salad_dressing | There is a dragon on the beach?

[Ashe just got here, and had this idea of wandering the beach looking to talk to local spirits when she comes upon her very first dragon ever. Not only that, but the dragon is snoozing away and acting spectacularly cute at the same time. She stops short several yards away and just beams and bounces a little like a kid.]

Ohmygods. Dragon. *Ee!*

[Quickly she summons some spirit friends: a basketball-sized white metal spider with the body of a small ambulance, and several large ferrets.]

Okay. Beep-Beep, take pictures of awesome dragon. Guys? I'll let you stay in this world an extra hour if you bring me back as much chocolate as you can carry.

[Skyfire yawns, stretches and rolls onto his side, head moving to 'look' in the direction of the noise even if he was asleep.]

Hmmm....?

[He starts to wake up slowly, cracking an eye open to peek in Ashe's direction.]

Do dragons even like chocolate? Maybe I should have asked for all the steak instead. Hooboy.

[She doesn't notice the eye opening, as she's half turned to the side now, fretting a bit. How to make a good impression? It's a dragon! They're one of the Cool Kids of supernatural creatures.]

[The ferrets pile back toward her dragging shopping bags, drop them at her feet and wiggle away again.]

Finally found a job for those little guys.

[Well, he's awake now and quite curious. He watches her and her... friends? with interest.]

...

[Skyfire doesn't say anything quite yet, but he does move himself into a more upright position and can't help but look totally and utterly perplexed at what she's doing. That metal spider thing had him interested too. Was it sentient?]

Errr... What?

[Poor Skyfire can't figure out just what is going on, nor what he should say.]

Omigods! [She lets out another squeak, jumps about a foot in the air and ends up with ferret spirits tittering at her.]

Um...hi! I just um, wondered if you wanted some chocolate.

Sorry... I didn't mean to startle you.

[He gives her a curious look, but shakes his head.]

Ah, thank you for the offer... but I'll have to decline.

[Skyfire gives her a small smile, hoping that she wouldn't be offended by his refusal.]

Might I ask your name? My name is Skyfire...

[She bursts out laughing at herself.] No, no, it's not your fault, I was too busy ferret herding to notice you woke. And I really should have had them bring steaks instead. Sorry about that!

[But hey, now she has a giant pile of chocolate.]

Um, hi. I'm Ashe. I'm a human shaman. This little guy here is Beep-Beep, and those are the Ferret Brothers. Guys! Change of plans! Bring me steaks instead and you can be out an extra two hours!

[The little spidermech honks a tiny horn and chirps his siren as he wanders over excitedly.]

It's nice to meet you... but...

[He looks a bit ill at the thought of eating meat.] Ah, no. Please, no steaks either thanks.

[Skyfire can't help but be fascinated by the spidermech, churring and chirping at it a little, trying to communicate with it. Just because he looked like a dragon, it didn't make him any less of a mechanical being. It was just a simple 'hello', but... he did want to try.]

Oh. Uh. Okay. Take a break guys! Thanks! [The ferrets go bouncing off in every direction while she looks down sheepishly at the pile of chocolate. Oh well. Her cheeks go pink.] Sorry about that. I actually have no idea what you'd like, I just kind of lead with treats sometimes.

[Beep-Beep honks and chirps cheerily, but doesn't make much sense. He certainly tries though, going on for a bit like a Siamese cat bringing the daily gossip.]

Beeps is pretty taken with you. He doesn't get to manifest much so he hasn't figured out how to communicate outside the Net.

Relax....

[He can't help but chuckle a little bit and give her a small grin.]

Conversation is nice. You aren't running away screaming or acting like a hysterical mess...

[Skyfire tries a few variations of digital signal, trying to find something Beep-Beep can understand.]

What's the 'Net'? As far as I'm aware, the only human object that uses that word is a device made of ropes to catch fish...

[While he knows what something like 'internet' is as a concept, he's just not aware of any of the human words for it.]

S-sorry. [More blush. She seems to have a lot of it.] No, I uh...if you were in a bad mood I'd leave quickly, but I've kind of always wanted to hang out with some dragons.

[He and the little spidermech finally find a common frequency, and Beep-Beep sends a broadcast.]

Ohai! I am EMSChat Support AI, Self-Aware, currently manifested, common designate Beep-Beep. How R U? :D

Oh, the Internet. He's normally straight energy, but I can give him a temporary body.

Even if I was in a bad mood, I don't like hurting anyone... [He pauses, grins and shifts his tail so that it's curled up next to him and he waves the fluffy, red furred, tip of it a little to get her attention.] Well, I'm not planning on going anywhere for a bit... Why don't you come and sit for a while? [Yes Ashe, he did just offer to let you sit on him and visit.]

Hello Beep-Beep. My name is Skyfire. I'm doing alright, how are you?

Internet? [Skyfire takes a moment to process her statement, combined with the fact that he's managed to talk to Beep-Beep...] Oh, a data network! So humans call that the internet?

Well, that's good to know. I'm pretty much the same. Not exactly one for epic witchy battles or crap. [She happily ambles over, leaving the chocolate behind for now. Yes, okay, so now the village market is overrun with ferret spirits, but hey.]

[She flops down next to him like a kitten curling up to a Great Dane and watches him converse with Beep-Beep.]

Good! That's an awesome chassis. Hee hee, she thought you were organic. My hoomin is silly. Can't take her anywhere.

Yes, we do. At least in the 2000s we do. I have no idea what they'll call it even ten years from now, to be honest.

If I could avoid fights all together, I would be very happy. I'm not sure where I am, but this is a very nice place... No idiots coming after me, swinging swords and yelling at me... [He probably just jinxed himself, but oh well.]

[He shifts his tail so she can snuggle up with the fluffy end of it if she wants and use his tail to lean on. His scales are stiff, but strangely leather like and quite warm... but he does scold Beep-Beep a little.]

Be nice. Humans don't have the components to transmit and receive data signals, and I'm meant to be able to blend in. [Not that a dragon really does blend in well, but he can pass for an organic quite easily... even if his current organic form isn't quite the one he was supposed to have.]

2000s? Well, that proves that I'm nowhere near where I was... unless I was unconscious for a long time... [By human standards at least] I think the human date was about 1500 or so from where I was.

Yeah. I am not sure either. The response to magic makes me think we're in a Realm in the spirit world, but I'm not sure.

...oh yeah, if anyone mistakes me for a kidnapped damsel, I'll point out that not only am I here willing, but a bunch of those other damsels may well have been too. Princesses' lives were awful.

[She pets said tail but seems fine just leaning on him. She's unusually warm, and an olfactory scan shows notes of cinnamon and other spices that seem to come from nowhere.]

[Beep-Beep lowers his headlights contritely and rubs his forelegs together.] Okay, that's fair, but she CAN run scans normal hoomins can't. She just doesn't have it on auto, which I think is weird. Something about "privacy".

Oh, the 1500s? Yeah, humanity was not in the best period of its history then. Very ignorant and chaotic, very violent. We have a lot of ways to go still, but...the more we learn about the past the less desire most of us have to repeat a lot of it.

You'd have done better in China. They had a much more respectful approach to dragons back then.

I really couldn't say...

[He can't help but snort and shake his head a bit.]

Where the heck did those stories come from anyways? I've never met a real dragon before, so it's not like I can ask. I've never kidnapped anyone... [Skyfire doesn't mean to, but, that scratching? It gets a small purr sounding noise from him.]

[Skyfire pats the sand next to him, in an offer for Beep-Beep to come closer and join them.] Just because one can do something, doesn't mean that one should. You'll learn in time. [He gives Beep-Beep a small, hopefully reassuring, grin. Beep-Beep was still young after all... Well, at least to Skyfire he is.]

Yes... it doesn't seem to be a very... enlightened era, that's for sure. I'll have to make a note to record all I can about what happens so that people have plenty of reason not to repeat such stupid behavior...

China? Hmmm... maybe I'll have to look into that once I get back... If I go back... This place is nice enough that I don't really want to leave.

Oh, it's a weird mix of local mythologies combined with a deep fear of reptiles that's pretty much caused by a misunderstanding. Add in a few discoveries of dinosaur bones in quarries and you have the recipe for a huge, enduring stew of dragon legends.

[Beep-Beep chirps his siren happily and scrambles over to hunker down in the sand with them. His doors open, and his stereo starts faintly playing "Girl from Ipanema".]Okay. Guess it will make more sense with more input.

That would be a very good idea. It would also give you something absolutely priceless to negotiate with humans with. That era is called the "Dark Ages" for very good reasons--historians and scholars were very few and far between for a while.

[She smiles.] Yeah, I don't like the enforced vacation, but what I've learned already could save my world, so I'm not complaining.

[Skyfire chuckles a little.] Oh I can say for sure that dragons existed at one point, I wouldn't have this shape otherwise. There were no humans when I crashed, so I couldn't have scanned a statue or anything..."

[He reached out to give Beep-Beep an affectionate pat with a paw like hand and a small nod. He doesn't say anything, just silent approval.]

Hmmm... I'm not sure if I want to go back. [He gives her a sheepish smile.] It's nice and peaceful here... and nobody has run from me screaming yet.

Oh, wow, that's neat. So...you're an extraterrestrial shapeshifter? That's kind of awesome. I haven't met any extraterrestrials who actually identified themselves as one before. Ghosts, spirits, faeries, werewolves, wereleopards, wizards, Victors, self-aware AIs, but...not guys like you.

[Beep-Beep tilts his headlights blissfully and crouches a little under pettings. Yay.]

I have a job to do eventually back home, but I can train for it anywhere. And yeah, I really hope nobody here treats you that way. It sucks. I kind of want to be able to do my magicky healing woojy stuff normally without people getting scared. Can't do that at home.

[Well, that got a startled look out of him.] Sounds like you get an interesting bunch... I've never heard of some of those before.

[Since he seems to like it, Skyfire will keep petting Beep-Beep until he acts like he's sick of it... or his arm gets tired... either way.]

Magicky? [Okay, now he's curious. He's heard of magic, but he's never actually seen it.] Wait... you mean you can heal people... and they're afraid of you because of it? That... seems a little silly... [Then again, Skyfire should know better than anyone that people fear what they don't understand... After all, his size and appearance had gotten chased off how many times?]

Which ones? Because yeah, I've got stories. Even dated a ghost once.

[She snorts just a touch bitterly.] Witches and shamans were demonized by the ruling religion for almost a thousand years. Nowadays most people don't even believe anymore, so they freak out if they see anything weird.

[He can't help but chuckle a bit]... Sounds like quite some interesting tales. Maybe I should just have you tell me a few of those stories.

[That smile vanishes fast and he frowns, swinging his head over to nuzzle at her shoulder softly and sigh quietly.] It sounds like humans as a group haven't changed much. [He sounds quite disappointed by that.]

Well, there was the time that I helped a bunch of faeries defeat a nightmare curse with a stuffed unicorn....

[She sighs thoughtfully as she pets his nose.] It's mostly "humans in large groups" that cause the problems, but not always.

[He sighs himself a little, but when she starts petting his nose, whatever train of thought he had, ran off the tracks and crashed. That petting felt so good... and she'll find that he's actually purring softly.]

Oh cool. [Dragons have petty spots! Or dragon shaped shapeshifters. She's a bodyworker, she can do this all afternoon.]

[Skyfire would comment, but he's too busy trying to press his nose into her hand for more petting. He's never gotten any affectionate touch like that before... and he likes it.]

There is a dragon on the beach?

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Ugh lost this tag I'm sorry :(

No worries <3 I've been busy myself.

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