2018-11-13: A Rolling Barrel Gathers No Moths

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======================<* New Arctica - Hidden Harbor *>=======================

New Arctica is little to speak of.

The entrance, both from the sea and the handful of tunnels leading to the surface, is a harbor secreted away in a cavern. The harbor is a natural one, though a pair of wooden piers have been built out. There are small ships to be found here, at times, which are largely former Arctican and Ellurian merchant vessels that have been used to make supply runs to the handful of villages holding on in the wasteland.

The harbor itself has no permanent buildings. A few large tents have been put up, offering basic sales of supplies -- and a few training grounds have been established, where a handful of guardsmen train the able-bodied but inexperienced in the basics of military drills. However, this place is ultimately a chilly, wet cavern that has few places to live.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntdIZ_TiCcs

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Not too long ago, Layna and her crew set out from New Arctica to explore the Ship Graveyard along with some friends she's made, and not too long ago they returned. Layna immediately departed to check up on the crew she'd left in the city.

There wasn't much to New Arctica, but in exchange for letting her keep her ship - the Ruby Empress - docked there, she and her crew had been working with its people to get some more solid structures put up.

The building she's in now is more of a temporary one, little more than a frame with some durable fabric keeping the interior safe from the elements raging outside. Still, it served its purpose, making a nice place for people to go and relax.

And that's what Layna aims to do now, sitting back in her chair with a mug of some beverage or another and occasionally responding to queries from members of her crew who sought her advice. 

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

Sephy is hanging out nearby, sketching some stuff from memory, tongue stuck out in concentration, from things that they saw during the adventure! 

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

It's only been a few hours since Ashton arrived in New Arctica - his layover in Fereshte having lasted until his previous escort had headed on her way.
 
The key point, however, is that he's here now. Not that there's a ton here, but it's the next step towards civilization (and future jobs) at hand. There's no shortage of monsters in this ruined land - nor brave souls looking to explore dangerous places.
 
Currently, the mercenary swordsman is having a bit of a break and relaxing. By this we mean that he's inspecting some of the barrels near the piers. Inspecting them quite intently, in fact. The two dragons sticking out of his shoulders are far less interested, however. The red one on the right (who is wearing a knit wool hat) is curled up and asleep, while the blue on the right (who has a wool scarf on) is watching the air and appears to be tracking a passing moth in preparation to strike. 

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

        Ethius, a.k.a. Creepy White-Haired Guy Who Stares At Everyone And Everything Ever, has been in New Arctica as an element that might be familiar but not always welcome. He's never quite been that friendly or forthcoming about who he is or what he's doing, or why he is so intent to just... stare at everyone and everything.
        Latest victim - Weepy and Creepy. Or maybe the barrels, too. There is a lot of staring going on.
        The usual, as it pertains to the unusual man. 

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Solanine has posed.

Since Layna's expedition returned, Solanine has spent her time in the quiet dark spaces of New Arctica, and perhaps by chance this is the one she's chosen for the moment, she sits near the fire on a chair she's constructed from her shadows, enough a part of herself that those without Resonance cannot see it. And that's part of the reason for its necessity. Since making her travels around Lunar and Filgaia, she's found it a very unpleasant experience to be sat on by someone trying to make use of an "empty chair", even if they only pass through you, so she quickly learned to craft her own, a bonus being that she always has a means to rest regardless of where she is.

The fire reflects in her red spectacles. Her eyes dart to Layna and she manages a small smile at the pirate captain and Sephilia's sketching and energy. The exuberance of many of the Drifters she's encountered is something she still needs to get used to, and she'd lost track of Celine Jules, the human she was following to help ease herself into yet. And yet, even Solanine appreciated the excitement of their recent adventure enough to find Sephilia's endearing for the moment.

She wonders if it's worth making a copy of the plans herself.

Who knows... one day she might need to build a tower for herself, a home that can't be burned down by the sort of thugs that robbed her of her last one, a planet away. 

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Layna keeps an eye on Sephilia, but she knows the girl can take care of herself - and Solanine's there, too, and she's grown to trust the Seraph from all of their encounters.

"Drink?" Layna offers, drawing a bottle and holding it out to the Seraph. Whether or not she accepts it, isn't long before one of Layna's crew enters the shelter.

"Uh, Cap'n, I dunno if you've looked outside, but there's a couple o' weird fellows out there, eyin' up the barrels...should we ask 'em to leave?" The young man asks. Layna sighs and shrugs, stepping out of her chair.

"Nah, lemme take a look." She says, standing up and heading over to the entrance, folding open the flap to look outside.

Indeed, just outside the shelter she finds herself looking in on a rather intense staring contest.

...No, perhaps it would be better described as a staring war. Ashton stares at the barrels, Ethius stares at the dragons(and also the barrels), the blue dragon stares at a moth, and the red dragon stares at the inside of their eyelids.

Meanwhile, Layna stares at all of them, with a look of confusion on her face. She looks back at Sephilia and Solanine with a look vaguely equivalent to 'are you two seeing this??' 

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Solanine has posed.

Solanine accepts the bottle, then seconds later fades out of view, then fades back in standing next to Layna and looking where she directs, and she blinks, and takes her overdue drink from the bottle, a look of slight confusion and exasperation on her face. "I do recognize one of them. The one without the creatures. Curious..."

A satisfying quaff of spirits and the shadow spirit offers the bottle back to its owner. 

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

INTENSITY.
 
CONCENTRATION.
 
LICKI--wait, did Ashton? Yeah, he just very gently touched his tongue to one of the barrels. What a weirdo.
 
"Hm. Yes. Nortian pine. Well aged, originally used with fish." Satisfied, Ashton straightens up - promptly ruining Weepy's snap at the moth. In irritation, the blue dragon nips at Ashton's ear. He yelps - which wakes up Creepy. The unhappy red dragon swings around - as does the blue. Three -look- at each other and break into a one-sided conversation of only Ashton speaking.
 
"Well it's not my fault! No, I didn't know you-- why were you even hunting that little thing? You're a-- this is not the time for-- wait, what guy staring at us?"
 
And finally being told that they're being watched, Ashton spins about to try and find this person who his dragons say is looking at them so intently. 

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

        "...Pay me no mind," says the man, Ethius, who is certainly paying mind from a deep well of savings of mind, to the point that he can probably outright buy power and prestige in all the lands that trade in mind. He stands with his arms folded behind his back.
        The moth flits over to the strange white-haired man who seems to allow it to gently alight on his gloved hand. His eyes narrow as though the tiny bug were something worthy of... being stared at. His body language is so reserved, suppressed, it's difficult to read what he might be feeling about it.
        "...Active within this climate," Ethius murmurs. He cups his other hand around it like a hungry cobra pouncing on a meal in order to stop it from flying off, and apparently this insect and its hardiness against the cold northern Elru air is of such interest that he starts to walk off towards the temporary building that houses a number of interesting occupants.
        He doesn't say 'hello.'
        He instead says, "do any of you recognize this insect?"
        It's a moth. 

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

Oooooookay.

This is a new one.

"Do you think he knows they're there?" Sephy asks Layna in a stage whisper, just as the strange spectacle turns to an apparently one-sided conversation.

"Oh no," she moans, as she recognizes Ethius a moment later. "I *was* going to ask that guy if I could sketch him and his, um, friends, but now I'm keeping my journal well out of sight." She glowers. "It's a moth, Eee-Thiii-Uuuuussss." She emphasizes each syllable of his name loudly and clearly, making sure that anyone around knows his name. 

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

"Aye, he's a curious one - by all definitions of the word." Layna replies with a nod toward Solanine, accepting the bottle back. She leans against the door frame(this literal - it's a frame that will eventually have a door put in it, but right now just has a flap) as she peers out.

...Wait, did one of them just lick the barrels...? And then he starts talking to himself... She briefly wonders just what were in those barrels.

"Looks like it..." Layna murmurs back to Sephilia, then looks back toward Ashton.

"...You okay there, lad?" She asks.

It's about this time that Ethius seems to take note of them, grasping the moth and walking over to them to show it off without even saying hello.

Not that she expected one.

"If you're askin' what species...hell if I know. I don't study moths, much less Filgaian ones." She replies with a shrug and a subtle, approving smirk toward Sephilia for cheekiness. 

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Solanine has posed.

"A creature of the dark that blindly follows the light is a traitor, but one beneath my notice." Solanine replies flatly when presented with the moth. She doubtless finds their behavior an affront, yet it is a small thing and she feels the death it will find gliding into the flame of a travelers lantern karmic punishment enough. In due time little one, in due time.

Sephilia's welcome words put a name to the familiar face of the moth's carriage and she commits it to memory. Beyond that her conversation to him pauses, as they both are beings of few words.

She noticably flanks Layna to support her in case of trouble, even though she finds these characters more odd than threatening. Even with her limited exposure to other Drifters, she's found it common for them to be both deeply eccentric, to look rough enough to scare off everyday trouble. She keeps that in mind to give them the benefit of the doubt, yet stranger things have happened in this world than "A Day of Moth Scholarship and Barrel Tasting Becomes A Mugging." 

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

Over the last few months of cursed symbiosis, Ashton has learned to accept being stared at. The state of his apperance draws attention - at the very least, it's a good conversation starter. That Ethius is staring doesn't bother him terribly much.
 
Then the man just grabs the moth and... leaves?
 
There's some irony that those actions actually do annoy Ashton. He's used to the staring, but rating below a moth?! (Also in his head, Weepy starts complaining that that was HIS moth! Which does no good for Ashton's own mood.) He takes a few steps after the man, closing to the tent and--
 
And he stops. Oh. "Erm, yes. Hello, m'am." Off-kilter now, Ashton makes a small (yet still clumsy) bow to Layna. "Apologies for disturbing you and the other ladies. I was just--" He frowns, looking once more at Ethius. Then back. "I was just admiring the workmanship of the barrels out there. I meant no harm." 

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

"He called me a LADY! Not a kid! I *must* be growing up some!" Sephy cries. Though it then occurs to her that this guy is some kind of barrel pervert. "Uh."

Moving right along.

"My name is Sephilia Lampbright, and I'm a famous explorer!"

Well, sort of. It's a new thing she's trying, being famous herself instead of bringing up her Dad.

"Would it be all right if I sketch you and your, uh, buddies, into my journal?" 

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

        The man weathers Sephilia's vexing spite with the same poker face he oft maintains, but then again he cheats because the lower half of his face is always obscured. He doesn't blink in the face of her coy complaining about herself and her journal, or saying his name aloud in the most mocking way imaginable.
        "This is Filgaian." Ethius repeats Layna's observations of the tiny bug WHICH IS JUST A MOTH, it's not even one of those bigger ones that try to eat people down in warmer climates where the bugs get bigger and ickier and grosser. This is just a tiny little thing that seems to be able to withstand Elru's cold.
        This seems to be a deadly serious matter for him. (What ISN'T?!)
        He blinks once and turns his eyeballs back towards Ashton in brief. The workmanship of the barrels...
        "Miss Sephilia." Ethius stands in front of Ashton, interrupting the sketching attempt. "Can you ascertain your companion's claims about this insect?"
        OH MY GODDESSGRANASGUARDIANS IT IS A FREAKING MOTH what does he want 

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

"If you keep standing in my way I'm going to sketch you next, and have it copied out a thousand times, with your name under it, and the message HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN? NOW YOU HAVE written below that." 

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Layna glances toward Solanine as she comments on the moth, suppressing a chuckle. She'd never thought about moths in that way before, but the deathly serious manner in which she says it makes it clear that she's, well...serious.

 She appreciates the flanking, though Layna's sure that this won't turn violent unless she's the one that starts it.

Layna does chuckle, though, when Ashton finally notices them. She nods, tipping her hat politely in response to the bow.

"Not a problem, lad! S'long as you're not plannin' to make off with 'em, there ain't any laws against that, aye? Hell, they could probably use a good inspectin' - it'd be bad if there were a crack or somethin' that went unnoticed." She replies good-naturedly. Sephilia's comment gets a chuckle, too.

"I'm Layna Manydays, Captain of the Ruby Empress - the big red ship in the harbor over there, if you've seen it." She replies. She might as well, since Sephilia's introducing herself. She briefly wonders if either of these men are actually capable of seeing Solanine - if not, she won't give away the Seraph's presence unless she seems okay with that.

She raises an eyebrow as Ethius repeats her assertion.

"Uhh...yeah? At least, I think. Again, moths - not my thing." She replies. "Why, you thinkin' 'bout gettin' inta bug collectin'?" 

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

Oh, right, introductions! Ashton adjusts the furred collar of his dark robe. "They seem in fine condition, Captain. Ashton Anchors, late of the Adventurer's Guild. And my companions Creepy and Weepy. Whom," he notes to Sephilia with a smile, "Are always quite happy for such things." Pausing, he puts a hand to the side of his mouth and stage-whispers. "They've got a bit of an ego someti--"
 
Then Ethius steps in front of him to talk more about moths. Were things a little less grounded, there would be a large sweatdrop on his forehead in this moment. Helpfully, Weepy gently headbutts Ashton to snap him out of it.
 
Instead he steps to the side, giving up the center of the stage to the weird man and his moth. Which, in turn, allows Ashton to give a small bow of greeting to Solanine - the one who hasn't identified herself yet. 

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Solanine has posed.

Seraph Solanine stays still after Ashton says "Ladies". She doesn't know if he has Resonance or not, and she's heistant to whether his attentions are something she wants to be the focus of, especially now that he's close enough for her to see that the dragons on his shoulders seem to be literally part of his body which makes her wonder if his oddity is due to some sort of mind-sharing she doesn't yet understand, making him very unpredictable indeed.

 As for Ethius, she doesn't have more to say on the moth for now. She's spoken her piece as a manifestation of the Element the bug calls home.

She tries to recall from their expedition whether Ethius was able to see her, but she suspects he might've heard her when she overhears Ethius question Sephilia about her "companion's claims".

She is a tad curious at to why Ethius has become so passionate about this moth, yet perhaps a life of adventure in mirages has left him temporarily touched in the head? Or perhaps the cold? Maybe he'd be better off by the fire... though now she's curious if he'll stay outside to protect the moth from itself...

The Seraph groans in resignation slightly when Ashton bows to her and confirms she can't escape his notice by virtue of her spiritual nature, and in accordance with knightly manners and customs, returns the bow.

 "Solanine, Seraph of the Dark, Knight of Poison's Bloom."

She nods to Layna's confident body language and fades into shadow, back inwards towards the fire, roughly where she was standing before as to clear the way for the her companions and newcomers to come avail themselves of shelter, warmth and light, as she's sure they'd appreciate. but if they want to stay outside, it won't take but a moment to return. 

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

        "I assure you that you will not." Ethius replies, calmly. Good, that must mean he's going to get out of her way... any moment now, with that common understanding being put between them. Honestly, though, of all the things to suddenly get obsessive and borderline threatening over, why a moth.
        ...Any moment now, Ethius, c'mon,move.
        He doesn't seem keen to introduce himself as Ashton and the Seraph of the Dark go through the polite motions, but Sephy there knows who he is and seems perfectly fine with making it clear.
        ...
        His eyes do seem to track in the direction where Solanine is standing, so that may be a positive indicator - or an indicator of ambiguous virtue - that he seems to be aware that she is there.
        ...
        His grasp of the moth is released, and as it is a tiny insect of very basic instincts and a limited understanding of the world around it, it decides it wants to fly free of the giant thing that just entrapped it and for some reason didn't eat it.
        "I see." That's not a yes/no answer to 'is he becoming a bug collector,' as he folds his hands behind his back. "Your cooperation is appreciated."
        The moth flits back onto the back of Ethius' white-haired head, where it rests in clear view of a hungry Weepy. 

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

Sephy pulls out a loose scrap of scratch paper, staring directly at Ethius, and sketches a quick stick figure caricature--zero effort, but recognizable--and labels it ETHIUS. She then passes it to Layna. Then, adjusting her position, she resumes sketching Ashton. 

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

"Good to meet you, lad. ...And your pals." Layna replies with a nod toward Ashton, and a glance toward the two dragons. She's...not sure which one is which, but she doesn't voice the question aloud.

Nearby, Solanine introduces herself and retreats through the shadows back into the shelter. Layna nods, looking back at the others.

"Aye, she's got the right idea, I'd wager. Come on inside, folsk, no point standin' around out there in the cold, aye? You can keep sketchin' inside where it's warm, less." She says, gesturing with a thumb back to where she was sitting before.

Ethius, in typical Ethius fashion, doesn't really give her question a solid answer. She just shrugs, having not really expected one.

Sephilia has something for her, though. Layna accepts the paper and looks it over with a chuckle.

"You captured his expression perfectly, lass." She comments, then slips it safely into the confines of her coat before following Solanine inside. She resumes her earlier seat and gestures to one of the assembled chairs.

"Help yourselves to a seat, we've got plenty of 'em." She offers. Some of them are more like repurposed crates than chairs, but it was better than nothing. 

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

Briefly, Weepy peers at the moth... then looks away with distain. He didn't really want it anyway! Hmph!
 
Ashton seems to have nearly zero recognition about what the phrase 'Seraph of the Dark' implies - he simply gives Solanine a pleasant smile and a nod of his head. Obviously he can see her, even if he doesn't seem to really GET her. At the very least, he's cordial.
 
He does sigh heavily at Ethius'.... whatever the point of that was. Ashton doesn't GET that, either. But he assumes that since the women are tolerating him, they must know Ethius and be alright with the quirkiness. Such is a bad assumption, but one he still makes. And this makes following back inside at Layna's invitation all the more acceptable.
 
He doesn't sit, however. "Would over here be sufficient, miss Lampbright?" Ashton indicates a reasonably clear spot - where he stands to give Sephilia a spot to sketch without too much (visual) background noise. 

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

"That's perfect,yes, thank you!" Sephy smiles as she resumes her seat. She pulls a stuffed plush fox out of her satchel. "Oh, right--this is my buddy, Chauncey. He's my bodyguard." Setting Chauncey by her side, she gets back to sketching and pointedly ignoring Ethius. 

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

        The moth will soon flit its way back to its eventual destiny - mistaking the shine of a torch for being the alluring scent of pheromones. Assuming it is a male, of course, but it would seem whatever interest Ethius has in the bug has since waned in favor of--
        "...'his expression.'" Ethius repeats Layna's commentary. Is he just going to repeat snippets of her words all day/night, here? 

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

It's okay, Ashton. Layna doesn't get Ethius either, she mostly just rolls with it. Case in point, as she goes to sit down Layna hears Ethius repeating her words and stares at him, eyebrow raised.

"...Uh, yeah? Are you okay, lad?" Layna asks, waving a hand in front of his face. "...I think he's broken, me hearties. D'we need to rest 'im, or somethin'?"

She's joking, really. ...For the most part. 

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

Ashton does his best to hold still for Sephilia. The two dragons.. mostly cooperate. They occasionally switch poses as they try to decide what will look cooler.
 
"He does appear to be talented, if you're safe in a place such as this." By his tone, Ashton obviously doesn't actually believe the stuffed toy is anything but a stuffed toy - but it's impolite to argue otherwise. "Hello, sir Chauncey."
 
His eyes glance over to Layna and Ethius. "Does he do this often?" 

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Solanine has posed.

"If we do, I have a sleeping poi-.. medicine... he can take. But perhaps the fire will do him enough good. " Solanine replies to Layna, not sure to the extent she is joking.

Besides that, she busies herself watching Sephilia draw Ashton, and managing a small smirk when she introduces Chauncey the bodyguard and Ashton's well-meaning, yet oblivious comment. It is however one of the most endearing things he's said so far, watching him get along with Sephilia puts her more at ease with him, though she still watches the dragons at times, trying to read their motions and dispositions. Except for the moment where the moth meets its fate, the brief flame of its life burning brightly reflects in her red spectacles until it is no more. Justice has been served. 

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

"Oh, Chauncey doesn't talk," Sephy explains, giggling and showing Ashton the finished sketch. "But I can make him big, and he moves around and fights stuff!" 

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

        Is Ethius okay? That might actually be a good question. In Layna's playful mockery to throw him off the scent of the ultimate culmination of 'mods asleep, post ethius pix' unfolding before them, she can look better into that endless stare.
        That is the look of a man who does not sleep much. What's more chilling is how none of the surrounding body language that should match that of a sleepless human being is just... not there. Whether it's conscious repression of any signs of weakness that should be there, or just an element of him that simply is...
        ...he turns away and seems to see it fit not to partake in the warmth of the fire and the growing companionship between the rest of them, like there were something else of importance on his mind. 

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Layna doesn't react to Solanine's mistake. Truthfully, as a pirate, she still wouldn't blink even if she had outright said 'poison'. She was kind of used to that sort of thing by now.

She finds herself approving of Ashton, too, though - he was treating Sephilia well, which was an easy way to get into Layna's good books. As for Ethius...

...Well, Ethius will be Ethius.

A part of her wonders how he's even still up and standing, with a look in his eyes like that, and especially from the way he shuns the sort of warmth some people would kill for in a place like this.

But she shrugs, letting him down his own thing. She certainly wasn't going to pry. 

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

"Those do sound like useful traits for a bodyguard to have." Ashton nods slightly, approving of Chauncey's capabilities. "A shame that he can't talk - Creepy and Weepy, while they're not heard by others, at least have their own things to say to me. While our situation isn't the best, they've been fine enough travelling companions the last few months."
 
There's little reaction from the mercenary swordsman as Ethius... Ethiuses off. What an incredibly odd person.
 
Back to Solanine's eyes - the dragons, as she watches them, are interesting. They're not quite animals, but also not people. While Ashton's trying to keep still for the sketching, it's easy enough to spot the three-in-one having what are certainly short snippets of conversation between themselves. Looks, expressions, small motions of the eyes and chin and lips that indicate communication. At the same time, the two dragon heads seem almost like cats - they're easily distracted, get bored quickly and if their posing is any indication? A bit vain.
 
Also Creepy seems to express himself by playfully gnawing on Ashton's head. 

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

"There was one time, I guess, where I got some sorta spores in me and then...well I was hallucinating." 

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Solanine has posed.

Seraph Solanine seems satisfied with the behavior of the dragons for now, they seem... tame... as far as it's worth. On her home of Lunar. Dragons of certain types are always a living disaster. Always, so even their echo in the creatures can't help but put her ill at ease.

 Ethius denies the fire. Curious for a human, but his devotion to the Dark is noted to his favor. She's certain as long as he remains there, she'll be able to find him whenever she may need him. His current behavior is a little odd, she must admit, but she'd seen him handle himself admirably in the Glint Mirage, his professionalism and skill is most assuredly an asset.

Back to Ashton, she addresses the twin dragons in the room: "What situation is that? You weren't born with a case of Dragons? Is it something humans can just catch?"

 This and her glib correction of "poison" to medicine perhaps passes as teasing jokes for the lost and gloomy Seraph.

She does chuckle slightly at Sephilia's poison recollection.

Fungal poisons can be some of the most deadly and immediate, if all that happened was hallucination and she's still here to tell the tale, a best case scenario to be celebrated. 

<Pose Tracker> Ashton Anchors has posed.

Ashton declines to comment on hallucinagenic spores and stuffed animals. There's no way to approach it that's not going to come off as rude. And better silent than tactless.
 
Fortunately, Solaine proves an alternative. "A case of the dragons is..." An amused smirk plays over his lips. "I promise it isn't catching - though it is hardly natural."
 
"I actually was hunting Creepy and Weepy - when they were a two-headed dragon - as a bounty from the Guild. A bit more difficult than I was prepared for, really." Not the easiest admission for Ashton to make, by the look on his face, but one he's had to accept. "To make a long story short - their magics and my own went awry, and we were cursed with this fusion." Weepy leans over and lays its head across Ashton's, almost as if patting him comfortingly. He bats the blue dragon away. "We've reached a sort of agreement as we're in this together - even if we were once enemies." 

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Solanine has posed.

Seraph Solanine nods. "No need to watch your back when it's one you all share. An intriguing accident..." she replies, but leaves further questions for later, resuming her gaze at the fire, and extending her shadow chair to something like a fainting couch. It appears Ethius wasn't the only one exhausted from adventure and daily obligation. Her gaze moves to the others one by one as they've found a moment of respite here in New Arctica, and then she decides to try resting her eyes a bit herself.

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