Dragonwings Home Camp - A few Kilometers away from the city of Vyrin, Kingdom of Raein: Allurandi Calender 2nd of Viya, 2253, an hour after sunrise

The Kingdom of Raein, smallest of the Unconquered Realms, was in crisis. For the past thirty years, Raein has been under the brutal military dictatorship of General Callisto Sahn, who had taken over the country after a revolt that ousted the (incompetent) royal family. Sahn's policies were decidedly draconian (no pun intended), and anyone brave or stupid enough to speak out often didn't do so twice. There have even been persistent rumors that Sahn's endgame was reintigration with the mighty Empire of Dys.

However.

That's not what this story is about.

Northwest of the small city of Vyrin, lying in a canyon in between intimidating mountains, was the headquarters, such as it was, of the knights for hire known as the Dragonwings.

The camp itself was built onto the cliffs of the mountains, a veritable village of tents and simple wooden structures, surrounded by walls made of stone and steel, with the distint feeling that people added to the structures constantly over the years.

The wyvern stables were above the camp, on the cliffs themselves, an improvised landing platform added onto it, along with the storage for the mount's food and other necessities.

The mercenaries themselves lived below, mostly in tents and simple huts, the only bigger structures being the armory, the mess hall and the so-called "Big House" where the Dragonwings met and discussed strategy and jobs as well as where Odysseus Drakon and his wife Penelope Dyne lived.

Which brings the story to the Dragonwings's current predicament: their commander was dead.

It had been almost a year since Odysseus had passed away, and furing that time, the Dragonwings, grieving and with no direction, had not taken any new contracts.

But Penelope Dyne, a woman as hardy and stubborn as her husband, could not let that stand.

And so it was that this morning, a small white wyvern flew above the camp, its rider a young woman yelling at the top of her lungs.

"Hey! Hey! Mom's called a meeting in the Big House! Right now! Get your asses moving! Go! Go!"

The wyvern, Iselda, made two more laps of the camp before landing right in front of the Big House.(In fact just a moderately sized one floor wooden cabin.)

The rider descended from her mount with a practiced grace and sighed.

Pyrrha Drakon, daughter of Odysseus and Penelope, was still restless. Dad was dead, and she still didn't know how to deal with it. Her father was her rock, she had always taken for granted that he'd be there to guide them, with his easy smile and wry wisdom. It still hurt, realizing she had to step up without him, that she'd never see him again. Hell, his black wyvern, Aros, was still in the stables!

....She thought the way things were would stay that way forever.

She ran her left hand through her red-brown hair, currently tied into a braid, and resisted the urge to yell out loud.

The eighteen year old was the youngest child, but she had stayed with the Dragonwings all her life. But now...but now all her half-siblings who'd abandoned them were coming back, waltzing in like they didn't leave without looking back.

She knew mom expected them to go back to mercenary-ing with no fuss, but quite frankly, she was unsure she'd be able to trust her and Iselda's backs to people she hadn't seen in literal years.

Letting out another frustrated huff, Pyrrha fixed her blue eyes on the massive shape of the volcano in the distance and waited for the rest of the Dragonwings to gather before entering the House.

Ugh, Dad...why did this have to happen?

Edited by GrimHelm on Jan 19th 2019 at 5:48:46 AM

You could have practically match-cut from Pyrrha looking at the volcano to yet another Drakon staring out at it herself. She was a stout halfling in plain, comfortable clerk's clothing, bored to death of these papers. You never knew just how much food a mercenary company ate until you had to arrange for its purchase! They could sometimes get by on just getting raw ingredients sent in, but apparently the local carters had agreements with the goodmen and the bakers, but not the farmers, so her head was spinning between "discounted but more expensive at base premade goods" and "cheap but undiscounted raw goods." She'd moved outside her tent to use natural light and save on candle tallow, but now that volcano was the most interesting thing here.

She sighed with gratitude when she heard their summons. She could scarcely believe it'd been a year since her awkward arrival and enlistment. The papers of divorce she'd tried to bring up time and again were still in an envelope back in her tent. It'd just never been a good time. It was kind of never going to be when she answered to someone who made her feel like a pretender to her own name. She was pretty close to the Big House, luckily, so she never had to think too long about what was about to happen when a meeting got called. She kept an eye out for the rest of the mercenary company while she folded the order forms she'd been working on into a scroll case dangling from her hip.

Dragonwings Home Camp, Luna and Penelope

"Yo" The Halfling Penelope would hear a calm voice from behind her as a tall, toned black haired human woman dressed in a plain brown shirt and pants, she dressed up quickly, but she was dressed decently enough especially after having just woken up a couple minutes ago. Luna caught up with her and walked at a relaxed pace with the Halfling. "Ooooh, paperwork, riveting huh?" The swordswoman said tiredly, she practiced drake-riding a bit too late into the night, having only joined the… Family? Apparently, it's a family, about a month ago after she found them. She was not… Really in a good phase with them yet, though apparently a lot of old members only came now, she still felt a bit out of touch with the others.So she insisted she should practice riding her wyvern first she only started bonding with him 2 and half years ago after all, though she needed to catch up with the years of expertise everybody else had.

Wulfric was perhaps overworking herself, having only woken up about 3 hours after she finally went to sleep, she put her hand to cover her mouth and yawned before stretching her arms upwards.

Looking at Pyrrha off in the distance, the woman chuckled as she rolled her eyes up and sighed "She sure is lively for someone who's up this early"

Kore was sitting outside her shared tent with Meli, with a cup of coffee and her sketchbook.

She had been sketching out ideas for a new armament for Jade when a shadow passed over her and Pyrrha called down about the meeting. Kore looked up and waved at her younger half-sister. Then she stood and entered the tent, going to grab her casting gauntlet and belt of spell ingredients.

Just in case....or how was it Father put it?

"You always feel naked without a weapon. Not that it isn't it's own kind of fun of course."

In hindsight....I was probably much too young for him to tell me that joke.

Kore threw her pillow at the lump on the other bed that she assumed to be her sister. "Meli, wake up, we have things to do. Don't make me come back with ice to wake you." The mage said, leaving the tent.

In short order she arrived at the main meeting tent, taking a moment to give Pyrrha a short bow. "G-good morning, sister." she said with a nervous smile before hurrying onto the main entrance. "Hello, Luna, Penelope" She said as she reached the others. "Don't worry about Pyrrha too much, we merely all have our way of dealing with family issues."

Zephyr The Drunk

Zephyr staggered out of his tent, mumbling incoherently. Scorn, from the wyvern roost, lifted his head as he saw his brother and snorted. Then he laid back down. It was too early to be dealing with him.

"Oh—right, right," he mumbled. "Meeting...This won't be fun..."

He took a fortifying drink out of his hip flask and stumbled on towards the meeting place, while battling the desire to just go back inside his tent. The day had no right to hold sway while his dear friend was dead.

"Mornin' all!" he called as he went into the Big House.

Theris and Mereth - Wyvern Stables

While most riders took care of their own mounts, Theris had taken it upon himself to keep Odysseus' wyvern; Aros, fed and attended to since his rider passed away. It wasn't always easy, but Theris was nothing if not dedicated to the task. and he currently found himself dropping off Aros' latest meal.

Dropping a recently killed deer carcass at Aros' feet, Theris patted the old Wyvern's neck gently as he looked the mighty creature in the eyes and said "Now, look here, I worked really hard to get this for you and I expect you to eat the damn thing and enjoy it."

Immediately after dropping off the deer, there was Pyrrha's call for a meeting, which, naturally, Theris was obligated to join. Leaving Aros, Theris called out "I'll be back before you know it!" and leapt onto Mereth's back as the two descended down to the camp and down to their destination. Hopping off of Mereth as soon as she landed and deftly removed his saddle from her back before saying "Go on, but be back soon, okay?" before the Gryphon flew away, leaving Theris on the ground with her saddle, which he quickly dumped in front of the Big House before walking up to Pyrrha to check in on her. "You gonna be okay? You're looking to be a wee bit more out of sorts than usual."

"Yeah, the damn carters' union doesn't have a deal with the farmers we pull our grain and beans from, so..." Penelope stopped herself. "It's boring stuff. Just know that your bulking," she lightly bapped Wulfric on the stomach, "is about 2 more papers of order forms."

"Morning Zephyr. Couldn't get your drinks comped." She gave him a little wave and just sorta probed out the call to... maybe her name. She tapped her chest, and looked at Kore, raising her eyebrows to check if it was her.

"It's fine," Zephyr said, grinning wryly. "It might even do me good to have a bit of a sober spell. But juuuuuust after I finish that moonshine..."

He mumbled a bit more to himself, and said, "Alcohol is less important than necessities like food. Oh. Can't believe I actually said that..."

Almost a whole year. Nearly three hundred sixty days without his leader. Without his father.

Why wasn't he happier with this?

Graf left the inherited helmet to lie beside his bedroll along with his questions as Pyrrha's call forced his morning mind into focus. Eyes that seemed to burn with their color closed with a groan as he stretched and dressed himself quickly to face whatever day his father's widow had planned for them.

"Take care of them..."

Fragments of the last words from Odysseus to him continued to rattle his skull as he made his way from tent to cabin, perfectly almost-content to ignore half-siblings and unrelated associates as he made his way to his father's house. However, like Pyrrha he refused to enter the cabin until everyone else was gathered inside before them, choosing to speak quietly but firmly to his half-sister as he did to just about everyone else.

"What does she want?"

Edited by Insano on Jan 19th 2019 at 2:35:38 PM

Meli's Morning

Unlike what her twin sister may have thought, Meli had been up for a while. Thoughts were aplenty, and needed to be distracted from. The kitsune was in the training area, slamming her fists into the training dummy repeatedly, envisioning each of the proper points to take down a person as fast as possible, trying to improve her speed with each run through. She stood still to rest for a moment, wiping the sweat away, before anxieties started to creep into her head. Her dead father. Her other siblings so strange and distant. Her concern for her twin. As if trying to cut the thoughts away from her head, she drew her knife lightning fast and made a slicing motion up the height of the training dummy before spin kicking it in the head. And then came the call to the meeting from her half sister, causing Meli's ears to perk in direction of the call while she caught her breath before heading over in the direction of the Big House.

"Heyo, dear sister." She said to Phyrra as she discreetly fiddled with something behind her back. She passed with a smile, before turning around and hugging her lovingly, while at the same time stealthily sticking a sign to her back that read in rather lovely handwriting "hug me", before passing on into the Big House.

Thalia Drakon had, unsurprisingly, been asleep when Pyrrha came bearing a message. Or, more precisely, yelling it. Dragging herself awake to be sitting up she sighed, her jet-black hair almost certainly a complete mess. Almost a year. Almost a year since her father's death, almost a year since she'd last heard from her mother... Too many things were happening. The end of Odysseus' life had brought her oft-heard-about siblings back from the far reaches of the continent. She'd been with the Dragonwings since she'd left home, since her argument with her mother over joining the ranks of Raein's knights...

She'd been 17, then. 9 years. 9 years since she'd joined her father's mercenary company. And now he was dead, and they'd all been bumbling about, directionless, for the intervening year... She leaned on her knees, burying her face in her hands. Father would be disappointed in them. And that was enough to get her wide awake, and her ass to the meeting. She debated donning her armor, but shook her head, deciding that would take too long. She changed into a more presentable tunic and pants, something that looked significantly less slept-in. She quickly brushed her hair down before pulling it back into a ponytail. Satisfied that she was presentable enough, she made her way to the Big House, giving a curt nod to any of the others whom she saw along the way, and finally to Graf and Pyrrha, before entering herself.

Kore let out a small sigh at Penelope's reaction, muttering a few words and briefly summoning a small flame to her hand. "Not one of Meli's pranks, promise." she said, taking note of the prank her twin was playing on their little sister with a small giggle.

"Whatever this is must be important to have us meet so early in the morning. This may not be a late morning job but considering we're not on a job yet, I wonder." Kore said aloud, a small frown creasing her forehead.

Wyvern Stables - Amihan Aderyn & Rascal

The newest addition to the Dragonwings peeked out from her hiding spot as Theris left behind the carcass for Aros's enjoyment. At almost the exact second the wyvern rider took off she saw her chance and immediately dived for the feast larger than herself, senior wyvern be damned - this was an opportunity and Rascal was gonna take it! Her guardian, Aderyn, was distracted in her own musings as she adjusted the sunstone lamps surrounding Rascal's yet to be hatched siblings - their energies dimmed and the avian woman feared they would soon be diminished. It was a form of magic she was unfamiliar with and Aderyn knew not what to do except buy replacement stones from the town nearby - a prospect she dreaded but would more likely than not prove to be necessary.

It was at that point where Aderyn's train of thought was broken by the sound of Rascal's whining. Quickly turning around, she saw the newborn huffing and puffing a storm (not literally, thankfully, as she was still learning to make use of her breath weapon) beneath Aros's claw as she tried to wiggle her way to the fresh meat. Sighing, Aderyn leaped over and fussed Aros to let the child go. "And what were you planning to do, hmm, Rascal? Your fangs haven't even fully grown in yet."

Rascal made a rooing noise of protest and Aderyn gave her a condescending pat on the head. "Come. There's a meeting; perhaps we can see if that resourceful Penelope secured us that ground beef I requested." Cradling the young wyvern like the baby she was, Aderyn ran out the stable doors and promptly leaped off the cliff.

...before her back wings spread and she made a smooth, easy glide over to the Big House. Landing gracefully on her feet a few feet from the door, Aderyn stepped in without a word. Such was her way - more words for the wyverns than the riders, at least on solid ground.

Outside the Big House

Pyrrha had been absentmindedly patting Iselda's scaled foreleg while waiting for the others to arrive, both because her best friend was adorable and also it gave her an excuse to not talk to said arriving people. Let it not be said that Pyrrha Drakon knew how to people.

She barely spared a glance at Zephyr and Penny (She'd decided on naming her as such in her head so that she wouldn't be confused.), only glaring unapprovingly at the early morning alcohol consumption.

....And then people started speaking to her directly, which made Iselda fidget and snort. Not a surprise, as the white wyvern was just as uncomfortable with people as her rider.

With a last pat and a nod towards the roost, Pyrrha let Iselda take off and faced the growing crowd.

Oh boy.

"Good morning, Kore." Pyrrha returned her sister's greeting awkwardly, not quite meeting her eyes.

Then to Theris. "I'm fine. I can ride, I can fight, I'm not going to be a drag on the team. Don't worry about me."

Theris had been more or less another unofficial big brother, so she treated him about the same as her actual siblings.

Speaking of which: "I'm not sure, but I think Mom wants us to go back to doing missions. You know how she is. ....Shit, you're going to be in command aren't you?"

Pyrrha spoke to Graf freely, as he was one of the two siblings she was the least awkward with.

.....And the other one just walked pass them without a word. Eh, typical Thalia.

Pyrrha was in the middle of a shrug when she was hugged. She let out a squeak of surprise and almost fell over, wrapping her arms around herself defensively.

Shaking her head, Pyrrha let out a breath.

"Ugggh. What was that? Whatever, everyone's here, let's go in."

Outside > Inside the Big House

Wulfric raised her eyebrow at Penelope's comments, smirked and waved a good morning to Kore. The woman nodded her head from side to side in disappointment to the halfling, but she kept on smiling as she spoke.

"Well, I'm sorry me eatin' means you need to stamp on boring papers but… Them's the breaks, right? I think other folks give ya more to worry about on the shitty work front…" Luna stared at Zephyr, chuckled and sighed. "Why don't I cook you somethin' nice for your work next time you bring me ingredients?" Wulfric smiled before looking at Pyrrha, this family was… Intimate? They were a weird bunch but whatever, good work is good work. Plus… The less dealing with Dysine employers the better for someone like her.

Wulf looked at the youngest mercenary for a couple seconds as they moved towards the Drakon, before abruptly taking her sight elsewhere and yawning, decided it was best not to tease the poor girl more, Luna just went inside quietly and waited for news from her boss.

Edited by LiorVal on Jan 20th 2019 at 12:01:03 PM

"Mm." Graf could only shrug at the notion Pyrrha brought to his attention once more, the same notion that she and her mother have been reminding him of for nearly a year now. Odysseus had entrusted Graf with the future of the Dragonwings. Not his own wife's child, and not even Thalia, the other daughter of his who had been with them all these years. She had certainly held a higher opinion of their father than Graf did.

Does that make him wiser than "Aunt Callisto," to entrust all this to his biggest critic? he pondered with a quiet scoff as he followed after Pyrrha into Penelope Drakon's emptier home.

Edited by Insano on Jan 20th 2019 at 5:13:07 AM

Zephyr seemed not to notice Pyrrha's glare, as he was busy formulating a reply to Luna.

"T-That would be nice," he laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. "If it isn't too much trouble. Goddamnit, real smooth, am I?"

He abruptly spun on his heels and tottered inside to cover up his perceived humiliation.

"Oh, man, you think we got stamp money?" Penelope said to Wulfric incredulously. "A stamp and its ink is about worth a half dozen arrows or a good whetstone on average. Stuff like that makes me wanna buy into Pyrrha's Penny nickname for me." She nodded to Aderyn as the avian landed. "Aderyn's lucky that her wyvern's food and sunstones go under our R&D budget since it's still so young." Penelope sighed as they actually entered the Big House. "Sorry. It's rough work." The pay definitely made the mental exhaustion of clerical work worth it, but that didn't make it tire her out even less. She was tempted to buy into Meli's prank; she kind of needed it. Fuck it. Maybe she did too.

"Saw the sign!" Penelope burst back out of The Big House to go for a hug on Pyrrha from behind. Not being a particularly trained combatant she'd neglected to think about the high-strung wyvern hanging out with her.

Kore slipped inside the Big House, still slightly nervous about the aptly named structure and the gathering of her siblings. The mage opted to take up position next to her twin.

<"I hope you have a plan, for when Pyrrha realizes you're the only one with a light enough touch to place that sign, sister."> Kore said in the Genzain, pulling out her sketchbook and resuming her previous work.

<"She seems to be quite on edge already today. I think her heart might burst if she doesn't notice the sign before too long.">

Big House

<"No plans. For once I'll take full responsibility for this little prank."> Meli said in response to her twin. <"She needs some love I think. We all care about each other here, no matter how awkward we might feel. Some just need a reason to show it."> She twirled her dragon scale knife in her hand deftly, lost in thought. <"How are you holding up Kore?">

"Wait!"

Reverence Drakon hadn't intended to be late for the meeting, really he hadn't. Had he known that Miss Penelope would announce a meeting this morning, he would have put on his armor before he started his weekly prayer to Nieve. However, he hadn't, and armor wasn't exactly quick to put on, even with two hands, so when his youngest half-sister announced the meeting, he had to rush to get ready.

Even now, he was fumbling with the clasp on his cloak as he rushed towards the rest of the group, stopping only once he caught up with the rest of the group to catch his breath.

"I'm so sorry," Rev responding, panting between words, "I swear, I'm usually more ready, it won't happen again..."

Edited by Aquatica1000 on Jan 21st 2019 at 9:11:06 AM

Kore glanced over at her twin with an eyebrow raised. <"Suit yourself, but I'm not subbing in for you, the last time I did the bruises didn't fade for a month. As for myself...">

She tapped her chine thoughtfully with her charcoal. <....it's odd, we grew up here and plenty of it is still familiar but at the same time there's just enough different that it feels like the first day in Genzai.">

Kore sighed. <"It also doesn't help that this family reunion, such as it is, happened because of Father's death. It seems like none of us remember how to talk to each other. And Pyrrha blames us for leaving like the others despite it being Mother's idea.">

Meli laid on the ground as she continued talking. <"She'll warm up to us eventually... I hope... I'm sure all of us are still shaken from our father's passing. All we can do is be there for each other.">

Shifting gears and languages, the kunoichi looked around at the all the others in the Big House. "We certainly have quite a crowd gathered. And look who just got here late~ Helloooooo there dear brother." She said towards Reverence.

The Big House

Regis stands at the entrance, a small yawn escaping her.

"Sorry I'm late. Man, I wonder what the meeting's for today."

She tightens the belt around her faded brown pants and scratches her head, her jacket flowing from the minor wind blowing behind her.

The Big House

Pyrrha had been reaching for the door a bit grumpily when her brother Rev (or whatever the hell he wanted them to call him) ran up to them, late.

The girl snorted but didn't say anything. At least the twins didn't have a choice in leaving. Rev straight up abandoned them.

Scowling, Pyrrha entered the house...only to get tacklehugged by Penny.

With a shriek of half alarm, half shock, Pyrrha toppled over, only managing to make sure Penny landed on her instead of the ground.

Picking herself up, Pyrrha looked confused.

"Sign? What sign?"

She reached behind her and managed to grab the piece of paper that her sister had put there.

Her face turning a fierce shade of red, she glowered at the twins and then, without a word, marched farther into the house.

Big House - Meeting Room

The meeting room was the heart of the big house. It was a large square-shaped room with minimal furniture, nothing except some wooden chairs and the antique obsidian table that Odysseus had apparently received as a reward from somewhere. Said table was currently piled with large stacks of paperwork, some coins, a quill and ink well, and three large bottles of Dysine wine.

Sitting at the head of the table, looking as intimidating as ever, was Mom.

Penelope Dyne was a human woman in her late fifties, auburn hair already mostly graying, solidly built, and with icy, piercing blue eyes.

Well, eye. Her left eye had been ruined in a fight with a chimera a few years back and so she hid it behind a black eyepatch, the scarring still slightly visible above it.

Additionally, as a memento of her last field mission (shortly after Dad got sick), Mom's right leg was gone below the knee.

Mom glanced over at the parade of people and nodded.

Mom had long ago decided that whenever Dad's children would live in this camp, she would treat them as her own, especially those who never knew their own mothers.

Which, honestly, was a bit of a two edged sword. Mom was incredibly hard on her kids, pushing them to not only survive, but excel.

Speaking of.

"Pyrrha, stop sulking. Graf, your expression looks like someone smeared shit on your face. Thalia, fix your hair, you look like an orc raider."

Pyrrha gulped and immediately tried for a more dignified look.

Mom looked over the room again and sighed.

"It's been almost a year...."

Her expression and tone softened.

"....First of all, how are you all holding up?"