Quest for the Shifter's Soul ((RP!))

Angel studied the hand, but eventually supposed there must be no harm in it, since Lydia had eagerly accepted the handshake just moments before and come to no harm. So he accepted it and shook it curtly once, leaving his hood on for now. "Name's Angel. She's my sister," he divulged. "I guess you already know her name's Lydia." He didn't seem to want to discuss his sister's huge magical ability, or anything for that matter. He said nothing to the compliment of how well he'd raised her, mostly because it wasn't to his credit. Their parents had raised the both of them; they were out in this village for the same reason as everyone else. Their parents, now rather advanced in years, had elected to stay home.

((Hnngh. Too sweet. Diabeetus.))

Dee smiled down at the little child and gently bumped his head against hers as a quick nuzzle to show he was fine. The bother's reaction amused him.

"No shame in having no magic." Dee guessed with a chuckle. It wasn't every day that a child smaller than his knee was seen defending a fully grown sibling. Or was he full grown? It was so hard to tell with bipeds.

Angel winced at Dee's comment. Apparently there was shame in having a younger sister with magic twenty times stronger than your own.
"Oh, he has magic," Lydia piped up happily. "It's just kind of...small."
Angel looked like he could sink into the ground.
"He makes little fires."
Angel subtly pulled his hood further over his face.
"He lights Daddy's cigars sometimes for him--"
"LYDIA, STOP."
Lydia hushed, but continued to cling to Dee's neck, finding it a fun place to sit and entertaining in itself with all of the little shiny things hanging in his mane. She fingered through them gently, not wanting to pull on his mane.

Carbry nods at the dragon after his comment is made, and then takes to looking around a bit, making sure no looters or theives are about. Finding no apparent threats or cowardly criminals, he turns his attention back to the group of warriors with whom he had fought this beast alongside. Two glares are shot at him, both from men who felt they were robbed of their victory. They had the opportunity to end the beast themselves many times, it was anyone's right to take the life of it by then.

He removes his hood and walks toward one of the warriors who had glared at him.



"Do you know where it came from?"

Dee tried not to chuckle, it wasn't that he found Angel's situation amusing, but his reactions were. He'd never seen a creature go from white to red so quickly!

So he just distracted himself with the smaller one, flopping his trinket-covered tail over her like a blanket or a curtain of beads and fur. As an added bonus it bloacked out the sight of the ruined street, covered in gore and rubble.

"I don't think that the pub will be opening again anytime soon, will it...?"

William's face hardened from the jovial, inviting expression he'd given Lyria and Angel to one of expressionless nonchalance and somewhat grumpiness. Where did it come from, where did you come from?

But he relented and replied in a voice not unlike the stone he so effortlessly manipulated. "Hell if I know, one second I'm enjoying a drink in that bar over there, the next the damn thing comes crashing down on our heads and I'm fighting for my life."

((Oh wow! I didn't notice that Vrizeemun had finished her drawing of Carbry. I'll add it into my last post.))

He nods to him, and points to the inn, or what's left of it, asking "That was the inn?"

He has seen this beast, or at least one like it, in his travels when he was somewhat younger. Ugly things they are. Ferocious, too. Not exactly unkindred in respect to behavior to some of the members races considered more civilized, but that is another thought altogether.

Brine stopped, turning and calling back to the centaur and the other man, "A boy ran into the pub crying about the beast before it arrived. He looked like he'd been running." He saw no reason to supply any more information than that, especially to the Halfer who had taken a well-earned victory from him.
He returned to his path, scouring the ground with his eyes, following the panicked footprints of the boy. It appeared he had fallen a few times along the way, poor lad. No one so young should have to run for their lives that way. Brine continued tracking the child, easily telling his footprints apart from the larger, more adult ones. The prints eventually led onto some grass, forcing Brine to crouch down as he moved. Most people would have lost the trail by now, but Brine had more than enough experience to track a frightened child through some outgrown grass.

The path lead to a ranch on the outskirts of the city, The Beast's tracks had come from the same direction It looked like the poor panicked cows had battered down the fences and ran into the city. There were a few half-consumed bovine bodies lying about.

Beyond that, the large clawprints came out from the forest, where a few trees were laying in broken, unnatural angles.

((Just to establish: The Centaurs aren't half man by decent which was kind of implied by "halfer". I don't know if that's what you meant but...I wanted to clarify just in case.))

Brine stood, looking toward the ranch, back at the group of people, and then back, walking forward with another shake of his head. He hadn't needed any of their help. And the centaur "valiantly" galloping in to perform the finishing blow was the greatest insult of them all. He trudged on, reaching the ranch, by then in a rather foul mood. He knocked on the door of the ranch's house, a little more harshly than he intended.

((Isn't what I meant. Just seemed to be a term that the centaurs would not like.

BY THE WAY, is it night? Day? This has been bugging me.))

William just grunted in agreement at the centaur, then rushed off to catch... What's his name, Brine, he said? Wouldn't be a bad idea to properly introduce himself, considering without Brine they'dve been in quite the pickle. Well, more like cucumb-- STOP THAT!! Gods, this was annoying. Eventually William caught up to Brine outside the ranch house. He extended a hand and his smile returned. "Hey there, m'name's William. You said you were Brine? That was some great work you did."

((Let's say early night. Even the most popular pub isn't packed in daytime))

The ranch was deserted. The inhabitants long since fled. It was eerily quiet, as the nighttime animals had not yet come out from their hiding spots and resumed their normal activity. The house itself was leaning from a glancing shove from the beast, but overall remained standing.

Dee nudge Lydia onto his back and loped over to the ranch after the others, just as curious as they were. "These beasts don't like to be around humans. To have come all this way from it's home..." His fur suddenly bristled, as he thought of the route that the dead beast would have had to have taken to arrive here.

"Riverden!" He yelped, and then bounded off towards the forest, forgetting the small child on his back in his distress.

Lydia tightened her grip when Dee began moving, but didn't bother to say anything. She giggled a few times on the ride; his steps made her bounce slightly as he moved. The more she was around the little dragon, the fonder she grew of it. He was so nice to her.
Of course, as soon as they started moving off, Angel hopped up and began to follow at a safe distance, just close enough to keep them within sight. He still moved with a grumpy lope, keeping his hood as far over his face as possible.
When Dee started to run, Lydia squeaked and held on tighter. Angel, whose attention had strayed, looked up quickly at the squeak and broke into a run to follow them. "Wait!" he cried, but the dragon was outrunning him. "Lydia!" There was a note of panic in his voice. "Lydia!"
Lydia held on tight, but trusting. "Where's Riverden, Dee?" she asked, her voice bouncing a bit with the dragon's strides.

For a dragon who's front limbs were shorter than the back, Dee was pretty fast running, though far from graceful. He could slink up a set of steps or a small cliff with ease, but on an all-out run it was more of a... gallumphing. Stretching leaping skip-run that's odd to see and awkward to ride. Before he even made it to the woods he was panting, his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth like a dog.

"Home" he panted the reply. "Rivenden.. home.. Tribe... Oh the pups! Let them be safe...!" He barked suddenly, ears straining for a return call, though he knew there was still a far way to go.

Carbry sees the dragon hastily flee from town. He knows something, he thinks to himself. Possibly about the Anam, possibly about the mighty beast. He decides to gallop after them. As his body is that of a horse, he can move quite quickly, far more quickly than a dragon whose species dwells most usually within water. In moments he has caught up. He pulls out his bow in case of any dangers, the road through the forest is treacherous, especially in the dark of night. He soon notices the little girl riding on the back of the river dragon.

"Good evening, young one. You've quite a hand for conjuration, especially for one at your young age."

In talking to this girl, Carbry exhibits an expression rarely seen upon a Centaur within the territory of men: a slight smile.

Brine examined the man's hand scrupulously for a second before he was interrupted by the dragon speeding past them, heading into the forest. He looked to William, his mask hiding his face but still conveying a sense of urgency. "I believe introductions can wait, friend. Perhaps this isn't over."

With that he pivoted, facing the forest and breaking into a silent sprint, seemingly disappearing as he entered the darkness of the forest, the shadows falling over him like a personal veil. Obviously he wasn't going to match pace with the dragon, but he soon caught up with the man he recognized to be with the young girl. Brine passed him, leering at him through the emotionless slits of eyes in his mask, before taking off at full tilt through the foliage and disappearing once again.


((EDIT: Wow, I COULD art Brine's mask, or Skyrim could fucking mind-ninja me and steal designs out of my brain.

http://images.wikia.com/elderscrolls/images/e/ee/TESV_2011-11-30_12-03-48-30.png

That's pretty much his mask, except his is grey and there's no "arrow" on the forehead.

God damn it XD))

"LYDIA!" Angel shrieked, running as fast as he could after the galloping dragon. Panic was now not only creeping into his voice, it had taken over. His hood flew back, but he paid it no mind. Angel wasn't the fastest runner by any stretch, but he was steady, and had heavy endurance. He kept on pounding, trying as hard as he could to keep the dragon and his sister in sight. "Lydia!"
Lydia glanced back from Dee's back, but she couldn't hear Angel--or see him. She frowned for a moment, but all of a sudden a horse person--horse person? Oh, she'd heard about people like that. Her mother had taught her about them, but she'd forgotten what they were called. But he complimented her magic, or something. He used a big word. "Conjur-what?" she asked innocently, growing tired of the awkward bouncing and reaching one hand to him. "Can I ride on you, please? Dee is bouncy."

Seeing Dee speed by, William had to agree. He nodded and started off running behind him. All this running, it was a busy day. Speaking of, where were they running to? Dee had shouted 'Rivenden' before speeding off, perhaps it was where Dee lived? William caught up to Angel rather quickly, and could hear the extreme worry in his calls for his sister. So, as William ran by Angel, he picked him up, and without so much as a blink, took another chunk from the ground up in front of them, jumped on, and sped off on this chunk, going alarmingly fast for flying through the forest, dodging tree branches, tall bushes, and other foliage in their way. He easily overtook Brine, though they wouldn't be able to catch up to Dee and Carbry any time soon, they had gotten too much of a lead.

Dee took a moment to look back at Lydia, not turning his head over his shoulder, but straight back so his snout was pointed to the heavens, almost behind him. Did she realize what she was asking? Nobody /rode/ a centaur. But then again nobody rode dragons either. He was too short on breath to comment.

A thick tree branch smacked him in his scaly neck, making him stop and cough. He really should have been paying better attention to where he was going! He took this time to catch his breath, taking deep slow breaths that seemed to stretch on forever.

"Go on Lydia." He said eventually. "I didn't mean to carry you off like that, but I have to go!" He shuffled his paws a bit impatiently.

Angel cried out in surprise at being picked up, and as soon as he discovered where he was and what was happening, brushed William off of him and just held onto the rock. He stared straight ahead as much as he could, straining to catch sight of his sister.
Lydia lost her grip when Dee ran into the branch and toppled awkwardly onto the grass, but got up patiently and shook herself off. "It's okay, Dee," she squeaked, giving the dragon another hug around the neck and letting him go on his own. "Angel will come get me in a minute."

The next couple of minutes were a blur of trees and what have you as they sped along over the undergrowth of the forest, keeping an eye out for Dee and Lydia. After a bit William spotted a human shaped blur, actually going too far before realizing what it was, and sped back, stopping next to Lydia. He increased the size of the chunk he and Angel were standing on to accommodate for Lydia, and formed some steps as well, holding out a helping hand with a grin and a wink. "M'lady."

Before William was even finished fixing the steps, Angel was on the ground and Lydia had disappeared into a crushing and relieved embrace. However, he still realized that they were in company, and Angel colored and hustled Lydia onto the chunk of earth without a word.
Lydia giggled, holding onto the rock. "This will be an easier ride than a dragon."

Dee huffed and set off at a rambling jog again, now that desperation gave way to a bit more common sense. he'd have to make it where he was going, and make it there /alive/.

"Come if you want, but I am not stopping again." he called back, nearly running into another tree again.

Down the road he travelled, and occasionally they came across the dead monster's trail of broken trees and massive pawprints. He knew that it had to have passed close by his home on the way to the human's town, but that didn't mean it had travelled a straight path. No, the roads were faster and overall in better shape.



..... But a river would be fastest! He nearly howled in joy when he spotted a bridge. In one fluid motion he slunk over the side and splashed into the water.

It was as if somebody had tranformed him. The silly Dee, who was tired and awkward on land was gone. Refreshed, he felt a new energy and turned and rolled in the water, getting his 'sea legs' back. The trinkets and beads in his mane flashed and glittered like a shoal of colourful fish, streaming behind him and around him like a curtain.

And then he was off, racing upriver, using his magic to turn the tide to his side.