theattic | PSL: KINGS OF ABORG

"I can wa-AULK!" Maurice's protest turned into a yelp as the lithe wizard yanked him upright as though he were a pup by his scruff. He wobbled there, standing easily a head higher than the wizard but feeling suddenly shaken (and unexpectedly excited???) about the display.

However, now that he stood, he could feel all the wine sloshing uncomfortably in his guts. The cave had always been just a little crooked, hadn't it? It was a cave! A natural formation! It was supposed to be slanted.

He was leaning again, leaning away from Hanna without meaning to.

A second jolt sent him upright though as heat rushed to his face, turning him nearly as pink as the dragon in his proper shape.

"Oh, I should have beheaded you when I had the chance! I can walk! Let me go! Let go!" Maurice commanded this of Hanna while swatting his shoulder. Wait. Where had his glass gone? He'd dropped it at some point.

"Oh, I like that color. Maybe I'll use that one. Tomorrow we can try and get that same color so I can copy it." He laughs, taking a step back away from his offending hand, though not too far away. He doesn't want Maurice to fall either.

"Come on, give me your hand, you shouldn't have any more, I'm calling a tie if that is what gets you to bed more quickly. I don't want to have to baby you tomorrow." Though at this point he probably already will need to. "If you feel sick, I'd prefer you to sleep in here though. It's easier to clean."

It was hard to tell if the color remained due to anger or being flustered. Maurice himself couldn't tell and he had yet to work out just exactly why the dragon teasing him this way got to him the quickest.

HE WOULD JUST HAVE TO BE ANGRIER.

Hanna did have a point though. He hadn't really thought about the aftermath of their contest and he looked at the long and winding tunnel ahead of them that lead to--his room. It was his room, wasn't it? That felt kind of nice. Even if it was full of junk and he slept on the floor.

But only because he hadn't asked for a bed, something reminded him and all at once, Maurice was overtaken with emotion. This dragon was willing to give him so much--refuge, an education, food, a place for his horse and his very own bow-- if he'd only used his brain and ask for it! He didn't deserve to be forgiven so quickly. Oh gods above he could feel himself getting ready to cry.

"O-okay."

Hanna blinked, unsure what was going on with the other man's face, but he seemed to be fighting a rush of some kind internally. He continued to stare until it looked like his apprentice was close to tears.

"Are...you okay? You don't have to go to bed...I just didn't want you to pass out at the table." He leans forward a little, unsure, though his hand is still offered, "I don't think I've ever...drank with a human before, are you usually like this when you get drunk?" And while he was aware that their tolerance was not enough to challenge a dragon, it still came as a surprise. It had started out as an unfair jest, but he was almost concerned now that he had made some horrible mistake.

"I'm...fine! I'm fine!" Maurice wiped at the corner of one eye with the heel of his hand and tried to suck it up. He had to stay composed!

But now Hanna was all concerned he really did care about his student's well-being! Maurice wished for all the world that he could go back to being angry.

Instead of taking Hanna's hand, Maurice reached out to plant a hand on the smaller man's shoulder, both to steady himself and to give him a weird sort of shake. Maurice couldn't look him in the eye because he was too far gone to focus on anything but he tried.

"You're a good man, Hannacross. You know that?" He drew in a loud sniff. He coughed loudly and took his hand away only to rest his elbow on Hanna's shoulder and sag heavily against him. He figured the dragon was stout enough to take it. "I don't usually get drunk. Whoof. Sorry, I don't know what came over me...I do mean you're a good person but I mean the other. Stuff. I need to lie down."

"If you're sure..." Hanna says slowly, though each lean, each slap of his hand gets him to kind of stumble. He was strong still, yes, but over all his body was weaker, less sturdy, and it took a moment for him to adjust to Maurice's weight leaning against him.

He'll let him continue to compliment him though, his arm coming around Maurice, guiding him towards the back of the cavern, towards his own bed because hell if he is going to clean up the store room tomorrow if Maurice gets sick. It was easier to clean anything out here...less things that can catch on fire or be damaged. "I'm not a man, but that's okay. I appreciate it." He returns, stumbling himself with Maurice's weight and his own state of drink. He was more buzzed and fuzzy than anything, clear of mind but warm inside.

He gets to the edge of his horde, considers the space and gestures to the floor outside of it, nodding to Maurice. "Sit here and I'll be right back. Try...Try not to touch." And then he'll be off to get his apprentice some water before bed because maybe that will help.

"No, no I mean a...a person I guess. A thinking being. You're a good mandragonperson."

Oh. Sit? He could sit. Maurice grunted as he finally let go of Hanna and let the wall guide him downward where he sat with a thump. It was then that he knew he was not going to be able to get back up until the sun returned.

As the dragon retreated, Maurice lifted a hand to his head in a sloppy salute. "Yesssss suurrrrr."

By the time Hanna returned, Maurice was already slouched against the cavern wall staring dazedly at the ceiling and twirling a lock of his hair around one finger. He may have...also been singing. But it could have also just been the overgrown boy saying 'yes surrr' quietly to himself over and over.

The drunken prince was a trainwreck.

Maurice, though drunk and probably won't even realize, was given quite a bit of trust in the few short minutes it took for Hanna to come back with some of the furs he slept with and a glass of water. Just on the edge of the horde against the cave wall, Maurice still sat when he came back, gold untouched, and something heavy in the Dragon's stomach lifted when he saw the man just leaning, playing with his own hair. Such a good human. A very drunk, good human.

"Here, drink this and then try and go to sleep. If you need to get sick try and go as far as you can before you do. Just...not near me." He'll hold out the water and consider his horde, the human shape he still wore. It never was as comfy to sleep in when he didn't have hard scales and a long, large body, but...part of him wasn't sure if shifting when Maurice was obviously so far gone was a good thing.

"Will you be alright? Or should I stay up with you for a little while?"

Maurice's reaction was a little delayed. His eyes slid off Hanna a time or two before finally finding him. He let out a snort and accepted the glass.

"I'm fiiiiiine. I never felt better." As big a game as he talked, he drank his glass of water slowly, eyes drifting into the middle distance once again. It did feel good to finally feel relaxed. He hadn't felt any kind of relaxed probably since he arrived. There was always some undercurrent of worry--about his mother suddenly showing up, about displeasing the dragon one way or another, about getting some terrible wilderness disease.

But now he wasn't worried about any of that. He broke into an enormous yawn and held his empty glass out as though he expected a servant to take it from him.

And with that, he rolled slightly to one side, back toward Hanna, and lost consciousness. Eventually he gave way to loud snores as further proof that he'd left this world behind for several several hours.

Satisfied, and reluctantly taking the glass to set it aside, Hanna put the furs over him as soon as he was sure he wasn't going to drown in his own vomit in the middle of the night. He shifted forms now that he wasn't concerned about bothering the drunken man, and slipped under the coins and treasure, heaving a long sigh before falling asleep himself. Human snores didn't really bother him much in comparison to the gentle rumble of his own breathing and soon enough he had fallen asleep as well.

When the morning came, he was well rested, not a bit of sickness in his stomach or an ache in his head to be felt, and there was bright sunshine coming in from the mouth of the cavern. Today would be good.

He rolled over in the coins, the pile shifting and sounding like water as he moved, craning his head out to see if Maurice was awake yet. "Ready for the day, My lord?"

A hand swiftly planted itself against the dragon's dangerous muzzle.

"Ssssssshhhhhhhhh," hissed the prince miserably. Maurice was a mess. He'd gotten up and down during the night several times, luckily making it to the designated tunnel each time, but his face was drained of color and his hair even more disheveled than it had been when he walked in after spending several days in the wilderness.

He couldn't open his eyes all the way.

Hanna snorted, hot air pushing from his nose onto Maurice's hand. It wasn't hot enough to burn, but getting there. He shook his head, unsure of how he felt about the touch, and reared his head back, "You're going to be a wreck all day, aren't you?

He had a feeling that today was not in fact going to be good.

Maurice displayed a brilliant full-body cringe when Hanna spoke again. His outstretched hand curled into a fist, more so from the sound of the dragon's voice than the burst of hot air that rolled over it. Slowly, slowly he rested his head and shoulder back against the cave wall.

"Dragon, please, I beg you, have some respect for the dead. I am dying. This is very serious."

"You're not dying." Hanna stood, stretching his wings and body to slip out of his bed of treasures, and moved towards the row of potions and ingredients, trying to remember a sort of remedy for hangovers that he had used once. He wasn't sure it was something a human could stomach though, and so that took some digging.

He was just about to ask Maurice if he could go fetch a scroll for him when he stopped himself short, saving him from probably more whining.

"I am. I'm dying. You poisoned me, dragon. You poisoned me and you're going to use my perfect perfect teeth in some...some...infernal potion of yours!"

Maurice's voice came out in a miserable half wheeze half warble. His EVERYTHING hurt. He thought riding for days on end made him sore but all the heaving he'd done during the night had put that pain to shame.

NOTHING WILL SAVE YOU FROM THIS WHINING, HANNAH.

"This is pathetic, do you really think I'd use just your teeth?" Hanna returned, unable to stop himself with the constant whining going on behind him. "It'd be your hair first, then some fingers probably. I've got some recipes that call for human eyeballs too, or at least, you can substitute them for eye of newt, I always thought it worked better anyways."

Yes, bullshit at the hung over manchild, Hanna. This will ease your suffering.

"Do you want some water?"

Blinking one watery eye at a time, Maurice drew himself up and managed to look horrified.

"You wouldn't!" He made a new face as his stomach turned. "At least...at least make something dignified out of me!"

Regardless of his pleas and Hanna's not-quite-threats, he took the water and drank it slowly. It both made him feel better and made him cringe.

"How can I when you're laying on the floor like that?" He asks, not even watching to make sure that Maurice doesn't choke, leaving the room to find that scroll...

He comes back in a few minutes later, a few things gathered up in one wing, and he tries as carefully as a dragon can to set them down in front of his work station. "Now, if you're going to be a useless lump in the corner for the rest of the day, that's your business, but please do try and keep quiet?" He says while making a remedy for his sad excuse for an apprentice. "I'm never letting you drink again, by the way."

"Not even on holidays?" Maurice sat up again to send the dragon a miserable, pleading look. "But...winter harvest! I'm the prince, I have to give a toast!"

He instantly regretted sitting up and let out a groan before leaning back against the wall. At least the cave wasn't overly bright. Just pink. So, so pink.

"I thought you had graduated from that last night, your majesty." He teased, fighting a smile with his back to the other man, humming over his pot that had just started to simmer.

"Do kings of Aborg need to toast at holiday get togethers?"

Maurice's face was a perfect portrait of blank confusion.

"Kings of wh..." Then it all came slamming back down on him--like a heavy scroll clocking him from a high shelf. He clapped a hand to his face and groaned loudly. "Uuuuuuugh. God in his heaven, you're right, I probably shouldn't drink again."

Hanna couldn't help but laugh, shaking his head, "No, no...It was great. I really enjoyed it. Also...I was thinking of trying to incorporate purple in my next potion." He honestly had appreciated that part of their talk, because even as a dragon, being as small as he was, he sometimes wondered how great he really was. His father had a larger horde, had a much greater wingspan. And even if he was appreciative of how fast being small and slim build made him? Taking after his mother didn't do well for his self esteem.

"Where is this bog you spoke of anyways? Maybe we could scope out a good hide away there."

Parting his fingers, Maurice looked up and tried to imagine a deep royal purple somewhere in the mess that would eventually be Hanna's scales once again. He had mentioned that, hadn't he? He had to admit that...he hadn't been fibbing.

"You might be careful...or people will be after your hide..." Maurice lowered his hand and let hit fall across his stomach. Oof. "Maybe just a few...a sort of dappling, maybe? Not polkadots, I will leave this cave in an instant if I have to stare at polkadots for the rest of my employment."

Just thinking of a dotty Hanna moving around made him dizzy. He shut his eyes so he wouldn't have to see the runes on the walls.

"It's west of here. There's a stretch of fallow nothing between my mother's kingdom and the bog so no towns ever thought to spring up. We had some truffle hunters come through and tell us that it was filled to the brim with wolves...but maybe that was so no one would get his truffles."

"You said polkadots at first like it was the best idea you ever had." Hanna grumbles, knowing that patterns like that would be extremely hard to create, but a dappling? Well. A splash of color without much pattern to it would be relatively easy, thankfully. "I might just. You don't think it would look horrible with the pink?" His tail flicks from side to side as he thinks, putting more things in his brew as he follows the recipe. It's started to turn an odd shade of green, but at the very least it doesn't smell hideous.

At the mention of wolves Hanna smiles, nodding, "its easier to live somewhere if there aren't humans around to disrupt your life. Perhaps we should let it be, let the wolves keep the land. I'm sure there's somewhere else. In fact, we could settle right here and be happy. I've lived here for years and never regretted it."

"I was drunk," Maurice reminded him. Polkadots. Gracious. Eugh. Of course a dragon that colored himself like a petunia would love that idea. Maurice opened an eye to watch Hanna work. He'd seen him down that cask and he moved and spoke as if he hadn't the slightest inkling of a headache.

It wasn't fair!

He wasn't allowed to pout for long though because Hanna started talking about settling again and it made his ears grow hot for reasons Maurice couldn't fathom. "You already live here. I think that makes this mountain count as settled."

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