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Post by Morgan on Feb 14, 2020 22:52:50 GMT -6
 Pao | Female | 23/53 (Adult stats below, don't worry, there's no real need for stats right now anyway.)
Stamina: 8
Strength: 1
Resistance: 0
Dexterity: 20
Mentality: 1
Special Abilities: Swim, Fly, Refined Senses, Bioluminescence, Empathetic Link
Moves: Dodge, Surprise!, Balefire, Flash
Knows:
Tricks: Name, Come, No, Tolerance, Stay, Follow, Search, Land
Moves: Swim
Abilities: Danger Sense Morgan was fairly quiet as they went out with Pao by herself today. There were some things that Morgan wanted to speak with her about, away from the 'lovebirds', and even away from the other tat-lung siblings. The truth was that Morgan didn't understand how Pao had come into Morgan's care, and they had looked into the information over time. They had gotten scant information in return, but they had long suspected that perhaps Pao would know more about this than theirself, though she was fairly quiet most of the time. Pao had been asking questions a million and one at a time; tat-lungs learned quickly but that didn't account for a lack of experience at all. The bespectacled human gently allows Pao into the water of the docks, in a nearby offshoot, and then smiles down at her, using LSL and their ring that allowed them to speak to tat-lungs to converse with her quietly, about anything that she wanted to ask about. Morgan didn't mind waiting to get the information. There was no need to overdo it at all. The sky had been threatening to rain all day, but it hadn't quite done so yet. It wasn't supposed to until night, and it was just about four in the evening right now so they should have time. Pao enjoyed the change in air pressure anyway, felt it through the water with her sensitive whiskers. "They grow so fast..." Morgan marveled, quietly, and without translating it to Pao. They crouched on the side of a dock that had seen better days, gazing down into the water at the large red dragon- still in fish form, but that wouldn't be for long. For now, it didn't seem like anyone was around, and it was how the human preferred it. They chose this otherwise pretty undesirable dock since it was typically abandoned for better prospects for training sessions, and Morgan was built light enough anyway. |
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Post by Silver on Feb 14, 2020 23:25:19 GMT -6
 Shikui (Female) Level: 16
Loyalty: 39
Stamina: 5
Strength: 6
Resistance: 6
Dexterity: 7
Mentality: 6
Special Abilities: Swim, Fly, Telepathy
Moves: Dodge, Bite The world was settling into rain, which normally wouldn't be a problem, but it did make Kumoya pretty hyper. Silver wanted to take a moment to themselves, so they wandered out to see what the day had to offer. There was a quiet little pool of water on the edge of their property that they liked to sit at when they wanted some alone time, so they habitually wandered down that way. On this particular trip, they were stopped by the swishing of a long feathered tail hanging down from the trees. Silver knew who the tail belonged to, of course, but they pretended to be surprised for her sake. "Oh my, I think there might be a monster in that tree!" they said dramatically like a character in an old horror movie. 'I wish to speak with you,' Shikui put the thought directly into their head, as if she were speaking aloud even though she wasn't. "I'm all ears," they said, brushing their fingers along their fluffy ears for emphasis. 'Not here. I want to take you somewhere first.' Silver did not know what she had planned, but they went along with it anyway. Shikui wasn't usually secretive like this, so they appreciated that it was probably important to her. Looks like they weren't going to get their quiet moment alone after all. They followed her all the way off the property, out of the city, and onto the docks. What could she possibly want to show them at the docks? They were much more curious than annoyed, which was probably a good thing for Shikui's sake. They were idly following her along without much concern for where they were going... until she stopped suddenly. "What is it? I almost walked into your butt!" Silver said grumpily. 'Our adventure must wait. I can see someone.' She circled around behind Silver and waited for them to take the lead. [87.6 - 16.2] ["Double quotes" indicate speaking out loud and 'single quotes' are telepathy.] |
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Post by Morgan on Feb 14, 2020 23:39:45 GMT -6
Morgan was a private person. It was partially a learned behavior, and partially a survival instinct. One doesn't stay part of the one percent in the Labs by making friends. They made sure to look like it, too. Tailored clothes that fit, really fit, with lots of pockets. Their (father's) Labcoat usually scared most folks away that weren't already put off by the prickliest personality around. Luckily, Morgan also didn't get a lot of visitors to their abode, no badgering salespeople or anything like that (getting rumors circulated about being a dangerous hermit that lets dragons roam around free on their huge estate was pretty helpful for that), but sometimes they still got annoying hangers-on that tried to bother them (like that dang jackalope).
One moment, and the human had been communicating with Pao, and the next second they silenced theirself, hairs on the back of their neck standing up. They stood, and turned around. Behind their glasses, their eyes glowed green, and positively buzzed with television-fuzz. Something was there, they could feel it. Morgan hadn't quite been able to catch sight of who or whatever it was... But Pao was still too young to take care of herself.
There were two beings, out there, somewhere. Nearby, very close. Probably just someone with their animal taking a walk, but that was a guess. People didn't normally come all the way out to this spot where there wasn't anything much around. The human's jaw clenched, and their fingers threatened to crackle with sparks at the tips. The human just barely managed to keep it at bay. Pao was naturally on alert, but not really frightened yet. Just more curious than anything.
(Morgan uses Basic Biosense. -3 Chaos MP. 22 Chaos MP Remaining.)
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Post by Silver on Feb 15, 2020 6:21:41 GMT -6
Something about this place made them feel weird. Weirder than usual. Silver did not yet realize that the weird feeling and the reason Shikui dragged them out here might be related. They were too busy being freaked out by the way she suddenly stopped. Shikui was a clever creature, and her senses were refined far beyond their own. They squinted out in the direction she had been traveling in, and they could make out a figure nearby. It was probably a person.
"I think it might be a person," Silver said in a whisper. They still spoke out loud, even though they didn't really need to.
'Should we... greet them?'
"I think so."
'You feel apprehensive...'
Silver was apprehensive. They still couldn't shake that weird feeling they were having, and it intensified dramatically when they noticed the other person standing there. People around here often had powerful magical creatures with them, so they knew to tread lightly. Silver's usual approach to such encounters was to appear as clueless (and, failing that, small/harmless) as possible. Shikui was not as used to encountering strangers, so she floated just above their shoulder and let them take the lead.
They took a deep breath and approached the stranger as soon as they finished convincing themselves that running away was a worse option. It was then that they felt it. The unmistakable invisible trail of magic. Their mismatched eyes widened and the stared like a deer in headlights at the other humanoid creature. Shikui was off put by Silver's reaction, but they were inexplicably compelled to investigate. She slipped past them so that she was now floating in front of them instead of slightly behind. She stretched her neck out with her crest of feathers high, looking at the stranger like a wild animal might look into a shiny camera lens.
[87.7 - 16.4]
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Post by Morgan on Feb 15, 2020 21:10:20 GMT -6
It was times like these when Morgan had a bit of distaste for their choice in elemental dabbling. They tried not to look back and regret decisions, but it made it worse when it did finally fill and bubble over like some demented baking soda volcano from hell. They didn't believe in gods, they didn't believe that magic was anything other than something that wasn't well studied enough yet to be a science and- and... And-
Knowledge is power. That's the long and short of it. Regardless of the ways that Morgan tried to fill their mind with endless babble in an attempt to control it, electricity was a difficult thing to conduit. Entropy, chaos, the works. Morgan shuddered, imperceptible even to Pao (who had the psycho-somatic link so powerfully entwined that it physically hurt Morgan's chest to look at her sometimes) and gritted their teeth behind closed lips.
They could feel it, the electricity. The neurons passing it through their bodies. It would be so easy to just... Pull, right there, and watch the whole cascade reaction. Quantify it, write it down, make a hypothesis, test it, again, and- and- Morgan's body remained stiff. They breathed out, just as Pao managed to fire of a flash of light, catching Morgan's attention. They dropped the thin little threads of electricity ineffectually, green light in their eyes dissipating, but they could still feel it crackle, somewhere, in the back of their head.
It is just people. People can be controlled. This situation is controllable. Morgan talked theirself down inside their own head.
The distaste is palpable, Morgan feels ill to their stomach, but now they can see the individuals- and one of them is a...
Tat-lung. Morgan gave Pao a quickly conveyed through the ring style warning that this was a full grown tat-lung, and then raised their hand in greeting to the individual and their tat-lung. What is normal to say- say something normal, do it right Morgan- "Oi-" cough "Foxy!"
That is certainly not how to do it what the hell? At least this person didn't have their shirt off all the time like the Jackalope, though. Morgan could feel the thoughts swirling, but they weren't as in danger of blowing anything up at least.
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Post by Silver on Feb 16, 2020 6:01:42 GMT -6
This was weird. Even weirder than usual. Silver knew that they were unusual looking, and big green dragons weren't the most normal thing in the universe, but this was strange even by those standards. The other person seemed very stiff and the air was filled with a palpable tension. The only question was: who would stop being freaked for out long enough to say something first?
Shikui looked back at Silver with a concerned frown. What was this person's deal? She didn't like it, not one bit. She wasn't used to interacting with people in the first place, so her anxiety was measurable. This person. What was their deal? Were they about to fight? They appeared human, but there was something... wrong.
When Morgan finally spoke, it broke the loop of Shikui's thoughts, and Silver too was startled to hear it. It took them a moment to even realize what had been said.
'Are they talking to you?' Shikui asked silently.
'Must be,' Silver responded, finally remembering that they could communicate in silence. They didn't think of how weird the subtle signs of a silent conversation might be to the new stranger. They had other things to worry about.
Silver slowly raised a gloved hand into the air and waved it around a little. "Uh, hey," they said. "Is this your spot? We don't mean to intrude. My friend here was just showing me something, I think."
As clueless (and harmless) as possible.
[87.85 - 16.6]
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Post by Morgan on Feb 17, 2020 3:37:01 GMT -6
Morgan's glasses only did so much, so it took them a moment to be able to gather a few things. The first is that this tat-lung must be like Pao, at least from what Morgan could gather. It was green, and Morgan did not know of any labs-produced tat-lung breeds that were actually green. That piqued their interest enough to force the last bit of anxiety from their frame. They still had no idea where Pao came from, and the possibility of gleaning any sort of information was positively something that could not be passed up.
"I do t-tend to pick this spot, but it isn't like this ole pier has my name on it." Morgan had decided on a course of action nearly immediately, information gathering was a priority. It was impromptu, and Morgan liked to plan first, but it couldn't be helped. "Pao and I-" They said, giving Pao a quick 'look' in that second "W-would not mind having some company, if what you two seek is 'round here." Morgan finished. It was a long shot, but hey, it might work. Pao was curious, but of course water-bound. She swam closer to the shore, casting her orange gaze on the older tat-lung.
Morgan tried to keep an eye on the tat-lung, they raised quite a few of them, so far. They knew how intelligent they were, it was nice to see a tat-lung leading their pet humanoid somewhere for once, that's where they belonged after all. No one could quell the heart of a dragon. They cast a quick greeting to the tat-lung using their ring, 'Greetings, mighty one.' It felt a little rude to address the humanoid first, but it was expected. Morgan tipped their head down slightly in a show of respect.
Just what kind of tat-lung was this? Morgan didn't want to ask too many questions too quickly, so they staved it off. The buzz in the back of their head was distracting, to say the least. Damn node.
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Post by Silver on Feb 19, 2020 5:47:15 GMT -6
Ok, so they weren't unfriendly, just... a little weird. Silver understood that better than anyone, so they were willing to give them a chance. There was still a hint of discomfort somewhere deep in their soul that they couldn't quite shake, but they were willing to put it aside for now. This was just a conversation between two people on the docks and their...
"Pao?" Silver whispered the name aloud unintentionally, but Morgan could probably hear it.
'There is an immature Tat-lung in the water,' Shikui explained. She had noticed before, but she considered it a nonissue until now. Not to be cocky, but she definitely did not consider the child to be a threat to her or Silver. This person, however, still had her full attention.
Silver nodded, picking up the info from Shikui and trying not to lose their place in the conversation. "I'm glad we're not intruding," Silver said. "I am actually not sure what we are looking for." They stared expectantly at Shikui, but by then she had heard what Morgan had to say and tuned Silver out completely. They rolled their eyes and shrugged, as if to say that they realized Shikui was no longer paying attention to them and acknowledging they probably couldn't so anything about it.
She had started their meeting skeptical at best, but after hearing what they had to 'say', Shikui decided that she liked this person. The crest on her head settled back into a more relaxed position and her face twisted up into a self assured grin. 'Can we keep it?' she asked.
'No! Just... no! People aren't pets.'
'But Tat-lung are?'
'It's not like that and you know it.'
'Fine.'
After their brief psychic conversation, she made intense eye contact with Morgan and pushed a thought into their mind. 'I am Shikui, and this is my friend, Silver. I am pleased to meet you.'
[88.45 - 16.8]
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Post by Morgan on Feb 26, 2020 6:43:14 GMT -6
Morgan did not always do well meeting new people. Okay, scratch that, Morgan knew for a fact that they would prefer not to. However, sometimes these sorts of things could be fostered, and saddled, and made useful even in situations where it would otherwise be incredibly difficult. The first thing that Morgan noticed earlier, of course, had been the tat-lung. Now they were noticing a bit more about the situation. Morgan had no idea what kind of tat-lung this was. Pao was getting a little frustrating, being trapped in the lake and all, and not quite being able to catch Morgan's attention to figure out what was going on.
Pao was asking about fifty million questions at once. This was the first time that they had been interrupted during an outing by other beings, and she wanted to meet them, as well. Morgan just hardly heard the sound, but gestured to the water anyway. "Pao is a tat-lung. One day, I woke up and her egg was t-there." Morgan said, matter-of-factly. "I am unsure as to how she came under my care, but she's ge-getting close to assuming mature form." Morgan had a lot easier time speaking in absolutes and dealing with facts clinically than they did anything else. It was easy to slip into that role.
"Perhaps then, you two can accompany us? Pao has a day off from her schoolin' today, and she's never met a tat-lung outside of her family." Morgan relayed, having looked at Pao for long enough now (less afraid of the new folks, but not less tension in the shoulders of course) to be able to translate using the ring. "She'd love to meet you." Morgan translated, signing and conveying a quick 'sorry' to the red tat-lung. I didn't mean to speak for you, Pao, but y'know, there's other ones like me and all.
Morgan looked up, and just about jumped out of their skin at the eye contact from the tat-lung. If it had been Seimei looking at Morgan like that, Morgan would have been far, far more concerned. It was odd, standing here in front of such a strong, more intelligent being, and not having anyone here to really protect them. Morgan conveyed after a moment's hesitation, "Shikui, and Silver. Fine names." And then, a moment's buzz in the back of their head before another conveyance. "Is there something you need to know? I know that tat-lungs are much more a-ah, blessed than we are. Ya kinda remind me of Ryuusei, actually." Ah, babbling, good way to make yourself sound smart to a being that easily makes you look pretty dumb in comparison. "It's not like any of my tats family to tell me we-where we are going, but they always know what they want when we get there." Morgan had sort of gleaned that much at least, if only rudimentarily.
If Morgan was having issues with the telepathy, they weren't showing it. It washed over them in waves, a whisper first, and then a push. Morgan could feel the thoughts, but they were distinctly alien. They'd wondered what this would feel like a long while back. They knew that some beings had the ability from reading, and now they knew what it felt like to be communicated with in that manner.
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Post by Silver on Feb 26, 2020 18:36:32 GMT -6
Silver had never been good at dealing with people, but they had gotten more used to it over their years in the City. Their relationships with their pets had made them a (slightly) more confident person, and they were even able to carry on a whole conversation with a stranger nowadays. Though they still lacked the ability not to mention their creatures as often as possible. Some things never change.
They were all too familiar with that sort of story. An egg out of nowhere? Fostered to life by a loving parent. Silver smiled at the thought, as they had come across a similar situation at least once in their life. That was a story for another day. They couldn't be too sure whether or not Shikui intended for them to run into another person and their Tat-lung today, but they liked the surprise. Hearing Morgan talk about Pao instantly softened their heart to them. Nobody who spoke about a creature that way could be truly evil, right? Weird magical energy or no, Silver decided to trust Morgan enough to do what they did next.
Silver shrugged their shoulders, dropping the messenger bag they always carried on the ground. "I would love to meet Pao, too," they said with a nod. It wasn't a lot to say after Morgan's whole mini-rant about the origins of the Tat-lung, but it would suffice. What happened next was a wild break from the norm, even for Silver.
They shook off their boots and gloves, revealing the dog-like pads on their palms and soles of their feet, and followed it up by taking their shirt off, too. It all happened so quickly that Morgan had no hope of stopping it. They turned slightly away from the others, showing a large burn scar across their back. With their pants (and only their pants) still on, they hopped ungracefully into the water. They were going to meet this Pao for themselves.
Shikui didn't even blink at Silver as they quickly disrobed and threw themselves into the water. The look on her face suggested that this sort of thing was not at all new to her. Her attention was focused on Morgan and the story that they were telling. She was used to being able to communicate with everyone she met, even though she chose not to, so she didn't stop to think it was weird that they seemed so comfortable 'talking' to her. She listened patiently and quietly, and seemed to mull over what they were saying before she spoke in return.
'Silver is quite... lost. I am hoping to show them the way.' They would have explained more, perhaps, but something Morgan had said was bothering her. They were perfectly respectful and innocent, so she didn't want to make a big deal out of it, but she couldn't help herself. Her pride was on the line. 'I also think that you are mistaken.
I am not a Tat-lung.'
[90.45 - 17]
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