Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » » GeiaCon - Conference for Otherworldly Education

Although the name 'Mosshorn Goruga' meant little to her, the Dragon could muster up a mental image of what that creature might've looked like in a living state. And.. the Exorcist's Guild? That sounded more threatening than any of the warmonger clutches she'd narrowly avoided back in Nowhere. Quietly, then, her tail wrapped around her paws, and listened to Yulu explain the nature of their homeworld, and what being a ghost was all about. Apparently, the possibility of being a living ghost existed where they were from, and that confused the Dragon about as much as the whole idea of there being four types of entity. And how could one be neither alive or dead? That hit a bit close to home, now that she thought about it.. "A-and.. umm.. what, uh, what would I be, then?" she asked after the spirit's explanation, a slight and timid smile crossing her lips. "I suppose that, uh, that most of us, of my kind, that we're really corporeal. Some of our spirits go on and stick around, sometimes.. but I don't know why or how. And in those cases we're always dead, dead ghosts." Most of the ghosts came from prior ages, from back when the Blight hadn't happened yet or had been in its first stage. If ghosts from her age existed, they probably made a run for the safest island in the middle of nowhere to escape the hellscape that they had roamed during their lifetime. "And- uh, yeah, yeah.. that is interesting." Her worried half-smile widened into a bigger and warmer one. "I think I'll, uh, I'll try to buy that from you, if I earn money to buy stuff with. Right now I kinda only have my own stuff, heh." By manner of redirecting her nerves into the earth, she rolled the apple beneath her palm, careful not to break it. In the meantime, she'd noticed Many-Color and his hatchlings taking an interest in her stall. Many-Colors inquired about the 'spiral bone', while their young ones inspected her with equal parts great excitement and wariness. They were adorable, in their own strange way. The Dragon smiled at them and flattened her mane as much as she could to look as non-threatening as possible. "Oh, uhh.. and the bone is.. um.. it's a dragon's. These.. uh, these are all dragon bones," she said, looking up to Many-Color and the hatchling that'd buried its noggin' into his armpit. "The, uhh, the Blight made them that way. There's no sickness on these bones anymore, though. It's just an, umm, an aftermath kinda thing." The Dragon picked one of the whirlwind bones up and held it above her muzzle for Many-Color to take a closer look at it. There were healed cracks all over the bone from where it had rapidly broken and healed again. Unlike normal mutations, the Blight's transformation was always rapid. She couldn't imagine what kind of pain that'd cause, and didn't want to either. When Many-Color spoke of the poisons he brewed, she tilted her head. Why would one spend their time and resources making poisons? Maybe supplies were so abundant in their world that they could afford to waste some on anything other than food, but still.. why? She listened quietly as Yulu made the connection to murder. With the way the spirit seemed to think of death, she was curious about what they thought of liquids that brought it. She had also noticed the strange many-tailed furred creature. She was talking about the Dragon's bones, but seemed to think that Yulu was selling them. Hmm, strange, somehow she'd thought an entity with a muzzle would have a strong enough sense of smell to smell that these bones came frm her satchel, and not Yulu's.

"Thoughtful of you, dragon friend," Yulu answered the Dragon with a faint smile. "Ah. Not for sale, but. . . might make an exception if-"

Light. The wretched stench of a shapehsifter was nearby. Triangular pupils thinned as their eyes widened, their jagged mouth parting slightly to unveil part of a spiked tongue. The corona atop their 'head' flared unnaturally as their gaze landed on Azumi. They heard her, yes, but didn't process much of what she said until afterwards.

"Bones. . . not mine," they clarified. Their voice sounded incredibly grating and the agitation in it didn't help. "The dragon's."

An arm extended slowly to the booth next to them, but they looked like they could explode at any minute.

"Begone from my stall, shapeshifter. Blighted light. Have no business with you. . ."

Well, that wasn't very friendly for a peaceful conference. And it didn't seem like Yulu would be peaceful anymore if Azumi overstayed her welcome.

Again she was carefree. As her excitement faded away, she realized it was not Yulu who had the bones, but the Dragon. She rapidly apologized to Yulu before rushing towards the Dragon.

"Are any of these for sale? Do you have anything that looks like a fox? Oh, how about scales? I'm sorry that sounds a bit morbid, but I use my own fur for talismans, I'll have you know! Do you have fossils? My son loves fossils! Hey, haven't we met somewhere?!" Azumi excitedly squealed as she quickly uttered each and every word as quick as possible. She circled the dragon as well while doing this

"Mom, stop it, you're embarrasing us!" Ren said as he approached his four-tailed mother.

He then saw the dragon. At first he looked a bit wary before shrugging the feeling off.

"A dragon? I don't see your kind that often anywhere. Pretty cool" Ren smiled "I'm Ren. The fox here's actually my familiar who took to being my mother when I was little and, well, I went along with it"

"I am your mother!" Azumi pouted "Just because I am a familiar does not mean I cannot be your parental figure"

"Yeah, sure" Ren simply chuckled and petted her

Then Azumi asked "In all seriousness, I am seeking fossils for my son! He does cherish such relics from a bygone era! Mayhap you carry such objects?"

As Esmeryle snaps out of her earlier daze, she looks around, wondering where Ren went. She then starts to crawl along after him, keeping her distance as she cautiously waves between the various conference-goers.

But as she notices a shape-changing fox familiar chatting with someone at a stall, she ends up overhearing them talking about looking ancient bones with the giddy excitement of a Black Friday shopper. Before she knew it, she found herself sitting behind Ren, gently tugging on his pant sleeve in the hopes of getting his attention.

"'Scuse me." She comments, her voice squeaky and high-pitched as she tries to get the human's attention. "If you're looking for fossils, I know where you can find 'em."

The beast maintained his smile however it reduced back down to where it was just the smaller mouth on surface appearance. Listening to the awful sound of the ghost while stroking his son to comfort him.

“They are only a year old, they’ve got time to learn, however they are already skilled hunters in their own rights…at least some of them…” glancing down at the girls slowly approaching the dragon. His boys needed more time, especially the smallest.

A quick glance to the questioning Kitsune, leaving them to it while focusing back to the dragon. “A dragon bone you say….impressive…” not outwardly saying ‘what could do such a thing to a dragon??’ But it was obvious in his tone. “Your lands are blighted…I am sorry to hear that….” He stepped forward to examine the bone further “I’ll take it, its a fascinating shape. You are free to come take a look at what I can offer….I specialise in neurotoxins I’m told they are called….they numb the senses and stop the heart, quick, relatively painless. For the specialist poisons I have tasteless and odourless versions.”

At the ghosts outburst about a shapeshifter he looked around, not sure who they were referring to as he was more often than not seen in the shape he stood in now, it wasn’t his original form.
The girls got close enough to bap the dragon’s paw when the fox spirit barged in and scared them off, hiding between Yaaz’s ankles again.

“I’ll take the bone and come pick it up in a moment, once I get them sorted.” Noting his girls weren’t too keen on the crowd he’d walk back to his table to find yavis sleeping with his face resting on the table and the rest of him sat on the floor. Moving around to the back of the table he’d sit down where the girls would join him on his lap. He’d man the table for a bit until they settled for a nap.

After Yulu stopped seeing red after seeing white, they turned back to Yaazecsus as though nothing had happened. They retained their remorseful features, even though they didn't feel an ounce of it. Or did they?

"Enclave of little murderers. . . how charming." It wasn't apparent whether this was intended as a compliment or it was just sarcasm. Their tone seemed content enough? "Best business to you. . ."

They regarded Yaazecsus with subtly narrowed eyes, but didn't linger longer than that. A far-too-long sleeve raised to wave to Yaazecsus and his young as they head off.

Then, there was a tiny bap. The Dragon's mane flew up as she yanked her head towards the sensation, only to see one of Many-Color's hatchlings being scared away by the many-tailed biped approaching her. What a brave little thing! Maybe she should've opted for becoming a visitor over a vendor.. Honesty prevailing was a beautiful thing, but it also meant that the Fur-Tails' eyes were now on her. She began to babble something about her son - was that the fleshly mammal that followed her around everywhere? -, fossils and a creature called a 'fox', which essentially floored the Dragon on a verbal level. It certainly was easier to converse with a being that only used their larynx to speak, but the sheer amount of words did trigger her anxiety. What to say, what to do? She had old stuff, for sure, but were those the fossils she was after? "I.. uh.. I got some artifacts, but those aren't.. um.. aren't for sale.." she muttered to Fur-Tails, looking at her paws as she spoke. She had enough muscle mass and size to wrestle a rhino - according to Pawlown, there were gray furless ones down south, too! -, but that didn't mean that she had a warrior's spirit in the battlefield of merchantry, too. "And.. umm.. the, uh, the bones are all dragon bones. So, yeah.. I dunno what a flute is, but, umm.. just keep in mind that it's.. it used to be a person. Maybe there's spiritual implications there, I dunno, I never made.. uh, well, anything from the bones of my peers before." Some warlords wore the skulls of their enemies like helmets, that much she knew, so her associations with using the bones of sentient, honorable creatures as tools felt a tad disrespectful. Then again, maybe whatever soul essence - if such a thing existed, maybe she could ask Yulu about that later.. - remained in the malformed bones would be warmed by the idea of being used for something good. "So, umm, yeah.. for fossils you should, uh.. maybe, maybe look further. Yep." This conversation had left her with more questions than answers. What was a flute? What was a fox? Why did she call that strange creature her son if they didn't look alike at all? Was this a situation where the males of a species looked like an entirely different animal? Was the creature an adult or a child? However, she could afford to ignore the stirring confusion within her, as Many-Colors had decided on his purchase and offered her an item of his own. Neurotoxins? The effect sounded like pure mercy, though. The Dragon wondered if a transformation of Blight could be stopped with it. It would probably kill whoever she used it on, yeah, but at least the Infected got to die, instead of being doomed to walk the earth and forcibly take their loved ones into the hivemind with them. Quietly, the Dragon handed the whirlwind bone over to the shapeshifter. "I.. umm.. I'd be interested into one of the quiet death-poisons then, yeah. I.. I suppose I could save someone from misery with it. I hope I don't ever have to use it, though. Not here.." There was the tugging, almost nauseating feeling in her core that begged her to find Pawlown to get some closure on where she was gonna go when GeiaCon ended.. Oh well, at least she had a good couple of days of conference left, for the time being.

Ren smiled at Esmeryle and said "Yeah sure, I'd like to know"

He then looked at Azumi before looking back at Esmeryle. "... after I get my adoptive mother to stop bugging the Dragon"

Meanwhile, Azumi was disappointed by the lack of things for sale. She did not seem to notice what using the bones of the dead would imply, she simply exuded too much childlike energy in her wise, old mind to even bother with thinking about that. That is, until Ren came over to give his mother a mouthful.

"You do realize that what you said a while ago is kinda screwed up, right?" Ren rolled his eyes, "I mean c'mon, mom. The difference is that you're cutting your own hair, but using dead people's bones is pretty morbid. Although, I don't know why the Dragon's carrying those around. Also you're freaking out the Dragon, give her a break!"

Azumi's ears lowered in embarrassment. She did not even bother to realize that her hyperactivity might make other people around her uncomfortable. So much for being a wise four-tailed fox.

"I'm apologize deeply for my actions" Azumi said wistfully "How can I make it up to you? I hope we can be friends!"

"Mom, you don't have to make up for your actions all the time. A simple sorry's enough. Also why do you have to make friends with every single person you meet?" Ren commented

"It is part of my kind's culture, dear. We always find ways to make up for something and being the benevolent spirits that we are, we love to make as many friends as possible during our stay in the material realm."

"Whatever" Ren groaned before going back to the other dragon, Esmeryle.

"Now, about those fossils..." Ren said to the young Dragon

He didn't know how to take having his family being called little murders but he nodded before heading off to his table.
The babies were given snacks and time to settle down and relax a safe distance from the crowd. Kaziah and Nava cuddled up to Yavis while Lawal remained glued to Yaaz. If there was any passing interest he'd talk to them from his position on the floor. Once the girls had fallen asleep he'd get up and slowly approach the dragon again, taking his sweet time for the fox spirit to settle down.

”Um.. it’s, uh.. it’s fine. Totally. I swear,” the Dragon told the apologizing Fur-Tails, her honey-golden gaze fixated on the ruffled soil beside her. Only rarely had someone ever apologized to her for anything, and most of those times, it hadn’t even been sincere. ”You, eh, you couldn’t have known, I guess. Or maybe that’s, uh, that’s different. With you, in your culture, I mean. Death is just, uh, weird, in ours.” Once a thing feared and grieved over, if she was to believe the tales the Rebuilders had told her. Then again, she’d made that mistake before. ”G-good, uh, good luck with your search, though. For bones. For your flute.. thing.” Clearly, this was too much social interaction for her. She glanced at Yulu with a certain glimmer of desperation, and nodded subtly before slinking away across the wet grass, heading straight for the shapeshifter’s poison stand, holding only the damaged green apple gently between the fangs. ”H-hey,” she mumbled to Many-Colors, the friendly smile on her muzzle deflating before it even got to its full width. Her eyes rested on the shapeshifter’s hatchlings, and for some reason, the heavy throbbing of her anxious heart seemed to cease. Was this what things could’ve been like if she and.. No, no. ”So, umm, I would be interested in one of your, um. Poison-thingies? Not for myself, just for, uh.. others.” Her tail grew restless again as her nervousness mounted. ”Not to, uh, not to murder them. Just to help. Help them, rest.” This would be so much better with some proper context, but as things stood, she didn’t feel socially capable enough to provide one without being asked. Yulu already knew some of the context, but not enough. Maybe they didn’t need to. What was fearful to a mortal, probably looked so differently to a being like them. Or Many-Colors, for that matter. Were they mortal at all? ”What, uh, what do all of them do?” To appear like less of a shadowy black boulder looming over Many-Colors hatchlings, she decided to sit down again, folding her tufted tail tightly around her paws. Every so often, she looked over her shoulder at her own stand, but she assumed that as long as there was no food back there, no one would dare to loot her stand. Besides, these people were far less desperate than the dragons of Nowhere, so perhaps the idea of raiding someone else’s supplies wouldn’t cross their happy minds at all. Or so she hoped.

Spirit? Maybe then they weren't exactly allied with the shapeshifters. Still, the white coloration put them off. Were they a creature of the Light? Yulu supposed it didn't matter. . .

Once the Dragon departed, they faced Azumi and Ren. Their expression never halted as one of regret, though perhaps they meant it this time.

"Another spirit, huh?" Their voice remained unpleasant as ever in spite of everything. "Do not meet many 'good' ones. . . then again, what is good? What is bad? Is acting on instinct evil. . . ?"

They raised their nubs, nonchalant. They seemed to take philosophical debate in stride, not too focused on what the answer could be. It was forming questions and experimenting that was the interesting part.

"The ghosts are at war. It put me on edge. . . forgive me. Or do not. Does not matter to me. . ." Just then, they were reminded of their role here. ". . . want to learn about it? The Eternal War? Darkness conquering Light. . . Light overwhelming Darkness? When everything. . . turns to nothing?"

Yaaz looked up to the dragon and smiled while still carrying his smallest pup, the others were now thankfully asleep behind the table. “Poisons? Of course, I’ve mostly the one type but it comes in different strengths and forms.” he explained while gesturing across his wears. He picked up on the tone of wanting to ‘Help them rest’. “Ah….of course…How big are they? most of these require an approximate weight depending on the amount you use…”

“Some of them are just straight venom from the source, others are blended with herbs to help one sleep, others to keep one awake and feeling everything…others to be ingested without any hint and others for injection purposes. Some in the smallest of doses for immunity purposes and of course anti-venoms as well” he explained.

The pup in Yaaz’s arms watched the dragon the whole time and hardly blinking and highly curious.

Spirits being at war with each other? That was certainly something new. The spirit world, at least her realm's version of it was always peaceful. Unless, one talked about the realm of the Oni, though it was something she did not relish in discussing because of how chaotic that part of the place is.

Then, Yulu offered to tell the story of their kind. Being the ever so curious little fox she is, she took up the offer with a big smile, saying "Sure! I am essentially what my son calls a 'history buff'. Despite the rather bleak sounding outlook on the matter, I am wholeheartedly interested in whatever you may utter right at this very moment!"

"She means, 'Yeah, I wanna hear it'", Ren rolled his eyes

"I would also like to accept your apology for nobody, not even a divine kitsune such as myself, is ever perfect. Only the Gods are"

"She means "It's all good'", Ren shortened his mother's statement once again.

"Must you do that every time you consider my sentences far too verbose and overly complex for anyone?" Azumi pouted

"Yeah, unless you wanna get into a misunderstanding..."

Ren then remembered Yulu's rhetorical question. He loved entertaining such philosophical topics, especially ones that related to his morally gray views on the world. He had his own concept of right or wrong that's for sure, however he had a simple view on the matter. "Do right by others, regardless of whatever arbitrary system that is in place", Those words from his old senior high school teacher came into mind. It was the primary influence for Ren's rebellious, but well-meaning, behavior. Another thing came to mind that Ren wanted to tell Yulu this time.

"By the way" Ren paused "Anytime you get shoved into some sort of 'greater good' chances are you're just being used. How'd I know? Well, I happen to be a victim of those idiots who sugar coat their agendas for something far greater than a single man could ever comprehend"

Karlach is still checking out the different booths, but has yet to find something that will be of use to her.

He was quietly walking through the con and shopping for new tomes, books, and scrolls. He had a bit of a smile as he walked around and was sure to keep to himself.


He was even looking around to buy things for his son and maybe a few gifts for his wife. Shopping for his wife was a bit of an undertaking due to her being a goddess.


He was using a papoose that he usually kept his good friend Azumi in. Each time he put her in the papoose, it made for one of the most adorable things in several galaxies.

He was just looking for souvenirs to buy for Es.

Many-Colors was cradling one of their hatchlings in their arms, and from the get-go, the Dragon could feel their gleamy little eyes fixate themselves onto her noggin’. Her scaly lips curved into a shy smile. Being regarded and acknowledged, and even found interesting by a critter so small was a pretty big deal for her. Looking at another creature with no ulterior survivalist motive in mind was a luxury where she was from. ”Well, umm.. normally they.. they’d be as big as me,” the Dragon mumbled when Many-Colors asked her about the size range of her target. Sheez, they were moving fast now.. but at the same time, she hadn’t come her for just a lecture on poison. ”But for the.. um, yeah, the sake of it, let’s say slightly bigger.” Last time she’d seen her, she’d been.. Different. Barely recognizable. But still, the Dragon had known. How she’d wished that she hadn’t. ”And, um, the sleep.. thing. That sounds nice. To whoever is injected, I mean. I’ll probably have to do that, um, my-myself. Hiding it in food wouldn’t work.” Idly, she bopped the bruised green apple between the front paws. Her claw hit the exposed flesh, and an icy chill ran along her spine and wingbones. ”I.. just, umm.. If they sleep, are you sure they won’t feel a thing? Just to make sure. I mean, I wouldn’t be able to tell if they’d be in pain or not, so..” Nervously babbling, she let her eyes wander away from Many-Colors and their hatchling. There was a red-skinned, dragon-like biped walking around that unsettled her, though she wouldn’t approach her just yet. Had to make sure that this poison plan would.. well, work.

The beast eyed her up and down to make a judgement on her size then nodded and picked up one of the medium sized bottles. "They will fall into a..somewhat... peaceful sleep and never wake. The body may jerk towards the end but thats often the nerves shutting down, they don't feel anything by that point...Do you require an injection tool as well? I may have something to get through dragon hide..." he hiked Lawal up over his shoulder to balance the pup while he bent down to dig through his bag on the floor.

He would purchase a saber for his son from a different booth before he spotted Azumi.

"Azumi! Hey Azumi!" He waved with a smile before he went to speak tobhis cute little yokai gremlin friend


"I didn't expect to see anyone I know or any of my friends"

As Azumi was ready to hear Yulu's tale, she heard the voice of someone familiar. It was someone whom she often conversed with in a place called Trixie's Bar.

"Oh hi, Mathius!" Azumi squealed in delight "What brings you here? My son and I are in the midst of being told a story!"

"We do have a stall of our own, but nobody's inerested yet, so we kinda decided to visit other people's stalls out of pure curiosity"