Day 277 [Open]

[daughterofursa]

Who: Zuko and anyone
Open: Open!
When: Day 277
Where: Near the river
What: BABBY DRAGON
Format: I'll match
Warnings: Honor

It's been a few days since Zuko paid a visit to the Monument for some personal purchases. Most of those were swiftly hidden away inside her house, although the faint sounds of music the past few evenings might have given one of them away.

She's much less secretive about her final purchase. She's had to be, really, because it was in fact a gigantic egg, and she hasn't let that thing out of her sight for a moment. This doesn't mean that she's given up any of her usual activities, aside from Skyway trips, but even while she's training or at the pool it's always been sitting nearby wrapped in a blanket.

But today's the day. She's just finishing up her training routine on the Bastion side of the river when she hears something stirring inside. She immediately crouches down to watch with rapt attention as something slowly emerges: a baby red dragon, serpentine and nearly the length of her arm.

This is the moment where all her doubts come back to her because she has never so much as seen a baby dragon before much less taken care of one. What do.

((Feel free to run into her pre- or post-hatching, and anywhere in the general vicinity of the lake!))

Comments

[scary_music]

Kyaaa!

[Somebody thinks that dragon is adorable!]

Zuko-chan, Zuko-chan... is that... is that...?!

Your secret baby dragon you made with Aoi-chan?!

[daughterofursa]

What?

[She looks up at Ibuki in confusion as the little dragon latches onto her hand and starts crawling up her arm.]

No, I used my own shards..

[Because she is honestly innocent enough to think Ibuki is talking about Aoi contributing shards. It'll probably hit her in a minute though.]

[notduchess]

[ It is clearly day of the lizards.

Duke has the baby lizard that the knight had picked up after the previous shard run, and is carefully letting it explore. When it wanders right up to Zuko, Duke is right behind - mostly to make sure the large cat sized lizard doesn't try taking a chomp out of anyone. ]

[daughterofursa]

[Zuko isn't really alarmed by the lizard baby, but the dragon goes scurrying across to the other side of her body from it. Zuko would offer the lizard her hand to sniff but. its mom kind of ate people.]

Has it been behaving?

[notduchess]

Gets a little nippy when hungry, but I've been trying to get it to nudge without trying to knock me over instead.

[ Lizard leans to look at dragon baby, but seems content to inspect Zuko for now. ]

[freedom_engineer]

So, it's hatched, huh?

[Yep, it's Zuko's favorite person in the world next to Azula...]

Hello there, little one. It's nice to meet you.

[Colin smiles at the baby dragon, speaking gently and with a pleasant tone. He won't get too close. The dragons he knows are territorial and slow to trust.]

[daughterofursa]

[In that case she'll cautiously offer her hand. Partly to keep it away from the little dragon who is trying to hide under her hair now.]

Doesn't sound so bad.

[daughterofursa]

Yeah.

[Mostly it seems skittish at the moment. Zuko catches it from crawling up past her ear to keep it in her hands.]

...you wouldn't know anything about dragons, would you?

[scary_music]

Shards?

Oooh, I see, I see.

Zuko-chan! There's no need to be embarrassed! It's totally okay that you had a cute little baby dragon with Aoi-chan!

But, but, don't worry! Your secret is safe with Ibuki!!

[daughterofursa]

[Zuko stares at her for another second before her face goes red and she blurts out:]

Women can't even do that!

[Have sex? Produce babies together? Lay eggs?? Who knows.

But her shout seems to have upset said impossible baby and she has to catch it before it runs off.]

[freedom_engineer]

A decent amount, actually. What would you like to know?

[He eyes the bitty, and he gives a faint smile.]

If it's anything like the dragons where I'm from, it's looking for an enclosed space. They typically lair in caverns and other tight spots, and a baby dragon will try to hide behind rocks with its mom until its first meal.

[scary_music]

[Ibuki would've said 'just kidding' but... whoops, she went straight to laughing right away]

[daughterofursa]

It's not funny!

[How do you calm down a baby dragon. Pettings??]

[daughterofursa]

[Well, that makes sense. Ran and Shaw lived in caves, right? Maybe she can find it a box or something.]

What do you feed them?

[freedom_engineer]

The dragons I'm familiar with are omnivorous, but they vastly prefer meat. Cubed pieces of elk or cow steak, or some fish filet, would be wonderful for the little one, along with a little rice and some orange slices for other nutrients. If you can convince it to eat veggies, it would be good for it, but like most children, I doubt it will want anything to do with them for a while.

[He takes a couple steps closer, finally scanning the dragon to check its teeth, vitals, and gender.]

It's going to be a little antsy until it eats, then it's likely to sleep for a while. Young dragons burn a LOT of energy while their metabolism sorts itself out.

[daughterofursa]

[Zuko nods. She figured meat, but she wasn't sure if babies needed like... special food??]

I can do that.

[Yeah. This shouldn't be so hard. She cups her hands so the little thing can at least hide its head in there, and gets to her feet. Time to go find some food.

Also spoilers: it's a girl. Not that Zuko has any fucking clue how to tell.]

[freedom_engineer]

[Colin grins slightly.]

Two more things... One, she's imprinted on you, so she'll be taking a LOT of cues from you on how to behave. If you pet her and play with her frequently, she'll grow up nice and friendly. A good belly rub will do wonders for her mood, if she gets used to it.

And second, you'll want to introduce her to people early, so she doesn't grow up reclusive. The more you socialize her, the better. I bet she'd probably get along great with the Pokemon, too. The important thing, though, is that you talk to her a LOT. You're going to be the most important person to her. Soft, kind words will reassure her and comfort her, let her know that you care about her.

Don't get used to talking like she's not there, like we're doing now, she won't like that. Will you, little one?

[daughterofursa]

Even though she can't understand what we're saying?

[Wait.]

How do you know it's a she?

[freedom_engineer]

Dragons, even young dragons, are very intelligent. She's probably too young to pick it up now, but I suspect she'll start surprising you almost immediately. It's best if you start getting used to how you'll need to behave now, rather than later. Even if she's not able to converse like Paar, I suspect that she will start understanding just about everything we all say starting soon.

[He smiles at her question, and points to his eye.]

Ran a quick medical scan to make sure she had a good hatching. You've got a healthy baby girl right there.

[daughterofursa]

Oh.

[Why does that make her feel like a proud mom? She didn't do anything except put some shiny rocks in a monument.

She gently rubs the baby under the chin with a finger.]

Sorry. We're gonna find you something to eat, all right?

[freedom_engineer]

[Colin keeps smiling, and he gives a little wave of his hand.]

There you go.

I can see about having the lab grow some easy-to-digest meats for her, if you want? Easy to cut small for her, easy to eat?

[daughterofursa]

[The dragon is not coming out of Zuko's hands, but she seems less like she's trying to hide and more like she's just comfy there.]

Sure. If it's not too much trouble.

[freedom_engineer]

No trouble, it's important to take care of the kids.

[Yep, Colin's watching the dragon just a little longer, and the smile turns into a pleased grin.]

Yep, she knows who mama is. She looks like she's settling in with you just fine.

[scary_music]

[After a bit she calms down into a few giggles]

E-ehehe... j-just kidding, Zuko-chan, just kidding!

[daughterofursa]

Yeah.

[Baby dragon likes her. =)

For now she's going to start walking towards the distillery.]

It's hard to believe they start off this small though.