Eola

Eola ================================== You were young when you first tasted dragonflesh, weren't you?

Chimera Fangs Organics Said to have many mystical properties, Chimera Fangs are also good for a laugh. 15 Plaguebringer Bone Scrimshaw Trinkets A menacing engraving of the Plaguebringer. It is scrawled on the side of a large bonespike and reeks of decay. 105 Thick Meat Strips Meat The strips of meat in this bag are of unknown origin. They smell really, really good though. 20 2

Eola's been Marked for three days when Mez visits. No one's really tending to her anymore - dragons heal fast. The Sickmother's children, even more so. So she's not in any danger anymore, not really, even if she's still mostly bedbound. She's getting pretty sick of her little room, no matter how weird and interesting it is. All metal panels and electric lights, like something out of a Stormland drama. Still boring after two days of looking at it, so... Mizar herself could've stopped by and Eola would've been happy for it. Mez visiting immediately puts her in a fantastic mood.

"Hey, Mez," Eola says, and pats her cot in invitation. Mez hasn't got any major wounds, at least not that Eola can see. His one arm's in a sling, though, so who knows what's going on under that.

"Hey yourself," Mez replies. He's smiling, but it doesn't reach his eyes. He doesn't sit down. "Doing alright?"

Eola hums. This is going somewhere, and she's probably not going to like it. "Think my eye's done for," she says, touching below it with her fingertip. That whole side of her face feels a little... charred, still, and raw. Hopefully it doesn't look too gruesome.

Mez leans against the wall, next to the weird sliding door. He moves like he's going to fold his arms, only the sling is in the way so instead he puts his chin in his hand. "It looks a lot better than it did," he agrees. "Not so..." he gestures vaguely. "...melted."

Oh, lovely. Eola's quite happy she remembers absolutely none of the melted phase. At least the scars are gonna look amazing. "Something up, Mez?"

He just looks at her. She's pretty sure he's chewing the inside of his cheek, although he's gotten a lot better at hiding it. Eventually he decides to go with: "So I overheard some of the fight between you and Aine."

Eola can't remember half of it, but she definitely remembers the part where Auntie Aine had been screeching various epithets at her while trying to melt her face off. Mez had never given any indication of agreeing with Aine's opinions on Plague, and anyway if he did he wouldn't be standing there having a civil conversation. So it wasn't that. So... he meant before the melting-your-face-off part had started. Before the fires had started.

Well. Damn.

It shows on her face, melted-and-charred or not. Mez nods - but he doesn't back away or yell for backup or any of the other perfectly logical things he could do. Instead he just watches her. Eola'd never hurt him, he's unequivocally one of the good ones... but Mez doesn't know that. Man's got balls of steel if nothing else.

"I told Dima what I heard," Mez finally says, after they stare at each other for a while longer. "Once it looked like you were going to make it. Told them I hadn't thought it was true, or at least not all of it, but when the Mark came - well. I thought I should see what else was true."

"The infectionist part's not," Eola adds helpfully. They hadn't kicked her out yet, and mama always said honesty was the best policy. Couldn't hide it anyways, not anymore. Might as well try honesty.

Mez nods again. "And what about the cannibalism part?"

Eola shrugs. Smiles. Carefully doesn't show teeth. "Would you believe I only eat people who try to kill me?"

There's a long silence. Neither of them look away. Eola doesn't try to look innocent - she'd lost her innocence as a hatchling, and to pretend otherwise would be a disservice to Mez's intelligence. She'd go, if he wanted her to, or if Acadia wanted her to. Wouldn't begrudge them for it at all. Be nice to be trusted though.

"You know," Mez says, "I actually would."

---

Acadia does not have much need for warriors. They live on top of a remote mountain, after all, there's not even hostile beastclans to contend with. Except their nearest neighbor underwent a brief civil war and its refugees fled to Acadia - and now Mizar is out for blood.

Eola functions as one of Acadia's full-time defenders, and one of the few who patrols outside of its walls. She had two decades of experience back in Goldwood, and now she's got even more freedom - not to mention all of Acadia's technology. Needless to say, the scales have been tipped in her favor quite a bit. Few would-be attackers ever make it to the fortress itself. And if any of those would-be attackers get separated from their groups... well, they don't ever make it home.

Despite her... darker tastes being something of an open secret, Eola is actually fairly well-liked. She's not at all intimidating, even with the aforementioned taste for dragonflesh and the fact that she's usually walking around in hides, furs, and bones. She's cheerful and friendly, quick to lend a hand or offer words of encouragement, and laid back besides. All things considered... Acadia's lucky to have her.





Character Notes
• Most of Eola's body is covered in burn scars, which are the sun-white of Light magic. The bleached look is concentrated towards her face, neck, and flanks; even her gums and tongue have splotches of it. Her wounds should have by all rights killed her - she was carried from the burning ruins of Goldwood all the way to Acadia by Sally, and somehow managed to survive the entire two days it took to get there and subsequently receive any medical attention at all.
A day later, after she'd pulled through the worst of it, one of the Plaguebringer's Eyes showed up at Acadia and bestowed the Mark of the Plaguebringer upon her while she was semi-conscious. Her survival is therefore assumed to be related to the Filthy One in some way or another, whether it was by Her direct will or some sort of boost granted by worship.

• Eola's worship of the Plaguebringer started very young, when she was still a fledgling. It has its roots in an event that occurred when she was a child: she and her sister Eithne were lost in the woods after fleeing from hostile Talonok, and while Eola was unhurt her sister was not. Eithne succumbed to her wounds, leaving her much younger sister alone... who eventually started to starve. Clan Goldwood found their wayward hatchling eventually, but not before she'd started eating her sister's corpse out of desperation. (Dragons can't starve to death, of course, they hibernate once they run out of energy, can remain so indefinitely, and can reawaken decades later with no ill effects. But a lone, frightened, very hungry hatchling isn't aware of this...) From there, a secret desire for dragonflesh grew into full fledged cannibalism, and from there into worship of the Sickmother. Eola successfully hid both for most of her life, until she was discovered by Aine as Mizar's coup kicked off. Dima is well aware that Eola is cannibalistic - but as long as she doesn't harm any Acadians or their visitors, they see no reason to kick her out. Eola thinks this is bizarre but is happy to enjoy the hospitality. • When on patrol, Eola often wears a mechanical exoskeleton created by Aero. She can move just fine without it despite the severity of her past injuries - what she wears it for instead is the extra power she can put into her attacks. It also comes with a comm unit that lets her communicate with Jarvis, so that she has an even easier time tracking her quarry. Mizar's attack units never stood a chance.

OOC Notes
• Skyrim fandragon! Almost entirely based upon ms_katonic's interpretation of her.








Acadia is a peaceful place, all things considered. About half of its inhabitants are scarred in one way or another, but that's generally through no fault of their own. And most of those want nothing to do with war, if they ever did.

When they say "most", what they really mean is "everyone but Eola".

Eola stands out from the rest of Acadia's inhabitants physically, being the only Wildclaw to call it home - and her particular scars, too, stand out. Her face, neck, and flanks are covered in sun-white bleachmarks, the result of an attack by a particularly angry Light mage. Then there is her attire: furs, leather, and bones. In a clan of more civilized clothing options... well. Her clanmates can perhaps be forgiven for being somewhat wary of her.

But even a few minutes of observation make it clear that for all the ways in which she stands out, Eola still slots neatly into Acadia's <society>. Eola isn't intimidating like you'd expect - she's cheerful and friendly, quick to lend a hand or offer words of encouragement.

In the end, her unrepentantly upbeat personality is what secured her a place here, not her skills as a hunter or ranger. All Wildclaws eat meat, of course, but Eola's tastes are... darker.


She's pretty sure her one eye is blind for good now. Honestly, she's pretty lucky - it doesn't take much for a Light mage to blind you, and at least she got sight back in her other eye.