Fantasy The Trail We Blaze (Masked&Michi)

[MaskedCat]

"And I don't want to be here with you," Mihill automatically shot back with narrowed eyes. To him, being in the clinic was just really depressing. Even if the facility was meant to heal people, it still did not stop some people from dying. He was a tad bit worried that his assigned partner might not make it despite seeming okay enough to be all glares and scowls. He'd probably feel that way till the dragon was fully healed so he reluctantly accepted it.

"But I doubt you prefer those soldiers over me so just accept my company," Mihill continued. "I'm not that bad, right?"

 

[Michi]

"I prefer my solitude." Just not when he was trapped in a room hundreds of feet below ground. The first day in the hospital wing had had Orris tense. He wanted the human to leave him alone. And multiple times another human came bringing him a bowl of more of the soup. It was good at least, especially when it was warm. Humans should eat stuff like this. It's good stuff. But they'd rather have their stuff all cooked and ruined. He still didn't know what to do with the roll though, and would take it away and bring him a new one, until he stopped messing with it at all.

Eventually she resorted to bringing him only soup, and he was glad to have it. He liked the woman, she was quiet. She'd give him food and then walk away. Just his kind of human. "I like her more than I like you." Orris told Mihill after the eighth bowl of soup was brought to him and she began to walk away once again.

 

[MaskedCat]

Mihill just shrugged in response. He could appreciate some alone time, however, the dragon did not have the luxury of being alone. It was either him or less than pleasant people. And he wasn't willing to leave the dragon just yet. There was no telling what the dragon might do now that he was in his human form and aboveground. He'd be blamed if the dragon escaped regardless if he was present or not.

He stayed in the chair mostly and only left for brief minutes to grab his own food and to use the bathroom. He made small conversation with the woman when she gave the dragon his soup and roll. He was disappointed when the roll stopped coming since it had amused him to see the dragon poke at it like it was something alien. Which it probably was.

Mihill shot the dragon a glare at what he said when another bowl of soup was brought. "You only like her cause of the soup," he pointed out. And probably because she didn't linger much while Mihill stayed with the dragon for a longer period of time.

 

[Michi]

Orris smirked when Mihill glared as the statement. He had a feeling that would bother him, and he was right. "Well, she also does not overstay her welcome." He quickly slurped down the bowl of soul and put the bowl on the table before he hunkered down under his blanket and rolled to turn his back to the male. "Whatever it is that you are trying to achieve here, it is not going to work. You are wasting your time, and you humans don't have a lot of time to be wasted."

His stomach was full, he was warm, this human bed was sort of comfortable. If the human didn't insist on pushing himself down the dragon's throat, he'd probably be able to actually relax. "I'm sure you've got to be hungry. I don't see her bringing you any food. Don't worry, I'll be right here like a good little pet dragon." It wasn't like he could shift back just yet. It was going to be a few days, but maybe he could get out at night, when there weren't as many people out and about. If he could slip out, and get into the woods, he would be golden. He'd come across a dragon somewhere and they'd help him get home.

He just needed to bide his time for now.

 

[MaskedCat]

Mihill merely huffed at what the dragon said for it was sort of true. He did stay longer even if the dragon did not like it for two reasons. Firstly, because they were assigned to each other whether he liked it or not. And secondly, he honestly had nothing better to do with his time then to argue with someone who could squish him like a bug. Though the dragon could no longer even attempt to do such a thing for he is now in his human form. Perhaps later he might try. "It's my time to waste," he lightly shrugged. The dragon could complain all he wanted but he wasn't going to leave.

"I had an apple and some bread earlier," Mihill shook his head. He always seemed to have an apple with his meals since that is his favorite fruit. Lazial used to tease him about that since the apple was popularly known as the forbidden fruit. "And you're not a pet." He added as memories of his deceased partner floated around in his mind. He allowed himself to be nostalgic for a few moments before focusing on the present. He didn't want to get depressed in this dragon's company.

 

[Michi]

The following days were calm. He didn't have to deal with the heckling of the guards, and he had been cut back to three meals, but they were now starting to bring larger portions of soup, and the occasional plate of a properly cooked meal that he refused to eat. Meat didn't deserve to be ruined in such a way after all. The female human was nice enough. He'd even begun to smile at her and have minute conversations.

She scolded him saying that if he didn't start eating the plated meals soon she was going to cut him off from soup entirely which did not appeal to Orris at all. He had complained but picked at the meats and ate small pieces. It was actually really good, but he wasn't going to admit that to them. After all he didn't know that things tasted different in both forms. He did however keep insisting that Mihill did not need to babysit him.

 

[MaskedCat]

Mihill spent the next few days in the clinic with his dragon who always made it clear that his presence wasn't appreciated. He always just shrugged and continued reading whatever book he brought with him as he stayed seated next to the bed his assigned partner was confined to. This sure beat just lazing around in his room all day since he got to annoy the dragon. It was always fun to see those eyes harden in an irritated glare at whatever Mihill just said.

He had left occasionally to grab an apple to eat or use the bathroom. In the beginning he had also left to go sleep in his own room, however, he had lately taken to even sleeping in the clinic room. That seemed to annoy the dragon even more which just made Mihill amused. The woman was even nice enough to not kick him out so far despite the dragon being annoyed by his presence.

Currently, he was slowly munching on an apple as he read another book that he just recently got. The dragon was in the clinic bed nearby though right now he was ignoring the dragon in favor of his book. However, that did not mean that he was completely oblivious to his surroundings. He'll be alerted if the dragon attempted to do anything, like trying to escape. He was expecting something like to happen the closer the dragon got to be fully recovered.

 

[Michi]

Orris has grown bored, he ached to be free, to be outside. He was strong enough to get up and move, but he knew he didn't have enough magic to shift back yet. He felt vulnerable in this form. The human form was frail and weak compared to the dragon form. Unprotected. He had been given a change of clothed though he had no desire to wear them. Sometimes when the door opened there were guards in the hall, other times there wasn't.

He was going stir crazy trapped inside this new prison of sorts. He turned his head to look at the human as he stared at the book intently. He'd heard that humans had to write things down. That they use written words to send messages long distance. That was a very long message. Dragons live for hundreds of years, and could fly so they never had a need for written language to send a message. He frowned at the book, was it some sort of secret plan? That could be how they planned on attacking next. It could be very detailed! He should use that!

He coughed once. When nothing happened, he cleared his throat and stared at the male intently. "What is that?"

 

[MaskedCat]

Mihill had heard the dragon cough the first time but chose to ignore him. He was just getting to the good part in the book and he just wanted to get through it. Unfortunately, it seemed like he wouldn't be able to ignore the dragon for he then asked him a question. He looked up in his surprise for the dragon tended to also ignore him unless he was trying to get Mihill to leave the room. This was a break in routine and he didn't know if it was good or bad.

"What? This?" Mihill held up the book lightly. "It's called a book. Some humans write stories, fictional or not, to share with the rest of the world." The dragon not knowing what a book was didn't surprise him for there were many things the dragon didn't know regarding humans and their culture. Or their food. It always entertained him to watch as the dragon tried to figure out whatever new thing caught his attention.

 

[Michi]

Orris nodded as the man spoke. Ah so they also wrote down fiction. What a great way to throw them off from finding out what their plans truly were. Humans were smarter than he had initially given them credit for, but they weren't as smart as dragons still. "I see. And how do you know if it is fictional or not?" There had to be some sort of code, that let them know, otherwise the humans would all think all of it was real and be all scattered. He leaned more forward to look at the markings on the page. Some dragons were able to read the human languages, Orris was not one of them. "How long does it take to learn what is written?"

 

[MaskedCat]

Mihill was a bit surprised that the dragon still seemed interested in the subject of books. He himself loved books due to the vast realities that the stories spun, but he did not know that the dragon would also be interested. He knew that most dragons could not read their language and therefore usually weren't interested in books. He was pleased to see that the dragon was interested in something he loved for that could be something they could talk about normally instead of arguing.

"Books have genres assigned to them so you know what category it belongs in," Mihill explained. "There are all sorts of genres like romance, drama, angst, horror, adventure, mystery, etc. Books that hold true information or stories are classified as nonfiction. And we usually learn how to read and write when we're just kids."

 

[Michi]

How dastardly! They had so many books out there all to throw the dragons off their trail. But this human was giving away all their secrets. Ha, how stupid of him. A smile crossed his face as he looked from the book to the man and back to the book, "And how does one find out which... genre a book is?" He could break this code. He could break it and they would have the upper hand. Yes.

"What kind of book is that?" He asked as he moved to the edge of the bed leaning to look at it better, as if a closer angle would suddenly tell him what words were on the pages. "Do all of your young learn to read and write? How young?"

 

[MaskedCat]

Mihill felt puzzled by the smile that grew on the dragon's face. The other looked like he had come up with some wicked plan though he was just explaining what the book was. He didn't understand why the dragon looked so smug just because Mihill told him about genres for books and such. Was that really such an accomplishment? Well, it could be. The dragon knew very little about humans so this must seem like some sort of huge step in learning more about them.

"This book belongs in the Adventure genre," Mihill explained. "And you can find out about the genre by which section of a library or bookstore it is located in. Those places usually organize their books by genre and have signs up dictating which section is which. And then the books are organized by the last name of the author in their proper section."

 

[Michi]

Orris nodded at he listened. Bookstores and Libraries. These humans just put all their information on buildings. And they had no knowledge about any of this all these years! Oh how he couldn't wait to tell his superiors what he had found out. "But how does the master of these places know what the book is? Does it say so on the cover somewhere?" He asked, as he reached out, looking over the covered of the book, still unable to read any of the words on it, but looking as if for some symbol what would indicate what it was for.

"How does one learn to read a book?" He asked as he sat back, the smile fading from his face as he regained his composure. He cleared his throat and resumed his position on the bed, using the wall to prop himself up as his legs were crossed with his hands resting in his lap. "And how long does it take?"

 

[MaskedCat]

Mihill frowned in thought, "Uh...I don't know," he admitted. "I'm no writer myself, but I believe that the author of the book decides which genre fits the book best and then publishes it as so." He is a reader, not a writer. Just because he had a fondness for reading did not mean that he also liked writing. He always hated writing since he never knew what words to use for whatever he was writing and ended up throwing the crumbled up piece of paper away in frustration. He much preferred just letting other people write since at least they were better than him.

"I think it depends on your ability to understand language," Mihill scooted his chair closer to the bed and held out the book for the dragon to take. "Would you like for me to teach you how to read?" If he taught the dragon how to read human language than maybe their partnership wouldn't be as rocky as it already was.

 

[Michi]

Orris slowly reached out to take the book from the human when it was offered. He turned his body slightly away as he looked it over from cover to cover. The book fascinated him, all these markings were the human's form of communicating over long distances. How interesting. How stupid. And this one was offering to teach him their secrets. "Hmmm. "

he flipped through the pages and even held the book up to the light to see what secrets it may hold. No matter the angle it was at though, there didn't seem to be anything hidden aside from the images on the pages. "I will allow for you to guide my learning of this.. reading of which you speak." He stated as he picked at the binding, maybe something was hidden inside of that area. He began to pull pages away from the cover, his eyes focused on the gap as it grew and the paper began to tear.

 

[MaskedCat]

Mihill smiled as he watched the dragon examine the book like it was some type of foreign object. Which it actually was. Lazial had stared at a book nearly the same way except he stared at the book with more fascination than the dragon before him. The dragon looked almost calculating as that gaze bore into the innocent book in his grasp. It entertained Mihill and he made a mental note to himself to bring in more items for the dragon to look at. It was always fun to see the dragon without the usual scowl or glare on his face.

His eyes widened when the dragon started to tear the pages of the book. "What are you doing?!" He cried out as he snatched his poor book away from the dragon. Unfortunately, not before a few pages got some good tears in them. "My book..." He mumbled as a cloud of gloom hung over his head. He then shot an irritated glare at the dragon and snapped, "Why would you try to ruin my book?!"

 

[Michi]

The usual scowl returned to his face. His initial instinct was that he had been onto something. Ah so that was where they left all their secrets. He had been right, and that was why the human had gotten angry. "I was trying to read all of it! It's not ruined, just put it back together the way it was." He huffed crossing his arms as he turned his head away from the male.

Unless it was ruined. He could have just ruined a very important message! Internally he was sheering himself on. Seemed like he would still be able to stop the humans even from being trapped within their walls. As he finished his internal celebration he turned back to the human, he was pleased with himself, but the human looked sad. Too bad for him. He was completely unaware that books didn't work that way. You couldn't just put it back together.

 

[MaskedCat]

Mihill felt very tempted to hit the ignorant dragon with the now torn book. But he restrained himself from doing that. He really didn't need to get into a messy fight with the dragon who was still recovering from the treatment he got from those stuck-up soldiers. He also didn't need to be kicked out by that woman during the rest of the dragon's recovery time since he didn't trust anyone else to make sure that his assigned partner didn't jump out the window to make a break for it.

"Books don't work that way!" Mihill hissed. "Once it's ruined it can't be fixed!" He gently closed the book, not wanting to tear it anymore, and huffed in frustration. "You can't just go around ruining people's property y'know. It's considered rude."

 

[Michi]

The dragon's eyebrows rose as he looked down the book. They were so easily damaged. A little tear, some fire. But the human was very upset and he should do something to make up for hurting Mihill's property. "I am sorry. I didn't know that books worked that way." He responded stiffly. Apologizing to the human was worse than having a tooth pulled.

His body was rigid and his jaw was clenched as he cleared his throat, "I would still like to.. learn this reading thing.. if you are still willing to teach me." The words came out slowly. He hating asking a human for help; especially this human. Though it was slightly amusing to see he'd gotten so upset over Orris damaging his property like that.