Masque

"The raffle will be run weekly, and tickets will be available to any dragon who can afford them." Dragons wait in line under the watchful gaze of whatever law enforcement their flights have in place, and their visible presence seems to be enough to keep order as each dragon hands over a stack or pouch of treasure in exchange for being noted down on the roster. Masque's eyes snap over to the head of one line when one dragon surges forward, upset that the clerk will not accept the necklace dangling from her talons. The little Tundra shrinks back from the Ridgeback towering over her and Masque tenses, preparing to spring forward, but Light's Proctors are already escorting the Ridgeback away from the lines. All is peaceful, for now, but the Proctors will move on along with the raffle attendants...

---

Chaos. All around are the screams of dragons, bereft of even the treasure they needed to buy food for their hatchlings the next day. There are sounds of shattering as big dragons sweep through homes designed for breeds far smaller than themselves, grabbing any treasure they come across. Most families cower back from these dragons, but there are some who are trained for combat, and those spring into action. The big dragons have a size advantage, but not enough to overcome the power of dragons used to fighting in the Golem Workshop for hours at a time, even when they aren't fighting to protect their families. And pity the idiot who thinks the clan's leaders will be easy pickings- those two cast together like they're one dragon, and they'll rip through this rabble like so many Sparrowmice. Masque sees two of the three-dragon team, Valyria and Valentin, sweeping through the crush to prevent a Guardian from trashing Gaelan's greenhouses as he emerges from the Skydancer's home. Where- ah, of course, Nyx would be home protecting his mate and children, he wouldn't be out with these two. A loud crash followed by a desperate shriek has her leaping into the chaos, seeing the two hulking figures of Sangre and his charge Astriel, fighting back to back. Astriel's glowing library must have been too tempting of a target to pass up, but now that Sangre has accepted Astriel's ability to fight, no one will be getting past those two. But where- up ahead, a young Coatl has spread her wings over a pair of hatchlings. A big Snapper is bearing down on them, claiming she "owes him" and now she'd better "pay up". Masque breaks into a run as he moves forward again, sliding between them just in time to get set and take his charge. She does, but he pushes her back almost into the Coatl and her precious treasures and Masque hears a yelp. She pushes back against him, but he moves... this is no rabble. This dragon has had at least basic training. He's no match for her, of course, but she has someone to protect now and he sees it, jumping again for his original target. Her tail sweeps around to knock him off course, and she growls out "run", not sure if she's talking to him or to the Coatl still huddling in the middle of the path. But her tail has knocked him to the other side of the Coatl and when he meets her eyes she can see he knows she's made an error. He jumps forward one more time, and Masque takes a deep breath as she twists her entire body into the only move she knows will stop him in time. Her claws come down in a perfect execution of the move that is only taught to the best warriors, for exactly this reason, and the Snapper drops in place. He is dead. Masque turns, doing her level best to stay between the hatchlings and the body behind her, and shepherds the shaking Coatl up and- where? Astriel's voice rings over the rioting "Bring them up here!" Of course, that's perfect. She guides them into the entryway of his library and then turns to help guard the door. "We've got this! Go find some more!" He's right, of course, but she hesitates for a moment. Sangre is now the one facing her as a breath in the fighting allows the three of them to hear each other better. He looks down at the blood on her claws and bows his head. "You did what you had to."
"I know." Masque nods in return, before leaping back into the fray.



Trained up for LDFA by Kookaburra.