Pax RP

"It might have taken a while to get round to it, but at least they have a hospital now." pointed out Mayra

"I think those dragons may be a slightly bigger problem right now. You can play at being a town planner later!"

Raven stood, dusting the dirt from her knees as she did. A soft sigh of frustration escaped her lips, and her furrowed brow spoke of irritation. She looked around her alchemy garden, all tended. Nothing to do. Another soft sigh. How disappointing. The crease on her forehead deepened as she thought back only a few hours ago.

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The Encampment was abuzz with activity when Raven arrived, looking to find the rodent for some experiments. Assuming he'd be at the Horn and the Halo, she strolled up that way. The tavern was packed full, peasants roaming everywhere. Raven sniffed in disdain. Where the hell was the rodent?

Looking around she spotted Laxus talking animatedly with a group of men, making wild gestures that sent them all laughing. 'Idiots.' She thought smugly to herself as she strode forward.

"So I said to him, I said to him yeah-" Laxus doubled over in laughter. The other men already had half smiles on their faces, posed for whatever his absurd, foolish punchline was, when Raven brusquely interrupted by walking right through them to face Laxus.
"Where is the rodent?" She demanded with a glare and a biting tone.
"How the hell should I know?" Replied Laxus, already irritated by her presence to the point of raising his voice.

"Maybe he was eaten by the dragon?" One of the other men commented, sending the others chuckling along.
"Dragon? Tetsu was here?" Raven drawled, wondering if she'd need a new test subject. It was so hard to get the right level of blackmail and attachment for it to really work. Both her glare and furrow increased in intensity. Damn incompetent rodent.
"Naw, some huge shiny shadowy dragon. Eh what was it again, ah uh-"
"A Shadow Mirror dragon!" Laxus exclaimed, appearing happy with himself to have supplied the information. Raven turned to him, glare turned to a full blown snarl.
"And you DIDN'T THINK to INFORM ME?!" She growled at him, grabbing his collar and literally hoisting him from the ground. The peasants who had flocked around him scattered, fearing her wrath.
"I didn't think you'd care! Crap! Shit! Let me down Raven! Please!" He begged, trying to pull himself up with his arms to keep himself from choking.
"If this BLOODY DRAGON comes along again, you are to GODDAMN TELL ME ABOUT IT!" She threw him to the ground and stormed out towards home, her quest to find that irritating little rodent forgotten.

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With another sigh she looked to the dirt at her feet. She was so bored she planted extra flowers she didn't really need. Oh well, hopefully she'd find something to do with them. If only she'd been there when the real dragon had been there. Tetsu was just a baby, really...

Someone crashing through the underbrush towards her home brought her out of her reverie. Her sharp ears told her which direction, and she darted to the trees to see the intruder.
"Oh." Raven was honestly surprised. It was Laxus, sprinting and panting his way through the foliage towards her home. She jumped down, saving him the last few dozen meters or so.
"Ah-" Wheeze. Laxus doubled over, hands on his knees as he panted in front of her.
"Raven-" Another desperate gasp for air.
"Dragon-"
"Dragon!?" Raven exclaimed, her bored and frustrated expression from before vanished in but a moment. She grasped Laxus by the shoulders, forcing him to stand straight. He gasped harder at her efforts.
"Horn and Halo!" He gasped out, hand on his chest as if to ease his pain. With a flash, she was gone.

Laxus bent over, wheezed and gasped for a few more minutes until he caught his breath. It was a bloody forty minute walk from the encampment, and he'd run it in less than ten! She should be impressed! As he headed slowly back to the Encampment, Laxus swore this would be the last time he did anything for that bitch. Stupid demoness.

But then again, it wasn't the first time he'd sworn that.

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Had Raven bothered to give Laxus any way to communicate with her from the Encampment - which of course she didn't to insure more difficulty in his life - he would have never thought to try gain complements for his speed. Literally seconds later, Raven burst over the damaged roof of the home opposite the tavern. With no heed to what was going on and moving so fast she was simply a shadowed blur, she lunged at the Dragon with all her speed - scarf in hand. With all her dexterity, she attempted to secure it around the Shadow Mirror Dragon's neck.

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((Sorry for interrupting! Dx As usual, blame CP.))

Markus watched the dragon a little longer, considering his actions.

He could turn around and leave, that was always an option. Dragons were bad for business, people don't tend to be in the mood for trade when they're on fire. On the other hand, his curiosity was piqued. What had brought a dragon to the Encampment, and what on Pax was it holding? The strange object looked like a paint brush, could it be connected to the building... and the giant glass of beer, upon closer inspection. He narrowed his eyes.

"Ace. Just... ace." He growled, slipping his goggles over his eyes.

He turned to Mayra again. "Oi, you seem to be particularly keen on this" He said, upholstering the pistol. "My gut tells me you might have some use for it, if not find someone who does." Markus threw the pistol over, and readied his own rifle.

"These people had better be bloody grateful!" He yelled, running into town in search of a better vantage point.

Lili frowned at Devon, now deciding that she didn't like him already. The Shadow Mirror Dragons bright red eyes narrowed at the old man "Your immediate assumption was that I had found it, also therefore assuming it was not mine. So, yes, there certainly is. something you are missing." Lili grinned, and swiped the brush several times through the air near the ground, creating a black horse with purple eyes, tail, mane and hooves, a twisted horn atop it's head and several sharp teeth. The nightmare horse reared up before charging the old man and any other stragglers that happened to still be around.

The Shadow Mirror Dragon looked to the mercenary after that however, seeing as he was running in a different direction to most others, out of pure spite Lili pulled her head back, then fired it forwards with her snout open, sending a glob of sticky black tar at Markus.

It was then that the shadowy blur of the demoness flew across the tops of the houses right smack onto the side of the Dragons mirrored neck, causing Lili to roar and step back in surprise. Didn't stop the scarf from touching her though, or the material from wrapping around her neck, changing her eyes to Ravens purple and the scarf to a shimmering, silken black colour.

Lili looked for the person who'd just jumped on her neck, rather than trying to bite, as she would have done had the scarf not been around her neck.

Markus darted between bystanders, having spotted a building roughly resembling a tower compared to the rest of the town, when suddenly...

<big>GLOMP</big>

The large ball of tar spent Markus briefly sprawling before rooting him to the spot. In a spot of amazing luck, his hands were free and his final position gave him an undeniably perfect line of sight to anything in front of him... it was rather unfortunate then that he was facing in almost completely the wrong direction.

"I hate this town already." Markus sulked.

Trying to twist around, he was able to face the fearsome Shadow Mirror Dragon just enough to get a shot off, but it would mean firing with one hand. Even his mechanical hand wouldn't be able to withstand the kick of a powerful rifle however, and Markus wasn't in a hurry to add a dislocated shoulder to his ever increasing list of problems. It had to be nothing short of perfect, and even then...

"The others had better have a plan.. and quickly" He thought to himself as he began testing the strength of the tar.

Mayra just about avoided fumbling the catch and grabbed the pistol.

"Where are you..." she trailed off as the runes covering the pistol glowed a soft blue before fading back.

"Now this is a gun&#33;" she grinned as she thumbed a round into it, with no sign of the resistance Markus had encountered.

"Thunder&#33;" she whispered to herself as the runes of her pistol were supplemented with her own. She aimed the gun up at the dragon and squeezed the trigger.

Raven, flipped as the dazzling dragon roared it's ferocious cry. She spun herself around onto the thick, glorious neck of the beautiful beast.
Raven fucking loved dragons.
Taking a hold of the scarf and pulling it (not to strangle, merely to grasp) she let out a cry of delight and pumped her fist in the air.

"YIPPIEKAI YEEAAAAAHHHH MOTHER FRACKERS&#33;" She cried, clearly excited. When the dragon's head swiveled around to see her, she gave it a large grin. "You may address me as Mistress Raven." She stated primly, the smile still plastered on her face. "And I do believe..." she said, pausing for a moment to wipe an imaginary tear from her eye. She finished with almost a purr. "That this is going to be the start of a beautiful friendship."

All without any consideration for the projectile hurtling towards them.

Devon barreled off the incoming beast's path, he procured a handful of small rocks from a lower pocket. Facing the nightmare to the side, his stones skipped along the ground around it, generating tiny sparks on the orange bodies. Apparently his charms failed to come back with his looks, or destiny surely loathes him. For why else everyone assumed he was a jerk? "That isn't the right problem, though."

Keeping a wary glance at the horse as he moved further away, the sight of the fast woman apprehending Lili caught his interests. Could this be an ally, or another usurper? Snapping his fingers, the man frowned at the bizarre effects happening. Mayra's lightning bolt not dismayed him, for he summoned his own course of light to strike the nightmare from the now darkened clouds above.

"Rolling Thunder."

((For clarification, Mayra hasn't fired a lightning bolt, she's imbued her bullet with a spell. She used the word 'Thunder' to help focus her mind on this particular spell.))

Mayra grinned, it would be interesting to see what this spell shot would do to a dragon. Specifically, a spell that would cause the bullet to transfer all of its kinetic energy, plus a hell of a lot more, to its target.

"That thing is about to get one hell of a headache."

Lili smiled at Raven, showing off her sharp teeth in a particularly malevolent grin. Odd, she found that she actually felt like she liked 'Mistress Raven, even after she'd jumped on her like that. How odd. "You can call me Lili, Mistress Raven'

As Lili turned her attention back to the town and it's townsfolk, however, a shot from a pistol rang out and the bullet propelled towards her shortly afterwards struck her in the shoulder, making a couple of very odd things happen. First, the bullet, rather than hitting armour and stopping or creating a fleshy thud as it stuck in the meat underneath, punctured a hole from from front to back right through the joint, revealing that Lili was just as dark on the inside as on the outside. Lili snapped her neck back, then forwards and roared at the same time as electricity from the bullet coursed through her body, making her form seem to vibrate with the charge... vibrate and move around slightly, morphing, as though she wasn't entirely solid.

It lasted for a few seconds before it wore off, and the hole in Lilis shoulder started to reseal itself. The Dragon looked towards the sourrce of the attack, snarling "Why you little-"

Lili took one step forwards, then stopped, instead bringing the birdcage in front of her, then opening her massive wings before taking off into the sky. She swiped the brush over the bird as she went, checking behind her every so often to make sure that Raven was ok.

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The tar surrounding Markus moved, but very reluctantly, when the mercenary moved. He could probably get free, if he tried hard enough.

But, then, the tar itself, moved. It moved to catch and pull back any part of the mercenary that was still uncovered by the stuff.

Markus had finally tugged and pulled at the tar enough that he was beginning to be free of the blob when a surge of movement caught him off guard. Before he realised what was going on a tendril of black, sticky nastiness whipped out and pulled an arm in.

"Oh for the love of-" Was all he managed to get out before more tar moved to submerge his head. Markus was barely able to release the emergency blade concealed within his mechanical hand in time, and slice the tendril in two.

"OI MAYRA&#33;" Markus bellowed "IF YOU'RE DONE PISSING OFF THE DRAGON I'D RATHER APPRECIATE NOT BEING SUFFOCATED&#33;"

The nightmare screamed the way horses scream when the lightning struck, it's front legs folding up in paralysis after the charge worked it's way through it's body. The creature hit the floor and skidded, no longer a threat, at least for now

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Fade may have seemed to have gone in the chaos. In fact, the assassin had slipped away-sort of. Fade had used her abilities to fade into the background, becoming invisible in the chaos.

Fade now stood nearby Markus, watching from the shadows. Literally, in her case. The mutant had had the Onyx Longsword on her back the entire time, as invisible as she'd been when she'd slipped away.

Now she just watched what was going on inside the shadow dimension she was occupying, and waited, contemplating.

Spinning rapidly, Mayra swore as she saw the tar trying to engulf Markus.

"This is not time for a sodding bath&#33;&#33;" she yelled. She desperately racked her brains trying to think of a way to get him out.

"Got it&#33;" she thought triumphantly, before wilting slightly. This didn't last long however as her natural optimism asserted itself.

"How hard can it be?" Holstering her pistol she forced runes into an orbit around her wrists, before clapping her hands together and unleashing a pulse of arcane disruption at Markus.

Lili continued her spiralling flight upwards, continuing to paint the yellow canary in the birdcage as she went, making it larger, making it change colours from bright yellow to reds and oranges, with lightning bolt patterns all over it's scales. This scaly creature also sported jagged horns atop his head, and electric blue eyes. This was another Dragon, and it's wings were painted wide open, so when she let go he wouldn't fall.

Which she did, shortly after the almost as large and muscular creature as she was was finished. "You are Red" Lili immediately said, hovering in the air now so she could talk to him properly "And you will protect me from those creatures down there. I'm trying to make the place more appealing, you see, and they don't want that. One of them even shot me, and that's not very nice, is it?" Lili grinned.

The Shadow Mirror Dragon looked down, then dived down, now spitting her sticky tar everywhere. The people that got hit with it on the way were just collateral, as far as she was concerned. Nope, it was the direction that the bullet had come from earlier that she was heading in. To make whoever had shot it suffer.

<hr />

The tar surrounding Markus moved when the disruption it hit, seemingly, trying to resist the disruption. However, it didn't do the tar much good, because it slipped off the mercenary and moved out of the range of the pulse, where it stopped and just stayed there unmoving like tar really should.

Coolpikaaa was gone. Scrubbed from existence the moment Lili touched him with the brush and wished for something else in his place.

"I am Red." The hulking monster repeated slowly as his new mind developed. He beat his wings, slowly at first, just to stay in the air. Then, soon enough, with vigor, sensing his new strength. His stunning blue eyes lost their glaze. He became focused. "Red." He said again.

"I like that name..." He grinned, showing off rows of vile, sharpened teeth. Even smiling, he looked malicious. Like a tiger that had just found lunch. "My lady, you need to say no more. As your knight, I exist to serve you..."

The Dragon did a turn mid air, twisting as he glided towards the ground. Below him he could see the inhabitants of The Encampment running, scared. Their terror was satisfying. Insignificant specks. He loved that he had the privilege to watch his Queen work, blobs of tar impacting the crowds as he soared over them, trapping a large percentage in the compressing goo.

In front of Markus a couple ran, the man leading the woman by the hand out of danger. They almost made it to the assassin. Almost. With a scream, both were enveloped in a cloud of darkness that spewed down from above. Sparks of white hot intensity punctured the darkness and the yells faded out shortly before the cloud started to. A single blackened skull rolled out to meet Markus' foot, trailing ash.

"Go cower somewhere else, worm." The Red Dragon growled to Mayra. He swung a claw to sweep her away while staring grimly at Markus. He still had the rifle right there. Of course he had been the one to harm the Lady Lili.

The Dragon reached forward, plucking the man right up off the ground. He was so tiny in comparison... The Dragon opened his mouth slightly, letting out a growl that sounded like rolling thunder.

"You've upset . The Lady."