Name: Corporal Adrian Shephard

Gender: Male, Straight

Age/DOB: 22@Events / 1984

Origin: Repurposed Earth, Birthplace unknown, at time of Events stationed at Santego base in Arizona

Family: Parents and one brother, all deceased, almost all male relatives had been in Military service of one form or another; in a relationship with Renee Hart but since she is completely sterilized they cannot produce any offspring with one another. He is likely to be spliced by Melissa, but will not do so without Renee's consent. By the time they are living at the Rookery full time with their dragons, they do ask their 'resident lunatic preacher' Father Grigori over at the Ranch, to formally marry one another. It's a rare occurrance, but it was one of the better-attended services in his church!

Other: Though he was originally sent to Black Mesa as a 'cleanup detail' crew, designated to effectively purge the entire area of scientists, aliens, and witnesses, his chance encounter with the Armacham Black Ops left him paired up with Renee, and eventually working with those same scientists later on. He and Arne Magnusson do not get along, particularly because Shep was the only normal person willing to get up in his face about things, and take him down a notch now and then.

Of note: on the Rookery Earth dimension, the version of Adrian Shephard took the role of 'the chosen one', since Gordon Freeman didn't make it out of Black Mesa. He is still alive, somewhere, tucked away into a timeless 'safe' slumber and under contract with the local Lane.

Height: 6'1"

Weight: 180, toned, muscular, still agile

Hair: Light brown, golden with sunlight but usually dishwater to dusty colored; often kept quite short per military spec, but over time allowed it to grow out a little

Eyes: hazel green, brown-gold tinted, usually squinting; often has helmet and gas mask that has green, light-amplifying lenses

Appearance: Caucasian with fair skin, plenty of small scars, bullet holes, knife wounds, and the like; does not keep facial hair, often has light stubble; has a newish tattoo of the Dragon Rookery logo on his left shoulderblade

Genetic Abilities: None known or obvious, but has a clear mind and a strong memory; has been able to 'aim thoughts' at people he knows to be telepathic

Icarus Processing: none, absolutely will not allow this to be done to him, as an adult

Image Credits: Icon/City of Heroes / Valve / tektek

Events or History: Graduated high school with a B average and decided to enter the military. Though he was not remarkably distinguished, his dedication earned him promotions, and special forces training. Though that training was never put into use anywhere but on US soil, his stint with the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit was very much needed when the Events occurred. He became an unlikely ally in the ruins of Black Mesa, though originally sent as an 'enemy', and formed what became the security team that Eli and others relied upon to keep the place free from government or corporate dangers before the arrival of the Combine. After the aliens came, and the 7 Hour War was lost to them, he and others teamed up with the kids at the Enrichment Center, in order to purge the world of the Combine once and for all. He and Renee went to Europe to aid in recovering technology and rescuing Isabella, and then returned to Black Mesa to help further refugees once more. Then, of course, the Rookery came calling, and both of them immediately thought of the practical applications of flighted, intelligent mounts...

Once the Rookery was in full swing, both Adrian and Renee spend more time there than they do at their prior home in Black Mesa Refugee City, because they were after all built for war and infiltration duties. They can both feel of far more use - and didn't plan on retiring any time soon anyway! Within only a couple months, they and their trio of dragons reside in the large shared Rook the couple has, nearer the top of the Mesa than many, since they served as honored participants in the defeat of the Combine.

** (Also Renee's story) ** RY 10

With the Rookery being in full swing within just a couple years, both combat veterans realized that their days of lounging around telling bawdy stories about this gunfight or that combine defeat were coming to a middle. This other world, filled with rubble and wreckage just like their own, felt... different. Not just to Renee whose senses could be said to have a Vortal component, but to Shep because he just knew their fight was almost lost already.

Almost. But not yet. Not while there were people who hid in crumbled auditoriums and abandoned canneries, who held out hope in mountain camping grounds, or on the now-bare beaches where the water line had receded considerably. The Combine had been siphoning off resources, it wasn't clear to anyone whether that meant the actual water, but there was every indication that great holes below the surface around the whole world were now collapsed and filled with it too. Here in the New Mexico desert of this 'other Earth', they called it the Rookery Earth, and they called home 'Repurposed'... He didn't know why but he did know that those were words he'd heard in use by that jackhole Lane.

And the other jackhole Lane. That other one, the local-to-this-Earth guy, kept staring at Adrian - hard - until he finally had enough.

Approaching the suit-wearing man, as Renee watched with interest, Adrian tapped his fingers against his thigh a little and found words. "Why are you lookin' at me like that?"

The 'local' Lane responded just a tiny tiny bit with a straightening of his posture, as if it hadn't been stiff already. But the complexity of emotion over his face was an odd indicator that he too wasn't exactly sure. "Because you are... not 'my' Lieutenant Shephard. Are you."

"L....Lieutenant? No, man," Shep shook his head, "I'm a Corporal."

The faintest of superior 'told you so' head motion came from Lane, "indeed, you are. The ... version of you on this, my world," he glanced away with those bright turquoise eyes, likely toward his alternate up in the Mesa nearby, and went blurry for a moment. Only Renee realized that this was because he went out to check, "is still safely ... tucked away. Outside of time and space, where he can do no harm, and where no harm can come to him."

"Wait, wait, what?" Shep was only a little perturbed at this. "There's a me here?"

"Indeed, as I have said. Safe." The older looking man straightened his tie. A red tie, not like 'their' Lane's preference for teal. "He was... instrumental in the earlier... Events."

With that, Adrian grew a little cold. "You had him running right into the Resonance Cascade." He almost added too, since he himself had been sent and been shadowed - or was it led - by 'his' Lane through the facility during their own.

"Which he did, admirably," again with a slight stiffening of posture, "though the end results have been altered by the Rookery's presence." And since he, like 'their' Lane, could easily read the angry corporal's mind, he added quickly, "this world would have been doomed from the start, had my alternate not stepped in. Certain... Variables, allowed you," he gazed slowly across the pair, "to win that war. A war which I've... not had as much success with." That was the only hint that he felt some kind of shame or remorse at all of this. His glance away, and a very faint tightening of his jaw.

"Why are you still keeping him?" Was Adrian's next, somewhat unexpected question.

It wasn't one that Lane could answer with a quip. He dedicated some seconds of thought to it. And Renee thought she detected the very small hint of a smirk, she'd gotten reasonably good at reading their Lane's expressions. But this one was a little more poker-faced (and that was saying a lot) but still all the signs were there. He was about to do something chaotic. Everything about this Lane was just a touch less 'orderly' and a notch on the 'chaotic' side. He went blurry, blinding her Vortal eyes just a bit. And then there were two Adrian Shephards.

One of them was 'hers', with his slightly-longer hair and more well-worn cammies, a grunt's uniform at best.

The other was 'local', in a dress uniform rather than combat gear - but neither Renee nor her Shep thought that was how he had started. He was standing less passively but not at full attention, no salute for them or Lane. But he still pulled a little at the clean uniform jacket's hem and looked very-slightly out of place in it. Kind of like they often looked slightly out of place when Wilson dumped all that formal shiny stuff on everyone. They looked great, but they didn't wear it unless it was a truly special occasion. This Shep had a slight scar on his jaw, Adrian noted a nick on the earlobe next to it. Something must have almost killed him, likely early on in their Event.

Finally she couldn't resist, and Renee burst out with, "ooooh he out ranks you..."

It broke the tension just a little, enough that both of those men drew in similar deep 'cleansing' breaths, and would have turned their remaining ire on Lane, had he still been there. At some point while they were assessing the new arrival, he simply vanished, as Lanes are wont to do.

But that left this pair from another dimension to help their higher-ranked version to understand what had happened in the twenty-some years he'd been in stasis.

**

It was similar to how their Lane had wanted to keep Gordon Freeman, something that seemed a bit weird to this new Adrian. "But he died. I saw it, it ... wasn't pleasant. There was a thing, coming out of a silo, hatchet-headed thing that kept grabbing at anything it heard." They knew this creature, and had had to kill their share of them before they were all removed from their Black Mesa. Lt. Shep (or as Renee jokingly referred to him, 'Shep Light') was telling them and some few others now that they'd gathered up in the Mesa, the story of his own involvement in their Resonance Cascade. "He was brave, some of my men had planned on trying to kill him, but... I was told not to," he glanced at the pair of Lanes, now watching this from a balcony that had no clear entrance or exit. "But without him blowing that thing into little meaty chunks in there, I wouldn't have been able to even get to the labs on the other side."

'Their' Gordon was silent, his jaw tight, and eyes narrowed in thought. But he said nothing, knowing that of all the multitude of universes they could be in, if there was an Earth and a Black Mesa, he had at some point existed in it. Hell, there were two of him over on Twoarth. One of them was in a robotic shell driven by the downloaded mind of the Akita Gordon that had died in an accident and just didn't get the memo to stop working...

They had had to explain that in their 'Repurposed' dimension there were much stranger goings-on already, long before the Xenian event and later the arrival of Ulathoi, the Combine. Clone soldiers, psychic powers, children that could fly or freeze the air with their mind. It was obvious to Adrian that the Lieutenant was a touch envious. He'd looked around to their collections of images and videos, the monitor stations and battle plans and city maps; he saw the disaster that was his Earth now. He would be ready to help out, as soon as he figured out the dragons.

But then again, like Shep and Renee and Mars and Cubbage - they all had to figure that out in their own way. Maybe a dragon would help. Maybe he'd find himself with a bond or a friend or even help raise one from an egg. There were still eggs weirdly arriving from other worlds, after all.

**

"We've gotten word from one of the dragonries," Dolores said, not in passing - she was here to talk to Renee and Shep. "There is something unusual going on, you... might be interested." She addressed that mostly to Renee, a quick telepathic exchange that went past Shep's mind but seemed to settle in deeply with the woman. Shep recognized that look, that sudden but subtle shift in weight, what little weight she had, moving her hips just so, fingers that carefully tucked into a fold beside her hips... and then would gently move just a little onto her abdomen, and back to their fold when she noticed.

So Shep knew that it was about children, she always did that particular little motion when they were around families. It had been years, they didn't know how many years in reality because time seemed to have stopped or slowed or-- since they'd talked about having their own kids. It was just something they avoided by rote. Her keepers, her makers, Armacham and the military, had rendered all of her 'kind' - young girls taken from families around the country and trained into being swift assassins - unable to bear children. And worse, as according to Melissa she was 'unsuited' to being spliced. No one knew whether that was because of negative markers in their DNA; but no, the Icarus processing had been done to Renee and the rest of them. So it couldn't have been that.

He slipped his fingers into her folded hand, and she clung onto them harder than normal. Not enough to break his bones like that one time. But she was still stronger than him by a long shot; even her hands - perhaps especially her hands - were weapons in and of themselves. "You... want to talk about it now?"

"I'll get you information," Dolores said, the dark-skinned woman said quietly, and slipped away knowing that the answer, this time, would be 'yes'. She returned and the pair were sitting on the couch, less distraught than in times past. Still serious, still with their hands clasped and quite close to one another, heads almost close enough to bump when Dolores came back into their quarters. She had the printouts of what was going on, it wasn't a long list, but it was bulleted and with a few images.

"They ... they have children that need us," Shep said, "dragon-worthy kids."

They both heard their dragons stirring in their extended rook, and their quiet rumbling private speech continued while the couple pored over the pamphlet. Even the added warning about an 'interview process'. They were both somewhat curious about that.

Curious enough about the rest, though, to rise and begin packing. They would need teleporting dragons - or people - and there were plenty of those ready to go as well.

**

Three dragons and two humans were hardly any effort for Drew and Vask. The dragon's size was rivaled (and exceeded in the wingspan) by Goose, but this older dragon could bring them to another dimension, something which neither of Shep's dragons, nor Renee's, could do. Only a little bit of concentration needed, apparently, and the stiff-winged 'half-Glenn' spread those wings to cover the long and slender Pyrrhan dragons, while the humans rode all on Vask's back. Easily. (Certainly easier than on Vrah-ell's spiky neck!).

It was with a little difficulty that one of those younger dragonets were with them - because she was Bright Reflection, one of the offspring of Vrah-ell and Goose. She'd wanted a friend, having been raised among humans and dragons who were partnered. Her parents were a bit torn, and their riders were the ones who managed to convince both of them that this bright and sunny little child of theirs would be perfect for all of this.

They arrived to a world known as Tris'Hath, along with numerous others from disparate and distant worlds. Vask thought this was quite fun, and went off to check to see who all was from where, while the pair of humans and their trio of dragons settled in. They would be brought to meet with the Matron Marigold. And only then, would they be allowed to even see the children that were so in need.

She was quite the piece of work, and Shep exchanged That Look with Renee. It was a good thing they'd read up on the requirements for this little outing, because they knew that 'trying to charm her' would be absolutely off the table. She was right down to business, when they had their meeting room arranged. "And you two are wanting to apply for adoption," she confirmed, eyes narrow. To Renee it looked like she was already tired of this, maybe if they helped wear her down a little more, subsequent couples and dragons in need would have an easier time of it. Maybe not.

"So, your professions?" She asked, looking first at Shep. It was no coincidence that Renee suggested they be wearing those rarely used proper uniforms, they conveyed a sense of authority and purpose even though they were customized for formal events.

"We're both riders with the Rookery," he responded. "The Black Mesa Dragon Rookery and refugee city. We've both got extensive military training."

"I can tell that," Marigold said, not subdued, "with your armor under that fancy cape." She turned her gaze to Renee. "But you're naught but a slip of a girl, what sort of military uses girls like you?"

Renee suddenly realized, remembered, that while she was definitely forty-something (at the very least at this point, right? right?) she still barely looked old enough to pass as an adult, and was quite lithe, slender, and petite.

"I've been an adult longer than him by three years," she countered with a little smile. "And... well, I was trained with specific uses for my size. Infiltration and extraction of data, spy craft..."

Even the Matron heard the hesitation in her voice, and that Matron tilted her head, not needing to ask for further clarification. If she had to, they might not have passed this interview.

"Okay, yes, and assassination," Renee admitted. She shrugged. "But the era of me being sent on missions to do that is long, long over for our group."

"We share duties for perimeter sweeps, our enemies are pretty much everywhere." Shep realized that wasn't exactly the smartest thing to say, but followed it up with, "and we're prepared with a hundred fighting pairs to meet any of those enemies where they appear. Our job usually starts and stops at the Mesa's perimeter. It's quite safe there regardless of the enemy's presence."

She was barely going to let that slide, but then again her own world was fraught with war, battles, skirmishes and scouting parties. Surely half of the reason she had an orphanage to run in the first place.

"And what will you be bringing to my charges," Marigold said, "if you find that they want to go with you?"

Shep paused and gave a tiny thought he knew Renee would pick up. Renee looked Marigold straight in the eyes, "Matron, I cannot have children. I'm ... well, unusually barren given our ability to eke out even the tiniest chance at having offspring." The older woman pursed her lips a little. "And while the refugee city has had a lot of families come through, we have always just... Had to watch. What I want to offer a child, or children, is my heart first. And training after, if that is what they're meant to do."

Shep knew that Renee's limits were going to be reached, so he took her hand just like old times. While she did begin crying, it was with her face up and her eyes still focused on the Matron.

"It's what I've wanted to do ever since we defeated our own world's enemies, and moved on to the next. Even if I'm part of a fighting wing, maybe especially that, I still... want to leave a legacy. I know how to do things that this lug can't do," she sniffed and wiped at the hint of tears with her free hand, while still clinging with other to that lug's fingers. "I've even had to crawl around in spaces that most adults can't reach in order to find strays in the facility, families still have curious kids, right?"

"We can offer them safety and education," Shep added. "Training with engineering and construction, or sciences and crafts, or riding dragons to fight if that's their direction. It's... been hard to be the ones spotting refugee families, kids on their own, and... well," he paused and looked right at Renee, "not have our own to protect this fiercely. It's time for that now."

-- Continued in Renee's page with Mystic's story --

Dragon

Name: Goose
Gender: Male
Size/Shoulder/Length: medium / 11'9" shoulder, 54' l, 104' ws
Colors: Mottled browns that contrast front and back of limbs, faint mauve pink at feet, wing wrists, and tail tip, yellow bioluminescent dotting, wingsails and neck frills of vibrant orange, red-orange, and splatters of yellow-green, horns and claws in light charcoal grey, yellow-orange eyes; colors subject to emotional shifting, rarely under complete control* Tend to add more green and pink, faintly visible above, but with more coverage
Features: Rain-Sky Hybrid; four legs, two wings, 5 toes front, 4 toes rear, strongly curved claws; scaled hide with armor along belly and spine as well as limbs, sharp snout spike, smaller jaw spikes, slightly spiraled backswept horns, scaled armor spikes along entire spine from neck to tail; prehensile tail; four-fingered leathery wings with elbow finger and wrist-thumb, all having long curved claws, neck web frill behind external ears.
Powers: Verbal speech (draconic, English, pretends to know Vort);
Winged Flight - a superior flier, Goose is huge but as agile as his littler sister Osprey, though not as quick in the air as she is. He can take off from anywhere, with one huge sweep of his wings (a feature that he's been told was 'the Osprey's main feature' but he doesn't know what an Osprey actually is...aside from his sister?) and keeps to the air most of the time. He greatly takes after his Sky sire, in that regard, as well as for his Fire Breath. He has a tremendous range on his breath weapon, and its heat has been known to focus into nearly laser-strength. Anything that his flame touches will bubble and burn, including solid rock and metal. Interestingly, that 'bubbling' effect is because there is a strong chemical component in his fire, a remnant of his mother's Rainwing influence.
Of lesser ability is his color shifting - Goose shows his emotions on his sleeve so to speak, and when he starts changing colors he usually just lets it happen. While he can dampen it down, and try to get a hold on his emotions, he enjoys thrilling fights and losing himself into battle, and imagines his sire was a brave fighter whom he emulates.
Prehensile tail - though he knows his tail is able to grasp things, he's much too big to make that ability anything other than 'for demolition'. He can grasp and lift entire trees, combine troop vehicles, even holding a Strider in place and flying around with it dangling behind him. But he cannot use it for delicate motion, nor really 'cling' to anything, he's just too big.
Parentage: Brother of Osprey, inheriting mainly Sky type abilities; mother Fever, father unknown. With the coloration featured on their wingsails, and the presence of other hybrid types here in the Rookery.
Has several eggs with Vrah-ell, one of them going with the riders to find her own partner, is Ach'darr Xkah-yox, the Bright Reflection.
Other Info: A literal hot-head, the order-barking and regimented battle-ready Goose is a strong fighter and seeks battle for glory. He knows that this is dangerous, but he also knows that he is among the most powerful dragons in the Rookery- also with one of the biggest wingspans, he tends to be quite vain. He is however quite protective of his sister and their human friend, and would not allow any harm to come to either of them if he can help it.

Dragon

Name: Osprey
Gender: Female
Size/Shoulder/Length: medium-small / 7'2" shoulder, 35' l, 74' ws (it's of note that she is entirely, physically smaller than one of her brother's wings...)
Colors: mottled medium browns, tan through rust shades, yellow biolume spots, wingsails and neck frill of melon-orange through red-orange with pale splotches, charcoal black spikes, claws, horns; yellow-orange eyes* with shifting in moods and concentration, virtually any brown or orange, pale yellows and golds, and greys; but she can manage vibrant reds and violets when really 'into' a mood
Features: Sky-Rain Hybrid, four legs, 5 fore and 4 hind toes with very long curved claws and long hind toe; soft scaled hide with belly and limb armor, short armor spikes along entire spine from head to tail tip; strong prehensile tail, four fingered leather wings with elbow spike and wrist thumb, all with long slender claws; short nose and jaw spikes, delicate spiraled backswept horns, neck frill behind external ears, color shifting hide under strong control
Powers: Verbal speech (English and Vort fluently, draconic when she has to), Osprey is surprisingly well-read for a dragon, and enjoys reading as well as speaking, and can learn new languages with ease. Whether this is a power or merely a quirk of her intellect, no one knows.
Winged Flight - though she's nowhere near as big and durable as her brother Goose, Osprey is extremely fast in the air and is able to dive from a height with pinpoint accuracy onto a Combine target below her. She is extraordinarily agile in the sky, and enjoys flying literal circles around her big brother, for a short while anyway...
Breath - her ability to produce a breath weapon is weak compared to most with the power, however since she takes after their mother a Rainwing, her breath ability is more 'heated toxin' than anything else. She does have a bit of her Skywing sire's heat, and no living thing could survive being coated in her venom. It is sticky, like a hot tar with sulfuric overtones, and even breathing the vapor from it can be deadly to small creatures. She is careful to never spit indoors, or on anything that a resident of the Rookery would actually need, since it would be irreparably damaged.
Color Shifting hide - Osprey can easily change the colors of her scales to match her mood or the needs of the day. They do usually remain a brownish-rust color as neutral, and she cannot achieve a true white, it's always more of a beige, though her luminescent dots seem to glow with a flame color when she's trying hard.
Her use of her Prehensile Tail is almost supernatural, she treats it as a third arm, and even Vorts seem to like how she can wave it around as they do to 'detect' Vortessence. Unlike her brother, her tail is extremely sensitive and she uses it to select books or small items to hand to her companion, though the smallest item she can really manipulate with it would be a large-ish bottle or full sized book. She has expressed interest in learning how to use the computers that are available, and her long, normally deadly claws are quite useful for that activity as long as she doesn't get too excited and punch holes into the keys...
Parentage: Sister of Goose, inheriting mainly Rain type abilities, mother Fever, father unknown. With the coloration featured on their wingsails, and the presence of other hybrid types here in the Rookery.
Other Info: While her brother is the fighter, Osprey is clearly the 'smart one' of the pair. She is exceptionally intelligent, but also has an exceptionally smart mouth on her - a fact which some have compared her to Melissa... Since she is not as physically imposing or flight-worthy as Goose, Osprey tends to stick with the intellectual pursuits and research, as well as infiltration or precise attacks on small forces. She loves watching Headcrabs as they pounce on their prey, and thinks that the poison ones are 'cute'. (... they are not cute.) Osprey enjoys exploring, and has been chided on numerous occasions by her brother, that she should be more careful while doing so. She isn't reckless, though, and would rather colorshift into a hiding spot as Combine forces pass by her, than attack them in order to get away.

Both of these dragons fight as a fierce combination under Adrian's command, as he is apt to rest on Goose's shoulders and use Osprey to spot enemies, as she's flying ahead. They would do anything for their little human friends, and feel that serving this Rookery is by far the most enjoyable activity they could find on this world.

Origin: Adopted from Moonshimmer981 at Deviantart, Lineart by Joy Ang