Roleplay

He was in awe of the lair's common area. There were so many tunnels and doors and drakes wandering about. It was bigger then his own home, which made sense. He was sure their entire protectorate resided underground with them instead of in the above ground territory. Between the visual intake and the strange energy that was trapped between the stone walls he was like a cub in sensory overload.

He couldn't tell if the energy was coming from the denizens of the clan, or if it was just the difference in elemental energy that stuck out to him. The latter probably being the truth of the matter. He hadn't noticed it before, but he wasn't exhausted and drained before either.

"Your home is beautiful," he stated casually. That's when his eyes fell on the two arguing drakes. Even though he was advised to ignore them he was unable to pry his eyes off of the two. Not until they were far enough away to lose sight of them. "Will I be staying on the upper levels?" he asked gently.

"As a guest, you get to choose whatever empty room you want, up or down."
Sholka answered simply, as he kept an eye out for one of two individuals, when they both caught his eye. A brightly colored blue and orange fae sat casually on the head of a cream and pink pearlcatcher. He approached them and nodded respectfully.
"Sugar, Viven, this is Dash from Clan AzureKnight, one of Lindarin's apprentices." Dev rolled his eyes and flew off through one of the roof tunnels, presumably to his room.

The pealcatcher smiled warmly, incredbly sweet.
"Hello and welcome to SugarSand. My name is Sugar, and I'm one of the clan leaders here. If you have an questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to seek me out and ask me. I hope you'll enjoy your stay with us. And I apologize in advance for the chaos here. It's a very...lively place with all sorts of drakes living here. You might find some undesirebles, but for the most part everyone is fairly well behaved, except when they're not. Then my Mate and other clan leader Viven, and one of the vice-leaders Niji will take care of things."

The fae called Viven huffed and rolled over onto his stomach to look at Dash the right way up. "Greetings, welcome, and that other stuff the wife said. I'm Viven as you've guessed, and I'm not nearly as sociable most of the time as Sugar, but I'm always just as open. If you have any trouble with anyone in the clan or help with something, find and ask me. I run Coli so I'm not always around, but when I am, I'm happy to help out."

Dash, at first, was caught on the look of the colorful Pearlcatcher. Not because of her colors, but because of the condition of her wings and the dark marks around her maw. He'd seen that before, but this time the one with the condition wasn't chasing after him with swords popping from her hands. He shook it off as nothing but a bad memory triggered by visual sensory detail and continued with friendly greeting.

Before he could really get to meet the pair Devastation flew off. He moved so fast Dash barely had enough time to lift a paw to wave and offer a, "Good night," before he was gone. He hoped he heard him.

He returned his attention to the very hospitable Pearlcatcher named Sugar and her mate Viven. "It's a pleasure to meet both of you. Thank you for the warm greeting and allowing me to visit. It is much appreciated." He paused for a quick moment as he contemplated his next question. With only a hint of doubt, he decided to cautiously attempt easing his curiosity. "Would it be acceptable to ask you a question?" he asked of Sugar.

"Of course sweetheart, what would you like to know? You can ask me anything you want." She continued to smile warmly as she lead Dash to somewhere they could sit, a large and very warm fire in the middle of the room surrounded by various chairs, logs, and rocks. An Imperial occupied one side, wings bright pink and transparent reminding one of crystals. He was watching over various meats and insects that were smoking and roasting over said fire. The dragon known as Forekai called this Imperial Rosen as he took some dinner for himself and left.

The smell of the food made Dash both hungry and nauseous. He was still reeling from the event out on the training. He opted to dismiss the food and made himself comfortable across from the Clan Leader. "Thank you," he offered simply at first. "I hope this is not too sensitive a question, but I was curious about the markings on your skin and around your mouth?" No sooner had the words past his lips then he realized his blunt way of speaking could be seen as offensive. He cleared his throat three times as he stewed under his own nervousness. "I do apologize that was rather blunt, perhaps I should rephrase that." He stopped there as he considered how exactly to rephrase his question into something more polite.

"You weren't impolite at all dear. It came from the first civil dispute our clan faced some time ago, when a follower of Arenji joined us, and divided our clan until the unrest lead to war. In the end, only 12 of the original clan-members survived, and anyone who had betrayed the clan for the false god was cast out for the trouble they caused. This was also the time that Lurin, the founder of this clan, returned, sent back by the Plaguebringer to warn us. If he did not come back in time, well, I do not want to think of what could have happened."
She nodded, a sad look in her watery blue eyes as she sighed.
"I made this depressing didn't I? Ah well what's happened happened. Would you like anything to eat or drink?"

---

I had never actually thought about where Sugar's marks came from before, so thanks!

Arenji? He'd heard that name before, hadn't he? For the moment Dash brushed it away to continue focusing on Sugar's story. Though heavy indeed he respected her telling of it. It must have taken a lot to consider those thoughts. "Not at all. I appreciate you telling me. Thank you." Dash looked to the food again and caused an angry rumble from his belly, though it wasn't hunger that spoke. It took everything in his power to suppress the moan. "I thank you, but right now I think skipping a meal might be in my best interest." And that of the bathroom floor as well, he was sure.

"If you don't mind, I do have a few questions about the Shade touched in your clan." Once again his mouth moved before his mind could stop it. "Why do you allow so much of it?" He looked back to Sholka and cringed. "No offense my friend."

---

Yay! You are very welcome =)

Sholka just smiled. "None taken, If it were any other, maybe, but not from you."
Sugar nodded at both their words.
"I do not mind telling my stories, or the stories of this clan and the dragons here because every detail and word is important, and must be known so as not to be repeated. If you are not feeling well, please tell me, Niji is our resident healer for now, and knows how to settle many things. Be it nerves or a plague-related illness."

She paused to think for a moment on an answer to Dash's question, a smile never leaving her cheerful face, before replying.
"I let them stay, and welcome them with open arms because there are not many clans who would accept shade-touched dragons. The shade-touched are not inherently evil or wicked, but the shade presence and usually violent tendencies associated with the Shade turn many against them, and those who do accept them without any prior knowledge or experience usually end up against them permanently when the shade-afflicted inevitably looses their cool for even a small moment."
She nodded to Sholka briefly, before continuing.
"So I will never turn down a Shade-touched individual, because I do have experience, and I am perfectly prepared to deal with and accommodate them. They deserve as much as any other a chance to live as normally as possible. And now with Lindarin, James, and Gloria here it has made it even easier to take care of them all, even if it means alienating other clans from trading and interacting with us."

Dash's smile grew ever larger over his maw. The more Sugar spoke of her reason for accepting the Shade the lighter his heart grew. Yes, the Shade was exceptionally dangerous, but for many it was simply a bane they could never get rid of. For it they were ostracized and left to rot. It was good to know they did have places to live and exist; a place they could still try to be a normal drake.

"I would like to thank you for your honest desire to home those who would otherwise have nothing. In my eyes that is very brave and incredibly compassionate." Dash thought on the others he'd met that didn't have it so lucky and the memory caused a shake of his head. "I've met so many that didn't have a home." He sat back and fell quiet as his newly resurfaces thought bounced about his head and it would be there he sat until he realized he'd left everyone in silence. "I apologize, now it is I making the conversation depressing."

As he was easing the heavy thoughts from his mind to return to normal conversation the side of his face began to itch. Though it wasn't nearly as irritating as normal thanks to his Teacher's spell. It did bother him that it was tingling at all, though. It must have gotten really bad. What he asked next took a great deal of effort for him to get out. No one, except Loa, had ever seen him without his hood; no one had seen what he hid and he was afraid the repulsion of it would turn drakes away. Still, he knew the danger of coming to the Plagewastes and not having someone there to remove the virus he harbors.

Dash cleared his throat several times before he was able to speak. "About your healer," again he paused to remove the lump in his throat. "I, um, I might need to see them." He left it there, unable as he was to explain further.

Sugar nodded, and Viven was easy to get the hint, dropping down to make sure the hatchlings stopped running about for three seconds to eat while Sugar took Dash by the paw and lead him down one of the tunnels that lead to a deep and large room where the larger dragons gathered, their rooms branching from this hub. She lead Dash further down one of the largest doors, where a massive Imperial sat, teaching a young imperial magic before they left to explore the world.

"Dash, this is Niji. He's not a healer in your traditional sense of herbs and medicines, our last one went missing and we still haven't found her. Our closes to that is Forekai, but Niji deals with most things."