Taming Rock Formations (open)

[RedOptics]

She was too tired to fall asleep, and her stomach growled from the lack of food she had managed to catch lately. Andesine sat on a cliff's edge, looking out into the province below the mountains. Her ears flicked as she caught noises of small animals moving pebbles around, but she didn't even flinch at the though of food. The large mass of bone at the end of the dragoness's tail lay still between two rocks, caught if she tried to move. In a sense she was defensless today, but little panic shone in her eyes as the thought of her scales saving her calmed her soul.

The day was warm, making her drowsier than ever in the light that gave her away. A black and red creature against pain brown and gray stone, what could stick out worse than that? Andesine wanted to dig anhole to hide in, but sadly her muscles her in so much pain that moving from this very spot could cause her to pass out from agony. Her best bet was to sit in wait and hope that she could sleep in such a position, no matter how ridiculously obvious it was.

[Wrathwyrm]

Mountain climbing has never been an easy prospect.  There were - to a certain extent - pathways that one could take.  However, tthat only led up so far.  If you wanted to go off of the path, or indeed go higher, you were pretty much scaling that rocky beast.  This was easier for smaller mountain critters, or indeed ones that've lived up here all their lives, but human beings weren't exactly mountain goats, ya follow?

So, with that in mind, the 'lady off the beate path' was indeed doing some rock climbing, which was long and boring...pitched with sudden frightening bouts of excitement if you slipped.  She really tried not to slip.  Now, Serenians were a fairly-talented people, and Rena herself was part elf, but you don't go using higher physical feats all the way up a mountain.  You save that stamina for a careful and controlled climb, and then only do the incautious stuff once your life was in peril.

The dragon, with all its decent hearing and greater senses, would become aware of the climber at some point.  She was a young adult Serenian, brown-haired and eyed, currently decked out in toughened leather with climbing gloves and boots.  There was also a big and heavy sword on her back, but it wasn't for use against the dragon.  In fact, Rena didn't want to  bring it at all, but her grandfather objected on the grounds of other creatures being around.  Why was she up here?  Well, she had been told - here and there - that there was this dragon who seemed to tunnel and burrow through solid rock.  Rena had had a trainer who was a dragon man of earth.  Given the stories she'd heard, she wondered if this one might be open to a proposition by the miners.

[RedOptics]

There was a soft gurgle that escaped her throat as she lazily blinked. Andesine's head would begin to fall before it reached the point where she would yank it back up to the top of her shoulders. The scuffling of small hands and the sound of rubble falling to the ground far below made her twitch. Perhaps it was food? A yawn forced her powerful jaws open, revealing white sparkling teeth and black gums. It seemed to have woken her up a little, for her eyes were wider and she was more alert.

Andesine hesitantly stood up, slowly and groggily padding over to the area in which she sensed movement. Her tail caught between the stones and she yanked it out, scattering debris over the edge before she gathered her bearings. She huffed, shaking her neck and continuing forward to look over the edge. The sun outlined the dragon's form, and her expression near completely changed upon spotting the Serenian below, forgetting about her hunger straight away.

[Wrathwyrm]

Her first warning had been the yawn.  When a human yawned, it was as often audible as not.  When something larger does it, it's very hard to cover up.  So, the first thing was that she heard a yawn, and then there was the sound of movement, plus rock-breaking.  Little bits of rock scattered over the edge and clinked their way down past Rena.  This was Uh Oh #2.  Not just the sound of a large being, but the definite physical proof that there was one up there, and close by.  And finally, the third and final indicator was the fact that Rena noticed a shadow cast over her now.  She looked up.

Yup, that's an Uh Oh.

There was a dragon looking down at her.  Now, granted...nobody's encounter with this thing had indicated that it was anything other than amicable towards humans, overall.  However, what none of these encounters included was an attempt to find it around its general stomping grounds up in the mountains, where it was said to roam more regularly.  This was all a new thing, and she had gone herself not because of her responsibilities to the mines or anything like that, but because it was safer if she went, better if it was her and not someone a little less experienced or trained.  Nevertheless, her opening delivery was a bit short.

"Umm...hi."

We can attribute that to just a little nervous tension, though.

[RedOptics]

The beast stared down for another moment, sniffing and letting off small trills as she attempted to register the scent the traveler gave off. It was as if the Serenian language was hard to speak, the way her pronunciations were delivered, but the message would eventually break through to the elf hybrid below.

"You're stuck," Andesine stated, seeing as clearly she was frozen in her place, common when stumbling across new folk around these parts. This dragoness wasn't particularly hostile, if the human below were to have tried to attack her, she would have been dead with a simple snap of her jaws. Flicking the heavy end of her tail, Ande'  warbled before pushing herself over the edge of the rocky cliff and hook her huge talons into the crevices between the stone.

"I'll help you up, grab onto my nose spines." Her voice was quieter than it would be upon greeting someone new, but you could thank her fatigue for that. Tunneler dragons had shorter necks for more strength in the skull, therefore causing her to strain further in order to reach the climber.

[Wrathwyrm]

The sight of a dragon can be a truly awe-inspiring or indeed intimidating sight.  You never know what exactly to expect from the large and scaley being before you...or in this case, above you.  One of the last things Rena expected was to hear the dragon declare - in its more unusual vocal tones - that she was stuck.  Was she?  Rena looked the situation over, taking her eyes off of the dragon for a moment.

Well, there's not much to be used for handholds there, and that bit looks a little unsteady.  I could still take my sword and jam it into the rock itself...

These thoughts were interrupted by the highly-audible dragon movements above her and the offer to pull her up, if she would just grab its nose.

"Alright then, thanks."

She did carefully take hold of the nose spines, one after the other.  Rena wasn't an expert climber, but she'd obviously learned to check her balance and grip at all times.  Both hands firmly holding on, she was ready to be pulled up.

"Sorry about this.  I didn't want to cause you any trouble."

[RedOptics]

Huffing, the large creature hauled herself back up, using her tail as an anchor to better her chances. Andesine backed up slowly, so that the rock underneath her didn't break from a hefty exertion of weight and cause the two to fall.

"Don't mention it. Frankly I'm too tired to much care at this point, about doing the sort." She looked back, then down at the amount of space in front of her that was safe to settle the traveller down, "Here," The giant's head lowered itself to the ground, allowing Rena to stand.

"Name's Andesine, what brings you here?" The dragon curled the end of her tail to look less intimidating, not like the spines and spikes aided in that matter at all.

[Wrathwyrm]

Boy, feel that wind.  When a dragon huffs and you're close to it, you know it.  That aside, this dragon seemed to be okay with the issue, though it was tired.  For some reason, that stood out in Rena's mind.  Dragons get tired, but do they make mention of it to passing humans that often?  She might've been overtthinking this.  Still, with Rena safely on level ground, there was nothing to do but get down to the matter at hand.  And umm...while it was impossible for a dragon many times her own size not to look intimidating, she really felt that giving her a helping nose was what took some of the worry out.

"I'm Rena Goldswith, out from Falial Province.  I live pretty close to the Terrin Mountain Mines there."

For reference, where they were was somewhere more into the northern Kilanthro Mountain Range, bordering the country Connlaoth.  The Terrin Mountains were the connecting western mountains and Falial was somewhere south of this area.  How much Andesine knew - or cared to know - about Serenian provinces and such-like was not known to Rena, of course.

"I heard, from time to time when I'm home, about you and your talent for burrowing.  Well, the people at the mines asked me if it was possible to get your help there.  Because, more than precious stones or the right minerals, we sometimes get magic materials, and sometimes...we find artifacts which may or may not be from a forgotten age.  And then, there's the iron, which isn't good for Serenians."

The last part was always a problem, and complicated to be rid of.

"I don't know if there's any reason you'd want to work at a mine with people, but I promised that I'd ask."

[RedOptics]

Rena... interesting name. Shifting her shoulders as she listened, the dragon struggled to register her words. Talent for burrowing, magic materials, forgotten artifacts, iron... It was all she managed to hear through the stage in which her kind suffered most.

"I've done it a few times before... I think. As long as the shafts are big enough and the people are a safe distance, and if there is food-especially food-, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to work fine there." Then something snapped into her mind, "But if the workers force my labour I can always leave easily."

Andesine has had encounters with some creatures who were forced to work for some cruel Serenians, being it only few, but still quite a lot in her books, "Are you fine with sleeping the day and travelling by night? I'm most productive during the darker hours, as you can see."

[Wrathwyrm]

"Ah..."

This was an angle that they hadn't considered, nor her.  Reports on how large Andesine was varied from person to person.  Thoughts of how well it would fit weren't taken into account, largely because the miners were more concerned over whether they could get a dragon down there.  Rena took a seat and thought, even as Andesine asked a question of her.

"What?  Oh, no no, I'm alright with that.  I've had to do as many night jobs as day ones, depending on what it was I was doing."

For instance, her busting out of a woman who had...very unusual power and mana for blood had been a night job.  Coming home to take on the requests of the miners?  A day job.  Rena looked over to the dragon now.

"Listen, Andesine, the shafts are about as wide as a mine cart and a full-grown man walking by, and their height is only about seven or eight feet.  I think what's best is to start a new tunnel to your standard.  Expanding an existing tunnel means taking out the supports along the way just to get to a new area.  A fresh start might be for the best."

So basically, if Andesine accepted, the idea would be to start a special 'Dragon Tunnel'.  That part explained, she could get to the better half of the news.

"If those guys even try to mistreat you, they'll answer to me, and if they actually manage to piss off a dragon, they're really asking for it.  You're not a beast of burden, and I won't have anybody see you that way.  I'm pretty sure we can cover the cost of food, though."

[RedOptics]

"Good, good..." Yawning through her sentence, the dragon looked back at a cave she had dug earlier, "If you must absolutely wake me, there better be a good reason," She mumbled, standing and heading for the near vertical hole in the ground. Andesine's scales rubbed against the opening, debris falling between then as they normally would, and dug her claws into the ground to prevent her from slipping to the bottom.

The day would be a short one for her, for she didn't necessarily need much sleep, only enough to make the flight and begin her operation. She'll bring the Serenian back safe and sound as well, hopefully that is, or else there will be a big issue in her talons if they thought she had killed her.

It doesn't matter now... just sleep. In the blink of an eye, she hoped that the light would have dimmed outside, and her fatigue would have vanished. Then I'll try that.

[Wrathwyrm]

The people of Falial would be very much the extremely worrying sort if they often thought that Rena might die.  Though Andesine did not know her, the fact was that she went out from her home alot to put her skills for hire, usually for some sort of beneficial reason that would help someone out, and not simply for petty reasons.  This literally made her an adventurer, and she had been through a fair bitt.  Suffice it to say, tales of the digging dragon seemed to indicate that she was not at risk from it, for the most part, so really...if she were to somehow die around here, they'd be more inclined to find out what happened first.  Now, as Andesine slid into the most-recent burrow...

"Alright, then.  Have a nice rest."

With that, the dragon would hear her pulling out that large sword that had been on her back, followed by the sound of her plunging it into ground.  There's been a sparking sound accompanying that, and now there was a slight hum that lasted...for a moment.  What had happened was that her sword, Spark, had been plunged into the ground, and then proceeded to use its lightning power to heat up enough to be warming.  Rena set her back against it as she sat down, looking sort of like a character out of the anime, Claymore, but more relaxed.  After climbing a damn mountain, she could use the rest.  Presumably, Andesine would wake her up when it was time to go, or she'd hear something else to pay attention to before that time.  In the meantime, sleep.

[RedOptics]

Her massive lungs filled with thin mountain air as she slept for hours during the day, exhaling with a low growl. Her back rose and fell at a steady pace as her body curled tighter into itself, giving off the impression of a rock formation deep under ground. The point hit where the light filtered straight down into the tunnel, disturbing her for sheer moments before she subconsciously pulled a wing over her head to block it out.

It must have been a good six or seven hours that she had slept, because finally, once the sun hit an hour before sunset, there was movement at the bottom of the cave. The lumbering bone-plated beast poked her head out, looking up at the bright sky that made the back of her eyes throb.

"Rena? You still there?" She yawned, pulling herself out to stretch her wings and limbs, then shake them out. Dust and pebbles fell from her scales, giving her relief from the itches and the annoying limits of her plates. Andesine remembered very well what she was to do now, and it was to fly over to the mines using the Serenian as a guide and aid their work. That was it, right? Hopefully she would be able to return to her normal free-lance schedule soon, for she planned to visit a few villages she knew of later on.

[Wrathwyrm]

Time passed and it seemed like Rena was a bit more use to lying in the sun.  It was a holdover from her elven side, lying in trees and whatnot.  So, she actually found this pretty relaxing.  Sleep came to her relatively easily, maybe interrupted by a couple of wind drafts.  Mostly, she dreamt and slept peacefully.  Eventually, though, there were sounds from below her feet.  When Andesine called out to her, she yawned and stretched.

"Yeah, I'm here.  Is it time, then?"

Judging by the setting of the sun, it seemed like the case.  Question is...  The dragon had been pretty tired before.  How was it now?  It wasn't exactly sometthing she could tell, right off.

[RedOptics]

Something growled, and Andesine chuckled softly to herself, embarrassed, "Judging by how my stomach is wide awake, I'd guess so. You can direct me from my back." The sound of her armour plates was perhaps less welcoming with faster movements than before, but her expression was much brighter now that her grogginess had vanished.

"Mind the spines, they tend to pinch." She thundered up and settled herself on the ground, to be at eye level with the woman. The ancient breed of dragon was always with a lizard-like expression, wide eyed and taking in all the light she could in order to see her enemies approaching. Andesine offered her crown of horns as handle bars by tilting her head to the side, clearly having offered rides before if they were in relevance to what she will do.

[Wrathwyrm]

Rena chuckled at the stomach comment, pushing some stray hair out of her face..  She pulled Spark out of the ground and replaced it into the harness on her back now.  With the two of them properly awake, they could begin the journey back, which in this case...meant flying on dragon-back.  That was...  Okay, bit of background.  She knew a Draconian, and she had seen the dragons of Adela, but never had she ridden on one before, so this was going to be an all-new experience.

So, with no experience with this at all, Rena carefully climbed aboard.  Easier said than done.  This wasn't like a horse.  Climbing onto a scaley cart might be more accurate, maybe.  Then, after that, she had to mind where her legs were going, because if she didn't, then there would be the spines poking, and she couldn't have that.  Afer a moment of this, Rena adopted a position that was similar to riding low on a horse, with her head near Andesine's head.  Given how this was going to be, that might be for the best.

"Okay, I've never done this before, so this might not be big on dignity.  Don't think poorly of me if I find this to be the most amazing thing ever."

[RedOptics]

Lifting herself off the ground to stand at the ready, the dragoness aimed herself off the cliff and trilled softly, "Don't worry, I've seen undignifying, and I can assure that this is not that," Andesine reared back, then began a full on sprint towards the edge before pushing herself off into the air. A dragon as heavy as her needed a proper launch point high above ground so that they may catch a current while falling. Oops... forgot to mention that.

Hopefully Rena wouldn't scream in terror too much as they plummeted at an angle towards the trees below. Like a parachute, her wings would open further in order to slow down from a fall to a glide, soaring over the canopy in a matter of seconds.

"Alright, junior Dragonrider, where to?" She asked, raising her voice so that she may be heard through the wind and wingbeats.

[Wrathwyrm]

All dignities preserved, we now move onto our takeoff.  Again, Rena had seen the dragonriders of Adela, but seeing wasn't the same as experiencing.  She tensed as Andesine took a running leap for the edge, knowing that her grip was about the only thing keeping her on this creature.  Andesine leapted off of the mountain and...

"Holy shit!"

...plummetted!  Rena held on for dear life, staring at the approaching ground as though she were trying to will it away.  Then again, since her mind was basically going 'Shitshitshitshit!  Upupupupupup!' until the dragon caught the wind and leveled off, you could pretty much call that an accurate statement.  She actually let off a quick laugh when she realized that this was just how Andesine did things.  Once she was asked for directions...well...she had to shout a bit over the wind.

"Best way would be south and west 'till we get near the Terrin Mountains, then due south for Falial!"

And she was...pretty sure she could recognize the area from above.  Well, she hoped she could.

[RedOptics]

The reaction that came out from Rena amused Andesine, the natural response from falling several feet before managing to fly straight. She remembered what it was like to learn to fly, and how many bones and scales she had broken by doing so. Good times. She thought, huffing softly.

"At this pace we'll make it there in about an hour, maybe two!" The dragon called before pumping her wings herder to gain some speed. The take off would have given her the projection that a sleeker dragon would have from the ground, but judging by her whistling plates and scales, there was a lot of drag coming from her defenses. Alright, the Terrin Mountains... southwest, the find Falial. Ah, I remember that path. Maybe.... Tucking in her limbs and raising her tail, she managed to gain a bit more speed than what she was normally used to, watching the trees pass by underneath. Hunters weren't a problem here, as there was too little to hunt in these regions other than tiny lizards and venomous snakes.

[Wrathwyrm]

Yes, the heavy-scaled dragon was not strictly as aerodynamic as other dragons, but then it was effectively what humans of the future would call a flying tank.  Give the dragon some explosives and it could be called an ancient flying fortress, like the bombers of a future age.  Regardless, the idea that they would be able to get there in so short a time put a smile on Rena's face.

This is really happening.  Mom and dad would be proud...

Oh, and for the record?  This was, indeed, the best thing ever.  Even with the wind whipping over her like this, the kind of speed even a heavy dragon could pull off was greater than her best leaps and runs.  Her mother could use wind magic to propell herself at great speed for a while, but she couldn't soar this high or this fast.  Even magic has its limits.  Speaking of which...

"Say, with all the burrowing you do, do you have earth magic too?!"

Because, from the look of Andesine and everything mentioned prior to now, you'd expected that this was an actual Earth Dragon.