|
Cursed to Be Together
Name: Cain Anders
Age: 22 Appearance: He's got a medium tan, black hair, and blue eyes. A lean build, but not without muscle. His hair has three white streaks in it and his clothes are ones suited for traveling: Boots, fur-lined jackets, work belt, the sort. http://i903.photobucket.com/albums/a...pskzaigmol.png and how his hair should really look Bio: He's been a lone traveler since he turned sixteen and has seen much in his exploration. His favorite place is always home though and he never forgets to return when he can with notebooks filled with drawings and notes to share with the people in the little seaside town. He's come face to face with magical creatures before and has learned a respect for them as well as to give them a wide berth. Sunday Roast: |
Arazmodu Nobody knows for sure how long this dragon has walked this earth and though sightings of him have become few and far between, travellers are still wary when travelling through the mountains and woods he calls home. Araz Araz appears to be in his early twenties and acts as a guide to those wishing to travel across the mountain or through the forest, providing the right price is met of course. It is widely believed that Araz shares the payment with the dragon and in return is allowed to live peacefully in the forest at the foot of the mountain. Because.. how else would a human be allowed to live in a dragons territory? |
Why on earth had this happened to him? Life had been going so well and he was enjoying his (relatively) peaceful existence in the forest, even if it meant having to spend most of his time dressed like a human. Human? Pah! Araz had always found the human race quite amusing, but now to find himself cursed and bound to one was far from funny. Humans had such pitifully short life spans and their bodies were so weak! Now his life was bound to that of a human.. a human that he'd grown quite fond of over recent weeks. Was this his punishment for befriending what so many of his kind would call food? A day after the curse had been placed and Araz was not only refusing to leave his territory, but also refusing to let Cain out of his sight just in case something might happen that might result in death. Up until today the thought of death had rarely crossed his mind and now he found himself thinking of all sorts of colorful deaths that his human could face. Colorful and highly unlikely, but that didn't stop him thinking about them over and over. Why did witches never curse a human to the life of a dragon? Things would be so much simpler if you were that much harder to kill. Araz did not want to die with this human and so his thoughts eventually drifted away from death and began to focus on what they should do. This curse needed to be broken and in all of his years, magic had never interested him for more than a few days at a time. There had to be someone around that knew about curses, right? But where to find one? Idly rocking back and forth in a rocking chair that didn't rock straight (because in all probability he'd made it himself) and looked as though it would fall apart at any moment, Araz turned his attention to his human. "If I wanted to learn more about curses, where would I go?" |
Cain sat on the floor where he felt comfortable. In his lap, he'd collected a pile of sturdy sticks and sat there sharpening the tips with his knife. Not that he needed a shoddy stack of weapons, but he needed to do something with his hands and whittling and thinking always went together in his mind. Or drawing, but he didn't feel much like drawing right now. When his dragon friend spoke, he didn't bother to look up. "How should I know?" he snapped back, feeling just a bit more snarky than he should.
There was a reason he hated to get involved with magic-users. Somehow it always backfired. Cain shuddered, thinking of too many occasions when he got himself into trouble with magic. This though, this really topped the cake. He supposed he deserved it for breaking his own rules about avoiding magic beings. And a dragon at that! Big flying things always freaked him out most. Something to do with heights. But he'd gone and befriended one anyway and it had been fun until someone decided that was a curse-worthy offense. Honestly the whole curse business had yet to sink in for him. He couldn't figure out just what it would mean for his life. Sighing, Cain finally turned to Araz. Now that he let himself think about it, he did have an answer for his friend's question. "Ah, when I first wandered into this area, I heard rumors about an old woman. They said all sorts of things about her. She was a shape shifter and ate children. A vampire or a demon who abandoned the devil's army to study humans. Stuff like that. It all sounded like local lore to me, but they also said she cured the humans if the right price was paid. I'm getting this awful feeling that she might be real..." he muttered before turning back to stare at the floor. He didn't even care if all he heard was rumor. He was a wanderer. He did not stay put well. |
Well there was no need to snap at him, was there? Araz snorted at the answer he'd received, not your typical human snort, but an animal snort that really didn't sound right coming from a human. As if he'd just been told off, the age old creature folded his arms firmly across his chest and looked away from his human. Ugh. Since when did he start acting like such a.. human? He'd spent too much time in human skin and needed to stretch his wings freely again.
As Cain spoke about the rumours, Araz turned his attention back to his human and listened intently to what was being said. In his time he'd met many shape shifters (and even become somewhat of one himself) but he'd never met one that liked to cast curses. "I've heard many stories in my time and yet I still cannot understand your fascination with old women eating children. Children taste horrible." Though in saying this he realised that this was perhaps not the best time to bring it up. "Rumors are not started without reason. If she is real then someone in the area must know more about her or where the story started." At some point during the time he spoke, his arms had dropped back into resting positions and a more thoughtful expression appeared. "I can think of nowhere else to start." |
Cain frowned at Araz's particular choice of words. "I have no interest in people eating children," he muttered and gave the dragon a strange look. He sounded like he lumped all humans together which he supposed he understood, but it sounded weird to hear. "Seems like you're the only one here who's tried it." He rolled his eyes decided to ignore all of that though. Most important was figuring this curse out.
"Yeah, I don't know where else to start either. I first heard the tale in the rural area past the town, so we should start there. People in those sorts are always have the best legends," he said with a chuckle. Without waiting for a proper response, Cain unfolded himself and kicked his pile of sticks aside. After making sure he had his boots laced and everything in order, he turned to grin at the dragon. The idea of going somewhere and just doing something made him giddy. "Well, shall we head off then? It'll be fun to go on a little adventure!" |
A part of Araz wanted to reply and inform Cain just what he'd thought of the taste of human, but the look he'd received just from mentioning it was enough to persuade him otherwise. If he was going to be spending more time around humans, he was going to have take more care in what he said.
A rural area past the nearby town? Though it had been a while since Araz had last stretched his wings, the dragon remembered flying over the rural area the human spoke of though he'd never stepped foot in it. "Hm." Watching the male kick his project across his floor, it would seem that the decision had been made for him as boots were soon laced and he was upright. "A fun little adventure?" Araz stood and stretched his arms out behind himself. "Seeing how excited you've become I think you should lead the way." He said, motioning to the door to his little cottage. |
Cain nodded and figured it would be for the best. He knew the way and enjoyed the 'adventure' as Araz said. Though in most circumstances, he enjoyed taking the lead because he was the only there, not because he wanted to lead. Rather he just got used to heading out when he wanted to, taking breaks when he felt tired, and not thinking about others. "Well, it might take a while to walk," he said as he walked out into the forest, shielding his eyes from the midday sun. "...and I'm not sure we'll get there before dark." Although he didn't mind traveling in the dark, he'd learned long ago that it wasn't the smartest choice. "Well, whatever. Let's just go."
With that, he headed to the Northeast where the sun didn't blind their eyes and the forest slopped slightly downhill. In all, very good for traveling. He walked at a fairly clip pace, his eye on the terrain the entire time as he took in the plants and natural trails created by animals. "Feels good to stretch eh?" |
While they were on foot Araz would let the human take the lead, the only routes he was truly familiar with on the ground were those that led through and over the mountains. "Not afraid of the dark, are you?" The male took long strides to catch up with Cain and slowed enough to stay beside him as they walked.
Stretch? There was another one of those dragon human differences. "For those of us that don't have wings. I dislike human legs." Araz looked down to his own legs as he spoke, then back to the scenery around them. "It took me weeks to adjust to owning and walking on just two of them." Though over the years he'd gotten used to them and they didn't bother him as much anymore. "You stretch your legs now and if we don't reach the village before night fall then I shall stretch my wings." |
"Afraid of the dark? No," Cain snorted. "Just cautious and practical. What's the point of taking needless risks?" Things lurked in the dark from wolves to tree roots. How stupid would it be to trip and sprain his ankle because he pushed himself to travel in the dark. Cain was nothing if not practical. He grimaced when Araz mentioned stretching wings.
"Oh no, I'm quite fine with legs. I can't understand wings and flying at all. My feet should be touching some surface at all times!" he snapped with an animate shake of his head. Heights he could do, but the feeling of being free in the air, absolutely not. He only had one experience with that when a large bird from an island far away from here tried to carry him off. Never again. It made him wonder why he befriended a dragon in the first place. "If you want to stretch your wings, please do not invite me." |
Araz opened his mouth to say something, but realized Cain was absolutely right, especially now this annoying curse loomed over them. If the human hurt himself and died, the dragon would die too and though he was not afraid of death, he didn't particularly want the method of his death to be accidental human fatality.
"There is no better feeling than spreading your wings and flying freely across the sky. You have the freedom to do anything and go anywhere. Why feel the ground beneath your feet when you can feel the wind against your scales?" The male arched a brow and looked at his travelling companion. "Though I suppose flying would result in more pointless risks for your list, wouldn't it?" He paused. "I've never had a human on my back before but I've never dropped anything mid flight , so you'd be on relatively safe wings." |
Cain doubted he and Araz would ever agree on this point. Just another case of dragon and human differences. His lip curled in distaste as just thinking about flying made him queasy. "I think it's different when you're born to fly. Of course, not all humans feel like I do about ground-hugging." For some reason, many people enjoyed the idea of being up in the air and the thrill of falling--all the things that made his heart drop right out with a stop. "Even if it's safe, it doesn't feel safe."
He shook his head again. He didn't like this conversation anymore and abruptly changed it to something else. "Do you think we'll be able to break this curse? I mean...can we live with it if we can't break the curse? I think I'm still a little baffled by it. The whole thing is sudden." Cain shoved one hand in his pocket as he walked, twirling a stick he picked up in the other. Magic never was his forte. |
"This seems to be something else we will never agree on. It is a pity though my human legs have gotten used to walking long distances over the mountains, I suppose they shall carry me on this journey too." Though he did find that walking on two legs wore them out quicker than when walking on all four, but a human walking on all fours would look a little odd, wouldn't it?
The question was one he'd given much thought since being cursed not so very long ago. "The curse will change nothing for you. You will still be able to live the life you have now, the only difference will be my constant presence." Araz sighed. "But my kind can live for hundreds of human life times with little fear of death or old age. I am old.. ancient by human years and now my life is bound to yours. If you die, I die." The male looked up to the sky as he walked. "But I know little about magic either. For all we know that witch could have tricked us but.. I'd like to find someone to look at us just to be sure." |
Cain suppressed the snappish response that came to mind and instead just muttered something about how great that was. My life doesn't change by your constant presence my ass! Cain's life was mobile, lonesome. It struck him in that moment how his travel might change. He'd go stir-fry crazy if he had to stay in one area for the rest of his life. The only reason he didn't say anything was because of what Araz said. Surely he had it worse. A sudden sense or mortality. Cain didn't even live thinking about his own, but now he'd limited Araz's life it seemed. It made him feel a little guilty even though he had no real reason to be.
He kicked a rock ahead of him with a loud sigh. "This really sucks. We didn't do anything wrong and now we're cursed! I mean, where's the upside in this? If it were a legend or a fairytale, it'd lead to eternal happiness." Not that he believed in the stories as a child. Seeing all that he had seen on his travels though, he believed a little more now. |
For the time being it was best not to dwell on the negatives and see this as a chance to learn more about humans and how they lived their lives. There was only so much he could learn by flying over the towns without causing distress so he'd had to adapt and learn to take a human form to 'blend in'. Living in the woods and guiding travellers across the mountains had provided him with a little more information, but even they found some of the things he said peculiar.
Araz chuckled at the thought of their journey being adapted into a fairytale. "It sounds like we have the makings for a fairytale. A human befriends a dragon and we end up cursed by an evil witch?" The male shook his head. "I don't think anyone would believe us if we told them the truth." |
Cain shrugged on shoulder. "I've heard weirder stories." It probably said something about his life considering he was still younger, especially standing next to an ancient dragon. He must have seemed like a baby. But unlike other humans, he'd gone out and tried to see as much as he could in his time, because you never knew when it would end, or you would suddenly not be able to walk again. A frown pulled on his lips.
"Although we've befriended each other, there's still so much we don't know about each other. I suppose if we will be walking for some time, we might as well spend it talking. Seems like we're stuck with each other a bit," he sighed. Never one to engage in a lot of conversation, he didn't know where to start. Certainly not with sharing things about himself though. "Have you ever met a witch before?" |
"You have? I'd like to hear stories from other lands too, but I dislike leaving my territory unguarded." Over the years Araz had come to learn his territory like the back of his hand and the thought of another dragon moving in and messing things up was one he'd rather not dwell on, even if he hadn't seen nor heard from another dragon in.. years now.
Talking would help the time pass quicker, especially if they were to do the journey on foot. "Is being stuck with me such a bad thing?" The male asked after hearing the sigh. "But.. I have met many witches in my time, thankfully I smelt them all coming before they could catch me off guard." His nose wrinkled as it remembered the stale smell of cat and smoke. "Have you seen any other dragons on your travels?" |
"Then maybe I will let you look through the journals I have on me some time," Cain said. They logged his experiences from the true things to the legends. Although there were a few pages dedicated to Araz and he didn't feel much like sharing those. He tilted his head at the question the dragon man asked. "It's not bad to be with you. But I would not have chosen it. I'm not used to others quite like this," he admitted with a small shrug of one shoulder. For a second, he just thought, trying to remember if there was some instance in his past that could be attributed to a dragon.
"I heard tales of dragons existing, but you are the first I've seen evidence of, let alone met. I have however met Rocs, giant bird freaks that live on the southern islands. The damn thing thought I was food and tried to carry me off!" He kicked a rock ahead of him, his voice nearly hissing with venom at the memory. |
"You've kept journals of your travels?" Araz could only imagine the things Cain might have seen on his travels but he was pleased to hear that he was the only dragon he'd met so far. "To others quite like what? Having company or sharing company with someone like me?" He supposed that either way he could understand where Cain was coming from, the dragon was much the same himself.
Giant bird freaks? Only one image crossed the dragons mind and that was of a nice, big meal. The birds in this region were pitifully small and hardly worth bothering with but now he knew there were giant ones out there? Well one day, he planned on visiting the island. "Well try to look at it from the Rocs perspective, you probably did look like food to it, especially if it's as big as you say." |
"Oh sure," Cain said, smiling at the thought of his journals. "I have four on me now, but...uh, I take them all to my hometown when I fill five notebooks. I give them to my mother to look at." He couldn't help but stumble over his words a little and his explanation ended up clipped as the smile fell off his face. It was because of her that he traveled. Because his mother could not, he would see the world for her.
He glanced over at Araz. "I suppose I'm more used to the company than I thought since I'm talking to you about this. I'm used to traveling alone. Heh, I suppose I might not have gotten attacked by giant birds if I weren't alone though," he added with a laugh. Even if it made sense from the Roc's perspective, it still pissed him off that the event happened. "I mean seriously! Why do you think I have issues with my feet being off the ground?!" |
"Does your mother enjoy reading them?" So he traveled until he filled up five journals and then returned home to allow his mother to read them? Humans had such strange habits, didn't they? He couldn't imagine how many journals he'd have filled in his lifetime if he'd have done the same. What would he have put in them anyway? Only very rarely did something new or interesting happen in his life and this curse with Cain was the most recent.
"Perhaps. Though it's just as likely that whoever you were travelling with would have ended up in the same predicament you found yourself in." Araz had difficulty understanding Cain's issues, they were human problems and he still found them going over his head. "You can't let one bad experience ruin flying for you though. If I'd have given in to my bad experiences when I was younger I wouldn't be here today." |
Cain startled a little, looking over at Araz because of the question he asked. Though it was a natural progression of the conversation, he found he talked little of it. Most people weren't interesting. "She does enjoy them. You see, she always regretted that she didn't travel when she was younger and able to. I've been going out and doing the traveling for her, sharing as much of the experience as I can." The journals and even the journeying hadn't been for him from the start, though he'd come to love the life as if it were a part of him. No, he started it for his mother alone.
He rolled his eyes at the dragon and turned his attention to the path again. Of course what Araz said made sense, but logic had nothing to do with humans half the time. Cain grumbled a few incomprehensible things under his breath before complaining much louder. "Easy for you to say! Can we stop talking about the annoying traumas of my youth?" |
((Sorry about disappearing as I did, my grandmother had an accident and we nearly lost her =( She's been confined to a wheelchair ever since and I've had to do pretty much everything around the house for her as well as keep my job, so I've had little energy to do much else. I've got a week off now though and after tomorrow's doctors appointment I'll get you a reply if you're still interested in continuing =) ))
|
Araz listened to his human companion explain about his mother and the journals he kept of his travels, humans were such sentimental creatures, he couldn't imagine doing such a thing with his own mother. "Does your mother believe all of your more.. strange encounters? Those Roc for example?" Though thinking about strange encounters had him wondering whether Cain had written about him in his journals and if he had, had he passed it on to his mother to read? "We've known each other a while now, do I feature in your journals? I mean.. the other me?"
Content with the walk so far, Araz found that talking took his mind off his legs and how much they disliked walking. "They may be annoying to you but I'm learning so much from them. I don't get to know many humans past the pleasentries." |
Cain snorted under his breath. It might seem strange to believe, but he could imagine what it was like to be his mother. Housebound due to her aging body and her eyes beginning to fail, all she had were stories and imaginings to live with. He thought she would believe anything, true or not. "Yes, she hangs onto every work of it, like it doesn't matter if it's truth or not."
He glanced over at Araz, then quickly away again. He hadn't planned to ever show his dragon friend the nearly half journal full of things about him, from before they were friends and after. "There might be a little..." he muttered after a minute. Shaking his head, he kept trying to shift the conversation away from him. "You are the only dragon I've met after all. How about we talk about your past instead?" It was surely more interesting than his own. |
| All times are GMT. The time now is 02:39 PM. |