Edgy

Name	James, but don't call him that, he's Edgy to you (see end of page)
Gender	Male, Straight; Human
Homeworld	Earth, currently residing on Twoarth
Age	30s, Graduated (eventually), not an alum of CHS
Post	Instructor, Guidance Councelor
Tenure	New, 2020ish
Smarts	3
Bod/Feet	6
RWS	6
Luck	2
Drive	1 (ride 5)
Looks	3
Cool	7
Bonk	5
Powers	Dragonrider - Raizoth can take him wherever or whenever he needs to be, thus they're a bit of a genrehopping pair; Commands a certain amount of respect among students and staff alike, as well as having permits for work in the city; Can be considered part of a 'gang' or 'favor-giving' as most other riders will come to his aid, or be willing to do work with his choice of targets
Clusters	Takes A Lickin', Keeps On Tickin' +3 the hits kept coming, he kept fighting back; this can inspire others, because he has a host of awful childhood memories that he can tap to relate while in a counceling session
Skills	Empathic +4 not a power, but a sense of kinship with kids who have social problems, and puts this to use keeping strays on the right path Out Of His Shell +3 once Raizoth and he were ready, they began to explore worlds, which gave Edgy more confidence to not just rebel, but to focus and gain purpose; because of this, he can detect those things in kids and adults alike Teaching +2 he is pretty good with instructing but keeps it to the dragonry style, because that's how he learned it
Knacks	Music Keeps Him Going +3 while he's no musician or even much of an afficianado, he appreciates and encourages musical talent in others, and really loves those old punk and stompin' tunes Hair, Ties, Shoelaces +3 though he tends toward a more subtle approach now, anyone who's seen family pictures of him as a kid and teen knows he went through more than just a phase, so now it's a matter of kids spotting the 'weird bit' while he's on the move on campus; he also wears political buttons and meme slogan t-shirts, to say the least
	Teaching / Duties
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Dragon	White Brown Camo Raizoth
From	Ryslen Weyr Flurry 2001
Family	Beez, **, **
NOTES	This was originally written shortly before, and shortly after the 9/11 attacks which kind of dates the story dunnit

Edgy sat in the councellor's office with his fingers wrapped tightly around one another. His foot bounced constantly, making the little chains on his steel-toed boot jing-jing. That elicited more than one hostile look from the grey-haired man behind the spartan desk.

"James, your records are really starting to worry me." The man said with a frown. "There's got to be something to be done about it. You can't just lay about all day and ditch class after class."

Edgy remained silent, except for the jingling of his boot.

"I'm supposed to ask you to come in after school for detention, only I know you won't possibly show up for it. Will you."

Edgy shook his head, staring at the floor.

"Right. Then you know you're looking at expulsion, or being held back a grade. If you can't see fit to come in to your classes. I don't see it helping. I realize that with winter break coming up you MIGHT be able to pull two months worth of homework out of your parka-covered ass," the councellor sneered, "but I doubt it."

"You'd never even ask me what my problem is, mister 'councellor-man'?" Edgy finally spat, his eyes red and on the verge of tears. He stood and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him and leaving the campus in a huff.

The councellor straightened the thick file on James Tosberg into its manila folder, and leaned back with a frown. "Bum punk kid..."

Edgy sat alone in the house, with the remnants of the Christmas tree and half-opened boxes of decorations scattered around. There was a modest pile of gifts, from extended relatives and from ...

Edgy, James, hugged the new parka which his mother had given him to his chest. He buried his face in the soft fluffy artificial-fur lining. The three small boxes addressed to his mother lay unopened, as did one package which had somehow made it to the house labeled to his father.

As if his father's death almost two years before had managed to slip the notice of some dumbass out west. One of his business lackeys, most likely. How could they not remember? The deals which went all sour when his father had been struck by a car and died in the hospital without even bothering to have updated his freaking will?

Edgy snarled at that little box, it was probably a tie or a little desk-picture with some inspirational saying and fluffy-cloud picture on it. In his anger, Edgy laughed, perhaps it was a tie with fluffy clouds on it...

He woke later, to the sound of a group of carolers who had wandered by the house. They'd probably sung in front of his window, the lights were on and the tree was almost decorated.

It was snowing again. Edgy hated snow, but he despised the heat of the west coast more. It meant that his parka would not go unused. It meant that...

"I'll never lose this, mom... I'll never forget what you did for me..." He hissed, face buried again in the parka. He turned the lights off, and went upstairs to sleep.

Beez wanted to come, but Edgy wouldn't let her. He'd been alone now for more than a week, half of winter break had gone by and he hadn't even called. When Edgy's mother died in the hospital of rampant cancer -- the kind that Edgy knew could have been prevented if only she'd gone to that other doctor about the lump -- Beez had been with him.

But now it was time for him to face the world alone. Beez was a nice girl, and she'd even introduced Edgy to her parents -- and they liked him. She had thought that because he was white they might not. The fact that he was a punker in a techno world never even occurred to her, or her folks. They wanted him to stay with them, if he needed to. Alone in that big house...

He declined, but Beez watched him from afar just in case. When he walked away from the grave where his mother lay with his father, under freshly fallen snow, Beez snuck behind him and watched him walk through the park.

"For a punk, you sure are sensitive," Beez said, startling Edgy. His shoulders shrugged in a half-laugh.

"Thanks, I pride myself on it. But don't you dare tell a soul..." He said. "It's cold out here. Almost cold enough to have a snowball fight." Edgy got a mischievous look on his dour face, and reached for the snow below him. When Beez realized he was serious about it, she squealed and dove for cover behind a tree. The snowball splattered across the bark, and spray hit her nose.

"Oooh, that was too close, Edgy!" She called, and was busy putting together her own retaliatory snowball when she heard a 'thuff-thuff' ... footsteps? They were heavy, though. A police horse? Who knew?

Edgy stood staring at the path, and Beez shortly followed suit. On the hillside, covered in snow and between the few trees, stood a dragon.

"Oh this ain't happening," Beez said, "no way... Edgy?" She pulled his elbow, noticing that he was wearing The Parka, and had applied the old Anarchy patch from his battered hand-me-down onto the arm. "Edgy, what is this?"

"It's a big ass dragon, and a girl." He gulped. "Mom would have loved this... Hippie chick. She was a hippy, you know..."

"Yeah," Beez said. Neither of them had taken their eyes off the rider, or the big silvery-white dragon who stood on the hill. It almost blended in, the color of snow with a sheen of ice upon it.

The woman who got off the dragon was... well, she was the most beautiful, pale-skinned thing that either Edgy or Beez had ever seen. Her hair matched the static-snow of the dragon, as did her clothing. Even her eyes were the color of static. She glided up to the pair like a wisp of wind, like a snowflake on the breeze.

"Greetings," she said, musically. "My name is Misota. This is Dantinath." She waved her hand and the silver dragon nodded her head deeply.

"I'm... I'm Edgy, and this is Beez..." Edgy said, only half-nervous. What else could happen? His parents were both dead, he was failing everything in school but English Literature and History, half the adults in the world thought he would be 'better off' in a foster home rather than waiting out the year and a half it would take for him to reach 18 and get access to his trust funds... He was ready for this.

A dragon and its rider. Sure. Beez clutched Edgy's hand, and he looked at her with a calm that surprised her. "I'm scared," she said, quietly.

"It'll be all right," he promised her. "I think they're here for me anyway. You're the only thing in my life that I really have, any more..."

Misota tilted her head and looked both curious and bemused. "I'd like to take you to Ryslen Weyr. It's ... well, it's very far from here, but right now you couldn't hardly tell for all the snow. It's snowing there too..."

Edgy's eyebrow, the one with the ring in it, raised up a bit. Beez took in a breath and stifled a giggle. "You wouldn't," she whispered.

"I would."

He aimed a swift snowball at Misota, which missed and smacked Dantinath square on the neck. Surprised, the dragon chuffled and waved her big curved wings, burying the trio in a tummult of snow. Laughing, Misota shook her hair out and smirked.

"You're coming with me. We can come back, you'll know the way. If you need to come along, that would be okay too. We're quite good at getting children back home before midnight."

Beez glanced at the dragon, sobering. "I... I don't think so. This is your ride. You'll come back and see me. Is there anything you want me to do for you while you're gone?"

"Kick councellor Laredo's ass for me, will you?" He said, "on second thought I'll come back and do that myself. Don't let anyone break into my house..."

"I won't... I won't..." Beez said, half sobbing, but smiling. What could she say to her folks?

Tell them the truth, child, Came a voice into her mind. She shrank from it, but knew that it was the dragon's. They may not believe but you will have told the truth. And he will come back for you, if you wish to be among my kind some day. Your curiosity will grow...

Edgy kissed Beez and then removed one of his earrings. "Here, now you know I'll come back."

She put it into one of the spare holes in her own ear, and promised that she'd not remove it until he took it from her hand himself.

Edgy had no need to collect anything, everything precious to him was either standing before him or on his back. He climbed onto the silver dragon's back, and held on tight. When they left the ground, he imagined himself on his father's back as a tiny child, playing horse... The tears on his face froze as they teleported to the world of the dragons.

Edgy stood around watching the hockey players who'd come from earth -- they couldn't have been from anywhere else. He remained away from them, apart from most, but then again his parka kept him warm where they could not.

The hatching took... FOREVER and a DAY! From dozens of eggs came beautiful shining dragons, bonding left and right, and sometimes up. The stands held people who suddenly burst out cheering or jeering, and Edgy even chimed in now and then. He wasn't sure what else to do. Dantinath came back into his mind now and again and calmed him from her ledge above the sands. He stood on the sand, with the other candidates, way too warm for his own good.

Do not worry, my dear angry child.

I'm not angry, Edgy thought back to her. I'm really really hungry. I don't know why...

When the sand shook and released a brown, mottled colored hatchling, Edgy realized why he was all tummy-grumbly. He was sensing the hunger coming from the half-camoflaged dragon nearby.

There he is...

"Sorry, Raizoth, your camoflage doesn't work in here," Edgy said to the brown-pale dragon. He approached carefully, not spearing himself on the shards of shells which lay everywhere.

I wasn't hiding, Edgy.

"Well that's good, because with me nearby you can't possibly hide any more..." He chuckled to himself. He would not be alone any more. His mind and heart filled with this young, strange life form, Raizoth. Curious, hungry, tired, and suddenly lifting his feet from the hot sands, Raizoth butted into his rider.

We should find me some food, shouldn't we? I mean, I don't need to see much more to know I'm hungrier than I am curious... How about you?

"Me too, and don't worry about that food. It's all cut up and ready to scarf. I'm almost ready to eat it raw too!"

Raizoth wasn't the first out of his shell at the hatching, but he was the first into the sky! Well, he liked to think so. Edgy told him so. It must be true!

Look at me! I soar!

You're soaring right at that white!! Edgy's mind yelled, while his voice cried out, "look out!"

They cut up short and hung in the air, flapping hard to gain altitude.

"That's the way!" Edgy cheered, and he felt the graceful mind of the ice-elf riding the white, relief coming from her as they had both missed a quick end.

I will not do that trick again!

"No you won't! Not until I tell you to!"

"So much has happened in the time we've been gone," Edgy breathed. His parka had maintained its warmth, was a little shabbier but had several prominent patches on it which showed his progress among the dragon riders at Ryslen. He expected the dragon to do well, just like he expected himself to do his best.

But his best couldn't possibly compare to what he encountered when he and Raizoth returned to Earth. He learned about the horrible terrorism, attacks on his own home soil, and that his presence couldn't possibly have prevented it. He knew he belonged on Raizoth's back. But he wanted to be with his love.

She is still afraid of dragons, my friend.

They watched the dark skinned girl as she helped hand out information and supplies to people who wanted to help victims of the New York incident. They remained hidden -- somehow. Raizoth's camoflaged coloration worked even now, or perhaps especially now. He'd learned where to place his wings, how to settle onto ground or near a building. Or maybe people just didn't want to see something else totally out of their experience and so they ignored him. Either way, Edgy watched with a sense of pride and love as Beez comforted her classmates.

She was in junior college, now. Graduated early from high school. Edgy felt just a little twinge of guilt that he was allowing Raizoth to steal glimpses into her mind and not telling her. Perhaps... it would be best to let her to her own devices. He'd come back when the time was right. Now just wasn't it.

He hoped that it would be soon, and that she would welcome him back into her warm arms. She'd helped him so much, over the three last horrid years of his life here on earth. So he hoped that some day, he could stand by her on the sands of a new clutch of eggs and watch her own joy at bonding to a beautiful dragon for herself.

She could ride a gold, and we could--

Raiz, just... shh.

They did eventually return and get Beez to her own dragon - but then also... started looking for places to settle. Because numerous worlds were affected by the 'breaking' of Alabaster's portal unit, allowing a nexus to form among worlds that contain that company, they were attracted to the west coast (well, Beez was) and discovered another dimension's was... very, very fun looking. Twoarth was where they settled, and with Edgy's memories of how bad his life went, he wants to aid kids in similar situations. Over time he has become accredited and graduated with honors (if a little late) while Beez and he settled down... And started raising a family. And yes, he took her surname, since her parents truly helped save him from his own mire.

Though he 'cleans up well' sometimes he'll lurk around the halls of Carramba or in nearby clubs in his old gear, and no one is the wiser...