#⌜❝ 𝙸𝙸. i’m the world ender & i’m back from the grave. ⟩⟩

[incendiorum]

dragon io is, as I've mentioned, just... stupidly, ridiculously territorial and their valley certainly falls under that in its entirety. there have been many, many settlements over the centuries, and each have succumbed to various fates (usually dragon-related). currently, there's two villages that io currently allows to inhabit their valley, but they are always, always watching them with a critical eye. the moment they get too into the idea of growth is when io will rid the valley of both and call it a day. they do the work to make sure both villages properly understand the relationship: so long as they are quiet, make no moves against the dragon living above them, and don't start tearing up the valley for crops or homes, then their local watchful super-predator will (mostly) leave them alone. every movement into and out of the valley is tracked, and the presence of groups of armed people is something that they will not stand - said groups get chased out or straight-up attacked depending on the mood for the day. the presence of other dragons always results in the latter of those two options. the villages are... sometimes liable to get caught in the crossfire, though. an attack on io is nothing short of encouragement to make themself known as dangerous and pissed, and they will burn great swathes of their valley and the villages, too, just to make that point. mostly, though, io really isn't inclined to mess with them much and the two (three) live in relatively tense peace. there's also the fact of the matter that io is lonely, and can pass through both villages in their most human of forms as disguise and fulfill social requirements (be an asshole, buy some fruit, etc.)

[incendiorum]

THEY SIT, IN THE SMOKING ruins of a village. a tree stump, half still charred with parts glowing orange, makes their seat next to edge of the destruction, by the only road that ever went through it. upon the other’s arrival, iovita doesn’t turn to look, gray gaze fixed. despite their currently human look, there’s something… off about them. a tenseness to their body that speaks of something opposite of nervousness. easy confidence. predatory.

“ there was a dragon here, ” they say simply, reaching down to sift a sooty coin from the ash. they hold it up to the light, inspecting it. “ I don’t think you’ll find anything of use. ”

[incendiorum]

while in their fantasy verse dragon io has a rather fluid handle over their own appearance from human to dragon, they have three that they flip through most often, with defined features/traits.

their full dragon form: by far their favorite, simply for the sheer power it grants them. their build here favors agility and quickness, and does not handled blunt, physical fights well at all, especially if their opponent makes it so they can't strike with their fangs. however, it's hard to get that kind of upperhand on them. they're big (30' tall at the shoulder, ~200' long), but slender and rather lithe, a build somewhere between a greyhound and a mink, with narrow, swept-back wings meant for aerial speed and agility, not unlike a falcon. they have six fingers on each wing instead of five (including the hooked thumb at their wrist-joint).

from nose-tip to shoulders, they are remarkably snake like. from the broad, triangular head of a viper (although horned, a combination of nose 'horns' and straight above-the-eye horns not unlike mixing a rhinoceros viper and a horned sand viper) to the flexible, serpentine neck capable of rapid strikes. the rest of them is much more dragon-like. four legs with sharp claws. a long, slender tail that is always carried off the ground. their fire is sourced in their chest, and a constant hum can be found there, as well as so much heat as to almost burn someone when not in use (and will burn when in active use).

they are pale and mottled light gray in color, with the only vibrancy being the bright orange found mixed with the gray of their eyes, and the blood-red underside of their wings.

they are capable both of fire, and a potent venom that has, can, and will kill other dragons. it will effortlessly kill people too, although their fangs are... very long, and liable to simply go through someone.

their snakelike qualities don't end with their appearance, either. they lack eyelids and have a piercing, expressionless stare. and they have a forked tongue that can taste and scent the air as well as their infinitely smaller look-a-likes. they are marked by their fair share of scars in this form. scarred nostrils, a tear in one wing. claw-mark scars down their back and concentrated around a wing joint. a constant, obvious limp in their left foreleg.

the intermediate form: taller than their human form (6'3" here). there are several pale scales present, forming interlocking patterns on their lower arms and legs, collarbones and hipbones. their canines are longer, sharper, and liable to cut and pierce very easily. their wings are present - all twenty-four feet of them. the membrane of their wing that exists between their body and the sixth finger attaches from the wing joint behind their shoulder all the way down to their hip, which makes shirts an interesting and modified affair. their eyes are closer to that of their full dragon form - gray, and with a lurid orange concentrated close to the slit pupil.

they take this form most often with trusted company, or in the privacy of their own home.

and their 'human' form: most similar to io's canon appearance, barring some traits. they are their same canon height (5'11") here. small, pale scales dot their skin, and frequent spots where the skin is thin over bones like their elbows, collarbone, hips, knees, etc. their canines are sharper, coming down into short points. their pupil is round here, but the gray of their iris is marked by a hint of brownish-orange nearest the pupil.

this is the one they take when venturing out amongst unfamiliar people (towns/cities/etc).out of all these forms, they find their human form most uncomfortable - when asked they will compare the sensation to something not unlike trying to shove a cyclone into a glass bottle.

their intermediate and full dragon are equally preferred, and they switch between depending on the mood or the company. no matter what, however, they have left behind a completely human guise. and they don't regret it. the death that led to them choosing to become a dragon when offered is one that haunts their sleep. the helplessness, the shame, the anger. io was offered power upon their death, and they took it eagerly.

it's important to note that io technically did fulfill their venadeus blood-right in this verse, and in every way is a god, even if they are not entirely aware of it. they are bitter, and angry, and the circumstances surrounding their death in this verse is all the reason they needed to come back as such. they are divine wrath given the most terrifying form they could muster.

[incendiorum]

She’s currently passed out in the dragons bed, curled up with her face buried into their pillow.

  “ LONI, DO YOU WANT - ” THE dragon stops in the entryway, words dying in their throat when they see her prone form on their bed. setting aside the towel they were using to catch the last drops of their bathwater from their hair, they pad quietly across the chamber towards her.

  carefully, with the kind of steady, slow grace befitting a hunting serpent, iovita lowers themself onto the other side of the bed. they keep a respectful distance between her and them, despite the near-overwhelming urge to be closer, and roll onto their belly. pillowing their face into a folded arm, they let their wings relax, drape loose at their sides and spill across the blankets between their bodies, and they observe.

  they don’t often sleep with blankets on top of them at all (the logistics of a twenty-four-foot wingspan and a tangle of sheets… absolutely not), and instead choose to shove them into loosely shaped berms so that they can drape their wings across them and nest themself in between. the same goes for their pillows; better suited for squishing into various points of their body. which is why it’s odd, in a way, to see her use both as intended. her face is smooshed into the pillow, a sliver available for them to view, and their gaze lingers. on the eyelashes feathering her cheek, at the peek of plush lips (they linger here the longest, biting the inside of their bottom lip before blowing out a breath and shoving their face harder into their crooked arm).

  from there, they let their attention drift down the shape of her body, and try very hard to not remember that they know exactly what she looks like without fabric to bar their gaze. that night in the cave, however hellishly cold it was, is something that quite likes to bubble up in their mind’s eye over… and over… and over.

  stifling every urge they have to groan, they shove their face completely into the bend of their arm, focusing on more innocuous things. like the growth of their valley over recent years (due for a fire, they think) or the fact that there’s water dripping somewhere (not great for maintaining their ‘this is not a dank cave’ stance). but nothing can distract them from the fact that’s she’s sleeping mere feet away from them. lifting their head enough that their eyes peek over their forearm in twin slivers of steel, they let their gaze linger even as their eyelids grow heavier and heavier with each blink.

@maljefe

[incendiorum]

⌜❝ 𝙸𝙸. 𝚂𝙴𝚁𝙿𝙴𝙽𝚂.

the area iovita makes their home in and claims as their land in this verse is a valley. it could entirely be considered a perfectly fertile valley. enriched by volcanic soil and a wide, winding river. the flat land of the valley floor would have made a wonderful place for a town, a city, even. but instead it lays vastly empty, except for a couple villages. any farms started along the river lay half-started and then abandoned.

the river that winds across the valley floor is dubbed the snake river. lazy, wide, and prone to flooding. mountains ring the valley bowl, and the western range has an old name: mons serpens. this is the range that holds the cave iovita claims as their own. and it's a place both villages warn people away from. the evergreen forest a mile around the cave has been laid waste to several times over. not a single old growth tree still lives. the tall pines only grow greenery at the very tops, the bases of them scorched and blackened. their dead brethren are pale white and soot-marked skeletons. small, young pines grow thick and competitive at their bases. purple flowers flourish in sunlit areas, creating bright carpets of color. most people in the surrounding area know not to venture too far into the young trees, and because of it the area is filled with often-hunted wildlife, despite the fact that a predator lives in the mountain tunnels just above their heads. the only paths through are meandering game trails. the undergrowth is far too thick to go crashing about in, otherwise.

far above their cave, sheltered in a bowl in the mountains, is lake colossus. a massive, ice-cold glacial lake. to people, this signifies the last major landmark of the local dragon's territory.

iovita's cave itself is a twisting mess of chambers, snaking through the mountains they made their home. the main one is the biggest, fit for the massive bulk of their dragon form. the smaller ones are closest to the surface. modified by careful, steady hands to truly resemble a home. a bedroom, a library, a tucked away tunnel that leads to a deep hot spring for bathing. a path to the surface that exits onto a ridge where they make a garden and have planted fruit trees. they don't spend all their time in their dragon form, although they have patterns. when alone for years on end, they prefer to be large and monstrous. when with company, lasting company, they tend to prefer to look more human in appearance.

[incendiorum]

⌜❝ 𝙸𝙸. 𝚂𝙴𝚁𝙿𝙴𝙽𝚂.

there is a story, a legend, even, of a scorned child who grew into an angry, vengeful adult. the story says that the child was unloved by their parents, that the village turned a blind eye to the abuse. that the child, upon becoming an adult, was murdered by an angry man for a reason lost to time. and the story goes that in the delicate gray space between death and life, the adult was offered an ultimatum by a god - die, or become powerful.

the adult chose power. and from the grave came a serpent hundreds of feet long, pale white and blood-red. a head like an viper, claws like swords, and wings that swept long and narrow like a falcon's. that venom dripped from long fangs and fire boiled deep in its throat. in the serpent's fury, it burned the village and everyone in it to the ground. and in the mountains that once surrounded the quiet place, it made a home.

for hundreds of years there are stories and frightening tales of a dangerous dragon hiding in the mountains. often, people say, it sleeps, but sometimes it wakes and flies from its lair to lay waste to anything it can. not a single knight has successfully sought and killed it.

there are rumors, that perhaps for the very few people the dragon favors, it changes - shrinks down into a beautiful person who could pass among anyone who walks. there are signs, argue other people, sharp teeth and serpent eyes that would never belong on a normal human.

but these are all just rumors, of course. monsters aren't beautiful.

more info about the verse below the cut:

you've heard it a dozen times from me but, at their core, io is very corruptible. and venadeus is a corrupting force. the circumstances of their death in this verse, plus the promises venadeus made to them when they were trying to decide whether to be resurrected or not, has made this, by far, the worst version of io that I currently write. morally corrupt, one might say.

why? because they thrive on creating fear. io sees the path to peace as forged in violence. if they're terrifying, if they're deadly, if they burn and raze an entire kingdom to the ground and lounge in the ashes, then who really wants to fuck with them?

on top of that, io always thrives in destruction. it feels good to them. they're bitter, they're aggressive, and people matter so little to them that they don't find burning things to the ground a waste. no matter who occupies those places.

and, frankly, venadeus turned them into a living, breathing war machine and then let them loose on a world that scorned them. a god of violence is sure to pass it on to his children in every way he possibly can.

io in this verse also has complete control over how human or how draconic they want to look. it's fine-tuned and fluid. but there are three 'main' forms they favor:

that of a person. the only things that may give them away is the central orange hue in an otherwise gray gaze, and the pale scales that dot their body, often hidden beneath clothes. sharp canines are present, but they are certainly blunter than what appears in their intermediate form. while this a perfect form for mingling among humanity, io finds it incredibly uncomfortable and restrictive.

that of a dragon. several hundred feet in length. sinuous and lithe. they have four limbs, two falcon-like wings, and the head and neck of a horned viper. mostly pale white and gray in color, but the undersides of their wings are blood-red. a comfortable form. they default to this one quite often.

and finally, a form somewhere in the middle. human, vastly... kind of. more scales cover parts of their body, interlocking patterns on their arms, legs, hip and collarbones. the horns present in their full dragon form are also present here, sweeping out from under their hair. their wings are also present, hanging heavy from their back. canines are longer and sharper. the lurid central orange in their eyes is brighter and more obvious. this is a comfortable form. and one they show more often to people they trust and like.

[incendiorum]

when she's slammed against the brick wall her breath is stolen by the impact. she gasps, eyes wild and panic coursing through her veins. she wonders if someone had been about to attack them, but then she feels their body, their heat, press into her rooting her to the spot.

"vito what-" she barely gets out before their fingers snake around her throat. it's not anywhere enough pressure to even cut her air off a little bit, but rather something dominant that demands her absolute obedience. obviously that speaks to her submissive nature, yet that wars with the part of her that wants to fight back; to be a brat and deny them what they wanted if for no other reason than to have them push her around more and more.

the dragon steals her lips, softly at first in a way that didn't fit the circumstances. almost apologetic she felt like they were trying to show her that they cared for her. though as fast as the thought hit her it faded when their tongue invaded her mouth, eliciting a soft whimper from her. grasping for their broad shoulders she rights herself as best as she could, holding on for dear life as they plundered her mouth. what had gotten into them was besides her, but she wasn't exactly upset over it. call her insane, but this sort of possessiveness went right to her core.

"v-vito... not here... someone might see-"

  IT TAKES ONLY A STRIDE for the dragon to go from trailing just behind her to standing in front of her, every part of them projecting stop like a shout. their hand finds her hip, their other her shoulder, and they walk her backwards until there’s a wall at her back. they say nothing when they slide their hand up the curve of her shoulder and settle it around her neck, but there’s a flare of utter satisfaction in their eyes when she doesn’t push back. leaning just a little closer, they study her face before closing the distance to brush their lips along hers. soft, curious – a reminder that they’re not all hard lines and sharp angles and demands that can’t be negotiated.

  her lips are warm and plush and for a moment they consider the idea of slow and sweet. the luxurious build up to something heavier.

  if there wasn’t something hot and desperate burning down the length of their spine. they’re not even sure what triggered it, this time. a smell, a look, something – and then she, this, was all they could think about. before, they might have simply pressed into her space, unwilling to let themself be too far away. but now… now is certainly different, and iovita is all too pleased to be able to open new doors.

  they lick at the seam of her lips and then past, tongue sliding along her own. her soft whimper they swallow down eagerly, shifting to press as much of their body against her as they can. hungry, they think distantly, do you feel a little… hungry? iovita feels starved, and the heat of her mouth isn’t nearly enough to sate them. pulling back, they stare down at her with something a little frantic in their gaze and in their panting breath. their gaze lingers on her mouth, reddened and slick, and they very nearly duck back down to keep kissing her.

  instead, they shift the hand at her throat so that their thumb presses into the soft spot under her jaw; a firm reminder to keep her chin up and eyes on them. “ and you didn’t think that maybe, that was the point? ” their thumb relaxes, slipping over to just under her jawbone to tip her head to the side. when they bend down, the kisses they press to her neck are soft and featherlight at first. the long stripe they lick up the column of her neck, however, is decidedly less innocent. “ I don’t pretend to fully understand why I feel like this, ” they murmur, breath puffing against the wet skin, “ about my valley, about you, ” they pause, thinking, and take this time to drag the points of their teeth along her skin in small, sharp nips. “ about the things that I don’t want someone, something, thinking that they can try and take. ”

  it’s not even that alone; a seed had been planted in that damned cave, months ago. insatiable desire burning low and slow that had them fisting their hands with the want to touch. it’s long since sprouted, yes, but it’s racing for the sunlight, and iovita is not just the fire that started it but the fire that gave it the opportunity in the first place.

  the dragon lifts their head, watching her with the same unblinking intensity of a cat ready to pounce. “ besides, I think you like it. ”

@maljefe

[incendiorum]

⌜❝ 𝙸𝙸. 𝚂𝙴𝚁𝙿𝙴𝙽𝚂.

io's shifting in this verse is, at it's core, incredibly fluid. they can change very small details about themself to appear more draconic or more human. and they enjoy the freedom of being able to do so.

and their shifting isn't painful... to them. to an observer, it's disorienting, incomprehensible, and near-awful to witness. the smallest changes are kinder on the eyes. some vague puzzling white-out to the vision. an inability to see clearly for a moment. the sensation of eye-strain. unfocused vision.

the big changes, like going from human straight to full-dragon? like walking from a pitch-black room into full sunlight. blinding. painful. there's no way to make sense of the transformation and you won't. one moment there will be a person, and the next, out of that liquid, stretching, blazing light there will be a dragon. out of an impossible shape, a familiar one.

and it is, truly, because io in this verse was not just hurt, but murdered. and in their dying moments they realized not a single person had helped. they were... furious. desperate to hurt in return, because io always jumps straight to vengeance - that familiar feeling that just makes them hungry. and so io took the opportunity to turn everything about themself into a weapon. from the venom, to the fire, to even the very transformation of the self.

[incendiorum]

"why are you acting so... territorial? we're in public." she leans away from them slightly ( only to be able to look up and into those slate grey eyes she adored ). "you haven't said there's another dragon around so why won't you leave my side? you can go enjoy your time you know. I won't come after you."

IOVITA STARTLES AT THAT, LIKE a cat caught walking across the dinner table. “ territorial? ” they echo. oh, are they territorial. some urge, among others, that started up the moment they said yes, I want to keep living to venadeus, all those years ago. and it only got worse over the centuries they preferred being a dragon over being a person. it’s the kind of possession that pumps adrenaline and mindless anger right into their veins when it’s infringed upon. and usually, usually, it extends to their land and themself and nothing else.

… usually.

outside of the land they claim as their own, it bubbles up when they catch a whiff of another dragon. there’s something about the threat of another predator as big and dangerous as they are that makes them want to pick a fight regardless of their current form.

and… it seems to extend to people like loni. rare as those people are. what that means, the dragon has never really bothered to puzzle out. there’s just something special about few enough people that they could count each and every one on one hand and still have a couple fingers left over.

“ I’m not… territorial, ” iovita tells her, like they don’t like the way they can taste their own scent lingering on her. “ and certainly not for you. didn't I tell you you are not my type? ” out of the two lies they just told, that might be the most blatant. but iovita continues to hope that she’s remained oblivious to their longing, lingering looks.

they come to a dead stop, feet planted, and look a little lost. “ I was… enjoying… my time, ” they say it like every word is being forcibly pulled from their chest, “ … with you. ” gray gaze darts away. “ but if you want to look around alone you can tell me to shoo, you know. ”

@inhumann

[incendiorum]

tag dump #2