[Nexus] The Black Dragon's Den IX

[kitcatk8]

Again, Yusa parted her lips to answer, but something stopped her. She closed her mouth, sighed through her nose, then shook her head.

For the first time since she'd started talking to the two of them, the facade dropped. Her voice lost its usual purr, and the haughty pride she'd been casually tossing about seemed to dim. "You know what? This isn't going to work." Because the job she had to accomplish didn't require killing, nor stealing. But it did involve trust to a certain extent. A partnership which, as was quickly becoming apparent, was not attainable in Cessie nor Harnel. Not that she could blame them. Yusa was what she was and there was no helping that, now.

Pushing herself away from the counter, she stood straight and again ran that hand back until it curled at the nape of her neck. That, at least, appeared to have been a genuine gesture from the start. "Enjoy the rest of your evening." Yusa turned then, like she was about to go, but stopped herself and leaned in once more towards Cessie. "By the way, he likes you. I could smell it on him before you walked in the door." Child of Lust herself, it was an innate ability Yusa had. There was no reason for her to say it. She didn't benefit at all.

Maybe the demoness had a soft spot in her heart for romance?

Ridiculous.

[Earl of Purple]

The small furry dragon thing might notice a particularly odd-looking dwarf sitting in one corner of the bar. He's wearing rusted chainmail, a battered helmet with a pair of shattered antlers and one boot. His hair and beard are long, brown, dirty and have been neglected for so long that dreadlocks are beginning to form naturally. At his waist is a belt with a loop for an axe, but no axe is present. His eyes are bright blue, and shine with madness.

A group of spirits have chosen the dwarf's skull as their home, though they are skilled at hiding from most natural and supernatural means of detection the furry dragon thing might still be able to sense their presence.

[LadyOfWar]

The little reptilian critter cannot sense the spirits in the dwarf's mind, but it can smell him...

It scurries a little closer.

...and apparently it thinks that rusty, dirty, sweaty things smell... interesting.

So it pauses to look up at the dwarf. Its tiny size and snow-white scales stand out in shocking contrast to the dwarf's big boot. Singular. Boot. Not boots. That would be why the little critter now looks from one of the dwarf's feet to the other, and then back, and then back again. Confusion fills its big, soft eyes.

[Reinholdt]

Now it was Harnel's turn to blush. Not that it's particularly easy to tell, with Harnel's red scales. Somehow I think these two would just be able to know though, having the right cultural skill set.

"You should consider learning how to mind your own business." Harnel out and out scowls at Yusa now.

[Earl of Purple]

The dwarf doesn't yet note the dragony furry thing by his feet. Instead, he's arguing with the spirits that only he can hear. This looks suspiciously like arguing with himself, but there is a difference.

Another spirit does notice aforementioned dragon-thing and hovers closer for a better look. Due to its unique way of perceiving reality, it can see little snippets from the creature's present, past, and future; also the creature's species, some of its abilities and several other interesting facts.

Trouble will come when the investigating spirit whispers what it found to the dwarf, as the spirit will use terms, words, and phrases that the dwarf doesn't know and can't understand, yet the bond between him and the spirits mean that he will know what is meant and can understand it. The duality and incohesion of this, in addition to the sheer number of spirits within his skull, has driven him slightly mad.

[LadyOfWar]

Well, this critter just might throw even those maddening spirits for a loop, for it is no dragon. It is not any readily recognizable species of any known world.

The spirit will sense that it is made entirely of living matter, in that each atom of its being is alive in and of itself. This critter is alive on an atomic level. The atoms mimic normal matter in order to work together and take the form of a tiny little dragon, and by working together have created a semi-sentient level of intelligence.

Its odd memories confirm this. There are memories of it turning into a little dog, a toy horse, a shoe (yes, a shoe), a block of wood... there are memories of it wandering through Inside... but all the memories stop out in a field outside of Town. The last one is of narrowly escaping someone's grasp and reforming into a dragon again.

Its future is completely in flux. Anything and everything could happen all at once, meaning that instead of snippets of future the spirit will sense only a sudden, rushing blur.

[Earl of Purple]

The thing about the future in the Nexus is that there's always too many paths that could be taken that the spirits usually ignore that part of their sensory spectrum now. The spirit returns to its usual perch within the dwarf's Broca's Area (the best places are taken) to inform him of what it saw.

The dwarf looks down at the colony of living atoms and tilts his head. "You are confusing, aren't you little living llama?" He is aware that the creature isn't a llama (or even llama shaped) it's merely that one of the spirits likes the sound of alliteration and influences how the dwarf speaks.

I have a creature somewhat similar to the dragon; Morbit, a thing whose origin was accidental; some pure Life dropped from the hands of a Great Creator as He infused clay statues with Life. As Morbit was pure Life, it had no form to protect it from death, and so reanimated a rat and grew by copying the life-signature of others to add one of their features to itself.

[LadyOfWar]

It looks up at the dwarf and gives a cheery 'Squeek!' in reply to the dwarf's words. It then nudges his bare foot with one of its forefeet and looks up at the dwarf again with its head tilted to the side in confusion.

[Shadowcaller]

The sorceress doesn't look what to say to that, Harnel liking her was... something that could be dealt with later. She wasn't sure how to feel about it actually.

To hide her embarrassment about the subject she instead focuses on the other thing she felt about this, curiosity. "Uhh... well, could you at least tell us what the mission would have been? I don't even think I caught your name."

[kitcatk8]

Harnel's scowl wasn't exactly a new thing for Yusa, though it certainly didn't make her want to stay. She'd turned away when Cessie's question was asked.

Really, she should leave. Time was a hot commodity for the demoness at the moment. With a frown, still looking at the ground, she found herself answering regardless with the same subdued tone. "Yusa. My name is Yusa." That was the easy part. Taking in a deep breath through her nose, she answered the harder half of Cessie's inquiry with some trepidation. "I'm trying to save...someone. He's trapped." That was putting it mildly, but Yusa wasn't about to jump into the deep end when she didn't know these individuals. Especially not when she'd successfully (albeit unintentionally) ticked them off.

[Reinholdt]

Harnel scowls. SCOWL.
That's about it. He doesn't particularly want to give Yusa anymore reason to stick around.

[Earl of Purple]

"I lost my boot. My other foot is exactly the same. Why do we always lose that boot and not the other? Hmm. Most mightily mega-mysterious, man." To prove his words, the dwarf reaches down and pulls off his other boot. His feet are indeed the same, with four toes each. Although the foot that wasn't booted has a lot of scratches and cuts, even a still-oozing wound in the soul of his foot with an inch-long thorn stuck into it.

[Shadowcaller]

"Trapped? Could you explain a bit better? What exactly would you have us do Yusa?" Cessie asks gently. Saving someone was a bit different, no matter how rude the one asking for help was.

[kitcatk8]

Yusa hesitated because it was really really difficult to miss the way Harnel was looking at her. "Ahhmm..." The demoness cleared her throat and tried to focus on Cessie, clearly uncomfortable. "It's...a lot to explain." She shook her head as if to clear it. How in the Hells was she supposed to explain it in just a few sentences? But she knew they were getting irritated with her vague answers. Problem was, if she wasn't vague, she would need to be overly complicated.

Yusa tried as best she could to find a middle ground. "My Master is holding his soul captive. I need another draconic soul to fetch it because it is where I cannot go."

[Reinholdt]

Overly complicated, they can handle.

It seems Cessie doesn't want to let this go, so Harnel softens up.
"Your master?"

[Shadowcaller]

"So your master is a dragon and he holds his own soul captive for some reason?" Cessie guesses with a raised eyebrow, this did sound complicated.

[kitcatk8]

Yusa nodded cautiously in answer to Harnel's question. She still didn't trust he wanted her there. When Cessie made her own inquiry, the demoness became flustered again. "He's...no. No." She released a quiet sigh and looked to the ceiling a moment, as if saying a silent prayer. Except Yusa had nothing to pray to. She gathered her thoughts and tried, again, to explain it as simply as possible.

"The one captured is Zam." Best to keep it to shorter names. She didn't want to go tossing around his full one. Who knows what would become of that. "It isn't his body, but his soul which is being held." Aaaaand...skip the part about how it got there, why it got there. Simple facts. Just simple facts, Yusa. "Zam is part golden dragon, part elf." Now cut out the part about how you two got involved in the first place and straight into... "My Master is..." And here, Yusa seemed to be at a loss for words, because that relationship was a bit of a mess, too. She finally finished with the bare bones of their entire interaction. "...the one who made me." Only half true, but it would do for now.

The demoness actually didn't look like the stereotypical demon or half-demon roaming about the Nexus. It was given away by subtle things. The way she swore. The overly hot touch of her skin, yet she did not appear ill or feverish. The silver crescents on either side of her face harbored their own purpose, for they were her horns when she wasn't in human form. But to someone who wasn't aware of their purpose, it would be difficult to tell she was anything but human.

[Reinholdt]

"Why do you need a dragon's soul to get to him?" Harnel asks.

[Shadowcaller]

Cessie sigh, "Could we get the longer version? If you really want us to help you it might be better if you tell us everything at once so we don't need to ask so many questions. What exactly have happened? And why do you need this?" She asks.

[LadyOfWar]

"I lost my boot. My other foot is exactly the same. Why do we always lose that boot and not the other? Hmm. Most mightily mega-mysterious, man." To prove his words, the dwarf reaches down and pulls off his other boot. His feet are indeed the same, with four toes each. Although the foot that wasn't booted has a lot of scratches and cuts, even a still-oozing wound in the soul of his foot with an inch-long thorn stuck into it.

The tiny critter sits back on its haunches and seems to be listening very, very carefully to the Dwarf. It tips its head one way, then the other, then it peeeers at the Dwarf's foot.

It squeeks good-naturedly when the dwarf finishes talking, as if in reply.

Then it thinks some more. By the sudden glint in its eye it has decided on something. It approaches the foot with the thorn cautiously, eying the dwarf carefully for any negative reaction...

[Earl of Purple]

The dwarf has managed to get distracted by a beetle in his beard and is letting it crawl over his hands. He seems to have forgotten the little dragon-thing completely, and also the fact he's taken off his boot.

[kitcatk8]

It was Yusa's turn to be affronted, and it carried to the snarling tone in her voice. "I didn't exactly feel any amount of caring or willingness from either of you since I opened up, so I'm sorry if the sudden change in heart is a little much for me to handle." On second hear, it wasn't just the tone. She actually snarled.

Gritting her teeth together, the demoness considered stalking out.

But what if this was the best it got?

With an exasperated sigh, she ran a hand back through her hair again and pinched the back of her neck. "If we're going to be going for the long haul, if you really want to hear it, can we sit down first?"

[Reinholdt]

Harnel considers mentioning how she opened up with nothing but a flippant attitude and unwanted rudeness.

Instead he somehow manages to hold down an impending eye roll and motions for her to sit at the table that they two dragons are already at.

[Shadowcaller]

Yusa's cultural baggage clearly don't go well with Cessie's cultural baggage.

The sorceress don't look very amused by the demoness comment but still replies in a relatively calm tone, "Yes, have a seat." After going this far she simply had to find out what all this was about even if it came from someone she considerate rather rude. "Let's try to start all this over again. I'm Cessie and this is Harnel Therishein. Yusa was it?" She asks.

[Ashen Lilies]

*SLAM*

And there goes the traditional dramatic entrance. Or maybe the traditional I-just-got-ressurected-as-an-unholy-abomination-and-I-have-no-idea-where-I-am-and-also-I-have-a-robot-arm-which-is-actually-a-lot-stronger-than-I'm-used-to entrance. Either one works, really. Though maybe the second one is slightly more accurate.

This is what Roy Isaacs looks like, as a (ex-)man. Hair, short, black. Eyes, black. Glasses, chunky-framed, black, broken. T-shirt, black, tattered. Jeans, black, torn. Skin, pale. Not because he's an indoorsy type (though obviously that too), but because he happens to be a corpse. Right arm, robotic. Blood, dried, practically everywhere. Demeanor, slightly non-plussed.

"Excuse me? Can anybody help? I'm a little lost."
...
...
...
"Oh. And I might also be dead as well.

[LadyOfWar]

The dwarf has managed to get distracted by a beetle in his beard and is letting it crawl over his hands. He seems to have forgotten the little dragon-thing completely, and also the fact he's taken off his boot.

The dragon-thing eyes him closely one last time, then lunges toward the thorn in his foot. In an instant it should have the thorn grasped, pulled from the sole of the dwarf's foot, and the nasty wound it left cauterized by two teenie-tiny q-tip sized puffs of fire from the tiny dragon-thing's nostrils.

Then, whether it succeeded in it's tiny mission of mercy or not, the little critter will try to scurry away to cower beneath a chair in fear of retaliation for the pain it just caused.

[Murkus]

*SLAM*

And there goes the traditional dramatic entrance. Or maybe the traditional I-just-got-ressurected-as-an-unholy-abomination-and-I-have-no-idea-where-I-am-and-also-I-have-a-robot-arm-which-is-actually-a-lot-stronger-than-I'm-used-to entrance. Either one works, really. Though maybe the second one is slightly more accurate.

This is what Roy Isaacs looks like, as a (ex-)man. Hair, short, black. Eyes, black. Glasses, chunky-framed, black, broken. T-shirt, black, tattered. Jeans, black, torn. Skin, pale. Not because he's an indoorsy type (though obviously that too), but because he happens to be a corpse. Right arm, robotic. Blood, dried, practically everywhere. Demeanor, slightly non-plussed.

"Excuse me? Can anybody help? I'm a little lost."
...
...
...
"Oh. And I might also be dead as well.

A tall, thin creature seems to slither up beside Roy, smiling like they're old friends. He's dressed in a large beggar's cloak, patchy and thin.

"If you mean your meat-suit, friend, I would agree with you," He says, with a tinny Latin accent. "Though the thing inside is still alive and well. So who is to say you are dead?" The ragged cyborg smiles again. "Just how lost are you?"

[Halae]

Dipsnig shakes his head. Moron. Alright guys, I have a plan. First, he doesn't seem to have realized that a wolf can track his scent. We'll need to pick up some samples from where he sat so CB can synthesize it. Second, we'll need to stake out here and Trog's so he can't get in either of these places without us knowing.

Jakus looks over towards the bar for a moment, considering things.

"I can stake out here if you need me to, Boss."

No ulterior motives whatsoever. Clearly.

[Morty]

Dipsnig, meanwhile, has had a moment to study the map Marciano dropped. Wait a sec... this is a map. Must be where this guy is headed. We need to go there. He'll either be there or heading there. Between this map and Kullervo's nose we should have no problem finding this mine.

[Halae]

Accursed Good luck! *shakes fist*

"So then we just have to follow it and see the guy where he lives. Shouldn't be too tough. Seems a bit overly convenient though."