[GD] Nightmare, Reynolds & Mishra

Strength Trial: 4 Show your dragon impressing another. This may be through battle, contest, general action, or some charismatic flirting.

They stared, watching each other with vague disinterest, or at least one of them seemed disinterested. They were quiet, the only sound the slight rustle of wind through a purple mane. The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Even the wind whistling through the leaves of the trees surrounding them seemed to hold their sounds of rustling. The other dragons nearby were also remaining still, afraid that one move might set the two dragons off. She didn’t like him, she usually liked everyone, flirted with anyone but there was something about this dragon that she really didn’t like. Perhaps it was the amount of different free thinking companions or perhaps it was the obnoxious way he held himself. The way he spoke was what she would assume was condescending at best, not a word out of his filthy mouths made her feel anything besides disgust. If Aphrodite had a tail, she was sure it would be whipping back and forth in a display of unhappiness but alas she had no tail and the only sign, aside from her bristling fur was the teeth one of her heads was showing the strange dragon.

He was bigger than her and with so many mouths and hands at his disposal this for sure wouldn’t be a fair fight. The pink dragon was thinking, thoughts flying through her head as she tried to calculate how best to get out of this situation. Why was she even here? She didn’t remember. The much larger male dragon, known as Nightmare, stepped forward and instinctively she took a step back and that was the trigger. The tension seemed to snap like a rubber band stretched too far. It didn’t matter that he was bigger than her, it didn't matter the amount of heads or hands he had, all that mattered now was the fight and fight they did. He all tried to slam into her but she moved out of the way, she may be smaller but that meant she was at least a little bit faster and a bit more aerodynamic. However as fast as she might have been she wasn’t quite fast enough to avoid all of him and trust her, there was A LOT of him. The first thing to hit her was the biggest hand, eyes freaky as they locked onto her smaller form. Like a snake striking, the hand grabbed hold of one of her wings, stopping her from escaping any further.

She cried out, a loud and furious sound. As the hand dragged her closer to the monstrous dragon she whipped around sinking her fangs into any part she could reach. She dug in, like a wolf keeping hold of the first meal it had in weeks. And what did she get for her trouble? A dark chuckle that sounded more like a chorus of mockery, the sound coming from every mouth at once. It was unnerving and it made Aphrodite nearly let go. Was fighting this dragon really worth it? Thoughts raced through her mind, idea, no, idea, no. Then the final idea, one she didn’t really want to do but survival was better than pride. She stopped flapping her wings, letting her body go nearly limp and to her surprise Nightmare let go of her wing. Slowly she opened both her mouths, releasing the parts of Nightmare she had managed to get ahold of. Before she could speak however, the monstrous dragon moved quickly, maneuvering himself in such an uneasy way that it nearly made Aphrodite and the dragons observing gag in disgust. He pinned her with such ease that it was almost embarrassing. “I suppose this means I win, yes?” Aphrodite let out an annoyed snort but refused to answer but that was okay, Nightmare had all day to sit here and wait for her to confirm that he had indeed won, even if he already knew it.

With the fight finished, the tension no longer thick and uneasy in the air, like statues freshly turned flesh the other dragons began to move again. One of the dragons, a dark one, covered in boxes, a glass bottle clinging to the end of his tail seemed to sigh with relief that the fight didn’t seem to have been too bad. He pondered if it had really been a fight if the dragons didn’t really do any real damage to each other. Perhaps it was a spar? But just sparring didn’t build up tension like that. He tilted his two heads a little wondering if there was a way he might have been able to solve their problem before this fight broke out but his thoughts were quickly stolen away by a calm, quiet clearing of a throat. He turned almost sheepishly back to the dragon he had been interacting with before the other two dragons had arrived. The other dragon was a female, white with blue and perhaps a deep grey purple, covered with black and yellow spots, a wonderful star on her outer hip, a lush circle of fur, like a lion's mane, rustling with the slight wind. She sat, her spaded tail curled politely around her body as she watched Reynold’s curiously.

Right…he was here to pass his trials, to be worthy of breeding one day. Stardust tilted her head kindly at him, “You were telling me about a serious problem that you solved?” His eyes widened just a little and he nodded, “Yes! And what a problem it was but I…um…helped avoid a catastrophe…of sorts…” The conversation trailed on and Stardust listened, never interrupting, never looking bored. She enjoyed that he wasn’t particularly bragging, just happy to have someone listen and being able to solve a problem like that was pretty attractive. At least she thought so.

The final dragons were a rather strange duo. A bright purple one, answering to the name of Mishra. She was a cute and wonderful mix of bat and bug, she seemed undeniably soft to touch. The other dragon was less colorful, a horse sized dragon with a nasty attitude to boot. She had been watching the fight or the almost fight? Could that really have been a fight? She’s seen beetles do more damage to each other for less. She snorted in irritation when the fight didn’t escalate further. The whole time there had been a purple blur bouncing around her, seemingly unbothered by the tension or Selene, growling every once in a while to try and spook the other dragon away from her. The jungle storm hybrid dragon had received a nasty shock when she had accidentally bounced right on top of Selene’s twitching tail. It was an instant movement, one purely on instinct, the second Mishra jumped off the other's tail, before she could perhaps apologize the sharp spikes had been swung at her. The strike was hard and fast but the purple dragon reacted so fast, surprising even Selene, that Mishra managed to avoid the strike. And without even missing a beat she went back to bouncing around Selene, talking up a storm, like Selene hadn’t just attempted to potentially end the other dragon's life. Selene hummed a slight note, at least a tiny bit impressed at how fast and agile the other dragon was, especially considering the wing to body ratio.

Flexibility Trial: 2 Show your dragon guiding their companion through unexplored terrain.
Terrain: Ocean

Ah. The second trial, one that perhaps the three participating dragons weren’t the most interested in completing but they were to complete it nonetheless. Out of all the element and terrain options they found themselves completing the Flexibility trial in the ocean of all places. Not to mention their companion dragons were not ideal but they would make due. Nightmare’s companion was a monstrous creature that might even rival his own attitude, a turquoise colored dragon with long sharp claws like him but with red/gold eyes that shed tears of deep red blood. She was a nasty dragon, a dragon that wreaked havoc among the locals despite her Rider trying to stop her, trying to control her but no…no one could control her. Her sharp fangs protruded from her closed mouth as she stood, belly deep in water. The second companion was to accompany Reynolds and she was much nicer than the demon spawn Gremlin. She was smaller as well, not tiny but nowhere near as big as Gremlin and Nightmare. She smiled kindly at him but her smile didn’t completely reach her eyes. There was what might have been panic in her eyes as she shifted nervously while glancing at Gremlin. This dragon went by the name Scylla, she was a lovely blue color with spots covering her entire body and a mask of bone covering part of her face. The third companion was another colossal dragon, a beast with only front limbs, webbed for better swimming, brindle stripes all down his body and white spots like fallen snow covering him.

If Scylla’s smile was kind but perhaps not genuine, this dragon, Egg’s smile was better. He seemed very happy to be here, to be helping, to be included. However when Mishra greeted her companion he did not speak back. He gave a small dip of his head but it didn’t seem to bother the purple dragon whatsoever and without a second thought she plunged into the cold water. She let out what might have been a squeal but it was hard to tell if it was delight or because the water was cold, either way she didn’t back down. Nightmare snorted almost dismissively as he entered the cold water, he showed no reaction but kept most of his eyes on Gremlin as he approached her and then passed her. Their eyes were locked on each other and as much as she didn’t like being led she turned and followed him deeper into the water. Reynolds was the most hesitant, he was covered in what appeared to be cardboard boxes and cardboard boxes didn’t do well in water. He closed all four of his eyes for a second before stealing himself and plunging into the cold water with the other two dragons completing their displays. The feeling he had while in the water was rather unpleasant. He felt as if he could already feel his cardboard box scales deteriorating and it made him feel vulnerable in a way. But he would push through it, he had to and then maybe he’d never set foot in water again.

Scylla watched as he struggled with something in his head before plunging into the water, as he passed her she turned to follow slithering through the water like a giant snake. There was a goal in mind, an island that they planned to guide their companions to, an island perhaps their companions already knew about but if they did they kept their mouths shut. Gremlin situated herself just behind and beneath Nightmare and there was a feeling up the monstrous dragons back that Gremlin might bite him if he slowed down too much or took too long to figure out the path. Would that have been a problem? Maybe not but he was sure it wouldn’t be pleasant and it would definitely have caused a fight and fighting wasn’t a part of this trial. Scylla was sort of behind Reynolds but close enough that if he ever hesitated she would brush up against him, a silent comfort that she was there to help if he fell behind. It made him feel a little better but he still didn’t like this trial. It felt as though Mishra was the slowest of the three trial takers, she kept pausing to excitedly look around at the fish and the plants and all the other little critters that lived in the sea. Egg had to keep pausing as he politely waited for her to go back to the task at hand, at one point he had to gently nudge her forward with his massive head to get her to go back to leading. She smiled almost sheepishly as he did but she could tell the giant teddy bear of a dragon wasn’t annoyed at her constant stops, he was only trying to help her keep up with the others. They continued on like this, Mishra finally deciding that she had seen all the plants and critters this part of the ocean had to offer. She now sat upon Egg’s colossal head, sitting comfortably above the water and pointing out the different directions to him. Which Egg supposed was still guiding even if he was doing all the work but he didn’t mind.

When they reached the island, which was surprisingly hard to find, believe it or not, Nightmare and Reynolds dragged their dark wet bodies onto the edge of the island and Mishra hopped off of Egg’s head with an excited wiggle. She thanked Egg for all his help and the giant blue dragon nodded kindly, smiled and dived back into the ocean. Reynolds thanked Scylla who just smiled kindly as she had been doing the whole trial. When Nightmare turned to find Gremlin, most likely not to thank but to antagonize, he found that she was already gone. He snorted quietly at her disappearance.


Providence Trial | 2 Show your dragon hunting or gathering to provide a meal.

Finally the last trial. The first two hadn’t been too bad, no blood shed, well almost no blood shed. Mishra and Reynolds had no blood shed but Reynolds might have needed new scales, soggy cardboard was probably not something pleasant to wear. While no companion was needed for this trial they had still picked out companions, specifically to be told what exactly their “potential mate” might want to eat. These companions weren’t as necessary as the others in the previous trials but they were still useful nonetheless. Nightmare’s chosen companion, not that she was aware, was Ethora & Delta. The blueish female had gotten into a fight once before and while he wasn’t particularly interested in her, she had still been ballsy enough to challenge him. He decided that she seemed like a dragon who would eat meat, someone who might be impressed with large prey, especially from a dragon as big and powerful as Nightmare. Not that it was her specifically he was trying to please, he just found her vaguely interesting, that was all. Mishra’s companion was a rather small bat like dragon, he was cute, a calming dusty blue. He would take fruits, no meat, no vegetables, just fruit, any fruit. Yes. She could definitely collect some fruit for him.

The final companion was for Reynolds, she was pink as well, nearly matching Aphrodite, who had fought Nightmare in the first trial, in colors and markings, after all this was her sister, Venus. Venus was a bit harder to hunt or gather for, for she had three mouths and they all didn’t like the same things, or maybe they did but they just wanted different things at this exact time. He shrugged internally and then shook his head slightly, this was a good opportunity to show he could both hunt AND gather for any potential mate. Yes, this was good. He left with the other two, all three moving or flying in different directions.

It took Nightmare a little longer than he was expecting to find the type of prey he was looking for, the type of prey that would definitely surprise and woo and bratty dragon like Ethora and Delta. He landed nearby, blending in seamlessly to the shadows of the trees, he watched his prey, stalked it with unnerving precision from a dragon as big as he. It was there, tan and powerful, it resembled a giraffe of sorts but that wasn’t quite what it was. It was smaller than a normal giraffe as well. What was it? Who knew but he was sure it would let him pass this final trial. It ventured closer to where he hid, buried in shadow and when it stood in just the right spot he lunged. The creature reeled back, letting out a horrific noise of surprise, it turned trying to escape but it was too late, with great ease the dragon latched onto it, both primary heads latching onto its long neck and too many hands gripping it everywhere. It was dead almost instantly, he let go of its body and admired his handiwork before picking it up and taking it back to where he had seen Ethora and Delta basking in the sun. When he approached her with the dead beast he received a scoff from one head and a snort from the other for his trouble. He smiled, almost slyly, this attitude towards him didn’t seem to bother him whatsoever. Regardless, he had proven he could hunt to provide and that was all that really mattered, with one last glance at Ethora and Delta, he left.

Mishra was also doing pretty well, all things considered, she didn’t really have anything to carry large amounts of fruits with but that didn’t really matter did it? What mattered was her ability to find the food in the first place and find them she did. She found a plant, its vines slithered across the ground like a hundred long snakes and scattered around it were melons, delicious juicy melons. She found the biggest, ripest one and removed it from the vines as gently as possible so as to not damage the plant any further. She took to the air gently before picking up the melon with her front limbs and carefully flying it all the way back to Buck. Buck, who wasn’t actually expecting anything, was pleasantly surprised at the tasty meal.

Then there was Reynolds, sweet, timid, lovely Reynolds, of course he had the hardest task of them all. Fruits AND meat. It was a good thing he had two heads to carry both types of food. Firstly he would get the meat part, after all it was much easier to hunt without a mouth full of fruit. He was sure he didn’t need anything too big, Venus didn’t seem like that kind of dragon but maybe she was? He shrugged to himself, it didn’t matter too much right now right? He decided to go for a coyote, bigger than a rabbit, smaller than a deer, something he was able to carry back somewhat easily. It wasn’t too hard to find a coyote as he glided silently through the sky, when he spotted it he wasted no time in moving into a dive and easily catching the coyote unawares. Okay, check for meat, now it was time to find some kind of fruit. The fruit finding was what took the longest, believe it or not, why was it that when he needed good, decent fruit he couldn’t find any? He eventually gave up, the coyote was better than returning empty handed, after all she obviously ate meat regardless. Perhaps the lack of fruit won’t be as big of a problem?