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 Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:53 pm
Auri glanced at the strangers, but made no other move.
Isk replied, I do not know. I do not understand humans, but she has been hurt. I shield her now, but she must learn to shield herself. It will do while the new humans are seen. But I would appreciate assistance in making her well once such things are possible.
Auri blinked twice. "I will survive," she replies to Cedric before moving closer to Isk, tucking herself under her bonded's wing.
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Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 6:07 pm
Tesunie walked on, egged(?) on by Lilith. He seemed to walk almost blank-eyed behind her. He didn't seem to care much for anything other than to follow her at this point. Tiredness, exhaustion and shock from everything that has happened sense he had left the city had taken their toll. He barely even noticed the dragon hatching's, something that would have brought a smile to his face, as they made their noise of announcements.
The events that had happened seemed to much for the young boy. It was overwhelming, the events he had seen. The deaths that haunted him. He was feeling like there was nothing he could do, in a world spinning every faster out of control. Anything he tried to do just seemed to make things worse for everyone. Maybe he would have been better off with his family, as odd of an existence as that was for him.
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Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 8:18 pm
Isk looked over at Tesunie and Lilith, then she sniffed, getting a good scent from them.
Auri also looked over at them, then up at Isk, "Quiet."
Isk nuzzles Auri, responding only to her bonded, You must learn to shield yourself from others. Until you do, I will be your shield.
Auri blinks and again looks to the new arrivals. Then she turns again to Cedric, "Is this what it is to be a person? Alone?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 10:03 am
Cedric wasn't sure how to answer the strange girl. Was this really his daughter? "I don't normally live alone," he corrected as he drew protectively closer, misunderstanding.
He didn't get a chance to demand answers from the strangers; Lilith began speaking immediately. "We seek refuge."
He sighed, thinking that he'd had enough excitement lately, and that his dwelling was getting cramped. They'd have to start sleeping outside on the ground at this rate. "You don't seem phased by my giant lizards," Cedric responded playfully.
Rueful, Lilith added, "We know of your kind. Might we find rest here?"
"Of course. Any injuries?"
Lilith looked to Tesunie, as if uncertain.
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Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 1:45 am
Her brow furrowed, confused but trying to follow, Auri watches the people interact. She would need to learn this. Despite her manner and upbringing, Auri was not stupid, though rather ignorant. She understood her continued well being would now depend on her interactions with others. Odd that all her life it was being quiet and withdrawn that had kept her safe. Now she wished she knew how to speak as people did with each other.
Isk remains silent, watching these new humans to be sure they did not pose a threat to her bonded. At least, no threat beyond that which she now shielded her bonded from. As she watched, Isk realized that Cedric could not understand Auri. It was obvious her bonded did not function as did other humans.
Reaching out to speak with Cedric alone as the strangers look to each other for answers. Isk hopes this one can be trusted and will help, 'You are the one who leads these humans and the other young dragons, it seems you have their trust. I must learn this trust. But first, I must be assured of my bonded's well being. I know of none other to seek aid from. Would you listen and assist if able?'
Auri looks at Tesunie, obviously exhausted and distant. In his eyes was haunting echoes of pain. She could not feel it, but she recognized that look. Auri wrapped an arm around Isk's leg, grateful to her dragon for keeping her from such raw emotion. But at the same time, Auri was beginning to suffer from the silence. She had always enjoyed being alone, as far from others as she could get within her Aunt's compound. But even alone in her rooms, Auri could feel those near her, slight emotions she could mostly keep from her waking thoughts. But this silence, so sudden upon her raw senses. Her mind was beginning to ring with it's singularity. Subconsciously, Auri's mind felt the edges of the shield Isk had wrapped about her.
Auri's isolation was complete, she could feel Isk, but the mind was so alien, and was somehow a part of herself, a part that had always been there just beyond reach. But the silence of any other emotions was beginning to make Auri tremble. Her eyes wide as she looked around. It did not matter that she knew the source of the silence, she could not feel these people, could not tell that they were alive. Or perhaps it was herself who was dead, a memory in a draconic mind.
Isk, wrapped up in her contemplation of Cedric, wary watching of the strangers and questioning for aid, failed to notice her bonded's distress.
Eyes darting about like a caged animal, Auri's mind shrinks in upon itself, kept from the familiar and bound in its own silence. Her trembling redoubles as Auri struggles to breath against the cloying cotton silence. Finally too much for the mind that had so recently suffered the excesses that came with the deaths of others, Auri SCREAMS her voice piercing the air just shy of complete insanity.
Clasping her hands to her ears, she turns and runs back into the cave to cower under the furs upon the bed, hiding as best she could from the roaring absence of others upon her mind.
Isk, startled, barely understands what has happened. It takes her only a moment to start after her bonded, only to be thwarted by the closeness of the stone cave. Broadcasting carelessly, 'My bonded!'
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Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 10:27 am
Tesunie did not get a chance to reply because of Auri's outburst. Cedric felt distanced and torn, his attention supplicated from every direction; the newest strangers, then Isk, and now Auri. Luckily he also had the most experience dealing with such complicated situations, in particular, shattered human minds.
"You will have to excuse me," he apologized to Lilith and Tesunie. "You may come down stairs if you wish, and please let me know if you need any assistance."
He turned then to Isk. "Stay here with them. You are able to communicate with her well enough and she will not be far away, but I wish to speak to her alone." His tone throughout enforced a calm over the group, a sense that not only did he know what he was doing and had their best interests in mind, but furthermore that there was no urgency. No one was in immediate danger. This was a safe place; it was important to him to keep that illusion.
After giving Isk one final, firm look, he went underground after Auri. Once underground, he felt nearly as confident as he had sounded. This would be a one-on-one encounter without too many distractions, in his own home. And Auri was not exactly a physical threat to him. He found her easily in his room, seeing her under the covers without having to probe directly.
"Tell me what is wrong," he soothed. "There is nobody here to bother you. Nothing to scream about. Tell me what you need."
Above ground, Lilith was a bit disappointed. Having known Tony, she could tell that this dragon was not an adult, and she did not like feeling babysitted. "Dragon," she addressed her promptly. "Do you know where the food is kept? Is there any other place to sleep?" She referred, of course, to the place that Cedric and Auri had disappeared in, correctly assuming that it was a human structure holding every thing that she and her companion might need, yet currently inaccessible. "There are not many other humans here, are there?" If there were other humans, she was not sure that she could forgive this strange man for leaving her under the responsibility of an alien youth.
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Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 12:49 pm
Isk fretted, shifting her weight on her feet. But as she was addressed by this stranger, she tried to find calm enough to answer. 'I do not know. We are new here, there were no others to tell us where to go. Auri needed warmth and sleep. We have not been here long, Cedric was so unhappy he did not tell us of other places, he looks for his wife . . .' Isk realized her worry was causing her to ramble, 'I do not know.'
Auri, curled into a ball, moans lightly at hearing a voice. But the calm confidence gave her something of a grounding to stand on. "It is so quiet, so calm. So dead without death. Am I here, or a dream? I can't feel, I'm closed and caged and the silent stillness is so heavy, so alone." She trembles, "I've never been alone . . ." Her voice swallowed in silent tears.
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Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 7:29 am
Upon the shrill scream, Tesunie's head jerked up. No longer was he staring at the ground, blindly following Lilith. He looked up, just in time to see a young girl run into a cave, and a small... dragon? A small dragon. Yes, it must have been a dragon. A small dragon trying to follow her.
You would think that a dragon would not be such an unfamiliar sight still, but it was. This one looked young, and health. Not like Tony. Not on the verge... No. No more thinking on that. Too much of that had happened already.
Concern filled him about the young girl. She seemed to be in such pain. More pain than himself at that time. Still a little numb from everything, he was very slow to react to anything. A man followed behind her, into the cave, leaving the young dragon... lizard... behind to watch them. Lilith talked to the dragon... how old was the dragon? Tesunie could not tell. Having known so little about them, and only meeting one from before, he had no idea.
Tesunie's mouth opened, and his voice surprised him, "Will she be alright?" It was a little hoarse at the time, all those hours of being silent, following. Or was it days? He didn't recall anymore. How many months could he have been away from home?* He looked to Lilith, then the dragon. An answer had to be somewhere.
*(I know, he has only been away from home for probably a few days, maybe a week tops.)
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Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 9:43 pm
Isk seems a little startled as the other stranger speaks, shifting her weight again, 'Alright? She will be alright, she must be, she has to be alright!'
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:51 am
Lilith already had a hand on Tesunie's shoulder, which she now squeezed. "She'll be fine. Every one is just tired and cranky." Well, she was at least. She couldn't afford to let herself think about whatever else people might be. Traveling with a silent companion had given her too much time to think unwanted thoughts, she she had obsessed over their physical needs as much as possible. That obsession had yet to end.
"You are able to talk to the other dragons," she told Isk sternly. "So find out from them. You must find out for your own sake, as well, as you no doubt must eat more than us." It would be good, she thought, for the younger dragon to have a task to occupy it. In fact, even better if Tesunie also had a task, but what?
"We will prepare a lunch while you search, if you do not mind. But it is the last of what we have and it is not enough to fill any one's belly, human or dragon." She sighed, having realized something as she talked. "We need kindling to start a fire." Lilith looked back over her shoulder, giving the woods a hollow look. She didn't want to go back there right now. She didn't want to have to walk any where for any reason, and she didn't like the strange creatures that she knew lived there.
-------
Cedric moved slowly to the edge of the bed, near enough to touch Auri, but keeping his hands to himself. He was more of a mind to catch her and pin her if she tried to run again, rather than thinking that he had any power to comfort her. Her choice of words made him think immediately of her dragon, for he knew that dragon bonded were never actually alone and should not feel that way.
"Alone? Is there something wrong with your bond?" He wasn't good at hiding the extra tension in his voice. He had bad experiences with bonds gone wrong, and young people were the most susceptible. He was well aware of what could happen to a young person in too much contact with their dragon-- and yet, what he knew was under different circumstances, and he wasn't sure how much it applied here. He assumed that the risk was much greater if dragon and human were in the same world together.
"Let me see your wrist." He wanted to check her pulse. Not that he was a medical expert, but he knew anxiety when he saw it.
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Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 11:32 am
Isk, still fretting and not thinking too clearly, broadcasts to the other dragons in the area, but still has enough presence of mind to broadcast only to the dragons. 'These humans need food and shelter, is there another place here where they can find this? I must stay with my bonded.' And, needing something to do, Isk follows Lilith's gaze into the woods and realizes that kindling must be there. stretching her shields so that she doesn't leave Auri without that protection, Isk flys to the woods, scoops up some brush [probably still green] and flys back.
Still trembling, Auri listlessly watches Cedric move. Her expression confused, "Bond? What bond? . . ." She moves to give him her wrist then she sits up, alarmed, realizing what he must mean, "Isk! Something's wrong with Isk?" Auri moves to get up and go to her dragon.
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Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 10:25 am
Cedric grabbed a hold of her wrist instinctively. "No, she's fine," he insisted, not sure yet if he should let go. "You are the one who is sick." Well, he couldn't think of a clearer way to say it than that. "Now please, let me check up on you. I'm not a doctor but I've... I've taken care of people before."
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Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:44 pm
Auri looks at him a bit wild eyed for a moment, but then seems to calm a bit, her skin tingling where his hand holds her wrist. Nodding, she sits back down.
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Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 10:02 am
The older man seemed immensely relieved. "I don't know what has happened to you," he said as he let go of her wrist to take her pulse, "but you remind me of someone. And, since you are quite young, you may as yet grow out of some of this..." Sounding hopeful, he stood up and turned to a chest behind him. "Your heart is racing. If you want, I can..."
He looked back to her, uncertain. "Well there are things I have for calming people down. You have to tell me how badly you feel, and if you know why, then why." She had seemed to really need it a moment ago, but now he was less sure. Although he had no moral qualms about giving a young woman wine-- his country having no "legal age" for drinking-- he wasn't sure about the quantity, or if she really needed it now. She seemed to be listening.
"And have you ever had wine before?" Suddenly he felt as if he had asked too many questions, so he shut himself up by getting out the bottle.
---------------------
Lilith was very grateful for the young dragons help, feeling more confident in the beast despite her youth. "Thank you," she said as she set up the brush for a long-burning fire. "Your companions seem less helpful." This was less a criticism and more a simple observation. Although Lilith had not been able to hear any of the other dragon's responses, she knew that none of them had come up to them and tried to help directly.
Indeed, the only vaguely useful response Isk had gotten was that there was a farm nearby where Cedric acquired many of his things, and where there were tastey sheep. Other replies ran along the lines of 'Cedric is there, every thing will be fine.' They didn't know what humans needed and in the past the older man had taken care of the few visitors they did have.
It was a shame, because if there had been more older dragons in the valley, the younger ones might have been more helpful and courteous. As it was, they were like renegade teenagers.
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School Of Dedicated RPers Captain
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Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 10:01 am
Auri shakes her head in the negative. "No, no wine." She takes a deep breath and struggles with her thoughts visibly before she manages to speak. "I . . . am a . . . disappointment. Not . . . " she shakes her head, "no . . . always quiet . . . hiding . . . soft in the head. Auntie mad because . . . I live . . . so I hide . . . I always what she wants . . . now . . . " Tears stand out in Auri's eyes, but she doesn't blink them away, instead continuing to stare at the chest, "Auntie is dead . . . all dead . . . all in my head, so loud, so . . ." Now the tears fall as she bows her head and buries her face in her hands. "So much pain. So much noise, my dragon was there, but not there. She couldn't . . . I couldn't . . . " Her voice is lost in sobs.
-------------------------------
Isk looks towards the cave, feeling Auri's distress, but aware that Cedric was there and that somehow Auri was gaining comfort from him, so she concentrated on what she could do out here, leaving Auri her peace.
Looking at Lilith, 'They do not worry about what they can not change. There is much new here to see. But they know of a farm? I do not know this word, but Cedric gets things there and it has tasty sheep. I do not know if that is of help. Perhaps when this Cedric returns from helping my bonded, he may aid you. Your bodies are so fragile, I would not cause you harm but I will give what aid I may.'
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