[Nexus] Outside XXVII

[UncleWolf]

An Empty Field

The dragon doesn't seem to sense Puddin's movements, probably because it is liquifying the rock instead of burrowing properly.

When the bugs back off, it tries to take flight, flapping its wings unsteadily. One of the holes in the right membrane tears a bit, but it manages to gain some altitude. Unfortunately it isn't stable enough yet to fly away, and it is now hovering above its protective cloud.

Without a good target, the dragon roars again in defiance, hoping to chase away the flying nuisances.

Empty Field

Pat, watching through both her eyes and Puddin's, forces Puddin to dig through till just a few inches of soil are left before backing up with a smile.

The dragon will hear the earth beneath it suddenly crack apart as the massive millipede-esque creature bursts from the ground and leaping into the air to try and latch onto the dragon with hundreds of spiny legs and it's pair of powerful pincer like teeth.

Riv's Hamlet- Ruins

In that case, there's little chance the speed freak will be rejoining the fray anytime soon. Of course, it also means that with one dead leg, he's pretty much a sitting duck should Javert return to finish him off, a fact he's all too aware of. Which is why the villager tries to crawl away while Javert's attention is elsewhere, heading for a mostly intact building a couple feet away and, unbeknownst to him, leaving a trail of blood in his wake.

The other villagers aren't so lucky.

The one wielding the pitchfork barely has time to register the makeshift weapon being cut in half, trying to stab at Javert with the now useless farming implement, before he himself is neatly bisected at the neck, his head rolling away across the ground as his body topples over.

The one with the old eight-shot pistol suffers equally, losing his right hand to single swipe of the powerblade. He screams in pain, grabbing the bleeding stump and trying to run, although bloodloss and shock ensures that that he doesn't exactly run fast. Certainly nowhere near as fast as he'd like to.

The one with the shotgun is the only one who manages to react in time to avoid dismemberment, raising the lever-action firearm to block the incoming blade. Chances are the shotgun gets cut in half, but it still saves the poor fellow from losing his hands. Tossing the wrecked gun aside, he tries to tackle Javert, an action that is likely as futile as it is desperate.

Riv's Hamlet

Javert simply criss-crosses his blades in front of him to allow the man to quarter himself on extremely sharp blades, slicing downwards as this occurs to aid the process. If this is successful, Javert will probably be covered in gore.

He'll let the pistolier escape, allowing the man to scream in agony to his heart's content.

Hmph. Sloppy. Now look at yourself. Covered in gore like some Khornate.

You've never complained before.

It is the principle of the matter.

Javert smirks beneath the now red and white Comedy mask and looks over the area for more targets and hiding places. Hopefully the panic would cause people to come out.

[Slii Arhem]

Empty Field

The dragon manages to whip its neck out of the way of Puddin's mandibles, but the massive centipede manages to get hold of it anyway, legs liking digging into the scales, although not enough to reach the sensitive flesh underneath.

The added weight causes problems though, and the tear in the dragon's wing extends, causing it to list to the side. It overbalances too much, and crashes into the ground with a roar and a gout of liquid acid spouting aimlessly.

The flurry of motion may dislodge Puddin' from the dragon's torso, but otherwise the giant lizard will be crashing down on top of the centipede.

[Chaotic Bob]

[A Field]

A field some distance away from a very panicked village.

About 15 minutes ago, a massive shadow had passed over the village, only very briefly mistaken for thick clouds crossing the sun.
Clouds aren't shaped like dragons, don't roar, and don't land in the middle of the street to eat a few cows before flying away again.

No one had been hurt (except the owner of the cows, financially), and the dragon left immediately afterwards, flying off towards the field we are now looking at.

Oddly, at the moment, there is no dragon in the field.
There's a series of massive foot-prints in the ground, the shape of dragon claws and feet, leading towards a rock, but no massive lizard itself.

Instead, Feia sits on the rock, in her usual black dress, writing notes on a little notepad.
She seems to be describing the reactions of the villagers, with side-notes about the taste of the cows.

[Halae]

[A Field]

There is a man decked out in Dragonbone armor here, walking through the field with DIGNITY and PURPOSE, for he is the mighty Dovakhiin, Dragonborn, here to rid the land of the cruel and terrible dragons that plague it!

He is Justice, named as such due to his mother, who always knew his purpose in life was to mete out justice to evildoers.

He walks up to Feia, "Citizen! I hear PANIC in the nearby village! Is it possible that a DRAGON has descended upon the town? If so, you need not fear, for I, Justice, the DRAGONBORN, am here to save the day!"

[Mr. Moon]

[A Field]

Trotting along behind Justice is a rather tired looking orc. Not tired in the physical sense, mind you. He seems to be the type who could quite easily keep running cross-country for the rest of the day and then quite happily slay a troll or two upon reaching his destination. But then, he's had a lot of practice in such ventures. No, he's tired in the more emotional sense. There is a certain long-suffering to the orc as he rolls his eyes at Justice's introduction. He's had a lot of practice at dealing with that, too.

Tel-Zaff Kax, clad in dragonbone armour that matches Justice's own, comes to a stop ten meters behind the Dragonborn. "Oy, Justice?" He calls out after his leader as he examines the field. In particular, the massive dragon claw-prints cut into the mud, and the splashes of blood around them. "You're gonna want ta stand back a bit."

[Chaotic Bob]

[A Field]

Feia pauses her writing, pencil halting halfway through scrawling out a doodle of a dairy cow.
Quirking an eyebrow, she sets the notepad and pencil down on the ground next to her.

She rather patiently waits for Justice to finish his spewed idiocy, before fixing her gaze on his companion instead.
That one actually seemed vaguely intelligent.
Judging by each one's armor, they're decent enough at this job, somehow.

Right then. Been awhile since she's done this.
A neck crack later and the woman is standing up, a hand on her hip and a frown aimed at Justice.
"Humor me for a moment. What's a "dragonborn" and why should I care?

[Halae]

[A Field]

"Nonsense, Oswald! Remember that time we dealt with three dragons and a giant? A single DRAGON should be easy enough for us to handle!" he is, of course, referring to the poor orc as Oswald. Why? Because he's never been able to pronounce the man's real name.

"I am the mythical DRAGONBORN!" Justice says, striking a pose, "I am gifted by the divine AKATOSH to take the SOULS of the DRAGONS that I kill, making me the ULTIMATE DRAGONSLAYER!"

[Mr. Moon]

[Field]

"Yes, Justice." Tel-Zaff Kax sighs. How could he forget? Justice hadn't stopped bragging about it for months. By the Divines, he still bragged about it to the prettier maidens. Of course, the giant wouldn't have even gotten involved if Justice hadn't tried to rescue its pet goat. And of course the second dragon probably would have eaten Justice if Tel-Zaff Kax hadn't jumped on its back and wrestled it to the ground. But if you took Justice's word for it, those were minor details really.

"An' 'course we could do it again if we wanted ta. I jus' think that ya might want ta look around you, is all." The orc says, side-stepping to the right a few metres and pointing to the ground. "There's great big claw prints in th' mud, yeah? An' those tend to mean dragons, yeah? And we saw a dragon headed here, yeah?"

[Chaotic Bob]

[Field]

"Eating souls, huh..."
Feia sounds pretty skeptical, deciding that Justice here is probably just delusional.
Judging by his armor capable, but still delusional.

That orc, however...
He's starting to seem bothersome and faintly intelligent.

She coughs and gestures to the hills behind her.
"Yeah, the dragon landed by here a few minutes ago, and took off again.
Went that way carrying a few cows."

[Halae]

[Field]

The first thing Justice does it... pull out a map?

It's a map of the surrounding area. There's a pair of arrows there, the thinner of which is pointing to the larger one, which seems to be indicating a location. "Oswald" will know this as a tried and true divination item, directing Justice in the most improbably correct direction towards his target.

This target appears to be Feia.

"I apologize, CITIZEN, but my QUEST MARKER appears to still be pointing towards you. I'm afraid you either have more INFORMATION for me, or I must KILL YOU."

[Mr. Moon]

[Field]

Well, on the bright side Justice seemed to finally be figuring things out. Took him long enough. Maybe in the next half-hour or so they could get moving and go figure out where the dragon who left the prints was.

That said, it was a little odd that the dragon had crawled right up to the rock, ignoring the woman sitting there, and flown off. Tel-Zaff Kax couldn't remember seeing a dragon flying towards the hills - and such a beast would be more than visible. In fact...
"'Scuze me, miss." He says, eyeing her somewhat suspiciously. "What my friend here is tryin' ta say is, don'tcha think it's a bit unusual? I mean, a dragon jus' hoppin' down next ta ya and then flyin' off. I haven't seen a single dragon who's turned down a defenceless young lady like yerself."

[Chaotic Bob]

[Field]

Quest markers and logical thought processes.
Feia's starting to suspect she isn't going to be able to just...send them away.

"Well then, Mr. "Justice", what sort of information would you expect of me?"
Hopefully will listen to her over that companion over there...he seems stupid enough to be sway-able.
"You should remind your squire to use his noodle a bit more, like yourself.
I was obviously hiding when the dragon came by, then came over here to investigate the foot-prints."
There we go, demote Kax's intelligence, subtly buffer Justice's, and then a logical explanation...

[Halae]

[Field]

Justice is presented with a logical fallacy. Oswald, unintelligent? No, that cannot be! He is the smartest orc alive!

Which means... oh gods, this woman is a liar!

In the next instant Justice draws a black greatsword with red runes along the sides, and points it at Feia, posing before getting down o business, "Have at, FOUL KNAVE! You're LIES cannot pierce my RESOLVE!" and he dashes forward to attack Feia with the wicked looking greatsword.

Huh, looks like he figured out he should be attacking Feia, for the entirely wrong reasons.

[Mr. Moon]

[Field]

"Justice, what are y- Justice!" The orc's voice shifts from tired confusion to a very alarmed tone in less than a moment as the Dragonborn draws his sword at the woman. What was he doing?! Sure the woman was suspicious and kind of annoying, but he was attacking her for lying? That didn't make sense, even for him!

Tek-Zaff Kax darts forward, his dragon-scale armour clattering as he does so. "Akatosh take you, Justice!" The orc snarls as he reaches out to grab his Thane by the collar of his armour and pull him away from the women. "I'm all flattered, but lying is not a crime! Put that sword away!"

[Chaotic Bob]

[Field]

Feia's eyebrow is in danger of becoming permanently stuck in the "quirked" position.
Here she was sure that Kax would be the first one to declare attacking her to be a good idea, not...protecting her?

Okay, so Justice appears to be fairly convinced of his partner's capability, and Kax is the moral one...

The woman gives a little shriek at the sight of the sword and quickly runs around behind the rock, appearing to use it as an obstacle defense against Justice.
"What are you doing?!"

[Halae]

[Field]

"Don't you SEE Oswald!? The FOOTPRINTS, and the LIES! She is the TRUE DRAGON!" Justice continues to struggle agains Kax's grip, but they are equally strong and hardy, meaning Kax will be able to maintain his hold on Justice due to leverage.

[Mr. Moon]

[Field]

Tek-Zaff Kax is so surprised by this leap of logic that he very nearly lets Justice go. But he manages to keep his grip on the Dragonborn somehow, digging the heels of his boots into the mud. "What are you talking about?!" The orc growls, adjusting his grip and trying to grab Justice's right arm. "You bin' drinkin' skooma you idiot? Dragons don't just turn into broads! When has a dragon ever turned into a broad!?"

[Chaotic Bob]

[Field]

To be fair to Justice, it's actually a mostly acceptable logic trail.
Not exactly air-tight, but good enough for most...

Which is why Feia is perplexed that Kax still isn't buying it.
Are dragons not magical where they're from? They can't just shape-shift as they see fit?
Poor things must be deprived, no wonder these fools managed to kill so many.

"How could I be a dragon? Put that sword away!"
Still pretending to be frightened, with just a touch of agitated anger...
Covers her curiosity and amusement well enough.

[Halae]

[Field]

Justice relaxes in place, putting the tip of his ebony blade into the ground, trying to figure out exactly what's going on here. One can almost hear the gears turning in his head. He's just so confused. He doesn't say anything for not, giving an odd look to Kax

[Shadowcaller]

[Limo]

After a while driving away from Riverside the Limousine stops in the middle of the road. "Okay, we are here, come on!" Irena exclaims as she get's out the car.

It would appear they stopped in the middle of nowhere honestly, on either side of the road are just trees as far as Nadia can see. But then she might notice a strong light in the distance which then disappears for a moment just to appear again.

Irena takes Nadia's hand and smiles. "I'll show you." And she will lead the vampire through the woods. She doesn't seem to mind that her dress isn't exactly made for such hikes and quickly darts between the trees and bushes towards her goal.

After a while Nadia will be able to see what's 'blinking', it's a lighthouse standing in the distance on the top of a cliff. Irena seems to be leading her towards a beach.

Getting out of the woods they can see the full moon rising above the ocean as the waves gently pour in over the beach. On either side there are cliffs jutting out from the ground, forming a small cove.

"What do you think? I got this from Chasity's memories, she have been her with her family a few times, but never during the night."

[Gullara]

[Moonlit Cove]

Nadia looks out over the beach in awe. "This is beautiful." She says at length. She turns her head toward Irena and gives her a smile, squeezing her hand.

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonlit Cove]

"Yes..." Irena replies somewhat nervously before she swallows. "I never really appreciated beauty before, it just seemed useless to me." She starts, seemingly having prepared this 'speech'. "That, um, changed when I meet you though since..." She appears to be struggling to remember something. "...your so beautiful." This likely was not what she planned to say but it's the though that counts right?

It's pretty plain she's blushing, curtains was one thing, but actually talking to the person? Awkward.

[Gullara]

[Moonlit Cove]

Nadia isn't sure what to say for a moment. She'd spent so much time being unsure about this relationship, but Irena making an effort like this really makes her feel like it's the right choice.

The vampire steps toward Irena and tries to place her hands on the other woman's waist. "Thanks. You're... really beautiful too, you know." Nadia flushes slightly, but is sure to keep looking into Irena's eyes.

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonlit Cove]

Vampires couldn't do that right? <.<

"Eh... I wish." The witch looks away for a moment, her chest rising and falling slowly as she seems to go through something in her head. "I mean... so much have changed since I picked up that sword and things are so much better now. But yet it feels like I'm divided." She admits, pausing again to recollect her thoughts.

"I can hardly talk to people and I rarely even leave my manor. You're like the only one I got. It's like something is holding me back." She continues. "My old life is holding me back and I'm not sure I can escape it Nadia. I want to do things, but in practice it never work out. Not with other people." She sigh and shakes her head. "I thought I loved Nabrius once but he just used me like other people before him. That's why I can't talk to anyone, I got like this package with me all the time and I can't let it go." Irena continues.
"So... uh, I wanted some magic that could take it all away, change me into the person I want to be. Do you understand?" She looks back into Nadia's eyes.

[Gullara]

[Moonlit Cove]

Nadia's been experimenting with her new powers, remember? One such experiment was making her blood flow properly again.

"Change you? Are you sure you want to do that?" Nadia asks with a touch of concern. "It's your experiences that make you who you are. Are you sure you want to just change that?" A small, selfish part of her worries how it'll effect how Irena feels about her.

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonlit Cove]

"Yeah... I didn't want to change my experiences but rather... you know what the sword did to me right? It made me more more outgoing, ever since I touched it have been talking to more people then I ever would have had if I didn't. That's how I meet you Nadia." She replies with a faint smile.

"When I got rid of the sword I first wanted to get rid of my other changes as well." She explains. "But then the more I thought about it, those changes... made me happy. If I went back to the way I was before, would I be alone again? I... don't want that. Right now it feels like I'm trapped in the middle. I know what makes me happy and have felt it but I'm still too much of my old self to really enjoy it."

[Gullara]

[Moonlit Cove]

Nadia nods slowly, seeing what Irena is saying. "I understand. If that's what you want, I'll help any way I can." Nadia says, smiling again. It makes more sense put that way.

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonlit Cove]

"I could contact another demon... but I don't think I ever would want to do that again so I guess we we have to figure out something else right?" Irena asks while sitting down in the sand, gesturing for Nadia to sit down besides her.

"Does Tenebras have something like that? I hate to go to Genesis again..."

[Beans]

[Near the Old Motel]

"You're right, it won't... You up for catching a couple more?"

She nods eagerly, claws flexing as she hands the rabbit to Nycca.

[Lady Serpentine]

[Near the Old Motel]

Talina smiles, and will watch Jen hunt fairly closely, to make sure she can help if something strays in here that she can't handle.

Another rabbit cautiously comes out of its hole, near the trees with the Orchkestrels.