(Side note: I loved Pheonix's interpretation of Riven. I got a pretty good laugh out of that haha.

Also, for the loaf-pastry thing, just do whatever works. XD I probably forgot what word I used lol.)

Riven made a face at Valentina's jokes, like he was trying to hold in a laugh. Before assuming a very upright posture, and preforming a mock curtsy. "I would be glad to cook for you anytime, mi lady." he spoke with an exaggerated accent as he let out a laugh. Riven sat down with his plate to try and hurry and stuff the food down. Already pondering what he could hustle Greta out of tomorrow for food. Maybe he could take her the uneaten pastry leftovers in exchange?

Nodding in agreement with Valentina, he shrugged, "I mean, what's the worst that can happen? It's not like they can just find dragon riders laying around." he let out a laugh, but was it actually funny? It could be seen as concerning. This year's first-years was the smallest a batch of dragon riders had been. Each year had less and less dragon riders. Less and less dragons hatchings. If eggs don't sense the presence of their rider, they won't hatch. Except for the few who do, and usually unsuccessfully bond, and end up behaving like an actual wild dragon, and move out towards the outer edges where the handful of other wild dragons roamed. Maybe the dragons are evolving to not need humans. Or maybe they can sense something we can't.

Riven shoved the last piece of the pastry in his mouth, trying to hurry and chew through the thickness of it. Standing up to dust his hands off, he attempted to straighten everything up real quick before heading down the hatch and down the stairs. Trying to hide his excitement as he went, why was he so excited?

"Butt out Aetherion!" Riven growled aloud. The rumbling laughter echoing in his head made him realize he had said that out loud. His cheeks flushed hot and he quickened his pace to hurry down the stairs and hope no one heard him.

Riven pushed out the door at the base of the tree to see the dragons. Aetherion's pale, iridescent form causing reflective light to shine back at Riven. The stunning lightning dragon turning his head to fixate his golden orbs on his rider, tail tip flicking back and forth in a feline manner.

Aetherion released another rumbling laugh in response to his rider's glaring stare. The boy's pale-blue eyes shooting daggers.

"Right, anyways you lazy bag of scales," Aetherion snorted out a huffy breath at his rider's insult, which caused Riven to gag and swat at the air as he choked out the rest of his sentence. "Make yourself scarce. If Val and I are going to break into the headmaster's office, a bright white and bright red dragon are not the most discreet." He spoke aloud on purpose this time, so the other dragons and Valentina could hear. It would be best for Aetherion and Pheonix to be spotted somewhere far away for an alibi.

-----------

Seraph blinked at Thorn. "I feel like I should be offended by that? But your right." She shrugged with a laugh. Her faux offended expression quickly disappearing. She didn't eat much of her bread. Half of it still sitting on her plate. With a slight cringe, she just held onto the sticky pastry as she placed her plate in the sink. Watching Riven and the others getting ready to head out, she moved to follow them. Riven barking something at Aetherion caused her to snort out a laugh. At least she wasn't the only one spitting out random things. But at least Riven was talking to Aetherion. Who kept talking to her?

The footsteps drumming down the stairs went silent as they all spilled out on the ground where the dragons were lounging. Aetherion was already hauling himself to his feet, getting ready to take off.

Whiplash pushed her snout against her rider as she slinked down from one of the branches in the tree. At least The Willow was accomodating to dragons and riders.

"What do you say, Whiplash, any ideas on what kinda trouble we can stir up?"

The brightly colored dragon wiggled with excitement. Vivid purple eyes sparking up at the prompt.

'Phantom's Veil?'

Seraph smirked at those words. She knew that plant. It was one of her favorites. Although collecting it could be tricky.

With a pat on the dragon's snout, the short blonde turned to look at Thorn. "how good is your illusion magic? Would you be able to make shapes in the shadow?" she asked, placing a hand on her hip as she looked at him.

Riven arched a brow. "Care to clue us in on your plan?" His voice had a hint of skepticism in it. Seraph couldn't help but feel a pang of hurt at that. Did he not trust her? She immediately snuffed down that feeling, replacing her wall as quickly as it crumbled. Of course he didn't trust her. Why would anyone trust her? She was raised and trained to put a dagger in your back.

Her posture stiffened slightly, almost her entire mannerism changing from one small detail.

"Phantom's Veil is a vine that grows in the more mature area of the forest. It likes shade. The vine produces purple flowers that release spores in the air that cause mild hallucinogenic affects as a defense mechanism. The flowers can be harvested and when disturbed by say, someone stepping on it, or placed in a bowl with a smolder to cause smoke, people walking by would be affected. It causes your vision to falter and swirl, hear things, and overall just make you wig out for a few minutes. Place that in a doorway where people have to walk out, they breathe it in. Partnered with Thorn's "monsters", it should keep people occupied for a while. Just try not to breathe in any purple smoke." Her eyes narrowed at the last sentence. Jade green sparking a dangerous gleem as she stared back at Riven. But the look was gone in a moment, like she never even realized she just stared at him like it was a threat. Looking back to Thorn to wait and see his input on her plan.

"Before anyone panics, Phantom's Veil is not lethal. You trip out for 15 or so minutes, then once you've breathed in some fresh air, your fine." She scoffed at the last part like it was more of an inconvenience.

Whiplash took off with a soft leap, her wings unfurling to catch a wind current and zipping away. The rhythmic beats of wing flaps behind her indicated Obsidian was following. Thorn's voice calling out to her caused Seraph to flick her gaze back for a moment. "There's a forest near the middle of the island. The trees there are old and the canopy is thick. Phantom's Veil likes old trees because it likes shaded areas." she called out in response. Trying to keep her sentences short to make it easier to yell into the wind.

Whiplash flew just above the tree line. Her slender, almost boomerang shaped wings, allowing her to hover quietly and quickly over the trees with little wing flap movement. When the trees started becoming taller, the leaf coverage denser, Whiplash slowed to a halt. Seraph peered over her shoulder and tried to see down into the canopy. "We can try to go down here. Obsidian might not be able to get through the branches though. If you need to, jump over onto Whiplash." she peered up to the dark dragon, her green eyes appearing to have a slight glimmer as she arched a brow at the rider. Before Whiplash tucked her wings in close and slipped from view, expertly dodging the branches with calculated movments before her wings were able to snap open once they got past the tall leaves. The trunks allowing for open flight room, just with some weaving.

Seraph kept a slight perch in her stirrups as they moved down. Her eyes flitting around as she searched for the recognizable purple and dark green vines, that twirl around the trunks of the trees. It didn't take long before she could see the slight purple haze from the spores. Her hands moving quickly to wrap the torn piece of shirt around her face, fashioning a makeshift mask. The only thing visible was from her eyes up.

The dragon sidled in as close to the trunk as possible. Her wings holding them in place, her back lowered with her head turned to allow Seraph more room to move. Seraph stood in the saddle as she attempted to reach the plant, also attempting to limit her breating to avoid accidentally breathing in the spores. Her breath hot on her face. A knife fastened in her other hand, her fingers worked to quick to snip the flowers off, leaving a slight bit of the stem on to allow a spot to hold them. Her hands shaky as she worked, trying to not panic, but the limited oxygen was not helping.

Finally, when she thought she had enough gathered, she placed the flowers softly into a pouch on her saddle. Moving her legs to straddle her saddle oncemore, feet slotting into place in the stirrups. Once she was secure, Whiplash spiraled off through the canopy again. Her body weaving to avoid the branches and her wings snapping open once they reached the sky above the treeline. "Here's hoping this works!" She held up a small flower to Thorn, offering a smile, but realized she still had the mask on her face and he couldn't see it. Placing the flower back into the bag of the saddle, Seraph pointed her attention back to flying ahead of them. Whiplash soaring back towards the school.

Once they were closer to the school, the deep red dragon slowed up to hover closer to the large dark dragon. "I'm going to land and just act like its a coincidence there is purple smoke floating around, when you see the purple smoke, start up with the monster show." Seraph gave a slight wink as Whiplash turned into a dive. The dragon landing, and her rider slipped off as soon as they did. Turning to rummage through her saddle bags again, she clutched the flowers in her hand, and also grabbed a few of her tools. A small bowl, that was originally a mortar and pestle, but now should work to contain a small fire. Placing the flowers in the bowl, she crushed them up slightly, not enough to become a poultice, but enough that they were already irritated, a slight purple haze rising from them.

Slipping a match into her pocket, she grabbed a small line of rope string she kept tied to her saddle in case of emergencies. Clutching everything, she turned to start walking towards the school. Hoping she'd fly under everyone's radars as she stalked right up the front entrance. The imposing doorways open as students and dragons flocked too and fro. Luckily the dragons usually weren't affected by this. She didn't want to deal with disoriented dragons setting things on fire.

In one swift movement, she held the bowl with crushed flowers in her hands, striking the match against the rocky surface and lighting the end of the rope string. Placing the rope string on the bowl, fashioned much like a fuse, she placed it just on the edge of the doorway, upwind. Before quickly trying to hurry away before anyone noticed. A slight purple glimmer began to fill the doorway. Not enough to cause a whole lot of people to notice, unfortunate for them because they were walking through it. But it was hazy enough to give just the slightest hint of purple in the doorway.

Now, it was up to Valentina and Riven, as more people began to start accumulating in the purple smoke. Their worried faces looking around.

-------------------------------------

Riven nodded in agreement to Valentina. "Yeah, we can act like we're walking to talk to a professor something. I'm not sure how far they'll have to go, but we need to get inside before Seraph smokes out the entryway." He mumbledd, just loud enough for her to hear. They didn't need anyone else overhearing them. Their foot steps moved in sync as they flitted into the building. Both trying to look normal as they perused in. Riven's pale blue gaze flicking around, but kept glancing back towards one source. Valentina. But he always made sure to not allow his gaze to linger too long as they meandered down the hallway. The chattering of voices near the entryway indicated a disturbance. Hoping that was the diversion caused by Seraph, Riven moved quicker towards the Headmaster's office. The Headmaster also was heading towards the entry way, fortunately. Riven had to do a double take for a moment. An unrecognizable person with the Headmaster. He was tall, quite handom, with deep brown hair and a very noble posture. Instantly, an unsure feeling settled on his stomach. But Riven shook it off. Moving to offer as a visible blockage for Valentina so she could have a chance to fiddle with the lock.

Keeping his attention on their surroundings, he awaited until he heard the click of the lock and Valentina pushing the door open. Slipping in the doorway himself, he closed it with a soft click. Before he and Valentina quickly got to work searching the office, trying to leave no trace.

His hands manuevered in and out of books, shelves, drawers, whatever he could find. But a loose board underneath the desk is what caught his attention. With a slight wiggle, the board was pulled loose. Revealing a small cubby hole. A key, a notebook, and a picture were all inside.

Aetherion's voice ripping into his head caused Riven to stumble back slightly. In a panicked motion, he snatched the items from the cubby and quickly placed the board back beneath.

"We gotta go!" he whisper yelled to Valentina as he walked by her, grabbing her hand to guide her back out the door. Only when the door was opened, a figure stood in the way of their exit. Headmaster Stormblade, with a rather irritated look etched on his face.

"Mr. King. Miss Woods. Care to explain what you were doing in my office?" He asked with an arched brow.

Riven stared back in response. Suddenly all his ideas whipped from him.

"Ah, Headmaster Stormblade! Apologies, these two were trying to help me out when I first got here and said they would go find you for me, but you found me first!" The man Riven saw walking with Headmaster Stormblade was here again. Throwing his arms around the Headmaster like they were long lost friends or something.

(Forgot Connor's last name tbh...) "Connor? Apologies I had not been out to greet to you when you first arrived, I was a little preoccupied." The Headmaster's dark gaze turned back to Riven and Valentina. "Apologies I was not present in my office students. I was dealing with an issue with the students. I don't know if everyone accidentally tried a wild mushroom or what was happening, but everyone was freaking about some monsters." The Headmaster shrugged with an exasperated sigh.

The other dude, Connor, apparently, offered a hearty laugh as he clapped the Headmaster on the back. "Your a busy man, I get it! These two can show me around so you can get back to your work." he offered a beaming smile. Pearly white teeth glimmering, and his bright eyes flashed a wink towards Valentina.

'That guy's an a****le.' Riven grumbled to himself as the Headmaster shooed them away from his office, and this Connor guy began walking with them down the hallway.

'Who's an asshole?' Aetherion queired.

Riven didn't have a chance to respond to his dragon before the other guy began talking. "Whew, that was close. I'm Connor! I'm a new student here. Nice to meet you two." he offered a smile and a handshake to them both, but Riven didn't like how long his hand lingered with Valentina.

His jaw clenched slightly. This guy was already on his nerves. Who did he even think he was?

"So, can I ask why you two were in the Headmaster's office?" her raised a brow at them, most of his attention pointed to the pretty redhead.

For the first time, Riven really didn't feel like talking. Nor did he trust this guy. He kept the stuff he found in the cubby tucked safely in his clothes. Keeping his gaze facing forward so he didn't have to look at his annoying face.