Hanna's ear twitches at the sudden sound of his arrow hitting something. It hadn't actually done that yet, and he was almost tempted to peak an eye open, but when he heard his apprentice walking over, he pretended to be asleep. Obviously feigned disinterest was the best part of being a dragon.
When Maurice tugs at his wing though, something he hadn't expected at all, his chest rumbles with a growl and he opens his eyes, raising his head and giving Maurice a rather irritated look. "You could have just said that and not pulled on me. That would have worked just fine."
Okay, so Hanna had to admit that the man's smile was a little infectious, but he still pretends to be putupon while standing up and stretching his wings. His long body stretches out afterward, yawning and still lazy from his sunbathing, but he'll stand on his back legs expectantly. "Alright, alright. I'm up. Show me."
Maurice backed up to give the dragon room to stand. Those wings were so cool. They looked delicate but he knew that they could launch him straight up into the air with one mighty clap. Just like an arrow.
"Right! Prepare to be amazed!"
Maurice marched Hanna back to the practice range and drew his bow. He steadied his breathing and kept both eyes on the target. But now there was an audience. A very important audience. He winced and loosed the arrow.
It sailed right over the target.
The prince screamed loudly inside his own head. "I wasn't quite ready! Just--forget that one!" He fumbled another arrow against the string.
Hanna raised a brow as he watched the prince's arrow soar right over his target. If he had hands he would be slow clapping.
"No no, I'm sure you just gave me more time to prepare. I mean, I'm not amazed yet, but I'm still preparing." He says boredly and yawns. His tail thumps against the ground, impatient and he'll just scratch at his chin, lazily watching the target.
"Just, tell me when you're going to blow me away. Might just take another nap while I wait."
"I'm just rusty." He hunched his shoulders. "My hands have been so cramped from writing that they forgot how to do real art." Maurice stuck his nose up in the air and loosed another arrow.
It lodged itself firmly in the target's corner.
"Still rusty. L-look, I got a bullseye just a minute ago!" He pointed feebly at the one target that still had an arrow in it.
"Well obviously. Your writing is only a step above mine. Not exactly works of art." He returns, curling up where Maurice had lead him, and resting his chin next to his foot, huffing a cloud of smoke out from his long snout.
"I think you stuck it in there without firing it off."
Maurice's turned ihs head and his face went through a brilliant kaleidoscope of expressions. Something besides his usual spoiled temper flared up. He was Prince Maurice of Gallus! He did not lie. He was fair and true and this--DRAGON dare challenge him.
The prince's chest swelled up and he notched an arrow without looking at it--let it fly.
It pierced his original bullseye straight through to the head where it sparked and fell away. Then he turned his aim on Hanna with a new bolt.
Hanna's eyebrow rose at the sudden inspired shot, more than a little impressed, but...looking up at Maurice now? He wondered if he would take the shot. H head lifted, pulling back so he was level with Maurice's eyes, and he stared calmly back at him.
He waited a moment, blue eyes on the arrow, then Maurice's furious expression. And then...
The pain was immediate, Hanna hadn't actually expected Maurice to let his arrow fly, and he roared, his whole body recoiling from the pain, blood dripping from the hole and down the side of his face, into his side burns. It was bright red against the white of his scales.
His instincts, yelling in his brain were demanding he set the man in front of him aflame, and yet, instead, he whipped around, tail smacking Maurice hard enough to send him flying, and he let himself a moment to touch his bleeding ear, attempting to calm himself and not bite his apprentices arm off. "H-how dare you!"
Maurice went tumbling and was sent so far that he crashed into the shaky fence he used to corral Sally. He crumpled against it, bow and arrow still tight in his hands. A gross hitching, hiccuping sound escaped him.
Hanna had knocked the breath out of him.
However, the second that air hit the bottom of one lung, he straightened up where he sat and like an automaton at a fair he'd seen once, laid the arrow against the string. He didn't say anything that time, he just wheezed and winced and waited for Hanna to take back his accusation.
There was a time when Hanna had to think. He didn't want to kill Maurice, and he didn't want the man who, in dire circumstances, had shown he had deadly accuracy. And yet his pride was in the way of both of those desires, still holding his claws to his bleeding ear.
"Your temper is as bad as it ever was. I wonder if you'd shoot a woman in the same way if she teased you like I had." He had been being an ass, sure, but he wasn't serious about any of his teasing. If he had, the words would have had more of a bite to it than lazily yawning around them.
He doesn't back down from the arrow notched at him though, his claws finally pulling back from his ear, standing up straight and letting the length of him just stretch, filling out rather than slinking like he usually did. It made him look tall, far more than he usually did when he was relaxed and settled. "Though I suppose I shouldn't be surprised."
Maurice watched the colors dance in his eyes as his breath returned to him. He wheezed.
"I should have gone easier on you. There was no way for you to know that you doubting my word was as just a terrible an offence as me plunging both hands into that hoard of yours."
Oh, he'd seen the way Hanna's ears turned his way when his boots managed to clip the edge of a stray coin. Then he started coughing and lowered his bow. OW ow ow ow.
"Yes, well. The next time you go near it, I'll be sure to rip a chunk of your ear off as a warning."
Hanna was still offended, and he's sure that Maurice felt the same way, his claws coming back to his ear now that Maurice's bow was lowered. The bleeding had slowed, but he had no real way to reach his wound and treat it, being so close to his face. He'd need a mirror or Maurice's help. He huffed, smoke rising from his nose and he glanced over at Maurice, rolling his eyes.
"Impulsive little..." He murmurs under his breath and ignores his ear for the moment, slinking over in his ferrety way and raising an eyebrow at his apprentice when he gets in front of him. "I didn't break anything, did I?" He hadn't tried to hit him hard, just retaliate for the damage done. "My first instinct was to set you on fire, so be thankful I'm not as impulsive as you are."
"I warned you with my voice," he insisted in a thin voice.
When Hanna's shadow fell over him, he tightened his grip on the bow. Hanna would have to kill him or bite his arm off before he took it away! The dragon's question surprised him and he un-tensed his shoulders.
"I don't think so. I'm dizzy, I don't think I can stand yet."
"Of course you did." He returns, still inspecting him even if he's obviously still fighting the pain that is still reaching the edge of his voice.
"Well that's good. When you can stand, you can help me with my ear you little shit." He huffs, glaring down at Maurice and using his tail to steady his back, far more gentle than when he had sent him flying.
The prince took his sweet time getting to his feet. "Your ear? What, do you want me to kiss it better?"
He was a little sorry to have marred it up. Maurice was privately fond of the dragon's little ox's ears. Maybe he should have punched a hole in the dragon's wing instead. He coughed again and allowed the dragon's tail to hold him upright.
"You've pierced it! With some unclean arrow! You can help me clean it, and then tomorrow you can look for an earring big enough to fit because I refuse to look even more ridiculous than I normally do on any given day." He huffs, half tempted to knock him back on his ass again, but he refrains.
And, as much as he'd like to tell him yes, Hanna shakes his head, "I can remedy things with potions, like illness, but I don't possess healing magic. It's a rare talent." So he's rather thankful he didn't damage his wings because damage like that could potentially ground him for life.
Finally the first twitch of a guilty frown tugged at the corner of the prince's mouth. "Oh..."
He ducked away from Hanna's tail long enough to collect his undamaged arrows. Then he allowed himself to be led inside. That hadn't gone like he'd imagined at all. In his head, he'd imagined the white dragon beaming down at him and praising him for his one talent. By the time he'd been set to work cleaning Hanna's wound, hew as wearing a face that was even longer than the serpent's.
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theattic2014-11-09 08:06 pm
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When Maurice tugs at his wing though, something he hadn't expected at all, his chest rumbles with a growl and he opens his eyes, raising his head and giving Maurice a rather irritated look. "You could have just said that and not pulled on me. That would have worked just fine."
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"It's just that--I'm excited. I haven't felt excited since--well, since you gave this to me."
He flashed a hopeful grin in hopes that if he grinned enough Hanna would stop giving him the grouchy cat look.
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"Right! Prepare to be amazed!"
Maurice marched Hanna back to the practice range and drew his bow. He steadied his breathing and kept both eyes on the target. But now there was an audience. A very important audience. He winced and loosed the arrow.
It sailed right over the target.
The prince screamed loudly inside his own head. "I wasn't quite ready! Just--forget that one!" He fumbled another arrow against the string.
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"No no, I'm sure you just gave me more time to prepare. I mean, I'm not amazed yet, but I'm still preparing." He says boredly and yawns. His tail thumps against the ground, impatient and he'll just scratch at his chin, lazily watching the target.
"Just, tell me when you're going to blow me away. Might just take another nap while I wait."
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It lodged itself firmly in the target's corner.
"Still rusty. L-look, I got a bullseye just a minute ago!" He pointed feebly at the one target that still had an arrow in it.
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"I think you stuck it in there without firing it off."
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The prince's chest swelled up and he notched an arrow without looking at it--let it fly.
It pierced his original bullseye straight through to the head where it sparked and fell away. Then he turned his aim on Hanna with a new bolt.
"TAKE IT BACK!"
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He waited a moment, blue eyes on the arrow, then Maurice's furious expression. And then...
"Lucky shot."
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He let the arrow go and it zoomed like a chimney swift right by Hanna's eye and punched a hole straight through one of his floppy little cow ears.
The prince didn't so much as flinch. He just notched another arrow--a cold and mechanical motion.
"Take it back or it'll be your eye next."
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His instincts, yelling in his brain were demanding he set the man in front of him aflame, and yet, instead, he whipped around, tail smacking Maurice hard enough to send him flying, and he let himself a moment to touch his bleeding ear, attempting to calm himself and not bite his apprentices arm off. "H-how dare you!"
His angry words weren't helping.
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Hanna had knocked the breath out of him.
However, the second that air hit the bottom of one lung, he straightened up where he sat and like an automaton at a fair he'd seen once, laid the arrow against the string. He didn't say anything that time, he just wheezed and winced and waited for Hanna to take back his accusation.
He felt dizzy.
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"Your temper is as bad as it ever was. I wonder if you'd shoot a woman in the same way if she teased you like I had." He had been being an ass, sure, but he wasn't serious about any of his teasing. If he had, the words would have had more of a bite to it than lazily yawning around them.
He doesn't back down from the arrow notched at him though, his claws finally pulling back from his ear, standing up straight and letting the length of him just stretch, filling out rather than slinking like he usually did. It made him look tall, far more than he usually did when he was relaxed and settled. "Though I suppose I shouldn't be surprised."
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"I should have gone easier on you. There was no way for you to know that you doubting my word was as just a terrible an offence as me plunging both hands into that hoard of yours."
Oh, he'd seen the way Hanna's ears turned his way when his boots managed to clip the edge of a stray coin. Then he started coughing and lowered his bow. OW ow ow ow.
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Hanna was still offended, and he's sure that Maurice felt the same way, his claws coming back to his ear now that Maurice's bow was lowered. The bleeding had slowed, but he had no real way to reach his wound and treat it, being so close to his face. He'd need a mirror or Maurice's help. He huffed, smoke rising from his nose and he glanced over at Maurice, rolling his eyes.
"Impulsive little..." He murmurs under his breath and ignores his ear for the moment, slinking over in his ferrety way and raising an eyebrow at his apprentice when he gets in front of him. "I didn't break anything, did I?" He hadn't tried to hit him hard, just retaliate for the damage done. "My first instinct was to set you on fire, so be thankful I'm not as impulsive as you are."
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When Hanna's shadow fell over him, he tightened his grip on the bow. Hanna would have to kill him or bite his arm off before he took it away! The dragon's question surprised him and he un-tensed his shoulders.
"I don't think so. I'm dizzy, I don't think I can stand yet."
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"Well that's good. When you can stand, you can help me with my ear you little shit." He huffs, glaring down at Maurice and using his tail to steady his back, far more gentle than when he had sent him flying.
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He was a little sorry to have marred it up. Maurice was privately fond of the dragon's little ox's ears. Maybe he should have punched a hole in the dragon's wing instead. He coughed again and allowed the dragon's tail to hold him upright.
"Can't you just magic it away?"
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And, as much as he'd like to tell him yes, Hanna shakes his head, "I can remedy things with potions, like illness, but I don't possess healing magic. It's a rare talent." So he's rather thankful he didn't damage his wings because damage like that could potentially ground him for life.
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He ducked away from Hanna's tail long enough to collect his undamaged arrows. Then he allowed himself to be led inside. That hadn't gone like he'd imagined at all. In his head, he'd imagined the white dragon beaming down at him and praising him for his one talent. By the time he'd been set to work cleaning Hanna's wound, hew as wearing a face that was even longer than the serpent's.