She gets H'Tor's armor strapped onto the hoverbike and somehow manages the wobbly trip back without crashing. Once the hoverbike is stowed safely she helps Krays get the armor back to his room. She shakes her head when Jimmy starts to ask a question and for once he takes the wise course and shuts up.
"Thanks Ephebe. Your friendship means alot to me."
When they get unloaded, Krays offers a weak 'hello' to Jiminy, then goes to sleep
"I guess you would understand better than anyone, Kam. Yeah, we'll have to talk later."
Between Asch melding himself with shadows, Krays developing new abilities as the Champion of Death, and trying to figure out what she could and couldn't do now that she was a hybrid whatever-the-hell-she-was it quickly became apparent that they needed some time to work on things. She requested some time with one of the practice rooms in the basement so they could figure things out without having others underfoot and potentially in harms way.
Sometime in the middle of the night, Krays gets up and gathers his valuables on his bed, including H'Tor's stuff, shifts into dragon form and curls up on them and goes back to sleep...
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A bleary eyed Jiminy wakes up to see what the commotion was and seeing Krays as a dragon curled up on his stuff decides he must be still dreaming. After all, sleeping on your hoard was a surefire way to get a crimp in your scales. That's why he kept all his treaures *under* the bed. Much better that way. And he drifted back to sleep.
It had been a rough day. She was tired from the trip to the graveyard the night before and nothing had been going quite how she expected. She had tried to cast a spell and found she couldn't. It still worked when she used her Caster, but all of her normal cleric spells were gone. She'd been late for class and suddenly found herself moving at superspeed. That wasn't so bad. The crash into the wall when she realized that she didn't know how to stop...that was bad. And she'd had to make a quick break for the restroom when she'd gotten mad at one of the Pack who was picking on her and her left arm had gone all clawed and scaly. And it wasn't even lunchtime yet.
She knocked on Taron and Kam's door. Hopefully they were there. She really needed to talk.
That first morning Krays wakes up and stretches...and knocks all kinds off stuff off of his shelves when his wings stretch out...he calls out in alarm, then settles down as he looks over his dragon form, getting almost giddy...he'll apologize to Jim for the racket, and explain he didn't realize he had shifted in his sleep, and must have been sleep walking when he gathered up the stuff. He'll take pointers from Jiminy how to stash his new hoard, and how to keep his kobold shape while he's sleeping. He'll also remeber an equally strong love of swimming as he had of flying, and will get used to his ability to breathe water, and chat with reptiles...it takes about a week for him to get it all sorted out, and at times he still seems down about H'Tor, he seems to be alot better, almost confident he is in a better place. He'll probably try to sneak away with Jiminy here and there to slip into dragon form to fly out near the temple or to go swimming...he'll probably also ask Ephebe or Aananda to train help him remember how to fight as a dragon...
She knocked on Taron and Kam's door. Hopefully they were there. She really needed to talk.
Taron opens the door slightly, only recognizable through the thin opening by his white hair and purple eye. He opens the door wider when he sees that it's Ephebe and leans out it to look up and down the hall. Seeing no one, he opens the door wider and lets her in.
"I should have known the 'Do Not Disturb' wouldn't discourage family." Taron says with a wink as he sits down and uses a Ammy-needle to etch a tattoo onto Kam's arm, his eyes draconic and glowing as he does so. "You'd think he'd be able to handle this better. I actually had to paralyze the arm so he'd keep from flinching."
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...he'll probably also ask Ephebe or Aananda to train help him remember how to fight as a dragon...
"I should have known the 'Do Not Disturb' wouldn't discourage family." Taron says with a wink as he sits down and uses a Ammy-needle to etch a tattoo onto Kam's arm, his eyes draconic and glowing as he does so. "You'd think he'd be able to handle this better. I actually had to paralyze the arm so he'd keep from flinching."
"Er...why are you tattooing Kam? And, uh, actually it's Kam I wanted to talk to. It's just...all of these changes and my abilities are going haywire and I ...I just needed to talk."
"I got bored. It's easier if you think about the tattoos like scrolls, except anyone I put them on can use them. It's just a single use per tattoo though."
"Pretend I'm not here."
"Er...why are you tattooing Kam? And, uh, actually it's Kam I wanted to talk to. It's just...all of these changes and my abilities are going haywire and I ...I just needed to talk."
"Talk away. I did ask you to come by and talk to me about it, didn't I?"
"Er...why are you tattooing Kam? And, uh, actually it's Kam I wanted to talk to. It's just...all of these changes and my abilities are going haywire and I ...I just needed to talk.""Talk away. I did ask you to come by and talk to me about it, didn't I?"
"Yeah, you did...So...when everything goes all haywire like this....how do you know you're still, you know...you? I still don't know what kind of thing the demon spliced me with. Solivala thinks it's some kind of unknown demon. Mom says no, but I can't help wondering if that's just wishful thinking. All I'm sure of is that whatever it is, it's got great reflexes. But that doesn't exactly help right now..."
"Yeah, you did...So...when everything goes all haywire like this....how do you know you're still, you know...you?"
"First thing you should do is stop asking yourself that question and answer it instead." Kam replies "I asked myself that same question a few times long ago, and my mother almost got the kind of son she wanted. Well, after going mad. The answer I came up with was that I am who I am, no matter what I look like."
"I still don't know what kind of thing the demon spliced me with. Solivala thinks it's some kind of unknown demon. Mom says no, but I can't help wondering if that's just wishful thinking. All I'm sure of is that whatever it is, it's got great reflexes. But that doesn't exactly help right now..."
"Well, assuming the demon was as twisted in it's thinking as the rest of it's kind.. except Amada, I guess.. what would it have been mostly likely to splice you with? It's possible it's a demon, but I'd likely be having a much different reaction to all this if it was."
"Well, assuming the demon was as twisted in it's thinking as the rest of it's kind.. except Amada, I guess.. what would it have been mostly likely to splice you with? It's possible it's a demon, but I'd likely be having a much different reaction to all this if it was."
"Well...from what I know of her...she had a really sick sense of humor. She'd have been most likely to have used something she would have expected me to hate...but if it's not a demon......" She stopped talking as she thought through all the implication.
"If it's not a demon," she said slowly. "You don't suppose it's....Hunter?"
"Well, assuming the demon was as twisted in it's thinking as the rest of it's kind.. except Amada, I guess.."
"And stay out if you can't remember your place!" Asch says as he throws an uppity student clear across the hall who thought to mess with Asch during firearms class.
"Well...from what I know of her...she had a really sick sense of humor. She'd have been most likely to have used something she would have expected me to hate...but if it's not a demon......" She stopped talking as she thought through all the implication.
"If it's not a demon," she said slowly. "You don't suppose it's....Hunter?"
"I wouldn't know." Kamenwati says with a one-shoulder shrug. "The Hunter's we've fought haven't seemed particularly quick of reflexes to me. If you really want to know, you'd have to compare your spilced cells to a Hunter's."
"Any other questions for the local demonic transformation expert?" He aks with a faint grin.
"Somehow I don't think Lysander is going to be real eager to just give me a DNA sample to compare with..." her voice trails off and she frowns. "There's something....I can't quite remember...." She shrugged. "Well, I suppose if it's important I'll remember it later."
"Does it get easier? I mean after you've had time to get used to it?"
Solivala had been spending all his considerable free time, as he had no need to eat or sleep, building the clock tower. He was currently on the third floor nearing the start of the forth. It was cut off from the rest of the school by purple tape and four layered shield guardian stone golems who stand guard preventing trespass. He could often be found floating atop a dark cloud weaving spells into the tower or shaping its material.
"Oh, and I almost forgot...in between accidentally slamming myself into a wall at speeds that would have killed a normal human and having to beat a hasty exit before anyone noticed that my left arm had gone all scaled, I got permission for us to use a practice room in the basement for a few days. Since I clearly need practice. Plus Asch sort of melded shadows into his right arm. And Krays, well, he's had a few revelations too. So we all need some practice to learn at least enough control to defend ourselves if there's trouble. You guys are welcome to join us if you want."
The first day of practicing something became immediately apparent. As much as she might like them, the baggy clothes were not working with this new fighting style. So she cut up an old pink leotard to make a top. Unfortunately she miscalculated when she cut it and it didn't cover all of her belly. She felt weird wearing such a short shirt, but she supposed she'd get used to it. And then there was the problem of pants. Workout clothes functioned okay, but didn't really look right for walking around school. So she asked Fieri who of course had something for her. They kind of looked like jeans but they were stretchy and they fit her like a second skin. A pair of soft practice shoes and she was set. Without all of the pockets she was used to she had to have her ammo belt enchanted so that each pocket was like a handy haversack. She still felt kind of awkward about the new look, but it was practical at least. The major downside being that she was starting to get a lot more male attention than she was used to. Jeran actually leered at her in the hallway. Eeeew.
The first thing she noticed was that she could only cast spells through her Caster now. She could still make scrolls to craft into bullets, but she couldn't cast from them. And some spells had become outright impossible. Anything with negative energy for example. Probably a side effect of the positive energy used to put her back together. And other spells...she just couldn't keep them in her mind. If she already had a bullet crafted she could still use it, but it was difficult.
And then there was the sudden bursts of speed, an entirely new fighting style to get used to, the tendency of her left arm to become a claw, and what she could only describe as tracker vision. It was a little like when she used her dragon vision to see magic, but instead it kept track of her target, keeping their position known even if they were invisible, tracking their heartbeat and general health. She couldn't hold it long in practice. She thought it had something to do with not being able to use it on someone she didn't actually want dead.
Krays will muddle through combat training, still obviously preferring to use spell other than tooth and claw, but when he gets frustrated seems to be going to dragon form to take flight and drop spells or breath from high up and forcing his opponent to come after him...which doesn't always end well, as he's still a little small to be
taking opponents on one on one...he is a quick little s**t, though...
"Good job, Krays," she calls out as he dodges another hit. Unfortunately she took her eyes off of what she was doing.
*Crash*
"Ow. I hit the wall again."
"Maybe we should put padding on the walls if you keep running into them." Asch says as he dodges the out of control Ephebe.
"Maybe we should put padding on the walls if you keep running into them." Asch says as he dodges the out of control Ephebe.
"This...sounds like a good plan." She was bent over double trying to get her breath back after yet another graceless performance.
"How gaining speed and quicker reflexes makes me so much more crash happy I will never understand."
Krays lights down next to Ephebe"Maybe ou should jsut try sprinting in a straight line...then try to stop to gague your reaction time...then maybe you could better judge your maneuvers?"
Krays lights down next to Ephebe"Maybe ou should jsut try sprinting in a straight line...then try to stop to gague your reaction time...then maybe you could better judge your maneuvers?"
"That's a good idea. Er...can we put some padding on the wall at the other end before I try that? Just in case?"
After a few more tries (and crashes) she finally starts to get the hang of her new mode of movement and starts to figure out how to stop, turn corners, change course, and otherwise not crash into everything.
"Does it get easier? I mean after you've had time to get used to it?"
"Yeah.." Kam says after being quiet for a few moments. "Yeah, it gets better. I think you'll have an easier time of it. If that's all, we'll meet you in practice room later."
During practice, Kamenwati takes to the air to get Krays used to aerial combat.
As Kam comes up after Krays, Krays quickly realizes that flgiht is an advantage only one of the two comabatants should enjoy...he gets sneaky, trying to use enervate or ray of enfeeblement (he can fix with lesser resto) to try to make Kam too weak to fly, then pounce him to add his own weight and let go at the last second, with a fly by swipe. He will not go after Kam's wings, though...
It doesn't seem he's forgotten as much as he thought...but, oddly for a dragon, he doesn't get cocky about anything and seriously listens to Kam and the other's advice...he will actually make comments about the "team" learning each others strengths and weaknesses to better work and kill together...he approaches these sessions as seriously as he does his other school work.
Krays may out match him when it comes to spellcasting, but Kam quickly figures out that he can fly better than the kobold-turned-dragon even if he's slower. Still, he isn't expecting Krays to be as sneaky as he is and finds himself speeding toward the ground with a black dragon on top of him. Luckily, Krays let's go of him before it's too late to pull up, and Kam lands instead of continuing to fly. He watches as Krays flies around again and dodges the attack. This was going to be harder than he though.. With a strong, sudden flap of his wings he's back in the air and throwing lightning around like there's a storm.
Despite the fact he doesn't seem to be holding his own in the aerial sparring match, Kam's smiling, and taking every bit of advice and using it as soon as he can.
Krays is also enjoying himself, an taking his licks without complaint
After a few more tries (and crashes) she finally starts to get the hang of her new mode of movement and starts to figure out how to stop, turn corners, change course, and otherwise not crash into everything.
After an unusually successful practice for her, Ephebe looks around.
"Hey guys, where's Amada? Wasn't she just here?"
After a few more tries (and crashes) she finally starts to get the hang of her new mode of movement and starts to figure out how to stop, turn corners, change course, and otherwise not crash into everything.
Its funnty how closely this Krays parallels that one, but is a much nicer guy :P
Vakkler leaves his classroom in a sour mood. he stalks the halls, glaring at anybody he sees (even teachers).
Vakkler leaves his classroom in a sour mood. he stalks the halls, glaring at anybody he sees (even teachers).
"Ah, there you are. I've been looking for you. We need to talk. Do you have a minute?"
She smiled, completely oblivious to his glare.
She starts looking around, trying to see where Amada went.
She starts looking around, trying to see where Amada went.
"Sorry Ephebe, I didn't see her. Kam's been after me pretty much non stop...AHH!!" and he quickly launches into the air again to avoid another barrage of lightning...
She found Amada sitting down leaning against the wall by her gym bag.
"Hey there you are. I've been looking all over for you..."
At that point she noticed that Amada's water bottle had slipped from her hands and spilled all over the floor.
"Amada? Hey, are you okay? You don't look so good..."
"ASCH!"
Hears Ephebe's alarm...
"Ephebe's found trouble!" and heads to the door, shifting back into kobold form on the way...