Post by Craig Jamerson on Oct 2, 2012 10:48:53 GMT -5
The girl wanted to fly. What a typical, immature goal. What was the point in wanting to fly? You could get on an airplane and fly and it'd be far safer and faster. Maybe back before they had the technology for such things it would make some sense, but flying would be an exhausting action to take part of.
"It's impossible to fly, anyways." He stated simply, though he wasn't intentionally trying to crush her dreams. It was just too unrealistic was all. "Humans and birds are massively different beings, the biggest difference being their bone structures. Even if you somehow had wings, they'd be completely useless as your bones are too heavy. Birds have hollow, thinner bones, which allows them to fly. You couldn't attain the same bone structure even if you tried without killing yourself." He paused to consider. "Though... bats don't have hollow bones." He mulled over the subject and continued, "But their bones are very small. To make your bones that small proportionately would likely be your demise... though I suppose your odds would hypothetically be increased."
He thought it odd that she had come out here, of all places, to research genetics. He'd thought she said something about the legendary Chinese dragon Ao Guang, not biology or something. He stopped cold. Perhaps this woman was getting really desperate in her search for the ability to fly and THAT was why she was out here. Dragons, mystical creatures of folklore, were purported to be massive, heavy beasts with large bones that were still able to fly. In fact... if he were to pick a creature fictitious or otherwise to pursue in a quest for flight, dragons would likely be his best start. He decided to voice his suspicions for rejection or confirmation.
"Dragons can fly." He said pointedly. He made sure to be looking at her face to try and determine a reaction... to see if she was here for something that crazy. "Ao Guang, the legend-dragon of Chinese tradition... he could fly. Is... that why you're here? Because you've already thought through all this and your best hope to learn to fly is in the myth of dragons?" He wasn't trying to be aggressive, but he might've been coming off as such, so he changed his position from knees on his legs with hands folded and placed his hands on the log beside him as he leaned back to sit in an upright position. "I mean, it's right technically. Birds are useless to you because their bones are hollow, which you obviously can't do. Bats are an improvement, but still, reducing the size of your bones? Sounds like a good way to get yourself killed. But dragons. Dragons were both heavy and had mammalian bones yet were still able to take flight... if you believe that stuff." He eyed her carefully, measuring her up as best as he could. "Which, if I were fanatically searching for a way to fly, I might want to believe it. Is that why you're really here? To try and find some mystical creature that no one has seen within the last few centuries?" He obviously doubted the notion, but it was still evident that he was trying not to be down-right rude. He wasn't doing the best job, he feared, but he was simply not good with people. Maybe he should've been gentler, less to-the-point?
"Sorry if I've offended you, I get carried away with myself sometimes," he apologized. "You know... sometimes when I'm really interested." He looked hopefully at her, shrugging slightly.
Post by Blair Von Drake / Red on Oct 2, 2012 11:09:39 GMT -5
Somehow Red couldn't ignore the fact that his voice echoed the many different voices of people criticising her dream. It was hard for her to explain why she was so obsessed over her dream of achieving flight, though not that she really needed to. All that mattered was that it was something she wanted to achieve more than anything. To not be so dependant on the laws of gravity, and simply go wherever you wished. As he soon finished his rant and apologized, Red somehow managed to keep the same smile on her face, though she felt less like it.
"It's alright..." she started, before glancing over at the soup pot, watching a few bubbles begin to appear on it's surface. "It's just...How can I explain it?" She paused, resting her chin on her knuckles for a few moments, before sitting upright once again. "It's the feeling of being truly free... to not be bound to the earth by gravity as most other living things are. It's essentially the ability to be truly free..."
Red stopped there, looking over at him, then to her notes. "Anyways, I've already come up with a theory as to why Dragons can fly." she began, flipping through one of her notebooks, before passing it over to him. The several pages that were included in that section were unusually realistic sketches of a finned Dragon. "Most of the European Dragons can breathe fire, so my theory is that the breath they use to create the combustion is a lighter-than-air substance, that would be stored somewhere within the body. They could possibly create it as a by-product of digestion, and when stored in the body, give some aid to their ability to fly, as it lightens the body."
Post by Craig Jamerson on Oct 2, 2012 11:33:53 GMT -5
Craig barely contained a grin. He was right. She was here to learn more about dragons. She was trying to figure out how to literally fly by herself and she was taking a very scientific, methodical approach to it. He accepted her notebook and looked over the well-detailed drawing as she proposed that dragons could fly as a result of a gas by-product created and stored within their bodies. To put it simply, she was nuts. He decided to play along, though, as he was enjoying the conversation, ridiculous as it may be.
"An interesting theory. You would need to figure out what gas, though, and how it got there. If it was through eating, what food, when digested, produces a lighter-than-air gas?" He stopped and pondered. "Well, according to lore, dragons eat meat generally. This doesn't produce much in the way of gasses, but... all digestive systems are inefficient and when eating, some gas will be created; typically in the form of methane." He stopped, realizing she might not realize the link between the human and dragon forms. "That's what people... you know.... fart." He recovered and continued, "Methane is a lighter-than-air gas and is also flammable. If the body of a dragon were to, instead of excreting this gas, store it somewhere, they would have to get rid of it eventually. If they don't fart, it has to come out in the form of a burp. Your problem is ignition and rate. Now you can reasonably say that this organ is strong enough to expel the gas at such a rate that the flames wouldn't ever reach the dragon and consequently blow the dragon up, or at least he could shut his mouth before it became problematic. However, without a source of ignition, you've got a real problem. With an external source of ignition, the dragon's "fire breath" would be inconsistent and unreliable at best. However, an internal source of ignition would be difficult to answer. Perhaps if dragons were an intelligent species, they could keep flint in their mouth to spark off the gas as it was expelled from the body, but according to lore, they were simply dumb beasts and nothing special. Perhaps they ate it out of chance, but it would be expelled with the other food they ate. The only possible source of ignition then would be something that ignites on contact with air... perhaps fine iron powder. But that would require chemistry and intelligence or sheer luck, luck being the less likely outcome... unless they had massively efficient bodies that stored and separated most of what they ate for some use... but that's unrealistic, really. I suppose that means that they would've been intelligent creatures to acquire flint or some other element. It couldn't be fine, powdered iron or they would ignite with every opening of their mouths, it'd have to be a swift striking of two flint stones by the tongue after they opened their mouths and began expelling methane." He stopped to breathe, realizing he'd been talking forever and looked at her hesitantly, expecting her to look at him like he was crazier than she was, but he ignored whatever facial expression she had and asked, "What do you think? It'd allow one to fly and breathe fire in theory, right? Or do you see a flaw?"
Post by Blair Von Drake / Red on Oct 2, 2012 11:43:53 GMT -5
"It's still only a theory." Red reminded him, returning back to stirring the soup once more. "There are still many missing links to the puzzle. Plus accounts from the stories I've found are at best inaccurate. People living during that time dont have the knowledge we have today, and likely wouldn't be able to tie things together."
Looking toward the soup, she rose to her feet, grabbing a couple of bowls to pour their meals into. She had worked too hard on her studies to be wrong now. She just needed more time to think and plan. But all she had to work with right now were the accounts of legends, and a living example that she couldn't use to study organs. The subject would have to be dead of course for that to happen, and as much as she needed the knowledge, she was firm on the fact that she wouldn't kill a dragon.
Setting the two bowls down on a piece of wood she had been using for a table, she rubbed her forehead. Too many questions to answer, and not enough resources for the job. "I just wish I had more than one subject to go off of..." she groaned, not realizing what she was saying in front of him.
Post by Craig Jamerson on Oct 2, 2012 13:08:04 GMT -5
"It's still only a theory." Craig frowned. This Brit made no sense. Here she was on the other side of the planet in China because she believed so thoroughly that she might be able to accomplish something and when he proposed a possible solution, she stomped it down. What was with her?
Craig was unsure what to say. Surely it was just a theory, but that's all that anything was before it became reality. Why would she be so quick to crush his input? She set the bowls down on what seemed to be a makeshift table and continued, "I just wish I had more than one subject to go off of." He nodded absently at her statement. "You don't happen to have a spoon, do you?" He considered what she'd just said. "Well, you don't have just one subject to go off of. Sure, European dragons are the ones that your culture and mine are most familiar with, but China has theirs along with countless other areas. But then, you already know that... that's why you're here." He said, stretching out the word 'here' thoughtfully. His eyes narrowed and he looked at the girl weirdly. "What do you mean you have just one subject to go off of?" he asked, suspicions raised.
Maybe it was something connected to the freakshow that had appeared at his doorstep recently. The man had sprouted wings just like that right in front of Craig. He'd passed it off as a military experiment gone horribly right but never proved that wholly because the man (Cordoba.... that was his name, Craig thought) had refused to give him a sample of his blood. Maybe she had some sort of connection to all of that?
Post by Blair Von Drake / Red on Oct 2, 2012 13:16:27 GMT -5
Red blinked, shaking herself out of her stupor as he pressed on with his question, realizing that she may have already said too much. It would be far too tempting to simply show him Ancaladar and prove that she wasn't crazy or stupid for believing dragons to exist, but she just couldn't do it. She had found Humans to be skeptical when they were told the truth, and horrified or fearful when the evidence was presented to them. The last thing she needed was another case of this.
"What? O-Oh nothing, just thinking out loud is all." she replied with a sheepish smile, jumping to her feet. "Here, let me get you that spoon." she continued, digging around in her bag for her utensils, rushing over and handing it to him. She knew she was terrible when trying to hide the obvious, but she tried anyway. Anything to get him to disregard her words. Unless of course he drew the connection between her words, and her rather realistic drawings that resided in her notebook...
Post by Craig Jamerson on Oct 2, 2012 13:32:40 GMT -5
Craig watched the girl get all flustered carefully. "What? O-Oh nothing, just thinking out loud is all." She said and quickly changed the subject to that of utensils... which he was now less interested in. Very suspicious of her, he thought. One subject... maybe the Cordoba fellow was the first they experimented on and she was testing him to try and figure out how to replicate the experiment? But he'd been so unwilling to donate any blood to Craig. They must have a tight bond, Red and Cordoba, he mused. But why the search for dragons? What was the point in trying to find out more about dragons if you had the answer already in front of you? Maybe the military had found a real dragon or some crazy thing like that and spliced it with a human to give one wings. He shook his head, lost in thought. "That would never work..." he muttered.
The wings were feathery, anyways. Cordoba's wings were not those of a dragon. Maybe she was trying to find a different way to the same thing. But then Cordoba as a subject would only be useful to a certain point because you'd have to identify different genes and splice different points... which she would've already done, presumably, before coming here to look for a dragon. But what would give her the crazy idea of dragons existing if no one else had found one.
Things were starting to get confusing and he felt himself begin to run in circles. He accepted the spoon and thanked her, but still obviously zoned out. He shook his head to clear the thoughts from his mind and bring himself back into the real world. He picked the bowl of soup from the table, dipped his spoon into it, and carefully blew on the soup before eating it. As he did, his mind returned to those confusing thoughts. If Cordoba was, in fact, her "subject", then she wouldn't need him beyond the initial research into splicing because he would have no more insight to give her than a sample of his blood. But what else could it be?
He blew on another spoonful of soup before bringing it to his mouth and quietly eating it and he looked down. "Ah, your notebook." He picked it up from his lap and looked at it closely. "They really are excellent drawings. I don't think I've ever seen so much detail in a sketch of a dragon. You've got some skill in that aspect, anyways." He smiled at her and handed the notebook back to her. "A very good imagination, if nothing else. What made you think dragons look like your depiction? Some hieroglyph or ancient writing or something like that?" He asked innocently.
Post by Blair Von Drake / Red on Oct 2, 2012 13:42:07 GMT -5
Red let out a mental sigh of relief, finding that he didn't progress farther on the question. Though whether or not he had caught it though was up for her to decipher, but she didn't want to bring up the subject again, in case he decided to start drawing links to what she had said. Dropping a spoon into her own soup, she began to drink from it cautiously, trying to e careful not to burn herself.
It was then that he had spotted her notebooks, taking a look through the other sketches she had done. Red tensed up, almost expecting him to realize that they were from a live subject. Her knuckles were almost white, at the strength at which she grasped her spoon.
"A very good imagination, if nothing else. What made you think dragons look like your depiction? Some hieroglyph or ancient writing or something like that?". Not exactly the accusatory question she had been expecting, but still one she didn't have a believable answer for. "Y-Yeah... something like that." she replied hastily, taking the notebook as he offered it to her, and quickly returning it to its place with her other materials.
Post by Craig Jamerson on Oct 2, 2012 14:04:06 GMT -5
Craig frowned. The girl was suddenly stand-offish and seemed like she didn't want to talk. He sat in silence, stirring at his soup and taking the occasional bite for a minute or so, thinking about it. It just didn't make sense. She seemed so logical, so rational, so intelligent... so what was all of this about? Why would she be so eh about something that brought her to China after she brought it up to him? Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. Remembering again why he wasn't a fan of others of his own species, he started up, obviously irritated.
"Alright," he started, dropping his spoon to rest on the side of his bowl as he spread his arms out questioningly. "What did I do? Did I say something that offended you? Because as far as I can tell, you told me you want to fly and I humored you and talked very amiably with you about it. I even suggested possible theories to make it happen and you immediately squashed my input. More, you say something about a subject and yet you are already exploring other subjects, so you mean something else but won't talk to me about it. That's cool," he raised his empty palm flat towards her and put the other hand out with the gesture as well, suggesting he wasn't offended. "But then when I compliment your work and you are even more stand-offish. You're suddenly a totally different person than you were ten minutes ago." He groaned, trying to calm himself a bit. "It just, it doesn't make sense. You really want to fly and when you finally find someone who will talk to you like you're not crazy about it, you blow them off? I mean, you came all the way to China to search for some dragon! Why do you even think dragons exist? And what is this subject you're talking about?" His eyes narrowed. "Do you know Cordoba or something?" he inquired, thinking he was on to something. "I at least deserve some sort of explanation. If nothing else, why here? Why dragons? That sounds like a child's fairy tale to me. Coming to China to look for dragons? Come on! If there were dragons, why here as opposed to somewhere else like the Amazon or the Congo? Or hell, Loch Ness? You draw about them proficiently but you're out here wandering around in the middle of nowhere looking for some legend."
He stopped. He was getting irrational and simply repeating himself and worse; he wasn't getting anywhere. He thought quietly for a moment, allowing her time to speak if she wished to, but he already knew what he wanted to ask. After she finished what she had to say, he looked at her pointedly and inquired, "What or who is your one subject?"
Post by Blair Von Drake / Red on Oct 2, 2012 14:17:52 GMT -5
Red jumped a bit at his sudden outburst, not having expect such a sudden turn in attitude. She hadn't really meant to be so contradictory, rather trying to find a silver lining in her work that he had been calling impossible. Then on top of that, claiming that there were no such things as dragons, something which she knew for a fact was false.
"I don't know a 'Cordoba'." Red stated, backing off slightly as she worried about his reaction. He did have her only weapon after all, something which she had worried she would regret. "And I'm not blowing you off... I just want to find a solution to my problem, without having my dream crushed." she continued.
"Besides...you're wrong..." she sighed, knowing she would regret this. "Dragons do actually exist, even if you don't want to believe it." It was then that she looked just past him, seeing a slight shimmer of movement in the air. "And if you don't believe me...just ask him." she added, raising her hand and pointing her finger, the cloak of invisibility falling from Ancaladar, head only a few feet from Craig as he let out a slight growl.
Post by Craig Jamerson on Oct 2, 2012 14:39:58 GMT -5
"I don't know a 'Cordoba'." So the woman meant something else. Some other experiment that was likely fault of a government or some rogue mafia or something. Interesting. "And I'm not blowing you off... I just want to find a solution to my problem, without having my dream crushed." He chuckled at that. It was unrealistic to think that there could be dragons without all of society having learned of them by now. They were WAY too big.
"Besides...you're wrong..." she sighed, knowing she would regret this. "Dragons do actually exist, even if you don't want to believe it." He raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Really now?" he said half-sarcastically. "Do you have any documentation? Other witnesses? Or maybe a pictu--" His eyes dropped to where she'd placed the notebook as he thought of the sketches she'd drawn. She did have talent, he realized, and they were almost too well drawn. His eyes snapped back to her as she spoke again, "And if you don't believe me...just ask him." she added, raising her hand and pointing her finger at Craig. No, not quite. Something behind him, he feared.
Nothing could have been more intimidating than to hear that low, rumbling growl from just behind Craig's head. To feel the warmth and heat from whatever was behind him's breath blow over him. It was definitely big, whatever it was. Craig froze solidly and, more, he believed. His eyes wide with shock, he refused to move for a moment. It hadn't eaten him yet, regardless of what it was... that much was good. Would it continue to not eat him? He gulped, afraid to look. He was still staring dead at Red, body shaking with fear, the bowl of soup still in his hands. His voice came out shaky and quiet. "Am I going to die now?" he nearly whispered to Red, still unwilling to look behind him. A single tear fell down his face from his left eye, he was so afraid.
Some hot soup splashed on his hand from his hands shaking so much and he brought it to his mouth to soothe the burn. Burn... funny that he was talking hypothetically to this Red about dragons being able to breathe fire and here he was, moments from becoming a potluck. He placed the bowl down on the raggedy table and sat straight again. "I suppose," he said, voice still weak, "I shan't like to risk dying on my ass." He stood slowly, careful to not make any sudden movements lest he provoke whatever was behind him to attack. After he'd stood completely, he smiled faintly and turned himself, body and all, to face the origin of the breath.
It was huge. Exactly like the girl's sketches, this dragon was nothing to joke about. His body was covered with a thick armor-like layer and his wings... they must be functional with how the girl treated and spoke of dragons. It could definitely kill him within the space of a moment if it wanted and so Craig didn't bother stumbling backwards. If it wanted him dead, he was dead - plain and simple. He wondered at it's intelligence and decided to ask over his shoulder, "Can it understand me?" He considered asking if it was comparable to a dog or something but decided that if it was intelligent that he'd better not insult it by comparing it to something far less magnificent. He then thought about what he'd said earlier about splicing. Maybe he could... He started for his laptop bag slowly, one eye on the beast. If he was going to die, why not see it coming? He chuckled nervously at the thought and extracted one of his thickest-needled syringes from his bag. He straightened slowly again, standing upright before the gargantuan creature before him, syringe in hand, debating the wisdom of this newest idea.
Post by Blair Von Drake / Red on Oct 2, 2012 14:56:15 GMT -5
This was why she had wanted to keep things a secret, watching Craig's reaction to Ancaladar's presence behind him. Sure it was scary to have something that could kill you with a single swipe standing behind you. But this very same fact was why Red found it hard to make normal human friends. They would see Ancaladar, freak out, and run away. She never intended to frighten them, but they wouldn't listen to reason.
"And yes he can, but I'm afraid any conversation between himself and you will be rather one sided." she explained, spotting the syringe he was holding. Ancaladar saw the needle as well, suddenly bearing his teeth at the sight of it. He did not like the syringe, or the fact that he was holding it. "...You may want to drop that... he doesn't like syringes." Red frowned, quickly hurrying over to the two. She quickly started speaking something to the dragon, in a language that Craig would be unable to comprehend. His aggressive stance shifted to a more passive one, though he did not take his eyes off the Human.
With a small sigh of relief, Red turned to face him once more. "This is Ancaladar. My companion, and the subject of my drawings."
Post by Craig Jamerson on Oct 2, 2012 15:02:51 GMT -5
Craig's eyes bolted wider more when the dragon bore his teeth. Red quickly explained that he wasn't a fan of the syringe that Craig was holding and suggested he drop it. He did. "I intend," he said, half to the dragon and half to Red, "To take a small sample. With this," he turned his attention to the dragon, who obviously held some regard for the human for some reason, "I may be able to make your friend Red's dreams come true. I am a professional geneticist working in Nevada, America and I'm here on business, though I came out here to do some private studying." He decided not to elaborate on that matter... no need for them to know what he was going about when their paths crossed. "Red wants to fly and a key to her attaining that goal is standing before you. Would you deny her that?" Craig asked, still doing his best to express respect for the massive beast while simultaneously manipulating things for his own purposes. Sure, he could probably find out a way to help Red if anyone could. Was that his original purpose? No. But they didn't know that.
The being's DNA would be very unique, he was sure. Probably very useful, too. If nothing else, valuable and great research material. If only he would consent. Maybe Red could convince him? He waited for the girl to tell him the dragon's response.
Post by Blair Von Drake / Red on Oct 2, 2012 15:19:52 GMT -5
What came next was a small grumble from Ancaladar's throat, eyes narrowing at him as he made the promise. Somehow it seemed as if the girl was able to communicate with the dragon as if she were speaking in plain english. Red of course was quite surprised at the offer, though at the same time she was a little skeptical. Ancaladar didn't buy his proposal either, and once more Red had to act as the translator between the two.
"He wants to know how we can trust your words, that you will do as you have offered." Red questioned, looking from Ancaladar to Craig. Of course the offer sounded nice, but too good to be true. If they were to let him go with the sample, what guarantee did they have that he would keep his word to help her? As much as she wanted to have Craig, she knew that such an object could be dangerous in the wrong hands. She didn't want someone to have a dragon's power to use for malicious purposes after all.
Post by Craig Jamerson on Oct 3, 2012 8:53:51 GMT -5
Craig pondered. What assurance could he give to a dragon so it would know that he was not going to be negligent with the blood given him? Who knew? He'd never heard of a situation like this, frankly. With that, he gave up and decided to simply point out the plain truth of the matter. "I fear nothing I say to you can garner your trust. However, I suggest we would meet back here in six months. If I do not show up, you can most certainly find and kill me. I have no idea where the two of you will be, though, and even if I did, I could cause you no harm. I have spent my life trying to help others... it is the reason I entered the field of genetics."
He eyed the dragon, trying to gauge his reaction and then looked uncertainly at Red. "You've been talking to me and everything I'm saying now lines up with what I've told you." He glanced briefly again at the dragon, not completely used to the creature's presence. He looked back at Red, seemingly distracted from the topic at hand. "If you don't mind, I've got a couple questions. Why does he listen to you but not other people? What language is that you were speaking to him?"
