Home 26: Rooms to let, fifty cents

[Deathkeeper]

House Esmerena

"Me? A dragon? How would I even- well I guess Nahira could do it but I don't think she'd want to. Um. Would you still want me to be round?" he chuckles.
"I guess if you become a dragon I'd basically be teddy-bear sized to you. That said, she just compared him to someone that she was with. So...does that mean he's with her now?

[bc56]

House Esmerena

"There's got to be some magic that could do it. I have a few draconic relics in my hoard that might work." Aethii muses. "I don't know if you'd still be round. That's something we'd have to find out." She sizes him up when he makes the teddy bear comment. "That seems right. You'd be about that size. Maybe a little large."

[Deathkeeper]

[House Esmerena]

”Well, I mean. You definitely don’t have to use powerful ancient relics just to see if I’d look good with wings.”
He can’t help it. He giggles a little at the idea of a dragon knowing what a teddy bear is. And holding one.
Even if in this context, said bear would be him.
”Well, I would be glad my size would be good for something: you being able to pick me up easily without getting crushed.”

[bc56]

House Esmerena

"I don't have to, but what if I want to? Besides, it's not like I use them for anything." Aethii laughs. "I'm sure your size is good for something else. Looking powerful, at the very least."

[Deathkeeper]

House Esmerena

Edgar chuckles.
”Well, after dinner maybe we can visit your place, then.”
At her other comment, he goes back to looking down at himself.
”Do I look powerful, though? I don’t really have any muscle. My strength is all supernatural. What if I just look huge and lazy?” He feels powerful but he isn’t sure if other people see it that way.

[bc56]

House Esmerena

"You're not going to give me a chance to tidy it up first?" Aethii jokes. She looks at Edgar with some concern. He's just really stuck on thinking about his weight, isn't he? "You walk around as if you weigh nothing at all. As soon as someone sees you take a step, they know you can't be lazy."

[Deathkeeper]

House Esmerena

Edgar looks around before slumping, hunching over.
"Well, it's- it's sort of- kinda-
Ugh. Everything about this is what I've always wanted." he says, giving his middle a light jab.
"I've wanted to sit around dressed in gold and whatever I want doing as little as possible getting fat with great food and riches brought in front of me. But I feel like...
Like I got skipped to the end goal without any of the middle parts. Suddenly I'm the fat count decked out in jewels but I don't know how to...be that. I didn't get the time to be comfortable turning into him because it happened in five seconds instead of five decades."

[bc56]

House Esmerena

"I see, I think. You've gotten everything without the hard work, so you haven't had time to grow into those shoes. But you will. Don't worry about making mistakes, everyone has to at some point." Aethii is clearly thinking of one of her mistakes in the past, because she suddenly looks embarrassed.

[Deathkeeper]

House Esmerena

"I dunno, maybe I'd feel less weird about being huge if I like, grew that big myself instead of just sort of..." Instead of Nahira making him that was near-instantly like a beach ball.
"But I guess it's how I am now so whatever. And uh. If you say that you like me how I am right now that's good enough for me if we're uh. Gonna be. Uh." Edgar stammers.
"A thing."
That's what "with" means, right?

[bc56]

House Esmerena

By now, Aethii is completely done with her food. "We can be a 'thing,' if that's what you want." It sounds like she wants it too. Over there, a waiter is handing a bill to another group of customers. The question of their own bill hasn't been resolved yet, has it?

[Deathkeeper]

[House Esmerena]

"Guess it's settled, then." Edgar smiles. He also glances around the room, looking for Pride. She did set this up.
"Well, that also means it's your call where you wanna go after dinner. We could get dessert for the road?" he suggests.

[bc56]

House Esmerena

"Dessert would be great. Then we can head to my den to see about getting you a nice dragon shape!" When Edgar looks for Pride, he'll spot her. She gives a cheerful wave and a thumbs up as if to say that he's doing great, and she's taking care of the business end of things.

[Deathkeeper]

House Esmerena

Edgar nods energetically.
"Waiter? How about we get two pieces of pie for the road?"

Presumably after a few moments, Edgar and Aethii will be presented with two warm slices of pie in little styrofoam tins and ushered back to the carriage where Pride is waiting for instructions on where exactly Aethii's address is.

[bc56]

House Esmerena -> Dragon's Mountain

Pies in hand, the couple board the carriage which ascends into the mountains. Eventually, they arrive at a cave. The looming entrance is far larger than even Edgar. "Here we are! Home sweet home!" Aethii hops out of the carriage and gives a sweeping gesture at the mouth of the cavern.

[Deathkeeper]

Dragon’s Mountain

Edgar nods, wiping pie crumbs from his whiskers.
”So, do you need me to wait outside while you clean up?” he jokes.
He wonders if dragon lairs smell. Dragons are known for eating weird things and sitting around a lot.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Fort Aegis]

In the fort / spa / underground kobold cave that is more-or-less Sylvess's lair, life is peaceful.

The kobolds are steadily learning their trade.

The fort has a couple more permanent residents in the form of Sam and his cat.

And atop his clutch of eggs, Sylvess naps.

Yes, all is quiet and cal-

"SPAAAAAKOOOOO! HEEEEEEEELP!"

...all was quite and calm, at least, up until a moment ago.

[Deathkeeper]

Fort Aegis

There’s a cry, and a crash, and then a shiny kobold bursts into the lair brandishing a burning-hot blade.
”What is it? What’s going on? Are the eggs under attack?” Spako stammers, glancing around the room.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Fort Aegis]

There's a quiet "eep" from Sylvess at the sight of sharp stabby thing, but thankfully paternal instincts are strong enough to override his tendency to jump onto the nearest wall when feeling threatened.

"O-oh, um, n-no. No, Spako, the eggs are fine. I-I mean, I think they're fine. I-I just felt one of them shaking a-and that made me panic because they're not supposed to shake. Um, unless they are?"

[Deathkeeper]

Fort Aegis

Spako blinks. Puts his sword away. Stares.
Spako wraps himself in his wings and opens them in full dragon form.
”Sylvess they’re supposed to do that when they’re...done.”
You know like...done.

[bc56]

Dragon's Mountain

Aethii shrugs noncommittally. "If you want? It's not all that important to me." She walks into the cave entrance. "Coming?" She beckons with her wings.

[Deathkeeper]

[Dragon Mountain]

Edgar grins. "That was a joke. Let's go." He follows her into the lair.
Honestly, he expects it to either be really messy or really ritzy. There have to be servants at least, since she mentioned those.

[bc56]

Dragon Mountain

The pair enter the cave. The walls are hewn roughly from the stone, but once they get past the entryway, there are periodic niches, above human head height (but not Edgar's) where shiny treasures are displayed. A servant rushes up to them, nervously asking if there's anything that Aethii needs. She waves him away. "The hoard is right over here. The artifact I'm looking for should be in there somewhere."

[Deathkeeper]

[Dragon Mountain]

Hm. Very simple. Interesting; he had expected Aethii to be more extravagant. Perhaps she's more humble than other dragons. Or she just prefers simpler aesthetics.
"So uh, what exactly is this thing? Because we really don't have to be tinkering with elder magics just on my account." Edgar tells her as he pads behind her. As usual, Edgar makes amazingly little sound as he moves.

[Gnrlshrimp]

Fort Aegis

Spako blinks. Puts his sword away. Stares.
Spako wraps himself in his wings and opens them in full dragon form.
”Sylvess they’re supposed to do that when they’re...done.”
You know like...done.

[Fort Aegis]

It takes Sylvess a disappointing amount of time to catch on to Spako's meaning.

But for someone used to Sylvess, such as Spako, it's probably about exactly as long as he'd expect for Sylvess to figure it out.

"W-w-wait, what, really? A-a-already? I-i-it hasn't...it hasn't been that long, has it?" He asks, fidgeting nervously. He shuffles back to expose the eggs slightly more, wrapping his tail around them and staring down at them.

As if on cue, one of the eggs wiggles slightly.

"...Spako, I-I may not look like I'm panicking right now since I-I'm still here a-and not on a wall or something, but I'm panicking quite a lot. What do I do?"

[Deathkeeper]

Fort Aegis

Spako’s response is to lean his head out of the cave and shout.
”Kubo!”
A maroon Kobold in a Fort Aegis Spa & Resort uniform hustles into sight.
“Yes, Masters?”
”We’re not your masters, Kubo. But enough of that. We’ve got tap-tap-tapping.”
The Kobold stares at him.
”The eggs. The eggs are tapping.”
Kubo lets out an excited cry and dashes off. Spako returns to Sylvess.

”Hatchlings tend to hatch, and then do some combination of sleep and squawk for food. It’s customary to have some soft meat on hand for hatchlings.” he explains.
”All you have to do is watch. Don’t help unless they get part of the way through and get stuck. If they’re not ready they won’t break the shell. Oh and keep them separated for a bit after hatching. Sometimes they get bitey.”
Sylvess might, but probably won’t, put together that Sylvess only has experience with kobold hatchlings and is bluffing very hard to pretend that everything will transfer over and be applicable.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Fort Aegis]

Sylvess's eyes widen as Spako starts issuing instructions. He cranes his neck forward, trying his best to take it all in.

"I-If you know it all so well, Spako, m-maybe you should-" He pauses and shuffles over, "I-I mean we should both be here anyway, b-but maybe you should, um, take the lead in watching a-and helping if they need it?"

There's a little bit of hesitancy in his voice (well, more than usual) as if he wants to question at least part of Spako's instructions, but seems reluctant to do so.

Sylvess just has vague knowledge from back in the early days when he was being taught by his caretakers. Clearly Spako's been doing some studying and preparation for this!

"Does it, um, take long? I-I mean only one or maybe two of the eggs has moved so far."

[Deathkeeper]

Fort Aegis

Spako blinks.
"I have no idea! I've never observed a dragon hatching."
He looks down at the eggs.
"We're doing this together, Sylvess. Besides, it's not like it's possible to take the lead on watching eggs hatch anyway." He stares at the occasional movement.
"We could be here a while. It's not like we could have asked anyone what to do with this crazy mixing of bloodlines."
You can't exactly go on the internet and look for the hatching times of gold/silver/copper/brass/bird dragons.

[bc56]

Dragon Mountain

"It's a hollow bone rod, about, uh, yay long?" She laughs when Edgar once again protests the use of ancient magics for entertainment. "It'll be fun! Here we are. Sorry about how, uh... Small it is." Now Aethii looks genuinely embarrassed as she opens a large stone door in the wall. It opens onto a large room, with a pile of treasure. To human standards, it's a huge pile, of course, but apparently to Aethii it's small.

[Deathkeeper]

Dragon Mountain

Edgar blinks.
"Uh. Aethii? That's...that's bigger than me. Anything bigger than me is not small." Edgar walks around the room looking for any interesting baubles. Or big plush seats. Edgar really likes big plush seats.

[bc56]

Dragon Mountain

"No, it's... You wouldn't understand." There aren't any chairs, but there are baubles aplenty of all sorts. Crystal beads, gold and silver statuettes, jeweled drinking vessels, and lots of coins. "Help me search for it. For some reason it's harder to find things when I'm like this." In human form, Aethii doesn't have a dragon's perfect recall about her hoard, apparently.