Standing At Isla Special Clutch

Name: Nik Mize

Aliases: Nabib, Tremor

Gender: Male

Gender preference: Either, not sure, wanna find out?

Age: 28 in August (of 2005)

Hair: Black, very short, spiked

Eyes: pretty, golden brown that pick up sunlight wonderfully

Skin: Light Tan, even

Rank: Annoyed Furry

Marital Status: Single. Dammit.

Pets: Here and there...

Talents: Tech Support. Putting Up With Jerks. Writing. Drivin' Like A Maniac.

The gods of luck and chance got together one night, laughing, drunk, and decided that this little boy born surrounded by idiots would be keenly aware of his nature. Only, they neglected to tell him about it. They also neglected to watch Loki as he 'blessed' the dice they used to randomly roll up every event along this little child's life-thread. It'd be a bumpy ride for Nik. But it would probably be one he'd never forget.

Except for those times he'd been plucked out of reality and plopped back in, in some odd new situation.

But that was the way Nik's life went. If nothing more could be said, he had an ... Interesting family life. From relatives who cursed him for having an unusually dark skin tone (when you're white, you're white, and when you're not white, you're... what, brown? what is that shade dear? it's not like us.) or for having an unusual name - or anything else to avoid simply being nice people. To those who tried to dote upon him but just didn't know him well enough to have a grip on interests or abilities. All in all though, Nik seems to enjoy his life, family, friends and all.

On the agenda for Nik's life... Some good things, some bad things.

Hyperactive! Hire a babysitter for this little bundle of energry who just can't sleep more than four hours in 2 days...

WTF? Held back in kindergarden not just once but twice, because some dimbulb didn't realize that "aqua" meant water - and water wasn't on Nik's vocabulary at that time...

Father murdered in the house, by people he'd put in jail - what a great thing to come home to, from a shopping trip, huh?

Move into a great new house and make new friends! TV - of course there's tv. Transformers, Voltron, Thundercats, Mask, Robotech, Tranzor Z, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors! It never ends! And - MADONNA! Whew!

Big Hair Bands. The Chick from Weird Science! The Chick in the White Snake Videos! Transformers the MOVIE!

Weekends road tripping in the desert!

Aliens! Star Trek!

Getting kicked out of private Catholic school - just don't ask those tough questions, okay?

Mom remarries. To a jackass Marine that proceeds to beat the shit out of his "new" kids for the next 7 odd years...

Moving to LA. Wham. Boy George. Rap. Microsoft. Reagan. Bush. All bad things. None under his control.

Moving to the Sierras, where Discovering Snow, Snowboarding, and running into a mountain lion face to face and not having it kill him are all very important. Having to drive to the bus stop because the house is so isolated.

Skipping 6th grade!

Bad things? Mom's still married to an abusive jackass. Getting beat up at new school - why? Because dad's having affairs with several moms... Jr High only 300 kids strong. And every one of them hate him.

How about this? Being thrown from a 2nd story bedroom window only to land on dad's bronco. Which he then beats Nik up for, for putting a dent in it. That, and the whole damn family forgot his 13th AND 14th birthdays.

A bit later... Moving back to San Diego. AWAY from stepdad. Into a fine high school - with friends who actually STAY friends!

Beast Wars. Reboot. The era of Grunge. PUBERTY! (A bit of a late starter.) Lion King!

First car! First Job! First Piercing!

Put on the path of Wolfdom - the start of furry life.

Cat named Glak - dragon cat of insanity! Dog named Dillan. Working at an animal clinic.

Beating the shit out of a wrestler and taking his hat.

Bad things? Going to a rich high school when you're poor. Stuck in the senior gym class - when you're a freshman who's just started puberty.

Losing virginity to a cheerleader - who was only interested in pissing off her boyfriend. Maybe that's a good thing?

Waking up after "missing time" half naked (the good half) in the back seat of his own car, at the Mexican Border, with absolutely no idea how he got there...

Adult life? First tattoo! Lion King 2! College!

Moving to South Carolina. Newer car. Moving to Tennesee. Then - moving back to San Diego. Getting a Pathfinder. Man he loved that car... Offroading! DUMPSTER DRUNK 21st Birthday!!

Bad things? Nothing's changed in Sunny San Diego. Working for Sony. Kicked out of College. Ready for some off-roading lingo? "Breaking my first half shaft on a witche's eye". Whatever that means. :D

New job at Transcore. More offroading. Back to college, no really this time. Buying a Mac! Fully discovering the "furry" in him. Comics! Meeting Lethe and Drew!

Discovering not only furriness, but bisexuality.

Bad things? It's a corporate slave job. The Pathfinder? Lost to a jackass who decided to pull in front of him - Pathfinder? meet "tree" - ONE MONTH before the last payment on the vehicle...

So far it's been okay. A new little car. Some new good friends. Deviant art. Furries. Getting the chance to be turned down by both men AND women. Whee!

***

Lethe observes:

Nik has weathered what I consider a TON of crap. Yet he always comes out of these things with a wry smile and a sigh. There's always something lurking in the back of his mind, he's always watching everything for signs of interest-value. He's a wolf-furry. He'll be head over heels with the Fralamar. I've called him "well padded" - not meaning that I think he's fat, but that I like his shape and it's nice and solid. But of course that haunts me because he TOOK it to mean I thought he was fat... Bastard. :D He's a sweet guy. There should be a dragon that can not only back him up when he needs support, but to be in on private jokes, and take on the bad shit in his life.

***

It was obviously overwhelming to have been chosen for this dragon thing, because Nik said very little on the way to Falas Weyr. He took it all in with style - he didn't point and jump up and down and ooh-ahh at things. At least, not vocally. Inside? Of course he did. He was like that.

When he'd seen the search dragons in their full size, he was awed. But they were just little ones. When he arrived at Falas, a couple days after Drew and Lethe, he got the chance to see the tiniest greens and whites, and the most amazing golds and bronzes as well. Browns aplenty, and more exotic colors of dragons. All different breeds, he could tell.

When settled in, sharing a dorm with Drew and someone else, he noticed that he was among the few male candidates there. And Drew didn't much count.

"Heh," he chuckled to himself, and Drew looked up. "Nothing," Nik shrugged it off, and Drew went back to playing his video game. They had electricity and everything here. Nik thought maybe that was a bit weird, but they also had magic - which Drew was so completely entranced with - and they had science up the wazoo.

And these wolves... With wings.

Fralamar? Something like that? He wasn't quite sure because they always seemed somewhat busy to just sit and talk with him. They talked - talking winged wolves. Almost as weird as Lethe's talking flitter.

Nik adjusted well to the environment, he'd lived in a variety of climates and terrains and this wasn't so different than any of them. Falas was on a large island, which Lethe said something in odd tones about having "owned" before Falas got there. Again he shrugged it off, because it was far easier to just smile and nod and leave it be, than to ask Lethe to explain anything she said. Because there was always some kind of long-winded explanation.

The classes for dragon anatomy and healing were the ones where Nik thrived. He'd always cared for animals, and always loved to have them around him. He suddenly missed having any of the variety of animals he'd owned around him. And he didn't much want a flitter, not yet anyway. He wanted to concentrate on studying up, on making himself 'worthy' of a dragon.

He did a darn good job. There was very little busy-work, and tons of actual hard lifting, climbing, sweeping, and ... then there were the dragons themselves.

The candidates were shown adult dragons, allowed to touch and investigate them, ask questions about them. And then they were set to clean them. That took the better part of any given afternoon when someone asked. Mainly younger dragon riders, and mainly big dragons that they always had a tough time getting to the harder bits. Everyone had a small basket with them, draped over one shoulder, and a rag, and what they called sweet-sand which seemed to be the going Pernese immitation for pummice soap. It got things clean, all right, and it did smell pretty good.

"Thank god for electricity," Nik said, shaving one morning, watching Drew and his hairy self doing the same. They'd both gotten a good start on the day, so when the evening came they were both worn out.

And that meant that when the crooning queens on the sands began to sing, they were all exhausted. "Why now?" Nik moaned, throwing his arm over his eyes and burying himself under a pillow. But soon enough, he and Drew had gotten themselves down to the sands along with everyone else.

It was quite the spectacle. Dozens of people - young teenage girls Nik noticed - and a whole batch of proud dragons framing it all. The wolves circled too, and waited for the one mage to perform a simple, elegantly worded and completely incomprehensible chant. That done, the eggs began to break open.

Drew bonded almost straight away. Impressing a lovely night-bronze female and surprising the locals - female bronzes? Not likely, but then this was magic...

Eventually though, as the eggs began breaking left and right, a group of them tumbled open at once. Nik was so amazed at the sight when Lethe was approached by a cute blue, that he missed the other night-bronze coming toward him.

He turned to see only whirling blue-green faceted eyes. Entranced, almost unable to move, Nik felt the warm wet muzzle bump his hand.

Hey! Hungry! You know, hungry? I don't know much else right now... You've known a lot. I am Seinaurth, by the way.

Waking up suddenly, having little clue that all eyes were on him with this lovely large male dragon (he was almost half again bigger than Lethe's blue, the same size as Drew's Mahtarth), Nik drew his arms carefully around the dragon's long slender neck. "Oh, sorry Seinaurth," he replied. There was a gnawing hunger in his gut, one which he knew in his head to be straight from the dragon. And itchy! What was that all about? They'd be itchy forever, wouldn't they??

Not forever, only until you scratch me. Seinaurth announced.

Nik thanked fate that he wasn't up first, and that he wasn'g going last, for the flight lessons. Seinaurth took training to heart, making his wings strong. Nik watched as the big night-bronze strode into the riding tack room and selected which set of harness and straps he'd like to be wearing.

Unabashedly, the bronze rider said, "those will make your hide look faded. Let's take the black instead."

As one, they peered at the soft leather goods, and Seinaurth decided his rider was correct. Vanity wasn't unheard of - or uncalled for - in bronzes or their riders. They were known for it. So both of them let it loose when it was appropriate. And of course since they were about to go flying for the first time they had to look their best, didn't they?

I do look my best, don't I? Seinaurth bespoke and Nik nodded.

"You look maaahvelous!" He said in a silly voice. Only a couple people nearby got the joke. It would take too long to explain to those who didn't, so they instead went out to the flats and found the line up of waiting weyrlings.

A batch of greens and blues came after, smattering of browns. He wasn't sure where the little gold was, nor where - ah - there was Lethe on her blue. Falling out of the sky like it pushed her.

"Better her than me," Nik muttered, and Seinaurth chuffled.

That is not a nice thing to say. She likes us. She is afraid to go any higher.

"Welp," Nik said in that 'I know because I know' voice, "She's gonna have to learn t'do it, ain't she?"

That is horrible grammar and I will not fly until you correct yourself.

"You- wh- Sein!" Nik burst out, but then laughed just as loudly. Shortly they were at the front of the line. Those big wing muscles would really come in handy - a bronze was supposed to be the leader of the dragons, and Sein was hardly an exception. There were bigger adult dragons out there, but Nik was positive that he'd be among the larger bronzes when he grew up.

Their flight was short - but successful - they landed on the other side of the hay-filled gulley to cheer on the others. It was with far more ease that they traveled back to the other side, flying, and eventually... Nik was sure that Sein never wanted to come down.

***

With all sorts of delays, interruptions and a load of 'instruction' about how they were going to be fighting this Thread stuff, Lethe managed to nudge Nik and Drew aside one afternoon.

She looked a little worse for wear.

"Guys, let's go. I mean, just go. This shit will never end if we stick around. One fictional universe is just as good as the next, right?"

Nik was a bit surprised to hear her say that. After all she'd been pretty hard working in the weyrs most of the time.

"Your hair is longer," Drew said, and Lethe pawed at it self-consciously.

"Yeah, it is. So..."

"Wait," Nik said, narrowing his eyes, looking over his shoulder and coming in closer. "Where've you been?"

"More when, and why," Lethe said with a smile. "You wanna meet some of my creations, or not? I've been out apologizing to them."

"Why?" Nik asked, but then he spotted one of her tattoos and recalled something about the hellish lifestyles some of her characters had been through.

I wish to fight sometimes, Seinaurth bespoke quietly. She is not a fighter, but we could be.

Maybe later, Nik announced to his dragon. They snuck away while others were busy in the lake bathing their dragons. Sein wasn't quite fully grown, but Nik suddenly realized that they'd been there for almost two years time! With their gear gathered, they waited for nightfall, and then ...

Sped away. Where would Nik go? That's up to his imagination.

***

Nick and Seinaurth would return to the Weyr, it and others like it, actually, but not to fight. After some visiting here and there, and a lot of hard work, they began to be known as a field medic team! Not for the human riders, for the dragons - Nik had become a dragon healer. He was particularly brave in the face of Thread, almost angry at it in fact, whenever it would claim another victim. But when the injuries weren't life threatening, he made certain that no scar would remain, no pain endured.

Seinaurth and he were quick on the wing, and equally quick to find partners after all the action...

***

15 years later...

I am bored, are you bored?

"I'm not bored, but I could be if you've found something better to do than this," Nik grunted, hefting yet another box of gear from one side of the room to another, preparing to clean it up for whoever was going to stay there next. They had numerous dorm mates over the years, but now it was time to actually pull up and head back to Talon City, maybe even visit Lethe down in Sandy Eggo.

Before you get too tired, then, you should check the flight board.

"The. ... The Flight board, Sein you cannot possibly want to fly a queen now. We're going home."

We will go home after I see about trying to win a flight. I promise that if I do not, we will head straight off to your fire fighters and emergency people.

They had spent quite a bit of time with the Talon City Emergency Services people, and had been assured that they'd have a place even if there were months, or years, between their visits.

He pulled in a long breath, "well, I mean. What's another couple months of sitting around waiting for eggs to hatch, right?"

That's the spirit. I will try my best.

"I know you will, my friend."