His merry round cheeks and boyish face had a strong blush on them, but it wasn't due to any silly emotional accident - it was more due to the fact that he'd just climbed half a mile straight up a jagged cliffside to view some amazing reptile's nesting site.

"Cor!" He exclaimed loudly, but with a hiss to his voice that said he was 'trying' to keep quiet. "Isn't this amazing! Isn't she a beaut!"

He didn't bother to brush his tan colored hair out of his eyes, as it dangled and stuck to his forehead because of the sweat that had collected. It was like he was so intent on the cliff lizard that he didn't notice any petty things like fashion or appearance.

"Croikey!" He yelled, when the cliff lizard spat an angry sound out and frilled up onto its hind legs. "She's a feisty one, she is!" He announced, glancing at ... someone, over his shoulder. His khaki outfit was soaked with sweat, like his hair, but again he seemed oblivious.

"Now, this beauty normally doesn't come out in the daytime, but I guess because she's prob'ly got a nest of eggs in 'er nook there, cooooah!" He gasped, as the lizard continued to rear up, spitting angrily and doubtless scared out of her little lizard mind at the unnatural intrusion.

"Ohha, she's gettin' a bit ferocious, inn't she!" He said, continuing his strange conversation though there was no one apparently near him. "Lookit her markings - she's just beautiful! Now, I'm just gonna reach in heah' and - maybe get a stick - and,"

The little lizard gave up about then, and scampered up the sheer rock wall, to view this maniac from a safer distance. No eggs were worth the confrontation she knew would come if she remained.

The annoyance in tan clothing reached in boldly to the poor creature's hard-earned nesting site. She couldn't really understand it. She'd been nesting there for half a decade, and nothing dared disturb her eggs except the rare eagle or other reptile like a snake.

Never a mammal like this. But then, nothing was quite like Stivr'wynn. He wasn't an amazingly big man, just about six feet tall, and while he was muscular it was an almost desperate kind of muscularity - the kind that was a body driven by nothing but testosterone and adrenalyne. It was probably true that he didn't have an ounce of fat on him, except what could be said was between his ears...

Stivr'wynn was a man obsessed. With what? Reptiles, snakes, lizards and the like. Most other people couldn't really stand to be around him for more than a few minutes at a time. While he wasn't completely insane, or completely stupid, he was clearly somewhere just short of both. No sane individual would do what he did.

Not only did he typically talk to himself, usually to a person or persons who seemed to be somewhere just behind him or over his shoulder, or sometimes opposite him, but he had one of the most obnoxious accents anyone had ever heard. He was good looking to a point, but not so much that he'd be a prize catch - his face would never lose its boyish roundness and his nose turned up a bit, as well as his always-astonished eyebrows.

His parents were both animal experts, which doubtless had something to do with his interest in reptiles. But ... they were never quite sure where they went wrong. He was just *different* from other kids. He'd always be the one to hold on to the snake by its tail, dodging just out of reach of its painful bite - or sometimes not dodging - he was always coming off of things with bruises and scrapes. While he had some interest in girls, they were always secondary to snakes and such, to him.

They tried to get him to study things like normal kids - but he always returned at the end of the day with some new story about which rock he'd turned over or what stick he'd used to prod at some dangerous lizard. So eventually they gave up, and sent him to a big nature preserve on a trip. They left, he remained.

He had scars of course, several large sets of bite marks on his legs and torso, and myriad puncture wounds and bites on his strapping arms. But he was proud of each and every one - they all had their stories too, which he was more than happy to relate.

At this time, however, in the heat of a long summer afternoon as the sun was busy festering in the last quarter of its time above the horizon, Stivr'wynn had his arm up to his elbow in dust and fine sand, fishing around for eggs.

Regardless of the poor mother creature above, who still occasionally gave off a peculiar hiss or flattened her body down to the rock and flickered her bright tongue at him. Also regardless of whatever else might be in the nest - such as parasites or other lizards...

"Hoah, heah's one. She's just laid 'er eggs about a fortnight ago," he said, voice lowered into a concentration-hush as he continued to grasp at the leathery ovoids. "I count about ten, maybe twelve eggs in there - here," he said, pressing himself against the rock wall and pulling his arm out of the sharp nest, "Isn't this gorgeous!"

Holding up the soft beige colored egg, he flipped it into the air and gazed at it as if he were in love with it. The mother of this poor egg about died of fright.

"Now, in heah' is a toiny-toiny baby lizard-kit, an' him an' all his brothers an' sistas will prob'ly hatch in about a week or ten days. An' you can bet that I'll be up heah' waitin' for that!"

At that point, he put the egg back into the nest, admittedly he did so carefully but still, it freaked the lizard female out sufficiently that she was turned off that nest and would abandon it.

Stivr'wynn chose to continue climbing up the side of the cliff, because he was nearly up to the top anyway, and it was quite the smooth walk back down to civilization from that angle anyway. Had anyone actually been there to view him, they would have asked him why he hadn't climed *down* from the top, instead of wasting half a day walking up to the cliff itself, and another quarter of the daylight scaling the wall of sheer rocks.

When he finally reached the top, the sun was barely still in the sky. He stretched and got the kinks out of his back and shoulders, swept the dust off his knees and hands, and started walking back to his small hut down below.

**

The night was hot and sticky. Stivr'wynn slept in nothing but boxers, which had little lizard designs printed on them. He stirred in his bed, the noise from the cicadas and the other native wildlife outside was almost deafening. Then, abruptly, the sounds stopped. At first, Stivr's mind relaxed into a fine half-sleep, for all the silence was wonderful.

But the other part of his mind told the hair on his arms and neck to stand up. Something was wrong - nothing made noise out there, and there was supposed to be crickets or other eternal sounds.

He sat up, and took a look out of his window. There was darkness, as expected. But there was too much darkness - no stars or other sky phenomenon could be seen from the window. Suddenly sober and wakeful, but excited beyond belief at whatever was making every animal in range silent like this, Stivr'wynn donned his tan shirt and shorts, and headed outside.

He heard motion off to the side of his house, so he crept with a tiny bit more caution than he had ever used before. He bumped into something, something large and fairly warm. "Croikey-" he stammered, "there's somethin' big over heah'. Oi'm gonna git a stick." Quickly, he'd retrieved a good poking stick, and with it, he started tapping at the mass that blocked out the light of the stars.

The sound of something shifting around on the leaf litter, a foursome of feet moving a bit, made him jump. From the distance that the far legs sounded, this was one large animal! A rush of hot air blew down over him, the breath of something huge. Stivr'wynn looked up, squinting, his pouty lips open in frank awe.

"Cooah..." He breathed, almost silent for the first time in ages. He was trembling with amazement. For standing there in the hot night air was something that he'd only ever dreamed of finding.

"Um, you could come along with us. For some stupid reason, my dragon tells me that you're going to bond. I personally don't believe him, but whatever..." There was a man on the big blue's back. The dragon snorted loudly, and nudged downward.

The rider extended his hand, and helped pull the wide-eyed reptile lover climb up.

"Croikey..." Stivr'wynn breathed, touching the dragon and feeling its skin to confirm that it was all real. "Where're we goin', mate?" He asked, again begining to tremble with glee.

"We're... headed to the Dragon Soul - I think it's possible that you might just find some ... dragon... to bond you. Or something. Come on, Darrieth, let's take this idiot home..."

***

It took forever. And each day waiting, was torment for Stivr'wynn. He was caught more than twice a day sneaking around the hatching sands at Dragon Soul - but eventually even the leaders there had to just leave him there. He'd just be back anyway. The mothers didn't seem to mind, as long as he kept his hands to himself.

Finally the day of the hatching arrived, and Stivr'wynn was there wide awake and busy with organizing the eggs. He gave words of encouragement to the unbroken eggs - knowing there was something inside each one made him unbearably excitable.

"Cooah, there y'go mate. Check'er out! See 'ow he's sniffin' loike that - 'e's checking out the laydies there."

When there was a lull, people noticed that he'd been giving commentary the whole time. It seemed monumentally annoying but no one stopped him.

And then, a dragon appeared that took Stivr'wynn by surprise.

He had green toned skin, scales on his belly, and no wings. But then, Stivr'wynn knew that several of the pairs of dragons for this clutch had been wingless. But this green was male, an oddity, and had two tails to boot!

"You're a Beaut," he said.

I AM Beaut, the dragon replied. I want to know why you're here and I am stuck in a shell! I cannot walk yet. Teach me!

"Well, firs' y'gotta put one foot out, loike this," he waggled his foot in front of the dragon. "Then yer otha' one, loike that," he continued, right off the sands, into the feeding chamber. Beaut followed, as best he could, curious as his rider was, about the world.

***

Beaut and Stivr'wynn traveled with the odd Galactic Hitch Hikers until they reached a planet (or a place, no one was ever sure what with the infinite improbability drive on board Caledrus) called Lantessama. On it was an island, and on that island...

"Croikey!" exclaimed Stivr', "lookit allathem!"

Beaut gazed with shining eyes at the dragons on the isle. "They are many. I am only one, but I have two tails."

"Y'sure do," Stivr' said proudly.

Woodstock came up to the odd pair and said carefully, "You might want to know, they're holding a mating Run, for flightless dragons." She immediately moved away from them, because they were known for getting a bit... excitable.

"Cor'! Did you 'ear that!?" Stivr'wynn said, loudly. Beaut nodded with enthusiasm, and beat his two tails against the floor.

"I'll go!" Beaut said, "and you come with me, because you and I are a team!"

They teleported down to the surface of the Isle, where they signed up. Whether Stivr'wynn's ever-present commentary would be welcome, that was up in the air. But the two-tailed land dragon was clearly going to fit in with the bunnydragons and such.

(Results are below in stats block)

Stivr'wynn and Beaut had formed an unusual relationship with someone on the Caledrus. Someone who hadn't had dragons when he was there last, but now, she had managed to adopt two of them. She was a bit weirded out by Stivr, because he referred to things as though he were speaking to a cameraman just behind him. At all times. That was how he was, and once she got used to that factor, Axarr Madness thought he was kind of fun to be around. He would spontaneously start yammering about a new thing he'd discovered (like the toaster oven, or Axarr's collection of off-world porn), so sometimes she would reply in kind and mess with his mind.

Beaut was no less daunted by calm, arrogant black Juth, who looked over the wingless dragon with a careful eye before returning to his casual activities. It was Allmynth who had a hissiefit almost every time they entered Axarr's spacious quarters. Today was no different, it was as though she didn't remember them. Which was just as well, because it appeared that Stivr'wynn and Beaut lacked the ability to recall clearly how many times they'd done this either.

Today, after Allmynth flipped out and hissed at Beaut for coming near 'her' dragon Juth, and 'her' bond Axarr, wore herself out turning in little green dancing circles, Beaut rested beside Juth and was finally joined by the female who occasionally still panted out a 'mine!' for good measure.

Stivr'wynn approached Axarr, who stood by her big display window and looked out at the planet they circled.

"I've found something interesting, very interesting," Axarr said, and heard Stivr' quoting her in his lilting accent, aiming it at the invisible cameraman. "The planet is called Atu, and that," She pointed at a space station connected to a long tether/elevator shaft, "Is Star City. Do you see that little nub off it? That's the Abstract Destiny, a ship rather like this one." She continued to speak even though Stivr' was talking, himself, and knowing that he only realized the importance of half the things she said. "There is a nest there, something we should see. You and I. It'll be fun."

With that said, Stivr' stopped muttering to himself and stood straighter up. He blinked. The presence of the babel fish in his ear meant that now he had no excuse not to understand the meanings of words, not to be able to claim he didn't know that 'animal' he was harrassing was sentient. Woodstock had insisted that he be fitted for one after the first few times he almost caused intergalactic war.

"Cor," he breathed, eyes going wide, "Y'mean you - an' me, onna dait? Croikey! Oi accept!" He darted off quickly, not even waiting for Beaut to head after him.

Axarr sighed, and glanced at the trio of dragons resting in a pile. "Well you guys can come along if you want, too, what I read was saying it's for experienced bonders. And," she laughed, "I would say you're an experience..."

***

Stivr'wynn 'prissified' himself, taking his helmet off and brushing his mop of tan-golden hair (and promptly putting his hat back on it), getting dressed in khaki long pants, a white shirt and a tan colored casual jacket. It would almost be like he was trying to impress Axarr - and he wondered if she was going to show up in a slinky dress or what.

Because he wasn't sure how to react to that at all. His experience with women was even weirder than that which he had with animals... And Axarr was somewhere between, with those ... paws? Tail? Sure she was a chick, woman - lady - um - Even thinking about it got Stivr' riled up.

She was military, he had to remember that much at least. She probably wouldn't come in a dress. No. That wouldn't suit a military woman would it? Stivr'wynn was only faintly aware of her rank, as a General. However even Axarr wasn't much for rank and file. He was entirely civilian, so she didn't expect much from him anyway.

Was theirs a relationship based on respect, adoration, or merely circumstance?

Because they were both pretty weird.

Their dragons might have been the most normal part of their lives, and that was saying something, because a wingless two-tailed dragon and a pair like Juth and Allmynth... were hardly normal...

But they were certainly experienced. Even subconsciously Stivr'wynn took good care of Beaut, always making sure his scales were clean and free of parasites. Good food but not too much, the right temperatures... Axarr allowed Juth and Allmynth their space but she also considered how much they needed to be shown and instructed. She felt they had fine instincts for feeding and cleaning themselves, and Allmynth of course was absolutely compulsive about keeping poor Juth's hide shiny. They both listened up when Axarr went all serious on them though.

Axarr waited in her quarters for the inevitable reappearance of Stivr'wynn, eventually having to go collect him, their dragons in tow, and head off to the Abstract Destiny to get that appointment for the sands they wanted.

He wasn't even really let down when they didn't have a private, candlelit dinner or anything... Because there was so much more to do and see than all that.

***

At the Abstract Destiny there was only a little leftover room for the trio of dragons, even though they weren't huge by any means, there were still three of them. It was painful to both Stivr' and Axarr that they were often separated because their dragons decided they needed their own 'espace'.

They weren't even allowed into the hatching bay when the big nest of half-hathians were born. Now, to be fair, when he heard they were Hathian in nature, Stivr'wynn brightly chimed in with the fact that Beaut was also part Hathian. But these... were half hydra. His experiences with hydra were ... just loads of fun.

He had to wait almost until last- after speaking in hushed tones to the invisible cameraman behind him, when Diamis ate the one hatchling alive. "It's jest nature workin' its ways... It's nevah koind, but it may be the roight thing t'do. Now she's a mothah, she knows."

"Stivr'wynn," Called Schroeder, the doc in charge of these babies. Stivr' came close, veered off, and and then turned briefly to his 'camera'.

"Now Oi'm finally gettin' my turn to git one a' these lit'l babies," he said, less hushed, because he was now the center of attention. "Let's see who the good doctah Schraydah is gonna trust me to take care of."

The good doctor blinked, holding back a grin, and said, "Taerih," and a beautifully white female came up. Her eyes watched Stivr'wynn intensely.

"Cooah!" Stivr'wynn said, excitedly, "Isn't she a lovely lit'l sheila! Let's go get her fed!"

To his delight, the little white said, "Cooah!" Stivr'wynn and she caught up to Axarr shortly, and both of them wondered why the little half-hydras didn't have heads yet beyond their first. Stivr' correctly guessed that they would come in later.

Both were also handed a voucher that someone said was for later - everything was later.

"Naoh," Stivr'wynn said as he lovingly scratched the white's neck, "is toim t' sleep."

Taerih scooted around behind Stivr'wynn gleefully, as her head buds grew. So pretty soon, she, Beaut and Stivr' had a big thing going that they would observe and make notes to each other - or to that invisible camera person behind them - at any given time.

It got annoying, true, but finally Woodstock decided to put it to use. She fitted Stivr' with a recording device, one which simply broadcast visuals and had a hyperbolic microphone - so he wasn't much heard, but the things he was looking at could be listened in on. He became a kind of inadvertant security device for the Caledrus. (Read about that?)

While that was fun in and of itself, Stivr'wynn started getting fan mail. He wasn't sure why, other than that he was indeed a devilishly handsome and smart guy... People seemed to be clued in that he was a great explorer. Now, his discoveries would be shown all over the world.

All over the galaxy!

Okay, he didn't know that it was comedy, but whatever.

However, Taerih kept getting bigger. Quite big, in fact. Almost a third bigger than her companion from the same clutch, whom Axarr would lead around carefully trying to keep out of trouble. Eventually Taerih was almost up to the massive shoulder of Inga, the thirty-seven headed hydra that lived on Caledrus.

They would be the first off the ship to a new planet to explore, and the last back on board. Taerih was even permissive enough that when Beaut wasn't able to fly around, she gave a good strong attempt to fly Stivr'wynn around - to less than successful results mostly, but they did try several times. Off the ground enough that they could clear a jungle canopy. In the air only long enough to find a good spot to crash on...

** More below! **

It was after many, many years of exploration, rest and relaxation, and letting the profits from their adventure-comedy 'show' roll in (and fund a lot more exploration and r&r to be honest) that something strange happened. The Infinite Improbability Drive kicked in all by itself.

The Caledrus came to a skidding halt somewhere over the Healing Den, it was far too large to park on its parking lot. With a group heading down into the asteroid to figure out why Open All Nite wasn't there any more (they'd gone numerous times in years past, but... the Den was already around? Did the Drive time travel too?) but while they were there some interesting tidbits came on their radar.

Of course Stivr' and his dragons were among those exploring the area, and Beaut had his attention drawn by... something. A brightness like a migraine aura but without pain, in fact it looked quite inviting to the two-tailed dragon. "Be roight back," Beaut said, ducking away from the group who were having coffee and donuts while Baeris tried to figure out what to show them all first. Beaut did notice that the atmosphere changed when he went through that weird portal, but that was nothing new.

It was while he was in this place, the Spectral Wilds, that he had a bit of a fling with a local dragon by the name of Mougati, producing some beautiful two-tailed gemstone dragons! He was there and back before anyone else even noticed!

Well, someone noticed on the other side of that, a turquoise female from that clutch that followed him home just like he'd followed Stivr'. She named herself Rumbi'rumbiyun, and she never stopped looking at everything around her...

Dragon

Name: Beaut
Gender: Male
Size/Shoulder/Length: 10' s
Colors: Green Camouflage, tan belly
Features: Part Hathian so very long eye armor, however no wings, and dual tails
Powers:Telepathy and Verbal Speech; possible breath weapon
Parentage: (unknown but very likely Kuzai and one of the Hathians brought by Zadeg or Muszaki to the event)
Origin: Dragon Soul (archived link)
Other Info: Beaut's stats are retroactive, because it's hard to say what they were originally, as none were provided
Mates and Descendants

(From the flight, 2004) I didn't want to copy everything but I did find these

**With Anoleonth - camouflage-scaled bipeds x4**
Trix could see the scaled Beaut dashing at the edge of the beach, his two tails hitting the air like wips. He seemed perfectly happy in the shallow waters, running.
Parallel with Beaut, but heading through the labyrinth was Anoleonth, chased by Eith and Genvesna who appeared to be scolding the blue bunny. Anoleonth broke from the dunes and ran as fast as she could toward the water where Beaut still was running. The male biped stood still and watched as the two-tailed camouflage dragon stumbled and fell to the ground right in front of him.
It was the exact same moment Genvesna finally caught Eith who she had been chasing ever since she had seen him walk past her and Arlvith. She didn't dislike the cheetah glider, but a bunny she was and she felt the need to have some offspring that would completely resemble her.
Beaut didn't hesitate either. The female had dropped down in front of him. It had to be a sign... or at least plain dumb luck. He courted the dragoness by gently stroking her head with his and then moved in closer. Anoleonth snorted but then made a shrugg-like gesture that Trix freely translated to: "When in the dunes, do as the bunnies do." and gave into Beaut who she thought was rather attractive, a nice colour of green that would look good on her children.

** and also with Nantryth - scaled cheetah gliders x2**
Cyan looked down again seeing the cheetah-patterned dragoness back on the lake, recovering in record time from a pairing and this time being chased by scaled Beaut. The two-tailed biped dragon however, wasn't as quick on the water as were her other mates. It took him quite some time to catch her, laying in ambush until she swooped overhead again, only the tip of his head sticking out of the water.
But when he finally did, he treated the dragoness on what must have been a fabulous underwater journey. They didn't resurface for at least 15 minutes and after that pairing not even the promiscuous Nantryth had the strength to go on. 
The couple floated lazily to the shore and lay there, drying their hides and scales in the warm afternoon sun, basking in the heath of the sand.

-- The 2004 Run results (old links or info left out I don't know that any of these survived geopurge)
A small clutch in the dunes, guarded by it's father Beaut, was starting to show signs of live. The father had managed to keep all but one egg out of the hands of those meddling bunnies. Whatever had happened to the one egg, he feared to find out, so he concentrated on his remaining eggs.
-Thryor - One broke open and a camouflage beige glider fell o the soft dune sand. Smiling, his father nudged the dragonet to his feet and told it to wait for candidates.
"But I want to bond now!" the hatchling sighed, "I'm hungry."
Feeling his son's hunger, Beaut looked around and when no-one was around, tossed his son a piece of cake he had snagged from the feeding tables. "Don't tell your mother I did this." he said.
"I won't." Thryor said happily chewing his desert, "I think I will go to Nidus Otykaii."
- Hyiena - Beaut looked at his two remaining eggs. One of them was ready to hatch and the other would not wait long anymore either. Beaut was rather happy, regular hatchings didn't take this long. He had been standing guard over his eggs for several hours now.
Finally one egg broke in half and a female green camouflage glider dropped onto the sands. Crooning when she saw her father above her she hugged his leg and said: "That Slythernius place sounds fun. Can I go there?"
"Of course Hyiena." Beaut said, "Just saty here until the last egg hatches and I'll take you to get you registered."
"Thanks daddy."

Dragon

Name: Taerih Na'carrah
Gender: Female
Size/Shoulder/Length: hatchling 3'11" to head | Adult Height: 29'10" s (!)
Colors: White; body soft white with low contrast shadow; necks and belly graphite black; wingsails sparkling starry black; gold eye armor
Features: Hathian/Hydra Crossbreed
Rank: 6 headed Greater Jewels: 1 Black Opal (female), 2 Emerald (loyalty), 2 Amethyst (communication)
Powers: Winged Flight
Teleportation, local, long distance, Nexus
Telepathy and Verbal Speech
Breath Weapons - Acid, Ice
Parentage: below
Origin: Abstract Destiny; Phe
Other Info: Sponsored by: Stivr'wynn; Sight Type: Normal (deprecated Hathian info)
Personality: Taerih is extremely impressionable. In fact, she has - or will soon develop - that very rare syndrome called FOLIE À DEUX. Literally meaning "a madness shared by two" and also called "induced delusional disorder", from closely watching Stivr'wynn's behavior Taerih will soon start duplicating him. The syndrome is not simply mimicry, but is an actual adopted "belief", so to speak, in the new behavior. So the talking to invisible audiences, fascination with reptiles, and everything else will move on to Taerih in no time at all. Combined with a white's penchant to be playful, energetic, and talkative, soon it will seem like there's two Stivr'wynn's running about!
Cyborware: Taerih will receive a cyborware token upon adulthood. Moderate token (never redeemed)

Lineage

Mates and Descendants