Unlikely Rescuer [Linnith, Clem]

[Tangled Puppet]

Character: Linnith
Stage: Apprentice
Luck: 2 luk
Creature: Ysali Dragon, Ayrala dragon
Success Rate: 81 -100

Win x 1: 5 exp
Win x 1: 15 exp
Loss x 2: 5 exp

Total: 25exp, Levels to 8 with 7/8 exp left over, +12 stat points to distribute, +1 Ysali Orb, +1 ayrala orb, +3 luk, 1/3 luk exp

Word Count Required: 1,200+
Final Word Count: --

 

[Tangled Puppet]

Linnith curled her toes into the sand, eyes closing as she leaned back and turned her face up towards the sky. The sun was warm and calming and here, on the beach — tucked away and lined by the woods — Linnith felt at peace. The bracelet, her unconventional weapon, was warm against her skin as she stretched out her good wing and sighed. It had been about a month since she’d visited the mage’s shop and found her weapon and since then she’d visited again several times. With each talk that she had had with Atny, the more Linnith had grown to realize just what was going on with her. And after a talk with Gwen, Linnith had decided that she would go by female pronouns from then forward.

This, however, was not something she informed her parents about. She knew, straight away, that neither of them would understand and she’d rather go through them still referring to her as a he before going through telling them. So, at this point, she was still their little boy. She had also decided to keep her male name for the time being. During one of their latest talks, Atny had told her that the choice of changing one's name was personal. He knew of some that kept their original names and some who changed. At this point in Linnith’s time, she was not ready to change it just yet.

She sighed, leaning forward and focusing back in on the drawing she’d been working on. Her sketches were improving and this one in particular was a favorite of hers. Linnith began to put the final touches on it, rummaging through his colored pencils and picking out just the right colors to put to the paper. For now, this was her life. The only thing Linnith could do was go forward.

Lavender Hues

If you want to introduce the ysali dragons in your first post, that's fine (there's three of them) and then we can introduce the ayrala later.

 

[Lavender Hues]

Clementine had no idea where she was. It had been at least a week since she found herself dropped off on a pier, far from the snowy cold earth of her birthplace, and her belly was constantly on empty. She was so used to her mother and father fetching her food, she didn't know even the basics of hunting, but the smell of nearby food was pulling her in. Something smelled good toward the edge of the woods, in a tree, somewhere. But where? The Orakoi wiggled her way forward, her feet getting caught under the sand, and clawed her way up into a tree. It smelled so close, she could almost taste it! Food, food, fooood!

"Eeee!" She squealed, her little body wedged into the hole of a tree. She'd found a bunch of yummy snacks! It looked like lots of fruit, too, her favorite! Her jaw snapped repeatedly until she managed to grab a hold of a big piece of fruit and tugged herself out from the hole. Yay, fruit yums! She flopped onto her belly and happily began to dig into her juicy meal, until three large shadows came slinking into view. What were those? She wriggled to her feet and hunched back, a claw moving to hide the fruit she was eating underneath her, and whimpered as the figures came closer. They looked like other Khehora, but something about them seemed different. They were bigger and looked meaner... Were they dragons? They didn't seem to like her very much!

"H-hiiii?" She whined, her body sinking under their stare. "Got fruit, bye!"

And off she went, her meal firmly grasped in her mouth, back toward the shore, with the trio of dragons scampering after her. They weren't going to get her fruit without a good chase! Finder's keepers, loser's weepers!  

[Tangled Puppet]

Linnith smiled as she laid down the last bit of color and set her pencils aside. The dress was various shades of blues and greens and flowed like the very ocean in front of him. Just as she was gathering and putting his supplies away she heard a roar off in the distance. “Dragons…?” Linnith frowned as she stuffed her sketch pad back into her satchel and slung it over her shoulder. Dragons were the last thing she had expected to deal with and frankly, wasn’t going to. She turned on her heel and picked up her pace as she hurried along the beach.

Linnith paused when she heard a different sound — not quite the screech of the dragons. Something lower pitched and…scared. She frowned as she glanced over her shoulder just in time to see a small khehora scrambling down the beach, something grasped firmly in its mouth. Linnith groaned, knowing full well that she was about to get into the middle of a fight she wanted nothing to do with. She couldn’t just leave the poor thing to fend off the three ysali that were chasing after her.

Huffing, she dropped her satchel and turned, taking off towards the fleeing khehora. In hindsight, Linnith supposed that the fight gave her a chance to actually practice her magic. She called on her magic, held her hand out, and shot a bolt of light out towards one of the ysalis, knocking it out of the air and tumbling into the sand.  

[Lavender Hues]

Clem scampered with all her might across the sand, her mouth caught between wailing and holding onto her food. Why did these dragons want her food so much? It wasn't like they were eating it in the first place! The fruit belonged to her now and they needed to buzz off! She scurried around in circles, avoiding each attack as best she could, and only paused briefly as Linnith raced toward them. What were they? Did they want her food too? She shuffled, unsure of where to run, until Linnith attacked, and quickly dashed toward her.

"Mine!" She screeched, wiggling behind Linnith for protection. "Mine, mine, mine!"  

[Tangled Puppet]

Linnith blinked, momentarily surprised by how quick the khehora took to her protection. The surprise didn’t last long, however, before the dragon she’d knocked out of the air was bounding after the pair. “What on earth did you do to them, little one?” Linnith muttered as she drew her sword and pulsed her magic into it. Despite being a mage now, Linnith was still most comfortable with a blade. So until she practiced her magic by itself more, she would rely on both of her weapons. The blade of her sword glowed bright white as she slashed forward and down onto the dragon coming towards them. Without time to stop, the blade slashed through the dragon’s neck and before she even had time to blink, it was turning to dust and dropping behind two shimmering ysali orbs.

Linnith grinned at the small victory but the gloating was short lived as she felt vines wrap around her feet and tug her off balance, causing her to tumble to the ground on her arse. Groaning, Linnith didn’t have time to complain before the vines started winding their way farther up her body and grabbing hold hold of her arms before she even had a chance to raise her blades against them.  

[Lavender Hues]

Clem looked up at Linnith with a dumbfounded expression. What did she do? She didn't know! Those mean dragons started chasing her after she found her food! They were jealous that she had juicy fruit and they didn't! She gave a huff and watched as one of the dragons was slashed and turned to dust, her eyes flickering up to the blade that Linnith was wielding. Did... That thing turn dragons to dust? She didn't know what to think of that!

"No, no!" She cried, as Linnith tumbled downwards. Where did those vines come from? They were hurting the stranger that was helping her! She quickly swallowed the fruit she had and lunged for the vines, gnawing at them with all her might. They tasted pretty terrible, but once this nice person was free, they could get back to fighting the nasty dragons again!  

[Tangled Puppet]

Linnith struggled against the vines but was useless without her sword to help free her. When the khehora jumped in and began gnawing on the vines Linnith relaxed a bit. “Good, good.” She mumbled encouragingly and finally the vines loosened enough for her to wriggle out and away from them. She was on her feet in an instant, blade and magic at the ready again. Both dragons lunged and Linnith quickly placed herself between them and the little khehora she was protecting. She switched her bade to her less dominate, but still capable, right hand, so that it would not interfere with the use of her magic.

She swung with her blade, slashing upwards and nicking one of the dragons in the wing. It roared in pain, distracted long enough that Linnith could deal with the third dragon. She pulled at her magic, sending a whip of light out from her ring and wrapping it around the ysali’s neck. Making a fist, Linnith concentrated on her magic and pulled the loop tighter and cutting off the dragon’s air. The beast dropped to the ground and twitched a few times before bursting into dust.

The other dragon screeched and lunged, teeth gnashing and claws flailing. Linnith yelped and stumbled backwards as the dragon’s claws tore into her right arm. Her sword fell to the sand and she jerked her hand towards her, holding it close to her chest. Her left hand shot out as she focused her energy, creating a large sphere of golden light that got larger the closer to got to the dragon. When it reached it, the light enveloped the best and when Linnith closed her fist, the sphere shrunk, crushing and killing the dragon instantly.  

[Lavender Hues]

Once Linnith wiggled out the vines, Clem jumped back and watched her fend off the remaining dragons. It was amazing, and scary, to see her fighting! She wondered what else she could do with that sword and shiny magic! Maybe she could make other things turn to dust? It would be interesting to see!

"Bad! Ow!" She cried, scurrying closer as Linnith yelped. They got hurt, but they'd teach that dragon a lesson, wouldn't they? She shuffled back, squeaked, and cheered when the final dragon was crushed. Yay! All the mean dragons were gone! Her tail wagged in appreciation. "Yay! All gone!"  

[Tangled Puppet]

Linnith smiled as she turned around to the khehora. She quickly murmured a healing spell and ran light magic over the wounds on her arm. It wasn’t the best of spells, as she was still new at them, but it would have to work for now. Squatting, she reached a hand carefully out to the khehora. “Yes, all gone. I won’t hurt you.” Just as she went to inch closer a gust of unnatural wind surrounded them followed by another screech, this time sounding as if coming from something larger. Linnith glanced up to the sky just in time to see a funnel cloud form around what could only be an ayrala dragon. Cursing her luck, Linnith threw herself on top of the khehora, protecting it from any flying debris. She pulled at her magic, praying to the goddess that this would work. Lifting up and away from the khehora just enough to let a bow of light form from her bracelet, Linnith pulled back, an arrow of light forming at just the moment before she let the light string loose. The arrow shot through the funnel cloud as Linnith was back down, covering the khehora as she heard the dragon screech and then...nothing.

Linnith’s breath came hard and choppy as the wind abruptly died and she fell backwards, away from the khehora. “You got yourself into a good mess, didn’t you?” Linnith asked as she reached her hand out towards the khehora again. “My name’s Linnith. Do you have a name? Can you even talk?” Linnith’s experience with khehora was limited. She had met a few bonded and one khehorian but never a baby khehora. So she knew nothing about them.  

[Lavender Hues]

Clem tilted her head as a hand was offered to her and leaned in closer. However, the sudden gust of wind sent her jumping forward and underneath Linnith as she covered her. Was it a storm? She'd been through storms before! But this one felt different, maybe it was another dragon? The tiny Khehora tried to peer out from under Linnith until she moved and watched her fire an arrow before coming back down to cover her again. She heard the dragon cry out and wiggled as the wind died down. Was it over? Did the dragon give up and go home?

"Mess, no?" She asked, leaning into the hand as it was offered again. However, she couldn't help but tilt her head as further questions were asked.

"Linn-ith! Clem-tine!" She chirped, her head tilting the opposite direction. "Talk... No good."  

[Tangled Puppet]

Linnith blinked and then smiled at the small khehora. Reaching out, she scratched behind her horn. “Clementine, huh? That’s a pretty name.” She scratched a bit longer before finally pushing herself up from the sand and dusting herself off. Thankfully both her sword and satchel were still on the beach. She quickly retrieved them before moving back over to the khehora and putting her hands on her hips. “You’re safe now, hm? Stay out of trouble, ok?” With that said, she waved goodbye and turned to head back to the city.  

[Lavender Hues]

Clementine nuzzled into the scratching. Oooh, they gave good pets, too! Linnith was the best! She trilled and leaned after her as she went to get her things, only to lean back as she was told to stay out of trouble. Wait, they weren't going to leave, were they? What if there were more dragons out there who wanted to eat her up? There was no way she was staying here by herself! She'd need Linnith's help if they came back!

"Out of trouble!" She mimicked, scurrying after Linnith. "Linn-ith, safe, Clem-tine!"
 

[Tangled Puppet]

Linnith frowned and paused, turning back to face Clementine. Squatting down, she reached out to pet her again. “You can’t come with me. I live in the city and you’re not my bonded. My father would never allow it.” She hated that she couldn’t take the little one with her. “Surely you have parents that will worry about you if you’re missing for too long, yeah?”  

[Lavender Hues]

Clementine leaned into the petting and made a sound similar to a purr. However, Linnith's words sent her into a wiggling fit. Why couldn't she come along? She didn't want to stay here where there were nasty dragons flying around!

"Got lost! Big box! No snow!" She whined, her tail flapping against the sand. "What city?"