Dragon Rider Play

And here we play.

Headmaster Grumbledorf eyed the little town below with some disdain. The only reason this place still existed was its claim to fame that every year the dragons stopped here for a Choosing. It was a tourist trap before tourist traps were invented. Should they ever cease to come, this town would cease to exist. Still, tradition dictated he stop here, and so he did, indicating for his accompanying riders to land in the stone coliseum in te center of the little town.
The dragons roared as they obeyed their riders, four of hem landing first as they bore between them the most precious cargo: Dragon eggs! The four riders were on the ground instantly, checking over the eggs and ensuring all was well. The other riders, including the headmaster, took their time getting down as it had been a long flight from the last town to here. This was the last stop on their route. Time for either success or failure. They only had six eggs left that had not yet been claimed. That wasn't bad. Some years they only found a handful of riders who bonded with the dragons.
Grumbledorf stood to the side, leaning on Nexus as he watched and waited. Throngs of hopefuls lined up eagerly, but it would be a least an hour before they began.


One such hopeful was small, delicate Pat Rice. She weaved her way through the crowd with care so as to not get trampled. Nervously the girl tugged on her breaches and adjusted her hat. If her mother saw her now, she would have a heart attack! But Pat was determined. This was her last chance. If no dragon chose her, then she would return and be a good little housewife as she'd been trained.


Tithenor Ningaearon Rimon seemed to glide as he walked through the thronged streets. The elf seemed to be hardly even paying attention, and yet people parted around him. Long, delicate fingers flicked his hair from his eyes as he glanced around. "Such a strange creature, humans," he drawled to his fellow companions. "They live such short lives, and yet squander it in such foolish ways."
His companions murmured their agreement, all of them as tall, delicate, and arrogant as Tithenor. They came from the same clan in the east. It was tradition for every year the clan to send a chosen few to the choosing ceremony, and at one time it had been a great honor, but as the years passed and none had been chosen from their clan in decades, the honor slowly reduced to a pleasurable outing.

Blade slipped through the crowd as unnoticed as a shadow. This would be fun. Some old, rich geezers that only came once a year were now here again. Maybe, if he slipped into the ceremony, the klepto could get a neat souvenir. He grinned and came in a back way through the coliseum.

Mark saw the dragons land for the choosing ceremony and made his way there. He hoisted his pack and sauntered over to the massive structure. He'd show them. He would show all those rich snobs that dragons were so much more than just exotic pets or tools. If he was chosen, he would respect and understand his dragon, and become the strongest as a result. It only made sense.

(Blade so much as gets close to the riders, he's going to get eaten or fried extra crispy chicken style XD If not, then sorely disappointed as they carry little coin with them)

The Headmaster waited until the others were finished with the setup and standing at attention in a circle around the edges of the platform. These were former students of his who fought for the honor of carrying and guarding the eggs. He remembered a distant past when he was just like them, but no longer. Facing the crowd, he held up his arms for silence. "Welcome to the annual Choosing Ceremony! Once again we find ourselves here at Falconrest to discover the most precious thing of all, the bond between dragon and rider. You may come six at a time and touch each egg once. Do not fight and struggle, everyone will get a turn until all have had a chance to be chosen. We will oversee all and when one is chosen, we will know. Now come!"


Blue heaved a melodramatic sigh, but he and his fellows joined the line, starting it, actually. Blue was the seventh in line and so stood waiting patiently for the first six to carefully touch each egg.


Pat waited, loitering at the edge of the crowd, waiting to join the line. Now that it was time, her heart hammered painfully in her chest. This was it!

(Lol I had a plan... XD)

Blade sneaked to be in near the front of the line to choose an egg. Grab an egg, get out, and sell it for a pretty penny. Should work well, he thought. Blade was in the first group of six. He saw one egg that seemed to beckon towards him. Yep. This would be the one. He walked towards that egg and picked it up.

Mark strummed his fingers on his arm as he waited patiently in line. He was so certain a dragon would choose him, that he did not have a back up plan if this didn't work out. He was behind who he thought was a boy (Par Rice), but had a slightly rounder face. Perhaps he had a softer life than the former dragon breeder, so he had less harsh features. "Where you from?" Mark asked, trying to make small talk as they waited.

"Be gentle!" one of the attendants snapped at the boy holding the egg. "Touch the egg, do not pick it up." He couldn't help it. Having handled and traveled with these eggs for nearly a month, he was to the point of irrational paranoia.

Blue watched with no amount of surprise as none of his clan mates were chosen. They never were. Why should this year be any different? A trace of amusement crossed his face as the human got scolded by one of the attendants caring for the eggs. He wondered what an egg felt like when it chose you. Was it a mental thing? Knowing deep in your gut that this was the one? Was there a physical feeling of perhaps warmth? Did the egg move or change color?

Pat nearly jumped out of her skin when someone spoke to her. "I'm, um, that is, I'm, where am I from? Pearlharbor," she stammered then winced. She should have thought up a back story for herself, not just blurted out her actual origin! Pealharbor was one of the most influential cities in the world. Everyone knew it. Then again, maybe it'd be okay. It was also one of the larger cities, so not everyone would know each other.

Blade's eyes widened a little. Not because he was scolded like a child, but because the egg suddenly felt different in his hands. He looked back down at the egg, having no intention to put the egg back down now.

Mark smiled faintly. "Big city, eh? Never been that way before. What's it like?" He asked curiously. The line was slow, and the idiot holding the egg was holding it up some. How frustrating.

Frostwing, still in his egg, sensed something. As Blue approached, the unborn dragon was more certain. When Blue touched his egg, the ice dragon started to hatch and form a connection with Blue.

(They aren't hatching, this is more the meet and greet. They hatch back on the island under the new moon. *points to description under the signups* And speaking of, I need to make up a dragon for your characters.)

The attendant watched for a moment then reached out and touched his shoulder. "Congratulations! You have been Chosen!"

Blue sighed quietly. Oh joy. One was chosen. One down, five to go. Perhaps if they were lucky, the other five would be chosen in the next couple of batches and they could all return to having some fun around here. That was the only reason he'd chosen to come to this little backwater town, the novelty of looking around and watching the curious little humans.

Pat swallowed hard. "Um, big? And... bustling?" How did one describe a city that one only saw very little of? A proper lady did not go wandering about, after all. And a proper lady always turned the attention back to the man. "What is your hometown like?"

(I had posted, but it didn't go through. So sorry.)

Blade shrugged. He had no intention of sticking around. He waved bye and went to walk out a side door. No need in staying. He got what he came here for.

Mark moved as the line progressed. Still quite a bit of people before him, including some elves. "More like home farm. I used to work as a dragon breeder. Key word being used." He gave Pat a small smile. "If you get the honor of being chosen by a dragon, which breed do you hope the dragon is?"

(I hate when that happens! I'm sorry.)

A hand descended on the young man's shoulder. "The egg must be returned to the nest before it grows cold," the attending dragon rider said calmly, but with a hint of steel in his voice. He knew exactly what Blade had been planning, but the rules said Everyone who wanted to could touch the eggs. Now he had, and, probably to his own surprise, this would be thief was chosen. The muscular rider physically turned the boy back toward the nest and gently took the egg from his hand. "Please, wait there by my dragon. When the ceremony is over, we will gather the chosen and fly to the Islands for the hatching ceremony." The dragon he indicated conveniently shifted to lay right across Blade's escape route.

Pat shook her head. "I just want to be chosen. I don't care if it's a tiny little forest dragon, I just want out!" she said with sudden, deep fervor. Catching herself, she glanced at Mark and blushed deeply. "Excuse me. I mean... I was just... I'm..." She gave up and fell silent, stepping back to let others go first.

Blade grumbled and complied, having no other option that would either get him hurt or killed. He put the egg back in the indicated nest and did as he was told, standing net to the large, scaly beast.

Mark laughed softly. "I know the feeling. I won't pry into your past, but I feel we are both here to get out of our preordained fates." The line moved up farther, letting the elves go next. It would still be a little bit of time before Mark and Pat went, but he was patient.

Bored and wanting to get this over with, Tithenor stepped up to the platform and idly brushed his fingers over the first egg. Then the second. Then the thr- He paused at the third egg and frowned down at it. It felt alive. The others were just lumps of shells, but this one. This one he could feel the life within. He resisted the urge to pick it up, but only just. How beautiful! He stood stroking the egg, lost, until an attendant touched his shoulder.
"Congratulations on being chosen!" the attendant praised.
Tithenor blinked. What? He was chosen? HIM??

Pat didn't know what to say, and the sudden murmur and whispering among the elves stopped her. Of course they were not so rude as to openly gawk, but their astonishment was clear. Pat had met elves before and knew enough to know that they came in all shapes and sizes when it came to mannerisms, but this group, as a group, seemed rather stuck up. "An elf got chosen. There's hasn't been an elf chosen in 256 years!" she whispered to Mark in excitement.

Mark nodded, impressed. "The last elf chosen was chosen by a Greater Forest Dragon. Big, powerful, green dragon with the unusual talent that it's flame doesn't scorch the ground, but rather make it grow stronger." Mark craned his neck to see the chosen elf's egg. "And it looks like this guy was chosen by an Eastern Mountain Hail Dragon. Another big one that can spew out ice and snow." He rattled off. Apparently you could take the breeder out of the farm, but not the breeder out of a former breeder.

Tithenor allowed himself to be steered to stand next the other chosen rider. He pulled himself together and stood straight and proud, his expression aloof. Nothing here affected him. He was above it all. He was ver good at this mask, hiding the turmoil within. He was chosen! He watched with apparent disinterest as his clanmates suddenly became more interested in looking over the four remaining eggs, but none were chosen.

Pat glanced at him. "You are very good," she said softly. She wanted to ask more, his name, how he'd gotten the scars, more about dragons, but that would be rude. Instead she stood silent and watched the disappointed elves - though of course they didn't look disappointed - trickle off the little stage and wander away to allow others. She was getting close.

Blade looked the elf over, analyzing him. Hmmm... maybe the elf had something shiny on him that would be worth a pretty penny. The right buyer would pay a lot for anything made by elves.

Mark laughed a little. "Sorry. I guess part of me will always be a dragon breeder." He tried to see what breeds the unchosen eggs were. "If I'm closer, I can seem more like a geek and tell you the unborn dragon's gender even."

Tithenor spoke without looking at the human. "I may look like a pretty boy, but touch my pockets and loose your fingers." It wasn't a total bluff. The coat he wore had tiny blades tied into the inside hems of his pockets. You had to know exactly how to reach in to avoid getting cut. Tithenor and his clan may be arrogant and stuck up, but they weren't stupid.

Pat stared at Mark in awe. "You can... You can really do that? That's pretty amazing! What would you like for a dragon?"

Blade frowned. "Well you're no fun." The klepto grumbled. In his boredom, Blade pulled out a knife and started tossing it and flipping it, preforming knife tricks. It kept his mind and hands occupied.

Mark laughed a little. "And one would be nice. I just want to become partners with a dragon. Have a give and take relationship with it, you know? They're more than tools. Dragons are living, intelligent creatures like us."

Tithenor just smiled blandly and waited. Would this line never end?? He wanted to be alone to sort things out!

"People treat them like tools?" Pat asked, puzzled, then turned back to the line as they inched a little closer. "I hope mine is a girl." There she went, talking like it was a done deal. She held her breath then let it out slowly. "If. One chooses me."

Blade added a second knife after several moments seemingly out of thin air. He had clever hands, and was skilled in the art of misdirection.

Mark nodded. "Or like mindless pets. And who knows. I see at least one breed up there where the females are stronger and superior to the males. You may get lucky."

Tithenor ignored his fellow chosen one. (and just stands here cause what else is there to do?)

"That's sad," Pat murmured then gestured for him to go with the next group, leaving her in the last group. "You should go."

Mark nodded kindly to her. "Thank you. Best of luck to you." Mark went through and stroked each egg lightly, identifying each dragon species and gender in his head until his fingers froze on a male, Eastern Frillback egg. His scarred face spread into a wide smile as he recognized he was chosen. This was a very good dragon too.

The dragon stirred in his egg, sensing his rider. He rolled over in his egg, causing it to shift, then settled down.
An attendant smiled as he approached. "Congratulations! You are our third chosen! Please, come stand over here."

Pat smiled as she watched Mark get chosen. He deserved it! She wasn't so sure about the elf or the other guy, but the dragons knew better. She hoped.

Mark nodded and joined the other two. He nodded politely to the elf. "Congrats." He said politely, hoping to make small talk.

Blade eyed the new guy as he played with his knives, keenly looking for something to take.

(Kind of see Blade being the first to figure/find out Pat is a girl XD I see him stealing her bra and then "selling" it back to her, but would agree to keep the secret.)

"And you as well," Tithenor replied, inclining his head. "I am Tithenor Ningaearon Rimon. Many humans call me Blue, as they cannot manage the name."

Pat took a deep breath as she mounted the stage, the last to do so. Her hand trembling, she reached out to touch the eggs one by one, saving the one Mark had said was female for last.

Mark bowed his head respectfully. "Pleasure to meet you, Tithenor. I am Mark Drake." He knew some elven, as his farm was near an elven village, and pronounced the name better than most humans as a result.

The female egg sensed that this rider was unique, and different from the rest. Whe Pat went to touch her egg, the egg moved to meet her hand, and even tried to prematurely hatch under her touch.

Mark noticed and being closer than the attendant, sprinted over and snatched Pat's hand away from the egg, which stilled again. He let out a breath of relief.