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Devi had been looking around at her surroundings, spreading one of her wings slightly. She had been wondering why the dragons had chosen her instead of... anyone else, especially considering that the others seemed to be human. Nevermind that for now... Devi decided to go over to the artist as well.

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She blinked in surprise at his voice, a little thrown-off and suddenly really regretting initiating conversation. Quick, say something! "O-oh, well, I was curious, could you tell me a bit about what you're painting? Like the dragons? They're, er, really pretty?" The last bit was meant as a statement, but it came out sounding more like a question. Crescent mentally winced. She semi-subconsciously reached up a hand to rub the back of her neck and lowering her gaze slightly to the man's shoes. She imagined she looked like a lost child, a misconception people commonly made whenever she'd gone into town back home.

As she'd gotten older, the lost part had petered out, though; she seemed to both appear younger than she was and give off an air of being older. No one ever guessed 16, it was always 13 or 18-19, rarely in-between. And yet, with all those awkward interactions, she somehow still wasn't good at talking to people. Shaking her head slightly and forcing herself to make both arms hang limply at her sides without fidgeting, she did her best to smile a bit and make eye contact with the artist. There, better.

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The artist took on a worried expression, but his tone didn't change as he replied. "Oh, thank you. Why, these are the dragons of legend...those gods you've heard of?" The one in particular depicted in the painting was a brilliant blue dragon, with with yellowy green fins, adorned with sapphire accessories. A water dragon, if anyone had ever seen one

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Crescent nodded. I wasn't wrong! That's one step in the right direction, I guess. "Oh, I have heard of them!" That was just a slight understatement. She wanted to ask him whether he knew what was going on with the dragons nowadays, but that seemed like taking it a bit too far. The man may not actually even believe they existed, as many did. She herself had always been a bit of a believer in ghost stories and myths, though she preferred to focus on the nice ones instead of those that were all blood and gore and death to all mankind. All the same, she needed to say something.

"I really love hearing the stories. Is there a particular one being told in your art?" she asked. The question was surprisingly articulate; she wasn't quite sure where it had come from. It was a pleasant surprise, but she knew she'd likely slip into her usual verbal blundering soon.

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"A tragedy. It seems my inspiration has guided my hand to depict her falling into a deep sleep." His blue paw drifted to the most recent addition to the panting, a small dark figure in the corner. It looked like no more than a human shaped blob, yet it managed to look smug. He lifted it up again, leaving his claws stained with the wet paint. "It worries me, yet I can't figure why?" He looked at her. "Is there a particular reason you want to know?"

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"Well that's just brilliant," Eria muttered under her breath, "what do I do now?" Not wanting to seem to rude, Eria decided to not continue to interrogate the ghost so closed the journal, some slight annoyance showing through, and tucked it back underneath her arm. Regardless, she was grateful for the having the books in the first place so tried not to feel too discouraged. As she looked around, she considered doing a headcount to see how many people were gathering around and talking or just sitting or standing silently bout decided against it. If she was being honest with herself, she couldn't bring herself to count with her mind just racing everywhere. *What do we do, why are we here, what's going on with the dragons and how do we help*, but if anyone else asked, her response would be something along the lines of not looking strange scanning the clouds.
Despite this, she did notice a few people gathering around outside the group. Curious, she wandered over, snippets of conversation catching her ears. She decided against interrupting them so stood back listening, gazing with interest at the painting, the dragons catching her attention, peaking her interest. She shuffled her feet a bit, tilting her head to show she was listening. *Let's hope they don't think I'm being too rude listening into their conversation* she thought to herself.

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Cres’s eyes widened as she noticed the man’s more inhuman traits. She was so, so tempted to ask what species he was, but that really did seem like a very rude question. Something about his words made a sense of sadness creep in, the smile she’d been trying to maintain slipping into a rather somber expression. She glanced away, hand clasping the amulet around her neck. She’d not had it for long, but something about it made her feel rather secure, if that was the right word. “Er, no, no reason. Just curiosity.”

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The man turned to look at her. The paw shifted back into a human hand, but his eyes burned into her. They were a glowing white. He took notice of her necklace. "Oh! Oh my...I feel..." He trailed off, taking notice of the others that had also approached silently. They bore a green and pink amulet similar to the one the girl questioning him was wearing. "This is it. You." He pointed at the three of them. "All of you, get your friends. His head tilted up toward the clouds. "I....think you need to follow me."

Suddenly, the sky roared, and a tendril of lightning lit of the sky before it started to pour

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Eria was very startled to see the heavens open and begin to pour with rain, lightning tearing the sky apart. That was too well timed to be a coincidence, the painters words must have something to do with it, right? If she cold suspend her disbelief to magic powers and endangered dragons, then surely a man *A man with a paw? Eria decided that she really shouldn't be still assuming these things* could command the whether. Still, she rather unhelpfully threw her hand on top of her head in a makeshift umbrella that was completely useless.
She studied the man intrigued. He sounded about 20 but looked a bit older but instead of hand he had a paw. Not just any paw, a blue paw. She self-consciously brushed her hair behind her ear as it tickled the side of her neck. She tried and failed to put the journal in her pocket before hurriedly hiding it behind her back, after all, she couldn't be sure whether she could trust this painter, even if her seemed to know something about the dragoons, probably more than she did.
"Okay, let's go then!", Eria said to the man then turning around to the group, she waved her arms in a way that she hoped would be interpreted as a come over here, I have something to say!

Cres jumped a mile high at the crash of the bolt of electricity. There wasn't much use trying to hide from the torrential downpour, as she was already getting closer and closer by the second to being able to say she was completely soaked, but all the same, she lifted her hood over her head.

She was immensely skeptical; the man had seemed to notice her necklace. Due to the fact he knew it held some importance, he could either be an enemy or a friend. Cres was usually more inclined to believe the first, but currently they had no leads as to where or what to do to do as the Voices had asked. Besides, even though she was a bit frightened by his eyes and morphing hand, the man seemed to give off a strangely benevolent air, at least in her mind. Steeling herself for whatever may come, she gave a small nod and stepped forwards a little, not sure about the others but ready to go. At least if he attacked her with flowers she could deal with it.

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The man went invisible for a second, then seemed to re-appear, but instead of the old man, what appeared was a small kitsune. He was about the size of an average male husky, and had only three tails, meaning he was rather young. He flicked his tails to signal to follow him, then dashed off into the rain.

Journal updated!

Species: Kitsune
Info: A fox-like creature said to live up to 1000 years. This shapeshifter starts out like any normal fox, but as it grows, its tails split, maximizing at nine. Their powers include shapeshifting, causing misfortune to those who harm them, selective invisibility, and others depending on their element.
Elemental Affinity: All. Depends on the individual
Taming Status: Untamable

the journal updated and then the pages started rapidly flicking toward the back, where a new page began

Individual discovered!

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Though taken aback and shocked at his sudden transformation, the sixteen year old realized she was being left behind and would soon loose the man- fox- creature? if she didn't hurry. The tails made her think he was maybe one of the kitsune from the stories, though she'd always thought they had nine tails. That book that the girl Eria had may have some information about it, but Cres didn't think there would be time to check at the moment. She also didn't really want to have to ask the other girl if she could see it; some people got defensive about that sort of thing.

She turned around before continuing, checking to see if the others were coming. Would they want to follow him? What would she do if they decided to stay? What would he do? Would he get upset? It seemed like he'd been the one to start the raging storm she was currently just standing in; if he could do that and they got on his bad side by disobeying...

She glanced back at the painting he'd left behind. It seemed sad to leave it out to be destroyed in the rain. Deciding she wouldn't go without the consent of the other girls, she hurried to roll up the canvas and tuck it under her arm vertically. It wasn't much, but she hoped she could protect the art from the downpour at least a little.

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The downpour continued, rain rushing down and battering her. Eria was very startled and watched in awe as the older man turned into a fox, a kitsune maybe? Dragons were mythological creatures also so it kind of made sense if you really wanted it to. It beautiful though, golden fur with striking purple and blue fur on the tips of its three tails and neck fluff. Their eyes seemed to glow a brilliant white. As it flicked its tails and ran off, Eria realised that she might loose it in the blur of the rain.

As she stood their awkwardly, she readjusted her grip on the journal and begun strumming her fingers intently, a mild frown showing across her face. She winced slightly as a drop of rain slipped down the back of her neck underneath her cardigan.

The other girl grabbed the painting of the dragons which she considered to be a good idea. She would have liked to say that she would do the same but she wouldn't have had the foresight for that. She considered checking the journal but then realised that there definitely wasn't the time for that. She shook her head in a useless attempt stop her thoughts wandering and, clutching her amulet, yelled to the other girl "Are we following this, um..., painter! Painter will do I guess, do we trust him?" and, with a bite of her lip to stop her asking for her name and continuing to waffle on endlessly, she stood fast, head whipping back and forth to watch both of them, bracing herself to run either way should she be told to.