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Gulliver could feel his heart about to leap right out of his chest when his eyes flew open in the filtered rays of sunlight. The Flameforger conference was to start today at the Blacksand Annex, and he couldn't waste a minute of his time. Various peculiar instruments sailed over a disheveled work table as two grubby paws chucked them into a work bag. By the time he arranged all of his belongings, he had a sizable mountain before him of cases and containers galore. Gulliver simply shrugged and picked what would suit best from the heap.

The halls of the lair echoed with the muffled clinking of tools as a certain engineer ungracefully hobbled through the numerous pathways. A few of the older dragon's heads raised in curiosity. Some of them gave Gulliver a hearty smile when he passed by with a tip of his plumed hat. Eventually, he reached one of the clan ports at the outskirts. Aqua and Kavaki were awaiting his arrival, and by the looks of it, the old, cranky Skydancer was irritated as usual. Gulliver stopped in front of the two expecting a scolding from the grumpy latter. Kavaki nudged Aqua with her shoulder to make him speak. He shifted a little from the force while he looked concerningly at his Spiral cohort and solemnly back at Gulliver.

"Do I need to remind you that you are late, yet again? You've already given me enough headaches from your blatant tardiness..."

"Oh come on, don't be like that! Lighten up a little for once," Kavaki retaliated. "...featherface..."
She wasn't able to hold her laugh in for long from the ridiculous sight of Aqua's furious look.

He muttered a bit to himself before he gave up with a sigh, "Whatever. Here's your pass- don't lose it."

Gulliver cautiously took the piece of parchment Aqua shoved against him. "Oh uh well, have a nice day then. I'll see you later Kav. Alright?" he called.

Once his destination came into view, Gulliver hopped straight off the boat onto the stone boardwalk. He looked around in pure wonder at all of the surroundings. His tranced steps guided him to an entrance with a rustic sign which roughly read: "Annual Flameforgers Conference."

A group of huddled blacksmiths caught his attention as they droned by him. A prominent Ridgeback stood in the center talking about his recent works. The crowd ate every word up while their dazed eyes dreamily kept watch on the speaker. The bright Ridgeback briefly glanced at Gulliver before he turned back to his onlookers.

Gulliver couldn't really make much sense of what had happened, but he continued on his merry way. The chipper Bogsneak waddled over to his reserved spot among the other droves of much greater metalworkers. He took little care when he dumped the contents of his bags onto the table spread. To make up for the clutter, Gulliver carefully organized the items into a tidy presentation. He finally sat back and fiddled with some of his works in progress.

Time seemed to pass slowly since not many hobbyists came by to look at his craft. After all, it was his first time at the conference. A sudden bump to the side of the table startled Gulliver half to death.

"Sorry, my bad! Eheheh, tables can't even get their mitts off me."

Gulliver questionably stared at the dragon leaning his elbow on the edge. The familiar Ridgeback loomed above him with a cheeky expression.

He greeted, "I should probably introduce myself. The name's Miles. If you got flame, it's my game."

The other dragon held out a hand while the wary Gulliver slightly leaned back with crossed arms. He shook Miles' hand as he looked up to him.

"Gulliver."

"Mmm, I see. First time at the rodeo, eh? You got lots of interesting stuff here."

"I wouldn't touch that unless you knew you weren't going to break it" Gulliver warned.

"Relax, I know what I'm doin'."

Gulliver defensively snatched the tinkertoy from Miles' grip, and to his dismay, the tiny contraption lay in his hand limp and damaged from the sudden movement. His once annoyed expression fell to a quiet gape. Miles stared blankly at him before realizing what happened. Fins flailed out in distress, Gulliver quickly turned his head to accidentally meet the other dragon's lengthy nose. He keeled over to cover his bruised snout while he dug his claws into the table from the pain. Miles ducked under the table alongside Gulliver, but his head and neck were the only things that could fit in the cramped space.

"Oh man, I'm so sorry! I should've looked where I was pointing that thing. ****, that looks like it hurts bad! C'mon, we gotta get you outta here," Miles hissed as he offered an arm to help sturdy Gulliver.

The Bogsneak grudgingly accepted his gesture while he bide a long time to stand up. Miles started to look back to him every now and then in a strange way when they started walking to the area behind of all of the booths. His eyes began glowing brighter than before. He sometimes paused to raise a sly eyebrow on the way. Miles stopped Gulliver by placing his hand on his shoulder. He turned to Gulliver with raised wings as if he were about to present something.

Miles summoned faint embers at his fingertips and proceeded to gingerly tap Gulliver's discolored nose. Gulliver jerked away from his advancement, but the aching started to subside. He sat there bewildered for a moment, blinking in confusion.

Miles laughed, "Learned that a while back, but magic's not really my strong suit. You're awful quiet, aren't you?"

"You got something against it?" Gulliver retorted.

"No, it's actually quite calming. I never get the end of it with clingy crowd members."

"I don't know if I take that as a compliment..."

"Maybe it isn't. Maybe it is."

Miles took care to stress the last word he spoke. He folded his arms across his chest, awaiting Gulliver's reaction. Gulliver only gave a chuckle masked under a huff. The two continued to walk through the endless aisles sarcastically jabbing at each other in good fun. Eventually, they stepped outside of the entrance to the event.

Miles jeered with the slightest hint of sadness, "Leaving so soon? Don't you wanna take a good look at the nice view one more time?"

Gulliver knew that he wouldn't be leaving any time soon. He rasped, "Don't tease me like that. I know you're up to something."

"Oh, silly little me? Of course not."

The two had quite grown on each other in their short time together. Gulliver found himself opening up to of all things a stranger, but he was strangely charmed by Miles' playfulness. His mind was on overdrive since the idea of thinking of another dragon like this was so new and different to him. The nervous engineer felt time go by in a flash, and his eyelids were drooping from his overthinking. He didn't realize he was now leaning, sleepy and limp, against someone else's side. Miles draped a wing over the tired dragon next to him. A gentle smile came across his face.

Gulliver opened one eye. "You're going to get it when I'm not so knackered, you big orange sap."

Miles lowered his head level to Gulliver's sight.

"I know. You also snore like bear."

"Yeah, whatever."