Cryo's OC Multi

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Okay, maybe this was a dumb idea. Ava let out a surprised squawk as gas filled the room, and she instinctively covered her face with her wings--even if it wasn't dangerous, aerosols weren't exactly great for the avian respiratory system. Mercifully, it dissipated almost as fast as it appeared, leaving the flustered harpy with nothing more than a brief cough.

"Ugh... please no more of that..." she grumbled as she darted through the door. One decontamination was probably enough, right? Even if she was super dusty.

She didn't even know where to begin with this strange place, so she kept going forward, down the hall.

dragonizens:

This particular disinfectant was harmless to human lungs, so Ava would have been fine. Probably. Few structures were built with harpies in mind, unfortunately for her.

Hm, this cave was not a natural formation... someone built it, which means it led somewhere...

Having gotten her daily video game quote out of the way, Ava did her best to stay brave in the face of... whatever this was. Of course, the opening of the door and the loud hiss made her squawk an raises her wings to shield her face, but was hit with nothing but dust--and dust was something she was quite used to. She slowly lowered her arms to look into the newly-revealed room.

Well... fuck it, right?

With the sigh, the harpy stepped inside--albeit cautiously--and tapped the switch. It had to open the other door, right?

dragonizens:

The small, almost claustrophobic space was silent save for the barely discernible hum of some form of machinery. That once again changed when Ava pressed the button, as a shrill beeep filled the air while the outer door gradually closed.

Then, the room began to fill with steam. An aerosol that mildly irritated the airways spread until it took up the entire room, only to be drained away in seconds through a grate near the ceiling.

A metallic, distorted voice told her, "[Decontamination complete.]"

"Well, you know what the Mythbusters say: the only difference between screwing around and science is writing it down."

Which, unfortunately, meant lots of paperwork. One day they'd do more of this crap electronically, but not today. Even Ava had to admit, it was a chore getting through it all. She and Mateo both were more excited to study fossils directly.

"I don't think my load's as bad as yours," the harpy pointed out as she rifled through the papers on her desk. "D'you think there's anything you have that you could give to me? Might make your life a bit easier."

dragonizens:

"You're right," Mateo huffed. "I hate that you're right."

Computers? In this economy? As much as he hated that too, he knew the museum couldn't afford to upgrade with the kind of funding they got now. But still -- the least they could do was hire someone to do this stuff instead of letting the paleontologists do it themselves!

He hummed, then leafed through the first two or so inches of his pile. "Well, if you're offering... you could sort through these. We were on that dig together, anyway."

Ava's ability to fly would make the average Minecraft player jealous, honestly. She could dig straight down and not worry about a thing! Still, having the ground literally collapse underneath her was quite a frightening experience, and she frantically took the air with a startled squawk as her precious find fell into the cavern below.

"Oh, God dammit!" she snapped, uncharacteristically angry at the loss as she swiftly dove down into the cave itself to inspect the damage more closely. Maybe it could be salvaged, even if it wasn't complete--

...what the?

Ava landed and folded her wings against her chest when she saw the strange door, lit by the sun pouring in from above. After a moment of trepidation, she gave it a light tap with a talon. Was it just... a wall?

dragonizens:

Any geologist worth their salt would only need one closer look at the floor and walls to recognize that this was no natural cavern. While rough, the rock here had definitely been carved out with some kind of tool or machine.

The door, meanwhile, yielded an unmistakable echo when she tapped it. But that wasn't all; a second later, a deafening hiss filled the cave and a rush of air sent dust flying all around Ava. Once the air pressure on both sides of the door had been equalized, it slid an inch or so outward before slowly swinging open.

A lot of people might be surprised to learn that Ava and Mateo were friends, but despite their seemingly opposing personalities, they both liked peace and quiet, and certainly enjoyed working at the museum together. There was definitely no shortage of stuff to chat about on the job.

"Morning, Mateo!" Ava chirped, seemingly unperturbed by his blunt statement. She sat down at her desk next to his, already sorting through her own paperwork--mercifully, the stack wasn't quite as towering as her colleague's. "Looks like you got an early start today! Anything crazy happen, or has it just been paperwork?"

dragonizens:

Sharing an office with anyone would have seemed like Mateo's worst nightmare just a year or so earlier, but needless to say he'd come to enjoy it. The fact that his colleague was just as smart and passionate about their shared field definitely helped.

"Yes, yes, morning," he mumbled before carefully laying the bundle of papers he'd been studying onto one of the 'sorted' piles on the ground. Being much shorter than her, but working at a desk the same size as hers, meant he'd had to adjust his chair to the point where his toe claws barely touched the floor.

Ava's question was met with a huff, the leathery frill on his neck expanding slightly in the process. "I wish. Maybe once I get past this bureaucratic nightmare, I'll get to do what I actually studied for."

"You're late," a small but low voice called out from behind a stack of papers that almost obscured its owner from view.

In reality, Mateo had come to the office two hours early to try and put a dent in said pile of paperwork, just so he might have time to do something else today. He hadn't so much as touched a fossil in two days, including the ones awaiting classification inside the neatly stacked white boxes next to his workspace. His side of the office was more cluttered than Ava's, but no less clean or organized.

Sometimes, even in a profession that had you digging into the ground more often than not, having wings still came in handy -- often when you least expected it.

What had seemed like solid rock underneath Ava's feet had given way after one too many chips with the chisel, breaking the fossil she'd been trying to unearth in half before it shattered against the bottom of the hollow cavern she'd just unearthed.

Mirian might have had trouble seeing fine detail, but the gargantuan dragon moving to stand at his full height was plenty discernable. She stared up at him with wide, darting eyes, all of her bravado frozen into brittle fear.

When his mouth opened she let out a strangled squeak and took a few stiff steps backward, her walking stick clutched between both hands and held defensively in front of her—for as little good as it would do. Mirian was small even for her age, short and thin with bloody knuckles. Her thick glasses and pale, unsteady gaze didn’t do much to make her look any more impressive.

If actually reaching the cave had been a bit different from planning to reach the cave, it didn’t hold a candle to facing up to the dragon himself. Suddenly, yelling at him didn’t seem like it had been such a good idea.

Mirian flinched again as he spoke, as much at the irritated tone as at the draconic timbre of his voice. Her already-shaky legs finally gave up on her; she wobbled, plopped clumsily to the ground, and scrambled backwards another few feet.

“You… you’re very big!” she managed, voice high and strained. It wasn’t at all what Mirian had meant to open with; she’d had a whole speech prepared! But her mind had gone thoroughly blank at this point. 

Still… dimly, she remembered that ‘big’ was what she’d hoped for. Big meant… “A-are you old?”

dragonizens:

The dragon’s eyes narrowed, ever so slightly, as he saw and smelled the fear emanating from this child. Whatever it was she’d come here for, he couldn’t help but be a little amused by the awe his appearance drew from even the most steeled of warriors.

Compared to them, a child like her with no real weapons, not even armor or a shield, stood no chance against him. If she’d come here for a battle, he wouldn’t even bother giving her a chance -- and even if she hadn’t, he had half a mind to burn her to a crisp just so he could get back to his nap.

But... no. He wouldn’t, at least, not right away. Ruisón wasn’t kind, but even he had his reservations about killing a kid just like that. At the very least, he’d mess with her a bit -- and her words only gave him ammunition for just that.

“Yes. I am.” He huffed, a small cloud of some strange red mist emanating from between the two large tusks jutting out of his lower jaw. “Compared to you, at least... child.”

The truth was, of course, that he really did have both size and age working in his favor. He was one of the oldest dragons still alive today, and it had made him as jaded and apathetic as anything. This unexpected intrusion wasn’t exactly what he’d hoped for, but it could prove a welcome distraction from things he had all but grown bored of long ago.

Beatrix winced at the voice yelling in her ear. The axe had gone from taunting and promises to cockiness and arrogance. Were these kills making the voice stronger? What would happen if she continued, or if she gave into its demands?

Whatever; it wasn’t important right now. Until she found her rightful sword, all she needed was to make sure the axe didn’t get out of control.

“Don’t get cocky,” she told the weapon. “Blunt force isn’t how I-“

Too late, as The Bride found herself swinging forward without actually wanting to do so. A neat little row of soldiers was bisected as she did so, and she could feel the axe growing hot. What the hell was she holding?!

“Listen, you,” she hissed, blood splattering her clothes. “I am an assassin, not a monster. If you are hungry for killing, we will do it my way.” She whipped around to face those behind her. “Or would you rather me put you down and leave you behind? I’m sure my real sword is close by.”

dragonizens:

Despite having to wait decades between meals on a regular basis, Hasma couldn’t be called a patient person; in fact, getting a taste of blood for the first time in many years had her in a battle-bound frenzy. The blade of her axe even began to gleam brightly, both from the blood that coated it and the rust mysteriously clearing away bit by bit with every kill.

“Fine, fine,” she huffed, the axe’s handle cooling down a bit in Beatrix’ grip. It still gave off an unmistakable warmth, but not too much for comfort. “Let’s see what you can do without my help.”

Not much, as far as the demon was concerned. Subtlety and stealth weren’t exactly her strong suits, and neither were clean kills or quiet assassinations. Still, she couldn’t deny Beatrix had her own set of skills, which had drawn her attention in the first place.

Diamond smiled faintly. “Thank you. Again. I’m not… I’m quite tired, a bit of a break is nice.” He’d been about to say ‘not feeling very well,’ but thought better of it. No need to give J’Tavna any misplaced concerns about a non-existent illness, whether she’d be concerned for his sake or her own. 

Her surface emotions were too tangled for him to identify, and Diamond couldn’t be sure whether that was a true reflection of her current mood or simply due to her mind being a bit too alien for him to parse. 

Not that he had any plans to actively try to find out one way or the other. But under the circumstances, indiscernible white noise at the edge of his perception was pleasantly unobtrusive. 

Her body language was easier to track, at any rate. She seemed strangely hesitant, for someone who had reached out to a random traveler on the road the way she had. But then, she probably hadn’t expected Diamond to do anything other than take or refuse the apple and go on his way. He very well may not have, if he’d been feeling any better than he was. 

As it was, he was more than grateful for the excuse to sit and the distraction from his spiraling thoughts. 

His gaze caught J’tavna’s brief reach for her cape, and he hummed thoughtfully. “…if it’s alright to ask—have you traveled far, recently, or do you simply run cold?”

It was probably rude, and if she declined the question he wouldn’t press further on the topic. But Diamond was increasingly curious where in the world J’tavna might have come from. It wasn’t often that he ran across someone who seemed almost more out of place than he knew himself to be.

dragonizens:

His comment was met with a grave nod; J’tavna felt similar to what Diamond described, and didn’t feel like prying. If there was something he didn’t want to tell her, she was going to respect that.

Despite her origins, she’d already found out she had a lot in common with the human denizens of this world, both on a physical and a mental level. They even seemed to show their emotions in much the same way as her own people back home, which both made it easier for her to integrate and left her feeling all the more homesick at times. There were still some differences, of course. Her tail moved restlessly behind her, kept warm by something resembling a third pant leg save for the tuft of white fur at the tip.

She instinctively reached for her cape again, tugging on the strap for an entirely different reason now as she looked back at Diamond with wide eyes -- almost as if he’d startled her, or at least caught her by surprise, by bringing attention to her unusual attire.

“...Yes,” she muttered after a few seconds of silence. “This climate is much warmer than what I’m used to. You only have snow in a certain part of the year.”

queenverdigris -> dragonizens