[Gift] The 11th Hour | (Dysfunctional) Family

The weather was starting to get colder, not quite cold enough to be called winter but winter nonetheless. Muriel’s mansion was decorated beautifully with lights and other holiday cheer. This was a joyous time of the year and mostly everyone seemed to be in a good mood. Glassworm enjoyed the brightness that Muriel’s den held compared to his own rider’s. They were together, the smallest of the dragons settled comfortably atop the larger one's hand, he said nothing as he quietly observed the dragons in front of them. The other dragon that the small see-threw one was perched atop had many heads, eight to be exact, which wasn’t always very pleasant to deal with but she made do. Asa, the one sporting orange eyes was noticeably concerned at the scene playing out in front of her, the worry pulsed in her mind and through the rest of her, making the red eyed head hiss quietly in annoyance. This however didn’t do much to soothe Asa’s worried mind, perhaps it had even made it worse, who knew. Glassworm patted the hand he was sitting on gently, a reassuring gesture Goddess supposed, Asa smiled shyly down at him, not realizing that he too somehow sensed her uneasiness.

What Goddess and Glassworm were watching were their kids and they had quite a few kids indeed but the ones that were here with them now were Dea and Jinn. These two had never gotten along before and even now being slightly older but not yet adult they were fighting, bickering verbally at first. Jinn was young and whole and full of young splendor, not yet the damaged and bitter dragon he is now. His parents weren’t too concerned with their fighting, afterall they were family right? Then in the blink of an eye it had gotten physical, Jinn was very obviously smaller than Dea but that didn’t stop the blue and black dragon from fighting like they were the same size. They snarled like wild animals, snapping and clawing, ripping and scraping, it was a nasty sight to behold. However this wasn’t too different to how they usually were but the bigger of the two caught the Night dragon in the face, claws digging in and scraping disgustingly across his face and eye. That had gotten their parents attention, they watched the two with more attentiveness now. Then Dea had made a perfect lunge, snapping her sharp boney artificial snout around Jinn’s leg, the pressure of her jaws pressing down, Goddess was jumping up now, and down, her mother was racing towards her now, growling to let him go, and down before…CRUNCH. The wail that Jinn let out was like nothing either Goddess or Glassworm had ever heard. 

When Dea pulled away, taking several steps back, she was breathing heavily, mouth still clamped around her prize, blood seeping into her fluffy scales. She had won, yes, of course she did. She was bigger, stronger, more worthy right? Of course. Glassworm had flown over, following Goddess to their wailing kid to check the damage, before turning and flying as fast as he could to the closest rider, Muriel. He found the demon and quickly got his attention, tugging him to his feet as best he could, having him get lots of medical supplies and then leading him to where he was needed. Muriel gasped at the scene, looking on in horror as Jinn continued to wail in agony, thrashing violently, making it near impossible for Muriel to help him. He called over Goddess from where she stood, the night dragon left one massive hand pinning her good for nothing daughter to the ground before quickly moving to her son, the only child with her elements and power that she had produced so far and quickly pinned him as well, some of her did their best to sooth the distraught dragon, licking the bleeding wounds on his face and Hina hummed what she used to before Jinn had hatched, back when he was still an egg. It seemed to have worked because the younger dragon calmed, not instantly but slowly. The second he stopped thrashing Muriel got to work, wrapping up the stump of a back leg with careful but quick movements. This would hopefully be enough to at least get the poor thing back home so he could be somewhere comfortable and safe while Muriel called for a proper dragon healer.

He turned to stare at Dea and as much as he tried to hide it, there was a flash of disgust that crossed his beautiful face. “How…how could you do this? He’s…he’s your FAMILY!” And what a family it was, not all sunshine and rainbows but horror and darkness, although none of Goddess and Glassworm’s other kids ever did something similar, this day was still a stain on Goddess’ proud family. Before Muriel could speak again another voice boomed out, a chorus of them, calm, dark,  unsettling, “Begone from this place. You are no longer welcome here.” Dea’s eyes widened, she opened her mouth to speak, the protest but the hand holding her down just pressed her further into the ground.  “You are no daughter of mine.” When the hand finally let up, moving from her and allowing her to stand up, she tried to speak again but was quickly cut off. “BEGONE!” And just like that Dea had turned tail and ran, no longer a part of the family she had been so proud to be a part of. By the time Goddess had chased off her daughter, Muriel had managed to bandage Jinn’s face and he sighed when she returned. “I…I think that’s going to scar…” The demon closed his eyes, sadness creeped into him, not just his own but Goddess’ too. She looked down on her son, he seemed so small now, her beautiful son now broken and scarred. She felt sadness for her daughter, not understanding why she would do something like this. Perhaps her family was cursed? But a family isn’t cursed if only one family member does something horrific, right?

Goddess was a strong dragon and she had seen her fair share of things but this was something else. She stared at her broken son, her attention only shifting when Glassworm reappeared, flying in front of her, wings flapping to keep his body in one place. She lifted a head and the small male landed on her snout and pushed his head comfortingly into the space between that head's eyes. She closed her eyes then, enjoying the small comfort he brought her.