Closed to [tekhartha]

[cyborgninjacostume]

Bleeding. He's bleeding. A lot. Like a lot a lot. Genji is trying not to panic, but he's really actually panicking more than a little. He's starting to lose altitude, and he's really hoping he's not still over the Sea of Japan or he was really going to die.

The cloud cover he drops through startlingly fast is thick and he's shivering: his mane is soaked in seconds to his back, and despite the numbness around the deep clawmarks all up and down his sides, he can feel droplets of water working between his scales.

But when he emerges, he's not over the Sea of Japan. Instead, he's over land. Mountains. Mountains covered in snow.

But it was too late to try to change course: he must have lost his way while above the clouds, the blood loss fogging his mind. There was nothing but white snow and black rocks.

Genji continued to fly, pushing his body as far as it would go even as he continued to sink.

It might just be a trick of his dying mind, but he can see lights further ahead, gold light against the white of the snow. But if it's not a trick, it's his only chance of living. If it is, then he's dead anyways. Genji heads for the light, and as he gets closer, it comes into shape as a cluster of buildings. THe light seems confined to one side of the cluster, but he has no doubt that even if he can find his way into one of the darker buildings, he would not be undiscovered for long.

Hopefully long enough he could sleep and let his wounds heal enough he could move on, find out where he was, maybe hunt a little.

Genji lands less than gracefully in the darkest corner of the cluster of buildings. The snow here is untouched, at least, and there's what looks like a barn only a few steps away.

Heaving a ragged breath, Genji pushes at the door with his nose. It opens with a ragged squeal. There's old hay on the floor, a few vehicles, but the main area of the barn is open and large enough for him to curl up in. He limps inside and turns so he can push the door at least mostly closed - it goes with an even louder squeal, but Genji is too exhausted to care. He takes a few moments to lick the wounds he can get to, then lays his head down to sleep.

Comments

[tekhartha]

Ah. Zenyatta stops in his tracks, one hand still on the ox's back- and gives a long, slow sigh. If he had temples he'd be compressing them with his fingertips. Perhaps it's his fault for being foolish enough to think a dragon, injured or not, would adhere to the request of a humble monk.

At least he's found food for himself, he supposes. Two sheep. Judging by the uneven strips of raw flesh and wool discarded nearby he's still found the stretch to be a fussy eater, which probably serves him right for being so difficult in the first place, even if the result is less than pleasant.

"You may well laugh, lord dragon," he says crisply. But further admonishment can come later. First, the ox. Quickly he sets about soothing the animal, first with his hands and then with a soft hum of harmonious energy. Little by little, he feels its pulse slow, its muscles relax.

Natural though this may be, there is something in such deception that visibly upsets him, orbs whirring uneasily about his shoulders and Jieba flushing a deeper blue than ever. "Strike quickly. It will not remain calm for long."

[cyborgninjacostume]

There's something about the cow standing so still and calm so soon after being so scared. And it's not stupid like a sheep. The sheep had let him nearly walk up to them without even running. The cow is different.

Genji looked away from it and sighed. Slowly, he laid down, then pulled one of the mangled sheep towards him. He scraped more skin and wool off of the corpse and started to eat it, guts and all. When he had been younger, he'd been unable to eat raw meat, even as a dragon, but now he cared much less. He'd never been intending for Zenyatta to go and get him something to eat, just contemplating the best way to actually eat a sheep.

Eating a cow would delay his ability to turn back into a human as soon as possible, anyways. The sheep were a smaller meal, would digest faster, and he wouldn't be stuck as a dragon for another couple of days longer than need be.

[tekhartha]

That catches him by surprise. Is it pragmatism or respect the cause of his change of heart?

After a moment or two of consideration Zenyatta shrugs the question off, for the time being, and works on steering the ox away- no mean feat, as it turns out. With the distraction of its impending demise put aside for now the ox has turned its attentions on its new omnic friend; every time he tries to lead it away from the barns it starts snuffling into his side, its long, steaming tongue lapping affectionately at him. In the end it's partly brute strength and partly soft coaxing that sends it on its way, a murmur in the rough Nepali of the local herders and a pair of firm metal hands on its flank. Sooner or later, someone will find it and return it to the right farm.

By the time he turns back the first sheep has been thoroughly disemboweled. "Is there anything else I can find for you, lord dragon?" Zenyatta asks eventually, and his voice is gentle again, because. in the end, he just can't bring himself to stay cross with him for long. It wasn't his fault, after all.

[cyborgninjacostume]

Genji looks up when Zenyatta speaks to him, considering. He looks to the other sheep, still unmutilated with its wool coat intact, then stands. He drags it closer to Zenyatta, then dips his head. He licks away a swath of wool then spits it out in wet clumps, and looks up to Zenyatta again, hoping this time he could be understood. No voice was not fun.

He sits, scraping at the wool now irretreviably stuck between his teeth with a claw, hoping the omnic will understand what, exactly, Genji wants from him. Which is the sheep with its wool cut off so he can actually eat it.

With the worst of the wool off of his teeth and tongue, he gets back to work on the sheep he'd already been eating, nibbling the muscle off the bones of its legs before crunching into the bones. His muzzle and claws are stained red with blood, gore dripping from his jaws, but all in all he's trying to eat neatly. After all, this is his living space for the time being, until he's healed enough to leave.

[tekhartha]

It takes Zenyatta only a moment to understand what the dragon is getting at. Of course. He may not know what it's like to swallow anything at all, but he has a ripe enough imagination to take a guess at what all that wool must feel like in one's throat.

"I understand. Give me but a little time." Calmly, he hefts the dead sheep up into his arms and takes a seat on an old engine nearby. The body is already cold, and a little stiff. Like this it's far easier for him to clasp his hands, those long, sensitive fingers, around fistfuls of wool and yank them out with pure omnic strength. Again, and again. Whatever tools there might be around here have probably long since rusted to oblivion, anyway.

As he works, he hums to himself. It starts low, barely above the nature hum of his systems, but little by little it rises to something sweet and sonorous; there's no real melody to it, but every now and then one of his orbs chimes as if in a counterpoint. All the while, the pile of wool at his feet grows ever larger.

[cyborgninjacostume]

Genji spends some time enjoying his sheep while watching Zenyatta work. He finishes up the last of the sheep and sets to work cleaning his claws just as Zenyatta starts to hum.

His head immediately comes up, ears swiveling around to listen, his entire attention focused on Zenyatta. It doesn't sound like a human humming, or even the rough hum Genji could manage in this form. It's like the hum of machinery, or an engine, but different. It's long and continuous notes - no need for pausing for breath when you don't breathe, after all.

Slowly, Genji moves, lying more on his side and stretching out his back legs to get comfortable. He watches Zenyatta, and listens, resting his chin on his forearm.

By the time Zenyatta is done stripping the sheep of wool, Genji's dozing peacefully, his body slumped, boneless and relaxed.

[tekhartha]

His task is absorbing enough that he doesn't even notice the effect he's having until he looks up again. Apparently music really does soothe the savage beast. It's worked like a lullaby on an irritable child, and, not for the first time, Zenyatta can't help but be charmed. How could he fail to be so? There's still an air of unreality about the creature that amazes him whenever he thinks about it for long enough. There's a dragon sleeping in the temple barns. Unbelievable.

Placing the sheep to one side, he approaches the dragon's sleeping form, his deep, soft breaths steaming against chrome. As well as he knows he shouldn't touch he also cannot resist the urge to reach out and place a hand, light as a butterfly on a leaf, on one bruised cheek. Before long he's stroking gently under his chin and up to his ears, that thin, tender flesh, so painfully vulnerable. What could possibly have done this to him?

But Zenyatta knows he must tear himself away sooner rather than later, and tear himself away he does, closing the barn door carefully behind him and scrubbing out the blood in the snow with his foot as he goes. Back at the temple he's confronted by four or five confused omnics, all with twice as many questions as before. The walk, at least, has given him a chance to come up with a reasonable excuse: I was walking and found a wounded buck. I had to tend to him. It isn't a lie. Yet when he repeats it to Mondatta he feels the words sliding off of him like water from a stone; even when he nods, he knows he's done little to convince him.

On such thin ice, it isn't until early the next morning that Zenyatta finds the chance to escape again. He rises while the moon is still high and full and Venus a glinting eye in the dawn. This time he's come prepared: thicker blankets, bandages, a small electric heater, lights.

He knocks twice, then enters. "Do not be alarmed, lord dragon. I have returned." His arms are so full that he can barely see around the pile, and as he enters the barn he must do so back-first, just to keep anything from slipping.

[cyborgninjacostume]

When Genji awoke, alone, he hadn't immediately thought much of it. He ate his other sheep, groomed himself thoroughly, and spent a bit of time licking his wounds before sleeping again. It wasn't until it was night again that he wondered where, exactly, Zenyatta was. The scent of the omnic had faded, and was not stronger anywhere around the barn.

So he's awake - or at least not asleep - when the door squeals open again. Genji instantly lifts his head and snorts, before standing. Zenyatta is carrying a mountain of things in his arms, but Genji doesn't have hands to help him, so instead he sits back and watches, half waiting for a collapse.

He's feeling a lot better, after food and rest, but still not well enough to fly for long periods of time. The fact that he's feeling better, though, just means he's had more time to think about how he became injured in the first place, how he'd been very nearly murdered by his own brother. Genji sighs and shifts, nosing the door shut behind Zenyatta before curling up neatly to leave the omnic plenty of room to set down his load.

[tekhartha]

Something about the way the dragon looks up at his arrival immediately puts Zenyatta in mind of a dog awaiting the return of its master- though, of course, he would be a fool to suppose he would ever be master to such a majestic creature. Nonetheless it visibly cheers him to see it, and as the dragon edges around to give him more space he finds himself laughing fondly, teetering all the while.

"You certainly seem to be feeling better." As he lays out his supplies he picks out the bandages and disinfectant, ready to change the old rags out for something a little more efficient. First, however, he has to remove them.

They're dark and stiff with old blood by now, and possibly even stuck to the wounds- for all he knows, pulling them off may open them up again. But he cannot very well leave them.

Gently, he puts a hand to his patient's jaw again and rubs- after last night it comes so naturally to him that he doesn't even think about whether a now-conscious dragon might appreciate it.

"I have to redress your wounds, lord dragon," he says almost apologetic. "I will do what I can for the pain, and I will be quick, but you must brace yourself. Here-"

With one flick of his wrist Zenyatta sends a bright ball of energy from one of his prayer beads to the dragon's side; it seems incredibly small next to such an enormous creature, insignificant even, but it is the strength of his focus that matters now. And every second of his attention is focused on emitting wave upon wave of warm, peaceful light. It spills across the dragon's scales like liquid gold. "Do you feel that?"

[cyborgninjacostume]

Genji's too busy at first leaning into the fingers rubbing at his jaw - and if only Zenyatta would scratch that pesky spot right at the back corner of his jaw - to notice the golden orb zip through the air but the second he spots it, his head comes up and he turns to look at it. He'd thought the orb was a part of something like a necklace, but the truth is... strange.

Genji huffs at it, trying to disrupt it from its slow orbit around him, but it's undeterred. Then, curious, he reaches out with a paw, wanting it to stop moving so close to his face where he couldn't get it to stay in focus. He finally bats it away, though it somehow evades being grabbed by his claws, and he can look at it more closely. The craftsmanship is unusual. It's not any sort of normal omnic manufacturing. There's no thrusters or jets to keep it airborne, and the golden light it's emitting doesn't have a truly visible source.

He bumps it with his nose, huffs again, whiskers twitching and feeling it as it bumps into his nose, seemingly of its own volition. All in all: weird.

[tekhartha]

Now he really is behaving like someone's pet; he half expects the dragon to start nosing it around the barn in case a treat comes out. The distraction will probably be a very welcome one by the time they get around to the ugly task at hand.

As he places a hand over the worst of the makeshift bandages Zenyatta relents and edges the ball closer to the dragon's claws- only to twirl it a moment later, jingling and glowing with omnic runes.

The next second he's stripping the bandages off in one clean movement.

[cyborgninjacostume]

It works: Genji watches the orb spin closer and start making noise and then his flank is searing with pain. He roars and stands, flinching away, and then realizes after a moment that it's Zenyatta holding the crusty, bloodied bandage that had been on his side just a moment before.

He huffs, upset at being distracted like that, and immediately turns his head to inspect the wound. It's bleeding freely again, the scab ripped away with the bandage and he sets to work licking at the blood trailing down his side - he might have had a sentient brain, but instinct was still a thing.

[tekhartha]

Outside Zenyatta hears the crack and shatter of several icicles dropping with the sheer force of that roar, and he'd be lying if he said that his orbs weren't still vibrating with the aftermath. At least the dragon seems more annoyed than truly angry, even if that wound isn't any better than it was when the blanket went on in the first place.

Which is probably why the dragon immediately moves to lick it clean, even if Zenyatta has other plans.

"Ah- not this time-" Quickly, he tries to push the dragon's head away, although even omnic engineering can scarcely hold a candle to the beast's inborn strength. All he really achieves is one wet tongue and a pair of whiskers lapping around his hands. "I have water and disinfectant- it will help the blood clot."

With the one hand he can spare, he hurriedly picks up the bottle- industrial sized, large enough for several hundred doses yet destined for one or two on a dragon's back. Tipping it onto a cloth, Zenyatta presses it into his scaly side and begins, carefully, to make his way along each injury. It probably stings like the devil, but he's a big dragon. He can take it.

[cyborgninjacostume]

Genji growls as Zenyatta tries to push his head away. The abrasiveness of his tongue would help clean the wound and create fresh, healing edges. He keeps working on the wound even as Zenyatta continues to try to clean the gouge with something that stings horrifically.

He doesn't stop until he licks AU a patch of disinfectant and he sits back, snorting and rubbing his muzzle against the side of a paw. Not really what he wanted, but it was going to have to do for now. Also, hopefully nobody had heard him roar in pain. He would definitely be rather hard to explain.

[tekhartha]

Given that he's mere inches away from those razor sharp teeth the growl sends a thrill of fear through Zenyatta's systems, his grip tightening for a second- but he doesn't flinch away. Not until he's done and has the safely wound hidden away under several layers of clean white bandages.

At long last, he drops back from the dragon and gives a heartfelt (albeit physiologically unnecessary) sigh.

"I know it is not pleasant, lord dragon, but you must endure." As must I, Zenyatta adds silently, but, challenging though this may be, he isn't the one stranded in a foreign land. "... but thank you. For your patience."

Recalling his orb from his claws, he pushes lightly off of the ground and seats himself into a floating Lotus position. Like this, it's easier to focus, and before long he finds his gaze drawn inexorably back to the reclining shape of the dragon. "What a mystery you are...! Would that I only knew your name."

[cyborgninjacostume]

Genji snorts at Zenyatta, not much inclined after being picked on to try to communicate with the omnic. Instead, he lays his head down and watches Zenyatta without much comment, But it's the lack of grumbling that lets him hear footsteps outside the barn. Genji's head comes up, ears swiveling, and his body goes tense.

It's another omnic's voice that calls out a, "Hello?" Genji looks instantly to Zenyatta, unsure of what to do.

[tekhartha]

Zenyatta is all set to settle down himself, hoping that the silence will yield some sort of answer to the question of the dragon's name- before he hears the voice, that is. Not just any voice, either.

Mondatta.

Of course it would be him. Who else would have the outright audacity to mistrust him? As the soft crunch of footsteps draws ever nearer he shoots the dragon an uncertain look, and for just one unfaithful second he thinks about just telling the truth. Yet the look in the dragon's eyes is tense and uncertain, all of his cockiness swept away at the prospect of discovery, and deep down Zenyatta knows that he cannot reveal him. Not yet. Not until he's healthier.

Zenyatta straights his back, clenches his fists. There's nowhere for a creature of his size to hide, which means it's all down to him to put Mondatta off the scent. Somehow.

"Brother?" He manages to keep his voice silk-smooth, without so much as a ripple of concern. Without so much as a backwards glance he makes to cut Mondatta off before he can reach the barn doors himself, closing them at his back the second he's outside. "What brings you here?"

[cyborgninjacostume]

Genji doesn't know what to do. The only way out is through the barn doors, which is where the omnic is at. He could fight, he knows in his gut that none of these omnics would stand a chance against his jaws or claws. But he doesn't want to. He watches Zenyatta, tense and unsure, waiting for a hint as to how to react.

But then Zenyatta is moving to the door and slipping out.

Mondatta is just reaching the doors when Zenyatta emerges. "I heard a strange noise. One I would not expect a deer to be able to make." He tries to look into the barn but Zenyatta slides the door shut before he can see inside.

He looks back to Zenyatta then, "I hope you would not endanger the lives of any living here by acting foolishly, Zenyatta." It's clear that Zenyatta knows something, at least, is up.

[tekhartha]

The Iris must be flowing through him today; one step slower and they'd have been discovered for sure. But having the doors closed now does not assure that they will remain closed, and Mondatta could not be making himself any plainer in that respect.

He's never been very good at lying to Mondatta.

"Of course not," Zenyatta answers, a touch too quickly- he sounds sincere, yes, but also too eager to put his brother's concerns aside. At least his body remains resolutely planted in front of the doors, even if he's still scrambling for answers. "This temple is a sanctuary for all sentient life. I would not risk that for anything."

But the dragon hidden away behind him is sentient life, and more than any of the omnics here he needs help. Of that Zenyatta is certain.

He looks squarely at Mondatta, at where his eyes might have been on another face. "Do you not trust me?"

[cyborgninjacostume]

"It is not about trust," Mondatta said, and gave off the impression that he was frowning, even without eyes or a mouth or eyebrows. "I am responsible for every omnic here, and I hope you would not put me in a position be be accountable for your actions. Please, allow me into the barn to see for myself that you are acting appropriately." He gestured to the barn door, but made no move towards it, waiting for Zenyatta to do the right thing and let him inside.

[tekhartha]

The disappointment inherent in the omnic's tone is downright withering; though Zenyatta has considered them to be more or less equals for some time now, he still feels himself shrinking like a novice before him.

The truth is that, in his heart, he knows that there is almost nothing in the world that he can deny Mondatta.

"Of course, brother." Lowering his head in respect, he turns back to the door, braces himself, and pulls them open. He's held off as long as he can. If the dragon has not, by some miracle, found somewhere to hide itself... well. He has a lot to answer for.

[cyborgninjacostume]

Mondatta pushes open the barn door, fully bracing himself for Zenyatta's newest misguided attempt to help, but instead... The barn is empty. The hay is disturbed and bloody in places, but there's no hint of the dragon that had been there only minutes before.

Instead, the ox is standing in the middle of the room, head lowered, a bit of bloody bandaging around its neck. It lifts its head and immediately trundles over to Mondatta, snuffling at his robes.

Mondatta stares down at the ox, then looks at Zenyatta, then says at last, "Please see this animal back to its farm before nightfall," Mondatta says with a sigh before pulling away. "I am returning to the temple." He straightened his robes where the ox had been nuzzling at him, then turned and strode away.

As soon as he's out of earshot, there's a quiet noise - a previously stifled cry of pain. The ox turns and heads back into the barn. It pushes itself between an old vehicle and the dividing wall, obviously concerned.

[tekhartha]

Zenyatta stares: at the ox, at the hay, at every inch of the barn's interior, as if the giant snakelike form of the dragon might reveal itself at any given moment. But it doesn't. And before he has time to fully comprehend what can only be called a full-blown miracle, Mondatta is turning away.

He's not stupid. He knows that his brother is still suspicious, and will remain so for quite some time, but even this small reprieve is a blessing. Zenyatta forces his body into a slight bow and tries to force the surprise out of his voice. "Of course. I will see you shortly."

Then he's gone.

As soon as the doors are closed he all but collapses against them, running a hand over the smooth metal of his faceplate. But his relief is short-lived. He's scarcely had time to thank the Iris when he hears the cry, and it nearly frightens the life out of him. That's not the sound of a dragon, and not even the sound of an animal. That's...

"... lord dragon?" Slowly, warily, he makes his way towards the vehicle, gently pushing the ox out of the way.

[cyborgninjacostume]

Genji is there, leaning against the side of the vehicle, clutching to his side. He's bleeding, a lot, from a gash that works its way from the back of his shoulder all the way around to his stomach. His clothes are shredded, his bright green hair in disarray.

"Hey," he says finally, and he's panting for breath. He's still way too injured to change, and had indeed forced himself to. But there hadn't been another way out. Thank god the ox had returned sometime in the night, apparently too lost to go home, but able to find its way to safety anyways.

"I hate to ask you," Genji says, biting down another cry of pain, "but I think I'm going to need you to ask you to patch me up again."

The shift hadn't been compete. He still had a long, scaly green tail, and his nails were decidedly clawlike, but his eyes hadn't changed. They were just smaller now, human-sized.

[tekhartha]

Zenyatta stares. At first, his processors struggle to make sense of what he's looking at: not a dragon, but a man. He's strong and well-muscled, with a clever, handsome face and a mouth carved for cocky smiles, though right now it's twisted in pain. If there were any doubts in his mind they're quickly laid to rest by that shock of scales and the claws of his hands- and the eyes, of course. Not quite reptilian, but not quite human, either.

At this point he thought he might be enured to whatever his lord dragon could throw at him. Apparently, he has grossly underestimated him.

"Of... of course." It isn't often that Zenyatta finds himself floundering for words, or indeed for actions. There's a moment of distinctly robotic hesitation as he reaches forward, stops, swivels. Then he shakes his head and focuses. "Do not move."

He forces his feet to walk, one-two one-two, towards the pile of medical supplies. No floating. At first he handles the bandages warily, as though they too might transform suddenly into snakes, but they're mercifully solid in his arms as he carries them over.

Yes. Still a man.

"... my questions will have to wait, lord dragon." He's audibly recovered now. Edging his way alongside the vehicle, Zenyatta kneels down and rolls out a length of bandage. "Please, hold still."