Shine Like the Moon! [Job; Akeya/Ezra]

An interesting job, this one. One that came directly from the Magic Council, rather than some desperate villager or lord who had a local problem they needed help getting rid of as soon as possible. Akeya wasn't unused to fulfilling missions which were laid out by the Magic Council themselves. However they did still have a tendency to be of more interest than the more mundane jobs along the lines of 'catch these thugs' and 'protect the important person'.

In this case, the job was certainly deserving of the description interesting. The Haunted Village, a place nobody would ever willingly go to unless they had business there, was apparently going to turn into a scene of disaster unless a group of capable mages stepped in. As always Akeya had done her homework before actually going on the job, and the information provided by her research had certainly been illuminating.

Werewolves were very strange creatures. In some ways even stranger than other mythological or magical creatures such as fey, dragons or spirits, because a werewolf was somehow both an independent species and at the same time a person afflicted with what was usually described as a curse. It both changed one into a certain being yet also allowed them to be two different types of creature at the same time... or at least, in the same lifespan. Stories of where werewolves had appeared from and how they functioned were wide and varied, and quite often very speculative. But one of the most popular theories was as followed:

In the far past there was a king named Lykaon who thought himself clever enough to challenge the indomitable wisdom and insight of the gods. To test them and, as was his intent, prove that they were not infallible, he would have killed his own son and served him for dinner to the gods as if some mere cattle. The gods, however, saw through the ruse immediately and revived the son while cursing Lykaon himself. The curse would have turned him into a wolf, a hunter of the night who would never again be welcome in any home and who would have to hunt humans just as he had tried to force the gods to eat his child.

The theory then followed that, surprisingly enough, Lykaon still ended up siring more children, with human females as the mothers no less (Akeya found this part highly amusing). While the children were not stuck in the shape of a wolf as Lykaon himself they did still suffer the curse. Whenever they were exposed to the light of a full moon, one of the most condensed forms of pure mystical magic that one could find under normal circumstances, their curse would respond to that magic and force their human forms to be twisted into that of wolves or, if they were particularly (un)lucky, a strange mix between human and wolf.

These offspring could then spread the curse by biting others, a strange side-effect for a curse which had been intended to punish a king for committing cruelties for the sake of making a fool of the gods. Most likely the gods had not expected Lykaon to actually manage to continue his bloodline after the curse had already taken hold. However regardless of the how and the why, the result was that the curse of a cruel king resulted in what was from that point on known as lycanthropy, the curse of the werewolf.

It was a kind of fable, with mortal men challenging the gods themselves and being punished for it only for that punishment to then spiral out of control. However the facts were very clear: werewolves were real, and there was a particular clan of werewolves, the Lycan, who seemed to be a lot more closely tied to the curse than other werewolves, who tended to simply get turned into monsters on the inside. The Lycan could largely control their curse, even during the full moon, and even more so could turn into their lupine form whenever they desired.

The problem was that there was one time every fifty years that this control would not be enough. What was called a perfect full moon, the same moon which was said to have shone down upon Lykaon when he fled his palace in his new cursed form, would appear once every fifty years. And the effects of this perfect full moon would be so strong that even these Lycan would be unable to control themselves. And being of the pure blood as they were, when a Lycan lost themselves to the bloodlust it was a lot more of a problem than when your average werewolf lost control. A Lycan was a special case, and just like they had more control, when they lost control they were extremely powerful werewolves.

The job that the Magic Council had was to somehow keep the wild Lycan from rampaging throughout the entirety of Fiore, killing and infecting countless people before the night was done. However at the same time they couldn't kill the werewolves, since the Magic Council didn't want to deal with the consequences of having killed villagers whose only crime was that they were descended from a particularly nasty piece of work.

It was a good thing that Akeya had prior experience with dealing with werewolves, although these should prove themselves an even bigger challenge. The dragoness was just glad that she knew of the weakness all werewolves shared and which she could exploit tremendously well.

However the Magic Council had deemed that one mage simply wasn't enough, since they had to take down quite a lot of werewolves in a short amount of time, and while Akeya's ability to take down targets was renown she wasn't the kind to defeat entire packs or armies on her own. The other mage, the one who would be more responsible for taking care of the large groups of minor Lycan, was Ezra, one of the newer members of Blue Pegasus who nevertheless already had tremendous skill and power. Akeya would take down any werewolf which proved to be exceptional, exploiting their weakness to ensure victory. Unless Ezra had a different plan he'd be primarily responsible for the packs, since his magic supported hectic and chaotic combat.

Their meeting place was the coast of the Graveyard Sea, close by to the Haunted Village. They could have met somewhere else, but Akeya didn't particularly care and Ezra had chosen this spot for his own reasons. The dragoness flew through the skies, her eyes narrowing as a bleak fog began to cover the ground. That meant she had reached the coast. As befitting for such an ominous place, that bleak fog never disappeared, forever making one feel like the ground wasn't completely there while broken and rotten ships decorated the waters. Diving down Akeya quickly picked up on the magic presence of the one she had to meet here, and altered the course of her descent until she landed a couple of yards away from Ezra, silently and invisibly like a shadow while she heard him make a comment about ships dying.

"Ships move and are given names. They are as alive as objects can be, and thus they can also die."

She walked a bit closer to the man, although she kept her distance at a couple of feet. She seized him up with her emerald eyes, studying him. He looked quite strong and confident, which was good. She herself looked the same as always, which was to say, beautiful but deadly.

"Did you read up on the details of the mission?"

Akeya always made a point of doing research for her jobs, but she didn't know how thorough her partner for this job was. Her former partner had usually left that kind of thing to her, so she was curious if she would once again have to act as the information broker.

Akeya idly wondered what the man she was meeting here was thinking as he looked out over the graveyard of ships. It wasn't very important so it was no more than some idle speculation that went on in the back of her head as she waited for him to react to her words, but since they weren't in direct danger here she could afford to let a small portion of her mind waste time with such a frivolous subject. He didn't look uncomfortable... or did he? The dragoness wasn't complete sure. He didn't have the kind of nervousness that most people would have when visiting such a location. His body language wasn't that of a man fully at ease, but whatever it was that disturbed him it wasn't that he was unused to this kind of place. Maybe he had unpleasant memories here? Akeya didn't know and she didn't find it important enough to actually inquire further. They only met here away from the actual village in preparation, and this place shouldn't have any real connection to the actual job.

"I'm not a lady." It was more of an offhanded comment than an actual warning. Akeya didn't care too much whether she was addressed as lady or not. She herself would say that since she actually worked for a living she couldn't be a lady, even if her draconic blood meant that she was as royal as any human king. Of course those same human kings would argue against that, since they were always quite proud of their own lineage and wouldn't react too kindly to a monster like her explaining to them that since dragons always stood above humans, those with the blood of dragons automatically were of the highest class.

"Most of them already lived out their potential before arriving here. And you are correct in the broadest terms of the mission." He had pushed aside the exact details, but Akeya couldn't really complain about the knowledge that Ezra revealed to possess about the mission. That was indeed what they were here for, if you wanted to be straightforward and simple about the task.

When Ezra is surrounded by black clouds Akeya frowned, not taking a defensive stance just yet but watching it warily. As a shadow dragon the darkness held no secrets for her, but there was a difference between darkness and actual black smoke. She could see through darkness, but her eyes did not allow her to simply ignore the thick smoke. So she was forced to wait for whatever Ezra was doing to run its course, her eyes narrow as she thought about what he had just said. He had lived in a place like this, which was unusual. It wasn't the kind of place where you'd expect anyone to grow up, since even the Haunted Village was more of a place for people than this coast where there was nothing but the fog and the dead ships. Well, it was just some more information about this man who she had yet to really learn much about. Other than that he was quite powerful and had ambition.

Once the transformation ended Akeya raised one eyebrow, shifting her weight so more of it was supported on one leg while she studied Ezra's new appearance. He looked... more worn than before. His original appearance had been of a muscular man in the prime of his life, already having faced the world but still learning more about it, combining steadily increasing experience with vigour. This new form was not quite as muscular, more toned instead, and looked like a man who was already a bit past his prime, who had experienced much and whose view of the world had become weary and cautious. Not as vigorous as his previous form, but much more deadly as it was replaced by skill and cunning. In the back of her mind Akeya commented that she found the previous form a bit more attractive, since while this form demanded respect the other one had a bit more of those muscles that she did like to see on a man.

"I might be able to imagine." Akeya replied dryly. She had yet to actually use a form with a beard, but being a shapechanger meant that you were better at imagining certain things. Men always complained that beards were itchy, a sensation which she was already familiar with so it wasn't that hard either.

"That aside, you are correct on the basics of the mission. The village is inhabited by many descendants of Lykaon, the one thought to be the first werewolf. While that strong bloodline grants them enough control over themselves that under normal circumstances they are not a threat to anyone they don't want to be a threat to, tonight there will be something called a perfect full moon, the same moon as the one under which Lykaon was turned into a werewolf. The only night every fifty years that these descendants won't be able to control their transformation. Considering the fact that they never asked for this and try their best to never harm a soul the Magic Council wants us to enter the village and ensure that none of the afflicted actually harm anyone or leave the village. More specifically, none of them are allowed to spread the curse under any means."

Akeya looked towards the direction of the village, then up to gauge how much longer they had. The moon wasn't out yet, but if she was any judge they didn't have more than an hour or two left before they'd have to be in the village and ready to get down to business.

"I wouldn't call it an easy task, considering the fact that we have to accomplish this without killing a single werewolf. Make no mistake, every werewolf is always a threat due to their raw strength, speed and endurance, combined with the ever-present threat of the curse. Disabling a werewolf without killing them is in itself an arduous task, and these will be even stronger than usual. However we do have several advantages. The first one being that we aren't dealing with evil werewolves who are clear in purpose, but werewolves who are transforming unwillingly and will be fighting their own instincts. While not all of them will be able to resist for long at the very least some of the werewolves will be easy pickings due to them being confused and afraid."

The other advantage is that my skills make me a particularly good matchup against werewolves. You are strong, so you should also be fine, but I specifically am at my strongest at night, and this mission only lasts for as long as the moon is out, and more importantly werewolves tend to be brute muscle without too much intelligence. Cunning, maybe, but no raw intelligence. They don't use magic or elaborate plans, so I can avoid their attacks rather easily and together we can defeat them with superior skill and intellect. My suggestion would be that we take advantage of your strength and my ability to avoid being hit. I'll lure them towards you... if you think you are capable of disabling them without killing them or leaving them permanently maimed."

"Hurting them is acceptable, since the Magic Council doesn't expect us to do something as ridiculous as convince them all to sit down and be quiet." That and they knew that Akeya's skillset wasn't exactly one for peaceful solutions, so at the very least they were willing to accept fights breaking out in an attempt to contain this one night of rampant lycanthropy. "Even if the villagers are not responsible for the situation that doesn't mean the Magic Council would rather see us dead and hundreds afflicted with lycanthropy than for these werewolves to be beaten up a little by the end of the night. The important thing is that you don't kill any of them, and it's highly preferred that you avoid inflicting permanent injuries. However in the end the important thing is to keep them from spreading their curse even further, so it doesn't matter if you make them bleed a little or break some bones."

She smirked very slightly. "Which is helped by the fact that werewolves are extraordinarily tough. It may make taking them down harder, but it also means that you won't have to worry that you killed one just because you hit them. That said, try to aim at their limbs rather than their organs. And if at all possible, use silver weapons. It's about the only stuff which allows you to actually hurt them properly without resorting to using a lot of force or trickery." As for Akeya herself, she'd be relying more on trickery. She wasn't lying when she said that it was difficult to hurt a werewolf: their hides were tough, making it difficult to cut into them or pierce them, and their fur was thick so it absorbed most physical blows. Even worse, they had a tendency to regenerate small wounds, so you had to decisively take them down or their superior stamina would be the death of you.

Still, even with that kept in mind it wasn't impossible. They still had joints, their bones could be broken, they were susceptible to poison, and like most living beings they still needed to breathe. And if you were particularly good at martial arts you could use their own overwhelming brute strength and speed against them, which made for very interesting fights once you got the hang of it. Akeya as a half dragon had plenty of physical prowess as well, but her strategy was going to be mostly focused on making them hurt themselves whenever possible. She had fought werewolves before, and that was also how she had dealt with them back then. Of course, just in case, she had a silver dagger with her as well, hidden inside her shadow so she could quickly pull it out and the werewolves wouldn't notice it until it was too late. Good reflexes and quick thinking combined well with a small silver dagger that would cut through their otherwise thick skin like a hot knife through butter.

While she was going over the plan one more time in her head Ezra suddenly asked her out for... a date. Which left the half dragon staring, after an initial moment of clear surprised looking more curious and puzzled instead. It wasn't like she was unaware of the fact that Ezra found her attractive: she was aware of her own exotic beauty, and in fact had even made sure that Ezra had noticed it once before. Offering to lay his eggs if he proved himself strong enough had left the man completely flabbergasted for longer than the initial moment of shock, which meant that the idea of doing that with Akeya was flustering in itself for the man. So no, that wasn't the surprising part. What did take her somewhat off guard was that he suddenly invited her like that while they were about to begin their job. She hadn't expected that straightforwardness out of a man she had effectively shut up once before merely by mentioning the idea of breeding.

"...That depends on what you would call a date. Before the real mission begins I would like to inspect the village and look for good places for us to lure the werewolves towards. Beyond their strength and toughness they're also fast and mobile, and in contradiction with the wolves they resemble they're actually very good climbers. Strong legs to jump with and big claws to grab handholds. I am more mobile than them so I could lure them towards a tight space like an alley and make use of the fact that it'd be difficult for many to reach me at once, but I'm not sure if you're mobile enough for that. I'm somewhat wary of the idea that if you were to lure them into an alley they would use their climbing talent to jump on you from above, and unless you're very mobile that would be the end of you. If you think you can prevent that an alley or something similar would be the best location to limit their approach, but if not I'm afraid we'll have to lure them into an open area. It'd make it easier for them to approach in big numbers, but at least they wouldn't be able to attack you from your blind spot... Namely above."

Akeya pointed up with her tail. For most living beings the above was in fact a pretty big blind spot. Almost all animals were more inclined to looking down than looking upwards. Even those who lived in the skies spent more time looking at the ground, searching for small prey. There were some exceptions like Akeya, but those exceptions shared the tendency to be focused on moving about a lot in areas with many obstacles. To put it in another term, climbers.

If one was aware of the blind spot above they could adapt to it, but if not then humans rarely looked up... which in this case could be fatal. If Ezra wasn't the type to do that anyway it was better not to risk it and instead try to deal with the werewolves on the ground instead.

"I don't care much for dates, but you can consider it one as we walk through the village if you feel like it." With that Akeya began to walk towards the village, her tail swishing behind her.

As Akeya walked she adopted her usual gait, a rather serpentine movement which resulted in her wide hips going from side to side while her tail trailed behind her, smoothly swirling and curving while revealing glimpses of her round behind. As someone who spends a lot of time sneaking and moving quickly she of course also had much less... impressive ways of walking, but if she could afford to both be noticed and to not hurry this was what she defaulted to, both because it suited her confident nature, always in control of the situation, and helped accentuate and draw attention to her child-bearing hips and voluptuous form. While her movements may still not be as exaggerated as some women who wanted to draw attention to their curves her smooth and almost sensual movements combined very well with what nature had deigned to bless her with ever since the dragonfication had begun to affect her body in its entirety rather than only adding superficial features.

The fact that she had someone walking behind her who she knew for a fact had a strong interest in her curves only was additional encouragement. Akeya was, pretty much always, focused on training and improvement, completing jobs with as much perfection as the situation allowed and then striving to do better next time. However ever since she had been made to acknowledge that she still was a living being with emotions and feelings she had also delegated a portion of her mind to pay more attention to... well, for example, this kind of walk which tempted people to stare at her hips rather than her face. With Ezra so clearly interested giving him even more reason to stare and even more reason to try and get from her what he wanted she gained more control over the situation. After all, the one who had the supply to the other person's demand could decide what they wanted from the one with the demand in return. That, and it was amusing to have people fawn and stare like that. She could practically feel Ezra's stare, and it almost made her smirk even as she kept her gaze forwards.

At Ezra's words Akeya considered her answer briefly before speaking, not slowing down or faltering as she kept walking, not looking behind her. The only real acknowledgement Ezra got physically is that Akeya's fin ears widened as he spoke before pulling closer again, as if some kind of strange reptilian version of a dog swivelling its ears towards a sound before putting them back in the original position.

"Of course I'm aware. I'm the one who suggested the idea in the first place. And I wasn't lying back then either. If you can prove yourself to be strong and possessing good genes I wouldn't mind laying your eggs. However as I said before, I don't do dates. Aside from the overly sweet lovey dovey nature I find them artificial. Fake. A mate is someone who you work together with and live together with, supporting one another. If you need to plan out dates to show that you'd be a good mate that only suggests that outside of those dates you're not as good."

She glanced over her shoulder at Ezra, her emerald eyes gleaming as the day steadily got darker.

"Impress me with what you can do, show yourself worthy through your actions and your behaviour. If we go on missions together and you're a powerful asset that means you're strong. If your daily mannerism and behaviour are of a nature that I can approve of them that shows you've got a personality and nature that I like. Strength, health, cunning... Show yourself to be the best specimen of your species and I'll find it attractive. So if you really want to know what I would consider a date, it's every mission in which you manage to impress me not by doing something specifically for me, but every time you show yourself to be capable." She smirked. "Of course, I don't find reckless bravery attractive so don't take this as a suggestion to begin rushing in and biting off more than you can chew. Someone who knows what they can and can't do, and uses what they have efficiently, is someone I find very attractive."

With that she looked back forward, the two of them quickly reaching the village. Akeya didn't stop walking once they were in the village, expecting Ezra to follow her as she scouted the place as if a tourists. Rather than flying about she simply walked down the streets and through alleys, looking around and studying them while for the most part paying little attention to Ezra. Unless the man said anything or interrupted her survey they would eventually end up back in the main plaza, where Akeya turned around to face him again.

"We don't want to fight them all at the same time, so you'll have to use the clearing a bit further west from here. If we tried it here we'd be facing them all at the same time, and strong or not you'd simply be overwhelmed. We've got a bit longer before the actual night falls and the moon comes up, so unless you've got any other ideas I'd suggest you use that time to get yourself geared up and ready for a fight. I'll get to the skies and scout so I can alert you when they begin to transform, after which I'll see whether there's any werewolves coming to your position or if I have to lure any of them to you." Akeya looked at Ezra, waiting for his input. It hadn't escaped her that she was the one with the most focus on the mission and the most information and insight on it as well, but she still wanted her partner to also prove his worth by adding his two cents to the plan. After all, he would have the task of taking down most of the werewolves while Akeya did the scouting, luring and ambushing. If he had any suggestions or ideas it would be worth processing them before the actual mission started.

It seemed Ezra did in fact have something to say about the plan, which was good since Akeya would rather not be doing all the thinking here. Not that she minded doing most of the work, but someone who wanted to prove himself also had to show that he had a sharp mind. Ezra's suggestion was that rather than waiting for the villagers to transform into werewolves they should try to find as many of them as they could, trying to restrain them in advance and make sure they were aware of where the dangers would be coming from. It was a good suggestion, one based on the idea that it was better to minimize the amount of effort the fighting would take by making the opponents as easy to predict and take care of as possible. It was somewhat unfortunate then that Akeya had to disappoint Ezra. She had been very thorough when researching the mission, including pouring over what information the Magic Council itself was willing to provide. Which included something which happened to make Ezra's plan harder to pull off.

"That's not a bad idea. Unfortunately I doubt they would cooperate." Akeya shifted her weight, putting most of it on one leg and resting a scaled hand on her hip. With her other hand she made an open motion, her fingers uncurling as she swept the arm to indicate the village around them. "This isn't the first time the Magic Council has dealt with this issue, and has sent mages to deal with it. They have some records of the previous occasions where this occurred, and it seems that one of the problems with this jobs comes from the villagers themselves." She frowned, looking somewhat annoyed but also puzzled. "This perfect moon which causes the loss of control only occurs once every fifty years. Given that most human civilians only live for roughly sixty to seventy years if they're lucky... the records indicate that every time that the mages come to help suppress the werewolves the villagers treat them as paranoid troublemakers, being too young to have been around for the last perfect moon and not believing the stories that the werewolves in this village, normally with their perfect control, would react any worse than they would react to other full moons."

"It's curious that the werewolves here don't seem to share the longevity that other werewolves are supposed to have... maybe it's because the more monstrous werewolves tend to spend most of their life in werewolf form, and the human form ages at a normal speed? Or maybe it's another result of being a direct descendant of the first werewolf rather than just another cursed human..." Akeya tapped her chin as she thought about it, but then shook her head. Whatever answer there might be found regarding that particular puzzle, right now what they already knew was more important. "Whatever the case, the villagers won't believe us if we try to convince them that the Lycans are not going to stay in control this night, and if they don't believe us we'd have to tie them all up with force. Considering that we want to keep civilian casualties to a minimum, giving the non-Lycans reason to go outside would increase the risks. Although there's also one advantage there: werewolves don't turn into their wolf form unless actually exposed to the moonlight. If the villagers are currently all inside that means that the only threat will come from those who go outside for one reason or another, mostly likely and ironically to gaze at the moon."

"Your idea would have been good if the villagers weren't stubborn enough about the issue for it to already have been recorded over a century ago." Akeya wasn't the type to go encourage others and make them feel better about themselves, but she did feel like acknowledging good ideas was worth the trouble, even if the circumstances made them unusable. If the villagers DID know about the issue they could easily have gathered up all the Lycans and restrained them in advance. Of course Ezra would have known about the fact that the villagers wouldn't cooperate if he had done as much research as Akeya herself, but from what she knew most mages were more inclined to simply take a job and head to the site. Her being so thorough with her preparations was a bit of an irregularity. As long as she acknowledged the idea in itself as being good Ezra would have motivation to keep trying rather than feeling completely disheartened and leaving the ideas completely up to her next time.

One could consider it strange for Akeya to have a focus on how to educate others, but she was planning to have children and she wanted to make sure that those would grow up properly. This included education and teaching them how to stand for themselves, so encouraging independent thought was important. Akeya shrugged, looking around again. "Good plan or not, we'll have to do without. Maybe after this the Magic Council can think of a way to make the villagers more compliant the next time around. Unless you want to try tying up all the villagers, although I doubt that we'd be able to do that in the... twenty minutes we have left." She frowned, realizing that she had been spending a bit too much time explaining. "Unless you've got other suggestions I'll go up in the sky to prepare for the werewolves. The moon is nearly out, and we'll want to catch them as soon as they begin transforming." Akeya waited a bit longer to see if Ezra had any other ideas, but unless he thought of something really good she'd then launch herself up in the air, spreading her wings and going to a higher altitude. With her sharp eyes she'd be able to see everything even from far above, which meant she'd have an easy time seeing the entire village and spotting werewolves. As a bonus, the high altitude also meant that it'd be harder for them to hide behind buildings.