Roleplay

Julius had to admit a certain relief that the others agreed with him. Sometimes it was difficult to tell whether his own paranoias were justified, and he’d been scrambling to prepare a defence for their suspicion or disagreement. They could talk to Spinner and Elian about it later, but with that out of the way, for now he had to focus on his patients.

He slowed his pace to match theirs. Aspen in particular was looking a little worse for wear—there was something strained in her voice, and her expression was odd. Julius couldn’t tell what it was. Was she angry? Frustrated? He rummaged in his bag and handed her another healing potion. They were a short-term solution, but right now the most important thing was getting back to camp.

Much in the way that the jungle swallowed them when they entered it, they found themselves spat back out into the clearing before they quite noticed they were upon it. Worryingly, it was quiet and still, exactly as they had left it—no sign of the others. Free from the low-hanging branches and thick canopy, Julius flew straight up into the air to try and spot any signs of movement, but it was no use. The jungle hid the ground entirely.

With any luck they’d arrive soon. For now he had patients to treat, and then they would have to make their report to the Academy.

Aspen enjoyed the silence of the rest of the trek back to camp. It gave her time to reflect on the battle. Something felt weird to her, the way the beast seemed to have been hit with magic. It certainly wasn't her or Lathair. The more she thought about it, in fact, made her guess that her instincts were right. The researcher, Julius, must know how to use magic. She would ask him about it later.

The potion made her feel better physically, but her mood declined further. She should have been able to kill that beast, by herself. Although, maybe she could have without interference. Pushing aside those thoughts, and looking around the empty camp made her feel uneasy, however, she simply didn't have the energy to go looking for Spinner and Elian. It did make her worry enough about them though, and she figured she could find them regardless.

"Julius. I feel well enough to search for the two, I think I should go do that. They're part of the team," Aspen told him, looking up at his expression as he searched for them. Of course this was a half lie...perhaps she could look and find them. Perhaps she would collapse part way through the search. Her infrared vision would be very useful in this sort of situation, though, she reasoned.

Julius moved his crest in a gesture akin to raising an eyebrow. He was used to stubborn patients, and should have expected no different here.

“Absolutely not,” he said. “I am a doctor, in case you forgot that much. I can tell when someone’s too injured to go running back into danger. Sit and use this to wash the blood off and we’ll examine you. You’ve probably fractured a rib.” He handed her a damp cloth and went to wet another. There was a lot of blood, and the tent was already starting to smell like the beast they’d fought.

He’d left Lathair with his wound disinfected and re-bandaged—the old dragon was tough, and though he was a bit bruised and battered from the fight he would be fine. It was Aspen he was more concerned about, especially if she was so eager to get back to it.

Though Julius had little time for heroism, the others’ failure to arrive had him worried. He’d asked Lathair to hold off on the report until that evening, when the Academy would definitely have expected them to have returned from their expedition, in the hopes that Spinner and Elian had just become delayed in the dense jungle and would find their way back soon. The less pieces of bad news they had to deliver to their employers at once the better.

Putting the spare cloth on the table beside Aspen, he turned back to his workbench, where a variety of ingredients and tinctures and potions sat mid-assembly. The best thing for injury was rest, of course, but where he was used to working that was rarely possible. A combination of natural remedies and slight magical adjustment usually did the trick.

Aspen took the cloth, dutifully cleaning herself off as best she could. "But they really can't be out there when it starts to get dark, they'll probably never find their way back,"she said, looking down. This was certainly not what she wanted to return to camp to. Although confident in his healing abilities, she wished it was a quicker fix.

Spinner and Elian would be in danger the whole they were in the jungle, possibly not even together. If they couldn't find their way back they would need to go out no matter what to find them. Part of her was angry at the two, especially Elian for simply running. It was a dangerous move, as now he could be lost and a target for other beasts that might move through the jungle more silently.

*

Spinner noticed it was getting late, and began simply shouting Elian's name. At this point, he was exhausted, and extremely stressed about what Aspen could have seen. He needed to contact Kiani, but couldn't yet if Elian walked up to him on the device. Perhaps Aspen saw nothing however, and he was worrying for nothing. No, he had a bad feeling about this. As he looked for Elian, he began thinking of alternate theories that would explain the rubble being there, or perhaps, if no one else saw the rubble, trying to convince them not to trust Aspen.

Afterall, she wasn't a researcher.

(What do we want to do with poor Elian? We can have him already dead, or have him find some other important thing and be lost in researching it—or maybe both if Spinner finds him doing so haha)

At Julius’ insistence, the others waited, but he could see neither of them were happy with the idea. He found it strange that they listened to him—he supposed his position did command some level of authority, but he wasn’t keen on testing how far that stretched when it came to non-medical matters.

When the sky started to darken, he relented. Part of him wasn’t sure whether rushing out into the wilds again was going to be an even more dangerous idea, but what alternative did they have? He had resolved to himself to try actually working with this team. Maybe now was a good time to start.

“It’s clear by now they’re either lost or injured,” he said to Aspen and Lathair. Or worse, he thought, but didn’t say that. “We’ll contact the Academy. But after that…whatever they advise, we could go out there and look for the others. If everyone’s in agreement,” he added, looking to them both.


*

When the console lit up, Lettie sprung to life, suddenly animated. She had been half-reading a book—fiction, because numbers had started to make her head spin—but now she rushed to the control panel in a flurry of feathers. They’d been out all day, nearly, so she was hoping for a productive expedition. Kiani was already there, and she opened the channel and a voice crackled through.

*

Kiani listened to the broadcast with widening eyes as Lathair relayed briefly what had happened that day. She didn’t have to fake her horror, nor was it necessary to conceal it. Spinner and Elian were missing.

She’d not received any communication since that morning. What the hell was her co-conspirator playing at? He’d done a good enough job calling the beast to them, but after that he’d apparently wandered off in search of that idiot Pearlcatcher. There had to be something more to it than that. The frustrating part was that she was needed here, at the centre of it all, and there wouldn’t be an opportunity to slip away and contact him for a while yet.

(Ummm, yeah let's do Spinner finds him digging around at something and takes him out lol)

Aspen gave him a wane smile. "Yeah, we'll go look as soon as we transmit to them," she said, looking towards the jungle. Her infrared couldn't see them, they were to far away with too many life forms in-between, which wasn't a good thing. Neither Spinner nor Elian seemed like they would do well alone out there. Perhaps together they could make it if they ran into trouble... but Elian ran the last time. Perhaps Spinner would be the worse off of the two.

*

Kanjuro tried not to look so stricken with worry, but he could feel his heart in his stomach. Elian and Spinner weren't safe out there. "Do what you feel is necessary to look for them, but don't put yourselves in unnecessary danger," He advised Lathair and the others. He wasn't out there, so it was hard to tell them what was the right move at this point. Taking a deep breath, he shook his head slowly as thoughts of the horrible things that could happen raced through his mind.

*

Spinner suddenly saw Elian, it looked as if the pearlcatcher was looking at something. "Elian! I've been looking for you. Are you okay?" he called as he approached, looking around the jungle and noticing suddenly how far from camp they were. Well, they'd certainly have a trek back.

(Sounds good to me, our first casualty *wipes away a proud tear* haha. I’ll make him interact with Spinner a bit here!)

They were in agreement, then. Julius wasn’t sure what he felt at that—that it was a stupid idea, mostly—but there was something else, as he looked at his teammates and found them smiling, determined. Something that swelled inside him, dulling the anxiety.

He could think about it later. They needed a plan. “Okay,” he said, slowly. “We’ve got maps, and we’ve got a few hours left of daylight. What we don’t want to do is get ourselves stuck out there in the middle of dangerous territory, but we have to accept that if they can get lost, so can we. We take supplies, and we chart our path carefully. If we discover anything untoward we make a note of it and move on. We just need to find a trail, any evidence of them out there.” He didn’t doubt that Aspen had the training and skills to be able to find the others if they picked up their scent, and both of them had proved themselves in a fight.

“Good light won’t last long under that canopy,” Lathair pointed out. “If we’re doing this, we need to hurry.”

Julius nodded. The old Ridgeback was right about that, and he hurried off to pack his things.

*

It was a disaster. Not only had they been attacked, but the team had been separated. Lettie’s heart was racing. She couldn’t keep her claws still, and her attempt not to let the students see her distress was failing. They had gathered among themselves, chatting worriedly.

She approached Kanjuro, and saw even he was unsettled. She tried to smile at him. “Well, we were expecting this to be dangerous, but I don’t think quite—” she cut herself off, trying not to think about it. More students lost, injured. Even dead. She swallowed. “With any luck the rescue mission will be a success, but if it’s not, we need to think about who we’re going to notify.”

*

Elian had ran when the beast arrived. No point, fighting a thing like that—the others were idiots to even try. Running was the more sensible option.

Except at some point he’d gone the wrong way, and become lost. That was frightening for a while, until he realised just what he’d become lost amongst. There were signs of something, here—strange, organised lines in the ground where something might once have stood. He followed the patterns where they led him, until he came to an area that had less trees and dense foliage, and in it he discovered rubble. Not natural formations of rocks—these were the ruins of something once built. He frowned, and then a wide grin split his face, and he set to work.

Some hours later he heard a voice, and spun round, annoyed and relieved. It was Spinner. Not the worst dragon to have found him.

“I'm fine. Come over here,” he called out. “Come and look at this. Isn’t it extraordinary?”

(Haha look at us go! Such progress lmao, but I am kinda enjoying have a "bad guy" character to be honest, I've never had one quite like him)

Aspen still had her small pack on, it had strong enough straps to withstand about anything except a direct slash. "Well Julius, point us in the direction and I'll let you know if I can find anything that points to them having crossed the trail," she told him, watching him pack a bunch of stuff. Her whole body felt the itch for tracking, and she already knew both Elian's and Spinner's scents.

It would be especially easy to spot them with her infrared vision, but they had to be close enough for that to work. As soon as they got on with their mission, she began focusing her energy on her nose and sight to try to find the slightest sign they had walked through. It was good that they weren't really able to fly in this jungle, as that would make tracking almost impossible.

*

Kanjuro was listening to Lettie with half an ear, trying to figure out the best way to ensure the team's safety. "We can end the mission, and send them back here, then we can have a debriefing and decide what the higher ups would like to do," he said, turning his large head to look at her. He hated having to be so serious, but this team had to come home safely and the only way to ensure that was for them to come home.

Perhaps the next team could be all mercenaries and combat specialists, with just one researcher. Sure, they would learn less, but they would be safe.

*

As Spinner approached, his face grew dark. Upon facing Elian however, his mask went up. "Wow! This looks wild. How'd ya find it?" He asked Elian with a smile, looking over the ruins that no one was supposed to see. Fortunately, Elian was alone. Even if the team had set out looking for them, which was unlikely for the injured to go on, they would never find Spinner and Elian in time.

This secret would end here. He would have to kill Elian, then either move the body and "find" it, or hide the body. Hmm.. moving it sounded easier, this wouldn't be the first time he's had to get rid of an information leaker. Later, he would inform Kiani what happened, though would probably just tell her that Elian had a tragedy befall him.

(Oh it is fun to play villians sometimes haha. What do we want to do re: bringing the team back? I've had Lettie suggest they just send more people, or we can bring them back and send them to a different place, or something else entirely)

“We’ll travel roughly adjacent to the path we took earlier,” Julius said, after some consideration, as he tried not to break any of the apothecary’s worth of bottles he was trying to fit into the bags. “Can you keep an eye out for any places the trail diverges?”

With the map, they set off in the general direction of their ill-fated earlier attempt. Julius hung back and let the others go first. He didn’t have their skills in combat or tracking, and would be most useful if he just stayed out of the way until he was needed.

If they were lucky—and he suspected it would far more likely be the case they were not—the two students would have stopped moving as soon as they’d realised they had become lost and waited wherever they were. With the panic surrounding the beast’s arrival and the fact they were both relatively young and inexperienced, Julius didn’t think that was likely.

*

Lettie felt a wave of mingling relief and disappointment at Kanjuro’s assessment of the situation. Of course, he didn’t want to have to cut the mission short any more than she did, but better that than risk further danger to their students and employees.

“We could,” she said, drumming her talons on the desk. “Or we could send over a second team without necessarily drawing the first back. If they wouldn’t object to staying, that is. Maybe we could speak to the security team, or the mages. I’m just…tell me if I’m being rash, will you? It's dangerous, yes, but these are trained professionals. I trust them to find our students. I suppose that's what it all hinges on.”

*

Elian stood back and made room for Spinner, gesturing to what he had found. It was far from impressive—a section of what looked like a crumbling wall—but it was by far the most exciting thing they’d found so far in this horrible place.

“Look, here,” he said, pointing to the stonework. “It’s been quarried and shaped. On my cursory search of this area I found other evidence of habitation, and, well, faced with this it’s obvious that we aren’t the first ones to find this place. Of course, that brings up a whole host of interesting questions…” he trailed off, scratching his chin. They had to let the Academy know as soon as possible, so the focus of the research could be adjusted. But this thought reminded him of the main problem, and he turned sharply to the other dragon. “I don’t suppose you happen to know where we are and how we get back?”

(hmm it's hard to say. We could have them ordered to come back, but they decide to stay against orders and to find out about what the university is up to somehow?)

"Yeah I'll keep an eye for it," Aspen replied, a little amused by the amount of things Julius decided to take with them. As they began on their trek using the trail Julius chose, Aspen began to look out for signs of the dragons. However, she figured it could be a long time before getting a scent or sign they had been here. They had to be far enough away from camp to not be able to get back, which meant they had their work cut out for them.

"As soon as we find those two, they're gonna get a lecture from me," Aspen declared, trying to keep the mood light. It was better if they went into this assuming that Spinner and Elian were indeed alive. No one needed to think about how likely it was that both were hurt or killed somehow.

*

Kanjuro listened to her ideas, racking his brain for the best solution. No matter what they chose, it seemed something would need to be sacrificed in some way.

"Perhaps we could send more out...," he trailed off for a moment, before continuing, "Lettie, you're not being rash. In fact, that's a very good idea. I do think the team will find Spinner and Elian, but honestly," he leaned closer to her, speaking at a low whisper so that only she could hear," Even if they are found, that doesn't guarantee they weren't hurt or killed already. Being separated for this amount of time is... bad." Kanjuro finished.

He hated to be the one thinking like this, but he was a dragon of science and numbers. The problem wasn't really if the team could find the two, it was what condition would they be in? Spinner and Elian could not even be together at this point.

*

Spinner listened to Elian dutifully. These would be some of his last words of course. Upon his question however, a great idea came to mind. He would lead Elian away from this place, away from camp, and then kill him. Of course, then Spinner could "find" him, wait for the rest of the team, and everything would go smoothly.

"I do actually, that's why I was looking for you. We need to get back to camp asap, then you can tell them your findings!" Spinner told him excitedly, although that emotion was real. He was enjoying his genius plan for this little problem very much.

"Follow me, and I'll lead the way. We're kinda far off though, so it'll take a little while," Spinner warned gently. This was half true, they were somewhat far from camp, but he would be leading Elian even farther away.