Dragon and Gryphon collide! OPEN!
Who: Aara angha_firebird and Zhaneel bondedgryphon and OPEN.
When: Late afternoon, present day.
Where: The Green/the skies above the Keep ( Read more... )
When: Late afternoon, present day.
Where: The Green/the skies above the Keep ( Read more... )
Varric asks her if she can change back into her human form and the gryphon watches and listens expectantly, ear tufts perked forward. She then pauses, recalling a particularly human trait.
"Her clothing.." She rises and glances back in the direction Aara had taken off from. The quick look is enough to catch sight of the cotton dress laying just where it had been shucke off.
Wasting no time, Zhaneel pads off toward it, clearly moving away from the dragon and dwarf to retrieve the garment. She picks it up in one forefoot, golden eyes glancing over it and seeming to find it relatively unsoiled after being cast off. Then, she nearly takes to the air to fly back to the pair, pausing even before her muscles had collected.
No. Flying back toward Aara was probably a terrible idea for the time being. This being the case, Zhaneel has little other option by to carry it in her beak as she pads back over. Holding it in one forefoot would have her trying to maneuver evenly in three legs and such would not be easy or graceful at all.
Upon returning to Varric and Aara, she sits on her haunches and rears up, holding the garment in her forefeet. "I thought you might be more at ease with this .. should changing back be the choice you make."
Gryphons could give a shit about nakedness, but humans were ampeculiar lot. Some strutted about nude as the day they were born with nary a moments pause, while others could not even bare the thought of shown their lower legs.
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At Varric's question and the conversation that follows, Aara tilts her head. She suddenly wished they were angha, so they would immediately be able to understand her through instinct alone, but she knew that was not the case, so instead she lowered herself to a crouch, closed her eyes, and concentrated.
The effort took much more concentration than it normally did. Her great jaw parted as she began to pant from exhaustion, limbs trembling as she slid to the ground. Clear-blue eyes slit open, the color the exact same as her human eyes, and she takes in the two standing before her, noting her clothing in Zhaneel's beak and Aara lightly unfurls her wings in gratitude, a deep humming emmiting from within her chest.
She would try to change again. She simply needed to relax for a moment.
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Which he removed soon after when she tilted her head and began shifting. He backed away to give her some room, assuming she was going to change forms.
"Nice find," he said to Zhaneel when she returned, tossing her another smile.
He watched Aara, who was clearly putting a lot of effort and concentration into doing something, though he couldn't tell what.
"Maybe it's harder going back? I've only ever seen the person-to-dragon part," he muttered as an aside to Zhaneel.
When Aara opened her eyes, he asked, "Is there, uh. Anything I can do to help?"
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The process seemed far more difficult than it had been for Aara to turn into a dragon and Zhaneel studies her for several moments, unblinking. She glances sidelong at Varric as he speaks, giving one nod of her beak in reply.
"I think, perhaps, that her initial panic aided in her speedy shifting from human to dragon. I do not doubt that instinct possibly had its own impact .."
Varric asks if there is anything he can do to help and Zhaneel waits expectantly. The magic of the Keep is far different from the magic of Valdemar, and as Aara was not from either it was more than likely that her own was different as well.
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Finally, things clicked back into place and Aara felt her angha form shrink and shift into her human one. Back was a pale, unclad Aara, her blonde hair matted to sweaty skin as she huddled on her side, lungs heaving as she tried to calm the beating of her pounding heart at what she never would have thought was such an exertion. Her eyes remained closed. She didn't talk or move with the exception of her heavy breathing.
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He stuck close to Zhaneel after Aara's head shake, both to give Aara as much room as she needed, and, well. Just in case.
When Aara was finally human again, Varric waited for a few seconds, but when Aara didn't speak, or even move, he returned to her side.
"Birdie?"
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She watches Aara warily, however, uncertain how the shifting will work out and not wanting to let her guard down entirely when she hardly knew the girl. She would feel rather terrible if something were to happen to Varric because she let her guard down. Too many years with too much training for her to do something of the kind, though..
Watching the transformation is a fascinating thing, although it does go much slower then Aara's initial shape change had. She pads forward, taking care with the girl's clothing, remaining always just behind Varric. Not because she is fearful, mind, but because it was she that had sent the girl into a fright to begin with.
"Should we fetch a healer?" she asks softly, glancing between Aara and Varric and back again. She knew that there were several at the Keep, and was fairly certain she could find one readily.
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Briefly her eyes close once again, then open as if with renewed clarity, her gaze focused this time on Zhaneel's homa form. There is confusion in her gaze--complete and utter incomprehension--but no fear this time. Nothing that made her heart speed up fast enough to urge her fight or flight instinct to take hold.
Which was good, because Aara was feeling very weak at the moment.
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"That might be a good idea," he replied to Zhaneel, looking back at her. "Do you know one? I've got a friend here who's a healer, but I bet you can get to one faster than I can."
He also figured it probably wasn't the best idea to leave Aara alone with Zhaneel. It didn't look like Aara could try to attack anymore, even if she wanted to, but he didn't want to cause her to panic or anything.
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Aara looks to Varric first and then when her gaze moves to Zhaneel, the gryphon feels the weight behind them. The confusion in the girls' gaze is undeniable, although Zhaneel doesn't understand it. Thankfully, there is not fear accompanying it and she is remaining quite still.
That same stillness is causing additional concern, however, as it could mean she is injured more than appears to the naked eye.
At Varric's question her ears flick back and pin to her skull. "I .. I do not know any personally, no .." How could she have been foolish enough to offer and not know whom to get. Her ears flick forward again, "Could I perhaps get this friend of yours? Or request their presence through the journal? I keep mine with me at all times .."
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"His name's Anders. We can try him over the journal and hope he's listening?" He grimaced slightly. "Normally I don't have this problem, since he's right here with me."
Aara obviously wasn't in any state to get dressed, but he wasn't about to just let her lie there naked. He shrugged out of his coat, draping it over her. He was broad enough in the shoulders that it covered her easily, with more fabric to spare, which was more important than the fact that, length-wise, it would only cover her to her knees.
"There's an infirmary here, isn't there? We could take her there." He was feeling a bit uncomfortable, out in the open like that.
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She bobs her head in agreement and as Varric drapes his coat over Aara, setting the girls' dress done carefull before moving to dig through her neck pouch. She pauses in the act of pulling out her journal as he suggests taking Aara there themselves and she flushes.
"I had not considered that, but yes .. there is and we could easily take her there. I would not prefer to leave either of you here .." She looks around, ears flicking this way and that, before her golden gaze moves back to Varric and Aara. "Anything could happen and I would not risk such if avoidable."
She shifts a bit, seeming uncomfortable. "I can carry here there, if need be .. If she is alright with my doing so." Her gaze goes to Aara again, prepared for her to say no.
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Hazing mind picking up on the fact that something large and warm had been draped over her, a small, grateful smile trembles upon her lips before fading. She burrows into the warmth, wondering why such a wonderful gift was bestowed upon her in her weakness when she suddenly recalled a human's view on nakedness.
Her cheeks flush, and she forces open tired eyes. "Thank you." She looks from Varric to Zhaneel, attempts to sit up, then winces as her muscles give out on her once more.
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He watched Aara as he waited to see how she'd answer Zhaneel, feeling a wave of protectiveness. Which was ridiculous, considering a few minutes ago, she had been a giant dragon about to attack them. The contrast between that and the small human girl burrowing into his coat was - striking, to say the least.
The 'thank you' was encouraging, at least, even if her inability to sit up wasn't.
"Just sit still, Birdie, don't try to move. We'll get you to someone who can help," he told her, then looked back to Zhaneel.
"No idea if she heard your offer, but she doesn't seem to be protesting. Might as well give it a shot. I can carry her if she ends up refusing."
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"If she has any problem with it, then we shall contemplate another option," she says softly.
She shifts, moving to lower herself to the ground once she's gotten closer to Aara. Folding her feline and avian legs beneath herself, she then shifts her wing so the shivering dragon-girl can be put on her back similar to mounting a horse. She then remains still, allowing Aara and Varric to come to her the remainder of the way so Aara has ample time to refuse if she'd prefer to.
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Her anticipation at being airborne overpowers any uncertainty or fear within her, and she manages to nod, cradling her arm to her and hoping her entire side she skidded along wasn't as raw as it felt.
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