Another peaceful day around the school. Early afternoon, just a little past lunch time, beautiful weather and a wonderful fragrance wafting its way up to Drake from the gardens just below the loft. He was just about to take a little nap before the rest of the day, flopping down on his bed and stretching out, when he heard something. What was... hmm, someone down in the gardens. Well that was alright, students were supposed to enjoy them. Until he heard something resembling a crash, and laughter. Well... that was enough to warrant getting back up and walking out onto the overlook to see what was going on down there. Giving a little sigh the headmaster stood up and strolled over to the balcony, peering down and trying to find the source of the commotion. He could only see one person there, and... hmm... not a familiar person. The dragon smiled, leaping over the edge and spreading his wings enough to avoid a painful landing. He came to the ground with a bit of a thud and waved. "Hello there. You seem to be having a good time."

It had been a beautiful morning, turned into a beautiful day. Most students by this time of day were either inside or sleeping or some kind of activity in the town just down the road.
On this particular day, a peculiar creature was having fun on hir own. Jumping over bushes swatting at the tiny butterflies that fluttered with vibrant colors. Shi was having much too much fun with what shi was doing it did not seem to bother hir that shi was entirely alone. It did not dawn upon hir at all that shi could have been watched the entire time.

Crouching down one last time, assuming the classic feline crouching position, shi wriggled hir body a few times as the oddball zeroed in on a butterfly shi had been trying to catch for quite some time. Jumping up in the air and narrowly missing the butterfly... yet again.... shi crashed into a rolley table and knocked off a few tools from the tops as shi knocked it off its wheels. Though it hurt, the koi colored creature just laughed as shi layed there in the middle of the table. The way shi acted could have been described as laughing and carrying on with friends. But as anyone could plainly see, there was none there except her.
When Drake made his landing not far from Tanshin, shi was getting up from sitting on the table when the same butterfly fluttered right in hir face and landed on a rose bush. Assuming position again, shi began to leap into the air as the headmaster spoke up.
"Wha-?"
Tanshin barely worded as shi overlaunched hirself into the air and flew straight into a bush. Scrambling to get hirself out of the bush, shi shook out hir fur and peered over the tops of the bushes before picking hirself off the ground completely. Grinning, Tashin bounded over the two rows of bushes in front of hir and stood in front of Drake. Ears perked and tail slightly curled, shi just grinned at Drake.
"Hehe, care to join me or would you rather more civilized activities like running or swimming?"
Tanshin really had no need to feel shy about anything. And as long as shi had that vest on, even this dragon would not know hir secret.

"Um, that depends on what you're actually doing. If I'm correct you're trying to catch butterflies? Or you're playing "dive into stuff and see if it hurts" but that'd definitely be unfair for me to play. But I don't see any reason why I shouldn't join you, was looking for something to do or to take a nap really, and this, whatever this is, will be something to do." Well the student was definitely an odd one but he frankly wasn't even certain about the student part. Wouldn't be the first time someone had found the school and decided to hang out around the grounds after all. The headmaster smiled and cleaned up the tools, setting them back on their table and turning his attention back on the stranger. Actually... kinda cute too, but probably not his type even if he was looking.

Shi smirked as shi watched him clean up hir mess from just a few minutes ago. Shi would have cleaned up, after shi got rid of all of hir excess energy.
Chuckling quietly, the dragon had a sense of humor. Most of the others that shi met seemed to have very little humor. He was pretty easy around the eyes, but he was probably too old for hir anyway... among other things...
"Well... you see, I was trying to... there it is again!"
Shi dived after the butterfly and batted at the ground as shi crawled after it for a few feet before it flew out of range. Whiskers twitching furiously, shi then looked up and remembered that shi was in company with another. Standing up and brushing hirself off and fixing hir vest while hir front was turned away from Drake, shi turned back around.
"Sorry... cat genes are a pain... one reason why my parents sent me here, so they wouldn't have to keep up with me."
Shi laughed softly, clasping hir hands behind hir back as shi took a few steps towards Drake. The creature was undaunted by his sheer size, seemingly amazed by it.
"Where are my manners though! I'm Tanshin Shion, a transfer student. What's your name?"
Shi held out a paw to Drake, still smiling and unable to take hir eyes off him. Handsome for a dragon, but shi knew hir limits when it came to company for others.

"Heheh, so I see. Some people claim dragons are prone to acting the same way. It's a pleasure Tanshin, my name is Drake. As in, Headmaster Drake Drago. Hopefully I'll be seeing a lot of you, and it would be nice if little to none of it were due to professors sending you to my office." He had a big grin on his face and firmly took Tanshin's hand. Not often he got a formal or polite transfer, usually they were super rich, problem kids, or a mix of both. "I'm also the one that first planted a few of these flowers, but that was before I actually ran this place. Everyone starts somewhere right? For me it was assistant teacher and the first unofficial gardener." And now there were other people who would tend to the place, but he still considered a few parts to be his. Especially the area around here that happened to be right below his loft.

Those white eyes grew wide as shi listened to Drake speak. Shi was gripping the hand of the headmaster!? Shi blinked several times and hoped the heat in hir cheeks was not showing through hir fur.
"That's funny, most of the dragons I've met so far don't seem to have that problem. Guess I'm just too used to getting out energy with my cousins. We used to have fun trying to see who could swim the fastest or fly highest."
Tanshin smiled and gave a quiet giggle. Shi shook the headmaster's hand and let go, not wanting to hold on for too long. Shi knew it could give the wrong impression.
"Nice to be able to meet you finally, Headmaster Drake."
Shi smiled a little wider with hir eyes closed.
With a new excitement, hir tail flickered back and forth. Tanshin didn't seem to take note of it, and didn't care for the moment.

"Heh, well some dragons have that same boundless energy and others you wonder how they get out of bed in the morning. Anyway I'm glad to meet you, hope you're enjoying the school so far. Heheh, aside from chasing butterflies in the gardens that is. Speaking of which, what do you do when you catch them?" It was a deeper question than the new student might know at first. Depending on the answer it could give him a pretty sound insight into Tanshin's full personality. There's playful mischief like catching them, putting them in a jar for a while, then letting them go. There was generous play where they were just caught and set free right away, and there was the darker personality trait. If Tanshin happened to be the kind to pull the wings or legs off and then let it suffer after being "released"
Regardless of the headmaster's briefly drifting thoughts the new transfer student seemed to be in a good mood and rather happy to see him, he wasn't sure if he should be flattered or not.

Laughing, Tashin nodded in agreement.
"Hehe, that's true. I may be hyper most of the time, but there are few days where I don't want to get up... Oh, I'm loving it here so far. My first day here, there was so much to do. I went all over the school to find my classrooms. I especially like my Fencing and Physics classes. They're a lot of fun."
When the question of the butterflies came up, the creature only smiled soflty and turned to watch the butterflies.
"I don't hurt them if that's what you want to know. I catch them, hold them in my claws for a moment to study them, then let go. It's quite fun to chase them, dive after them, but its an even better feeling when you catch one and let it go. Let's you know you can hunt, but letting go reminds us that it is the little things we all enjoy most."
Tail still flicking back and forth, shi was not paying attention to how hard or wide of a flicking motion it was doing.

Two perfect answers in Drake's eyes. "Fencing huh? One of my all time favorite classes, I just wish I could get my sister to be the teacher at the end of every semester. She's a former world champion, retired but undefeated in all her time fencing. Physics though, you're lucky Athos is teaching that class. He's always managed to do interesting classes without causing too much damage to the castle here." He smiled, noticing Tan's swishing tail. "Very good to hear it. Catch and release is harder than anything else, especially catching without harming." The headmaster wondered if his new student had any other typical cat traits, like how most weren't too fond of the water or the less likely but still possible "rivalry" against canines and rodents. Though Tanshin didn't feel like the kind to cause trouble with others.

Upon hearing that, Tanshin's ears stood straight up and and hir eyes grew wide as shi backed up from Drake and stared at him.
"Your sister was the world champion? The Crimson is your sister!? I can remember growing up and every time the tournaments would come on I would fight my cousins for the tv just long enough to watch her fight through the ranks. Gods she was my inspiration after I lost my wings. I took up fencing to defend in another way when I couldn't in the way that I normally did."
As shi spoke of Crimson she challenged an invisible opponent in a duel, and at the end gave a bow. Now this creature really was liking Drake more and more.
"Do you think you could get her to come to one of the fencing classes? Oh, I would love to see her fence in person, oh that would be a thrill."
Hir eyes were probably sparkling right about now. If this was a story to get hir to go to sleep at night, it would have failed miserably. Lucky for Drake, it was the middle of the day.

"Sure I can get her to come, and I can even try to beat her, but she'll probably take me down in only a minute or two and that's if she's showing off. Heh, for her it was never really fighting to the top, it was trying not to embarrass everyone else in ten seconds." Lost wings? Hm, that'd probably explain keeping that vest so close, not wanting to show anyone the scars. Though a good shirt could do the same thing really. Tanshin kept giving up details that he was glad he didn't have to directly ask, but now he wondered if Tan was a feline and dragon hybrid, or what kind of wings they were. Definitely energetic, and imaginative, and sounded like a strong family back home. Well, aside from the initial being sent here part. It was too early to be asking about the wings or family though, start off with the basics and get to the tough stuff later.

Tanshin was so excited shi kept bouncing as shi laughed and clapped hir hands.
"I can't wait. Maybe she could give me some pointers to what I could improve on. I've always strived to live by the fencing honor and try to become the best."
Oh yes. Drake was probably wondering what kind of characteristic student he had run into. Shi was probably by far the most energetic out of the masses and probably even less of an attention span of children.
Don't get hir wrong though. Tanshin could be serious and mean and extremely scary, but that was not hir at all. Tanshin did not like being that way when shi had become depressed after shi had lost hir wings. The creature knew how it felt to have that kind of emotion towards hir so shi knew it was best to try and be as cheerful as possible, even if it meant making a fool of yourself to make them happy again.
Tanshin would not have cared of being asked of hir family, but hir wings were more of a personal manner. Shi missed having them and everytime shi felt the wind rush through hir fur and feathers on hir neck shi wanted to cry. It was unfair to not have them anymore, but it would have been even more so having them and not being able to fly and sit in the wind and cry. A touchy subject indeed. Nonetheless, Tanshin would be willing to speak of it though do not expect to see hir for a few days.
Hir family was a strong family, but not the kind one would expect to see out of everyday life. Hir mother was a Roc and Baycat lineage, hir father was of Roc and Grizzly Bear lineage. The rest of hir family was mostly Baycat and Roc. Every single one of them had huge feathered wings that were gorgeous and awe-spiring to look at. You could even say that they were all a little vain about the looks of their wings. Each and everyone of them had a different personality but they all somehow managed to get along and have a good time regardless of things that happen.

"Well give it enough practice, get paired against the best, practice more, then you'll be close to the top at least. Lot of it is just knowing people, getting to read them." Which was probably how she was so great at picking up gossip and running a restaurant. She could read the customers, see who needed to talk and who had secrets. Crimson probably didn't even realize it but half the time she was still a fencer, finding the right openings, the perfect timing, doing exactly what she needed to do to get the results she wanted. She knew when to put a comforting hand on a shoulder, when to smile or shed a tear, she could play just about anyone if she had a good reason to. He hoped his sister wouldn't be teaching all of those traits to her kids, they were already a handful and if they knew all their mom's tricks it'd be almost impossible for him to deal with those little tykes. It was always harder to manage family though.

Tanshin smiled whole-heartedly. It was a really really good feeling to hear that come from someone else besides just hir family. In a way, they almost seemed like they were laughing at hir but then again... If shi could become the best then hir family wouldn't think it so bad or funny any more.
"I'll definately try my best. Someday, when I become good enough, I wonder if me and her could have a duel?"
Shi bounded away once again, the last statement seeming more as a loud thought than an actual question. Either way, shi was ecstatic as shi leaped ten feet into the air and clinged to the side of the castle walls, flicked hir fluffy orange tail a few times and let go. Shi dropped onto all fours with a gentle thud on the ground and sat up, quietly sitting there as shi watched the sky. It could have been mistaken for a longing to be up there again, but shi only smiled and rolled over, laying flat on hir back, moving to button hir vest so nothing would show.
"So what's it like being a headmaster of a castle? Is it hard?"
The creature asked through the bushes as shi just lay there calmly.

"That'd be all up to her but if she had a good challenger that she taught I bet she'd give you a match." And with how acrobatic Tanshin just proved to be Crimson would likely accept. "Hm, well being headmaster has its ups and downs. The castle feels pretty safe though, and I've got friends backing me up and helping me with all the details. Heh, sometimes I surprise them and get everything done on my own like I used to before they were here. It's nice though, getting to see lots of great young people working hard, sometimes dealing with a bit of trouble but never anything we can't handle around here. I get a few good perks too, heh, like the loft up there being all mine."