1999/Dragon Out the Intel

Dragon Out the Intel
Date of Scene:	10 April 2015
Location:	Bar and Grill at the Edge of the Multiverse
Synopsis:	Yari meets Ryu to discuss the Dravanians
Cast of Characters:	636, 691

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Yari Takane (691) has posed:
It's quite the bandaged up Yari that strides into the Bar and Grill, fresh from getting her butt kicked in training. Still, she finds a relatively quiet table in the bar. She's dressed in her strappy red dress, legs crossing as she orders a beer. Nothing too hard, as she's here on business.

Ryu (636) has posed:
    A young man with a bit too many visible scars for his age strolls into the bar, not in any obvious rush to make it to the table. Ryu's golden eyes focus on Yari with a quiet scrutiny. He doesn't say 'hey' or introduce himself, but he knows it's her. His notably inhuman eyes look her in the face, since this is the right place and she seems to match the voice he heard. He also orders a beer, a cheap one, and breathes a sigh through his nose.

    The air becomes filled with the sense that he's trying to think of a way to begin this chat. He tenses his jaw a couple times, his hand sliding over to casually pick up one of the tiny cocktail menus and look it over.

    "I was expecting a suit of armor," he admits. "You look like a lawyer out on a date and not... what was your rank?" His brow furrows.

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
It's hard to miss Ryu with so many scarrs, or those golden eyes for that matter. The woman rests her head in her hand, tail occasionally lifting her beer to her lips. She takes a long look of Ryu, and takes the wild guess that this might just be the man she spoke to on the radio.

Yari lets him stew for a bit. The nervousness, the inability to just get on with it is a nice weakness, and the ninja inwardly does a few jumps for joy.

Yari laughs. "I can't exactly live in my armor. It gets very hot and stuffy about about a week. Besides, this fits the occasion. I happen to like dresses."

"Try the mojitos here." She suggests.

"Centurion Yari Takane. Pleasure. You said you had issues with the Dravanians?"

Ryu (636) has posed:
    Ryan watches the tail, and his brow creases as he notes her scaly details. Something he hadn't thought about at first. It's quite a contrast from the rest of the races he's seen from her world. He's not spoken to an Au Ra yet.

    "Fair enough," he says in regards to the dress, and moves on easily enough. Brushing off the mojito comment as if she had not said it, he accepts the beer he's given and settles back in his seat.

    "The Dravanians are a problem because they think they have to fight a war that they have always fought, but on different shores than they're used to. They're being led by this 'Nael' person who seems to have the power to control dragons, something he tried to do on me to very limited success."

    He sips his beer before he continues. "My /issue/ is with Nael. Before he showed up, the Dravanians were fine with their very old feud with the Dragoons and Ishgard. Now that he's in the picture, they've grown ambitious in all the worst ways, and think he wants to save them or... something like that. I see it as them being driven to an inevitable and bloody end by a man who doesn't actually care about them."

    A pronounced frown shows on his face. "I would prefer a race of dragons to survive, not die out because they thought they had no choice but to follow a man who could just bend the wills and minds of those that disagreed with him with a word. I spoke with the Dravanians, and that is simply the conclusion I reached. They don't deserve to die fighting this war."

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
It's certainly a succinct explaination of the situation, and frightening that the man seems to know so much. Particularly about Nael. Her face is impassive as she listens, a magitek recorder already going.

"They're worshipping him." She pauses, disgust in her voice. "Like an Eikon."

She goes silent for some time, then, thinking. She slowly frowns.

"Why are you so interested in what happens to the dragons? And how exactly did you get to speak to them? I'm surprised you're still alive, to be honest." Her head tilts, suspicion naked on her face.

"All sounds a little too convenient."

Ryu (636) has posed:
    Ryan's emotion drains away some when she questions him about why he's interested. He rubs his thumb over the glass surface of his drink, and sips it once more, making a face at the taste of it but drinking it anyways. He avoids answering that first question too directly.

    "I spoke to two of them. Both times, they told me with no ambiguity that they wouldn't change their minds about their course. I guess they just recognized that I'm a dragon, and that's why they even bothered to respond to me." He furrows his brow. "They keep calling me 'whelp,' it's kind of annoying."

    "So you don't believe me?" he wonders, apparently not offended by that.

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
Yari leans back, frowns, and sips her drink. From the way she looks, she's not at /all/ pleased.

"No. Nael van Darnus is dead. He died during the Meteor incident. But I suppose some fake /could/ possibly yank the Dravanian's chain. And now you're claiming to be a dragon. And that they'd actually bother to talk to you. No. No I don't. If you had some sort of proof of all this, I'd be interested."

"And I don't know your purpose, either. For all I know, you're a Dravanian spy. You could easily be one of those filthy traitors." Her hand clenches.

"So do you have anything besides just words?"

Ryu (636) has posed:
    Ryu seems to carry a certain tired neutrality toward her, as if her displeasure was expected. He watched her as she spoke, and there's only the vaguest twitch of his lip, and the narrow of his pupils into slits as she suggests that he's a Dravanian spy, as if the very thought angered him. But, somehow, he maintains his composure. He thinks about what she's saying and, really, she's right to doubt him without any proof. He finishes off his beer and stands up, letting out a sigh.

    "All I have is this."

    A flash of light all around his body as he shifts from human to dragon form. It's not huge and ferocious like the Dravanians are, and he doesn't even have wings, but there it is. He looks at her with those same golden eyes. When he speaks next, his mouth doesn't move, and instead comes as an imitation of human speech through a mystical draconic voice. "I'm bad at gathering physical proof, and I'm sorry about that," he admits to her, "But it would be disgraceful for me, as a person and as a Dragon, to lie to you about this. A man, whether he's the real deal or a fake, looked me in the eyes and tried to bend my will directly, and turn me against my comrades."

    "I'm not saying you should trust me, not immediately, or ever if you never feel the need to. I am saying that a man is driving the Dravanians to war and destruction. Ask around for yourself. Ignore what I said. Whatever. It doesn't matter to me."

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
Yari's indifferent mask cracks a bit as that light swallows Ryu, and then suddenly he's a dragon. Her jaw is dropped just a bit. Then she slowly leans back from her chair and flicks on the visual feed on her device.

"I'm not an idiot. I can only work with what's in front of my eyes, and what I hear. Alright. Fine. I'll look into it." Then, she hands him a number to a throwaway radio.

"Contact me if you want. I'll have to see what my superiors think, but maybe something could be done. Do you know /how/ he's doing it? Anything at all will help." Asks the woman, suddenly far more interested. She tries not to show it too much, however.

Ryu (636) has posed:
    "When he showed up..." Ryu begins, as he takes the number from her and nods to her in gratitude. "He controlled an army. He tried to turn my ally to his cause, and he tried to control me just by saying a few words. It was like his presence and his words had power that I was connected to in some way." He shakes his head slowly. "The only people he singled out with it were dragons."

    He looks at her carefully, fascinated by her own fascination. "You don't see dragons in-person very much, do you?" he wonders, idly.

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
"That's a bold claim. But you managed to fight it off? How did you do it?" Some of that suspicion leaks back in, but she tamps it down.

The woman then perks up a bit, ordering a second beer. She actually looks a little embarrassed at her own interest. "Oh. I...no. You're the first one I've seen. I have never fought the Dravanians myself, usually stationed in Eorzea." She states.

"Thanks for the information. Drinks are on me. What are you going to do?"

Ryu (636) has posed:
    "I had to get a stronger mind. It forced me to rethink how I looked at myself." He doesn't elaborate beyond that. Ryu's not comfortable going on at length toward what's very much an enemy. He only nods in silent understanding when she admits she's never seen a dragon before.

    As for what he's going to do, he looks at her without any melodrama in his posture and tells her:

    "Nael, or whoever he is, needs to die."

    After that very serious and dark answer, he turns to wave down the nearest waiter, and carefully tries to find comfort in his seat. His tail is a bit of an issue for him but he eventually figures it out. What he orders next is a glass of water.

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
Yari tilts her head. A 'stronger mind'. Then she just nods. "I see. You succeeded." But most importantly, it means that Nael's control can be fought off. Could the same be said of Eikons?

Yari can't help it. She smiles just a little.

"So you want to kill the imposter. I'm sure you realize something like that won't be easy." Then, she just shrugs.

"I'm just a soldier, so I won't tell you what to do. Do what you want."

The water is brought, in a large dragon-sized glass. They get all kinds here.

"Still, good luck. Things that think they can just bend the freedom of mortals...it pisses me off."

Ryu (636) has posed:
    Ryu picks up the glass with great care and, after a moment of contemplation, decides to lap up the water with a long, fleshy and forked tongue instead of risk spilling water all over the table and himself trying to drink out of a glass.

    "I was just a soldier once," he tells her.

    "I will be honest. The idea of fighting him scares me," he tells Yari, "And it would scare me less if people like you, and the people you serve, were to help me deal with this. Maybe our paths will mesh up naturally somewhere along the way. From what the Dravanians say, this Nael figure means the possibility of the destruction of your world again."

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
"...I'd ask if dragons have an army, but the Dravanians make that an obvious answer."

She tilts her head, watching for a moment as she collects her thoughts. Yari lets out a sigh.

"Who knows. I just follow orders." She responds blandly, inwardly frowning. Getting involved too deeply would be a disaster. But at the same time, they can't leave it alone too much.

"They'll go that far? What exactly did they say to you?" Prods Yari, curious and trying not to show it. She doesn't altogether succeed.

Ryu (636) has posed:
    "A lot of doom-saying. I forget the exact wording but one of them was pretty clear that the only solution would end in fire and brimstone, at least in their eyes." Ryu resumes drinking from his glass for a few more seconds, lapping it up a lot like a dog. When there's only a little bit left, he has trouble because his tongue isn't that long. It's quite embarrassing and he struggles with the impediment.

    "Coerthas is a really awful place, by the way. That's where I met one of the dragons that spoke to me. Scarred fellow, looked a little old. Is it true that area used to be warmer?"

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
Yari actively sighs. "Somehow I'm not surprised." Doom saying seems entirely in line with reports of the Dravanians, the crazy weirdos. "Slash and burn, is it?" Somehow, she looks worried.

Which gets even worse as she takes a sip of her drink, suddenly goes horrifically pale, and starts coughing and gagging to the point of nearly falling over.

"Uh, I think so. That's what the book I read says, anyway. I'm not much of a historian or expert in the area."

She sighs. "If you learn more, let me know. You've been useful. I should get going, though." With a salute, she does just that.

Ryu (636) has posed:
    Ryu salutes back to her, like it's a reflex.

    "Thank you for the talk."