sometimes you can't make it

[modforged]

Who: Alexstrasza, Krasus/Korialstrasz, and the Redsworn
What: Successful retreat into the Ruby Sanctum
Where: Ruby Sanctum
When: After a long, grueling battle near the borders of Suramar
Warnings: Please PM the mods if any warnings are needed

[The Ruby Sanctum is a flurry of activity. This becomes clear within two seconds of stepping through the portal. The wounded are guided over to a grassy clearing surrounded by saplings and adolescent trees, bade to lay down and receive healing from other dragonkin. Some of the trees are years old, while a few look to have shot up recently. If you watch, vines engulf one fallen warrior; the body sinks into the ground, and a tiny sapling appears in its place.

Despite the war going on outside, the sanctum is less of a cavern and more like a self-contained dimension. Ample sunlight drifts down through scarlet leaves, which are occasionally home to the crimson scales of a whelpling. There is life everywhere: insects on twigs, birds chirping overhead, flowers at your feet. Dragon eggs lay nestled in the nooks and crannies offered by the tranquil forest. There is a decently-sized spring filled with fresh, pure water, as well as some small rocky outcroppings to sleep in. It's warm and comfortable enough to rest out in the open, too.

The cloaked and ever-mysterious Krasus stands watching the dispersing redsworn, his back against the massive oak in the center of the sanctum.

Occasionally, one may glimpse a beautiful red-haired woman with copper skin winding through the copse.]

[ooc: Mingle log for redsworn!]

Comments

OTA

[bloodpainter]

The first thing Nepeta did when she finished adapting to the fact that she'd once again been warped to a new location was to climb a tree.

Not just any tree, either, she specifically sought out the tallest tree she could find. She needed to become familiar with her new surroundings, and quickly, and the best way she could think of to do that was to view things from as high a vantage point as she could find.

Once up in its branches she found herself surveying one of the most beautiful places she'd ever seen. Trees, young and old, covered the landscape. Birds flickered around, everything looked so... alive. Stark contrast to the brutal battle she'd just been through.

Sitting up in the tree Nepeta considered what she needed to do. One, she needed to figure out what exactly was going on here. Okay, war between dragons and demons, sure, but why? How? And how did they stop it? That lead to question two. What was she, and by extension the rest of the people who had been brought her, supposed to do about it? And question three, how did she properly use these new abilities she'd been given? Some of them came naturally, but others she didn't really understand, though she was certain they'd be very useful when she figured them out.

Her goals in place, she decided to go hunting for someone who could answer those questions for her. She climbed down the tree to about the halfway point before leaping out of it, landing unharmed at its base despite the probably inevitable concerns of anyone watching.

Well, at least her catlike grace hadn't been changed.

[kingdomofsaints]

...Nepeta, that leap was certainly graceful, but landing in front of someone's face is kinda rude.

"Goodness- ...where did you come from?" Not everyone looks up at the trees, you know! Okay, she can guess she came from the tree, and-

...Wait, there's something off about her. With the shock of her arrival thinning away, she can... make out her grey skin. Then the horns.. She backs up, considering if she should report to the dragons, a demon's broken in-

[bloodpainter]

"Oh!" She was kind of surprised to find someone standing that close. She probably should have looked a bit harder before she leaped. Still, she'll give her best smile in greeting.

"I was just up looking around." She explains, pointing up at the tree unnecessarily. "This place is amazing! It's so purrty, and all the dragons..."

Well, she doesn't think she really had to explain how amazing that is. She also doesn't realize what the woman is thinking about her, but the sudden step backwards catches her attention and her smile fades a bit into a look of concern. "Something wrong?"

[kingdomofsaints]

It's not quite Nepeta's fault, though- Amane was looking for a tree to lean against, the branches are thick...

...And when the troll turns to look at Amane face-to-face, she manages to catch herself. That sounds sincere enough, to her, and this... entity possesses positive emotional intensity towards such an innocent endeavor in a way she knows the demons won't. At least, demons from her world, which she is- still having a bit of a hard time differentiating with the demons here. It's a good thing Nepeta does happen to be nice.

"...It's nothing. I was simply dazed, that's all," she quickly covers up. Because telling someone that she kinda mistook them for a demon is pretty rude. What does she say now? Amane hopes that Nepeta isn't faking, and gives her the benefit of the doubt- "What's your name?"

[bloodpainter]

"I don't blame you fur that, after what just happened... I'm Nepeta Leijon." The smile returns, a bit more tempered now as she really thinks over what just happened. The situation they're in really is awful, but it's not like she hasn't been in ones just as bad. At least there's no one here who can burn entire planets, if small ones, with the flames of a green sun.

"And what's yours?" Getting to know her new friends seems like a good plan. They're going to have to work together quite a bit soon, at least she's pretty sure they will.

[kingdomofsaints]

Hm, a name like Nepeta... Nepeta, Nepeta- it's not something she thinks is native to her world, and the word just sounds so much more playful than what she's used to. "Nepeta Leijon... I'll remember it."

Both of them have screwed up to a certain extent, with Nepeta being one of the twelve who destroy their world, and Amane being the catalyst for the demon's arrival in her world and thus the subsequent dilemma they face over whether or not every living organism is going to be enslaved forever under God.

"My name is Amane Kuzuryu. You can call me Amane." Yes. Allies are good. She's not... sure how to actually maintain friendships that aren't bound by some sort of duty, but being a Redsworn counts, right?

[bloodpainter]

And well her name should sound like that, as it's literally part of the scientific name for none other than the catnip plant.

"Okay, Amane. It's nice to meet you." Circumstances aside, anyway. Thinking a bit, she adds in a question. "You got new powers when you arrived here too, right? Do you have control ofur them yet? I'm still working on mine."

Granted, it wasn't that much of a stretch for most of the abilities she'd honed over her life to be adapted to these new ones, but a few of them flummoxed her. She was not a space player, it was really odd for her to be able to teleport.

[kingdomofsaints]

...She just begins to realize the little cat puns she's making. Huh...

"New powers?" Negative. Rather, her powers got sealed, or... replaced? Something like that. "I'm afraid I haven't really received anything new. I do have access to healing powers, which I did beforehand as well. All my other powers are either sealed... or gone completely."

The situation is more dire than her tone makes it out to be. Powers are important. "The laws of this world seem to be different from my own."

[bloodpainter]

"You're a healer?" To Nepeta's mind, this is an amazing ability, and highly useful. Only Feferi had any real healing powers back home, and she didn't really have the best control over them. Which was a real shame as they could have been very useful...

Well, assuming she'd had time, and could have used them on herself, anyway. Either way, Nepeta's pretty impressed.

"You must have been really helpful getting the dragons back on their feet, then."

[kingdomofsaints]

Ahhhh dammit.

You know how she said it was sealed or, well, somehow replaced? Learning magic all over again is... taxing, and while she did try to patch up the holes in their wings and all... she only managed to heal one completely, and that caused her to faint spectacularly. She's not sure if dragons are very keen on the idea of retreating once they've been healed to move, because they've been healed all the same and that means they can still fight. Amane... could fall prey to that train of thought if things go haywire.

"Yes, I am," she tries to deflect. "As for the dragons... I wouldn't say I have a valuable asset. But I tried my best."

[bloodpainter]

"I think that's all any of us really could do. If you saved one, that's one more than would have been okay without you, right?"

That seems like decent logic to Nepeta, and she's still pretty sure Amane saved more than one dragon. And if she knew about what had happened to her out there on the battlefield, well, she's not really the type to judge.

[kingdomofsaints]

Great, her life has devolved to the point she's getting a pseudo-pep-talk from a talking grey alien.

...Though, can she really say it devolved? Because she does have a good point. "...I haven't thought of it that way."

Unfortunately, in the end, she starts spinning towards if I could have saved one more... but still looks a bit more relaxed now, anyway. "With our combined effort, we may have saved many."

[bloodpainter]

"That's the spurrit! We made a diffurence out there, and maybe it'll help turn things around!"

Nepeta wasn't entirely certain that this was the case, given how many demons there had been and how vicious the battle had been, but she rather wanted to believe it, at least.

"And maybe we can do it again, somehow. I mean, we have to have been brought here fur a reason, right?"

[lifeforged]

"My, that's impressive!"

It might not have been her intent to show off, but she did catch the attention of one of the stranger looking dragonkin roaming the sanctum. None of the others dressed or even shared an appearance like her's, not even the dragon mage that brought them here.

"Have you mastered your strengths here so far?"

[bloodpainter]

"Oh, you think so?"

Nepeta grinned at the dragon woman with a mix of pride in her abilities, embarrassment at having been caught "showing off", and curiosity at the new person. "I'm getting the hang of some of them! That was something I could do back home though. I'd be a purrty lousy kitty if I couldn't!"

She giggled a little at her own joke. "Not that I'm actually a cat, but my Lusus was."

[lifeforged]

"Your Lusus?" The name seems more of a title now that she replays the bit in her mind and so she addresses it like so. "Your Lusus must have taught you well."

The woman definitely appeared to behave cat-like, but everything else about her leaves her a bit on edge. All the champions who appear unlike many of their comrades are the ones she'll be keeping a close eye on.

There's something childlike about her though that causes Alexstrasza to soften a bit.

"Do you miss them?"

[bloodpainter]

"She really did! Pounce was the best caretaker a troll could ask for."

Nepeta didn't seem aware that Alexstrasza was at all nervous about her, simply smiling giddily at the memory of her mother-figure. Certainly in her mind there was no reason for concern.

She shrugged at the question. "Well, of course I do, but we all have to move on sometime. You can't stay a wriggler furever. I just hope she'd be purroud of me."

That, however, was about as far into that subject as she was willing to delve with a stranger. Time to change the topic, and maybe get some questions answered. "So... can you tell me why we were brought here? I mean... I could tell you could use some help against those... monsters, but I don't think any of us could take a whole army on. I'm not really sure what we can do to help."

The question of why she should help went unasked because she'd already answered it for herself. Those monstrosities rampaging through her afterlife as they seemed to be right before she was whisked away if she remembered correctly, was something she didn't really want to consider.

[lifeforged]

A troll? The face she makes at the name can't be mistaken for anything other than disgust. There are trolls who wander the world outside of the sanctums and they are identical to her. If she knew of them, she might not actually admit that sort of thing freely.

Fortunately for the Dragon Queen, she starts asking questions to take her mind off of the topic.

"Your own world is in danger from the Burning Legion. Hopefully the experience you gain here in aiding us will help aid you in your own battle, but do not think we will abandon you so quick. Once we have vanquished the beasts here, my children will aid you in restoring peace from world to world. It is your potential and your potential alone that will contribute to this battle."

[bloodpainter]

She didn't miss the look that twisted Alexstrasza's features into something a lot less pretty for a moment. Evidently the woman had something against trolls... which to be fair, was kind of understandable, even if Alternian trolls and Azerothian ones have little in common.

Aside from being conquest-loving imperialists, anyway, but that only really applied to the leaders.

Still, it was more important to talk about the current situation than to find out what that was all about. "Okay, so those monsters are called the Burning Legion... how do we fight them? I mean, I was able to take down some of the weaker ones when we were helping the dragons get to safety, but some of the ones I saw looked way beyond anything I could handle. I'm not a bad fighter, and I've taken on things much larger than me befur, but that thing with the huge weapon and four legs seemed stronger than almost anything I've fought befur."

Almost, because she doubted anything came close to the Black King. But she'd had all the others there with her when they took him on, and even together that had been a narrow victory. Taking on something like a Pit Lord alone was something she wanted to avoid if possible.

[lifeforged]

"It is a battle we both cannot face alone, but with the other's help, there remains a possibility we can succeed in driving back their forces."

What a cliche answer, but it doesn't seem to be fake coming from her. The hope the dragonsworn have given her are what compel her to believe that they alone can help resolve all of their problems.

"For now it is a matter of studying our opponents. Knowing what their weaknesses are will help aid you in combat against them. There is much to learn about them after all."

[bloodpainter]

"That's true... you have to study any purrey fur a while befur you pounce if you plan to take it down."

The metaphor is remarkably predatory in nature, but it works for her. Her concern is starting to shift into a more thoughtful attitude.

"But befur I start figuring them out, I think I have to purractice my own powers. These things you dragons gave me are amazing, but they won't help much if I can't use them right."

[lifeforged]

"Oh?"

Alexstrasza herself isn't all that familiar with the chances that occurred within her champions as they arrived in Azeroth so she gives a thoughtful pause to think it over.

"Once you have gained enough confidence, you could learn more by practicing against them."

[bloodpainter]

"I intend to!"

Her grin returns, a bit feral this time, her pointed teeth showing.

"Once I figure this all out I should be able to do at least something. Is our goal just to hunt down and destroy all the demons we can find then?"

[lifeforged]

"It is one of the many goals we will have lined out for everyone." Including her children. "For now, we only wish for you to improve on your strength so that harm never comes to you."

Hopefully she is able to do that much.

[bloodpainter]

Oddly, Nepeta deflates at Alexstrasza's second statement, drooping a bit and looking almost depressed.

"I don't think that's really possible. Even the strongest can get hurt or die. Not that I'm not going to try!" She hastens to add that last part. "I'll fight as hard as I can. Just... I don't think we should hope fur the impossible."