Sorry for the delay! And a first shift would be great
500+

     

It seemed that Gotham's childhood was filled with rain. The summer had been a wet one, though the boy didn't have any other summers to compare it to, and it looked like autumn was going to be wet as well. He didn't mind it at all, though, and rather liked the memories it brought back. The rain monsters, though their presence was now little more than a game to him, had tormented the pup and his sisters so frequently! He thought of them fondly, of the time his sisters felt worried, of the times he felt he could console them. They were growing up more quickly than they knew it. The boy's curiosity was budding into a world of wonder, where each little thing had its own magic. It seemed that the world was swelling, the increased amount of ground the pup could put beneath his paws giving him wider access to each mystery, in the process digging up more. There would never be a point where he could satisfy his curiosity, each adventure giving him a taste for more, a craving for even further adventure. Crimson Dreams would always be home, though, and though the lands were familiar they managed to hold some other kind of charm. Perhaps it was the memories of exploration, the memories of finding things for the first time. It was also feelings of companionship and camaraderie, a feeling that was indescribable and could only really be described by home.


     

As the rain dripped across his face, Gotham trotted cheerfully, his eyes turned up to the gray sky as if they were in conversation. The water - or rain monsters, as he would have said if his sisters were around - clung to his dark fur. The short puppy hair was starting to be overgrown by his longer adult coat, wavy and streaked with deep chestnut browns and midnight blacks. Time was moving quickly, indeed, and it felt as if it was yesterday that he had taken that trip to the beach with his sisters and Mati, only yesterday that he had seen for himself that a caterpillar really could become a butterfly. The pups were all so much more independent now. Though they still saw each other frequently, sometimes the boy missed the times they had played constantly, splashing in puddles or exploring strange places.


     

The boy missed his mother sometimes, too, missed the days when he was small enough to be carried everywhere with her. He was pleased when he saw her sitting by the lake, and forgetting his conversation with the sky he hurried towards her. Though he could not see her face, as he drew close it seemed evident that she was not the happiest she could be. It was a gut feeling, a suspicion that he seemed to draw from some sort of aura. He moved close to her side, looking up to her and giving her a quick lick on the cheek. "Hi," he said with a gentle wag of his tail, and leaned the side of his head on his mother's shoulder.

     

Smiling fondly at his mother's gesture and wagging his tail happily at her greeting, Gotham snuggled back into her before sitting down at her side. He really did feel like he was being raised as a prince, surrounded by royalty. The boy was starting to learn mannerisms becoming of such a title, and he hoped that soon he would have a nice big sword just like some of the friends he had made had. Then he would be able to go on grand adventures and see things he had never seen before! He was going up, quickly, and though he was eager to see things that adults could see, he missed the days he romped with his sisters, and the days that he could squeeze in between his parents on the bed. Such things had to be given up in order to grow up, however, and all attempts to retain childish pleasantries would fail, or at least, render them meaningless.


     

The mixture of Italian and English was something that made him smile just a little more, the rolling rhythm of his mother's native language reminiscent of the waves as they came to the shore. His gaze had wandered to the lake, shrouded in raindrops and fog, but now it turned back to Savina. Still smiling, he shrugged slightly and said lightly, "I don't know." After a second of thought he added, "I guess that nothing brought me out, it was just that nothing kept me in." He grinned, looking into her eyes. It seemed that there was a sadness there, but he was unable to do more than just detect it. "Did something bring you out?"


     

Gotham spent most of his time outside, mostly because the mansion had become familiar and, though comforting, unexciting. There was a vast unknown outside those doors, and the youngster yearned to learn it. The rain transformed the landscape, so of course, he had to explore it. He had to get a little wet once in a while.

     

Though familiar, the mansion provided a comfortable place for other adventures, such as the ones embarked on when Kansas read to him, or when he played make-believe. It was by power of his imagination that the mansion was turned into an ancient castle, filled with princesses and dragons and other wonderful things, and on the days he didn't feel like leaving the house he would frolic around as a character suitable for the environment imagined. Of course, a real castle held more mystery and made his blood pump harder, but these episodes of pretend were good practice. He couldn't wait for the day that he could wear a real sword and, well, whatever princes wore! The boy hadn't even realized he didn't know; he would have to do some research.


     

Gotham shrugged a little at his mother's statement, smiling. The two wolves, sitting beneath a tree that was reduced almost completely to its branches, beneath a sky that was as gray as a pebble at the ocean's edge, almost seemed to be inhabiting a monocolored world. The only exceptions were their eyes, green and blue, and the light pink shell that hung around the woman's neck.


     

Perhaps one day the boy would acquire a hunger for foreign lands, but for now the lands that immediately surrounded him were unknown enough. Even after a long time, when most of it had been explored, there would be places that were hidden from those that did not seek every new place. Certainly, he would be the type to search for these places, and surely they would occupy him for quite a while.


     

Smiling more as Savina ruffled his fur, the young wolf nodded. "I like the rain, too." It reminded him of his sisters and the time they had spent escaping the Rain Monsters. Their childhood had been incomprehensibly fleeting, and Gotham missed the novelty of everything that came with it. Everything had been unknown back then, a mystery to solve. He realized now, though, that there were still things that he did not know. Hesitating for just a moment, he looked up to his mother and asked, "How does the water get up in the sky, anyway?" It was possible that there was a giant layer of water up there and one day they would run out of rain, but that would make the stars look wavy or might even make it impossible to see them, just as the water hid the bottom of the lake! The boy knew the stars were as visible and as in focus as almost anything could be.

     

Gotham watched the rain fall from the sky as he listened to his mother, her voice rising above the splatter of the rain as it struck the leaves that surrounded them. The boy rather liked the sound of this Jupiter guy, partly because he was nice and gave the Romans rain when they needed it, but mostly because he controlled big powerful things like the lightning. Lightning was really scary and, well, big! How did one guy, god or not, control it? Perhaps to him it was like thread, strung between the earth and the sky, and he played it like Jazper played his guitar. And then, instead of sound, light came out! That was a really fascinating idea, but Gotham was not totally convinced. He liked music and he liked lightning, but he was rather unsure what a god was and he was incapable of thinking of any creature that was bigger and stronger and, especially, smarter than himself or any other wolf he had met.


     

When Savina asked him what his own opinion was, he furrowed his brows and stared at the rain intently, as if it would give up its secrets. The youngster knew that the rain, at least most of it, ended up in the ocean, and he knew that the ocean was a really big place. There were probably monsters in there, too. These thoughts came together, and, turning his blue eyes back to his mother's green ones, he replied excitedly, "Maybe there is a monster that lives in the water, and it drinks a lot of it, and then it flies up to the sky and when it's up there it... spits it all out because it's too heavy. Or something like that!" He grinned widely, the mystery of it all being part of the fun. Perhaps his mother had something to add to his story.

Yeee
300+

     

In his mind he could see this beast, soaring above Crimson Dreams, above all the lands that he had ever seen. Of course, he couldn't see it from the ground, because all the clouds were in the way, but perhaps it would be visible from above. Unless it actually looked like the clouds itself, its skin gray and black and heavy with rain. That would be the perfect disguise, and Gotham didn't doubt that the thing had good camouflage. Perhaps when it was full with water it looked dark and menacing, and once the creature had expelled its load it looked white and soft, just like the clouds did. These pieces all seemed to fit together quite comfortably, and the ebony male started to get more and more excited about the explanation they had concocted. The wind made sense, too - if it was flying above it would certainly be creating quite a breeze, and if it was empty it would be able to go even faster. Gotham beamed at his mother, proud of their genius.


     

"Yes!" he exclaimed, and then continued with another idea, "And when it is spitting out all of the rain, it is roaring, and that's what makes all the thunder!" This explanation was so parsimonious and beautiful, but there was something that caught the boy, and he paused for a moment, thinking hard, before asking, "But what makes the lightning?" Perhaps the beast breathed electricity just like some dragons breathed fire. That would make sense! He could cough up lightning and then roar thunder. Before Savina could reply with her explanation of the lightning problem, her son explained the bit of thinking he had done since he asked it. "Maybe he breathes lightning just like some dragons breath fire! But what's his name? And maybe it's a girl!" He would leave those decisions up to his mother, as long as she gave a good reason for her choices.

It is!
300+

     

Gotham was pleased that his mother had the same solution to the lightning problem - it must mean it was a really good idea! He giggled, quite excited by the story they were coming up with. Surely, if they stayed out in the rain long enough, the two wolves could come up with explanations for everything in all the world! They could solve the mystery of how bugs could fly, why the sky was blue except at sunrise and sunset, and how trees could grow so high. The truth of it all might have been beautiful as well, but the boy was finding making up their own truths was even more exciting, and the idea that he had some say in the matter was thrilling. He had no clue where Savina had pulled the name Kalseru from, but he liked the sound of it and nodded enthusiastically in agreement. Her explanation was more than satisfactory as well, and Kalseru reminded him of his mother! A crooked little smile crossed his maw at her statement, and he nodded once more, adding, "'Cause you need the rain to make flowers and grass grow!"


     

It was clear that Kalseru must go back down when she ran out of water, to soothe her thirst with the ocean's salty water (the saltiness of the ocean compared with the pureness of rain was a dissonance that Gotham didn't pick up on at the time). In that case, did she live alone? Maybe there was a man-dragon to keep her company! And maybe she had lots of little babies! Gotham stared at the rain thoughtfully as he pondered the daily life of the lightning-breathing dragon. After all, it wasn't stormy all the time, so she must be busy doing something on the days that it was sunny. Furrowing his brow and looking at his mother quizzically, Gotham asked, "Do you think Kalseru has a lover?"

300+

     

Hibernation sounded fairly reasonable, since it didn't rain very much in the winter, but it brought up an obvious question. The youngster didn't fail to voice it, turning to his mother with furrowed brows as he asked, "Kay, but where does the snow come from?" He had assumed it was almost the same thing as rain, because when a snowflake landed on one's tongue it shrivelled up into a little ball of water right away. As it was, the boy couldn't think of any good explanations for snow, and he hoped that his mother could come up with something. They seemed to be quite the story making team, their ideas complimenting each other's and making their mythologies strong in their explanatory power. Gotham would never need to wonder about the rain again! There were a few little gaps in their stories that the pair of black wolves would need to work on, but they were getting close and certainly weren't slowing down.


     

In many of the story books that Gotham had struggled through, either by himself or with the help of his father, there was a prince or a knight that, in the end, obtained a princess. The boy figured it could go the other way around, too, so he assumed that Kalseru had found a prince that lived with her in her water castle. Once again, Savina had a wonderful explanation, and Gotham nodded vigorously in agreement. "Si! And when he beats his wings he makes all the little waves that come to shore! Maybe sometimes he goes up in the air with Kalseru just to fly around with her and that's why there are high tides and low tides, because he is so big that when he leaves all the water goes down." Maybe he had something to do with snow, too.

     

Gotham didn't know that it didn't snow back in Italy, and that certainly posed a problem! Luckily, his mother quickly explained that away, and the youngster found himself nodding frequently and vigorously. It made total sense! There was a dragon that made it snow, but he needed to stay cold so he didn't melt and couldn't make it cold by himself, so he had to stay where the earth was already cold! Maybe when that snow dragon started to go where it was too warm, or if he got ahead of the cold front, he started to melt, and a thing that Gotham knew as sleet fell from the sky, kind of like snow but melted a little! And maybe, as it got colder and colder, the moisture in the air would cling to the sides of the dragon and he would get bigger and bigger, and capable of making enormous storms! Oh, this explanation was so wonderful that the boy could barely contain his excitement, and his tail thumped happily against the ground.


     

He was enormously happy that his mother thought his idea was a good one, and his tail thumped against the ground even harder. As she ruffled his fur he grinned and exclaimed, "Yes, we are geniuses!" He giggled a little, pushing against his mother's hand affectionately. The youngster wondered what the humans thought caused the rain and snow and tides, but threw the thought away almost immediately. For the time being, he didn't care what the humans thought, because this idea was more splendid than any human idea could have been! After all, like Savina had said, there was no one as clever as they were, and that must include humans.


     

When asked what the dragons' names were, Gotham stalled a little, peering out into the rain for a moment. It was impossible to know what their names were for real, and he didn't know any really good names for them, either, so he sat and thought. A few thoughtful noises escaped him before he said, "I think the name of Kalseru's lover is called Tirta. And I think the ice dragon's name is Lumi." He said these names confidently, finding them suitable for one reason or another but unable to say exactly why. "And I think that Lumi is a boy, because the snow covers all the flowers and instead of letting them grow he makes them all..." The boy trailed off here, unsure how to finish. He was young, and this was his first winter. He had seen the snow cover all the flowers, but what happened to them? Were they sleeping or were they.. dead?

     

Inventing the stories that explained the universe was, perhaps surprisingly, a lot of fun. Really, though, it was his mother that made it so interesting. Without her input, Gotham would've been stuck at the wind, and he probably wouldn't have thought of Lumi, instead assuming that Kalseru made the snow, too. He grinned at her affection, his tail bouncing off the ground some more, and leaned in close. This was a precious bond that they shared, and though Gotham probably didn't appreciate it as he would later in life, he had an inkling of wonder at it. The warm feeling was evident and almost overwhelming as his mother gave him a little kiss, and he shone in the light of her attention. He was glad that he had come out in the rain and found her by the lake, even if she seemed a little sad at first. Perhaps he had helped in making her sadness go away, he thought, and when the idea found its place in his mind it grew to near certainty. Making sadness go away was a valuable power, and the thought that he possessed it made the youngster even happier. To make his mother smile was a wonderful ability.


     

He smiled when she agreed with the names he had chosen, relieved that they were satisfactory. He wasn't surprised to hear about the flowers, really, even though death was a weird concept in general. The insects disappeared beneath the snow, too, but Gotham knew they would be back even if they had died, since they were there on his first summer and didn't seem to be anything new and unusual to the adults. "Hm," he said, slightly thoughtfully, and then added, "That's kind of sad." They were transgressing from the realm of sky dragons, but Gotham couldn't help but follow the questions as they arose. After a moment, he asked, "How do the ones that die come back the next year?" It was interesting that some flowers could survive the winter, but what seemed even more interesting was how others could die and then appear again the next year. The boy knew that Anu planted a nice garden every year, because he spent some good time in it searching for cool bugs, and perhaps there was a dragon involved in planting flowers to replace those slain by Lumi and his snow.

     

There were many mysteries of the natural world, each one with hundreds of possible solutions. Gotham enjoyed imagining what some of these solutions might be, and he was rather smitten with the dragon explanation. Dragons, however, were really big, and it would be hard for one to live on the land without being noticed. Besides in mountains and great forests, they would be easily and readily spotted, making them a poor candidate for whatever made the flowers come back. Even in the dead of night, dragons wouldn't be able to sneak into the flower beds around Crimson Dreams, and if they tried to sneak over the rolling hills of open plain they wouldn't do too well, either. This led to a rather reasonable conclusion made by the boy: whatever collected the seeds and replanted them when spring came would have to be something small. He exclaimed the first small, earthy creature that popped into his head, "Oh, like a mole!" They were surely good diggers, and perhaps in their underground caves they kept supplies of all sorts of seeds. What a marvel it would be to see! Of course, they would have to keep it all secret. What if some seed-munching bird or other animal got in and ate all the seeds? There would never be those poor dying flowers again! It was likely that there were very large underground networks in various places, accounting for the diversity of flowers in different places. They probably didn't have these creatures in Italy or other places where flowers never went away, either.


     

Gotham had dreams of big adventures and princely endeavors, but Crimson Dreams would always be home. For now, the lands around the mansion were vast enough, the adventures wild and the skies charming, but only time would tell if it was all big enough for the boy. Perhaps one day he would have to go on a grand adventure! He knew that he must see the Italy that his mother spoke of and the lands where she grew up, but that was more of a deep-rooted feeling than a conscious decision. The boy didn't even know how to get back there, and for now he was much too young. Maybe the entire family could go back together. The thought made him happy, and he wondered if his father had seen the place Savina came from. It would be a very fun trip, the youngster thought, though he didn't take into account the long boat ride under less than wonderful living conditions. He was being spoiled in terms of his quality of life in Crimson Dreams, and had become accustomed to it. The anticipation of adventure would likely make him antsy, even if it did make him feel the long trip was worth it. Anyway, this was all years in the future, and the thought had barely crossed the cadet's mind.