----Well, here it is! Carolyn's appy thingie for Temeraire! I'm going to fail horribly, but oh well....----



Temeraire was always curious about new ideas and how things worked. When he first hatched, Laurence had to explain in its entirety how the ship’s rigging was put together and what it did. That was back when Temeraire had no distinguishing frill or tendrils and was still small enough to fit in a cabin’s hammock, while the oceans rocking would put him to sleep.

Temeraire was ecstatic to learn about the world beyond blue waves and ship life. He soaked up knowledge like a sponge, with a perfect memory for the words in the books he had Laurence read aloud again and again. There where books on mining the gems he treasured, books on history and literature, books about plants, about animals, and math, and cultures that thrived far away… there was just too many to count! His favorite books where about dragons and poetry. How many times had Temeraire insisted that Laurence read from the collection of Oriental stories that the nice Sir Edward Howe had givein them? In China dragons wrote beautiful poetry that he had tried to convey to Laurence, but much of the meaning was lost in the translation. Temeraire had even tried to compose some himself, even though he didn’t think they where all that great..

Oh, China had been great fun, though Yongxing had tried to separate him and Laurence at first. Something about how only the royal family could have Celestials. The same declaration Temeraire had made to those mean Navy officers still stood: Should any one try to take Laurence away, they would be promptly squashed. Temeraire didn’t care whether or not his Captain found the solution a bit drastic.

But the rest of China was nice. The people and dragons both had been extremely friendly. Especially Mei.

Temeraire didn’t really understand at first back in England why the Aviators where soooo eager to go to the city when they had leave. Apparently, there where stores to buy stuff and musical concerts to go to, and something called a ‘whore’ or a ‘bar wench’ to spend time with. Aside from the music, it didn’t sound all that exciting.

Mei had answered that question.

The streets in the cities in China where big enough for open markets and dragons, as Temeraire nearly spun his head off his neck trying to look every which way at once. His favorite thing by far was the fact that people backed away from his path in respect, not fear. Back in England, most would have run and hid if a full blown heavy weight dragon came waltzing through London. Temeraire thought this fear was silly, and said so, because he’s wasn’t going to eat them and he would be very, very careful not to step on them either. (Laurence told him not to worry about it, and doubted that the Celestial would have fit in the narrow alleys anyway.)

Temeraire was depressed more easily as of late. Seeing all of the wonderful things dragons did in China made him relies just how much his friends where missing out on in Europe. He argued that they where treated more like property than individuals, dragons had no rights, didn’t get pay or anything, and worse yet, had to eat things raw. Temeraire had gained a preference for cooked meat, even vegetables, on the voyage east. He had a tendency of dwelling on such matters and sulking for hours on end, thinking up ways to convince others to help him change how things where done.

But seeing as he was now stuck in a self made clearing next to a strange city listening to some strange ticking sound, he doubted any of that would happen soon…