Re: The Fire Knight of Iota

[Kate]

Astral's eyes never missed anything. Which meant she noticed his eyes change. She wondered why they lay dormant and hidden most of the time. Maybe by a very large coincidence his dragon blood happen to be of the same rare species as her own. This gave rise to even more questions. How come it was taking him so long to change he seemed to have lived awhile. Maybe his changes were just much slower than her own will. Of course she is also a half dragon. Maybe he wouldn't really gain anything that he hasn't already due to how diluted his dragon blood was. Its possible she would never found out the answer to these questions.

Still Astral was enjoying finding out just exactly what part were dragon human and the other mixtures he had. Her tail reflected he enjoyment by swaying back and forth. He didn't know even more about himself than Astral had originally thought. He knew what creatures he was descended from but knew nothing more than that. "Well can you pick out a weak scent when its surrounded by a bunch of others? Can you smell the individual ingredients of the complicated food the Megalonians make? I saw your eyes flicker between human and dragon just a moment ago. How often does that happen and from how far away can you read a regular sheet of writing? Can you see the heat signatures of others? How about your hearing? Do you find yourself turning your head at a sound at the same time as a regular domesticated cat or dog or perhaps you hear things before even they do? How about your strength?" Astral said before squeezing his arm to try and gauge the density of his muscles. "Do you have what we like to call the hatchling reflex?" Instead of waiting for a response to that part she decided to test it herself grabbing the scruff of his neck and pulling. The action ended up forcing him to limp. Astral quickly let go so he could gain control of his own body again. 

From what Astral could tell so far he had some natural abilities of a phoenix such as fire which may seem like magic but is indeed not. He had some physical traits of a dragon though they were disguised. She had no idea yet how the Dafurai part of him fit.

After receiving some sort of response from her questions Astral would move on to reluctantly explain a couple things to him. "The thing I called the hatchling reflex is an instinct all dragons have. Well at least all the full blooded dragons have it. As you witness by grabbing the scruff of the neck and applying reverse force it causes their body to go limp which allows the mothers to much more easily manage their hatchlings. The only reason we haven't evolved to shed that instinct upon getting older is because for a full blooded dragon there isn't anyone naturally strong enough to induce the reflex at least not among the Megalonians. For those like you and me though its a different story." Astral said reminding herself of her inpure heritage and saddening, in resonance her tail remaining still once again or rather actually just ended up going limp. Oberon of course would know what any of this body language meant. 

"I have to apologize those two things I did to you are not something thats suppose to be done to just any dragon. Naturally the hatchling reflex is only suppose to be used on hatchlings though I suppose in dragon years you probably still are a hatchling. Otherwise your not suppose to do that at all, though sometimes an overly dominate mate will do it during well you know what dragon do to make hatchlings. As for the chin thing well dragon's don't display affection in the same manor most the Megalonians do. A nudging of heads is like a hug, a lick on the face is like a quick kiss. While a lick under the chin is far more intimate." Astral said embarrassed. If she was not covered in scales her face would probably be flush right now. She tried to convince herself he didn't count since he wasn't really a dragon. "You should feel what an actually lick would do. I don't actually know what it feels like myself but I've heard its unlike anything else."

[Riley Oran]

Oberon almost felt dizzy as he was bombarded with questions. "I-- it's-- what--? No, I-- but-" she was firing them out, too many at a time for him to even respond properly. And really poor Oberon, before he even knew what she was doing felt her grab at the back of his neck. In an instant, his body felt as though an electric jolt had just traveled through it. Oberon's eyes almost seemed to bulge before every muscle in his form fell limp and weak. He couldn't speak, just a little air straining through his throat as he tried to moan or groan, or make any noise he could really.

And as soon as he felt himself falling, he was able to move. He caught himself as quick as he could, simultaneously worried about his apparent weakness and focusing on the last question he'd heard before his body decided to check out. He pressed himself up pretty easily from the fall, dusting himself off. "Uh, strength? That's a complicated one..." He walked over to a tree, and knocked on it with his hands. "I'm pretty weak usually, but when I hold my swords," he unsheathed one of them to show her, and punch the tree again with his other hand. The thing seemed to rocket from the ground and knock another tree behind it over, snapping it in half.

"I become a lot stronger. I figure they must be enchanted or something," he concluded. He was correct too- they were enchanted, but not in the way he thought. The swords reacted to his blood and subverted his human genetic component entirely. When holding them, he was unnaturally strong. When holding both of them, he was only a little stronger than this. He turned back around to Astral with a confident smile. "Enchanted or not, it's impressive."

He sheathed the sword again, observing Astral's lecture with patience. She was informing him of some rather curious traits about his heritage, but he could see her body language shifting when she hit a certain point. Her tail... it had been wagging, but now it was still as the wind around the two of them. No rustling leaves or anything...  and maybe that was let the point drive home. She was half-dragon. Or, close to a dragon? Something like that, he didn't want to presume. The notion of not being like the others seemed to severely depress her.

It wasn't something that bothered Oberon in nearly the same way- his individuality was prized- but he could tell that she wanted it more than anything almost right off the bat. He felt a small twinge in his heart, something like pity or empathy. But almost immediately did the emotion derail itself as Astral moved on to more intimate things. it didn't start out kind awkward, really. She was just describing how dragons showed affections, but the way she trailed on "intimate"... the pause right after. He was starting to blush as it occurred to him what this meant, and when she continued he turned pretty red, bright against his crimson hair.

"Well, uh..." he seemed to stutter embarrassed. Was she coming onto him? Or was she just really socially awkward? Either option was too late- Oberon was red like a strawberry. Yet, one big question that made him blush more than the rest was the implication that she knew how good it felt...

[Kate]

Astral couldn't seem to get an intelligent response out of him. That is not till she got to the more sensitive matters. In which case there was very much a response. The guy stuttered and turned into a cherry which only drove Astral into further embarrassment. She looked away unable to look at him anymore, trying to shut out the thoughts that had come up. After a few moments of indescribable awkwardness Astral finally burst out something to try and ease the tension. "Its not like your really a dragon so it didn't mean anything. It was just and experiment." She tried to reason but with the accidental use of the word experiment she found herself even more embarrassed. "An experiment to see just how dragon like you were." The attempt to explain the situation further only seemed to be making matters worse. Astral felt like just melting and disappearing. "Its not like I didn't know what it would do?" Astral gave up she stormed off on foot to escape the horrible situation that had somehow managed to spiral so quickly into the depth of where it was at now. She just needed to calm down somewhere. Clear her mind.

[Riley Oran]

Astral kept trying to speak, clearly detecting the awkwardness in the ensuing silence. The more she spoke though, the more embarrassed she seemed to become. Eventually she seemed to have given up altogether and tried to storm away. Oberon went after her immediately, trying to get her to calm down. "Hey," he called after her, trying to get her attention. "Astral," he ran up beside her and tried to make eye-contact. "It's fine, we're good. Nothing is wrong; you don't have to storm off." He was trying to calm her down.

"You think that nobody else ever mixes their words up or confuses themselves? Seriously, don't worry about it. I get confused too sometimes. It's part of growing up, you know? I mean, I'm just seventeen. It's not like I'm supposed to know how to feel about everything." It would be abundantly clear that he was really trying to help, but without meaning to he was probably going to make it all worse.

[Kate]

Oberon chased after her and tried to calm her down. At first it was working and she began to slow down but then she only angry. "Who are you to tell me this! Your just a hatchling even less than that. What right does a less than hatchling have to tell me how things work. You don't even know anything about a good part of your heritage. Your so stuck in your own belief anyways what do you care what I say or do. You don't care about me you don't care about even the dragon in yourself. You don't care who is happy and who isn't. The only thing you care about is freedom this freedom that. 'I'm going to go kill myself I don't care. What is happiness?' " She yelled and impersonated him in a mocking manner.

[Riley Oran]

"You're right," he said without much a fight. "I am stubborn. I don't know much about my heritage, if anything. But I don't have to because I know who I am. And it isn't about you. It's not about me either. It's bigger than that!" He wasn't shouting, and he wasn't angry... but his voice was raised, his violet eyes wide. "I refuse to doubt myself, because I've sacrificed a lot to get to this point. I've paid more in blood and work than more people my age ever could. So yeah, I am pretty stubborn because if I turn back, everything equals nothing. Everything I've learned, everything I've fought for, and everything I've become doesn't count. It goes back to zero and I let too many people who've placed their future in my hands down," his voice lowered and he let this sink in.

"I refuse to let them down. You have loyalty to your blood? I have loyalty to the other Illumni. More than that? I have a duty to you, to everyone. I don't know what made you so angry at the Megaloans or whatever," he waved his arm to the side, "but shit like that is what I would hope to prevent. Being unafraid to die is not suicide. Being afraid to stand up for the weak is just as bad as letting them suffer. If it were just the dragons being oppressed by everybody else, you would be willing to do the exact same thing. The only difference is that I'm doing this for everyone who has ever been oppressed. I don't have anything to lose, and everything to gain."

[Kate]

Astral didn't bother talking to him anymore. She spread her large wings and was about to take off when she remembered she still had to investigate this new magic. She cursed in the dragon tongue and folded her wings back up. She continued the journey with him silently not speaking a word to him. At least that was her plan. She still didn't know he could fly.

[Riley Oran]

Two things immediately clicked in Oberon's mind when he saw Astral's wings open. Or rather, they fell into place after she settled them down. She wasn't happy with him. She was probably just as hard headed, if not more so. Stubborn and bound by her beliefs. He wished that they were more... constructive thoughts, but knowing she had principles was somehow refreshing even if they contradicted his own in large part. However, that wasn't the thought he grabbed hold of. It was only a supplement.

Astral would observe Oberon get down into a sprinter's starting position, low to the ground. He smirked, and smiled at her. "One," he called out. He wasn't actually telling her what was about to happen, just hoping he would catch on. "Two," he called out again, and two beautiful wings of fire surrounded by a bright, blue glow extended from his back. The wings seemed to shed fiery feathers towards the ground, leaving scorch marks wherever they landed. And then, he seemed to whip around towards her suddenly, his fiery wing scraping the ground and singing it as he tried to lick her neck to deliberately mess with her.

"Three," he would whisper, and then a loud "boom" would come from behind him, sending him down the path with great speed and force. "I'll see you at Draconis if you can keep up," he called out to her. To be honest, his voice probably faded too fast from his speed, as the trees around him swayed because of the air. The leaves fell into his previous space and burned from the intense heat of the wind, the ground beneath turning brown and the grass turning black. A light trail of fire lead from where Astral was just a few feet out, a signal that he had truly gone forward with a bang.

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