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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2018 21:28:47 GMT -6
He laughed at her fumbling attempt to catch the stone, but any biting comments would've taken him time to come up. She didn't give him that amount of time since she suddenly pointed one very important thing he was missing upon their escape from the canyon. He blinked with wide eyes and chuckled away the problem nervously. "You know, Kess, I try to look at the glass as...half full. So where we just lost our food, we still made it out with our lives!" He paused and added with a larger grin. "And now the trolls have something to eat! Clearly this is a Win-Win situation for us!"
He began to lead them down the dirt path again with a raised finger, casually resting the scepter against his shoulder. "Besides, you'll get something when the time is right. Maybe this time you can catch us a cow, I'll get some bread and I'll show you the human miracle that is burgers. Or maybe you'd be better suited for steaks. You seem like a...steak girl, I guess."
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Post by Tiamat on May 8, 2018 8:06:25 GMT -6
Kesstril stared at Drake with blank incomprehension. Glass? What glass? Half-full of what, optimism? That would make Drake half-pessimist as well. "I don't see how that's a win when they have our dinner," she said, deciding not to comment on his suggestion of catching a cow. Targeting farms might make for easy meals, but it got the humans there all riled up. Too many repeat visits and an unwary dragon was likely to find knights on their tail. She shook her head and listened with half an ear as the wizard's inane chatter washed over her.
Two days later, Kesstril dropped to the ground next to their magical campfire with a near-silent sigh of relief. She pried the boots off of her sore, chafed feet and tossed them a short distance away from her with a displeased grimace, then sat curled over her aching feet. Leaves rustled as something close by darted through the undergrowth. Her head snapped up towards the sound, muscles tensing. They were a few miles into the outer edges of Yvain'thrir, and while they hadn't run into any elves yet, Kesstril wasn't holding out much hope that they would make it through this "shortcut" unnoticed.
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2018 8:51:52 GMT -6
In the short span of a couple of days, the two of them had traveled far to the outer rim of the elven lands, surprisingly not encountering many strange creatures along the way. For all the bad luck they had at the start of their journey, things seemed just fine now. The wizard practically plopped down himself, sprawled out on the dirt ground and groaning slightly. The movement of his dragon friend made him roll he eyes in a wide arc. "I hope you aren't going to act this way the whole journey through this kingdom."
The wizard sat up and produced another of the spherical water balls, drinking it down once it inflated in his mouth. "You haven't been this jittery since we passed through that village with all the 'Wanted Dragon' posters. That dragon didn't even look like you." The mention of their past day's adventure created a question. "Do you have criminals in you society? Well, if you guys ever meet up as a pride or whatever and say 'we want this dragon brought in cuz he stood food'. Like that? Or do dragons just...not commit crimes?"
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Post by Tiamat on May 8, 2018 17:44:33 GMT -6
Kesstril's eyes narrowed, though she stared into the woods a while longer until she was convinced the noise had probably just been a squirrel. Finally she turned to Drake. "How can you be so calm? Elves are awful, vicious, unpredictable creatures liable to shoot you in the neck without any kind of warning." She scowled. The only reason she'd agreed to this route, shorter or not, was because she trusted the wizard and his magic to get them safely through the elven kingdom.
Giving the wizard a deeply unamused look, she considered his question and shook her head. "Not the way you do. Nothing like crime, either. We--" Startled, she stared at Drake, incredulous and bewildered. "What? Stealing food isn't wrong!" It usually meant a dragon was desperate, or lazy, or playful, and rarely happened with frequency to the same hunter so it wasn't like anyone went hungry. Besides, if a dragon couldn't defend their kill, they had no business getting upset about it provided the thief wasn't a bully. Kesstril explained to Drake.
"We tend to live pretty spread out, and don't cluster together that frequently, so offenses are rare and usually sorted out between the individuals affected. If a dragon is acting out -- repeatedly stealing food from a smaller or younger dragon, for example, bullying them -- then word gets around and no one will have anything to do with the offender." She rolled her shoulders. "We'd drive them off, if necessary. We might not cluster too often, but nobody wants to be shunned when we do. Though as I said, that rarely happens unless, say, a hatchling somehow grows up in complete isolation." Such as a lost egg, perhaps.
Kesstril had relaxed as she spoke, and now appeared almost at ease by the campfire, if not for the way she twitched towards any unexpected sound around them. "What about your... criminals? Shunning must be a highly-effective deterrent for such a social kind as yours." She paused, considering, and added, "And what do you consider as crimes?" Humans must have some very different ideas about that, if something as simple as food theft was seen as wrong.
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2018 22:54:12 GMT -6
Drake frowned deeply, tilting his head as she exclaimed that stealing food wasn't wrong--Dragons were so weird. When she went to explain a situation involving bullying, stealing dragons, he listened like a curious child and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. So that's how it would work? Well, shunning was an odd way of dealing with the problem, and a lot of criminals would love that method of punishment. "Uh, no. We are a lot stricter, in a sense."
"Since food comes at a price, we have prices to pay for stealing it. In the event that they can't pay back the food they stole, the stealer is placed a tiny little space behind bars for a long time. Since we crave social interaction with each other, the lack of...well, being near someone makes you feel unhappy and alone. " He continued. "I know dragons like being alone, but imagine being alone for longer than you would feel comfortable with. Sure, it would feel normal at first, but the silence and the nothingness changes those feelings."
He thought a bit longer and added. "Often its just stealing, but other times its things like murder. I don't suppose that Dragons would needlessly kill each other like we do." Drake removed another sphere of water and played with it, morphing it into a small hawk that fluttered around through the air, then a crocodile the length of his arm that sicrled the fire curiously. He glanced over at Kess' position, feet tucked beneath her, and considered something that made him turn slightly red. No way--that was weird and she probably wouldn't like it anyway. Hoping he didn't notice his color, he spoke again. "Is there any reason why some of you plunder villages for all the gold and then hoard it all in some mountain?"
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Post by Tiamat on May 8, 2018 23:39:26 GMT -6
Drake's description of imprisonment made Kesstril shudder. Forced isolation and a lack of freedom? No wonder some humans were so crazy! She shook her head, horrified. No, murder was another rarity amongst her kind. "There might be a heated territorial dispute, and if both dragons are evenly matched and both refuse to back down, then yes, it might end in death, but..." Needless killing? They didn't even slaughter food for the fun of it, why would they attack their own kind?
Her pale eyes tracked his transforming water sphere as it traveled through the air, just as fascinated with this display as she'd been the first time she'd seen him idly playing with magicked bubbles at the village tavern. Almost reluctant, she pulled her gaze away to Drake as he spoke. His face seemed a little red in the firelight, which was strange considering the magical fire was shifting through gradients of blue and purple. Kess smiled and opened her mouth -- and then paused. Yes, she'd extracted Drake's word not to use anything he learned from her about dragons against them, but this...
She closed her mouth. For a minute her stare switched to the little crocodile of water as it padded around the fire, and then she looked at Drake. "Instinct... is a powerful motivator," she said. "Sometimes it is too strong to ignore." She turned pointedly back to the fire and hoped he would leave it at that. Her movement jostled her abraded feet and she grimaced, but otherwise showed no sign of her discomfort.
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2018 7:33:13 GMT -6
Instinct? That was an odd way of putting what they did in words. Drake did detect the slight discomfort with the subject, but wasn't one to give up on these kinds of these. He raiser eyebrow at her for a sign to elaborate. "Kess, if this about some trust issue regarding us, then I'm hurt. We've been traveling together for this long and I've done nothing but help you so far." He would have brought up saving he life twice, but he felt that could go unsaid. "So maybe a little bit more mutual trust is needed."
Glancing her moves again, he realized this one was because of her feet. Her groaned internally and thought up an idea. "Ill tell you what: stick out your feet. I know it sounds weird, but if you if like what I'm about to do even a little bit, you have to explain this instinct thing a little more."
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Post by Tiamat on May 9, 2018 8:34:32 GMT -6
Reluctantly her eyes slid back to him, though her face remained angled towards the fire. She slumped a little with a sigh. Drake had a good point, and she wanted to keep this fairly amiable partnership they'd settled into over the past few days. "You've given me no reason to distrust you, and you've upheld your end of our deal thus far," she acknowledged slowly. "But what you ask is..." Kesstril's gaze snapped away, uncomfortable. She curved her near shoulder forward as if it could shield her from view as well as her wing would have.
Puzzled at Drake's abrupt suggestion, Kesstril frowned but carefully shifted to extended her feet without scraping them against the ground. They were sore enough already without adding more scratches to the vulnerable skin. She wasn't sure if Drake would recognize the silent show of trust, of offering him access to an injury -- minor though it was -- where it would be all too easy to hurt her. Perhaps he was right, though: perhaps she did owe him a little more trust.
"All right," she agreed. "If I do..." She pinned him with her stare, intent and unyielding. "That information goes no further than you. It must not spread." He had already promised not to use anything he learned from her against her kind, but Kesstril still had to bite back the urge to make him swear again. Her hands and feet twitched, toes curling while her fingers dug at the ground.
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2018 8:55:06 GMT -6
"I won't utter a single word of this, on my Hydra's life." He rolled his eyes mirthfully at her serious attitude, but there was a small sense of unspoken seriousness in his voice. Even if he wanted to gossip about it, he'd have no one to tell but himself. He grimace as she actually went with his deal, presenting her fairly small feet to him--small, when compared with how...ahem, not-slim she was. The crocodile padded towards her slowly and morphed into the shape of a detailed swan with crystal-like feathers and a curved bill. Spreading it's aqua wings, it enveloped them around both feet to surround her sensitive skin with the feeling of icy cold.
Moving his finger outwards and inwards, the the swan dissolved into two large masses of water hat surrounding both feet entirely from the ankles down. The water hardened against her soles in waving rubs, patting down her feet from the side and sliding between her toes easily. With quiet sloshed, it caressed the heels and combated the painful heat with healing cold. Knotted muscles in her soles or in any part of he feet were on their way to being no more.
"Well? He asked. Weird as it was, he would be lying if he said he wasn't a little curious.
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Post by Tiamat on May 9, 2018 9:41:05 GMT -6
Kesstril gave him a flat look. "The hydra whom you blinded before parting ways." He had raised it from an egg, by his own admission, but that wasn't... "Does swearing on one's offspring hold more weight for humans?" She knew, of course, that a parent would defend their young viciously and often without hesitation, despite the dangers. How far did that attachment extend, however, once the helpless little ones had grown? She gave her head a quick shake. "By word, by pen, by any sign: it cannot spread."
Her forceful manner eased somewhat as the shapeshifting water approached and distracted her. Kesstril found it a little easier to relax knowing that Drake wasn't reaching out for her directly. The little swan was stunning in its details. It spread its wings, and she hissed in a sharp breath at the shock of cold it wrapped around her feet. Wide-eyed, she glanced at Drake before returning her stare to the amorphous water now rippling across her abraised skin. The cold seeped into her swollen feet, soothing the vague but constant throbbing of their pain. Relief and pleasure had her sinking back, catching herself on her elbows so she would not be entirely exposed as she would've been sprawled on the ground. The water slipped lightly over scraped skin, helping without causing any additional pain.
With a half-lidded gaze she looked at Drake. "That's amazing. Your magic is -- so versatile."
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2018 20:45:36 GMT -6
As gentle as butterflies fluttering in the wind, his water slipped around her feet and made socks of their own composition. They churned in whirpoops between her toes briefly, then sloshed at the tops of her feet and finally increased the tide at her dainty soles. Drake wasn't sure how to feel about the whole thing, all things considered. He didn' think he'd end up massaging his partners feet with water while they went off to fight a warlock. At least one of them was enjoying the wondrous, watery sensations. Speaking of which, he smirked at her. "Thanks, Greatest wizard after all," He added:"and since you're enjoying this obviously, I hope that you'll keep your end of the deal and start talking...?"
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Post by Tiamat on May 9, 2018 21:37:20 GMT -6
The water swished and pushed and soothed, and it felt utterly incredible. Kesstril had no idea it was possible for her feet, of all things, to feel so good. After another moment or two Drake reminded her of their bargain, such as it was. Kesstril shoved herself back up into a sitting position, cheeks heating when it took a second attempt to get upright. She locked eyes with Drake, her expression smoothing out as she grew serious once more.
"Gold readily conducts and holds magic. It's soft and malleable, but holds its shape when worked. It melts quickly under heat. Coins are--" She groaned, eyes sinking shut for a moment as the water massage stroked up the arches of her feet. Then her eyes snapped open and she gave her head a sharp shake. "Could you -- pull that away, for a minute?" She gestured down at her toes. "Coins are perfect. Supportive but giving in a pile, edged but not rough, and easy to see if they distort if they're heated too much. It's rare for a dragon to need to plunder a village. An established hoard is usually sufficiently stocked, and a new one doesn't need much to begin with. But..." Her voice dropped, until the soft crackles and pops of the magefire all but drowned her out. Her pale gaze sharpened, boring into Drake. "'Coins are best, to line a nest.' Particularly for an inexperienced parent. If eggs are planned, or there, and the nest isn't ready... then a dragon might be desperate enough to raid a village and take everything they can in one go."
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2018 22:14:36 GMT -6
He wouldn't have actually stopped massaging her feet, if not for dropping that line about nests. He blinked with wide eyes at the news--it made too much sense. Of course, they would want their nest lining to be gold and coins: it was the MO of a dragon! And now that he thought about it, a dragon wouldn't be willing to die over a pile of gold when a knight came around to attack them. The wizard wondered about the possibility of a substitute for gold so that fewer lives would be on the line, but he'd have trouble convincing Kess...let alone other dragons.
"I see. " He said, and couldn' think of anything more to say. Drake was never one for the very serious talks--he preferred sparse moments of seriousness with jokes in between them. Yet, curiosity spurred him on to keep talking. The massaging resumed, but only at a half-hearted pace so she wouldn' be distracted by him. Maybe he could take away the seriousness with lighthearted talks of her memory. "Well, I understand the desperation, at least...Um, you weren't pregnant before this curse issue right?"
He shook his head: bad question on his part. "Uh, don't answer that if you don't want to. " It was rude to ask a lady if she were pregnant...or something like that. "Were you...born in gold, Kess?" He smiled after a moment and chuckled aloud. "Sorry. I was imagining you as a fledgling. Squeaking and burping fire and stuff."
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Post by Tiamat on May 10, 2018 21:13:12 GMT -6
Drake's reaction was gratifying. It was clear he understood the importance of what he'd been told... it only remained to be seen if he would keep his word. If not... far more hatchlings and eggs would be stolen or endangered by people seeking to take her kin's vulnerable young. Part of Kesstril couldn't believe she'd told the wizard, just like that, in exchange for a little pain relief. That wasn't really it, though: she never would have agreed to such a deal if she hadn't already wanted to share, to offer up an understanding of her kind to one who seemed willing to learn just to learn.
Wasn't she exactly the same?
Her thoughts turned to her den, her hoard. Longing rose within her, fierce and sharp, edged almost immediately with panic when no sense of direction kicked in to point her towards home. It was becoming a distressingly familiar sensation. Then Drake asked if she'd been pregnant, and just like that she burst out laughing. "What? No! I'm still building my hoard, why on earth would I be worrying over eggs right now?" She stilled, gaze steady on the wizard. "'Born in gold,'" she repeated softly, and smiled. "I like that. Yes, I was. Very few dragons aren't."
Head tilting, she frowned at Drake in confusion before she understood what he meant. "You're describing a hatchling. Very small, newly hatched? Fledglings are... adolescents. Juveniles. Independent, but not yet capable of supporting themselves alone."
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2018 6:20:52 GMT -6
He flinched from the laugh, its contagious nature bringing a smile on his once hardened features. "I was just curious. Can't quite tell if a dragon is expecting or not." Though, Drake had a feeling that if she were pregnant, then her human form would show it boldly. When she corrected him on his term, he scrunched up his nose. "Really? Huh."
The water socks vibrated again, slowly sloshing back into the vigor they had before when massaging her feet. Droplets drummed against the middle of her soles before developing a pattern of going up and down the length easily. The water was accepting the light of the fire, an often flicked colors from bright green to a neon bubble. A small blurb of water patted at her shoulders as well, evidence of Drake bringing in more water to play. Her shoulder blades were attacked with watery tendrils, cleaning her flesh of the densest muscles "Heh. Imagine if you were in Dragon form and we were near a lake." He smirked. "Unless my dragon pal wouldn't be caught dead in a situation like that?"
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