Upon Fiery Wings (STORY - Records of Apoth)

((NOT an In-Character RP board; Rather, this thread will be used to record events involving the roleplay of Apoth. Complete with sketches done throughout it!))

The humidity of the lair chamber hung like a low, barely visible haze, deep in the lair carved into the side of a jungle mountain. The lulling rush of falling water filled the room, a myriad of quiet trickling and splashing, accompanied by the occasional lone plink of a solitary falling water droplet. Two dark figures were curled up within the room, sleeping quietly aside for the occasional low rumble. One was the sheen of Lizet's flank, a glossy pitch black that shone a deep jungle green under the directional light. She was curled around a single egg, the webbed fin of one ear giving a twitch.

The other dragon was of deep blue coloration, stripes ringing the powerful Lunus's body, curled around the rest of his mate's eggs. He was dozing a lot more peacefully than Lizet, encircled around the precious ovalesque creations to keep them warm. Clinging onto one egg in particular was the figure of Keithron, looking particularly happy, even in sleep.

The serenity was not to last for long, however. The figure of a particularly large hatchling shifted away from the wall, where he had been frozen for a while in silence. He was completely covered in mud and bits of detritus from the nearby pond, having rolled around in it in order to hide his own brightly colored scales. Clumps of soil and dead leaves were held in each paw, softening his step, leaving behind grimy marks across the bricks that formed the lair's floors. He froze again at the edge of the ramp, his blunt, spike-toothed maw sneaking into view like a snakes. A small chunk of wet soil dripped from his twin chinspikes to softly land on the floor below. Golden, serpentine eyes flicked towards the mound of eggs held by Deawa, and a flash of hunger appeared in his eyes. Each egg might have well have been solid diamond, in Apoth's eyes... unflawed, unfractured, perfect diamonds.

It was his luck that the sound of the falling water had masked the falling clump of soil... even so, Lizet shifted uneasily in her sleep, as though disturbed by something. Apoth froze, still as a statue in Tazoon, staring over at her in great trepidation. Very, very slowly, he began to move forward again... so slowly it looked like he was not moving at all. But indeed, he ended up in a different position in the lair... sneaking slowly forward, with great patience and control of his own body. This was not the misguided coordination of a young, awkward hatchling, but of a creature that had learned to control his body to the most minute degree... aware of each exact twitch of muscle, shift of bone and claw. Even his hind claws did not scuff the ground, or nick Deawa's scales as he carefully arched his back over them, half-bunching up like a cat.

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Call my name.... call for me, my Ai'arya... Apoth's thoughts repeated themselves throughout his mind as he approached the eggs, a thin smile slowly spreading across his dagger-toothed jaws. He froze for an instant, head tilted just in the right position. With eyes set in the sides of his skull, rather than the front, he had a very wide range of vision, and therefore could see to his left and right simultanously. In this manner, he carefully regarded Lizet as she slowly stretched a wing across the floor, her rumbling sigh of comfort just barely lifting above the splash of the falling water.

Apoth pulled his mud-caked tail away from Deawa's, just in time as a chunk of earth rolled down the side and plopped onto the ground behind him. He was certainly leaving a mess behind him... but the foul scent covered up his own quite effectively. His binocular vision suddenly locked on one particular egg, its round surface shining in the light... almost seeming to call the dragon close. The smile spread across his maw, and he took careful steps forward. His head twisted around, giving a flick of the nose... and the shaped sandstone bricks lining the underside of his wing peeled away like chainmail made of stone, opening the dimensional pocket within it. Very slowly, he began to ease his wing over this one particular egg, nosing it into his possession with the utmost care. Unfortunately, the teeth that stuck eternally out of his jaw scraped against the eggshell... with a fairly audible noise.

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Lizet shifted over the floor, suddenly fidgeting at the sound. She was not awake yet... but she was going to be, very soon. Apoth quickly beat down the jumpstart to his pulse, forcing himself to take in a deep breath. His flat, forked tongue slid across his ivory teeth, grinning at the rush of aldrenaline, that danger of getting caught... and the promise of a grandoise prize. He nosed the egg the rest of the way into his posession, and the pouch closed as though the egg was nothing but a flat picture, the dimensional pocket freeing him up from becoming bogged down with belongings. He then began backing away slowly, tail lifting, hind legs stepping wide over Deawa's tail, freezing as it twitched once beneath him. He managed to avoid the dark blue scales, and started to coil backwards towards the ramp again.

Lizet suddenly lifted her slender head, her eyes tiredly closed. Apoth froze completely, his eyes widening in order to catch every tiny, minute action. It was this heightened state of mind that caused the world to slow down, for him, that sudden spike of aldrenaline... which had saved his hide too many times to count. He watched as the black dragon shook her head gracefully, massive wings tightening around the one egg she was encircling. Her head slowly began to lower again, lids sliding open to reveal a sliver of vivid irises beneath.

Apoth began to back up more hurriedly, until he was up close to the wall. Keeping to the ramp, he began to climb up it again, hunkered low to stay out of sight. Twisting around, he began to trot upwards, the sudden speed causing the dead leaves and earth to fall from his claws. This left behind several blots of earth behind him, but he dismissed them... speed was very necessary, now. Nonetheless, he paced himself... claws clacked rythmetically tapping in just the right way so that it almost sounded like the very same water droplets dripping about the deep caverns, echoing and sounding out across those stone walls.

A sudden scraping of claws and a panicked hiss indicated to Apoth that it was time to book it. The hiss was quickly followed by a snarl, the dragon's voice rumbling against the walls threateningly, not lost at all on deaf ears. Despite this, the thin grin returned to Apoth's snaggletoothed jaws, becoming energized by the rising energy of the moment. This was quite enjoyable to him, the thrill of the hunt, and the equally powerful thrill of remaining undetected to vehement eyes. He almost felt as though he was about to laugh! However, in his moment of great enjoyment, he slipped. A hind leg fell into the water trickling along the side of the pathway, washing away a decent portion of mud and debris from his bright crimson scales. The bridge spanning the lair was now no longer an option. With a loud scraping sound, he lunged into a quick run and dodged into a side room, opposite of the exit.

A hiss much louder than the one preceding it erupted from Lizet. Great wingbeats could be heard from massive webbed limbs, and darting his head to one side, Apoth could see the female dragon powering herself into the air. She was twisted away from him, however, lunging up towards the exit high above. Golden eyes half-squinted in delight as Apoth witnessed this, immediately rearing up on his hind legs and swiftly inscribing with one claw into the air. The energies of the Recall began to fill him up, shining light shimmering around his muddied form. The hatchling's laugh was quiet at first, but soon his young male voice was echoing around the lair mirthfully, only to be quickly cut off by the windy blast of the spell. Within an instant... he was gone from Lizet's lair.

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"A'nah... my little Ai'arya..." His voice didn't echo against his new surrounding, as he was presently under a sheltered stone ledge by the oceanside. Deep foliage hung on either side of him, the sounds of the forest filling the air, dangling ferns and roots dangling past this little hidey-hole. His wing opened up enough to pull free the egg, letting it nestle into the dip he'd cleared in the sand, heated up for it to rest warm and snuggled. "Neien sleep now. Neien ar-r-r k'ieo... dahn't be ahfr-r-raid." He was heavily accented by the Draconic tongue, but the young voice sounded surprisingly comforting, as he settled around the egg in his secluded spot. Claws bearing spiked fragments and hooks of imbued gemstones for added strength and durability lightly grazed the egg, and he nuzzled it as if it was his own, all while wearing that thin smile.

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