Carefully crafted nudges, retorts, advices and distastes can very well make the very minds of others but clay in the hands - or in this case, claws - of the sculptor.
*How is it holding?* asked the crafter, gesturing to Moonlight's new prosthetic.
The white dragon tilted his head and switched a few more positions with the pedal pedal around his right hind paw. "Without a hitch. And I can talk in Latin."
Domino Artifex nodded absent-mindedly and looked down towards the small range their quarry inhabited, closing in. Three more Nocta Furaes accompanied them. Or rather, they accompanied those Nocta Furaes, considering that they joined this flight mostly to test out this design instead of dealing with winter's short food supplies.
A Spike-tail exited some foliage - only to be struck down by a projectile headed to intercept him before he broke through it, the attack hitting the neck accurately and fatally.
"In the nook in the cave, right behind the entrance, on the left,"Moonlight said idly to his companion and the others, who were wondering where the second one hid. The three nodded in thanks and proceeded, three shadows descending to bring swift death and leaving him with the person that talked him into guarding their backs in the first place.
Dominus Artifex tilted his head. "Gaze is such an amazing ability. I couldn't imagine how much easier it would be if I could monitor all the inner workings of my work at once and from a great distance."
Moonlight huffed, not meeting his gaze; a little awkwardness, a small mistake that could stoke suspicion of this being deception, as unlikely as it was in any case.
"It does not make you aware of everything, any more than looking makes you see everything. Additionally, the smaller the object of interest, the closer you need to be to it." Keeping it vague, to easily dissuade himself out of situations in which he would intently withhold information. Like this one.
Artifex swiftly nodded. "Interesting, interesting. Now, can we go and join the feast?"
Moonlight tilted his head. "Aren't we supposed to be on the lookout?" The answer to this question hit him mid-sentence, but he was too busy cringing to correct himself before the other spoke.
"You can see everything as well from there, can't you? I am really hungry."
Moonlight recognised the signs, but was powerless to stop his stomach growling in consent. He got annoyed at his own bodily functions. He wasn't that dumb to need in-built coercion into eating.
But as much as basic impulses didn't rule him, he was interested in how this meat tasted, as he'd never eaten this one. Therefore he joined in, not succumbing to hunger, but to curiosity.
He Gazed. One Bang shot rendered the target of their group, the last one without its quarry, disoriented and helpless before no less than three sets of claws and teeth. Had they been uninformed of the attempted trap, some could die. Oh, well, Gaze definitely had its uses, didn't it?
"Yes, they won easily. We can eat." They both dived, Moonlight stumbling a little in the landing, not quite fast enough to get his paw out of the pedal after getting it in the last position but thankfully avoiding bumping his chin into the dirt.
Regardless, the meat of the fallen spike-tail had a peculiar taste, unlike all the other meats he tasted throughout his life. He couldn't quite put a claw on it, but it seemed just… right.
He licked his lips and then looked towards a puzzle. The fact that he was looking through sheer rock didn't really register in his mind.
"So what do we do with their egg?"
Four dragons looked up at him. It was a bit out of the blue, in any case. Still, they knew he could see much more, so such bewilderment at new information was just stupid.
"I spotted it when we ate; it is still warm and alive, in the later stages of development, it should hatch in the next week or so."
They were visibly perturbed, and one of them, Aurora Dominii, sighed deeply before speaking. "Its parents are dead, so…"
It was clear where she was getting at with it, Moonlight didn't really oppose this direction, but he needed to build up his mask, and that was one such opportunity.
"We can take it, maybe someone will want to raise it. This race has a really good sense of smell, so it should be useful enough."
Sensible, practical, slightly but not bluntly appealing to the strive for superiority Blitz exhibited, and they were sold on to the idea.
Moonlight got himself out of the chore of carrying it by how awkward using the control pedal was, which was true enough. He couldn't take off from a standstill like his fully functional brethren, or even with a runway like some other dragons, and needed to leap from a cliff or similar elevated surface to have time to get his hind paw in the pedal, and the fake-fin to work.
It was annoying, it was awkward, but it made for a good tool of manipulation. It helped his popularity by painting him as a sort of martyr and it was something that he had no way of changing, and was pretty sure would stay with him for the rest of his life. Or at least, no way he was willing to pay the price for, as the fifth member of their hunting party felt compelled to remind him of.
Moonlight. You needn't suffer this. Go to a glorious Starborn, one of the creators and all-fathers of Fireborns, and pray for help with humility, servitude and faith, and you shall be rewarded with your vessel regaining its former glory, just like mine did.*
This one was sensible enough most of the time, but sometimes he was like that; eyes glistening with zealotry, words of praise and unconditional submission to so-called living gods, and an attempt to turn others into such pathetic, whimpering worms.
Nope. Moonlight wasn't desperate enough. Even if he was to be grounded for the rest of his life and left on his own, he would scrounge enough sustenance thanks to his wit and Gaze, even if doing it would leave him with no time for higher pursuits.
Since neither of those was the case, he wouldn't come within range of one of those creatures' mind-bending powers unless he was physically dragged there, and even then he would consider detonating his blackheart, something he usually considered as insanely foolish. But of course, the whimpering worm wasn't about to stop.
I see that you fear the absolute power they hold over us, you don't need to; we are all but hapless children before them and their flawless guidance is something to relish, why would our creators wish us any ill? Wouldn't it be beside the point of the great effort they came through to bring us to life?*
Oh, he could think of a lot of reasons. He definitely would enjoy the ability to create someone and then make them dance to his whims, think what he wanted them to think, do what he wanted them to do, and be absolutely helpless before his power. It all meant that he definitely wasn't about to get on the other end of it.
"Thanks, I am fine. And I would prefer to not be under anyone's complete mercy. Especially not under one I don't know a thing about."
The male chuffed. *If not for the Invader's tongue of which you use so freely, you wouldn't doubt your would be filled with contentment and purpose, and be under their guidance whenever you went, and wish for nothing but for it to stay this way.* He sighed and shook his head. *But if there is no place for trust in your heart, the Starborn north-east of here, residing in the mighty mountain lesser kinds couldn't even reach half the height of, was the one that gave up his might over minds to create and work to perfection the most blessed of Fireborns; our kind. Your thoughts and actions there would be only your own in all of their imperfection, and you would have to prove your devotion instead of being made indisputably devoted.*
Moonlight clicked his tongue as they were getting near their 'outpost' nest. He responded levelly, giving the worm the impression that he'd made some progress so as to get his blabbering off his back. *You cannot know it. If it commanded for you to think that, you would think that, regardless of whether it is fact or not.*
Predictably, the worm moved away, thinking that Moonlight felt bad for using Latin (ha!), and Moonlight focused on landing properly. Despite intense focus and Gaze telling him everything, he still failed to do it flawlessly. Maybe it just couldn't be done without a hitch. Irritating, but nothing more.
Apparently, this day had to be filled with irritation. The female that accompanied Aurora Dominii when they first met walked up to him with a troubled expression. Great. Too dumb to think for herself and seeking guidance. Not that he had issues with shaping others, but now he wished for nothing more than to lay down and observe the whole outpost, or curious movements above, while feigning dozing.
"Moonlight, I… am not sure about something." The dragon donned a patient and attentive mask, which prompted the dragoness to speak her mind further.
"I know we should have as many young as we can manage, so our kind will be stronger and our dominion over the world ensured, and I believed it wholeheartedly… I have seen my eggs detonate, and even got used to it, but I have seen this fledgling with an unstable blackheart, and - and it must hurt so much to see your young die! I… I don't know if I can endure it, Night Furies' future or not."
Ah, attachment. Such a common weakness... And one so integral to sapient minds that even he failed to shed it completely. "When thinking about something so personal, you shouldn't take into consideration greater goods of any kind. No, you should see it in just this way; personally. So, do you think that fledgling would want to exist even if its existence is short?"
The answer took a good, long while, but eventually, her eyes brightened and she looked at him again. "I… do think that it is better to exist than not."
He smirked. *It is better to be, than not to be.* At her confusion, he elaborated. "A saying common with our enthralled brethren. Fitting for this discourse, wouldn't you say?"
She purred in confirmation, and her gaze turned lustful. Moonlight expected it, definitely, and wasn't exactly opposed, but there were other things he would rather do now. "You see, I would agree, but I am Gifted, and that… does not bode well for the chances."
The albino Night Fury had seen the reply coming before it was said, but there was no retort for this, really. Only an excuse.
"You are a remarkably stable Gifted, it is really rare, and it would be a shame to not pass it on, don't you think?"
"Actually, yes, I agree, maybe later, though? I think that a certain unstable fledgling warrants attention before this."
Predictably, she spluttered. "O-of course! Take all the time you need. Meanwhile, I will help Dominus Artifex with his work, just so you know where to find me."
Said crafter, standing nearby for a big chunk of this conversation but staying silent as to not interrupt, apparently berating him for it finally worked, spoke. "Great, so you can help me get my prototype off of him. I can think of a few improvements before we to the contest."
Moonlight made an innocent inquiry. "You mean, this exhibition you were mentioning?"
He bobbed his head. "Yes, yes, the one you are coming to with me. Though it is more of a place to share techniques and ideas." Moonlight huffed. "I still don't know how to feel about being a display piece."
Artifex half-lidded his eyes. "Not a display piece, I didn't make you, a mannequin to present the actual display piece." He suddenly cringed. "That came out wrong."
Moonlight just shook his head dejectedly. "That is the least I can do for your work."
They split after the crudely crafted harness was taken off, Moonlight shook himself even as he walked away. This thing really chafed his scales, much more than the previous one in any case.
Could be another argument to make his case…
He greeted another dragoness in the off-way cave, at the east side of the elevated clearing between mountain peaks, she blinked at him, curiosity showing slightly through sadness. "You were with the hunting party?"
He chortled. "Yep, we caught two, quite a hearty meal. Want some?" She made an expressionless croon and he heaved up some meat from his stomach. She nibbled at it without appetite, before just grabbing it and trotting to her fledgling.
Moonlight had words of feigned concern on the back of his tongue. Had was the correct word since they evaporated when, for the first time in his life, he couldn't believe his Gaze.
His lowly eyes showed the fledgling, normal proportions, no defects, around two months old, as long from snout to tailfins as Moonlight's own tail, glancing at him, curiosity slowly displacing impassion.
But Gaze… Gaze showed him something else entirely. A menacing creature nearly as big and slightly more massive than he himself was, with great hard plates complementing scales, truly ludicrous musculature, short and stubby wing-arms deprived of membrane, and horror-inducing claws and fangs.
It was disproportional, dysfunctional, deeply unnatural, and something anyone with a working brain would run away from in terror.
And It not only occupied the same place as the fledgling, to the point of their blackhearts perfectly overlapping, but their flesh passed through each other without a sign of contact despite overlapping!
No, it also moved with it, each movement mirrored each other flawlessly, as if they were one.
It… it didn't make sense at all! His gawking, of course, didn't go unnoticed. Both fledgling and abomination tilted their heads, the fledgling innocently curious and the beast looking at him like he would a piece of meat. Except it lacked eyes. Or a nose. Or ears.
"Is something wrong?" Their jaws moved together, but thankfully only the fledgling's words were audible. He shied away from checking if air moved in the way it did when someone spoke from the monstrosity, for his own sanity. Yes, it was dumb, but he just couldn't force himself to do otherwise, too perplexed to mull it over.
"Rrrr, my Gaze…" It was the full extent of his eloquence right now. He shook his head, but it didn't help at all. Just… what!?
"Is his blackheart… should I step back?" The expression on the female told him that she wasn't all that willing to follow her own suggestion.
"Let me look." Committing himself to something without knowing everything about it was unlike him, but that thought came after he'd done it already, and honestly he didn't care about it right now.
"I didn't mean it about the blackheart… But it is… well, not that close to detonation. There is still time."
He hesitantly came closer, close to nuzzling the fledgling, and came through the second creature in the process as if it was air, except even air interacted when he moved through, and it just… didn't.
What in the name of black stars…?
Finally, finally he reigned in his bewilderment and peered deep. One blackheart, not two overlapping. While the monster was bigger than the fledgling, it somehow was simultaneously taking the same space, as if size itself had a different meaning for it. It… really didn't make sense. Maybe he was just seeing things. His mind breaking down was more likely than reality doing it, in any case.
But even as he considered this possibility, he managed to spot the fledgling in his Gaze, and see him independently of the abomination. The fledgling was there, but wasn't quite right. Putting it lightly. There were no muscles and bones at all, the scales were incredibly thin to the point of lacking the ability to stop anything.
About what wasn't lacking? All the internal organs were bigger than they should be, and more of them as well, four hearts for example, placed so that as much of them could fit as possible, not so that they were protected. Now, since he realised it, he checked the insides of the abomination.
Only bones, thick armoured scales, claws, fangs and muscles. Even blood veins were absent, and blood poured through whatever linked the two wherever it was needed. The fledgling helpless and holding all the critical organs, and the abomination sheer durability and strength.
He thought he understood, but his hypothesis needed confirmation. "Well, wanna play?"
They both just blinked at him. "Play?"
Moonlight fluttered his wings. "Why not? You want some fun, right? It definitely won't hurt."
The fledgling waggled his tail playfully. "Yes, yes!" The dam exhaled slowly, silent melancholy replacing deep sorrow as she settled down to watch them.
Surprisingly, it was the fledgling that suddenly got reservations. "I hurt others really badly when playing before…" Moonlight shook his head. "Am I a fledgling, or an adult? I can take it." Hopefully. The abomination looked awfully strong, and if his theory was right, it would be the one he traded hits with.
The fledgling pounced, leaping with much greater strength than anything of his size should, crossing the distance in nearly an instant, and… bounced off of him.
Rrrrr. That contradicted his theory, except that the fledgling's body had no right to even be working if it was the one interacting. So, the abomination took strength and durability, but the fledgling's weight was working? Regardless, he pounced, and while he managed to easily displace the fledgling, and, by extent, the abomination, the latter was the one taking his rough blow.
The dam barked at him; the move looked like it was meant against an adult, and it was, but the complete lack of injuries on the fledgling dissuaded her from intervening. Moonlight offered an apologetic croon and mentally berated himself. He was far too fascinated with this phenomenon to think about anything else, and that could get him in trouble.
The outstretched fledgling paw hit him with enough force to send him reeling and with a fresh bruise. The youngling no longer tried to use his weight but his strength, and to a much greater effect. But as every force warranted a reaction, the abomination took the recoil from the strike instead of the fledgling.
Moonlight experimentally pinned the critter, only to have his own body lifted, though with visible, if not big, stress on the creature. Nothing was boundlessly strong, but confirmation was good when dealing with so alien a creature.
He play-fought for a while more, and the only fault in this peculiar and never-before-seen Gift he could see was the lack of weight, but it also was a boon, granting immense agility. Incredible, truly. Sad that it will be over sooner rather than later. He would have enjoyed analysing this phenomenon.
"I think that you should attend to the plateau." His gaze was pointed, and the female, while sagged, didn't waste time on asking again, knowing full well what he meant, and unwilling to have it said bluntly in the presence of her fledgling. The young one's gaze told him that it was a vain effort, curiously, he stopped at the exit and purred wordless gratitude for him.
Moonlight gracefully waited until they exited, or rather amused himself with observing the whereabouts of one hundred and twenty-three Night Furies in the Outpost, then headed to the workshop.
Throughout the entire way, he could pick up a conversation, not by sound, but by lip movement. He could see the movement of air that carried sound too, but it was far more complex for him to translate it into words, requiring far more intense focus and being littered with mistakes. A lesser mind would fail to glean anything from it at all.
"Can't you make more of it? It was really fun, but it would be more fun if more than one person had it."
"Do you even realise how long it takes to make anything? I made only five armour sets this winter, five! And both you and your partner just abandoned yours, so it gives us only two more since one broke beyond repair on its own!"
"They weighed us down and we needed distance, humans could have tried to hunt us since one of us was grounded."
"Which doesn't change the fact that you lost it."
"Guess why I am helping you as of late."
"To waste time on making frivolous toys. We can make all of those we want after humanity has fallen."
"As if we are in a hurry; we only get stronger with time, and they are forced to stagnate."
"As if you didn't spot humans teaming up with a lesser dragon. If any of their groups do it on a large scale, we are in for deep trouble. On top of that, this group is apparently in some unsupervised region or on the constant move, just like our priority target!"
"We don't know if this group even exists! You assumed it, but it may as well be just those two humans. Scouts were already sent to search for this, so we just have to wait to know!"
"If we are ready when they are found, we could act immediately, not start preparing! And it definitely won't hurt to be ready, even-"
"Enough of this! Craftsmanship is a spoil from the first wave, and there is no point in spoils if you don't enjoy them. Just add a few clasps to the armour. This much should suffice."
"You want to make your armour heavier without adding protection? Seriously-"
"Shut up, or I will make you."
Moonlight stopped near the bend in the corridor, watching the brief tussle, with the crafter being far too cautious around his workshop to win, and ending up pinned and with teeth on his neck – of course, as any sensible creature, he submitted. "I am not letting you out of here until you make another one." The female batted him on the head for good measure, and Moonlight took this moment to emerge inside and feign surprise by the scene.
"Here you are, Luna-Lux, I was wondering when you would show up."
He shot a glance at the disgruntled Artifex gathering tools from the workshop. "What did I miss?"
She chuffed, following his gaze even as she spoke. "This killjoy didn't want to make more fun stuff, so I bit him until he submitted to make more."
A multilayered discussion of suspicions, priorities and warfare, reduced to such a little summary leaving out the meat of the entire thing? Yep, he was happy he could observe it in its entirety.
Her eyes narrowed at seeing the crafter's attempts. Dominus Artifex glared. "You do know I can just don the armour and beat you up, right?"
Moonlight shook his head. "You won't risk the plates getting melted messily because making new ones would take you more time than what you need to fulfil her demand."
The female waggled her head happily. The crafter snarled and then went to the furnace, falling on his chin once from an item dislodged from its place during the tussle.
Moonlight wholeheartedly agreed with this course of action – maybe also deny him food and water until he is finished, some beating would go a long way to motivate him to work, too – however, he had family in the 'nearby' outpost, and they visited periodically, so they would most definitely intervene… along with anyone that very strongly disagreed with treating a fellow Night Fury like that and was ready to fight for it. He could name a dozen of those in this outpost alone, and he doubted he would get anyone supporting him. Now, anyway. Reshaping their collective opinions took time, and he doubted he had time to reshape more than a few outposts and enjoy it before the black star claimed him.
Still, it was a step in the right direction: justifying coercion for purely selfish reasons. Why not comment on it? Moonlight concisely leaned closer as to not be heard by the fuming Crafter. "If only we could keep him there, making what we want him to and nothing else."
His voice had a slight playful tone to it; she chuckled but disagreed nevertheless, though not directly. Some progress, little as it was.
"He knows better what he is doing than we do, he is just so stubborn sometimes-"
Suddenly, Gaze went blankly white, he cringed, failing to hear the female's words. Great. It would take a while to subside. There was only one thing that could do that to him, so he at least knew the abomination had met its end.
Lesser senses will need to suffice for now. With that in mind, he walked up to the crafter and prodded at the topic he was preparing to touch on in a good, long while.
"If only we were more dexterous, it would be so much faster to do."
The dragon huffed in confirmation, but paid him little mind, preoccupied with pulling at the leather loops around his paw with his mouth to which the hammer was attached, while also eyeing the forge slowly taking temperature. "I can think of a tool to do just that, actually."
That captured his attention, and Moonlight elaborated. "They are prey, with long, bendable-in-three-spots and blunt claws. We could train some of those."
Artifex tilted his head, stopping his work for the time being to give full focus to the conversation. "The only creatures with such weird paws are humans."
Moonlight rolled his eyes. "Well, of course. It is just another prey, isn't it?"
The crafter flicked his tail, then froze. "Technically, yes… are you suggesting to bring them here?"
"I doubt a few of them would be a big problem. And it would help you significantly, wouldn't it?"
The dragon snarled and went back to securing the hammer to his paw. "They all have to die. They are dangerous."
Moonlight sent him a disappointed glance. "Do you really think that only a few of them would be able to do anything against us? Especially unarmed? Do you really think we are so vulnerable that if we outnumber them, they can be any danger at all?"
The female butted in. "How would we even make them do what we want?"
Moonlight tilted his head, feigning bewilderment. "The same way they made eighty Night Furies subservient. Seriously, if they can do it to our kind, then we can definitely do it to theirs." Let's pray a little on the strive for superiority, shall we?
There was no retort for that. He shook his head and left the cave, the female trailing after him after a while.
"Ah, I forgot to mention! I invited some more friends. The more of us, the more the fun!"
Moonlight blinked in confusion. When? He was Gazing… She must have done it while he was preoccupied with the dying anomalous fledgling.
"I never really did it with more than one, in fact. I never really had any opportunity outside of my captivity."
She growled, then purred, showcasing her support. He took it in stride and entered a wooden structure constructed from crudely cut wooden logs impaled into the ground and a few more laying on top, working as a flat roof, which apparently was a problem because it leaked far more. Butut making a sloped one would take far too much time, effort and supplies than it was worth.
Moonlight stopped and took a while to register who was present, lack of Gaze making it such an awkward was Aurora Dominii, the pathetic worm, along with the second female. Four at once. That was bound to be interesting. Truth be told, he wasn't all that eager with this before: it has been the only entertainment back in servitude, other than playing like fledglings, and he'd grown tired of it. But with more subjects came more intensity, eh?
Three more Night Furies entered the rough structure, and it wasn't long until another four bounded in. It already got cramped, with no place to move without touching each other, not that it was a problem considering the circumstances, but any more newcomers were nevertheless shushed away. This event apparently wasn't under wraps.
The pathetic worm stood on his hind legs and spoke nonsense. *We gathered here to rejoice in our creation, and bring more of it to the world, as intended by-*
Moonlight got onto his own hind legs and pressed his claw into a spot on the worm's body. All of his limbs suddenly slumped and he haplessly fell on the male that was half-heartedly listening to him with a yelp. Moonlight lowered himself back to the ground.
The worm, of course, couldn't stop speaking. *You know the intricacies of bodily command spots intended t-* He got only half of a sentence out before Moonlight pressed the spot harder and at a different angle, making his vocal cords fall limp.
That done, Moonlight found himself under the curious and eager gazes of a few more short-term residents of the chamber.
"As you saw, there are certain spots on our bodies that can do interesting things. It was but one of those. There is also one to cause pain." He pressed it very lightly, just scratching the surface really, so as to not cause deep agony. Pain was still evident on the worm. "There are more, but those should suffice for today, won't you say?"
"Yes, definitely!"
"That looks like a really fun game, I was expecting just the usual-"
"Can you teach me it?"
"Do it to me too!"
If they only knew how happy he would be to overuse it on them, he would have been torn to shreds just about then.
Of course, they didn't know that. And they would not, not until it was too late.