Vodius

Steampunk Pirates (Voduis and Megara)

As Dante turned to explain the purpose of the room, he found Sebastian already a dozen paces into it, leaning over the various workstations as he explored excitedly. His eyes were as wide and round as saucers, grinning like a child being gifted a sack of candy as he made his way around. He stuck his hand in bins of spare parts, shifting the contents left and right to form a rough, mental manifest of what he had to work with before carefully inspecting the various tools hanging from the walls.

Still elbow deep in a toolbox, he looked over his shoulder at the first mate, his smile not having diminished in the least, "The captain made those automatons, right? The spider? The fox? She doesn't work in here?" he shouted, ensuring his voice carried across the distance of the massive chamber.

{Kittenlover} Strange Acquaintances {Vodius}

The prince was, shockingly, left speechless by the woman's admissions. His eyes, pure and blue, gazed into her own curiously as she turned to leave, his own memories of parental disappointment and disapproval apparent in his expression. He half raised one hand to try and call her back, but it was too late. Kendrick shook his head and wondered if he had pushed her too far. His stomach churned with guilt, but the shadows of the forest swallowed the woman up before he could compose himself enough to apologize.

Still standing in the middle of the road, he heard the fearful or angry outcries from just past the trees. Kendrick glanced over his shoulder, knowing that he should just continue towards the palace, probably at a run, but something deep inside him kept him from dashing off. Instead, the prince found himself inching closer towards the sounds of the scuffle, trying his best to keep as quiet as possible. He was trained to sneak up on deer, watching his footfalls and moving slowly, letting the sounds of the wind through the branches and leaves to mask what little noise his movements did make. Leaning a sliver out from behind a large evergreen, he froze at the scene unfolding before him.

He was unarmed. He had no magic. And he might possibly have some broken ribs from the girl. And yet there he was, wanting to help. He gulped nervously, but remained still and silent, hoping for answer...

{Vodius} The Dragon Egg {Dragon princess}

On her return to the campsite, she first noticed the motion of the place. Servants and soldiers alike were already packing up their tents and bedrolls, some more sourly than others. A handful of other fires had been lit, likely in preparation for the morning meal, while a few of the more perky underlings were gathering ice and snow to melt into water or unloading stored provisions from their packs and mounts. She drew more than a few curious looks as she passed, the sight of a beautiful woman hauling two hundred pounds of deer carcass tends to attract attention, though no one approached her to investigate.

Sykia heard her name mentioned a few times, more often as she approached the prince's tent site; he must have offered up a cover story for why there was a stranger in the camp's midst. No one seemed to be speaking ill of her, leaving the dragon with the sense that the people were more curious than defensive towards her. Kendrick was leaning against a pitched pole as his servants packed up his tent and belongings, casually sharpening a skinning knife as she approached. His eyes fell on her, then her kill and he nodded approvingly, signalling for her to bring it over to a makeshift table a few paces from the fire she had re-lit earlier.

Steampunk Pirates (Voduis and Megara)

The young man's thoughts turned somewhat sour, just a desk?. He resisted the urge to sigh, instead focusing on the fact that the officer could have just as easily assigned him to bunk with the crewmen that tried to throw him overboard earlier. "That's um, very kind of you, Mr. Dante. I don't expect to be too much trouble, very quiet, you'll hardly notice me." Sebastian straightened the lapel of his longcoat after the other man released him, more than a little interested to hear about the layout of the ship, particularly the workshop.

Bonded (Vodius and Luna)

The voice purred in the young man's ears, "New? There's so much for you to learn, young one..." The large eye of whatever creature could be glimpsed at in the runic circle settled slightly, hunching down as if the whole of the beast had laid upon the ground. "Pledge your life to me and I shall instruct you in every arcane discipline I know, which is considerable."

Even the densest of students would know this to be an unfair bargain. A lifetime of service in exchange for a finite amount of knowledge, no matter how fast, was not a favorable deal, but at least the summon was willing to start negotiations. Raven would simply have to haggle things down to acceptable terms.

{Kittenlover} Strange Acquaintances {Vodius}

The prince grunted as Rose cinched the cloth over his eyes, knowing he'd have a headache in a few minutes from the pressure. His other senses sharpened slightly, without the distraction of his vision to steamroll his other faculties. Birds chirped in the distance and the occasional rustle of brush or branches crunched under their feet or around them. The smells of barks and bushes and sometimes berries wafted by, and despite months of tutoring he wasn't able to bring a single name to any of the scents. The air was still a bit cool since it was morning, he reasoned he must have been out all night else the spring sun would have warmed the world around them. A mental checklist of his duties ran through his head, though it wasn't unusual for him to skirt them and he wasn't likely to have been missed if it weren't for the disappearance of his tracker as well. He let out a small sigh, as one might having dropped some change on the ground.

"You know, not everyone wants to kill me. Some would even call me friend, if you can believe that," he snorted. There was a darkness to the tone in which he said it, something that hinted even he knew the cold ingenuousness of the statement. He stumbled a bit as their pace picked up, his stomach growling from hunger. He'd be glad to get a meal once back inside the palace, if that was the only thing he looked forward to. "And no one's going to attack us when I'm standing beside you. I'm the prince. Maybe I've taken a fancy for you, no grunt would risk his neck by upsetting the prince. They have no idea what's going on and they haven't the gall to ask. We could walk to the throne room in plain view and so long as we look somewhat amicable, no one would question anything." He rolled his eyes moments before she tugged his blindfold off, thankfully before she could see the motion.

His expression remained unimpressed at her revelation, "If there is an afterlife filled with angels like you, then what's the difference between paradise there, and hell here?" He shrugged, sighing slightly as he let his train of thought continue, "Would your father be proud of what you do? What you've done in the last day? Kidnapping? Murder?" Kendrick shook his head slightly, "You will die, Lady Rose. It's not likely to happen today if all goes well, but it's going to happen. And it's probably going to be someone else's fault. If your death heralds in an eternity of damnation... What does it matter if it begins today or in twenty years? Just live for today, in the moment. It's all we really have anyway." He closed his eyes and tightened his stomach, calmly awaiting her to lash out and strike him for his candor.

Steampunk Pirates (Voduis and Megara)

"Way to do what?" Sebastian questioned, shouldering the door to the captain's chambers open, Avery's bag slung over his opposite shoulder and little Engine at his heels. The goofy smile he wore on his face, likely from the acceptance from the fox automaton, probably meant he didn't hear more than the tail end of the officers' conversation. It wouldn't be hard to fool him, still a bit more naive about the world than he would have liked to admit. "Oh, and your pet looked like it was having some trouble, so I thought I'd give it a hand, hope you don't mind."

{Vodius} The Dragon Egg {Dragon princess}

Holding the tent flap open for her to enter, the prince followed Sykia inside, giving one last look over his shoulder to make sure the camp was still quiet and no one had seen her transformation. "Two things," he started, shutting the flap of the tent behind him, "First would be the price of your allegiance. I can promise you food, shelter, and enough gold for your hoard to make your ancestors jealous. The second... Getting you into the palace without being seen." His piercing blue eyes lingered on her own green orbs and his face wore an expression of concentrated thought, calculation, "I had originally resigned myself to having to eliminate my little expedition here and smuggle you in on my person, but..." he perked a brow, extending one hand out, palm up, "It seems that will no longer be necessary, so long as you agree to stay in that form until we reach the grounds."

{Vodius} The Dragon Egg {Dragon princess}

Kendrick visibly calmed as she explained that she was the hatchling, somehow shapeshifted into a human form. His first thought was why her alternate form's apparent age didn't sync with her true form's, but he pushed the thought away. After all, he did spend most of his time away from home holding a shaft of metal that could send bolts of lightning out with a thought; magic had a way of not making much sense. The prince eyed her warily, taking in her appearance from head to toe, and she could tell that this wasn't out of fondness nor attraction; he was weighing her, deciding how much more or less useful she could be.

He didn't shrink back from either of her forms, even as her magic reshaped her back into... A slightly more mature dragon. Perhaps he wouldn't have to wait too long for his mount after all. At least this expedition wasn't a total waste, he eventually decided, "Come along, Sykia," he said, signalling for her to come to his side as he made his way back to his tent. "We have things to discuss."

{Kittenlover} Strange Acquaintances {Vodius}

(( Deleted: double post. ))