The Fire in Our Hearts (CasualVelociraptor x SnakeofSeduction)

[CasualVelociraptor]

Rose Guthrie awoke with the straitjacket that had bound her arms for years in tatters and surrounded by a burning forest, the light of the angry tongues of flame the only thing that. As she staggered to her feet, she remembered that this used to be the airship that had gotten her out of Edinar Public Sanitorium and was supposed to bring her back to her younger sister Alice, or at the very least Edward, the littlest one, so that they could help her figure out what was going on in her fragmented and tormented mind and protect her from their father.

But what was this place? Did they arrive at their intended destination? What happened to the rest of the crew? And if they were all dead from the explosion...how in the world had she emerged unscathed and how was she supposed to not get lost?! Poor Rose now knelt down onto the ground as she sobbed hysterically, overwhelmed by thoughts and voices competing for her attention.

 

[SnakeOfSeduction]

Busy sleeping in her nest, Astaroth was startled awake by a very loud, very sudden sound. The young, exiled dragoness jolted hard as she heard a horrifying crashing sound, of something large eating dirt, and she pushed herself to her feet, her four paws claws clicking on the stone of her cave as she slid from it, head raised to sniff the air. Fire. She could smell fire. And not her inner flame either, but something more... dangerous. Deadly. She started toward it, which was likely a mistake, curious and concerned about what she could smell.

What met her eyes was a blaze. She roared, trying to see if anyone was inside, and seemed to stir a few of the wildlife that were still around, feebly escaping with their lives. She pushed in, the flames licking at her fire resistant scales, and she paused when she spotted a figure, kneeling in the dirt, surrounded by the fire. She bolted forward, wrapping her form around the other to protect her body from the flames, even as she tried to work out what to do with this human. She shouldn't even approach a human, as dangerous as she felt it was, but she couldn't abandon someone, not after she herself had been so cruelly abandoned just for what she was.

Hearing the sobbing, she crooned, "It's okay, little human. You can't understand me but... I'll get you to safety." She hummed. She didn't expect the other to understand her language, no human she'd ever seen could, and she paused. How was she going to pick this human up? She couldn't use her teeth.... Taking a deep breath, she allowed herself to shift. It took mere moments, but burned across her body as her bones cracked and muscles shifted, until she was left panting, a humanoid once more. She shuddered, but pulled the other up, covering her and protecting her with her wings, "Come on..."

 

[CasualVelociraptor]

"Thank you," Rose sighed, not even realizing in her delirious state that she was in the arms of a dragoness and able to speak their language. The dragon language had died out so long ago in most of the world that her father, Josiah Guthrie, had just assumed she was crazy when she began speaking in the dragon tongue more and more as she got older, and had her committed as a result when she was 18, Alice was 16, and Edward was 15, shortly after her mother's death. Josiah blamed Rose for her mother's death as well, even though Rose loudly protested that she knew nothing of this.

But there were bigger problems. Men carrying revolvers, super shotguns, automatic "chatterguns" made from old scroll copiers, and power philters (drinks that gave them magical abilities normally reserved for elves and other magical creatures such as the ability to conjure flame in their bare hands) had survived the crash after all and were waking up. And surrounding both Rose and Astaroth.

"Hey, it's that fucking bitch that wrecked our ride!" one of them yelled.

"I- I know nothing about that, I swear!" Rose pleaded.

Meanwhile, a familiar voice growled in her head, "Your little friend here cannot carry you and fight at the same time. If you do not release my poweeeer, either you or will DIE!"

"N-No...please don't make me do this..." Rose sobbed.

"No negotiations, girly!" one of the men said and pumped his shotgun. "Hand Rose Guthrie over. She belongs with the Family."