Happy Dragon Tuesday, everyone! This week, we get to see the wind dragons at work.
This week's recommendation is one of my favorite video games of all time, Dragon Age: Origins. In the game, you live in the kingdom of Ferelden, which is being plagued by creatures known as Darkspawn (the leader of which is a giant dragon). You become a Grey Warden, one of the warriors tasked with fighting the Darkspawn. This game is freaking amazing, because your backstory changes depending on what race and class you choose to be. Dragon Age II is also a fun game, though not as good as Origins in my opinion. As for Dragon Age: Inquisition… *holds back long rant about how I've owned the game since it first came out but do not own a computer with the processing power necessary to play it so goddammit!*
Ahem, anyway… Enjoy!
Ruby jumped out of bed that morning. Today was the first day of elemental lessons, and she couldn't be more excited! She wondered what the first lessons involving wind dragons would involve. Would they be taught to fly? Would it be a session devoted to learning more about wind dragon mannerisms? Anything could happen! Due to growing up with Tempest, she was convinced that she could handle anything.
Skipping over to the divots, she leaned down to kiss each Team RWBY dragonet awake. "Good morning, Specter."
Specter opened his black eyes and chirped sleepily.
She skipped over Storm, saving her for last. "Good morning, Fang."
As usual, Fang growled and snapped at her face, barely missing her nose.
Not bothered, she moved on to Pit. "Good morning, Pit."
Pit blinked up at her and yawned.
She returned to where Storm was just opening her little blue eyes. "Good morning, Storm!"
Immediately, Storm woke up fully and jumped into Ruby's arms, squeaking happily as her partner showered her with kisses and back scratches.
Ruby giggled, nuzzling her dragonet before placing her back on the bed of down. "Let's get you some breakfast. You have a big day ahead of you!"
She couldn't believe it had only been a week since the hatching of her beloved dragonet. Already, she couldn't imagine life without her. It was like having Tempest's unfailing loyalty and devotion combined with the wide-eyed innocence of a child. Ruby had never loved anything quite this much.
She was practically floating as she took Storm to the wind arena, looking around at the other students. While she'd usually shy away from them, having her dragon in her arms made her feel ten-times more capable of starting a conversation.
It also helped that she recognized one of the students. "Hey, Nora!" she called, running to catch up with the ginger-haired girl.
Nora paused, grinning as Ruby ran over. "Hey, Ruby." She smiled at Storm. "Hey, gorgeous!"
Ruby lightly tapped Freya's snout in greeting before continuing toward the arena with Nora. "So, how's your team been adjusting?"
Nora shrugged. "Twiggy's still scared of a lot of things, and Guang is still crazy, but nothing bad has happened. I'm feeling pretty confident." She hugged Freya. "This little girl can keep them in line."
"You think she's the alpha dragon of the group?" Ruby asked, remembering Port's lesson stating that the lead dragon in a team wasn't usually the leader's dragon.
"Not sure," Nora said. "My money's on Titan, honestly. He's calm like Freya, but has a more forceful personality. Who do you think your alpha will be?"
Ruby thought for a moment. "Well, Fang's a little too aggressive. I'd say it'll either be Pit or Specter. Probably Pit, since he's older." Storm was pretty calm, but was mostly content with going with the flow, Ruby found. There wasn't a lot of assertiveness in her personality.
They arrived at the arena, moving to stand next to Scarlet. Ruby whispered a greeting to his googly-eyed dragon just as a whoosh of air signaled the arrival of their professor.
A yellow-green dragon with pale orange eyes landed, and her rider practically leaped from her back. In his hand was a large thermos. He pushed back his goggles, revealing thick glasses that obscured his eyes. "Greetings, students! My name is Doctor Oobleck, and I will be instructing you on how to train wind dragons."
He zipped forward so that he was right in front of the line. "Wind dragons are the first aerial defense in any team, making early development of wing muscles very important!" He zipped to one end of the line. "So, unlike the other dragon classes, we will be starting on flying almost immediately!" He zoomed to the other end of the line, pausing to look at Sky Lark's yellow-green dragon, who blinked his yellow eyes. "My god, if elementals weren't sterile, I'd wonder if Gust was this little fellow's mother." Then, he zipped back over to his dragon.
"Gust, show wings!"
Obligingly, Gust sat back on her haunches and extended her wings. Fully stretched out, they cast a shadow over half of the arena. They were at least twice the length of her body from the nose to the base of her tail. Sunlight shined through the membranes, coming out in a greenish glow. There were several awed gasps.
"Good girl, Gust. Good girl." Doctor Oobleck replied, prompting the dragon to withdraw her wings. "As you can see, large wings are one of the most distinct features of a wind dragon. Wing to body ratio is important in determining whether a dragon will be better at flying or fighting, and whether they're better at sprinting or flying for long distances."
"Now, let me examine your dragons." He zipped over to Ruby. "Name?"
"Ruby Rose, sir!" Ruby promptly replied. "And this is Storm."
"Wonderful name, wonderful." The doctor took the dragonet and examined her, clicking his tongue. "Hm. Average body to wing ratio. Smaller head fins. Tail will likely be longer and whiplike, leading to quick turns." He handed the hatchling back, then moved on to Nora and Freya.
"Larger body to wing ratio, will make it necessary to develop stronger flight muscles. Buff legs and strong chest. Good for taking hits and being buffeted by the wind."
He went to Scarlet and Nimbus, eyebrows lowering as he took the dragonet. "Small body to wing ratio, will have powerful wing strokes. Seems to be cross-eyed. We'll see if he grows out of it. Could lead to difficulty in the air."
Scarlet took Nimbus back, frowning nervously as he held his dragonet close.
Doctor Oobleck continued down the line, making notes about all of the dragons. Sky's wind dragon, named Tornado, had a larger body to wing ratio and a stronger tail, good for acting as a rudder.
"Now, then! Today, we will be exercising our dragons. That's right, exercise! Being in the air requires strong lungs, especially when the air gets thinner higher up. The head fins help to filter some of that air, but regular breaths are still recommended when possible." He took a swig from his thermos before indicating the arena, which was an obstacle course of ladders and platforms. "We will go one at a time. Those not using the obstacle course will jog their dragons on the track just over there. Miss Valkyrie and Freya! You will be first. Chop chop, now!"
Nora placed Freya on the ground and ran toward the obstacle course, noticing that there were two paths, a larger one for the humans, and a smaller one for the dragonets, making it necessary for both parties to overcome similar challenges. She ran up to a ladder and tapped the top of the smaller one. "Forward," she said before climbing up her own ladder.
Freya watched Nora for a moment, then started climbing. Her claws slipped on the rungs of the ladder, and her wings kept getting in the way, causing her to fall a few times. In the end, she used her tail to push herself up halfway, then scrambled the rest of the way.
The platform after the ladder ended abruptly in a small drop. Nora jumped immediately, then whistled for Freya to do the same. The dragonet hesitated before jumping, landing on her side. Thankfully, there was a padded mat at the bottom, which softened her fall.
The rest of the obstacle course had similar challenges. At one point, the two had to climb together up a grid made of ropes. There was much falling and fumbling at that station. At the end, Doctor Oobleck clicked his stopwatch.
"Fifteen minutes. Not bad for a beginner. Scarlet David and Nimbus!" he called.
Scarlet placed Nimbus on the ground, watching as his cross-eyed dragonet immediately stumbled to the right. He quickly picked the hatchling up and set him on the correct path.
"Hey, isn't your dragon a little young to be drunk?" Sky Lark called from the track, laughing loudly at his own joke. A few other people snickered. Ruby and Nora were not among them.
"Thank you for volunteering to go next, Mister Lark!" Doctor Oobleck shouted. "Please focus on running the track in the meantime."
Scarlet patted the top of the ladder, giving the forward command. He climbed his own ladder, wincing as Nimbus repeatedly slipped during his ascent. To his surprise, however, the googly wind dragonet didn't need any prompting to jump from the platform.
Nimbus took a running leap, squeaking excitedly. His large wings unfurled, catching the air beneath them for a few seconds. He was gliding through the air, only to crash into the next obstacle. He sat up, shaking his head.
"Well done!" Doctor Oobleck called. "Perfect glide, not so perfect landing, but that's to be expected."
Scarlet ran over to make sure Nimbus hadn't hurt his head. "Good boy, Nimbus," he murmured. "Don't listen to Sky. You're going to be a natural flier."
Nimbus nuzzled against his hand, purring loudly.
The rest of the course went similarly, with Nimbus having trouble climbing but managing to glide (and crash) twice more. They spent five minutes on the rope grid alone.
Doctor Oobleck checked his watch. "Eighteen minutes. A tad slow, but I do see a lot of potential. Sky Lark and Tornado! Front and center!"
Tornado turned out to be the opposite of Nimbus: He excelled at climbing, but took a tumble at each jumping station. When they got to the end after seventeen minutes, Doctor Oobleck murmured: "All dragons have shortcomings, Mister Lark, even yours. Think about that before you try being funny in the future."
Ruby and Storm ended up going last, and immediately ran into a problem: Storm did not want to leave her partner's side.
When they approached the first ladder, Ruby had no trouble getting Storm to scramble toward the top. However, as soon as Ruby started up her ladder, Storm backtracked and tried to follow.
"No, Storm. Go up yours." Ruby got down and placed Storm by the ladder. "Forward." She started to climb her own, only to groan as Storm immediately abandoned her course yet again. "No, Storm."
After a few more failed attempts to get Storm to listen, Ruby heard Doctor Oobleck's approaching footsteps. "I'm sorry, sir," she muttered. "I'm usually better at-"
"Not at all, not at all," the doctor interrupted, waving his hand dismissively. "Your dragon clearly knows how to listen to you. More importantly, she loves you. However, a dragon and its rider should not be joined at the hip all the time, contrary to popular belief." He picked up the docile dragonet. "A sense of independence needs to be fostered."
Ruby nodded. "How do I do that?"
Doctor Oobleck smiled gently. "Strange as it may sound, I would recommend leaving your dragon from time to time. Go out and do something with your human and Faunus friends, leaving your dragonet in the care of one of your teammates or another rider."
"Wait, what?" Ruby stared.
"It will be good for her," the doctor insisted. "Dragons need to know how to interact with other people, particularly their partners' teammates. Ask one of them to mind her this weekend, and go do something on your own. That's my best advice." He placed Storm down. "For now, get through the obstacle course. Let's see if Storm figures out where she's supposed to go."
Ruby ran through her part of the obstacle course. Storm, refusing to be separated from her, tried climbing the larger ladders until Ruby jumped, then elected to bolt around the platform to rejoin her. They struggled with the rope grid before eventually making it to the end.
"Twenty five minutes." Doctor Oobleck patted her shoulder. "Don't worry. As dragonet problems go, a dragon who loves you too much is not the worst issue you could face."
Ruby managed a tiny smile. "Thank you, sir."
After the lesson ended, Ruby was walking away from the arena, feeling a little disillusioned as she held Storm against her chest. She jumped when Nora ran up to her.
"Hey, Ruby," she greeted. "Don't worry about the course. I'm sure you'll do better."
"I know," Ruby sighed. "I just…this is the first time I've had any issues with dragons. Back home, Tempest and all the others did what I asked them to right away." She noticed Scarlet walking by. "Hey, Scarlet! That was some pretty good gliding Nimbus was doing."
Scarlet smiled. "Thanks. Hopefully, it makes up for his sight." He joined the two girls as they walked down the path. "I heard Oobleck say something about going out without your dragon. Maybe the three of us can do something this weekend. I heard there was a store in town selling dragon accessories. It could be fun just to look."
Nora snorted. "Accessories? Like clothes?"
"Actually, yes," Scarlet replied. "There are also tail rings, arm bands, dragon-safe nail paint…"
Ruby giggled. "I've heard of stores like that. Dad never got anything from them, of course. I think Quake would have smacked him against the wall if he had tried painting his claws."
"It does seem pretty goofy. So, you in?" Scarlet asked.
When Nora nodded, Ruby did as well. "Sure. How about Saturday?"
"Saturday, it is!" Scarlet said, grinning brightly. "Here, let's exchange Scroll numbers." Once that was done, he waved to the girls. "Well, I'd better give this guy a warm bath. All that gliding had to be exhausting, huh buddy?"
Nimbus chirped happily, his tail thumping against his partner's leg.
Ruby and Nora talked for a little while before parting ways. As she returned to the dorm, Ruby looked down at Storm, who was gazing adoringly up at her.
"You'll be fine for a few hours, right?" she muttered. Part of her didn't want to leave Storm at all, but she knew that Doctor Oobleck was right. One day, Storm would be too big for the dorm rooms and would have to live in the wind stable. Teaching her how to live separately from her partner was vital.
At least I've been able to make some friends. She thought about the weekend, and the fact that she had managed to arrange hanging out with people without Yang's assistance. Despite her failures in class that day, a slight spring returned to her step.
I didn't want to just hand Ruby a perfect dragon, so I decided to come up with a problem that often arises in both pets and children: clinginess. I still remember back when we first got our beagle and he would howl whenever left alone in his crate… Good lord, he howled so much…
If you like what you see and want to show extra support in exchange for rewards, my P/atreon is Solora Goldsun.
Peace out!