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 Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 10:06 am
It was a sunny, if windy day, and Anoki strolled the streets of Durem by himself. It was a freeing experience. Mahou and the girls were running an errand, and he had been dragged out with them, only to be told that he couldn't come in. Not that he minded. With the specific instructions "meet at the train in a couple hours, and don't get into trouble," what could go wrong?
Other than, of course, a complete lack of inspiration. As one who barely got time to himself, Anoki wasn't sure what to do with it. He had time, money, and a dragon- but few ideas. So while he thought, he window shopped, glancing in at the clothes and toys and other merchandise as he passed by trendy shop after trendy shop.
Far less inhibited, Myung-Ki kept close to Anoki- except, of course, when they passed jewelry stores, in which case he had to stand too close to the window and stare at all of the gold and gems until Anoki dragged him off. After the fifth case, even he was beginning to tire. Just a little, of course.
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:16 pm
Earako had slipped lose from her dad a few streets down, and only by merit of repeatedly pointing out that she had a dragon with her, and besides, wasn't she learning self defense? Mind, she wasn't sure how confident she was in her skills, but she was willing to pretend a certain level of confidence if it meant slipping away. Usually, she didn't mind sticking close to her father, but this situation was special. Da's birthday was coming, and she wanted to get him something, this time. The only question lay in what sort of thing to get him.
So she too was window shopping as she happened down the same street that Anoki was roaming, and she didn't actually notice him, entranced as she was by the window's display. It was Vimber's low growl that made her look up, immediately cautious, until she saw what had the red's attention.
"'noki!" Her habitual whisper lifted to a more audible level as she waved at the other D-corp child. She moved to close the distance between them, then, as quickly as could be managed while still paying attention to the requisite grace.
"Good afternoon." She added, more calmly, dipping into a quick curtsy.
Vimber was not exactly happen with this particular turn of events, as they differed greatly from what she'd hoped to happen when she'd growled at the other dragon. She bumped her head against Precious in irritation, but got only an absent pat for her efforts.
"Behave, lovely."
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 9:25 pm
The latest window Anoki encountered was that of a barber shop. Seeing the snipping scissors and fast hands at work, he unconciously brushed his hand to his own slightly shaggy hair. It probably needed a trim, but he didn't care. He liked it unkempt.
The barber shop was diverting, but not so diverting that Anoki didn't hear Earako when she spoke, even if it was in her normal soft tone. It was a surprise, however, and he took a quick step backwards, startled. He recovered quickly and relaxed, then tensed again when she curtsied and hurried to offer a sort of bow in return. "H-hi! Wh-what are you d-doing out, 'r-rako?"
Spotting the other red, Myung-Ki hissed and took a confrontational step forward. She wasn't trying to challenge HIM, was she? If she was, she would have to learn better behavior.
Anoki quickly pulled Myung-Ki back with both arms. "B-be nice!" he chided. He didn't want there to be any fights. Fighting was bad in general, but worse when there were friends like Earako around.
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Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 11:17 am
It took little more than that bow to charm the batling, and her face lit up with a slow sweet smile. Anoki was such a nice boy. Closing the remaining distance between them, she glanced through the window that had had Anoki's attention. A barber shop? "You're not cutting your hair, are you?" Her voice was soft, but gently reproachful. "I like it."
"I'm looking for a present for my father." Da' still slipped out from time to time, but really it didn't sound very refined, did it? "His birthday is coming, and I want to get him something nice."
As she spoke, she kept one hand firmly on the dragon at her side, an action that seemed to keep the red mostly calm.
Vimber allowed her tail to lash restlessly, her natural urge to fight the other in conflict with the fact that she didn't want to upset Precious. Though she'd stopped growling, her gaze didn't leave the other dragon. If he attacked first, she'd only be defending herself. Nothing wrong with that.
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Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 9:55 pm
Anoki started to respond, but hesitated. She liked his hair? How was that possible? Perhaps he was so used to being ignored or talked down to by his mother, and occasionally his siblings, but the thought of someone liking something that others often told him to change was a confusing one.
Then again, he liked his hair the way it was. And if Earako liked it, that made him feel better about it. "Th-thanks," he murmured. "I-I'm not. N-not unless I r-really have t-to."
That out of the way, Anoki remembered the rest of what his friend was saying. "A p-present? C-cool! I d-don't even know w-when Mama Ray's b-birthday is." Not that she would tell him, even if he asked. That was just the way things were, and Anoki didn't really have much to do other than accept it.
"C-can I help l-look?"
Disgruntled but trying not to show it, Myung-Ki settled down. Not before letting out one last growl, however. In a mad sort of retaliation, he butted his head into Anoki's waist, almost knocking the boy over. If they wanted to see a well behaved dragon, he would show them one.
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Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 7:53 am
"Oh, good." That was settled, then. Earako was quite prepared to give no further thought to the subject. She studied the barbar shop a moment longer, before speaking again, touching the tips of her own hair lightly. "Sometimes I think I should grow it longer. It'd be more elegant, don't you think?"
She turned from the window then, her long skirts swishing gently with the movement. Sizing up Anoki, and then the street, she decided it was best not to comment on the boy's parent. She wasn't very nice, and as far as Earako was concerned, not a very good Mom either. Besides, she and Da' didn't get along.
"Of course. But, I'm not sure what I'm looking for." A quiet sigh as she made this admission, looking down the sidewalk this time, as if hoping the present she was looking for might simply appear somewhere down the street a bit. "Mostly, he just likes guns."
Da' was weird that way.
Well, it seemed the fight wasn't going to happen, yet. But when it did, she'd be ready. She'd show the other red who was the superior dragon, oh yes she would. Just look at his child, awkward and nervous. Nothing like her Precious. Precious was graceful and pretty. With each thought, Vimber straightened a bit more with increasing vanity, practically posing at Earako's side. Didn't they make a lovely pair?
"Careful, 'noki." Earako murmured, reaching out a hand to steady her friend, should he need it.
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Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 8:14 pm
Myung-Ki didn't push Anoki too far off balance, and he was quick to steady himself, and focus on the question at hand. Why did they have to talk so much about hair? It was far from Anoki's favorite topic, and he wasn't sure how to give his opinion, mostly because he was rarely asked for it. But he actually thought about it, and tried imagining Earako with longer hair before replying. "I th-think it looks n-nice n-now."
That said, he turned his thoughts towards possible gifts. He occasionally got them from Mahou, and he knew that Raven liked old things, but she was strange to begin with. And apparently, Earako's dad liked guns. At that, Anoki shivered.
"I d-don't think we're al-lowed to buy g-guns." But what could they buy? Earako liked clothes, but that didn't mean her dad would. What was like guns without being one? Other weapons. And... "M-maybe something made of m-metal? That m-might be p-pretty."
If Myung-Ki had posessed eyebrows he might have raised them. Instead, he curled his tail around his legs. He had no interest in posing. After all, he looked fantastic no matter what he did. There was another way to size up the red. Nearly gloating at having thought of it, Myung-Ki slithered towards Earako, giving Vimber a wide berth, and doing his best to look especially handsome. When he was a bit closer, he let out a soft rumble- not a growl, but closer to a purr.
For once, Anoki didn't see a need to stop his dragon. If he wanted to make nice, that was great!
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Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 6:45 pm
Absently, Earako stroked the tips of her hair, nodding at Anoki but not adding anything further. She still felt she'd look more elegant if it was longer, but she didn't want to contridict him. Contridicting people was rude. It was better, then, to move onto other subjects, adventures to be. Time to search for Da's present, and now she had help.
"Well, I suppose he already has enough guns." Her voice was almost wistful, it would have been so easy to just get him what she knew he liked. Da' wasn't exactly easy to buy for. "Metal? You mean, jewelry maybe? Jewelry is pretty."
Da' could do with a little pretty, couldn't he? His clothes were always torn up, no matter how much she patched them.
The rumbling purr distracted her from the conversation, and her eyes lit up at the approaching dragon. How precious, and wasn't he handsome? Delighted, Earako reached out a hand to the boy's red, though she left her other one resting on Vimber. "Hello, sir." She crooned.
This was not to be permitted. Did he really think that she'd allow it? Furious, Vimber stepped between her Precious and the other dragon, pushing roughly against the girls legs and hissing violently, wings half open now, all posing forgotten. He would NOT touch her.
Earako was horrified. "Vimber! Lovely, stop it!" she cried, kneeling in an attempt to calm the dragon that was now completely ignoring her. "He's just being friendly!"
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Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 10:36 pm
Relieved, Anoki nodded. He definitely didn't want to help shop for guns, even if they were allowed to. And the suggestion of jewelry was nice. He knew Myung-Ki liked it, and there were some pieces that even Anoki himself thought were nice.
"That m-might be nice. If w-we f-found something g-good." They had passed a few jewelry stores on the way down the street, maybe they could backtrack.
Closing his eyes in delight, Myung-Ki nearly purred as Earako's hand approached- only to be brushed away. Temper flaring, he nearly forgot the whole point of his tactic and hissed back, bits of smoke coming from his mouth. Then, too late, he remembered that he'd done it on purpose, and tried to look abashed.
It didn't quite work. Anoki frowned, not sure what was going on, but doubting that Myung-Ki was entirely blameless. "It's okay. H-he gets p-pushy sometimes, with p-people." Hoping to fix whatever had happened, he started scratching Myung-Ki behind his horns. "Is sh-she okay?"
Myung-Ki wasn't sure he liked hearing that, but Anoki was rubbing one of his favorite spots, and he was trying to look innocent, after all.
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Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 11:04 pm
Oh, this wasn't working out at all! And Vimber really had seemed like she was ready to be more behaved lately. Embarassed by her dragon's behavior, her arms wrapped around the red's neck in an attempt to keep her still, calm, or both, the batling blushed to the tips of her ears.
"No, no, it's my fault." She murmured, shaking her head and stroking Vimber, seemingly unperturbed by the other red's brief hissing fit. "I've been trying, I really have. But she just doesn't seem to like other dragons."
Her fingers continued to move lightly over the red's hide, but she moved her eyes up to Anoki now, staring at him through the tinting of her sunglasses.
"I don't think I'm very good at this." Her words were quite. "Having a dragon, I mean. Shouldn't she want friends?"
It wasn't that she didn't love Vimber, that was clear enough in the way she stroaked the creature at her side. It's just that it didn't seem to matter, not really. Vimber got so mad, sometimes.
For her part, the red dragon, while irritated with her foe, was more concerned with Earako now. She knew the tone's the bat was now using, knew they meant the girl was unhappy. She wasn't sure why her Pretty was suddenly sad, but she did know she didn't like it.
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Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 8:29 pm
"It'ts not your f-fault!" Anoki protested firmly. Then he paused, hesitating. He didn't want to indicate that it was her dragon's fault either. While he occasionally got angry at Myung-Ki for being difficult, he didn't blame the dragon as much as he did himself. But Earako didn't mess things up like he did. Which made the whole thing highly confusing.
"It's just... h-hard," he tried to explain. "W-we're not g-good at this y-yet. B-but that doesn't mean we c-can't get b-better, I think."
All the while, Myung-Ki stayed by Anoki's side as if glued there, trying to look as innocent as he could. But it was difficult, and he kept shooting glances at the other red. She had almost made him lose his temper. Still, he had his share of attention, so he would be fine for the time being.
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Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 8:07 pm
"You really think so?" Earako asked hesitantly, her posture unwinding a bit, though she kept a tight grip on Vimber. The dragon seemed to be more focused on her than the other red, but she wasn't ready to trust that. Her darling had already proven herself unreliable today. "I just feel, well, we were made for this, right?"
That's what D-corp was all about. Making kids that could work with dragons. If Vimber wouldn't even try to listen to her, then that meant what? That she was a failed experiment. It was an old insecurity rooted in childhood. But it'd been coming back to her lately.
She looked a mess down here. Gripping Vimber's horn in one hand, she stood up. With her free hand she brushed at her outfit, primping. "I'm sorry, 'noki. How terribly rude for me to whine."
See, she was fine. Smiling.
Tension was rolling off her Precious in waves, and Vimber didn't like the taste of stress in her air. It didn't matter that she looked fine, Vimber could feel that something was wrong through that grip on her horn. She hissed quietly, and got a tug for her trouble.
Well, this wasn't working out as she'd had planned.
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Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 10:28 pm
At first, Anoki nodded vigorously. Of course he thought so. Earako was good at things, so she would be fine. Even he might end up being fine, if he tried hard enough. At least, Myung-Ki hadn't seriously hurt him. Yet. That was a good thing, wasn't it?
Then, when Earako apologized, he shook his head. It was a slightly exaggerated movement, the inertia from his horns making his head sweep in wide circled, but it got his point across. It occurred to him then that it might be a good idea to speak. "It's okay. W-we're b-both gonna be f-fine," he said with a lot more conviction than he felt. "So d-don't worry."
Snorting, Myung-Ki pointedly turned his head away. And then, noticing something in a shop window, he lurched forward. After all that indignity he'd just suffered, he surely deserved some sort of shiny, didn't he?
Anoki frowned and tried to pull Myung-Ki back- not an easy feat- but the dragon's antics did serve to get him back on track. "Weren't w-we gonna get a g-gift for your d-dad?"
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