A Boy and His Dragonwolf

[Mythy the Dragon-Wolf]

Nym sat at the table and watched all the humans and Aer eat, wagging his tail and watching every bite that went up to mouths, wishing that he was going to get a bite of something. Meanwhile, Mahara smiled and looked over at Claire to speak a bit more. "So.. Claire.. you said after this you were going to go back? And you were training to be a veterinarian? What is that?" she asked curiously, having eaten plenty of her food.

 

[Quiet One]

Tyler looked over at Nym. He was clearly hungry, as evidenced by the way he kept looking at everyone eating. Tyler was a little confused, since he thought for sure they'd get fed, too. He put on a couple of his stuffed mushrooms and the medallions and pushed them over to him. "Here you go, bud. Don't forget to share with your girlfriend."

Nemune looked from him over to her mate and nuzzled his side as the small plate was pushed in his direction.

"A veterinarian is a doctor that takes care of sick animals," Claire explained. "We make sure they're healthy, eating right...neutered," she cringed and looked over at the pandrylyrs, worried she'd get dirty canine looks, "and sadly we're usually the ones to go to for end of life care for people's pets."

 

[Mythy the Dragon-Wolf]

Nym looked at the plate of food that was pushed to him and barked out his thanks, gripping the plate carefully in his jaws and bringing it down to the floor, where he took one of the medallions to begin with and fed it to his nuzzling mate by pressing his muzzles to hers.

Mahara cocked her head curiously at what Claire was saying. She had nodded and understood most of it, but there was one word that she really didn't understand. "Neutered? I'm afraid that I don't quite know what that is. Can you explain?" the Taelesol asked with a smile.

 

[Quiet One]

Nemune barked once happily and began eating the offered food, making sure to nuzzle into her mate while she did. Claire, meanwhile, shuffled in her seat uncomfortably and tried to make herself smaller inside it. "It's where we...make sure the animals can't reproduce. We...snip, to make sure they can't have kids." Nemune, Dartmoor, and the other pandrylyrs all stopped what they were doing and looked over at her. That they understood.

 

[Mythy the Dragon-Wolf]

Nym blinked and stopped eating, staring up at Claire at the same time as the others, his eyes a bit wide as if in shock. Mahara blushed a little and rubbed her head at seeing that, but it was Melody who spoke up next. "Why? Babies are awesome. Especially baby Pandylyr! You should see them at nursing some time." the young half-aer giggled at the thought of it, shifting in Judy's lap and not thinking much more about it.

 

[Quiet One]

"Well..." Claire looked to Judy for some help, since she knew what this was about too. But the mother just smirked and shook her head, silently saying you're on your own. "We have problems with stray animals. Mainly cats. We neuter them so they don't mate with wild cats and harm the ecosystem. That's just one of the reasons. It's a little complicated..." She looked at the pandrylyrs awkwardly. "Someone help me out of this."

 

[Mythy the Dragon-Wolf]

Nym shook his head and went back to eating, nudging Nemune gently to stop staring at the human. Mahara blushed a little and rubbed her head, looking at the human and nodding. "Will you need transportation back to your home in order to continue your classes?" she asked with a smile. "I am sure we can spare someone to fly you there if you so need." she offered. She didn't know how Claire would go to and from the temple, nor travel in her own world.

 

[Quiet One]

Nemune gave a quiet bark and turned to her mate, nuzzling back at him as they continued to eat. Claire still felt like they were staring at her, and Tyler also felt awkward not knowing how to help her out of this. All he could think of was that she should have said something simpler, like that she was training to be a doctor for animals. Then the apparently controversial topic of neutering wouldn't have come up.

"I might need an escort down the mountain, but I drove her and I can drive back," Claire replied. "Judy? Would you mind?"

The human taelesol shook her head. "Not at all. It'd save from having to explain cars to anyone."

 

[Mythy the Dragon-Wolf]

Mahara looked between the three humans, giving Judy a small look. It had been years since she went back to the human world so she wondered how it would be taken. Nevertheless she smiled and stood up, leaving payment on the table. Her eyes caught the male she was obviously crushing on and she blushed, before focusing on Tyler. "Right. While they do that, you and I Tyler, we're going to be teaching you how to fly." she said with a nod, waiting for everyone else to get up.

 

[Quiet One]

Nemune yipped and nuzzled Nym, happy he'd get some practice in carrying his human on his back. She licked his cheek too, a kind of kiss good luck.

"Really?" Tyler asked. "You're gonna show me how to fly?"

"Get him in the armor," Judy advised as she led Claire out. "He needs that to practice flying properly. Nym, too."

Dartmoor barked in parting and joined Judy and Claire as they left, the beast's long horns rubbing against Judy's leg as they went. Claire eyed the warrior woman carefully as they walked. Was there some ulterior motive to her volunteering? "If you want...you can stick around for a little while. I know you haven't been in our world for some time. You've missed a lot."

"It's not even been a decade," she replied with a dry smirk. "What could I have missed?"

"Let's just say we're a lot crazier now," Claire told her. "You're probably safer in a world full of monsters than what we've got going on right now."

"Oh yeah. How could I resist not just staying there forever?" she quipped with a sarcastic laugh. The smile drifted off a little. "Though...it would be nice to see where I came from again. It's still my first home, no matter what."

 

[Mythy the Dragon-Wolf]

"Come Nemune. You're going to be showing them how to fly too." Mahara said with a chuckle, looking down and Nym and blinking a bit. "Tyler, we're borrowing Nym a moment. His armor is still back at the smith's so we need to get that on him. Get your own armor on and meet us at the training area. She paused and looked at his face to gauge his excitement. "You're gonna fly." she said finally before turning and walking, Nym nuzzling Tyler's leg before setting off with him.

 

[Quiet One]

Nemune looked over at her mate and swished her tail in his face, spreading a little of her scent and enticing him to follow. Not that she really needed to; he understood what they were doing well enough. Tyler gave Nym a little pat on the head as he went to join them, heading back to his room to change into his armor. While there, he ran into the Ayrie and rather awkwardly knew he had to make his way over to her.

"Hey, Ayrie."

"Taelesol Tyler," she bowed. "Taelesol Judy and Claire just left through the temple gate. I apologize if you wished to speak to them."

"Uh, no. I know where they're going," he told her. "I actually need your help. I'm going for flying lessons and...I need a little help getting some of the armor on."

She didn't seem to find anything awkward about that and bowed again. "I'd be honored to assist, Taelesol."

 

[Mythy the Dragon-Wolf]

Meanwhile Nym would be led to the armorer where the gruff workman smiled at the pandrylyr and went into the back. Soon he came out with a set of armor, perfectly attuned to Tyler's in every way. As Mahara began to put it on him - something she mused she would need to teach Tyler to do - she would pet and stroke the dragonwolf before helping Nemune into her own armor. And once Tyler would get his armor on he would get a small tingle, as if knowing exactly where Nym was.

 

[Quiet One]

Nemune watched as Nym was put in his armor, thinking how like a strong male he looked in the full set. She did find it odd that the armor was fitted for a larger pandrylyr than he was currently. The armorsmith must be suspecting another growth spurt. She nuzzled his side before she got up and patiently waited for Mahara to put her own armor on.

Once Ayrie got the last bit of armor on him, Tyler jumped as he suddenly felt his armor tingle. "What the - ?"

"Taelesol armor has a function that links you to your pandrylyr's armor, so if you get separated you can find one another," Ayrie replied.

Tyler turned and the tingling grew. He turned the other way and it lessened. It was like hot-cold for finding Nym. "Well, I can see that coming in handy. Thanks for helping me get in this stuff, by the way."

He walked back into the training area, his attention directed at the runway-like section built off of it. He noticed the others with his team had armor and their dragon-wolves were stretching their wings like they were getting ready for flight. His armor tingled harder until he saw Nym waiting for him and got down to pet his head. "Hey, buddy. You're going to help me out with this, right?"

 

[Mythy the Dragon-Wolf]

Nym barked and nuzzled into Tyler for a moment before bounding away and flapping his wings, really excited to be doing this with his human. He would run over to Nemune and rub into her before going back to Tyler. Mahara stood up from Nemune's side and walked over to look Tyler in his armor, and then down at Nym. The armor had basically a built-in saddle so that the rider wouldn't just slip right off, but it was enough so that they would end up being able to move about.

"Right.. first you need to mount up on Nym." Mahara said, looking over the human with a grin. "That's the first thing to learn. Use the armor to help you climb on, and then settle yourself down in a position that is comfortable for you."

 

[Quiet One]

"Okay, hold still bud," Tyler told Nym and climbed onto his back. He swept his leg over and saddled onto his back. He was definitely grateful for the saddle built into the armor, as well as the raised handle he could grab on if he needed to. He suspected, though, that he wouldn't get to use the handle very much. Tyler reached through some of the gaps in Nym's armor and scratched his ears. "Alright...I think I'm ready to start."

 

[Mythy the Dragon-Wolf]

And before Mahara was saying anything, Nym ran down the launching pad and took off into the air. It seemed like the dragonwolf was excited. The Aer would laugh and slide her legs over Nemune, ordering her forwards to catch up with the two of them, while Temin and Neema would take off behind her while they lagged behind, just to watch while Nym took to the air and howled in excitement, beginning to fly around without Tyler giving any sort of direction.

 

[Quiet One]

"Nym? Nym!" Tyler leaned forward, clutching onto the pandrylyr as he ran down the runway and flapped his wings. He shut his eyes at the initial launch, and slowly opened them as the wind whipped at his hair and the warm sunlight hit his face. He immediately made the biggest mistake he could make; he looked down. That made him jump then swiftly cling to Nym's body. But his big, furry bud clearly had everything under control, and that allowed him to relax. He looked down again, and this time instead of being scared of what he saw, he was enamored by it. All those trees looked like little bits of broccoli.

Nemune flapped her wings and caught up to them, causing Tyler to look back at Mahara and blush. "I guess I wasn't as ready as I thought. So...what now?"

 

[Mythy the Dragon-Wolf]

Nym barked and moved over to nuzzle into Nemune as they flew, just for Mahara to chuckle and watch as the female moved away so as to not let anyone fall. "First you need to be able to control him." she nodded. "Using words and your body. Trusting one another in flight without needing either, especially in a fight, will come much, much later." she nodded, beginning to demonstrate what he would work up to, soaring in the sky with Nemune while Nym tried to follow.

 

[Quiet One]

Tyler listened to Mahara over the wind and nodded. He reached over and patted Nym's head. "Hey, Nym? Buddy? Yeah, don't try snuzzling in the sky, alright? I'm gonna fall over if you do that." He looked up as Mahara picked up the pace in front of him. "Okay...follow her, pal." As he was guided by Mahara, Nemune looked back and began drifting out of a straight line, turning. Tyler noticed this and leaned to the right, allowing Nym to change direction much more smoothly. They kept drifting until they were too far over, and then Tyler leaned left, causing Nym to drift in from the other side. He looked down and smiled at his furry friend. This was the first time it felt like real teamwork.