Trivantis

Evren didn't fall prey to instinct often, but when it rained, it poured - and shedding was an event that the dragon utterly despised. The things that often surrounded shedding, too, equally regarded.

But these times were driven by such animal instinct; persistent, invasive, impossible to ignore - and instinct told the massive, red, serpentine dragon that it wasn't the time to wear any smaller shapes, that it would only magnify such impatience and discomfort that gnawed beneath every scale and twisted within her gut, that she needed to stop NOW, perhaps within reach of water, or something that would feel just as good on such a terrible itch...

Besides, she'd told herself, enough time had passed since her last visit - and the last regime - that wandering in public using her proper size and shape was a gamble she'd risk (though she had no shortage of snarls and snaps for any older citizens who'd dare recognize her. Or tell her that she'd looked weird).

Usually a proud, shimmering cinnabar-and-crimson beast, her normally striking scales were a sickly orange and worn with all of the grace of an ill-fitting sweater, her eyes a clouded, almost milky yellow. And two stiffened bulges near the base of her tail looked vastly more difficult to ignore...

Evren's journey seemed aimless, yet impatient; she wandered, pressed up against the appendages of the myriad statues that lined the First Temple, back and tail arching like those of an insistent and irritatingly large cat. Scraped around the corners of each building, the movement a relief to a skin that was both too tight to bear, and too loose to leave ignored. Snuffled around, paused only briefly to roll in the odd dusty patch on the road.

An irritated huff burst past her lips as she finally slunk into the bath-house, a not-so-restrained "Hmmmm..." rather telling about her current mental state.

This was stupid. She knew that. But it was where she'd landed. And she'd needed to fix this nagging feeling, now. Eyes flicked from pool to pool, from stare to stare, before they finally came to rest at the sandboxes. Her tail twitched involuntarily, still stiff around the bulges, an unwelcome reminder. A rather undignified whisper at the back of her brain reminded her that the sands were indeed very warm - never mind what had been in them...

And so it was that several bath times were rather rudely interrupted by a giant dragon, who draped along the largest pool, belly-up, chin to the sky, wings splayed along the bottom of the pool and paws limply curling in the air, her fins fully flared. It would have been bearable, if a bit cramped - and several patrons crammed into the corners of the occupied pool were trying admirably to make it so - if her tail and rear weren't so insistently buried within one of the large sandboxes, pulsing and spasming, slickly slipping from the hold of a pebbly and fragile skin - rather effectively preventing any of the urmah and other felids to politely ... go in peace...

Jaspur hadn't intended on going that way today, he had been scouring archives and asking a few questions about local beasts, generally working out an itinerary for where and what he'd be studying first in the area. However, unfortunately that meant he had to suffer the pain of walking through the streets first.

He'd been limping along when two children had decided he was a great obstacle to run in circles around whilst trying to play tag. They giggled and squealed having almost tripped the wizard over "Excuse me, - I am- Excuse me!" he grit his teeth and tried to escape the whirling circle of tripping hazards before losing his patience and sticking a leg out.

The minotaur and goat kid went tumbling right onto their faces and Jaspur smirked with devilish satisfaction as he limped off as quickly as possible from the scene of the crime. The kids were screaming and crying but they'd learned a valuable lesson, Jaspur thought. Boundaries kids, boundaries.

He was immediately thrown against a wall along a narrow walkway as a larger kid, a scruffy looking brown furred Urmah, charged its way down the sidewalk "Woah- what happened to you guys?" he asked to his crying friends "Stop crying there's a dragon over by the bath house! Come on! before it gets away you gotta see it!" he begged his friends who quickly forgot their scraped knees and hurried after him and sent Jaspur hard into the wall again.

"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING YOU DISRESPECTFUL LITTLE WHELPS!" he called after them angrily, taking deep breaths and pinching at the bridge of his nose. Wait. Dragon? suddenly Jaspur was limping after the group of irritating little shits to the next street over where he found them looking disappointed and sitting down on a low wall outside the bathhouse.

"I can't believe we missed it..." "I bet it'll come out soon lets just wait here." they discussed among themselves before shooting a tearful glare at the wizard. Jaspur squinted at them and then the bathhouse... oh how he hated going in that building during the day, when it was busy. But a dragon? He'd bend over backwards and tap dance for a dragon. He dusted himself down and tidied the rolled up sleeves of his shirt before limping on over to the bathhouse with a determined expression.

As he passed through the doors into the main room he was delighted to find the dragon directly in front of him. The children had indeed not been speculating, this was a full on dragon. Jaspur even had a scale around his neck that matched her colors, too. A red one accompanied by a black one and a blue one. It was when he realized what she was half buried in that the elf found himself resisting the urge to vomit. Oh. Oh disgusting. No sweetie...no, what are you doing?

He slowly made his way around her stretched out body to her face, idly wondering how he might introduce himself... a strange man he was that he found dragons easier to communicate with than people. "What a magnificent and beautiful dragon you are, I am humbled by your presence" Dragons were usually ...USUALLY, all about flattery and the whole being treated like monarchs, so it was a safe bet to begin with this.

This being his profession, it took Jaspur all of 2 seconds to realize she was shedding, eyes darting over the flakes of loose shed on her scales "I see you are in shed. Perhaps I can be of assistance in a way a little more..." he glanced to the sandy shitter "...dignified." he offered, draconic eyes shifting to the dragon's own face with a tight smile. Yep, the sandbox was still disgusting to him.

The sounds of shrieking children just outside the door earned a rather loud and peevish grumble from the great red writhing beast - but one that scooped upward into a startled, questioning note as a little elf-man in odd getup shortly circled into view.

She froze. Red pupils set in orange, somewhat clouded eyes narrowed to suspicious slits, before opening as round as saucers, dilating with intensely cat-like interest.

And then with a throaty rumble that could have been a purr - or laughter - the great head turned around and over first; the neck followed, and finally with a great swish and wave of water (spilling more on the walkways than in the bath) she rose, twisted around, the motion carrying through to the mass of her nestled in the sands, and straight through the tailtip. Water hissed down in brief, tiny streams from the tips of her wingfingers and the fringes of her fins, flicking into tiny little drops of finality as they flared, and that orange gaze snapped downward to greet him.

"Hmmmmmm...Well. You certainly know how to charm a lady."

Swiftly, she dipped into a bow, dropping that massive snout until her eyes were level with his - or as much as she could manage, given the size difference. Her tail flicked anxiously, stiffly - though blessedly above-ground, this time. (To the relief of the gawkers, nearby, certainly!)

"I must say, this sounds like an offer such a... humbling dragon such as myself couldn't possibly refuse!"

And then, she growled through gritted fangs, a little and desperate whisper meant for the elf, alone. "Please, anything. Anything! You don't want to know what I sat in."

Jaspur was respectfully quiet as the dragon assessed him, though not fearful in the least even when eye to eye with her. He grimaced however as she mentioned what she had been sat in "....yes ...well...lets not discuss that." he felt sick just thinking about it. He'd be terrible with a baby, he thought, he can clean up animal shit all day but the moment its from something sentient he starts feeling queasy.

"Yes it's a bit of a walk from here but not too much of one....i assure you it will be worth it." he insisted and turned to limp his way out the bathhouse and onto the street. "You're in luck. I've tended to dragons plenty of times before during a shed... I can help you along with a healthy shed and soothe the itching... All I ask is that you allow me to sketch and paint you some time in the future.... I'd like to add you to my book of dragon anatomy studies. You can even take a good look at it if you're interested. It has almost every dragon I've studied in it." he rambled as he made his way along the street towards the beach, gesturing idly with hands that certainly spoke of a life getting too close to dragons.

"Oh... Forgive me-" he switched to draconic, speaking fluently and even adding the right emphasis and pronounciations on the words "Do you speak the tongue? I am happy to speak it if you are more comfortable with it" after all, many dragons he'd met were very proud of their language, but those were not the sort of dragons he often found among general society.

The strange man's limp was regarded curiously, and inspection consisting of curious stares and a bit of a gently investigative snout provided a bit more of a thorough inspection: missing fingers, old burns aplenty - not to mention the limp that lent credence to something missing, entirely.

It was enough to tell Evren that this person had seen adventures; this was someone worth following.

That snout became rather invasive, then, as Jaspur made his next proposition, Evren's excitement became rather animated, writ large upon her face and barely restrained - and it took all she had to keep from bowling the poor one-legged fellow right over in greedy and giddy glee. Instead, she rose to her feet, neck rising high once more, crowing, "YES, yes! Tell me about them, show me what you can," with the pomp and finality so characteristic of her species.

It was a only a brief burst of energy - she'd calmed quickly, intelligible and quiet enough to manage a far more businesslike, "This will be our trade. You lend me your studies and help me get this damned skin off, I will pose however you like."

A pause as she regarded the slight distortion at the base of her tail again, lifted it delicately at that bend, and looked at it with an odd mixture of disdain and longing. "There may be a couple other things of note you might be interested in. I'm thinking two...But brilliant little scholar!" - 'little' being a rather subjective descriptor for the relatively tall elf - "Lead the way!"

The way she'd slunk out of the tub to follow him as he'd rambled, she'd ensured as much of her belly scraped the corner that marked the edge of the water and the walkway as possible, carrying as much of herself as low to the ground as possible - like a slinking snake or prowling feline. It was a move as designed for relief as it was practical: she'd needed to get through the door as cleanly as possible, without the need for shifting and confounding her condition even more!

As they'd continued, the mysterious stranger had one more surprise in store for her - when he spoke next, she started, eyes widened animatedly and fins flared to their full width in surprise. When she next responded, it was similarly in that tongue, echoing the harshness and age of the language and taking to it quickly, almost gleefully, despite an uncertain start clouded by memory.

"I have not used this for...decades now? I have never found the need in the human cities. Except for the odd intimidation here or there. Necessary business, I assure you-!" It trickled into a bit of a brief laugh. "But it is what I'd known, this is the one with which I had grown."

She'd continue to follow, only pausing briefly once. Twice. Two-and-a-half times to press her forehead against the odd statue and monument along their path - though for her savior's benefit, she never strayed TOO far!

Jaspur hadn't had much of a chance to look at her tail, in fact he'd felt sick even looking near where it had been before. This dragon was getting a damned bath. "Two more...?" he quirked a brow at her but realized quickly what she meant thanks to where she was looking. "Oh! Oh goodness!" Jaspur looked like he'd lay an egg himself, giddy with uncharacteristic excitement "Oh yes i'd be very interested. What colour do you think they'll be?" he asked with excitement "What color scales did the father have?"

He proceeded down the steps onto the small beach area that had a long line of tall cliffs along it. The cliffs were less accessible with a small beach and a bit of climbing down some shoals. "Do forgive me if i levitate, I'm not as agile as i was when I had both legs." he chuckled dismissively as they reached a small pebbly slope down onto the lower part of the beach. Jaspur started hovering just a short distance off the floor and rather comically floated his way down and along the beach with his arms folded.

"It's a beautiful language" he commented idly on the subject of draconic, in draconic "by far my favourite... We're almost there. It's just a cave up ahead... that should do nicely." he motioned up ahead to a wide opening a little above sea level up ahead that opened up into a decently sized circular-ish cave "I'll need to work on it a little before we can proceed to pampering you, of course."

Evren clambered and slunk after Jaspur carefully, face-first on every sharper descent, like a squirrel - though her wings flared reflexively at every hint of an unsteady footfall. She'd continued to speak in kind, relishing that freedom the language brought her - and broad amusement not unkind spread across her face every time Jaspur continued to do so, as well.

"Perhaps black... More likely like me. Or...well, you might see. If this pampering goes well! Perhaps I'll allow it, allow a little look. Hm. My first clutch did have a little green in. I'd never consorted with a green. (Not intentionally! It just had never happened!)" It was accompanied by a brief and low, amused rumble. "But they've been silvery, before. But a strange silvery, tough to describe - the same reason I suspect they put up with so much of my shifting without fuss...or death. But definitely dragons, this time."

She could not drift, alas - at least not at such an altitude - so she'd continued to follow in her rather unwieldy and ungainly way upon the ground, even as Jaspur lifted off, in his rather serious manner! "You don't see THAT, every-day!" Said the giant pseudo-mythical being. "I've landed myself a talented little thing!"

If someone had taught Evren any cautionary tales about following strange magic men into strange caves, she didn't remember it. Perhaps she was cocky enough just by the nature of her species that nothing could go wrong. Or simply, perhaps...

"Then we can get to it, get to the spoiling!"

...it was that. And her laughing tone betrayed quite a bit, as she'd followed him politely, keeping a rather curious snuffling nose kept in-check as not to inadvertently whack the sorcerer out of the air - she'd sounded rather young, there!

"What happened to your leg?" It was blurted out almost before she'd realized she had.

Jaspur looked thrilled, absolutely thrilled, though he didn't smile too broadly his eyes were alight with excitement "Oh, I had best spoil you properly then hadn't I...id be delighted to have some involvement with your hatchlings. Perhaps if they ever need a doctor..." he suggested off hand "Please wait there" he said and disappeared into the cave without another word, floating on in.

Strange sounds resonated from inside, like grinding stone and slabs sliding against each other. Soon, heaps of sand started to slide up in streams into the cave and then flurries of salt water followed from the ocean. Silence fell for a moment before the entrance to the cave widened and Jaspur called out "you can come in now, my dear!"

Should Evren enter she'd discover a beautiful sandstone dome with a large circular pit filled with dry hot sand and another circular structure beside it full of fresh un-salted water. Salt crystals were postured as pretty ornaments in ledges around the entirety of the dome. The waters were hot and the room filled with steam, collecting nicely too due to the dome shape of the building. The wizard had created it in all but a few minutes, as some small display of his transmuting ability. The stone even seemed polished and smooth, all of it rather hot and perfect for a dragon, like a dragon-sized sauna and bath.

"There you go my dear.. a sand pit and a bath for you to use at your leisure... the moisture in the air should help you produce some oils to help you along with your shed...but do feel free to soak in the waters. That will help too" he smiled warmly and sat on a long ledge he'd put alongside the pool. "I'm more than happy to help you remove any shed that's ready to go too, of course"

He'd ignored the question until he'd finished his work, eager to get her in and pampered but finally would answer it if she had indeed entered "As for my leg, a manticore tore it off during an attempt to kill me."

Ev watched with restraint, only moving when she had to scuttle out of the path of a particular insistent flow with startling nimbleness, and then dipped her head to snuffle after it (mindful not to get a snoutful of silt!) - never regretting the lack of her enchanted lenses more than this moment; the sorcerer's work surely would have been a sight to see through those!

It was only a few more moments until he'd finished, and the dragon's tail flicked wildly now with both interest and anticipation. Though the entrance to the cave had considerately widened, Ev still managed to slink along the edges of the mouth, scraping against the sides from forehead, to neck, down her back and along most of her tail, standing on tiptoe where it mattered, in spite of herself.

Though she paused just short of completing her pass inside, eyes round, taking it all in with the lowest of little purrs. A beat and the rest of her tail flicked up, completing the arc, before she trotted in with an eager, surprising lightness.

"If that wasn't a good question, I am sorry. Strange little elf, hanging around manticores. Nasty creatures. Well. Not all of them. But a good deal. Fascinating once you get past the...bitey thing, though. My father knew one, once. They'd be all over Cyn's parties on weekends. Bacchanalia stuff." A massive quadrupedal shrug.

She slipped into the water, only to...flip upside down. It was a practiced and graceful thing, this time, exceedingly careful to avoid splashing - perhaps in a move to satisfy (if not outright impress) her host after being discovered in such an otherwise horrible place - until she made sure to smush her forehead against the rock above-water with all of the dignity and playfulness of a too-tired cat. Paws stretched lazily in the air, then relaxed, folding gently and loosely.

"This is all impressive, and all very generous, little elfthing! I would like to know how you do it all! I presume you don't entertain many of my sort around these parts, mmm?"

Playfulness dissolved to something more contemplative then, as she'd relaxed and sprawled all over Jaspur's handiwork (perhaps as close to a 'thank you' as she could manage!)

"About what you'd said...I've...never been around for a proper hatching, before. I had to leave my first one, my second was stolen...Stretch, er...the butcher-human has one, but neither of us are sure when or if it will hatch. So...I suppose, if you know what to do, there..." Embarrassment wasn't worn well on a creature so large, and perhaps it was for the best that she was already hunkered down, for this would have undoubtedly been paired with drooping necks and fins had she been otherwise upright.

The elf quirked a brow "they're not nasty creatures, some groups are as noble as dragons even....they're often a civilized people, however, with strict rules....much like the dragon flights i've been privy to..... Who is Cyn? does he still entertain manticores?"

Jaspur was all too happy to watch the dragon climb into the water....he'd made it perfect for dragon pampering in here. He shifted his clothing to be a little tighter, almost like a brown leotard with an orange sash for modesty about his waist. He stepped into the water rather fearlessly towards her and calmly started pushing water up onto her scales and peeling away shed that was ready to part.

He smiled to himself, content to pamper the dragon, the water remaining warm around them as was the stone. He scratched at her side over a particularly itchy looking area "I am new to the area, so even if there were others of your kind around here, I have not yet met them, i must say." he admitted and continued peeling away, starting to pull off a rather large leaf of shed.

The question on hatchlings gave Jaspur pause and suddenly the elf looked excited, eyes darting to Evren's with a broad smile "Oh yes, yes I've lots of experience with hatching, with dragons!" he said giddily, finding it hard to contain his excitement "I'd be more than happy to help" he offered with delight "There is always the chance that the egg may never hatch, if the offspring is dead inside, but I can certainly assist.... how has he been keeping the egg?"

"Err...Perhaps if they're like me and can hide a little better. The one I'd talked about ended up causing quite a bit of trouble, and the old man was always a good hand at disguising..." She'd trailed off, quickly into a little laugh. "Was it the monsters? Was it us? Tell me it was the monsters that lured you here. We've got quite a few!"

She'd continued her impression of a rather large cat, purring and rumbling with relief, and pressing into every little touch when she was able (mindful not to knock him over!). Eyelids drooped lazily, fluttered closed. Lucky fellow, Jaspur - he'd gone from a stranger to earning a rather complete trust from this dragon, rather quickly!

"I have tried to convince the butcher to sit on it. He did, once. Though he'll never admit to it. It was pretty funny."

That big, invasive and curious snout languidly bopped after that particularly large leaf as Jaspur helped to pull it away, even with her eyes apparently closed.

"It went on the boat with them when they came here, at both my and his insistence. I would have thought it would have hatched, then, due to the timing, I don't know what it is we're missing..."

The fins would have fallen again had they been in such a position, but her voice and the way her tail had stilled had said it all, betraying emotions with which she was rather unused to dealing - and full awareness of her own shortcomings as the one who'd laid it, of her own bizarre lack of a broody instinct.

"I can bring it? With the others?" She was really trying; an undercurrent of determined desperation laced her words.

Jaspur smiled more and more cheerfully as he hobbled about in the water helping Ev shed. He idly moved to her back leg and plucked loose shed from her knee "Oh yes, yes the monsters. Monsters are my job, after all my dear....my life" he said with obvious passion.

"Do tell me if you ever see your manticore friends again, i'd be delighted to meet them....very rare that they approach society in disguise in my experience, very interesting indeed" he rambled with avid interest. He so terribly wanted to meet manticore's for whatever reason. "Sit on it? oh no...you're not a bird, my dear." he laughed "and i'm certain this butcher certainly isn't...." he reached for a foot and would spread her toes to check her talons were in good condition too while he was at it, pulling loose skin away from the claw sheath's.

"Dragon eggs are particular....certain types of dragon have certain hatching rituals.... Bring me the egg when the others have been laid and we'll go through what I know....some need heat, embers, and some need to be able to hear a pulse, some need to feel the emotional bond of their carer and with that sense of security they finally hatch. Some need all of those things. Some need ICE of all things! Perhaps it would help to know more about the father..." he trailed off but then piped up again "Fire breathing? desert dwelling? big body? lean body?" he suggested as possible facts about him.

He paused a moment and looked back at Ev sympathetically before shifting out of the pool and limping his way over to drop back in beside her face, reaching up to gently bring her head down if let. He gently picked small flakes of skin from her muzzle but would try to look her in the eyes if she opened hers "You mustn't feel so ashamed, my queen, many first time dragon mothers lose their hatchlings due to neglect, you have already done so much better than them by putting aside your pride and seeking the counsel of others."

"Heh. Well he looks like a bit of a bird, for a human. One of those leggy flightless ones. With the big beaks. Uncanny, really!"

The giggle subsided into a sober rumble, then.

"I never knew. About egg-rearing, I never knew what came with it. They were all mammals, my family, when I was small, and I'd never met any of my parents until much later."

And then - Queen! Her lids fluttered open to meet his own at his touch to her snout, and the purrs gained an eager sort of intensity at the word. She was rather sprawled and insistently staying put, now; there wasn't a dragon alive that could resist such flattery, much less full-on pampering! Paws stretched again with all of the aimless smugness of someone who owned whatever space she'd occupied.

"Some people just...know." The words came haltingly, but gained bravado-fueled pacing as she went on. "I never did. Perhaps I'm broken." It was spoken with all of the odd finality detachment of someone speaking of their own treasures or belongings. Or someone who had long since come to that conclusion, and decided its inevitability.

"You...are a good man, magician. It's hard, finding good men. But you are someone I think I should trust when these finally appear." A little snort. "And I won't make you sit on them.

"As for the father, there could have been...a couple." Reverie and admiration softly colored her words. "One was lean. A water-dwelling sort, but as rough, spiky and jagged a mountain. Perfect, really. The eggs, whatever's in them...there will be handsome little things!"

Jaspur laughed a bit as Ev compared the butcher to a flightless bird. He tried to picture it but the results were comedic to say the least. "It's not the norm to simply know what to do. It's often through particular breeding that some have greater maternal instincts than others. It's especially unsurprising if you had a disjointed upbringing after all... you cannot blame yourself for these things." he insisted once more without getting into the thicker science of it all.

He took a moment to ignore skin removal just to rub her neck and along her jaw appreciatively, as she seemed plenty receptive to a bit of affection for the moment from what he could tell in her body language.

He smiled softly when she said he was a good man, feeling a warm swell in his chest. He paused and peered at her, chuckling a little "I may not sit on them, but I may become a dragon to help along the process." he suggested and climbed out of the pool. He went around to her other side and got back in to start the process of removing leafs of skin once more.

"They sound like handsome studs indeed, though any young of yours would have to be stunning... you have such gorgeous fins" he ran his fingers over the membranes of her fins and picked some skin off the 'fingers' "And such a beautiful, expressive face my dear" he emphasized this by running a hand over the bridge of her nose.

"You know, the last time I took dragon form...." he laughed "It was to meet a dragon from another plane entirely. He was large and black...and his breath weapon was invisible and suffocating...a true king of dragons. So of course....I had to put on a bit of a display to impress him when he arrived in the hopes that he would spare me his time and also spare my life for calling on him." Jaspur grinned stupidly with amusement as he went on, though his cheeks were reddening "Took on dragon form, didn't I? I did a flying display and changed the colour of my scales, shot beautiful fire from my throat and then landed to speak to him."

A pause.

Jaspur could perhaps feel the thrumming in her throat as she mulled over it all. She'd shifted, gently pressed her nose into his hand, mindful of how very small he was.

"Well, that certainly sounds better than a damaged dragon."

At his story, though, she let fly with a great and gravely "HMMM?" and raised her head rather suddenly, considerably more alert - though whether the reaction was at the prospect of this helpful little elf also being able to shift, or at the "black dragon" he'd encountered she didn't elaborate.

She shouldn't have sounded so startled - it was a talent she'd shared! Still, it was rare for one to talk about shifting so freely. She had yet to practice on quite a bit of shapes, herself!

"Show." It was a snap more suited to the typical demanding behavior of her sort. That ridiculously long tail curled loosely and possessively around the scene. Her voice softened then, almost apologetically.

"Please. Erm...if you like. I would like to see. If, because...if I am not here when they hatch - for whatever reason! - and you are...?" She'd sounded a bit lost, then - and very, very young as she'd inadvertently played her hand at where she might have been planning to lay. "Nobody is ever around when it happens. I don't want to mess this one up."

Jaspur smiled and rubbed gently at her nose. He laughed, seemingly entirely unphased by her sudden demand. "Of course, my beauty." he said and leaned forwards to kiss the end of her nose as if she were precious before stepping away and struggling to get back out of the pool.

He lifted his leg a few times before huffing "To hell with it." he said and thrust both hands outwards, steps forming before him leading up out of the water as one would find in a bathhouse perhaps. "There." he muttered a little grumpily and limped up out of the pool "Of course, of course.... I fully intend on taking dragon form around your hatchlings, it's important for them to be socialized with both dragons and humanoids at an early age, after all....we don't want them growing up skittish, after all."

He stepped away from Evren to the sand put and stood in the middle of it before lowering a strap of the leotard. Pausing he looked at Evren "...I'd prefer it if you were to look away." he warned and waited "Else i'll not do it." a threat! almost.

He waited and when the dragon finally did as asked he hesitantly and awkwardly climbed out of his leotard before he started to take form. Slowly his body changed in shape and grew in size. No bones snapped...the beauty of the spell was that it was refined and masterful, unlike his unwilling transformations once a month. Soon, before Evren stood a dragon as big and lean as her, but instead of fins he wore a huge mane of feathers. Instead of membranes on his wings he had gigantic bird-like wings but a very reptilian, raptor-like body of beautiful gold, orange and purple sunset hues.

However, the dragon was not a complete specimen. It's hind, right leg was completely absent down to the knee, though the long fan-like tail certainly seemed poised to help him ballance. He flared his feathers and slowly sat down, regarding Evren with intense, red and golden eyes. "You may look." He stated simply and lifted his chin proudly.

Ev closed her eyes dutifully, shifting her head back and forth to burrow in the sands (and relive the nagging itch that cropped up in that irritating spot just beneath her chin).

And when Jaspur sounded the all-clear, Evren opened them once more. Immediately her fins flipped up at attention and she let fly with an appreciative and oddly melodic animal hum as those orange eyes flicked over the new dragon, taking him in quickly from head to tailtip. Though if the appraisal were over Jaspur's shifter-craft or over the ridiculously fancy feathers (or, perhaps, both) - she'd remained mum.

"Strut your stuff, little elf!"

She rose to give him a little, feline headbutt, with a new, growing playfulness more suited to their new, relative sizes.

More importantly, it was another display of feeling, of being more at-ease, of trust that a dragon could not have given lightly - especially to one met earlier that day!

As was her next confession, sobered and delivered with little sadness, very matter-of-fact, and with more than a hint of wonder.

"I'd never known either of mine when it was important."