#bastdrabbles

This would be his last test for the day. He hadn't slept at all yesterday, and the sun was high now. Any further and even his stimulants wouldn't keep his mind clear.

Filghe's death had brought him to his senses, in a way. A stark reminder that the answers he needed, the miracle he was working towards was not going to fall in his lap, nor would it be achieved with his current methods. He had spent too many sweeps painting himself the lie that psionics or modern medicine could heal him.

This was not a renewed vigor. This was a last-ditch effort, grasping at straws. Plunging headfirst into the depths of unknown territory knowing full well he could easily fail to return. In some ways, he was counting on it. His last failure, and he could finally rest.

Garnet pulled a mouse from a cage waiting on his desk. He had cut the forelimbs off several mice a few nights ago in preparation for these tests, and this mouse was no exception. It attempted to bite his finger, and he dropped it on the small arcane ring he'd drawn.

This was the most complete spell he'd done yet. If he had done it right, it would regenerate the mouse's lost limb. He pressed the most to the paper to keep it from fleeing, and pressed his other hand to the ring, calling up that strange energy from the depths of his being.

He'd done this several times now, to minor effect. A few bones sprouting from the missing limb, or the mouse's flesh contorting itself as it tried to reshape the arm, one instance where the creature just swelled and burst in a gory mess... He had pinpointed and altered the problematic runes in each case, or so he thought.

The ring illuminated with flickering blue light. The mouse spasmed under his hand. Garnet watched carefully, and as the mouse's flesh began to warp he lifted away his hand.

Tendrils of magic ghosted from his fingers. Tendrils of flesh followed like flame lapping along a trail of gasoline, rapidly coating his hand, combining with his own flesh, warping and displacing tissue in a manner so reminiscent of Filghe's psionics.

Garnet jolted backwards and tried to cut off the energy flow within himself. The flesh continued to rearrange itself for a few more moments, back into the shape of a hand.

Not his hand. One more like a mouse's front paw, complete with sparse fur along the back of his arm. Shaking, Garnet pushed up his sleeve to survey the extent of the damage. It mostly only extended to his hand and wrist. The mouse itself was gone, absorbed into his own hand.

He considered immediately cutting his hand off, for lack of having any means of reversing this, and some paranoid fear that it might continue to spread.

Niro could only hope that, for all his threats, Skyrra wasn't that desperate to get him back. If he ran into Skyrra again, he could perhaps offer the research he stole from the lab when he left, as a compromise. He still had it, hidden under the couch, having read the thick stacks of paper back to front in search of answers to what Skyrra had been doing with all those operations and blood draws.

He felt a firm hand on his shoulder, a pair of trolls he thought had been simply walking by behind him. He looked to see two EMTs, not affiliated with the ADRF as far as he could tell. Niro had barely parted his lips when one of them suddenly clapped a thick cloth over his face.

The smell of familiar drugs filled his nose and mouth, a potent cocktail usually administered with a mask to render trolls unconscious for a few hours. The ice-cold cloth told him it probably had been kept below freezing to render the gasses into liquid so they'd permeate the cloth.

Skyrra had, no doubt, sent these trolls. Strangers who could get in somewhere and carry him out with little question, if they acted a little. Niro tried to hold his breath long enough to fight but he'd already gotten a lungful of the drug, and it was kicking in, his vision spinning catastrophically and his thoughts slipping away from him.

Niro became distantly aware of a distant rumble. Then, the steady vibration along with it, surrounding him like the thrum of some machine. These things came to him slowly, in pieces, drifting in and then away again before returning with just a bit more clarity. He finally opened his heavy eyelids, but the space was dark, hot, and smelled of exhaust fumes. It took him several moments longer to try to move. He realize that his ankles and wrists were bound, he was tucked into this small, dark, cramped space, a rough fabric texture surrounding him on all sides. The trunk of a vehicle.

Finally the memory of how he got here landed, the two supposed EMTs.

He wasn't gagged and his hands were handcuffed in front of him. He braced as much as he could against the sides of the trunk and tried to wrench the cuff chains apart, arms straining against the force. He was stronger than he looked.

But if he knew Skyrra, then he knew these cuffs were strong enough to hold a fuchsia.

He had to escape. He couldn't go back. If Skyrra were willing to go this far, he wouldn't let him go easily.

Niro sunk his teeth into his thumb, biting deep until he felt bone. He adjusted his fangs in his own flesh and bit again, this time crunching through. Every fiber of his being tried to resist, but he persisted, jerking his head away to rip off his own thumb.

It still took some tugging, and chewing away some more of his flesh to get the cuff off. Hands free, he could shift to plant both feet against the inside of the trunk and kick.

As he situated himself, the vehicle slowed and came to a stop. Niro growled in frantic frustration, but the space was too tight for him to get any leverage.

He froze as he heard the car doors slamming and footsteps on pavement. He dared to shift again to get in a better position to spring out once the trunk was opened, and heard one of the trolls outside grunt. "Mh. Sounds like he's awake."

Niro heard the lock disengage, and the trunk swung open. He leapt out, aiming to claw the eyes of the first troll he saw, one of the same EMTs who had kidnapped him. Then he turned to bolt as the troll screamed and cursed, but someone else grabbed his arm.

"Piece of shit!" The troll cursed and slammed their knee into Niro's back, throwing him to the ground as they pinned his arms behind him.

"Hey, you okay?" The troll pinning him asked their bleeding companion.

"Son of a bitch got my eye! Fuck…"

"That asshole'll probably replace it free, if it's mangled bad enough." The other troll jerked his thumb towards the nearby building.

The bleeding troll just hissed in annoyance and frustration.

"God, though, look at this. Fucker bit his own thumb off." The troll pinning Niro down shifted slightly, as though to try to show their companion the stump of Niro's thumb. He took advantage of the slightly lessened grip and bucked, trying again to get free, and the troll doubled down on the pressure he was putting on Niro's back.

"Quit fuckin' struggling, you little shit. Ugh, lets get him inside and we can get your eye cleaned up."

The troll hauled Niro to his feet, keeping his wrists held tightly, and shoved him towards the building that the car was parked in front of. Niro immediately recognized the minimalist white architecture as Skyrra's preference.

Head down, Niro went quietly- Memorizing the turns made in the maze-like halls. It helped that the troll guiding him muttered his own directions as he came to crossways and turns. Niro didn't see anyone else, but the troll's bleeding companion split off somewhere.

Niro knew that Skyrra had trouble keeping assistants for one reason or another. He usually was the only one, with one other from time to time. These two trolls were probably just hired thugs. The building looked new, too, and it was likely that Skyrra was telling the truth when he said that he was only just setting up in this city.

He was lead towards a door with no handle and a very small window, one that he recognized immediately.

Niro tried again to escape, this time attempting to wrench his arms apart and break the troll's grip on him. He succeeded, and whirled around to kick the troll between the legs.

The kick landed too, and he bolted past the troll down the hall, back towards the door. He ran, and nearly collided with Skyrra.

"Oh, Niroko." Skyrra said calmly, fully ignoring the fact that Niro had clearly just been running for his life. Niro considered continuing to run- But something kept him rooted in place. Fear, that he wouldn't escape, and if he ran now, he would have to contend with Skyrra's wrath for even trying.

"Are you okay? You're bleeding." Skyrra pretended to sound very concerned, taking Niro's bleeding hand and looking at the stump of his thumb. "We'll have to get this taken care of. But first I think you need to sit down and relax."

Niro found himself unable to move. His mind screamed at him to run, to get away from Skyrra and to get out of here.

The troll Niro kicked came up behind him, hobbling and cursing from the blow.

"Doc, uh… Sorry, he got away from me."

"It's alright. No harm done." Skyrra smiled patiently. "Bring him back to the quiet room." Then, he lowered his voice, leaning a little closer to Niro. "Niroko, please. I'm only trying to help." He laid a hand gently on his shoulder.

"...I want to live. But, I don't. I don't know. I just kind of expect that I'm going to die at any point. And it turns out I'm kinda okay with that."

"Yeah?" Haylle replied prompting him further.

"...This isn't about that. Sorta. My question is... How do you want to live. Like, really want to. Not just..."

"Survive?" Haylle finished, and a soft hum from the other end told her that was suitable word. "I'm going to be honest, Niro." She continued. "You need to eat more."

Niro gave an exasperated sigh and Haylle pressed onwards. "I'm fucking serious, jackass. If you feel like shit twenty-four-seven it's gonna be hard to want to keep going. Eat when you're hungry. Sleep when you're tired. Trolls have been living like that for millennia. I know- You've survived off less. But if you want to live instead of survive, you need to take care of yourself."

"It's fucking..."

"Expensive, I know." Haylle cut him off, knowing full well the argument he was about to make.

Niro's drawn-out groan turned into a long growl.

"You've got all that money saved up. Use some of it. Eat three meals a night, big ones. Meat, grains, veggies, fruit, dairy, the works. Sleep eight hours a day. Consecutively."

"Ugh."

"And do that every night."

"Ughhhhh...."

"Yeah, I know. But you won't know if it'll help 'til you try. And I know it'll help. How 'bout for this half-sweep, okay?"

"I'm not going to have time to do fucking anything else. I'll be bleeding money."

"Everyone else more or less manages it, Niro. C'mon now."

"I'm not like everyone else. I need to do all this shit just to stay afloat, everyone else gets fucking money from the fucking Empire, or..."

Haylle cut him off. "I stopped getting money from the Empire sweeps ago! I'm not saying it's gonna be easy, but yeah, if you spread yourself too thin you're gonna fucking break, man. This isn't about toughing it out until you make it somehow. This is about feeling better and wanting to live, right?"

"...Right."

"It's not easy. Especially not for someone like you who's spent every night of his life scraping his shit together to survive. It's really not easy. But you gotta try something, okay?"

Niro gave a deep sigh, and said nothing.

"You're gonna do it, right?" Haylle pressed.

"Three meals a night..."

"Meat, dairy, grains, fruit, and veggies. And eight hours of sleep."

Niro groaned.

"Yeah?" Haylle prompted him again, and Niro sighed again.

"Yeah, fine. I'll figure out how much it'll cost." He grumbled.

"Fine, here. I'll pay out a percentage. Deal?"

"Like hell--"

"I'll make sure I can afford it! I might just send you food too. But if you're doing all this shit on my behalf I might as well pull my weight. Pay me back when you win big at the races."

".......If-"

"When. Because you're a damn good racer, Niro, and so is Remus, you just need to take care of yourself."

"If we don't make at least 20th place here, we'll be out of the races for the rest of the season. Too damn early for that. If we fuck it up, it's back to canvassing..."

Canvassing. 'Odd jobs'. The ways he referred to blatant robbery.

Niro tugged on Remus' muzzle, partially to bug him and partially to make sure it was actually secure. "...So do your best out there, 'kay? No fucking around, or I'll kick your ass."

Remus turned his head to jam the top of it into Niro's chest in a gentle headbutt, knocking him back a few steps. Niro shoved Remus' head back, and the drake gave a hoarse sort of bark and wobbled his head, one of his indications of amusement. Niro grabbed Remus' horn, giving it a harmless shake.

"I'm serious. We need to make it at least into the semi-finals. I know you can do it, so, please..." Niro's voice trailed off, his thoughts drifting to the dwindling funds in his bank account. Remus didn't respond for a long moment, watching him. And then the drake gave another huff and pulled his horn out of Niro's grip, closing his eyes for a moment. He shook himself as though to brush Niro off, and Niro sighed, retracting his hands.

Remus' posture shifted as he partially spread his wings and lowered his chest to the ground as if to pounce. He lowered his chest further, lowering his wing closest to Niro as if inviting him into the saddle.

Niro smirked, and climbed up.

He adjusted himself in the saddle, and then thrust his palm against the saddlehorn, knowing Remus could feel it. "You better not be messing with me." He muttered, as the whistle blew from the yard calling the racers to ready up.

—

Niro could tell Remus was fired up in the moments before takeoff. The tension of his muscles, the intense determination with which he watched the sky, calculating his path once the shot fired. That wasn't unusual, Remus was fiercely competitive.

Niro saw the starter lift the pistol and leaned down in preparation for takeoff. "On your marks..."

The moment the pistol fired, Remus sprang into the air, a few powerful beats of his wings allowing him to ascend. He nimbly dodged other drakes trying to do the same, weaving and darting ahead of both their neighboring racers.

Remus climbed higher, rapidly. The air was warm- At least, compared to the recent winter chill- And Niro could taste the humidity. Spring was fickle, and the new warm air meeting the winter cold meant atmospheric instability. Dense patches of clouds spoke to this stability, and as they ascended, Niro saw the distant flicker of lightning in a rain-wrapped thunderhead.

Threat of a spring thunderstorm wasn't enough to call off the whole race. These were taken in stride as environmental challenges, requiring real skill from the rider to combat.

Niro eyed Sirrah flying ahead and below them, and apparently Remus saw them too, because he began to descend, inching closer and closer to Sirrah and Iori until he was directly overhead. Then he swung to their side, wove under them, and then lifted up again to get overhead. Niro saw Sirrah lift her head, but if she said anything, it was lost to the wind.

Then Remus pressed ahead, shifting his wings to catch a tailwind and accelerate past them.

Iori mirrored, pressing to catch up until Remus had to fall back- And then he caught another current and, eventually, cruised well past them, leaving them behind.

He could see the silhouettes of other riders ahead against the night sky, and more flashes of lightning in the thunderhead they were streaking towards.

Niro reached out, tugging on Remus' wing to angle it upwards. The thunderhead was low, and they could fly above it- Easier said than done, since it was harder to generate lift to that height, though they'd experience less drag from air resistance once they got there.

"Can you make it?" Niro called over the wind, and in response, Remus began to ascend. They clipped the edge of the thunderhead, streaking through the dense patch of moisture before breaking through above the thunderhead. It was surprisingly warm, here- Supporting their quick ascent.

A few other riders ahead of them clearly had the same idea. Remus shifted to follow the prevailing wind, directing him somewhat off-course, but they could afford that for now if it allowed them to catch up.

Skirting them diagonally, never quite getting close, Niro passed the other racers, not close enough to see who they were. Below him, lightning danced in the clouds, peals of thunder shaking his very core. Eventually, they cleared the cell.

Niro tugged Remus' right wing to get him back on course and then pulled on the forelimb, as though trying to get him to tuck his wing in. Remus picked up the suggestion and dove sideways, rapidly descending through the clouds and veering to meet the course again. Niro tugged on the reins at a decent height to stop the dive, and Niro could see they were with the majority of the other racers now.

This was where Remus tended to falter, distracted by the other drakes and trying to clear the way for himself. He could see Remus' attention shifting to the other drakes closing in, all jostling to ride a good current.

Niro leaned forward just enough to reach Remus' horn, pulling on it to align Remus' head forwards so he'd look away from the other drakes.

Remus shook his head to throw off Niro's hand, causing his flight to wobble precariously. Still leaning mostly out of the saddle, Niro used his foot to press on Remus' wing, guiding him back on course- But that meant flying into the thick of the other riders.

Niro adjusted the pressure he was applying to push downwards. Remus tucked in his wing to dive sideways again, streaking under- But ahead of the other racers. Down here, though, there was no tailwind.

But they'd cleared the majority of the others, and Niro glanced back to check before tugging upwards on Remus' wing, giving him clearance to ascend again. Remus heeded him, shifting back on-course and into the warm air current they'd been riding.

The markers for the end of the race were just ahead, and there was another cluster of riders here. Niro adjusted in the saddle to press himself low against Remus' back, the shift in posture urging Remus forward.

Remus' attention shifted to the other drakes again, particularly as one rider shook a fist at Niro- Apparently cursing him, though her actual words were lost to the wind- And then her drake swung to the side as though to crash into Remus.

Remus growled, pulling back sharply and then lunging towards the drake, his claws extended. Niro pulled hard on the reins and then threw himself forward over the saddle horn, the one strap securing him to the saddle snapping taut. He jammed his palm against Remus' eye and head, and Remus swooped just above the other pair of rider and drake, claws flailing just shy of the drake's back. Annoyed at being thwarted, Remus turned his head back to snap his jaws dangerously close to Niro's hand- His muzzle cage preventing any contact from being made.

"The finish line is right there! Stay focused, you asshole!" Niro snapped, jerking on Remus' horn to force his vision ahead again and pointing past his face at the finish line markers- Partially, blocking Remus' view of the other pair. The other rider jeered and swore, most of her mockery lost to the wind.

The group of them crossed the finish line together, jostling for first- At least, first of their little cluster. The other drakes split off, taking their own ways to the post-race rendezvous point. Remus veered to chase the drake and rider who'd yelled at them.

"Stop following me!" She called over her shoulder.

"We're going to the same place!" Niro yelled back, pushing himself to fall back into the saddle and at the same time, jerking the reins hard enough to pull Remus' head back. "Remus! Leave her alone!"

Remus jerked his head forward again, snapping the reins out of Niro's hands, and ignored all further commands- Eking closer and closer to the other rider until she landed at the rendezvous point. Remus swooped over her head, lashing out at her drake with his long talons, and then landed haphazardly some ten yards in front of them.

While Remus got his feet under him, Niro fumbled with his lifeline and jumped out of the saddle despite not being very close to the ground whatsoever.

He stumbled as he landed hard, and jogged towards the other rider pair- Echo and Chamber, he thought. Fortunately he didn't see any wounds on Chamber, though Echo was also fumbling to get out of the saddle and Chamber snarled at him as he approached.

Echo slid out of the saddle, snarling. "Control your stupid fucking drake!"

"You were asking for it by trying to ram me!" Niro snapped back, not daring to pull back his scarf or goggles- Not without any makeup on under it.

"I was not trying to ram you!" Echo stepped forward to get in Niro's face, and Niro mirrored the movement. "That fucking split-nose is a liability already, and—"

"Hey, hey! Cool off!" Johans suddenly inserted himself between the two of them, pushing them apart. "No harm, no foul, come on. Back off."

Niro huffed and stepped back, muttering curses under his breath. He heard Johans giving Echo some consolations behind him as he returned to Remus, who was now wriggling and rolling on the pavement in an effort to weasel his way out of his gear.

"Hey, fuckface, keep your shit on. I'm not hauling all that to the stable." Niro punched Remus' shoulder and Remus stopped, belly-up, and huffed loudly.

"Yeah, yeah." Niro plunked himself on the ground next to him with a heavy sigh, and Remus flipped over to sulk with his head on the pavement.

He tugged off his goggles as Johans approached. "Yeah, I know, we need to work on Remus' temper." Niro called to him tiredly as he tugged off his goggles, and Johans waved it off.

"You're fine. I was going to congratulate you, that was some good flying out there." Johans stopped, standing over Niro as he planted his hands on his hips and looked over at Remus. "The cameras caught that little spat with Echo, she did incite it. So you shouldn't be penalized much, if at all. Keep your goggles on, the press should be coming up soon here."

"Press?" Niro looked around as though expecting swarms of reporters, pulling his goggles back on, and Johans looked back, folding his arms.

"You didn't realize? Your group was the first to cross the finish line. They're still reviewing the footage, but you had to have placed pretty well."

"You're shitting me. Where was Noblesse? Normally he's at the front."

"Quarry couldn't make it over that thunderhead, and they had to go through. Slowed him down quite a bit."

Niro adjusted his goggles and scarf, looking past Johans at a gaggle of reporters clustering around another rider pair- Probably the likely first-place winner. "There's trouble." He said, getting to his feet. "Thanks for the heads-up, Johans."

Anirus had been surprised to see the former, but after regaling woeful tales of betrayal and abandonment by her lusus and friends, they were glad she chose to return.

Nirael came and went as he pleased, somehow managing to find the ship when he so desired. He paid them well with each visit and caused little trouble apart from ruffling some feathers with his flippant demeanor.

This time, he seemed in low spirits, barely acting like his haughty self and spending more time away below deck in the cargo hold. Though, as per usual, he badgered Anirus for work or did whatever unattended jobs he could find.

With the calm seas came downtime, and most of the crew was loafing about, doing some odd tasks to occupy them.

One troll sat on the railing with a fishing rod. As far as Anirus had seen, he'd caught precisely nothing, which wasn't much of a surprise.

Anirus watched as something tugged hard on the rod. The crewmember pulled back, resituating himself for better stability on the railing… And then pulled up his line, baitless and fishless.

Anirus smiled faintly to themselves as the troll probably muttered a curse- They were across the ship, unable to hear- And went to re-bait his hook.

Then they caught a flash in the moonlight, on the other side of the ship. They glanced, but saw nothing.

And then with no further warning, the sea roiled around the ship. A massive scaled serpent breached the surface, long coils winding around the vessel and ensnaring it. Anirus narrowly avoided getting crushed by one such coil, watching in dismay as the beast tightened its grip and cracked the wood of the deck and hull.

"Attack! We're under attack!" Bellowed Anirus, turning their head to find one of the serpent's coils blocked their path to their quarters, where their weapons lay. The crew had already begun to move, dodging the serpent and fumbling for weapons with which to jab the beast with.

Anirus willed up their psionics, but knew that it would take far too long to summon up a bolt of lightning or anything strong enough to drive off the serpent. The sky was clear, and in these conditions it would take at least an hour to whip up a storm, even with all the water around them.

"Oh, I see." They heard a calm voice from below, and watched Nirael step out from the cargo hold. Nirael looked up to Anirus, and smiled. "Save your psionics, Captain, we'll need you in good sorts, won't we?"

With that, Nirael reached out and lay a hand on one of the serpent's coils blocking his path. Anirus wasn't quite sure what happened- Psionics of some sort that Nirael never mentioned, not that they knew fuchsias could even have psionics- But there was a flicker like lightning, and a massive chunk of the serpent exploded.

No, it didn't explode, not exactly- There was some gore, some viscera, but it was reduced to a fine mist.

The serpent shrieked and pulled away, too tangled in the ship to recoil and instead jerking the entire vessel along like a toy.

The beast lunged for Nirael, quickly pinpointing him as the cause of its distress- The other crew members barely seemed to have pierced its hide, thick and slick with algae.

Nirael deflected the blow with a single strike of his palm and then grabbed the beast's lower jaw, its teeth so large he barely had to mind where he put his hands.

He planted one foot on the serpent's jaw and kept the entire creature pinned with apparently no effort, Anirus watching as the massive creature writhed uselessly under Nirael's grip.

Nirael extended a hand. There was a pulse in the air, like a giant heartbeat of the universe itself. The beast froze. A second pulse, and then the serpent was unmade.

That was the best way Anirus could describe what happened. They watched as its skin split along its spine and disintegrated, followed rapidly by layers of tissue and muscle, and by the time the bones were reached by this wave of destruction, the beast was gone, rendered into mist. The mist drifted away on the wind and disappeared, and the ship rocked for a moment as it righted itself.

All was still and calm just as it had been minutes before. Nirael straightened and dusted off his palms. "Well, let me see if I can do something about those leaks."

"Oi!" Heil barked, darting forward. He snagged Nirael by the collar, and Anirus tried to comprehend why the violetblood looked so furious. "What the hell was that?!"

"Just some extreme measures," Nirael brushed Heil off, walking towards the railing. "We're taking on water, so that should take precedence here, no?"

"You- There's no way you're—"

Heil cut off as Nirael jumped overboard. Anirus realized they were gripping the railing tight enough that their knuckles showed white, and relaxed. "Heil, he saved us. I don't think we should look a gift horse in the mouth." Anirus said levelly, trying to process what just happened themselves.

"It's not that- He's- By the stars, there's no way it's him." Heil just stared at the spot Nirael vanished at, some mixture of horror and disbelief on his face.

"Heil?"

Anirus picked their way carefully down the broken steps to the main deck as Heil shook himself. "Nevermind. It's nothing, Captain."

Anirus patted his shoulder wearily. "Let's just focus on assessing the damage, and thank the heavens for our stroke of luck."