[ closed & open ] when you smile, you knock me out, i fall apart

[thunderproof]

WHO: Adalia (candlekeep), Daenerys (motherofdragons), and anyone in the Nevarran caravan!
WHAT: A dragon finally hatches!
WHEN: Backdated to the night after the Rifter arrival
WHERE: On the way to Nevarra
NOTES: None! Will update if necessary.

i. someday, someday, you'll blow us all away (closed to daenerys)

❰ it's the middle of the night when it happens. adalia had known the egg was close to hatching — she could feel little movements from inside it even when she'd picked it up in the ruins, and alacruun had been so angry when she'd taken it — but she had thought... well, she hadn't really. she knows next to nothing about dragons, despite speaking their language, and she's not at candlekeep any longer with ready access to all the research she could ever want. "how long does it take for a dragon's egg to hatch" is not a question she's had cause to ask before, so she's stayed up all night just in case, watching it, going over her notes from her talks with all the people she'd accosted for information once she got here —

at midnight, the first crack appears. at first adalia isn't sure it's really there, but the hair-thin fracture spreads further down the shell and widens just the slightest bit, and that lights a fire under her ass. it's not a particularly productive fire at first — she spends a full minute silently screaming into her hands and running around her tent like a chicken with its head cut off — but quickly enough she comes to her sense and rushes to collect daenerys. leaving the egg feels sort of like torture, but she doesn't dare move it, and anyway it hasn't changed too much by the time she gets back, dany in tow. it's been nearly an hour since then, and the cracks have continued to spread, but there is none yet wide enough for the creature within to poke its head through. ❱

I have no idea what to do for it, ❰ she says, wringing her hands nervously. she's going to have to raise a dragon. a dragon. this is... going to be a challenge. ❱ I think you're not supposed to help shelled things hatch, but it's been so long... I just want to help it out.

ii. pride is not the word i'm looking for (open)

❰ in the morning, hours since charis has hatched and daenerys has gone back to sleep, adalia is wide awake, sitting in front of her tent with the baby dragon in her lap. he's so shockingly small... adalia hadn't ever seen a baby dragon — a wyrmling — before, only adults and ancients, and those are massive. charis will grow to that size, but she'd expected him to be big, even now — and yet, he's small enough to perch atop her shoulders or fit in her lap, freezing her with his chilled scales.

a silver dragon is so much better than a black one — black dragons are evil by their very nature, and even if adalia doesn't believe in evil by nature, she'd considered that it might be difficult to raise a black dragon to be able to be around other creatures without wanting to subjugate or eat them. silver dragons, on the other hand, love people. that is one of the only things she remembers learning about dragons, and the idea that she gets to raise one — her heart is overfull already and just keeps getting bigger, stuffed to the brim with pride and love and a protective fervor she's never felt before. she is not a mother, not really, and she would never call herself charis' parent... but she is responsible for him, and she will do her best to keep him safe.

when approached, adalia immediately tenses, but stays sitting — charis is asleep, and she doesn't want to wake him if she doesn't have to. ❱

If you wake my dragon I'll kick your ass, ❰ she warns, wary, but otherwise leaving him on display. ❱

Comments

[serannas]

"Oh, I'm sorry," she says immediately. "I wouldn't have assumed, but here in Thedas, though who are half-elf and half-human always look human. It's nice to know there are places where it's not always the case." Especially since -- unlike others -- she happens to have a thing for humans as opposed to her own people. Bad elf ex-boyfriend.

"Could I ask you more about your world? It's always so interesting to learn about these far off places."

[thunderproof]

Adalia wrinkles her nose and furrows her brow in confusion, head tilted to the side.

"But that makes no sense, why wouldn't the traits of one meld with the traits of the other? It's not as though "humanity" is a dominant trait as a whole, that's not how that works!"

At least, from what she's read of Father Mendel's work on peas in the Temple of Chauntea at Rashemen that's not how it works. Such a field of study is young yet, and not very well understood even by the people who are actively working at it, let alone teenagers who had nothing better to do with their time than read, so it's entirely possible she's got it all wrong. Still, such an idea seems fundamentally flawed, and Adalia is offended by the mere suggestion of it.

She's distracted from her offense, though, at the question, and stares at the girl with her mouth open for a long moment until she thinks to close it. No one who she's bothered for information about Thedas has yet thought to ask about where Adalia's from, and she hadn't exactly been thinking about how to explain Toril to an outsider.

"Um. Yes? Sure! What would you like to know?"

[serannas]

Ellana can only shrug with a sheepish smile. "It's the way things are. I can't explain why." And anything to do with genetics would just completely fly over her head so trying to brainstorm a hypothesis is beyond her.

"Well," she eyes the dragon as she steps closer, her feet somewhat muffled by her special boots. Once she's closer, and sure the dragon is still asleep, she settles down into a cross-legged position and continues. "To start, what are elves like in your world? The culture, I mean. And how do other races treat them? What other races do you have?"

[thunderproof]

An honest — if a little frustrating — answer, and Adalia can respect that. Why is anything the way it is, really, when you think about it? And why would you think about it when you have survival to worry about? Not everyone had the luxury of growing up in the best library on the continent, with meals and comfort provided for them.

Charis snorts and kicks a bit in his sleep, but is otherwise undisturbed as she creeps closer, and Adalia manages to bite back her pained Oof! as that kick gets her in the kidney. Chuckling softly, she rubs at her side, considering how to respond.

"I think first I should say... I don't know a lot about my plane's different cultures." Her expression and tone are both regretful, even pained, but it's the truth — she isn't the best person to come to with questions like this. "I grew up in Candlekeep, the best library in the whole of Faerûn, so I have an academic knowledge of a lot of things, but I've never really been exposed to anything but books."

That said, she takes a breath and lays out what she knows:

"Elves are forest-dwelling humanoids who generally prefer nature to cities, though as with all creatures select individuals may vary in taste. There are a few different kinds of elves, all branches from the same tree, if you will, and they have formed nations in the past though I don't think there are any elf nations at the moment. They can live for hundreds of years — 900 isn't an uncommon age for an elf to reach, though generally they aren't that long-lived. They are well-respected for their abilities, which include wizardry, marksmanship, and tracking, and humans often find them to be very desirable as mates due to their beauty."

If that sounds like it came from a book... It probably did. Or at least, a few books, all jumbled together in one sort of "here's everything I have ever read about elves" infodump.

"Other races... Gosh, where to start. Okay, so, we have humans, elves, dwarves, all of which seem familiar to you," now Adalia begins ticking the races off on her fingers, looking into the distance as she thinks, "Then there's tieflings, aasimar, halflings, gnomes, goliaths, dragonborn... And I'm sure there are some I'm missing. I mean, if we count sentience as the only qualifier necessary to count something as a race, dragons too."

[serannas]

The cute baby dragon makes quite the picture until it kicks Adalia and Ellana winces in sympathy. There are times she wishes she had a pet of her own, but then she reminds herself that she couldn't just take off on an adventure or exploration of elven ruins if she was responsible for someone else. Moments like this are good reminders too. She bruises easily.

Listening to Adalia, Ellana is already coming up with follow up questions or comments, but she stays quiet, looking for an opening. They've just met, and Ellana isn't quite sure of Adalia's personality yet. Will she refuse to say more if she's interrupted? Ellana doesn't want to risk it. But when it looks like there's a long enough pause, Ellana speaks.

"Wow, I don't know where to start! You grew up in a library? That sounds amazing! We had few books in the clan, but it was how we learned to read and write. Do you know much about elves here yet? Some live out in the middle of nowhere; forests, if they can. They're called Dalish. I used to be one, and it has its benefits, but downsides too. Elves that don't live like I did are called city elves, whether or not they live in a city or on a farm. It's a silly division to make, I think, but there can be resentment on both sides based on history and attitudes."

She pauses to shake her head. Elves have it rough everywhere, so they shouldn't be turning on each other too. "We used to be immortal," she continues, "Or so the stories go. It's said we lost it when humans came along, but you know how stories get passed down and things change, since you grew up around books, right? You've probably seen the same story told loads of different ways, so I doubt the human thing is true."

Drawing up her legs, she wraps her arms around them, hugging them to her chest.

"We just have those sentient races, yes. I hope you know that I want to ask all about those others too. Tieflings, gnomes... I've forgotten the rest already." She lets out a soft laugh.

[thunderproof]

While Adalia appreciates not being interrupted, she would never just stop talking to someone because of an interruption. It's human (and elf and dwarf and tiefling and...) nature to interject when excited, leaving someone hanging just because they couldn't contain themselves would mean she never got to finish a conversation with anybody!

"I know about alienages, I think I got into a bit of a tiff with one of your city elves about the Circles sorcerers go to here and she told me how bad the conditions are there. Your Dalish sound slightly closer to what I'm used to." Though even they aren't exact. The elves of Toril live in forests, yes, but they have whole cities there, sprawling societies built into the trees, with libraries and buildings of their own. Inessa had said an elf's life here in Thedas was hard, but Adalia was only just beginning to understand exactly how hard it must be.

Like with the idea that human genetics are somehow entirely dominant over elven ones, the idea that humans could affect elven lifespans confuses and annoys Adalia. People wouldn't believe these things if there wasn't something to suggest their truth, but they seem so nonsensical! Further research must be done.

"The only way humans could have an effect on elven lifespans where I'm from is to interbreed with them. Me, for example — I might reach 200, if I'm otherwise healthy and I don't die in combat. Other half-elves would be the same. The other races... Oh boy."

Adalia laughs, scrubbing a hand through her hair, trying to find somewhere to start.

"Well, let's just start with tieflings. They're part demon, or devil, or some kind of infernal. They have horns on their heads, and depending how much of their infernal heritage they received they can have cloven hooves for feet instead of, well, feet."

[serannas]

"Mm," Ellana hums as Adalia mentions the argument with the city elf. "I was taught to fear Circles, but you'll find some mages who lived in one who think it was the best place ever and want to return. I guess because Circles were different everywhere, or they just really buy into the talk that mages are dangerous and need to be locked up." Clearly, Ellana has no plans to end up in one someday.

"That makes sense, but again, they'd be entirely human then, so it doesn't work in this case." She gives her head a shake. Maybe if she just discovers some long hidden ruin, she'll find answers to some of these questions.

"Part demon?" she asks in awe. "I'm sure it's a different being than the demons here that inhabit the Fade and fall from rifts, but wow. Sounds scary. Especially the feet part. I don't know why. It's not like goats or sheep are scary, but just walking around on two hooves? Gives me a shiver just thinking about it."

[thunderproof]

"Probably more the latter than the former. I still can't believe how sorcerers are treated here, it's barbaric. I've had some people fear me, but that's just individuals. The whole of society isn't — wasn't aligned to oppose my living a free life."

If someone tried to put Adalia in a Circle, she'd die fighting rather than go willingly. Just the idea of them is nauseating, terrifying, infuriating. Giving herself up to them? Allowing herself to be treated like a dangerous animal, just because she can throw a few sparks around? Sorcerers here must have been broken of their spirit so long ago they don't even remember what having one feels like, if they would submit to such treatment.

"It's... either part demon, or their ancestors made a pact with one, once, and their whole bloodline was tainted by the deal. Something along those lines. Demons where I'm from are more humanoid than the ones here by far, so it's not as... grotesque as you might be imagining."

Because yeah, Adalia's seen the demons that come out of the rifts. No one should try to fuck those things, much less have children with them.

"I don't know... It's a weird idea, but I've heard of weirder. There are bird people where I'm from, and I think being covered in feathers, having a beak... that's freakier than hoof feet any day."

[serannas]

It doesn't help that Templars can dispel a mage's magic either. A broken spirit plus a means to take away their only defense has left many mages helpless. Luckily Ellana grew up outside that system, but her own upbringing came with problems of its own. Still, she prefers her incomplete education to the Circle system.

Her lips twitch with a smile when Adalia mentions bird people. "Well, I can turn into a bird, but it's actually a bird, not this body with a beak and feathers. Hopefully that doesn't count as weird."

[thunderproof]

For as much as Adalia loves knowing things, even she would rather be ignorant than be as spiritually dead as the Circles seem to make people.

"Oh! Oh, you can polymorph yourself? Me too! I just learned the spell before I came through the rift! I haven't tried any forms yet, but I'm very excited to!"

Adalia's excitement raises her voice, and her raised voice wakes Charis just enough for the dragon to whine, rubbing at his eyes ineffectually with his paws. Adalia looks at Ellana and grimaces with an "oops!" expression, stroking delicately down Charis' flank.

"Oh, moxt dretri, I'm sorry, did I wake you? I just got excited, you're alright. Wux re kepatmasto, dretri."

[serannas]

Ellana hunches her shoulders to join in on Adalia's "oops" moment, since she contributed to it by making her excited. Once the dragon is soothed, however, she quietly adds, "We call it shapeshifting here, but yes. You can take four forms and I now have all mine. A sparrow is one of them."