TEST DRIVE #6

[fairyfoes]

TEST DRIVE MEME

Considering apping to EACHDRAIDH? Why not give the setting a test run here! OPTIONAL SCENARIOS 01. ARRIVING IN THE DRABWURLD. The Seelie and Unseelie courts welcome you with mirthful revelry and hearty food. After you have been briefed on your purpose here, you will find an endless feast and a night filled with entertainment to placate your concerns. Mingle with new arrivals, sneak down the castle halls and make sure your eyes are always on your glass; fairies and imps have no bias when it comes to tricks! 02. THE STATION. Looking for a little slice of home? The Station gives you all that and more. Take advantage of the wifi, have a cup of fairy-brewed coffee (the one they didn't spit in) or sit back and relax on the patio. You can even move your things into one of the available rooms! 03. WILDCARD. Your own scenario! Explore the Drabwurld or simply take advantage of your Locket!

Comments

[knockedaboutthehead]

[The fact that the dragon's first reaction is speech is a good sign. The fact that he has made no immediate move to have Granby as the second course of his dinner is also a good sign. Being boomed at and talked down to by a dragon is remarkably familiar and comforting in an odd way. He begins to make his way closer, still on his guard, but not overly so. It seems more polite than anything else.]

Many times as a lad, yet apparently it did me little good. Dragons here are scarce and vary greatly, and so I must adjust my manner accordingly.

[He has stopped at a non-threatening distance. Non-threatening presumably to the dragon and also out of apparent lunging/snapping/possibly firebreathing range which is good enough for him.]

[merelychewed]

[ The joke's on him, there's no real way to be out of firebreathing range and still be close enough to speak directly. Not that it should come to that. The man doesn't run away screaming, which is a similarly good sign as Draco speaking first is. No swords being drawn is an equally good sign.

Though he'll still snort, nose wrinkling some. ]

Scarce as in all but gone forever, you mean, save the one of this land the Seelie do keep. [ Which is not himself. Suggesting anyone keeps him at all would be a poor life choice. ] So poor manners. Poor sense, too. Do you normally walk up and watch giant meat-eating beasts?

[knockedaboutthehead]

Quite often actually. [Granby smiles at that and comes close to a laugh. He's still not moving any closer though, content to stand where he is and note differences and similarities between this dragon and the ones he knows of.] Dragons are not so rare where I come from and I have a great deal of familiarity with them.

[It sounds formal and unwieldy even as he says it, but, judging by the look on the dragon's face at the notion of a kept dragon, Granby feels it would probably be best to approach his being the captain of a dragon cautiously.]

[merelychewed]

[ That dragonkind works alongside man would be fine, but that they are seen as something to be a captain of? No, no, Granby is all too right about that one. It would only spoil the surprised and suddenly much more intent interest he now has pinned on the poor man. ]

Truly? Dragons yet live where you are from? [ He won't get up to move closer, but he doesn't really have to to do that. He can just lean forward, stretching his neck out to get a better look at this fellow. ] How many?

[knockedaboutthehead]

How many? [Granby doesn't flinch at closer draconic inspection. If anything, he hardly seems to notice it at all, no matter how hot the breath or how many teeth might be involved. But the question has thrown him.] There are hundreds within England alone. I do not believe there is a country in the world without dragons and many with far, far more than England. In China I must have seen thousands upon thousands.

[If he is exaggerating it's not by much. Dragons have just been such a constant in his life since early childhood that he had never truly given much thought to numbers beyond how many within a certain covert or formation, how many might feed on x number of cows, how many took sick with the dragon plague, etc. He might as well have been asked how many humans there are.]

[merelychewed]

Hundreds? Thousands? [ However grouchy he'd been before, that's immediately forgotten, excitement entering his expression and voice. ] And what of the men of your world? They live alongside them?

[knockedaboutthehead]

I believe that is rather dependent upon individual nations. [He wishes suddenly for Laurence who could be so much better at explaining these sorts of things to dragons, possibly because he does not have a lifetime in the corps to bias his thinking. Whereas Granby was raised with a thorough understanding and respect for dragons, but also with a firm understanding of their place when compared to men. Just being captain of Iskierka helps somewhat, but there are still things that would seem unthinkable to a feral dragon and Granby knows it.]

In China they appear to be an every day part of society with shops and schools and such. In America they are heavily involved with trade... But in Russia I have heard they can be treated quite harshly. [To put it lightly and Granby looks slightly ill at ease as he continues.] Most Europeans who are not aviators still live in fear of dragons.

[merelychewed]

[ The excitement fades as Granby goes on, bemused at how dragons would fare depending on human nations. While China is what Draco was hoping for, the more places he lists, the less pretty the picture becomes.

He leans back, away, lips pursing in a pained expression before he ventures to ask: ]

And just what are aviators, who do not fear the dragons?

[knockedaboutthehead]

Aviators are humans who work with dragons in an Aerial Corps. [Which doesn't really say much either, but Granby is still trying to pick his words carefully. The part of him that at times still gets aggravated with some of Temeraire and Laurence's notions would rather just not be having the conversation at all, but the part of Granby for which dragons = home wouldn't leave if you paid him, not matter how uncomfortable the talk might become.]

I speak only for England right now, but most dragons there are members of His Majesty's forces. Dragons who aren't have lands set aside for them throughout the countryside where they might live instead. [Last that he knew, but who knows what Temeraire's calls for reform might have accomplished. Thanks to Iskierka's willfulness, Granby never got to see first hand what happened.]

[merelychewed]

[ It's the mention of His Majesty's forces that finally turns the pained look back to something wary, very wary. ]

And did His Majesty seek out their aid as Arthur did? Are the Aviators his knights?

[ Human kings are tricky things. Arthur sought out the dragons, Arthur respected the old ways. It was not so with those who would follow after him. ]

[knockedaboutthehead]

Not knights, no. Definitely not. [He's quick to answer that part, looking almost embarrassed. The idea of himself, or indeed most of the corps (excepting Laurence, of course), as something akin to medieval knights is almost laughable.]

But I suppose you could say that we ask them on the king's behalf. [If one takes the whole harnessing thing and stretches it a bit and at the moment Granby is willing to stretch it as far as it will go.]

[merelychewed]

[ That sounds friendly enough, Draco supposes, to not feel offended on any other dragon's behalf. If they're asked to serve and the rest do have lands of their own, isn't that fine?

He'll have to assume so. ]

I... see. It is a shame to hear only certain people are in contact with them, but I imagine it is better than nothing.

[ And far better than being slain. ]

[knockedaboutthehead]

[Granby almost sighs with relief. He knows first hand how quickly a dragon's mood might change and didn't want to get on the wrong side of an unknown dragon's temper.] It can take a long time for most to overcome their prejudices. Aviators are either born into the service or enter it as small children so that to us dragons are commonplace.

[merelychewed]

While the rest distance themselves... hmm... [ Well, it is better than, say, all of them being dead. ] Then I take it that you are one of these Aviators yourself? Considering you seem to have no issue approaching me in the least.

[knockedaboutthehead]

[He nods.] I entered the service at the usual age and have been serving with one dragon or another for the past two decades or so.

[Which is pretty impressive seeing as he's maybe thirty at the most. But, hey, if there's anything Draco needs a pair of human hands to do -remove any nagging half-chewed bones, scratch that one spot you can never reach, etc- Granby's your man what with the whole lots of experience and complete lack of fear thing. He's just happy to be near a dragon again.]

[merelychewed]

[ He might be less enthused over that if the half-chewed bones happened to be human, but, well...

It happens. ]

Then you must tell me of them, the dragons you've served with. How are they? [ This part will undoubtably be less uncomfortable, since it's less about how dragons serve with man and more about the dragons themselves. Do they speak? Do they speak well? Are they big, small? Colorful or not? Prideful? Peaceful? ] Are they like me? Or a they are different sort?

[knockedaboutthehead]

They were all larger, heavyweights for the most part, and all different breeds, but there are some similarities: speech, flight, a fondness for snatching livestock... But in appearance and personality they can differ as much as humans. The last before I came here was Iskierka. [His entire demeanor changes when he begins speaking about her. There is pride mixed with exasperation and fondness and a deep longing to see her again. He sounds more like a man talking about his own child than a dragon.]

She's a Kazilik. Heavyweight, a firebreather, worth a small country, and the most stubborn, vain, bloody-minded, quarrelsome creature I've ever known.

[And he loves her more than he can properly say.]

[merelychewed]

[ If there was nothing else that could have convinced him of Granby being friendly to dragons before, that would do it. No one talks that way so fondly about anyone but a loved one, especially when it's nothing but a list of flaws. Well, apart from 'heavyweight' and 'firebreather'.

Draco can't help it. He chuckles. ]

She sounds like quite the handful. Though, is being a firebreather truly such a noteworthy thing? I don't believe I've ever known a dragon who was not one.

[knockedaboutthehead]

Most dragons where I come from don't. A few breeds spit acid, I've heard there is a Japanese dragon which does the the same with water, and of course there is Temeraire and his Divine Wind, but very few breeds breathe fire.

[merelychewed]

A divine what now? [ He can imagine the other two, but wind? Wasn't that just breathing? ] Some had been known to manage ice as well as fire, though I am not sure about any of the others, not where I am from.

email ate the notifications again...

[knockedaboutthehead]

Divine Wind. It's... Well, it's a devil of a thing to explain.

[merelychewed]

Well, is it literally a wind? Of some kind?

[knockedaboutthehead]

Not entirely. It's more a manner of roar...

[Granby scratches the back of his neck, trying to figure out just how to explain Temeraire's abilities. It isn't the most dignified display for a captain in the Aerial Corps, but then, Granby isn't a very dignified person to begin with, no matter how expensive a coat Iskierka puts him in.]

A roar so powerful that it can splinter trees.