she's still asking herself that. she doesn't even remember the hours before she was stolen, only that they would have been spent in her hotel. when she returned, she had half expected to see the dragonair that guard the place cut down, but they were fine - restless and relieved to see her, but fine.

"we're still trying to figure that out," she admits with a flex of her jaw. it must be a genetic thing, shoving straight past the pleasantries and into the heart of all matters. they walk by the rocky outcropping of the garchomp nests and some of them feed off of roy's energy, fins shifting, maw parting to snap at nearby handlers. she smirks. 

"because we're dangerous. we keep collecting power. mega evolution, dynamax, tera - playing with anomalies without knowing what they do. even avatarships."

her thoughts go to eva. she'd been there after all, stolen like the rest of them. they're all busy, but she continues to push herself, terrified of the oncoming war and what it means. too busy to take care of herself, nevermind make room for the woman who admitted she loved her in another life, kissed her, and then left her reeling.

"but we carry on. we move forward. we find reason to celebrate because gods, roy, it's about to get so much worse."

Roy Aker

☉

she swipes her tongue over her teeth and starts to slow her stride. the sounds of the draciary are a low rumble now. there's a platform elevator and she ushers him in, crosses her arms over her chest as they're lifted. a breeze drifts around them as they rise, brought in by the open-air dome above. 

"those tools are more powerful than most people realize, when used by top trainers." she eyes him. "i held off against wo-chien and tapu fini's avatar. almost died, but it wasn't impossible.

"our strength is in knowing our enemy. avatarships are...often strenuous." elisabeth, jayden, even fernando, hell, even eva. all are, at the very end, used by their patrons. they are vessels for powers not made to be wielded by the bodies they inhabit. 

"find the right pressure points and it turns impossible into improbable."

the platform halts and she steps onto a narrow cliff's edge, roped off. snarls sound from nearby. lyune's massive head emerges from within a cave and he opens his maw, fangs exposed. 

"sune," she breathes, hands out. lyune considers her, pupils fluctuating, and then he retreats back into the cave. more sounds - scales on scales, rumbling growls. she looks at roy and says, "this is what i wanted to show you."

five eggs lay at the far end of the cave. two sets of eyes pierce the darkness, watching with territorial caution. 

"he hasn't sired in years, but with his wing fixed, he has. and my father would be rolling in his grave if i didn't let his clutch hatch naturally."

in modern practice, and with most of the draciary's residents, the hatchlings are separated quickly after they emerge in order to reduce mortality rates. otherwise - 

embers spark at the far end of the cave. one of the eggs begins to crack.

Roy Aker

☉

the first is smaller than anticipated. its egg horn cuts cleanly and a thick, viscous liquid spills out as the bagon clambers out. the others begin to shake. freya raises a hand when roy starts forward, but he stops of his own volition. 

"oh?" she says, smile curving. "we'll see." 

it's an old practice, what they're doing now, what she's brought him here to witness. there are other dragons in the draciary that are bred in more sterile environments, eggs swaddled before they're just about to hatch, but this. 

she's witnessed it half a dozen times before, but nothing prepares for the initial shock of watching a freshly hatched bagon slam its head into a brethren's egg.

it splits in two and a body rolls out, bulkier than the former. pitiful cries and infant snarls echo. the rest of the eggs start to crack too, dragons waking to their blood-hunger. roy's runt is thrown off of its prey and tackled to the ground. hind legs kick for purchase. 

"hmm. looks like one female," she comments. two of the other hatchlings have escaped their eggs and squared off, leaving one bagon to scamper away to her mother and father. by the time she looks back, one of the bagon is still, throat torn from the glistening egg horn of another. 

the runt is, surprisingly, still standing. 

"the winner is yours," she says. "but you'll need to let him eat when he's done. let's see if your runt can beat the improbable."

Roy Aker

☉

more blood spills. a head is smashed into the fragile midsection of another and at the end, the runt remains. at his question, freya raises a brow and then gestures. the bagon hunkers down and rips into one of its nest-mates. from the back of the cave, the female crawls out, eyeing the remains. 

the runt hisses in warning. she approaches slowly and respectfully, sinking teeth into a foreleg to drag one away for herself.

"letting them hunt on their own is good practice, but you can start hand-feeding some cuts of meat after a few months. you don't want them too wild."

the scent of blood in the air makes the dragons at the back of the cave even more unsettled. freya turns and heads back to the lift with care, raising her voice only when they're at a good distance away. 

"give him a week to fill out and then you can take him." she leans back, smiling at the sky. "like i said, we find reasons to celebrate. today's a good day."

Roy Aker

☉