shatterverse | (no subject)

Somewhere in the Rockies is a rather large cave. Skulls and bones are strewn outside - some deer, some human, but most clearly not of this world.

Inside the cave is a tapestry depicting a courtly festival, a large collection of Asian art, some American Indian beadwork, and a variety of religious paintings. Shem's trip to the Denver Art Museum yielded amazing results (for him - the museum now has dragon-shaped, lightning-scorched holes in it), though the flight back to his cave destroyed too many paintings for his liking.

Most of these pieces of art are set on large rocks. Shem will see to the proper display and mounting of his pieces later - every day he wracks his brain to figure out his new cave's aesthetic. When he's not thinking of a way to create human slaves who can steal paintings and sculptures for him and transport them back unharmed.

Shem has been a busy dragon since he changed worlds. Right now he's flying over a small valley ten minutes away from his cave, looking below for food.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Nhim growls back, her ears still flattened. "If you were still in our proper world, your sister would have killed you as soon as she heard word."

Shem roars.

"She would have died under the claws of the Namebreaker's dragon hoards!"

Sometime during their 'fight' he forgot about his resolution not to tell Nhim anything.

It hurts like hell, but Nhim forces herself to lunge forward. Her roar comes more from pain at trying to force her crippled leg to work properly than anything else. She snaps, aiming to grab Shem by the neck again. "What?"

Shem is ready this time. He rears onto his hind-legs, twisting his body to the left and using the force to aim a powerful blow at the left side of her head.

The claws will do minimal damage if they hit: his goal is to topple her. He's betting her bad leg can't support the blow.

And sure enough, it works. The blow makes her stagger, and her leg gives under the sudden shift in her weight to the side. She bellows angrily as she goes down, her spines flaring to their fullest again.

Shem rarely has the courage to fight with other dragons - he has to plan what he does next instead of acting on trained instinct. He reacts a few seconds after her body hits the ground.

He lunges, trying to land his forepaws on her throat and jaw (to keep it closed so she can't use her breath weapon) and his hindpaws on her stomach.

Nhim finds herself caught, but doesn't go still-instead, her claws grind into the dirt as she attempts to force herself back onto her feet. Her tail whips around, lashing at Shem-however, it only ends in a plume of fur, rather than spikes, so it's more an annoying distraction than an actual danger.

Shem brings as much weight as he can to bear, growling, "Don't-- you-- dare--!"

To back up his threat, his jaws spark with electricity.

The threat doesn't stop her struggling, even as the forepaw on her throat and jaw start making her try to cough-a difficult task, with Shem's forefeet where they are. She glares at him defiantly, her ears going as flat as they can and her spikes remaining raised.

It takes a lot of electricity to take down a dragon. Shem has never needed to know how much before this moment.

It takes him two tries to get it right.

Needless to say, it's something of a relief for Nhim when she finally goes down.

Shem staggers off of Nhim, panting.

"It is you who are lucky, mother," he snarls when he has the breath. "For I am willing to let the past remain in the past. For now."

He looks at her for a long, contemplative moment. Then he grabs her kill in his jaws and flies to his new lair.