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AmateurPhilosopher(H3O) · #11 (**permalink**) 07-12-2009

With her first response, Christopher already found himself dying to interrupt. Well, that would be rude myself, besides, it is my own fault for asking so many questions at once. So under a mask of patience, he waited until the rather bizarre and astonishing, by human standards at least, dragon, of all things, was finished.

Though he was not addicted to the scent of cinnamon, the young prince found it rather pleasant, though now it reminded him of the seemingly eccentric woman’s story, concerning the human that her friend had devoured. Finding it rather disturbing, not to mention distracting, the prince turned captive, and nearly servant, turn his attention back to the dragon’s answers. Finally, there was silence as she was finished speaking.

“Madam, with all due respect, have you misplaced your senses?! Do you honestly believe that being able to fly and breathe fire allows you to just whisk people away from their homes and lives? You speak as if you are doing me some sort of honorable favor, but I fail to see it that way. As far as I am concerned, you have kidnapped me from my home and whisked me away from my life! Most people would consider this an evil and dastardly action, however, judging by your words, you do not seem to know any better. While I find this intriguing, I would ask that you return me to my home at once.” The young prince said, his voice and expression respectful and yet dripping with incredulity and indignation, though he really did find this whole experience rather interesting, were he beginning to panic and fear for his life and future. Still, the panic was hidden from his shown expression, residing entirely in his mind.

Without pause, he finished, “Furthermore, I think that you knew exactly what I meant when I asked where we were. I was in fact intelligent enough to assume that we were in your cave, but where, with respect to the rest of the world, and specifically Metedane, is this cave?” Here his tone possessed the most miniscule drop of sarcasm, mostly due to his indignation at the misjudging of his intellect. It was, after all, the one thing he had always possessed that brought his family honor, and so it was rather important to him and his princely pride.

TrippingTirger · #12 (**permalink**) 07-12-2009

Tanis giggled and beamed at Christopher, disregarding everything he'd just said in favor of a new discovery. "I was right! Having a human is a lot of fun!" She said with a bright smile. "I didn't know that you actually could have intelligent conversations. Oh, here, I know! Try a riddle!....um...." She stopped talking for a moment, regarding the prince before her. "Here, try this one, A man was born before his father, killed his mother, and married is sister, yet he did no wrong. Why not?"

She giggled again and explained how she'd heard it, even if Christopher hadn't asked, "I heard that one a few centuries ago. Went to town for a meal and picked it up from a traveling man. He was lots of fun to talk to....I wish I'd thought to bring him home to be my pet. Oh well, I was young then, I probably would have crushed him by mistake or something." She decided with a little shrug, acting as if it was a simple loss, not that of a human life. Which, to her, was simple. After all, to her they were just cousins with really short lives. Most dragons even refused to admit they could become humans, that was how distant they were.

Realizing that her talking might be distracting to him, she suddenly shut up. She was very young for a dragon, often acting as a five year old rather then how she old she appeared in her human form, which would be about sixteen or seventeen. Watching her human, her eyes seemed to dance with excitement. Could he guess the answer? She hoped so, she wanted to be able to brag of having the smartest human of the lot. She didn't know a single princess who could answer that.

((This seems...short. Sorry!))

AmateurPhilosopher(H3O) · #13 (**permalink**) 07-12-2009

As much as Christopher really despised the way that she was speaking to him, totally ignoring his lecture concerning her flawed belief system, and talking to him as if he were some rather cute and interesting new puppy, some pet, he tried to keep his temper. Twitching a bit, as he was tempted to spark off in indignation, he finally had it under control. Besides, the riddle was an easy one. He had heard it several times. Not only could he answer it, but he could explain why it worked.

“Please, give me something difficult, madam. That riddle works on simple psychology. One becomes accustomed to hearing and interpreting the words ‘before,’ ‘killed,’ and ‘married,’ in a certain context, when here, they have differing meanings than the listeners are used to. The man was born ‘before,’ his father, meaning that his father was present at the birth, he ‘killed’ his mother, not by murder, as one would think, but because she died in childbirth, and he ‘married’ his sister, because he performed the ceremony. Now try something difficult.” He said, pausing. “The maker doesn’t want it, the buyer doesn’t use it, and the user doesn’t see it. What is it?” he asked wryly, hoping to beat this dragon at her own game.

Before allowing her to answer, he could not contain his sentiments much longer. “For the record, I find it rather disconcerting that you would ignore my sentiments on this matter entirely. I fail to understand your behavior of me as if I were some interesting pet, and while I find things I don’t understand rather intriguing, it is disconcerting as well. Please reform it if you are capable, madam.” He requested, his voice still cold, though not disrespectful. Admittedly, he found this entire encounter, with a creature that a few hours ago he thought was something of only myth and lore just a few hours ago, rather surreal. Strangely, he did not find this woman as frightening as he should have. Certainly, he feared for his life, but it was not revealed upon his features because his interest in her eccentric manner was much more pertinent.

TrippingTirger · #14 (**permalink**) 07-12-2009

(Would you believe my mother asked if the answer to Tanis's riddle was an amoeba?)

Tanis giggled and clapped her hands, quite pleased with this change of events. "That's easy!" She answered with a bright smile. "It's a burial cave!" Like humans, dragons had their own version of an undertaker. No dragon liked to dig, so when another dragon died, their relatives would trade some treasure for the service of someone digging them a cave. Or, in other words, 'buy' a cave from another dragon. And obviously the dead dragon never saw what it was using.

Frowning slightly, though, she looked at him, quite confused. "What do you mean? You are a pet now. And you should be honored. It's a huge privilege to be allowed to be a dragon's pet human. Particularly since you're a prince. I chose you over hundreds of princesses, you should be grateful!" She snapped, her eyes flashing with anger. How dare this scrawny human say that she was mistreating him!

"You'd better watch your tongue, young one." She snapped at him, her manor suddenly no longer fun and bright. With a crisp, curt tone, she lifted her chin, looking down at him as she added, "You're only here for as long as I say, it would be almost too easy for me to dispose of you right now." As if to prove a point, she let a few flames dance across her fingers, licking up into the air and in front of her face, the pure heat of them making her image waver and sway, just making her look that much more dangerous as her eyes, although a beautiful forest green at most times, filled with red, reflecting the little twirling blaze.

"Still feel like trying my good mood?" She hissed, the pyre flaring up as her hot breath brushed across it, sparking it and enticing it into leaping higher and spinning faster. "I won't tolerate insubordination from you. We may be cousins in the scale of things, but being kin does not make you my equal. I am by far your superior and, no matter what elements we are made of, you reserve no right to put on airs and act as if you are greater then you are." Tanis informed him, tossing her hair and looking as if she was a queen dealing with a servant who stepped out of line. "Now, if you know what's best for you, you'll learn to hold your tongue around me. Think as much bad about me as you like, but I won't stand for you speaking up and stepping out of line. I've allowed you to come be my guest here, you'll be properly polite to me, thank you very much!"

AmateurPhilosopher(H3O) · #15 (**permalink**) 07-13-2009

Though he found himself impressed by her accurate response, well, for a dragon, the response he had always heard was a coffin, but same difference, Christopher found himself most disturbed by the next words that Tanis spoke. As much as he respected women, he had been taught the code of chivalry after all, he found himself growing irritated, no, more than that, incensed, at her words. Additionally, he was frightened for his life, and yet, somehow he felt as though he needed to squash that fear for the moment and state his beliefs, at least, until his life was literally hanging in the balance. So in the most respectful tone that he could manage, though he unwittingly found it dripping with indignation and sarcasm, he began.

“Madam, I do not even know where to begin in pointing out the flaws in your statements. First of all, I am truly making every effort that I can manage to be polite to a woman who, for some unknown reason, is not exactly mistreating me, but acting as though I were some interesting new puppy. Is that seriously what you think of humans? As rather curious pets? You dragons must be a quite arrogant species to honestly believe that you have the highest intellect. Age may breed wisdom, but not necessarily a lack of bias. How can you honestly justify that I would be grateful to be some pet? Here you are, speaking to me, a prince of Metedane, as if I were some rebellious servant. I would never even speak to my own servants in such a manner!” The noble was nearly yelling now, partially in fear, but mostly in severe contempt for the creature before him, but he was no where near finished. “You don’t intimidate me, madam, and I have no intention of holding my tongue, so I suggest you simply take me back to my palace. You seriously need to reshape your belief system. The ability to fly, breathe fire, and live for centuries does not make your intellect inherently superior, nor do these traits give you the right to treat other races as if they, sentient beings mind you, were nothing but interesting diversions. Your flawed ideology sickens me!” Though usually rather quiet, the prince had always been one to speak his mind regarding something he believed in, and he certainly believed in treating others with common respect and decency. So, for once, his usually reserved speech was just as forceful as his mind.

TrippingTirger · #16 (**permalink**) 07-13-2009

Tanis didn't bother answering. Instead she simply blew on the little flame that dance on her hand, sending a large stream of white hot fire at Christopher, sending it just past his left ear. Close enough that he'd feel the blistering heat, but not so near that it could harm him. Something behind the human lit on fire, but the dragon paid it no mind. Things caught on fire in her cave a lot. She was use to it. What she wasn't use to was being talked back to. "You'll watch your mouth from now on if you don't wish to die." She informed him as she let her flame die off.

To make sure that he remembered she would not tolerate him speaking like that to her, she repeated the 'fire breathing' process, this time burning the chair out from under him and singing his clothes. She would have reduced his chair to cinders within seconds if it hadn't been for the fact she didn't want to risk him falling in and being burnt to death. That would not be a good thing, even with her as mad as she was. She'd watched her father do such things to princesses before, the whole thing was messy and a waist of a life, so she didn't want to risk doing that to Christopher.

Tanis had been, when it came down to it, spoiled all her life. She was the youngest daughter of the dragon king, she had no responsibilities, no need to try to be on best behavior or find a suitable husband to keep her father's power secure, so she just got all the respect she demanded and was spoiled. Having someone talk back to her was not something she was use to. Nor did she like. Even with that, though, she suddenly became worried, afraid she'd hurt her human. She'd seen dragons breath out fire to scare a stubborn princess or discourage a knight from attacking and accidentally end up hurting, or killing, those who they meant no harm to.

"You aren't hurt, are you?" She asked worriedly. She didn't smell burning flesh, but still, it might not be smelling, even if she'd lit him on fire. She was no longer really angry at him, not with the risk of him being hurt. Although it would be easy to make her mad again. For now, though, she was terrified that she'd hurt her young....not really a pet, pet prince. Standing up she made her way over to him, scanning for injury as she went. "I don't think I did....I don't see anything......"

Fussing slightly, like a first time mother who just realized that sending her son to bed without dinner meant he would actually go hungry, she grabbed his hand, literally dragging him out of the room and to the kitchen. She might be in human form right now, but she was still stronger when she set her mind to being so. "Here..." She said, grabbing a plant down from off of a place near a huge stove that took up most of one wall. "This is aloe. Just break off a leaf and squeeze, rub the stuff that comes out onto any burns..." She insisted, still looking very flustered and fearful.

Despite being in a kitchen, a dragon's kitchen at that, there was no sign of meat anywhere. No bones left forgotten in a corner, no blood stains on table, walls, or anything else, and, most oddly, no smell of cooked meat or burning flesh coming from any corner of the room. Or anywhere else for that matter.

AmateurPhilosopher(H3O) · #17 (**permalink**) 07-13-2009

As the flames blazed passed his ear, Christopher cringed, cowering a bit to his right, away from them. [What on Earth?], he thought panicking slightly. For the moment, he was too frightened to say anything though, so he kept his mouth shut. Admittedly, he was not ready to die yet, so there was a part of him that thought it would be wise to simply do as asked. This only increased when his chair was burned out from under him. Involuntarily crying out in pain, he jumped up, clumsily falling onto his hands and knees. Quickly, he arose, lightly brushing his clothes off, concern for his own life now written across his face.

At the same time, he found himself entirely incensed that his words were being ignored like this, as if they were not worth listening to. It reminded him of when he was at home, rambling on about some of the mathematical ideas that he had been formulating with the scholars, and the king and queen, not to mention his brother, would just sort of stare at him blankly and nod. Finally Victor would yell out, [“Just be quiet already!! This is so boring!”] It had always bothered the prince that his family did not respect his life as a scholar. Sure, they claimed to admire him for it, and they were all well-educated, but they always criticized him for his disorganization, and his bookish, often distracted and disheveled manner, not to mention his lack of tact and social graces.

Breaking himself out of his reverie, he always had been easily distracted, Christopher quietly followed the dragon to the kitchen, finding himself quite confused, and a tiny bit amused at her rapid changes in mood. She had gone from threatening him to fretting over him in less than two minutes. It was strange indeed. He was not actually burned, so he looked back at her.

“I have not been harmed madam. Don’t worry. Though if I had been it would have been your own fault. You really have no right to threaten me like this, nor do you have a right to keep me here. But since you obviously aren’t going to listen to a word that I say, I might as well just be quiet and do as I am told then?” he said, his confusion making him rather defensive, and his voice, while still respectful, turning a bit acidic. He really was fed up with this entire thing, and he wanted to get home and away from this eccentric woman Tanis and her insane mood swings. At the same time, while he revealed no sign of it, he was in fact, fearing for his life. Standing up, he made a decision, “Thank you, madam, but I think I shall leave now.” He said, walking towards the kitchen door.

TrippingTirger · #18 (**permalink**) 07-13-2009

Tanis sighed, letting her body catch on fire as she once again became a dragon. Easily passing him, she made it to the cave entrance and pulled a large bolder in front of the door. "Go ahead." She rumbled once she'd turned around and saw him. "If you can get the rock out of the way, you're free to go. However, since you can't.....trust me, you can't." She said, just in case he was actually going to try to move it. "Since you can't, I'll just show you to my treasury now." She decided, figuring it would be a good idea to get him settled in.

Picking him up gently, she placed him upon her back, waiting a moment for him to get situated before saying, "Better enjoy it while you can, I won't play horsey for you very often." With that, she started down the hall again, retreating to the far back and the very last door on the right. Looking very proud she strutted into the room, smirking as she lit a huge chandelier that hung over the mounds of treasure. The room was huge, about twice the size of a ball room. Along the walls were shelves and cupboards, some filled with things, some empty, and a few with just a book or a figurine on or in them. On the floor were huge piles of things, reaching up towards the ceiling, then spilling out to litter what little walk way there was.

"My treasure room!" She said proudly. "Second only to my father's!" Even her siblings couldn't boast of as much treasure as she had. She had everything from magic swords, to ancient treasures, to rare tapestries, silks, velvets, magic carpets, gems, gold, and thousands of other little things. Most of it was very rare, although some of it was just pretty. (dragons are suckers for shiny things.) She had a whole collection of rocks filled with mica. Completely useless, but oh so shiny.

Also, in every corner and through out the room, mixed in with the rarest of her treasures and those most guarded, were books. Millions of books. If there was a book written about anything, she probably had it. Even if she'd never read it....but still. If it was a book, it was here. Including several ones that only existed here in her treasury, or were so rare there was only one other copy in the world. Some were only bundles of reeds, stacks of loose papers, or scrolls. And at least half were in different languages. To say she didn't love books was, well....it would be an understatement like no other.

"What do you think?" She asked, turning around so her cat like eyes could watch her human. "It'll be hard work, organizing this place, but I'll help." Tanis promised, smiling at Christopher. Although, considering she was in dragon form, it looked more like she was about to eat him. "Come on down off my back now, you may start looking around if you should wish." she informed him, still looking smug over her treasure trove. "Don't try to take anything, though. You'd have no where to put it. I don't mind you looking or moving stuff, just don't let it leave this room. I always know when something is missing, so don't even bother trying to steal it."

AmateurPhilosopher(H3O) · #19 (**permalink**) 07-20-2009

[Well, that was rather stupid], Christopher thought, cursing his own rash behavior. [I will simply have to be more clandestine about it next time.] He had not honestly thought that she would come after him. Finding it strange that she was not even angry, he climbed onto the dragon’s back and let her take him to her treasure room.

When they arrived in the spacious trove, Christopher could not help but be impressed. Sure, as a prince he was accustomed to the riches of living in a palace, but this kind of amassment of treasure, all in one gigantic room, well, it was astounding even to him. There were rubies, emerald, sapphires, diamonds, and every other kind of precious or semi-precious stone, ranging from cuts larger than his head, to tiny, finely chiseled stones. There were golden lamps and magic carpets from the desert lands, molded and woven with intricate designs. Gold and silver coins from nations all over the known map abounded the room. There were golden idols and figurines, many inlaid with gems, large treasure chests that were likely only filled with more gold, and beautiful rings, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and other pieces of jewelry, some hung, some simply trailing the floor.
Admittedly, even if he hated the idea of being reduced to a servant, organizing this room would not be such an onerous task. There were so many beautiful things to look at, and more importantly, learn about.

What he found even more amazing was the vast collection of books. The gold embossed, leather bound tomes, as thick as stone slabs abounded, though there were some with thing pages that could fit into the palm of your hand. Many were written in what looked to be ancient languages, some in Metenese, others were in languages that the well-educated prince recognized from countries from all corners of Verdin, their world. Some of the books had nothing written in them at all, at least not to the naked eye. There were fictional novels, books of both useful and non-useful information, some of incantations and even some tomes that were themselves magical. As Christopher looked through, a few books screamed when opened. Those were usually dropped with haste, some played pleasant music, however. Finally, he stopped looking around and turned back to her, remembering that he had been asked an actual question.

“It is a rather amazing room,” he said quietly, his voice and words only portraying a fraction of his awe.

TrippingTirger · #20 (**permalink**) 07-20-2009

Tanis watched in mind amusement as her human pocked around the room, chuckling as he dropped screaming books or smiled as soothing music filled the air. She had made a point to know which books screamed and which ones didn't, so she wasn't too worried about being startled herself. She just watched to see what he picked up. She couldn't tell you what was in every book, but she did know what to prepare herself for with the initial opening of the books.

Smiling when he agreed with her opinion of her room, she smiled at him and nodded. "I'm glad you find it enjoyable, young prince. It seems as if you have found my favorite aspect of this room to be your preferred treasure too." She added, referencing how he was looking at all the books, seemingly most pleased with them. Of course, if he didn't understand that, she really wouldn't blame him. She didn't exactly word it so it was the most understandable sentence she'd ever uttered. Not that she cared. If her human was confused, oh well. His loss.

With a smile, she shifted through a few of the treasures, unburying random things, only to use them to cover up others or to end up covered once again by other such prizes. She didn't exactly have a plan for this, she was just looking for the sake of looking. Mostly because she enjoyed shifting through her treasures knowning that they were hers and no one elses. Plus she liked to see the gold and other such shining things gleaming in her firelight. It was so pretty, the reflections of the flame dancing on their surfaces. She'd spent hours just watching her fire's immage upon a golden shield once.

Of course, since everyone knows that gold is a soft medal and not good for shields due to how easily it would become useless on a battle field this shield obviously had to have something else to it. And it did. It had a curse on it. Currently it resided on her wall, gleaming once again in the candle light. The curse, you say? What is it? Well, she wasn't sure. She'd found it on a battle field, picked it up and, being a dragon, sensed it was there. Judging by how it was on the arm of a dead man surrounded by the dead of the other army, she could tell by armor and sent, she was guessing that it forced humans into a battle rage, blinding them to all but the kill. She was scared to try it, so she never exactly found out. However....

"Watch out for that shield, small one." She instructed Christopher, glancing down at him to make sure she had his attention before pointing it out. "I'd hate to have to fry you because you came after me, intent on killing simply because you strapped that little piece of gold upon your arm." Glancing around, she saw nothing else to bother with, so she became human. She found that was the easier form to use when dealing with humans. So, walking over towards him, she offered him a smile as she asked, "Will you heed my warning, or am I going to have to toast you?"

She'd just realized this but, as human, she was actually a few inches shorter then him. It was odd to have to look up at him, particularly since she was suppose to be more powerful then him, even in her human form. She could, after all, still make fire. It was just a little harder. Shrugging that thought off, she let her green eyes search his, demanding to know if he was going to prove difficult or if he'd listen to her.

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