The girl felt a slight jolt as the Corinthian came to a rest on the dock, and Ahvi', who'd been resting her little head in Crank's lap, started and looked around, eyes still bleary. ~What was that?~ she asked, tones of anxiety washing through their newly-forged mental connection, muting the constant hunger that all of the hatchlings had been emenating since they brought aboard.

Crank patted her dragonet's metal-plated muzzle and grinned. "It was us landing, silly. Don't worry... we're here!" And before she could say anything else, the ship's cargo-bay echoed with the sound of two triumphant, draconic roars, "And So's the Dragonchaser! C'mon, let's get you guys some land-legs, hmm? And maybe something to eat?" With that, Ahvi' and the nearby, mottled-silver Vanar perked considerably. Crank jumped to her feet as soon as her bond had lifted her head, and waited impatiently for the bay's doors to open. The rest of the crew, if they weren't there already, had filtered down to look the dragonets. Swift approached Crank, a grin on his face.

"What do you want?" She wrinkled her nose at him, while two sets of reptillian eyes looked on.

"Nothing... just thought I'd tell you that you dun good." The older man patted her on her closely-shaved head, causing her to duck and stick her tongue out at him.

"What? Look at these two. Both happy and healthy little demons."

~I'm not a demon, you old fart!~, the striped silver interjected, her voice ringing clearly in the minds of anyone nearby.

Swift paused for a moment, staring with wide eyes down at the hatchling. She glared back at him, face utterly serious looking. Then he threw his head back and started laughing, while Crank and the dragonets looked on. "You two were made for each other, true enough..."

Meanwhile, the hatch had been opened, the ramp lowered, and the other crew-members and new riders had exited. The larger dragonet of the silver pair carefully padded from Crank's side to the entrance-way, looked down the metal grill to the others on the dock and then back to the three in the bay. ~If you're going to stand around and talk all day...~, he trailed off, then gave them all a perfectly crimson, semi-evil glare.

Crank and Ahvi rolled their eyes at nearly the same time. ~we were having a conversation!~ the striped dragonet retorted, but the mottled silver didn't respond. The four of them exited the ship, Vanar leading the way and joining the other hatchlings. He was already walking more confidently, though perhaps it was only the large amounts of reinforcing metal encasing him that kept him upright.

Crank, Swift, and the smaller dragonet followed behind, more because Ahvi was having trouble keeping steady then for any other reason. Just as the three of them reached the rest of the group, Crank heard a high-pitched squeal. Derfie! She turned in time to see the resident youth of the smaller ship practically leap on the nearest dragonet, braid flying out behind her as she fell to her knees and crooned over the startled thing.

Ahvi snickered at the whole act, butting her head against Crank's leg. ~That's Derfergertz?~ she asked, plucking offered memories and bits of thought from her bond's mind. ~Why's she acting so silly?~

"What are you talking about? Wouldn't you like to be showered with affection?" ~Maybe after I'm full to the gills, thanks.~ the little dragonet snuffed.

Before anything else could be said, Swift thumped Crank on the shoulder one more time, and gave the little dragonet a scratching behind her horns. "I'll be with the Captain, if you need anything. Think you can handle yourselves?"

"We're not helpless!" Crank replied, sticking her tongue out at the old man. Swift shrugged, grinned, and then marched off.

Crank patted her bond on the head the same way Swift had done only moments ago. "Alright... well, it looks like everyone's moving out..." Including Vanar, who tried to blend in with the crowd. Crank and Ahvi fell in place behind the pair in front of them, moving awkwardly still, as if not quite used to one another yet. It was kind of like getting used to another pair of eyes, or another set of legs... new information was coming to each of them, though... at the same time, nothing had changed. It was kind of like getting unplugged, Crank realized. Only... without the sick feeling.

"Crank!" Derfie's excited voice caught the girl's attention, and the dragonet's as well. They turned together to catch the operator bounding over, waving wildly to make sure she'd caught their attention. "There you are," she grinned as she drew up beside them, and then squealed, "and there's your new friend, too! Aren't you a beauty! Look at those stripes! I didn't know Veren dragons could have 'em."

The Corinthian girl laughed as Ahvi' high-stepped it, or tried to, at least. The little dragonet managed to get her feet tangled up, and she stumbled, only catching her fall by spreading her wings and leaning into her bond for support. Ahvi snorted, grimacing and then pretending that nothing had happened.

"Jeez, do you have any idea how much I envy you. Damn coppertop!" Derfie was grinning madly, negating her words with a laugh and a fist-shaking. Crank rolled her eyes, refraining from saying anything. The taller girl suddenly looked away, back and forth over the crowd of marching dragon-bond pairs. "Where's Guardian's kit? Did they make him stay outside too?"

~Vanar?~ Ahvi perked, a devilish gleam lighting her yellow eyes.

"No, he's with us... somewhere." Crank frowned and scanned the cluster of metal (both hide and plating), but couldn't find the kit. Ahvi, however, offered an incredibly helpful wing-pointing.

~There he is... the rusty one!~

"He's not rusty, silly," Crank snrked.

~Fine, filthy-looking. Vanar! Oh Vah-nar!~ Ahvi called out across the newly unplugged dragonets, causing one larger, more heavily plated head to pause, turn around, and fix the three of them with his red-eyed gaze. To Derfie, the striped youngling sweetly added, ~That's him, there.~. She didn't add, 'sic 'em!' Though Crank knew that's what the dragonet was thinking.

The Zionite finally caught site of the mottled silver dragonet. "Oh," she exclaimed, "I should have known. All of you look so different unplugged, it's weird!" And then she was off again, jogging towards Vanar and leaving the dragon-rider pair behind.

~How much do you wanna bet he runs away?~

"Ahvi'!" Crank shook a finger at the little striped dragonet, but couldn't stop herself from grinning.

Before Derfie had quite made it to Vanar's side, she was babbling again. "So you're Guardian's bond, huh?" The dragonet blinked up at her, not expecting her to let him reply. She didn't. "That must be weird, their minds must be a lot different."--Meaning the machines, he expected--"But why are you up here all alone? It's too bad Guardian can't come into the city, but really, I'm sure Crank and her new friend'd be happy to go with you! Or..." Vanar blinked up at her again, remaining silent as she paused, an innocent grin on her face and a glint in her eyes, "I could stay with you instead."

~I don't need anyone to stay with me,~ he said, simply. It wasn't that he was put off by her hyperactive voice and bounciness... though it was making him a little nervous. ~Guardian is my bond, yes,~ he continued, ~and you know why he isn't here...~ The dragonet blinked again and looked away, hiding his own confusion by pretending to be incredibly interested in the segments of the rampway they were following.

"Oh dear," Derfegertz burst, obviously trying not to laugh. "Kid, it's not really about needing someone with you! I mean, that's not the point. Don't you want a friend?" She practically batted her eyelashes down at the kit.

Vanar looked up at her slowly, as if he hadn't heard her properly. ~Friend...?~ he asked, as if tasting a new word.

They was getting far along the ramp from the docking bay to the city proper. Now the group was slipping into Zion, pulling together as they entered the massive open pillar that constituted the settlement. Crank and Ahvi' filtered towards the two as they crossed the wide bridge that would take them to the upper kitchens. The two appeared to be much more coordinated already: they were even walking in rhythm. They caught up to the pair just as Derfegertz wound down her ramble, "'Sides! You gotta have someone with hands to snag you a bowl of chow when we get where we're going," she grinned and finished by patting the mottled dragonet's head lightly.

"She's got a point, kit," Crank added, earning only a glare from Vanar, and another snicker from Ahvi'.

~Or,~ Ahvi' continued for her bond, ~you could try to scrounge up some food on your own. I'm sure the humans around here would love to see an ugly scrap-heap like you nosing through their garbage.~ She smiled innocently at Vanar, and managed to get a dragonet-sized growl out of him for her efforts.

"Ahbreviaka!" Crank said, reaching down and grabbing her bond by the tail, ignoring the squeak the kit gave at being held back, "stop being an ass, would you? You're not even a day old!"

She harumphed, and said for everyone to hear, ~it doesn't take age to beat on him... he's just so easy to make fun of! Look at him!~ She gesticulated with her left wing-arm, pointing at Vanar as the larger dragonet attempted to hide in front of Derfegertz. Before she could make any more snide comments, the lot of them had entered into the upper kitchens, and the smell of real food wafted over them. Ahvi' melted into a puddle of drool, losing any wickedness at the thought of being fed. Vanar, for his part, allowed Derfie to lead him towards the food.

"Tsk!" Derfie laughed, shielding Vanar as best she could from the taunts of Ahvi, but the swirl of the kitchens ushered them in and swallowed the sound. The bustle sucked them in like a great beast and the smell of raw meat pervaded. The crowd was thick so the braided girl stuck closer to Crank and the dragonets, but, as if by some magic, a pathway began to part when the masses began to see the dragonets. The roar turned into a murmur, and if Ahvi' weren't busy making a bee-line towards the smell of food, she'd have been soaking up every moment of attention. Derfie was busy peering around as the group of new dragonets and riders moved forward, and suddenly murmured to Crank and the dragonets, "Oh, there're the tables," she pointed, and sure enough, they were headed straight for the dragonets' first meal.

"So you wouldn't mind sticking around and helping with Vanar?" Crank said a little quietly, eyeing the Zionites right back as they passed through the staring crowd of kitchen-workers. The dragonet seemed to like being off by himself, but that didn't mean that he could possibly be independant within only a few hours of his emancipation. Derfie brought herself to nod an affirmative, though the large crowd seemed to intimidate her into an unusual kind of silence.

They reached the high tables, and Ahvi' thumped down into a seated position, promptly throwing back her head and gaping muzzle. ~Feed me now,~, she ordered, accompanying her projection with a gurgling rumble. Crank sighed and grabbed a bowl, making a face as Derfie giggled at the dragonet's demanding ways.

"I swear she'd eat me if I didn't get something for her," the Corinthian crew-member joked, lowering the heaping clay pot and actually popping a few pieces of meat into the dragonet's mouth.

Vanar had been waiting as patiently as he could, which was much more then most of the kits that had gathered around the table. Derfie had taken a bowl of her own, and lowered it to the ground. "Here you go," she crooned, crouching fluidly to place the bowl before him. "Dragon food for you!"

~Thanks,~ he said very briefly, before diving in and gobbling noisily. He didn't pay the tall blonde another moment of attention.

"Thanks, too," Crank said, finally getting Ahvi to eat from her bowl by herself.

"Uh-huh," Derfie nodded enthusiastically in lieu of a verbal "you're welcome," pleased to a grin by the thanks. The sounds of eating all around, however, reminded her of her own belly, empty since breakfast. She looked about as it grumbled, pleadingly. "I wonder if they have any human food here too?"

Crank laughed. "It'd be sad if they didn't. We're in the kitchen, after all. You can go find something, if you wanna. I'll stay with the dragonets."

Derfie brightened. "That's right, I think I will! Thank you, and I'll give you a shout if I find anything, okay?" Her bouyancy fully restored, the girl flashed her friend a smile, gave Vanar a last pat on the head, and ducked away into the crowd, braid snapping behind her.

The younger of the two waved after her, grinning at her friend's bubbly mood. ~Speaking of food,~ Ahvi' sent from her waist, ~I'm done. Get me another bowl, would you?~

The heavy metal door of her apartment swung open, revealing nothing but black. "That's odd..." Crank murmured, ushering Ahvi', then Vanar into the dark room. "Usually I'm sharing this place with Trillan and her family..." The joys of room-mates... nothing like trying to sleep in and be woken up by squalling children at undecent hours!

~Does it really matter? And would you turn on a light? I'm tripping all over the damn place.~ Ahvi' grumped up at her bond.

Crank scowled into the dark, hoping to somehow glare her dragonet into behaving better, and knowing instantly that she would never succeed. She searched for the switch, and having found it, flipped on a row of flickering flourescant lamps.

The apartment was small--'closet sized' would be a more appropriate term. Crank's cot was about the only clean, spartan object in the place: the rest was decorated with artistic metal plates and rough-woven wall and ground coverings. A number of small children's toys littered the entire room. Crank picked a pacifier off of her night stand and tossed it across the room into the Zionites' area, glad that that was all that she had to pick up after.

~Here,~ Vanar said, nosing around the place. He was at the head of her bed, butting at a quickly scribbled-on tablet.

"Ah, good work, kit." Crank flopped onto her bed, picked up the flat-hammered sheet, and read aloud, "Crank. Stopped by and saw your creatures. Staying at Mother's tonight."

Ahvi chuffed from the floor: ~Hah, bet we scared the sh--fine, sorry, pants off of them.~ She harumphed at the wordless chastizing that Crank sent her way. ~Why do you care what I say, anyways?~ she asked, after a small silence.

"Because you're a dragonet, and you're too young to swear," Crank shot back, throwing the tablet onto the floor and rolling over onto her back. "You shouldn't know those kinds of words yet, let alone know how to put them into sentances."

~Oh please,~ Ahvi said, struggling for a moment before scrabbling up onto the cot. ~Everything that you know, I know. Everything that I feel, you feel. Why shouldn't I be able to use all of the dirty words that you do?~

Vanar, who'd scuffled off to inspect the other side of the room, sent, ~Maybe it's not a case of why you can't, but what you're causing by using them. Humans down here are already put off enough just by the way we look--~

~Maybe by the way you look. I'd be frightened, too, if I looked like a walking dirty garbage can!~

Vanar shot them a dirty look. ~Shut up!~

~Wanna come over here and make me?~

Ahvi had curled up on the bed like a fat, happy cat, and swished her metal-finned tail at him derisively. ~I could take you, any day.~

"Both of you, cut it out!" Crank yanked on one of her dragonet's horns, causing the kit to squeek and drop her lofty expression. Vanar sulked from across the tiny room. "If you cause one more fight," Crank said, her attention focused firmly on her bond, "I'm booting you off the bridge, and you can climb back up by the stairs, for all I care." She let go of Ahvi's horn and grumpily sat up, working her boots off. "Now go to sleep, damnit. You're supposed to be resting after eating all of that food, not bickering and taunting people."

Now both of the dragonets were sulking, Vanar for all of the teasing, Ahbreviaka for the chastizing. ~Fine. You want me to sleep, I'll go to sleep.~ Waves of hurt and childish anger emanated from the brass-striped kit, who oozed back off of the cot and onto a rug at the floor. ~But I'm not sleeping with you.~

Vanar had, likewise, found a corner to curl up in, as far from the two of them as possible, of course. A long silence fell over the group after Crank had gotten properly ready for bed, switched the lights off, and made her way back to her cot. The mottled silver sent, after a while, ~Sleep well tonight.~ Crank turned over in her bed, almost missing the very soft thought. She furrowed her brow, staring sleepily into the pitch black. There was something about the dragonet's tone of voice that was troubling, but she didn't have the energy to place it. She promised herself she'd think about it in the morning, and then let herself fall asleep.