shortly it became quite an all-encompassing project , engaging the attention of the officers as well as the dragons ; the scant handful of aviators with good penmanship laurence was soon forced to press into service , for the dragons began to expand upon their cherished theory quicker than he alone could take their dictation , partly out of an intellectual curiosity , and partly because they very much liked the physical representation of their work , which they insisted on having separately copied out one for each of them , and treated in much the same way that temeraire treated his much-beloved jewels .