A Vacation Among Friends

Oh the whole princess thing? I thought she was going to ask me about earlier. That might have been embarrassing. Though it's interesting that she asks about the whole princess thing. I laughed as I began to walk away from the fog, following in Artemis' footsteps, or paw prints rather. It might be fun to play with this, make up yet another grand fabrication. Or I could literally just tell her the truth...could that be that bad? Well...it is what it is, and she asked. So I need to tell her.

       "Good conversation." I replied plainly. I wonder what she'll think, or how she'll react. It's true though. "Seriously though...they are the ONLY people in the world to talk to back in the day. The pesants were all herpa-derps that made our heads hurt, and the other nobility thought that killing you made them all tough. Anyway, Princesses were defenseless and they were educated enough that it didn't give me a migraine talking to them. They were normally gifted musically, and of course Dragons naturally love music, it keeps us calm. So that's pretty much why Dragons kidnap princesses..." I explained as I smiled at her. Then I chuckled a little, like there was just a little more to the story. "Though...honestly the fact that kingdoms brought us gold to try and buy their princesses back was a plus. we get good conversation, decent music, then  got nice shiny things. Seriously, we're like a Jew with wings and superpowers...other than accounting and legal robbery." I couldn't help but laugh at that last part. It then occurred to me that I at one point had gone to kidnapping the princesses with cooking skills to cook for me. Then again that wasn't many of them, since they were royalty, the didn't need to cook for themselves.

       THERE IT WAS! The question of the hour ladies and gentlemen. Did I mean it? I honestly wanted to look at her and ask her what she thought. I stopped dead in out tracks and looked at her with a smile and arched my left eyebrow. I placed my hands in my jacket pockets and nodded slightly. I didn't want to say it, but I truly didn't have a say in it...okay I did. But it was too awesome.

       "Well what do you think? I asked. It wasn't demeaning or anything like that, I was asking like I genuinely wanted to know. I nodded and sighed. "I uh....I do. So much so that I...actually gave up a large portion of my power. I even impaled myself to make sure your friend would make it back to ya. So do I love you? Yeah...more than the next breath I take."

Salone’s lips twitched in amusement, “So for Christmas if I got you a sparkly thing you’d be happy?” She teased him faintly before letting him continue in his tale. At the end she raised her hand, “How many princesses do you kidnap?” There she went with the teasing again; Salone loved teasing Jake as long as it wasn’t on a serious matter. But it was the second question that she had asked earlier that concerned Salone. Jake didn’t seem surprised it was coming.

“What do I think?” Salone asked in a soft voice. “I think that when you told me it was the most bizarre situation and I just need to check again. I mean come on… you kissed Artemis, twice! Not to mention her strange behavior as of recent. “
Salone’s own tone of voice showed she wasn’t mad just slightly confused and amused at how everything had come out topsy turvvy. But Jake’s answer was much more than Salone had been expecting, maybe a simple yes or no. But this small speech that made her heart pound. She took a few tentative steps forward, fingers reaching up to brush the side of his face.

“Curse you for being so stinking tall,” She said softly before sliding her arms around his neck and hugging him tight. Salone buried her face into the side of his neck before sighing happily.

“I love you too,” She murmured softly. “Even if you are a stubborn dragon.”
***
Penny had been getting ready for bed when she heard some noises coming from Salone’s room. The British woman sighed and went to investigate. Wandering down the hall to the room she glanced around even checking under the bed. There she found a cowering Artemis.

“Hey,” Penny said gently, moving away to give the shape shifter space and settling down on the floor. “You wanna tell me what happened? Or if you want to stay there and whimper I’m game with that too.”

Penny rested her head against the wall, dark hair settling around her shoulders.

”Would you rather me go back to my Dragon form? Would that be short enough?" I chuckled sarcastically. She latched on and a I chuckled again. I kept her close. "Love you too.” I told her as she latched onto me. I chuckled recalling the tall remark. I finally managed to let go, and we returned back to the previous question. ?How many princesses did I kidnap?
 
       ”How many princesses DO I kidnap?” I asked, to make sure I got the question right. I kept an arm around her shoulder and smirked. ”Just one.” I said. Though I gotta admit that I’m pretty sure that she meant how many DID I kidnap. I was all prepared for the death glare for picking out that one little word she used to avoid the topic, but it’s not like I need to keep it a secret.
 
       ”Well let’s see.... I’ve captured six-hundred and forty three princesses, and three hundred and twelve Prince’s. Then there was that one that I have NO IDEA what he or she was. Honestly...no clue...anyway, I’m an equal opportunity kidnapping machine. Kidnapping princesses seemed almost sexist, so I decided to kidnap any form of nobility. I actually made out like a bandit. The kings actually paid more for the sons...because of the needing an heir and all that jazz music. Princes’ tried to escape too, Princesses normally didn’t.” I caught myself rambling on and stopped to shrug. ”The past is the past though. The only princess collection I do now and days is the Disney princess collection. Repunzel is so pretty.” I said jokingly in an unusual voice. I couldn’t keep a straight face and I started to chuckle.
 
      We made it back, and Artemis was hiding under the bed. I looked to Salone and nodded to her. Make sure we have a first aid kit handy please and thank you I thought to her through the amulet. I then proceeded to swiftly reached down with my quick reflexes and attempted to grab Artemis by the tail. If I got her I was going to pull her out from under the bed. Hopefully my face would remain intact.

Salone sat there in his arms for several moments considering her answer carefully, “Then you would be entirely too tall. Not to mention you would squish me on accident. No chance of snuggling there.”
At Jake’s teasing (at this post’s author’s grammar flaws when she is distracted) Salone made a face. “Excuse me for being human minded.” She notified him, giving him the stink eye but not seriously mad. Only amused at the fact Jake could now make fun of her for slipping up rather than when they had first met. Her jaw dropped at the numbers Jake gave her, her brow crinkling. “So you have kidnapped nine hundred fifty five people… plus the “it” that you weren’t sure about. Haha.” Salone started laughing before stopping and looking at Jake, “Disney princesses? Okay then. I’m pretty sure I have no risk of being kidnapped then.”
Then Salone dissolved into another fit of laughter before Jake took her hand and lead her back to the cabin.
**
Penny looked up when the two walked back in, Jake dropping Salone’s hand and looking at her.
Well… Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Salone responded, wincing slightly. Penny knew that the two were communicating through the Dragon Knight connection. It was rather annoying when Salone was eating dinner at home and suddenly she would zone out because she would be talking to Jake rather than Penny or whoever was at the house at the time.

Salone walked out of the room to grab the first aid kit and she got back to see the end results of Jake attempting to grab Artemis’ tail.

Penny had come into the room shortly after she arrived. But she just ignored her. Artemis was complete content cowering under Salone's bed for the rest of all eternity. She had no idea what she saw but knew she didn't like it. The bed was safe, Artemis liked the bed, it protected her from things and HOLY CRAP SOMETHING HAS MY TAIL!

As soon as her head cleared the bed frame she turned down and chomped down on what had her tail. Which in this case happened to be Jakes entire face. Blood trickled down his face from the bite marks. Artemis' eyes widened as she loosened her bite. She shifted back into a human form, now biting down lightly on Jake's nose. Jake, who was holding onto her tail was now holding onto her pants. Which where being pulled down slightly due to Artemis being twisted like a pretzel at the moment.

"Sorry." said Artemis, her voice muffled from being clammed onto his nose. Her face burnt red from being this close to Jake, she couldn't help it. It was then when Salone walked into the room and Artemis face turned bright red. Before anything could be said she darted off, running out of the house and shifting into a hawk and flying away.

(Artemis has left the topic.)

Salone froze at the scene that played before her and Penny stiffened as well.

“I am going to assume that was a complete accident.” Salone stated and Penny nodded before excusing herself. The Dragon’s Knight let out a weary laugh at the face Jake made at her.

“You look and sound like a goat,” She teased before sitting down in front of him and gently taking his face in her left hand before wiping off the blood with a damp rag.
“You Sir Yam,” Salone notified him, “Are seeing many sides of Artemis today, are you not?”

Finishing with the task of blood removal, Salone laid it on the white first aid box. When Jake had done the regeneration the bruise marks from Artemis’ teeth vanished. Salone’s eyes flicked back up to her face, her fingers had unconsciously started rubbing the medallion again. A habit she had developed when thinking. Rocking up onto her knees, she slid her arms around Jake’s neck before Salone planted a kiss on his forehead.

“You are quite a silly dragon, you know that?” She murmured before standing, “But a good sense of humor does help the situation."