This is where it would indeed be advantageous to have a dragon's ability to share emotions and thoughts; a lot of awkwardness between the pair of behemoths could have been avoided had they been able to simply explain themselves. But, alas, that is the peril of being a mortal, ordinary creature. And, whilst he might like to think otherwise, Volterra knows he is just flesh and bone, the same as every other creature in Helovia.

Perhaps you more than him. He gives a short, sharp chortle. Indeed, his growth into manhood seems to have been a lot more violent than his companion's, and he often wonders if Vérzés is only a mirror for Volterra's lusts rather than an actual creator of his own. After all, in dragon terms, the red is still a baby - if he was wild (again, the comparisons to the wild dragons!) he would most certainly not yet be sexually mature. Is this yet another thing that being bonded to an equine has done to him? Forced his body and mind to twist and grow long before their time? If so, it's little wonder that the red prefers to take himself away when his bonded is experiencing high testosterone levels, or fly into a murderous rage when it gets too intense. He could well not yet understand what the stallion is feeling, the emotions and nefarious wants that relay into his own mind - like if Volterra as a boy of six months had been given the needs he has now. He would most certainly not have understood, and would have been confused and repulsed by what his body was telling him he wanted. Could it be that Vérzés suffers this on a daily basis?

The young stud makes up his mind to ask his companion next time they are alone together. He's fairly sure the red does have his own set of hormones, because their amorous moments do not always co-incide - Vérzés might fly off to mutilate an unsuspecting rabbit whilst Volterra is doing nothing but grazing, for example. But it is another interesting possibility, one that again makes the goliath question the ethics of bonding to a dragon.

Her question has his ears ramming forwards, partly feeling awkward that he now has to elaborate, but partly taking it as a good sign that she's asking. Perhaps she does have...curiosities, after all. "Alas, yes. It is...hard to explain." What's a polite way of explaining that suddenly growing a set of balls turns one from a calm colt into a fractious, sex-crazed stallion? "Picture yourself being hungry - hungrier than you've ever been, but you're stood in a desert devoid of plant-life. You can try and distract yourself, but sooner or later you'll remember how hungry you are. Everything else is forgotten in your quest to find food - filling your stomach is all that matters. It frays your temper and sharpens your tongue, and your loved ones will soon learn to stay away, because you turn into a bastard when you're hungry." An elaborate metaphor, yes. But that's how Volterra can best describe it. Hunger. Need. It isn't a simple curiosity or an ooh-wonder-what-that's-like, like the urge to swim or run...it's an actual physical must, like eating, drinking and sleeping.

For all the joys that being a man brings - the strength, the wild, untamed beauty - it certainly has its drawbacks, and what he's trying to explain to Isopia is the hardest part of it. No pun intended.

"That's what it's like. It's little wonder Vérzés can't stand to be around me when I'm, uh, hungry. It must be murder for him to be in my mind, let alone near me." The red, far away though he is, gives a mental nod of agreement.

She remarks that she grew quickly, and her changes were rapid. Tell me about it. How can he forget that day when they built the hot-tub, when she shifted from a raven to a fully-grown woman, a wealth of curves that had no right to have just appeared? The memory dries his mouth and hastens his heart, and he smothers it quickly. Although her body is that of a woman, are her insides still that of a girl? He finds himself wondering if she has heats, or if she's literally a growing filly in a mare's body. He compares her to his dragon - both younger than they appear, both fast-growing above and beyond what they probably should be.

She speaks again, and he flicks an ear whilst giving a small smile. "I don't know if women get as, erm, hungry as men. After all, it's always us trying to impress you to get you into bed, not the other way around." His grin turns slightly wolfish, just for a second. It's nature, isn't it? The male birds display their plumage to attract the females, the stags clash antlers to claim the hinds, and the stallions roam endlessly and crush all in their path to monopolize all the mares. Nature makes men do all the work, and the only reason that Volterra can think of is that their urges make them so desperate, they're willing to do whatever it takes to obtain the other gender.

He glances at the bronze, the lucky bastard who now has access to Isopia's deepest, darkest thoughts. "I am sure you will both educate one another in different ways. I won't lie and say it's always easy..." Perhaps the earthen filly will suffer a rough patch with Hubris like Volterra currently is with his elusive red. Perhaps they will argue like the black and his bonded do, but those dark parts only make the good parts that bit more satisfying. "But it's so worth it." They might have their arguments, but he wouldn't change it for the world.