Flight 11
(Usaroflyin's Flight Story)
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Pyree was beside herself with anxiety. Where was Modomnoc? Dramoro, who had shown up at the station days before, said that he had bonded and the dragon was nearing maturity. Surely he would come for her? And Usaroflyin was no comfort. She was one proddy female dragon, an extreme change from her usual cool and calm attitude. ::He better hurry, I will not wait for that fool Earth. I rise now!:: She snarled and bared her fangs at the two suitors; the Ryshathian Pailuathak, and the silver rainbow Sylath. Usaroflyin bellowed a challenge to her chasers and dove for the penned creatures to slake her thirst for blood.
Her rider, on the other hand, fairly flew to the assigned suite to await the riders. Once inside, she threw the door shut and locked it. A voice shouted from the outside, possibly one of the riders of Usaro's suitors. "No one is getting in here!" she shrieked, panic-striken and torn with fear and her dragon-induced emotions. Blood only, Usaroflyin! Blood ONLY! she chanted to her enraged dragon. The purple bellowed and resisted the stream of instructions; fangs, mouth, and floor already splattered with the red substance. Teeth longing to rend the hot flesh from bone, the featherwinged dragoness finally yeilded and latched her mouth over the neck of her slain prey. Draining every last drop, she abandoned the carcass for a second, then third, and fourth. As she did so, Usaroflyin sized up her pair of chasers. Sylath was certainly flashy enough, hatchlings sired by him would definately stand out amongst the rest. He puffed up proudly before her, flashing rainbowed wings and cooing saccharine words to her. ::Choose me, beautiful Usaroflyin. I alone am worthy of one such as yourself!:: She snorted and bared blood-stained fangs at him. ::Be careful, you'd hate to have me mess up that pretty face of yours:: Usaro' growled and turned her gaze to Pailuathak. He was also an interesting one, with the wings of hathians and silver horns sprouting from his head. A relative of hers had accompanied him to the station, and he appeared to think that this would give him an advantage. He eyed her with a strong confidence that unnerved the purple dragoness. ::I shall be no easy catch for you, either!:: Usaroflyin bellowed to the Ryshathian and sprung into the air with such spontaneity that both males were left briefly frozen on the ground. A moments passing and they too were airborne and catching up fast to the glowing purple, air rustling through her feathered wings. She swerved with uncanny agility for one her size, once preforming a nearly right-angled turn as the dove for the floor then peeled off just moments before impact. Performing this stunt a few times in rapid succession, her chasers began to anticipate the moment of direction change and attempted to get there first. Once Sylath thought he had her, diving just ahead and in front of the featherwinged dragoness, only to find she'd gone a different way and was now already returning to normal height. The rainbow-silver watched as his prize flew away and seemed to forget he was on a collision course with the metal floor, only remembering when frightened shouts from the spectators alerted him. Sylath managed to pull up just enough to avoid little more than injured pride and a few sore muscles the next morning. ::I am the only one left, my Usaroflyin.:: Pailuathak rumbled to the purple as she preformed a deft spiral to twist from his grasp. ::You'll still find me no easy prize, ryshathian.:: she replied, not showing the same ferocity as before. In truth, her borrowed strength in the blood was fading. Her wing-shoulders ached and her death-defying stunts were turning more mundane and sluggish. Usaroflyin didn't realize she was slowing down until she felt the grasp of Pailuathak on her wing-shoulders. ::No easy catch? Where is your boasting now!:: the red-white dragon said amusedly as he moved and twined necks with Usaroflyin. Still, she did not submit meekly to him, gnashing her teeth and resisting his affections. Meanwhile, Safayu was trapped outside the suite where Pyree hid. He knocked on the door with all the restraint he had. At last it opened a crack to reveal Pyree's frightened face that melted into immense relief. At first, he thought the expression was for him and moved to push the door open further, but before he could take more than one step inside a strong hand clamped around his wrist. He was rather roughly pushed away from the door by the owner of the hand, a bearish growl and the click of a door was all he heard. "Hey!" he shouted, standing to jerk the door open again but froze mid-reach. Something was wrong with Pailuathak. Indeed, something was. A loud dragon-bellow tore through the air in the flight deck and the ryshathian found himself similarly torn from Usaroflyin by a powerful, earthen brown dragon seemingly flying without wings! He glared with glowing silver eyes and tossed his green-armored head. ::She is mine, not yours!:: he shouted, twining necks with a stunned Usaroflyin just as Pailuathak had been moments before. The red-white shrugged indifferently, his part had already been played. ::It does not matter to me, I've already made my mark.:: he chortled and returned to the ground to comfort his slightly put-out rider. The Avengaean Earth Laudu pulled Usaroflyin closer, rumbling his apologies. ::I am sorry for my untimeliness, Usaroflyin.:: She crooned in response, ::All is forgiven...::
 Time must have passed, but Madison hadn't noticed it. She suddenly realized that there was a body pressed against her own, that someone was running fingers through her hair. She turned slightly, and realized that Elamen was watching her through heavy lidded eyes. There was a pause that was nothing like before the flight. For one thing, this silence felt comfortable, and Madison didn't want to disturb it. She hardly dared breath as she took in his tan skin and dark hair. Finally gentle smile tugged at the black-rider's lips, and he leaned over and kissed her softly on the forehead. Madison sighed and relaxed. "You know," he said, his voice quiet, "Eirfolkth was right when he told me you'd be beautiful." Madison giggled, much more at ease now then she had been before. "It's a little late for pickup lines, isn't it?" She felt his hand--which had gone back to moving through her green hair--freeze for a second. "I meant--"
"I know what you meant," she giggled again and reassured him with a kiss of her own. "Fabricantepazth was right, too, when she said you and your dragon were charming." And after that she didn't need to use words to quiet his protestations.
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