on the outside [open]

[redwhaling]

Character(s): Billie + whoever else is lurking around the wilderness.
Status: Open
Location(s): Marshlands near City of the Free Peoples
Date(s) Early March
About: With tensions and fighting within the city on the rise, Billie's opted to keep Mr. Werewolf fed through somewhat more wild means.
Warnings: She's hunting, so animal death and potentially more violence.

With winter on the run and the snow and ice ebbing away, the marsh isn't necessarily the safest place to pick off rabbits and the like, but the point is that the animals know that, too. There's less foot traffic outside of the road that edges around the swampy parts out here, meaning creatures popping up to pick at what greenery has begun to show through are far more common.

It also makes it a good place to hunt through less conventional means. Why waste arrows when you can literally turn into a giant rat? Or in this case, a cross between a human and a rat. She's shed her coat and boots to go skulking through the marshland in her black-furred shiftling form. At a distance, it's easy to assume she's one of the beastfolk. Though, at a closer range, the much more wild traits of a wererat are obvious to someone who knows what they're looking at. She isn't a wererat in actuality but for lack of a better word...

All that aside, for whatever reason you're out here on your own, your trek is about to be interrupted by a hare bolting out of the rushes and across your path. This is followed immediately by the shiftling leaping after and landing directly on it with a sick, soft crack of bones underclaw.

Comments

[redwhaling]

"You sound like you regret that," Billie says, mostly as an idle comment but... Did she regret the way it had ended between her and Daud? She isn't so sure that she does.

[kingsroads]

There's a pause before he shrugs. Strange is navigating weird feelings and torn emotions as he talks. "I suppose I do. He was a good man and, though we had our differences, I miss him."

This is getting emotional. And Strange doesn't necessarily want to air out his mixed feelings about Gilbert Norrell to a woman who he suspects doesn't give a damn about him and his history.

"Mostly I regret the whole dying thing." Strange sighs, as if dying is just something that happens and not the serious thing that it is. "I suspect we could have made up but my bleeding out on a battlefield changed all of that."

[redwhaling]

He wouldn't be wrong there. Billie may be curious enough to ask but she isn't invested in what may or may not be upsetting Jonathan Strange. Mostly, she just ends up shrugging at his regret about dying.

"Well, it's just shit luck that you did," she says to that, which probably isn't the kindest way to offer comfort for this. "But what's the point to regretting it? You'll just mire yourself in the past and let it drag you down."

Of course, for all that she would claim she has no regrets herself, she sure sounds bitter about something there for a second.

[kingsroads]

"I think some aspects of the past are work remembering," Strange simply responds. How he treated people. Mistakes he made. His wife. But would those drag him down like Billie was implying? He's not so sure.

"If I regret it, then it will stay on my mind and it won't happen again." He hopes.

[redwhaling]

"Learning from your past and regretting it are different things," Billie points out in return. "I'm not saying forget it all, just that you're in for a bad time if you let too many things you miss or people who are gone haunt you. I mean, I can definitely vouch for how shitty the latter is. I had that problem even before waking up a hundred years later."

Which is by far the most personal thing she's shared with Strange thus far but that's her own secret to share, not Daud's or the Sea Wolves'. Just hers, nothing more.

[kingsroads]

Strange can't help but frown a little as he thinks. That is definitely a personal thing that he didn't expect Billie to share. And it's also something that Strange himself still has trouble grasping. After all, he's been trying to push past Arabella and trying to push past his old mistakes, but they still linger on his mind.

No matter what, hearing Billie out might be good.

"Any tips on how to stop letting it haunt you?"

[redwhaling]

"Never said I ever stopped having the problem, just that it's going to ruin your life," Billie says, tone of voice taking an odd turn straight up into cheerful when she offers that effectively useless tidbit. Of course, she won't leave it there, but first— "And watch out for this puddle. It's deeper than it looks."

It's the one she's hopping over. She'll make it across fine and Deirdre is flying but rest in pieces, little Bell, hopping along after them all.

[kingsroads]

Strange can't help but laugh a little at that. "Touche," he remarks, with a nod.

As soon as they get to the puddle, Strange bends down a little. He makes a kissy noise and pats his shoulder. Bell takes a running leap and drapes herself over Strange's shoulder, lying there like a fur stole or a lumpy sack of something. She won't drown in the puddle, but this has the added effect of getting mud and grime all over his coat. He could fix that later. Washing it out should be simple enough.

"Our lives have already been pulled in so many different directions: dying, Lykos, the dragons...I'm honestly a bit curious as to how they could be ruined."

[redwhaling]

"I'd say having a second chance and blowing it moping over what's still gone is ruining it," Billie says with another shrug. At this point, they're reaching an incline in the ground. The marshiness of the dirt and grass and ice and snow underfoot is fading away for something firmer as they finally approach one of the smaller roads built through the swamplands.

"Dying was expected. Lykos is just another job. Dragons..." Well, those are a little more out there. "Still don't know what to make of that other than they're being a nuisance, so I can't call that too different, either. They just happen to be a larger, more haunted nuisance than usual."

[kingsroads]

There's a pause as Strange gets off of the marshland onto the smaller road. Gingerly, he sets Bell down. When he speaks again, there's a surprising serious tone behind his words.

"I think the dragons are more than just a nuisance. Multiple small things have happened to me recently. They were seemingly unconnected except for one common thread: the dragons."

Finding that scale while researching. His courier falling apart and gifting him what Strange assumes to be Logistykon's scale and Logistykon's power. That mirror he found, one that showed the unenchanted form of things, which showed him with a scaled face. One would have to be mad to overlook all of that.

[redwhaling]

Billie hasn't outright ignored her own strange circumstances. A scale arriving in the oddest fashion, what happened when she picked it up; that's all real, too real to pretend otherwise. It's just she doesn't talk about these things. With Strange bringing up his own odd occurrences, however...

It's enough to make her stop and turns about halfway back towards him, giving him a decidedly neutral look now. At least before, she'd been morbidly cheerful, but this is definitely different.

"Small things like what, exactly?"

[kingsroads]

There isn't anybody out here. And yet, Strange gives the area around them a once-over, making certain that nobody's watching or listening in to this conversation. Strange's voice drops a little as he talks.

"A dragon scale in the middle of my courier. And a second dragon scale, found between the pages of a book. And finally, I received a present: a shard of mirror that shows the true form of what it's reflecting. If I look long enough, my face becomes scaled."

So a whole bunch of small things. Strange's tone of voice is also decidedly neutral as he talks. Obviously he's pleased as punch that there are signs that the dragons are back and are gifting him with this power...but he honestly doesn't know what to think about that mirror.

"There's some odd things that happened that have nothing to do with the dragons, of course." He has a pistol now! "But those three things happening within a month or so can't be a coincidence."

[redwhaling]

Billie can't say she likes the sound of the mirror, either, which more or less prompts her to suggest, "Maybe you're just crazy."

Or maybe he isn't. The scale from the courier isn't an experience she can refute, though, which casts the rest in the unfortunate light of really being a thing. She should ask to see the mirror, but she won't or, more like, she really doesn't want to. Instead, she'll focus on what they have in common, meaning Billie turns around fully and takes a few steps over to close the gap between the two of them.

There really isn't anyone out here to eavesdrop but she'll humor Strange's worried glances around them.

"Was it a black scale? The one from your courier."

[kingsroads]

As she posits that he might be crazy, Strange shakes his head. "I know what madness feels like. When I saw that image in the mirror, I was perfectly sane."

Which opens up a few more questions about his past. Still, he's hoping that Billie's complete disinterest in talking about things includes a disinterest in talking about him. The fact that her scale was black is unexpected: this is the first time he's heard of the scales being other colors. Strange can't help but look interested for a moment before he continues talking.

"The scale was white. But considering that a few months back I received a message from Logistykon, the white dragon, I expected that." All of this was connected in some way, Strange just had to figure out to what extent.

[redwhaling]

Strange is in luck. She won't ask. The back and forth about their pasts before may have been fine but there's a different focus now and it isn't why Strange knows what madness feels like.

"And mine was from Epithymetikon," Billie says, remembering that moment months ago just fine. He'd been so excited about messages from dragons and then it turned out they had different ones. "Who was a black dragon. What could he do again? Breathe fire?"

That isn't quite it, she's pretty sure, but if anyone is going to know the specifics on the big three's dragon magic, it'll be Strange.

[kingsroads]

The dragon nerd does know the specifics on the big three's dragon magic. "Generally speaking, most dragons can breathe fire. Epithymetikon was unique in that he had a habit of chewing up rocks and spitting out their molten remains. And yes, he was a black dragon: he was also the biggest and strongest of the three dragons who guarded the cities."

There's a pause where Strange mulls things over before continuing. "I went to his remains. He's a grand beast and the remains were quite impressive, but the whole thing felt cursed."

[redwhaling]

"I'm going to be real unhappy if I start spitting lava," Billie mutters now that that's been cleared up. It sure explains why what she's been afflicted with aren't exactly fire powers, at least. Anyway, she takes one more step in close, looking up at Strange with a grim intensity that may or may not be a little worrying depending on just how much Strange thinks she might stab him.

"Right, so I don't know what you actually specialize in. For all I know, this is a long shot, but if someone had a piece of one of the dragons on them or in them or something like that, would there be a way to get in contact with them?"

[kingsroads]

There's a moment where Strange debates telling Billie that surprise, he can generate electricity. However, as she steps up close to him, there's a brief moment where Strange's fight or flight instinct kicks in. He holds his ground and listens as Billie describes her hypothetical situation.

That sounds utterly preposterous and like a terrible idea. He'll do it.

"I don't know that sort of magic myself—scrying is only good for viewing, not communication. But it is theoretically possible. Dragonborn have a mental connection to the parent dragon. Obviously we don't have the physical signifiers of the dragonborn of old, but I suspect we've been changed enough that we could try and focus on that connection."

[redwhaling]

Billie will hold still in place where she is, eyeing him in silence definitely longer then feasibly needed, before giving a nod and stepping back again. It's a satisfying enough answer. She can work with that.

"What would we need for it?" Here she is, already assuming he's going to help her out. "I should be able to get my hands on just about anything that might help you figure 'that sort of magic' out."

[kingsroads]

"I never said I'd help you out," Strange briefly reminds Billie. However, of course he is. Why wouldn't he? And so, he just continues talking like they're all under the assumption that he's going to help Billie out.

"It's no use searching for books about the dragons: I suspect they're mostly destroyed." Which Strange is obviously annoyed about. "Any books on sympathetic magic or mental communication could be useful. Likewise, there's a trinket that lets one see through their animas's eyes. If you can obtain one, I can study the magic on that."

There's a moment where Strange looks over at Billie, pausing as he debates whether to bring up the 'guess what, I can do necromancy' card or not. "Of course, there are other methods to ask dragons or dragonborn directly about how the connection works. But those methods would require a corpse."

[redwhaling]

"You didn't have to say it, Strange."

And she knows she's right.

Anyway, Billie's complete and total lack of reaction to Strange dropping the mention of needing a corpse should tell him enough. She doesn't really like necromancy but that tends to apply only when it's being used against her, personally. That means when she pauses to consider all their options, that one isn't outright denied.

"Books would be the simplest route. I do know where one of those trinkets are but I don't really want to tip off anyone else that I'm up to something..." Also known as she doesn't want to give Daud a heads up. "A body, though. Would it need to be fresh? Because we both know that isn't happening."

[kingsroads]

Her complete lack of a reaction is reassuring. At least they can discuss necromancy without speaking in hypotheticals or prefacing every statement with 'I know it's taboo but...'.

"Preferably fresh, definitely intact. In theory, something like the Epithymetikon's skeleton would work—though in practice, that's not happening." He saw those anti-necromancy runes on the inside of the skeleton. He's not going to be the idiot who attempts to revive the thing.

"But books should help. I'm a quick study. Give me enough time and I'm certain I can come up with something." Chatting with people while using their scales or body parts. Not exactly the most dignified sort of magic but he's done sketchier things.

[redwhaling]

"Of course. Preferably fresh," Billie echoes the words back at him. "You do realize the only living dragon I know devoured a bunch of souls at the bottom of a sunken city and flew away to who even knows where, right?"

In short, she will get him whatever he needs except that.

"Best I could do is try and figure out where they dumped whoever they killed during their purge after the war," she does offer that idea up but that's robbing some really old graves at this point. "But I'll look for the rest first. If the three big guys really are around and messing with us, this could be the most direct route to asking."

[kingsroads]

"I don't make the rules of necromancy," Strange grumbles, more for his sake instead of Billie's. She knows that he doesn't decide how magic works, but still! It's not his fault that his magic works that way!

Still, he's only bitching and moaning for a little bit. As much as he'll complain, this whole idea is exciting. Learning new spells, trying to contact the dragons...surprising no one, Strange is entirely here for this.

"Give me a call on the courier if you find anything interesting. Likewise, I'll do the same if any new leads show up on my end."

[redwhaling]

Billie just shrugs. She knows that but come on, where's all the raising of skeleton armies she's read in books? Admittedly those were fictional little penny dreadfuls, but you can't blame her for hoping.

"I will," she'll at least agree to that rather than griping about fresh corpses. That settled, she's also turning to start walking up the road again, back towards the city proper. "We're bound to find something between the two of us."