RP:A Clash of Silvers, an Eidolon Realized
Part of the The Most Dangerous Game Arc
Icey Bridge
Hildegarde had left a little note for Satoshi, stating that she'd be just beyond the hunting grounds of Frostmaw to begin their hunt. The Silver stared at the sleek and smooth obsidian stones, wondering how many people had fallen to their deaths from slipping on it. Even she was a bit worried about crossing it, for fear of slipping. Alas, she had wings and needn't fear falling unlike so many others. The Silver sighed, twirling her halberd between her fingers; nervous to face the feral and ultimately send him towards his End. She wondered what would come of it: who would meet their End, what would she gain other than a heavy heart?
Satoshi arrives from the ruins to the west, ambling easily atop the snow as light as any elf. Hildegarde is spied and hailed from across the field as the kit picks up her pace to reach the bridge. Coming to a halt with a skip and jump, Satoshi stands before the knight, all grins and movement. Where Hildegarde is solemn and anxious, Satoshi is energized, ecstatic, and by all appearances, childishly hyper. "Buck up, Mithril~. Being dour about it won't make the matter any easier. You do what you must, but there's no rule saying you can't -smile- about it to make it go down a mite bit easier. Besides," the magus tilts her head back to stare at the sky then. Her smile widens as she inhales deeply. "Can't you feel it? Winter is brewing one last storm for us, and Hellfire is it going to be a glorious one~. I've been listening to it sing for days now~." So it isn't the prospect of hunting the feral Silver that has Satoshi borderline giddy, it's the snowstorm slowly rolling toward Frostmaw.
Hildegarde was, initially, a touch despondent at Satoshi's hyperactive mood, until she learned the reason. Her eyes lifted to the skies, as if she could somehow see the snowstorm that was lazily making its way towards Frostmaw. "I had wondered why Frostmaw was more still than usual, m'lady," she offered a little smile, "I suppose it is simply the quiet before the storm." She would try and lift her spirits some before they set out on this (mis)adventure, given that it might make their task somewhat easier! "Might I ask, does the snowstorm enhance your strength?" She asked with a genuine curiosity, not one born of tactics or anything quite so close to that.
Satoshi's animated bouncing stills as she mulls over the question. While Hildegarde likely isn't aware of the fact, it's a question with a multi-faceted answer, one that Satoshi decides to simplify for the sake of conversation. "Yes and no. It doesn't make me -stronger-, but as my element is more heavily present, I can use it more effectively and rapidly than usual, and without using nearly as much energy to do so. In the opposite way I can still use my spells in the desert, at a higher cost for a smaller result. Storm snow is much more... ah, 'alive' than snow that's already fallen. It's more eager to answer my call, y'know? But the question for us now is... is that Feral eager to answer -our- call~?"
Hildegarde nodded with a genuine interest, wondering what it would be like to have an element listen to her call or bend slightly to her will. She couldn't imagine the thought of having such power, actually! The Silver smiled and nodded, obviously satisfied with the answer. But then business was afoot: the question of how to lure the Feral. "He will answer our call if we hit his pride or we invade his territory as something near his size, m'lady," meaning, one would be a dragon and one could be a rider. "The choice is yours."
Satoshi stands before Hildegarde with eyes closed, ears turned in such a way as to hear the Silver's words as well as the ethereal singing of the storm building. After a moment, the kit nods, opening her eyes to look up at the knight with a crooked, roguish smirk. "Why not both? If you've got to do a job, you might as well do it to the fullest, no~? Let's call him out before the storm breaks. You don't want to be near the ruins when that time comes. Nor the hunting grounds."
Hildegarde looked to Satoshi and found the rouge like smile of hers to be somewhat infectious, her own lips forming a wry type of smile. "Indeed, m'lady. I shall not bore you with long-winded speeches, but let it be known that I act for the interests of Frostmaw - a place I see as home - and its peoples, including you, my Queen." A little dip of her head before she held out her halberd, "I trust, you will take care of this for me?" Should Satoshi accept the halberd, the Silver would be quick to accept her true form; becoming a hulking mass of silver scales, glinting when the light touched them. A foreleg bent to lower her body to Satoshi, "If you would do me the honour, m'lady?" she asked in the flanging voice of hers. The time to act was certainly upon them!
Satoshi accepts the halberd and offered foreleg quietly, the former held close to her torso as she settles into the seat made where Hildegarde's serpentine neck meets shoulders. Twice already Satoshi's flown with the Silver, her comfort and trust in Hildegarde made obvious by how quickly she falls into place, hands kept to the halberd rather than cling to scales for support. A nudge of her knee against the dragon's back is wordless signal that she's ready, once the foxkin's tugged her goggles down over her eyes. From here on, she will leave the flying to Hildegarde and instead devote herself to whispering into the winds, spilling her arcane will into the air around them and thus call the falling snow near. While the flakes, fat and heavy in preparation for the storm, do come closer, for the time being Satoshi will keep them suspended away and behind Hildegarde to avoid inhibiting flight. If the Silver were to look back during that time, she'd see that a glistening trail behind her, not unlike a comet's tail, marking her path through the skies.
Hildegarde felt the nudge against her scales, causing her to extend those leathery wings and shake them gently in preparation. No words were offered as the Silver lifted them both skyward, up into the colder air; closer still to the brewing storm. She carried them high enough that the air would cause breathlessness and an awful - if not unbearable - chill in a mortal being who was anatomically unaccustomed to flying, or had a dependency on breathing. The Silver seemed to simply drift in the sky silently, perhaps looking for their target rather than actively luring him, but soon enough the feral made his presence known. A roar echoed past them, a small distance away. Not close enough to yet be in eyesight, but close enough to be heard. Hilde would assume that Satoshi was ready to begin luring him in their direction, hence her roar in response. Once her roar was given, the Silver said - more to herself than Satoshi - gently, "I am ready."
Satoshi, as she hears the distant roar, says to herself, "Let's give him something to play with, shall we?" Or perhaps the words were meant for the snow trailing Hildegarde, for they promptly react as if spoken to. Rapidly they draw closer to each other even as they drift further from Hildegarde, no longer a ragged aura, now taking on a new shape. In moments, Hildegarde is being followed by a twin dragon startlingly similar to the knight in appearance, albeit this one is constructed from snowflakes and shards of ice--all the better to imitate her shining scales. The construct is purely for appearance, however, a mere ghost of Hildegarde that's as fragile as glass. Satoshi intends only to frustrate, entice, and perhaps confuse the Feral, rather than invest all her strength into conjuring such an enormous golem. Even charged by the snowstorm, it is no mean feat for the magus to make a fully functional ice dragon; the only two she's ever created required pieces of her own lifeforce to animate. They won't need a second dragon anyway, Satoshi is confident in Hildegarde's abilities, and so she releases her hold on the doppleganger to allow it to drift further back and to the right of the knight, taking up a guard position at her flank. From there, the icy creature offers its own roar, a sound not as full-bodied as either of the Silvers, instead reminiscent of glass wind-chimes caught in a gust.
Hildegarde 's eyes caught sight of the glinting construct as it flanked her, at first assuming it to be an enemy; hence her moving slightly to the left as if to begin an evasive movement. Only then did she realise it mimicked her appearance and was constructed from the ice and snow. A clever deception created by the Queen, one that impressed the knight! As the icy apparition offered a roar, Hilde waited for a responding roar, but it seemed as if nothing was to be offered. The fact that no response had been offered seemed to put the Silver on edge, who was ready to voice these concerns to Satoshi, when the feral made his grand appearance. Battered and scarred maw narrowly missing Hilde and the construct, as he darted out from the clouds above them; having used both roars to try and locate them and engage an ambush. With the feral having barely missed them, the Silver thought this might be her chance to go for his wings, causing her to press down towards him.
Satoshi is swift to press herself lower to Hildegarde, both to avoid the Feral's trailing claws and to prevent herself interfering with maneuvers the knight will need to make. But lying low doesn't mean the magus is useless. As the Feral dives past, Satoshi is recovering from the surprise and murmuring lyrics, words spilling after the aggressor in the form of a rain of icy needles. Against his scales, the needles are next to useless, but it's the wings Satoshi is intent upon, knowing a barrage of slender, sharply pointed objects will have an easy time piercing the thin, blood-filled membranes. Her saurian doppleganger is likewise not idle, although it requires a bit more time to right itself after being spooked by the ambush. By the time Satoshi's spell is cast and needles sent falling, the doppleganger is on the move. Its wings fold tight against its form as it dives, wisp-like body seeming to elongate and slightly scatter apart as it descends rapidly, aiming to dive past and below the Feral. As it comes into place, wings snap back open and its shape bulges to slow itself, positioned now to effectively sandwich the male between itself and the much more dangerous Hildegarde below. Instinct drives the male to balk and halt his own descent abruptly, a startled roar being choked out of him. With his wings spread out wide on either side of his body to stop his fall, they're made an easy target from Satoshi's spell. With the sound of hail bouncing off stone, many of the needles are deflected by his scales and the boney ridge of his upper wings, but enough hit home in both limbs to spill a shower of steaming blood on the doppleganger below and draw out an enraged hiss from the Silver. Bringing him the rest of the way down is left to Hildegarde. Then... then the real fun begins.
Hildegarde wanted to give Satoshi's actions a chance, before resorting to her own strength to bring down the dragon. It was all very impressive, actually. The clever use of the doppleganger and the use of needle like ice, it confirmed Hilde's fear of ever coming into conflict with the Queen! As the Feral hissed out his rage, the knight chose her moment to swoop in; taloned "hands" reaching for those powerful wings, attempting to push and direct him downward with an angry roar in his ear. The roar was not some primal instinct or anything akin to that, it was purely strategic. Silvers were weak against sound and a roar in your ear would certainly send your world spinning! That said, holding onto a feral who was spinning somewhat out of control was a rather dangerous idea, but letting go would perhaps be even more dangerous.
Satoshi has flown enough times with Emiur--an obsessive corkscrewer--to know how to handle herself against the ripping force of air during a spin. But she's also not as familiar with Hildegarde as she was with the couatl, and so Satoshi is careful to ensure she offers a firm squeeze with her knees to let the Silver know she hasn't lost a passenger. While the frost queen clings tight for the ride, the Feral thrashes in Hildegarde's grip, tail swinging one way with biting jaws dart the other, each blindly enraged movement furthering his chaotic plunge. In truth, the Feral isn't even fully aware he's falling. Hildegarde's roar in his ear has temporarily obliterated his sense of balance and presence. He can't be sure which way is up, whether Hildegarde is pulling him higher or trying to push him down, all he knows is the movement of air around his body, and the bulk of the other Silver latched onto him. Disoriented and with only Hildegarde as a pinnacle of solidity mid-tailspin, the Feral snaps toward her with his jaws, teeth aiming for her throat, yet missing in his imbalance and thus driving a mouthful of daggers toward her shoulders... and Satoshi.
Hildegarde felt the reassuring squeeze of knees against her, which brought great relief to the Silver! She had never had a passenger while in combat, so it was somewhat worrying, particularly when who they were latched onto was spiralling out of control. Jaws thrashed, but luckily enough his senses were far too disorientated to have a true aim. Alas, his imbalance put her partner - and her Queen - at risk, something the Silver could not allow herself to idly permit! The Silver roared furiously, pushing her neck out to force those fangs to meet with scales; scales that weren't as resilient as the others around her body. The throat and underbelly were the weak spots for dragons, as well as their wings. The Silver emitted a pained noise, before removing a forearm from his wing, replacing it with a clawed backleg; talons gripping far more harshly than ever before. The talons on her forearm reached for his throat, digging in to exact some form of revenge: blood for blood.
Satoshi, under most circumstances, would be right behind Hildegarde in showing the Feral what for. But instead, the kit goes rigid, no longer moving fluidly with the dragon, the air buffeting at her still form as she stares blindly ahead. Streaked across her face, neck, and chest, dying the flawless whites crimson, is blood, already congealing in the immense cold. It isn't the foxkin's own blood, however. It's Hildegarde's and the Feral's, splashed back onto Satoshi from the dragons' clawing and biting. What has Satoshi as frozen as her beloved lands is the fact that the blood... doesn't burn. There's no pain. No sensation of flesh being melted or devoured. The dragon's blood, an agonizing bane to vampires, has no effect on Satoshi. Realization hits Satoshi as hard as if the Feral's divebomb had landed directly on her: she's not a vampire. This is why Kasyr couldn't sense her presence as before. This is why Svilfon had been giving her sidelong looks since their fight with the Stinkbeast. This is why she'd had no desire to feed, and no ill effects from not feeding. -She's not a vampire-. But if she's not a vampire, then wha-... And then, just as suddenly as Satoshi went still and silent, she begins to laugh. The sound is small at first, a mere whisper torn away on the wind, but it rapidly grows into something feral and hysterical. And eerily ethereal. Sensitive to sounds as Silvers are, the Feral can't help but squirm in Hildegarde's grasp as he turns to look toward Satoshi, gaze wary and alarmed by the sight that greets him: a small, blood-splattered form standing atop the Silver's back, framed by hair and tails fanned out behind her, the storm above a backdrop to her maniacal laughter. And ice. So very much ice. Pulled from the clouds and the air, Satoshi has gathered about herself a swarm of frozen shards that have arranged themselves into the jagged semblance of wings, ridged talons over her limbs, spiked plates over her body. A veritable suit of glacial armor, as translucent as a ghost and colored like the Aurora. The Feral balks, from both the realized Eidolon and the Silver. He'd underestimated Hildegarde, taking her to be a normal Silver, not one allied with a being of the lands. Even his madness-ridden brain knows this was a mistake, to challenge such a dragon. With a strangled roar, the Feral rips his head back, feeling scales and flesh tear away beneath Hildegarde's talons, and ignoring the pain in the wild desire to escape this Silver and her companion.
Satoshi isn't even away of the Feral's sudden change of heart. She's blissfully oblivious to the world around her. Mind focused solely on the snowsong, so clear and perfect in her mind. Finally, the glacial magus is one with her beloved ice.
Hildegarde hadn't thought of blood touching the Queen, too wrapped up in trying to deal with the Feral at hand. She was beginning to direct him more forcefully to the ground, able to see some of it coming into sight, knowing that this dance in the air would not last much longer! But now she can hear maniacal laughter behind her, causing concern, but not enough for her to end their deadly dance and take notice of it. As the Feral attempted to see Satoshi and eventually ripped his head back - hurting himself in the process - he caused the knight great pain, which was declared with a mighty roar. But she launched an assault with her maw, aiming for the point where neck meets shoulders, now pushing even harder towards the ground.
Satoshi feels, rather than hears, Hildegarde's roar rumble beneath her feet. It's enough to draw the foxkin back to herself somewhat, although wisps of melodic laughter still escape her. Trapped in Hildegarde's claws, the Feral beats his torn wings frantically, trying to rip himself from her grasp and only further speeding them toward the ground. Still circling below is the doppleganger, not solid enough a being to properly bite or claw the Feral and thus left to keeping him from darting away beneath Hildegarde. At least, until Satoshi finds a use for the fragile construct. With a word, the magus unravels the doppleganger's body into a blanket of icy fragments scattered beneath the pair of Silvers. Satoshi takes a moment then to gauge the dragons' respective sizes before her ice-gauntlet'd hand gives a sharp gesture, a signal to the collective shards below. Like so many arrows released from their bows, the ice flies upward, intent upon the Feral's wings, back, anywhere made available on his immense bulk that will allow the ice to embed itself and burrow in deep. Hildegarde herself is spared a skewering mostly by the Feral's sheer size in comparison to her own, although Satoshi's also uttering a string of words to coax the stray shards up and away from harming the knight, to gather among the eidolon's ethereal armor.
Hildegarde tried her best to keep her grip on the feral, even though his beating wings and tearing movements were proving even more difficult to handle. But Hilde could no longer keep up this game; she could see how dangerous this feral was, how strong he was physically and mentally, what with his earlier ambush. Her fangs left his neck, moving up to the throat area, "I'm sorry," she offered in that flanging voice, before her great fangs sank into his throat in the effort to send him off to his End. Her teeth had aimed true, the feral had gone limp in her grip and allowed them to fall far more quickly, what with him being a dead weight. Hilde's wings began beating a little harder as they near touched the ground, slowing their descent in order to make their landing somewhat safe. Talons and fangs left the feral, as she heard the long and tired groan of weakness leaving him; the sound that said 'I yield'. She left his back, maw close to his as if to say she could strike if anything were to happen! "I am sorry, my kin, for sending you to your End. Do you have any words to offer before you go?"
Satoshi slips off Hildegarde's back before they've fully reached the ground, although she makes no sounds or movements of surprise. In fact, the kit doesn't even properly fall, dropping to the ground with an unnatural slowness, half-walking on air made solid by the cold. When the magus lands, she moves softly away, to give Hildegarde and the Feral space for either a last scuffle to the death, or a Silver's honorable exchange of words. Satoshi had agreed to assist Hildegarde, not interfere. This is the knight's part here and must be carried out accordingly. While Satoshi doesn't understand the concept of honor some hold so dear, she respects it enough to keep her whiskers out of where they're not needed. And so, the ice-clad queen stands quiet and unobtrusive outside the range of the Silvers, the one strong and young, the other scarred and dying.
Hildegarde looked fleetingly to the Queen, relieved that her companion was unharmed. But now her attention was on the Feral, who gave a groan of discontent but offered nothing more. The Silver seemed distressed at his lack of words, but realised that he wouldn't be putting up any other kind of fight; he wasn't strong enough. Her form twisted and changed, returning to the guise she was most commonly seen in. She knelt by his maw - unafraid and compassionate - as she set a soft hand upon his maw, "Please, kindred. Please, talk," she asked him so softly. The feral growled before speaking in a hoarse and bitter voice, "I name you The Silver Death, a kinslayer. Is your heart heavy? Does my death burden you?" The knight's eyes cast downward, her heart was indeed heavy. But yet, he continued: "You saw me as a beast, I saw myself as a man without cause. My family - my love, my children - stolen from me by the scourge of poachers! Here, in this frozen waste. A place so safe for our kin, yet... not so. They stole them, smashed my children. Tore my Lyssa to shreds..." he offered a mournful cooing noise, one that made Hilde go rigid. "Tell me, kin, where did these poachers take them? I see you have fought, I see your scars. Was it from them?" The feral seemed to chuff in anger, "I would have killed them, had they not used their nets and their wiles. They were out further west. Do you intend to bring them your fury, Silver Death? Avenge me and mine, your kindred?" The Knight looked over to Satoshi, anger burning in her eyes - such an alien emotion to her - and yet, confusion was right there. "I... I do not know, my kin..."
Satoshi's surrounding ice takes on a harsh, silvery glint upon catching the Feral's words. All thought of keeping a respectful distance is forgotten as she strides forward, silvered ice edged by a blazing azure in her kindled anger. "You speak of poachers," the kit's voice is frigid, a snarling hiss, "where did they strike? When? How many were there? If nothing else, at least tell us that! You have to tell. I have to find them." Her voice quiets as she murmurs another faint, 'I have to.' If this Silver has come in contact with the poachers, it's the only true lead they have in hunting down Emiur's attackers. Unable to stand still, Satoshi paces while she speaks, the air and snow around her dangerously, unnaturally cold in reflection to her emotions. Everything about the kit is on edge, from bristling tails to tensed shoulders, sharp steps to clenched fangs. "They're in my territory. Harming my land and its people. Have they not stolen enough from me already, they think to take -more-, and expect me not to strike back?" In Frostmaw, the crime for poaching is the primary hand and secondary foot of the perpetrator. Satoshi intends to take much, much more, as is obvious by the malice smouldering in her eyes as she glares into the distance.
Hildegarde heard Satoshi's fury, yet it only served to add to her own. "I will avenge you and yours, kindred," she said solemnly. The feral responded, once Hilde had given her word, "Months. Like I said, out in the west. They stole my home and have made it their foul lair of death and mutilation. Three little ones, twenty of your size." He groaned and grumbled, ever close to reaching his End. "Avenge me, little Silver, and my death will not be wasted. Avenge me so my blood is not staining you." That said, the feral closed his eyes and breathed his last. "My Queen," she finally said, "We... What do we do now?"
Satoshi stares blindly down at the dead Silver. To Hildegarde, and to herself, she says in clear, determined tones, "We hunt." But not seconds later, Satoshi heaves a sigh and seems to shrink, no longer the angered, proud queen and instead a weary, thoughtful kit. "Firstly, you must rest and tend your wounds." She doesn't need to even look at Hildegarde to know the extent of the damage, the scent of blood is potent. "While you do that, I must speak to the wizard. And I must search. The west is the ruins and beyond, land that does not truly belong to the living. It is not territory one idly walks into. We will need to think before we act. But then, -then- we'll hunt, Hildegarde, I assure you. And they will pay dearly."
Hildegarde pressed the side of her face to his bloodied and unmoving maw, "Your soul is my burden to carry, kindred. I shall bring you to your End when I meet my own." She rose to her feet, sighing as she felt as if the area was spinning around them. While in dragon form, her armour was well protected, but she wondered if it could take another fight. "M'lady, I have absolute faith in your abilities, you know this. But are you sure you wish to go hunting now? Anger... Anger can sometimes blind us, m'lady. I do not want you to find our foes and slay them alone. Either go now and find me following you, or wait a single day to go hunt." She said it all with some uncertainty, not too sure she was right in what she was saying. But she knew she would protect this woman to the very End, which was why she was saying what she did!
Satoshi offers Hildegarde's halberd back as she says, "I will not hunt them alone. As much as I wish to do so, I won't. They have harmed more than just myself, it isn't my place to leave the rest behind. They have no reason to believe we know their location, the storm will keep them pinned for a good while longer, and the bounties that come with and after the storm should keep them greedy too." What she means by this, is the tendency for large snowstorms to draw out Frostmaw's various saurian inhabitants, the weather seeming to entice them into romping in the skies in surprisingly large numbers. It's the perfect feast for poachers. "We have time. Time to think, prepare, and strike. We won't rush into this."
Hildegarde took hold of her halberd gently from Satoshi, but once it was independently held by her, she gripped it firmly and used it to keep herself upright. "I am glad to hear this, m'lady," she said with no smile, only her honesty. "I... " she looked to the body of the fallen feral, "I know not what to do with his body, m'lady."
Satoshi follows Hildegarde's gaze, her expression thoughtful. "It seems wrong to bury it. Dragons are beings of the sky, to be trapped below the earth would not suit them. It's the Frostmaw way to burn the dead, and let their ashes go where they will on the wind. I could encase him in ice, if that's what you'd prefer. It is your choice." To the magus, what becomes of a dead body matters little to her, what made it a living, thinking creature is long gone, only a shell left behind. "I know some kinds will eat their dead, the flesh of the defeated a gift of strength to help the living fight on." Personally, Satoshi prefers eating remains, as much to destroy evidence as to not be wasteful. She's got no interest in eating a dragon, however.
Hildegarde had no desire to bury the dragon, nor to set fire to his corpse. After all, fire was a great weakness of theirs, why endure it when dead? "I believe it best to leave him, then. His death will bring life to some," she said with a little nod. "I wish to thank you, m'lady, for your help. I do not believe I would have managed it without you."
Satoshi nods once and looks away from the dead dragon, not looking back again. "And thank you as well, Mithril. A question that has been nagging at the back of my mind is finally at rest, as well I now know where to find the ones who stole Emiur. I owe you much." As she speaks, the magus walks away from the scene and the ice armoring her begins to dissolved until only her mistweave cloak remains, glimmering among the folds with hints of the greens, blues, and reds of the Aurora.