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ɪʀᴏɴ ᴅʀᴀɢᴏɴ ᴛʀᴀɪʟ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bVLEE153bI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQw2wyME9ck
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🦎 "I don't think dragons can be killed, you know."
🦗
Cricket laughs and tosses the shroom into his mouth, chewing with an entertained grin. He eventually swallows, and rushes out, "I know you don't."
"I can't really convince you of much, out here. Seeing is believing."
"But for what it's worth: my grandma was killed!"
"Oh, but... well, I guess maybe she's not a good example."
He licks his teeth clean as he ponders.
"Hm."
"Oh, uh - what about the silver dragon? It sounds like the whole reason Valteria's upset is-"
"Well."
"Y'know."
🦎
"Mmmmm... maybe. I'm sure a dragon could kill another dragon."
Iskar rubs his chin and squints.
"I guess we'll see tomorrow morning, one way or another. You nervous?"
🦗
"Tremendously."
The word comes out chipper; it seems to take the rest of Cricket a few seconds to catch up and cast his eyes downward.
"But we can do it. We have a good plan, and we're a good team."
Eventually, he finds his resolve again.
"These people need us. Or someone. And if that someone is us, maybe they'll think better of us."
"That and I think it'll give us some answers about Hera."
Cricket finds a nice-lookin' rock and tosses it, aimlessly, watching it clatter and kick up dust as it skips and settles.
"Are you?"
"Nervous, that is."
🦎
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure we'll all be ice sculptures in a treasure horde before noon. But I trust everybody, and we have the enemy outnumbered."
He shrugs, not sounding convinced, although he does sound resolved.
"Even if we manage to do it, I'm a bit worried about which and how many of our lives it'll cost. I'm the smallest and the bravest, so I'll be the first to go.", he nods.
🦗
"Over my dead body," Cricket snaps back.
"I called dibs. I'm gonna be right down there with her, after all!"
Iskar's frankness is hard to keep pace with, but Cricket tries.
"I've been sweet-talkin' her this whole time. When things go tits up down there, she is going to be pissed, and I'm gonna be the one who betrayed her hardest."
A few seconds after the words escape, Cricket processes them. His shoulders visibly tense and shake as a chill runs down his neck.
He slips an open hand out towards Iskar's.
"You watch my back, I'll watch yours. We'll be alright."
🦎
The kobold hesitates a bit after squeezing one of Cricket's fingers.
"Well..", he says, changing the subject.
"I ran out of glowshroom fletching, so I'm just putting one on each, and putting some wood fletching on the rest, to sort of spread it out. Anyway, I have some left over after doing that, do you want them? Makes it easy to see where your bolts are going in the dark."
🦗
"Ooh, that's really smart!"
Cricket looks over one of the modified bolts, squinting and waving it back and forth.
"I'll take one or two, if you have some to spare, but I'll be up close for most of the fight, probably."
He sets the bolt back down, then gets a wave of excitement-
"You don't think we could like... make explosive bolts, do you?"
🦎
"Hey, do you remember how the kobold looked that you showed me a while back?", Iskar asks suddenly, changing the subject and tone in a disarming way.
🦗
Cricket is quiet for a moment, cycling through thoughts. He scuffs a foot through the gravel and dirt a few times. Eventually, he smiles.
"I do."
🦎
Iskar props his hands on his hips, hesitating for a bit.
"Do you think - "
He hesitates again and folds his arms over his stomach, tail drooping.
"Do you think that I could see him again, just in case? Just so he looks fresh in my mind."
Iskar only looks away when there's a sudden small struggle as Boots captures a lizard under a nearby bush.
🦗
Cricket blinks slow and soft, and scoots just a little closer to Iskar.
"Always, any time."
Boots' struggle reminds Cricket to check over his shoulder, making sure there was nobody around who might be caught off guard by the use of magic.
"Here? Or somewhere quieter?"
🦎
"Doesn't matter I guess." Iskar bends over to gather up bolts into their case which he slings over his shoulder, the crossbow clacking as he picks it up and Boots chomps his fresh snack proudly. "There's a stream pretty close but it's really cold."
🦗
"That sounds nice, actually. The walk will give me some time to get the magic ready."
Cricket climbs to his feet and helps Iskar up. He squats to haul the heavy chain back over his shoulder, then starts to take it back towards the nearby inn. It'll be safe for a little while in the stables, he figures.
"And I think I can fix the cold, actually. Something I've been working on."
"It'll be good practice, anyway."
Once Iskar's ready to go, he fishes out a familiar dowel and begins to hum a tune as they walk towards the stream.
A short walk later, as the sound of babbling water greets Iskar's ears, Cricket begins to slow his pace. He hesitates beside a fallen tree, closes his eyes, and inhales deeply.
"I will be here," he eventually offers, taking a seat on the trunk after the obligatory wave of his hand to rid it of dirt and mold.
He motions down the hill towards the stream, with a slow nod of his head.
🦎
Iskar helps with the chain! It's not much help, but given that he's not actually that much weaker than Cricket (if at all), it works out.
He doesn't say much en route to the stream, and he left his crossbow and bolts behind, carrying sword and shield instead.
The kobold pauses at that fallen tree and gestures a meek thumbs-up before wandering down to the water to put his shield and sword down. He keeps his padded tunic on, though, since he doesn't intend to jump right in with it being as cold as it is. Insead, Iskar sits on a rock near the water and sticks his feet in, appreciating the moonlight and the peaceful sounds, petting Boots as the ferret headbutts him for attention.
🦗
As Iskar sits and waits, the quiet is interrupted by the sudden sound of wind rolling through trees in the distance. As the invisible front closes in from seemingly all directions, the clouds above seem to roll back, ruddy grey giving way to a beaming moon that, at first, fuzzies his vision with white as strong as sunlight. But with the brightness comes warmth on a gentle breeze, like standing in a kitchen as its oven door is opened. And the blindness lingers for only a split second before it tempers itself.
As the blinding moon softens and the deafening wind blows past, another sound catches Iskar's attention - a splash from the river nearby. There, he finds the shape of a kobold, bright blue in the moonlight, standing thigh-deep in the river with scant but a net in one hand and a leather satchel over his shoulder. He's staring intently through the rushing stream, net at the ready. Without breaking eye contact, his free hand fishes out something glowy and blue from his satchel - a berry or a bug or a mushroom. As he pops it into his mouth and begins to chew, his teeth and tongue shine like a beacon, already coated in whatever bioluminescence the snack offers.
But quickly, deliberately, he fishes the half-chewed piece out of his mouth and plucks it a few feet upstream, eyes following carefully as the water carries it back to him. As it returns, he hunches down, spreading the net wide between both hands. His pupils dilate, his neck tenses, and he waits... and waits... and waits... and springs!
🦗
There's a mess of water and splashing and laughter and struggle as he wrestles a fish nearly as big as himself for the better part of thirty seconds, being dragged a little further down the river the entire time. There's an eerie moment, as the two are flung over a step in a flash of moonlight on scales, where everything goes quiet, but the silence is broken when the two emerge on the nearby shore, both equally tangled in net, and begin wrestling on the bank of the stream.
Hamar finds a sizable rock, and with a few well-directed blows, the fish stops kicking. There's indistinct draconic mumbling as he pulls himself free of the net, then he turns to face Iskar, his face alight with success and his mouth wide and toothy and glowing nearly as bright as his eyes. He hoists the trophy over his head and begins running it over towards Iskar and Boots, laughing the entire way.
🦎
Iskar stays seated and watches, still squinting and rubbing his eyelids a bit after the bright flash.
Spotting Hamar in the distance doesn't appear to move him much, it is what he expected after all, but the fanciful setup does help him forget about everything else after a while.
"Ow!", Iskar yaps and picks his foot up, having just been bit on the ankle by Boots who arches up his back and hisses, hopping around threateningly at Hamar before sprinting away into a bush at approximately Mach-3.
"Boots, go home!" There's a whooshing sound as the ferret melts into whispy black smoke and disappears.
Iskar helps his old friend with the fish but just to get it onto the ground before hugging him tight and close for a minute or so.
"Don't eat that. Surface fish will give you fish madness."
🦗
The hug is tight and wet with the river, but warm. The smell of water and fish and scales and half-eaten mushrooms all linger in the air as Hamar rests his snout against Iskar's, eyes darting as he remembers Iskar's face, and eyes, and patterns.
"Of course," he smiles, "Too much of it to eat, anyway. It's for the others; sounds like they're all some sort of mad, to begin with."
"And honestly," he says, rubbing his stomach, "I think I ate more than the fish did. Enough for a week, at least!"
He smiles, literally illuminating the rest of his face, but if it weren't for the shrooms, his eyes would have done the trick. There's a joy in them that refuses to die.
He slips a hand into Iskar's and begins to walk, slowly.
"Tell me everything. What's the surface like? You've been up here a long time."
🦎
Iskar has a little laugh, nictitating membranes on his eyes struggling to stay open, kindof like a mammal trying not to cry. He smiles, but puts his magic shield in Hamar's hands before taking one of them to walk along.
"Nobody knows where your shield went, so you hold mine for now. I feel better that way.."
It's awkward for a while, knowing well that it's just Cricket pretending, and acting, and not having a truly fluent grasp on mountain-yipyak. The further they walk and the more Iskar nervously tells him about surface life, the easier and more comfortable it gets.
"...so, that's why we're going to fight a dragon tomorrow. I guess we have a good plan, but..."
🦗
"Best case scenario is still a draw. You can't kill a dragon."
Hamar nods along, offering snacks from his bag of bait in return for stories, every once in a while, or commenting on the strange behavior of Iskar's new comrades, or of the surface life in general.
After a while, the stream reaches a bend with a long, sprawling bank. Telltale signs of charred wood and circled rocks expose the bones of old campsites.
"You'll be safe, though, won't you?"
"I miss you, Iskar. But I want to hear more stories, first."
🦎
"I.. if I have to see any of my new friends die I don't know. I'd rather fight to the end than stay safe. At least I could... I don't know. Try to find you. As a spirit.", he shrugs. Iskar crouches on the sand near the water and looks down at the rippling moon in the reflection of the sky. "Wish I knew where you were." Iskar's transparent membranes close over his eyes as he hugs his knees and curls his tail around himself on the sand. "If the darkness took you... then I wouldn't mind being taken by it too."
🦗
"Still the same as ever."
It comes out as a laugh, when Iskar mentions fighting to the end, but the toothy smile, glow starting to fade, is betrayed by the very same filmy lens that flashes over his eyes.
"Find me?"
The voice is soft. Shaken. It's not hurt, but it's worried.
"I'm here," it eventually offers. A hand rests on Iskar's back, and a tail curls itself into a spring around his.
"Souls... souls don't follow the same rules as you do."
"I'm in the dark, wherever you go. And when the dark is gone, I wait with you."
"When you lift your shield, I hold it steady, just like you taught me."
"When you poke your nose into the lonely places, I'm right there, sweeping out the festering things that grow, and laying traps for whatever might come replant them."
"When you walk alone, I follow behind and I hum our songs, and I wish I could sing just a little louder, so maybe you could hear them. And some days, I know I'm humming into the wind, but other nights, I know you hear them, and it keeps me warm."
"And when you drink and worry and bury yourself in fried pickles, I gnaw on the scraps so I can learn the taste of vinegar. Because some day, we're gonna eat a mountain of fried pickles together and I promise you, I will eat more than you can."
"You will find me when the time is right, Iskar."
"Some day, we'll share the dark again."
"But don't be taken."
Hamar slides the shield down and rolls it back and forth a few times in front of him, listening to the crunch of pebbles on the riverside, before he picks it up and offers it to Iskar.
"Keep that shield up. For me. Please."
"When it's all over, all we have are stories, and I've always loved yours the most."
🦎
Iskar absentmindedly rubs at the bite mark on his ankle, where boots has bitten him earlier. He hesitates for a long moment, then reaches out to steady the shield. "I know that's how I should feel. But.. that's not how you feel about Alana, Cricket."
🦗
There is a long pause, as Hamar's eyes flicker and his gaze dances between Iskar and something beyond him. Eventually, he smiles. He presses a hand against Iskar's cheek, rubs their snouts together, and whispers, "I'll be nearby," before walking off, leaving behind a trail of displaced pebbles until, as the darkness claims him, he fades into smokey mist - just as Iskar has learned to do.
From behind Iskar, a tap - tap - tap - splunk, as a stone skips across the water. Cricket is curled up at the water's edge, knees against his chest. His eyes are red, his face wet, and his gaze lost in the water. He idly fishes for another suitable stone.
"If I say it enough times, for enough people, it starts to feel real."
"I make peace."
"For a little while."
Flick. Tap - tap - tap - tap - splunk.
"Some days, it's easy."
"Some days."
Category All / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 1550 x 1031px
File Size 2.02 MB
Gods, this is so well written. Sad and beautiful... I swear, if you ever wrote a story I'd jump on it in a second!
Is it bad that I kinda ship Cricket and Iskar? They are two small cuties, and have quite a lot in common by the look of it. They both lost someone dear and are trying to deal with it as best as they can.
I'm a sucker for romance, I can't help it XD
Is it bad that I kinda ship Cricket and Iskar? They are two small cuties, and have quite a lot in common by the look of it. They both lost someone dear and are trying to deal with it as best as they can.
I'm a sucker for romance, I can't help it XD
Thank yooooou - I really hope I'm able to carry some of these stories over to a game or a comic or some other format, one of these days. <3
And oh my god, if secretly shipping Cricket and Iskar is wrong, I don't wanna be right. I still have no idea where Cricket's going, romantically - if anywhere, at all. But there are a lot of things about Iskar that Cricket either admires, sympathizes with, or worries about tremendously, and that's always a recipe for something.
And oh my god, if secretly shipping Cricket and Iskar is wrong, I don't wanna be right. I still have no idea where Cricket's going, romantically - if anywhere, at all. But there are a lot of things about Iskar that Cricket either admires, sympathizes with, or worries about tremendously, and that's always a recipe for something.
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