time to yap on the main blog instead of @cyrilrambleswhatasurprise once more
about baby dragons AGAIN 🗣️
mostly earthdrakes because those are the most fleshed out species i have atm [because wood man is one of my favorite dragons in this au lmao,,, poster child]
in THE DRAGON AU [all caps ], earthdrakes are known for being large but mostly docile. gentle giants unless provoked, if you will. even caring
and this extends to their hatchlings, too. they tend to hatch asynchronously, and so the firstborn baby will protect its siblings with all its tiny might [despite being just as helpless as the rest of the clutch], laying on the eggs, warming them, etc. and when another egg starts to pip, the firstborn will begin peeping out again to call for its parents, like "HEY MY SIBLING IS HERE PLEASE TAKE CARE OF THEM". this sounds dangerous as it could attract evildoers, but earthdrake parents RARELY stray far from the nest, so they will more times than not be there faster than any predators or hunters would be
even after the clutch is hatched, the oldest will continue to "protect" them as best it can, often trying to stay on top of them in order to keep them warm and "hidden". fine if the entire clutch is hardy earthdrake babies, a bit alarming if it's a mismatched clutch [just like Wily's dragons- Wood squished many siblings when he first hatched. not to death obviously, but it did discomfort them somewhat]... thankfully earthdrake pups are not that heavy and most newborn dragons gain eyesight soon. but it was extremely amusing to Wily to see Wood trample the others in a misguided attempt to keep them warm and safe, meanwhile they were squeaking like "what is this heavy thing on me and why cant i move :("
i also thought a bit about steel dragons [there are a few different kinds, Metal and Cut's dragon form are two different types of steels], less fleshed out, but sort of tragic lore,
steel babies have good noses like many blind and deaf babies do, and one thing they can smell is metal. because their parents have metal parts [like spikes], they view the smell of metal as "parent is home, i am calm and happy now", obviously because they can't see yet
and many hunters have exploited this trick with their metal swords...
steel dragons have learned a similar tactic as earthdrakes and that is "DO NOT TAKE YOUR EYES OFF THE NEST" because of this, becoming a learned behavior over an evolved instinct. steels have become more cautious and violently protective of their nests because of this, and tend to have an even more intense wariness of swords and metal weapons than other dragons. it's sort of ironic that the metal dragons would hate other metal things, but many hunter attacks really traumatized the generations afterwards. truly a tragedy
thankfully, dragon awareness is much more common, and attacks are less frequent due to dragons being recognized as simply creatures trying to live as opposed to monsters. like real life animals and awareness. neat!
yeah there some more sweet dragon lore for my fucking. mega man the robot game au
