Roleplay

@FiliaFlammae @Scyllarus
She frowns at the mention of a diseased dragon, and then tilts her head ever so slowly. Her thoughts aren't good ones for sure, and it shows on her face. Stained with worry she drags her legs out from under her body, clenching her fingers into the sand, her sharp claws digging furrows through the loose strata.

“I haven't.” her answer is odd toned, she shakes her head and then paws at one of her horns, sighing “I woke up on the beach.” she tilts her head at him, “Are you sure it wasn't a furian? They're purple, with no front legs I think.” she hasn't seen one personally, “Or a baku? I heard they can create illusions.”

“Going underground wouldn't be a good idea, there's too many monsters out there and I'm not the most adept at fighting such creatures. I've only gathered food for the clan.” She swipes sand over her sides and worries about the smell of seasalt that's become embedded in her nostrils now. “What of our eyes?” she's blissfully in denial as she rolls about in the sand some more, now somewhat comfortable in the indentation she's created. Her tail swipes a fanlike shape on the shore, “I don't think monsters have anything to do with it, maybe there's a storm coming in.”

@Scyllarus @Ragon

"No, it was definitely a Mirror," Rook answered. "The right size, had the frills and everything. Except it looked like it was made of some kind of black sludge? It attacked us. Hurt Seraphiel. I remember sinking my teeth into it." He shuddered; the sensation in his mouth wasn't particularly one he wanted to remember.

The renewed mention of the strange void-black streaks in his and Seraphiel's eyes caused Rook's stomach to turn. He didn't like thinking about an unknown entity crawling through his body, changing him, slowly turning him into...oh, no. He didn't like where that thought had headed at all, but he couldn't shake it. Just how far would that infection spread? His irises, and then what? The whites of his eyes too? His skin, his fur? A cold, sinking feeling made itself known inside him.

I'm infected.

"You tell me," he growled. "Does this look normal to you?" He swung his face towards Gem and pointed a claw to his face. The sickly black veins that marred his normally light green irises were quite pronounced by now. He sounded much more irritated than he had been previously, though his new mood was actually only thinly veiled fear, a primal fear of something meddling with his very existence. "It's gotten worse, hasn't it?" he snarled, whipping his head towards Seraphiel next. "It's spreading, right? The longer we're here, the worse it gets. We're turning into...them." His semi-conscious mask of anger had failed entirely by this point, and his frayed nerves were plain to see as he bowed his head where he sat, shrinking into himself and shaking slightly.

@Blackcat0989 @TheDarkOne

The oozing Ridgeback lay still and silent, black sludge sluggishly pooling around it. Deliah landed, the feathers on her head pressed flat with fear. She wasn't a fighter, by any means - she was a scout, she remembered she was a scout. You didn't need to be able to fight to get out of a scrap, just build a little breath up before you went out and contuse anything that tried to tangle with you for a quick getaway. She panted, trying to get her thoughts back in order - all she wanted...

All she wanted...

The Skydancer slunk over to Kazuto, short whimpers escaping her, her wings tightly furled. "That was scary...Thank you..." Black slime dripped off her body, covering most of her front.


@Ragon @FiliaFlammae

Gem's nonchalance was...surreal. Watching the Ridgeback roll in the sand, asking if what they'd seen was nothing more abnormal than...Seraphiel shook his head, shifting his long body uncomfortably. "Rook's right, I've fought things like Furians and Bakus before, this is...this is different." It wasn't the sharpness of that...thing's teeth he remembered most. It was the emptiness, the sheer hunger. And the idea of whatever it was seeping into his eyes was horrific enough that he shut it out immediately. If he pretended things were alright...

Rook's outburst forced the Imperial back into the situation, his words pinning Seraphiel's ears back with fear and concern. He didn't want to think about this, he didn't... "It's...It's not..." Even his own voice sounded weak to him, and the way Rook seemed to fold in on himself hurt to see. The serpentine dragon wanted nothing more to bury himself in the sand and pretend none of this was happening - instead, he curled himself around the Tundra, sharing what little comfort he could offer. "I'm sorry. I think you're right and I'm sorry." He was quiet for a moment. "I wish it wasn't like this...or at least I wish I could do something about it. Heh, I guess...I guess it's always been this way for me. I can see things but I can't...I can never do anything about them."

What a useless power, he thought, and closed his eyes against the frustration and despair that threatened to come seeping out.

@Scyllarus @TheDarkOne

Kazuto sensed Deliah's approach, saw her speak, but he couldn't hear a word of it. Blood rushed in his ears and his vision was tinted red, adrenaline pumping through his veins even after the fight had finished. He was just... so angry... so blindly, dangerously angry... The last time he'd reached that level of rage... The pearlcatcher shook the thought off with a hiss, lashing his tail and scraping his claws through the dirt.

I need to calm down... A memory drifted at the edge of his consciousness, a recollection of darkness and blood and fear grew into his mind, tugging at his awareness and urging him towards the freedom of the open skies. He had to forget, had to escape the memories... I need to get away!

"I... I'm going to fly." He said shakily, his anger slowly turning into terror and his breath starting to come in whining pants. "I need to... need to... I'll be back." He shook his head and angled his wings, leaping into the skies without a backwards glance. The speed would clear his head, the cool air brush his body clean of the tainted memories and the ever-present fear, replacing it with the self-hatred that had always dwelt in the dark corners of his mind.

He growled to himself and put on a burst of speed, shooting vertically upward into the grey, grey sky. He climbed higher and higher, until the great volcano of the Ashfall Wastes was nothing more than a speck, like a star sparkling in the distance. It was only then that he stopped and folded his wings, letting gravity take his body and drag it towards the earth. He plummeted, falling faster and faster, his wings trailing limply at his sides and his eyes closed against the wind. It felt as if everything was stripped away from him, his worries, his fears, his anger; and for just that moment, he felt really, truly free.

((Sappy, i know, but i didn't really like the other way he could have reacted (ie. attack Deliah/Firen. I'll bring him back to the camp next post, i just needed him to vent out the anger. Feel free to do what you will with that. Follow him, leave, whatevs. just please tell me beforehand if you plan to have the other characters leave, please))

@FiliaFlammae @Scyllarus

The actions are old ingrained habits that she's yet to shed, it's likely a good thing that such a massive creature can occupy her mind with the menial task of shaking off sand. Perhaps it is the small sips of exhaustion that are pulling at her that are making her so benign on the subject. She just wants to make it home, the sooner the better.

She watches and weighs the discomfort in the other dragons, and then takes a very good look at Rook's eyes. The ridgeback has to get closer to see the lines, frown pulling the edges of her scaly mouth down. A soft sigh works through her longs and she shakes her head at Rook. His tone sends a spike of panice into her head and after a few seconds she's back on her feet. If they are infected, then that means she isn't, so shouldn't she beat it before they infect her as well. “I'm not sure there is anything odd about that.” she can't avoid his trail, but there isn't any way for her to diagnose such an issue, it looks like an injury of some kind “Maybe it's just the light?”

Gem isn't too sure of herself sticking around alone against anything, “Do you think we should get moving?” she's curious, but hesitant. The ridgeback is still keeping an uneasy distance from the other two.

@Ragon @Scyllarus

Rook felt warmth curl around him. In any other situation, he might've balked from such physical contact, from being swaddled like a hatchling, but right now...right now, Seraphiel was the closest thing to comfort he had. Clearly Gem had no idea what was going on. Well, granted, none of them had much idea what was going on. But he and Seraphiel had a bond in that sense, a commonality of some kind. They could be friends. Not that Gem couldn't be, of course, but he saw that leery look she gave the two of them. He saw how she kept her distance. She feared what the two of them had encountered, feared what she did not know. 'A trick of the light' indeed...just like how none of them could see color except for each other's irises, yes? Ha. Gem was ignorant. Gem was not like him or Seraphiel. They simply couldn't be the same kind of friends, at least not yet.

His breathing calmed after another few moments. "Yeah," he groaned as he stood and pulled away. "We should go. Better than sitting here and moping. South, yes?" He sprang into the air, eager to do something with himself. They'd held a pity party here long enough.