The Fountain of Youth (private roleplay)

[Silverhart]

Bark, bark, bark!

"Moritz! Heel! Sit! Roll over!" For once in their short partnership the Dire Wolf ignored her Warden, springing forward to chase at a rabbit that had appeared on the horizon. She lunged, dragging her Warden forward by the rope tied around her neck.

'Let me at 'em, Sterling! Just let me at 'em!'

"You-never-call-me...Sterling!" Her Warden dug in his heels and leaned back on the rope, trying to drag the huge Dire wolf back, or failing that, at least keep her from running off with him still attached.

'You never want to play!'

"You're a wolf. Puppies play. Dogs play. You - " he gave a sharp tug of the rope on each of his words to emphasis - "are-a-dire-wolf. You're suppose to be - stoic!"
Moritz twisted her head around to stick her tongue out at him, which took her Warden by such surprise he dropped the rope.
Moritz was gone in a flash, dashing down the road.

"Come back!" Her Warden ran after her in desperation. He couldn't take much more of this. Puppy-Moritz was driving him up the wall. She'd never acted like this before, and it was alarming to say the least. Where once stood a proud, noble, world weary wolf, now was a bouncing, hyperactive yearling. It was completely out of character, and he was terrified by what it could mean. Alabaster city would hopefully hold some answers. Now if only he could get her there.

He pushed these thoughts out of his mind as he ran after his errant dire. There was no catching up with her. There was only blindly running in her general direction and yelling after her to come back.

[cjr09]

They fly in silence for a grand total of two minutes before Mull starts squawking like his life depends on it.

Looks like it's lunch time.

"Alright, Lunette, could you bring us down- is that Mara?"

Floofy hair, pygmy drake, a distinctive trail of paint in the grass- it had to be.

And over in the distance, powering away from Alabaster and in hot pursuit of a rabbit- a Direwolf outruns her Warden.

They were on a crash course with Mara; well, looks like this is where the party is.

"Bring us down over there, please, Lunette," she asks, and the Drake does as she's asked- Lunette might not be the fastest of fliers, but she could glide with the best of them.

They touch down a bit behind Mara- and after pulling Lunette's scroll away from the wet grass, she slides off and calls after the Rune Bearer. "Mara! Is that you?"

[Sphye]

Turning in surprise, the traveling rune bearer recognized the familiar face.

"Caitlin? I thought that you were already in the city!"

Ignoring any personal space boundaries, Canvas flitted over to the darkly dressed girl. "Brllcoo?" she cooed, whether in greeting or to ask for more food unknown.

[cjr09]

"I was, for a time, I do work there- but I went back to my Homestead to deal with my pygmies suddenly growing, or my fully grown pets shrinking. I don't have anything to do with it in my own scrolls, and when you guys wrote I decided to go back to Alabaster and see if I could find anything there-"

It's precisely there that Mull decides he's going to give Caitlin a chance to breathe by clawing his way out of her pack and falling beak first to the ground.

Pygmy Griffins don't fly so well.

"Oh, this is Mull, you remember him from last Yuletide-" she still had open wounds from Azara, it wasn't that long ago after all- "and this is Chestley- you... also remember him." She stutters, the Otterling pygmy poking his head out of her backpack.

"Anyway, Mull's demanding lunch, so we landed for the time being. You stopped for the same reason?" She asks, bending down and giving Canvas an affectionate scratch behind the ears- careful of stray paint- and slips her a bit of bread from her pocket.

She's always been sort of bias to Rune Dragons.

[Sphye]

"Yeah, I was just taking a chance to get some food in these little deadweights. Some are greedier than others," she added, shooting a glance at the very contended grey rune, who was happily munching on her new snack.

Putting on a less chastising face, she turned to the Silverportian pygmies.
"Hello! Aww, they're so cute." Smiling, she reached her hand out to pet Mull.

[Distortionist]

As the sun reached its peak in the clear sky, Lynden strode purposefully towards Alabaster City, lost in her thoughts. The journey to the mainland had been a long and torturous one. First the ship they were supposed to travel on had been delayed due to a storm, then when they finally reached Silverport she had stopped at a lighthouse where a squawking rune dragon had left gashes on her arms. Fine, Lynden thought, rubbing her bandaged forearms at the memory. I didn't want any of your stupid glass or whatever it was anyways.

But now Alaula and she were at last approaching the great white city. The exhausted girl was delighted to see the tips of buildings appear over the horizon, for it meant that they were close to their destination. Alaula, who was trotting delicately beside her, lashed her tail in excitement. Lynden would not have even been remotely interesting in this journey had it not been for the little liger. The Nightflare was actually one of the pygmy showing signs of growth, which were evident in her enlarged bat wings. She had been horrified at the change and insisted that her keeper contact Mara and ask to join their expedition, and here they were now.

Shouldering her bag with a heavy sigh, Lynden pushed sweaty hair out of her face and continued her trek towards Alabaster. Hopefully they would find the solution quickly and get home without delay,

[Silverhart]

Moritz dashed down the road, in hot pursuit of her prey. Suddenly up ahead she spied a small group. 'People!'.

"Oh no..."

The Dire ignored her Warden's mental groan as she flung herself into the group of bystanders. She barked out her joy at seeing the fresh faces, and proceeded to jump all over them, her tail wagging so hard it seemed she was about to take off. Her nostrils were overwhelmed with all the different scents - drake, rune, griffon, otterling, human. So many different beings to greet! Where would she start?

Before she could get past the spinning and barking phase of her exuberant greeting, her Warden ran up behind her. Forsaking introductions, the man dove for the rope, and wrestled with his dire in the dirt for control of it.

"Behave," he told her sternly. The dark wolf blinked at him, before licking his nose. He scowled at her. The two picked themselves up out of the dirt, and faced the group. Feeling himself go red with embarrassment, Sterling muttered a half-hearted apology. "She's not normally like this..."

[Sphye]

Canvas, startled, flew to the safety of Mara's head with a loud cry.
"Crree!" exclaimed the small rune indignantly.
"Shh, Canvas," Mara hushed, simultaneously trying to save her ears from the sharp grip of Canvas's talons. Her hair would already be a mess, she knew, but her ears were still considered at least mildly important.

Daria took the opportunity to hop out from the backpack in which Nubmee had previously taken up residence in, enjoying the chaotic welcome scene.

"I'm sure we know what that's like," responded Mara to the warden. "May I pet her?"

[cjr09]

Mull squeaks and fluffs up, but pushes into her hand happily, enjoying the affection.

Before letting a battle screech worthy of a finch out and dive bombs the new Direwolf.

Finally, someone to play with!

"Mull, no, you can't just- sorry, he's kind of hyper, he's growing, even if he's a pygmy, he's not taking it well-" Caitlin stutters and practically hurtles herself onto the new dire to pull Mull off of her.

"I'm sorry, he's just kind of- well. Easily excited, I guess?"

[Startedraining]

The wind whistled in Edgar's ear as the Drake slowed over the city of Alabaster. The cream colored Drake spotted a gathering of easily recognizable people, his favorite Rune-Bearer being one of them. The Dire Wolf behind Edgar whined uneasily, and Edgar knew he wasn't accustomed to riding, although it was necessary to bring him along.

The Drake landed nearly gracefully, the Dire Wolf had jumped off before he had landed, causing a disturbance.
Edgar leaped off, a huge grin on his face, and headed to the gathering. He smiled warmly at all the members of the party, most of all Mara.
He hugged her tightly, even though she may not have wanted a hug. That didn't matter much, he missed her.
"It's good to see you all, how have you been?" he asked the group.