Tisaku
Head Chief Thinkomancer
-you may want to change this, unless you are referencing something I am not aware of.-
Before Dawn
- Thread starter Hiver
- Start date
Well, that suddenly got really awkward. How does a bigger than horse dragon deal with a couple of LEOs banging a door on his rear while a house guest of a friend's family?
- Pronouns
- she/her
Politely.
Atreus: "Can I help you officer?"
Poor LEO: "...Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to step out of the house."
A: "I don't think I can fit through the doors."
LEO: "Dispatch, I need back-up, suspect is refusing to co-operate."
Atreus sighs, accidentally breathing out some fire.
LEO: "Dispatch Suspect is armed, I repeat armed! He's breathing fire!"
A: "Come on, man, I'm a dragon, we all do that."
Uh, Atreus breathes ice.
Nah, while the cops stare dumstruck at Atreus Ren will lean in really close an whispers, "No one will ever believe you."
I assume this is standard protocol they've established for visiting worlds without readily apparent magic.
I assume this is standard protocol they've established for visiting worlds without readily apparent magic.
Last edited:
Breathing ice is equivalent to breathing anti-fire. Therefore, Atreus is made of antimatter, suspended from annihilating that Earth by weird Azeroth magic. However, Azeroth magic is not present in the Castleverse, as such, Atreus should have already reacted with the local matter and accidentally'd the Earth. Therefore, your initial assertion is INVALID!
24
"Kate!" Alexis exclaimed, "What did you do!?"
"Nothing! They must be here for something else!"
Bang! Bang!
Somebody was trying to shoulder the door open. Considering it was pressed against my rear, they didn't have much luck with that.
I did after all weigh a ton. Literally.
"Alexis. Not to stress you out, but should I turn back?" I asked, "And when I do, that door is going to open."
Taking a deep breath, she ran her hands down her face with a sigh, muttering something that sounded like, "...I should have so asked Master Goldmane instead..." before she nodded, "Turn back."
Nodding, I started to focus again to return to mortal form.
I couldn't help but feel for her, this was not exactly going great. About the only thing going for us right now that nobody had gotten shot.
"When they come in here, they will have weapons drawn and possibly restrain you. Please don't resist and it will all work out." Alexis said quickly to Sheila and Ren, "Please, trust me."
Both of them hesitated but Sheila finally nodded with Ren following her lead.
Taking a breath, I returned to mortal form in a cloud of magic smoke and seconds later the door of the apartment smashed open and a couple of guys burst inside, their pistols raised.
"Freeze!" The shorter, narrower guy shouted as he and his partner covered the room, "Captain Beckett?"
"It's fine, Ryan." Beckett said with a sigh, her voice steady despite the bad surprise we just gave her, "Everything is fine."
"What is this stuff? Why was the door stuck? We heard a commotion." the other guy said, waving some of the quickly dissipating magic smoke, "And who are these people?"
"My friends." Alexis spoke up as she walked up, "And can you stop pointing those guns around?"
He stared at her, "...Alexis? Wow, what... you're alive? We thought..."." he said and half lowered his gun, the other guy, Ryan doing the same.
"Captain, what happened here?" Ryan asked, looking between Alexis, me, the girls, and Captain Beckett.
She just stared at him for a long moment, "...That's quite a long and personal discussion. But you can put the guns away, they are friendly."
Yes, please stop waving the guns around. I really should get one of those. Sure, against a real threat they were not really useful.
But most threats were human, or as easy to hurt as humans, and as long as they were not in enchanted armor or behind shield spells a pistol would be really useful.
Both of them looked around before holstering their pistols.
Alexis grinned and pulled them both into a hug.
XXXXXXXXXX
"This place is strange." Sheila commented as she looked out the window, a cup of no longer hot tea held in her hands.
Ren just nodded as she took in the sight of the sky scrapers while peering down at the cars on the street below.
"Well it is one of the biggest cities on the planet." I said as I joined them, sipping on my third cup of tea. This one was actually properly made as I made it myself. Never trust a coffee drinker to be able to make a proper cup of tea.
We had all done our best to stay out of the way of the reunion, letting Alexis catch up with her dad and his girlfriend without us intruding now when the other two cops left. Apparently there was some sort of case but they said they would handle it because of the reunion.
There was a lot of hugging and story telling going on now.
We stayed on the opposite side of the apartment to give them some privacy without outright leaving.
"So much glass and steel." Sheila said, "It's amazing. And all without magic."
I smiled and nodded, sipping my tea, "It is." I agreed, looking down at the cars far below. I had actually never been to New York. Not that I remembered in any case.
"Does everyone have one of those vehicles?" Ren asked as she peered down on the street.
"Not everyone. Some don't feel like they need them here in the city." I confirmed, "But many do. The average person can afford at least one."
That earned me a strange look, "Why would anyone need more than one?"
I just shrugged, "Different uses for different models. But I do admit it's more common to own one." I made to glance up at the sun for the time before I caught myself and checked the time on the phone still sitting in my bag. Just before ten."
"How about we go have a look around, shall we?" I asked Sheila and Ren, "We have some stuff to track down and I want to explore as much as you two do. Think Alexis has this by now?"
Sheila nodded with a smile and turned, "Alexis, we are heading out."
My fellow Planeswalker looked up and then nodded, "Okay. See you later... wait, what about money?"
I felt like slapping myself. Oh yeah, money. I'm a idiot.
I started to rummage around in the bag, "Mister Castle, would you know somebody willing to buy jewelry with no questions asked? We need some local cash."
"What do you have exactly?" He asked thoughtfully, giving me a wary look. I didn't blame him for that, not every day somebody turn into a dragon.
Heading over I started to lay the selection out on the table causing Kate to gasp at the sight. Oh come on, it's just some gold and jewels.
AN// Thanks to runes for betaing this section.
"Nothing! They must be here for something else!"
Bang! Bang!
Somebody was trying to shoulder the door open. Considering it was pressed against my rear, they didn't have much luck with that.
I did after all weigh a ton. Literally.
"Alexis. Not to stress you out, but should I turn back?" I asked, "And when I do, that door is going to open."
Taking a deep breath, she ran her hands down her face with a sigh, muttering something that sounded like, "...I should have so asked Master Goldmane instead..." before she nodded, "Turn back."
Nodding, I started to focus again to return to mortal form.
I couldn't help but feel for her, this was not exactly going great. About the only thing going for us right now that nobody had gotten shot.
"When they come in here, they will have weapons drawn and possibly restrain you. Please don't resist and it will all work out." Alexis said quickly to Sheila and Ren, "Please, trust me."
Both of them hesitated but Sheila finally nodded with Ren following her lead.
Taking a breath, I returned to mortal form in a cloud of magic smoke and seconds later the door of the apartment smashed open and a couple of guys burst inside, their pistols raised.
"Freeze!" The shorter, narrower guy shouted as he and his partner covered the room, "Captain Beckett?"
"It's fine, Ryan." Beckett said with a sigh, her voice steady despite the bad surprise we just gave her, "Everything is fine."
"What is this stuff? Why was the door stuck? We heard a commotion." the other guy said, waving some of the quickly dissipating magic smoke, "And who are these people?"
"My friends." Alexis spoke up as she walked up, "And can you stop pointing those guns around?"
He stared at her, "...Alexis? Wow, what... you're alive? We thought..."." he said and half lowered his gun, the other guy, Ryan doing the same.
"Captain, what happened here?" Ryan asked, looking between Alexis, me, the girls, and Captain Beckett.
She just stared at him for a long moment, "...That's quite a long and personal discussion. But you can put the guns away, they are friendly."
Yes, please stop waving the guns around. I really should get one of those. Sure, against a real threat they were not really useful.
But most threats were human, or as easy to hurt as humans, and as long as they were not in enchanted armor or behind shield spells a pistol would be really useful.
Both of them looked around before holstering their pistols.
Alexis grinned and pulled them both into a hug.
XXXXXXXXXX
"This place is strange." Sheila commented as she looked out the window, a cup of no longer hot tea held in her hands.
Ren just nodded as she took in the sight of the sky scrapers while peering down at the cars on the street below.
"Well it is one of the biggest cities on the planet." I said as I joined them, sipping on my third cup of tea. This one was actually properly made as I made it myself. Never trust a coffee drinker to be able to make a proper cup of tea.
We had all done our best to stay out of the way of the reunion, letting Alexis catch up with her dad and his girlfriend without us intruding now when the other two cops left. Apparently there was some sort of case but they said they would handle it because of the reunion.
There was a lot of hugging and story telling going on now.
We stayed on the opposite side of the apartment to give them some privacy without outright leaving.
"So much glass and steel." Sheila said, "It's amazing. And all without magic."
I smiled and nodded, sipping my tea, "It is." I agreed, looking down at the cars far below. I had actually never been to New York. Not that I remembered in any case.
"Does everyone have one of those vehicles?" Ren asked as she peered down on the street.
"Not everyone. Some don't feel like they need them here in the city." I confirmed, "But many do. The average person can afford at least one."
That earned me a strange look, "Why would anyone need more than one?"
I just shrugged, "Different uses for different models. But I do admit it's more common to own one." I made to glance up at the sun for the time before I caught myself and checked the time on the phone still sitting in my bag. Just before ten."
"How about we go have a look around, shall we?" I asked Sheila and Ren, "We have some stuff to track down and I want to explore as much as you two do. Think Alexis has this by now?"
Sheila nodded with a smile and turned, "Alexis, we are heading out."
My fellow Planeswalker looked up and then nodded, "Okay. See you later... wait, what about money?"
I felt like slapping myself. Oh yeah, money. I'm a idiot.
I started to rummage around in the bag, "Mister Castle, would you know somebody willing to buy jewelry with no questions asked? We need some local cash."
"What do you have exactly?" He asked thoughtfully, giving me a wary look. I didn't blame him for that, not every day somebody turn into a dragon.
Heading over I started to lay the selection out on the table causing Kate to gasp at the sight. Oh come on, it's just some gold and jewels.
AN// Thanks to runes for betaing this section.
Wait a sec. This pair "heard a commotion" and decided to break down the door?
That doesn't seem like nearly enough reason. Am I missing something here?
In america if police hear a fight or commotion at a place, they have every right to charge in. Multiple charge crashing, and some shouting would count.
But the only "commotion" here was that Castle raised his voice. And I guess two chairs fell over. I'm pretty sure that doesn't warrant breaking down a door...
This is Castle and Beckett. If you have ever watched that show you would know that their friends are right to worry. Way too many people want to kill them.
It says something about how much life in Azeroth (and as a dragon) has changed this SI when a tableful of gold is treated as 'meh, trading goods' and not 'THAT IS A LOT OF MONEY!"
Problem is, if the Castleverse is half as wired as RL is, people are going to be wondering where these new bits of gold came from - and I doubt Azeroth's methods of ensuring resilience in jewelry match Earth's methods well enough to be overlooked.
Problem is, if the Castleverse is half as wired as RL is, people are going to be wondering where these new bits of gold came from - and I doubt Azeroth's methods of ensuring resilience in jewelry match Earth's methods well enough to be overlooked.
25
Walking along, I held Ren's hand as I watched her. As amazing as it was to get back to Earth, even temporarily, it was nothing to Sheila and Ren's reactions.
Something as simple as a streetlight got comments. Not to mention the endless store windows, cars and people moving about.
"So many people..." Sheila said as she looked around, "How many live in this city, there must be a million!"
"Might have changed, but the last number I heard was about eight million in this city. Around seven and a half billion world wide." I said with a shrug.
Ren shook her head, "That's insane. Why are there so many humans?"
"I guess that comes with being the only intelligent species on the planet. And with successfully getting onto the top of the food chain, and ample access to food, and with no predators the population kinda... exploded."
She was walking right next to the wall with me on the outside and Sheila taking the lead. Ren didn't like crowds, they made her uncomfortable. I wasn't an overly big fan of them either but I did my best to shield her from it.
Stopping, Sheila looked into the window of a store, "What are these? I saw one of them over at Alexis father's place. But it was black and didn't show pictures."
"They are TV's. Televisions. They display pictures and sounds from far away places. Mostly they are used for entertainment. Plays and such, but also news and other information shows about basically every subject known to man." I explained, "They pick up signals transmitted from ground stations and satellites, that's how they get the information on what to show."
Ren looked in through the store window at the big flat screen TV's showing some kind of cooking show, "And these are popular?"
I nodded, "Most homes have at least one. Watching them is one of the more popular pastimes."
"This place is weird."
I couldn't quite help but agree. Having seen so many other worlds and cultures, many other species. Earth was weird.
It was also very... human. But it wasn't home anymore, it was no place for a dragon. Not to live. It did however make one hell of a vacation spot.
"Come on, let's find somewhere to eat before we see if we can find a computer store." I said with a grin, putting my arm around Ren's waist, "I was originally thinking pizza when we got here, but do you smell that?"
"Everything stinks." Ren observed as she smelled the air.
"I have to agree with Ren here, Atreus." Sheila said with a nod, "This place does stink and it's not the normal city smell either."
"That's just the smog. Ignoring that, that smells like curry. There is an Indian place around here somewhere and I am dying for a curry."
"What's a curry?"
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
"So, what do you think?" I asked with a grin as we left the cinema. They had been showing the latest Die Hard movie and it had been glorious.
"It was stupid." Ren complained, "He should have died at several points in that play, but the character just got back up again. And a lot of the story didn't make sense."
I did explain before going in that while things might look pretty real, it was all a illusion for entertainment.
"It was a story, like those about heroes at home. Just told in a different way." Sheila disagreed, "It wasn't meant to be realistic, it was meant to be entertaining."
Ren just shook her head, "I did not like it. But I admit for people with no magic, the illusion was good."
I shrugged, "Maybe it wasn't the best movie to pick." I said before I looked up at the sky. Dark already.
We pushed the entire shopping thing up to tomorrow, today I wanted to just show them around. Just enjoy Earth for a moment.
There was a limit to how much time we had here. We all had responsibilities back home, but we could spare one day to just eat good food, walk the streets, and go to the movies.
Sheila smiled and got onto her toes to kiss my cheek, "Well, I enjoyed it. But it is getting late, we should find a local inn."
I started to nod before a thought struck me, "Uhm... actually, thinking about it I don't think that will work."
"Don't we have enough money?"
"Oh, we have the money, just not the identification." I sighed, "You need someway to identify yourself when checking into a hotel."
Ren tilted her head in slight confusion, "Why?"
I shrugged, "Don't ask me. Some sort of law. We need to find somewhere else to sleep."
"We could put our tents up in the large park where we arrived." Sheila suggested, "Nobody should mind when it's that big and only for one night."
"If somebody noticed, we would likely be arrested for that."
Ren frowned, "That's stupid."
"All worlds have their laws. Earth just happens to have a lot of them." I said with another shrug, "Damn, we should have brought the flying carpet. We could have put a blur spell over it and just floated above the park, slept on that."
Sheila shook her head, "Come on, let's go back and find Alexis. She was here before, she should have some suggestions."
AN// Many thanks to Zebrin for betaing this section.
Something as simple as a streetlight got comments. Not to mention the endless store windows, cars and people moving about.
"So many people..." Sheila said as she looked around, "How many live in this city, there must be a million!"
"Might have changed, but the last number I heard was about eight million in this city. Around seven and a half billion world wide." I said with a shrug.
Ren shook her head, "That's insane. Why are there so many humans?"
"I guess that comes with being the only intelligent species on the planet. And with successfully getting onto the top of the food chain, and ample access to food, and with no predators the population kinda... exploded."
She was walking right next to the wall with me on the outside and Sheila taking the lead. Ren didn't like crowds, they made her uncomfortable. I wasn't an overly big fan of them either but I did my best to shield her from it.
Stopping, Sheila looked into the window of a store, "What are these? I saw one of them over at Alexis father's place. But it was black and didn't show pictures."
"They are TV's. Televisions. They display pictures and sounds from far away places. Mostly they are used for entertainment. Plays and such, but also news and other information shows about basically every subject known to man." I explained, "They pick up signals transmitted from ground stations and satellites, that's how they get the information on what to show."
Ren looked in through the store window at the big flat screen TV's showing some kind of cooking show, "And these are popular?"
I nodded, "Most homes have at least one. Watching them is one of the more popular pastimes."
"This place is weird."
I couldn't quite help but agree. Having seen so many other worlds and cultures, many other species. Earth was weird.
It was also very... human. But it wasn't home anymore, it was no place for a dragon. Not to live. It did however make one hell of a vacation spot.
"Come on, let's find somewhere to eat before we see if we can find a computer store." I said with a grin, putting my arm around Ren's waist, "I was originally thinking pizza when we got here, but do you smell that?"
"Everything stinks." Ren observed as she smelled the air.
"I have to agree with Ren here, Atreus." Sheila said with a nod, "This place does stink and it's not the normal city smell either."
"That's just the smog. Ignoring that, that smells like curry. There is an Indian place around here somewhere and I am dying for a curry."
"What's a curry?"
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
"So, what do you think?" I asked with a grin as we left the cinema. They had been showing the latest Die Hard movie and it had been glorious.
"It was stupid." Ren complained, "He should have died at several points in that play, but the character just got back up again. And a lot of the story didn't make sense."
I did explain before going in that while things might look pretty real, it was all a illusion for entertainment.
"It was a story, like those about heroes at home. Just told in a different way." Sheila disagreed, "It wasn't meant to be realistic, it was meant to be entertaining."
Ren just shook her head, "I did not like it. But I admit for people with no magic, the illusion was good."
I shrugged, "Maybe it wasn't the best movie to pick." I said before I looked up at the sky. Dark already.
We pushed the entire shopping thing up to tomorrow, today I wanted to just show them around. Just enjoy Earth for a moment.
There was a limit to how much time we had here. We all had responsibilities back home, but we could spare one day to just eat good food, walk the streets, and go to the movies.
Sheila smiled and got onto her toes to kiss my cheek, "Well, I enjoyed it. But it is getting late, we should find a local inn."
I started to nod before a thought struck me, "Uhm... actually, thinking about it I don't think that will work."
"Don't we have enough money?"
"Oh, we have the money, just not the identification." I sighed, "You need someway to identify yourself when checking into a hotel."
Ren tilted her head in slight confusion, "Why?"
I shrugged, "Don't ask me. Some sort of law. We need to find somewhere else to sleep."
"We could put our tents up in the large park where we arrived." Sheila suggested, "Nobody should mind when it's that big and only for one night."
"If somebody noticed, we would likely be arrested for that."
Ren frowned, "That's stupid."
"All worlds have their laws. Earth just happens to have a lot of them." I said with another shrug, "Damn, we should have brought the flying carpet. We could have put a blur spell over it and just floated above the park, slept on that."
Sheila shook her head, "Come on, let's go back and find Alexis. She was here before, she should have some suggestions."
AN// Many thanks to Zebrin for betaing this section.
Strunkriidiisk
THE LEGEND
- Location
- Canada
- Pronouns
- He/Him
God damn it, it's two in the morning and now I want curry.
"No, Mister Castle. I will not sleep in the middle of the floor like an oversized dog. I see the joke, but from where I'm standing, it's not that funny."
"Besides, dad - I don't think the owner has changed their 'no pets allowed' policy."
"Besides, dad - I don't think the owner has changed their 'no pets allowed' policy."
26
I felt... comfortable.
It was one of those times when you wake up slowly, perfectly comfortable. That was rare now days. Too much to do.
Rolling over I found the sleeping mat next to mine empty.
I wasn't surprised, Sheila always was a early riser. I don't think I ever woken up before her that didn't involve being forcibly woken up by something. Ren was still deep asleep across from Sheilas mat from me, curled up slightly as she snoozed.
She was adorable.
Smiling to myself, I closed my eyes again and relaxed. We were currently camped out in the Castles guestroom. We did however chose the floor rather than the bed as it was too small for all three of us. Man it have to pay well to be a author. He had a two story apartment in New York.
Okay, to be fair, if my resources was translated into dollars I could as well. Hell, I might even be able to buy the building... or Manhattan depending on how capitalistic I feel in selling the good. Healing potions here on Earth? Cure Disease?
I like it. Yes, I'll take it.
Take what, sir?
The continent of North America. I'll take it. Do you take cash?
I just grinned at that idea as I stretched before sitting up, rubbing my eyes. Yeah, Earth was pretty much a license to print money if you managed to get things set up. But it was also a fucking pain in the arse because all the surveillance, regulations, security checks and everything else. Maybe I should set up operations in Africa or something. Somewhere with less oversight.
I didn't want to end up on a table being dissected for 'National Security'.
They also had weapons that could kill me, even in my real form with the armor fully deployed. Quite easily in fact. While I doubted handguns would do anything, I did not want to test it against a HEAT warhead.
Which meant that high profile on Earth was generally a bad idea for now. To expand here I would need to do it the sneaky way. Build a network in the shadows, local agents, contacts, rich people to sell and trade with.
The regular way the Azure Consortium operated wouldn't really work here, too many questions and regulations. Too open. How do you even calculate taxes for a multi-plane organization? I bet the IRS would have one ready if we happened to ask for one though.
Yawning again, I moved to pull a pair of jeans on before tying my hair back and stretching as I headed down stairs.
I found Sheila in the kitchen section talking with Kate Beckett.
"Good morning." I yawned as I walked up.
"Morning." Sheila answered, sounding way to chipper for this early hour before she grinned at Kate, "Told you it would be a while until one of the lazy lizards woke up."
"Not everyone grew up in a barn, love." I grumbled, giving her temple a quick kiss on the way past to hunt down some tea.
"I have pretty much given up on getting those two up at a reasonable hour." Sheila said with a roll of her eyes, "Not sure which one is worst really."
Kate nodded, "So you three are really..."
Sheila nodded, "It was a bit strange at first, tense at times. But I knew what I was getting into getting involved with Atreus. At the time I was hardly a expert, but I knew at least that much about the culture of the Dragonflights. Not that I didn't get a pretty big crash course into it soon after when Ren joined us."
"I see..."
"Don't think he forced it or anything." Sheila said with a grin as she eyed me, "Ren asked me actually. I was mostly surprised it was so soon, I thought it would be years before something like that came up. We talked it out and decided to give it a go and see how it worked. I was the one that joined their culture after all. And like Ren said, if it didn't work she could just wait until I died."
I looked up at that from the heating water. Ren said what?
Sheila rolled her eyes, "Oh relax, she didn't mean it like that and you know it."
"You mean dragons live longer than humans?" Kate asked with a small frown.
I nodded, "Yeah. No dragon have ever died of old age."
"...Huh. So you are..."
"Not sure, actually. Somewhere between thirty and forty maybe?" I shrugged before putting the tea bag in, "There was a bit of a mix-up with lost memories and everything."
Ugh. Bag tea.
She nodded and looked between me and Sheila before she sighed, "Okay, look... I have to ask... Alexis, is she... Involved?"
"No she is not." I confirmed as I shook my head, "You don't need to worry about that."
"I would be having a bit trouble with the entire 'my boyfriend has girlfriends' thing." Alexis said as she walked down the stairs, "So that's not happening. Also, I think I'll stick to my own species if that's okay with you."
I just grinned and saluted her with the cup, "Good morning to you too, Alexis."
"Good morning." she answered and sank down to sit next to Sheila with a grin, "Though, I have to admit I'm not complaining about the eye candy. You should walk around with your shirt off more often." she teased, sticking her tongue out at me.
I just gave her a flat look before raising a eyebrow at Sheila.
Sheila giggled and eyed me as well, "Hey, no arguments from me on that one. What do you think, Kate?"
"Hmm..."
Rolling my eyes, I sipped my tea before making my retreat upstairs for a t-shirt. I knew when I was outnumbered, I'm so lucky I only have two consorts, the critical mass to form a pack seemed to be three females. Besides, it's time to wake Ren up anyway so we could get going sometime this side of noon.
Lot's of things to locate and a limited amount of time to do it on.
AN// Many thanks to runes for betaing this part.
It was one of those times when you wake up slowly, perfectly comfortable. That was rare now days. Too much to do.
Rolling over I found the sleeping mat next to mine empty.
I wasn't surprised, Sheila always was a early riser. I don't think I ever woken up before her that didn't involve being forcibly woken up by something. Ren was still deep asleep across from Sheilas mat from me, curled up slightly as she snoozed.
She was adorable.
Smiling to myself, I closed my eyes again and relaxed. We were currently camped out in the Castles guestroom. We did however chose the floor rather than the bed as it was too small for all three of us. Man it have to pay well to be a author. He had a two story apartment in New York.
Okay, to be fair, if my resources was translated into dollars I could as well. Hell, I might even be able to buy the building... or Manhattan depending on how capitalistic I feel in selling the good. Healing potions here on Earth? Cure Disease?
I like it. Yes, I'll take it.
Take what, sir?
The continent of North America. I'll take it. Do you take cash?
I just grinned at that idea as I stretched before sitting up, rubbing my eyes. Yeah, Earth was pretty much a license to print money if you managed to get things set up. But it was also a fucking pain in the arse because all the surveillance, regulations, security checks and everything else. Maybe I should set up operations in Africa or something. Somewhere with less oversight.
I didn't want to end up on a table being dissected for 'National Security'.
They also had weapons that could kill me, even in my real form with the armor fully deployed. Quite easily in fact. While I doubted handguns would do anything, I did not want to test it against a HEAT warhead.
Which meant that high profile on Earth was generally a bad idea for now. To expand here I would need to do it the sneaky way. Build a network in the shadows, local agents, contacts, rich people to sell and trade with.
The regular way the Azure Consortium operated wouldn't really work here, too many questions and regulations. Too open. How do you even calculate taxes for a multi-plane organization? I bet the IRS would have one ready if we happened to ask for one though.
Yawning again, I moved to pull a pair of jeans on before tying my hair back and stretching as I headed down stairs.
I found Sheila in the kitchen section talking with Kate Beckett.
"Good morning." I yawned as I walked up.
"Morning." Sheila answered, sounding way to chipper for this early hour before she grinned at Kate, "Told you it would be a while until one of the lazy lizards woke up."
"Not everyone grew up in a barn, love." I grumbled, giving her temple a quick kiss on the way past to hunt down some tea.
"I have pretty much given up on getting those two up at a reasonable hour." Sheila said with a roll of her eyes, "Not sure which one is worst really."
Kate nodded, "So you three are really..."
Sheila nodded, "It was a bit strange at first, tense at times. But I knew what I was getting into getting involved with Atreus. At the time I was hardly a expert, but I knew at least that much about the culture of the Dragonflights. Not that I didn't get a pretty big crash course into it soon after when Ren joined us."
"I see..."
"Don't think he forced it or anything." Sheila said with a grin as she eyed me, "Ren asked me actually. I was mostly surprised it was so soon, I thought it would be years before something like that came up. We talked it out and decided to give it a go and see how it worked. I was the one that joined their culture after all. And like Ren said, if it didn't work she could just wait until I died."
I looked up at that from the heating water. Ren said what?
Sheila rolled her eyes, "Oh relax, she didn't mean it like that and you know it."
"You mean dragons live longer than humans?" Kate asked with a small frown.
I nodded, "Yeah. No dragon have ever died of old age."
"...Huh. So you are..."
"Not sure, actually. Somewhere between thirty and forty maybe?" I shrugged before putting the tea bag in, "There was a bit of a mix-up with lost memories and everything."
Ugh. Bag tea.
She nodded and looked between me and Sheila before she sighed, "Okay, look... I have to ask... Alexis, is she... Involved?"
"No she is not." I confirmed as I shook my head, "You don't need to worry about that."
"I would be having a bit trouble with the entire 'my boyfriend has girlfriends' thing." Alexis said as she walked down the stairs, "So that's not happening. Also, I think I'll stick to my own species if that's okay with you."
I just grinned and saluted her with the cup, "Good morning to you too, Alexis."
"Good morning." she answered and sank down to sit next to Sheila with a grin, "Though, I have to admit I'm not complaining about the eye candy. You should walk around with your shirt off more often." she teased, sticking her tongue out at me.
I just gave her a flat look before raising a eyebrow at Sheila.
Sheila giggled and eyed me as well, "Hey, no arguments from me on that one. What do you think, Kate?"
"Hmm..."
Rolling my eyes, I sipped my tea before making my retreat upstairs for a t-shirt. I knew when I was outnumbered, I'm so lucky I only have two consorts, the critical mass to form a pack seemed to be three females. Besides, it's time to wake Ren up anyway so we could get going sometime this side of noon.
Lot's of things to locate and a limited amount of time to do it on.
AN// Many thanks to runes for betaing this part.
Tisaku
Head Chief Thinkomancer
on the other side of
has
-or-
must
goods
the worst
-or-
worse
- Location
- Poland
without
- Location
- Australia
No, "with" is correct; he is not wearing a shirt.
27
"Do we have everything yet?" Ren asked as she walked along. She was still wearing her armor and illusion, refusing to change that. Sheila and I were wearing local clothes, though.
Not like we needed the armor and enchantments right now and it saved on illusions.
"I have no idea." Sheila answered her, carrying equally as many bags. "I think we bought everything in town."
"Nope, just most." I said with a grin as the taxi driver helped balance the next box on top of the ones I was already carrying. "I think we have most of the stuff."
Four laptops, more clothes (jeans are awesomely practical and I have yet to see anything like them anywhere else) and a gazillion other minor things. From books to something as simple as a couple of ceramic kitchen knives I wanted to experiment on later. Music player as well. I'd missed that.
Some hand-cranked rechargers to keep them charged as well. It should be easy enough to enchant the spinning things to crank themselves. And if that didn't work for some stupid reason, there were always golems. Much more reliable than solar cells.
"That's all of it." the cabbie said as he put the last box on top of the stack. "You got this, man?"
I nodded. "I think so. I think you will hear if I don't."
Chuckling, he got back into his cab and drove off.
"I'm going to need to Walk in my real form. No way I can carry all this otherwise." I commented with a grin as we started to head inside.
Sheila snorted. "No kidding."
I just grinned as we got into the elevator. This was going to be so awesome, I had not played around with a computer for over a decade. Forget games, it's going to be awesome for notes.
Hmm. But computers die from time to time. Better get backups.
"I just remembered something else we need too. More hard drives."
Ren frowned at me. "What's a hard drive?"
"Memory modules. Lets these machines remember what you write on them and other such things."
"Hmm. I'm not sure I understand the point. What's wrong with paper or parchment?"
"Ask me again when I have one up and running."
Oh! Cameras! I need cameras!
...And probably database software. This is ballooning pretty fast. Ugh, no. Cameras and word processing along with some... hmm. I wouldn't mind putting up some wireless networks at home, would make it easier to access information, especially if I put up a central server to store it on as well.
But then I'd need a full-sized generator to enchant as well to power it all. And power lines.
...This is going to take more than one trip, won't it? Well, that have to wait, I was going to be busy as it was for a while. There was dropping the cargo off in Westeros and then there was the next pickup in Caldeum at some point later and the meeting in Northrend with the mages before that.
And then the whole thing in Stormwind, let alone the general work involved in running the Azure Consortium and my own experiments.
Thank the Eternities that I didn't need to manage the research teams directly as well. I'm starting to think Targos might be right.
I have too much on my plate.
XXXXXXXXXX
"No, I somehow doubt I need an antivirus. Yes, I am sure I want to uninstall it." I said to myself, poring over the laptops set up across the floor of the guestroom.
I was purging them of bloatware and other stuff I didn't need clogging up the harddrives. Somehow I doubted that the antivirus would end up being relevant. Also, getting them updated.
The normal stuff with a new computer. Of course, it was different from when I left, they seemed to have jumped two versions of Windows forward. I'm not sure I liked it. But they would be useful, so I could stand it.
Leaving the laptops to Windows Update, I finally stretched before making my way downstairs towards the kitchen. It was evening and... I'm not sure where Ren and Sheila went.
"Mister Castle, Miss Beckett." I greeted them when I found them already there. "You wouldn't happened to have seen Sheila or Ren?"
He looked up. "They went out with Alexis. She said she wanted to show them the town. Look, I'm not sure I thanked you yet. For bringing her back home."
I just shook my head and sank down onto a free seat. "I didn't. She found her way back home all on her own, all I did was being willing to come along and be proof. Like she said before, most of her magic is internal, defensive or boosting in some way. Not a lot of flash there."
"Magic. It's still hard to believe even having seen it." Beckett said and closed the folder she had been reading with a sigh, dropping it on the table.
I grinned at that. "Hence the dragon in the room."
Castle just got a look on his face as it finally sunk in: 'holy crap, I'm talking to a magic dragon!'.
Beckett nodded and poked the folder. "I can't believe I'm actually asking this, but I don't suppose you have any spells that solve crimes? I'm at the edge of my rope on how to find this guy."
"Sure. Have something that's his? Blood would be best or possibly an item with a personal connection. I'm actually rather good at scrying spells." I answered with a shrug before I raised an eyebrow at the looks that earned me. "What?"
AN// A big wagon of thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
Not like we needed the armor and enchantments right now and it saved on illusions.
"I have no idea." Sheila answered her, carrying equally as many bags. "I think we bought everything in town."
"Nope, just most." I said with a grin as the taxi driver helped balance the next box on top of the ones I was already carrying. "I think we have most of the stuff."
Four laptops, more clothes (jeans are awesomely practical and I have yet to see anything like them anywhere else) and a gazillion other minor things. From books to something as simple as a couple of ceramic kitchen knives I wanted to experiment on later. Music player as well. I'd missed that.
Some hand-cranked rechargers to keep them charged as well. It should be easy enough to enchant the spinning things to crank themselves. And if that didn't work for some stupid reason, there were always golems. Much more reliable than solar cells.
"That's all of it." the cabbie said as he put the last box on top of the stack. "You got this, man?"
I nodded. "I think so. I think you will hear if I don't."
Chuckling, he got back into his cab and drove off.
"I'm going to need to Walk in my real form. No way I can carry all this otherwise." I commented with a grin as we started to head inside.
Sheila snorted. "No kidding."
I just grinned as we got into the elevator. This was going to be so awesome, I had not played around with a computer for over a decade. Forget games, it's going to be awesome for notes.
Hmm. But computers die from time to time. Better get backups.
"I just remembered something else we need too. More hard drives."
Ren frowned at me. "What's a hard drive?"
"Memory modules. Lets these machines remember what you write on them and other such things."
"Hmm. I'm not sure I understand the point. What's wrong with paper or parchment?"
"Ask me again when I have one up and running."
Oh! Cameras! I need cameras!
...And probably database software. This is ballooning pretty fast. Ugh, no. Cameras and word processing along with some... hmm. I wouldn't mind putting up some wireless networks at home, would make it easier to access information, especially if I put up a central server to store it on as well.
But then I'd need a full-sized generator to enchant as well to power it all. And power lines.
...This is going to take more than one trip, won't it? Well, that have to wait, I was going to be busy as it was for a while. There was dropping the cargo off in Westeros and then there was the next pickup in Caldeum at some point later and the meeting in Northrend with the mages before that.
And then the whole thing in Stormwind, let alone the general work involved in running the Azure Consortium and my own experiments.
Thank the Eternities that I didn't need to manage the research teams directly as well. I'm starting to think Targos might be right.
I have too much on my plate.
XXXXXXXXXX
"No, I somehow doubt I need an antivirus. Yes, I am sure I want to uninstall it." I said to myself, poring over the laptops set up across the floor of the guestroom.
I was purging them of bloatware and other stuff I didn't need clogging up the harddrives. Somehow I doubted that the antivirus would end up being relevant. Also, getting them updated.
The normal stuff with a new computer. Of course, it was different from when I left, they seemed to have jumped two versions of Windows forward. I'm not sure I liked it. But they would be useful, so I could stand it.
Leaving the laptops to Windows Update, I finally stretched before making my way downstairs towards the kitchen. It was evening and... I'm not sure where Ren and Sheila went.
"Mister Castle, Miss Beckett." I greeted them when I found them already there. "You wouldn't happened to have seen Sheila or Ren?"
He looked up. "They went out with Alexis. She said she wanted to show them the town. Look, I'm not sure I thanked you yet. For bringing her back home."
I just shook my head and sank down onto a free seat. "I didn't. She found her way back home all on her own, all I did was being willing to come along and be proof. Like she said before, most of her magic is internal, defensive or boosting in some way. Not a lot of flash there."
"Magic. It's still hard to believe even having seen it." Beckett said and closed the folder she had been reading with a sigh, dropping it on the table.
I grinned at that. "Hence the dragon in the room."
Castle just got a look on his face as it finally sunk in: 'holy crap, I'm talking to a magic dragon!'.
Beckett nodded and poked the folder. "I can't believe I'm actually asking this, but I don't suppose you have any spells that solve crimes? I'm at the edge of my rope on how to find this guy."
"Sure. Have something that's his? Blood would be best or possibly an item with a personal connection. I'm actually rather good at scrying spells." I answered with a shrug before I raised an eyebrow at the looks that earned me. "What?"
AN// A big wagon of thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
Magic! Now with practical applications!