Shattered Insanity

[Anonymous]

At the mention of Cyrus, Fayne's grip on the bolt suddenly tightened enough to snap it right in half. For a moment she sat in silence, scowling at Vivian. Then the smirk returned.

"Heh. Fine. You just keep asking about Cyrus. You won't get an answer."

The dragon let out a groan and gave a quick shake of her head. Something told her Vivian wasn't going to get anywhere right now. The ex-rider could be a very stubborn and hard-headed one when she wanted to be, particularly when it came to personal matters. If Dresi could have communicated who Cyrus was to the healer herself, she certainly would have.

[Anonymous]

This was a real tense subject wasn't it? She'd never known a single person to make so much trouble! Well...she had, but not to the point that people had pain attacks and could break arrows in their hand. She just wasn't sure if she should continue on with this conversation. Things seemed to be getting really out of hand.

Even the dragon seemed to understand.

Slowly, Vivian sighed and shuffled back a little bit. The glow from her body began to fade as she leaned down to Fayne and placed a motherly kiss on the woman's forehead. The woman had to know that she never meant any harm and was not doing this for any ill reason. "Alright uhm...dragon...you can let her up now." Vivian stood up and dusted her dress off, the final glow disappearing from her body. That's all there was to it then wasn't it? She wondered if the dragon had a name though...Fayne hadn't bothered to introduce her.

[Anonymous]

Somehow Fayne resisted the urge to slug the healer when she kissed her forehead - though she almost did, anyway. Rather than go to the trouble, she sat up once the dragon wandered away from her. She was quick to grab the dagger and slipped it back onto her belt, shooting a glare at Dresi as she did.

After that, she pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around her legs, resting her chin on her knees as she stared at the fire ahead of her. She said nothing to either the dragon or the annoying healer. So far the silent treatment hadn't yet worked in getting rid of Vivian, but at this point Fayne no longer cared. She was sick of dealing with the girl and didn't want to talk to her.

[Anonymous]

This was a very different sort of encounter than Vivian would have expected to happen.  She really wasn't too comfortable right now, but...she wanted to help in some way. This woman was obviously not right in many ways...the screaming suddenly that happened...her emotional and mental pain...and the fact that she was so...cold and mean. Vivian had been nice after all, and all she wanted to do was help her but...the woman had been cold and mean to her the entire time.

The crossbow incident was the best example.

Now things got very quiet, and Vivian didn't really know what to say. She just decided to stay very quiet and watch the fire, though every so often she'd let her eyes stray over to Dresi and then to Fayne. "What's it like to ride a dragon?" Vivian asked after a long silence between the two of them. Might as well...try and get to know her.

[Anonymous]

Initially Fayne didn't even act like she heard the question. When she noticed this, the dragon lifted her head and gave a huff. Is a ride okay? If nothing else a bit of time alone would hopefully give the rider a chance to cool down.

Fayne didn't move, but she did glance over at Dresi. After a moment longer of sitting in silence, she gave a small wave of her hand and closed her eyes. Whatever. I don't care. Maybe if she got lucky, Vivian would fall off at some point. She wouldn't have to deal with her then.

Getting up, the dragon wandered over to the healer and lightly bumped her head against her back. If she wanted to brave taking a ride, Dresi would gladly oblige.

[Anonymous]

Vivian really wished that she had been prepared for this sort of behaviour. She had never been taught what to do in her sanctuary. It hadn't been her life, but she still was out here anyway. Now she sort of missed it...she sort of wasn't happy that she didn't know how to help this woman. You were supposed to talk these things out but...she didn't talk them out.

Oh this was so confusing!

However, her thoughts were interrupted by the dragon suddenly nudging her. "Oh! S-sorry dragon uhm...What...what do you want?" She didn't speak dragon, and she wasn't sure what it wanted by nudging her. She was hoping that the dragon wanted just to...uhm...talk? No...she couldn't talk to the dragon so...maybe there was something the dragon wanted? "Fayne...what is...your dragon asking for?" She just wasn't sure if they could communicate or what but...she hoped at least that the woman could tell her what the dragon was after.

[Anonymous]

Good lord, this kid was dense.

As far as Fayne was concerned, it should have been obvious what the dragon wanted. Then again, she didn't bother to take into account that she had been around them for most of her life and could communicate freely with hers. Normally, this lack of 'common sense' would have irritated her. But right now she just didn't feel up to arguing the matter. The sooner she got Vivian out of her hair, the better.

"Didn't you just ask what it was like to ride a dragon?" she said in a quiet monotone, keeping her gaze locked on the flames. "Dresi's offering you a ride."

[Anonymous]

Vivian didn't speak dragon, nor did she know what the dragon really wanted. All she had wanted to know was what Fayne's life had been like, riding on the back of a dragon and what not. She thought it might be a clever way to get a bit more information out of her. She didn't ACTUALLY want to know what it was REALLY like to fly on a dragon. She had fallen out of trees before, and she could use her Illumine self to become weightless and 'fly' so to speak so she knew sort of what it was like. She probably could have worded it better actually so this was kind of her fault.

Oh bother she wasn't very good at this deception thing.

"Oh...she is?" She looked to the dragon and patted Dresi carefully on the head. "N-no, that's okay Dresi." That was the dragon's name, this was good at least. "I just wanted to know what it was like for Fayne to be a dragon rider." She told the dragon, figuring that it had some very good understanding of what was going on. No need to insult it by speaking to it in the third person, through Fayne.

[Anonymous]

Fayne did little more than role her eyes before lying down on her back and draping an arm over her eyes. Still no such luck getting rid of Vivian, it would seem.

Fine. Whatever. She would wait her out, then. The girl was sure to grow tired of her fruitless attempts of convincing the ex-rider to talk. Sooner or later she would give it up. If all else failed, Fayne would be on her way in the morning, anyhow.

Dresi was starting to like this Vivian. Vain though her efforts had been, the healer had almost gotten her master to open up. It was more than she could say about anyone else in the past. For now, though, it was a situation better left alone. So she the dragon gave a quick snort to show she understood before settling in for the night.

[Anonymous]

They had really struck a nerve, the two of them together. Dresi had planned this and was trying to help Vivian, and Vivian was just being stubborn and trying to get the woman to open up a little bit. There was obviously some pain, there was obviously some sorrow, but it must have been a deep hurt then

Well if she persevered then she'd be able to get the woman to talk! She was a healer and her job wasn't done here. Not until Fayne was okay! Especially after that incident where she started screaming and writing around in pain on the ground. That was especially worrisome and mysterious and she would have to discover the reason for it.

Vivian decided that she'd spend her time with Dresi, the dragon, as the creature seemed fine with her and didn't particularly want her gone. Plus she kind of liked the odd creature, she was kind and gentle, and cared for her rider, just like Vivian did! So she decided to stick by the large dragon, sitting down near her head and reaching over to stroke it.

[Anonymous]

[[if it's okay with you, i'm gonna take it to the morning, cuz...i'm kinda brain dead otherwise :P]]

Dresi didn't object to Vivian reaching out to stroke her. In fact, she quite welcomed it. She was just like any other animal, after all, and the amount of affectionate attention coming from Fayne had all but disappeared in recent years. The ex-rider was all business these days. When she wasn't stirring up trouble, anyway.

Fayne fell asleep rather quickly. All that thrashing about had drained her - though, granted, it took very little to do so anymore. Add to that the ... ahem, "excitement" earlier in the evening in the town she had been visiting, plus having to fight off a crazy wolf, and she was just plain worn out. She was out within a couple minutes.

By morning she felt a lot better and was ready to just go, leave Vivian here and go about her usual routine without a word to the healer. But a quiet complaint from her empty stomach quickly changed those plans. In all the activity the previous night, Fayne had completely forgotten about going off to hunt.

Just by listening she could tell the dragon was still asleep, and she didn't care one way or the other about the strange girl. Grabbing her crossbow, she wandered from the camp into the woods in search of a rabbit or maybe a couple squirrels, or anything she could get her hands on.

[Anonymous]

((I can work with that! No worries yo! Glad to have you back!))

Well, at least she seemed to be able to get along with one of the people here in the forest. Well...the dragon wasn't really a person but...no she must have been. The dragon seemed incredibly intelligent after all, and no doubt could use some form of communication. She just wondered how the two of them were able to talk. Vivian really wondered how close the two of them were, and if it was all just...instinctual with the two of them.

Vivian decided to just snuggle up to the side of the large dragon and relax against her. If she was going to be safe, it would be against a giant dragon right? She looked over Fayne for a little bit, until her eyelids felt heavy and she slowly closed her own eyes and began to sleep.

The morning came altogether fast, Vivian was very quiet and contemplative when she decided to watch the dragon rider at work. She really wished that she could help the poor woman, because there was something very wrong there. She opened her mouth to speak up and ask something to Fayne, but the woman had already started to leave. Closing her mouth and standing up she huffed. She had a serious question to ask. She was going to get the dragon rider then. "I'll be back Dresi...uhm...please try to get a fire going if you can." She asked the dragon, bowing quickly to the dragon before she hurried off toward the rider.

It didn't even take the young woman long to get herself lost. She wasn't sure what she was looking for...she couldn't see any footprints, and she couldn't really...the whole forest looked the same to her! Augh! "F-fayne? Fayne! Where are you Fayne! Please Fayne! I'm lost! Help! Fayne!"

[Anonymous]

Dresi gave a small huff to let Vivian know she had heard her, but she didn't make a move to do anything about the fire right away. She knew the ex-rider would be gone for a while, so there was no hurry.

Fayne, meanwhile, had perched herself low in a tree to better see what was going on in the forest. Spotting a couple rabbits, she quietly loaded the crossbow and took careful aim. The split second before firing the bolt, her concentration was broken by the annoyingly familiar voice hollering for her. The bolt went way off course and startled the animals away.

With an angry grumble, she turned where she was sitting in the branches. How the hell did Vivian survive out here? While she didn't actually see the healer, she could certainly hear her. She wasn't terribly far away. "Calm down!" she yelled, not bothering to reveal her location, or the fact that she was getting irritated. "You're not lost!"

She added under her breath, "Unfortunately..."

[Anonymous]

Vivian wasn't a fan of forests.

Trees were tall, and they made relatively good hiding spots as she found out. Forests had lots of things in them that wanted to attack her. Forests were dark and scary. Of course she was born into caves but those were all well lit, and things couldn't hide very well. No trees. The forest was kind of scary, and she didn't particularly like them. She wanted to find Fayne though.

But now she was lost.

"Fayne?! Where are you!" She started to go toward the voice, looking for the dragon rider but...everything looked so similar here. Little did she know she was heading in the wrong direction of course. The echoes in the forests were different, it was hard to tell where the sounds were coming from. Oh this wasn't fun at all! "Please Fayne!" She cried out again, hoping that the dragon rider would have enough decency to help her. She was started to get nervous, and worried, and scared, and as a result, her skin started to glow again.

[Anonymous]

She began to mutter curses when she realized Vivian was stupid enough to wander in the wrong direction. The rider, of course - as always - neglected to take into account that she knew well how to navigate these woods and how to work around the strange echoes. The whining that was coming from the other did nothing for her rotten moods, either.

Slipping down from her spot, she practically stormed off in the direction she could hear the healer's voice. Fayne had half a mind to fire a crossbow bolt at the girl's feet when she found her, just for the hell of it. But she noticed the glow and was in no mood to put up with being temporarily blinded again.

So instead she snapped, "Pipe down, will ya? All your whining is making it impossible to hunt!"

[Anonymous]

Give her a nice somewhat flat desert with some brush and few trees and she'd be happy as a rattlesnake! Here though, it was just...a lot of trees everywhere, and they looked so similar. She was sure that if she watched and looked at things carefully she'd be able to figure all of this out. However, she really thought that she'd be able to find Fayne easily but...the woman didn't seem to leave any tracks or anything like that. She really wished that the woman was nicer to her and hadn't just abandoned her so readily.

She could hear the woman coming though, or at least, she could hear someone's footsteps in the forest. She really didn't think it was anyone else but Fayne, if she did she'd probably end up turning into light again and heading up into a tree to hide. However when the rider came out to look at her she smiled gratefully, though she covered her mouth and frowned when the woman snapped at her.

"Sorry! I just...got scared, that's all!" She squeaked from behind her hand. "Can I uhm...come with you?"

[Anonymous]

Her first response would have been to give a very curt "no" and wander off. There was no way she could hunt with such a whiny tag-along. But Fayne quickly realized it would do her little good. If she read the healer right, the girl would do what she wanted regardless of what she said - especially if she was prone to getting lost in a grove of trees.

As much as she wished she could tell Vivian to bugger off, she did little more but offer an aggravated sigh. With a shrug she turned to head back the way she came. "Do what you want, but I'm not babysitting."

Vivian would, anyway, so why waste time fighting it?

[Anonymous]

Why couldn't Fayne have been more like Dresi? At least for a giant flying creature that breathed fire she was incredibly nice. She didn't much like how Fayne was almost the complete opposite of the dragon. The contrasting personalities wasn't too much of a problem, but Fayne seemed even more angry with Vivian at this point. The young healer was just trying to hurt. She could feel bad things from Fayne, things that if they weren't dealt with, might end badly.

Plus there had been that whole back spasm pain thing yesterday that no one could explain. There was something seriously wrong with the rider, and Vivian had to heal her before she could move on. That was the code, that was her code, if she knew that she was leaving Fayne in a bad spot, she'd never forgive herself.

"I...I don't need to be babysat!" Vivian flushed slightly but her glow disappeared as she stomped her foot indignantly. The nerve of the rider! She was babysitting the rider technically, not the other way around!