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aftr_ooc2019-10-26 07:21 pm
lifeaftr_mods) wrote in aftr_ooc2019-10-26 07:21 pm
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TEST DRIVE MEME ( 028 )
Test Drive Meme #28
Hello, and welcome to LifeAftr! We're pleased that you're expressing an interest in the game. Here, you can test the waters, gauge how your character may fare in the world of LifeAftr, and even gain some in-game incentives, if you so choose.
Reserves and Applications are always open, and are processed every Sunday, EST.
Two important notes:
Reserves and Applications are always open, and are processed every Sunday, EST.
1. LifeAftr's test drives take place on the island of Mu, which exists apart from the real world and possesses a dream-like quality that characters are innately aware of from the moment they appear on its shores. No need to panic or fret. Dreams are odd things, after all - and anything can happen in them. Why would anyone question where their mind chooses to wander in its sleep?
2. Due to the nature of Mu, threads in our test drive can not only be accepted as thread samples in your application, but can be accepted as game canon as well. In fact, certain choices your character makes in Mu have the potential to bear in-game consequences, largely in the form of test drive reward items.
Hard to Swallow
It's a little dark when you wake, and you'd be forgiven for thinking that you might be in a cave of some kind. After all, the ceiling is high and curved, and it's more than a little damp underfoot, and there doesn't seem to be any natural lighting. Touch the walls, and you'll find them slick with some kind of substance. Water, maybe?
You'll find that you've been provided with a complimentary light that will never go out, which is quite a useful thing. Hold it up, and you'll get a good look at the premises, and learn firsthand that, unfortunately for you, you're not inside a cave at all. You're inside something else - but fortunately, this specimen is long-dead. It can just be a bit startling to look up and realize that the smooth architecture of this cavern has a lot to do with the massive, curved rib bones...and that the moisture greasing the walls is probably a lot less sanitary than simple water.
But, hey! At least you're not being digested in here! The massive dragon you're inside has long since departed this world, after all. You just have to figure out how to get out of it. Cutting, phasing, or otherwise blasting through the thick, meaty texture of the walls will prove to be...just about impossible, really. Looks like the only way out is to look for the, ah, natural exit. We recommend moving uphill - you're probably going to want to exit via the mouth than the alternative route.
If that wasn't bad enough, it seems that this beast's health wasn't all that great to begin with. This thing, as it turns out, has a flurry of pests plumbing its, uh, plumbing, if you get our drift. Flesh-eating monstrosities the size of small dogs have been skittering throughout its digestive system, and now that their host creature is dead, they're starving for some real food. They can be easy enough to dispatch of, if you know how to fight, but they can be fast, and they don't tend to retreat once they have a target on lock.
But if you're able to brave all these horrors, eventually you'll be rewarded by a thinning passageway as you scale the creature's esophagus, and finally the jagged fangs of its mouth...its closed mouth.
Ever tried prying open a giant dragon's mouth from the inside? It might take a bit of work, but we're confident you can do it. Or that you can enlist a little help in the effort.
There's Something in the Water
There's something peaceful about being in a boat at night. The open expanse of the starry sky, the gentle rocking of the waves, the smell of the salt and the spray...it can be very peaceful. Calming, even. There's nothing, on first glance, to really worry about, either: the boat is sturdy, large enough to house plenty of people, and the skies are clear. No storms on the way. It's a bit quiet, but of course it would be. You're in the middle of the ocean, after all.
That's when it'll probably occur to you that, as it is nighttime, it should probably be a bit darker than it is. And the waters around your boat, well...they seem to be glowing. Or, more specifically, what's in them.
Jellybrights are jellyfish-like creatures that lump together in massive swarms of well over a hundred, and exhibit a natural bioluminescent glow that actually manages to be quite pretty. It's just that most jellyfish don't tend to start climbing onto land - or, in your case, climbing aboard without an invitation.
And if you do? Well, that's when they decide that they're here to hurt you. Their gentle, bluish glow will immediately switch over to a glaring red, and they'll promptly sting you in retaliation. It hurts quite a bit, though the site of the attack soon starts to go numb afterward.
The good news, if it can be called that, is that the level of punishment is directly proportional to how badly you misstep. If you only tread in the wrong spot once or twice, you'll have some fresh welts to rub at and maybe some newfound paranoia regarding jellyfish, but will remain otherwise unscathed. If you stomp all over those eggs without any regard for their well-being...well, that's when you might want to try swimming, because your boat's going to get awfully unsafe for you in the near future.
Walking With Water
The ocean floor can be a scary place to be. It's dark, uncharted, and full of things with an awful lot of teeth that would be happy to take a bite out of you. So it might be something of a relief to not be truly underwater, even while you're stuck down here.
How is that possible, you might ask? Well....
The waves to either side of you are high - impossibly high, reaching almost infinitely skyward. The water streams down freely in a seething, jellied mass to either side of you, but it's as though it's all being held back by some massive, invisible force. The ground beneath your feet is silty and faintly spongey, clearly quite damp from having been, until recently, submerged, but it's stable enough to walk upon, though jagged bits of rock poke up and out here and there.
What this allows you is a beautiful panorama of the deep-sea ocean life as it all flows idly past. The odd fish might even occasionally breach the tremendous walls of water and lie flopping, gasping on the ground. You yourself can easily stick your arm into the water with no consequences, or even swim through it...though we don't necessarily recommend that. That's a lot of water pressure over your head, after all.
If you're especially lucky, you might find that, along your way, a very special type of coral has been left bare to the dry air. Its vibrant coloration will almost certainly catch your eye. While it can make for a useful light in a pinch, it's more useful if it's...consumed. It might run counter to common sense, but you can trust us on this one: consumption of this coral will render the user capable of swimming through deep waters for up to twelve hours at a time. They'll find themselves quite able to swim very fast, find themselves immune to water pressure, and will breathe as easily as if they had sprouted gills.
That also means that anything down here that's carnivorous won't have any reason to hold back on this strange, potentially edible intruder that's come swanning in through its waters. So watch out for sharks - and for tigersharks. And yes, we mean that literally.
All in all, it's much safer stay on the dry land down here.
( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )
Wei Wuxian | Mo Dao Zu Shi
Everything looks organic. It's like being inside the Tortoise of Slaughter again.
[Despite the unusual circumstances, the masculine voice drifting up from the downhill path up ahead sounds disturbingly full of cheer and almost scientific curiosity. If the voice is followed, they'll find the owner it belongs to is a twenty-something year old man in red and black occultist robes from ancient China with long, black hair pulled back into a high, ponytail bound by a trailing length of red ribbon. Upon closer inspection, they'll see that his face is caked with powdered white makeup and red rouge applied in garish streaks down in face in ghostly fashion. The borrowed lantern with its skull decoration bobbing in his head as he carefully inspects the fleshy walls of his prison just adds to the man's odd appearance.
An acidic drop of dragon's blood drips down from the ceiling and onto his sleeve, searing right through the fabric but Wei Wuxian doesn't seem to notice or care too much, much more interested in studying a glistening rib bone with apparent fascination.]
Wow, this creature was really huge, wasn't it? I wonder how it it died.
[Would Empathy work on it? Wei Wuxian's never tried it on anything that didn't used to be human before. Clearly, he's dreaming here so why not give it a try as see how it goes? If it goes badly, surely he'll just wake up or the dream will shift to something else in that way dreams often do.
No sooner than Wei Wuxian prepares to enter his trance to try to divine what he can from the creature's memories, he's interrupted by the sound of rustling, skittering legs approaching from the darkness ahead. He turns to face the noise, visibly startled.
Whatever is coming is coming fast and in greater numbers that one clearly unarmed man can handle on his own.]
Walking With Water (cw: open wounds)
[Perhaps another person would look at the walls of water on either side of them and feels some sense of trepidation but not Wei Wuxian. He's grinning widely, his eyes bright with almost childlike curiosity and wonder as he slowly turns in a circle trying to drink in the magical sights around him. His arms are outstretched, palms upturned, and his sleeves fall back from his wrists, angry looking, crisscrossing slashes are visible on each of his wrists. The skin around the exposed cuts looks a little red and irritated and one cut in particular looks fairly deep.
Before long, Wei Wuxian's arms drop back down to his sides and he starts lightly jogging across the ocean floor. After a while he spots a gasping, flopping fish on the ocean floor and rushes over to it scooping over to pick it up with both hands. He really probably shouldn't be handling a struggling fish with open wounds on his wrists like that but he sure is.]
Easy, easy. There, there. Gentle! Just going to put you back in where you belong. Shhh. Don't struggle so much!
[The fish's tail slaps him across the mouth.]
Ow! That smarts... I was just trying to help you!
[Point and laugh at his pouty grumbling? Offer to assist? Just walk past and pretend you don't see this black-robed lunatic and his newfound fishy friend?]
Walking with water. Sticks leggy up
While this isn’t the first time she’s woken up somewhere completely unexpected nor the first time she’s woken up after being submerged in water, this is the most extreme case she’s been forced to deal with.
She’s grumpy enough as it is, though her face is fairly expressionless, the slight twitch of her brow the only thing to give her away as she walks the only path available to them. She pauses as the fish jumps out at her, but then just makes an irritated noise and keeps walking.
...Roughly 30 seconds later she sighs and turns around to return and help the fish out, but it seems someone’s beaten her to it. Miu pauses again, ready to just leave once more, but those wounds are kind of...
Is this guy an idiot? His clothes and face are interesting, and she’s pretty sure he’s not a spirit or anything, but those wounds, despite looking rather concerning, don’t appear to be bleeding...
She rests her hands on her hips as she approaches, expression unimpressed and just sort of observing him.]
You’re going to get an infection.
[She points it out rather coldly, the seventeen-year-old ignoring the rest of his antics there, not even cracking a smile.]
<3
[Wei Wuxian knows perfectly well what she means; he's not completely blind or stupid. He'd noticed the wounds on his wrists very quickly, even if he's not sure where they came from. Not only did he wake up in an unusual place, he woke up in a completely different body. Without any clues to where the cuts came from or even who this body had previously belonged to, it's a mystery he doesn't have enough pieces to solve on his own just yet.
He finally manages to re-assert his grip on the fish and release it back into the water. Wei Wuxian turns back to the blank-faced girl with an easygoing smile.]
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Trying to keep up a cheery act was exhausting in and of itself— and Miu was tired and irritated as it was just by being here in this... whatever this was. She didn’t feel like she had the patience to try and keep up an act.
Instead she crossed over to him, boldly reaching for his arm.] Yes, an infection. Wash your hands off at least after touching that gross fish! Do you know how many germs were probably on that thing? You’re going to get an infection and lose half your arm or something.
[She’s exaggerating, sure, but still!!]
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[There's a few lacerations under his robes, too, now that Wei Wuxian remembers. They amount to little more than scratches, though, so he's not terribly concerned about them. But at least, now that Wei Wuxian's attention has been called back to them, he's inspecting the cuts. The healing arts isn't really his specialty; his expertise lies more in mending bodies that are already dead.]
They're starting to look pretty red, aren't they.... I guess I really should do something about them, huh.
[That easy smile doesn't diminish in the least at the maiden's cold demeanor. In a way, it reminds him a little of his dearly departed friend, Wen Qing. For the briefest second, there's a flicker of pain in his eyes but maybe that could be attributed to the stinging cuts on his wrists.]
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She’s said her piece so she should go—that’s what she tells herself, but his blase way of handling it all is both interesting and incredibly irritating, enough so that she doesn’t want to leave it alone. She’s honestly concerned and convinced he’s going to die horribly the second she has her eyes off of him.
Miu heaves a sigh and presses a hand to her head] Why are you like this... [THE AGE-OLD WWX QUESTION.] Come on. If we keep going there’s bound to be something to use to bandage those up. Not that they seem to be actually bleeding right now, but still...
[She lowers her hand and eyes him again, looking as if, somehow, she’s the one being forced to look out for him here.] I don’t suppose you know where we are right now either, do you?
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[He's babbling cheerfully, if Miu wasn't already irritated by him... Despite everything that's happened, including his forced departure from his adoptive family's sect. He'd had no choice back then; he stands by that even now. But still, he's never quite been able to relinquish the claim his heart had made on his childhood home.]
Why don't we take a walk and enjoy it? It'd be a shame to waste the opportunity to see such beautiful sights.
[And then in a tone that's a bit more absent-minded and a little detached:]
I don't know if we'll find anything for bandages down here but it can't hurt to look.
[You know, as if it's not his own body that's been cut up.]
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A large, dark shaped passes by and Miu abruptly turns on heel away from it. Nope! Not today, Fish-Satan.] I don’t think we really have a choice but to walk. The water pressure would be way too much to try and swim up, I think. We’d probably be crushed. So we should probably go find the shore before whatever’s holding it back stops.
[She doesn’t sound particularly bothered by the idea of dying though, her tone casual, though the look she gives him is mildly irritated once more.] Shouldn’t you sound a bit more concerned about all that?
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[A brief pause, followed by a shrug.]
Well, they don't really hurt much and I wasn't there when they happened so...
[He trails off and shrugs again. Normally, not even Wei Wuxian would be this forthcoming with information under normal circumstances. The surreality of everything combined with the reality that he's not in his own body anymore has just made it hard not to feel just a little detached from it all, including himself. But this girl makes a good point. He probably should be a little more concerned by these cuts and try to figure out where they came from.
So Wei Wuxian's back to looking at them yet again, this time with the eyes of a detective, to try to understand just what has happened here with the limited clues he has.]
Let's keep going. If we do that, we'll have to reach shore eventually.
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Well, then where were you? What were you doing last?
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Wei Wuxian's brow furrows a bit in concentration as he tries to think of a way to describe a place he's not certain exists in the same way the material world does. Being dead is a pretty complicated experience it turns out!
Finally, Wei Wuxian simply lifts his hands in the classic 'welp' gesture and shrugs.]
Someplace like this one but not nearly so pleasant. I think I was dreaming there, too.
[Whether he'd been in one of Diyu's hells or a purgatory, Wei Wuxian's spent the past thirteen years in atonement. And he's caught a glimpse of something bright and colorful on the ground up ahead and is already off jogging toward it.]
Come look, Maiden, come look!
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He doesn't look like he even came from the same time as her, let alone the same area. She hadn't heard of any Chinese men being buried up on the mountain, and any men buried up there were done so in unmarked, small boxes; there's no way he was one of them.
But then he's suddenly running ahead of her and Miu makes a noise of protest before she can think to question it further.] Hey! Don't just run up to it!
[It could be dangerous?? Did this guy have any self-preservation skills? She swears she's never going to say anything about yuri's hero syndrome again after this. Still, she jogs a little to catch up, irritated with having to exercise at all--partly because she didn't want to sweat and partly because her stamina was hilariously terrible.]
What even is it? It's not going anywhere, so why did we have to run?!
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[His new body might not be as agile or strong as his old one had been but he can handle a little bit of running. It wasn't even that far! Even if Wei Wuxian is a little out of breath and growing increasingly aware of this weird gnawing feeling inside the pit of his stomach. It feels faintly familiar but he just can't place it right now.
So he squats down next to the brightly colored object, indicating that his young companion do the same.]
This is...
[Drumroll, please.]
...coral! Isn't it beautiful up close?
[Wei Wuxian is beaming like this is the greatest scientific discovery ever made.]
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cw: mention of self-harm
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Hard to swallow. Enter the dragon!
What on Earth...?
There's beach and sand and oceans everywhere. The humidity of the island isn't what he's used too. He woke up alone on the raft. Wei Wuxian and the donkey isn't anywhere to be found. He went to looking for them.
He explored the island, trying to get information from the temples. All he gets is that he's on the island of Mu and he woke up from one dream to the next. He slept again from exhuastio and woke up inside of the dragon. With the lantern, Lan Wangji searched his way out, while tolerating the conditions of the dead dragon's rotten insides, taking care to avoid the dripping acid from overhead.
Meanwhile, the pests can be taken care of with a slice of his sword, but he scowls at the icky mess it left on the blade. When he was being attacked by a sizeable swarm, he moves quickly with quick reflexes, whipped out Wangji, his guqin, and with a pluck of his strings, he more or less, chord assassinated the creatures with a crushing sound wave, destroying the swarm, and clears the path.
He hold up a lamp and he turns a beam of light to shine on him.
"...Wei Ying? Is that you? Are you here too?"
<3!!
He's heard it once or twice over the years, along with others, but he's never answered. There hadn't seemed to be much point; he already knew his old classmate hated him. Everyone did and rightfully so. The tragic mistakes he'd made in his youth could never be undone and the damage he'd caused so many others could never be mended with a simple apology.
The sight of the chord assassination technique laying waste to the insect horde pulls him out of his daze, snapping him back to attention. He turns around and starts running back the way he came, uphill toward that familiar presence. However, the 'ground' beneath him is slippery and uneven; in Wei Wuxian's haste to escape the bugs, his foot shoots out from underneath him, causing him to stumble hard to his knee.
In the old days, back when before he'd lost his golden core, Wei Wuxian would've been able to recover with grace. It's not until this moment that he realizes that there's something wrong with this body, too, it's weak, but he simply doesn't have time to think about it right now.
More bugs are coming up behind him so he looks up at the snowy robed figure in the distance and starts scampering toward him again. The words are coming far too late to have any meaning but Wei Wuxian shouts them anyway.
"Lan Zhan! I'm here!"
<3
Staring at the creatures cooly, Lan Zhan sees he didn't get rid of all of them. There's seem to be more and too many of the insects are coming to charge at them. With a swing of his sword, exuding blue energy, he sliced them in half through the tough exoskeletons shells.
"Get behind me!"
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Lan Wangji's always been strong, stronger than him, and his faith in his ability to take out the rest of the bugs is rock solid. As much as Wei Wuxan chafes under the realization that he's defenseless right now, he'd only get in his way. Maybe even get him injured and then they'd both be in the same trouble.
"Okay, keep taking them out and pulling back. I'll look for an escape route."
Maybe later, they'll have time to talk properly but for now, it's clear to Wei Wuxian that getting them both out of here takes priority.
"It should be safe enough. I didn't see anything except ribs and blood that way."
As weak and clumsy as Wei Wuxian is in this new body, he's determined to make himself useful somehow in this situation and not just be a burden. He'd dropped his lantern back where he'd first fallen so he'll just have to make due with his other senses unless he somehow finds another one.
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"Wei Ying. Wait. I can clear the path by killing them. Don't go anywhere. I had tried Inquiry. The way to get out...is out of the dragon's mouth. Which is this way." Which is moving uphill.
Because the other exit, the other way around at the end of the dragon is certainly not recommended.
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Now that he knows the way out, he should be trying to flee. But Lan Wangji's holding the only light source between them, now that he'd lost his own. Even if he had stumbled into the darkness, he'd still have had a hard time opening a dragon's mouth on his own in this body and the only things he has on him are the clothes on his back - no tools or talismans of any kind. Sigh.
Suddenly, he makes a quick grab for the lantern. Very briefly, the crisscrossing cuts on his wrist might be visible in Lan Wangji's peripheral vision.
"At least, give me the lamp so I can hold it for you. You might have an easier time fighting them."
Wei Wuxian's not going to run off and leave him fighting alone in the dark, even if he doesn't really understand why Lan Wangji is protecting him in the first place. Shouldn't he be out for his head like everyone else? Also, is it just his imagination or does his old classmate look older now?
Dreams are so bizarre sometimes.
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He handed him the lantern. "Okay. Hold it." Lan Wangji couldn't see anything. Other than where the beam of light lands in this dark place. So he didn't see the wounds on his arms.
"I think the path is clear for now, so we can move forward." However, he didn't sheathe his sword as he predicted they can be attacked at a given time. "Let's move ahead." And hopefully, Lan Zhan can figure out a way to get out of the dragon's mouth by the time they arrived there.
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"Did you see anyone else in here? I haven't. Once we've secured the way out, we should search where we can to make sure no one's left behind."
He's fairly sure they're the only ones in here but he can't leave without checking first in good conscience.
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"Mn. No, I have not seen anyone so far. I woke up alone. I'm glad I found you. It's good that you're safe."
So far, no sight of a living soul, but they did find some skeletons being littered on the floor. Tattletale signs that those poor unfortunate souls are unarmed and didn't make their way out. Or if it's a dream, part of the illusion of this nightmare then.
It's only then when they traveled through the thin passageway scaling the creature's esophagus, and finally, they will see the jagged fangs of its closed mouth with creaks of light through the closed fangs of its teeth.
"There. Through there we'll make it outside." Lan Wangji said, and without hesitation, wanting to make his escape with his sword, using the sharp point, he stabs at the wall of gums to find the weakest point between flesh and teeth. "If I can weaken it, then I can kick one of the teeth down."
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"The dragon's been dead too long to force its jaw open. Knocking out a tooth or two should give us enough room squeeze through."
He keeps glancing back into darkness, still straining his ears for any voices calling for help or skittering legs. Despite being no stranger to death odors given his time in the Burial Mounds and his path to cultivation, Wei Wuxian will glad to get out of this reeking corpse himself. Given his natural curiosity of the unknown, he's eager to escape and see the world that lay beyond this stinking, rotting husk. Amazing how quickly almost getting devoured by giant insects can kill the wonder in a situation.
As Wei Wuxian watches Lan Wangji work, he wishes for the first time in a very long time he had Suibian with him. He may not be able to do much with his sword anymore but he could have helped out with the gum chiseling, at least. Oh, well, Wei Wuxian can keep providing conversation and light.
"Thanks for helping me out, by the way. Didn't have the chance to say it back there."
Wei Wuxian still isn't quite sure why his old adversary isn't just leaving him to die here but he's grateful he's not. Dying again so soon after being reborn would just be such a waste.
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Lan Wangji searched for a weakness in the teeth, keeping in mind that the dragon's blood is acidic. He really values that sword, it's one of the kind, but still using the point to poke at the gumline. He found the front teeth on the bottom row is loose from cavity and decay.
"Stand back." He unsheathed his sword back to his hip. He wrapped several layers of his sleeves around his hands. Without hesitation, he raised his arm, curled his right hand tightly into a fist, and literally punched and kicked the fangs to knock the teeth out, thereby creating an opening. Of course, his knuckles got bruised, but Lan Wangji is strong enough to punched a tree before and snapped it in half.
Thick dragon blood squirted out in the gum hole in slow molasses. But it's a matter of waiting for the blood to clot that it's safe to scoot through the opening while minding the top row of fangs.
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Wei Wuxian glances up from the slowly clotting blood and over at Lan Wangji. He's sure his hand is fine; he'd actually been present during the tree-punching incident. Even so, he feels he should ask, it only to keep the awkward silence at bay a little while longer. It not that Wei Wuxian doesn't have other questions to ask; it's just he's reluctant to ask about them here and now. And there's that the whole suddenly not being dead and inside a dead dragon with a man he hasn't seen in thirteen years thing he's still trying to process.
"How's your hand?"
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