Friendship Gem Tracker:
Fellwing. Seer, clutchmate, and the only Non-Trickster on the Moonlit Isles who can outsmart me. As a Trickster, the importance of the Long Game has been drilled into me for as long as I can remember. And for the most part, it has served me well. But since I've been taught to focus so much on the Long Game, I now have something of a... blind spot when it comes to the short term. A blind spot that the Darkness must have whispered to Fellwing at some point. Because every time I pull a prank on her, her payback is swift, sudden, and never fails to foil one of my myriad plans for the future.
Stargaze. Orphan, clutchmate, and the sweetest cinnamon roll I know. And because of that last part, it was simply mind boggling to learn that some of the other drakes were picking on her. I learned this when she came to me for my expertise in all things mischievous. She was sick of the bullying and demeaning she was getting from the other drakes and wanted my help in serving them a slice of 'humble pie' as she put it. And so we devised what would come to be known as the Amphora Incident, my finest work. Few dare speak its name. None dare talk of the events that transpired during it. But all know that when the smoke cleared, Stargaze's bullies were left in utter humiliation. Since then, none have dared to give Stargaze or any other member of my clutch trouble for fear of inspiring me to devise something even more terrible than what came before.
Shieldwing. Warrior, clutchmate, and the reason I'm even in a clutch at all. When my teachers first slipped past the Guardians and led me away, I didn't realize that my upbringing being affected by 'yōkai mischief' would make the Guardians and the other drakes my age wary enough of me to make finding a clutch difficult. I still would have gone if I had known though, and in all fairness they were right to be on their guard. My teachers taught me a great many fun tricks and I was eager to try them all out. By the time I was done, I'd more than justified the caution. But even so, Shieldwing came to me all the same and invited me to join his clutch. I never bothered asking why he extended the invitation to me despite my reputation for shenanigans. If it was out of some Brynback prattle, I'd rather be spared the lecture. And if it was for some other reason, I'd rather the mystery of not knowing the whole story.
Fellwing had gone off on her own, wanting to handle a problem she'd foreseen by herself, not wanting to endanger her clutch. She tried to sneak off in the middle of the night, but luckily, I was having trouble sleeping anyway. I followed her and soon heard a loud cry of alarm. I recognized the voice: Fellwing was in trouble! I charged in and immediately jumped between her and this monster of the Darkness...but I quickly came to realize that I was out of my league. It was dark, so I had a difficult time making out anything specific about the creature, but it was large, at least as big as winged drakes, maybe even a Longtooth. But still, I held my ground; if I, the one of us particularly trained for this, was this intimidated, I could only imagine how Fellwing must feel. I knew I had to be strong for her sake. But despite my best efforts, the creature was easily stronger than I. No matter how many times I came at it, it still overpowered me and I couldn't even get in a clean hit.
I called out to Fellwing and told her that I can't handle this thing for long, so she needs to run. But instead, she held her own ground, coming to my aid when I ultimately collapsed from exhaustion and the creature reared back, ready to strike what was sure to be a devastating blow. She took its attention away from me, even though she is less capable in combat than I am. It was the bravest thing I've ever seen her do. Luckily, in the end, we were able to combine our efforts and managed to take it out using our environment to our advantage. But I'll never forget her standing up to a monster even I couldn't defeat.
As it turns out, even the strong and the defenders of the weak can have their own bullies. Or perhaps that's only a Brynback thing, where the only thing that matters is you being the best leader that you can be: strong and knowledgeable. But my constant political fumblings drew the ire of another Rawscale from Brynback: a comparative mountain of a dragon named Stonescale. It wasn't so bad at first, him just calling me out for my inability to understand our political structure. But it grew worse over time as I failed to improve and was constantly scolded by my elders for focusing on combat so much. One day, he told me that I was a disgrace to my lineage...or worse yet, that I brought in a white dragon that didn't have a home meant that I had to rely on losers with no home to make a decent clutch to follow me. That got my attention, but he didn't stop at Stargaze. He listed off every other member, insulting them one at a time.
Now that was something I couldn't take. He could insult me all he wanted, but the moment he brought my clutch into it, I wasn't about to let him get away with it. I challenged him to a duel right there and then. He laughed at me; of course the only way response I could have was to try to fight. But he said he would accept on the condition that if I lose, I would admit to my own inferiority. I agreed, because if I did lose, then it was true. After all, fighting was the only thing I was supposedly good at...but if I wasn't even the best at that, then what good was I?
Unfortunately, I jumped the gun. He had been manipulating the entire scene so that he could get one up on me. I was at a stark disadvantage from the start: he was older than me, bigger than me and with scales like a mountain compared to my own. Oh sure, I managed to strike him plenty, but I couldn't so much as knock him over, let alone pin him down. Before long, I wore myself down trying, and he caught me with a nasty tail swipe, and it was all downhill from there. He pinned me in no time. I'd...been beaten. I tried to put it off as much as I could, but Stonescale wouldn't let me up until I finally upheld my end of the bargain...by acknowledging my disgrace and my inferiority as loudly as I could to my surroundings. Pleased, he finally began to leave, though not without an "accidental" extra smack in the face with his tail as he turned away.
I could feel the eyes of all kinds of dragons on me. I could tell that at least some of them were sympathetic, but that only made things worse for me. I shook myself and scurried away as fast as my claws and wings could carry me until I finally found a small corner to call my own, and I laid down, licking my wounds, and finally just...broke down, there and then. I believed myself a failure. How could I even try to lead a clutch when I couldn't even do what I was supposed to be good at? I couldn't protect anybody, I couldn't defend their honor, and to top it all off, I'd been humiliated and shamed in front of an entire crowd. How could I show my face to my clutch after that? I'd only make things worse, giving other dragons more reasons to make fun of them.
However, just as these thoughts were starting to sink in, I had an unexpected guest: Fellwing approached my hiding place, asking if I was okay. I, naturally, answered with the affirmative. I asked her how she found me, and she answered that it was because she'd seen everything. She knew I was going to be there, thanks to a dream of hers, in more than physical pain. So she had kept watch and was there to see the actual fight. Despite my doubts, she reassured me. I was no failure. I fought my hardest for them, and I stood up to somebody I couldn't possibly win against for them. It might have been reckless, especially since the insults they'd thrown weren't even that bad. But if anybody made fun of me, they'd be completely disregarding my bravery and deep desire to protect, and that made them the stupid ones.
Besides...apparently, I had proven that I was clearly the better fighter. He had to rely on tricking me into fighting an impossible battle to get one up on me. If anything, he was the one that should be ashamed of what happened. That got a smile out of me, to be sure. To this day, I'll never forget the day that Fellwing came to me in my time of need. Thanks to her, I was able to face what happened and keep my head held high.