Hanna had been around to follow Maurice the rest of the day, just in case there were other mishaps in the village. He was quiet about it, making sure that he was attending to business here and there, but he was well aware that Maurice kept looking his way. He wondered what was on his mind.
Back at home though, he wondered the same thing, giving him a curious look as Maurice pushed his food around. He was still orange, but tomorrow he could strip his color in preparation for returning to his usual pink, most of his potions he needed for it sorted out anyways and now in place. His tail flicked around, gently prodding Maurice and opened up with a question, "There are better ways to lose a few pounds, my lord. Far healthier ones than skipping meals."
The prince made an undignified honking sound as Hanna's prod dragged him out of a shoulders-deep groove he'd worried himself into while mentally pacing. He shoved at the spear tip if the dragon's tail, his little fire sparking back into life for the moment.
"I don't need to lose a few pounds!" He puffed out his chest and reached for his wine. "Living on this mountain top has me wasting away as it is. I'm...tired."
"Wasting away?" Hanna can't believe that. Actually working and eating hearty meals every night couldn't be considered wasting away. "I didn't take you for someone who tired so easily." Though he is well aware that a day of haggling can be exhausting.
Maurice hunched his shoulders and wondered if the beast was using some kind of mage or dragon trick to see into his soul. Part of him really wanted to come clean but another part of him still had its trousers in a bunch over getting water dumped on his head and didn't want to get laughed at again so soon.
Then he looked at his plate and his brows drifted upward. He'd made a huge mess of dinner and that seemed to make him even more upset considering what he was so pensive about.
"I've just been...thinking." His eyes moved around the room to the bottles, the scrolls that had drifted out into the main chamber, the tools, the furniture that this dragon seemed to have either bought with his dragon money or made with his dragon claws. "About...things." He winced. That wouldn't do. "About you. Beings like you."
Hanna is smart enough to start to put the pieces of the puzzle together. He follows his gaze down to his plate, a winged arm coming across the table to pick up a bone, opening his mouth and crunching on it easily. "Beings like me aren't for dinner, Maurice." He's trying to be gentle at least, because he can tell it's wearing on him. A young man like Maurice wouldn't skip meals otherwise, he's sure.
"There are beasts in this world that are just beasts. They are driven by instinct, and that alone, and they don't use a common tongue, it's mostly simplistic forms of communication." He settles, wings coming back at his sides and he nods to Maurice's plate, "Deer, elk, moose? Those creatures aren't the most intelligent. But, centaurs? Now, those wouldn't be cooked for dinner, I assure you. If I had to kill another like myself, something that relied on more than just instinct and thought for more than just itself and a sense of survival and reproduction? It would be given a proper burial and not roasted and served on a plate."
The prince braced himself, ready to be mocked or even punished for daring to compare the wise dragon to the side of rabbit at the table. Neither of those things happened.
It was a difficult thing to wrap his head around. For twenty something years he'd thought Hanna's kind were dumb troublesome lizards fit only to be slain, hung over the dinner table, and placed upon it. The Queen's Wings and all that.
"How can you be sure?" He quickly lifted his hands in a feeble attempt to assure the dragon he wasn't trying to suggest that he was stupid. Panic was obvious on the young man's face. "Absolutely sure? I know you've been around for a long time, but I saw at least ten strange things today that I've never seen in my entire life!" He ran his fingers through his hair and lowered his head again. Why was dinner always so stressful? "I won't be able to stand it if tomorrow I discover that elk are people. I promised."
"Living behind the walls of a castle, I'm sure you'll see a lot more, my lord," He says calmly, though the way Maurice is worried, he is concerned for his sanity. He's asking heavy hitting questions, and Hanna might not have an answer to all of them.
"I'm certain that I would be able to tell. There are intelligent beasts that look like elk, but they would much sooner kill and eat you than let themselves be food. If you're so incredibly concerned, I suppose you are a creature that can survive without meat in their diet, and I won't be offended if you don't eat my food, but I'm not going to prepare you salads for your conscience either." He's not sure how else to convince Maurice otherwise, nodding to him. "But I can promise you that nothing I cook and eat will be what you're worried they will be." He didn't even eat humans, so, as serious as Maurice is, he finds it funny he's worried about it.
Maurice lifted his head and looked a little stricken. There were dangerous creatures masquerading as elk in the woods? If he ever got ahold of a bow again, hunting was going to be so nerve-wracking. Maybe...he could live off of fish for a while. If they were stupid enough to fall for worms on hooks and feather flies, maybe they deserved to be eaten. He certainly had deserved it waltzing into a dragon's den with a weapon he wasn't trained in.
The dragon's mouth is drawn to a thin line, unsure of how to continue. He can't fault Maurice for any of this really, people were raised how they were and until they were able to see and think for themselves, that wouldn't change.
"No...You're learning. I can't fault you for asking questions and thinking. It's what anyone would do when they learn." He snorts at him, shaking his head, "You're coming to your own conclusions about the world, and to be honest, it's rather nice, hearing this from you. You have more of a conscience than I gave you credit for, and I am rather liking your train of thought, actually."
Something like a wary smile formed on the dethroned prince's face. Guilt and grattitude sat in an uncomfortable lump where his dinner should have been. This dragon seemed more like a person than even himself at times.
"Thinking is hard," he admitted finally. "I don't see how you manage it all day."
That gets Hanna to laugh, finally getting up and moving towards the reorganized potions, "I don't think all day. Sometimes doing magic takes about as much brain work as turning a spit over a flame." It was all just typical to him now.
"You'll get more used to it though, really. The more you use your brain the better anyways. It's the best thing a person can have, especially if you exercise it every day."
Maurice let out a breath he didn't really realize he'd been holding in. He leaned back in his seat and massaged the sides of his head.
"I hope so...while I was a prince, my job wasn't to think, it was to do what I was told told and look nice. Which I am fantastic at." He opened an eye and caught sight of Hanna's ugly, ugly scales. "Mostly fantastic at."
Guide that brain, Hanna, you've seen what it does on its own.
Hanna snorts, looking at himself when Marice amends his statement and starts to clear a space. It's easier really to use a rune to strip himself of his color than any potions, and since he's full up on dinner, he figures why wait till tomorrow.
He doesn't expect Maurice to get up just yet. "Are you actually going to finish your dinner now that everything is clear on your conscience or are you done?"
The prince's smile fades into a ghost of itself and he looks back at his plate. It would be a shame to waste it. He could start his weird spiritual adventure with fish tomorrow. He quietly started polishing it off in earnest.
"It was something not being recognized today," he throws out conversationally. It had been both scary and exciting. For one, he was completely in disguise...and for another, he'd never been under a spell before. "I can see why you work so heavily in illusions."
"If anything, it's good for those days when you don't want anyone to recognize you," He says with a secretive grin, "Hiding in plain sight is the best kind of illusion." If only you knew, Maurice.
Hanna continues to work on his rune as Maurice eats, the scraping into the ground soft at least. "Didn't have any trouble today though, right?"
He made a humming sound as he separated out a bit of gristle from the rest of the meat.
"Not really...not more than you would expect from, you know. Someone like me." He leaned to watch Hanna work, admiring how practiced the run looked. "Commonfolk are so strange...some would bleed you dry without knowing your name...and others would put clothes on your back just as easily."
Hanna smiled, nodding, "Well, which one are you going to become then? A bleeder or a man of goodwill?"
He finishes up his rune, standing in the middle of it and looks up, a teasing grin on his face, "Don't look, I'm stripping," He laughs, a wing opening and coming around to hide most of his long, scaly body as the rune activates, Color starting to bleed down from him and soak into the markings, the natural white of his body appearing underneath the hideous colors that had been mistakenly applied the day before.
The color that ran off him like water disappeared into the markings, nothing but the carving on the floor left as he stretched out his white wings and inspected himself, just in case anything was left. The only part left that had real color was the red of his fringe and horns, obviously the only natural color he left on himself for every day use. He shakes off, frowning at the lack of color, and glances at the group of untested bottles still, sighing. Tomorrow then.
But then Hanna started working his magic and for a split second, the fool prince actually looked away before remembering that his employer was technically always naked. He turned around, ready to huff and puff about being fooled again by this dragon's antics but instead watched in wonder as he changed before his eyes.
And then he understood.
His mother would wear those pristine scales as a cloak in a heartbeat. She would make gloves, boots, a cape, even a tunic from those wings. They really were impressive and Maurice lost himself in staring. He couldn't let that happen to him.
Hanna turns his head, blinking at his apprentice who couldn't seem to take his eyes off of him. But, instead of getting annoyed his frown turned to a sultry smile, posing as good he could to look like a regal dragon despite his thin, long body. His freshly color stripped scales seemed to glow in comparison to the ugly browns and oranges that he had been covered with, no longer lavender either, and nods to Maurice, expectantly.
Maurice froze. Had he been--he had been staring. The prince's face blanched, almost matching Hanna's scales as he internally screamed. What in the nine hells had just happened? Maybe he'd spent too long in the sun after being in the cave for a whole week.
"Better." He quickly occupied his mouth with what was left of dinner so he would at least have time to think before saying anything else.
"That's it?" He protested, looking offended, though he supposed it was the words of an idiot prince who obviously knew nothing of flattering large beasts with daggers for teeth.
"Fine. You looked better when you washed too, can't say the same for today." He huffs and goes back to organizing, his tail scraping away the magic circle as he worked.
"Mmmph!" The prince started coughing, having sucked dinner down the wrong tube when he gasped. He pounded his fist on the table and blinked away tears until he was able to swallow. Once he was sure he wasn't going to die (from choking) he scrambled for a save.
"Much better!" He sounded like a broken flute and sagged visibly. WELP things had almost gone well. He looked at himself. Hanna was right, he looked like he belonged back in town with all the dust and mud on him.
"Hmmm," He hums noncommittally, half ignoring Maurice. Dragons are rather prideful, even ones like Hanna, you had to be careful. "The lake is still there if you ever need to wash by the way. Don't forget to get behind your ears," He grumbles and continues his organizing.
It seems no amount of saving will help this situation, best just deal with it Maurice.
He sagged even further down in his seat. Maurice couldn't even argue that. Why did he feel so awful? This had nothing to do with his being beheaded or hunted for sport or discounted as a 'person'. It was over his stupid scales. Two days ago, Maurice would have chomped at the bit to punch a hole in the sassy dragon's pride.
"I'll go do that." He excused himself from the table and gathered up his things to go and give himself a good wash--Sally too. Her poor legs were filthy from the road and her tail was in tangles.
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theattic2014-11-09 08:06 pm
no subject
Back at home though, he wondered the same thing, giving him a curious look as Maurice pushed his food around. He was still orange, but tomorrow he could strip his color in preparation for returning to his usual pink, most of his potions he needed for it sorted out anyways and now in place. His tail flicked around, gently prodding Maurice and opened up with a question, "There are better ways to lose a few pounds, my lord. Far healthier ones than skipping meals."
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"I don't need to lose a few pounds!" He puffed out his chest and reached for his wine. "Living on this mountain top has me wasting away as it is. I'm...tired."
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"Truly, what's the matter...you seem lost."
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Then he looked at his plate and his brows drifted upward. He'd made a huge mess of dinner and that seemed to make him even more upset considering what he was so pensive about.
"I've just been...thinking." His eyes moved around the room to the bottles, the scrolls that had drifted out into the main chamber, the tools, the furniture that this dragon seemed to have either bought with his dragon money or made with his dragon claws. "About...things." He winced. That wouldn't do. "About you. Beings like you."
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"There are beasts in this world that are just beasts. They are driven by instinct, and that alone, and they don't use a common tongue, it's mostly simplistic forms of communication." He settles, wings coming back at his sides and he nods to Maurice's plate, "Deer, elk, moose? Those creatures aren't the most intelligent. But, centaurs? Now, those wouldn't be cooked for dinner, I assure you. If I had to kill another like myself, something that relied on more than just instinct and thought for more than just itself and a sense of survival and reproduction? It would be given a proper burial and not roasted and served on a plate."
no subject
It was a difficult thing to wrap his head around. For twenty something years he'd thought Hanna's kind were dumb troublesome lizards fit only to be slain, hung over the dinner table, and placed upon it. The Queen's Wings and all that.
"How can you be sure?" He quickly lifted his hands in a feeble attempt to assure the dragon he wasn't trying to suggest that he was stupid. Panic was obvious on the young man's face. "Absolutely sure? I know you've been around for a long time, but I saw at least ten strange things today that I've never seen in my entire life!" He ran his fingers through his hair and lowered his head again. Why was dinner always so stressful? "I won't be able to stand it if tomorrow I discover that elk are people. I promised."
no subject
"I'm certain that I would be able to tell. There are intelligent beasts that look like elk, but they would much sooner kill and eat you than let themselves be food. If you're so incredibly concerned, I suppose you are a creature that can survive without meat in their diet, and I won't be offended if you don't eat my food, but I'm not going to prepare you salads for your conscience either." He's not sure how else to convince Maurice otherwise, nodding to him. "But I can promise you that nothing I cook and eat will be what you're worried they will be." He didn't even eat humans, so, as serious as Maurice is, he finds it funny he's worried about it.
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"You must think I'm such a fool."
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"No...You're learning. I can't fault you for asking questions and thinking. It's what anyone would do when they learn." He snorts at him, shaking his head, "You're coming to your own conclusions about the world, and to be honest, it's rather nice, hearing this from you. You have more of a conscience than I gave you credit for, and I am rather liking your train of thought, actually."
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"Thinking is hard," he admitted finally. "I don't see how you manage it all day."
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"You'll get more used to it though, really. The more you use your brain the better anyways. It's the best thing a person can have, especially if you exercise it every day."
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"I hope so...while I was a prince, my job wasn't to think, it was to do what I was told told and look nice. Which I am fantastic at." He opened an eye and caught sight of Hanna's ugly, ugly scales. "Mostly fantastic at."
Guide that brain, Hanna, you've seen what it does on its own.
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He doesn't expect Maurice to get up just yet. "Are you actually going to finish your dinner now that everything is clear on your conscience or are you done?"
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"It was something not being recognized today," he throws out conversationally. It had been both scary and exciting. For one, he was completely in disguise...and for another, he'd never been under a spell before. "I can see why you work so heavily in illusions."
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Hanna continues to work on his rune as Maurice eats, the scraping into the ground soft at least. "Didn't have any trouble today though, right?"
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"Not really...not more than you would expect from, you know. Someone like me." He leaned to watch Hanna work, admiring how practiced the run looked. "Commonfolk are so strange...some would bleed you dry without knowing your name...and others would put clothes on your back just as easily."
no subject
He finishes up his rune, standing in the middle of it and looks up, a teasing grin on his face, "Don't look, I'm stripping," He laughs, a wing opening and coming around to hide most of his long, scaly body as the rune activates, Color starting to bleed down from him and soak into the markings, the natural white of his body appearing underneath the hideous colors that had been mistakenly applied the day before.
The color that ran off him like water disappeared into the markings, nothing but the carving on the floor left as he stretched out his white wings and inspected himself, just in case anything was left. The only part left that had real color was the red of his fringe and horns, obviously the only natural color he left on himself for every day use. He shakes off, frowning at the lack of color, and glances at the group of untested bottles still, sighing. Tomorrow then.
no subject
But then Hanna started working his magic and for a split second, the fool prince actually looked away before remembering that his employer was technically always naked. He turned around, ready to huff and puff about being fooled again by this dragon's antics but instead watched in wonder as he changed before his eyes.
And then he understood.
His mother would wear those pristine scales as a cloak in a heartbeat. She would make gloves, boots, a cape, even a tunic from those wings. They really were impressive and Maurice lost himself in staring. He couldn't let that happen to him.
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"What do you think?"
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"Better." He quickly occupied his mouth with what was left of dinner so he would at least have time to think before saying anything else.
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"Fine. You looked better when you washed too, can't say the same for today." He huffs and goes back to organizing, his tail scraping away the magic circle as he worked.
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"Much better!" He sounded like a broken flute and sagged visibly. WELP things had almost gone well. He looked at himself. Hanna was right, he looked like he belonged back in town with all the dust and mud on him.
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It seems no amount of saving will help this situation, best just deal with it Maurice.
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"I'll go do that." He excused himself from the table and gathered up his things to go and give himself a good wash--Sally too. Her poor legs were filthy from the road and her tail was in tangles.
Thinking was hard.
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Geez, have no manners, stare and then doesn't even give a good compliment. humans.