Shaker
(#74515571)
Level 25 Aberration
Familiar
Salt and Pepper
Click or tap to view this dragon in Predict Morphology.
Energy: 43/50
This dragon’s natural inborn element is Light.
Female Aberration
This dragon is an ancient breed.
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Personal Style
Ancient dragons cannot wear apparel.
Skin
Scene
Measurements
Length
3.79 m
Wingspan
6.62 m
Weight
604.16 kg
Genetics
Black
Savannah (Aberration)
Savannah (Aberration)
Moon
Weaver (Aberration)
Weaver (Aberration)
Ice
Ghost (Aberration)
Ghost (Aberration)
Hatchday
Breed
Eye Type
Level 25 Aberration
Max Level
STR
7
AGI
6
DEF
13
QCK
8
INT
6
VIT
93
MND
12
Lineage
Parents
- none
Offspring
- none
Biography
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Salt and Pepper
She/Her - She/Her
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Add Quote Later
After being shunned from their original clan for not being strong enough, Salt and Pepper - Together known as Shaker - took refuge in the Parched Canyonwalks, desperately clawing through each passing day. Despite having been abandoned by them, Shaker still retained their sole policy; Do Not Be Seen by Outsiders.
Thankfully for the two of them, Salt was able to convince Pepper that they could approach an outsider, using a loophole in the wording.
Ever since that day when they first befriended the gaoler Basil, Shaker has been getting more comfortable with other dragons, and has even begun to try dipping their claws in some culinary arts.
Chasms and Bridges
Written by CupcakeNova
“Salt, what are you doing?!”“I swear, I just saw one go by! I gotta have it!”
“Salt, no! We’re too far from the chasm, we’re going to be seen!”
“Will you relax? No one travels around here, the land is too dangerous for outsiders. We’re fine! Besides, I know I saw one of those pebbly stoat things run this way, and I’m hungry!”
Pepper could try to fight it all she wanted, but when Salt got into that hunting mindset, nothing could stop her. Pepper could only sigh and resign herself to keeping watch for any sign of trouble while Salt focused on hunting their prey.
The Abberation scuttled across the barren rubble of the Parched Canyonwalks, avoiding the rarely-used footbridges and instead sticking close to the shadows - at least Salt hadn’t completely lost her sense of self-preservation - as they hunted for any sign of the elusive pebblehide stoat that Salt had decided would be their dinner today. The loose stones underfoot barely shivered as they darted past, their nimble claws allowing them to hunt swiftly and silently. The scent of the stoat was growing stronger. Soon they would catch up, and then it would be chow time.
But then, just as Salt and Pepper caught sight of the stoat’s tail zipping behind a large boulder up ahead, a thunderous crack boomed from somewhere ahead of them, causing them to startle and trip, landing in a tangle of legs, wings, and tails. For a second, Salt and Pepper simply lay on the ground in a daze. Then at once they realized that they were completely exposed out in the open, and they scrambled up to throw themselves into the shadow of a nearby cliff face.
They paused there, frozen in place, waiting for any other sounds to follow the first. But after a few minutes, it became clear that nothing more was coming, and the two peered out from the shadows.
“What was that?” Salt whispered.
“I have no idea. We should probably head back to the chasm, though, before it comes back.”
“What?” Salt hissed. “And skip out on dinner? No way! Let’s go see what that noise was!”
“Are you crazy? What if it’s some kind of monster? We aren’t strong enough to fight whatever it is, that’s why we got thrown out by the others, remember?”
Salt flinched at the reminder of their former clan. The other Abberations had all been stronger than them, and eventually they’d been driven out by the others, accused of weakening the rest. It had been very rough, those first few weeks when they had set out on their own, scrounging for food, and making sure that they weren’t seen by outsiders. They had traveled far, from the too-bright steps of the Sunbeam Ruins, all the way to the icy cold of the Southern Icefield. Eventually they had found a safe place to stay in the Parched Canyonwalks, the land arid enough that few outsiders ventured there, but with enough prey and food to sustain them - barely. Still, it had been hard living, and Pepper was right to worry that they wouldn’t be able to face whatever had made that blaring noise.
On the other hand, they had managed to stay safe and undetected so far, and wouldn’t it be better to investigate so that they knew what they were dealing with, rather than have it sneak up on them? When she said as much to Pepper, her other half paused and considered it.
“You know, for once I think you’re right,” Pepper admitted slowly.
“Of course I am,” Salt said, preening smugly. “Now come on, let’s go check it out before whatever it was gets away.”
They slowly stalked across the cracked landscape, making their way towards where the sound had originated. They didn’t have far to go - up ahead they could see a yawning chasm, spanned with a single aged rope bridge that had definitely seen better days. They approached the chasm cautiously, crawling the last few feet on their belly so they could peek down into the chasm without being easily seen.
Below them was a narrow pass, dotted with a few scruffy trees and littered with boulders. It looked no different than any other part of the Canyonwalks they’d seen, except for the inhabitant currently occupying it. A massive, furry dragon with sickle-like claws and gnarled horns was situated in the middle of the pass, standing before a huge boulder. Around him were giant chunks of cracked rocks and debris, and his fur was covered in dust. As they watched, he pulled back one hulking paw, and slashed out at the boulder in front of him. The boulder shattered with a sound like thunder, bits of rock shards exploding through the air. Salt and Pepper both squawked and ducked back as they were sprayed with stone and dust, before slowly peeking back down at the dragon below.
He was standing still, his snout pointed towards the air and sniffing. For a moment, they worried that he had caught their scent, but as they watched, the dragon turned towards the rocks, shifting through them with his claws, and sniffing away as he searched for something. After a few minutes, he reached out and picked something up with surprising delicacy. From their vantage point, it was hard to make out, but it looked like the dragon had grabbed one of the sparkly red stones that lay scattered around him, broken free from the inside of the boulder. The dragon sniffed it one last time in inspection, and then tossed it into a basket strapped to his side.
“Why didn’t he just grab it?” Salt wondered out loud, her voice pitched low so that only Pepper would hear her. “It’s so shiny, how come he’s sniffing it out?”
But before Pepper could speak, either to chide her or to reply, Salt wasn’t sure, the massive dragon turned towards them, and they both gasped as they got their answer. In place of the dragon’s eyes were two wooden replacements, visible even from a distance.
“He’s blind,” Pepper murmured.
They watched him for a while longer. The dragon slowly sifted through the rubble he’d created, searching for more of those shiny stones. At points it was almost painful to watch as he walked right past a stone, his sense of smell apparently missing what was clearly visible to those with eyes. Eventually, Salt couldn’t take it anymore.
“We should go help him,” she announced, beginning to stand.
Pepper immediately sat them back down. “Are you nuts?! That’s an outsider!”
“He is clearly struggling, it’s killing me watching him miss all those rocks!”
“The first rule we ever learned, Salt! We can’t be seen!” Pepper argued.
“And he can’t see us,” Salt immediately shot back. “So it’s fine! Besides, did you see how strong he is? I bet you we could learn how to be stronger by watching him. It’s not like we were getting any stronger on our own.”
Pepper gaped at Salt for a second before letting out a quiet shriek of frustration. “It’s like talking to a rock with you, sometimes! A really stubborn rock!”
“Yup!” Salt agreed proudly. “Now let’s go!”
Before Pepper could protest again, Salt was up and over the edge of the chasm, swooping down towards the ground with their wings spread wide.
“Hello, there!” she called out with false bravado. For all her bluster and excitement, she had to admit that she was terrified to be speaking to an outsider after the countless times it had been drilled into their heads as hatchlings that they could never be seen by others. But what she and Pepper were starting to realize, even if they hadn’t admitted it to themselves yet, was that they were barely surviving out here on their own. If they wanted to not just survive, but to get stronger, to live, they were going to have to try something different.
The dragon perked up as they approached, turning his sightless eyes on them. “Hello?” He greeted them with a surprisingly soft voice, given his size.
“Hi there!” Salt squeaked, landing just a few wingbeats away from the other dragon, hearts pounding wildly in their chest. “Sorry, couldn’t help but notice you’re trying to find some sparkly rocks? And, uh. You kind of suck at it?”
“Salt!” Pepper hissed, scandalized.
However, the furry dragon just chuckled ruefully. “Ah, you noticed, did you?” He shook his shaggy head. “Yes, it’s a bit difficult to find them without sight. I can tell which rocks have gemstones inside based on smell, but once the rocks are broken up, it’s a bit harder to find them in all of the debris.”
They danced nervously from foot to foot for a moment, before Salt choked out, “would you like some…help?”
The dragon’s face broke into a friendly smile, and he nodded. “That would be amazing, thank you very much! I’m Basil, by the way.”
“Salt,” she introduced herself.
There was an awkward pause, and then Basil cleared his throat. “And your friend?” he prompted.
For a moment, they looked around in fear, thinking that something had snuck up on them. But then they both realized at the same time that he was talking about the other voice he’d heard. Pepper’s eyes went wide, but she swallowed thickly and steeled herself.
“P-Pepper,” she stuttered out. “I’m Pepper.”
“Sisters, right?” Basil asked.
They shared a glance. “Uh, something like that,” Salt eventually agreed.
Basil chuckled. “I can hear it in your voices. You sound similar, and speak to each other like I imagine siblings do. Of course, I can’t be certain. I have no family of my own.”
Salt and Pepper both wilted in sympathy. “We…may know sort of how that feels,” Pepper eventually admitted quietly.
They all turned back to the rocks after that, searching for more sparkly gemstones. Salt and Pepper made short work of it, with two heads and five eyes between them making it easy to find anything colourful or shiny. Eventually Basil just sat back and let them do all the work; he was getting in the way more than he was helping.
By the time they were finished, the sun was just setting, and they were all tired, dirty, and hungry. Salt and Pepper whimpered when their stomach growled - they were too tired to hunt now. They would be going hungry tonight. Again.
But then Basil spoke. “If you’re hungry, I have some food back at my campsite. It’s not much, just some rations, but I have more than enough to share. Consider it my thanks for all of your help today.”
Well, they certainly weren’t going to say no.
They followed Basil back through the pass, too tired to even worry about other outsiders spotting them. They didn’t need to be concerned, though, as Basil’s camp wasn’t far from the pass, just up the cliffside and into a narrow slot cave. Inside he had baskets full of gemstones he told them he had gathered earlier, as well as bowls of prickly brown herbs, and some strips of some kind of dried meat that he offered for dinner.
As they tucked into their meal, Basil told them a bit about himself; he was a Gaoler dragon, with no family he could recall. He made his living traveling through Dragonhome, searching for precious stones and metals that he could then sell to dragons or occasionally the beastclans. It was lonely sometimes, he admitted, and he didn’t really have much passion for his work, but it kept him fed and warm, and that’s all he could really ask for.
Salt and Pepper weren’t really ready to open up completely to what was essentially a total stranger, so they were careful to omit most details about themselves as they spoke. But they confessed about being driven off by their former clan, and how hard it had been living on their own, just trying to get by. Eventually, as the food was finished and the fire Basil had built started to burn low, Basil hummed thoughtfully.
“It sounds like you could use a little bit of help,” he said slowly.
They bristled in indignation. “We don’t need help!” they insisted in unison. “We’re strong enough on our own!”
“I don’t doubt that for a moment,” Basil told them gently. “But just because you’re strong enough to make it on your own doesn’t mean you have to.”
That immediately drew them up short. They looked at him in absolute bewilderment. They didn’t have to be strong?
He must have sensed their incredulous stare, because he continued.
“For example, I’ve been gathering gems for years on my own. I’m perfectly capable of doing it by myself. But when you helped me, I was able to find all of the stones faster, and with much less work, than doing it by myself. Sometimes working together with others makes things easier. You can be stronger together as a team than on your own.”
Salt and Pepper felt like their entire worldview had just shifted. Stronger…with others? Not just by yourself?
But then again, wasn’t that why Abberations had developed two heads? Two minds working together made the whole stronger. Why couldn’t more heads have the same effect, even if they weren’t attached to the same body?
“Stronger…together?” they echoed faintly.
Basil leaned back on his haunches. “I can tell I’ve given you two a lot to think about. Tell you what, why don’t you at least stay the night. If in the morning you’d rather set off on your own, I’ll be happy to give you some supplies in exchange for all of your help, or some of the gems if that’s your preference. But I’d also be very happy if you’d consider sticking around and continuing to help me out. I think we work well together.”
With that, Basil turned to find somewhere deeper in the cave to sleep, leaving Salt and Pepper alone, staring into the fire, mulling over all he had said.
After a while, Salt spoke. “The food was really good,” she offered tentatively.
“...it was,” Pepper agreed.
“...and he seems really nice.”
“Yes, he does.”
“...he didn’t seem to notice that we’re not…googlers? Was that what he said he was?”
“Gaolers,” Pepper corrected with a soft huff and roll of her eyes.
“Yeah, that’s what I said.”
“Salt?” Pepper said quietly, in a very lost voice that Salt hadn’t heard since the day they’d been kicked out of their old clan. “I like him. I like having someone else around. I like having someone to talk to. I want to…”
“I know,” Salt said as Pepper trailed off. “I want to stay too.”
“Can we really do that? Can we really stay with him? Without being seen by other outsiders? Without getting hurt? Again?”
Salt shook her head sadly. “I’m not sure if we can know that. But I’m tired of living all by ourselves. I think we should try it.”
Pepper smiled weakly. “I’d like that.”
In the morning, Basil didn’t say anything about their conversation the night before, simply setting out a plain breakfast that Salt and Pepper gobbled up with delight. But as he headed back into the twisting maze of chasms in the Canyonwalks in search of more precious stones and Salt and Pepper followed behind him, scrambling to keep up with his longer stride, the Gaoler smiled at them, pleased.
It was the start of a beautiful friendship.
By Edgebees
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Exalting Shaker to the service of the Arcanist will remove them from your lair forever. They will leave behind a small sum of riches that they have accumulated. This action is irreversible.
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