As Above, So Below [Blue!!]

[DragonSong]

@Blue


"C'mon, boy, don't do this to me," Aya pleaded.

Darkmoon tossed his head and planted his cloven hooves pointedly, refusing to budge an inch as the stable hand leaned back hard on his lead rope. "Oh, you ox-fucker," Aya growled at him, glaring. He just blinked placidly.

"Look, I know you don't want the bath, but you're coated in mud," she tried to reason with the draquus rather than use brute force--despite how previous experience had indicated that wasn't likely to work any better. "What if I sneak you some venison tomorrow?"

That piqued his interest; she felt his curiosity at the word "venison", her beastspeaking gift allowing him to understand her intent even though she spoke aloud in Common. Technically her employer, and the man who paid him to board Darkmoon, didn't allow the dragon-horse to have meat more than twice a week--despite Aya pointing out more than once that proper care for a draquus required a well-rounded diet. But keeping meat as an incentive for training was a powerful tool, and she was under strict orders to maintain that structure.

Of course, sometimes "strict orders" were stupid, and she didn't feel too bad ignoring them.

Besides, the promised bribe seemed to have done the trick. Darkmoon perked his ears forward and took a step toward her, allowing the lead rope to slacken fractionally.

"Thank you." She took another step back and he followed. "Good boy. C'mon, let's get you to--"

A sudden clatter rose from the feed shed, like the sound of a stack of barrels falling loose, followed by a yowl as a startled barn cat came streaking out of the shed and tore off in the direction of the main stables. Aya whipped her head toward the noise and Darkmoon hopped into a half rear, whickering lowly in startled concern.

"What in the bleeding hells was that?" Aya muttered. She gave her--not, not hers, never hers--horse a firm look and looped his lead around the brace post of the paddock fence. "You're not getting out of that bath," she warned him, "I'll be right back."

Ignoring his smug look, she turned and jogged toward the feed shed, sure that whatever she found, she was going to have to clean it up.

[Blue]

"Hmmm..."
A mess indeed was to be found, along with the apparent cause. Pyr stood in the midst of the most recent 'bad luck' mishap, still blinking slowly at the shed wall - or rather, where it had been.
It had spontaneously collapsed, as these things tend to do, dumping the collected barrels and canvas sacks previously stacked against it directly atop Pyr's head. Hundreds of pounds of feed and their containers were now spread about him haphazardly, some not surviving their tumble and having split open to further complicate the mess.

The incredibly tall man was dressed very simply in all black - though of course it was now rather off colored with dust - with a long sleeved shirt that had a scooped neckline, the laces left mostly undone, and form fitted pants that disappeared into simple calf-hugging boots. It sat starkly against very pale skin, nearly paper white where it was visible. His long hair was the deepest ink-black, falling like a curtain over the left half of his face, the rest pulled back and tied at the nape of his neck. Here and there electric blue peaked through, which matched his half-lidded eye when it switched attention from the poor shed to the person come to investigate.

Entirely unperturbed, his face blank and placid, Pyr's towering form bowed slightly to the lady now witnessing the chaos for herself. His voice was deep and smooth and entirely without inflection.
"Good afternoon."
Straightening again, the strange man seemed yet to notice his visibly dislocated shoulder at all.

[DragonSong]

"You--what--weeping, bleeding hells!" Aya stared around at the half-destroyed feed shed, mouth agape and eyes wide. "What happened in here?!"

Without waiting for an answer, she suddenly seemed to process that the person in front of her was a stranger and her expression took on a tinge of wariness. "And who are you?" she demanded, folding her arms over her chest.

In general, she was not a particularly physically intimidating person: she was a bit below average height, and the general softness to her features and curves made her seem more "maidenly" than the typical Adelan standard for Warrior Spirit. But there was a fire to her violet eyes that occasionally made itself know, and now seemed to be just the sort of situation that required it.

"Explain yourself," she said briskly. "And if I don't like what I hear, I'm taking you straight to the stablemaster."

[Blue]

The stranger watched her placidly with that blue, blue eye as she sputtered and spoke and fairly processed what she was seeing out loud. She narrowed in on him quickly enough, an expression of probable suspicion and irritation on her face. The humanoid mortals of this realm were fascinating in their ability to broadcast thoughts and emotions with these expressions - he was getting fairly adept at interpreting them too, which helped immensely in his attempts to interact with them.

"The wall collapsed. My name is Pyr. I am a demon who has come to visit this realm for recreational observation - ah, I believe the term is 'people watching'." His voice rumbled out in a perfect monotone again, that one visible eye blinking slowly.
"I hope I have answered all your questions satisfactorily. I am not opposed to meeting this 'stablemaster'. Also, I believe it is now your turn in the custom of exchanging introductions and greetings."
He moved to gesture at her with one hand, but the motion was jittered and incomplete. Turning slightly, he glanced down at his own mangled shoulder, that same neutral expression on his face.
It didn't even register as much of an injury, so his body hadn't yet bothered to correct it. Still, it was a bit inconvenient, so he reached up with his functional hand to shove it more or less back where it ought to go and let his repair functions do the rest.

[DragonSong]

"Oh my gods!"

All her concerns about who exactly this stranger was—demon, had he said demon!?—suddenly got shunted to the side when he just—just grabbed for his arm and shoved it haphazardly back in the general direction of his shoulder.

"No!" she exclaimed, darting forward on instinct. "No no no no no! Dear gods, how did you even—here."

She reached out for him, then drew herself up short. Pointing a finger in his face, she said sternly, "We are not done discussing how this wall just came down, but dear gods at least let me fix you first. Here, hold still—and this is gonna hurt, so try not to bite your tongue or anything, okay?"

She frowned at him, waiting for his reaction before she risked actually touching him.

[Blue]

The tall man did not react to her approach or fretting, other than to continue watching her calmly - though he went somewhat cross-eyed as his gaze followed the tip of her finger when it pointed into his face.

"Ah. Your concern is kind, but you need not expend it on my behalf. The shoulder is already repaired. As others often do not immediately believe this, you may confirm it for yourself if you'd like."
To facilitate whatever manipulations she might need to do to assure his shoulder's good health, he leaned over a bit to compensate for their difference in height - the motion was slow and measured, as though he might startle her.

"When you are satisfied, I would like to continue the exchange of introductions so that I may know what to call you."

[DragonSong]

Aya gave him a wary, disbelieving look, but moved close enough to grip his shoulder gently, rotating the arm back and forth.

It...did actually seem to be properly back in place. And there was no hint of pain on his face--well, there wasn't really a hint of anything, but pain would have been what she was expecting.

She stepped back, staring hard at his shoulder. "You...really aren't human," she muttered, though it was unclear from her expression what exactly she thought of that. She stared a moment longer, then gave her whole body a brisk shake and looked up into his face again.

"...Aya," she told him, just a little sharply. She was still having trouble processing the situation. "My name's Aya. And you're Pyr. A demon." She exhaled and reached up to tug absently at one of her braids, brow furrowed. "What even...should I be like, worried about my soul right now?"

[Blue]

Once she had confirmed things for herself and stepped away, Pyr slowly straightened once more, lidded gaze watching her face as it moved through various emotions. The mortals of this realm had quite the varied number of reactions to the knowledge of what he was - it seemed to depend largely on the demographics of the area, though it just as often was dependent on the person's own experiences and lineage. Ultimately he couldn't accurately predict the outcome, but he could see no reason not to be honest about it, regardless of the responses he received.

"Greetings, Aya." Pleased to have finally completed the introductions, he was a bit surprised by her question. Not necessarily the question itself, but rather that she actually voiced it at all. Ordinarily those that feared his powers didn't bother to stay and question him - they were far more comfortable fleeing his presence instead.
Understandable, really.
"No, you need not. I have manifested in this realm of my own volition. I am under no contract with you, and you have not bartered your soul in return."

[DragonSong]

"Okay. Good. Great. That's...okay." She would never claim to be an expert on demonology, but she did know that demonlords existed, and that their powers relied mainly on contracts with demonic forces and entities. So, as far as she could tell, this Pyr person being able to manifest on their side of the Veil with no contract--no mortal anchor...okay, she couldn't actually tell anything about that. Her mother might know more--the woman had a bizarre interest in the occult--but Aya had always found herself more firmly interested in the practicalities of daily life.

"Alright." She shook her head, then gave him that quizzical frown again. "So...why are you here? I mean, here here." She gestured to the half-destroyed feed shed. "As in, this particular spot. You said something about...people watching?"

[Blue]

At the reminder of their location, Pyr took a moment to again glance around at the destruction surrounding him. This, too, he was quite familiar with. Mortals tended to get quite upset when their environment was disrupted this way - he was quite prepared to be told to assist in cleaning it up. This would be acceptable as it was unlikely he'd suffer another 'attack' so soon, thus making his attempt at helping quite moot.

"Passing by. I thought to observe the beasts here, and the people who tend them. This realm is quite different from my own, so there is much to see."
Finally his expression changed, if only in the slightest way - his visible eyebrow twitched as he had a thought. He found that much like demons and their penchant for contracts, mortals too appreciated the concept of offering something in exchange for another.

"I understand it to be preferable to 'clean up' a mess like this. As I have inferred that you are likely familiar with this location, I have an offer: I will return this building, and everything in it, back to its state before the accident. In exchange, I would like for you to give me a...'tour' I believe it is called. I can learn much through observation, but it is still preferable to have the insight from those who live here. Is this acceptable?"

[DragonSong]

"I--" Aya blinked, taken aback. She looked around at the mess; she did have a lot of other work that needed doing, and if all he wanted was a tour...

Was she being crazy? He was a demon--which was something he'd admitted upfront, which didn't exactly seem like the sort of thing a demon would do if they were planning to trick you into a soul contract or lull you into a false sense of security.

"...Okay." Her expression was still wary, but she nodded. "Okay. If you can get...all this--" she gestured to the mess around them-- "sorted, I'll give you a tour of the stables." Chancing something of a half smile, she added, "That's sort of part of my job anyway. How, ahh..." She glanced around again. "How long do you think...that might take you?"

It seemed like a fair question to her--there was a whole-ass wall that had collapsed.

[Blue]

Though his expression didn't change, Pyr radiated an aura of contentment when Aya accepted his terms. Navigating interactions with the denizens of this world was not always easy, and while he endeavored to learn as fast as he could, the number of failures he still endured was disheartening. He could not blame the mortals for their wariness, fear, aggression, and hatred - he simply wished he could put them better at ease, so that he might not miss out on so many opportunities to know them.

"Wonderful, we have an accord. Just a moment." Lifting his hand slowly, he pointed his index finger up into the air - a needless gesture, but for some reason people seemed more unsettled if he exerted his power without any overt actions to show he had done so. There was a sort of humming pressure in the air, and then the entirety of the mess, spilled grains and all, was gone. The wall was whole and intact once more, all the barrels and sacks again perfectly stacked against it.

His side of the bargain thus completed, he let his arm rest by his side once more, that blue-on-blue eye trained back to Aya's face.
"I am eager to begin our tour, so if you have no other pressing tasks to attend to?"

[DragonSong]

...

Well.

That answered that question.

When this guy said things like "just a moment", he apparently meant it fucking literally.

Aya blinked, then managed to pick her jaw up off the floor and look away from the wall to Pyr again. "O-okay then," she muttered, feeling thoroughly at sea. Was that normal? Well--obviously it wasn't normal, but she honestly didn't know enough about magic to tell if that should be just plain impressive or something closer to terrifying.

"I have to--I mean I..." She blinked, swallowed, then closed her eyes and steepled her fingers in front of her face. One breath in, one breath out. Two.

Okay.

"Right!" She gave a sharp little nod and suddenly smiled at him, and it was only slightly strained. "I am choosing to take this whole situation in stride. So yeah, sure! I do have some other chores I have to tend to before I'm off for the day, but there's no rule saying I can't show you around while I do that. Why don't we start with the training paddock?"

She jerked a thumb over her shoulder and nodded in the direction she'd come, where Darkmoon had ambled up to the gate to stick his head over curiously, though that could just barely be seen through the open shed door.

[Blue]

If there was anything Pyr had in abundance, it was patience - he quietly waited for Aya to process what she'd just seen and get her thoughts together. Luckily it seemed she did not have anything else that needed immediate tending to (though Pyr would have been happy to wait had she said otherwise) and so their tour would not be postponed.

"I will gladly follow your lead." Pyr bowed his head shallowly, then moved silently to follow after her. That half-lidded eye might seem somewhat tired or lazy, but it was laser focused on everything around him, eager as he was to observe everything about this place.

[DragonSong]

"Right. Okay. So." Aya led him cautiously back out to the paddock, where Darkmoon was waiting placidly, flicking his tail. As she approached, he bobbed his head twice and nickered a greeting. She smiled and reached out to him, cupping his muzzle in her hands before he snuffled and pressed forward to nose her cheek.

"Stop that," she chuckled, pushing his head away, and he pushed back, lipping her hair. Rolling her eyes, Aya gestured to the draquus and said, "This is Darkmoon. Currently he pretty much lives out here in the training paddock--he's a bit too territorial to house with any of the other horses. He's the only draquus we have at the stable, actually." Catching his halter, she unwound the lead rope and added, "I was trying to get him to come in so I could give him a bath, but I suppose that can wait until tomorrow. It wasn't technically scheduled today."

The dragon-horse snuffled at her hair again as she detatched the rope, then gave Pyr a long, considering sort of look before tossing his mane and turning to trot off toward the center of the paddock, grazing placidly.

"Right." Aya wound the rope over her shoulder and planted her other fist on her hip, chewing her lip. "Where next..."


The Herd Hoard Stables--a patently ridiculous name that Aya would have been more inclined to ridicule if the stablemaster didn't pay so damn well--were no Adelan dragon barracks, but they weren't small either. She took Pyr around the outdoor spaces first, showing him the various paddocks where most of the stables' tenants were turned loose a majority of the time, providing good weather.

The stables themselves were three separate buildings: one for the "ground herd", one for the "air herd", and one for the "special cases". Though he had wings, Darkmoon technically fell into the last category, which Aya explained as they passed through the building. Usually, when the winged animals were turned out, it was into the atrium that connected to the second building--or, as in Darkmoon's case, they were let out wearing a special harness that restricted the movement of their wings to prevent flight.

Her tone soured a bit when she spoke of the contraption, but she muttered something about, "Well, I'm not in charge, so who cares what I think," and carried on with the tour.

There were dozens of impressive animals housed at the stables, from the more "typical" destriers and warhorses to magical beasts of varying stripes and creeds. Most seemed not to notice Pyr's presence as he trailed along while Aya finished up her chores for the day, though the few that did would either spook slightly or flick their ears back at him in warning. Which was only to be expected, she supposed. Demon, and all.

"So." As they wound their way to the front of the main stable, she paused, hands on her hips. "That's...pretty much it. Aside from the main house, where the stablemaster's office is, and I don't actually have permission to be in there unless I'm summoned, so..." She trailed off with a shrug and glanced at her impromptu companion. "I guess...any questions?"

[Blue]

Pyr trailed after Aya like a particularly attentive shadow, silent but hanging on her every word. It hadn't taken him long in this realm to notice most of the animals did not have the ability to perceive him outside of his physical presence - they often treated him like an object in their environment, moving around him or perching atop him as they pleased. Those that were less mundane in nature tended to react to him as they did other demons, as either a threat or something to be wary of.
Given what he'd observed, he was rather glad that most beasts of burden (such as horses) fell into the first category - he had seen spooked animals toss their riders or dart off with carts full of items, and the mortals were always quite distraught at this behavior. He was glad not to trigger such reactions most of the time.

Their tour eventually complete, Pyr stopped next to Aya and surveyed the grounds he'd just been introduced to quite thoroughly. Offered a chance to ask questions, Pyr let his head tilt to one side as he considered this, the curtain of bangs sliding away to reveal the other half of his face. After a long moment of thought, he straightened and returned his gaze down to his guide. As usual, his voice was even and without inflection.
"I do. I am still working to understand the full breadth of magic in this realm, so I must ask - is the choice to build a physical atrium due to limitations in magical applications? Also, I have noticed that it is very common for the people in this world to have close relationships with various non-humanoid beasts, most often for companionship or physical tasks, however it seems that these creatures are physically contained in some way to keep them available. While Contracts do not seem to be a common avenue here, I have found that most beings will still adhere to the give-and-take concept of exchange, so I wonder why this is not used more often in these relationships?"

[DragonSong]

...Well. She had offered, she supposed.

Aya could feel a headache coming on. Rubbing at her temple with one hand, she started walking, moving more on instinct than anything else. "Okays, so... Let me try to take those in order," she muttered after a moment. "For the atrium--yeah, basically. We could keep the winged animals grounded with a variety of spells and potions, but that tends to be more expensive in the long run to keep resupplying and administering that sort of thing than the still-expensive-but-one-time cost of building the space for them. I assume, it was actually already built by the time I started working her. Not to mention...I think it's kinder. It's not the whole of the sky, but it's a hells of a lot more space to fly than they'd get if we kept them grounded all the time. Er, sorry," she added as something of an afterthought, suddenly unsure if he might consider "hells" offensive.

"As for the other bit...well." She sighed and rubbed at the back of her neck. "For most domesticated animals, the containment usually serves both to keep them available, like you said, but also as a form of protection. If there aren't fences, there are other things, like...oh! Like sheep." She glanced up at him. "You ever seen sheep milling about, with like a big fluffy dog sorta off to the side? That's to make sure the sheep stay together, and to protect them from any predators, since they usually aren't behind fences that would keep them safe." She shrugged. "That's just one example though, and that's mostly applicable to livestock. Honestly..."

Here steps slowed slightly and her mouth twisted to one side. "I have plenty of days where I wish we did work more like that, like you said. Like the plains riders, maybe--they don't keep their herds penned in, but the horses stay with them anyway, because they offer food and protection, but also because they're bonded."

She trailed off with another shrug, glancing around at him again--and only then realizing that she'd started back on the familiar trek through the outlying streets of Ketra to her home.

[Blue]

Pyr continued to follow Aya as she answered his questions, not particularly bothered with their destination if there was one. Instead he took the opportunity, as always, to continue his observations, watching the various people and shops they passed by.
He was somewhat surprised that she had assumed he meant magical implements to keep the flock grounded, and wondered how much that said about the nature of this place and the people in it.
Or perhaps she was simply limited by the scope of the magic she had seen so far, and thus other options didn't even occur to her.

The second answer did expand upon concepts he was still getting the shape of - mainly that it was perhaps more complicated than it initially seemed. Domestication in particular was strange and fascinating - it seemed that in place of the magic Pyr was more familiar with, the people of the realm were willing to bend nature to their will by exploiting how it operated, and being willing to spend generations to reach their end goal. Not at all efficient, but very tenacious and fairly clever.

"I do not understand your apology. My question on the atrium was not that I expected the flighted ones to be kept grounded - rather that the atrium was built as a physical object, instead of a permanent spell field. If it were magical, it could be much larger, among other benefits. I wondered if this was perhaps beyond the magical applications available to you currently in this world. I suppose this is a similar quandary to the domesticated beasts - that the ability to create Contracts, or these 'bonds', is perhaps limited to too small a user group. Solutions are made with the knowledge available, after all. Thank you for answering my questions, Aya."

[DragonSong]

"Oh. Well...yeah. That's a bit beyond our capabilities," Aya answered. "At least, it is here--there might be some colleges in Serendipity that have spells like that available, but I imagine they're intense, and probably very, very expensive."

She wasn't quite sure how to respond to his observation about domestication. The idea of equating demonic Contracts and the bonds between humanoids and their animal companions was...a lot to process, to but it lightly.

"Um. You're welcome," she told him, a little bemused, when he thanked her for answering his questions. She glanced around again, once more chewing on her lower lip. By now, they had nearly reached the cross street that led to the small house she shared with her mother when Loretta wasn't stationed at the barracks.

Sighing, she paused and said, "Look, I--I'm heading home. It's just me for now, so it's not like I've got anything interesting in, but, um...if you wanted, you could...stay for dinner?" she offered awkwardly, half because it...just sort of felt like the thing to do, and half because, frankly, she had quite a few questions of her own that she wanted answered.

[Blue]

Coming to a stop as she did, Pyr pulled his attention from their surroundings to refocus his gaze down on Aya's face. His only outward reaction to her offer was a slow blink, but internally he was quite pleased. He understood the offer to share a meal together to be a common overture in the process of 'getting to know one another' - indeed it was a common social pastime for just about every society he'd observed so far. Such an offer being extended to him was still a fairly rare occurrence, so he was eager to agree despite outward appearances.

"I am quite honored to receive an invitation to your home, and accept it gladly. I would like to be a good house guest, so please do not hesitate to alert me of any rules or customs I ought to observe and follow."