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 Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 3:28 pm
The moon was out and near full lighting the lands with its silver glow, aided by the unnumbered stars that were scattered across the heavens. Under thier pale light a small shape trotted looking left and right as it moved. Flames were along it's back making it stand out from it's surroundings.
"Are you sure she'll be here, Ten?"
The wyrm turned to his companion, and smiled. The little creature was almost invisible in the shadows of the night and the patches of undergrowth that were scattered about. "Yea, I'm sure," he affirmed with a nod. "She'll probably jump out on us, just to warn you Beetle."
The slim creature glanced over his shoulder, half expecting to see a fiery creature leap out of the shadows at that very moment. "Wonderful," the forest gnome said with a sigh. "I hope she picks on you not me."
Angetenar swatted at his bonded with his tail. "Thanks a lot," he grinned as the bard ducked the friendly blow expertly.
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Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 3:47 pm
Two young creatures walked side-by-side through the underbrush, the smaller of the two swearing profusely about sharp branches. His companion uttered a throaty chuckle and extended a wing to pat him gently on the back.
"Cheer up, Baldy. At least nothing is biting you," the wyrm said, the amusement evident in her voice. Full and cheerful, Azha was not at all bothered by the fact that it was night, nor by the fact that the small plants were tough on the skin. Her skin was too thick to be more than scratched by it, and even that barely even registered.
The young man shook a thick lock of brown hair out of his eyes, giving the young hybrid a scathing glare. "Stop calling me that, or I'll make comments about your name!"
This only served to amuse the wyrm more, and Azha just continued on her merry way, glancing about for signs of her clutchmate. He just had to be around here somewhere. The distant sound of voices caught her attention, and she abruptly turned to head that way, Baldric struggling to keep up with her.
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Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 4:01 pm
Angetenar stopped in his tracks at the sound of voices. He thought he'd recognised one of them but he was by no means sure. "Hey Beetle you think that... oh." The gnome had gone, melted seamlessly into the background again. He would stay hidden there until he was sure whatever was approaching wasn't a threat.
The first time he'd done this, the young wyrm had been quite hurt and demanded angrily why the grey-skinned man had abandoned him to possible dismemberment. The calm answer had been that, if things did go sour, the bard stood a better chance of doing some good if he had a chance to get in a crossbow bolt or a spell before his presence was known of. The hybrid wyrm had felt very young and very foolish at that moment.
Sighing to himself, the yearling turned his head in the direction that the faint voices had come from. "Hey, anyone there?" he called into the night, flaring up his fiery crests to make himself more notable. "If something pounces on me, look carefully before you shoot," Angetenar warned his companion.
"I will do. I remember your description of her; no need to fear for your sister’s safety from an itchy trigger finger lad, the dark-eyed creature replied with a mental smile from his hiding place.
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Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 8:45 pm
"Found them!" Azha said cheerfully, flaring her little wings. "Hello, brother!" she called back, spying the light radiating from his flames. Haha... she hadn't gotten them lost after all! Feeling quite proud of herself, she made her way toward the light.
As her hybrid brother came into view, a noticeable perk came into Azha's step. She so enjoyed family, especially the fun family members. "Hurry up, Baldy. You're lagging!" she added aloud, glancing back at her bonded. Some ranger you are!!
Oh shut up, Egghead! I told you it's hard for me at night! the human lad groused, running a hand through his tousled hair. He was clumsy, at best, under normal nighttime conditions, but when he hadn't slept properly in awhile, he was even moreso. And his sleep lately had been minimal. Azha, a growing wyrm, required a great deal more attention than he realized.
Snorting in disgust at her bonded, Azha came to a halt before Angetenar, tilting her head to one side. "Good to see you again! Where's your sidekick?"
((Picture of Azha:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v438/lions_pride1191/Dragons/azha.jpg))
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Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 5:06 am
The purple-bodied wyrm grinned. "Good to see you too. He's... err... He's... I'm not actually sure." The hybrid scrutinised his surroundings to no avail. "Where are you, B?"
"I'm right here," the gnome announced, slipping out of the bush he had concealed himself in and brushing a few leaves out of his pale hair. "So, you are Azah then," he said, turning to the female wyrm with a smile and a sweeping bow. "Delighted to make your acquaintance my lady. I am Ningle Beetle-eye Whittleweed. Extract any name from that which pleases you or call me something different again if it takes your fancy. Might I enquire after the identity of your companion?"
Angetenar pulled a face and swatted lightly at the miniature creature with his tail. "Don't mind, him; he's a bard and can't help talking funny. Oh! And see? I told you he was little."
Beetle quirked an eyebrow at the fiery-backed wyrm. "Is that all you told this vision of fair majesty about me? Is being only slightly over two feet tall really the only feature you find worthy of report about me?"
The hybrid laughed and gave his bonded a nudge. "Well you seem to love introducing yourself so much, I didn't want to take the opportunity away from you."
The grey-skinned creature quirked an eyebrow at the purple-hided wyrm. "Introducing oneself upon first meeting is actually considered polite in most cultures you know lad."
Angetenar make a chuckling rumble in the back of his throat. "I know, I was messin' with you."
The bard sighed and turned back to Azah. "Charming fellow, your brother. Truly charming."
((^^ Thanks, she's awesome))
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Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 2:10 pm
Azha stared at the gnome for awhile. What an odd creature he was. "Yeah, he's little, and he talks like he's trying to impress everybody," she said quite bluntly, not sure whether to be annoyed or amused. She glanced at Baldric. "You ever start talking like that, and I'll flay you alive."
Baldric finally managed to catch up with his companion, and he stopped up short upon spying the two creatures before him. So this was Angetenar, one of Azha's many brothers. And this must be his bonded, though he had come too late to hear a name. Oh well. He'd just wait for it to come up in conversation. "I'm Baldric. Nighttime hunting is not my forte," he said, eyeing Azha with great dislike.
The hybrid female preened. "Ohhh, come on now, Baldy. You had fun; admit it." She looked not the least bit repentant as she smirked at Beetle. "The charm runs in the family. You get used to it after awhile."
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Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 4:12 pm
Angetenar grinned at the approach of his sibling's bonded and nodded. "Hello there. I'm Angetenar, this is Beetle who talks funny." "Don't worry," he sent to his bonded, "I don't think she really minded. You just talk weird. Posh."
"And apparently I come off as a pretentious git, too," the gnome replied, trying to keep the touch of pain from his thoughts. It was harder to control them and what passed along the link to his wyrm companion than what showed on his face, which currently was a small smile. "I am glad to meet you also, Baldric," he said to the disgruntled biped. "As to getting used to him," he turned back to Azah, "I am sure I shall in the end. It's that or go insane as he doesn't seem about to change in a hurry." The female wyrm's first words were carefully ignored; his bonded had already spoken the meat of it in any case.
The purple-bodied hybrid grinned and coiled his tail about the grey-skinned creature's waist, lifting him into the air briefly. "Hehehe, got that right. I've got no intention of becoming any less charming than my current wonderful self so there." The young wyrm gave his bonded a gentle squeeze with his tail before setting the bard back on his feet and letting go. To an observer, it had probably looked like a tease and nothing more. At most it would have looked like an odd impulse, not a gesture of comradeship and an attempt at comfort. "Really, it's Ok," the yearling assured his friend. "I don't care how you talk, I'm sure Azah'll get used to it too. It's fine."
"If it were fine she wouldn't have commented," the gnome sent stiffly. "If it were fine she would not have spoken so to her bonded. It is not fine. It is far from fine. I stand out a mile and have made a terrible first impression on the only member of your family you have introduced me to thus far. I would hardly class that as 'Ok'."
Angetenar sighed internally at his bonded, the little being confused him sometimes. "You worry so much about what everyone thinks of you. Why does it matter? Just be you, exactly as you are with all the weird talking and everything. Is it so hard to ignore what people say?"
"Yes it is and you wouldn't understand so let it be will you? I'm trying not to come off as any more of an arse than I already have, alright?" the blond snapped as he waited for the pair before them to speak with outward calm.
The yearling gave another internal sigh. "Alright," he agreed reluctantly.
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Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 1:55 pm
Baldric nodded politely at the both of them, though it was hard for him to contain his curiosity about Beetle. He had never seen a being of that particular race before, though he had seen plenty of many others in his short time traveling. As a human, he found it easy to blend in everywhere. "Average enough so as to be forgettable," his instructor had called him, and he sort of liked it that way. Of course, it didn't make attracting the ladies' attention very easy, but it made the rest of his life oh-so much simpler.
He lifted a hand and gestured at his wyrm. "Please don't mind her. She tends to be a little too blunt about her thoughts," he told the wyrm and bonded before him, giving his own companion an especially dirty look. "And don't call me Baldy!"
"But I so enjoy it!" Azha fairly purred aloud, and while Baldric was annoyed, he knew it was all in good fun. The hybrid female rarely meant to injure with her words or thoughtlessness; that was usually just the natural consequences.
"Naaaah, we of the four-legged draconic variety tend to be resistant to change. Never count on us to change our ways," the female wyrm added quite cheerily, much to Baldric's annoyance. She didn't miss the prolonged silence of her brother and his bonded, and she tilted her dark head to one side, obviously waiting. They were apparently in some deep discussion, and while she was curious and wanted to pry, she had a feeling that Baldric would rat on her as soon as they got back to the encampment. She had a similar feeling their superiors wouldn't be pleased with her tactlessness. Oops. Oh well!
If her bonded had an opinion on her comments, he kept it tightly walled within his mind. No need to encourage her further.
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Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 2:33 pm
Angetenar gave a throaty chortle and nodded his head in agreement. "Got that right, can't go letting ourselves be influenced by mere bipeds now can we? We'd never get anything done if we listened to you lot too hard." The hybrid grinned down at his bonded and gave the forest gnome another swat with his tail, which was ducked. "See, it's all good. Told ya you worry too much."
The bard quirked an eyebrow up at his companion, relaxing at little that the human's words about the female wyrm. "Stubborn the lot of you eh? Well stories always seem to say that, it's one of the few things they all agree with about you lot. Still, as I tell so many stories myself and hear so many differing versions of them I tend to take them with a pinch of salt. Oh yes, and stop thwapping me," he said, swatting at his companion’s tail with a hand. "I suppose you're right... Sorry. I'm over dramatic but I can't change that. Would if I could, believe me," he said with an internal sigh at his overly sensitive disposition.
The yearling grinned and gave the grey-skinned creature another whack, which sent him sprawling. "No way; wyrms never change their ways, remember?"
Beetle picked himself up out of the dirt and dusted himself down with a faint sigh accompanied by a small smile. "Very well, message received oh mighty and never changing empty-head. But answer a poor ignorant bard this; if you never change, how can you grown and learn? Do not all creatures change as they experience the world around them? Do they not change their opinions on love, dismissed as hatchlings but embraced when it comes to them? Do not all wyrms find their strengths, their purpose, their passions? Do all these things not change over the years?"
The purple wyrm snorted and head-butted his friend who laughed lightly in return. "Alright, fine. I guess we change a bit, but we change of our own accord, not when we're told to, right Azah?" The hybrid wyrm looked up at his sister and grinned; it was good to see her again.
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Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 11:10 am
"Them? Influence us?! Never!" Azha proclaimed, her dark eyes sparkling with wicked glee. Oh, she loved teasing the humanoids. They were so much fun to toy with. She gave Beetle a baleful look. "Oh, come now. Don't be so difficult. Just because we learn things doesn't mean we change. A leopard can't change its spots, after all, and we refuse to change the fact that we like picking on you all."
Baldric cringed at Azha's utterance of the word 'leopard.' As if he needed a reminder of his teacher and mentor, who was probably scouring the woods for him now. He was going to be in so much trouble when they returned. "But you do change, Azha. He's right. You change your opinions about love and mates and offspring, not to mention how you view 'enemies' and 'friends'," the young man pointed out, ducking the wing-swat that Azha aimed at his head.
After giving her bonded a haughty 'I'm so not speaking to you' look, the young hybrid turned back to her brother, uttering a rumbling chuckle at the headbutt Angetenar gave to his bonded. "Everything on our terms, brother, dear! You'd think they'd be used to that by now," she commented, swishing her tail about.
Her bonded retaliated with a gentle thwap to her shoulder. "You do realize that I'll have every right to change you indoors once you grow up and get interested in males, right?" he added, this time unable to duck the wing that whacked him upside the head. "OW!"
That is for trying to influence me. Azha remarked primly right into his mind. Silly boy.
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Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 11:33 am
Angetenar gave a rumble of amusement as his sister swatted at her bonded. "Still, the fact that we do change a bit doesn't mean you two-legs can do anything to make us change. You’re not very good at even making each other change so you don't stand a chance with creatures such as we." The yearling smirked and swished his tail proudly. "We're far above that," he informed Beetle with a smirk.
The bard sighed and rolled his eyes. "Indeed, my power to alter others for better or worse does seem to be sadly lacking. If I could change how folk behaved, I most certainly would. Had I the power to change others, nobody would ever sing off-key folk songs in my presence again let alone butcher fine ballads by muddling words and missing the high notes by a mile and more. Sacrilege."
The purple-bodied yearling chuckled again and nipped playfully at the blond's hand. "Yea, but the look of disgust on your face when people do is so great that I think I'd change them back to normal just to see it again."
The forest gnome made a disgruntled noise and shoved the hybrid at his side. The wyrm didn't so much as budge. The brown-eyed man sighed and shook his head ruefully. "Hum. Apparently I cannot even affect you enough to shove you over," the bard commented, patting his companion's shoulder affectionately.
Angetenar grinned and swung his tail around again. "I can you, though," he smirked as the grey-skinned creature fell flat with a yelp of protest.
Pushing himself into a sitting position, Beetle brushed soil from his shirt once more. "Not funny and not clever," he said with a mock scowl.
The hybrid grinned and shook his head as the small creature got back to its feet. "Not clever maybe but it sure as hell was funny right Azah, Baldric?"
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Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 12:24 pm
Azha, already amused by the bickering between the other two, gave an amused rumble as Angetenar flattened his bonded. The female hybrid danced with glee, fluttering her dark wings in a gesture of great pleasure. "Very funny! I'm almost tempted to attempt a tune just to see his expression," she said, the sadistic gleam in her eyes painfully obvious.
Her human companion glared at her and gave Beetle an apologetic look. "I'm not amused when they knock us over. Big bullies. Just because you can doesn't mean you should," he said, looking mainly at his own companion as he said it. "Isn't that what Ziv taught us?"
"Taught you, you mean," Azha said, promptly swatting the back of his knees with her tail and sending him tripping backward to land on his rump. "The fact that I have to sit through those lessons is solely because you're there. That dumb human can't teach me a thing," the female added, preening a bit.
"He's not human, and you could learn plenty if you actually took the time to listen," Baldric grumbled up at her as he picked himself back up. "Your ego gets in the way."
He tried to dodge the tail, but he ended up flat on his butt again, Azha giving him a scornful look.
"My ego? HA!" was her only response. Honestly... males were such hypocritical pains in the rear.
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Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 3:43 pm
Beetle smiled at the other bonded as he was pitched over for the second time. "Welcome to my life lad," he said as he got to his feet again. "Every darn thing in the world seems to think that just because I only scrape two feet high I make an amusing plaything. I suppose it is too much to hope that you will grow out of abusing me, Angetenar?"
The hybrid smirked and butted the forest gnome in the chest. "Far too much," he confirmed, pinning the blond down with one taloned foot. "Y' see," he continued, smirk widening, "I'm going to get bigger. Much bigger. Can you imagine that?"
The brown-eyed man gave the foot a shove and it was removed. "Yes," he said, picking himself up once more. "I'm a bard, I'm paid to be able to imagine such horrors you know." There didn't seem much point in shifting the soil from his person; he'd only be over again in a few moments judging by his companion's exuberant mood.
The purple Wyrm chuckled softly and gave himself a shake. "So who's this Ziv then?" he quizzed, glancing from his sister to her bonded and back again.
“Yes, he sounds like a most reasonable fellow,” the grey-skinned being said, cocking an eyebrow. “Interesting notion about it not being necessary to throw your weight around every moment of they day. A most unorthodox idea that I should love to see become mainstream, humm Tenar?”
The half-darkling grinned wickedly and floored the bard again.
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Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 4:09 pm
Azha snickered, the noise sounding especially wicked as it emerged from her dark throat. "Why do they think we'll grow out of these habits and into others?" she asked Angetenar curiously, watching as Baldric picked himself up out of the dirt. "I mean, why would we deny ourselves the pleasure of being difficult towards them?"
"Possibly because you're going to need us unharmed at some point. There is a reason we bonded. We're going to have to learn to work as a functioning team at some point," Baldric groused, dusting himself off. He would likely end up in the dirt again, but at least he'd be halfway clean in the meantime. It was a matter of pride... young, male pride, of course. "So would you quit knocking me over, Egghead?"
The young female gave him a ferocious glare and reached out a wing to whack him. Unfortunately for her, he had anticipated the move and ducked away, leaving her to swat at air and growl at her misfortune. "Ziv is an antisocial, idiotic, nature-loving twit who wouldn't know an attractive female if she sat on his head!" Azha said venomously, uable to resist another rumble of amusement as her sibling knocked over his bonded yet again. Oh, how funny this was.
Baldric gave Beetle a sympathetic look, knowing that he'd share the same fate as soon as he let his guard down. Azha was merciless. "He's my mentor," he added to his wyrm companion's speech, not bothering to argue with the female's assessment. The more he argued, the more he got whacked and the more irritable she became.
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Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 4:32 pm
Angetenar cocked his head at his sister’s bipedal companion. "Mentor for what?" he quizzed, bending down to nibble at an itch. It was right between his toes and it was proving quite difficult to get his muzzle in to n** at it... "Beetle... I itch."
The bard made a small noise that could have been intended to express almost any sentiment and reached over to scratch at the place that his companion indicated over their link. "I am too kind to you, you ruffian," he muttered as the yearling gave a pleased rumble and pulled his newly non-itchy foot away to give it a lick.
The hybrid grinned and nudged the slim creature's shoulder as he stood up once more. "Yea, probably. Maybe that's why I keep pushing you around; because you let me do it and I never suffer any consequences of it. You're still perfectly willing to put your clever little hands to use scratching where it itches no matter how often I push you over."
"Tch, what choice do I have?" the blond smiled, patting Angetenar’s neck. "You are a mighty wyrm and I am a small delicate bard of obscure race. Whatever you ask of me I am sure is only your due for what is any creature of two legs to embodiments of nature itself?"
The purple hided yearling smirked and flared up the crests that ran along his spine for a moment. "Oh, well I suppose you make a good itch scratcher and food catcher when I don't feel like chasing anything down," he said in haughty tones. "Plus you're my best friend," he sent along the link with a mental smile.
Beetle returned the smile and the sentiment in kind as he ran a hand down his companion's shoulder. Sometimes it was still hard to believe that the fiery creature had picked him of all people to bond with. It was quite a thing to contemplate, that he'd been chosen over a great scholar or a mighty warrior. Half the time it felt like being inside one of his own stories but with more people getting shoved into bushes, puddles, the dirt and or rivers.
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