RP:I'm Not Okay (I Promise)
Part of the Do You Believe In Magic? Arc
Summary: After escaping the Blue's cave, Dominic happens upon an old friend.
Mountain Path
Dominic looked like hell, probably. I mean, no, he looked about the same as he always did: simple travel clothes that wouldn’t make him stand out in a crowd, pack on his back, hands in pockets, shuffling along toward Xalious and appearing to be in no particular hurry. It was only his demeanor that was different: eyes staring ahead and regarding little around him with any interest, a paleness beyond his usual that suggested he was perhaps ill, a weariness to his gait.
Krice also looked the same as always; dressed in his usual black attire with the shirt sleeves rolled to his elbows and the collar open, and his katana sheathed against his back. The only differences were few, and perhaps too subtle to notice - longer silver hair that now passed his shoulder blades, and the trio of scars on the left side of his face, almost completely gone. Time had healed him well. As he moved down the mountain path from the north, his gold-streaked eyes caught sight of a man who was at first only a hint familiar, given his condition. A few seconds passed and Krice realized that he was looking upon a - for the most part - friendly face. Without changing his gait, he called out to Dominic a casual, " Hey."
Dominic, torn away from his thoughts, visibly jolted and wheeled toward the voice. Geez, jumpy much? His own recognition seemed to take a moment, as well. “Oh. Hello, Krice. It’s been a while.” A dull monotone, though despite the sluggishness he didn’t seem, well, -unhappy- to see an old friend. Just… not particularly animated, either. He looked unsure whether to stay where he was or keep going, and ended up doing an odd restless bouncing from one foot to the next before rooting into place, canting his head at the man.
Krice changed his direction until he was walking right at Dominic, and he halted just a few steps later. Standing an inch outside the other male's reach, the warrior pocketed his hands and assumed a casual posture, though his eyes were attentive on Dominic. " You alright?" He asked, his tone straight-forward but underlined by subtle hints of concern. The warrior's mental cogs were turning, and his scrutiny of the two-minded man was obvious.
There was tension in Dominic’s shoulders as Krice approached, though he didn’t step away. “Yeah, yes, I’m fine. Of course.” he said, too quickly, plastering on a depressingly inadequate polite smile. Not the greatest actor, that one. He seemed to realize it after a beat and the corners of his lips drooped again. “Okay, no, b-but I don’t even know where to start.” He dropped eye contact, briefly, then dragged it back onto the man’s face. “I’ve just spent gods only know how long trapped in a tiny jar in a dragon’s cave with Khitti and -- and a bunch of other mages, and obviously we got out or I wouldn’t be standing here but Khitti --” his voice cracked, “-- didn’t make it and I don’t even know if she’s alive and even if she is I don’t know what Raiez has done to her or if she’s going to stay that way or what she thinks about the fact that Brand and I had to leave her behind, and I don’t know what we’re going to do yet to go back and try to rescue her, and --” Finally he took a breath, flailing his hands at Krice. “Look, it’s fine, it’s not any of your concern and I d-don’t want to worry you. But … no, the short answer’s no. Uhhhm. Anyway, how are you?” There was that odd, grim smile again.
Krice 's face was unchanging, intense in watchfulness of Dominic, but not aggressive or pressuring. Silently, following the other male's inadequate false reply, the warrior waited for him to either elaborate with more lies, or to come clean and tell the truth. With the truth prevailing, the warrior's features shifted to convey more of those subtle hints of concern for Dominic's well-being, as well as evident intrigue as to where he had been. 'A bunch of other mages'... He appeared pensive when he mused, " So that's where the mages have gone... Taken by a dragon." And stuffed in a tiny jar - that part he'd have to figure out later, but for now, the warrior was stepping eastward along the bottom of the mountain, continuing his conversation with Dominic; his voice firm, but not harsh, " Where is this? Do you know?"
“It’s…” Dominic flailed again, northward. “There was a cave. The dragon got in through some kind of pool. The other end is like… somewhat near where the waterfall is? Around here?” He shrugged helplessly. “Anyway, the hard part isn’t getting back there now that we’ve gotten out, it’s figuring out how to defeat a dragon without hurting her hostages in the process. There’s at least two still and they’re both vampires. And vampires and dragon blood… not a great combination, per Queen Hildegarde.” He shook his head; the pressured speech was starting to slow and the fatigue was starting to make itself present again. “So I guess you could say plotting the rescue is a work in progress.”
Krice slowed to a halt only a few steps later, something in Dominic's words stopping him. When the other man was finished speaking, he pivoted to face him and asked, " Khitti and who else? Do you know the other vampire?" The warrior turned his head, gazing past his right shoulder toward the north. " The dragon has to leave some time - to hunt, or something. Is someone watching the cave?"
Dominic blinked, confusion marking his face. “You know, come to think of it I don’t think she ever gave me her name, even though she and Khitti and I were all trapped in the same jar. Brand asked once and she just kind of ignored him. N-not that I can really blame her, hah.” Dominic paused, thinking. “Red hair, tall woman, really muscled? Seems like she’s got some kind of electricity magic. And… strong. She and Brand sparred and it was about all he could do to get one or two hits in.” A beat. “Probably don’t rub that in his face.”
Krice listened attentively to Dominic's reply, returning his gaze to the other male by the end of it. He barely flashed a smile upon hearing of Brand's escapades while trapped in the dragon's magical jar, answering Dominic's afterthought with an honest, " I won't." It wasn't in his nature to openly cause trouble. Description of the other vampire was unremarkable to the silver-haired enigma, indicating that he knew nothing about her. After a moment, the warrior frowned thoughtfully and asked, " How'd you get out?"
Krice’s smile was returned with equal brevity and understatement -- perhaps the first genuine one Dominic had given since their meeting. “Uh, well, about the sparring… I’m not really sure how it happened because we’d been told the jars were enchanted to be unbreakable, but somehow Brand throwing that vampiress into the wall made it crack, and from there she punched it hard enough to break the three--” Wait. Four? Should Dominic count himself as a separate entity? Eh, whatever. “-- the… three of us out. Then we were able to just pop open the other jars. But Raiez came back as we were all filtering out, a-and…” He stopped, setting his jaw and attempting to hold back tears. “I guess I already said the rest.”
Krice 's smile was fleeting, barely there, but evident enough for Dominic to pick up on it. Back to the topic at hand, he was quiet as the two-minded man worked his way through a reply, arching a brow slightly at his hesitation over numbers--three or four?--but ultimately, understanding the story as it was told. He reached out and gently - per Dominic's ailing condition - pressed his hand to the other man's shoulder, a reassuring squeeze followed by, " Who's planning the rescue?"
Dominic stopped to think, twisting his lips. “This is all pretty recent. Right now it’s myself, Linn, Pilar, and Lionel. I believe a few others have shown interest but I’m… well, pretty out of the loop after so long. Apparently there were rescue efforts besides my… really rather pitiful one,” he furrowed his brows, “...and none of those succeeded either. But hopefully now that -finding- the cave isn’t an issue we can move forward.” A sigh. “I’m hopeful. W-well, uh, trying to be. Trying.”
Krice nodded after listening to Dominic's reply, and following a final look north, he said, " I'll help. I'd go in there and grab them right now, but uh..." His left eye narrowed, portraying bemusement. " If they're still in the jar, and the dragon has fortified it somehow since your escape, well uh... I'd waste time trying to break it." He would need to go with someone skilled - and able - enough to break the magic on the jar. The warrior looked south, contemplating the usefulness of Xalious' officials.
“Oh, from the outside it won’t be hard. You just screw the lid off. From the inside it was almost impossible.” Dominic was canting his head at Krice again, wondering just how well he sized up against a powerful dragon-mage like Raiez. He’d always figured the man had the air of someone not particularly worried about losing, but… against a dragon? “My concern is that, if Raiez is there, she might well try to kill Khitti and the other one rather than chancing them going free. I d-don’t know, but… until we can figure out how to mitigate that risk, we just have to hope she’s still keeping them alive. She didn’t seem to mean harm to us until we were actually getting away. As odd as that probably sounds.”
Krice nodded definitely at Dominic, agreeing that hasty actions could lead to undesired consequences. Was the dragon intent on harming her captives during captivity? Clearly not, since he was standing here talking to Dominic, one of those very captives. Squinting slightly, he adopted an expression of thoughtfulness and mused, " What a weird dragon... I don't suppose you guys were... particularly 'shiny', when she caught you?" A beat, and then a more important, " How -did- she catch the others? Is someone helping her, or does she have a human form?"
“Shiny? I’m not sure what you mean.” Dominic fell silent a moment, brows furrowed. “Oh. Not like… covered in gold or gems or anything, no. And yeah, she has a human form. Raven hair. Though I didn’t get a good look at that form other than that.” He scratched at the back of his neck. “It’s all kind of a blur. A big, unpleasant fog. Trying to pull out useful details from that has been… interesting.” Dominic shuddered and tried to cover it up with a yawn.
Krice stared at Dominic thoughtfully, and by the end of his reply, lifted his arms to fold them across his own chest. After a moment given for thought, the warrior asked, " Do you think Brand would remember details that you can't?"
Dominic probed inward, but came up empty. “Not unless he’s deliberately keeping something from me. Which I suppose he could be. But if that’s the case…” Dominic gave the faintest smirk, not really directed -at- Krice but rather at knowing he’d be familiar with the scowly one’s antics. “...If that’s the case, I doubt it’s the sort of thing he’d tell you, either. And anyway, he wants to get back in there and get them out as badly as I do.” There was a shuffling of feet as Dominic’s gaze dropped to the ground. “Maybe he wouldn’t share that either, but I can tell.”
Krice nodded after some thought given to the potential minefield of questioning Brand. Hearing that the second mind of Dominic also wanted to free the people still trapped under Raiez's watch, the warrior squinted an eye at Dominic and mused, through a wry smirk, " Well, I could always beat it out of him."
Dominic’s expression froze in something akin to horror. “Uh, well, I guess you could but it’s honestly probably better that you don’t. One way or another, I have to deal with him after.” Dominic smiled weakly again, apologetic this time. “Under different circumstances, though, I’d enjoy seeing what a fight between the two of you looked like. Just… maybe not when it’s my body too, and I have to deal with his thoughts in my head after.”
Krice shook his head early on, trying to dispel Dominic's concerns that he'd be picking a fight - let alone actually -fighting- - with Brand. He followed up the gesture with words once the other male had finished speaking. " It was a joke," he said, before squinting once more, this time pointedly at Dominic. " You need to get some rest. If the dragon didn't want to harm you while you were captured, then hopefully she'll maintain that behaviour and not harm Khitti or the other vampire. You have time to get better."
“Right. I just -- yes.” Dominic cut himself off and peered westward. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I’m no use in this state, am I? Heh.” His gaze returned to Krice and lingered there again before he followed up with an earnest, “It was good to see you again. That’s -something-, in all of this.”
Krice nodded at Dominic, as if helping him agree with himself that he really was no use to anyone - but especially himself - in such a condition. Following his concluding words, the warrior adopted a softer expression, though no smile, as he said, " I'm never far." Beat. " Take care of yourself. We'll sort out the dragon in no time."