2085/Dragon Watching

Dragon Watching
Date of Scene:	24 April 2015
Location:	The Great Mountains
Synopsis:	Random meeting of folks while observing the Rookery from afar.
Cast of Characters:	Kotone Yamakawa, 276, Alexis, 750, 759

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Alexis has posed:
It was the nature of great big 'wars' to overlook the smaller things when something large and important came along for the faction armies to focus on. But that's when it came down to individuals to keep an eye on other things. To which Alexis had set herself up on a high hillside, using a pair of binoculars to keep an eye on The Rookery in the distance without actually being inside the boundries of it. She didn't feel inclined on trying to actually take the Zone back seeing as it would pull Confederates away from operations both sides were working on. But that didn't mean she couldn't check on the dragons living there in the meantime.

She wasn't alone, as a large blue lump was curled up behind her, and what appeared to be a giant bat-like creature was hanging from the underneath of one of the higher outcroppings.

There was also a nice view of one of the local paths, so she could keep an eye out for people wandering too close. Seeing as the pathway drops off over a cliff eventually as no land bridges actually lead to the Rookery's highland. But also easy for anyone coming along to see her.

Valka (759) has posed:
The nature of great big wars to overlook the smallest things has worked to Valka's advantage, keeping her and her island home out of the crossfire, or even out of general knowledge, since her world was folded into the multiverse. Her need to explore - to find things and fill in the blank spots on her map - has led the woman here, to this place.

Standing astride her dragon without saddle or harness, the pair fly lazily in a northeasterly direction until a suitable landing site comes into view - conveniently near that path that Alexis was watching. Cloudjumper settles his great weight down on the grassy edges of one of the cliffs, allowing Valka to slip off with a dance-like twist, using her staff to lower herself to the ground. "Go on then." she tells the great dragon. "I know you're hungry. We passed that school of fish a while back. Go have your fill and I'll be here waiting for you." She chuckles when the dragon gives her a concerned look, the woman responding. "No, no...you know hanging on while you dive is a hard thing for me. Besides, it takes forever to get this armor dry. Go on, then." She claps her hands and, with a beat of his wings, Cloudjumper heads off to the south, leaving Valka on the path...

Rebound (750) has posed:
    Boy this place is weird. One minute you're wandering around somewhere, not really sure where there is, then the next you find another warp gate and you're in the mountains? Rebound is definitely under-dressed for mountains. She mutters a little bit, "I'm a warm weather species. How the hell did I get here?" She just wants to find her way back to New York, to her nice, run down abandoned subway station.

    But for now she'll have to wander her way out of the mountains. At least she can jump pretty far, but she'll need to be careful when she does, so she doesn't mis-land and end up falling off of the mountain. Because how the hell would she explain that one to Union medical?

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa has been well just trying to get out and about, she was near the Rookery but had no intention of getting mixed up with things there. After the trip to Smugglers moon and seeing the sort of weapons HK-47 packed? She needed to clear her hear so here she was alone, She did like it out here and was just moving on her own. She was also making use of her body's abilittyu to bound her way up the hillside.

Kari Wolf (276) has posed:
    Kari was out gathering interesting and unusual rocks for her master to check out at the Confederates' R&D labs. She does notice the big blue lump over there and makes her way to it, thinking that it is indeed an interesting rock! Except it's probably not.
    But the small robot circles around it trying to find a convenient thing to chip off anyway, and runs into Alexis. "Oh, is this your rock you're leaning against, Miss Alexis?" They'd met before... while herding Pokemon and taking down MetalGarurumon-X.

Alexis has posed:
The Noivern notices the dragon landing near the path first, sticking its head out of the black and purple wings wrapped around itself. It hisses a quick "Noi" to get Alexis' attention away from her virgil, then tucks his head back in to resume his nap. He probably heard the others jumping around the mountainside too, but none of them seem to be in view yet.

"Huh" Alexis lowers the binoculars to glances towards the path, then gets to her feet and waves, watching the woman's companion take off again. "Hey lady! Be careful, that path has a really big drop off at the end of it. Nice dragon, by the way. Never seen one like that before."

Then she looks back as the Shinki speaks up. "Hey there Kari... rock?" Looks over at the blue 'lump'. "Oh. Hah. That's not a rock. That's just my Salamence. No idea how she's curled up in a way that you can't see her wings."

Valka (759) has posed:
The red-haired woman turns at the voice, her staff held loosely in her left hand, and peers up at the pink-haired woman calling to her - the one leaning against the giant blue rock. "Er...hello. And thank you." she says, her voice hesitant as she looks in the direction her dragon flew. "Cloudjumper is a Stormcutter, and my very best friend and companion." She glances over toward the edge of the path, where the drop off is, and smiles. "Oh, that's quite all right. I haven't fallen off a cliff in years and, besides, if I did, I can take care of myself."

The woman straightens to her full height of more than six feet and starts toward the pair, pausing at the sight of the tiny woman wearing dog-themed armor with a small sound. "I have to remember this isn't the old world I'm used to..." she murmurs to herself before looking at the pair. "I'm Valka. I'm....new." Sounds so strange to put it that way.

Rebound (750) has posed:
    Speaking of falling off mountains, that's pretty much exactly what happens to Rebound. One missed jump and she hits a patch of mossy, loose rocks and her footing goes out from under her. Lucky for her, she's got a lot of training in this sort of thing. Okay well not falling off mountains, but falling in general.

    She's able to turn herself over and catch herself with her heels, pushing off and rolling through the air a couple of times before she finally lands on the path proper. Actually on her feet, though she manages to kick up a cloud of dirt and dust in the process.

    "I totally did that on purpose."

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is bouning along and impacting fairly hard a few rocks on the hill do not surive the impact as she keeps oging, she'll end up landing in a crouch cracking the earth from the impact. She looks up seems sheepush and speaks up to the group.

"Umm hi!"

Okay that's the worst entrace ever coming in with an uinhuman impact and looking mortifed...

Kari Wolf (276) has posed:
    The Multiverse is weird and Kari has never known anything different, but she thinks it's always neat to meet new and unusual people. A person who rides around on a dragon? Wow! A kangaroo person? Wow! A human robot? Well, that's a little bit more in-line with the kinds of things Kari sees in Techno Urbania, but she definitely hasn't met Kotone yet! The shinki just looks around at the people turning up.
    "Is it just me or does the Multiverse seem to push people together in really werid places?" she finally asks of the people who've turned up on this rather lonely outcropping. "It's like some kind of rule of attraction or something, right? Like... if you're an Elite you will meet other Elites in weird places!"

Alexis has posed:
Alexis tilts her head to the side, as if thinking for a moment. ".. The viking lady, right? Suppose to be good with dragons." Word tends to travel quickly when new people show up. "Always nice to meet more people who have an affinity for unusual creatures." She avoids using 'monsters' as some worlds take that as an offensive term. "Name's Alexis. A Pokemon Trainer... which you probably don't know of yet."

But before she can start an explaination there's a cyborg and a kangaroo slamming to the ground from bad jumps. There's a lot of dust kicked up, but Alexis is pretty unbothered by it, she's been around the Multiverse long enough for it to be a customary thing of sorts. "Huh. And I thought this was an isolated spot," she muses, mostly humored by the odd crossing of folks than anything else.

The noisy landings do finally get the dragon-pokemon to stirr, unfurling red wings and raising her head prong-finned head, yawning wide. "Saaaaaaaal.." By the time she's uncurled and up the Salamence looks much like a european style of dragon. Beady eyes squint a bit at there suddenly being a lot of people around.

Valka (759) has posed:
The red-haired woman was just about to answer Alexis when, suddenly, a bipedal kangaroo and a very heavy woman make their dramatic entrances. It seems that the appearance of the other people startle Valka more than the dragon peering at the gathered group with beady eyes. She moves into a crouch, inching closer to the dragon, offering it a hand to sniff while keeping an eye on the rest of the people.

She has impeccable Dragon manners, you see.

"Fortune and happenstance seem to bring people together. I've only known of the multiverse for a few days, and now..." Valka gestures around her head to indicate everwhere. "It's a little surprising but...thankfully...I'm able to take it in stride."

Rebound (750) has posed:
    Dusting herself off, Rebound finally spots the oddly gathered group and hopes in that direction, "Hey. Uh. Do you guys know where I am? Because I sure as hell don't and the last thing I want to be is lost in the Multiverse forever."

    She looks at everyone who's gatherd, "Also why are you guys all out here? I mean this is kind of an abandoned rock in the middle of nowhere, hardly seems like the place for a secret club meeting."

Kari Wolf (276) has posed:
    Kari helpfully explains to Rebound, "Oh, we're near the Rookery! There's dragons everywhere and a lot of them are pretty mean and don't like tresspassers! Territorial or something like that." She points over to the castle that's the actual fortification for the Rookery. "That's the Rookery! Once, Doctor Doom and me fought a woman in heavy armor and a guy with fire for his lower face for it! And we had a war blimp with machine guns and an army of robots that looked like Doctor Doom too!"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is looking at the dragon, the humanoid kangaroo and somehow does not make a crack about the land down under. She looiks over the tiony android for a moment and ponders her words.

"I have no idea on that I was just out trying to lear my head to be honest and I'm Kotone, Kotone Yamakawa."

She Seem more than a bit curious but she's clearly a bit wary of Valka's companion.

Alexis has posed:
Alexis raises a brow slightly at Rebound, though she remembers all too well how easy it is to get lost in some of the more expansive areas. "Find a warp gate that has a guide stationed at it instead of automated, they can usually help set you on the right path." As for why she was here, the tomboy just shrugs a bit and jestures towards the high ground structures in the distance. "I was just checking on The Rookery. A lot of dragons roost around there." Which Kari starts a ramble on in greater detail.

Stormfront cranes her head a bit as Valka slinks up to her, but sniffs the offered hand. Then rumbles softly and attempts to butt heads with Valka. Lightly, but still, she's got a hard head in general.

"That's just a greeting when it comes to Salamence!" Alexis quickly interjects before there's any confusion about being attacked. "They grow up jumping off cliffs to learn how to fly and ramming each other for dominance, so the skull is really thick."

Valka (759) has posed:
Valka's four-winged companion is nowhere to be seen, the woman seemingly alone but comfortable with the group and Valka, when sniffed, responds to that headbutt from Stormfront with one of her own, apparently used to the contact since, y'know, dragons in general. "It's fine..." Valka grins and turns to looka t Alexis, Kotone, and the others. "Dragons I know. I'd actually like to get into the Rookery to see what kind of dragons there /are/ there. Besides, whatever a warp gate is or whatever a Doctor Doom Robot is...no clue."

Rebound (750) has posed:
"Hey I'm pretty new too." Rebound says to Valka, "But so far I've just kinda figured it's best to just deal with stuff as it comes. I mean it might be kinda weird but you can usually associate it to something you do know." She says, with a faint grin, "Like, I dunno. Imagine the warp gates as like..A short cut to somewhere else. Even if that somewhere else is somewhere you didn't intend to go."

Alexis has posed:
Alexis tosses Valka her binoculars. "Here, you can take a look with these. Currently the Confederate controls the area, so you probably wouldn't be able to go inside without a fight. Kinda why I was just posting here for right now."

She glances at Kari for a moment, but then shrugs her shoulders. The shinki is one of those people that doesn't draw faction lines when it's not actual faction stuff, so it's not really a big deal to her.

Valka (759) has posed:
Valka fumbles and nearly drops the binoculars, her staff falling to the ground with a rattling sound before she lifts them in one hand to peer at them curiously. "Heavy." She murmurs lifting them to her eyes - sideways and backwards at first - before applying them in the way Alexis was using them and stilling. "Gods above...I can see so /far/ with these..." Simple things are amazing, it seems, to Valka.

Handing back the binoculars after looking at the Rookery, the woman turns to regard Rebound for a moment or two. "True, I can do that, but the thing is so many things...like that far seeing glass of hers....don't really have anything in my world to match it to. I suppose a gate could be considered a fast dragon, but still..." She looks again toward the Rookery, wanting to go but pausing. "I hate to ask the silly question, but what is the confederate, and why do they not want us to go there?"

Kari Wolf (276) has posed:
    Kari blinks at Alexis a bit. "Um, well, there's really big red dragons, some have just wings, others have wings and arms. There was one I saw with no legs and just wings and a tail, like a giant winged snake! Then there's the wormy ones with great big teeth as twice as big as you, miss!"
    "I heard that once we had a HUGE red dragon come in and fight these other little dragon-men things. Later I found out his name was Smaug and he was grumpy at being woken up by the dragon men!" Okay, that's probably not true... the being woken up part.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa Says "That doe help a lkot if you can find a manned station. AS for dragons still getting used to them being anything other than a miss or miss understood remains of long dead creatures."

She looks Valka over and her dragon for a moment longer.

"It's a warzone a lot of the time. I wouldn't head there directly unless you have factional business or a job from one side or the other there."

Alexis has posed:
Alexis chews her lower lip a moment, considering the best way to explain it without overloading Valka's unfamiliarity with the Multiverse. "It's a counterpart to the Union," she eventually starts to explain. "A lot of its members are focused more on conquest and stealing and that sort of thing. But not all of them are bad," she quickly admends. "Some are just soldiers doing their jobs." She doesn't want to upset Kari, who's being nice despite being the only one from the other side here, and Kotone is a neutral entity.

Alexis shrugs a little again. "I tend to stay out of the big war things, myself. So I was just checking the place out. There's a lot going on that needs soldiers from both sides, so I didn't want to pick a fight that might draw them away from where they are needed right now."

She turns back to Valka. "But you're familiar with dragons, I probably don't need to explain why having control over an area where a lot of such strong and majestic creatures gather would be something some people would fight over."

Valka (759) has posed:
Valka stands quietly as Alexis explains that she is now part of a war she had no idea existed - even being on the side of the Union. She grips her staff tightly and looks out over the edge of the cliff for a moment. "At least that's good. A purely evil foe is something that can't be dealt with peacefully. As long as there are some good parts to it, they can be reasoned with." Hopefully.

Valka shakes her head at the explanation of the rookery. "Mmm, no...no need to explain that" Valka murmurs softly, reaching up to stroke Stormfront's head with one hand after picking up her staff. "My world had a warlord who was seeking to do such a thing. To control dragons, in order to conquer and rule over everything he could see, until his empire stretched from sunrise to sunset." A beat. "He no longer troubles us, though. But still...it would be a good goal to free those dragons."

Alexis has posed:
Alexis chuckles a little. "Agreed. But contrary to what some people think, I ain't fond of just stomping over and raising a ruckus." She takes the binoculars back once Valka is done. "Right now there's a whole other planet being invaded and both factions are fighting against it... I'd rather not risk drawing those people on both sides away from -that- endeavour, even if striking now would be strategically sound... It don't -feel- right, y'know?"

Rebound (750) has posed:
"I've got no idea about the war or anything, but I'm guessing the whole Union and Confederacy thing isn't really a coincidence and the Confederacy are the bad guys." The 'roo hmms a bit, "Though I mean just 'cause they're the bad guys doesn't mean they're /bad guys/, you know? Like I'm sure there's people who just have shitty situations and wound up there."

Valka (759) has posed:
"Part of my time was staying out of sight and rescuing these wonderful creatures from that warlord, so staying out of sight and choosing my battles? That's something I'm quite good at. But a war?" Valka shakes her head in the negative, frowning. "Wars often spread beyond those who are fighting and destroy good things along with bad. Besides." She steps closer to the dragon, giving it one more headbutt before stepping a bit further away. "I'm no soldier. I don't make the decisions and since I've only met the Union itself, I'll be very careful on who I listen to on what to do."

Apparently war is not a good thing.

Kari Wolf (276) has posed:
    Kari doesn't really have a big perspective on the war. She's pretty much only in the Confederacy because her master works for the R&D department. She keeps quiet for awhile while watching the Salamence.

Alexis has posed:
Stormfront returns the headbutt without issue this time, since Valka's made it clear she doesn't mind the gesture, and rumbles happily. Nice to have someone other than her trainer that can handle being a little rough with! "Yeah, same here," Alexis replies. "I try to stay outta the big stuff. Focus more on the folk who ain't really able to protect themselves if said war, or other issues," like angry psycho digimon wolf-cyborgs threatening to blow up cities, "start looming over them."

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa gets the idea that Valka is new and is about to say something, however Alexis beats her to the punch. She also got the feeling she's been here a lot longer than she has. She listens for a moment and tilts her hed.

"I admit I don't know much about this place other than there are a lot of dragons. I honestly try to keep out of it. It's like this book I read in school. An eternal war used to keep the population of both nations in check and focused at each other. I just came to clear my head honestly. I'm more worried about the little people who get stepped on than these world shaking wars."

Valka (759) has posed:
"I don't know a lot about any place." Valka admits softly. "But I'm learning and adapting. It's what I do, after all." She looks over the edge of the nearby cliff and spins her staff around her head one handed, a rattling, whistling sound echoing from the cliff walls, out over the distant rookery where a screech echoes back. "It seems they understand my staff, at least...." Valka says to no-one in particular. "It will make going there one day a bit easier." She smiles and crouches, watching and waiting, remaining still while her dragon, Cloudjumper, lowers his massive bulk to the cliffside in front of her and quizattically looks at the gathered people.

Alexis has posed:
Alexis takes a step back as Valka spins her staff. "Well that's an interesting trick!" Stormfront lifts her head back out of the way, then gives it a quizzical tilt to one side. Difficult to tell if it's had an effect on the Dragon type pokemon, but it's certainly gotten her interest.

"I'd say your adjusting well, then. Just gotta find the right spot you're comfortable in and make your mark from there. We've all been through that spot." She's talking to both Valka and Rebound in that regard.

Then Alexis rubs the side of her head with one hand. "It always feels so weird when *I* am being the fount of wise advice. Tch."

Rebound (750) has posed:
"Well you know. If you want some help taking the Rookery back from the Confederacy sometime, just yell at me." Rebound says, "I'm always game for kicking dudes in the face for a good cause. Or for any reason, really." She laughs, "If they're dudes who deserve to be kicked in the face, of course!" She feels she needs to add that last part on there, just in case.

Valka (759) has posed:
Valka's companion settles down protectively around Valka, giving each of the people a pointed look before settling down to sniff at the dragon-type pokemon. Valka uses the large Stormcutter's tail as a makeshift seat, resting and conversing at the same time. "You are a very interesting person, Rebound..." Valka smiles. "That seems to be a constant here. Interesting people."

Alexis has posed:
Amusing how in the Multiverse even dragons come in as much variety as people do. Stormfront opens her mouth in a soft growl and flares her fin-spines fully, but again it's just an 'I am here' display more than anything hostile.

The Noivern hasn't even moved from his upside down perch. Why bother when he can hear everything just fine from where he is.

"Yeah. Always something new. That's about the only thing that is constant around here, heh." Alexis can agree with that notion.

Kari Wolf (276) has posed:
    Kari oophs and pulls along the small bag of rocks she's collected.
    "Even the rocks are usually new!" she says, picking up a weird one with a sunburst pattern in it. "Like this one! It's sandstone and there's a weird orange sunburst eye-looking thing in it!" She holds it up to show the other people the weird little rock. Wait, did it blink?

Rebound (750) has posed:
"Me? I don't think I'm that interesting." She says, "I mean you fly around on dragons and you're a viking. I'm just some girl from New York who pissed off the wrong people and got mutated for her trouble." The 'roo actually laughs a bi at this, "But I guess it's perspective, huh?"

Valka (759) has posed:
Cloudjumper swivels his head 'round to peer at Stormfront, flaring his fringes to respond to the show of dominance, as if to say 'yes, you're there, I'm here, we're good.' Valka reaches up to pat the dragon beneath his jaw and looks to Rebound with a chuckle. "Things that are unfamiliar are always fascinating, and you are quite unfamiliar. Only the dragon over there and the dragons on that island over there are anywhere near familiar to me. Everything else is like an oracle's fever dream."

Alexis has posed:
Seems once they've settled that neither of them is a threat to the other Stormfront returns to her placid state, draping her neck down to rest her head on Alexis' shoulder. Who reachs up idly to pat the back of said head. "Hilariously I once said the same thing about animals most people would consider normal. Sure they exist in Hoenn, but Pokemon outnumber 'normal' animals at least 10 to 1. But you'll get accustomed to it with time."

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is just being quiet for the most prat she's clearly been listening andf she says "I had a few years to adapt myseklf listing to the news and such before I ever bothered going through a warp gate myself."

Rebounds short story about her face gets a look of sympathy from Kotone. She kinda knows how that is but she'd have more in comon techinally with Krang in what actually happened to her self not that she seems eager to share that little story.

"I'm still getting used to supernatural abilities myself or myths being truth elsewhere."

Valka (759) has posed:
"The whole radio thing..." The way she says 'radio' is odd, rolling off the tongue strangely. "Is new. So many people in the little box. So many things to do and learn. So many things to see and, sadly, to avoid." Valka leans back into Cloudjumper, warming herself against his bellow-like chest. "it's a whole new world."

Alexis has posed:
Alexis actually laughs a bit when the radio is brought up. "Easiest way to approach the 'broadband'? You only hear the crazier people because they tend to be the noisiest ones out there. Don't judge the rest of the world by them." She shrugs a little again. "I'd say the ones most full of themselves, buuuut there's people out there that can at least back it up so it's not such a difinitive description."

Rebound (750) has posed:
"I've noticed a lot of the same voices time and again. Like that Lute guy." Rebound says, "Seems like a right asshole every time he opens his mouth." She shakes her head, "That or he's just completely oblivious."

Alexis has posed:
Alexis snorts at the mention of Lute. "Lute isn't dangerous. It's the creatures he has, those are dangerous." She motions idly at the Salamence behind her. "He's a pokemon trainer like me, and he's got some pretty strong ones, I'll give him that much. And that kaiju.. thing.. still not sure about that thing."

Valka (759) has posed:
"There are types like that on every world. One of the boys my son grew up with, Snotlout, is just like that. Often they're not all bad - just misunderstood." Valka takes up her staff and stands, looping it around one of the spines on Cloudchaser's back, pulling herself up to stand between his wings on a flat spot. "It was a pleasure to meet you all and I hope to run into you again soon." The woman gives a look to the rookery behind her, almost forlornly, before she shifts her weight. At that shift, Cloudchser unfurls his wings and gives them one mighty beat, sending the pair skyward.

Alexis has posed:
Alexis ... has to put a hand over her mouth to keep from snickering too hard at the name, because that would be rude. It takes her a moment to resume her composure. "Yeah, seeya around Valka!" Especially if they end up dealing with the same things. Then she walks around to climb onto Stormfront's back. "There's not much else we can do here, so we should probably head back." She glances towards Rebound. "You want a lift back somewhere to avoid getting more lost?"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa says "He's pretty much insane and has biological weapons. He's rather horrifying and nearly why I went back to my world and never came back out again. Still it's bene good to get out but I think I need to be going myself I got a ship that needs to hve upgrades checked out one last time before the workers get started to do it. If your world was judged on Lute? Someone would have invaded it by now. Either way I'm afraid I need to get going."

She turns to leave with a wave givne Alexis has things handled for Rebound, right and the little android seems to be all right. With that Kotone is leaping away again back in the direction she orginally came from.