the war of pirenne | dragons vs humans | closed

[seraphici]

Ahone Grays
¯¨'*·~-.¸¸,.-~*' ¯¨'*·~-.¸¸,.-~*'
Prince | Flying | tags; Moolettia & Aldara

It all happened so fast. The dragon, wait, Aldara was it? slowing down almost instantly and the girl being thrown off the dragon's back, sent flying through the air and falling at an alarming rate. Without a moment of hesitation and without a word spoken verbally, the prince cast a spell. A nearly translucent creature formed in the air just below the girl. It was a very faint lavender, only visible if you knew it was there. It was skinny, as if just made of bones, and was floating, somehow, its hands outstretched to catch the falling lady which it did, wrapping its arms around her waist, stopping her as sudden as a bird hitting a window which had happened multiple times to Ahone back in the central city. During all of this, the flash of colors that came from his hands and eyes appeared and faded as quickly as they came, though his magic could still be seen flickering in his eyes. And, just like before, this ruined him and nearly caused him to black out, going limp in the dragon's talons.

[Stargazingwithbees]

Moolettia; Female; Human; Tags: Ahone//Aldara

Moolettia was panicking, there was no way she could back out of it, a string of curses escaping her mouth in a hushed tone. She looked at the thing that had caught her, it was definitely magic, 'wait... Magic!' her gaze looked at Aldara as she swooped under her, carefully she managed to free herself of the magical creatures grip and landed on Aldara's back. 'Is he okay?'

Aldara; Female; Dragon; Tags: Ahone//Moolettia.

Aldara blinked in surprise when the creature appeared and caught Moon, she glanced at Ahone in slight worry, she carefully flew down below Moon, letting her fall onto her back, wincing as she spoke. 'Barely conscious again, we need to find somewhere that's... safe. When we find the cave I'm going to have to leave again to get sticks or something for a fire, it'll be cold.' she replied evenly, glancing at the creature as it seemed to fade slightly. She rose up, flying in soft strokes through the air, her gaze rested on a small gap, probably just enough room for her to get in. Carefully turning she flew towards it.

[multicurious]

Adira "Echo" Frey
____________________________
assassin | the city | cain

Echo observed that the city was busy and crowded, full of merchants selling their wares to receptive buyers. It was a perfect scenario; one that would give the assassin a facade that suggested that she was just another busy citizen. The hood of her maroon cloak was down, a dangerous but necessary act to avoid suspicion and unwanted attention. While she was looking around warily, her main focus was straight ahead of her. Ever since she had picked up the job, she had been tracking this particular man. She had been following him for a while, either staying one step ahead or shadowing behind. At the moment, she was tailing him closer than she had ever been able to, slipping in and out of stealth, and could barely stem the trickle of uncertainty seeping into her gut. While she didn't know much about her target, her client had said that he was dangerous. But then again, so was she. Melding her appearance effortlessly into her surroundings, she slid sideways into a shadowed alley and climbed onto the rooftop of a short building, looking to determine Cain's next move.

[seraphici]

Ahone Grays
¯¨'*·~-.¸¸,.-~*' ¯¨'*·~-.¸¸,.-~*'
Prince | Flying | tags; Moolettia & Aldara

When the girl was back on the dragon’s back, Ahone cut off the spell and the entity just seemed to disappear into a clear mist, some of it returning to the mage just enough to give him a bit of his energy back but not much. Deciding to not say or do anything else until they landed, he just closed his eyes, mainly to keep the wind from hurting them, and just rested. He hated this but there’s nothing you can do when you’re thousands of meters in the air

[Stargazingwithbees]

Moolettia; Female; Human; Tags: Ahone//Aldara

Moolettia bit her tongue, stiffly nodding, as they neared the ledge cave thing she slipped off Aldara's back and onto the ground before the dragon actually landed. She stared at Aldara as she placed Ahone down, she carefully neared him, she kept her distance though still weary of his magic. "You are awake, can you stand?"

Aldara; Female; Dragon; Tags: Ahone//Moolettia.

Aldara placed him down on his back as she landed, taking a step around them, she neared the entrance, humming softly, as the sounds bounced back to her she found the cave was more of a tiny cavern, her eyes scanning the area. It was big enough to fit 3 dragons around her size in, so it was okay, but a life but too small for her liking. Huffing she left the cave, glancing at her companions. 'Its safe, no dragon has been in there for years,' she looked at Ahone before returning her gaze to Moolettia. 'make sure he doesn't escape, it's going to get colder and in his condition, he'll probably die. I'll be back soon.' as she went to leave she turned and glared firmly at Moolettia. 'Stay here and keep hidden,
Don't disobey me this time.'

[jules_]

X I A O ---M E I
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rank ⇌ general
location ⇌ camp
tagged ⇌ Titus
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"Leave the most well-functioning ballistas, those that are damanged but usable should be moved to the new campsite. That should leave us enough to defend, but if we're attacked here there will still be back up weapons another location." Xiao turned to look at the prisoner's tent. "Also, I believe we should start picking men to move the prisoner in the morning. The dragon has echolocation, so it won't matter whether we move in the dark or not. We just have to be fast and get under cover as soon as possible. Pick your strongest soldiers." She didn't want to point out the fact that moving the camp was already a pretty huge undertaking, moving the prisoner would most likely result in death. The dragons seemed to consider them and the camp a priority target.

[FLYBOY]

Cain Dawson
The Freelancer || Location || City || Tagged || Echo

Even though the sun was high in the sky, in places shadows stretched entirely across the street. Tall buildings that stretched towards the clouds on either side of the road had an oppressive presence over the narrow, crowded lane. It was noisy; merchants hawked their wares, each trying to be louder than the last in their unending competition to outsell each other. Shoppers chattered loudly to one another, and haggled with the merchants to get the best deals they could. All of the city life contributed to the ever-present din, and everything was constantly in motion.

To Cain, it was the perfect place to hide in plain sight. He wove effortlessly through the crowd, hood raised to cover his face. He seemed to flicker from one cluster of people to another, constantly vanishing into the crowd. To the untrained eye, he would seem perfectly unremarkable. It would be easy for anyone watching the crowd to overlook him- in fact, anyone trying to watch him in particular would find their eyes sliding right over him and their focus beginning to wander to the many, much more interesting people he tread among. Most would not think anything of it. But some- a skilled assassin, perhaps- may recognize it as a subtle enchantment to help him blend in. Were he to stand alone, or if the person watching were particularly determined, it could not allow him to vanish from sight entirely.

Cain knew he was being watched. He had spent too much time hunting other people not to know when he was the one being hunted. It was an instinctual kind of unease, one he could not explain, but that set him on high alert as he noticed cues so subtle his conscious mind could not even commit them to memory. Were he paying attention, perhaps he could have pinned a solid cause to his doubts. But he didn't bother trying. His line of work made it very easy to piss people off; at any given time, it was safe to assume there were a number of people out there who wanted him dead. No point in spending his life paranoid; he merely made sure his skills and his magical collection were enough to keep him alive and went on with his business.

Speaking of business, today's was a rather tricky job. Mostly because he was to do it without killing anyone. A rich merchant in the area was suspected of conducting unscrupulous evidence; he was to break into the merchant's lavish home, find and steal the incriminating trade records, and escape undetected- which meant no bodies. The longer it took his target to realize anything was wrong, the better, or so his client had said. It was odd to be working for someone who was so... scrupulous. He spent much of his time working for people like the corrupt merchant, not trying to bring them down. But money was money, no matter whose hands it came from. His reputation let him demand a hefty sum upfront; he was promised twice that once he completed the job, in addition to anything he could steal from inside the house that wouldn't be missed before the trade documents would.

Cain walked with purpose, but not so much that he would draw attention to himself. Even without the magic, he would have done a fine job of blending in. Once he even stopped at a merchant's stall to purchase something. Except Cain didn't buy- he traded. His offer was a pocket watch made of gold and with a face encrusted in jewels. He held it before the shopkeeper, who excitedly snatched it up, and slid over whatever Cain had purchased- he hid it under his hand as he lifted it from the counter. The merchant squirreled away his half of the bargain as Cain turned to leave; as he strode down the street, he smiled faintly as he felt the watch return itself to him, the familiar weight settling back into his pocket. Worked every time.

The winding route, devised in hopes that he would be able to shake his pursuer, eventually led Cain to the home of his target. It would have been a mansion had it been farther from the city center, but here it was constrained by the size of the buildings around it. Still, it was a large building, and clearly well-maintained. This was someone too rich to care for subtlety. Even here, in one of the most affluent districts, it stood out. To the back of the building was a garden, full of exotic plants and tall hedges, and that was where he was headed now. Cain had been here the previous night to stake out the area, and discovered the side gate into the garden was protected by two guards, but they were lazy, and often got drunk on the job. Easy to distract, in other words.

Cain turned into the narrow alley that ran alongside the garden. As he went around the corner, he let a small object slip from his pocket and fall just out of sight. Once it hit the ground, the flat, circular stone unfolded tiny legs that gripped the cobblestone road, and a rune began to glow on its back. And then it emitted a piercing wail. A woman's voice, crying and calling for help, yelping something or other about a thief. The two guards startled upright from where they had been leaning against the wrought-iron gate they were meant to be guarding. One looking nervous, the other giggling drunkenly, they both reached for their swords and lumbered down the path in search of the noise. One bumped into Cain as they passed going opposite ways, and hastily apologized before breaking into a hurried trot. The mimic stone skittered this way and that, then dashed off to find somewhere to hide, leading the two guards on the wild goose-chase of a lifetime.

Cain smiled down at the keyring and the flask he now held in his hand. Pickpocketing the distracted guard had been almost laughably easy, and now he approached the gate with a confident swagger in his step. The key turned on the first try, and he quietly let himself in, then locked the gate behind himself and slipped the keyring back through the bars, letting it fall where the guards had been standing. Its owner would come back and assume he had only dropped it in his haste. The flask he kept; to report it missing would be to admit to drinking on the job in the first place. Cain took a swig from the stolen flask as he casually walked into the garden in broad daylight, not even concerned that anyone would try to stop him.

Titus Eutherius
The Captain || Location || Camp || Tagged || Xiao

Xiao didn't have to mention the likelihood of death. Titus knew anyway, as did their men. This was likely to become a very risky operation, one that would likely increase the unit's body count. But they had no choice. Moving was dangerous, but staying grew more dangerous by the hour. And in the end, everything in this damned war was dangerous, if not outright deadly. He had lost many good soldiers to it, and he knew he would lose many more. Still, it saddened him to know that in this situation, every decision he made would likely be sending people to their deaths. He knew what it was like to lose friends, to lose family. While he was good at putting it aside when he was in battle or in front of his battalion, the thoughts of how many had died under his command often found him later, and refused to let him go.
Titus was far more aware of the mortality of others than of his own. He did what he could to protect his troops, but would, without fail, fling himself into danger without a second thought. It was a habit that was bound to catch up to him someday, but it was difficult to waste time thinking of your own death when the lives of so many others depended on you. Besides, standing unscathed in dragon-flame thanks to magic of your own creation tends to do wonders for your self-confidence.

The truth of the matter was, most of the time, he simply couldn't afford to think of dying. He was nothing if not courageous to the last, and what good was a captain who would hesitate in the heat of battle because he was thinking of saving his own skin? Even now, as a threat loomed above them and another teetered on the horizon, he was in his element, directing troops this way and that at the general's instruction. At his word, tents began to collapse, hastily deconstructed, folded, and placed in stacks on the wooden carts that the pack horses were already being hitched to. He moved among the soldiers, easily mistaken as one of them if not for his cape. Even then, he was one of them. Some of his fellow officers had judged him for it quite harshly in the past, but Titus would rarely deliberately place himself above those under his command. Every last one of them was deserving of respect - for he was putting every last one of them in danger out here. To disrespect them would be to throw lives away.

One by one, Titus visited the ballista arrayed at the edges of the camp, and ordered those that had been damaged to be collapsed and moved. Each had its own small cart that it would be mounted on, and the clicking of horse hooves could be heard all across camp as more of the animals were retrieved from the riverside and led to whatever supplies or weaponry they would be transporting. Briefly, Titus met with his four lieutenants to explain the path they would follow, tracing it on a smaller version of the map housed in the command tent, before sending each off to gather their troops and instruct them on what to do next. As he went, Titus spoke with a few of his favored soldiers, telling each to rest well that night, for they would be needed for the most dangerous task of all come morning. Some of the men looked nervous, some looked enthusiastic or excited. All nodded their understanding and continued on to their tasks with the new knowledge fresh in their minds. Titus could only hope he had chosen correctly, and that all of them would make it safely to the city. Somehow, he doubted they would, and speaking to each face-to-face beforehand somehow made that knowledge even worse. He decided that he would pray for them, and seek Chaison's blessing later that day.

Finally, Titus returned to Xiao. He looked faintly worried, but resolved, and he had settled back into his usual calm and commanding demeanor. It was a far cry from the nervous, confused state the telepathy had left him in earlier; doing his job had helped him feel like himself again. He did not speak, only nodded to her, then turned to watch the progress as the camp was slowly taken down and the first of their number began to trickle out of the campgrounds and down the narrow, forested path that would hopefully lead them somewhere safer than this.

[jules_]

X I A O ---M E I
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rank ⇌ general
location ⇌ camp
tagged ⇌ Titus
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As Titus moved away to carry out her commands, Xiao felt the tiredness begin to creep back in as the adrenaline of the moment wore off. If they made it to that city alive, she was ordering a day break to at least sleep for a couple hours.Soldiers began emerging and moving, tearing down tents in record speed and packing up the damaged ballistas. She prefered it like this, being amongst the soldiers out in the field. It helped her forget for a moment exactly where she stood. Once, she had been one of them. Only a string of deaths had put her where she was, and now she felt like an outsider. If something went wrong, she was the one they cursed at night, the one to blame for any suffering or pain. It wasn't even just the soldiers anymore, her mistakes had to be answered to for the queen, the nobles, and the treasurers. With Ahone gone, she couldn't even think of the queen without feeling like she couldn't breathe.

Still, it wasn't time for self-reflection or self-pity. Xiao had bigger things to deal with, so she pushed everything down like she usually did. It would probably stab her in the back later, but as long as it wasn't now she didn't mind. In her introspection, Titus had returned from around camp. "We're not going to have time to bury the soldiers who died yesterday," She noted quietly, having seen the shrouds earlier. "Should we burn the bodies at least?"

[FLYBOY]

Titus Eutherius
The Captain || Location || Camp || Tagged || Xiao

Titus was silent for a moment, clearly thinking her suggestion over. It was clear from the heavy frown on his face that he didn't find it favorable at all. Burning the bodies of the fallen was borderline taboo, something that was never done unless they had no other choice. It was too reminiscent of dragon-fire claiming them even in death. It was a horrible way to die, and some superstitious folk said those who were burned could never find peace in the afterlife. Titus did not give in to superstition, but it unnerved him anyway. While he would never admit it, he feared the fire. Seeing his village go up in flames had left a lasting impact on him. But during his years as a soldier, before his promotion to captain, he had found a way to work around it. His own magic protected him, let him feel as though even fire could never touch him. When he had first stood in the way of a dragon ready to incinerate one of his fellow soldiers, he had felt invincible. They had upheld him for his bravery later that day, for his lack of fear. But he had decided that bravery was not a lack of fear. In that moment, he had been terrified. Bravery meant having the resolve to stand in the way of something that frightened him, and refuse to back down. He had gotten used to it, but even now, seeing fire stirred a quiet and uneasy fear inside of him. But he would gladly fling himself into it every day if it meant protecting even one other person.

Unfortunately, he saw Xiao's point- they would have no time to bury their fallen. They would have to be burned. Slowly, he nodded, and muttered, "It's better than nothing." He flagged down a passing scout and told him to relay his commands to his fellows- construct pyres, burn the dead. He kept telling himself what he had told the general- It's better than nothing. Better than letting them rot. Better than leaving them for the vultures to feast on, for the dragons to defile. Better than letting their bones decorate some dragon's lair.

By now the camp's deconstruction was well underway. Finding himself with nothing better to do, Titus began to follow after the scout, to help the men build the funeral pyres. He didn't often think of such things in regards to himself, but perhaps this instance had hit a little too close to home for the captain, for he only took a few steps away before he halted again and looked back at Xiao. "General?" It was impossible to tell, looking at his face, what he was thinking. "If this war claims my life before it does yours, don't let them burn me." It was so matter of fact. No matter how invincible he felt, he knew somewhere that he had no hope of surviving this war. Neither did Xiao. Neither did any of the soldiers, in the end. A quiet, peaceful life was an impossibility for them, and he would be a fool to ever dream of achieving a life free of the war. He had signed away his life the second he joined the army. And he accepted that. Without another word, Titus turned and began to walk again, to help burn the brave soldiers who had died following his orders.

[seraphici]

Ahone Grays
¯¨'*·~-.¸¸,.-~*' ¯¨'*·~-.¸¸,.-~*'
Prince | Some cave | tags; Moolettia & Aldara

Feeling cold stone on his back, Ahone opened his eyes and sat up, looking over at the girl. "I can try, but I doubt I'll be able to stay on my feet for long in this condition.." Pushing himself up off the ground, he stood as the dragon- er- Aldara flew off. After rubbing his eyes in hopes to keep them from drooping as much as they wanted to, he asked the girl, "where even are we? How far are we from the camp?" Realizing that she was staying quite a bit away from hi with a weary look plastered on her face, he tilted his head slightly. "What is it?"