CONTACT POST: WALDEMAR

[allscalesfinal]

[This dragon is always available for quests or a chat.]

Comments

[bloodbiter]

[wandering in]

Waldemar?

[allscalesfinal]

[laid out flat on the floor and staring contemplatively at a jewel that's the size of lace's entire head, which is flicked carelessly away by his talons when she approaches]

Ah, my friend. How may this one help you?

[bloodbiter]

[smiles and takes a seat next to him, petting his scaly self]

I came for a quest today, not to visit.

[allscalesfinal]

[a shallow nod, his scales warm and smooth]

As is natural. What do you desire?

[bloodbiter]

A bow and a few arrows, this time.

[allscalesfinal]

[a thoughtful silence, wings twitching]

This one shall prepare the terms. Please hold out your hand.

[bloodbiter]

[she holds out her hand with a smile]

[allscalesfinal]

[the sound of jingling coins fills her ears, and a golden amulet materializes in her palm]

Wear this, and ask seven people thus: their most cherished ambition, and the lengths they would go to in order to achieve it.

[bloodbiter]

[she smiles, holding it up]

It's lovely. Do I only need to wear it when I ask them, or all the time until the quest is done?

[allscalesfinal]

The former for certain, the latter only if you desire it.

Everything this one creates for the purposes of a quest - jewelry, food, and much else - is imbued with a magic that will communicate their answers to me.

[bloodbiter]

I see. May I ask why you find yourself so interested in our answers?

[allscalesfinal]

[....he's quiet for a minute, shifting his gaze to a mound of treasure instead]

When this one was a mortal man, there came a time when the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of others were scorned and cast aside as though worthless. Rather than a worldly perspective of balance and nuance, as befitted a king, I pursued a self-serving reality where the only answers that mattered were my own.

This one cannot bear to be so selfishly ignorant again. That is a cold, lonesome, and wretchedly boring existence.

[bloodbiter]

Mm.

[a small smile]

Do you want to know what my answer would be?

[allscalesfinal]

[not looking at her!! too busy remembering when he was a giant asshole and feeling sad about it]

Of course.

[bloodbiter]

Well, my world was rather dangerous. There were dragons, but not kind and generous ones like you, and gryphons and ogres and sickness. My sister always swore that she would rid the land of these things, but I was too afraid to consider it. But things changed, and I learned that maybe it's something that could be done.

A good deal of my childhood was spent being afraid, but sometimes I think about what it would be like to feel truly safe somewhere down the road. Years from now, mm, with my sister never far away, and with a husband and children of my own. Somewhere I wouldn't have to constantly worry about them all... That's something I would fight for.

[allscalesfinal]

[listens]

....That is a noble ambition to strive for. But you do not need this one to tell you that.

[bloodbiter]

What would yours be?

[allscalesfinal]

[a very long pause]

'Tis a difficult choice. This one regrets much and desires even more still.

But above all.....to not repeat the folly of the past.

[bloodbiter]

You won't. I know you won't.

[allscalesfinal]

[gently:]

This one could, if complacency overtakes vigilance.

[bloodbiter]

But you aren't complacent at all.

[allscalesfinal]

Once it was said of this one that my heart would surely never know greed.

If one lives, one can change. That has been this one's hope, but it is a double-edged sword.

[bloodbiter]

You make the people here happy. I'm certain of it.

[allscalesfinal]

That is a kind thing to say, and this one thanks you for it.

But whether I am appreciated, or despised, the only one that can carry out my most cherished ambition....is me. This one cannot lose sight of that.

[bloodbiter]

[gently racks brain for what could cheer a dragon up]

...Do you know how to fly?