(East side of Everbridge) You Sir, are an Idiot. (11th Board)

(apparently Liz is skipping this round, so I think it's my go)

“Once this is healed, they can be as out of the way as you like.” Jackdaww winked, allowing his moment of childishness to take away the pain in his leg long enough roll up his trouser leg until his knee was revealed. He cringed as he caught sight of it – the whole thing was a mess. His skin was pale around the edges, and covered with dark red, dried on blood. He thought he could see a splinter of bone too, but hoped that was just a scrap of the old bandage.

It had taken rolling up the leg of his trousers to show just how thin his legs were. He had never really noticed it before, but, despite the reasonably substantial muscles around his calves from years of sword fighting, there was almost nothing to them. He remembered something Measle had said to him a long time ago. They had been arguing, and Measle’s best insult was calling Jackdaww a ‘stickman’. Maybe that was truer than he had realised.

“Can you fix it?” Jackdaww asked cautiously. He didn’t know where or how the bone was broken, just that it hurt like crazy, and bent in a place that a leg never should have bent.

-x-

As the bones knitted themselves back together in Measle’s wing, he gave it an experimental stretch. It twinged for a moment, before fading back to normal.
“Thanks, Tatsu. That’s great – just like new.” He smiled, crackling pleasantly in the back of his throat. It hadn’t been such a bad injury really, but it felt wonderful to know that he would be able to fly and hunt again, if he had to.

“Jack, never speak again. Please.” Measle cringed as Jackdaww started making less than appropriate jokes. However, when Tatsu started to cry, his attention quickly left his babbling human and returned to the lifeblood dragon.

“Shh, calm down. It’ll be alright – it should wash right off, shouldn’t it?” Measle said hurriedly, a little frightened by Tatsu’s emotive response. He ruffled his scales uncertainly, and tried to think of a way to help.

(for reference, Jackdaww doesn't know he has hollow bones yet. That may be a fin thing to bring up somewhere Wink

)

Lena smiled briefly when Talos put a hand on her shoulder and watched as the conversation suddenly broke down. Atleon left to talk to a dragon, and Armeno decided to talk to the woman rider of the guardian dragon. She signed then helplessly and then turned to her husband. "Talos, lets go for now. You can chew out everyone later..." She insisted softly, placing a hand on his arm and slowly pushing him away from the group. He looked so tired, so strung out that Lena was really starting to worry for him.

Once alone, or at least away from most of the people she looked up to him and put a hand on the side of his face. Words wouldn't come to her lips, so she simply didn't say anything for the time being. She knew this entire thing was frustrating, stressful and knew also that he felt the strong pulling of wanting to go home. Strong as her own want to hold her daughter in her arms. Despite the sadness in her eyes she smiled, "Oriana is going to think you've turned into a grumpy old man if you keep frowning like that."

Hone shook her head as she gave up shouting at the other group of collected avians, humans and whatnot-else, turning back to her own group of associates. She stuck one paw in her mouth as Zayla and Tatsu questioned her side remark, a little anxious about their responses.
“Well, none o’ t’other people round here seem t’like me much. Tha’s why I’m all muddy, y’know- cos I was walkin’, and they distracted me with their shoutin’ and such, an’ then I fell over.” She spread one wing open, her mouth twisting wryly. “Not that y’all seem the same way, o’course,” she added hurriedly.

She tipped her head to one side at the lifeblood’s question, her head fins twitching incredulously. “Y’don’t know what Elites are?” she asked. How could he not know what Elites were? Either the dragon had lived his whole life somewhere extremely secluded (and probably somewhere weird, like in a cookie cave or a candyfloss cloud or something), or he was new to Dragon’s Cove. Or he really needed to get out and talk to some more people. Hone was banking on the cookie cave- he seemed like the sort. She started to explain who the Elites were, and what they did as the dragon worked on Measle’s wing, and Zayela on Jackdaww’s leg- and was promptly interrupted by the dragon’s cry of upset as he sat down in the mud.

She gave up trying to explain who the Elites were.

Thankfully, another distraction managed to announce himself before Hone had to practise her comforting skills, Atleon coming over and gently attracting her attention away from the others. It took a moment for the lash dragon to recognize who he was, a bright grin spreading over her face as she realised that her warning shout at the others had worked, before her eyes widened and she dipped into a bow, flicking more mud across the others as she spread one wing out with the movement. She nearly fell over in the mud again, only just saving her from a second embarrassment.
“Prince Atleon!” she said, her surprise showing up in her voice. “Sorry, I dinae mean t’interrupt anythin’, I thought it was jus’ normal people arguin’ an’ such! Sorry! Y’can carry on y’mudfight all y’like, I ain’t stoppin’ you… I’ll even come help too, if y’want, djur want help?” She risked a glance up at the prince, her paw creeping up into her mouth again as she unconsciously went back to the bad habit of chewing her claws. “I thought that I’d best gar an’ say somethin’, ‘cos I’m an Elite, see, an’ we’re supposed t’stop people fightin’ an’ stuff…” she tailed off, hoping her excuse wouldn’t make him too angry. Oh, of all the people she could have had the misfortune to shout at, it would have been the prince!

Guest

“Oh Jackdaww,” Zayela giggled at his somewhat vulgar joke, “that’s quite funny.” When he rolled up his trouser leg and revealed his knee Zayela winced. “Oh my, that must hurt quite a lot.” She moved her head down closer to it to get a better look. All of the blood was preventing her from seeing the injury clearly. She pulled some water out of the ground using her magic and rinsed all the blood off his leg. “Well it looks like your knee might be splintered.” A large piece of bone seemed to be poking at his skin and she pointed to it. “That right there is what makes me say that. I don’t know how bad it is without feeling of it, but I don’t want to cause you more pain than is necessary.” She turned her head around looking for some place that he could lay. ”Jack, is it ok if I call you that? I can fix it but I need you to go lay down somewhere flat, maybe a bed somewhere? Or any flat surface would work.”

Dorloan watched and listened as she pointed out all her injuries. “Well I guess I could start with that cut and the rib. Just uh hold still for a second, I’m going to numb you side a bit so that rib doesn’t hurt when I touch it.” He lifted the left side of her shirt up to the rib she had pointed at with his left hand, holding it slightly above the rib. He snapped his fingers with his right hand and a faint purple glow appeared he placed it on the cut first, moving it along the cut. He then placed his hand over the rib. “This is going to hurt for a split second before the magic kicks in.” He pressed his hand on the rib, putting pressure on it as the magic seeped into her nerves numbing them slightly.

“Now it’s time for the actual healing.” The light around his hand turned green and he waved it over the cut. The skin magically reformed over the cut, leaving a scar the size of it. “I need you to hold your shirt. If I’m going to fix the rib I need both hands.” If she did take hold of her shirt he would run one hand along the rib searching for the break. Once he found it he would place a hand on either side of it and look up at her. “My magic can only do so much. This break is pretty bad so this is going to hurt. Here goes.” He would then use magic to alternately push and pull each side of the bone back into place. Then he would mend the bone back together using his magic.

Sandy smiled in return at Atleon’s sheepish look. Considering everything that has happened, yes, she was ‘well’. Armeno was next to catch her attention, of which she nodded in return to his greeting. He seemed agitated yes, but everyone in this group seemed so, so it didn’t bother her so much. At his obvious disapproving look, she merely rolled her eyes; more to herself than to anyone else.
Thankfully around them, everything seemed to be cooling down. The two avians were trotting off somewhere and so was Atleon. Oh wait, Atleon too? He was pretty much the only reason she had come over here, so she could speak to him. Now she felt awkward. But by the looks of things, everyone felt the same. It was as if everyone wanted to speak to the prince if they couldn’t scream and shout at each other anymore. She wasn’t actually sure if she wanted to say anything, or merely walk away. Because no doubt when he was finished with whatever eye-catching dragon that was he would be bombarded with questions and comments again. Oh the communication. She couldn’t see anything progressing anytime soon. So she merely stood there, looking out into the distance. Again.

Talos didn't even think to prevent the now mask-less Mask from getting Rose somewhere else besides sinking into the cold mud. He was just glad that the woman wasn't his problem anymore, and hoped that when she woke up she wouldn't come looking to pick a fight with him for ploughing her over though even if she did he couldn't see how it would be a life-threatening encounter. Still in a state of bewilderment, he hardly noticed Atleon dismissing the situation until the prince had fled the scene, still shirtless and still with a half an arrow sticking out of his back and still with something of a bone to pick. Mostly he was angry at the elf now, but before he could get back to the man's unneeded commentary Lena was pulling him away from the scene. At first he resisted, then gave in when he saw the tiredness present in her features and followed to a relatively quieter part of camp where everyone wasn't trying to throw in their two cents. Her comment about their daughter was enough to banish his dislike of both Atleon and Armeno temporarily, and he dipped his head. "She would, wouldn't she? I hope Mai's takin' good care of her. She's good with kids, but I don't trust Kol much not to turn her into a frilly girl." The image of Kol attempting to dress Oriana in a pink fluffy dress like what he'd seen some of the other Serenoa girls in flashed across his mind and he was both amused and slightly horrified at the thought. Oriana probably wouldn't stand for it.

Looking out over the camp, he sighed, shifting his wings to bring them closer to his body and preserve a little heat in the chilling drizzle. "This is madness…" He mumbled, taking in everything. "We need a plan. We need to do something other than sit here an' wait for those blasted Surahinians to come knockin' at our doors again…"

Last edited by Tegan on Sun Dec 11, 2011 4:21 pm; edited 1 time in total

(( Tegan= Dorlona, Mask= pretty much himself, Tatsu= Measle, Zayela and Jackdaww ))

Tegan watched the man to see what he would do. She knew little of healing magic, except for her dragon. Honestly, she was much better with nature. In every and all aspects of it. There was little she couldn’t do in the trees. After all, she’d grown up in them. Back then, everything had been peaceful, but she refused to let her memories plague her mind right now. After all, the man had done something she hadn’t expected. As he raised her shirt, he exposed her skin, and her face grew hot as she blushed. Actually she was kind of shocked to see herself, and the drizzle was cold on her bare skin. She shivered slightly. She was embarrassed now, majorly.

“You know, if you like him so much, why not do something about it.” Appearantly it was Lyrian’s turn to tease as her dragon’s words entered her mind. The tips of Tegan’s ears burned with embarrassment. Had her dragon really just said that to her? “Mind your own business,” she growled back into Lyrian’s mind. Of course, her dragon only chuckled at her. Tegan sighed herself. She winced slightly when he warned her about pain, and she felt Lyrian’s concern sharply in her mind. Now she was done joking around.

“Little one,” Lyrian cooed softly, “I can help. If you let me.” Tegan wasn’t about to turn down that offer and she let her mind get lost in her dragon’s while Dorloan healed her. It actually helped seeing as it kept her from feeling the pain. And all the while, she bit her lip and held her shirt while he worked. When he would finish, she’d use the one hand that had been holding her shirt up and let the cloth fall back against her skin. At least she hadn’t broken a rib higher.

Mask nodded, and bowed his head in respect to the others. He knew they didn’t trust him yet, he wouldn’t if he was in there shoes. Still, he was resolved to make a point that he could be trusted. His eyes turned away from the group and back to Rose. Crouching above the mud, much in a pitcher’s pose than anything else, he shook his head slightly. “I suppose they can call me Akar. Everyone can by now. Especially if I’m going to be staying here. That’ll be something to get used to again, my first name.” While it would appear he was talking to himself, Sorrahkin snorted again and pushed him gently with her nose. He smiled and petted her nose softly. “Now then, shall we pick her out of mud and head off? Not sure where to find those men who are supposed to come too. As for her horse, you don’t mind leading it, do you Sorrahkin?” Mask leaned down to pick up Rose.

Tatsu stifled his tears as he sighed. He sniffled a little more, but other than that he’d stopped crying at least. “I guess,” he said looking over to the river. “It’ll come off in there…” he trailed. He still looked upset, but that was because he hated being wet, and he hated being dirty. He was white and red, not some other colors. Not to mention, he rather liked being white and red, and brown just did not go with that color scheme. Not at all. Not one bit! Sighing again Tatsu shook his head slightly and looked back up to Measle. “You’re welcome,” he said wagging his tail again slightly. Yes, he’d calmed down, but now what?

He turned his attention back to Zayela expecting her to be done by now. However, he really wasn’t sure how she managed to heal people. He knew how his breed did, but he’d never actually seen Zayela’s magic at work. He cocked his head as his ears twitched slightly. “I suppose I could lay in the mud and he could lay on my wing,” he snarled the word mud. “Not like I can get much more muddy least I roll around in it." His mood darkened for a moment as he glared at the mud below him. “Besides,” he said, lightening up almost instantly. “I’m fuffly.”

Atleon was a little surprised at the sudden bow he received from the lash dragon and was already about to tell her to straighten up again as he did not need such shows of allegiances, especially not in dire times such as these when the dragon began speaking again. He chuckled lightly at her flow of words, briefly wondering whether she was always talking like this or whether it was simply because she seemed a little nervous. What surprised him even more was to see the mark she was wearing, which was officially declaring her an Elite. He had not seen an Elite for months now, wondering where they had been spread out to do their work, but especially because they had not been alerted to the battle in Quinsilla. “I know, you Elites tend to want to do good wherever you can. It’s alright,” he soothed the dragon. “Please, stand up straight, there is no need to crouch before me. May I enquire as to your name? And please do tell me where the rest of the Elites are. As you can see we would be in need of a little help from your end.”

Glancing over the other four-and twolegged beings who were with the lash dragon, Atleon couldn’t help but notice the healing which was in process. Clearing his throat, he addressed the group as a whole: “I do apologise for interrupting, but would one of you mind to please relieve of this arrow sticking out of my back.” At the sound of his own words, Atleon looked at them with an awkward feeling in his gut, giving a small shrug. He knew it sounded awful and weird, but there had been no way for him to twist around to take the arrow out completely without damaging more than was necessary. Siofra had made it a clear shot on purpose so nothing would be damaged and it would heal just fine if it were taken out immediately. The problem was of course that in the meantime the wound had begun to close itself and was now healing the arrow into the skin. What was happening inside, he could only guess but it had not felt good in any way, though he had grown to be so numb about the pain that he barely registered it now. He did not want to think about the millions of infections he might have gotten but he was counting on the healing magic to take care of any damage he had sustained on the inside. Or at least he was hoping the individual healing magics at work here would do the trick, otherwise he might end up in serious trouble.

With the potential fight diverted, the large group which had gathered around Atleon dissipated, leaving Armeno standing with Sandy and the masked man, who muttered to himself as he bent down to pick up Rose's limp body. Maybe it was a good thing that the group had split up; undoubtedly a second fight had been brewing. But all the same, the elf was irritated that everyone had just waltzed off when there were plenty of important things they needed to dicuss- if Talos had just been able to overcome his temper and accept that he'd made mistakes, as Atleon had seemed to, at least partly. There didn't seem to be much he could do about it though, with Talos off on some romantic interlude while the prince was just chatting to a dragon who happened to have brightly coloured feathers. Apparently, neither of them had any sense of urgency. Armeno let out a frustrated sigh before turning to Sandy and giving her a nod.
'What have you been doing around camp?' he asked her, thinking that he may as well have a conversation while everyone else was socialising. It was a pity that he wasn't the best at interesting small talk.

With a great shout of pain Rose's eyes snapped open. "Oh great, broken ribs. . ." She cringed and tried to breathe evenly, but failed due to where the ribs where broken. "Guess I won't fight without weapons again anytime soon." Everything looked red to her, and she was also seeing spots. She eventually figured out that Akar was holding her and her face flushed bright red. The fight earlier hit her like a freight train and she groaned. That was exactly the feeling that was setting in, her whole body ached and the mud was bloody freezing cold. "And the day started out "so" well." she said sarcastically.

“Don’t worry yourself about it, Tatsu. I’m muddy enough already – I may as well just lie in the mud myself.” He said quickly to the lifeblood dragon. He didn’t want him to get any more upset about the mud, and he had no dislike of it himself, really. If Zayela could work on the mud, he would make do.

“Yeah, it did, sort of. I think it was a broadsword, and those buggers really hurt.” He commented, wincing as he caught sight of one of the splinters of bone. It was a mess – his leg felt like it was made of bundles of straw, and it hurt like nothing else he could imagine.

Measle turned to help Jackdaww to the ground – he used his head to lower him to the ground as gently as possible. Jackdaww whimpered slightly as the broken bones shifted with the movement, but after a few moments he was sitting (albeit uncomfortably) in the mud. He pulled off his chain mail shirt, so that no extra filth could get in between the links, and braced himself for whatever Zayela was going to do with him.

Measle, however, simply looked away. He wasn’t too fond of blood, really, and Jackdaww’s knee was just a disaster. It made his own leg throb sympathetically just looking at it, so he decided not to.

He was tired, and wanted nothing more than to lay down by the fire and rest. The dampness that had followed them for the last few days clung to his scales, and both he and Jackdaww were miserable. It seemed like they had spent so long looking for this paradise, and all they had found was a mud hole. However, it was better than walking, and that was what mattered really.

Lena watched as Talos finally settled a bit, glad she had brought their daughter up and a smiled pulled at the corners of her mouth. “There is no way she would keep it on.” She knew it was a true statement; they had a hard enough time making the girl wear shoes and a coat in the colder weather let alone some over bearing frilly thing similar to what Kol’s half-sister, Ren, wore willingly all the time.

Lena got a more serious expression however when she joined Talos in looking over the camp. “I know,” She agreed, “But the fighting…it has to be done or dealt with and in smalls groups or nothing will get done.” She shrugged, hoping he wouldn’t be too disappointed that she dragged him away from that entire mess that just happened. “And privately…These people are going to think all of us have lost it, if they don’t already.” She knew she was stating the obvious, but what really was there to say right now? All she could do was to be there to support Talos when she could. “For now though…perhaps you can rest a little?” She suggested, not sure if he would even consider the thought at the moment but it was worth a shot.

As Atleon had asked, Hone straightened up again, her ears twitching self-consciously as she looked across at the prince. Although she had been part of royal ceremonies and celebrations, guarding the royalty and such, she had never been so close to Atleon before, and she was interested to see what made him so different to other humans. After all, if he was held in such high esteem by the rest of Dragon’s Cove, then there must be something different about him, right? However, that didn’t seem to be the case- to her, he just looked like another ordinary human being. Maybe it was just something she was missing because she was a dragon? Yes, that had to be it.

“I’m Hone!” said the lash Elite brightly at Atleon’s question, giving him a wide smile. “An’ um… well, there’s some Elite’s back on t’road back there,” she pointed in the general direction she had come from with one wing, flicking mud off her feathers again, “But we got our cart stuck. It’s geet muddy, y’know? But there’s some humans, an’ an Elfie, but he don’t like me callin’ him that, an’ more dragons!” She grinned again. “Apart t’that… they might be back in Didienne… or Tarz… or Racksom- no, oh wait, Racksom’s not Racksom any more, ista?” She gulped, chewing on her claws. That probably wasn’t a good way to go.

But no doubt Atleon would be more distracted by the arrow sticking out of him. Hone recoiled as he brought it up- she had been too overwhelmed by the fact that the prince… well, was the prince! that she hadn’t noticed.
“Ewwww! Y’have an arrow stickin’ out of you!” She pulled a face, scrunching up her nose under her metal armour faceplate.

((Yeah cos I do replies on xmas day BECAUSE I AM THAT COOL :3))

Guest

“Lying in the mud isn’t particularly sanitary but,” Zayela stopped as Jackdaww laid down in the mud anyway. “Oh well, works just the same.” The tear dragon hung her head over his knee to look at it again. This was a very compound break and it confused her as to how the hilt of a broadsword could have done this much damage. The knee is one of the strongest bones in the human body and Zayela had never seen or heard of it being shattered like this in all her years. Before she could start healing another man came over to their group. The way that Hone acted was like this man was royalty. Zayela didn’t really know who he was. She had lived most of her life trying to stay out of society seeing as she didn’t like the whole hierarchy thing. Everyone was equal in her eyes and most humans and dragons with noble status thought themselves better than the men working the fields. “I’m Zayela, no disrespect but who are you?” She turned back to Jackdaww before he could answer.

Zayela reached down with her claw-tipped hands and placed them around Jack’s knee. I soft blue light emanated onto the knee for a few seconds. “Jack your bones are different than most human’s. Hollow, almost like that of an avian. Did you know that?” Water encased the knee now as Zayela worked her magic. Under Jack’s skin the bones slowly moved and shifted back into the places that they were supposed to be, reforming his knee. Once they were all in place a slight snap occurred and they all mended back together. “All finished,” she said with a toothy dragon smile. “Why don’t you try it out?” She turned her attention to the other man now. “What was it you needed?”

Dorloan could feel Tegan blushing without even having to look up at her face. He chuckled quietly to himself. Women were so easily embarrassed. It was just a bit of skin after all. Dor still hadn’t quite figured out how that was so embarrassing when he heard a whisper in his mind. It wasn’t discernable by any means, maybe because someone was trying to keep him out. He looked up at Tegan for a moment with a puzzled look on his face then stood up straight. “That’s finished. Sorry if that was too embarrassing for you.” Dor turned around to look at the autumn dragon. “Your dragon knows I could heal her too right Tegan? Or is she just too stubborn?”

Dorloan crouched down again to Tegan’s ankle. “What is it with people and using broken limbs even when they know they’re broken,” he mumbled to himself as he inspected it. This one was a quick fix though. It didn’t take much to heal an ankle. Dorloan placed his finger where the break in the bone was and magic flowed out of it. The broken boned snapped back into place and was healed. He stood back up and looked Tegan in the eye. “For future reference, you shouldn’t use a broken bone. It only makes it worse.”

Armeno’s voice brought her back down to earth again. She blinked and took a few moments to gather head in order to produce an understandable reply. “Oh,” she had to think, what had she been doing around camp other than the obvious? “Um,” Okay, stop making strange noises, “nothing interesting worth mentioning.” She admitted. “The same as everyone else really, just helping out where I can, even though it all seems pointless at the minute.” She shrugged, looking out into the distance again and over to where Atleon had disappeared to. Oh this was a mess.
She gave a pathetic glance up to the elf. “Any point in asking what you’ve been doing?” The answer was probably obvious. Everything at the moment was so obvious, but at the same time so unclear. She drummed her fingers on the edge of her sheath, sighing inwardly.

Bittersweet thoughts of their daughter were swept away soon enough, the reality of their situation pressing away what comfort thinking of Oriana could bring. A feeling of sinking swept over him and he scrubbed at his tired face with his palms, running his fingers though his tangled and damp wind-swept hair and looked up at the sky. It was a mass of grey, the light drizzle continuing to pitter down just like it had all morning and probably would continue to fall through the rest of the day and over night. Lena was right. The others probably thought the three of them were crazy. For whatever reason he had become the leader of this motley crew, and the second he had seen Atleon his temper had flared and gotten away from him. Of course it was easy to blame that on the fact that he hadn't gotten decent sleep or food in near a month and had spent all of last week on the wing watching their back for an approaching enemy army. But honestly, those were weak excuses that anyone could have made. He was better than that. He had to be better than that.

Releasing a large sigh he looked down and wiped the rain from his face with his hands and gave Lena a small smile. "No rest for the weary." He mumbled gruffly and looked to where Atleon had gotten off to talking to that rainbow of a dragon. It was only then that he noticed that the armor the dragon was wearing wasn't normal, and he blinked in disbelief. The Elites? A touch of bitter humor graced his face. Well, they were a week late, but at least they had come, right? He almost started for their group but thought better of it. Talking to the Elite would probably just get his temper up again, and that was the last thing he wanted. Instead he looked to Armeno, standing with the woman who he faintly recognized from the battle at Racksom and headed that direction instead. "We do need to get things puzzled out a'fore them damned Surahans come prancin' this way. The prince looks busy with his new friends, so I suppose I'll start with this guy." He said to Lena as a way of explanation for his actions. "I dunno what's up his ass, but he's got an opinion, so maybe he's got a plan. That's a start." Steeling himself for whatever insults to his intelligence the elf could throw at him, Talos walked straight over to the pair. "Right, so, our introduction was a bit rocky, but tell me who you are again?"

(( Tegan= Dorloan, Mask= Rose, Tatsu= Zayela and Atleon ))

Tegan shook her head, immediately composing herself. "No no, it's fine," she said simply. She pulled herself out of Lyrian's head and instead looked back at her dragon. It was true that the Autumn dragon was very temperamental when it came to being injured, but it wasn't so much the fact she was stubborn, more she was just picky over who cared for her. And by that, she only let Tegan anywhere near an injury. Assuming she herself wasn't injured. "She wouldn't let you even if you tried. Only I'm aloud to do that, and only if I'm not hurt in the first place." She sighed and shook her head. "I suppose you could call that being stubborn. It does fit," she said shrugging. Her attention returned back to the male elf.

Tegan sighed as he investigated her ankle. Yeah she should have been off it, but after being a projectile off her dragon's back when they hit the ground, she really didn't have much choice. She was off it right now, wasn't she? She watched as he found the break and put his fingers over it. She cocked her head and watched him as he worked. It was interesting to see. After all, she only had magic in healing her dragon. Maybe others, but she never really tried. She preferred her forest-y magic. It was much more interesting to her. "I know, I know," she said looking away from him. "I didn't really have much choice unless I sat in mad for an hour." She returned her look to him. "Thank you," she said, sincerely.

When Rose woke up, Mask almost did one thing. Fall backwards into the mud. Of course, trying to catch him balance from being shocked the first time, he did fall backwards. He shook his head slightly and sighed. "That was probably not your smartest idea," he said softy. He wasn't going to make a big deal out of it though. He could tell she was embarrassed, and he really didn't want to make it worse. He stood up and brushed as much mud off him as possible. "Hold still," he said simply and went through the saddle bags on Sorrahkin's saddle. He found white bandages and pulled them out. Turning back to Rose he held his hand out. "The man you were talking to, the one with the arrow, he said we could still go get supplies if you're up to it," he said. "You should probably wrap this around your ribs though, or stay and heal."

Tatsu turned to look at this new man. He wasn't being interuppted, so was he not being talked to? The young dragon blinked as he thought that over. Then a thought occurred to him. "That must hurt," he said worriedly. He walked over to the new man, and stalked around him. "Can I do this one Zayela?" he asked. He really didn't plan on waiting for an answer though. He peered out from behind the man and smiled at his dragon friend. He had a feeling this one wouldn't be beyond his level of experience. It didn't look that hard. All he had to do was pull the arrow out, heal the wound at the same time, make sure no permanent damage was done. Ok, that wasn't really that hard.

"Hold still," he ordered to the man. He sat behind him and opened his mouth to grip the arrow. Of course, then he realized he couldn't focus on the wound. That wasn't going to work at all. Alright, so he needed a new way to do this. Maybe he could try using his powers completely. He hadn't done that in a while. "Alright, ready?" he asked. He didn't wait for a reply. Instead he focused really hard on the arrow. The wound was glowing red, but it wasn't enough. Tatsu pinned his ears back and focused harder, pushing himself. His eyes started to glow red and soon the arrow was being pushed from the Man's back without anyone touching it. The head of the arrow left the wound and immediatly shot back ten feet. Once the arrow dropped to the ground and the wound stopped glowing, so did Tatsu's eyes. He huffed, panting. "All.... Done... I think..." he said.

So there were a few more Elites not too far away from the camp and Hone knew approximately where to find some more, which was promising. It was not brilliant that she didn’t know their exact whereabouts but seeing that she was not the Elite leader, this lack of knowledge could be excused. It might not be divulged to everyone in their group for various reasons. He gave a small smile at Hone’s blabbering – she did talk a lot, she seemed to be a rather nervous being – but at least she gave useful information. “I will send a few men along with you to help you with the cart and once that is done I would require you to lead the rest of the Elites back to this camp.” Having Elites appear in the camp would give a bit of hope to the people, or so Atleon wished. And even if it should not, it would ascertain that the survivors had slightly more protection when they would soon begin to travel onwards.

When the tear dragon, who introduced herself as Zayela asked him who he was only to then ignore him, Atleon frowned a little but decided to let the obvious lack of manners slip – even if the dragon had meant no disrespect – especially considering that she was in the process of healing someone else. These were hard times for everyone and Atleon usually wasn’t the one to insist on formalities anyway unless they were really necessary. He did not even have time to think about the tear dragon for too long when the lifeblood dragon followed up on his request. “Yes, it does hurt,” the prince replied, “though I’ve grown used to it by now.” Atleon tried to ignore the fact that the lifeblood dragon was looking to the tear dragon for affirmation to take over the healing, which could only mean that the lifeblood was not quite as experienced. It is a straightforward wound, Atleon kept telling himself, [i]there is not much that can go wrong.[i] Surprisingly, the prince grew more and more nervous about this arrow, or rather the wound it was stuck in, the more he thought about it and he just wanted to have it over and down with now.
“I’m good,” Atleon replied when Zayela turned back towards him to see what he needed help with. He wanted to give the lifeblood his chance at healing. If something went wrong, the tear dragon could always jump in.

Seeing that it was a wonder he was still standing up straight, despite everything he could have and probably had caught in his wound over the week of travelling, Atleon was finally noticing just how much pain he had forced out of his conscious mind when the healer dragon was suddenly starting to work on the wound. Clenching his hands into fists, he did as the dragon had told him and held on. Forcing himself to neither move nor flinch while the lifeblood was at work, Atleon felt the tears stinging in his eyes while his hands remained firmly balled into fists and his mouth pressed into a tight line. He had figured it would hurt but he had not realised how painful it would actually be to have this arrow finally removed. He could feel the uncomfortable outward movement of the arrow as the flesh around it began to release the unfamiliar object. The healing magic of course helped to ease the pain and to stitch up everything the arrow had ripped on the inside but the prince felt very uncomfortable, to say the least. When the lifeblood finally announced that he was all done, or hoping so, Atleon did not move for a few more moments. He could still feel the workings of the magic under his skin and he was still under the impression that the arrow was stuck in his back. It would probably take a while for that illusion to go away again.

Once he decided to try and move, Atleon felt relieved to notice that the pain had almost completely ebbed away. It was an unusually liberating feeling after the previous week. Patting the lifeblood dragon lightly on the neck, he inclined his head in thanks. “Thank you, I feel much better now.”
Addressing the group as a whole, he slightly raised his voice to be heard by them all: “I thank you all for your cooperation with the healing and I am sure there are many more who would appreciate your skills if you are willing to continue your wonderful work. Please, do give a helping hand where you can, we may not be able to offer you much in return right now but I hope that our thanks, our appreciation and a place in our midst will be enough for now. As for the injured ones, please rest and rest as much as you possibly can. We will soon move onward again and you will need your strength. Hone, would you please come with me?”
Hoping the lash dragon would follow him so he could send a few men along with her to help and bring back the other elites. Meanwhile, he would have to talk to Talos, Armeno and Sandy, thus he swiftly began moving back towards the trio. They had to get the camp organised for the soon oncoming night and they would have to speak about a plan where to go from here. They needed to move soon, and could not allow too many more delays. They needed shelter, provisions and most of all, they needed recruits if they were to stand against the dark army which would soon start moving again.

In response to Sandy's words, Armeno nodded slowly.

'Hopefully the citizens will start to get a grip soon. I've been training some of them to fight better, in between other jobs. They're learning, but...' He shrugged. 'There's not enough time, and I can't do enough alone.' He sighed grimly, before pushing aside the thoughts and looking up as Talos reapproached. At least he was done with his romantic moment. A thread of guilt at his rash promise to meet Kassandra at the beach wove through his mind, but he firmly ignored it as he stepped forwards to greet the avian.

'Armeno of the Narandal family,' he reintroduced himself. 'And you, I believe, are Talos.' He nodded formally, hesistating a moment before extending a hand for the other man to shake. A moment later, a movement caught his eye, and he glanced up to see Atleon making his way towards them. 'Ah, it looks like we'll be able to start discussing what to do next.' He nodded to the prince as he approached, even stretching to a small and brief smile.

“H-hollow? How on earth..?” Jackdaww stammered slowly as Zayela set about healing his leg. His puzzlement almost stopped him thinking about the break, until the dampness around his leg cut through his thought. It stung the raw flesh around the messy break, and the sight of it made Jackdaww cringe in disgust. Then, as the bones started to knit together, he whimpered slightly, digging his fingers into the ground through the mud to fight off the pain. It was nowhere near as bad as waiting for the wound to heal, but even with the magic it hurt.

When Zayela had finished, however, the relief washed over him like a wave. The burning feeling that he had almost gotten used to on the way there had gone, and he felt as good as he ever had. “Thank you – thank you so much. That is wonderful.” He said, honestly awestruck. He had always been a little suspicious of magic, but he was certainly glad of it now. However, the question of his bones simply wouldn’t go away. He gripped Measle’s shoulder to haul himself out of the mud (still favouring with uninjured leg even though he had been healed) and stood shakily beside the lightning storm dragon.

“How can my bones possibly be hollow? It just doesn’t make any sense…” he said aloud, half to himself and half to Zayela, since she seemed to have a deeper understanding of it all anyway. It made perfect sense – he had always been lighter than he looked, and his bones broke very easily, but some part of him still refused to believe. He was out of his comfort zone, here in the makeshift camp, and almost hoped they would all be able to get moving again soon.

He hadn’t even noticed the prince until he spoke loudly to their whole group. However, once he did spot the man, he recognised him immediately, if only from pictures and descriptions. He didn’t say anything, but turned to the prince and bowed his head as a show of respect. It felt so alien to do such a thing, yet so unmistakably familiar. He had grown out of royal courtesies, it seemed, and he would do best not to forget them quite so easily.

Rose looked at him. "Wrapping sounds good for now, later I'll worry over healing." She winced and stood up, having felt exactly where the pain was radiating from as she straightened. "I will walk instead of ride, but let's get moving, the sooner this gets done the sooner all this madness ends." The "madness" being the pain in her side, which at the moment was unbearable and difficult to hide. She figured that she'd just sit around at home with her companion until her side quit hurting, then she'd come back and survey how everyone was doing. Fate had a different idea, and it was one she probably wouldn't like too well.

Lena watched Talos carefully, noting the lines of strain that were not previously on his handsome features. A small frown touched the corners of her mouth when he said that he wouldn't be resting and she felt the need to protest his actions rising sharply, but what was the point? He wasn't going to let this go, and she understood that but as protective as he was of her she was of him. He was tired, worn and soaked to the bone from the rains that had been plaguing the unfortunate area where they had decided to make camp.

She did however admire his ability to keep going and that was enough to hold back her want to argue with him....for now. She nodded at her words to him and decided she wanted nothing to do with the little man meeting that would soon try to take place once more.

Lena shifted her attention to the odd masked one and the woman who had attacked her, she placed a hand on her stomach in remembrance of the swift kick she had given her and sighed. Was she really destined to have no female friends? She snorted indelicately, knowing she didn't much mind and looked back onto the camp, hoping this meeting went better than the first.

Once Hone had noticed the arrow sticking out of Atleon’s back, it was hard for her to not stare- it was just so wrong how it stuck out, and wasn’t supposed to be in a person. They were supposed to be looking shiny and unused and stuck to a wall to be admired and occasionally polished (that was a really terrible job, it always set her off sneezing for hours afterwards). The last place an arrow was supposed to be was in the prince.

It was when Tatsu actually took the arrow out that the lash Elite had to look away-not because it was too gory; it wasn’t pretty, safe to say- but because she had other things to watch. The other two-legs that Atleon had been talking to had decided to group up again, and she wanted to make sure they weren’t about to get into another fight- or at least, not another fight without her supervision. Because it was acceptable to have one if she had okay’d it first. That was a given, of course.

Hone turned back to Atleon once the lifeblood had managed to remove the arrow, her ears perking up at his orders. She nodded and swiftly followed him, picking up the little group of men than he managed to assemble and greeting them with a perky smile, before saluting jauntily with one wingtip to Atleon, and heading off through the camp in the general direction she thought the rest of her patrol would be in. Thankfully her fluctuating-in-usefulness sense of direction hadn’t done her too badly, and soon they were on the road back to where the lash dragon had left the others struggling with the cart.

She leapt into a run once they were close enough to pick out the individual figures, leaving the men Atleon had given her behind in her haste to get back to her patrol. The cart was out of the mud, and although everyone looked pretty pleased, they were also looking pretty tired. Not to mention muddy! Hone headed straight for one of the other two dragons in the patrol, fluttering her head fins in excitement at the much bigger red rock.
“Zeal, Zeal, Zeal! Lookee, found some two-legs an’ a camp, an’ ooh, you’ll never guess who I met! Gar on, try an’ guess, I bet y’cannae guess. There were lotsa other people too, but thissun was t’most important. An’ I fell over in t’mud too, kinda gunky now.” She paddled her paws on the ground, feeling the mud squelch up her claws.

Guest

After all was said and done Zayela figured she might as well follow the prince and Hone. She would just go to the middle of the encampment and heal anyone that needed it. She walked into the area where the most people were gathered and sat down. She took in a deep breath and with her loudest dragon voice she called out, “BRING OUTCHA WOUNDED!”

Dorloan finished healing Tegan and stood back up. “It’s my pleasure. I’m not of much use other than for fighting and healing. And it doesn’t look like there will be much fighting around here, for the moment at least.” He looked around confused about what to do next. Then he heard the dragon’s booming voice from the camp. “I suppose I could go help that dragon out.” And with that he jogged off into the camp.

The transition between flying through sunny, blue skies and dank, cold rain is a great difference indeed. In fact, under normal circumstances, most dragons would probably fly around the storm. But in this case, Ericius would gladly fly through a hundred storms, if he knew it would take him where he was going now. Though the water was drenching him and the banners that he flew and clouded his vision, he knew that he would soon be at the silver lining: "Atleon, be patient. I'm almost there."

After an hour or so of uneventful flying, not counting the occasional draft of wind that sought to steer him off course, he finally saw it :The Everbridge. And, to his delight, he saw an encampment of scattered tents, and people and dragons mulling about. Eying the camp hard, he scanned faces, looking for... yes! There, there he is! He couldn't mistake that face, not after spending hour after countless hour studying its portrait, though the real thing looked a little worse for wear. He angled downward and started heading for the ground, wings flapping heavily in slow intervals to aid his descent. When he touched down, he was at the very edge of the encampment. He reached his head back and plucked the first, then the second banner from the saddle he wore, then hung them up in a nearby tree, idling for a few moments to admire the royal colors. Nodding at them, he turned and strode through the camp, making a beeline for Atleon, only changing course slightly to avoid tents. In no time he was in view, and Ericius got as close as he could to Atleon while admiring personal distance, then bowed his head before him.

"I have come for you, Atleon."

» (Eastern Everbridge Camp) Settling the Score at Everbridge (14th Board)
» (North of Azure caves, east of Racksom) ~~~~Peace in the Everplains~~~~6th Board
» C1 Racksom~~~~And then, there was War~~~~(5th Board)
» (C1, Racksom) The Making of Men (12th Board)
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