Nicora's dreams during her nap are disturbing, and generally involve Melusine creating some bizarre creature which is then cooked and served up before Nicora to eat. It is interrupted by the cutting sound of the steam whistle and the change in rhythm of the train - it's slowing down!
Nicora greets the waking world by blowing a really loud raspberry in time with the whistle. "Normally I would complain about waking up ... but I prefer the whistle to dreams such as those," she complains to herself as she blinks her eyes open. "Even if they were obvious dreams, Melusine wouldn't make things to eat that way."
"Melusine can cook?" Tulani asks, sitting across from Nicora next to Mave, so the sleeping Eeee could have the full bench. Outside, the landscape has become more hilly and verdant.
"You two can resume making out," Nicora mutters, then yawns widely. "And no, she can't."
"We were not making out," Mave asserts with a grin.
"Well, why not?" Nicora asks as she looks out the window. "And where are we?"
"Anyway, we've got a two-hour stop coming up," the Sphynx explains. "Taking on water and fuel, passengers and so forth. I'm planning to go stretch my wings."
Mave just points out of the window. "We are.. there.." she notes.
"Are you now?" Nicora remarks as she casts a sidelong look to Tulani. "You're not going alone. I have to make sure you don't get up to something ... nefarious."
"Nefarious?" Tulani asks, looking innocent. "Just a little peek at the old castle.. maybe a little hunting. That's good welk country up there."
"You're a cat. Everything you do has an ulterior motive. Just like an Eeee," Nicora claims, "And I could stand to do some hunting as well ... of both types." She licks her lips, then makes a face. "And honestly, eating solid food means waking up with funkymouth. Bleh."
"You could brush your teeth, like the rest of us," Mave suggests, as she stands up. The train has come to a stop, and whistle blows again.
"What are you going to do?" Nicora asks Mave.
"Take a stroll through the lovely scenic village, and perhaps sample the local pastry in a sidewalk cafe, should I find one," Mave notes. "It is a nice day, and I have not enjoyed the benefits of unfiltered sunlight for quite some time now."
"No taunting the men, then," Nicora requests as she stands up and stretches herself. She ends up having to place her palms on the ceiling as she stretches out.
Tulani is quick, poking Nicora in the belly when she's fully stretched out. "Haha! Gotcha! I doubt you'll be able to keep up with me, you know," she points out.
"Ack, hey!" Nicora complains as she rubs her stomach. "And why do you think that, hmm?" she challenges.
"Because I'm the stronger flyer when it comes to altitude," Tulani points out. "Remember how much trouble you had when flew into the mountains to find your parents?"
"Yes, but you forget I can be you," Nicora says and even waggles her brow at the Sphynx. "And many other things."
"We'll see about that," Tulani notes with a purr, and chucks Nicora under the chin with a curled up finger before sauntering out of the booth.
Nicora sweeps Mave into a hug, then kisses her, probably to share her current breath issues. When she lets go, she says, "I has best keep her out of trouble. Who knows what terrible things she might get up to ... and not share. Ta." She flashes a fangy smile, then heads after Tulani.
The platform is busy, but not overly crowded. Nicora catches up to Tulani while she's doing some of her own stretches (but not soon enough for a retaliatory poke in the belly). "Ready for a race?" the Sphynx asks, and points to the ruined castle high above the town.
"Since I can't change here, you have an unfair advantage!" Nicora complains as she stretches out her wings a bit, then flaps them a couple times to 'warm them up'. "But ... I'll still beat you," she claims and even ends with with a loud sniff.
"Oh? How so?" Tulani asks, curious now. "You might be lighter now, but does that make you any faster?"
"I have secrets" Nicora claims ... then takes off in a flurry of leathery wings!
"Oh, like cheating I see!" Tulani accuses with a laugh, and then launches into the air as well, her great feathered wings and locomotive-engine heart-and-lungs making it seem easy.
Nicora has an evil-ish grin on her lips as she beats skyward towards the castle. She's also readying her shadow-cloak in case she has to, ah, mess with Tulani some to keep her from zooming past! Hard to fly fast when you're attacked by shadow-tentacles!
Tulani isn't getting close to Nicora.. in fact she's not even on the same trajectory! She appears to be going straight up, and is already past Nicora.
Nicora grrs and tries to lasso Tulani with shadow, aiming for her foot!
The tendril manages to catch Tulani's foot, but the extension of it throws off Nicora's own balance, as if the shadow had weight to it. And instead of halting Tulani, it just makes her look down with wide eyes.
Nicora tries to hang on! "Told you!" she claims as he wings beat wildly to try and compensate for the sudden balance shift! "Mwahaha!" she cackles.
"Hey! Let go!" Tulani yells, veering off course herself now. She drops down lower, turning towards Nicora!
Nicora continues to hang on for now! She'll let go it if looks like Tulani might lose control, though. "I've got you, little sphynxie," she cackles, then folds her wings in to do a short dive and take Tulani along!
The shadow is stretchy, but Tulani still tries to haul Nicora along! She probably could, if all the weight wasn't attached to her ankle alone. So she starts to dive, trying to catch up to Nicora now so she can grab her!
And it's here Nicora hopes she can outdo Tulani! She did grow up as an acrobatic flyer, even if she doesn't have her old body currently. Her wings snap and fold, making her smaller frame dart and dive side to side as she flies.
Now the Sphynx is below the Eeee.. and dragging Nicora down! "Stop jiggering around!" Tulani complains.
So .. Nicora folds her wings in and dives! "Whee!" she goes.
The Eeee is still able to drop faster, having less drag. Once she's past Tulani, the Sphynx unfurls her wings and tries to yank Nicora back up into grabbing range by the shadow-bunjee connecting them. "Hah!" Tulani declares.
"WheeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Nicora goes when she reaches the end of the tether and suddenly finds herself springing back upwards! It's unfortunately a bit late when she sees Tulani zooming in. "Ut-oh," the poor Eeee goes...
One arm wraps around Nicora's waist, pulling her in to 'hug' the Sphynx, while the other grabs on to the Eeee's tail. "Hah, now I've got you," Tulani purrs in triumph. "I'll let go when you do!"
"Or I could let you do all the hard work of flying ... then escape at the last minute!" Nicora counters, then crosses her eyes and sticks out her tongue at Tulani! "Nyeh!"
Nicora tastes whiskers as Tulani shifts about, and dives again! "Sure, just let me build some speed again..." the flap-cat says with a cackle.
"Woohah!" squeals Nicora as they dive! She hasn't had this much fun in a long time! "Faster! Faster!"
Tulani obliges, zooming down and then pumping her wings enough to just clear the edge of the castle walls. The wooden roof is long gone, leaving the building just a stone shell. Tulani flips over, corkscrews down and finally brakes at the last moment to touch down on the debris-strewn floor.
Nicora is still cackling as the land, combined with a bit of very girlish giggling. "That was great!" she claims, "Annnnnnd ... we tied! Arrived at the same time! I'm not even tired." And with one final act as the shadow-tether releases, she leans her head back and quickly smooches Tulani right on the lips! "Thank's for the lift," she chirps.
"Silly bat," Tulani says, letting go of Nicora. "My feet touched down first, so I win!" She then steps back and begins to disrobe. "And now for hunting!" she says.
"Yeeeah, I thought you were going to go dragon. I knew I had to keep an eye on you," Nicora claims as she pirouettes, then watches Tulani disrobe. "Any requests for a hunting parrrrrtner?" she pseudo-rumbles as Tulani as she fishes out her dagger, then without much delay, slides it into her forearm. Once more her ears splay. Fast, slow, doesn't matter ... that just feels odd.
"Are you in trouble?" Kaira's voice asks in Nicora's head. "You're in a ruined castle!"
"No, I'm with Tulani and she's going to go munch-hunting," Nicora thinks. "As her icy-dragonish self. I intend to go with her."
"Well, other than my and yourself, what've you got that can keep up?" Tulani teases, folding her clothes and piling them atop her leggings.
"And you need me to.. turn you into a dragon?" Kaira guesses.
"Possibly! Not sure how comfortable you are with that. What options are there, aside from the innate steel dragon shape the shadow likes?" Nicora asks in thought. "I'll let you know," she then tells Tulani, "I'm consulting with an expert..."
"Well, what do you want to do exactly?" Kaira asks. "Just keep up? Play? Seduce her?"
"All of the above? This is supposed to be fun," Nicora thinks. "Probably keep up is the primary goal, with all the others as nice to haves."
"Okay, but you'll have to catch something, or you won't have the energy to change back quickly," Kaira warns. The air is already getting chilly, as ice starts to form on Tulani's wings once she begins her own transformation. "I'm giving you something less likely to color your thoughts. But at least take your clothes off first."
The good thing about a one-piece is that it is easy to shed rather quickly, along with her light undergarments. "You probably worry about me and all my crazy antics," she thinks to Kaira as the last of her clothing finds its way into a folded pile. "And I do intend to find something. Last chance to really charge for a while."
Even as Tulani's icy breath on her back causes Nicora's tail to curl up, the shadow oozes out and spreads over her. "Maybe I can just nibble on you a bit," Tulani rumbles. "Your limbs grow back, right? And what's with the shad-" Of course, the shadow has covered Nicora's ears at that point, and she's cast into the floating, bodiless limbo again while her body is altered.
"You better not nibble on me!" Nicora thinks as the world disappears around her. Not good timing ... and no idea how long this will take but she's mostly sure Tulani was teasing! "Tulani has gotten crazier since I last saw her. I think? Why am I talking to myself?" she wonders. Still, talking to herself is probably better than worrying about what weird thing she'll wake up as.
When the world returns, Nicora feels draconic once more.. but not quite like last time. That reptilian sharpness of mind is missing, so she's still thinking like herself. Or himself, as it's a male dragon. A quick look reveals silver belly scales, black body scales.. and what must be a silver mane and silver feathered wings along his back. There's some extra weight on his head, but not the heavy, horny armor of a steel dragon - just small, almost nubby horns he can feel with his ears if he waggles them around just right. "You look cute," Tulani accuses, covering her muzzle with her paws.
"Cute?" Alptraum complains as he starts turning curdles to try and see himself ... and compare his size with Tulani. "I'm supposed to be impressive, not ... cute!" he continues to complain. "Kaira, what did you pick?"
"A nice boy of my own species," Kaira says. He is maybe slightly bigger than Tulani, and like Kaira.. is lacking in pointy bits, frills or a beak.
"So you turned me into what you dream of?" Alptraum teases, "Trying to prepare me for your own needs?" He settles back on his haunches ... then sticks his tongue out at Tulani. "Would you have preferred something big and ugly, like a steel dragon?" he now teases her.
"No, since I could never dare turn my back to one," Tulani coos, and gives Dractraum a (cold) lick on the cheek. "We should start our hunt! Have you ever done that as a dragon? It's... very nice.." she claims.
"I have," Alptraum admits, "And it was scary. I was a steel at the time." He flexes out the feathered wings a few times, then nods once. "I think we can go. Everything seems to work."
"Everything?" Tulani teases, and then she's climbing the inside walls to get to the top of the castle.
"If you're good, you'll experience everything," Dracotraum claims as he climbs along behind her and even play-nips her tail tip as they go. Of course he's probably wrong about everything. working since he has had issues being male ever since ... well, the change.
Tulani swats Dracotraum with her tail, but not hard, and then spreads her wings and launches from the top of the castle, heading further into the mountains.
"Ooo, I like the rough," Dracotraum rumbles to himself, grinning. His own wings snap wide and he takes to the air after her. "It was a mostly serious question," he thinks to Kaira as he climbs, "Do you ever actually dream of me like this? Or am I letting my ego go wild again?"
"I don't really dream, since I sort of am a dream," Kaira notes. "But it is the least intimidating of the draconic forms that is still big enough to match Tulani. Try not to breath fire on her though."
"You're real to me. I'm always trying to find ways to make you happy," Dracotraum thinks. Of course the thought of breathing fire now, well, he tries to burp a small ball away from Tulani just to see if he can!
It comes out like a burp, and ends up cloud of igniting gas in front of his nose.
"Yeep!" goes Dracotraum. A laugh later, he's flying after Tulani again!
The great thing about feathered wings is that they allow for relatively silent gliding. When Dracotraum catches up, Tulani is already getting ready for a dive! Down in the snow-patched grotto below are some more of those bizzare, long-necked and -legged Rugrhat creatures. The ice dragon's tail goes rigid, her wings spread out and lock into place, and then she's diving down towards them!
Dracotraum wonders if he can manage this too ... so he waits to see which one Tulani goes for ... then dives himself once the pack starts to scatter, aiming for one of the outliers! Diving is something he understands well ... and he takes her lead about holding his tail rigid during the dive!
Midway down, instinct kicks in, steering the dragons on autopilot. Tulani strikes her target with her rear legs, bowling it over and sending the herd into a panic. It would seem that was no escape from the little hollow, but the animals dance their way up the sides of the apparently sheer cliffs. A small, shadowy part of Alptraum's mind reminds him: he needs live prey to absorb!
And so Dracotraum tries to tail-whack creatures off the cliffside. He'll pounce and absorb any that fall! Heheheheh. There is a little bit of disturbing pleasure in knowing that they're inciting such fear into the little creatures, at least from that small shadowy part of his mind, anyway.
Tail-whacking works well, and he manages to topple two of them back to the ground before realizing that he needs his tail to steer with. One wing brushes the cliff wall, and Dracotraum finds himself stalling and turning over! Luckily he lands on Tulani instead of the ground though!
"Oof!" the ice-dragon grunts, her prey's neck hanging limply in her jaws. She gives Dracotraum a look.
"Oof!" Dracotraum complains as he tries to scramble off Tulani. "Sorry, he blurts before he's trying to bound across the ground after the two he felled and are hopefully still alive. "I make a lousy dragon," he complains to Kaira.
"Practice makes above-average!" Kaira quips. "It's your first time. Save one of those to eat."
The stunned welks look.. stunned. Their heads waver back and forth like flower stalks growing out of piles of hay.
"Not shadow-eating both?" Dracotraum asks as he closes in on the stunned prey. His lips draw back, exposing a very toothy grin.
"They're bigger than hogs, you might overflow if you absorb them both. Be sure to offer Tulani some of the kill too," Kaira advises.
"Oh, okay," Dracotraum thinks as his jaws close around one of the waving necks. There's a disturbing crunch that follows. The other one, well, he thumps it again with his tail to try and just knock it out. It's not very dignified with how his head swings around and the poor creature hanging from his jaws. "Yth wanth somth?" he burbles out around its neck towards Tulani.
Tulani raises her blood-drenched chin from the innards of her own Welk, and gives Dracotraum a surprised look. "You want to share with me?" she asks, somewhat coyly.
Dracotraum's jaws close, separating the head from the neck and dumping its body in the snow in front of him. The snow quickly turns red. "Of course," he claims. "It is the only polite thing to do for such a stunning lady with such style and ... dining grace?"
The dragoness comes closer, and slips open the beasts stomach before daintily ripping out its liver with her teeth. Is she chewing.. sensuously.. or is the dragon brain getting to him?
Dracotraum's head dips down, but instead of biting into the prey ... he licks aling her neck, then up and off her chin, cleaning it of some of its blood. It's only after that he goes down to take a bite from his claimed prize. He has to remind himself that even in this form, the shadow has to consume it; his stomach will still be touchy ... unless Kaira tells him otherwise!
"Dragon guts can handle anything," Kaira answers his unspoken query. "I once saw this guy eat a motorcycle. True story."
Tulani rumbles happily and gives Dracotraum a nuzzle, even dragging her own kill over next to his.
"Wow, solid food!" Dracotraum thinks as he bites into still very warm flesh, tears out a hunk of muscle, and chews. As he chews, he leans over and lightly nuzzles her icy neck now and then.
It takes some time to leisurely devour the Welks, which taste wonderful despite being raw and full of squishy bits. Although maybe the rumbling from the ice dragon encourages Dracotraum's appetite as well. But eventually, right when he feels like he could roll over and take a nap, the echo of the steam whistle reaches the nook in the mountain. "Uh oh, half-hour warning," Tulani says, and immediately starts rolling around in the snow to wash the blood off of her.
"Can I shadow-consume like this?" Alptraum quickly thinks when the realization the train break s coming to an end soon. His head lowers and he rubs his chin and neck in the snow to try and clean it off!
"Just use your right hand as normal," Kaira says. "I mean 'as usual', since it's probably not really normal to you yet."
Dracotraum flexes his right claw as he peers at it curiously. "Oooookay," he thinks, the grabs a hold of the remaining, though unconscious, Welk in it firmly. "Slurp slurp," he thinks as he tries to push the shadow out to eat the beast.
The Welk wakes up and screams horribly as it shrinks and shrivels away. If anything, this makes it taste even better than the other one!
The most disturbing thing to Dracotraum is ... he actually likes that it screamed. "Blug," he mutters and shakes his head. "I guess I have to go back to my clothes and ... change back," he laments as he watches Tulani continue to roll around. "And ... so close. But that's always how it will be, won't it?"
"Even warmed up, she's still going to be a bit frigid to anything but another ice dragon you know," Kaira jokes. "You'll have better luck in your normal form."
"/My normal form is female,/" Dracotraum points out a bit grumpily. "/She'll just take me lingerie shopping."
"That isn't your normal form, that's just Melusine's disguise for you," Kaira insists. Tulani finishes washing up, shakes out her wings, and says, "Race you back to the castle!"
Dracotraum doesn't even respond, his wings spread and he takes off! "Only if she turns me back! Dracotraum points out as he flies.
"You do want to be turned back, don't you?" Kaira asks. One thing is beneficial about a more mammalian metabolism: Dracotraum is faster than Tulani after she's eaten. Although she does frost the back of his tail when he passes her.
"Ow!" Dracotraum complains, be-cold-butted ... which makes him fly faster! "Of course I do! I don't want to spend the rest of my life bleeding and uncomfortable every six weeks. I just don't know for certain she will. She's ... fickle," he thinks, "Even you have said so before."
"Well, now you can be fickle too if you like," Kaira points out. Dracotraum makes it to the castle with a good lead, and manages to get down to the floor without breaking anything.
"Oh yeah, who's top dragon now?" Dracotraum croons as he does a little prance-dance in the courtyard!
Tulani lands right on top of Dracotraum. "Ooof!"
"Ack!" goes Dracotraum as he splays out on all fours! He wisely doesn't start complaining about how heavy she is, at least.
The dragoness doesn't seem too inclined to get off either. "Hold still," she says, and then.. starts to melt. It's cold, and the water is running all over Dracotraum.. until a mostly dry naked Sphynx is left on top of him. "I still haven't gotten it to where I'm completely dry at the end," she apologizes.
"Did you have to do that on me," Dracotraum complains while shivering, "Especially when I can't enjoy you? Er, I mean, ahem..."
"If there was time, I'd let you lick me dry," Tulani teases, sliding off Dracotraum and heading for her clothes. "You'd better change back too."
"Back to being a girl for me ... and you'll lose interest," Dracotraum complains. "Kaira, time to change me back ... and can you do something about the cold water?"
"Scales are waterproof, don't worry!" Kaira says. The shadow engulfs Dracotraum, and not long after Nicora reemerges, dry except for her tail.
"My tail is cold!" Nicora complains as she feels it shiver. She goes to gather her clothing, pulling on her undergarments first, followed by the one-piece. "I do have to admit," she tells Tulani, "That having most everything internal is a nice difference from my old body. It jus took a lot fo time to get used to it ... and going the bathroom. That was weird for the first few days."
"Here," Tulani says, taking out a cloth and wiping Nicora's tail until it's dry and warm again. "Can't you keep this from squirming so much?" she asks.
"Nope. It has a mind of it's own," Nicora laments. "It only calms down when it's stuck in something. And no comments about how all men are like that!"
"Ack!" Tulani says dropping the tail. "I'd forgotten it was your.. Alptraum-ness."
"Was I that horrible to contemplate touching when I was male?" Nicora asks, sounding hurt.
"It didn't have a face and a little tongue then," Tulani points out, and gives Nicora a kiss on the cheek. "We'd better hurry."
"I'm ready to go when you are," Nicora notes as she pulls the dagger from her forearm and returns it to the sheath on her waist. Her wings flap experimentally a few times, then she takes off!
The Sphynx follows, and the pair are winging their way back towards the train station. At least it's easy going down than flying up!
"I do really want to change back," Nicora tells herself as they glide towards the village. "As much fun as I've had, I don't want to remain a woman forever. How else will I ever conquer Tulani?" She grins, her wings fold in, and she dives towards the town. Flying always has a way of making her feel better. Even her headache is now gone. Hopefully it won't return ... even though hours of train are yet to come.