D-102: Lloredo's Seasonal Wind

“The Nadie! Welcome, this one is pleased to see you. Why are you here?” The Knight came forward at a quick stride, just fast enough so that it didn’t risk dropping the plate of eggs and rice. It sported a heart in ketchup with Nadie’s name so that they knew it was theirs, much like how Lloredo’s had. It had started cooking and didn’t stop until someone had come back below deck to tell it the visitors from another ship had finally arrived. Without a guide to tell it when enough was enough, there was certainly a sudden shortage of eggs, rice, and condiments for the crew. They didn’t seem terribly displeased by this though, as if they had only been eating fish instead of using the other ingredients available. Surely not though.

Right on top of her rider’s helmet, Magnificence posed as if she were meant to be the center of attention for this crowd. Which she was! They needed to know who the most beautiful dragon currently on board was. “Nadie!” She screed in a whining voice, taking off into the air to fly over the other. Flying around their head, she started in on her tale of woes, “It’s been horrible! I was trapped at the bottom of the sea! There are rude birds everywhere! One of them won’t leave Squire alone and keeps calling them Deckswabber! It’s been so hard!” Pretending to feint on their shoulder, she could always count on Nadie to side with her with words along the lines of ‘you poor thing’.

Strutting his way along the boards in a line with numours others, Risk looked around the ship and let out a sigh. He was sick and tired of this sea life. All because he happened to snort at the wrong person. It wasn’t his fault the slavers didn’t understand advanced mathematics. Maybe if he could pick out the man in charge, he could finally get an answer on when and where they would finally be let off at. There was someone that strutted up in a hurry layered in… full plate.. of all things… on a ship with an equally metal noodle with wings……. But he doubted someone like that was the captain. Who in their right mind wore heavy armor on sea? One accident away from drowning.

Within the Knight, Pepper was still biding his time. Nadie rarely came around, but maybe he would prove to be an ally, if he could just get the message out to him. Deckswabber was in danger! The danger of not being his.

Nadie was completely oblivious to that need, instead cooing at the poor wyrm who had gone through such torture. She was still young, so she probably didn’t realize it was inappropriate to whine about toys in front of people who suffered just a bit more than having their doll held hostage. Probably. As a thunder, perhaps she did think it was the end of the world, and the greatest injustice she had ever heard of. “Whatever did you do to deserve this, Magnificence? Truly a shame.” He wondered how the Knight managed to raise dragons at all with its kind-hearted nature. He doubted Magnificence would have its humility rub off on her–but, hey, he had no experience with thunders himself. Maybe it would work out.

Having the title ‘The Nadie,’ still delighted him when he heard it. Yes, him, the single Nadie in the world. It was charming how the Knight assumed everyone was a creation with a designated title. Was this its first time on a ship? Did he know they had names yet? He smiled at the Knight and gratefully accepted the egg omelette. “I could ask the same of you.” He called Sirroco down to greet their old friend.

The wyvern dove towards the ship and opened her wings at the last second to slow her descent. Her flaps created a gust of wind that blew through the crowd that had gathered on the decks. Among them stood a Bestia girl who had taken on hermostly human form. She still didn’t know how to hide her ears and tail completely–she never did learn proper transformation magic. She didn’t feel well at all, and she barely knew what was going on. They had said something about being free. Was that really true? It just looked like they were being shuffled to a new place. The lack of restraints was odd, but where exactly would they run in the middle of the ocean?

She sighed and looked at the dragons and their Riders cajoling between the ships. They had some delicious-looking food–would she get some too? This wasn’t her first dragon sighting, but it was the first time they were close enough to hear. Listening to the laments of the little metal snake made her smile. It was nice hearing about little problems for a change. The other dragon looked a bit more intimidating; It had been with them throughout the trip and guarded the ship from attackers. She could still see a bit of blood on its talons. She shiverred, quite glad that they weren’t close enough to touch. Looking around, she spotted someone from a strange species that was surely from the Chronoscape. She didn’t know how old he was, but he looked to be in his 20s, by humanoid standards. He looked quite miserable, but somehow that made him more approachable than anyone else on the ship.

Ah yes! Finally! Someone that understood her! Purring pleasantly, Magnificence adored her rider, but it was difficult to get empathy out of them, only pats and reassurances that she was a good girl for putting up with so much. She never picked up on the other’s sarcastic words or tones, all that mattered was woe is her indeed! Hearing what she wanted to. “It is! I didn’t do a single thing! Only you and my rider are allowed to play with Squire!” And maybe the large bird that soon flew down as well. They at least didn’t pick on her like certain less feathered dragons.

Nodding, the Knight was being completely serious as it replied, “Indeed, this one would be glad to recount the tale. Feel free to inquire at the Nadie’s leisure.” Taking everything exactly as it was said made life a little frustrating at times for people, but the construct meant well. It didn’t want to start off on a long story about rising through the ocean on something called an anchor if Nadie didn’t have the time at the moment to hear it.

Sighing once again, Risk could feel himself building up an itch to pace. It had been absolute torture being tied up, gagged, untied, tossed onto a new ship, having to sit still, suddenly pushed onto another ship, and ultimately having absolutely nothing to do the entire time. Was even casual chatter with the slaves or rescued slaves out of style now? What happened to spilling dastardly plans to the ones suffering? At least give him a paddle ball. The demon was just starting to tap his foot when he noticed someone approaching. “Ah you’re-” .. actually he hadn’t considered talking to the other slaves before, most of them were more traumatized than the newly captured demon. Pushing back the current mess of black hair, he half heartedly apologized, “Sorry, it’s been hard catching names today. Go figure.”

“Bella,” she said in almost a whisper. It was difficult for her to understand anything other than Erré, but his words sounded very close. Even though he spoke them fluently, they were heavy with an accent she couldn’t place. Well, she didn’t care about that at all, so long as she understood him! It was a relief to finally find someone to talk to. Hopefully he wasn’t volatile like a few of the other people aboard seemed to be. She brushed her hair out of her face and attempted her first smile in a long time. “And what should I call you?”

Meanwhile, Nadie was smiling at the Knight. “Hmm…that’s alright. I have a feeling it’s a long story. I can guess you’re here to help with the Rebellion, though.” He was more interested in eating right now–he could hear the full story later. After finishing his omellete, he licked his lips and wiped his mouth. “Your cooking is quite good! I’m glad to taste it.” Sirroco made a short chirp and the Rider offered her his empty plate. She tentatively took it in her talons and started licking it clean. “Are your other dragons doing better than your poor, suffering Magnificence here? And uh…is one of Lloredo’s dragons still uh…in there?” Perhaps Pepper would have his moment soon.

Blinking a light blue pair of eyes set in a dark blue counterpart, he hadn’t actually expected to get an answer out of the other one. For a moment, struck into silence before actually grinning at the cat eared girl. It was nice finally having someone he could understand around, even if she had an odd way of pronouncing some things. “Oh, Risk. Sorry, it’s been a long week and I’ve yet to be offered a cup of coffee. You wouldn’t happen to understand what the others are saying would you?” It was still hard not to add snips in here and there, but the teal skinned demon was looking a little better with someone to speak to.

While the Knight wasn’t able to use facial expressions, Magnificence did a fine enough job for them, harmless amounts of pleased static jumping from her to Nadie. Maybe not completely harmless as she reached up to play with the hair her own rider very much did not have. Some of it flying up to escape from her electrically charged metal fingers.
Tilting its head slightly, the Nadie was very perceptive, it was indeed a long story.

“No, this one simply needs to arrive over there.” Pointing off into the distance again, its destination remained the same. The question about his other dragons were easy enough to answer, the Knight starting to nod. And then there was the one about Pepper…The dragon had completely slipped its mind, though it had yet to hear any tantrums or demands for freedom. Maybe they had gotten out all on their own somehow? “Per.. haps.. would the Nadie mind checking for this one?” Removing its helmet, it leaned down for him to look inside.

The Knight had finally reached the perfect angle. It was time for Pepper to strike–! He nabbed the gecko in his beak and dragged it out to sweet, sweet freedom. Unable to carry the critter in flight, the two plopped right out onto the boards. He dragged it onto the Seasonal Wind, with Deckswabber scootling along the filthy floor and truly living up to its new name. He just had to hide it before that pesky wyrm could catch up to him.

Nadie blinked, not quite accustomed to jungle dragon antics. But, well, what was he to do? Perhaps it was some important mission from Lloredo. Probably not, but he didn’t care enough to bother with them. He let the dragon be. “You probably feel a bit better without something poisonous in your stomach,” he stated to the Knight, smiling. “Why are you heading over there? Is Lloredo taking you? Oddly generous of him.” He nibbled on his omelette absent-mindedly–starting with the heart, of course.

Bella was relieved to find someone to talk to finally. “I can understand a few people, yeah, but…they’re not the talkative types.” A simple glance towards the rest of the crowd was enough to prove that. Very few people were murmuring, though some seemed to be using sign language. That would be convenient to learn, she thought to herself. But at least someone here could speak Erré. She wagged her tail, happy to finally have someone to talk to. “Where are you from? I don’t recognize your accent.”

Worn out from screeching and sparking since they had reached the surface, Magnificence was enjoying a relaxing time playing with the flying strands. Her tail wiggled lazily from side to side until she started staring at the omelet long enough. Under the sudden realization that she was hungry now as well, she reached up to tug on Nadie’s ear with her tiny mechanical limbs. She at least knew better than to interrupt people with her words, but she most certainly needed to let them know when she wanted something. Mostly forgetting the annoying bird dragon in her excitement, she didn’t notice them tumble out while trying to demand a bite of rice.

“There is no poison in this one’s stomach?” Sounding mildly panicked about the suggestion that there might be, the Knight was quick with its reflexes, but merely started following after the dragon, Pepper as it scooted along. Magnificence’s toy was of course recognizable to it considering it had been the one to give it to her as a companion for long trips, or when she needed to stay home. Each of its dragons had similar small creatures, one of the villagers saying it was a must for any growing youngling. Pepper seemed quite busy at the moment however, so for now the Knight simply walked behind them at a distance, still talking to Nadie with expectations he would follow. “This one feels the strange pull to head in that direction. Much like with Mino’s shell.” Meaning egg, but it was close enough as it went on to answer the rest in order. “The Lloredo is indeed offering to take this one. That one is very generous, even providing this one with small tasks.” Most might groan, but the Knight enjoyed any quest it was given.

True, though Risk couldn’t blame them much. He was very much use to pretty much his entire world being raveled in debauchery and sin, so a little kidnapping now and then wasn’t such a big deal. There were always moments to escape eventually, so he tended to bide his time until those arose rather than sulk around. “The second circle,” he replied, it being a common question that he still responded right away to, but realized that might be confusing to those on the surface. “It’s a small town… in the desert.” It was the first place he had fallen into. Hooopefully that counted. “How about you?” Such a basic question. He still had that lingering annoyance at being locked on at sea though without much to do. A notebook or something to jot notes down about the local area wasn’t too much to ask for was it?

“Ah…the Second Circle? I can’t say I’ve heard of it…” The concept of hell and demons wasn’t foreign to Bella, but…she hadn’t quite connected circles with it. Sheol and Hades were much more familiar. She instead imagined a country that divided itself into circles, with each one bearing its own identity despite being part of one entity. “That must be a nice place–deserts tend to be secluded from all the troubles of the world.” She looked over to the bird-like dragon; It looked quite strong and friendly, even if the talons looked scary. She quietly thought that something protecting her like that beast had protected the ship for the past week would be nice to have.