theattic | PSL: Dragon Fails

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.

[He tilts his head, watching that claw.]

Yeah, just wait. If we lose, this place will be crawling with big, cannibal dragons.

_{[His back fin stands up in alarm.]}

Cannibal dragons? And who's we? Are you some sort of awol soldier?

Yep.

Everyone's got to fight. I mean, you either fight back or they eat you. So...

_{[His coils start to bunch up as he thinks back over the last few months. So something had stirred up the humans. He had thought they were only fighting themselves like they always did!]}

Well you could have said something about that BEFORE!

You didn't ask before!

[Like that's going to make any difference here, geez Sideswipe.]

_{[The olive dragon is fit to tie himself in a knot. He stretches out his arms to make a few feeble gestures at Side Swipe before letting them fall back to the dirt.]}

Well...maybe they won't find me underground. And I guess you don't want anything to do with them either. I could show you inside...

_{[Don't do it, James, think of your treasure!]}

[He watches those hand movements, looking skeptically back and forth between JW and his hands.]

Oh, sure. Until they sic the Driller on you. Then it'll dig you out in about five minutes.

[He blinks slowly, tilting his head back and forth.]

Inside... with the treasure?

Inside where there's shelter.

_{[He says this pointedly as he gathers himself up and flattens his purple sail. The long dragon trots haughtily to the far end of the little cliff where they rested and slithered between a broken scrub tree and a large boulder. Then he starts digging with his back feet to widen the hole.]}

I guess this is sort of my living room.

And treasure. Right? There's treasure too?

[And yes, he is scooting along after the other dragon, trying to peer around him while he digs, looking for the aforementioned treasure. He can't actually see it, of course, but damn does he ever try.]

Uh huh. Sure. Is there treasure?

_{[Derrgun stopped digging so that he could back all several dozen feet of himself out of the hole and turn to frown at Sideswipe.]}

Is treasure all you care about?

Right now? Kind of.

_{[He puffs himself up in frustration.]}

Shouldn't you be caring about, oh, I dunno...YOUR SCALES?

Pfft. Why do you think I want the treasure? It makes me look gorgeous.

[He's going to preen a little now. Don't mind him.]

[Or do, because he's going to try and push his nose in the hole.]

Not your SCALES scales! Your hide! Your life! Wh--HEY!

_{[He brings the rattly end of his tail down on Sideswipe's nose.]}

This mountainside is delicate! If you dig wrong the whole thing will collapse and that means no treasure!

_{[After shooing the silver dragon aside, James starts digging again, this time all of him disappearing down the long tunnel. He was gone for what felt like an hour as plumes of earth sprayed the opening. Finally the mouth of the cave widened enough for Side Swipe to worm his way in if he folded his wings tightly enough.]}

Come on!

_{[At the end of the tunnel, there was a large-ish chamber carefully dug from the stone and rock. And it's gloomy. The only light comes from the tunnel itself and a few small holes that serve as skylights and vents. And the floor is covered in treasure. Most of it is armor and weaponry but there are coins and gems scattered throughout. He's spent several years hoarding from battlefields and with how makeshift the nest is, this is not his first nor his last burrow. A few other tunnels led elsewhere but none of them had been widened for his guest's convenience.]}

You can have this one.

_{[He offers Side Swipe a single silver plate.]}

I can handle myself! I've fought before, okay!

[And then he jerks his head back with a hiss, like a startled cat. He has to restrain himself from swatting at the tail with his claws, and settles for hunkering down, glowering.]

I wasn't going to hurt your stupid mountain...

[But fine, he'll wait. He doesn't want to go home and explain to Smaller Dad why he's covered in bruises. They'll just fuss. Or worse. Which is unbearable and embarrassing. So he waits, passing the time by preening himself in earnest. Hey, if he's going to go crawling through a hole, he might as well look pretty in the process.]

[He... regards the resulting hole in disdain. He's not a broad dragon, but he's lanky. And the prospect of having to fold himself up like some common digger is insulting. But... treasure...]

[The treasure is what gets him. So in he goes, wiggling and huffing indignantly the whole while. Up until he can stand back up and vigorously shake himself all over to rid himself of any and all imagined dust.]

... It's. Hm. This is larger than I thought you'd make.

[Since JW is so long and snakey and -- oh. A plate. His eyes brighten immediately, before dimming, and his lip curling slightly.]

All this -- [He gestures around with a wingtip.] -- and you're only handing over a plate? How stingy can you be! I thought you were worried for my scales.

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