A Captain and His Dragon [Blythe and Oniya, IC]

[Blythe]

The sky here crackled an eerie green, as if a great ferocious energy was trying to punch through the very atmosphere. The thick roiling cloud cover was difficult to sail through, but there had been much worse. He had struggled to get here in an intense storm which had only just cleared off, for one. Captain Tesla had just set his beloved companion, the dragon Gwyntaan, free to hunt. And he was intending to leave before his elegant long time friend would return to the older airship.

Tesla had long understood that he'd worn out his welcome in this Victorian age. He was out of money...and all he had left was a few barrels of fuel and couple of crates of rations. He was flying at high speed, the gears whirring and pumping in the ship, the hiss of steam pouring out of the ship, the steam melding with the thick and eerily green cloud cover all around him. There was something thunderous and yet elegant about the dark ship moving through the sky like a snake, parting the mist quietly.

Tesla was trying to pilot the ship, sitting in the captain's chair as it rotated to let him face any direction he needed, and he shoved the speed of his vessel to Full, knowing that he could need all the the speed and power he could get to make it through the portal. He'd heard that this particular strange doorway to other worlds opened in response to certain codes, and the map he'd had about the portal had a strange set of symbols and icons on it. The gist that he understood was that there would be some way to use these codes in order to pick a specific direction.

Anywhere was better than here, really.

It would be Anywhere, too; Tesla had no idea where he could be sent if he found a way to set in this code. He started the ship into a fast descent, and this was where the storm picked up. It pulled him mostly through the portal, and the ship was being jerked around roughly...until it seemed to hit the eye of the the swirling mass of energy where all was calm and quiet. He could see a bright impossible lime color, and he knew that now was the time for the code...but where to input it?

He was not a foolish man. He was a guilty and ruined one, though. All he could think about was that Gwyntaan would come back from hunting to find the ship gone, and the sadness enveloped him. His dark masked face, masked to hide the scars and the weariness, looked forlorn...even though no expression could be made out. He got up and stepped into the open walkway outside of the ship, looking around. Everything was simply a mass of fluff and rage, and he could hear the gentle booming of thunder around him. But he saw, almost hovering in the air, a small panel full of arcane symbols on it...and when he pulled out his map, the destination symbols he'd read were on his map. He felt a pang of conscience--he wanted to go back for Gwyntaan, but he didn't want to drag his friend along with him when he was likely going to die starving. He couldn't ask that of Gwyntaan. He wouldn't.

It took some maneuvering to reach the mysterious panel, reaching his long dark arm out, his coat flopping in a nearly zero-G environment. Soon he typed in the numbers and was good to go--something in the portal rumbled, and he ran at top speed back to his ship to pilot himself through the opening that was breaking several hundred feet ahead. The whoosh noise nearly deafened him, but he managed to get to his captain's chair and push his old clockwork tub through the barrier.

He entered a new world...and upon looking down at it, he was awed at the devastation of it. It was as if this whole world was a mirror of the Victorian one he'd just left...only everything beneath him looked like bombed out gutters and ruins. Strange beasts with gleaming eyes could be seen far below, looking like ants to Tesla, but he knew they were likely menacing on the ground. What type of place had he gotten to?

What Tesla did not know was that the portal was still open, and his old ship had likely left a smelly trail, even in the heavy weather, and a steam trail, that Gwyntaan would likely have no problem following. The entryway from his own world had the potential to not close--Tesla had been told of the portal and how hard it was to access, and he wasn't even sure how he'd managed to get to the center of the mysterious thing without it banging up his ship....

[Oniya]

It had been a normal day.  Clouds were low on the horizon, and the winds were changing, but that never stopped Gwyntaan from having a good day of fishing.  They'd been out of sight of land for a few days now, so he was a little tired of the menu, but it wasn't like there was much to do about it.  Ever since Tin had left the ship, supplies tended to be bought more carelessly than before - so, hunting it was.  He ate on the wing, since fish weren't the sort of thing that he could eat over the course of a few days without distress.  Freshly killed was the only way to do it.  When his belly was full, he caught a thermal back up to the cloud-level, where the airship he called his 'den' should have been waiting.

It wasn't there.

With some alarm, Gwyntaan dropped below the clouds again, scanning the sea for some wreckage.  There was a grey streak of land at the horizon - a tempting alternative - but Captain had taken good care of him for the last several years.  Even a wild creature like himself remembered the smell of kindness.

Oh wait - that was the smell of the boiler.

He raised his head and let his hunting senses take the lead.  The faintest whiff of hot carbon reached him and he set off, following it to where the clouds grew thick and - greenish?  That wasn't right.  The winds picked up, scattering the tenuous smoke, but dragons also hunted by sight, and now he could just make out the familiar silhouette against a thin strip of vibrant green light, bright enough for him to close the thin membrane that would have prevented him from getting snow-blindness in his birth-lands.  Rain and even hail buffetted him as he flew closer, slowly gaining on the airship.  It was on a fixed heading for the strip of light.  Gwyntaan was about a hundred wing-lengths behind it when suddenly, like passing through a door, the airship vanished.

A door in the sky?  Only there wasn't anything 'closing' the door - it was still the same bright strip, surrounded by clouds that were roiling with lightning.  It wasn't a place to stay.  There was that streak of land he'd spotted earlier...

He spiraled around the strip of light, indecisive.  Odd - the back side looked the same as the front side.  Most doors led somewhere, and even if you went off the side of the ship and around to the other side of the door that way, you saw the place that you'd come from.  He flew a little closer, and the smell of the thunderstorm seemed stronger near the light.  It would be a narrow fit - how had the airship gotten through?

A gust of wind cemented his decision.  As it was, the very tips of his wings brushed the edges of the 'door', and he could smell the acrid tang of singed feathers as he plunged into the world beyond. 



The trip through the portal was unlike anything Gwyntaan had experienced.  Up and down were meaningless, and even the subtle magnetism of the Earth was just - gone.  He hadn't stopped at the panel - wouldn't have known what to do with it if he had.  The only thing that guided him out of that place between worlds was the fact that he could just make out the Sunset ahead.  If not for that, he could have easily gotten lost.

He emerged from the portal nearly a full minute after the Sunset.  He was no longer over the sea, and everything looked wrong.  Wrong directions, wrong colors, wrong terrain.  It even smelled wrong.  The one familiar sight and scent was the Sunset, and he homed in on it with a mix of relief and irritation, 'announcing' his return by deliberately landing with a little less grace than usual.  Captain would think twice before trying that trick on him again. 

[Blythe]

It was a ruin and a wreck of a world, and Tesla needed to pilot his ship to a safe area to land, maneuvering the creaking bronzed tub of a ship, which was hissing steam everywhere, to what looked like a perfect ledge situated on a rocky spine that jutted up from the ground. Not quite a mountain, too big to be a hill. The blasted and dry area around him reminded him of the descriptions of the desert, except there was no sand, only parched earth and the tall crooked off-green plants that sucked up any water left in the place. To Tesla's deep discomfort, these plants were bioluminescent, radiating a soft lime light that matched the crackling energy of the sky.

As he piloted, he saw Gwyntaan land with a thump and a smug and disgruntled look. He was shocked to see the dragon back; he thought he was sure his old friend would not follow him through the portal...and yet there on the small lean observation deck, the gentle glow of the hot world illuminating him, was the dragon. The captain of the now slightly less empty ship sighed and made sure to open the door to the inside of the craft so Gwyntaan didn't fall off while he tried to land this thing.

He got the feeling having Gwyntaan here was going to be more than useful. He needed a lot of things right now. He needed fuel, he needed food and water, he needed tools and raw crafting alchemical reagents. He had decided that he would finally focus on his alchemy in his new life, although he'd had a bad history of flubbing at alchemy. He'd thrown away a green potion concocted by trying to mix some questionable things with phosphorus, which explained why the fire in his engine room had been so very intense.

And also green. He was starting to get sick of that color.

He didn't have Jonathan Tin around to help supply him anymore, and he didn't have Mackleby around to protect him anymore, not even from himself. Gwyntaan was all he had left. He smiled, and it was quiet and bittersweet as he managed to land the ship on the rocky reddish outcropping. He called out to Gwyntaan, “Well? What do you think of it? Think I can make a new start here?”

He got the feeling Gwyntaan might not be thrilled...

[Oniya]

Gwyntaan slipped through the door with all the aplomb of a house-cat - not exactly the easiest thing to do considering the relatively small corridors of the ship, and the fact that the dragon was the length of a horse.  He did have the consideration to arrange himself in a relatively space-conserving way, sitting back on his haunches with his tail curled around his front claws.  He was, after all, more flexible than a horse.

As Captain started to talk, he watched the human intently, his head slightly tilted to one side.  Despite not being able to form English words, the dragon had learned a lot of them during his tenure among humans - first from a crew of poachers and smugglers, and then later from Captain and the rest of the crew.  He wasn't entirely sure if Captain knew how much he understood, or if the man spoke merely to break the silence.

A new start. 

He closed his 'glare lids' as he considered the question, shifting his normally blue eyes to pale purple, and rustled his wings slightly.  He wasn't sure about the way this place smelled, but he had detected the presence of small scuttling creatures along with the larger ones.  Many of the larger ones were still small enough to be potential prey.  Naturally, he'd have to get a closer look at them, but the initial prospects were promising on the food front.

Water seemed to be a different matter.  Still relatively fresh from the moist air of the sea, Gwyntaan wasn't sure about how much - if any - surface water was around.  Then there was the question about whether it was drinkable.  Humans tended to be pickier about what qualified as 'drinkable', so that would take some scouting.  At any rate, they'd landed safely, so there would be plenty of opportunity to abandon this den if it proved unfit.

He blinked again, rousing himself from his contemplation.  New start.  New beginning.  New journey.  All journeys started somewhere, and as dubious a way-station as this was, it was a 'start'.  With a soft chirrup, he butted his head lightly against Captain's arm.  The ship was still his 'den', but for now, this place could be 'territory'.

[Blythe]

Tesla regarded the bleak surroundings with some disdain. It was dry, as if the air was sucking out all the water, which didn't bode well for steam power here. He'd need water, large quantities of it, both for drinking and for his ship, and this place looked like a barren waste. To get good drinking water, Tesla would need to filter any water they found; he probably had some sort of sifter he could adapt for that purpose. And of course, he did have a few alchemical ingredients left over that would help him purify a few gallons of water.

He stepped over to Gwyntaan and rubbed the top of the dragon's head affectionately after that little headbutt. There was an intense gleam of intelligence in the dragon's eyes, and the way the head tilted and Gwyntaan following him through the portal....either Gwyntaan was an aamzingy intelligent and stubborn creature or he was an idiot for following into parts unknown. Except it didn't matter to Tesla either way; he was grateful to not be alone, to have his friend with him.

He grinned at Gwyntaan and said, “How about you and I go hunting? I know you just got back, but I need to see if anything on this godforsaken rock is edible. And no one hunts better than you.” He found his gun, a beautiful weapon that Hua and Li, his old lovely flames, has stolen for him on an Eastern raid  while back from an avid and corrupt collector of pirate paraphernalia. The gun had been owned by  the notorious airship pirate baron, Blue Gear, and Tesla savored the fact he still had this gun. Granted, he hadn't been able to afford doing any maintenance on it besides cleaning it, but he figured that could change soon.

There was an emergency brake on his ship he could set, as anchors didn't work so well with airships, and he opened the doors and stepped outside. He'd have to make the climb down the small cliff, but he was confident he could do that. He said to Gwyntaan, “Lead the way, mighty hunter.”

[Oniya]

Gwyntaan crooned at the head-rubbing and the compliment.  While it was true that he had taken his fill of fish, he had no problem with showing off how right Captain's assessment was.  He uncurled his tail and flowed smoothly out to the flight-deck to launch himself once more into the sky. 

Once airborne, he quickly found a thermal and circled the ship, looking for the most promising hunting grounds.  There were a few areas where light came from the ground - while that might improve his ability to see prey, it also struck the dragon as very unnatural.  Some of Captain's brews had had that quality, and Gwyntaan vividly remembered one that had glowed as brightly as the furnace even before being consigned to the flames.  His nose twitched in memory of that particular failure.  It might have made a good source of illumination, if not for the smell.

Some distance from the ship, he spotted a cluster of something that was not glowing.  Prey tended to like dark places.  It was harder for sight-hunters to find them there, but Gwyntaan used more than one sense to seek out food.  He altered his flight path, swerving in a lazy figure eight between the cluster and the ship.  He had a hunting partner for this trip, and part of that tacit agreement included communicating where the hunting grounds were.  Since Captain could not fly on his own, this would definitely take some getting used to.

[Blythe]

Tesla took his time following Gwyntaan. His legs and arms were screaming with the effort. Perhaps he'd spent a bit too much time flying and not enough time exercising.He nearly panicked himself as he climbed the cliff face. It wasn't the worst climb he'd had, but it was in unfamiliar territory and in the dead of night. He didn't want to risk rushing it, but at the same time, he felt a compulsion to be out and doing something. He slid when his right foot failed to find a ledge, sliding about four feet down and kicking up the dust and pebbles around him. He stabilized after that slip up, though, and he started making his way across what looked like broader ledges. He watched for Gwyntaan, too, as he climbed, knowing that the dragon would be indicating in his flight pattern where to hunt. They'd hunted together like this before, but it was hard to see him.

There was an ease between them that had come with time, an unspoken ability to work together. The glow of the cacti was both helpful and harmful to Tesla; he toggled his goggles, which lit up with bright white light. He had rigged them with small bulbs to generate some light so he could see. He didn't much feel like relying on the unnatural green lights. He was sure that light was wrong--the plants here looked sick and half dead. He managed to get an eye on Gwyntann when he saw the dragon swoop into a figure eight.

He heard something in the distance and readied his gun. Was it...skittering? He saw a series of shadows around one of the cacti, and it was larger than he thought. Multiple light sources, though, cast multiple shadows over the landscape, which made it hard for Tesla to lock on with any aim. However, he knew that he needed to flush out the prey so Gwyntaan could take it down.  After a scuttle heard too close to him, he fired off a shot from his pistol, which had a deafening boom.

The creature let out a squeak, and Tesla realized with shock that it was a rat, a humongous bloody rat! It was darting away, but it was heading into a well-it area and towards an open space where Gwyntaan might be able to take it. Tesla wasn't sure, but a series of splotches on the ground told him he'd wounded the beast, so perhaps Gwyntaan would have an easier time taking it down. He didn't want to exhaust the dragon after his friend had hunted, so perhaps this would be enough.

[Oniya]

Gwyntaan's flight pattern faltered at the sound of the shot.  What was that human - oh.  The scuttling movement and the copper-sharp scent of blood drew him like a beacon, and he swooped down at the creature.  The fact that it was rat-like made little impression on him - it was prey.  He aimed for the swift kill in the middle of the back, much like the hunting birds of the world they'd left behind.  His sharp fore-claws were poised to clasp and hold in case the impact didn't quite finish his quarry off.  A quick snap of his jaws would grant the coup de grace.

[Blythe]

The rat hissed and wriggled in Gwyntaan's mouth for a bare instant before the coup de grace snapped it's neck. Tesla stepped forward, guided by the flat (ish) terrain and the eerie light of his goggles. He made his way forward to Gwyntaan to inspect the meat, to determine if it was edible. He approached and took a look at the creature. Rats weren't the most edible—they were little bags of plague most of the time. He murmured, “Might be able to use the hide and bones, though. Could craft some interesting things with it.”

He reached out to stroke Gwyntaan's head and continued, “But more importantly, rats mean people. They leech off of settlements, and that can make them bigger and more aggressive. But it's eyes....”

He gave it some thought and hoisted the carcass over his shoulder. He gestured for Gwyntaan to follow so he could store the rat back on the ship and study it at his leisure later....and eat it if it was safe to do so. He made the climb back up, doing better with his goggles on during the climb than during his climb down. He waited for the dragon to follow, and eventually said, “I'll need you to sniff the rat's trail. We might find people....or a rat nest....where that came from.” He knew he'd need to watch for signs of sickness from Gwyn just in case.

[Oniya]

Gwyntaan took the shorter route, launching effortlessly from the ground and spiraling in for a landing next to the ship.  As Captain told him of their next task, the dragon looked dubiously at the creature, and then back along the way that it had come.  A settlement?  One with scavengers that size?  A nest would be more like it, if only because humans tended to try to chase away or kill scavengers before they reached that size.  Still, a scavenger that grew that big had to have an abundant food source of its own, and one that was easy to get to.

The thought that it might be a nest reminded Gwyntaan of another hazard.  He could always escape a horde of land-based vermin by taking to the air.  Captain would be on the ground.  The dragon ducked his head to nudge at the complicated side-arm that the human carried, not wanting it to be forgotten.

[Blythe]

The captain grinned when Gwyn nudged his hand, reminding him of his pistol. He said, "Don't worry; I'm fine. I should have more than enough ammo for this baby to keep me safe. After all, if something gets close to me, it just means I can't fail to shoot it!"

Tesla noted that Gwyntaan seemed ill at ease; maybe he was just reading the dragon's emotions incorrectly? It would not be the first time he'd done so. He stretched out his limbs after making the climb back up to his ship. It was arduous, but the captain knew it was worth it to prevent, well, things like those rats from getting into what little supplies and stores he had left. He clambered into his ship with the rat's corpse, knowing he needed to get this put away, his boots clanking against the plain but well-swept floor. Speaking of supplies and where to store them....

He found a large iron strong box, big and clunky and loud, and he dragged it out from inside the cargo hold of the small ship. He managed to unlock it after fumbling with one clumsy hand to pull some keys out of his coat pocket to get the blasted thing open, the ominous black metal key clinking into the padlock and opening it with difficulty. He tossed the rat's body inside and said, "There, now it won't contaminate anything else." He said to Gwyntaan, "Try to memorize the scent if you can; I get the feeling that there are probably a lot more where this came from, and this thing is huge enough. And I'll need you to sniff out it's trail. Whether a settlement or a nest.....either way, a settlement is what we want to find. And if there's a nest of these near here, best to kill those beasties now before they are a problem."

He coughed and locked up the box, saying, "Okay. I think that'll do for now. Ready to clamber back down, or do you think we should call it a night and do this tomorrow?"

[Oniya]

Remember that scent?  Gwyntaan was sure he couldn't forget it, even if he buried his nose in an overripe mango.  He also knew that scavengers were most often active at night - but then again, the terrain here reminded him of the sandy wastes.  Waiting for daylight would mean that they would be subjected to the full force of the sun.  With a soft chirrup, he headed back towards the edge of the cliff and looked down, scenting the night air for the musk of his prey.

This time, he didn't arrow off the cliffs, but lifted into a gliding circle, waiting for Tesla to follow.  With the potential for many active targets, it wasn't a situation that would tolerate hasty actions.

[Blythe]

They were likely going to be headed straight into a nest, so things were going to get more than a little hairy. Tesla listened to Gwyntaan, to that fluttery chirrup, and he grinned, saying, “Marvelous. Let us be on our way. Should be able to root out a nest, if there is one. Ought to make things safer around the ship and keep our stores from getting eaten by those filthy scavengers.” He was used to rats in general; the big city had them by the troves, but these large rodents of a certain...unusual....size, with an even more unusual hint of glow.

He made his way back down the cliff face, scattering up dust and a long trail of pebbles and stones as he went. He noticed Gwyn pacing himself to let him keep up. He gave a curt nod whenever he was able to in order to let Gwyntaan know he could move a bit ahead. Soon they'd made their way back down again, and Tesla brushed off the dirt from his long dark coat. His goggles gleamed and cast a faint light out to show him the path; he could see his own footprints that had led to the first rat, so he didn't need Gwyn to lead him initially. But he made his way to the end of the path before calling softly to Gwyntaan to come lead the way.

[Oniya]

Instead of continuing to fly overhead, Gwyntaan spiraled in for a landing, taking a low stance to better sniff out the rat-creature's trail.  The strange vegetation cast an eerie greenish glow on his iridescent white scales, and cast strange shadows where his muscles rippled under the surface.  Periodically, he would lift his head, scenting the air instead of the ground, and getting his bearings relative to the airship and Captain.

Before long, they started seeing more of the rat-creature's tracks - or at least some of its relatives.  Pathways were clearly etched in the gritty soil, as if the creatures had very little reason to use stealth in this region.  With a hiss, Gwyntaan drew up short, then leaped into the air to do a wider reconnaissance.

Nearly a dozen eyes blazed into view and then vanished again into the shadows.

[Blythe]

The ground felt weaker here, as if it was soft. And yet it was not like sand; it did not have the same consistency and texture as sand. The dirt was fine, and it reminded Tesla of a freshly dug grave, the smell of earth recently turned assaulting his nostrils. He started to pay a bit more attention to the ground there in the night, in the dark, as Gwyntaan hissed at the dozens of eyes blinking there in the midnight gloom.

He grimaced and fingered his gun; he was getting nervous...as well he should, because soon after that, an undulation in the very ground revealed one of the giant rat nests! Three hulking forms issued forth, their bright eyes greener than grass twinged with lightning, and they scuttled to attack Tesla and his draconic friend. With one shot from his pistol, he hit one of the large fiends between the eyes, but he leaped back to help defend Gwyntaan.

He'd been right, though, these creatures were too numerous and close to the ship to just leave like this. And who knew....someone might pay well later knowing that these little wretches had been dealt with, thus keeping any people that might live in the wasteland-like place safer. He twirled his weapon and hit a glancing wound on another of the dark rats—the leg, if he was right. He hoped that would be enough to give Gwyn more of an edge.

But they didn't have a whole hell of a lot of time—a few more suspicious sinkholes seemed to be forming...and more rats where that came from would soon spill out.

[Oniya]

Like a hunting falcon, Gwyntaan dove again and again at the rat-creatures, raking them with his claws or simply using his momentum to try to break their spines.  This wasn't a hunt for food, so the fact that some of the corpses fell back into the sinkholes they'd emerged from didn't affect him at all.  For a while, it seemed to be a reasonably sound strategy.  Even the ones that weren't killed immediately were often in no shape to continue fighting, and some were even fallen on by their uninjured fellows as helpless meat.

As more sinkholes started to open up, however, Gwyntaan's higher vantage point gave him the ability to see what Captain couldn't:  the holes weren't opening randomly, but in a strategic formation, gradually fencing the human in.  Now, as he wheeled for another pass, he saw one of the glowing plants start to quiver behind his earth-bound companion.

[Blythe]

Tesla felt lucky; Gwyntaan was taking out the creatures nearly as fast as they popped up, but as he shot and dodged various attacks from the little monsters, Tesla was growing steadily aware that he didn't seem to have as much room to maneuver that he had before. He danced around nervously, that steam pistol of his puncturing the hides of those scurrying wretches, but it was getting clearer and clearer that he didn't have too many more options.

What was lucky was that the rats were mostly indiscriminate. When one of their own brood fell, they would attack the fallen ones for food, which was about the right reaction for dumb animals. Tesla got an idea....he began to shoot rats in such a manner as to ring them around the sinkholes—that way the new beasties that came up would look to the carcasses of their own before going after him and Gwyn...and that frenzy feeding would slow them down.

Of course, he did have a very large steam grenade. It would explode with a burning water vapour that could inflict some vicious burns and scatter a crowd. He called out to Gwyn, “Find me a spot to blast them, Gwyn!”

[Oniya]

Gwyntaan hadn't seen the grenade before, but 'blast them' sounded promising.  In an attempt to maximize the effect of the strange munition, he started a series of swooping passes at the pack of rats, skillfully chasing them - not away, but towards a single compact region.  A few unlucky creatures were snatched from the ground and dropped with bone-cracking precision on top of their fellows, serving as both projectiles and bait.

When he thought he had as many of the rats in one place as he could get, he arrowed into the sky with a loud creel like an eagle. sounding an 'all clear' for his Captain.

[Blythe]

That all-clar screech from Gwyntaan was a lifesaver for Tesla—those rats were starting to clump up, but that dragon had managed to herd them towards a larger group—they were clustering well around a semi-circle of nests, some feasting on their fallen brood members, some fighting with one another, some  vying for the top spot to have a midnight snack on a little dragon or captain. The disgraced airship captain grinned, although it was not visible under the mask he normally wore. He tossed the grenade with a passion, and it landed exactly the way he would have wanted it to.

BOOM...hisssss.

The steam erupted out and sent dirt, rats, rocks, and gleaming cacti flying...which was a good thing, because Tesla could see that the roots of the plants were moving and writhing like enormous tentacled vines, the steam wilting them and making the glowing tendrils sink back down. He could swear he almost heard a plaintive humming from the plants, as if they were unhappy. All Tesla knew was that this world was apparently a hell-hole. It certainly didn't carry a torch compared to home, to the big cities and civilized nations he was used to.

He shot a good many of the stunned rats, and he fumbled about and pulled a few more of the steam grenades out to toss in the rat nests—the sheer heat from the chemical reactions in the grenade would probably finish solving this rat problem...although he wasn't so sure about these funky green plants. He whooped triumphantly as he lobbed those last grenades out, and he saw an opening to dive out of the main swarm of the rats to a safer distance.

[Oniya]

Seeing that the human now needed an opening, Gwyntaan dove from the sky, plowing through the ranks of rodents like a shark through a school of fish.  Squeals came from the pack - mostly panic at the large predator, but there were a few individuals that stood their ground in rage or defiance.  One big fellow was right in the dragon's path and appeared to be making a stand, chittering loudly.

Gwyntaan barreled into it, sending the two somersaulting across the disturbed ground in a tangle of limbs, wings and tails.  The impact was fatal to the rat-thing, but the dragon did not come out unscathed either.  The rat's death throes had left several furrows in the more delicate scales of his forelimbs, and as he rose again to his feet, the ground around a nearby cactus began to show signs of movement.

[Blythe]

Tesla knew that it was time to high-tail it out of here! This place looked like a giant death-trap more and more. It was apparent that any civilization on this world was far from this location, far from these killer over-sized rodents and these disturbing living cacti—he could see the cactus moving, and he had no idea what he was supposed to do to it—he twirled his gun and shot a glowing tendril at the base of the plant, and to his shock, the cactus made a strange whistling noise and almost seemed to deflate, sinking under the ground.

He saw Gwyn tackle what looked like a leader of the swarm and was proud to see him kill the thing in one hit...but those injuries would need tending to later. He called to Gwyn, “We've got the opening! Take flight! Back to the ship! We're getting off this crazy world!”

[Oniya]

With a powerful beating of wings, Gwyntaan launched himself skyward once more.  This time, he circled over Tesla simply to ensure that the human also made it out of there safely.  It appeared that his recent melee with the alpha-rat had convinced the rest of the pack that this new predator was something to be reckoned with - either that, or they were occupied with filling the sudden power-vacuum.  All it took was a few perfunctory swoops to keep the opening wide enough for escape.

Back at the airship, the dragon landed on the flight-deck as normal.  In this relative safety, he took the opportunity to examine his battle-wounds.  The actual scratches weren't particularly deep, and only bled sluggishly, but some of the rat-thing's blood and fluids had stained the dragon's opalescent scales, and there was no telling if the vermin was diseased, venomous, or had caused any other form of contamination.

[Blythe]

Arriving back at the ship was a relief to Tesla. He was exhausted, and he grimaced to himself. Stupid world....he wasn't going to make a new life or living for himself here, that was for damn sure. But when he looked at Gwyntaan, he frowned. He wasn't going anywhere until he cleaned out those injuries. He locked the ship down tight; if Gwyn got ill, the Captain knew he could always study the body of the rat   he'd snagged to come up with a cure, if needed.

He sighed and fetched a few pints of water and said, “Gwyntaan! Come here—you're scratched up. Ship is locked up tight, so nothing is getting in or out anyway. Gotta clean those wounds.” He thought about things and said, “Next time, maybe we can shoot for a more metropolitan world...or hell, at least one without all these rats. This was just disgusting.”

[Oniya]

The tip of the dragon's tail thumped lightly on the deck as he approached the Captain and extended his injured leg.  He'd done what had seemed necessary at the time, but perhaps a little extra forethought could have prevented even the minor-seeming injuries that the rat had inflicted.  Of course, a little extra forethought could have left the human with no way to escape. 

No, if he regretted anything, it was the fact that Captain seemed to feel it necessary to tap into their limited water supply to tend to him.  In this world, that was a critical resource, and he gave Tesla a gentle head-butt as a way to try to express that.  He was careful when doing that, since the human was quite a bit smaller.

Smaller.  The concept made him pause and think a bit more, cocking his head and examining the human as he worked.  The rats had been larger than normal rats, but were still easy enough to snatch up and lift.  Even back in their own world, Gwyntaan had been able to lift larger prey than the mutant rats.  Obviously, it would require a bit more care, but just maybe, that could have been an alternative way to rescue his friend.

[Blythe]

Tesla  quietly let the water wash over the minor injuries, and knowing Gwyntaan wouldn't like it, he managed to find some disinfectant to put over the wounds in the hopes that it might stave off something  disease or infection. He wasn't willing to risk Gwyn getting ill, so using the water wasn't much of an issue to him. His bright white goggles reflected in the ship as he gazed on his friend, and some part of him was starting to miss the chatter and the noise of the ship; there was something sort of lonely and upsetting about it being just him and Gwyntaan...but at the same time, he knew that if it had to be just him and any other person from the ship...it was best if it was Gwyn.

On went the disinfectant, and he let it set. He said quietly, “I'm going to pilot this out of here, okay? Back to the portal. Or maybe we'll have to fly and get it  Keep still and let that stuff soak in. When I get us back in the air and stable near the portal, I'll give it another check before we leave.”

He made his way to the wheelroom and checked the temperatures from the boiler room. Needed to work up some decent steam. The ship lurched, the soft green and gentle white-yellow lights gleaming softly in the night, making the bronze and dark colors of the ship almost alight with something eerie and beautiful.

[Oniya]

Gwyntaan gave a soft hiss as the disinfectant went on, but he did his best not to flinch.  Back when they'd had a full crew, he'd seen other crew members react a lot worse, particularly the gruff engineer - who had quite a colorful vocabulary, to put it mildly.  The hiss shifted into a soft sigh as the stinging eased, and he started thinking about those they'd left behind.

Did he regret following Captain?  Not in the slightest.  He didn't understand the pressures that had led the human to this course, and he did miss the others - particularly the twins, who always seemed to know exactly where it itched - but his closest 'family' was Tesla.  Ever since he had become part of the airship's complement, he had recognized Captain as the one in charge, even as the others had drifted away.

The dragon curled up on the flight deck, reassured by the familiar sounds of take-off preparations.  It took longer than it had with all hands, but cunning alterations had made it possible for one man to run the whole operation.  The solid deck was also comforting, especially with the knowledge that they were heading back through that 'portal'.  It had not been fun trying to fly through that on his own.

[Blythe]

Tesla was encouraged by Gwyn behaving passably when the disinfectant was applied; he would probably need to do that a few more times to make sure the wound was clean, probably once a day until it healed, but overall, it was not a terribly bad situation. He nattered on out loud, knowing that Gwyn didn't exactly talk back, knowing that it was uncertain how much converation Gwyn actually understoood, but Tesla needed to talk.

“Right. Well, at least we're getting off this world before anything worse happens. I'm not staying in a rat-infested glowing hell-hole.” He continued talking as he finished getting prep done for take off; he wished he could actually put Gwyntaan to work doing something, but he wasn't sure what parts of launch-prep one could even teach to a dragon. He got things going, a decent temp in the boiler room, calibrated the chemical mixture's ratio in the blimp portion of his ship, checked on various bits of equipment...

...and he was ready to go. He got back to the wheel, and he piloted the ship up into the twinkling night sky. Time to offski! He piloted the thing with some difficulty, not used to manning the thing on his own, used to having easy adjustments made to certain things down below when he wanted, and he flew them back in the direction of the portal. It didn't take long to find it; the same looming swirl that had drawn him in in the first place was there, albeit smaller, but it grew larger at the approach of the ship, and they drifted through.

Time to figure out where they were going...he called out to Gwyn, “Looks like we're going to have to mess with that damn panel!” They were in that odd floating environment of the portal area again, and the captain needed to chart a course. He looked at the symbols and other things via a spyglass, and he decided to make things easy. Gwyn could do pattern recognition, he figured. He scribbled down the input code he wanted and made his way to Gwyn. He called, “Gwyn, I need you to hit the symbols in order on that panel that appear on the paper, okay?”

[Oniya]

Gwyn cocked his head and peered at the symbols.  Like so many of his interpretations, his 'literacy' was limited to what he had observed from the crew.  For example, the symbol 'E' meant 'God dammit, I told you to throw another load in the furnace!' and anything with a currency symbol attached to it meant someone was going to be yelling soon.  These symbols were unfamiliar, but all he had to do was remember them and copy them.  Giving them meanings wasn't necessary.

As he launched himself from the deck, he was struck by the same disorienting feelings that he had experienced on his first trip through the portal.  Direction was all relative - the ship was constant, as was the strange device by the portal, but he had the eerie feeling that anything else in this realm was completely mutable.  Half-seen flashes sparked at the edges of his vision, some dilating like staring pupils before dwindling to pinpricks and fading.  Size even seemed relative.  He remembered the gate being barely wide enough to pass through before, but now it dwarfed him as he hovered in front of the console.

No more delay.  Delicately, he picked out the symbols he had seen on the paper, and the portal blazed to life.  Gwyntaan arrowed back to the ship - purely because he wanted to report the success of his mission, of course. 

[Blythe]

As soon as Gwyn was safely on the ship, Tesla piloted his vessel towards the now-open portal; it was time to see what else Fate had in store for them. He wasn't sure if the new world would be any better than this godawful green-tinted and glowing one, but at this point, he was willing to take anything...well, anything except to return to that wretched Victorian world he had once called home. He would never return; that much was decided.

But with a burst of light, they were through the portal...and into a totally different world. Tesla called to Gwyn, “You did it, buddy!” The world that met his goggled eyes was shocking to his gaze.

Towering buildings dominated the landscape, taller than anything he had ever seen. They had to have at least one-hundred stories, cutting like daggers into the belly of a grim and dark sky rife with clouds. The number of windows and lights in those buildings practically looked like stars. There was a fine mist coming down from the sky, a dreary rain, and Tesla looked for somewhere to land. He took a turn away from the big buildings; he wanted something a litle more isolated. He saw a few brief signs here and there, the word “Corp” mentioned an awful lot on those signs, and he could practically smell capitalism in the air.

And yet as uniform and bland as this stark and geometrical world seemed, Tesla felt like there was magic in this place. He would need to make contacts quickly; as he looked down from his ship, the people were so tiny as to look like ants. He was sure their vessel had been seen by people as well. But what to concern himself with? What would he have to offer a potential ally? He couldn't tell them about the portal, surely?

The portal softly closed shut in the sky behind them. The Captain was worried how many might have seen it. There was honking and other noises from below; the streets, so straight and well-defined, were crammed with traffic. He piloted the ship with great effort to the outskirts of the city, trying to find somewhere out of the way. How would he go about hiding a whole ship? He called to Gwyn, “When we land, scout!”

He steered the ship a few miles away from the city; he and Gwyn would go in after getting a night's rest. He was sure he saw an old quarry that would serve his purposes; he got it down on the ground without a problem.

[Oniya]

Unlike the previous world, this one teemed with life.  Strange smells, and not all of them pleasant, but there wasn't the same level of ill health that he had sensed before.  At the very least, the foliage didn't glow or move by itself - something that Gwyntaan found encouraging.  There were small scuttling things that smelled like food, as well as larger stalking things that could be competition and high-soaring things that could be either.  There were humans, too - or at least things that smelled near enough to them.

As they landed, Gwyntaan took to the air.  For the time being, he didn't approach the brightly-lit city.  Even back in their home world, he had left such places to Captain and the others.  The scrubby outskirts, where humanity became sparse and wilderness began, were the places where the unusual dangers were more likely.  That was where the scavengers lived, both animal and human.

As Tesla had surmised, their arrival had attracted a certain amount of attention from both.  Those that fed on the dross of civilization had initially scattered, but they were beginning to recover their courage and investigate.  Thankfully, the steep walls of the quarry provided a certain protection.  Any intruders would have to either fly in or come down the zig-zag road that had once been used by excavating equipment.

When the dragon landed again, he chirruped and settled himself facing that single entry point.  Things were safe for the moment, but he wanted to ensure that Captain knew where 'visitors' were likely to come from.

[Blythe]

Tesla was setting things up in his ship; he felt this world had potential to allow him to stay for a while. He was unsure for how long, but this was a far cry from the desolation of the glowing green world. His only hope was that the inhabitants of this world weren't lucky enough or advanced enough to manipulate the tech he had used to access the portal. Then again....the Captain was a little vague on how he was actually getting so lucky in the first place. It felt like something was due to go wrong.

The gray and dark quarry stretched around like a protective cocoon; Tesla spent the time going through his ship logs, stowing away the "cargo" from that barren world for study soon to ensure Gwyn wouldn't get ill, and he made notes about the sequences used to get there and the one used to get here. He had a few more theories about which combinations opened which kinds of worlds, but he wouldn't be sure until he tried more. Of course, the entire point of this search was to find a new home; he didn't exactly want to be stuck traveling for too long. Who knew what kinds of complications came from interworld travel? He didn't, that was for damn sure.

He heard Gwyn's call, that familiar chirrup, and he wrapped up his organization of things on board and his brief writings, stashing his notebook under his captain's chair. He bounded out to take a look, and he noted the direction Gwyn was facing. He saw the zig-zagged road and nodded, saying, "Yeah, I'm thinking what you're thinking. Anyone wants to oust us, they'll have to come from above like we did or use the road. Have to do something about that road at some point." He ruffled the top of Gwyn's head playfully and said, "But we need to get some sleep. We'll start exploring this place tomorrow. Come on, dragon, let's get in the ship and lock 'er up for the night."



Little did he know that some distance away, a woman had seen the ship emerge from the portal; not just eerie light and shapes like most, but the entirety of the airship. That was the benefit of looking though a telescope at the time. Standing in the shadows of her apartment in Seattle, she slowly stepped back from the telescope and said, "What have we here?" On went a coat, some supplies stuffed into a bag, and she was out the door to investigate...

[Oniya]

As Gwyntaan and Tesla settled in for the night, Seattle was still a hive of activity.  The streets were crowded with traffic, despite the rain, and there was another kind of traffic humming through the air. 

>>>>>(Anyone else scope the light show tonight?)
>>>>>(You talking that simshow by the Needle?  Heard the lights were wiz, but the band was drek.)
>>>>>(Nah, not a fragging sim.  Over Midtown.  Don't you bleeders ever look up anymore?)
>>>>>(Saw something about it on the newsfeed.  Some kind of corp testing.)
>>>>>(Thought they had to do that out in the wastes?  At least fifty klicks from civilized areas...)
>>>>>(Depends on what they're testing.  Just count your fingers and toes when you wake up in the morning.)
>>>>>(That'll depend on what arm I've got plugged in.)

Along with other conversations, the countless bits of data skittered through the electronic consciousness that served corp and scavenger alike.  Both corp and scavenger gleaned what they could from it - time, location, descriptions, theories - and most of all, determined whether or not the data was at all useful.  Although the chatter usually contained a lot of dross, unusual events were typically either good news or bad news for somebody, and that 'somebody' was likely to pay handsomely to know which.

[Blythe]

She was sifting through every bit of data available on that light in the sky; most people were agreeing that it was just testing from a corp, but she wasn't convinced. A runner wasn't going to be able to investigate this alone; it looked too weird. Ja X, a slender human woman of pale skin and strange gleaming cerulean eyes that looked a bit too tech, wasn't usually inclined to go chasing fallen stars; she had seen more than enough of her old friends turn into that very thing over the course of their lives. But this was too weird to ignore.

She would need to contact a fixer to get the latest on that thing that fell from the sky. She was pretty sure there was a favor or two owed. She knew she'd have to pay him; he would only take certified credsticks. It was a pain in the ass. But a message fired off in the A on the Matrix and a sole response later floating before her eyes told her that he did know something, and there was a price. But he gave her a nifty tidbit before then:

Quarry.

It was going to be an interesting day for Ja X, even more interesting for whatever had landed in some sort of quarry...



Captain Tesla woke up the next day feeling bushed. He stretched out and for once removed his gleaming goggles to reveal eyes that were paler than paper. He looked around his ship, found where Gwyn had slept for the night, and he stretched out. He looked out of a window; it was raining. This world seemed much better than the other one; he wasn't sure how long he wanted to stay, though. He would still need to go to a large city. He wasn't sure if he should, though; from what little he'd seen, this was a very populated world. He coughed and grunted, saying to Gwyn, “Hey you. Think we should go make some new friends in the big city or fortify location here?” He wasn't sure Gwyn would get the complexity of the question, but it still felt right to ask.

He had no clue how anachronistic his ship and thinking really was.

[Oniya]

Gwyn opened one crystal-blue eye, then stretched - almost cat-like except for the slight spread of his wings.  He was damp from the rain, since he'd spent the night within sight of the raised gangplank, but it wasn't as bad as some of the storms they'd weathered back in their previous home.  He'd even flown in worse, as long as there wasn't too much lightning.

He turned his thoughts to Tesla's question - not so much to understanding it, since 'city' and even 'fortify' were familiar concepts, but how to convey his preferences.  His experience with cities was limited - the people that had owned him before Tesla had brought him into one when he was handed over to Captain, but since then he'd had little reason to visit one.  Usually, he was left at the airship, especially once the rest of the crew had drifted away.  Here, however, he was a little reluctant to let Captain go alone. 

On the other hand, there wasn't a whole lot more that they could do to fortify the quarry any further - it would be easy enough to keep watch, either from the deck or from the air, and the weapons they had at their disposal should make any intruder think twice after a warning shot.  Gwyn himself had scared away a brigand or five simply by standing on deck and yawning.

He nosed at the human's hand.  The important thing in his mind was that they not get separated.

[Blythe]

Captain Tesla smiled gently when Gwyn nudged his hand. With a feeling of tenderness towards this, his oldest and perhaps most loyal dear friend, he gave a rough pat on the head. The pat contained far more feeling than anything he could bother to say to Gwyntaan. He took the nudge on the hand to mean “Let's go together.” He grinned and said, “Come on, then. Let's get a move-on, explore the area. This world seems more civilized than that last one thankfully.” He kitted out with eveything he might need—some stuff to eat, bit of water, a few convenient steam-based omnitools, and he gestured for Gwyn. He set off out of the quarry.



That next day, Ja X had resolved to track the trajectory of what had come out of that light in the sky. After a meeting with a fixer (who happily relieved her of credsticks for a miserly amount of information), she had a passable idea that it was a ship of sorts that had come through the other night. She got up and went; she had a Yamaha Growler, a decent motocross bike that was pretty good for light runs as well.

Bit noisy, though.

She sped off to the quarry, just as Captain Tesla and Gwyn had left it.

[Oniya]

More than one vehicle was on the road out towards the quarry, but the second one was quieter than the Growler by far.  Not that it was supposed to be.  Sitting on the edge of the pavement was what looked like a long-cab cream-colored pickup truck, its hood up and steam rising from the cooling system.  A head-sized orb hovered in front of it, diagnostic lights flashing before dispensing a cloud of something that left a thick coat of frost on the entire front half of the vehicle.



For the time being, Gwyntaan loped alongside Tesla.  He was capable of moving at a reasonable clip on the ground, and for the moment, speed and surveillance didn't seem as important.  It was a trip into town - something that the Captain had been doing on his own for a few seasons now.  If anything, the dragon's attitude was one of anticipation of a rare treat.  This didn't mean that he was completely distracted by the prospect, though.  Among other things, he was scouting the rugged landscape around the quarry for potential meals and potential competition.

The sound of the Growler seemed to suggest the latter.

[Blythe]

Ja X hadn't remotely expected the site that beheld her when she arrived at the quarry, her Growler rumbling under her like some sort of great big dog. She was fairly convinced it wasn't running as well as it should, but she'd have to get it checked out later. It would be a hell of a problem if it started acting up now; she was far too concerned with this sudden arrival to Seattle and what that could mean. And there would be a lot of money in it for the person who figured all this nonsense out, she knew. Information was far more valuable than the well-being of her Growler, but she didn't want the thing to die on her before she could investigate. It sputtered to a stop as she drove about as far in as she dared into the area.

In the distance she could see a masked figure (were those goggles?) and some sort of beastie by him. Out came a weapon--she didn't want to take any chances. Little did she know that another vehicle was on it's way to the locale; Ja X didn't have a lot of time to get a handle on things. She called out "This quarry is the property of the Seattle Mining Conglomerate! Who are you, and why are you trespassing?" She hoped that if she kept a quaver out of her voice, she could sound like she really was an official. Besides, there was no such thing as the 'Seattle Mining Conglomerate.' She knew all the big corporate movers and shakers, and she hadn't wanted to risk shouting out a name that a stranger might actually recognize.

...and what was that beast by the man, upon closer look? It looked...menacing...

[Oniya]

Threat.  This woman was a threat.  Gwyntaan could see that much in the way she held the strange device that she pointed at them.  It didn't look quite like the Captain's gun, but it was close enough for him to discern its purpose.  He glanced quickly at the Captain, and then back at the newcomer.  Captain wanted to make 'new friends'.  It would be bad form to do anything too drastic, though, so he decided to return display for display.

Sitting back on his haunches, the little dragon mantled his wings and emitted a hiss worthy of one of the great constrictors.  Anyone trying to pick a fight with his Captain would have more than the human to deal with.

[Blythe]

Ja  X didn't notice the other newcomer; that Growler she had was loud enough to where any potential observers, if they stayed back a ways, could stay hidden with relative ease. Ja X wasn't looking to stay hidden, though; she wanted some info on what was going on, needed the creds, needed something like an edge, which hopefully this would provide. Her weapon in hand, she was about to shout out another statement to the dark tall stranger in the goggles...

...and then that beast. Ja X saw it. A dragon.

A dragon. There were people who would pay a tidy sum for information that this creature existed here, that a dragon had come through with some sort of planar stranger. She took a breath, though, because that hiss from the critter was no joke. She smiled, her soft features hardening into a mask of nervousness, and she blurted, "Nice dragon. Goooood dragon." Her weapon angled more towards it, though; she was far more afraid of that beast than the goggled guy.

The goggled guy, though, decided to speak up. He called in passable but accented English (a British accent, possibly?), "I am Captain Tesla, foraging explorer and adventurer, seeking a new world to call a home. Although I best advise you to put that weapon down, miss. Gwyntaan doesn't take kindly to overt threats of that nature." Ja X blurted, "Gwyntaan? It has a name?" She didn't want to paint this dragon as a monster--dragons could be exceptionally intelligent and powerful (hell, most could use computer systems far better than most people could). Many could even take human form...but this dragon wasn't from around here, and Ja X had no idea of it's capabilities.

The Captain nudged her gently, murmuring, "I did say to drop the weapon. I suppose I should have been more clear." He was trying to be a gentleman about it...but he was tempted to let Gwyn go take it to teach her a lesson, let him play with her a bit to remind her not to draw immediately upon someone just because they were a stranger. And it would impress upon her that just because he was not familiar with her world of blinking lights and humming prodigious electricity didn't mean he would be a pushover.

He raised an eyebrow at Gwyn and jerked his head to the weapon Ja X held...

[Oniya]

Gwyntaan glanced up at the Captain and gave a distinct nod.  While he was perfectly capable of inflicting serious damage on the woman confronting them, Captain had been specifically talking about the weapon, and so his attack was aimed at disarming Ja X instead.  Like a scaled battering ram, he launched himself head-first towards the shoulder of her weapons-hand.  At the very least, that should throw her aim off, and hopefully send the weapon flying.  If he was lucky, it might even knock her to the ground.



A few klicks away, well out of range of the quarry, the pickup truck roared back to life.  The orb zipped back into the cab, while the man behind the wheel gave a colorful (if impossible) description of both machines' lineages.  The break-down had cost him valuable time, since information could be and was often sold multiple times if the market for it was good.  He'd settle for salvage, though.  After all, he made his living putting things together that shouldn't work - but did.

[Blythe]

Ja X shrieked as Gwyn launched himself at her. She wasn't fast enough to move out of the way, and she wasn't strong enough to resist the rather strong knock against her shoulder. She tumbled straight to the ground, but it was enough to cause her weapon to misfire, sending a shot wildly out into the quarry. A distant ping! revealed it had probably struck machinery of some kind. Tesla let out a small noise of satisfaction at the sudden troucing of the newcomer, but he did reply simply, his voice apologetic, "I did tell you to drop the weapon. Two civilized folk aren't going to be able to talk when one has a deadly tool pointed at the other, you know."

The woman trembled and muttered, feeling bruises rising already on her shoulder. This was going disastrously already. The shot was bound to be heard by anyone who might be nearby...and Ja X was paranoid others might be investigating this or might try to poach finding these two from her. Information was only as valuable as its recency and relevancy...

She stood up, edging carefully away from Gwyntaan, and said, "I think we need to talk about what you're doing here and how you got here....Captain." The gun was out of her hand after the misfire; she'd let it go rather than risk Gwyn biting her or mauling her.

Tesla sauntered over and picked up her weapon, intrigued by it. He turned to Gwyn and said, "Scout the area, Gwyn. If this woman is here, there might be more."