So, two bandits are waiting on the beach… (Open!)

"This is boring."
"Shut up! You're the one who suggested we sit it out on this beach."

Bramble's teeth clacked irritably as he tried not to look at his brother. The bulky red dragon had been complaining for the past fifteen minutes, and he was annoying him more than ever now. Taking a deep breath, Bramble focused on the horizon, and listened to the sound of the waves crashing against the sand. His tail twitched as Scorch began to dig a hole in the sandy grass next to him, blackening the grass with his heat. "Dragons barely ever come through here," his older brother muttered. "That's the point, rockhead. More likely for someone to come along on their own," he snapped, nipping at his horns.

"What, a pretty girl for you to charm and enchant all alone on the sunset beach?" Scorch snorted, a smirk on his face. Bramble scowled, swishing his emerald-green tail and sending a small wave of sand into his sniggering sibling's chest. "Very funny," he mumbled, eyes scanning the golden stretch of sand. It was a beautiful area. He was surprised it wasn't a hotspot for teenagers to flock to and wrestle in the crystal clear waves. He glanced upwards. The sun's belly hung low in the sky, casting orange light across everything in its path.


"Aye, I can see it now. The females will come flocking to you with your rapier wit and silver tongue," Scorch chuckled, red eyes glowing in amusement, though no harm was intended in his sarcasm. Bramble snorted a puff of jade green smoke and sent more sand into his brother's thick, red hide. "Shut up, Scorch."

He'd grown increasingly anxious as the time dragged by. Was anyone going to come along? he really didn't want to have to deal with Scorch's complaints if they didn't rob someone soon. They sat in the shade of a large palm tree, it's vast leaves concealing them rather well. Bramble, with his varying shades of green hide, sat out in the semi-open, whereas his brother rested in the ditch behind him, using dirt and grass tossed on his back to conceal him. It was crude, but they were generally invisible to the naked eye.

A hot summer day, the brillant waves of the ocean gently beating the golden sand of a warm beach, only waiting to be parted by someone to dive deep into them and discover the wonders of what laid beneath... That was nothing for Teppet who right at that moment was traveling along a certain beach that two certain bandits were waiting on right now. He knew that it was sparsely visited by dragons and other creatures alike, wich made it the perfect route to use to travel all by yourself if you have got something that others would kill to get.. or atleast he thought that other dragons would kill to get what he got with himself right now.

"What a beautifull sight... I realy wonder why other dragons dont come here more often.. seems to be the perfect palce for couples to spend their honeymoon..heh.. look at me talking with myself again.." He said withhis voice somewhat being concealed by the sound of the waves as he was not speaking too loud while his gaze was running over the ocean and over the horizon, taking in this romantic scene as he took in a deep breath of this fresh, salty ocean air wich was, by widely spread rumour, very healthy and relaxing.

"I better get going..." He spoke with a little sigh before turning away from the ocean. But before he continued his jurney he let his paws feel around for the thick leather pouch that was hanging around his neck with a leather strap. It was visibly filled to the brim with something and looked heavy, but it wouldnt be obvious what was inside of it, atleast not until you looked inside of it.

His form twitching as he felt that it was still there. With a little nod of his head he continued his jurney, trying to mostly walk on the grassy sand and not directly on the pearly white sand that was closer to the water since it would just get between his scales and eventually wear them down quickly.. wich was not something the little male was looking forward to happen.

After some time he saw a large palm tree appear in his view, and since he was already exhausted enaugh to consider taking a good rest he immediately approached it and due to his relatively bad eyes wich came to be thanks to his cave dragon genes and due to the absence of light during most of his childhood he didnt saw anyone sitting underneath. His body still mostly relaxed as he approached, his black dusty scales not shining in the sun like the scales of some other dragons, making them look rather dull.

The heat of the sun was almost unbearable for Bramble. Beads of sweat were forming at the base of his neck, and his tongue darted in and out of his slightly parted jaws every few seconds. He was constantly shifting as well, trying to release packed in heat from in between his limbs. Scorch, on the other hand, found the heat mild. He'd definitely inherited his father's genes. The emerald green male was sorely tempted to dash into the waves and douse himself in freezing water, but then that would display their location for any passerby to see, and he really wanted to have the element of surprise.

"I don't know how you stand this heat,"
he grumbled, picking out blades of yellowing grass with his talons. Scorch chuckled."I'm immune to heat, unlike your inferior self," he sniggered. Bramble rolled his yellow eyes, which gleamed like two balls of fire in the setting sun. "You're not immune to heat, idiot, you're somewhat resistant to it," he corrected him, eyes scanning the beach for any signs of movement or colour. "Same thing," Scorch muttered, bristling with indignation. There was a brief silence between the pair.

"Do you ever wonder-" that was about as far as Scorch got before a green tail clamped over his mouth. Bramble flattened himself further into the grass, gesturing to the dragon, a shadow against the angry shades of blue, red and pink of the sky. "Check it out," he murmured, eyes gleaming with intrigue as the dragon slowly began to drift along the coast at a leisurely place. He was clearly not in any hurry.

"Look what he's wearing," Scorch hissed, tail flicking in excitement as his talons tapped rapidly on the grass. He was poking his big head over the top of the slope, and Bramble quickly but quietly shoved his head back over with a soft growl of annoyance. He looked, however, and saw the pouch that hung around the black dragon's neck, bulging with something. Gold? Jewels? Don't get your hopes up, he reminded himself. This isn't exactly a route rich merchants take.

To his surprise, the dragon began to approach the tree they hid beneath. As he drew closer, Bramble began to make out some of his features kept within the ebony black scales. The face he owned was clearly one of a very young dragon, barely an adult, not much younger than him and Scorch. He reckoned there was around four years between them. His heart sang at the idea of having friends his own age apart from Scorch, -who didn't really count, since he was his brother- but he quickly reminded himself that they were bandits. Nobody wanted to be friends with bandits.

He hadn't noticed them yet, it seemed. Bramble subtly tapped Scorch on the shoulder with his tail, alerting him. He felt his brother tense next to him, and got into a crouch, watching, waiting. He knew Scorch would be doing the same, waiting for him to move as the male with scales as black as night drew closer, and closer, and closer...

As soon as he was within range, Bramble would pounce, letting out a bellow to startle him further. Talons outstretched, he lunged for the dragon. Despite his... less than impressive physique, he was confident he could at least send him off balance, since his target was smaller than him. Spreading his wings, Bramble tried to tackle the dragon roughly into the sand and hold him there.

Teppet certainly had nothing against the heat that was ruling this part of the beach, allthough what he did do was sweat a bit, even if his race by nature was designed to take as much in from outside as possible they still could get exhausted wich caused them to sweat, not as much as any of the other dragon races but they did. The only reason the black scaled dragon needed the shade of the palm tree right now was because the sun was not too good for his eyes, and because he already traveled for quite a distance, so he needed some rest. And if one is honest with oneself, a good rest never hurt anyone... or did it?

The black dragon would look quite mundane to Bramble at first glance, as there werent any special features about him like colored horns, no dangerus looking spikes or especially shiny scales. But right now he was portruding from the background that was the blue waves of the ocean and the sand of the beach like a rainbow colored cat on black sand.. mostly because of his color, black. It was not the deepest black that one could imagine and some parts of him, like his stomach or his throat and wing membranes were actually rather grey. The whole picture made him look quite innocent actually.. innocent and harmless. The fact that he was so young and young-looking did not help with that...

As he made his way to the palm tree he noticed an odd scent.. Dragons were nearby.. or atleast they were nearby. Did they notice him and fled? Bandits on the run? Or something else entirely? He was not sure... but he was ripped out of his thoughts when his body reminded him that he needed to rest, and so he kept walking forward, slightly more tensed up than before though. But he did not expect what was coming for him, not at all. A sigh escaping him as he was allmost at the tree. "Finally some rest..." Were the words that echoed through his throat before the two brothers excecuted their attack on him...

A screech was the only thing that followed when he suddenly saw something dash towards him with a roar..something larger than him for sure.. and something green.. that was the only thing he was able to see until he was met with the force of the tackle wich immediately threw him off of his feet and onto the ground. He wouldnt be alone for too long through as he felt the claws of the other being attempt and hold him down, wich would already be successfull if you took the diffrence in size. It was not as hefty as the diffrence to some of the other dragons around, but still enaugh to lower Teppet's chances of success in battle against him by a good amount.

He would attempt to struggle through, trying to roll himself away, trying to to push the other male off by using his claws to press against his tough hide, wich was the least usefull thing he could do because, again, of the diffrence in weight. He would also be growling deeply by now, having twisted and turned his neck in a way that the pouch would be laying behind his head, pressed into the sand, the only thing remaining visible from it being the leather strap around his neck. "Grrr..G..Get off of me!!"  He growled at the green dragon ontop of him, bending his snout downwards to make his throat less accessible.

Bramble collided with the smaller dragon, sending him off his feet. His target landed on his side with a loud 'thud.' Moving fast, Bramble quickly darted over to him and planted his weight on his chest, trying to pin him. However, the ebony male was a slippery one, and attempted to roll out of his grip. The green dragon's talons slipped and he growled, digging them harshly into his scales, not enough to make him bleed, but hard enough to hurt. Sand flew upwards into his eyes and stung them like bees. The little dragon's deep growls were slightly intimidating, but he forced the feeling of apprehension down.

"Such a big voice for such a small male," Scorch sneered as he came up beside Bramble, tilting his big head down at their catch. "Nice job wrangling him," he added, flicking his tail. Bramble huffed, focusing on making sure their target didn't escape. "Yeah, no thanks to you. Where the heck were you?" he snapped, not taking his eyes off his catch, though he was bristling with indignation.

"I was observing to see if you could actually tackle a dragon. You attack like a lame wildebeest," Scorch teased. The crimson male's eyes wandered over their prey's form. "Scrawny, no jewels. Why did you attack him?" he asked, genuine curiosity in his voice. Bramble scoffed and gestured to the satchel pressed into the sand behind the dragon's head. "Are you blind?" he asked. "no, why?" Scorch asked, tilting his head as a bemused expression crossed his face. Bramble sighed.

The smaller green male glared down at the black male. He was nothing special, ebony and dark, dark grey. A part of him was already starting to doubt he carried anything valuable, but there was no going back now. Baring his teeth, Bramble hissed in his face. "Shut up," he growled, trying to make his voice deep and threatening like Scorch. "Scream for help and we'll cut out your tongue." He flicked his tail, and Scorch's talons went for the strap around Teppet's neck. The larger male had forgotten that other dragons could bite, and Bramble watched with a slightly amused expression as he reached for the strap.

This was certainly not the evening he imagined for himself when he started his jurney the day before, he had never planned on a random green dragon tackling him like that! What was this guy even thinking? But this was not the time for cursing and regrets of having choosen this excact route along the beach and walking along it at this excact time for this to happen like it just did, nothing could change that he now was being held down by this green dragon.

His attempts of escape were futile as he soon had to realise, his movements stopping as soon as those claws dug into his scales. It was a unpleasant feeling, a very unpleasant feeling, that overcame him dull pain spread from the spot where they pressed into him. Gritting his teeth together the little male tried to look for an opportunity to escape, but he soon had to realise that there was not much he could do in his current position, so he decided to just wait and see what would happen. After all, if this dragons intention was to kill him he would have attempted to sink his teeth in his throat a good few moments ago already. So instead of exhausting himself with useless attempts to escape he wanted to listen and see if he could talk his way out of this situation.

Then he noticed the large red dragon, that was even larger than the green one, who stepped over to them, the words he spoke also seemed to be directed at him, and so he responded. "Grrr..I..Im not small you overgrown lizard!" He spoke, getting a little angry from the mention of his body size in comparison to both of the other males. This little cave dragon had nearly allways been smaller than other dragons, there was nothing wrong about that ofcourse, but he hated it if others mocked him about it or even mentioned it in such a way.

And after those words he stayed silent, listening to both of those males talking.. but this only got him more angry about those males, especially the red one, mainly from the way he was talking about him.. like he was worth nothing, a mundane and poor dragon, happy for every prey they catch. But he still held himself back because he did not want this situation to get any worse for himself, he was already pinned down and helpless, and now with that larger red dragon in place there was no way he was going to make it out alive if he attempted to fight. But there was another thing that catched his eye.. the way those two males talked to eachother, it reminded him of something, mainly of the way old couples talk to eachother. And since he is very bad at age guessing, and the fact that some dragons look twenty even though they were two hundred years old he said the following: "You two sound like you two are married." He stated it simply, as if it was a normal, mundane and everyday thing to see two males being together like that.

The little dragon soon had to realize however that he had to pull a break with his wording. This was when the green dragon shoved his face in the little males own, the hisses and the bared teeth working wonders on the small male, especially the threat that came afterwards. The smaller males body language  told them everything about his emotional situation in that moment, his head lowered, his wings folded as much as it was possible, his legs and arms pulled as close to his main frame as possible. He was making himself look smaller purely out of instinct. But then when he saw that red paw going for his throat he got reminded of something, of the thing that was pressed into the sand behind him... and with a growl his maw suddenly shot forward.

With another harsh growl the little dragon attempted to close his maws around the red paw of the other dragon, not caring about anything else right now. That paw, that one paw, this was his only target. This had the effect that he left himself pretty exposed for attacks from every side, and even if he successfully bit that paw, he was still pinned down by the green dragon. But still, he had to bite, he just had to show that he would'nt simply accept his only valuable items being taken away from his body by some dirty thieves!

Their victim struggled for a few moments longer, before ceasing his attempts to escape. He's figured out we're not going to kill him, Bandit realised with a wave of disappointment. Now their death threats wouldn't work as well. Still, he reckoned they'd be able to intimidate him into giving them some treasure.

"Grrr..I..Im not small you overgrown lizard!" the smaller male snapped at Scorch's comment. Said dragon rolled his intense eyes, chuckling deep in his throat. "Sure you are," he said, baring his teeth almost teasingly at him. "With your scrawny little legs," he stuck his tongue out at him.

Bramble hit him in the side with his tail. "Enough," he grumbled. "Just grab the damn thing." Scorch rolled his eyes again. "Touchy," he mumbled, but did as he asked, talons extending for the strap around their catch's neck.

Bramble scoffed and glared at Teppet at his choice of words. "Watch your mouth," he growled. "In his dreams," Scorch sniggered, talons brushing the strap. Bramble noted the small male's body language, and for a moment his expression softened, feeling a bit sorry for him. Here he was, out on an evening stroll, and now he was being robbed. Wait, no, stop it! he told himself, forcing his face back into a hard glare.

Of course, Bramble's big brother had forgotten that dragons had teeth, no matter what size they were. Teppet's fangs sunk into his paw and blood spilled from around them. Scorch threw back his head, bellowing, and yanked his paw away, hopping up and down."Y'OOOOOOOOOOOOOOWCH!" he screamed, making an all manner of pained noises.

Bramble snarled, his love for his brother fuelling his anger. Seeing him in so much pain… all amusement at Scorch's stupidity disappeared. He glowered down at Teppet and tried to grab his snout and roughly twist it away, trying to close his talons around his jaws and force them together. "You're going to pay for that, you little newt!" he hissed, yellow eyes blazing like suns, tail lashing behind him like an angry cat.

Scorch, who had started to recover, gingerly held his paw up and hopped back over. "Ow, ow, ow," he yelped with each step. "That bloody hurts! The little maggot bit me!" he exclaimed, bristling with indignation. "I noticed with all the racket you were making!" Bramble hissed as he tried to force Tepept's jaws together whilst not getting bitten, although that was unlikely to happen. He tried not to let Scorch see the more protective side of himself often, lest it boosted his already massive ego.

“That water sure looks nice.” Krygem commented to himself. Talking to himself made the time pass quicker. Krygem was flying back after taking some detailed notes on some exotic wildlife for an article he was working on about, well exotic wildlife. He decided to take a detour to the nearby beach and maybe skim the waves a bit. Like all Arkwings, even though he was only half, he enjoyed playing with the air and wind.  Krygem dived down to the crashing waves, tucking his pack filled with notes between his wings. He didn’t want his valued research or his iron -only to be used for emergencies -battle claws getting wet, despite his things being in a watertight leather bag, he didn’t want to risk it. He dipped his wing tips in the water with each beat of his wings, the water was so cool on his scales.
This water feels so nice.. 
His few feathers on his wings flicked water into the air, making tiny shiny beads fly up into the air, being caught by the wind. 


Krygem was enjoying the peaceful environment, which was suddenly shattered by a pained bellowing shout. Krygem spun around towards the noise, he couldn’t see where it came from but it sounded like it came from behind a palm tree in the distance. Resentfully he landed on the beach, expecting his peaceful day to end disastrously. He cautiously trotted over to the source of the sound. He started when he saw two other dragons, one red, and one green. The red one was hopping around making pained noises, the other was pinning down a much smaller black dragon. He was confused for a moment, then he realized,
They’re robbing that other dragon!
 Why else would they be out there? It was terribly empty around the beach most of the time. What would he do? Shouting for help would be counterintuitive, he never fought much! He did have a size advantage, being much larger than all three of the dragons. He was no law enforcer, but Krygem knew what was happening wasn’t right. He couldn't just let them rob that poor dragon, could he?


“H-Hey! What do you two think you’re doing?” He shouted as he jumped out, wings opened defensively, he snapped his tail making a loud crack in the air.

Idiots... The little voice kept repeating in Vortex's head. It wasn't uncommon for his confusing mind to make it's own voiced comments without his doing, though usually he would be conveying them vocally if he weren't staying hidden as he was now. The large dark-scaled dragon was concealed cleverly within a medium-ish brush a small distance away from the "exchange". It was within his knowledge that a situation ought to be... observed, watched for the correct time to assert oneself. Otherwise, it the event might tilt unfavorably for him. You see, he had been in this brush for quite some time now, having been watching the whole thing unfold, not recognizing any of the dragons but figuring it would be entertaining regardless.


Grimacing slightly at the howl of pain from one of the bandits, his dullish expression changed to a slightly smug one as he saw that, judging by the response to being bitten, their bark was worse than their bite. Perhaps he could have a bit of fun with these two. Perhaps. Turning his gaze a little in one direction, he observed yet another newcomer just as they snapped their tail and attempted to gain their attention. This could work. He thought to himself, taking another glance at the situation. From what he could gather, the red one was far more egotistical, and had quite the large mouth (metaphorically) by the looks of it, whereas the green one seemed to actually have a sliver of intelligence, if any. And they both seemed intent on stealing whatever the small black dragon had in that little pouch of his.

A few seconds after the snapping and, admittedly quite timid, shouting from the other dragon, Vortex slunk out from behind the brush and onto the warm sand, moving as silently as a leaf drifting along the wind, and ending up behind the original three, having a slight size advantage over all of them, he was curious as to what would happen, staying silent. He would not make himself known until they noticed him.

Teppet would spit out the few drops of blood that suddenly landed in his maw, he had actually done it! A wave of excitement suddenly washed over the little feral. He watched the large red dragon jump around like he stepped on a particulary sharp rock in glee, a wide grin across his face, allmost the one of a child who had made an accomplishment that could be presented to its parents. All the while he watched he completely forgot about the other dragon that was holding him down, his eyes fixed on Scorch, a mistake as he would soon realise...

And when he did realise it it was already too late, a muffled grunt escaping his nostrils as the green dragon attempted to close his snout shut by the use of his paw, wich would be quite easy since teppet was distracted in that moment. Teppet would trash his head around in the green males grip, but to no avail as he soon would realise again, the grip of the other male simply was too strong for the muscles of his neck and jaws to be able to compete against it as he was outmatched by size alone, a quite hopeless situation wich he now was reminded of the hard way as he tried to squirm again, but only to find himself being blocked in each direction by the green dragon.

His gaze was now locked on the green dragon above, the main threat he had to face right now. With his head being twisted like that however he could only fix one eye on him, wich he did, even meeting the other males gaze once or twice. His breath heavy, the excitement that had been flowing through him replaced with sudden fear and anxiety. His behavior slowly changing, his body not struggling anymore as he simply laid still while trying to keep the pouch hidden behind his head still.

"M..mmph!" He tried to say something, but it was so weak and obviously muffled by his maw being forced shut that not one understandable word could be made out. He couldnt do much at this point, only wait and see what those two dragons would do now that he was at their mercy...

But suddenly he saw another dragon, allmost twice as big as the red one he just encountered. How did he even see that those two were up to some mischief with him, the smallest dragon at present. But atleast he seemed to be on his side, the attention of him being ripped away to this newcomer in an instant as he heard the unfamiliar voice, and there he thought this was supposed to be a beach that was just rarily used these days. And even though he would have been glad for the help that this large dragon could offer, it would make him look even weaker than he was already. So he thought to himself that atleast in this situation he could have denied to accept any help of other dragons, but since he was not able to make himself understood properly right now and since the newcomer had already announced his presence and that he was obviously not realy okay with what was happening, the demage was done and there was no turning back now.