Steamhammer

Probably the prettiest goddamn dragon I've ever seen, in forever indebted to quantums for helping me out, my GOD what do I even dress her in she's just so 💕

- yeah she's ace remember to mention that in the formal bio
- gonna b good friends w/lady
- elegante

An absolute skeptic to balance out Lady's incorrigible gossip, Steam nonetheless enjoys an esipping tea and listening to what's what and who's who about the lair. A socialite through-and-through, she doesn't really have a job within the clan. (Actually working? Are you off your rocker?) But somewhere she's got tucked away somewhere a little black book - and if you have to ask what's in it, you don't need to know!

And that little black book is what makes Steam so invaluable to Mixie. With the clan growing in size, the clan leader can't be everywhere at once. Back when there were only 8, 12, 17 dragons to watch, Mix could personally talk to everyone to see who needed a guiding hand or friendly ear and who needed a stern talking-to.

Now, the mirror utilizes a group of seemingly harmless, friendly, and quite pretty gossips to keep an eye out for what's changing from day to day. Not a single dragon'll be forgotten! But keeping track of even that group grew difficult, so Mixie had to turn to an outside source for help - who could work with her finicky group of busybodies and macos, keeping them under control, but also cooperate and report to her?

---

One day, while exploring the Wispwillow Grove for places to build new dens to support the ever-growing clan, Mixie came across a blue skydancer who had her own lair in the Grove. Undomiel, as she introduced herself, knew some great places where a lair could be linked to the Driftwood by the rivers nearby. And after a few hours walking together, she invited Mixie to come have dinner with her - clan leader to clan leader.

Of course, Mixie found it quite wonderful to be able to talk with someone else who understood the worries of guiding so many! Their dinner lingered for far too long and she had to bolt back to her clan, and in doing so she forgot her gloves. Of course, returning to retrieve those the next day led to a second meal. And a few days after that, a third meal - and on that time, there was a third member to their table.

Undomiel had a business partner, it seemed. A rather impressively magical fae named Sekhmet ran a hatchery with the skydancer, and trained the hatchlings who didn't sell during their youth. Upon hearing about Mixie's troubles with the socialites and information webs, she had the perfect solution: a dragon who was born proud and beautiful, raised to be cunning and clever. Her scheming and sometimes cold behavior had driven off many suitors and clans, but those aspects should help Mixie, shouldn't they?

What a perfect solution! And so handily found, too. Mixie was overjoyed! She was also, however, a pragmatic dragon. Such a valuable asset wouldn't be found for fodder prices. Harsh attitude or no, the cost wouldn't be easy to swallow.

"She's a wonder! Since she's older...how'd you handle some 120k treasure for her?"

Ah. It wasn't a bad price. It was worse.

---

When it came to Steam herself, she had been yet unnamed when she traveled to Mixie's lair from her home in the Gladeveins. When her leader told her she had been bought, she had to go to the coli to keep from saying something she might have regretted. A somewhat impressive swathe of Eliminates through the rainforest later, Steam was strolling to her den to pack, the very image of propriety.

At least her genes were worth such a great price, she consoled herself. There was little doubt that some backwoods lair down in the muck could only be interested in her looks for breeding! Good company would be hard to find, but then....it was hard to find it in the Symphony hatchery, either. Dragons were forever focused on mates and hatchlings and such drama.

Not to say drama was bad, of course. Drama was quite fascinating to watch. It was even better to instigate - as long as she stayed out of it! Steam had taken her training and used it to gather what she would call "potential favors" and her clan members may call "blackmail". Her clan members often disagreed with her like that. What she called "reasonable" was "underhanded", "amusing" was "snide", and her little habits of keeping track of what people needed meant, apparently, that she was both obsessive and heartless.

So leaving all that behind wouldn't be so much of a trial, she supposed. She'd be able to handle - a warm welcome?!

"Yer the newbie, eh?" Some large brute, purple and green, emerged from the gloom of the trees. How'd she miss such a brightly coloured imperial? He was positively glowing! Berating herself for not paying attention in a new land, Steam outwardly blinked once.

"Well, I wouldn't know, I'm afraid. I was given directions to a lair, but as I haven't reached it yet I can't tell if you're from it." There. That should be solid enough to make him go away.

Silently nodding to herself, Steam had just begun to continue on her path when a second dragon - a green and purple pearlcatcher, so at least this one was smaller than her - appeared. With a somewhat dismissive once-over, he said, " Yes, that'd be her. Let's get back soon, Long Haul. I have plans with Adelaide for some new plants tonight." What nerve! He was ignoring her! And - wait. Was that dragon threaded through with wires? Wires, shiny plating, and electricity...that could be useful. That could have so many applications, but what were the weaknesses?

The not-quite introduced Long Haul, ignoring Steam's suddenly thoughtful silence, replied in a mutter, "O' course, we don' wanna mess with yer utterly mysterious garden plans. Not that we could, y'know, since none o' us know what they are." Ah? Was that some kind of resentment? Steam itched to jot notes down about this whole fascinating encounter, but she always practiced a policy of not writing infront of the dragons she was writing about. It was surprisingly helpful.

"It's a surprise for Starshine, as you well know. And a surprise for the rest of you!" the other dragon replied. He seemed ready to start gesturing to make a point, or perhaps start on a undoubtably long-winded lecture, when a third voice chimed in.

"Surprises are all well and good, but one surprise I didn't need was finding out that my new arrival was late." Sounding reprimanding and exasperated at the same time, the speaker stood in the middle of the path infront of all three dragons. She was...another green and purple dragon? Good god, Steam could see why this lair had chosen her. She'd get lost mixed in with so many other dragons looking like her! (That wasn't fair, really. The imperial was metallic shades, the pearlcatcher was some amount mechanical, and the newcomer was deep, matte shades. Steam had to try not to be impressed at the coordination.) "Right then. Let's go."

And just like that, she was escorted to her new lair.