Horizon [Nayru/Hayle]

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

[Set the evening after the day of Tempest]

So it turned out that lying down a lot was, in fact, still about as boring as humanly (dragonly?) possible, and while she was... relatively... patient, being forced to lie down for most of the day in order to even get to the point that she could move around without excruciating pain and/or the possibility of messing up the settling of her power - the best she could think of if she had to explain it was something like allowing a broken bone to set. Given time and rest and proper placement, it would do so naturally, but if one mucked about with their body or moved around and put stress in it, it might heal up wrong. Nayru was - so far as she knew - relatively unique in actually having experience with changing bodies TWICE now, which had to be a record of some sort in how stupid someone could be, but at least it meant she knew from the start exactly how annoying and painful the process would be!

And that was also why she had given up on it relatively quickly. This was hardly the evening of the first day after her ordeal, and there was no way in hell that she should be up and about, but Nayru was fairly certain she was going to snap and murder everyone with her mind if she lay there in bed, trapped alone with her own thoughts, for too much longer... and it was a pretty nice sunset as far as she could tell. In theory, as long as she didn't move around too much, this prrrrobably wouldn't hurt anything... in theory... yeah she was really just winging it and hoping for the best.

The whole 'walking' thing was harder than she remembered, but the reborn dragon managed to make it to the front porch without falling down, exploding, catching fire, or transforming, so at least she had that going for her. As it turned out, though, Hayle was already there, sitting on the edge of the porch with his cat doubtless somewhere in the vicinity, watching the sunset... or the people, or something, he was looking out in that general direction. Nayru called out to greet him before her brain kicked in and she remembered that, oh yeah, the last time she had seen him she was a gigantic murder dragon charging directly at him trying to kill him.

"Hello, Hayle." Hey, remember that time I tried to kill you? Me too. Good times, man.

[Hayle]

"Hrmph."

At first glance, anyone would think that Hayle was perturbed at the sight of the new and possibly improved Nayru (although, the jury was still out on the latter).

"Look at what the cat dragged in. Watch your feet by the way, unless you like smelling of dead bird."

Unfortunatly for Nayru, that damnable cat was winding through her legs in affectionate manner, purring muffledly through his mouthful of dead wood pigeon. Well, at least he wouldn't have to feed it tonight.

"Well, at least you're feeling well enough to be up and about. It certainly makes a change from having to carry you."

Smiling wryly, Hayle continued, "though, it was certainly a darn sight easier than having to carry you while you were large and scaly. I can only imagine having to explain that to everyone we met on the road. Not to mention the costs of food and lodging for someone so big. Pity though, you would have made for a great guard dog. Or would that be guard lizard?"

Twas all in good jest, of course. Secretly, Hayle was relieved to see that Nayru was up and about again. Maybe not back to her normal self and with the current drastic appearance changes she probably never would be, but it was still Nayru.

Of course, he could never tell her that. To break out from his snarky outer shell at this point would be confusing for everyone. But the relief was real and that was all that really mattered.

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

She swallowed at Hayle's curt greeting, suddenly remembering that she did not have the benefit of months of traveling and going through hell together that had bonded her to Veigue before this incident. Hayle was a good man, but perhaps it had been foolhardy to hope for such simple acceptance from him. And yet - he was still there. She hadn't actually expected him to stay, few mortals would have bothered, and so she was not entirely certain what to make of things.

"...And hello to you too, Sere." A wry smile crept to her lips as the affectionate feline made her presence known as the alpha wolf - cat - of the pack. Did cats have packs? No. Hm... clowder. "The alpha cat of the clowder," Nayru mused aloud, albeit with her attention not on her audience so much as her thoughts. It was a strange thought. Little stranger than Hayle's comments about dragging her transformed body around. He did seem the sort who dealt with stress through humor, an archetype she had met surprisingly rarely throughout her travels, but it was one that well hid their true thoughts behind a masque of merriment. Or perhaps a mask would be more appropriate; the difference in definitions, despite identical sound, was something that never ceased to amuse and occasionally frustrate her with human languages.

Guard dogs, guard lizards. More strange mental images. And how would one feed a guard dog of that size, anyways? The mythical Cerberus had never had much explanation of how the creature fed, aside from allusions to the occasional victim. Watching her step, she continued on after giving Sere's back a short but smooth pet. "Cats and dogs, my friend. I think I rather prefer your feline companion's affection to her ire." Was she still allowed to call him friend, even in jest? It was sort of strange for a five hundred year old social butterfly(heh) to be confused about how to react to things, but after such a sordid history of avoiding contact with others and being unable to open up, not to mention her recent physical and mental transformation... Nayru was all too eerily aware that in some ways she was little more than a human teenager.

And yet, in so many others, there were centuries of experience to guide her... and other scenarios where parts of both perspectives applied. It was all very confusing. What she wouldn't give to be a normal dragon sometimes - beautiful, aloof, wise, powerful. Well... one out of four wasn't too bad, right?

[Hayle]

Affection? Ire? Often, Hayle thought the two were the one and the same when it came to his dealings with his feline compatriot.

"Affection? Pah! Damned cat only likes me when there is food and warmth for it to take advantage of!"

The emotions connected to the outburst fled as quickly as they came though, leaving Hayle looking away in somewhat shame-faced embarassment.

Clearing his throat hurriedly and waving his hands in the air to dispel any leftover tension, Hayle opted for a convenient segue into a different topic.

"Regardless for whatever feelings I might currently possess for any felines in my current vicinity, it doesn't change that it is a relief to see you up and about."

"Though, one might argue that your current appearance is as much a surprise as you suddenly sprouting scales and exhaling eldritch lightning. I was not aware that dragons had the ability to change like that. Although, I imagine it could be somewhat inconvenient having to grow to such dimensions in order to change ones hair color or eye color."

Really though, at this point Hayle was just rambling a little bit. He really ahd no idea how to approach the current situation. It wasn't exactly as if he had a particularly good track record when it came to dealing with tragedy. Especially tragedies where the people he knew actually managed to survive.

But hey, a day in which you learn something new was a day that was never wasted. Maybe this could be the start of a new trend, one where people in his life didn't die horribly.

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

Well, at least he and his cat were on good enough terms to accuse each other of being worthless bums. That was, uh, that was a healthy relationship, right? Nayru was a little fuzzy on that part but chose to believe in the two of them - for what Hayle and Sere had likely been through by now, if she had their measure right at all, they knew quite well that they were stuck with each other and made the best of it. Or maybe they were both tsundere and just couldn't admit their affection for each other... Mother Earth her brain was weird today.

"...Thanks," she rejoined a little hesitantly to Hayle's 'official' greeting. "It's - nice to feel wanted." For once was left unstated, but far more poorly hidden than she realized; it spoke much of Nayru's experiences and expectations alike that she hadn't even considered the possibility of either Hayle or Veigue sticking around. Her words held a quiet gratitude to them though, born of that desperate loneliness; while she didn't know Hayle nearly as well as she would have liked, he had stayed with her, and that meant the world to her.

'Course, answering that last question was... actually, possibly ironically, one she might know the answer to BETTER than most dragons - first time for everything, right? Of course, that was due less to any sort of special knowledge unique to her as simply the fact that she had more experience with it than most; very few dragons saw any point in ever changing their appearance once they settled on one, and the tremendous spiritual changes necessary to trigger it, along with the harsh resonance in magical circuits afterwards, ensured there was no way for dragons to 'shapeshift' as a regular thing. Most could not even stand the incredible weakness and vulnerability that trying it once brought.

...But at least it was something relatively neutral to talk about. Sort of... parallel to the topic of her being a nightmarish monster from Elibean lore long thought extinct, but not quite directly on the same subject. "Well..." Nayru began slowly, rolling the word on her tongue in much the same way that she inspected the concept mentally. "The... transformation is more a symptom than a cause." She spoke carefully, quietly; her manner was more akin than it usually was to the ancient professor she in some fashion could identify as.

"A dragon's physical form is more of a... reflection of their soul than an individual entity. While such a... gaudy transformation is unnecessary, the spiritual alteration required to trigger a change represents a..." she gestured vaguely, clearly searching for appropriate words to communicate the concept - High Draconic held better words for the concept, but was of little use in Low Draconic or its Nabatan offshoot dialects, much less Common; "...major shift in the... soul, if you believe in that sort of thing, but more pressingly, in personality and identity especially. Combined with the absolute havoc it plays on magic circuits and subsequent lack of power, it is an exceedingly uncommon occurrence... I doubt the possibility even exists in contemporary human legends, though there are ancient references to it - or perhaps an entire separate race of shapeshifters."

Truly, it would have been wondrous to live in the time before time - to actually see all the wonders and oddities of a world so far gone. To learn the truths of the countless legends she had heard of... Nayru felt as though she were simply a child repeating the stories of her elders, so long as she was forced to base her knowledge of the past off of the recollections of others, rather than having experienced them herself.