(324 words | Cindrii belongs to the ever wonderful @frxemriss | you’re all invited to the baby shower)
The new year in Sornieth had passed. Brightshine was almost at its end. Pororoca had wasted too much time in this clan, rebuilding and resettling. But the worst thing was that the time truly wasted- because some time was spent in an actual worthwhile manner- meant that Pororoca had spent far too long ignoring her future. But, as it may be, the egg pulsed more every day. Something about the amount of magic in the kingdom must have incubated it, even if she had tried to keep it in stasis. Sometimes it was odd, as if there were two pulses, back to back, inside the one egg. Pororoca took it as a sign that it was about ready to hatch.
Her mothers had been involved in her life. Far too involved, for her taste. That would never be Pororoca’s style. She’s not about to abandon the egg, not after all the work it took in getting it here in the first place, however. She’s just been thinking that it might be best to have someone who would actually heavily care what the child does in life.
She’s just been thinking that she knew the perfect ice dragon for the job.
(She has been firmly ignoring the follow up thoughts of what asking someone to help raise ‘her’ child meant.)
But it would probably be best for her to ask said ice dragon before the egg hatched. Which was definitely not ideal, due to the aforementioned time wasting and egg almost hatching bit mentioned before. Who knew how much time she actually had to ask?
Pororoca grabbed the bag with the egg and brought Cindrii as far away from prying eyes as she could. They sat down. They talked. They returned to their house- their home. Cindrii opened the door. He stepped in, turning back when Pororoca didn’t follow. He was silent in asking what happened.
Alternate title: Guess who just fucking cried | Warnings: murder, death, assisted suicide
They were brought to a stage in what could’ve been the middle of the kingdom. Zunella had no clue; he’d never been in this area in his life. And it looked like the he’d be leaving soon enough.
Just maybe not in one peace.
Around the stage there was a crowd, but people passed to let them through with little prodding. No one questioned what was going on. No one objected to the throwing of the prisoners into the middle of the stage.
No one decried giving Elysia a knife.
Torchic was further away now, away from anywhere Elysia could have hurled the knife. Not that it would have done them much good. Torchic still held the most power here, it seemed. Cacti, frankly, looked disgusted at the scene before her.
“Dragons of the Shattered Gorge. Today, instead of asking for volunteers to slay a prisoner, we have already found one: his...partner.” The crowd roared, some with disappointment and others in excitement. It’s one thing to know your death is a spectacle. It’s another to hear that so many are willing to cause it themselves. “If, by chance, they try to escape, the guards will hold them once more and you all can get a chance to show them what happens to enemies of the kingdom.” Again there were roars. Mocking sounds, egging Elysia and Zunella to just give them the opportunity to inflict pain. Then there were the bets. Cries of how Zunella would definitely be able to gain the upper hand, to take the knife and kill Elysia. Zunella already disagreed, but it looked as if Elysia was contemplating the idea.
Once there were no more guards in the ring, they were instructed to start and to “give a great show”. Would a great show have been remaining where they were until one of them died of starvation or thirst? Probably not, but damn if Elysia didn’t wish they could do that instead. At least going out by Zunella’s side would be an honor. One he was pretty sure he didn’t deserve, all things considered. Because he was the one who made it so Zunella would have to kill him. He was the one who helped dirty Zunella’s hands like this.
They circle each other. Zunella lunges like he’s hoping Elysia to instinctively fight him. Elysia dodges. Elysia tries to give him the knife, but Zunella merely kicks it back. Someone comments that Elysia’s a shame of a mirror.
They’re close now. Zunella’s breathing down on him, panting at he now decides to reach for the knife. Elysia keeps it out of his grasp; the change in action says that Zunella has decided to take his life himself. Elysia couldn’t let him do that. Zunella pressed forward. Elysia moved back.
Finally, Zunella reached again, but this time for Elysia’s face. He pressed a kiss to his lips, one that spoke of passion. That spoke of adoration.
That spoke of an apology.
Elysia leaned into the kiss. He was desperate for this one last act of something that could have been love. Desperate enough to lower his guard just a little. Desperate enough to not realize that Zunella had reached his hand.
The knife that speared into Zunella’s heart was held by the both of them, but Elysia could not have been less in control. He didn’t even have to ability to step back in shock. He was rooted to the spot. Zunella slumped forward, leaning against Elysia as he let out pained, ragged breaths. He was dying. He was dying and Elysia could do nothing to stop it.
“Zunella,” Elysia’s voice was failing him. He couldn’t speak. Couldn’t say anything to at least ease his suffering.
“Elysia, thank you.” Zunella didn’t seem to share in this problem. His voice was quiet, but sure. Elysia turned his head to be able to see his face. His eyes were closed, scrunched up as he gulped air down. “I was scared to die alone.” There was something wet and warm on Elysia. But he could no longer feel his body. Everything was numb. It could have been tears. Or it could have been Zunella’s blood. “Thank you for holding me this one last time. I loved you.” Elysia presses his forehead to Zunella’s, and there’s definitely tears strolling down his cheeks now.
“I love you too.”
The tears only increase as he feels Zunella exhale for the last time.
Alternate title: Someone may or may not die soon | Warnings: implied murder, implied death
The festivities were loud enough to be heard even to those trapped behind bars. The music, the laughter, all the sounds of people celebrating. Celebrating what, they did not know for certain. But the noise instilled fear all the same. The last times such joyous noises, people were taken, and they never returned. Hatchlings were told that the people were given new lives in the kingdom, but the emotion behind their parents’ eyes, the wavering of their voices, spoke to a different ending.
Soon enough, guards came. It was always Torchic to pick the newest tribute, and, sure enough, he strode into the room with a look of impatience. The festivities had been going for at least a couple days. What rush did he have now to take someone?
Torchic looked at the selection of prisoners. There were adults shielding younger ones, lovers embracing each other, and those with no one left gently sobbing to themselves. He sneered. They were all weak.
But there was one that looked promising, larger than most of the others and...brightly dressed. Torchic pointed at them, and the guards were quick to grab, subdue, and bring them.
Zunella went along quietly. What use was it to fight it? To be outnumbered and avoid fate? At least his death would hold off the others’. He and Elysia had grown close. He wouldn’t be able to stand it if he had gotten hurt.
But of course Elysia couldn’t leave well enough alone.
“You can’t take him!” Elysia snarled at the guards, bashing at the bars of his prison. Zunella shook his head, trying to claim it wasn’t necessary, but Elysia didn’t listen. “Take me instead!”
“Elysia, don’t-” Zunella was shushed by Torchic striding over to Elysia, giving him a once-over. When the inspection was done, Torchic’s expression was much more obviously sinister than before. His smile brought a chill to all those in the room.
“We’ll take them both. The kingdom loves a show.” With that, Elysia was grabbed, and there were no complaints throughout the prison. No one brave enough to stand up to what was sure to be murder.
Zunella and Elysia were dragged off. Elysia tried to grab Zunella’s hand, but the guards kept them separated. The prison doors closed. The dragging continued.
Wordcount: 1177. | Warning: daddy kink joke. | Most of the characters alluded to in this piece are @dragontag420 ‘s. Chrysi is @actualmanedrasa ‘s and Cindrii is @frxemriss ‘s. Everyone else is mine
Coypu is carrying Morfinn when they finally come across the Plague territory that they’ve been supposedly looking for. (It feels far too long for this to have been an immediate destination. Too much straggling, procrastination, and Pororoca trusts none of it.) Funnily enough, he and Morfinn are the only two to not be weighed down by the geography change. Pangari’s fighting some kind of disease. Froth has been much more snappish than usual. Pororoca’s been in Plague a couple times, but her body’s trying to fight off whatever new strains of disease have been released into the air. She can only imagine how Cindrii is doing- he’s content following along quietly. Something’s up with him, but they’ve been pushing forward too much, and Pororoca’s had no time to figure out what.
Coypu seems fairly hesitant to actually enter the area that he’s proclaiming to be where they need to go, actually. More like, he’s trying to avoid anyone seeing them by slouching and attempting to blend into the foreground of low fences in front of them. Which isn’t working so well with the giggling toddler on his shoulders. At least she’s happy. Everyone else has been walking for hours. Their moods are permanently in the exhausted and soured section, on top of how they’re feeling as they acclimate to the very air around them. Pororoca is not a very patient person. She especially has no patience to wait as Coypu meanders his way in. Froth, who has been helping Pangari stay steady in their journey, beats Pororoca to the confrontation, however.
“What are we waiting for?” Coypu offers a cheesy smile to the group. Morfinn blows a raspberry that turns into a spit bubble.
“I’ve never actually gone in. Y’know, officially. Usually, I just sneak in.”
“Great. I’m sure La Corona loves how you represent our kingdom. But get us in soon, or I’ll have her,” he jostles Pangari forward threateningly. “Sneeze on you.” The cheesy grin disappears from Coypu’s face and is replaced by a twisted grimace.
“That’s just nasty.” But he gets them in, eventually leading them into what could be an office. There’s papers. And a desk. But the room is devoid of dragons- of either two legged or full draconic forms- besides them. They must now once again wait. Pororoca leans against one of the walls of the room, careful not to step on any papers that had scattered because of their entry.
They do not wait long.
A long man that looks shorter only as he passes by Coypu walks into the room. His hair is long; his clothes are black and yellow. He’s the sort that might be considered attractive if not for the frown on his face. Or if not for the nearly comical look of surprise he gets as he realizes that there’s six people watching him. His eyes then turn to Coypu, who now has a disgusting little smirk. It drips slime, metaphorically. It’s the kind of smirk that promises bad pick-up lines, and cheesy nicknames. Pororoca could punch Coypu in the face, grab Cindrii, and then run before anyone knew what had transpired.
She forces herself to wait there with the group. For now.
Coypu sleazes his way into invading the other man’s personal space. He’s practically draped over the poor guy, who tolerates it much better than he should, especially as Coypu speaks in gross pseudo-sexy nonsensical words. But the dude- Rah, as he’s “introduced”- leads them to his higher up to ask if she has a solution for sleeping arrangements or if they can camp here. Or, well, arrangements for most of them. Pororoca has the feeling Mr. Slimeball already has a place to sleep.
They’re led to some giantess. She is at least eight feet tall. She must be. Pororoca, as a dragon of reasonable size, is ready to fight her. Her and her other large friend, who is not as large but close. (There’s another dragon a smidgen taller than Pororoca who escapes being on the shitlist) But she’s in charge, apparently, and that wouldn’t be the best option. Also, she’s carrying a literal infant who doesn’t deserve that, so Pororoca cools her jets. Morfinn, who toddles her way over to check out the first person around her size, would babble-yell at her for slighting them if she did, anyway.
The giantess grants them permission to stay. She mentions that most visitors that know people in the clan usually stay with an actual member of the clan. No one besides Coypu seems thrilled to go back into Rah’s hole of a room- no sexual innuendo intended- but they thank her for her advice anyway. She also gives them the option to chill with some others if they’re okay with being split up, but safety has made them paranoid. Luckily, she says they can stay in any of the large spaces inside the clans borders if they'd rather stay somewhere safer than staying outside the border.
That offer they taker her up on.
They’re about to split when someone runs up to them. This time, thankfully, she’s around Pororoca’s height and doesn’t make her have to crane her neck to be able to see her face.
Coypu introduces her to them as Rah’s daughter. Rah turns to him, spluttering, cheeks darkening.
“She’s not my daughter!” (So Pororoca thought he said. He had an accent, and she was ready to settle down for the night. Everyone’s words were beginning to slur into one another.)
“What?” Coypu looks at Rah first, then turns to the girl for confirmation. “Hm, are you guys sure?” She looks like she could have come from the two of them, her skin tone and hair color falling in their range. Plus, she has big ears much like the other two.
“Positive. She was joking about you adopting her.”
“I can’t believe you believed that.” She giggled. “It’s a little silly.”
“It’s fine. I’ll still be here. You and your Pops will come around one day.” Now the girl and Coypu were both smiling, pushing the family resemblance thing a little further. Matching jokesters, great. Rah closed his eyes, clearly asking one of the deities for patience to continue around them.
“Don’t call me ‘Pops’, and, Chrysi, don’t encourage him.” He might be begging the deities, now.
“What about ‘Dad’?” Coypu starts it.
“Ooh, or ‘Padre’?” But Chrysi continues.
“’Father’?” Coypu.
“’Daddy’?” Chrysi.
“No, only I can call him that.” Coypu, to all their disgust. Pangari puts her hands over Morfinn’s ears. Morfinn, who is still entertained by the baby, is not too pleased at being restrained. But it’s for her own good, in the end. Pororoca does the same to Cindrii.
Chrysi chokes on a cut-off laugh, turning away from the both of them but not actually leaving. Then Froth is asking for directions to where they can set up camp and blissfully helps them escape from the ‘family dynamics’ in front of them. Never before had any of them been so excited to go sleep on the ground.
(Also known as get rekt Xem @frxemriss I’m here to win this war)
For the first time in days, it was just them. The two of them. Pororoca and Sindri. Sindri and Pororoca
No one else immediately nearby.
The others were taking care of the baby. Coypu had named her something stupid- who names a child Morfinn- but it hadn’t negated how precious she was. She babbles and tries to fly and walk and fails every single time. But her eyes are filled with wonder and her babbles are filled with spit. The spit of a precious child. And precious children were meant to live on in safety.
Which is why it’s just Pororoca and Sindri, scouting the area for safe passage.
They’re nearing Earth territory now. The rocky terrain’s horizon has been nearing ever closer. But the plants and other wildlife Nature territory is teeming with continues to block them. Furthermore, the threat of walking into a hostile clan looms over them with every step.
Sindri fills the silence that Pororoca leaves. His voice is soft and unsure, talking about the surroundings and all he found. It’s a reassuring drone. Especially as they’re in unfamiliar surroundings. Pororoca closes her eyes, pauses her movements, to listen to it for just a second.
He stops.
Opening her eyes, Pororoca looks over to see what he had found, yet knew from how the air had gotten heavy that it wasn’t anything good. All she could see were branches and bushes, the foliage in her way. She walks over to him as quietly as she can. The last thing she wants to do right now is to scare him.
Laying on the ground were animals that must have very recently passed. Their fur is intact, and there isn’t nearly enough insects drawn to them for anything past a couple hours of death. But Pororoca doesn’t know what specifically makes it seem sad in Sindri’s eyes: the sight of them dying from what is probably starvation and thirst when she and he were so close by to possibly help, or the combination of one large animal and two small versions of it. A parent and their children.
A family.
Sindri is quieter for the remainder of the clearing. When the others meet with them, Coypu attempts to breach what went wrong, but his lack of tact does nothing. Sindri merely offers a weak smile and an ‘it’s fine’, and continues working to gather dinner and firewood.
They all know it isn’t fine.
The others look to Pororoca to fix it, and she sighs internally. Isn’t Froth the oldest of them all? Shouldn’t he be the nurturer? Especially since he’s dealt with raising children before. Successfully raising children before.
Thinking over her phrasing for a second, Pororoca knows exactly how to cheer Sindri up. She’s been keeping it a secret for a while, but, if it means he’ll be the tiniest bit happier, it’s fine. Besides, he would’ve found out sooner or later.
She waits until after dinner, and then asks him to follow her. He does with such little hesitation that only reaffirms Pororoca’s decision to tell him.
She pulls him into a place just close enough that they can see the others but far enough that the others can’t hear them. She’s about to do one of the more embarrassing things she’s done of her own free will- just so she can see Sindri actually smile- and the less witnesses, the better.
Sitting, she watches as Sindri does the same. Here they are, face to face. Pororoca rubs on of her fingers on the bag she had gotten not so long ago. It’s not filled to the brim quite yet, though some of the items peek through the top.
It’ll be almost empty after now.
“You remember my mothers’ passing, correct?” Sindri’s eyes widen for a split second. Usually he’s the one to start conversations. But Pororoca has no need to be prodded now. This is her secret. Moments of them looking at each other, he finally nods. “After the kingdom collapsed, I went in when you were asleep. I wanted to know if there was anything left in their house.” She had found mostly rubble. Once treasured memories and relics now cracked and broken. The thought hurts less than it should. “I didn’t find much, at first, but then I found this.”
She pulls out the feathers, the ring, and the baubles. The latter two glimmer brighter than she wants, too attention-grabby, but the damage is done. Sindri doesn’t seem to understand why they matter.
“I believe that they were meant for you.” They were by a torn up note with just his name legible, so it was more than belief. “The feathers are said to aid in a good night’s rest. The ring is mine from long before our paths crossed. It’s enchanted to grant the wearer safety. The baubles are just pretty. I meant to give you them days ago, but the timing was off. I decided to wait until we got to safety. Or until your birthday, whichever we made it to first.”
Now she pulls out the blanket, the comb, and the flowers. “There’s also these.” Her voice quiets as she goes to continue. She wonders if he notices her embarrassment past her face that hasn’t given her away yet. “The others seemed like poor presents by themselves. I’ve been collecting them, to give to you as well. They seemed like items you would like.” The silence between them now stretches. Sindri’s eyes are still wide, if not wider than before. He’s probably overwhelmed. Pororoca can’t exactly fault him for that. And she still has the biggest surprise left in her bag, waiting for her to take it out.
Sindri stops her before she can.
“Thank you.” His words drip sincerity. Like they’ve been oversaturated with it. “It’s just hard- I mean, we’ve been attacked twice. I miss my dad.”
The chance to show him the last item is gone, but the moment is not. Pororoca scoots closer, invites him to rest his head on her shoulder. Once he does, albeit with far more hesitation than he had when she had asked him over here, she murmurs for him to talk about Katan.
That he doesn’t even think twice about. The words seem to pour out of him, like she just removed dam holding back the ocean. They sit there for hours, Sindri talking and Pororoca grunting noises to show she’s listening. One of them, at some point, pull the blanket she had gifted him over them.
(lore ping @frxemriss )(if you wanna be pinged for lore or for any character in specific just lmk!)
Quick lore update, in bullet form bc I apparently can’t write it out proper
Hayes and Sean are Torchic’s sons
Sean was sent to spy on the Nightrage Drag, and lead to the kingdom being infiltrated
Mystery was forcibly dragged out of the kingdom, kicking and screaming, after Pitch was both sedated and then knocked unconscious (overkill but necessary since Mystery’s his charge)
After Mystery was taken, the kingdom started to literally crumble. Her magic is what kept the kingdom together and without it- without her- it’s destroyed. Several were left by accident.
There were soldiers waiting for them. The inhabitants are being dragged away to the Shattered Gorge.
The only ones who made it unscathed and uncaptured were those out of the kingdom for whatever reason. Which are: Coypu (was “borrowing” stuff), Coypu’s newest acquired child, Roca & Sindri (were on a little expedition), Froth (he leads the expeditions), and Pangari (needed some stuff from a clan little over yonder, made it back to join the expedition because, hey, why not)
So now they’ve all gone back to find 1) the remains of the kingdom and 2) no place to return and it’s just oH NO
Especially bc there’s a child they now have to raise while in this kind of rag tag group
