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[wants_the_phd]

Poke me here for extra-curricular Court threads.

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Late day 29

[vitainmorte]

[ At some point, wherever she's hiding, Linnea will hear something softly snuffling around.

It probably won't be long until she sees the newly familiar yellow eyes of the dog-dragon peering at her wherever she may be, ears fully upright and gaze intense.

It might be intimidating if she wasn't also holding fish in her mouth. ]

Re: Late day 29

[wants_the_phd]

[To rewind slightly:

The scent trail that Valencia would have followed to get to this point would have started at the inner courtyard where they met. At the main gate, the trail veers sharply and keeps to walls and shadows of buildings, but once it leaves the more populated areas, it cuts a straight line through the tall grass that's very easy to follow. The thing that left it was large, after all, and stayed large the whole time.

The trail goes directly to a stream. After an arrangement of footprints that suggest a dragon crouched to drink, it leads into a deeper area of the creek where the rocks and algae at the bottom have been greatly disturbed. A large animal bathed here. There are marks on the bank that suggest it rubbed itself on moss and dirt in a deliberate way.

After that, the the scent trail no longer smells like adrenaline, gore, and burned scales, but algae and dirt and stream weeds. Of course, there's still a hint of dragon still mixed in, but it's considerably masked. The new smells are just as easy to follow if you know that's what you're looking for, and so are the places on the floor of the stream where large feet squashed the cobbles into the murk as they walked straight down the middle.

Upstream a ways, the footprints leave the water but continue walking along the stream's edge until they reach the lake. The trail keeps to the lakeside, even when it stops being easy. There's a part of the lake where trees and shrubs have grown right up against -- and sometimes into -- the water. The trail goes right into the bushes here. It would probably be hard to navigate this brush if a large, armored body hadn't already plowed a way through it.

After a little while, the thicket opens up under the massive domed canopy of a weeping willow. Under the canopy itself is a clearing of plush moss that's thriving in the shade, and the area is surrounded on three sides by thicket and one side by water. The willow branches form a curtain across the water's surface, which makes this little landing nearly invisible even from the lake.

The scent of dragon leads directly to a very robust wild rose bush at the foot of the tree. It looks flawless, without a single broken twig or tattered leaf to indicate how someone might have gotten inside. It's too thick to see what might be in there, and the thorns are huge and wicked. Clusters of profusely blooming pink flowers obscure any lingering sent of what might be beyond, but there are no indications in the surrounding area that anyone exited this place, not even by water.]

[Anyway. It's a perfectly normal clearing that probably contains no dragons at all except Valencia.]

Re: Late day 29

[vitainmorte]

[ She stares at the rose bush for a long time, probably, just waiting for movement or noise.

Failing that though, she drops the fish in the dirt and scrapes the loose scales off her tongue with her teeth before speaking up... telepathically, but just sort of sent Outwards. ]

Linnea. Come out or I go in.

Re: Late day 29

[wants_the_phd]

[Ugh. busted.]

[The reply doesn't come immediately, but when it does, it's telepathic in return, betraying no hint of which direction it came from. There's no sound or movement from the bush itself.]

Here for round two?

[It sounds feels like it was trying to come across as bitter or threatening, but really it's just an undisguisable amount of tired.]

Re: Late day 29

[vitainmorte]

Oh, sure. And I'm going to use these fish to do it.

[ she snorts, turning in a slow circle and looking up the tree, just in case. ]

No. Come eat these stupid things.

Re: Late day 29

[wants_the_phd]

[No sign of any dragons up there.]

Why?

Re: Late day 29

[vitainmorte]

Because I caught them for you and you owe me for taking chunks out of my side.

[ she does not seem to be injured anymore so at least she got healed at some point (though on that note she probably smells of that sickly-rot-sweet of Dan Feng's healing. ]

Re: Late day 29

[wants_the_phd]

[It's silent for a very pregnant moment, and then some of the rose brambles start to slither apart as if being drawn back by invisible hands, just enough for a person, deep, deep inside the bush to look out. What few parts of the face are visible include gold eyes and dark skin, with even darker eye bags. Her expression is suspicious and guarded.]

Why were we fighting?

Re: Late day 29

[vitainmorte]

[ she turns to look at her, ears flicking back, but she sits politely with her wings folded. Girl you look horrid. ]

I already told you that you attacked ME. Do you want me to show it to you, from my eyes?

Re: Late day 29

[wants_the_phd]

[She's specifically trying NOT to be looked at!!!]

Yes.

Re: Late day 29

[vitainmorte]

Alright.

[ it's a bit sudden, the way the memory is foist upon her.

There's a sharp awareness of everything and everyone around her from her eyes, edges fuzzy from memory.

What isn't fuzzy is the way her gaze focuses immediately on the noise of Linnea bursting into view wherever Val was, and the way Val tracks each piece of weaponry-- claws teeth spikes tail-- but that natural tension doesn't actually increase much. There's a bristling confusion, uncertainty and concern, where she calls out--

Linnea?

And then the hissing beast lunges, sharp paw swinging, and all at once the world goes colorless and focused to a point where the only thing in her view is The Threat, diving out of the way of that attack.

She cuts the memory there because the rest is self explanatory. ]

Re: Late day 29

[wants_the_phd]

[Her expression stays guarded, but she goes a little green as she watches herself.]




[Softly,]

I was told my den got flooded with gas. ...I think I hurt... several people.

I don't remember any of it.

Re: Late day 29

[vitainmorte]

I had a feeling, given the way you reacted.

Sometime morning of day 30

[flameboundcompass]

[ He's not sure if he will find her there, but sometime after the dust has settled, he's going to head to the same place Linnea took him - behind the lake and away from prying eyes. He doesn't enter her hiding place, but he will make his presence know just outside of it ]

Are you here, Linnea?

[ and if he doesn't get an answer, he will just sit outside ]

Re: Sometime morning of day 30

[wants_the_phd]

[There's no answer. No sounds at all except the soft rustle of willow leaves in the breeze.]

[Maybe she's not home?]

Re: Sometime morning of day 30

[flameboundcompass]

[ He'll wait outside for a bit more, but eventually he will go in — he made it clear he's there, so he assumes if Linnea didn't want to see him, she'd tell him to go away. And if she's not there, she did give him permission to go there when he misses the sea ]

Re: Sometime morning of day 30

[wants_the_phd]

[There doesn't appear to be anyone here!]

[There's something different about the space, though: there's now a massive rose bush at the foot of the willow tree that wasn't here when he last visited around 24 hours ago. It's blooming profusely with clusters of little pink wild roses and bristling with extra-large thorns. It's easily big enough to hide a large animal inside.]

Re: Sometime morning of day 30

[flameboundcompass]

[ Oh he is instantly reminded of Roccia - and her habit of hiding inside Pero's box whenever she gets nervous. He will move toward those roses, but won't try to push past them ]

May I talk to you? You don't have to come outside if you don't want to.

Re: Sometime morning of day 30

[wants_the_phd]

[The reply comes telepathically, so it's impossible to tell which direction the voice is coming from. It may as well be the willow speaking.]

Did I hurt you, too?

Re: Sometime morning of day 30

[flameboundcompass]

[ he doesn't seem to mind that she's speaking directly in his head, and he will once more just sit down, looking out at the lake as he responds to her ]

You needn't worry about that. I'm hale and whole, and you have not laid a finger on me. I didn't even see the battle.

Re: Sometime morning of day 30

[wants_the_phd]

But you heard about it.

Re: Sometime morning of day 30

[flameboundcompass]

I only heard that there was a fight, and that you've got some very impressive spells. I try to give my crew some space when things like these happen, but talking about it is important, and I'm worried about you.

Do you want to tell me about it?

Re: Sometime morning of day 30

[wants_the_phd]

[what on earth spells were those]

...







...I was told my den got flooded with that mist and I lost my mind. Apparently I... hurt several people, but I don't remember any of it.

From my perspective, I went to bed as normal, had vivid and intense nightmares, and woke up in the courtyard, covered in blood. I don't know who got hurt, or who's mad at me, or how I stop that from happening again.

Re: Sometime morning of day 30

[flameboundcompass]

[ He's quiet for a moment as he thinks about what to say. It's easy for him to say "no one is mad at you" - he knows Lyle isn't, and he also isn't, obviously - but he wasn't involved. It's not up to him to say it. ]

If you were affected by that mist, then what happened is hardly your fault. [ a sigh there ] But I understand that's not going to cut it. If you wish to, we can try and find an answer to all of those questions together.

Re: Sometime morning of day 30

[wants_the_phd]

Maybe after I've gotten more rest. I'm not at my best right now.