Back

Stivr'wynn and Beaut had formed an unusual relationship with someone on the Caledrus. Someone who hadn't had dragons when he was there last, but now, she had managed to adopt two of them. She was a bit weirded out by Stivr, because he referred to things as though he were speaking to a cameraman just behind him. At all times. That was how he was, and once she got used to that factor, Axarr Madness thought he was kind of fun to be around. He would spontaneously start yammering about a new thing he'd discovered (like the toaster oven, or Axarr's collection of off-world porn), so sometimes she would reply in kind and mess with his mind.

Beaut was no less daunted by calm, arrogant black Juth, who looked over the wingless dragon with a careful eye before returning to his casual activities. It was Allmynth who had a hissiefit almost every time they entered Axarr's spacious quarters. Today was no different, it was as though she didn't remember them. Which was just as well, because it appeared that Stivr'wynn and Beaut lacked the ability to recall clearly how many times they'd done this either.

Today, after Allmynth flipped out and hissed at Beaut for coming near 'her' dragon Juth, and 'her' bond Axarr, wore herself out turning in little green dancing circles, Beaut rested beside Juth and was finally joined by the female who occasionally still panted out a 'mine!' for good measure.

Stivr'wynn approached Axarr, who stood by her big display window and looked out at the planet they circled.

"I've found something interesting, very interesting," Axarr said, and heard Stivr' quoting her in his lilting accent, aiming it at the invisible cameraman. "The planet is called Atu, and that," She pointed at a space station connected to a long tether/elevator shaft, "Is Star City. Do you see that little nub off it? That's the Abstract Destiny, a ship rather like this one." She continued to speak even though Stivr' was talking, himself, and knowing that he only realized the importance of half the things she said. "There is a nest there, something we should see. You and I. It'll be fun."

With that said, Stivr' stopped muttering to himself and stood straighter up. He blinked. The presence of the babel fish in his ear meant that now he had no excuse not to understand the meanings of words, not to be able to claim he didn't know that 'animal' he was harrassing was sentient. Woodstock had insisted that he be fitted for one after the first few times he almost caused intergalactic war.

"Cor," he breathed, eyes going wide, "Y'mean you - an' me, onna dait? Croikey! Oi accept!" He darted off quickly, not even waiting for Beaut to head after him.

Axarr sighed, and glanced at the trio of dragons resting in a pile. "Well you guys can come along if you want, too, what I read was saying it's for experienced bonders. And," she laughed, "I would say you're an experience..."

***

Stivr'wynn 'prissified' himself, taking his helmet off and brushing his mop of tan-golden hair (and promptly putting his hat back on it), getting dressed in khaki long pants, a white shirt and a tan colored casual jacket. It would almost be like he was trying to impress Axarr - and he wondered if she was going to show up in a slinky dress or what.

Because he wasn't sure how to react to that at all. His experience with women was even weirder than that which he had with animals... And Axarr was somewhere between, with those ... paws? Tail? Sure she was a chick, woman - lady - um - Even thinking about it got Stivr' riled up.

She was military, he had to remember that much at least. She probably wouldn't come in a dress. No. That wouldn't suit a military woman would it? Stivr'wynn was only faintly aware of her rank, as a General. However even Axarr wasn't much for rank and file. He was entirely civilian, so she didn't expect much from him anyway.

Was theirs a relationship based on respect, adoration, or merely circumstance?

Because they were both pretty weird.

Their dragons might have been the most normal part of their lives, and that was saying something, because a wingless two-tailed dragon and a pair like Juth and Allmynth... were hardly normal...

But they were certainly experienced. Even subconsciously Stivr'wynn took good care of Beaut, always making sure his scales were clean and free of parasites. Good food but not too much, the right temperatures... Axarr allowed Juth and Allmynth their space but she also considered how much they needed to be shown and instructed. She felt they had fine instincts for feeding and cleaning themselves, and Allmynth of course was absolutely compulsive about keeping poor Juth's hide shiny. They both listened up when Axarr went all serious on them though.

Axarr waited in her quarters for the inevitable reappearance of Stivr'wynn, eventually having to go collect him, their dragons in tow, and head off to the Abstract Destiny to get that appointment for the sands they wanted.

He wasn't even really let down when they didn't have a private, candlelit dinner or anything... Because there was so much more to do and see than all that.

***

At the Abstract Destiny there was only a little leftover room for the trio of dragons, even though they weren't huge by any means, there were still three of them. It was painful to both Stivr' and Axarr that they were often separated because their dragons decided they needed their own 'espace'.

They weren't even allowed into the hatching bay when the big nest of half-hathians were born. Now, to be fair, when he heard they were Hathian in nature, Stivr'wynn brightly chimed in with the fact that Beaut was also part Hathian. But these... were half hydra. His experiences with hydra were ... just loads of fun.

He had to wait almost until last- after speaking in hushed tones to the invisible cameraman behind him, when Diamis ate the one hatchling alive. "It's jest nature workin' its ways... It's nevah koind, but it may be the roight thing t'do. Now she's a mothah, she knows."

"Stivr'wynn," Called Schroeder, the doc in charge of these babies. Stivr' came close, veered off, and and then turned briefly to his 'camera'.

"Now Oi'm finally gettin' my turn to git one a' these lit'l babies," he said, less hushed, because he was now the center of attention. "Let's see who the good doctah Schraydah is gonna trust me to take care of."

The good doctor blinked, holding back a grin, and said, "Taerih," and a beautifully white female came up. Her eyes watched Stivr'wynn intensely.

"Cooah!" Stivr'wynn said, excitedly, "Isn't she a lovely lit'l sheila! Let's go get her fed!"

To his delight, the little white said, "Cooah!" Stivr'wynn and she caught up to Axarr shortly, and both of them wondered why the little half-hydras didn't have heads yet beyond their first. Stivr' correctly guessed that they would come in later.

Both were also handed a voucher that someone said was for later - everything was later.

"Naoh," Stivr'wynn said as he lovingly scratched the white's neck, "is toim t' sleep."

***

Taerih scooted around behind Stivr'wynn gleefully, as her head buds grew. So pretty soon, she, Beaut and Stivr' had a big thing going that they would observe and make notes to each other - or to that invisible camera person behind them - at any given time.

It got annoying, true, but finally Woodstock decided to put it to use. She fitted Stivr' with a recording device, one which simply broadcast visuals and had a hyperbolic microphone - so he wasn't much heard, but the things he was looking at could be listened in on. He became a kind of inadvertant security device for the Caledrus. (Read about that?)

While that was fun in and of itself, Stivr'wynn started getting fan mail. He wasn't sure why, other than that he was indeed a devilishly handsome and smart guy... People seemed to be clued in that he was a great explorer. Now, his discoveries would be shown all over the world.

All over the galaxy!

Okay, he didn't know that it was comedy, but whatever.

However, Taerih kept getting bigger. Quite big, in fact. Almost a third bigger than her companion from the same clutch, whom Axarr would lead around carefully trying to keep out of trouble. Eventually Taerih was almost up to the massive shoulder of Inga, the thirty-seven headed hydra that lived on Caledrus.

They would be the first off the ship to a new planet to explore, and the last back on board. Taerih was even permissive enough that when Beaut wasn't able to fly around, she gave a good strong attempt to fly Stivr'wynn around - to less than successful results mostly, but they did try several times. Off the ground enough that they could clear a jungle canopy. In the air only long enough to find a good spot to crash on...

** More below! **

It was after many, many years of exploration, rest and relaxation, and letting the profits from their adventure-comedy 'show' roll in (and fund a lot more exploration and r&r to be honest) that something strange happened. The Infinite Improbability Drive kicked in all by itself.

The Caledrus came to a skidding halt somewhere over the Healing Den, it was far too large to park on its parking lot. With a group heading down into the asteroid to figure out why Open All Nite wasn't there any more (they'd gone numerous times in years past, but... the Den was already around? Did the Drive time travel too?) but while they were there some interesting tidbits came on their radar.

Of course Stivr' and his dragons were among those exploring the area, and Beaut had his attention drawn by... something. A brightness like a migraine aura but without pain, in fact it looked quite inviting to the two-tailed dragon. "Be roight back," Beaut said, ducking away from the group who were having coffee and donuts while Baeris tried to figure out what to show them all first. Beaut did notice that the atmosphere changed when he went through that weird portal, but that was nothing new.

It was while he was in this place, the Spectral Wilds, that he had a bit of a fling with a local dragon by the name of Mougati, producing some beautiful two-tailed gemstone dragons! He was there and back before anyone else even noticed!

Well, someone noticed on the other side of that, a turquoise female from that clutch that followed him home just like he'd followed Stivr'. She named herself Rumbi'rumbiyun, and she never stopped looking at everything around her...