Bauble

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Once, in her youth, Bauble was a cheerful and optimistic historian, who was happy to answer other dragons’ history questions and enthusiastic about sharing her knowledge. But Bauble is old now, and that dragon is long gone. Now she’s a cranky, cantankerous old curmudgeon who picks fights with her daughter, Coquina, over the pettiest things and shouts at curious hatchlings who pepper her with questions.

Coquina swears up and down that no singular event happened to change her mother. She just gradually changed and got gradually grumpier as she got older. It happens to a lot of dragons, as their bones start to bother them and age begins to wear them down. It just happened a lot more intensely to Bauble.

Nobody seems to get the hint that Bauble just wants to be left alone to sleep and read her history books. She is constantly pestered by curious hatchlings who have a history question, and she’ll yell at them about how dragons these days don’t know how to go to a library and do their own research. And when Nightgleam comes in, like a knight in shining armor, to defend them by reminding her that they can’t do their own research because Bauble has almost all of the history books checked out of the library and has yet to return them, she’ll shout at him, too, until he gets the hint and storms off.

Bauble is very old, and has lived a very long life. All she wants is her peace and quiet. As far as she’s concerned, she’s done her duty to society, and she’s earned her retirement. And she is not afraid to stand her ground and make those expectations clear to everybody around her…Regardless of who is on the receiving end.

Bauble adopted Coquina when Coquina was just a new hatchling; Coquina doesn't know a moment in her life spent away from Bauble's side. Bauble trained her adoptive daughter in history and the importance of storytelling and listening to our ancestors, and Coquina brought Bauble so much joy and the warmth of motherhood. But as Bauble got older, she grew more and more abrasive to Coquina, to the point that now, Coquina yearns for the courage to escape her mother. But the good times they spent together keep Coquina and Bauble tethered together, neither one able to leave the other behind.

As much as Bauble hates hatchlings bothering her, she isn't fond of adult dragons or her fellow elders, either. They keep trying to be nice to her and befriend her, and she isn't having any of it. She really and truly just wants to be left alone...especially because any dragon who's approaching her to try and befriend her usually has ulterior motives in the form of trying to pry answers to their history questions out of her.

Bauble has survived through a lot of history, and has both read and written countless history textbooks. The best way to siphon information out of her is to confidently try and retell it yourself, incorrectly, in front of her. Bauble hates arrogance, and Bauble hates incorrect history, and combining the two is the best way to set her on a roaring rampage of correcting misinformation...And is therefore the best way to get her to give out the answers one seeks.