Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Libelle, The Rural Paradise

"And these caravans are heading towards a nearby town." Al-raii added. "That is my destination as well - and Lyrra's too, I believe."

Lyrra was the only normal person around, for Al-raii. Which was saying something - elves don't just go around introducing themselves to complete strangers, do they?

When she looked to her right, she saw some kind of big lizard, with some kind of smaller, more human-like lizard on it. Which one was weirder, that fight going on between the lizard being and the, well, bigger lizard being, or the overly excited hellspawn, she didn't know.

And I thought I would find peace here.

Her smile was slowly becoming less and less believable.

( I think I'll keep it past tense for the sake of consistency, but thanks for being cool about it )

Samantha gave a quick tug on Mort's reins as the two of them came in to view of the sizable camp along the side of the road. He was more than happy to comply. After dismounting, she dismantled the scorpion-on-a-stick and tossed the stick away, keeping the jerky. This she offered to Mort, letting him eat out of her hand while giving him a couple of pats for being such a good boy, who's a good boy? You are.

Finally she turned towards the others, taking a moment to get acquainted with her surroundings. Elf... elf... and, what is that? A satyr? Do they get that tall?

Unsure of the customs in these parts, she first greeted them from where she was with a wave and a "Hail!" before walking over to join them. Mort elected to stay right where he was.

"Hey there! Name's Samantha. Perhaps you could use an extra swordarm? I've been on this road for days, and my companion there isn't much for conversation."

"Gronk." Mort had decided to follow after her before she had taken half a dozen steps. Either he was over whatever had been making him skittish, or he had decided the jerky was more of an appetizer than an entrée. After re-joining Sam, he fell back on his hindquarters with a thump, adopting an adorable sitting-up posture next to her. Clearly, he thinks he's people.

Oh dear, it's coming this way - No, no, no, no no no no...

"Hail! Hey there! Name's Samantha. Perhaps you could use an extra swordarm?"

Dammit!

All hopes for a quiet weekend in Libelle were lost. It was like she was drawing people towards her. Another elf, some kind of goat guy from Hell, and now someone with a dinosaur for a mount. A dinosaur for a mount! Still, she faked a smile as well as she could, and greeted that Samantha person with as much enthusiasm as she could muster. Obviously, she couldn't muster much enthusiasm.

"Greetings, Samantha." She glanced at Mort, and shuddered almost imperceptibly. First things first, she thought. "...does it bite?"

It would be a shame - a great shame - to have scars on that perfect, silky, fair skin she loved so much!

"Nope! He's harmless. He's just a big dumb lizard. Aren't ya buddy?" She replied, petting the back of Mort's neck.

"Gronk." Mort regarded Al-raii with big dumb lizard eyes, his expression pensive.

"So anyway, did I hear you mention something about a nearby town earlier? Looking forward to some real food and an actual bed to sleep in." As she spoke, she uncapped her waterskin, held it sideways (away from Al-raii and co., of course) and squeezed, allowing Mort to drink from it like a fountain without getting dinosaur slobber on it. Afterwards she took a few sips herself, then re-sealed and replaced it in Mort's saddlebags.

On the edge of the horizon, a small speck began to emerge until it grew and grew to a rather familiar shape, though not one a common town might find comfort in. Luckily, for the moment, no one seemed to notice as the shape grew closer and closer until, after a few minutes, it was getting ready to land.

With a powerful thrust of her blue leathery wings, Choshi made her way down to the patch of ground that seemed clearest. With a THUD she landed smoothly on the rural ground and stretched her great wings before folding them about her. She didn't normally travel as far as she did, especially into a town full of residents that might shriek at her presence but she didn't seem to care. She had an errand to attend to and that was all that mattered to her.

Casting an irritated glance at a few of the seeming shocked traders passing by her she regarded them with a sarcastic "WHAT!? Never seen a DRAGON before!?"and snorted a cloud of smoke from her nostrils. This was certainly going to be a long day.

Arlo regarded the lizard girl with interest. She wasn't a real oddity to him; one of his very bestest friends was an iguana man, after all. And he had a sister. So big green lady, not so new. However, fair-skinned petite elf girls? Awesome. His train of thoguth utterly crashed though when he saw Mort, as he had a ridiculous soft spot for all things pet-like. And yes, giant ride-able lizards were pet-like in every way; to a Hellspawn. He resisted the urge to simply glomp the beast as he was trying to be on his best diplomatic behavior.

The thought of what Mort might taste like did wrestle through his head, but he finally concluded that fighting the dinosaur into submission long enough to get a bite might attract too much unwanted attention. So he refrained and instead regarded it with big, creepy eyes. However, when the dragon made her entrance and landed not too far from him, his eyes widened comically and he broke into an unconscious run in order to greet it. Different dimensions were fun! And there was no paper work! No demands of being a Regent! NO VINZEN! He might never leave.

Rounding on the beast as she snorted a puff of smoke, Arlo immediately pulled at the membrane of her wings to pull it out and inspect it; "I can't wait until I get MY wings! These are SO COOL!"

...are you serious.

A dragon.

It was a dragon. A frigging dragon. Elves, hellspawns, lizard people, dinosaurs, she could handle. Barely, yes. Only one at a time, sure. Dragons? That was something completely different. A dragon in Libelle? She kissed her dreams of quietude goodbye.

Dragons were big, clumsy, noisy, and sometimes plain rude, bossy or cranky.

And besides... oh, dear. Was Arlo interacting with the dragon?

"If anyone asks, I don't know him.", he told Lyrra and Samantha - suddenly, and by comparison, they were paragons of virtue and, most important of all, sanity.

Samantha whirled around at the sudden impact, her hand going to her sword hilt instinctively. Mort sprang up, ran around behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders, peeking out warily over her head at the sudden increase in dragons per square foot in the local vicinity.

Upon further consideration, Sam came to the conclusion that a display of aggression around an irritable flying behemoth capable of breathing fire would be ill-advised. Noticing Arlo's helpful diversion, she relaxed and turned her attention to placating Mort, trying to convince him that he was not in any immediate danger.

"Gronk. Gronk?" Mort was shifting his weight from one foot to the other, looking from Sam to the dragon and back, both curious and anxious, and probably terrified. Sam was doing her best to comfort and reassure him, and - more importantly - was checking his reins, saddle and gear to make sure everything was in place and tightly secured, in the event a hasty retreat was called for. Mort looked like he might bolt at any moment, with or without her.

To Al-raii, over Mort's shoulder, "I hear that. Good luck - if things head south here, I'm out."

Arlo was oblivious to the fact that the Dragon was in fact sentient and probably could have answered all of his questions had he given it half a second to speak. Instead he flounced about it, a flurry of questioning and prodding. As he spoke and got more worked up, a spark ignited on his tail and worked its way up his spine; so for all intensive purposes he had a mane of fire.

This mane got more active as he animatedly talked the dragon up. She, however was more horrified at the fact that this thing was talking to her and she had little clue as to how to react to it, especially when it seemed he caught fire without any provocation. To the crowd behind him, it might seem like the dragon had set him a flame and he was now frantically trying to extinguish himself. Not so.

Arlo finally paused to get his breath and stood face to face with her. He was making a spectacle of himself in this peaceful town without even realizing it. Luckily for the probably horrified onlookers he had long ago been made to wear a flame-retardant fabric.

“SO; what’s your name, Miss Dragon?” His face was split by his eager grin as he looked up at her with pupils wreathed in blue flame.


((Just to clarify, Evilduckie and I know each other and our characters very well and I wasn’t putting actions in Choshi’s mouth without prior knowledge to how she might be; so I’m not stepping on toes ;; now I sound like more of an idiot for trying to clarify that. I'm going to insert my foot into my mouth now, thanks. ))

With a snort, Choshi raised her head as high as her long neck would allow and turned her head away as if offended by a rank oder. Clearly, there was no sense in talking to this CHILD before her. She had come here to get one thing done and she wanted to get it done as soon as possible. Getting tangled up in the over eager hellspawn's antics was the last thing on her mind.

Shaking her head to loosen her already tensing muscles, she started forward, towards the small crowd of travelers gathered a few yards away. At least they seemed more intelligent than the hyperactive hellspawn.

"Is this Libelle?" She started to ask to no one in particular, a simple yes or no would surface. "I hear there are trading camps being set up around here. Perhaps you could point me in the right direction."

The Hellspawns face fell noticably as the dragon dismissed him. However, he bounced back almost immediately and was content to follow her back over to the people he'd met before. By now his flames had died down and he stood quietly waiting for someone to answer the irrate lizard.

Al-raii was the one to speak, after glaring at Arlo for a few seconds.

"No. But it's not far away. Over there." She pointed the way. The dragon didn't seem to like Arlo's hyperactive behavior too much. She could almost sympathize with her.

And on second thought, the presence of beings such as a completely bats**t crazy hellspawn, a huge flame-breathing reptile and a huge non-flame-breathing reptile could mean no one would pay attention to her, which was good. She disliked standing out. But it was a double-edged sword... as said bats**t crazy hellspawn, huge flame-breathing reptile and huge non-flame-breathing reptile would probably ruin what would otherwise be a calm paradise.

"We are going there, too." She stated.

Swiveling her ears forward in interest, Choshi regarded the elf with a sort of nod and started to walk in the direction she had pointed. Luckily for her, the road leading to the trading grounds was wide enough for her to walk down comfortably and still have room for other travelers to pass by her...that is, if they dared pass by her. Whatever the case, she paid them no mind; she was never one to start trouble. However, her attitude and vocabulary often made it seem otherwise.

{{Just so you guys know, I am still interested in the roleplay. I've caught a nasty cold, so I wont be posting till I get better, but I've not dropped off the face of the earth.}}

( Colds suck.

Should we just assume Lyrra sticks around, then?

Also, I hope you get better soon! )

Arlo shuffled his hoof in the dirt sheepishly. He tried very hard to be quiet and out of the way while the two were having their exchange, but when he heard the dragon was going to this place called Libelle, he had the urge to go to. So without a second thougth as to what this place was or if the humans would freak out when they saw him, he trotted behind her.

Coming up to her flank, he cautiously peered upward to the creature's face to gauge her reaction to him being there again. it seemed as long as he wasn't talking, she wasn't going to pay him any attention.

It didn't take more than 2 steps for Choshi to realize he was following her. And not only that, walking BESIDE her. She tried her best to ignore the clops of his hooves on the dirt road but she felt her ears pull back in agitation despite her efforts.

He clearly wasn't from this world, she could tell that much. Probably some far off island where everyone is inbred and stupid from the sun, she thought. Glancing an eye down to where he was walking she gave him a quick look over and decided right then and there that there was, indeed, no other possibility, and that her island idea was, in fact, true. Feeling her mouth pull back in a smile she gave a little throaty chuckle before tossing her red main out of her eyes. When the toss didn't do any good to clear her vision she gave an annoyed snort and stopped her walking to bring her head down and reposition it with her claws. The whole ordeal looked pretty awkward, and it wasn't even a few moments before Choshi whipped and accusing head around to stare eye to eye with Arlo. Her long snout nearly touching his chest, she gave another snort of irritation which sent Arlo's hair flying back and enveloping him in a caliginous cloud of black smoke.

"What are YOU looking at?!"

"Let us get moving."

She knew the way to Libelle - the intelligent thing to do would be getting there as soon as possible and then proceed to pretend she didn't know the hellspawn - and try her best to keep away from the rest of the crew, as what she really wanted was to relax. Alone.

So she didn't wait a second more. She grabbed her knapsack, gave Samantha and Lyrra a big smile (which wasn't actually all that fake) and walked away, trying to keep a safe distance from the dragon and Arlo. That would mean nothing but trouble.

The goat man was uncharacteristically quiet during the whole exchange, but when Choshi confronted him face-first (no pun intended) his face split in a grin. “I am looking at a Dragon.” He beamed at her in a way that was not sarcastic and not cocky. It was just….So innocent!

His attention was diverted from the dragon when he saw the three women making to take off in his direction. His ear stood up and he turned to greet them again.

“Are you ladies going to the town?”

Oh great, here he comes again.

Al-raii stopped, looked at the hellspawn, and just stood there for a moment. Arlo's looks and personality couldn't be more different! Then, she nodded. She had a feeling she was going to make a big mistake. What if he... decided to stick to them?

"I am, at least. Are you going there, too? Perhaps..." Oh, boy. "...perhaps we should go together, huh?"

With a small smile added to the hypocrisy, no one would ever suspect she wasn't all that happy to be around him. But hey - she was friendly by nature. And with some luck, he'd leave her alone once when Libelle.