Jitters

Jitters, the Oceanographer

Jitters may appear a bit ungainly while walking and flying, but he's the most graceful dragon in Arboreus when it comes to swimming. Not only is he a fast swimmer, but he's able to stay underwater for absurdly long periods of time. While most would assume he's earned the Tidelord's blessing, Jitters now knows it's because he's actually a hybrid between a dragon and a megashrimp. A side effect of his unique heritage is the ability to communicate with megashrimp. While this might not sound too impressive, the megashrimp understand Jitters well enough to do simple tasks such as deliveries. Jitters is unable to write at all due to poor coordination, but there's no need for a letter when everyone knows your messenger. Jitters has been working with the shrimp on counting and species recognition; it's his hope that they'll eventually be able to carry out reconnaissance missions into nearby Maren territory. "My desire for knowledge is as vast as the ocean." Jitters spends much of his time searching the ocean's depths for pre-dragon artifacts, but any fragments he finds are eroded or indistinguishable. Eventually he'll find something worthwhile; it's just a matter of time. He also keeps an eye out for undiscovered aquatic life that might help with his mother's projects.

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Jitters couldn't sleep. He didn't like the way the humid conservatory air made his wings feel sticky, but he couldn't go outside until his mother said so. He was under observation. Jitters wasn't quite sure what it meant, but he'd catch her staring at him and writing in her notebook. He had a notebook of his own, but nothing legible ever came from him practicing. He was unable to grip the delicate quill properly, or grip anything properly in fact - something he was under observation for.

Thinking that writing practice might be boring enough to put him to sleep, Jitters made his way to the table he was studying at that morning. The moon's light was enough to navigate by and he paused to admire its reflection in the small stream running through the conservatory. A few fish were startled by his presence and quickly swam until they were outside the conservatory's bounds.

"If only it were that easy." He pressed up against the glass wall and peered down at the metal grate preventing anything bigger than fish from getting through.

A sound from the direction of the table startled him. "Mother?" He walked over, but didn't see anyone. His quill stand was knocked over and the quill his mother had just given him was nowhere to be found. "I didn't want to practice anyways," Jitters muttered, crouching down to try and locate the quill. A skittering sound caused him to hesitate. If the Saguaro Spider had gotten loose again then the quill could stay lost for the night; one run-in with that prickly prototype was enough.

The skittering noise was behind him this time, but Jitters realized it was moving too much to be the spider. Was his mother working on a different creation that got loose? Not wanting to be attacked from behind, Jitters spun around.

"AHH!" Jitters cried out as the creature made a shrill sound. Jitters cut his yell short when he remembered his mother was still sleeping. "Where did you come from!?" The creature awkwardly brandished something at him and clicked its arms together. The movement was so funny that Jitters couldn't help but laugh, until he noticed what it was holding. "Hey, that's my quill! Give it back!" He moved towards the creature and reached for the quill. It clumsily scooted backwards until it was at the edge of the stream. Jitters stopped advancing towards it. "Don't you dare..." The creature took another step and dropped into the stream with a small splash. The moonlight Jitters was admiring only moments before now obstructed his view. He raced along the stream in order to grab the creature when it hit the grate. He watched the water intently, but didn't even see the usual fish come towards him.

A tapping on the glass behind Jitters caused him to jump. The creature appeared to be waving at him from the other side. Jitters was dumbfounded, "How did you even fit through?" The creature hoisted the quill over its head and skittered off. "Come back!" Jitters glared at the creature's retreating form and wondered what he should tell his mother. The quill was apparently a rare one made from the feather of a harpy prince; he'd probably be in trouble no matter what he said... unless he got it back!

By watching his mother, Jitters knew where the conservatory's key was kept and even how to retrieve it. He walked over to his mother's favorite tree and looked up at the double headed serpent guarding in. A few feet away grew an ivy-like plant with a rainbow of different berries growing on it; he picked two pink berries and returned to the tree.

"Nid, Nir." Jitters called out to both heads, hoping at least one would hear. "Look what I have for you." He held up the berries as high as he could. One of the heads, Jitters could never remember which was which, lowed itself and flicked its tongue at the berry. The other head woke up and came for its treat as well. At first Jitters thought he'd missed something, but once the berries were consumed Nid and Nir lowered their tail enough so he could grab the key tied to it. "Thanks guys!"

Jitters tried to convince himself that the reason he ran to the door wasn't because the snake unnerved him, but because he was short on time. And that fumbling the key was due to his poor coordination. Finally the door opened and the cool night air washed over him. He allowed himself one moment to enjoy his freedom before setting off the catch the culprit.

Jitters stumbled several times in his rush to get to the brush where he'd last seen the thief. Fortunately for him the ground was damp from a recent rain and there was a trail of little holes to follow. It wasn't long before he caught up to the creature.

"Got you now!" Jitters grabbed the quill back without a struggle. "What's wrong?" The creature reminded him of one of the flowers his mother forgot to water - all droopy and unenergetic. "Well, you're a thief so you deserve whatever is wrong." Jitters walked away, but made the mistake of looking back. "You brought this on yourself," he told the forlorn figure.

"As did you."

Jitters tensed upon hearing his mother's voice and turned around.

She started laughing. "Oh my, your eyes are as big as that megashrimp's! The resemblance is greater than I thought..." She cleared her throat. "Next time you decide to run off, at least remember to close the door. The poor Ley plant is having a fit due to the temperature change."

Jitters looked at his feet. "Sorry."

"As punishment for sneaking off, you'll be cleaning the Saguaro Spider's habitat for quite awhile." She looked at the megashrimp, "And I told you to stay away from my son. If you don't then I'll turn you into chowder."

The megashrimp didn't even flinch.

"Could we maybe change the grates instead? I don't think threatening to turn it to chowder will keep it away..." The megashrimp reacted as Jitters spoke; it held up its arms as if to defend itself.

Jitters's mother narrowed her eyes and leaned towards the megashrimp. "My name is Fiona and I like seafood."

The megashrimp looked at Fiona and then back at Jitters.

"Repeat what I just said." After a few moments of silence she tapped Jitters on the head. "Well?"

"Oh, uh... my name is Fiona and I like seafood?" Jitters questioned.

The megashrimp moved away from Jitters and eyed him warily.

"Wait, I meant her name is Fiona." He pointed to his mother, "And I'm actually more fond of red meats than seafood. I mean seafood is okay too, but if I had a choice..."

Fiona watched as the megashrimp tensed and relaxed while her son spoke. "That's enough. Grab it and let's go home; there's something I want to observe and he'll perk up again once in water."

"Come on Maximilius, you heard mother." Jitters gestured to the megashrimp and it came over to him.

"Maximilius?" Fiona asked. "Why not call him something shorter, like Max?

Maximilius waved its arms around wildly.

"Only ten letter names are honorable." Jitters spoke immediately and then questioned what he said. He waited for his mother to ask for a clarification, but she just kept walking. He and Maximilius stared at each other. "Why do I know that?"