[x] Listen to Jun-ho, you guess. Let him drag you down the causeway to go poke around in some dusty old rooms. [x0.5]
Dragon Harem Quest - Or: Saying You Were Gay Wasn't The Conversation-Ender You Hoped For
- Thread starter ZerbanDaGreat
- Start date
- Original
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[x] Listen to Jun-ho, you guess. Let him drag you down the causeway to go poke around in some dusty old rooms. [x0.5]
- Location
- Academy City
- Pronouns
- They
[X] Go to the shrine and inspect what it has to offer. You're not afraid of some old ruin just because it's dark. [x2]
- Location
- Somewhere!
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Listen to Jun-ho, you guess. Let him drag you down the causeway to go poke around in some dusty old rooms. [x0.5]
Yeah, I think we're getting hit by whatever the quarantine was for.
Yeah, I think we're getting hit by whatever the quarantine was for.
- Location
- Ohio
Didn't we meet Issachar that way though? We will meet bois whenever we do anything in this quest.
Also, what if the voice is just a bunch of young Cthulu-bois playing their version of mystery date? Send out psychic signals, draw in the being from far away, and hope it is your bae.
But really, my beef here is that WE are the psychosis voices in Eldingar's head, and a non-real one is trying to but in on our thing. He is not part of the diagnosis at all.
On the other hand, if we give in to temptation here and have to be saved by Jun-ho, I feel like Eldingar would be a little more inclined to listen to him next time (albeit begrudgingly with the noodle-boi wiggling happily with his newfound smug cuteness).
SCP-xxxsexysquidguylookingforhotandhandsomemen.
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Madou Sutegobana
Autocorrupt has been disabled.
- Location
- Twin Realms Mandala
Wait, if I remember my mythos, calling Eldingar a king could possibly mean that DagonExpy is looking for a mate. And that theory isn't neccessarily mutually exclusive to the 'Eldingar being related' theory.
I mean the mental influence is a bit scary, but are we foolish to have not expected such from a kinky tentacle monster?
I mean the mental influence is a bit scary, but are we foolish to have not expected such from a kinky tentacle monster?
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- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] Listen to Jun-ho, you guess. Let him drag you down the causeway to go poke around in some dusty old rooms. [x0.5]
I can't think of a good reason for this. We should totally just go check out that dark old ruin. I don't even know why I picked this. We like shrines more than Jun-ho, right? I feel like that's an established trait...
I can't think of a good reason for this. We should totally just go check out that dark old ruin. I don't even know why I picked this. We like shrines more than Jun-ho, right? I feel like that's an established trait...
Archeo Lumiere
The Prince's Archivist
- Location
- Lumiose City, Kalos
- Pronouns
- He/Him/They/Them
Archeo Lumiere
The Prince's Archivist
- Location
- Lumiose City, Kalos
- Pronouns
- He/Him/They/Them
Current tally weights out to 18 points listening to Jun-Ho, 16 points listening to the creepy voice that wants to praise us.
TenfoldShields
Lounging on a Hoard of Words
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Hah. Magitech Tenochitlan, nice. I do like the degree to which the world has some differing texture, there isn't really a Fantasy Europe, Arosa and our immediate stomping grounds come pretty close but Söfnun is still a weird melting pot of city that's got whole levels below sea level and towering skyscrapers vs, like, your usual Sorta-Britain Aesthetic. I'll also, like, reiterate the appreciation I have for how this is manages some pretty concise, evocative worldbuilding without also leaning into Tippyverse type shit. Magic is used, integrated, and ever present but the story doesn't lavish thousands of words on it all and it's mostly employed organically in the narrative. !Tenochitlan's a good example of this really, it's a massive metropolis built on artificial islands in the center of a lake, with complex roadworks and boroughs and even from the air (especially from the air) you can see how alive it is. How lived in it all is.
Dragon's eye views of the world are really cool as a general rule. Zerbs makes good use of it.
Tbh I think he probably isn't a born dragon, it's been mentioned a few times before but there are plenty of stories about people turning into dragons in Korean/Chinese/Japanese myth. He might be an Imugi actually, now that I think about it. For reference they're basically limbless protodragons who hang out in the water as big usually benevolent snakes. How they become dragons tends to vary but iirc it usually has a theme of, like, personal effort and piety. It'd explain a lot about Jun-ho really: he's constantly kinda insecure because at heart he still thinks of himself as a great big snake, he has no contact with dragons from !Korea 'cause he scaled up on his own and didn't know how to go find them, the way he's sorta naive and innocent and seems constantly perplexed by the world as a whole.
Anyway.
[X] Listen to Jun-ho, you guess. Let him drag you down the causeway to go poke around in some dusty old rooms. [x0.5]
1. Because Jun-ho's basically begging us not to go investigate the creepy attic and minimum genre savvy demands we listen. Despite how hilarious Eldingar popping on a blonde wig, adjusting his bust, and loudly looking for a lost love interest would be, being that on the nose is sorta silly. Scream's pretty dated all in all.
2. Because I know cowarding out will annoy Zerban more.
Nah but seriously I think...hrm. The impression I sorta has is an anglerfish lure rather than mind control, something sweet and seductive (and earnest for all that I think) guiding Eldingar in. But that said it's important to remember that the map gauges personal compatibility not necessarily hostility or threat. We could still really hit it off with someone and they could still try to gank us at our first meeting, these aren't really mutually exclusive. And that said it's possible that the LI here is a prisoner as well, this place was sealed at the bottom of the ocean for millennia, these could be his guards or warden, something like that. So even if the LI at the center is friendly the terrain around them could still be very, uh, un-friendly tbh.
I think the best way to get a gauge on what the voices want, what the game is here, it to sorta tease it back. Eldingar's not backing out but he's not plunging ahead either, how patient, frustrated, angry the unseen speakers get and what they do in response will tell us a lot about them and is less risky than just swimming up to the deep sea horror show and seeing what we can see.
- Location
- HELL
- Pronouns
- They/It
[x] Listen to Jun-ho, you guess. Let him drag you down the causeway to go poke around in some dusty old rooms. [x0.5]
what's the worst that could happen.
what's the worst that could happen.
ZerbanDaGreat
Daemon Noble of D E M O G R A P H I C S
- Pronouns
- They/them
Voting is now closed so I can work on the update!
- Location
- The Middle of the Howling Wilderness
Evil monster mind controls Eldingar and makes him say mean things to Jun-ho.
Vindictus
XENO
- Location
- Texas
I mean, still better than just straight up being mean of our own volition, no?
- Location
- Ohio
Do we really want a scared, sheltered Jun-ho running off on his own in a strange land?
This makes him even more adorable and I just want to protect him from everything even more now. From a good-hearted snake to good-hearted dragon. It makes a lot of sense and why I was wondering if he really was a dragon (though even then, I was wondering why eastern dragons where expected to be like western ones in this world, and if Eldingar was right about all dragons being greedy or he only had experience with western ones in general)
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Chapter Thirty-Three: This Isn't At All What You Wanted Out Of Today, Someone Should've Put Up Some Sort Of Warning Signage Or Something
ZerbanDaGreat
Daemon Noble of D E M O G R A P H I C S
- Pronouns
- They/them
"Ugh, fine!" you hiss, rolling your eyes for good measure. You swivel on the balls of your feet, tail lashing irritably, and take a few brisk steps down the causeway away from the shrine. "If it'll make you... feel..."
Your gait slows. You come to a stop again about a dozen steps from where you started, brow furrowed as far as it'll go as you stare down at the slick stones ahead. Jun-ho hurries over to your side, hunched over to get a better look at you.
"Eldingar? What is it now? Are you hearing the thing again?" he asks anxiously.
"No, no I..." Your thoughts aren't moving right. They're sluggish and numb, as if iced over, striking the insides of your skull and bouncing with dull thuds. You straighten up and crane your neck over your shoulder, squinting through the greyscale gloom at the shrine behind you. The statue in the middle, you... you can't quite place what it's supposed to look like but the silhouette seems familiar somehow. If you could only get a closer look-
"I-I'm... sorry I don't know what happened," you say, tearing your eyes away from the shrine and cradling your brow. You strike your forehead with the heel of your palm a few times, as if hoping to knock the thoughts loose. "I'm fine. I'm fine let's just keep going, like you said I'm sure there's plenty to see."
"Yeah..." You feel Jun-ho's claw hovering by your shoulder, the eastern dragon clearly hesitant to touch you for any number of reasons. In the end he does, two quick comforting pats before he withdraws his hand and keeps walking. You don't complain about it. Too much on your mind.
You descend a short flight of steps and enter the main temple complex, head on a swivel as you try to set your mind on less disquieting things. It's a little hard to judge things in greyscale, harder still knowing that the place was flooded by oceanwater until very recently, but it must've been a grand old place in its heyday. It reminds you a little of Sultanate architecture but subtly 'off'. Hard-edged and geometric and exact, like Makram's lamp, where the Sultanate prefers smooth curves and rounded edges and domes. You stoop down beside a featureless plinth and run your claws across the floor - you're pretty sure it was smooth once, polished to the kind of mirror sheen Plutocracy buildings can only dream of, all flat planes of glossy obsidian and marble inlaid with gold. A few scraps of fabric are left stuck to the wet stones in the doorways, rotted away to almost nothing. All that's left of once-fine curtains screening certain sections of the temple from the public. Even in this state there's plenty to admire, but there's more than its equal of melancholy to match it. Jun-ho may not appreciate it but you have an acute sense for this kind of grandeur, and it's almost sad to see the temple in this state. If you could only turn back time, even just to peer through a window and see what it was truly like.
Light flickers, splashes of gold among the grey. You straighten up as if scalded, shooting the stones beneath you a dubious look as the dull gilded channels underfoot flutter to life. They remind you something of the markings on your wings when you're channelling electricity, hard-edged and geometric, shooting off and recombining, forking and dividing, at harsh angles. Not a curve or bend to be seen. You take a step back and Jun-ho takes a step forward, crowding you as the pair of you turn in a slow circle to watch the temple reignite. Even the braziers come alive, not with actual fire but in some strange illusory facsimile of it. You draw nearer to the closest one, experimentally passing your claws through the flickering transparent flames. All the movement, all the light, but none of the heat.
"w-wel-wel-welcome, visitor."
You whirl around. The plinth you were next to only a moment ago is now occupied, for lack of a better term, by a woman. Only an illusion, golden-orange and translucent, flickering and jittering every now and then as if existing were some kind of concerted effort. Lacking in definition, almost doll-like.
"What?" You walk in a slow quarter-circle, returning to Jun-ho's side in front of the illusion. It slowly, smoothly revolves to face you the entire time.
"It has been. Three. Million. Two. Hundred. Eighty. Five. Thousand. Seven. Hundred. Sixty. Four. Days. Since our last visit." The illusion seems to lose focus at every new number, staring vacantly into the distance, before finally forcing itself to look down at you. "My name is Maram. How may I help you?"
You cock your head, brow furrowed as you stare up at the strangely barebones illusion. The style of name, to find her in a precursor ruin like this serving this function... "Are you a djinn?" you ask.
"Correct," Maram replies. "I am a marid-class djinn. The form you see now is a projection - my primary body, and my lamp, are stored elsewhere. I aid in the organisation and running of a great many temple functions, and answer any questions visitors may have. How may I help you?"
You blink. She certainly seems a lot more helpful than Makram, if a lot less... person-ish. And aren't there supposed to be wishes involved? Maybe it's different between ifrits and marids. It doesn't matter anyway. If she's a djinn then she can help you find what you're looking for.
"I ah... we-" you gesture at Jun-ho "-came here in search of someone. Based on certain information. You wouldn't happen to know of any... eligible bachelors in the area, would you?"
There's a pregnant pause as Maram stares blankly at you, shifting and twitching every so often as she thinks.
"One. Result. Found." An awkward half-moment's pause and she turns, gesturing out the doorway opposite the one you came in through. "Please follow me." And then she vanishes, flickering back to life on another plinth down the corridor, just when you were about to ask how 'following her' would even work. You look at Jun-ho. He looks at you. The both of you are about as bewildered as the other, but she seems helpful and there's literally nothing else to go on so you decide to comply.
The lights struggle on as you approach, flickering out again as you pass. It annoyingly plunges the temple beyond into deeper shadow, the actual light futzing with your darkvision, but while you grimace you can't bring yourself to be too angry at the djinn running the show - she's just trying to be considerate, not her fault she apparently doesn't know what dragons are. The pair of you walk down corridors, through rooms, turning left, turning right, guided on by the translucent projection of the trapped djinn. You don't really remember how to get back to the hole you jumped down, but you aren't worried. You haven't been going down, so worst comes to worst you could always start firing lightning at the ceiling and tunnel your way out or something. Jun-ho's still nervous of course. You bring yourself to give him a pat on the shoulder to try and reassure him. You think it works.
"Main courtyard," the marid says at last. "You have reached your destination."
It's a wide, open-air space. Or at least it was, before the seabed closed over it like the surface of a sucking pit of mud. Thousands of years drowned in salt without a drop of sun have turned the numerous planters and flowerbeds sour and dead, little more than gritty mud remaining. A few off-white crystal crusts linger here and there, although thankfully no reek of dead fish like the surface. The light-up gilding seems damaged here, as darkness returns like an old friend the further you draw into the courtyard. A fountain slowly resolves itself out of a simple silhouette as your nightvision kicks back in, once pure white marble corroded almost uniform black, the waters within dark and stagnant and still. You come to a stop a few metres away, brow furrowed in confusion.
"Hello?" you call through cupped claws, your voice echoing in the damp cavern. "I... this may sound strange but a magic map said I should date whoever I find down here!"
(here... here... here...) your voice replies. You turn a full circle, squinting at everything in sight, scratching your scalp with a metallic skkrtch skkrtch. You eventually settle on turning to the last plinth you saw the marid's projection appear and shouting at it.
"Hey! What's the big idea, leading us to some fountain? I came here for a boyfriend dammit!"
"Um," says Jun-ho.
He taps you on the shoulder. You turn.
The fountain's black waters ripple and swirl, rising from the darkened depths like a miniature typhoon. Spilling over the sides, cascading down each tier like waterfalls of ink that race across the stones the moment they touch the ground. Keening, crackling, crystallising as ice sprouts in its wake. Before you so much as have time to cry out the black water has encircled you and Jun-ho, a thick curtain wall of ice sprouting like some bizarre plant. Rising, rising, meeting the cave ceiling above and biting deep like jagged fangs. Trapping you in a rough oval cylinder of black-veined frost, filled with dull, dark shadows. Your next breath mists as it leaves your maw.
A shape half-emerges from the spout of black water. Maram's true body no doubt but even knowing it must be her the state of the marid jars your mind like an unexpected slap. Her skin is the colour of the sea, that ambiguous shade between blue and green that can have you arguing for hours, splashed in darkness that seems to grip at her like jealously clinging claws. She was covered in molten jewellery like Makram once, but whatever is still visible is tarnished as black as the water, as black as night. One half of her face is almost completely covered, her single visible eye like a blazing poison-yellow star in a pool of ink. Her long white hair lies stuck to her in matted, drowned clumps, her legs bound together in the darkness like the tail of a mermaid. You just barely glimpse what you think may be her lamp stuck half-submerged in the tarry substance by what used to be her ankle.
"Iiiiiiii have waited-waited-waited sooooo long," she hisses like a crashing wave, head twitching madly at each stumble over the word. "We never have to be lonely-lonely againnnn..."
"Be my mas-master," the marid calls, gesturing at the pair of you with one black-clawed hand. "Join with us- with me- with us makeitstop"
"It's obviously not what the map was pointing to!" you shout back. "I severely doubt it would point to something that clearly wants to eat our souls or something!" There's a pregnant pause before you add the obvious. "... and, not to be crass, but she's a woman."
"Did she eat the person it was pointing to!?" Jun-ho cries, raking his claws down the sides of his snout.
"Possibly but now is not the time to-" "AAAAAUUUUGHHH" "-panic!"
Jun-ho's claw finds yours and before you know it they're clasped tight. Not the most romantic situation to hold hands for the first time but on the plus side you may not survive to feel bad about it later. The two of you take a few halting steps back as the icebound warriors slowly lurch towards you.
"W-we can take them though, right?" Jun-ho asks. "Like you said? Nothing can beat a dragon?"
Your head is filled with images of your disastrous battle with Makram. While you have no gold to blow up this time, neither do you have a magic jug to blindside the marid with. That and ordinary water is unlikely to be her anathema the way it was for the ifrit for several reasons.
"O-of course we can!" you lie after far too long and with nowhere near enough confidence. "I'll have a plan in no time at all!"
You squeeze his claw tighter. He squeezes back just as hard. You stare wide-eyed at the scene before you and will your mind to kick into fucking gear already. You have to do something. But what?
[ ] Just fight the icy 'knights' head on. You're dragons, dammit! Against your impenetrable scales all weapons perish, your strength is the stuff of legend, your claws like spears, etc etc! These petty familiars are nothing!
[ ] Have Jun-ho try to melt a few layers off the ice wall then release your lightning. If done correctly it should conduct through the meltwater and fry all four knights at once. If done poorly it may electrocute your betrothed and/or do nothing helpful at all.
[ ] Rush the marid herself. If she summoned these creatures then it stands to reason that defeating her should just make them vanish anyway! Whatever other powers she commands she's unlikely to be able to withstand an assault from two dragons at once, and you doubt she can teleport away in her bound state.
[ ] Beat a very tactical and rational retreat. Both of you turn and combine your breath to bore your way through this ice wall and make some space. You'll show your backs to the enemy, but the extra speed should make up for it.
[ ] Have Jun-ho try to melt through the wall while you hold off the knights. As the stronger, smarter, more dragon-y one you obviously have the what it takes to hold the line for as long as he needs.
[ ] Have Jun-ho hold off the knights while you bore through the wall with your lightning. If they're made of water and ice then obviously it should be a cinch for Jun-ho to take care of all that while you see what your breath can really do.
Your gait slows. You come to a stop again about a dozen steps from where you started, brow furrowed as far as it'll go as you stare down at the slick stones ahead. Jun-ho hurries over to your side, hunched over to get a better look at you.
"Eldingar? What is it now? Are you hearing the thing again?" he asks anxiously.
"No, no I..." Your thoughts aren't moving right. They're sluggish and numb, as if iced over, striking the insides of your skull and bouncing with dull thuds. You straighten up and crane your neck over your shoulder, squinting through the greyscale gloom at the shrine behind you. The statue in the middle, you... you can't quite place what it's supposed to look like but the silhouette seems familiar somehow. If you could only get a closer look-
"I-I'm... sorry I don't know what happened," you say, tearing your eyes away from the shrine and cradling your brow. You strike your forehead with the heel of your palm a few times, as if hoping to knock the thoughts loose. "I'm fine. I'm fine let's just keep going, like you said I'm sure there's plenty to see."
"Yeah..." You feel Jun-ho's claw hovering by your shoulder, the eastern dragon clearly hesitant to touch you for any number of reasons. In the end he does, two quick comforting pats before he withdraws his hand and keeps walking. You don't complain about it. Too much on your mind.
You descend a short flight of steps and enter the main temple complex, head on a swivel as you try to set your mind on less disquieting things. It's a little hard to judge things in greyscale, harder still knowing that the place was flooded by oceanwater until very recently, but it must've been a grand old place in its heyday. It reminds you a little of Sultanate architecture but subtly 'off'. Hard-edged and geometric and exact, like Makram's lamp, where the Sultanate prefers smooth curves and rounded edges and domes. You stoop down beside a featureless plinth and run your claws across the floor - you're pretty sure it was smooth once, polished to the kind of mirror sheen Plutocracy buildings can only dream of, all flat planes of glossy obsidian and marble inlaid with gold. A few scraps of fabric are left stuck to the wet stones in the doorways, rotted away to almost nothing. All that's left of once-fine curtains screening certain sections of the temple from the public. Even in this state there's plenty to admire, but there's more than its equal of melancholy to match it. Jun-ho may not appreciate it but you have an acute sense for this kind of grandeur, and it's almost sad to see the temple in this state. If you could only turn back time, even just to peer through a window and see what it was truly like.
Light flickers, splashes of gold among the grey. You straighten up as if scalded, shooting the stones beneath you a dubious look as the dull gilded channels underfoot flutter to life. They remind you something of the markings on your wings when you're channelling electricity, hard-edged and geometric, shooting off and recombining, forking and dividing, at harsh angles. Not a curve or bend to be seen. You take a step back and Jun-ho takes a step forward, crowding you as the pair of you turn in a slow circle to watch the temple reignite. Even the braziers come alive, not with actual fire but in some strange illusory facsimile of it. You draw nearer to the closest one, experimentally passing your claws through the flickering transparent flames. All the movement, all the light, but none of the heat.
"w-wel-wel-welcome, visitor."
You whirl around. The plinth you were next to only a moment ago is now occupied, for lack of a better term, by a woman. Only an illusion, golden-orange and translucent, flickering and jittering every now and then as if existing were some kind of concerted effort. Lacking in definition, almost doll-like.
"What?" You walk in a slow quarter-circle, returning to Jun-ho's side in front of the illusion. It slowly, smoothly revolves to face you the entire time.
"It has been. Three. Million. Two. Hundred. Eighty. Five. Thousand. Seven. Hundred. Sixty. Four. Days. Since our last visit." The illusion seems to lose focus at every new number, staring vacantly into the distance, before finally forcing itself to look down at you. "My name is Maram. How may I help you?"
You cock your head, brow furrowed as you stare up at the strangely barebones illusion. The style of name, to find her in a precursor ruin like this serving this function... "Are you a djinn?" you ask.
"Correct," Maram replies. "I am a marid-class djinn. The form you see now is a projection - my primary body, and my lamp, are stored elsewhere. I aid in the organisation and running of a great many temple functions, and answer any questions visitors may have. How may I help you?"
You blink. She certainly seems a lot more helpful than Makram, if a lot less... person-ish. And aren't there supposed to be wishes involved? Maybe it's different between ifrits and marids. It doesn't matter anyway. If she's a djinn then she can help you find what you're looking for.
"I ah... we-" you gesture at Jun-ho "-came here in search of someone. Based on certain information. You wouldn't happen to know of any... eligible bachelors in the area, would you?"
There's a pregnant pause as Maram stares blankly at you, shifting and twitching every so often as she thinks.
"One. Result. Found." An awkward half-moment's pause and she turns, gesturing out the doorway opposite the one you came in through. "Please follow me." And then she vanishes, flickering back to life on another plinth down the corridor, just when you were about to ask how 'following her' would even work. You look at Jun-ho. He looks at you. The both of you are about as bewildered as the other, but she seems helpful and there's literally nothing else to go on so you decide to comply.
The lights struggle on as you approach, flickering out again as you pass. It annoyingly plunges the temple beyond into deeper shadow, the actual light futzing with your darkvision, but while you grimace you can't bring yourself to be too angry at the djinn running the show - she's just trying to be considerate, not her fault she apparently doesn't know what dragons are. The pair of you walk down corridors, through rooms, turning left, turning right, guided on by the translucent projection of the trapped djinn. You don't really remember how to get back to the hole you jumped down, but you aren't worried. You haven't been going down, so worst comes to worst you could always start firing lightning at the ceiling and tunnel your way out or something. Jun-ho's still nervous of course. You bring yourself to give him a pat on the shoulder to try and reassure him. You think it works.
"Main courtyard," the marid says at last. "You have reached your destination."
It's a wide, open-air space. Or at least it was, before the seabed closed over it like the surface of a sucking pit of mud. Thousands of years drowned in salt without a drop of sun have turned the numerous planters and flowerbeds sour and dead, little more than gritty mud remaining. A few off-white crystal crusts linger here and there, although thankfully no reek of dead fish like the surface. The light-up gilding seems damaged here, as darkness returns like an old friend the further you draw into the courtyard. A fountain slowly resolves itself out of a simple silhouette as your nightvision kicks back in, once pure white marble corroded almost uniform black, the waters within dark and stagnant and still. You come to a stop a few metres away, brow furrowed in confusion.
"Hello?" you call through cupped claws, your voice echoing in the damp cavern. "I... this may sound strange but a magic map said I should date whoever I find down here!"
(here... here... here...) your voice replies. You turn a full circle, squinting at everything in sight, scratching your scalp with a metallic skkrtch skkrtch. You eventually settle on turning to the last plinth you saw the marid's projection appear and shouting at it.
"Hey! What's the big idea, leading us to some fountain? I came here for a boyfriend dammit!"
"Um," says Jun-ho.
He taps you on the shoulder. You turn.
The fountain's black waters ripple and swirl, rising from the darkened depths like a miniature typhoon. Spilling over the sides, cascading down each tier like waterfalls of ink that race across the stones the moment they touch the ground. Keening, crackling, crystallising as ice sprouts in its wake. Before you so much as have time to cry out the black water has encircled you and Jun-ho, a thick curtain wall of ice sprouting like some bizarre plant. Rising, rising, meeting the cave ceiling above and biting deep like jagged fangs. Trapping you in a rough oval cylinder of black-veined frost, filled with dull, dark shadows. Your next breath mists as it leaves your maw.
A shape half-emerges from the spout of black water. Maram's true body no doubt but even knowing it must be her the state of the marid jars your mind like an unexpected slap. Her skin is the colour of the sea, that ambiguous shade between blue and green that can have you arguing for hours, splashed in darkness that seems to grip at her like jealously clinging claws. She was covered in molten jewellery like Makram once, but whatever is still visible is tarnished as black as the water, as black as night. One half of her face is almost completely covered, her single visible eye like a blazing poison-yellow star in a pool of ink. Her long white hair lies stuck to her in matted, drowned clumps, her legs bound together in the darkness like the tail of a mermaid. You just barely glimpse what you think may be her lamp stuck half-submerged in the tarry substance by what used to be her ankle.
"Iiiiiiii have waited-waited-waited sooooo long," she hisses like a crashing wave, head twitching madly at each stumble over the word. "We never have to be lonely-lonely againnnn..."
stay with us prince
More black fluid pours from the fountain, thickening from water to the consistency of tar as it splatters heavily across the stones. Drawing itself together into shapes, into semi-solid forms, squirming together like colonies of fat-bodied worms. The remainder flash-cools, crackling and creaking as black ice forms, armouring the figures as they slowly force themselves to rise. Higher, higher, taller, broader. Warriors, knights in fullplate of black ice, wielding weapons that billow black mist. Colonies of writhing, viscous eels held together only by their black-tinted prisons. "Be my mas-master," the marid calls, gesturing at the pair of you with one black-clawed hand. "Join with us- with me- with us makeitstop"
we know your pain
"I don't like this one!" Jun-ho exclaims, shrill and tight-voiced in panic. "I really really don't like this one!" "It's obviously not what the map was pointing to!" you shout back. "I severely doubt it would point to something that clearly wants to eat our souls or something!" There's a pregnant pause before you add the obvious. "... and, not to be crass, but she's a woman."
"Did she eat the person it was pointing to!?" Jun-ho cries, raking his claws down the sides of his snout.
"Possibly but now is not the time to-" "AAAAAUUUUGHHH" "-panic!"
Jun-ho's claw finds yours and before you know it they're clasped tight. Not the most romantic situation to hold hands for the first time but on the plus side you may not survive to feel bad about it later. The two of you take a few halting steps back as the icebound warriors slowly lurch towards you.
"W-we can take them though, right?" Jun-ho asks. "Like you said? Nothing can beat a dragon?"
Your head is filled with images of your disastrous battle with Makram. While you have no gold to blow up this time, neither do you have a magic jug to blindside the marid with. That and ordinary water is unlikely to be her anathema the way it was for the ifrit for several reasons.
"O-of course we can!" you lie after far too long and with nowhere near enough confidence. "I'll have a plan in no time at all!"
You squeeze his claw tighter. He squeezes back just as hard. You stare wide-eyed at the scene before you and will your mind to kick into fucking gear already. You have to do something. But what?
[ ] Just fight the icy 'knights' head on. You're dragons, dammit! Against your impenetrable scales all weapons perish, your strength is the stuff of legend, your claws like spears, etc etc! These petty familiars are nothing!
[ ] Have Jun-ho try to melt a few layers off the ice wall then release your lightning. If done correctly it should conduct through the meltwater and fry all four knights at once. If done poorly it may electrocute your betrothed and/or do nothing helpful at all.
[ ] Rush the marid herself. If she summoned these creatures then it stands to reason that defeating her should just make them vanish anyway! Whatever other powers she commands she's unlikely to be able to withstand an assault from two dragons at once, and you doubt she can teleport away in her bound state.
[ ] Beat a very tactical and rational retreat. Both of you turn and combine your breath to bore your way through this ice wall and make some space. You'll show your backs to the enemy, but the extra speed should make up for it.
[ ] Have Jun-ho try to melt through the wall while you hold off the knights. As the stronger, smarter, more dragon-y one you obviously have the what it takes to hold the line for as long as he needs.
[ ] Have Jun-ho hold off the knights while you bore through the wall with your lightning. If they're made of water and ice then obviously it should be a cinch for Jun-ho to take care of all that while you see what your breath can really do.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Just right around nine thousand years since the last visitor.
[X] Beat a very tactical and rational retreat. Both of you turn and combine your breath to bore your way through this ice wall and make some space. You'll show your backs to the enemy, but the extra speed should make up for it.
What do we gain from fighting right now? Doesn't look like we gain a boyfriend. Doesn't look like we gain gold. Eh. May as well back away.
[X] Beat a very tactical and rational retreat. Both of you turn and combine your breath to bore your way through this ice wall and make some space. You'll show your backs to the enemy, but the extra speed should make up for it.
What do we gain from fighting right now? Doesn't look like we gain a boyfriend. Doesn't look like we gain gold. Eh. May as well back away.
Archeo Lumiere
The Prince's Archivist
- Location
- Lumiose City, Kalos
- Pronouns
- He/Him/They/Them
While I'm not sure how to go at the moment, I have a feeling that jacking up the fountain is a grand idea.
- Location
- HELL
- Pronouns
- They/It
[Q] Make out. The power of love will repel the foul beast and her knights.
...i wish
[X] Have Jun-ho hold off the knights while you bore through the wall with your lightning. If they're made of water and ice then obviously it should be a cinch for Jun-ho to take care of all that while you see what your breath can really do.
IT'LL BE FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE.
[x] Rush the marid herself. If she summoned these creatures then it stands to reason that defeating her should just make them vanish anyway! Whatever other powers she commands she's unlikely to be able to withstand an assault from two dragons at once, and you doubt she can teleport away in her bound state.
Take out the summoner, and with any luck the summons will follow. If they don't, well, at least it'll make a for a good scene. (New boyfriend to the rescue please?)
Take out the summoner, and with any luck the summons will follow. If they don't, well, at least it'll make a for a good scene. (New boyfriend to the rescue please?)
Omegahugger
Inattentive Idiot
Well, there's a non-zero chance that Maram's a fujoshi, so it theoretically might work?