boxolawyers | magic and dragons

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magic and dragons

Trucy takes a final bow, having just completed an encore performance. (She had returned to the stage, declaring that her magic panties had gone missing, and a random audience member was selected to help her find them. She'd handed him her hat, from which he pulled all manner of object that had no business fitting in such a small space, yet not one was the item in question. Next had been her cape. It appeared to hide nothing, including the wooden man dubbed Mr. Hat, who had made an appearance earlier, or the elusive panties. Ultimately, Trucy had found them herself, hidden deep within the pocket of her red-faced volunteer, much to the delighted cheer of the audience.)

The crowd cheers anew, as Trucy disappears from the stage in an explosion of confetti. They continue to cheer well after she's backstage, packing her things to head home for the night, satisfied with another job well done.

Satisfied... and a little sad. It's not really home she's returning to, after all.

While she'd done her best to make a life for herself in this strange place, she still feels the absence of her dad very keenly. Time heals many wounds, of course. Most days, she's fine, and the days she isn't, she pushes herself onward with thoughts of what Daddy would say.

Buck up, kiddo. She smiles to herself, hearing his voice in her head. When life hands you lemons, you make lemon meringue! (The original saying had been altered at her insistence, since she hated lemonade.)

Realizing the noise from the audience has died down and that she's been staring into her prop bag for far too long, she snaps herself out of her funk, zips the bag closed, and slings it over her shoulder. It's late, and Uncle Miles will start to worry if she doesn't get back soon. She heads out the backdoor, making sure it's locked behind her, and begins the short trek home through the backstreets.

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There's a slight chill in the air and the streets are empty, or so they seem. The wind blows and leaves rustle above her head, and underneath it all there is the quietest of scuffling sounds, hardly loud enough to be distinguished from the rustling. Is it a squirrel scurrying along to its nest? An owl landing out of sight? Just a trick of the imagination? If the latter, why does it suddenly feel like the girl is being watched?

Oblivious to the noise, Trucy walks along, humming a tune quietly with a bounce in her step. Soon that eerie, unmistakable feeling of being watched sets in, however. Frowning, she slows to a stop and turns around, her tune trailing into silence.

When she turns there's nothing to be seen, no sound to be heard, nothing to indicate the presence of anything that shouldn't be there. Yet that feeling of watchful eyes remains.

She watches the empty streets for several moments, searching the shadows for signs of movement. As far as she can tell, there doesn't appear to be anyone hiding, but that doesn't stop the eerie feeling from persisting.

Slowly turning back around, she resumes humming, albeit distractedly, keeping her ears and eyes open for any sign that someone is following her. She walks a little faster, the grip on her bag a little tighter.

For a while she's allowed to walk with only the vague sense of those eyes to distract her. The night is still and silent, save for the usual sounds of nature endemic to small suburban towns.

Then those eyes are joined by the feeling of a whole body, some presence following close behind her. Whatever it is keeps pace with her, but if she turns around she'll find no source to explain the disturbing feeling that she's not alone.

For a while, she lets herself believe it's all her imagination, that the quiet scuffling sound is just her backpack and cape brushing against her back with each step, but the feeling that someone is there won't leave her. Hoping to catch whoever it is before they can hide again, she steels herself and whirls around, slipping her backpack off to hold as a makeshift weapon.

But no one is there.

Fear settles in over her surprise, as warnings of walking alone at night fill her head. In spite of all that, she maintains a brave face.

"H-hello?" she calls into the silence. Receiving no response, she adds, "I know you're there, so you might as well show yourself!"

If there is someone following her, it seems they refuse to oblige. Everything remains still and silent. In fact, the feeling of someone lurking in the dark seems to have faded altogether. Could it be that whatever was following her has been scared off?

It's only when she turns around that the girl will see that her mysterious pursuer hasn't left her. He's only moved, and is now a large, black obstacle with glowing yellow eyes looming between her and her home.

After several moments of neither sound nor movement, confusion overrides her fear. Maybe she really is imagining things...?

"Hmm..." Wearing a deep frown, she shoulders her bag once more and turns around, managing to walk a few steps before noticing the rather large obstacle in her way.

The rather large obstacle with large, yellow eyes trained on her.

She freezes in her tracks, wide eyes locking with the creature's.

The creature towers over her, occupying most of her field of vision, the details of his scaly skin lost in shadows and the sheer size of him. On closer inspection his eyes are more yellow-green, his pupils large and strikingly black against the bright colors. He's sitting back on his haunches and tail with his arms resting against his knees, and he stays unnaturally still, silently watching the girl.

The creature (a monster? Were there monsters in this place? Nobody had ever warned her!) is so large, so, well, monstrous, she nearly falls back in her attempt to take it all in. Slowly, as sense returns to her, she backs up.

"U-umm..." Hands splayed before her, she mentally searches for a way out of this and only succeeds in dredging up horrifying visions of late night monster movies. "N-nice, uh, monster...?"

Edited 2014-06-15 22:20 (UTC)

The 'monster's eyes narrow to eerily glowing slits. Is he angry? If so, the girl could be in serious trouble. The creature looks like he has hundreds of pounds on her, and his long legs end in enormous claws. This is akin to facing down an exceptionally large lion which also happens to have wings. His head cocks to the side in what might be a curious gesture.

The wings, so far, have gone unnoticed, unlike the creature's enormous bulk. Trucy swallows and takes another step back, reminded of the way a snake looks before it strikes its prey. She suddenly wishes her throwing knives had been a part of tonight's act...

Act?

She pauses as an idea springs to mind.

"G-good boy," she says, as soothingly and hopefully as she can manage. After some quick thinking, she shifts her bag to the side and slips one hand behind her back, ready to trigger Mr. Hat at a moment's notice. "Do you want to see a trick?"

Her movements excite him. Suddenly he's sitting up straighter and shifting his weight from foot to foot. The appendages on the back of his head perk up until they're nearly vertical. His wide, bright eyes dart back and forth between her eyes and her bag, almost...eager? He looks for all the world like a puppy waiting for a stick to be thrown his way.

This is precisely what he's here for.

The reaction gives her pause. If she didn't know any better, she'd say this thing actually wanted to see a trick. But that would be silly, wouldn't it?

She shakes the thought away and clears her throat, smiling like the practiced performer she is, despite her fear. "Well, prepare to be amazed!"

With the flick of a switch, a wooden man springs from beneath her cape and claims her top hat as his own. Instead of leaving him behind while she runs away as planned, however, curiosity gets the best of her. She holds her ground, as well as her breath, and awaits the creature's reaction with trepidation, perhaps demonstrating that she has very little in the way of self-preservation instincts, after all.

Ah! The creature ducks low to the ground and his rear end pops up as he slinks toward the girl. His eyes wide with interest, he creeps close enough to stretch out his neck and sniff at the strange, wooden figure. Close enough for the girl to hear him breathe, the sound like a large bellows trapped in his broad chest, and see the slight greyish mottling on his shoulders and the base of his huge, leathery wings.

The abrupt movement makes Trucy jump. She cringes and holds another breath as the creature draws near, fearing that she's just made the biggest mistake of her life. The monster's breath is loud enough that she can almost feel the vibration in its chest, bringing to mind the scene in that one dinosaur movie, where the T-Rex is right up in the characters' faces. Maybe if she stays still enough, this creature will forget that she's there, too...?

Without moving, she glances up at the shadow looming over her, only to be met with the sight of an enormous wing mottled with shiny, black scales. Like a giant lizard with wings.

Holding back a gasp, she swallows hard and waits for whatever comes next, saying a silent apology to her daddy and uncle Miles for being "too damnably curious for her own good" and not running while she had the chance.

Edited 2014-06-16 01:58 (UTC)

'What comes next' is a long time coming. The dinosaur-like creature continues to sniff at the wooden figure over and over again, each time craning his neck a little further towards the girl's back. Suddenly, without warning, he waddles backwards and sits back up on his tail again. His eyes gleam as he watches her intently, and his lips curl up in an awkward, crooked line that reveals pink, seemingly toothless gums. If one didn't know any better, one might think that the creature was trying to smile...

What on Earth were you thinking, Trucy? That one sounds like Polly's voice, in all its astounded glory. Trucy can't help but agree with it.

Unable to hold her breath any longer, it comes out in short, panicked huffs, accompanied by her racing pulse. In a last ditch effort, she slides a hand into her bag and wraps it around one of the unused firecrackers from her show, hoping the sparks and loud noise will offer her another chance at escape. Just as she's about to let loose with it, though, the creature backs off.

Her eyes had slipped shut at some point. She pries them open now, only to see the giant lizard-thing watching her with interest and... bared gums?

No teeth, she realizes. Although this creature has more than a hundred pounds on her and could easily do damage, even without any teeth, something about the way it's holding itself reads 'giant, excited puppy-dog' more than 'ferocious, blood-thirsty beast'. But maybe she's being naive again...

Hand still clasped around the firecracker, she frowns up at the creature. "Um... Are you going to eat me?" It's best to ask, she figures, just to get that out of the way.

His response is encouraging (or it would be if the girl could be certain he understood the question). He cocks his head to the side again, blinking at her for a moment, then leans forward a bit, bobbing his head as if he means to urge her on. If he intends to eat her he's certainly taking his sweet time with it.

"I guess that seems like a 'no'," she mutters. Slowly, her muscles begin to unclench, though her hand remains tight around the firecracker. (Even if this thing is like an excited puppy-dog, it's still a giant, excited puppy-dog, with claws and muscles and, oh yeah, wings.)

"Well, if you're not going to eat me, then why were you following me?"

His eyes dart from her to the wooden figure then back again, before he shuffles forward a few inches. He's eagerly awaiting something, but what?

Trucy follows its line of sight. "Mr. Hat?" She turns back to the creature, cocking her head to the side. "You wanted to see Mr. Hat?"

He doesn't nod or smile or make a sound, but his gaze shifts again, fixing on the building in the far distance where her shows are usually performed. Is it a clue or just a small, skittering night creature that caught his attention?

She follows its line of sight once more but sees nothing out of the ordinary that might have caught the creature's attention.

Turning back, she worries her lip for a moment before clearing her throat.

"G'day, sir or madam... or giant lizard-thing," Mr. Hat says, lifting his hat in greeting. Trucy watches the creature's reaction with cautious curiosity.

Edited 2014-06-16 19:29 (UTC)

The creature is very excited to be addressed by the puppet! At least, he seems to be. Those odd appendages on the back of his head pop up again and that crooked grin is back, this time baring a full set of teeth the size of walnut shells.

Trucy allows herself a cautious smile, not yet noticing the teeth.

"My name is Mr. Hat," the puppet continues. "It's a pleasure to meet you, dahling."

The creature lowers his head and opens his mouth a bit wider to emit a strange, stuttering sound. His shoulders shake gently, as if he's laughing. Perhaps he is? Difficult to say when one can't speak the same language, even body language. Whatever he's doing, his teeth are now on full display at about the girl's eye level.

Trucy giggles in spite of herself, letting some of her guard down at what seems like a display of amusement. Maybe this lizard-thing isn't so scary, after all.
The moment her eyes land on the teeth bared before her, however, her back straightens up again, and her eyes go wide.

"Teeth!" she gasps. "But I thought..."

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