So, What Do We Know About Courting Dragons?
 

Name: Alexander Grace
Age: 23
Appearance:
http://images1.fanpop.com/images/pol...72955_full.jpg

---

Alexander sat along the side of the classroom, closest to the door. He hated US history... Give him ancient history any day. Twirling his pencil in his hand, he added the finishing touches to a rough sketch in his notebook. He loved to draw, although he knew better than to major in such a thing. He looked down at the sketch, and started to erase and redraw one of the lines, making it smoother.

He really hoped class would start soon, he wanted to escape as fast as possible.

Astrid Erikkson
22
Appearance:
http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/s...ragon-girl.png

Astrid, well that's what she was going by for the past few months, was running late. American history wasn't a terrible class, but she found foreign history more entertaining. At least nonamericans had fun beliefs about her true race.

She rounded the corner and slowed her pace as she approached the door. Taking a deep breath she quietly slipped in hoping to not be noticed. She sat down in the closest empty seat to the door. A guy named Alexander was sitting just behind the empty seat so Astrid flashed him a small smile as she sat down. Then she pulled out her notebook after pulling her long blue hair back into a pony tail.

Class was going to be dull today, she could just tell. But that was okay. Tomorrow she was going home, it was her last chance to get home and she wasn't going to miss it. A grin crossed her face at the thought. Oh what fun it would be to tell the others about the humans.

Alexander nodded to her as she sat down in front of him, and then went back to his sketch. He pulled out a heavy-duty eraser and rubbed out the wings of the graphite dragon. Somehow, he couldn't get them to look right. He glanced at Astrid again. He'd always been a bit impressed with her appearance. Her dye job was phenomenal, he'd never seen the blue fade at all, and blue was always the most delicate dye color. He would never get it done, himself, since his hair was too dark to really hold color well and he would never think about bleaching it.

He focused on the sketch again. Somehow, it looked better without the wings than it did before, so he cleaned it up a bit and left it as it was. Maybe he would break out his pen and markers later and ink it.

Astrid twirled a piece of hair she missed around her fingers. Smiling she couldn't help but notice how it shimmered in the light the way scales would. The class was dull and Astros didn't want to focus, well what did it matter anyway when she would be gone tomorrow? She le out a small sigh and shifted positions inthe uncomfortable chair. As she did so her big blue eyes caught a glimps of the paper on Alexanders desk. She turned in her seat and looked at the young man. Did he really know what her kind looked like? Or was he just a 'fantasy' nut like a few other students Astrid had met in her time here.

She decided to ignore the coincidence and she smiled. "that's a grea picture." she whispered. "you've got a good creative eye." she gave him another smile.

Astrid didn't mind talking to Alexander, they had a few classes together and he seemed like a nice guy. Alot better than most of the jerks that hit on her. He was actually one of the few people she would openly talk to.

Alexander blinked when Astrid's voice brought him out of his thoughts.

"Thanks," he said as he went over a few of the lines, making them stronger. "It's not quite done... I can't get it to look right." He didn't mind talking to Astrid. She didn't seem as shallow as the other girls around, and there was something about her that caught his interest. He wasn't sure what it was, but it was there, and it intrigued him. He looked at the sketch one more time before setting it aside and pulling otu a fresh piece of paper. Maybe starting something else would give him time to think about how to fix it.

Astrid smiled. "you should give him horns. Most adult dragons have horns." she suggested. She wasn't trying to be pushy but she saw his slight frustration and thought she would give him a nice little hint of the truth.
"miss Erikkson! Do you have something to share?"
Astrid's face turned red when the teacher called her out. She turned around and faced forward again. "sorry sir."

The class progressed dryly. Astrid was almost bored to tears. To bad Alexander hadn't sat next to her, she would have at least been able to see him draw that way. Oh well. She propped her head ip on her hand and let her blue bangs fall into her eyes. The end of class couldn't come fast enough.

Alexander rolled his eyes at the teacher without looking up. He'd had this professor before, for a different class, so he knew how the teacher tended to work. Pulling the unfinished sketch back to him, he carefully drew in some horns, and was surprised at how much more complete it looked.

"Thanks," he said quietly to Astrid. "It looks a lot better now."

He set the drawing aside again and started on a new one: this time a dragon coiled around a pile of treasure. This one was detail-heavy, but that was okay. It kept him focused and busy, and the teacher thought he was taking notes. It was everything he needed for a class like this one.

Astrid smiled, glad she could help him out with the picture. She drummed her fingers on her desk as she tried to fake attention. About thirty minutes later the class ended. While the other students scooped up their books and bolted for the door, Astrid turned in her seat to face Alexander again. Her big eyes sparkled with playfulness as she bit her lip.
"can I see what you're working on?" she asked hopefull. He was surprisingly accurate with his drawings. It was strange, out of all the paintings and drawings Astrid found of her kind, Alexanders seemed to be the most accurate.

She pulled the ponytail from her hair and let the long blue locks tumble down her back. She much preferred her hair down, but humans temperatures were so fluxuating she had grown used to wearing her hair up. She tucked her hair behind her ear as she tilted her head and tried to study the upside-down paper.

When the professor dismissed the class, Alexander started to gather up his drawings. He wasn't surprised when Astrid turned back to face him, though. She seemed to like taking to him, and really, he didn't mind. He pulled a few slightly more complete pieces out of his folder and handed them to her.

"Yeah, sure, here," he said. He packed up the rest of his things. His folder held almost all of his sketches and drawings, and they covered a fairly wide range of subjects. In the back were a few of his 'studies,' which were pages covered in eyes, hands, and other such things.

"these are amazing!" Astrid exclaimed. The details were so intricate and well done. As she flipped through the papers she was mesmerized by the ones of the dragons. All different types and all extremely accurate. Her eyes stopped on one page with a dragon drawing on it. It stole her breath away, it looked almost exactly like she did in her true form.

No one here knew that though. She had been hiding among the humans for a while now, but her dragon blood still flowed in her veins. Astrid was just itching to break loose and go back home... But then again, humans weren't all too bad...

Astrid pushed the thoughts of home away as she looked up at Alexander. "where in the wold did you ever learn to draw like this?" she smiled, her face flushing just a bit.

"Practice, I guess," Alexander replied. He'd never really thought about it before. He'd just always been able to draw, and he wasn't used to getting such attention for his works.

He noticed that she was looking at the last picture the most carefully, so he held it out to her.

"You can have it, if you like it that much," he said. He could always try to draw it again, though it wouldn't be exactly the same. Carefully, he slid the other pictures back into the folder and put the folder into his bag. "I had been thinking about inking and coloring it, but I think it looks alright as it is."

"R-really? I can keep it?" her face lit up. She jumped to her feet and wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug. "Thank you so much!" when sh realized what she had done, her face turned red and she let him go. "Sorry."

Gifts were a strange custom among dragons. Most were hoarders, keeping everything for themselves. To give something away was a true act of kindness and friendship. Unless you were the king then you were expected to help the less forutnate.

Astrid tucked her hair behind her ear again, her face was still bright red.she was a little unsure of what to do at the moment. She glanced down at the picture in her hands and then back up to Alexander. "I really love it." she admitted bashfully.

Alexander was surprised when she hugged him. That had certianly never happened before. Really, it was just a drawing...

"It's okay," he said. "I'm glad you like the drawing." Standing up, he slid his bag over his shoulders. He still thought there was something unusual about her, but he shrugged it off. Girls in general were weird sometimes. "Do what you like with it." He may have seemed a bit aloof and uncaring, but that was really just how he got when he was drawing. To get the right feelings in the pictures, he couldn't have outside feelings getting in the way.

Astrid smiled at the picture, but it faded when she looked up at his uncaring expression. Maybe gifts here weren't as special. Either way, Astrid knew she would treasure the picture. She gently slipped the drawing into a folder and placed it into the small backpack she had with her.

"I know it probably doesn't seem all that big to you, but it's not often that I get things, so I really do appreciate it." she flashed another sparkling smile as she strung the backpack between her shoulders. After she pulled her hair from under the straps she headed dowager the door but paused and looked back at Alexander. "I was just about to get some dinner. You are welcome to jon me if you want, I'll be at the cafe on the corner." with her simple offer open, Astrid walked down the hall and headed towards the cafe. She hoped Alexander would show up. Eating alone was starting to wear on her and even though she didn't plan on staying at the school much longer, it'd be nice to have someone to at leas refer to as a friend when she got home. She never really had many friends.

Alexander blinked. He wasn't sure what had made her good mood drop, and it took him a moment to figure it out. By the time he did, though, Astrid was already gone.

He knew which cafe she was talking about, so he settled his bag on his shoulders and started walking towards it. It wasn't far, just down the street, but Astrid was already out of sight. How had she moved so fast? He pushed the thought away as he made his way to the cafe.

As soon as he was inside, he looked around for her. It wasn't hard for him to spot her, though. Her hair was distinctive.

"Sorry I made you mad," he said when he got over to her. "I didn't mean to."

Astrid smiled when she heard Alexanders voice but it faded somewhat when she heard what he was saying. "I'm not mad. I was just being honest." She took a small bite of the sandwich infront of her. Then she gestured to the chair across from her. "You can sit down if you want." she said after she swallowed the bite.

She was glad he had showed up. It gave her someone to talk to and he was defenitly nice to look at. Astrid was just a little disappointed though she hadn't gotten to know him earlier. She was leaving tomorrow this was he last chance to have a real conversation with him. Astrid continued to munch onher sandwich as she waited to see if he'd stay.

Then she spoke softly, almost inaudibly. "I'd really like it if you stayed." her face flushed.

Alexander sat down across from her and set his bag at his feet.

"I get kind of in the zone when I'm drawing," he explained. "I do like that picture I gave you, really. But I think you'll appreciate it more than I would." Somehow, he just got the feeling that it meant something more to her than it did to him. Calling over one of the waitresses, he ordered a sandwish for himself. "I haven't been really sure what to draw lately, though... I guess school's been wearing on me, I haven't had any real ideas." That's why he was only sketching. If he'd been really inspired, he would be painting.

Astrid listened to him thoughtfully as she munched away. When he mentioned being out of ideas a few occurred to her. But it was more her curiosity about what he knew than real artistic ideas. "You like fantasy things right?" The word came out strangely from her lips. She knew that most things called fantasy here were quite real. "Ever thought of a place where these dragons would live? Maybe you could draw that, I'm sure it's be pretty interesting." She gave him a smile.

Did he actually know what his drawings were of or was he just flying by the seat of his pants. Astrid wondered...what would he do if he knew what she really was? Would he freak out and run or be fascinated and stay to learn more? She propped her head up on her hand as she sat there and looked at him with her big blue eyes. A passing thought occurred and she wondered what the boy was thinking.

Alexander raised an eyebrow.

"I guess so," he replied, when she asked about his fantasy sketches. "I mean, I could probably draw other things, if I wanted to, but other things are boring." He took a bite of his sandwich, to give himself a moment to formulate a proper answer. "I don't think I would be able to properly imagine a place where dragons would live," he finally said. "I don't think the planet even has places that amazing anymore."

Astrid smiled. "Well, you have that right." She mumbled to herself. She crossed her legs and bounced her foot around. She still found the sensation of toes interesting. She looked over at her dinner date. Her lips formed a small playful grin. "What if i told you there were places that still held that beauty, just not here." She smiled at him. Dropping hints was fun, most humans never even picked up on them. Maybe Alexander was different though, maybe he would put things together. Her smile grew as she looked at him.

"I wish I could see those places," Alexander replied. If only he could set eyes on a place that beautiful... He'd try to paint it certainly, but he doubted he would be able to do such a place justice. Then his mind really started to process what Astrid was saying. "What do you mean, they don't exist here?" Well, obviously, but... Something about the way she said it, he got the feeling that she meant something more than just the words.

Astrid giggled. "I mean exactly what i said. They don't exist...here." She ate the last bite of her sandwich and smiled at him. He was trying to piece things together but he didn't quite have enough information. "Dragons like magnificent places. Cities within the mountains and forests. You'd never know they were there unless you knew exactly what to look for." Mischief was clear on her face, but she wasn't lying. How long would he take her serious?

Then her smile faded. Her blue eyes locked with his. "I'm leaving tomorrow morning. I know we aren't really all that close, but I'm going to miss our little conversations." she sighed. "You are the only person who i think will even care that i wont be coming back." She leaned over and took a sip of her Coke. It was a drink that she would truly miss once she went home.

"You're leaving?"

Alexander pounced on it. It was barely half-way through the semester, why was she leaving? Besides, he was just barely getting to know her...

"Why are you leaving?" he asked. She was right... He would miss her. He was sure other people would notice she was gone, but he would actually miss her. She was the only person who could look at his art and not think he was being childish at all.

"I'm going home." Her face flushed when she saw how quickly he had reacted. "I never really meant to come here. It was always going to be temporary, but when i didn't hear from my parents after a few weeks i decided to enroll in school. Well, my parents finally sent notice." she sighed. Astrid wished she could take him with her. He was probably one of the few humans who wouldn't try to kill her once he saw her, the real her anyway.

"Part of me really wants to stay, i mean i have my reasons," like you, but he wasn't going to say that part out loud. "But i miss my home." Then a dreamy expression came onto her face. "Oh i wish you could see it..." her voice trailed off.

"Where are you from?" Alexander asked. If it was close enough, he could visit, or she could visit... but somehow, he got the distinct feeling that she lived a very long ways away. "If I'd known you were leaving, I'd have drawn you something nicer, maybe inked it or something... I might have even been able to break out my paints." He didn't know what else he could do... He didn't know her well enough to actually get her a gift or anything.