Roleplay

(Alright then, I just wanted to be sure ^^)

Ciar landed rough enough to jostle his rider awake, but at that point, he hardly cared. He knew the other dragon had followed him down, though at a respectful enough distance that he did not immediately think of them as a threat. Regardless, he quickly slunk into the rather small cave - he didn't think it was wide enough to spread his wings in - and, ignoring the human's protests, ushered Jorn off his back and into a corner.

Putting on a brave face to hopefully hide the anxiety he felt, Ciar stalked forwards as far as the cave's shadow stretched. He could see the dragon approaching with a human in front. After months of being mostly alone with his rider in the wilderness, what was once such a normal thing looked so foreign.

He glanced back at his rider, satisfied to see the man holding his knife in his good hand. Jorn had always been good at understanding him, even when he was silent. Perhaps it came with the job. The man nodded at him slightly, and Ciar turned back to the strange newcomers.

He narrowed his eyes. The dragoness was an Imperial; larger than him, though not by much, and a stronger flier when it came to endurance. Perhaps if he wasn't so tired, he could best her in aerial combat or maybe even escape, but there was no chance of that now.

Ren took a deep breath to steady himself as he approached. His hands lay bare, weaponless, and he motioned Aeira to stop as he continued to walk forwards. He could see that the Guardian was anxious, perhaps even frightened. He swallowed.

"Hey there...no need to be so anxious," he spoke calmly, "you looked tired, and your rider looked injured. We just want to help, if you'd let us." He took great care in looking over the Guardian. He was clearly fatigued, perhaps hungry, certainly parched.

Aeira forced herself to stay calm, even as every muscle in her being wanted to make her spring in front of Ren and face the Guardian herself. Even though she was the larger dragon, the Guardian was far tougher and heavier, and she did not look forward to a confrontation even in his less than stellar state. Her eyes flicked back and forth between the comically dissimilar figures, eliciting a low, unhappy rumble.

"Hush, love," Ren looked at the Imperial, "you'll cause him undue worry." He turned back and looked up, "we don't wish to cause you two any harm, just say the word and we shall leave at once."

Ciar took several moments to scan the human in front of him, taking a deep breath. He smelled a bit like metal, as all humans he'd known tended to, but he couldn't see any visible weapons. He nearly snarled in response to the rumble, and probably would have if not for the human silencing her.

So. They were more like himself and Jorn than he had expected.

He glanced back at his rider, keen eyes picking up the hand signal for 'stand down' even in the dark. Letting loose the long breathe he hadn't realized he held, Ciar slowly backed towards Jorn, never once taking his eyes off of the human.

Jorn took a deep breath, sheathing his knife and gripping one of Ciar's horns to pull himself up. Ignoring the throbbing in his arm, he called out, "who are you?"

Ren looked up expectantly, seeing the Guardian relax a little made him smile. He stood in place the the dragon backed up into the cave. Craning his neck, he made out a shadowy figure behind the Guardian. Continuing to move slowly, Ren tried to get a good look.

"I'm Renell, my Imperial is named Aeira." She warbled softly, dipping her head, but not letting her eyes off the Guardian. "We are friends. What about you?" He looked back as he felt his dragon butt up against his back, and found it rather runny that a dragon of her size was trying to look as harmless as possible.

Jorn hesitated for a moment, looking over the duo before answering, "my name is Jorn, and this is Ciardubhan, or simply Ciar. Please forgive him, he has always been protective of me, and I'm afraid the last few months have only increased that."

As if to prove his point, Ciar gently bumped his left arm, silently telling him to sit. With a sigh, Jorn relented, easing back into a sitting position and leaning against the cold, stone wall. He glanced at Aeira, lips curling up in a small smile at her antics.

"She seems like quite a happy one. You've taken good care of her, haven't you?" he said.

Probably better than I have with Ciar, he thought.

"Now, I take it you came from the south?" he added after that moment of thought. After all, the dragon-rider pair before him were definitely faring better than he and Ciar were.

Ren smiled genuinely, "pleasure to meet you, Jorn! You, too, Ciar... I admire your determination." Looking back to the man, a few years his elder, it seemed, Ren nodded. "I'd like to think so, I certainly hope so. Though she's more than capable of taking care of herself, now, seeing that she is, y'know, big." Aeira huffed at the comment, flicking an ear, which Ren ignored.

"Why, yes. We flew up from the Reedcleft Ascents, or what used to be that. The storm gave us quite the tailwind. We normally wouldn't be here till this time tomorrow. We're on our way to the Light region, we've alternated between the two ever since the war ended."

His gaze fell the the other's bandaged arm and frowned. "Stroke of bad luck?" He asked, motioning at the injury. "I know that look, you two must be exhausted."

"Determination, he says, " Jorn said, chuckling slightly and glancing at Ciar, who snorted in response. "Anyway, it's a rare treat to see a dragon and rider so close. Would've been nice to see more of that, but I suppose there's only so much kindness around in during war."

"We came from up north, bounced around between Dragonhome and the Viridian Labyrinth for a while. It was getting harder to hunt, and the water sources were running out, so we went south. And this?" he said, gesturing at his arm.

"Something in the Tangled Wood got me one night. I didn't see what it was, and I'm not sure he did either... might've been some smaller dragon desperate for a meal. Ciar just grabbed me and took off, and we lost it somewhere between here and there," he elaborated, finding his memory missing several sections of that particular flight. "I guess Ciar took me this way, hoping to find some water, but there's not much left in the Tsunami Flats..."

It would have been nice to see that during the war, Ren thought, too bad humans tend to be greedy... He managed a smile, "I suppose, right." He remembered fleeing from town to town, scrounging for anything they could in the devastated land. It was not unlike their current situation, but far more dangerous. Those were days he was not eager to relive.

He nodded as he listened to Jorn's travels, they had been up farther North in the early days right after the war, but the landscape had been hellish, and survival had been difficult. Moving to the middle of the continent proved to be the break they needed.

"No, there is not. The polluted has spread, contaminating much of the water around the region. That's also why we've been forced to fly around. The clouds are grey and the atmosphere acidic, enough to eat through a dragon's scales." He sighed, "well, we had stocked up, I suppose it can't hurt to share. I can also take a look at your arm. I imagine it must be serious."

Taking a few steps back, he retrieved some waterskins and a large pot. Two of them he put aside, and the rest he dumped into the pot. "Drink up," he told the Guardian, then walked towards Jorn, "here, you must have water." Sitting down on a nearby rock, he picked through what little medical supplies they carried. Anything they could find came few and far in between, but Ren knew they did not need them as much as Jorn and Ciar did.

"To our friendship?" He said jokingly as he took a swig of his own waterskin.

Ciar glanced at Jorn for permission, his former animosity momentarily forgotten as Ren offered them water and medicine. At Jorn's nod, he eagerly snaked towards the pot, downing about half of its contents. As much as he would've loved to finish the whole thing, he was well aware of the worldwide water crisis and reluctantly left some behind. Now more curious than wary, Ciar turned to the Imperial.

How long have you two known each other? Ciar questioned.

Jorn gave Ciar a half-amused, half-exasperated look. I'd thought he dropped that already, he thought with a frown, before turning his attention to what Renell had said.

"That's quite unfortunate to hear. We haven't been to the Light region since-" he cut himself off and quickly corrected, "in several years. Anyway, there's not much left up north, though we can hope it recovers with some time. I don't even want to know what the Scarred Wasteland looks like now."

"As for my arm..." he began, slowly unwrapping the bandage, flinching as it rubbed against the burn. He let out a deep breath as the bandage finally came off, revealing a large, ugly burned area just below his right shoulder.

"It could've been worse, I suppose. Had to have Ciar cauterize it; it wouldn't stop bleeding, but I haven't found a good place to clean it," Jorn explained. He accepted the waterskin, taking a few large gulps.

"Thank you, Renell," he said, raising the waterskin in a toast before adding, "to our friendship."

Aeira settled down onto her belly as she watched Ciar drink, letting her guard down and relaxing her tensed muscles. Still, she felt a little skittish about these two, as friendly as they may seem. The Guardian's question caught her off guard, though.

"How long...? Well, I owe my life to Ren, he found my egg and I hatched under his care," she said, with obvious warmth in her voice. "You can have the rest of that, he's pretty good at budgeting our supplies, I imagine he means for you to have all the water."

He smiled at Jorn response, but seeing the wound, Ren frowned slightly. It certainly did not look pretty. The jagged cut looked deep, the burn rendering the surrounding skin grey and red. He picked out a vial, the greenish salve was an old dragon medicine for burns, while also acting as a barrier against infection. Now only to clean the wound...

Ren removed a small flash from his belt under his cloak. Unscrewing the cap, he swirled the iodized water. "May I?"He asked, motioning at the wound.