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Post by Althea on May 18, 2017 0:04:04 GMT -6
Althea tried very hard to look like she was helping but uh, she was fairly certain she was fooling neither herself nor Shara as the... formerly claw lady mostly pulled herself up from the ledge and on to solid ground, looking less like a battle hardened divine warrior and more like a stripper moonlighting as a stunt double who had just been run over by a wagon. Two wagons, even. It was er... moral support, yes! Aid given freely in the name of - ah the hell with it she was going to have to ask Jalid or Aura about this strength magic bullshit at some point, this was getting ridiculous. But NOT Shara. Not to be er, offensive, but Althea didn't like the idea of growing claw scale things. Even if it was strong, er, strength magic. Which was kind of redundant now that she thought about it. She just wanted to look like a normal person. Who... also had super strength.
There was a saying about cakes and eating them that seemed quite relevant, but she couldn't quite recall it.
While Shara flopped to the ground and looked about like she would love to take a nap, Althea didn't have anything nearly as pressing to do so she stood up instead, dusting her knees off while peering down at the fallen gargoyle. Phew. The blonde had certainly done a number on THAT poor little dear. Turning back to that particular lady, it was... hard to reconcile the battered blonde with any kind of monstrous threat. Althea had her set of theories of course. They were always there in the background when her mind got going. As additional data got fed to them, projections warped and mutated. Different possibilities came to light. The idea of 'strength magic' had been ruthlessly extinguished by the claws. No, whatever the hell Shara was doing was more natural than that. So that suggested she was either not human, or... some sort of beast shifter? Like a Taguel. But they had seemed more... scaly, reptilian. Like a snake. Granted, she didn't know many snakes with arms, but what the hell else was she going to compare it to.
And it wasn't like there was a really long list of nonhuman species in Elibe. Especially not ones who had scales.
"Yes, we can discuss you likely being a dragon later," she said, trying very hard to sound completely casual and disaffected and not at all like she was about to get her face clawed off, "but more importantly, may I... attempt to heal you, or...?" The druid trailed off, looking about as uncertain as she felt. She was... she was not an expert healer to, um, put it lightly. She was pretty sure Aura was better at it than her, and he wasn't good at anything. "I - was told that mixing magics internally when attempting to heal another was unwise, and I'm not sure how you, um, work." She tried to smile but it was very much the 'deer in headlights' look more than 'calm and collected elder mage with infinite wisdom and presence' vibe she had been trying to go for.
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Post by Shara Tiinedra on May 19, 2017 19:46:57 GMT -6
Ah, well, Althea was...astute. Then again if she caught a solid glimpse of Shara's scales, or claws, or even her eyes during that fight then it was a reasonable conclusion to jump to. At least from Shara's perspective. She just didn't expect a human to jump to make that same jump, and at least do so with such calm, unless they'd met another dragon before. Yet there was still a slight sense of apprehension from the woman...
Though that could have been from her utter lack of confidence in her own healing skills. If one was a healer, it was probably best not to point out to your patient that your attempt to heal them at the time was “unwise”. Then yes, of course, there was the concern regarding biology. Shara let out a small sigh and forced herself into a proper seated position. No way she was standing anytime soon, if she could help it.
“When it comes to healing magic, as far as I can tell, it works the same. Whatever knowledge you have of the staff should apply to me.” At least while Shara was in her human form. Great, now she was curious about the effects of staff magic on a transformed dragon. Nayru had a staff wielding friend, yes? Remus or something of the sort...perhaps she'd ask her if the man had ever attempted to heal her wounds when transformed. A great deal of magic was internalized in a dragon's body, especially when shifted, so there was some logic to the theory that it staves could have adverse and unintended effects on dragons.
Then again that depended entirely on the nature of staff magic...which had always been of the least interest to Shara. For the first time ever she felt regret for neglecting to read up more on it.
“...And yes, you may attempt to heal me. I appreciate the offer just, uh, please be careful?” The last time Shara had any staff work done was when she had that spell in Sacae, but that had been to alleviate fatigue rather than mend bruised bones and other serious injuries. Though perhaps if Althea was going to be uncertain, then it was up to Shara to at least pretend to be confident. So she gave the druid a small smile...the effectiveness of it debatable.
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Post by Althea on May 20, 2017 0:18:14 GMT -6
Huh. She had been kinda expecting more of a reaction from Shara on her guess. Either a good or a bad one, depending on the circumstances. Then again, sometimes no reaction was a reaction in itself; Shara was neither surprised nor violently against the idea of that identification. Like, for the average person, no matter how tired they might be, they would probably at least do a double take. That, combined with Shara's tacit admission to the differences between her and human physiology, more or less settled Althea's mind on the subject to the point that Shara turning into a newt probably wouldn't have been sufficient to change her mind.
...Which also did a wonderful amount to explain, well, Jalid.
But hey, on the bright side, healing would work! So that was, you know, cool. And stuff. "I will do my best." Wiping all thought of concern and knowledge from her mind, Althea knelt down - again - and brought both hands up as she tried to focus. While she was pretty good at that, she was NOT an expert in healing magic, and well, the habits she had learned from dark magic certainly carried over. Working with two hands and most of your attention definitely made things a lot easier as she gently placed both hands on Shara's back, which seemed to be one of the more injured spots, probably from all the falls and also going by the injury, some kind of attack from one of the gargoyles. Deep breath. Try not to focus in the idea that you might find some way to heal her spinal cord in a twist or something and permanently paralyze the nice lady. Was that a thing healing magic could even do? Definitely not. Probably, But she HAD heard rumors of - FOCUS.
Of course Althea's idea of 'focus' was 'use the bare minimum of brain power while thinking about more interesting things,' which actually had very little to do with focusing. Unfortunately for her, healing took enough concentration that it actually did take a fair degree of focus - but not all of it! As the greenish-white magic slowly and steadily began to pour from her into Shara, radiating outward with soothing warmth as most of her consciousness was indeed forced to focus on control of each wave and stream of healing, Althea found herself still stuck thinking about Shara's tactic admission.
Dragons. She had heard of them, obviously. There was that minor thing called the Scouring that, um, came to mind. Probably wise not to bring THAT up... immediately anyways, obviously it would come up sooner or later. It also granted a great deal of credence to those... apparently NOT idiotic rumors of the dragon in the Bernese arena a few years back. Althea had absolutely assumed they were complete bullshit and dismissed them as such, but unless she disbelieved Shara's entire existence, it seemed that the truth was simply that she had not been privy to the truth. Uh, that was kinda circular logic. But nonetheless, wording be damned, it was the truth. If one posited that dragons did indeed still exist - and it was not so difficult when one considered that Elibe was an enormous place with many isolated areas in which wounded or witty dragons could have hidden, even without considering the possibility that they apparently had a human form - then certain events did make much more sense. Bern seemed to be central to many of them. The arena fight, whatever actually killed the chimera, and now this Shara character.
...Slightly ironically she actually had no idea what to ask. Not because she couldn't think of anything to ask, of course. Not even an idiot would have that problem. The real problem was in what order to ask, and for that not even Althea had much of an answer because every time she thought of something, two more side-thoughts sprang forth in its place, like some kind of hydra. Hm. How was the healing going? Uh... she hadn't turned Shara into a newt, anyways, and at a glance the blonde's back looked to be getting slightly better, but damage beneath the surface would still take time and the back of the, uh, back didn't look so swell either. "I... would warn you that a complete recovery session will take time. I am proficient in basic healing magic but not its more advanced, faster acting branches." See? That wasn't so bad, sounded a lot better than 'I suck at healing magic so it's gonna take me a while to do much.' So... conversation. Right! Normal people did that. Talk about something normal, like the weather, or how about them gargoyles, eh?
"...So is there actually a reptilian conspiracy or is it more of a masquerade?" f**k. "How do you know if someone else is a dragon too?" No no no abort abORT ABORT "Do you have a secret hand signal?" No brain please I never asked for this.
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Post by Shara Tiinedra on May 20, 2017 18:46:57 GMT -6
Healing magic felt strange. Soothing, but there was a sensation to it that constantly reminded Shara that it was unnatural. Not necessarily bad, just...it wasn't her own healing factor. Granted Shara wasn't certain how much stronger natural draconic healing was compared to human. It took more punishment to inflict lasting injury on Shara, for sure, but that didn't necessarily mean that if their state of injuries were perfectly comparable that a dragon would naturally heal faster than a human. There was evidence FOR it, but as far as Shara knew it wasn't conclusive. Not all humans or dragons were the same, either, so it would be a rather broad average...even among averages.
Still, it didn't actually feel unpleasant, and served to ease Shara's worries about the conversation to come. After a brief reminder that healing would take time, which Shara had expected, Althea began to ask...strange questions. If she hadn't been such an oddball this entire time Shara would just think it was the nerves getting to her. For all her apparent acceptance at the fact that before her stood a creature she likely believed to be extinct, or at least on the brink of it, Althea probably still held some degree of anxiety all the same. Dragons and Humans didn't exactly...part...on happy terms.
But just as Shara had come to accept that Althea was not going to kill her, she'd have done so already if that was the case, the dragoness hoped her own actions would serve to be sufficient in keeping Althea's potential worry and fear in check.
“A conspiracy would imply that my kind is capable of mass organization.” ...Wow, jab had been so sharp it even surprised Shara herself. It seemed she still had some issues regarding dragon kind. Nayru and Ragnis had done wonders for Shara's faith in her own species but she still had less than pleasant memories of home. Sure, she'd accepted that her falling out with her family and friends from the tribe had been as much her own fault, if not more, as it was theirs. But accepting a fact and, uh, owning it were two different things. It'd be some time before Shara had purged herself of this old salt.
“But yes, definitely a hand signal. It involves swapping blood and spit as well, dancing to call forth rain, and ritual sacrifice to a demonic creature that sits at the bottom of the sea.” Unfortunately Shara wasn't only salty towards her old tribe. She hadn't exactly appreciated the...ludicrous questions she'd gotten from the druid. Given said druid was healing her she should have been a touch more considerate, the idea that Shara was a dragon was likely ludicrous to Althea in the first place, but...seriously? A reptilian conspiracy? The notion was ridiculous and the term offensive. What were conspiracies by man to be called then. Simian Conspiracies? Ugh...
“...Sorry. Anyway, there is no immediate way of spotting out a dragon if they've taken human form. Depending on the circumstances there may be signs, but unless they begin to shift noticeably then they resemble humans perfectly.”
...To be fair, even if there was a way, Shara wasn't going to say it. Most dragons did not want their secret out there, for one reason or another.
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Post by Althea on May 20, 2017 19:59:24 GMT -6
How very interesting! It seemed that Shara was not exceptionally fond of her kind. She was learning things already! Disappointingly realistic things. It was just too natural for a disenfranchised group to continue to exacerbate their divisions rather than cling to unity. A remarkably human thing to do in fact; she had been vaguely hoping for something alien and grand. She... couldn't actually think of a better word than human though, and Shara would probably find it about as funny as cancer. Which was coincidentally about how funny the dragon was, she wasn't sure why the blonde was so prickly about handshakes. "Did you know that you get very sarcastic when stressed?" If she had been performing open heart surgery her hand might have 'slipped' in a moment of weakness, but it was kinda hard to f**k up healing so there was no particular physical followup to that followup. Also because she wouldn't ACTUALLY do that and she was just being petty in her own hear. "Still, it's good to know I don't owe that Klein fellow any money. Though I suppose I... can't rightly collect a win, either. Hm. A moral victory will have to suffice."
Well, she HAD signed on to be the possibly-crazy lady's pet healer for the afternoon, so no point in bellyaching about how long it was taking. A work in progress. Though there were at least some signs of success in that the dragon's very-human-looking back was patching itself together somewhat more effectively now, even if the drain on her magic continued unabated. But that was fine. Thanks to Shara's efforts, Althea hadn't actually had to waste overly much magic in the fight proper, , so she had some to spare... as long as they didn't have to fight a cyclops in the next ten minutes or so. Or hours. "And I see. It was just curiosity I suppose. I already have all I need to identify that oaf." Althea smiled serenely... though granted she was behind Shara's back so it wasn't really for anyone's benefit so much as her own. She LOVED being right. Not that she was dumb enough to march up to Jalid and confront hi-ok yes she was actually dumb enough to do that BUT she would at least think of a good way to word it. Probably. Maybe.
...Yeah she'd burn that bridge when she came to it.
"At the risk of sounding somewhat... uneducated," Althea began carefully, not so much for Shara's benefit as the effort needed to accept that she actually knew jack and crap about dragons apparently, She continued conversationally. "I had been led to believe that dragons were much... larger. And covered in scales. And also ate people. Processing the fact that those I have met have all saved my life, in some cases repeatedly is proving difficult. ...Is there a word for acting human without the racial connotations? I can hardly see those I have met as more than eccentric humans." f**k that came out wrong. "No offense meant."
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Post by Shara Tiinedra on May 20, 2017 21:56:22 GMT -6
Welp Althea had certainly noted her sarcasm. Now Shara felt a bit bad, but she'd already apologized for it. There was no need to further address it. Plus it'd be best to stay silent given the woman was still healing her...even as she spoke about random people named Klein. Ye gods what was WITH this woman?!
Shara took a small breath as she mulled over the rest of Althea's verbiage...which was, for the most part, a bit less scattered and random. Granted there was the mention of a random “oaf”, but Shara was no fool. Althea clearly meant that she now knew how to identify another dragon, one specifically at that. Great. She didn't like her kind as a collective, but she didn't wish harm or danger for any of them. Especially lone dragons in particular.
As she shoved that negative thought aside she focused on Althea's next set of questions. Real questions this time! Progress! They were naive, yes, but in a much more reasonable sense. Dragons in the past were more...free with their true forms, and why would mankind go out of their way to remember their ancient enemy in a form...not so different from their own? History was written to be justified by the victors. Nearly driving a race that COULD appear identical to your own to the edge of extinction was not something to be proud of.
Eradicating a race of massive, scary, evil dragon overlords, though...
“...The true forms of dragons tend to be much larger, though the size varies. Though yes, my true form is covered in scales, winged, and significantly larger than this form.” It was always odd for Shara to refer to her true form as, well, her TRUE form. She spent infinitely more time in her human form, but she supposed even with that fact nature itself stood against her. The dragoness would be lying to herself if she said she didn't feel more alive, invigorated, and...free...in her other form. Her battle with Ragnis reminded her of that, even with the circumstances that surrounded that event.
“The simplest way to put this would be that, for every difference between our kind and yours, there's a similarity. We have personalities and morals as well. The common memory of dragon kind that man has, and to be fair your kind has a much shorter memory than ours, is from the writings of war veterans. People who fought, killed, and very likely hated my kind. They're not likely to paint a pretty picture, or even an objective one. Bias is inevitable...and not exclusive to either race.”
Shara made eye contact with Althea, for she needed her next point to be clear. “That said...there were no doubt some dragons that did terrible things to humans, even outside of the old war. I...and whichever ones you seemed to have met, are not among them. Again, we're not so different in some senses. Just as humans are capable of good and bad, so too are dragons.”
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Post by Althea on May 21, 2017 1:06:11 GMT -6
Intriguing. So the depictions she had seen were - more or less - accurate. That was good, helped confirm that she wasn't entirely crazy - and that Shara wasn't COMPLETELY full of crap. While she generally trusted a dragon to know more about dragons than, say, a human, she did not entirely trust Shara to be truthful about what was apparently some grand (and ill planned) masquerade that had persisted for a thousand years. Those were the kinds of secrets that uh, you generally didn't tell the people who had genocided your entire race how to bypass. And it was certainly possible that there WAS a method of recognition, even if it wasn't a handshake. But given that understanding, Althea held no grudge against the dragon for possible misinformation. Even if some of it was twisted or faulty in order to protect herself and her kind, Shara had still been kind enough to freely answer her questions, had saved her life, and (so far) hadn't tried to go back on that. By all standards, ANYTHING she got out of this was far more than she had ever expected.
...Huh, the back was actually looking pretty good now. Uh, in a healing way. She wasn't actually attracted to people's backs, gender aside. Althea didn't think she was actually attracted to anything... EXCEPT KNOWLEDGE ok yeah that was pretty cheesy, point was the blonde's back looked to have mostly knit itself back together by now. "For the sake of safety I recommend not stressing your back too heavily, especially in combat, if you can avoid it. Unlike stitching there should not be an issue of wounds reopening, but healing is stressful to the human body, and, er, probably dragon bodies too." So. Back, right arm, knees, head. Those were the major trauma points she had located. In the process Shara had continued speaking with Althea quietly listening while focusing on her healing, but with the dragon-lady having moved a bit she turned her attentions more to the dragon's injured arms, acutely aware that not long back they had been covered in those strange scales she had glimpsed.
And while she had met Shara's gaze for the dragon's big point, it was definitely Althea who broke that contact first, taking refuge in her work as she brought her hands to each of Shara's forearms, trying to heal both at once. Another thing that would definitely take time. ESPECIALLY with how much magic the blonde must have been pumping through them. ...The thought struck her that injecting dark magic directly into someone would be incredibly effective at bypassing most defenses, but she didn't really want to test that. She'd tried it by accident once, blew that pirate scum up from inside, and didn't really want to revisit the subject right now. Uh, especially on Shara, but in general. Admittedly that was in part a pressure valve to keep her attention from all pooling up on what Shara had said, but all of her threads of thought kept looping back to that. This... idea of empathizing with dragons. Althea was, to the surprise of LITERALLY no one, not exactly normal when it came to perceptions. She had never seen the point in hating a dead race; her occasional struggles with Low Draconic were just a part of the work. But she had never thought of them as... human, either. In a way perhaps. Grand, ancient, noble; she had certainly imagined them. Maybe even wanted to meet one. It was just hard to reconcile the image in her head with goofy but stout hearted Jalid, with the heroic but sarcastic Shara. They were just - she didn't know exactly what they were to her, but the 'dragon' thing came separate.
And she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad one.
"The Scouring was a long time ago," she said instead, slightly preoccupied with her thoughts even as she spoke. The, uh, healing wasn't going super fast either. "And I don't see the point in dredging up that hatred. Though Elibe is not kind to those who are different." The unbidden thought struck her and Althea couldn't help but smile sadly. "It's funny. I've met a higher percentage of decent dragons than humans. Granted, with quite the small sample size." She wasn't sure if it was actually funny or not, though. Maybe it was just sad. Whether it said more about humans, or dragons, was not a subject she considered too carefully. "Regardless. I rather think that Elibe could use more heroes, whatever their origins."
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Post by Shara Tiinedra on May 21, 2017 18:18:31 GMT -6
Althea first gave Shara some medical advice, which was the kind she already knew but was still grateful for nonetheless. Essentially it was highly advised that she took it easy, particularly on her back but her back was uh...essential to most intense labor. It was one of the major muscle groups you couldn't really NOT use. So Shara nodded like a good patient and uttered a quiet “Thank you” to Althea.
Her body itself did feel better. It had taken some time for the actual effects of the healing to kick in. She'd felt the magic instantly but the soothing relief that it provided had come slower. It wasn't overwhelming, but it certainly eased a great deal of her aches and pains. Shara hoped that would help lighten her mood up a touch as well.
It helped that Althea seemed to take the conversation they were having more seriously, and made a...solid point. At first it sounded like Althea had just been thinking aloud, to be fair that seemed to be what about half of the words she spoke sounded like, but she really got onto something there. The Scouring was indeed long ago. Shara had just noted herself that it predates her by over half a millennia. But the issue was a touch more complex.
“The hatred from the Scouring has likely come and gone, on humanity's part.” She knew the same was not entirely true for dragons. Some very much held fast to the idea that revenge needed to be exacted upon humanity. “But with the rise of these monsters, the oppressive and ambitious Etruria, and the story of that dragon in Bern...the amount of fear and confusion that would arise from the existence of dragons would be monumental.” Bern was likely viewed as a freak incident. A one off. Somehow a dragon had survived, or been awoken, and it had been slain. Most likely hadn't even heard of the event. Shara couldn't be certain of that.
But she could be certain that dragons attempting to openly integrate into modern society would be the straw that broke Elibe's back. There was far too much going on for people to deal with on the day to day basis. They couldn't afford to process the fact that a race gone for over a millenia lingered on still. A race far more individually powerful, on average, than any human could even dream of.
...Still. “Although you are still absolutely right. Now, more than ever, do the denizens of Elibe need to band together. People need to do good things for each other and...fight for hope.” The dragoness hadn't exactly gotten the hang of uplifting rhetoric just yet, but she smiled at Althea all the same. She certainly wouldn't call herself a hero. At least not yet. But that wasn't about to stop her from continuing to try. After all, today had been a success, yes? Sloppy on her part, but a success.
“Though I don't exactly fancy myself a hero just yet. I just...want to learn more about people. And I want to help them.” Shara looked away from Althea, feeling a touch bashful, and glanced over at the observatory. Oh, right. That was a thing. “Granted, people are not all that I wish to learn more about. I'm not necessarily big on astrology, but the idea of exploring an ancient observatory that could date back to the pre-Scouring era is still intriguing.”
Shara gazed up at Althea with a quirked brow. She felt well enough to move about by this point, and she didn't want to linger on the subject with dragons. Admittedly Shara also wanted an excuse to drop the subject all together, if possible...but she did owe it to Althea to answer any further questions about dragons. Or at least attempt to.
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Post by Althea on May 22, 2017 13:00:03 GMT -6
On humanity's part, Shara said. It was an interesting way of wording things. Was she to take it as an admission that at least some dragons still held grudges, or simply a way of leading in to her comments about how bad the revelation of living dragons would be? Just another reason to hate social interactions, they were never clear enough for her tastes! Seriously though, regardless of how she wanted to take it, the overall message didn't change that much. Elibe did not have the best of track records when it came to tolerance and love needless to say, that was something Althea could speak from experience on much as the apparently-not-actually-gone dragons could. But hey, at least not EVERYONE in Elibe wanted all dark mages dead, so she had that going for her... she guessed.
"It seems to me," she said carefully, finishing up her work on the dragon's arms absentmindedly, "that this would be the best time to begin the process of reintegrating dragons peacefully. If one avoided human conflicts and set themselves to work on protecting humans from monsters and their ilk." It was... interesting that she could say that. Aside from offering her thoughts unprovoked, VERY out of character for her even just a few months back, the idea of trying to actively make the world better and reduce prejudice towards one's kind. She had always just accepted the 'shamans were hated' mindset and not thought too hard about it, but all her recent talks with Drei and others, her realization that she actually kinda liked Lycia and people in general, was making it a lot harder to stand alone as she once had. "Though I am admittedly not an expert on, ah, being a dragon, so I will defer to your judgement in that matter."
The pale dark mage couldn't help but quirk a small smile, though her attention was split as she realized when she went to get to work on Shara's leg that it actually looked mostly better now. She must have been pouring far too much magic into the healing. She had been warned against this; more magic did mean faster healing yes, but it was very wasteful. Inefficient. Basic healing mantras had a relatively low softcap on prana flow and a hardcap not far beyond it, so while she had had enough excess prana to speed up the healing, she could have done the same job with a few more minutes in likely half the cost or less. That... honestly bothered her more than anything else today, from gargoyles to dragons. Althea did NOT like to make mistakes or be inefficient. But it was what it was.
Rising from her task, Althea tentatively inspected her work. God dammit why was EVERYONE more ripped than he-right the healing. Which hadn't gone to crap. Huh. Grinning down at Shara - wasn't THAT a strange thought, her, smiling! - she continued. "Well. The observatory isn't going anywhere. What do you say we investigate it?"
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Post by Shara Tiinedra on May 22, 2017 17:34:12 GMT -6
“I think we can agree on that. Regardless of your experience in dragon...hood, I'd say you have the right of it.” Was that how she was to set about doing this? When Shara had taken up her new resolution she'd done so with only one goal in mind: to not let hope die. Specifically the hope she'd seen in Ragnis and his family. However Shara didn't exactly know HOW to do that. Learning about Ragnis and Tess had helped set her on the path, so Shara thought that learning more about other Elibeans would clear the road ahead.
It was never going to be that easy, but it was the only starting point the dragoness had. Well, that and she figured it was high time she actually used this power of hers for some manner of purpose. The feeling of protecting the hope Ragnis had stood for, as well as the innocent people of that village, contrasted with just how shitty she felt about the Convent incident was what had drove her to deal with these gargoyles.
Without Althea she likely would have had to transform or flee, neither of which would have ended well. It seemed Shara still had a great deal left to learn.
All of that was beside the point, however. The point had been that if Shara was ever going to try and bring about that same wonderful sight that had been Ragnis and his family...she had to try now. The “how” would have to come later.
“You've given a lot for me to think about, Althea...but most of it is a bit too heavy to figure out for the moment.” Shara admitted with a smile. She got to her feet and stretched her arms. Oof, yeah, still a bit of an ache here and there. Shara wasn't going to be lifting or punching anything for the next couple of days, which was fine by her. “But I'd be delighted to set that aside for this Observatory. I didn't get the best look of it when I lured the gargoyles out, but I saw some interesting tools.”
Science was far less complicated than ideologies and moralities anyway. It'd set her mind at ease and leave her refreshed for the new tough questions she had to consider.
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Post by Althea on May 24, 2017 13:13:47 GMT -6
The thought occurred to her that by human standards, Althea WAS now, technically, an expert on dragons, if only by dint of having met 1 more than most people. Huh. It drew a wry smile out of her, as much at the thought as Shara's wording of "dragon-hood," which sounded ENTIRELY too much like something she would say herself. Too fresh, too real. That said, Althea had the feeling that she was going to need to take some time to actually come to terms with this... dragon thing. She had done a good job of being reasonably calm about it so far but that was as much due to her usual suppression of her thoughts and emotions as much as any kind of actual maturity. Dragons were real, and alive, and... people. Given that the common viewpoint was that they were mindless monsters, and that even with her ostensibly better informed viewpoint she had only really been curious about them on an intellectual level thinking of them as not much more than organized reptiles, it was definitely an, uh, well it was a bit of a culture shock so to speak. It was a lot easier to hate things you didn't know or understand after all.
Like dark magic.
"...I could say the same... Shara." Not monster. Not blonde. Shara. It still felt a bit weird, like she wasn't sure how she was actually supposed to react. Probably with fire and screaming. But right now, Althea honestly couldn't think of anything else wise and witty to say or do or even think, so she was willing to go along with Shara's plan for the time being. She was still going to interrogate the crap out of Shara later down the road though.
"And yes. If there is an antikythera mechanism inside we could finally settle the stellar map argument of the last several centuries, to say nothing of what other knowledge may lay inside!" Zero to sixty in 0 seconds flat, if not reminded it was actually possible that she might even forget about the dragon thing within the next minute or two. It was almost as if Althea was nigh-literally lighting up from her usually more dour looks. "Of course they may just be a myth, by modern standards they are too complex to recreate, but there are pre-Scouring writings speaking of models that show solar, lunar, and stellar movement! And of course the... Etrurian... thing has limited the availability of high quality telescopes and other extraterrestrial viewing arrays so nearly anything useful we can find in there could contribute greatly to science!" Althea clapped her hands together, about ready to take off and fly to the stars herself through sheer stubbornness... or excitement. Fifty fifty.
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