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 Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 12:55 am
After having his spine broken by accident and dying, Jericho awoke in a nurse's office. Right away, he felt... different. He was laying on his back, but it felt strange. Furrowing his brow, he slowly sat up. Or well. He tried to. There was a sudden weight to his rear.
"What the..."
Rubbing his head, he quickly realized that wasn't the only issue.
His hands. No. Hands. They were covered in black scales. Staring at them with wide eyes, he also could see and feel that his clothing was more or less completely shredded. A moment of panic hit him and he practically jumped off of the cot, promptly falling over. It didn't take long for him to realize just why his back felt heavier. Wings. Big. Great wings.
Immediately, he reached for the top of his head, feeling a pair of horns there too. And it was then that he rushed to try and find the nearest mirror. Once he found it, he stared in shock at what he saw. It wasn't the elf. It was the exact same figure he had met in dreams.
The dragon.
This. This had to be another dream.
Breathing a little heavily, he stormed on out of the nurse's office and ran as fast as he could to Riley's room. The cool air outside was now more uncomfortable to him, he noticed. And well, he was also moving a little clumsily. The wings at his back moved somewhat awkwardly as he didn't really know what to do with them. They grazed and bumped against the walls and doors in the hallway as he hurried on along.
"RILEY! RILEY! HELP!" he shouted as he burst into the room, hoping she was in. His voice. It was different too. Deeper.
What the ******** had just happened to him!?
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Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 1:02 am
The sound of a crash in the kitchen was followed by Riley, holding a wooden spoon like a deadly weapon, running out into the living room. When she saw it was Jericho, her tense fighting stance relaxed, though she instinctively walked past him to look outside in the hall.
What's wrong? She murmured, while scoping out the area. Is someone attacking you? Or following you?
She closed the door, and turned, brushing her hands affectionately up the ridge of his back between his wings and then returning into the kitchen and out of sight.
Tell me what happened. Did someone-
Her thoughts stopped, and there was a second crash. Suddenly, Riley hurled herself back out of the kitchen, stopping at the doorway and staring wide eyed.
Jericho! You're.. you're a.. Her brows knitted in sudden worry as she focused on his eyes intently. .. Jericho?
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Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 1:07 am
Jericho's thoughts were a mess right now as he was trying to put to words what was going on, though, it seemed that he had caught Riley off guard with his 'new' appearance.
"I don't know! One moment I had gotten into a fight with Christof and the next I wake up and I'm like this! Am I dreaming right now? Tell me if I am. This is the dragon I saw in my dreams. The one who was my reflection!"
He was frantic. Though, it was slowly dawning on him what all of this meant if this really wasn't a dream right now.
It was a little much for him at the moment.
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Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 1:18 am
Riley stepped forward, tentatively moving closer, until she stood toe to toe with the boil. Her hands lifted up, pressing against both of his cheeks, and she felt the skin against her palms. They rose up and she tugged on the hair, hard. Then they fell to his shoulders, and her expression lifted from confusion and worry to absolute delight.
A tiny part of her realized, distantly, that this meant he didn't get his memory back. That same tiny part warned her that she was strangely happy about that, as if the full return of Jericho would have severed some tie that she had connected to him. Some part of her that did not want to feel like the intruder in her own mind.
This is no dream. She murmured, sighing in relief. This is who you are. Who I've been telling you about. You're the red dragon, Jericho. Her hand rested back on his cheek again. Don't worry, it's going to be okay. I'm right here with you, and we're going to get through this together. There's nothing to be scared about - you should know that being a red dragon is a wonderful thing. You are a fine, strong, capable creature. And you're still my best friend.
His looks didn't matter. Nor did his memories. Just like she wanted to believe about herself.
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Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 10:18 am
Jericho stood still while Riley examined him. Though, he grunted as she pulled at his hair pretty hard. While he didn't exactly have short hair while he was an elf, it was rather long from what he could tell. Over all though, he was looking very concerned. When the mindflayer answered him, he slowly looked down at his hands again. "So it was really true all along..." he said quietly. The signs had all pointed to it before but it really wasn't until now that it seriously hit him in the face. There could be no further proof than.. well... this. "You'll.. help me readjust?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 3:56 pm
Riley's eyes widened slightly, incredulous at the question. Are you kidding? What have I been doing all this time, playing house with you? She rolled her eyes and reached out, to hug him around the waist. I already informed you of my intent. I'll always be here to help you, Jericho. You're my best friend. That isn't something I take lightly.
It had taken her some time to readjust to having Jericho in her life. His loss, his change, his entire experience had somehow fused that time with emotions she hadn't been aware of until she'd started to take care of him. It felt better, now that she knew how she felt. Better, but not complete. It was as if she was working towards something she didn't quite understand, but the path to that goal was still clear.
It felt good to have a goal again.
All right. First things first, we're raiding your dorm room. She reached up and patted his cheek. It's time you got back into your real clothes.
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Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 4:01 pm
"Ehe... I just. It was all really hard to believe," he admitted before nodding, "Thank you though. I really appreciate it. This past month or so has been... wild."The dragon rubbed the back of his neck as he shifted his wings a bit. Movement with them was still a little awkward. He was going to need to learn how to use them properly. They were so big. How the hell was he supposed to go about some things with them? "Yeah. I uh... seemed to have shredded the clothes you bought me before."The shirt was more or less non-existent at this point thanks to his back appendages. The pants were not in much of a better state.
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Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 4:40 pm
Yes. She deadpanned. I noticed. She put her hands on his shoulders, turned him around, and shoved him out the door. Let's go, before you scandalize someone looking like that. All we need is another Lizzy incident.
...
She stopped, after pushing him out the door, and stared at his back. She hadn't been thinking when she'd said it, but as soon as she did, she realized she had no idea what she'd meant by that.
Her hand pressed against her suddenly nauseated stomach.
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Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 5:14 pm
"Wait.. What Lizzy incident?" Jericho blinked while staring at her in confusion. Though, he looked down at himself anyway. At least nothing was indecent... right now.
"Er... tell me on the way. I don't want my pants to fall off.."
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Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 5:18 pm
Forget it. The words were rushed, sharp, and yet incidentally poignant. It's not important. She closed the door behind her, and locked her dorm shut. When she put the key away, tucked against her heart, she locked arms with him and gestured towards the exit. Let's move forward.
She would. It wasn't. And she did.
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Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 5:32 pm
Jericho furrowed his brow as she practically snapped out her words.
"...Alright," he said before he went on towards the monster dorms. That wasn't to say that he wasn't curious about what had just happened here but... he wasn't about to press it. It seemed to bother her greatly right now. At least, from what he could see.
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Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 6:40 pm
It seemed as though Riley was in a rush to get to Jericho's dorm. She hurried him along, keeping quiet both in conversation, and in her own mind. The refusal to think about anything was liberating, and it spurned her forward.
When she reached the monster dorms, she let him go, and opened the door to lead him to his dorm. She pulled his key out from her armor, and unlocked the door.
I bet this will feel a lot different to you now. She mused, the first thing she'd said since they had left. When she opened the door, she felt the wall of heat hit her, and shook her head before walking inside. If he still didn't like the heat of the room, even after regaining his physical body back, she was going to seriously suggest getting rid of that magma pool.. it was ridiculous.
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Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 6:46 pm
Once they were at his room, the dragon took in a deep breath, recalling the last time they were here. Upon the door opening, he felt a rush of heat hitting him, but it wasn't uncomfortable for him at all. In fact, it felt pretty damn nice. Jericho relaxed, then went on inside.
"Yeah, this is a lot more tolerable. It's pretty nice actually," he commented. It was like a complete 180 of temperature preferences for him with the two bodies.
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Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 7:47 pm
Riley was already starting to pull out his clothes and put them in a neat pile when he mentioned how comfortable he was. She rolled her eyes and chuckled, scrapping the idea of losing the lava, when it suddenly hit her. She was taking his clothing out to pack it up and bring it back to her dorm.
Why?
She put the shirt she'd half-pulled out, back in the drawer, and turned to look at him. A grown boil, back in his dorm, where he belonged. She hadn't realized until that moment that it meant Jericho would probably go back to living on his own again. Or, more importantly, so would she.
It felt.. weird.
Sorry. These are your clothes in here, and you usually sleep on your treasure, there. I don't think you can handle being in the lava pool unless you're in your natural form, and we're not going to worry about that just yet. So you can just ignore it, for now.
She closed the drawer behind her, and a sudden feeling of awkwardness came over her. She'd devoted herself for months to his well being. It was practically an obsession. It wasn't going to be easy to let it go.
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Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 8:55 pm
It was definitely weird being here once more. Jericho wandered in further, looking at everything around in a sort of new light. It felt more natural to be in here, compared to how things were last time. Though, he was still a tad skeptical about sleeping on the treasure chest type thing.
Turning around when he heard Riley speaking, he soon made his way over to the drawer and peeked in to see what was in there exactly. Right off the bat, he didn't really see anything in particular that really stood out. The old him didn't wear anything weird at least.
Reaching in, he grabbed a shirt and a pair of pants, and went on to change into them. The pants was simple enough.
But...
Well.
He was struggling with the shirt due to his wings.
"Natural form... that would be.. a dragon wouldn't it?" he said as he was struggling. She said to ignore it for now, but he wanted confirmation.
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