[Text enclosed in {} indicates spoken Japanese.]
[Warning: Language]
Gwyrragedd crouches on her haunches outside the little cafe, watching in seeming endless fascination the variety of vehicles passing by, some too fast to follow, most at a more sedate pace. Her wings spread every now and then in curiosity, but she never gets up to investigate, nor does she show any interest in the rich, bitter smell of the brewing cappuccino wafting out the door to her right as customers walk in and out, ignoring her presence for the most part.
She had spent last night with Rexalc, exchanging stories and news with him at a lazy, easy pace; she found the other dragon's presence soothing, as with him she could simply _be_, and not worry about any of the rest of it. She was sorely tempted to extend an invitation to the larger male to come home with her, but the thought of bringing her normally joyful friend into the middle of a war caused her to hold her tongue, and simply promise to try and see him again, sooner this time.
//So many years... spent as something almost human. Time is so fluid...// she shakes her head, deep in contemplation, her tail flickering behind her thoughtfully. //I miss Rexalc, already. I miss my mother and father.// And here she was, returning home with a man who was one of the most purely _human_ people she had met in her lifetime, all regrets and mistakes and and needs and wants and short time.
//But there's something else there, too,// she reminds herself, amber eyes tracking the passing of a shawman idly. //He maybe knows what it's like to be more than yourself. Sometimes.// Sighing, she runs her hand through her thick, short hair, and turns her thoughts from such deep contemplation.
//It will be good to see Cerys again.//
"Hey, dragon-lady," a soft voice interupts her thoughts, and she looks up to see the young crow girl, still looking as gloomy as ever. //The child takes too much on herself... ah, was I ever that young?//
"Little bran," she greets the girl formally, dipping her head.
"So where's Capt- where's Carl?" Maggie peered inside the cafe.
"No' here yet," Gwyrragedd acknowledges slowly, pulling herself to her full height, still much shorter than the teenager before her.
"Is now," Carl chuckles dryly as he saunters up behind them. The simple gray coveralls with many pockets he wears gives him the appearance of either an outsized custodian or an impoverished astronaut.
Setting down the massive, battered ruck sack he carries, he pulls Gwyrr to him for a deep kiss. "Hiya, doll," he murmurs.
The dragoness responds enthusiastically, wrapping her tail around his waist in what Carl has learned in the short time he's known her is a gesture of affection.
"Oh, hiya, Maggie," he adds, looking up from the kiss with an unabashed grin.
The crow girl is looking at her feet, her face a dull red, obviously embarrassed. "Uh, hi, Carl," she greets him, looking up in the hopes that since his mouth is free, he'll keep his other parts not-quite-so-busy as well. "Well, I guess we should go..." she continues, lifting her shirt to dig in the bag she habitually carries strapped across her stomach. Her hand emerges holding a scruffy black feather and a cigarette lighter.
She lights the feather slowly, a strong reek rising from the little flame as it eats away the black. The smoke from the feather is noxious and oily grey, and she rapidly sketches a door in the air with it. "Quick, now," she warns, and steps through the outline of the smoke. Gwyrragedd looks at Carl, shrugs, and follows.
Once through the portal, they emerge into a quiet splendor, utterly peaceful. Some sort of forest, on a hill, or perhaps a small mountainside. It's hard to tell from their vantage point, mostly surrounded by majestic trees. Some distance away, down a path, lies what looks like a temple, of the Eastern persuasion, all graceful angles and swoops. The cherry trees are in full bloom, it must be spring, and their sweet fragrance wafts through the air, along with falling petals of the most delicate pink.
It is, in a word, idyllic. Through the clear air, the voice of the monks can be heard, a low, pleasant murmur among the noises of the forest. Maggie seems to take all this in stride, however, and quickly walks over to the largest tree on the edge of the clearing, perching on one of it's massive roots and craning her head back to look up into the branches.
"Kazuyoshi Toshiro!" she calls up, and then spouts something off in rapid Japanese. As she does so, Gwyrragedd blinks, and listens closely, then turns to Carl.
"He's a tengu," she explains, and seems about to explain more when a man... well, sort of a man, hops down lightly from one of the higher branches in the tree, where he had been hidden by foliage.
He looks Japanese, to be sure, with soft golden skin, and long, dark brown eyes. His black hair is worn long as well, and seems a bit flyaway, thick and ragged. He wears a traditional costume, a loose, long-sleeved shirt in white, and over that a longer sleeveless robe in a greyish color, open to expose the other shirt. The undershirt has a somewhat open collar, exposing the cleans lines of his collarbone, and some of his chest. His baggy black pants are more shorts...they are cut off at just below the knee. He wears two long loops of black beads around his neck, and another set looped tightly around his left wrist. Coming from over each shoulder is a strange strip of cloth that lies down either side of his chest, also white. A row of two soft, fuzzy balls adorn this strips of cloth. His shoes look terribly impractical, a version of Japanese geda, sandals made of long rectangular blocks of wood for the sole, and then a strange cross piece coming out from the bottom. He shouldn't be able to balance on them, but he does so easily.
The most striking feature, easily, however, are his maginficent black wings, simply enormous, springing from his back. The flutter as he hops down, then fold themselves neatly as he lands. He bows to Maggie, and she returns it gracefully.
[OOC: I think I may be doing a fairly poor job of describing this guy, since the costume is unfamiliar to most westerners. For a picture of him, check out this site]
His voice is low and sweet when he speaks to the crow girl, and they exchange what seem to be pleasantries in soft Japanese. Gwyrragedd, looking a little surprised, leans in again to Carl. "He's a crow goblin," she says, "Tho' tha' oones I knew dinnae look like him, they looked li' little crow men." She furrows her brow as she listens. "They are exchangin' greetings... these people alwa' talk alot." Apparently, she speaks Japanese.
"{Toshi-san, these are the people I was telling you about. The woman needs to go home, and the man is going with her.}" Maggie indicates the other two with a quick inclination of her head, and the tengu glances over at them with an interested smile.
"{They needed something else as well, didn't they?}" he prompts, and Maggie nods.
"{Yes, the man needs an all purpoise translation charm.}"
"{Ah, of course... come on now, Maggie-san, introduce us!}" Maggie leads the tengu back to where Gwyrragedd and Carl wait.
"This is Toshiro Kazuyoshi. He's a tengu, and can help you with what you need, the spell and the translation and all that jazz. Toshi-san, this Gwyrragedd Annwn, a dragon, and Carl Carlson, a... well, a really strong guy."
Carl eyes the tengu curiously. Most of his experience with the Japanese up until now has been in crashing their planes, sinking their battleships, and crushing their tanks in World War 2, but he figures that's probably not a good guide to what this guy's all about. Besides, _those_ Japanese didn't have wings.
"A dragon!" Toshi exclaims in heavily accented English. "Oh, wonderful!" Then to his further delight, Gwyrragedd bows formally, and addresses him in her own accented Japanese.
"{Kazuyoshi-san, it is a great honor to meet you. I have had dealings with your people before, and I have always come away better for it.}"
Carl bows as well, "when-in-Rome" fashion.
The tengu's laughter is pleasant, and her turns bright eyes to Carl. "You are very fortunate to be travelling with a dragon. They are lucky!"
Carl gives Gwyrr a sideways look and smirks. "Yeah, I know. Seems like I'm always gettin' lucky while she's around..."
Toshi glances over at Gwyrragedd in a sly manner, very obviously understanding the joke. He grins crookedly, and Maggie coughs uncomfortably. "Um, Toshi-san, have you got the charm?"
The tengu nods, turning his attention back to the crow girl. Pulling forth a scrolled piece of paper from his robe, he unrolls it. Japanese figures are painted gracefully across its surface. The smaller man smiles up pleasantly at Carl. "Hold still, please."
"Uh... okay," says Carl, suspicion furrowing his brow. It's not that he suspects a trap, really -- he trusts both Maggie and Gwyrr too much for that. But with magic being one of his few weaknesses, being the subject of a spell, however benign, just makes him uneasy.
He quickly licks either end of the scroll, on the back, and then reaches up to Carl's face quickly,. He's really too short to be able to reach properly, but he floats somewhat. With two quick motions, he pastes one wet end of the scroll against the giant's forehead, the other at his chin, calligraphy facing out. He mutters something, and the paper appears to be absorbed into Carl's skin seamlessly.
Whatever Carl was expecting to happen, this isn't it, making it fortunate for all concerned that it happens so quickly. Not the effect itself, per sé, but rather the male saliva being slathered on his face in the process.
"It is done," he announces, landing lightly on the ground once more. He then addresses Carl in Japanese. "{It is working, correct?}"
The affect is unusual. Carl can still hear the Japanese words, indecipherable as ever. However, the sound faint and distant. Laid over that, Toshi's words in English, but still heavily accented.
"~You can understand, now?~" adds Gwyrragedd curiously. Again, Carl can hear the lilting Welsh, overlaid with accented English. However, the dragoness' accent has changed. Previously, she spoke English in a kind of odd polyglot accent, traces of Scots mixing in sometimes discordantly with the Welsh. Now her accent is pure Welsh, lilting and soft, musical and phlegmatic at the same time.
Carl looks from one to the other, taking a moment to get used to the novelty of the spell before responding. "Yeah, loud and clear," he says. "So, is that it?"
Toshi nods solemnly. "{Yes, basically. You will also be understood, but only by those who speak Welsh as their native language}," he explains, looking with raised eyebrows over at Gwyrragedd, who nods in response. "{It is much harder to make a spell that translates speech into whatever the listener can understand, so I simply included Welsh, since that is the native language of the place you will be visiting.}"
"{If you wish your speech not to be understood, then simply concentrate on this desire, and your speech will remain in English, or whatever other language you choose to speak.}" Smiling, Toshi turns again to the dragoness.
"{Now that matter of getting you home is a bit more complex. The preparations it requires may take several hours, and I will need something of yours...}"
"{Something of mine?}" Gwyrragedd asks curiously.
"{Personal... such as a lock of hair, or a bit of skin...}"
"{Hair is easiest,}" she decides, and with one sharp claw quickly severs one of the long braids hanging from her forehead. She hands it to Toshi, who takes it with a small bow.
"{Please feel free to make yourselves comfortable, explore the area if you like. The monks are used to strange visitors, and will not be startled by your presence.}" Bowing once more, Toshi takes wing and alights up in his tree once more, hidden by leaves and blossoms. Rustling can be heard from the branches.
Maggie looks over at Carl and Gwyrragedd. "Um, I'm gonna run over to the temple, if that's okay with you guys. I know a coupla the monks, it'd be nice to say hello. You okay?"
Gwyrragedd nods, settling on the ground at the foot of the tree, her tail winding amidst the roots. "I'll stay here."
"Mind if I tag along?" Carl asks Maggie. "I never was any good at just waiting around," he explains to Gwyrr. "I wanna stretch my legs."
"Sure," Maggie responds, smiling wanly. As they make their way through the trees, the temple comes into view more clearly, graceful and radiating a sense of peace. The path up the courtyard is adorned with several large arches, and dusted with blossoms blown from the trees.
Several monks, with shaven heads and simple robes, talk quietly to each other on the steps. The three men glance over at their visitors, and bow politely. Maggie bows back, and the men go back to their conversation.
"They're used to some weird folks around here," Maggie explains, as she leads Carl up the steps. "The temple itself is awful pretty," she adds, as they enter through the open double doors.
"Yeah. Seems like a nice place," Carl observes thoughtfully, taking in the scenery.
Before they can enter the main portion of the temple, however, voices shouting in Japanese can be heard from within. A young man comes skidding around a corner, long silver hair flying out behind him. He holds something tucked under his arm, which, upon closer inspection, turns out to be some kind of melon. A richly furred silver tail waves frantically behind him as he glances over his shoulder.
His wears a simple sleeveless tunic in rich cream, and loose pants. His clawed feet are bare, and his long green eyes dart frantically back and forth before he spots the pair in the doorway. A sly smile lights his human-looking face, and the pointed ears atop his head flick forward.
"Maggie-kun!" he cries, and ducks around behind her just as a young man in the short robe of a novice flies around the corner after him, shouting in Japanese.
Carl rolls his eyes. // Animal people. Fucking _great_. //
He's aware on some level that the tengu are "animal people" too, of a sort, as is Maggie. But it's been his experience that human/furry mammal crossbreeds, in particular, have an almost universal ability to piss him off.
(Certain attractive females of that sort excepted, of course...)
"{Get back here, you stupid fox! Give that-}" He cuts off abruptly, bringing himself up short and nearly tipping over forward in the process as he spots the visitors.
He immediately bows low, flushing red in embarrassment. "{Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't realize we had guests. Please forgive this humble person.}" He remains bent over, but glances up surreptitiously, scowling at the man still crouched behind the crow girl, grinning triumphantly.
Carl looks from the "fox" to the novice and gives a quick bow of his head. "We come at a bad time?" he asks, forgetting already that the tengu's spell only translates his own words to Welsh.
Shortly after Maggie's departure, Toshi drops out of the tree again, bearing a small tray, an ink stone, and brushes, and a great deal of paper. He settles in the middle of the clearing, and begins painting characters on the bits of paper, chanting to himself quietly as he does so. Gwyrragedd watches him with mild interest, amber eyes half-lidded.
Some time later, two more tengu makes their presences known. One is taller than Toshi, and seems to have an air of dignity about him lacking in the other two tengu. However, much like the man in the middle of the clearing, it is difficult to tell his age. He has straight white hair, falling to the small of his back and contrasting sharply with his black wings. His lips are thin and severe, and his eyes are long and narrow. The other is smaller, and has shoulder length hair, much more neat than Toshi's unkempt locks, gleaming blackly in the diffused sunlight. Both circle Toshi warily. He looks up and smiles warmly at them, and they nod to him.
Then the two move over to Gwyrragedd, settling a few feet from her and watching her curiously. She returns their regard lazily, picking her teeth indolently with one long claw.
"{Who're you?}" she asks finally, tail flicking in curiosity.
The younger one gasps, as the older one arches one eyebrow high, before bowing briefly. "{You speak our language,}" he observes cooly, without introducing himself.
"{Yes. Who are you? Friends of his?}" The dragoness jerks her head in the direction of the still busy Toshi.
"{Not really. We live here.}" He glances in the direction of the temple, and frowns slightly, then returns his regard to the dragoness. The younger one is openly staring, seemingly fascinated by the tattoos that cover Gwyrragedd's skin. "{My name is Ranjiro, and this is Keiji.}"
Keiji looks up at the mention of his name, and remembers to bow before standing again. Gwyrragedd introdices herself casually. "{I'm Gwyrragedd Annwn. Don't worry, I don't expect you to be able to pronounce it. You can call me Shuzaya.}"
Ranjiro nods with interest, while Keiji mouths the sounds of the foreign name. "{You are a dragon?}" the older tengu asks politely, rubbing his chin as Gwyrragedd responds with a nod. "{And you are here for a spell from Toshiro? Why did you come to him? There are others far better at that sort of thing here...}"
The dragoness snorts, leaning back and flickiong her tail comfortably over her thighs. "{Maggie brought us here.}"
Ranjiro twists his face in an expression of distaste. "{The foreign crow girl?}" Keiji, meanwhile, looks up, startled at the mention of the other girl. A look of fear crosses his eyss, and he takes off, disappearing into the branches of the tree. "{Yes, well, I leave you to him, then,}" Ranjiro adds, departing much more gracefully. Gwyrragedd shakes her head, laughing to herself.
The novice blinks at him politely, and Maggie translates quickly. "{Excuse us if we're interrupting, kid.}"
"{Maggie-kun! You're not going to let just let that boy attack me, are you?}" The young fox's voice rises half an octave in surprise.
"{I dunno, Rei-kun. You've never really done me any favors, either, have you?}" The fox called Rei pulls himself to his full hight, snorting indignantly.
"{I have so! What about the time you were here and you were eating the peaches out of the sacred tree...}" As he speaks, the fox walks out of the buolding with an expression of wounded pride. "{And then there was the incident with the incense...}"
"{Okay, okay!}" Maggie concedes with a small laugh, pretending to ignore the fact that the kitsune is leading them out of the temple, and away from the confused novice. "{You've got me there.}"
"{So who's you're enormous friend?}" Rei asks curiously, slanting his eyes upward at Carl curiously.
"{Oh, yeah! Uh, this is Carl Carlson...Carl, this is Rei. He's a kitsune...um, magic fox people.}"
"{Magic fox people!}" The young man barks a laugh, his tail waving gently behind him. "{I guess that'll have to do.}" He tosses his melon high in the air and catches it deftly. "{Nice to meet you, crazy-big foreigner.}" He definitely lacks the deference and politeness everyone else here seems so fond of.
"Yeah, likewise," Carl grunts. "And Maggie? You wanna give him the Reader's Digest version of how this spell on me works?"
"{It's one of Toshi-san's quick translate spells,}" Maggie explains to Rei. "{So Carl can understand you, but he can't really speak to you in your own language.}"
Rei nods with equanamity.
"{So what are you doing here, Maggie-kun?}"
"{Came to see Toshi-san.}" Maggie raises her eyebrows in surprise at the wild snort of laughter this provokes from the fox.
"{Toshi-san! Ha! And did you meet his little friend?}"
"{His...?}"
"{Oh, this is good,}" Rei imparts with all the relish of a born gossip. He plops down near a stone bench, and quickly slices open his melon with his claws, offering Carl and Maggie a piece and then biting into his own generous chunk. Wiping juice from his chin, and licking his fingers, he leans in closer, his tail flickering wildly, ear canted forward.
"{Well, it seems that this kid found his way to the grove, you know? Can't be more than maybe fifteen or sixteen...and Toshi-san was instantly smitten! He hauls the kid off to the tree to have his wicked way and all, and then Ranjiro shows up, and is all in his face about how they can't touch mortals and stuff. Well, you know Toshi, that whole rebelling against authority thing, he gets completely pissed off, and starts going on about how he and this kid are destined for each other, because of some wierd incident back a few years when he met this kid when he was little and all...}"
Rei cackles wildly at the thought, his thick accent sounding odd around the American style of speech the translating spell forms his Japanese dialect into. "{Well, the rest of the tengu are completely up in arms about the whole thing, and the kid ran off a few days ago, but Toshi-san is totally convinced he's gonna be back and they're going to live happily ever after. Can you picture it? Toshi-san and a human! It's hilarious!}"
"Yeah, great story," mutters Carl, hiding his distaste behind a mouthful of melon. "I don't suppose anyone's gone to _look_ for the kid?"
Maggie translates, and Rei regards Carl curiously, his tail flicking behind him. "{Look for him? Why would anyone do that?}"
Maggie jumps in with, "{Well, to make sure he's okay and stuff!}"
"{Okay?}" The kitsune is obviously completely confused now. "{Why wouldn't he be okay?}"
"{Because being nearly jumped by an immortal crow goblin is probably pretty intense!}" Maggie snorts, poking Rei. The kitsune frowns, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"{Well, I still don't see what the problem is,}" Rei says, his green eyes lighting with mischief, "{But it might be really funny to find out...}" He leaps to his feet with sudden determination. "{Want to come? The kid lives just a little ways down the mountain!}"
Carl blinks. "'A little ways down the-..." He smacks his forehead. "Oh! The kid's a _local_! Here I thought you were talkin' about some poor kid off hiding in the woods somewhere!
"Nah," Carl continues, shaking his head. "Not much point in bothering the kid, so long as he's safe and sound."
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