DRAGON AU

[steppechild]

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...

Comments

[hellufacade]

When Lahabrea had said that he'd found a Prometheus shard while doing his work in Ishgard, Hades' mind immediately went to the though of a handsome Elezen man. Perhaps a holy knight, more likely a ruffian in the brume... But when he clarified that it was in the northern stretch in Dravania, that only made more sense. Of course a reincarnated shard would want to work with the Chocobos out in the wilderness. He was almost on his way to Tailfeather when Lahabrea mentioned that he might find him in a cave further north from the settlement.

Hades frowned. That sounded the very most like him. He sighed and teleported out on his way. It would be troublesome to walk around as a Garlean, so he found himself glamouring away his third eye and swapped his costume for something more regional. A cave, he had said. Hades turned on his sight, seeing that familiar glint.

He approached carefully. It would be just like him to have traps, or to throw a bolt of magic through his skull. Which would be inconvenient to explain when he came back a few minutes later with the same body.

He rounded the corner to look into the cave. He was surprised that there were no furnishings... That was a little bare, even for Prometheus. He headed inside, carefully, deciding to make himself known.

"Hello! Is anyone in here? I was hoping to take refuge..." from what, he didn't bother naming. "I have food to share!"