museboxofmuses | DRAGON AU

DRAGON AU

Prometheus hibernated a lot.

There wasn't much else to do, as a hermit-dragon. He couldn't venture out into the world in case some intrepid 'adventurer' wanted to slay him for bragging rights or his hide, he couldn't mingle with other dragons because he was one of Nidhogg's brood (a fact which was why he couldn't socialise with any Ishgardians because spears inevitably got involved in those conversations, he knew, he still had the scar on his hindquarters from his last naive attempt), and he knew absolutely no one else, knew nothing about the world or its new continents or civilisations, so hibernating it was.

But even then, sleeping got dull.

Prometheus sighed deeply, drawing his wings tighter about himself. Perhaps it was because he spent so much time sleeping, but his draconic body evolved to have furred wings - which was nice, it was very warm, even if they did shed some strange, fluffy black motes from time to time (he soon learned that these motes were highly toxic to mortals, probably from his subconscious desire to be left alone slipping into this body's maturing evolution). The downy undercoat of his wings was shed often and thickly enough that he even had a little nest, in a cave warmed by geothermic means, in the high mountains of Coethas. It was cosy, safe, and isolated.

It was also boring and devoid of anything. Prometheus came here... fuck, centuries? Or millennia? He couldn't remember. A long while, just after the war between Ishgard and the dragons kicked off in earnest. He flew here as a dragonnet, and slept and slept and slept, with miserable waking moments in between where he went to stretch his wings, eat a bear or something, and crawled back in his warm, soft cave to sleep some more.

He was avoiding reality, he knew. He didn't understand why he woke up in the form of a dragon - an alien species, not native to their star, how the hell did the reincarnation cycle mess up that badly!? - what happened to Amaurot, why the geography was completely different and... where Hades and Hythlodaeus were. He remembered, in the early days of his life, he would cry out through the Lifestream to hear nothing back, and was slowly accepting that, maybe, it was just him. Alone.

No Hades. No Hythlodaeus. Just him and his cave.

He exhaled heavily, flexing his claws as his body sluggishly roused from its latest bout of hibernation. His stomach was an empty pit of starvation, so he had to eat something calorie dense before dozing back off again. The only thing was, it took ages for his body to fully 'wake up'. Spending centuries practically in a coma made his limbs lock up, and it took a while for the aether flowing through his body to regain strength and feeling in them again. Not that he was in any rush...

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"What is it with you and thinking killing things is the answer?" Prometheus groaned, "Stars, Hades, you've become fucked up."

"Perhaps," Hythlodaeus interjected, "We can convince them there is an alternative way. After all, we have a brand new soul right here..."

“Can you blame me?” he said with a frustrated growl. “I would have also liked to just nap for the last two-thousand years. But I haven’t. Just constantly being told to devise extinctions. It’s exhausting. Lahabrea is an over-passionate impatient idiot, and Elidibus... I have to admit that even I don’t know all that he plans, but he’s keen to foist the difficult work onto me.”

Hades cared for all Amaurotines, of course. But why did the only ones he’d had left were the worst people from his office.

Hades sighed. “But perhaps. They will visit again sooner than later, I’m sure. They have been obsessed with you and I know Lahabrea will be unable to contain his academic curiosity for long.”

"Huh! If only they had such interest back in Amaurot!" Prometheus said with no little bitterness, his tone acidic, "Well, if they want to come and gawk, they're more than welcome to. In fact, I hope they come back, so then I can give them a piece of my mind!"

"Oh dear," Hythlodaeus murmured, "Prom, perhaps confronting them when your blood's running hot isn't wise..."

Hades occupied himself with petting Aza. “So...Now that my sins have been laid on the table... what will you do with me?”

If not kill him, then what? “I doubt you’ll forgive me that easily.”

And also the idea of Prometheus trying to have words with those two... “Before we talk to them, let us settle in first, hmm? I’m not raising my son in the stables.”

Edited 2019-12-22 18:14 (UTC)

Prometheus grimaced - well, as much as his snout would allow him - at Hades's question. Hythlodaeus too, didn't seem too pleased.

"Well, firstly, when you put Aza down I'm gonna headbutt you," Prometheus grumbled irritably, "Then, I don't know. I'll see how I feel afterwards... anyway, what do you mean a stable!? This is a very high quality nest, I'll have you know! Look at the floor! It's soft and snug! Aza would be so comfy here!"

"Ah, I think he means he wants an actual house," Hythlodaeus muttered to Prometheus.

"A house? We don't need a house."

Even though Hades was definitely on the back foot here in a number of ways, he wasn't going to just not live in a house.

"What, a couple thousand years of as a dragon and you're suddenly too good for furnishings? Well be assured that I am not, and I will be raising our son to not just piss wherever he so pleases," he said pointedly. "If our son assumes a human form, where would you keep him here?"

"Well," Prometheus huffed, a bit annoyed at these meaningful questions, "I mean, he can learn to piss in the corner, and, look, this nest is suitable for a human too! He can curl up under my wings to stay warm, and we're sheltered from the rain too."

He jabbed a claw at Hades, "Besides, he's too young to be shapeshifting! Let him be himself first, before asking him to switch to two legs! Isn't that right, Aza? You like being a cat... dragon thing, don't you?"

Aza, half-asleep and kind of grumpy about it, just made a burbling, blown raspberry noise that conveyed his displeasure (as well as his soul feeling grumpy in general, in that huffy way only children could achieve).

“We are not having a piss corner. That is unhygienic, uncouth, and moreover bad breeding! I will not have my child behaving like that. And so, to meet our differing needs, I propose we move. Not so much that we accidentally create cults, but I want to sleep in a bed and sit at a table properly again. And I’m sure Hythlodaeus wants the same. He’s been sharing with the Auri men.”

“It’s not so bad,” Hythlodaeus said. “Mortals just require constant reminders about physical boundaries.” Not having met many mortals, he assumed that the pushy, sex-starved young men in the barracks were normal.

Hades tried to hush little Aza back to sleep as he protested sleepily. “He’s barely hatched. At least wait until he can speak before putting him against me. Besides, shapeshifting should be simple for someone like him. But I’ll give it a few months.”

Prometheus sighed, agitatedly flaring his wings a few times before succumbing to the inevitable. It would be selfish of him to continuously push to stay here, even if he did really like it. It was defensible, there were humans and yol waiting on them hand and foot, Prometheus could nap all he wanted and not worry about hunting half the time because they were so well taken care of...

But Hythlodaeus and Hades weren't dragons. Hell, Aza wasn't fully a dragon, and who knows, he might prefer living as a human further on in life. So... Prometheus would have to make some concessions, won't he?

"...fine," he said, unable to fully conceal the peevishness in his voice, "But it has to be somewhere where dragons aren't hunted on sight because they're some adventurer's 'Grand Prize'."

"Oh, we don't have the leave the Steppe. And even if we did, I could still protect you both... But I'm coming down with the urge to kick that man off of his throne and do some remodeling. So... Let's just find somewhere nice and build a house, hmm? If you want servants and yol, surely I can make that happen for you," Hades spoke easily, like all of this was well within their reach. And it was!

And part of that was because he could be a little more honest about the role he'd played in history. "How's that for you?"

"We're not kidnapping these poor men to be my servants," Prometheus sighed, heaving himself onto his feet and languidly stretching, "But fine. Let's find a place to live like people. Have you any ideas where exactly you want to build this house of yours?"

Aza at that point decided he wasn't sleepy anymore, and was squirming again in Hades's arm, his tiny claws digging into his shoulder as he lifted his snout enough to start chewing on a lock of Hades's hair.

“It’s not kidnapping if we offer them work as our staff,” he said entirely seriously. “We could fly over the area and pick something nice. I was thinking that I could build it into a sheer cliff to limit unwanted visitors. I want something near a pure water lake... but I don’t want it to be too cold for little Azeyma.”

Hades didn’t mind his little, sharp claws. “Aw... is he teething?” Hades made no move to stop him from chewing his hair. “Do you even remember being this young, as a dragon?”

"Not really," Prometheus admitted, scratching at his jaw as he tried to remember back to those days, "I think I just slept all the time..."

He watched Aza make a mess of Hades's hair. He wasn't sure if he was teething so much as enjoying the texture of gnawing on Hades's hair, a fascination that started to shift to one of Hades's ears. Curiously, Aza nipped at it with his tiny kitten teeth.

"Ah," Prometheus made a sharp noise, "Don't bite people, Aza."

Aza startled in Hades grasp, and he instinctively held him tighter. His teeth were quite sharp, and just left a bit of grazing at the site. “He’s just curious, isn’t he?” Hades conjured a soft but durable teething ring and offered it.

I mean, it looked like he had all of his teeth anyway... But it had the benefit of being really cute, too. “Just slept? Huh. Well. I can’t say that I’ll mind that one bit. I’ll design a nice bed... and a crib? I wonder when he’ll be able to fly...”

Hades found it curious that with Aza in his hands, all his troubles seemed so very far away. “... I want him to have an agemate. Not that I’d ever let him get lonely... But children tire of their parents, too.”

Aza's attention was immediately snatched by the teething ring, and burbling happily past his purrs, the dragonnet clutched at the teething ring between his paws, gnawing at it with his thick, heavy tail flicking energetically. Looked like he was going to be busy with that for a while yet.

"An agemate...? Well, hm, I mean," Prometheus slyly looked Hythlodaeus's way, "Hyth was technically 'born' only a few weeks before Aza..."

Hythlodaeus coughed, "I don't think that's what he means, Prom."

"Well, I'm not having another kid anytime soon," Prometheus huffed, "Do you know how uncomfortable carrying that egg was? Ugh, it was terrible. I felt like I was constipated the whole time."

Hades huffed, keeping his attention on little Aza as he spoke. “So much for bearing a little discomfort with dignity, eh? Well if you won’t, then I will. And what’s more, you haven’t taken human form in months now...”

Hades produced the necklace, holding it between his finger and thumb. It looked a little absurd in his now much larger hand. “I miss kissing you. I miss your hands and your face. Don’t you miss your human hobbies? Or has your draconic palette excluded you from wanting a baked treat? When was the last time you even read a book?”

"Hrrm..."

Prometheus could admit he missed those things. Hell, he missed his fucking workshop, and being able to conduct all the experiments that crossed his mind on a whim - but he had no Creation magic, and it upset and frustrated him too much to be confronted with the fact that his main hobby was no longer within his reach. It was much easier to hide in the skin of another creature and blame it on being an entirely different species that way.

"I can't Create as a human," he muttered, but he reached out with his clawed wing, taking the necklace, "But fine, if you insist..."

He dropped the necklace over his head, and with a small puff of aether and magic, Prometheus the human stood there. He was the same size as Hythlodaeus, so he did have to crane his head back to look up at Hades.

"...I feel like a child," he grumped.

“You could if you let me awaken your power. But you already turned that down,” Hades said as he put a hand on his hip. “But fine, give me but a moment.” He placed Aza in the nest, and Aza barely seemed to notice, so enamored with his first toy as he was.

Hades stepped back into a swirl of dark aether, disappearing completely. Moments later, he rematerialized in his Solus costume, sitting on the edge of the nest. The thick, purple aether dispersed as he looked back into the nest. Unthinkingly, he forgot to swap the hair color in his haste to appease Prom.

“Well now, Aza looks much bigger like this doesn’t he?”

Indeed, compared to a human, Aza was about the same size as a rather large dog. He was still portable, but one would have to expend considerable amount of effort to cart the dragonnet about in their arms.

"Big enough to flatten any of us if he decides to jump on us for a hug," Prometheus sighed, leaning over to grab a lock of Hades's hair, "Oh, I like that you've kept this. Pale hair always suited you better..."

He rubbed his thumb over the hair, admitting he did miss this. As a dragon, there wasn't much touching like this - just nuzzling and, well, fucking, really. Prometheus let go of the hair, straightening up and looking down at himself. Huh, he thought he felt a draft.

"I'm naked," he observed.

Hades merely stared at Prom’s face for several moments, taking it in like a parched man at a fountain. This close, he couldn’t resist kissing him, gently and chastely. It took a moment for his words to reach him.

“Hm? Oh, sorry,” he snapped his fingers to turn the rest of his hair white. “I’d forgotten...”

Hades glanced down. Ah yes. Hades stifled a laugh as he bowed his head and snapped his fingers, dressing Prometheus in something he probably wouldn’t pick on his own, but was very flattering on his form. He turned to Hythlodaeus and snapped his fingers again, dispelling the Au Ra glamour and redressing him.

Hades pulled Prometheus against him in a hug to just admire Aza. “I wonder how he’ll look as a human all considering...”

...okay, maybe Prom missed the kissing and hugging too.

He leaned against Hades, humming quietly as he fidgeted with his clothes. Of course Hades picked clothes that would accentuate his curves...

"He'll probably look like you, considering you're actually the human here," he mused, watching as Aza 'fought' the teething ring, which consisted of the dragonnet tossing it into the air, then batting at it with clumsy, flailing strikes until he overbalanced and flopped onto his belly, or his back, or his side, whereupon he'd struggle to get up again. He seemed to be having fun, considering how his soul was bright and fluttering with pure enjoyment.

"I have a feeling he's gonna be a troublemaker, though," Prometheus mused, watching Aza toss the teething ring up... and deftly snatching it out of the air. The dragonnet let out an outraged squeak, and Prometheus smiled as he held it over his lap, coaxing Aza to clamber up onto it. Which... might've been a mistake considering how heavy he was, oof.

Hades paused. He technically did have a child who looked like him. His grandson looked nothing like him but his great-grandson... but. Well. He’d thoroughly destroyed that relationship, hadn’t he? He didn’t claim to know Zenos very well, though. He must have just turned twenty-one. “Hmm. I suppose he does have an agemate, after a fashion...”

Hades laughed as Aza spread his weight out over the both of them. “I can hardly imagine how big he’s going to get,” Hades mused. “But that won’t be for thousands of years.”

Prometheus considered that, as he resigned himself to losing all blood flow to his legs with Aza's heavy weight crushing his lap. Beside him, Hythlodaeus took a seat, 'kindly' letting Aza's much lighter tail rest over his lap.

"Nidhogg, my sire, had been trying very hard to breed gigantic dragons like Vishap," he mused, "So, that trait does run in our blood. It's possible he might grow absolutely huge, like, the size of the administration building huge."

“In a fairly short generation, then,” Hades said with a hum. “I’m not sure where we would keep him in that event. Though at that size, I suppose he would be keeping us instead.” Hades ran his hands through Aza’s fur, marveling at the softness. He coaxed him to lay on his side to even the weight out somewhat.

Prometheus didn’t take the bait about an agemate. Did he have to do all the dramatic reveals all by himself around here?

“Since I have so few secrets left,” he lied. “I have a great-grandsire who is only about twenty years old now. Though I think he’s stationed overseas.”

"I kind of suspected," Prometheus said honestly, not looking up from where he was digging his fingers into Aza's plush fur. It was incredibly thick - maybe Prometheus's prolonged stay in a frigid climate prompted his offspring to counteract that. Dragons were insanely skilled in subconsciously adjusting their genetics for spontaneous and dramatic mutations in single generations.

"The age your son died, meant he was at a breeding age," he continued, "With how humans are... I'd be surprised if he didn't have children. Since we haven't been introduced, that means you've either abandoned them, or you're hiding them from me for fear of me getting jealous, right?"

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