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Gasman and Red Amocoth - bonded at Ryslen Weyr!

Age: 18

Male, absolutely straight!

Location in Mall: Gasman is one of the rare "outer" Mall folk - he greets the power services and fuel tankers who travel back and forth near the Mall, and aquires the contracts for supplies for the Mall inhabitants.

While he is charming and rather fun to be around, like Shiner he's often seen as overbearing and too boisterous. But Gasman is someone that the Mall can't live without. His father before him had this job - in fact his mother was a trucker, who was passing by. It's all in the family for them - most of the people willing to sell or barter fuel to the Mall are considered "family" to Gasman.

Because his job is somewhat infrequent, Gasman busies himself by traveling around the outskirts of the Mall and keeping the peace among the Mall inhabitants. He is also one of their scouts, along with Shiner, and this allows him to have several roosts around the rooftops as well as hidden among the scrub.

Gasman doesn't always get along with the Creepies - he knows they are sent by the biotech firm and he doesn't trust them at all, either the creepies or the firm. He often keeps his eye on the male who comes up from the shadows and mixes with the Mall folk, but he won't interfere until DJ tells him to.

As a scout, he's always looking for nooks that people can live in, or places where things can be hidden. He can hear a tanker coming from miles away, and gives a warning or an all-clear if there is trouble flying overhead or driving along in tanks.

***

Not too much longer after the group of Mall Crawlers split up, Gasman watched his very first hatching. The other two guys with him, Cabbie and Crash, were just as excited, but Gasman wanted to see right up front what was going on. From the new queen's nest, many differently colored dragonets were breaking shell. When a fire-engine red dragon hatched and roared, Gasman scolded him, but he was ignored - even though he knew the dragon's name - "Amocoth," he said.

No one guessed whether Amocoth would run off with his rider, or the rider would have to drag him into the kitchens... Something about this pair sparked the other two Mall Crawlers, but neither bonded at that hatching. They offered their help - probably just to get close to the hatchling. Gasman couldn't stop grinning.

Amacoth grew louder and brighter and bigger by the week. Everyone was amazed at this fire-engine red colored dragon of his - and that Gasman seemed oblivious to how quickly he'd grown.

"Aw, he's not that big," Gasman insisted. But when he was meant to straddle the red's neck to ride him for the first time, he suddenly realized ... he WAS that big!

I am not fat! Who are you calling fat?

"No one called you fat, Amacoth! You're just... a lot bigger than I thought you were. You're going to be bigger than the browns, that's for sure."

Well, now that you mention it, I guess I am. I'll be able to compete with them for the best mates, too.

Blushing, almost the same color as his dragon, Gasman nodded and didn't say anything to his friends about what had been said!

It was true that Amocoth was bigger than most browns - not bigger than Naugath however. The burly brown that had paired up with Crash pretty much took the cake for obnoxious - though Amocoth did put up quite a show.

They followed white-blue Printh however, on their way home to the Mall. When they got there they discovered that they'd been the first to bond and return. Naugath seemed to take that as permission to dive bomb the folks down in the Mall.

Amocoth landed perfectly in the middle of the courtyard, and the kids and younger adults came flocking by. Some really wanted to see the big brown, lots of them loved how Printh was two colors, but most of them were drawn to Amocoth and his bright red skin. Someone said something about that color being the right color for a dragon.

Amocoth swooped into the air, and did a demonstration of his prowess on the wing, oohed and aahed the crowd. They finally settled down for the wait... Some time, the others would get there too...