The Queens Ball (Samheen 24)

[saskia]

Evis could almost read Gwayne's thoughts and gave him an indignant stare!
"I most certainly have no fleas!" She hissed.


And in this nice and brotherly atmosphere, they all reached the dragons cave.
They knew it was the dragons liar, because it said so in nice pink letters on a nice purple sign

"The Dragons Cave"
and in small print
please knock

Small wafts of pink, strawberry smoke came from the cave, and inside voices could be heard, though they could not make out whose voice it was, or what they were saying...

[Gavin Tylvan]

The sign was a bit of a surprise, but after all that happened not that much of a surprise. He was wearing too much metal, so sneaking in was out of the question. And besides it was not in accordance with his plan. Go in and talk the dragon out of it. Heh. Pretty simple and thus worth trying. And, practically the only thing I could do. Well, I could go in there and act hero like and die, but that would do no good. And he read the sign and shrugged.

"Seems to me we are dealing with one well mannered dragon. Says here Please knock. So, that is just what I am going to do. So, if anybody wants to back out, now would be the time. Someone not quite right in the head is dreaming this up and only us madmen should proceed, I reckon. So unless you are utterly mad" - at this he looked at Gwayne - "or a girl" - he cast his gaze on Evis - "now would be a good time to split. Girls tend to stick together and only madmen mess around with girls. So in we go."

And the big man turned, took a deep breath of strawberry scented smoke, coughed for a few flickers and knocked softly on the door three times. Then he took his helmet off and placed it under his left arm and licking his right palm straightened his hair a bit. And once he was done, he was completely at a loss why he did it. But, it seemed appropriate. They were coming to this dragon lair for the first time and they needed to be presentable. And with a smile he added the last touch. A box of chocolates wrapped in a red string appeared under his right arm, while a bouquet of roses, pink of course, appeared in his right hand. He was ready to enter the dragon's lair and face the fearsome pink dragon.

[Gwayne of Vendeling]

Pink thought Gwayne while watching the sign. He concluded that it had something to do with the creature that captured Syrawenn. The symbols did not tell him anything because he could not read. And he had a sure feeling that he would not like the words anyway.

Behind Gwayne Gavin told Evis to bugger off, but in nicer words. In reaction he scratched on his arm. Then he turned to ask Gavin what the sign told him but Gavin was already knocking.

Gwayne's eye's became big while watching Gavin with his wet hair and strange box and flowers in his hand.

"I thought you first have to save Syrawenn before giving her presents.....or are those for Hector ?"

Then he waited for what would happen...

[saskia]

"Enter", a voice called out, which must be the dragons, since it sounded sooo...dragonish: Large,grand,impressive and...pink.

The door opened, revealing a nice, cosy liar for the dragon, who was laying in the back of the cave.
She looked drowsy, but not very fierce..

In the foreground were Hector and Syrawenn, alive and kicking, and shouting at each other....

[Gavin Tylvan]

With a friendly smile, Gavin bowed. "Erm, good evening. I hope we are not intruding, but we were in the neighborhood and thought we could drop in. If you don't mind the company that is?" For a flicker a questioning glance lingered on his face and then he was in. But, before he came in, the big man wiped his feet. And wondered why he did it afterwards. It seemed appropriate, I guess. Polite thing to do.

He paused for a few flickers and surveyed the lair with a genuine interest. "My, my, my. It sure is a nice lair." Turning he spotted a coat hanger and placed his helmet there. And with a smile he approached the dragon. "These are for you." And presented the box of sweets and the bouquet of roses to the dragon. He was not sure how she, for it had to be she, would take it from him, but there was no turning back now.

"Oh, oh, pardon me. Where are my manners? My name is Gavin, and those are Gwayne and Evis. We met at the Ball a while back. And since that crowd back there was boring, we decided to see if you would like some more company. I am sure your guests, kept you entertained, but one can never have too much fun." He nodded to Syra and Hector in turn. "Hope you don't mind us barging in like this."

[Gwayne of Vendeling]

"Odd" That was the first thought when Gwayne noticed what Gavin was doing. "Crazy" was the second. A easy conclusion was that if they would be destroyed it would be probably by Syrawenn and not by the Dragon-thing.

Gwayne waiting patiently while Gavin was doing his slimy, mushy, yucky high level semi diplomatic lord talk to the dragon lady. When Gavin mentioned his name he smiled nicely and waved a bit insecure.

Searching for Syrawenn his eyes checked the cave. And saw her, as usual in a verbal war.. He chuckled inwardly.

Then he noticed that he was still dressed up as a warrior with Pink weapons. He sighed again and crossed his arms in a defensive posture.

Then he moved a few steps away from Gavin so if she would eat him, he could still attack.

Something deep inside made him worry a bit about why he would not mind that the pink warrior could be eaten..... piiiiinnnnnk yuck.

The Goddess humour was sometimes...... odd.

[saskia]

As our little group of heroes entered the cave the dragon woke up.
She opened one eye, and breathed a puff of pink smoke.

"Ah, visitors, how nice of you to drop in" She said in a silky voice. "We were just discussing tonight's menu. will you be staying for dinner?"

She looked at Gavins present "My,my..flowers! you must be a real knight, bringing a girl flowers. I like real knights. They are so..muscular and well fed!"

[Syrawenn]

Obviously there ruse was working. Through the ruse of growing discomfort and irritation Syrawenn noticed the dragon nodding off further and further. Her grin grew as she was getting ready to deliver another monologue when someone knocked.

Her head shot op as she gazed at Hector questioningly. You arranged this? She mouthed silently while the dragon woke up.

"Enter."

Syrawenn groaned. Obviously their plan was shot to the nether now. "Great...more jesters." The girl mumbled as a pink person entered, carrying flowers and chocolates, followed by the cat person and...Gwayne?

The girls eyebrows could not possibly reach any further up and yet they did. Right then Gavin introduced himself and she realized who was hiding in the hideous pink armour.

"Gavin?" Her mouth fell open.

Drafty...

Mouth closed.

"Barging in...barging in....yeah..." The plan, damnit, they ruined the plan! "Actually...we were doing just fine! Just exhausted the topic of dietary habits and were moving on to exchanging fun historical anecdotes!"

Of course the dragon turned out to be female. It had to be with the overwhelming pinkness, but at least now she had confirmation. It would not be good to offend the dragon, even though she had admitted to not being particularly partial to human flesh.

"Talking about dinner, can't we score some sheep somewhere?" The girl threw in at random. Maybe it would work.

Maybe it won't.
Baaaaa!

[Gwayne of Vendeling]

Gwayne started to grin a bit, and waved at Syrawenn.

"Hoi, Syra. Glad to see you. We..." and he waved at Gavin and Evis. "decided to take you away from the pink thingy uh lady. This lady is Evis, just for the information." And he pointed at the cat lady.

"I hope that you did not get too bored with that .... uh excuse for a king. Gavin decided to do the diplomatic show to convince the pink thingy lady so we all could walk away.."

Gwayne approached Syrawenn quickly..

[Gavin Tylvan]

So far, so good. The dragon seemed pleasant enough, even though it was pink. I guess pink being are always polite and mushy. Must be or the girls won't like them. And being pink only a girl could. And so he pushed onward. Plunged in sort to speak. And so he put on his best smile and bowed deeply. "I hope you like the flowers. I suggest you put it in a vase and add some water, so they might keep fresh longer."

And then he did something that also seemed appropriate at the moment, but was also awkward when he thought about it later. He blushed. His cheeks gained color and were as pink as his armor. And this time it was visible, because along with the rest of the fur, his beard fell off. His gaze was cast down, his hands were behind his back and he was wringing them. Even his foot was raised, his toes pointed down and he was twirling it. He even bit his lower lip.

"Wheeeeeell...." His voice came out all squeeky and cracked and he coughed to clear it. "I mean, I don't know about muscular, but I certainly am not well fed. But, thanks for the compliment." He gazed at their host through his eyelashes and then just stopped. What in the name of.... Did I just.... I didn't..... Oh, boy. This is getting weird. And with another uneasy cough his shoulders were straightened and he shook his head to clear the memory away.

"Sorry about that. Oh, yes. Well fed. I must notice that I had no time to eat anything at the Ball and am quite famished. So if you are offering, my dear lady, I shall accept your dinner invitation. Would we be going out or are we going to eat here?" He cast he a questioning look and smiled. "Ah, no matter. I am here more for the company than for the food." It looked as if he winked at the huge pink dragon, but it happened to fast for anyone to be sure.

He was playing a dangerous game and he knew it. His mind raced and each of his moves was calculated. I must appear unique. She would never eat something unique. I must surprise her and I must do so repeatedly. If she is interested in me, she won't eat me. And the other will have time to slip by. And with dread in his heart, but showing nothing of his on the outside he strode casually to their host and reached out to touch her claw gently and then trace a line over it with his finger. "But, milady I see no table. And no chairs. And I must admit the way here is not easy. I could use a chair. And a drink and then as we converse someone might go and get the dinner ready." His gaze was on her eyes and he just stared at them. He did not know where such courage came from. He knew where his words came from. But, he sensed they might work. "So, tell me. What might be your name? Or would you rather I guessed?"