Deborah sped along in the station lift, racing downwards-- or outwards, as the case might be-- through the station to the lowest level: the dragon flight deck. She tapped her fingernails on her arm impatiently, arms crossed over her chest and thoughts far ahead of her. Normally the lifts were quite fast enough, but today she wanted them to be faster-- instantaneous, like those rumors of mechanical teleport devices. Today was the day, and now was the hour, for the second official non-native dragon mating flight to be held at the station, and Deborah did not want to miss it, as she had missed the first.

Not only was this a novel experience, to witness a flight from such strange dragons as those from far-away places, but it was an opportunity to snare disappointed riders. Everyone knew that dragons had to have bonds, and Deborah couldn't imagine it being otherwise anywhere else, and only one male could catch the lady who was rising today. So, that left four unsatisfied dragonriders who she could easily convince to while away an hour or two with her, instead of the lady-dragon's rider.

Besides, it had only been a week since she'd had her new telepart activated, and she wanted to test how well it could pick up the sendings of dragons, and this seemed an exciting opportunity to do so. She already knew it worked with other people who had teleparts-- it was supposed to be for that purpose, after all, so the cyborware installer had made her come back the next day, once she was recovered from the operation, for testing. But, supposedly, it worked for dragons and natural telepaths, too, if it was of particularly good quality, though even the best and most expensive of teleparts would only pick up fuzzily. Deborah had little chance or desire to go up to the dragons' social level, expecting that if the telepart did work she would hardly be comfortable surrounded by mentally chatting dragons, and their riders might object to the listening in. In this matter, though, it was unlikely that any of the riders or their dragons would so much as notice.

The lift slowed to a stop and Deborah darted out as soon as the doors opened, hurrying down the hallway towards the correct gate and only slowing when she spotted it. She dropped down to a walk, tossing back her hair and catching her breath, putting on a smile even as she turned her gaze to the flight deck itself, through the glass paneling in the hall's wall. For a moment, she couldn't see anything but airlock pillars and metallic walls, but then a flash of blue and red caught her eye-- and held it. These dragons were nothing like the one's Deborah was used to.

The lady-dragon-- she must have been the female, given how the others were chasing her-- was a deep mahogany red in color, marked with white, and she was smaller than even the more conservatively sized mutt dragons who lived at Star City. Even more odd, she only had four limbs, and two of those were wings! Following her were a silver and white striped dragon, even smaller in size; a bright blue and black dragon with a star pattern on his wings, not much bigger; a slim, snake-like green creature she could hardly call a dragon and not a very large, mobile vine; and something big and yellow which looked, to Deborah, more like how a dragon was supposed to look. But the others... there certainly was something to these "off-world" dragons that made them different! Deborah tried to watch them all as the pack darted around, following the red lady-dragon's seemingly random direction changes, with little success.

Then another yellow dragon, this one darker and more bronzed, caught up, as the green one fell back, and that was where her gaze finally stayed. The other dragons were different, yes, even weird-- but this dragon had something they did not: fur. Deborah had never seen a furry dragon before, much less a furry dragon who looked as unique as this one did, with armoring and massive fins and bright, blue-green eyes. He wasn't as big as the other yellow dragon, but that didn't matter; he was slimmer and more streamlined, as if he was made for flight, from the ground up.

And, apparently, clever on top of being so stunning and flight-worthy. The flight progressed, and the lady-dragon had a plan: she darted around a column too quickly for her suitors to see her, and only one dragon caught on: the furry, yellow one. He followed her perfectly, and would have caught her if she hadn't suddenly-- disappeared. Deborah blinked. Even dragons capable of it rarely teleported while in a mating flight... but the sight of a tiny red sped arrowing rapidly away from the laughing male made her blink. This dragon could change sizes, somehow, and that was how she'd escaped the clever one's grasp.

The flight itself ended quickly after that, with the blue one with starry wings simply plucking the tiny dragon out of the air. The furry yellow wheeled away, leaving the pair to each other with, it appeared, no hard feelings, aiming for the hatch nearest where Deborah herself stood. She held her breath, watching him approach, and thought that she saw him catch her eye and wink at her. That might have been her imagination--

::Oh, it's not. I knew you were there, thinking such flattering things about me. You think fairly loudly, you know, and there really aren't all that many other minds up there with you.::

"Oh!" Deborah exclaimed with surprise at the voice in her head-- decidedly not fuzzy, despite the fact that she was entirely certain this dragon didn't have a telepart. What would be the need?

::I can make myself heard by anyone I wish to speak to,:: the dragon admitted, back-winging gracefully to land at the edge of the landing platform, cocking his head at her with a cheerful twinkle in his eyes. ::And in more ways than one!::

Deborah laughed, falling back easily on her usual charm and sociability. "Well, I'll thank you not to go poking about in my head, then, sir," she told him, with the air of a polite scold or a tease. "No matter how flatteringly I think of you."

::Oh, but that ruins all the fun,:: he teased back, but with such a mature, fatherly air that she had to giggle. ::A pleasure to meet you, miss Deborah Ann Falken,:: he added, flaring his wings in a gallant bow, and before she could scold him again for picking her name out of her head, he swept them back to his shoulders again and added, ::But perhaps we should get out of the way, before some disappointed younglings decide they want to land on my rump instead of the landing platform which I am taking up.::

Deborah smiled her best smile for him, intent on making him think well enough about her to tell her more about himself and his kind-- if they were all as different as he, she might even be convinced to try standing at a clutch, as her mother had always suggested she do. For now, though, there were pleasantries to exchange. "Why don't I escort you, and we can get to know each other?"

::Why, that sounds quite lovely,:: he agreed, and padded away from the hatch, starting down the hall. ::And, before you ask, my name is Aedelian Landwerlen. Please, call me Aedel.:: 

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Deborah answered, using his own words, smiling and nodding agreement. She fell in beside him, her previous purpose completely forgotten with this new and quite intriguing distraction.