Making Connections

[Hiver]

We portaled out from Whiterun to the arrival site before getting ready to return to Azeroth.

I grinned and stole a kiss from Sheila before putting my Satchel into the snow, "I'll get changed. You two better get ready."

Sheila sighed and shook her head, "I'll wait until you are done, thank you very much. I have no intention of freezing my tits off."

I couldn't help but grin wider at that, "Neither do I. I kinda like them."

That earned a playful look and a poke in the chest before she walked over to Ren and Alexis. Chuckling, I knelt down in the snow and started to focus on turning back to my real form.

According to Alexis, I actually had a really, really easy time of Walking compared to most Planeswalkers. They needed to partly recreate the way they first managed to awaken their Spark.

Alexis had been running from somebody in a forest, so that's what she need to do. I have no idea why I had such a easy time of it, but I strongly suspect it had something to do with my damaged memories.

I didn't know how I awakened it and the first time I managed to Walk, I was already channeling magic into the golden glow.

So yeah... apparently this was something I was good at. The drawback is that it took most of my magic to do, meaning I had none to play with on the other side.

Alexis could emerge on the other side, fully ready to kick arse. But then again, so could I. Just not in a magical way.

The transformation to my real form finished and I yawned, stretching as I spread my wings before relaxing again.

A week in human form and it was real nice to be back to dragon.

"Wow." Alexis said as she looked up at me, "Dragon."

I chuckled at that, "Dragon. We did tell you." as I padded up to give Ren a bump with my snout, causing her to grin and scratch between my eyes.

"Well... Seeing and hearing are different things." Alexis said as she carefully approached.

Shifting my wings in amusement, I turned, lowering my head allowing her to touch my head, "Ren, Sheila? Ready?"

"A moment." Sheila said and quickly started to undress, shivering in the cold air before shrugging on her thick cloak again, pulling it tight around her, "Just hurry up, it's freezing."

I nodded, "Ren?" I asked as I started to quickly channel my magic, getting ready to step out of reality.

"Already done." my fellow dragon answered and hung her satchel on my flight harness, having finished putting her armor away before putting her arms around my neck, pressing close.

Yeah, that's not distracting at all.

Alexis looked slightly weirded out by it all but Sheila took pity on her as she walked up to attach her satchel as well.

"The transfer destroy our bodies and everything we are carrying. The soulstones can only save 'us', not our belongings." she explained, "So we end up naked on the other side anyway so we might as well store the equipment beforehand. As freezing as it is." before pulling her cloak tighter around her.

The Planeswalker nodded, "Yeah... that make sense. I'm just glad I don't need to do that."

"I'm ready." I said softly, "Alexis, grab hold to my head."

She nodded and I waited until I was sure they were all hanging on before I Walked.


XXXXXXXXXX


I returned to reality and dug my claws into the grass, spreading my wings for balance as I sucked in a deep breath.

Alexis had not been as lucky, she stumbled and fell over as she lost her grip on my head, falling to her knees, "FUCKING FUCK!" she swore as she tried to catch her breath.

"What?" I asked, tilting my head in question before turning to lift Sheila's and Ren's soulstones from their satchels, giving them a small burst of magic to give the 'all clear' signal.

As they reformed their bodies, Alexis shook her head, "That... was further than I expected."

Oh.

"Sorry. I didn't think of that."

Sheila quickly picked up her satchel and started to get dressed again, "You hold your breath while Walking, love." She said, "Most people don't have your lungs."

Ren was already 'dressed' having settled for an illusion now when she didn't feel a need for her armor, "Walk or portal back?" she asked and stretched before turning her back to Sheila, allowing her to start rebraiding her hair.

"We should walk, It's not far." Sheila said and got to work, "Stormwind main gates look rather nice."

No kidding, they blew everything I've seen in Skyrim out of the water. Laying down, I rested my head on my frontlegs and focused on turning to human form as I closed my eyes.


When I opened them again, the girls were sitting on the fallen tree trunk that had created the small clearing, waiting for me to finish.

Yawning I picked up my satchel, shouldering it as I pulled out my sheathed glaive and put in back in my belt where it belonged, "Come on, let's get going. I want to go home and sleep for a week."

Alexis nodded, "I know what you mean. I feel like I have run half the day."



AN// Many thanks to Alleydodger for betaing this section.

 

[Hiver]

"Woah." Alexis said and looked up at the statues as we passed through the outer gates of Stormwind and onto the bridge over the massive moat.

The outer gates are the first line of defense... when the attackers breach that is when the real pain starts.

A stone bridge over the deep and wide moat with even more solid gates at the other end. A perfect choke point and killing ground.

It was also built to look impressive... and it worked. Large statues and massive fortifications tended to do that.

"It is impressive." Sheila said as she lead the way across the bridge, "But personally, I think it looked better before the rebuild."

Alexis frowned, "Rebuild?"

"Dragon attack." I said with a shrug, "Also, about that... no mentioning that kind of thing among the mortals."

She gave me a concerned look, "So they don't..."

I sighed, "I'll explain later."

Technically the dragonflights were neutral. But most of the population of the mortal races didn't exactly like us.

And the authorities did 'not' like dragons hiding in their population. If they found out, it could get people in trouble. People like Venir.

"So where are we heading?" Alexis asked as we entered the market district.

"Well..." Sheila said with a shrug, "I figured we could find you an Inn close to where we live."

My fellow Planeswalker nodded, "Yeah, I was about to ask about that. I don't have any local currency. I have some stuff I could sell, but not much."

I shook my head, "Don't worry about it, I have you covered."

She nodded, "...Thanks. Oh yeah, You are supposed to be rich, aren't you?"

"I wouldn't say rich. But we have enough."

Ren grinned, "Atreus, didn't you just order a mansion built? As I understand it, that's considered wealthy."

"But... I don't care about money." I argued, causing Alexis to shake her head.

"Yep. Definitely rich. You have the same attitude to money as my dad." before she walked up next to Sheila.

Watched her thoughtfully at that. Since when did authors get rich? I mean, they did back on Earth, I knew that, but that was rare even there.

Then again... her name was Castle and she did say she grew up in a kind of mansion which indicated that her family had always been rich. Good on her father I guess, he didn't seem to be the normal waste of space Nobles usually turned out to be, even if his chosen occupation was not that productive.

I'll probably find out more later, even when training together we hadn't exactly had much time to talk.


XXXXXXXXXX


Yawning, I left Targo's shop and scratched at my chin. I had wanted to sleep for a week, but no such luck. After leaving the girls to find Alexis a room at an inn, I went to drop of the latest materials from Skyrim at The Nexus.

That of course, pulled me into a meeting with Masagos that just dragged on and on. To be fair, it was his job to organize and keep me up to date on the progress of the research teams.

I was not overly happy about him doing it 'today', but whatever. At least it was over with for the next couple months.

Putting my hands in my pockets, I yawned again and started along the grass covered path of the Mages Quarter towards our small apartment, glancing up at the skies.

It was quickly growing dark. Maybe I should have saved that hunting trip for tomorrow as well, but I was hungry and it only took a hour or so.

Sheila and Ren were likely in bed already... and I was really looking forward to joining them. And for sleep this time, I was exhausted.

Walking and then a three hour meeting? Yeah, that hunting trip had been a bad idea.

Reaching the stairs leading up to the apartment I frowned at the sight that met me.

"Gerald?" I asked as I walked up the stairs, seeing the captain of the guard sitting at the top step in civilian clothing. What the hell is Venir's Consort doing here?

"Atreus." he greeted me with a nod, "How are you doing?"

"Exhausted. So what brings you to our door?"

He grinned briefly, "A woman, what else? Venir heard you were back in town and left a note for me to find, saying to meet her here after my shift ended."

I frowned and leaned against the railing, "So... why are you here and not inside?"

"Because there is no way I am walking in through that door."

"Well, sit there then. She can visit another time, I'm going to get some sleep."

With those words, I moved past him and opened the door to walk inside.

Ren, Venir, Sheila and Alexis was on the couch and bed, they had dragged the couch around to face the bed and there were several wine bottles around the place, and most seemed to be empty.

When I walked inside they stopped talking and turned to look at me. There was a couple of seconds before all four broke down into giggles.

I froze and then quickly turned around, walking back outside, closing the door behind me, triggering another avalanche of giggles.

Nope. All aboard the Nope train to Fuckthatsville. I knew better than get involved with that.

"So..." I slowly said and looked down at Gerald, "You know any good taverns? I suddenly feel the urge to get rather drunk."

He grinned and got up, slowly nodding, "Yes... yes I do. And that's the best idea I heard all day."





AN// Many thanks to Firethorn for betaing this section.

 

[Hiver]

Kxzikcs.


Ugh. My thoughts were sluggish and my mouth felt like a desert as I started to slowly become aware again.

Fucking hell. Now I remember why I never get drunk. What the hell happened last night?

Last thing I remember... I think Gerald and I got into a drinking contest? What the hell was I thinking?

No headache at least... guess that's good. Just felt really, really lethargic.

Something familiar tickled my nose and I couldn't help but smile slightly, pulling the girl closer to me. Ren or Sheila?


I took in the scent of her hair. Mmmm. Snowberries.


Snowberries. That's odd. Neither Ren nor Sheila smelled of snowberries.

My heart stopped and my eyes snapped open to see a curtain of red across my vision. No... no I didn't.

Doing my best to keep from panicking I very slowly removed my arm from around her waist and tried to scoot back from the woman only to bump into someone behind me.

A arm moved around my chest and she slid up to whisper, "Good Morning." Into my ear. Sheila!

I turned my head to look at her in surprise, "Wha..."

She gave me a strict look before she smiled, "Don't worry, nothing happened." she said and cuddled close to my side, "You reaction was rather cute though."

I stared at her for a long moment before looking at the other woman, not recognizing Alexis at first. She was still fully dressed and completely out of it, deep asleep.

Another look around revealed Venir curled up asleep on the other side of Sheila and a snooring sound from the two shapes on the couch.

"What happened?"I whispered to her with a frown, "What time is it?"

She shrugged and cuddles closer, "Sometime around midday I think. You and Gerald stumbled in in the middle of the night, singing some awful song. He collapsed onto the couch. You managed to just about get your shirt off before falling into bed. I think you were asleep before you hit the pillow."

"Why are..." I managed to ask before I spotted that Ren was sleeping leaned against Geralds side, drooling on his shoulder.

Growl.

Ouch!

"Stop that!" Sheila hissed, "They are here because it was too late and they were too drunk to leave safely. I offered them a place to sleep for the night." before she poked my side again, softer this time, "And it's not their fault any more than it's yours who you were cuddling a minute ago."

I shifted uncomfortably but I finally nodded. Her logic was impeccable... and it's not like that kind of thing was uncommon among dragons. If they had both been dragons in their real form I would not even have lifted a eyebrow. Ridge. Whatever.

Must have been my human upbringing shining through.

It was just two friends sleeping together, happened all the time. Besides, if something else happened, Ren would feed him his own kidney.

"I know." I sighed and rolled to face her fully, putting my arms around her, "Sorry."

Sheila smiled and sighed against my neck, rubbing her forehead, "Sometimes your protectiveness is cute. This was not one of those times."

Pulling her a bit closer, I nodded, "...Sorry."

"So... how's your head?" She asked after a moment, "You seemed more then a bit out of it when you got back."

"Actually... not bad. I could drink half a lake, but no headache."

"...Well, that's just unfair." she groaned, "I didn't have much and I have a headache. How much did you have anyway? Ren had as much as the three of us combined and was barely matching Alexis in... well... drunkness."

I frowned at that. Well, dragons 'were' somewhat resistant to poisons. "I have no idea." I finally answered and shook my head, "Likely quite a lot, I remember something about a drinking contest?"

She muttered something that sounded disturbingly like 'men' before she poked me again, "Well, if you don't have a headache, go find my satchel, I have some pain potions in there."

Scooting off the bed, I quickly found her satchel. Uhm... healing potion, mana potion... book, notes... there, pain potion, right next to the cure disease ones.

I glanced over at the bed and grimaced before picking out enough for all the mortals. If Sheila was having a headache, so would they when they woke up.

Passing by the couch I gently put two vials on Ren's lap, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead before I continued back to the bed, scooting back next to Sheila, "Here love."

She groaned and quickly took one of them, uncorking and quickly downing it, "Oh thank the light. It had been getting worse."

On my other side Alexis let out a whimper and curled up in a ball beneath the covers. Look's like somebody else is awake.

Picking out a second vial I shifted to lift the covers, holding the potion where she could see it, "Drink. Helps your head."

A hand snaked out and grabbed it before disappearing back under the blanket, much to my amusement.

Shaking my head, I reached across Sheila to put the next vial on the covers where Venir would spot it when she finally wakes up before I laid down fully again, pulling Sheila close.

She sighed softly against me for a second and relaxed before she groaned and, to my disappointment, struggled to sit up.

"Aww."

Sheila rubbed her forehead, "In a couple of minutes these people will wake up and then we will have the apartment full of hungry and thirsty guests.. at least once they have taken their potions. I need to get some meat and eggs put on the fire."

I groaned for a second and then sighed, sitting up, "Get back in bed. I'll do it."

She raised an eyebrow and put her hand on my chest, giving me a small push back down with a smile, "I have eaten your cooking. I'll do it."

...Fine. Actually laying here sounded rather nice at the moment.

A couple of moments later I was dead asleep again.



AN// Many thanks to Firethorn for betaing this section. Tomorrow it is time for something completely different and I know it will be somewhat controversial. I will write My Little Pony. I have actually already started a thread as a experiment in it. The parts in it is unbetaed, but it was fun and easy to write, so I have decided to make it my next major project. BTW, if anyone feel like betaing those parts already posted, feel free. The story can be found here: https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/new-beginnings-mlp.19875/