Teddy's eyes widened as he stared up at Prince Ran. He tried to bolt up,
but he couldn't shake off the other boy's weight. He sighed in defeat.
Ran gazed down at the enigma trapped below him, there were so many
questions he wanted to ask, and now was the time to get the answers.
"Who are you?" Ran demanded of his prisoner. The boy shifted uncomfortably.
"My names Ken." The earth-toned kid responded, teeth chattering a bit from both nervousness and cold.
"You have some explaining to do." The taller of the two said simply, never taking his piercing gaze off of Ken.
"Your wondering about the whole dog thing, huh," Ran nodded for him to go on, "Well, you'd better get comfy," Ken said with a grimace, glancing up at the boy above him, "Cause it's a long story." Ran stayed put. Ken rolled his terracotta-tinged eyes. "Oh for petes sake! Can't you take a hint?! You're heavy and I cant breath, so GET OFF!!" he shouted annoyedly. Well, the prince had never really been spoken to like that before. Sure, his sister had yelled at him a few times, but that didn't count because she was his beloved sister, and thus had special privileges, but that never happened very often. Ran froze in shock, his curiosity to know what was going on warred with his feeling of indignity about being yelled and ordered around by anyone, a 'commoner' no less. It took a long minute, but eventually curiosity won out, but he managed to convey displeasure by letting Ken up with an angry huff. The brown haired boy sat up with a beaming smile, not reacting to the huff at all.
"Thank you, it's much easier to talk now." He said, with no trace of condencendence or sarcasm. Ran glared at him, his already icy coloured eyes adding to the effect.
"Just get on with it." He growled.
"Oh! Right!" Ken replied sheepishly as he leaned against the caves stone wall. This, was his tale.
"Before this happened, I was the apprentice of a wizard who lived in the kingdom of Weiss. His name was Persia…." Ran's eyes widened. He recognized that name from his history lessons. This wizard had been the instigator of a rather odd incident in a nearby kingdom a few hundred years back, but if Ken was talking about the same wizard….
The storyteller continued on obliviously.
"He was a powerful wizard, respected for miles around. His spells were as subtle as a butterfly's touch or as noticed as a winter's gale. I however…wasn't very good. I constantly screwed up and was always in the way. But, Persia was an all around decent guy and didn't really mind. He didn't care that the only spells I could accomplish with out blowing up the tower were a few of the basic healing spells. I liked him a lot!" a sort of sad, wistful smile appeared on the slightly tanned boy's face as he kept on talking. "Anyway, one day he was mixing up a spell to teach a lesson to an arrogant emperor who had pissed him off a few days earlier. However, being as umm….not graceful as I am, I kinda got in the way….eheh. Persia, skilled as he was, he was not able to remove the curse, but he was able to modify some of it instead. I don't turn into a horrible, hideous beast, hiding away in a cold castle, and I am able to resume my normal form at the darkest hours of the night, and I don't have the time limit for the breaking of the spell, but the way to make me completely normal again is the same." Ken concluded softly, the sadness creeping into his voice as he looked down.
Ran gazed at him curiously. "And that is?" he asked. Ken blushed.
"Umm…..True loves kiss…" he mumbled quietly. "I have been looking and traveling for a long time, as you can see, I still haven't had any luck." The prince gave his companion an appraising gaze.
"You're a lot older then you look, aren't you." He said blandly, as if this statement could be said in the same way every day. Ken nodded, "Time kinda well, froze for me." He said with a sigh. "I've been looking for so long. At first Persia helped me look, and when he eventually had to pass on, he set me up with a friend, but things kinda went from there and people eventually forgot who I was or what I was trying to do. To them I was simply a very ridculess house pet. I've been glomped, petted, smucked, kicked, tormented by girls and babies, traded around…Gah! Its sooooooooo damn frustrating!" he burst out angrily.
"Though, not that I really minded, I mean, what else could they do, its not like I could just walk up to them when they were in bed and say 'oh hi, I'm your dog, could you please tell your daughter not to tie pink ribbons on my ears?'" the brown boy continued sardonically. The prince paused for a moment, and then, quite unexpectedly burst out into laughter. Ken gazed/glared wondering at him, thinking that the boy he had known as cold and stoic had completely gone over the deep end. Ran finally managed to get hold of him self. "I'm sorry…" he said, wiping the involuntary tears from his eyes, "But the mental image from what you just said." the rest was cut off by the princes renewed snickering. Ken was frozen in righteous anger for a moment, and then, he realized, it was rather funny. He had just not even really thought of it that way before. So, after a moment had passed, he joined in on the laughter, making the cave echo with their joint joyous sounds.
"Who are you?" Ran demanded of his prisoner. The boy shifted uncomfortably.
"My names Ken." The earth-toned kid responded, teeth chattering a bit from both nervousness and cold.
"You have some explaining to do." The taller of the two said simply, never taking his piercing gaze off of Ken.
"Your wondering about the whole dog thing, huh," Ran nodded for him to go on, "Well, you'd better get comfy," Ken said with a grimace, glancing up at the boy above him, "Cause it's a long story." Ran stayed put. Ken rolled his terracotta-tinged eyes. "Oh for petes sake! Can't you take a hint?! You're heavy and I cant breath, so GET OFF!!" he shouted annoyedly. Well, the prince had never really been spoken to like that before. Sure, his sister had yelled at him a few times, but that didn't count because she was his beloved sister, and thus had special privileges, but that never happened very often. Ran froze in shock, his curiosity to know what was going on warred with his feeling of indignity about being yelled and ordered around by anyone, a 'commoner' no less. It took a long minute, but eventually curiosity won out, but he managed to convey displeasure by letting Ken up with an angry huff. The brown haired boy sat up with a beaming smile, not reacting to the huff at all.
"Thank you, it's much easier to talk now." He said, with no trace of condencendence or sarcasm. Ran glared at him, his already icy coloured eyes adding to the effect.
"Just get on with it." He growled.
"Oh! Right!" Ken replied sheepishly as he leaned against the caves stone wall. This, was his tale.
"Before this happened, I was the apprentice of a wizard who lived in the kingdom of Weiss. His name was Persia…." Ran's eyes widened. He recognized that name from his history lessons. This wizard had been the instigator of a rather odd incident in a nearby kingdom a few hundred years back, but if Ken was talking about the same wizard….
The storyteller continued on obliviously.
"He was a powerful wizard, respected for miles around. His spells were as subtle as a butterfly's touch or as noticed as a winter's gale. I however…wasn't very good. I constantly screwed up and was always in the way. But, Persia was an all around decent guy and didn't really mind. He didn't care that the only spells I could accomplish with out blowing up the tower were a few of the basic healing spells. I liked him a lot!" a sort of sad, wistful smile appeared on the slightly tanned boy's face as he kept on talking. "Anyway, one day he was mixing up a spell to teach a lesson to an arrogant emperor who had pissed him off a few days earlier. However, being as umm….not graceful as I am, I kinda got in the way….eheh. Persia, skilled as he was, he was not able to remove the curse, but he was able to modify some of it instead. I don't turn into a horrible, hideous beast, hiding away in a cold castle, and I am able to resume my normal form at the darkest hours of the night, and I don't have the time limit for the breaking of the spell, but the way to make me completely normal again is the same." Ken concluded softly, the sadness creeping into his voice as he looked down.
Ran gazed at him curiously. "And that is?" he asked. Ken blushed.
"Umm…..True loves kiss…" he mumbled quietly. "I have been looking and traveling for a long time, as you can see, I still haven't had any luck." The prince gave his companion an appraising gaze.
"You're a lot older then you look, aren't you." He said blandly, as if this statement could be said in the same way every day. Ken nodded, "Time kinda well, froze for me." He said with a sigh. "I've been looking for so long. At first Persia helped me look, and when he eventually had to pass on, he set me up with a friend, but things kinda went from there and people eventually forgot who I was or what I was trying to do. To them I was simply a very ridculess house pet. I've been glomped, petted, smucked, kicked, tormented by girls and babies, traded around…Gah! Its sooooooooo damn frustrating!" he burst out angrily.
"Though, not that I really minded, I mean, what else could they do, its not like I could just walk up to them when they were in bed and say 'oh hi, I'm your dog, could you please tell your daughter not to tie pink ribbons on my ears?'" the brown boy continued sardonically. The prince paused for a moment, and then, quite unexpectedly burst out into laughter. Ken gazed/glared wondering at him, thinking that the boy he had known as cold and stoic had completely gone over the deep end. Ran finally managed to get hold of him self. "I'm sorry…" he said, wiping the involuntary tears from his eyes, "But the mental image from what you just said." the rest was cut off by the princes renewed snickering. Ken was frozen in righteous anger for a moment, and then, he realized, it was rather funny. He had just not even really thought of it that way before. So, after a moment had passed, he joined in on the laughter, making the cave echo with their joint joyous sounds.