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Character(s): Christine
Status: Open
Location(s): In libraries in Krimnos and the City of Whatever it's Name is This Week
Date(s) April 1-17
About: Christine's idea led to a research compling mission, and a strange sight in Idan's libraries and bookstores.
Warnings: Only if you don't like reading about metal wasps.

The idea was one she thought probably wasn't feasible, else someone would have thought of it before. But it turns out the project is not only possible, but bigger than she could have imagined. Helping people in the future have access to more knowledge at their fingertips is a noble goal, but she has to admit that she's doing this for herself too. Not only will she hopefully get to use this book in her own lifetime, but she's getting paid for doing the legwork too.

{ krimnos }
She starts in the city of the Tinkers after they test their knowledge-gathering wasps on their own Academy's library first. Then she's set loose with a box containing the metal wasps and sent on her way. The project can be done at her own pace, but she's so excited that she heads to another library in Krimnos straight away.

She can be found sitting at a desk, thumbing through a book and giving someone a look, eyebrows raised. "Please don't swat at my wasps. They aren't going to sting you."

{ city of free peoples, aka freeps }
Her work in Krimnos is far from done. Gathering all the information in all the books will take time, but she wants to move on to other things. After a brief stop at home, she journeys southwest to the city of so much conflict recently, to see if King Ardis' soldiers have been in anymore scraps with werewolves, Defenders, or both and need her healing services. While in the area, she heads into the city to visit a library and sets a box on one of the tables. Opening the lid, the two metal wasps go flying out to scan as many books as they can. A patron looks at the wasps, looks at Christine, and looks at the falcon now sitting on the table before quickly clutching a book to their chest and scurrying to the front desk. Christine sighs and looks at her animas.

"I guess we'll have to get the information out of that particular book next time, hm?"

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Christine releases a groan, putting her head in her hands. Her reaction is as far from excited as one can get and she doesn't care that he can see it. If true, this changes everything. She wanted to be free from the influence of the dragons. She never wanted to be controlled by them again. Emotions well up inside her and she struggles to contain them, but it's like trying to hold back a wave. Lowering her hands, she turns one to cover her mouth, looking at him with tears in her eyes. Of course he's happy about the possibility. Of course.

Christine shakes her head, hand moving away. When she speaks, it's merely a whisper. "If this is true I think I'd rather be dead, than controlled by a dragon again."

Strange's mood just turns on a dime the moment he sees those tears in Christine's eyes. Oh. Right. Not everyone shared the same feelings about the dragons as he did. Strange's smile drops instantly as he tries to arrange his face into something a little sympathetic. Inwardly, he's a bit annoyed. The dragons wouldn't control anybody. He has too much faith in them to think otherwise. This was just Christine being a worrywort again, as always.

Still, he is trying his hardest to keep the annoyed expression off his face as he continues to explain.

"I have the shard of mirror at the inn I'm staying at. If you want, you can look at it yourself."

Christine lets out a shaky breath, looking uncertain at the idea. Part of her wants to know for sure, but another part is afraid of seeing the truth.

"Do you think I should?" She isn't sure why she's asking. Usually she can be decisive on her own, but this is a situation where she probably won't be satisfied one way or the other; not unless she looks in the mirror shard and sees herself as she currently is.

There's a pause before he answers. On the one hand, he knows she won't like the answer. On the other hand, Strange firmly believe that given the chance, it's better to know than not know. It's a difficult question but after a moment, he answers.

"I think so," he says, with a little nod. "If only because I suspect you're imagining it as worse than it is. I looked in that mirror and saw something that could help confirm my theories. Others would see what I saw, but interpret it as something different."

Christine blows out a breath. Better to know the truth than live wondering. She dips her head into a nod. On the table beside her hands, Azoth moves close, feeling her unhappiness and offering herself for a calming pet. Christine does so before looking off for the wasps.

"I'll need to collect these workers first."

He nods. Strange stands up and pushes his chair in. "I understand. I don't know how long collecting the wasps will take, so why don't we meet up at the Immortal Duke? I've got a room there during my stay."

He also has a tiny baby dragon currently sleeping in that room. That...is definitely something that he should prepare Christine for. But it's not like he can talk about said tiny baby dragon in public. Strange's face doesn't hide the fact that he's a little worried about something, though he's not saying what.

"All right. I shouldn't be long." Christine recognizes that he's not comfortable in this moment, but she wrongly assumes it's because they differ so greatly in their reactions to the mirror shard and what it reveals.

Because of this, she forces a weak smile and picks up her box for housing the wasps. "I'll see you soon."

Strange returns the weak smile as he gives Christine a nod. "I'll see you then."

And then, he turns to walk away and leave Christine to her collection. When she's finished, true to his word, Strange is waiting near the bar area of the Immortal Duke. He's finishing off a drink and looking a little conflicted as he does so. He thinks he has a plan? He hopes he has a plan. He knows Christine doesn't like dragons, but this whole meeting was so spur of the moment, there's nobody he can ask to watch Alistair for a moment.

When he sees her enter, Strange stands up and walks over to Christine. "I'm glad you came. Though, I must warn you...the mirror shard isn't the only surprise I've picked up recently."

When she enters the Immortal Duke, there's a nervous energy surrounding her at what she might see in that mirror. And when Strange addresses her, she has to exhale an irritated breath.

"I should have known that with you, it's never merely one thing, is it?" Whatever else he's come across, she has a feeling she isn't going to like it, or else Strange would be excited in this moment, instead of the demeanor he showed before he left the library.

"What is it?"

"Yes, but that's why you like me, isn't it? Because I make life interesting." For all of Strange's gentle teasing, he can't hide the nervous undercurrent in his voice. Christine wouldn't like this meeting to begin with, now she especially wouldn't like it.

"And I don't want to chance anyone overhearing us. You'll see him when we reach my room."

'Him' is another worrying sign, though Strange doesn't catch on that. Instead, he gestures for Christine to follow him as he turns to walk down a hallway branching off of the main room, where rooms can be rented.

Her eyes narrow with suspicious, but she follows after him because her curiosity can't be contained. Who could he possibly mean? If she had time to stop and ponder this, she could probably work it out, but since they're on their way to meet whomever this is, she's not thinking too hard about it. She'll have answers sound enough.

"I swear, you grow more mysterious by the day," she muses quietly when they're in the hall. And she's pretty sure he enjoys being so.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Strange responds, with a nervous little laugh that he desperately tries to hide. This won't go well but he's doing it anyway!

As he opens the door to his room, he gestures for Christine to come inside. Once she does, he closes the door behind him and lets out a short whistle. A small, blue dragon pokes it's head out from underneath Strange's bed. Spotting the magician, the dragon lets out a happy, trilling noise before waddling over towards Strange.

"Alistair, meet Christine. Christine, meet Alistair Tourmaline. He hatched a month or so ago."

Christine should have expected this. She really, really should have. After all, this is Strange she's dealing with. The man who is obsessed with dragons. It makes perfect sense that he'd somehow find his way to possessing a dragon egg. And Christine realizes that the rumors of dragon eggs appearing in the world is more widespread than she first thought. Yes, she held one in her arms as she tried to escape the pit, but she'd handed it off to Poe before she fell. Would she have kept it if they had reached the surface? Probably not. She would have given it to Poe regardless.

But now she's faced with one right here in this room, so close to the public outside the door and it takes everything in her not to cringe, or turn on Strange in anger. He really shouldn't have invited her here, knowing her feelings on dragons. But typically, she assumes, he must have assumed the best of her and that she'd simply get over it. As if her trepidation is simply caused by a misunderstanding and not her own experiences.

For a brief moment, Christine turns and looks at Strange with lips tightly pursed and a brief lift of some hairs on her head from static charge. She's grown more experienced with the mysterious lightning magic they've both been granted, even if she's still wary of their benefactor. But the moment passes and her hair returns to normal before she speaks.

"I see much has happened since the last time we were together in person." Her voice is measured and purposefully calm. She'd rather ignore the dragon completely while not letting on to him that she's very unhappy with the situation. Yet she hopes that Strange understands that she's not pleased with him at the moment.

Christine hates this. That much is super apparent to Strange. The way that static forms, the fact that her voice is far too calm, she is completely unhappy. And so, Strange goes a little on the defensive.

"What would you rather I do?" Strange grumbles. Though he's trying to hide it, he can't fully hide the note of pleading in his voice. "Smash the egg the moment I found it? Let him hatch on his own to die in the wild? That's too cruel. When I found the egg, I knew what I had to do. And as for the dragon himself, would you rather I lied to you about his entire existence? I'm not that sort of man."

He's always been far too open, the sort of person who wears his heart on his sleeve. That much is obvious to anyone who knows him.

He moves towards the closet in his room as he talks. While Strange starts to rummage for the mirror shard, Alistair looks over at Christine. He makes a small chirping noise as he walks over towards Christine, giving her an inquisitive look.

All Christine can do is exhale loudly through her nose as Strange responds, her eyes following him as he crosses the room. She can hardly condemn a man for rescuing a helpless creature, but she's also acutely aware that this creature has the potential to reshape the world with its mind and it's good to have a healthy dose of skepticism. Still, she doesn't outright scold him. It would simply lead to an argument.

From her perch on Christine's shoulder, Azoth knows quite well how her other half is feeling, but the inquisitive dragon receives a chirp in response from her while Christine stays silent.

"I can't stay long," she finally says, watching Strange's back even as she sees the dragon move closer out of the corner of her eye.

"Understandable," Strange says, from the closet. A moment later, he stands up, moves out of the doorway, and offers Christine a mirror shard, wrapped in some fabric.

"You need to stare at it, until you feel like you're about to blink. Just before that happens, the image will distort."

Alistair the dragonet is blissfully unaware about Christine's feelings towards dragons in general. So, he continues walking over towards Christine, getting close enough to smell her feet. He's a very talkative boy and keeps making chirping noises, as if Christine can respond to those.

Sensing that this is a tense moment, Azoth flies down off Christine's shoulder to the floor and chirps at Alistair to come over to her. She'll keep him entertained while Christine looks.

The fabric is gently pulled away from the mirror until Christine is pinching one corner of the mirror with the fabric, unsure if the shard is sharp. She stares into it and studies her own face. Fair complexion, blue-gray eyes, fine lines around her mouth both from laughter and frowns. Just as she starts to blink, the image shifts to show her staring back with scales starting to show. She quickly lowers the mirror to her side, biting the inside of her cheek.

"Maybe," she starts slowly, "Maybe it's a mistake. Maybe it adds an enchantment, instead of taking one away." She's desperate for any answer except the one that links her more closely with those wretched dragons.

Hey, new friend! Alistair chirps back at Azoth and awkwardly waddles over to go play with the falcon.

Strange just watches as Christine looks at the mirror. When she lowers the mirror to her side, he frowns. He suspected she would see the same thing: far too many of their number have seen it to be a coincidence. But if there was anyone who wouldn't see the scales when they looked at the mirror, it should have been her.

"We've received messages and scales from Logistykon. I don't think it's a mistake."

She covers the mirror once more and hands it back to him as tears sting her eyes.

"I'm becoming very tired of hearing that name," she states, not meeting his gaze. "I want to be left alone, and not have him breathing down my neck."

Turning away, she delicately sniffs back her tears and calls to Azoth in her mind. The falcon is currently flapping her wings and hopping along the floor to get Alistair to chase her, but she then lifts off to land on Christine's shoulder.

"I need to go. Things to think about, you know."

This is perfectly understandable. Strange nods at Christine, not even making any move to try and stop her. She didn't like the dragons, and yet their fates are growing more and more intertwined with the awakened.

"If you want to talk about any of this, you can always message me."

Granted, he knows his faith in the dragons might make things a bit hard for them to have a neutral conversation. But Christine is his friend. He wants to be there for her.

She nods silently, but turns away and heads to the door. It was too good to believe they were brought back to simply have a second chance at living their lives. They were brought back to serve someone, or do a task, and it's becoming increasingly clear that as free as she wants to be from Logistykon, she can't be.

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