Username:
KWest
Dragon's gender:
Male
Dragon's name:
Tinderbox
Why do you want this dragon?:
Well, I've had my eye on this dragon since he was an egg and I was very tempted at the time to apply for him but I never got round to it. His design doesn't seem overly complex yet beautiful, which to me is always a huge bonus.
History/Story:
So many years ago, there was once an old oak tree that stood on the edge of a cliff that resided on the edge of a lush green forest. The cliff-face overhung a beautiful valley. A narrow river snaked through the centre of the valley, proving it's peaceful residents with water - dragon and animal alike.
One year, a small she-dragon laden with eggs and her equally small mate arrived at the tree. The forest held too many dangers for the tiny couple as it was, so there was no doubt in their minds that it would be even harder to survive with a clutch of newborns to fend for.
They nested within the hollow of the great tree and soon enough six tiny eggs were laid. The couple guarded over their precious loot for many weeks, watching over the valley like it was their's and their's alone. For some reason the other dragons of the land had left and for quite some time neither the mother or father of the tiny clutch knew why...
That is, until the humans came. The eggs still hadn't hatched by the time a small village-like settlement was built up. Many of the humans were oblivious to the existence of the dragons and so never pursued them or left the village. Soon, the entire valley was desecrated for profit and farmland and soon the forest would too.
Meanwhile, the eggs belonging to the dragon couple were hatching. Five bright-eyed babies were soon rolling about the hollow, leaving one last egg - the smallest. The family decided that they couldn't wait for the last egg to hatch whilst the others were getting so restless so they were forced to leave it in order to find a safer nursery for their young.
That night, the oak tree was struck by lighting during a particularly fierce storm. The tree was uprooted and sent tumbling down the cliff-face with the egg still trapped inside, falling from the hollow just moments before the tree crashed into the rocks below.
The unhatched dragon spent several days laying in the cold, fully exposed to the elements where it had only it's tough rock-hard shell protecting it. One stormy night a girl from the valley village found the egg. Assuming the beautiful egg was just an unusual rock she took home with her where it was wrapped securely in a cloth to keep it dry before leaving it atop of her highest bookshelf.
The next morning the rain hadn't ceased but the girl found shards of her precious 'stone' all over the floor. She thought her prize had fallen during the night. Later on the girl went to take a book from the top shelf. She felt something snap at her finger, which was covered in little teeth marks and blood by the time she examined it.
After arming herself with a burlap sack and an oven mitt she re-approached the shelf. Was it a rat? she wondered. She stood up on a chair and got herself ready to shove the 'rat' into the sack. By this point she was downright convinced that it was the rat that had bitten her that had knocked her rock down. What she saw instead was a little dragon with dappled bronze and green scales with the cloth it had been wrapped in as an egg draped over it's tiny form.
Although reluctant at first the little dragon warmed up to the girl. He rarely left the shelf, living off of the food and water the girl provided, and sleeping in the old empty wooden tinderbox that she kept up there using the cloth to cover him - so for that reason alone the girl called him Tinderbox. Whenever it rained during the night, Tinderbox would stare out of the window by his perch. He would never move a muscle until, not even a twitch of his tail until the rain subsided or he fell asleep... usually the latter happening. Tinderbox often didn't move for long periods of time his body - the girl assumed that it was because his rusted scales became stiff in the cold.
Nevertheless the little dragon seemed fairly content with his life.
