---

Creole was lonely. His family was all about doing their own thing and he was left to his own devices. With Hel gone the Spine was lonely, without her constant sighs and groans from her bored, fear locked, position in their home he found it far too quiet.

Sighing the man sat on one of the peaks that day, gazing out over everything that was their new home, everything he wasn't used too, and groaned as he remembered what home was. Where they had come from and what drove his fire, now he was nothing more than a shell of a man run by females and males of his loins... When they were around. He gritted sharp pearly daggers as the Dragon let out a small growl into the nothingness that was the high peaks.

The Dragon was once mighty, strong, he was now a shell of a reptile that once rules with an iron paw. He used to strike fear in others and now they seemed to laugh and scoff in his direction.
What was he to anyone? To himself?
Even he didn't know anymore.

The morning didn't bring anything to the man, no warmth from the sun that shone brightly above, no emotions were beckoned forth by the light breeze that tickled his chin and ruffled his lengthy fur.
He was uncomfortably numb.

---

---

Initially I was gonna post w Nyra, but figured Lucius needs more posts!

The pale demon noticed the decline of his father. 
Between Mother's harsh lessons after Hel's death, the boy definitely noticed. 
Older now than he was then, Lucius eventually picked up on the trail of his father, and came up beside the Dragon with a slow prowling step, and a light rumble to announce his own presence with the depressed brute. 

"Father..." Lucius began; "Is grief such a common companion of yours, now?" He asked, his voice deeper now than when he was younger, but gentled (and genuinely caring) in this moment, if only for the sake of Creole's sadness. 
His amber gaze sought the face of his Father, attempting conversation.

---

---

Lucius
Wrote to this song lol
https://open.spotify.com/track/6M4ElobD1...f296af43e8

The brute scented his son before he heard him, the rumbling that came with his steps, citrine eyes darted to the side his son had appeared on and the Dragon rolled his shoulders. Lucius... My son... He said longingly as he turned his head slowly to lay eyes upon his mirror image.

Pride and love swelled through him as he smiled warmly with a small dip of his head. It seems grief has become quite the friend of mine lately... He chuckled deeply. Have you not met her well with the loss of so much...? He questioned, indicating the loss of Hel and their previous home, though he felt they might have been too young to remember such a thing, perhaps not... He would find out though he was sure.

---

The boy hummed in thought to Creole's question, a deep rumble through his chest.
"I did not know her, as you did." Lucius answered after a time, "It is...hard, to grieve someone I did not know, despite her being an elder sibling." He admitted.
Family though Hel was, she hadn't been close to him, nor he, to her. 
And Lucius damned himself for it as he came a bit closer to his Sire, "How can I help, Father?" He asked finally, seeking Creole's face once more.

---

---

Lucius

I understand... He responded with a small sigh, he did understand that it was hard to grieve for someone you did not know well, and he knew Hel often kept to herself after the cat attack. Lucius asked what he could do to help and Creole sighed heavier, dropping his shoulders and his head along with them. I don't know my son... Tell me something good... After all this tragedy surely something good has come... Creole asked of him, a small simle coming to play on low features.

---

---

I'm so sorry I take FOREVER aaaa </3
Note: The "danger" is meant to be a cougar or a bear, or nothing at all! Leaving it up to you to decide <3

The youth, mirror-image of his Father, wracked the depths of his mind for the good that had come since Hel's murder, in their own home...
So far, it felt like there was nothing...

"I cannot think of anything..." He sighed with defeat, lowering his head. 
After a time, he sought to attempt to re-direct, if only briefly "Mother seems hesitant to pick which of us will be Heir. We have all trained hard to be worthy of the title." 
He didn't intend to complain, only to state as he saw things currently; "I think I understand why she isn't hasty, especially after..." He left what he meant to hang in the air - Hel's death.
Clearing his throat softly, Lucius began to speak again with an inhale - when the fur along his spine rose - a surefire tell that he thought there was danger nearby. 

His eyes began to scan the terrain as his nose worked the air for a long silence...
"Do you smell that?" He rumbled softly, brows knit quizzically as he looked to Creole for input, to reach out - to assure he wasn't going insane now.

---

---

Lucius

The Dragon frowned as his hopes were beaten down by the lack of anything positive from his son. Further words prompted a deeper frown and creased eyebrows as he held his breath, Lucius's words bouncing through his auricles... I think I understand why she isn't hasty, especially after... The words hung in the air thickly between them, almost as if they were visible. He knew what The son was saying... It didn't have to be said further, he knew.

Hel... Forever ingrained in their brains as the one who didn't make it... And it was sad, she would have made a great wolf one day...

The winds shifted, something dangerous crept through the air and shifted through their nostrils. Lucius turned towards Creole with words indicating he noticed it too and Creoles hackles bristled.

The Alabaster dragon stood and turned itself towards the origin of the scent... It was something he had encountered before...

Cougar...

We must be careful... Dangers lurk... Creole warned his son, the mirror image of himself... A proud moment for the father as he noted his son had picked up the scent easily.

---

[ooc]Unsure if we want to fight/fend off a cougar in this thread where it's kinda aged by now lol ^_^' Gonna leave it p to you, Middy![/oc]


The boy nodded slow and firm to the words of his father. 
His hackles remained razored upon his spine, eyeing down a spot in the lower reaches of the peaks below them where the sound of rocks falling emitted from.
Soon enough, a young Cougar appeared some ways down the slopes, unaware of the two males above it.
The cat wasn't actively hunting anything either, just simply...exploring, it looked like? At least to Lucius....

"Should we chase it off?" the boy rumbled softly to Creole with a side-long glance. 
He was unsure if it was worth it to do so, given the yearling feline wasn't posing an active threat to them. 
But he would leave the decision to Father.

Skill: Hunter

---

Lucius
I'm fine continuing it and present dating it if you'd like!

---

His mirror of a son had raised his hackles, almost at the same time Cree had funny enough, and the pair stood there with citrine eyes glaring in the direction of the wild cat. It stalked nothing and prowled itself this way and that completely oblivious to the dangers above it.

Let's... Creole growled with a wicked smile crossing his features as he began to stalk towards the animal. His massive form twisting and turning through the brush down towards where the animal lurked. Completely oblivious to the vicious nature of the beast he chased... For the man felt careless in this moment, fearless, as if he could take on the world...

---

---

Fine with me! <333

Lucius' citrine gaze flitted from Creole, to the young cat, and back at least once before the decision was made. 
They would tail the cougar.
Cooperative and ever-dutiful, Lucius grinned alongside his Sire, flowing into a hunter's prowl at Creole's side, descending into the lower bushes and slopes to stalk the feline. 
A protective fire lit in his veins, thinking of Nyra's whelps, still much too young to defend themselves from such a beast as a cougar - in the wrong circumstances, they would certainly perish if a cat got to them at this point in their lives. 

That risk could not remain unchallenged.

The cougar continued on its path, still unaware of the men coming in from behind, at least for now. 
She soon enough spotted a fat Rock Chuck meandering a decent ways down from her, and with interest, dropped into her own hunter's prowling stalk - fixated on the smaller mammal - prey. 
The yearling cat continued on with slowed, purposeful steps...

Lucius rumbled softly as he observed her, a primal and impatient noise as the men continued their approach. 
He glanced sidelong to his Father, fire alive in his young eyes as if to ask when they could attack.