|
Post by Morgan on Oct 2, 2020 18:11:38 GMT -6
Morgan was more than a little nervous. Typically whenever Endymion came to visit, Morgan went all the way to the canyon to make sure that he would be alright, and brought him theirself. However, Endymion had been adamant that he knew the way and could take care of himself now. Perhaps he could, he was grown, after all. The soulbound pair had made a decision that Endymion would meet Morgan in front of a specific shop on the way to the Quest Board at a specific time. It wasn't that he was late, it was that the ever-anxious Morgan was quite early. Thirty minutes early, in fact. The worry that he could get there early and be harmed was terrifying, though improbable. Sure, people in the Labs didn't see draconics often, but some individuals did have soul bonds or families that they were associated with. It still didn't keep Morgan's mind from racing until they caught sight of his orange hide down the street. [1]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Oct 3, 2020 21:22:25 GMT -6
It was practically impossible to miss the fact that it was certainly their boy- he was big now, so much taller! He wasn't having a difficult time walking down the sidewalk, but others were having to go around him (and most were staring him down, but Morgan could forgive that). They waved from where they were standing on the street. "Endymion!" Their voice rang out. Normally they hated to draw attention to theirself. In their line of work, it may even be a tad dangerous. However, they'd just have to deal with it, this time. "Over here!"
They can feel, in their chest, when he sees them. He walks a little faster after that, the bounding returning in his steps. Morgan wasn't entirely sure what to expect- he was grown now. His wings were VERY big. It was amazing to see him like that, and now... Now they were going to spend some time together again.
[2]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Oct 3, 2020 21:27:20 GMT -6
When Endymion gets there, Morgan is overcome with some sort of sappy emotion, and they reach up their arms to the bottom of where his neck hits his chest (they had to stand on their very tippy toes, like some kind of a dumb rom com scene) and they hug him. Two pats on the shoulder. Then, Morgan backs away, and looks him up and down and then back up. "You've g-grown." Morgan says, voice coming out uncertain, but really just feeling happy and a little anxious.
"You have too." Endymion says, raising a forelimb and patting Morgan's shoulder.
"Oh hush, I've n-n-not grown since I was fifteen." Morgan says.
"You look... More adult." He says. Then, he tilts his head. "Not by much. You know, bonding slows that kind of thing in humans. You tend to live shorter than we do." Oh, so that was how it was going to be.
[3]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Oct 3, 2020 21:31:27 GMT -6
Morgan was still very pleased. They turned towards the cafe they visited often. "It has only been a few months, you know." Morgan said, quietly, a bit embarrassed at the situation. People passed on the street and gawked. They didn't really like that. "Would you like anything f-from in here? A uh... Donut? I think the owner makes giant Donuts for Thundergugs. It should be a-a-an okay size for you." They said.
Endymion squints at the windows, which were tinted a certain color that made the inside look a little cozier than it even probably was. "Sure." He rumbles, his chest deep now. Morgan feels that rumble go right through them. "Do you think they taste good?"
The human chuckles. "I dunno, I'll see w-what I can do." They enter the shop, but keep an eye on Endymion out in the street. He was too big to follow them in now, it was hard to believe.
[4]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Oct 3, 2020 21:34:56 GMT -6
The human walks out of the building, pumpkin spice coffee in hand made just the way they liked it, and followed by a certain jackalope carrying a really huge donut over his head with both arms. "Hey Endymion, this is the J-jackalope." Morgan explains. A particularly heated argument later (though it was playfully tinged on both of their parts, Endymion noticed), and Endymion chews on a huge donut apparently made for Thundergugs (it was a good size for him, and he had to admit he had been hungry) but with extra icing, and Morgan sips on a coffee.
"Alright, we're going to go to the questing board again. I've got to pick u-up another uh, Quest I guess." Morgan explains to him.
"What do you typically do on these quests?" The 'and why do you do them?' remained unspoken but apparent in his expression, though Morgan wasn't looking directly at him.
[5]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Oct 3, 2020 21:39:49 GMT -6
They were walking that direction now. Crunchy leaves blew across the sidewalk with varying hissing noises. Endymion took in the world around him- the tightly packed together shops, all strung along on both sides of the street. The way his claws clicked and the leaves hissed across the concrete. There wasn't really much like this at the Canyon. Still, he wasn't sure if he would want to live here. Visit? Yes, that was fun! He wasn't fond of how the people stared. Everywhere they went. It didn't bother him as a child, but now that he was grown? He didn't feel like he was able to shrink away from the gazes, or to hide anywhere. He wouldn't be able to stretch out his wings in the alleyways here.
However, the first time they passed an autumn tree, he stopped and gawked at it, eyes blinking.
"What is it, Endymion? You've seen t-trees before."
"Not colored like that."
[6]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Oct 4, 2020 13:31:01 GMT -6
Something about Morgan's beloved soulbond enjoying looking at something as simple as autumn trees gave them a deep thrum of amusement and enjoyment in their chest. Something pure, something that Morgan isn't sure that they've ever felt before. They grinned at him. "Aren't t-they lovely?" Suddenly proud of trees they didn't even plant or have planted, Morgan whispers conspiratorially to him, standing up on tippy toes again as the great draconic lowers his head so that they could whisper in his ear. "We'll head home later, and I'll s-show you what trees look even prettier." They were quite proud of their estate, and fall was the best time to visit, they felt.
He nods, but looks back at the tree anyway. "They're so aesthetically pleasing! Most of the ones back at home are... Well, clinging to the rocks crookedly and nudely." He says, shaking his head.
[7]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Oct 4, 2020 13:37:37 GMT -6
Morgan tsks, but they continue on. "I a-am sure that you have at least one tree somewhere in the canyons that looks like a tree." They said, voice wavering when a cooler wind bit through them. "Y'all do h-have produce. I've seen it." Morgan accuses.
"We do have produce, but they tend to take a little less water than trees. Some draconics and clan humanoids are herbivorous, you know." Endymion explains. "We have water, but it has to be hauled up from the river, or perhaps drawn using some of the rain water collecting stations that clan humanoids have built." He goes on. They walk amicably, and Morgan figures out just then that Endymion has practically inherited their penchant for explaining things in a long-winded fashion. The poor fellow, he probably drove Vixie nuts.
"So you don't waste it on keeping trees alive? A p-pity." Morgan replies.
[8]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Oct 4, 2020 14:13:43 GMT -6
The entire walk was enjoyable, by Morgan's standards. The pair talked back and forth. Some of it was overly technical, some of it just the pair playing around. Morgan didn't really feel like they did with anyone else when they were with their soul bond. It was a strange sensation, an enjoyable one. Like being whole in two bodies, perhaps. It would make sense, the human knew enough about draconic anatomy and lore to at least have a basic understanding of the process.
They made it to the questing board without any problems. The human was perhaps glad that they could pass the Questing Inquisitor without having to go inside, this month. That had been a mess. They didn't really like the purveyor. Morgan's brows furrow whenever they see the board itself, though. Endymion looks at their face with curiosity and interest from his vantage point far above them.
"What is wrong?" He asks.
[9]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Oct 4, 2020 14:18:25 GMT -6
Morgan shakes their head. "Nothing is really w-wrong. But, it looks l-like they let the school kids after it, again." Ah well, they couldn't be too upset about it. It wasn't like they had to see it more than once a month anyway. "They really could h-have stood to use less glue." It did stink, Morgan could smell it from a few feet off.
Endymion looks down and squints at it, nearly sneezing from the glitter in the process. "What is this display for?" He asks. "It wasn't like this last time I was here." He said, remembering the time they went to see the comet.
"Y-yeah, here in the City we have a festival called Vai Min Mur. It's sort of complicated I g-guess." They weren't sure how to describe it. "A combination of candy, respecting the dead, dressing u-up in costumes, and doing stupid stuff." They said. "And apparently, disrespecting the concept of death, making f-fun of it, I dunno."
[10]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Oct 4, 2020 14:21:27 GMT -6
It was difficult trying to explain such a complicated time of year with so many different cultures coming together in the Labs City, and all of it sort of meshes together to become Vai Min Mur. Morgan did like it, but then again, they were born and raised in the Labs City. "You s-see, there are a lot of different kinds of people that live in the City. From a-all over Pethia... And I guess the world?" They had remembered the jackalope at the last second, having come from across the seas. "And each person's native cultures come together to become Vai Min Mur. Some people even s-s-celebrate it a little differently!" They tried to explain.
"And you were born here. Raised here, so who better to know about it than you?" Endymion says, voice a little soft.
"That's... Not entirely true. I guess my culture is a-a little washed out." They admitted.
[11]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Oct 4, 2020 14:27:05 GMT -6
Morgan hadn't really given it a lot of thought before. People from their own cultures outside of the Labs City would have a very specific set of things that they'd do during this time of year, even if it wasn't directly about Vai Min Mur. Respecting the Dead. Taking care of the last Harvests. Setting Bonfires to clear out old land. Morgan had heard of quite a few of them. However, the Labs City's own cultures were really non-existent. The human felt a little divorced from culture, actually. They didn't really feel like they belonged to anything.
It made it much easier for them to sort of ignore other people, whenever they could. They just didn't have much in common with anyone else. They shivered a bit, but reached out to check some of the slips of paper on the board anyway.
"I understand." Endymion says. "I often feel... Different than my people, too."
[12]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Oct 4, 2020 16:23:04 GMT -6
Of course he did, Morgan thought, that made plenty of sense.
Most draconics were born 'the natural way'. Most Draconics chose to bond, if they even did at all (it was a rare occurrence, rare enough that Clans having a humanoid were often considered blessed). Most Draconics lived in large clans, unless they split off to form their own. Draconics were an interesting and mysterious people, a group that Morgan would never know everything about. But Endymion was a rare case within a rare case, though Morgan loved him all the same.
Endymion's only family were Morgan, and his sister Vixie. She wasn't a clutchmate, but she was his sister all the same. Other than her, he really had no one.
"I'm sorry, that you feel that way, Endymion." Morgan did know that he spent a lot of time talking to that old man Lashak though, who seemed to be his father figure (Vixie's great-grandpa or something, maybe more distant than that). Draconics lived a long time, it was odd to think about.
[13]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Oct 4, 2020 16:26:39 GMT -6
The fact that Morgan was probably going to be infinitely lived, provided they didn't die of physical harm or something, was a terrifying idea as well. The human had never gotten a taste of mortality of their own. Young people tended to not think about it much, or else it would make them a little bit out of their mind. However, to feel mortal was often an important part of growth for humans, and Morgan would now never truly have that.
They didn't think about it now, in true mortal fashion. "So, Endymion, I'll give y-you a few choices, and you let me know what might interest you in coming with me to do, okay?" They asked him, a little nervous about giving the choice to him. He was their soul bond, but Morgan had a hard time giving up control to anyone at all, even a half of their own soul in another body.
[14]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Oct 4, 2020 16:30:53 GMT -6
Endymion did seem to like the idea of having a choice though, and that was what counted in the long run. Even if it gave Morgan some anxiety to not fully be able to control their own fate. Strange things seemed to happen to them all the time, and it just made them clutch at the reigns of control over their life ever harder each time. They shuddered out a breath, and Endymion gives them a nose-bump to the shoulder in a comforting gesture before Morgan starts reading some of them off.
"Help take my little t-Timmy to Vai Min Mur." Morgan said. "Help take Valerie, my kid, to Vai Min Mur-" They continued. "Take my shift at the Downtown Inn so I can take my kid to Vai Min Mur..." Morgan grumbled at the last one. "Geeze, I c-can't even imagine escorting some kid to go get candy." Morgan complains. "I have to take Millicent, already, so those h-have to be off of the table."
[15]
|
|