Welcome to Gaia! ::

Efflo was taken by surprise; of all the responses he’d expected, he hadn’t expected this. He met the Gabby’s gaze, then watched as he transformed, as always, in awe of his boilfriend. As soon as he emerged from the silvery fog, Efflo rushed over to him, wrapping his arms around his massive head, shaking his own vehemently.

“Gabriel, no, you don’t have to… You shouldn’t rush into… Gabriel, if you don’t want to do it, don’t do it! It’s not fair to you, if this isn’t what you want. I won’t make you do it… I just don’t want to lose you… Not to anyone or anything… But… Gabriel…”

Efflo didn’t know what to say anymore. He didn’t want to lose Gabriel, yet he could never ask him to do something like this. Even if they didn’t bond, the thought was there, they both knew what was at stake. And what would happen if they didn’t? What would that mean? It was a lot to take in, and it was such a big decision, he couldn’t possibly let Gabriel make it so rashly. He wasn’t going to make Gabriel suffer eternity with him, just because he wanted him to.

“GABRIEL!” he swatted at him, looking furious. “I will always love you. I would never leave you. I wouldn’t, I just, I couldn’t.”

Then his expression softened, and his ran his hand gently along Gabby’s shimmering scales, staring into his eye. “I could never own you,” he said softly, smiling at him. “That’s the furthest thing from love there is. I could never treat you like that either… Are you sure Gabriel? Is this what you really want? What if we don’t bond? Will you still love me? Does that mean… We never can?”

Efflo squirmed a little, unable to keep still. He was a bundle of nerves about the whole thing, as he was sure Gabby was. But he still felt selfish, letting Gabby do this. Could he really go through with it? Was this really fair?

“No eating either! Even if you love me.”

But he was laughing, moving to where he could climb aboard the dragon, scooting a little faster when that cool tongue grazed his leg. Remembering from last time, he grabbed hold wherever he could find purchase, swinging himself up. The parachute and goggles lay discard on the ground, it turns out if they were going to do this right, and those things were not included. Efflo wanted it to be just Gabby and him, nothing else. Even if they didn’t bond, he was going to damn sure try his best to make this as special as he could for the dragon. Which meant no fainting.

He reached the top of Gabby’s backside, and clambered over, positioning himself where he could again hold onto his neck scales. Efflo snuggled against the hard glittering scales, just as nervous and scared as the dragon but he hopeful; they could do this, they would do this.

Efflo stuck his tongue out at the dragon, but complied, slipping his fingers under and gripping tightly. His bare feet kicked at Gabby’s scales, searching for a foothold. The shift as Gabby stood made his heart race, and he scrambled to secure his holds. Nothing would ever prepare him for the giant rolls that were Gabby’s shakes, and Efflo felt a bit like a ragdoll getting tossed around, such was Gabby’s power. He was in awe of it, and he also kind of wanted to smack him.

So he did, freeing one hand to whack Gabby’s hide, somehow managing to stay on. The boil was too focused on being scared of bonding, or not bonding, to worry too much about being scared of heights so his clinging, though less desperate, was much more effective. His stomach wasn’t yet doing somersaults, so he was thankfully able to ignore it.

A sharp pinch would let Gabby know that Efflo had found his mark. Stupid dragon. But he was smiling, much more at ease while they were still on the ground. Gabby was even letting him get used to it! The boil settled in, wiggling against him.

“I’ll have you know I held on perfectly fine last time, while I was still conscious. So, there.”

He stuck his tongue out again, at the back of the dragon's head.

“NO LOOPS!” he yelled, fearing for the worst when Gabby dove into a run. Efflo gripped onto his boilfriend as tightly as he could, resisting the urge to shut his eyes tight. They were still on the ground at least, and he would have relaxed had it not been for the expanse of trees they were currently on a crash course with. This time Efflo did shut his eyes, he trusted Gabby entirely not to drop him but he was altogether too worried a loop was coming.

What happened instead, took his breath away as they soared into the air, his stomach fluttering. He cautiously peeked open his eyes, caught up in the thunderous flapping of Gabby’s wings, and the wind rushing past his face.

“I’m here,” he called out, trying his best to be brave. “Please no loops yet!”

It was more than pretty. It was shining, shimmering, splendid.

The promise of no loops quelled the unease in his bones just a bit, the steady coasting a welcome change from previous Gabby’s daredevil antics. Efflo kept his eyes open, listening to Gabby, nodding even though Gabby couldn’t see it. The dragon was right, he did need to get used to it. He desperately wanted to get used to it and as he watched the landscape change beneath them, from firm earth to the rolling waters of the lake, Efflo relaxed even further, craning his head to get a better view. It really was very pretty, the water was certainly less prone to causing pony death splatters. Efflo had to admit; it wasn’t so bad after all. As long as Gabby behaved, he might even actually turn out to like this flying business.

He scooted even closer to the dragon’s neck, squeezing him tightly. “It’s beautiful.”