The Moth And The Flame

@ beautiful monotony

It was hopeless. He was trapped. Mortal. Dying. He could feel this thrice bedamned body dying around him, just as he had for the last thirty years. Thirty years was a blink of the eye to one so great and grand such as he, the Dread Dragon Taukyumo (self styled), but to humans, it was an eon. Pathetic. Oh, how he hated mortals. All they were good for was food. Though to be honest, humans tasted lousy unless you removed the clothing first. Not even good for food.

These thoughts might have been normal, had they truly come from a dragon, but the one who thought them as he trudged along the dirt road was anything but. Looking to be in his early to mid-twenties, the young man was just over six feet tall with pearly gray hair with eyes black as ink and skin tanned from exposure. He was strong and fit; watching him move gave the impression of restrained strength. Contrary to his royal air, his clothing was bedraggled and threadbare. His shirt was too tight across his broad chest and his patched pants were several inches too short. His boots looked to be about two sized two small, with the soles nearly worn through to bare earth.

Tau sighed as he reached a bend in the road. Taking a seat on a nearby boulder, he paused to remove the shoes from his poor abused feet. Honestly, what kind of creature had such thin skin that bruised and cut so easily that they had to make clothing to protect themselves? Why couldn't humans have proper scales like any sensible creature? Humans were always either too hot or too cold, and they were always getting injured some way or another. Dragon scales solved all these problems. They could be lifted to vent heat, clamped down to preserve it, and could deflect most any missile.

'But then, it was my scales that got me in this mess to begin with.' Tau grimaced at the thought. Greedy human witches. Wanting his scale for some spell or another. Like any self-respecting dragon would surrender a scale to a magic wielder, even one old and dull without even the slightest shine of magic! It was a part of him! Stupid witch should have just taken no for an answer. Then he wouldn't have had to kill her sister witch and she wouldn't have had to curse him to this wretched half life.

Slipping his boots back on, Tau looked up at the setting sun. Best find a place to stop for the night. He'd been hoping to find a village or hamlet where he could pilfer some food or even some better fitting clothes. Maybe just around the next bend? With a sigh, the dragon in human form set off once more, reaching up to brush his wispy hair out of his face. 'Hair. What kind of respectable creature has HAIR? So itchy and tickly and always getting in the way...'

double post

@ Aikofox

It felt like rain, or so said that dark little place in herself that Katrin liked to pretend didn't exist. She really didn't want to stop in this village, even knowing that would mean passing up the chance to actually sleep indoors, in a bed, but rain changed things. Even she wasn't willing to get caught up in a rainstorm if it could be avoided. No matter that she didn't like the looks of this place. Some stares followed for much too long, caused the hairs at the nape of her neck to prickle. Oh well... if she was going to stay for the night -or however long it would take for the rain to clear out- she might as well see if she could at least sell something.

Katrin was a merchant, traveling all over with the great harmless beast that pulled her cart. She had made herself a strange sort of business where a select few items were for sale only but everything else could be bartered for. She wouldn't take just anything as trade of course and made sure that she was at least receiving something of equal value in the case of trade, but it was trade nonetheless. Being a merchant actually seemed to suit her. She enjoyed the back and forth of trying to make a trade, the traveling she did, the freedom. There were a couple of downsides, one of which being that she seemed to have a target painted on her back, begging criminals to try and steal from or attack her. And that was exactly the feeling she was getting from this town... that someone was going to try and attack her. Well, they had better get on with it before it started raining and her mood became too bed.

The woman who jumped down as the cart was stopping could almost be described as petite. She might've been an inch or two over five feet in height, her structure small-boned and willowy. There was plenty of wild curl to her long white-blonde hair and a dusting of freckles across her sun-kissed cheeks. Vivid green eyes scanned the scant crowd around her with suspicion for such a sort instant that if one had seen the action, they would believe they imagined it. She appeared young, just barely old enough to be out on her own, but held an air of experience that was difficult to argue with. In clothing, she differed from almost all women. She wore a loose, dusty-colored button-down shirt, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, exposing more freckled skin. The shirt was tucked into a dark pair of pants, which in turn were tucked into a dark pair of boots which looked well-worn, but were probably actually the most comfortable pair of shoes she had ever owned. She actually had a small knife hidden in the back of one of those boots, just in case she might need it.

Almost as soon as she had set foot on the ground, a few curious citizens came to see what sort of goods she was offering, and she leaned back against her wagon, letting them look. She made small talk, exchanged news, and found out about a nice little inn she could stay at for the night. When the last of the initial curious few had wandered off, she scanned the horizon, putting a hand up to shield her eyes from the sun as she searched for rain clouds. None. So far, just the sun and a boring blue sky without even a single white cloud in sight. There wasn't even a breeze to cool the high temperatures, and she was eventually forced to pin her hair up into a bun to get it off her neck.

What a truly miserable day...

@ beautiful monotony

The breeze that kept blowing Tau's hair into his face soon shifted, bringing with it the tantalizing scent of woodsmoke to Tau's dulled human nose. An inn. He picked up the pace, hoping to scout out the little village before dark so he would know just who to pilfer. A dragon didn't beg for hand outs. He took what he wanted. If it was unattended, it was fair game, after all. Of course, these silly humans didn't see things the same way. They thought once they'd said something was theirs it was theirs permanently. A ridiculous notion, in Tau's opinion. Take the case of his favorite uncle, for instance. They'd sent a knight to kill him, just because he'd taken some lord or baron or whatever's favorite steer. Like it was his poor dead uncle's fault the steer had broken free of its pen when he'd flown overhead!

Tau crested a hill and the little village was there, spread out before him. It was of moderate size, neither large nor small. Smoke puffed from the chimney of the largest building in the little hamlet, that would be the inn. This was the perfect time to scout out the place, all the males would be there drinking and singing and eating. The females and younglings were the only ones he had to keep an eye out for, and that shouldn't be too difficult. Unless they had dogs. Tau hated dogs.

Stealthily as a tall man with silvery hair could move, Tau crept towards the village, keeping to the cover of the trees for as long as he could. He hated the fact he had to act with such cowardice. It was the human way. A proper dragon would roar and set people scattering with a gout of Flame to the sky then take his pickings from what they'd left behind. Finders keepers, after all. But then, a proper dragon would have no use for breeches or shirts or boots. Humans did. Thus Tau's thought came to a gloomy full circle once more. Ten years and he still could not let it go.

The first house he came to was poor, which was unsurprising, considering it was on the outskirts. A swift glance at the clothing left on the line told Tau there was nothing for him there. Same with the next. It wasn't until he'd gotten to some of the larger, more well maintained houses that he saw anything promising. They had a chicken coop, too, so if he went about it right, he might get dinner out of it as well. Sadly he would have to cook it first, as raw meat such as he subsided on in his true form tended to upset his ridiculously sensitive human stomach. He made a mental note of the house and moved on.

As he moved further into the town, Tau noticed a crow gathering near the inn. He didn’t typically head that far into town, but maybe there was something to interest him. He’d have to be cautious, however. Villagers tended not to like the look of him. He’d been driven out with stones before on more than one occasion.

Peeking around a building, he saw the source of the curiosity was what appeared to be a lone trader woman. He took a deep breath, but his pathetic human senses could detect no danger. He waited for most of the crowd to clear out before creeping over, trying not to draw attention as he looked over her wares. She appeared to have a few boots for sale, some even big enough for his feet. He’d come to accept the fact he was apparently large by human standards, a fact that would likely have amused him were he not so miserable. After all, in his true form, he was still young, only a little dragon the size of the town’s inn!

@ Aikofox

The crowds, Katrin was beginning to notice, came in waves. First was the initial curious few, who had wandered off. Then there was a slightly bigger crowd. Not many actually seemed willing to approach on their own it seemed, or maybe some would, and then others would soon join in, and then there was a small crowd on her hands. A few times, there were recurring faces, people who had gone off to find something to trade. Most simply wanted to look it seemed, especially children, and the crowds kept potential thieves at bay. So she didn't sell or trade a lot, as she'd expected, but that wasn't from a lack of people being around. Maybe the village was bigger than she'd originally estimated. Or merchants didn't stop all that often...

The afternoon wore on and after about an hour or so, the predicted clouds began to show themselves, a dark gray streak in the distance. Another crowd later and they were closer. If she had to guess, it was going to be a pretty nasty storm, and she knew she'd made the right choice in stopping rather than trying to make it to the next village and probably getting caught in the storm.

Looking at the clouds, she didn't even notice the man who had crept up behind her until she heard a noise and turned around. At first, she almost expected to find an old man standing there thanks to the silver hair being the initial center of her attention. But as she took him in, she noticed he couldn't have been much older than her. Quite a bit bigger though.

However, far from intimidated, a scowl pulled at her features as her hands settled at her hips. "Put the boots back," she said, since that was what was in his hands. "If you do that and walk away, I might not turn you in for stealing." If she had to guess, when he'd made noise was when he decided to go back for something else. Damn, she really needed to stop thinking about the rain. She should've seen him out of the corner of her eye or heard her sooner or something. No one ever got this close to stealing from her, and he wasn't about to be the first!

@ beautiful monotony

Tau froze, boots in hand, as she called him out. His ink black eyes narrowed in outrage. This mewling little thing thought to order him, Taukyumo the Pearl, first hatchling of the second clutch of Werala and Takyujo the Bronze, of the line of Qirigyu the Scholar? How dare she! She was such a tiny thing, did she not realize that even in his weakened human form he could still crush her?

He stared her down, eyes locked onto hers. Even as he was, very few could meet that unblinking, unwavering stare for long. His eyes were so black it was almost as if iris and pupil were one and the same, giving him a very unnerving look. He'd often heard people compare his gaze to that of a dragons, a comment that never failed to make him laugh. None of them had ever gazed into a dragon's eyes before. If they had, they would be dead, hypnotized by that reptilian stare. So as it was, he could scare others with his gaze, but not much else.

“I will take what I wish,” he growled, voice deep and rumbling. Really, all he wanted were the boots, and perhaps the dagger that had caught his eye. Even thirty years a human, he didn’t understand the human’s need for barter and sale. He was a dragon. He took what he wanted. Unless it was owned. Dragons were not thieves. And she’d set her wares out for all to see. It was practically an invitation. She did not protect her hoard and keep it away from prying eyes. By dragon law, that made it fair game.

@ Aikofox

It wasn't until they were locked in a staring contest that Katrin actually noticed the man's eyes were black and not simply a dark brown. As she glared at him with her own vivid green gaze, she noticed how there seemed to be no separation between the pupil and iris, how both were a fathomless black. What an odd man... she might've asked about his eyes, even his odd hair color, had they met in circumstances where he wasn't attempting to steal from her.

Oh, he will, will he? Katrin didn't work on the three-strike system, but neither was she so unfair as to attack or call the authorities immediately. Everyone got one warning. If they were smart, they listened to that warning. Kids sometimes listened, but big men like this man didn't. They assumed she wasn't a threat, and she always found it fun to hurt their fragile little egos.

Well, and this one seemed to have an ego as well, and it didn't look like he was going to listen to words, so she supposed it was time to take action, before he decided to try and just stroll off. She walked around the wagon to face him, obviously not intimidated by their size difference. "You mean you can try," she said and struck. No second warnings.

There was really no fair fighting when you were smaller and weaker than everyone else, something Katrin had learned quick. Which is why she didn't bother trying to punch him or anything like that. Nope. In fact, his groin made for an easy, vulnerable target to start with. And without giving him time to recover, she moved behind him and aimed for the back of the knees, which sent him to the ground. She pulled one arm behind his back in what she knew to be a painful position with the way she twisted it. "Now, you're going to let go of those boots, then we'll see about finding someone to turn you in to."

@ beautiful monotony

Tau sneered down at her. She really thought she could stop him. She was about to have one hell of an eye opener. He opened his mouth to tell her to move along, but before he could speak, her leg came up squarely between his legs. He didn't even have time to block. Pain unlike that he'd ever felt before assaulted him. He dropped the boots, hitting him knees with a whimper, too wrapped up in the pain he was already experiencing to notice the second strike. His hands cupped himself as he curled over.

The next thing he knew, she'd grabbed his arm and twisted it behind him. He couldn't move without breaking the limb, not that he wanted to. What had she done to cause this much pain! Never in his two hundred years had he been in so much agony that he couldn't even move! He tried to speak, to demand she release him, but all that came out was a whimper. Damn human form! So frail! Scales would have protected him from this!

@ Aikofox
(I would feel sorry for Tau if I weren't laughing so hard xD)

It took a few moments for Katrin to realize that he wasn't fighting her at all. His whimper of pain was the only sound that came from him actually. She hadn't exactly kicked that hard though, definitely not hard enough to actually injure anything. Just enough to cause enough pain to distract him. So either this was his first time being kicked there, something she highly doubted, or he was really sensitive. She couldn't exactly make herself feel all that bad for it either.

But amusement aside... she noticed he had dropped the boots. Good. She wasn't about to leave the wagon out here though, and he obviously wasn't going anywhere either, so she looked up, trying to find someone. Unfortunately, the previous crowd seemed to have dispersed entirely, and not a soul was in sight. Great. So she had to wait for someone to show up, and then for her to talk them into bringing some sort of authority back, and then for them to actually fetch the person!

She glanced back down at the man she had pinned, someone easily twice her size, and hoped his arm wrenched behind his back would be enough incentive for him to stay still. Just in case it wasn't though... "If you so much as twitch, I'll kick you again." She said it casually, but not lightly, so that he would know she was serious. About that time, her light blonde hair decided to fall out of the bun she had pinned it up into, and she huffed in annoyance as it all spilled around her face. Well, that was going to make it harder to spot other people...

@ beautiful monotony
[I know! Poor Tau, never been kicked in the jewels before!]

Tau gasped. "Unhand me!" He roared...or tried to. What should have been an intimidating demand instead came out sounding more like a pathetic plea. He twisted, tying to buck her off, but froze at the threat. She's incapacitated him with that kick, he did not want to experience that again! He hadn't known that was possible! He'd spent much of his time avoiding humans. Mostly because they tended to attack him and call him demonic. That and he was just better than them.

"Don't you dare!" He growled, clamping his knees together to protect what he had just learned was a very vulnerable spot. He threw his head back, trying to dislodge her without breaking his arm. He was facedown in the dirt like a common thief! How dare she! When he got away from her hold, he'd teach her just why humans should never mess with an angry dragon!

@ Aikofox
(Hopefully it won't happen too often past this point)

Katrin barely saw his other hand reach behind him, but somehow managed to catch the movement and moved into a position that was better suited to avoiding the... sort-of-attack. And though his clamping his legs together was amusing, unfortunately, it kept her from fulfilling her promise of kicking him again if he twitched, and he'd done more than simply twitch. "I'm not going to unhand you. You're staying right here until I can hand you off to the authorities," she answered. Annoyed with his attempts to escape, she shifted to where she had one hand free, and used that hand to flick his ear. Hard.

"Now be still. It's your own fault your in this mess," she told him curtly, entirely unsympathetic. Besides, with the way he was acting, he was likely to turn around and attack her if she let him go. He really had to think she was a hundred kinds of stupid if he actually expected her to just let him go. Well, the guy was in trouble after all. Maybe he was just hoping.

@ beautiful monotony

Tau froze when she touched his ear, jaw dropping in outrage. She did not! He turned his head to look over his shoulder, glaring up at her. "How dare you, you little wretch! Do you know who you are dealing with? I will rend your flesh from your bones! Tear you limb from limb! I will crush you!"

He couldn't believe he was in this kind of mess. He's only wanted new boots! They'd just been sitting out for the taking! She had no use for them! Did she have some boot hoard she intended to place them in? It wasn't as if he'd stolen them, she hadn't claimed them. He snapped his teeth at her, trying to intimidate her. But his blunt human teeth were nowhere near as impressive as his dragon fangs. One bite and she'd be dead!

@ Aikofox

"Uh huh..." Katrin hoped she looked sufficiently unimpressed as she raised an eyebrow. "I dare very easily. Actually, I think I know exactly who I am dealing with, and that is a thief. I think you are the one who doesn't know who you are dealing with, considering I've got you pinned to the ground. Good luck rending my flesh from my bones, tearing me limb from limb, and crushing me from there, though. Really. I wish you the best."

She looked up then, attempting to blow some hair from her face as she scanned the streets once more. No one... there was no- "Hey!" she yelled out suddenly. "Hey, come over here! Yeah, you. No, please! Co-" she bit off the last word with a small growl of frustration. "Does it actually look like I can do anything to him while pinning down this guy?" she muttered under her breath, rolling her eyes.

@ beautiful monotony

"A thief!" Tau roared, insulted. "A thief! I'll strike you down where you stand for such slander! I am no thief! I would die before stealing! Especially from some uppity human female!" In his rage he forgot himself and used the 'h word', but who could blame him, really? Thievery was among the worst crimes a dragon could commit. He was aware of the difference in human and Draconian standards of the word, but the fact remained, by dragon standards he was no thief! She had assaulted him for no reason!

He never thought to call out for help or lie, after all, what could a human do to help him? If he couldn't get out of this on his own, he might as well give up his search and accept his lot as a human. He'd be pathetic enough for it. With a grunt he tried to shift, getting his free arm under him so that he could lever himself up and knock her aside.

@ Aikofox

That she was confused would be an understatement. He had obviously tried to steal from her, and yet here he was, shouting at her because he was insulted at being called a thief. Then there was the fact that he had actually called her a human female, which was definitely not something humans did. Except that he was human.

Apparently, confused as she had become, Katrin had loosened her hold, or at least that was what she assumed happened, since suddenly he was moving. She tightened the hold on his arm, hoping to cause enough pain to make him settle down again, though that didn't work quite like she had hoped. This wasn't good. He didn't seem like the sort who would fall for the same thing twice, which meant staying where she was seemed like it was going to be her best bet.

Since he was obviously going to get free anyway, she let go of his arm, but then locked her arms around his neck, right about the time that he got to his feet, meaning her feet were not on the ground. Well, if nothing else, it would at least choke him, and it wasn't like he could actually get to her very well if she was on his back. And as he tried to get her by reaching behind him, rather than letting him grab and pull her off, she she did the only thing she really could do right then. She bit him, as hard as she could manage, and she didn't let go. If nothing else, Katrin had good survival instincts.

@ beautiful monotony

He managed to get his free arm underneath him and push up, levering himself onto his knees. With a grunt he staggered to his feet, the human still clinging to him like an annoying leech. He snarled, trying to shake her off. The moment his arm was free he reached up, grabbing her arms to try and loosen her grip on his throat. How could such a short neck be so vulnerable? Tau gagged, trying to swallow.

Before he could dislodge her, Tau felt teeth sink into his shoulder at the base of his neck. She'd bit him! The insignificant little ant had bitten him! One hand released her arm to reach back and grip her by the hair as he tried to pry her off. Her blunt human teeth wouldn't do any damage, he knew logically, but his instincts were screaming at him otherwise. After all, a bite like that from another dragon was deadly! He roared in fury. "Release me!" He said, whirling and throwing himself about. His shoulders flexed, beating at her with imaginary wings as he flailed.

He turned and tried to slam her against the wagon, the hand not tangled in her hair clawing at her arms. He curled over, trying to buck and fling her over his head. Despite his stature as a human, he was no fighter. Tau was of the Scholar's line, an inquisitive being always in search of knowledge. But an assault such as this would rile up even the most peaceful of dragons. She was lucky he had no Flame!

@ Aikofox

While Katrin's response to pain was to hold on tighter, even she couldn't fight gravity. When he curled over to make her fall over his head onto the ground, she fell. It knocked the breath out of her briefly, but she was rolling over to get to her feet before she'd even fully recovered. So much for that plan...

But she didn't so much as get a step forward before she realized the struggle had drawn a small crowd. None of them were amused, but appeared more horror-stricken, and it was glancing over at them that she saw the figures pushing their way through. Law enforcement, finally! Now this guy could be their trouble. She idly picked up the boots he'd dropped earlier, and soon they were surrounded.

Before she could so much as get a word out about him being a thief though, one man -whom she assumed was the leader- started to speak. "You are both under arrest for disturbing the peace."

I can't get arrested! I have to keep moving. A brief flutter of panic went through Katrin, but she pushed it down and put a lid on her emotions, instead already looking for a way to get out of being arrested. Obviously, if someone had called the authorities in, they were worried about the fighting. Not so much the peace. She glanced at the man out of the corner of her eye and couldn't believe what she was about to do...

"Under arrest?!" She asked with wide eyes, making her voice a mixture of demand to know what was going on and a fair amount of innocence. "We weren't disturbing the peace!" She jerked a thumb at the man who had tried to steal from her. "That's my brother..." she trailed off. "Well, half brother. I just recently found him, and he asked if he could travel with me." This time she motioned to her cart. "The only problem is that he doesn't know a thing about fighting. He's big and all, but there are plenty of big men. I know how to fight but..." she shrugged. "I'm small, strong for my size, but still not strong. You know? I can't be protecting myself and him. So every time we stop, if the crowd clears out enough, I'll teach him a few things." She finished with crossing her arms over her chest. "Surely teaching my brother to defend himself can't be a crime?"

Gods, how she had come up with that story, on a whim, she would never figure out. She just hoped the silver-haired man didn't ruin it. If he managed to keep them both from getting arrested, she might not give him the boots, but he at least would get away relatively unharmed. "Is her story true?" The man asked of the thief who had absolutely no relation to her at all.