[Leonard]

It is not always aimless wandering and masquerading as The Lost for young Leonard Rei Faust. That is only what he does in his free time and arguably the most interesting of things he does. However, the truth is that most of his time is spent maintaining and improving upon his physical fitness and fighting prowess. He doesn’t have a set regimen or specific times to workout. He just isn’t the kind of person who wakes up at the crack of dawn.

Whenever he feels comfortable, he’ll push his limits and improve his skills. He is the kind of person who honestly enjoys it, so he doesn’t have to worry about slacking off. At the very least, he has a bare minimum that he likes to do. Every day at some point he tries to fit in at least a light work. Every week he likes to run a certain amount.

If it were completely up to him, he would train with his master more often. Unfortunately, the man is the very definition of a loner. Plus, he seems to consider Leonard as a bit of a nuisance. Despite this, Leonard cannot see himself with any other master. The man is an absolute genius with his fists, and to be honest Leonard can’t help but identify with his loner attitude. Still, he wishes he could be closer with him. In fact, at the moment he didn’t know if the man was out trying to save the world or half-passed out in a ditch trying to nurse a hangover. He always seemed to show up at the right moments to help Leo along, though.

What Leonard did know was the lessons that the man had instilled into him. His master had always emphasized the basics. Even if his master wasn’t around to teach him some secret technique, Leo knew how to get stronger, and that is exactly what he was doing right now.

He was out doing road work. He was running at a steady, slow pace over a long distance to train his stamina, build up leg power, and to keep excess fat and water weight low. Most people underestimate the effectiveness of foot work in boxing, but those who practice it are familiar with its importance as common knowledge. Leonard was not wearing his mask today, as he was simply running. His clothes were comfortable and easy to move in, but thick and in many layers. He wore several shirts, with a thick hooded tunic over them. He wore thick traveler’s pants designed for the cold. He also had his stomach, wrists, and ankles wrapped in a cotton wrap. The winter weather was cold, meaning that even with all of this he probably wouldn’t sweat much. Not enough. He would get tired and sore, but his body would retain the water weight making it that much more difficult for him to move. It annoyed him, but he couldn’t do much about the weather.

As he ran, his mind began to wander as it tended to. He looked up to the skies above, to catch a fleeting glimpse of some birds darting across the sky. His keen eyes studied their movements, relating them to his own in his canary form. He always liked to keep an eye out for animals, to give himself more experience as a Therian. He smiled pleasantly as he ran briskly along the city roads, a bit unsure of what awaited him down the path he had chosen.

[Kiel]

What waited for Leonard was a dragon. Like, for sers, man, a dragon. Though not an entirely uncommon sight in Elysia, it was a dragon. For Kiel, that was, like, the be-all end-all of, like, everything.

“I have a dragon! I have a dragon! A dragon, a dragon, a dragon!” Skipping about and doing his victory dance was probably, like, the last thing that said dragon wanted to see, especially when he started wiggling his butt and hip-checking Shane, but this was the first time she'd answered his summons since the ritual and, like, he was kinda eager, okay?

Said dragon yawned mightily, blinking at him from beneath a curled wing. She'd apparently teleported to meet him right out of a nap, and it looked like she'd been nibbling in her sleep, too, 'cause there was a bloody sheep leg sticking out of her mouth. Sheep? Shep? “Whaddaya call a sheep when its not with its buddies, anyhow?”

Pria (her full name was, like, Prianakerani — he'd actually memorised it 'cause dragons didn't bond with people who couldn't get their full names right — but that was wayyyyy too long!) yawned again and smacked her lips (if dragons even had lips), eyeing his weird dance with some semblance of amusement.

“You woke me, Ezekiel.” Her voice in his head was wayyyyy cool.

“Wah! Wah, wah! Don't, don't, like, that's my grandad's name, okay? I'm Kiel, I'm Kiel!” Hopping to a stop right in front of her nose, he reached out to touch her snout. Like, she seemed kinda laid back compared to other dragons he'd met (like, Slythe, mostly. And Nekokerfuffle. And, like, Aelia and Tullia and Ani. And, like, why were so many of his family's dragons named something-ia, anyway? That was, like, totally weird, man!), and during the ritual she'd even messed with him a little bit, like she had a sense of humour, you know, so, like, maybe she wouldn't mind if he petted her a little bit, you know?

“Wahhhhhhhhhh, wahhhhhhh, I'm on fire, I'm on fireeeeeeee!!”

As Kiel rolled around in the grass, only a few feet from the road where he'd summoned Pria in a small park, he yelled and giggled (dude, he was on fire 'cause of a dragon, man!) and swatted away Shane's rough tongue, and giggled even more 'cause Pria was doing this weird dragon laugh-rumble thing that made the ground under him vibrate.

“Serves you right for touching the nose.”

Apparently, Kiel's dragon had a sense of vanity, too...

[Leonard]

Leonard picked up his pace. Up head there appeared to be a man on fire, about to be eaten by a some kind of reptile. Upon getting closer he noticed the man was laughing...? Laughing?

"Uh, ah... Are you ok?" He called out as he came to a stop on the path near where the man was rolling about. Leo's eyes widened when he realized that the creature was nothing less than a dragon, of all things. Maybe it was the Therian in him, but where he had little respect for someone called the Goddess, he had endless reserves of respect for the proud, powerful, and (usually) noble race of dragons.

His surprise was easily visible, displayed on his bare face. On top of that, he staggered a bit back as well.

"A dragon?! ...Incredible." As if it weren't enough already, for some reason he had to come straight out and ask if it was so, as if he couldn't plainly see. Though, it was his first time seeing a dragon.

[Kiel]

“I know, right?!” Kiel never missed an opportunity to say how awesome the awesome stuff was, or even really to state the obvious, so when some strange Anyeli dude came running up to them and started verbally fawning over his dragon, Kiel's head swelled up like some kinda balloon and his grin widened so much he was about to lose his jaw.

Patting the sleeve Pria had set on fire (like, it was only a little bit of fire, he realised, and his shirt wasn't even that damaged), Kiel bobbed up and down on his heels. Shane was practically glued to his side (probably, like, jealous or something 'cause she wasn't his only Chosen any more), and Kiel's hand had automatically dropped to ruffle her fur without him even realising it.

“Dude, you have wings, man.” Master of Obviousness, wahahahaha, and he turned to pester the red dragon who was currently polishing off the sheep leg she'd rediscovered like it wasn't a million kinds of disgusting to eat raw meat. Uck. “Pria, Pria! He's got wings!”

“Hm,” she replied shortly, her telepathic voice unimpressed. Sheep leg gone, she suddenly thrust her head forward to peer at the Anyeli's wings, and gave a great Rrrrumph! like part growl, part dismissive snort. Smoke came out of her nostrils, but Kiel just grinned like an idiot. “Mine are bigger.”

“Wahahahahaha!” Moving to stand beside the Anyelos, completely oblivious to that whole personal-space thing and stuff, Kiel totally propped an arm on the other guy's shoulder and tried to lean. It was kinda hard, though, 'cause the dude was a couple inches taller than him, which totally sucked! “She said your wings are puny!”

[Leonard]

"Eh, heh," Leo laughed off the offense. There was something about the way the young man spoke. He just couldn't get mad at him. He felt a bit self concious, though. He had been running for quite some time, and had actually began to work up a decent sweat, which was one of his goals. Normally, he would have wanted to keep his distance during any conversation while in this state. He probably smelled a bit, but the dragon's partner just came right up to him. He felt it would be rude to back away from him, and was left with no other moves than to ignore it, and let him lean on him. Hopefully the young man would understand that he had been exercising and what not.

"Yeah, they're just for show, mostly. I'm not strong enough to fly yet," He admitted. He felt a bit odd about saying 'yet'. Since he didn't know if he'd ever be able to fly.

"See, I'm actually only a half breed," He didn't mind admitting. When not wearing his mask, or slumming around as 'Knuckles', he was like an open book and didn't speak as formally. It was actually refreshingly freeing.

"Oh, by the way, my name is Leonard," he said with a casual smile. Actually using his real name was a bit of a rare thing for Leo, sadly enough.
He looked up to the dragon again, admiring her beauty for just a moment before looking towards the Shadowkin whom was also with the dragon master.

"You certainly have some beautiful friends," he couldn't help but comment. He was so awestruck that he just blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

[Kiel]

“Wahahaha, I know, right?” As he confirmed the guy's appreciation of his companions, Kiel tilted his head to watch Shane as the 'kin sniffed at Lenny's hand like she was looking for treats. In the process, his hat almost fell off, and Kiel grabbed at it with the hand that wasn't occupied with leaning on the Anyelos's shoulder. “Lenny, Lenny, Lenny, man, you got any snacks?” He doubted it. The dude was clearly on a run and most people (Kiel not included) didn't bother with snackage to weigh them down.

He wasn't asking for himself, either way. Like, if he said no, Kiel would rummage around in the pockets of his mom-made combat trousers in search of snacks he knew he'd brought with him, and let the guy feed Shane one of those. It was the fastest way to make friends with her, you know? They'd been together a year or something now, so she'd picked up a ton of Kiel's habits — appreciation of food included. Fortunately, she ran with him and was boisterous enough that, like, she was still as slender as when he bonded with her. Otherwise, her mom was totally gonna skin him alive or something the next time they met.

Remembering to introduce himself (finally), he clapped a palm to his chest. “I'm Kiel, Kiel. Dude, you stink, man!” It was a slight exaggeration, and it didn't bother Kiel, anyhow, it was just something that popped into his head and darted out of his mouth. Like, but he worked for Zeph, you know, and that dude spent all day in front of a raging furnace half-naked, then took Kiel training at a busy dojo in Nirim on the weekends (also mostly half-naked). Plus, like, living on a farm for four and a half centuries, he was used to way worse smells than man-sweat, you know? “Ewwwwwww, 'strider poo stinks.”

His tangent over with, he abandoned his leaning post and hopped over to Pria, where the dragon was deliberately ignoring them. Her snout was in the air and her eyes were closed, kinda like she was enjoying the weak sunlight, but he'd seen that look on dragons before and it was so totally a "you're not paying enough attention to me, so I'm going to ignore you until you appreciate me properly" gesture. “Pria, Pria, Pria!”

“Ezekiel, Ezekiel, Ezekiel.”

“Wahahahahaha, you're so mean.” Arm-fire totally forgotten already, he petted her snout. She snorted smoke and eyed him like she was deciding how tasty he'd be, but let him stroke her nose for a few seconds before rearing back to spread her wings, shake them out, and then re-fold them like she was putting on a show.

[Leonard]

Leonard, or Lenny as he was dubbed, welcomed the close proximity of the Shadowkin. He held out his hand just slightly so that she could sniff it better. He didn't realize that she was looking for food until the friendly man asked about it. Then he drew his hand back a bit. As a Therian, Lenny got hungry quite often. Still, he resisted the urge to snack on the run. He would normally just grab a few spoonfuls of beans or a few bites of fish to make sure he at least wouldn't keel over from lack of nutrition while he ran. Then he'd just go hungry while on his run. He found he went hungry often, but working out kept his mind off of it.

"Eh heh," he chuckled awkwardly after Kiel introduced himself, and pointed out his odor. "Sorry, if I offend," he felt compelled to reply when he could get a word in edgewise. Although, by then the talkative man had run of to play with his dragon again.

"Sorry, I don't have anything," he said with a gentle tone to the 'kin rather than to the man, though loud enough so he could hear it, too.

Maybe it was his Therian instincts, but Leonard found himself honing I on every little detail, every little movements he was lucky to bare witness to. The 'kin's strides, the way she used her nose so skillfully, the dragon's wings, and every slight muscle shifting around under scale or fur. He probably would not choose to become these forms, or maybe couldn't, but he still couldn't help but study their movements and amazing physiology.

[Kiel]

Since Lenny had said he didn't have any treats for Shane, Kiel skipped away from Pria back to the Anyeli's side, all the while with both hands shoved deep into the pockets on his knees. The result was a sort of hop-skip-lunging motion that probably made him look like some kind of, like, duck or something, but Kiel was too busy patting himself down to notice (not that he'd have cared anyway). Victorious, he yanked a packet of jerky (like, he vaguely remembered it was tiger gazelle, but he couldn't be sure) into the air and struck a heroic pose. “Wahahahaha, I'm awesome, I'm awesome.”

And then tossed said carrot to Lenny. Like, Shane would much prefer a totally raw steak or something, but she'd have to make do. “Don't let her eat it all at once, okay? Like, she's greedy, she's greedy!” In response, she stuck her snout in the air and flicked her tail at him.

“And whose fault is that, I wonder?” Pria slumped onto her forward elbows with a heavy thud that reverberated through the soles of Kiel's boots. He'd totally swear she was inspecting her claws, man, for sers.

“Wah, it's not me, it's not me!” Even though, like, it totally was his fault. He ate so much, of course his Chosen would pick up his habits, you know? But, like, it wasn't his fault, okay?

“Hey, hey, Lenny, Lenny, man, Lenny. So do you run every day? 'Cause, like, that's cool, it's cool! Me too, you know, but, like, I'm usually back home before the sun's up, hahahahaha.” It was totally true. Like, he had an early start every morning, being a slave for Zeph, you know, and then he skipped to his shift at Marty's in the afternoons, so he didn't get much time during the actual day. He had so much energy he didn't need lots of sleep, anyway. “You wanna go with me sometime?” He missed running with Phenny.

“Waha. Lenny. Phenny. Wahahahaha!”

[Leonard]

Leonard caught the snack and smiled pleasantly as Kiel talked. It was always nice to be around someone so happy, it really helped to take your mind off of your own problems. Not that Leonard had many troubles. The Lost took care of all of that. It was almost unhealthy how much he separated his two lives, but it worked for him. The mysterious wanted femme fatal had been troubling The Lost lately. From what he experienced with her, she didn't seem like a bad person. So why was she wanted by the town guard? How many of the bounties that he was thinking about going after were also good people. Or worse yet, what if he was just a bad judge of character? He had go e to sleep wondering about these things that night of the encounter, but was exhausted and fell asleep before he found any answers. Though even if he had gone on, he probably would have never found any answers on his own. The Lost's, or rather Knuckles's next move was to find information about her, and why she is wanted, but it was too soon to make any moves with out drawing attention to himself.

So at the moment he was stuck as Leo, or rather Lenny. It was for the best this way, dwelling on it endlessly wouldn't have solved anything. Rushing ahead left too much room for error. Right now the best thing he could do was smile and feed some of the snack to the 'kin. He held out some of it in the hand that she was smelling. While he did, he held the rest in his other hand, slightly up and away from her.

He listened to the man's energetic words, though he didn't know who or what was was Phenny, he didn't bother asking.

"No, not every day," He admitted. "I don't like to stick to a routine," He explained.

"I do end up running often, though. Enough so that my legs are usually killing on the days I decide to give me a break," he said with a slight laugh. With the way Leonard strictly pushes himself, there are few days when at least part of him is sore.

"If I see you around, then maybe we can run together," he said with a shrug. He would have liked a running buddy, even though he tended to internalize often, especially while exercising, but he didn't keep to schedules and often found himself moving Leonard's business around to accommodate The Lost's agenda.

As he talked, he made sure that the'kin had a steadily supply of the snack, though in small portions.

"Say, would hou mind introducing me to your friend's?" he decided to mention. He didn't quite pick up the name of the creature he was feeding, though he gathered the dragon's name was Pria...or was it Phenny?

[Kiel]

“Would you mind introducing me to your friends?” Like, as far as Kiel was concerned, he already had (even though he hadn't), but he filed Lenny's "deafness" away for later and clapped him on the shoulder in a friendly manner.

First pointing at the shadowkin with a finger that was immediately licked before diving to tickle under her fluffy chin, he giggled and said, “Wahahaha! That's Shane, it's Shane. She's awesome, man, for sers!” Another swipe of her tongue was enough for her to tell him that, like, he was awesome, too, you know? But then she snorted and stuck her nose in the air again when he hopped past her to wave at Pria with both hands, kinda like a troupe leader before the dancing began. “That's Pria.”

“Prianakerani,” she corrected in his mind, flicking his butt with a claw. He jumped a mile with a “Wah!” giggling all the while, and clapped both hands over his butt protectively. “She's Pria, she's Pria!” He had the good sense to skip well out of the way of the next repercussion.

“Say, say, Lenny, man, you wanna go for a ride?” Pria immediately roared her protest, but Kiel had come prepared. Like, not all of his wages had gone on, like, food for himself and Shane, you know? So he brought out the tiny emerald he'd brought along with him, after the requisite pocket-patting in search of it. The gem had been one of the rejects from a stash Zeph brought back from Kyriake, so he'd let Kiel have it for his future dragon. “Buh. He made me pay for it, though,” he sulked.

The stash he had was actually pretty cool now, but he didn't want to show his hand too soon. Like, he'd learned from Zeph's relationship with Slythe that dragons didn't come cheap, and they were pretty heavy negotiators. Kiel was kind of an easy target, too, 'cause he'd just give 'em whatever they wanted if it meant he could play with them some more, but no way he could afford to keep that up so part of his training with Zeph had become "how to not get robbed by a dragon". Plus, like, his folks had been trying to teach him that his whole life, you know, but they'd kinda never really expected him to get this far, so they hadn't taken his training all that seriously.

“I wanna go to Niriiiiiim!”

[Leonard]

Kiel certainly had an interesting way of speaking. He also seemed to mention several things that went right over Leonard's head or had nothing to do with the conversation. He had to stop himself from asking 'what' every five seconds. Kiel seemed to be in his own little world, but at least he seemed happy there. From the things he did understand and were relevant to him, Leonard heard the two names of Kiel's companions, as well as the offer for a ride... On a dragon. There was no way he could turn down the offer. It was a free dragon ride after all. A dragon ride. Not to mention flying was one of his most favorite things to do.

The roar didn't put a damper on Leonard's spirits. He trusted Kiel (despite Kiel's playful demeanor) would be able to convince her to go through with it. After all, for all of Pria's attitude, she was still with Kiel. He doubted Kiel would offer if he couldn't deliver. Though, Leonard could have been wrong.

Still, he contained his excitement.

"Nice to meet you two," he said with respect to the two he had just been introduced to.

"There's no way I can turn down an offer like that," Leonard admitted. He liked to be as honest as could, while he could. It helped ease the burden of his guilty conscience, since he had to lie to almost everyone he knew about his secret identity.

"As long as it's ok with Pria, of course," he added to be polite.

[Kiel]

“It is not "okay".” This time, Pria projected her side of the conversation into Leonard's mind as well as Kiel's. Like, it was probably a ploy for more payment, even as she poked at the tiny emerald with a claw nearly twice the size of Kiel's middle finger.

“What am I meant to do with such a puny offering?” Her disdain was clear, but she was back to talking solely to Kiel again. Not that he really minded if Lenny overheard their conversation, though. Like, you know, he didn't know the meaning of the word embarrassed, hahaha.

“It's not puny, it's not puny! Like, this cost a week's wages, man, for sers! From both my jobs, okay? And Zeph didn't charge nearly as much as he could have for it, so, like, it's not puny, okay?”

The bronze and burgundy dragon shifted her weight just as Shane started sniffing at one of her toes. Kiel couldn't figure out if it was deliberate or not, but the movement sent the 'kin scampering away like a puppy with her tail between her legs. Only to stalk back as if nothing had happened and station herself by Lenny's foot like some kinda guardian. “You mean to tell me I bonded with a poor person?” Oh, horror of horrors, wahahahaha!

“Dude, like. Dude.” He was stumped, though, 'cause, like, how was he supposed to argue when it was true? “Like, yeah. Hahahaha.”

Again with the projecting into Lenny's head, Pria sniffed. “I don't suppose you have anything to offer by way of payment.”

[Leonard]

Leonard tried to follow the conversation as best he could while also watching the various movements of of the two animals. Even as she fled Shane had something majestic about her. Leonard knew the reaction might have seemed paranoid by humanoid standards, but by animal standards it was perfectly natural. Something that 'startled' you in the wild was, more often than not, a predator. If you didn't react with at least this much caution every time, then the one time it was actually a predator, you'd be caught and you'd be dead. Leonard was impressed that Shane hadn't been domesticated to the point were she lost her edge. Of course he could have been reading too much into it.

Leonard was startled when he first heard Pria's voice in his head. It was unfamiliar, but he quickly put two and two together. It made all too much sense if that voice was the dragon's voice. He had heard that they could communicate like this.

It was difficult to follow, because he got half of the conversation some of the time. He was beginning to wonder if he had imagined the voice. He offered another piece of the snack to Shane as she came to a stop by him.

Suddenly, he heard Pria again.

"Hmm? Ah... Well, I can..." he stuttered, suddenly put on the spot.

"I can offer... My eternal friendship?" he offered with a shrug. He had to resist the urge to ask if he could pay her after he became rich. Truthfully all of his money was spoken for. Either he ate or drank it away, or used it to pay his landlady.

"hmm, oh yeah... There's this," he said holding up the rest of Shane's snack.

[Kiel]

Kiel and Pria both totally stared at the guy. A couple of seconds later, Kiel was on the ground, rolling around and clutching his belly as he guffawed like a mad man. Pria's dragony lips were pressed together like she'd explode with mirth the second she opened her mouth, and her claws had dug into the grass.

“Wahahahahaha, friends! Wahahahaha!” Friendship meant nothing to dragons. Unless they could touch it, admire it sparkling, and/or trade it for better shinies, they just didn't want to know. But, like, it just showed the differences between the races, you know, 'cause no 'Varian would ever dream of suggesting friendship even as a joke!

“Wahahahaha, Lenny, man, you're so funny.”

Shane wasn't laughing (which was kind of a shame, 'cause she was sooooo cute when she did her version of a laugh); she was too busy taking the guy for every ounce of snackage he'd give her. So, like, when the guy decided that her snack would make a better offering, she totally got in a huff and pounced on his foot with her front claws out at half-mast, totally like a little kitty cat pouncing on a mouse.

“It's cool, man.” Back on his feet, Kiel clapped Lenny on the shoulder again and then shooed the 'kin away. “I got a —” He'd been about to say he had something else up his sleeve so the dude shouldn't worry, especially since, like, the invitation was his idea, but then Shane pounced on his foot instead, and he fell over on his butt with a “Wah!”, his arms in the air and a stupid grin on his face.

“Hey, hey, Pria. Like, if you take us for the emerald, I totally know where to find some reaaaaally juicy sheep, okay?”

“Hmm.” The dragon eyed him, then Lenny, then Shane. “I suppose I have to take that rat with us, too.”

“Wah! She's not a rat, she's a 'kin, a 'kin!”

Unimpressed, Pria ignored his outburst and projected her agreement into both their minds. “Fine. Hop on.”

[Leonard]

"Aha, ha..." it was a little embarrassing how funny Kiel found the joke, especially when paired with how irritated Pria was with it. Shane's pounce made him cringe, but he couldn't blame her for it.

"Ah, sorry..." he said offering more of the snack to Shane after she was done with her master.

Leonard smiled and let Kiel talk to his dragon again. It was honestly fun to watch someone else be so happy, but he really couldn't help hut feel a bit out of place. All his free time was wrapped up in that mask of his. He didn't really remember when was the last time he had just hung around with friends and smiled like this. He didn't know what to do or what to say. He was honest that Kiel was such a friendly and welcoming guy, or he would have missed out on so much. Including, but nit limited to a dragon ride.

When it was decided that she would let them ride, it was difficult to contain his excitement. He felt like a kid again, but there was a point to this. It was a unique opportunity to study a dragon up close and personal and overcome any unknown anxieties that come a long with interacting with such a legendary and powerful race. If he ever had the misfortune to find himself in battle against a dragon, it wouldn't do to be awestruck by it. This was an opportunity to get used to dragons. It was a bit depressing that he had conditioned himself to the point were he had to justify 'having fun' with some kind of tactical ulterior motive.

"After you, my friend," he said to Kiel, as he wasn't sure of the proper way to mount a dragon. He would watch Kiel closely and follow close after him.

((ooc: You can GM Leonard to mount Pria as needed.))

[Kiel]

Kiel totally wasn't the best example to follow when it came to mounting a dragon. Like, up to now, the only draconis he'd ridden had been Slythe, and Zeph was always there to shove or pull him up into the saddle. Somehow, wyverns, like his sister's, were way easier to mount.

“Wahahahaha!” Kiel's enthusiasm kinda ricocheted off his surroundings as he bounced up to Pria's side. She got this sort of look that was part surprise and part "Oh, nuts, what have I done?", tensing up as he grabbed at her knee and started climbing up. Then it was her turn to roll around laughing — in the most undignified way a dragon ever could — when he slid straight back off. “Um. But, like. Um.”

Glancing sheepishly at Lenny, Kiel still grinned like he hadn't just embarrassed himself. “Hahaha, I'm still getting the hang of it, you know? Like,” and he launched into a detailed description of just why he wasn't used to it.

After several minutes, he was finally up in the saddle he'd given her when they bonded. Well, like, he couldn't afford a real saddle yet, so it was more like a simple harness just for something to hang on to...

And then Pria projected to Lenny, “Your turn” — and lowered herself so it'd be easier for him!

“Wah! Wah, you meanie, you did it deliberately! Wah!” He soon forgot that he was mad at her when she chuckled and it was kind of like being on a wobbly ride, one fist pumping the air as he shouted with glee. “Shane, Shane, come on, come on!”

The 'kin stared up at him like she was having doubts, but then followed Lenny up the dragon's side. She started out in her 'kin form, leaping up onto the dragon's knee, but by the time she'd scampered forward onto Kiel's shoulder, she was in her weird ball-of-fluff form 'cause she knew it was easier to ride a dragon like that. “Woohoo! Nirim, here we coo-wahhhhhhh!”

She didn't wait for him to finish his sentence before she teleported them out of Elysia. They poofed into Nirim in a misty cloud of smoke — a thousand miles above the city! Well, like, a few thousand feet, at least... They were in free-fall for a few seconds, too, so that was yet another hat Kiel had lost, and the force of the wind in his face made it impossible for even him to complain, although he did manage an “Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” which was three parts excitement, one part fear and, like, another part exhileration.

Pria spread her wings to halt their descent way too close to the ground and twirled them around, pretty much showing off. “Dude, like, dude, don't throw up on me, okay?” It was so awesome though, man, for sers! Slythe did this sometimes when Zeph had pissed him off, but the big guy would have told him to stop by now. Kiel just clung on and giggled.

[Leonard]

Leonard had experienced flight before, as a bird, but he had never felt it while feeling so heavy. He certainly had never felt anything like the powerful beast beneath him, or had to rely on something like it for flight. It was a tremendous experience in of itself. Every flap of the dragon's wings seemed to require a collaboration of the creature's entire body. It was a true testament of the rigors of defying gravity. Leonard was all too familiar with these rigors, having tried to fly in his humanoid form many times before and failing every time.

The fact that he couldn't fly in his human form constantly nagged at the back of his head and he held on tightly for dear life. His wings clung to him and the dragon, to not catch air. As the dragon performed its feats of flight, the air resistance his wings created threatened to rip him from where he was mounted. He tried to move his wings with Pria's, matching her movements so that rather than pull him from her, his wings would move him with her. It was difficult to guess when she would move her wings and in what way, and which way he should move his to match her, but he quickly caught on by reading the air currents. The free fall was easy, he just let himself go, and trusted in Pria. He had just met her, but he doubted she would go through all of this just to kill him like this.

He had kept his mouth shut the whole time, not letting out so much as a peep. He had gotten into the habit as a bird, not wanting to catch insects in his mouth. Even as a bird, he did not have much taste for insects.

Nirim, it was his first time here, but he had heard of it. Never in his wildest dreams did he expect to visit here like this. It certainly was among the last things he expected to do today when he left to go on a run in the morning.

Slightly out of breath, for some reason, he felt he had to express his excitement and awe.

"Incredible..." was the best he could manage to articulate.

Continued in On the Flip Side.