Displays, Courtships, and Bondings

600 Word MinimumSuijin x BhramariBhramari hovered just above the surface of the lake, her wings humming softly as she skimmed across the water. The small dragon darted back and forth in quick, energetic bursts, leaving trails of ripples in her wake. A string of excited chirps escaped her throat as she...

Maple had found a quiet floating island and intended to keep it that way. The stocky dragon lay comfortably on a broad shelf of stone, wings folded against her sides as she watched the clouds drift lazily across the sky. The wind tugged at her long mane, carrying the scent of rain from somewhere far away. She wasn't doing anything in particular. She rarely needed to. Simply finding a place to sit and observe was enoug...

Celestia sat at the edge of the lake, her paws resting on cool stone while her tail curled loosely beside her. The night air was crisp, carrying the scent of water and distant earth. Above her, countless stars filled the sky, scattered across the darkness in brilliant clusters and winding trails. She had always enjoyed nights like this. There was no need to move, no prey to chase, and no reason to spend energy on anything beyond simply existing. ...

Strength Trial They were a strange collection, one definitely stranger than the others, and that was saying something when every last one of them was a dragon in some shape or another. Some had gills, some had fins, some had wings like storms and tails like spilled ink. One had too many skulls for comfort and could not breathe beneath the water at all, which was unfortun...

Ometeotl found Anomaly at the edge of the black meadow, where the grass thinned into pale stone and the sky opened wide enough to swallow every thought. He was already looking upward. The red dragon lay in a loose coil, his long body folded around itself like a ribbon of night and blood. His bone beaks were tilted toward the stars. Now and then they clicked together,slow, hollow, patient sounds, like stones tapping on each other. ...

The river moved quietly, not silently, just quietly, peacefully one might say. It dragged itself over smooth stones with soft, almost hypnotic motions. The night above it was wide and black and full of stars, bright pinpricks scattered like holes poked through a great dark hide. Bhramari sat at the edge of the water with her long insect legs folded beneath her. She was small, especially beside the thing coiled next to her, but she did not seem bothered by that. ...

Freya liked the pond best after midnight. By day, it was only water, wide, blue, and ringed with reeds that whispered whenever the wind came down from the hills. By night, it became a second sky. Every star above appeared again below, shimmering between lily pads and the insects that stayed were like shooting stars. The moon hid behind a veil of clouds, leaving the stars to rule the dark sky. Freya crouched at the pond’s edge, folding her black wings close aga...

Strength Trial Mist rolled low across the water, silvered by moonlight and stirred by the slow, steady current. Beneath the surface, something vast shifted, then the lake opened its eyes. Rows of them blinked along the length of Suijin’s neck, fourteen on one side, fourteen on the other light brown and unhurried as they watched the stranger pacing the shoreline. Fi...