theattic | PSL: Dragon Fails

[WELL, JW. DO YOU HAVE MORE TREASURE?]

[Because that's important. After the other day, the grey scales have all turned a bright, glowing silver. All the darker patches are closer to an obsidian sheen. Even his eyes are a little brighter.]

[He's sitting on the same ledge, looking impatient, tail lashing.]

_{[James the dragon with an embarrassingly human name has a problem on his claws. He's been watching Sideswipe from one of his many doorways for a good ten minutes, trying to figure out how to approach him. Their first meeting could have gone better.]

[So now he was going to try a new approach: friends first. He'd seen so few other dragons and now he'd learned that there were even other dragon societies. WHELP. Nothin' to it but to do it!]}

Hey!

_{[He comes trotting up on his short legs dragging nearly an entire suit of armor in his jaws. He drops a gauntlet on his way over and scoops it up with his tail. Wow, is it the sun or are Sideswipe's scales shinier?]}

You did come back.

[His head perks up at the sound of metal down the tunnel. He even stands up, his tail lashing in excitement. Why yes, his scales are shinier. He looks like a polished silver coin here in the sunlight.]

Oh. So you are awake.

I thought you said you were nocturnal.

[As he paces back and forth, flicking his wings. He's totally interested in that chunk of metal JW is dragging.]

_{[So far, he's learned that opening a conversation with an Ore eater requires an offering. That sounded like a pretty dragony thing to him so he went with it. He drops the armor but plants his front claws on top of the chest plate, giving Sideswipe what he hopes is a charming grin.]}

Nightmares! Nightmares all day! Your folks give you a hard time for runnin' off?

... Nightmares.

[He sounds so damn skeptical. But his eyes are on that armor, tail twitching.]

Mmno. Not yet. They haven't found me yet.

_{[The cliff dragon makes a long unhappy hmmmming sound in the back of his throat. Maybe Ore Eater cultures were just DIFFERENT. With a shrug, JW moves away from the armor and lays himself down, curling his long body around the edge of the cliff to create a low barrier.]}

What do you have to do to get 'em off your back?

[Sideswipe purrs, sauntering forward in order to plant his feet on the armor, victoriously. He settles down around it, gnawing a corner.]

Mmm, have offspring with someone, probably. It's all a very Big Deal.

[Even though he waves a hand at that last bit, like he could personally care less.]

I'm their only surviving spawn, after all. It'd be different if I had siblings, but, nope.

_{[He scratches the scruff on his chin after twisting his neck around so that he could reach it. What a predicament. Couldn't Sideswipe's wardens have more?]}

Yowch. Can't help you out with that, buddy. The only dragons I've seen nesting were waaaay too protective to even think about stealing from.

Mm, you're describing my father in perfect detail. And I'm an adult.

[As he settles down to chew more viciously at the armor.]

Of course, he's that way in general. Apparently he was utterly insufferably protective of my other father before I came around.

_{[Wow, this guy's father was a real piece of work. He could only wonder what could make a dragon behave that way. Actually, he had a fair idea and he didn't want to think about it.]}

...how long do your kind take to hatch? We could find a rock...

... No.

Father is a doctor, remember? I told you that. Geez, have a little better memory.

_{[JW's back fin stands up as he huffs.]}

I don't know a lot of doctors, okay!

_{[He knows exactly zero doctors.]}

I'm just trying to help, you're welcome.

You don't know Ratchet? I thought everyone and their father knew him.

[Seriously, he did. Ratchet was pretty famous back home. ... both his parents were. Which sort of made finding a boyfriend difficult.]

Well, it's true. He'd notice.

_{[The long dragon shook his head and offered up a bony shrug.]}

I've never had to go to a doctor, I guess I wouldn't have. Anyway...that leaves us at square one again.

Why not? I thought your back was... broken or something.

_{[He huffs a little cloud of smoke through his big turkey vulture nose and finds something else to look at. The truth was he didn't trust doctors. He had the treasure to pay (or so he thought until he met the bottomless pit here) but other dragons poking around at his dragonyness and telling him all the ways he failed at being his species...]

[NOPE.]}

Fine... suit yourself. Suit yourself and your bad back.

[He says so smugly, before tucking into the last bits of that armor. This is quality stuff, here. He's going to look so pretty later.]

_{[He slowly lowers his chin to the ground and lets his wings flop on either side of him while Sideswipe chews away at the human-worked metal. He's quiet for a while.]}

How many other kinds of dragons have you met?

Uhhhh...

Just you and everyone back home?

[Sideswipe that's two kinds. That's not a lot at all.]

_{[Sideswipe's answer both surprises him and doesn't. On one hand, the guy can't get out from under daddy's claw. On the other, he actually came from a place with other dragons. James just assumed other kinds came and went from...wherever it was they lived. His scaly brows furrow as he tries to remember the last dragons he saw.]}

How many of you are there?

Us? Not a lot. The other side? More. A lot more.

[He says that so casually too. Like he may as well be commending on the color of the sky. Then again, he's lived knowing about the big clan war his entire life, so...]

_{[JW shifts uneasily. He wants to ask all the things...but Sideswipe is steadily making him feel dumber. And he doesn't want to lose his temper.]}

Weeee don't really have sides out here. I don't have sides, I mean. I'm my own dragon, y'know?

_{[YEAH PLAY IT COOL. He buffs his claws against his chest and peeks over at his reflection in Sideswipe's shoulder again.]}

Well. That's probably going to change. If the other side gets out here. They'll either eat you or make you one of them.

[Could he possibly have said that any more casually? Probably not.]

[And then he tilts his head, pausing in the way he's gnawing his treat.]

Your own dragon, huh?

_{[He stops buffing his claws because one gets hung under one of his chest scales.]}

Wait, what? One of who? Nobody comes out this way except for the odd human caravan and hyper reflective prettyboys like you.

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