exsiliumlogs | [closed] a thousand years forever and a day

Entry tags:

[closed] a thousand years forever and a day

Date & Time: today
Location: THE OUTLANDS
Characters: khisanth and dick
Summary: a robin meets a dragon
Warnings: khisanth

[ It’s the body language that gets his attention. She’s moving – whoever she is – with the kind of purpose that says she knows something. Which maybe wouldn’t have been all that special back in the hold. Or even out in the main part of the city. Where everybody goes when they have money to burn or people to see.

This lady though, she’s headed somewhere else. Somewhere out there, past that invisible threshold of nothing that’s supposedly so unworthy of a real workup. All the real exploring he hasn’t been doing while he’s been tied up in missions and patrols and bodyswaps. He can’t not fall in behind her, keeping inside the shadow of the debris as she moves ahead. He’s grinning when he slides up underneath a fallen chunk of metal, squeezing the batbinoculars to tighten the range just enough that he can almost reach out and touch her trajectory. ]

Gotcha.

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Pulling out all the stops, huh? [ He can see that shape through the mist, that... whatever it is she's changing into. The fear settling in his stomach is real now, a thousand little needle pricks of alarm. It's all a gamble, every piece of this.

But still she's not striking. Like she's waiting for him to...

what? ]

I still got a few of my own. [ No turning back now. He twists in the air, braces against that chunk of metal and gets his feet underneath it. The angle's a little off, just off enough to dislodge it and send it rolling down in her direction. If it misses the mark it should at least buy him a few more seconds. ]

[ It doesn't miss its mark. It crashes noisily into the fog, before being stopped with a screech of bending metal. Khisanth crushes the thing into the rocky ground under her talons, enjoying the sound of it. It's not so small as to be negated entirely, and her foreleg smarts from where it'd crashed into her, but it's still not much of a challenge.

She growls low, amused. ]

Next?

[ Meanwhile, she mentally reviews what spells she have that wouldn't be immediately lethal to a human boy. There aren't many. Maybe she really will just have to spend this entire fight mocking him instead of striking back. ]

You don't quit, do you?

[ His vantage is still pretty high, but not high enough that he can make out the lines of what she is now. The open spaces between her and the fog. It's tricking his eyes, that need to know.

But maybe that's the effect she's after. He'd just handed her a chance - an opportunity to make his life at least a little more difficult and she'd blown right by it. ]

...Why didn't you change over when we started? [ While he hefts one of the few remaining batarangs, loading a capsule in one-handed. One more gamble he might end up regretting. ]

You could've ended this in two seconds.

If I were looking for a challenge, I wouldn't be here.

[ And if she were looking for lunch, she'd definitely be after someone larger. She drops back to all fours again, low to the ground, and slinks nearer to where she can smell him through the fog. Her wings pull close to her body, so the silhouette of them fanned out in the fog won't give her away. ]

What are you going to do in an actual war? Dance around and hope your opponent gets bored enough to leave?

[ It's like a fist to the gut, when it shouldn't be. It shouldn't matter. It doesn't matter one bit, what she thinks. A second too soon and he'll miss his chance. He clenches his teeth and listens hard. ]

I'll stop pulling my punches- [ With a click he's ready. ] -when you give me a reason to pack a real one.

[ He lobs it and dives again, waiting for the burst of sticky foam and blinding light to shift his momentum into the crumbling wall. It won't bury her, but it'll be a blow, if she's not fast enough to move out of the way this time. ]

[ There's something she hadn't been anticipating. The light stings her eyes, and she ducks her head with a hiss, just in time for something sticky and awful to catch her flank. Her hiss deepens into a proper growl, irritated -- which is when the crumbling wall catches up with her.

Her wings snap out and beat at the air to lift her out and away from what has suddenly become far more bother than amusement, and the fog begins to swirl away and dissipate.

Meanwhile, she's changed her mind about not striking back. Through the thinning fog she can pick out the dark of the red and green, and she points one claw toward him from her strained hover. There's a hiss of that magical language, and a bright light streaks out toward him. She's toned the spell down, but if it hits, there won't be any question that he's just been blasted by a spell of burning light. ]

[ That's a crucial few seconds he's just wasted, looking back over his shoulder to make sure he'd done some damage. He's not fast enough, not nearly fast enough to make it up this time. He hears the wings(?) beat and tries anyway, making the retreat as fast as he can but then light explodes all around him, lifting him off his feet with blinding, searing brightness.

He's on the ground before he take another breath, pain lancing up through his chest and back. He tries to roll over, pushing with his hands until he's up on his knees. There's blood running down his arm, gravel rubbed into his torn-up gloves. His head's spinning. It hurts. ]

[ She darts forward, bounding once off of the ground to gain momentum up the hill, and lands directly overtop him. There's a wickedly clawed talon to either side of him, and a great, black body crouched catlike overhead, with her snarling face not three feet above him. ]

What is this? [ A jerk of her head indicates her left side, coated in messily in the sticky foam, stark against otherwise shiny black scales. ] It's disgusting.

Don't you want to know.

[ The retort's missing some venom, while he... has to tilt his head back, to take in the rest of her. Because that sure is a dragon there, so close to him now he could count the scales. Scales.

Whatever it was he'd been expecting, whatever he'd thought was waiting for him there underneath the fog, it was anything but this.

He opens his mouth and then closes it again. ]

...You. You're-

[ She heaves a heavy sigh, disgusted, and settles back onto her haunches. She twists, one forepaw reaching to begin peeling and plucking the stuff off of her side. ]

You'd better come help, if you don't want to end up as lunch.

[ He... hesitates there for an extra second, then makes up the lost time getting his feet back underneath him. He can't take his eyes off her now, not even as he works the kinks out of injured arm. Watching her messing with the goo. It's nasty stuff, alright.

Finally, almost reluctantly: ]

It's a chemical compound. It's supposed to slow you down.

[ He plucks the canteen off his belt, then gingerly takes a step closer. If he was smarter he'd be running in the other direction now, he's pretty sure. ]

You're the one who threw me ten feet. If I didn't have training I could've broken my neck.

You survived, didn't you?

[ It sounds short, impatient, and she eyes him resentfully. It's not clear what he intends to do with that canteen, but it had better be helpful. ]

If I'd meant for you to break your neck, trust me, it would have happened.

See, that's the part I don't get.

[ He's stripping his cape off, dumping about half the water on one corner. ]

When I followed you you said you were going to incinerate me. And now you're saying you just wanted to spar?

[ He offers her the garment and the canteen without closing the distance any further, standing pretty much as far away as he can stand without her having to move a lot to reach for it. ]

It's just goo. Rinse and it'll come right off.

[ She plucks up the cape with one long, curved claw, and begins the wiping with surprising delicacy. This isn't any harder than using her huge claws to plurk the pedals off of a rose, after all.

As she works: ] Unseen stalkers are different. And I would recommend not playing one again.

These are the Outlands. [ He puts the emphasis on the name. ] It's all fair game. Nobody owns any of this.

[ And he's watching her do that, realizing... a little belatedly that that's actually the one and only cape he has on hand, right now. It'll take a couple of days to sew up a new one if she doesn't have the good faith to give it back.

He's iffy, suddenly, on whether or not he actually wants it back. ]

I just happened to be heading in the same direction.

[ She only snorts, not even bothering to look at him. This terrible stuff is coming off... decently. She supposes. ]

Don't bother, I know a liar when I hear one.

[ He swallows the feeling this time, the half-baked retort he has all ready. If he wants her to talk he needs to welcome the reprieve for what it is. ]

So what did you think I was doing?

[ She studies her flank once she's done, decides it's decent, and flicks the cape back at him. Kinda gross, but intact. That done, she half stretches her wings out. Her stomach is already rumbling, and if she's not going to eat this kid, she's going to have to leave soon to find something else. ]

Spying, obviously. Anyone doing anything otherwise would have spoken up immediately.

Edited 2013-05-02 05:39 (UTC)

[ He catches it one-handed, then... gingerly holds it up and away from his body. Man, does he miss Alfred, suddenly. ]

Maybe I'm just shy.

It would be more healthy for you to get over it.

[ Her wings snap out and she drops to a crouch, as if ready to leap into the air, but cocks a glance at him first. ]

What's your name?

Robin.

[ He doesn't move when the wings spread out; stays rooted where he is, fists resting on hips. ]

The one and only.

[ That's amusing. The name, owned by a slight and fragile bird, juxtaposed with such a firm pride. She grins, all fangs. ]

I'm Khisanth.

[ And she leaps, wings snapping out, rising quickly into the air. ]

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[closed] a thousand years forever and a day

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LET ME KNOW IF THIS IS OKAY BB

IT'S PERFECT ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING WOW THAT WAS VAGUE OF ME

OH GOOD go me

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