Nobody was supposed to be laughing in Caerulus’ library. Asuna knew that. But the book she’d winkled out of the animated bookcases was so… so….
Covering her mouth with her hand, she rested her head on the study desk and tried not to snicker too loudly.
“Is it good?”
Ack!
The library was a safe area, Asuna reminded herself, almost banging her head on the desk’s built-in shelf. Even for sneaky darkfire-casting too-quiet solos. “Make some noise when you walk!” Now she could feel the brush of Kirito’s shadows against the blizzard lightning and freezing wind that was her own magic. A feeling she’d been avoiding for days, not sure why. Or maybe she did know why. Because she was still sitting here, frozen, unable to turn around when she knew he’d already seen….
“Sometimes I forget how.” Kirito stepped closer, a black-coated shadow at the edge of her vision. “You’re a draconic?”
“So?” Wings clenched, almost banging into wood; Asuna shoved her chair back to turn, determined to take the offensive. “You’re a….”
Kirito raised curious brows. Obviously taking a good look at sky-blue hair, pointed ears, and the scales scattered like sapphire glitter on her cheeks.
“Human,” Asuna finished weakly, clawed fingers closing on the back of her chair. “I’m sorry, I thought – you were so quiet, and a lot of the clearers….”
“Half of Fuurinkazan’s turned,” Kirito agreed, black eyes shadowed. “So has Argo.” A smirk crossed his face. “You might want sunglasses the next time you meet her face to face.”
“Sunglasses?” Asuna said suspiciously. “What kind of youkai is she?”
A hint of amusement danced in dark eyes. “If you don’t know, I’m not going to spoil the surprise.”
Crossover Queen's Creative Chaos 
Wow, so Asuna now looks like a cross between her canon undine form and Pina. That sounds really cool.
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*G* Because pretty.
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-a cross between her canon undine form and Pina-
-Because pretty-
There is potential for amusement here, particularly because we know Asuna knows draconic as of chapter 2 and all dragons, large or small speak this language in one form or another.
So Pina lands on Asuna’s shoulder and starts chittering at her in draconic to give her advice. Because the poor girl clearly needs it and she’s been nice to Pina’s primary peanut provider.
Anyone with working eyes and a nose can tell she wants to snag the black-clad, shadow-casting, secondary peanut provider as a mate. But she’s never going to attract a male’s attention if she keeps letting her plumage go like this. You’re a dragon (sort of), take some pride in your appearance for Io’s sake!
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*G* Oh, the bunnies have to poke this….
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*G* Oh, the bunnies have to poke this….
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As far as the various epidermal growths go, feathers are rather high maintenance and pretty different then what we ground-bound mammals are used to. I mean think about the amount of time and care birds spend preening, straightening, oiling etc their feathers.
And depending on how much of a mental ‘how-to-draconic’ guide Asuna got when she was adopted (which probably isn’t that much), she might be in the dark about some things.
After all, when you had Issin say that he keeps his claws padded when washing his face, the phrasing suggested that at the start he needed to deliberately remember to do so in order to not claw himself.
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That actually is part of what comes up a bit later. It’s the bit with Pina that the bunnies need to poke. 😉
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it seems, that even with all the youkai powers, a human kirito will still be the strongest player… something to chew for the youkai and dragon….
I personally like it that way
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It ends up working into the plan. 😉
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Asuna knew that. But the book she’d winkled out of the animated bookcases was so… so….
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My my, Asuna. Just what reading material did you come across? 😉
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“Make some noise when you walk!”
“Sometimes I forget how.”
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The sad thing for Asuna, is that she can honestly never tell if Kirito is being serious or teasing her when he says this. 😀
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She found Khorvaire’s Dumbest Adventurers.
…If you’ve read America’s Dumbest Criminals, you have an idea. 😉
And right now he’s kind of both. Train hard enough to walk quietly, you forget how to walk around regular folks….
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This is one I’ve run into in real life. What’s worse, if you do well enough at it, then even when you’re purposely trying to be obvious you may still go unnoticed. (tho it is fun watching people jump when they suddenly realize I’m there, despite my having been purposely making noise as I walked up in front of them)
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I’ve had people walk right past me looking for me, turn around, come walking right back toward me, supposedly looking at me….
“Hi.”
“AAAAACCCCKKKK!”
Situational Awareness: Critical Fail?
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Kirito missed a great straight line for Asuna’s question about info on Argo.
Kirito held out a hand, “One thousand Col.”
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*Snrrrrk*
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Hmmm, it’ll be interesting to see if the KotBO elite are all draconic (Beniryuu’s prejudice/ego regarding the superiority of his species and derivatives thereof) or if Asuna’s situation is closer to Issin.
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“See? Scales //are// the best things ever.”
…either that or he’s hiding snickers behind his wing. Planned for this? Nope! Just made sure the //superior// option was available for the best of the best!
What I wanna know is what’s Kirito comparable with? Back in chapter 1 or 2, Sethano did a scry and was surprised at the result. Why? And how best will it blow up in Beniryuu’s snout?
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Actually this was part of a Plan. Beniryuu’s been wondering about that scrying as well, and thinks he’s figured it out. So… Asuna’s bloodstone has some history behind it. *EG*
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…
Why //hello// there Ominous Music! Hadn’t thought to hear you again for at least another chapter.
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But it missed you! See? 🙂
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IIRC, it was… Human. His soul flinched away from everything- he doesn’t want to change.
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The end result was never shown. *Halo*
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Heh! Will have to ask the bunnies; they think he’s not that egotistic. Maybe.
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> What I wanna know is what’s Kirito comparable with?
If you reread the conversation between Stheno and Tetsutora, it seems to imply that Kirito is compatible with medusae. For what that’s worth, given how staunchly he consciously (and unconsciously) is opposed to his personal adoption by literally anybody. Whether that’s what he’s Most Compatible with as seen in the Scry or just that it would work if he was willing is still unrevealed.
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There has been a constant ‘feathers’ foreshadowing… oooor that might just be referring to those balls of fluff and venom.
If it is for shadowing then i’m guessing something ‘angelic’ or along those lines, it would have to have a relation to shadow magic. But there are enough variants that i could still see it happen.
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Fluffballs. Definitely. 🙂
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i thought the ‘feathers’ referred to the cockatrice ring Stheno gave him.
Which is actually a mark of her favor.
And that her scrying showed that ‘changing’ kirito will be a ‘bad end’ for him.
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The feathers will come up again later. 😉 Let’s just say, Magic of Eberron had some interesting ideas that I thought might be even more interesting in a toned-down form….
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I wonder if perhaps Kirito wouldn’t be opposed to becoming a human subspecies, like an Illumian.
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I think it’s more along the lines of, “I’m keeping myself, thanks.”
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By angelic do you mean white dove feathers angel, or do you mean WRATH OF GOD Angel? Because I think of current angel images as calmed down/ lower rank angels. Best analogy is Old Testament-Spec Ops;New Testament-Peaceful messengers. Daniel got explicitly told “Be not afraid”. Considering that he wasn’t afraid of a death sentence by hungry lions…
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Similarly, at the end of Matthew, where the angel comes and rolls away the stone from the tomb, and the earth shakes (and the guards play dead)… most translations make it sound like it was something simple “the angel did a superhero landing hard enough to shake the ground”, or “the stone was really heavy, so it shook the ground a bit when it was rolled away”, but the actual meaning would translate closer to “the angel was so awesome looking that the earth itself was afraid and shook”. Which makes it more understandable why “be not afraid” is the standard intro angels have to give in the Bible.
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See, I’ve been wondering for a while if the KoB was going to be a dragon-blood recruitment ground for Kayaba/Beniryuu. After all, if the Dragon is planning on adding to his clan, he would want the best and the brightest, and KoB was pretty much the most elite guild in SAO cannon. It would definitely fit his MO. (Worry for Asuna intensifies)
Also, is Asuna picking up on the fact that Kirito picked dragons as a favored enemy, or was she worried that she was going to get ‘you’re not human’ flack from one of her few friends? She needs hugs!
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There will be hugs. And fluff.
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