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Natsu Dragneel, Flame Dragon

Soft footsteps - and the sound of rhythmic clicking, as though of claws - interrupted the presumably awkward moment. There was a brief pause, as though the walker were uncertain of where they were going, and then a young woman appeared, removing a long, lacy veil as she came in. Behind her walked what might have been mistaken for a horse...if one were half-blind.

Claws, fangs, the eyes, the horn all spoke of killer unicorn, and marked the young woman in question as a Beast Keeper. And yet the animal was strange even for its own kind - it had long, semitransparent black wings currently folded politely against its back.

Alaiza ran an absently affectionate hand over Kri'zarh's neck as she stood in the room, examining the eggs. She'd been positive she'd get lost - her sense of direction in caves was most certainly not stellar - but she had trusted Zar to get her to where she needed to go, and he had come through again.

She had her whip coiled by her side, where it would remain until she actually needed it. At the moment, she had another concern that she ought to voice before she forgot it.

"Hope you don't mind him," she said to the guides absently, nodding at Zar. "I can send him outside to wait if you'd rather." It was spoken without sounding at all grudging - she thought it would be a fair complaint if they wanted her to leave him outside. She'd brought him along because, well, Zar was practically an army in himself. But the guides might not want him there - she knew he was dextrous enough to avoid stepping on the eggs, but they didn't. The animal snorted softly, his ears twitching as he took in the surroundings.

There's a place for us

Mae Lawings

Somewhere

The Dragons and the Priests had always had very good relations. It was something ancient, and went back further than the written records kept by the Church. It was impressive, in a way, since written records had been found documenting the founding of the very first Church building. Of course, Priests had been around long before churches had been. Back then, they had been traveling healers. It was probably along some travel that they had met the Dragons and done something or another that helped to gain their trust and support. Now, anytime the Priests had trouble, like with Stone Headhunters, the Dragons would always send someone to help out. The same could be said for the Dragons needing help. A Priest could always be found volunteering to lend a hand.

Like Mae right now. She'd heard about some Lesser Dragon eggs needing guarding, and she had immediatly signed up. She remembered how some Dragons had helped out her Church back when a fire had caught onto the belltower, and she had always wanted to try and help them out to return the favor. It was only right. So she'd made her way down to the Shell Caverns. It was sort of twisty in there, but finding the eggs hadn't been hard. She'd been given directions, after all. Still, Mae couldn't help but feel relieved when she realized that she had, indeed, made it to the right place. She wasn't fond of the idea of wandering around and getting eaten by some strange monster, unable to protect herself.

"Hello. My name is Mae Lawings, and I hope to be of help," she greeted politely as she looked around the room. It seemed like two others had shown up already, one who was in the middle of sending her Killer Unicorn out of the room. Oh my, she certainly hoped that this Onyx Beat Keeper was more civil than the one from the last quest. She'd just been plain rude, and Mae had almost been tempted to make her say 'please' a hundred time before healing her. Almost. Mae wasn't the petty sort.

She was ready for this quest. She'd rested up so that her health and magic levels were at their height, and she'd been careful to stock up fully on potions and necessary items. Additionally, she now had a staff. A wonderful, beautiful, holy-magic-infused staff. It wasn't meant for offensive purposes (she doubted that it could do more than bash an annoying person upside the head) but to make her range greater. Healing from a distance wouldn't be a problem now.

Hearing about the monsters made her nervous, but only a little. She sure wouldn't be fighting them after all. She'd leave that to the others. Her job was to make sure that their injuries weren't great and, possibly, to heal them from poison. Somebody was going to be reckless enough to get stabbed by one of those points, she was sure, and she'd hate to see them in pain fron the toxins.

A place for us

There's a place for us

Mae Lawings

Somewhere

((I vote that Amon gets hurt at some point! Just for mild ego-kicking purposes. -evil-))

So it seemed that Mae would be interacting with two very different guides on this quest. Fafnir seemed quite like most Dragons in the sense that he treated her with the respect that was customary between the two groups. He'd even smiled at her which, judging from the lines on his face, was not something he was used to doing. How sad. Mae couldn't imagine going very long without smiling, but she supposed that she was naive in that respect, along with others. Amon sure seemed to think so. He gave her a look that she had recognized before. One that seemed to scream that he didn't need her or anyone else in the world who couldn't match him in fighting skills. Mae didn't very much care. A lot of people thought of her like that. She didn't kill. Her job was for the opposite, and it often went unappreciated by those who devoted their lives to taking away the lives of others. Ah well, Mae liked to think that they would understand in time. The importance of helping and living was usually something that wasn't comprehended until it was gone. Maybe Amon would be the same way. All the same, despite his forced thank you and attitude, and despite that he had his head turned away, she smiled brightly at him and Fafnir. Oh, and Mae's smile was a weapon all on its own.

Mae's smile was powerful. It was close to having it's own shiny, fluffly sound effect. Upon looking at it on her face, the picture of innocence shining through, one was almost forced to think of small children and baby animals. Even for the cruelest of people of normally hated those things, it was disarming. "I'm happy to be of help. Please just tell me where you would like me to be during battle. Range shouldn't be an issue with this staff."

a place for us

((OOC: Can I second that? Just for the lulz? Please?))

Alaiza happened to notice Mae's quick glance. Her lips twitched ever so slightly - she had seen that look before. Looked like the Priest had run across another of her kin before, and was wondering if Alaiza would be the same. Well, she supposed it was fair enough. Some of her people could be...quite nasty. Alaiza, however, was not quite that bad.

...Actually, some might say she was worse. Alaiza could be polite when she needed to be, but unless she really meant it, it tended to be that kind of politeness that edged towards frigid, and was so close to rude that it made people want to hurt her. Normally, however, they couldn't, because technically there was no reason for it. She found that an amusing side effect.

For now, though, she had no grudge against this Priest. So she allowed herself the slightest smile before tilting her head to listen. Yes, the sound of claws had faded. Hopefully Zar had actually obeyed her this time, and wasn't just hiding outside the doorway waiting until he thought she wouldn't notice to come back in - he'd done that before. Alaiza had made sure he knew that was unacceptable, but sometimes he could be a slow learner.

Shaking her head slightly at the thought of her willful little idiot, she unhooked the whip that was still hanging at her belt. She probably ought to have it out - she didn't know how much noise these things made on their way here. Holding it idly, she scanned the room. Was this it for volunteers?

Sad. Just sad.

((-will reply later- It makes me laugh how un-Natsu like your Natsu is. xD))