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[onblackwings]

[ This lady's looking a little different, for anyone that's spoken with her before. Not any older, but there's a sort of crooked quality to her nose, like it'd been broken and healed some time ago. She's lounging in the Initiative apartments, looking like she's recently made friends with a superiority complex. ]

I want to speak to those of you who have seen a war before. Not the skirmishes that the Initiative sends us on here, but actual war.

And failing that, I'll take anyone that knows magic — and can teach it. That part is important. Don't waste my time if all you can do is cast it.

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[sharpe]

{ He barks a laugh. ]

I ain't got pleasant stories ta tell.

[onblackwings]

Then tell me an unpleasant one. It doesn't matter to me, as long as it's good.

[sharpe]

[ He clears his throat. ]

There's a General I know, a bastard he is, not even the right kind. He's a Frog - one of the French - and his name's Loupe. Wolf. France were in Spain at the time, doing as soldiers do when they ain't got the threat of hanging over their heads - they raped, they looted, they pillaged. Loupe and his bastard officers, me and me men found 'em in a Spanish village. One of me Riflemen, he found two officers with their pants down and a poor girl still screaming and crying beneath 'em. I had 'em dragged out, and see, there's this code 'mongst the officers. They give their word ta not escape, and they keep their weapons and are treated well.

I ain't going ta trust a couple of racists, no matter how much money their da's got. [ He snorts. ] I had the bastards shoved against a wall, their pants still undone, and I had 'em shot. Loupe don't look pleased at all 'bout that, but it's his own fault fer letting rapists into his damned army.

[ He quirks his lips up. ]

That ain't me favourite story, though - I ain't got one, but it tells you well 'nough what war's like. Bunch of bastards trying ta kill each other, and ta kill all else 'round 'em as well.

[ ... Well, you see, he's kind of sick of war by this point, so! ]

[onblackwings]

[ She looks pleased at the start of the story, but a frown grows before he's even halfway done.

dang, dude. your war story sucks. ]

You shot men at your mercy, and that's your story? Congratulations.

[ not that she cares he killed them, hell naw, victor's right. it's just a boring story. }

[sharpe]

Aye, I did. [ No shame. He shrugs. ] They're bastards, and they deserve no mercy.

[onblackwings]

I don't care about their mercy, it was war.

Not a very exciting one, though.

[sharpe]

If you know anything of war, ma'am, you know it's not 'exciting' at all.

[onblackwings]

I have the collected stories of a veteran from my own world to prove you wrong.

Maybe it's just your wars that aren't exciting.

[sharpe]

Aye? That so.

[onblackwings]

Well, it must be. I'd have been able to tell you for myself, but I was brought back here again too soon.

[sharpe]

Tell me then. Those grand stories you've been told.

[onblackwings]

[ She pauses here, frowning a little. To relate any of these stories to him would make it clear that her war veteran was a dragon, which humans don't often make friends of. Is there any way she could alter them? Maybe... ah, now she has it. A small smile. ]

He rode a dragon into battle. A young black, I'd heard. Would you like the time he ambushed and tore the throat from a copper, or the time he used his magic to confound an entire flight of bronzes?

[ A fool-proof plan. She looks smug. ]

[sharpe]

[ He bursts out laughter. ]

Tell me 'bout the one when he tore out the throat. That at least I know.

[onblackwings]

Both of them had been left behind, I'd heard. Pteros-- that is, my friend's dragon-- had been wounded at his shoulder, and was unable to keep up with the rest of the flight. The copper had been burned, which was probably a red's work. Pteros heard the copper before it was in sight, and had time to dive into a cloudbank for cover. [ She pauses, smirks. Racial pride, man. ] I'm told the copper never saw it coming, and was dead before hitting the ground.

[sharpe]

Wars fought with dragons in the air. Now I've heard of everything. [ He chuckles softly. ]

Aye, it'd sound glorious if that's what yer war is.

[onblackwings]

It is, I'm sure. And whenever I leave this place again, I'll join its ranks for myself.

[sharpe]

And have yer throat torn out like that copper of yers?

[onblackwings]

Please. I'm better than that.