Chapter 002 - [Action] - Forward dated to Tuesday/Wednesday afternoon

[consultmybooks]

[So, hey, Luceti.

Giles is sick of you. Too much bad has happened with not enough good, and he went to a certain apartment in CH2 and beat down the dor with his tail when no one answered and found it empty.

He's had enough.

And he's learned how to breathe fire.

He has eight shots today and he intends to use them.

He's retained enough presence of mind around the rage not to go for people or buildings. But villagers will sporadically see comet like streams of fire shooting themselves up into the sky, or swathes of grass charred black and turned to dust. And Giles doesn't just limit himself to the village - he'll fly himself out to the desert or to the lake or to the ocean to rampage. He doesn't want to hurt people, he doesn't even want to draw attention to himself, but he also wants to scream and now he can do it with fire.

When he's not venting his anger with fire and tooth and claw on the scenery, Giles will usually be airborne. He's figured out how to land so far, and will really only do so when he has to. Now that he isn't colliding with bisons or hawks in midair anymore, he prefers flying. He's usually alone up there. And it's hard to think.

Villagers are free to come upon Giles testing his fire breathing and react accordingly or spot him as he makes slightly more graceful landing than he's been managing recently. Feel free to stare - he'll stare back and try to figure out who you are.

Come nightfall, he'll be restlessly pacing the village on patrol.

Giles will still be haunting CH7 with periodic checks in to House 7.The former Watcher is calm enough when he isn't scorching things. He's still not in the greatest of moods, but he does know better than to take it out on people.

Even so, certain people should probably approach with caution. You know who you are.]

((ooc: Potential follow up to the log post if anyone's interested. Replies will come from airborne_giles . Timeline uncertain, except for the fact that this mentality really only takes hold on Tuesday, but I'm ruling that it also takes place chornologically "after" his thread with the Buffybot. Anyone who's tagged him as Day 3 specifically doesn't need to worry, those threads are still very much valid.))

Comments

Re: [action] ...okay then ^-^.

[airborne-giles.livejournal.com]

Yes. My flame.

For the week, at least. [Giles watches Homura carefully as he nears the flames. The heat doesn't bother him, not right now, but he knows how hot it is compared with the landscape in general. He honestly doesn't want anyone getting hurt.]

[action] pfft. at least you tried?

[screwthegods]

So you've been transformed as well.

[Homura seems somewhat distracted as he speaks, however, and takes yet another step closer to that bush. Of the variety of pain he's felt over his life, burning has never been one of them. He more than curious, given how often he's inflicted that particular injury.]

Why are you setting things on fire?

Re: [action] And you did, too.

[airborne-giles.livejournal.com]

[Giles will just...shift a little closer to Homura, the better to yank him back if/when the man burns himself. He gives a forcibly nonchalant shrug as he does so.]

It's not every day that I find myself a dragon. I was curious.

Besides, I've come to find that it's very...cathartic.

Re: [action]

[screwthegods]

[That movement is fairly obvious, and Homura can guess at the dragon's intent. So he stops for the moment, and turns to look at the other.]

Cathartic. In what way, exactly?

Re: [action]

[airborne-giles.livejournal.com]

I don't know.

Not sure how I'd put words to it, really.

But I've certainly felt better.

Re: [action]

[screwthegods]

[Homura's mouth slowly widens into a grin.]

You should be careful. Fire has a way of going out of control quickly.

Re: [action]

[airborne-giles.livejournal.com]

I know that.

I have been doing my best, and I haven't caused any serious harm to land or life quite yet.

Re: [action]

[screwthegods]

Is that so? I doubt this bush would agree with you, if it had a voice with which to argue.

Flames start out as a single spark, and then they grow from there. You said it yourself--you simply haven't, yet.

Re: [action]

[airborne-giles.livejournal.com]

...no villagers have been turned into plants, have they?

Re: [action]

[screwthegods]

I don't know. Have they?

Re: [action]

[airborne-giles.livejournal.com]

[Giles says nothing. But from the way his claws are tearing little furrows in the dirt, from the way he's suddenly watching the bush a lot more carefully...he'd never thought of that.]

...I hate this place.

[He starts kicking dirt over the heart of the fire. It doesn't do much good.]

Re: [action]

[screwthegods]

[Homura knows that already--he has from the moment Giles claimed the benefit he'd felt from the release. When Giles begins to kick up dirt, however, Homura moves in his way. No, it doesn't do so much good, but Homura can't have the dragon extinguishing that flame just yet.]

Even if they made you what you are, you are the one responsible for your own actions. Besides, it's too late to save that plant.

But there is still something to be gained.

Re: [action]

[airborne-giles.livejournal.com]

[Giles bares his teeth briefly at Homura before shaking his head and settling down again.]

Enlighten me, then. [But after the week he's had, the last thing he wants is a run-around from a stranger.]

Re: [action]

[screwthegods]

[If Giles did attack him, be it with flame or tooth or claw, Homura has no chance. In this state, he can't even form his sword properly. Yet despite his awareness of this, the man shows no fear--just a confidence that borders on arrogance.]

Our positions have been reversed. Although I'm not typically a dragon, I am also someone who can control fire, and produce it at will. I've used my power to kill countless people over the course of centuries, and while I know exactly what flame can do, I've never once felt the pain of it.

Now, however, I'm simply a human, and nothing more. Which means that I have no control over flame--nor any protection against it.

Re: [action]

[airborne-giles.livejournal.com]

...I have felt the pain of it before. I've been in the center of a fire going out of control.

And that was when I was a human with no protection from it.

Re: [action]

[screwthegods]

Did you die?

Re: [action]

[airborne-giles.livejournal.com]

Almost.

...I should have. But a friend of mine proved to have exceptionally good timing and exceptionally poor decision making skills.

Re: [action]

[screwthegods]

So you regret the fact that they saved you? Most would simply be thankful.

Re: [action]

[airborne-giles.livejournal.com]

I was, a while later. After I'd returned to my senses.

But it did take a while. There were consequences to both our choices that night.

Re: [action]

[screwthegods]

There are always consequences.

[The heat is starting to grow painful as Homura takes another step toward that bush, now within arms reach of it. He looks back over his shoulder at the dragon.]

But so long as you're alive, you can continue to act, and you can change. Perhaps your friend realized that when they saved you.

Re: [action]

[airborne-giles.livejournal.com]

[Giles used to wonder about that. Giles used to wonder about that a great deal. Eventually, the conclusion he came to was something between Homura's words and the fact that Buffy had just been terrified for him and yet stubbornly determined not to let anyone else die that night.]

...I'm not going to hurt you.

So please stop singing yourself.

Re: [action]

[screwthegods]

Hmm? Is that what you think?

[Homura laughs quietly at the idea.] I'm not looking for you to hurt me. I'm curious, not suicidal. If you shot me directly with your fire, I wouldn't survive. When I die again, it'll be for a better reason than this.

Re: [action]

[airborne-giles.livejournal.com]

You're getting very close to a bush that happens to be burning at obscenely hot temperatures. Forgive me if your actual intent is escaping me, at the moment.

Re: [action]

[screwthegods]

Well. You aren't too far off.

You said you hated this place. Is that because you feel powerless? Did burning what the Malnosso crafted ease that helplessness?

[He knows the dragon is watching. If Giles moves to stop him, Homura won't be able to prevent it. But even so, he reaches out, cringing in pain as he tries to touch that flame.]

Re: [action]

[airborne-giles.livejournal.com]

[The dragon is watching. The dragon is confused and upset. The dragon gets back to his feet, his tail lashing in agitation.]

Yes. All right? Is that what you're after to hear? Because that is the case - I won't deny it.

When I'm in my proper body, most of this village could kill me if the mood took them.

[His voice becomes even more of a growl.] What about you? Do you feel powerless? Are you upset at them for turning you human? They'll only laugh at you if you do yourself injury over it.