Dragon days of August

[dragongrrl]

🧙 WHO: Barbara and anyone who wants to do things with Barbara!
⚔️️ WHAT: Open log for August, incl. animal culling and Don't Treep quests
🕒 WHEN: August, various times in the month
🗺️ WHERE: Avalon
⚠️ WARNINGS: Animal violence


a. Let's see how far dragon whispering extends 🛡

[The zombies are gone, and the damage they left remains. Not wanting to leave a job half-done, Barbara is down at the farm. She might have a shovel, burying the remains of the undead in safe spots, nodding to you to pick up one yourself. Or she's shouldering new wood along to fix the fenceposts. Or she's flagging you down to help her drag a wooden trough to a new pen. Rather than her usual armor and chainmail, today she's in hardwearing work clothes.

You might also find her helping with the animals. Barbara isn't an animal mage, but she knows how to be quiet and patient, and might tell you to stand ready at the pen gate while she tries to entice a horse or a sheep back towards it.]

b. Invasive species 🗡

[Barbara's noticed how crowded the woods are. More than once she's woken up to see something that isn't her moogle familiar looking back at her. So it's no surprise that something else has decided that all this bounty represents a free lunch.

Not wanting a scorpion-tailed crab as a neighbor, she's ony too eager to help get rid of the Carcinuses]

Carcninus dangerous. Prepared?

c. But how does not a dragon work

[So. Horses.

Barbara's been avoiding this. But it also takes a long time to walk everywhere she wants to go. And who knows, she might be able to fight from horseback. So it's about time she learned how to ride properly.

Being Barbara, she's going to try it on her own before she actually talks to the man about officially getting lessons. If she can deal with dragons, she can deal with something that doesn't even have sharp teeth, right?]

Good horse. Here.

[She knows that they like apples, apparently. So she's got a bag full of them by her feet, approaching a likely-looking mare.]

d. Wildcard!

[None of these suit your fancy? Hit me up by PM or at compassinks and we can work something out!]

Comments

c

[fireandhoney]

[Finn too has thought about traveling by horseback, since it's how he got around back in Tamriel and he knows from experience that riding a horse is faster than walking. No horse can be better than his Shadowmere, but he's not so lucky.

As he surveys the horses, he overhears someone who clearly hasn't had much experience with the animals. Unable to help himself, being too curious for his own good sometimes, he turns around to watch. And offer a little friendly advice.]

Keep your hand flat when you hold out the apple.

[dragongrrl]

[Oh, she's got a witness. A non-animal one, that is. Another grey-skinned elf, like Yvelon.

Well, why not, it doesn't sound strange. She follows his suggestion, the horse she's dealing with takes a closer sniff--and it's a good thing she does have experience feeding dragons, because horses here might not have sharp teeth but they are still very big. Chomp chomp.]

Stranger know horses?

[fireandhoney]

Stranger is named Finn, and I know a thing or two about horses, yes.

[They don't have horses in his native province, but after he moved to the province of Skyrim, he picked up horse riding pretty quickly. It helped that his own horse was special, and her previous rider was there to help show him the ropes.]

Another small bit of advice, never stand behind a horse. They don't like it, and they'll kick you in the face.

[dragongrrl]

[She puts a hand on her chest.]

Barbara.

[She tilts her head to get a better look at the horse's hooves when Finn gives that bit of advice. Yes, the sense in that is easy to see--those could break bones easily.]

Horse have temper? [She grins. The horses here aren't like the vicious creatures of her homeworld, but that itself had made her pause--having grown up with dragons, she doesn't necessarily have a lot of respect for something that only eats plants.] Why horse let humans ride?

[It's a question that follows from the first, but it isn't sarcastic or mocking. If she is going to ride a horse, she has to know why it would allow her to do so.]

[fireandhoney]

[He points his thumb at himself.]

Finn.

[He takes an apple and feeds the horse as well.]

Horses can have a temper, but this one seems nice enough. As for why they let us ride them, I guess they just figure it's part of being around humans, or elves, or whatnot. I mean, it's not like a dragon where they can actually let you know if they'll let you ride them or not.

[Spoken like a man who has most certainly ridden dragons.]

[dragongrrl]

[So horses allow themselves to be ridden because they're just resigned to it? That thought displeases Barbara. She's used to being seen as a partner, not a master--it's like being waited on at a restaurant, as though you're somehow better than the person bringing plates and taking them away.

But when Finn mentions dragons--]

You know dragons?

[It's an instant interest, and it's obvious that when she says know she means the same sense of knowing people, not animals.]

[fireandhoney]

Oh yes, I know dragons quiet well. My nemesis was a dragon, and my mentor is a dragon.

[He's just going to leave out the part about how most dragons in his world have tried to kill him, and there's only a slim hope that they can be reformed now that their leader is gone.]

In fact, I happen to be Dragonborn. Dragon's soul in an elven body.

[dragongrrl]

Dragon... born?

[Barbara's eyes widen. What must that be like... to not just know dragons, understand their ways as a friend, but to be part dragon? To know them because you are one?]

Barbara never hear that. [She looks Finn up and down.] How have dragon soul?

[fireandhoney]

[He's not surprised that she's never heard of the Dragonborn, since it seems to be something unique to his world.]

Basically, before I was born, the dragon god Akatosh blessed me with a dragon's soul, because he chose me to save the world from a great evil. So while I'm mostly a mortal dark elf, I can also do things that dragons can do, like breathe fire. Or, well, I could, before I got here and this world stripped me of that power.

[In his world, the previous known Dragonborns were all humans, so he's something special.]

A

[patchricide]

[Allura has come to help with the efforts, dressed in the most uncharacteristic shirt and work pants, with most of her hair bound up in a bun and a headband holding back the shorter strays. And she... is trying. Oh, how she is trying.]

[And to her credit, despite her pampered upbringing, she's not growing exhausted. After all, the Alteans pride themselves in being warriors, and thus combat was part of her upbringing. So her endurance is far better than you would expect from a swooning damsel.]

[But she's simply not all that familiar with this sort of labor, and the lack of experience is obvious. So, she takes the shovel, but... she only scoops a little dirt out of the ground, handling it more like an oversized sugar spoon than a gardening tool. And after a few oddly dainty scoops, she comments...]

This is going to take a while. [If she did it correctly, it would probably go a lot faster!]

[dragongrrl]

[Funnily enough, when Barbara noted Allura's presence on the farm, she didn't think that Allura would have much of a problem with the work. Having judged her abilities solely on the specter battle, she just seemed like a capable overall person.

Now, as Barbara gets closer with her own shovel, she's seeing that's not the case. Out of puzzled curiosity, she watches for a few moments as Allura very ineffectually tries to make a dent in the earth.]

That not how dig.

[Barbara swings her shovel down from her shoulder, plants it in the dirt, and shoves down on it with her booted foot as though it's insulted her. Like that.]

[patchricide]

[She watches Barbara's technique, studying it as if with rapt fascination... and very visibly jumps when she sees the woman stomp it hard into the dirt. It's not hard to see the difference in results, in the amount of dirt that's loosened by that one motion and ready to be lifted...]

[So she tries to copy exactly what she saw. It's not quite there, given that she's only seen it once. Instead, she holds the shovel straight up and down, only getting the tip under the soil... and then stomps on it lightly.]

[And when that doesn't work, she stomps on it harder.]

[And when it's still only halfway in the ground, she jumps on it, using both feet and her weight to drive it further down.]

... was that better?

[dragongrrl]

[Barbara... watches. It is... interesting. When Allura starts jumping up and down on the shovel, she really can't help but crack a smile.]

Better. Not good. Look.

[Dragoons don't know what tact is. But they do know what technique is. She holds up her shovel again and moves slowly, pressing the edge into the ground.]

Tilt.

[She tips the shovel so that the edge will go down at an angle. Then she presses it down with her foot again, slowly, so that Allura can see all her movements clearly.]

[patchricide]

It astounds me that such a simple tool could be so complicated to use...

[But she repositions it, following Barbara's example, and mimics the motion to the best of her ability. And it does seem to go in more easily!]

[She lifts it up, getting a better shovelful of the soil this time. It's still not a great job, but at least it now seems better than a typical five-year-old could do.]

Thank you for the help, by the way. Before you stepped in, I wasn't getting much done... other than make myself look foolish, I suppose.

[dragongrrl]

[Barbara watches as Allura tries again, to more effective result.]

Allura not use shovel before? [Barbara shrugs.] Everyone look foolish at first time. Keep going, look less foolish.

[When she started training with the spear as a child, it took quite some time before she stopped tripping herself up with the weapon. Even though Allura is a grown woman, the principle is the same.]

[patchricide]

[It's such a simple yet effective philosophy. It's enough to bring a smile back to Allura's face, and even a hint of amused laughter into her voice.]

That's true, isn't it? We all start as beginners. There's nothing to be done about it but to train... or practice, I should say, until you get better.

[She continues to haul more of the dirt, slowly but steadily, as she returns to Barbara's question...]

No, I really haven't used one before. I've fought with some polearms that bore some similarities, but only in combat. Usually, if my family needed a hole in the ground, we would have someone else to dig it on our behalf — and far more advanced tools to make the work quicker.

[dragongrrl]

[A corner of Barbara's mouth quirks up when Allura corrects herself on the use of the word train.

Ah, but her further words seem to explain it... Allura may have martial training, but she isn't a foot soldier. Barbara returns to her own shoveling--which is pretty able--as she speaks again.]

Allura, knight? Nobility?

B

[cameprepared]

[Well, Claire recognizes the dragon from the party. And figures hey, maybe they can work together. She's big and tough, right?]

I am. Are you...Barbara, right?

[dragongrrl]

[Barbara nods. She remembers Claire, too.]

You, Claire. Eats hot food.

[She unshoulders her spear and looks around. There's plenty of denuded foliage from the abundant population, but she's looking for something a little more dramatic.]

Carcinus big, break branches, plants. Find signs, track.

[cameprepared]

Yes. That's me.

[Eyeing the spear, Claire nods her understanding.]

I think we can do that. Are you good at tracking? I'm a city girl, myself.

[dragongrrl]

Yes. Barbara live here, hunt here. Good at find.

[She states it without bragging; it's a fact, and a natural consequence of her background combined with the fact that she's eschewed civilized dwelling entirely.]

Claire have weapon?

[cameprepared]

I do.

[Claire draws her pistol, flipping open the little revolver to check and make sure it was loaded.]

It's like a bow, but magic.

[dragongrrl]

[Ah, yes. Barbara has seen those before, but this would be the first time seeing it in action. Truthfully she is skeptical of it--it's so small, how can such a small weapon with such small projectiles inflict the kind of damage that you need to bring down a monster.

She'll see soon enough, she's sure.]

[With a beckoning nod, Barbara moves towards the thicker part of the forest. There's broken branches and bracken a-plenty, partly from the overabundant woodland creatures--but there are raw gashes on some treetrunks and bits of fur and bone that point to a larger, more vicious beast in the area. As soon as she sees that, Barbara crouchesdown, waiting and listening.]

[cameprepared]

[Claire is quiet, moving steadily behind Barbara and just trying to keep her bearings. Worse comes to worse, The Dog can guide them out if she's misplaced her judgment and they get lost...but she doesn't think this strange dragon person is going to be leading her astray at all.

Ducking down with the bigger woman, she peers into the forest, not sure what she's looking for, other than chunks of some critter that was dinner.]

...Think it came this way?

[dragongrrl]

[In order to answer, Barbara gets down on all fours to have a good look at the forest floor. The ground is torn up too, stirred up by deep marks that don't look like they came from paws, but big, sharp, pointed legs.

She crawls around a bit--where--ah. She grabs a bloody, heavily mutilated bone and holds it up for Claire to see.]

Yes. Ears open. Maybe nearby.