[PQ] in a pinch

JACK

"No, I still ain't got time to talk about Dygra. An' since you want to hijack my ship, you can at least help with this," Jack is saying to Charlie (and Kiada, but he blames her very slightly less) as they clamber down the ladder from The Ark to the desert floor. The good captain had been minding his own business in sailing flying his ship from the Hollowed Grounds across to Hak Etme when he'd found himself being stalked.

By a black dragon.

One that grinned and recognised him.

"I'm after somethin' called a Mirage Crab. Looks like a little oasis, weird lookin' palm trees. If you spot anythin' like that, shout out." And if not, gods, please don't shout out.

It isn't that the captain dislikes Charlie, exactly (though liking would still be going a bit far), it's just that he's spent a while now in and around the Hollowed Grounds, and it's a fucking weird place to be. The sooner he does this, the sooner he can fly back south towards sense.

---

PQ to kill a Mirage Crab! No post order - have your character arrive and squint about to see if you can find anything!

1. Charlie
2. Kiada

you're the last of a dying breed; write our names in the wet concrete
I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me

Code stolen from Queen Sky

charlie

Laughing, Charlie beams up at the captain. "That's kind of funny, you know, since your name is Jack? Like Hi Jack, I'm here to hijack!" Flashing Kiada a wide smile, the priestess flits about the Ark bothering Jack's crew as they try and ready her for landing. A few try to brush her off, but a good deal more seem happy to engage in her style of worship once the captain has what he needs.

"Ooh, I'll check from the air!" Charlie offers eagerly, her thoughts like a churning kaleidoscope of helpfulness and excitability. Shifting far too close to the Ark, it's a wonder the dragon doesn't bash the side of her hull with her tail before she lifts off into the air.

Roaring a few times for the sheer joy of it, Charlie begins to scour the area for signs of a mirage.

so hey, let's be friends
I'm dying to see how this one ends

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

i can't be your midnight love, when your silver is my gold

Snickering at Charlie’s comment, there’s a playful roll of her eyes as she clamors down the side of the ship after Jack and the other Ancient, embracing the warmth of the desert and the heat radiating from the sun. “I guess I can help.” It reminds her of the time before she’d died, when she’d ran the monster hunters guild — going out on adventures to random parts of Caido, retrieving information or slain beasts that had been causing trouble.

Watching as Charlie takes to the sky and winces slightly at how close the tail gets to the Ark, Kiada speeds up a little to walk alongside Jack, bright iceberg eyes peeled for anything of interest. Her tail sweeps low and her blackened curled horns glimmer with veins of ruby throughout, sparkling amongst the dark waves of her hair. “So do you need to kill it?” She asks curiously, in case she’s missed something up to this point.

i can't be your second best, close but not your favorite

i keep going back for more, when there's nothing from before

KIADA

JACK

Having heard the very same (terrible) joke knock around Charlie's thoughts well before it ever leaves her lips, Jack can offer little more than a long, tired sigh as she trills her way across the deck - and promptly takes to the air in a way that almost has the rest of the crew ducking for cover. The captain swears as well, wincing at how close the reptilian tail whips to his main mast, but then Charlie is clear of it and he and yet another Ancient are left on the sandy ground.

Leaving his ship hovering nearby with the ladder extended for them to clamber back up, he proceeds on foot with Kiada, sunglasses shading his eyes and a light breeze whipping around his shoulders to keep him cool - unlike the harpy at his side. "Mm, that's the plan," he rumbles, of killing the mirage crab.

And wouldn't you know it? An aerial view absolutely helps things out, because Charlie is able to spot a very merry little oasis in the distance. It might just be an actual oasis, granted, but... be serious. The odds are slim.

---

Looks like Charlie has spotted something!

you're the last of a dying breed; write our names in the wet concrete
I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me

Code stolen from Queen Sky

charlie

Having forgotten to come up with any sort of system ahead of time to communicate, as Charlie spots a small grove of palm trees and water, she keeps her blue eyes locked on it while opening her jaws and blasting out a line of fire. That would get their attention, right?

Streaking down towards the mirage, that Charlie wasn't sure what to do if it turned out not to be a mirage didn't really occur to her. If it was, she'd just sail right on through it, brushing her wings against the palm trees and then soaring back up into the sky. And if it wasn't, well...it'd probably start to run, right? Or...fight back somehow? Either way, something would happen, and Charlie loved when things happened.

---

Charles roooars and then nyoooooooooooms at the mirage !

so hey, let's be friends
I'm dying to see how this one ends

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

i can't be your midnight love, when your silver is my gold

“Cool.” Kiada says, and after her recent brush of collecting void creatures alive — well, she’s certainly looking forward to killing a mirage crab. As it stands, the harpy’s gaze lifts to watch the dragon ahead, seeing the spout of fire and the roar that accompanies it, squinting through the bright light to see if she can spot the mirage.

And she does, but whether or not it’s real is another story. Turning her attention to Jack, the harpy flashes a saccharine smile. “Guess she found something.” And without giving Jack a heads up verbally (he’d know mentally her intention to shift and speed ahead to see if it was what they were looking for based off of Jack’s description).

She does just that, shape warping down into a long volcanic crocodile with a too toothy smile, casting a look up toward the captain before she speeds across the sands toward the mirage.

---

Kiada shifts to the lial to go and inspect the mirage from the ground!

i can't be your second best, close but not your favorite

i keep going back for more, when there's nothing from before

KIADA

JACK

After all this is over, Jack is going to owe much of his success to the kaleidoscope wearing the scales of a dragon and a woman who has just turned into a volcanic crocodile. And you know what? Fuck it, he's so tired of the Hollowed Grounds and its bullshit, especially now that the bullshit has spilled into the desert. "Looks like it," he drawls, never picking up his pace as dragon and lial both take the opportunity to bumrush the mirage.

...Crab.

Mirage Crab.

As soon as Charlie gets close enough for her wings to ripple at the 'palm trees' of the oasis, the tentacles of the crab lash out to try and snag at one of her taloned feet. At the same time the illusion drops entirely, revealing the broad, flat shell of the creature and the maw it would very much like to drag a whole-ass dragon into. Has it bitten off more than it can chew? Almost definitely. Does it care? Not one jot.

---

Well, you've found the Mirage Crab! It tries to grab one of Charlie's dragon feeties with one of its tentacles!

Mirage Crab (uncommon) - The mirage crab has a large, flat body, over 5 ft in diameter. It has six legs, and two 10-ft long tentacles. It can be found on beaches and in desert regions, where it burrows under the sand to wait for its prey. The mirage crab can create a minor illusion around itself, making itself appear like any naturally occurring creature or object. lts preferred mirage is that of a small oasis, with the appearance of a pool of water over its mouth, and its tentacles appearing like two tall Palm Trees. When potential pray comes over to investigate or drink the water, the illusion fades away and the mirage crab latches on with its tentacles and consumes its prey with its sharp mandibles.

you're the last of a dying breed; write our names in the wet concrete
I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me

Code stolen from Queen Sky

charlie

"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR." Charlie roars. She hasn't spent enough time in this shift to be properly menacing yet (and lets be honest, she'll probably never fully learn), such that the sound that leaves her parted jaws is much more like a pantomime of how a dragon ought to sound, despite in fact behind one.

Flapping her wings and wriggling as if disgusted by the tentacle suddenly grabbing onto her, Charlie flounders and flops about, trying to lay the entirety of her body on the crab's shell and grip the outside of it with her talons. I'm going to try and flip it over! It's belly has got to be soft, right? That's what Charlie thinks she's saying, but all she manages is "RRROOORAARR ROROORARAAARRRRR."

Which, close enough.

---

Charlie tries to grab hold of the crab's shell so she can flip herself (and it) onto her back.

so hey, let's be friends
I'm dying to see how this one ends

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

i can't be your midnight love, when your silver is my gold

The roar is loud and reverberates even as Kiada approaches in what is essentially super speed, hesitating only when the tentacles fly out toward the dragon (and quietly grateful it isn’t aimed straight at her). Watching upon her approach as Charlie seems to try and flip it over, flopping and digging her talons in.

Taking the moment to look at the chaos that’s began in front of them, it gives Kiada an opportunity to focus on its legs, diving toward it with her jaws parted, aiming her sharp teeth toward the crab legs to hopefully snag at one of them and rip it off, fully ready to tear and snag.

---

Kiada tries to latch on and tear a leg off in her lial shift!

i can't be your second best, close but not your favorite

i keep going back for more, when there's nothing from before

KIADA

JACK

As the lial skitters off into the sand and a dragon and Mirage Crab engage in a bout of professional wrestling that Charlie also seems to be commentating, Jack... does not pick up his pace. Shocking, I know.

By the time the good captain even reaches the absolute chaos unfolding, dragon!Charlie has been able to flip the crab over (even if it means she is now capable of doing very little other than holding it while it tries to slap and grapple at her with its tentacles) and Kiada can consider herself a very proud lial with jaws full of an enormous and still twitching crab leg.

"...Okay." What else is there to say, honestly? Still, even though Jack doesn't understand ROARARAAAR, Charlie is luckily in the presence of a mind-reader, and the underside of the crab does look softer and more vulnerable.

And so, summoning a few lances of ice and wasting no time so as not to let them melt, Jack aims at the crab's underbelly.

---

Er... good job? Let's finish the poor thing off before it realises how embarrassing its death is about to be.

you're the last of a dying breed; write our names in the wet concrete
I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me

Code stolen from Queen Sky

charlie

Yayyy Kiada! Which is what Charlie thinks she's saying as she roars menacingly. Lashing her dark tail in the sand, her talons dig into the side of the crab's shell, slowly causing long cracks to appear in the chitin. Parting her jaws, the dragon tries to gnaw on one of the crab's other legs. While in her own body, she might have found the taste salty and delicious, as a dragon, the lack of blood had her snapping her teeth with frustration.

Thinking that perhaps she just hadn't been biting in the right place, Charlie began to gnaw all around the outside of the crab's shell like some sort of draconic can-opener.

---

Charlie BITES.

so hey, let's be friends
I'm dying to see how this one ends

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

i can't be your midnight love, when your silver is my gold

Tearing the leg free fills the lial with a surprising amount of glee — excitement pouring into her as she shakes it a little before CRONCHING down on it before dropping it. Looking at the underside of the crab as Charlie starts to be a crab can opener. Ice flies out at it and she tries deftly to avoid it, aiming her sights a bit higher this time.

Bright eyes take in the flapping tentacles, and while it’s probably a challenge — but she tries none the less; waiting until it sweeps down toward her to lash out with her jaws again, trying to clamp down on it and tear it free just like the leg.

---

Kiada tries to aim for a tentacle to tear off this time!

i can't be your second best, close but not your favorite

i keep going back for more, when there's nothing from before

KIADA

JACK

It's a complete mess, but all in all the captain can't find it in himself to complain given that even a mess can sometimes be wildly successful. This is one of those occasions too, as it happens. Between Charlie literally trying to open up the crab to find out what's inside (it's crab meat, Charlie) and Kiada launching herself at a rapidly weakening tentacle, it only takes a few well placed stakes of ice to finish the thing off for good.

(And it's probably a relief for the crab as well, honestly, given that it's already being crunched to death).

Blinking in the aftermath and adjusting his sunglasses on his nose, Jack glances from the crab to the dragon and then to the lial, who still has a softly writhing tentacle in her jaws. "...I guess that's that, then," he says, glancing over his shoulder where The Ark is still close enough to have likely watched this all take place through a spyglass.

"Take whatever you want from this," he says, gesturing to the crab corpse, before pointing directly at the dragon. "And no, I'm not fuckin' anyone on top of it."

With that done, he leaves the two Ancients to either follow him back to The Ark to get home, or to glide away towards the Grounds using Charlie as a tour bus.

He'd not be sad if it were the latter.

---

WE DID IT! THANK YOU BOTH! <3

~FIN

you're the last of a dying breed; write our names in the wet concrete
I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me

Code stolen from Queen Sky