bhanesidhe | (Reply)

From:

mahoni.livejournal.com

Sure, I'm still interested! I understand how life gets in the way. I hope things are better, and your ninja-kat is doing well too.

The story is really long; you're absolutely more than welcome to read it if you like -- link (http://mahoni.livejournal.com/tag/bandom+pirates+and+thieves+au) -- but I can drop the relevant passages here to make it easier.

The short version is: the dragons' facial appearance takes a lot from Eastern dragons in terms of square, blunt heads and whiskers. They're built like lizards, with long, narrow bodies and long tails, and very lizard-y hind legs. Their forelegs are merged with their wings like a bat's but with several fingers at the tip of the wing joint instead of just one (this is the element I can't find in other art featuring dragons -- they're always portrayed with forelegs separate from the wings). Coloring is very earth-camo, shades of darker green on top and lighter greens/golds/tans on the underbelly and underside of the neck/wings/legs/tail.

From the story:

It didn't take long for him to see details. The creatures were enormous, giants compared to the albatrosses, giants compared to the people on the ship, practically giants compared to the ship.

They didn't head for the ship immediately. First they banked high in the sky, taking a wide, cautious turn around them. As their broad circle tightened and their altitude slowly dropped, Jon saw the pale bellies and the pale undersides of the wings. Long, arrow-shaped bodies tapered down to tails that trailed behind them, whipping and rippling through the air. Their hind legs tucked up tight beneath them.

"Oh shit," Jon breathed. "Oh shit, oh shit."

Wings like bats', only hundreds of times bigger, scooped the air like webbed hands through water -- until suddenly they folded up flat and sent the dragons into a dive, straight for the ship.

Jon yelled, threw his arms around Ryan and dragged him down to the deck.

He didn't see the first pass as he struggled to tuck as much of Ryan beneath him as possible, but he heard the roar. It wasn't an animal sound, although it thundered just as loud and angry; when he looked up he saw the tops of the masts engulfed in flames.

A gust of hard wind hit him, and he caught a glimpse of something huge rushing alongside of the ship. He saw a bent wing, dark and veined; he saw the huge clawed hand at the tip of it. He didn't see a head or a face, though, just a shimmering blaze too red for real fire. He covered his head with his arms and pressed himself against Ryan as the flame and the heat rolled over them.

--

The dragon's hind foot had crushed and collapsed part of the high, rear railing wall above Jon. Its huge talons, as long as Jon's forearm, pierced what remained not far above where he lay, giving it an unsteady perch. If he hadn't been frozen with terror, Jon could have reached up and touched the smooth, silvery-black talons, or run his fingertips over the leathery skin stretched taut over its knuckles.

The wings still beat, slow and steady, keeping it balanced where it clung to the ship and sending cool gusts over Jon. As it leveled more of its weight onto the ship the back of the ship tipped and sank, sending the prow out of the water and up into the air.

In its other hind foot it held an albatross pinched almost daintily between two talons. Its long, serpentine neck curved; its broad head dipped down. Jon smelled heat -- not burning, not sulphur, nothing like he expected, just a clean, sharp heat -- as it curled its lips back from huge teeth and snipped the bird in half.

A jerk of its head and a flick of its foot tossed the remains of the bird behind it into the sea. Then the head drifted down toward Jon.

Dark eyes looked at him, set at the front of its dark green face like a human's or a cat's. Long, fleshy whiskers, shaded to black, hung down like a beard from its chin, and its muzzle was wide and flat. The air shimmered in front of its nostrils from the heat of its breath.

--