"You….were worried I wouldn't think you looked good?" She asked, sounding slightly incredulous, and slightly amused. "Does it help if I tell you you make a very handsome human?" Poking his leg with one of her feet, her fingers tapped a rhythm on his bare chest. "I can imagine it would take a while to learn how to be human. Imagine me trying to be a dragon. I'd trip over those big claws all the time."
He just huffed a breath of air against her hair, poking her side gently in payback. "Maybe. And I think you'd make a beautiful dragon, however clumsy you'd be." A smile crept upon his lips as he thought about Ali learning to be a dragon, the image an amusing thought.
She squirmed slightly, a small sound mixed with laughter slipping out. Despite how much she tried to, she really couldn't hide how ticklish she was. Especially her sides. "I'd be the biggest dragon, for sure. No more being small." As though she got to decide that.
"Mmm," he hummed in thought, eyes flashing with amusement as he dragged a finger down her side, touch featherlight. "I'd prefer you to stay small. Makes you cute, but underestimated. Sometimes, the smaller the better. Makes it easier to maneuver around and hide."
She pressed a fist to her mouth to muffle her giggles, wriggling as though she was trying to get away from him, though with a lot less effort than somebody actually wanting away. "Makes it harder to reach the top shelf, too. Clothes don't fit. Does it really make me cute?"
"Stools. And clothes can be altered." He wrapped his one arm tighter around her as he did it again, a smile making its way on his lips. He knew that the had pestered her to sleep, but now he could talk to her again, and he didn't want to stop. "Yes, it does," he confirmed, pulling back and ducking his head enough to look at her face, showing her his no longer hidden smile.
More wriggling and laughter as she shook her head. "I don't have a stool. I can use you to reach the shelf now." She decided, looking up at him. Her heart fluttered lightly at his smile, her own cheeks flushed from laughter and the squirming caused by being tickled. "Hm, I might have to use that cuteness to my advantage."
He tipped his head to the side in question, a brow slightly arched in curiosity. The smile faded a small bit, though its ghost lingered over his lips. "While I don't mind reaching things for you, I'm quite interested in how you're planning on using your cuteness to your advantage." He didn't tickle her again, though he didn't let go of her, either.
She wrinkled her nose slightly, pressing her face to his chest now that she didn't have to worry about being tickled. "I'm not too sure yet. Don't people like cute things? Maybe I can get free stuff, or get out of trouble." She mused, voice muffled by his skin.
Elijah just chuckled and moved a hand up to cup the back of her head, his eyes half-lidded as he shifted slightly, curling even more around her without trapping her against his body. "Mmhmm. Good luck with that," he murmured with a small smile.
"It's much appreciated." Ali said pompously, huffing a laugh as she tucked herself against him. Settling once more, she muffled a small yawn the best she could, wrapping her arms around him. "I'll take over the world with my cuteness and good looks."
"Mm. You do that," he whispered, then glanced down at her settling against him. He pressed his lips against the top of her head again, then started to murmur in the dragon tongue, a lullaby that he happened to know. Ali wouldn't know what he was saying, but the words were soft spoken and blended together perfectly to create a harmonious and soothing melody, the sound the words made more important than the actual words themselves. Sound was what dragons cherished the most, used to communicate and to entertain. Sound was incredibly important to them.
Her eyes shut fully as the lullaby wrapped around her, drawing her thoughts to one place, as opposed to a million different places. She hadn't been sung a lullaby in years, not since before her mother had taken her own life. The song made her even more drowsy than she had been, and when paired with the comfort from Elijah's arms around her, made a dangerous combination that had her slipping off into sleep not too long after.
"Sleep well," Elijah murmured once the lullaby was over and Ali was most definitely asleep in his arms. He gently lifted his eyes and hand to brush his knuckles over her cheek, then reached back and gently undid her hair so it spilled free over her shoulders and the bed. He preferred it when her hair was free and flowing as opposed to trapped and bound, forced into a shape that didn't flatter her face.
Ali, a habitual sleep talker(and occasional sleep walker, but that didn’t matter now), murmured a response that was entirely nonsense. A small smile flickered onto her face when her hair was released from the up do, and she snuggled closer to Elijah, humming happily. Her next words weren’t quite nonsense. They were in her mother’s tongue, a more rough sounding language that carried hints of drawn out letters like that of a song. “My dragon.”
Elijah hesitated, hand retracting from Ali's face when he heard the two words. The princess had taught him some of her mother's tongue during their time together, though Elijah hadn't been able to get his tongue to form the correct sounds. He could understand it quite well, however—at least that of what he knew—and he clearly understood those two words. He didn't know what to think of it, so he just wrapped his one arm tighter around Ali and tucked her head beneath his chin once again.
((Should we skip, or…nightmare?))
((nightmare sounds interesting))
((Oh boy. Lemme try and get a computer then. Typy on mobile is gross))
((lmao))
The dream started the same as it always did. The day the knights from the palace had shown up, Ali and Elijah had gone flying, returning to the cave damp from the sudden rainshower that had started. The only time Ali was ever confident enough to use her fire was when she was with her dragon, and with that fire, it was pretty easy to dry off. Everything was fine. Happy and free, with the one creature who'd ever really gotten her.
And then the nightmare started. The knights arrived, as usual, bursting into the cave with shouts akin to battle cries that were entirely unnecessary, and Ali was grabbed before she could really say anything, no matter how hard she tried. But then it shifted. Something was wrong. They had Elijah now, had him pinned down with chains that were too strong to be anything but enchanted, and her screams went ignored–ignored as red stained the floor of the cave, the cave she had begun to call home, the blood of her beloved dragon, and she couldn't move, couldn't do anything as she was dragged away, heating up rapidly like normal-
Elijah had been drifting off when he felt the heat. He opened his eyes and looked over at Ali, her body steadily heating up as her face twisted up. Nightmare—she was having a nightmare. He barely took a moment to think before he was grabbing her wrists and rolling them over so he was hovering on top of her, using their connected skin to cool her down with his rapidly decreasing body temperature. "Ali," he said, eyes wide with worry. "Ali."
Ali, in the world of the awake, thrashed slightly. A sob ripped free from her throat, the sound strangled and half a muffled shout of 'no!'. Still dreaming, still feeling the terror as though what she was seeing was real. Elijah's voice barely reached her the first time, but the second time managed to cut through her mind, into her dream. "Ali". It took her a bit, to realize the dream was that. A dream. Another sob slipped free, followed by more as she squeezed her eyes shut tighter. "I'm-sorry. I tried-I'm so sorry."
"It's okay, you're okay," Elijah said, dipping his head down to speak against her forehead, his lips cool against her skin. He kept a hold of her wrists to keep her from thrashing too much. "It's not real, it's just a dream, Ali. I'm here. I'm right here for you." Worry laced his frozen blood, coated his bones and marrow, settled upon his tense muscles, chilled his skin. He repeated his words, but in his native tongue this time as if to solidify his presence to her. "I'm here for you."
Slowly, her body temperature lowered, back to it's normal warmth, as she sobbed. "Don't-don't go, please." Ali begged, unwilling to open her eyes. She was terrified. Terrified that if she opened her eyes, all she would see was blood, Elijah bleeding in front of her, unable to help or do anything. "Be okay. Be real. Be real." She repeated the words like a mantra, shaking.