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AmateurPhilosopher(H3O) · #21 (**permalink**) 07-26-2009

Christopher ceased his browsing for a few minutes and looked at Tanis, nodding at her words that he actually understood, despite their vague nature. As a matter of fact, he was far more perceptive than most gave him credit for. Of course, this female dragon obviously did not think particularly highly of humans. After all, until meeting him she had not even realized that they were capable of “intelligent conversation.” It was far beyond infuriating to be around a creature that had such minimal respect for humanity. Then again, even his family and much of the court tended to underestimate his understanding, joking with him for having his head in the clouds.

It seemed quite obvious that both the dragon and her human held a fondness for books, perhaps even knowledge. Nodding slightly in his comprehension, he continued to sift through the treasures, his mathematical mind already seeing how they could theoretically be organized, while still enjoying the sights of all the books and treasures. His study was actually a mess back home, but he was the sort of person who was usually thinking about too many things to organize or clean, but when he finally did, set his belongings in a system to the letter. That was, of course, until he became neglectful and they became disheveled again. It was not that he was incapable of order, simply that he usually had more important things on his mind.

Mildly amused by her fascination with the scintillating shield, the prince smirked slightly. Strolling over towards where she stood, though only far enough to see it better, he found himself staring at the shield, realizing the same curious property, that, unless it was only gold-plated, it would be a fairly useless defense. Then, at her words, it made sense that the item was cursed.

“Of course I will heed the warning. Believe it or not, I really have no use for being charmed into a killing rage. How many objects in this room are charmed anyway?” he asked, more thoughtfully than expecting an answer, already assuming that even she had no idea. His hazel eyes bored as he inclined his head downward, just slightly, to meet hers. It was in fact quite strange to be powerless against an individual who appeared so harmless, but looks can be deceiving after all. He knew that he was trapped, for now at least. However, after his foolhardy and half-hearted attempt at escape, he finally realized something. To ever make it out of this place, he was going to have to make her believe that she had his trust, and then escape by stealth somehow. So for now, he would play the part of the believably reluctant, but dutiful assistant. “Tanis, I presume I am to begin working on this tomorrow, seeing as the day is almost finished now? Is there anything you desire at the moment?”

TrippingTirger · #22 (**permalink**) 07-26-2009

Unable to help but smile, almost chuckle, at his answer, Tanis turned to smile at her human, glancing up to meet his eyes. "One question at a time, if you don't mind." She directed before considering his questions. "Unlike tradition, I'll answer the last first. For now, no. I don't need anything. I ate before fetching you, figuring you'd like the day to settle in. I hope that it shall be enough time. If not, I'll asist you with your work the first day, after that I shall only help in this room." She informed him, refusing to lower herself to his level more then once. He was only a human, she his dragon. She needed no reason to order him about and saw no point in doing what she could so easily make him.

"Now, how many are charmed?" Unlike he had expected, she would actually answer this one. Any question involving her extencive treasures was one she was more then happy to answer. She did love to talk of her dear artifacts and relics, along with the many other bobbles that kept her intertained. Everything here was beloved of her, and she had all of them memorized. At least, she had their numbers memorized. How many times she'd gone over them in the years that she'd lived and had them she didn't know. But it was at least once for each item she brought home. Everytime she added to the collection, she looked over all her old ones.

"6,709 of my 7,012 shields have some sort of charm or curse on them. 3,482 of my 5,793 swords are, 20,098 of my 300,765 dimonds are, all but five of my 200,001 black pearls, 79 of my 5,032 sapphiers, 83 of my 204 emralds, 900 of my 907 peices of jade, rubies consist of 901 of my 1,038, I have 325,790 rings with spells on them, 76,508 necklaces, 20 braclets, 3 anklets, 700 idols, and 522 bottles that can be opened to releace a spell or curse. I also believe that 28 of the 500 treasure chests that are still closed will release a curse when opened. I will be opening any and all chests until further notice. For your safty. Other then that, I also have 300,062 golden coins with a spell on them, 10 dream catchers that really do catch dreams, 55 voodoo dolls, 68 good luck charms and 72 bad luck ones. Along with 97 magic carpets. To give a general idea." She said after only a moments thought.

With a smile, she added, "Of course, with books that is compleatly different. Nearly half of my books have a spell of one kind or another on them, some are pure magic within themselves, others tell you how to preform spells, and I don't know what all consists of a 'book' in your mind. Does this bundle of reads? How about thoses stacks of paper? For the most part, with my books and other such things, if it looks like one with a spell or curse, it probably is."

Smirking over how she'd managed to answer his question, she asked, "Is there much else you should like to know about these treasures? I don't mind answering a few questions before bed. If not, let us sleep. I have some things in the kitchen for you to eat if you are hungry, I may join you for a snack if you so decide. If not, bed time. Just shake out the blankets, any mice should flee. I'll fetch you a clean set of sheets in the morning. I'm sure one of the neighboring princesses will have something washed that I can borrow until you have your own clean of dust and other such things."

AmateurPhilosopher(H3O) · #23 (**permalink**) 07-27-2009

Seeing her superior smile, the prince felt a little bit sickened at the condescending language everything from her tone to that same smile conveyed. He had always been a bit of a loner, having a few close friends, but he had never been submissive. After all, he was a nobleman; he had not been raised to be a servant, even if he was different from most nobles. It would be quite difficult to pretend, though he knew that it was necessary. This dragon female actually seemed to be of pleasant nature, but she did truly believe that she was superior to any human.

Furthermore, the amateur mathematician inside Christopher’s mind was actually in respectful awe of her excellent recollection of the exact numbers of charmed items. He was impressed by the human, or in this case, humanoid, sentient being, dragon, memory, and of course, he was even more interested by the fact that it involved numbers. Even though it was just counting, he still found numbers in the thousands entertaining. Then again, he reminded himself, if, as the legends say, they truly live for thousands of years, then I suppose that would be enough time to count your treasure repeatedly until you would know the exact figures. As she rattled off the numerals, he tried to keep the approximations in his head and figure out statistical fractions and percentages, so that he would know about how dangerous each item was to pick up and move. Still, he had already decided that he would need some gloves in order to work in this room. Christopher had no interest in turning into a frog, or any other amphibian, or being put under some sort of spell. That sort of frivolity, foolishness, not to mention a complete and utter lack of caution was for stories and fairytales, not real life.

“That is so thoughtful of you,” he began, answering to the first point she had made, with well-hidden sarcasm, his face portraying none of his disgust and only sounding slightly reluctant and prideful, but mostly polite and poised, “but I cannot see why I would need that much assistance. I can already see how this room could be organized. Though you are correct, I will need help in avoiding the harmful charms of some of your artifacts. Also, I think I could eat something. I – well, I was studying and forgot to eat lunch today.” He finished, finding himself not starving, but more hungry than he would admit, and more than a little annoyed by her obviously demeaning idea that she should decide when he went to sleep, as if he were a little child. Not to mention, he was slightly annoyed at the idea of sleeping with rats, but, as an atypical prince, the humble nature of his quarters really did not cause him too much distress.

Almost forgetting, he finally did remember to answer last question about what was considered a book in his mind. “Also, for the record, I generally can consider a book, especially a ‘book’ that was written in ancient times, before the invention of the printing press, any sort of bundle of paper, or paper-like substance, that has a fair to substantial amount of related information written, printed, or transcribed in some fashion, onto it. Is that a reasonable definition?” he asked, the sentences sounding a bit as an afterthought, though still just as erudite as his normal speech.

TrippingTirger · #24 (**permalink**) 07-27-2009

Ignoring his tones, or perhaps, and more likely, not understanding the human's way of speaking and how different ways of saying words could mean different things and have different connotations, Tainis smiled at her human. "Yes, that seems like a wonderful definition. I'll have to remember that. Maybe I'll be able to trick others into giving me more for less using that to help...." She said, trailing off as she thought about the idea of being able to trick her fellow dragons.

They traded a lot, those dragons. Even going so far as to trade princesses for treasure, and she had the feeling that after so many years of peace she was going to have several dragons attempt to get her rare treasures again. It had, after all, ben a century since she'd last had to tell people that 'no, they can't have this' or, 'That's not leaving this room' or some other such thing.

Looking up at Christopher, she smiled and looked him over. "You know....I have the feeling that I'm going to have a lot of visitors soon. It has been nearly a hundred and twenty years since I was last hastled for my treasures, I should expect my kin to come knocking soon. In fact, it won't surprise me if several offer me a young lady in exchange for a gem or two. Particually now that circumstances have changed. They will be...expecting me to attempt to...breed for profit, and in order to do that, I must have a mate."

Looking at him with a guarded, but thoughtful expression, she added, "Do speak up if you should see something which pleases you. I might be willing to....give up a few of the rarer things to keep you happy." Tanis nodded, pleased with how she'd gotten through this. She knew what her friends would think. And those with annoying princesses would be first here. As soon as word of Christopher leaked out, she'd have an endless stream of dragons with their girls at her door.

"However, don't feel presured to choose now. I have no intentions of getting myself another human, and certainly not three...four...five...however many others it would make. I don't know how big your litters normally are, not without good reason, at least." She added, making it clear she was reluctant to make such a trade. One human was more then enough for her. But, if he wanted, she would allow another human in to keep him happy, and eventually find some way to turn the product into a profit.

Of course, the idea of doing that kinda repulsed her, but she knew that was what her family, particually her father, would expect her to do. Perhaps even to the point of making a present of a princess with the request only of a male from the first litter. After all, it was the men that were so much more useful then the girls, though tradition called for the females to be the ones that were taken. Her prince was causing quite the stir.

And even if her family wasn't the ones that seemed to want it, she didn't know if Christopher would. If he did, she would allow such a thing to happen, although she wouldn't be too happy about it, and she would demand everything be kept to the human's room. The only interaction she would allow out of the room would be that which you could show to your sister or brother. Nothing as disgusting as breeding for the sake of making more servants for her kin would be allowed outside of the human only area. And she would be sure never to enter that room again.

AmateurPhilosopher(H3O) · #25 (**permalink**) 07-27-2009

At first, Christopher was just speechless, listening to her words as if they were of a foreign language, unable to believe his ears. Not to mention, the way she had looked him over, as if he were a specimen, a piece of meat. Did I hear all of that correctly? he wondered at first, watching her mouth to make sure the words he were hearing were the ones that were coming out. Then he looked into her deep green eyes, seeing that they were perfectly serious. In an attempt to calm himself and not ruin his chances of gaining her trust, he took a deep breath. But there is a reason that it was only an attempt, because it was entirely unsuccessful. After a few moments of fuming, he entirely and understandably lost his temper due to his severe repulsion.

“Are you mad?! Yes, yes, I think you are a lunatic! First of all, stop speaking of humans, sentient, intelligent beings, as if we were objects, cute little pets akin to dogs that happen to be able to cook and clean for you. No human being is an ‘it’ as you so rudely refer to us. Secondly, you overgrown lizards actually think that it is moral to use us for, ‘breeding’? I am not even sure if I want children, but I can assure you of one thing. No child of mine will ever be born a slave. I find the mere idea of using people, wait, let me repeat that, sentient, feeling, thinking, beings, in such a manner, sickening. We are not little playthings, and we are certainly not here for your ‘profit.’ You and your kind are inhumane monsters, akin only to the worst, most despicable humans I have heard of and read about. It is my first day in this godforsaken cave and I am already beyond disgusted, to the point of livid actually, by your condescending manner. Additionally, the idea of trading humans for gold as if you can put a price on a sentient life! Well, I tell you one thing. You can simply forget the notion of me ever accepting such an agreement this very instant. Do you understand, you falsely superior monster?” He yelled, panicking a bit, and purely infuriated. His eyes narrowed and he glared at Tanis with the same disgust that he expressed quite vividly and literally in his words. Christopher had never felt so humiliated in his life, nor had he ever been so angry, or exploded on someone like this before. His brother had never even made him this angry. Then again, he had never traveled this far from home or flown before either. Come to think of it, being captured by a dragon was another minor thing that he had never experienced either. Today seemed to be a day of a lot of firsts for the young prince.

TrippingTirger · #26 (**permalink**) 07-27-2009

((Yah know, I wouldn't say being captured by a dragon is very minor, but if you insist....))

"Why you little!" Tanis flared with anger, quite literally. Her hand caught flame as she slapped Christopher across the face with the force of someone at least twice her size and thrice what appeared to be, but was no where near, her strength.

She wanted to yell at him, to put him back into his place and make him eat those words, then go farther and make him grovel. However, fate was not on her side today. Before the young dragon could so satisfyingly reply, a deep voice filled the cave. One that was obviously male. “Tanny? Tanny, my dear, where are you?”

Her face lit up and she eagerly started rushing towards the entrance of her cave which had just been opened, her anger at Christopher momentarily forgotten. “Daddy!” She cried happily, flinging herself into the arms of an older man. He looked to be around sixty with deep set eyes, many wrinkles, and a salt and pepper beard that matched his once black but now graying hair.

“Ah, there you are my dearest daughter.” The man said, shuffling into the cave a bit more before he lit on fire and became a dragon, no longer needing to be human just to enter the cave. Replacing the bolder he'd moved, he looked down at his daughter, obviously expecting her to do the same. When she didn't, he frowned. “Tanis....”

“Daddy, this is my prince, Christopher.” She said, shoving Christopher forwards for inspection. “He's going to be to me what your princesses are to you. But, well....you know.......he's a prince.”

“You mean he's not a snack?”

“No, daddy.”

“Darn. Oh well, I suppose I should have expected it. The rumors are true then, you really did get yourself a prince. Well, I guess it's good I decided to take this chance.” The man said with a shrug. “Dearest, since I missed your birthday this year-”

“And the thousand or so before that.” Tanis muttered under her breath, but smiled and answered, “Nothing daddy.” when asked what she'd said.

“Well, that aside, since I missed your last birthday, I decided to bring you a present now. Here you go, my daughter.” He said, reaching into the shadows and depositing a young girl at his child's feet. The girl was, obviously, his latest princess, and she knelt there in her blue eyed, blond haired beauty, dressed in the most elaborate ball gown and some of the most striking jewelery ever presented to a human, staring up at a barefooted, red headed, green eyed, girl in bright red boy's clothes and only a simple ruby pendant adorning her neck.

“Er, daddy....”

“What? The cave to small? Oh, that's quite alright. How about we do it this way, since you don't have enough room, we'll just let the humans whelp and, once they've finished with whatever it is they do, I'll take the girl back to my cave, allow her to cook, clean, and other such things for me, then when the tiny humans are born and weened from their mother, whatever price they fetch will go to you. Will that work?”

“But daddy, I...er....don't think the humans are going to agree to this...”

“So?”

"Daddy...what if I don't want it? I think I'd like to....get use to the idea of one human first....."

"But my dear-"

"Daddy! Please?...."

"Alright, then get me something to eat instead." The dragon demanded. "I'll check back in a little while, see if you change your mind. Now, where's some meat!? And why doesn't your cave smell right, my child?"

"Daddy, we've been over this before..."

"You mean you haven't changed? Tanis, you're a disgrace to the dragon kin! Get yourself together, my child. I won't have a daughter who acts like our inferior cousin, the human. Be a real dragon, dearest."

AmateurPhilosopher(H3O) · #27 (**permalink**) 07-28-2009

The flaming hand slammed into his cheek with such force that it caused him to stumble to his left side. Regaining his balance quickly, he slapped the already painful cheek a couple of times to make sure that the flames were beaten out, then was forcibly shoved forward. Glaring at her slightly, he listened to this entire conversation, appalled by the the idea of being eaten, not to mention the lack of concern being shown for his or the young girl’s wishes. It was not like these things just happened anyway. Adjusting his spectacles, he took a breath, but due to his fury, no amount of self-control, or the agony in his cheek, could stop him from mouthing off, though he would have called it speaking his mind, again.

“I can’t believe you people, well, not people really, creatures. For the last time, how dare you speak of us as if you were breeding show dogs, with no regard for our intellect. It is downright condescending and rude. Not to mention, you cannot put a price on a human life! We are not treasures to be acquired and traded! And like I just told your daughter, there is no way I will ever agree to this! If I do choose to have children some day, which I doubt, it will be on my terms in my own time! My children will not be born into slavery for you monsters, and certainly not sold for any reason, especially to acquire more treasure. I am not a slave, and I will not be treated as one. No being should be. How could you honestly expect me to go along with this?! What kind of disgusting lunatic are you?!” As he said these insolent words, Christopher’s eyes flashed brightly, he glared at both the dragon princess and the king, speaking to them as their equal, as he clearly knew he was. As much as he desired an escape, he was simply too proud to agree to this. Besides, he could not bear to stand and watch while an innocent child, worse, his own offspring, was subjected to the subservience of slavery, fearing for his or her life every day until what would probably be a premature death.

Let us face it, many men would have made the best of this situation and gone ahead and lain with the beautiful girls they had been offered. Christopher’s own elder brother Victor, once he got over the shot to his ego about being order around, would have done just that, said something along the lines of, “well, this kind of is not good, but at least I get the most beautiful women on the planet in my bed.” Christopher himself, however, was not at all that sort of a young man. The few women he had found favorable, he admired for their intellect and personality, not so much their appearances. Yes, he was still a male, so he found appearances appealing, but they were more of a bonus. The scholar born into the life of a prince still found intelligence and complex thought far more attractive than skin-deep beauty, and would have had not qualms about spending more time with a young woman who did not have the latter quality in great amounts. It was perhaps for these reasons that he found the proposals even more insulting than most would have. It was against everything from his ethics to personality to do such a thing.

TrippingTirger · #28 (**permalink**) 07-28-2009

Tanis's father, King Ryuu Iussu Ignis, King Ryuu for short, looked down at Christopher with almost amusement. “Mouthy little thing, isn't he? Think he'll be quite it I toast him?” He asked, letting flames lick at the corners of his mouth. The princess at Tanis' feet whimpered, though neither dragon payed her mind.

“Father, don't.” Tanis said sternly, glaring at her father. “You will leave my human alone. Understood?” She snapped, crossing her arms and clearly meaning business. “Try to harm him and you will regret it.” She added, not intimidated by her father. She was one of the few who would actually stand up to him.

Angered, the king shot a flame of white hot fire at the dragon girl, it did nothing except make the princess at her feet scream in terror and pain as the smell of burnt hair and chard clothes filled the air, pierced only by her wails of agony, though in reality she wasn't hurt. Just badly frightened.

“Now it's even louder in here!” The dragon king complained. Looking at the princess, he shrugged, reached down, picked her up, and promptly ate her, the smell of scorched skin adding to the smells now in the cave. “Ah, much better. And I'm not so hungry any more. Thank you for your hospitality, dear daughter.” The king said, turned and walked out, morphing into a human only long enough to leave the cave.

As soon as her father was gone, a quite pale looking Tanis dropped to her knees, trying not to cry. How could she let this happen to an innocent girl? She didn't know, but it had happened and there was nothing she could do about it.

“I-I think I'll skip the snack and just retire now.” She said softly as she looked to her human, then, ignoring the fact the mouth of her cave was wide open, or more of not noticing, she retreated to her room to curl up in a little ball and cry to herself, pillows muffling the sounds she made as she lay there before her hearth on a soft rug with a feather pillow pressed tight against her face to hide any sounds she made.

AmateurPhilosopher(H3O) · #29 (**permalink**) 08-05-2009

Christopher almost retched, a belated reaction to the scene that occurred after the dragon king had exited, horrified, and yes, frightened out of his mind. Still, he had concealed these emotions and revealed nothing upon his mildly angular visage. He was afraid to die; there was simply too much that he had not accomplished. Besides, the afterlife was too unknown; there were too many theories, too many questions.

The stone blocking the entrance was wide open. Though for a brief moment, Prince Christopher, ever questioning, often flighty, overanalyzing, over-explaining, and impractical, almost to the point of several faults, did not notice, despite his dire predicament. A strange point began to confuse him. How had this eccentric, even by his standards, and seemingly dangerous dragon princess, Tanis, managed to reveal even the barely detectable signs of sympathy, dare I say, compassion? Was this not the same arrogant woman who had no qualms about her culture enslaving – and yes, that is what it was – enslaving humans? How was it that she could feel the same disgust at seeing the young princess devoured? The signs were subtle, but the emotion was present. The thought intrigued and confused him. Considering his infamous lack of social skills, he wondered if he were somehow reading her tone and hasty exit mistakenly.

These musings lasted for about a full minute before he realized that the cave door had been left open, or more accurately, the entrance had been left unblocked. The young man gazed at it, considering his options. The unfortunate practical truth was that, despite all of his intriguing questions, he could not relinquish what could be his last opportunity to leave this dreadful place. While it seemed his stay would not be horrible if he managed not to become offended and infuriate Tanis, he was in danger here, and he needed to make it back to his palace, parents, and home. Still, he hesitated. There was so much to learn about here, an entire storage of the treasures from ancient and modern cultures that many museums would die for. Of course, if anyone ever tried to appropriate them, the young man was quite sure that that trite phrase would become a literal one. On top of that opportunity, there was an entirely knew culture to explore. How many humans ever got to observe dragon customs and live to tell about it. However, that brought Christopher back to the same problem. He might not live if he did not take this chance. So despite his fear, and the hesitation due to his curiosity and intrigue, he stepped forward, out of the cave mouth and into the dusk, complete with fresh, though heavy, air, and the sounds of chirping crickets. Something was holding him back though, and right outside the walls he stayed, unable to move further, due to some force that he could not place or understand, whether without or within.

TrippingTirger · #30 (**permalink**) 08-05-2009

Tanis lay by the fire, crying for several more minuets. She hated how her father treated humans so lowly. Even she wasn't as bad as he could be. She at least respected their lives. It was due to her father and the upbringing she had from him that she thought of humans as inferiors, but she just couldn't bring herself to think of them as snacks. They were too like herself.

She was one of the very few dragons who would actually embraced her human half. Most would never turn into their other form, and those that did would only do so out of necessity. And even then they usually kept their wings, tail, horns, arms, whatever it was that they thought would keep them most like their dragon selves. Only, human sized. Some of the younger dragons didn't even know they could become humans. Tanis, however, loved to do so.

She didn't know why, she just felt connected to her younger, weaker cousins. She'd been around for centuries, she knew things they could only dream of, seen things they would never witness, heard tongues long forgotten, spoken, and still did speak, many of those languages, and spent years hiding among them as one of their own. So she was almost an outcast in her own kind. But she still didn't understand them.

Even still, no matter how many differences there were, she still mourned their deaths, crying over the latest loss of the little princess she'd known for only a few moments. Soon, however, she was snapped from her tears with a startling thought. Her own dear human could be lost. She'd never replaced the bolder, she knew he could be out in the mountains alone. And that could be deadly for him.

Paying no mind to the stains on her cheeks from her flow of tears, she dropped the pillow she'd clutched so tightly only seconds ago as she darted out of her room. Rushing towards the door, she scanned the hall as she went for Christopher. She didn't bother checking her treasury or guest room, she knew he wouldn't be there. He'd made it only too clear that he wanted to leave to pass up this opportunity.

"Christopher? Little human, where are you?" She called half frantically as she stepped out, only just missing seeing him as she scanned the area below her for any sign of him. Closing her eyes, she let herself catch sent of the wind, searching for the smell of her kin, but the only one she could smell was her father. So far her human was safe. Now she just needed to find him.

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