Re: Scene F - Aristotle's Hoard

[Aurora the Dragon]

"Daddy's the best at this stuff. Also, you've come at the perfect time. I was just about to head back to the ship. It'd be a lot of help if you could escort me back. Especially since I'm still getting used to this new body," Aurora says. As if to drive home her argument, she attempts to jump up from her seat and falls forward, catching herself with her hands. "I'm okay."

[Author]

Aristotle lifts Cedric  Aurora up to the higher platform with Troy, and the ice lift takes them away, Troy helping to steady Aurora.

"Goodbye darling."

[Aurora the Dragon]

Aurora does her best to hold back tears and wipes her eyes as the lift rises. She waves. "Goodbye daddy!"

[Author]

Aurora acts a little sad and distant as the ice lift takes her, Cedric and Troy up to the surface. As the walk out into the library, Aurora steadies herself on his arm. "So," he asks, "are you sure you want to come with us?"

[Aurora the Dragon]

Aurora just kind of awkwardly holds onto Troy's arm in an attempt not to trip again. After steadying herself she looks up at him. "Your arms are really fuzzy, you know that? It's so strange. I've never felt hair like this before. Without my scales, every sensation on my skin is just so much more intense. It's so strange."

[Author]

Troy chuckles. "I've always wondered if your senses were a little muted by the scales."

[Aurora the Dragon]

"Well, only the sense of touch, I guess. I mean, I never really noticed it. That's just what life is like for me, never had a comparison. Now everything is so feel-y. It's weird. And then there's the reverse. Dragons have much better hearing and smell than humans. Everything is so dulled now. It's... it's odd. Oh, and my voice. Oh gee, my voice. It's so much higher! I mean, I had a slightly high voice before, but now it's so shrill! Do all human teens have this problem?"

[Author]

"Pretty much, yeah." He sniffs. "I do wonder what a human's sense of smell is like. I hear it's terrible."

[Aurora the Dragon]

"The worst! Everything is so dull! It's absolutely uninteresting. All the familiar scents of this library are replaced by pale shadows of what it should have smelled like."

[Author]

"Perhaps you should've gone with a feline or canine form. Kalia can recognize individuals by scent."

[Aurora the Dragon]

"That would have been interesting, but as many problems as there are with this form, I really like it! Yeah, senses are off, but I look so cool! Also, I was inspired by another adventurer when I chose this form. Besides, it's a little late to change my mind now."

[Author]

"Oh? And who would that be?"

[Aurora the Dragon]

"Marceline. She's this really awesome adventurer I met in a bar this morning."

[Author]

"In the bar, hm? So... is she one of the people coming with us?"

[Aurora the Dragon]

"Yep! I figured I could act related to her, better cover. But... she's a dhampir, and I didn't want to express those traits, so I chose to be human. She's a half-elf, so I can claim to be her half sister. This way I can look marginally like her and still have a decent cover story. Also, I just love blue hair!"

[Author]

"Hmph. A Dhampir and a Dragon. And I thought we were an odd group before," Troy muses.

[Aurora the Dragon]

"It's great! We're just a rag-tag group of traveling misfits. It's a story waiting to happen. I love stories. I grew up here in my father's hoard surrounded by books. Even though fiction is but a small portion of his collection, I spent most of my days here reading as much as I could find. I always loved the tales of adventure. It's why I'm going on an adventure now. Yes, I'm sad to be leaving. I'll miss my dad so much, but I can't just stay here forever. Every dragon has to go off and start their own hoard at some point, and what better way to start getting loot than by adventuring?"

[Author]

Troy laughs heartily. "I see, a dragon raised on adventure novels. You'll have to hear a few of the tales of our adventures - Kai tells them best of course, he's the theatric one."

[Aurora the Dragon]

"I'd love to hear your adventure stories! Oh, I'm so excited!" Aurora begins to bounce around a bit, having returned to her youthful enthusiasm. Of course, she's still not used to the human body motions, so she trips once more. "Whaohh..."

[Author]

Troy grabs Aurora before she falls. "Careful, there."

[Aurora the Dragon]

"Thanks! I swear I'll get the hang of this eventually. I suppose it doesn't help carrying my bag around with all these heavy books in it. It's not exactly designed for a human to carry around. Though, it is becoming increasingly apparent that a lot of my loss of strength is also due to not really knowing how to use human muscles effectively yet."

[Author]

"I can carry the bag for now, if you wish."

[Aurora the Dragon]

"Oh! Would you? That'd be great! Thanks," Aurora says as she hands the bag off to Troy. "So, Troy, tell me about yourself. Why do you adventure?"

[Author]

"Curiosity mostly. My parents were very devout, so I was raised in church but we did a lot of studying history and such things. It... wasn't enough for me though, reading about all those places, all the far away lands and, gods, the idea that there's more world out their our civilizations have fallen out of touch with thousands of years ago? I decided I had to see it for myself. I suppose you and I are a lot alike in that respect.

I'm not as much the classic adventuring sort, but I was also trained as a physician and I have some clerical abilities, so I make myself useful to this group - also just by being, as Kai puts it, 'The Responsible One.' Just not as much of a wild soul as the others - though by no means as uptight as my upbringing was... perhaps I would've turned out more like them if I was raised in Kai's environment."

[Aurora the Dragon]

"That's really cool. I'll have to ask Kai what his upbringing was like sometime. You seem like a rather scholarly sort. I'm surprised you haven't spent more time going over some books in here. My dad has so many."

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