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Post by Morgan on May 3, 2020 8:34:22 GMT -6
Ryuusei seemed... Agitated, today. That was a little abnormal, the unflappable Ryuusei was normally just that, but today he seemed almost reluctant to leave Seimei's side to go on an adventure, even though it had been quite a while since he had last been able to go on an adventure, just him and Morgan. The bespectacled human chocked it up to some kind of mushy stuff with Seimei, and after giving Seimei the 'what gives' look, left with Ryuusei to go to a quick trip to the Questing Board. Morgan wasn't going to pester Ryuusei about it just yet, but they had every intention in the world to ask him about what was going on. Now that they thought about it, Seimei had been a little funky last time they had went on an adventure with him, as well... That was more than a little worrying.
What was wrong with Morgan's boys?
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Post by Morgan on May 4, 2020 5:42:06 GMT -6
Everything with the tat-lung family and their human had to be complicated, though. That was just the way their little dysfunctional family worked, but at least all of them knew that at the end of the day, it would probably turn out okay? Ryuusei reluctantly follows Morgan to the quest board (they were going to arrive early this time because the last time they had come to get a quest they had been sidled with something absolutely ridiculous because there were only undesirable things left to do on the board and it was the best possible thing left- they certainly were NOT going to be late this go around if they could help it, and they had even shuffled around their immensely cramped schedule just to do it), listening to Morgan's babbling the entire way there. Of course, if he had been Seimei he'd already have told Morgan to hush up in some snarky manner...
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Post by Morgan on May 4, 2020 5:53:44 GMT -6
However, despite their closeness, Ryuusei was not Seimei, so where Morgan would have otherwise expected a snarky response and some grade-A banter, they only received a very patient but also very condescending head tilt. That was tat-lungs in a nutshell, or at least the ones that tended to like humans. Morgan gave him an apologetic expression that passed between them relatively easy. Morgan was becoming more and more aware that they had already solidified the psycho-social link with a lot of their family members, which was awkward to think about. Something to keep Labs-creations from rising up. In some ways it made Morgan feel icky. In other ways, it made perfect sense. After all, without it, what would keep the Labs-creations from rising up and destroying all people? It was a tenuous sort of protection too, and required 'owners' to solidify those protections by being halfway decent people or at least paying attention to their 'pets'.
Thinking of Tat-lung that way felt gross.
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Post by Morgan on May 4, 2020 5:57:21 GMT -6
However, it couldn't be helped. The damage was done and it was all Morgan could really do to be careful about their own family and protect them from others, which they would be vulnerable to in ways that most Tat-lung probably overlooked because they were above the ways of humanoids. The human couldn't help but pat Ryuusei on the shoulder, which seemed to concern Ryuusei worse, and then they came up on the questing board (well, they could see it, they weren't right up on it). Sitting below the sign was an elderly individual. Morgan didn't give it a lot of thought at first, but as they came closer (close enough for the individual to be able to tell that they were there) Morgan could tell that they remembered this particular elderly woman.
It was the garden woman from last year. Oh no. Morgan was not super interested in being sort of forced into any particular task this month.
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Post by Morgan on May 4, 2020 7:05:49 GMT -6
Ryuusei could sense Morgan's unease, but he did not immediately detect what was making the human so uncomfortable. When it finally occurred to the golden dragon that perhaps the thing that was making Morgan uncomfortable wasn't danger, it made sense to him that Morgan was simply being uncomfortable about being around other humans. Now that interested him. He hadn't really noticed that about his human before, and it was a surprisingly strange bit of a revelation to him. Why hadn't he noticed that his human didn't spend time around other humans often? Perhaps that was why this particular one was tolerable the way that it was. Humans were not generally this easy to deal with. Morgan realizes rather quickly that they will not be able to simply walk past or away now, the individual had noticed them. Morgan breathed out a sigh, and marched forward resolutely but anxiously, knowing the individual will want to small-talk.
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Post by Morgan on May 6, 2020 10:29:15 GMT -6
There was something about older folks that put Morgan on edge. Perhaps it was the 'knowing they should be respectful of them' that didn't always translate well for them, or perhaps it was the fact that Morgan's childhood tutor was quite frankly a horrid older individual, but the human wasn't certain that they wanted to deal with this person. It hadn't gone too horridly the year previously (even if Morgan didn't really enjoy tromping around in such an overgrown garden) so perhaps the person wouldn't bother them or at least wouldn't guilt them into doing something too difficult or time consuming.
The human was crossing their fingers and hoping that the woman wouldn't pester them. Could they not have one month of peace? Ryuusei was desperately trying to figure out what was going on, and it finally occurred to him that it might be because of the 'type' of individual this person was. According to his eyes, this individual had signs of aging, but also wasn't the same type of humanoid that Morgan was.
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Post by Morgan on May 6, 2020 10:34:26 GMT -6
Ryuusei reasoned rather quickly that it had to do with the aging signs. His human was more anxious than normal (and thus standing more smartly at first glance, though he knew better), even when considering that they didn't especially like other people, but Morgan wasn't this way just because a humanoid was a different kind of humanoid than they were. Heck, he could smell pretty decently that Morgan wasn't quite normal, even by human standards. However, it was still immensely interesting to him that Morgan was scared of such things. The way they dealt with this was eerily similar to Seimei, his love. He knew the signs from first glance, even without the emotional link to back it up. Because he knew both his human and his mate incredibly well, probably better than he would ever know himself.
Morgan attempts to step up to the questing board, with Ryuusei watchful but standing resolute a respectful distance back from the other humanoid.
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Post by Morgan on May 6, 2020 10:57:42 GMT -6
Ryuusei had learned a long time before (when he had been given some credits and sent out to go get him some of the street food he had wanted to try SO MUCH) that people were afraid of him. He couldn't help that he was kinda big, definitely superior, and perhaps a little too magnificent for mortal eyes. However, he didn't want to cause the lesser individuals too much anxiety since that wasn't his goal, and he stayed back and away from people to make sure that he didn't give them any kind of reason to blame him for their panic.
Once the tat-lung got a good view on the eldery humanoid, he realized very quickly that his intimidating nature might not actually affect her- she appeared to be sight impaired. Ryuusei wasn't sure why she was out here by herself, so he looked at his human to try to ascertain what the situation might be so that he could assist if need be.
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Post by Morgan on May 6, 2020 11:09:09 GMT -6
Ryuusei was perhaps one of the most kind and caring Tat-lungs that Morgan had ever had the pleasure to be around, and they could practically feel his bleeding heart pretty much drowning them across the emotional link. Gross. However, they didn't have much time to think over Ryuusei's willingness to help the individual, because before they even got to reach out for the first little slip, the lady focused entirely on them, and reached out to grab their shoulder.
Needless to say, this action was not popular with the human, and both the human and the golden tat-lung FLINCHED, but didn't jerk away. Morgan wasn't about to accidentally hurt an old lady because they didn't like being touched, but it practically gave them goosebumps. It also didn't help that they knew this individual to be some sort of a mage at least, which put them on edge naturally. So much magic had been an issue, recently.
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Post by Morgan on May 6, 2020 11:40:22 GMT -6
At this, the woman started babbling, and it took a full second for Morgan to purposefully get their body to relax. For a moment, a bit of panic had seized them, forcing them to shudder and turning their mind blank for a second. It took another second for them to make sense of what the lady was saying. Oh. A quest. Oh, something about that nyssa again. Morgan shook their head, knowing that the woman wouldn't be able to see it, and then steeled theirself. "Fine- fine, I'll go l-l-loo-check out your garden." Morgan said, giving her a quick clap on the shoulders, gently, and then stepping away. Immediately they were relieved.
The human took the slip of paper and looked it over. They were more than a little frustrated that they couldn't pick their own quest this month, that was why they had brought Ryuusei here so early on during the month, after all.
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Post by Morgan on May 6, 2020 13:30:17 GMT -6
However, they did remember that this woman's quests tended to produce a semi-decent amount of points for the difficulty, and who better to take along than a tat-lung that could breathe fire? Then again, Ryuusei hadn't really been trained to breathe fire yet, and had only been able to produce a candle-lighter worth of flame from his nostrils up to this point, but they had planned on teaching him to hone that as soon as possible. Maybe after the quest? Morgan was big on making plans ahead of time, after all. "A-alright, Ryuusei, lets go." Morgan said, using both LSL and the ring to make sure that it got across easily enough. The tat-lung gazed at the older lady, his head tilted a bit and green eyes blinking, and then turned to follow after Morgan. What a strange interaction- he couldn't help but consider. Since when was the human so simply cowed?
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Post by Morgan on May 6, 2020 13:59:51 GMT -6
Cowed was certainly not how Morgan would have put it, more willing to do this due to all of the was of succeeding in extracting the good aspects of this far outweighing the negative aspects. The human always tested the balance of such things one way or the other as they made decisions, weighing carefully the 'what do I get out of this' with the 'how much is this going to cost'. It was one of those things that was perhaps a marker for worry for other humanoids, if they noticed it. Ryuusei found it simply interesting, as he had been in the process of learning as much as possible about his human. It was always good to have all of the cards on the table in the game of life, and have a good working understanding of the other players' hands. Seimei had taught him as much, of course.
The walk to the garden would most likely be uneventful.
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Post by Morgan on May 6, 2020 15:43:45 GMT -6
Morgan had been to this garden before, and honestly they had a really good memory, all things considered. Sometimes they wished that they didn't have as good a memory as they did, it wasn't always a good thing. The human checked their harnesses and pockets to make sure that they brought things to protect theirself with, and then they turned to speak with Ryuusei, to let him know the gameplan. "So the old hag b-back there deals periodically with some kind of giant-ass Nyssa." Morgan explained to him, using their triplicate method that Ryuusei was more than used to by this point. "Needless ta say, we might need y-your firebreath, if you please." They joked. Ryuusei looked a little less enthused than Morgan expected. "W-what's wrong, Ryuusei?" They asked, stopping suddenly and furrowing their brow while looking at him. Ryuusei did look fairly nervous all of a sudden, and that was a little out of character for him.
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Post by Morgan on May 6, 2020 15:57:52 GMT -6
Ryuusei wasn't forthcoming immediately with what the issue was, and though Morgan was honestly worried about him, it was more aggravating that he and Seimei had been hiding things from them than it was worrying otherwise. The human finally reached out, patted his side comfortingly, and then asked- "Ya didn't want to come today. D-do you want to go home?" Morgan said. "I could handle it from 'ere, and all." That seemed to snap Ryuusei back from whatever he was worrying about, and his pupils refocused on Morgan. 'Someone's got to watch for you.' Ryuusei said, in that typical tat-lung condescending tone that Morgan knew Ryuusei only did whenever he was running on autopilot. Ryuusei was never really that rude, for a tat-lung he was quite kind and thoughtful. Morgan brushed it off anyway, they were worried and that just meant they'd have to keep a better eye on him, and Seimei too when they got back home later. [14]
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Post by Morgan on May 6, 2020 16:27:14 GMT -6
The rest of the trip was uneventful. They made their way to the gardens with minimal additional stress, which Morgan couldn't help but count as a boon. Today was turning out to be one of those weird ones where nothing seemed to go right, and now that the day was off the rails they were a little bit nervous that the nyssa wouldn't be nearly as calm as it was the last time that they had dealt with it. However, they were certain that between theirself and Ryuusei, they shouldn't be too endangered. The old lady's garden wasn't too scary, nor too different from last year. Perhaps it was a little weird that all of the bonsai were stuffed into little objects instead of pots (namely a ton of boots) and that she literally lived in a house made to look like a giant shoe (wasn't there a story their father used to tell about that?) but they weren't about to judge.
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