Crystallis Research Academy

[Tall Italian Boy]

"I think Devin's trying to tell us that the dragon prints have Winter's scent." Pyne said as he reached in his bag and found lighter fluid. He took a big branch from a tree and made a torch. "Use this." He said handing it to Alyxis.

 

[Julia the Trickster]

(me and tall posted at the same time, I just wanted to make sure you both knew there was one more of my posts at the end of the last page)  

[Hiraru Sagara]

Alyxis looked at Kaede first, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion, "I thought you said you didn't know Winter's smell." Alyxis picked up the torch from Pyne and examined the claw print. She lightly ran her fingers around the edge of the print, "If this is Winter... We're not going to be able to handle this alone anymore." She shook her head and looked up at The three of them, letting fear creep into her eyes if not her voice, "A pair of werewolves, a kitsune, and a vampire hunter are going to be nothing against a dragon."

Devin whined.

(my brain turned that into a joke, "a pair of werewolves, a kitsune and a vampire hunter walk into a bar... xd )  

[Tall Italian Boy]

"Should we go back to Merkia and tell King Mark? Surely he could handle it once he knew where she was." Pyne said as he looked at Alyxis.

 

[Hiraru Sagara]

"The problem is, we don't know where she is. She's not here, all I can tell is this is a dragon print and this is where it took off from. Devin can probably tell us, yes this is Winter, but if she flew his nose is useless." Alyxis swallowed, "So how could we tell him where she is?"  

[Julia the Trickster]

(sorry, forgot about that)

Kaede suddenly felt sick. She remembered it was her fault that the man in the tophat had visited Merkia. She sat down looking shaken, her face blank as she stared at the print.  

[Tall Italian Boy]

"Well, we can see what direction she flew off to and hope for the best." Pyne said as he looked at the foot print. "Which direction is this way?" He asked curiously and looked at Kaede. "What's wrong?" He asked.

 

[Hiraru Sagara]

"South-east," Alyxis provided, "And what if she changed her direction?" Her gaze turned to Kaede as well, and she tilted her head to the side.

Devin walked over to Kaede, and stood against her, blocking what wind he could.  

[Julia the Trickster]

Kaede continued to stare at the ground. "This is all my fault..."  

[Tall Italian Boy]

"Well, we have to take our chance." Pyne said as he looked at Kaede. "No, it's not. Don't say that." He said to her.

 

[Julia the Trickster]

Kaede shook her head slowly. "This wouldn't have happened if I hadn't showed up..." She felt extremely guilty as she recounted the events at Merkia. The man in the Tophat was after her, but he took Winter.  

[Hiraru Sagara]

"Bullshit," Alyxis laughed, "If he hadn't had the excuse of you, it would have been something else. 'We insulted him, but not knowing you where you were'. People like that find an excuse, any excuse to do evil things. Sure you were the trigger this time, but tell me what made him infect this other vampire? What made him tear into the academy. It's not always about you, sometimes it's more complicated then that. Besides having a pity party and blaiming yourself does nothing to fix it."

Devin growled a little at Alyxis and rubbed against Kaede. He did feel bad for her, and wanted her to stop feeling bad.  

[Tall Italian Boy]

"Enough." Pyne said and glared at Devin. "We only have two choices now. Go back to Merkia or follow this print in hope of finding Winter." He said as he looked at them.

 

[Hiraru Sagara]

"My vote's already decided, we can not take on a dragon by ourselves. At the bare minimum we need to go to Merkia to get reinforcements," Alyxis said, crossing her arms.