Junkyard Dragons
It's Tariday, Eatonis 07 11:25:18 1019. The full moon isn't up. The tide is low and ebbing. A light rain falls from a grey sky. It's cool and there's a mild wind from the east.
A02: Old Clunk's Junkyard
It's a lightly raining day, unremarkable in many ways here in the Junkyard, but flying swiftly into the area is a tiny red butterfly-winged dragon laughing as it holds a beautiful longbow that is WAY too big for it. After a moment, a griffon bearing a rider follows behind at fully the same airspeed. From the griffon's back, Ga'Elian shouts, "Sparklewing! Get back here with that, you little rascal!"
Munch perks up, raising his head from the pile of junk he's been looking over. Magicite eyes blinks with a soft click, making sure he's really seeing this and didn't accidentally inhale an old illusion potion again. ".....'Sparklewing'?"
This Sparklewing, too busy checking out its pursuer, fails to notice that one of the metallic item here is... alive and moving, and just as the dragon turns its focus back to its flight path is only barely able to swerve to avoid smacking Munch at full speed, instead clipping a piece of junk and tumbling head-over-tail to crash land in a pile of soft scraps--mostly leather. In so doing, he releases the bow straight upwards. Right behind him, the griffon, swerves around Munch in a Top Gun style pass, and Ga'Elian grabs his bow from mid-air just as it hits the zenith of its trajectory. The dragon rights himself and shakes himself off, laughing the whole time.
Ga'Elian guides the griffon to a landing and stows the longbow back into his quiver. He says, "Didn't mean to startle you, Munch. This little fellow thought he'd pull a prank on me, he did."
Munch waggles a finger at the small dragon. "Don't run in here. Clunk gets upset. And when Clunk gets upset, other folks get upset, and that's not good for anyone." The metal man doesn't sound too upset himself... likely passing along information he himself was given not too long ago. "Eh, no harm done. Faerie type, yeah? I havn't seen many of those. None in the city."
Sparklewing rises easily into the air again, and says to Ga'Elian, "That... that metal giant is ALIVE! He just spoke to me." He flies around to get a more proper look at Munch, keeping himself a good 10 feet off, and says in Tradespeak, 'I wouldn't think of *running* in here. Much too slow.' The creature winks playfully, then says, 'But thanks. I'll be more wary if ever I come back here again.' <draconic>
Ga'Elian tells te dragon. "Yes, he did speak to you. Serves you right flying off with my longbow in the City. And I suggest, Sparklewing, that you don't come back here again."
Munch holds mostly still, used to being inspected. "I'm really more ceramics and polymers than metal. And he's right, the junkyard itself isn't so bad, but Goblintown can be dangerous if you aren't careful. Especially if you look like you might be tasty roasted on a stick." <draconic>
The dragon at first merely blows out a puff of air as if weighing the information in its mind then sort of shrugs, and instantly vanishes with a *poof* into nothingness.
Ga'Elian shakes his head and says, "He can be a right useful friend, but he can be a pain in the ass, too. How are you doing, today?"
Munch's dreadlocks twitch and writhe, spreading slightly, like roused snakes. He continues to stare at the spot Sparkelwing disappeared for a moment before shifting his attention to Ga'Elian. "Eh, I'm okay. Killing time, mostly, waiting for sunset. What are you up to, besides chasing your bow?"
Ga'Elian says, "Oh, I came into Alexandria earlier today to sell some beasts to a butcher. I'd gotten done with that and was about to head down to check the job oostings at the Guild hall when Sparklewing decided to make his appearance. A short while back, I made a pact with him, and he comes once in a while when I call him, to help me with things like causing a distraction or diverting a sentry's attention while I do something sneaky. Anyway, he likes to pull pranks, too."
Munch nods absently, leathery dreadlocks still restless. "I figured out how to turn into a dragon. It only lasts a little while though, I can't get the form to stabilize. But it's kinda disrupted my regular schedules. The novelity will wear off eventually, but for now it's really the highlight of my day."
Ga'Elian stares in wonder for a moment, "Really?" he asks. "That must be... amazing, or terrifying possibly. What sort of dragon, if I may ask? Apart from Sparklewing there, the only dragon I've ever actually seen is the Firstborn, and I'd be quite happy to never repeat that vision in all the centuries that remain to my lifespan."
Munch blinks with a click again. "Green. I think that's mostly what I was orginally made of. Well, the core bit, anyway. I'm not sure, most of the notes where lost. I've seen several, fought a few, ate a couple. Never got to see Heth though. I was down in the Rune sewers when all that happened. Wasn't until a lot later found out what the heck was going on."
Ga'Elian smiles, "Ah, the ones that like to stink up the forests, I gather. Beautiful creatures they are reported to be, but not at all friendly. So, anyway, have you been back to Rune since, well since Rune anchored itself over there north of the City about where we checked out that crashed wagon?"
Munch says, "Nah. After the city came back into the real world, took a brief trip to Dragonier, but beyond that have stayed pretty close to Alexandros. Within a days run, anyaway." Which given the way he runs is honestly quite a distance. "Mostly just waiting for the Guild to come up with something for me. Lots of maybes, but no yes recently."
Ga'Elian looks away in the direction of the Warehouse District. He says, "Yeah. Like I said, I was just headed there to check on jobs myself when Sparklewing pulled his little fast one. Well, good to see you again, but I think I'll be on my way. Happy hunting."
Munch nods. "If you're out in the mountains near sunset, and see a green dragon flying around, don't panic too quickly. I'm still mostly rubber and mithril."
Ga'Elian nods. "Thanks for the warning. I'll keep that in mind. Now, just beware that the Skyguild may take a dim view of spooking airship traffic." He chuckles and waves before taking to the air again.