THIS IS JUST A PSL NOW I GUESS;

[fossick]

(( used the wrong method with the wrong technique ))

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[luciole]

Magickind, for all the phenomena they can produce, are all about needless complications.

[Her opinion on witches and warlocks is lesser than most.]

Having dinner in another world with the most jubilant man I've ever met wasn't exactly my plan on my weekend off you realize?

[fossick]

[Well, they can agree about magic equating to needless, frivolous complications.

Even though Weir still uses magic to a (very) small degree, it's not like what used to exist; sorcerers and their ilk, weaving spells and unweaving them over and over again, testing, trying to achieve new heights that seemed far too fantastical to ever be anything than an opportunity to boost one's own reputation, one's own pride. Beyond that, he knows very little, beyond his passing experiences in the city and that one woman; those were never circles he cared to walk in.

And now, those circles very much do not exist. Magic is an untapped well, and those who try to draw it back up are cursed with bumbling fingers.]

You sound as though you speak from experience, from before you were sent here.

[He is not remarking about his jubilance, thank you very much.]

[luciole]

Where I'm from, there are espers and there are the witches, or the magickind if you will.

[Lucinda idly places the side of her fork in the middle of her bread. Most of the toppings have been eaten save for a few diced vegetables and some egg slices.]

There are other individuals who fall in between the categories. [Like her to an extent.] But by and large that's what it mostly comes down to.

Espers outnumber the latter but those with magic are... Troublesome. I can kindly say that most witches keep to themselves and contribute when it matters.

[fossick]

[By now, he's about done with his own meal. Weir can carry on a conversation while being immediately aware of how food should not go to waste — old habits.]

But those that do not… Like your warlock fellow. Is that the sort of trouble they cause? The sort that unwinds the fabric of time and reality?

And how is that TROUBLE when it is, in your tiny mind, so ͓̽f͓̽a͓͓̽̽r͓̽ ͓̽f͓͓̽̽r͓͓̽̽o͓͓̽̽m͓̽ ͓̽y͓͓̽̽o͓͓̽̽u͓̽? You are asking the wrong questions, River-child, if you want to know about this woman and the REAL pains she may cause.

...Why were you there, exactly?

̷T̷̷h̷̷e̷̷r̷̷e̷ it is.

[luciole]

Not all of them. This was a unique case. But if magickind does anything that disturbs the peace or catches the attention of the mundane, well. That's where I step in.

And I was there to apprehend him.

[That's the vague explanation. She cuts her bread in half and takes one piece to take a small bite.

And then she follows up with something more concise.]

Since he resisted, Fang took care of him as I've mentioned before.

[How? She actually hasn't been forthright about his power, how out of her three spirit companions, he was the most dangerous and posed the most threat to espers and magickind alike. Fang has a non-corporeal form and yet a physical and mental threat of significant proportions.

Lucinda is a perfectly well-rounded agent.]

[fossick]

[He doesn't need the details, though he would like to know them, but it's clear: Fang is the dagger she keeps beneath her skirts, so to speak. He wonders at his power. He can sense it, but he cannot make heads or tails of it.]

So... you are something of an authority figure in your community.

[aRE YOU THE POLICE, LUCINDA!!]

"Took care of him" as in, you killed him. How?

[Might as well see what he can get out of her about this Fang of hers.]

[luciole]

[how DAAARRE yOOOUuuu yeah i guess]

Mm. Enforcement is part of what I do but I'm not a go-to authority. I'm given assignments. More often than not, I perform damage control.

[Thanks Flora.]

Unfortunately, yes. It's really just my last resort.

[Lucy takes another bite of her food before answering Weir.]

Fang got the jump on him. [And she stops there, looking pointedly at Weir.]

What? Are you going to write a book about me?

[fossick]

[sounds like the cops to him

He gives her a pointed look in return.]

Haha, dangerous to you, my boy. ᴬˡˡ ᵗʰᵉ ᵖᵒᵗᵉⁿᵗⁱᵃˡ ⁱⁿ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ⁿᵒⁿ-ᵃⁿˢʷᵉʳ...

Am I not allowed curiosity? You come from another world, operating on a standard of rules utterly alien to a man such as myself.

[Deflect right back!]

We may eat in silence if you prefer.

[luciole]

You're almost done anyway. And so am I.

[She only has half a sandwich left!

Lucinda tilts her head at him just so and smiles sweetly.]

If you wanted to see Fang so badly, you didn't have to ask me in such a roundabout way, Weir.

[fossick]

[She has a point. But her last remark has him stretching a thin, insincere smile across his face.

He may usually sidestep her little potshots of innuendo or flirtatiousness, but this time, he'll step up to that challenge.]

Show me, then.

[He'll either call her bluff, or she'll provide him a few more answers.]

[luciole]

[Her smile doesn't falter.]

Alright.

[Lucinda stands up and sets her plate aside.

And starts unbuttoning her front blouse.]

Turn around please. I have some modesty you know.

[fossick]

[Not a bluff at all, then. Credit where it's due; she's fearless. Well, Weir won't balk or suddenly become a blushing mess just because she's undoing a few buttons down her shirt, hiking up his brow. This works in his favor where trying to puzzle her out is concerned.]

Some.

[Anyway,,

He stands, turns his chair around, and sits again with his back to her. Don't worry, he won't peek.]

[luciole]

[Ah what a terrible man. But it's a thrill in its own way when both parties assert themselves, neither willing to back down. It's almost like feeling alive.

The rustling of cloth ceases and she calls to Weir.]

You can turn around now. And don't worry.

[The dragon stirs under her skin.]

Fang won't bite.

[Not this time.

Fang is stationary and engulfs the whole of her back while resting between flowers that were added on by another artist. While Flora and Feather are boldly colored, but innocuous, Fang is a black outline to contrast with the painted blooms, but intimidating all the same. He remains the most hidden not only by virtue of being on her back but because anyone with even a lick of sixth sense can't help but recoil at the fierceness that radiates from his glare.

And Fang is glaring at Weir.

Try something. I dare you.

Fang doesn't speak of course. Only Lucinda can hear her friends' voices for they only deem her worthy of their words.]

[fossick]

[He stands again, but doesn't bother to turn his chair around, only turning himself to face her and-

Ah, there it is. Good to put a "face" to the thing he can sense lurking beneath, that ineffable power that he could only ever describe as sharp.

And now he sees why. Fang is named appropriately. Claws, a maw with teeth, curving horns as though they might be carved from wood. A serpentine body, though, that coils and drifts through those inked blossoms. There's something... familiar about the sight. Distantly, it reminds him of something.]

𝔻ℝ𝔸𝔾𝕆ℕ.

[No, that can't be. It's unlike any dragon he's seen depicted. Or wyvern or wyrm, for that matter. The static hisses in his head again, as though to sense his doubt.]

A dragon of CALIFORNIA, we told you you should have asked-

[But it would share the same ferocity, that piercing glare, the danger of being rent in two should one wrong move be made, feeling small in the face of a greater, sublime creature.]

Is Fang a dragon?

[luciole]

Mm? Yes, yes he is.

[She has her arms crossed against her chest as she rolls her bare shoulders.]

An innocuous name for my fiercest friend. Are dragons of particular significance here?

[Lucinda kind of interprets the tone of his question as bafflement but she waits for him to reply before making any other assumptions.]

[fossick]

[Well, there's an issue with that question, Lucinda. He doesn't know, if in this newly remade world, dragons still possess the history they once did — they may not even exist any longer for all he could hazard. He hasn't been beyond Turner's Vale ever since he reawakened here with a new heart beating in his chest, and it's not as though he ever had any interest in hunting down drakes, dragons, or anything in-between.

He's a hunter, but he's not that kind of hunter. Not the suicidal kind. Even with his abilities, he isn't sure if he'd be able to command something so big, and even if he could, the focus that would take—

The pause is poignant, deciding on how to answer. He supposes he'll just say what he recalls and leave it vague.]

Great and powerful creatures, seen maybe once in a lifetime if a man’s lucky. I’ve never set my eyes on one, only from the plates in books. I hear tell they make it a point to live in places where mankind cannot reach them.

[Honestly? Mood though.]

So it makes me wonder how you ended up with the spirit of one etched on your back.

[A strange-looking one, but confirmed to be one all the same. Maybe they’re not so rare in her world?]

[luciole]

I wonder the same sometimes.

[Lucinda starts to slip her arms back into her sleeves and soon Fang is hidden from view once again.]

Dragons exist... Have existed? Well, their state of existence is in question but I believe Fang makes a good case for their status. There are other creatures that exist hidden away from the mundane or in pockets that cannot be reached.

[like weird lake lizards or something]

All three of my friends... Well, I encountered them when I was young. They were drawn to me for one reason or another.

[Her plight. Her misery. And granting them kindness despite her having little shown to her in the waking world. It's a long story.]

It's been a long while... But I think they were the first things that ever became angry on my behalf. They scared other ghosts away from my body and continue to do so.

[fossick]

[Weird lake lizards? Don’t be silly.]

So they felt sorry for you.

[Which is a less graceful way of phrasing it the same as she did: angry on her behalf. But something in his brow pinches, just faintly, as he watches her slip her arms back into her shirt. Should he look away again? Well. Unless told otherwise he won’t.]

Strange things are often drawn to those in need.

[Or bleeding out underground, on the edge of death. Same difference.]

Those desperate. Still, a dragon… That would make you a dangerous woman.

[luciole]

Yes, yes, I was very pitiful.

[She laughs it off.]

And he's a spirit of a dragon mind you. But same difference. Maybe.

[Fang was extremely dangerous. There aren't many people in the supernatural world that have a hard counter to such an intangible body that creates such damage to the body and/or mind.

But Weir doesn't have to know that.

Fully covered, she turns to look at the man again, clapping her hands together decisively.]

Show's over! I think I'll get ready to sleep. Early to bed, early to rise as they say!

[Except, as Weir has already experienced, she's basically dead, and waking her up is annoying.]

[fossick]

[Dragon, spirit of a dragon. Somehow, he thinks there's little difference in the way of danger.

He'll have to think about this newfound information, what to do with it. What he should do with her. Is this going to be more trouble than it's worth? What is it worth at all?]

...I'll clean up here, then. Go on and retire.

[He's already making his way around her after pushing his chair in.]

We'll see exactly how early you manage to rise. Don't make me drag you out of bed in the morning.

[luciole]

[That would be the perfect opening for another tease, another flirtation. Lucinda knows when to reign those in. It can be saved for a new day.

Besides, he got an eyeful of her back already, she can give it a rest.]

Good night. And sweet dreams.