With the sun high in the sky, activity in the big city of Lomedor was at the definite high for the day, people crowding the streets chatting or walking to their next destination, whether inside the city or out, the occasional carriage pushing its way through the crowd, everyone's breath coming out visibly in the cold of winter. Barely any snow or ice was left on the ground save for some in the cracks of the stone-paved streets, the rest having been tramped down and darkening the stones with what moisture remained from it.

All in all, not the best time for a child to be trying to make his way through the streets, regardless of where he was going, which most of the time was inevitably and irrefusably along with the crowd. Standing a few feet smaller than most of the crowd and having no taller figure, namely adult, present to help get him through, it was all he could do to try and weave his way to the outside of the crowd and resist its push and pull. Keeping him warm this cold day was a simple, sleeveless white shirt and pants, with tan cloth shoes and, wrapped around him like a cape, a brown cloak, the hood pulled up to further help keep him warm, even though he normally left it down.

Eventually he made it to the outside edge of the crowd by where the buildings were, pulling down his hood and looking up with his emerald-colored eyes, brushing the translucent blue hair out of them, to see where he was, hoping it was someplace suitable to enter and wait out the crowd to the point where he'd actually be able to go out and get somewhere he actually wanted to go. Sure, he could always revert to his true form, but he didn't like to use it in civilized areas like this, for fear that there would be people around that would hunt him down, him being a half-dragon born thanks to a dark enchantment from his father in dragon form, which thus became his natural form as opposed to human like his mother, who'd thus died during birth, something he himself very vaguely remembered, having some of the natural memory of his more draconic heritage.

He didn't need to see more than a corner of the sign above the door, however, to quickly realize where he was. The Wilwarin Inn and Pub, one of the more peaceful establishments throughout the city. Feeling that now wasn't really the time to take his normal precaution of scanning for any evil within the place for fear of the crowd catching him again and sweeping him away in its uncaring wave, he pushed open the door and walked inside, looking around briefly before taking a seat at an unoccupied table nearby, which, when seated, came up a bit below his neck. What was he supposed to do about that, though? He was eleven years old, half-dragon or not.

After sitting in the pub for a short time, keeping his eyes on the other patrons occasionally just in case, it became quickly evident that nobody, particularly the staff, had noticed his presence, the adults passing by him a few times without so much as a glance in his direction. Sighing softly, he rested his chin and forearms on the table, figuring perhaps that would make him a bit more noticeable, slowly planning out the rest of his day to pass the time. Perhaps a visit to the mountains near the ruins of the small town where he was born, then an afternoon hunt for food...

Drifting away into his thoughts, he noticed someone finally approach him, glancing over to see who it was, their occupation, or whatever, something he'd be able to tell quite probably better than most others.

It was a cold day in Lomedor to most, the citizens were bundled in their jackets, cloaks, and robes, trying to keep Father Winter's icy breath from their skin. Although it was almost spring, the Earth god apparently favored entertaining the winter for a little longer. With the temperature and as it was, it was a most strange sight to see the boy who was walking down main street. He had a gigantic double bladed sword strapped to his back and wrapped in cloth. He had aquired it recently from a merchant of rare goods, and had taken a liking to the combination of power and speed. This wasn't the strangest part though. They youth was clad in no more then a light pair of slacks, and a very light, ratty, and loosefitting shirt. He had no scarf for his neck, no jacket to keep in his body heat. He wore a pair of light fitting ratty shoes which looked no warmer than a piece of cloth. He was dressed as if it were the middle of summer, and it drew the eyes of the passing crowd, much like a two headed chicken might.

He wasn't crazy though, the reason why Ayaker was dressed this way, was of course due to his heritage and blood. Although he appeared as a normal human, he had half the genes of a red dragon, and thus had a course fire running through his blood which mere humans lacked. Although he struggled to fit in with humans, he had to admit that this trait was nice. He was able to wear the same outfit all year round, and never really succumbed to the cold, unless it were in an extreme locale such as the geographic poles.

Today he didn't really have a purpose, as was the case on most days. He had already liberated a noblemen of half of his wallet supply(a mere pittance of his wealth in the bank), so he had no need of stealing at the moment. Instead, he figured he would fill his rumbling stomach, which at times seemed to be insatiable. A good cup of hot chocolate, and perhaps some mutton would be a good breakfast for this day. He licked his lips at the prospect of the welcome food.

He saw the Wilwarin ahead, and refusing to move with the crowd, took off at a dash, darting between passing people and in a few cases knocking over or pushing people. He would have stopped to apologise and help them up, but he had a stomach to deal with.

He pushed open the door to the Wilwarin, and took a quick glance at the place that basically served as his home. He had grown so accustomed to being here when he was in town, that he knew the place so well that he was on a first-name friendly basis with the owner and all the staff.
Several eyes looked up to him as he entered, out of curiousity, and then returned to their food, or
friends.

Ayaker walked up to the bar, where a rather beautiful woman about his age stood. She raised her eyes from the piece of paper she was scrawling on, and said "Hello Ayaker. What will you have today?" The half dragon in disguise smiled, and said "I'll take A leg of mutton and a giant mug of hot chocolate. How much will that be?"

"5 crowns." the barmaid said. Ayaker reached in to his pocket and pulled out 8 crowns, and handed them to the maid. "Keep the change." he said. The barmaid nodded and walked back in to the kitchen.

So now there was the matter of finding a place to sit. He could sit by himself, but there were two problems. The first was it was the morning rush and every table had at least one patron at it, and the second was that he hated sitting alone. His eyes scanned the crowd, seeing all manner of people, and his eyes rested on a young boy of about 11, with white hair. It was rather strange to see a young kid sitting in the middle of a pub by themselves. Usually youd expect them to have a parent with them. THen again, a lot of kids were parentless now adays, such as Ayaker. Perhaps it would be a nice gesture to introduce himself and say hi.

He approached the boy, and looked at him, he was rather tall for his age it seemed. "Hey." Ayaker said. "You mind if I sit here?"

For those few moments that a new patron or two came in, the general surroundings in the tavern had been mostly lost to him, vague images sometimes making their way into his mind of no real concern, only caring at the moment if there was something or someone of interest, or maybe a threat. Both were always a possibility regardless, but he liked to avoid the latter as much as possible, and was a little upset that he hadn't been able to use his normal method to help him to, thanks to the crowd and his small size. But nonetheless, he didn't see anything that seemed to be of much concern to him, on either note unfortunately, and had taken to simply sitting there, his arms barely on the table around his chin, until someone had come nearby, speaking out to him, at which point he'd turned his emerald eyes in that direction from beneath his strangely-colored hair.

"Hey, you mind if I sit here?" they had said, a boy of about 16 or 17 from what he could tell, though the first thing that Cody really noticed about him was how much he apparently needed to eat. A leg of presumably mutton, a favored meat around these parts it seemed, though he personally preferred meat he retrieved for himself, and a large mug of something hot and steaming, hot chocolate by the smell of it.

Then there was the fact that the boy had on fairly meager clothing. It would be one thing if he didn't make the best living and this was all he could afford, but all the same he didn't seem even slightly bothered by the cold weather. Even someone living in bad conditions for a long time would still be affected by it dressed like that.

"I don't really mind," the young boy said, not shifting his position in the slightest, quite obviously either unconcerned or just bored, though really it was both at the moment. There didn't seem to be anything going on here, and now there was this slightly unusual person taking the time to ask to sit at the table, empty but for the small boy, instead of just sitting there.

"You're a half-dragon, right? A red one, I'm assuming, since you have red hair and don't seem to be affected by the cold," the boy stated matter-of-factly, feeling he was done with his analysis for now. There was, of course, the possibility that the boy was a full dragon, but coming around this pub so casually, in such simple garments, it seemed quite unlikely. Usually dragons seemed to like to appear a little richer than most people, or at least had a fairly different preference of garments.

He was a half-dragon himself, but a lightning dragon, not fire, and thus had no unnatural resistance to the cold except for some in his true form, thus the reason for the cloak to keep him warm, the likes of which this boy didn't seem to need.

Turning his eyes to stare into space in front of him, he tried to think of something else to say, not about to be surprised if there was an awkward moment after his statement, gloved hands twirling fingers together from time to time.

"So...what's your family like, anyway?" he asked rather nervously, not averting his gaze from the unrecognized space in front of him, somewhat interested to know if many, or perhaps any, other half-dragons had had it like he had until two years ago, when a troupe of dragonslayers had finally arrived, offing his father before the child made a difficult escape.

(OOC: Ayaker actually has light brown hair)

The boy with white hair said he didn't mind, so Ayaker pulled up a chair to the side of the table and proceeded to sit down. He seemed like a nice enough kid, not trouble ridden like Ayaker had always been. He hadn't been sitting there for more then a few minutes when the kid came up with a question which was liable to make Ayaker spit out his drink if he had taken a drink of it yet. "You're a half-dragon, right?" the boy asked. Ayaker's eyes widened, and he looked quickly from side to side, then said "Shh!" in a loud whisper.

How did this boy know Ayaker was a half dragon, it made no sense. Aya grabbed behind him to make sure his tail and wings were still hidden, and indeed they were. This boy seemed to have made a really lucky assumption.

"Yes, I'm a half dragon." He said in a whisper to the boy. "But please don't say it too loud, some people around here don't take kindly to half breeds, or any of the less noble races. Let's just pretend I'm a human like you, shall we?"

He noticed that the boy seemed to avoid eye contact for some reason. Ayaker thought maybe the boy was shy, but for him this idea was quickly disproven when the boy asked him, "So...what's your family like, anyway?" Sure, it may seem like a perfectly normal question, but Ayaker wasn't exactly normal. Then there was an awkward silence for a while, as Ayaker tried to come up with something to say. It wasn't the most comfortable thing for him to talk about, but the boy meant no harm.

After thinking for several minutes, his finger stroking his beardless chin, Ayaker decided he would tell him. "My family..." said Ayaker. "My mother is dead, quite frankly. She died when I was just about your age to tell the truth. And my father....I've never met my father, but if I did I'd beat the crap out of him. He was and is evil, and deserves a bit of payback..." Ayaker felt his blood boil a bit as he talked about his father, and at the same time he felt a miserable sadness for the loss of his mother. It could be seen that while he was talking he clenched and unclenched his fist a few times.

Just then, a serving maid came over to them, and dropped Ayaker's meal off. It was a welcome diversion from Ayaker's thoughts. There was a whole mutton leg, which was a little bigger than Ayaker's hand and forearm, and of course the hot chocolate. Ayaker thanked the maid and tipped her 3 crowns, He picked up the mutton and took a big bite out of it. It was delicious and savory, as meat always was. He took a minute to finish chewing before starting up the conversation again.

"Anyways." Ayaker said. "My name's Ayaker. What's your name, and how'd you know what I was? You some sort of genius or something?" It still made Ayaker uncomfortable that a child had so easily seen through his ruse, but he supposed he couldn't fool everyone. "Shouldn't you be with your parents? I don't know many parents who would let their kids wander the streets of Lomedor by themselves if it were under their control."

(eh, sorry...but 'chinless beard'? O.o; )

A 'human like him,' huh? Well, didn't he wish. Then maybe his parents would still be around and his life wouldn't be a mess. But oh well, couldn't have everything. Often, you couldn't have much, and had to make of it the best you could, as he'd quickly learned over his two years spent alone.

It was true, though, most people didn't take particularly well to dragons, or especially half-breeds, thus his dislike of spending much time in populated areas, and even then only did so in this, his safest form, even if it wasn't his true form and thus not the form he was most comfortable in.

The boy's comment about his father, though, definitely sank in. Narrowing his eyes slightly, almost unnoticeably, he listened to the boy say how his father needed to be paid back for all he'd done, how he'd do it himself did he ever have the chance. With the dragon he'd met by the falls a few days ago, it so far seemed that all dragons he'd seen or heard about were evil, plain and simple. Were there just no good dragons out there, or was he simply not looking in the right places?

Shrugging these thoughts out of his mind for now, he glanced over to notice a maid bring the boy's order, a large leg of mutton and a mug of hot cocoa, vaguely realizing that the boy had introduced himself, and asked for his name.

"My name's Codexterus," he grumbled, "but I prefer to be called Cody. I guess I could be called a genius thanks in no small part to my own father, who did everything he could to doubtless make me into a younger version of himself. As for him, he's thankfully dead for two years now, and my mom died when I was really young thanks to him..."

With this, he trailed off a little, looking absently to the table. It was because of a spell of his father's that his true form was his dragon form, which had...unfortunate, but foreseen on the dragon's part, consequences. After that, he'd been raised by his father in the village that was then cleared out of human or sentient life, to be 'the best'. Well, he succeeded well enough toward that end, at least, but left his son with the desire to pursue a separate path.

"Anyway, I guess that's all in the past. I usually just make my way through the wilderness most of the time, coming to towns or cities like this for something separate to do. Oh, and I'm a half-dragon myself, but of a rather different type than you," he said.

(Sorry for the crappy post. >_< Not at my best right now)

The young boy introduced himself as "Codexterus" and preferred that Aya call him Cody. He claimed that he was a genius, (Aya made a mental note that humility may not be Cody's strongest virtue,) strongly due to the influence of his father. He said that his father was "thankfully" dead, and that his mom had died when he was young due to the fault of his father. Aya nodded with a frown on his
face, understanding how Codexterus must feel. It was tough not having anyone to be able to rely on.

Cody said that he was a half dragon too, although a different type. This fact seemed to ease Ayaker's mind slightly as to how Cody knew about him. It seemed that the two shared more then one thing in common. For one , they were both halfdragons. They also were both on their own, and apparently they both had evil fathers too.

"So your on your own too eh kid?" said in a hushed whisper, so as to not draw attention. " You're kinda young to be taking care of yourself, but then again so was I. I think part of our innate qualities makes it easier for us to survive on our own than a normal human. There have been quite a few scrapes I wouldn't have gotten out of without my wings. I sorta still wish I was human, but I can't deny the usefulness."

Ayaker picked up his mutton leg and took a big bite out of it, chewing it noisily, thinking of what to say next, while at the same time satisfying his beastly hunger. He took another swig of hot chocolate, enjoying the taste and feel of the warm sweet liquid.

"So Cody..." he said. "Exactly what kind of Half dragon are you? You don't strike me as an evil type, so it's safe to say your not a black or earth dragon. Your not a fire dragon obviously...so what are you?"

Both half-dragons, both on their own, it seemed, though Cody was definitely a few years younger, and probably had rather a different outlook on the path to take to survive. Spending most of his time away from populated areas in his more natural form, where he got food and water, he only came to places where people were, in human form, to make a little gold that he kept stashed in his ruined village home, perhaps a natural tendency of dragons as he never really had any plans for it.

As for him, though, he had no real desire to be human. He was what he was, nothing he could do about that, and no reason to hope for something different, he figured. That, and it wasn't so bad simply relaxing in the wilderness, a small blue dragon out on its own.

Then he noticed the conversation turn to what type of dragon he actually was, a strange question perhaps, but there would certainly be something to be said for curiosity toward someone openly admitting to being a half-dragon, for that matter one whose true form was that of a dragon. A small one, and not very strong yet, but a dragon all the same.

"I'm a blue dragon, a lightning dragon," Cody said. "Though mainly right now I can't make much more than sparks or small bolts...still too young yet, I guess..."

Turning his mind away from that, he tried to think of something else to say, not an easy task for him, having spent nine years of his life with only his father, and the past two mostly out in the wilderness, social interaction thus not high on his list of priorities. And anyway, the boy seemed partly busy eating at the moment.

"You said wings, though...you mean like some sort of half-human form or something?" he decided to ask anyway, having nothing of the sort himself, only his human form and his dragon form.

Cody said that he was a blue lightning dragon. That was interesting, Ayaker thought blue dragons were water oriented, but it proved that his knowledge on dragon's was much more limited than he thought. He had lived a rather secluded life (in a weird way) up until a few months ago, but he figured he knew enough from the stories his mother used to tell him.

As Ayaker continued eating, there was a bit of an awkward silence. He supposed it was rather odd that he had randomly come up to Cody and started talking to him. Ayaker supposed he just liked socialising, and sometimes did strange things because of it.

Then Cody spoke again, "You said wings, though...you mean like some sort of half-human form or something?". Ayaker noddede at him. "Yes." he said. "I don't have a full dragon form, I have a full human form, and a demihuman form. I've never been able to take a full dragon form, and I don't think that if I could I'd even want to."

Ayaker had to admit that he was a bit of a conformist, but he disliked his dragon half for more then one reason. THe first reason was that he got his dragonm half from his dad, and he hated his father with a passion. He also hated the fact that he didn't fit in because of his race, he wanted to be accepted among humans.

"Cody, you seem to be a lot different than me. You seem to embrace your dragon self a lot more than I do. Haven't you ever been discriminated against because of it? I know it's cool to have the powers, but isn't it a burden to you? I know it's an incredible burden for me, more emotionally than anything."

Ayaker bit off the last piece of meat off of his Mutton leg, and drained the last of his hot chocolate. Food was a great distraction when you needed one.

(ooc- Sorry for the craptastic post, I am having uber-mean writer's block. :wacko:)

His dragon form, a burden? The young half-dragon didn't feel he'd ever be able to think of it as that, even if he tried. Not only was it his true form, the form he was born in, strange though that was, but he enjoyed having sharp, though small, teeth to hunt and then eat with, and being able to let out a small bolt of electricity from his mouth, even if it couldn't do more than briefly stun a creature.

"Haven't really been discriminated against, though I guess that's probably because I keep to places where there aren't any villages or cities or anything like that around, where there are only people occasionally," he said, allowing a casual glance around the bar to see if there was anything else of interest; some unusual person, an argument, a fight, something that could perhaps get him some work. Not that this wasn't a fairly interesting conversation with another half-dragon, just...he didn't like sitting in one place not doing much for too long.

"Don't really see why you don't want a full dragon form, though. It's powerful, it's tough, it's a good flyer...well, eventually, for the first two. I still have a while before I'm anywhere close to being powerful..." he continued after his fruitless search of the bar. Just nothing really going on today, it seemed. That happened sometimes, unfortunate though it was. Well...there was the person in heavy armor that had walked in while he'd been sitting there and sat in the corner. Someone of mild interest looking at him, but he didn't seem to be doing anything in particular, so there didn't seem any need in paying much attention to him.

This new accursed form that was fored upon Aduro Silex proved to be useful for one thing, he could easily blend in with the humans of Arda. But everything that he once was, was now gone! The only thing he could do to keep from frawing the attention of everybody in Lomedor's streets was to try and forget his disgraceful situation. But this gave a new light on the worlds that he had destroyed for so many years. Now he knew what he destroyed, and so far he was glad he had obliderated those planets. The humans seemed to do nothing but build, and all the humanoids seemed to love warring on the planet's moon. Ugh, at least Aduro's job was simple, fly around in the endless universe and wreck through planets, even a star from time to time. But there was always one that escaped his destruction, year after year until it just disappeared!

A growl came along with a sudden burst of weakness. Curse this damndable form! He was hungry! This never happened to him when he was a meteor, and even then he could keep from boredom! He heard of a place that the humanoids of arda liked to eat in when in this city. It was called the Wilwarin. Now, he just needed to find this place, another pain of being mortal! He wandered around for a few minutes until a drunk got tossed out of an open window. This must be the place. Drunks, Aduro had found out, tended to get into 'bar brawls.' Damn, if Aduro was stuck in this form he would have to adapt!

Aduro casually walked in and sat down at the bar, quickly ordered a drink and then sat on a stool in wait. It wasn't long before he was involved in a bar brawl. Apparent the stool he sat on belonged to some drunk. Aduro quickly took a fist and slammed it into the drunk's face, breaking his nose and slamming him into an ogre. Ugh, what a pain! Silex stood up and slipped his hand into a set of claws he had come across, they fit well and he charged the ogre. Even if he wasn't roaming through space destroying rocks, he could still have some fun with something more precise.

Quickly he attacked the ogre, catching it off-guard and knocking it over onto a table with several trolls. Maybe this would be more fun than watching a star implode on itself! Aduro took a stance with his claws and cast his 'spell.' "Enflamment!" Quickly the claws became inflamed and the metal turned red. He was ready for some actual fun on this forsaken world.

Ayaker nodded at Cody as he talked. It was true, a dragon form would be more useful. "Cody, theres one thing you fail to see, through training, I should be able to master draconic strength in my half form. I already know that I am far stronger in such a form, through honing and precision, it shouldn't be a problem." Indeed, Ayaker knew of individuals with no draconic blood in them who possessed the strength of the mighty beasts. It goes to show that you could never judge a fighter by their race. Normal humans such as the mighty Tulkas were some of the most powerful fighters in existance.

Ayaker drained the last of his chocolate, just as a new patron happpened to enter the bar. At first he didn't notice the newcomer. It wasn't his custom to look to see every patron who entered the bar. That was, until he heard a resounding "whap" and the sound of a heavy ogre crashing to the ground. The resounding shockwave seemed to shake the whole bar. Ayaker's head quickly turned, and saw the man who was standing there. It was a rather rough looking man with red hair, who wasn't even wearing shoes. He now had claws which were enflammed, giving off a light whisping sound, a sad attempt at a roar.

"Hold on a second Cody." he said to his half dragon friend. Ayaker picked up his Double Bladed Mercy, and gripped it with both hands. It was rude of someone to just come in to the bar and start a bar brawl. People were trying to enjoy themselves, and it was only afternoon! Ayaker walked slowly up to the man who was causing the disruption.

"Hey.." He said. "You know, it's not very nice to just walts in here and start a fight. You should probably apologise to that guy." Ayaker gestured to the Ogre. " People like me don't like it when people like you cause noise that distractus us from eating. You know...I might just have to teach you a lesson." A sly smirk crossed Ayaker's face, this would be fun, even if he was not able to use his draconic powers. He couldn't very well go true form in the middle of the Wilwarin.

"So what's it gonna be?" Ayaker said to the man. "Are you gonna apologise and leave quietly, or do I have to mess you up?" He pointed the tip of his double bladed mercy at the man, waiting for him to make a move.

People in a half-dragon form with the same strength as dragons? That was perhaps possible, at least to an extent, and mobility and ability to avoid attacks would definitely be greater than the giant form of a full adult dragon, but in terms of sheer power, that form couldn't be beaten by that of a half-dragon form, that much was certain. At least not without a fair amount of magical help.

Then he was cut off from these thoughts, unable to help but raise his head slightly so he could turn it enough to turn his emerald eyes to the direction of the bar, where a new patron had arrived, the full appearance of a human, and very possibly human, but something just seemed...off. It was probably just him, but it didn't quite seem like this man was indeed human. What he might be were he not, Cody couldn't say.

Whatever the case, though, he seemed to waste no time in picking a fight with one of the local drunkards, slipping on a set of claws and casting them alight into flame. Holding his hands together and muttering slightly under his breath, he decided to take this moment to search the room for any evil with a simple, basic spell of his, finding little but for the fact that this new patron was most definitely evil. And now Ayaker, it seemed, felt it necessary to provoke him into a fight, drawing his twin-bladed weapon and pointing it at this man. Well, it couldn't now be said that the young half-dragon Cody didn't find something of interest here, but it wasn't by any means anything he was looking for.

Which left him with the question of what to do.

He was by no means a fighter, or at all strong, in either of his forms, especially this human form. There was that dagger that he'd picked up along his travels just in case he needed to defend himself...sitting back in the chair, he reached into his cloak to pull the small blade out, glancing warily at where Ayaker and that other man were likely about to fight. For now, he'd simply sit there, but if it seemed necessary he would act, even with what little resources he had for a combat situation, which basically consisted of his dagger and ability to dispel magic.