Junkyrms 3: A whole New Generation ((Open/ Still Accepting))

[Wire_Colossus]

Junk Dragons. The phrase made from these two words may sound silly, but for 6 kids in the small town of Santa Draco these two words would turn their lives upside down and define their destinies.


Ted was a large young man with ambitions so great that only his girth could match them. He was a 15 year old with a love of food and of cooking and he had a good taste. He was always getting complimented by those around him for his cooking skills, but his love of eating was always an issue. He spent most of his free time in his parents basement cooking and exercising, all the while dreaming of becoming a world famous chef.

Vicky “The Vine” was a thin young woman of 17 years with a few peculiarities. She was a stoic and hard to excite individual, with a love of the color black, a talent for painting very emotional imagery, and a very sophisticated information network. Some could have called her a gossip or an eavesdropper, but the truth was, she had access to a high quality telescope and a few tape recorders. Not much happened in that middle of nowhere town without her seeing or hearing about it. Her parents believed she would make a great government agent, but her dream was to be an artist.

William was a very athletic young man of 16 or so who could usually be seen skating down the main road at high speeds. When he wasn’t skating, hanging out with friends, or cutting class to have fun, he was in his dad’s garage customizing, repairing, and outfitting his skates with better parts. He was always in trouble, Always. He may have been a slacker to his dad, but he was a smart kid. He was smarter than most people gave him credit, and he proved it every time he went skating.

Ruth was a peppy 16 year girl with an obsession with fashion that made her stick out like a sore thumb. No one else in the town shared her passion for fashion. She never wore the same outfit more than once every two weeks. She was always fussing over her appearance and always seemed to be carrying a compact mirror and make up set. She hoped to be a model one day.

Benny was a young man of 9 years who was a bit of a pack rat. He still had toys from when he was a baby, and if he found that something was useful to him, he kept it. He was brave for his age, and was never afraid of anything.

Frankie was a 19 year old with severe case of paranoia. She was a survivalist, believing that the world would end someday soon, and she was going to be prepared for it no matter what. She had access to guns and knives, and even a few explosives. Some viewed her as an extremist, but she would always counter with, “When you need it, and don’t have it, You sing a different tune.” However, her views on the right way of things always proved the extremist comment true. To her the weak deserve to die, and only the strong should survive.

These Six were The first group of people to Encounter Junkyrms or Junk dragons. Junk Dragons are Dragons evolved for the present day, able to survive in our technological world. In order to hatch the eggs pull technologies into themselves, and the souls of the hatchlings build bodies from the technologies. Junkyrms that bond with humans grant their humans selective magic powers.


It was 30 years ago now that The Duke of Death, a Man possessed with the spirits of dragons of eras long past, was beaten back into his abyssal prison. Twice in the past thirty years since he has rose to try to claim the world. And twice he’s been driven back to hide in his hole. Recently, He has escaped once more, and he is amassing armies of draconic spirits, which he plans to consume for their power, so that he will have the magical power needed to kill all of humanity.

His Opposition: You. You and five friends have been chosen by fate to find Junkyrm eggs and to become Guardians Of the Greatest evolution of Dragons. But Who are you? How old are you? What are your goals? What are your intentions?


The Short hand: You as the roleplayer will play the role of one of six types of kids, and their respective junkyrm partner.

Roles:
The Fearless Collector - Junkyrm with access to a 9 year olds toy box of junk. Powers Granted: Fire control. Taken

The Out Of Shape Dreamer - Junkerm with access to cooking appliances, eating utensils, and work out equipment. Power Granted: Flight.

The Hopeless Paranoid - Junkyrm with access to Military grade weapons, and a vast selection of blades, guns, and primitive weapons. Powers Granted: Endless stamina and strength - Taken

The Ultimate spy - Junkyrm with access to art supplies as well as cameras, recording devices, and telescopes. Powers Granted: Enhanced senses of hearing, sight, smell, and touch. Taken by Creamsicle Bunnies

The Diva - Junkyrm with access to compact mirrors, camera phones, and parasols. Powers Granted: Ultimate stealth. Taken By Doctor_Whiteface

The Genius - Junkyrm with access to power tools, simple tools, skates, skate parts, and a helmet cam. Powers Granted: lightning speed and cat like agility. Taken By Doctor_Whiteface


Rules:

Follow Gaia TOS. No godmodding. You may use pictures for your human character, but not for your junkyrm character. Your Role Determines your characters age and should help determine the physical appearances for both of your characters.

Send your profile to me in a pm titled Santa Draco.  

[Wire_Colossus]

Profile Sheet

[align=center] [b]Username:[/b]
[b]Human Name:[/b]
[b]Junkyrm Name:[/b]
[b]Human gender:[/b]
[b]Junkyrm gender:[/b]
[b]Role:[/b]
[b]Bio:[/b]
[b]Human’s Appearance:[/b]
[b]Junkyrm’s Appearance:[/b] [/align]

 

[Wire_Colossus]

Reserved For Accepted Profiles

Username: Creamsicle Bunnies
Human Name: Ren Fortuna
Junkyrm Name: Pozlaceny
Human gender: Male
Junkyrm gender: Female
Role: The Out of Shape Dreamer
Bio: Ren was a foreigner who knew little English. But his love to cook was undeniable. He took an apprenticeship under Ted, who owned a café in California. He learned many things under Ted’s dexterous talents, and Ren became a very talented cook. Ted very well saw Ren as his sort of son, and was very close to him. After three years of his time with Ren, Ted had sent Ren to Santa Draco, saying that Ren was supposed to find a better purpose there.
Ren settled in at Ted’s old place, very much pleased with the extensive kitchen and cooking equipment stocked in the abode. That was, until it had all disappeared after Ren found Pozlaceny in the freezer. He had taken the freezing egg out, feeling clueless as to what it was, and put it in the over to warm it up. Next thing he knew, the refrigerator, cooking supplies, and the oven were missing along with some work out equipment lying around. In place of it all was a shelled creature. He was appalled. Alone in Santa Draco, not knowing anyone at all, Ren found himself afraid of the junkyrym. He called Ted, who informed him to stay calm and find Vicky and Frankie. These people weren’t hard to find, since Santa Draco was so small, and had to sit down to be informed of the odd creature. Ren tried to get rid of Pozlaceny after the first day, but it didn’t go well, the junkyrym now attached to him, and now he is left with her.
Human’s Appearance: Ren is burly. He is constantly snacking and eating and his body has to reciprocate with his habits, making him quite massive. He stands at 6’6”. Though he constantly works out, his body is not very muscular, but he is very thick. He has green eyes and olive skin, his hair is curly brown.
Junkyrm’s Appearance: Pozlaceny is as thick skinned as her master, figuratively speaking. She has a tough exterior, made of flattened steel from the refrigerator that is sectioned to allow her to roll up in a ball, much in the similar fashion as an armadillo. Pozlaceny is a short dragon, but is very thick. The end of her tail is a 50 lb dumbbell, her main offense, and often swings around like a dog. Underneath her cast iron shell, her body consists of the innards of an oven, which often heats up when she feels threatened. Her neck is thick, parts of a refrigerator coil. Pozlaceny’s head is made up of many kitchen utensils. Her teeth consist of blender blades, and her mouth acts as a vacuum, sucking many things and pulverizing them with her industrial blender innards, which exit her body from her behind. She is a slow mover, her legs short and heavy weights. She is friendly, but with her big body size and destructive capabilities, she is rather clumsy and a hassle.

Username: Creamsicle Bunnies
Human Name: Lenore Winterborne
Junkyrm Name: Argyle
Human gender: Female
Junkyrm gender: Male
Role: The Ultimate Spy
Bio: Vicky “The Vine” ended up going to art school against her parent’s wishes. Vicky was disowned, and left abroad to Europe, her junkyrym tagging along in secret. She returned with a muse for her art, and in the process, had gotten herself pregnant. Lenore was raised by her observant mother all her life in Santa Draco. It was her mother that spoke of the junkyryms, and Lenore was raised always on edge to find her own hatchling, like her mother found hers. Her father left to go around the world to travel, so Lenore didn’t exactly see her father too often. She was greatly influenced by her mother’s odd habits and picked up on such activities; thus known in Santa Draco as “Ivy”, reputed to be an exceptional hacker. She knows a lot of the gossip and secrets that circulate around Santa Draco, and is the person to go to when one needs information and advice.
Her mother has supported the arts in her life and Lenore has gotten rather creative in how she expresses herself. She is very delved into photography and computer art.
She came across Argyle in the attic when she was looking for some old cameras. The box of junk she had disappeared and in place was Argyle. Coming downstairs with it, her mother had already somehow had known that Argyle existed. Lenore has adopted Argyle as her makeshift muse.
Human’s Appearance: Lenore is slightly shorter than her mother, her face is small. She is pale and lanky of figure with dark, long black hair that falls to the small of her back. She is usually seen with grim and dull clothes, not one to stand out, and is known to be a wallflower.
Junkyrm’s Appearance: Argyle is a slender dragon, and very slim. He is a little more than 7 and a half feet long but a foot wide. His legs are lean, consisting of tripod legs, and his talons are the ends of sharp sculpting tools. His body is round, segmented by several telescopes. The mane of his spine is made of many paint brushes, leading from his head, spotted by small camera lenses for his eyes and his skull, which is made up of several camera parts. A tape recorder takes place of his voice, often recording what people say to voice his own thoughts. His ray like wings are also made of calligraphy pens, fabricated with canvas so that Argyle can take flight; slithering into and through the air all the while taking pictures of things below under head with his photographic eyes.

Username: Wire_Colossus
Human Name: Wendy
Junkyrm Name: Buttons
Human gender: Female
Junkyrm gender: Male
Role: The Fearless collector
Bio: Wendy’s father is a toy maker, A Man Known Simply As Big Benny. Big Benny, or Benjamin J. Jones, was one of the original six Junkyrm Guardians. When he was young he was a very short, but a fearless little boy. And He collected things. Some called him a hoarder. When he grew up he turned into a 7ft 7, four hundred pound muscular man with a bushy mustache and a bald head. He became one of the strongest normal men in the world, One of the fiercest and most intimidating men imaginable. He became a toy maker and married his competitor. They had Little Wendy, who turned out to be a little girl with a big heart who was just as fearless as her father. She’s loves to make toys, but is no good at it. When she found all her toys gone and found the huge hatchling, she was at first angry. She was actually angry at him for taking all her toys without asking. When he hid from her, She changed her attitude rather quick and offered him her teddy bear. He didn’t keep it, but it became a sign of their friendship. She named him Buttons because he was always fascinated by the buttons on Wendy’s teddy bear. If you ever damage the teddy bear, or make fun of it in anyway, you better start running, because if not, you’ll find your self being chased. However if you hurt Wendy’s feelings or Wendy herself, You might as well kill yourself, Because Buttons would tear down the sky if that’s what it took to protect Wendy.
Human’s Appearance: Wendy is about 4ft tall, with shoulder length blond hair, and the most vibrant green eyes. She’s always wearing a pink long sleeve shirt and blue denim over alls with white sneakers and an orange butterfly hairpin. Her skin is soft and fair. She always carries around a dark brown teddy bear about half her size, and has a very soft voice.
Junkyrm’s Appearance: Buttons as he‘s called is a young junkyrm who while cute sounding is rather big. He‘s 8 ft long. He acts like he‘s unstoppable. And he isn‘t exactly wrong. His body is built from everything in Wendy‘s toy box. That‘s the fully pose able arms and legs needed to build 30 Barbie dolls, a stereo, 14 toy RC cars and their remotes, a child’s Karaoke machine with microphone, four large umbrellas, a steel frame child’s bicycle with a bent front wheel, a child’s tricycle, and in addition to all this, there was the steel frame rocking horse from the corner of Wendy’s room. Buttons is enormous for a hatchling straight of the egg. But then again his egg was 3ft tall and 18 inches from one side to the other, which is huge for a junkyrm egg. The frame of the bike and the tricycle were crafted into a torso around the parts of the stereo. The pieces of framing from the rocking horse, the parts of the umbrellas, 5 of the remotes, and the wheels of the bicycle and those of the tricycle were used to build six column like legs, four front and two back. Each of these six legs ends in a ring shaped foot with 20 toes made from the limbs of the dolls. The parts of the karaoke machine and 3 of the remotes were used to craft a short neck and a head with a parrot like beak and the parts of the remaining 6 remotes and all 14 RC toy cars were used to craft a long tail with a club at the tip. Buttons Is heavy and strong. He‘s sadly blind and so can‘t see at all. But he is able to echolocate and so navigate with ease. He‘s built tough and seems to enjoy throwing his weight around. But at the same time, he‘s harmless. He‘s stubborn and strong, tough and tougher than tough in fact, but he‘s still just a big hatchling. He‘s still a baby. Buttons tends to use music to display his mood. The louder the music more strongly he feels something.

Username: Wire_Colossus
Human Name: Walter James
Junkyrm Name: Knight
Human gender: Male
Junkyrm gender: Male
Role: The Hopeless Paranoid
Bio: Walter Has lived his whole life in Santa Draco; Living in the underground bunker his mother was famous for. She would always tell him wild stories about dragons, and how he reminds her so much of herself before she met her best friend in the whole world. He unfortunately never paid much attention to her stories, and so when he encountered Knight, in his mother’s house, He was more than a little shocked. When he asked his mother about her stories, she merely smiled and said, “So, When did you find the egg?” And then It became clear that her stories were true.
Human’s Appearance: Walter is a 7ft3 180 pound 19 year old young man of mixed native American and Irish descent. He has brown eyes, and shoulder length straight black hair, but his skin is pale and fair. Tends to walk around wearing combat boots, a white tank top, and long jeans. Has a square jaw and angular features.
Junkyrm’s Appearance: Little Knight is a junkyrm who’s body was built from 3 multi-tools, two 9mm handguns, and a laser pointer. The handle grips of the guns, the trigger mechanisms, the can opener attachments and the bottle opener attachments of the multi-tools were used by his soul to craft his hind legs. The casings and various blades of 2 of the multi-tools were used to craft his pterosaur like wings, the pliers parts forming his claws. The frames of the hand guns and the parts of their clips were used to craft his torso, while the parts of the remaining multi-tool were used to craft his tail and his short neck. The laser pointer was used to craft his head. The barrels of the two guns were attached to his upper back at an angle to make them appear to be flight boosters of some kind though they didn’t function as such yet. Knight is a fast and resilient little hatchling. Emphasis on little. He‘s at max 7 inches from eye to tail tip. His wingspan is only 15 inches. And he weighs less than a pound.

Username: Doctor_Whiteface
Human Name: Marcus Franklin
Junkyrm Name: Jericho
Human gender: Male
Junkyrm gender: Male
Role: The Genius
Bio: Marcus left home the day he turned 16 to get away from his physically abusive and emotionally overbearing family, and applied for (and quickly received) emancipation the same day. He has always been heavily into skating and other speed-related sports, but since he started living on his own freerunning and parkour have become deep passions for him - he loves nothing more than to go out into the woods and test his gymnastic ability for hours on end. He recently discovered Jericho's egg in the local hardware store, and was unpleasantly surprised when his new little friend decided to cannibalize his skates for body parts. However, despite his inherent dislike for most animals (which they enthusiastically return) Marcus has found himself growing quickly attached to the little dragonling.
Human’s Appearance: An African-American boy, Marcus is roughly 5'7" and of average weight, and though he is very physically fit he is not heavily-muscled.
Junkyrm’s Appearance: Jericho is the size of a small cat and is made of a combination of parts from two skates, a helmet-cam, two batter-powered drills, a hacksaw, and the contents of a drawer from the local hardware store that included two large folding wrenches, two dozen miniature screwdrivers, and a few miscellaneous small screws and nails. The screwdrivers form his skeleton and wings, with the smaller bones being formed by a few stray screws and nails that were mixed in. The joints where his wings attach to his spine are formed by two skate wheels, with the final wheel presently being the mount for the lens of the helmet-cam, which serves as Jericho's eye. The remaining five wheels form his four primary leg joints and the base of his neck, attaching to the wrenches that currently serve as a spine. The hacksaw blade forms a protective row of spikes along his wrench-spine. The various bits of the drills - gears, screws, and other miscellany - connect the parts together and provide "muscles." His overall appearance is of a small skeletal Western dragon.
Other: Marcus is not a Santa Draco native, and moved there from Portland after receiving his emancipation. He keeps up correspondence with a friend of his, Bonnie, who still lives in Portland. He takes a bus down once every four months to see her.

Username: Doctor_Whiteface
Human Name: Eric Grayson
Junkyrm Name: Gomorrah
Human gender: Male
Junkyrm gender: Female
Role: The Diva
Bio: Eric is a recent arrival to Santa Draco, having moved there three years ago when his parents disowned him after he came out to them. A very "camp gay" boy, Eric is comfortable in himself and has achieved a level of acceptance in the town. His life's goal is to become a fashion model or, failing at that, a designer. He stood out in virtually any crowd before finding Gomorrah's egg, but is now finding it easier to blend in.
Human’s Appearance: Eric is a very vain person, and is always immaculately dressed. He prefers black pants and vividly-colored buttonup shirts, usually going for a warm or neutral color. He does not ever willingly wear blue or purple, and wears green only if it is very dark.
Junkyrm’s Appearance: Gomorrah is presently made of a dozen used compacts that Eric had lying around his room when the egg hatched, along with three large umbrellas and both Eric's and Marcus' Androids (the latter one of Eric's old phones). The umbrella wires form Gomorrah's skeleton, with the plastic and metal of the compacts forming armor and the fabric from the umbrellas (two bright yellow and one dark red) forming a skin over the whole thing. The plastic and innards of the phones form a skull, with the two camera lenses forming symmetrical eyes oriented forwards. In overall appearance, Gomorrah resembles a skeletal yellow-and-red Eastern dragon with two spindly legs near the front of her body. She is roughly four feet long but only a few inches thick.
Other: Eric has lived with Vicky for the last two and a half years, and has recently found a friend and romantic partner in Marcus Franklin.

 

[Wire_Colossus]

Walter was walking down the town's only road; heading anywhere but home. He was carrying a backpack with his hatchling in it. He was heading specifically toward the Diner his mom ran. She'd called a meeting, which meant she and Ms. Penn had something they wanted to talk about.  

[SpokenSoftly]

Marcus sat with his back to the door, leaning back in one of the old, comfortable chairs in Mrs. James' diner as he worked on another design for his custom skates. He'd just about saved up enough from part-time jobs for his thrice-yearly visit to Portland to meet up with Bonnie for a few days, and what little he could spare from that budget would be going towards parts for his skates. He never used mass-produced ones, and hadn't since he was nine, so the loss of two skates that had each cost him in the triple digits to put together to the little beast currently napping in his gym bag was... a little bothersome, to put it lightly. That it seemed to have both his inquisitive nature and behavior patterns that actually meshed well with his was strange, though. Normally animals couldn't get away from Marcus fast enough.

Marcus turned as he heard the bell over the door ring and his lips quirked up for a moment at the sight of his flamboyant boyfriend sashaying into the diner, his yellow-and-red scarf clashing horribly with a bright pink buttonup and his usual black pants. He'd apparently decided to dye his hair red at the tips, making the points where they bunched together seem like embers. "What's the matter, E? Can't find anything else to read in the library?"

Eric leaned down and pecked Marcus on the cheek before sliding into a chair across the table from him. "I wish. The men's room urinals overflowed and the library's closed until Jackie can fix them and clean up the mess."

"You know Mr. Harrison doesn't like being called that, E."

Eric shrugged. He gave everyone nicknames, and some of the ones he gave to older folks were somewhat less than respectful of their positions, but since there was no disrespect intended he generally got away with it. "He's never brought it to issue with me. What's on the pad?"

Marcus rolled his eyes at Eric's dismissal of the issue. They'd talk about it later, probably. "New skates for when I get down to Oregon in a few weeks. Wanna see?"

Eric gestured for the pad and started looking the design over when it was slid across to him. After a moment he reached into his bag and pulled out some colored pencils, marking a few dots within the lines on the paper to denote which colors would work best for the skates.  

[Wire_Colossus]

Walter pushed the door open and trudged slowly inside. "Hey guys...I have a feeling we're not going to like this."

Mrs James Stood from where she sat in the corner and said, "Don't be such a spoil sport Walter. I've gathered you three here because You three have a secret you have likely been keeping a few days. I know all about your new Pets. You're not the first set of kids to have them."


Then She turned toward loading dock doors and shouted, "Let Him In Vicky!!!"

And then suddenly the doors burst open and a two headed mechanical dragon the size of an elephant made his wait in. He had four front legs and two back legs, two powerful looking wings, and two separate necks with two separate heads. Each of his heads seemed to be made from parts of a shop-vac, with eyes made from video camera parts, necks made of industrial vacuum tubing and various metal suport struts. Much of his body seened to be made of vacuum cleaner parts and refridgerator parts. His wings were broad and powerful, and Yet they looked like they were almost too small to get him off the ground.

Mrs. James just smiled at him as he came into her Diner. "This Is DoppelGanger. He was Ms. Penn's Junkyrm partner 20 years ago."

Walter's back pack almost fell off his shoulder and it unzipped slightly as Little Knight limbed up out of it and up onto Walter's head.  

[SpokenSoftly]

Marcus' jaw dropped at the sheer size of the mechanical dragon, his brain trying and failing to process how the little thing in his backpack could have any relation to the behemoth currently taking up rather more than half of the diner. Eric, in contrast, looked up for a moment and cocked an eyebrow before going back to his color-matching. "Grows pretty fast, then. What goes well with orange, then..."  

[Wire_Colossus]

Vicky Laughed at the reactions of the three boys. Frankie meanwhile began explaining. "Vicky and I are but 2 of the original Six Junkyrm Guardians. DoppelGanger here is still just a baby, which is why he never left. My Buddy was Hundreds of years old when he hatched, and so when he grew up he left to return to the land of the fey, and in doing so removed himself from my life forever. Or so I thought. Ten years after he left, His son found his way to my house, a house mind you that no longer stands."

Then she sighed. "Walter knows the stories."

Walter looked at his mother in shock and said, "You mean to tell me that I...That We....?" He couldn't finish his sentence, He couldn't possibly.

His mother simply smiled and asnwered, "Yes, You Three are Junkyrm Guardians now."  

[SpokenSoftly]

Eric absently reached up and scratched at his scarf, which shivered as it - now obviously a Junkyrm wyrmling rather than a scarf - nuzzled his hand. "That's nice, Aunt Ruth. Seriously, though, what goes with orange on shoes?"

Marcus closed his mouth and shook his head at his unflappable boyfriend. Fashion really took first place in Eric's mind once he started concentrating. "So how large are our... 'Junkyrms,' I guess... how big will they get ma'am?"  

[Wire_Colossus]

"Depends on the materials they pull into the egg the first time. The items they use to build their bodies limit them to just those items and items of similar design and purpose. There is no predetermined adult size. My Buddy drew to be about the size of a Condor because I fed him mostly Swiss army Knives and small caliber hand guns."  

[SpokenSoftly]

"Not orange, then. Nothing really goes with it. Maybe a dark peach... With blue... no, indigo, dark indigo highlights. A sort of... yes, that works."

Eric, absorbed as he was in his color-coordinating of Marcus' as-yet-unmade skates, kept a running commentary on his designing under his breath, just barely audible to the room at large. "So if it was power tools and sports equipment...?"  

[Wire_Colossus]

"I'd expect it to be possible for it to grow to the size of Doppelganger here. when he hatched he took a very small shop vac, a few smaller parts from a fridge, Vicky's camera, her cassette recorder and all of her cassettes, a pair of mouse traps, vickies cell phone, the sliding tracks and hinges of the cabinets and drawers of her kitchen, and three umbrellas. And after he hatched he was only about the size of a medium sized dog," Frankie said.  

[SpokenSoftly]

Marcus looked at the double-headed dragon speculatively, thinking of the current rather diminutive wyrmling in his gym bag. Intellectually, he could conceive of such a change. Practically speaking, it was still a little ridiculous. "And what about E's dragon?"  

[Wire_Colossus]

Maybe double the current length and five times the thickness," a booming thunderous male voice said. The voice had came from a very tall very muscular man with a bushy mustache and a bald head. Said man was very intimidating, and even Walter shied away from the man.

Frankie and vicky instantly recognized him, "Welcome Home Benny. Who'd of thunk that a squirt like you would grow into a behemoth of a man. What brings you back? Did you find another egg?"

The Man Sighed and shook his head. "It's a bit more serious than that." And then a little girl of 9 years of age stepped out from behind the man holding a big teddy bear. "My daughter found one." The little girl waved at everyone, "Hello."  

[SpokenSoftly]

Eric winced at the sudden intrusion of an overloud voice and looked up to glare at whoever made the noise only to have to hastily stifle a laugh welling up at the sight of a man who resembled one of his favorite foreign cartoon characters dressed in a suit. That said man's daughter was utterly average for her age somehow added to the hilarity. "Hello, cutie."

Marcus' hands moved reflexively to protect his neck at the loud noise behind him, relaxing when he realized that the new arrival was no relation to him.