Frozen Tides of Frivolous Fortune [Open - Kaamil]

Taliah was thrilled.

She loved being in the lab, tinkering with relics and trying to figure out how to retrofit Mirror technology into something the Kaamil could use, but this- This was something else all together! She knew she could ask for more days off- or really probably should stop asking the Director if she could work the weekends- and the weekdays- and most holidays- But that was beside the point. It was her day off! She had no intention of doing any work today. She was going to explore the city markets, and buy everything in her favorite bakery, and drink all the hot cider, and visit all the museums, and then top it all off with a visit to the palace library- Her favorite place in the entire Kaamilian territory!

Well... That might not be everything she was planning to do.

Taliah was an inventor, a creator, an artist, and an explorer- All of which are habits that have gotten her into- and out of- a number of scrapes and situations over the years. This time in particular, she was leaning more into the explorer side of her hobbies. During her last trip out into the tundra, she'd found an ice cave. But not just any cave, a hidden cave. Her original intentions were to just hide out in the mouth of the cave to keep an eye on the arctic thunderbird nest she'd found a few weeks back, but recently... She'd begun to feel the urge to plunge the depths of this hidden wonder. Something was down there, she was sure of it! Why else would a cave be hidden like that?

Buuuut- She was also a Researcher. It was their job to explore the extremely dangerous and potentially deadly Mirror tombs, so Taliah was very experienced with the horror stories that stemmed from dragons wandering off into mysterious caves on their own. The golden rule of exploration was simple: "Use the Buddy System." And "Don't touch anything." And "Watch out for traps." And- "ARGHHHH RUN FOR YOUR LIFE THERE'S A LIVING STATUE COMING AFTER US". ...There were a lot of "golden rules" actually, but they were all pretty self-explanatory.

In any case, Taliah was partially enjoying herself, and partially keeping an eye out for anyone who seemed particularly interesting. She wasn't sure if this would technically be illegal or not- It couldn't be, right? Well, even if the cave turned out to be off-limits, there were always the thunderbirds! But- those were probably actually even more dangerous than whatever things she might find in the cool-looking cave. But either way she certainly wasn't about to run around yelling 'Heeeey, who wants to do something that's probably not illegal and probably won't get us killed?!' No, she couldn't come right out of the gate with that- Hmmmm...

Those thoughts cycled about in her head as she happily munched down on a still piping hot muffin and wandered into the town square, eyeing the different street vendors and occasionally stopping to inquire about prices- haggling over some of the more expensive items- and all the while keeping an eye out for anyone who looked- interesting.

This was Kiokr’s first time in a giant city, and also the first time in the north at that. His senses were firing off left and right, uncertain whether he should be aware of every single dragon, or fine tuning his attention to those who eyed him curiously. Or maybe he should run to somewhere less busy. No, he has to find out just where he was, the blizzard that hit him seemed to be a fateful one if he somehow found himself in an unknown location, especially a massive city he only knows by ownership.

He shook his head of the thoughtful storm, turning about as he took in the scenery. The cold was one of his favorite concepts, as much as snow, maybe he should spend some time here. No, he had to stay focused, find a person who could help him find his way, a cartographer? Did those exist here? The storm would have taken him again if he hadn’t bumped into a certain furred dragoness. Caught completely by surprise, Kiokr let out a comedic “NyeEegh!” As he lost his balance. In an attempt to stabilize himself, he would blindly step on her tail, before ultimately planting face first into the stone bricks below with a faint grunt.

Without a second to lose, he recovered himself with what dignity he had left, apologizing profusely to the dragoness. “Uh, sorry, sorry, I’m so very sorry, I didn’t mean to bump into you I wasn’t looking where I was going! It was a complete accident-I’m so sorry!”