Dragon Rider Play

Blade smiled and watched his dragon. "I love her. She's really cute, and great. What do you think you're going to name your dragon?"

Tithenor's dragon started to come out. He teetered on his rider's shoulder, and flapped his wings to balance himself. One or the wings smacked the side of Blue's head, but the little guy didn't fall.

Pat's dragon churred happily. She climbed up her trainer to wrap around Pat's arm and lick her face.

"I do not know yet," Tithenor winced, offering his hand to steady the little beast. "I am still getting to know him. Yours has a lot of personality, I see. She reminds me of you."

Pat giggled as she hugged her dragon as best she could, kissing the soft feathers. "Dream," she whispered. "Is that an okay name for you? Dream? You are my dream come true."

Krudd grunted as he came in pulling a wagon load of meats. "Alright, in the future, Professor Blackwater is going to be teaching you how to hunt and prepare your dragon's food on your own. Eventually, you will take your dragon hunting with you and teach it how to do it itself. Until then, you are going to have to freeze, cook, slice, dice, or whatever the meat for your dragon. The walls of the stalls are to keep your dragons from feeling competitive and like they have to fight each other for food. Eventually, they will learn they don't have to, but until then, this is their feeding station." He started delivering the food to each stall, including a sack full of insects for one boy with a tiny little Sprite dragon.

Tithenor's dragon perked up a little as he smelled food, and tried to launch himself off of his rider's shoulder into the food cart.

Pat's dragon sneezed and shook her head at that. Her rider could come up with a better name than that, couldn't she? She liked the setiment, but it didn't seem like her name.

Blade smiled and carried his dragon to their stall. "Okay, how do you want me to make your meat? Lots of little cubes? Cooked? Throw me a bone here."

Mark prepared his dragon's food with relative ease. He knew of this breed, but never had such a wonderful connection to the amazing beast before. "There you go. Eat up."

Tithenor barely managed to catch his dragon. "/Patience!/" he scolded gently, putting him on the floor and touching the hatchling's nose. "/Stay./" He kept his voice firm, but soft, waiting until he was certain the dragon would obey before taking the food from Krudd and placing it on the floor on the opposite side from his dragon. He turned to face his dragon and held up his hand. "/Wait./"

Pat smiled. "Okay. I'll keep thinking, little Dream." She kissed her head once more than set her down before taking the offered hunk and placing it on the floor. Carefully, she used the given knife to slice it into more manageable pieces and offered them one at a time to Not Dream.

Blade's dragon just stared at him, her tail flicking impatiently. He was the personal chef, not her! Where was breakfast, already??

Mark's dragon squeaked in joy and scrambled for the food, gulping it down without bothering to swallow, tearing up bigger pieces he couldn't swallow with his tiny little claws.

Tithenor's dragon curled up where his rider said and waited. When the food became a matter at hand, he gave Tithenor the cutest puppy dog eyes a dragon could manage.

Pat's dragon laid down and almost delicately ate the meat as Pat gave it to her. The dragon even licked her claws and cleaned her face afterwords almost like a cat would.

Blade grabbed his dragons share and cut off a chunk she could swallow and tossed it to her. "There. That a good size for now?"

Mark smiled and watched his little Frillback. He wondered if it was too early to try and come up with a name for his dragon yet.

"/Wait,/" Tithenor repeated firmly. He held it for a long moment then nodded. "/Good. Come eat!/"

Pat smiled as she watched and cleaned up after the little dragon. "I will find you a proper name since you don't like Dream, but if you're going to be picky, the least you could do is give me a hint!"

Blade's dragon looked at him then turned up her nose. No, that was not good for her! She didn't want it.

The little Frillback trotted over to Mark, tail swishing as he presented a juicy piece to Mark.

Tithenor's dragon joyfully pounced on the meat and examined it, making sure it was prepared right. He whimpered and looked up at Tithenor pleadingly.

Pat's dragon simply climbed onto her shoulder. She didn't know what name sounded like her yet. However, she would stay with her rider for now thank you very much.

Blade frowned. he picked it up and cooked it as best he could and gave it back. "This better?"

Mark crouched down to the little dragon's height. "What're you doing now, little guy?"

"Is it not cold enough?" Tithenor frowned, prodding the frosty, but slightly squishy meat. "Do you need it in smaller bites?"

Pat chuckled and patted her head gently. "Understood."

The little Blade dragon hissed and turned her back. Never! She didn't like cooked food!

Mark's dragon held up the meat, offering it to Mark, his tail flicking hopefully.

Tithenor's dragon sniffed it again and whimpered. he looked back up at his rider hopefully. It was too big and too warm still.

Pat's dragon licked her cheek affectionately, ready to start her day with her rider.

Blade frowned and tried to freeze a raw meat cube and offered it to his dragon next. "I get you want me to make you edible food, but for Pete's sake help me out a little here."

Mark smiled. "Is this for me? Are you sure you don't need it to grow big and strong?"

(How exactly did Blade freeze or cook the meat? Cooking, I suppose there could be a fire for that...)

Tithenor frowned as he examined the meat. How was he going to Freeze the meat? Getting an idea, he wrapped it up and picked it and his dragon up. "Come, we'll take care of this," he assured the dragon, going to speak to Krudd."

"I'm not sure what we're doing today," Pat admitted. "I guess we'll be finding out soon."

The Blade dragon snorted disdainfully. No! Too cold. Too little. No!

Mark's dragon purred, setting it down and pushing the meat toward Mark. It was his gift! He gave a little whine. Didn't his rider like his gift?

(I thought Krudd said everything was in the stall they needed to prepare their dragons food.... ;-

Tithenor's dragon hid or at least tried to hide when he saw the dwarf.

Pat's dragon churred happily.

Blade frowned and gave her a bigger chunk of just raw meat. Maybe he gave her too small of a piece before? He didn't want to give her the whole thing all at once, not wanting the little dragon to choke trying to get it down.

Mark smiled and picked up the piece and ate it for his dragon. Granted, he knew it wasn't the healthiest thing for him, but he wanted to make the little dragon happy.

(No, he didn't, and actually, except for the Blade dragon, as this is their first day, he gave everyone what they needed, including frozen meat, as shown in the fact that he gave the one guy a bag of insects.)

Tithenor firmly kept the little dragon at his front, stroking him calmly. "Excuse me, sir, but do you happen to know where I might find a dragon that freezes things?" he asked politely. "This meat is not frozen enough, my dragon does not want to eat it."
Krudd grunted and examined the piece. "Must have thawed on the way over." Pushing aside some spare pieces, he reached into the belly of the wagon and held out a piece of meat thatwas frozen solid. "How's this?"
"Thank you, sir," Blue said with a little bow before returning to the stall and setting his dragon down. "Is this better?"

Blade's dragon perked up and dove at the meat, shoving her head into the side of it. She scratched off the surface and began gnawing away at the insides, eating the meat from the inside out.

The Frillback chirped and his whole body wiggled in explosive happiness, causing his frill to wave.

(Oops.... my bad for misinterpreting then. Sorry ><)

Tithenor's dragon churred happily and attacked the frozen hunk of meat, tearing off frosty strips and downing them in glee. His frilled tail swished back and forth.

Blade breathed a sigh of relief. At least now he knew how his dragon liked to eat, although he suspected she may need washed off afterwords.

Mark smiled, glad his dragon was happy. He laughed and scratched under his chin.

(All good!)

Tithenor smiled, feeling his dragon's pleasure. It felt good to do something right.

Blade's dragon ate to her heart's content, finally pulling her head out of an empty husk. Her long, forked tongue flicked up around her face, mostly cleaning it off. She purred as she went to Blade, thanking him for her food. She was ready for a nap now.

The happy hatchling purred and stretched out, rubbing his nose against Mark's hand.

Once Tithenor's dragon got his fill, he nudged the rest of the meat to his rider. Maybe his rider was hungry? He didn't mind sharing the rest! Not one bit!

Blade smiled and sat down. He stroked his deadly little dragon. "Hmmm... Should I try to name you now, do you think?"

Mark smiled and kept scratching the little guy's chin. "You are something else, aren't you?"

"/Thank you,/" Tithenor praised, nibbling on some and pretending to eat more than he really did.

She walked in a circle under his hand, purring and trying to clean off her spikes. Some were hard to reach!

Of course he was! He was a Dragon! Mark's hatchling spread his wings and tried to roar ferociously. It came out as a high pitched squeak.

Blue's dragon crooned happily and licked his rider's hand.

Blade smiled. "Okay, hold still and I'll try and clean you off a bit more..." He used a knife to gently clean out areas his fingers couldn't quite reach, but soon his dragon was fairly clean.

Mark smiled. "Good stance. Very good stance for such a young dragon." He praised.

Mark's dragon bobbed his head proudly, strutting now. He was a big mean dragon!

"Okay, boys and girls, bring out the leftovers and toss 'em in here," Krudd said, wheeling a wheelbarrow down the lane.

Tithenor fondly rubbed his dragon's head then placed the extra meat into the wagon.

Pat didn't have any extra, so she just stood there with her dragon.

Blade threw the scraps in the wheelbarrow, along with Mark. Mark was glad his little dragon was happy with himself.

Tithenor's dragon still wanted to hide from the scary dwarf.

Pat's dragon licked her rider's cheek fondly. She was excited to see what they did next!

"Alright. Now that everyone's been fed, they'll have some energy for a while then want a nap. Hatchlings are big on sleeping," Krudd said, pushing his wagon and wheelbarrow outside. "Tomorrow you can take them outside to play, but for today you will be staying in here to all get to know your dragons and each other. One of the things you need to get to know and familiarise yourselves with are their cages." He lugged in a large wooden cage with a sort of little box on one side. Putting it in the middle of the room, he said, "For the first couple months of life, these will be your dragon's bedrooms. Pretty much all they will be doing here is sleeping unless you absolutely have to leave them for a few hours. And yes, the cage is better than leaving them loose. Better a cage than them getting eaten by a larger predator or stuck in a chimney." He turned the cage around. "This wood is enchanted. Can't be burned, frozen, acid-ed, or chewed apart. As they get bigger, you can remove the slats so they can see out more, and they'll be placed side by side so they can still socialize. That's why you need to get to know each other's dragons now, so you know who will get along and who won't. Now get to it, I'll bring in the other cages and stack them against the wall."

Pat's dragon snorted disdainfully. She had no intentions of leaving her rider's side for that!

Mark smiled and picked up his dragon, lightly stroking the long frill running down his back. "Okay, little guy. How social are you? You've been very friendly around me, but what about other dragons?"

Blade nodded as Krudd spoke. "Well, what do you think, little girl?"

Tithenor's dragon tried to go up to one of the cages to sniff it. Such a weird new thing!

Pat smiled and rubbed her feathers gently. "It's okay. Just at night when we are both sleeping. I don't think you want to be in a room full of snoring boys any more than I do. Come on, let's go try to say high. Do you want to start with Blade? He's always been nice to me."

The little Frillback went absolutely limp in Mark's arms, keening softly in pleasure. That frill thing felt nice!

Blade's Blade looked around at the rowdy hatchlings and boys. She promptly started burrowing under the straw, trying to sneak up on a fluffy little Cloud dragon. Cloud dragons were good dragons, but soft as their names, more cats than dragons until they got older. She stealthily snuck up behind it, waiting to pounce...

Tithenor went to one of the cages and sat next to it. "/This is to protect you when I am not there,/" he told the dragon. "/You will not spend much time in it, but I cannot protect you when I am sleeping, and then is when you will stay here./"

Pat's dragon sneezed in displeasure. Why couldn't they sleep together like they did last night? It was so nice and warm!

Mark chuckled. "Come on. Let's go say hi to Tithenor and his dragon." He walked over to the elf, still stroking his little dragon's frill.

Blade grinned and let his little dragon play. As long as no one got hurt, he saw no foul in a little tussle like this. Besides, wasn't it a good thing his dragon was already practicing being a good hunter?

Tithenor's dragon chirped. If his rider though it was a good thing, then it couldn't be all that bad.

"I know, but we have to follow the rules," Pat told her gently, moving toward Blade. She was curious about his pointy dragon. At first, she'd thought the hatchling was covered in long whiskers or something, but now that it was dry, the girl could see they were actually a lot of sharp looking spikes.

Meanwhile, Blade's dragon had gotten right up behind the baby Cloud. She darted forward suddenly, stealing the bone the Cloud dragon had been saving, and flopped back into the straw. The little cloud dragon looked around, startled, then reached fro his bone. Not finding it, he sat down and began to wail pitifully while his distraught rider tried to figure out what had happened. Blade's dragon proudly bore her treasure back to show her rider.

Tithenor glanced up as Mark approached. "Your dragon seems quite content," he remarked, eyeing the boneless lump in his arms. He reached out with one hand, stroking his dragon gently.

Blade took the bone and waggled a finger at his dragon, frowning. "No. You can take things from me, but not from other riders or dragons unless I say so, okay? You made that other dragon feel sad. You would feel sad too if someone stole your bone. Now, go give it back to that other dragon or else I'm taking back the knife I gave you, okay?" He said firmly. He gave his dragon the bone back to return.

Mark chuckled. "I think I found his favorite spot to be stroked."

Tithenor's dragon purred and rubbed against his rider's legs, much like how a cat might. That felt good!