002 | video

[dracobin]

[Live from the Fire Sector, it's a large black dragon with a very nice necklace! He is seated in his three-story suite, the intervening floors of which have mostly been removed thanks to the expertise and efficiency of Javert's construction team. What parts of it are visible onscreen give the suite a far more spacious appearance than it did previously, which serves to make Temeraire look a little smaller and (hopefully) a little less intimidating.]

It has come to my attention that my appearance has caused some of you distress in the past few days. I should not like to alarm anyone further, so I suppose I had better introduce myself now and clear away any more misconceptions before they have had a chance to start.

I suppose I cannot blame you for your reactions, since I am given to understand many of you are unfamiliar with dragons, save from various legends, most of which sound farfetched at best and highly offensive at worst. But I do not breathe fire, and I am not feral, and I would certainly never do anything as rude as try to kidnap and eat any of you, regardless of whether or not you are a young lady; I cannot imagine it would make much difference in taste, besides. Of course I would not object to having a great pile of gold to sleep on, but as I do not have one at present I am certainly not going to steal yours, unless you are such a booby as to leave it lying around for anyone to take.

[He huffs slightly, then settles back on his haunches, somewhat mollified.] So there we have it: you know that I am here, and that I am not going to accidentally squash you, or eat you, and with that out of the way, I have have noticed a few things which I suppose everyone should be aware of.

Firstly, there seem to be a great number of you from the twenty-first century at least, which I thought was very exciting at first; but now I realize I must have missed a great many things over the course of the last two hundred years, particularly in the realm of the sciences, and I should like to catch up on whatever I have missed. If you are not averse to discussing any of it with me, I should very much like to listen to all you have to say.

Secondly, whatever miasma has afflicted the other sectors is present here in the Fire sector as well; it has grown cold these past few days, and our suites are poorly lit besides. I am certain the damage must have spread elsewhere, and I would like to propose a small expedition of perhaps two or three others, to the outer reaches of the shell. I am curious to see if the disease has also affected what local wildlife remains, and if there is some aspect of its process that we may have overlooked. It will be no great inconvenience to take you on my back; I expect we will be able to get around faster and more comfortably than most, if we fly directly. Of course anyone may come, if they like, but I think it would help very much if you are a scientist, and not afraid of heights.

Pray inform me if you have any questions. [He pauses, then switches off the feed.]

Comments

[Video]

[tactile_telekinesis]

[He recognises the voice from a conversation he had not long ago. But seeing what was the owner, had him staring with his jaw open slightly.]

Okay, didn't expect you to be a dragon. [He doesn't look afraid, just surprised.]

That's pretty awesome.

[Video]

[dracobin]

[He looks a little embarrassed and pleased by the reaction before his expression turns serious again.] Yes, and I apologize for the deception; only I was not sure how people might react, at first, and now I think it is perhaps better for everyone if I get the whole thing out of the way.

[audio]

[gathersnomoss]

I hadn't considered there'd be worlds without some of the species in mine. That's useful to know.

I'm not any sort of scientist, but I've travelled a lot before I came here, and read a lot of books. I also have some of my navigation equipment in my bag.

And I won't need a lift if you run short of people you can carry, though you're probably faster than I am.

[audio]

[dracobin]

Oh, I should certainly have no objections to having a scholar onboard! There are certainly a great many fish in the ocean which I do not recognize, although they all taste very nice, so I suppose the same may be true for the fauna on the turtle.

[A small rumble of interest.] Can you fly as well, then?

video;

[zerotoawesome]

Holy crap, you're a dragon! [Let's just state the obvious to get it out of the way.]

Hey, do you know a dragon that runs a laundromat in New York?

video;

[dracobin]

And you are-- [Pause. Temeraire leans closer, tilting his head and widening his eyes in open curiosity.] A...rock?

[Let's go with that. He blinks, settling back a little.]

I am afraid I do not; I have never been to America. What is a laundromat?

[philosophe]

I should love to accompany you, Temeraire. I have been meaning to go out to the further reaches of the shell in any case.

video;

[dracobin]

Oh, M. Combeferre! [He brightens.] I was hoping you would like to come along. You are not afraid of heights, are you?

[cynisme]

And I was so sure that I'd drunkenly imagined you, Monsieur Dragon. Beware of men in suits of armor come to slay you. You may know you're not that sort of dragon but they don't. Something you obviously already know given...this.

video;

[dracobin]

[Temeraire immediately puts his ruff back in annoyance, snorting.]

I should like to see them try, especially if they are going to be so silly as to turn up in armor; I shall tip them over if they do, and not feel bad at all about squashing them.

[saisamour]

[Oh. It's you. That dragon that scared Cosette. :|]

It is certainly a relief to hear that you do not eat young women, [Should he address a dragon "monsieur"? Yes, he should do that] monsieur, and that you have provided warning this time around.

[There. That was cold but polite enough, wasn't it? NOW WAIT UNTIL HE HEARS WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT BONAPARTE]

[dracobin]

[WHO ARE YOU AND WHY ARE YOU MAD AT ME]

I am afraid I do not take your meaning, monsieur. You do not look very much like a young woman to me.

audio;

[imaginate]

[Mostly curious but terribly amused at the idea of poor Temeraire being informed he's supposed to kidnap damsels and sit on gold. That is a joke for later, perhaps.] How long will an expedition of this nature take?

audio;

[dracobin]

Oh, two or three days at most, I think. I should not like to keep anyone from their work for long, especially with rations as tight as they are, so if we keep to the coastline I can catch more than enough fish for everyone who comes along.

video;

[fotia]

You mean you don't breathe fire?! Man, that revelation was slightly disappointing. [his tone is light and joking, though!]

video;

[dracobin]

[A little sulkily:] Well, I suppose it would be useful now, to be steaming all over and shooting flame in all directions, seeing as it is grown quite cold here.

video;

[wintershepherd]

I hope someone's able to catch you up on everything, Temeraire. I'd offer but science isn't really my thing.

video;

[dracobin]

Thank you; I hope so as well. How have you been, Jack?

video;

[cravats]

I am a scientist, but I am afraid I cannot manage heights all that well. However, I am willing to make the effort. When are you planning to depart?

video;

[dracobin]

Oh, well, we do not need to fly very high, and perhaps you could shut your eyes, so that you do not feel as if you are in the air at all. I should not like to wait too long, if the decay here is going to persist, so I was thinking we might leave within the next day or two.

Beg pardon, I have not given you my name yet; I am Temeraire, and you?

[Video, Anonymous Location, Encrypted 35%]

[superoverachiever]

[Hello friend! Ava's only a little surprised that Temeraire is a dragon. She wants to bring that she is the bookworm he met the other week, but the network is not the best place for that.] What about magic? Dragons where I'm from all do magic.

[Video, Encrypted 35%]

[dracobin]

[He blinks a little at the speaker's face: she sounds familiar, but he could be wrong, and he does not want to offend her by presuming.] I cannot say we have magic in our world; if we do, I have not seen it yet, and it would take a great deal to convince me. What sort of magic do your dragons perform?

[Video]

[histruename]

[Hellboy mostly zoned out on Temeraire's speech about two paragraphs in. Because you... you are a pretty damn big dragon and his knee-jerk reaction is to punch the hell out of it.

But once he processes what the dragon's actually saying, and the fact that it's broadcasting on the damn network, he snaps out of it pretty fast.

Okay, so the big ass dragon isn't looking to kill or eat anyone.

He squints at the screen, still trying to tell if this guy's just jerking them around.]

...Good to know.

[Video]

[dracobin]

[For once, it's Temeraire's turn to stare: the face in front of him is human-shaped, at least, but he has never seen anything like it before. He leans forward a little unconsciously, eyes widening with interest.

It's a moment before he can recall himself with a guilty start.]

Oh--yes, I thought it best to inform everyone first. I would not like to start any trouble without intending to.

[He pauses, clearly bursting with questions, and it's a matter of seconds before one slips out:] I beg your pardon, I do not mean to come over rude, but are those horns, on your head? Or were, I suppose?

video

[sophos]

[Sorry bro she already knew you were a dragon BUT IT'S PRETTY COOL TO SEE IT?? And she sort of... doesn't really remark on it. Not the first one she's seen ok, there's one back home that guards a summer camp. It's the talking bit that's new.]

What kind of sciences? [TALKING TO A DRAGON ABOUT THIS......]

And the power in the Metal Sector keeps flickering, like the machines and technology. I'd be more surprised if there was a part of Tu Vishan that wasn't being affected by this.

video

[dracobin]

Well, I have read a book on mineralogy, and I am very fond of Newton's Principia, and Laplace's Mécanique céleste. But I suppose I should like to learn about biology first and foremost, as I have heard a great many things here about mutants, and DNA, which I do not fully understand.

It is worrying, to say the least: I do not believe it is a cold at all.

[video]

[brokenweapon]

[Here. Have a vaguely nonplussed Jason. 'Cause that dragon probably just said more words in one go than he has in the past six weeks. Or for his past two films.]

Oh. So that was you at the snowball fight.

['cause what else do you say to the air support that so thoroughly creamed Fort Sassmaster?]

[video]

[dracobin]

[sob it's true he doesn't shut up

Temeraire at least has the good grace to look a little guilty--at least for a moment.] Yes, that was me, although to be fair, Gavroche is very small, and there were more of you, so it was not as if it was unsporting.

video;

[brbparadise]

Holy rabies, you look fantastic!

[Mavis is leaning in extremely close to her screen to get a better look at him.]

Are you related to Mister Hydra? Where are your other heads?

[These are legit questions in her world.]

video;

[dracobin]

[Wait wait let him arrange himself a little more casually and tilt his head just right--there.]

Why, thank you. I am afraid I do not know a Mister Hydra, or have any other heads besides this one--are the dragons in your world very different, then?

video;

[inseine]

Good day, [Javert greets in his usual abrupt manner.] How are the renovations holding in this Great Crumble? Well, from what I can see. I should hope so. They are recently done, and my trade reputation is too fresh to handle the blow.

video;

[dracobin]

Oh, M. Javert!

[Something is immediately a little off--someone even less observant and unused to draconic expressions than Javert could probably pick up on that much. It's nothing so obvious as on a human face, but there's a certain nervous tenseness to Temeraire's bearing, and his whiskers twitch a little as he meets the man's gaze.]

Everything is holding up well, of course; you and your team are to be commended. But you must be very busy as of late?

[Video]

[skullsandfisticuffs]

[Jake is just going to gape wordlessly for a moment because oh my god it is a talking dragon. A talking dragon!

He's not sure what to make of this.]

[Video]

[dracobin]

[Oh, his mouth is open but no sound is coming out. Is the console broken?

Temeraire leans forward and cautiously taps the screen with a claw.] Hullo?

video;

[demon_brat]

[... look, somebody who doesn't show his surprise at the appearance.]

You omitted an integral part of an introduction, such as your name.

[BUT he has to pick on something.]

I might join you on the expedition out.

video;

[dracobin]

Oh! [A little guiltily:] I suppose I did. My name is Temeraire.

[He would ordinarily welcome another member into the party, but he's a little put out at having been corrected.] Might I ask your qualifications?