Kaihanu
Water Dragon | Male | Mentions: Auranthia (dir.), Other Dragons Ind

Kaihanu was sitting there, looking at his collection of coral, which he totally didn't smuggle into his stable as he scrutinized each one. His tongue sticking out in concentration as he squinted his gaze, reaching his talons towards a vibrant red one as he traced the edges of this one particular coral. "Nope! Too pointy!" He nodded before grabbing the red coral and tossing it to the side of his stable wall with a thunk. "Sorry, best buddy bud!" Kaihanu chirped to Auranthia when he realized the coral he tossed hit the wall that separates him and the Seer dragon.

He appraised a bright blue coral, squinting even more to ensure they're no flaws within the coral. However, upon seeing a small chip in the structure, he groaned and tilted his long, noodle neck back dramatically, like he's been stabbed, or worse, believed he found the almost perfect gift for his rider, and now he has to look for a new one all over again! With a huff, he grabbed the coral and tossed it out of the stable and out of the gate, hitting a poor stablehand on the head.

Anyways, back to his serious, most important, and urgent matter at hand, well, claws. To find the best coral for his rider, with whom he would soon be bonded to in a couple of minutes. The clock was ticking, and the Sea Dragon was starting to panic as his talons rapidly hovered over each coral.

Probing them like he was judging their very coral souls as if he was some sea judge to see if they'll be tossed to the abyss or accepted into his loving talons. There's a striped coral of red and yellow, a green spotted blue one, and finally, a pink and white one. "Now then, my soldiers, the other two failed," he leaned forward, bringing his nose close to his line of troops, who, of course, didn't reply. They were coral. "Show me your value, your worth, so my future, precious, and awesome rider would love me, and you won't be tossed."

Perfect. A scare tactic; that should whip the coral into shape.

If dragons could sweat, he would've been drenched. Wait, can dragons even sweat? Kaihanu paused when that intrusive thought came, more like kicking down the door into his train of thought, scrambling his priority of coral sorting to now thinking if dragons could sweat.

"Well," he tapped his chin in thought, "if a water dragon could sweat...would they be dehydrated...like a sponge? You squeeze a wet sponge, the water comes out, and boom," he did a little jump in place, "it's a dry sponge." He knows; an expert in the sponge-squeezing craft. Kaihanu was a master at wringing water out of sea sponges; thus, he is an expert in this department. Kaihanu pushed himself onto his back legs, using his tail to stabilize himself as he did so, tilting his head to the side so he could cross his arms below his chest while the tip of his tail flicked once. "Would I no longer be a water dragon if I sweat out my moisture?" He furrowed his brows in concentration.

From what humans say, sweat comes from the moisture within their bodies. Would that mean-?

"Would I be...," he did a dramatic gasp, grabbing his cheeks in surprise, "a dry dragon!?" Kaihanu waved his arms in a fritz; his prints flashed in an SOS pattern as he expressed his distress. "I can't be a dry dragon! I'm a water dragon! Water! I can't not be water-less! I need to be water-full or else my powers won't work!" He dropped to all fours, scampering over to his beloved buddy-bud's stable, divided by that cursed wall that seems to be mocking his shortness. He jumped once, his head appearing briefly through the bars. "Buddy-bud!" Kaihanu landed on the ground with a thump, gaining his best friend's attention.

He leaped once more, peering through the bars. "Would I-," his words cut off as he fell again, then leapt for the second time, "-be a dry-," a pause before his voice came back again on his third grand leap, "-dragon if I-," he was cut off, a light thump heard, before his voice came back again like a mosquito buzzing around the room, "-I sweat out my moisture?!" Kaihanu squeaked in protest, landing for the last time as he panted, catching his breath as his sides heaved from all that jumping he had done. It didn't help much as his tail weighed him down. Curse being horizontally challenged.

Tadashi Akiyama | 21 | M | Mentions: The Other Chosen {Indirectly}

Working the farmlands day in and day out could really get a guy to appreciate stunning weather when it finally appeared. Sun that warmed his body and made his skin glow, the bright blue of the sky welcoming such an exciting day for him.

His father had insisted he take the family horse to get to the academy faster. But how could he turn away a journey on foot like this?

It wasn't like he was used to sitting for ages anyways, and as much as he loved their stubbornly reckless mare, Li-Li, her back could really prove to be the biggest pain in the ass. Both figuratively and literally.

The walk had been a long winded one, the changes in scenery offering Tadashi time to gather his thoughts as they tried to run away on him.

*'I wonder what the academy is like..? Will the others be like me..? Will the rest be okay on the farm alone..? Did I feed the chickens before I left-?*'

He broke off his own thoughts with a soft sigh, running a hand through his wavy black locks, his fingers brushing against the fabric of the headband his dad had gifted him a long time ago.

His lips were set in a slight pout as he took a moment to look back in the direction of the farmlands. Home.

He was really going to miss it... But with the opportunity presented by the academy, he doubted any of the other farm hands would've let him stay.

'Not that the academy would've let me say no.' He thought as his pouted lips pressed to a thinner line.

It hadn't been much longer before he finally emerged, entering the courtyard where he found a few people gathered around.

'These guys must be the other Chosen ones... Heh. Cool.'

He took in the sight of each of them. Geez. What's with the damn clothes...?

There's no way half of these guys were nobility, right???

Taking a small second, he reluctantly glanced down at his own attire. He hadn't exactly thought very far ahead apart from 'long journey. And hot day.'

His brown tunic was incredibly plain in comparison, the ties near his collar bone a little loosened so he wouldn't overheat, and his trousers? He didn't even want to linger on how the mud and other... affects still clung around the edges. A mix of mud, hay and some rather pungent additions, courtesy of the farms pigs.

His boots weren't even worth mentioning after that.

It had him feeling the tiniest bit self conscious, but hey! As his Papa always said. No guts, no glory. There were other trophies in proving your hardwork, and sometimes the mess was just that kind of trophy.

But then, his gaze drifted more... upwards, pausing his thoughts once again, his golden eyes widening as he saw the sight before him.

And holy mackerel was this place huge-!!

The buildings loomed above like some kind of ancient giants, their shadows against the bright blue sky intimidating as hell. Tadashi cast a quick glance up. Then left. And right. He was always open to endless rolling hills of wheat and other produce. But this? This made his home feel like a spec in comparison.

Despite wanting to learn more about the others, Tadashi chose to resign himself to the side. The FAR side, where he hopefully wouldn't draw too much attention his way from either the earthy, manure, farm smell, to the way hay stuck every which way from his messy mop of hair.

Alucard Fraiser | 20 | Male | Mentions: Alaric, Valencia Dir. Other riders Indir.

The muscles beneath his left eye twitched at that poor attempt, a spluttering cough did little to hide the huffing of laughter the other man was trying to conceal. His stomach contorted at the audacity that this Alaric was displaying, to show such disrespect towards a member of the royal family, it was obscene. His thoughts were apparent on his face as the words ‘ex-prince’ left Alaric’s lips, his nose scrunched up and his face sneered at the other man.

“Yes.” The word came out tight, squeezed out between his teeth, as though someone was wrenching the words from his throat unvoluntarily. To have someone other than his father call him by his first name, not only that but thought any honourifics, it was boiling his blood.

“Rivera, they were frequent attendees at the castle grounds.” Alucard continued, trying to maintain his air of calm authority, undoubtedly he was doing it excellently, at least he thought so. He switched his stance and let his arm muscles relax, offering a thin smile laden with sugary sweetness.

“What a shame that we both find ourselves here.” He offered, moving to look around at the others, using a wide sweep of his arm to gesture to them, his palm facing them. “A true shame we all find ourselves here.” The refinery of his words carrying the eloquent pronunciation that was taught to him by the finest of noble teachers.

“I am sure we shall all face hardships, but I assure you that it is all for the greater purpose of supporting our beloved kingdom. We shall bring pride to Kesotha.” Alucard used those teachings to deliver his inspiring speech, any attempt to maintain his previous status. He kept his face kind, fluttering his pale eyelashes at the other people.

It was then that he spotted another face, a woman. Vivian? Valerie?

“Valerie, figure out where these dragon riders are, to keep us all waiting is impolite.” He ordered her, he watched her head turn to look at him and she took a step forwards about to carry out his wishes when she stopped and a contemplative look came over her.

Alaric Tihomir Rivera
Chosen One | Male | 20 | Mentions: Alucard, Valencia, Others Ind

Alaric was going to cry. He had to physically bite his lip and take slow, deep breaths to shove the laugh back down his throat. He'd expected a good reaction, but the strangled 'yes' the prince had given, the fake sweetness, the clear anger in his reaction. That was so much better than he'd expected.

"Right," he agreed, his voice slightly strained with the effort of keeping himself contained. "A shame. Definitely."

When Alucard turned away to give some kind of speech to the others, Alaric toook the moment to look in the opposite direction, his shoulders trembling with the effort of not bursting out laughing. He was going to be a dragon rider with the fucking prince of the kingdom. The prince who clearly didn't actually want to be here, regardless of the 'greater purpose of supporting the kingdom' he was preaching about.

Alaric pushed his hair out of his face as he stood back up, forcefully putting some kind of composure on his face. Any kind, really. As long as he didn't outright laugh in Alucard's face, because he had a feeling that even the prince had a line where he'd punch someone, and laughing in his face about not being the prince anymore was probably very much along it. Except Alucard was still ordering people around and acting all princely, so composure was actually a very difficult task.

He made a motion with his hand to get the woman's attention and subtly shook his head. She looked contemplative, at least, so she wasn't outright obeying; Alaric was pretty sure she was a guard from the castle, actually. He was certain he'd seen her around. Her scar was.. distinctive.

"You know she's the same rank as you now, right?" He offered casually as he moved to step around the prince and head towards the woman. She seemed level-headed, at least. "We all are, actually. That's kinda how the whole 'dragon rider' thing works. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news."

He wasn't sorry. At all. But he could pretend, at least a little. Nobility was all about lying to people, even if he wasn't trying to make this lie particularly believable.

"Hey," he offered as he approached 'Valerie', his grin somewhere between amused and friendly. "So, is your name actually Valerie or did he make that up on the spot? Because I find it hard to believe he remembers his staffs names."

Professor Ezhel Rostami
Professor | Female

"Welcome, new riders!" A voice suddenly called out, despite the fact that no doors had opened and no footsteps had sounded. Standing by the door was a woman; short in stature, with well-made riding leathers on and a welcoming grin on her face. Her hair was grey, her skin sun-kissed tan, and her face was marked with a few scars and creases, with crows feet on the outside edges of her eyes.

"My name is Professor Ezhel Rostami," she introduced brightly. "And I'll be the person helping guide you through the bonding process today." She clapped her hands together twice, already walking towards the right-most doors, which were large (over twenty feet tall) and made of thick iron-enforced wood. She stopped just in front of where the doors met, turning back to the students.

"Before I bring you in to meet your dragons," she said. "I have to go over some ground rules, you all understand, I'm sure." She lifted a hand, counting off on her fingers. "First, by accepting the bond of a dragon, you're accepting the role of a dragon rider. This means you're sworn to secrecy about what happens at the Academy. You can't tell anyone, not your friends, not your family. Not even under royal decree can you share what happens inside these halls." She paused, letting the gravity of that settle in.

"Second, you must be focused on your studies. This means no illicit substances, no romance, no feuds, no bullying or violence. Not focusing on your studies could get you killed when you're dealing with dragons. Third, you're going to gain magic from this bond, you're prohibited from using it outside of class while you're enrolled at the Academy. If we find out you are, you will be punished accordingly. Fourth, riding your dragons outside of school grounds while you're enrolled is also prohibited. This is for your safety and the safety of others. Fifth, you must care for your own dragon. We will teach you how. Sixth, be at mandatory gatherings and classes on time. There's three meals a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner, dinner is the only one that's mandatory."

She nodded her head once she was finished, grinning again and spreading her arms wide. "With the rules out of the way, welcome to the Dragon Academy of Kasotha! Every three years, we take a new class of dragon riders. You're this cycles class! Graduated riders do still come and stay at the Academy; they can be staff, or they might just be here for downtime between their tasks. Either way, if you see them around, don't be afraid to have a chat if they have time! We're very excited to have all of you, and we hope you're all equally excited about this opportunity that's been presented to you. As of today, once your bond forms, you exist outside of the typical kingdom. We serve Kasotha as guardians and protectors, but we also serve the entire realm against threats that human armies cannot face without dragons by their sides. You are about to become a key part in our mission to protect all."

She turned and knocked on the wooden doors, creating a deep, reverberating sound that seemed to travel all the way up the huge, heavy doors. There was a few beats of quiet, and then the groaning of wood and metal hinges as the doors opened outwards, pushed by two stablehands on each door. The Professor gestured the students closer.

"Come, let's go meet your dragons," she said, striding into the dimly lit stables. The dragon in the very closest stall, the beautiful light dragon, watched as the group entered. From the opposite end, a deep, rumbling growl echoed.

"Manu, the list," Professor Rostami said, holding a hand out towards a man. The man scrambled for a second before handing a thick-papered scroll to her. She cracked the wax seal and rolled it open. "The dragons' stalls have their names on the name plates," she said, gesturing to where one of the name plates said 'Lorcan'. "I'm going to read your dragons names to you, don't approach them yet." She cleared her throat, straightening her shoulders.

"Scriv, you're with Lorcan. Alucard Frasier, with Rhyhor. Philomena Caddel, with Kaihanu. Valencia Cobrix-Strix, with Akuryō Yamishinigami. Alaric Rivera, with Auranthia. Tadashi Akiyama, with Illinto. Maximillian Cantacuzène, with Aalis Soile." She rolled the scroll back down, handing it to Manu. "The bond is a precious thing, riders. It will grant you not only magic, but the gift of telepathic communication with your dragon which will strengthen over time along with your bond. To create the bond, your dragon must simply touch you."

She gestured to the stables. "You have your dragon's name, go forth and form your bond, riders."

Valencia Cobris-Strix | 22 | Female | Mentions: Alaric, Alucard, Akuryo [why are they all A’s :’)]

She stood by idly, watching the dappled pattern the sunlight made on the well worn architecture of their new home of three years. It was deceptively pretty, this prison they found themselves in, she would not argue that. The more idyllic the scenery, the less likely the recruits would complain and try to run. She understood the methodology behind the random selection, but why did it have to be her? What was worse? Alucard had also been chosen.

Valencia didn't quite notice that she was being spoken to until Alucard locked eyes with her, she straightened her spine to attention as she had been trained, reaching to place her palm on the hilt of a sword that was no longer there. The shadow of her life before loomed over her as her hand passed through the space her trusty sword had once resided. It made her think over Alucard's demands, did she have to act upon them now? Was her oath still in tact?

The idea of being taken here was so foreign to her that she had not put much thought into the fact that Alucard was now brought down to her level, equal playing fields. She took a step forwards, prepared to do as she was told but she stopped and Alucard's face visibly sharpened at the hesitation. He was not happy.