A sketchpage of a frankly silly length, following Commander Yuri Six-Cants’ reckless quest to raise a Vinetooth from seedling.
It begins innocently enough, with a strange seedling in a glass vial. A rope is looped around the vial, and Yuri wears it like a pendant on a necklace. He waters the plant with his flask, but quickly hides it under his bandana when someone comes calling “Commander?”
As the seedling grows bigger, it’s repotted several times. First into a tiny clay pot that hangs from the inside of his coat, and then into a large calabash that Yuri slings over his shoulder. Several holes are bored into the gourd, with thorny vines poking out of each one. The little plant accompanies Yuri everywhere during his time in Maguuma, he’s clearly fond of it. Eventually, the vine outgrows even the calabash, and Yuri has to break it open in order to get the plant out safely. “Alright, buddy,” He says. “Getting a little rootbound.”
When Yuri uproots the plant, however, he realizes that the root mass is actually a tiny, fetal Vinetooth. It looks kind of like a cross between a baby bird, a sprout, and a human infant. Yuri is too stunned to react. He just sits there with the fetus curled up in his lap.
The Vinetooth soon develops into a tubby baby version of the monster. She looks a little bit like if a satyr and a puma cub lost a fight with a bush. She hasn’t grown into her teeth or claws yet, so she’s a runty little thing with chubby cheeks, stubby limbs, and big ol’ eyes for staring. The root mass that she emerged in is now a wild mane, while the thorny vines have become her tail.
Yuri has his hands full with the little imp. In one vignette, he says “We can’t play if you’re gonna teeth on me. You’ll have to pick one or the other.” She chews on his hand anyway. In another, she passes out it his arms, and he cradles her over his shoulder. She starts to look more like a proper Vinetooth as she gets older. Her horn-like branches and wooden skin are growing in, but she’s still manageably small. Yuri comments “Geez, you’re getting big.” The Vinetooth opens her mouth, baring her huge fangs, and makes a clicking noise at him.
The other party members help Yuri with the sprout, as well. Some have looser definitions of “help” than others; The Lastborn tosses the baby Vinetooth at Captain Logan Thackeray, saying “Hey, fuck ya life. Bing-bong.” Logan shouts ”OAUH SHIT!” as he throws himself out of her way.
In another scene, The Vinetooth pounces on one blighted Trahearne and gnaws on his leafy hair. He reaches up for her, but doesn’t quite know how to extract her.
“Oh, you. Kept them,” he says. The Lastborn stares at him reproachfully, and says “He kept you, too, asshole. Be nice.”
Another scene shows the Lastborn resting with his elbows on the floor, to level with the Vinetooth. He sticks his thumb in his mouth and bites down, saying “Kid, swear a blood oath with me.”
He holds his bleeding hand out to her. She just stares at it. “Never suffer as I have,” he says.
The Vinetooth licks his wound. “That’s the spirit,” the Lastborn says, with a slight smile.
The last scene shows Trahearne brooding in the Silverwastes, somewhere. The Vinetooth totters out to find him, but doesn’t approach him directly. She just squints at him from behind a pile of rocks.
She quietly deposits a single, magical scroll on the rocks. He catches the movement out of the corner of his eye, but the Vinetooth disappears before he sees her. Slowly, more and more magical artifacts find their way to Trahearne’s side. He sits with his back turned towards them, trying not to acknowledge them.
Eventually, the Vinetooth’s antics attract the Commander and the Lastborn’s attention. The two of them follow her as she brings a magical paper lantern back to the pile. The Lastborn peers out over the rocks and says “Oh, that’s where my walking stick went.” Yuri smiles as the Vinetooth makes her way to the pile, and says “Aw, cute.”
He leans down and scoops her up in his arms, blowing raspberries in her mane. She looks nonplussed at best about this. “Are you hunting for Trahearne?” he asks.
He lets the Vinetooth go, and she waddles toward Trahearne with renewed purpose. Trahearne stares out at the wastes with all the typical cosmic burdens placed on his shoulders. The Lastborn grins at him. “Hey, chin up, big boy. Not much of an Elder Dragon if you’re too helpless to feed yourself.”
The Vinetooth offers the paper lantern to Trahearne. He hangs his head in defeat, but scruffs the Vinetooth’s mane, and says “What I would give for that to be true.”]
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