kingdoms_of_auradon | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Open/locked?: Open!
Who: Vexen/Even/Whatever nickname you give him
What: A new arrival!
Warnings: Copious amounts of sass and sarcasm? Nothing serious to start with, will tag individual threads if the Traumatic Backstory comes up.
It's a lovely, frost-trimmed morning in Auradon, blades of glass glittering in the sunlight, and...a dismayed looking scientist staring at a castle that very definitely isn't the one he lives in? There's no shock or confusion on his face as he takes in his decidedly unfamiliar surroundings, but just a tired sense of annoyance-tinged dread.

"Oh, Darkness take me, not again..."

Darkness take him home, he means. Whatever this is, he doesn't have time for it! An aura of inky purple-black rises from the ground to envelop him...and deposit him a mere ten feet away. That's obviously not where he meant for it to take him, as he scowls and tries again, this time stepping out of a darkened portal on a nearby wall. Increasingly frustrated, he digs a crown-themed smartphone from a pocket and checks the screen, before shooting it a glare that would be able to peel paint even if his eyes weren't an uncannily vibrant, acidic-looking green.

"What..." It comes out a tired sounding mutter, as he pinches the bridge of his nose with his free hand. "Is the point of a phone that functions across worlds if the signal cannot reach those worlds I must actually call for assistance from?"

Alright, worlds so utterly cut off from the rest that even the Darkness can't reach out from it are most certainly outside the scope of what the designers had in mind, but the fact remains, his phone is useless. So he supposes...all that's left is to try to learn what he can about where he is. And that means recon.

While he's not making active effort to go unseen, he doubts he'll have any reason to need to operate in secrecy, he still isn't quite in the habit of simply approaching people and asking them to explain things to him. He still has some pride left, after all, and it demands that he at least make some notes of his own, first. So, if someone didn't catch him complaining to himself, they might instead spot the scientist simply observing, with an expression of curiosity mixed with concern. It doesn't, after all, take him look to note that the area is oddly deserted, even for what must be the fringes of winter.

He's going to try not to think about what that reminds him of. If the corridors can't reach this place, after all, then neither can they.

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That was interesting...the ability to reclaim and recycle mana, rather than waiting for it to recover with time? And not simply that, but drawing on the energy of the natural world to supplement one's own stores of magic...no wonder she'd so casually done something as demanding as crafting a solid illusion.

Her question drew him away from that line of thought, at least momentarily, and he shook his head. From his perspective, at least, it was an easy answer.

"The humans of my world have never, to my knowledge, been unwelcoming to those of other species. Pointed ears, of all things, are scarcely worthy of note, much less prejudice."

"They've... never...?" She blinked a few times as that processed, staring at him. "They've never hunted the unicorns and dragons, never-- never sunk a city out on the sea, for being excluded from it...? I have it on good authority that the humans have improved, in my world, since I was much of it last, but... truly, never?"

"Dragons do not...natively exist on my home world."

Did a faerie who liked to shapeshift into a dragon even count, anyway?

"However, moogles have always been welcome in human settlements, and they most certainly look nothing like humans."

He held up a hand, and an image of a furry creature appeared above his palm, accompanied by a strange noise that wasn't quite possible for a human voice to replicate, but could be best written as 'kupo'.

"There are some magical creatures that we have driven away, yes, but they are the predators that would regard a town as nothing more than a fertile hunting ground.

"Our dragons were once slandered as such," she said quietly, her eyes on the little critter's image, smiling faintly, if a little sadly, despite what she was saying. It was cute, all right? "And it continued, even after their downfall...."

She didn't even look behind her, barely gestured as she took a turn with an image for him, colorful solidity springing up from seemingly nowhere with ease: a few dragons from her world. None were quite so large as to rival the one to have come to mind for him. In fact, compared to that one, they were laughably small. Thin, semi-serpentine creatures with pearly, scale-less hide, whose wings were part of their forearms, built for only gliding short distances after a jump and striking smaller prey with speed, rather than true flight and besting any foes with raw power. Perhaps they'd shared a common ancestor with raptors? Diverged from birds before they'd even had beaks? It was hard to say... but anyone much familiar with animals could tell that it might have actually been a fairly even match, between one of them and the average horse, even taking their claws and sharp teeth into consideration. They'd have been in as much, if not more, danger from being trampled by the horses, than the horses, from any predation by them. Perhaps these had hunted much smaller creatures, then?

Her eyes were on him, watching his reaction to the display. Her dragons, all browns and greens and mottled dark grays, seemed content enough to simply be there for the moment. One of them had ducked its head a little, lifting a hand to scratch behind a finger-length little horn, eyes half closed. Another yawned, hardly a threat display, though he could catch a glimpse of its teeth, all sharp and pointed. Another, clearly a young child, hesitantly stepped closer to him, sniffing, its tail waving absently behind it, more catlike a motion than wagging as a dog's would, but the sentiment still seemed to be there.

"It... does sound like we aren't from the same world...." Sounded like she was probably hoping they had been, for one reason or another.

The moogle flailed its arms at the sight of the dragons, being a much smaller creature that would surely have been a bite-sized snack to a carnivore of that size. The movements were realistic, the body language of a species Even was clearly familiar with. The illusion's caster, very much not being prey-sized, showed no fear of his own as he bent down to gently examine the facsimile of the young dragon. He was sparing in touch, which was for the best if the illusion was sensitive to temperature, as his fingers were even colder than the ambient temperature would explain.

"If this is an accurate display of their temperament, I cannot see why they would be viewed with fear. This does not give the impression of a species that would make a habit of stealing livestock from warded pens, nor of dragging off children who stray too close to the wilderness."

The moogle, meanwhile, did not vanish when Even moved his hand away from it. The gesture had been entirely theatrical, and he was fully capable of leaving his fabrications on autopilot while he focused on other things. Autopilot that, in this case, led to the small thing flying over to Mallia and raising a paw in cheerful greeting.

She couldn't help the little smile as the furry little thing came closer, and raised a hand to give a little finger-wiggle greeting-gesture right back. Oh, isn't that just such a cute little thing! Yes it is, yes it is!

"Oh, it isn't. They'd normally have been a bit more wary... but they're kin. Humans could seldom get this close."

The little one made a sound, and looking him over in return, stepped right up to headbutt him. It was a soft gesture, more of a play with me hint than anything, like a puppy might do.

One of the adult dragons made a soft sound at seeing it, something like a snort, and then in more of a mumble, and though the pronunciation was off... if he listened closely, he might well hear that it was another language, but it translated well enough thanks to the local magic anyhow: "Play nice."

They were intelligent.

The small dragon glanced back at the adult, and lowered their head in response. Yeah, all right, point taken. A look up at Even, blinking their big eyes... and an attempt to nose its little head up into his hand for pets. And it was as solid as a real one might have been, even warm to the touch, hide soft and smooth....

"And certainly no thieves of livestock," she said, quiet, glancing back to the dragons briefly before returning to looking over the creature he'd shown her. "Goblins were ever, and still are to this day, considered vermin. Had the humans not hunted the dragons to extinction, perhaps they would have had far fewer goblin problems even now."

The other adult got up to step around for a better view of Even, quiet. Something about the way its eyes moved only seemed to confirm that these were no mere animals....

Headbutting Even felt oddly like headbutting another magical construct, something utterly lacking in genuine matter. It earned a slight 'oof', the Nobody clearly not having been braced for even light roughhousing, but he brushed it off with a light huff. As averse as he was to being touched in most contexts, he had too much of a soft spot for children to be more than mildly annoyed.

"Then I find it difficult to understand why it is that humans would have had quarrel with them. It seems as though any territorial conflicts could have been handled diplomatically, yes?"

After a moment, he gave a quiet sigh of surrender and reached out to pat the young dragon's head. The moogle, meanwhile, fluffed its fur up to look even cuter.

"Like with trade, kupo! As we moogles always say, why fight when you can haggle?"

"If only it were so simple...." She had to give the furry little creature a smile; it was cute... perhaps she could try making an actual doll of it sometime? "But when one has no language in common, firstly, and secondly, one side refuses to see the other as more than a beast, if a challenging one to hunt...." She shook her head, smile fading again as she turned her head to see the dragons.

Off in some underbrush that technically didn't exist nearby -- seeing as how it certainly hadn't existed a moment prior, but must've appeared while his attention was on the child encouraging him to pay attention to them with pets, acting so puppy-like as they were, pushing their forehead up into his palm -- there was a little rustle, and both of the adult dragons perked up to peek back at it. The one nearer the exemplary foliage lowered itself, as if it could really hide in the frosty grass, and began sneaking up on whatever it was, sniffing, attempting to be as quiet in its movements as it could be as it stalked what might be prey.

"Pride, and a basis for bragging? Greed, and believing their own tall tales of claiming riches from them somehow, as if they could? As if, should such gold even exist in the first place, they would have any rights to it? ...Not believing that they respect others' ways of life, and that they would rather hunt responsibly when they must, than fatten themselves on others' families and companions and livestock? They've teeth and claws and some size to them; surely they must feel compelled to use it all at every opportunity?"

Her tone wasn't exactly dripping with sarcasm, but it was clear enough that she didn't approve of any of it.

His eye immediately went to the source of the rustle as his shoulders tensed, not quite the glance of a hunter, but that of a scout, of one who was used to trying to observe as much as possible without being observed in return. There was a distinct analytical look in the acidic green of his eyes, and his shoulders relaxed after only a second, as he deemed the sound a curiosity, rather than a danger.

"Language barriers are hardly insurmountable, even without magic. The sahagin spoke no human language when human sailors first encountered them, and yet humans eventually managed to reach accords with them."

He shook his head, absently scratching the jaw of the illusory dragon child.

"But I have encountered this concept of 'trophy hunting', in other worlds. The hearts of such men are clouded with a Darkness that was uncommon in Radiant Garden."

Was. Until he and his fellow apprentices, foolish as they were, invited it in.

The little dragon was plainly still enjoying what he was giving... were they purring, faintly? Because they seemed to be purring, if he noticed the faint vibration under his fingers as they continued to lean into the attention....

"It was all too common, in my world. Our dragons weren't the only victims."

Another little motion would have caught his eye, to the other side of the dragons from the bushes where the one was hunting. There was a fourth creature, another illusion of hers, something perhaps as tall as a normal human, were its head raised a little more on its long neck. It was dainty, delicate-looking, really, with long legs on a slim little body, a creature built to lightly to sprint, to run faster than one might likely suspect, fur all woodsy reddish-browns in a pattern of fine spots, nose and mouth and underbelly a bit lighter than the rest. A mane of notable enough length, similar long fur down around its ankles, half hiding its split hooves... a long bony tail with a fair delay before the long fur covered it as well, and a tuft under its chin. And there, on its forehead, a smallish spiral, a thin little thing that ended in a sharp point. The little unicorn didn't look to be related to horses, so much as deer. It regarded him quietly a moment, big eyes moving a little as it took him in....

...And then its expression seemed to shift a little, and it gave a soft little breath of a sound, a quiet huff to itself, and... was that a subtle smile? It seemed to relax, and glanced to the dragons nearby, before simply leaning down to graze a little, tail flicking absently behind it. Even had been inspected, and deemed trustworthy enough to count as Not A Threat, apparently, as had been the obvious predators which were in even closer proximity to it than he was.

Meanwhile, the dragon that'd wandered away a little, toward the plants that weren't there, had found what it was after and struck, going from crouching low to the ground, its neck pulled back a bit, to diving into the unseasonable ferns, head out of view, tail waving with some bit of excitement. Sounded like it'd caught whatever much smaller illusory creature it had been after, and rather than playing with its prize, had probably killed and already eaten it....

The little unicorn peeked up at this, but quickly wrote it off again and went for another bite of grasses, taking a couple careful steps forward toward the remaining adult dragon, entirely unafraid of them... they looked quite comfortable with that lack of distance between them, in fact, and took another step closer, even while peeking off toward the one that'd been hunting. Evidently, the two species got along just fine, despite their very different places in their world's food chains.

Such things were hardly unheard of, even among unintelligent animals. Taking sapience into account, it seemed only natural that the distinction between predator and herbivore wouldn't necessarily be a source of fear for the non-carnivorous species. Moogles, after all, were willing to approach even Nobodies...who, arguably, were more dangerous than any predator to truly exist, up to and including Heartless.

Speaking of moogles, the figment of one fluttered over to examine the unicorn, while Even tilted his head in curiosity.

"Unicorns? Curious...such creatures as I have heard of in other worlds typically resemble horses. Or so I have heard, they are particular creatures in those places, not ones to tolerate company that dwells so close to the Darkness as I have. They are also often well regarded by humans, most certainly not viewed as mere animals."

"They were among the most gentle." She watched too; the unicorn peeked up, sniffed a little at the moogle, and pushed its nose up under it, giving a light nuzzle while it chewed the bit of grass. "I don't remember if they could read minds, but they could certainly sense feelings and read intentions. ...Which was why they so often stayed away from humans.

"But the humans in my world have had a long history of destroying what they can't claim for their own. It's proven quite dangerous to ever tell them no."

They'd really gotten off-topic in this conversation, hadn't they.

He couldn't help but wonder if the real thing would still avoid him. It was true that he was no longer the monster he once was, but surely such horrific actions would leave a stain upon the soul...and upon the heart he had been so intent on pretending wasn't slowly developing within him. Not to mention the fact that he had chosen to remain in the Twilight, accepting his own inner darkness and tempering it with the light, rather than rejecting it utterly as his fellows were trying so hard to do. He was the furthest thing from pure.

The moogle, still running on a pre-programmed personality, didn't reflect Even's thoughts. It giggled, before shouting about that tickling, followed by that same strange 'kupo' noise.

Even sighed and shook his head. "The humans of your world must be quite weak of heart. And so you had hoped I might be something akin to an elf, based upon my ears, and familiar with your struggles?"

She hesitated... well, he'd pretty well figured that one out, hadn't he.

"...Perhaps...." Sheepish, much?

"One from my world has arrived here already, though on the Isle, which is... said to be intended for the evildoers of this world." A slight pause. "When we were able to reach the Isle by boat, to rescue those stranded there... he stayed behind.

"And knowing those from my world... there would be things they would appreciate knowing." A small shrug... yeah, that was what was up with her asking him.

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