Day 196 // Open

[wayofvoice]

Who: Paarthurnax and folks
Open: Open
When: 196, in the evening
Where: By the river
What: Amongst the things from a land of mountains and frost: a pair of gloves meant for more than thieves. A creation of metal and steam and other things from a race that didn't need the Calamity to do themselves in. Glowing plants that chime.
Format: any
Warnings: Grampadragon is harmless (usually). No guarantees for the rest of the losers in the Bastion.


In the absence of the group that head to Sky Haven Temple, the Bastion has brought something to fruition for Paarthurnax. In the evening as the dragon returns, he circles about before landing by the riverside to inspect his new prizes.

The most notable is an enormous construct which shines in the light of the dimming sun. It almost seems to breathe in and out, but that's just the puff of steam which exit from it- a sign it's active if nothing else although it doesn't seem to move. Draped across one of its arms are a set of gloves, a dark contrast against the brilliant metal.

The last of his acquisitions would be the plants which now are growing along the river's edge and amongst the shore of the lake. It's harder to tell in the daytime, but as it grows darker, one can see the pale green glow they give off. It's one constant, however, is the faint chiming noise that becomes readily apparent to any who are near to it.

Paarthurnax seems pleased with it all, inspecting the Centurion carefully and brushing his nose against the plants.

Comments

[dragonform]

"Well... Some parts of it are a blur now. My first few transformations weren't really at will." He starts, giving himself a moment to get comfortable and figure some parts out. "There was... A mine. See, where I'm from, if something dies that has especially powerful magical abilities, their remains eventually become chrysm ore. It's used to power a lot of different machines, and there are huge technological advances that were made as a result.

That's where they found me. A couple of miners found me and tried to detonate the vein. I don't know how I got there, or how long I had been asleep, but their explosives woke me up. I remember being scared. They were just as scared, they attacked me, and..." He trails off for a moment, it's a memory that still bothers him. "I burned them. I was scared and angry and I didn't know what was going on, so I burned anyone that looked like a threat." It's pretty clear this part of the story is a little difficult for him to recount, but he takes a few calming breaths and moves on.

"They eventually caught me, I don't remember how they did it. I woke up in a cage and managed to break out. That's when I changed back from a dragon for the first time, and that's when my brother Rei found me. Turns out I had scared off some game and was about to be eaten by some curs. If he hadn't found me, we probably wouldn't be talking right now." He smiles a little, remembering how Rei recounted the story to him. He was sure there might have been a little embellishing, but still. It's sort of a happy memory for him.

"That's when Rei and Teepo took me in, and taught me how to survive. I learned a lot from them. We used to steal from people to survive, but... That got us in trouble later." He pauses, glancing up to Paarthunax if the dragon had any questions so far.

[wayofvoice]

Paarthurnax really is a patient listener. He takes care in Ryu's words, and doesn't interrupt. Everything is simply taken in. It's only when he's finally looked to does he give a slow nod.

"When one is desperate and confused, unfortunate things may happen. It simply is." There's no judging for either Ryu attacking the miners or thieving. "What occurred then?"

[dragonform]

"So they tried teaching me how to mug someone. To be honest, I've always been awful at it. I eventually got better at stealing from monsters, but it's not something I like doing. They set me to attack merchants and traders on the road, though they insisted we were only scaring them and not actually hurting them. They eventually set me on to an old man who lived in the woods, his name was Bunyan." He answers, smiling a little at the memory.

"He seemed so big back then, he was strong enough that he knocked us all out with no problems when Rei had the bright idea of trying to break into his house and steal some food. Bunyan thought we should do some real work, so he sent Rei into the mountains to hunt a monster. Teepo and I caught up with him and fought her, it was a monster we called Nue. That was probably the first real time I put myself in danger." He shakes his head after a moment, turning to Paarthunax. "Do you remember how I acted while we were hunting the Gasfella? That Nue we were hunting was also a mother, trying to protect its cubs. But by the time we killed her, the cubs were long dead. Bunyan knew all about them, and he asked us a question when we came down. He said to us: If you had known the cubs were there, would you have let her live?"

It's a question Ryu has mulled over a great deal, even in the years since the event has passed. "To be honest, I don't know the answer to this day. She was still attacking the farmers' livestock, but she was just trying to feed her cubs, even if she didn't realize they were dead."