Tattered Shadows Bronze Xadovith
| Tattered Shadows Bronze Xadovith | |
|---|---|
| Impressee | K'ndro |
| Hatching Date: | 30 May, 2009 Day 18, Month 11, Turn 19 |
| Current Age: | 49 turns |
| Egg Name: | Also Good for Cornbread Egg |
| Size: | 36.1 feet |
| Dam: | Imperial Faberge Garden Gold Iovniath |
| Sire: | Kinetic Knucklebones Bronze Cadejoth |
| Lineage: | Here |
| Clutch: | Clutch:32 |
| Egg Credit: | Persie |
| Dragon Credit: | Leova |
| Puppeteer: | Leova |
Contents
Also Good for Cornbread Egg
Black. Well, not quite. This rather round egg is dark certainly, but a closer inspection reveals that the surface is mottled: here there's a tinge of brown, maybe rusty orange, and there the darkness takes on a tinge of silvered blue that gleams faintly against the matte shell. Large, uneven rings of gray appear randomly, as though the surface got a good steel wool scrubbing at some point and the water has dried to leave a bit of residue behind.
The dark muzzle disappears for longer and longer from the small hole in the Also Good for Cornbread Egg, as though the hatchling were weakening, until finally it never appears again at all. Silence. And then the shell abruptly bowls over, rolling toward the candidates, as the hatchling scuttles free from the /other/ side and the larger hole he had crafted there. The awkward little bronze spends no time on fancy poses: it may take all but tripping over his own wing, but he just /gets out of there/, out to where he can get a moment's breathing room to scan the cavern and begin hunting for boys.
Tattered Shadows Bronze
This lanky dragon seems all wings and tail and shadows, hued the deep, dark golden bronze of sunlight all but lost to nightfall. So dark is his shade that it could obscure the serpentine sharpness of his lines, from his long, pronounced profile through jutting shoulders and wingspars to the rake-edged ridges that die out along his tail, if it weren't for the slightly lighter tint that stipples along them and emphasizes their irregular nature. One eyeridge is somewhat higher than the other as well, and a few of his claws are that same, scarcely paler gilt as though the shadows had begun to be rubbed away. Even darker, all-but-black pockmarks exaggerate the gauntness of his belly and lend a scraggly, tattered air to the trailing edges of his long wings. The boniness may not linger through maturation, but the asymmetry, combined with the tilted way he tends to hold his head, suggests a treacherous edge whether he wills it or no: one that may not adequately be belied by the oft-assessing whirl of his eyes, their colors more muted than that of his kindred as though shadow obscures his very outlook. Not yet strong, not yet coordinated, still he has more than physical grace left to learn.
Temperament
Your Xadovith is simpler than he'd like to think, with his deadpan sense of humor and the real satisfaction he derives from not only getting things done, but getting them done /right/. He's very focused when he finally chooses to take on a project. And you, K'ndro? You're his first and best project as well as his most final exam. You belong to him, you've claimed him back, and there's nothing between you short of death. Which, of course, only means that his expectations of you are higher! Xadovith doesn't expect that you know everything (yet) but he does want you to try and try hard to do what's necessary and do it well. He can be amused at your goofs, as long as you fix them. He can also be impatient when you take too long. For you, his compliments are belated and sometimes backhanded. For you, there is always more to learn. But you must also realize that he's just as hard on himself. Nor would Xadovith have taken you on if instinct hadn't sensed something remarkable in you: he could have chosen someone else, but it's you who is the lock he's chosen to pick.
Why you? Aside from the indefinable stands one very important reason: whatever it was within you that led you to change your life to help your mother: that caring and /dedication/, not only willingness but /willpower/ to take that chance and see it through... even while your Impression decreases what you can directly do for her. Xadovith will also grow to like the deep rumble of your laugh, and also of your grumbling. He'll like your caring in other ways, too, even when he's troubled by how that caring can make you vulnerable sometimes. And whether he'll admit it or not, your optimism and resolution to do the right thing are important too. It can never be a secret that you are his, K'ndro: though the whirl of Xadovith's eyes may seem more muted than other dragons', when he so much as looks at you (even when you two are arguing!), they shine telltale-bright.
As a weyrling, Xadovith is the seed of what he'll become, but he also suffers through having the needs and foibles of any young dragon... starting with coordination, which is going to take some time with those long wings and tail of his. A very regular schedule will suit him best, lest he be so focused on his pet project of the moment (whether it's how best to pounce on Rasiyoth's tail or draw Jeibeth out to talk about /herself/ for once) that he forgets to eat or sleep and gets ravenous or conks out from exhaustion. It will take time and work and attention to help Xadovith fill out from that early gauntness into something more sleek, but at least he doesn't play with his food, nor will he kill needlessly. He's more of a practical sort, not prone to your congeniality (much less charm or flights of fancy), and he doesn't like sitting around and doing nothing... and he really doesn't like admitting that he's wrong. If Isath or one of the assisting dragons asks him to fix whatever he messed up when you were in class? Xadovith will do it if he can, quickly and gladly, and may even be creative in finding solutions. But actually admitting in so many words that he messed up? That's so much harder! He'd like to seem invincible, but when he cracks, his control breaks, At least when it comes to playtime, Xadovith isn't prone to challenges of machismo, but instead tussles readily with pretty much any dragon who's willing, male and female alike... and both cooperatively and competitively, to boot. (He just doesn't like to challenge where he feels he can't win. And don't try to bluff him. He'll call it.)
You're his best companion, but Xadovith is still likely to try and leave you out of certain things, particularly if your conscience grows too keen. He likes it when you distract people so he can get away with things. Who knows what can happen when you're distracted, yourself? A trait that may be difficult for you to deal with is his tendency to find "treasures" and hide them. Sometimes they might just be a couple little round rocks he's found. Sometimes they're your boots. Sometimes, though, they may be treasures of other people, who don't take as kindly to them being hidden. (Not destroyed, not lost so they'll never be found again, but simply... hidden: in plain sight to begin with, or behind something likely to move such as Isforaith, but with increasingly clever options.) A variation on his treasures is his need to collect secrets about those around him, some spilled unwisely at first, later hoarded like so many marks (though he has no taste to be on either side of blackmail). Both physical and mental treasures may lead to asking you to remember what he cannot, but if he can't recall a particular story about Zhikath, that shouldn't be nearly as much of an issue for you to deal with as if he forgets where he hid Behranth's starter straps!
Another possible issue is that Xadovith isn't a pretty dragon. He isn't even a shiny dragon, except for maybe the first five minutes after he's oiled. He's certainly not a symmetrical dragon, built a little askew in a way that mostly favors his left side, though dragonhealing exercises will help him become more balanced if he practices (much as with Isforaith's paw). Those wings of his can look very ominous indeed, as can the muted whirl of his eyes, much less his snarl. He may grow into sleekness and sinuousness, but his irregular, serpentine build can raise hackles on those more atavistically sensitive. He's also far more shadows than sweetness and light. Those who assume he's eeevil because of his looks may get what they ask for... and need you to intercede: mercy over justice, if not retribution.
It will take effort, persistence, and growing patience rather than natural grace for Xadovith to command his long and flexible frame. That flexibility and fast reaction time (for a bronze) will help him adjust to circumstances when his plan and backup plan do not suffice, even if he lacks the sheer power of others of his size. If Thread were still falling, he could become machinelike, smothering a more peaceful life in favor of the singleminded fight/sleep/fuel routine required to protect the planet. As it is, Interval gives you the luxury of reminding him to play, and to turn the power of his attention to other tasks. What tasks? That's the corresponding challenge: without Fall, once out of weyrlinghood, what will occupy him enough to keep him out of trouble when sweeps and drills are done?
Already he's been picky about how you keep your area in the barracks, but just imagine his choosiness when it comes to his weyr, his demands that every item in your weyr must be kept precisely /so/ in case of need. A wise idea is to encourage him to take added interest in others and their activities, including older dragons such as your mother's Xiloth (for whom he's always shown respect), as well as your own. He may even encourage your interest in dragonhealing, in preserving life as well as death. Travel might be good too, the nature of a dragon's memory keeping your fifth trip to visit glaciers or your father's caravan nearly as fresh as your first. But will that be enough? It's likely he'll always keep you on your toes, thinking of something new.
Xadovith will be highly interested in flights once he comes of age, not at all shy about indulging his needs, nor about trying to outdo the other suitors (if with substantially less than his usual strategy). Some greens and golds he'll chase simply to try and scratch that itch, while others are something more... and will unnerve him the more they attract him, the flame to his very vulnerable moth. Either way, if she chooses to spend any time with him afterward, she's likely to keep at least a thread of his attention afterward, and often more. If he someday flies a gold, he'll likely want to keep a firm watch over their clutch, though from the slight distance of the ledges rather than the sands: to have a better view of who's visiting, who's leaving, and what they're all up to.
As for you? You may bang as many women (or men) as you want, so far as he's concerned, but what troubles him is love. He'd give you the same advice he takes himself: to make great friends over terrible enemies. And yet, when it comes to tender feelings... when things go well, that's not necessarily so bad, as long as you continue to put him first. But when things go poorly? /That's/ when an unhappy Xadovith prowls around, urging you to cut her off already before she causes you more distress. Good luck.
In the end, Xadovith doesn't ask you to like reality, just to be strong enough to face it. But you know what, K'ndro? You can make that reality pretty darn fun, if he'll only listen to you. Even his darkest hour can be lightened with your help, just as he gives you strength by example to go on. The key is to balance his fatalism with optimism... and with equal determination. You aren't the same, but you're equals, are would-be justice united with mercy rather than retribution. You are each other's. Enjoy it.
Public Impression Message
It's not that he never wavered, but in the end, the Tattered Shadows Bronze claims a tall but otherwise unremarkable-looking man as though he'd never let him go. Nudging isn't enough: in the search to truly make the man his own, he'd climb up and onto the former trader if he could, the better to envelop him in shadow and fully meet those dark brown eyes. His own no longer seem red nor muted, but instead resemble ephemeral rainbows, made all the more brilliant against his equally dark and drying hide.
Private Impression Message
The world flattens about you, etching everything from the crowd in the galleries above to the sand grains beneath your feet in darkest shadow and brightest light and a whiff of incongruous garlic: a warm white-gold light that's blinding, it's so bright, even as cooling darkness steals within your very veins. « K'ndro, » he whispers, and it's not your name except that, now, it is. Moment by moment, he's deeper and deeper within you, closer and closer to your heart and all its secrets. « You follow me, now. You /belong/ to me. » And then you know what you have to do: claim him, claim /Xadovith/, or die.
Mindvoice
A whiff of garlic embodies Xadovith's mental breath, but his tenor thoughts may taste of other plant-potions depending on his mood, ranging from brash onions to enthusiastically psychedelic weeds to unhappy, rotting brews. Light and its lack add emphasis, but even they have multiple aspects: light can illuminate understanding or become an unforgiving glare, while shadow may conceal but also soften and protect. The mental words he chooses are clear, unlike your accent, but he's likely to pick up on your more colorful turns of phrase. Similarly, he's likely to ask you to explain other human aphorisms as he comes across them, and then borrow those that appeal to him. A likely favorite, said sententiously with more of his deadpan humor? « Lost time is never found again. »
Itchyspots
Xadovith's hide not only soaks up oil, requiring quite a bit of attention to stay supple (especially wherever hide rubs against hide, such as the crooks of his legs and throughout his wings), but it's particularly sensitive. While he can build a tolerance to oil from different sources or which has different additives, all but the mildest may give him a rash if sprung directly on him: once out of the barracks, be careful when borrowing someone else's oil!
Dragon Inspiration
Your Xadovith is based on Durzo Blint of the Night Angel trilogy, per your request. In the first book, which Leova read just for you, Durzo is a plain-looking man who's earned a dark reputation and has stifled his own caring in order to accomplish what he needs to do, yet is more often kind than he'd admit. When you asked for a dragon who looked sinister rather than plain, it brought to mind a dragon who wears his reputation as his looks and may, or may not, be the same on the inside as he appears on the outside. You and he will have to deal with some of the same issues as Azoth/Kylar and Durzo, such as control, vulnerability, friendship, and the never-quite-successful drive for perfection... spiced with deadpan humor and more than a little garlic. In other hands, he could be Retribution. With you... Mercy. Justice, no longer myth. Together, you and he become two sides of the same, ever-spinning coin.
Egg Inspiration: Ever an unassuming weapon, the cast iron skillet has crushed many a skull.
| Clutch 32 | |
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