The ATC is bland and boring (Closed)

[Anonymous]

Mara strummed his guitar casually hoping inspiration would come. Ever since the other pilots, except Gabriel, had belittled his Blog Awesomeness Song he had been trying to write something better but he had the dreaded artist’s block, a lack of muse. Anything he wrote was sub-par.

     So he had gone to sit in the ATC, there was a lot more activity there and he hoped that it might stir him to write a piece of musical genius. What he needed really was something unusual to happen, something different from the mundane and everyday. Perhaps he would be lucky and spot one of the more unusual candidates like the gorgon or harpy, that would be interesting. Oh what stories the harpy would have to tell being a fellow immortal, though it did seem she was a lot older than him. Still tales of how the planet had once been would be fascinating.

     He wasn’t sure how old he was, it was less than a thousand but more than 300 so somewhere in between. Half his life he couldn’t remember, which sucked but then again dwelling on the past was pointless, the future counted for more.

     Sighing, he began playing a song he had heard recently, by some band called IF or something like that. Apparently the former singer was a candidate but Mara had yet to meet him. They would be interesting as well…in fact most of the candidates did sound interesting even if they were human, the lead singer of a band, a girl with an unusual name, a psychic mage…Aedolis must have really attracted some strange folk this time, but colour and uniqueness was always good, the ATC was too bland and boring. It needed strange personalities and beings to brighten it up.

     He continued playing and began singing the lyrics, he didn’t know all of them yet unfortunately. Mara prided himself on his perfect pitch and his amazing singing voice…Perhaps he was being a bit vain but he knew, and everyone who had heard him sing hand to admit, he could sing…he was just really annoying. And he knew the other pilots found him annoying, he liked it that way.

[Anonymous]

Skipping and flying at the same time was a skill that Demya was proud of. It had taken her about two years to develop it a long time ago when the earth still had green fields. Now however, it was slightly awkward due to the narrow hallways that created the lab-lab... labyrinth of the military base.

Why did human languages have to change so much?

Demya continued down the hall doing her flapping skip until she got closer to the common areas. She was probably going to get in trouble again for not wearing her shirt. Instead she was wearing vines wrapped around her chest with two large passionfruit flowers on her breats. Her passionfruit flowers were bigger and brighter though.

Silly humans, why are clothes so important anyway? They were only do that you didn't get cold and when the atmospheric temperature was regulated, there really was no need.

Demya folded her wings against her body and flipped her short hair so that the gold and red flecks reflected in the door. She went inside the lunch hall to pester the cooks about her orders of worms. She didn't really need to eat worms, they just tasted better and you knew what they were made of: worms.

'What do you mean they're not going to get my worms? How on Earth am I meant to I meant to get them,' she cried out. She fluffed up her red and gold wings as well as her tail. She loved doing this because it made her look scary - in a very beautiful way. She made a high pitched whistle before flapping her wings and flying over to a couch and perching on it's backrest.

[Anonymous]

Mara was a little surprised when one of the interesting students actually entered the mess hall, and it was the harpy! She was just as strange looking as he thought she would be and it seemed she hadn’t listened to the other pilots warning about wearing clothes. Her top half was covered by various vines and decorated with two brightly coloured flowers. It was very festive, the pilots who had threatened to stitch clothes to her or mummify her in electrical tape were boring idiots.

     The ATC itself could use some flowers; it was so white and grey after all. Maybe this harpy would enjoy spreading colour to the drab building.

     “Hello,” Mara said to the harpy when it landed on the couch nearby, “Your name is Demya correct? I’m Mara and I rather like your viney attire, especially the flowers. You can never have too many flowers and this place certainly needs some.”

     She wasn’t as ugly as he expected a harpy to be, and he had actually seen one before, about a hundred years ago it but a lot more grotesque.”

     On another day, Demya might have been hard pressed to miss Mara sat there; sometimes he liked to wear rather lurid and unusual clothing to irritate the other pilots. However today he was dressed normally, in just a pair of green cargos and a dark cerise t shirt. He wasn’t that noticeable but he had intended on blending in and watching. But meeting a fellow immortal and one which such taste though demanded he introduce himself.

[Anonymous]

Demya smiled at the pink-haired man and forgot her little tantrum with the cooking staff. 'Thank you. I've been trying to figure out ways of wearing clothes without actually wearing anything. I wonder how long it will last.'

Despite the fact that he was wearing normal human attire, he had PINK hair. 'Why do you have pink hair? I thought that was a girl thing. I mean, you aren't gay or anything, not that I have anything wrong with that. My sister's gay,' she thought aloud. 'I haven't seen pink hair since... several centuries at least.' Demya was one of those people who you don't have to wonder what's happenning in their heads... not that anyone would want to search around in there. Her eyes narrowed and she bent her head down and looked closely at his face.

'Are you that weird immortal guy?' she asked. 'I thought he was a hippy though. You look weird apart from your hair. I like your hair. Can I play with it?'

She hopped off the couch and onto the floor in front of him so that she was at about his hieght. She flipped her bright red and gold hair and slimed back at him in a very birdlike manner. Despite all her vanity and all her other obvoius faults, Damya was very attractive.

[Anonymous]

Mara doubted her ‘wearing clothes without actually wearing anything’ tactic would not last very long, especially if her mentor and the other pilots had anything to say about it. Maybe when she passed Demya could get away with it but when you whilst she was still a candidate the pilots were god.

     He laughed at her comment about his hair being pink, “It’s pink because…well I don’t remember, heheh. But the colour doesn’t run or anything when I wash it so I suppose it’s naturally like that.”

     It seemed she had a much better memory than him but it was a known fact that the network, dragon mind rape and recreational drugs were not good for your brain.

     “As for being gay, I like to keep my options open.”

     He wasn’t human so why should he care what gender they were? Demya was quite attractive for an animalistic humanoid but he preferred mostly humans, an extra appendage or unusual colouring was fine but bird features and feathers covering most of the body was not.

     “Hippy? No I don’t think so…I’m a pilot. You can’t really keep up the whole ‘peace and love’ thing when you’re killing people and blowing their brains up.”

     Mara nearly always said what he was thinking. And it wasn’t always a good thing. Besides the candidates would have to realise they would end up doing some terrible things, you had to learn to live with it.

     Asking to play with his hair took him by surprise; that was strange, she was almost like a child. Then again he was exactly sane or normal either.

     He smiled back at her and began untying his plait with no hands. As well as psychic abilities he could manipulate his hair at will, lengthening it, shortening it, hardening it to form a shield…and on the more violent side he could make it sharp to stab people with or he could form a rope and strangle people with it.

     Mara lengthened it and made it float about as if it were being held up telekinetically.  

     “My hair isn’t just pink,” he laughed, “I can control and manipulate it as well. I have cool hair, I’m psychic and I’m immortal I am most definitely blessed.”

[Anonymous]

“Hippy? No I don’t think so…I’m a pilot. You can’t really keep up the whole ‘peace and love’ thing when you’re killing people and blowing their brains up.”

'Well, you have to fight for something dont you? I mean, the Earth isn't going to heal itself and those silly Mordacai aren't going to help are they?'

Demya beamed as she watched the pilot's hair change. This would be a great deal of fun. Maybe she would put some pretty little jasmine through it. She tilted her head and watched as the vines grew around his hair and twisted into pretty little coils. She finished it up by creating buds on the vines and waiting for them to bloom. Jasmine was one of her favourite smells.

'So, if you're immortal. How long have you lived so far? Where do you come from? Do you have any other talents?'

She blinked, having just realised something, 'so, if you're a pilot, why aren't you so cold, boring and angry? Most of the others would have pulled off my other arm if I made them look better. At least that's what I've been told.'

[Anonymous]

The harpy had actually said something rather profound which was surprising considering he’d heard she wasn’t the brightest of people. She had said ‘you have to fight for something’. That was very true, Mara could have ended up in the army of either Aedolis or Edanith with his talents and he felt no allegiance to either because he couldn’t remember where he had been born. He had simply chosen Aedolis. There were many reasons for this but the main one was because they remained on earth. Its people hadn’t fled, they hadn’t abandoned the planet. He couldn’t remember when all the nations were based on earth but he found history interesting. Aedolis had remained to fight for Earth even though it was dying. So he had decided that trait was a lot more desirable than Edanith’s cowardice and lack of staying power.

     “You’re right Demya, you have to fight for something. I chose to join Aedolis because they’re willing to fight for the earth. Edanith just ran at the first sign of trouble.”

     Despite her rather profound saying, he doubted she actually realised how profound it was. Though, being less than intelligent was not a sin and she was quite likable. She seemed to like his trick with his hair, and beamed just a like a child, it was quite sweet really. Then she created some vines in it just like a girl braiding her best friend’s hair. He couldn’t see it but it smelt nice. He shortened his hair a bit to waist length as it would have been dragging on the floor otherwise. Then he formed into lots of thick braids. Maybe it looked girly but who cared; macho, alpha-males were one of his pet peeves.

     “It smells really nice,” he laughed, “Pity I can’t see it.”

     Well he supposed he could delve into the harpy’s mind and see it through her eyes, but that would be just rude and he wasn’t sure how well developed her powers were.

     “How long have I lived so far?...Hmm…Can’t remember,” he replied, “I know it’s less than a thousand…and it’d definitely over 300. Other than that I don’t have a clue.”

     He pulled his guitar strap up over his head, he felt kind of rude sat their with the instrument sitting on his lap.

     “Don’t know where I came from, can’t remember. As for other talents well magical ones…I don’t really have anymore than the ones I mentioned. I can sing and play the guitar though…as well as the violin, cello, piano, organ, lute, drums, glockenspiel and harp. You have lots of time to kill when you’re immortal. As I’m sure you know. I’ve heard you’re a lot older than me…Sorry if that sounds rude. Some woman don’t like their age being asked or commented on.”

     Mara then placed his guitar back in its case and slung it over his back.

     “Not all the pilots are that bad really. They find me annoying though,” he laughed, “Don’t worry if you don’t seem to fit in with them or even your fellow candidates, I didn’t either.”

     He was immortal so he was used to being alone, that’s why the fact the other pilots weren’t too keen on him didn’t bother him all that much. Still it didn’t mean he was going to turn into a cold arrogant bastard. Instead he enjoyed being random, odd and annoying to the other pilots.

     “The pilots aren’t all boring, in fact we’re all…freaks and oddities. It seems that only those who aren’t ‘normal’ manage to pass. Trying to fit in and be the like the others is a sure way to fail. All the pilots pick on each other, a lot like children really. Their true face is different from what they show you.”

[Anonymous]

'I can show you if you like. I'm not very good at being a psychic but I'm sure I could let you see it.' She bit her lip and focussed on his mind. She brushed lightly on the outser edges of his mind, just enough to show that she was there. I might not have much strength but had had a couple of centuries to practice.

Even though she was just outside his mind, she continued talking. 'I don't mind; it's only humans who look old that feel embarressed about their age. I guess that has something to do with how ugly they look when they get to around forty.

He said he was about 300-1000 years old, not that old by immortal standards.

'You're only a baby then. I'm not sure how old I am, the calendars keep changing so it's hard to keep up. I've been through two major Earth-destroying holocausts if that is any help. Humans did it the second time, I think they also did it the first but I'm not too sure there. My sister and I once had a theory that if we killed them all the Earth would have time to heal before they destroyed it again.

Demya kept talking and forgot about the mind-link. This time the pilot said he couldn't remember where he was born.

'That must suck to not know where you came from. The Earth has changed so much but I can sort of point out where I was born. It was a long way from here though. Four days hard flight, longer if I were to fly there myself because I don't have jet engines. Ships are so much faster than wings but wings give you more freedom. What do you think?'

She took a deep breath and was about to start talking again before she realised the link was still attached. Opps, sorry. I hope you didn't see too much in there that worried you... or that would get me in too much trouble. She blushed and grinned at him, he didn't seem the type to tattle on people. Oops, do you want me to disconnect it?

She started fiddling with her hair before waiting for answer. She started thinking on her favourite subject: why humans were so... silly. Humans really are weird creatures. They always seem to want to control eachother. I still haven't figured out why they need power so much. Maybe it's because their lifespans are so short... though if that was the case then why dont they go be merry with one another and enjoy their time. Damn clothes don't help anything either, I bet it's the older oes that enforce that. They're probably too ashamed of thier wrinkles.

'Erm, what were you saying sorry?' she asked.

[Anonymous]

[OOC ....Oops, I thought posted ths yesterday >.< Sorry]

He was surprised when she actually let him read her mind. It was clear her psychic abilities weren’t very strong and a little crude though she seemed to think they were polished. She would find out in training how wrong she was. His hair looked pretty good though, especially with the braids. Her attention span wasn’t the greatest either, she completely forgot about the mind link but fortunately it was weak enough so he could ignore it easily.

     She was right about him being ‘only a baby’ in immortal terms, he would be even if he were 1000, it was still young in comparison. He could tell from the way her mind felt that she was very old, thousands of years old. She was an old woman in comparison to him but acted like a child…or an air-headed teacher. More likely the latter.

     What she said about destroying everyone on earth, though he assumed she meant all humans was quite scary. Humans weren’t all that bad were they? He had acted like one most of his life and still did, albeit a rather eccentric one. He didn’t try and impose his beliefs about humans on people either or think he was better than them. Demya clearly did. Perhaps she wasn’t as nice a person as he thought, particularly towards mortals.

     “Humans aren’t all that bad. When you look like one it’s much safer to act like one to avoid persecution. Sure they have their flaws, but they do quite well considering they don’t live all that long.”

     He disagreed with her that wings gave you more freedom. They did when you were in a breathable atmosphere but not in space. He doubted even harpies could breathe up there.

     “My hair does look good thank you, Demya,” he chuckled, changing the subject, “Maybe you could use your charm on the mess hall. It could use some brightening up.”

     He knew she’d do it and she certainly would get in trouble for it.

     “Don’t worry about getting in trouble, I’ll take the blame.”

     Well actually he had no intention of doing that, she would get a lesson on not being speciesist and just how much torment humans could cause her. He was an immortal too but he didn’t disrespect mortals like she did.

[Anonymous]

Demya blushed and realised the mind-link was still attached so she removed it.

“Humans aren’t all that bad. When you look like one it’s much safer to act like one to avoid persecution. Sure they have their flaws, but they do quite well considering they don’t live all that long.”

'I did say once had a theory. I never thought they were stupid either, if that's what you think I'm thinking. They just... destroy everything, at least the ones who want power do. My sister and I sort of had a falling out after that. She kept on killing and I started growing,' to illustrate her point she sent vines up from the floor to the tops of her wings. 'She failed and ran off somewhere and I kept trying. That's why I volunteered here: I thought perhaps the people of Aedolis might still have some love for their home planet.'

She frowned again, she really wasn't good at explaining all the history stuff.

'You'd let me do that?' Demya asked. her hands started twitching in anticipation and swirls of young growth curled around her talons. She frowned and looked at him, her head cocked slightly, 'but, what would happen to you?'

[Anonymous]

Well she seemed to not hate humans, at least not all humans. Perhaps she was more mature than he thought, then again perhaps not.

     “Oh don’t worry, Arka would deal with me,” Mara laughed, “That’s my dragon but he’s used to me doing eccentric things. I wouldn’t get in as much trouble as you would, trust me.”

     Maybe he would take the fall for her, she didn’t seem that mean…And it was true he wouldn’t get in as much trouble, Arka would probably forced to lock him out of the network for a week but he’d manage. It wouldn’t kill him, very little could. He was sure there was one method of doing so, there usually was for every immortal, he just hadn’t discovered his yet and if things went well he never would.

     Another reason he wanted her to do it was to show up the other pilots. If they didn’t want him having his own candidate he’d influence their candidates. Not that Demya needed much encouragement to break the rules, but still it would be funny to see the pilot’s comments on her little show later.

[Anonymous]

Demya gave an overly bright and friendly smile and flung both arms and wing around him. 'Oh thank you sooo much!!!' She stepped back and looked at her wing.

'What's your favourite colour? Red or gold? Or both?'

She flicked her eyes around the room then let vines spread about the room. Vynes began wrapping around the tops of lights, up walls, on the roof. Everywhere but the cooking and serving area was covered with green vines of all shades.

'Hmm, one of the canidates is allergic to flowers... the one that had a band. I should probably only let the pollenless ones flower. Pity, I'll have to make it up with colored foliage. I mean, I could grow them without sp-spo-sporo-cytes but that's just mean.'

Only two types of flowers burst forth in flower. The others began to shrink back to make way for the little yellow flowers and the vines with scpeckled red foliage. The end result was that the lunch room looked like an ornate jungle. The walls were a mass of red and green filigree, the tables and chairs had pale leaves hanging around their edges and the roof has red coils dangling down about two feet from the ceiling. Hopefully there weren't any giant people. At random intervals around the walls, grapes were haning: red, green and golden globe.

'That should give people something a bit nicer than military slop to eat,' Demya laughed. 'Do you like it?'

As a final touch dainty silver vines grew in the middle of the tables. 'I haven't had this much fun since I redecorated my er... nevermind.' She had almost mentioned the ship she had hidden away. 'I haven't used that much energy either.'

She let her wings flop and sank down so that her lower torso brushed the ground. 'Did you like that, I definately did? Oh, I have something for you!' she fidgitted with the vines in her hair and pulled out the misplaced feather she had tied them with. She handed it over to the pilot.

'Here, hhis is for you. Keep it safe, I don't want to find out it's been sold on the black market.' She waggled her finger at him and laughed, 'I give this to people I think of as friend's. Not many people like me it seems.'

She cocked her head and smiled at him, waiting to see what he would do. She knew enough about human customs to know that if he returned it he was either being modest or just didn't like her. She got impatient very quickly and started playing with one of her wings, adjusting the feathers in a more aerodynamic fashion.

OOC: If there is one thing Demya knows about, it's vines. Alas, I do not.

[Anonymous]

Mara had to say he was incredibly impressed. It looked rather beautiful now and certainly a lot more colourful.

     “My, my, it does look a lot better now,” he said cheerfully.

     When she offered him a feather he was rather surprised and her saying she gave it to people she thought of her friends took him aback…He wouldn’t let her take the blame for the redecoration now, at least not all of it. He couldn’t stop her getting into some trouble though…

     “Thank for this,” he replied.

     Perhaps he should take her to see Arka, Mara didn’t have his own candidate for the dragon to show off too but maybe Demya might want to meet him.

     “Would you like to meet Arka?” he asked, “I don’t have any candidates of my own to show him to and I suspect he is a little jealous of the other dragons.”

     He probably was as well; Arka was a friendly dragon and liked humans generally. Demya was a harpy but Arka still liked meeting new people.

     ”You may as well,” said the dragon’s voice in his head, ”She is going to get in trouble for this so you might as well repay her for humouring you by visiting the dragon pens.”

     Mara laughed mentally, “Humouring me? I don’t think she needed much encouragement.”[/i]

[Anonymous]

Demya smiled even more brightly... if that was even possible. She stopped playing with her wing and looked up. 'You think so? This is a little it like what parts of the world looked like bnefore humans messed it up. Only there were more trees and other plants. I can only do vines though. Have I said this before?'

'You'd let me see your dragon? My mentor hasn't even mentioned his. I don't think he likes me much. Did your mentor like you?' she asked. She started playing with her fingers again as she restrained herself from hugging him. She focussed herself by remoulding the vines she was using as a shirt. It was getting a bit uncomfortable and she really wanted to take it off.

'Bah! I don't care what they think. I can't stand wearing clothes,' she said. She vines shrank back and disappeared. 'Hopefully they don't see me though. I had Victor's sister to staple my uniform to me. I'd like to see her try.'

'Why don't they let you have a candidate? You seem a lot better than some of the others here. Is it because you are weird?' she asked. Demya had never been known for her tact or keeping her mouth shut. 'If I gave you that feather and you are connected to your dragon, does that make him my friend too?'

[Anonymous]

Some of the world used to look like that? That was amazing, of course he’d seen pictures, artist’s impressions but seeing something more real was great.

     “You mentor is Victor correct? Well his dragon is called Oink, don’t know that much about him otherwise apart from him being Seiteki’s brother. As for my mentor, well he looked about the same age as me so I think that unnerved him a little. I didn’t like him when he was training me but we became good friends eventually. Sadly he is dead; I have been a pilot nearly 70 years after all.”

     He remembered his mentor well and in fact they had appeared much younger originally, but as humans do, he aged. It wasn’t old age that caused his demise though; no he was killed in battle.

     Mara laughed when she removed her vines, “Don’t worry, if any of the other pilots start brandishing staplers I shall protect you.”

     Her question as to why he had never had a candidate was to be expected though.

     “Yes, it is because they think I’m too weird, it’s for that reason as well that Alei is not allowed one. He is rather eccentric too but he doesn’t cause as much trouble as me.”

     Alei was an interesting one, when he had first become a candidate he had been an arrogant boy who thought he was better than everyone else. But as the training progressed and more so after he passed, Alei became distant and quiet. Now he rarely spoke and when he did it was very vague and often unrelated to the context. Wulf had been affected by the training as well but not in the same way as Alei. He had reverted back to an almost childlike mentality whereas Alei’s was more like that of one who had lived thousands of years and was becoming weary of the world.

     “And I would say Arka is your friend as well, but you can make you own opinion on this,” Mara said standing up, “To the dragon pens!”

[Anonymous]

'Maybe there is still hope for Victor then. Maybe underneath all that uncaring he really is a nice person,' Demya said. 'People worry about death too much. I mean, his life was a treasure right? You still have that, unless some jerk wipes it from you but why would anyone do that? Well, I could name a lot but they're all dead.'

Demya blinked, tilted her head again and said, 'you'd protect me? Why would I need protection? I've got talons, remember?' she scratched her claw-like feet on the ground to emphasise. 'Besides, I'm not scared of any pilots, human or not.'

'What sort of trouble do you cause? What were you like as a candidate?'

Demya fluttered along beside Mara, truly fascinated by him and his dragon. She hadn't seen a dragon since they were totally organic and she was intrigued as to what they'd become. Were they still nobel beasts or had they become total slaves to humans? Poor things if they had, yet another travertsy of humans.

She quickly lost her train of thought and started thinking about her nest. It would take a while to collect enough old feathers to make it the way she liked it and she may have to find a way to get moss growing in it. Perhaps she could add some fruit vines too, that way she wouldn't have to eat overcooked gruel. Raw food was so much more natural. It was also better for you, or so she thought.

'Do you like the food they serve here? They'd have a hard time preparing food for everyone, especially the naga. I wonder what she eats. Do you have any special preferences or needs? I like snakes, worms beatles and that sort of stuff. I ate a human once or twice too, that's where all the stories came from. Do they still tell them? My sister still ate humans last time I saw her but I would have no idea now.'

OOC: Ahhh, foot-in-mouth disease.

[Anonymous]

“Well since I don’t remember anything before three hundred years ago, in three hundred years time I might have forgotten him, it is my own fault I suppose. And I was joking in regard to protecting you, they do have a psychic advantage though, talons are little use against psychic powers.”

     He had already ascertained that she wasn’t frightened of pilots, that was good in one way but he doubted she realised how powerful and ruthless they could be. If she was going to be fearless she should at least know all the facts. He had already dropped hints and she hadn’t realised this fact so only time could teach her it.

     “Well, I write annoying songs, walk around the Citadel dressed funny, generally cause noise pollution,” he said in answer to what kind of trouble he caused, “That sort of thing. Nothing really dangerous though.”

     It was the sort of thing that annoyed the pilots but was really hard to punish because it wasn’t immoral, it was just incredibly annoying.

     “As a candidate…well I’m not sure…Like I am now I suppose…I don’t change much.”

    “The food here is okay, the pilots tend to get better food than the normal military personnel though, unless of course you annoy the kitchen staff. I just eat human food, not really anything special.”

     Wait…did she say she eaten humans before? Well she as a harpy…He glanced around the corridor they were walking down, and some people were looking very uncomfortably at Demya. She certainly but her foot in her mouth a lot…

     A change of subject was in order…

     “Have you ever seen dragons before? I mean recently, they have changed quite a lot over history. They’re in charge of Aedolis now pretty much, people think the pilots command the dragons but it is very much the other way round. That’s what you have to look forward to when you pass, being a dragon’s tool.”

     Well it was true and she probably wouldn’t believe him anyway. Either that or think that she wouldn’t become a dragon’s slave. If she thought that she was an idiot and she’d realise when she met the other dragons…Hopefully Tenebrous would be asleep…Demya would probably decorate his pen if he wasn’t. As much as Mara and most of the other pilots hated Tenebrous, making him angry was not a good idea. You’d almost feel sorry for Latona being stuck with him, until you realised that she was a violent bitch who took way too much pleasure in hurting people

[Anonymous]

'That's silly. Why not write a diary? If you're worried about forgetting him, why not write down all you can remember about him now?' she asked. She ignored the psychic coment. Even if they were stronger than her, she would still be able to use her vines. She'd lived this far with nothing permanant but the loss of an arm. If she could last this long (however long that was), then she was unlikely to be killed by people she was meant to be working with.

'That's all? How is dressing funny annoying?' she asked. 'One day would you be able to show me your music? You seem like the type that could imagine up something really out there.'

Demya laughed at the kitchen staff comment, 'they probably don't like me then. They thought I was joking when I said I wanted worms. I didn't mean intestinal worms. I'm a harpy, what other type of worms could I be talking about? You wouldn't know where I could get them do you? With most of the earth dead they're pretty rare.'

Demya ruffled her feathers and shook her head. 'No, I haven't seen any recently. I saw them a lot when they were organic, also the first adaptions, wehn they were only used for wounded limbs. If you want to look I could show you what olden-time dragons looked like. Are there any still alive?' she asked.

'I'd much rather be a friend than a tool. Besides, I'd probably outlive the dragon anyway. Er, speaking of that: what will happen at the end? I mean, there is some way to reverse it right?'

Demya wasn't having second thoughts but the thought of being attached to another creature for the rest of eternity wasn't that attractive.

[Anonymous]

Writing a diary huh, he’d tried that before but he used to move around a lot and many things became lost when you did that. He supposed he could try again now he was at more of a fixed residence…

     “And yes someday I shall show you some of the music I’ve written, not today however. Another day perhaps.”

     It didn’t surprise him that worms were rare, the earth was in a pretty bad state after all. The only animals that remained were ones enhanced by machines and a few mutant one. Alei even had such a mutant animal as a pet. It was rather sad that Alei chose to close himself off from humans but has a strong devotion to his pet. Still some people were like that, preferred animals to humans because they didn’t judge you.

     “I’m not sure what would happen if the dragon died before you. The last dragon to die here…well their pilot is missing…I assume though if that did happen, you’d be assigned another one. Some of the dragons are perfectly friendly, Arka’s my friend as well as my boss. But then there are some less than friendly ones of course.”

     As they were talking they had reached the entrance to the dragon pens, “And I know what organic dragons look like, Arka is pretty much in tact. He’s a bit of a fossil really.”

     ”I heard that,” Arka’s voice grumbled in his mind.

     “Anyway, shall we?” Mara said stepping inside.

[Anonymous]

'I don't like writing music. It's too formal, too uniform. I don't like the word uniform. I just make music to how I feel. I never learnt an instrument though, I probably should start soon. I mean, it's not like I have anything else to do but preen - although that is very important - and train.'

Demya gave a clucking noise, 'what's wrong with being old? If I were mortal I'd be less of a fossil and more of a pile of dust already blown in the wind. Really, you are turning into a human if you think age is a bad thing.'

Demya closed her wings to get into the dragons' quarters and looked around in astonishment. There were more dragons than expected and some of them looked entirely mechanical. Poor things, why would anyone choose to be born like that? No wonder they connect themselves to humans though, they are no longer connected to the Earth. I shall have to remedy that. It's a pity Vyne isn't here. She is the one that works with the Earth. Once inside she flapped them and began flying completely. There was more room in here and the chance to fly caused her to be insatiable.

From up in the air she called down to Mara, 'hey! Pilot! Want a ride? This place is massive.' She hung a vine down from her legs so that he could hold on. If he couldn't climbe it she would lift him in her talons. She flew in circles and watched the vine twirl behind her. She laughed and began whistling like a canary, though quite a bit louder.

'Where is Acra? Is he in this room? Why is his name the same as an old city? How old is he?' Demya was verging on manic, she hadn't flown in far too long. Even though it was only a couple of weeks since she had had real flying time, it felt like years. At least her wings were still strong. 'Do you want to test out how much I can carry? Maybe we could persuade some of the other candidates to come and I could - oooh, that must be Arca. He looks more like what I remember. Do dragons still have genders or do they just get biult? Why do they even have metallic bits?'