Dragon Shenanigans

[bearshermark]

WHO: Filthy dragon sympathizers and the people aiding them
WHEN: Dragon time
WHERE: The tower and after, docks/sea
WHAT: Subduing and escorting a dragon!
WARNINGS: Some violence, probably

[Top-level sections in the comments! A small attempt was made to organize threads. Feel free to ignore/make your own if they don't suit]

Comments

[weifinder]

More than wanted the dragon dead. We helped bring it in, we may as well be the ones to likewise bring it back to where it might find its way back to the rest.

( Said cheerfully, to cover his exhaustion or the way his nose insists on dripping. Surreptitiously, he continues to blot at it when it starts truly running, and glances back over his shoulder. )

No one happens to have a little extra wind to lend to the sails, do they?

[scrapgege]

[Xie Lian holds up the jar. It's clay, not extremely decorative, but solid... and it smells vaguely of pickle vinegar.]

They're very good to keep and protect souls.

[He is quick to embark as well, but at the question shakes his head sheepishly.]

Sorry, I... even with a boost in power, that's not something I can do. The friend I had who could is not here.

[wooden_one]

[He followed the conversation and scoffed.]

Who was helping? I just happened to be in the area.

[That's his excuse and he's sticking with it!!

He then glares at the sails like they personally offended him.]

...wind isn't my specialty either.

[But he caught the sniffling and he remembers...Xie Lian was also low on spiritual energy earlier (he is not thinking about how that had been solved) so, with a subtle flick of his wrist beneath his sleeve he cast a quick barrier to keep the cold out. As a faint, shimmer of translucent gold extends around them with faint haitang blossoms twisting along it, he says nothing about having done so.]

[elfuego]

I can give the sail more slack, but I'm not an airbender.

[ Looking between the three of them Zuko shook his head, watching warily as Chu Wanning did - something. Eyeing the blossoms as though they might start talking to him his frown tightened and he went for the ropes on the sails.

Watching them fill with the wind there was he was quiet before he looked back to Xie Lian and the jar he held. ]

She's okay? Is she asleep?

[ Aiding and abetting the escape of the sacred was a pretty good feeling, he had to admit. ]

[weifinder]

( welp so everyone here is not actually good at making this thing go faster.

there are no undead mermaids for him to sing into helping, so instead he flexes and warms his fingers, in preparation for playing his lungs out keeping the dragon from turning right around and crushing them and crashing back into the harbour after its release. )

When you miss dealing with the poor mermaids killed by that mirror... get us as far out of the harbour into the sea as you can, young hero.

( Then, to Chu Wanning with a half smile: )

Thank you. Helps with the fingers.

( The warmth, and the songs he's prepared to play, as needed. )

[scrapgege]

She's grumpy. She won't break out, don't worry, but she's trying to fight the sleeping spells. Even if she does, she won't manage to get out, though.

[Xie Lian has his hand firmly on the lid of the jar. A mini-dragon won't be able to lift that, even if the others can't know it.]

We just need to get far away from the city that she won't think about going back there for revenge. Dragons are smart, and they have long memories.

[wooden_one]

An airbender?

[He asks without making it an overt question. He's clearly curious though.

Still, he frowns at the thanks he receives.]

Who said I was trying to help?

[Hmph!! He considers bringing out Jiuge but...if she can be contained for now then he'll leave it for later, in case it was needed.]

[elfuego]

Where I come from they can look in your eyes and read your entire history. They're sacred.

[ His expression might not have shown it, but Zuko took some comfort, listening to the way Xie Lian talked about the dragon. He appreciated the other man's consideration and reverence for the animal they were taking to freedom.

Loosening the sails again to try and get a little more speed going he tilted his head toward the question about airbenders and gave the gentleman he'd met in the tower just before a curt nod. ]

Airbenders bend the air around them, they can make wind, or blades almost, or ride around on balls of air for a while. [ He shrugged, awkwardly aware of the fact that he was talking much too much for his liking. ]

[weifinder]

Then you do some other form of bending?

( It's a question even as the winds do take their sails, propelling them across the waters and the choppy waves that send the boat bouncing as it goes, sending sprays of icy saltwater over them all. Wei Wuxian can't say if he actually remembers being cold at this point, he's been running on fumes, and just knows if they don't get the dragon far enough out to the waters, it will turn back and visit displeasure on a citadel largely innocent of its imprisonment.

He holds on, jaw tight, shivering even in the warmth that Chu Wanning is generating for them around the boat, and the winds pick up speed, a chance of the wind patterns for this time of the day. Behind them, the piers and wharfs and citadel itself slowly grows less impressively looming. )

[scrapgege]

[Well, Xie Lian got his little boost earlier, and it won't help a lot, but he'll... flare his qi a little so heat up the atmosphere inside the barrier as well. That'll burn through the rest of the excess qi he borrowed, but he'll be fine with just his own after that.]

That sounds like what the Elemental Gods do.

[wooden_one]

[Theoretically, he could create a barrier that keeps out water. But it also keeps out the elements including wind. He didn't have one that differentiated between the two.

It was something to consider later.

He listens and he remembers the fight in the tower, the way the young man had handled fire.]

...you bend fire.

[It's a guess, but it sounds like the guess of someone who was quite sure he was right.

He's lowkey irritated by the way Xie Lian just wasted the rest of that energy though. Not because he didn't think it was a bad use of it...just...]

I'm not lending you more energy later. [That's a lie. If it were an emergency he probably still would, but it's the principle of the matter!]

[elfuego]

Yeah, I bend fire. Not useful on water, but at least I know how to sail?

[ At least he wasn't completely useless on this trip and could contribute more than hovering nervously over the jar. It was a shame building a fire on a boat wasn't at all safe - especially on the little craft he had managed to sneak away with. They had all fought hard, and everyone looked cold and worn out.

The thought made his eyes return to the jar, and before he could let himself stare at it too long, with too much reverence, the man holding it. ]

What's an elemental god? Do they control all the elements, or are there gods for every element?

[scrapgege]

Each Elemental god has their own element. I'e only ever met four of them. The Wind Master, the Water Master, the Earth Master and the Rain Master. I assume there's more of them, though.

[A look back towards the city and...]

Do you think we're far enough away?

[weifinder]

( Wei Wuxian looks back as well, lifting his flute to his lips without quite pressing it to his lips again yet. )

Never far enough. Be ready, we want the dragon to head out to the deeper waters, to find those it misses.

( the music he begins to play is verily meant as a mind-calming kind, and that it will technically work for his boat companions if they're not careful, it's preparation for the dragon in true. )

[wooden_one]

[He dismisses the barrier around them, just to conserve energy. The truth was, between everything else tonight, he was beginning to run low. He gathers the energy at his fingers anyway.

The flute playing is doing some of what is needed, in that case, he prepares to cast a barrier to stop the dragon in case it chooses to charge in their direction. But also...]

Jiuge, come forth.

[And with a flash of golden light, he summons a black guqin, one end of it curling into a flower branch. He doesn't begin to play yet. Perhaps he won't at all and will only borrow its power to strengthen a barrier. It will depend on what the dragon does when it's released.]

[scrapgege]

[Xie Lian slowly opens the jar and then puts his hand inside, removing the miniaturized dragon... and then quickly letting go as it recovers its normal size.

There, fly free, you poor thing.]