Besu tried to lick the children's hands, but he couldn't reach them, so he just sort of had his tongue hanging out a bit. His tail continued thumping on the ground and he looked up at his handler with a bit of frustration, biting at the leash. He really didn't like not being able to move freely. He wasn't doing anything wrong, right? He just wanted to play with some kids!
"Well then, maybe we'll look into that when it comes up." One of the men said, the woman nodding in agreement.
Jeremy moved Besu's mouth away from the lead. "No, Bee, stop it." He rubbed under the little dragon's chin and figured that maybe it'd be okay for him to move around a little. He eased up on the arm that was holding Besu down, and kept the lead firmly in his grasp.
"Be gentle, Bee - they're little." He said. The girl squirmed her hand out of the man's and happily knelt in front of Besu again.
Besu wagged his tail and stood up, moving closer to the girl. He rubbed his head against her hand, being careful not to hurt her with his horns. He made some more strange gurgling noises that seemed to be happy when he was pet.
The girl giggled, running her hand along his head. Neither Jeremy nor Jay had the heart to tell the people that Besu was assigned to be a Show Dragon when he got older. Maybe they could convince the ones in charge of the dragons' positions to change the fledgling's papers and put him in the Domestic Dragons program instead.
"I love him sooo much." The girl said. She carefully took Besu's face in both hands and rubbed his nose with hers.
Besu trilled softly, closing his eyes. He would likely be much larger as an adult, but he'd be able to use magic to control his size. Full grown, he would probably be about the size of a large shed or very small house. It seemed that he was really good with children though, and would be a very good domestic dragon. He'd never tried to be violent as long as he'd been here.
"Aww, that's sweet. Now he's made a new friend." The guide smiled. The group woman patted her daughter's head. "Don't get too attached. We don't even know if he'll be one of the dragons available to…foster."
The girl whined and hugged Besu's neck before her mother pulled her away.
"Alright, we need to get him back to his enclosure." Jay said, taking the lead from Jeremy.
The two parties waved goodbye as the tour group continued down the hallway.
"Now, Bee," Jeremy said, looking down at the dragon, "what if that had been another handler? Or one of the higher-ups? You could've gotten us into a lot of trouble, little guy."
Besu hung his head, whining a bit. He watched the group leave before reluctantly following his handler. All he wanted to do was have some fun, but here he was, being dragged back to a boring enclosure against his will. There was just nothing to do here.
"Hey, guys!" A cheery voice called them from a passing hall, and they stopped as a short, red-headed woman approached. She took no hesitation in crouching in front of Besu and petting him. "He ran off, didn't he?"
Jeremy sighed, hanging his head. "Give me a break; he's an escape artist."
Besu shied away from the woman's hand, seeming to be sort of pouting because the handlers took him away from the kids. He looked down at the ground and huffed.
"Aw, Bee, buddy…" The woman - Shelby - tilted her head at the annoyed dragon. "What happened?"
"There were these kids that Besu was making friends with, but we had to take him away because, you know, he's not really supposed to be out here at the moment." Jay explained. Shelby nodded, clicking her tongue at Besu. "I'm sure you'll get to see them again, buddy. These guys are just following rules and doing their job, you know." She put her hand out again, holding a biscuit in the other.
Besu tentatively took the biscuit, but didn't stop pouting. He was basically dragged back to his enclosure and locked him in, leaving him to just curl up on the floor and sigh. He messed with a shiny coin with one claw, a bored expression on his face.
"That's sad." Jeremy said. They were watching the little dragon through the glass wall. "Why can't we bring in the other one of his species?"
"Because," Jay sighed, "he's much more temperamental than Bee. They just wouldn't get along."
"Well, have we tried letting them interact?"
"Um…no, actually."
"Then let's go get Bee a friend, yeah?" Jay couldn't stop Jeremy from running off down the hall towards the other dragon's enclosure. When they got there, another tour group was just walking away, so the two of them went into the room and looked around. "Buzzer? You there?" Jeremy called quietly. A dragon, who looked similar to Besu and was just a bit larger, growled as he stepped from behind the tree on the other side of the room. "Hey, come on, we wanna take you to meet someone." It took some coaxing, but they eventually got him to calm down enough to get the collar and lead on him. They took him back to Besu's enclosure, and Jeremy went in to make sure the smaller dragon wouldn't go jumping around as soon as the other dragon came in.
Besu noticed the other dragon coming in and was curious at first, but he cowered in the corner once Buzzer growled at him. Besu trilled shakily, and yelped when Buzzer started chasing him. He couldn't tell for sure, but this didn't seem like a friendly interaction. He tried to jump up on one of his shelves to hide, but he ended up just getting dragged down by his tail. Now, Besu was laying on his back, dazed, and Buzzer was standing over him. They were face to face and Buzzer growled softly.
"Buzzer, NO! Get off of him!" Jeremy grabbed the lead and tugged it, but the growling dragon stayed put, his dark green eyes on Besu. Jay came forward, gripped the collar in one hand and pushed Buzzer's side with the other, pulling him away after a few tries. Jeremy checked to make sure Besu was alright while Jay had Buzzer lay on the floor. The dragon made a sound in his throat, imitating a loud buzzer - the reason behind his name.
Besu scrambled to the corner and cowered there again, making strange whiny huffing noises in distress. He had his wings extended defensively and he eyed Buzzer with a great deal of distrust. He definitely didn't feel safe around the other dragon.
"It's okay, buddy, you're alright." Jeremy spoke softly as he moved in front of Besu so that he couldn't see Buzzer. He took the little dragon's head in his hands and pet him comfortingly. Jay kept Buzzer down, looking at the back of Jeremy's head. "I told you."
The other man scoffed. "Yeah, I got it, Jay. Sorry, I just figured they might get along, since they're the same species and Bee is good at making others like him."
Buzzer made a sound at Bee, his mean expression changing into one of curiosity. Why was that other dragon scared of him? The fledglings he'd lived with before the humans moved him to the enclosure never minded the rough playing, so what was the problem?
Besu peered over Jeremy's arm to see Buzzer, his little puffs of magic returning. What did the other dragon want with him? Why did he pin him down? He was definitely curious, but still very cautious. He didn't know if he could trust Buzzer, despite them being the same species. He wasn't used to actually interacting with other dragons.
Buzzer buzzed again, less aggressively this time. He relaxed under Jay's hold and put his head to the ground, trying to seem less threatening. Jay slowly moved his arm from over the dragon's body, and Buzzer stayed put.
"Okay, that's good." Jay said. Jeremy moved just a bit, keeping Besu close to him.
Besu hesitantly pushed Jeremy's arm off of himself and slowly approached Buzzer. He was quiet for a moment before attempting to recreate the buzzing noise, although his was more high pitched.
Buzzer made the sound again and chirped a little after, encouraging Besu.
"Careful, Bee." Jeremy said, slowly following the little dragon just in case. Buzzer buzzed again.
Besu trilled and tried to make the noise again, his tail swaying a bit. He was crouched so he could jump away if he needed to, but he continued to approach.
"Come on, Bee, that's it." Jay coaxed quietly. Buzzer waited calmly, which was unusual for him, but neither of the men were complaining. Jay took one of Buzzer's big paws in his hand and lay it closer to Bee, then rested his own hand next to it, tapping the fake dirt with a finger.
((ACK, this looks so cool but I'm not sure who to useeeeee))
Besu looked at Buzzer's claw and Jay's hand, staying still for a few seconds before laying his own front claws beside them. He looked up and chirped softly as though asking if he'd done the right thing.
Jay chuckled. "Good job, buddy." He lifted his hand and pet Besu's paw. Then, Buzzer leaned over and sniffed Besu's other paw, trilling lowly. He looked at Jay, wondering if he was also doing good. Jay patted his paw as well. "See, there we go. Everything's okay. Besu, this Buzzer. Buzzer, Besu isn't used to other dragons, so you have to play nicely with him." He spoke slowly so the bigger dragon would understand.
Buzzer chirped at the smaller, apologizing for scaring him.
Besu touched noses with Buzzer gently, his tail twitching. He was still not completely letting his guard down, but he seemed generally more relaxed.
Buzzer buzzed again and licked Besu's head. His tail swished slowly against the floor and he felt calmer now. The humans had brought him in to make a friend, which he thought he was doing by chasing the smaller dragon, but now that he knew better, he could act better.
Jeremy and Jay stepped away from the dragons, watching quietly, and Jay still kept the end of Buzzer's lead tight in his hand.
Besu hesitated before laying down beside the larger dragon, tucking his head under Buzzer's chin. He buzzed softly as well, getting better at making the sound.
"So, this is…good." Jeremy said, uncertainty lacing his voice.
"It's very good." Jay said. "Now, if either of them get too lonely, we can bring one to the other and let them play."
Buzzer leaned away a bit when Besu laid his head under him, but settled down when he started making the sound again; it was just about the same as his own buzzing, but in a higher, softer pitch. Buzzer happily buzzed back, licking Besu's head again.
"I think we can leave them alone for a bit. Come on." Jay led Jeremy out of the room, closing and locking the door behind them as quietly as possible.
Besu gave one of his normal trills, his tail wagging. He stretched his claws out in front of himself and yawned widely. It was getting later and he was tired by now, especially since he'd run off into the hallway.