RP:Ashes to Ashes
This gives true perspective to the altitude you are currently at. As you peer over the cliff just a bit, you see no bottom, but rather a great mist swirling perhaps hundreds of feet below. You are not sure how much further below the mists the bottom of the gorge truly is, but you feel no need to test it out. Strangely there is a lack of snow here, probably from the warmth that rises from the cavern below, and to your west you see that the snow is also exempt from there as well. To the east is more solid ground, and the faint glimmer of frost or light snow. To your west you spot a rope bridge, but from here you're not sure how sturdy it is or if it will be able to hold you. It sways from left to right in the wind, the ropes and wood making unnerving sounds, creaking in the steady wind.
Characters:
- Satoshi, Kit-Vampire, Frost Singer.
- Emiur, Chaotically-Altered Couatl & Lorelei, Elementally-unstable pocket-fox.
- Portea, Human, Psion.
- Mnementh, Phrenic Bronze Dragon & Sabrina, Elementally-unstable pocket-fox.
Summary: Portea and Satoshi recruit their mounts' help in acquiring a phoenix egg for Taeme, stolen from the nest of an old companion of the kit-vampire.
Satoshi told Portea, "*a gentle, persistent mental-nudge comes from Emiur* You sought a phoenix egg, correct? We've found a nest. *a brief image of the cliffs north of the mines follows* We believe there may be an egg, and... parents."
Portea told Satoshi, "*the same mental nudge comes from Portea in response* ~On my way.~"
(Cliff, northern Xalious Mountains)
Portea :: Mnementh swoops down suddenly right along the cliff-edge, allowing just enough time for the psion to leap down from his back before rapidly ascending back into the star-filled night. Raptor-like eyes peer out from beneath the psion's dark-blue hood, surveying the area before looking for the feline/couatl duo. "Mewl." Sabrina peeks her pale purple head out from the folds of Portea's cloak, curious, as always.
Satoshi is easy enough to find the moment she comes scrambling around a rocky corner, a gout of flame striking the earth directly behind her already singed twin tails and making her yelp--Lorelei, bouncing wildly in Satoshi's hood, echoes the sound. "All right, all right! Enough, Jack!" the soot-strained Magus shouts, skidding to a halt on a patch of ground that's scorch-mark free, in an almost perfect line. "See? Edge of your territory. Git back to your nest, feathers-for-brains!" No further flames answer, merely a disgruntled snort and the sounds of heavy wings--crackling oddly like a campfire--as the red and gold phoenix flies back to his nest, long tailfeathers leaving sparks in his wake. Satoshi merely stands and watches, muttering thoughtfully to herself, oblivious of Portea's arrival.
Portea cocks his head to the side, one brow lofting slightly as he voices his arrival with one simple word. "Jack?" Curiosity merges with mischievousness within the soft tones of his voice, clearly amused with this odd turn of events. The psion's soft footsteps carry him ever closer to the feline, gently taking Sabrina, who gives a startled mewl, and placing her upon his shoulder as he does so. "You're the one that insisted upon joining me, you little fuzzball."
Satoshi turns with a demanding, "Who you calling fuzz-" blinks, and promptly corrects, "Oh. Hello. And erm, yes. Jack. Old... 'friend', if us constantly fighting can be called such." The kit-vampire gives a crooked grin as she glances over her shoulder at both Lorelei and the distantly glowing nest. "When you mentioned a phoenix egg, I figured I'd pay the old boy a visit. He's not overtly keen on the idea of lending us one of his brood. But," the magus turns back to offer Portea another smirk, "I got a count before he chased me off. Six es a big number for two birds to raise, even big fire-birds. It'd be a service to take one off his hands, y'know?"
Portea chuckles softly and nods, tilting his head as he glances passed Satoshi to catch a glimpse of the glowing nest in the distance. "Ah, yes, six would indeed prove to be quite the handful, I'm sure." That mischievous gleam returning to the man's grey eyes as they return to the vampire-kit. "Do you have a plan for getting one?" Comes the expected inquiry. Sabrina, however, doesn't appear to like being ignored, so she decides to pat somewhat playfully at the hood upon Portea's head, persisting until the concealing article falls from his head. "Never content to just be near me..." He mutters in pseudo-complaint, though his hand reaches up to pet the little fox gently.
Satoshi is about to reply when her words are lost to the excited yipping of Lorelei as the pale blue fox squirms around and noisily greets her sister. Only once the kit's been quelled by a hand none-too-delicately clamping over her muzzle, is Satoshi free to speak again. "I'm not a big fan of fire, being tied to ice and all that, so getting close... again.... isn't my greatest desire. However," a mischievous light of her own enters her eyes, although it dies faintly when Lorelei frees herself and rewards Satoshi with a bite to constricting fingers, "Ouch." Fox shaken loose here. "Ahem. I'm sure I could conjure up a distraction or two, if you'd like to go egg-fetching."
Portea 's lips curl into a grin as he notices that mischievous quality in her eyes, yet he can't help but laugh as her fox-kit snaps at her. Sabrina attempts to launch herself from the psion's shoulder, quite possibley to 'come to the rescue' of her sister, yet Portea proves to be quicker than her. His arm darts out and catches her mid-leap by the scruff of her neck, pulling her back to his chest. "Tsk tsk, Sabrina. You're much more civil than that, so act like it." He scolds, rewarding her with a sharp flick to her nose before soothing the wound -more like her wounded pride- with a pat to the head. "What did you have in mind? I'm game to try my luck."
Satoshi looks entirely took much like a vixen who's caught a prize rooster when Portea voices his question. "Well~, that depends... How compliant is your dragon to a rider that esn't you... and having ice built around him to make him, say... look like a frost-phoenix? Those gorgeous beasties are natural-born enemies our fire-bird duo up there~. I'd have Emiur do it but... apparently snakes don't like the cold." A mental-shudder from the nearby couatl follows the words, tinged with his obvious reluctance to be even this far north.
Portea takes a few moments to think about the request before passing the idea onto Mnementh. ~We lead by example. I'm getting a good long washing in the hotsprings after this.~ Replies the great bronze, letting Satoshi and Emiur hear this brief communication, a rare occurance indeed. With that, the bronze beast swoops down to find a place to land out of sight of the Phoenix nest. "Work your magic, Satoshi."
Satoshi misinterprets--or perhaps doesn't? hard to tell what a dragon really means sometimes--Mnementh's words and gives him a childish sticking out of her tongue as a response. "I don't have fleas, and I smell lovely, so a bath after bearing me is -not- necessary. Nonetheless," the Magus bows elegantly before stepping toward Mnementh, coming to stand near and await his offer for her to mount up. "my thanks for your agreeance. Will make this much easier. We'll need to do this quickly, as a note."
Portea :: Mnementh tilts his head slightly at the feline's comment, multi-faceted eyes whirling a soft green-blue. ~The ice, hotsprings will help melt it and warm me up after this.~ Once more he graces Satoshi with his mental voice, stating something that he thought was made painfully clear with his first comment, yet clearly the feline misunderstood him. The phrenic dragon crouches lower so as to allow the kit-vampire to mount. "Understood, just let Mnementh know when you need me to dash, he'll pass the message on to me." With that, the psion stows Sabrina in one of the internal pockets in his cloak, shielding her from any potential danger.
Satoshi quickly finds a comfortable place at the base of the bronze's neck and immediately falls into a casting state, murmuring soft words as her hands pull vials of water from her satchel and toss them around Mnementh's form. Once the glass containers are broken, the water answer's the magus' call, billowing up and around the dragon, crackling as it freezes and forms into the elegant feathery lines of a frost-phoenix, the ice held mere inches above the dragon's skin--the least she can do is spare him frostbite after encasing him in the elaborate disguise. "Let's go annoy some fire-birds, hm?" the cryomancer murmurs to the icy Mnementh, the words half-sung as she continues to weave and maintain her spell. As soon as he's airborne and caught the attention of the fiery pair, she'll give the cue for Portea to make the dash and climb. And, close by, Emiur waits, mental-presence reverberating like his poised and ready coils.
Portea waits on the edge of the phoenix territory until he gets his cue, at which point he springs into action by dashing across the line. Psionically augmented, Portea's sprint picks up an amazing pace, getting him to the climbing portion of his trek in record time, as well as aiding in his initial leap. Toned muscles rippling beneath his cloak as he ascends, picking his way quickly, yet carefully. Eyes widen in glee as he catches sight of the nest, complete with the six eggs, just as Satoshi mentioned.
Satoshi's rather enjoying the teasing game of chase Mnementh is leading the duo of phoenix in, ducking and weaving around spurts of flame as the two squawk their rage at their nemesis being in their land. But, for Jack's mate, maternal instinct outweighs the strength of anger, and it isn't long before she leaves the chase to Jack, winging back to her nest in time to spot the pilfering psion. An outraged screech issues from her beak, followed swiftly by a burst of rock-melting fire--harmless to eggs incubated in such heat, of course--aimed directly at Portea. Satoshi's planned for this, however, being a kind of mother herself and understanding the irresistible pull of maternal protectiveness; springing into action, physically and mentally, is Emiur, who has waited atop the cliff above the nest for this instant. A mental blast comes from the serpent, enough to disorient the phoenix and send her attack crashing into the rocky roof above Portea, dislodging the boulders. And as that happens, the couatl darts in on mutli-hued wings, slowing just long enough to invite the psion along for the ride and aid him in avoiding a death between stone and fire-bird. ~Hurry now, before she gets her senses back.~
Portea , having ample practice at leaping aboard a flying mount, pushes off from the cliff with just enough force to give him a graceful landing upon Emiur. ~Get me close enough to the nest and I'll pull one of the eggs to me.~ Replies the psion through the same medium as the couatl's initial comment, waiting until Emiur puts word, or thoughts, to action before he exerts the perfect amount of psionic force to dislodge a single egg. An extra burst of power causes the egg to soar through the air straight into the human's arms.
Satoshi, being the only non-Phrenic being present, has to resort to speaking aloud to Mnementh once Emiur's sent word of the egg's retrieval. "How fast can you fly? I can't keep this spell up for much longer," warning and suggestion laced into one, with the feline silently adding 'we -really- don't want Jack to see we're not a frost-phoenix'. The couatl, ever attuned to Satoshi's mind, catches the errant thought however and promptly passes it along to Portea, along with a cool remark of ~Shall we scramble the perceptions of the parents and daze them? It may help them forget an egg is missing as well.~ He waits on Portea's response, ready to join in the mental-strike and make a rapid escape, or do merely the latter. Either way, Satoshi's oblivious to the scheming, focused upon maintaining Mnementh's masquerade and ignoring Lorelei's excited yapping while they make their own vie for freedom.
Portea :: A low rumble of laughter echos from Mnementh's chest at her question. ~Hold on.~ Is all the warning the bronze dragon gives before those powerful wings pump fluidly, giving the duo an extra burst of speed that will likely surprise everyone present, save for Portea. Who quickly replies with an affirmative to Emiur's plan, setting it into motion immediately. Eyes slip shut as the psion reaches out to the two phoenix mentally, working to alter the images that their brains receive, confirming the belief that Mnementh is an ice-phoenix, while adding a subtle suggestion that there has always been five eggs. Sabrina, while still inexperienced in aiding Portea, gives it her best shot, working smarter by merely augmenting the other two's power instead of trying to manipulate things directly.
Satoshi's well-used to dragonflight, but even she's caught off guard by Mnementh's display of speed. Still, the feline doesn't lose her seat upon the bronze as he speeds off, and once she deems them safely out of phoenix territory the spell is released. With a shattering like glass the ice falls away from Mnementh, trailing below and behind him in a diamond dust shower. Emiur, a non-competitive creature by nature, normally wouldn't have bothered striving to keep up with the dragon, but he's had quite enough of the mountain air and is keen to race his fellow Eyrie-member back home to waiting warmth. And he displays surprising amount of speed for an overgrown winged snake in doing so.
Portea can't help but grin as the six of them race back towards the Eyrie, projecting an enthusiastic: ~Good job!~
(At the Eyrie)
Satoshi makes her way out of the Eyrie, with the aid of a helpful rider willing to give her a lift. Since... -her- mount is too busy coiling himself around the newly obtained phoenix egg under the pretenses of 'incubating it'. Although, Emiur is incapable of lying, so of course there is truth in his statement, but there's also a selfish undertone, as the egg is a large source of potent heat. A fact that has the serpent in utter adoration of the little shelled being, earning it a guardian until it hatches.
Satoshi said to Portea, "G'night. Time I had a bath... Kasyr's 'Ashen', not me! Damn soot..."
Portea chuckles before replying. "Good night, and thanks for finding the egg."