Rookery Year 2 - sort of (also ‘sort of' 2015 and equally 'sort of' ABY 18)

“This is... most interesting,” her voice was as willowy as her long, slender neck. “They seem to be calling.”

“If you're hearing them, it's because they want you to,” Baeris said, her attention torn between the small hatching eggs and the pair of very odd aliens who had been brought to view them. Among all the attendees at this time-torn hatching, they were certainly the most unique. Baeris had seen plenty of odd things, particularly in her time working with Carramba's dragonry programs. The school itself was still mostly-dominated by humans and their furry counterparts from the opposite side of Twoarth, but there were robots, aliens, exotic mages, mathematical constructs, clones... and dragons now - all gathered in this unique nexus. It was, however, rather rare that adults were Searched for the eggs that sporadically were laid at Carramba's so-called sands.

The pair of Kaminoans were new to the school, in fact new to the entire dimension according to the woman who brought them here: and Karen had been working at Carramba thanks to her own dragons, so they had some connection. In their home dimension, there were ‘dragons'... Nothing like these. Then again, in Baeris's home dimension there were nothing like these people .

They had been rescued from certain doom deep below the stormy surface of their homeworld of Kamino, by yet another dragon, one which Baeris would have loved to have met. Since, apparently, they could travel in open deep space, and create hyperspace tunnels to move between galactic distances just by opening their tentacles? But somehow they were deposited here on Twoarth, and because of that, she felt a sort of kinship to the aliens: the Den had brought her here, after all. All of that was fit for the philosophy professors after-hours discussions at the pub down the street.

For the moment, however, a wobbly grey-blue sky (a ‘sky-box' whatever that was) enclosed a sequestered chunk of space-time with these eggs that had been laid a decade before, waiting for their right bonds to come. Baeris knew that these eggs were being seen by students and professors alike, but it felt strange escorting a pair of 7-foot-tall alien refugees through the portal from the school into their time bubble. Going between worlds always pinged her senses in a unique way. She knew that there was a gap between when they found these aliens, and when these eggs would meet their new bonds.

The gap was reversed, of course, they wouldn't even arrive to Twoarth's space for another two years. Time was meaningless here. She knew that a number of young students as well as early adults from the Rookery wouldn't come to Twoarth properly for another what, five or six years? And these eggs had been laid at least a decade before that. She also knew that Keenan was reading her mind, it was his stasis field, not the Healing Den, keeping all this functional. She all but felt his half-assed snarky smirk somewhere in the back of her perception.

The two Kaminoans, however, did not obviously notice any of that. They knew that they were no longer in their home galaxy - or even their home era - and that was that. They were practical; they'd come (will come) with a large ship well suited to most difficult environments, including the deep sea or deep space asteroids, and easily settled (would settle) into the trench some miles off shore from Crescent City. The school recruited them eagerly, on Karen's recommendation. More than likely, she wanted to keep her eye on them herself. Being from the same dimension, she knew their reputation as genetic engineers... and as an extinct race, killed off slightly before she was grown up.

Enduring, however, their species hid in deep-sea facilities, or off-world, or wherever they possibly could, to avoid detection. Reclusive by nature, it was in question whether they would actually take Kenobi up on her offer to bring them to the Admin Torus for interviews. But they were sturdier than they looked, they were resilient as individuals as well as a species, and this pair at least desired contact enough that they would cooperate. There were a scant few others on their ship, enough to keep it running. There were ... other people on that ship too, but Karen did not speak of them just yet.

Baeris appraised the weird people, as they themselves gazed with large, glassy black eyes at the eggs in curiosity. Karen had given her some back-story: they had been engineered themselves, both individually and as a species for hundreds of years, and their kind were brilliant at it. They were not above experimenting on themselves, but preferred contracts with other species when it suited their needs. And then the Clone Wars happened - whatever that was Baeris didn't know and didn't ask - and all of their hard work was absolutely destroyed. Not all of it. Not all of them fell in the attacks on their main city.

Having been so reclusive in their past, meant that hardly anyone in the galaxy even knew they existed, let alone how many worlds they'd touched, lived on, explored, or abandoned themselves. Some of those worlds were their new homes once more, their people would continue... silent and hidden once more.

And you can't get more hidden than ‘in another dimension, billions of light-years away from what might be their home galaxy'.

Tall and impossibly graceful, they had to have evolved in lighter gravity and in a more liquid atmosphere than Earth, Twoarth, Pern, or most other terrestrial locales. Baeris took note of their movements; measured and precise, even at their very tall and remarkably slender build they seemed somewhat stronger than they looked. Their heads all but floated above their bodies, on necks that hardly had enough meat on them to support themselves... But then again Baeris had recently gone to the Talon City Zoo up north and seen a giraffe for the first time... And compared it to dragons and swans alike. These people were humanoid in the same way that a giraffe was a dragon. They had two legs, two arms, a head. Their heads were mostly eyeball, but their brains were likely much more complex than a human's was. They had smooth skin, she'd been informed their species had been semi-aquatic or even amphibious in their deep past, so their slightly splayed feet were not ‘hoof like' under those odd shoes they wore, they were padded and webbed.

They were still recognizably distinct individually, too, not like some species of off worlders who came through Carramba looking so much like one another they could have been clones, themselves. The male, named Kezul Masui, was a brilliant aqua-blue shade, with a darker fin decorating his head, and his black, white-pupiled eyes were higher and more narrowed in thought than his companion's. He had less meat on his fingers, he was overall more bony. He wore dark garments trimmed with green, and carried himself with a little more stiffness and ‘dignity' than his female companion. She, Yimna Hu, was a yellowish-buff orange shade, her eyes were large and looked more curious under her little rose-gold head adornment. Hu wore pink-trimmed white and black armor, and she seemed to be more active in her motion, more apt to touch things and investigate them where her male friend was judging them, her fingers were thicker, used to holding items with strength as well as dexterity.

Karen Kenobi had asserted that their species had otherwise been known as pasty-white-skinned creatures that outsiders could rarely tell apart unless they were more familiar or somehow distinguished themselves on purpose. They had a grace and beauty to their movements even if a bit stilted, their long two-fingered hands seemed also familiar: Vortikind had a similar arrangement, though with no or much shorter thumbs. In fact, Baeris almost wanted to have them side by side for comparison purposes...

Both of these Kaminoans were to be referred to as ‘Doctor', though their credentials could hardly be tracked down. Then again... Neither could Baeris's so she let that thought drop. Their dome-like ship heralded (would herald) a new influx of transfer students to Carramba: whenever big events like dragon hatchings or alien arrivals were on the news, people from both sides of Twoarth showed up to alternately gawk, romance, protest, or try attending classes with them.

This pair would work with the Biology department, but Hu had a gleam in her own dark eye, and what passed for an impish grin when the idea of riding a dragon was brought to her attention. Of course there would not likely be ‘riding' done with these dragons hatching before them, they were much too small. But she had experience taming and training animals on their homeworld, she rode Aiwha. It was likely that particular experience which brought those hyperspace whales to them in the first place. She would help work on the animal-research and engineering, on campus.

Masui on the other hand, had a more scientific approach to life, and would definitely enjoy the humanoid genetic engineering programs available. He did certainly have a way of charismatically attending to people - even if he seemed somewhat stiff and stand-offish, he was quite natural in his conversations. He could be very persuasive.

Both of those things - his interest in genetic engineering as well as his persuasive nature - meant that Baeris was going to have to keep her eye on them... because those things meant Shy would be interested.

As Hu was peering at the egg nearest her (it was perhaps twice the size of her own head, her long finger tips could touch as she picked it up), Baeris drew in a long sigh as she pondered her own path. It had crossed Shy's all too often on campus eliciting grumbles and occasional spats, but over time she also knew that he meant well.

His ethics, his work process, those things left a lot to be desired. But that work's end results could never be denied. Not even by her.

And his class did make some excellent year-end pastries for the graduation celebrations.

“It is hatching,” Hu said, both softly and with excitement. Her blue-skinned companion was busy with his own egg, though his had not yet begun to fully crack. Yimna Hu wasn't capable of human-level emotional displays thanks to her entirely foreign musculature and evolution, but it was very clear that she felt the strong connection and elation of mind-meeting-mind.

Some things were universal: her head tilted slightly, her eyes were selflessly focused on the egg's contents and a bemused and delighted shape formed on her odd lips. A bright yellow beak poked through the shell, prying it open until more of the dragonet within was... without!

She suddenly held in those odd hands, a wet and warm nearly-black creature with the start of coppery-orange horns near its still-closed eyes. “Oh, it has more limbs!” She just noticed that it was ostensibly a hexapod, and her expertise with animals drew her eyes to notice details. “A flier, added stability with those extra flaps on its forelimbs, its tail is quite sturdy, is this bipedal?” She continued to mutter quietly, but in a more loving manner than anyone might expect. She did not ‘baby-talk' with the hatchling, rather she spoke aloud when it was clearly conversing telepathically. “I know you hunger little one, they have provided for you. Oh you have a bright tail marking! Delightful!”

Dr. Masui on the other hand was bent over somewhat stiffly - like a stick-insect for thin limbs and body - looking at his own egg, still on the floor, that had by now begun to bulge with a multitude of small fractures. Quite the opposite of the other's hatchling, this egg divulged a brilliant static-white dragonet whose belly was dark, its nose and tail also black-grey, but its wing markings were much more easily visible as silver danced with golden lightning. “Ah, you have a name upon hatching, Sequrom,” he pronounced it carefully. Equally careful, he plucked the spare shell bits from the hatchling so it didn't get cut or hooked on it. “There. Now we shall rejoin Dr. Hu. You have a pleasant sound in your mind.” Only he could hear that sound, the focus of a true bond.

It was Baeris's daughter Tessrabia who led them over to the feeding area, and it was Kenobi that instructed them how to make sure the hatchlings didn't choke. Half the Dragonry staff was present, but others outside their group were as well. Milling around all but unnoticed were other students and folk from the Rookery that came and went as Keenan allowed. Though this hatching was not quite over, with a small handful of eggs still left in the incubation sands, it seemed that once a bond or sponsor was established, they would be shunted back to wherever and whenever they'd come from.

Baeris stood near Keenan, who had made himself visible (more than likely: only visible to her ). “I sense something else is going on here, but I don't know what.”

“Indeed,” the man muttered, “I wish I knew, as well.” He seemed to be examining not only the two tall aliens, but his own group of Rookery folk. Baeris could only barely see them through what seemed to be mist, she knew that it was him pulling them back to their own times, but it was still pretty weird to watch. Plus: hadn't he once said that he couldn't travel through time? Maybe he'd conquered that aspect - after all, that black dragon of his could do it spectacularly well.

So it was that this large clutch of 18 eggs eventually was distributed among markedly disparate groups - some of them would still be attending Carramba as Juniors and Seniors, at the same time as a few were to head off to the Vault or Rapture. And though Baeris and some few others were remaining for the moment, Keenan then excused himself and went to speak with those two aliens newest on the scene and most unlike their other bonding companions.

With their hatchlings now fed and sleeping, cradled in synthetic cloth and draped in a sash over their shoulders, the Kaminoans spoke to one another quietly. Both looked over to see Keenan, and he was clearly not used to having to look so far up to meet a gaze. They were not dissimilar: he often held himself with the same graces as they did, his movements as precise if not as slow. It would be easy to imagine Masui straightening a tie, in the same way Keenan did just then.

“I will be... arranging for your departure back to your dome,” Lane said, “but there is the matter of... Well, these,” he indicated the dragonets slung in their swaddling, “who will need... time to grow up. If you prefer, I could also... arrange this to occur, as this hatching is,” he again gently moved his fingers to indicate the area, “outside of time's passage. Dedicating a space is of trivial effort,” he said, “but it would mean you could focus on them first, and not need to worry about... feeding and caring for a dragon while also... sorting out student rosters and class work.”

If he waited for their answers, no one else knew, because they had faded into the blue-metal mist of the surroundings.

***

Rookery Year 4 (also sort of 2017)

Their official arrival to the Carramba High School instructor roster was a very welcome event. Numerous professors over the years had been wanting to retire, but some suitable replacements were few and far between. But since the Kaminoans also brought with them a literal research vessel capable of hosting hundreds of people in its well-maintained rooms, they were tapped for an entirely new program.

The biology department got to stretch out again back on the main campus, no longer forcing several different types of classes together or sharing too many rooms, and the Admin Torus got several new doorways built to host the travel to this undersea facility.

Or, of course... Students could opt to use their draconic partner, or an animal on loan from the Vet Tech and Animal Riding classes... While it had never been a normal thing to see a horse riding class trotting down the street toward the beach, Crescent had seen weirder in the last twenty-odd years. They did have to make arrangements specific to their needs: only students and professors with proper clearance could even be allowed through the Torus doorways or onto the hovercraft shuttle to the facility.

Carramba's campus was now attended by students who had hatchling and fledgling dragons by their side - and some of the instructors did as well. That meant dragons or large creatures had to have size-altering devices or magic available to allow them to walk side by side with their humanoid classmates. This was doubly important in the Dome.

Thankfully, since Kaminoan architecture was built for very-tall people indeed, many dragons that were of ‘medium-small' size could actually walk their halls unhindered. Fitting through the oval-shaped doorways there, on the other hand...

Hu and Masui were quite interested in those devices, but only in a passing manner - they allowed for many students and subjects to arrive, where they would have been quite impossible otherwise. The dragons in particular, how amazing they all were? The fact that they had such varied students and potential DNA donors was of far more pressing value than attempting to figure out arcane secrets or technology they had never focused on before.

The Kaminoans still had much to learn from their students and fellow professors, of course. And in the two years that Keenan shunted them back and forth from campus to private spaces, they occasionally would sit down with individuals and ‘crunch' their own education. Quite a few of the other Science professors, along with administrators and others, would stop by to help tutor the aliens in their specific needs - and to help socialize their dragons, who had gone from helpless eating and sleeping, through stumbling and bumbling and learning to form proper mind-words, and more.

With Keenan's help, they had access to a ‘door' that would appear when they were in their own quarters at the Dome. This door opened only to the construct where their baby dragons would rest, and where, apparently, time passed extremely slowly. They learned that they could spend entire weeks there concentrating only on their dragonets growth, and bare moments had passed in the real world. This too would have intrigued them considerably more than it might... had Keenan not been the one in charge of this realm. They would eventually forget that it even happened, ‘they were raised on the ship'...

As the dragons Nivee and Sequrom grew and learned their own abilities or experimented with flight and teleportation, the Kaminoans grew to enjoy fitting in with the weird and varied employees of Carramba High. That there was a thing called a High School, for instance, was among the first that they established. Their own race had much different experiences with learning - far more akin to those found at the Rookery's ‘ Enrichment Center ' - downloaded skills pushed directly into the brain, reinforced with physical training. And it was due at least in part to that similarity, as well as Masui's desire to work with the other genetic engineers on campus, that they were properly introduced to Melissa Larrabie, Darkhanis Paveh, Pelatih Raihu, and... Shy.

Even the aliens could tell there was a bit of hesitation on Baeris Kshau's part, to sit down with that elegant man. But the aliens had more in common with him than merely an interest in genetic engineering. They all but held themselves with the same calm and precise motions, they ... loved tea and cakes.

Heavily spiced herbal tea, and fish cakes, mostly.

Since he was the one providing the venue, Keenan tended to lurk and watch these interactions among the instructors. As the fledgling dragons challenged each other to rise past the ‘sky box' and try to fight against Lane's specific suggestion that they don't, the group of scientists could talk shop openly and frankly. Most of their discussions went over Lane's head, he was never a scientist - he was an otherworldly energy being, he had to hire people to make physical portals, he didn't know how to heft a wrench let alone read a chart of DNA. He left that to Mel, and she did it spectacularly well. The only reason she wasn't higher up in the Carramba totem pole of tenure in the department was that Paveh had been there considerably longer.

On one evening's ‘there's more than just tea being sipped' meeting, for instance, the subject of the Kaminoan history came up. Their claim to fame was biological research. They designed an entire galactic army, literally millions of clones created to exacting standards. (They... left out or perhaps didn't even know about the end of that era in their home galaxy...) Mel was impressed, and talked about her experiences working on Paxton's clones at the Medusa facility back home, providing him (and a few others with his power over controlling other bodies at once) with his own miniature army. Mel was so very proud of her own ability to create new bodies for people - she pointedly sloshed a jello-shooter toward Keenan - and she made hers to their own exacting spec sheets.

Paveh grumbled about how difficult it had been to properly clone Zekirans, which caused Masui to tilt his head and lean in a little in curiosity. Zekiran DNA, apparently, was frustratingly flexible; meaning that a ‘perfect, exact' clone was all but impossible to achieve there. Paveh knew there were tricks to it - he also knew that on his world, Lane's own facility had perfected it and did not share. Then again, the Lane that he was glaring at from the nice white-leather couch, was not the same one as the guy living on Zekira...

Glossing over that side-quest, Dr. Masui pursued Paveh's details. This led, eventually, to them leaving the construct and heading into the Dome to take samples... It was probably the first time that Darkhanis Paveh actually offered his own blood, he had always been a little stand-offish about that. But right now, with two more incredibly adept minds to look it over?

“Oh this is impossible,” Masui grunted after another hour standing at his machinery, “it almost literally changes while I watch it!” The blue-skinned alien man turned to look at Paveh - and didn't immediately recognize him, because the barrel-chested Zekiran had turned into a bat-winged Kin to prove the point. Masui's deeply black eyes focused on him, “do that again, slowly...”

Melissa gave Keenan a bit of a gloating grin. “It's not me this time, is it .”

Of course, Shy was also giving Paveh that same greedy look. He had been sitting quietly sipping his own tea, watching all of this with intense green eyes. He'd gotten up though, followed Paveh around, all but jumped when he realized that he had grown arm-wings. Shy didn't even resist physically pawing at the Zekiran, purring something about skin textures and where did the clothing go and how long does it last. He also realized, “if shapeshifting is a feature found in your people, clearly there are many genes that govern it... probably causing this instability.” It was much more than just shapeshifting, Paveh assured him; there was color shifting and adaptations, mutations that paired with powers frequently enough to be documented for scores of generations. All of that made for Shy and Mel as well as the slightly-tipsy Masui investigating Paveh as he shifted from form to form.

“Times like this I wish I had more Sanger in me,” Baeris muttered from the far side of the room, “I'd be able to smack a whip around and keep them from getting too grabby.”

“That's what she said,” Keenan muttered, but no one would remember him doing so.

Eventually however, the group of scientists were interrupted by the pair of four-foot-tall disparate bright and dark zappy-winged dragons teleporting into the room.

“Oh you have mastered it!” Hu cheered, in her own quiet way. “I'm very proud of you, Nivee!”

The darker of the dragons scampered up to her companion and all but stuck her forked tongue out at her sibling. That same sibling folded his arms down and his wings followed suit, as he seemed to shake himself out of whatever strange residue was left from moving from the construct.

Keenan took particular note - they were not supposed to leave just yet. Privately he wondered just exactly how she'd managed it? Nivee was clever, that was certain; he'd left markers for both himself and others that were capable of travel through the barrier, but he thought that non-Vortal creatures weren't capable of utilizing them. He could sense Melissa thinking the same things, saw her busy, honey-colored aura whirring around her mind. Ah - on actually looking for the traces left behind by the dragons, they had hooked into his own ‘back door' to the construct.

It would be only a few days later that Hu and Masui would decide to allow the dragons to leave it and remain on hand at their facility, they were after all old enough - or more accurately ‘mature' enough - to actually attend classes! Keenan almost found it a bit bittersweet. Though... there were others that were also in such constructed locales, he'd still be able to peek in on growing dragons and their time-tossed attendants.

Also, however, he was privy to some of the inner workings of the Kaminoan instructors desire to build something ... new.

In their species history, they'd been masterful at engineering, creating life forms that were suited to their flooded world. That planet had undergone radical changes in the time that the Kaminoans were its dominant species - Melissa told him about their genes with a different take on it. She claimed that they were as flexible as humanity was, in terms of living in extreme situations - and that humans ‘had it easy' with just ruins or deserts, arctic regions, and the like. Their world was flooded after they had conquered the land, so they rose above it. No wonder they had a ship like the one that they'd plopped down in the ocean a dozen miles off the coast!

It was their ship that Carramba co-opted, with numerous rooms big enough to host classes, and safe enough to be legal in Crescent City. It wasn't the only undersea feature of the area, but it definitely was the most well used, within even the first semester that they were utilizing it fully.

Hu's Animal Riding courses were not only well attended by students (the rosters hardly ever had anyone missing a class!), it proved to be quite popular among visitors to the beach who could watch dolphins, mantas, sea dragons, flying steeds, and even the occasional Aiwah or Purrgil sweep through the sky and dive deeply below the ocean beyond.

***

Rookery Year 5 (2020ish)

The courses that weren't as easily visible were also quite well attended. Some of the students... were dragons. Those dragons attracted attention from more than just the other students. In particular, a trio of Hathian dragons, now fledged and able to quickly fly over the campus on their sharp wide arm wings, had caught the eye of the administration as well as the scientists down in the Dome.

One of them was just perfect - according to even the retired professors and admin that came to one particular Homecoming event at the start of their Junior year - for Carramba. And it was obvious that they'd come to stay - though Hathians could teleport between worlds, this little pack of three decided that Carramba was their turf now.

Three years ago, the three Hathians had shown up out of the blue, two males and a female. One was incredibly happy to be there, greeting everyone with her chipper chirping and excited mental conversation. The smallest quickly established himself as a hall security pro. And the biggest... He very rapidly became known as the Dragon of Carramba High. Literally matching the school colors to a perfect hue in his bright pink and startling blue scales, and the white? The incredibly bright white fire breath he had rounded it out.

Hu and Masui realized very quickly that those three had come from the same stock as their own dragon bonds. Those arm-wings? The sharp eye horns and mask? That long and unadorned tail? Those were very easily seen echoed in Nivee and Sequrom. So had... had this breed appeared before now at the school? They would need to consult with others about it. Interdimensionality was still something that the Kaminoans were iffy on.

That same Homecoming event also hosted a very large group of returning young adults who had sponsored dragons from another world, Vella Crean. They'd grown into quite the varied group, but all had remained in Crescent City for the most part. Their human companions were taking time out of their own college education to make sure the dragons got the socialization and attention they deserved, and where better than a massive reunion? It wasn't just the Light, Dark, and Blood courts, and those Hathians, of course, it was a dozen different species that packed the field in a bright display of wings and crests and even fire and ice breath.

Viewing from above, the Dome temporarily brought back into the air as an official vehicle (at least for the event), a number of staff and instructors gathered in its wide observation deck. Though it would usually have only had a view of the ocean floor, now it was back up in the air and had as good a view as any blimp - and a dozen times the size of the biggest ones.

Melissa stood with wide yellow eyes looking at it all, only in very recent times had she been able to go up in the air upon her own dragoness, and her upbringing in a ruined world meant there were hardly any airborne craft. Though she'd spent time at Paragon City and had been exposed to a vast array of people there, it had been a while since she'd attended an actual event that brought them all into proximity like this. So many colorful dragons and people... All of them, to her eyes, brimming with genetic potential that she could literally see as puzzle pieces.

Shy standing near her could only guess at that vision, though his own expertise in matching genes was more subtle but no less impressive. The Kaminoans with their machinery and history, Paveh and Raihu with their psionics. They all saw potential down there, on four legs or two (or six, or eight, or none...). Shy (and the others, but pointedly he was the one whose actions had prompted the requirement at the city's legal level) had had to sign - and comply with - papers that required him to ask first before using, or even acquiring, any DNA from any source residing at Crescent City. That did mean he had to pick and choose his targets... It didn't, however, prevent him from reminding his companions that he...

Had created at least a dozen of those dragons down there - off world, quite a while ago. And that, he claimed, was well beyond the scope of Crescent's legal department. The samples he still had could be... of use, without any messy entanglements. He very casually mentioned this.

And he watched, then, as the entire genetic engineering staff got that gleam in their eyes.

He knew that Paveh had long years of experience with legal wrangling on Zekira, they were all about paperwork. But he'd always also skirted it if not outright flaunted his lack of legality. The other Zekiran, Raihu, freely admitted that she was of a ‘ridiculously rich' family, and they'd hardly ever had to worry about legal or ethical entanglements. Melissa had grown up in a world effectively without ethical oversight, and that was before it went to hell in a hand-basket - she was created because of that. Hu and Masui were aware that as the most recent and untenured pair they did have to maintain some sense of local law-abiding, but lacked any kind of worry about using tactics that their kind had done for millennia before them. ‘Make First, Ask Later' seemed to be the order of the day.

They gazed down at the field, which was busy with tails and wings, with milling students and grads showing off their bonds or catching up with gossip. The half time show had been spectacular, dramatic, pillars of dragon breath lighting up the whole area. Now it was back to marching and showing off field tactics. A few of the Science department instructors were there, Shy spotted them and pondered.

Ihrinnah the plant-hybrid hardly anyone trusted, Moraga the Geocaching instructor, as well as Baeris and her daughter Tessrabia, were down on the ground too, rather than being up in the observation dome with the others in the department. They were fielding questions and aiding the riders or visitors to make sure no one got squished, that no one's pet was eaten. All of them, dragon riders or familiar-trainers in their own right.

They wouldn't be interrupting anyone up here, where all this conspiring was going on... Baeris had always been arms-length to Shy, given their history. Her daughter not as much, but then Tess was busy with her own brood and activities. Moraga had all but zero interest in any of this, he was there for the hunting and animal training. Only Ihrinnah would have joined in eagerly, really; after all, her ‘husband' was Virus (the too-handsome-for-his-own-good, billion-years-in-the-making, recently-human-shaped ecological disaster area on legs) teaching the Radiation class... And one of their children had bonded a Dark Court dragon that was down there right now.

***

Rookery Year 5, later

“You know... I have this kid in my third period Calculus class,” Nachos said, trying to seem casual but still dripping pale colored horchata that either vanished or evaporated depending on whether it was actually real or just an illusion. “I think she's sneaking around,” he added, glancing with his turquoise eyes over Keenan's shoulder and looking very briefly at Shy who was discussing the quality of the local tea varieties. “I think she's working with him .” Keenan didn't even bother turning to look, he just looked through his alternate's eyes .

“What makes you think I'm not working with him?” Was Keenan's reply. His alternate version didn't quite balk, but he was a bit surprised, clearly. To edify his different-self, Keenan added, “I have helped him regain some amount of contact with his prior... arrangements, even if those have been a little more rocky than expected.” That was an understatement. Nachos' eyebrow went up very slowly.

“I just worry that we might start seeing some... consequences,” Nachos sipped his coffee, “regardless of our participation... We are already spread a bit thin. Keeping an eye on all these activities is difficult as it is.” The young-looking long haired man shrugged and pushed his hand through that hair, in exactly the same motion as Keenan across from him brushed at his crew-cut. Nachos, however, gently flung more illusory liquid onto the Cafetorium floor with the motion. It vanished before any of the cleanup crew would need to worry about it. He wasn't messy. Honest. He was just Keenan, after all, and that man kept himself as pristine as he could. Losing a bet to drunk friends was the only reason Nachos existed, but there was no reason he couldn't enjoy himself in this guise.

“Melissa can always help, she's already involved,” Keenan winked, and Nachos chuckled.

“I fear her,” he lied with a smile, “you should too.”

“That is only because you're one of the young ones,” the more or less middle-aged appearing version smirked and straightened his tie. “She likes taking advantage of fresh meat .”

“As I recall,” Nachos snorted with a grin, “you found that out the hard way.” His ‘elder's' response was a thousand yard stare and a slow lopsided smile. It wasn't that they didn't trust her to do the right thing. It was that they knew she would do it and never let them hear the end of it if she didn't get her way. She was the queen of her hive, in more ways than metaphorical.

Finally, Keenan formulated a reply, “our Leggy Blonde Conscience knows what she's doing, and as always, her insistence upon gaharrah is her excuse. She would be working on this regardless of our involvement.” Every time it came up, she'd say the same thing, a Vortal oath of indebtedness that was inescapable for all parties.

Mel had created more than a dozen clones of Keenan's human body back at the Enrichment Center , ostensibly to help him ‘not be dying constantly'. He'd had to use one of them immediately on their completion - before defeating the Combine, he needed to concentrate on destroying their enemy, and not have to waste all that Vortal energy on refreshing his extremely sick body.

Over time, a decent number of those clones were ‘activated' - some just as backup bodies and ‘spares' over in Paragon City, allowing Keenan to flex his Vortal muscles and create new heroic identities using different aspects of his powers. And some... because he really did need to be in two places at once. He had effectively split his energy, his lih into different lines, and the result was that he wasn't having a time-duplicated talk with himself right now, Nachos was his own person. He'd impressed his own dragon, that was proof enough that it wasn't just Keenan Being Faster Than Everyone Else.

But Melissa still a room tucked away with the ‘rest' of him. She'd threatened to bring a few of them online at any given time in order to force Keenan's hand - or just to get a rise out of him. That Melissa was willing to do literally anything that Keenan (or Wilson, or Paxton) wished her to, was probably buried deep in the engineering process that produced her . She was consciously indebted to Keenan for having saved her from a fate quite a bit worse than death. She was tied to the men she loved thanks to the genetic spec sheet that took her self-control away every month.

She didn't resent Keenan or the others for it, it was all Harlan Wade's doing. But it wasn't something she could in any way control. That, she'd expressed numerous times over the decades using extraordinarily colorful language, was something she could never forgive her creators. Keenan knew that she also was making damn sure that some of the genetic tags and triggers that both Shy and Dr. Masui wanted to use in those dragons were mitigated or removed before the project went live. She had issues with control and authority; and for compellingly good reasons, she didn't want those things interfering with anyone else's lives. Dragon or no, everyone deserved their own free will.

Among the group of genetic engineers working on this ‘thing' that Nachos wasn't really aware of, it was obvious that Melissa was the only one who clearly recognized the ethical morass they were dragged into. Shy was using proxies to do work that he himself was forbidden from? That was no surprise. They had their own proxies. It was literally how Keenan had had to track down and destroy the Combine, forty thousand years worth of dancing around direct actions.

Keenan and Nachos both blinked in the same manner, they'd both absolutely fished around in the others' minds, and come to an assessment. Mel already was ‘helping' in her own way, with that mysterious business that Nachos somehow wasn't really party to.

Either way, Nachos was satisfied with the answer to his unvoiced question about Codah, the Gelgelan girl who kept swab kits on her person, and was only ever interested in shaking hands with him when he was in his ‘surfer cheese' outfit... Because it was the only one without gloved hands. Keenan too had to continually dodge approaches from other genetic engineering students or their professors , of course. But he had already warned Shy: he had no interest in being part of a direct program, and had enough children already. If Shy were to use his DNA it would be with the absolute strictest of warnings.

It was one of the very few warnings that Shy realized he had to heed. Though he'd been through quite a bit over the years, exile and hiding and rebuilding making him only faintly more bitter but considerably more sturdy... He still recognized the vastness of the power behind a two billion year old energy being posing as a human. Oh how he wanted those samples. Oh, how he would be completely removed from reality if he attempted to get them without proper contracts with the man. The strings that Keenan could pull would easily unravel not just cells and molecules... But the energy and essences that echoed from them. Should he desire it, Keenan could remove the memories of someone, every trace of them including Vortal ‘echoes', and Shy did not want to be forgotten.

The class bell was about to ring, and while most of the other instructors and students were well on their way hustling to their lockers or their offices, this pair had the luxury of simply teleporting directly to their seats - they enjoyed the last sips of their coffees, and finally both went their separate ways in Vortal bursts of green and orange energy.

***

“So they work by triggering an emotional connection at hatching, quite a bit like many waterfowl or other creatures?” Dr. Hu tilted her head, examining the cell cluster floating in its tall tube. It was currently barely recognizable, it would become a dragon in time.

Shy gave a brief acknowledgement, as he looked over his own notes. They had chosen to utilize the Dome's equipment, but had begun making arrangements at Carramba's main campus for... later use.

“Their ancestry is diverse and slightly more dangerous than a duckling,” Darkhanis chuckled. “I think it's a way to keep them from destroying everything in their path.”

He didn't notice the shudder that went over Shy's narrow form. But Mel did. “And that's all very fine and good,” she said, a little bit sharper than intended. “To keep animals from rampaging. But they aren't animals ,” she pointedly brought up a chart with detailed notes, “they're at least as intelligent as any human being, and they might have abilities well beyond them.”

“Which is, I am certain, why these blocks and gates are important,” Dr. Masui asserted. He strode smoothly over to investigate the charts that Melissa was growling about. “I do not understand, why would they be so disagreeable? Everyone obeys certain laws,” his long neck craned a bit and his huge black eye sought out Melissa's yellow ones. “These are theirs.”

“I don't disagree that preventing undue damage is bad,” she sighed, “but this is not the way.” It didn't help that Shy was the only other human in the room. And that was debatable, at times. The Kaminoans didn't detect the emotion in that breath, and it was apparent that Paveh ignored it.

“Perhaps,” it was Raihu who brought a fresh perspective. “Leveraging the Hathian traits is wise in this case.” The bird-headed Zekiran tapped out a request that then flashed up on the screens around the room. “From what I can tell, it's not unlike the Steeds' flocking instinct. They want to be part of a flock, they want to have clear ranks, yet they do not need a specific commander. They want one.” She too turned to look at Melissa, “I suspect that this desire was exploited in the other draconic lines involved, to a degree that became... well, what you find disagreeable.”

“I do find it disagreeable,” Melissa muttered. “If we tweak this back to a more... natural state, I would be okay with that. I just...” The blond woman's glare softened as she turned away, “I know what it feels like to be compelled to do something, and to be unable to stop from acting that way. If they were unintelligent, if they were just ducklings... it wouldn't bother me. But. They aren't.”

If Shy was about to attempt to defend his own stance on the matter, he stopped when Melissa then stated, “Hathians pack-bond if they're socialized properly, and the group that we're integrating into this project have bonded here, to Carramba,” she looked up at the screens, “I get that you want them doing it automatically, Shy. I get that. But they get a choice.” Finally she fully turned to look at the green-eyed scientist. “Reverting the genes to a Hathian-style social pact would satisfy your needs just as well as forcing them to do it, it's their nature already.”

Dr. Hu's large eyes seemed to lose focus for a moment, and she blinked, looked around momentarily. “Nivee suggests a different approach,” she said. Everyone looked toward that dark dragoness who stood politely in the doorway. “And also suggests that...” she gave a Kaminoan-quiet chuckle, “that the dragon in the room be addressed.”

That different approach turned out to be one which Melissa was impressed with, and one which she herself realized she'd been using for years down in Rapture and up at the Enrichment Center: choosing who received their Icarus or Plasmid treatments. Both of those things could radically improve a human's potential - if they had the genes for any sort of psionics, it would clarify and solidify them. Yet there was a small portion of the population who were absolutely not compatible with the processing, even if they had those DNA tags that were helpful. She'd learned how to filter out inappropriate candidates.

Dragons, apparently, used ‘Search sniffing' techniques. Even Shy suddenly realized that the process was markedly similar: were the dragons actually smelling DNA? The potential inherent ability to psionically - or perhaps magically or Vortally - bond with a dragon? The same way that Melissa could taste those genes? Well then!

That would prove to be the best option. If the dragons didn't get to have a (supposedly covert) tag to prevent them from attacking (the Vella Crean... or... wherever else might be important) then it would be wise to filter through the people actively bonding to them to make sure that they were the right choice. Well, the right choice to bond a dragon, of course.

Personality testing would be able to filter out the really wrong ones. Right? Shy was picky. But then: Shy wasn't the only one who was in charge of this venture. The gleam in his eye returned when Paveh suggested, “Given how Crescent City 's legal department handles the dragon shows on local television,” he wasn't surprised when Nivee tuned one monitor to display ‘So You Want To Bond A Dragon!' in its seventh season reruns before the next season kicked off. “I think we can safely say that having an extensive application process works just fine .”

Raihu's big glassy bird-eyes stared at that screen, and even though she had a beak, everyone could tell there was a smile starting on her face. “Zekiran Steed races have bluster like that,” she said, “I... have an idea I think you'll like...”

***

Rookery Year 6 (2021ish)

It had taken some work - it was a lengthier process than the Kaminoans wanted, though still much more rapid than nature intended. Melissa had added something else to the table, also akin to what happened with those Icarus subjects: genetically engineered children like herself benefited greatly from being gestated. Not merely grown, because that never led to the optimal results.

The dragons in these artificial eggs had gone through a lot to get where they were now.

Their DNA had been spliced together using a massive variety of existing dragons that lived or had come through Carramba - almost all of which had been gathered after that Homecoming event. Those three Hathians, plus their distant kin in the form of Nivee and Sequrom, and a dozen or more Vella Crean ‘Court' dragons, all mixed together with an incredible degree of expertise. Their features were combined and refined, with Raihu and the Kaminoans most easily able to figure out the best methods for making sure that they would be able to fly and run equally well, and an added bonus that they were more than marginally bipedal like several of their donors.

The experimentation phase had passed muster, there were still things ‘missing' until they had been implanted into their ‘host mother'. Though there were a number of fully lab-grown dragonets, most of the batch were implanted and then subsequently ‘prematurely laid' into the glass-like eggs that now rested on pedestals in this dimly lit chamber. The technology side of all this was handled by one of the other Kaminoans who had arrived on this very ship, but wasn't one of their genetic scientists. Those eggs were now being examined by the others in the Biology department.

Of course, that meant that Baeris was back on board, and her natural curiosity about the life cycle of these dragons was on high alert. Being able to see through the eggs and peer directly at the young dragonet inside was on one hand incredibly amazing and sated her dragon-healer mind. On the other hand, “glass... eggs?! They'll break and do so much harm to everyone!” She had seen shell shard injuries aplenty, in her time both before the Healing Den became its own entity, and during all the hatchings since. There was always a stray shard poking up here or there, always a foot that hit it just the wrong way.

“Oh dear, no,” Dr. Hu assured her in her quiet and almost purring voice, “these eggs do not break, they open.”

Several telepaths in the room - Keenan, Darkhanis, Melissa - picked up the most fleeting and distressing memory from the black-haired woman: egg sacs on the wall of the Den opening up and disgorging bizarre carapace-bearing eyeless hunters...

“Not like that ,” Melissa breathed, though whether her voice was hushed because she was trying to assuage a fear, or because she was attempting not to laugh... No one knew. “No, no, they will be keyed to open to their most appropriate match,” she pulled up a list of traits along with matching DNA markers. “Like... like those cat feeders that only open when the cat with the right microchip shows up to eat.”

The big blue flitter that had been slumbering on Baeris's shoulder, nestled under that sheet of black hair, suddenly bristled as his mistress laughed. “I need to try that with this little beast!” That ‘little' beast, Striker, was the size of a bronze, anyone who had studied fire lizards knew he should have been a third of that size...

As they had formulated the dragons DNA itself, Melissa had been working on methods to ‘tune' herself to matches among potential bonders or even sponsors. After all, it wouldn't do to get this far and not have some kind of checklist, and that list was refined - Baeris read down its bullet list and carefully nodded.

H'lis had come and gone, made sure that whoever would be attending any hatching would then have adequate records kept as well as training should they require it. Zenizap Houten, one of the few dragons on staff properly, would handle any non-humanoid potential bonds, she was quite happy about being included. She had verbally wondered why other dragon types hadn't been included - after all they had an entire campus to choose from.

“Maybe next time, my dear,” Shy purred, “maybe next time...”

“But now,” Pelatih Raihu said, in a commanding tone (literally commanding, even Paveh took note when she really wanted attention), “we have an ad campaign to work on. First it will be on-site, and if we don't get enough response - or I should say,” she corrected herself, as the others had expressions that said they knew they'd be getting applications by the hundred, “enough viable applications,” that worked. “We can put it up on the city's ad space.”

“We have assembled a bit of a teaser,” Dr. Masui said. It was so strange seeing the sedate and precise, elegant alien turn his attention to the screen nearest, because what was on that screen almost defied description. “If this doesn't get the application process going, I do not know what will.”

***

“Consider the glass slipper, which fits only one perfect foot,” it was Shy's smooth, low voice, sensual and alluring. (A touch too adult-content in the first few takes but this one seemed to be just right.) The dark screen slowly grew slightly brighter, until an egg-shaped object was visible. Only barely - just the shine of a glass surface, the gleam of two spotlights glancing off of it betraying its silhouette.

“Carramba High School has the luck, the privilege, the honor, of hosting the world's first new breed of dragon.”

The glass egg clarified on the screen, lights growing in intensity, until the entire screen was filled with bright white gleams, and was then replaced with another silhouette. But no details were quite visible beyond the outline.

A dramatic spark and explosion replaced the image, and the contact information for the Carramba dragonry appeared, along with a small disclaimer indicating that the clutch would be available primarily for vetted students, and that all participants must be willing to submit to certain ‘modestly invasive' testing before admission to the program.

The clip ended, and everyone was left with their jaws slightly slack, but broad grins spreading on most.

It would be time to show off the prototype, once Codah filled out the paperwork.

Cyber-Court Application process checklist...

Note that out of character, the application process described below is for flavor and character presentation. It isn't vital to even mention in a page unless you want to include it, otherwise I'll just assume the character did so without hesitation or any incident.

Dragons will come in the ‘expanded' Pernese format of the Court dragons before them: Green, Blue, Purple, Red, Brown, Bronze, Gold. They will however have a lot of variation for marking colors, and will also have specifics about their abilities, size (which is centered around SMOL), and other info provided. Key features of the dragons in this Court are: technology, electricity, and weather. They do have other abilities possible but those are their focus. There is one adult stage for the artwork, with lines by CopperTucker (sunny can tell me their name lol). However if requested I can also set up an egg since I do have that image ready for use.

The dragons themselves will vary based on their “host” mothers, so those whose powers or appearances are listed as different, are due to that. Those host mothers are not to be considered ‘parent', they are all completely engineered and do not have any trouble with breeding with whoever else is around once they're adults.

Nexus members will get however many dragons as they would like to send in for, and written up characters need to be available on a site somewhere, preferably that I can link to on a records page at some point. At this time, obviously I don't have a linked site proper only the remnants of the Kshau Protectorate, so a text link to Carramba High is fine.

Characters that are fleshed out stats pages (I'm fond of writing those myself) will earn reasonable dragons, though I will definitely put a bit more into a dragon based on effort and personality. Also note that as long as the character is uniquely written to this event, they can be from any existing media or fandom, I don't care, you could send me another Gordon Freeman and he'd be cheered on by no fewer than two of my own.

‘Generic' characters may be requested (or sent in from you, bare-bones couple-words-of-info pages are fine). These will come specifically from the CHS (and possibly the Potterverse for magical ones) character generator I used for the Dragonhope giveaway. I prefer that people send their own, but I would also be happy to provide equally generic (ie: less powerful or flashy) dragons for those who want more than they can write for. Generic or bare bones characters won't be getting tremendously terrific ones, but I won't turn filler requests down if you want to complete a set...

Sponsorships will be handled specifically if you want to sponsor instead or in addition to bond. Multiple-bonds (up to two only) ARE possible with these Hathian-mix Court dragons. I won't hand out multiples to generic/requested characters, however, and sponsors must be stated (OOC) up front that's what they are there to do. At most, one character = 2 dragons, either by means of multiple bonds, or bond and sponsor. Please keep those to a minimum however, as I prefer to spread the joy to as many different characters as possible.

Age and background guidelines follow, but again they're for the most part optional.

In character...

Applicants are PREFERRED to be student-age, from 14 to 18 years of age or the species-equivalent. This is not a hard and fast rule: adults may apply and be accepted, given that they would have passed the ‘sniff test' of a Search. Notably however, a regular search dragon may start the process, but that alone will not be enough to allow any individual candidate on the sands. They must go through this process in its entirety. Younger children will not likely be allowed to apply without strict parent / guardian approval as well as being able to prove that they can handle the tasks of raising and caring for a living companion.

Applicants MUST be sentient and self-aware. Applicants may be of any species, period. Mathematical constructs, four-footer furries, mages, aliens, dragons, human/oids, whoever. Applicants from Carramba are also preferred but not necessary - students (or whoever) may be from another school, another planet, another dimension, or time. Anyone who is visiting from another location will be given dorm space in one of the nearby Alabaster-owned hotels and apartment buildings, and a spending stipend if they require one or don't have local currency.

Applicants SHOULD be from at least marginally-technological worlds. Again not a hard and fast rule, but as the dragons have very specifically high-tech origins and are intended to function in similarly technologically based settings, keep in mind that they will have less to do with themselves if they're made to live in a cave or thatch roof hut. That said - they do have ‘other' powers than ones exclusive to a modern or future setting. So no one will walk away without an appropriate dragon.

Candidates with magic, psionics, superpowers, or those with exceptional latent skills or intellect, will be PREFERRED. Those who have specific technology, information, weather or electric-based powers and abilities are STRONGLY preferred. (Or those who have interest in those fields, normal people should still apply!)

The application itself is akin to a class final. Candidates are expected to be at least proficient in middle-school level (for whatever setting) reading and writing or an equivalent method of conveying information. Candidates are PREFERRED to have a strong science, math, or other such direction in their life, which their dragon companion might assist. The questions on this ‘test' may include whatever you see fit to place there. (Along with whatever answers your character might supply! This is all just optional flavor text.) They will complete this test by themselves, not in a ‘class' or group setting. They cannot cheat-sheet from others!

The ‘Mildly Invasive' portion of the application however will involve a direct blood sample, cheek swab, hair clipping if present, and other such biological samples. Anything which Melissa Larrabie or Darkhanis Paveh will be able to use (they won't let Shy do this, no way no how sir get away from that right this instant) to ‘match' with a dragon - or more accurately to match with a dragon's egg case .

Note that applicants who are non-biological must also submit to a review process, done by Melissa and Keenan. They must have some form of energy signature, aura, mind, code, consciousness, etc - as long as it's somehow able to be perceived in some form. They can be a magnetic orb hovering around; as long as it's sentient, can raise a dragon, and is able to fill out the rest of the forms however they can, go for it.

These physical samples will be taken on site at the Dome, which is reached via hovercraft, and is situated about 400 meters below the surface in the ocean just off Crescent City . Any applicant may request that it be done in another venue if they have problems with that location, however all applicants must submit at least enough to garner information for our on-site genetic engineers. No, you cannot sneak in someone else's DNA. Sure, you can try; but with several highly invasive telepaths watching you good luck with that.

Once the samples and application are processed, a waiting period will begin since the hatching will occur only when ‘enough' have been processed. As applications are gathered, people will be instructed to ‘do whatever they would be doing normally' here at either the campus (in the case of students) or as a vacation overall in Crescent City (anyone else not requiring classes). All applicants may feel free to sit in on the Dragonry classes held daily, there are a variety of them dealing with everything from dragon identification and health care, to fighting wing formation training. Anyone visiting the campus however, must go through security measures and will be monitored (whether they realize it or not).

The campus is well defended, but every applicant who isn't local will get an information packet describing just exactly how dangerous it can be, to use powers or abilities on campus without supervision - and how costly, because that kind of thing has been going on for decades and they already know how to deal with the legal paperwork. If you think it's safe to set off a firecracker in the bathroom, guess again. If that firecracker is part of your character's psionic power set, they will need a permit from the city to use it.

The hatching will take place in a specific venue, to be described at a later time. When this occurs, applicants will be gathered up (probably by being teleported by Keenan) and brought to it. The secrecy of this venue is maintained for security reasons.

Note that Carramba High is a nexus - you'll be along side many humans, furries from the other side of the planet, aliens, monsters, robots, superheroes, mages and wizards, and pretty much everything in between. Carramba has a zero tolerance policy for any ‘ism that comes along, be it disparaging age, appearance, gender, culture, political, or species, ‘isms are forbidden or at least heavily frowned upon. (They can't STOP you from being a jerk but they can certainly give you the cold shoulder if you are!)

((Out of character, this means also please keep stories which may include culture shock to a level of political correctness. Exposure to racism is common on campus, but it's not condoned to say the least, and they do offer both classes and therapy regarding it and other issues. If a character's story involves those ‘isms, please do put up a disclaimer or warning!))

(( My notes ))

8.19.21 Cyber Court Clutch 1

Color ranks I'm rolling literally 7 different color dice for the standard court/pernese/alskyran color scheme.

Color adds (usually white, static, grey, graphite, silver, black, yellow, gold, copper, etc) on Body, Wings, or Both: plain, no modification; point markings (blood court); speckling; runic/glowmarks (thanks to a blacksheep weyr light court); zappy/lightning (should be much more common on wings); probably others but those are the main already represented on the gene pool

All have contrast belly armor (in alt color?); All have contrast crest color (alt?); Horn, Shoulder Armor, Mask, Beak color (shades of silver, black, gold/yellow only?)

Physical/Power oddities based purely on whether they have a stronger Court or Hathian influence *** this is only by host mom, and that should be determined by the color base for the dragon I think

1, 2 = no special influence 3 = hathian influence 4 = light court 5 = dark court 6 = blood court

Hathian influences include but don't have to be all of = pack (bond to dragons/nonhumans or not at all), alternate/added acid, ice** power + resist? *cannot have verbal; *teleport is reduced on-world, but strong dimensionally

light court influence = fireballs + fire resist

dark court influence = venom (from horns?) + poison/acid resist

blood court influence = strong influence over other dragons, ‘requires activation' elemental?

Physical traits with 1-6 rankings for ease of generation

size (1 = 5'8”, 3 = 8', 6 = 13' which should be rare, they're engineered as smol, though any with Hathian influence in this case will be at least size 3, and will also vary slightly because of pernese color ranking)

strength (overall, either quite wimpy or very burly)

speed (they're all pretty zippy, though)

normal physical resistances or durability (with things like ‘armor is quite strong' or ‘notable wing strength')

Powers available, I roll dice for these, 1=weak/nonexistent, 6=extremely strong, generally all powers will get that roll but for specific dragon abilities only those 4-6 get writeups. If other-influence is also rolled, if their alternate abilities are stronger than their electrical ones, they will supersede them or replace them, but I don't foresee this happening much / at all.

All = Telepathy; electrical power + resistance; verbal speech*; teleportation*; off-world teleportation*

Specifics among electrical abilities (suggestions, may be nixed if they're too weird?)

Lightning (breath or control); Current (battery drain/power up); Electronics / Computers (sense, control, command, interface); Static / Zappy (close range minor shock); Weather (sense, minor manipulate ** might be quite strong if ice added); (( Magnetism? too much? ))

note that ‘electronics' means ‘powered', not simple machines, they have zero influence over anything that doesn't have a power supply or battery involved

So as an example (just rollin, not making this unless it comes out ‘great')

Bronze (male), zappy wings only in copper, belly copper, crest copper, armor/horns silver

size 6 - he's quite big, normal Pernese Bronze sized! strength 2, speed 5, durability 1 - he's built for speed

Light Court influence adds only fire resistance (fire 1 vs cyber 5)

Normal powers: telepathy 6, verbal 1, tport 5, offworld 2

Court powers: lightning 1; current 4; electronics 5; zappy 5; weather 3 - so this dragon would be quite good with code and computers as well as ambient static electricity and shocks, battery power, but only able to sense electric storms, and woefully lacking a breath weapon

(dice to remind me) lightning clear; current grey; electronics black; zappy blue-clear; weather blue solid

size is hip:length:ws 9:40:64 / 1:4.5:7 give or take