Coa
(#66041302)
Silver-scarred places and unknowable names
Familiar
Laybrush Larcenist
Click or tap to view this dragon in Predict Morphology.
Energy: 49/50
This dragon’s natural inborn element is Light.
Female Nocturne
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Personal Style
Apparel
Skin
Scene
Measurements
Length
3.91 m
Wingspan
7.76 m
Weight
394.17 kg
Genetics
Garnet
Basic
Basic
Saffron
Morph
Morph
Cream
Basic
Basic
Hatchday
Breed
Eye Type
Level 1 Nocturne
EXP: 0 / 245
STR
7
AGI
6
DEF
7
QCK
6
INT
6
VIT
6
MND
7
Lineage
Parents
- none
Offspring
- none
Biography
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| xxxxx |
 ⌈ COA ⌋ Abandoned Apprentice; Co-enzyme A soft • dreamy • deceptive |
The cracking gurgle of the lab has faded to the background, the ooze spiderwebbed on the wall is flaking and dry. The experiments tumble onwards without their master, but the apprentice--soft eyes peeking over the stack of books--would try her claw as well. The plagues know no rest, and adaptation brings life. To be abandoned in the deadlands is a hard sentence. She’ll find her master, alright.
Written by Oranitha
| xxxxx |
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coding by Taytenn#339149xxxxxxx
• Blind in her right eye after a laboratory accident at a young age that she still refuses to talk about, even with her friends
• Has an extremely fancy collection of fountain pens in her hoard, but unlike a lot of dragons with their hoards, actually makes the effort to use each and every one of them, cycling through them in a pattern no one else has figured out
• Has a tendency to get lost in thought while she's out walking or flying and sometimes comes back to reality with no idea where she's ended up
• Is not very spooky but could be if she tried, has a very commanding voice and when she gets stern with someone they tend to listen
• Has a tendency to chew on sticks absentmindedly when she's concentrating on something, many of the trees around her den have suspiciously barren patches from where she's pilfered their branches
• Sleeps on her back with wings completely unfurled and limbs akimbo, was once found like this not far from her den and was presumed dead because "who the heck sleeps this way, Coa????"
• Spends a lot of money on getting products made with silk for the clan to use; prefers clothing, decor, and furniture made from the material and believes her clanmates deserve a similar level of luxury
• Actually has a lot of potential to be a great mage if she ever felt like exploring her magical powers rather than flexing her mind in the pursuit of science, but since she only ever uses magic for the most mundane of purposes, her talent is not at the level it might otherwise be
• Is not all that interested in finding a romantic partner, but is desperately touch-starved and would like someone (or many someones) to snuggle with on the reg
• The dog she travels around with on occasion is actually her sister's old familiar and is capable of casting minor illusion spells, so even though her sister is dead and she has her own familiar, she keeps it around for convenience's sake
Headcanons by Tamabukku1000
koi???
Mornings in Luminous Outpost, more often than not, were bright and clear. Sometimes it was hard for Coa to tell, though.
She rubbed a wet towel over her face and peered at the mirror. Nocturnes generally had a hard time seeing themselves in mirrors, but doubly so for Coa—while her left eye was clear and golden, the right one was noticeably cloudier-looking.
She fought the urge to rub it. She knew it wouldn’t help. Nothing she’d tried in the past year had helped. She would have to accept that she was blind in that eye— “Yet another thing Kornephoros has to answer for,” she thought darkly.
A soft touch on her ankle told her that her dog had awakened, too, and her scarred face softened into a smile. It didn’t do to dwell too long on past unpleasantness. There was a new day to face.
Outside, the rest of Luminous Outpost was slowly waking up. Coa passed vendors and shopkeepers setting up their wares as she headed to the inn.
A cascade of musical notes caught her attention. She looked up, saw the minstrel strumming his first song of the day. He caught her gaze and winked. “‘Morning, Coa!”
“Hello there, Sascha. I’d wink back, but—” Coa pulled an exaggerated grimace and gestured to her right eye. “I don’t think it’d make a difference.”
Sascha chuckled. “There’s quite a story there, I’m sure.”
“There certainly is, Sascha....Just not today.” Coa managed a final rueful smile before she ducked into the inn.
The inn was bustling. It was always bustling, as dragons came and went and ate and drank, and Coa gratefully allowed herself to get swept up in the rhythm of work. She was a part-time barmaid here, and though it was a far cry from the work she’d had before, in many ways, it was better. Dreena was a considerate employer, and the customers were largely well-behaved. Here, it was easy to forget the life she’d lived before, out in—
—the Starfall Isles. Their laboratory was close to the Scarred Wasteland’s border, though it was buried deep underground to hide from exalted authorities...or prospective test subjects.
Of the latter, there were many. Kornephoros always knew how to pick out the weak, or to find those who would do the dirty work for him. Thugs and footpads bringing equipment, chemicals, or people for him to experiment on. “And was I one of them?” Coa couldn’t help asking herself now. It was a rhetorical question—she already knew the answer.
There were so many experiments going on at once, and so when the explosion happened, it was difficult to say which of these had caused it—if the explosion had even been caused by an experiment.
It happened in the small hours of the morning. Coa had just risen and was still groggy; suddenly she was blasted into wakefulness as a shockwave ripped through the lab, buckling the walls and sending debris cascading down.
The noise reached her before the pain did: just endless screaming, the wails of the trapped experiments, the alarms blaring, and pressurized steam bursting from shattered pipes. All of it rolling into a single sustained note that battered her with as much force as the falling wreckage had.
It took her some time to separate the noise from a familiar voice: her superior, Kornephoros, yelling something. Coa shouldered off the debris and managed to reach the room where he was.
She found him piling binders and smaller specimens onto a cart. He grimaced when he saw her, but his next words were, “You grab the ones from Array 3. Hurry, go!”
Coa automatically followed the instructions. She’d been taking orders from Kornephoros for a long time now; it seemed the most natural thing in the world to continue taking them while the lab burned. She scooped up papers, test tube racks, binders, glass slides. She shoveled them all into the crates on the cart, ignoring her own awful injuries all the while.
But not for long. The pain became too great, and she slumped down onto the cart. Kornephoros could push the whole thing into the nearest exit tunnel, and everything would be fine....
And then icy dread crept over her as she felt herself roughly shoved off. Kornephoros’ face loomed out of the smoke. “Get off, you idiot,” he spat, glaring as though she’d merely fudged some calculations. To her horror, he piled another couple of crates onto the cart and then began pushing it away. Leaving her behind.
“No. Don’t...” But her voice was too weak now. Even as she struggled to her feet, she saw the tunnel hatch slam down, heard it lock. She managed to get to it, hammered feebly on it, knowing all the while that it wouldn’t open....
Coa shrank against the hatch as another blast shook the lab. “Another...escape route.” There were escape hatches placed throughout the facility, for situations such as this. She muzzily tried to remember where the nearest one was. She struggled towards it, praying all the while that it hadn’t collapsed along with the rest of the lab.
She was in luck, but there was no time to rest after sealing the hatch behind herself. She struggled down the tunnel for what seemed like hours, laboring through the pain of broken bones and burns while behind her, the dull roar of the lab’s destruction continued. She could feel the heat of it even across the distance. The place was becoming an inferno—
—but now it was a pitiful fizzle next to the fury in her heart. She barely saw the tunnel walls around her now. Instead, her mind replayed the image of Kornephoros pushing her off the cart. Dumping her like so much trash. Even his last words to her had been an insult: “You idiot...”
”Story of my life,” Coa thought sardonically as she polished a glass. Around her, the inn was crowded with dragons looking for a meal. It was the busiest part of the day—
And now, suddenly it was the most interesting. She overheard a name—one mentioned in passing, but she had been listening for it.
She leaned towards the Pearlcatcher who’d spoken. “Did I hear that name right? Kornephoros?”
“That’s right. Some rising star”—the Pearlcatcher rolled his eyes expressively—“over on Mercury Isle. I haven’t actually talked with him, mind you. Just delivered stuff a couple of times to his home.” The sour expression on his face, however, left no doubt as to what kind of opinion he’d formed of the Bogsneak.
Coa could relate, but she maintained her blankly amiable facade for now. “Sounds like good, honest work.”
“That it is. Wouldn’t want to be one of the folks who work for him on a regular basis, though. These wizardly types, they’re always just a bit shady, you know?”
“Do tell, friend! Do tell...”
~ ~ ~
The Baroness’ party was winding down. Some of the guests had already left, but a small knot were still gathered around Kornephoros, listening to him talk about various projects.
They were interested. They always were. Kornephoros did not attend parties often, but he knew how to choose the right ones, where he could find dragons who might not be too squeamish about his work, who knew when to stop asking questions—or which questions to ask.
He put on a reluctant face. “Hmm, it’s difficult...very difficult. It could take me six months, four if things turn out well...”
He chatted with them further as the party wound down to its natural conclusion. By the time Kornephoros left, he had a few appointments set up—and he didn’t doubt there would be more to come.
He slouched comfortably home, humming to himself. Keeping up his joviality could be draining, but it was worth it. He didn’t have any qualms about pretending to be less capable than he really was, either. He’d learned that blustering and overconfidence rarely helped with these types of people: They tended to view it as a threat, and they cracked down harder if anything went slightly wrong. No, better to under-promise and then over-deliver. They felt more charitable towards types whom they perceived as weaker; they thought it helped them make up for all the unsavory things they dipped their talons in....
The house was dark when Kornephoros got home. The servants had already left, which suited him just fine. He could get started on some late-night research, he thought as he shut the door behind him and activated the locking spells. Go over some notes, let the ideas percolate in his head, then get to work in the morning....
He was about to toss his coat onto the nearby stand—and then it moved slightly, leaning towards him. In the dark, Kornephoros found himself briefly befuddled. And then his eyes adjusted and he realized a Nocturne was perched atop the stand, wings tightly folded against her sides.
His blood ran cold—more so when he heard the intruder’s voice: “You seem to be doing well for yourself, Kornephoros.”
“Coa?!” The name blared in the Bogsneak’s mind like an alarm. He darted away as quickly as he could, slammed a paw against a light orb. The room brightened in response—and then he saw the shadow on the floor.
He dodged it just in time; instead of her talons digging into his skull, they scratched his left foreleg. He winced, and somehow managed to turn his grimace into a strained grin.
“You’re alive! Oh, I am...dreadfully pleased to see y—”
“No more blathering, Kornephoros!” Coa hissed back. “I’m not here to talk with you.”
She darted towards him like a striking snake, fangs gleaming. Kornephoros instinctively turned, heading deeper into his home. It was built vertically rather than horizontally, spiraling down into the ground. He’d lived here for only a little over a year, ever since the accident, but the place had been built to his specifications, and he had a good mental map of the rooms and passages.
As he fled, he knocked over things with his tail, hoping they would slow down his erstwhile apprentice. He heard her coming after him; a quick glance back showed her still in dogged pursuit, scrambling over the furniture, half-crawling across the walls.
“Did the little fool forget how to use magic?” In spite of his peril, a hysterical grin snaked across his face. “That explosion must’ve knocked her remaining screws loose. I’ll have to get her in a position where I can apprehend her....I’m sure she’ll still be useful in some fashion.”
“Coa, please!” The pitiful mask was back on. Kornephoros slid into the underground foyer, turning across the floor to face the Nocturne. “I didn’t know you were alive, I swear I didn’t! I thought the explosion had mortally injured you. You suddenly collapsed—”
“LIAR!” Coa burst into the room, her wings flaring wide. Kornephoros stared in horrified fascination at her scarred face, her dimmed right eye. “You knew I was still alive. You shoved me off that cart; you told me to get off. You left me for dead!”
“I didn’t know...” Kornephoros knew the lie was wearing thin, though. He decided to try another tack: As he backed towards an archway, he asked, “How did you get in?”
He almost regretted asking it: Coa’s low, oily chuckle sent chills down his spine. “It took a while, let me tell you. I first confirmed your whereabouts...oh, about six months ago. I heard your name in passing, and I decided to come up here and have a look. I struck up conversations with your servants...”
She scowled down her snout at him. “You haven’t changed a bit,” she snarled. “Always treating your underlings like dirt. Under the circumstances, though, I’m glad you did—your servants were only too happy to chat about you. It did take several conversations, a few pieces of gold here and there...but I’d say it was all worth it.”
“What do you want from me?” By now, Kornephoros had backed beyond the archway. He was now in his private library—and the next doorway led to one of his labs. That section had better security, and while he could attack Coa with magic now, he didn’t want to risk her fleeing back the way she’d come—and surviving to ambush him again later on. The security spells would make it easier to trap her instead.
Coa laughed again. “You’re not the only one who’s gone up in the world, Kornephoros! I’ve been continuing my own research, thanks to the notes you left behind. Unlike you, however, I do all my work on my own. Can’t have disgruntled apprentices coming after me for revenge if I don’t have apprentices to begin with.
“Unfortunately,” and her face darkened with a grotesque scowl, “my clients are a little bit...demanding. Some of the mixtures I need are time-consuming to create. So I thought, ‘Why not follow up on that lead on Kornephoros, see if he can help me acquire those pesky potions?’ We did use them extensively in the Starfall Isles.”
“The slumber draught? The sloughing enzyme?” Kornephoros suggested. Coa’s eyes went flat. “I’m not sharing my research with you.”
“If you stop all this skulking about, I might even help you. Who are these clients you mentioned?”
“You’re not taking this from me either, Kornephoros!” Coa’s voice rose to a roar again. She bore down on him, and he rapidly backed up. The doors opened automatically behind him—and the Bogsneak barked a command.
Beams of light blasted through the doorway. Coa gasped as they struck her, and she fell like a stone to the library floor, paralyzed except for her feebly twitching claws.
It was Kornephoros’ turn to laugh. “Like it? It’s a modified Shock spell—perfect for immobilizing recalcitrant specimens...or uninvited guests like you.”
“N...no,” Coa croaked. Her eyelids fluttered. “My...project...You mustn’t—”
“What—take it? You were going to steal my work! Oh, do stop that.” Kornephoros rolled his eyes theatrically. “You’re flopping about like a fish out of water. But I might let you live—if you tell me where I can find your research.”
“P...password,” Coa groaned. Kornephoros snorted. “Of course there is. Well, hurry up, you deranged little bat. Let me have it.”
He leaned closer—and felt Coa’s paw, shockingly cold, slap against his neck.
“What—” Suddenly it was Kornephoros who was caught: trapped in some sort of membrane that rapidly expanded to enclose him. It looked like a soap bubble, but his flailing claws bounced off it as though it were steel.
“No!” Magic welled up around Kornephoros, bolts of red and green. He hurled them against the membrane, but it wouldn’t give; soon the inside of the bubble was a whirling miasma of virulence. It petered out eventually, leaving Kornephoros, wide-eyed with consternation, still floating inches above the floor.
And Coa, sly and treacherous Coa, was standing up at last. “How?!” he bellowed to her.
“It wasn’t very difficult. As I said, I only had to gain your servants’ trust, bribe them for information bit by bit. You know,” she said with a shrug, “this isn’t the first time I’ve been in your house. I made a few adjustments to your security spells when I was here...oh, a few days ago.”
Kornephoros’ red eyes darted around his semi-transparent prison. “And you’re going to use me in your project?”
“Project? You loathsome worm, I haven’t touched a specimen in months. There is no project.”
All a ploy, then—just to get him closer so she could slap this...whatever it was...onto him. Kornephoros’ sharp gaze picked out runes woven into the membrane, winking in and out of visibility. A bit of Congeal, a bit of Shock...
“I can unravel this. It shouldn’t take too long. But I’ll need to distract her.” Mustering his courage, he groaned, “Are you going to kill me?”
“Don’t be silly. You’re so disgusting, it makes me sick to so much as look at you. I can’t imagine what getting your blood all over my claws would do to me.”
“Maybe we can work something out. I have several wealthy patrons; I could put in a good word for you.” He put on his most earnest grin and held the Nocturne’s gaze, hoping she wouldn’t notice how one of his talons was now engraving counter-runes into the membrane. Coa hovered before him, examining him speculatively. Was she actually considering his offer?
Not in the least, as it turned out. Kornephoros felt his smile slide off his face as she bent towards him. “I’m not going to kill you,” she repeated, “but you’re going to wish that I had.”
“Well, then...you’d have to catch me first.”
With an awful tearing sound, the entrapment spell unraveled. Kornephoros thudded heavily to the floor. Coa braced herself for another attack, but the Bogsneak instead slid backwards into his lab. Heavy steel doors slammed down, and an alarm began to blare.
“Careless...I was so careless!” Frustration burned within Coa as she tore back through the hallways. “I didn’t think he would be strong enough to break loose. Looks like he hasn’t been spending all his free time hobnobbing, after all.”
She blasted out through a window in a shower of glass. Far below the ground, in his lab, Kornephoros turned to the surveillance systems. A few of them had been tampered with, but enough were still working to show him that Coa had left his house.
Still, he wasn’t relieved. And Coa wasn’t completely demoralized either. In the same instant, the same certainty burned in both their minds—
She would come after him again.
~ written by Disillusionist (254672)
all edits by other users
all edits by other users
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