Day 8
Well here we are again folks! Today we've got ourselves a trinket! Which means art! And who doesn't have art yet...? That's right, it's Hayate! I'm gonna do some writing regarding these two again today, because I also picked up said Hayate (and a little Meredian) some apparel! It actually makes sense to them as well, and honestly I just kinda wanted them to not look as naked, but y'know. Anyway, without further ado:
Neither Hayate nor Meredian were the type of dragon to easily relax. Meredian was always full of so much energy and curiosity that she never really quit the day until she dropped of tiredness. And Hayate... well, he was what could easily be classified as a workaholic. Meredian sometimes thought he embodied the long thought stereotype that snappers didn't sleep - and in reality, she didn't really think she'd ever... actually seen him sleep at all. Or relax. Or stop moving or thinking or doing something. And yet... here they were.
After the run-in with those horrid... horrid corrupted monstrosities, both dragons had been too tired to think, much less work or act upon any desire beyond the one to curl up, nurse their wounds, and sleep. As it had turned out, they had gotten very lucky. It wasn't a clan they had come upon, but a large temporary mining encampment made up of intrepid explorers and entrepreneurs. The camp was split - mostly dragons of Earth and Plague, and they certainly didn't seem to get along all too perfectly well. But they were all there for some reason or other - something about an earthquake and some old ruins having been dug up a few weeks past? The thought of it made Hayate's heart leap into his throat. 'Could it be?' He'd thought excitedly through his adrenaline when they'd stumbled in, Could this be the entrance to the Catacombs I've been waiting for so long..?'
He didn't really get a chance to think on it though, because not soon after they came stumbling into camp, bleeding and scared, a wildclaw in a large brimmed hat as well as a couple of other dragons had come galloping up to them, and whisked them away in a blur to the largest medical tent in the area. Meredian was already unconscious. She had been since halfway or so through Hayate's final sprint. And he himself, well...
Hayate had half dazedly mumbled answers to questions sprung on him by the nurses, too tired to really pull himself together and formulate any logical response. He blamed the shock and the adrenaline. Wouldn't the nurses just shut up and leave him be? He was so tired. They were far more obnoxious than even Meredian's constant chatter.
The next thing he knew, the snapper was jolting awake on a cot, his head pounding as if a dozen faes were leaping up and down on it. His legs felt like jelly, and he shakily pulled himself up, only to find himself pushed back into a sitting position by a steady hand. He looked up, and the friendly gaze of the wildclaw from last night looked back down at him.
"Easy there son, ain't gotta be 'n any rush now. Yer safe."
"Right." Hayate glanced at the bandages over his own arm, and raised a paw to press gently against the bruises he knew were on his head and neck. "And who are you?"
"Sheriff 'Nondey. I run security 'round these parts for the excavation teams. 'N y'all? Ain't never seen y'all's faces 'round here 'fore last afternoon."
"Hayate. An explorer, and archaeologist, I suppose. This is my partner, Dia."
They both glanced over to where Meredian lay, still curled up on her cot with her tailtip over her nose, paws pulled in to her chest like a cat. Her wing was trussed up heavily in bandages and held still with a splint, and the dull bloody bandages from the night before were covered up with new, clean ones. There were stitches all along her arm and her back - clean, neat, and expertly done.
"Poor lil' gal. She took a right beatin', she did. Dragonhome's usually pretty quiet 'round the Pillar. Ain't never seen nothin' like it. You yerself weren't lookin' a pretty sight either, friend. What 'n the eleven happened to you two?"
"A violent monster attack. I'm... not sure what happened to Dia, there. She came tearing back into camp like the Shade was at her heels, a rather large swarm of ragepuffs right at her. More bloodthirsty than I've ever heard of any being in my life. And early this morning, we had a few mith attack. It was... unlike anything I've ever heard of, Nondey. Incredible. I think they were Shade corrupted."
"Now son- that ain't a light accusation to make. Sayin' the shade is up 'n at em...."
"No, no. I have ample reason to believe that. These mith acted like zombies. Monsters dead, walking in these jittering, bonecrunching movements. So unnatural and strange. And they were dripping this tar - disgusting black stuff thicker than a pot of bogsneak brew. Blacker than night, and they were...oozing it. Out of every orifice."
Nondey's jaw twitched, and any genial mood went out of his expression in exchange for something far more serious and grave. His large talons tapped anxiously on the ground, and he looked in thought for a moment before he adjusted his monocle and sighed. "This whole deal is cleanin' outta here in the next couple days anyhow. Some brilliant old underground buildings from some lost deity or some such. I ain't so inclined to believe. I think it's some ol' lost tradesclan thing, an alliance if y'will. I'm sure the findings'll be published soon 'nough and we'll all know then. No sense in startin' up a panic if we ain't gonna be here. But I'll be sure to bring this up to the bigger clans in the area. A shade pandemic's the last thing we all need up 'n this part of Sornieth. Things're bad enough as it is."
The wildclaw took his hat off of his head to run his fingers through the crest of feathers beneath before replacing the headpiece. "Well, I'll be darned. I'll run this along to the camp chiefs or whatever they callin 'emselves. Anything else I can do for y'all, Hayate?"
"Actually... yes," the snapper replied. He carefully pulled himself off the cot entirely, stretched, and stiffly approached the sheriff's side. "We're a bit low on supplies. I don't suppose you would mind leading me to your camp's training post?"
---
Around the time dusk was settling once again over the dusty expanse of Dragonhome, Meredian finally groggily woke up. She'd been half awake sometime earlier when a mess of plague-born healers were fussing over her, and she'd felt much pleasantly better until she had drifted away again, in far less pain.
Now that she was finally fully conscious, she took the time to slowly stretch herself out and make sure she wasn't missing anything. To her surprise, her arm hurt far less than it had earlier, and she found it in a clean splint, her wing bound carefully. She daintily tried stretching the limb, and found with no small amount of glee that it didn't feel as if she'd torn it off to stretch it. Of course, it still felt as if the Windsinger and the Flamecaller had worked together to send a burning tornado through it... but it wasn't painful beyond all repair. The healers here surely knew their stuff.
Meredian's head shot up as she heard the tent flaps move aside, and was startled to meet Hayate's gaze. He looked... different. Much more professional. 'Almost as if he's embraced being a snapper, a child of Earthshaker,' she thought amusedly. If he believed in the deities, maybe. He cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses - had he always worn glasses? Meredian couldn't remember - and approached, a bundle in his arm.
"You're awake," he greeted.
"Yeah..." she laughed, and shook her head, a smile bidding to her lips. "I feel like a herd of guardians ran me over though."
Hayate almost laughed. "Not far from the truth. Here. I bought this for you today - for when you're feeling.... more mobile."
He shoved the bundle at her, and she pulled it over to herself gently, grinning as the snapper suddenly became very interested in polishing his lenses. In her arms now, lay folded a beautiful peony overcoat and a silky soft white scarf. As she lifted them up gently to look at them, eyes wide with awe, something else fell out - a set of clawed gloves that thumped gently onto the bed before her. "Oh, Hayate... really? You're sure? These are so beautiful, they must have cost a-"
"Don't worry about that. You're a wind dragon, aren't you? I'm sure you'd appreciate the scarf. And the coat... I don't want a repeat of what happened. You needed some form of protection. It's not much, but...." But it matches your wings, too, he didn't voice.
"And the claws...?"
"You're going to have a bit of trouble flying for the next couple of days, right? The healers are significantly speeding up the rate of healing and you'll be fine soon, but still. You rely on winds to fly. If you're to fly higher and train your wings to be stronger, you're going to have to take breaks eventually. Claws make good climbing grips. Able to hold yourself to places and climb and fly even higher. And now you won't fall and can protect yourself."
When he glanced up again, Meredian had already put her scarf on, and was grinning ear to ear at him. Hayate gave her an entirely empty passive stare back before looking away.
"You're a real nice guy deep down, y'know that?"
To Meredian's great amusement, Hayate gave no reply.
---
Well that was an awful lot of fun to write! (And ahaha, I hope I didn't butcher the little story thing everyone came up with for the dom battle this week between earth and plague - I wanted to include something for it somewhere) And that headshot of Hayate can be found on the main page in the character tab too! It sorta looks a little... off, but I'd never drawn a snapper before so ahaha, all good! Big shoutout to Sheriff Nondey, who is a dragon that doesn't even actually exist beyond photoshop, the scrying workshop, and the dressing room. Thank you, NPC I needed for today's update! But anyway, I hope y'all like what our kiddos are wearing right now! I still haven't really figured out what kind of outfit Meredian should even have, but meh, we'll get there eventually. Until next time, pals!
