A Boy and His Dragonwolf

[Mythy the Dragon-Wolf]

Mahara, still smiling dreamily, looked at Judy and nudged her gently. "Don't be too tough on him. He's learning quite well." she said, looking to the blade and cocking her head. "Though I don't think he has the magical ability to activate it and use it in battle yet. Too much focus to split up." she glanced at the beam, which had plenty of scars from over-eager trainees. "He should get that fixed one of these days.."

"Nevermind about that!" Neema said, looking to Mahara and Judy. "How about we have a dinner party for these two? A 'welcome' party maybe. We should see if Yemis can get some time off." he looked hopefully to the two women while Nym murred and nuzzled his mate.

Mahara rubbed her head in thought and then brightened. "If I can bring a partner, I'd be up for it. It's been a while since we've all gotten together."

 

[Quiet One]

"I sort of figured I could power the crystal with raw panic," Tyler joked back, setting the sword down. He then motioned Claire over and showed her the other drawing he'd made. "By the way, I've been thinking about making this for you. A collapsible bow that'll be easier to carry around. Was even thinking it could nock the first arrow for you."

"That's pretty cool. Maybe something we can go into at the party they seem to want to set up for us," Claire replied.

He looked up and blushed, rolling the sheet up as Nemune licked Nym's cheek and walked in a circle around him, her tail brushing him to renew the mark of her scent on him. "It sounds good. Do you guys have houses that can handle five pandrylyrs and a rambunctious Melody?"

"Don't worry. Dartmoor will keep her entertained if she gets out of hand, not to mention she can play with Neema's kid," Judy replied.

Tyler looked from her to Mahara. "So...does that mean we're going light on the training today?"

 

[Mythy the Dragon-Wolf]

Nym, once the blade was set down, walked over to it and looked it it curiously. He made a soft murring bark which rotated the blade for a moment, very slowly. Satisfied he nodded and walked back over to Nemune to rub against her and return the favor of the scent marking.

Mahara rose an eyebrow when Tyler suggested going easy, while Neema and Temin stood and stretched before looking at him too. "Nope." Was the simple answer, though soon Mahara would elaborate. "Go easy? No. We will be stopping a bit earlier though so you can get dressed. And if you ask nicely, Ayrie or Yemis might allow you to use their kitchen to make something for the dinner party."

 

[Quiet One]

"If by 'allow' do you mean 'give me another lesson with the magic crystals?'" Tyler asked back. He picked up his sword, then set it down, not really having a safe way to carry it around with him. He'd have to get someone to make a custom hilt for him. Plus, he doubted training would involve such a dangerous weapon. "I sort of figured that was asking too much. I'll put on my armor. Claire, a little help?"

With her aid he got dressed again in his full taelesol armor. It still felt a bit weird, but at least now he was kind of used to carrying it around over him. By the time he was done, Nym and Nemune were finishing up their own playful frolic, both having gotten their scents on one another and rubbing their noses together. Temin's pandrylyr stuck his tongue out, which made Tyler chuckle. They could go a bit overboard with their affection.

 

[Mythy the Dragon-Wolf]

Meena's companion, Ramnak, chuckled at Zennar's tongue and nudged his friend before barking to Dartmoor and the others. Mahara chuckled and nodded a bit. "Bring your weapon with you Tyler." She said with a smile. "You'll need it, we'll be getting you used to the weight and balance."

The smith, Xyr, looked over to the human and nodded. "Don't worry. I'll make some hooks for your armor to act as a holder. And Mahara, I'll work on a practice blade with the shape and weight for him."

Satisfied, Mahara would lead the way towards the training circle. "We can't use that in sparring yet, you don't have the control. As such, we'll need a blade to mimic the workings until you're trained enough."

When they arrived, there was again the same stone golems he practiced with before. Mahara looked to him and smiled, while Temin went over and worked some of his magic in order to make them work how they wanted. "But for now, we'll get you used to using it. First, against these with the blade off, same as your first practice. When you're ready... We'll have Nym activate it so you can get used to that." The Pandrylyr looked up from hearing his name.

"Begin when you're ready."

 

[Quiet One]

"Okay..." Tyler replied as the rules were explained to him. He squeezed the handle of his newly-forged sword, his mild apprehension making the blades move a little. He looked down and it stopped. "Alright...I think I'm good to go."

He took a deep breath and swiped, the stone golem easily blocking him. But he was just trying to get used to the weight. While it wasn't all that heavy, it was oddly balanced. As he got used to it, he started going faster, swinging down at the golem's leg, then at its side. "How am I doing?" he asked while swinging some more.

"Not bad," Judy acknowledged while she watched. "Clearly your new sword isn't designed for thrusting and stabbing."

"Yeah. Sort of figured I'd be luckier making big strikes," he replied. He hopped out of the golem's reach to catch his breath for a second and turned to Mahara. "By the way, Mahara; how was your date?"

 

[Mythy the Dragon-Wolf]

Mahara was paying less attention to Tyler than perhaps she should be, and was suddenly jumped when he addressed her. She blinked a little and blushed, rubbing her head. "Wh-why don't you focus on your training?" She asked before giggling some. "Oh.. it was just fun. I mean first we went for some drinks and a game, then Nemune took us flying..." She paused and looked to the other males who were looking at her with a small smirk. "Well that's all you're gonna get. Now if you have time to dawdle you have time to work." The squad leader said, trying to show she could still be in charge.

Temin laughed some and nodded, creating a pair of new golems so that Tyler was surrounded in a triangle. "Group fighting without your team is important too." He said while Neema turned around and started to walk off. "I'll go check on the training blade" he said while glancing back and giving a wink to them all.

 

[Quiet One]

"Sounds like someone's been struck by cupid," Tyler teased. At her confused look he tried to explain. "It's a little person with tiny wings who shoots arrows that make people fall in love." He paused. "Yeah...human mythology can be pretty weird - woah!"

One of the golems got a strike in his back while he tried to dodge the others, falling back. Judy smirked as he retreated. "Pay attention, Tyler. We can talk about Mahara's love-life afterwards."

He focused then, but quickly found himself getting overwhelmed. He grit his teeth, and suddenly he felt power trickle into his hand and down the blade. When he swung two golems blocked him with their stone weapons. Just then the blade turned on and buzzed into the rock, eventually cutting right through them. He then took advantage, yelled, and cut right through two of them, making them fall apart. When the last approached him he cut its arms, spun around and chopped off its leg, making it fall over and break into pieces. Tyler stepped back, panting, and looked at everyone, the buzz of his blade silencing.

"Sorry..." he panted. "That was getting a bit tough."

 

[Mythy the Dragon-Wolf]

Temin crossed his arms and grunted a little, shaking his head. Mahara frowned some herslef and sighed. "Doesn't mean you can take the easy way out. As well, that lack of control is why you can't use that weapon in sparring." she explained, rubbing her head a little. "It takes Iron will and control to spar at full power.. and you don't have that yet."

A few minutes later, Neema came back with a blunted blade made of the same steel, and of the same approximate shape of Tyler's weapon but much less deadly for everyone involved. Mahara nodded to him and looked at Tyler. "Right, swap out your weapons. It's time to spar." she said, the rest of them going over to the shack and placing their weapons in holders, grabbing blunted training implements.

Mahara would grab a shortblade and hand it to Claire, nodding. "You need to be able to defend yourself in close combat too."

 

[Quiet One]

Tyler hung his head down and nodded, putting his sword away as Neema came back with his practice weapon. He gave it a practice swing and looked at Claire. He felt a little bad for losing control. Some knight. As cool as it was that his sawblade was able to cut effortlessly through stone, that wasn't the point of what they were doing here.

"I'm sorry, guys," he said as he came up to them for sparring. "I...I guess I need to learn how to control this. I've never had this kind of power before. It just slips into my hands sometimes."

"You had the power all along," Judy explained. "We just taught you how to harness it. Now that you know it's a part of you, it's much easier to grasp." She took a deep breath and continued. "But like anything, it's about practice. When I harnessed my water abilities, I was a danger around the falls. I was able to master myself through a sort of meditation - I stood submerged in a waterfall, the roar of it pounding my ears and the pressure of all that weight threatening to break my back. I would practice under there until I was one with the water, and it flowed as smoothly over me as it did the stones below. If you could somehow immerse yourself in machines like I did with water, maybe you could master your power."

Tyler nodded, thinking over what at least sounded like sage wisdom. "I'll look into it. Thanks."

"Don't mention it. Now get your sword up," she ordered. "Time to build a fighting style."

 

[Mythy the Dragon-Wolf]

Mahara smirked a little as Judy spoke, remembering that well. Most anyone who used magic for combat or for anything that took concentration did something like that. She remembered when a young Neema would walk out in the thunderstorms with his Glaive and try to get it to strike directly on the tip of the glaive, which he stuck onto the ground. He wanted to be able to command it, control it, rather than just cause strikes when he got upset.

She then looked to Claire and smiled. "We won't make you join in right away. But perhaps.. empty your mind, like when we were working with magic. Watch how we fight and when it feels right, you'll jump in. Learn your style." she winked, before looking to Tyler and readying her dual blades. Neema his glaive, Temin his slab sword. She took a deep breath and grinned. "We'll be all-out, Tyler. And using magic. Make the first move when you're ready."

 

[Quiet One]

"And if it doesn't feel right I can just sit back and watch?" Claire teased. Tyler looked at her with a betrayed glare before she winked at him. He gave her a small smile back, and turned to the others, who had surrounded him.

How to do this? He looked at each of them, concluding that Temin's practice weapon was closest to his own. He'd have a better chance of one on one with him; probably have a similar fighting style. Neema would be quickest, Judy would be scariest, and Mahara...maybe he could get lucky distracting her with thoughts of her lover-boy.

"Alright...by the way, Mahara - when we all get together later you planning on bringing your new mate?" As soon as he saw her go red he struck, making her back away although she still deflected perfectly.

"Heh. Clever, Tyler," Judy chuckled, pointing her practice sword at the waterfall behind them and bringing water down, wetting the floor. "Won't work on a pasandrylyr, though." She swung her sword and Tyler blocked, his hand on the flat of his heavy slab of metal. She swung again and again, making Tyler block and fail to counter, getting him struck in the thigh and then again across the back.

When she was about to hit again, however, she slipped and tried to regain her footing. The water underneath her had been frozen, and Claire had her sword at the start of the ice. She raised her sword - which grew red hot - and smacked it down, creating a huge cloud of steam. Tyler and Claire exchanged a look, he nodded, and swung his sword around, hitting her in the gut and making her stumble and fall back.

"Thanks for the assist," he said.

"Well, I couldn't just watch you get your ass kicked," she retorted. "Too bad you can't use your powers here."

"Maybe I can..." He looked and noticed that the practice area had crystal-based lights, all off given the time of day. As Neema and Temin drew in from one end and Mahara came in from another, he raised his hand and focused his power on the crystals, his intent to fill the area with blinding light just as they struck.

 

[Mythy the Dragon-Wolf]

And it almost worked perfectly. Temin and Mahara both lept back and took a guard stance, but Neema charged forward. He was used to fighting without sight for brief periods of time, and he focused down on Tyler. He swept the staff of his glaive at the human's feet and as he was knocked down, he lept up and stabbed his blade down, electifying the rest of the water and giving a small jolt to Tyler. Not enough to cause damage, but enough he would feel a little numb as he got up.

At that point the globes overloaded and shut down, letting the others all readjust. Mahara looked to Claire and winked before swaying her blades in an elaborate dance. She formed a chinese-dragon looking beast out of ice from the water in the air and sent it charging towards Claire while Temin summoned up some stone pillars to propel him into the air and come down for a leaping smash onto Tyler - if he didn't get out of the way because of the numbness, he would adjust so he wouldn't actually hit the human.

 

[Quiet One]

Tyler convulsed on the floor as the electricity began wearing off on him, and he was only just able to roll out of the way as Temin came crashing down on him. He rolled and stood up, just able to block with his weapon at another strike.

Claire spluttered and walked backwards, bumping into Tyler. She'd cast fire on Mahara's ice dragon, melting it, but also soaking herself in the process. "I think we're going to lose this one," she said. "Good trick, though. Got any others?"

"One," he replied quietly, turning to the magic temple. "Think you can shoot that stick from a bow?"

"If I can get one. Where are you going with this?"

"Just follow my lead." He bolted for the magic room, Claire following after him and snatching up a bow as she went. With the other four chasing them Tyler threw out his hand and opened the door. Once inside he stayed near the door but off to the side. Claire nodded as she got the idea, drawing her bow. When the four came in Tyler shut off the lights. When Claire drew her bow it lit up with lightning and fired.

But it didn't shock them all. Instead, Judy captured the electricity in a ball of water and threw it open, splashing both Claire and Tyler, shocking them again.

"Smart move," she praised. "But we're vets, guys. We know how to handle an ambush. Good try, though."

 

[Mythy the Dragon-Wolf]

Mahara blinked slightly at the dark of the magic chamber and looked to the humans once they came out, knowing Judy would handle the attack. Once the two were down, she nodded. "Right, good try. Good job, too... but you'll need to fix all the lights." she said, moving over and helping Tyler up, and then Claire. "Anyway... it's rather late for now. We'll finish up.. go ahead and get ready for dinner. We'll see you later." she smiled, a gesture returned by the other Aer, before starting to head out."

 

[Quiet One]

"Shit, did I actually break them? I was just trying to turn them off," Tyler said, looking around at the globes around the chamber. He smiled at them. "It was a good try though, right?"

When they went their separate ways Nemune licked Nym's cheek and went with Mahara. Normally she'd take this time to be with her mate, but she wanted to be there for Mahara when she went to get Jeshran. Nothing like a maternal pandrylyr to keep a mature adult in line. Tyler, on the other hand, pulled Nym along while he and Claire changed. He gave his fur a brushing after changing into his Aer attire, giving a scratch to his ears before heading out.

The others were waiting for them, all but Mahara, who was late getting her date. Judy held onto Melody, who was sitting on top of Dartmoor's back. Guess she wasn't feeling like being a pandrylyr and instead wanted to play taelesol.

 

[Mythy the Dragon-Wolf]

Nym had actually stayed still for the brushing, wanting to look good for Nemune. And he supposed, the rest of the group they would be meeting today. Once they were done and ready, they walked out and would meet Judy outside, Nym murring and going up to look at Melody atop Dartmoor, who giggled and drummed on the Pandrylyr's back. "Onward Dartmoor! It's time to keep the people safe!" She roared, waving a hand as if she was brandishing a sword.

Mahara soon showed up, pulling Jeshran beside her while Nym barked and bounded over to rub into Nemune happily. The Aer looked over to Tyler and and smiled a little, nodding her head. "Well, where's your offering?" She asked, gesturing her head to a pan that she was carrying. "If we were walking up to his house we should leave now.. though, if we want to fly I suppose you have time to do some cooking."

 

[Quiet One]

Tyler blushed a little and looked to Claire. "Um...didn't know we were supposed to make something. Where's the temple kitchen? I think I can cook something up. Besides, It's not too hard to fly there."

He and Claire, followed by the others, went to the kitchen. While looking through the ingredients, he found some rice, some spices that he sniffed in passing to pick the right ones, some cooking oil, butter, and a meat he didn't recognize. "What's the main course?"

"Well, Yemis and I made some Shrimp Tempura, but Neema will likely have most of our meal prepared by the time we get there," Judy said. "What are you making?"

"Just thinking of some rice, maybe a little bit of meat put in. Think I need some water..."

"Almost looks like you're making a spicy risotto," Claire observed. "Can I help?"

Together, they cut, cooked, and whipped together a little side of rice, spiced and given a few chunks of meat. As he put everything in a bowl Tyler offered a spoonful to Melody. "Let me know what you think, kiddo."

 

[Mythy the Dragon-Wolf]

Yemis watched Tyler carefully as he offered a spoonful to Melody. Granted, he trusted the human enough to not have done anything that would purposely hurt his daughter, but still. In any case, Melody opened up her mouth and took the spoon, chewing the rice only a few times before swallowing it. She made a face of intense thought and then looked to Tyler. "It's good. Not as good ad daddy's but it's good." She said with a nod, deciding to lay forward on Dartmoor.

Mahara chuckled and nodded, turning to lead the way back out of the temple. "Well then, now that that's settled, what's say we take a flight up to Neema's place? Nemune and I can lead the way."

 

[Quiet One]

"Not too surprised by that," Tyler said at Melody's comment. He looked up at Yemis. "Your Daddy's a real pro when it comes to the kitchen."

He capped the side dish and Claire took it from his hand, going with him and climbing onto Nym's back. The two held him while Nemune waited for Mahara and Jeshran to climb onto her. Once they did she flapped her wings, took a couple steps back, and leaped into the air, flapping, grabbing onto the roof of another building and pushing off it to fly up.

"Okay, Nym," Tyler said. "After her." He and Claire then held on tight, ready for takeoff.