Scene #5761: Miracle Dragon Visitor

Owner	Pose
Empty Tidings	LOOKSHY sits at the edge of the promontory at the mouth of the Yanaze River, a sprawling city of blue stone build upon a massive, jade-infused masonry foundation. The eastern gate is watched over by colossal statues of a man and a woman, while huge flood embankments protect the coastal district to the west. It's a sight to behold, full of layered walls and defensive towers, with the fortifications slicing the miles-wide city into distinct districts throughout it. Approaching it on foot is for the best. Lookshy is clearly militarized and in a huge way; attempting a fly-over might cause some unnecessary commotion, and the nearest warp gate is a ways from the city proper and constantly monitored for traffic. It's near there that Toriki Falling Rain waits, a blue-haired woman in red and gold cloth and green jade armor standing out amongst the Home Guard soldiers armored in purple. There's a checkpoint setup for travellers to pass through, helping direct the flow of traffic to and from the city in an orderly fashion. The country around it is green plains full of farmlands. It's picturesque. As far as places to wander, it's not half bad.
Ryu	Ryu's approach may not actually be seen. When he appears, it's rather suddenly and when he knows people aren't looking in his direction. A man with blue hair 'apparates' there near where Toriki Falling Rain was waiting for him, touching down with a soft thump of his shoes against the ground. He had deactivated a form of invisibility with some precise timing so that he wouldn't startle the local soldiers overly much. Since he wasn't outside of Creation and because he had been scouting the skies for a while now, he couldn't just, ya know, just walk through the warp gate. The directions he was given were easy enough to follow without that. "Are you Falling Rain?" he asks the person in the armor, holding an innocent smile toward her.
Empty Tidings	Appearing out of nowhere when nobody is looking is startling, but the troops on the ground seem fairly relaxed -- or maybe just well-disciplined -- and do not take it as an opportunity and invitation to start shit with the mysterious visitor. They /do/ get on their guard and look to the blue-haired woman, who makes a hand gesture and steps out ahead of them. "That's me." Falling Rain smiles. "You must be Ryu." She glances up and around, adding, "I suppose that wouldn't be your only trick, huh?" Falling Rain looks to the troops and murmurs something to them. It's quick reassurances -- she's expecting him, and they can keep doing their thing here while she handles this. She turns back towards him. "So you're from another world, then. Are you wandering our way for a particular purpose?"
Ryu	Ryu glances aside at the soldiers. His eyes are clearly not human, but such a feature is probably not strange in Creation. He doesn't look worried about the soldiers beyond keeping an eye on them when they're spoken to by Falling Rain. The blue-haired young man lifts his brows in surprise, but then looks off toward Lookshy itself, frowning thoughtfully. He looks back to Falling Rain and tells her bluntly what he's here for. "I want to help get rid of Mask of Winters," he bluntly states. "I'm here to discuss what I can do, and even demonstrate, if it's needed. So that you can tell me what you know and where to start."
Empty Tidings	Falling Rain gestures towards the road towards the city. It's paved with fitted stones. She obviously intends to lead him on a merry walk off away from the checkpoint. "That's a tall order, even for someone who can do what you say you can do," Falling Rain tells him. "Mask of Winters has been a thorn in our collective sides for a while, if you'll pardon the pun. Still..." She sighs gently. "I don't want to sound ungrateful -- outsiders have been proving that they're willing and able to do the job, so it isn't like that, you understand?" She clasps her hands together in front of her as she walks. "You don't really have a horse in this race. You could leave the way you came and never have to hear the name Mask of Winters again. What is it about this that makes you want to risk your life for people you don't know?"
Ryu	Ryu walks along, following the woman in jade armor. He looks around as he walks, his eyes focusing here and there with the silent curiosity a cat may have. His eyes half-lid as he gazes into the distance for a minute, focusing on what she's saying. He's respectfully silent as she speaks. He snorts in amusement at the pun, at least, showing he isn't just brooding and that he is listening. "I was here in Creation trying to help its people, and someone told me about him. I have the power to at least try, and so I will," he answers, his voice that kind of calm only passionate souls can carry. "Life needs to be preserved. I can't let someone with all of that power destroy this world, even a part of it... no matter how messed up it is, it's someone's home." "It sounds stupid, but I've never needed a better reason to help," he concludes.
Empty Tidings	Passing through the plains affords a view of the farmsteads and careful, precise divides of everything here. Ryu can see how orderly it all is, with paved roads dividing holdings and people dutifully working their parcels of land here and there. It's a lively sort of country. Peaceful, in a way, despite the presence of the military throughout. Nobody seems unhappy or discontent that he can see. "That's an admirable way to view things," Falling Rain replies, voice a touch wistful. "I suppose you don't have anyone to answer to, then, if you can just wander from place to place righting wrongs. That seems... mm." She doesn't seem to know how to finish that sentence, thoughtful indecision flickering across her features. "And it isn't stupid," Falling Rain says, "but it is foolhardy. It's good you were willing to come here. Being a part of something more organized means you'll be more effective. I'm not going to ask you to join the Legion," she adds preemptively, "but I'd like to evaluate what you're offering before we get to the point of including you in operations." She's led them off the main road, down between farms. This road runs parallel to the walls in the distance, towards the river. "You say you can raise the dead? And on a scale large enough to slow a necromancer's army?"
Ryu	Ryu spends some time squinting at the order around him, reminded of the clean lines of buildings back home, the artificial and tidy nature of a world given balance by people that don't know what balance actually is. He smiles at this, though, because it's far more natural looking and because he doesn't see anyone that looks grimy or unloved so far. Just people, living their lives, in an orderly civilized context. It's comforting. He still doesn't trust it, which shows in how he addresses Falling Rain's words. "I'm going to try to do it, with or without you, it just seems best to help you since we both want the same thing," he points out, "And I haven't tried to that kind of scale before. There's never been anything where I'm from to really compare to. But I'm willing to try." He smiles over to Falling Rain. He's honest, at least, and seems confident about his abilities. "I already know it works on people in Creation," he adds, "But these undead might be a different problem entirely." "Did you have something you wanted me to test it on, to show you?"
Empty Tidings	Falling Rain stops in front of a farm house that looks unoccupied. There's a soldier in purple armor standing outside, who goes from leaning on the door to standing at attention when Falling Rain stops nearby. She doesn't make any sign of having noticed his inattention. It's the prerogative of soldiers to do two things: complain, and find ways to relax in tiny ways wherever they go. "You don't like to mince words, do you?" Falling Rain observes. "Alright. I would prefer you do it with us instead of without us, because if you try it without us and fail, you're going to add a powerful body to the Mask's army. I've been authorized to stop you if it seems like you're going to go off on a suicide mission. But you seem like a decent person." Rain shrugs her lightly-armored shoulders. "I don't think it'll come to that." She nods her head to the farmhouse. "A man died in an accident in the field late yesterday. His family is in the city right now. I'd like you to revive him, if you can."
Ryu	Ryu looks to the soldier with interest, briefly curious. He looks at the design of the armor, briefly, commiting it to memory, since it looks like it's the common uniform for Lookshy's soldiers, or perhaps whatever type of soldier is assigned to Lookshy by their overarching government. He looks to Falling Rain again, smiling lightly at her observations, and her admissions. He frowns, briefly, at the notion some authority would try to stop him, someone he's never met passing down an order to get in his way... She's got some authority, he's coming to realize, and provides her a suspicious glance... But she has been cordial so far, and he's got no reason to work against her right now. He just doesn't want to risk exploitation again. The blue-haired man briefly closes his eyes, and his body shimmers with light as the image of a human male falls away and there's a dragon standing there. He spares a look with wholly supernatural eyes toward the soldier, as if daring him to freak out about it, then steps toward the door and opens it to head inside and find a place to sit down next to the body. He wouldn't waste time. His hand would lay flat on the dead man's middle, and his body would begin to glow. Powerful magic, magic beyond what anyone in Creation is capable of, magic that defies accepted physical laws, radiates from inside the farmhouse like a great beacon. Because a farmer's soul carries very little weight, Ryu wouldn't need to expend much effort, and it helps that the death is recent... if they were telling the truth, that is, and there aren't other unforeseen hiccups. It's a pure light that glows off of his scales. Warm. Soothing.
Empty Tidings	The guard looks alarmed, but defers to Falling Rain, who just grunts, "Let him by." She definitely has some kind of authority, but it's not clear what sort. It doesn't seem to be a matter of being above and beyond what Creationites can manage, exactly. There's a feeling like when Ryu was reviving the demon-hunters that definitely seems to be a Creation-specific one: something is missing, and he has to string together the broken pieces to put it all back together. Souls, it seems, are kind of weird here. The farmer awakens with a gasp and a look of shock. Falling Rain is there, putting a hand on him and getting his attention. "You're fine," she says quietly. "Everything is fine. Your family is in the city. Take some time to rest, and get your bearings." He looks up at her in alarm, and then his eyelids sink until they close. He's out cold. She turns around, takes one look at Ryu, and says, "You should put your face back on before someone else sees you." Her posture is stiff and wary. "I'll confirm your ability to my superiors. It's... impressive, to say the least."
Ryu	Ryu couldn't put words to it before... but he does feel something different than usual. It's a more palpable resistance, like he has to fit a puzzle together. It isn't as difficult as it could be. He closes one of his eyes as he picks up on the subtle differences. His magic is powerful enough to stitch the soul back into a body, no matter what the soul looks like, but... Ryu breathes a soft sigh through his nose and stands. He looks aside to Empty Tidings, eyes lidding. His form shimmers, and slowly the illusion of humanity returns. He doesn't seem to shrink too much in size and his eyes still look similar, so it's clearly a rudimentary ability with no utility beyond the single 'costume' of his human shape. He looks her up and down for a moment of uncertainty and discomfort, because her behavior is a little worrying... He only did what he said he could do, after all. "It isn't foolproof," he warns, "Some curses make it impossible to bring someone back. They're just as rare as this ability is, though."
Empty Tidings	Falling Rain relaxes a little when he's put his human guise back on. "Then we won't try it on the Deathlord himself." She turns back towards the door. She pauses by the threshold. Falling Rain puts her gauntleted right hand on the doorframe, and then turns back to look Ryu up and down. "Sorry. Aren't many friendly non-humans around here, if any at all. Don't want people thinking you're some kind of monster out to eat their children. First impressions and all, you know?" She steps outside, having a word with the guard. He starts off at a hustle. She leans against the house instead, getting comfortable. After a moment, she asks, "How come you can do that at all?"
Ryu	Ryu shrugs at her. "Dragons, where I'm from, are seen as evil and destructive. It's why I have the human shape in the first place... took a while to figure out the magic," he explains, as he approaches the doorway and steps outside. He gives a look to the guard that takes off, watching him move. The dragon knows he just pushed over a domino where a whole government is going to give him some serious scrutiny... but if it meant enacting some real change in a world sorely needing it, he wasn't worried about it. Okay, maybe a little worried. He frowns as he remembers how his homeland tried to weaponize him. "I wish I knew the answer to that," he tells Falling Rain. "I got tired of the gang violence near where I lived killing people who didn't deserve it, and I tried to fix death... and it worked." "... do you think the gods in Creation will start to hate me?" he wonders, rubbing the back of his neck as he remembers the discussion from the day before.
Empty Tidings	"The Dragons here aren't... the same thing." Falling Rain tries to think of how best to say it. "At least, I don't think so." "The Immaculate Philosophy teaches that the Elemental Dragons were five heroic Exalted who destroyed the Anathema and freed the world from their cruelties. We Dragon-Blooded," thus explaining why all the deference, "are supposed to work to achieve enlightenment by strengthening our abilities to control the Essence of the world, and emulating the Dragons themselves. Stand atop a pedestal to guide and govern mortals." She gestures towards the fields. "Everything happily in it's place." Then, she laughs a little. "The gods? Maybe. Mask of Winters and his people? Maybe more. If you can do something about the Shadowlands by bringing people back... ah, well, maybe that's just a dream." She crosses her arms, leaning back against the exterior wall. She's relaxed some. "But so is wishing to fix death and it just working, huh."
Ryu	Ryu looks toward Falling Rain, one of his eyes closing. He looks a little perplexed by the explanation he receives, but he does nod along with it. He follows the gesture to the fields around him, and smiles lightly. But then his other eye closes and he crosses his arms, a light frown on his face. He breathes a sigh through his nose, realizing what kind of mentality would be fostered by the Dragon-Blooded... seeing themselves as inherently superior by default, even those who haven't earned the right to think like that. His eyes open and he turns his attention back to the fields. "Let me know over the radio when you want to start moving on this guy. I'll be keeping an ear out for activity." He then dips his head respectfully to Falling Rain, and shifts his footing, his knees bending as if he's going to jump. He vanishes, quite suddenly... no, he launched himself straight up into the air, and took off in flight, moving so fast that if one blinked they would miss him. He leaves a gust of air, and then a distant 'boom' as he breaks the sound barrier.
Empty Tidings	"I'll do that," Falling Rain assures him. She watches him go -- mostly. He's fast enough to make it hard. She's still looking up at the sky when the boom happens. People all around stop to look, perplexed by the thunder on a sunny day. Distantly, some soldiers scramble to check out what happened. Falling Rain is still there once they arrive, looking up and smiling silently to herself. They question her as to what happened, but cautiously. The miracle of the farmer's revival spreads quickly after that. His family is pleased. Falling Rain just keeps smiling, like the cat that caught the canary.