Re: Potched Kumquat [Victory!]
01-11-2011, 08:51 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by MalkyTop.
”I can’t believe it!”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it.”
“I would’ve liked a little choice! Or maybe a little input!” Despite her fuming and loudly proclaimed frustration, the blue dragon was rather greedily munching down on the pile of shiny stuff so generously given to them. It was delicious. And would probably last for a very long time.
“So you’re saying that you’re not satisfied?”
She swallowed another mouthful of possibly priceless statuettes, glanced at both the slip of paper in her fellow dragon’s hand and at the pile of glittery things and sighed. “No, I’m fine. You?”
“I’m fine too.” So she continued snarfing down on the goodies and he continued staring at the slip of paper while the mass of fireproof straw and cloth sat in the grass and stared at nothing in particular.
“I can’t help but think that ‘Adelinde’ is a strange name for you,” he commented, causing her to look back up again indignantly.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked hotly, ready to defend the name she didn’t even know a few minutes ago.
“It’s just so…nice. Sweet-sounding.”
“Are you saying I’m not nice?”
“Are you saying you are?”
After a moment, Adelinde had to agree that no, she wasn’t particularly nice. Not that that bothered her. Being nice meant not setting fire to people and eating them and also not stealing shiny stuff and eating those too. So as usual, she was Rong. Er, wrong. She would have to get used to that. But she wasn’t about to drop this argument.
“So what’s your name, hm?”
He looked up from the paper this time, distractedly. “You didn’t read it?”
“I can’t read your chicken scratch language!” Adelinde was met with a rather glowering glare.
“And I couldn’t read your chicken scratch language when I first came here.”
She may have been prideful, but she was capable of recognizing a need for an apology. “Okay, okay, sorry. So, Not-Right, what’s your name?”
“Well, first of all, I think you should know I carry a few titles. For one thing, I was a Zhulong, that is, a Vermilion dragon, but there are some more specific names, such as while you could probably be called a Fucanglong, I was known as Yinglong though I think in another city—“
“God! Shut up! I didn’t ask for all that! So a bunch of Chinese humans call you this or that. What do I call you?”
He gave a dramatic pause which she took for embarrassment and added, with a grin, “Is it a stupid name?”
“Oh shush. It’s a name that speaks of cleverness and strength.”
“Okay, whatever, what’s the actual name?”
“Well, I suppose if I had other dragon friends,” he said a little hesitantly, “They’d call me Shen Jiangmin.”
“So what, I call you Shen? Gee, you made it sound so grand and it’s just a small thing. Adelinde is such a better name.”
“First of all, if you let me translate the characters for you, maybe you would be a little more impressed. Second of all, you don’t know anything about the name structure of the Chinese, do you? I guess you can just call me Jiāng.”
“Ehhh…Jjjjyeng…?”
He cringed. “I believe I’ve heard you just kill my language brutally. You’ll get it eventually, I suppose. I still have to get used to it myself.”
After all that stuff about names supposedly being powerful, he certainly didn’t feel much different. But somehow, he felt more…aware? Sort of. He certainly felt he could change the weather. Right now, in fact.
But maybe he’ll save that for later.
“Do you actually recognize this place?”
“Mmmm,” said Adelinde, crunching on a goblet and looking around. “Sorta, I guess. I didn’t really hang around fields. Hey, you know, ya think we can drag this over to my cave?”
Jiang decided not to make a wry joke and instead said, “I can’t help but notice that we can’t possibly carry all that.”
Adelinde stared at the pile sadly. “I guess not. Oh well. We’ll just leave it then. I have no idea where the hell my cave is anymore anyways.” After a little sigh, she said, “Maybe carry a little snack?”
Rolling his eyes, Jiang wrapped a whisker around the slip of paper and carried a few of the golden trinkets in his arms. Adelinde stared at him meaningfully and he sighed and grew another pair to carry a few more.
“So where to?” she finally asked.
“I actually wouldn’t mind visiting dear old Benelea. A surprise greeting, I suppose.”
Adelinde stared at him for a long time before plastering a knowing grin on her face. “So, not too high and mighty for a little vengeance?” Jiang shrugged helplessly, unsure what to say as they started up in the air. “After that, though, I’m gonna take us sight-seeing! I at least know sort of where we are. I hope all those kingdoms haven’t forgotten about me.”
“I can’t say that I trust your sense of direction much, but okay. And after that, we’ll go to China. And yes, I’ll be nice and visit more than just lakes and my own shrines. But you better behave yourself there.”
Adelinde grunted noncommittally and came to a small realization. “Hey, that’s right, your types don’t go on grand rampages through towns, don’t they!”
“Well, I might have flooded a place once, maybe.”
“No, real rampages, with eating cows and setting fire and everything.”
“I can’t set fire to things.”
“Oh well, you can still eat a cow and kidnap princesses.”
“…You kidnapped princesses? What did you even do with them…?”
“Oh shut up. Gimme that shiny thing.”
"...What would I want with a princess?"
"Oh shut up."
And the three went ahead and continued in a direction that may or may not lead back to the old kingdom where they had spent all of their technically undead life. They might be a little overconfident in thinking that they could take down a whole kingdom with its own wizard, but for one thing, they've taken down kingdoms before and for another, Jiang was making sure to herd a particularly horrible storm right in front of them.
”I can’t believe it!”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it.”
“I would’ve liked a little choice! Or maybe a little input!” Despite her fuming and loudly proclaimed frustration, the blue dragon was rather greedily munching down on the pile of shiny stuff so generously given to them. It was delicious. And would probably last for a very long time.
“So you’re saying that you’re not satisfied?”
She swallowed another mouthful of possibly priceless statuettes, glanced at both the slip of paper in her fellow dragon’s hand and at the pile of glittery things and sighed. “No, I’m fine. You?”
“I’m fine too.” So she continued snarfing down on the goodies and he continued staring at the slip of paper while the mass of fireproof straw and cloth sat in the grass and stared at nothing in particular.
“I can’t help but think that ‘Adelinde’ is a strange name for you,” he commented, causing her to look back up again indignantly.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked hotly, ready to defend the name she didn’t even know a few minutes ago.
“It’s just so…nice. Sweet-sounding.”
“Are you saying I’m not nice?”
“Are you saying you are?”
After a moment, Adelinde had to agree that no, she wasn’t particularly nice. Not that that bothered her. Being nice meant not setting fire to people and eating them and also not stealing shiny stuff and eating those too. So as usual, she was Rong. Er, wrong. She would have to get used to that. But she wasn’t about to drop this argument.
“So what’s your name, hm?”
He looked up from the paper this time, distractedly. “You didn’t read it?”
“I can’t read your chicken scratch language!” Adelinde was met with a rather glowering glare.
“And I couldn’t read your chicken scratch language when I first came here.”
She may have been prideful, but she was capable of recognizing a need for an apology. “Okay, okay, sorry. So, Not-Right, what’s your name?”
“Well, first of all, I think you should know I carry a few titles. For one thing, I was a Zhulong, that is, a Vermilion dragon, but there are some more specific names, such as while you could probably be called a Fucanglong, I was known as Yinglong though I think in another city—“
“God! Shut up! I didn’t ask for all that! So a bunch of Chinese humans call you this or that. What do I call you?”
He gave a dramatic pause which she took for embarrassment and added, with a grin, “Is it a stupid name?”
“Oh shush. It’s a name that speaks of cleverness and strength.”
“Okay, whatever, what’s the actual name?”
“Well, I suppose if I had other dragon friends,” he said a little hesitantly, “They’d call me Shen Jiangmin.”
“So what, I call you Shen? Gee, you made it sound so grand and it’s just a small thing. Adelinde is such a better name.”
“First of all, if you let me translate the characters for you, maybe you would be a little more impressed. Second of all, you don’t know anything about the name structure of the Chinese, do you? I guess you can just call me Jiāng.”
“Ehhh…Jjjjyeng…?”
He cringed. “I believe I’ve heard you just kill my language brutally. You’ll get it eventually, I suppose. I still have to get used to it myself.”
After all that stuff about names supposedly being powerful, he certainly didn’t feel much different. But somehow, he felt more…aware? Sort of. He certainly felt he could change the weather. Right now, in fact.
But maybe he’ll save that for later.
“Do you actually recognize this place?”
“Mmmm,” said Adelinde, crunching on a goblet and looking around. “Sorta, I guess. I didn’t really hang around fields. Hey, you know, ya think we can drag this over to my cave?”
Jiang decided not to make a wry joke and instead said, “I can’t help but notice that we can’t possibly carry all that.”
Adelinde stared at the pile sadly. “I guess not. Oh well. We’ll just leave it then. I have no idea where the hell my cave is anymore anyways.” After a little sigh, she said, “Maybe carry a little snack?”
Rolling his eyes, Jiang wrapped a whisker around the slip of paper and carried a few of the golden trinkets in his arms. Adelinde stared at him meaningfully and he sighed and grew another pair to carry a few more.
“So where to?” she finally asked.
“I actually wouldn’t mind visiting dear old Benelea. A surprise greeting, I suppose.”
Adelinde stared at him for a long time before plastering a knowing grin on her face. “So, not too high and mighty for a little vengeance?” Jiang shrugged helplessly, unsure what to say as they started up in the air. “After that, though, I’m gonna take us sight-seeing! I at least know sort of where we are. I hope all those kingdoms haven’t forgotten about me.”
“I can’t say that I trust your sense of direction much, but okay. And after that, we’ll go to China. And yes, I’ll be nice and visit more than just lakes and my own shrines. But you better behave yourself there.”
Adelinde grunted noncommittally and came to a small realization. “Hey, that’s right, your types don’t go on grand rampages through towns, don’t they!”
“Well, I might have flooded a place once, maybe.”
“No, real rampages, with eating cows and setting fire and everything.”
“I can’t set fire to things.”
“Oh well, you can still eat a cow and kidnap princesses.”
“…You kidnapped princesses? What did you even do with them…?”
“Oh shut up. Gimme that shiny thing.”
"...What would I want with a princess?"
"Oh shut up."
And the three went ahead and continued in a direction that may or may not lead back to the old kingdom where they had spent all of their technically undead life. They might be a little overconfident in thinking that they could take down a whole kingdom with its own wizard, but for one thing, they've taken down kingdoms before and for another, Jiang was making sure to herd a particularly horrible storm right in front of them.