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Sturmnacht; Lacuna's Flight
Topic Started: Jan 29 2014, 10:16 AM (527 Views)
Nherva
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Lurker Queen
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Faded pupils of milky white gazed to sky at the brilliance of the midday sun. It was clear, but in her gut she could feel the coming storm. Winter was in full swing, bringing low-lying clouds and long-lasting snowfalls inland, but at the coastlines and further out over the sea, squalls still boiled over the warmer waters. She could feel it in her very bones, the electrified air in the distance. It called to her, pulled her from her antsy musings and stoked the fires in her belly. She was aware she was in season, as if hearing all the other calling females wasn’t enough to tell her. It wasn’t the first time, but it was the first time she could remember the tug being so poignant.

In the past, the war had been more important. Protecting Korrin, who was not a warrior at all had been the most important task she could take on for herself. Mating and producing offspring hadn’t been for her in the beginning. After losing her sire, and knowing already that her mother was lost to the Legion, it was all she could do to flight in honor of their memory. Even if not for herself, then by proxy, for Korrin had lost all of his family as well. There had been plenty of females willing to offer their reproductive services in her stead. But now there was peace, and all her anger and fear from prior times had abated. The last flight she could remember was her valiant attempt to squelch those desires that roiled in her belly and pulsed through her veins. She’d been separated from her rider, furious and afraid. In Taint territory all by herself, she had flown and been pursued. Her terror and her ferocity won out even over those suitors. She’d killed two of them and sent the third and fourth winging away for their own survival. This time, she did not have to be afraid. Korrin was safe, right where he belonged. The war was over. Perhaps it was time she try again, after all, the thought of a miniature her running around wasn’t all that awful.

Cliché as it seemed for her to be drawn to the storm approaching Nyushi’s coast, to hold her flight in a maelstrom of weather, it was nonetheless the perfect backdrop for her trials she would present. She would only choose the best of those that answered her call, if they could even be considered better. She still could choose no one, if no one could out-perform her. It would be interesting to see if it was possible. The Lightning rose, a spark jumping from spine to spine and back along the metallic coils embedded in her back. Manicured claws clicked methodically on the tiled floor of her infirmary side quarters and she stopped momentarily, swiveling her crested head around to seek out her rider. Korrin was nowhere in sight, but wherever he was she felt his deep concentration unbothered by her inner tumult. He would not miss her for long.

Thickly membranous wings spread and she leapt aloft into the bright sky, turning abruptly for the east. There, in the distance she could see the shadow of the welcoming squall. It was only a darkening of the horizon from where she was currently, but as she approached, the voluminous clouds began to take shape, billowing upward into their characteristic anvil shapes that foretold violent circumstances. No other females’ cry mattered now, Lacuna would draw suitors to her with her own feral shriek. It rang out over the jungles, echoing to every corner and corridor of vegetation and low mountain in sight. And as the land flattened out before her, trees clearing to vast plains that would eventually lead to sandy beaches, she called again, filling the charging air with her heated summons.

Lacuna stopped to circle above one such field, the meeting place of light and dark, the sun to her west and the gathering shadows to her east, creeping further inland. A low grumble of thunder sent a shockwave traveling down the length of her spine and sparks flew from the tip of her tail as they diffused to nothing. The crackling hum of electricity built around the blue-white spines and spikes along her back, arching between her tail blades as they spread like those of a peacock in her anticipation of what was to come. Circling a lone tree in the field below her, she screeched again, tightening her leash on any that had heard and sought to answer her call. She would wait for them here. Then the true fun would begin. There was almost nothing that could ruin this for her. For the first time in years she would choose a mate and produce offspring to rival all others on those hatching grounds. No one would forget.


((OoC: Alrighty guys! Get your boyos here and she'll tell 'em what she wants them to do :D Should be a pretty simple flight. Looking to do only a round or two, but we'll see how it goes))
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Kialish
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Today was a pleasant day for Pierre. The chill was still present, not hindered by the stark sunshine, but that didn't stop the dragon from decided to sunbathe in the parade grounds. For most of the day, that was where he resided, joined later by Duren taking the time to get weapons and hand-to-hand combat in. He savored the sun, absorbing the rays in his dense feathering. The more he rested, the warmer he got, like a serpent in springs first warm rays. He thrummed happily, when suddenly the peace of the day was shattered by a piercing shriek. The airs head shot up suddenly, wings snapping to his side. It was no normal shriek, no, it was a call for suitors. The air leaped to his feet, Duren shooting him a glance and chuckling.

"Go try your luck again, you silly fowl," He called, caught off guard and suddenly thrown to the ground by his sparring partner.

"I will until I sire a clutch!" Pierre said with determination, trotting in a tight circle to get himself pumped up, before throwing himself into the winds. With every beat, his wings filled with his element, pushing him higher and faster. The call had resonated, leading him towards Lihn, where a large black thunderhead was moving inland from the ocean.

He gulped and took in a big breath. Pierre would not be afraid of a little storm! He would impress the female if it was the last thing he did (but he dreadfully hoped it wouldn't). Spinning a few barrel rolls, Pierre hummed an epic tune, possibly one he had picked up from a passing minstrel or barmaid. He wished he could remember the words...

The darkness loomed closer and closer, the wind trying to work against the dragon pushing to the west. But he was an air dragon! No winds from storm nor hurricane would keep him back. With the twist of is wings, he altered the winds around him in his own favor, using them as a tailwind and push him onward. He was at the outer rim of Lihn when he saw her, a beautiful lightning female, body rippling with her element with a roll of thunder. The field was a middle ground, the darkness of the storm cloud clashing against the bright sunlight shining from thee west. She loosed another shriek, a final call to lure the males to her meeting place.

He answered, not with kind words this time, Pierre loosing a trilling call of his own. The tension in the air tingled straight through his feathered body, lighting him up with a fresh rush of adrenaline. This would be a flight of danger, flying for a female nearly directly opposite his element, and doing so as a storm approached closer and closer. With a few more mental urgings, Pierre circled her and the tree, ready for any challenge she might present.
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Foxikoosh
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As far as he was concerned, flight season could be over any time it wanted to be. He was tired of being awakened at all hours by screaming dragons or calling dragons or shouting dragons. He didn't really feel like embarrassing himself again after his particularly disastrous performance in Astraea's flight, even if it had granted him a respite from Jaime's ordinarily ridiculous behavior. When he'd returned, shivering and unhappy, Jaime had been uncharacteristically sympathetic. This had, of course, ended when Prometheus made the mistake of letting his surprise show at the offhanded comment that Jaime offered implying that in his life before the Academy, he'd actually fancied someone. When Prometheus tried to get further detail, Jaime just snarled at him that it was none of his business-- but he was practically a joy to be around for several days afterwards.

When they both heard the far-off rumblings of a distant storm, Prometheus looked over at his rider. "Want to go flying?" he asked him, merely to be polite. Jaime still didn't like heights, and he certainly wouldn't enjoy riding the edge of a storm. His response was a deadpan stare that almost implied that he didn't understand the language Prometheus was speaking.

"Go. Distract yourself. You've been like an angry, sodden heap of annoying, and it's unbecoming," he answered, which was hardly called-for.

"Oh yes, Jaime, because you are a veritable ray of sunshine, bathing all the land in warmth and happiness," Prometheus answered sarcastically before sauntering outside. He took a running leap to get into the air and pulled himself to an acceptable altitude with wings and magic, and maybe even a prayer or two. It was easier, with the headwind provided by the storm, which was a welcome change from the usual effort. As he was turning to face the storm (that was where the really fun winds were) he heard a call. He ignored it until he saw the feathered streak of one of Astraea's other suitors dash out in the direction of the call, at which point competitiveness and, probably, hormones, got the better of him, and he went to follow the other male to the siren call that'd just caught them both.

The storm, or at least the winds proceeding it, grew in intensity the closer they got to the female who'd called them, which didn't bother Prometheus in the slightest. He was a good storm flyer. He was big enough to resist most of the wind, and Air enough to bend some of them to his own purposes. He kept a wary eye out for any lightning that might like to jump ahead of the storm and strike an unlucky dragon from the air, but instead of lightning from a cloud, he caught the sparks of lightning from the ground-- sort of. He spiraled closer, realizing this was the female he'd heard calling, a Lightning occupying the only tree in the middle of an open field. At least there was landing space…

Prometheus wound lower, letting the other Air land and introduce himself before he did so. He still hadn't perfected the light, show-offy landings typical of so many of his kin, but he assumed he never would. His wings were barely capable of holding him in the sky unless he had sufficient speed, so landing was generally an exercise in controlled crashing. When he had a field, he could stall, cupping his wings up and landing much like a broad-winged owl, using the back pair for the last bit of braking. He did so this time, though far enough away not to knock the two smaller dragons around with the wind from his wings. The Air was still in the sky, and so was the Lightning, and he had no desire to knock them about when the wind was already blowing. He would have liked to given the Air a run for his money with a call of his own, but trying to out-shout one's competition was impolite, at the very least, and crass at the very worst. Instead, he fixed his gaze on the circling lightning, dropping his lower jaw in a smile at both her and the storm.

"You'll shortly be in your element, Lady!" he called to her, "But I'll chase you, if you'll permit me!"
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Nimirra
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Thiaran’s sun was sinking to the west, pigment saturating into deep, glowing ochre as the time of dusk swiftly approached. Golden rays filtered through the forest, dappling the ground with splotches of amber that helped mask a predator’s prowling progress through the half-shadowed atmosphere. Deep hued rosettes mimicked the light’s filtration through the canopy, blending his furred, hulking figure into the environment he’d immersed himself within. Hefty, vast paws balanced and slunk over the snow-covered earth with practiced and specialized ease, effortlessly remaining atop the thinner packed banks where another would have fallen into the chilly traps.

Digits splayed as he came to a stop, the barely audible crunching of snow crushing beneath his feet drawing to a temporary pause as he halted to survey his prey. Sharp, silvered irises assessed the elder elk, watching the heavily-raked specimen make his way along the woodland path unwitting of the hunter in his wake. The Ice waited, calculating as his target entre circled wide, allowing his scent to remain out of the elk’s notice by positioning himself according to the wind as he began to creek forward on velveteen paws once again.

Nimble as the leopard whose appearance his coat mimicked, Boreas’ low-slung skulking eventually brought him within striking distance. Like a coil released of restraining tension, he pounced with a powerful thrust of hind limbs, clawed hands snagging into buckskin hide as his jaws sought the smaller creature’s jugular. Clamping down once he’d found his opening, the dragon successfully suffocated his kill, stifling the life from dilated, glassy eyes. Instinctively his vision roved the surrounding tree line, seeking out any competition that might try to commandeer his kill. Even as one of the world’s largest predators, he knew best of all one could never count that in their favor.

There was always something bigger and more dangerous than yourself. Always. Even if it wasn’t necessarily a living, breathing threat. He’d just assume err on the side of caution.

Long, ivory fangs parted, releasing the beast’s neck before snaking in for a rending off a chuck of meat, blooding his elongated feline muzzle in the gory process. The first bite of his meal had barely entered his stomach when a faint echo of a shriek reached his short, swiveling ears. Metallic flicked eyes glanced in the sounds direction, considering it with nary a care. Until, that is, the cry resounded, closer to his hunting grounds it seemed. Curiously, the Ice stood over his food source, torn between answering the female’s call that speed the pulse in his veins in the hopes of spreading his prodigy through means of new generations or remaining fixated on his current task of eating for survival.

A soft, trickling growl answered his own inner turmoil’s query as hormones won over his impartial nature in a chemical calling. His wings snapped open as he sprang lithely into the air, fur-lined leading edges rustling as he pumped his pinions to gain altitude. In answer, he loosed his own rolling roar to the winds, letting them carry forth his rejoining acceptance of her unspoken challenge. Time ticked by with the same snaring lack of haste the sun seemed to set with, until at last the hilled horizon of scattered trees broke into a scarce plain, inhabited by the lone female and her gathering of willing suitors.

Touching down with a sinuous lope of hunkered limbs and elongated frame, Boreas prowled into the thick grass to observe the dark hued Lightning set her grandly staged choice of meeting grounds. The rolling thunderheads chasing from the eastern shore while the sun fled further west, lengthening shadows that were cast upon the meadow. Keeping well away from the central tree out of forced precaution, the Ice slinked at a dawdling pace, idly taking in the arriving competition while stalking from below, swimming like a shark in a sea of dead grass that yielded no natural camouflage as his preferred environment. He offered no introduction, no unnecessary word that the female had not asked to be brought forth from flapping tongues. His feral visage spoke volumes of his preferred tactic, a silent carnivore combing the catacombs of capitalization of opportunity.
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Zinc
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It was quite possibly, without a doubt, damn near impossible for Orion to find any relief in the midst of the winter season. Often, due to the sheer ridiculous cold that perpetuated deep into the dead of the night when the Karma was wide awake, forced the male to prowl the halls of the Academy’s alabaster walls, leaving him to glower at any other late-night occupants they might see. More often than not, his ill begotten attentions were slathered onto his companions of the night, be they Incendio or Pyrite, whichever had the misfortune of duty for the evening and happened to catch him when he emerged from the depths of his quarters. At the very least, when it was Incendio, the massive, cunning Fire, that found him in the nights, he seemed to be able to at least alleviate the itch of exertion the male sought without leaving him to cope with the daggers of northern wind and the sheer cold that accompanied them on their descent into Nyushi and the coastal east, thanks to his element and the Fire’s veteran status and capability to wield it.

However, there were other things that would tend to grate at Orion when the winter season came around. Such as the mating season and the endless haunting wails of the females that called their suitors forth from the walls of the Academy, and sometimes from the darker halls of the northern mountains and the stained lands of the west. He felt his lip curl at the very thought of such things. Taints…sometimes the Karma pitied them. Others, he merely hated them with an unbridled fury for the trauma that he had been dealt for most of his young life. But mostly it was a dispassionate distaste that continued to linger long into the end of his first decade upon Thiaran’s soil and seemed to be a trend that was intent on furthering itself.

Those pretty scaled things with their sonorous and ear-catching sounds that echoed through his rooms haunted his dreams more often than the Karma cared to admit. And yet with every cry, he simply grew more irate, more likely to lash out. He did not care to follow the sounds of the siren’s lilting voice. He’d better things to do than to give into the foolishness of such a folly as chasing if only for the sake of embarrassing himself in the happenstance that he should fail. He knew better than to believe that simply due to his standing he would be chosen by a female. Perhaps therein lay the rub. The fact that he was a Karma and a breed whose rarity seemed on par, if not above that of the Celestials themselves, certainly did not mean that he was immune to those needs that tended to plague a male when that particular cry sent skittering waves of heat up his spine. But the lack of certainty, the chance that he might be turned down, was perhaps more than Orion’s pride could bear.

He stood hunched in a high archway of one of the second floor landings, a stone gargoyle…or perhaps an oversized vulture to any unsuspecting eyes that happened to catch the shadowed silhouette of his form in the late evening hours as the shadows grew long and breath became vaporous when thrown to the sky. Incendio lingered behind him in the warm light of the braziers of the Academy’s halls, the form to the Karma’s shadow. It was in his current state, even haloed slightly as he was by the golden oranges of the setting sun, how the Karmas could hold power over darker matter in the casement of their flesh and scales.

“Incendio.” The Fire raised his head and turned to look at the Karma with his foxy face. Without a word, the Karma rose from his hunched posture, overlooking the fields and spread his wings, taking off into the clear evening. In a smooth motion, the larger, orangey red fire took to wing after him and followed him into the gathering dusk. The pattern of flight was aimless for a time, though the Karma turned and angled in the direction of the east, heading farther out and towards the coast as the sun began to descend. It was farther than his leash had ever allowed him before in the times that war had plagued the land, but now, in peace, he was allowed to traverse farther. Even though it was still a guard that maintained him in the distance. He would take what little victories he could get for the time being.

The flight was silent aside from the whistling of the wind in the Karma’s ears and the steady beat of his wings. The cold he could not feel, for the gracing of Incendio’s powers heating the air around him as he flew, keeping the frigid currents of air at bay. To the east, Orion could see the distant formations of a wall cloud building out over the ocean, and he turned his head, catching the faint smell of rain and salt on the wind. His yellow eyes sliced away from the scene as he circled aimlessly over the fading forests and closer to the coast before he slowed, and near paused in the air as a cry came to his ears, carried on the wind. He turned his head, jay feather crest rising against his neck until it stood erect behind his jagged horn. Black tipped muzzle parted just slightly as his jaws opened, ands his wing beats slowed until he had come to a hovering stop, silvered wings beating the fast chilling air.

Hawk-like gaze zeroed in on a dark form that was silhouetted against the horizon heralding a storm. The dark, lithe form was that of a Lightning, bright streaks of light speaking of the element she wielded that danced across her spines and horns. Orion’s eyes narrowed as recognition flickered deep within his mind. That female. His head snapped around to see Incendio, who was staring in much the same fashion as he had been. It was when a second cry echoed the first, no doubt to draw any hesitant males closer, that the Fire shifted forwards, intent to chase her, his duties forgotten. It was of little doubt in Orion’s mind that the same fire that was slowly simmering in his gut, an instinctive reaction to the summons, was also blazing within his guard’s own loins. “Incendio.” His sharp voice seemed to snap the male from his reverie. Bewildered orange eyes met his own before they cleared of the siren song and its disorienting effects.

“Leave.” His eyes turned back to Lacuna as she circled, and even as he watched, waiting for his hesitating guard to come to grips, he could see others arriving in the field she waited above until three had come. “I said,” the Karma finally turned and snapped at the Fire who was still staring back and forth between him and the Lightning, “go” the venom in his voice seemed to rouse Incendio from his stupor fully, and though he gave Orion a disgusted, rather affronted look, he turned and winged away with an idle, “I’ll find a medic then, shall I?” he gave a forced laugh, then turned to the west and began to fly way.

Orion in the mean time, turned back and after a moments pause of his own, wasting more precious time that the storm that was rumbling closer would not care to allot. He finally pressed forwards, fluked tail swishing to catch and direct air as the alabaster membrane ballooned slightly outward with the gusting of the headwind that brought the cumulonimbus clouds ever closer as their static hum crackled across the sky. The other three had come to the grass of the field to land and await the commands of Lacuna for the flight that she no doubt awaited to begin. Orion however, remained air born, and heralded himself with a snide laugh.

“Well, well!” he called out to Lacuna. “Look at you! About to tear down the sky and wind in all of your elemental glory.” He snorted, casting a look to the lot down below them. “I can’t say I’m impressed with those that you’ve managed to catch the eyes of.” He inspected them one by one. “Let’s see now. You’ve got an overgrown mutant poultry that’s managed to elude the farmer’s axe. Then there’s the oddball crossbreed, oh dear I can only imagine what monstrosities that would wreak upon the world should you choose him. Then there’s this fellow here…” Orion paused and stared hard at Boreas. “My, my, my!” he finally said, his eyes narrowing and his lip curling. “Seems you’ve attracted the eyes of a Taint. And quite an example if his breed is of any indication. It’s a furball of an Ice!” he guffawed, and slanted his eyes back towards Lacuna where she circled the field. He kept a wary eye, knowing she had little qualms with returning his bluster with her own, or even going so far as to throwing a bolt or two at him But good fun was good fun regardless, especially if he could ruin her fun even a little.

As the human saying went, payback was a bitch.

“So what do you plan to make these poor sods do? Bow and kiss your talons? I dare say you might just manage it. You’ve got them all cowed down upon the grass while you soar up here in your kingdom awaiting the coming storm. Not only a motley crew you’ve got here but a bunch of bleedin’ cowards. Crying shame.” He gave a dramatic heave of his chest and a sigh. “Oh well. I’m sure you can try again in a few days, or even wait until next year.” He shrugged, his lips pulled into a smirk.
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Nherva
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It was the answering call of her first drawn suitor that sent another spark rippling down her spine, a shiver accompanying it. She searched the area and saw him circling below, an Air from the looks of it, all feathers and speed. Perhaps he could impress her, she would see. Keeping well above him as he awaited her command, Lacuna saw another flicker of motion to the east of her position, another brightly colored and feathered creature, but not anything she'd ever seen or expected. The second male looked like an Air, but he was far too large, far too bulky for what an Air was in her mind. She was momentarily confused as to what sort of breed she'd attracted this time, but it would matter not so long as he could hold his own when she laid her challenge out before them.

Collecting males like moths to a flame, she noted the arrival of another, a creature almost as strange as the second. Of average size if one considered the middle-weighted dragons average, his breed was difficult to pin down until she saw the telltale glimmer of the horns jutting from his head and recognized the appearance of the arctic feline his coat so closely resembled. An Ice. How lovely. The Lightning narrowed her eyes with a sly twinkle in their milky white depths. There were three, about what she could expect. It was time to begin. Thunder rolled deep in the distant cloud as it approached, chasing away the sun growing more golden and orange as it retreated from that dark. Soon it would be dusk and the greatest source of natural light would be the very dangerous flickering of her own element in the clouds above.

"Welcome! Don't you boys have your work cut out for you here, ha!" A sharp crackle, followed by a thrumming sound like a hive of angry bees emanated from the dragoness as electricity gathered in the metallic coils embedded in her back. Lacuna opened her mouth to issue her challenge, and was interrupted by the arrival of another. The voice, familiar in its caustic tone, caused her head to snap to one side to pin down its source. Dusky silver and purple scales heralded the recognition of one she did not expect to see here, but as his biting words raked insults over her proper suitors, Lacuna realized he was not here for the intended purpose of her call. Their first conversation had been an interesting one to say the least, grumpy banter between two bored and cooped up individuals that sought to poke at each other just for the hell of it. Apparently, she had annoyed him enough to warrant such a disruption at such an important moment in her life.

"If you're here to shoot off your mouth Orion, I insist you leave," she flapped her wings with a leathery snap. "Or put your money where your mouth is and prove you're their better." Another peal of thunder as the cloud stretched over the five dragons seemed to amplify her voice. Any other day she would go back and forth with the Karma until they were blue in the face, but not today. Today was far too important and she would not fail herself again. If one of the other males sought to chase him off, or bite back at him in their defense, they didn't have time. That angry hornet hive buzz grew louder as Lacuna circled upward, her stormy scales mimicking the thunderhead above.

Like an oracle calling down the vengeance of an angry god, Lacuna shrieked and angled her body like an arrow to the sky. From the darkened cloud a blinding bolt shattered the sky, ripping downward as the oppositely charged ions below ripped upward. The flash pulsed down and through the dragoness--her body kept safe by the insulation provided by the magic that allowed her to hold electricity in every cell--then down to the solitary tree below. With the force equal to the pyroclastic talents of a Lava, the tree exploded, splintering into shrapnel in a white-hot inferno from the heavens. Debris rained down upon the plain, the spectacular light show and explosion in one concluding with the vision of the singular tree burning, a blackened skeleton of its former self.

"This is the rage of heaven!" She shouted, her eyes glowing fiercely with the residual energy left by the lightning strike. "Little else can strike such awe and fear into the hearts of men and dragons alike. Best that and I may choose you as mine!" She turned her sharp-eyed gaze to the Karma. "Stay or leave, but if you wish to continue to be a pain in my tail I might make you the trial instead. That tree could have been you." She added darkly. Another peal of thunder echoed her words as she circled above to wait and see what talents each male could bring to her side. Soon the rain would begin and they would have little choice but to combat it or use it in the best way they knew how.



((OoC: Basically, be more badass than her. It's very very open for you to use whatever you see fit. Impress her with whatever your boys' elements or your wits can do, pretty simple! Good luck!))
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Foxikoosh
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As the storm drew nearer, Prometheus let his wings fall open, holding them out to catch the wind. He was in no danger of being pulled off his feet, as long as he kept his wings mostly closed and his tail unfanned, but the gusting wind pulled and tugged on his feathers, somewhere between playful and threatening, and the storm was only growing closer. He didn't spare much notice for the other suitor that arrived after him-- an Ice that looked every bit as odd as he did, but who was at least an actual Ice, to all appearances.

And then another suitor-- suitor? or heckler?-- showed up, one of the two Karmas at the Academy, and the more caustic of the two. Prometheus growled at the other male, but didn't have a chance to do anything further, being called back to his purpose here by the Lightning female they'd all gathered to chase. He fluffed out his feathers against the thunder, feeling it shudder through the air. He felt the air crackle a split second before lightning flashed out of the sky and blew the big tree to tiny splinters that flew about and were flung in his face by the wind. His eyes were momentarily blinded, but when he could see again, he saw only a smoking snag where once there'd been a tree.

Their challenge was straight-forward enough, which was fine with Prometheus. With one last annoyed look for the Karma who'd insulted all of them the second he'd shown up, he grounded himself, reaching out with his wings to touch the wind with the intent of using it instead of just feeling it. Keeping his attention on both elements at once, he centered his gaze on the still-smoking snag and breathed right at it, a mix of an Air's controlled gust and an Earth's strange, liquid earth. He shaped the earth with air as it hit the tree, coaxing it into coating the tree, and then adding twisted branches where the other ones had been blown up. The air he was using picked up grains of sand and swirled those around the tree, incorporating a ribbon of lighter-colored sand through the tree. When he judged that he'd rebuilt the tree, he stopped breathing air-earth on it and stood considering it for a moment. The branches coiled up toward the top, twisting around each other to form a shape like a broad leaf, tapering to a long, lightning-rod-like peak. The ribbon of sand looked like it'd been incorporated all the way to the top, and Prometheus briefly wondered what would happen if lightning struck this tree and turned the sand to glass.

But it wasn't done. The branches were rough, still too stone-like for his taste. Using more wind, gathering those perpetuated by the storm to a purpose other than simply blowing and howling, bringing them to heel like dogs after some effort. These he directed around the tree, subjecting it to accelerated erosion and smoothing, coaxing more sand into the wind to further his purpose. When he'd smoothed down the branches somewhat he let the wind go back to swirling where it would. There was one touch missing, and this was entirely earth. With his claws sunken into the earth at his feet, he rumbled at the rocks several feet down, and called some of them up. They broke through the ground and stood like a jagged fence around his tree and he decided he was finished. With his face into the wind, he gave the tree a considering look with his head tipped to the side. He nodded and shifted from his previously grounded stance and shook his wings and feathers out, the dust poofing off of him in a cloud and getting carried away in the storm wind.

"Your magic could make it more handsome, lady, if it can turn that sand into glass, but I hope it pleases you none-the-less," he called up to the Lightning female spiraling above.
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Nimirra
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Boreas’ small, sensitive ears switched back at the jeering, belittling tone as a fourth male joined the congregation, though without the manners or neutrality offered by the preceding trio. The only external acknowledgement of hearing the Karma’s chaffing words was the small twitching at the tip of his plush tail, indifferent to the tactless bile vomited by the supposed dignitary. He certainly did not owe that glittering, pampered dragon, who’d likely only known the comforts provided within the Academy’s walls, an explication to his past. What mattered lay above them, rebuking Orion’s caustic words through a counter-challenge to let actions of superiority speak louder than noncommittal words of supremacy.

A smirk wrinkled the Ice’s muzzle, silver eyes igniting with the flare of light as the white-hot bolt released from Lacuna’s charged coils, rending the sole tree he’d so wisely avoided into countless shards of splintered wood before any other dragon could get a word in against the Karma heckler. The reverberations of thunder rolled slowly away while the strange crossbreed stepped up to be the first to answer her challenge’s demands. Boreas was content to continue his silent pacing, skulking through the grass with the surefooted grace from the large cat his coat mimicked. A relic was raised by Prometheus’ dual elemental calling, a molded tree with sand instead of bark where the live one had stood minutes prior.

“Nod bad,” Boreas purred to the hybridized dragon before he unexpectedly leapt into the air, wings unfurling with the leathery rustle of membranous phalanges spreading to catch the wild weather’s currents. Pinions pumped with sinuously synchronized beats, swiftly pulling him past the darkly lethal figure of the Lightning and into the obsidian bank of clouds above her. Enveloped in the dark cloak of condensation, the Ice took no notice of the water droplets that formed and clung to his fur like erratic studs of glittering diamonds. The more irksome part of his decided task was the static that rustled in the pelage, raising each individual hair and ballooning his overall appearance into a state far from its usual sleek, luxurious overlay.

It wasn’t until he was centered at the storm’s heart and certain of his general location did he coax his own magic to life. A frosty spark lit within his core, spreading the frigid power outward until it spilled from his very pores, reaching with curling, chilled to the bone fingers until the majority of the storm’s atmosphere was in his sensible grasp. With a violent surge of summoned arcane force, Boreas’ magic pulsed, charging the air with winter’s sweet calling until the breeching rainwater shifted to sleet, and sleet to heavily blanketing snowfall. Age and experience had lent itself well to the Ice as he surveyed his snowy work from above, tipping his wings ever so slightly to chase snowflakes to the storm cloud’s belly and out of the dark, swirling chaos of the brewing thunderhead.

Sheets of speckled white had begun to cling to the meadow’s tall grass stalks below, giving Boreas a moment of smug satisfaction before he addressed Lacuna at her own aerial level. “Vhile your elemend is build for lidderal zhock value, ice eez much more zubtle. Combine the two, howeffer, and thundersnow is an entirely differend beezt altogeffer.”

Just as his accent tapered away, a fresh fork of lightning cracked across in the clouds like an arching whip of wrathful protest. Following the volatile voltage, a peal of thunder sounded. Its radius was not as vast as with the normal showering rain, thanks to the denser cloud formation brought on by the construction of frozen water vapor, but its volume much more monstrous. The booming echo vibrated bones and sent a rippling shiver down the Ice dragon’s back as he maintained his hovering position, snowfall accruing upon the ground below. A cheshire cat smile pulled the edges of Boreas’ lips, pleased as punch that he’d succeeded in his elementally draining yet prestigious endeavor, while simultaneously plunging the atmospheric temperatures of the area into a likely uncomfortable chill for the males not of his element.
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Zinc
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Orion’s feathered wings beat the air, the sound a bit softer than the antagonized, leathery snap of Lacuna’s own wings as she flew nearby. He felt his jaws curve into a sly smirk as she seemed to take notice of him, and to his great amusement, he’d managed to annoy her. Then again, he realized he was probably taking a damn stupid risk, coming in and ‘shooting his mouth off’ as she’d phrased it in the midst of a hormonal female’s flight. Gods above what was he doing here anyway? He frowned just a bit to himself as his thoughts were rattled by an ever-closer peal of thunder that shook the clouds above them. He cast a glance once at the suitors below, still hunkered down on the earth where they were awaiting whatever whims and wishes it was that the Lightning sought for them in her challenge. He pursed his lips, wondering if perhaps he too would be one to see if he could prove himself the better. Well…he certainly wasn’t keen on being shown up, but he also wasn’t very good about kissing up and playing the ‘please me’ game.

Golden eyes flicked back to the darkening sky and it’s burgeoning thunderheads in time to lock onto Lacuna as she circled higher towards the looming storm. The growing potential of the storm and the electric current he could feel, drawn closer no doubt, by it’s elemental conduit found in Lacuna caused his feathers to stiffen and bristle. His neck arched at the uncomfortable sensation. It only got worse from there.

With an explosive force and a blinding flash that seared the nocturnal Karma’s retinas, he was damn near blasted from the air, the residual force of the bolt that had found it’s rod in Lacuna hitting him in the chest and causing him to stagger and then fall from the sky at the energy that shot through him. For a moment, he thought he’d killed himself, but no…he as merely stunned. A ragged motion and he managed to recover himself, angling his body so that he could glide rather than plummet and he let out a string of curses and wordless, raptor-like shriek as the bright spots danced through his vision, ruined by the pure white light that had dispersed through the air at the appearance of Lacuna’s own element.

He had escaped unscathed, and so had Lacuna, but the tree below which she had aimed her ability at, had not been so lucky. He frowned at the blackened husk, which he could see if he glanced at it just right before it was covered by the bright white line that seared his retinas. Could’ve been you. he thought idly, wrinkling his muzzle.

”This is the rage of heaven!” Orion’s neck angled, turning him to stare back up at Lacuna as he circled higher, regaining his altitude. She gave him the choice to stay or go, and mirrored his earlier thoughts that she could have indeed, fried him to a black crispy bit of ash had she so wished. His crest flattened and he gave a soft snort.

Other males began to put their powers to the test, and Orion meanwhile, hovered, regaining his sight and thinking. No doubt his silence was a blessing to those whom he had harried before, and to Lacuna as well so that she might better observe the powers of her suitors. The might of the heavens was an impressive element to wield. It was, according to scholars and to Fire dragons, something that burned tremendously hot, with more might and fury than even the hottest of flames. It had the ability to stop hearts with the slightest jumped spark, and it could ignite fires upon grasslands that would wreak miles of destruction in the dry seasons upon the plains.

How did one begin to contend with that? Or at least, one of his own powers?

His thoughts turned to his ability to breathe steam, and he immediately nixed it. That was possibly one of the more basic abilities that a Karma had to offer. What about his healing might? There was a Taint present…But healing against the Taint’s will was something he did not enjoy the notion of attempting. No…he would not do that again. A shudder worked through his form and he turned his head away, his golden eyes focusing absently where Prometheus worked below upon his earthen tree, shaping it with wind and soil he wrought forth.

A remembered conversation from the old scholar who had taught him so much returned to him then. Eizen had found an old tome deep in the archives, badly damaged from the take-over of the Academy, but still legible in parts, written by several of the first generations of Karmas to appear on the Academy’s grounds long before even he had broken out of his shell, Khariss amongst them. Karmas possessed an ability that was not frequently used, and therefore was not very understood. The book had bespoken of an ability to manipulate dark matter, which grew more powerful on the darkest of nights. Orion himself had toyed with the ability under Eizen’s guidance on more than one occasion on moonless nights, but mostly the ability had remained dormant. But from those whom he had used as volunteers for the subject, including Eizen himself at the old man’s request, the ability was frightening and rather…unsettling, to be subject to.

He turned his eyes back to Lacuna, the burn of the lightning fading from his sight, and a slow, dark smile curled onto his face. Well…she had nearly blasted him out of the air. He supposed returning the favor couldn’t hurt too much. He had little doubt she’d never seen something of the like of this power either.

Unwittingly, Lacuna had made the process of drawing together power easier for him. With the arriving thunderhead, dark and deep, blotting out the remaining sunlight from the sunset, he had more to work with. What’s more, with the sun sinking farther and farther with each passing second, the dusk grew and encompassed more, allowing him better grasp on the power. To any who were paying attention to the Karma as he gathered himself, they would see something…remarkably odd.

While the Solar and Lunar dynamics of both Celestial and Karma gave them a sort of an unnatural halo of both golden light and silvered radiance in lower lights, the sort of odd sheen that Orion had possessed mere moments ago seemed to have vanished entirely. What seemed even odder was that he was slowly beginning to darken around the edges. Like a shadow blurring away from the fabric of reality, the Karma’s outline seemed to distort and flicker, but his eyes began to glow molten gold in brilliance for a few moments. Though his wings still beat a steady rhythm, his breathing became labored before he seemed to fall still for a heartbeat.

As the first of Boreas’ snowflakes began to fall from the heavens, Orion emitted a haunting wail, and a sphere of dark impenetrable blackness ballooned outward from his body encompassing the air around him, Lacuna included, in an opaque mass of jet. As far as Orion understood it, regarding what Eizen had told him, the effects of the sphere created a sort of sensory deprivation to whoever was trapped within. Sight, sound, touch, smell, all were dampened and gone entirely. A dragon could not hear it’s rider screaming at him if he were an inch away, yet Orion remained unaffected by his own element, able to see odd, distorted images of those he had trapped within as he remained within the sphere.

Darkness of course, only had one enemy, and there was but one thing that could break the powerful element that had bound the dragon therein. Light.

Orion swept closer to Lacuna, though the sphere remained fixated where it had exploded outwards into the air, the focal point no longer the Karma, but the airspace where he had once been. He brushed past the Lightning, whispering as he went, “Though you may control the wrath of the heavens, I have the helplessness of the dark.” He hovered before her odd outline, visible to his golden eyes, only his voice emanating through the improbable black. “A healer’s might.” He laughed caustically, sounding a touch bitter, even as his voice emerged strained. Though the storm had brought darkness with it, the cost of generating an ability that was typically used for a quick strike at a hapless enemy drained on him the longer it remained active.

With a gasp, Orion released the tenuous hold he had on his slipping power, and like a stone through a window, the eclipsing void suddenly shattered into thousands of shards that simply dissipated into the sky, leaving no remnant. Orion dropped several feet, ceasing to beat his wings as he glided down towards the ground, feeling exhaustion gnawing at him. Where before he had been more than willing to stay in the air and glower down upon the other suitors, he now found the earth below quite inviting, and with a stumble, he touched down and sat, trying to recover his breath and slow his heartbeat. He glanced challengingly up at Lacuna however, his expression stating that just because he was on the ground now didn’t mean he didn’t have a few choice words if she started in on him.
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Kialish
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((Sorry guys I'm gonna drop out of the flight. I have no muse and im real sorry))
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((OoC: Thank you ALL for entering! I commend your characters for both their bravery and their creativity stupidity for taking on this particular lady. I'M SORRY I COULD ONLY PICK ONE BUT YOU ALL DID AWESOMELY ;O; ))

It was very rare the Lightning got her chance to feel like a goddess, and she preened inwardly as she watched her suitors hop to her command when she asked it of them. It sure beat the hell out of sitting in the infirmary to rot away while her rider was up to his elbows in blood and guts all day long and cuddling stray kittens at night. They were all fine specimens. Well, except maybe for Orion. He'd just shown up to taunt her because he could. While she could respect that, it wasn't the time she felt apt to deal with it. She could grump around and bicker with him on the best of days, except when she was moody and hormonally driven to find and take a mate for herself. Not that she planned on any long term relationships here, but they didn't have to know that.

Pale eyes narrowed, arcs of electricity flying and sparking along her back as she watched the strange child of Air and Earth begin his attempts to meet her challenge. Magic swirled in the air as palpably as the air pressure cycling through the thick cloud cover overhead and he did something the Lightning female did not expect. Where she had created a sudden and inevitable scene of utter destruction, he used his innate abilities to create. In place of the tree he created a wind and sand blasted statue stretching up to the sky, beckoning the charged ions in the air to its precarious tip. She hoped the elements would align well enough and strike the crossbreed's creation with their full fury, turning it to fragile and beautiful glass. Alas, they didn't seem so eager to please. But she hadn't expected one so young to think out of the box so easily. That was interesting.

Circling above, the turbulent air currents and downdrafts from the storm filling the sails of her wings, Lacuna watched the unknown Ice, the strange furry Taint leap into the sky and fly directly for the center of the maelstrom beginning above. The scent of ozone and fresh rainwater filled her senses as she watched him disappear and a drizzle began to fall from the abyss above. What would the Ice do, she wondered to herself as she realized there was precious little for him to work with when it all boiled down. She'd completely forgotten about Orion for the moment, which was a mistake she regretted almost immediately when she was suddenly overcome by a darkness that didn't come from the sky, or any source she could figure out immediately after it embraced her. She didn't know much about Karma dragons, and she certainly didn't know that his job had been made much simpler by both her chosen time of day and the cloaking shadows of the storm above.

Her world reduced itself to blackness. The comfortable and familiar scents of rain and ozone completely disappeared and she could no longer feel the pull and tug of the storm's activity around her. The dark was a cocoon of nothingness, a frightening void of magic that terrified her to her very core. She shrieked, but no sound reached her ears, no vibration of the sound even graced her throat. For a precious few seconds she couldn't even feel or hear her own wings beating to keep her aloft. Lacuna was already high enough, if she wasn't even flying anymore she'd surely fall to her death. What was worse, she couldn't even feel that all familiar link that kept her and Korrin together. A flashback to her year spent alone searching and fighting and simply trying to survive made her scream into the unforgiving blackness again, only to make no sound.

Only one faintly whispered statement breached her moment of terror. Orion's voice, " Though you may control the wrath of the heavens, I have the helplessness of the dark."

Rage surged through the Lightning dragoness and the full force of her element combined with the wearing out of the Karma's strength shattered the sphere of oblivion in a dangerously bright ball of lightning. She was released from that hell just in time to hear Boreas speak and show her what he had done, combining his wintery talents with her own storm-borne powers. She was blinded by her wrath, and subtle--while equally dangerous given time--was not on her agenda. "How dare you!" She shrieked, a bolt of lightning splitting the dark clouds overhead with a sharp peal of a thunder crack in its wake. Lacuna couldn't remember the last time she'd been so frightened and so alone, she tried not to.

Orion's little stunt had probably cost her a moment of her sanity, but she realized in a very brief moment of clarity that he had done exactly what she'd asked of him. She'd demonstrated the full force and dangerous qualities of her own element and asked them all to do better, if not the same. Her element was terrifying in a bright and explosive way, but Orion's...his had been terrifying in a whole new way, one that both enraged Lacuna as well impressed her. "Sorry boys, I have a little silver birdy to fry!" She apologized to the others, making her choice clear as she zeroed in on Orion and swooped down toward the ground. Once she was close, she spoke, her voice snapping like the crack of thunder a few moments prior even as her eyes burned brightly with residual charged energy, "You win you smug little snot, get up here and ride out the storm like a real dragon. I'll make it quick."
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