[Location: Adventure Zone] [open to any!]

[imperial_long]

Good afternoon, Taxon: there is an enormous black dragon flying in lazy circles above the city.

Specifically, above the Northern District, that nebulous area currently masquerading as Fantasyland. After all, what's a good castle adventure without a dragon? Even if the dragon is distinctly Eastern in flavor rather than Western.

On the map, the dragon displays as Oolong. In the air, Oolong loops like a black ribbon, drifting down from the sky in long, rippling undulations as he scans the woods below for interesting things.

'Interesting things' qualify as sheep. Or deer. Or, perhaps, even a goblin here or there.

Either way, he's visible from anywhere in Adventure Zone... and for that matter, probably visible from parts of the regular city too.



[OOC: Oolong in da house! Long is currently a 90-foot-long Chinese imperial dragon. He still has his tablet on him. Feel free to approach him in any way from terror to glee.]

Comments

[imperial_long]

Oolong snorts a laugh that sounds a bit like multiple cars backfiring.

"Yes, that is a splendid understatement." He mistakes Metody's hesitation for fear; or at least, he interprets Metody's hesitation for fear. It is the most comfortable interpretation. After all, he is fearful in this form to many creatures and people.

"I shan't hurt you, you know."

[skinandbone]

He flinches at the laugh - so loud! And then he creeps forward a bit, until he is even with the last tree of the forested patch.

"Is - does this happen a lot to you? There's - there's an awful lot of you now. Sir."

[imperial_long]

Oolong folds his forearms on the mossy ground of the clearing; rests his massive skull atop them. Wisps of steam trail up from his nostrils.

"You needn't call me sir, Mr. Green," he says gently (although in this form, 'gently' is still rather loud). "It's... occasional. This is the third time since my arrival in Taxon."

He doesn't feel the need to state right now that this is his natural form.

[skinandbone]

"Oh." He pauses, looking a little worried.

"...does this happen to everyone?"

Because if it does, and the size increase is proportional, then there's no way Metody is going to be able to stay in the sewers. There just isn't enough room down there.

[imperial_long]

"No, no," Long rumbles, hastening to reassure.

"I am quite confident I am the only individual who becomes a dragon. Most glitches tend to be quite smaller in scale."

[skinandbone]

"Oh, good!"

" - I mean - I'm sorry. It's just - the size increase is - is startling."

Metody has wandered out into the clearing now. He sits down on a stump, trying to get at roughly eye level with Long.

"Do you always turn into a dragon? You're beautiful!"

All the uncomfortable aspects are gone. Now, it's just open, honest joy. What a wonderful place, where the people turn into such incredible creatures!

[imperial_long]

"It probably has something to do with the fact that my name is 'dragon' in Chinese," Long says by way of further, hedging explanation. Everything he's saying is true. Just not all the truth.

Compliments, now, compliments he can manage quite well, really-- they cause him to preen he clears his throat slightly, inclines his head in a way that would be a pleased head-duck on a human.

"You are most kind," he murmurs, in tones that also indicate he quite agrees with Metody's assessment that he's beautiful. (And at a volume that most creatures would not consider a 'murmur'.)

[skinandbone]

The volume has become painful, so he deals with it in the most direct way he can: he fuses the delicate bones in his ears, and juat listens withthe rest of his bones.

"'Long' means 'dragon?' That seems...fitting." Eastern dragons, after all, are much snakier than their Western cousins. He glances over Long's length, then down to the nearest set of claws; he has heard that the more there are, the more noble a dragon is.

"Is it difficult to be so big? You don't seem clumsy at all."

[imperial_long]

Metody has heard correctly, and Oolong sports not three, not four, but five claws upon each hand, a truly imperial dragon.

He chuckles at the question. "Is it difficult to be so small?" he counters with good humour. "You are surprisingly durable for your tiny size!"

[skinandbone]

Sadly, Metody's baseline is five fingers, and so Long's imperial nature goes unrealized.

"No, it's fairly easy - a rabbit is enough food for a day, and an apple is half a meal. A deer would feed me for weeks, maybe even longer, if I was careful. And all the buildings here are built to my scale. But you...are you going to get enough to eat?"

[imperial_long]

His ego will shrivel and die be fine. It is a very large and durable ego.

"Oh!" he says with another rumbling laugh. "I see, you are concerned with issues of metabolism. No need to worry. I am not a frantic mammal, you understand. And I sleep a lot. The occasional deer suffices."

'Occasional' is a lovely word, being so non-specific. In the course of setting Metody's mind to ease regarding food, Oolong half-forgets that he is trying to watch his language regarding implications of his natural state.