Sorry, I'm catching up on several days at once, time and inspiration did not align ^^'
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday done!! That was a lot of fun, and I got a bit carried away! ^^' I'd never written any lore for this dragon so it's brilliant to see your story 'revealing' who he is!!
This is
Joyful
Prologue
Joyful was excited! He'd never taken part in an expedition like this before, containing his energy within the clan, there was usually plenty to do there, plenty of dragons in need of help with one thing or other, plenty of knowledge to glean. And now he was going on his own adventure! He felt somewhat reassured that there'd be others, too. He liked having company, even from a distance.
He'd liked the pink button trick, or whatever else that had been. It fitted him and his spirit really nicely, and the tent was neat! It would give him time to rest, the teleportation business had been rather... startling.
Still, he would be back in the place that had seen him born! Exciting, and filled with magic of some sort already!! But first, sleep. That was always the hardest part. Well, he hoped that'd remain the hardest part!
Sunday
Joyful grabbed the emergency flare and held it close, somewhat puzzled. The lecture had left an impression on him, the kind that made him feel a little queasy. Did he have what it take to make it through? He hoped he wouldn't have to use the flare, he'd seen those in use before and found them unpleasant. Unless this one was as magic as those buttons, which could actually be fun. But, for now, there was other fun to be had. The Viridian labyrinth! Now that was a place he'd only ever read about!!
The teleportation to the camp did not leave him as dizzy as the previous day's, but it was still not an experience to experience again if it could be helped. He figured it probably couldn't. Well.
The issue of being as far from the homes he'd known as he was was that, for every ten plants or birds he saw, he only recognised one, maybe two. And those were usually friendly ones. Well, bar the very fake one perched on what was a real tree. And the creepy looking one on what looked like a tree but was presumably just a vine that had climbed onto something else, and obscured it entirely.
The ruins were clear to see. Sort of. There was moss covering them, more vines, some that looked like snakes, and some snakes that looked like vines. But the stones below it emitted a faint glow. Well, 'faint'. He was pretty sure any being with sight, or perhaps sensitive to heat signatures, could tell they were there from some distance away. Joyful wasn't sure whether to step on the bare stone, a potentially dangerous thing to do as he wasn't sure what kind of magic it held, or onto the moss, whose properties he also didn't know. Flying was out of the question with the low hanging branches, and the doorways, that were barely doorways altogether, would only admit him if he walked through them. In short, the place was Snapper-friendly, meaning there ought to be places where you could step.
Listening as he'd been instructed, he could hear a kind of humming, possibly the magic in the stones. It was stronger in some parts than others. There was less moss where the humming was lower, and he supposed the moss liked the humming, more magical parts, and he opted to avoid those. Who knew what was beneath it! He wasn't in a hurry to find out just yet. He'd almost reached the doorway, for lack of a better name, stone pillars that had partly crumbled really, when he heard a noise. The noise of something falling, fast, and in his direction. The noise seemed to be coming from above and he rushed forward just as stones fell right where he'd been standing. Well, one trap down, shame they hadn't been told how many there were...
He was a little too pleased with himself and almost missed the sudden silence. He'd heard more birds than he'd been able to spot before, but 'inside', as opposed to where he'd been before, the chorus had been louder. And now all he could hear was his own breath, and the sound of what he'd learn to identify as thunder, yet considering the fact that he'd almost been crushed by several large stones, he wasn't sure...
Suddenly soaked by heavy rain after a flash blinded him, he felt reassured. There wouldn't be heavy rain *and* stones hailing from the sky at once, that would defeat the purpose, surely. He couldn't really see much in front of him, or in fact in any direction at all, but could hear little claws scurrying around him, some brushing past his legs. Rodents of some sort? There was less moss there, and he tried to feel his way forward, eyes closed, mane damper and damper. The downpour stopped as quickly as it had started and he found himself in front of another door frame. With one major difference. There was an actual door in it this time, and it didn't look open. Considering what they'd been taught, opening it did not seem like a good idea. If passing through an open one rewarded you with heavy stones... He looked around and noticed the wall to the left of it had crumbled and sagged, sufficiently for even the least athletic bogsneak to climb over. That had to be the way. Hearing nothing of note, noticing nothing else, he sniffed out of a need to be thorough and made his way over to the next room. And sighed.
In the middle of the room were two small pillars. One charred, with an old looking statue of possibly one of the deities on top but it was hard to discern. And another, so brand new it had 'blacksand annex' written all over it, with a button on top.
That was too easy. He could hear laughter, high pitched, carried by the wind from a distance, but it didn't seem malevolent, maybe some veilspun hatchlings playing hide and seek. He was thinking of sneaking himself.
He supposed, logically, that the statue was the relic, and the button the way back. But what if it was the other way around? The ground between the two pillars did not look too trustworthy, but none of the ground he'd stepped on so far had! He started moving but realised he was somewhat... hindered. The moss, it seemed, had started climbing up his leg! He fought it back and lunged forward, one front paw on the statue, the other on the button, closing his eyes, preparing for whatever effect the teleportation would have this time. Hopefully he wouldn't throw up.
When he opened his eyes again, he was back at the camp, and holding... the button. There was an inscription on it now that read "Congratulations!". Joyful was certain it hadn't been there before! He'd passed!
Monday
First aid! That he could do! And in the Southern Icefields too! His clan had just moved from there, so it wouldn't be too unfamiliar a territory! He remembered some more mixes the local gardener, more of an experimental herbalist, had taught him. Maybe they'd be helpful.
He was somewhat disappointed after the teleportation, although he was starting to get used to that part. That seemed somewhat... somewhat too easy. He'd kept the flare, hoping once more not to have to use it, and went to check on the dummies, following the instructions they'd been given, trying to make sense of what he saw. Being familiar with the area did not really help him as much as he'd have hoped. He had the familiar materials, yes, but something felt *off*. And slooow.
He let go more than he threw the crystal into a puddle of melted snow close by and let himself slump by it, quickest way down, he figured. Not the cleanest, but it'd do. For some reason, he felt like there would be no congratulatory button today! Well, he'd passed, he figured, going through the mental checklist of things he needed to tell their instructor. But he wouldn't mind being out of the cold again, although he wouldn't have said no to a nice ice lolly to get rid of the taste!
Tuesday
The words 'Suitable Smacking Items' still rung in Joyful's mind after he'd teleported to Dragonhome. He hadn't fancied going back to the Viridian Labyrinth, and after the previous day, the idea of being close to Plague territory wasn't too appealing. That, and he assumed that Dragonhome had plenty of large rocks! The issue was less with finding them and more with getting them *back*, he supposed.
And then it hit *him*. In order to get rocks, other than pebbles and those too big to carry around, you needed some sort of tool. Like pickaxes and spades. Those ought to make appropriate 'Suitable Smacking Items"! And theirs didn't need to be brand new or even digging-approved! Asking a passing local, he was directed to a pile of rusted metal and what looked like sticks, the remains of mining equipment that was deposited here regularly for craftsdragons to do with as they pleased if they so wished. Judging by the size of the pile, Joyful realised that it had probably been a while since any crafts-minded dragon had wished for it!
Still, no matter how rusty, he had to call a spade a spade! He selected the items that seemed least likely to be picked for repairs, and reported back to camp with a crash and clambering noise. Apparently the teleportation method they used was not fond of rust. He'd have to remember that!
Wednesday
He had picked the lute. Of course he had. Well, that, one of the spades he'd brought back the day before, a slingshot, although he had little hope that the pebbles he'd found in his mane the previous night would do any harm to anything, and breakfast. This time, he'd have that *after* teleporting, thank you very much.
Having done so and surveyed the area, he wasn't too sure what to do, and spotted others who seemed to be in a similar state of mind, although most if not all had brought some more significant weapon than he had...
But what if...? He asked himself. Smacking is all well and good, but if there were screws, and magic, then vibrations, therefore sound, could hopefully do some damage in the enemy line, while sparing all but the neighbouring dragons' hearing.
Joyful was not a learned scholar in the musical arts, but what he lacked in knowledge he made up for in enthusiasm.
Faced with imminent-ish danger, he really wished he'd thought of letting his clan know he could have used reinforcements, too late now, Joyful stood ready, and started playing. At first the machines just stopped, trying to understand what that horrid sound was and where it was coming from. In an ideal world, Joyful would have been the diversion and someone else could have gone and bumped them over the head with something. Unfortunately, it was just him, and watching them cover the ears they didn't seem to have wasn't helping.
Then one of them stopped. And fell face first to the floor. And another one. And a third. The fourth one was just looking at the other three, puzzled, but still standing. Joyful sprung forward and hit him over the head, first with the lute, no more music for today, then with the spade, with rather more of a result. He used the head of the spade that had detached from the rest to cut bits up he could bring back, figuring that maybe that part of the spade he could bring back, too. The wood would decay on its own, but he didn't like to litter.
(Apologies for any typos/mistakes, I wrote this really late and reading it over I didn't find as many as usual so it's likely a few are still hiding in there!)
