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Post by ♥TaylorRose♥ on Jul 25, 2011 0:24:55 GMT -5
Sage was frozen in fear, but nearly jumped out of her crawling skin when an actual dragon leaped out of the bushes from behind her with a loud screech. Her trembling legs lost all support and failed to hold her any longer, so she suddenly found herself sitting down in the grass with a giant dragon's wings shadowing her. Her eyes were wide with fear, but she also felt the strongest intrigue... she was right in front of a magnificent creature out in the wild, and it... it almost seemed to be protecting her.
Confirming her suspicions, the dragon yanked her sword out of the tree trunk with one quick pull with its teeth and tossed it down to her, where it landed right next to her legs. Sage looked at the weapon for a short moment before looking back up at the dragon as if questioning what exactly it wanted her to do with it.
Without any further hesitation, Sage grabbed the hilt of her sword and flipped herself back to her feet. She stumbled slightly, still a little shaken up, but quickly found her balance and became steady again, facing the oncoming wolves. She felt the fear beginning to protrude again when she realized just how many of the beasts had shown up in the clearing by then, and what the odds of her getting out alive were. She knew those odds were not very high at all. Nevertheless, she held her sword out in front of her, glancing over at the dragon that had saved her life once more. [/center]
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Post by steampunkepsilon on Jul 25, 2011 13:08:00 GMT -5
Setcher watched the approaching pack, spines stiff and shivering with an angered sort of unease. He didn't even consider flying off, which probably would be easily accomplished considering the clearing's size. But as antisocial and ill at ease he was around humankind, he couldn't just leave her here to be ripped apart. It was wrong. It was wrong, and he knew it, so he forced himself to stay there, growling and glaring at the pack.
He wasn't a huge dragon, not as large as a Monsterous Nightmare. Perhaps as long as with the wingspan of one, but aside from hisbody shape he had about as much mass in him as a Night Fury. A large workhorse , or a couple of medium horses, really. These wolves were each easily the size of a small horse themselves, perhaps not in height, but in length and likely, strength. And there were more of them.
Suddenly, they began to attack. Setcher let out a snarl and launched himself forward, slamming the curve of the top of his skull and the base of his horns into a body and throwing it down. Unfortunately, as his head was downward, another wolf lunged in and went for the throat, making contact enough to bring blood. Setcher snarled again and whipped his head to the side, throwing the animal off and opening his jaws. A small white, flickering orb of sorts hovered at his throat for a mere second before several long, well-aimed tendrils shot out and blasted in the direction of the wolf he'd just thrown, and it met a hot blast of electricity with a yelp, fur and skin singed and damaged. Some of the wolves had gone around to face the girl, and he only hoped she really did know how to use her sword.
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Post by ♥TaylorRose♥ on Jul 25, 2011 16:34:59 GMT -5
She was surrounded by wolves, all glaring hungrily at her, their teeth bared and haunches prepared to spring. Her arms and legs suddenly felt numb, but she tightened her grip on her sword and stood completely still, waiting for one of them to lunge. She had her back to the trees, so she kept her ears very open for any sort of sound from behind.
Before she was prepared for it, one of the wolves leaped for her, fanged teeth glistening. Almost as if it were a delayed reaction, a second wolf lunged almost two seconds after the first. Sage didn't move until they were close to her, and when she did move, all she did was quickly squat down with her sword in front of her, blade pointed towards the sky. The first wolf jumped right into the blade, yelping as its chest was injured. As it fell to the ground whimpering, Sage immediately turned towards the other wolf and sliced her sword towards it, stabbing right into its own chest. With just a gurgle, the wolf fell to the ground, dead.
When Sage saw her sword covered with blood, she almost regretted her actions. These wolves were just hunting for food, they didn't deserve to die... but when another wolf jumped forward and sunk its teeth into her leg, she found herself thinking differently. With a howl of pain, she slashed her sword blindly backwards, hitting the wolf in the side of its face. The beast let go of Sage's leg with a yowl of pain, and Sage furiously spun her sword around again and stabbed the creature in the side. As it fell to the ground, dying slower than the other had, Sage grabbed at the part of her leg that had been bitten. Her pants had been easily ripped through and blood was seeping out from her torn skin. She tried to stand up but found it nearly impossible now and fell back to her knees with a cry of pain.
The two other wolves that had come after her started to pounce, joined by the first wolf that had attacked and that she had only injured on the leg. Sage held her sword up again, restricted to fighting on her hands and knees, and gritted her teeth from the pain in her leg. [/center]
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Post by steampunkepsilon on Jul 26, 2011 0:25:10 GMT -5
Setcher was having troubles of his own, caught between two wolves, each taking turns darting in and biting at his legs or thoat and retreating. Finally he managed to stun one of them with a blast of electricity and swivel around, smackign the other side. He heard an outcry of pain that he could only assume belonged to the girl, and glanced back.
Suddenly, as his guard was down, something heavy landed square on his head and smashed his face to the floor, making him let off a screech of pain and scrambling to find something to moved against. Eventually he managed to twist and roll onto his back, scrambling up to his feet and screeching before a blast of energy struck the wolf that had jumped him. It was wounded, but still running -- probably the alpha male of sorts. Setcher snarled again, bristling and spitting in the grass. The wolves were weaker, but they were still coming. Panting, he snarled again.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the girl. She seemed wounded, but still fighting -- and she was under attack. Snarling he let his guard drop for a beat, turning a sharp circle and lungign at the girl. He stepped over her and the wolves met his shoulder unexpectedly, slamming into him and then making friends witht he ground.
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Post by ♥TaylorRose♥ on Jul 26, 2011 1:09:27 GMT -5
Sage tried to use her sword to protect herself as the wolves lunged at her, but found it nearly impossible with her leg injured as it was. She stared wide-eyed at the two wolves that both jumped at her in the same moment... but then let out a surprised gasp as the dragon jumped over her and let the wolves make contact with his shoulder rather than with her. The wolves both crashed right into the winged creature and then fell roughly to the ground. They both yelped slightly but scrambled quickly back to their feet and growled.
Sage was frozen in both fear and shock - what was this dragon doing still there in the clearing? Why was it protecting her when it should be protecting itself? Sage almost wanted to tell it to get the heck out of there and get to safety away from these wolves, but a part of her, her selfish side she supposed, didn't want the dragon to leave her alone with the monsters.
Pushing her thoughts aside, she gripped her sword tighter and pushed herself to her knees again. She heard quick footsteps coming from behind her, and so, without even looking behind her back, she thrust her sword backwards when she thought it was the right moment.... luckily enough, it was the exact right moment. The blade pierced into the wolf's chest and sent it sprawling to the ground, and Sage yanked the weapon back out of the beast. Ignoring the pain as best she could, Sage pushed herself back up onto her feet, putting the majority of her weight on her uninjured leg, and prepared to defend both herself and the dragon. She wasn't about to just sit and be a damsel in distress while the dragon killed all these beasts... no, she would do her part, injured or not. [/center]
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Post by steampunkepsilon on Jul 26, 2011 15:06:29 GMT -5
There were three remaining that he had to worry about, now that the girl had removed one of them from the picture herself. He glanced around, noting that they were now caught in something of a triangle, and thinking through what they could possibly do now. Dead wolves accounted for, the smell of blood might draw other predators, and that could pose even more of an issue -- possibly involving other dragons, not something he felt he could deal with. Growling low in his throat, he backed up slightly, feeling batter having his back to the tree trunk and being somehwat trapped than risking an ambush from behind.
The wolves moved closer, one of them boldly darting forward. Setcher opened his maw again and the animal flew back with a screech of pain, skin and fur smoking from the electrial burst he'd thrown. It got back up, but it was slow. Snarling more loudly, the other two seemed to recognize the danger of that motion and hung back, passing back and forth. This time, they bother moved, faster, and more focused. The first one darted in from the right and dodged a blast of energy, lunging for the girl. It made contact, but only enough to nudge before Setcher grabbed the scruff of the animal and threw it down. It was back up within the same second, startlingly fast, and went for the face. The other wolf, taking advantage of the situation, leapt up and sank teeth into a thinner, more leathery membrane, while the wounded one moved towards the girl, eyeing her, snarling.
Setcher was pulled away from his vantage point and hit the ground, rolling and flailing. There was a loud ripping sound of claws against skin and he yowled, shaking the wolf away from his face and shaking his head as blood from a thin, likely-harmless gash dripped into his vision. They weren't going to give up unless he torched all of them or got to a place they couldn't reach...
That was it. He needed elevation, now.
Running forward, Setcher skidded to a stop near the girl and dropped his head. Hopefully she would trust him enough, just for a few minutes, he promised himself. Even now in the heat of desperation he didn't want to do this, but there was no other way. Another snarl, a sting, and his tail smacked one of them aside.
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Post by ♥TaylorRose♥ on Jul 27, 2011 1:35:09 GMT -5
Slightly distracted by the blood that was oozing down her sword, Sage didn't notice one of the three remaining wolves lunge towards her until its teeth were already about to sink into her. She threw her sword out in a vain attempt to protect herself, but there was no need. The dragon grabbed the wolf after it had only been able to nudge Sage and had thrown it down. Sage's eyes were wide and full of confusion, but she wasn't able to think about anything as another wolf, one whom had been injured by the dragon, began stalking towards her. She held up her sword, still frightened but not enough to become paralyzed like she had earlier.
A loud screech of pain from the dragon distracted her, however, and her head whipped to the side to see a drop of blood seeping down into the dragon's eye from a cut on his head. Taking advantage of her distraction, the wolf in front of her jumped, successfully pinning her down to the ground. Sage groaned as pain shot up her injured leg, and she looked angrily up into the hungry eyes of the creature on top of her. It opened its mouth, ready to go in for the kill, but Sage kicked her feet up into its stomach, sending it flying onto its back. She picked up her sword once again, struggled back to her feet, and plunged her blade into the wolf's stomach before it could get away.
And then the dragon was there next to her, lowering its neck towards her, almost in expectancy. Sage looked at it in confusion, wondering what it was wanting her to do. She looked over the dragon and saw the two remaining wolves preparing to attack, and she suddenly understood. But why was the dragon so interested in keeping her safe? Why didn't it just take off and save itself?
However confused she was, she didn't let it slow her down. She looked into the dragon's urgent eyes and gave it a quick nod before hoisting herself onto its back, her sword still in hand. She held onto the dragon very tightly, slashing her sword out when one of the two wolves jumped suddenly at them. It yelped as the blade cut into its side and retreated back to its partner, but Sage knew that neither of them would be giving up.
((I wasn't quite sure if a rider would ride on an Electric Needleback's neck or back, so I just said back to have something there. If it's the neck, like how Hiccup rides Toothless, then I can edit this post, lol.)) [/center]
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Post by steampunkepsilon on Jul 28, 2011 0:17:58 GMT -5
[either way is fine, so long as his spines don't snap out. If she's sitting above the shoulders -- think as if someone riding a horse were sitting ahead of the saddle instead of in it -- she's good xD ]
Setcher felt the hesitation and would have urged her physically if she didn't climb on within the next few seconds, which she did, thankfully. He realized with the fresh wound in his wing membrane, flight could be an issue -- especially with extra weight -- but adrenaline, panic, and pain tolerance made up for it. Even while sitting astride his shoulders she managed to ward off one of the remaining animals with her blade.
The two wolves were making final, desperate lunges, still in the mindset that they might be able to wound the dragon badly enough to drag him from the prospect of flight, and have their meal. He wasn't going to allow that, however, and screeched with a blast of white electricity before shoving the ground away and digging his claws into the fallen tree, bringing his hind legs up and launching his body into the air. The second he jumped both wings snapped up and then down heavily, sending them upwards. Another couple of heavy beats, and they were above the trees; with two more, the wolves were left hungry and alone in the clearing.
Setcher felt a sudden, aching relief flow through his veins, and he let out a small thrumming noise of success, though it was cut short by the stinging pain of various cuts and gashes and marks. None life-threatening, likely not even severe, but painful. Blinking to rid his eyesight of the blood, he coasted for a few seconds, then picked out a place on the hillside closer to the village but far enough that the wolves would have given up on trying to follow. It would be a messy landing, but it would be a landing.
He landed at first on one of the outcroppings of loose rock, btu expectedly enough it crumbled under his weight and he skidded a few yards, pausing and leaping like a cat in a rockslide, managing to stumble and stagger his way down the sheer drop of maybe fifty feet and finally land at the bottom with a wavering stance, within sight of the village -- perhaps no more than a hundred yards away. This was the closest he'd ever been to the place, out in the open like this, but he didn't care too deeply at this point. He dropped his head, panting slightly, to allow the girl to slide off, and once she did, he sat heavily. Shaking his head only made droplets of red hit the ground, and he stopped, then suddenly seemed to remember her presence, and his emerald eyes flicked up to stare at her.
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Post by ♥TaylorRose♥ on Jul 29, 2011 2:27:09 GMT -5
Sage clamped her lips shut in a vain attempt to suppress a yelp of terror as the dragon took off into the air. At first, she kept her eyes shut tightly, holding onto the dragon's neck as securely as she possibly could. But once she felt a cool breeze combing through her messy black hair, she couldn't help but peek open one curious brown eye. When she looked down below them and saw the trees whizzing by, her other eye popped open in interest too. The imagery was amazing as they soared above the forest and towards the village she called home, and the wind that softly danced across her face tickled her insides.
And all too soon, it was over, and the dragon was diving for a landing spot on a hillside near the village. When he landed, the loose rock under his weight almost immediately began to crumble, and Sage found herself clutching tighter still to his neck as he began skidding down the slope. She couldn't make herself close her eyes, however, throughout the whole journey down to the bottom of the hill. Sage could see the village from where they were, they were so close, and she wondered if the dragon had ever been here before.
Just then, the dragon lowered its head slowly, and Sage carefully slid onto the ground. At first, she had to use the dragon to steady herself, but when she felt confident enough to walk on her own again, she took her hands away from the dragon's scales and limped a few feet towards the village before stopping and turning back to face the dragon. Blood was still seeping from a wound on its head, and as it shook its head some of that blood dropped to the ground. The creature suddenly stopped and turned its beautiful green eyes up to meet Sage's, and they shared a quiet stare.
"Is your head... all right?" Sage asked it timidly, taking a small step towards it. "Oh, wait, I'm sure you're not able to understand me..." Unexpectedly, her right leg, her injured leg, shuddered under the weight she accidentally and subconsciously put on it. She yelped in pain as she fell forward, landing roughly on her left side and immediately grabbing her right leg in pain. [/center]
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Post by steampunkepsilon on Jul 29, 2011 10:30:51 GMT -5
Setcher wondered if the girl would make it to her village with such a severe leg wound, and hesitated on leaving. She spoke and it broke his train of thought, however, and the dragon blinked. She doubted his understanding, though it wasn't unexpected. Some of the dragons were... considerably less intelligent, or at least, less perceptive.
During his second train of run-on thinking, the girl fell, hitting the ground with an obviously painful thud, and Setcher twitched slightly, standing and staring at her. Shaking his head again and blinking away the blood, he stepped closer, seeming almost cautious. Trying not to nick skin, he leaned down and grabbed a section of the back of the girl's shirt, lifting it -- and her -- from the ground to let her stand again. His fears and uneasyness were resurfacing, but the least he could do was get her a smidgen closer to somewhere with medical assistance. His head lowered again.
[sorry for the short oAo]
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Post by ♥TaylorRose♥ on Jul 29, 2011 13:55:05 GMT -5
((Lol, no need to apologize. XD))
To say that Sage wasn't expecting to be lifted by the back of her shirt by the dragon would be an understatement. Her eyes popped wide open and a small squeak of surprise escaped her lips. When the dragon set her back on her feet again, her right leg shuddered again and she immediately used the dragon for support to prevent herself from falling again. The dragon seemed to understand her predicament, as it lowered its head just as it had earlier, beckoning for her to get back on. Sage looked down at the dragon in slight confusion and shock, but carefully climbed back onto his neck.
She wasn't looking forward to her father's reaction to the wounded on her leg, and she definitely wasn't anticipating having to explain what happened. Sitting on the dragon once again, she looked down at her injured leg, cringing at the sight. There was already dry blood encrusted on top of her skin, and fresh blood was still oozing out of the wound. She could hardly make out any of her actual skin, and the torn hole in her pants was bordered with her blood as well. She shook her head and looked away, feeling slightly nauseous.
((Crap, mine is short too. XD;; )) [/center]
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Post by steampunkepsilon on Jul 29, 2011 19:37:46 GMT -5
Setcher winced a little, folding his wings in and starting to slowly walk along the line of trees, moving into the woods and carrying the girl until they had reached the edge of any sort of hiding place. It was still maybe twenty feet from the nearest home, but there were others clustered after it, and he couldn't force himself any closer. Even being this close, regardless of the shade hiding him, was uneasing. He lowered himself, allowing her to climb down and backing up a few steps immediately, watching her. His eyes were almost apologetic, but fearful, exhausted. He needed sleep. Well... he also needed food, but for now sleep was more important.
Backing away a few more steps, Setcher could stay no longer -- the blood running down his face and wing would surely draw predators and endanger them both again. He turned sharply, running into the trees with uncomfortable thuds and breaks of branches before he picked up a run and darted back through the undergrowth with a series of his own crashes and cracks, leaping over dips and ditches and fallen logs and rocks. He needed to egt as far away as possible. He couldn't stay. Just because the girl had been accepting didn't mean her village family wouldn't assume he'd cause the damage and go after him.
Setcher's current home was merely a cavern in the hillside, within view of the village but hidden away by the other crags and cracks in the stone to remain unseen. He ran the whole way there, panting heavily by the time he managed to scale up the side of the cliff and haul himself inside the lip of the cave, collapsing and layign there with his chest rising and falling rapidly.
Never again, he thought. No more human contact...
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Post by ♥TaylorRose♥ on Jul 29, 2011 23:31:34 GMT -5
When the dragon lowered its head once again within the trees a little ways away from the village, Sage carefully and slowly slid off of its neck and onto the ground. She immediately leaned over against the trunk of the nearest tree for support, and then looked back into the dragon's eyes, which were watching her. She stared into those eyes, and just as she was going to thank the creature for everything it had done for her, it turned and took off into the trees. Sage thought about calling after it, but she decided against it, instead turning towards the houses that were in sight. She unhooked her sheathed sword from her side and used it as some sort of cane, just to help give her support as she slowly started limping towards the village.
Something about the dragon had seemed so intriguing to her... Had there been a motive for helping her escape the wolves and get back to her village safely? Or had it just been a spur-of-the-moment decision on the dragon's part? Whatever the reason, Sage was more than glad that it had been made. And as she walked away from the trees where the dragon had left her, she found herself wishing the dragon hadn't gone. She wanted to look into its beautiful emerald eyes again, ride through the skies on its back, wash and take care of any injuries it had acquired during the fight with the wolves...
Thinking about the injuries, Sage gasped. She should have taken care of the dragon's wounds before letting it run off! If any of them got infected, it could be very bad for the creature... but now that it was gone, she would probably never see it again, and this thought saddened her further.
She collapsed again at the side of the trail that ran through the village, her right leg shuddering and giving out before she was prepared with her sword. A Viking passing by, which just so happened to know who she and her father were, rushed over to help her. Taking only one glance at her injured leg, the large man picked Sage up gently in his arms and began the walk back to her house, which wasn't too far away. Being exhausted from the events of that morning, Sage slipped into unconsciousness in the man's arms, and dreamed she was soaring through the sky on the dragon's neck once again. [/center]
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Post by steampunkepsilon on Jul 30, 2011 1:37:59 GMT -5
Setcher fell asleep quickly, huddling in the dark coolness of his cavern and remaining asleep until later in the day. He eventually roused himself to tend to his wounds, licking at the gashes and cuts and taking special care to see to his wing. It was a long, jagged tear -- not good news, definitely not good news at all. His flight would be severely inhibited for a while, until the tear healed... which, by itself could take months. The thick, leathery membrane could be sewn back together if the needle was sharp enough and the thread strong enough, however being a dragon that was not one of his talents. he growled softly at the injuring, but decided to tend to his other more convenient injuries before he worried about the only one he couldn't fix. Standing and stretching, he crept towards the lip of the cave and crawled over the edge, scaling his way down slowly until he was about twenty feet up and then launching himself to the ground. It was growing later in the day, and his stomach grumblaed faintly as he neared a river close by that ran out of the mountainside.
First he rinsed the wounds in the icy crisp water, having to dunk his head beneath the surface to rinse the gash on his head. He couldn't find anything to seal the injuries, no tree sap or thick, stout plants to slice open and use the innards of. Eventually he simply slunk into the water and sat there to allow his wounds to be soothed by the water, and once he removed himself he shivered and headed further upstream. The fish had not felt his movement and didn't expect a sudden attack, and Setcher ate well enough that night to hold himself off for a short while. Wet and beginning to chill, he shook himself off again and scaled the jaged slope back up to his cave. He was asleep the minute he laid down, exhausted and ready to sleep the day off a few times over.
______
Almost a week passed. Setcher's wounds healed smoothly enough, save for the wing gash, and aside from flight being limited he was almost back to normal now. Thankfully the wolves seemed to have learned their boundaries and remained away from the area for now, leaving Setcher his small patch of hunting grounds close to the cavern. He would hunt boar, fish, small fowl when he could catch the fats little buggers, so his meals consisted of snack foods, to an extent. As of now, he had woken up maybe half an hour ago and was on the hunt once more, slinking through the bushes with his scales allowing him to camoflouge himself, following the scent trail of a pack of boar.
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Post by ♥TaylorRose♥ on Aug 6, 2011 14:34:27 GMT -5
((I am sooooo very sorry for my absence! DX I feel so bad! I was very busy and had no time to get on and post in any of my RPs that I'm a part of! I hope you'll forgive me!))
Sage couldn't believe how fast time went by. It had already been a whole week since the wolf attack and her encounter with the dragon... it felt as though it had been yesterday. Especially with how she was still slightly crippled from her wound on her leg. It was completely bandaged up, though her blood was still visible slightly through the gauze, and she had to use a stick as a cane some of the time when her limping wasn't good enough.
She had been told by her father that she was to stay away from the woods and within the village until her injury was completely healed, which she supposed was a reasonable request from him. He hadn't been happy when she had told him where she had gone and why she had gone completely alone, and she could hardly blame him.
Now, she sat near the edge of the trees near her house. She was sitting on the edge of a cliffside, her legs crossed and her cane/stick lying at her side. She sat still, staring out at the open ocean and watching dragons and riders fly through the skies above. She slowly leaned back and laid down on her back, her hands folded together behind her head, and she watched the clouds slowly roll by. [/center]
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