Post by Pyrrha Drakos on Aug 21, 2015 16:41:04 GMT
Okay, this stupid map was wrong or something. It had to be! She'd started there and should be around here by now. "Hmmm." Surely Pyrrha was going the right way. She had to be! Her goal was to get to town before nightfall; she hated camping. It was so uncomfortable and dirty and... she paused and listened. Yeah, there were lots of noisy bugs around here. Probably just waiting to try and crawl in her mouth or on her face in her sleep.
"Eeeeiew." Pyrrha stuck her tongue out at the thought. She still had hours. She'd find Cross Town. It was where she'd been told rare things were taken for auction sometimes. She had no idea what an auction was, but it seemed like a good place to start looking for the object Belfyire so desired.
She shrugged, crumpling her map and stuffing it back in the bag. She was going in a straight line on a shortcut through the woods. How hard could it be to pop out somewhere where a road would be? Bloo, who was flying around helping her at this point, landed on her arm and chirped something at her. He seemed to think they hadn't changed direction too much. "See? If we get too lost we can totally just head left and find the road then, right?" Another chirp. It sounded less reassuring. "So... you're saying you don't remember which way the road is? How does a drake have a bad sense of direction? No wonder you just follow me everywhere..."
She was going to have to have words with him about 'helping' without going far enough away to actually find the road later. "Whatever, at least we won't see that stupid boy if we stay off the road. He did say he was headed the same direction... let's just take a break for the moment. My feet are sore and I'm thirsty."
Last Edit: Aug 21, 2015 16:42:05 GMT by Pyrrha Drakos
Post by Tracen Tenshou on Aug 27, 2015 2:43:05 GMT
Sometimes he woke up and he couldn't remember how he got there. Why was he here? What had he been doing? Where was he going? Tracen scratched his head. It would be embarrassing if someone else knew he was lost, but since he was the only one who knew, he didn't mind so much. This was just an adventure of sorts. He was decked in his normal gear, traveler's cloak around his neck, and pack strapped behind his shoulder. Inside was the mask he felt enough connection with not to chuck it away, along with rations and other needed supplies. After walking around lost for a few hours, he stumbled upon a railroad track. No train or anything like that, but at least a track. And people didn't just build railroad tracks that lead to nowhere, right? So he decided to follow it; it had to lead somewhere eventually.
He had been following it for a few minutes when he heard a girl's voice. Wait... maybe that meant he was near a town! Temporarily he changed direction to where he heard the girl's voice. "Excuse me," he called out before she was visible, so that he wouldn't alarm her too much. "I was wondering if..." He stopped midsentence as he came upon the young girl. And on her hand was a big scaly bug! Or lizard? Or snake?! "You uh, you've got something on your hand there," he pointed to the creature, clearly surprised at whatever he was seeing, but perhaps more surprised that the other girl seemed perfectly fine. He thought girls hated lizards and bugs!
Pyrrha had literally just sat down when a young man appeared. She blinked, getting up with a start. The drake stayed in place with a small waggle, perched like some sort of mutant four-legged hawk. He let out a small chirp as either a greeting or a question to Tracen. "I was just sitting I-" oh, right. She wasn't currently doing anything that should annoy the Fiorians and their sensitive post-war foreigner mindsets. She quicky coughed into her closed fist, changing demeanors almost instantly. "Uh, this is Bloo. He's my friend, and also a drake, not a thing." she informed the man. An accompanying yip was almost unmistakably an affirmative, backing up her words.
"Geeze I keep forgetting people around here don't ever see anything from around home. Er, I'm Pyrrha. You got a name, guy?" Okay, not her most proper hello. She knew how her mother hoped she would conduct herself, but come on, some random guy had just located her in the woods of all places, and after a day of some kid propositioning her in exchange for lunch and these two thugs who hoped she'd be too pretty to do anything for herself so they could rob her... and then the thugs that actually did manage to rob her and she forgot and let them get away with her jewels...
"Er, you'll excuse me, I've had the weirdest experience with people since I left home," she explained after a moment. "To introduce myself properly, I'm Pyrrha Drakos, Dracoknight. This is my companion, Bloo." she reintroduced them both. "But seriously, tell me you're not some wacko who wants something from me? A girl can only take so many rude men." Bloo just rolled his eyes at that.
Post by Tracen Tenshou on Aug 28, 2015 3:53:10 GMT
Tracen blatantly stared at the reptillian-like creature. So it wasn't exactly a bug, but a drake, and her friend? Neither of those made much sense to Tracen. It seemed to echo whatever Pyrrha said, so maybe it was some kind of magic. Weren't there magical familiars or something? Something like that. "Huh?" He was a bit taken aback by her initial greeting. And then that she was a 'Dracoknight' wondering if he was a wacko. It was a little insulting, but then she didn't seem like she was doing it on purpose, and actually her entire demeanor and pet were still confusing him. He was starting to suspect he must look scary or something, because Pyrrha wasn't the first to be alarmed by his appearance.
"I don't think I can consider myself normal, but no, I don't want something from you. At least not like that," he tried to reason. "I heard you talking and thought there might be a town nearby. I'm a traveler by nature." Traveler as in code for lost. But if he didn't care about his destination, was that still lost? People didn't call nomads lost. "They say my name is Tracen. Tracen Tenshou, adventurer." If she was a 'dracoknight' with a little bug, then he was going to give himself at least a reasonable title too. "Maybe if you were more polite you'd run into less rude men? People tend to act the same way you treat them. Although, I'm not sure what it's like where you're from," he suggested innocently. She was a bit brusque, so perhaps a bit more formality would help her make more friends.
"Whew, I mean, that's what people before said too, but hey it's at least a little reassuring for now," Pyrrha shrugged, deciding to take the man at his word for the moment. Maybe he didn't want anything from her. Maybe he wasn't some front man for bandits; honestly he didn't seem like some kind of bandit. She tilted her head curiously, looking at him while Bloo hopped down with a flap of his wings and sniffed at Tracen suspiciously.
"To answer your question, there's no towns nearby. In fact I was just on my way to Cross Town," she admitted. There wasn't any reason to lie about that. Supposedly a lot of people went through Cross Town, which was actually how the place originally got its name. At least, that's what the man back in Gallowstown told her. What she didn't admit, was that she was kinda lost at the moment. Because, well, she totally wasn't.
She was, of course, rewarded with being told people would be more polite if she were less rude. "Hey, I'm not rude," she crossed her arms, frowning at him. "I mean, not exactly. I speak my mind and that's it. Maybe I'm not as polite as Mom would like for someone of my station but everyone knows someone has to ask the tough questions and make the tough observations and whatnot." Bloo looked up at her, stopping his sniffing long enough to make a 'chuffing' noise. "Well they do!" she insisted, turning her attention to the drake, who made a growl that sounded suspiciously like a verbal shrug.
Post by Tracen Tenshou on Aug 28, 2015 21:09:28 GMT
It didn't really seem like Pyrrha completely believed him, although she at least trusted him enough to not attack first. Hey, for all he knew, she was some nefarious character just waiting to take advantage of him. Maybe not quite in the same way, but that didn't completely clear her either. He crossed his arms and stared at Bloo with equal suspicion, as the lizard-bug sniffed his boot. "No towns?!" His previous aloofness dissipated immediately. "How did I even get out here then? And what was I doing?" If there was nothing nearby, he must have been in a total trance or something to come all the way out here. Sometimes he felt like he was doing something but had forgotten, but surely there couldn't be something in the middle of nowhere.
His realization hadn't meant to be vocalized, though. Quickly he clamped a hand around his mouth, already having said more than he wanted. Pyrrha already suspected him of being a 'wacko', and he didn't want her thinking poorly of him. Well, more poorly than initial suspicion at least. "Well, I guess someone does need to be direct. I never thought about it that way," he attempted to move back to her earlier point. "I found some railroad tracks awhile back, and was just following them to see where they lead. Think they go to that Cross Town? I'll need to reach civilization at one point or another, so might as well make it now." If that was the only thing around, perhaps that had been his original destination in the first place.
Post by Pyrrha Drakos on Aug 28, 2015 21:31:47 GMT
The self-satisfied grin on Pyrrha's face grew as Tracen agreed with her. His words were a bit troubling though. Rather than finding him creepier, she found it... well, a combination of interesting and alarming that he wouldn't know how he got out in the middle of the woods. As she considered it, the grin didn't exactly last long. "You sure you're okay, guy?" she asked him, crossing her arms. "It's not exactly, you know, normal to forget how you got all the way out in the woods."
Bloo took the opportunity to retreat, flying up and landing on Pyrrha's head. He was light enough it didn't cause much strain on her neck, and she hardly seemed to notice anyway. They'd been together since she was quite young, after all. He looked around as if redoubling his efforts to figure out their positioning while Pyrrha focused her attention on the young man in front of her.
"Wait, you found train tracks?! Are they close? Er, I mean, those usually head places I hear." She had never taken a train, herself, though she had sent off a certain princess on one after their meeting, figuring public transportation was better than walking alone down a road for someone vulnerable like her. "Though, You want to head..." she pointed a finger and spun a bit, obviously unsure of which way she was trying to point. "...East..." she frowned. "Okay, fine!" she admitted to the drake out of nowhere. "I'm lost, remember? All these stupid trees get in the way of landmarks you know."
Bloo looked down and grunted. He'd of course known that before she'd started worrying about which way they were going the first time. She frowned as his tail curled down in front of her face, pushing her bangs into her left eye. "What? It's not like you did any better. At any time you could have flown up and gotten your bearings but noooooo you wanted to ride on my shoulder and to 'Hey I don't remember which way the landmarks were supposed to go from the sky either.' Grr." She frowned up at him, distracted from the young man temporarily.
Post by Tracen Tenshou on Aug 31, 2015 2:28:44 GMT
Tracen just grinned reassuringly at Pyrrha. "It's okay," he assured her. Because really, it was okay. Maybe some people would have been alarmed, but to him this was just normal life. A little strange perhaps, but not in a bad way. There was something extremely adventurous about the unknown, and his backwards memories were like an exciting puzzle just waiting to be solved. "Like I said, I'm not exactly normal, but not in a way that inconveniences others.
He nodded vigorously when Pyrrha asked about the tracks. They were more or less a few steps away, but not visible due to all the trees - but it would be easy for him to go back and find the tracks. "Yep! I figure they have to lead somewhere. Probably to that Cross Town you mentioned. Since I need to reach a town of some sort and you're looking for Cross Town... are you okay if we temporarily travel together? It would be kind of awkward otherwise since we're both going the same way. And I can keep people that are weirder than me away from you," he proposed. He was fairly certain he knew what the answer would be though, because if Pyrrha said no.... as he pointed out, they were going the same direction, so that would be extremely awkward. "It's not far at all," Tracen said as he moved back from where he came, before he'd derailed upon hearing Pyrrha's voice.
True to his words the tracks came into sight very quickly. "We can use the sun as a compass for which direction to go," he pointed to the sky. Surprisingly his survival skills had been retained. He wasn't sure if it was from his time as an ex-law member, or if it was some other training that had been forgotten. But even if the reason was gone, the skills remained. "If you can tell me whether Cross Town is east or west, I can get us to go in the right direction."
Post by Pyrrha Drakos on Aug 31, 2015 14:36:34 GMT
Pyrrha wasn't entirely sure that being constantly lost wouldn't inconvenience people. After all, he probably knew people and that meant that people would kiiiiinda want him to ever be anywhere in specific. Pyrrha had barely been to Fiore and she already had things to do and places to be, such as the magical item auction thing where she might just find the 'artifact' that Lady Belfyire had sent her to Fiore to obtain.
Still, she didn't have long to consider what he'd said, she was almost immediately given the proposition of traveling together, with him offering to keep the even weirder people away from her. "Weeeell... a girl as cute as me could use a break from doing that herself," she agreed, her tone making it impossible to tell if she was joking or not.
Bloo didn't seem to care to keep Tracen around. His sniffing fest had revealed a scent he found odd or something, and he growled in protest. "Hm?" she looked down at the drake, who flew up to her shoulder and made some more noises; she couldn't understand him even though he could understand her. "Oh stop being paranoid," she waved off his concern as she started to follow the young man. "Walking around with just us gets kinda lonely anyway," she reasoned as they approached the tracks.
Pyrrha's home had no trains. It was in some ways a technological marvel and in others extremely primitive compared to other lands; it wasn't the largest country by any means, so most modes of transportation were pretty pointless. It took less than a day to go anywhere there. "Uh," she stalled next to the tracks, "How often do trains come down on these things?" she asked curiously. After a moment she hopped up on a rail and walked, holding her arms out to balance herself before clasping them behind herself once she had her balance. "I don't see a ton of people walking. Do most people take trains and stuff? They'd have to go back and forth a lot if so..."
Post by Tracen Tenshou on Sept 2, 2015 4:23:22 GMT
At least Pyrrha was willing to travel together, for the time being. Her lizard didn't seem very happy about it, but Tracen cared little about what the reptillian thought. Tracen scanned their surroundings when Pyrrha talked about the train. If someone had built the train, then surely people must use it. Wait, why hadn't he used it then? Walking seemed like a pretty big inconvenience. "Good question. If this Cross Town is in the middle of nowhere, taking a train would have been a lot easier. But it's too late now - they're not going to stop even if a train does come by." He walked along the path, unlike Pyrrha who chose the tracks. He frowned a little at her nonchalance. Walking right on it could be dangerous... although, she'd probably have enough time to get out of the way. Momentarily he paused, but only to see if there were any vibrations from the train. He couldn't detect anything, and figured she was safe for now.
"Are you not originally from Fiore?" He wondered while they traveled. From the few things Pyrrha had said, it seemed she had come from somewhere far away. "I'm just surprised that you'd be out here if that's the case. I thought Magnolia and Era drew more tourists." There was also the matter of 'Bloo.' It seemed like a rather silly name. "Plus, I thought a dracoknight rode dragons. I think your lizard is a little tiny to take anyone for a ride."
Post by Pyrrha Drakos on Sept 2, 2015 14:42:10 GMT
Cross Town was in the middle of nowhere, but then, everything felt like it was in the middle of nowhere when you didn't exactly know how everything was laid out; her map wasn't that helpful and she was pretty sure it might even be outdated or wrong. Otherwise she totally wouldn't have gotten lost in her wooded shortcut. "Yeah well, some of us don't exactly... know how trains work," she admitted. It had looked pretty intimidating to shoot off on the train she'd dropped Astoria off at, at least to someone who had ridden a couple of horses but never anything more than a boat when it came to man made machines.
"I'm from a place called the Crystal Isle," Pyrrha informed Tracen, "and I'm no Tourist, you know. What about the adventuring robes and armor say I'm a tourist?" she pointed out. The Crystal Isle was actually named for the tiny crystal drakes like Bloo that called it home. "And Bloo isn't a lizard, he's a crystal drake. They're just smaller than a lot of drakes, you know." Bloo nodded, a small growl escaping his throat. "And no, I don't know where you heard a silly story like riding dragons. We get our power from dragons. It'd be kiiiinda backwards to try and ride one. I don't know what Mistress Belfyire would do if I even tried..."
Last Edit: Sept 3, 2015 19:50:28 GMT by Pyrrha Drakos
Post by Tracen Tenshou on Sept 3, 2015 19:35:08 GMT
Even if Pyrrha didn't understand how trains worked, it wasn't too hard to get onto one. Purchasing a ticket cost money, but boarding was easy, from what he'd seen in Magnolia. “Hmm.” Maybe trains had more dangers than what he gave them credit for. They were certainly fast enough, so maybe that's why Pyrrha had skipped out on riding one. He had never heard of Crystal Isle, but then he knew little beyond Fiore. Apparently there was a distinction between tourists and adventurers – tourists in his opinion were out just sightseeing, while adventurers took on jobs, like wandering mercenaries. Picturing Pyrrha as a wandering mercenary was a bit difficult. “Don't adventurers take on quests and help people and stuff?” That was his goal, at least.
He looked at Bloo again. A dragon, huh. We get our power from dragons. Something about that felt off for him. It was unnatural. Dragon slayers got their powers from dragons too, but the dragons expected their life in servitude in return. Wait, how did he remember that? His chest felt a little tighter. “Isn't that... dangerous...?” He asked uncertainly. “What do the dragons get in return for letting you use them like that?” He shrugged; maybe he was overthinking it. “I've never heard of your island before though. I can't even imagine a place where dragons and humans live next to each other, I thought dragons were practically extinct.”
Post by Pyrrha Drakos on Sept 3, 2015 20:00:13 GMT
"I Do help people! You know, when I'm not kicking their butts for trying to rob me because I'm a pretty, young girl," Pyrrha went from insistent to almost bragging about her perceived status as pretty and, well, young. "And what quests? I mean, I have my own but do people actually go around taking people's requests? Isn't that a mercenary and not an adventurer?" she scratched her head above her left pigtail, an eyebrow raised. Bloo shrugged his drake shoulders, though it was a bit awkward and obviously something he learned from humans.
"Isn't what dangerous?" Pyrrha tilted her head, holding out her left hand, which was gloved and covered mostly by the long baggy sleeves of her robes. "I don't get it." she continued to look confused and had stopped, standing balanced on the tracks and giving little thought to this fact. "Lady Belfyire gave my family the power to fight off the mages hurting our family and in exchange we serve her. It's not like she's ever demanded anything super extreme of us." She couldn't imagine a dragon that abused their power like the way his tone sounded like they might. "Well, only the girls have my power now, but that's not really important in this case... there's a reason for that..."
"I mean, we literally live with our mansion right next to the mountains where the drakes and Lady Belfyire live. And I'm bonded with Bloo here since I was around as a little girl when he hatched. In my experience humans are a lot dumber and more selfish than dragons. We're pretty happy, usually." she shrugged. She had no idea if her brothers ever disliked not having her power; they did have their own actual magic, after all - fashioned after lady Belfyire's own lightning magic. "I dunno how many other dragons there are. They don't exactly come visiting..."
Post by Tracen Tenshou on Sept 3, 2015 20:35:05 GMT
Never had he heard of someone bragging about being robbed. Was that a compliment? Pyrrha seemed awfully happy about her misfortune. The difference between adventurers and mercenaries was a thin line, but it still existed. “I think mercenaries make money off of taking requests, where as adventurers just survive from it. Like... they care about the people more than about being paid or not.” He wasn't completely sure if that made sense or not, but that was what it felt like. What didn't make sense was Pyrrha's explanation about her hometown.
She straight up said that her people served this Lady Belfyire, which she implied was a dragon. Then there was the hierarcy of female priests and … well who knew where guys fit into that kind of caste system. In my experience humans are a lot dumber and more selfish than dragons. Tracen stopped in his tracks. The girl was … okay with living without freedom, seemed to actually think that servitude was better. There couldn't be anything more important than freedom. Even at the expense of power. “You... and you're just okay with that?” It seemed like the dragon had gotten the better deal out of everything. He wasn't even sure why it bothered him so much. This was Prryha's life, not his. But something seemed inherently wrong about it, a reason for him to care that he couldn't quite place his finger on. “I'm not sure what use power is when you can't claim to have earned it yourself. I think the struggle to survive is one of the things that makes us human... and you are human, despite your distaste for people like you.”
Post by Pyrrha Drakos on Sept 3, 2015 20:48:52 GMT
"The heck are you talking about?" Pyrrha asked with a raised eyebrow. The man seemed to have a very different view of her life than she did. Maybe she explained it wrong? Or maybe he was just weird. That was probably it. She started moving again, her mind returning to her task of not falling off the rail as her arms shot out to balance herself. "I'm perfectly fine with helping Lady Belfyire for making sure my ancestors survived long enough to even be born, yeah. I mean, I don't directly owe her but it's a pretty nice arrangement." she shrugged before having to step off of the railing due to the movement.
"I wouldn't call the Mark power, per say. Maybe I worded it wrong to someone who doesn't quite understand." Her wording made her sound like she felt a bit superior. She wasn't sure where she felt she stood as far as these weird, foreign humans were concerned. She was nobility, but nobility didn't matter if no one had heard of it. "The Dragon Mark of Abjuration isn't power, it's denial of power." she took off her glove, revealing an intricate dragon tattoo over the back of her hand, wrapping around to the front. "I can't even use magic like someone like you can. Or, might be able to I don't know..." she shrugged.
"Everything I can do I earned myself. Everything you can't do to me with your fancy magic... That's on my girl Lady Belfyire." Bloo made a slight hiss, disliking the phrasing Pyrrha had used. "Fine, fine. Just Lady Belfyire then, happy?" she asked the drake, who grunted. "I don't know where you get all this struggle to survive nonsense. Help is help and sometimes big help is needed. History is full of that sort of thing right? The only difference is dragons are stronger and live longer, so like, you aren't serving the family for generations just the one dragon. It's actually a pretty personal sort of thing. Or as personal as you can get with a dragon."
