[Action] The Problem with Poachers

[greatprecious]

[Myrrh had always felt like the Fayren forests were her second home. They were very similar to the peaceful abd tranquil Darkling Woods, so Myrrh often returned to the forest to feel a sense of home as a manakete, as well as tend to the memorial she built for the necrofiled animals.

It was one such day when Myrrh froliced in the Fayren Woods in her dragon form, settling down by a lake for a drink. Then it happened: A metalic snap and felt sharp teeth digging into her hind ankle. She roared and reared back, now feeling chains lasso around her neck and snout trying to muzzle her, abd succeed.

Poachers!

Myrrh flies into a panic as she feels the chains trying to restrain her, flailing and trying to take flight, only for chain net to land on one wing, but missed the other. She eventually manages to get loose of the poachers, running at a mad, but injured three-legged dash towards Fayren, hoping to lose them once she gets close.

Myrrh eventually limps into the magical city, a trap digging into her hind ankle, chains muzzling her, a wing impaired by a chain net. Exhausted, silenced and stuck in dragon form, unable to transform back to her small human form, hopefully someone is willing to help her. Granted if the sight of a wounded dragon doesn't inside Fayren doesn't cause a panic.]

Comments

Action

[ubiquitously]

[Keeping Fayren safe is of interest to Uai. Partially due to kindness on his part, but mostly because he is a selfish jerk. He wants Azura happy, and that means protecting her city. So when he hears gossip of a dragon approaching the city, he's quick to interfere. No question of whether it's safe or even true: He teleports into the sky, spots Myrrh as he falls, and then teleports closer to her.]

Heyyy! [Do dragons speak in English slang? He hopes so, as he is stupidly putting himself between Myrrh and her path into the city. Her problem is visibly apparent: Stupid poachers, up to their dumb tricks. But he can't help her unless she stops running.] Slow down. You're making it worse.

Re: Action

[greatprecious]

[She can see him, and hear him, but Myrrh is too panicked for it to register. So she will continue to run, even trying to take flight with her impaired wing, only for her to leap over Uai, and then immediately crash land on her side behind him.

This could be his chance to get her to listen while she struggles against the chains and trap.]

[ubiquitously]

[AND THERE SHE GOES! honestly, uai did he not see that coming???

Uai turns sharply and registers a formula in his mind, causing the gravity around Myrrh to briefly shift and slow her fall. He doesn't want to frighten her with the sudden change, so nullifies the magic just as quickly.

Also in an effort not to scare her any worse, he physically runs to her side rather than teleporting. He's humming and chirping as he does, in a bird-like attempt to soothe her.]

Hey, hey. Ssh. I've got it. [He reaches out to put a hand on her side, filling the spaces between sentences with more hums,] Let's get those off of you.

[greatprecious]

[At least she was able to get right side up again. She faced Uai, crouching low defensively, heavy huffs of breaths through her nose with the chains holding her mouth closed.

She tries to back away when he gets close, only to bump into a tree and have nowhere to go. All she can do is stay crouched and curl around, the trap on her hind leg in view. It looks pretty bad.

But at the very least, Uai has a chance to work on the chains and free her.]

[ubiquitously]

[There is now a lot on Uai's mind. His magic requires a great deal of focus, and that is doubled if he wants to juggle extra spells. One spell instructs the space around Myrrh to bend to his will, so that it will catch her like a pillow if she falls over. His other spell is actually visible: He touches the chains, assesses their material make-up, and begins to deconstruct it. All of this is seen as a faint glow of white light, and it comes with added shushing.]

The-re we go. Let me get the one on your leg now. [Which he moves to do, danger be damned.]

[greatprecious]

[Of course she was going to panic again and struggle when the chains began to glow. But when she was able to roar a small, but mighty roar and stretch her wings, she realized she wasn't bound anymore.

So now she is starting to trust him. She moves her tail away so her the trap on her leg is accessible. Not that she is no longer muzzled, a voice of a young girl echoes from her.]

Th-Thank you...

[ubiquitously]

[He's briefly startled by her voice. She sounds young, and it's only now occurred to him that this could be a child. He has to quickly banish that possibility from his mind, since Uai does not need to go into protective dad mode right now. The last thing anyone needs is Uai turning into a tantruming dragon skeleton.]

Mm. You'll be safe now. [He hopes. No one challenge that, please.

Uai kneels down by her leg, examining the trap.] Close your eyes, kay?

[Since it's made of multiple parts, he'll need to be careful. If it springs, it might clamp harder. The obvious solution to this is getting get of the spikes, but that means touching them. He doesn't want a kid to see a grown idiot get his hands sliced open on trap teeth.]

[greatprecious]

[Myrrh shifts her large, dragon head away, resting on the ground and closing her eyes. Her claws grip and rend the ground while she braces for potential pain.

The young voice echoes again.]

Will this hurt...?

[ubiquitously]

[A valid concern. Uai has seen 'close you eyes' used before ripping off band-aids or giving kids a shot. He's sure that not looking will help ease her panic and mental pain, but it's mostly so she doesn't see any blood.]

Not at all. You see, I'm a magician. [Who is slipping his hands under the trap teeth, letting some of them dig into his palms while he dulls the metal with magic. As he moves, he's also trying to get a look at the damage to Myrrh herself. His magic isn't very good for healing.]

Magic works best when the methods are a secret.

[greatprecious]

A magician... [She repeats to herself.] Just like Saleh...

[Probably a good friend of hers. She doesn't budge or relax anyway as Uai begins to pry the trap off. She can feel the teeth of the trap leave her, leaving behind deep and bloodied wounds that she surely needs to be treated for. Thankfully, it's not so horrible that she's in immediate danger. Any wrong moves could change that.]

[ubiquitously]

[Uai works swiftly, especially once he's seen how deep the wounds are. He can't heal, but he can perform first aid... After the trap is off, anyway. With the last tooth removed, he's able to remove the trap much easier.]

Is Saleh also a magician? [He engages with conversation as a form of distraction. Uai's bloodied hand acts like a magnet as he hovers it over her wounds, removing any traces of metal. Then he removes his white gloves from his pockets and struggles to get them on his own injured hands. Myrrh doesn't need to know he got hurt to help her.]

[greatprecious]

[It would break her little dragon heart to know he hurt himself helping her.]

He is... Though, he is stronger. A Sage, I think they call them.
[A pause...] My name's Myrrh. I don't think we have met before... Why are you helping me...?

[ubiquitously]

[Then may she never know. There is blood on his gloves, but he can say it’s hers. After all, she is bleeding and Uai is going to try to tend to that.

He considers her question. Why is he helping? Is it because of Azura? No. He always had a habit of stopping to help others. This is because he’s still “Shi” at his core, and Shi has a bleeding heart. Though, Uai will go to great lengths to deny that.]

My name is Uai. And I’m also a dragon, under this human disguise. [Not a lie... But not a full truth either.

His gloved hands move away. Uai whispers a short cut for the formula for condensing water from the air. With the water now held in his cupped hands, he makes some ice and brings it to Myrrh’s leg.] This might sting, but we need to stop the bleeding.

[greatprecious]

[A Dragon with a human form? To Myrrh, that tells her he is a manakete is well. That seems to be enough to convince her to trust him more.

How badly will it sting? All she can do was brace for it. She wasn't expecting ice, however. The mighty growls and thumps her tail merely seconds after the ice meets the wounds.]

Too.... Too cold.

[theyseemeroland]

Roland doesn't want to interfere with Myrrh's freedom too much, so he's not worried until she's been missing for several hours with no notice of where she is. After sending her a message with no reply, his worry only grows.

The first place he checks is Fayren, of course, knowing how she loves it there. It doesn't take him long to find the huge injured dragon, and his voice is laced with worry as he calls out to her.

"Myrrh! Over here, it's me, it's Roland!" His eyes take in the various implements scattered across her body, gritting his teeth in anger. Not at Myrrh, of course, but who would do this to her?

[greatprecious]

[Still in a panic and writhing in pain from the trap, Myrrh was thrashing about, desperately trying to claw the chains muzzling her off, but to no avail. She only slowed down when she heard Roland's voice, though she can't reply.

She did spot him, though. The enraged, thrashing dragon immediately turned docile, whimpering as she limped over. She clearly needs help.]

[theyseemeroland]

His heart silently breaks for her when he sees how much pain she's in. He's not sure how much he can help her without making things worse -- he can try and get the chains off, at least, though the ankle trap might be beyond his abilities.

Roland looks down at the higgledies at his feet. "Go find someone to help. No, not you, you need to stay and heal Myrrh." Most of the higgledies dash off after a moment of reluctance, and Roland turns back to Myrrh. He'd find someone himself... but he doesn't want to leave her alone right now, and he can protect her better than the higgledies can.

"I'm going to try and get those chains off you, okay? I need you to stay still." He gently strokes Myrrh's scales, trying to soothe her before he starts the process.

[greatprecious]

[The chains on her face keep her from speaking, so all she can do is lay on the ground, worn out from her thrashing, and let Roland do what he needs to do.

Its all she can do to keep pressure off the trapped hind leg.]

[theyseemeroland]

Roland runs his hand along the chain to find the end, and begins to unwind it from her snout. Around her, the higgledies do their best to make soothing noises.