open: we'll ride all night ( action + network )

[championinquisitor]

Action - OPEN

Those who are paying attention at all today or who are out and about in the daytime might see Alaina around midday. But she's not alone. Today she's spent the morning following a very crudely drawn map with red blinking lights -- she's aware that this was possibly the dumbest thing she could have done because since when do blinking red lights end well in Thedas? This led her to three very familiar faces: her first dracolisk, her second dracolisk, and a hart.

People out and about will see her riding the hart while carefully leading one dracolisk on either side because how else would she avoid spearing one or herself on the hart's antlers? Maker's breath, they're big. Anyone who wants to inquire about the mounts is free to and she'll stop to talk. The beasts seem fairly tame, though spirited and not for a green rider. Eventually, she aims to end up at the new stable where she can be found the rest of the day taking care of her mounts.

She should probably name them...

Network - OPEN

[ it's a video shot because alaina unsurprisingly does better with that than text. she's walking along the aisle of a new stable. if someone squints behind her, they might be able to make out the brown head of one or maybe three animals that look distinctly... similar and yet not to horses. good luck figuring out what they are. ]

There's a new stable area here, just on the outskirts of town. Looks pretty large and I've already settled my mounts into it. If you have stable animals that need shelter, you're welcome to use it for them. There's plenty of room and I'm only using three stalls. Just do me a favor and take care of your animals. I'm no expert.

[ pause. and then. ]

If anyone wants to see some exotic mounts from Thedas, I have three here and I'm happy to introduce them.

Network - CLOSED to Natasha

[ and there's an impish sort of smile. ]

Hey, do you have a couple minutes? I think we need to go riding.

Comments

[krasnayapautina]

On these mounts? [She had sorta squinted in the open message.] Definitely.

[championinquisitor]

We'll start you on the hart and then see about graduating to one of the dracolisks. I'll be here all day if you want to drop by.

[krasnayapautina]

I can be there in five, ten, minutes. [wasting no time for something new tbh.]

[championinquisitor]

I'll see you then.

[ alaina will be waiting out side by the time natasha shows up. the hart is saddled and tied up to a hitching post outside. it looks perfectly content. the hunter's shade dracolisk is further down, mostly so the hart's antlers don't gut it, and alaina is working on saddling it when natasha gets there. ]

[thefeckingmega]

Dani's only been here a week but she's been fast and sneaky and stayed out of sight of most. She's taken time to map out the city (yes, the entire city) (she moves super fast, okay?) even all the way up into the mountains and forests. Forests can be tricky to navigate in freeze-frame mode, but she did it with only one bruise on her cheek to show for it. This means she's awesome! Today she's Dani, although she's been fighting with Jada all day and is trying not to give over to the other personality she has.

So anyway, a new building in Itinere? She notices it. She's there. For awhile she just crouches on the roof, waiting to see if anyone is coming around; watching, listening, waiting. When it's just her for some time, she freeze-frames her way through the slipstream and is down on ground level with no one the wiser. Basically, she moves too fast for the naked eye to see.

The animals seem to feel a disturbance in the force though because they all seem to stir in their stall, as if looking for what's different and unable to find it. Dani propels herself up a ladder in hyper-speed and crouches there, looking down amid a mass of waist-length wild, red hair.

What are these things? Are they fae? Do they need to be killed. She's pretty sure they look like they need to be killed. Her fingers itch toward the hilt of her sword, hidden away in her long leather coat. Then the woman enters (criminy! just when things were about to get good and dead!) and Dani slinks into the shadows to watch her from above.

[championinquisitor]

It's the pawing done by the two dracolisks that has Alaina coming back to see them so quickly. She hasn't yet finished cleaning their equipment, but she's still making sure the animals are settled into their stalls well enough. The new environment must be difficult for them, especially as they likely aren't aware of how they got here in the first place.

Stopping at their stalls, she runs a hand across each dracolisk's face, trying to calm them down. They are fairly sensitive creatures, so she doesn't doubt that something has changed to make them act like this.

"What is it?" she asks them, like they actually understand. "Did something outside startle you?"

[thefeckingmega]

Oh no! The lady is moving closer to the stalls holding the strange monsters. Dani can feel her entire body tense, ready to leap down at the first inclination of trouble, ready to play the hero. She loves being the hero of the story, whatever that story might be. It's so fecking cool! Sometimes people thank her. Sometimes that don't. Who cares?!?!? She knows how she's saved people. Of course, she's killed people and lost people too, but that's not a story she pays attention to.

People need a hero whether they realize it or not. Dani is going to be this woman's hero.

She's just about to jump when the crazy woman sticks her hand out to the beasts. She's going to get her hand chewed off! Who would be so stupid? She leaps down from high up, landing gracefully just behind Alaina. But quicker than the eye can see she's slapped her hand down away from the monster. "What do you think you're doin'? You got a feckin' death wish?! They'd probably eat you for dinner sooner than look at you."

Then she notices Alaina's attire. She looks her up and down. "Dude. Cool. Never seen anything like that. You a priest or somesuch?"

[championinquisitor]

Dani will likely never know how lucky she is that Alaina is not Leliana or her hand might have gotten twisted backwards among other unpleasant possibilities. As it is, Alaina reacts instinctively, pushing away and putting herself between the assailant and her mounts.

"Maybe you should check your facts before you go upsetting someone's mounts!" she responds with no small amount of irritation. The dracolisks don't seem to be liking this whole thing. Both turn around in their stalls a few times, clearly agitated. And the hart has picked up on their distress, giving its shrill shriek in response.

"These are mine. They may not look like something you're used to, but I would appreciate it if you would at least ask first next time."

She's going to have to spend some time after this calming them down. The rest is ignored in favor of dealing with whoever this girl thought she was. Alaina can answer later, once her mounts are no longer in danger or agitated.

[thefeckingmega]

Wait a minute. This isn't the response of someone thankful to be saved by the hero of the day. Of course, she's run across other plainly irritable people who didn't want saving, people who wished to die or worse (yes, there's worse than dying) in her own world. That's the thankless life of a hero though! Hardly any gratitude where gratitude is due.

Dani eyes the woman with renewed skepticism. Maybe she has a death wish (or worse) like those people she tried to save in Dublin. Some people can't be saved. That's been a hard lesson for Dani to learn. Redemption is hard, okay? Nothing is black and white.

"S'fine with me. No skin off my back if you want your feckin' hand bitten off." Because they may belong to her, as she says, but even the caged lions eventually turn on their captors. And who would ever cage a lion?? Stupid feckers, that's who. Just like those that think to domesticate beasts like this. Once a monster, always a monster. No. Wait. She can't go down that road. She makes a fork in that road and follows a different train of thought.

She gives the beasts a sidelong look and takes a step to the side. She's supposed to ask first next time? Ask what? In her experience, if you take time to ask you end up dead. The end. Period. No more Dani. It's best to just act. "You think you can control 'em?"

[championinquisitor]

This girl seems not to understand a lot of things Alaina considers normal. Like permission, respect, that sort of thing. Apparently they come from very different places.

"I can," she says firmly. "I've done it before. They were fine until you startled them."

Maker's left ear, is she going to have to sleep out here now to be sure no one hurts her mounts?

"They don't bite if you know what you're doing." And don't startle or hurt them. That's basic animal care. It makes Alaina wonder what kind of world this girl comes from. A place where they either don't have things like dracolisks or everything weird and different gets killed. Alaina will pass. "I'm not going to let just anyone handle them for this exact reason. Not everyone can understand or deal with them, the hart included."

So she'll be keeping an eye on Dani and a close watch on the safety of her animals.

[thefeckingmega]

"Suuuure you can." Just like the crazies who think they can cage and control wild animals. Yep. Unless she's using druidic runes to control the beasts like Barrons does with the great Hunters that roam the skies of her world. But even then, those runes only suggest, as has recently been proven. Wild animals tolerate... until they don't.

Dani rises up onto the tips of her toes, trying to see if there are any runes etched into their skin, but only for a moment. Why should she care about this woman's safety? She obviously doesn't care about her own and doesn't want Dani's help. Stupid fecking people.

She sighs in a great big dramatic puff of air and steps back from the creatures and the woman. If she sees them out and about, then she'll get her super hero on. Other people probably need and want it. And they should! She's the Mega! (Kind of bad ass, really). Yep.

"Can't change the nature of a beast, lady. No one can." It's fact. At least as far as Dani is concerned. Permission and respect? Well, she's quit asking permission from adults and whatever respect she used to give was used against her in the worst possible ways. Nope. Can't think about that. That road is best traveled only when she's alone and without an unknown variable surrounding her, looking right at her. Who is this chick?

She pulls a candy bar from her pocket and munches on it, taking half of it into her mouth and eating it quickly before jauntily resting a hand on her hip. "Dani O'Malley." She introduces herself. Best way to know who someone is is to let them know who you are. See? She's smart sometimes.

[championinquisitor]

Alaina is going to be stubborn for a minute and not introduce herself. Her feathers are still ruffled and she has a point to make first. Even though her words are measured and calm, there's a bite to them and her point.

"How do you know their nature?" she asks evenly. "How do you know what they're like? Are you an expert on dracolisks?"