Event: Day 301 [OPEN]

[bastionpc]

Who: Everyone who wants to be involved, plus a ~*~surprise guest~*~
Open: Open
When: Day 301
Where: Roathus Lagoon
What: oh look it's time for a core
Format: action
Warnings: none yet

[When Nathaniel calls for one of the all-too familiar meetings regarding cores, he looks pretty unhappy. In fact, he looks like he has some bad news to give. Whatever it is, everyone should come listen, because it's pretty important!]

Comments

[bastionpc]

[Rob, in addition to stabbing yourself, Zuko pushing you has sent you tumbling towards the edge of the chunk of Skyway everyone is on. Falling off the edge is a very real risk here.

Zuko, pushing Rob out of the way may have saved him from the anklegator, but you got in the way and will have at least gotten clipped by the horn. Impaling won't have happened, but that much force may have broken ribs at the very least.

Otoha manages to avoid getting eaten, though, and gets a good slice into the anklegator's face. The pain makes the anklegator writhe, so Mitellux won't be able to get a firm hold on it, but her claws will definitely gouge a line of claw marks into it as it dives back underground. The scent of blood from it may make it easier to track as it tunnels around, moving itself into position to try to get underneath someone again.]

[daughterofursa]

[Ow.

Zuko is down for the moment. Not that she hasn't probably fought with cracked ribs before (thanks earthbenders), but these may be her first breaks.

She can feel the anklegator tunnelling and in a minute she's going to try getting back on her feet because the pain of moving beats being eaten, but give her a minute first.]

[bakegarasu]

[Otoha can't track and it looks like the dragon might be in a better position to fight it right now, so he dashes to try to grab Rob and haul him back from the edge. Even if he might get blown back, he doesn't trust him to not land wrong.]

[legendary_can_opener]

[Mitellux, on the other hand, most assuredly could track. It was her job, both during and after the war, to be able to hunt down her targets]

[Her nostrils flare, taking in the scent of the wounded anklegator. The corpse of its mate nearby did little to hamper her senses. Not to mention, she would be able to feel the vibrations once it decided to come bursting upward again]

[... hopefully it would come for her again, so that she could get a better grasp on the creature. She flexed her wings again, ready for flight at a moments notice should it target her next. She even pounded a claw into the ground a few times for good measure. Hopefully the ruckus would attract its to her]

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

[Rob is grabbed perilously close to the edge, but he fails to notice how close he came to falling. He scrambles to his feet and runs a hand down his face to get the muck off, then does his best to wipe off his hands and the hilt of his sword so that it isn't so slippery. He addresses Otoha.]

Thanks. Where'd it go?

[bakegarasu]

It dove under again. I think I'll let the dragon handle being the target this time.

[Was that a joke? ... Maybe. Kind of.]

[twinked_witch]

Not sure it'll go for her if it has a choice...

[Megaera draws her sword.]

Going to have to try to pin it down. Which... Won't be easy.

rolling based on who tagged in already o/

[bastionpc]

[That's two weakened, and then the big dragon. The rest of the people aren't as much of a threat or a target.

But this Anklegator isn't stupid. No, the first thing it does is tunnel up close to the surface near Rob, to make it seem like it's going to attack Rob. But once it's close enough to make his footing unsteady (and hopefully draw the attention of the PCs), it dives back down again.

A second later, it turns back up sharply, and pops out just behind Mitellux, aiming to bite her on the back if it can.]

[legendary_can_opener]

[Mitellux shoves off the ground, the anklegator's bite just narrowly missing her tail as she takes to the air]

STAY BACK!

[And the next thing out of her mouth... is a deluge of acid directly down toward the anklegator's face.]

[Guess she decided to use her breath weapon after all]

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

[Rob's footing does indeed become unsteady, but he quickly realizes what's going on and lets himself fall towards the lump in the ground where the anklegator is, driving his sword into the ground with his weight added to the force of the thrust. Of course since it was a feint the anklegator is long gone by the time he stabs where it was, but points for effort.

The yell startles him and he stumbles, but he manages to pull his sword out of the ground as he moves away. Acid wasn't really what he was expecting for a breath weapon, but his brain tears through its accumulated knowledge and shoves "acid-breathing black dragons" at him. While this knowledge is surely fascinating, it's not particularly useful at the moment. Not that there's much else he can do right now unless he's grown weary of having skin.]

[daughterofursa]

[Zuko has managed to work herself up to a crouch, but frankly she's grateful that that tunnelling doesn't come close enough to where she is to force her to move any more.

There's a grimace on her face that twists a little more with the added confusion of that definitely not being fire coming out of the dragon's mouth. What is it with all these dragons and breathing things that aren't fire?]

[bakegarasu]

[He's not going to question why the dragon is breathing acid and not fire, because he's just going to keep himself back. He knows he wouldn't feel pain from the acid, but having to be sidelined while he regrows skin won't be fun.]

[Though he's a little frustrated at missing out on the fight, but he can always fight something later. Maybe the dragon will spar with him once they're back to the Bastion.]

[twinked_witch]

[Megaera, oddly, seems completely unsurprised by Mitellux's breath, loosely guessing at how long it would last before she flew in to try and slice at the Anklegator from behind - hoping its attention would be on the dragon rather than the smaller creature.]

[bastionpc]

[W E L P

There's not much an anklegator can do about a sudden mouthful of acid to the face.

But enjoy your nightmares, everyone present. You get to watch a monster die a horrible death as it's face literally melts off.]

[legendary_can_opener]

[Mitellux has seen the effects of her acid breath too many times to be phased. She just lands with a thump near the anklegator, before turning back to her shards (and core)]

Now that that nuisance has been dealt with, we can depart for this 'Bastion' of yours.

[twinked_witch]

[Megaera's... Seen that a few times. And yeah, she's going to quickly land and put what she just saw out of mind.]

... Yeah. Let's go. Quickly.

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

[Rob will just... look elsewhere and down another Regenerate Health potion to get that wound closing up while hoping to forget that sight.]

[amphibian]

[Okay well that was pretty fucked up but now that the risk of getting caught in the acid spray is gone, Aoi's got more important things to worry about.]

Zuko!

[There hasn't been an opportunity to get in since she went down (for a few moments Aoi thought she might not get up and the panic, the awful familiarity but the wrongness of this happening here to her, had paralyzed her), but with the danger passed, Aoi sprints to her. She drops so abruptly to her knees at Zuko's side that Aoi slides, skins her bare legs on the dirt, ignores it in favor of grasping desperately at Zuko's hands.]

Are you okay?! [Afraid of making things worse, she recoils and presses her hands against her chest.] I—you—I was so— [She has exactly enough tact not to wail you could have died, but the tears welled up in her eyes start pouring down her cheeks.

Asking the question again isn't going to change the answer, but she's at a loss of what else to say.] Are—are you... [Her voice breaks with a hard swallow that is an attempt at restraining a sob.]

[daughterofursa]

[The sheer level of concern Aoi is showing for her stuns Zuko into silence for a good minute. There were tears in Katara's eyes after Azula shot her with lightning, but not like this. Did it look worse than it is?

She's got to reassure her, though, so she finally manages a wry smile.]

I'll be fine. I've had worse.

[The words are a little strained because it does hurt just breathing but it's true. She's been worse off before.]

[amphibian]

[This does a little to assuage her, if the fact that the tears don't come back as fiercely when she wipes them away on her sleeve, but the wide-eyed panic in her expression remains.]

I-I thought—I couldn't— [Words have never come easy to her, and even if she were any sort of eloquent, there may not even be ways to string together the awful hollowness in her chest carved by fear of loss that she has not quite shaken, that she may never find out how to drive away; she can't imagine what it would mean to lose Zuko who is her best friend, who has always looked out for her, who supports her endeavors even as others dismiss them, who has made her feel safe when she thought she had forgotten what that meant—much less articulate it.

And instead of putting all her fear and fondness and feeling into words, Aoi lunges forward to Zuko and kisses her.

It's a little closer to inelegant face-mashing, all desperate emotion and instinct and uncertainty—in seconds she pulls back, wide-eyed and trembling.]

I—I was so scared! I... [Her entire face turns bright red as she actually processes that she's done something. She fumbles for something else to say, like she needs to justify it.] I...I was so scared!

[A+.]

[daughterofursa]

[Okay we're back to stunned. Aoi just kissed her.

Did she pass out?

No, breathing still hurts.

She's also still a girl. Does this mean that's not a problem anymore?

Zuko's going to have to work on processing that more later, because this is when it really hits her that Aoi wasn't just afraid that she got badly hurt, she was afraid for worse than that. She was afraid Zuko might leave her.

She grabs for Aoi's hand.]

I'm not going anywhere.

[bakegarasu]

[... Otoha just stares for a moment because - look he's seen two girls kissing but not two pretty normal girls kissing and he actually flushes for a brief moment, before coughing inelegantly and raising his eyebrows, back to his more stoic expression.]

We should get going. I can carry you if you need. ... And I've got bandages if you want them.

[four_quarts]

[In the background, Ghaleon silently pumps his fist. Finally, he thinks. It took those two long enough.

Alas though, they do need to go, which means doing his job.]

Aoi, would you be a dear and let me check Zuko for any broken ribs?

[legendary_can_opener]

[the dragon turned her head to see what all the commotion was about and-]

[oh. This was a familiar sight. She couldn't help but reflect on the time she'd ambushed a couple of fools who thought it was a good idea to 'celebrate' on the battlefield]

[Mitellux let out a small snort. Did they really think now was a good time for this? Where was their sense of self-preservation???]

This is hardly the time or place for such things, unless you two are trying to make yourself an easy target for anything else that may come by.

[daughterofursa]

[The shock is passing, but there's more feeling to follow, so much more than with her first kiss, that awkward and unwanted peck from Jin. It comes on her slowly, because it's still so hard to process, still so unexpected for anyone to care about her as a friend, much less more than that. Even as her face flushes with embarrassment that this is happening with an audience, beneath the pain in her ribs there's a growing warmth. It's like feeling the sun, only it's not her bending that's gaining strength from it.

The others are right. This isn't the place for it and they should get going, but she really doesn't want to let go of Aoi's hand. This might stop being real.]

I- I definitely cracked a few. At least.

[She doesn't look directly at Ghaleon or Otoha (and certainly not Mitellux this dragon is clearly not aboard the ship), but instead watches Aoi cautiously. She shouldn't need to move out of hand-holding range for Ghaleon to look at her.]