eswareinmal | [Orb]

[The orb shows the beach - grass leading to rocks leading to sand leading to the vast expanse of ocean in the distance. It's a picteresque sort of sight, with the bonus of no dragons around to eat people. Turns out you just can't entirely trust the maps here..]

I've, um, I've found the ocean. It's not as bad as it looks, out here...I mean, um, the thorns are moving rather fast, but it turns out that we're hardly cut off.

Well...hardly cut off yet.

I did stop by the infection zone before I came out this way. The reports are certainly true. For plants, they are moving alarmingly fast. I didn't want to stay in the area. If I'd actually dared make camp there, I probably wouldn't be here now. Still. I, um, I made an effort. A couple of basic identification spells, and a bit of scrying, although s-something about them made that even harder than it normally is, for me.

If anyone has any ideas how I might, um, proceed further, or even get a bit off for further examination, I'm certainly all ears. It's not as though I'll have to walk that far to reach the border zone on my way back.

[...really, though, looking out at the beach, at the ocean and thinking of what lies beyond it, it's actually a little hard to remember that they're all in such terrible danger. The land around him brings up a feeling of nostalgia in Giles' chest that he can't ignore.]

...if worst comes to worst, I suppose we could always build a ship.

[Because, when he finds himself forgetting, now he can summon up the mental image of that great, gnarled tangle of malevolent, thorny evil. That's a familiar feeling as well - consult the books. Fight the evil. Save the world.

What happens next? Well...they'll burn that bridge when they come to it.]

((ooc: Hey, sorry for the edits, guys! Turns out I was a bit mistaken as to the positioning of the thorns. But! Things should be able to proceed from here.))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

But it's more of a waste of time for me to sit here on my ass and do nothing.

[Says the boy who is currently laid out on his stomach in bed, arms wrapped around his pillow, in darkness because he's drawn his canopy in around himself.]

And it's not enthusiasm. It's boredom.

The first generally spawns the second, in my experience.

With the, um, with the Hero of the Mountain gone, the immediate threat has passed. If you're really going mad, of course, then there are plenty of locations both untouched by the thorns and that I haven't actually managed to explore over the past few days.

There might be a few other powers that aren't, um, quite so unfriendly.

[Quietly considering.]

Other powers, such as?

I've heard tell of a couple of dragons. They, um, they haven't actually laid waste to the place, which implies that they aren't immediately hostile and might possibly be negotiated with.

Then there's the mermaids that everyone keeps asking after, although frankly I count myself lucky not to have come across them.

Hn. [Dragons, he's interested in.] Like the fat ones that came with the Khaleesi?

[Mermaids, on the other hand.] Why would anyone be interested in mermaids? They bring terrible luck. [At least according to the legends he knows.]

[...] What on Earth is a "Khaleesi" and what is she doing with dragons?

[Giles tends to get somewhat absorbed in his projects. Dany's arrival flew completely over his head.

He'll address the mermaid issue in a minute, but he privately marks Sasuke up a bit in his esteem for knowing that much about mermaids. People die, thinking that they're anything but bad luck.]

She says "khaleesi" means queen, and she hatched the dragons, so she's their mother. They're still babies, though.

Oh, for god's sake. [Crazy, delusional dragon lady. Just what the town needs.]

I, um, I don't suppose you happened to get a look at the size of these, um, "babies", did you?

Yeah. [He holds up his hands, about seven, eight inches apart.] They're not big.

[Giles lets out his breath in relief.] Small mercies, then. If there are any left in this place, they probably won't be quite so small. N-Not if I know my fairy tales, at least.

Are the dragons from your stories fat, too?

I've only seen pictures. And, um, one from...blessedly far away.

It's a bit hard to tell, around all the scales. I-I would imagine, however, that breathing fire would tend to burn off any excess.

My family is famous for breathing fire, and my aunt and uncle were both fat.

[Deadpan.]

The dragons in Fire Country look like snakes. At least in the stories. Khaleesi's dragons are...shorter, I guess? They're not like anything I've ever seen.

I'm going to assume, possibly incorrectly, that your aunt and uncle aren't dragons, but I do take your point.

And, um, I have seen pictures of dragons that were more..."snake-like". The only living speciman I've encountered, however, was, um, more of a lizard.

...and, um, then there was the time I was transformed into a dragon, and I only knew that's what I was because someone told me. It looked more like a cat, for god's sake.

No. They weren't. [Smirk.] Of course, dragons are said to live in rivers, where I come from.

A cat? That's different.

Yes, um, well. That was in another place rather like this. Dozens of different worlds all brought together. I suppose a place where dragons look a bit more like cats wasn't, um, unheard of.

Cats aren't related to reptiles. Are you sure it wasn't a kirin?

Reasonably positive. Unless there's a world with giant black kirin with oddly flat heads.

It had scales, wings, claws, and could breath fire. I suppose that's generally the standard, as far as dragons go.

I've never heard of a dragon or a kirin with a flat head.

[Eyebrow.] In Konoha, dragons usually live in rivers.

Rivers? That would seem, um, counterproductive to fire breathing. I'd always heard it was mountains.

Are you referring to kirin, then, or was that just a literary example? [Of all the things Giles has seen, kirin actually aren't one of them. So his curiosity is piqued.]

The dragons that live in rivers don't breathe fire. The ones that do don't live in rivers.

[He'd think that would be obvious.]

I've never seen a real kirin, but I can make one out of lightning. [Or, could.] I'd actually never seen a real dragon either, before I came here.

Really? I, um, I never would have guessed. You certainly speak as though you have extensive knowledge, at least in terms of dragons relating to your world are concerned.

There's a lot of mythology in the names and shapes of ninjutsu we use. Dragons made of water that shoot bullets of the same. My lightning kirin.

[Orb]

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omg was he toothless

Why, yes. Yes he was.

that is beautiful.

Re: that is beautiful.

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