capeandcowllogs | This is the end, but still your need is driven on

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This is the end, but still your need is driven on

WHO: The Major, the Doctor, and their game pieces. I.e. EVERYONE.
WHERE: Throughout the City.
WHEN: The nights of Friday the 6th to Sunday the 8th.
WARNINGS: Violence and death galore.
SUMMARY: The Major and Doctor Einsturzen go to war for fun, and drag the entire City along for the ride.
FORMAT: Whatever works!

Nightfall was marked by fire. The subway station at East 42nd Street and Park Avenue rocked as a series of explosives ripped through the tunnels, setting everything ablaze, lighting up the evening and filling it with the terrified screams of civilians. That was the first. It was starting.

Across the City, there was movement from the underground. Vampires in trenchcoats and gas masks emerged onto the streets, bloodthirsty and vicious. Hounds the size of bears or larger, barely recognizable as what they once were, prowled from the alleys, saliva dripping from their jowls. Children in canine masks darted across the rooftops. All the while, more explosions tore across the City subway systems, as if keeping time for the two monstrous armies marching towards each other.

Anything that stood between them would be consumed-- natives, ImPorts, businesses, homes. Nothing was safe. This war would be winner take all, a prize of bloodshed and destruction to the psychopath left standing. The nights to follow would be long and full of terrors.

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[ There's a pause for just a moment, and a pair of angry orange yes replace the scrabbling claws. Just long enough to see that she's got the right cell, and then it's straight back to slamming a scaly black shoulder into the wall, and pulling out chunks with black claws.

As soon as she's able, she reaches a forearm through, finds the chain, and snaps it cleanly with a solid tug. And she's not going to let him drag through the acid on the way out, thanks, she's actually rather careful as she tugs her neatly wrapped up prize back through the hole. ]

[Careful or not, he still braces himself with curling as much as he can in his current position and shutting his eyes for a few short seconds, half expecting a bath of acid and a whole world of pain.

Thankfully that never comes and he's soon feeling cool, fresh air (mixed with a fair bit of dust from the rubble) and being greeted with the sight of his favourite dragon ever. Also the only dragon he knows but yeah, still his favourite anyway.]

I suppose I owe you for this...

[ There's a second where she holds him up by the chain in front of her face, like a kid inspecting a new prize, and looks distinctly unimpressed. ]

I would say so.

[ But then she's clutching him closer, pushing off of the wall before she falls off, and twisting around to begin a quick ascent. There's always the peppering gunfire to keep continued movement in her best interests. And when they're far enough up out of range, she glances down to begin carefully slicing apart his ropes with one long claw. ]

[There's that love for flying coming back, although being tied up and clutched close isn't really giving him the full enjoyment of it.

When they stop away from all the gun fire and crazy vampires and the claw edges towards him, Bond breathes in sharply, watching that slice with a mild suspicion. It doesn't gut him though and for that he's pretty grateful. It does take him a little while to try and get the feeling back in his limbs though.]

[ When she's got him mostly free, she eyes him for a few seconds, almost distrustfully. She could put him up onto her back. It would be easier not to have to keep ahold of him, and probably a more pleasant trip for him. Besides, if she's already allowed Batwoman onto her back today, it stands to reason that James wouldn't be so bad.

...Buuuut she doesn't. She relaxes her grip a little, but apparently plans on keeping him in her talons. ]

He really did pick the wrong hostages.

My dear, did you come to rescue us? I'm flattered.

[So smug, but also kind of embarrassed that he even needed rescuing in the first place. He shouldn't have gotten into that mess and most certainly should have got himself out of it.

Soon enough he loses the numbness in his arms and legs and grips at one of her claws as he leans to stare down at the carnage below. Apparently heights don't bother him (it's just the landing from heights that does).]

I came to take back what was stolen from me.

[ As if it were perfectly obvious! She takes to circling in the relative calm and quiet of Very Far Above, staring down just as he is. At the beginning of all this she would have been much more eager to throw herself back into it, but she's bleeding from quite a lot of spots by now, and her energy is finally starting to wane.

Eventually, and a little reluctantly: ] I still haven't seen Grayson come out.

[He'd argue about the whole idea of possession and people but right now he's exhausted, batters and feeling the stench and burn of being far too close to an acid bath. If her thinking he was stolen is why he was saved, he's not going to argue.]

He can take of himself, I'm sure he's fine. [A dismissive grunt as his eyes scan the area, making note of their location.] If you can get me to a nearby warehouse of mine, I can grab a bit of weaponry and let us try for a final assault.

[ For what good a single human's weaponry would do. She's about to snort disdainfully, but pauses. Come to think of it, there may be a way to double her power, so to speak. She would never trust calling another black dragon in to help, black dragons— or any chromatic dragon, really— would be just as likely to kill her few friends as her many enemies.

But a gold dragon might just be bound by his nature to help. ]

I think I can, too. [ She glances down at him. ] Where's your warehouse?

[He points off towards a dilapidated corner of the district where a few old business warehouses settled. Even from this height they looked virtually abandoned, but they were still used by various owners for storing the most random of items. In James' case, a weapons cache a spare car and some money tucked away for emergencies.]

I sadly don't have the natural weapons you possess. [Beyond being able to like... punch people to death.]

[ She nods, tips a wing to angle toward it, and noses into a dive. ]

I'll return for you in ten minutes. [ She's got a dragon to dramatically call for. She sets James down just outside his warehouse, and immediately pushes off of the ground to rush back into the sky. When she's at about the same height again, she levels off into a hover, glances around, and fills her lungs.

Dragon screams are generally pretty loud, but when they're aiming to be heard, and including a spell of amplification? Oh, that's gotta shatter a few windows. It's nothing anyone in this world would understand, and sounds mostly just like a roar— but to another dragon, it's an unmistakable summons. ]

[ Aurican was ignorant of the war games going in the City for a very good reason: he was off finding a lair. Normally he would have no problem spending years, centuries even, in an another form. It has what he has done while visiting the elves and helping them to create their own civilization. But in a strange land as this, he figures it might be wiser to obtain another residence as he figures out what to do exactly.

As he explores the Catskill Mountains and starting to be satisfied with it, he hears something particular. He never heard it before, but he knows exactly what it is and where it comes from. And more importantly, the caller herself.

Aurican narrows his eyes as he lifts his head from his slumber in a nearby stream. It takes him a few minutes to ponder over the message. Finally, he gets up and and takes off to the sky, in the direction of the City.

When he finally arrives - he does wish he has magic to hasten the trip - he sees appalling damage and violence in the streets. It reminds him of the chromatics' attack on Silvensti, and it makes him grimly furious. He climbs higher, to take a higher view of the damage before him before finally seeing Khisanth the black dragon.

He approached her cautiously, hovering with his golden wings. ]

What is the meaning of all this?

[ Her impatience grows the longer she waits, but Khisanth manages to keep her temper reigned in. Between her training with the nyphids and her training with Vic, she can recognize that being angry about his leisurely answer won't do anyone any good at all. ]

Two humans have taken it upon themselves to turn the City into their personal war. [ Which Khisanth hasn't stayed aloof from, if the various bullet holes in her hide— and here and there something bloodier— are any indication.

But she can't remain entirely noble about this, she has to sound a little smug as she adds: ] I thought stopping them might be of interest to your morals.

[ No need to add that the only reason she's interested in stopping it is because they've taken humans she actually likes hostage, and even less need to add that until she'd learned about the hostages, she'd originally been on the opposite side, delighting in the havoc. ]

Edited 2012-07-10 01:27 (UTC)

[ Aurican gives Khisanth the most unimpressed expression a dragon can ever give. ]

How am I to know that you are already taken a side to this war and merely want me in the line of fire for your own pleasure?

[ Judging by her wounds - and strange wounds at that - she is already involved in some way. The possibility that she is in no side but her own and is enjoying the anarchy for her own pleasure doesn't escape Aurican. ]

[ Well, that's not an unappealing course of action. If this war hadn't come to involve Dick, James, and Karkat, it very likely would have been what she'd done. But she's still not at all interested in admitting to a metallic dragon that she has any sort of affection for any of these mortals. ]

There are innocent people being killed by the Major's vampires and the Doctor's beasts. Whether you want to let them die — well, that's really up to you.

[ She tips her wings down, beginning a slow and lazy circle back toward James's warehouse. With luck, Aurican's curiosity will keep him along. ]

[ And it's true that Khisanty is halfway successful in pulling his strings - he's torn to go out and stop the madness or to follow her and see her actual goal.

Finally making up his mind he follows her quietly, even as the City's lights reflect off of his shining scales. ]

[ Oh, good. She definitely doesn't want to look like she's actually asking for his help, and the best way to avoid that is to have him as the pursuer. She tilts her head up to focus one golden orange eye on him as she descends. ]

There's a human down here that I trust to be competent. I'll renew my attack on the building containing the Major as soon as he's gathered his weapons. [ ...With Aurican's assistance, hopefully. She could really use some dragonfire in this, even if it has to come out of a gold. ]

[ Aurican clenched his jaws at the thought of a lowly black actually ordering him what to do. But he takes a stranglehold on his patience as he glides down to the location Khisanth is leading him. Of course, he is tense, already half suspecting this to be a trap of some sorts. ]

What kind of forces are at work here? And how long this conflict have been going on?

[ He won't do anything without questions answered, of course. ]

Edited 2012-07-10 02:52 (UTC)

This is the third night. [ in the tone of man, buddy, where were you? Except she can guess. Dragons don't fit very nicely into the City, she'd left it pretty quickly as well. She turns her attention back to the ground below, but she's paying careful attention to Aurican. She doesn't like flying vulnerably below a metallic dragon, but a show of being more concerned by these events than by a potential attack on his part is important. ]

And the last night, I think. The imPorts are closing in on both of them.

Are the attackers imPorts themselves, or they from the natives?

[ Aurican wonders if this is a result of a possible strife between imPorts and the natives. Always possible.

Movement caught his eye, coming down below. He looks down and sees a man and a strange looking dog, side by side, looking up at the two dragons on the rooftop of a building. In the man's hands is a long metal tube, and he holds it heftily on his shoulders. It looks remarkably heavy for a creature so small.

He points the metal tube at the direction and there is a loud bang and a bright flash of light.

Sensing nothing good in those two seconds, Aurican veers away, but something grazes against the membrane of his wing and it burns. He let's out an angry snarl, tumbling out of the sky in surprise. There's an even larger bang, of something exploding above him. ]

Edited 2012-07-10 03:23 (UTC)

[ Well, she would have been happy to answer, but that whine of a rocket launcher is a little distracting. She's already folding her wings to dive out of the way, even before the explosion, and narrowed eyes quickly pick out the monster responsible.

Immediately, darkness falls over the area. A black dragon's most instinctive spell and, as it just so happens, fantastic for avoiding being targeted. She continues her dive, and when she's low enough, parts her jaws to rain acid down onto the pair.

The darkness melts away, just as they do, and she glances up at Aurican. Not out of concern, of course. But it would be annoying if her potential and very temporary ally was wounded already. ]

[ In his tumble, he unfortunately crashed into a building, glass and steel bending over the unexpected weight. He turns around and grapples at the building, resulting in the ridiculous sight of a large, golden winged serpent using his claws for support as he is slowly slides down the building, much like a cat slides down a tree hindquarters first. Shattered glass falls around him, nicking his wings and nearly taking put his eyes.

When he finally slows, there's a long gash in the middle of the tall building, made out of five floors.

As he gathers himself to get ready for flight again, he gives the insides of the building he just gutted a glance. It turns out he just crashed into a residential complex. A woman with in some rather fluffy pink robes stares at him, aghast.

The gold dragon feels as though a little decorum is in order. ]

My apologies.

[ The woman screams in return.

Aurican lets go and flaps his wings, catching up to Khisanth. He's relieved that he isn't hurt enough to be ground, and that's a small blessing. ]

What was that thing?

[ Wow, metallic, way to be dignified. Khisanth would snigger, were she watching anyone else, any time else. But as it is she only straightens her own flying and lifts her head a little higher. He can be as slovenly and chaotic as he likes, she'll continue to be graceful and beautiful. (Definitely jinxing herself, here.) ]

A gun. A... "rocket launcher", I think. Their long-distance weapons have grown significantly more powerful. [ He doesn't seem overly hurt, though. She supposes that's good. ]

A weapon? That isn't magic?

[ What is this place he doesn't like it anymore.

It doesn't take long for Aurican to absolutely despise guns or anything remotely similar. Another monster started to fire at them, this time with smaller but just as painful jabs. His scales are just barely not thick enough for the bullets to blast into. Furious, he looks for the weapon responsible - at another rooftop, far lower than their height.

A quick inhale and a plume of fire rains down on the shooter. His screams were barely audible over the roar of the flames and he soon quieted as he topples over the rooftop and pummels to his death. ]

[ So that's dragonfire. She can feel the heat even from here, far hotter than any fire she'd ever conjured with a spell. It's almost surreal that it's coming from a gold, but not aimed at her. But she shakes the thought off for later consideration, folding her wings into another dive. ]

To the ground. We won't be such obvious targets there, and Bond should be ready by now.

[ And she drops, landing heavily just outside the dilapidated warehouse and glancing about warily. No vampires or dogs in sight so far, that's good. ]

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