Legend of Ransera

"Not particularly..." Khyan confessed in response to her suppositions about his time in academia. "I used to vex my classmates, because things would just come to me more naturally. I scarcely ever studied, I just retained what interested me and had the luxury to focus on those areas..." He trailed off as his attention was drawn to Tiaz. He extended his hand and straightened his arm enough to proffer purchase, should the python wish to put weight onto him. Whether or not Hilana would allow her pet to perch upon a relative stranger, he knew not, but she would have plenty of opportunity to belay that if things headed in that direction.

"Heh... Who knows what I would have ended up with if I'd started crocodilian?" He absently slid his fingertips over the smooth skin of his cheek, glad that it wasn't scaly and tough.

"Oh, no. A fourth totem would be well beyond me, at this point. I mean- Of course, I've considered other options, but..." He shook his head, "As I said, I'm pretty new to full body transformations and they aren't easy. It's slow, agonising... It demands your full focus, and challenges you to focus on anything but the pain." He looked at bit harrowed at the sense memory of his shift from man to magpie. He may not have recalled much of the evening, but he did remember the pain. Odd that he shouldn't recall anything of reverting back to the present form...

"Of course! When I was just starting out, that was just the sort of thing I focused upon. The details like, you know, skin texture... New sense abilities." He caught a glimpse of Tiaz' explorations sidelong, "That tongue, for instance... If I just conjured a tongue like that, it would be purely aesthetic. I needed to learn to conjure the organ that makes it function as a stronger sense. And then I needed to learn how to process senses I'd never experienced and, well... make sense of those senses, for lack of better phrasing." He chuckled, a bit bashfully.

"Pish posh." He grimaced and waved a dismissive hand in her direction, "I should much rather talk about this than any of that. Sometimes when you've a lot on your mind, none of it is the stuff you'd prefer... it's merely the stuff that asserts itself." Khyan glanced about. He knew where he was now and he thought to tell Hilana as much, but he decided against it. He appreciated the company. Besides, he had no money on him to tip her for her troubles.

"So, why such an interest in Anima Reptilius?"

For Tiaz' comfort, Khyan fell into step closer to Hilana, granting his shoulders in lieu of just the one arm.

"That's the thing about indulgence. It may have been harder, but the pain was mitigated a bit and I don't remember the bulk of the transition, so it's rather a wash." He'd have shrugged to punctuate his thought, but the weight of a python was pressing his slender shoulders and he didn't wish to jostle the friendly constrictor unnecessarily for the sake of an idle gesture.

"Mm." Khyan didn't really respond to her expounding upon the usefulness of venom. He thought of it as something that would be useful in a pinch, or if he wound up in some sort of clandestine intrigue. It was a fun little novelty and, at times, a party trick, but little more. Any practical uses beyond his immediate purview seemed to be of little concern.

"Well, dragons are sacred." Khyan replied firmly, "And, if the Founders be kind, I shall someday reach a level of skill at which I can adopt such lofty forms as wyverns and basilisks, but if that's to be my goal, it seemed wise to start small, innit?" He chuckled, slightly. He supposed dragons had been on his mind when he'd selected his early totems. They were as grand as the elves in their ivory towers, and even more aloof. They might have ruled this realm, if it were their desire, but instead the stalked their chamber in the Umbrium like a failsafe. It was an unspoken threat for all who might hazard rebellion, that the Crown had allies who might raze their realm to ash before brooking dissent.

They'd all grown up on stories of the days when high dragons were abundant in these realms. And many hoped to see those days return.

"So..." His interest was perked now, "You grew up outside the city?" His eyes lit up with the possibilities, "Are you of one of the nomadic tribes? I've always found that to be a fascinating lifestyle. I suppose we all hang onto ancient traditions, but wandering the brutal desert is such a queer one, I think. I should love to know more."

Khyan giggled a bit at the feel of Tiaz' tongue upon his smooth cheek. His ears may have been round, but his Elven grandfather's influence might be noted in his relative hairlessness in addition to the paucity of blemished adorning his skin.

"Well," The Patrician boy chuckled, "If memory serves, and I'm certain it does not, I at least fluttered somewhat on the way down so it wasn't a complete freefall. Just a faulty first flight..." Did he remember making it a yard or so before dropping? No, he did not, but his mind told him he did through sheer force of will.

"I would need a totem, to be sure..." Khyan actually blanched at the prospect of taking on so lofty a form. It felt almost sacrilegious. Perhaps it even was! He was no expert in scripture. He relied upon what he'd been told by theologians, and somehow the notion of appropriating the form of a royal wyrm had never come up. "There must be some fossils or summat from the Epoch of Aværys- His be the Blaze and the Glory- at the Museum Draconum..." There had of course been many a dragon in days of yore whose forms might be wiser to adopt. The last thing he wanted to do was rouse the ire of the Crownwyrm.

Hilana would have garnered his full attention with her talk of a tribal background, if he weren't partways focused upon Tiaz. He lifted his left hand to stroke at the scaly side of the python, though his eyes remained on the woman to his right as she detailed her path from the sands to the cities. The bit about her parents was downright fascinating, but when things got too personal the patrician grew a bit uncomfortable and shifted his focus to the ground below and the path ahead. In his circles it wasn't common to highlight ones flaws to perfect strangers, and the familiarity it implied was somewhat alien to his frame of reference. It wasn't that he was disinterested, so much as it felt almost rude to listen... As though she were saying things that he expected her to regret confessing, so it seemed more polite to seem as though his mind might have been wandering to give her plausible deniability about his having heard it.

After a while, the talk turned back toward more familiar ground. Beauty and nature. At her talk of the night sky, his eyes turned to the canopy of the morning and squinted.

"Aye... I think I might, at that." He conceded, with a faint smile. "So, um... How do you and Tiaz find the capital?" There was a bit of nervousness in the question. He was uncertain what floodgates he might be tempting open.

"I did flap rather well, didn't I?" Khyan said, with a far too enthusiastic smile for his actual showing as a bird. He had a lot of work to do, in truth, but he received the compliment with relish.

"Aye," He chuckled, "That would seem unwise, but I suppose that's a bridge I can cross when I've earned the skills to require such allowances... Admittedly, I'd sooner ask a priest than one of the wyrms themselves." And it occurred to him that a fossil might prove even more offensive than an imitation of a living dragon. Founders forbid he should use one of Zalkyrion's scales and beseem the dead Paterfamilias of the surviving Draconic Dynasty.

"The Museum Draconum is splendid!" Khyan lit up at the question. It was the most animated she'd yet seen him, since he'd been flapping around the prior evening- as if his enthusiasm had overcome at least a bit of his hangover. "When I was a child it was my absolute favourite place to go. There are scale models of some of the smaller dragons, and- Have you walked by it? The entrance is a full-sized recreation of Zalkyrion's maw through which you need to step to get inside." He bit his lip,

"As for the Menagerie, well... That is only for guests of Her Divine Radiance to enjoy. My father got to visit once, when he was still actively serving as Consul of the Senatus Minor..." His expression darkened a bit there, "But he wasn't able to bring my mother or me. I should love to see it someday, though that doesn't seem likely these days..."

He chuckled, his humour brightening his visage a bit,

"My favourite places are mostly tabernas, these days." He considered, "The Noctis Ærternae neighbourhood of the Sanctine District is really exquisite, if you haven't been. I'm not sure if you've spent much time in the Umbrium, but it's the place to be for nightlife. I know there are a few places that will admit people of... Well, whatever caste you're in. I oughtn't assume."

"Quite right. It's set against the mountain, East of the Palatium." That was rather prime real estate, but dragons were sacred and beloved in Solunarium. Particularly those descended from Zalkyrion, who were deemed as royal and divine as the elves of Sol'Aværys themselves. The awe was widespread and well-justified in Khyan's opinion. He was, after all, himself inspired to take on the Rune of Animism out of reverence for the great beasts and their lesser kin.

"Perhaps not many things are set in stone, but many are cast in lava..." He noted, a bit grimly, but moved on from that dark line of thought promptly enough.

"No, I can see that..." He replied, looking her over as they approached a familiar archway. A lot of Equestrians put on unearned airs, in Khyan's opinion. Their desire to breach into the Patrician Caste made them more ostentatious than those born to old and renowned families. They were more prone to show their wealth of in wanton displays, but he respected those, like Hilana, who weren't such try-hards.

"And that is probably sound advice. If you don't have established protections in place, it's easy to be taken advantage of..." He was starting to brighten back up somewhat at the talk of the Umbrium.

"The Noctis Æternæ neighbourhood is the place to be. There are many lounges, clubs and cabarets with performers who ply arcane Crafts to enliven the senses of their audience... Mesmer, Masquerade and more are employed in ways that might teach you to pleasure senses you didn't know you had. It is downright decadent. I've seen plenty an Equestrian in those venues, but there do tend to be dress codes..." He glanced sidelong, "Just so you're aware."

He gestured ahead toward the volcano.

"I'm up this way. If you'd like to walk me to the door I can pay you now for your assistance, or else I can have a slave walk it over to your domus or place of employment later..."