When the big dog comes, tell him what this puppy done.

[awfulcer]

Who: Jason Dixon and You!
What: Dixon goes looking to pick fights and blow off steam. Bonus points if we can escalate to a straight-up fist fight.
Where: Around the Melai Temple.
When: Before the Crossroads Post
Warnings/Notes: all your typical Dixon warnings



[Each night so far he's been sneaking off into the woods from where everyone sleeping. He tells whomever is on watch that he's going to stretch his legs, and then he pops on his headphones and wanders out about half a mile before finding the base of a tree, where he'll sit and start his nightly breakdown. He probably shouldn't be listening to music wandering around in the dark in the woods, but he feels as if he isn't going to make it as far as the tree if he doesn't.

Once he gets there he just starts crying, snot-filled, stressed, shaking weeping that burns him out. Cries because his Chief killed himself and he would have let Chief down anyway and he's a fuck-up who got fired and threw an innocent person out a window and because he misses his mother and because he's useless and stupid and can't get anything right, couldn't solve a case, couldn't keep his temper in check, can't keep up here with everyone so much faster and hardier and smarter than he is, and because he's just sad and doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know what to do.

He's out of smokes, which makes it all the worse. Once he gets it all out of his system, the nic-fitting morphs sadness into anger; these two have always been kissing cousins for him, or rather tectonic plates, bumping up and grinding next to each other, rattling shockwaves all through his impulses. So with sadness stirred up he slides easily into a thunderhead, pissed off, stomping around, spoiling for a fight. In the absence of anyone to take it all out on, he chucks rocks into the river or uses sticks to beat the hell out of trees until his hands hurt. And then he'll storm on back to the temple and try, mostly futilely, to get some more rest.

The sun's coming up by the time his crying jag is done, turning the whole sky a rosy pink. Birds are chirping. The beauty's lost on him. He almost feels in a trance, animated by an aura of rage that makes it feel like the air around him is vibrating. His fingers twitch in need of a cigarette. He gets a sort of tunnel vision.

It'll all feel better when it's someone else's fault.

When he runs into someone, his voice is thick and annoyed. If he gets close enough, he might enough shove them at the shoulder.]

The fuck are you doing out here? You been following me?

[He hopes they don't have a good answer, so he can escalate it.]

Comments

[coiledscales]

[ There's a rustle of wings and scales and a 'swoosh' sound as a black, scaley dragon comes in for a landing, brushing through the tree leaves. Alacruun lands and then shakes his wings out before folding them, letting a few spare leaves fall away. He sounds more amused than anything - Arturia threw an excellent punch. ]

Squabbling already, are we? Typical.

[ His claws curl against the earth and he stretches out his head - that neck is long - and inserts himself partially in between the two. ]

As much as I'd like to see who would be victorious, we are few in numbers, so killing one another seems right out.

[invisibleheir]

[There's an annoyed gasp as Arturia has to duck her head, though she still catches a glancing blow from Dixon's haymaker of a swing. Arturia is getting set to hit Dixon again--maybe this time go for the nose or the throat or something to make him release her--when Alacruun swoops into the fray to cluck at them about fighting. The arrival of the dragon is a bit of a shock, even if Arturia met him earlier and it stops her from taking another swing at Dixon, for the moment. ]

Release me!

[ She snaps at Dixon. Maybe the dragon will back her up. She also shoves at the man, trying to push away now that there's a dragon poking in between them. ]

[awfulcer]

[Dixon's already run into one dragon here, but somehow it's always a shock to the system to have one pop out at you. Add in the talking, and he's so surprised that for the moment he forgets that he's trying to pop Arturia one and lets her go.

He pauses for a second to gape, and then recovers.]

She started it. [It's an incredibly childish response. Dixon's an incredibly childish person.]

[coiledscales]

I don't particularly care.

[ Alacruun sounds... amused? Sort of? Or maybe exasperated. Hard to tell. He carefully ushers them apart (or not so carefully, depending) with a shoulder-check to one and then the other. ]

I do care about surviving this excursion and we're hardly going to do that if you're set on killing one another.

[ See, what's really important is that Alacruun lives. ]

[invisibleheir]

In the future you should avoid manhandling those who are simply going about their business.

[ There's no need to defend herself or argue about 'who started it' as far as Arturia is concerned. She glances down at her shoulder, frowning. The seam at the houlder of her blouse has torn slightly, exposing a bit of skin. She stoops down and begins picking up her collected kindling again. ]

Alacruun is correct in this case. We should focus on working together instead of fighting each other.

[awfulcer]

I was just looking out for you. [He absolutely wasn't, but give him long enough and he'll convince himself he was and wasn't just trying to let off some anger on the first available target.] Making sure you didn't go wandering where something's going to attack you.

[He turns to Alacruun.]

And you're on our team too? The hell is next, we gonna get a talking horse?

[coiledscales]

Well, it shouldn't be that much of a surprise. Dragons are infinitely more capable than humans.

[ Alacruun settles back on his haunches and gives Dixon a long, piercing look. He's not exactly interested in him, but he is appraising him. Trying to figure him out. He seems mostly bluster and Alacruun can work with that, but he doesn't appreciate being compared to a horse. ]

Dragons, I should point out, are also much more intelligent than horses-

[ He curls his lips back and his teeth glint. ]

We also have much sharper teeth.

[invisibleheir]

Where I come from, all the dragons were slain by heroes.

[ That's a dry remark aimed at Alacruun. She just wants to remind him of the company he's in and that she's capable. Arturia looks back to Dixon. ]

We do have a talking mouse, I believe. And a non-speaking dragon. And a talking dragon. This really is a strange group.

[awfulcer]

Get that shit away from me. [Dixon, having limited self-preservation instinct, reaches forward to push Alacruun's muzzle and teeth away.] Capable my ass.

[A pause.]

Wait, a talking mouse? Where'd we get a talking mouse? I had a dream about that. [Dreams, half-remembered things, etcetera seem to be having more and more of a formative influence on what's going on here. And, Dixon realizes, it felt real enough that he's not sure if it was a dream or a hallucination (he's was real fucked up during the detox) or a past life or what.

[coiledscales]

I never said dragons were invincible, did I-?

[ Alacruun is laughing at his own little joke when Dixon reaches out to push him away. He fixes the man with a long, cold, draconic stare and snaps his jaw meaningfully. Don't touch him without permission. ]

I go where I please, human.

[ He has no idea about talking mice, but that's not that unusual, as far as he's concerned. ]

[invisibleheir]

While I don't condone his threats...

[ Arturia gives Alacruun a very meaningful and pointed look as she says this. Behave, you scaled lump. ]

...I would advice giving Alacruun the space he asks for. And yes, there is a talking mouse.

[ Which isn't the weirdest think she's seen, even. ]

[awfulcer]

Yeah? So do I. Go where I please. [Still a little high on bitchiness, Dixon starts to just snip back without rhyme or reason or good sense. It's like a reflex, and not a particularly clever one. But he does retract his hand.]

Huh. [I mean, what else do you say about a talking mouse?] Did it have a little red jacket?

[coiledscales]

Not around me, you don't. Which means you do not touch me without asking.

[ He is very pointed and very matter of fact about this. He will not tolerate man-handling. Or dragon-handling, in this case. he rolls his head to one side and then glances between the pair of humans. Even sitting, he's pretty big. ]

I haven't met the mouse yet. We really are a rag-tag crew, aren't we?

[invisibleheir]

Yes, I believe the mouse has a red cloak.

[ Back to Alacruun, who is clearly the bigger problem here in more ways than one. ]

We have to focus on working together to ensure that we get through this. Which means we should stop fighting amongst ourselves if we can help it.

[awfulcer]

I had a dream about that mouse. Maybe I'm psychic now. [Look, people are developing weird powers they didn't have before, so why not him? Maybe the powers that be have realized that Dixon's going to need way more than a magic shield to keep up with everyone.]

Fine. I didn't come looking for a fight. [Bullshit.]

[coiledscales]

I somehow doubt you have latent psionic abilities, but anything is possible.

[ Alacruun is just being a little passive-aggressive. Just a bit. Tiny bit. ]

I don't intend on fighting anyone, anyway. We all want to survive, don't we?