“Hey, that’s very nice of you.” He lifted the sketchbook Magnus had just dropped in his lap. “Mags was an MVP and remembered for me, but if I run out of pages I’ll be sure to find you.” He smiled at Keet. () “Maybe later you and me and the rest of the art nerds can compare notes.” Zoe and Magnus included in the art-nerds of course. Although maybe Zoe would get upset if she heard him refer to them like that.

Glancing over at Millie Fade shook his head. () “Everyone has to start somewhere. I’ve just been doing this forever, it’s the only reason you can sort-of tell what I’m tryin to draw.” During the conversation Fade completely missed Magnus’s comment to Drew about not licking him, although it probably would have made him laugh pretty hard if he had. ()

About that time the bus lurched forward and became two deckers again. Fade shut his sketchbook, sat back in the seat, and took the last few sips of his coffee. When the bus came to a stop he couldn’t keep the “ooo” from escaping his mouth. When Irwin pointed upwards, Fade’s head snapped back and an ever bigger “OOooo!” burst forth.

Turning in his chair, Jona whispered to Zoe, "Hm. I thought they'd live longer than that. They look like dragons to me - or what I'd think dragons would look like, if I'd ever seen one before. So, 'cause of that, you'd think they'd be, like, ancient beings or somethin'. What do you think?"

Nodding at Irwin’s explanation, Drew grinned, “I for sure am not going to try checking its tail! I’ll just admire it, whether it’s a girl or boy, from afar. That’s cool that they share taking care of the nest and the eggs. How long does it take the eggs to hatch? And what’s the average amount of eggs that they lay? How often do they have babies?”

"That's me," Magnus said with a chuckle, making up a new acronym, "Most vulnerable parsnip."

Zoe heard the word nerd and smiled to herself. She knew well enough that the term could be used affably and had no problem with it. Plus she didn't really put herself in the artist genre. Not when her drawing skills were more akin to a five year old.

She looked up from her sketch book at the "ribbon" that was supposed to be an occamy. "Ye think so? Dragons are much bigger and meaner. These are only rated 4 X by the Ministry. Dragons are 5 X. Dragons also have four legs and typically weigh tons. They can get over 60 feet long. It's amazing how they can fly. Plus the occamy does nee breathe fire either. Basically its kinda like a flying snake."

Irwin chucked. "Good idea," he said. "About two months. At that point the babies will be born. It depends of course, on the development of the infant and temperatures. They typically mate once to twice a year. This is their second mating this year and a little later than normal. They typically can have up to 10 eggs."

"Hmph," Jona said, a little peeved that Zoe felt she had to school him. "I know all those details about dragons. Believe me, I raided the library on all their books of magical creatures as soon as I got to Hogwarts, although I am still working on the collection. But when I was a muggle or, I guess, when I thought I was a muggle, this is what I pictured dragons to look like. Ya know? Or maybe you don't? I dunno. When I laid in bed at night, hating life and my day-to-day, I would think up fantastic adventures to go on in my head. Ones that involved befriending dragons and dancing with mermaids and playing games with fairies. And back then, this is what my imagination thought up dragons to be and I guess even now, though I know better, I can't help but think of it again." Jona looked at Zoe with his head cocked in curiosity, wondering if anything he said made sense.

Millie smiled at River () "It's okay. I often forget who I tell things to. I'll tell the same story to my parents like 5 times before they start telling me they've heard it before."

She peered over at Keet's (). "I guess it's like baking and cake decorating. I can bake and decorate a cake really well. Same goes with pies and cookies."

"Oh, okay," Zoe said, "I did nee mean to offend ye. I guess I misunderstood. Ye mean the fantasy. Aye, they do look rather like the Asian dragons I've seen from the muggle world."

River giggled. "That's great. I repeat things to, only half the time its just to be annoying."

"It's no biggy." He sounded chipper after her agreement. "Oooh! Zoe, if you could be reincarnated into any magical creature, what would you chose?" Jona rubbed his hand together as if his trivial question was a diabolical plan he'd just hatched.

"Er," she said pondering the question, "I never thought about it. Maybe a dragon or kelpie. You?"

"Really?" He cocked his head to the side like a curios puppy. "I guess I could see you being a kelpie. I thought of you as more of a bowtruckle. You can easily disguise with your surroundings, if you choose to, and you are protective, ultimately very kind and nurturing. As for me, I was thinking a pixie -" he wagged his brows mischiveously. "Or maybe a firecrab, but that's mostly 'cause I wanna be able to shoot fire outta my butt."

Zoe smiled. "Well I've always loved the stories of the Loch Ness monster, that's kinda why a kelpie. Awww that's sweet." She blushed heavily. "A pixie would suit ye." When he said he wanted fire out of his butt she burst into a loud laugh.

Jona was glad to make Zoe happy; it was a small token of repayment towards the kindness she had given him. And when she started laughing, he joined her until tears began forming in his eyes and his sides began to cramp. When their fit of hysteria finally died down, Joan continued: "Yeah, I asked my uncles that question once and they told me I'd be a Fwooper. One a those screeching birds in Africa that literally drives people insane." He made a face like his uncles were the ones insane. "Yeah, well, I told my uncle Jon he'd be a bundimun and my uncle Allen that he'd be a jarvey, since he thinks he's so witty."

"Well I was gonna say a hyena suited ye, but I think ye uncles might be right," she said with a mischievous glint. She elbowed him to let him know it was a joke. "Nice come backs."

Jona continued to play along in mock offense. "Well, if you think I'm so obnoxious than I will keep from gracing you with my SOOTHING VOICE." He yelled the last bit in a screechy tone then crossed his arms and turned away from her. Sticking up his nose for good effect, Jona pretended to be obsessed with searching for another occamy and humming busily to himself - of course, he was waiting for Zoe to apologize; he figured she couldn't play along for long.

Mallowsweet stared in wonder at the beautiful occamy.
"I thought they'd be larger." she said out loud to no one in particular. "My dam used to tell me that they could grow to fill an entire human building. I figured with all outdoors to be in they'd be huge." The young centaur filly looked curiously over at the omnioculars Keet and Rain were sharing. "Ooh, can you see the eggs with those?" she asked.

Zoe giggled and totally believed he was playing but after a few minutes passed she was worried and said. "I'm sorry, I did nee mean to upset ye." Then she paused. "Are we moving?" They were indeed moving.

On seeing the winged horses, Mallowsweet nearly leaped from the bus in her excitement. A glower from Jasper as he handed her a bucket of feed, however, had her quickly setting back down on her haunches. She had only ever seen aethonans previously in the forest, and was particularly interested in luring one of the towering abraxan's over. "Mr Irwin sir?" she asked "I've only seen the brown ones before, I heard they have these big ones in France, do the grey ones, the Granians, come from another part of the world? How do the stallions get along? Do the granian and the aethonians ever interbreed?" she probably would have continued babbling questions in that vein, but at that moment the abraxan she had been coaxing over, nudged her with it's soft muzzle.

„I can´t believe it!“ Lysandra thought, „another of my secret wishes is coming true, seeing all those winged horses!“ She had read every lecture about the beautiful creatures, the Abraxans being her favs, yet there were still some questions left. Cautiously, she looked around, waiting for her clasmates to ask questions. Irvin hadn´t answered her last ones concerning the Occamies, perhaps he was annoyed with her. So Lys was glad that Mallowsweet already proposed some questions which preyed on her mind also and she awaited the answers eagerly, pencil brandished.

((I didn't mean to miss you, so for that I'm sorry. If you can ping me, then it will make accidental skips easier to avoid.))

Iwrin clicked his fingers. He'd gotten distracted and hadn't answered a question. He appeared near Lysandra. "Apologies, didn't mean to ignore you there. Anyway, yes the occamy's eggs are made of the most pure, soft silver. As for communicate with no, not on the level I think you mean. Most creatures can be communicated with to some extent. But getting the opportunity with such an aggressive creature is doubtful."

"Oh yes, you'll find them all over the world if you look in the right places," Irwin replied. "Actually yes. Every stallion is different, of course, but they are social creatures and sometimes will form male groups if they aren't getting companionship from the mares. As far as interbreeding, yes it can happen."