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Once again, Marco had found himself with way too much free time. Well, as far as he was concerned it was just enough free time, but other people might disagree.

So he'd decided to run around the city for a bit. Especially around Cassie's house - it never hurt to know more about the terrain. (And hey, you never knew were you might find some kind of alien music player just lying around. And Marco couldn't let someone else pick up all the cool stuff, could he?)

Morphing Irish Setter (by now, 'Cinnabon' had been seen around the ship enough that people could just dismiss him as 'Jake's dog' and not anything suspicious), Marco took off, heading in the opposite direction from usual and away from the places that the rest of the ship were all over.

Most of the buildings looked completely alien - and not just 'not human'. They didn't even look like the Yeerk or Andalite buildings he'd seen (although this one tower did look like it was straight off of the Iskoort world...). But after he'd been exploring for a while, he stumbled onto something unexpectedly familiar.

Dude, seriously? The freaking Great Wall of China was hiding behind a bunch of bizarre alien skyscrapers?

After ducking into a small alleyway to demorph, he clambered up the stairs next to one of the towers, making his way to the top of the Wall.

[[ooc: Okay feel free to either bother Marco as 'Cinnabon the dog' while he's running around exploring, or when he's human and on top of the Wall. Just let me know which in the subject, okay? (Also for my reference and everyone else's...this is what the stairs he goes up looks like]]

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It wasn't uncommon for Celena to stretch her wings on flights through the city, taking her often well past the bounds of the area explored by the crew. Occasionally testing her skill in flight as she wove through the more densely packed towers and along streets. It was during such a flight, taking a path she had taken before that she spotted one of her fellow crew members atop what appeared to be an ancient wall, even as she shot on wing tip low over head.

Spreading her wings wide to catch the air she looped up and around, slowing herself, finished with her little bit of fun as she followed her course back, wondering who had decided to wonder out amongst the city today. Hoping she hadn't given them too much of a scare with the fly by as she circled overhead at a much slower pace. Now that she had a better look at the other she did recognize him though she didn't think she had his name.

Before long she came down for an easy landing not too far along the wall from where he stood, folding her wings in against her sides as she padded closer, "Greetings! I hope I didn't disturb you," Giving a dip of her head before she took a better look at the wall she had past over a few times before, thinking little of it at the time, "Something from your world is it?"

Oh, he'd seen her as she flew over alright. There was giant overgrown flying lizard flying over his head! Giant as in it could probably eat him! He backed away from her until he hit the tower, and started to seriously consider morphing osprey and - no, not osprey, this thing probably eats ospreys as well...

But Celena had hit already hit the wall before Marco could finish his frantic attempts to calculate an escape route.

He stared at her, wary. Okay, she didn't seem to be attempting to eat him. Unless she liked to talk to her dinner before swallowing it. "Disturb? No, dragons play aerial aerobatics over my head all the time," Marco said sarcastically. In the back of his mind he wondered what the hell he was doing, making jokes at the giant lizard with the unnervingly sharp teeth. "And this? Great Wall of China. They built it to keep Chuck Norris out you know. Sadly it failed, miserably."

Maybe if he ran into the tower, morphed fly, and hid under a brick until it went away...

Celena would tilt her curiously head as she noticed that he'd backed away from where she had landed. Noting his wary stare even as she let her gaze trail over the architecture of the wall about her and the tower behind the other, it looked as if the wall had seen many a year indeed.

Turning her gaze back the other she gave a smile and a dip of her head, "My apologies, there is not usually any out this far into the city," she reshuffled her wings wings a bit, "I do tend to stretch my wings on occasion a way to relax after a days work," she would comment as she continued, raising an eyeridge at his comment on the wall. 'Great Wall of China' hmm?

"Indeed? To build such a wall to keep a single individual out? Little wonder it failed," she replied easily with a chuckle, "Such a wall would be better used to impede invading armies rather than individuals," shaking her head as she looked over the wall once more and then back to him. A small ripple of light flowing as if in amusement through the markings that covered her forms.

"I don't believe we've met, though I am sure I have seen you at times around the ship, I am Celena,"

"What can I say, I felt the inexplicable urge to find a wall. And look! A wall!" Marco said, sounding a little manic. He eyed the lightshow warily - okay, dragons were one thing, but did they have to light up like a Vegas casino as well?! - and decided that he definitely wanted to stay close to the relative safety of the tower.

"Marco," he said dryly. "Nice to know that you make a habit of flying around watching people."

Okay, so Marco had been known to fly around watching people as well in the past. And possibly the present. But hey, at least he wasn't a giant dragon that might eat people. (He also made a mental note to be very careful about not morphing out in the open where the Giant Flying Vegas Casinos might see him in the future.)

Edited 2010-12-27 11:40 (UTC)

"Indeed, and found quite the wall indeed, it must have some history for it to be taken aboard," Celena would reply calmly, if with a hint of interest as she peered over the side of the wall at the old bricks before back to Marco, dipping her head lightly as he spoke again.

"I merely take interest on occasion to those I see passing through the city in my travels," She would reply easily, not the smallest bit put off by his dry comment, not a dishonest reply, though in some cases she had kept track of the locations in which she had seen particular individuals, after all such had been her part of her job back home when she had taken to the surface.

For a moment though she would examine a particular series of bricks along the wall before looking sidelong over at Marco once more with some amusement mixed with curiosity "You think that I might cause harm to those here?"

"You can see it from the moon," Marco said helpfully. "Well, you used to be able to. Who needs history when you can just stand on the moon and say 'yes, I'll take everything that's visible'?"

You could do plenty of harm just by watching people, Marco knew. Gather enough intel, and you can target someone's weak points, avoid their strenths...and Celene didn't even need that. All she'd need to do is land on someone and she'd cause plenty of harm.

But he wasn't stupid enough to say all of that to her teeth. "That depends. Have you made any embarrassing videos of people, and do you plan to broadcast them over the comms?"

Celena rose an eyeridge at that, "Indeed? A vast wall it must be to be able to be have been seen from such distances," An impressive feat she had little doubt of, especially given the manner of construction and how old it looked.

Celena knew very well the harm the right intelligence could do to near anything given the opportunity. Used correctly it could halt armies without a single soldier lost, even allow one to overthrow a kingdom, let alone what it might do to the general individual.

She looked back fully to Marco at the comment, raising an eyeridge once more, "No on both accounts I'm afraid, not the most..productive of things to do, wouldn't you say?" She would reply easily with some amusement.

"Emperor Whatshisname felt the need to compensate," Marco said. He edged away from the tower just a tiny fraction. Surely if she hadn't eaten him by now, she wasn't going to, right?

Right?!

"Ah, well in that case I can forgive you. Unless you were thinking of making embarrassing videos about Jake, in which case you should go right ahead."

Right. That is, if she was going to eat him at all, the thought of which never crossed her mind, "Quite so?" rather dubious of the accuracy of the comment on the wall. Noting though that he wasn't near pressed against the wall now at least.

"I am relieved to hear that then," Giving a dip of her head before tilting her head, "Now why might I wish to do that? I would assume Jake would be another from your world?" She thought a moment, she had heard that name before months ago on the comms network, though she did not have a face to the name.

Peering over the edge once more, noting a brick that had fallen free of the wall and lay near the base, a soft glow drawn to her markings as the brick floated on up and over the lip of the wall, to float before her, rotating slowly as she examined it.

Marco blinked. Okay. She wasn't just huge and neon, she was freaking telekinetic. Which completely failed to make Marco feel anymore comfortable, because now in addition to eating him she could just fling that brick at his head with her mind.

"Err, that wasn't actually a serious suggestion," Marco said, keeping an eye on that brick. "You know there's this little thing called a 'sense of humour'. Ever heard of it?"

After examining the brick a moment and noting his wary look at it she let it float down back to slide into place from where it had likely fallen, if not, close enough to it. Looking back to Marco though soon enough.

An eyeridge raising at his comments, "Indeed, nor did I take them as such," she would reply before continuing, "'Sense of humor' you say, I have indeed, such a strange concept it is, I must say," replying with mock seriousness, a ripple light flowing through her markings in amusement, shaking her head after a moment, giving a soft chuckle.

"Okay," Marco said, blinking. "That sentence made no sense whatsoever."

And now he had the unsettling feeling that the dragon was laughing at him, and he didn't even know what the joke was.

Celena would watch him a moment before replying simply, "It did not need to," taking a moment at that to stretch her wings out before refolding them in against her sides.

She shook her head after a moment, before her interest in the other himself returned, "I am curious though, do you work with in any of the departments aboard?"

"Nope," Marco said with a small shrug. "Alas, I am without useful skills. Unless you count playing videos games. Now at that, I totally rock."

He looked back at Celena, eyes slightly narrowed. "Why do you want to know?"

"Indeed not?" Celena replied somewhat skeptically, "Surely you have some skills of use, even if they might not be immediately evident," She would raise an eyeridge at his mention of video games, chuckling softly, "I'm sure that would be quite entertaining to see,"

"Hmm? Merely curious as I mentioned, I have lent my aid to the Engineering department personally of late," She replied easily, no ill will evident at least on the surface of it, he did seem somewhat suspicious of her though she thought.

Sure, Marco could actually able to morph into an entire array of animals and was spying for Kang. But there was no way he was going to tell her that. "Hey, if anyone needs to beat Super Mario Cart in order to save the universe? I am so there," he said instead, with a grin.

"What, did they need you to light their furnaces?" Marco said, eying those teeth of hers again.

Indeed, after all everyone had secrets, it was to be expected. Celena couldn't help but chuckle at his reply, "I'm sure you would be the first to know should they require it," she remarked in return with a smile on her snout.

"Ah but indeed, I am sure they would be able to light their own fires," she would comment with an amused shake of her head before going on,"I have been helping Billy with the construction and design of the Bathhouse, as well as working on a few small projects of my own," Raising a paw palm up before her, the markings along that forelimb glowing as a miniaturized version of the bath house formed in the air above her paw.

Marco watched small bathhouse carefully. A hologram? She she have kind of device somewhere, or was it a natural ability? Either way, it was another reminder of the dragon's power. If she could make larger illusions, then she could hide anything she wanted to.

A useful ability, sure. As long as you knew it was being used on your side.

"Sounds like fun," he said dryly, instead of mentioning any of his thoughts to her. "Can you even fit inside it?"

"Not if it were this big, though perhaps if it were more to scale?" Celena would reply with some amusement, with a twist of her paw, the glow spread to the markings all along her body as the illusionary Bath house grew suddenly even as it rotated. Growing and growing until it was the exact size it was planned to be. The illusion looking as real as the wall beneath them before she settled the spin, turning the walls transparent enough to see through to Marco.

She would let the illusion linger for a few moments before letting it fade into mist then to nothing, "In event, I would not imagine it's construction should take much longer,"

He rolled his eyes after Celena made that 'to scale' comment - "Hello, I meant the actual bathhouse?" - before seeing the illusion expand.

So. She could make bigger illusions. There was definitely no doubt: she was very, very dangerous. Definitely not someone you wanted to piss off.

"And then what. Giant pool party?" Marco said, raising an eyebrow.

Celena would just shake her head with some amusement at his reply. The illusionary Bathhouse as it was, was a beginning to the illusions she could construct. Not that she always used them to deceive, indeed, she used them to occasionally help others, or as an aid to the telling of a story.

"Now that, would be up to the crew in general," Celena replied with a soft chuckle, the glow of her markings remaining for a few moments before slowly fading. Letting her gaze wander up to the alien towers that surrounded and usually blocked the wall from the view of most.

Sadly, Marco was the kinda guy to assume the worst. Which meant that as far as he was concerned, Celene was much more likely to be using her powers for covert surveillance than for party tricks.

"You mean you went to all the trouble of building this thing, and you won't even demand a pool party? Man, that's just sad."

Not an unfair assumption given circumstances, all things considered. There were after all many times she had indeed used her illusions and powers for just that purpose, whether all of those times were aboard Stacy was another matter entirely.

Celena rose an eyeridge and chuckled at Marco's response, a pool party? Not something she was innately familiar with, "If not I, if it's as you say I'm sure someone will come up with the idea," She shook her head at that before half unfurling her wings.

"In any event I should be on my way, I shan't take any more of your time,"

Marco just shrugged, although inwardly he actually felt very relieved that the Giant Flying Lizard was going away...

...although if she could create illusions, then she could easily just hide herself and he'd never actually know if she really was gone or just pretending to be a stray cloud...

...okay, now that line of thinking was just plain scary.

"Right. Catch you later then, Vegas," Marco said, making sure to keep his tone casual. Well, as casual it could be when you were talking to a freaking dragon.

Celena stretched her wings wide for a moment, "Farewell for now then, Marco," She would reply in turn, dipping her head. Though a ripple of curiosity in her mind at 'Vegas'.

She didn't take thought to it at that moment though as she looked to the fake sky above, crouching low as she brought her wings up all in one smooth motion. With one graceful yet powerful leap and downward stroke of her wings the dragon shot up into the air.

Circling once overhead to peer down to the great wall and Marco one last time, he was an interesting one, though perhaps a bit suspicious. Shaking her head to herself as she tilted on wingtip and disappeared between two buildings, setting a course back toward her abode.

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