likedtheodds | (no subject)

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This is the first time he's ever seen such a thing so close to him, but Gwaine knows what it is. Without question, he knows what it is. He's heard about dragon eggs, but the last he heard, Uther had all the dragon-lords so terrified that they were holing up whatever was left and tucking them away. While Gwaine isn't exactly Uther's best mate, the King hadn't exactly been wrong to fear the creatures. He hates dealing with wyverns -- which are bad enough -- and they're just the littler kin of the dragon.

So here he is with a dragon's egg. He's taken the small object to the beach, sets it on a stone, and lifts his sword from its sheath. This is not something that should be let to pass. If he lets it hatch, who knows what havoc it might wreck upon the island? Yes, he knows the tales -- it takes ages before a dragon grows to an enviable size -- but he doesn't want to take chances.

"I'm sorry, little thing," he says, lifting his sword high up in the air. "But this is for the best."

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Gwaine's face is crossed with some mixture of frustration and sheer disbelief when he has to stop his sword from completing its' downward swing. "What are you doing?" he demands, eyes flashing with anger. "It's safer for everyone if I destroy that thing before it gets a chance to hatch. Trust me."

She doesn't blink, doesn't react to the sword. She knows he will stop and if he does not she will stop him. Her body is covered in scars, bullets and knife wounds, one more will not kill her. But he does stop. He stops and he looks at her.

Anger.

"Stopping you," Cass replies not moving a muscle, not moving one inch. She doesn't feel like he is lying but people can be wrong and Cass will never let anyone, in costume or out of it, take a life in front of her. Not when she can stop it. "No."

She puts force in her words, stubborn jaw jutting out as she makes herself bigger than she is. Stretching arms, filling the space as much as she can. She will not let him hurt whatever it is. "I won't let you kill something defenceless."

"It's a dragon's egg," Gwaine snaps, starting to find himself utterly impatient. He keeps his sword unsheathed, ready to use it at any moment. "It's hardly defenceless. Do you know what it's going to do if it gets out of that egg? It's going to grow in malice and try and destroy people because people destroyed its kind first, but does it matter? It'll burn the island down!"

Dragon. She knows the word, it was what Hiccup called Toothless. She knew him, the creature, who chased her without malice and tried to catch her and who was loyal and funny and spoke as much as she or Hiccup did.

"No, it won't. People can change, creatures can change. They can be more than what came before," Cass said. She was living proof of that after all. "There are dragons here. They do not do that, the island remains and all it does is fly and play. This one can be the same, this one can be more than what other people think it should be if it is given a chance."

It was the longest she had spoken all day but she meant it. If he wanted to kill it, he would have to go through her.

"I don't know that I can believe that." For all that he doesn't believe that witches and warlocks should be burned at the stake, he's seen too much magic used dangerously to simply agree that it's a good thing. "You give it a chance and it kills people and what then?"

It's too late, though. The damnable egg, the one addressed to him, has small fracture marks in the shell.

She head the shell fracture, a small noise behind her but she doesn't move and doesn't take her eyes off him. Cassandra is quick, she has taken down men twice his size but she is not stupid enough to turn her back on him even if she has no doubt in her ability to take him down.

"It won't, you won't let it. I won't let it," Cass replied. "You teach it, you teach it to be more than just a killer."

Gwaine knows it's too late. He doesn't want to kill something once it's past its first-stage of life. He's watching a small dragon's nose poke through the shell and he can't help his hollow laugh. "If ever I wanted Gaius, now's the time."

Cass turns her head slightly to the sound, the sight of the emerging dragon's nose makes her pause. His hollow laughter making her stop before she holds out her hand for him to take, moving slightly to one side so he can see it. She can move quick if she needs to, she can put herself between him and it again if she has to but she doesn't think she will. Not now.

"Who is Gaius?" Cass asked looking at the small creature trying to emerge.

"He's a healer. He knows a great deal about the dark ways and if anyone's able to help with a dragon, it'd be him." Gwaine frowns, trying to recall if he's heard any tale of how to subdue a great beast such as this, but he can't remember anything.

"Hiccup, you need to find Hiccup. He has a dragon, I have flown on him and leaped off him." Cass said simply. Cass looked at the dragon, moving closer to the egg and indicating with silent gestures that the man should come closer. He should see that it is no bad. "It is not bad, see?"

"We're not all from the same universe and this is the one I know," he says, utterly aware that he's being more serious than he has in months. He hasn't been like this since the prospect of nobility was before him. "Dragon's breath can repair, but soon it turns to flames. And they have a mind of their own. They enjoy razing down villages. Kilgarrah, I remember him. He terrorized all of Engred and only Camelot's finest were able to bring him down. I won't let this dragon grow to be like that."

But, then, there's a thought: could he change the way a dragon thinks? Could he raise a dragon in good?

Kilgarrah sounded too like the men, women of Gotham and Arkham. People with minds of their own who enjoyed burning it to the ground, who wanted to tear down order in favour of chaos or greed of just because they could. But this was not Kilgarrah, this was a dragon, this could be a dragon the way she was. People could change, she believed that with all of her.

"You will not kill it, I will not let you." Cass repeated firmly, stubborn jaw defiantly tilted at him. Her voice was all Batgirl rather than Cassandra. "Kilgarrah is one dragon, this is not him. This is a new dragon, he deserves a chance at life."

"And what makes you think that this new dragon of mine is any different from the ones from lore and history?" he asks. "Do you have experience? Can you say any better than I can that this creature won't tear down everything you hold dear?" he demands. "I won't let it live for anything less than a promise like that."

"Yes, I can promise you that." Cassandra said seriously, taking a step to one side to protect the creature from him. "People can change. I am proof of that. I have seen a dragon, I have flown on one and watched as it plays games with its friends, with me. I can read people, I can read them like they are books and I would know if it intends harm. I can promise you that, if you will give it a chance, it can be different to how you think. It can be more than what its biology, what its history tells it to be."

"So, you're telling me that I can't kill this creature," he interprets. He has the feeling that she's not going to let him get away with anything -- and he doesn't even know her name. "Who are you, anyway?"

The name Batgirl is on the tip of her tongue but she is out of uniform and Barbara would disapprove. Her identity is everything, she won't disappoint her now.

"Cassandra. Cass. A... protector," Cass said simply before staring at him seriously. "I am telling you that you cannot kill this creature yes."

Edited 2012-01-23 12:28 (UTC)

He nearly asks on whose authority she asks, but he shuts his mouth, aware that he shouldn't challenge someone here when there's no escape. His mistakes might not land him in a deathmatch, but he doesn't want the trouble. "Then what do I do with it?"

"You let it live, you train it and look after it. And if you cannot do that I will find someone who will but there is a reason it came to you." Cass replied. It was the longest she had spoken in some time but she believed it, she believed that this creature deserved a chance and she would not allow him to take that away from it. If he tried, he would begin to understand why she had stood between him and a sword and it wasn't just because she knew he would stop. "For now, you hold it. Show it who you are. Slow and calm and not hmmm defensive."

Meaning the sword and his attitude and his body.

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