Animal Day

[crossover_chick]

Both in reality and online. On the reality front, I did another round of housesitting duty today, which means dealing with my employers' two dogs, Tek and Bo -- and, to my surprise, a cat! Giorgio Armani is his name, and he's a very pretty grey kitty -- who drools. Seriously, this cat is the wettest cat I've ever met. He kept rubbing up against me and even got in my lap once or twice to drip all over my hands and legs. Friendly as anything, but I'm glad I had napkins on hand!

In the online realm, not only do we have the bacon of Hamnesia (as Helloween has nicknamed "Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs"), we also have something infinitely cooler. I was browsing forgotten_vows's Reading page when I spotted a meme in bakerstreet called "The Nest of Eggs Meme." Curious, I checked it out --

And it turned out to be all about giving out Pernese fire-lizards, courtesy of a special journal made especially for that purpose.

Basically, you commented to the meme, and you got a baby dragon. Or, at least, an animal that is very very close to dragons (and, in Pernese canon, is the genetic ancestor of dragons).

How was I supposed to turn down getting Victor an almost-dragon?!

So yes, Victor has a new pet -- a male silver fire-lizard hatchling that shall be named Moonlight. I've been on the Google looking up information on these little guys ever since. The most pertinent points I've found are:
-->They vary in size, with a maximum of three feet -- Moonlight, being the second-biggest male, should get to about two feet. (Currently he's about the size of Victor's hand.)
-->They're beach-dwellers in canon, and so live on a lot of seafood, plus worms and other small fauna. Victor bonded to the little guy via a gift of chicken, but I'll probably have him feed him sardines and suchlike from now on.
-->To keep their skin healthy, they need regular oilings.
-->They can fly and teleport by going "between," and carry small items via both methods of transport. Victor will probably give Moonlight a light collar to help identify him.
-->They're telepathic and mildly telekinetic. Moonlight will be able to transmit his feelings and images to Victor via their bond.
-->Their eyes change color with their mood -- red is hungry/lustful, blue is contented, violet is worried, etc.
-->They poop out their tails. Okay, this isn't so much "pertinent" as "something I find rather amusing."
I plan to make Moonlight part of Victor's tumblr adventures, since it's unlikely I'll be able to use him for much on Dreamwidth right now. I've already established Victor lives in a magic-rich, portal-heavy area -- it's not unlikely a Pernese fire-lizard egg could have rolled through one at some point and been rescued by Victor. Hopefully he'll get along well with Bayard and Splatter. :)

Okay, supper should be coming soon, and then after that I'll have to shower and finally get around to doing the Storybook app on Facebook. I've been rather distracted with my search for fire-lizard info. I just -- this is so awesome to me. Victor has a dragon! :D I look forward to raising the little guy.

Comments

[martyfan]

Clark Luthor's got one of those too! Apparently back in the old days, they used to give them out in the Nexus, and I collaborated with one of the other muns to give him (and his mirror!VictorAllen) one.

I'm also very familiar with the canon, so if you can't find something online, feel free to ask. :P

[crossover_chick]

Oh, so THAT'S where he got Zara! I was wondering. :D And yeah, deadgirlslikeme ran into him when he took her out into the Nexus for the first time. :)

Thanks -- it was surprisingly hard finding out just how big they got. It doesn't help that Forgotten got a non-canon color in a silver -- fortunately the journal has a whole post with a few quick facts about each color. I think I found everything I need to keep Moonlight happy and healthy, but if there's anything else I need to know about them. . . Sevenday is just the Pernese word for a week, right? (Actually, I should probably ask how time on Pern correlates to time on Earth -- I want to know how fast this little guy will be growing.)

[martyfan]

Yep! Special thread, just for us. It'll be interesting when Zara matures, because queens rise to mate twice a year or so, and they broadcast those emotions to their bonded as well as anyone in range. (If your little guy's a male, you won't need to worry about that unless he gets around rising females.)

Yeah, I tend to go with about the size of a large cat. Of course, size depends on the color, but you've got a noncanon color so I'm not sure where it ranks.

Sevenday is a week, Turn is a year. I'm pretty sure they're roughly the same as Earth's days and years, but it's been a while since I read anything definite about it.

Both fire lizards and dragons grow VERY quickly during their first few months, and they eat like they're starving until their growth slows. I think they reach sexual maturity after three years or so, but don't quote me on that.

[crossover_chick]

Nice. :) And yes, I bet it will be -- good thing it's not as strong as it is with the dragons. (I don't think it'll be a problem, and fortunate for Victor. Sharing horniness with your fire lizard has got to be awkward.)

*nodnod* All right then. The person running the "egg" journal did helpfully sort all the colors, canon and non, by size, sexual maturity, and general temperament, so that was a big help. I just wanted some more solid stats so I'd know what Victor was ending up with.

I'll just go with them being roughly the same then.

Yeah, I found an article that warned me about that -- Victor will have to stock up on the fishy goodness. The Egg Journal has Moonlight's color reaching it in a year, so. . . *shrug*