Scales

Dragon Personality: Scales is very quiet for a young dragon, and unlike many hatchlings tends to eat after the two adults have had their fill. Physically, she's very weak, with one back leg that doesn't yet support her weight, and she mostly uses her wings to help balance and even push herself around. Her wings are probably the strongest part of her - she's already quite an agile flier, given the limited space she has to work with in the cave system.

She's unsure of a lot of things - the dark, spiders - and her nervousness can be quite annoying when the other two are trying to get on with some escape attempt. However, one thing she's really unsure of if her place in the world. This actually seems to be one of her fixations - she will often try to talk about her role, her position. Even though she has no understanding of the traditional positions Gaolers hold, Scales seems to know the names, and will sound them out frequently, trying to pick the one that sounds best.

Another thing that Scales tends to fixate on is knowledge and storytelling. She will listen to the Unusual talk for hours at a time and generally gravitates towards the sound of that dragon's voice, which can be a real pain for Edge at times when he's trying to be protective of her. Scales doesn't seem to fear the Unusual at all, though - or Edge, for that matter. She's not assertive, but she just doesn't seem to register that other dragons might not always be protecting her.

Scales is very naive, and always trusts her heart - which is easily influenced by any local ghosts or spirits that might be around. Through this, ghosts can 'talk' through Scales, but only if they're actually around to do that.

Lore Information: Scales is the only one of the three cave-dwellers to have actually been born a Gaoler. Her parents were both scrolled into being Gaolers by a particularly battle-savvy clan, who believed that the shaggier, winter-coated Gaolers could be impenetrable forces when it came to fighting. The first two hatchlings were the sort of brave lair guards one could only write legends about, but the third... well, Scales was hatched lame. Certainly not suitable for a warrior clan.

When you live in such a poor area for food, every extra mouth counts. Scales wasn't fed for long before her appetite was deemed too demanding. She was soon abandoned in the frozen wastelands of the Ice clans, but the shaggy wintercoat she'd been bred for kept the little dragon alive a lot longer than most would expect. She was too small to hunt, but she did try, and it kept her from freezing in place. Some passing travelers took pity on her, offering her bits of food and small comforts such as a pink blanket and a battered, stuffed Noggle. When she continued to survive, her breed hardy beyond hardy and her parents' shaggy wintercoats only helping, word spread amongst the travelers, and dragons began to come to see this 'miracle' of a strange new breed. Scales never spoke to them, but they asked her the same questions often enough that she began to pick up some language.

One dragon even declared herself Scales' manager, saying she used to be a war general and so would be really good at managing things, and spent a full week hanging around and demanding other dragons pay to see Scales, before vanishing suddenly and leaving Scales with all the money and other offerings. Some now began to see Scales as 'haunted' or as having the ability to see things others couldn't, and now she was asked for predictions on matters that were ridiculously complicated; things she couldn't even understand with her limited grip on language. But her answers, simple as they were, always seemed to be 'right'. Maybe that was because they were simple, or maybe it was because Scales followed her heart, and maybe something unseen was guiding it in what to say.


Eventually, a dragon travelled a long way to see Scales. He had come all the way from the desert, and he offered her a home. And, more importantly, more than any other dragon had offered: a name. Scales felt about as safe with him as she did any other dragon, but something about getting a name fascinated her. Taki told her there would be a story attached to that name, which only fascinated her all the more.

Unlike the other two, Scales feels quite safe and at home in the cave. She was led there by Taki, and she knows why she's there - she's the one who doesn't have to change at all! She even knows who's leaving the food - while not actually a ghost, the "ghost" Scales describes does look very ghost-like, and is small enough to be able to flit through cracks in the cave the bigger Gaolers can't get through, giving it the appearance of disappearing into thin air. This is the only dragon Scales has ever eagerly tried to talk to, mostly because it never speaks.

All that being said, Scales is looking forwards to getting out of here, which she knows they absolutely will - the others just need to change, that's all. They have to be like real Gaolers and get roles and things, and in doing so move on with their lives. Roles will make everything better! Scales wants a role too, of course, though she's very unsure about what to pick. Taki told her the names of the roles Gaolers get to have, and she often repeats them, much to the annoyance of her cave companions. The roles are everything to Scales - even stand-ins for words she cannot remember, or words she's not supposed to say.

The Unusual, having realized Scales' ability with ghosts, has tried several times to get her to make predictions about whether they'll get out and get revenge and so on. But there are no ghosts in this place, it seems, so all she gets is quiet optimism and questions about what revenge is.

Other Notes: As Scales doesn't have any scales, her name comes from the scales of justice.