Dragon Heart

"She's a canopy lindwyrm," Dan Heng replied with a nod. "Fully grown, she should be large enough to carry a person on her back." Not that he really intended to ride on Liulin, though. It was enough to be companions.

It would be good to have friends, though, especially those used to living among humans. Especially considering the way that Liulin had taken up the habit of following him around and curling up next to him on the floor of his room to sleep.

"At first, I thought I would send her back to the wild once she recovered," he confessed. "But... she's gotten attached to me now, so I think I might need to find some new place to live, once she can no longer fit through the door."

Not every creature was gifted with shapeshifting, after all.

fingers curl around his , a pact formed . a touch so gentle and unlike her -- a touch reserved for those she would protect . seiros did not know the ways she could help . but she knew that she wanted to . such was the mark of the progenitor upon her conscious .

" please . if you are to follow me . . . please , call me immaculate one when we are in private . if we are to bond as members of the same kind , you should know my true name . "

brows furrowed , and jaw clicked . struck by the request , seiros quieted into a pensive sort of quiet reserved for consultations with the goddess herself . the voice that accompanied her and put the weight behind her blade , and whose judgement guided her every move .

nobody had ever asked seiros to rise . she had simply risen when the time was right . and in many ways , was it not the natural way of things ?? there must be a purpose behind her birth . to be born and called perfection by the goddess herself could be no coincidence .

the blood which ran so thick though her veins . . . gifted by one who spilled so much of it so that the world might prosper .

marcellus , while like her , was not of her pack . he had no hand in her affairs , but he was still enough like her to be compelling . and if he so called upon her to be a stone , she would grind herself into the earth the very same : for her pack was so small , and she was so needing .

Here? Maybe there could be some guidance. Seiros could help him, and maybe in turn he could help her.

He felt plenty embarrassed over this. At least half of the fumbling around was genuine, however, even for as much as some people who knew the truth about him assumed it must all be an act. Clark was genuinely awkward and clumsy. It came from years of trying not to act as an accidental bulldozer.

...Luthor hadn't exactly been wrong to say that he moved like a landslide.

tongue perched against the back of her teeth , as if on the precipice of speech . as if burdened by the sheer scope of his request , seiros acquiesced to crimping and folding the edges of her thoughts into brief , neat phrases . it was easier that way , to press her nail into the flesh between finger and thumb and trim away the excess .

and to pray her words might not crumble beneath the weight they carry , for her truth was simple !! which only made it heavy . seiros had lived countless lives and yet not a single one whole .

" all i have ever tried to do are the right things . "

by all means she did not owe humanity a goddess , but she had seen what became of a godless land . a land so long plagued by bandits -- thieves who raided and pillaged indiscriminately . who destroyed homes and broke apart families and livelihoods .

and these were the natural consequences of humanity's folly .

but even so , she cured them of their plagues . she fended off their enemies . she united their people under a common banner . . . and under a goddess who died by their sins . perhaps because she was born of a goddess that her compassion should not mystify her so . and yet --

From what Marcellus sees, she carries so much that it weighs on her. There is so much that needs to be done. Too many responsibilities, and he understands that better than anyone.

Tried to do the right things...

And he doesn't at all doubt that. He turns to look at her. Where she helped humans, he hid from them. It's admirable to hear what she's done.

starter for @dragonhcrt ! ( s.c. )

No matter the shape and size, no matter their world of origins, it seemed that dragons of all types had some affinity for one another. Perhaps it was because they were all, in some way, Long's scions, or perhaps there was some other explanation-- but whatever the reason was, the sight of the young moss-green canopy lindwyrm playing among the branches and leaves with Wynter simply reaffirmed that fact.

"Liulin's wing is nearly healed now, though she can't quite reach the canopies yet," Dan Heng noted as he watched them. "Playing like this should help her recover her strength."

☀️-- "Oh - uh, no! No, I -" Clark cleared his throat, fumbling out his press badge and holding it for the other man to see. "I apologize. Uh - Clark Kent from Aevum Daily. I'm here to do interview some officers for a report on crime rates."

" no . " immediate , decisive . seiros held stern her jaw , " no , i do not fear for what has become of my kin . i have raised them an army of ardent supporters who would make it so they never stand alone . "

wilhelm would never betray her in this . he knew the hand he so chose to hold as well as the burdens it came with . and so seiros did not fear what would become of her homeland and family , for humanity would fear her for what was to happen should they conspire further behind their goddess's back .

and her hand remained so entwined in his .

seiros stared back , searching . nails scraped violently against concrete at her side . nothing special , but to be a dragon was special . to revel in anything less was deemed wrong ; invisibility could never be named freedom .

however , she was not blinded to the burden of being a god . her very own mother slept seiros's childhood away , exhausted by humanity and their indelible sins . and yet here seiros remained , longing for someone to follow : someone strong enough to rule over her , guide her --

seize from her this freedom that left her so lost . so empty .

" so then you wish to be a bird , " seiros smirked to herself deflating beneath her inner pride , " when you have had all respect torn away from you , you might understand the plight of my nabatean kin . to be seen as nothing -- no different -- is as much a sacrilege as you deem a blessing . "

" so . . . you feel content . "

seiros might have accepted that she was to remain here for the unforeseen future ; however , home yet called to her . it spoke to her in the quietest of moments and found her in the darkest of rooms .

to live with a mission engraved into her breast meant marrying it , and divorcing from it meant to die . so seiros did not share the same comfort . at least , she didn't think that she could .

Mentioning my dog Lulu under the cut.

"Hm... You could certainly say that, I suppose," Sunday nodded. Though, privately, he thought that he'd had very little chance to actually enjoy music. It had always been more of an appraisal, and not even necessarily something that came naturally to him.

"My younger sister is an incredibly talented musician, far more so than myself," he said, a bit of wistfulness in his voice. "Her music is known throughout the cosmos where I come from... sadly, I have yet to find a single recording here."

"Perhaps we can see if we can find it together one day. This place works in mysterious ways."