Dragon Flight of Another Story...

[Anonymous]

The wings of the monstrous beast whaped heavily in the wind as it carried his massive bulk up into the clouds. Yet another task had been handed to them as they flew through the heavens lands with no guarantee of them actually making it there. Sapphire blue eyes of the rider watched the lands passing below as she eyed the buildings, forests and the occasional prey herds wandering around in the valleys and then looked to her map to see of the land marks she had placed onto her map.

"Another two days ride and we will be at out destination."

She called to her dragon as she leaned forward on Melaneous. He looked back with his blood red eyes and nodded to her in return before speeding up the pace. His massive build was twenty times her size, but at least he could carry her. With his personality, she was unsure why he picked her at all, and she was sure he thought of the same thing as he carried her on her back, but with the way she Impressed him when he hatched it was dragon way. He was her partner and she his and that was how it was meant to be until either one of them died.

[Anonymous]

Ahhhh, it was good to be something else for a change.

A massive eagle-like creature screamed loudly as it cut through the air like a sleek arrow. Great black wings flapped effortlessly, propelling the strange beast forward. Despite being mostly the body of an eagle, it had four legs from a lion, and the head of a dragon. That was the oddest part, it wasn't a regular gryphon to say the least, it was something much stranger. The white scaled head of the dragon had large yellow eyes with slitted pupils. The creature screamed like an eagle though, which might have been because of it being mostly an eagle.

The strange thing as it were began to swoop and dive, swirling and twirling in the air in delight. It hadn't flown in a while, it hadn't been in a form this strange either. To think that just today he had been in a small village today, drinking and enjoying himself. Now he was zipping through the air, not having a care in the world. It was a simple thing...just...flying through the air. It was the easiest thing in the world really...and he couldn't understand why he didn't do this more often really!

He spotted something with his marvellous eyes. Oh thank the Gods for Dragons. Was that...a dragon? It was, an honest dragon! Well that was sure interesting! He flapped his great wings and started after it. What was on its back? Looked like...he couldn't quite tell from this distance. He put on the speed and closed in, and grinned as best as a dragon could, which was more of a toothy grin at this point.

Well well well, hundreds of feet above ground and water and I find a lovely specimen! The creature thought to itself as it decided to show off maybe just a little bit. What to be though? Angel? Nah, too cliche. Demon? Good chance of getting killed. Turning into another dragon would be a mistake. Well, maybe he'd just stay with this for now. He gave a loud screech as he pulled up to the side of the great dragon, making sure not to get too close...just in case he was viewed as a threat. He wasn't the size of the dragon, not even close...he was maybe just a bit bigger than a horse. Hopefully that wasn't viewed as threatening to a dragon since...well it was a dragon!

He'd just have to see.

[Anonymous]

We're being followed.

A thought entered her mind from Melaneous and Daelyn didn't even look back. I know. Just keep flying. He has been following us for some time, whether aware of it or not. She spoke as she placed a hand to her dagger and soon watched the small looking thing fly right in front of her as if in a playful way. "Can I eat him?" Melaneous asked and the girl smirked. "Only if he proves a threat." she replied as her dragon kept an eye on the thing with drool dripping from his mouth. He indeed was the right size for him to eat and would at least fill his stomach for a while, but for now it seemed that the thing only wanted to play.

It had the head of a white dragon, which breathed freezing breath, the wings and body of an eagle, and had legs of a lion, with yellow slitted eyes. A mutation of a normal Gryphon she supposed, but she turned her attention back to the map as if uninterested in the thing. Surely it was an interesting creature but she could feel beneath her that Melaneous was getting desperate. "Control yourself." she reprimanded and his flying smoothed out eventually and he too began to ignore it... some what. If the thing decided to pester the mighty thing it might have proven to be a mistake, if anything but testing out flying skills.

[Anonymous]

That thing was drooling while it was looking at him.

Why did that not look like a good thing? He may have had some immortality, but being eaten by a dragon? Yeah that wouldn't really be fun. He'd have to become some sort indestructible material and hope that it actually worked out. Of course there was actually another option that he could go with...and that was simply not get eaten. That was going to have to be the best option wasn't it?

Really though, the dragon didn't have keep looking at him that way.

They didn't seem to be really interested in him anymore. That wasn't going to do now was it? So he decided to try and be a bit more...vocal perhaps? A sly grin crossed his serpentine face. Well the first idea would be difficult, and the woman probably wouldn't hear him. So he'd have to become something else!

It was a sudden morph, he was brilliant looking now really. No longer a strange gryphon, he was a majestic phoenix. Red and gold plumage, large predatory talons, and intensely bright eyes. He wasn't good at mimicking the abilities of animals, so he didn't try and surround himself with fire. However, he began to sing an old song loudly as he did tricks in front of them. Of course, with him being a phoenix it wouldn't sound like anything in any real tongue, but the phoenix had a naturally beautiful voice so the sounds he was making wasn't bad, quite the opposite...if you were into songbirds and their songs.

[Anonymous]

As soon as the ugly gryphon had changed into a Phoenix, this caught the womans eye. A shifter... great, she moaned to herself as she kept an eye on him. Shifters are tricksie, best to keep an eye on ... it. Melaneous whispered to her and she nodded in confirmation as she watched the thing. She knew the tune it sang some what and she had begun to hum it herself. Her mother used to sing it to her when she was little and how odd it was for her to start thinking of her mother. She missed her still. Focusing on their flying she looked down to see the monument and directed Melanous to come to a halt in the middle of the air.

"Okay, we have reached the Moonskir altar. We are about another two days flight out from our destination I believe to the south from here. Lets keep going. You need to rest Melaneous?" she called to her partner and he shifted a gaze to her. "Not at the moment, but that shifting thing is making me hungry." he spoke with a whap to the head to follow. "If yer that hungry why don't you raid the local farm for a sheep or two. Oh wait. We passed the only farm located within two hundred miles of anything for you to eat from." she griped. "I could eat him." he responded. Another whap to the head. "Keep your hunger to yourself until we reach our destination, you whiny little thing." Then Melaneous began to fly once more. "Just be glad I am Impressed to you, otherwise both of you would be in my stomach." Daelyn chuckled to this as the dragon caught back up to the phoenix. She sighed as she leaned on his head for a moment and watched the bird. Where did he come from anyway?

"Don't think you are from around here... shifter."

[Anonymous]

Maybe they couldn't hear him? They were travelling pretty fast after all so he wouldn't doubt it. Of course the song of a phoenix was hard to miss, even with the wind whipping by them so. Still, it had made his earlier plan of turning into a person and playing a song while he flew by them a little more difficult. He wondered just what the heck they were doing. They didn't seem to care, and they didn't seem to really want to talk to him.

He felt like an albatross. Being that an albatross will fly by a boat and the boat will keep sailing forward without a care. Though the dragon had fallen back and wasn't doing much of anything now...well that was just plain rude wasn't it? Oh wait! Maybe they were wanting him to come to talk to them! He turned about and started to head back to them, but...he wasn't fast enough as the dragon started flying again. Damn! That would have been the perfect time! Ah well, he'd hopefully get another chance soon enough.

Soon though they were flying side by side again, and the phoenix stayed close, still singing and serenading. It wasn't working at all. This was usually incredibly easier when he was a person and could actually talk and converse with them. For a moment he thought he saw the woman talking to him, but for obvious reasons he couldn't understand her. Why she thought...oh! She probably though he could hear her because her dragon could hear her somehow, no doubt he had a telepathic link to her. He wasn't as lucky though, considering that his powers weren't as good.

He'd have to find a way to let her know he couldn't. Ah! He began to grow his tail feathers out as he flew faster, just a bit ahead of the dragon. He wouldn't get to say much, but this would hopefully work. His tail feathers grew thicker, fatter, and larger...and soon had little designs on them. Words. Oh he hoped that she could read. The words on his now lengthy feathers were simply "Too loud, can't hear. Land?" Hopefully they'd be enough...but these two seemed like they were doing something pretty important since they didn't want to land at first...they seemed like they were going somewhere. Well, he could always hope couldn't he?

[Anonymous]

She could read the words easily enough and she thought it very clever to make words in the tail. Nodding, she patted to Melaneous, since this would be a good time anyway, and motioned for him to land below. Nodding in response he began to descend and flap his wings harder as he got close enough to not make a rough landing out of it. Once his blood red armored bulk made the landing, he leaned down so she could slide off. "Go eat, but stay close." she spoke and with a quick rush of his wings he was off to find something to eat. Hopefully the damned thing wouldn't be too long this time and would return soon. As soon as he was gone, the woman watched the clouds for a moment for the phoenix shifter to approach and land near her. He, she or it seemed to be an interesting fellow considering all the shifters she knew were murderers.

[Anonymous]

Ah!

They wanted to land then didn't they? This was getting better and better wasn't it? The only question was what to do when he landed? He couldn't just break into romancing and flirting now could he? More so when there was a giant dragon protecting her. That'd be pretty stupid of him to say the least...he'd have to be pretty careful with how he went around this! Maybe just introduce himself, 'hey how's it going nice dragon you got there', small talk, yadda yadda...Gods be damned he couldn't buy her a drink could he?

Alright well, he'd just have to improvise from there wouldn't he?

He began to descend from the skies after them, slowly of course, he was quite pleased to see that the dragon was leaving, but the rider was being left behind. As he got closer and closer he changed, his legs turned into human legs, slim but athletically shaped, wrapped in a pair of puffy pants with a black and white checkered pattern on them. He wasn't just going to drop in naked! As he got closer to the ground, he began to lose more and more of the tell-a-tale phoenix parts, becoming human. Arms, torso, head, neck, all were being clad in his signature black and white checkered clothes...including a large beret with a big feather sticking out of it. The only thing he left was the wings coming out of his back...when he hit the ground, they disappeared to some degree...the actual wings disappeared but the feathers stayed, exploding upwards and outwards and floating down softly.

Left eye was blue, right eye was dark brown, and his hair was...well...interesting. From what you could see, sticking out from under the beret was a shiny blond colour with black tips. "Now THIS is much better!" The young man exclaimed as he stretched out his arms for a moment, before turning to look at the woman with a grin. "You must be the dragon rider! I am Orin. Orin D. Elarius, or Ode if you prefer!" He told the woman as he approached, bowing to her with a flourish, his hat coming off and everything as he politely bowed. He had to be a gentleman after all! He was a minstrel, they had a reputation!

[Anonymous]

((Sorry was out of town for the weekend.))

The girl didn't even smile, smirk or chuckle. She didn't even blink which was possibly scary to the other person but it wasn't like she cared or anything of the sort. She wanted to know why she was being followed. Usually she was followed when some one found out who she was and had put a price over her head which meant ill news for her, but at least that had not happened for a while. Perhaps he was out looking to make a friend or flirt, but either way he would have a lot of pit falls before he would win her heart of course.

Though the fact he could shift interested her, the abilities that Daelyn held would be ever more interesting. The ability to control the elements as well as partially the weather was interesting to anyone and because it was part of her race, which was human and yet she didn't understand how some one so simple could control such a power, it made her all the stronger.

"Why are you following me?"

She asked plainly and simply with one hand on her dagger inside of her cloak which was concealing her hand and dagger. She would play it safe and she knew Melanous was also watching and sensing from a distance. Only he would know if the man was lying or not. The only question was would he tell her if the man was telling the truth. Love to Melanous was such a fickle thing and with this he never really put his mind to it unless it involved treasures. And with that he would always be alone. Not that he cared anyway. Daelyn listened carefully to the mans next words as Melaneous was on his way back to their location.

[Anonymous]

((Not a problem! I don't mind waiting :3))

Well it was...a little odd that she just...looked at him like she was a statue. Kind of unnerving really...but whatever, she was probably just a little...wary of him right? After all, he was a shapeshifter, and they had reputations. He was also a bard, and they had reputations as well. So all in all, he must right off the bat have a terrible reputation then. Well, there was no helping that though...he'd have to try and make sure he didn't live up to the terrible reputation that shapeshifting bards got.

"Saw a dragon, thought that was pretty odd. Don't usually see those outside the Thunderblacks. I was pretty curious about that so...thought I'd investigate. Then well...I saw you, thought you looked pretty intense. Wanted to know what was going on, see if you knew of something that was happening, or if you had an interesting story." His answer was pretty much the truth. He was good though at telling lies and stories, as a shapeshifter it came easy to him, and it was pretty hard to read his mind. Though he had some form of telepathy himself, he didn't know how to use it, as mind was quite fluid.

"As a bard, it's my duty to find new stories to share with the world. And perhaps to converse with the more...finer specimens of different races. And a woman riding a dragon well...she's got to have a story to her." Ode made sure to keep his distance, to be friendly and act natural and casual, as if he really at any moment couldn't be eaten by a dragon. If he wanted her to even consider letting him stay around, he'd have to show her that he was not a threat. Which he really wasn't! He was a much better bard than he was a fighter.

[Anonymous]

She listened carefully as he spoke the word bard, and a bad taste formed into her mouth. She hated bards with a passion. Especially this one trying to learn her story even. Her brows furrowed together in a form showing that she was only a little upset to him asking to learn her story and before she could speak, with loud flapping came in Melaneous as he landed behind her with a thud who had also heard his words. Luckily he could speak the words of Man and was able to put in his own hefty reply.

"Last time we told our story to a bard like you, she nearly lost a limb and I nearly lost a life. Can't tell ya how much I would have hated to lose my treasure to the thieves I am sure are sitting outside of it right now, too scared to move and pissing in their own pants. Last time we told our story, two hundred men came after the bounty on our heads wanting a little piece of the glory."

Before Melaneous could speak more, a dagger went into his arm where he growled in pain and winced as it was removed. Watching it carefully, it began to heal once more and Melaneous was about ready to eat the damned woman. He eyed her carefully as sparks flared from his nose but one look with her eyes, which the pupils went small and her own fire rose from her hands, he immediately looked away and said nothing else.

"As you can see, our trust with the bards is little to nothing as we go about on our own. We don't have a story. We are merely travelers outside of Thanatos and enjoying the time out. I am sorry to waste your time."

She turned to hop back onto Melaneous and to fly off, but something was telling her to wait. For some reason she felt the need to stay and she wasn't sure why. Was it the bards alluring voice and personality? Or was it because he could shift and changed into anything he desired? The latter she liked only because a lonely girl had her fantasies, but even then they were just fantasies.

(Might have a little fun here. xD )

[Anonymous]

It was an electrical charge that he noticed when talking.

It was a familiar feeling. Maybe his mind was finally acting right, but what he felt was a bad electricity. It was something really bad for that matter, and it was coming from the woman as he spoke. He couldn't read her mind, but his telepathy always had a little bit of a sixth sense. Well, a seventh sense. His sixth sense was able to tell where a female was within ten leagues. The seventh sense was more of a danger sense, and it was conflicting with his sixth sense. A female was right there, but it was like she could probably melt him into a puddle of small mush.

Granted, he could melt himself into a puddle of mush but...that was a whole different thing.

And then the DRAGON came back. Oh that was just perfect timing too. He didn't know how his ability to retain weapons worked, how he could transform and have a dagger at his side that wasn't actually him, or his lute, but he REALLY wished that he had remembered to envision a dagger at his side. It was a nice dagger and he might be able to do something against them. Maybe her, but not the dragon. The dragon would probably be impossible to kill with a dagger.

The bard listened carefully to the story, but ready to flee at any point. He could become a Quickling and probably zip away from them...that'd be good, but he'd probably hibernate for a week burning all that energy running. When the dragon seemed almost done with his speech, Ode was about to speak, until a dagger flew out of nowhere at the dragon. Ode jumped away for a moment with a loud squeak, his arms up in a blatant attempt to pretend he knew some sort of hand to hand combat.

It seemed...okay though.

This was just getting WEIRD.

"Well I think you're lying but yeah, after the fact that you just uh...put a dagger in a dragon's arm, I think it's probably gonna be safer for my shapeshifting rear to not uh...hear this story of yours." He was going to wait for them to leave though because yeah...he'd rather see them go and then not have them sneak up behind him to eat him. "You have a pleasant day though! And I hope that ah...you enjoy your flight and find whatever it is you're totally not looking for!" He told them as he took off his hat and waved at them.

However...she wasn't leaving. "Everything uh...everything okay?" He was quite prepared to become VERY small, like a tiny bug and hide. They'd never get him if he was that right?

((I will not be afeared but I am definitely ascareded and interested by what you have planned.))

[Anonymous]

The woman looked at him and saw that he was afraid and sighed. Perhaps talking to at least one person wouldn't be too bad.. besides. Melaneous had been looking for some glory every now and then. "Well, you said you had been looking for a story, so perhaps I have one for you." she smiled as she stood by her dragon and he looked at her funny. What are you trying to do? Melanous asked as she looked to him. Getting you the glory you want. she spoke as she soon looked back to the man who seemed to be afraid of them now.

"I don't mean to frighten you or anything. I know the both of us are fairly weird, but surely we are good people once you get to know us of course." she smiled hoping that he would feel a little more comfortable. "Besides.. you were beautiful in the phoenix form."

((Ahh well if your character reacts like that, xD Not that it is bad or anything. Just makes a little different response. No worries!))

[Anonymous]

He'd been in situations like this before, however they weren't as...deadly as this one. One in a while he may have forgotten to pay his bill, or perhaps he met a lady who already had a husband or lover, or perhaps he seduced a husband or two, but he'd never really stared death down like this. It was heart racing, exhilirating and slightly frightening. The woman wasn't trouble, he could simply turn into the cutest little Bunny-cat she'd ever meet, and he'd be fine.

The dragon though probably looked at any form he turned into as food.

"Just my phoenix form?" He joked, relaxing slightly as he struck his pose. "I'll have you know that Queens and Princesses have commented on my roguish handsomeness before." Of course he was always lucky that the king wasn't around to hear such things. Oh he'd get his head chopped off for sure! "But...thank you. It's not hard for a phoenix to be beautiful though." He had to be humble after all! It's why he never appeared as a godly looking man, which he could. He knew that if he did, he'd get used to it, then he'd become very vain and arrogant and that would just not do for a man who got by in life by singing of others. After all, the bard had to attract enough attention that people saw him, but also heard his songs.