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"Massster..." this came from a disembodied head floating in front of Raistlin's desk. The archmagus didn't look up immediately, busy scratching writing onto a piece of flattened parchment, the quill in his thin golden fingers practically vibrating with the speed of his notes.

Genessia was a land of fascinating marvels. He'd be sure not to forget a single one.

"Masssster pleasssse," the head tried a second time.

Finally, Raistlin glanced up, impatient at the interruption. "What?"

"Therrrre is an intruderrr in the Grrove."

That. That was interesting, and Raistlin's hand finally stilled. "In the Grove, you say?"

"Yesssss. The defenderrrssss have not been able to kill it..."

Extremely interesting. Something from Genessia, no doubt, nothing else would make sense. The blackrobe dabbed the last of the ink off the feather quill onto a pad and set the instrument aside, and then took the time to carefully close up the inkwell. This could take a while.

And so it was that whatever this stranger was doing, he suddenly wasn't the only living creature in the dark, ancient grove. Raistlin lurked in the deepest shadows, silently watching.

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Raistlin shook his head at that, "It bears repeating; you are quite strange."

Honestly. Not even a week?

"Come along, then."

HE LIKES YOU. And yes, without having to be told, he does in fact take Raistlin's arm again. Already having processed this as totally normal and fine.

"Yeah, you're great too."

FRANDS.

Yep, there's that thin arm of his again, the one not involved in holding his staff.

"Apparently so, for you to be back so quickly."

Dry, so very dry.

"What have you brought? Besides bullets."

"You tolerate me, it's kind of like finding a unicorn and I appreciate that." He's self aware. He knows.

"Couple genealogy books, found some shit on mutants from where I'm from, that one was really hard to get so you're welcome, I got a frag grenade aaaaaand some C4.

... We're gonna need to stay outside for those."

That earns Wade a thoughtful glance, although the proximity plus their height means neither can see the other's face through Raistlin's hood.

Still.

"...And what is a frag grenade and C4?"

It wouldn't be the first time he's never gotten a good look at the face of a brand new best friend!

"Military grade explosives. I'll show you when we get there, if you have anything big laying around that you don't want to see anymore."

"You can show me in the main lab, I suppose."

Yeah, lab. Sorry Wade. He's got a lab. Multiple, in fact.

"It has accommodated worse than explosives."

Well on one hand... lab. That's never a good word for him.

On the other hand, he gets to go inside the tower! And judging by what happened the last time he was here, Raistlin didn't really seem to be the type to want to keep anyone around, let alone Wade.

... Seems like a pretty good gamble, he'll take it.

"Sweet. The C4 is putty by the way, shit's pretty awesome, I think you'll like it."

Raistlin Majere was a big enough hermit that the number of people in Palanthas who had ever laid eyes on the master of the Tower could be counted on one hand. In the years he'd been here.

So, yeah.

As last time, the gates opened at a gesture from the mage, and he led the way in before tugging at his arm. Get the hint this time?

"Putty? As in a paste?" Explosive paste? Huh.

He let go this time, yes. He needed both hands to pull out what he'd brought anyway, two carefully wrapped and insulated boxes being produced.

"Kiiiiiind of. It's thicker and not as sticky. Definitely a ton of fun though. Frag grenades are a bit of a different beast, we're gonna need cover to take before I use it.

Frag means fragmented." Hint hint.

"Shrapnel," Raistlin was familiar with the idea, even if he was from a world that didn't have guns. They had trebuchets! And magic, of course.

And he'd dealt with both in the mercenary army of the Mad Baron of Langtree.

There had been that book... left in the enemy encampment. Raistlin had insisted everyone clear away from it and take cover, and he had opened the book slowly with a string slipped around a corner of its front cover. Nothing had happened... until the breeze had picked up and turned a few pages...

"I am familiar with that. Inside, first. I need to sit."

'Inside' turned out to be inside and up the long, winding circular staircase that encircled the hollow core of the tower. No rail on the inside, either, making for a very nasty trip down if one stumbled at the wrong time.

Edited 2019-07-21 06:45 (UTC)

"Yeah that. Good, so you don't need a crash course on shrapnel, that makes this a lot easier."

Sitting was fine, of course. But shit that was... a way up, wasn't it?

"... All the way up there? With all the... no rails thing? Up there?

... Sure yeah okay that's fine." Just gonna walk directly behind Raistlin because if he can avoid falling off from those stairs at a hundred feet up and breaking every bone in his body and looking like a huge stupid dork in front of his new friend, he will.

It's a long ways up and Raistlin isn't the fastest stair-climber, leaning on his staff as he goes and all. Is it any wonder he often opts to just teleport?

But they do eventually get to where Raistlin intends them to go; not entirely up at the top, but certainly more than half. The mage opens a door and leads the way into a cluttered study full of artifacts and vials of strange fluids and books, of course. So many books.

Taking it slow is just fine for Wade, there's plenty of very wary looks downwards at the stairs and steps, doing mental notes about how long it might take to get his legs back in working order if he were to slip and eat the stone at the bottom of this tower.

Trust him he is thankful to leave those stairs behind, stepping in behind him and just....

"... This place is fucking awesome." Be a big nerd.

"What's in this shit?" Just gonna hustle over to a vial with some weird shit in it hi whats up what's THIS

"Red draconian ichor," Raistlin barely has to glance to know which one Wade is fixated on first. He just makes his way to his massive desk and sinks into the chair behind it with an exhausted sigh, propping the staff up against a shelf just in reach.

"Try not to spill it, it's quite hard to acquire now."

"... I'm good, thanks." He was gonna pick it up, but then he heard the whole dragon part with the ichor part and he's thought better of it. What's ichor? He doesn't know.

He's going to assume dragon jizz. He can bet it's hard to find.

"... Is that a dragon head?" IS THAT A DRAGON HEAD.

"It is," Raistlin confirmed, well aware Wade was fixated on the giant skull held hanging from the ceiling by ropes, behind Raistlin's chair. "A chromatic specimen, a young blue."

Young as in not that big.

"I suppose your world lacks dragons, as well?"

"... I mean yeah it uh... Yeah he looks uh... That's a small... baby dragon. Alright." No it's not.

"Well shit, not real ones. There's mutants that can look like them, or make you think you're seeing dragons. Or you could just do all the drugs and see all the dragons you like."

"They are quite real on Krynn," Raistlin leaned back in his seat and relaxed a bit, before reaching up to flick his hood back from his head.

He'd seen Wade. He very much doubted the man was going to freak out at his golden skin and gaunt features, hourglass eyes and grey hair.

"Although they have withdrawn from the world once more, for the most part. The latest war they were a part of is long over."

Nah, the man didn't even bat an eye. He glanced over for a second, and then looked away again, back at the head. Thin gold man wasn't nearly as fun to stare at as BIG SCARY DEAD DRAGON HEAD.

Raistlin may as well have been any other dude he's seen.

"Withdrawn? What, where'd they go? You can't be the size of a goddamn whale and just vanish."

"To another plane of existence, I would imagine," Raistlin folded his hands across his stomach, thin fingers knitting together, hourglass eyes fixed on Wade. "When the Gods withdrew from battle, their dragon armies did as well. For the most part."

There was still a stray here and there, like the blue his wretch of a sister rode.

"I'm gonna guess it's just totally chill and normal for people to hop in and out of planes like there's a revolving door between dimensions where you're from? Or is that just special dragon and god shit that everyone's completely cool with?"

"Special dragon and God... shit, that everyone has no say over."

Why throw a fit when it literally was just how shit was? Water was wet.

"When the constellations of the Gods vanish from the night sky, we know they walk Krynn again. Or as close to walking Krynn as the dark lady Takhisis can get... and where they battle, so too do their dragons."

"See we don't even know if we have a god over here. There miiiight be one? I know heaven is real. I think. Pretty sure those weren't hallucinations caused by multiple brain deaths.

Pretty sure.

Still, god is up for debate but dragons are definitely confined to the realm of 'drug trips only'."

"Our Gods are also very real," Raistlin just kept on watching Wade, of course. He'd seen everything else in this room, hadn't he? Wade was the new thing. And also, Raistlin was a dramatic fucker and this might get an interesting reaction--

"I killed them all, in one timeline. And then I chose not to, to save myself from the eternity of feeling nothing ever again, spinning in the silent void. Our dark Lady was not pleased to have been brought so close to ruin, but the tortures I endured each day at her hands was still better than that nothingness."

Edited 2019-07-21 07:59 (UTC)