He slipped his shirt off, grinning in amusement as the other two did the same. Across all three of their backs was tattooed almost the same exact tattoo, for the dragon was in the same position and all that differed was the coloring and the background.
The dragons were spread winged, with one hind paw lowered as if to grip something and the rest held poised for combat, claws extended, while the dangerously barbed tail was held curving behind the lowered hind paw. The dragons' heads were facing out with their mouths open as if roaring a challenge.
Tiwayren "Icemoth" Lariend, the man who slipped his shirt off first, had permanently dyed ice blue hair that blended with his ice blue eyes. The dragon on his back was the pale, ice blue of his hair, with a background of delicately made snowflakes of pure white.
Vasgen "Fireweaver" Kalieo had permanently dyed flame colored hair while his eyes were a bright red. The dragon his back was the same red as his eyes, with golden tail barb and claws, behind the dragon was a raging inferno carefully tattooed to depict every tiny detail of the flames.
Kahiren "Boltcaller" Gadren had his hair permanently dyed the steely gray of a thundercloud with streaks of bright yellow through it looking like lightning, his eyes were the bright yellowish white color of the brightest of lightning. The dragon on his back was the steely gray of his hair shot through with the bright yellowish white of his eyes, a thundercloud with bolts of lightning slashing down his back was the background.
"So," Icemoth said with an icy smile, "now they have even more reason to think us insane."
"Who cares what they think!" Boltcaller answered, amused, "We are what we are. Now, are we going to leave anytime soon or are we just going to sit around and talk? Hmmm?"
Fireweaver threw his head back and laughed, "You're one to talk, Bolt, you spent entire last break chasing thunderstorms."
Bolt just grinned, "One has to follow one's calling, you know."
"Ice is right though, according to them," he pointed towards the buildings that housed the teachers, "it's bad enough that we don't use our proper given names and instead use nicknames that we got as what, five year olds? Six?"
"Seven," Bolt added, "It took people that long to realize that I wasn't just lucky."
"You're anything but lucky, Bolt," Ice remarked, grinning, as he ducked under Bolt's playful swipe at him.
"Enough of this, I want to get down to the beach, see some nice girls, show off my tattoo, drink a bit. You know, the usual," Bolt put in.
Ice rolled his eyes, "You'd be doing that even if we didn't leave."
"I want a change of pace, though, see some new girls and all."
Fire held up a hand, silencing the other two, "Ok, we'll go now, then. Ice, can you..."
"Got it," Ice said as he turned and strode into his room, coming out a bit later with his bags and three rings of keys, throwing one ring of keys at Fire, "You get to drive this time," and then throwing the second ring at Bolt, tucking his own into his jeans pocket.
He snagged the keys deftly out of the air, only glancing at them for a second before walking into his room and grabbing his own bags.
They had been close friends ever since high school, had taken Drivers Ed. at the same time, and had passed the final test at the same time. All three of them had gotten their cars soon after, both Fire and Bolt choosing small, fast cars that had barely enough room for two people and a trunk that was full when it was empty.
Ice, on the other hand, had chosen a regular sized car, probably at his dad's prompting. When the three had graduated from high school, they had decided to go to the same college. After they had chosen their college, a quick look around had turned up a fair sized house for rent that was pretty close to the college. They had to pool their money, but together they paid the rent on it and together they lived in it.
Fire slung his bags over his shoulder, glancing around the room as he did so, then turned and walked back out, "Well, are you two ready?"
"Been ready," Bolt remarked.
"Me too," Ice added.
"Lets go the..." Fire started to say, cut off as Bolt raced past him and out the door.
"He's a maniac."
Fire glanced at Ice as both started walking out the door, "You ever been in a car with him driving?"
"Nope, and I don't want too."
"Good. I'm still surprised he didn't get any speeding tickets."
"That bad, eh?"
Fire nodded, grinning slightly, "Then again, maybe he didn't get any tickets because the cops couldn't keep up with him."
Ice laughed as he slipped his shirt back on before he went out the door, Fire following suit.
The trip down to the beach was hours long, as they had started out at about midmorning and got there at sunset, with stops for lunch and dinner, but uneventful. When they had finally gotten there, Fire had turned into the driveway of a large hotel and parked the car.
"We there yet?" Bolt yawned from the back seat.
Ice rolled his eyes, "Yes, finally."
"Whoo! About time!" Bolt exclaimed as he slipped out of the car and raced into the hotel lobby before either Fire or Ice had had time to open their doors.
"One of these days he's going to get into so much trouble..."
"He already has, Ice, or do I need to remind you of his ten speeding tickets in a day record?"
"Only ten? I thought it was somewhere in the teens."
Fire shrugged, "Maybe your right, I don't remember exactly."
"Come on, before he gets us into even more trouble."
Both of them turned and strode into the lobby, where they calmly slipped between Bolt and the clerk at the desk.
"He's with us," Fire said in response to the clerk's questioning look.
"Ah, I see."
"Do you have two adjoining rooms we can use?"
Quickly, the clerk scanned over his records then nodded, "Rooms 314 and 315 are available, sir."
"Good, we'll take them for four nights," he responded.
"Here you go, sir, have a good vacation," the clerk answered, handing Fire three keys, one for one room and two for the other.
"Thanks. Come on you two, lets get our stuff."
All three walked back out to the car and pulled their stuff out of the trunk, talking about random, idle things as they did. With quick strides, Ice and Fire attempted to keep up with Bolt as he raced back into the hotel and into the elevator, having at least the decency to hold it for them until they got there.
"I wish you would stop running everywhere like that, Bolt," Ice muttered.
"You just need to learn to keep up then slowpoke!"
Fire laughed at their friendly fighting, "I get a room to myself this time."
"Why do you get the room to yourself?" Bolt asked.
"It's simple, really. First, it's my turn, and second, I'm the one who drove."
"Fine, it just seems like you always get a room to yourself."
Fire just grinned, then dodged out of the way of Ice's foot as Ice tried to make him fall by yanking his legs out from under him.
All three of them pushed their way out of the elevator when it stopped at their floor and walked, or in Bolt's case, ran, down the hallway towards their rooms.
"Here's the keys to your room," Fire said, as he tossed two identical card keys at Ice, walking over to the door to 315 and opening it with his key.
Quickly, he tossed his bags onto the other bed, then walked over to them and pulled out his toothbrush, paste, and shampoo and cream rinse, heading into the bathroom to brush his teeth and take a shower.
Half an hour later, he was out and pulling clean clothes on, yawning as he did so until, with a sigh, he collapsed onto his bed and relaxed, listening to the sound of the air conditioner turn on to cool the room off.
A knock brought him out of his half doze and onto his feet. With long strides, he reached the door between the rooms and unlocked it, opening it as soon as he had done so.
"Hey! Going to sleep already? Sheesh, you're lazy," Bolt remarked as he walked into the room.
"I'm not lazy, just smart. Tomorrow should be a long day, I want to be fully rested for it."
"Oh come on! You don't need more than a few hours of sleep, maybe five at the maximum."
"No, YOU'RE the one that runs like that, me'n Fire prefer to have a much longer rest of at least eight hours," Ice remarked as he walked into the room behind Bolt.
"Yes, and I'd like to start my resting now, thank you very much," Fire shot at them as he lay back down on his bed and threw an arm over his eyes.
Bolt snorted as he walked back into his room, "Lazy."
Ice just shrugged and followed Bolt out.
"Hey Fire, guess what!"
"Mmmm... There's a thunderstorm due here in about an hour that's big, and it looks like it'll stay here the entire day, and the weathermen don't know where the hell it came from," Fire muttered as he curled back up, throwing his right arm over his eyes as Bolt clicked on the lights.
"How'd you guess?" Bolt asked, grinning.
"One, you're in here saying the words 'guess what' and two, its our first day here."
Ice laughed from the doorway, "Very perceptive, Fire. Didn't you enjoy last year's vacation where we didn't have Boltcaller calling a big lightning storm to us the first day we spent anywhere?"
"Yes," was all Fire answered as he tried to capture the last remaining shreds of sleep that Bolt had left him with.
"Come on, Fire, just give up on the sleep and get dressed. We can go down to the dining room and get some food while we meet with people before Bolt bolts off to watch his welcome-storm from the beach."
He groaned and turned, setting his feet down on the floor as he rubbed his eyes to clear them of sleep grit, "Why do all of our vacations have to begin like this?"
"Don't ask, you probably won't like the answer," Ice cautioned him.
"Good point."
He rose and pulled out some clothes from his bag and pulled them on quickly. Then, making sure that his room key was in his pocket, he opened his door and stepped out into the hallway to wait for Bolt and Ice.
"Food time!" Bolt remarked, as he exited from the room and raced off down the hallway to the elevator.
".... He's an abomination.... He has absolutely no right to be so... hyper in the morning," Fire said around a yawn as he and Ice walked down the hallway at a much more sedate pace.
"Try telling him that," Ice remarked, covering his own yawn with his right hand.
They walked into an elevator and punched the button for the lobby, standing in silence as the elevator went down. When the elevator stopped, they stepped out and headed for the dining room, spotting Bolt's strangely colored hair easily amidst the normal browns and blacks and blonds.
Fire and Ice made their way over to Bolt, listening to his conversation with another man.
"So these two are the one's you're talking about?"
Bolt nodded, "Yep, this is Fire, and this is Ice."
The man laughed, "Well now, we've got the representative of fire, water, and air, so where's the representative of earth?"
"You can be him, you know."
"Oh really?"
"Sure, we'll call you Soilkisser, and I, Boltcaller, will help you get that nickname," Bolt grinned and offered the man his hand.
"Oh you will, eh?" the man asked as he reached out to grab Bolt's hand, probably with the intent of making Bolt kiss the ground instead of him.
Bolt just grinned, grabbed the man's hand and yanked him over his knee before the man could blink, laying the man face down and flat out on the floor.
"See? Now you're the representative of earth," Bolt said, laughing.
Grumbling, the man pulled himself back to his feet, glaring at Bolt.
Ice pushed himself between them, "Calm down, you two. This isn't a place for fighting."
"No, it isn't. Bolt, you should know better than to start a fight in here, you'll get us kicked out," Fire added.
Shrugging, the man turned and walked away while they sat down at a table and ordered their food.
"What were you thinking, you maniac?" Ice hissed at Bolt after they had ordered.
Bolt just shrugged, "Hey! He was insulting us, so I taught him a lesson."
"Lesson... right. I'm not even going to go there anymore," Fire muttered.
Bolt grinned at him, then instantly started bolting his food down when it was brought to him, finishing just as a loud crack of thunder rumbled overhead.
"Seeya later guys!" He called as he raced out of the building and into the storm.
"One of these days I want to know how, exactly, all these thunderstorms just miraculously appear the very first full day that he's ever somewhere," Fire said as he finished up his breakfast.
"You probably don't want to know, Fire, so just leave it at that," Ice shot back.
"True, but still."
"Leave it, Fire."
"Eh, you're probably right."
Bolt stretched in the hard, warm downpour as he strolled down the boardwalk, looking up at the sky and watching the lightning flicker from cloud to cloud and from cloud to ground.
Thunderstorms were his friend, beyond what many people thought possible. Just like Fireweaver was entirely comfortable and at ease in the middle of a bonfire, fire that never burned no matter how hot it was, and Ice was entirely comfortable and at ease walking on ice only a centimeter thick, ice that never broke no matter what he did.
Idly he wondered what it would be like to fly through a thunderstorm, then sighed at the fantasy of it all. He could no more fly than a rock could, even though he could swim. Except the beaches were off limits during storms, cutting off his best way to get really close to his element.
He shrugged and continued walking down the boardwalk, watching the display of lightning, passing his day in a calm, slow fashion for once.
It was late when Bolt arrived back at the hotel and let himself into his room, shivering as the icy air hit his soaking wet skin. He quickly pulled off his clothes and hung them on the side of the tub then toweled himself dry. Quickly he walked over to his luggage then and pulled out some clothes, pulling them on as he walked over to his bed.
Even more quickly he yanked the covers back and burrowed under them, shivering slightly in the chill air that Ice loved so much. He fell asleep to the sound of rain still drumming on the window, and thunder rolling in the distance.
The next day started out bright and clear, with barely any sign of the rain that had passed through the day before except for puddles and the damp boardwalk.
They walked down the boardwalk, dodging out of the way of people who thought that they and only they had the right of way.
Ice watched with slight amusement as Bolt raced ahead again, buying some funnel cake and wolfing it down before they even got near the stand.
"I'm going down to the beach! Seeya in a bit!" Bolt cried over his shoulder as he raced to one of the spots where the boardwalk had steps down to the beach, his towel over his bare shoulder.
Bolt and Fire had their shirts off, but Ice almost always preferred to have his on except when swimming or sleeping... or in the winter. They all also had towels with them, each with prints that mirrored their elements, a glacier for Ice, a raging inferno for Fire, and a thunderstorm for Bolt.
Shrugging, Fire and Ice followed Bolt down onto the beach, dropping their towels near his and slipping off their shoes. Fire raced down into the surf with Bolt, while Ice pulled his shirt off and followed them down, looking at the water.
It wasn't quite his element, after all. He dealt with the frozen form of it, but still, it was liquid, and probably fairly cool. Turning his head slightly, he watched as Fire raced the surf, sometimes diving into the waves, sometimes running out of their reach, strange that, although he obviously preferred fire, he seemed to enjoy wave running as much as anyone else.
Ice just shrugged then waded in, smiling at the cool, almost cold touch of the water against his skin. With a grin, he dived into the next wave and stroked out away from land, letting the water help him when it would, not fighting very hard when it went against his wishes.
He didn't know how long he had spent in the ocean's embrace, diving and floating and riding the waves, but he finally just floated and let the water drive him back to land, where he promptly stood up and wiped the salty water from his face. Turning, he walked back up the beach to where he had left his friends and slowly walked over to where his towel and shirt were. With quick movements he spread his towel out on the dry sand, then lay down on top of it, weary from his time in the water.
"Hey Ice?" Bolt's voice was soft, awe filled.
Ice opened his eyes, sitting up on his towel and rubbing his eyes to clear them, he HAD been sleeping, "What is it?"
"Look to your left..."
He shrugged and looked to his left, seeing... "Omigod..." he breathed, looking up at the... dragon? Couldn't be... but it had to be, nothing else looked so... dragon-ish.
"And other there is another one," Fire said softly, standing up, his bright red eyes going over the second dragon.
"What're they doing here? This is..."
"Not Point Pleasant Beach, Ice. Look up."
Ice looked up and blinked, a cavern?
"But how? Where?"
"This," a female voice said, "is Vella Crean."
The three looked at each other, Vella Crean? Hu?
"And as for how, who knows, that's one of the things about this place," the voice continued, "Now, I think the mothers want you off their sands."
"Moth... oh," Fire said as he spotted the mounds each dragon protectively hovered over.
The three of them picked up their towels and quickly walked over to the woman.
"Who're you?" Fire asked as he turned to look the two dragons over again.
"I'm Naeodin, leader of Vella Crean, and you?"
"Most people call me Fireweaver, or just Fire, he's Icemoth, or just Ice, and he is Boltcaller, or just Bolt, and he deserves both forms of the name," Fire added with a slight smile, remembering how, whenever Bolt went anywhere new, a storm always seemed to develop the next day, almost as if he had called the storm to him.
"Now that you're here, do you want to stand as candidates?"
Ice blinked again, then exchanged glances with Fire, candidates?
Bolt grinned as he figured it out, "For the dragon eggs that those two mothers are guarding?"
"You guessed it. If you stand it's likely that you'll impress one of the dragons and become its rider."
"Rider hu? As in riding them as they fly?" if anything Bolt's grin got bigger, "I like that idea."
Ice glared at Bolt, "If you... impress... a dragon who is as hyper as you, I think I'm going to move somewhere else, because this place will turn into a giant hazard with you in the air."
"Oh come on! I'm not that bad!"
Fire laughed, "Yes you are," then turned to Naeodin and responded, "We'd like to stand."
"Good, follow me and I'll show you to your rooms."
Laughing and throwing inside jokes at each other, they all followed Naeodin into another part of the Vella Crean, where they settled into their rooms to wait for the hatching.