14.1 (Pern/Jurassic)
"Hey, E'gon!"
You always sound like some kind of ghost buster here, Saphira observed with a chuckle as his rider looked up from rubbing him down. Almost a shade slayer.
You're one to talk, everyone here calls you Saphirath and that's not far from being a maniac with a giant sword. "Weyrleader?" Eragon asked aloud, as K'van came jogging over.
"Nothing particularly urgent, E'gon," K'van assured him, slowing to a stop. "You've not got any sweep duties the next few days, right?"
"No," Eragon admitted.
"Any plans?"
"I hadn't made any yet," Eragon shrugged. "I did have the idea of going to a Gather at Landing..."
"That should do," K'van nodded. "Someone from Calusa requested escort heading downriver to that very same Gather - apparently the predators have been pretty bad down that way."
"Ted Tubberman has a lot to answer for," Eragon said, shaking his head.
At least we get target practice, his blue commented with a chuckle.
"I'll take felines if we get the grubs too," K'van quipped. "Anyway, are you up for it?"
"Certainly," Eragon assured his Weyrleader. "Saphirath will let you know if we get eaten."
"Try not to, I'd hate to have to break in a new sweeprider as good as you," K'van replied.
Don't flatter him, he'll demand more pay, Heth admonished his rider.
"Okay, where are the coordinates..." Eragon frowned for a moment, then Saphira sent him an image. "Right. Thanks."
Where would you be without me? his dragon asked.
Probably Alagaesia. "Wonder what he's like..."
-Owen blinked.
Before he had time to look around, his loop memories came in - quick as a flash, this time - and he spent a moment looking them over to make sure there was nothing unexpected.
Well, this wasn't Earth, though it was still populated with humans - along with some rather more unusual beasts. His own main area of expertise was to take care of some of the mundane animals, like horses, dogs or cattle as well as flightless birds called wherries.
Though for whatever reason horses were 'runner-beasts', and dogs and cows had strange descriptive names too.
Shrugging that off, Owen glanced down at the knotted rope slung over his shoulder. Memories told him it was an indicator of Journeyman rank, and quite a recent one too... which was why he'd been allowed to join an expedition to Calusa on the southern continent.
That actually sounded pretty sweet.
At that point, a sound returned his attention to what he'd been doing. Kneeling in front of a nest, on which were four small eggs rocking back and forth.
Fire-lizards. Probably the main reason his unAwake self had wanted to come down to the southern continent.
There was a crack, and one of the shells splintered. A pair of whirling blue-green eyes peered out, and then the hatchling broke free entirely and shrugged his shell off to reveal a glistening azure skin.
Sensations/emotions intruded on his mind. A cool regard, a deep affection, and a kind of bubbly excitement.
Boss!
His jaw dropped. "Blue?"
Food, the hatchling Fire-lizard insisted, and Owen went for one of the bowls of fish he'd prepared.
Then a second shell began to break.
Saphira exploded into the air over Calusa, by the side of the wide Jordan river.
"Good work!" Eragon called, as he caught the air and began to descend with slow care. "Okay, there's the main holding... that's the Landing volcanoes... right! Take us down, Saphira!"
What do you think I'm doing? Saphira asked tartly, tail lashing to compensate for his weight. Incidentally, it's a bit of a pain being male here.
"Comes with being blue," Eragon twitted him. "It's hardly the first time, or even the tenth."
So? Saphira asked. I'd fix it myself if it weren't liable to draw too much comment from confused Greens.
"Greens are easily confused," Eragon agreed. "Okay, that looks like him - wait, don't scare the livestock-!"
The supple blue dragon backwinged and came to a halt about twenty yards from the edge of the herdbeast herd itself.
Predictably, they bolted. In all directions.
Owen winced. "Great..."
"Saphira," the rider sighed. "How many times?"
The dragon did not look especially sorry.
"Blue!" Owen called, and whistled. "Round 'em up!"
The blue fire-lizard on his shoulder launched himself skywards, creeling, and the others - brown Echo, bronze Charlie and gold Delta - flitted in at his command before setting off to corral the herdbeasts again.
"Sorry about that," the rider said, dismounting with a jingle of straps. "S-he's feeling mischievous today."
"No problem," Owen shrugged, shaking hands with the rider. "Looper?"
The bluerider blinked. "Is it that obvious?"
"Slip of the tongue, there," Owen nodded to the blue dragon, now looking interested. "I've kind of been thinking about it myself the last few months. The squad there are all girls usually."
"Huh." Shading his eyes, the rider looked out across the field - seeing four fire-lizards efficiently steering beast after beast back towards Owen. "Not bad. I'm Eragon, by the way - that's Saphira."
Charmed, Saphira volunteered.
"Wait, is the blue one in charge?" Eragon added, tilting his head. "That's not normal..."
"Blue's in charge alright," Owen nodded. "Tough little-"
That is an outrageously unimaginative name.
"Hey!" Owen said, stung. "They're not that bad... hold on."
He reached into his jerkin, and removed a photo. "Here, this is us normally."
"Yeah, I can see how that's a bit less obvious," Eragon allowed, inspecting the photo of Owen in combat fatigues and four scaly velociraptors posing for the camera. "Neat. Okay, so we're headed down the Jordan?"
To find where it flows to the sea.
"Man, your dragon's better at quips than you are," Owen chuckled. "Yeah, that's about the size of it. The squad could probably take a tiger or two, but it's better to be sure."
Job done, Blue reported, flashing into being just over Owen's shoulder and landing on the padded section of his jerkin.
"Quick work," Owen told them, tossing a sweetmeat into the air for Delta. Echo got one next, then Charlie, and Blue took the final one delicately from his hand.
"Well. Shall we?" Eragon asked.
"Why not."
14.2
"How are we going to land?" the copilot asked.
His senior, the pilot of the Fireflash atomic aircraft, shook his head. "I don't know. I just don't-"
The radio crackled.
"Calling Fireflash, come... please, come in..."
Snatching up the radio, the pilot spoke as his second tuned it to the frequency. "Fireflash to unknown, please identify."
A boisterous voice came through. "We're the guys who are going to land your plane for you, that's who! Okay... Ruff, Tuff, take the fuselage!"
"Why do we have to take the heavy bit?" another voice said.
"Yeah, what she asked!"
"It's because Thunderbird Two is the biggest," a long-suffering male voice cut in. "Okay, Fireflash, please bear with us..."
"Who are these people?" the pilot asked, pressing the NO TRANSMIT button for a moment.
The copilot shrugged.
"...okay, good!" the sensible-sounding voice said. "Astrid, you've got the tailplane?"
"Sure have!"
"Right... okay, Fireflash, cut engines!"
"Do what?" the pilot repeated. "We're miles from a runway! Vertically!"
"Hey, Hiccup?" the first voice cut in again. "How come Toothless gets to be Thunderbird one?"
"Do we have to have this argument again?"
"I'm just saying-"
"Heathrow on the count of three!" Hiccup ordered. "One! Two! Three-"
Everything went black.
"...well, that went pretty well," Gobber said, watching the news as a giant atomic passenger aircraft was gently lowered to the tarmac by half-a-dozen dragons in formation.
Right at the nose was a familiar black Night Fury with a big 1 painted on both wings, the fuselage was handled by a bulky green Zippleback with a 2 on both wings, and so on down the list - Hookfang, Thornado, Stormfly, and the diminutive Meatlug at 6.
The Skrill next to him nodded, sparks crackling between her spines.
"How are you doin' at picking up radio, by the way?" he added.
Blitsif shrugged. Getting better at it, but I think we'll still need the receivers for a bit.
I demand to be Thunderbird seven! Lazy 'pathed firmly.
"That means you'd have to work for a livin'," Gobber pointed out.
14.3 (Archanon)
Aket-ten had a Problem (and, head of the Queen's Wing and entirely competent dragon-partner in her own right or not, she rather felt it deserved the emphasis).
Although, in fairness, part of the Problem was that none of those hard-won descriptors actually applied at the current time. Because the current time was quite a few seasons prior to the last time she remembered, as she'd noticed when she woke up in her childhood home in Alta, which had been destroyed quite some time ago.
Aket-ten had considered the explanation that she was dreaming, but everything was exactly as she remembered it and she had learned a bit about dreams back when she'd been a Nestling and the Winged Ones had thought she might have the gift that, as it turned out, had belonged to Kaleth. That was not how normal dreams worked. It might have been magic, but she rather doubted that enough Magi were left in Altia to perform such a feat – and, honestly, she doubted that they could have replicated Orest's whining this perfectly. (Aket-ten privately admitted to herself that she hadn't seen just how much her brother had grown up until she was confronted with his younger self. Certainly she'd known, but they'd always annoyed each other affectionately… She cut off that line of thought; it wouldn't help her at the moment.)
Regardless, Aket-ten had decided to assume that she was, truly, back in time. Perhaps it wasn't the conclusion that the average Altian would come to, but considering that she had only a week ago acted as a conduit for a goddess to fight off the ancestral enemies of the joined kingdoms, Aket-ten was willing to accept what she saw.
And that, of course, led to the real Problem. Because when she'd woken up the morning that she had been rescued by Kiron on the first time, she'd been disoriented enough that she'd never gone to the Temple of the Twins and never been sent to gather fish for the Magi. Which meant she wasn't going to meet Kiron, and her father wasn't going to sponsor him, and so many things were going to go very badly without that meeting.
Well, thought Aket-ten, I can stand here complaining or I can find a solution.
Aket-ten stood and strode determinedly out of her room. While she had no desire to get nearly eaten by a river-horse again, nor to get their servants killed, she rather felt like taking a boat ride. Orest would, of course, be coming with her, despite his protests. Perhaps if she was lucky, she'd spot Kiron; if not, she'd doubtless think of something.
"She's not here."
I did notice.
"Why is she not here?"
You've asked that several times now and I still don't know how you expect me to know, Kiron.
Kiron huffed from his position on Avatre's back as she flew over the swamps of Alta, the up-and-down motion of his dragon's wingbeats a comfort as he found a wrinkle he hadn't anticipated.
"She's always been here before – well, when the world is normal at least. This doesn't make any sense!"
When Kiron said that Aket-ten was always here, he meant it. After the first few times that he and Avatre had missed rescuing her, they'd made a special effort to count the days and the time and get there on time. Speaking purely practically, if Aket-ten died it was always so much harder to get anything done in Alta, but beyond that… well, even if it wasn't ever the same as it had been in his first life, Aket-ten was special to him.
(He'd probably lived as long or longer than even the oldest Magi had by now, and wasn't that a strange thought.)
"I have no idea what to do now," Kiron admitted to Avatre, leaning back and staring upwards towards the disc of the sun.
Well, Avatre sent back, sudden amusement heavy in her voice, you could take your head out of the clouds and look at the river again.
Kiron blinked, and glanced at the back of Avatre's head – all he could see from his position – inquisitively. "What are you trying to do?"
Avatre refused to answer with anything but a sense of heavy amusement, so Kiron sighed and glanced down past the scarlet neck. Then he blinked and rubbed his eyes.
"Is that Aket-ten riding a river horse?"
It appears to be Aket-ten riding a river horse. Orest looks terrified.
"I don't blame him," Kiron said, shaking his head at the scene. "This is just strange."
Well, let's find out what's going on.
"What do you mean by that-" Kiron began to ask, but was cut off by Avatre entering a steep dive, pulling up just in time to skim the river and bleed off her momentum to land on the mud-flats. The river-horse immediately changed course towards them, eventually depositing a highly composed Aket-ten and an Orest, who appeared to be afraid to make any sudden movements. Kiron really couldn't blame him.
Before he could open his mouth to ask any of the many questions on his mind, Aket-ten preempted him.
"Come along, Jouster, my family will host you this evening. And I would appreciate it if you didn't have your dragon make any sudden dives like that again, this is difficult enough without you startling my ride."
Avatre chortled. Kiron realized his mouth was hanging open and closed it, scrambling for a response.
"I- uh- are you sure that's safe?"
He snapped his mouth closed around Aket-ten's name, which he'd nearly blurted out, but he wasn't supposed to know that yet. And he didn't feel like explaining again to Lord Ya-tiren that he hadn't been stalking his family, really, Kiron swore.
Aket-ten raised an eyebrow at him and, for all that the last time he'd seen his Aket-ten, the first Aket-ten, she'd been years older, he could have sworn he was looking at her now.
"Obviously," Aket-ten said, in the same tone of voice she'd used when Kiron had said no to her idea for the Queen's Wing. "Otherwise I wouldn't be doing it."
She sniffed, and turned away, obviously expecting him to follow. Kiron rather doubted he was supposed to hear the muttered words that followed.
"Typical Kiron."
He froze for a moment, then reached out and grabbed Aket-ten's arm. He needed to see her face. She spun around, eyes flashing (and river-horse startling too, which was concerning in the small part of Kiron's mind that wasn't occupied with his sudden hope), but he cut her off.
"Aket-ten?"
Kiron saw Aket-ten's expression as her name, spoken quietly and (if he was honest) desperately, registered fully and diverted what was no doubt going to have been an impressive dressing-down.
"…Kiron?"
It was acknowledgement enough, and he nodded wordlessly. Aket-ten's eyes widened, then narrowed, and she glanced at Orest, biting her lip. She took a step forward, then stopped.
"…Jouster, I believe you know the way, then. I will meet you at my home and we can talk more there. If we delay here too long my, ah, friend may get restless," she said, eying the now-calming river horse.
Kiron nodded dumbly. Aket-ten smiled at him. "I will see you again soon."
She moved to drag Orest along, then stopped and considered. "Actually, would you take Orest? I don't think my choice of travel agreed with him."
"I can," Kiron managed to get out. Well, that was certain to get Orest's dragon mania going, so at least he was on familiar ground there. Without another word, Aket-ten walked over to the river-horse and soothed it for some time, then clambered on to its back and took off once more. Kiron cajoled Orest onto Avatre's back and slid on himself, giving the signal for flight.
Well, said Avatre as she gained height, she certainly seems to know what she wants.
"She always did, once she left the Healers," Kiron laughed, trusting that Orest would be too busy staring at the receding ground to pay attention. He always did take some time to adjust to heights. "I'm glad that hasn't changed."
14.4
Lawrence blinked, and found himself underwater.
No, not underwater, because he could breathe freely. But there was liquid all around him, warm and close.
It was dark, with a faint red light filtering in through the walls surrounding him. And there were voices - he could hear them faintly, discussing something or other about art.
Suddenly, there was an itch. He wanted to get out.
Temeraire? he asked, reaching out. Dear heart?
Lawrence!
the voice of his partner replied. Where are you? What has happened? This is so-
I don't know where I am-
Lawrence made a convulsive shudder, and the surrounds cracked open before crumbling to fragments.
Eh? he heard.
"Ow," he said.
He was sprawled lengthways across a pile of straw, spilling out of a wooden crate, and seemed to be four-legged instead of two.
A vaguely oriental-looking man wearing casual clothes looked down at him in puzzlement, and tilted his head in a suddenly very familiar way.
"Temeraire?" he asked, hesitantly.
"Lawrence!" the man replied, crouching down. "Dear me, what are you doing in that crate?"
"Apparently hatching," Lawrence said, looking back down the length of his draconic body. "I seem to be a different type of dragon to yourself."
"It would not surprise me," Temeraire replied. "I seem to be a different type of human to you."
"Where are we, then?" Lawrence asked, absently laying his head on Temeraire's shoulder - and realizing why his partner often did that, when he had the chance. It was soothing.
"London, Lawrence," Temeraire assured him. "I appear to be an art collector, and you appear to have been some very valuable art I had acquired - that is, until you broke it."
Lawrence chuckled. "Should I paint myself brass and stand on a pedestal?"
"Oh, could you? It would be an excellent party piece..."
They shared a good laugh.
"Now, then, Lawrence," Temeraire resumed. "I am afraid you will rather need to learn how to operate those wings."
"I must say, this is a singularly interesting idea," Temeraire admitted. "I confess I had simply never thought of it."
"Dear heart, you are not the naval officer of the two of us," Lawrence replied, grunting as he tested the harness. "If any should have thought of it, it is me... it is not as if we have not been places this kind of thing is done."
"That is true, I suppose," Temeraire nodded. "But will they not impair the movement of your own neck?"
"They might, yes," Lawrence said. "But that is why there is the breech safety mechanism."
Temeraire frowned, then watched as Lawrence demonstrated the loading and reloading. "Will it not be strange that these weapons load from the breech? I had thought that was simply not done."
Lawrence shrugged. "I can allow myself the odd anachronism in the name of obtaining my own forward-facing pepper guns, can I not?"
A considering nod from Temeraire.
"How is the campaign going, by the way?" Lawrence added, unclipping the gun-harness for now.
"It could be better," Temeraire sighed. "Ah, dear one, I lack your flair for the naval side of things... but my understanding is certainly that we will have no further issues with the French Fleet for now. They lick their wounds in port."
"And the army?" Lawrence asked.
"Still moving around Salamanca," Temeraire frowned. "I am afraid we will soon be required to fly more missions."
He and Lawrence shared a deep, sad sigh.
Killing dragons felt wrong. Humans, too, but at least a human born into their country would often have some choice. For dragons, it was fight or be forced to fight.
But, then, that was one reason why Lawrence had been training his strength for long hours - far longer than most dragons.
He wanted to be able to mount aggressive boarding actions, as many as possible. Take enemy dragons as legitimate prizes by threatening their captains, not by tearing them from the sky.
The pepper guns were more in the way of an experiment. To be able to shred a formation simply by giving most of the dragons in it sneezing fits.
"So," Temeraire said, after a long moment. "It seems I must swash my buckle."
"That's not how you say it," Lawrence corrected, with a smirk.
He spread his wings, and half-flapped them with a booming of leather. "I feel like a flight. Would you like to come?"
"Oh, certainly!" Temeraire agreed. "It's nice to not have to do the work for once."
"I consider it nice to be able to do it myself," Lawrence replied. "A change is as good as a rest, it seems."
14.5
{D&DC/Adminspace] [katfairy]
Another Loop, and once again Hank was the only one Awake. It was starting to wear on him; he had gotten to the point where, when he saw something interesting, he made a note of it to tell Terry, Ranma, Jack Harkness, or Abby before he thought to tell his older friends. He still cared about them, but he worried that if this kept up, he'd leave them behind entirely, looking at them as just a responsibility rather than as his friends. He'd talked about it with Terry and Abby, and the senior Loopers had agreed that it was a risk, but had reassured him that they were still as close to their non-Looping friends as ever. Since Terry's fiancée wasn't looping yet and Terry stayed faithful to her, even to the point of commissioning a ring for her from Elven craftspeople in that Lord of the Rings Loop, it helped. It didn't eliminate the worry entirely, but it did help.
Uni ran up to them, chased by Orcs as usual, and Dungeon Master showed up right on time. Weapons were acquired, the Orcs' reinforcements showed up, the group went up, the cliff, Tiamat burst out and hovered over them, all just like usual. Eric brought up his shield instinctively, just like usual. Tiamat's heads inhaled, just like usual.
"Why are you alwayssss chassssing thessssse children over my territory?"
Wait, what?
"But we not see children before! We just want unicorn for lunch!"
"Do not try to deccccieve me, Orc. Your masssster hasssss been warned, and—you do not lie. I can sssssee. You are too ssssstupid, and it issss clear that thessssse children do not know me. What trickery isss thissss?"
No. Not happening. This was a hallucination caused by… he didn't care what. But there was no way in hell that the first from his Loop to Awaken was one of his enemies. Of course, it could be a Variant; he'd met precognitives in other Loops who couldn't seem to tell the difference between the future and the present and kept referring to things that hadn't happened yet. That had to be it.
"Uh, Tiamat," he said cautiously, "are you saying you know us? When's the last time you saw us?"
"When you sssssought to desssstroy Venger, but sssspared him out of missssguided pity. You are a fool, Ranger; he will not hesssssitate to desssstroy you."
Hank sat down, paling.
In Yggdrasil, Tiamat discovered that it is in fact possible to snort soba noodles out one's nose.
"WhatthefuckIdidNOTauthorizethatwhatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuckSKULD!"
The Sumerian goddess started pulling up all the files she could, trying desperately to figure out how a Looper could activate without her approval—because she knew for a fact that she hadn't done so. She heard feet pounding down the corridor but didn't look up as Skuld appeared.
"Tiamat? What in all the hells are you screeching about?"
"Skuld, I am going to ask some questions, and I want clear and immediate answers: first, you know how sometimes we borrow the bodies of our in-Loop avatars if we decide we need to?"
"Yeah. Not a great idea, but as long as you don't do it too often, it's okay."
"Right. Well, how often is too often?"
"That one doesn't have a clear answer. Even those idiot hackers haven't done it much; most of the time, if we want to pop into the Loop, we just do it, and most of the time, we don't."
"Right. Now here's the big one: can doing it cause the avatar to Loop without our approval?"
"No."
"You're sure?"
Skuld didn't answer for a moment. Tiamat turned to look and saw to her relief that Skuld was just thinking, not joining her in panic. After a few minutes, Skuld shook her head.
"No. It isn't possible. Tell me what happened that's got you freaking out."
"I was going over The Realm trying to figure out which if the kids to Awaken and that damn Dragon popped up as a Looper—and I didn't approve her. Seriously, she's not even on the list. And I can't find anything to indicate why it happened."
"…Okay, that's a good reason. Now, let me see…" Skuld bent over the screen, reaching over to hit the keyboard on occasion. "Huh. Well, that's not something you see every day."
"Not helping."
"Apparently she's Looping because reasons. It happens sometimes; I think half the Equestrians started that way sometimes. Although usually a prompt will show up when that happens. You might have clicked on it without even noticing. I can't take a lot of time for this right now, but I'll send someone to do a proper investigation. If you did, we're going to have words; I expect better of you. That's something one of those Greek idiots would do."
"If I did, I'll take it. I don't remember doing it, but if I did, I wouldn't have."
"Good. If it's a glitch or something, we'll have to take a closer look at this Loop to see if it's a one-off or a potential problem. Hey, isn't this Tiamat evil? I thought I heard you bitching about that once."
"Technically, yeah, but she never really does anything about it. I'm wondering if maybe she just got labeled evil for the same reason weather gets called evil: because mortals need to believe that a powerful force is wrecking their shit just for the lulz and not because they built on hatching grounds or something. When I go over this Loop, she seems more of a force of nature than anything else."
"So, not a risk to be an MLE, then."
"Not from what I've seen."
"Good. One less worry. Keep looking into it, though."
Skuld walked out without waiting for a reply. Tiamat didn't care; she was already back at work.
"—and that's pretty much it," Hank concluded. He'd done a lot of weird stuff in the Loops, but giving The Speech to a five-headed dragon ranked pretty high up the list. The fact that it didn't top it said everything that needed to be said about the Loops. The Orcs had run off long before he started, courtesy of said dragon; he hoped that was a good omen for her future as a Looper. It would be nice to have one less major power trying to kill them.
"I ssssee. I am already eternal; thisss jussst allowsss me to transssscend the confinessss of thisss world. I have no wisssshhhh for conquessst or tasssste for power. Thessssse Loops are of no interesssst to me beyond mere curiosssssity."
"Well, that puts you ahead of some Loopers I could mention."
"The more fool they, then. Very well; you are now assss eternal assss I. And by your own admissssion you have been kin to me at leassst once. We ssshhhhall ssssee how thisss playsss out. Farewell, Ranger." Tiamat uncoiled herself from where she had settled and sprang into the air; moments later, she was gone. Dungeon Master looked intrigued.
"I was aware that time was out of sorts, but I was not expecting that Tiamat would be affected by it. Beware, Ranger; she is not to be controlled, and perhaps not to be trusted. She does not see matters as mortals do, and that makes her a dangerous ally."
"I think calling her an ally's pushing things a bit," Hank said. Eric laughed.
"Hank, buddy, I don't know if you noticed, but she just said you were her equal. And she listened to your whole spiel without killing any of us. That's close enough in my book."
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but Eric's right," Diana said, ignoring the Cavaliers indignant yelp. "It's kinda weird to think of you as being some sort of big cosmic power. Like a—no, you said becoming a god was a bad idea, didn't you."
"Really bad. I'm just glad Tiamat's not interested, because she could probably Ascend pretty easily if she wanted to," Hank grimaced. Dungeon Master shook his head.
"I do not think it would be as easy as you fear, Ranger. Still, you are right in your assessment; Tiamat has no interest in destroying this world. Remember, she is the Mother of all Dragons, and she would not wish to destroy her children."
"Good point," Diana said.
"Hey, Hank, I bet you've learned a lot of really cool stuff," Bobby blurted. "Can you show us some?"
"Bobby, Hank isn't a show-off," Sheila scolded, then blushed, smiling at him shyly. "But could you?"
Hank grinned back. He wasn't a show-off, but Bobby (or sometimes Presto) always asked and there were a few tricks he'd picked up that he knew they'd get a kick out of. Not to mention a few new powers he planned to surprise Venger with. And hadn't he been complaining about wanting a new Looper anyway? True, it wasn't even close to what he had in mind, but at least he wasn't alone anymore.
"Well, I don't think a lecture on 7th Century Irish law is what you had in mind, but there was that time I Looped into a world where some people could control the classical elements—earth, air, fire, water—and I really confused things by being a bender—that's what they called those people—of the one type that had been pretty much wiped out. One of the other Loopers was supposed to be The Last Airbender, and here I am, no training or anything, not knowing anything about the Loop because my Loopers' Guide got destroyed a couple of Loops back and I hadn't been able to replace it yet…"
14.6 [D&DC/MLP:FiM] [katfairy]
Tiamat sat in her cavern, thinking. Just as she had done for all of her other Loops so far. There were many who would be surprised to learn that she thought at all, but as a creature of eternity, or at least what she'd thought had been eternity, she spent almost as much time pondering as she did napping. And she did love her naps; it was satisfying to know that, when the mortals were particularly dull or annoying, she could simply sleep for a century and awake to find that the problem had self-corrected.
This Loop was different, though. The young Dragonkin had told her of these, so it did not come as a surprise, but it was vexing. She had not yet come to a firm decision on how she would deal with these Loops, and finding herself in the wrong reality was a distraction that she did not appreciate. Still, this was a very pleasant cavern, as such things went, and she had spotted prey animals should she wish to eat. She had heard several Pings, but had not responded. She did in her home Loop, out of courtesy to the Dragonkin, but until she knew such existed in this place, she had no interest in speaking to anyone.
It was not often that she spent so much time on a single subject, generally preferring to consider matters within their context of the greater world, but if she had become of any importance to the survival of all planes, even in a minor role, that was worth thought both long and deep. Even moreso when a threat to that survival existed at all. She would have preferred to believe the Dragonkin was deceiving her, but she knew he was not. She was a god in her own right, beyond Dungeon Master and certainly beyond his foolish and fallen offspring; the Dragonkin merely gave a name to something she had not even realized she was aware of. And now that she was aware of it, she had to give it all the consideration it warranted. To do less would be unworthy of her.
If nothing else, it was considerably more interesting than waiting to see what that daft fool Venger would attempt next.
"Um, hello? Yeah, this ain't normal."
Tiamat growled; it was usually enough to scare off the average mortal. To her surprise, she heard the footsteps of a small creature approach. She would give it credit for nerve, but if it persisted, she would still obliterate it.
"You are really not our usual dragon. Five heads, five heads… why is this familiar?" As it approached, she could hear the click of claws on stone. So this was an intelligent creature, and not one of the Races of Man. That was a slight improvement; they frequently had different perspectives on the world. Perhaps she would not destroy it after all. Then its words penetrated beyond the small portion of her thoughts that she allowed to deal with distractions and she turned one head to look.
"A hatchling?" As dragons went, it was barely bigger than the fairy dragons, but it was unmistakably of her kind. "A hatchling and a Looper assss well. You have my interesssst."
"Oh, good," it replied with a cheerful grin. "You're Awake. And you know what the Loops are. Were you trying to stealth through this Loop? 'Cause this cave always ends up with a dragon in it, and most Loops we have to convince it to go somewhere so we can, y'know, breathe down in Ponyville."
"Ponyville? Then the prey animalsssss are more than I believed. Foolisssshhh of me to not look clossssser at the town. Jussst assss well I have not yet eaten."
"…Wow. Okay, I'm guessing you got The Speech from somepony, but not the Looper's Guide. Or whatever it's being called right now. You're in Equestria, ponies are really, really not food, and anyway, dragons here aren't meat eaters."
The name was familiar. And even though this was merely a hatchling, it was still a dragon; she gave him the courtesy of her full attention, turning all the way around to face him. Through the door of the cave she could see six of those oddly-colored equines: two unicorns, two pegasi, and two that would have been normal mortal ponies if one was not bright pink and the other a soft golden-orange. She afforded them a closer look, and immediately revised her opinion of them; she knew power when she saw it, and all six had it. As did the hatchling.
"Sssso. I ssssee that I have been uncharacterissstically foolissssshhh. Yessss, I am a Looper, and still new to being Awake, even by mortal sssstandardsss. Thissss isss why I did not ressspond to your Pingssss; I am sssstill unsssure what role I will choosssse in thessse Loopssss. I am eternal; I do not russshhh mattersssss."
"Yeah, that makes sense. Look, Equestria is a Sanctuary, and we take that pretty seriously. Since you aren't smoking up the town, you're welcome to stay as long as you like. We'll make sure nopony bothers you. Well, as much as we can, anyway."
"A generoussss offer. I accsssssept, and offer my name. I am Tiamat, Mother of All Dragonsssss. In my own world, of courssssse."
"Tiamat!" The hatchling smacked his forehead in the way mortals did when they knew they had been foolish. "Right; you're from one of the Dungeons & Dragons Loops. Didn't know any of their Tiamats were Looping yet. Who's your Anchor? Oh, and I'm Spike. Well, Spykoranvellantar, but unless I'm using my full size, I like having a name that isn't bigger than I am."
"That isss not unreassssonable," she acknowledged. She had known other hatchlings to forgo using their full names until they felt worthy of it. "My Anchor is Dragonkin."
There was a murmur of confusion back amongst the equines, and the purple unicorn pulled a book out of the air and began to page through it, using magic to turn the pages. So there was at least one scholar in this Loop; good. Perhaps this was the right time to truly enter the Loops.
"Dragonkin? I know of a Dragonborn, but he's from Skyrim. Sort of. When he isn't she. Or from somewhere else. Or… yeah, that Loops kind of a mess, and not too dragon-friendly." Spike scratched his head, thinking, and Tiamat realized that her description might have been too vague.
"That issss hisss title, and I do not know if he hasss claimed it. But he hasssss sssspent at leassst one Loop assss a dragon, and issss therefore Dragonkin in my eyessss. He wassss once mortal, and hasss a mortal name. I do not know what it issss, for mortal namessss are too transsssient for me to remember. He bearsssss the golden bow gifted to him by Dungeon Masssster."
"Oh, Hank!" the orange pony exclaimed. "Shoot, ya mean he finally got a new Looper and it wasn't one of his group? No offense, ma'am, but that don't seem quite fair to him."
"None taken," Tiamat shrugged. The orange pony was right; it was hardly just that the first to join the Dragonkin in these Loops was one who was no friend to him. But that was what had transpired, and they all had to live with the consequences.
"Well, if Hank gave you The Speech, he probably didn't give you the Guide, mostly because he didn't have one for a while. It got eaten by a rabid flobberworm in that messed-up Hogwarts Variant," the purple unicorn said, trotting forward. "I've got a dragon-friendly version of it, and I always have extra copies around. Here you go. Oh, I'm Twilight Sparkle, by the way, and I'm the Anchor for this Loop. My friends are Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie. There a lot of other Loopers around, but we're the only ones who come up here most Loops."
"I have heard of you," Tiamat acknowledged, now impressed. The Dragonkin had told her many tales of the Loops, both his own experiences and what he had heard, and many involved those names. She truly had made a grievous error in not exploring this world from the start. No matter; she did not err often, but when she did, she lost no time in rectifying the matter. "Twilight Sssssparkle the Wisssssse, whose love of learning knowsssss no boundssss. Rarity the Fair, who won the heart of a dragon, firssssst by her beauty, and then by her sssstrength. Flutterssshhshy the Kind, who can be fierssssce assss any dragon when protecting othersssss. Rainbow Dasssshhhh the Sssswift, the bessst flyer in all of the Loopssss. Applejack the Bounteousssss, who turned a dessssert planet into a paradissssse. And Pinkie Pie the Joyousssss, whose wisssshhhh isss for all to be assss merry asss they may. And Ssssspike the Noble, who commandsssss great power and yet doesssss not wield it. I am honored to be in sssssuch company."
"Um, that's a good thing?" Spike said. Tiamat met his eyes, both young and as ancient as her own—moreso, in fact; if the Dragonkin's tales were even half true, then in comparison, she was the hatchling. It was a humbling thought, and she was not accustomed to being humbled. But she was also not in the habit of deluding herself.
"Any fool may acquire power, and many do. To have great power, and yet not wield it sssssave when there issss need—that issss the mark of wissssdom. There are thosssse who would tear their own worldsssss asssssunder for the ssssake of gaining power, but once you have ssssundered your world, what then? That issss evil, and worssse, it isss foolissshh. I may be called evil, but only becausssssse mortal mindsssss rarely comprehend true evil. No, I am sssssimply other. Ssssso I watch, coming forth only when matterssss require my presssensssce. Or sssssome fool dissssturbssss my nap."
"So waking up cranky really is a dragon thing," Rainbow Dash snickered. Tiamat nodded one of her smaller heads; she could not deny it. Then she recalled something Spike had said earlier.
"If dragonssss do not eat meat here, what do we eat? I rarely need to, but that doesss not mean I do not occasssssionally enjoy it."
"Gems and minerals," Spike said, pulling a large sapphire from his Pocket. "Try this and see if you've adapted; if not, we'll see if we can find something you can eat without killing anypony."
"I only eat those who may converse with me when they annoy me," Tiamat said, but took the gem. She examined it for a few seconds, noting the size and clarity. In The Realm, this would be a priceless treasure. Judging from what she saw studding the walls of the cave, this was simply one of thousands, if better quality than many. She was surprised to find that it actually smelled good, like that lavender mead she'd once taken from the cellar of a wizard she'd eaten. The mead had tasted far better than the scrawny mortal. But the sapphire had a similar cool yet heady fragrance, and she took a cautious nibble. Then popped the whole thing in her mouth; it had the cool, clean taste she'd expected, with hints of other herbs like fennel and wintergreen. Yes, she would be quite willing to forgo meat for this Loop if this was an available alternative. She said as much, and the ponies relaxed. She was not offended; had their positions been reversed, she would have felt the same. "Can we eat all rocksssss?"
"Some are better than others," Spike said. "Sedimentary rocks tend to be kinda blah, although there are a few exceptions. Oh, and you don't wanna eat a lot of marble; it's really fattening. But it's pretty rich, too, so most dragons don't eat a lot of it anyway. Granite and basalt are best if you want a good hearty meal. The metamorphics get kinda complicated, but there are some that are really amazing! You'll have to try—"
Tiamat listened to Spike lecture, genuinely interested. She still did not know if she would find anything of worth in the other Loops, but this one she would enjoy. There was much to be learned here, and she had to find a suitable gift with which to repay Twilight Sparkle; a book designed for dragons to read, on such an important subject, was a gift of great price, and she could not leave the scales unbalanced. And the Dragonkin had told her that Pinkie Pie threw everyone a party on their arrival in the Loop; she had never attended such a mortal affair as a party, but one thrown by a goddess could not help but be worth experiencing. And perhaps Spike could teach her to speak without hissing; that alone would make these Loops worthwhile.
14.7
"Watch out!" Lessa called, steadying herself on Ramoth's back. "Tanar'ri coming out of the portal!"
We are on it, Mnementh sent, dropping past their position with a rush of wind. His mouth sent out a blast of lightning, crackling off the blades of the lead Marilith, and then he was on the ground and slapping demons aside with great blows of his paws.
Should we head down as well, Lessa? Ramoth asked.
"Certainly, just give me a moment," Lessa replied, a little distracted.
Light gathered in her hands, and then stabbed down to define a circle on the ground which trapped the head demon - a Balor.
Interesting use of Magic Circle, Ramoth noted. Her wings beat at the air, and she landed next to her mate before sweeping several Glabrezu off their feet with her tail.
"Any idea how to close this portal, love?" F'lar asked from Mnementh's back. "I'm more of a sword guy myself."
"Not really," Lessa admitted. "Perhaps F'nor will deign to join us!"
There was a roar overhead, and fine sand drifted down.
I hate this breath weapon! Canth announced, loud enough for F'lar to hear as well as Lessa. Why does it have to be sand?
There was a crack as F'lar sworded a demon in the face. "F'nor! Get down here!"
F'nor asks me to tell Mnementh to tell you that we're busy handling a hellfire drake, thank you very much, Canth transmitted back. With sand. And where are the others?
Jaxom and Mirrim are still fighting their way through the guards at the other end of the complex! Ramoth updated everyone. They repaired the roof after Mnementh got through, I think.
"What about Menolly?"
"She's a bard, does it matter?"
We heard that! Diver sent, sounding thoroughly miffed. For your information, we're back with the other half of the party. Well, except Beauty, she's-
There was a CRACK which resonated through the whole complex.
Oh, nevermind! Diver added. Incoming!
"This whole adventuring thing is harder than it looks," F'lar said with a sigh.
Ruth and Path exploded into the air around the portal, accompanied by Menolly a-dragonback and her whole fair of seriously upgunned pseudodragons.
"Oh, you got the dimensional anchor!" Lessa called up. "Great, that means we can use the simple answer to how to close the portal!"
"...which is?" F'lar asked.
A Hellfire drake crashed to the ground nearby, and Canth followed it before landing on it with a thwack.
"F'nor, what's the biggest explosive spell you can cast?" Lessa called over.
"It's pretty big!" F'nor replied, sending a stream of magic towards some airborne Vrocks. "Why?"
"Level the place!" Lessa replied. "We'll jump out!"
"This is definitely more complicated than fighting Thread," F'lar sighed again.
Menolly switched music to something more fitting.
"...is that-?" Jaxom asked.
"Through the Fire and Flames!" Menolly agreed. "The hard part was working out how to do all the instruments at once!"
Lord Nasher sighed, watching the underground complex collapse as plumes of smoke and rock dust came crashing out of the entrances. "Well, that's that then."
He turned. "Neeshka, get me-"
There was a wham of displaced air as all five dragons materialized overhead.
"...or they could do that," Nasher admitted. "Welcome back - I can see you're worth your pay!"
"Thank you, sir," Mirrim called back, as Path came down to land. "We're going to need a new guitar for Menolly, though - she broke it on a... Myrmidon?"
"Myrmixicus," Menolly corrected. "I got a bit caught up in things."
14.8
"No! Please!"
The killer stepped forwards, shaking his head and fingering a knife. "Sorry. Nothing personal, someone just wants to send you a warning. You know how this works."
"I know it's not supposed to be as messy as this is going to be!"
That elicited a frown. "Hey, now, no need for that. You're the one who dodged the crossbow bolt."
"Oh, wonderful!"
The voice was neither the killer nor his prospective victim. Surprised, both turned to look up the alley.
"A real contract killing, right here!" the voice went on. It appeared to belong to a round-faced Easterner with a pair of glasses, a loud shirt, and a straw hat.
There was also the little box in his hands, which only added to the mystery.
"Do we have to come down here?" a second voice asked, which turned out to be a taller, thinner and much rangier Easterner with a pointed hat.
"When else are we going to get to see a real back-off killing?" the first Easterner asked. "Really, Rincewind, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity."
"Yes, Twoflower, because we're going to be killed," Rincewind said with a kind of fatalistic exasperation. "We're bothering an assassain."
"I don't think he's technically an assassain, not if he's killing someone as a warning - this is a warning, yes?" Twoflower asked, bringing both assailant and target into the conversation.
"Well, yeah," the killer said, fidgeting with his knife. "Fifteen hundred, standard rate."
"I'm only worth fifteen hundred?" the victim asked.
"If I were making it permanent it'd be more," his attacker replied. "But killing to allow revivification is easy money, especially when someone's as stupid about it as you. No guards at all?"
"Can I get a photograph?" the round-faced Easterner asked. "They'll never believe this at home without proof. Rincewind, come over and take the camera, come on!"
Rincewind sighed, and took the camera from his friend. Twoflower scurried down the alley, and threw one arm around the shoulder of both Dragaerans.
"Can you do a pose?" he asked. "You know, dagger aimed for the heart, scream of fear?"
"You what?" the killer asked, shaking himself loose. "What's this, some kind of image impression?"
"More or less," Twoflower agreed cheerfully. "Tell you what, I'll make it worth your while."
He reached into his purse and retrieved a gold coin about the size of a dinner plate. "Five each should do?"
Both of the Jhereg mobsters gaped, then exchanged a look.
"On three!" the killer said. "One, two-"
Three, said a placid voice.
The victim-turned-thief looked up, and stared.
There was a surprisingly large golden dragon resting with his elbows on the gable of a four-story house, his chest mostly out of sight because of the other houses it was resting on, and his neck curled over to regard the whole tableau.
Hello again, Twoflower, the dragon said. And hello, Rincewind. How is everything?
"I think these two gentlemen were about to rob us," Rincewind said.
"No, they're just enthusiastic to have their picture taken," Twoflower denied. "Aren't they?"
The Jhereg who'd nearly had an example made of himself kicked the one who'd been about to do the making of the example.
"Oh! Yes, nothing to see here."
Excellent, Ninereeds said. I look forward to seeing the pictures.
With that, he vanished.
14.9
"It's nice to meet you," I said, nodding to the man opposite me.
"Likewise, I'm sure," the man replied. "I'm not sure we've been introduced?"
"Well, I am known as Vlad Taltos, largely because that's my name," I said. "And these are Trouble and Wife. Sorry, Loiosh and Rocza."
That joke's never been funny, boss.
Shut up, Loiosh, I replied. I raised an eyebrow at the man, and he frowned for a moment.
"Eragon," he said. "Shadeslayer's my epithet, but it's a bit cumbersome."
"I can hear that."
The food took that opportunity to arrive, and I suspended the conversation to have some really very nice pastries with salmon and tarragon folded over by rich, succulent flakes of finest dough, baked to perfection.
I'm something of a connoisseur.
"So, who's this you're taking me to meet?" the fellow Easterner asked, once we'd had our dessert and paid the bill.
"Well, he's no looper, but he's a good friend," I said. "Also a Dragon - the kind of noble, not the creature."
"I see. I think."
I smirked. "By the way, are you afraid of heights?"
"Not one whit," Eragon told me.
"Good," I said, and teleported us.
Castle Black, as most people know, is famous for flying in the air.
Not many places did it any more, not after what happened last time sorcery shut down unexpectedly... but Morrolan e'Drien was that kind of person.
Lady Teldra greeted us, as she greeted everyone, and Lady Teldra stirred on my hip.
I know, I soothed her. Don't worry, we'll sort it out this time.
That would be wonderful, my blade said. It would be terrible to put Morrolan through my death again. He takes it so hard.
That was Lady Teldra for you - in both versions.
Morrolan took us into his study, and looked askance at me. "So, Vlad," he began, after a minute or so of small talk. "What brings you here?"
"Well," I said, savouring the moment. "Time travel, a dragon, several ancient conspiracies, a visitor from another world, and the best way to destroy the Jenoine."
That got his attention.
"I assume you have proof?" he asked. "Or has being assassinated one too many times got things muddled up?"
Seeing Eragon's surprise, I took a moment to explain to him that - here, with revivification so cheap, one could simply be returned to life after assassination, which made it more in the nature of a warning to back off.
It was much tidier than the way it was done in other loops. There you had to kill a henchman.
Seeing Morrolan was growing impatient, I drew Lady Teldra. "This is my proof," I said.
Morrolan examined the slim blade. "This is a Morganti-" he began, then stopped. "Wait, no... there's no lust. A Great Weapon?"
"Indeed," I said, taking her by the blade and flourishing her. There was a flicker, and she became a great big urgosh which stabbed into the table - then shrank to the kind of athame that was only of use in rituals. "And a very particular one."
"They're all special," Morrolan noted, touching the hilt of Blackwand - his own Great Weapon.
"What's a Great Weapon?" Eragon asked, curiously.
"Basically one of the seventeen most powerful weapons on the planet," I explained. "Blackwand wields enormous sorcerous power, Pathfinder can seek out the way to anything... and my own weapon can kill anything."
Morrolan drew a sharp breath.
"Indeed. This, Morrolan, is my proof."
I smirked.
I loved this bit.
"She's Godslayer. But she prefers to be called Lady Teldra."
Unfortunately, before Morrolan could really react, my fun was spoiled by a big blue dragon appearing out of nowhere in the middle of the study.
"Nice of you to join us, miss Blue Scales," Eragon said, as the dragon toppled some very good bottles of wine.
It's not my fault that your directions were wrong, the dragon replied.
14.10
Ruby Rose – skilled scythologist, experienced midair sniper, and Freshwoman Of Doom – tilted her head as she looked across the floor.
"What's up, sis?" Yang asked.
"Oh!" Ruby shrugged. "Well, just... you know, wondering about the other new teams..."
"Checking out the competition?" Yang grinned. "Or what's on offer, perhaps?"
"Yang..." Ruby said, shaking her head. "Not everything is about boys. Or girls," she added, to forestall a joke she could see coming a mile off.
"Fine," Yang shrugged. "I'll just get to know the rest of our team. I mean – your team, oh great leader."
Ruby chuckled. "You do that, I'll just... you know, do what I was trying to do..."
Yang nodded, and went over to chat to Blake and Weiss.
Ruby hid a smile as she recognized her two other teammates – both looping this time – starting to banter back and forth in a way that you'd swear meant they were actually insulting one another.
It was often fun to see how long that kind of thing tricked one of their number.
Returning her attention to the stage, Ruby caught what sounded like a polite argument.
"...just saying," a grey-haired boy shrugged, spreading his arms. "All of us do have the right kind of name, so stop stalling and announce the team!"
Ozpin nodded gravely. "All right," he said. "But I'll expect some kind of explanation."
He cleared his throat. "Right. Now, the next team is – Robinton Scarlet-"
The young man thus named made an expansive gesture. "See? Scarlet! Perfectly legitimate colour name."
There was a chirp from his hair, and Ruby saw -
the cutest thing ever a sweet little miniature dragon with shiny scales she wanted one sooooo much
-a pet mini-dragon of some sort, standing on his hind legs and nodding self-importantly.
"See?" Robinton asked. "Zair agrees."
"I'm sure he does," Ozpin nodded. "Now – Olorin Mithrandir?"
"It means Grey Wanderer," Olorin told him gravely, with a great deal of certainty.
"I see," Ozpin nodded. "In what language?"
"Sindarin."
After a few seconds, Ozpin visibly – and sensibly – decided he wasn't getting any more out of the boy. "Well, I suppose grey is a colour..."
Robinton nodded. "Of course it is."
"Eragon Shadeslayer," Ozpin went on. "Do explain."
"Shade is a kind of colour," Eragon said stubbornly.
Ozpin put his finger and thumb on his temples. "Right... and finally, Saphira."
"Sapphire," Saphira explained. "Duh."
"Yes, I got that one... you are team ROSE."
"Hey?" Ruby asked, raising her hand.
"Yes, miss Rose?" Ozpin asked, with an almost-audible sigh.
"Does that mean I'm in charge of them too?"
"No."
Ruby crossed her arms, huffing.
Inwardly, though, she was concerned with another question.
Why was that Olorin Mithrandir kid so familiar... she didn't remember ever meeting him, and had no idea what loop he'd be from, but something niggled her.
"...if we run into any mouse Grimm, you'll be the first to know," Weiss needled.
"I'll make sure you don't get hurt standing on your chair," Blake replied smoothly.
Yang's head went back and forth like she was watching a tennis match.
"Oh, go drink a saucer of milk," Weiss waved.
"I demand chocolate milk," Blake said quickly. "And a glass."
"Wait, you can be bribed?" Weiss asked. "Interesting..."
"And four crates of Dust and the emancipation of Faunus," Blake added.
"Don't push your luck."
"Really?" Eragon asked, blinking. "But – really?"
"Of course really!" Saphira said firmly. "I get the top bunk. Deal with it."
"But..." Eragon waved his hands. "Don't you see the problem with that?"
Saphira shook her head.
"Think we should intervene?" asked Robinton, glancing at his little fire-lizard.
Zair chirped a negative.
"If you say so." He picked up his guitar and strummed a glissando of notes.
Flames spurted out of the end.
"Whoops, that's right..."
"Still getting used to it?" Olorin asked.
Robinton nodded.
"Well, that's how it is," the grey-haired boy smiled. "At least the weather's good."
"Yes, it izzard to be a wizzard in a blizzard..."
Olorin winced. "Ouch."
There was a knock at the door.
"I'll get it!" Mithrandir volunteered, and leaned over to open it.
"Ah, miss Rose," Robinton smiled, stepping past his compatriot and bowing over her hand. "A pleasure to meet you."
"Uh... yeah," Ruby smiled. "Hey, I was wondering – do I know any of you?"
"Well, probably," Olorin said. "Or possibly not – I can't promise to know who you know..."
There was a thud from behind them, and Ruby peered past the little dragon on Robinton's shoulder to see what was going on.
She saw... an upper bunk bed quite firmly on the floor.
"Told you!" Eragon said.
"Just a minor inconvenience," Saphira replied.
"Uh... is that four inches into the floorboards?" Ruby asked.
"Three and a half," Olorin corrected. He drew a staff from... somewhere... and gestured.
Dust swirled, and the bed rose back into the air before halting there.
"I'm getting the hang of this!" Olorin said, quite pleased with himself.
Saphira grinned. "Much better!"
She lay down, pulled the blankets over herself, and began to go quite quickly to sleep.
"Is she just going to..." Ruby asked, pointing.
"Probably," Robinton said, eyes twinkling. "So, assuming you haven't worked out which of us it is who reminds you of someone you've met before, what brings you here?"
"Oh, just... getting to know-"
Very suddenly, there was a dragon in the room.
A great big, blue-streaked-with-silver, size-of-a-shed dragon.
"-uh... Ruby said, taking a step back. "What... what just happened?"
"It's her Semblance," Eragon said gloomily. "Her Semblance is the ability to not be a dragon. It turns off when she's asleep..."
"Right..."
"Oh, I think I do know you!" Olorin said suddenly, eyes twinkling a little more than Robinton's were. "Tell me, what would you do if attacked by a group of orcs?"
"I'd say... bisect most of them with Crescent Rose?" Ruby asked. "You know... my great big beautiful scythe?"
"Excellent!" Olorin smiled. "Robinton, I must commend miss Rose to you. She's a dab hand with a scythe, she really is."
Robinton twinkled. "Charmed, charmed."
"I still don't know who you are," Ruby pointed out.
"Ah, of course, how rude of me," Olorin said. "You last knew me by my Westron name – Gandalf, the Grey."
"Oh, right," Ruby said, nodding. "I didn't recognize you because you weren't really, really old."
Gandalf muttered something.
"So, as our local guide, miss Rose," Robinton said, extending a hand. "Would you care to let us know what to expect?"
Ruby considered.
"Loads and loads of Grimm," she said.
Saphira let out a snore.
"Ah, the legendary Grimm!" Robinton nodded. "I've heard of them... many loopers tell me a trip to Remnant is quite refreshing, what with all the most-definitely-okay violence they can get up to..."
"Lessons here are a lot more fun than Hogwarts!" Eragon said, swinging his sword in a complicated arc that ended with a Beowulf bisected and two more missing limbs.
"You weren't saying that last week in history lectures," Robinton pointed out. He strummed his guitar. "Ah, there we go – the Pipes of Kolstyr!"
Skirling, warlike music came from the strings of the guitar.
"How does it do that with just six strings?" Gandalf asked, shoving his staff into the mouth of an Ursa. The bear-like monster had just enough time to make a strangled urp noise before Gandalf pulled the trigger and blew the top of its head off.
"Well, it's magic," Robinton told him bluntly. "I see you installed a cannon!"
Gandalf shrugged. "When on Remnant, do as the Remnants do."
"I don't think that's the correct term," Robinton said critically.
"Blika!" Eragon snapped, and his sword threw lightning skywards.
It arced along the feathers of a Nevermore, sending little tendrils in all directions to hit the minor ravens girding it, and then crackled to a stop.
Saphira coughed.
"I'm still getting the hang of the magic system!" Eragon replied. "Oh, screw this!"
Winding up, he threw his blade right through a Beowulf.
Everyone stopped to look. Even the Grimm.
"So, you got one of them," Gandalf said, almost gently. "How are you going to get the next one?"
Thinking along the same lines, another pair of Beowulves charged him.
Eragon held out his hands. "Jokull!"
Ice erupted from the ground, pinning the Grimm.
"Do you want me to get your sword?" Saphira asked. "I could, you know."
"I'll do it!" said Gandalf, from right next to Eragon's sword. He picked it up, and then blurred back over to Eragon's side. "Try using fire this time."
"Thanks," Eragon said, taking the weapon. He swung it. "Brisingir!"
The flame and heat burned right through the previously-frozen Beowulf to his right.
"See?" Gandalf asked, nodding.
"I don't want to be typecast," Eragon said.
Pipe music was still skirling from Robinton's guitar in an entirely inappropriate way. "Just believe in yourself!" he advised.
There was a roar from behind the Harper, and what looked like most of a dinosaur charged at him.
Robinton whirled, and switched to a rock piece.
Flames burst out of the muzzle of his guitar, incinerating the monstrous Grimm and leaving a pair of comically smoking legs for a moment before they too dissolved.
"...how did you do that?" Gandalf asked, interested.
"Through the Fire and Flames," Robinton confided. "It's very hot."
Gandalf nodded. His staff and sword both snapped up, blocking a barrage of feathers from the Nevermore overhead, and the sharpened pinions went pinging in all directions.
"What's your Semblance again?" Robinton asked, going back to what he considered inspirational music.
"Well, it's – can you stop playing Help by the Beatles?" Gandalf asked.
"Fine," Robinton sighed. He took his guitar by the neck, and swung his Axe into a nearby Beowulf. "Generic rock music it is."
"Anyway, my semblance is simple," Gandalf told him. "I am precisely where I need to be."
Robinton nodded. "Makes sense, I like it." He paused, for perhaps a second. "Can I do more Beatles now?"
"I have a request," Saphira said, raising a hand. "Can you do the 1812 overture?"
"Of course I can," Robinton replied. His fingers moved on the strings, and the sound of an orchestra – with carillion, cannon and church bells – began to issue forth.
"Good," Saphira grinned.
She turned off her Semblance, and grabbed two Beowulves in each hand.
Then she really got to work.
"Yeah, she's been looking for an opportunity to cut loose," Eragon said, as his dragon rampaged across the clearing in a cloud of disintegrating Grimm.
A chirp drew his attention.
Zair deposited a thoroughly scorched small Nevermore on the ground in front of Robinton, and gestured at it. Hey! I did something!
"Good work, Zair," Robinton smiled.
14.11 (Lurks in the Dark) [Dark Souls/ How to Train Your Dragon.]
The Chosen Undead found himself wrapped up in a truly excessive amount of chains, with a number of vikings glaring darkly at him while palming various weapons such as swords, hammers, and axes.
The dragons weren't too pleased either, if the growls, bared fangs, and smoke escaping their mouths were anything to go buy.
Sure, he could have easily broken the chains, but he was responsible, and he could understand where they were coming from.
The sleek black dragon narrowed its catlike eyes at him, purple light teeming in its breast and throat as it kept its tail tucked protectively by its legs, as all the other dragons did.
"Sorry?" the Chosen Undead offered, his voice echoing in his helmet.
Hiccup glared harshly at the Visiting Looper.
The Chosen Undead sighed. He really needed to get help with his "tail" problem...
Maybe there was a club for that?
14.12 (Tabac Iberez) Girls und Panzer/How To Train Your Dragon
Cracking an eye open, Astrid looked around very carefully. Apartment, sorta-Hub-ish. Very Japanese, school uniforms in the closet. Getting up, Astrid rolled her shoulders and got dressed. It was a new loop, so blending in was probably a good idea until she found the Anchor. Some of these school loops were very fun- from magic, to other dragons, to sheer shenanigans. And then there was Eiken, proving that the genre of Loop was a mixed bag. Heading out the door, she let her Loop memories guide her to class.
Arriving at school, Miho dutifully let things continue apace until the Tankery presentation started. Doing the same thing a few thousand times tended to make it easier to spot differences, and there was a glaring oddity. Off in the middle of the general masses was a blonde girl, languidly watching the Panzer III parade roll accross the projector screen. Pulling out her notebook, Miho noted the oddity, and shut it. It was time to plan on how to win the tournament this time. Miho was tentatively thinking about whittling down the enemy teams until on the flag tank remained, but that seemed a little cruel. She still hadn't been able to get the Chi-Nu able to haul it's own weight yet, though. Maybe do that this time around?
Looking at the card idly, Astrid checked off "Tankery" without a second thought. She had driven the... what did Hiccup call it?.. once, so it wasn't totally foreign to her. At the very worst, she could transfer out to another activity.
Things were definitely off, Miho decided. The blonde was a member of the first draft of the Tankery club, and not part of the Volleyball club. This had never happened before! It was neigh-on inconcivable! After the "coach" left, Miho quickly got the newcomer away for a short conversation.
Astrid smiled. Connected person, coming to talk. Excelent opertunity to find the Loop Anchor. Smiling, she stuck out her hand.
"Hello. I'm Astrid Hofferson."
Miho returned the shake, and smiled. "Miho Nishizumi. So, when did you arive here? I don't remember you."
Astrid chuckled. "Got here today, as a mater of fact. That said, have you noticed anyone behaving odd?"
Miho frowned. "No. What kind of odd?"
"Never suprised, insanly good at predicting what will happen, always knows exactly where to be." Astrid said, "Things like that. Almost as if they lived through things once already."
Now Miho narrowed her eyes. "What would you say if I told you I've been through a time loop?"
Mentally, Astrid cheered. "Welcome to Yggdrasil."
"What?" Was Mihi's answer.
"Welcome to Yggdrasil. See, you're not the only person who goes through these time loops..."
14.13 (LibraryNexus)
Smaug looked upon the dwarfs with amusement. He had Awakened just as he was approaching the Lonely Mountain and had decided to move in with the dwarfs. The dwarven king had been adamant about not having a dragon in his halls, but one comment about his presence keeping away other dragons had changed the king's mind pretty quickly.
For the draconic Looper, it had an unexpected benefit.
Smaug grinned as the drums began to play and took out a dragon-sized video camera. The dwarf who would have been Thorin Oakenshield in another life gave a funny look at the dragon holding a strange device and assumed his place. Taking a deep breath, he sang:
"Brothers of the mine rejoice!"
"Swing, swing, swing with me," the workers replied in the same song.
AN:
14.1: Blues are male, it's how it works.
14.2: International Rescue. Under current setup, slightly more likely to leave your property intact than just crashing and hoping for the best.
14.4: The standard scaly swap.
14.5: Let's see... dragon. Well, that's all the requirements.
14.7: Neverwinter Knights.
14.8: Dragaerans are not dragons, despite the name.
14.9: Jhereg are close enough to count.
14.10: This one shows its age...
14.11: Dragon tails are a touchy subject.