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Did you know Dragons are very interesting creatures? For example, like Piglings, they also have hoards, which are collections of things valuable to them, yet theirs work slightly differently. Where Piglings hoard gold, weapons and hunting trophies, Dragons hoard people. Not in the literal sense but they do develop an instinct to protect and do stuff for said people.
Shows of affection between both species are very similar but have key differences as well. Piglins give out parts of their hoard to their Sounder, while Dragons bring items their hoard likes into the hoard. That is why illustrations that depict dragons show caves full of gold and treasures. The hoard is someone or something and the treasure are the dragon’s gifts to them.
Grieving is also very similar. Piglins and dragons grieve through vengeance but the aftermath is different. Piglins dedicate the rest of the time protecting their sounder more intensely but without really restricting movement. They just follow them the entire time. On the other hand, dragons will drag their remaining hoard into a nest and keep them there until they feel they are safe. This last part is absolutely necessary for both, as without it grieving will never finish and there is a chance of them dying from moral collapse.
It’s quite fascinating.
Now, for the important part.
Wemmbu is a half dragon hybrid who was raised by another dragon hybrid and a Piglin hybrid. As a third generation hybrid, instincts are not something you have to worry about, Jaden , but Wemmbu does. All of the above are things he either has to deal with as part of his instincts, or things he incorporated from watching his paternal figures.
If you received this letter, it’s because he already considers you part of his hoard, so please, stay with him while I’m gone, alright?
—Eggchan.
<before.>> Jaden grumbles, as a purring Wemmbu curls his wings around him.
Oh well, actually he did. Jaden just neglected reading the letter before something actually happened.
He looks up to see Wemmbu’s face observing him from where he is resting above Jaden’s own head. He sees the tear tracks there, and sighs.
Eggchan died.
At least that is what he has interpreted from Wemmbu’s garbled Enderian, which stopped a while ago, and behavior.
He died and Wemmbu was there to see everything. Able to do absolutely nothing.
Eggchan died, but not permanently.
Apparently, Egg, as a seraphim, won’t die in the traditional sense. His body will de-spawn and he won’t be around for a while, but he’ll eventually reappear in the same state as he was before he died. It’s a glitch, he had explained, that has not been patched and probably won’t for a while.
So in a sense, Eggchan is totally and perfectly fine.
Now, try to tell that to a very distressed and kind of feral dragon hybrid known to be perfectly violent. Especially when said dragon saw it, felt indescriptible powerlessness and is now on instinct guided panicked grief.
Wemmbu obviously knows of Egg’s particularity, or at least Jaden hopes he knows, but was too shocked by the event.
He truly doesn’t know how he ended up here. Just a few hours ago he had been in a not too diplomatic meeting with the other rival pirate group of the server. Before, he wouldn’t have acknowledged them, but the civil war back in the main server inspired a few revolutions against Jaden’s own Pirate Civilization. They were overall easy to deal with, as most of the players were severely undergeared, but it still took time. He had just finished one of the groups, waiting for the next one to arrive to deal with them, when Wemmbu arrived.
He’d been a right mess: hair in all directions, blood in his clothes, hands and even face, and a faraway look on his face that scared Jaden. He’d been ready to swoop into action and offer his help to the other when Wemmbu just up and took Jaden away, flying into the room Jaden had reserved for Wemmbu is his civilization and locking them there. The only thing he kind of heard was a mumbled protect and a much more panicked egg-gone-
In a matter of minutes, a nest had been made and he was being dragged into it by a very distressed and non-responsive, verbally at least, Wemmbu.
Eggchan’s letter? While Wemmbu left to get his trident, which Jaden asked for, he got out and ran to his room, where he had a letter Eggchan gave him once back when they were in the whole Arachnid mess. He just had enough time to grab the letter before Wemmbu was dragging him back.
Then he read it. And now he’s here.
With a sigh, he extends his hand to scratch Wemmbu’s wing, drawing more soft purrs from him.
“Dude.” He starts.
Wemmbu slowly blinks at him, his tail thumping once or twice where it rests protectively around both of them. He adjusts his hold, so now Jaden and him are looking face to face. His face has faint tear tracks, and his eyes are just unfocused enough to remind Jaden that, in Wemmbu’s mind, Egg just died. He also notices that Wemmbu’s wings are now more readily available to scratch.
“I have a civilization to take care of, Wemm.” He starts, gently extending his hand to continue scratching the wings. It seems to distract the half dragon from what he is saying, so he moves on. “You have protected me quite well. Look. I am all fine.” The other tilts his head preening at the attention, which looks quite funny, considering how he usually is. “I have to go.”
Clearly ignoring him, Wemmbu just uses his tail to nudge him back into the pile of clothes, pillows and blankets he had borrowed from somewhere. His wings come down, extended in their full glory, and curl around Jaden, leaving Wemmbu facing away from him. He never relaxes properly, back perpetually tense and ready to attack. His eyes, before he turned, were llined with a very thin sheet of purple, which Jaden is beginning to connect with a flaring of his emotions.
Oh well, he’s already here. He’ll do what he can.
Though seriously, he knows nothing of Dragonic mental health.
“Wemmbu, look at me.”
He can’t sit up without pushing the wings away and he doesn’t think that is a good idea, so he just brings a hand to his back and rubs circles there.
Wemmbu doesn’t bulge from his position, but his wings tremble with something Jaden recognizes as exhaustion. He keeps the motions, eventually moving to the base of his wings, where the joint of the wings are, and makes the same motions there.
For the first few minutes, the wings remain firm and steady, but after a while, they just relax, dropping limp over Jaden, finally allowing him to properly sit up.
Wemmbu insists on ignoring him, though.
He keeps his hands over the wing, massaging over the leathery and almost rough limb. Usually doing this with any winged hybrid is very intimate and personal, but Jaden has a feeling that being part of a dragon’s hoard gives him some leeway. Either way, Wemmbu’s instinct-driven brain hasn’t rejected the motions so he just barrels on.
He sits up, running his hands up to Wemmbu’s shoulders and massaging there. This finally prompts a reaction. Well, actually two. The first one is an instinctive drop of tension. The second one, a low growl.
Oh, is that good or bad? Oh he is definitely spawn killing Egg for not giving more instructions. For all intents and purposes, that is a joke. He really doesn’t want to spoil his’ and Wemmbu’s friendship, much less deal with draconic grief.
“What is it, Wemm? Too hard?”
Instead of a verbal response, Wemmbu squares up his shoulders, as if standing guard again.
So, the other was angry that he wasn’t letting them stand guard properly? Is that what's going on?
Too bad Jaden wants Wemmbu to rest instead of fighting invisible dangers.
He returns to what he was doing, soothingly massaging his shoulders and even his neck. As he did he got other cautionary growls and even he got hit by a tail, but neither carried any weight or true danger behind it.
Are dragons just one very big overprotective cat? He muses as Wemmbu closes his eyes with a purr as his hand sneaks up to pat his head.
He doesn’t stop, not until Wemmbu is finally leaning on him, purring and eyes nearly closed.
“Wemmbu.” He says, making small braids in Wemmbu’s hair to untangle it. The other would despise coming back to his senses just to find his hair all messed up. “Talk to me. Do you need anything right now?”
Wemmbu purrs before, curling on Jaden’s lap, face hidden from view. His claws, wait claws?, grip Jaden’s jacket like a lifeline. Apparently the other gave up on standing guard with Jaden around, which he counts as a win.
“Water?” Nothing. “Food?” Nothing. “Sleep?” Nothing.
He sighs, taking off his hat and placing it aside. Wemmbu’s tail moves and with surprising dexterity, pushes it closer to himself.
“Alright. You can keep it for now.” He rolls his eyes.
Wemmbu stays there, awake, non-responsive and still alert, but comforted and accompanied by Jaden.
For his part, Jaden just talks and talks, keeping his voice low. Using his communicator, he tells his people to not come searching for him so as to not jostle the almost docile dragon. Almost, because as soon as anything not Jaden-shaped tries to enter the room, he snaps his jaw open with a growl, clicking with warning purple particles until the intruder leaves.
Getting him to relax was almost impossible, so Jaden just waited for his tension to bleed out and Wemmbu usually came back willingly. When he did, he just curled around him again, back and wings towards Jaden and his face and fangs towards the door.
He messaged MinuteTech, slightly surprised Wemmbu isn’t with him, as the other for sure would be considered as part of Wemmbu’s hoard but it seemed the guy was exploring the far end islands, and therefore made Wemmbu unable to track him instinctively. Jaden had just been the closest one.
It’s not that he is complaining. In fact, it is nice to finally have some time to rest, even if it is unexpected. His people can handle themselves, and he really had nothing that important going on.
Occasionally, Wemmbu would sniffle and shuffle closer to Jaden, taking deep breaths, as if to make sure he is there and alive. He just makes sure to accommodate him, so that his wings are not positioned uncomfortably.
When Wemmbu wouldn’t let himself fall asleep, growling to himself each time his eyes closed on exhaustion, Jaden just muttered reassurances. It worked specially well when Jaden placed the trident right by his side and said See, I have my own weapon. I’ll be fine. You’ll be fine while scratching Wemmbu’s scalp.
It got Wemmbu to sleep and finally take some rest.
Jaden sighed and relaxed too.
He closed his eyes, knowing his civilization won’t fall overnight.
It took three days.
Three long days of waiting for Wemmbu to go fish, because apparently his instincts had to do that. He even freaked o it when Jaden offered to help, which meant he had to wait for a couple of hours while Wemmbu catched a fish he considered “appropriate”. Jaden doubts he used a fishing rod, as he came back completely drenched and his claws carried the stench of fish and seaweeds.
Three days of Wemmbu waiting for something to protect Jaden from. Not so spoilers alert: nothing came. And even if it did Jaden is more than capable of handling it. He maybe even wished something did happen, if only to prove that he can defend himself, Wemmbu. Regardless, both of them had a chance to relax, even if only one of them was fully aware of it.
On the fourth day, Wemmbu finally woke up fully conscious.
At the time Jaden was reading some news in his communicator, hand slowly patting Wemmbu’s head as he laid on his lap.
“Dude what?” A hoarse voice from disuse came from the dragon, and Jaden feels a sigh of relief leave his body.
He looks to the side and sees Wemmbu sit up slowly and disoriented, though his wings and tail remain relaxed and limp.
“Yeah?”
“Don’t yeah me, Jaden, what happened?”
Jaden just raises an eyebrow. “You remember nothing? Absolutely nothing?”
Wemmbu pauses, opens his mouth to speak, closes it, opens it again and closes it. The question seems to have finally woken him up and Jaden watches, containing his laughter as dread and shame fill the other’s face. It’s so funny to see his face go bright purple, and his tail wrap around his ankle.
Yeah, he’s got soo much teasing material from here on out.
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Relax.” He throws his communicator to the side, and tilts his head. “What happened? You were so shaken up it took three days for you to, y’know, snap back into reality.”
Wemmbu sighs and drags a hand to his hair, only to find the braids Jaden weaved into it. “Dude- okey- basically, Egg was fishing, I left for some bait because he ran out of it and shit happened, Egg got kidnapped and then well- I rushed to find him, and he was fine and all that. I go to dealing with the kidnappers only for him to die because he stumbled into the blade they didn’t even have raised. Like, blind as fuck if you ask me.” He sighs again, and shakes his head.
“You know he can come back, right?”
Wemmbu gives him the nastiest glare possible before grumbling out. “D’alright. Say all you want, asshole,”
He smiles, before jabbing the other just underneath his ribs. “You knew he can respawn and still panicked?.”
A tail suddenly hits him in the face.“Please shut up.”
Jaden laughs, noticing he hit him with the blur edge of the tail and not the spiness, reaching for Wemmbu’s shoulder and finds that the other still doesn’t pull away. “It’s fine.”
Wemmbu sighs, again, and says, slowly and carefully. “Thanks. It’s- I was in a very vulnerable position right there.” He sounds honest, open and Jaden is happy that they’ve gotten to this point.
Friends.
He smirks. “Anytime. You can count on me for anything.”
Because that’s what friends are for.
“Just so you know.” He pats Wemmbu on the shoulder and adds just to be a little shit. “Next time you need cuddles you can just ask, there is no need to have anyone die or something-“
“Shut your ass, Jaden.”