Marcus
Manakete
Dragon Reborn
Hell and back is a long way to go, but my journey's only begun.
Posts: 176
Profession: Wanderer
Affinity: Dark
Dragon Element: Lightning
Profile: Marcus
OoC Alias: Marc
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Post by Marcus on Aug 7, 2019 10:21:06 GMT -6
What’s a dragon to do when they find themselves alone in the world without purpose or meaning? This was the question that Marcus found himself pondering as he wandered the forests of Lycia. It seemed that no matter where he traveled or who he met along the way, no person would linger, nor any purpose would stick. Months had passed since he had come so painfully close to reuniting with his best friend. A veritable parade of people had come and gone from his life in that time, and it was rare to find someone who didn’t want to bend Marcus to their cause. Frankly, he had grown exhausted with the constant lobbying that assaulted him and had taken to completely avoiding people as he wandered aimlessly through the wilds of Elibe. And boy, was his wandering aimless.
Other than giving any settlement a wide berth, there wasn’t much rhyme or reason to where Marcus traveled. He would wake up each morning, pick a direction, and set off on foot. Occasionally, he would meander of his chosen direction if something piqued his interest or he caught sight of his lunch for the day. As such, it was by complete chance that he found himself in a familiar clearing, staring uneasily at the aged cabin he had once called his home. It had to have been at least fifty years or so since he had left, setting out on the path that had led him to the fateful end of his first life. The cabin had certainly seen better days. The forest had started to reclaim the space. Moss and vines crawled up the walls and a tree had collapsed a corner of the building. If he had to hazard a guess, Marcus believed it was no longer habitable.
The dragon sighed, unhooked his axe from his belt, and hucked it into the ground so that the blade buried itself several inches in the ground. His cloak and shirt soon followed it, as his hands found their way to the faintly glowing green stone hanging from his neck. Power surged from the stone and flowed to his back, where a pair of ebony black wings emerged and unfolded. Marcus stretched his wings as wide as they could go, matching the motion in his arms. He held the position for a few moments, then flopped gracelessly to the ground, absorbing the warmth of the undergrowth as it soaked in the afternoon sun. I think I’ll just lay here forever, Marcus fantasized. Just myself and this warm feeling.
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Post by Mila on Aug 8, 2019 21:21:52 GMT -6
It had been a few weeks since the Sage left the confines of Ryerde's Magic Academy. She spent the last year there educating the minds of scholars about the wonderful and horrible world of monsters. She also spent some time educating and training herself for the next phase of her journey. Her return to Nabata. She had with her a letter of recommendation, from Veritas, to Akedemia. And she really hoped the letter would be enough to let her stay on their grounds while she did her research. But, she'd have to worry about that when she got there. Nabata was still months away. And she needed to focus on the here and now. Right now, she guessed she was some where in Laus. Her game plan was to head west from Laus and hit Thira. From Thira she wanted to investigate the fringes of the Ostian borders. Check up on the status of the monster situation there. Then she would head southwards and follow the coast line until she got to Khan Yunis.
Mila looked around at the vast forest around her. The trees were enormous. Moss seemed to cover every inch of bark on some of the trees. Heart shaped leaves grew out of tiny gaps between the moss and bark. The sun was shining up above. Patches of it would filter through onto the fertile ground down below. From the safety of it's glass jar, attached to a special hook on Mila's belt, her tiny lightning elemental awoke. And it was seemingly mesmerized by the greenery of the forest in front of it. It's tiny 'face' was pressed against the glass and it's little hands were cupped over it's 'eyes'. It's gaze was focused on something out in the distance. A set of seemingly harmless red berries that were hanging from a low hanging branch.
"Are you looking at the berries?" She looked down at her lightning elemental. And it 'looked' up at her. Then pointed to the red orbs. Mila walked over towards the tiny red fruit. Examined it. Determined it to not be toxic to touch. She plucked one off the vine and handed it towards her little elemental. The sage knew what would happen to the berry. As several experiments in Veritas had demonstrated that the little elemental had a hard time picking up organic matter. With out it either bursting into flames or exploding. Unfortunately, the elemental did not understand this concept. The berry did not last more then ten seconds before the tiny fruit exploded in the elemental's tiny hands. Covering the poor thing in a thin slurry of juice and flesh. But then something else caught the attention of the little lightning elemental. It unlike Mila was more attuned to the forces of magic... which made sense since the creature was a literal living ball of magical energy. It sparked around in it's bottle excitedly before pointing and jumping at a specific direction for Mila to go.
"Alright, but this is the last little detour i'm doing for you." Mila cautioned before walking in the direction the little lightning ball wanted to go. She walked past several trees, over several rocks, and over a dead log. Until, she came across the outline of an old cabin out in the woods. Then she stopped. Fairy tales warned her about curious minds entering old mysterious cabins in the woods. But, the little lightning elemental kept on sparking around in it's jar. Like an angry hornet the sparking made a low buzzing noise that was bound to draw in some attention.
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Marcus
Manakete
Dragon Reborn
Hell and back is a long way to go, but my journey's only begun.
Posts: 176
Profession: Wanderer
Affinity: Dark
Dragon Element: Lightning
Profile: Marcus
OoC Alias: Marc
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Post by Marcus on Aug 10, 2019 10:23:47 GMT -6
An hour or two must have passed as Marcus basked in the warm glow of the clearing. It had been so long since he had felt such warmth and contentment. He wondered what it would be like to stay in this feeling forever, to let out the rest of his power and let his black scales absorb the sun’s radiant warmth. Perhaps the clearing would begin to reclaim him, as it had started to do with the old cabin. Which would take him first? Hunger or the forces of entropy? It would certainly be a better way to go than his first death, he mused. Why brave warriors desired an epic death amongst the chaos of a battlefield, Marcus would never understand. He had gone that route once already and found it lacking. The bards would already sing songs of the chaos his demise had brought about, undoubtedly, and the idea of enduring such pain again to get a better verse was, frankly, unappealing.
But would it be truly worth it to perish now? If he did give up and expire in the clearing, would he have made the most of his second lease on life? He certainly hadn’t accomplished much since returning from beyond the veil. An ambling journey to Ilia and back, most of which he couldn’t remember, several half-hearted attempts to help people on their personal quests, and a missed connection with his closest friend. And of course, there was the question of where he would go were he to die. If the afterlife was truly determined by a person’s moral deeds, Marcus doubted that he had done anything significant to avoid the endless void of pain that lingered in the recesses of his mind. Perhaps, if left the clearing and tried his best to make a real difference in the world, his afterlife could be this feeling for all eternity.
There was no guarantee of that, however, and before he could ponder that line of thinking any further, the sounds of footsteps approaching the clearing pulled him from his thoughts. Marcus groaned quietly. Who had the audacity to disturb him when he was being introspective? “Nothing to see here,” he called out to the stranger, not bothering to lift his head from the ground, “Just a corpse rotting in the sun.” He waited for the stranger to leave, but oddly the sounds of retreating footsteps never came. Then, he heard the buzzing. The sound was strangely reminiscent of a hornet’s nest when disturbed, and Marcus shot up in alarm, not desiring to be stung by the annoying insects. However, once he was on his feet, he saw no sign of any wasp or hornet, just a lone, blue-haired women. The buzzing, it seemed was coming from her. More specifically, from a jar hanging from her side that emitted a pale glow. “I…,” Marcus stammered in surprise, “That things not gonna explode, is it?”
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Post by Mila on Aug 10, 2019 15:20:58 GMT -6
'Nothing to see here'. Well that got Mila's attention. She thought she and her little elemental were alone out in the forest. But, apparently her footsteps and the bouncing buzzing activity of her elemental was enough to warrant the attention of whatever stranger lived in these woods. A corpse rotting in the sun huh? Mila has met many animated corpses in her day. None of them spoke. Most that did still have some semblance of their necks, mouths, and throats in tact usually made a horrible groaning noise. So, she safely deduced that the person was not a reanimated corpse, but a person with a bit of a macabre sense of humor. She caught a glimpse of the man out in the distance. Pale skin and blonde hair. A bandanna over his eye. And wings. How lovely! This is hitting all of the check marks of being in a literal fairy tale. That means something awful was going to happen. Terrific! This guy was probably the monster that was going to eat her in the end. Just wonderful. If she survived this she'd kick herself later for not wearing all of her regular traveling attire. No goggles. No sweet bandaged wrapped arms. She did remember her cloak and gloves, but her hood wasn't even over her head.
"Explode? I hope not." Mila responded back towards the voice. Please don't explode. I do NOT have the resources to make another one. She picked up the jar and lifted it up towards her face.
"Hey. Calm down will you." The buzzing persisted. Mila sighed. She pulled her arms away from her face then proceeded to shake the jar, heavily. The buzzing stopped and was replaced with the noise of a rock bouncing around the sides of a glass jar. The sage stopped shaking once the noise changed. The once bouncing and bright elemental in the jar was replaced by a glittering rock of pyrite.
"Not sure why it got so excited. It usually only does that when lightning's nearby." She explained, before putting the jar back on her hip.
"It's gonna be real mad a me for shaking the jar once it wakes back up." She lightly tapped the jar. The dormant elemental did not even spark.
"Right. Well, a hello is in order. So, Hello... winged stranger. And sorry about the intrusion."
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Marcus
Manakete
Dragon Reborn
Hell and back is a long way to go, but my journey's only begun.
Posts: 176
Profession: Wanderer
Affinity: Dark
Dragon Element: Lightning
Profile: Marcus
OoC Alias: Marc
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Post by Marcus on Aug 10, 2019 22:52:38 GMT -6
In response to his query, the strange woman removed the buzzing jar from her side and, with some measure of caution, shook it violently. As she did, she seemed to be speaking to the contents of the jar. Marcus could hear something clattering around inside of it, but from this distance, it was tough to determine exactly what it was. When the shaking finally stopped, however, the buzzing stopped with it. Talking to inanimate objects wasn’t the strangest behavior he had ever seen human’s exhibit. Hell, he himself had, on several occasions, carried on long conversations with a wolf that he was now convinced had never truly existed. Still, the strange woman seemed to regard the object with some matter of sentience, a fact that had piqued Marcus’ interest, especially when she let slip that the object had a particularly strong reaction to thunder. First though, he supposed, he should return her introduction.
“No need for an apology,” Marcus offered, “You’re no more intruding on me than you are the birds in the trees. Name’s Marcus. I’m… well…” he paused, unsure of what to tell her. What exactly was he these days anyways? Sure, he was a dragon, that much was obvious, but it certainly wasn’t how he identified himself. Wanderer was a fair bit more accurate, but even his wandering had become so uninspired lately that it hardly seemed important enough to mention. For the most part, he was simply existing right now. “I suppose I’m simply out here experiencing what life throws my way. Today, that seems to be a lady with a very strange bottle. What is that thing exactly? And why is it gonna be mad?” Marcus cautiously began to approach the strange woman, curious to get a closer look at the contents of the jar.
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Post by Mila on Aug 11, 2019 15:18:30 GMT -6
"My name is Mila. Monster hunter and researcher. And the thing in the jar.. has no name! What it is.. is a lightning Elemental! Living.. magic!" She wasn't sure why she sorta said that with such enthusiasm. Her little lightning elemental was birthed by the lightning section of her trinity tome. It's quite possibly the weakest lightning in all of existence. But, she was not yet ready to deal with the power of a higher level lightning tome. She still couldn't handle basic thunder after the lightning. But, she's working on that.
"It's gonna be mad. Cause it really hates it when I shake the jar like that. But, don't worry. It's basically harmless unless you are a secretly a sentient pile of dead leaves." The tapped the jar lightly again. This time there was a faint glow of blue coming from the rock of pyrite.
"Got about another minute before it comes out throwing a temper tantrum like a two year old. Sorry if it interrupts whatever conversation we happen to be having in that time. You are more then welcome to hold it once it's calmed down after it's tantrum." She thought for a bit about what Marcus said. A creature just experiencing whatever life throws there way.. hmm. She could probably work with that. She was still kinda sorta in the middle of her own existential crisis... since she figured the monsters are going to win. Regardless of whatever humans, dragons, or taguel decide to do. Even though she thought those thoughts.. she was still out here.. fighting.. trying to find meaning in all of it. She stared at Marcus for a moment. A long moment. Borderline uncomfortable moment. All of it in silence.
"I'm sorry. I'm trying to figure you out. Your.. not human. Cause of the wings.. Not a monster. since, that would have already killed me by now. Not.... you don't.. have any other known animal features.. so I don't think.. you are a taguel." She thought some more. She had a flashback towards Nayru and her conversation on the ship. She suddenly remembered how, much time had passed since, that adventure on the island. Months. Possibly a year. Things were hazy. Memories were steadily being replaced by newer experiences. She'd have to look back in her notes to remember the full details of that conversation. She didn't want to think Marcus was a dragon. At least not yet. But, if her elemental had such a strong reaction to this guy then maybe? He could also be a lightning demi god. Just once she'd like to have that crossed of her 'i guessed this correctly' list.
"Please feel free to stop my guessing with the correct answer at any time."
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Marcus
Manakete
Dragon Reborn
Hell and back is a long way to go, but my journey's only begun.
Posts: 176
Profession: Wanderer
Affinity: Dark
Dragon Element: Lightning
Profile: Marcus
OoC Alias: Marc
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Post by Marcus on Aug 11, 2019 19:04:47 GMT -6
Monster hunter. Marcus froze in his tracks at the term. She was here to kill him. He had been too careless in his wandering. Somehow Etruria must have gotten wind of his resurrection and dispatched another assassin. He had to run. Maybe if he transformed now and hit her with enough of his lightning breath he could--- Wait, stop and think for a moment, Marcus chided himself. He had heard rumors during his travels of actual monsters (i.e. not scared dragons like himself), things like walking corpses and creatures of that nature. Mila was most likely referring to that kind of monster. Besides, if she were really an assassin sent to kill him, she could have found several better opportunities to do the dark deed. After all, the last person who tried (and succeeded) to kill him had done so in a crowded arena packed to the brim with talented fighters, not all alone in a secluded forest. And an assassin CERTAINLY wouldn’t have started up a polite conversation with him before taking his life. Marcus took a moment to let out a tense breath and crossed his arms, one hand resting inquisitively under his chin.
“Living magic, huh? Can’t say that I’ve ever heard that one before,” he admitted. He had seen a lot of crazy things in his five hundred and fifty or so years in Elibe, but this was pretty damn near the top of the list. Magic had never really been his forte, ironic considering how closely tied dragons were to magic. Part of Marcus wished that he had taken up the study of magic at some point in his long life so that he could engage her in the finer points of the kind of work needed to imbue a stone with life. However, Marcus was no scholar, far from it, and he guessed that any explanation Mila offered would go right over his head. Still, he was ever a curious individual. “I wouldn’t mind holding it, as long as it doesn’t bite,” he admitted, half-heartedly chuckling at his own joke.
An uncomfortable silence fell over the clearing. At first, Marcus thought it was because his joke had failed to land. But then he met Mila’s gaze and realized she was studying him. Who could blame her? Any person who came across Marcus in the woods would have a lot to take in, shirtless and barefoot as he was. Without either his top or cloak on, the myriad array of scars that criss-crossed his torso stood out from his pale skin, a grim epitaph of his first death. Add to that his wings and the glowing dragonstone around his neck, and he was quite a sight to behold. But, oddly, Mila seemed less concerned with his appearance than on what he actually was. “Well, I don’t know what the hell a taguel is, but I’m pretty sure I’m not one. And plenty of people have called me a monster before, but that’s just because people lump us in with their ilk. I’m a dragon, actually,” Marcus revealed, idly playing with his dragonstone. “Or a manakete, depending on which term you feel like using. Is this your first time meeting one of my kind?”
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Post by Mila on Aug 12, 2019 10:07:53 GMT -6
"It doesn't have any teeth to bite you with. though you might get a slight jolt. Same jolt you get if you happen to be wearing a lot of wool. And then touch something that's not wool." The books described that shock as static. Other people would describe that shock as spirits playing pranks. Mila took a moment to notice Marcus as Marcus. She dismissed the wings for a moment and took a look at his body. No shoes, no shirt, and plenty of scars. A strange brightly colored stone hung from chain on his neck. This guy.. has had a hard life. The realization of HOW hard a life came when Marcus did indeed reveal himself to be a dragon. She should be shocked at that. Should be. But, she wasn't. Nayru sorta took that initial shock with her after their first meeting. And in that time she'd gotten better at reading people. Instead of just saying words and whatever sort of thing came into her head. Other probably.. assumed Marcus, to be some sort of monster. And it was probably people who gave him those ghastly scars. People who were frighted of the creature before them.. who did not understand that a dragon and monster were to different things.
"Nope. You aren't the first one I've met. Though.. you are the first to mention the word Manakete." She took a deep breath in and exhaled it out her nose. Now, while Marcus being a dragon didn't shock her. She was still, kinda excited at all of this. 'Mana'. Now, she knew what that word was. It was a variant on.. magic.. energy.. force. The energy that mages use to make the magic happen. So if she needed to hazard a guess a Manakete.. was a magic dragon. And now that she thought about it.. Nayru did punch things a lot. Though she would wait until Marcus explained what a Manakete was before she vocalized her assumptions.
"And that jewelry you have is something I've never seen before. The last dragon I met.. didn't appear to have one. Or maybe.. she did but didn't show it." She pointed at it. At this point the tiny elemental sprang back to life. It was indeed angry. And was sparking violently. But, Mila wasn't quite paying it any attention. The elemental stopped sparking, annoyed that it's ranting wasn't being acknowledged, it looked up at both the giants beyond it's glass prison.
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Marcus
Manakete
Dragon Reborn
Hell and back is a long way to go, but my journey's only begun.
Posts: 176
Profession: Wanderer
Affinity: Dark
Dragon Element: Lightning
Profile: Marcus
OoC Alias: Marc
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Post by Marcus on Aug 13, 2019 12:47:45 GMT -6
“I think Manakete is a human term, actually. I can’t remember where I first heard it, but I want to say it was in a history book written by one of your kind. It was tucked away in a library in Etruria somewhere.” Marcus had never been much of a reader, but on the suggestion of a chance acquaintance, he had traveled to Etruria to check out their libraries, and it was there he had chanced upon this particular tome. In truth, he would likely have passed it by, had it not been for the word “dragon” on the book’s spine. He had found it rather odd to find any mention of his kind in what was a very human-centric collection of books. The language and grammar of the author had been exceedingly archaic and, as such, Marcus had only been able to puzzle out bits and pieces of the book’s contents. From what he was able to gather, it was a treatise of sorts on the differences between two subtypes of dragons, written by a scholar of war. It detailed each subtype’s potential strengths and weaknesses, as well as some of their characteristic phenotypes. Marcus had found the subject rather dry, and after a few minutes of trying to parse the author’s prose, had ditched it for something more illustrated. However, the word manakete had always stuck with him. “As far as I can tell, some dragons are better with magic and others are better with their physical bodies. Manaketes are the former. I think I’d be classified as a Manakete? I dunno, it’s tricky.”
“As for this,” Marcus continued, cupping his dragonstone with both hands, “This is a dragonstone. Every dragon’s got one. Some dragons will integrate it into their clothing or their jewelry, but I prefer to just wear it around my neck. Harder to lose it that way.” Ironically, Marcus had lost his stone on a number of occasions, but given the circumstances, one could hardly fault him for it. “The dragonstone is the source of our power. It’s what gives us access to our magic and let’s us assume our true power. I remember hearing some legend that we didn’t always have them. Back then, we were dragons all the time. But if there’s a dragon who doesn’t have a dragonstone, I’ve never heard of them. And there’s not a lot of us left these days, so the odds of that are…” Marcus trailed off. The fate of his people was rather grim and it pained him to think of how few they were becoming. Given the current human opinion of dragons, Marcus doubted that things would ever improve.
The conversation was saved from its depressing trajectory by the elemental at Mila’s side, which chose that moment to awaken quite noisily. As soon as it quieted down, Marcus dropped to a crouch, lowering himself to eye level with the glowing magic rock. “Good morning, little friend,” he greeted it with a cheerful grin. His eyes craned back up to Mila. “May I hold it?” he asked, cupping his hands out in front of himself.
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Post by Mila on Aug 13, 2019 19:32:21 GMT -6
Mila listened quietly to what Marcus had to say. The thing around his neck was a dragonstone. And every dragon had one. They needed one to tap into the powers of.. themselves. To change into dragons. She never thought that something so powerful would exist in something that could be held in one's palm. This, coming from someone's who's own palms could toss fire that can cause forest fires or lob literal mountains made of magic! She learned a lot from Marcus just now. Stuff that Nayru did not explain. Or maybe she did and Mila was still kinda half stupefied by the revelation or just plan ol seasick. Really gotta look back at the notes when I get a moment.
"So.. if I had to put it in layman's terms.. Dragons are the warriors of the dragon world.. and Manaketes are the mages." She felt satisfied with that definition. There were a thousand and one other questions starting to pile up in her own head. She remembered the fight on the island. She remembered Nayru changing into her dragon form. The lightning. And.. nope.. rest of it has gone fuzzy. Like the memory was there, she could see it, but it looked like someone had put a smudgy piece of glass over her eyes, and she was trying to see though that. She wanted to get down to the nitty gritty about the magic of what makes their magic work. She had to force herself to put those questions down.
"The other dragon I met.. did not tell me about the stones. I suspect.. she wanted to keep some level of secrecy. And considering that at that time.. it was our first meeting... I can understand why. Anyone who had a dark heart with that information.. could use it for nefarious gains." She bit her lip.
"I do believe.. she made a mention that dragons are rare.. in the world. And.. I'm sorry." Mila wasn't sure why she was apologizing. She didn't do anything to Marcus that warranted an apology. But, she knew that it was humanity, that made dragons to what they were now. Pushed to near extinction. Forced to live in hiding. And Mila, felt awful for that. For being part of the very race that pushed them to the very brink of death. Perhaps, the plague of killer monsters out in the world, are punishment for humanities past sins. If that's the case.. then we truly DO deserve it. At the very least it definitely sounded like something some sort of fate a twisted omnicidal god would cook up. Fortunately, Marcus's movements managed to slowly snap her out of her sad thoughts. The little elemental was still in it's jar, on her hip. When Marcus moved down towards it's eye level the little elemental let out a small pop. It waved it's little arms in front of it's 'chest' like a little girl when meeting her most favorite knight.
"I'm going to go out on a limb and guess you must be a lightning element dragon. It's the only reason I can think of why this little guy is so excited to meet you. From it's perspective.. you are like.. a giant version of it. Living Magic and all.. sorta." Mila spoke out loud as she went about getting ready to hand Marcus the elemental. Her bare hands couldn't handle the awakened elemental. But the thick gloves she had on could. Mila removed the bottle from her hip. Pulled the large cork out. And gently tilted the bottle so that the opening was facing her open palm.
"Come on."
The little elemental crawled out of it's bottle and onto Mila's hand.
"And if you are a lightning manakete.. then you should be able to hold this guy with out any problems. Cept.. maybe it's excitement." Mila put the empty bottle and cork on the floor. She used her teeth to remove the glove off of her free hand.
"And if you aren't lightning, then please use the glove. Do not drop it. The dry bits of the forest floor are flammable. And lightning creates sparks."
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OOC- When awake the Elemental is about the size of a golf-ball. It looks like a glowing blue/white/sometimes yellow star-bit from super mario galaxy. With legs, feet, arms, and tiny hands. When it's dormant, it's a golf-ball sized piece of golden pyrite stone. It has no 'face' but rather like a dominant side to itself.
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Marcus
Manakete
Dragon Reborn
Hell and back is a long way to go, but my journey's only begun.
Posts: 176
Profession: Wanderer
Affinity: Dark
Dragon Element: Lightning
Profile: Marcus
OoC Alias: Marc
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Post by Marcus on Aug 13, 2019 21:33:09 GMT -6
Marcus mused over Mila’s responses. He was curious to know who these dragons she had met were, and if he knew any of them. While he obviously wasn’t familiar with every living dragon in Elibe, their society was small enough that the odds were in his favor. It probably wasn’t Fran. Last he had heard, she had returned to Arcadia and hadn’t seemed keen on returning anytime soon. It could have been Nayru, though. She had an adventurous soul and he bet that she and Mila would really get along. “Yeah, dragons are a secretive bunch. I’m not exactly… well, I’m not your average dragon, I suppose. I guess trusting humans to be your close friends and then getting pushed to the brink of extinction by those same humans has a way of making you keep secrets. Which.... yeah.” Marcus wasn’t sure how to respond to Mila’s apology. The Scouring certainly wasn’t her fault and Marcus had been born long after it had happened, but he also knew all too well that anti-dragon sentiments were alive and well. “It’s best left unsaid, I find. All we can do is work towards a future where dragons and humans can coexist again. Maybe, just maybe, it’ll actually be reality someday.” He wasn’t sure how much he believed that, but you had to have hope in times like this.
His thoughts turned toward receiving the excited, little lightning elemental. Mila gave him some cautionary advice as she retrieved it from her bottle and guessed, correctly, that he was a lightning dragon. “You got it in one,” Marcus confirmed, “You probably felt it as you got closer to the clearing, too. It always feels like it’s about to storm when one of us is around, even on a clear day like today.” With that, the elemental was out of the bottle and on to Mila’s gloved hand. As her hand and Marcus’s closed the gap, the little ball of magic leapt from her palm and onto his. It ran a few excited circles around his hands, curious to investigate the lightning dragon. “Wow, you weren’t kidding! He’s got a lot of energy! Hang on, I wanna try something.”
Marcus closed his eye and focused on the energy in his dragonstone. He tapped into the lightning magic it contained and let it flow from the stone and up through his palms. At first small sparks jumped from various spots on his skin at random, and the elemental looked on in confusion, its “face” attempting to find the source of the electricity. Then, Marcus focused harder, bringing the sparks down to four distinct spots. After watching the pattern for a moment, the elemental placed its hands and feet on each of those spots and sent a charge back through his hand and into the dragon. This went on for several moments, Marcus and the elemental feeding energy back and forth between the two of them. It was such an excitable and curious thing, and he could almost intrinsically feel that about it. He wondered if the elemental could also feel similar things about his own personality and what it would see if it could. After another moment, Marcus opened his eye and beamed at the elemental. “You need a name. I think I’m gonna call you Joule.” He rose to his feet and offered the elemental back to Mila. “It’s a fascinating creature! Did you make it yourself?”
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Post by Mila on Aug 14, 2019 13:40:19 GMT -6
Mila mentally smiled at herself when Marcus confirmed her suspicions of him being a lightning Dragon... Manakete. Her scholarly powers of deduction haven't gone to rust just yet. She was going to carefully hand Marcus the little elemental, until it took matters into it's own hands and jumped. She couldn't blame it. Marcus was probably one of the only people left in this world who could just.. play with it. With out hazards. With out gloves, bottles, or notes. Mila put the free glove back on her hand. It was strange that Mila didn't initially sense that Marcus was a lightning manakete. Normally, she was good at sensing that sorta thing, due to her horrible and at this point childish fear over the element itself. She remembered being kinda tense around Nayru, until she was reassured she wouldn't get eaten or something.
Mila watched as Marcus worked his own sort of magic with her elemental. An interaction between a dragon and a tiny elemental was historic. Something that should be observed by dozens of scholars and written down with intricate details. Scholars writing long lists of their hypothesis regarding the transfer of magic or something along those lines. But, if Mila did have a quill, ink, and parchment at this moment, the first thing she would have written down would have been something along the lines of. 'This is adorable' 'Look at his little legs go!' She had her hands cupped over her hands, hiding her stupid grin, when Marcus made a game of twister with his own magic. It's too cute! And Marcus seemed to be enjoying the interaction and the presence of her little elemental so much that he decided to name it on the spot. Joule.
"Joule. I like it. Thought I can't guarantee it's going to stick. Intelligence in the elemental is not.. well.. it's like a toddler at worst, child at best. But, I will make my best effort." Mila replied. As she took the little elemental back from Marcus. The little guy wanted to leap back into Marcus's hands but Mila stopped it with her fingers.
"I know you want to play more. But, it's best you don't over do it. Here." She spoke to the elemental. She put it back in the jar. She picked up a few dried twigs and leaves from the ground and put it in the jar with it. The little elemental immediately sat down and started to play with it's new toys. Making tiny holes in the leaves and lighting the top of the twigs with its sparks. Mila left the glass jar uncorked so the wisps of smoke had somewhere to go.
"Yes I did. It took a few tries though. First one was a failure.. the second one exploded during magic transfer... nearly caused a fire. Third one did the trick though." She decided to return Marcus's question with one of her own.
"Do you live here? Or are you passing through?"
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Marcus
Manakete
Dragon Reborn
Hell and back is a long way to go, but my journey's only begun.
Posts: 176
Profession: Wanderer
Affinity: Dark
Dragon Element: Lightning
Profile: Marcus
OoC Alias: Marc
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Post by Marcus on Aug 14, 2019 17:57:25 GMT -6
As the elemental left his hands for those of its creator, it seemed to almost beg her to go back. However, as Mila warned it, it was probably for the best that they limit their interaction for the time being. Marcus had never accounted anything like Joule before and taking a devil-may-care attitude with anything magical, no matter how powerful, was neither safe nor recommended. As much as he wanted to go nuts and toss out every magical trick he could try, the results could have serious consequences. It had already been risky to let some of his magic flow to the elemental. Fortunately, Joule had only engaged in a bit of playful back and forth, but it could have gotten greedy and absorbed more energy than it could handle. If it had, it could have grown in size and power until neither of them could control it. Or it could have continued to absorb power until it could no longer contain it, and the resulting explosion could encompass all of Laus, or even the entirety of Lycia. The opposite could have even happened. There was the distinct possibility that Joule could have let too much of its energy slip and the elemental would have returned to a simple inert rock. It was probably for the best that Marcus save for the experimentation for a controlled environment and only with Mila’s approval. After all, she had put a lot of work into this, and he didn’t want to ruin it all in one fell swoop.
Marcus was impressed that it had only taken Mila three attempts to create the elemental. If he had to guess, he would have assumed that Joule was the result of months of research, experimentation, and frustration. Perhaps Mila was something of a prodigy. “They do say third time’s the charm,” he joked, winking his lone eye. Winking with one eye was a difficult task. Without the context of the other eye, one couldn’t be certain if the closing of the eye was an errant blink or a purposeful wink. A subtle nod of the head was often required to fill the role of the missing eye. “I’d ask how you did it, but I’ve never been one for theory.”
At Mila’s inquiry, Marcus shot a glance over his shoulder at the remains of the cottage. “I’m not sure that anyone can live here anymore. I’m no architect, but I don’t think that thing is structurally sound anymore. I’m afraid if I open the front door, the roof will come crashing down on me. But to answer your question,” he continued, turning back to Mila, “Yes, I did live here once, though not for some fifty years now. It was a nice refuge for a few hundred years before wanderlust took me again. Funnily enough, I didn’t mean to wander this way. I guess it was fate that brought me back. What about you, though? Surely you’re not just out for a walk with your pet elemental?”
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Post by Mila on Aug 14, 2019 20:11:42 GMT -6
"If we were in a nice room with tables, chairs, and a blackboard with chalk, i'd gladly tell you all of the intricacies of magic involved with making an elemental." She joked. Though she suspected most of what she spoke about magic would go right over the dragon's head. Marcus didn't seem to be the bookworm type. Considering his disheveled appearance and his various scars.
"A few hundred years?" Marcus didn't look like an ancient man. Far from it, in fact, he sorta looked like someone she gradated with back in Eturia. Gods above dragons were fascinating creatures. And she wished she could pick apart Marcus's brain for study. But, that would be kinda rude and just a tad bit gross.
"Sorry. About everything. Again. Shame.. if I were a stronger sage.. and probably with a buddy. We could probably use magic to build you a home here." In theory. A few good blasts with some advanced Flora would do the trick. Me and that Buddy would still.. actually need to learn how to build a proper cabin to account for the weight and physics and all. At this point the little elemental finished burning through all it's provided kindling. Now it was simply playing with the ashes left behind. Rolling around in it. Tossing it up in the air. Stomping at it to make footprints.
"As to why am I here.. well. I'm trying to make my way to Nabata. Figured I cut through the forest to get to Laus proper. And then go westward from there." Would you like to join me? Mila almost said that. But, she held back simply because Marcus, while friendly, was still a stranger. She barely knew him. And while he was great with the little elemental child, she knew very little about him. But his scars.. those scars had a story behind them. Mila didn't have any physical scars like Marcus did, but she sure had a lot of mental ones.
"If you are willing to talk more, I'd like to learn your story. I can make us a small fire and prepare some tea. It's not going to be any fancy tea with crackers, but it'll be made with fresh herbs."
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Marcus
Manakete
Dragon Reborn
Hell and back is a long way to go, but my journey's only begun.
Posts: 176
Profession: Wanderer
Affinity: Dark
Dragon Element: Lightning
Profile: Marcus
OoC Alias: Marc
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Post by Marcus on Aug 15, 2019 11:07:27 GMT -6
The surprise that humans expressed when learning about the lifespans of dragons never failed to amuse Marcus. He had always assumed that it would be common knowledge at this point, what with the sheer amount of legends about his kind. But then again, it could be difficult to parse fact from fiction sometimes, and it was certainly much different to read about it in a book than to actually experience it first hand. Not that Marcus looked his age, anyways. Or rather, he didn’t look like what a human would if they lived to be over five hundred years old. If anything, he probably seemed barely an adult to Mila. “Yeah, dragons can live a long time. Nobody is actually sure how long, to be honest,” he admitted, scratching at the back of his head, “Some dragons have claimed that we’re actually immortal, as long as nothing comes along to kill us, but immortality is a tough thing to prove, and most of us pass away under other circumstances. Myself, I’m about five hundred and thirty, I think. The longer you live, the harder it is to keep track, unfortunately.”
Mila seemed to be in apologetic mood, again apologizing for something that was neither her fault nor in her power to correct. “Please, don’t worry about it. It’s true that I lived here a long time ago, but I wouldn’t really say that it was a home.” Ironically, it seemed, Mila’s final destination was the only place he had ever considered a home: Nabata, his birthplace. She was in no rush, however, as she offered to continue the conversation over tea. Marcus, to his own surprise, was eager to keep her company. Unlike the others he had encountered recently, Mila seemed to have no ulterior motive in wanting to learn about him. She was simply here for the joy of getting to know another person, and Marcus found that incredibly refreshing. “I would love some tea!”
A short time passed, and the two found themselves sitting in front of a warm fire in the center of the clearing. Marcus had since put his shirt and cloak back on and was sharpening the blade of his axe as Mila prepared the tea. As his top was meant for a human, and not a half-shifted manakete, he had dissipated his wings and again looked fully human. Satisfied with his work on the axe, he placed in gently on the ground and met Mila’s gaze from across the fire. “So what would you like to know about me? I can start from the beginning, if you’d like.”
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