Dragon's life in college

Oceania's Father. Ch 46

Oceania’s father was not at all what Nigel had been expecting, both as his apparent new teacher and as a dragon. Where Oceania was naturally commanding, imposing even, her father was quiet and unremarkable. If Nigel thought about it, her father was the quintessential quiet nerd. Not the type of dragon to be noticed unless one was especially trying to find him. Somehow, Nigel figured that was how he had ended up married to Oceania’s mother. If she was anything like her daughter, then once her mind was set there was no changing it. Although he wondered what about Deep had made her want him for her husband, but who was he to judge. His mother had been entertained enough by his father’s antics that she had granted him a chance and now here they were, married for seventeen years with three clutches of children.

“Hey, Dad,” Oceania called out as the trio approached. She let go of Nigel to bound over to her father.

“Oceania,” he answered. “When you asked for my help I thought it would be for another water dragon, not a fire dragon.”

“I know, Dad. But Nigel has some trouble controlling his fire breath. Ryu and I have been helping him since freshmen year, but we can only do so much, since Ryu can’t get too close and I don’t have the experience. But I figured you would be able to help since you can get close and coach him through control.”

“You never were keen on learning the finer aspects of control.”

“I take after Mom.”

“Yes, you do.” With that, he turned his attention to Nigel.

Nigel gulped, instinctively tucking his wings close to his body, trying vainly to look smaller than he actually was.

“Stand up straight,” the older water dragon said. “If I’m going to teach you how to control your breath weapon, the first step is your posture.”

“So, you’ll help me?” Nigel asked, surprised.

“Of course. Oceania knows I have a hard time telling her no. Something which she uses to her full advantage whenever she wants.” He glanced over his shoulder at Oceania, who shrugged unapologetically. There were a few advantages to being an only child. “But even if she wasn’t my daughter, I love to help others. Especially those who look as those they need some confidence boost.”

Nigel felt his scales heating up, grateful that he was naturally red. It made the blush a little harder to spot. Beside him, Ryu nudged him playfully.

“He’s got you there, Nigel.”

“Stop it,” Nigel fake complained, making a half-hearted attempt to smack him with his wing.

“It never hurts to get a confidence boost. And you do need one as often as you can get one,” Ryu said, ducking the wing. “But in all seriousness, you just a little help and then you’ll be able to pass Incineration class with flying colors.”

“I’d take an BP (barely passable) ,” Nigel grumbled.

A sharp rap on his snout had him jerking up in surprise. He found himself eye to eye with Oceania’s father, which made him realize he had drastically underestimated his size. Somehow, this dragon managed to look average-sized while being well above average. Something which Nigel could guarantee, as this was the first dragon that actually made him look up to make eye-contact.

“How?” he couldn’t help but ask.

“A helpful trick of mine,” the sea dragon chuckled. “I’m Deep, but feel free to call me anything you want except Teach, I hate that title.”

“All right, Instructor?”

“Hmm, I like that one. And I can see that control over your fire isn’t the only thing we need to work on.”

Deep stepped back. While he lacked the massive outspread wings of fire dragons, he didn’t need them. In fact, Nigel was quite certain that if he had them, he would look three times larger than he did. Instead, like some water dragons, although not his daughter, he opted for folding his wings back against his body so that they clung like a second skin. There were other differences between father and daughter as well. Whereas Oceania was sea-green and ocean-blue, Deep was covered in dark blue/grey scales with some faint, black accents along his spine. He was also much bigger than his daughter, making Nigel wonder for a moment if Oceania would have another growth spree ahead of her, he had heard of a few older dragons having them, or if she took her size after her mother.

“Well then,” Deep turned toward one of the targets, “let’s get started.”

“Now?” Nigel asked.

“Unless you’re busy, but I doubt my daughter would have brought if you weren’t available.”

Nigel gulped. Sometimes it was a terrible idea for your roommate and best friend to know your schedule in such detail that they knew he didn’t have anything that urgently needed to be taken care of. The assignments he did have could wait a few hours or even till tomorrow if needed.

He glanced over at them. Oceania narrowed her eyes at him, a silent warning that she would speak up if he claimed being too busy. Ryu nodded encouragingly, motioning Nigel forward with a front claw. Go on, you can do it.

Nigel inhaled deeply, let it out slowly, and stepped forward. “I have time, Instructor.”

“Good,” Deep said. “I want to see just exactly what we’re working with. And don’t tell me how you think you do. I find we often tend to underestimate our own value.”

Nigel hesitantly followed after his instructor, Oceania and Ryu trailing a polite distance behind. True to their word, they would still help him but the majority of his training now lay with Deep.

Deep drew to a stop before one of the targets. “Now, let’s see you try. Aim for that target.”

“I’m not certain…”

“I asked you to aim, not doubt yourself,” Deep gently reprimanded him. “There will be time to work on you, but for now I want to know how to help your fire control. Now,” he motioned toward the target, “try. And don’t worry about getting your fire too close to me. Fireproof.” He tapped his scales as he moved to stand beside Nigel.

Nigel took a deep breath, trying to settle the anxiety bubbling beneath his scales. Missing the target completely in front of his friends was one thing. They were completely used to having to dodge errant fireballs and spurts as his fire spewed out of him like a broken waterpipe. But to have that same issue with a teacher, especially one which was his friend’s dad, was quite another problem.

He glanced up at Deep, half-expecting a judging look or at least a teaching expression. Instead, Deep looked as though he was coaching one of his own children through their first attempts at using their breath weapon. It was strange, definitely not the same expression his own father had had when first trying to teach him. It had only taken a couple of tries before his father had given up on teaching him altogether.

Nigel took another deep breath and focused on the target in front of him. As long as he didn’t catch the entire field on fire he would be grateful. Even though the last time he had done that was when he had been sick, he didn’t trust himself not to miss completely due to fright.

Come on, you can do this, he told himself. Remember what you’ve been working on. Deep breath in, relax, don’t open your mouth too wide, and then out.

As soon as Nigel opened his mouth, a torrent of green flames spewed out, all vaguely headed toward the target.

Nigel, who had closed his eyes the moment he opened his mouth, cautiously opened them. Thankfully, only a small patch of grass directly in front of him was burnt, the rest of the field untouched. Unfortunately, that also included the target which looked perfectly fine, not even the finest sign of singing or heat damage. He looked up at Deep, who had not moved from his position.

Deep stood still for a long moment, making Nigel wonder if he would back out of teaching completely.

At last, he moved