Looking for adventures! (open to all)

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Imperia was flying low over the outskirts of Skywing territory. The silver dragoness kept herself aloft with her ability to control the wind, she was utterly graceful and flapped her wings only because the movement relaxed her. At just under 15 feet tall (and about 40 feet long) she was one of the smallest adult dragons in the realm, but she was perfectly confident in going off alone. She was very quick and agile, she'd be fine.
She held a long golden spear, and she spun it carelessly about herself as she flew, whirling it around all four of her paws as well as her tail.
She flew low intentionally, seeing the ground rush by below her was soothing and there was always the chance she'd spot something interesting.

She'd been ready to leave Skywing territory and strike out on her own for a while now, and she'd brought her spear in case this was finally the day when she simply decided not to go back.

Tsukki — or rather, Kei — winced at the question, then quickly tried to replace his wince with a blank look. He knew perfectly well that Imperia had caught sight his wince, though, and his blank look probably hadn't helped. Biting his lip for no particular reason, he said, "My brother's name is...Akiteru." He hoped that Imperia would not make fun of his brother's name. Tsukki and his brother had odd names, and were often made fun of — hopefully Imperia would be the rare individual who wouldn't...

Then came the question he didn't want to answer, but had to anyway. He cast his eyes to the ground and mumbled, "Kei's my first name..." He had to stop himself from adding, "I know my name is weird..."

Pleasepleasepleasedon'tcallmeKei...

"Kei Tsukki?" Imperia repeated doubtfully. "That's intriguing. Still it's got nice alliteration. What do you prefer to be called?"
She noticed his wince and wondered if it was about his name. He'd been rude to her, but it would be petty for her to mock his name now. Besides it was a nice enough name in her opinion.

"Tsukki's just the short form of my full last name..." he mumbled, shuffling his feet uncomfortably. It was clear that he didn't like the topic being centered around his name, but he didn't attempt to change it.

"Call me Tsukki. Please." The last word was bitten out; rarely did he utter the word, and his pride often prevented him from speaking it out anyway. This time it gave way, probably sensing its owner's desperation to be called Tsukki.

"Of course." Imperia smiled amicably at him. "And Akiteru... I take it that you don't know about if your brother has had a girlfriend or anything recently?"
Imperia was puzzled now. Tsukki did seem to like his brother and want to help him, which seemed to contradict what Imperia had noticed about him earlier. Was he faking now, or had she been wrong? What else might she be wrong about?

Tsukki shook his head. "Nope. My brother never tells me about his personal life. Ever." He sounded a little bitter as he added, "I tell him about my life outside — but he never does. So if he gets hurt...I wouldn't know, and I wouldn't be able to help either." Tsukki turned to look at the gaping entrance of his cave. I wish I could help...

"He probably had a girlfriend. Whenever he thinks I'm absent, he'll repeatedly wail the name 'Emerald'," Tsukki muttered to himself. If that Emerald is still alive...I'll get her. And make her regret breaking my brother's heart. But maybe she died...? Tsukki sighed in frustration. "Maybe we could go demand answers from him?" the SkyWing suggested.[/color]

"That seems unfair." Imperia said disapprovingly. "Perhaps we should talk with your brother indeed. Do you have a 'plan of attack'? Should we try to demand answers or find some way of getting them out of him? Will he be more responsive with me there as a stranger? I can say I'm a psychologist."
Imperia wagged her tail with enthusiasm, behaving rather like a hatchling being given a chance to go out and play.

"I'd like to demand answers from him...but I can't. That would be disrespectful." Tsukki prided himself on being respectful to his older brother Akiteru - something he didn't often give others. "And though your second idea sounds tempting, I doubt you pretending to be a psychologist would fool him, much less convince him to talk." A heavy sigh, before he said, "However, I have no other options...so I suppose we could try that method. Let's hope it will work." Tsukki turned and, without waiting for Imperia, wandered back into his den, calling: "Big brother! I brought a psychologist so that we could cure your sad disease!" He tried as much as possible to sound innocent and cute and...stupid. Internally he was laughing at his own self ("'Sad disease'? Really, is that the best you could come up with?"), but he forced himself to speak the words anyway.

Akiteru lifted his head, his bloodshot eyes focusing on Imperia, before widening. Then he stood, an abrupt movement that startled Tsukki, before demanding, "What is she doing here?" Tsukki hid his wince (his brother had always welcomed strangers) as he replied, "Psychologist. Please, please let her help. I don't want you to be depressed any longer." The worry in his voice was the only genuine emotion there, and he moved closer to Akiteru, pleading, "Just once?" Akiteru regarded Tsukki with cold eyes, before sighing and relenting. "All right..." he mumbled, hostile voice suddenly replaced with a broken one, before slumping down again, curling up into a tight ball. His head was resting on a wing, though, and Tsukki considered that to be a small achievement. At least Akiteru wasn't hiding his head any more... Tsukki turned to look at Imperia with expectant eyes, waiting for her to do whatever she was going to do.

Which he was actually curious about. Hopefully he wouldn't laugh in the middle of it and give the game away... If it could be called a game.

Imperia laughed slightly at Tsukki's comment about her pretending to be a psychologist. She was, in fact, a psychologist. At least, according to herself she was one; it was doubtful weather any real psychologists would consider her anything more than a cute, moderately successful, and well read wannabe. Still the dragon world had never been particularly strong in psychology, certainly not among the Skywings, so she was probably the best 'psychologist' around despite her almost total lack of formal training.

She sashayed forwards with a warm smile and sat down in front of Akiteru. "My name is Imperia, and I'm pleased to meet you. Thankyou for letting me help. What shall I call you? Do you mind if I just call you Akiteru?"
She seemed perfectly confident, projecting a professional and dignified appearance, but unable to totally hide her natural inclination to prance around like a showpony.

"Just call me Akiteru. Also... Kei," he said, addressing Tsukki, "can you go?" Tsukki didn't look too happy about it, but he obeyed anyway, turning around with a huff and stomping out. Akiteru released a sigh of relief when Tsukki was no longer in his line of vision, then drew his gaze back to Imperia. "So Kei asked you to help me, huh?" he asked tiredly, rubbing at his eyes, which had dark bags underneath them. Going without sleep for three days would do that to a dragon. Grief had kept him awake, and his mind was too clouded with pictures of Emerald to shut down anyway.

"I suppose you're here to ask what's wrong?"

"I'm not here to ask, I'm here to help. Maybe that means I'll ask, or maybe I won't need to."
Imperia shrugged. She gave him another small smile.
"You're right that Kei asked me here to talk to you, do you think that I can help?"

Akiteru shrugged. "Maybe you can, maybe you can't," he responded half heartedly, clearly not really caring if it worked or not. "But I could do with a little help. I wanted someone to talk to, but Kei... He loves me so much, and I don't want to worry him with my problems." He sighed, then continued, almost distantly: "As you've probably heard from Kei, I've been moaning the name Emerald. Repeatedly." A look of both pain and embarrassment crossed his face when he said it out loud, but he didn't stop talking. Akiteru had to choke out the next few words, suddenly overcome with grief that he'd managed to keep at bay when Imperia first spoke to him. "She...was my mate. Or was going to be. Someone murdered her. When I went over to her cave, I found her with...with...a broken neck. And...a red "X" slashed across her chest." Tears began to roll down his cheeks, and he buried his face in his curled body, muffled choking sounds coming from him.

Meanwhile, Kei, who'd sneaked back in, stared at his Akiteru. His earlier suspicions were confirmed, and he couldn't help but frown at his brother's decision to not tell him. His annoyance at not being told anything was quickly replaced with sorrow (though not as profound as Akiteru's) and worry, and he wanted to step out of the shadows and give his brother a hug. He didn't, of course, for it would mean that Akiteru would find out that he and Imperia had been listened on. That would most likely lead to his Akiteru's refusal to talk any further, which wouldn't help his brother at all. So Kei remained hidden, watching silently.

The soft beating of wings..

The wind in his face..

The world at his clawtips..

Aviur had never felt so alive.


Opening his eyes, Aviur released a blast of fire that glowed against the sapphire sky, laughing as he did a barrell roll. He soared several metres above the canopy, smiling as the wind nipped at his wings and face, his tail held straight by the force of the air he was creating.


Aviur caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and looked down. He caught sight of two figures, one a silvery.. Grey? He couldn't tell, the other was a midnight black. They seemed to have not seen him.. Had they?


Aviur smirked, deciding to play a little prank on them.

He planned to scare the living crap out of them.

Backflipping, Aviur clasped his wings to his sides and dove at a terrifying pace. Soon, the wind resisting his weight became painful to move against, and Aviur knew he was going fast enough.



BOOM!


Dirt and dust sprayed everywhere in a great wall as Aviur crashed leg first into the ground, making sure to go RIGHT BESIDE the two dragons. How he didn't break a leg? He landed the right way, but landing front legs first, bending them, and doing the same with his back legs.


As the dust cleared, Aviur was revealed, crouched with his wings spread. He raised his head and grinned, hoping he had scared them. "Good day!" he greeted airily,smirking proudly.

Imperia had very gently given Akiteru a hug, filled with sadness at the idea that a young dragoness had died so soon before she'd become someone's mate.
"I'm so sorry... I know how it feels to lose someone that precious, and I never want anyone else to go through it. We can find who did it, if you think it'll make you feel better. Maybe some closure will help you to move on. But no matter what I'm sure that Emerald wouldn't want you to be so hurt and to upset your brother because of her."

It was a moment after that when a red dragon dove through the cave mouth and landed just inside with a massive crash. The sound reverberated through the stone painfully. Imperia screamed slightly, her spear almost instantly in her paw and pointed threateningly at the intruder. The moment she caught his smirk she realised this dragon wasn't aggressive, and was probably very self satisfied for making her shriek like that.
With a flick of her wings Imperia used magic to muffle the echo of the dragon's landing and sweep the dust out of the way. Her voice sounded much more menacing than usual in the sudden silence.
"You... have come at a very bad time."
She went back to Akiteru, directing a scowl at the newcomer.

[What is a FireWing doing in SkyWing territory anyway....]

"The murderer was a rogue FireWing. I know; I saw him fleeing Emerald's cave." Akiteru sighed miserably. "The only thing I can do is to try getting over it, but I can't... It's so hard to forget Emerald..."  Akiteru rubbed his bloodshot eyes wearily, before curling up even tighter. One might think that he was going to sleep, but no. It was a rather uncomfortable position for him but he didn't really care; his grief wiped out every other emotion. But shock momentarily replaced grief when a FireWing landed in the cave, sending up a huge puff of dust. Akiteru jumped to his feet, startled, but when he saw who it was, his eyes narrowed. Gods, what was a FireWing doing here!? He advanced menacingly, eyes narrowed, but stopped when Kei burst out of his hiding place and threw himself in front of the FireWing, snarling angrily. "Who are you!?" Kei spat, clearly annoyed at having an unexpected visitor — a FireWing at that, and what made it worse was that Kei never liked them. Fire-Spouts, Kei called them, usually with a tone of disgust. "What are you doing in SkyWing territory!?""