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[stridersgonnastride]

The door to the bar opens, and on the other side, Dave looks up sharply. This was not where he intended to end up.

"man seriously this fucking place again" He was tense even before walking in, and doesn't relax as he steps further inside.

"whatever"

He's used to inevitability. At least here he can get apple juice as a side dish to the main course of predestination.

Comments

[freedom_is_grey]

A very dust-covered Ysalwen -- with an even dustier (and muddier) Liranan -- makes her way into the bar.

"Oh, for the -- well, I suppose it's better than camping. Though a -- "

She looks up and over, smile flashing across her dirt-streaked face.

"Dave? Hello! I didn't think -- "

[stridersgonnastride]

He glances at her, face blank and eyes hidden behind his shades, as usual. He looks...well. Pale and skinny and sulky.

"hey"

Dave jams his hands in his pockets. "what the hell happened to you"

[freedom_is_grey]

"Slavers."

There's a sharpness to the curve of her mouth, very briefly.

"Fenris and I were separated, and then the plan fell apart. Fortunately Liranan and I are excellent at improvising."

[stridersgonnastride]

That gets his attention. "holy shit you said something about that before but i didn't think it was so

"uh

"immediate like you been working on that underground railroad all the livelong goddamn day"

[freedom_is_grey]

"Not every day, but a great number of the ones recently."

She scrubs at her face with one hand at about the same time as Liranan starts shaking himself to remove the dust.

"I'm terrible at not keeping busy. I -- are you well?"

[stridersgonnastride]

Dave leans ever so slightly away from Liranan and his own personal dust cloud. The god tier duds are mostly indestructible and self-cleaning, but why risk it?

"yeah sure its whatever another day of rocketing through not-space stuck on a meteor with a bunch of losers it's a laugh a minute like always

"fucking hunting down slavers like the penalty round of the most dangerous game sounds much cooler how about we talk about that instead"

[freedom_is_grey]

"It sounds horrific, honestly. The being trapped on a meteor bit. I know being trapped in the Tower made me stir-crazy all the time."

Not that she thought about it much.

"What do you want to know about the hunting down slavers thing?"

[stridersgonnastride]

"i dunno anything

"you said the plan didn't work did you still win

"it seems like you probably won"

[freedom_is_grey]

"We freed their captives, yes. And should soon end up across the border into the Free Marches in a few days with the ones we were initially escorting."

Her mouth twists at one corner.

"It never ends."

[nepetaleijon]

As purr per usual while in the bar, Nepeta is hanging out in the rafters, peoplewatching. (And updating her shipping charts, as events warrant.)

Hold on, is that a Dave?

[stridersgonnastride]

It is. A young and weedy looking one, but a Dave nonetheless. He's plodding through the tables now, headed toward the bar proper. He's muttering to himself under his breath.

[nepetaleijon]

The thing about seeing people from overhead: foreshortening makes it hard to tell when someone is looking smaller than you were expecting.

And Nepeta has been expecting the return of her Dave for what feels like entirely too long.

pouncegreet!

[stridersgonnastride]

See, the hazards of pouncing on friends is that some of them have reflexes that read friendly if rambunctious greetings as the start to a...



Dave whirls to meet the expected attack, sword out. Caledscratch blurs to its full length, glitching from broken to whole.

[nepetaleijon]

ohnooooo

There's a brief midair flurry of limbs, and Nepeta just barely manages to bat the sword aside with a set of gleaming blue claws.

[stridersgonnastride]

Dave's face is set in a grim frown. He takes another swipe at her, then pulls back with a whirl of his cape.

He clearly expects her to counter-attack, and the sword is raised to block.

[nepetaleijon]

-- that swipe got her coat!

Well now she's just mad.

"What's that suppurrsed to be fur?" she demands, claws bared, still braced to leap back into the fight.

[stridersgonnastride]

"you were the one who fucking ninjaed down from the ceiling to attack me," Dave says.

By this point it's been beaten into him that if he doesn't attack, his opponent will get the advantage.

[dragon_dealt]

The door from the back yard opens, and on the other side is...

Does that head even fit through the door?

It does, horns and all, but it kind of looks like the laws of physics find somewhere else to be for a moment while it does so. And they definitely step discreetly aside while the rest of the draconic body follows.

This place had a heck of a rainstorm yesterday. Kazul's feet are all muddy now, ugh, and she's keeping her tail and wingtips fastidiously lifted high until she's indoors.

[stridersgonnastride]

"holy fuck" Dave says.

Every Knight instinct he has is raising its hackles like Spiderman walked over his grave.

He draws his sword from his sylladex very slowly. Maybe he can get out of the way if it doesn't see him.

[dragon_dealt]

Yeah, good luck with that. She's got eyes the size of dinner plates.

Which are now eying him sidelong, sardonically.

"Put that away, little Hero," says the very toothy maw, in a sibilant but surprisingly cultured alto.

"I'd prefer to have my tea without eating anyone along the way, if it's all the same to you."

Otherwise you're picking fabric out of your teeth all day, and it's just irritating.

[stridersgonnastride]

He swallows, barely keeping it from being an audible, nervous gulp.

"yeah and i'd prefer not to get eaten as a crudité so how about i keep my sword out and you have your tea and we stay very far away from each other"

[dragon_dealt]

Kazul snorts a little, which has a faintly scorched smell but no actual smoke or flame. "Suits me."

She doesn't actually want to eat him. She would without a qualm if she had sufficient reason, but she much prefers idle threats to the bother of fighting Heroes and Knights in the middle of the day.

Would the kid like to back up some so she can get to Bar, or is he going to hold his ground? He's a kid, waving sword or not, so she'll take mercy on him and go over to coil herself by the fire and order from a waitrat if she needs to. But for some mysterious reason, the rats are not wild about approaching her.

[stridersgonnastride]

Stand-off. He doesn't really want to get in a staring contest with a dragon, either.

"so are you actually a dragon

"or just a big fuckoff lizard because you definitely look dragonish. dragonly. draconian. dragonwegian.

"but i haven't seen a real live dragon before unless you count terezi in her snuggie which i don't"

[dragon_dealt]

He's just a kid, which is something that Kazul will never voice or admit to out loud. But it does mean that she settles down, now, like a cat settling down into a loaf shape, and folds one set of foreclaws over the other like a lady settling down at a card table.

"Of course I'm a Dragon."

What's a snuggie? And who's Terezi?

"The king of the Dragons, as it happens."

She doesn't normally pull rank, but if a little kid is going to ask if she's actually a big fuckoff lizard (language, belligerent child) it seems like a useful potential conversation-diverter.

[stridersgonnastride]

There's a pause. Dave lowers his sword slightly, even if he doesn't put it away.

"seriously

"i guess i never pictured dragons having kings

"especially lady kings"