Desperate Skies

[Yuna Braska]

Raze said nothing to his sister, nothing but nudge her softly on the nose to signal a family affection. Adelonda could feel her brothers love, she admired him so much. He was so much bigger then her as well, it was like she looked like a juvenile next to him. " Your not hurt?" She asked with concern. Raze was silent for a moment, still nudging his sisters neck with his muzzle, grey fur and scales mixing with Adelonda's white cover. " No..." He grunted before resting his legs. Adelonda's ears twitched at the sound of melody, a young dragon crying a song into the sky. The pain and suffering that carried within it broke Adelonda's heart. She layed herself beside her brother and comforted him as he rested, exhausted and sore from the battle. She did not sing along with the others, but she listened.

[Elario Luminus]

Letting his cry drift off into nothing, Asterion swallowed his sadness and packed it away. He slowly walked over towards the Phoenix's new adoptees, tail and wings drooping slightly, and checked them over, making sure they were more or less okay. Satisfied, he looked up at the Phoenix's themselves with a saddened, but resolved look.
"This cannot continue..."
Without another word, Asterion moved over to a large rock that made a kind of podium and sat on it, waiting for general calm before he did anything.

[Sparkles]

Turning around, the leader of the Latet clan, Aurum, held his head high as his wings held above him in an attempt to intimidate the ancient red dragon he was turned to face. "Come to rub it in my face, Sinuo?" he ground his front right talons into the earth, making the soil pucker up around them.

Narrowing his luminescent electric blue eyes on the young adult who had much too much overconfidence considering he'd just lost over half his clan in a battle he approved of, Sinuo stepped back at the same moment as the young ones began to sing the songs of those that mourn.

Lowering his head not in submission but in sadness, the ancient dragon dismissed Aurum and turned to see his daughter, softly rubbing her cheek over Zephyrus's wings as his daughter's daughter lay curled up under her mother's front leg.

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Aura continued to watch the skies, expecting her mate to fly in above her head at any moment. But as she waited, and as she listened to the little dragons cries, she could feel her hopes dwindle. 'Surely, if something has happened, he would have been brought back... surely' she thought, as she turned her head to stare at the others, either mourning the dead or tending to the wounds of the injured. But among them was not her mate. Aerugo could not be found by her eyes...

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Although it way unlike him, Koron would join the young ones once he reached them. He had not lost anyone close to him, as a result of never letting anyone in, though he felt their pain.

Koron watched Arakeil, a young juvenile Silice, as he mourned his mother and he could feel the presence of death with them in this clearing, feel its claws gripping at the hearts of all that were present. Feeling connected by the loss, Koron lowered and joined in the song; concentrating on keeping his song low and quiet as to not disturb any other.

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Keeping herself curled up under her mother's leg, Zephyrus wept for the others. She closed her eyes as tight as she could muster, to block out the images of the dead. Before doing so, she had seen her friends approaching their own parents, seen the fear and pain in their eyes. She held herself fast to her mothers side as she let out a soft whine.

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Arakeil sung until the song of passing had reached it's end, then lowered his head to flop hopelessly in the grass, with a soft whine, after a long moment, he lifted his head from the floor, craning his long, sleek neck to look about him in the clearing, seeing a Griffin atop a large rock, as if waiting for attention. He recognised the Avian beast as the same one the young pale red dragoness from Latet had been speaking to beforehand, and he got up, telling his brother to stay put where he was to wander over to the rock, around the side, climbing up the side about half the way up. He barked* a brief call to alert the Griffin to his presence, before he offered a questioning look, wondering what the young male was intending to do.

((*I don't literally mean a bark, I mean a short, sharp call))

[Yuna Braska]

Adelonda saw the griffin look over the clear, seeming like he wanted an audience. There was so much grief around them. Her brother lifted his head first to the griffin, usually Raze was not tolerate of other species, it was strange to Adelonda to see him not flex his nostrils towards them. Maybe the battle had changed him?

[Elario Luminus]

Asterion could see that the others were still mourning, and perhaps this wasn't the time to bring something up like this when the wounds of death were still fresh, but nevertheless he needed to say something to get their attention. His parents would have wanted to do something similar. Asterion's eyes found Aura as she looked around for her mate, and he felt a wave of hope. If everyone had brought back the dead, and Aerugo wasn't among them, perhaps he was still out there, wounded or, dare he ask, unscathed. He stretched his wings and flexed his talons before speaking in a loud voice that projected over the clearing. He turned his head towards the dragon who'd called to him and inclined his head, silently asking him to wait and see.
"I know that this may be an inappropriate time for someone to be making judgements and suggestions; but things have gone on like this for long enough. I know that the territorial lines have been drawn, and that those lines have been crossed many times by the four species. These boundaries have gotten smaller as we've had to evade the human hunters and poachers, and we've had conflicts before." He breathed out slowly in an attempt to calm his rapidly beating heart. "This war to see who wins what may have been important before. Now it's trivial and pointless. All it's done is drain our collective numbers to a select few. Look around you; all you'll see is grief and worry and sadness. Pride? Land? They won't matter now. All we've done is fight each other for territory that will be swallowed up by human advancement anyway. The humans are the real threat. They don't care what we are or where we live; they'll hunt us anyway, right down to extinction. This war has helped them, not us."
Now to drive his point. His sharp brown eyes scanned the throng of creatures in the clearing, and he could only hope he was reaching to them in their time of mourning. His eyes found Zephyrus, laying beneath her mother's leg. It was her who'd planted this in his head.
"In light of recent events, I suggest we band together, in an effort to protect ourselves and each other from human progression and their desire to kill us all. I'm not suggesting a leader; I'm not suggesting we even have a leader at all. But we need to join forces in order to survive."
Having said what he wanted to, Asterion climbed down from the rock and approached the Dragon who'd called to him before. Lowering his voice, he spoke to him alone. "Was this the right thing to do? I have doubts..."

[Sparkles]

Aura heard her clan member talking and knew it must be important.. but she couldn't bring herself to listen. Turning her attention to anything but the skies was admitting that Aerugo wasn't about to fly over those treetops at any moment... Her heart beat so fast in her feathered chest as her breathing increased, her eyes glazing over slightly.

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Zephyrus lifted her glassy eyes to what appeared to be the griffon she had attempted to talk to mere moments ago.. regardless that the short time since held such desperation and anguish. Blinking away the tears, she leaned her head to her mothers argentate shoulder to listen.

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Sinuo stared at his daughter and daughter's daughter as the young griffon begun to speak of things that Sinuo hoped were in thire near future. As he'd forseen, it was the young ones that would bring together not only the clans, but the caelum feras as well. However, as the warming thoughts drifted through his mind he was distracted by the colour gold in his right peripheral. Already only just balancing on the border between grief and anger, the golden dragon was immediately on his back before he had the opportunity to protest. Sinuo was not feeling at all his wise, reasonable self after witnessing second hand half of his clan die. The clan in which he'd witnessed the hatching of almost every dragon, the one that he's risked his life for time and time again. The clan that was, until very recently, under his firm and undeniable protection until Aurum, with the backing of a few other arrogant young adults, had convinced him that the next generation would put there own lives on the line to protect their clan and that it had been his time to step down. They had been wrong.
With his wings flared to block any other from witnessing anything but the fact that Sinuo had the Latet leader on his back, he held the cocky fool down by his throat, silver talons ever so slightly slipping between his scales and slicing neat wounds into the side of his neck. There was nothing to say if they had caught the attention of any behind them, not that Sinuo could comprehend it right now behind the hazy red that clouded his vision. Baring his teeth in a very animalistic, low growl, Sinuo stared straight into the eyes of the dragon he held to the ground. This wasn't a time for more fighting.. and he wasn't going to kill the Latet leader, but he was going to make his position very clear before he let him back up. Latet.. was his clan, and no mindless, barbarian brute was going to take that right off of him. If it came to a fight... so be it. Aurum, recovering from the shock of the impact, bucked his body in an attempt to throw the great red dragon off of him.

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Arakeil nodded slowly to the Griffin, before he twitched his ears and peered around the avian to see the Latet leader and the elder fighting, and it reminded him of the bloodshed they'd been subject to...he couldn't stand for it, all the disbelieving and cynical looks amongst the crowd that was gathered in the clearing, he took a deep, nervous breath and leapt to the peak of the rock.
"The Griffin is right! Have our animosities not lead only to countless deaths and grief for us?!" he cried, feeling tears of both grief and fear prickling his eyes. But his voice was not so loud nor brave as the Griffin's and he feared that he would make no difference. "we can't just continue fighting amongst ourselves like this when our greatest foe stands on our doorstep! Are you all blind?! We are drawing closer to death by the day and unless we stand together we're doomed to all end up as so many of your loved ones have today! or WORSE, humans aren't so merciful as to grant us death, they would catch us all up and put us in cages to poke and prods at us and gawk and laugh at us!" he was feeling rather pressured, now, with all those eyes upon him, some only humiliated at the thought of banding together. "There's no point in fighting anymore! can't we just see past our differences and realise that we're one in the same?" he was losing the confidence his brief flicker of anger had given him, and fast, he could feel his heart racing and was half of the inclination to bolt now and flee from those judging eyes, but he couldn't show fear now, he had to show them he was confident in their ability to stand as one, and stand beside the Griffin in his plight. If he and a Griffin could put their differences aside and agree on something like this, then surely they all could.

[Yuna Braska]

(( oh god im so sorry D: this is the only time i have left and i have no idea on what to do for this >.< skip me SORRY SORRY SORRY))

[Elario Luminus]

Having his confidence bolstered by what looked like a shy Dragon, Asterion looked back over the clearing with his feathered chest pushed out slightly. He looked over and could see that the elder red Dragon had the golden Dragon leader beneath him. Immediately interested, Asterion had to fight to stop himself from going over there to have a look at what was going on. Ignoring what those two were doing, he slowly walked over to his newest ally and, looking at him with a slight smile in his eyes, stretched one wing over the Dragon's back in a silent encouragement. Turning his head back to the other occupants in the clearing, a daring look in his hard brown eyes. As he waited for a response from the crowd, Asterion scraped the dirt with his talons agitatedly.

[Sparkles]

Holding himself firmly in place, Sinuo lowered his head threateningly to Aurum's neck; the middle of his three deadly pointed horns right at the other dragon's jugular.
It was at this point that Aurum froze his movements and finally met Sinuo's eyes as the pupils of his own substancially widened in fear.
As it seemed, the Latet leader was in a position that he couldn't much get himself out of and upon realising this himself, he allowed his head to thump beck onto the soft ground underneath him; conceding his position to the larger ancient dragon.. for the time being.

Lifting his horns ever so slowly away from the other dragon, Sinuo stared back into his eyes with his own that were currently rather lidded as he regained all touches of sanity back.
Shaking his head slightly to clear it, Sinuo dislodged his talons and stepped off of the other dragon.
Retracting his wings back beside his body, he left the dragon with a final snort and huff before turning and begining to make his way around the clearing towards the young ones; the small black and purple dragon that had approached him earlier in the day; the young Arakeil Silice and Zephyrus's griffon friend.

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Koron agreed with the young ones, though he would not be the first to speak. Seen as one disabled and not able to defend the clan or catch prey sufficiently without his Haast's Eagle friend, he was not considered a priority backer in his own eyes when it came to having a say in.. well.. anything. So he kept his head low and hunched his shoulders; feeling crowded in the middle of this clearing of Caelum Feras.

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The phoenixes stood tall upon hearing the suggestion of the oung griffon and dragon. However, they would not agree to fly with the others; it would not be natural.

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Having his courage renewed by the show of thanks and faith from the Griffon and his anger from the silence of the crowds, he turned back to the group, raising his voice again. "open your eyes! You're just all too proud to admit it, we are weak alone! Our already threatened races have dwindled dangerously, in this battle...face the truth, we either stand together to protect ourselves or divided we face oblivion! We already were facing dire circumstances, this war amongst ourselves has made nothing better!" although it was the last of his words, he was now seeing the beginnings of understanding in the eyes of the younger generations, some still fearful, but realising it must be done...but the elder beasts...some younger dragonesses -namely the two who had joined him in song, before- stood and stepped forward to sit beneath the stone 'podium', facing the crowd as a sign that they, too, believed this was right. This action sparked a fire deep in Ara's heart, but alas he had lost his voice somewhere in that fire and could no longer find the words to say. So, he turned to the Griffon beside him, green eyes meeting the other beast's with respect and thanks, having found a new pride in standing beside such a brave young creature. One whose actions had given him such confidence for once in his life. "Your voice is far stronger than mine and your confidence far greater...I fear I can say no more that will make a difference, friend."[/i] he spoke, using his mind to convey the words, though his stance remained strong, or at least stronger than he usually held himself. He felt proud to have stood up for this fine Griffon, for a common goal...a goal he felt his mother had known he would take on. One which made him feel he could be closer to his lost parent. "but your decision is the right one, Griffon, and I will stand with you to fight for it"

[Elario Luminus]

Watching the two young dragoness' join himself and his new dragon ally, Asterion nodded towards the shy creature who spoke into his mind. It was an odd feeling, having something speak as clear as day into your thoughts, but Asterion found it oddly...calming. Shaking it off slightly, he turned his head towards the elder dragon again, watching the elder retract his wings and walk away from the golden dragon, who seemed defeated. It was sad seeing such a dragon reduced in this way, but Asterion knew better than to delve into personal dragon quarries.

He'd said what he felt he needed to now, and Asterion fell back to just watching the clearing, full of its dead and wounded, and those who were either mourning or tending. As he looked over them, his eyes fell onto Aura, who looked like she was watching the treeline intensely. Doing a quick count, he discovered that her mate had not returned with the others, neither dead nor alive. He worried for her, and wished there was something he could do, knowing full well that nothing would be good enough.

[Sparkles]

It took bare on a minute for Sinuo to make his way through the crowd. The crowd that, as soon as they took notice of him, began their whisperings.
Every clan, regardless of species, knew who Sinuo was, or knew of Sinuo. He was the elder dragon. The oldest of the old. Was said to be the wisest living dragon and one of the most powerful, even in his late years. Which, for a dragon, was really making a statement.
And so, as he approached the young ones near the stone 'podium', all eyes turned to Sinuo and awaited his judgement with baited breath.

Upon reaching his point of destination behind the young ones, the great dragon stood tall and proud and began the declaration that would be remembered for eons to come, "The words of the young ones should be heeded with great care," he begun, "for what we do now is of great consequence.." a pause as he looked over the small crowd, and off the side to the bird-like Caelum Feras who merely watched on in mild disdain. This night will be one filled with great sorrow for all of us, but we have chance for victory against the prejudice that keeps us apart.. We are in a world today that believes us a myth. The humans do not see what is before them and if they do I fear another war infront of us; one that we can not survive apart. United.." he would glance down at the young ones then look back to the crowd that honed in on him. He would then flare out his wings, "United we will will have VICTORY!" he yelled in what would almost pass as a battle-cry.

[remembering that this is a loosely controlled roleplay so feel free to control the crowd and any others that aren't belonging to someone]

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Arakeil felt his heart swell with courage when the Elder himself came to stand for them and their position. He stood a little taller, despite his diminutive size, and flared his wings a little in a reassured manner. Many in the clearing seemed to have fallen into debate, though it seemed that some had made up their minds. Those whose eyes had seemed undecided before when Ara had looked out over the clearing now seemed assured that this was indeed the right course to take and stood to step forward, letting out shrill screeches and deeper roars of agreement and commitment. A few still debated, but slowly more began to step forward and cry agreement. The only groups who had yet made no move to a decision were the two more avian species...Phoenixes glanced warily across the group of agreeing quadruped Caelum Feras, some seeming to exchange looks of consideration, while others turned their backs, hiding what emotions or thoughts their beaked faces may have shown. The young Thunderbirds did not seem confident in making a decision themselves and warily looked amongst themselves in fear and sadness, before turning to the female Phoenix whom had taken them all in under her kind wing as if to ask what she thought best for their sadly tiny group.