[Poppy]

Niza listened to the pair speak, her lips curling into a devilish smile as they conversed. It was a little funny how neither of them wanted to get more into it with Niza, and honestly she couldn't care less if they decided to go on with their conversation or talk to her; she was sure she'd get to know them eventually, whether by their actions or her own. Now that she knew how to press their buttons, or at least Han's as Reva seemed to be the calmer one, she knew what she could do, and hopefully she could use that to her advantage in the long run. Niza wasn't ugly by any means, and quite possibly, she might be able to lure Han to... do some stuff for her just by her looks alone. Cocky? Maybe, but it'd be stupid not to use her looks when she had them.

"You guys..." Niza crossed her legs casually. "Think about this. Dragons shoving humans into enclosures, telling them to fuck, and then selling their baby bottomed spawn to potential dragon buyers to serve as playthings, or servants, or whatever you guys do with kits. Maybe even keep 'em on a leash." She raised a brow. "Eventually you humans will see that we all bleed red, but I have the feeling that by then it'll be too late for you to stop us."

---------------

"I know," Ceral groaned, lacing his fingers with Ivy's over his belly. "I'm not even halfway yet," he continued, whispering more to himself in annoyance at the fact. Ceral shook his head in response to Ivy's comment about Ceral. Nym was a good guy, although Ceral assumed everyone was kind of in a bitchy mood with the whole Ivan thing having happened and obviously being pregnant, especially for a first timer like Nym.

He was taken off guard a bit at Ivy's next question. He felt embarrassed almost because he never took the time to really look at the stars in the wild because he was always holed up in his cave, but he knew from the few times he'd been out there that yeah, they did almost seem... brighter, in a weird sense. Maybe it was the literal barrier that blocked some of their light, or just the feeling of being trapped here that made them seem darker. "They are," he said, still wanting to instill something in Ivy nonetheless. "I can't wait to get out of here." He had to hold onto the hope that they would get out of here, not that they might. "We could actually raise our kits out there, not have to worry about the humans."

[Flayme]

"I say do it." Han said flatly. He was tired of Ivan being completely contrary to everything they did. The water dragon had been nothing but a nightmare for the past month. "He doesn't get a choice about whether he wants to eat or not, not after all the trouble he's caused... Perhaps this new, hopefully more captain will be able to force some sense into him." He nodded curtly and fell silent after that, content to drive the rest of the way quietly. Thinking about all the money they had lost over Ivan's little stunt made his blood boil. They'd hardly made a profit on the kits, and now they had people like Fiske and Santiago breathing down their necks-

"What?" Han nearly hit the brakes, had Nizhoni really just said... What she had just said? Han blinked a few times, and then scowled back at the road. The faster they got this intrepid dragon somewhere secure the better. She was blunt, far too blunt for his liking... Far too daring in her words for her own good. "Avalon's on our left... Up ahead." Han pointed. It would take no more than a few minutes to reach it and drop Nizhoni off, finally. "I'd be a little more careful about what you say." He said coolly. "You seem to think that all of this is to hurt you." He gave a sharp glance to Niza in the rearview mirror. "We all may 'bleed red' if that's how you think... But you're endangered and we are not. Your race unfortunately succumbed, and ours did not... Let us help you." Han finally parked the vehicle as they rolled up to the gate of Avalon, and he turned to force a smile at Niza. "I assure that's all we're here to do... We don't want dragons dying out, just as much as you don't... Now, why don't you come check out Avalon... You seemed so utterly excited about it before."

--------------

"Their daddy's good looks, huh?" Demus chuckled and he tilted his chin upward in Lago's hand so he could look at him. He was taking in every touch from Lago as fully as he could. Each stroke through his hair was sending shivers down his spine. At the mention that the five month mark would be when their kits began moving, Demus suddenly willed time to move faster, that mark was only two months away, a blink of an eye compared to the rest of a dragon's lifetime... But somehow he was still impatient. "I think, you're going to have to be a little more specific than that." He finally smiled lazily. "Seeing as how they have two daddies, though both of them are in possession of amazingly good looks... So maybe it doesn't matter after all."

"Hmmm..." Demus once again scooted up so his face was flush with Lago's, jsut a few inches away. Demus let his gaze meet Lago's for a second before he closed his eyes and tucked his head into the swamp dragon's shoulder. Personal space? That didn't exist with Demus, especially not with Lago. "I'm tired..." He murmured softly. "We should sleep."

[BabyBelly]

Lago continued running his fingers through Demus' hair, massaging his scalp. Lago had a thing for the hair of his mates. What did the humans call it? A fetish? Nah, that didn't sound right, but he did have a thing for hair in general. Lago had had his dreadlocks for a few decades, and even had a few compliments on them, but he wondered if it was time for a change. He'd been feeling bad for Demus, because he could only do so much with dreadlocks. It's not like he could run his fingers through them.

Lago smiled even more and blushed at Demus compliment. Did he really think the swamp dragon was beautiful? Beauty was never really that big of a topic of discussion or concern among swamp dragons. Lago's own dreadlocks had sort of been a fortunate accident. The few times Lago looked in the dusty full length mirror of Edna's cabin, he really couldn't think of anything to say about himself, certainly nothing pertaining to beauty.

"Well, I was talking about you, but...". He didn't finish his thought. He knew Demus would scold him if he did. He hated to admit it, but ever since Lago had come to Avalon and been exposed to so many other dragon species, he'd been becoming more and more self conscious about his appearance. He didn't have the long and beautiful hair or the cool horns that Nym had. He didn't even have cute, curly hair or the small frame that Ceral had. He definitely didn't have bright gleaming scales that Ivy and Ky had, or wings for that matter. He wasn't lithe and agile in the water like Ivan was. No, Lago was just a big, lumbering, armored, over-glorified lizard. His human form wasn't that much to look at either. A fat body (which Demus seemed to like), dreadlocks no one can run their fingers through, and no shiny scales to show off...except on his fat belly. What did Demus see in him? Lago made sure to keep these thoughts to himself.

Lago ran a hand over Demus' cheek as his face came even closer to his. In all honesty, Lago didn't dare to compare his looks to Demus. The prairie dragon was more beautiful than any of the others. Lago let out a sigh as his mate put his head into his shoulder, and he once again ran his fingers through the shaggy, blonde hair. He leaned his head back against the edge of the nest, closed his eyes and rested his other hand over his growing belly. "Good night sweet heart."

===============

No matter how hard she tried, Shelly just couldn't turn off her mind. It was like this whenever she went undercover or was assigned an important case. It was different this time though. She gently pulled her sheets back and ran a hand over her abdomen...over her empty womb. She would have given just about anything to feel the fluttering of her precious baby boy. She pulled the sheets back over her and turned to her side to get more comfortable. A minute later, she felt movement from behind her as Harold rolled over and wrapped his arm around Shelly, spooning her.

"Hey, beautiful. Having trouble sleeping?" He put his hand over her middle and gently rubbed circles over it. Shelly half wished he would stop it. "Oh, it's just nervous energy. That's all." She wasn't good at hiding her feelings when it came to her husband. He knew she'd been lamenting the passing of their baby. Her taking this job was her way of trying to move on from that. She buried herself in work whenever she was upset. "Are you sure that's all? You want to talk?" She let out a sigh and shook her head. "No. What more is there to talk about? He's gone and there's nothing we can do about it."

Harold propped himself up on his elbow, and planted a few kisses on her arm. "It's not your fault you know. You did everything the doctor told you to do." He had told her all of this already, but he felt it was necessary to keep reminding her. A tear slipped from Shelly's eye, and she quickly wiped it away. "Then why was he ripped away Harry? Why?" They both knew he couldn't give any answer to that. He gently rolled her over so she could face him. "We can always try again, you know. We can keep trying for as long as you want." She gave him a long, uncertain look. She had wanted to be a new mother for a long time. They had wanted to do it much sooner, but it never seemed to be the right time. Now, the window of opportunity was only a crack, and neither of them knew if it was possible. She leaned into him and kissed him long and hard. He was caught off guard a little, but soon bounced back.

She pushed him back into the bed and climbed over til she was straddling his lap. She leaned down again and kissed him deeply, passionately. He likewise, did the same. She could feel that he was ready, and she lifted her gown. He pulled down his boxer shorts and entered her. She let out a satisfied moan and began rocking back and forth. She knew she had wanted to wait til the case was close to being over, but she had no way of knowing when that would be. Besides, it's not like there was a guarantee that she would get pregnant again, and she needed a way to relax. If she got pregnant, so be it. It's not like their were that many agents to spare anyway. They kept going til they were spent, and they both slipped into relatively peaceful sleep.

[labprotocol]

Reva flushed at Niza's blunt comment. Her face and body burned as she held a hand up to her mouth, covering her horrified expression. The two situations were completely different. Dragons were beasts! They had heats and were promiscuous and they had way too many offspring to raise individually on their own. Just because they could speak and sometimes pass for human for brief periods of time did not mean that they were on the same level. Dogs bled red too, but that didn't mean they deserved or even needed the same rights as humans. It was absurd.  The world would be crazy if they tried that! Dogs couldn't take care of themselves in human civilization and neither could dragons.

She was relieved when they finally reached the enclosure. This dragon had too many disturbing notions for Reva. It was obvious that her previous owner hadn't trained her properly and had perhaps even filled the poor things head with all of these radical ideas.

Reva hopped from the truck and marched to the gate. She was ready for this to all be over, so that she could go home and take a nice hot bath and then crawl into bed. Then she wouldn't have to think about insolent dragons or dating or whether she should do her hair differently. She punched in the code with stiff jabbing motions and then swiveled around, arms crossed as she waited for Han and Niza. She nodded to the second pad irritably, waiting for Han to put in the secondary code. There were two codes to get into the enclosure. Half of the Avalon staff knew the first code, while the other half knew the second.

-----------

"Get out of here?" Ivy's voice broke the peaceful calm. It seemed too loud in the stillness of night. She glanced around looking for cameras or places that could be hiding microphones. "Don't be stupid." Her voice sounded cruel and dismissive even to herself, but she hoped he would understand that she didn't mean it. She was worried about bugs. She looked him in the eye, then nodded exaggeratedly at the field and the nearby area. 'Not here' she mouthed. 'Bugs.' She didn't even consider that he might not know what bugs were, growing up in the wild as he had.

She grabbed his hand and jerked him out into the open, away from any trees or rocks or anything that she could imagine hiding bugs. She was probably being paranoid. As far as she knew the humans didn't listen in very often and it was the middle of the night besides that, but escaping wasn't something to take lightly.

"Are you serious?" Ivy hissed, once she was fairly sure they were away from prying ears. This wasn't a joke and if Ceral really wanted to escape, well she was all for it, but they'd need to take this seriously. It wasn't something you spoke about it passing. If they got caught it wouldn't just be a slap on the wrist like it had been with the Ivan catastrophe. Ky had lost his wings last time he tried, back when they were still barely more than children.

-----------

Ivan blinked ice blue eyes open and uncurled from his ball. It was no longer the dusty grey of late evening, but the inky black of night. He shifted listening for whatever had woken him up as he waited for his eyesight to adjust. Ky had to be asleep by now, maybe he'd go sneak back into the cave.

[Flayme]

When Addison awoke, it was light, but just barely. The black of night had slowly seeped away into the the lilac traces of dawn. Actually, maybe it was a little later than that. The sun was fully visible over the horizon, painting the inside of her father's Lexus in thick stripes as sunlight poured through the windshield, past the review mirror, the visor and the decorated car freshener hanging down in front of her. Addie was stiff, and groggy. It felt like she had only dozed off for just a few minutes, but her whole body was aching from the strange position she'd been in all night. After blinking a couple times, she spotted her phone on the floor between the front island and the dashboard.

"Well, fuck." She grumbled to herself as she picked the phone up and turned it over in her hands. "Completely dead..." So much for Sean being able to call her, he was going to absolutely flip. So were her parents, but she didn't care so much about them. Both they and Sean knew where she was, or at least they should have. It would be absurd to think that they weren't at least on their way by now. In fact, Sean had been given enough time to be in the very same parking lot she was currently taking up two spaces in. That simply meant she needed to get a move on.

Without further contemplation Addie sat up, ran her fingers through her sandy brunette hair twice before snapping it up into a less than perfect ponytail, and then started the car. This time the gate was guarded by someone new, and luckily it was already fifteen minutes past the Facility's eight a.m. opening time, at least for the public. She had little trouble paying the fee to get in with her father's sleek credit card and made her way in. Unfortunately the poor guard had 'absolutely no idea' where anyone else was, or where she could search for any particular dragon, so she figured that she'd just start picking buildings. Somebody knowledgeable was sure to turn up, and Nymir had to be somewhere. It only made sense to start with the first large building she could find and work her way out. She really had no idea where visitors were allowed to go and where they weren't, there were probably signs for indication, but in this matter, she figured it didn't really matter. She wasn't here to jsut gawk through some glass or at a screen at any old dragon, doing whatever it was dragons did here... She was here to find Nym. His file said that he was in 'Avalon' whatever that meant. Wherever the hell that was she didn't know.

After wandering a bit, hitting a few dead ends, and peering at a few small, unpromising looking buildings, Addison finally rolled to stop in front of a rather large, official looking building. It looked sterile, even from the outside, as if it was meant to be a hospital of sorts. On closer inspection the white building bore a large plaque. 'Lab - 16B' and in parentheses '(Ansel Gunther Building)'. Surely some long dead donor who had his name scrawled on the side the place to show his contribution. Addie was actually half expecting her fathers name to have cropped up by now. He seemed to donate to just about anything that would end up being useful to him later. By no means was her father a charitable man. Strictly business. Perhaps if she were to keep looking she'd find 'Fiske' written out on a bench somewhere, but right now this 'Gunther' building would have to do. Once the car was in park and the keys in her hand, Addie flung the door open and stepped outside. It was only a matter of seconds before she was up to the doors and peering inside. Surely knocking would be futile. In such a large place, who would hear her? Of course the more logical option was to just wander inside and hound the first person she ran into about Nym. If you were loud enough, you usually got what you needed, right? Fool proof plan.

[BabyBelly]

Shelly sat the kitchen table, cup of strong, hot, french press coffee in one hand, and report summaries in the other. Getting up early was second nature to her. She normally woke up around 5 am, as was expected of her in the marines. She wasn't expected to start gathering information right away. More or less, her first couple of weeks would be just to blend in and learn the everyday operations of the facility. Besides, she was going to be meeting up with the other two agents that were embedded in other areas of the facility, so she'd get filled in pretty quickly.

Harold came into the kitchen and poured himself some coffee too. Being former military as well, and a former fire house chief, he was used to early mornings and late nights. He came up behind Shelly and wrapped his arms around her and kissed her cheek. "Hey you wild woman, you weren't too bad last night." She smiled and let out an airy laugh. "Is that so? Well, I suppose you weren't too bad yourself", she said as she turned to kiss him on the lips. They stayed that way for a few seconds, savoring the taste of each other and bitterness of the coffee. As they pulled apart he sighed and put his head on her shoulder. "Do we gotta go to work? Can't we do some more of what we did last night?" She leaned her head onto his and sighed as well. "I'm afraid so honey. Our kids tuition isn't going to pay itself." He snorted and laughed. "Don't I know it."

Shelly showed up to the main gate around 7:30 for her first official day on the job. As she pulled up to the main gate, she noticed a lone Lexus just sitting in the parking lot taking up two spaces. "Hmph. Some people's kids", she muttered under her breath. She was sure it was some drunk idiot who couldn't be bothered to call for Uber. She showed the guard her pass and was let on through. Remembering when she was there for the interview and tour of the facility, she made her way to Lab - 16B's parking lot, parking her modest Ford Explorer towards the middle of the lot. Getting out of the SUV, she grabbed her second cup of coffee and her briefcase. Making her way to the locker area for the handlers, she passed by a full length mirror, encouraging employees to look their best. She looked herself once over to make sure nothing was out of place. Hideous, red uniform - check; red hat - check; black boots - check; black belt - check; no jewelry - check. She entered the combo on her locker and found her tool belt, complete with a small, single shot, tranquilizer gun, some tranq darts, a dragon prod stick, a mag-lite, a standard multi-purpose tool, a radio, a standard folding knife, and some pouches she was sure had other miscellaneous tools. Putting her briefcase away, and finishing up her coffee, she latched the belt on and made her way to the lab designated for the Avalon enclosure. She was told to check in with Doctors, Caldwell and Habbar for her tasks for the day. She was a few minutes early, but she didn't think they'd mind. Knocking on the door, she waited for their response.

[Flayme]

"Look, Han you gotta work with me here, there's some chick runnin' around the hallway of Lab #16b, snappin' her lip gloss and demanding to talk to somebody, I'm not dealing with her, so that somebody has got to be you."

"Me. We're not even in #16B." Han pulled one hand down his face. "But of course I'm getting wrapped up in it...." He let out a slow sigh and then glanced back up at Vance who was settled squarely in the middle of the entrance of his office, leaned up against the doorframe. He wasn't in the mood for any of this. After dealing with that insane flower dragon until some absurd time of night (Probably around eleven, at least.), he'd spent another hour cleaning and packing up, and then with the forty-five minute drive home, he didn't hit his pillow until around two in the morning... Being forced to be back up and at the facility by the 'ungodly' hour of eight was now killing him. Coffee wouldn't even be able to save him now. Nobody could be saved from feeling horrible on just four and a half hours of sleep. "Look, she can't be that hard to just stick in room for a couple of hours. If she's that desperate to see someone, she'll wait. Have even you got a name off her yet? You do we know she's not just raging, reptile obsessed, teenage lunatic?"

"Addison Marilyn Fiske." Vance rolled his eyes. "She's shouted it at me twice. And the reason why I was sent over here is because she's been yapping something about her dragon, Nymir? I thought that was the name of that skittish tundra dragon y'all are keeping here... But anyway, she seems pretty 'out there' to me... If you know what I mean. Could be loony, I dunno."

"Jesus Christ." Han immediately slumped forward to let his forehead meet his desk. Fiske, was the very last name he wanted to hear right then. He didn't have time to deal with snooty owners, and especially not their children. He'd heard plenty about Addison from her father. More than he probably ever cared to know, about Sean, the son as well. "Tell her...." Han growled. "That she is going to have to wait, that Nymir is fine, and that he's most likely still asleep. It's practically the crack of dawn. We're bringing in our new captain, and I simply do not have the time to entertain some teenage girl and her whims, if anything you're telling me is true."

"Oh it's true." Vance chuckled. "She's madder than a bee in bonnet. I dunno if she's going to listen to me... I don't see why you or Reva can't come get her. People always seems to take you hoity toity scientists more seriously. But hey- This captain, this mean I get to go back to Valhalla?" Vance suddenly changed subjects. "I'm afraid it's being neglected-"

"Yes. You get to go back to your precious Valhalla." Han rolled his eyes and then glanced at his watch. "Fuck! I'm already five minutes late meeting the new captain because of your rambling!" He spat angrily. "Dammit!"

"Well damn." Vance raised a brow lazily as he watched Han shoot up and scramble to gather his things, and then side stepped quickly to let the frantic scientist past.

"Vance, get that girl and take her... Gah, I don't know! Somewhere she's not violating anything- I gotta go!" Han jabbed at his watch a second time and took off down the hallway. He had been told to promptly meet their new captain, Shelly, Shelly Gunner outside the lab. God he hoped he was remembering her name right- "Oh!" Han skidded to a halt as he spotted someone on the outside of the lab's glass doors. She was already here, of course. She was prompt, early even, a military woman according to her resume. Haphazardly Han reached for the door to let the captain inside. "Ah! Shelly Gunner?" He thrust a hand out at her breathlessly and held the door for her at the same time. "Han Caldwell, nice to meet you- I apologize profusely for my tardiness. It's been a bit of a rough morning." He excused lamely. "Thank you for being here, joining our team- It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

[labprotocol]

Reva stood up from her seat as Han and Captain Gunnar entered the lab. "Hello," she said. "I'm Dr. Reva Habbar. It's a pleasure to have another woman on the team." She gave Gunnar a friendly smile and held out a hand. It was rather nice actually. Reva was starting to get sick of being surrounded by testosterone jerk offs like Devin and Vance. Captain Shelly Gunnar would hopefully prove to be much more level headed and reasonable.

Speaking of Devin, he had recently just started to come out of his coma, raging about that "damn swamp demon" and how he was going to gut the thing. The facilities lawyers were now working on paper work to have Devin banned from the facilities premises and liable to be arrested if he came with in a five mile radius.  It was a huge headache and the medical bills were catastrophic, especially as he had opted for a bionic arm to replace the one Demus had practically gnawed off.  At least the idiot no longer worked for them, though he was talking about becoming a lone dragon hunter.

Reva glanced down at her tablet. "This is actually perfect timing. Three of our dragons are scheduled for their first ultrasounds today and we'll need someone to escort them back to the labs."

[BabyBelly]

Shelly cocked an eyebrow as Han came to an abrupt stop in front of her. There was the hint of an amused smirk playing at the corner of her mouth as she reached out her hand to shake his. "Yes, sir. Pleasure to meet you too, sir." The doctor did not seem to be having a good start to the morning. Something must have riled him. "It's quite all right, no problem at all", she assured him that his tardiness was of little consequence. "Thank you, Dr. Caldwell. I appreciate the opportunity to work here." She was actually looking forward to working with dragons. They fascinated her quite a bit.

As they entered the lab, Shelly extended her hand to meet Reva's. She smiled at Reva's comment and nodded her head. "I'm sure it is doctor. What's on the agenda for today?" She had mixed feelings about the Avalon enclosure. She'd heard about the incidents with the last time some eggs had to be collected, but that was mostly because the other handlers were looking for a fight. Shelly knew better. One doesn't go looking for a fight with bears or lions do they? Why would someone provoke a dragon?

"All right. I'll go grab a couple of men and a vehicle, and we'll go pick up the dragons." Sure she knew not to provoke the dragons, but that didn't mean she was going to go into the enclosure alone. These dragons might still have a chip on their shoulders towards humans in general.

[labprotocol]

"Excellent," Reva said. "We'll be needing Lago, Nymir, and Ceral. Have you received the dragons' profile information yet or would you like me to send you a copy." The profile would have pictures on each dragon in both forms and important notes. Such as the fact that Ivy and Ceral had poisonous bites and that both Nym and Demus had proven to be biters. Lago had also shown to be a little to smart for his own good. Reva had watched the vids leading up to the incident and there was no denying that the man had a significant role in the whole catastrophe. In his notes it mentioned that he might be the alpha or leader of Avalon. Some species of dragons had an obvious alpha, but others didn't and it was hard to decipher the complex relationships, especially as they were mostly different species.

--------------

Ky rolled over lazily as soft sunlight started to break through under the door. He sighed and nuzzled his face into Nym's neck and was surprised to realize that Ivan was curled up next to Nym, but not touching. Ky tried to bring up any emotions about that, but all he got was a vague sense of relief that both his mates were here and safe. He reached over Nym, trying not to jog him awake and let his fingers ghost over the skin of Ivan's shoulder.

Ivan turned, blinking large blue eyes at him. He was blushing a little bit, almost as if he was embarrassed for running off the other day. The water dragon sat up and fiddled with his hands. He hoped Ky wouldn't be too upset with him. He just needed a break from everything."Hey," he whispered, looking at the ground.

"Hey to you too." Ky grinned and Ivan's eyes flickered up to meet his.

"So are you....okay. You're not upset or anything."

"No," Ky started to trace faint patterns on Nym's skin, still trying to stay quiet. "Nym calmed me down. Turns out he loves me." And just acknowledging that send tremors of warm bliss through his body, rippling outward like stone-tossed water. His happiness seemed to expand beyond himself, surround Nym and Ivan in warm comfort. He could tell though, by Ivan's shadowed eyes that wasn't entirely the case. Nym wasn't feeling the same bliss as him or it wasn't affecting him much if he did.

I smiled and tugged at his ear. "Yeah, I know."

[BabyBelly]

"I have read the reports, but copies would be helpful", Shelly remarked to Reva. According to the reports, these dragons had proven to be quite the nuisance as of late. She did indeed take note of the particular dragons that could do some serious damage, but she also noted that the incident with the eggs had seemingly been triggered by the one dragons, Ivan, and his desire to hide the eggs. It seemed to Shelly that this one dragon was the catalyst for everything that had happened.

She was actually rather surprised that more dragons didn't hide their eggs more often. It was only a matter of time before this type of incident happened again. Shelly honestly didn't understand the facilities practice of taking the eggs away from the parents so soon after they were delivered. Her brother was an avid dog breeder, and she had learned a while ago, that the majority of breeders in general, didn't sell off the puppies until they were at least old enough to walk and eat on their own. Why then, would the facility sell off dragon kits that still needed to learn basic functions of living. Wouldn't it be a hassle for the new owners to take that responsibility into their own hands?

With copies of the profiles in hand, she had grabbed two handlers, Irwin and Peterson, keys to one of the cargo vans, and headed to the Avalon enclosure.

Having grabbed a megaphone from the van, Shelly and the other two headed through the entrance, the doors sliding shut behind them. The enclosure looked far larger on the inside than Shelly had anticipated. "Well hell, this is going to take forever to round up three dragons", she muttered. Irwin had armed himself with his tranquilizer rifle, and Peterson had put on his gas mask, taking his dragon prod into his hand. The two looked visibly tense. Shelly looked at the two, cocking her eyebrow.

"Just what the hell are you two doing?" The two handlers looked at each other as if she had just asked the stupidest question in the world. "You do know what these dragons are capable of, right?", Irwin asked, bringing his rifle up to look through the scope. "Yeah, these damn things tore up both Devin and Ben. I ain't taking any chances", Peterson muffled through his gas mask. Shelly rolled her eyes and walked up to Irwin, smacking the rifle down from his face. "That's because those two assholes and the rest of their idiot squad handled the whole situation as if it was some damned pissing contest. Now put your fucking weapons away and calm the hell down. We're just here to pick up three dragons for checkups and ultrasounds. That's all." She gave them both a hard glare. They stared at each other, and then back at her as if she'd grown a third head. They reluctantly holstered their weapons, but they were still on edge.

If she was being totally honest, Shelly was a bit on edge too. She didn't fully know what to expect from these dragons, but she knew showing too much force wasn't a good idea. She brought up the megaphone and switched on its air horn setting. If this didn't get their attention, she didn't know what would. She looked back at her handlers and said, "All right, let's give them their wake up call." Putting the device into the air, she pushed the button.

============

The sun was up, but the tree canopy blocked its light, at least at the current angle the sunlight was at. Having not moved an inch from their spots last night, Lago and Demus remained motionless, quiet snoring and slow breathing coming from the duo. Lago cracked his eyes a little, noting that it was morning. He let out a quiet moan, being sure not to be noisy. He was certainly not a morning person. He was still trying to adjust to the new daytime hours he was observing. He laid there for a minute content to lay next to his mate all morning, but his bladder had other plans. Quietly unwrapping himself from Demus, who let out a whine from the movement, Lago made his way to the closes bush to do his business. He was about half way through when he heard an ear piercing sound cut through enclosures peaceful morning. Nearly jumping out of his skin, he finished quickly and made his way back to the nest.

"Did you hear that? What is that?", he asked Demus. The sound appeared to be coming from the entrance of the enclosure. He stuck his nose into the air and sniffed. He let out a grumble, "Handlers...".

[Flayme]

"Ah!" Nym woke with a panicked start. "What is that sound?" Nym flailed blindly for something to grab onto, and then sat up. In this case, Ky was the closest thing in reach and he was instantly clung to him, oblivious to anything the other dragon had been saying before. He blinked a few times, trying to wake up enough to take his surroundings in. Was he still in the nesting cave? Yes, he was. Ky was still with him as well- "Ivan! You're back!" Nym exclaimed when he saw the water dragon. He was both surprised and grateful to see him there. He was glad Ivan was safe. He was also a little embarrassed to have him there caught blatantly sidled up against Ky... He wasn't really sure why. With Ivan's expressed views about how he felt about relationships, and the newly shed light from their conversation in the hot springs the day before, it was maybe a little absurd to be worried. However, worrying was simply part of Nym's nature. He couldn't help but feel sheepish about being plastered against Ky like this when it was usually Ivan that seemed to be the one that was more intimate with the forest dragon. Nym blushed a bit even as he recalled the events of night before. All their dreamlike passion-

All of his peaceful, lucid thoughts were suddenly being hammered apart with the incessant blaring sound coming from outside. "I'm not the only one hearing that... Am I?" Nym clapped a hand over one ear, though that really didn't do much at all. "What in the world is happening?"

------

"Hmmm?" Demus blinked one eye open lazily. "Lago-" He moaned and then reached out to grab for his mate standing above him. "What's the fuss all about?" The sound Lago was talking about had somehow simply inserted itself into whatever dream Demus had been having, and now it was making it hard for him to separate what was actually happening, from what had happened just moments before in his slumber. Reality from fiction. Demus suddenly seemed to snap to attention however at the mention of 'handlers'. The last word on earth he wanted to hear.

"What?" Demus was scrambled to his feet within moments. "Handlers? Who, and where?" He looked around frantically as if some dragon prod wielding buffoon was going to just pop out of nowhere and take a whirl at them. He instinctively grabbed Lago by the hand and clutched it tight. He wasn't about to let some disgusting, ragtag team of rabid dragon abusers to come in here and raid the place again. He couldn't fathom why they'd even need to be here. Nobody was due, there were no more eggs to be found. As far as he knew everybody was accounted for, nobody was dying- "I swear to god, if they're in here to just rile us up or some shit..." Demus trailed off as he kept internally churning through reasons why humans had business being there. Some irrational part of him was fearful that someone had made some sort of mistake at the lab, that he wasn't supposed to be released the day before, and now they were here to fetch him.

"Lago-" Demus' hand snaked up from from Lago's fingers to his forearm, and then his bicep as he tucked himself up against him. "I don't know what's going on, but I'm not letting go of you... Okay?"

---------

"Ugh- For the last time, my name is Addison Fiske, I am here to see my dragon, Nymir. His file is right here, and I have all the authorization in the world to be allowed to see him." Addie held up the manilla envelope for the third time and tapped it impatiently. "You don't understand-"

"I do, I do understand actually..." Vance sighed and placed a hand to his chin to look at Addie thoughtfully. The girl was strange. Highly demanding as well, that was for sure. "You need to see your dragon, I need you to stay here, until I can get permission to escort you. I'm afraid your little shape shifting friend is being kept in one of our closed exhibits for now. Avalon isn't open to the public-"

"I'm not the public, I'm the owner!" Addie exclaimed exasperatedly. "I've been around Nym my entire life, I know how dragons work, I'll be fine. My brother is going to show up any minute and drag me out of here, now where is Nym?"

"Good lord." Vance rolled his eyes. "Nym is in Avalon, for the tenth time, and that enclosure is a good twenty minute drive from here. You're in the main lab right now." Vance drummed his fingers on the side of his face. "Look. How about I get a scientist down here to give you a full report on Nym, and then-"

"No!" Addie spat. "I need to see him myself, why my own two eyes-"

"Shhh." Vance put a finger to his lips to indicate for Addie to hush. "You didn't let me finish... After we get someone up here, we'll escort you, alright? I know Han would be more than willing to accommodate one of the Fiske family, most definitely, Reva as well, you just need to be patient. They're the ones who oversee Avalon most of the time, but right now they're busy. We have a new hire and some tests to run today. If you're willing to wait, I'm sure we can help you."

"Tests?" Addie cocked her head curiously.

"Ultrasounds." Vance said simply. This girl did know what this facility was for right? "Don't go getting your panties in a wad though. They don't take long. You'll have someone down here to talk to you lickety split. If your meddling brother, or whoever the hell is coming to get you shows up, then tell him he can wait a bit too. Maybe you'll both get to see your dragon."

[labprotocol]

Ky nuzzled Nym's neck pulling him further on his lap. "No, I hear it to. Sounds like the humans want our attention." He was really enjoying the way Nym was plastered against him, though he was also very annoyed with the humans. He had enough drama and crap lately. He didn't want the humans to start any shit. Today was supposed to be calm and relaxing. Maybe he could even convince both his mates to sleep in or at least stay in bed until late afternoon. Snuggling and whispered pillow talk sounded very nice right then. Of course no pillow talk was going to happen with the loud obnoxious noise overhead.

Ivan smiled at Nym, though it didn't reach very far. "Hi, looks like they've finally come to do the ultrasounds. Guess you'll be finding out how many eggs you're carrying soon."

Ky frowned. He wasn't sure if he'd be okay with the humans taking Nym away. The last time they'd wanted Nym for something medical they'd induced his heat. After the catastrophe by the lake he was worried one of them might hurt Nym accidentally or even on purpose. He frowned and clutched Nym tighter. "You aren't going anywhere without me. Plus I'd like to see for once what they do with this ultrasound."

-------------------------------

Ivy blinked awake at the sound of the horn, her heart pounding in her chest. Had the humans heard her and Ceral discussing escape last night? Where they coming to get them?

[Poppy]

The sound of the horn blaring in the air drew Ceral from a somewhat blissful sleep. He didn't jump or startle, although the sound itself was rather irritating and he just wanted it to stop so he could go back to sleep. When Ivy woke up next to him, Ceral cracked open his eyes and groaned, turning over onto his side and covering his ears with his hands in an attempt to block out the sound - which obviously didn't work at all. "God, don't they know what time it is?" he hissed in a flustered tone. Ceral didn't even know what time it was but he did know it wasn't time to be up and awake yet, and this facility was ruining his day already. Ceral eventually pushed himself to sit up instead, rubbing at his face lethargically and pursing his lips as he stifled a yawn. He had no clue what the staff could be up to now. None of the others in the enclosure had done anything, not to his knowledge at least. So why were the handlers back at it again? He hoped at least this time that they had some competent ones. That poor boy Ceral had probably paralyzed from before surely wouldn't be coming back anytime soon, if at all after those injuries.

The idea of them coming after he and Ivy after their talks of leaving this place the night before wasn't even a concern; even if they had overheard them, Ceral would've thought they'd do more than just blare an air horn at whatever-the-hell-time-it-was in the morning. "Are we supposed to report for attendance or something?" Ceral's brows drew together to complete his annoyed expression, and he heaved a sigh as he leaned forward to rest his chin in his hands, his elbows resting on his knees. "They couldn't even wait for us to be awake," he said, wrinkling his nose in disgust as he tipped his head to glance over at Ivy. Well, in any case he wouldn't be alone in this.

---------------

Nizhoni had yet to meet any of the other dragons in the enclosure in person yet, although she'd caught a glimpse of most of them during the night. She was no night owl, but she had wanted to get a better idea of what she was dealing with, environment wise and with the other dragons. Nothing too out of the ordinary, and all those carriers save for one seemed to be carrying. She still didn't know why the scientists had been so insistent she not come to Avalon. It was a nice enclosure, and reminded her of her home in the mountains almost. She couldn't wait to get back out there, and her key to success? That goofy pair, Han and Reva.

When the next morning came around and the horn blasted into the sky overhead, Niza was already awake. She'd been working with some tea leaves she'd found, not exactly doing much of anything with them other than pondering what would work best. She didn't stop and grumble at the sound, but instead found herself snaking her way towards the source, walking at a casual pace to where the handlers would be. She wondered why they were here. Unless something had happened overnight that she'd missed, maybe the other dragons had done something wrong before? This certainly was a fun little enclosure.

[BabyBelly]

Shelly left the air horn function on for a good minute, making sure the piercing sound had made its way throughout the entire enclosure. It probably wasn't the most ideal way to get the attention of dragons, but she wasn't about to go traipsing around in an unfamiliar environment with creatures that may or may not have a bone to pick with humans. She finally let go of the button and brought down the mega phone to her mouth.

"I know you all heard that. I really, really don't want to have to do that again. So if you would all kindly make your way over to the enclosure entrance, we can get on with today's agenda. Thank you." She put down the mega phone and looked back at Irwin and Peterson.

"Well, now we wait", she said to the other handlers. Irwin had his finger in his ear wiggling it around, trying to relieve the tinnitus that was seemingly setting in.

"Damn, I forgot how loud that thing is." Peterson had pulled off his gas mask and was wiping the sweat from his face.

"Shelly-"

"Mrs. Gunner, Peterson"

"Uh sorry, Mrs. Gunner, are you sure we're not under prepared for these dragons? Do you think we should call for back up or something?" Shelly let out a sigh and shook her head.

"If we show an excessive amount of force, we could provoke them into getting defensive with us. As you're both aware, that didn't work out well at all the last time." The idea was sound in theory, but there was still some doubt in the back of her head. Should she have brought a few more men? Would the dragons lash out regardless? They were all going to find out soon enough.

================

Lago continued to look off into the distance, in the direction of the entrance, still trying to determine how many handlers they were dealing with. He helped Demus to his feet. He could hear the agitation and fear in his mates voice. He hoped Demus wouldn't fly off the handle. He prayed there would be no reason for him to fly off the handle. Lago could feel the death grip Demus had on his hand. He tolerated it, because he knew his mate was quite worried.

"Calm down, it's all right. They're not here, they're over by the entrance", Lago said pointing in the direction of the entrance. Lago was trying to figure out just why the handlers were here. No one had done anything wrong as far as he could tell. A disturbing thought occurred to him. What if they were here to get Ivan again because he wasn't eating. That wouldn't be good. He knew Han and Reva wouldn't be gentle either. No that didn't make much sense. Ivan was still staying hydrated, and he was still walking around just fine.

He squeezed Demus' hand back, trying to be reassuring.

"I don't think they're here to start anything. If they were, they'd have brought more handlers. I can only smell two...no, three of them." Lago felt his mate's hand snake it's way under his arm. He looked at his mate and gave him a small, reassuring smile.

"Everything's going to be okay. Let's just go see what they want, and keep a level head. All right?"

They both suddenly heard a feminine voice coming from the same direction as that loud sound. It was a little muffled due to all of the trees and other foliage the sound had to travel through, but the voice seemed to be beckoning them to come to the entrance. Lago looked at Demus and shrugged his shoulders. One hand in his mate's hand, and his other resting on his belly, he slowly began to walk forward, gently coaxing Demus to follow.

"Shall we?"

[Flayme]

Demus nodded slowly. He supposed that he didn't really have much choice whether he was ready to venture out or not. If they didn't comply with going to the front of the enclosure, then surely these handlers would simply traipse through Avalon until they found them.That's not something Demus wanted to encourage. Really, deep down, Demus didn't want any trouble. He just wanted to be left alone- He wanted to stay with Lago for lazy days in and days out. If he couldn't have the luxury of being a truly wild creature anymore, the least these humans could manage was to leave them alone. So Demus tolerated Lago's grip in in his. The reassuring feeling of Lago's firm grasp was probably the only thing that was keeping Demus from completely panicking and jumping to ridiculous conclusions.

Quietly, Demus followed behind his mate, keep his steps light and nimble as they picked their way through thickets and brush. Sometimes Avalon felt larger than it really was. If one looked down at the ground, or at the canopy stretched out in front of them, it felt like the enclosure could stretch forever- But that was obviously not the case, and eventually the trees grew thinner, and the unmistakable scent of humans grew stronger. Lago was right.... There were three of them- As well as another new odor. At first Demus thought it was Ivy's scent, as it was definitely the smell of a dragon, and definitely a female, but it was different. Instead of the strong scent of pine, this was... More floral. It greatly confused Demus for a moment. Surely they couldn't be introducing yet another dragon here, could they? His brow furrowed as they continued to walk. He supposed that really the humans in this facility could do whatever they wished. He himself hadn't been meant for Avalon, he'd been randomly dumped here without any ceremony... Maybe this dragon was the same.

That also wasn't what they were focusing on at the moment. Demus' thoughts were distracted from the prospect of another dragon and back to the fact that there were handlers in area, as soon as he caught glimpse of the first one. He'd already gathered that one was female, judging by the voice that had sounded at them just minutes before, but the other two... As they ventured closer Demus gathered that they were male. The prairie dragon felt himself instantly tense, and his hair stand on end. Really he figured that any type of human could be dangerous, but so far his worst experiences had been inflicted upon him by brusque, unfeeling, adult human males.

"Lago-" Demus paused and gripped the swamp dragon a little tighter. "We- We need to be careful." He said hesitantly. He wasn't close enough to see if these people had anything menacing with them, such as dragon prods, or dart guns, but he could only assume. "We still don't know what they want."

----------

"Oh-" Nym nodded quietly. He was glad that Ky seemed to be in the loop about this sort of thing, that he knew what this loud blaring sound seemed to mean. When the sudden sound of a human voice cut through the air he luckily wasn't all that startled. In fact... He was rather curious as to what this ultrasound thing would be like. At this point of his pregnancy, being halfway through meant that he was now beginning to feel the outline of each egg inside of him. He could trace the shapes of the outermost ones, and it only made him more curious to know how many there were, so part of him was reluctantly compliant, even if it did mean going back into a lab, and being woken up at some obscene hour of the morning. From what he could tell, this person shouting at them wasn't Han or Reva, which he was grateful for. Placing an instinctive hand to his stomach, Nym slowly shifted himself away from Ky, readying himself for the task of hosting himself up. That seemed to be getting a little harder to do lately.

"I suppose... We should go then?" Nym cocked his head at Ky, one hand still resting on the forest dragon's knee. "I- I don't want to do unless you come with me." He nodded. While he was anxious to know more about his kits, he wasn't keen on being completely ripped away and taken out of Avalon by himself. He'd have to make that clear... Hopefully without having to bite anybody this time, but still as firmly as he could. "Uh-" Nym shifted and looked to Ivan and then back to Ky, to whom he reached a hand out to. "Could you help me up?"

-------------

"Is Nym getting an ultrasound?" Addie asked. She was about to instantly become all questions. "He should be having one soon, right?"

"Uh..." Vance looked conflicted for a moment as he thought. "Nym... Is the tundra dragon, correct?" He gave a dubious glance to the Addie to confirm that he was right.

"Yes, he's a full blooded mountain tundra dragon, with grey and white scales and feathers, and two horns on top of his head like this." Addie tucked the manilla file under arm so she could indicate long horns on top of her head with her fingers. "And he has long dark hair that goes down to the middle of his back when he's in human form." She nodded and then demonstrated where Nym's hair would hit. She had always been a little bit jealous of how long it was. "Daddy mentioned a while back that he'd been bred, but I never heard that he was officially pregnant until I read this-" She pointed to the file yet again. "So is he getting an ultrasound today or not?"

"Whoa- Calm yourself there." Vance scowled. "I think he's on the roster for the ultrasounds today, yes-"

"Can I watch?" Addie's eyes got wider.

"Now why in the hell would you want to do that?" Vance sighed. This girl didn't know when to let up did she? "I told you- Once we get someone up here check you in and all that, you'll be able to see Nym."

"Yes, but-" Addie tried to make herself sound as pleading as possible, going to from feisty to completely lamblike within a split second, lip jutted out and her head tilted. The prospect of seeing Nym, and watching an ultrasound at the same time sounded far too exciting to pass up. "I don't know if I can wait that long... I've just missed Nymir so much."

"Ah god- Stop staring at me like that." Vance frowned. "Look at them big old puppy dog eyes- You could probably swindle the moon out of the sky with that face couldn't you?" Vance folded his arms and leaned up against the wall. "I don't think I can get you into the room to watch, but with all your nagging, I can probably let you wait inside the lab out by Avalon... Make things faster anyway. But look." Vance said sternly. "You won't be seeing any dragons from Avalon until you talk to someone, I'm not authorized to let you go wandering all over the place wherever you'd like."

"I'll be obedient." Addie raised her hand like she was about to swear an oath. "I'll wait in the other lab." If she couldn't watch the ultrasound itself, at least being in the other lab would get her a little closer to Nym, and these scientists, whoever they were.

"Perfect." Vance said gruffly. "Follow me. You're going to have to follow me in that shiny tin can you call a car- I'm also not authorized to let you ride with me in one of our work vehicles, but no wandering, I see you driving off anywhere else, and you're getting escorted out by security- Got it?"

"Got it." Addie nodded, and then within no time at all found herself following behind Vance, out the door, to the Lexus, and then east, apparently out towards Avalon. The drive wasn't long, but it wasn't short either. A good twenty minutes passed before she followed Vance off the road and found them pulling up to first a lab, and then just a ways behind it a tall, walled, enclosure. She was instructed inside the building with hardly a word and plopped down in a chair just inside the first sterile white hallway. Vance stayed too, watching her like she was about to steal some top secret national treasure. Addie simply waited, quiet and fidgeting with the folder in her hands.

[labprotocol]

Ky eased Nym up, one arm around his back to help support his weight. He didn't let go once they were standing. "Okay, let's go, but I'm not them take you anywhere without me."

"I'm...just going to stay here," Ivan said. While he liked Nym, he didn't want to see him and Ky get all excited over Nym's eggs and future kits, not when he was still mourning his own. Even though the lady had called for them all to head down there, he doubted that included him.

Ky nodded and helped Nym out of the cave and toward the entrance of Avalon. "They're getting big aren't they?" He hoped that the scientists let him come with. He didn't think he'd be able to stay out of trouble if they tried to separate Nym and him again.

-----------------

"I think they're coming to take you to the lab for the ultrasound," Ivy said, her heart calming once she started to think logically. It was about time that they'd do the ultra sounds. She rose to her feet and leaned down to help Ceral to his feet. She pressed a hand against his belly and smiled. "Maybe we'll see a glimpse of Grizzly Bear."

She held Ceral's hand and edged toward the entrance carefully. "How are you feeling? Are you still having morning sickness? Maybe...maybe we should mention that to one of the doctors?" She hated relying on the humans for anything, but she really was worried about Ceral. Neither of Ivan's pregnancies had been this bad.

[Poppy]

Niza wrinkled her nose as she neared the scene, crouched under some bushes as she eyed the handlers. She'd much rather see Reva and Han out here and not these tools, although the woman had a sense of authority about her that Niza could respect. She stepped forward, revealing herself in all her half scaled glory as she offered a cheeky grin. She was curious about the humans, wanting to learn more about them instead of tearing them to shreds - which she had no doubt in her ability to do, but if she wanted her little plan to bud and grow, she'd have to feed it, and the first step was getting on all of the humans' good sides. The handlers would be important since surely they would be the ones that would bring her to see the scientists if she ever wanted to, or so she thought. Either way, it'd be a good idea to earn their trust. As much as she could, in any case.

"Geez, that thing is loud." Niza pushed a lock of her thick, black hair behind either ear, moving a bit closer than she probably should be moving but maintaining a calm and non-hostile stance. "What's it called? I need me something like that, when people don't wanna listen or something." She crossed her arms, raising a brow at the handlers. "Don't tell the other dragons, though, or they might catch onto me, 'kay?"

---------------
"Oh... do you get to come?" Ceral had a feeling they wouldn't allow the seeders to come with any of their carriers which was a real shame, but it wasn't as if he had the power to change that. It would be nice to have Ivy there with him, but he could still work with her excitement when he came back and informed her of how many eggs he was lugging around. "Grizzly Bear, hm?" Ceral laughed a little and took Ivy's hand, straightening his posture as he walked alongside his mate. At her next question, he frowned.

"I'm fine. It's going away, actually." And that was a total lie. He hated lying to Ivy, and he knew she'd catch on sooner than later, but he didn't want the humans to interfere for jack. He didn't want to risk not being able to come back out into the enclosure, or hooked up to some machine, or whatever the hell they might do for his illness. He didn't feel the best most days but it was manageable, he just had to get up fast enough to find a place to puke up all his dinner and breakfast, was all...

His brows furrowed as he considered the options before he sighed, his free hand rubbing at the sore small of his back. "If it's not totally better in a few weeks, I'll go to them myself. That might give whatever it is time to go away..?"

[Flayme]

"Ah, yes... They are getting quite big." Nym nodded absently at Ky's comment and then placed a hand instinctively over his stomach. He seemed to be a bit distracted. For one, he was a little bit concerned about Ivan still, and just leaving him in the cave like that... He hoped he'd be okay there alone. Secondly, Nym wasn't used to being up this early, at least not recently. In the past couple of weeks he'd found that he was waking up later and later each day. He couldn't help it, he'd simply just felt more tired lately. It was probably yet another probably non-threatening, but nonetheless annoying side effect of pregnancy... Along with being constantly irritable and needing to pee all the time. In fact, Nym was amazed that he didn't need to go right now, but also grateful. These handlers --whoever they were-- sounded impatient, and he didn't want to keep them waiting.

"Here." Nym finally seemed to snap out of his languid thoughts and reached for Ky's hand, (the one that wasn't currently wrapped behind his shoulders) and stopped them both in their tracks for a moment. "You can feel a couple of the most outer ones right here." Without thinking at all really he grabbed Ky's hand and brought it down against his belly. He wasn't feeling any movement from the eggs themselves yet, but he could make the outline of a few every once in a while. "Kind of cool- Isn't it?" Nym flashed a quick smile at Ky and then let his hand drop so Ky could move away if he wanted to. "I guess we should keep going."

[BabyBelly]

Shelly eyed Niza with suspicion, not sure what to make of her. She nonchalantly rested a hand on her belt, close to her tranquilizer pistol. This female was a bit closer than she would have liked, and she didn't look familiar. There were no photos of this particular dragon in the profiles Reva had provided. She certainly seemed to have a smart mouth on her, which Shelly wasn't thrilled with.

"It's called a megaphone. You won't be getting one", she replied matter-of-factly. She clipped said megaphone to her belt and reached for her radio, still keeping her tranquilizer at the ready. She went to the shooting range often, as was required of the field agents, so her draw speed and accuracy with pistols was rather good.

"Come in Doctors Caldwell and Habbar, this is handler Gunner. I've got a female dragon standing here who I did not get a profile for. She has black hair, and her visible scales appear to be varying shades of pink. Is this dragon supposed to be in this enclosure? Over." Shelly kept a careful eye on the unfamiliar dragon, watching her every move. Fortunately, she seemed to be taking a non-threatening stance, which Shelly was thankful for. She took a quick look back at Irwin and Peterson to see how they were doing. They were obviously tense and concerned, but they also had looks of confusion. They didn't seem to recognize this dragon either. She narrowed her eyes at them, giving them a visual cue to not start anything. She looked back towards the tree line, seeing if she could make out any of the other dragons making their way to the entrance. She thought she saw a few of them. One with red hair and red scales, another with long black hair, horns and some gray scales, and a third and fourth one near the tree line, but she couldn't get a good visual of them. Well, at least some of them were coming to the entrance.

=============

As Lago and Demus made their way to the front of the habitat, Lago couldn't help but rub his hand over his belly. He could feel the eggs shift around when he walked and a small smile worked its way onto his lips. He was distracted though as he caught the scent of someone else in Avalon. Another dragon? Why would the humans introduce another one? He shook his head in disbelief. He truly didn't understand the reasoning of these doctors sometimes.

As they approached the treeline, Lago took in the sight of the female handler and the other two male handlers with her, or rather their smell. He could also make out the faint outline of another female up there. That new dragon scent was coming from her. He felt Demus grip his hand tighter, and he looked back to his mate. The concern in his voice was painfully obvious. His cautionary tone wasn't unwarranted unfortunately. Lago knew that they needed to be careful, but he also knew it wasn't wise to keep the handlers waiting. He decided to try to put Demus at ease as he wrapped his arms around him and reached in for a kiss. He pulled back and gave his mate a reassuring smile.

"I know you're worried sweetie. I'm a little worried too, but I don't think they're here to start any trouble. It just wouldn't make any sense. Most likely they're just here to pick up me, Nym and Ceral, and bring us in for a check up. I've overheard Ivan say there's a way they can count how many eggs we're having. Wouldn't it be nice to know how many I'm having?", he added with a smile. Honestly, Lago wasn't sure why the handlers were here, but that theory seemed to make the most sense, and he hoped it calmed down Demus.

"I just need you to promise me that you'll stay calm. Can you do that for me? The last we need is for us to get separated again", he gently pleaded with Demus. Lago couldn't stand the thought of Demus going away for isolation again.