#dragon!sides

He could hear the distant chatter of human voices from the town not far from his current position but with dusk beginning to settle over the lands, Logan wasn’t worried about being spotted. Night came earlier in the winters and with the drastically dropping temperature, most humans stayed indoors with their fires and blankets.

He’d been out hunting practically the entire day, but stayed far enough away from human civilizations that they were none the wiser.

His presence in the cave just North of here would remain a secret if he had anything to do with it.

The snow glistened on the ground in front of him, the fading daylight causing a slightly rosy glow on the pristine white. He was unmoved.

He did keep his eyes vigilant, however, knowing very well that there could be human out here doing their own hunting and gathering. However, something else caught his attention. The sounds of human voices that were distinctly closer than the others. They were talking in hushed tones about something or other and, his interest slightly piqued, Logan carefully made his way closer.

“What do we do with it?”‌ One voice murmured, trying to not drag attention to themselves if there was another presence around.

“We could smash it,” another piped in. Logan could hear the sound of snow crunching under boots—they were walking around. Pacing, maybe. “Just get rid of it, no one will ever know.”

“We already took care of the parents,”‌ a third voice said, sounding demanding and sharp. Certainly more authoritative than the others. “Leave it here. The thing’ll freeze on it’s own.”

“We could sell it though!‌”‌ The first voice said again, “do you know how much money someone would pay for something like this!‌ We’d be rich. We’d have so much gold we wouldn’t even know what to do with it all.”

Logan crept the slightest bit closer while making no noise, huddling down behind a small incline. He peered over the top of the hill and brought the three humans into his line of sight. Three men, crammed around something of interest. He couldn’t see their faces nor did he care much for it, but he could tell that whatever they were talking about would set them well off.

Whatever it was, it had to be important.

“I‌ say we take it,” the human on the left said—matching the first voice he had heard.

“I‌ say we don’t,” the human in the middle spoke, “the thing’s probably already dead anyhow. Our buyer would get no use out of it.”

The human on the right nodded before straightening and standing tall. He crossed his arms and nodded away from the subject under scrutiny. “Let’s go lads, before it gets too dark and we up freezing our asses off out here.”

Both humans relented finally and began to follow the third away from the subject. As soon as it was in Logan’s line of sight, he blinked. It was an egg.

A dragon’s egg.

No wonder those humans had been talking of selling it. Something like this would probably go for a wondrous amount of money in a human market, as those greedy creatures never seemed to have enough.

Logan shook himself and some snow fell from his shoulders. Once the humans were out of sight and long gone, he stood and approached the little egg carefully. It was a soft purple, dotted with black and white. The glow from inside of it was fading quickly, a soft flickering that showed that whatever baby that was inside of it was passing fast.

How unfortunate.

Sniffing at it for just a moment, Logan noted silently that the scent of a parent had long since faded as well. The claiming mark was gone and there was nothing stopping another dragon from claiming it as their own.

As the humans had said, it seemed as though both parents were gone. Which meant the baby inside the egg would die.

Such is life.

Logan stepped over the egg and continued on his way back to his cave, when something in him tugged, causing the dragon himself to stop completely.

Something inside said that it wasn’t fair.

Of course it wasn’t fair, he shook himself, humans were murderous monsters that killed only because they had the power to. It’s the circle of life. Some children make and it some children don’t.

Logan growled, low in his chest.

He couldn’t just leave the little one there, all by themselves.

Yes. You can. Leave the child. There’s nothing you can do.

Turning to look over his shoulder, he glanced the egg again. It would be better to just leave it there. Getting attached to something that might not even hatch was a waste of emotional effort. He had left his own Weyr for that exact reason. Living in a family was just an accident waiting to happen. It’s how he lost his parents and he refused to live like that any longer.

Living on his own was far better, anyhow.

He had only himself to worry about and care for. Besides, even if the egg did hatch, he would then have the burden of looking after a baby. Which was not something he was interested in doing in the least.

Children were noisy and could draw attention to them when it wasn’t necessary. A baby could be his demise.

Wanting to ignore the niggling in his chest, Logan tried to press on. It was getting dark and it was starting to get cold enough that Logan could feel that ache in his joints. But he stayed in one spot.

You have the power to save that little life, something in him whispered. You don’t have to care for them when they’re born. You could always take the pup and find another group to take care of it.

Needless to say, Logan went back to the egg.

Standing over it, he wrestled with what to do.

It looked so helpless in the cold like this, half frozen. The light inside of it quickly fading. Huffing quietly, he scanned the horizon. Tried to see past leafless trees, search for fresh dragon tracks other than his own or those created by the humans that had just been there.

To see if there was any possibility at all of having the rightful parent or guardian return to the little one.

Snow continued to fall from the sky as he looked over the little one.

“You are causing far more trouble than I would have liked,”‌ he spoke to it, the baritone of his voice rumbling his chest.

Of course, the egg didn’t respond.

After a heartbeat of silence had passed, Logan had made up his mind. Spreading his wings and lifting himself slightly off the ground, he grabbed the little egg between his claws and hefted it up into the air with him.

The textures I was trying to experiment with for roman were metal, feathers, and and general smooth/shiny. A western dragon(albeit feathered because I felt he needed an element of softness), he’s the closest the sides get to a “traditional” dragon. The katana-blade horns ended up surprisingly functional looking, and the fountain pen tail was neat! I based the wings off of a cardinal, (and i think overall cardinals fit roman pretty well even beyond the “haha red”) Cardinals represent courtship and devotion, while the “cardinal directions” also have a place in representing passion and motivation. He’s definitely enjoying being a dragon.