tushanshu_logs | Here There Be Dragons

She doesn't remember where she picked up the amulet. Which is, ordinarily, something Raine should be concerned about.

She isn't. And she should be concerned about that, too, only she's just truly processed that Sheena is gone, and she is so tired of losing people, and briefly, blindingly furious at the spell that gives generously and takes brutally.

Normally she can handle temper. She's more and more practiced at not taking it out on people. This time, though, it seems to swallow her whole, and--

--and quite abruptly Raine grows into a dragon. Petite for a dragon, perhaps, silvery with a scant collection of orange markings, but very, very angry.

Screams in the Healer's Guild are not ordinary. They're also something Kratos has a tendency to run toward, rather than away from. It's only a pity in this case that Flamberge is still in his locker -- but needs must.

Most others are fleeing. Kratos catches one or two of them to try and get answers. The first kedan babbles something about Healer Sage and dragon; the second explains something about how that's so unfair. Kratos lets them go and runs faster, toward the area of the Guild that Raine ordinarily inhabits.

It takes Zelos a little longer than it takes Raine to work out that Sheena's disappeared. They don't see each other every day, so it's only when he realises he hasn't seen her in an abnormally long time that he goes to pay the Healer's Guild a visit.

Only to find that something's probably on fire. Go to make sure someone's okay, and end up fighting for your life. It's just like old times!

Zelos doesn't stop anyone running from the screams to try and find out what's going on -- he just runs. By virtue of that, he finds the dragon at the same time Kratos does, where he skids to a halt and draws his sword. Dragons -- what are Keeliai dragons vulnerable to? Probably not fire. Zelos takes a chance and leaps toward one of the wings, slashing down.

Of all the people running, there are two coming towards. With very pointed swords.

She isn't used to being a dragon, she's just angry. The slice scores across silver and orange, and she breathes something that looks like fire but burns like frost in return, a large sweep across the direction of the two of them. She maybe should recognize them, but she's too angry to think about it. That hurts.

She hurts and she keeps losing people. She's not taking it any more.

Kratos gets to the room when Zelos does, but pauses to take in the situation before diving in, being unarmed. He's scanning first for Raine, just in case she was the first victim -- but that dragon. The markings and colours are odd, with silver and orange -- and no sign of Raine, even under claw --

"Zelos, wait!"

Too late. Kratos throws up Guardian and frost patterns across it before snapping. Damn it all; here he'd been more concerned for Zelos's state of mind, after Sheena's disappearance. He hadn't thought about Raine. How much did the Dreaming reflect reality, here?

Zelos is too close to dodge, and too distracted by Kratos's shout to react in time, so the burning frost scorches over him and sends him stumbling back with a yelp. One deep breath, and he turns off his sense of pain, letting that settle before turning to Kratos with a look of disbelief.

"Wait?" he demands. "There's a dragon in Raine's office, and you want to wait? Are you nuts?"

The dragon won't be waiting, anyway. Zelos has been identified as the weaker link -- frost-patterns limning an insubstantial bubble are hardly useful, but there, the redder one is vulnerable. Claws lash out and rake down.

(He looks familiar-- does he look familiar? But someone has to pay.)

The dragon roars. No frost this time. Yet.

In a half-step and a shading of light Kratos is between Zelos and the dragon, arms flung crossed above his head. The paw slams down against his forearms and he catches the force of it in bent knees and braced body. He twists his hands to catch the claws between them, pulling them tight against each other.

Hopefully, it would also stop the dragon from closing her paw. That might hurt against his back.

This IS Raine! Telepathy, because he's too busy breathing while containing the dragon's arm. Look at the colours, the markings!

Zelos twists away from the strike, but there's no need -- Kratos is already there. Back before his crystal settled, back when Zelos had been blind and incapable of feeling anything, he would probably assume his back was torn open. As it is now, he can feel Kratos there defending him before he even turns to look, and something about that grates.

What are you talking about? Zelos's silent response bites with irritation. Raine can't turn into a dragon!

And yet, now that Kratos has pointed it out, Zelos can see it. He hesitates, then grabs a little more distance and gathers some mana to heal himself. If you're right, what are we supposed to do? Let her kill us?

She finds she can't close her claws -- hand -- claw -- which is it? Which? -- and so she just pushes harder instead, beyond annoyed with the people there. How dare they stop her.

How dare they be there. Her wings unfold -- no, indoors, no room for the wingspan -- and pull tight again, and the long tail sweeps low instead. She inhales and her mouth is chilly, frost at the hinges of her jaw again in preparation.

This isn't going to solve anything. She knows it isn't. But she's so angry.

Kratos grunts as the claw presses down, breathing evenly and tensing himself against the weight of it. The floor groans under his feet.

Look for something on her desks. Maybe it's an artefact she picked up. He hopes it's that. If it's just plain Dreaming doing things, from what he's heard, there's nothing but time which will solve that.

... Wait. He senses ice mana. His warning to Zelos is a wordless blast, while Kratos braces himself, inhaling, exhaling, slamming Guardian around him. It's an old familiar arte.

Ice mana! Without missing a beat, even though wordless telepathy is still relatively new to him, Zelos interrupts the healing arte to throw up Guardian. It flickers green in the air around him, blocking the worst of the blast of frost, and Zelos's silent reply is tossed to Kratos through tangible frustration.

How am I supposed to search for something on her desks when she's trying to kill us?

Thank the Goddess Raine's organised, at least. With Guardian fading, Zelos dodges around the Raine-dragon and scans quickly for anything that looks like an ancient cursed dragon artifact. Nothing springs out at him.

Raine's desk is fairly organized; her notes spread across it in three different languages, and here and there are pencil-sketches of various things, or diagrams of mana flow, but there's nothing that specifically looks like it relates to dragons.

The dragon herself, however, is wearing a pendant with a green gem, which may not look like anything Raine typically wears.

She's beginning to get more frustrated with them, now that it's becoming clear she can't do much to them. There's a roar to accompany this frustration, which she barely realizes she's doing, and she slams a claw down at Kratos again.

Good. With one of them searching, maybe they can solve this before too much damage is done. Meanwhile, he's going to do something he hasn't done in a very long time -- wrestle a dragon. Without killing it. As long as he has its -- her -- attention, Zelos has more time to find the solution.

He's yanked up as the dragon lifts its paw, but braced when it slams down again, catching the weight as he had before. Even still, the force of it makes his breath stop; he turns it off entire.

He shifts his weight, wings flaring in a blast of light both to blind the dragon and bring mana to bear as a counterbalance while he twists the paw against his arms, dragging the dragon froward and to the side -- the essential equivalent of pulling someone's arm behind their back.

Yup. Kratos pulled his wings. If the fight wasn't serious before, it sure as hell is now.

Zelos doesn't give much thought at all to how Raine might want to see her desks once she's back safe and sound. He picks up notes, scans them, and tosses them aside. Some end up on the floor. He searches haphazardly through drawers, sweeps one hand along a shelf. Something Zelos doesn't see falls and shatters, but since Raine remains a dragon, he guesses that probably wasn't the artifact.

If it's cursed, like the Devil Arms, maybe she has to be touching it. Zelos spins and looks Raine over the best he can while she's thrashing against Kratos, and it doesn't take him long to notice what's out of place.

"That necklace she's wearing!" he shouts. Does Raine even wear jewelery? Zelos can't believe he didn't notice that right away!

Here There Be Dragons

July 7-8 First Dragon

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