Prickly Baby [closed(?)]

Where she was, she didn't know. It was dark, cramped, and quiet, but it was all that she had ever known. What remained of her eggshell was scattered across the floor of the crack in the tunnel wall. It was so deep that her egg had easily become trapped by it before she hatched. She didn't know what she was. All she knew about herself was that she had rough feet and almost no tail, just a few thin rings like burnt paper cones, one just inside of the other. As well as her name. She'd caught snatched of sound from the entrance to her crack, forming the word Alkali. At the moment, her little crack was home. Not once had the squat hatchling left. But as much as it was cozy, not much scurried inside for her to eat. She'd already tried to eat the dirt and her eggshell, but neither tasted great or provided much energy. So she waddled near the entrance every now and then, when it was dark, and snatched whatever was on the floor. If it was up to her, she'd think she was a badger, not a young dragon!

It was one of those dark times (as she was too young to tell the difference between night and day), and her stomach growled at her for what seemed to be the third time in the past minute. 'Quit being mean.' Alkali poked at her soft stomach with a claw. Hopefully all the noise-makers outside were gone and she could grab something! She rolled onto her paws and wobbled to the crack entrance and looked around. Nothing. For a while she looked around for bits of scraps, finding bits and pieces of the tougher red and white food as well as some of the white-centered foods. Then she saw it. A complete orange food, the ones filled with sweet juice and have a bitter skin. Taking another look around, she scuttled up to it and began scarfing it down, not noticing the creature that had appeared close to her.

Rhune walked through the caves of the Haven, tiredly putting one paw after the other. It had been a really tiring day today. First a training with the others to learn how to fight, then taking care of Prasi and AuSurath... Those two could easily tire any Caretaker. Rhune maybe was extremely endurant, but he was no exception.
And so the green dragon was on his way home. He had stopped by the marketplace to buy some food for himself (even though the task had proven not trivial at that time of the night) before walking through the now familiar caves that were making the Haven. A smile stretched his face as a thought came to his mind. Sure, it had been tiring and exhausting, but he took pleasure in what he was doing. Unlike back then, among the humans, he felt like what he was doing had a purpose.
A noise suddenly drew the green dragon out of his reverie. Rhune froze, his steps stopping as he looked around to pinpoint the source of the noise. It sounded like someone chewing on something... At that time of the night? It was too big to be a criter. His curiosity spiked, Rhune turned at the next corner toward where the sound was coming. It was a bit farther... Farther...
And then he saw it. Rhune froze again as he saw a hatchling munching on something - he couldn't quite guess what it was, but it sure wasn't fresh meat like a hatchling like this should be fed with. The hatchling was all alone, in an area that had no inhabitants. That was strange... It wasn't one of the hatchlings the Caretakers where in charge of, he would have recognized it otherwise...
Blinking profusely, Rhune lowered his head, getting it at the level of the hatchling.
"Hey little one. What are you doing so late here?" he gently asked.
His voice was as sweet as he could. He wasn't sure that hatchling was old enough to understand words, but maybe the gentle tune of his voice would reassure it. With his trimmed horns and scars along his flanks, Rhune could sometimes not make the best first impression...

Alkali whipped around at the voice close by, the sticky orange fruit still in her claws. She puffed up out of instinct, her quill-like scales standing on end. At her age, they were rather flimsy and dull, but they served their purpose in making herself feel bigger. 'A noisemaker!' If he was going to eat her, he would've done it by now, right? The hatchling locked eyes with the green dragon, not understanding that she was one as well. She closed her paw around her food protectively. "Hungry." The sand-colored hatchling lowered her head and approached slowly, cautiously, never breaking eye contact.
She was only a few feet away when she asked, "What are you?"

Rhune felt sorry for the little hatchling as she protected whatever she was eating, as if someone would steal her food. And she clearly said she was hungry... Yeah it really seemed like this hatchling was lost.
Tye green dragon was surprised as she asked what he was. She surely meant who she was, she just messed up a bit on the words...
"I'm Rhune. And you, what's your name? What are you doing here alone? Who's taking care of you?" he asked her, as gently as he could.
To show he wouldn't do anything rash, Rhune sat on the ground, his head still lowered at the level of the hatchling. Something felt off. This young one... was so thin. Just a bit like himself before... This was making him feel bad about that little hatchling. Whoever was taking care of her was doing a bad job! Rhune would have a word with her parents or Caretaker. This wasn't acceptable.

She snorted. He didn't answer her question! Snatching up the rest of her food from her claws in her jaws, she sat down with a huff. The prickly hatchling continued to stare at him, but answered his questions anyway, if shortly. "Alkali. Eating. I take care of me." Why was this "Rhune" asking so many questions anyway? It wasn't his business, was it? She shook off a fly attracted to the juice on her paws and proceeded to lick it off to spite it. "What are you," she repeated, poking at him with a claw. It seemed to her that she had no ways of knowing what she was, so it appeared best to find out through others. Her stomach threatened to growl again and she couldn't help but sniff the air for any other traces of food.

Rhune was getting more and more surprised by the answers that hatchling was giving him. She was... taking care of herself ? Something didn't feel right at all there. What did she mean by this ? Did that mean she had no Caretaker ? Or no parents ? Maybe she fled from her parents ? But most of all, it was her question. What... was he ? That just sounded so weird. She couldn't really meaning it, could she ? After a few seconds of silence Rhune replied to the hatchling.
"I... I'm a dragon, just like you... But... does that mean you're alone ?" he kind of stupidly asked.
That was when it dawned on him. For some reason that hatchling indeed was all alone. There wasn't any parent or Caretaker that would let a small one get thin like this. How come she wasn't found before ? Well it was right that it was a rather remote cave inside the Haven, but still... Rhune just couldn't stand to see that hatchling seemingly starving. He finally remembered what he had in his satchel. Alkali would need that meat more than he did. Rhune suddenly grabbed his satchel and opened it, revealing the piece of meat. With a few movements of his claws, he proceeded to cut small pieces of meat that the hatchling would be able to eat. They would still be quite a mouthful, but if she really was starving that wouldn't stop her.
"Here, have some. You're hungry, aren't you ?" he told her as he gently pushed the few pieces of meat toward her.
While she would be busy eating them, Rhune would cut down more and and her them. The total piece was far too big for Alkali to eat everything, so this would be an endless feast for her.

She was a dragon? Whatever that was, at least she had a reference on which to go on since Rhune was one too. A strong smell came to her tongue, and she looked around the cave for the source before spotting a piece of the red and white food laying on the ground. How come she hadn't noticed it? Alkali quickly waddled over and sniffed it. Where had it come from? Another piece was pushed beside it and she looked up to see Rhune holding a positively huge chunk of food. She'd never seen so much in one place before! The food quickly disappeared into her mouth and she eagerly rushed to the second, but she stopped herself for a moment. "..Thanks," she said sheepishly, and took slower bits. Now that it wasn't going directly to her stomach, she supposed it tasted pretty good.

Rhune could only help but have a smile as he saw the younger dragon rushing toward the meat and eagerly eating it. He continued to cut pieces of meat for Alkali to eat, watching as she would almost swallow the rather big chunks. She definitely had been starving. But this wouldn't happen again.
Soon enough the green dragon had cut the whole slice of meat into smaller pieces the hatchling could eat. There were far too much for her to be able to eat anything, but that meant she could eat to her heart's content - or, in that case, to her stomach's content. He briefly wondered what would happen next. If she was alone, she needed someone to take care of her.

There was no end to this food! Again and again she gobbled up each chunk, although she was beginning to slow. What would happen to the food if she couldn't eat it all? Could she save it? Finally, she couldn't take another bite. The hatchling felt fit to burst. Now that her stomach was full, it became clear that she was supposed to be wider than she was tall, which hadn't been apparent before. She looked up, craning her neck to look at the older dragon, and squinted. "How did you get this much food?" She tried to get up on her paws, but all she did was really slide gently to rest on her stomach, not taking into account the food she'd just eaten. It had been quite a bit.

Rhune could only smile as the hatchling gobbled piece after piece of meat. Maybe he should have given less, what if she got ill because she ate too much? But Rhune didn't have the heart to withdraw pieces of the meat. That baby was so eager to eat... And her whole body was showing how happy she was about it. Besides... Rhune perfectly knew what it was like to starve. Himself had started to get a normal shape since only a month. And he knew how pleasurable it was to eat to one's stomach content. So he just watched her eating with a smile, waiting for her to be done. Her belly was stretching with each additional piece gobbled, and soon she started to slow down the pace. And then she was done, probably unable to swallow any more. Rhune knew that feeling.
The green dragon had a chuckle at her innocent question. Of course she was wondering, since she had only known scarce food.
"Don't worry about it. From now, I'll make sure you have all the food you want. I don't know how you came to be all alone here, but... Now it's finished. Come, climb on my back. We'll get to a comfortable place to sleep, and tomorrow I'll show you how it should have been for you." he gently told her, lowering himself as much as he could so bis back was easy to access.

She gazes at him and shuffled forward, unbalanced by her unusually heavy stomach. Where would he take her? Would she eat like this every day? No, of course not. There wouldn't be enough food to go around if everyone ate like she just did! As she moved towards Rhune she questioned for a moment why he wanted to help her in the first place. Hadn't they just met a few moments ago? What had she done to make him want to help her? Questions and wariness aside, surely it would be better than her little crack in the wall, wherever she would be going. She'd been getting a bit big for it anyway. Alkali attempted to jump onto the green dragon's back, but slid back down his side and landed on her tail. It was a bit harder with the added weight of the food. The hatchling got up and tried again, putting more effort into her jump and just barely got a grip of the dragon's back. Would she get this big when she grew up? 'I hope so.' With a great tug, the amber-scaled dragon pulled herself up. She was sitting the wrong way, but hey, she got up. "Where are we going?"

Rhune couldn't help but softly chuckle as the hatchling had a hard time climbing on his back. Of course, she was so full such a jump would be pretty hard for her... He was about to help her, but at the second attempt she managed to hold onto his back. She was facing the wrong direction, but at least she was set on his back.
Rhune stood up, making his movements slow in order to make sure Alkali wouldn't fall over. It would probably be weird for her to see the world from that high for the first time in her life... The green dragon started to walk, making his steps as soft as possible.
"We're going to my place. I have a really comfortable bed, I'm sure you'll like it. There's nothing better than a good sleep after a good meal after all!" he answered her question.
Rhune looked back at the hatchling on his back, wanting to make sure everything was alright up there. How would she feel leaving this place? Would she feel anxious at the unknown in front of her? Would she instead feel glad to leave this place? Probably a mix of the two... Just like himself months ago.