AU Week EP -- with dragon!

[electro_kinetic]

The shaking of the ground that happens under an eighteen-ton animal landing is formidable: it's noticeable even to those of us used to it, and the animals that cause it. Noriko, case in point, is very used to feeling incredibly tiny in comparison to her dragon, who is more than capable of carrying her in one taloned hand. Which is what he's doing, until he sets her down quite gently. He lowers his huge draconic head and Noriko leans herself fully against it, stroking the scaly, bone-spurred hide. Noriko might be overlooked against the massive riot of color that is the dragon: he's variegated blue in color, shading to orange along the length of his impressive wings, barred with black and white at the edges.

"Aki, look, this is where I was telling you about. It looks like Laggan, doesn't it? Short of the beach. Not sure how that got there."

Akihiko seems far more interested in protecting the human leaning against him than in exploring the outdoors--or contemplating letting her into the building he's certainly not fitting into--but Noriko will drag him around to it eventually, making him at least look around the place. Already she's considering wading into the lake once she gets out of her boots and stockings.

Feel free to stare! They do make quite a picture.

Comments

[iprotectyou]

Whoa, what the kriff is that? Spotting a person next to the massive monster, a giant of a Guardian books it towards the pair, eyes wide. He slows in his step when he sees that the creature isn't about to devour her, or claw her open with a giant talon, or any other number of horrible things his brain conjured up in the moment he saw them together.

"Hoi, stranger!" Strangers? Is the animal sentient? "Strangers!" the Guardian calls, waving. He approaches at a fast clip, and arrives quickly, not even winded. His staff rattles in its sling on his back. "May the Force of others be with you. What manner of beast is this?"

The man makes sure to stay well away from the creature's claws. Not that it matters; its range is huge.

[electro_kinetic]

The animal is quite sentient, if judgement can be made by the rumble he gives that, to Noriko's familiar ears, can be marked a greeting, if not an enthusiastic one: to everyone else it might well sound like a growl to stay away. Noriko would have made to join the approaching stranger halfway, thus to introduce him at a respectable distance should he be unfamiliar with dragonkind, but Aki's claws make a formidable barrier where they catch her around the middle, not pulling her back but simply stopping forward motion. It earns the beast a dry, slant look from the short woman in uniform. (Sans coat, unfortunately meaning she's sans rank markings. She really hates the coat.)

"Greetings!" she calls, climbing over her barricade as it is slowly lowered. "Aki, you mean? He's a dragon," Nori answers genially, proudly even, though the answer seems obvious to her. Maybe they don't have dragons where he's from. God knows enough people have such mistaken view of them where she's from, and they ought to know better.

"Akihiko. Be nice and introduce yourself," she says, hands balled on her hips as she looks up at the alarmingly imperious dragon staring down at them. The dragon only sighs a little, like a petulant child, which he is. "He won't hurt you. He just has to warm up to people not his crew. He's been acting like such a baby," she adds in an undertone, fully aware that they can all hear her.

[iprotectyou]

Ahahaha it's growling at him oh my force what do

The giant of a Guardian has only once before felt like prey. He didn't relish the experience then, and he doesn't relish it now. He stands stock straight, his hands out in a placating gesture before he realizes he's raised them.

"It's very nice to meet you, Akihiko," the man says, his words as calm and as measured as he isn't. "I'm Baze Malbus. We have krayt dragons, but they're notbing like you. Don't have wings, for one thing."

He turns his gaze to the woman, reluctantly breaking eye contact with the beast. "And who might you be?"

[electro_kinetic]

"Aki here is a Longwing, native to Britain," Noriko says, and after a moment's pause, adds, "Of Earth." She's not sure how to go about introducing her planet to someone who might not be from it? She has no idea.

"I, much unlike this horribly rude child," she says, turning to cuff Aki's foreleg, which does nothing given said appendage is bigger around than her waist, "Am Captain Ashida Noriko. Nori to friends. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Baze Malbus." She smiles, pleasant and young-faced despite the uniform she's wearing.

"What is a krayt dragon?" Aki seems to perk up at mention of others of his kind--or what he assumes is his kind--and bends his head, savage appearance belied by the look of open curiosity. "I am sorry for his behavior. I assure you, though he may sound menacing he won't harm you. He's just...overprotective."

[iprotectyou]

Overprotective. Right.

Baze flashes his sunniest smile. If she's okay with this monstrous creature, then so is he. He is, damn it. "As you've guessed, I'm not from Earth, and I've never heard of Britain. Thank you for clarifying what planet you all are from," the Guardian says, looking the dragon over. He represses a shudder at Akihiko's sheer size.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Captain Ashida," Baze says, folding his arms to make himself feel bigger. It doesn't work. "A krayt dragon is a large, carnivorous reptile native to the planet Tatooine. They mostly eat these short people called Jawas. What ship do you captain? Surely you dont ride Akihiko into battle?"

[electro_kinetic]

In his defense, most of the populace of the western world where she's from doesn't know women are in the service, much less can be officers. Aki may hold a grudge about that. Not even Nori understands why, male as the dragon is.

"I have heard that this place pulls its tenants from...everywhere," she says, as all-encompassing as she can be in that statement. "I feel ill-prepared to assume everyone is familiar with the world as I know it." She's trying to express the still-lingering shock of finding out there are other whole worlds with other whole civilizations on them: not that she thinks Britain is the only one on hers, but...she's very used to thinking of the world as singular, and standalone. It's a little but of an assimilation problem. "Oh, so they do routinely eat...people? Not livestock?"

It's not unheard of for a feral dragon to eat a human, but usually they find other food sources, Noriko has heard. In any case Akihiko has never eaten anyone. She feeds him quite well. "I do, actually, ride Aki. We have a crew of a little over a dozen, though since we were only going to bathe I did not have the harness put on. We all clasp ourselves to it to keep from falling off mid-flight," she explains. "Would you like to come with us to the lake? He could carry you and me quite easily and safely."

[iprotectyou]

"That it does," Baze says, agreeing with a nod. He plants his feet, straightening his shoulders despite his folded arms in another effort to appear bigger. If the dragon does decide to eat him, he'll make sure he chokes the beast while going down his gullet.

But Baze doesn't think he'll be eaten at this point. Not really. Still. The creature can always change his mind.

"And yes, the krayt dragons are completely wild," Baze says, chuckling. "Sometimes they take down banthas--which are large pack animals with spiral horns, big lips, and a lot of fur. They're good for meat and milk, and clothes can be made from their hair."

He brightens at the fact that she rides Akihiko. "It's impressive that you ride him. And a harness makes sense. I think... I think I'll walk, but you can ride if you want."

[electro_kinetic]

"Oh, certainly I can walk with you," she says. "For your comfort at least. Happily I no longer have to bathe Aki myself."

She rather liked talking with people, and her station as both female and a captain made being in society at all impossible.

[iprotectyou]

"Well, all right then!" Baze says. He sets off towards the lake, beaming all the while. He's reluctant to turn his back on the dragon, and doing so makes the hair on his arms stand on end. But he trusts the good captain. Baze rationalizes to himself, convincing himself that he'll have a little bit of warning before he gets eaten. Not that he'd be able to do anything about that, but still.

"Why don't you have to bathe him yourself?" Baze asks, cocking his head to the side as he walks. "Because you have a crew?"

[electro_kinetic]

"Oh, no, the crew doesn't, mostly he washes himself now," she says, walking with Baze and letting Akihiko go on ahead, though he kept a watchful bright yellow-orange eye on the pair of humans. "He's quite capable of getting at nearly everywhere that gets dirty short of perhaps his wing-joints. But it's more an excuse to splash in the water than anything."

She spoke with an amount of fondness not entirely out of the ordinary for someone speaking about a child or a dear friend, or both, smiling as she watched her dragon nose at the lake's surface.

[iprotectyou]

Baze is relieved when the beast moves on ahead of him, though he'd be more relieved if he weren't pinned under that yellow-orange stare. He shudders involuntarily, and hopes that Captain Ashida didn't see that.

"Why didn't he wash himself before?"

[electro_kinetic]

"We were on our way to do that when we came here without meaning to," Noriko says, watching Baze. "He isn't nearly as vicious as he looks," she says quietly. "He's only a year old, so he tends to be less easygoing than some of the other dragons. And he's had to insist that I do know what I'm doing, despite being young and female."

[iprotectyou]

Baze doesn't know what her being female has to do with anything. Oh, he knows the basics of feminist theory, but has little experience. Gender prejudice doesn't enter into his daily life--Master Sheotar, for example, would kill him if he judged her on the basis of her sex--so he remains almost unaware.

"He's only a year old? You mean he's going to get bigger?" Baze says, wide-eyed.

[last_kallig]

A tiny eight year old girl showing signs of malnourishment and wearing threadbare clothes and a strange metal collar stares at Noriko and Akihiko in awe.

"Oh wow, you're so pretty!"

[electro_kinetic]

Noriko is the one who starts at the picture said child presents, eyes flying wide as her mouth shuts and narrows.

Akihiko, however, turns his head to stare at her with one golden-orange eye, rumbling a hello. "Thank you," he says.

"Who are you?" Noriko asks.

[last_kallig]

"My name is Ibani," she says happily, walking slowly toward the pair.

"Is this your first time here too?"

[electro_kinetic]

"Oh, no," Noriko says, shaking her head. "We've been here once before. Or I have, he hasn't. He's Akihiko," she says.

"I'm Nori." There's just no point in giving her rank to an underfed eight-year-old. "Is that a necklace?" she asks, hoping.

[last_kallig]

"Hello, Akihiko, Nori, It's nice to meet you."

Ibani flinches at Nori asking if the collar is a necklace. "No, not it's not," she replies, frowning. "It's a slave shock collar."

[electro_kinetic]

Well that's...a thing.

Noriko frowns, and crouches down to beckon her closer. "May I see it? Perhaps Aki and I can help you get it off." Personally and professionally, Noriko finds slavery abhorrent, and hates the sight of the thing on this tiny girl. "He'll be very careful."

[last_kallig]

Ibani stops dead and freezes in terror at Noriko mentioning wanting to get the collar off. "No! It, it explodes if you try and take it off without the key," she explains.

[electro_kinetic]

Oh no, no, she didn't mean that! Noriko holds up her hands, though her face softens into something very like grief at the news. "We won't hurt you. I promise. It's all right," she says, pushing the loose bits of her hair out of her face.

"Do you want to come closer and see him? He might take you for a ride."

[last_kallig]

Ibani relaxes again when she feels and sees Noriko's response. "I should have guessed you wouldn't know about that."

"Really?" Ibani asks at the offer of a dragon ride.

She approaches them both, craning her head back to peer up at the enormous dragon. "Oh wow, you're even more beautiful up close!"

[electro_kinetic]

She smiles when the little girl compliments Akihiko: he on the other hand is busily preening for such a happily effusive company, lowering his huge head to nuzzle at Ibani carefully.

"Really," Noriko says. "You'll have to either wear my harness and clip onto his, or he can carry you in his hand."

[last_kallig]

Ibani giggles when Akihiko nuzzles her, then puts her hand out to scratch any itchy places on his head that she can reach.

"I'd like to try with the harness please, if you don't mind?"

[electro_kinetic]

"Certainly," Noriko murmurs, unbuckling the thick leather belt that went around her waist. It would be vastly too big for Ibani in its current state, but if she tightened the laces in the back and sides as well, it might not entirely slide off. Either way, Akihiko would be careful with the girl.

"You'll need to wear this like a belt, and latch these carabiners on to Aki's harness rings, all right?" she asks. "I'll show you when he lifts you up, but you'll be right at the base of his neck. That's where the captain stands."