Roleplay

(Apologies for the late reply, I've been bogged down with life stuff. As for @maiathehealer, I'd love to have another writer contributing to the story! Feel free to take an open character, or introduce one of your own. Until @bellancawings changes the title of the RP to closed, I'm going to assume anyone and everyone is welcome. I look forward to reading more awesomeness~)

Anticipation coursed through the Guardian’s large frame. Similar to that of electricity right down to the tingling sensation at the tips of the toes. Normally meetings such as this were rather… dull, sprinkled with elders snapping back and forth often enough to interrupt your nap. However, this was not going to be an average gathering. Rallak shifted his weight between his haunches and stretched his wings, allowing the fading light to filter through the crimson membrane. Bone trinkets chattered with the movement. Egg thieves were on everyone’s mind. One could physically feel the anxiety that oozed off the dragons of Navarian, let alone the stench of fear could probably be caught miles downwind. [i]Cowards, all of them.[/i] Rallak thought as Rafore droned in a monotone voice at his lacky Gullivan. Red eyes probed the length of Gullivan concluding with a smirk that he could easily be overpowered. Sadly strength was not properly valued in this clan. Rafore’s decision to keep his older second in command instead of replacing Gullivan with someone of higher battle prowess agitated Rallak. Crests on the side of Rallak’s jawline threatened to betray his anger but was quickly kept in check. “Gullivan, do not doubt me.” [i]This is my chance to prove myself,[/i] Rallak pondered. His skills in battle were well known, and there was no doubt of his placement on the team to the gathering.[i] If … no when battle breaks loose I will prove myself invaluable to Rafore.[/i] Finally the leader broke conversation with the paperweight and began addressing other members of the clan. Ceasing his shifting, the guardian stood tall and proud, waiting to be face to face with Rafore. He had looked in the waters not too long ago and his mate this year assured he had grown, maybe Rallak would finally be able to look down on the “fearless” leader. The flickering of a tail was the only betrayal of emotion. @MalaikaKupanda [img]http://flightrising.com/dgen/preview/dragon?age=1&body=10&bodygene=4&breed=2&element=2&gender=0&tert=10&tertgene=6&winggene=4&wings=86&auth=2c4e4f053b29932abb47c88cbb62ece3b535727d&dummyext=prev.png[/img]

[sorry again for the long delay! I got sick right after getting back and had a sick cat to deal with right after that, so not much time to write... here's my catch-up post for Grendel, but I think he's just going to be lying in wait until the meet begins properly. I'm also introducing a new character, if the Jovians don't mind =) ] [u]Alleeah[/u] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/239102/23910194_350.png[/img] A clan doctor rushed up to Alleeah’s favorite basking spot, where she was resting her tired old bones in the last rays of light from the setting sun. "We need your help, grand-auntie. Yui was attacked while hunting and she's really hurt." "Why aren't you over there helping her, then? She must not be that badly off if you're here." Alleeah had been dozing off, and was annoyed. Just because this young doctor was (apparently) her kin, didn’t mean he could interrupt her rest. Which one was he, again? One of Gloria’s, she thought. He had her white wings... "She needs an expert. You are so much more experienced at healing than we are!" … and her way with words. She wasn’t about to let him butter her up, though. "All of you know how to clean cuts. By the time I get over there, there will nothing left to treat." "Don't say that, grand-auntie!" "No, no, I mean all the cuts are probably clean." "Please grand-auntie, she could die." She could see he was terribly worried. Alleeah couldn't remember quite who Yui was, which made her think they probably weren't related. Was her grand-nephew courting a mate? As soon as it occurred to her she was convinced it was true. His concern for the future mother of his hatchlings was so touching that it choked her up a little. What kind of grand-auntie would she be if she didn't tend to her future grand-niece personally? And of course, she had to make it a sure thing by lauding her own flesh-and-blood to his future mate (not that anyone needed help seeing the merits of a handsome doctor like him). "All right, then. Hurry ahead and do what you can, I'll be there as soon as I can get these old wings flapping. And don't worry! I'm sure she'll be fine." The sun was halfway over the horizon by the time Alleeah flopped her wrinkled scales down in the clearing next to Yui. Even while she was asleep in the near-twilight, it was easy to see what so attracted her grand-nephew to this female. She was lithe, with magenta scales framed in pale earth tones. They were reminiscent of Gloria's, but where her scales were bright and showy, Yui's were lustrous and subtle. What's more, she was rune-touched, an omen of fertility and good fortune. Alleeah inspected her wounds closely. They had been treated liberally with salve, and a few were bound tightly with cloth, including the wound on her tail. The doctors had done a fine job. Still, it wouldn't do for her grand-nephew's princess to be covered in scars. She unwrapped the bindings and blew a soft breath infused with her innate healing magic into them. The magic in her breath was nearly invisible, seen only as a few gold-, emerald-, and amethyst-colored scintillae that drifted gently over the places where blood welled, calming its flow and encouraging the flesh to knit. She lingered longest over the nasty bite on the young one’s tail. Even with magic, she would be lucky if it healed back to its original shape, and she would almost certainly have a scar, but the runeborn were known for their luck, after all. Even so, Alleeah spoke a few prayers for good measure. While the words of her mother tongue rumbled in her throat, she rolled her claws over a set of lucky stones she kept under her long, embroidered robe. [u]Grendel[/u] After retrieving the infested egg from its hiding place, Grendel drilled down a riverbed towards the Sky Tree, remaining as hidden as he could from flyers. He could see a few early arrivals overhead, but they paid him no attention. The shadowy, uneven dapples in his hide were just the right color for moving unseen at night, a boon for his profession, but it wasn’t quite dark enough to move in the open. He kept to the Lanis side, as planned, and slunk into a burl in one of the tree’s enormous roots. From here, he could peek up into the branches as the clan representatives arrived, or look out towards the plain where a few broodmothers had started to dig out nests. He frowned, a little disappointed at the turnout. Not as many dragons as he had expected had come seeking the Tree’s protection for their eggs. Trust among the clans must be even more tenuous than he imagined. At this rate, Orion and his team would be lucky to liberate a dozen nests, even with his distraction. He cradled the deadly egg nervously in one scrawny arm while drumming his claws on it with another. It was partly nerves, but it also served to loosen the coat of mud that kept the nestbane mites inside. Had Lord Khaldonius anticipated the low turnout? He must have... but then why allow this dangerous raid to begin with? He tried to think like the great white and, as before, found it shockingly easy. Even if there were only a few nests raided, a raid here would cut all the clans deeply, and Khaldonius would instantly get support to go on the hunt for the thieves. Suddenly, a thought like an icicle pierced his mind and chilled his heart. “I [i]am[/i] a thief. Would the lord of Lanis hunt me?” He thought of himself as a serpent of Lanis, but there was no one in Lanis who would lift a claw to help him if he was caught planting the nestbane at the Sky Tree, and none of the other clans even knew his affiliation. What was to stop the lord from calling off Orion’s attack and sending his band to capture Grendel instead? He could see it clearly: the scarred metal and a band of jeering hatchlings, dragging him up the Tree to the meet to be condemned by Khaldonius and the other clan leaders. After that, there were so many ways they could torture him to death that he stiffened imagining them. Then, Khaldonius would use him as a scapegoat, gain command of an army drawn from all the clans to hunt for other thieves, use his knowledge of the army to plan raids where there would be no defense, and frame other leaders for sabotaging the army’s mission, all while swelling Lanis’ nests. Well, not if he could help it. There was more than one dragon who could take the fall for this, and he knew exactly which one he wanted to see hanging in pieces from the Sky Tree.

With mild irritation Rallak’s jaw crests flared. He had hoped that the leader would have been more personal with addressing everyone. With a low rumble in his throat he relaxed his posture and surveyed the area. Broodmothers were fretting over the nests making changes at the last moment; among them was his current mate. She was nothing special but was captivated by his strength during mating season. Red eyes probed the length of her more slender form. Memories of the mating season flooded back into his mind…

“What is it Rallak?”

Pleasant memories were slipping away as his attention was diverted to the smaller form next to him. The way it constantly twitched immediately told Rallak that Gullivan was to blame for this interruption. Looking away so not to betray any emotion he rumbled,

“Can you not feel it?”

Sinking into the land the sun slowly gave into the night, as if the stars fought for their right to the sky. As if in defiance the horizon was painted in reds to give sign of their struggle. However, like each evening, day plunges into darkness; a sure omen of what was to come.

“I wouldn’t worry about the meeting if I were you. The way you fret over a battlefield like a broodmother over her clutch, our clan is safe in your talons.”

Sarcasm oozed from Rallak’s comment. Hoping to get a rise out of the second in command he followed up his comment with a wicked grin.

@MalaikaKupanda

@Kilowattdreams

Now that Yui's wounds were treated as well as could be, Alleeah let her rest for awhile, and sat. She curled her own tail under herself for cushioning and gingerly lowered herself on top of it to avoid sitting on a sharp rock. She had to be careful these days.

She couldn't recall much about this Yui. It was her intent to evaluate the pretty young female properly once she woke (must make sure she's a suitable match, after all), but for now she contented herself to a bit of scrying. Whilst watching Yui out of the corner of her eye, Alleeah pulled out a set of small bones of various shapes and sizes.

Understanding the bones was an art she had learned from her grandmother, and passed on to some of her own grandchildren, but few had the patience to listen, either to her or to the bones. Holding one in her left hand, she scooped up a palmful of dust in her right and spat in it, infusing the mud with just a spark of her own magic in the process. Then, she rubbed the mud into the ground, rolling it in a growing spiral until it became a ball of tightly packed dirt. Using the bone as a stylus, she inscribed runes into the ball representing dragons in Yui's life. Since she didn't know any of their names, she wrote the runes for "mate", "child", "parent", "friend", "enemy", and "self". She also inscribed runes in the dust for "help", "harm", "near", "far", "recent", and "long ago". Finally, she held it out in front of her, ready to drop.

She felt the ball jerk out of her grasp and immediately fall. It thudded in the dirt, and rolled immediately to "near", with the "enemy" rune facing up. After a brief moment of surprise, Alleeah picked it up and dropped it three more times. Twice again it came up "enemy", rolling first to "near", then to "harm". After the last drop, it rolled to "help" and then crumbled, leaving only a clod with "friend" rune facing up.

Never before had the bones spoken so clearly to her. She immediately unfurled herself and teetered over to Yui. Alleeah grabbed Yui's shoulder and shook her, firmly but gently. "Wake up, Yui. Please, I need to help you."