X-23 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cutting_edgex23) wrote2009-08-06 10:58 pm
cutting_edgex23) wrote2009-08-06 10:58 pm
X-treme sports in Ambergeldar, or the time X-23 went dragon diving
X brings her parachute with her when she goes to visit Norman, climbing up onto a long, low roof in order to talk to him without requiring he get a crick in his neck.
Consideration is important.
"Are you going camping?" Norman asks, one big unblinking eye staring inches away from X's face. "Only your pack seems rather small for it."
"No," X says. "It is a parachute."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Norman answers. "Did you sneeze?"
And after X has explained the concept of a parachute --
"Wouldn't it be easier to just grow wings of your own? I'm sure a magician could be found to arrange it. They're very comfortable and good for gliding. The wings, not the magician. Magicians are really terribly uncomfortable. I think it's the robes. And the pointy hats."
X merely offers a broad, one-shouldered shrug. Norman is not very good at reading human body language. She makes an effort.
"I do not want wings." She tilts her head very slightly, studying the dragon. "It would not be efficient to relearn my physical limitations."
Norman engages in a dragon's version of a sniff, which ends up setting fire to one corner of a nearby fence.
And after X has put it out --
"You would not mind taking me flying? High? Jumping would not be difficult. For me."
Again she stands still while Norman looks at her out of first one eye, then the other -- then the first eye again.
"Will it be a race to see if I can catch you? Because I'd hate to lose."
Norman really hates to lose.
"No," X says, very simply. "The parachute will not let me fall very fast. When it opens."
The dragon exhales a meditative puff of smoke, then leans closer and shifts one of his wings, drawing it towards himself when X takes hold -- it makes it easier for her to drop down onto his leg, and from there to slip between two of his claws, legs hanging down easily.
Half a moment later Norman takes off, stirring up huge clouds of dust before he's totally airborne. Several of the castle's residents look up, shading their eyes against the grit. But for the most part Norman is old hat, and they turn quickly back to their business.
Their path is a straight one, heading toward the mountains that Parker and Perry were taken to not so very long ago. (It's possible Norman is on the lookout for sheep, too. Flying is hungry work, and after this he feels he deserves a treat.)
Shortly before they reach the edge of the range, X knocks three times against what passes for Norman's knuckle. He immediately pulls up, flying higher and higher and higher --
And higher.
If X were anyone else, it might be unfortunate that he forgets to give warning before he lets go.
As it is, the surprise only serves to make her tiny smile just that much wider. There is, after all, no one around to see.
And if, repacking the parachute having proved to take too long for Norman's patience, he offers to catch her next time --
And if she takes him up on it --
And if that is even better than jumping with the parachute --
Neither of them are ever going to tell.
Consideration is important.
"Are you going camping?" Norman asks, one big unblinking eye staring inches away from X's face. "Only your pack seems rather small for it."
"No," X says. "It is a parachute."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Norman answers. "Did you sneeze?"
And after X has explained the concept of a parachute --
"Wouldn't it be easier to just grow wings of your own? I'm sure a magician could be found to arrange it. They're very comfortable and good for gliding. The wings, not the magician. Magicians are really terribly uncomfortable. I think it's the robes. And the pointy hats."
X merely offers a broad, one-shouldered shrug. Norman is not very good at reading human body language. She makes an effort.
"I do not want wings." She tilts her head very slightly, studying the dragon. "It would not be efficient to relearn my physical limitations."
Norman engages in a dragon's version of a sniff, which ends up setting fire to one corner of a nearby fence.
And after X has put it out --
"You would not mind taking me flying? High? Jumping would not be difficult. For me."
Again she stands still while Norman looks at her out of first one eye, then the other -- then the first eye again.
"Will it be a race to see if I can catch you? Because I'd hate to lose."
Norman really hates to lose.
"No," X says, very simply. "The parachute will not let me fall very fast. When it opens."
The dragon exhales a meditative puff of smoke, then leans closer and shifts one of his wings, drawing it towards himself when X takes hold -- it makes it easier for her to drop down onto his leg, and from there to slip between two of his claws, legs hanging down easily.
Half a moment later Norman takes off, stirring up huge clouds of dust before he's totally airborne. Several of the castle's residents look up, shading their eyes against the grit. But for the most part Norman is old hat, and they turn quickly back to their business.
Their path is a straight one, heading toward the mountains that Parker and Perry were taken to not so very long ago. (It's possible Norman is on the lookout for sheep, too. Flying is hungry work, and after this he feels he deserves a treat.)
Shortly before they reach the edge of the range, X knocks three times against what passes for Norman's knuckle. He immediately pulls up, flying higher and higher and higher --
And higher.
If X were anyone else, it might be unfortunate that he forgets to give warning before he lets go.
As it is, the surprise only serves to make her tiny smile just that much wider. There is, after all, no one around to see.
And if, repacking the parachute having proved to take too long for Norman's patience, he offers to catch her next time --
And if she takes him up on it --
And if that is even better than jumping with the parachute --
Neither of them are ever going to tell.