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TEST DRIVE #6
TEST DRIVE MEME
Considering apping to EACHDRAIDH? Why not give the setting a test run here! OPTIONAL SCENARIOS 01. ARRIVING IN THE DRABWURLD. The Seelie and Unseelie courts welcome you with mirthful revelry and hearty food. After you have been briefed on your purpose here, you will find an endless feast and a night filled with entertainment to placate your concerns. Mingle with new arrivals, sneak down the castle halls and make sure your eyes are always on your glass; fairies and imps have no bias when it comes to tricks! 02. THE STATION. Looking for a little slice of home? The Station gives you all that and more. Take advantage of the wifi, have a cup of fairy-brewed coffee (the one they didn't spit in) or sit back and relax on the patio. You can even move your things into one of the available rooms! 03. WILDCARD. Your own scenario! Explore the Drabwurld or simply take advantage of your Locket! |
a
Draco could easily force his way through the wide open balcony doors of the ballroom if he really wanted to and take his pick of what was laid out on the banquet table, but he won't. Too messy, too loud, things he wouldn't worry about were he elsewhere, with fewer people, but not here. He barely had time to get used to being around people again with Bowen and his little army of farmers, but this? It's too much, too soon, and the amount of local lords and ladies who hold no fear of him is both exciting and absolutely terrifying.
And now there's this boy, offering him cake.
That, at least, gets the old lizard to focus on something besides how crowded and loud it is, even to crack a smile. ]
A thoughtful idea, but I dare say they may not have enough cake in the entire castle to calm a stomach like mine.
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He faces, waits a few moments holding the cakes out... And then nods, or lets his head drop and rest.]
No. [That is intended as agreement. Articulated:] ...Dragons don't normally fill up on cake.
[True even if by technicality. He doubts he's ever come across a dragon who's even tasted it - and even if one had, dragons get very hungry, many have their drakes and dragonlings to feed; a cow is bigger than a cake, and it agitates by moving. (There have been cow-sized cakes before. A wedding in Orlais. Had twelve such cakes - was the twelfth bigger? - basically an imprint of a recollection. Still can't hear into the Fade.)
And Draco's smile stands out more than enough for Cole to be half imitating, trying it on, when he smiles back. (Nowhere near an attempt to mimic the look of it, just the expression.
The half that's imitating also lends to this being said half to no one - an observation, airy-yet-grounded.]
I've never seen a dragon smile before, either.
[Albeit an adventurer's most likely to happen on them angry, hungry, threatened - and this one's quite hungry, too. That's even more - most dragons aren't happy when hungry, and they don't look it.]
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[ But he is right. A cow would be better than a cake, as far as a dragon would be concerned. As far as Draco would be concerned, too, although he doesn't imagine he'd be too ill if he did eat that much cake. Cole's other observation elicits something of a chuckle, close enough to the sound humans make, but deeper, rumbling. ]
Oh, you haven't, have you? [ Draco wonders at that, if he's even met enough dragons to have never seen one do one thing or another. ] It could be you just never gave one anything to smile about, then. In my experience, most people offer to plant a sword in my chest upon meeting me, not offer me sweets.
[ Which he still expects to happen, if not here, then as soon as he's left the protections of their host. It's only a matter of time until he runs out of those here who are fascinated by him and someone decides to challenge him, and then what? Kill a few and leave their tooth-dented armor around some lair as a warning all over again? ]
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[It's not guilty but it is a little wistful; the Inquisition's killed dragons, ones who made prey out of people, even pets - or put a place of kill or be killed. It was safer without them, no more got eaten including the Inquisition, and they weren't like this one, but if. Apparently a dragon's face can make a smile - opposite of the sorts of dogs that look like they're smiling when they're actually fretting.
And, apparently, a dragon can laugh, too - does, meanwhile, sound how one could imagine a dragon would laugh...
But - offer? Swords - slaying - ]
They don't offer... They challenge. Most creatures don't want to be slain. You tried to tell them not to try.
[Sense of waging war, then - Draco's as close to safe as a dragon can be, so it sounds in there... War.
War. Wait. Expectation, forced to fight... Picking up with the running-through out of a mutter.]
I wouldn't worry about that here -- forced to fight, though you will... probably win if it's one against one. As -- long as it's on this side.
People are used to dragons being monsters -- but that matters less here.
[Or so he's gathering; there are people here who doubt it's real when it's realer than magic normally is, and even for himself, the magic is realer than it's supposed to be.]
Better a chance than to challenge someone who doesn't wish to hurt people. Who can be your friend. You warn them -- you would rather avoid it.
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As soon as that moment passes, he lets out a soft puff of air, warm, but thankfully lacking fire. His smile lessens. ]
One against one, there is little doubt. [ But if there is an ongoing war here, he may have more to worry about than single knights looking for glory. ] We shall see, I suppose, who heeds the warnings. Here, perhaps many will, but there's always that one sword-slinging idiot who'll ruin it. You think you find a nice quiet valley and then in they come, on some poor frightened horse, wearing armor that's more for looks than of use.
Never fails.
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Tilts his head, himself, on Draco's exhale, relaxing into feeling it, to an extent. Warm air for what isn't a warm sigh; the contrast gives the mind a quick quiver.
Cole's head drops, brow pinches. Brim of his hat shades his face, tiny twitching shake of his head, to himself, true, too much room not to let that enter the mind, risk of too many at once who would.
But turns back up. That's distant, too, for now.]
You wouldn't let them win...
And you wouldn't have to kill them though it might be better, depending on why they want to. [Depends on whether it would be mistake or misunderstanding, or malice.] The ones who would heed would know you wouldn't be wrong to stop them. The ones who didn't know better wouldn't have to be hurt; force a flight, scared, because they should be because they oughtn't, and then they would.
[Know better, that is to say.]
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You may be thinking about this a little too hard, lad! More than I ever try to anymore, although you do have the right of it. I could just as easily scare them off or maybe even fly away. [ Though flying off in the face of a challenge would injure his pride, even if preserves his well-being. ] No one would have to die.
[ He shifts his weight over, just narrowly escaping leaning against the window frame (it would certainly crack if he tried), and lowers his head so it's lower, closer. If Cole hasn't run away yet, then he doubts he will now. ]
So who are you, to be so worried whether a dragon does or does not kill a band of fools?
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Murmuring again.]
And flying away would mean that you didn't feel like it - not that you couldn't.
[And, louder:]
-- I'm Cole.
[That is who he is, though it doesn't really address the rest.]
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[ Very odd for a human, at least, but this place is full of odd people. He shouldn't be surprised. ]
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Has anyone ever told you that you are?
[A well-meant return, just as light and thin and in the same manner that someone might ask if anyone has ever told someone that they were very tall. It's sincerely curious and not meant to imply anything, though true enough that if Cole's strange for a (supposed) human, Draco's a unique one in experiences with dragons to this point.]
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[ Some good, many bad, and plenty of words not fit for polite company, of which Draco could easily source to his closest and last friend, Bowen. Now that man, that man could curse. It had all been very unknightly of him. ]
I imagine the closest is being called unexpected.