mykidisthebest

[they don't stumble direct into more mobs, fortunately: Charon doesn't seem to have as good of a handle on his own name's smell, no, but with a helping nudge or two from them he keeps gamely on the track, and they chase it down, even as they're being chased.

in the last clearing, the light's hovering at eye level. it's in the shape of a star, and there is another name in gold, that's...scrawled over it? conjoined to it? the colour seeping into its light. Minuet and Lethe can't read the characters of that secondary true name, but they can take a Pretty Good Guess as to who it belongs to.

they're in a hurry, though, and Charon has never been one to hesitate about his feelings when there are bigger problems pressing in. he just looks up at them for a moment, ears forward and tail high, before he walks up to it.]

[ He hangs back only enough to be respectful of how personal the situation is, but not enough that he thinks a mist wolf could get to Charon before him.

Just gives Charon an encouraging scratch behind the ear as he approaches it. ]

[Lethe gives Charon just enough space to be polite; he's too antsy about the mist wolves crawling in the mist to give him more than that.

he's like, half a foot closer than Minuet, mostly because Minuet is faster than him.]

[god. all right they hear all of this, even if he’s speaking quietly and quickly to the star:]

I have always welcomed the strange legacy our name brings, but my little brother has found it Sisyphean. He sought no secrets in our vaults, growing up. He has been layabout and laggard in his lessons, without sufficient will to back his beliefs.

But I suppose he must have found something worth living up to it for, at last. He managed to see through me at the end of our war, which I did not expect of him. “Our battle isn’t over yet—and until it is, don’t die on me.”

He has potential to be brilliant, my brother. But I don’t intend to let him be, or any generation of us after him.

I am going to kill a god, someday, and erase the need for genius at war in my world. And in part it will be because I never wish to feel as I felt again, learning that he stood on the other side of the field.

[the star drifts down, and he snaps it out of the air, light burning silver-gold down his throat.

the first mist wolves come slinking into sight, the edge of the wave they’ve stirred up caught up to them at last.]

[ He's got that "WHAT A MAN!!!!" feeling again.

It will need to be revisited later, though; he's stepping closer to Lethe and Charon as he fires on the wolves, hastily reloading as more slip into view. They're not quite surrounded yet, but it's shaping up to be an unnerving semi-circle as more materialize from the fog. ]

[it is horribly unfair of these wolves to interrupt before he can say anything in response to that truth; there is spite in his aim as he fires off several headshots on the mist wolves that are creeping around the edges to block off any exit]

How fast can you both run?

Don’t botherrrrr.

[hey why is Charon’s voice doing that

hey why is he getting even bigger and inhumanly shaped in the shroud of mist,

HEY WHY IS THERE A DRAGON]

[

OH MY GOD ]

--Charon?!?!

[

WHAT IS HAPPENING scrambles back a few steps to give him space]

What the--since when can you do that?!

I don’t—

[wing-baffs away a wolf that tries to close in on Lethe when he moves back, and then crouches low to the ground, a shoulder turned towards them so they can step up]

Get on!

[ Oh thank god this isn't a new twist on mindless lycanthropy

GRABS LETHE AND CHUCKS HIM ONTO CHARON'S BACK ]

—Hey?! At least ask first!

[REACHES DOWN TO GRAB MINUET'S ARM AND HOIST HIM UP]

[they both see Charon hastily fold back a bunch of jagged feathers along his spine as they land so he does not give them some truly embarrassing injuries. whirls away from the wolves as soon as they’re on, leaping for the gap in that closing circle; he needs a runup to take off with this much weight]

Hang on!

NO TIME FOR ASKING!!

[ He clings onto feathers or Lethe or whatever is in front of him tbh ]

Okayfinebutasknexttime

[holds tight to them both. mostly to make sure Minuet doesn't fall off, he's pretty sure he'll be fine. he knows how to ride dragons without falling,,]

[GOOD CUZ THIS IS GONNA BE A BUMPY RIDE

they kinda lurch into the air rather than rising smoothly up, and they all also get whapped by tree branches as he labors to gain height in the close quarters. it's a headlong rush from there back in the pasture's direction, Charon flying nearly blind, shadowy amalgams of Court birds harrying them through the sky. they probably have to do more shooting and also they are probably kinda all airsick by the end sorry

BUT! they burst over the fence at last, into clear blue sky over the meadow. Charon gasps in abject relief, throws an illusion over them immediately, and arrows for Bluebell so he can lizard scrabble onto Minuet's now too-small balcony]

[ Hey did you know he gets motion sick

Not that it stops him from sharp-shooting, because it doesn't, but once they're safely clear of the mist and Charon is stuffing his fat ass onto the balcony, he just. Flops over on his back like a wet noodle. ]

[slides off of Charon's back onto the balcony and scrambles to tug him up there properly; at some point he just throws the balcony doors open so Charon can sploot into the room too]

We're all alive. Perfect. Couldn't have planned it better myself.

[he just sort of. pours over the railing and through the balcony door. fully gets stuck. has a very panicky dog at the vet look for a sec before he inverts into himself, falls all the way through the door while flickering between shapes, and then turns back into a full dragon again on the floor. the mask is now so small for his face he's sort of wearing it like an eyepatch

wheezes loudly]

[ FROM THE GROUND: ]

Charon.

Why're you a dragon.

[raises his hand]

I would also like to know why you're a dragon.

[takes off his shoes, puts them by the balcony door, and sits on the floor next to Charon so he can take the mask off his head]

--don't, I'm still a lycanthrope.

[takes a deeper breath and then loafs up like a cat, tail curving in a loop around the two of them. it's fully the dragon shape he turned into during the monster status effect, with the red-and-white feathery scales and slender horns]

It seems we do indeed gain something extra from this place with our names. Didn't you sense anything when you reclaimed yours?

[ Ah . . .

He settles in as if someone just draped a blanket around their shoulders, rather than a feathered dragon tail. ]

. . . Maybe? I was kinda distracted.

[ furi: still doesn't wanna look too closely at anything lol ]

[stops trying to take the mask off]

We could get you some wolfsbane.

[sighs instead, and leans back against Charon]

I think I got something too, but I'm not sure what.

Wolfsbane can wait.

[I goofed slightly and it’s still nighttime so it’s a while before he turns back and awhile before he’ll undergo the wolf transformation again. not urgent either way. peers at them both curiously like he might be able to divine what their changes are]

Do you want to find out?

[he’s talking to both of them]

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