Can't let it go(private opening w/yuvon)

The phoenix mountains were not very hard to find for the young slayer, in fact, the settlements around the area know of the thieves' guild very well. Known as silver wolf, apparently the rumor is that those with ill intent will never find the guild's halls, be led astray by the blizzard until their corpse becomes another warning to all foolish enough to try. Well it was just rumor, and besides, she grew up around constant blizzards and snowy mountains. They were going to be very shocked when she storms the hideout of scale snatchers and cutthroats.

A couple hours in the blizzard and Reina was not progressing as fast as she would like. The blizzard was as ferocious as she had seen, and realized any tracks that the thieves might leave would be covered up quickly. The mountains would lend no aid either, much of their base are stone and their doesn't seem to be any metal deposits close enough to the surface for her to tunnel through. The bright side was the rumors about those foolish people were true, or at least their rusted weapons and armors. They provided a nice snack to keep her going through this blizzard, no corpses with them but that's probably on account of the wolves. Which was weird, she was spotting a lot of wolves and no big prey like bison or reindeer. And some even glowed! Well, at least they kept their distance, one less thing to worry about.

Reina after the third hour would have to pause to gather her bearings, finding a small crevice of stone near the base of the mountain, stopping the wind enough for her to focus. She hugged her bison pelt cloak close to her as she began carving into the rock with a iron nail and talking aloud to herself in draconic. "Well these bastards can't be too far from me! Maybe...yeah, if I carve away the rock enough, I should be able to get my bearings from underground. And if not at least I'll have shelter. Probably will have to start hunting wolves if the scraps run out." And would continue this planning aloud as the blizzard raged on around her.

WC: 367

… AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…

Yuvon recognized those howls – those were akin to calls for help. It had been a while since he heard them howl in such a fashion, since the guild was rarely threatened by anyone else other than curious guests. And yet, it had been estimated that whoever triggered these howls emitted threatening auras, somewhat. Interesting.

It was time for the librarian to close his book and stash it away under his dark-green robes. He had no time to read books when his guild was potentially in danger, but how was Yuvon going to track down this threat, huh? The answer was simple – magic! Yuvon had a good clairvoyance spell stored in his memory, so he could just cast that and let it do the work for him… which, once you followed his next actions, appeared to be exactly what he did.

The gates to the hall were opened widely, and Yuvon stepped out of the Silver Wolf grounds with the doors closing behind him. Now, out of the area, he was submerging his legs in deep snow as he clapped his hands together. “Let me see, let me see… you cannot hide yourself from me, whoever is out there,” he mumbled to himself while a sphere of ethernano spread in all directions away from him. It was a sort of spatial awareness spell that allowed him to calculate his distance away from any living creature who got caught in the wave… but there was a few issues with this spell; it wasn’t good at leaking through solid objects, so if said intruder was under shelter, then things could grow difficult for him.

However… that stench was undoubtedly that of a Dragon. And it riled the librarian up, for one reason or another. “This smell is like… it’s a little frustrating, but that might be who I’m looking for. Urgh, why do I feel so aggravated?” he groaned before walking into the blizzards and storms, appearing to not take any effects from them in his advance.

…

The crevice where Reina found herself would still allow the aroma of a Dragon to reach her. As a matter of fact, the fissure making the opening into the crevice was slowly shaken, pushed further open by a silhouette who loomed with its turquoise, glowing eyes right at Reina’s very soul and core. The silhouette was donning the blizzards around the crevice as a sort of mirage veil, and for a brief moment, its aura really did take on the form of a large, shadowy Dragon that looked like it ate nightmares for a living… only to reveal a person in dark-green robes with golden ornaments and a golden squid mask to boot.

“You cannot hide from the watchful eyes of the Wolf, milady! State your business – I can smell violent intent from you…!”

WC: 471
Thread TWC: 839

Reina's planning was interrupted by a smell. See, due to the blizzard she was unable to smell anything specific, making tracking the thieves harder. So this smell surprised her, especially the familiarity. Soon she had other matters to worry about though, the crevice she had taken shelter in suddenly began to shudder and...widen?!

Reina would back up to the entrance, her arms at the ready, no longer needing to use them to hold her cloak tight as the blizzard seemed to be lessening. She searched the darkness for the source, and saw it. A dark dragon's head, larger then her own foster father, rose out to meet her gaze. Reina was frozen in place for the moment, eyes locked on. Now she could place the smell; salty sea air, a hidden depth, Hide before it gets you. She growled in response to the thought; regardless of the size, she will not cower! Then it's true nature was revealed, as a man stepped out.

Even for human standards the man was odd, robes like a priest, decorations hanging, and the mask of a octopus? Or maybe a squid? She didn't linger to long on his appearance though, new anger rose in her at the man's actions. "I do not hide Cur, especially behind cheap tricks!" She spat in draconic looking up at him, uncaring at this point if the man could understand the language or not. "You will return what was stolen from me before feeling this dragon's wrath!" Finishing her demand with a clash of her fists, the sound of clanging metal filled the air from it.

WC:268/635

OOC:

Man, this madame was a Dragon too. At this range, Yuvon could clearly smell her deal out – flaking, oxidized iron filled the fragrance in the cold air, and the sound of hammering molten steel could be heard in the silhouette that formed behind her. A sturdy body of an Iron Dragon with flat and sharp edges to smash into its every foe with no holds barred, a passionate lover of war.

Her language was… she was speaking the ancient Draco tongue as well? Thank goodness that Yuvon recovered those tomes from earlier! That meant that he could converse with her in the ancient, draconic language as he replied to her: “And what exactly do you think that we, the illustrious hot spring guild Silver Wolf, have stolen from the likes of you? Does any of our artifacts happen to belong to you, and if so; what makes you think that we won’t just return it to you by choice?” She was giving off just all the wrong vibes at the moment, and her anger was rising… she needed to unwind.

Alright, then! If she wanted to fight, Yuvon could entertain her!

“If you don’t believe me, then how about you deal with your seething urges! Don’t be afraid to throw a punch – since you’re the challenger of our guild, to you goes the first blow…!” It was no surprise that his mana was beginning to rise as well, and the Deep Dragon in him began to pulsate… and a scent of copper and burning leather began to spread out as well.

WC: 261
Thread TWC: 1,368

Reina awaited her opponents response, and was confused. It wasn't that she didn't understood him oh that wasn't the case. It's the fact that she did understand him, sure his pronunciation was a little off but it was certainly draconic. And that smell, now their was more to it. A mixture of scents, confusing at the moment but underneath lay the distinct scent of dragon. It was actually enough to make her consider the man's, possibly dragon kin's, words were true. She was about to ask to see if this was all a misunderstanding, before he threw out the challenge.

Reina's confusion was overtaken by anger once more, but now it was more personal. She was being challenged by him, did he think she was weak? Did he look down on her and her father for being smaller??! Reina snarled out, canines bared, "You wish to test these scales, my talons?! Then feel their blow as they tear through yours!" She would then let out a roar, small in scale but undoubtedly the sound of a dragon full of ire. She would then reel back her right arm, as she did so metal after metal layer of dull iron grew over each other. It grew quickly, and by the time it was done it was easily three times the size of before, it now taking the shape of a dragons own three clawed talon. With another cry, she would take a step to ensure she was in range, and would slam her massive limb into the opponent.

WC: 257/892

”They will not tear through mine.”

Those words were followed by a confusing scene in front of the enraged, crimson-haired Dragon Slayer. She had landed a hit on what appeared to be her intended target, her foe and challenger… but Yuvon’s face was splattered into a solid sculpture of copper! She had definitely punched a copper sculpture of himself, manifested in his position in the blink of an eye. Ancient Dragon’s Sculpture, a versatile Dragon Slayer Spell.

The dust of copper and steam in the air would circle around her, suddenly growing deeper and deeper blue. Now, she’d likely be able to hear the clashes of waves in the ocean, signaling the water element associated with his other Dragon Slayer Magic. And then, his own form would reappear behind her, looking ahead of himself in peace. “You’re quick to aggravate, mademoiselle, but your soul is fiery. I commend you,” he complemented her before simply walking away from her, heading back the way towards the guild, “But your form is rigid and blunt. If you wish to become a threat to your enemies, then waste not your time alone. You threw one punch at me, and I was able to tell from that strike that you haven’t faced many varied components to further refine your skills. If your iron fist became too heavy, I’d simply weave to the side or under it. If it was too light, I would block it. If it slowed you down, I’d overwhelm you, and if it sped you up, I’d anticipate you.” He sounded a bit strict there, as if he was lecturing her.

“Why don’t you follow me and visit Silver Wolf? Whatever you have on your mind will be solved there.”

WC: 288
Thread TWC: 1,913

Reina felt satisfaction at first from the blow, feeling her massive iron connect with shattering metal...metal? She looked confused and moved forward with caution at the mess where the man once stood. She realized that in the aftermath of her attack their was nothing left but copper. She parsed through and found a good chunk of what was once the man's head, seemingly being made of pure copper. She didn't have time to inspect it for long, air, snow and dust quickly began to spiral around the area. She watched it turn a color to a far away ocean, the smell of salt filling her nostrils. It soon died down, revealing the man further away, his back to her.

He began to speak, a compliment followed by criticism. She didn't like it, but she was no longer dealing with a human. She was speaking to a dragon kin like herself. Even if inferior to a true dragon, echoes in her head of her father's warning about it was human to disrespect a equal in and outside of combat. So she stood listening to his lecture. Reina hated being picked apart like this, she was only fine with one dragon doing so. Still she tolerated the criticism, and waited for the man to finish.

When done, she would walk up to the man until she was at his side a respectful distance away, noticeably calmer then before. "Before we continue this conversation" she began in draconic, "it would be rude for us to not introduce ourselves. I am Reina Darksteel, father of Chalybe the living furnace." She would wait for his introduction, and then continue. "Now, I shall say that ever since coming to this land of Fiore I have only encountered animals and mongrels. Both do not need nor warrant any more thought into fighting them, both being inferior to us dragon kin. And it seems in my irritation I had forgotten how to treat a fight with an equal. In any case," She would take a moment to take a bite out of the sculpted bronze head before continuing, "I would indeed like to go to your guild if only to recover my father's scales. And if I am to believe your word then we shall go at once without delay."

WC: 382/1274

She was oddly quiet throughout his explanation. No outbursts, no sucker punches, just… a keen observation of his lecture. She was learning, and it was such a thrill! She might not have been able to see his face, but he had such a huge, satisfied grin plastered onto him… awwwww, how he loved it. She would take this lecture to heart, and it would drive her to obtain the skill and etiquette needed to save herself many times in the future. He must’ve triggered a series of changes in her, a new path to the future must’ve opened up for her thanks to his short but straight proclamation.

“Oh?” he let out after her first reply, insinuating that she had more to say afterwards. He held his breath for a moment, awaiting the rest of her response like a kid waiting for their parents to wake up on Christmas Day… ohhhh! An introduction surely was in order! How silly of him! “It’s quite the enigma, but slowly becoming a delight to make your acquaintances, madame Darksteel. My humble name is Yuvon, a librarian and member of Silver Wolf,” he greeted back, making a short bow with his arm tilted down and pointing his hand to the side in a gentleman’s gesture. She revealed that her experience in fighting – at least in the land of Fiore, specifically – was limited to animals and mongrels… whatever she meant with the last term, that was. Mongrel… that could be said about many.

She also held pride in her Dragon heritage… so she must’ve been related to Dragons, perhaps? Or was she so patriotic that merely possessing the living legends’ Magic made her feel like one of them? Safe to say, Yuvon did not share the same type of… arrogant superiority based on heritage. It was due to his own experience, that was.

“Let us head back to our base most esteemed,” he informed her before turning around and simply walking all the way back. Throughout the snow, frost and wind, Yuvon felt none of the weather’s elements affect him in a detrimental way, but for the sake of Reina, he put up an orange magic circle barrier.

Once they reached the gate, Reina must’ve gotten a good view of the front of the guild hall. Steam was erupting from the back and the sides, and the smell of… exotic minerals and lime could reach her draconian, supersensitive sense of smell. Yuvon promptly opened the cozy gate for her to enter the hall’s indoor lounge, where the atmosphere completely changed. It was a prestigious guild despite the rather exile-like location, but the coziness was its greatest attribute… to find comfort and warmth at the summit of these hallowed mountains was blissful.

“Any thoughts?”

WC: 458
Thread TWC: 2,753

Reina would follow the mage up the stairs as he led her on. Yuvon, ah how delightful! Despite her original reason for coming here, she was happy to meet someone like him! A chance to have conversations worth having, exchanging information, to share about how awful most of the humans were! And she didn't mind that he was stronger then her, it was a good chance to spar and learn new techniques, spells! Of course she had not forgotten the theft, but given how things were going, it did seem to be a misunderstanding. She would had finish her copper yuvon head when they entered the guild's clearing. 

The change in atmosphere was apparent, as well the feeling of something being crossed. Reina wondered if she could had actually gotten in here, her attention though was caught by the snow white vegetation in front of them. Cherry blossom trees gently bathed in the steam around them, standing vigil over various flowers. While at first they appeared to be white, they were actual varieties of colors among them with a white color base in their petals. She recognized a couple of them; fair catmint and violet crocus's. However most were a variety she had never seen before, and only spared a moment to examine them, allowing herself to wonder at what they were before being led to the inside of the guild hall.

Once inside it was clear that looks were deceptive. The inside of the guild hall was massive in comparison to the outside and far more care was put in it's design. Wooden floors polished accented the pillars decorated with various arts made of both wood and metal, unsurprisingly the wolf motif was ever present. Bathing in the soft orange light and the exotic smells of the outside still present inside led a aura of comfort that even Reina could not ignore. And as fleeting as a snowflake landing on a fire, Reina did bask in awe of it all. But just as sudden as it came, the moment was gone.

"No matter how much they cut or polish, a hut made out of sticks is still made out of sticks. Though I suppose if dragon kin were to stay in such a place, this is probably the finest they could make for us, lacking as it is." She would had spoken to Yuvon in draconic, having no reason to degrade herself to the common tongue. She would walk up to one of the metal decorations within her reach, running her hand across it. "Though I will admit, whoever crafted this metal certainly put a lot of care into it." She then scratched a sliver of the metal off, tasting it like one would dipping their finger into frosting. "And the metal quality is decent! Not high quality but I doubt the mongrels could realistically get their hands on something like that. Silver? Gold? Maybe a white gold..." She would murmur to herself as she walked around in the area before spotting some stairs. She would have looked at yuvon, waiting for him to continue to lead them.

As they would continue, Reina did pose a question, it bugging her since their conversation outside. "Tell me Yuvon, why do you not address your dragon guardians in greeting? Do they wish to remain unknown by others? It'd be a shame if that was the case, they certainly seem more exotic then dragons I have heard about."

WC: 576/1850

Uhm… well, that was quite the rude and belittling remark on their otherwise remarkable guild hall. Was her tastes that deranged from her dragon predecessors? Poor lady, oh poor lady… it honestly made the librarian tilt his head a bit, not having expected such a reply from anyone who stumbled upon the hall for their first time. How was he going to respond to that one, huh?

Ah, she did pay more attention to the metallic constructions inside the hall such as the wolf figure. The attention she paid the metallic works, however, were more so based on an appetite rather than admiration, which the librarian couldn’t exactly refute in the end. Dragons and their tastes…

However, he was caught off guard by another topic brought up by the fellow Dragon Slayer; the topic of his Dragon Guardians, who sadly… and funnily… did not exactly take upon themselves the title of ‘Guardian’. Yuvon rubbed his temples, trying to manufacture the right phrases for explaining his position. It proved not so challenging, since he was such a linguistic wonder – not to toot his own horn or anything – and he coughed softly before laying out his predicament concerning having these ‘Dragon Guardians’ in his life.

“You seem to mistake me for having trained under a mighty Dragon’s tutelage. That is not the case, my eccentric lady,” he corrected her assumption, an assumption that he himself assumed that she… assumed? A lot of assumptions were made there. “You must be aware that a human being can possess a Dragon’s magic through many means. The kind that train under Dragons are simply Dragon Slayers of the First Generation – that is the official term used by knowledgeable wizards abroad.” Maybe a visual display was needed, and Yuvon loved to blow people’s minds away, so he unbuttoned his green blouse and exposed his torso to her.

It was a fairly pale torso. It looked a little uneven at first, but it also looked… blurry? As if some kind of barrier was constantly laminating it, but that wasn’t what he wanted to show her. If she were to focus on the area right in front of his heart, then her draconic vision would clearly see that something was wiggling right under the skin there. Something living… beating… and mobile.

“It’s hard to see with skin covering it, but my heart… is not that of a human being’s. I’m sure you can deduce just what has occurred to me,” he explained to her, inviting her to put 2 and 2 together in order to figure out that his heart was that of a Dragon’s – specifically the one that granted him eldritch, oceanic incantations. “It is possible to imbue parts of a Dragon – so-called Dragon Slayer Lacrimas – into a human being’s body in order to obtain similar results to that of First-Generation Dragon Slayers. That is, indeed, the case with yours truly, Yuvon the Trivial Masterpiece to whom your company intrigues!” He began buttoning up his blouse afterwards, “I possess two parts; one has substituted my heart, and another Dragon Slayer Lacrima is implanted in my brain.”

And just like that, she now knew of Yuvon’s sources of Dragon Slayer Magic. Mission complete!

“Now it’s your turn, mademoiselle, to reveal to me the means which you have come to possess Dragon Slayer Magic. That is only fair, in our parts…”

WC: 561
TWC: 3,890

Reina was noticeably confused at his clarification. The idea has never occurred to her that their could be multiple ways of gaining the powers of a dragon slayer. She listened intently, and was going to ask how else one could gain their majestic power when he paused and began to unbutton his blouse. Reina instantly gained a shade of red on her cheeks as she looked panicked. "W-wait what are you doing? Isn't this-" Cutting herself off as yuvon bared...his scale less chest? She looked perplexed until her eyes began to pick up on some sort of shimmer across his chest. She ignored it though, looking at the area where his heart is and noticing a odd, vibration? No, it was a movement, some kind of worm thing, it seemed to pulse and wriggle. Reina looked clearly disgusted by it as yuvon continued his explanation, of how he had two dragon parts inside of him? But if he had a dragon's heart and mind, how did he manage to fit them inside of his tiny body? And wouldn't that would mean the dragons were dead?

Reina was trying to piece together this mystery before he asked a question of his own, which Reina was more then happy to answer to distract herself from the questions brought up. "I learned it from my father? Chalybe is a dragon with the darkest of steel scales and commands a fire that can melt even the mountains. It's actually why our last names are Darksteel, our scales are dark as the night and the fire we possess is unrivaled!" She looked away before she continued, "Though, I guess my scales haven't darkened yet, nor have I figured out how to wield fire like he can. But it's only a matter of time!" She followed up quickly, ensuring he knew that it was going to happen. It was sure too!

By the time she had finished it appeared their were at the underground labs. Reina herself was going to bring up something before her head snapped further down. She had picked up on a familiar scent, and the purpose she had came here. She quickly charged down the hallway before barging into a room further down on the left side. On the table were her father's precious scales, which she scooped up with upmost haste, tossing aside the tools and papers around it. Holding them tightly, she checked over them before returning to Yuvon. "See? The darkest steel, and the way the fire shines it's light on them is surely a sight to witness!" she said and held out the scales like one showing a infant, before holding them close to her once more. As she began to funnel them away into a pack securely, she would begin a question. "I understand that we just met Yuvon, but may I ask you a favor? And..." She would move closer to him, looking away as if suspecting something lurking in the shadows, her voice hushed. "...could it be somewhere private?" 

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