rise [ joining ]

[HANZO]

[align=center][div style="borderwidth=0px; width: 55%; line-height:115%; text-align: justify;font-family: calibri;"]He wasn't sure how long he had been walking, although he could tell it was most likely less than a week given the state of his injuries. They were a week's worth of infected and had effectively curbed his ability to fly and transform into anything bigger than the average sized lizard whatsoever. It had been a slow seven-or-so days of trudging through plains that turned into the marsh he was approaching now, which effectively turned the weather into the equivalent of shit if Hanzo had anything to say about it. He thrived in the colder conditions, the blizzards and snows of the northern-most territories fitting his preferences far more than the humidity that tended to pervade these types of environments during the hotter seasons. For now it was bearable, although still not as cold as the dragon would have liked,

But he couldn't exactly afford to be picky in this situation, the bridges he had walked on burning into smolders far behind him and getting even more distant with each step. The weather was the least of his concerns, and if he wished for someplace cooler he could simply do it himself. There was an entire arsenal of power under his control, and it would be no big hassle for him if the time and need arose.

For now he was fine, though, if only relatively. Like he had said: the temperature was the last thing on his mind, and what happened to be on the forefront of it was the injuries he had sustained on the way here. It was no lie that he had many enemies, most of which wanted to see him dead rather than running amock, but he continued living if only because of spite (and the fact that he hadn't yet met anyone worthy enough to be the one to kill him in the first place.) Apparently, those enemies had friends who promptly made him into their enemy as well, and he had stumbled across some of them halfway towards the desert-like land the Rosebloods inhabited. He had won (of course), but it had come at the cost of a part of his health and energy... and all he was really hoping to get from this new clan was some help if nothing else. Not that he expected much. People had a habit of letting him down a lot.

A low, vibrating growl left Hanzo's throat when he stopped at the border, tail snapping violently behind him and stirring up the marshland. The water helped cool off a large portion of the wounds that littered his body, albeit stinging like a bitch in the process, and the rumble in his chest only increased in volume until the slowly seething anger started to seep over the edge of his patience. It wasn't long before the growl slowly starting to resemble thunder rather than an animal, and was soon echoed by the answering call in the sky. The clouds darkened above him, a few seconds passing in relative silence, and then the wind picked up as a few raindrops started to splatter on the ground following his wake. At least it wasn't a storm. Hanzo didn't have the energy to summon that at the moment.

He hoped someone would arrive soon. Bleeding out was not a way he wanted to go down, and he was rather used to having people flitting about under his nose all the time that the absence of such individuals now felt like an unwanted thorn in his side that added insult onto injury.

[Grimm]

[align=center][div style="max-width: 420px; line-height:120%; font-family: arial; font-size: 8.5pt; text-align: justify; margin-bottom:5px"]Smouldering the ashes of bridges one held strong, shattered the remnants of something once thought to stand against the savage touch of time, nothing but distant memory bittersweet within their replay. He knew well the touch of such things though much had not been by his own volition, the choice within the hands of others that saw nothing but a pawn within a child so young and gullible, yet quickly was any use within him worn. It mattered not the pleading cries he uttered, the weak attempts at doing as they had so wanted him to, clinging to what was crumbling about him. None of it had come to matter within the end, the plastered on smiles and the honey dipped words meant for nothing more then drawing him in, working him until there was nothing left, discarded as though he were a broken toy with no hope of being repaired.

Yet such was not entirely true, his misguided attempts to grasp at false innocence in it all, shift upon them the blame of it breaking apart nothing but want to be seen as good still. It mattered not the fearful exterior of a child once deemed something great, that had held within his hands the very knife that took from him much, hungry for the power offered to him. The loss of sight was nothing in comparison, a mere hurdle he may tackle with ease. Oh how wrong he had been.

Slight the patter of rain, the few droplets striking the still pools gathered above the loose top soil, adding only more to it. Difficult was it to find within any patch that held no moisture, be it shallow pools as those he walked about, at times the slip of a paw splashing the muck contained within upon himself, the earth about it little more then mud. The jaguar had grown better about traversing the land though apparent was his preference for the other areas, built up once for the purpose of others yet their lives had been ruined, the growth of life touching the broken structures hiding the hum of life within. Yet this trek had grown familiar, the sounds of life about him leaving rounded ears to flick and twitch, grown curious as to what may be found.

“Hmm...” Lips pressed together into a hard line, faint the hum raising. The months had grown chilled and he too found himself at odds with the temperature about him though different was his own thoughts, wanting instead the heat. He was accustomed to the dry press of it, heavy the golden light as it touched upon marble and stone, here it was muggy and a chill permeated air that barely moved. For a brief moment his forward momentum drew to a halt, unease apparent within the tense set of shoulders drawn back, teeth working into lower lip. Loud was the sound of it, echoing rumble of anger expressed from another though he knew not that the creature was smaller then it may sound, of a size likely smaller then his own. Sudden the cry from him as it rose, building until it seemed thunder clapped by his ears. Splash rose as his weight dragged him down, hindquarters hitting a puddle behind him, forelegs stretching out until chin barely hovered above the ground.

For a time Eimi merely lay there, unsure of how smart an idea it was to get any closer. Yet curiosity gets the better of most, within the mind of the wildcat it wormed its way, touched the panicked beat of each thought, pressed until it could no longer be repressed. Stretch of limb, slow the pace as he nearly crawled forward upon his belly, seeking out the source of the sound. “H-hello, i-is anyone there...?” Unease touched his words as his ears perked, distinct the smell of infection, dark and invading. “A-are you hurt?”

[HANZO]

[align=center][div style="borderwidth=0px; width: 55%; line-height:115%; text-align: justify;font-family: calibri;"]He had lost a certain innocence a long time ago as well, groomed into a role molded for him ever since he was a child with no choice in the matter. It had been Hanzo's life for the majority of his years, until, of course, he started to burn those bridges by both mistakes and purposeful actions. He was tired of being used, of being a damn weapon and nothing more. He wanted to be himself, and he wouldn't let the tragic cost his freedom came at go to waste. So now he was here, alone in a world that was more than happy to kill him for everything he had done, in pain and staring up at someone who didn't seem capable of even seeing him let alone injuring him any further.

Although he was far from ready to trust the situation or to trust the jaguar, there wasn't much of a choice left for him. Just like with the weather, he couldn't afford to be very picky at the moment (although the rain helped to brighten his mood minutely, resembling his home and soothing an ache that still reverberated somewhere deep within his psyche.)

Perhaps it was lucky for Eimi that he was hardly larger than a damn anole, although if sightless eyes weren't the ones who happened to fall upon him it would still be obvious he was far from a lizard. His scales, although bloodied and scarred, still shimmered an iridescent blue with each shift of Hanzo's long, twining body. He was no lizard, and it was obvious he was a dragon in the flesh and blood, if smaller in stature than most would associate dragons to be. Eventually, he'd turn back to a size he was more comfortable with (although in such a densely packed forest as this it would still be difficult to be as big as he truly wanted to be)... as soon as he didn't feel like the stretch of bones and sinew was setting his entire body on fire.

The growl didn't subdue as Eimi approached, seemingly attempting to search for him and differentiate him from the foliage around, although it did quiet down subtly to allow him to speak. Small or not, his voice was still powerful, uncharacteristically deep for such a tiny creature, and it gave him the courage he needed to talk without feeling his pride die a slow and torturous death. "Down here," there was a significant amount of disdain in his tone (although it wasn't really directed at Eimi so much as it was towards his entire situation) and he didn't bother pushing it down as his mood soured once more when he realized that he was still very injured and now dependent on the help of some stranger. "I am hurt, and would appreciate some sort of help." At least he was trying to be polite. He could have cursed out everyone in a two-mile radius at that moment, pissed off enough to warrant it.