DeviousMe

"Yes, me too please." Akat used this opportunity to voice her earlier request again, "Something warm, if you have. I know this might sound silly to you, but for me it's kind of cold here."

Luckily, it didn't take long before some of the elves that had been attending to them at the hot springs returned with the garb Jade had worn earlier (minus the necklace of teeth of course, as the Dragon had still worn that when he'd been returned to a form of flesh and blood, resulting in its destruction), greatly easing his awkwardness - at least until he tried to get into it again. The sleeveless leather jacket was easy enough, but the black pants were a different story now that he could feel them again and they bunched up strangely while he pulled them on. Worst of all, however, was that no one had been able to find his left boot, and Jade didn't realize it to be missing until he'd already put the right one on.

The Khelari meanwhile had no such trouble, an elf bringing to her one of the robes they'd brought for the others before, and Akat purred happily upon wrapping the warm, soft fabric around her, snuggling into it comfortably.

"Would you like some help?" she then offered Bisys a hand to steady the satyr-bot with a gentle smile...

Personally, I've never seen anyone unwilling to run an arc because of level restrictions, especially in the RP groups I hang around with. YMMV of course, but I honestly can't imagine that there are enough people who would for you to worry about it when creating the RP arc, especially now that examplar/malefactoring allows a character to earn xp.

"Theory?" Akat inquired with a puzzled look, her tone very much suggesting that what she'd spoken of wasn't, but then her interest was drawn to Trisys' movement, the Khelari making her way over as well, and with a wide smile to boot. She was truly glad things finally seemed to be looking up for the satyr-like being.

Jade was as well, though of course for different reasons. He let the air pass from his lungs with relief. Trisys was indeed different then he'd been. Good. Well, he hoped it was good, at least. He supposed he'd just have to wait and see.

"Okay." he thus said with a nod, rising to his feet again (also a bit shakily still, but not nearly as unsteadily as Trisys), and reached a hand down for her to take - well, or he did so halfway technically, realizing only at this point in the motion that he was quite literally standing butt-naked in the woods.

"Urr..." he gulped self-consciously with a look about, his velvet-brown hide turning a very odd shade of red, "...haaasss...anybody seen my clothes...?"

Jade gave a long exhale through his nostrils, unable to squeeze out a coherent response. He got the idea, but...the lesser place was still a prison. Insult or not, how could he just up and accept this when the one who'd done the kindness was now subject to the torture that had been his burden to bear?

The same...

No. Not the same. The way she'd explained it, there were differences. As a machine, he'd been able to close his eyes. She wasn't. He hadn't been able to feel any contact or warmth at all. She was. So there were variations. Thus being, could he really judge the state? Could he presume to know what it felt like to be her right now? Or was he just assuming?

He looked to her in silence, eagerly awaiting the results of Toy's efforts. Perhaps they would answer his questions.

"Mhf." Akat meanwhile remarked with distanced negativity at Cerelassion's idea, "I don't know if that's such a good plan. I don't know myself, but I was always taught that time gets mad if you bother it too much..."

"What by?" Akat blinked, looking at Toy with a mixture of skepticism and lack of understanding, "The only thing around my tribe are those two...well, I don't know what they are, city ships or something, and they've never moved. I don't even think they can. Okay, so I guess there is the Scaffold too...but I've been there, and I didn't see any weapons."

"And what do you mean 'too nonchalant'?" she wanted to know, feeling accused of some manner of wrongdoing, "Sorry if we apparently don't treat spacecraft like your people, but that doesn't make it wrong. Just different."

Jade, meanwhile, was feeling the exact opposite. No one had accused him of it, or even hinted at ti for that matter, but seeing what the Token had presented to him, he knew he'd committed a great wrong. Not intentionally, but still, it was staggering. By voicing his desire, making his 'wish'...he'd cursed Trisys into the same wretched existence that had been his own prison for so long.

It was a good thing he was already on his knees, otherwise he would've fallen to them. He stayed that way in silence for many a long second, head drooping, the long strands of black hair on his forehead slowly falling over his eyes.

"I'm so sorry..." he finally managed to whisper, looking pleadingly up at Trisys, "I...I didn't know. Is...is there anything I can do? Can I...wish for you to be back to your normal self again? Is that allowed...?"

Trisys didn't hear a response at first, though she certainly got one. She may not have felt the hand that placed itself on her shoulder, but seeing Jade's arm head that way was likely more than enough of a clue.

"No." the Dragon said with a gentle smile. He'd gotten the picture, "Don't worry, I won't be leaving you alone. If that means you need to call me your master, then okay. I'll be your master. For now. But know I'm your friend too, okay?"

"So." he then stated, taking the Token into both hands and looking at it intently, "You say I can tell this...Token to give me information. Okay. Token, show me what happened to..."

He stopped there a moment, having to overcome himself since he didn't like to think of Trisys this way, but believed that if he wasn't specific enough, he wouldn't get the answer he needed. After a second or so, he managed to force out, "...your...tool. I want to know what 'disconnected' her..."

A shiver rippled through Jade's musculature as he listened to Trisys' description of her 'disconnect'. Yeah, he remembered the lack of sensation only too well. That needed to be fixed, and now he knew just how to do it.

Or at least...so he thought.

The Drokar still didn't realize that she'd sacrificed her living form for him. He still thought this was just another shapeshift, like the one she'd performed after he'd first encountered her - only that this one had apparently been against her will, originating in something unseen dislodging within her. By that logic, it was obvious that if this connection she spoke of was restored, she'd be able to go back to normal.

But first there was something else to settle.

"Trisys..." he said with a lick of his lips, thinking through his words carefully to actually get out what he wanted to say, "I need you to understand something: I don't think of myself as your master, and...well, a lot of stuff's kind of a blur still, so that might be why I'm not dealing with this token thing very well. Point is, though: I don't want to. I want to be someone who guides and supports you, not someone who lords and commands over you. I want to be your friend, not your master. So...if it's okay with you, could you think of me like that? As a friend? Please?"

"Hmm..." Akat meanwhile gave a thoughtful nod to Cerelassion, seeming to be looking through her as she spoke, "Yes, not big enough for all this. We'd need to build a whole new one. Might be something in the library...I think I saw..."

"Huh?" her eyes snapped back into focus as Toy questioned toward her, the Khelari turning her attention to him, "Oh yeah, plenty. The entire north pole tribe got dropped here...quite a while ago, actually. And uh...Type 3 Cruiser say anything to you? Mh, guess not. Uhhh...I guess it looks kind of like a long deltoid...maybe half a kilometer long, half as wide at the span..."

As she explained, she put her fingers together and formed the rough shape of something that resembled a kite, rounded toward the rear and tapering at the bow, "Maybe a little wider. I'm not really into ships, but I know it's different from the smaller ones. It can go a lot farther than those too. And hold more people, of course. But not a whole piece of planet, no..."

"Thanks." Jade angled his pupils up to look at Trisys' face again, a weak smile developing on his lips, "But it's true. Guess it doesn't really matter anymore though, does it? I...I don't think I can ever thank you enough, heh."

He raised his head to speak face-to-face with her again, continuing with, "I'm going to try, though. So how come you can't move then? Did you use too much power? Or did something else happen?"

Taking the Token into his hands again, he held it toward her in the cradle formed by his palms, "Can you use this to fix it? Or...do I need to be doing something with it?"

Akat meanwhile just listened - after thanking Toy for helping her up, of course - putting the pieces together one at a time. Cerelassion's recount sounded bad. Very bad, actually. She'd never known there were people in trouble all the way in the south here. She did know of the city the elven woman spoke of, though.

"Oh, them, yes." she said with a snort, "I remember that city. Buncha wackos. Kept yelling I was a demon and tied me to a pole. Then they tried to burn me. I didn't mind the fire so much, but being tied up that long...mmyeah, not going back there."

"I'll help you guys, though." she said with a smile, "You've been nice to me. So uh...you want to leave, right? Well, we do have one slightly bigger ship. And we could probably make another long before the signal gets here. What all did you want to leave with...?"

"Eyt!" Akat exclaimed, instinctively twitching away from the sudden contact, her shoulder disappearing from beneath the feet of the gnome nearly as fast as he'd appeared there. His fall took somewhat longer, which was fortunate, for it gave the Khelari the time to notice just what she'd just jerked away from and catch the little man like a runner might a football: by diving down into the dirt elbows-first and forming a platform with her hands.

"Heh." she commented as she lay there on her stomach, looking up at the gnome in her palms with an embarrassed, naturally toothy grin, "Sorry. Thought you were something that was spit at me. My apologies."

Jade meanwhile didn't even notice, his attention completely on Trisys, a gentle smile forming on his face as she started talking. He didn't quite understand about what at first, but initially he didn't much care. She was OK, and that's what mattered.

Initially.

As she continued, his smile began to fade. Something was wrong. Strong emotions sending her to a cold place...meaning strong emotions made her pass out? Worth it? What the heck had happened? Why was...?

And then she asked the question that made his blood run cold.

His smile vanished completely. His eyes dropped away from Trisys', his gaze gradually reaching the ground while his hands slid away from her upper arms, coming to strengthless rest to the sides of his lap. How should he answer this? Why should he answer this? He didn't want to. Didn't want to think about it, didn't want to acknowledge it again.

Because you owe her.

"I..." he finally forced out with a gulp, swallowing the dry clod in his throat, "Because I'm a coward. Because each time I tried to kill myself, I was too afraid to do it..."

Hehe, nice. Don't you just love it when you find one of those folders you forgot you had and has neat things in it?

Gah! My socks! Get back here - my feet are cold!

Guess you're not the only one. That really is one awesome work, heh.

Jade started at Toy's words. He started apprehensively at the satyr-like being in his hands. Programming? Trisys was a machine? He'd thought she'd just shapeshifted again. Now she was a robot? Or...had she been one all along? He didn't remember the details of his previous scans (having one's photographic memory hardware ripped out of one's head by transmutation tended to do that), but he had a vague inkling that she'd been flesh and blood.

Or had she?

He had to admit, he didn't know nearly enough about her to say. It made a kind of sense, though. If one were to make a being that granted wishes, the durability of a mechanical core might very well have been preferable to the relative frailty of a living organism. Did this mean he was looking at the 'real' Trisys now? Did she turn back into this when she lost consciousness?

"Hey." the tap of Akat's claws against his shoulder snapped him out of his thoughts, and he turned his head to the side to look at her. Even crouching on his knees as he was, the face of the fully standing Khelari wasn't that much above eye level for him, despite her stature of just under two meters, "I think the little guy's trying to get your attention."

The Dragon's nose followed her indicative finger, pointed down at the gnome, but it wouldn't have been necessary anymore. Now aware of his surroundings again, Jade had felt the little feyfolk's poking and directed his eyes first down, then toward the acorn.

"Yeah, I know that's important..." he told the gnome with a despondent sigh, picking up the Token and staring at it with fruitless thought.

...but I don't know what to do with it.

Akat meanwhile didn't have much to offer either. She knew there was energy about that linked...but she didn't know what to do about it. She'd only recently progressed to conducting liquids. Directing pure energy about to do what she wanted was still a long way off. In short, the Khelari was a student, not a master. And she certainly didn't have any expertise in robotics. Dammit, where was an instruction manual when you needed it?!

Unless...

"Idea." she stated out of nowhere, tapping the Token as she looked to Jade, getting the Drokar's attention again, "Instruction manual. Try getting into it."

"I don't think..." was Jade's uncertain retort at first, but when the admission that he didn't really have any other ideas came cross, he spoke instead, "Okay. How?"

"Think." Akat stated urgingly, "Concentrate. Focus. Stare at it. One way or another, it's got to be good for something if you say it's important to her, right?"

The Dragon shrugged. Sounded logical enough. So he stared at it. Focused at it.

C'mon...do something...Trisys, please come back...

Ah, the distilled essence of the comic book hero. So refreshing to see.

And personally, I wouldn't much mind this being available. >_>

"Dumb robots of the waste?' Akat questioned curiously after getting over the gnome's disappearance, having wondered for a brief moment if her natural eye had gotten into scheming in tandem with the artificial one. Thankfully, that seemed unfounded when she saw the gnome...stick his head into Trisys? The people here certainly had some odd procedures.

Jade meanwhile thought much the same thing, but took it a whole lot less calmly. Indeed, he had to force himself to not yank Trisys up and away, worried for her, but at the same time realizing that his begging didn't seem to be doing any good. Perhaps the gnome's effort would...

Jade blinked at Toy in confusion. Smaug? What was a smaug? And genie? Master? What...wait - Trisys! She'd kept calling him her master! Mentally traumatized? Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no...!

"Whuh!" excaped the Dragon's lips as the gnome was suddenly on his fingers, Jade resisting the reflex to shake his forepaw in response to the little feet that ticked it. Instead, he watched int closely, only getting the idea after a few long seconds passed, "Um, no, you can't have that. That's important to Trisys. I think. I hope..."

Even as he spoke those last words, he'd already been lowering his fingers toward the ground, pushing the gnome into the arms of the closest person - Akat - with a curtly muttered, "Here, hold please."

"Nyeh?" retorted the Khelari, far too puzzled to do anything but accept, looking first to the gnome for answers (with her right eye closed again, of course; damn malfunctions of the worst-timing kind!), and then back to Jade after the little man gave her but an empty-handed shrug. But the Dragon had already moved on, crouching down onto his elbows before Trisys, extending his fingers toward her.

Okay, yeah, this isn't going to work. C'mon Jade, concentrate. You can do this. Just focus. Think small. Small thoughts. Think arms. Think small. Concentrate...

Even with eyes closed and focusing to drown out all the sensations and distractions he could to look inward, the shift wasn't nearly as easy and smooth as it had been in the past. The beating of hearts, the sound of breath, the rush of blood, warmth of body, brush of the wind against his hide, it all still thrilled him to his very core to experience these things again. Still, he managed. Slowly, gradually at first, and then progressing more quickly, the Drokar shrank down. Forelegs became arms, his posture transitioned from one of a quadruped to that of a creature that walked upright, and slowly but surely he again assumed the relatively small form he'd carried when Trisys had first encountered him, looking almost exactly the same - except now without the armor, of course.

Instead of silver-gray metal plating, his exterior now carried a hide of velvet-brown microscales, the individual little things so fine that brushing against them felt somewhat akin to touching the skin of a shark. Rough, yet somehow streamlined and smooth at the same time. The light-brown tone that began on the underside of his lower jaw and progressed down his throat ran down the width of his chest, on across the abdomen, and from there between his legs all the way to the base of his tail. He didn't much realize this absence of clothes right now though, focused almost entirely on reaching forward and gingerly lifting Trisys toward him by holding her gently around the upper arms.

"Please be okay." he almost whispered, looking deep into her eyes for any sign of life, his own exuding worry and concern, "Thank you. Thank you so much...but please be okay..."

How the heck did I manage to lose track of this thread?

Oh well. Niiiiice.

Since it seems more and more that this'll be going on weekend evenings, I'm gonna have to pull out, heh. I'm mostly booked except on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Hope this goes well, though. Have fun.

"Deal...huh?" Akat directed a quizzical stare toward the smoke in the distance, completely clueless regarding what Paxtera meant by that. The Khelari way of interacting with a plume of smoke was to catch something and bring it over in order to...well, smoke it. While Akat appreciated good food as much as any of her people, right now didn't really feel like the proper time for that.

"Shouldn't we be helping him?" she thus inquired of Kethara with a finger pointed toward Jade in an uncertain manner, looking hopeful that she had the answer, "I think he's hurt. Or is this normal for a, um, Dragon?"

"Mh?" said Drokar's attention latched upon that snippet, Jade only now realizing that there were other people around. The tears of joy ceased, replaced by childlike curiosity as bits and pieces of recent memories came back to him one at a time. Yeah, he remembered that voice, and he didn't seem to mind being upside-down as his eyes started to look for Akat. Unfortunately, that didn't produce any results, so he proceeded to roll over that he might get a better view of the area.

"Uh, yeah...I mean no..." he only jumbled forth words at first, prompting him to flick his tongue to undo the imaginary twist, "I mean I'm fine. Really fine. A lot more fine than I've felt in...oh man. I can't believe I'm actually normal again. This is so awesome. I can smell you. Wait, no...yes. Yes I can. Why do you smell so little? Nevermind. Where's Trisys? I have to thank her. This is...wow. I mean...really wow! I have to...I have to get up, have to find..."

He pushed off the ground with force amidst those last few words, as a result of course ending up on very wobbly, unsteady legs, and promptly falling flat on his stomach again, jaw hitting the ground not half a second later - and right atop a certain little acorn.

"Oops." he grinned self-consciously for a moment before lifting his head again, the token wedged to the white-brown scales that ran from his chin down his throat and onward, along with a good bit of wet grass he'd picked up from that hit. Unlike the plants, it didn't go unnoticed of course, and was soon scooped into the clawed fingers of a forepaw while Jade looked upon it with a contemplating, "...huh..."

Hm, this certainly looks interesting. Will have to depend on the desired play times to see when I could make it, but the idea has something going for it.

Also, if we do end up doing this virtue heroside, I have a turn-of-the-century undead failure of a necromancer whose accidental fusion with a Nictus fragment allows him to channel void energy there.

Jade's eyes snapped open as his claws dug into the wood with vehemence and clung to it for dear life to prevent the gushing water from washing him away. For a few scant moments, he hung there gasping for breath, then turned his attention toward the stormy skies above, teeth gnashed together to secure the sharp metal edge between them, bared in a snarl that stood silent against the cracks of thunder and lightning in the clouds.

Rage welled just as did the storm that slapped his face with wind and rain, his long black hair just as wet and sticky as his formerly white blouse, now stained and torn in just as many spots as the short, ragged black pants the crimson sash about his waist held to his lower body. His wings were just as wet and heavy, and he strained to pull the limp limbs up against his back again before starting the climb back up the wooden planks, a grunted breath riding past the length of metal edge clutched in his teeth with each new grip of claws that dug into the hull.

With a final, mighty pull, Jade catapulted himself up and over the edge of the side, loosing the scimitar from between his teeth as thunder cracked and lightning flashed, the claws of his feet hitting the deck of the storm-tossed sailing ship with arresting security. His vengeful eyes flashed to the helm, and there he stood, that revolting piece of filth that dared call itself Captain.

"Yar-har!" the velvet-brown Dragon roared, thrusting the tip of his scimitar toward the smooth, silver-slick metal form up at the steering wheel, guiding the ship with a cold, steady hand, "You shan't get rid of me that easily! Face me, villain!"

But the scoundrel that was Captain Yar-har only cackled mechanically, red-glowing eyes emerging from beneath the large, wide-brimmed hat that stayed motionlessly on its bald silver head no matter how hard the wind and rain whipped the long white feather that jutted from its side.

"Processing request." the machine droned monotonously, and yet its words dripped with cold malice in every syllable, the blank metal teeth that spoke them practically exuding the sensation. It gripped a line and yanked itself into the air, the flashing metal of a swiftly swept arm producing the same from its scimitar as the sword came free of its scabbard, then struck viciously against the Dragon's, bowling Jade over and onto his back.

The Dragon immediately thrust his sword up in both hands, and down came the expected blade of Captain Yar-har, clanging against his own as lightning flashed and thunder cracked, and Jade closed his eyes for a moment in reflex at the impact and the pale-blue blaze, then opened them again to...

...see a tree?

He blinked. The storm was gone. So was Yar-har. And the ship. And the ocean. And the...huh? Why was he in wild form? What had just happened? Where was-?

And then he remembered.

He jumped to his feet from one moment to another, only to promptly have his hind legs to rubbery and deposit his rear back on the ground. There he sat for about a second, still as he could be, then raised his forepaws toward his face. He looked at his palms, his claws, his arms, his chest, a wing, his belly, his legs, his tail...they were all...

Normal.

He felt a gust slap his long hair into his face, shuddering as the soft sensation of the air caressing his hide tickled his body. He could feel again! And it wasn't just that terrible cold! And he could...he could breathe - was breathing, right this very moment! He felt his hearts beat, the earth against his feet, the motion of his eyelids sweeping across the world that was no longer red! It was...it felt...!

Ecstatic!

"Hyaah-haah-haah-haah...!" the Dragon thrust his neck skyward, laughing psychotically, craning back further and further until he finally lost his balance and came tumbling down, crashing to the ground flat against his back, wings spread limply to both sides and legs curled upward in the fashion of a massively oversized cat.

Then he cried. It was beautiful. He could honestly, actually cry again, feel it again. His wish had been granted. He hadn't understood it, and he still didn't really, but right now he just didn't care! It was here, it was now, and it felt wonderful!

Akat meanwhile just sat on her rump exactly where the upward jerk of the Drokar had deposited her, hands flat on the ground behind and legs haphazardly tossed in front. She too blinked. Now what was going on?

And just so that he wouldn't feel left out of wondering the same thing (or so it may have seemed at first), Tafari experienced Jade's reach as well - or rather the reach of the 'alien energies' that had been used to return him to biological life. Until now, the rest of them had only gradually drifted toward him, absorbed by his new body so slowly as to appear almost motionless. Now however, with the Dragon jostled awake, the energies needed to complete their transfer much more quickly, speeding off toward (and into) his body from wherever they presently.

Even from within Tafari.

Whether or not that caused him to feel any sort of inhibitive drain was of course unknown, but with his finely-tuned senses in the matters of energy, it was practically impossible for him not to notice the 'alien energies' departing his form and heading for the Dragon, completely unhindered by his will to keep them...

Ooh, this would be cool, yes. *waves to devs* Hey guys, c'mon and have a lookit this!

Nice one, heh. And glad to see you're still around. I was afraid you'd disappeared again.

Akat gave a nervous, helpless shrug, truly not knowing. Heck, she'd not even known the name of Jade's people until a little while ago, let alone anything even remotely regarding their sleeping habits. She didn't know whether robots slept or not either, leaving her at somewhat of a loss with the whole situation.

"Your guess is as good as mine." was therefore her response, though her attention didn't linger on it long, the Khelari's head snapping back toward the battle in response to Lady Aineruda's scream.

"Um..." she glanced to Kethara and Toy anxiously, "Should we be doing something? I think that was bad..."

Sexy. Awesome work.

Ouch. Did this change really hit that hard?