WH : ...and so the best way to start a fire if you have no matches or lighter is to use flint and steel. that right friends?
OP: I still prefer using a battery and steel wool myself.
Janna: I prefer using the sun and a magnifying glass if I have to.
SN: I prefer the bow and stick meth-
Everyone else: That is a sub-par method and should only be used as a last resort!
SN:... ok then.
WH: Enjoy the episode folks.
Day 2: The Void
'Lost and adrift in the void, only nothingness surrounding me.' Mavis drifted through the junk patch in outer space wearing only some tattered loose clothing. 'Coming from nowhere and going nowhere surrounded by an endlessly expanding universe. In such a land a certain hunger emerges; a hunger of the mind, the spirit, and the body.' A grumbling sound came from her stomach with Mavis sighing in defeat. 'Doomed to continue to drift and perhaps skeletonize in essentially a garbage patch…' She was struck in the head by a moving object causing her to look up in irritation. Up ahead appeared to be a large patch of junk that consisted of mostly egg shells of some sort. Smiling in a detached manner she drifted amongst the egg shells poking and prodding at them imagining what sort of birds they were eggs for. Tentatively she picked a shell and tried chewing it for some sort of sustenance and felt as if she got nothing worth her while. Shrugging she continued to float seeing white eggs, brown eggs, red eggs, black eggs, round eggs, oval eggs, plain eggs, swirled eggs, green eggs, blue eg- 'Wait.' She looked more closely at one egg in particular seeing it move through the area in an odd manner. As she watched she realized something, that wasn't an egg shell it was a completely intact egg with everything still inside of it.
"Egg, food, COME HERE!" Mavis began swimming through the void towards the egg as best she could. "Come on, get in my belly." Her stomach growled again pushing her to move faster. "So close, come on get over here." She reached out of the egg coming closer by the second until the sound of a portal cutting open got her attention. She looked over to see much of the garbage was being sucked up through the portal, including the egg and her. "Nonononono I'm so clos… Ahhhhhh!" She didn't have time to complain however as she was sucked up into the portal and thrown about like all the other junk that was sucked through.
The portal opened up to a grey sky thick with clouds as a stream of junk left the portal pulling Mavis and the egg along with it. Screaming in shock Mavis collided with a piece of egg shell that was about as big as she was and held onto it as she flew through a dark and cold forest landing in the mud. The egg shell skipped and instead of sinking into the ground acted like a sled skimming along to surface of it building up speed. Holding on it for dear life Mavis was tossed about on it until the egg shell hit a slanted rock in the ground and skipped again flying through the air with her hanging onto it desperately. The shell fell landing on a small pond skipping a total of three times before the shell finally shattered dumping her into the water. After sinking for a second she came to the surface gasping for breath and swam to shore crawling up on the muddy bank where she laid on the ground. She hadn't done much activity but due to her weakened state before she was flung into space and no food or water she was exhausted.
She sat up somewhat painfully looking back at the water for a second before she began drinking it desperately. She knew it was risky guzzling down water like this, especially when it was not treated for toxins, but it was do that or die at the moment. After a few minutes she finally finished gasping for more air and sat up to take a look at her surroundings. She appeared to be in a small marsh in the middle of the forest which had trees that appeared ancient, perhaps centuries old, even if not a single one was more than 50ft tall. 'Must be very poor land if the ancient trees aren't that big. I'm in for hell.' Mavis thought to herself hearing a peeping sound come from nearby and turned looking up to see a birds nest. Up in one of the trees a gigantic eagle, as big as she was, was feeding its babies with the three of them struggling among each other for food. Desperate she moved with a slight limp under the tree and waited for anything to fall on her that might be substantial. She was rewarded with a couple bugs dropping down on her which she gobbled up but felt not much relief from the hunger due to them being only bugs. As she stood back up one of the three eagle chicks fell from the tree next to her which made her perk up eagerly.
"Ah, the main course." She smiled in a demented fashion as she picked up the baby eagle and was about to eat it alive until the mother swooped down and scooped them both up. "Gahhhh… put me done you oversized pheasant." Mavis tried struggling but as the bird gained height she realized the situation she was in and gripped onto the eagle. "Nevermind, don't drop me you noble beast!" The eagle looked down on her with a blank expression and took the chick from Mavis before shaking her off. "AHHHHH, NOT AGAIN!" Mavis fell through the air this time landing in a tree. However as she fell the force was enough to break the branches she fell on so she fell through the tree breaking branches and thwacking herself on everything that didn't break. "Ohhhh, my aching… *thwack*" As she landed several of the branches she had broken off landed on her. "My scapula." She stood up shakily looking around desperate to find any source of sustenance or shelter at this point.
As she looked around she spotted a small rocky area with what appeared to be silk done up in a spider web fashion on it. Shaking her head to try and clear it of any fogginess she stumbled towards it thinking she could find shelter there at least even if it meant having to deal with a giant spider. As she approached it she drew her sword only to find it had been badly damaged at some point and now was only a haft with six inches of blade broken off into a jagged end. Cursing silently she moved forward and looked up to the web to see several big bugs trapped in it not struggling too much. As she got close one of the bugs actually called out to her in a language she could understand.
"Please, you gotta help me." As she wrapped her mind around the fact a bug just talked to her another one spoke up.
"No point in her trying to help us man, we're stuck good." She shook her head thinking she had a concussion at this point as a giant spider descended on the web.
As she watched the spider grabbed onto one of the bugs and began eating it in front of her eyes in a horrifying display. As bits of bug fell around her one actually fell in her mouth tasting pretty damn good at the moment prompting her to begin scooping up bits of bug to stave off hunger. She looked up disappointed when the splattering stopped to see the spider had finished eating and had crawled off to most likely sleep off its meal. Mavis kept quiet for the moment waiting to be sure it was actually asleep before stepping forward to the web and began cutting it with her sword as best she could to lower one section of the web to her. As it lowered she spotted one of the remaining bugs who had gotten to within reaching distance whom she cut free of the web. The bug looked up at her gratefully speaking up quietly.
"Thank you, now could you just cut this cocoon arou… what are you doing?!" Mavis looked at the bug licking her lips before biting its head off.
For a minute she moaned at how good it was to finally get some food in her and ate the insides of the bug as best she could. Before she finished however she heard scrabbling and an angry screeching coming from above indicating the spider had come out of its crawling space. She immediately took off running while still eating the bug and not bothering to look as the spider chased after her. After a few minutes however she tripped dropping the bug and looked around for it for a second before the spider caught up to her. It sprayed some web on her to try and pin her down and reached forward as if trying to eat her. It would have actually gotten her, however she was easily twice the size of the spider and the webbing had attached her to muddy ground which she ripped up easily. Growling in desperation she swung her sword remnant at the spider and backed away ready for its next move. As the two sized each other up the spider seemed to chuckle at it in pity before it moved up lightning quick and smacked her to the side with no effort. It then grabbed the chunk of bug she had not finished before running off back to its lair.
"Hey, I'm not done with that!" Mavis tried to follow but the adrenaline had worn out and she was still malnourished and exhausted. "Come… back… here…" She fell to her knees gasping before slamming her fist on the ground and started crying. "I fought for some scraps of bug and a damn spider beat me. *sob* What's become of me." She stayed like that for an unknown length of time before a snap of branches prompted her to stand up in a defensive posture.
She relaxed however when she saw no threat and perked up when she saw the egg she had been chasing in the void. Giggling in a crazed manner she rushed over and tried knocking the egg open to get food from it. However the egg seemed to be made of something beyond durable as she couldn't even seemed to scratch or dent it against anything; even the sword made out of spring steel. Growling in frustration she picked up the egg and hurled it away hearing it bounce and snap as it rattled to a stop somewhere. Mavis realized the egg had fallen for quite some distance before stopping, a lot further then it should have gone given how she threw it. She moved in cautiously to investigate and pushed into a patch of brambles trying to keep herself from being cut up too much. After moving through a little ways, getting scrapes and scratches all over, she snagged on a couple of branches and tripped ripping some of her already ragged clothes off and falling into a hole. She bounced on some rocks eventually coming to a stop smacking her head on a rock and knew that if she didn't have a concussion before she had one now.
Blinking her eyes open she took in the surrounding area to see she was in some sort of hidden grotto concealed by dense brambles along its ridge. She was about 20 feet down from the surrounding area at the bottom of a moss lined over hung grotto that had multiple small shrubs growing around a still and clear pool of water that steamed slightly. She also saw the egg sitting in one corner of the grotto unmarked by its fall sitting in what appeared to be a bed of moss that looked like a nest. 'Well how about that?' Mavis thought to herself as she crawled over to the moss nest too exhausted to look for any more food and curled up holding the egg close to her reflexively. The grotto felt pretty warm compared to the area above and the egg felt warm to the touch now which lulled her into the deep and restful slumber she needed after all that had gone wrong for her over the course of one week.
Mavis blinked her eyes open and reached out to rub the crust out that had formed rather thickly around them as she sat up. She felt refreshed in a sense but still felt disoriented and dizzy, hurt, hungry, and thirsty again. She tried to stand up but found she was too dizzy to stand up so instead crawled to the edge of the pool to drink deeply of the oddly sweet and rather warm water; almost like bathtub warm. As she finished she looked at her reflection in the water seeing a bony, dirty, and still tired looking woman stare back at her. Sighing in a tired manner Mavis looked around the grotto to see if there was anything she could eat in there aside from the unbreakable egg. She was rewarded with the fact that most of the bushes in here were berry bushes and despite the temperature outside indicating late fall it seemed to be summer here as the bushes were full of berries. She grabbed at everything she could and ate it careful to not waste anything as she ate as much as she could comfortably fit inside of her. After she had only gotten halfway through the berries she finally had eaten enough to feel full and thanked whatever god was looking out for her for finally getting a streak of good luck.
Gasping in content she felt tired once again but decided a bath would be in order and stripped off what clothing was left before sliding into the pool. She gasped at the how warm the pool felt against her skin and how good it was to relax for a change scrubbing off the dirt and grim that covered her. After doing this for a little while she finally leaned back in the pool letting her pores open up and let the steam clear up her sinuses which were in poor shape all things considered. She sighed in content now feeling the stress that had plagued her since she began taking in the drugs that… whatever had possessed Mildrew had given her. After resting for a while she got out of the water reluctantly and popped her neck, joints, and spine back into place feeling even more relief from that before crawling into the nest again not bothering to get back into her grimy cloths. She held the egg close to her and actually looked at it for the first time to figure out what kind of egg it was. It was slightly larger than a football and a smoky purple color with what looked to be reptilian scales covering it all over for some reason. As she looked at it something seemed to knock in the inside of it with a muffled chirp coming from within. 'Huh, looks like the egg of a…' Mavis yawned before she could finish her thought and curled up to sleep with the egg putting out even more heat now.
Mavis blinked awake at another restful night of sleep and rubbed her eyes free of sleep with her head feeling clear for the first time in a while. 'Huh, maybe the blows to my head weren't that bad.' Mavis sat up stretching and found something clinging onto her breasts. Freezing in shock she looked down to see that something was in fact clinging onto her quite tightly. Shrieking silently she knocked the thing off which chirped indignantly as she took up a fighting stance and tried to figure out what it was. It seemed to be house cat size roughly and looked reptilian in origin with some feathers around its face and the end of its tail. As it righted itself she saw it was also a smoky purple color, had two legs bearing four toes in front and one pointing backwards like bird feet, had four feathered wings with several fingers on them like an Archaeopteryx, several long feathers sticking up in display on the back of its head, and a cat like face with oddly adorable yellow eyes.
"What the hell are you?" Mavis spoke in shock with the creature chirping in response letting the feathers fall flat and crawled up to Mavis. "Hey what are you doing?" She tried backing away but the creature seemed to think it was a game and leapt after her. "Do I look like I want to play with you?" She tried running around the grotto but it kept pace with her easily chirping up a storm. After doing this for a little while Mavis had to stop and catch her breath with the thing latching onto her and climbing up to her still naked breasts and latching on cuddling up to her. "Hey, do I look like your mommy?!" She reached down to pluck it off and stopped as her own words hit her. "Am I its mommy?" She looked back to the nest of moss and found that the egg had in fact hatched overnight and this was what was inside of it. "Well shit, this is the last thing I need given everything." She looked down at it and sighed in acceptance. "Well, let's see how long it takes before you wander off because I'm not feeding you." It chirped not understanding a word she said as Mavis got to work for the day.
First thing first she drank from the pool which had completely cleared up from her bath last night despite the grim she had let off. Then she got to work stripping the little hollow of any food she could find, mostly nuts, berries, and plant tubers. After she had finished eating, feeling comfortably full, she got to work fixing up her clothes as they were only going to be an impediment to her in this environment in their current state. She broke off one of ragged bits of metal from her sword, VERY CAREFULLY, and collected the spider silk that had stuck to her cloths still to help her stich up her clothing as best as possible. She couldn't fix her clothing completely so instead she broke down her clothing to give her and equivalent of a pair of shorts, a wrap to keep her head warm, and a top piece that looked surprisingly like a swimsuit of sorts. 'Huh, all things considered if I wasn't so bony I might actually look good in this.' Mavis thought to herself as she washed her newly made clothes to get what grim off of them she could.
As she went to put her cloths back on the baby refused to budge from her chest prompting her to pull it off again and set it down. The second she did so though it just scampered right back onto her breasts holding onto her even more tightly. Grunting in annoyance Mavis put on what cloths she could before trying to get her top on around the thing clinging to her. It chirped in annoyance and an ad hoc wrestling match insured between Mavis and the thing that addressed her as its mother. After rolling around the grotto for a bit they finally stopped with Mavis exhausted and the thing still holding onto her. As she panted she yelped when the thing began to try and suckle on her which prompted her to speak to it in annoyance.
"What do you think you're doing!? You're not going to get anything out…" As she spoke it gave a mighty suck and she felt something come out which it swallowed. "… of that?" She felt a cold feeling of panic flow through her as she had what felt like an anxiety attack. "What is happening to me!? I'm not some baby momma!" She moved over to the moss nest with frightened thoughts buzzing through her head trying desperately to make sense of all this. Meanwhile the creature suckled from her gleefully giving off content chirps. "This isn't right; what could possibly have…" She paused and turned back to the egg shell pieces and picked one up to observe it. "Wait… could it be?" She looked down at the creature and realized this creature actually did look like something she had heard of before. "Are you… a True Dragon?!" The thing on her chest finally detached itself from her and gave a soft burp in response. "Impossible, your kind has been extinct for centuries." It then curled up on her lap and promptly fell asleep snoring softly.
Thoughts swirled around her head as she finally was able to put her top on and contemplate what had just happened. In space she had found the egg of a creature that had apparently been extinct for centuries and now that she had brought it back it had hatched and now thought of her as its mother. 'But how does that explain… this?' She wiped off a little stray milk on her breast and looked at it in disbelieving shock. There was no way she could be lactating unless if it was a magical influence at this point which… oddly enough did make more sense as she thought of it. Some dragons were said to contain latent magic about them that subtly influenced the world around them as was needed and since it viewed her as its mother… 'Wait, do dragons primarily drink milk when young? Wait why am I even asking these questions; I can't take care of a baby now.' She thought in exasperation looking down at the cute creature curled up in her lap thinking what to do, when an awful idea hit her.
"You… could be dinner." She licked her lips at this knowing that the grotto would not sustain her forever and she needed meat eventually. "You are awfully cute but unfortunately you are made of meat." She picked up her remnant of a sword and went to cut its throat… but stopped as it opened its innocent eyes and looked up at her.
She froze waiting for it to go asleep as it chittered at her slightly before smelling the blade she held with wide eyed innocence. It then turned over and curled up again falling asleep soundly as Mavis found she couldn't move just staring at it. 'Come on Mavis you need food and you can't take care of that thing, just end it quickly.' She couldn't however and just stared at it for an unknown length of time before setting the blade to the side and rubbing the dragons back with it chittering in its sleep. It just looked so adorable, helpless, and innocent curled up next to her like a baby should look except better. She then picked it up, careful not to wake it, and kissed its head softly before lying down to sleep while holding it close to her so they could absorb each other's warmth as she spoke to herself.
"Mavis, if you die taking care of this dragon it's your fault for not killing and eating it when you had the chance."