Of Fops and Fire (Ze Blitzkrieg)

[Mashugana]

It's a sunny day, you can smell the dew left on the grass from yesterday's soft rains, and bird song has begun to fill the morning air as you step out of your den and stretch, taking in the sights and sounds as you carry a bundle of clanking, mismatched pieces of armor in a large leather sac with your teeth. It wasn't much, but it was all your parents were willing to part with from their hoard that was still decently usable. Now that you were getting out in the wide world, it was time to get started on your own life and career as a dragon, a great and terrible monster known for devouring livestock, kidnapping princesses and burning down villages!

At least, that's what your folks thought you were doing. You had other plans, however.

[Ze Blitzkrieg]

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Name: Kastrandrethilian, or simply Kas to appear more human
Age: 102
Gender: Female
Appearance:
https://i.imgur.com/9IxBhtA.jpg
Inventory: A set of ill-fitting plate mail, a sword, and a saddle with no horse

With a horribly noisy clanking, Kastrandrethilian emptied the sack of armor onto the grass before her den, appraising each piece as it tumbled onto the ground. The first step to being a knight in shining armor, she was sure, was having some shining armor... This was not especially shiny. Nor was it even all that good of armor. She was almost positive that the brilliant golden scales on her body would provide far more protection against harm than anything a few pieces of measly iron could, but knights didn't have scales. They also weren't dragons. The second step to being a knight in shining armor, she decided, was to not be a dragon. Luckily, despite their reputation as bloodthirsty beasts, dragons possessed a few greater tricks than simply breathing fire or taking to the skies.

They could shapeshift! So the young gold did, slowly shrinking down within the field until her hulking, reptilian form resembled more the maidens her brothers would abscond with to 'sate their needs' with. She had never actually figured out what needs a mighty dragon could have of a comely human woman, but she always did find the girls rather nice to look at, so surely mimicking their appearances would do her well. Viewing herself through the dim polish of her breastplate, she modeled before her own reflection, tweaking and twisting here or there until her form was to her liking. It certainly felt strange, being so small and soft and, well, bouncy, as she found when she did a few hops and watched the sensitive lumps on her chest jiggle with the effort.

Hopefully the armor would help keep them from shaking around too much. It was more than a struggle to try and get everything to fit; she hadn't the foggiest clue how to don a set of plate. But, Kas had always had a knack for intuiting things, and eventually she succeeded in getting the clasps clasped and the buckles buckled. With sword at her hip, she was prepared to ride off into the sunset, and save a maiden!

Only, she didn't exactly have anything to ride. How could she be a knight without a horse?! Unfortunately, her parents had a habit of eating the horses that would-be challengers rode to their family den, so she would have to find her own. Figuring the nearest human settlement would have some, she trotted off in the direction of the village she had spied while searching for her den, figuring now was as good a time as ever to become accustomed to travel without wings.

[Mashugana]

Setting about seriously on two legs is certainly different from going on four or flying through the sky, even insects and birds seem much larger to you in your human form, almost reminiscent of when you were once this size as a new hatchling. Your armor is thankfully giving you plenty of protection against the thornier brambles and brush as you adjust your new form, and while you did manage to set your armor up fairly well, you can still feel a bit of a chafe here and there, hopefully the human settlement would have someone who could help out more with that, particularly as a rather grabby vine nearly snapped off a buckle on your breastplate.

Thinking on it, the nearest settlement was roughly a decent sized village that mainly sustained itself off of goat herding and farming. The goats were especially tasty, and your parents were quite fond of snatching them out from their shepherds' guard to fill the family's bellies, the thought of which caused your stomach to rumble some after a few hours trek through worn out animal trails and passing by the charms your family used to disguise the area surrounding the lair. Knights could he enough of a problem searching the area blindly, but the hassle that'd ensue if they could get straight to your home would be unimaginable!

Either way, as the sun gets to around mid day that you decide to take a small break by a stream, when you hear something stumbling through the bushes across from you, followed by muttered swearing. Your draconic senses are diminished in your human form, but you can briefly make out a disheveled youth trying to wrestle his way through a nasty patch of Devil's Thorn, a hard to spot at a distance vine cluster that can do a number on an unprotected hide, and judging by the way he's wincing as he grapples with it, it's clear that he's been snagged.

The planet itself wasn't dangerous, but having lived in these lands as long as you have, you knew that wolves, lions and worse beasts stalked the forests at night. If this guy was left alone here with open wounds by then, or even still trapped at that point, it could get ugly fast.

[Ze Blitzkrieg]

A day's worth of walking and constant obstacles were finally rewarded; someone in need of rescuing! Certainly, they were no maiden or princess, but that didn't matter too much... she hoped. Nah, rescuing people in general sounded like a knightly thing to do. Excited to test out the sword on her hip, the young dragon-in-disguise pulled it from her belt and made her way towards the young man.

"Don't worry, I'm coming to help!" Kas called out in her most heroic of voices, as she began to hack and slash at the foliage, doing her level best not to go all out and accidentally snap the poor iron with her undoubtedly superior strength. "Just, don't wiggle around so much! I don't wanna cut anything important off!"

[Mashugana]

Hearing you coming through the the brush, the youth looks up in alarm thinking that you might be a threat for a second, before relaxing in gratitude... then becoming worried as you approach with a bit too excited looking gleam in your eye. "Aye, thanks ser. I erm..."he pauses a moment, looking at what's been done to your sword, before seemingly deciding to just brace himself. "Right, give her a chop here and it should be easy enough to slip out I think!" He says, shuffling a touch to the side to show you the center mass of the plant attacking him. Devil's Thorn grew itself by feeding on the nutrients of dead animals, with much of the main body underneath the soil aside from the "head" and vines, used to snare prey so that predatory animals could swoop in and finish them off for it to break down later. He winces as he does this, a few thorns leaving scratches along his forearms that well with blood. You see a bit of damage had been done to the head already, and in the leaves down a slight, wet slope you could see an old knife, probably his as you get ready to bring your blade down.

Now that you think of it, this is technically going to be your first defeated foe as a knight! It's not the most glamorous thing in the world, but as you said, a rescue is a rescue and it beats hunting rats or whatever vermin the other knights would mutter about hunting to you as a hatchling whilst in captivity. This was already a good start!

[Ze Blitzkrieg]

Kas showed no hesitation in chopping away at the offending vines, cutting back as many of the thorny lengths of plant matter as it took to mostly free the young man. When she was content he could be pulled free without shredding his soft little human flesh, she reached out to grab him by his collar, and with a tug perhaps a little too hard, tossed him out of the foliage and into the clearing by the stream.

"You're, uh... Welcome, traveler!" She declared in her triumph, although she wasn't exactly sure what happened after you rescued somebody. Did they reward you? She hoped there was a reward. She quite liked the shiny coins her parents lined the lair with, even if they got mad at her for chewing on them. What was the point of delicious looking coins if you couldn't gnaw on them?

[Mashugana]

Kas would hear some yelps from the lad while she swung, but thankfully he kept still. This however changed when she grabbed him by the collar and more or less chucked him, taking a chunk of his tunic off as he crashed into the ground. For a moment, he doesn't move, and it looks kinda like he might've broken his neck... a spasm and him sitting upright with a small gasp brings everything back to peace and order! Or at least as close as can be made in a wilderness ride with beasts and boneheads. Glancing down at his tunic, he shrugs and looks up at Kas, a thankful if somewhat pained and embarrassed expression on his face.

"Ah, thank you very much ser... lady? I erm, don't really know how to refer to female knights, I hardly see male ones as is." He says sheepishly, trying to avoid offending her, his eyes wander down from Kas' face a moment before he remembers himself and looks away, idly touching at his arms and legs some to check his wounds. "I haven't much in the way of coin to help, but my camp isn't far from here if you'd like some dinner along with what copper coin I have, it's lamb pie, made by my nan just a day prior!" He offers, seeming rather excited for the chance at company. The sound of cicadas screaming begins to go through the trees around both of them, signaling evening's approach. There should be enough daylight for a couple hours more travel if Kas refused, but he did mention money and food.

[Ze Blitzkrieg]

Was it impolite to impose on a peasant? The finer points of human etiquette were lost on Kas, being that she had scarcely met a human who didn't end up as a charred pile of bone. Still, coins sounded good, and food even better, so maybe she'd allow herself to impose just this once. Slipping her sword back into the sheath at her side, the young dragon-in-disguise simply nodded.

"I'd love something to eat. Show the way, err... what was your name again?" She realized she hadn't so much as introduced herself either, and quickly amended it, "I'm Kass... Just Kas. Or Kassie, I suppose. That sounds cute... Yeah, Kas or Kassie will do. Sir Kas. Or Kassie."

[Mashugana]

"Karl ser, lemme get my crook and knife and I'll lead you back to my camp!" He says, before taking a moment to fetch his thing, the crook, a sort of hooked staff was something Kass might recognize easily enough, those humans who watched over the livestock she and her relatives often snatched up used those a lot, and he then gave a nod and led the dragoness turned aspiring knight to a clearing next to a deer trail, with a small lean to set against a great oak tree and a circle of tiny fencing surrounding the site, made of sticks. It seemed like a crude attempt at keeping rabbits and the like from getting in. Rather cute in a way. The smell of old rusted iron drifts into Kass' nostrils from the lean to, not unlike her own arms and armor, and Karl looks over his campsite briefly to make sure no vermin have gotten in before going in and rummaging through the lean to and coming out with a decent sized package and a small, dainty looking bag that jingles when jostled.

"Hopefully this is enough to show my thanks Ser. It's not much, bu-" Karl starts, before a loud clunk is heard from the door to the lean to as something wrapped in sheepskin falls partially out of the doorway, Kass is able to briefly make out a nicely decorated hilt before Karl, swearing and panicked, hurriedly kicks it back inside, still holding her rewards.

"...Umm... don't worry about that." Karl says haltingly, his face slightly red as he goes about setting the "table", a large, flat rock for her and revealing a mostly intact, large lamb pie!

[Ze Blitzkrieg]

The dragon simply followed along with her newly found companion to his crude little campsite. How interesting, that humans felt the need to build fortifications everywhere they went, even if those fortifications were entirely useless in stopping anything big enough to harm them. She settled in near enough the rock while Karl rustled about inside his little camp, content to wait for her meal. Her patience did not extend to when it was put in front of her; the second the lamb pie was presented, she wasted little time scooping up a slice with her bare hands and digging in.

"'S lil' cold," She muttered through filled lips, "'S fine, dho. I goht it."

Holding it out before her, she took a quick breath, and exhaled a few puffs of fire onto the chunk of meaty goodness, just enough to give it some warmth without charring it too badly.

"Much better," The "knight" declared, having finally swallowed her first bite. "So. You got a sword too, huh? Where'd you get it?"

[Mashugana]

An answer wasn't immediately forthcoming, as Kas could see the expression on her erstwhile companion's face as he stared at her, specifically at her mouth. He managed to recollect himself however, coughing into his hand in what looked like an obvious attempt at buying time. Apparently he hadn't expected her to just go for it immediately, perhaps he was worried she wouldn't like it?

"Well, it's uh... an heirloom!" He answered, his voice sounding lame as he set about preparing the small campfire area he'd made previously. "Sorry it's cold. My nan used certain herbs that would keep it preserved against going bad or being eaten by pests, so I didn't bother warming it up before hand."

As he worked, Kass could probably tell that his hands, having the beginnings of well worn calluses, weren't the type normally accustomed to swordsmanship. Still, Karl was friendly enough, and he idly pushed the coin purse towards her with all the money he had in it. "Thanks again by the by, Ser. If not for you, I don't know what'd have happened. Nothing good most likely!" He said gratefully as he tried to get a fire started for her. "I've no wine unfortunately, but if you like you can stay here a night, these forests team with beasts, and my Nan's even said dragons roam here!"