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 Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 8:07 pm
"Yes I'm a dragon," Jericho said flatly, "Well there's one right in front of you right now."
Huffing, he raised an eyebrow at the whole riding bit.
"You're right. I don't need to let anyone on my back. But I can. As it stands, Riley is the only person I allow to ride outside of carrying someone when they need it. If anyone else tries, you're right. I'll snap their head clean off," he said lowly. He didn't just let anyone ride him.
"Dragons are jack-damn sexy. And we're just as diverse if not more-so than horses. Aside from hundreds of subtypes under 'dragon' you have the drakes, the wyverns, Quetzalcoatl, ampithere, landwyrms, leviathans, dracholiches... I guess, and more! Scaled wings, feathers, fur, whatever suits your fancy," he said with a smirk, "Grace and power all in one package."
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 8:28 pm
Calder paused a moment, food forgotten as the tray was more or less left to go cold, not that he didn't like his good going cold. If it got cold, it tasted better. If it got warm, then it rotted and did nicely that way too. Food aside, he had other matters to think about. Most importantly being the fact he had beside him a creature who knew how to handle a rider. A person who, if said inquires about a rider were to get out, was best friends with the one person he hated. This was rather tricky.
Drumming his slender fingertips against his chin, he continued on. "Kelplies and many of the classes of equine monsters happen to process plenty of grace, speed, power, and intelligence. I suppose you've never really seen one of my kind in action. If you did, you'd know this. Then again, I'll be honest. I've never seen a dragon in real life. I guess I'd have to ...see it for myself to believe it." He picked up his spoon and popped a spoonful of minnows in his mouth, looking around as if he wasn't trying to bait Jericho one bit.
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 8:39 pm
During that bit of silence, Jericho went on to continue eating, allowing Calder to digest what was said. It was true, he hadn't seen a kelpie in action. He hadn't really known any kelpies before Calder either. There weren't any that he was aware of anywhere near his home territory. Well, if there were, they didn't have that much of a presence.
The dragon raised a brow at the comment on having to see it to believe it. Regardless of whether Calder was trying to bait him or not, he didn't really care. He was proud of his true form and what he was. If someone wanted to see it, he'd show them... just not inside the cafeteria.
"If you want to see my true form you'll have to wait until I'm done eating. I'm not changing in here," He murmured.
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 8:55 pm
"Oh no. No. Not here. You can't shift here by the way. Tried once. First day I think. But no. You go and eat your...whatever. No rush." He said, forcing himself not to smile. Okay. He just had to work this out a little. He was not only going to see a real life dragon in it's true form, but he might be getting some insight on riding. Just had to avoid having him notice. Well, he was sure he was bright enough to avoid being detected. If he thought dragons were sexy, he clearly wasn't bright.
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 9:18 pm
Letting out another huff, Jericho took the next few moments to finish up his burger finally. Once that was all done, he pushed himself up to his feet and tossed out his trash before turning towards Calder.
"Come on," was all he said before he started making his way outside where it was nice and open. Aside from shifting, he was wondering if he should try to show off some aerial stunts at all. Maybe that would show the seahorse how awesome dragons could be.
He didn't stop until he was out in a good clearing with a fair amount of space on all sides. There weren't too many students out in this area either, so it seemed like an ideal location. There, he turned and waited to see if the Kelpie had been keeping up or not.
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 9:30 pm
When Jericho finished up, Calder was already set and ready to go, drinking down a few more sips of his tea before putting his tray away and following him out and across campus.
Calder knew the field they came to. Not only did it have a great patch of grab grass that grew further off, but it was, as Jericho noticed, devoid of students. It was a great place to shift if you didn't want anyone to see you, but in this case, the dragon had an audience.
Not even winded, Calder was happily prancing behind the other boil and stopped when he turned around, flashing a smile and a little 'hello there' wave. "So do you ..need me to step back or anything?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 9:43 pm
"Eh. You're far enough," Jericho said as Calder came by. It wasn't as if his shifting involved him bursting into flames or anything like that. He just needed to make sure he had space since he did become considerably bigger. With a smirk, he glanced around once more to make sure he wouldn't bump into anything mid-transformation, then went on to remove his pin.
Once the skull pin was off, his body began to change immediately. Hard, red scales quickly took the place of skin and a tail suddenly sprouted out from behind. His neck elongated and nails quickly became claws. Before long, he stood before the kelpie in full red dragon form, giving a rather draconic smirk.
He was larger than a horse for sure.
Suddenly, his wings flared out before beating towards the ground. In an instant he had taken flight, and was now quickly ascending towards the sky.
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 10:05 pm
A dragon was certainly larger than a horse, and while kelpies were bigger than a horse, this was just a bit bigger than what he was expecting. He took a few steps back only to take in the full size of him, and the sheer amount of ...dragon there was. Scales, horns, wings, tail - and all those other things he HEARD about but his imagination really never managed to refine into such a image that was standing before him now. Okay. So it was impressive. That wasn't to say kelpies weren't impressive either, just that Jericho had a dragon impressive that came with being a whole lot of dragon.
Then, to further his point, the boil kicked up his wings and took off. Once he was done shielding his head from the blasting wind from take-off, he looked up and watched the boil rise higher and higher.
"Show off."
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 10:15 pm
Once he felt he was high enough in the air, Jericho started to spiral on back down towards the ground with his wings tucked in at his sides. He could see where Calder was standing pretty clearly and he was quickly rushing towards the kelpie.
"VOOOOIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!" the dragon roared while he pulled out of his dive a few feet above where the other boy stood, flaring his wings out again to keep him from crashing into the soil. Normally he wasn't one to show off like this, but he wanted to make his point on dragons.
When he had finished pulling out of the dive, he angled his wings to come back around to land on the earth a safe distance away from Calder with a hefty thud, not really bothering to try to land softly this time around.
Tucking his wings back, he just stood there, giving the seahorse quite the toothy grin.
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 10:25 pm
While Calder didn't think the dragon boil would crash right into him and the ground, he did wonder if he was going to be picked up like some grazing sheep and carried off to some undisclosed den to be eaten. It could happen! There were plenty of animals that ate his kind. Meat was meat after all, but to his brief relief, that wasn't the case. Then the wind kicked up and threw his long hair all over the jackin place. Hair now all types of knotted and puffed, he was left combing out his hair and in the process of pulling his hands through it, completely ruining all the work he did to make it messy and keeping sticks and other various dirt in it. Now all the debris just fell right out and left it...ugh, it was pretty again.
Frowning at his hair as he tried to pull it out of his face, he looked over as the dragon landed with a grin that would have made Calder worry if he didn't already know the boil just ate. "Okay, you have grace IN THE AIR. That's as far as I'll admit and you do kick wind in all directions like a malfunctioning fan. You have power, but it's more size than anything." He gestured at the massive form of the dragon. ".....and you're LOUD. Ugh, my ear were about to burst." He huffed as he wiggled a finger inside of one ear. While he complimented him that he did prove his point, he wasn't about to start waving any Go Dragons Yay! flags. "That still doesn't make you sexy."
He threw his hair over his shoulders. "I really don't see how Riley could even ride you. Being all over the place. You'd think she'd just fall off." He then smiled. That was a nice image. Riley falling and then SPLAT!
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 10:37 pm
Well, he had at least gotten Calder to agree a little, though he couldn't help but snort at the sexy bit again. The stupid seahorse probably didn't know the meaning of the term.
"It's not all size, though it's a part of it. The smaller dragons have their own merits as well," He said before staring at the other boy at the mention of Riley falling off.
"I didn't start doing loop-di-loops the first time she rode me," he grumbled, "She's learned how to hang on and besides, I don't let her drop. If she did lose her grip somehow, I'd just go catch her."
It was partially a matter of trust on Riley's part there. The trust that he wouldn't let her fall.
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 10:43 pm
"Oh yeah. If she falls, you have time to pick her up." That was not an option for Calder. There was a short window of time from his rider falling off to hitting the ground, and it wasn't like he had claws or any digits to pick someone up or catch them. Hooves were great for gaining speed but rather worthless when wanting to grab something.
Walking over, he started to really get a good look at the boil. His back, neck, wings, and other various appendages and brought a hand to his chin, thinking. "But what does she hold on to? You don't have any reigns or saddle." If there was a way to have a rider without them touching his reign, he would go for that option instead. Christof's ride was a fluke and if he had been a mean person, could have really hurt the kelpie if he so wanted.
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 10:55 pm
Looking down at the kelpie, Jericho replied, "When I'm moving quickly, she can lean down and wrap her arms around my neck. It's a little more aerodynamic that way too. Otherwise she just has to retain balance in her own way. It takes a fair amount of skill to be able to do that."
Of course, she had time to get used to it as well. He was just walking the first time she mounted him and all. The dragon hadn't really flown with the Mindflayer until after they had returned from their crazy field trip in Christmas town. Though, he supposed that if she wasn't in such good shape as she was, she probably would have had more trouble remaining on his backside.
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 11:04 pm
If Calder had to guess, he didn't think balance was the Igor's strong suit, and while giving a ride was one thing, reacting to the rider was what he wanted to know about. Christof COULD wrap his arms about his neck, but then he worried if he would be able to see and the fact that pulling on his neck might choke him. A guy had a to breathe and unlike flying the air where your head could remain steady as your whole body wasn't pushing and working to run, Calder's neck and body moved to push against the ground. It was completely different, and he sighed, reaching up to scratch an ear as he finally rounded the other side of the dragon and gave him a look over. Nope. That wouldn't work at all. So much for that avenue.
Looking up, he had another thing to ask. "So why did you start letting Riley ride you? Is this just...something you're used to doing or was there some other reason?" He didn't know why anyone, aside from survival, would let themselves be ridden.
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2011 11:18 pm
"We felt we could help one another. It was in Christmas Town that it started. I was popping back and forth between forms. The cold was not something I enjoyed. She helped provide some extra warmth, as well as an extra pair of eyes to watch my back. In turn, I helped her gain a vantage point to see the surrounding area a little better," Jericho explained.
"I originally wasn't planning on letting her ride once we were through with the trip, but through those times she proved herself to be a good friend and capable ally," he added before pausing, "I don't just let anyone ride me you know. And in fact, I really hadn't let anyone before then outside of dire moments where someone needed to be carried."
There weren't many instances that he knew of where a dragon would have a normal rider at home, but he had heard stories of them. While the reasoning and such differed from story to story, there was one key element that also stood true for his own case with Riley.
"The dragon always chooses its rider, should it have one. Never the other way around."
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