The Twenty Second Trial

[hot_mess_express]

Who: You
When: Day 49, Morning
Where:

The entrance today is a huge, ornate stone archway. A gossamer veil glittering like starlight upon water hangs inside it, fluttering as if caught in a gentle breeze. It's impossible to say what might lie beyond; even if you walk around the other side — and it's perfectly possible to do so — you just see the same thing.

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Comments

[bowtiedbones]

[there's a lot of bodies and she's not sure how many are hallucinations or not still, but— she wouldn't imagine someone she doesn't know, right? that doesn't make sense,

crouching down and patting her knee for lack of a less bloody spot]

Miss?

[featherbeaned]

[ Life returns with an uncomfortable wet wheeze. Oh, she hurts, where is she, what happened? The two fluffy ear-like tufts of hair — iridescent blue with flashes of pink and yellow, and grossly gunked up with blood — twitch, pinning back. ]

Wugh-?

[ And despite her injuries, despite everything, she suddenly sits bolt upright, staring around with something not unlike a yip of alarm ]

[bowtiedbones]

[holds her hands up meekly, harmless]

Hey. Hey, it's okay, the trial's over.

[featherbeaned]

E … liza?

[ funny, that sure sounds like a certain dragon's northern English accent … ]

[bowtiedbones]

[blinks]

Meridian?

[featherbeaned]

H'lo.

[ blinks back at her, lost ]

... Oh. Forgot. I got leggy. [ wiggles said leggies ]

[bowtiedbones]

Hi! When did that happen?

[featherbeaned]

... This morning.

[ Stares balefully down at her toes. ]

I'm a very magic dragon with very bad timing.

[bowtiedbones]

Oh gosh, timing indeed. Do you know how to change back? I sometimes feel more comfortable when I have claws and fangs.

[featherbeaned]

Nnnnoooo. [ Cheeps unhappily!! ]

But! But! I'll figure it out, I did it once this way, I can do it the other way!

[bowtiedbones]

Did anything happen to cause this? Or did it just... happen??

[featherbeaned]

[ uh ]

I did it on purpose 'cause your new person, he's got a magic ring, you know? A magic ring that feels like my magic, and he smells like me, and he asked if he could turn into a dragon, and if I could turn into a human.

... But I don't know how I did it.

[ cosmic deity? yes. idiot? also yes. ]

[bowtiedbones]

Uh... Huh. Have you tried changing back near Mao specifically? Maybe that had to do with it?

[featherbeaned]

Mao? He's called Mao?

Wasn't near him when I [ she can't say "figured it out" because she has figured out absolutely nothing ] got all leggy and human.

[bowtiedbones]

That's what he picked from the theme we have. We use sabertooth nicknames.

Did you just do it by yourself, then? Just by thinking about it?

[featherbeaned]

What's a sabertooth?

[ She nods in answer to the question. ]

Turned half n' half at first. Dragon bits, human bits. [ Even now, she's far from looking fully human, with her fangs, claws, and ears. ] Eliza, why'd humans choose two legs? And no tail? It's so hard!

[bowtiedbones]

It's a type of big cat. And we didn't exactly choose to be bipedal, but it's for the hands. And for the thumb!

[wiggles her fingers]

[featherbeaned]

[ Looks at Eliza's hands, then her own. ]

Just for these?

[ They don't look that special. ]

[bowtiedbones]

Without hands, nothing from our clothes to this train could have been built.

[featherbeaned]

Ooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh.

[ ... ]

I like the hair better. It's pretty. [ #aesthetic is the most important thing ]

[bowtiedbones]

The hair is a nice bonus.