[002] Weight of days lost holding you down

[goldenherd]

WHO: Claude von Riegan, Aysun the wyvern, and you!!
WHERE: Outside the Zodiac apartments, Kami State Park, on the network so I don't have to doublepost
WHEN: July 24th (happy birthday Claude)
WHAT: Claude meets up with an old friend
WARNINGS: Talk about past animal death (she's fine now), property damage done to an NPC's car, more property damage to an IKEA, conversations about Christianity

1. Outside the Zodiac Apartments

At exactly three in the morning, there's a loud roar from the street outside the Zodiac apartment building, accompanied by the sound of crunching metal and a car alarm going off. Anyone who looks to investigate will find a gigantic, white-scaled wyvern sitting on top of a now much flatter SUV - thankfully parked and empty - bellowing forlornly and craning her long neck to and fro, looking up and down the street in search of something or someone but unwilling to leave her new perch. How she got there is a bit of a mystery, despite the night owls surely on watch given the apartment's eccentric residents. All that's really clear is that one moment there were precisely no wyverns wandering the streets, and the next one had destroyed some poor townie's car.

Someone may want to do something about that? Probably.

[ Claude will wait patiently to reunite with his wyvern, but only for a tag or two. After that, he'll turn up in the thread. ]

2. Network [ un: bowfaire | text ]

URGENT HELP NEEDED

Does anyone know where in the city one might find appropriate facilities for housing a wyvern? Even temporary arrangements would be fine at this point, but I'm honestly not too optimistic. I haven't seen any around or any sings of roosts even on the taller buildings here, so I'm assuming they might count as "supernatural" here if they existed in this world at all before now. But I'm getting sidetracked - what I need is a place that's sheltered from the wind, is larger than the space needed to comfortably stable a horse, and that stays very warm at night. Ideally it'd be someplace up high, but I don't think beggars can be choosers in this case. Thanks in advance.

3. Kami State Park

"Stop that! Aysun, you get out of there right now."

Despite his scolding tone, Claude manages to laugh as he wrestles his wyvern away from one of the bear-proof dumpsters at the campgrounds, arms around her neck and leaning hard against her. Aysun, being literally one ton of solid muscle and bone, could probably resist if she wanted to, but relents, snorting and backing away from the dumpster even as she eyes it with an intense curiosity. Once Claude is sure she's not about to lunge for it again, he turns and slams the lid as shut as it will go with a new set of wyvern bite-shaped dents in it. Shaking his head, he sighs.

"Just what am I going to do with you?" he asks, patting her shoulder. "Don't get me wrong. I'm glad to have you here with me. But it's looking like this could be quite a bit of fuss we've gotten ourselves into."

She grumbles, softly, and noses into his hair affectionately, resting her gigantic head against his.

"Yeah. I missed you too."

4. The Owlery (Closed to Eda)

With the question of where exactly he's going to live mostly settled, at least for now, Claude turns his attention to the question of employment. It's... honestly not something he's had to give a lot of thought to in a long time, between being recognized as a legitimate heir to two separate noble families when he was thirteen and seventeen respectively. While he's been far from idle in that time, eyes on the crown as soon as it became a viable option for him and knowing that earning that would take an incredible amount of discipline and skill, it does mean some of his skillsets other than war and politics have fallen by the wayside, and under the circumstances he's... very tired of both those things.

Archival and library work strikes him as an option first, but it seems like most of the entry-level positions in this world are volunteer work, and while under normal circumstances he wouldn't mind trading his time for the opportunity to really sink his teeth into the backlog of reading he wants to do about this place, he does have a literal ton of gigantic flying lizard to keep fed. So what else can he do? He's just considering it, walking around the city and taking note of the kinds of storefronts and merchants he sees, when one in particular catches his eye. It doesn't seem to specialize in anything in particular, boasting various curiosities and antiques, but it's the rack of dried herbs hanging over one of the displays that gets his attention.

A thought occurs to him. He enters the shop, hands in his pockets and idly glancing around the shelves as he waits for an opportunity to speak to the owner.

5. The Infinite Ikea (Closed to Mae and Suzi)

IKEAs are a sensory overload for people at the best of times, but for Claude - a man who's previous experience with buildings even approaching the size of a normal IKEA (much less an infinite one) are all monasteries, castles, and libraries - the vast, warehouse-expanse of open space and fluorescent lighting is a little overwhelming. He boldly does not follow the arrows on the floor, not trusting them to do anything but lead him in circles, instead relying on his own sense of direction to try to navigate through the labyrinthine mess of brightly colored furniture.

He's got his bow and a quiver of arrows with him, slung over his shoulder and at his hip respectively, though he doesn't really expect to have to use them. All of this sounds like a pretty standard if oddly organized case of banditry to him, and he doesn't think he's going to need to shoot anyone over that, probably. The intimidation factor will probably help, though, and honestly he just doesn't feel all that comfortable with the notion of leaving Failnaught lying around. So he's here, pacing the display floor and keeping an eye out for anyone who looks like they're trying to steal an entire table or something, he guesses!

6. Near the water tower (closed to Jun)

"So, run this by me again," says Claude, glancing over at the masked man who continues to refuse to give him a name as they walk along the sidewalk. "Turning water into wine has religious connotations here - at least for one specific faith - and we've got some kind of mage out here doing just that for the spiritual clout. Do I have that right?"

He's left his bow behind this time, locked carefully in a safe in his apartment. His figuring is that that his last outing went so middling-to-poorly in part because of over-reliance on the thing, and also that this sounds like a problem he'll have a better chance of talking his way through if he isn't holding a weapon. After all, it doesn't sound like this mage is trying to hurt anyone, so much as just doing some kind of glory-seeking.

"Now, obvious problems with messing with the civic water supply aside, let me play demon's advocate here for a second. What's to say he's not just who he says he is? Is there a concrete way to tell when power comes from a divine source here, as opposed to a magical one?"

Comments

[droptheious]

Dragons exist in Varian's world. He's never seen one, they're exceptionally rare and he missed out on seeing the one that bonded to Pascal briefly. This is...well, it's not a dragon, but it's close enough, and he is used to Pascal and how he moves about. This creature doesn't seem to be on the attack. Varian makes the smart move not to advance, instead stepping back a little and quietening his tone.

Even if the not-dragon (wyvern??? he vaguely remembers reading about wyverns in a book once) isn't on the attack now, he doesn't want to set it off so it does. He doesn't relish his chances against the thing it if it decides to go for him.

"Heeeeey...little buddy. You okay there? Where did you come from?"

[goldenherd]

The wyvern makes a harsh, grumbling croak, snapping its jaws in Varian's general direction and crouching slightly, eyes narrowed. Its tail lashes back and forth, pummeling the door of the poor unfortunate car even further, and it looks like it's considering whether or not to lunge when a piercing whistle comes from behind it. It snaps to attention immediately, straightening up and pivoting to watch as Claude comes running out of the building.

"Aysun! Down! He's not a threat!"

Shooting once last wary glance at Varian, the wyvern - Aysun - closes the distance between herself and Claude in two long strides, leaning down to headbutt him in the chest so hard it nearly knocks him over. He rubs along her jaw, making soothing noises before looking back up.

"Hey! Are you all right? She didn't rattle you too badly, did she?"

(The car alarm is, at this time, still going off.)

[droptheious]

Varian would really like not to be eaten today. Or, well, any day, really. But he's kinda tired and can do without the whole being devoured thing today. Luckily, before there's a chance of that, Claude shows up. Varian would like it if Claude wasn't eaten, too and lets out a panicked noise.

"Claude be careful of the-"

Oh...welp, never mind then. The wyvern is clearly very happy to see Claude. He blinks for a moment, trying to process this. They should probably do something about the car, but Varian's vehicle knowledge is still pretty limited in the practical department (people won't let him just take apart their cars, rude?!!), so for now he'll let it keep going.

"N-no, I'm okay. It's- is she yours?"

cw: brief mention of animal death (she's fine now)

[goldenherd]

"She is, yes," says Claude, and he considers elaborating on that a little - that he was there when she hatched, that she was a gift from his father. After all, it's not like Varian really has the context to know how significant white wyverns are back home. But there's always the off chance that someone from Fódlan turns up here other than Mercedes and himself, and that whatever he says about it comes up in conversation somehow, so he changes the subject.

"I have to admit, I wasn't expecting to see her ever again." He scratches at the sensitive scales around the bases of her antlers. She huffs, settling down on her haunches and leaning against him. "But I guess the old sayings about good wyverns following their riders to the ends of the world and back are truer than I thought. And you were so good, you did so well."

That last part is, obviously, addressed to Aysun. If Varian's observant and quick, he might notice the briefest flash of solemnity cross Claude's features when he says it - she did die for him, after all - but it's back to an easy, bemused grin as quick as it came.

[droptheious]

Varian is definitely curious about it. He would have likely guessed he was there for her hatching. That's what happened with Pascal and Little Big Guy after all. Imprinting.

"I guess just about anything can follow us through into this portal- even...animals?" animal doesn't feel like the right term for the wyvern, but it's the best one he can fall on. "But that's good. I'm glad she found you. Um, the people...the regular people here probably won't see her for what she is so at least that will be less of a problem."

He eyes the wrecked car. He had, at least caught that look from Claude. She means a lot to him, he can understand it. He'd do anything for Ruddiger- anything.

"...That might be more of one, also...finding somewhere she can fit. Maybe the roof?"

[goldenherd]

"Right, I was wondering about that. It's not like I'd seen any other wyverns around, but it could've been that they're just not all that common here." As is the case in lots of countries back here he came from. In the grand scheme of things, the art of wyvern riding had only spread outside Almyra pretty recently, all told. Sounds like that's not the case here, though. "Can't help but wonder what they will see her as, though."

A pegasus, maybe? Are those supposed to be real, here? He knows horses are, he's seen a few being ridden by cops and pulling carriages in the city.

Anyway, that's a question for later. Now the more pressing concern is the loud, piercing shrieking that car is making.

"Right, that doesn't sound like a good noise. Do you... know how to make that stop? Should we?" Is there a kind of etiquette to how to deal with it when a car that isn't yours starts hooting after getting crushed? He winces, shaking his head. "And I guess I'll have to figure something out. A roof's probably the best place for her - they like to roost in high places, usually. But as it is now, I don't think the apartment building's roof has the right kind of shelter for her. She'd be fine up there in the short term, but if it starts getting any colder at night here she might be in trouble."

[droptheious]

"Yeah, the fact so many people don't see the magical as anything unusual, it'd be hard to tell if there were anything like her here before. Could be and they just never knew what they were looking at."

It's hard to tell. Magical creatures were back home, too- but no one really saw them unless you were out in the world. Sometimes, you never even knew they were there unless you knew. Varian's still surprised mermaids apparently exist back home.

"Um, it's an alarm? I don't really know the inner workings of these vehicles yet- I haven't had the opportunity to open one and look inside," he considers. "Maybe if I can get inside it, I could find a way to disable it?"

Maybe. It can't be LOUDER he's sure.

"Probably not- I looked up the weather in this place and it does snow in the winter. But maybe we can find somewhere warmer for her? More...concealed, too? If nothing else, I might be able to create a heat lamp for her?"

[goldenherd]

Claude grimaces a little at the mention of snow. It's on Aysun's behalf, mostly, but honestly he's not a fan of the stuff either. Those few times he'd visited Faerghus had been trials for more than just the way he stood out like a sore thumb even more so there than back in Leicester.

"Yeah, that's not great. Wyverns are a little more cold-resistant than some of their smaller cousins, but she'll definitely need some place to stay warm by the time that starts happening. I mean, there are some basic ways to infuse rocks with fire magic to make them give off enough heat to warm a small room, which is what a lot of roosts in cold places do, but I was never very good at that kind of thing even before coming here. Any solutions you can come up with, I'd be grateful for."

And - speaking of solutions Varian has offered that Claude would be very grateful for, the car is still making noise. Squinting at it, he takes a step closer and tries to squint in through the shattered window. Predictably, what he sees makes very little sense to him. There is a flashing light below the front window, though, blinking in time with the sound.

"Well," he calls over the noise as he jiggles the door handle. Nothing. It's either locked, or stuck shut. "There's a light on in there that I think has something to do with the alarm. I can probably get you in there, if you don't mind me breaking this window the rest of the way."

[droptheious]

"Huh, that's...definitely what I'd do, but I can understand that being the more...familiar solution. But don't worry, mine will be very stable and reliable. We should be able to run it off electricity, so hopefully, it can last even the worst winter this place can throw at us."

It'll be something new to work on, something positive. He follows Claude, squinting at the car.

"I think at this point a broken window is the least of the owner's concerns," what with the crushed roof and all. "But yeah, thanks, that'd be great. If you can help me in there I can work on it."

Probably. He hopes.

[goldenherd]

"Yeah, there's probably not much we can do to make the situation worse at this point," Claude agrees. And that means free reign to do whatever. He takes a second to look around, picking up a hefty tree branch off the ground and slamming the end of it through the already shattered glass, wiggling it around to knock all the loose shards down and out of the way. "And hey, this way you get a look at the inner workings of the thing, right? There's silver linings everywhere."

Just... not for the actual owner of the car, really. Claude will take some time to feel guilty about that later, though. Right now he's too busy being excited about having an old friend back - even if that old friend is now nudging insistently at his back with her nose and grumbling unhappily.

"What?" he says, turning around to look at her and patting her on the snout. "What is it? The noise? We'll get it shut off as soon as possible, I promise."

[droptheious]

"Well, there's always a chance to make things worse- that's the beauty of experimentation, you can sometimes be surprised!" Great selling point there, Varian. Amazing. "But yeah, you're right, I can definitely have an opportunity I wouldn't before!"

Guys, it's still a crime. Fellas. Varian glances at the wyvern, then moves closer to the car, huming softly.

"Okay, right. Let's uh...try to get inside it so I can see which wires go to the alarm."

[goldenherd]

"That's encouraging," says Claude, brightly. Varian is right, though. There is the chance they could get somebody hurt in the process of messing with this thing, or otherwise do something worse to the car than reducing it to scrap, but after thinking on it for a moment he decides it's probably worth seeing what the kid can do. He certainly seems confident enough in his abilities, after all.

"Let me know if you need an extra set of hands in there. I'm not sure what good I'll be for anything else, but I've got that going for me, at least."

[droptheious]

"It's okay, I'm mostly winging it anyway!"

At least he says that with utter confidence as he clambers into the car, mumbling to himself as he starts fiddling with wires. This is FAR from a graceful first try. The window wipers start moving and the headlights start blinking, and shortly after that the horn starts blaring as Varian talks to himself as he works.

"OH- oops, not that one- okay, um- maybe...NOPE NO NOT THAT. I think I got it- no I don't got it," then suddenly, blissfully, there is silence and Varian peers out from the wrecked car again. "Okay, I now know exactly what wire makes that noise stop."

[goldenherd]

Claude watches this whole process with no small amount of fascination, leaning over to try to get a good angle to look at what Varian's doing under the dashboard. It's not exactly fun being this close to all the noise, but hey, he wouldn't be where he is now if he weren't willing to make some sacrifices in the name of curiosity.

(Aysun, meanwhile, grumbles in irritation and stalks off to sit down on the sidewalk a good distance away, though she's sure to keep within line of sight of Claude.)

"Huh," he says, when the noise finally stops. "So it's all wires in there that control it, then? Carrying electricity around, like what's inside our phones."

[droptheious]

It's definitely more luck than skill going into this right now. But now he's figured it out, he'll be a lot better at it next time, so congrats, Claude- you inadvertently created a gateway moment to help Varian to learn how to Steal Cars. Will he ever use this skill? Probably.

"Yup, that's pretty much it! Not everything in an automobile uses electricity, but that part for sure does," he glances at Aysun, amused. "She doesn't look too happy about it all."

[goldenherd]

Surely he won't come to regret helping enable this some time in the future. It's fine. Claude laughs a little, glancing over at Aysun in turn.

"Yeah, she doesn't like loud noises much," he says. "And she's probably pretty confused about, well, all this."

He gestures broadly at the whole city. It must be a pretty overwhelming experience for her, with all the strange sounds and smells and bright lights. He frowns a little, before shrugging.

"Come on, I can introduce you two properly, if you want. It might be a good idea, since it doesn't seem like any of us are going anywhere for a little bit."

[droptheious]

This cannot possibly be something he'd regret in the future! Not a chance!!!

"That's fair, I was pretty confused when I first got here, too. If you're not used to it, it's noisy and...a lot."

A whole-ass modern city is so much if you're used to something a lot more sedate and simple.

"Sure thing," Varian walks a little closer. "I'd like to meet her...all official, like."