Luster, let me go

[firethroat]

Who: Firethroat
What: Waking up in Paradisa
When: Morning of January 17
Where: The roof or outside the castle
Rating: G-PG? Possible risk of violence? We'll see.


A.

Curled up on the castle roof is a sleeping dragon. She barely fits her body is so large, even with her wings folded and tail tucked nearby. The heat from her body has caused the nearby snow to melt into puddles. Some of the water drips over the edge, running over wall and window. Not too far away, a journal with the name “Firethroat” lays on the edge of a puddle, unnoticed.

The dragon shifts in her sleep, causing her tail to fall over the roof’s ledge. Firethroat's eyes flicker, then immediately snap open in concern. This is not her cave. Where is she, and how did she get here? Shifting a little, she looks at her front claws. Gripped within them is a golden casket, not too large to be picked up by a man but not small either. The dragon sighs in relief. At least her heart has not been stolen. However, the casket also creates another risk in this strange land. Whoever was here might want it for their own purposes. She has not forgotten the Hunter and his recent attempt to bend her to his will.

Enraged at the memory and her current situation, Firethroat lets out a blast of fire towards the sky. Then she stops, suddenly worried that she might have drawn more attention to her presence. Glancing back at the casket, she drags it underneath her, hidden from sight. With that, the dragon settles back down onto the roof, thinking deeply. While there did not seem to be any immediate danger, she was still at a disadvantage on unfamiliar territory. She would have to gather her wits and any information she could find in order to get through this.

B.

Once she is alone again, Firethroat flies off to the forest to conceal her heart's casket. Although she wants to keep it within her sight, that would mean letting people see it, people who might try to steal it from her later. The risk was too great. However, she also needed to be able to move freely to be able to explore properly. Hiding it was her best choice for now.

With the chest safely hidden, she begins investigating this new place. The dragon flies over the forest and town, reaching the castle once again. She is most interested in the castle, having not seen one in many hundreds of years. Landing next to it, she looks over the building curiously, gently tapping at stone and peering into the glassy windows. Strange, how the castle seems to call to her. Perhaps it is because of its beauty. She does appreciate beauty after all.

Comments

b

[inafadingcrown]

Of all the many, many, many strange things that Galadriel has seen when looking out of the castle's windows, this receives the biggest reaction. While she has learned, in her time in Paradisa, that not all dragons are as bloody thirsty as the ones from Arda, the fact remains that some seven thousand years of instinct do not disappear overnight.

So when she looks out her window and sees a dragon looking right back at her, she drops the hairbrush in her hand and freezes, too frightened to even scream properly.

[firethroat]

Fear is a perfectly reasonable response, since Firethroat’s eye is the size of a small window itself. When she looks closer, the dragon easily dominates the view.

Looking through the glass, Firethroat is captivated by Galadriel's room. It is like a small world, hidden within the stone. And the lady within... From her height she appears to be human yet she is as luminous as the unicorns, who are by far the fairest species in Luster. She wishes to inquire about this, yet she is unsure if the person inside would be able to hear her. She could try at full volume, but that would mean everyone in the vicinity would be privy to their conversation.

Leaning back again, she cants her head curiously and taps lightly on the glass with one claw. It's almost as though the dragon is knocking on the door. The gesture is rather gentle, hardly even causing a dent in the material, though Firethroat believes she could damage it more if ever needed.

[inafadingcrown]

It takes Galadriel a moment to fully realize what's going on and to decide what to do about it. It's really only the fact that she's befriended a few dragons since coming to Paradisa that keeps her from running out of the room immediately. Besides, the creature could clearly break the window if it wished to; better, in this case, to comply. At least at first.

Still, there's a marked hesitation before Galadriel approaches the window and opens it.

[firethroat]

Firethroat could indeed, though she has little history of breaking windows. Grabbing people out of houses is not her style. Back when she was on Earth, she had preferred to avoid towns and houses entirely. Too many humans. Too risky.

However, if she is to get through this new location, she will need to talk to others. With no dragons or unicorns in sight, that meant those in the castle would have to do.

"Greetings," she whispers, though a dragon's whisper sounds like normal speaking volume to a human. The word is accompanied with a blast of warm air which enters the room. "Would you mind telling me where I am?"

[inafadingcrown]

She flinches at the blast of warm air, half expecting it to be fire, and it's another few seconds before she's able to speak again.

"Both the castle and the realm in which it resides are called 'Paradisa.'"

Normally, she's quicker to launch into a full explanation, but, frankly, with a dragon in her face, she thinks she's doing rather well to be keeping an even tone.

[firethroat]

Alas, the warm air is something Firethroat cannot control, no more than she can turn down the temperature of her warm body. Apparently being a creature of fire made you warm all the time.

"I have not yet heard of this 'Paradisa.' Is it a region of Earth, renamed by man?"

[inafadingcrown]

"No." She answers slowly. "It is a world unto itself, I fear, far from where any of those here call home."

Perhaps she should have left it at that- it wasn't necessarily wise to engage strange dragons more than necessary. But something there caught her attention. So, cautiously, she adds, "I was led to believe that there were no dragons on Earth."

[woodking]

Thranduil had been at the archery range once again - he was truly beginning to think he needed to craft a bow himself, the weapons that the castle provided for the most part being quite different to anything he was used to, or less accurate than he might make himself. But for now he was at least becoming used to the pull of the weapon, moreso than he was before, which made correcting for the differences easier.

And it was then that he saw the dragon.

There were few things that scared Thranduil; terror was not a useful emotion, it blinded when blindness more often made things worse than better, and he was after so long difficult to terrify. A dragon was one of the things that would terrify him.

He blanches, visibly paler than he usually is - it's still approaching, but not here, at least; small favor but he blesses that which it is. Legolas is in the forest still, which is somewhat closer anyway, and so he breaks and runs towards it, skimming over the snow like a bird.

[firethroat]

She was, indeed, planning on heading elsewhere. Unfortunately for Thranduil, running only draws her attention to him. While this was not her territory, and thus she had no dreadful need to pursue him, it still made her suspicious. So she gives chase, flapping her great wings a beat faster to catch up with the elf.

[woodking]

Elves moved quickly, but dragons were faster, and he was too far from the trees to find shelter there quickly enough, in all likelihood. But he ran, without leaving any footprints.

[firethroat]

Indeed, it is not long before Firethroat reaches him. Swooping low, she expertly scoops up the elf in one claw before taking off again.

I have no properly terrified icons

[woodking]

As she does so, Thranduil screams - it's something that very few have heard, he very very rarely does it, but the situation seems to merit it.

He's going to die. He will die shortly.

He wonders if it would be faster to attempt to squirm from her claws and fall to his death or wait for her to kill him more intimately. At least, so long as that girl had not been lying, the death would not be permanent, and his soul would not have to find its way to the Halls of Mandos from this strange world.

He does attempt to free himself, at first, when they are not too high, when the fall would be less likely to kill him, but eventually stops, though he is not sure he should. Dragons do not always merely kill, they curse and wither everything around them.

[firethroat]

His struggles achieve nothing. Her talons are like iron bands, strong and hard. They grip tightly around his waist as she lifts them both up. He won't be escaping anytime soon.

Firethroat pays no notice to his struggling as she sets course for the castle, the closest surface she can see. She has questions, and this man might be able to answer them.

[originalcopy]

Church has taken back to his habit of hanging out on the castle roof ever sense he had his row with Tex. It's at least usually quiet up there, but it's cold and he hates the cold so he's in his armor.

Bright blue space armor that could easily look like a strange knight to a dragon... Church stepped out onto the roof and couldn't help but notice Firethroat.

"HOlY SHIT! A dragon!"

[firethroat]

It is rather hard to miss Firethroat, given that she takes up the majority of the roof.

While the armor bears some resemblance to the old armor of knights, such a blue color seemed peculiar. Nor did the foolish knights that hunted her usually react in such a strong way. They had known she was there after all. However, the presence of a human when she is already tense with protecting her heart casket makes her very suspicious indeed. Firethroat straightens her neck to stare down on Church with her car-sized head. Her voice booms out in an attempt to scare him off.

"Your sight does not betray you. And what are you doing here, little man? Have you come to challenge me?"

[originalcopy]

"Uh... no? No I uh, just came up for the view." The voice carries the uncertain nervousness that the blank golden visor doesn't.

Church clears his throat and tries not to think about the time he was being chewed on by the draconic Jabberwock or the time he was chewed on by the Tyrannosaurus rex... yeah, let's really not think about being chewed on.

"So uh... you from around here?" He almost visibly winces, that was terrible and lame and he really has to learn not be such an idiot under circumstances like this.

[firethroat]

Firethroat breathes out in annoyance, tiny licks of flame dancing from her nostrils, but she does not strike. She watches him closely though, marking every movement in case he attempt any funny business. She has not forgotten how close her casket is, even if it is out of sight.

"That is wise. Men who challenge me rarely survive." She narrows her eyes at the question before deciding that the potential risk of seeming out of her depth was worth the knowledge she might glean from this man. "No. I have only just arrived. Are you from this land?"

[originalcopy]

"Yeah well... I don't need my day messed up anymore than it already is." He gives a slight shrug. Survival wasn't a worry, but being chewed up would pretty much ruin his day.

"Uh, no... I'm not. So um, welcome to Wonderfuck... I mean Paradisa. That's the name of this place, well the castle, which is what brought you here..." He stops, realizing that he's rambling. He made a sound like he was clearing his throat and started over.

"So, the castle here likes to grab people...er, lifeforms from all over and keep them here."

[firethroat]

"The castle..." She looks down at the stone under her feet. She had not taken much thought of it, but the look is quite akin to those buildings humans used to make here and there. They were stronger than the wooden huts, and Firethroat had privately wondered why they did not build all of their buildings in the same manner. Humans... once again benefiting themselves with the exclusion of others.

"I admit I have not seen much of castles in the past few hundred years, but from what I recall, they cannot grab anything. What of the humans who made it?"

A

[schrodingersghost]

Danny liked flying. He liked being up high above the castle. Most of all, he liked that no one ever attacked him up here.

So much for that. He grumbles silently to himself as the sudden flame forces him to abruptly dive out of the way. The culprit wasn't hard to spot.

He dives down and glares at the large and obvious dragon on the roof.

"Hey! Watch out where you're throwing that fire! Someone could get hurt! And by someone I mean me!"

[firethroat]

Firethroat stops the blast, surprised. After all, she had not intended to breath the fire at anyone. It was more an expression of rage. She had not expected someone to be flying nearby, most certainly not a human.

The shock is enough to make her forget her situation, at least for a moment.

"My apologies. No harm was intended."

[schrodingersghost]

"Yeah, well try to keep a eye out." He points at her dramatically.

"Remember, only you can prevent forest fires!"

[firethroat]

Firethroat tilts her head. What a strange little person.

"What reason would I have to start forest fires in the first place?"

[schrodingersghost]

...That was a joke.

[firethroat]

"A strange manner of joke it must be."

The dragon stares at Danny, who is still floating in the air, where humans aren't supposed to be. It is even more befuddling than his joke. "Why are you flying, little human? Your realm is the earth and fields, not the air like a bird." She could just as well ask how he was flying, for she sees no wings.