Dragon's life in college

chapter 18

Sorry that i stopped updating. Life has been busy, and i figured no one would care.

At last, the night of the play had dawned. Nigel had finally written his mother about the play and his role in it, and then waited in dread that she would appear. But, thankfully, she had written that while she was overjoyed with his part and was certain that he would do well, she couldn't leave his younger siblings and didn't think bringing them would work. So, regretfully, she would have to miss. She had included instructions that he write her and tell her about everything as soon as the play was done. And Nigel intended to do it.

He was honestly quite relieved that his mother wouldn't be able to attend. Not that she would be embarrassed if he failed completely, which he still wasn't sure that he wouldn't do, but that he wouldn't do as well as he wanted and she would be there to see him. And also, if his mother came, his father would come as well. And having his older siblings watching him was already bad enough. Nigel was certain that even the presence of his mother and younger siblings wouldn't be enough to remove the shame he would feel over failing in front of the other half of his family.

"Well, ready for the best performance of your life?" Oceania asked. Her silver, seaweed choker looked like it had barely survived a tsunami and clashed terribly with her turquoise earrings. But her excited expression and radiant attitude more than made up for her mismatched jewelry.

"No," Nigel answered, his stomach turning into knots. He had already lost tract of the number of calculations he had run to try to settle his mind. His last accurate count was somewhere around three thousand and fifty-seven.

"Don't worry. You'll do much better than you expect. I saw you practice yesterday and you certainly could look intimidating."

"Sure," Turtle broke in, his scales already covered with paint and some trailing vine wrapped partway around his tail. "To anyone who didn't know you, you would easily be the most intimidating dragon in this school. Until they saw you almost trip over your tail."

"Turtle!" Oceania scolded.

"Thanks, Turtle," Nigel answered, smiling a little. Even if the joke was at his expensive, Turtle's antics could never fail to cheer him up a bit.

"Well, you aren't going to trip over your tail this time," Oceania said, glaring at Turtle who shrugged in agreement as he wrestled with a mountain. "You are going to do wonderfully. I know it. You just need to believe in yourself a little bit."

"I'll try," Nigel said.

"Good. Now I need to get going before Turtle manages to get himself buried underneath a fake mountain range. Turtle! That's not the way you're suppose to..." A loud thud and Turtle's muffled "I'm fine," cut her off. Shaking her head, Oceania hurried over to where Turtle's tail was visible underneath both a fake mountain range and a plant.

Nigel watched, amused. Leave it to Turtle to do something like that to himself minutes before the play was suppose to start.

"I believe our sea dragon worker has found himself in a bit of trouble." Ryu slid beside Nigel. Although Nigel was head and wings above the other dragons, something about Ryu always made him feel small. Looking at him, Nigel wasn't sure how Ryu would be able to portray the terrified, bumbling character he had been assigned.

"Yes," Nigel answered. At the beginning of the semester even talking with Ryu would have seemed worse than being bitten by a ghost shark, one of the few creatures capable of biting through dragon scales. But now talking with him seemed normal. Whether Nigel could comprehend it or not, somehow, he and Ryu had become, close, dare he say friends? while preparing for the play. "But I think Oceania's got it under control."

"She is quite skilled at commanding other dragons," Ryu observed. He had met Oceania during a training sessions with Nigel, and the two Overlord major dragons had struck up a relationship. As his and Nigel's friendship deepened, so did his friendship with Oceania. Nigel was glad that his friend and his roommate, he still wasn't quite ready to call Ryu his friend, got along. At first he had been worried that Ryu and Oceania wouldn't get along at all, and was relieved that after a rather chilly first greeting they were now close friends.

Ryu's attention was now focused on Nigel, as Oceania and the other backstage workers got the mountain range and plant off of Turtle and began putting the sets into place. The curtain would go up soon.

"Your breastplate is crooked," he commented, reaching up to straighten the costume. Nigel stood still as Ryu made some other small adjustments to his costume, while giving him reminders on how to hold himself.

"Now remember, when the curtain lifts you are no longer Nigel the dragon. You are Stormrider the Fearless. Hero of a thousand battles and scared of nothing."

Nigel nodded. Reminding himself that he was Stormrider, and not attempting to portray him, had been one of the hardest parts of his training with Ryu. But Ryu had been insistent that it was the best way for Nigel to learn and so Nigel had. And he had to admit that Ryu had been correct.

"Good." Ryu gave a quick glance over his Snail costume.

Nigel looked at him, still a little concerned about Ryu's ability to make it through the performance as Snail without burning down the theater. In every rehearsal Ryu had played the part perfectly, but always looking as though he was one second away from setting something or someone on fire. And while it was a perfectly normal expression for Ryu, it wasn't for Snail. But Nigel didn't want to ask Ryu about it, not now. They might be close, but they weren't that close yet.

"Places, everyone, the curtain will be going up soon," their Drama teacher said. Dragons scurried everywhere, actors getting in place and workers making sure all the sets were carefully arranged. Thankfully neither the plant, nor the mountain range, nor Turtle were damaged. Nigel hurried over to his spot and took a deep breath. Tonight, was it. Tonight, he would either manage to do something dragonlike, or he would humiliate himself forever. Ryu took his place at the other end of the large stage. He nodded at Nigel. Nigel looked over to the edges of the stage, where the workers had gathered. Turtle waved at him and Oceania smiled encouragingly. They believed in him, now he only had to believe in himself. The curtain went up.