sLAY THE DRAGON! (DarkPinkie)

[nicktaken]

"You mentioned that once before. You said, if you had that crystal, you'd be able to bring the dead back to life. I guess you never got to that point..." Kilian trailed off, not sure if bringing up her dead sister was a good idea. He had been keeping what little he knew about the tragedy at Ravencaw from her. It was one of the things that drove her to erase her memories, he had little doubt, which meant it was among the last things she needed to know. There was no reason for her to know about Bryna or all the people who got caught in Casandra's machinations and died. Most if not all of them deserved it anyway, but Zerechia was of a different opinion and just kept blaming herself. And while his own presence was probably unhealthy for her, he couldn't just leave. Had he not been around, she would have gotten killed last night. He couldn't abandon her knowing the damn sorceress still had a way of following her, and was now more dangerous than ever.

"Oh." He was caught slightly off guard by her sudden change to a much less significant topic. "You're making good progress. To be honest, I was expecting you to breeze through everything within two months or so, but you wouldn't be you if you didn't laze about." He smiled. Was she trying to avoid talking about them? It was probably obvious that he meant to do exactly that. His poor way with words was what caused their fight yesterday in the first place. Though in a sense, they were lucky to split up, the situation with Jules notwithstanding. Casandra saw a chance and took it, and ultimately it all ended well. For them, not for her. If she hadn't had that chance, that perfect coincidence with the alignment of the moons, she would have waited for him to leave town and escaped with the dragon in tow. If she hid herself from the Hunters all these years, she'd be able to hide Zerechia, as well. And neither Vassia nor the best hunting dog would be able to help if the witch had time to hide her tracks. He might have lost her if they hadn't had that fight.

The thought made him shudder and also hate himself a little bit. Why was it that he only remembered how much she meant to him when he would almost lose her? And why, despite telling himself he was going to do better this time, he kept repeating the same mistakes? He promised not to be an ass when she got stabbed by some random mugger way back then, but he was being one right now. Technically, he wasn't being an ass to her until yesterday when she started telling him off for being an ass to Jules. He was irritated she was buying into his deception, or at least seemed to, but actually, that wasn't what tipped him over. Well, the fastest way to get over it was to get it out in the open.

"Zerechia, you're not... replacing me with Jules, right?" He asked quietly. There was no way to make it sound any better than it did. "I mean... I still have no idea what you liked... or used to like about me. You're a dragon and I'm just an obnoxious, cynical and constantly anxious human. Just a human who hadn't lived a fraction of your life and yet dares to act like your equal... even if you did tell me to. Not that I expect you to know that now, after losing your memory, I'm just saying. And after coming to this town, well..." He sighed heavily. "I hadn't been around much, and even when I was, you were mostly busy studying with Jules. And then in the evenings our main topic of conversation would once again be your lessons with him. And it's kind of my fault because I didn't want to talk about my work for the Hunters because it was mostly unpleasant, but that's beside the point." He took a pause and set aside the mostly melted ice so it didn't obstruct his face or vision.

"When we were travelling together before, there were good things, but it was mostly going from one mess to another. Here in Dragon Cliff, well... you seem much happier than I've ever seen you before. I mean, it could be because you forgot a number of painful things, but I just couldn't stop thinking if that wasn't it. What if you were happier because I wasn't around much?" He looked her straight in the eye, clearly distraught. "It's not like I instantly decided that was it, but negative thoughts like that just kept adding up. And then I started wondering if, on some level, I wanted you to be miserable. That couldn't be it, I told myself, but then why couldn't I just be happy that you're doing well? That you're no longer blaming yourself for things that weren't your fault, nor contemplating suicide? Was it even alright for someone as toxic as myself to stay next to you, then?" He raised and dropped his arms in the gesture of having no clue.

"I tried to convince myself it was alright. That I was just stressed. That it was all for your sake. And kept it locked up as best I could, but..." Kilian sighed heavily again. She already knew how that ended: with him being an ass. "And in the end, I don't even know the answer. Is it really best for you to get your memories back? You said you wanted to, but I don't think you did. If I understand memory loss correctly, you didn't feel anything about your lost memories because you couldn't. You simply went along with this out of consideration for me. Would it not be best to forget your old life, as you probably wanted to, and start anew? Well, now I know we won't be able to until Casandra is dealt with, but even so, the question remains." He wasn't sure he was being entirely cohesive anymore.

"And worse yet, I realized I had no idea what I thought of you anymore. I thought it might be best if I tried treating you as a new person, but I couldn't. I kept seeing the old you, but you were not. I no longer knew how I was supposed to act around you. Were we friends? Lovers? Just acquaintances since it was akin to a first meeting for you? No matter which option I tried, I couldn't stick with any of them. I felt too awkward to try and rebuild our relationship to what it used to be, but I wasn't willing to just let you go, either. It was confusing and frusrating, and I hated myself for being that way." He didn't notice when exactly tears started coming out of his eyes, but his voice remained mostly stable, at least.

"And then being separated from you for most of that time and hearing you speak so fondly of Jules, whom I constantly suspected of plotting something..." He shook his head. "I was terrified. You've made it plenty clear that you didn't pick me for my looks. Naturally, since you're a dragon. You may be able to appreciate some beauty about the human form, like I can admire how beautifully your scales shined in the moonlight that time... but that's not the sort of attraction that leads to becoming lovers. And yes, there is a lot more to it than looks, but if looks didn't matter at all, then..." He sighed yet again. "So I started comparing myself to Jules. Apart from appearance or age, which were both laughable from a dragon's point of view, what else was there? Intelligence, knowledge, status... he beat me in every aspect I could think of. So I started to panic. There was nothing I could offer you that he couldn't top. What was I left with?" He posed a rhetorical question and wiped his face.

"I don't even know where I'm going with this. And that's part of the problem. I just don't know anything anymore. And even as I'm saying this, I'm afraid I'll look pathetic in your eyes. Like I'm begging for your pity. And perhaps I am. I was telling myself it was all for your sake this whole time, but wasn't I just trying to make myself feel better? Because somehow or other, it was probably my fault that you wanted to forget everything, but now I'm trying to make you remember? And for what? Just so I can properly explain myself and apologize, while you're left with the pain of the memories you wanted to forget? And I'm probably repeating myself by now without really noticing, aren't I? I am such a fucking mess." Kilian buried his face in his hands and sobbed quietly. "I keep promising to do better, but I end up at the same place time and again. Lashing out at you for no reason, putting you in danger... I hate myself for being this way. I have wondered time and again if it wouldn't be best to just leave you in peace, but I kept stopping myself, thinking that I'd be devastated if you were to do something like that. But what if that's just circular reasoning so I feel better about myself again? I just don't know anymore."

He looked up at her again. "Please, Zerechia, tell me. Just... something. I can't take this anymore. I need to know for sure. I don't know what. Just something. Anything that I can lean on so I don't lose my mind completely."

[DarkPinkie]

The former dragon smirked and retorted to the comment about her lazyness. "And how many years did it take you to learn this stuff? Sure I was able to skim through half of the first echelon because for some reason I already had a bit of an understanding for magic. Probably because of dragon things." She chuckled. "But right now I am working my tail of to understand this. Even if I have the power for every spell and more, I still have difficult understanding some of it, but I still do my best so that I can work this out as fast as possible." She sat back down and was glad she had that little thing to laugh about.

That is until she got launched by the barrage of words that frankly she was not prepared for. She just retained a mostly shocked silence while he rambled on. Her blinking and her eyes moving in order to actually see his movements, was all that confirmed that she was still paying attention. It wasn't until he started begging her to reply that she snapped out of it. "No! No, Kilian. I would not replace you with Jules. I may seem happy here but that's because I am happy when you are here. You make me feel... Complete. Like there is part of me missing and you fill part of that void. When you are not here I feel hollow, I may act friendly, and in fact I do try." She sank down her chair a bit. "But it's that obnoxiousness, the cynisysm that makes you feel so familiar, that makes me want to keep you close at all times. But there are other things that makes me think better of you. You can be heroic when you are pushed, instead of cracking under the pressure you are there standing tall. Your anxiety we can work on. It's my job to be anxious about stuff." She said with a bit of a huff.

Straightening herself a bit she continued. "My 'happines' as it where may be because of some bad things. But I believe there was a reason I put this thing in my head." She raised her finger and poked the side of her head a couple lf times. "And from what you told me about the night I did it and knowing myself that might have been a very ill concieved reason. Or heck, it might have been an accident, much like my magical outburst yesterday." It was her time to shrug and hold her hands up in a gesture of unknowing. "If I do get them back and decide to re-apply the block, then I will at least leave myself a note, or telling you why. But with how much my memories have bled through yesterday I don't think it was something I planned. The headaches, the slipthroughs, this body." She motioned down to her very human form. "If I was thinking clearly then I wouldn't have done such a sloppy job now would I?" She then shifted to give Kilian a jocking smile. "But then again. I am lazy after all."

Taking a deep breath she looked him in the eye. "When you are around I feel comfortable. When you leave me I become an anxious mess. You should seen me on the first echelon exam Jules gave me. You know when you where gone for three weeks and scared the everloving drake out of me when you slammed the door open. Well I was so worried that I would use too much force and just outright blow the entire house up. In reality as you may know the first echelon exam does not really contain any spellcasting." She chuckled. "I know that they send you out to make sure you are not dangerous, what with all your freaky powers and all that. But I still don't like it when you are gone for so long. It just feels wrong." She sighed.

"As for Jules. He could never really replace you. I mean, just look at him. He is a grumpy old man. He pours a bucket of water on me the one time I decide sleep is more worth my business than practice. He is so worried about everything. Probably just hoping that I won't explode and kill everyone in a horrid way. And his odd behaviour of always waiting just around the corner before approaching. I mean, it is not like he is just standing there around the corner listening to us right aa we speak." She gave a knowing glance back towards the staircase. "Yet he always seems to forget which of the planks are the squeeky ones. Jules! Did you find out anything interesting about the ball? Or should Kilian and I perhaps relocate to our room?" She said turned around in her seat to look in the direction of Where Jules was. Shaking her head she still turned around to Kilian. "Yet despite his flaws he is still quite an agreeable person... If you let him. Sure he might be a bit grumpy towards you to begin with. And he have a very... Non-existant sense of humor. But under the prickly exterior he is a kind person in his heart. Much like I know you want to be. Also, the reason I spent so much of the time you where here studying with the geezer was because you made me feel at ease and it helped me actually concentrate on the harder stuff." She chuckled as she stood up from her chair. And turned her body towards the stairs yet kept her head and eyes focused on Kilian. "Our relationship is... Confusing. I don't know exactly what it is yet. It is... Complicated. Let's leave it at that. But if you wish we could set the barriers for it later. Right now I have to go check on my fuzzball to make sure she is alright and ask Jules about that weird orb thingy I found in my cleanup water dish."

Chia started walking towards the bottoms of the stairs. Once there she turned around fully to face him again. "If you ever did decide to 'leave for my good' I would search for you, and I would find you, and when I did. There would be no escape from the chewing out I would give you." She then turned and headed up the the stars shere she found Jules standing at the top. "Hey Jules. Found out what the ball was?"

[nicktaken]

"Three to pass fourth echelon, but I had neither prior experience nor a limitless supply of energy." Kilian retorted with a smug look. It was a nice prelude to a much less pleasant discussion that was going to follow. Her words were comforting for sure, but at the same time, that's what worried him. It was just another part of the vicious circle. He screwed up, he got anxious about it, he broke down, she consoled him. Rinse and repeat. This time wasn't any different. Well, he would rather the cycle didn't break on this particular step, as it would mean that she got fed up with him. But he wasn't sure of his ability not to fall right back into his part. It wouldn't be the first time he told himself he wasn't going to, but then some unexpected factor came into play and he was back at square one. He couldn't account for every possibility, but that just meant he'd have to overcome them.

"You call this not cracking under pressure?" He chuckled softly. In all fairness, he did stubbornly press on when things were really bad, but he more than 'made up' for it by falling to pieces when he could afford not to be tense and focused, which in turn created more situations where he had to be. It was like his subconscious was guiding him into making all these mistakes that he knew were probably mistakes but he did them anyway because that's the kind of person he was, or something. There were many things he could have done much better after meeting Zerechia and especially after her memory loss. Emotions weren't the easiest thing to control, especially when you had a lot of worries, but there were times when he knew it was a bad idea to act on them and still did. Keeping everything bottled up until it overflowed was bad, but if he didn't, he'd probably be whining the whole way.

"Considering you had no formal training at the time and how complex anything to do with the mind is, you probably gave it you best shot." Kilian said quietly. She had a point and he would like to think she was right, but that was too optimistic. If he learned anything in life, it was that good things usually happened by chance and bad ones from intent. But he had to admit, hearing her speak was setting him at ease. She didn't actually give him anything concrete that he could hold on to as he asked, but this was good enough. "And I'm a grumpy not-as-old man, but what's forty years to a dragon? One decent nap is what." He retorted in a much more upbeat tone than before. He was finding it hard to believe she acted very differently when he wasn't close, but wasn't that just his insecurity speaking up? Perhaps they both needed each other and that was it. All of his worries were born from being separated from her, but instead of making the most of their time together he started imagining things.

"No, I'm pretty sure he's listening in, actually." The young man commented, feeling a lot more relaxed. Letting it all out once in a while was good, though in all fairness, all the 'problems' were always just in his head. And he knew that from the start, but somehow that only made them fester and him feel even worse. "I wonder if lady healer offers therapy for abandonment issues..." He commented off-handedly. He knew what his problem was. It wasn't hard to guess for anyone who knew a couple of key moments from his past. But that didn't mean he could fix it.

The one thing that didn't sounds reassuring was her comment on their relationship. After saying all those nice things about how he made her feel comfortable and how he completed her, she left it at being complicated. Was it because she didn't want the old wizard overhearing too much? Well, after last night, he'd probably grow a conscience and not listen to everything that was being said, just the general tone of the conversation. Or so he hoped, at least. Being used by the Hunters was one thing, having one's privacy violated another. "Yeah, that's okay. I can work with that." He nodded a bit uncertainly. He'd rather get everything sorted quickly, but patience was also a virtue.

Jules' appearance at the staircase was a little too well timed to be a mere coincidence, which happened pretty commonly with him. "It's an unusual compound of crystal similar to quartz. There appear to be impurities, but the shape is near flawless. It would make for a good magic conduit or focus if treated properly." The wizard gave the fullest explanation he could as he handed the transparent ball back to Zerechia. "It still has traces of your magic from when I assume you made it, so I'm not sure why you asked. Unless you wanted to see if I'm as learned as I am grumpy?" He raised one eyebrow, not really hiding the fact that he overheard at least some of what was said between the pair. "In any case, I think we all need a day off after last night."

"Actually, before that..." Kilian spoke up but trailed off right away. "Zerechia, once you've checked on Vassia, there's another thing I'd like to discuss. Between all three of us." He paused. "I'd accompany you but I think sitting down was a mistake." He added with a slight smile. Now that he allowed himself to relax, physically and mentally, he was starting to feel really sick. He was alright on the chair, but walking would be problematic in the next hour or so.

[DarkPinkie]

She paused in cront of Jules in the staircase and giggled at him calling himself grumpy. "But it's not always a bad thing being grumpy, sometimes it's the grumpy people that get things done. Kilian should know." She said before she looked down at the fist sized ball. She was surprised at the explanation. A quarts crystal? Isn't that like crystalized silica? But wat caused her to blink a couple of times was that he mentioned her making it. "Huh... I don't remember making it. Looking over towards Kilian. "Do you remember me making a crystal ball?"

In either case she nodded at Jules before she went to check on the not quite as fuzzy fox. Walking into the room as quietly as she could manage she looked at the poor little thing in the bed. "How is she?" She asked of the healer. Carefully sitting down in the bed she stroked the orange hair. "I wonder if this is going to make our daily cuddle sessions awkward?" She asked rhethorically. A few seconds pass and she tries to recall how she met the fox, yet as proven all it accomplishes is giving her a headache. Having gotten her answer as well as seeing that Vassia would probably not wake up anytime soon she excused herself again and started heading back down to the room.

Seeing Kilian slumped over the table brought a giggle to her. "You know Kilian, some people may think you have a drinking problem. But I don't see a drinking problem... Yet... However if you continue to drink like this I might be inclined to change my mind." She moved to sit herself down "Alright Jules, what did you want to speak about?" She hoped it was good news, but she didn't have any real belief that it would be.

[nicktaken]

"Um, yeah?" Kilian nodded as she asked him about the ball. He thought there was some point to her asking Jules about it, like perhaps he had given her some kind of test task to make one, but apparently she didn't even remember that she made it. Well, her mind did seem to be wandering somewhere else entirely during that short talk, and she did seem to be doing it absentmindedly, but... "You made it from the shards of glass in our room and that mana crystal you had been holding onto before going to bed last night." He explained, realizing that it wasn't just a question of power. If he got Jules' words correctly, it was a uniform sphere. It would have been better quality without the ordinary glass mixed in, but that was beside the point.

The point was, the wizard said it was a single compound. Which could be achieved if she used extreme heat, but he saw her make it. She just turned the pieces into powder and then compressed it, any heating being secondary or a side effect. Granted, she had an abundant supply of power, but she effectively achieved basic transmutation, changing the the structure of an object to a similar yet different one while maintaining its nature, which was at least a higher fifth echelon level of spell. He was pretty sure simply grinding too types of similar substances together wasn't supposed to result in a new third one. The expression on Jules' face said that he had come to a similar conclusion, but he was more worried than thrilled about it. In contrast, 'true transmutation' like the fabled turning of lead to gold or something along those lines was not considered possible, but odds were it just needed a lot more power than any mortal could exert or control.

The healer greeted the girl she knew as Sarah with a nod. This woman was not a Hunter and she hadn't been kept in the loop by Jules, but she was the first to discover how unusual the blond was. It was hard to miss when you healed someone whose aura dwarfed your own, and now there was this fox demon. Well, it was just a traditional way of calling them, not really implying any negative undertones. "She'll get better soon. I've fixed her bones and dealt with the internal damage, so she just needs rest. Make sure she doesn't move around too actively for the next while though, or she might hurt herself again. Healing magic cannot do everything." She explained as a proper doctor before giving the younger woman a reassuring smile. "So I guess you had no idea your pet fox wasn't just a fox, then? To be honest, I don't know much about her kind. But if she stuck around this long, it had to be for a reason, right?" It felt a bit awkward trying to reassure the odd 'family member' when she had no idea what happened, but she knew Jules for years and that it was sometimes for the best if she wasn't informed of every circumstance.

"Yes, hilarious." Kilian grumbled quietly, content to see that the dragon was calm, which meant Vassia was doing okay. "I'll fix it. Promise." He added as he rubbed his face for a second and slapped his cheeks to try and perk up. "So, yeah, this isn't going to be a fun conversational topic. It's about Casandra." Seeing the puzzled look on Jules' face, he quickly elaborated. "That was the name Zerechia used to know her under. When I confronted her last night, she revealed that Eleanora Lutzfrid was the name of her sister who apparently exposed her practice of dark magic a long time ago and taking her name was probably a way to get back at her? Well, her reasons are irrelevant. What could have meaning, however, is that Eleanora Lutzfrid was my... well, my ancestor." He shrugged softly, not in the mood to try and guess how many generations apart they were. It made little difference anyway. Before he continued, he pulled off the glove on his left hand again, revealing his changed appendage. For a couple of seconds, there was just silence.

"What an odd phenomena. It's like I'm not looking at anything, yet I cannot see anything behind it." Jules was the first to speak up.

"I have my theories, but they're not worth mentioning at this point." The young man told a white lie. The reason he didn't want to talk about it was because it was directly related to the most painful memories Chia had. Regardless of what they did about her memory in the end - which he suddenly realized she made no comment on after his small mental breakdown - there was no need to mention any of it so far. That and this was probably a lot worse than any arcane explosion she could muster. He wasn't an idiot. When she first told him about the red crystal and how it was supposed to both kill her and bring her sister back, he was mostly confused how the two were connected. But after considering it for a while and stuff around his left hand just vanishing last night, he got an inkling to what this magic was supposed to do, at least. With her theory of him having become something like a soul stone, a container for magic energy and enchantments, it would sort of make sense why his left arm looked like it did, like a mass of nothingness, even if that was an oxymoron.

"Anyway, Casandra and I are somewhat related and not dissimilar." He continued. "I used to think I survived thanks to quick thinking when Theodore killed my friends all those years ago." It wasn't technically a lie if it was a possibility and he wasn't sure the other one was more correct, right? "But I think it might have been because of my Gift. It protected me, and... well, out of six lives that were drained in that incident, only three were accounted for. The other three... probably ended up consumed by me." He finished heavily. "And that had been how Casandra sustained herself thus far. For no less than the two hundred years since she started coming after Zerechia." His story was filled with half-truths, but he didn't want the Hunters finding out she was the very dragon who destroyed Ravencaw. They'd probably try to have her killed right away.

"I mean, the theory of taking one life to sustain another had existed for a long time. But Theodore had attempted that and failed twice. Even if he wasn't the greatest wizard ever, he had all the pieces together. What let Casandra succeed where others failed was probably an anomaly unique to our family, with myself being the only other person it manifested in." Well, it wasn't as unlikely as it sounded. Gifts that were magical in nature but worked differently from ordinary spell-casting were rare, but they were known to correlate with blood ties. Perhaps if any other members of his family did anything whatsoever with magic, it might have awakened in them, too. But they seemed to avoid it and Casandra was probably the cause. "There are also differences brought on by circumstances, but I definitely felt some kind of resonance when we fought last night."

"And that's the problematic part, really. She used to just be able to use magic and drain souls. Yesterday, she displayed an ability not unlike the one I was infamous for, being able to deflect most any attack, even if it only manifested in the arm I maimed in our last encounter. And after we clashed, it changed again, taking on a more monstrous appearance and gaining a destructive ability that might be unstoppable... save for by its counterpart." He waved his left hand for a moment, articulating what he meant. "Well, a strong enough magic could probably withstand it, but still. You have to warn all Hunters to be on the lookout. She is more dangerous than ever before, and with her experience, I fear she might find ever new ways of employing this power I kind of gave her." He shook his head. He really wished it hadn't worked that way. Was it his fault? Yeah, it was totally his fault. He had this thing going on for months now, and he never really bothered to experiment with its capabilities, limits or dangers. Or even let Jules take a look at it.

"In short, I'm gonna need you to take a look at it. My arm." He clarified, directing those words at Jules. "Anything we can figure out about it would be helpful. Especially any way I can use it against Casandra without giving her new abilities."

[DarkPinkie]

She looked at the healer with a hint of a smile. Vassia would be alright and that mattered a lot to her. "No I never fully knew. I just thought she was just a very clever fox." She then chuckled when she said the fox spirit might be sticking around for a reason. "Acording to Kilian I wanted to eat her." She let out a small laugh before stroking the kitsune's head soke more. "Right after the hit to my head that cost me my memories me and Kilian where confused and shouting at each other and Vassia decided to step in and protect me from the back then half unknown man who was shouting very angerly at me. Then he spewed something to the fox about protecting the one that wanted to eat her. I don't remember the full story but there must have been something behind it." There was not a whole lot more to say about. She was just glad her 'not quite as little, but still kind of small' friend was alright.

As Jules looked puzzled about the name so did Chia. She tried ransaking her memories of the name but only got a single emotion and a substantial headache for the name. Thinking about it she felt hate. Shaking her head free she simply listened tl his explanation. So the woman she hate is related to the man she loves? Oh great. It's like the evil mother in that one book she had picked up read, and told herself to promptly forget about because it was just stupid. Where was amnesia super magic when one needed it right? Once more she had let her train of thought derail as she listened. Focusing on what he was actually saying might be important even if she couldn't remember a lot of things she might just have a small amount of insight.

"The ability to sustain themselves on the life of others does not garantee a perfect full life expectancy conversion, as all life generates life energy as they go on in life. Of course older people generate less than younger people, and it is this process combined with natural factors that constitute aging. So taking the life energy of another should only give you a few years, all depending on the age and natural lifespan of the victim." She said matter of factly. It took her a few seconds to realise what she had just said. "I have no idea how I know that, and it sounds horrible." She added looking slightly disturbed by herself. Wracking her brain on the topic resulted in some more information but any inquiry to how she knows the information gave her only headaches. "Lifespan can also similarly be gifted away. A dragon, naturally able to manipulate life energies around them can fod example give some of their incredible lifespans to beings much shorter lived. In fact just being around dragons tend to increase lifespans of mortal creatures, suggesting that life energy radiates when it is expended rather than consumed." Stopping and finding herself blinking about this.

Sure her head hurt like it got hit with a sledgehammer but she didn't realize she knew so much objective information aboit the topic. "I am getting off topic now... Right. Carry on Kilian." She said half as a cover from her getting weird and wanting to shift the focus on something else. Another reason was to give her throbbing head some time to recouperate. It was just like those first days of magic training when she recalled so many magical theories but giving her constant migranes. Another reason why her first echelon training had taken her two months even if whe basically knew most of it already.

She let him finish this time without interrupting while her head calmed down. When he reached his end and asked Jules to look at the hand she herself raised an eyebrow. "Um Kilian. This new ability, could you describe it to us? It would probably be easier for any hunters that may run into her to avoid it if they knew what to look out for." She asked calmly. Even though the question was phrased as it might be important to the hunters, it stemed a bit from her own worry as well as curiosity.

[nicktaken]

"Huh." The two men said almost in unison when the dragon shared some interesting and potentially relevant information on the subject of life force and such. "I should probably mention useful things like that more often. Who knows what other random bits of knoweldge you've been holding back." Kilian added with a small smile before continuing on the matter with Casandra. If he hadn't been set at ease by her literally several minutes ago, her remembering more than she let on might have been another toxic idea that would have nestled in his head. Thankfully, he was able to brush such thoughts off for the time being. His only worry was that it wasn't going to last. He was vulnerable at the core as he was resilient on the surface, which just happened to be something that was true for both him and Zerechia. Unfortunately, while she seemed to hold on to the positives, he got stuck on the negatives.

"I didn't get a chance to see much of it... probably for the best." He said, momentarily holding his hand to the gashed on his shirt. "Her right arm had twisted into something akin to a claw when she struck at me. It may have been involuntary, and odds are she could learn to change its shape at will. She had then tried this power an a nearby tree, and..." He rubbed his temples for a moment. He had already done a lot of talking and thinking, and he wasn't in the best state for either. "Prior to her memory loss, Zerechia made enchanted clothes for me. The ones I'm currently wearing. I have no idea how the enchantment really works, but it effectively allowed me to summon and dismiss the clothes at will, and alter their apperance within certain constraints. The important part was, no matter what sort of damage the clothes suffered, re-summoning them caused them to come back brand new. Well, this is the place she got me." He pointed to the thin cuts. "I have even tried changing the design, but the holes always appear in the same place. So it's like a disintegration spell of sorts, and the damage might not be possible to fix with magic." He said. It was mostly conjecture, but she did mention being unable to heal the arm that he somehow managed to set on fire.

"In summary." He decided to conclude the talk. "She has access to all the magic Hunters already knew she had in the past, blood magic, possibly something else, and she had since grown more powerful by feeding on souls. Additionally, her right arm displays the whole indestructability thing that I had and a new mysterious and powerful destruction magic. She may also be able to develop these abilities in unexpected ways, and it's possible that she'll be able to drain magic from any existing source, including actual spells." He sighed. It was safer to assume she could now do everything he could and better, but without losing access to things she knew how to do previously. Naturally. With his luck, it was a good thing his Gift was simply being copied rather than transfered altogether. "Oh yeah, she's also strong and resilient physically, now. I don't think any single person can go toe to toe with her anymore, regardless of circumstances." He concluded on a rather dark note. But it was true. Last time he caught her by surprise and then cornered her, but she still escaped. This time he won by stalling, but he was the one who got hurt worse. Next time he might outright lose.

"With that in mind, I won't be able to do work for the Hunters anymore, Jules. This whole time I was hoping that Casandra wouldn't be able to find Zerechia in human form, but now that it happened, I can't leave her alone. I'll need to prepare for the next time she comes after us, whenever that may be." Kilian said. Thinking about it, even before the whole thing with that red crystal, he had done some pretty amazing things with his Gift. Like grab a whole goddamn river, or at least a sizeable portion of it. It didn't even make sense, but he did it and he had a witness. He had every intention of exploring what he had done that time further, but after the thing with Chia's memory, it sort of slipped his mind. He was too focused on other things. Of course, he didn't want Hunters knowing too much about his power and 'promoting' him from a potential threat to an actual one, but perhaps if he had tested it in secret, the situation where he had to reveal everything would never have occurred. Hindsight was always flawless, but entirely useless.

"We all need to prepare." Jules nodded. In a sense, having a common foe wasn't bad. He would no longer have to work so hard to convince the other members, and it would formally turn the dragon and her friend into the Hunters' allies. Considering the enemy this time was a former Hunter, their aid would be greatly appreciated. "We'll have to move to one of the larger bases, where at least a few agents are present almost constantly. This place was mostly set up to keep watch on potential dragon activity after the events of Ravencaw, and frankly, you two coming here is the most use it had ever been. We cannot afford another situation like last night." The old wizard decided. He was finding their story hard to believe, but after seeing the woman he knew as Eleanora, who was supposed to be dead but seemed younger than ever, he decided it wasn't worth taking any chances. The traitor was already extremely powerful, there was no telling what would happen if she got her hands on a dragon's soul. Nothing good. "It'll take a while to set everything up. No lessons today, I'm afraid... but don't go far. You too, Kilian."

[DarkPinkie]

Chia leaned back a bit letting a single hand up and be shook in between them. "If only it didn't give me such a headache I would agree with that statement. But These bouts of information while both useful and interesting are quite painful, and so far I am unsure what triggers them. Like the clawmarks we found right after getting this condition. Like that they where made by a red dragon just between a half to two centuries old by identifying the sharpness of the marks as well as the size. Granted they looked really old and weathered so I might be wrong." She added with a shrug. There wasn't all that much relevance to it, sure Jules might be a bit interested in it but she didn't reallyy have all that much to give him.

After having listened to Killians explanation she nodded her head. "That's actually quite terrifying really." Chia agreed with him, albeight in a very calm non-terrified manner. "I think have I agree with Killian, I don't want this Casandra to come after me again. Whatever she wants with me I do not plan to give her." She then leaned back and sighed heavily. Why did her life have to be so complicated, granted quite a bit of that complication she created herself, but semantics.

Sitting back up more straight she looked towards Jules. "Say Jules, do you have a map of the world laying around?" She asked him curiously. There was something she needed to check out. Something that had peeked her curiosity that night.

[nicktaken]

The young man nodded silently. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. If it were, they wouldn't have ended up in this mess in the first place. And while he chose not to say anything, he was beginning to worry if removing the seal on her memory was going to be enough. He had yet to see the extent of her magic - especially once she learned better how to control it instead of just brute-forcing it - but there was no telling what kind of tricks Casandra might have next time around. His actions awakaned an unusual power similar to his, and she seemed to be overtaking him in that regard already. He could only hope that one of the things the damn witch copied from him was the willing non-resistance to any spell used by Zerechia that he defaulted to. That might give her a good shock, among other things.

"What red dragon claw marks?"

"Don't worry about it, it's literally ancient history." Kilian waved off Jules' concerns. He really didn't feel like explaining everything, especially since the forgetful dragon was still blissfully unaware of the existence and death of her sister - as far as he knew at least. "Unfortunately, I don't think she's going to give up. Last night seemed to be what she was aiming for, with the moons and all, but she did come after us before, pretty far ahead of time might I add. She probably saw those as good opportunities..." He trailed off slightly. They kind of were. One time Chia was under the effect of her blood magic, though the old witch underestimated a dragon's power. The other she probably expected Theodore to be putting up more of a fight, and admittedly, Kilian and sir Regiwald would have been screwed if they had to deal with two experienced wizards. But the professor was not like her, fueled by others' lives, just an old man trying to replicate what one of his students caused. And not one like Jules either, just a simple teacher. He shook his head. Thinking about the past was even more depressing now that he knew it was all his fault, the deaths of his friends and the professor's descent into madness both. He didn't mean for any of that to happen, but that was irrelevant.

"Yes, we have maps." The wizard was slightly confused by the question, because of course they did. There was no way they could not. "There are some in my office. You can study them while I contact my colleagues and update them on the situation." He stood and gestured for the dragon to follow her. Feeling slightly left out - and not particularly eager to explore the possibilities and dangers of his largely undiscovered Gift - Kilian decided to tag along for a bit.

"What's on your mind?" He was curious about her sudden interest in maps. Considering this was a region she had spent a long time living in, he might learn something interesting about her - or stop her from finding out more than she needed to right now.

[DarkPinkie]

Chia nodded gracefully to the offer of being lent some maps to study. She stood up and followed after him and gave a soft smile as she saw Kilian tagging along. She calmly thought over his question to find the best way to answer it as she was not perfectly sure how to explain it. "Just a permutation I need to confirm is all." She replied though she was not fully sure about it herself. But at least it gave her something to do while Jules was busy.

Nodding in thanks to Jules when he handed her a case with a rolled up map showing the known world on it. Chia unplugged the case and rolled the map out to take a quick look at it. The first thing she did was cring at it. "Urgh, these coastlines are all so inaccurate." She shook her head a bit. Why she had said that she was unsure, but probably related to her hidden away memory. "Anyway lets look here hmm..." She said as she put the map on the office desk. Her eyes moving back and fourth as it scanned the known areas of the world before they eventually settled on a large area in the middle of another continent that was completely blank.

After studying it for a bit she turned to Jules. "Hey Jules, do you know anything you can share with me about this area?" She said hovering her thinger over the vast empty expanse. She had a feeling the terrain and weather in the area was absolutely horrid, the worst even, but once more why she thought so baffled her. It wasn't until she had asked him that the former dragoness noticed some faded old text, barely visible on the very old map. "Tha- something- Lesert? No wait that's a D, not an L. Tha -Something- Desert. Sound like a lovely place to visit." She rolled her eyes as her voice dripped with sarcasm. The fact that a very large portion of the continent seemed to be covered by this desert lent credance to her dream.

[nicktaken]

"A permutation?" He was confused by her choice of words. The word was not one commonly used, and every meaning of it he knew didn't exactly match the context. Well, she was ancient, despite her appearance. Perhaps it was an older form of common-speak that he wasn't familiar with due to the passing of time. It also seemed like she deliberately avoided giving him a straight answer, but he stopped himself from worrying about it. That would be really counter-productive after they had just more or less figured out where they stood again.

"They're probably better on local maps." Kilian commented quietly as the dragon complained about the map. What did she expect when the first thing she grabbed was an old map of the whole known world? Then again, such finer details were probably lost on her. Despite possessing a great deal of knowledge, he had never heard of her kind making any records in drawing, writing or otherwise. Did they pass on everything they knew orally? Or did they simply not care enough to do so past some simple things? The latter actually seemed rather likely; what a waste it was.

The old wizard was having a quiet conversation over the crystal ball on his table and looked up a bit displeased that he was being torn away from it just for a lesson in basic geography. "It's called the Endless Desert." The young man decided to interject, more than capable of answering some simple question. Jules had much more important things to do right now. "Obviously, it has edges, but little else of it is explored. Far as people know, it's completely lifeless. But every expedition that ever went in was met with severe misfortune and had to turn back... provided they returned to share their story at all. Many say the place is cursed." He had never held great interest in a desolate wasteland, but learning about it was part of natural history class. Apparently, no magic or fancy navigational devices functioned properly in there, and the cause or countermeasures were yet to be discovered. Though from what he understood, there were far fewer attempts these days; why waste effort and people on what was probably worthless anyway?

"Some rumors say that in the middle of the desert lies a lost civilization. Others that it serves as the gods' treasury, which is why nobody is allowed to come close. But nobody really knows. The only settlement in the area is around here." He pointed his finger to the western edge of the desert. "Bzahvartein. Literally, 'city below the sands'." He looked at Zerechia, quite satisfied with the explanation he had given her. "Any of this ring a bell?"

[DarkPinkie]

The former dragoness stopped a second as she heard Kilian's confusion over the word she had chosen. Then it clicked that she had used the wrong one. "Oh sorry. I meant premonition. complicated words get mixed up sometimes." She corrected herself with an awkward smile. Hopefully she cleared out the confusion with her correction. She snorted in amusement when Kilian tried to at least defend the innacurate map. Well in either case she was going to look it over.

Chia raised an eyebrow at Jules's explaining the area. "Endless desert?" She asked, and right afterwards got the explanation to why it was called that. She listened attentively to what he had to say about it. She was especially curious about the rumor of the missing city. Hearing it's name triggered a very slight headache, a surefire indicator that her memories did know of it. So she did something she was not so sure about and tried her veet to focus on the name and force it forward. When she was asked if it rang any bell she suddenly got attacked by the worst pain she have ever felt hunched over as the pain that surged through her forehead. As she collapsed on the table her hands gripped at the sides of her skull in a futile attemt to contain it as she let out a shreek of pain. But as quickly as it appeared it vanished, leaving only a dull painful throb in it's wake. "Bzath-Ta-Thein." She say softly, panting softly from the experience she just had. Shakily picking herself off the table she had collapsed on she looked at both Jules and Kilian. "Bzath-Ta-Thein... The spires among sand." She repeates before she slowly walked over and sat down trying to recover from the pain surge. "Jules, I'm not so sure, but I think the lost civilization is not so much lost as not wanting to be found." She added with a pained smile. "Also no more forcing memories. It seems to hurt worse each time I try." But then again, the other times she had tried forcing something had been unsuccessful. First time she had actually gotten something. Even if that was very little.

[nicktaken]

Kilian rushed toward the dragon as she let out a cry of pain, but stopped awkwardly as he realized he had almost grabbed her with both hands. There was an uncomfortable tiny delay, just enough time for his gesture to mean less as he put only his right hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?!" He asked in a worried voice. He was certain nothing was actually going to happen if he touched her with his left hand. After all, a big part of the reason he avoided doing that was the fact he was previously hiding its condition. A pointless concern, considering she couldn't remember much. He had already touched Vassia with this hand, and nothing out of the ordinary happened. Zerechia would be no different, yet for some reason, he still hesitated. Was it because he promised her not to mess with that red crystal and then broke the promise? Or did he no longer feel like it was his own arm, and thus thought of it more as a tool? Whatever it was, he was probably giving off the wrong impression.

"Sorry my draconic is a little rusty." He shrugged when she corrected his pronunciation. Or did she? The name sounded almost identical, but the description she provided didn't sound like the underground city built by mortals that basically served as a rest stop for those who had to cross some of the desert. Jules furrowed his eyebrows as she interrupted his conversation for a second time and simply nodded to her. Listening in for a few seconds, Kilian figured out the hunter was discussing the possibility of accommodating a dragon in one of their bases, among other things.

"Whatever the reason is, people can't get to it." The young man once again answered in the wizard's place. "So is it some kind of dragon settlement?" He asked out of curiosity and then raised his hand hastily. "No, forget I said anything. Don't try to force your memories anymore." This bit of information she just shared wasn't even relevant, as far as he could see. Besides, once she had broken the spell she put on herself, which shouldn't take that much longer - he hoped - she would be able to talk about her memories freely, without having to put in effort or feel pain.

"Was the desert what you had a premonition about?" He didn't want her head to hurt again, but he was still rather interested about the thing she said before. By the time he get to her last night, Chia was already caught in some weird trance, so he had no idea what that could be about. The only thing he found odd in all of that was why she didn't seem to have put up any resistance whatsoever, even though she had to have learned some simple offensive and defensive spells by now, and had plenty of power to use them. But perhaps she never got the chance to.

[DarkPinkie]

Even though Kilian hesitated she greatly appreciated his concern for when she lost her balance a bit. On slightly shaky legs she looked at the desert with it's slightly faded out name. She offered a weak smile to Kilian to try to quell his fears. But the question Jules asked did draw a connection between her dream that night and the place on the map. "It's a graveyard." She added grimly.

She nodded to Kilian when he asked her about the premonition. "Yes. I saw a vision, or a memory or something while I was strung up at that tree. Then I dreamt of the same place but at a different time. I was thought that maybe if I knew what place it was I could figure out why it seems to relevant. Why have the vision of it twice? Why two different times?" She sighed as she made to move over to a chair which Kilian gracefully helped her with. Sitting down she nursed her head. "There might be something of importance there. Something I could use to unlock these things." She tapped the side of her head twice in emphasis. "It's something to look into when more local possibilities have been looked into." She added finally as she needed to finish up her magic training first and foremost. Chia wasn't going to try a potentially life threatening cross continent journey on a maybe unless any other more convenient options have been exhausted.

Speaking of exhausted this bout of memory based migrane was really starting to take their toll on her. Her eyes was begining to droop slightly from the exertion. Rising up from her chair she looked at the two. "I think I'll retreat to my room I feel like I need to rest and nurse this persistant headache. Kilian care to join me? We wouldn't want Casandra to jump me while I am all alone now would we?" She added in a bit of jest. But even if it was for humor it did contain a grain of seriousness to it. Whatever that woman wanted with her Chia did not want to give her.

Moving out of the room and towards theirs the former dragoness sighed. "You know, if it wasn't for the whole Casandra thing I would have really liked taking a day of and just spend it with you." But now she gets to spend every day with him, just bot in the context she had planned. Once in their windowless room she laid down on her bed and thanked Kilian. "So what do we do now?" She asked, curious about what Kilian was thinking.

[nicktaken]

A dragon graveyard sounded both ominous and ridiculous. Were they not effectively ageless creatures? She had told him about a dragon who had lived for thousands of years before, and she referred to elves - whose age could pass several centuries - as "mortal". And while elves themselves would call humans short-lived, that wasn't quite as big a separation as being mortal and not. And when age was not an issue, then who other than a dragon could realistically harm one? Well, Casandra, after a dragon without any magical skills to speak of was trapped in a relatively human body. And Hunter parties after extended periods of preparation - but it wasn't like those had a perfect success rate. Rather, they were known to have met with success on several occasions, but who knew how many attempts they had made? No less than twice as many, he suspected.

"I wonder." Kilian went quiet for a few seconds after saying that. They did mean to cross the sea before her self-induced amnesia. Where did they intend to start from? South of Oakshore or something, so that their trip would take less time? As he looked at the map, a piece of the puzzle fell into place. While she did say the coastline was inaccurate, it wasn't completely baseless. And indeed, starting from around that spot was the shortest route to the other shore, the continent where the Endless Desert lay. "I think it was where you wanted us to go before your memory loss." He leaned in a bit closer and said the next part quieter, not wishing for Jules to overhear. "It's probably the resting place of the massive soul-stone you mentioned before." There was no need for the Hunters to know about it, whether they could reach it or not. Jules himself turned out nicer than he suspected now that he actually gave him a chance instead of being an ass every single time, but he couldn't trust the rest of the organization to show the same understanding or mind their own business.

"Don't even joke about that." The young man pouted when she suggested Casandra might attack again. Probably not this soon, not until she had at least gotten used to whatever happened to her arm now: she seemed like the type of person to utilize everything at her disposal to maximum effect. Still, he followed, as he intended to do that all along. The office's owner just nodded to them, apparently engaged in some argument with colleagues again. Well, for an organization that usually adopted a "kill first, ask questions maybe later" stance toward all powerful beasts, it was to be expected.

He pulled up a chair and sat down by her side when Zerechia decided to lay down. "I'm not sure. Apart from the obvious, there's Vassia. I have no idea if that was supposed to happen or not, but..." She was now a little girl, were the words he didn't actually say. Was she actually a child and they, did things, right in front of her? Or did she choose that form for a reason known only to her? Of course, Chia couldn't remember any of that, so there was no point in bringing it up to her. Still, taking care of a child was going to be significantly more trouble than taking care of a fox. But there was also something else he wanted to do immediately.

"Could you... hold my hand, for a moment?" He asked a bit hesitantly, presenting his strangely altered left arm. He wasn't sure if this was a good idea, but there was hardly anyone else he could ask to do this. "Does it... feel odd, in any way?"

[DarkPinkie]

Chia was surprised as Kilian mentioned something of her past, and their plans for the future. Though without the context it was hard to try puzzle what those plans had been. Seeing as Kilian made a motion to lean in and whisper to her she made sure to follow suit and reply in said whisper. "Soul-stone? Like a massive life powered mana crystal?" She questioned. Her head giving her dull throbs as she thought about it. Today had just been a massive migrane it seems.

Laying in the bed she allowed herself to relax and slowly feel the pressure of the headache vanish. What Kilian mentioned about Vassia caused her to furrow her eyebrows a bit. "What about Vassia? She is alright and we will figure it out alright. It's just a bit new we got to get used to is all." She added though she herself wasn't all that convinced by her own words. The fox turned girl was indeed an oddity, and would definitely test their relationships with the fox. "I wonder if this will change our daily cuddle sessions?" She added with a giggle. "I mean, a girl is not quite as fuzzy as a small fox now is it?" She shrugged but her smile betrayed her mirth. At least Vassia survived and in the end that's what matters.

Once more she raised an eyebrow when Kilian offered his blackened hand to her. Nodding unsuredly as he asked her to take a hold of it. Apprehensively she raised her right hand to meet his left. She carefully reached out before she grabbed it. Her worried grin turned into confusion for a moment before Kilian asked the big question. Chia didn't think the hand felt normal. The lack of give and texture of the supposed flesh as well as the lack of natural heat was slightly offputting. "I am not sure. Could you give me your other hand to compare?" Grabbing his right hand in her left she could definitely feel a normal hand there. The flesh sunk away and resisted her when she squeezed, the texture could be felt causing friction and the warmth was inviting. In comparison the other hand wasn't really a hand as much as something undefined taking up that position in space.

"Do you want my honest opinion or do you want me to suggar coat it?" She added with a slight worried smile. "I have not really thought about it all that much, but now comparing them or even just focusing on it, no. It does not feel normal. It feels like there is nothing there, yet at the same time something blocks my own hand. Like I am holding a hand shaped forcefield." Chia shook her head as she removed her right hand and let it join the other as they both cusped around Kilian's right hand. "I much prefer this one. It feels like an actual hand. The warmth, the feeling. It's all there. Not so much on your left." There was a bit of a pregnant pause after she said that, simply enjoying the feeling of holding on to Kilian's hand. Something which she knew would be interrupted earlier than to her liking. "What did you do to your left hand anyway?" She asked a bit concerned.

[nicktaken]

"You had cuddle sessions?" He asked almost involuntarily, cracking a small smirk. Of course, it was hardly the most important question of the day, so he changed the subject as soon as he could and said what he had kept to himself earlier. "Well, sure. Except, you know... taking care of a girl can't be compared to taking care of an animal. Also, is she actually a girl? Is she mentally older? Or is her appearance completely irrelevant because her humanoid shape has no bearing on anything? I mean..." He sighed softly. "Well, you wouldn't remember so I guess there's no point in worrying you with it. But everything else aside, our situation is hardly a good environment for a child of any kind. I was concerned for her before, when I thought she was just a very smart fox, but now... I should probably worry less but I'm even more worried instead." He shrugged and stopped talking. In the end, he didn't have anything productive to suggest on the matter and could only bring up issues he could see with it.

"Honest I guess." Kilian was not thrilled to hear her offer the option, because that meant his worries weren't unfounded. Listening to her explanation, he had allowed himself to feel relieved that at least it didn't have any adverse affects on the dragon. That was his biggest worry for the moment, that Casandra's obsession would somehow rub off on him and make this, whatever his left arm now was, harmful to her. Thankfully, it did not, and his limb simply remained a potentially dangerous oddity. "I see." He nodded softly as she gave him her extended opinion on how his hands compared. "Funny thing, I don't feel it being different from my right. Not at all. The only reminders were its appearance and the fact I was trying to hide it from you... pointlessly at that, I suppose." He sighed heavily and leaned his head on the hand she wasn't very eager to touch.

"I'm not sure what I did." He wasn't particularly eager to discuss this, but it was probably about time to come clean. "I think..." He was about to start, but then he realized that she now knew nothing of his Gift, not the things he told her, not the conclusions she made after observing him, not the theories they started building together. Nothing. "To keep it short, I seem to be able to absorb enchantments. You've made a magical bracelet like your own for me. It got lost at one point, but then I could just do this." To demonstrate, he had a glove appear to cover his left hand again. It was probably better to keep hidden anyhow as it wasn't exactly pleasant to look at. "I'm not sure how it works, but it does. And, well, you remember that red crystal you thought was dangerous? I'm still not sure what sort of enchantment it had or what possessed me to mess with it, but that's when this started." He raised his head and shook his left hand a bit.

"At first it just seemed like some skin on my hand blackened, but..." He shrugged. "Among other things, I have suddenly found myself able to drain magic from, well, pretty much anything I guess." Technically, he had drained those mana crystals in her home cave even before, but the ability was noticeably strengthened by the enchantment he took. "Actually, when exposed to higher concentrations of magic, I can't even stop the process. And the more I absorb, the more this, condition, progresses." He felt uneasy and looked down. It wasn't like this was the first time he had thought about it, but he hadn't exactly shared his thoughts before. "I feel my left arm as normal, same as my right, but I'm not sure what's going to happen should it reach my organs. I mean... would a heart-shaped force-field still pump blood?" He tried to smile, but it turned out pretty weak. Just because he had grown accustomed to the thought of dying didn't mean he was willing to let it happen. Especially not if it was going to creep up on him slowly like this.

[DarkPinkie]

Chia sighed but was still smiling when he asked the silly question. "Of course we did. I mean. She is so soft and cozy and perfectly happy to let me huggle her. How is that different from owning a smaller dog?" She was unsure what he meant with that but she was sure he wasn't all that right, but not quite wrong either. "You worry about everything Kilian. How about you take a moment and relax hmm?" She added with a small chuckle. Sure it was kind of nice of him to worry about her as it ment he cared, but sometimes she wonder if he doesn't worry too much.

She raised an eyebrow at him mentioning that it feels no different than his other hand. "Really now? It feels no different? Then how about you focus on how my hands felt in yours then. Did they feel the same? Does both hands feel the same if you push them both against the wall? I would think the hand that gets a bit squished would feel different from the one that does not give at all." She added with a slight worried tone. There was no way the two felt exactly the same. They may still feel similar enough that it's unnoticable unless focused on, at least so the former dragoness thought.

She nodded at his explanation of being able to absorb enchantments. She still was unsure exactly how it works but she was not to argue something she didn't know about. She saw him demonstrate his ability to manifest clothes and nodded again. Similar to the bracelet she owned but didn't currently use. Jules prefered her to wear these robes instead. It wasn't until he mentioned the dangerous crystal that her neutral expression faltered. Worry starting to crop up on her face. After he added to it she managed to put two and two together. She looked at the glove clad hand half panicking. "Why... When... What... Why?" She stammered to begin with. "What in the world was you thinking? I don't remember the details but I know that thing was dangerous. If you absorbed it then you're either in danger, dangerous to others, or both!" She tried to once more force her memories but as usual it resulted in more headache and little else.

A few deep breaths to calm herself she looked at him, worry ever present. But her efforts to try and calm down was shattered when he mentioned that during certain conditions he was unable to stop it's progress. "Kilian... Whatever that crystal did to you it's going to end in disaster. You have to stop it's progress as much as you can. I don't know what will happen once it reaches the important parts of your body but if it does I don't think it will be pleasant." His grim joke about heart shaped forcefield was not helping her stop hyperventilating. "Forget heart shaped forcefield. Would a brain shaped forcefield still think?" Once more she tried to calm herself. A couple of deep breath as well as the feeling of his hand in hers did the trick. "Whatever you do. Don't let the enchantment grow. If you... If... If you..." She couldn't handle it anymore. Her eyes welling up as she stammered and repeated those two words, unable to way the third. Instead she simply started weeping, burrying her head in her pillow as to try to soak some of the tears away from her face.

[nicktaken]

"That's... well, never mind." Kilian shrugged. She didn't understand what he meant exactly, but it didn't matter whatsoever. She could hug Vassia all she wanted and he couldn't see any way that would upset anyone. "Relaxing is more your thing." He commented with a smirk, making a small joke. Well, there was truth to it as well. He might even say she was plain careless in allowing Casandra so many opportunities, getting herself hurt and losing her memory, but he didn't want to start an argument. He's had enough for a lifetime by now. Granted, none of them were planned and few he saw coming, but he would rather avoid them when he was able.

"Well, sure, I guess if I think about the reaction to your touch, there are some subtle differences. But only just. I still feel my arm the same." He paused as he tried to flex his left forearm for a moment. He felt the same response as he would have before, the only exception being that there was no pressure on the elbow joint. Strictly speaking, did this imitation of his arm even have muscle or bones? "Well, if I really focus, I can sort of tell it behaves slightly differently. But it's more deduction than anything." He tried to explain what he didn't quite understand himself.

"Yes, well, that's gonna be a problem." He looked aside when she said he had to stop its progress. How exactly was he supposed to do that? He didn't pay close attention at all times, but he checked his arm every time he bather - if only because he had to remove his clothes for that - and he never noticed it receding even a tiny bit. Passively and actively draining magic from spells that tried to affect him had actually helped him out a few times by now, including last night, but it seemed to advance the "decay" proportionally to the amount of energy he took. But even when he didn't use it, it still crept up his arm, if only very slowly, probably draining a bit of environmental magic at all times. "I have yet to find a way to halt it completely." He added quietly.

"My brain will be fine I think. If this thing does kill me, then I'll be dead before it reaches my head." Kilian chuckled grimly. It wasn't amusing at all, and to make things worse, she started crying. He really seemed to make her cry a lot unintentionally. "Chia, come on. It's not like I'm going to die tomorrow..." He reached out and gently brushed his hand over her shoulder and back, trying to comfort her. He wasn't very good at this sort of thing. "I mean, it might not kill me in the first place. And while there's a risk, we have at least a few more months to figure this out." The "blackness" progressed a bit over halfway up his arm in the months since they arrived at Dragon's Cliff, so he would probably have as much time until it reached his shoulder. And if he avoided situations that would provoke it, it might take a lot longer.

"For someone who told me to relax a minute ago, you're panicking way too early." He tried to smile. "Besides, why would you care so much? You don't even remember anything..." He said and bit his tongue. He really should have kept quiet there.

[DarkPinkie]

Chia chewed a bit on his rebuttal. "Yeah I guess you're right. I mean, I did get a water bucket over me because I was relaxing perhaps a bit too much." She giggled at that. It is quite interesting in how the most grim of things tend to become humorous sometimes. She knew she had kind of made hereelf deservant of the water bucket, but the argument that came just from Kilian finding out the fact both with Jules and then afterwards between the two of them is what lead up to the whole fiasco with Casandra. "But can you blame me? I have to relax for the both of us." She blew him a silent teasing raspberry.

The dragoness turned human raised an eyebrow at that. That's it? A little different? "Are you sure it's not just the Proprioception you're feeling? That with some other things such as the affect on the rest of your body." She wws unsure how and whwt was going on with his hand and with her limited perception finding out what exactly his arm was becoming isn't really that feasable. Seeing as Jules don't have a clue about it either. Why did she take away her own memories again? Oh right because of some probably missguided spurr of the moment thought or feeling. Chia had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at her own thoughts.

Of course he had to reply that way, saying that he had a fix for making it stop would be too easy now would it. His words did nothing to sothe her feelings. "Well then we have to hurry up and find a way to solve it as soon as possible. Whatever it is I don't trust it keeping you alive either." She was rubbing her face into her pillow some more. "A few months might as well be a few hours." She replied followed by a small sob. While she may be a human her perception of time still resembles that of a dragon. And for a dragon a few months is like a few hours. Not that the girl with her face burried in fabric and stuffing actually realize this.

Those words was whwt finally brought Chia's face up from the pillow. She stared at him with wet eyes. "Why do I care? Why do I care? You seriously just asked that question? Of course I care. I like you you idiot. I do not know why I like you but when you're not near I feel lonely, miserable almost. I knew we had to let the Hunters send you away and it made me feel so bad, I focused on my training just so that I could be done quickly and they would not have to send you away on those stupid errands anymore. But now you say you have something which may or may not kill you within a year?" She looked at him, clearly upset yet not exactly angry. "What do you want me to do? Smile and nod my head? We don't even know what we are dealing with, how are we going to find a way to stop it in case it really is harmful?" She sat up in her bed, flipping her legs ove the edge she could more easily look him in the eyes. Those beautiful things which almost shone. Even if the effect didn't kill him it would be such a shame if the hazel orbs got replaced with uniform blackness. "Don't you see I couldn't stand loosing someone again." She blurts out without even realizing what she implicated. But it mattered little as instead she sprung from her bed and latched her arms around Kilian and softly sobbed. "Why are you such an idiot." She said softly between a pair of sobs. Chia making sure that anything but outright resistance from Kilian wouldn't break her hug.