Alexander could definitely not see this one ending well. Dragons? He was so out of his league. Still, he follwed Astrid. She was probably his only hope of even staying alive, let alone making it back.

"So... what happens if he doesn't like me?" he asked. The silence was unnerving. "Do I even want to know?" Probably not, but still, he'd asked.

Astrid turned and looked at him with a worried smile. "I-I'm sure he'll like you." But then she heard a noise behind them. Her eyes got wide as she watched a huge dragon step out from behind the trees. His back was at least fifteen feet off the ground but his extended neck held his head much higher.
http://6dragons.webs.com/photos/Drag...er_sketch1.jpg

"Well what do we have here?" The black dragon asked in his native draconic tongue. To a human it would have sounded like guttural noises and grunts.
Astrid grabbed Alexander's hand and stuck him behind her as she glared at the beast. "Back off!" She snapped.
"This human has attitude." The dragon staled his way around them, but Astrid moved with him, keeping herself between him and Alexander, her hand still holding tightly to his.
"I am no human." Astrid's eyes flashed brilliantly for a moment before fading back to normal. "And this human is mine."
The expression on the dragon's face changed. He recognized her as being royalty and slowly began backing away. "My apologies my lady." He dipped his head and then turned to run.
Astrid spun around and looked at Alexander. "Are you okay?" She asked, worry clear on her face."

Alexander was a bit pale, but he was still on his feet. He distantly thought he was doing good, to still be standing. If there was anything that could make a man feel tiny and insignificant, being faced with a thirty-foot dragon was it.

"Good god, I'm out of my league," he managed to whimper. That was the single most terrifying moment of his life, and he just knew it was going to get worse. There was no way that was the worst of it. No way in hell.

"We were lucky. I knew him, his father works from mine." Astrid put her hands on the sides of his face. "Alexander, I promise i wont let anything happen to you." She bit her lip a moment. "You have to trust me." She moved her hands down to his and began leading him once more. "That last dragon, he was only about twenty. My father is around three hundred years old, he's much bigger." She had to try and prepare him. "Remember, you can speak to him. They can all understand English, you just cant understand draconic."

After a while she slowed their pace and released some tension from her shoulders. She looked at Alexander with a small smile. "We are on my land now, so, hopefully no one will bother us."

Well, that was it. Alexander was fairly sure he was going to die. If not from becoming someone's snack, then probably from a heart attack or something. He was being a little dramatic, sure, but he was an artist, drama was in his blood somewhere. He let Astrid take his hand, and he followed her. At this point, that was all he could do. His mind was a bit overwhelmed, and it would take a little while to process everything.

After a while when Astrid realized that Alexander hadn't said anything for a while she stopped and looked at him. "Why do we sit for a while." She took his hands and sat him down against an enormous tree. She sat facing him, tucking her blue hair back. "H-how are you handling all this? Anything you want to ask?" Her questions were timid, she was still scared that Alexander was going to hate her forever when all of this was over.

Alexander sat down on the rock gratefully and slid his backpack off of his shoulders. He'd forgotten he was carrying it, still, until it had caught on a branch for a moment and pulled him backwards. He kind of wanted to take out his notebook and draw, just to help clear his mind, but he didn't. He didn't want to have to stop in the middle of his drawing and break his train of thought.

...

Screw that. He reached into his backpack and took out his notebook and a pencil. He could at least sketch a rough outline or something.

"I think I'll save my questions for when my brain is working enough to form questions," he finally said.

Astrid nodded and sat quietly while he drew. She pulled her knees up to her self and wrapped her arms around them as she rested her face on her knees. She felt terrible. No one should be drug to a strange world against her will. She knew exactly how he felt. It was how she felt when her parents had dumped her in the human world. She didn't know what to do. Astrid just stayed quiet, her head down, she was going to wait for Alexander to be ready to move.

Alexander worked steadily. Strengthening a line here, smudging a bit there... He glanced upward every so often, to get the perspective right, and then kept going. After a little while, he stopped and looked at the picture before handing it to Astrid. It was a picture of the enormous tree they were sitting under, from the persepctive of someone on the ground. If one squinted just right, it almost seemed to dance a bit in an imagined breeze.

Now that he'd had time to draw and clear his head, he felt a lot calmer.

"I think I'm okay now," he said.

Astrid gave him a small smile when she saw the picture. "Beautiful, like all the rest." She handed it back, but still didn't get to her feet. "You've had some time to process, are you sure you are okay?" Her voice was still laden with worry. She didn't want this to mess him up beyond repair, she could only do so much. Scooting a little bit closer, Astrid put a hand on his knee. "I know i am probably the last person you want to be stuck with, but i'm here for you anyway." She gave him a weak smile.

"I think I'm doing alright, for now," Alexander replied. Key words being 'for now.' He had no idea how he was going to react to being faced with a massive dragon. He really hoped that he would stay on his feet and not pass out or anything. Then again, he'd managed so far...

Astrid gave him a slow nod before she got to her feet. She offered him her hands to help him stand. "We should get going. If it was my parents that opened the portal they will be wondering where i am."

A million thoughts buzzed through her head. How was she supposed to explain a human with her? What would they say? She knew the reasons that were used in the history books by other dragons, Slave, mate, food.... Astrid bit her lip at the thought. Alexander wouldn't be thrilled with any of those options. She was going to need to do some quick thinking on her feet when they finally got to her father.

Alexander took her hand and stood up as well.

"May as well get it over with, then," he said. Hopefully, he wouldn't be terrified out of his mind. Then again, he'd been doing alright so far... Considering he hadn't thought dragons were real until a few hours ago, he was doing great. He just hoped that nobody got it into their head to eat him or something.

Astrid held on to his hand as they walked. He made her feel better. But as they walked, Astrid wondered what would his reaction be when he saw her change? Only time would tell. As they walked, Astrid began to feel more eyes on them. There were other dragon's about but they had all seemed to recognize her and were staying back. Leaving her and her human alone.

"We are here." Astrid said finally as they stood at a gaping cave entrance. Huge marble doors covered in moss and vines blended in with the background and concealed the home within the mountain. Before She was even able to touch the door. it was pulled open by someone.
http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs51/f/20...by_uncle91.png

Astrid's hand tightened on Alexander's as she looked at the enormous beast before her. "Alexander, Meet my brother." She told him as she looked at dragon before them. "He goes by Loki, our family tends to use Norse names in english." He probably didn't care, but Astrid told him anyway.


((btw, if you want to be a dragon too feel free to play one lol))

"Great," Alexander muttered. "Teeth the size of my arm, wonderful..." He was getting to the point that he really couldn't get much more weirded out. "Would make a fantastic drawing, though..." Because really, it was easier to think about that than it was to have a thirty-foot dragon breathing down on you. He waited for Astrid to tell him what to do, or what was going on.

The dragon began to mutter things at Alexander. Astrid rubbed her temples. "Brother he can't understand you." She told him flatly. Taking Alexander by the hand she led him past her brother and into the depths of their enormous home.

"What are you doing bringing a human home?" A deep voice asked from behind them. When Astrid turned around, her brother was standing in his human form. Messy golden yellow hair hung in front of his eyes as he crossed his arms across his bare chest and glared at the man holding his sisters hand.

Astrid glared right back at him. "He is mine! Don't even think of touching him." She turned her back to him once more and continued to pull Alexander along. She glanced at him. "Sorry i keep having to say that, but it's the only way to keep you safe." If he wasn't her's he was free game, anyone could take him.

"Hey, have at it," Alexander replied. "If it keeps me breathing, by all means." And really, he didn't mind being called hers. There were worse people to belong to. He wasn't sure if he was allowed to look around much, but he did anyways. The place was amazing, and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to do it justice if he tried to sketch it later. He might have had a little bit of artistic talent, but not that much.

Astrid smiled glad he didn't mind. Her brother was still following them, but at a slower pace to keep his distance. She walked through the enormous halls until she came to yet another giant set of doors. Astrid stopped and turned to face Alexander. "Remember. You don't have to be shy. Just speak your mind and be honest."

Shifting forms Loki walked up next to them "Allow me to get the door for you." He hissed as he used a clawed foot to open the door for them.

Astrid led Alexander into the room and stopped short of a large stair case Sitting comfortably at the top of the stairs was an enormous violet colored dragon. The beast picked up its head and looked at them. He began spewing a flurry of draconic at them as they approached.

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs25/f/20..._deligaris.jpg

Astrid grinned and put a hand to her forehead. "Daddy...Daddy! he can't understand you." She looked up at her father who had then stopped speaking. The dragon then allowed his body to shrink, his scales fade and his horn disappear.
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s.../anime-guy.jpg
"My apologies." he said as he ran his hand through his long hair.

Alexander just kind of stood there and blinked a few times. Call him extraordinarily impressed, but he'd never seen anything in his life that amazing.

'Now if only I could get my hands on my paints...'

He blinked again when he realized he'd said that aloud. That was almost an 'open mouth, insert foot' moment. Great, the first thing he manages to say, and it's something about painting.

Astrid held back a giggle as she heard Alexander's comment. She looked up at her father that was simply raising an eyebrow at the boy. The he looked back to his daughter.

"Daddy, this is Alexander."
He glared at her. "Daughter, why is there a human here?"
Astrid hung her head but still clung to Alexander's hand. "When you opened the portal, he was next to me, he got pulled through too."
The man rubbed his temples as his son, still in dragon form, snickered across the room. "No human has set foot on Goltheria in centuries. What were you thinking?" his voice was now angry.
Astrid din't want to lie to her father, but she wasn't going to abandon Alexander so she stood up to him. "Alexander is mine." she stated simply.
The man looked a little surprised. and then turned his gaze to the boy holding his daughters hand. "Is that so boy?" He looked him up and down. "Is that so?"

Speak his mind. Direct connection from brain to mouth. He could do that.

"If it keeps me alive a bit longer, sure," he replied. He had no problems with it, if it meant he kept breathing. And painting, but that was secondary. Breathing was more important. He carefully kept those thoughts to himself. No need to start babbling.

The man crossed his arms. "You don't sound so sure of yourself. If you intend on being my daughter's mate than you should at least be a little more confident." The man sighed and rubbed his brow. "I knew sending you to the human realm was a bad idea. I didn't expect you to come back with a mate." He frowned and stared Alexander hard in the eyes. "At least he doesn't have your mark yet." He waved his had and dismissed them just before he shifted back into his dragon form and stalked back to his seat.

Confident. Right. Alexander was sure that the fifty-foot dragon had no issues with confidence. The old Dungeons and Dragons phrase was still running through his head, though he was sure that saying it would be a bad idea. Confidence... Alexander would like to see HIM be the smallest and most easily-squished creature in the room and see how confident he was.

"Frankly, I'm glad to still be conscious and standing," he said. "I can't really ask for much more than that after a day like today."

Astrid Led Alexander out of the room and down the hall to her quarters. Upon entering the massive room Astrid walked him over to a small corner where human sized furniture was set up. "I like my human form, so i spend lots of time this way." she admitted as she took him over to the couch and set him down. She herself sat down on the stone floor and looked up at him. "I'm really sorry about all this. And please ignore what my father said, it's just what i had to tell him so he wouldn't do anything to you." Her face was red as she thought about Alexander being called her mate.

Alexander let her steer him to the couch. She looked worried and embarassed at the same time.

"Really, it's okay," he said as she sat down. "Calm down, you look like you're about to have a nervous breakdown." Inwardly, though, he was relieved that nothing had gone wrong, though he got the feeling that they weren't out of the woods yet. Still, he didn't like seeing her so upset.