Serenity Elisar's Story

She hated Jungles

At least it wasnt Rome

That was the only thought on her mind.

At least it wasnt Rome

Rome was a weird trip. Too weird to think it was even possible, and yet they survived and somehow she eneded up upon returning..... there.

Wherever there was

At least it wasnt Rome

The Bengal Tiger halted in the jungle after seeing the same tree she'd marked earlier with her claws. She was going around in circles!! Oh if only Mark or her sister were there. Maybe then she'd b--*

She went stiff as a all too familar heavenly scent invaded her nose. Oreos ? She quietly padded on all fours through the jungle as the scent got stronger, her eyes cautching sight of a man, alone, scarfing down.... OREOS! Serenity was somehow happy to see a familar sight of a name brand item. She even tried to keep her mouth shut, but it was too late as she thought seeing the Oeros, "FOOD!" Of course being a 400 pound Bengal Tiger and then speaking like a human never really did work out to the point of perfection so it sounded more like a strangeld cry for something to eat

at least it wasnt Rome

it was better than Rome, there were OREOS!

The loud and powerful roar that seemed to come out of nowhere was enough to make Lance jump. Part of that was because of the atmosphere. The roar of a creature seemed so sudden, especially considering he had yet to see even something as plain as a worm since he got here. People thought that because of his Guardian status, he was all powerful, able to detect the presence of life just by sensual observation. Sometimes, people even theorized a mystical persuasion. But Lance knew those were all just stories told to hype up the role. In reality, no one was Master Gin.

However, being a Guardian did mean he had training and developed some lightning fast reflexes. Rolling forwards immediately, he had dropped the container of Oreos on the ground, replacing them in his hand with something much more lethal...though diabetes was always a possibility. The Haven Swords seemed to form out of thin air, combining together to make some form of incredibly structured Carbon that could cut through just about anything. Lance wielded them so, forming an X in front of him as he whipped around to see the threat for the first time.

The Bengal Tiger stood on it's slightly elevated perch, glancing down at the landscape below it hungrily. It was practically licking it's chops, already deciding to claim it's dinner. Lance kept his guard up, unsure of how to respond to this thing. He'd never seen a Bengal Tiger anywhere except in textbooks when he went to high school as part of his cover. His adventures had taken him across the globe, but never through the African or Asian jungles where these creatures thrived. So he had no idea how these creatures hunted...how they attacked humans...

But Lance didn't want to instigate anything. Should the Bengal Tiger strike him, he would defend himself, like always. However, he wasn't going to lash out at this creature out of fear or something like that. He was above that notion. Hopefully, it would pass through and choose not to put him on the menu.

The eyes of the tiger watched as the gcookies, in their containter, hit the forest floor, it was clear whatever was in the mans hands, swords it looked like, made her slightly nervous, yet she didnt have a need to go after him Just the cookies. So it was clear he wasnt on the menu, he never was.

The cookies however.... Those were the menu, the only thing on the menu actually

She geared up for pouncing, until she saw the twin swords in his hands. She halted, should she go after the cookies and risk getting hurt because of his swords ? Or should she just not go after the cookies at all ? Briefly her eyes shifted from their feline green to their hazel brown and back in thought. What to do... what to do...

Her eyes went from the cookies in their container to the man holding the swords, then back to the cookies.

It was odd, normally Bengal Tigers went after meat, him if they were really direly hungry, but she was also kinda human if she wanted to be so why would she harm a fellow human ?... Well ok so she was more like a immortal shifter of a sort, a Jellicle at that.

But it was odd, the tiger was not attacking and seemed stuck on ewhat to do, looking bewtween him directly and the cookies at his feet. What did the tiger want ?

Of all the standoffs Lance had been through in his life, this was probably one of the weirder ones.

The Guardian kept his cool, kept his stance, kept his gaze on the predatory animal in front of him. That much could be considered standard. What wasn't was the Bengal Tiger's behavior. He may have not been around creatures as intense as this cat, but he did know that wild animals typically didn't stay in one place too long...especially if they were spotted by it's prey. Instinct should take over in that instance and the tiger should make a decision...attack or run away.

Yet here they were.

Perhaps the wildlife were different here, Lance wondered. But wildlife was wildlife, wherever he went. Wildlife were creatures who let instinct dictate their life. And this creature didn't seem to act impulsively. In fact...it even appeared to be contemplating something. It's gaze kept shifting, from Lance to the weapons he held to the Oreos and back again. The tiger's eyes were literally shifting colors, going from a light and soft brown to an analytical green.

Still not the weirdest thing he'd seen all week...

Fine. Why not? He'd seen a lot of things to deny anything at this point. Sure, this tiger could think. Perhaps it was smarter than the average tiger. Although he didn't expect to see a tiny tiger cub following right behind it, asking "Watcha doing Yogi?" That would be something. Lance began to notice that her gaze seemed to always gravitate to one source, however...the Oreos.

Maybe this kitty did want a picnic basket...

Giving a warm smile, Lance took a couple steps back, putting distance between himself and the Oreos. He made sure his Haven Swords weren't within striking distance, but he still kept them out...just in case. He wanted to see what this tiger would do.

Her eyes snapped from his face to the cookies, then back to his face again, what to do, what to do. She was stuck on what to do! Normally tigers, espeically Bengal Tigers, if they had a den, would take their cubs to a safer place if other predators were in the area. But she was not a normal Bengal Tiger. that ewas clearly evident when her eyes changed from feline green to hazel brown and back.

And the fact that she wanted those cookies. their scent was overpowering.

Her movement stopped when he moved. First he smiled, then .... took a step back ? With every step back, leaving the cookies in plain view, She took a step forward. Within seven steps she'd be ontop of the cookies! Oh Overused Litterboxes he stopped after five paces!!

She stopped as well when he did, now fully out of the bushes and palm frons in full clear view of the man the four hundred pound Bengal Tiger was clearly female, and drop dead pretty to another Bengal if there was another about.

She stopped when he stopped, the cookies directly between them

Then she did something weird

She sat her ass down right there and simply just looked at the cookies, and drooled a bit at the mouthwatering smell as she inhaled. But she also kept an eye on him, she made no further moves, hopefully he'd put the swords away. She'd get out her own, but they were kinda inside her fur and even if she could get to them, her paws couldnt exactly hold them. So she watched him.

She debated speaking again, but it had been a harrowing trip through the time portal and it left her breathless. Besides she was a tiger and for trhe moment was going to keep up appearances until she got the strength back, from eating proper food, human food, to transform back to human likeness.

And that meant those cookies!

However her stomach rumbled; like a humans stomach Tiger stomachs didnt rumble..... did they ?

She tilted her head at him, Serenity was stuck, should she say something, or just up and go for the cookies ? She simpled whined a bit, a low huff of a sort that sounded like a vewry loud cat meowing for supper

Lance's eyebrow shot up as the giant cat stopped when he did, just out of reach from the cookies. She sat down and stared at them, enticed. It was clear that she had her eye on Lance, but her main focus was on those cookies. Her desires were on those Oreos. Her stomach rumbled for Oreos...literally. It was almost amusing, Lance decided, watching this Bengal Tiger, a proud predator in the animal kingdom, whining for something as simple as Oreos.

In fact she did huff. And Lance couldn't keep a chuckle from slipping out.

"I don't have milk for those Oreos," he spoke, not even sure if the cat was going to understand him. "But you're welcome to them if you want."

At the same time, he lowered his swords. His stance wasn't so poised...so tense. He seemed to become more relaxed. He looked less threatening. He wanted to see if this kitty would go for the Oreos or not. His curiosity wouldn't be denied.

No milk ? So ? She normally just scarfed down a box or two of Oreos when she got them; get home from the shop and open the box hell get in the van at the shop once buying and open the freakin' box right there in the store lot!

But

He said she was welcome to the cookies ?!

Did she hear right ? He said she was more than welcome to the cookies ?

With one eye, and both ears on the swords, she crept forwards the remaining two paces, Her left paw reaching into the cohtainer of oreos, and with strange almost humanlike ability, pulled out a stack of five Oreos between the index claw, and.... thumbclaw ? Wait did tigers have thumbs ??

That didnt make sense!

But this beautiful predator, the proudest possible predator in the jungle of all places, was actually about to scarf down five Oeros heled impecably perfect in her left paw ?

There was more to this proud Bengal Tiger than met the eye; and it was clear the way her eyes seemed to shine a bit more human like as the middle of the five stack of Oeros was flicked so skillfully into her mouth with a happy sounding rumble. Ahh that hit the spot, one more or two more could get her speaking again in human langages easier too.

"Finally a piece of home!" the Tiger chirped, though it sounded like a happy tiger noise to be sure, almost too humanlike to be sure, Tigers didnt speak, but this one sure did, infact Serenity could speak like a human, or a tiger if she wanted to.

But it was gonna take more than some Oeros to get her back on her two feet like a human.

Maybe a fast food place or a decent human meal.....

But at least she could talk

Then she saw him staring at her with his swords lowered completely. A massive paw reached out as she laid on the ground easily snagging the container of remaining Oeros and almost a heartbeat later she pretty much went Cookie Monster on the container with happy tiger sounds and very loud purring

Lance still had that genuine smile on his face as he watched the Bengal Tiger eat. On one hand, it was actually kind of cute. Watching such a gorgeous animal with a lot of grace to it's name go ham on a package of creme-filled chocolate cookies wasn't something one expected to see when meeting a predator of such notoriety face to face. Especially when she picked up a small stack between two of her phalanges in a similar fashion as to how he predicted Shere Khan would play with his food before eating it.

But they weren't in the Jungle Book. This was real life.

The unorthodox method this tiger seemed to view life through was strange to witness. She didn't think with instinct...she thought with desire. She didn't want any kind of food she could get her paws on. She wanted Oreos. She conveyed emotion through her unique irises. Fear, pride, and now joy...it was all there. Lance could identify every feeling the tiger was going through. That alone told him something was up. His suspicions were strengthened when the Tiger made a sound...almost like a human talking.

Yep, there was more to this beast that met the eye. And out of all the events that had happened to Lance while he'd been here, this one somehow seemed the less threatening. Or perhaps that was just the life he lived.

Well complacency was for schmucks!

He didn't feel like his life was in danger anymore, so the Guardian let the sword blades evaporate into the air once more, the Carbon of the jungle returning to it's natural state. His hilts were all that remained, to which he holstered in one swift movement. He approached the tiger slowly, so as not to disturb it's feeding session and scare it away...or worse. He crouched low, reaching eye level with the magnificent animal. Why did it feel weird calling this tiger an "animal"?

"You're a unique kitty, aren't ya?" Lance spoke softly, almost like he was talking to a regular old cat. He was within a couple of paces from the murder of a helpless Oreo container...one that was likely in the first degree. Or maybe it was manslaughter...er, cookieslaughter. Regardless, he kept that smile on his face, kept his hands out unarmed to show he meant no harm. He just watched the spectacle happen in front of his face.

The very sky rumbled as the clouds parted for the bow of the vessel. The trees cracked with the sound of her anti-aircraft gun emplacements and secondary batteries firing away at the rogue Red Dragon which currently was in battle with the vessel. Firing blessed Anti-magic rounds at the dragon, the sky rumbled on both sides as the agile creature darted around, its wings torn and and scales patchy with blood. The Silver Eagle continued her descent steady as she goes, and the Captain sat calmly in his chair upon the bridge.

"Status?"

"Hostile almost forced to the ground, keeping steady at forty Air-born Knots."

"It's coming around front! Landing on the bow!"

"Load a single HE shell in Cannon Two."

"Loaded."

The red Dragon landed on the deck of the Silver Eagle as the primary batteries sprung to life and locked into position, the secondaries and anti air still blazing away. Opening its maw to blast the Bridge with flames, Mark yawned and snapped his fingers. The trigger was pulled, and the round was fired from the twenty inch barrel. A massive explosion rocked the foundations of the mountains around the jungle below them, and the lower half of the Dragon's body flopped to the side off the deck, burning into flakes as it descended to the ground; turning to dust instantly.

The wind-Class airship slowed to a halt. "Get a count of all ammo and get any wounded to sick bay. Tell the chef to prepare his finest ales. The gunners deserve it." Mark turned and went into his cabin to write the report.

By the time Lance got close enough, the beautiful tiger was on her back scarfing down the remaining cookies like a waterfall, purring and very happy. Finally done she let her huge legs relax, much like a human laying flat on their back with their arms spread, only a tigers arms could only go so far.

Then she did something funny

She burped

That was good, she saw the guy so much cvloser, but her ears perked and she sat up a bit, something was coming, something heavy, loud, and big.....

Very big

Her eyes went wide as she suddenly sprang into action as a tree the size of the Washington Monument started to fall towards Lance. the Tiger sprang from her relaxed state with speed unmatched by any other tiger in the universes nd grabbed Lance by the arm with her massive paws, and in one fast movement, had him under her and a paw up shielding them both as a bright pair of defense runes were qwuickly drwan to provide a dome of defense against the tree as it smashed down on the runies and broke apart as the tiger whined at the sudden stress.

At least she covered Lance nice and safe! She didnt care now that he had swords he could get to and she didnt. her first thought was keep him safe, after all he provided her with food, and didnt attack her outright.

then the dragon had to hit the thing, its blood startying the tree afire,

Normally Tigers, cats in general actually, were scared of fire. Serenity was no different even with a humasn brain and emotions like a normal human, her feline side was always stronger than her human side, much was her race. So now she had FIRE to deal with atop of a HUGE HONKING WHOA MOMMA TREE on top of them. Which put her under a LOT of stress

But she heard a voice, a voice she recognised

Her brothers voice!

So she did the only thing she could, she screamed, her Tiger roar echoed over the runied forest, She was screaming, in fear, and in hope that her brother would hear her and get the fire out before it hit her defense runes.

Lance couldn't help but chuckle at the nature the tiger displayed as she rolled onto her back and stretched her paws out. It was almost like she was sunbathing...except there weren't many rays she could catch from the floor of the jungle. Her stomach heaved slightly, then a noise came out of her. Lance decided he would classify this as a burp.

Should he give her a belly rub?

That's what she seemed to be inviting. The process of petting an animal was so innate within the Guardian since he'd been on Earth for so long that he wasn't sure what to do here. It almost seemed like an insult not petting her. But they had just met and he didn't want to make the situation hostile...much less awkward.

Suddenly, her ears perked up, her green intelligent eyes began to dart around their surroundings. Lance could feel it too...a shift in the wind. Something was up. Something coming from directly behind him...

Before he could turn around to investigate, the Tiger pounced on him. He winced as he took the full weight of the stride in the shoulder and was on the ground in a second flat. He didn't even register the second in between being on his knees and being on his back. For a moment, he thought the tiger was taking advantage of a distracted moment and finally going in for the kill. It wouldn't be the first time someone grabbed him by the balls when he let his guard down. Yet, some bizarre detail reached out to him in the nick of time, just before he decided to pull out his swords and cut him some tiger cubes.

One paw...she used one paw to tackle him...what was the other paw-

He got his answer when he snapped his head out of instinct mode and began looking a the finer details. The tiger had one paw on his shoulder and the other paw held outward to her right or his left. The pulsing of energy in that direction made Lance look further to find a magical dome encasing them while a tree fell on top of it, cracking in half. He heard the tiger while immediately following the impact.

She wasn't trying to hurt him...she was protecting him.

And then some kind of blur hit the dome...something with wings. Lance couldn't make out the animal before it dissolved into ashes, leaving a fire blazing through the jungle. The tiger whined more, then proceeded to roar, clearly from distress. And now Lance made a decision.

She saved his life...he would return the favor...

The first thing to deal with was the half of the tree currently resting on top of her defense rune. Rolling out from under the Bengal tiger, Lance immediately pulled out his swords once more, the carbon forming it's strong Nanotube bond once more to formulate the sharp Haven Swords he had wielded in defense earlier. Only this time, he would be taking action. He ran forward and, with one swift twirl, sliced through the tree at the base. Grunting from effort, he put his whole body weight against the massive thing and shoved the wood aside, causing at least one stress to disappear.

Now there was only the fire to contend with. Lance didn't exactly have the equipment on hand to deal with this inferno left behind in the creature's aftermath, but he knew how to get it. Taking a glance towards the small pond they were beside, he raised his sleeve revealing a white, band-like device wrapped around his wrist. Pressing a small button on the side, he began to speak into it.

"Burkton! A bucket! Now please!"

A second passed, then came a disgruntled reply.

"You contact me at 4 A.M. asking for a damn bucket of all things?! The hell do you need that for?!"

"Long story," Lance replied, "But can you get one for me?"

There was a sigh on the other end, "Fine. Give me a moment."

Lance waited patiently, watching the fire spreading slowly around them. Luckily, the jungle was wet and the air was damp, slowing the progression of the blaze. Not to mention it wasn't that big to begin with. Lance could easily take care of this with a decent sized bucket. Just a couple scoopfuls of water and it would be out.

However, he didn't always get what he bargained for. As the Transicom began beeping and whirring, Lance pointed it outward to let the thing he was transferring through to him appear. He had a dumbfounded look on his face as a yellow plastic bucket showed up in front of him, clearly made for making sand castles. What had him irritated was the fact that it was so tiny, around 7 inches in diameter.

"Couldn't find a bigger bucket?" he spoke with spite through the Transicom.

"Look, I've never had a use for a bucket at home. I'm too far from my lab and you sounded like you needed this now. I gave you what I had on hand."

Great...

"Thanks," Lance concluded before grabbing the bucket off the ground and sprinting to the pond. He scooped up as much water as the tiny thing could hold and proceeded to dump it on the fire. A small section of the flames were put out, but not nearly as much as he liked. Lance sighed as he made his way back towards the pond. He was going to be at this for a bit.

Mark paused for a moment before entering his cabin. He could hear the roar of a Tiger. "Status of the forest below?" he called out. Upon hearing the news of the jungle being on fire he turned and returned to his chair. "How much water do we have in the spare tanks?" he asked standing instead of sitting.

"Five thousand Gallons sir!"

"Drop five hundred. Put out the blaze now."

"Aye sir! Moving to position."

The ground began to rumble underneath Lance and Serenity's feet as the Silver Eagle descended from where she floated in the sky, and moved again. The massive ship blotted out the sun, and a hatch opened on the bottom before closing almost immediately. It would take a second, but the five hundred gallons of water would fall to the ground upon the forest, snuffing out the blaze, drenching both people below, making the pond overflow, and least of all: Filling Lance's bucket to the brim.

"Signs of life below us sir....two creatures, one humanoid and the other feline."

Feline? That roar....one of his sisters he mused if the man humanoid was still alive. "Open the intercom so I can speak to them."

"Aye sir, comms are yours in three, two..." the technician counted down with his fingers, too; one, a thumbs up.

"Sorry about that mess." his voice rang out from the speakers all over the Silver Eagle's exterior, and into the jungle below. "Come aboard, we'll get you dry, and fed. Quickly! Before another Dragon shows up. Red's always travel in twos." with that he cut out and another hatch opened below the ship as the screech of a massive bird was heard across the landscape.

Ulnaus took off from the deck and circled the ship, scouting for Mark while they picked up the two below. A rope ladder dropped down from the hatch, weights on the bottom keeping it settled instead of wobbling around. Once grabbed on to by both Lance and Serenity, it would begin to rise the two hundred feet into the belly of the Silver Eagle.

Once inside, they would be waved to a service elevator, which would take them up, once it stopped, they were waved to the top Deck towards the bow, where Ulnaus landed and preened himself. The Massive Eagle, the size of a car, was a sight to behold, but was mostly harmless. His talons could shred a regular human into paste, and his beak could pluck heads off shoulders, but otherwise harmless. And not exactly bright.

"Stand under the center barrel." Mark's voice came as he stood atop one of the turrets, looking down at the tigress and Lance. "I just fired a high explosive round into the face of that Dragon, so the vapors are still there, and hot. Go on, you won't burn." he said calmly. A crew member sat on the barrel, the smell of fresh meat being cooked by being in the mere vicinity of the edge of the barrel filled the air. Evidently, that would be their food once they were dry.

Sadly when her the tree went flying in pieces so did the defense dome she'd created! A feral shriek was heard as some fire licked her tail and Serenity shot to her feet and scrambled to put out her tail before finally stuffing the thing in her mouth, smoke briefly wafted out her ears.... well... her hair was gonna be a bit singed when she became human again that was for sure.

What the ?

Yep that was mark, mess, you made a mess alright dear brother! She wantedto scream as she held her tail in her paws before letting it go and the hair quickly regrew, there, nothing wrong with it now....

her ears went flat to her heart however when the massive eagle the size of a Ford Probe sports car shrieked and flew off as a ladder all but nailed her in the nose the same time she got soaked clear to her human skin well within her feline body....

Great. The tiger put two paws to her face and rubed the water out of her eyes, then spit a small five full seconds long fountain of fresh ice cold water. he did it again. seemed to be written all over her face.

At least the fire was out!

Oh ladder! Serenity scrambled to her feet and grabbed hold, pretty much tangling herself in the thing as Lance climbed up above her and the ladder went up.

There was ah eavy THUNK however as her head nailed the side of the hatch.... twice followed by her growling in pain, finally the ladder was in the airship and she was distangled. Much better. Much.... safer...

The two then went to the main deck as Ulnaus landed, in all his dull brained extreme heavyweight glory too. Preening, ontop of a smoking gunbarrel Serenity knew the bird quite well. But, never THAT close.... or that big.... What the hell was her brother feeding the eagle ?

Her nose picked up meat, human meat cooking.... She went to where her brother said was still warm to dry off, but shook herself instead, resdoaking Lance, and then splattering her brother too, hey she had to get back at him some how for soaking her... and nearly drowning her....

She then turned and trotted towards where the food smell was coming from. About half a minute later she returned in a dead run and all but tackled her brother with a mouthful of a HUGE leg of horse in her mouth and the ships cook screaming for the mangy animal to give back the meat. but if she gave back the meat how could she become human again ? iut was cooked and prepped by humans... well... prepped and mostly cooked... still rare, seasoning had yet to take hold

She plopped her fuzzy butt down next to her brother and ptook the HUGE {roughly one third her size aone or half the size of Mark} leg of horse in her massive paws and sctarted scarfing it down. A more humanlike feel came about this tiger that Lance could see, her actions alone werent as true tigers actions yet she had many tiger tendances. That and her eyes were clearly human like

But she had saved his life. and he in turn saved hers.... mostly.

A massive blotting of the light in the sky caused Lance to look up in curiosity. What the...

A massive wave of foul smelling, ice cold water was there to greet him, causing the Guardian to spit and sputter in shock. He squeezed his eyes shut, wiping away all the water that splashed on his face and in his eyes. When he opened them again, he looked down at his clothes which could safely be described as soaked. There weren't a lot of things he hated in his life, but wet clothes was definitely one of them. And he was certain that even his underwear wasn't exactly safe from the ship's "present".

Wonderful...

But at least he didn't have to deal with the bucket method anymore. Tossing the thing aside, he looked up to see the ship in the sky, the cause of the torture he would have to endure for at least ten minutes. The Wind-Class airship hovered above them, completely decked out in silver. It looked like a battleship decked out for WWII only...silver and floating. Interesting technology, Lance thought, but not as cool as the Bubble Boats on Eterna...

"Sorry about that mess," a speaker blared, emitting a male voice. "Come aboard, we'll get you dry, and fed. Quickly! Before another Dragon shows up. Red's always travel in twos."

More curious than annoyed, Lance saw the rope ladder drop and proceeded to climb onto it. He climbed a little of the way up to make room for his new tiger friend, who bounded toward the rope ladder and tangled herself in it. Once again, Lance couldn't help but chuckle slightly as the ladder began to hoist itself up, bringing the two of them with it. Soon, they were inside.

Lance was silent as they made their way to the top deck. He was used to seeing so many new things by now that nothing surprised him anymore. He just analyzed everything and took the atmosphere in, like he typically did. Apart from a few futuristic installations, this airship seemed to be exactly like the ones he saw on Earth. He'd have to ask the captain where he got the design from...

A few moments later, they were on the top deck. The first thing that took his interest was the massive eagle perched on the bow of the ship. A real beauty, Lance thought. That bird would probably give Seymour a run for his money. Then he saw the captain. Tall and muscular, brown hair and brown eyes with his other features hidden underneath his cowl. The armor seemed to be made of a futuristic material and blended in fairly well with the rest of his clothing. He had a gauntlet covering the left hand and Lance noticed a sword holstered by his side.

The smile was small, but the welcome was in his eyes and his voice. "Stand under the center barrel. I just fired a high explosive round into the face of that Dragon, so the vapors are still there, and hot. Go on, you won't burn."

"Thanks," came his reply. Lance began to make his way over to the spot the captain had indicated when the tiger shook herself dry, adding more water to the already drenched Guardian. He would've been mad had she done that after he was dry. He stepped under the center barrel and felt the radiating heat underneath it. Sighing in relief and smiling from the presence of warmth, he held out his arms and tried to soak up as much of this dry heat as he could. Still, air drying would take a while.

"So, do you normally just shoot things out of the air, inexplicably causing fires in the biosphere below?" Lance called up to the captain. He meant it as a dry joke, but a tiny bit of legitimate question came out of it. What was it that these guys did?

Mark slid down the front of the turret to the deck, landing with a hard thud, his head completely visible. His hood was down at the moment, long hair tied back and beard neatly trimmed. "Normally? Yes. Fires? No. I normally fire Armor Piercing." he answered the dry joke with a dry answer. He heard the bounding of the Tiger behind him, and side stepped, turning his body so that her momentum helped him turn and kept her going. Having been raised with her, he knew how to play.

"Hello there, Serenity. I see you've found some food; hopefully you'll be out of that form and in to one that dries off in the heat better." he said. Lookouts scurried along the ship, using high powered telescopes to look for the other Red Dragon. Like he said earlier, Red's always travel in twos. He patted his sister's head before wiping the water off on his coat.

"I'm Mark, captain of the Silver Eagle and her crew. This is Serenity, my adoptive sister who isn't entirely human." he said, gesturing to his sister as she ate away at the horse leg. "Once you're ready, do transform, dear sister. Before I lace the next thing you eat with catnip."

He smiled and offered a hand to shake, the claws of his right gauntlet, matching his left one, would gently tingle on his skin as Mark's intentions were purely safe-minded.

"No movement yet Captain!"

"Keep searching, its mate is bound to show up any minute. Load the guns, if its on a mountain, we'll blast it." he commanded, and more crew scurried to work. The heat began to fade as the massive twenty inch gun-barrels were loaded with Armor Piercing shells. The crew member on top of the middle barrel dropped down, and landed carefully beside the three. In his hand, a plate, containing various meats from steak to pork to chicken, all cooked from the heat of the barrel.

"Help yer self!" the man said. Mark's left index claw dug into a tender pork chop and he tossed it at Serenity, aiming to have the thing plop on her head so she could wear it like a sort of hat before she ate it.

"Don't worry, you're safe aboard the Eagle. Her armor is mine, it would take one thousand years of shelling from an equally powerful ship to pierce her hull. And The eagle is the only airship left of the precursor era." that he knew of anyway. Light could be hiding more somewhere, something more powerful than even the Silver Eagle. Mark turned towards Ulnaus and let out a sharp whistle before clicking his tongue twice. The bird let out an annoyed screech, but took off regardless, continuing his circling.

Serenity;'s eyes went wide at the thought of eating something laced with catnip. if mark actually DID do such a thing, it wouldnt end well, for anyone. So she snickered and spat out some bone at her brotherm, the bits of bone dinged off his armor as the Tiger snickered a chuffing noise a funny look on her face as she went back to scarfing down the leg of horse.

With Lance focused elsewhere and most everyone else focused on finding the other Red Dragon Serentiy felt eyes on her from somewhere as she finished eating. She stood up then as a soft dark ornage and pale pink mist and somehow shed her tiger form. though she still retained her tiger features. Lately she'd been usingthem instead of hiding her true nature. Sometimes simply wandering as a Tiger was better than wandering as a human. Then again wandering a shopping mall in Minnestoa as a tiger was NOT a smart plan

As she stepped away from where she sat and tossed the rest of the bones of the leg of horse she'd eaten, man she felt full. That was good. She fgelt the eyes on her again. Her brothers words rang in her ears as the men scurried around the ship, some reloading guns, others simply looking for the other dragon.

Her feline senses went into overdrive when she felt unnatural eyes watching her every move, Asaca was at the helm so it wasnt her. So who..... Almond brown eyes looked about and spotted the woman in black and brown. Aha! the Jellicle feline woman thought. With a growl she reacted out mere reflex alone and launched herself at the strange woman.

Within seconds of it starting it was over. the woman wasnt caputred, she was slain, Serenity held a strange pistollike dagger towards the strange woman, blood red scales glittered with blood on the strange womans face where Serenity's powerful claws and runes had stripped away some scales from the face of the dragon in human form.

Serenity made a kissing expression before pulling the trigger, dead at the womans chest. It wasnt a killing shot, no, it was a knock out shot. Mark wanted information, it was normalyl the only reason Silvers went after Reds. Unless it was Elsa that wanted info. This red would have it indeed.

That taken care of, the soaking wet woman turned to her brother "Lace anything with catnip and you wont survive dear brother" She simply smirked before setting up next to where Ulnaus was about to take off, and when the massive bird did take off, the downdraft dried off the womans silver and brown/orange armor within two heartbeats.

She looked to Lance, as soft smile on her face. "Thank you, those Oreos were great. Got any more ?" trust her to go for more dessert. Lance could see that in relation to her armor she had two sword hilts on her belt, along with what had to be at least a half dozen strange daggerlike guns and then what had to have been three belts of needlelike ammunition for said guns, which oddly, were six shooter type weapons.

Truth was, she was saying thank you meaning the tree, the weight of the thing was too much for her own defense runes to take, now if she had more time to prep a defense rune, then it would be fine, but a hastry rune wasnt strong for a long period

"Normally? Yes. Fires? No. I normally fire Armor Piercing."

Lance shrugged, "Fair enough." He didn't know enough about dragon hunting to comment as to which rounds buried into which dragon's hide better, so he elected not to push the matter further. He crossed his arms and let his golden eyes rest on the Tiger whom which was now approaching the captain.

"Hello there, Serenity. I see you've found some food; hopefully you'll be out of that form and in to one that dries off in the heat better." If there was any realization as to the tiger being ordinary, it had been thrown out the metaphorical window long ago (even though that only constituted around five minutes). What was interesting was the fact that this captain and Serenity knew each other beforehand.

"I'm Mark, captain of the Silver Eagle and her crew," he introduced himself before gesturing to the Bengal, "This is Serenity, my adoptive sister who isn't entirely human."

"I gathered," Lance said as he studied Serenity's behavior while she ate, "She does seem to have an infatuation with Milk's Favorite Cookie. Wasn't sure what she was after for a bit."

As he watched, he noticed a plume of mist surrounding and enveloping her features, hiding them completely. When it disappeared, she was no longer a Bengal Tiger...well not completely. Some features were still telling of the animal she had morphed from, but she had arms and legs and opposable thumbs and that was enough for Lance to classify her as human to some extent. He kept his eyes on her with interest as she seemed to look around the ship, her behavior indicating that she sensed something. His thougths were interrupted by Mark, who had displayed a variety of meats for him to partake in.

Help yer self!" Mark said. Lance nodded and took a drumstick of chicken from the meat buffet and bit into it. It was rather plain tasting, no seasonings or marinades added, but it was juicy and savory and excellently cooked, despite the unorthodox method of preparation. And he was hungry anyway. His previous meal had been taken by a certain Bengal tiger who could morph into a humn at will...

And apparently, so could dragons. Lance would find out what that something Serenity was interested in when she pulled out some weird kind of dagger-like pistol and agily leaped onto a woman. Lance made a move forward to stop her until she clawed the front of the woman's face, revealing her identity. At that point, he had no desire to intervene as Serenity played with the Red Dragon like a toy before firing a shot dead in her chest. She wasn't dead...no, that would be too kind.

"Don't worry, you're safe aboard the Eagle," Mark went on, almost like he didn't seem to know what was going on...or didn't care. "Her armor is mine, it would take one thousand years of shelling from an equally powerful ship to pierce her hull. And The eagle is the only airship left of the precursor era."

The Guardian wasn't sure when the Precursor Era was, given how he'd only been in the Multiverse dimension for a couple of days and hadn't really gotten a chance to grasp it's history. But he did appreciate the captain's hospitality.

"Thanks again for taking us in," Lance said as Serenity walked towards them once more, giving a playful comment to her brother before addressing the Guardian for the first time.

"Thank you. Those Oreos were great! Got any more?"

Once more, Lance couldn't help but smile. It was something about her that kept that grin on his face with every action she took and every word she spoke. She was instantly likable. Even back in the Jungle, when she had startled him and he had reacted. Every action that she took after that was disarming. Intentional or not, it was her greatest strength. She was a cat with a very playful demeanor and she knew how to utilize it to her advantage.

"You kidding? A package of those in this place? I was lucky to find them," Lance raked a hand through his blonde hair as he continued, "I'm sure we could probably find some more on Terra though."

Mark turned upon his sister tackling the young Red Dragon, and watched it happen with mild interest. He only smirked at the comment on lacing something with catnip for her. He had done it before, but that wasn't to say that he wouldn't do it again. But of course, that wasn't to say that he wouldn't, as he knew the consequences of doing such a thing to his sister. He had the scars to prove it.

He smiled at Lance's words. "It's the least I can do. If you wish to change your clothes and wash or dry the one's you're currently wearing, let me know, I'll have some clothes acquired for you to change in to while you wait." he said before grabbing the Red Dragon by the throat while kneeling. He paused, and turned his head.

"You both may want to go below decks. Draconian Interrogation is....hard to watch." he said, pausing long enough for them to get inside before picking the red up by her neck and dragging her over to one of the main cannons, and having her strung up, hanging with the cannon barrel against her back. Mark drew his Desert Eagle and shot her in the foot to wake her up.

He said nothing, she said nothing. She knew why he was here, he knew that he wanted what was in her head. There was a mutual understanding, but not a mutual respect. After a moment, Mark shot her other foot, the extremity gone now.

"Best start speaking, Red, or its an ear next."

"You don't have the ai-" and there went her ear. A pained, wailing screech came from her throat. Mark's anti-magic .50 caliber rounds preventing her from healing or shifting to her Draconian form.

"Your other ear is next. Speak."

"The Duke." she growled. Mark rolled his eyes. Obviously it was the Duke of Weaseltown. He shot her hand. Fingers were gone. "The Shadows!" She screeched in pain, tears rolling down her cheeks. "The Shadows spoke to us! Told us we'd have power if we did as told!"

Now they were getting somewhere. Mark nodded, and she was dropped to the armored deck. With his boot, he rolled her over to her back, and then put his boot on her chest to stop her from sitting up, the Duradaeden laced leather burning her skin just enough to keep her still while he aimed for her other hand. "Keep going Red. What powers did they seduce you with?"

"P-power to take over land! A lot of land!" His shot went off and her other hand was gone.

"Red's horde land and gold like it's nobody's business. Don't lie to me, and I won't shoot you again." He leaned onto her, boot mashing her dress while his weight cracked her back joints.

"Persuasion......the power to persuade normal men and women to our own cause....provided we serve when needed."

"And what....was the Shadow's ultimate goal?" Mark's tone had the sting of four shots of Draconian Vodka going down the throat at once.

"Said something about a female; her death...lands plundered....everlasting darkness. That's all I know! Please!"

Mark raised an eyebrow and then smiled, unloading two more rounds, one in each knee before walking off and letting out a screech from his throat. Ulnaus came, snatched the body, and took off with it, either to feed on it, or continue the interrogation until every last scrap of info on the Red's life and everything else she did was out in the open. The door opened and Mark entered the superstructure of the Silver Eagle.

Serenity and Lance had likely been taken to the mess hall, where Mark kept a special stash of Oreos in case his darling sister ever came to visit, and where at the moment they were serving hot soup.

When her brother smirked towards her she knew he meant business, he'd done it befoer, lacing her food, or even her sisters food, with catnip, the results werent pretty, did anyone ever ask where he got that really bad claw mark on his back as a boy ? No, well, it was another Felines fault, and not theirs at the time. Of the three Realms, Serena and Serenity, and their mother were originally from ,as a whole at least their race, the Mythic realm, their tribe so to speak, their nation, a massive feline nation known as the Tiger Tribe, which wasnt all tigers, there were panthers, lions, cheetas, bobcats and housecats and whatnot in te massive tribe. It had since merged with the Mortal Realm.

Of which how Mark got injured from a housecat. Normaly housecats were possessive of their food, and when it came tpo catnip, well, when Serenity or her twin sdister went catshit all over the kittycrack it was a sight to see, but when a housecat, twenty two times smaller than Serenity or her twin sister they went absolutely catshit crazy, a wild furball that pretty much made anything that moved or didnt move a target for some dangerous painful clawing up

But thankfully Serenity stopped the cat, it took a good paw whack, and also bloodying of said paw at the time to get the cat off her brother. Serenity limped for about four weeks to two months after that, but otherwise was fine as human, her right hand all clawed up and looked as if she'd stuck it in a meatgrinder

But it wasnt that bad

So when her brother mentioned going down below deck to the galley or somewhere, she figured galley, she nodded, and all but grabbing Lance by the shoulders, the tall woman turned him around and the two went belowdecks, though she heard it all from what the gunshots were sounding like. She counted off ten shots, both ears, both knees, hands, feet.... what were the other two shots ? Oh... she spootted Ulnaus flying off with the dragon.... gee, Dragons were stringy....

So they were down in the galley then, her and Lance, and her nose went into overdrive at all the smells, the galley chef spotted her andf grumbled about her stealing the horsemeat, but when the captain arrived he brightened up about the loss. After all the horsemeat was intended for the Tiger Twins most called them. Or their mother... then again that was a rare occurance when Snowfeather came aboard

So the two of them, her and Lance, sat at a table, and Serenity was going over a notebook, writing down some notes of one of her exploits back in time in Rome. "lets see, Murder by Bed Sandwhich, hard but fun once the right mattress is used" She mused thoughtfully, she wrote down the steps, strangle the fucker with his becdsheet, if more than one fucker in the bed, each get their own sheet. Then with them dead stab a few times with blade of choice, then using brute strength or the middle weight of the bed, fold mattress and boxspring like ice cream sandwhich, sure it ewas bloody and messy as fuck But it was easy for a Tiger to do

Tiger claws werent traceable, but tiger pawprints where, so when blood went everywhere, well, Serenity just whiped her paws on the sheet and dove out a window. It normally worked

When her brother arrrived she smirked "Woulda been more fun to lace her with catnip and put the nighbors cat on her" Oh that would have not ended well at all for sure!

Her nose then twitched. Why did she smell her sister onboard ? Wait, was Serena ever on the Silver Eagle before ? "Why do I smell my sister ?" Her Bengal features wringled as she caught her sisters scent.... and her blood.

Wait....

..... What ?

Lance shrugged at the captain, "You'd be surprised by how much I could stomach." His tone implied he wasn't trying to show off or impress Mark. He was simply stating a fact. He had seen a lot in his nearly two millennia lifespan: deaths both natural and unnatural, rape taken to the extremities, and torture in the most vile ways. He once got within a teeth's skin of being interrogated by the infamously cruel Lucifer Occult, which was an ordeal he'd rather never experience again. After all, they were considered to be the literal harbingers of evil according to Earth's religious texts. Thanks to him though, they'd never have to deal with that horrific being again.

But apparently, the choice wouldn't be his as he felt the fingers (or were they claws?) dig into his shoulders as he was just about pushed toward the lower deck. As they went down, Lance also counted the gunshots. One...two...pause...three...a scream, then a pause...four...

He wouldn't question the captain's methods. Again, the Guardian knew nothing about hunting dragons and recalling information from them in this dimension. Whatever the Red Draconian did to deserve this punishment, it must've been severe. That or it was simply the nature of the beast.

Five...

Lance gave a slight nod to the chef as a token of gratitude before turning his attention towards the mess hall. Nothing too grand, though he would admit things were pretty clean. He sat down at the table across from Awi and waited. He wasn't too terribly hungry after the food he had, so he simply waited for Mark to arrive.

He counted two more shots as he watched Serenity obtain a notebook and a pen and begin scribbling in it. The contents of the words the Bengal shape-shifter was writing he would never know. But judging by the intensity of her hand and the fixated look on her face, it had to be something she was passionate about. Perhaps they were thought-provoking and contained a lot of thought about her adventures in the jungle and what she thought about them. Or maybe they were poetic and spurting with inspiration about her and how she viewed the world.

He would never guess they were about "Bed Sandwich Murder".

He heard the slight noise of footsteps approaching and knew it had to be Mark, finished with his interrogation. He rose a brow as the captain approached.

"I heard you buy seven vowels out there," he quipped, relaxing in his seat a bit more, "There aren't nearly enough vowels to compensate for it, but I'd assume you weren't paying with your own money, so it doesn't matter." He didn't even care he made a Wheel of Fortune reference and associated it with Mark's interrogation methods. He wasn't even sure Wheel of Fortune was a thing in the Multiverse Dimension. But it would be intriguing to see what they thought of it.

"So, did you solve the puzzle?" he continued. Another vague reference to Pat Sajak's game show, but it could carry more implications to it's phrasing than he may have intended. Meanwhile, he glanced over to Serenity, who was sniffing the air, seemingly searching for something. He'd have guessed Oreos, but then her face lit up in alarm, not in celebration.

What did she find?