the room ÔÇ£I am Tytan and I claim these children.ÔÇØ Having done his peace, the giant dragon settled back into motionlessness and Corazon took her place at his side.

Pantera, never one to belittle herself overly much, gave the queen a much shorter bow and more sauntered then walked up to her life mate with child in tow. She not so much bowed as nodded her head to her life mate before bringing her child in front of her. ÔÇ£Husband, I give you our child.ÔÇØ Pantera said, her voice suddenly as smooth as silk. Now that Krazk had been bathed and polished, the little one looked as if she truly was Fire come to life. The large well toned Red Dragon couldnÔÇÖt help but smile with pride as he looked over the little one, snuffling around her. ÔÇ£I am Xin and I claim this child.ÔÇØ Pantera took her place beside her husband keeping their daughter between them. Xin found himself unable to keep his eyes off of the little one, so proud that he had helped create something so beautiful.

Kora was unable to help but notice that all eyes were on her, most of them disapprovingly so. She shushed her mouthy child as he was just about to ask another question and walked quickly forward forgetting to bow to the Queen. Hearing the tittering of laughter caused her a fresh wave of embarrassment and she quickly gave a short bow to the queen. Picking up her step, she arrived before Druger and placed their child between them before bowing slowly. ÔÇ£Druger, I present you, your child.ÔÇØ The Tall but thin green dragon squinted down at the small hatchling and began to wish that he was not in the room. Doing his best to follow tradition, he snorted and sniffed around the child and caught a strong whiff of Kora, which made his head spin a little. Raising his head from inspecting his son, he looked deeply into KoraÔÇÖs eyes. His eyes said more to her than he ever needed to say and she knew that had she just made up her mind and committed to him, this child of theirs wouldnÔÇÖt be a bastard. Breaking contact with her eyes, he looked long and hard at the small dragon before speaking to those gathered in the chamber ÔÇ£I am Druger and I claim this child.ÔÇØ Having said his peace, he resumed his silence, and returned his eyes to gazing somewhere off into the distance, unwilling to meet any of the gazes that he knew looked his way. Kora hesitantly took her place beside him, regardless of how she did or didnÔÇÖt feel, she made a promise to herself that she would help raise their child.

When it became KatiaÔÇÖs turn, she found herself frozen in place. This was the moment that she had to not screw up, otherwise the entire ruse would be up. As the seconds ticked, her anxiety increased and her mind raced until she thought she would explode. The White Queen looked at her with a small smile of encouragement and beckoned at her with her hand to come forward. Remembering herself, Katia bowed deeply to the queen shuffling her three children in front of her along with her as she walked. She walked with certainty across the hall till she arrived in front of Zaks, a medium sized burnt orange dragon. Zaks was an unusual character who spent his days deep below the mountain, as close as possible to the magma pockets as possible. He was unique in that he had been able to keep his egg-horn, which his most prominent feature. Behind his back, the others called him uni-horn, which he strongly disliked, but they knew better than to say it to his face as he was an expert with fire. Standing there before him, Katia bowed deeply to him, smiling to herself as she did. ÔÇ£I present to you, your children.ÔÇØ Zaks bowed to Katia in return and became sniffing around the three children. Once he had finished inspecting them, he sniffled a little before responding. ÔÇ£I Zaks, claim these children as my own.ÔÇØ Katia let out a small sigh of relief as she moved to stand beside Zaks.

With all children presented an claimed by their fathers, the Queen held up a hand ÔÇ£I also, claim these children as citizens of Kalt Insel and I will do my utmost to keep them safe.ÔÇØ She waved her hand to the many dragons gathered in the room. ÔÇ£Do you agreeÔÇØ. The crowd responded with thunderous cheering ÔÇ£We agreeÔÇØ. The Queen held up a hand and waited till silence filled the room again ÔÇ£Then I, as Queen of Kalt Insel, announce the Presenting Ceremony to be over, let the feasting begin.ÔÇØ

Several dragons emerged a side entrance, each carrying a variety of dead animals such as goats, sheep & fish. One dragon in particular came in dragging a sea animal nearly as big as he was. Once all of the food was piled into the center of the chamber and when all of the dragons had settled along the sides of the room once again, the Queen spoke ÔÇ£Dig In.

[Quarg]

Cyrano looks up at his parents..."Is there some order of who gets food first?...because I am hungry and would like to try that...odd looking thing with the fins..." He looks at his sister, "Neither of us have eaten anything like that yet..."

[Arch Lich Burns]

Azabik snifs back at his father, and whrn he sees the last pairing come up, he whispers to his parents "How does brown and red become purple? What are humans? Who will teach me how to fly? I am going to be the fastest dragon!"

" ....Whoa! What is that giant sea creature?!"

When he sees something interesting and something he never tried before, he tries a bite of it, espessially of the giant sea creature and stuffs himself with what he finds the best meat.

[spiderwrangler]

As soon as the queen gives the word, Tha'kzrel drives forward, tearing into the feast with gusto.

[thinkslogically]

Krazk takes her place between her parents, sitting as tall and still as she can so as not to embarrass herself or her parents. Sitting between the enormous bulk of her two parents, she finds her attention almost completely taken up by the size of the giant forepaws on either side of her. Glancing down at her own small claws, she cannot help but feel incredibly small.

Eventually, she notices her father is watching her, and she glances up. Seeing the pride in his look, she is reassured a little bit and shakes her wings out to show them off even better. After all, why shouldn't everyone be looking at her?

When the food arrives, she hangs back, waiting to see how she's meant to behave.

[GathersIngredients]

Sapphire looks and listens and sniffs around all the time, trying to take in every detail. Every dragon, their size, their name, their smell, their posture, their looks, their (meant for the public) thoughts. When she's herded before the queen, she attempts a little bow of herself, imitating her mother the best she can manage.

Later on, when their father is sniffing at them, Sapphire raises up all the way to her standing on hind paws, stretching out her wings and neck in an attempt to make the tip of her nose touch with Tytan's for but a moment, whispering "Tytan" back up to him.

After she has been claimed, Sapphire sits down in front of her parents and attentively watches the presentation of the others.


Sapphire takes note of the dragon who brought in the sea creature and decides to try and go see him later, ask about it and how he caught it and where to find it and probably a whole lot of other questions. But for now, she's happy to jump into the fray, weaving in and out of the pile of food, taking a bite here and a morsel there and retreat back to where she and her family sat before, so other, especially bigger dragons don't have to watch out not to accidentally bite her, only to return with a joyful squeal, jumping right back into the wild feasting for another mouthful every time after she has carefully chewed, eaten up and swallowed down, until her hunger and her urge for being playful is sated.