[OPEN] Here There Be A Dragon

[coiledscales]

Who: Alacruun and OPEN
What: A new arrival gets used to everything.
Where: Melai Temple and surroundings.
When: Shortly after the new batch of arrivals shows up.
Warnings/Notes: Dragon.


Alacruun is not all that pleased by this development. There's something to be said for being (relatively) free and no longer stuck hopping a ride in someone else's body or having to communicate via divination, but he's also on another world, being asked to help save it. Which isn't entirely his first choice of activities, but if it will prevent damage to the world he lives in, it's worthwhile in the end. He can put aside his plans - he's been waiting for eons already, he can wait a little longer - and cooperate. For now.

Not that he's fond of their surroundings, either. The dragon - horse-sized, black scales, horns, and yellow-green eyes - has set up camp on the front steps for the temple, keeping a weather eye on the surrounding forest. He's determined that he's not going to be a humanoid if he doesn't have to be - at least not for now - and even if they've stripped him of his power, he's going to enjoy the freedom to stretch his draconic limbs and just lounge.

At least for a little while. Even if for whatever reason, there's a creeping feeling of irritation that keeps nagging at him. He isn't sure why. There's nothing that he can't really compartmentalize, so - what's bothering him?

He almost looks asleep at first glance, half blocking the front steps, large head resting on his forepaws. However, both eyes are open in tiny slits, just exposing the dark of his pupils. Anyone who wants to come up the stairs is going to have to go around him or over him.

Maybe it's a social experiment.

Comments

[the_hit_list]

[ He's suddenly very grateful that he went with his spur-of-the-moment decision to introduce himself as Tim and not as Alvin Draper. With the presence of so many of his friends, he'd mostly abandoned the attempt to go by a pseudonym. It wouldn't hold up forever, and the truth would make the others mistrust him when it came out.

Tim would not like to know whether or not a dragon that detests rudeness could also smell lies. Lies are the height of rudeness. ]

Thank you. My parents raised me to be reasonably polite. You better use your reasoning before you're rude to someone.

[ He thinks that's the best way to put it. "Sometimes, I hang people upside down from a lamp post in front of Gotham PD if it's a slow night" would be an eyebrow-raiser, but, no, Tim's not always polite. ]

It's interesting to meet you, Alacruun. [ Huge understatement. This is getting an entire entry in the Batcomputer, with emails sent to Dick and Babs because it's a dragon, guys. ] Is that... do dragons pun?

[coiledscales]

Wise parents indeed.

[ Or at least wise for humans, if they impressed on him not to make people angry. Especially people like dragons. He makes a low 'hmmm' sound and extends his neck to get a better look at Tim. He really should try to learn how tell all of them apart, shouldn't he? ]

And dragons do indeed pun, when they feel the need or are in the mood. We've our own language - so puns exist. Some of them quite untranslatable, of course. But that's to be expected.

[the_hit_list]

They were the best.

[ And Tim misses them terribly, but he wouldn't have wished them here even if they could be. Dragons and other worlds would have been too much for them.

Alacruun seems to be sizing him up, although Tim isn't sure why. He stands straighter, but tilts his head to return the curious look, seizing the opportunity to better gauge relative size, length of claws, and approximate weight. Approximate, because who's to say how much anything inherently as magical as dragon weighs? He might weigh nothing. ]

And I don't get to hear the language because of the translation magic. [ The disappointment is plain. ] I like that spell less and less. How many people get to say they've picked up a few words in Draconic and lived to tell the tale?

[ He smiles, because he knows he's making a big assumption - and he knows Alacruun won't miss it either. ]

[coiledscales]

Where I'm from, quite a few, honestly.

[ Alacruun doesn't seem all that put out by that fact. It's simply how things are and he doesn't hide it. ]

It's the language of magic and wizards and sorcerers tend to use it, more often than not. But learning it directly from a dragon? Ah, now that is something far rarer and... much more accurate, when it comes to your own thoughts on the matter.

[ He chortles, mostly because he's amused. ]

I'm not going to kill you, of course. Or anyone else who's along for the ride. We're meant to work together, aren't we? Mutual survival and cooperation or something like that? It would be counter-productive if I started eating everyone... besides, I prefer fish.

[the_hit_list]

Where I’m from, magic doesn’t have one set language. Sometimes it’s just English spoken backwards. [ It’s hardly a trade secret. ] Most of the people claiming to have magical powers are officially charlatans. The Weather Wizard and Abra Kadabra use technology to fake sorcery skills.

[ Tim lets his grin shift into a much more natural, and slightly sheepish, smile. He’s relieved to hear that human isn’t on the menu – anyone would be. ]

Mutual survival is number one on my list. Cooperation helps, but some people are more useful than others. I think my second priority would have to be finding out exactly how much fish is in the river. Those are both easier than the third one: helping everyone get home.

[ They’re painfully obvious to him, at least 1 and 3, but Tim is trying to spread the nascent plan around the camp, so no one’s taken aback by it later. ]

It’s a work-in-progress. I haven’t been here long enough to make sense of everything. [ Or anything, but that much honesty would drive him crazy. Tim already knows the seeming extent of his ignorance. He won’t brag about it to others. ]

I’m open to suggestions and useful information. If you, by any chance, recognized the spells being used on us…?

[coiledscales]

Strictly speaking, you can do magic in almost any language... but the earliest users of magic were dragons, so most spells and items of power from out of the ages come down to modern people with draconic all over them, as a matter of course. Which is how it should be, as far as I'm concerned.

[ Alacruun believes quite firmly in draconic superiority. ]

Home. I'd like to go home, eventually, but for now I'm going to enjoy a chance to at least stretch my wings - even if I'm much smaller than I normally am and they seem to have taken away my power, in some respects.

[ One can almost hear the frown that enters his voice. ]

As to the spells - well, I can think of some that I know that could duplicate quite a bit of it, but the power to tear two dozen people across multiple planes of existence, alter their powers and methods of living, and then dump them into an entirely different plane would take... well. Many, many wizards and sorcerers or eve a few gods to get it all right.