Juniper Grenleff | Demi-Boy | 22 | Serpent-Tongue Speaker | M: n/a
Within a few powerful strokes of her wings, Pavi had brought Juniper back to the small cabin they called home. Although, the more Juniper studied it, it was not so small after all. It had two floors, three if you count the small tower that was built into the side of the cabin just for the triplets, and the wood stood the test of time as vines crawled up the sides of the building. Flower beds rested just outside the door under a small balcony where more flowers and flora and warm lanterns hung from. The chimney, made of cobblestone and built with care by Juniper’s great-great-great grandma, was puffing smoke as the scent of chole and fried flatbread floated through the air. Next to his home, was a long barn that seemed to be made of different types of wood the further away you got from the entrance because of the amount of times the barn needed to be expanded.
“Paaaaviiiii!” Daksha, Juniper’s older sister, called from the entrance to the barn, a wooden bucket resting on her hips. Daksha was always the one to feed the dragons at lunchtime and, even now, two of the Polarwings clawed at her for more food. Her hair was braided loosely and hung over her left shoulder as mud caked onto her overalls and green shirt she had rolled up. She had a small gap between her teeth that could be seen even from afar when she gave her warm smiles just like Dad’s. “Come get your food before Uylia and Quilby eat it for you!”
“My food!!” Pavi shrieked before bounding over at top speed, not even slowly down as she shoved her head into the wooden bucket in Daksha’s hands.
“Woooooow,” Juniper grumbled, tossing their hands up with a dramatic huff, “you didn’t even say goodbye!” Pavi craned her neck to look at him with a mouthful of food while her tail wagged wildly. It looked like she might actually say something, but she just shoved her head back into the bucket before the other dragons could eat her food. “Love you too, Pavi.”
Juniper turned the knob to open the door, but immediately jumped out of the way of the door as he heard a faint rumbling in the near distance. Just then, the three triplets Jatin, Keddan, and Dalia came trampling full speed into the cabin on top of the three baby Bonecrushers who were still not a year old yet. Juniper knew these three still had endless energy in them, but he also knew just how pissed his mom would be.
“No! Absolutely not!! No dragons in the house during meals!” Mom’s booming voice ordered firmly. Juniper was hesitant to even peek into the house as his Mom already had cornered the twins and their new dragons. “You three know this! You should be setting a better example for your little brother, Fredrick.” Fredrick, the youngest of them all who was turning thirteen in a month, was nowhere to be seen but no one dared point this out to her.
“But Nani gets to have a dragon!” Dalia protested, always the bravest of the triplets and the whole family even. “Why can’t we bring them in here?”
“Because Nani’s Common Garden dragon cannot grow to the size of our house, Dalia Grenleff.”
“You don’t know that Patta can’t grow to the size of a house, Sita,” Nani giggled, rocking slowly in her rocking chair. Despite looking older than the valley itself, her hands were soft as she gently stroked the sleeping elderly dragon in her lap who was probably too deaf to hear the lunch horn.
“Yes, Maan, but Patta is not a Bonecrusher,” Mom whispered in a gentle tone with soft eyes and with a patient kindness that covered her silent frustration.
“Patta bada ladaka hai. Patta apanee sabjee Satee bhee kha raha hai.”
“Haan Maan—”
“Hey mom?” Juniper asked, glancing worriedly to the kitchen as the rocked back and forth on their heels.
“lekin ab patta—”
“Mom.”
“What, Juniper?!”
Juniper flinched at his mother’s tone, shrinking in his spot. Juniper bit his lip as the silence hung in the air for a moment longer. Juniper just nervously pointed to the kitchen for a moment.
“I think the kitchen’s on fire.”
The kitchen was, in fact, on fire.
“Mal mal mal mal!!” While his mother rushed off to put out the flames, the triplets silently dragged their bonecrushers up the stairs, staring with wide eyes to Juniper in hopes that he wouldn’t rat them out to their mother. Jatin and Keddan instantly sighed as Juniper gave a silent thumbs up and Dalia hushed them both loudly with an angry glare before the three and their dragons stumbled up the steps to their tower. When Juniper turned to his mother, she stood defeated over the stove, the bread burned and her hopes crushed.
“What am I going to do, Juniper…?” His mom whispered so quietly Juniper almost did not hear. “I can’t last another day without your father, but it won’t be another few weeks until he returns. I cannot even cook lunch without his help.” Juniper inched closer, gently placing a hand on their mother’s shoulder. “Falla— Your sister— She’s just—” Mom sighed— “She’s just like her dad! Never can be happy in one place for too long. I still can’t believe that she is leaving this week…!” She laughed sadly and gently placed a hand over Juniper’s. Juniper had not even put thought into the fact that Falla would be leaving the valley. It seemed like yesterday when they were little kids and she promised that she would eventually leave. Juniper just did not comprehend that the day she leaves would be so soon. “And the triplets— I do love them I really do— but they are not helping with everything right now.” Her eyes had tears in them as Juniper slowly came to terms with how much his mother had been dealing with these past few weeks. Especially when Henry, Juniper’s older brother and the cornerstone to the family, still had not returned home for about a month now. “I want one thing— just one thing— to go right and yet… it feels like the world is out to get me. What should I do?”
“I’ll go out to the ocean and catch fish,” Juniper said after a long pause. “I am not a great chef, but I can make us dinner or lunch or… whatever tonight.”
“That’s really thoughtful, Juney, but I don’t see how this will help much….”
“It probably won’t help with everything going on, but it’s a step in the right direction, right?” Juniper asked with a weak smile. His mother’s eyes were a soft hazel hue that slowly scanned his face before her lips twitched into a smile as she nodded. “I’ll be home soon, Mom.”
“You better be my little troublemaker,” she chuckled, gently pinching his cheek and wiping her eyes as Juniper laughed.
Juniper hugged his mom goodbye, swiped food off the counter, and mentally prepared himself for leaving the valley to go get fish from the ocean.
~~~
Freya Rouge | Female | 24 | Dragon-Rustler | M: Thea
Freya entered the markets with one goal in mind: food. There was food from all over the continent but there was only one stall that held her eyes. Through all the excitement, music, and noise of people buzzing about like busy bees, many vendors attempted to advertise their wares to her.
“Hi, would you like to try our complimentary perfume? Made with dragon scales and exotic fruit! It’s completely free except for a tiny fee!”
“Nope,” Freya replied coldly, contorting herself to avoid contact with the tray of sprays shoved into her face.
“Do your muscles feel sore? Your hands ache? Well let me tell your about our new, latest, state of the art—”
“No thank you, ma’am.”
“Hellooooooo!~ I have some mighty fine jewelry that would look mighty fine on you if you are willing to pay—”
“Not interested.”
“Hey lady. If you need a man to escort you around, I am here on a two for one deal where if you pay to spend time with me for two hours—”
“Listen here,” Freya grabbed the man in front of her by the collar, yanking him to his knees as she glared evilly at him, “the only thing I need is my goddamn food. Me and my dragons get pretty cranky without it. Right now, the only thing I will escort is you into the mouth of my dragon.” Sylvi huffed angrily, her nostrils flaring as she stood behind Freya. “Do I make myself clear?” The man nodded till it looked like his head would fall off as she let go of him and he crumbled to the floor. With everyone parting the way around her, it was much easier to find her favorite stall.
“Heyyyyy, Freya!” A scrawny woman called with a wide smile and big wave. Her stall was small, but it had a small cooking stand in front of it that allowed her to cook up meals.
“I’ll have the usual,” Freya grumbled to Bella, the woman with an unending positive attitude. “Make it extra spicy for Hunter and Hayden please. They’ve both been pains in my ass and haven’t gotten off of Sylvi this whole time.”
“Cooooming right up!!” Bella giggled with a mini salute, taking meat out of a bag with some runes and dragon scales sewn into it before placing it onto the black stove top before tapping the three Frill Wyrms that rested on the roof of the stall to get them to come down from their perch in the sun and cook the meat. By resting themselves on the stove and setting themselves on fire, the three worked to cook the meat together as they formed a ring around the beef. “So, instead of money, I was thinking that you pay me with something else today?”
“This is a strange request coming from you…,” Freya stated as she arched an eyebrow. “You usually charge me more money than other people.”
“Well, you have been coming to my stand at least once a week for five years now, so I figured I should give you a discount for once,” Bella stated with a shrug as she added diced veggies into the meat. “I figured I should be nice and cut you slack as my number one paying customer.”
“Oh? Let’s hear this deal then.”
“I want you to smile for me.”
“Excuse me?” Freya asked, more confused by the request than anything.
“You heard me,” Bella huffed as she added seasons and spices to the dish. “You come here all the time and yet you almost never smile unless I tell you about what is going on in my life and about my stupid sister-in-law and her god forsaken mule eyes!!” Freya could not help a chuckle at a mention of the story, covering her mouth politely. “You always act like such a grumpy sour puss, but I bet you’re just a big softy under all of that armor.”
“Not a single part of my body is soft.”
“You know what I mean.” Bella sighed before clasping her hands together and giving Freya big puppy dog eyes. “Come ooooon! It’s one smile for a free meal! Pleeeeeeaaaase!”
“Fine.” Fiona rolled her eyes and cracked her neck to get herself ready to smile. “But no more weird deals like this in the future, got it?”
“Of course not! I’ll just charge you triple the normal price of these meals like I always do!” Freya smiled for about a solid five seconds in all, but it was enough to make Bella smile with gleefully delight. “See?? Was that so hard?”
“Yes, it was excruciating.”
Hunter and Hayden slid off Sylvi at the smell of food, Hunter getting so close to the hot plate that Hayden had to yank him away from the meat. Bella diced up the food a little before splitting it so that Sylvi, Hunter, Hayden, and Freya all got food and placed the meat in four separate bowls before sprinkling spicy powder onto two of the smaller ones just like Freya had previously asked.
“You might want to eat up fast though, Freya. I heard rumors that a dragon-freer was in the west plaza of the marketplace.”
Fall 
Night 
Hurricane Moon: 
