Breath of Fresh Air

  • So many newbies lately! Here is a very important PSA about one of our most vital content policies! Read it even if you are an ancient member!
"Well, no. But I figured Lily would be busy most of the day. Do you think she'd have time to go with later today?" Noah asked hopefully. He rubbed his arm. ". . . Do you think she should go? I know Upper Floaten can be a bit shit."

Then he chuckled and shrugged when Jasper talked about his baking preferences. "All right! More brownie batter for the rest of us!" he called, wandering further inside.

Chaital relished the sound of a human voice and bobbed her head, rumbling deeply as though in agreement. She shuffled her wings and settled down on her haunches to try and figure out what exactly was so interesting about the corner of the dragon shelter. It smelled normal enough.
 
Jasper only shrugged in response to questions about Lily, attention mostly elsewhere but enough on Noah to hear what he'd said. "She'd make time for you. And she's a big girl. She can take care of herself." If she hated the people, or couldn't charm them and was mistreated, she would simply come back and never go again. She was rather good at shaking off bad experiences.

"You see it?" He said to Chaital, pointing at where the structure had buckled. He knew she wouldn't understand everything he said, but a little was enough. "Where Infernus put his paws yesterday? If it moves more this way, this," he pointed at the roof, then the ground, "will fall down. That's bad." She or Boulder would probably be fine, but Pumpkin, Naga, Nobu, or a human would not.

"We fix it." He said with a decisive nod, and gave her a little smile as he turned away. "I'll be back. Gotta go home for some stuff."
 
Noah smiled. "I guess you're right. I'll ask her when she gets back from her job, then," he decided, and off he vanished to help bake brownies.

Chaital watched Jasper speak intently, even following his pointing by turning her entire head to look. She understood well enough. She settled on the grass as he went off to fetch supplies, watching Noah baking through the window.

A short while after Jasper returned, Noah came ambling outside with a plate of fresh brownies and a glass of cool milk. "You hungry, Jasper?" he asked hopefully. "The brownies came out amazing!" He set the tray down near Jasper and patted Chaital's cheek. "And how are you, Chaital?"

Chaital chuffed and licked his hair, earning a light giggle from the boy.

"Good! How're the repairs going, Jasper?" Noah added, glancing over.
 
It didn't take very long for Jasper to go back home and retrieve a tool bag and a box of supplies. Perhaps an hour after he'd left, even on foot, he arrived back at the Dragonry and immediately set to work, attaching one half of a corner bracket to the dragon shelter and getting ready to secure the next once he'd gotten help with the heavy weight part.

"In a bit, thanks." He murmured when Noah came out to see if he wanted brownies, and turned from where he was standing on a small stool for added reach to look at the two of them together. "Halfway done. All right, Chaital, ready to push on this for me?" It would be easy enough instructions. Paw here, push gently, then hold. He would only need enough time to put some nails in, and then everything would be golden.
 
Chaital rumbled in agreement and ambled over. She stood in front of Jasper, watching him with anticipation. She was ready.

Noah smiled and sat down to quietly watch the pair. Jasper certainly had a way with dragons. Chaital, especially, seemed to like the idea of having a job to do. She probably had a specific job with her previous rider, come to think of it. "Hey," Noah said softly. "What did Chaital and her last rider used to do? What was their job? I mean, Lily and Infernus deliver mail. What was Chaital's thing?" he asked.

Chaital and her rider had been referred to scouts. They'd often flown the perimeter between Lower and Upper Floaten, searching for wayward dragons, stepping in for other dragons that were sick or hurt (such as mail or guard dragons), and doing their best to spot any signs of decay or damage in Upper Floaten's frame. Thankfully there were other scouts that had stepped in after Chaital had disappeared.
 
"Right here," Jasper said, patting the wood where her paws should go and shifting back a little to be out of the way, though his hand stayed on the metal bracket. "Gently, gently. I'll tell you when to stop. . . That's good, now hold there."

He had to ignore Noah for a moment in favor of focusing on the job, but once enough of the nails were in place he picked the conversation back up again. "That should hold 'er," he said with a little nod, "Thanks, Chaital." When she had moved away, he went about adding a few more nails just to make sure everything was fine and wouldn't come loose again. "They were . . . surveyors, mostly." He explained as he worked, trying to think of how to explain it. "Did a lot of flying around, finding wayward dragons or other critters, checking crucial infrastructure for any signs of disrepair, watching out for trouble."

Even the odd human that had gotten lost or stuck in the complicated structures keeping Upper Floaten up, mostly because they weren't supposed to be there.

"She's a workin' girl," he said with a shrug as he got down off the stool, dropping his hammer back into the tool belt around his waist. "Probably why she was so ready to assist just now." He gave her a gentle pat in way of thanks for helping, raising an eyebrow at her in good humor. "Pretty sure it's not because of my charm." He hadn't done much of any sort of work with Chaital directly, but she'd been around at the same time as him before. Enough to know he wasn't any sort of threat.
 
Noah could tell he was in the middle of focusing and waited patiently for him to respond, nodding when he finally did so. "Hm. Sounds like an important job. I don't know a whole lot about dragons or infrastructure, but maybe I could help fill in the role! I'd just need some practice. Especially with flying. And dragons. And . . . everything, I guess."

Chaital snorted and pulled away from the shelter at long last, glancing at Noah before gently nudging his head with her muzzle. Some practice was an understatement.

"Speaking of help, anything I can do to help fix the shelter?" Noah asked, his eyes sparkling. "I can hammer in some extra nails if you want. Or hand you tools!"
 
Jasper made a face at the idea of Noah being a scout, and had a feeling the noise Chaital made was echoing his sentiments about just how bad an idea that would be. "Probably best to focus on something simpler for a while - like learning how to fly properly." The concept of what things were good or bad when it came to the massive metal structures above Lower Floaten was far too complicated a thing to learn before Noah had mastered things like flying and, frankly, working.

"It's pretty much done." He said almost sheepishly, not wanting to deny Noah but also uncertain about the boy's ability to do good work. Still, his grandfather had taught him since he was even younger, so he supposed he couldn't say no outright. ". . . But I was thinking of putting up more brackets at the other, unbroken corners, for extra support. You ask Papa J if he's got another stool lying around, and we can see how well you swing a hammer." Just in case, he would keep his fingers well out of the way until he'd determined it was safe to do otherwise.
 
"Fair enough," Noah decided with a light chuckle. "I guess experience will come with practice." He beamed from ear to ear when Jasper eventually invited him to help. "Oh! I'm great with a hammer! I'll be right back." He ran off into the house, and shortly he returned with both a hammer and a stool. He set the stool on the grass and stood with the hammer at the ready. "Just tell me what to hit."

He actually was somewhat experienced with hammers and tools; they didn't come up often in leather working, but occasionally they did, and sometimes he did odd jobs around the factory for his father. Even the way he held the hammer suggested he was fairly familiar with it.

Chaital reached out her neck to sniff at the hammer. It reminded her of the metal scents that came from Upper Floaten's infrastructure, and the abandoned space cruiser complex. She snorted happily and watched to see what would be done with the tool.
 
As bitter and grumpy as could be, Jasper already found himself a bit protective of Noah. The younger man was polite and always wanted to help, caring despite being a bit inexperienced in actually knowing how to do things for people, or what they wanted. It was . . . endearing, Jasper could admit to himself, though reluctantly. His grandfather had always taught him to take care of the people that needed caring for, which was probably why he watched over Lily so strictly. Noah was younger, and smaller, and far too trusting - Jasper couldn't help wanting to spare the boy's feelings when he could.

"All right," He said with a little roll of his shoulder as he went to pick up his own stool and place them both at the nearest corner to be reinforced. "Chaital, you make sure he doesn't fall over backwards, hm?"

Noah was, thankfully, good enough with hammer and nail that after a few initial instructions, Jasper simply had to hold the bracket in place and point to where the nails should go, and by the last corner didn't really have to say anything at all. When they were done, he inspected their work for a moment, wandering to and from each corner, then just gave a nod of approval.

"Not bad," he murmured appraisingly. "We both still have our thumbs, so I'd call that a win."
 
Funnily enough, Noah had decided on similar feelings about Jasper, Lily, and Mr. Jenkins. Since they were all in Lower Floaten, they probably had limited resources. And as someone from Upper Floaten with wealth to spare, he took it upon himself to ensure none of them would ever be in need - or, if it came to it, any legal trouble regarding Upper Floaten and their rules concerning dragons.

He already saw Jasper as a brother. So when the boy offered his approval of his hard work, Noah smiled proudly and even puffed his chest out a bit. "Thanks, Jasper! It did turn out pretty good." He tossed his head toward the nearby brownies and milk. "Are you gonna eat those?" He'd never had any siblings before, but he imagined it was just like having a best friend. Only Jasper was stuck with him because they were related now.

He smiled at the thought.
 
Noah's reaction to praise was almost enough to make Jasper want to laugh, if he wasn't so worried about him being hurt by it like the little misunderstanding they'd had about deception. If Noah got too offended, Jasper was sure Lily would have his head.

"All right," he said with a little shake of his head and an amused smile, wandering back to pick up a brownie finally, "Don't let it go to your head, pretty boy. It's just a little patch job." It would be a while before he started to think of Noah as anything close to Family, as wary as he could be with people and feelings, but for now he supposed he wouldn't mind the younger man hanging around.
 
"Pffft, let it go to my head? Come on. I would never," Noah joked, waving a hand and laughing. He patted Chaital's side and grinned. "So, what are you up to the rest of the day, Jasper? Have any exciting plans?"

While he was looking forward to taking Lily to Upper Floaten, he was also a bit nervous. What if she didn't like his father, or something happened with one of the neighbors? He was hoping talking with Jasper would be enough to distract him from chickening out altogether. He could always go by himself. He was just going home to get a saddle, after all.

Chaital shuffled her wings a bit before curling up around Noah with a content sigh. He didn't have much experience yet. But he had the good sense to admit as much, and so far he didn't seem prone to reckless actions like her last rider had been. He'd be easier to keep safe and protect.
 
Jasper made a thoughtful noise and just closed up his tool bag, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck as he considered. "Not sure yet. I've got things that need working on at home." But when didn't he? Part of him was hesitant to leave, mostly because he wanted to make sure that Mr. Jenkins was okay, after learning of his daughter's demise. He supposed Noah could stay and handle that, but they were still practically strangers, so it felt odd leaving him to it.

"I could stick around for a little while, I guess," he said after a moment to think, shaking his head at the way Chaital curled up around Noah. "Lord help the poor sap who ever tries to give you a hard time." It was just like how Infernus watched over Lily. If anyone tried to lay a hand on her in his presence, they'd never get it back.
 
Noah's eyes glittered. "You're gonna stick around? That would be great! All of us could hang out together. Maybe we could go on a walk with the dragons or something," he offered.

He reached up a hand and gently scratched Chaital's chin, who fumbled happily and closed her eyes. "I know, right? Chaital's like a big older sibling who'd chomp someone in half if they came at me." He wouldn't say it out loud, but he figured Jasper was probably that way with him and Lily, too.

"Well! Lookit this fancy new corner," Mr. Jenkins announced as he came outside. "Boulder, what do ya think of it?"

The older dragon couldn't be bothered to even lift his head, but he snorted in approval.

Mr. Jenkins laughed. "Ya haven't even seen it, ya dingbat." He made his way over to Noah and Jasper and patted their shoulders. "Looks great, boys. Well done."
 
There was something equal parts endearing and worrisome about how pleased Noah seemed with his presence. To Jasper it felt like finding Naga as a hatchling, when she'd done nothing but toddle around at his heels no matter where he went. Something to protect, but also vaguely annoying. He had to assume that was probably what an actual older sibling felt like, even though he still hadn't warmed up to the idea.

"Boulder is unimpressed with our craftsmanship." he said dryly, and just smiled a little when Mr. Jenkins laughed at the old dragon. "That's all right. It was a team effort - it usually has to be, when cleaning up after Lily's fantastic ideas." She was a ball of sunshine, but also a little troublemaker for him sometimes too. "This should help hold back some wear and tear for a while, at least."
 
"Well, ah do appreciate the help," Mr. Jenkins insisted. "Very kind of ya both. Jasper, I don't suppose you'd want to stick around a bit longer?"

Noah glanced over in surprise. "Did you have something planned, Grandpa?"

Mr. Jenkins scoffed. "Nah, not fer this afternoon. But I figured we go out with Ol' Boulder fer his walk, maybe, or just take a walk through the Dragonry and see how everyone's getting along." His eyes glittered. "There's a few dragons in particular ah been on the lookout fer the last few days. Jasper, you remember Soot?"

Soot was a mostly grey dragon with black markings that made it look like he'd been dipped in soot or ash at his legs, tail, and head. He had pale eyes and a notoriously bad attitude. The Dragonry had rescued him from a basement last year, and he was still very mistrusting of humans.
 
With as much time as he spent there, Jasper was already aching to be back in his workshop, but when Mr. Jenkins asked him to stay he couldn't say no. Not after all that had happened already in such a short amount of time.

"I can hang around a while," he said after a pause for thought, nodding along. "A walk sounds nice. I should probably go find the tiny terrors anyway." They were wandering off somewhere, having fun outside, but they were known to the Dragonry so it was all right. He just knew they eventually had to come home, so he wanted to keep track of them.

"The rescue that nearly took someone's hand off?" He asked with a frown when Mr. Jenkins brought up Soot, concerned with the idea of the older man being near such a dangerous dragon even though he sympathized with it, too. "Nel's been working with him, I assume? Have they made any progress?" The Dragonry's staff were very competent, but if anyone could soothe a dragon's tortured soul, Jasper thought it would be him.
 
Mr. Jenkins smiled and nodded. "That's right. An' yeah, Nel's been workin' with him pretty darn consistently. In fact, he told me he'd like to start introducin' Soot to some new faces. Said as long as we're slow an' gentle with him, we're welcome to come say hey. Betcha he's with Soot right now." He waved an arm, and then turned to amble off. "C'mon, boys."

Noah smiled gently and followed after him. "Poor guy. I'm glad we'll get a chance to help him relax, though," he added, patting Chaital's neck as the dragon padded beside him.

The group heard Soot before they saw him. A chittering, echoey sound floated over a hill as they approached. Then there was a brief glimpse of his swishing tail, which had a bit of black fluff on the end of it. Jasper might recognize the sounds and movements. Soot was playing.

Soon after, Soot himself came into view. He had additional black fluff around his neck which was puffed up in excitement, and he was chasing around some sort of treat on a long stick.

Mr. Jenkins waved an arm. "Oi, Nel! Brought mah boys with to see this here Soot fella. How's he been doin'?"

Soot paused in his playing and stood stock still, turning slightly to watch the group's approach with a guarded expression and one paw raised.
 
Jasper nodded slowly along, following after Mr. Jenkins as he started to walk. "Tough case to crack," he said thoughtfully. "Bet he's been givin' Soot a lot of attention." Any special cases usually got a lot of Nel's time, not because there was no one else that would take them on, but because he wanted to help and could be very single-minded in his desire to do so.

"Just, stay calm and move slow," Jasper instructed Noah as they walked. "Do whatever Nel says, so we don't accidentally spook 'im." He hadn't had any personal introduction to Soot, given how volatile he had been when he arrived, but the fact that he could both hear and see the dragon playing as they approached was like a small miracle. Play meant he felt confident, safe, and happy. It was a big improvement since the last time Jasper had heard about him.

When they came upon Nel, turning and swinging around a long pole with a line attached, he had his back to them, but Mr. Jenkins call and Soot's reaction had him turning halfway to face them. He was relaxed, wearing a thick leather vest and gloves but no other protection, despite not ever fully giving Soot his back. Jasper took that to mean Soot was doing very well at not accidentally hurting him anymore. Nel had never taken the small injuries to heart.

"Good morning, Mr. Jenkins." He said with a small smile, holding a hand up not to wave but to stop them from coming too close. Outside of caring for dragons, Nel was not a particularly assertive person, but he would always stand up for both their protection and that of the people they were near. "We're practicing our hunting skills. One moment."

Pulling the stick in closer, he took hold of the line the treat was tied to, reeled it in and freed it from the end. "Do you want to eat it, Soot?" He asked softly, giving it a little heft to show that he would toss it into the dragon's mouth, should he feel all right eating it in front of others. "It's all right. These are friends. They just want to say hello."


1346A281-6F9A-4504-BD7F-C0BD4A614120.jpeg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back