Kurt lounged around in a tree, watching the princess eating at a small table, chatting with her mother. He would never have been able to picture the princess chatting before, and especially not with her mother. But there they were, going on about a new fashion, an up-coming ball, how the new chef made the most exquisite puff pastry dishes. Not being able to join in the conversation, or go far away enough from Amanda to play in the trees proper, he attempted to read a book, all the time becoming increasingly aware of how bored he was. Looking around to see what was in range, he stood up on the thick branch of the tree, closed his book and teleported.
: BAMF:
:POOF:
Sure enough, he materialized next to Amanda, gaining a squawk from the Queen and a slap from herself. Rubbing his smarting head, he shrugged.
"It was the quickest way to get here, mein Dame. Can I go in the stables? I won't spook the horses," he added. Lady Amanda frowned at him a moment.
"Doing that will give your face lines, mistress. You quicker you say yay or nay, the quicker I'm gone."
"Do as you wish, I'm conversing with Mother."
"Danke schon, mein Dame. Your Majesty," he bowed towards the queen, and then ran off to the stables, subsequently cantering on all fours as he decided that would be quicker.
"He never seems demonic to me, until I look at him. Then the fact's staring me in the face." Remarked the Queen. Amanda snorted, earning a Look from the elegant lady opposite her.
"He thinks he's human. That Mystique the Blue Seer is his mother, and that is the reason for his appearance."
"No, not Mystique. Mystique is only her temporary name, when she's Seering, her real name is Raven Darkholme."
"I know that; she's married to Duke VonWagner in Germania. Actually, the Forest Demon said he was named Kurt Wagner, but he might have been lying. I call him the Nightcrawler in public; Kurt's not nearly impressive. Almost as bad as Chad." Amanda pinched her arm. She was beginning to believe him, and that would never do. Demon lied all the time, and she wouldn't fall for his. The Queen saw the doubt in her daughter and sought to reassure her.
"Wagner is an incredibly common name in Germania, I know for a fact that there was once a town with three completely unrelated Wagners in it at the same time. Also, the Duke and Duchess only had one child, and that was Marie."
"She got the nickname 'Rogue' from somewhere, can you imagine? I would of thought that nobles weren't given nicknames."
"You have much to learn, daughter." Smiled the queen, twitching a stray lock of her daughter's hair back in place.
Kurt entered the stables, and immediately spied out a chestnut mare, heading over to stroke her. The sweet little horse whiffled at his shoulder when she got used to his unusual scent. The wicked stallion of the day Kurt was captured voiced a warning neigh, so the blue demon went to him and smoothed his mane, nimbly avoiding a bite.
But when Kurt heard a muttering stablehand approach, he shrank back in the shadows of the stallions stall, petting it all the while so that he wasn't kicked. The Forest Demon had heightened senses, and even without them he'd have been able to the man was drunk by the stink rolling off him in waves. A blue furry demon with a tail would not be welcomed by any inebriated person; and Kurt didn't want to be hurt.
Nevertheless, when the elf understood the words coming from the man he stepped out of hiding. He was unseen by the man spilling brandy all over a bale of hay, and so the man continued drizzling the highly flammable substance over all that he could reach.
Before Kurt could interfere, the staggering drunkard began striking up a match to set light to the stables.
"Sack me jus' fer lettin' an 'oss run away, would'ey? I'll show t' stinkin' princess whadda peasant c'n do. Bl'dy 'oss came back inan hour enyways.." slurred the red-faced man, finally managing to light the match.
Kurt, meanwhile, had been setting the horses free, resorting to slapping the last pony across the rump when it was too scared to move. Finally they were all out, and Kurt began leaping about the hayloft, shutting doors and windows 'til the building was pitch black. He knew how fires worked from growing up in Heiralgart, a place with only three stone dwellings. He shut everything up so that no air could feed the flames when they caught hold, and returned to the ex-stablehand. He had at last got the match in contact with the hay, and was suddenly screaming in terror as the fire surrounded him.
"Verdammt hurensohn, ignorant fool, I'd leave you there to teach you a lesson if it wouldn't make me the demon everyone thinks I am!" Yelled the angry, blue furred boy, hands clenched, tail lashing. With a leap worthy of such an acrobat, he cleared the flames and landed next to the fast sobering up man. He only saw a demon and the fire, convincing himself he'd died. The dark blue monster approached him with a fearsome look on its face; grabbing his arm, they abruptly disappeared.
A small glimpse of a place created with barren rock and blazing inferno, riddled with flaming dinosaurs and lizards.
Sunlight hurt his bloodshot eyes when he opened them on the Royal Gardens. The stable was on fire, but all the horses were out and roaming the lawns. The demon still held his arm, and could now be seen to be the princess's pet, The Nightcrawler. Then their highness's Amanda and her mother came into his vision. With the perfect scapegoat right next to him, the guilty party began to babble.
"I comes inna stables, majesties, and there's this demon a settin' fire to all the hay an' was gonna burn alla horses, an' me; but I started a hollerin' an' 'e stopped an I said, you won't be doing that, an' I let out the horses an' sez to 'im you'll get tortured by 'er majesty Amanda for this, an' 'e gots all scared an' grabs me an' does that instant movin' thing, an' 'ere I am. I saved all 'e 'osses." He added, for good measure.
Amanda turned to look at the Forest Demon, who just said, "he was drunk, because he'd been sacked, and was waving brandy and matches around. I let out the horses, and shut the windows and doors and grabbed him and 'ported."
"Yore jus' a freak that c'n speak a bit, I shut the winners an' doors, you evil lyin' demon."
Amanda thought as to how she should punish the both of them; she hadn't had a torture session in a year, whilst the queen came up with a solution to their problem. Turning first to the man, she asked him why he had closed all the doors and shutters in the stables. He gaped at her, meeting her eyes with the cheek of the drunk.
"I..Er, well, it's 'cos o'..Umm.." The sovereign turned to Kurt.
"Nightcrawler, can you elaborate on why you shut all the exits?"
He blinked, carefully avoiding her eyes as was proper with those of lower rank, and answered.
"In Heiralgart, my home, most of the buildings are wooden. If there is a fire in a house, if possible you have to close all windows and doors so that air doesn't get in to feed the flames."
The Queen turned towards her daughter. "Can you tell me now who you believe was lying?" Amanda sneered.
"It's blatantly the filthy drunk peasant, mother, demon though he may be, Nightcrawler does tend to have a lot of morals. Probably the ones that taught him to speak hammered them into him."
"Don't insult mein familien bitte, mein Dame," murmured the slightly singed Kurt.
"Send the peasant to the dungeons, you and you escort him there. Nightcrawler, you will stay by me from now on. We will adjourn to my chambers." Amanda clipped Kurt back to the leash, and began to walk to the castle. The Forest Demon stalled, swaying on his oddly shaped feet.
"Es ist too far mistress, can I teleport us there? I don't want to walk another step." Amanda returned to where he stood, inwardly grateful she wouldn't have to walk. Kurt gingerly wrapped his arms about her, careful not to get dirt on her expensive dress; and 'ported.
:BAMF: A flash of fire and a smell of brimstone. :POOF:
They were in her room. Kurt released her with a groan, and bolted for the bathroom. Amanda sat in a luxuriously comfy armchair, dizzy from the 'port.
Quarter of an hour later, Kurt emerged wrapped in a towel, while Amanda stepped outside to give him some privacy, he dried and dressed. When she re-entered her chambers, he was draped over her bed, eating a banana from a fruitbowl. He watched her settle back in the chair with irritation written over his face.
"Why is it," he asked, "that when I save all the mounts in your stable, who have such high breeding value, and save a man, and manage to lessen the extent of damage the fire would have had; you still put me on a lead, like some verdammt pet animal!"
"You are some verdammt pet, Kurt, even if you do manage to ignore it usually from the amount of leniency I give you!" She explained, tartly. Suddenly seeing the faces of her waiting ladies and guards openly staring at her, she heatedly dismissed them all, ordering them to help with the stables. She and the demon were left alone, in peace. The afore mentioned demon was grinning happily.
"You called me Kurt," he murmured with glee, "and you didn't call me an animal. Are you changing your mind about me?"
"No" she snapped, continuing, "You are neither human or animal. You don't fit in anywhere. I have no definition for you except demon." She was really getting soft, as the look of abject misery on his face made her add, "or elf."
Suddenly, he was the joyful trickster she'd come to know again. Climbing to sit in the fabric that crowned her four-poster he watched her take the rare moment of freedom from flapping servants to brush her hair personally, being far more adept at it than the peasant who dressed it every morning. That was when the itching started. He idly scratched one on his calf, before another prickle started on his neck. Soothing that one with his tail, he clawed at a particularly nasty itch on her stomach. The sound made Lady Amanda glance up at him.
"If you caught fleas from the tables you are not staying in this room another second."
"Gott, nien. I take a lot of care that I don't. Es ist mein fur. It won't lie flat. It itches. Sehr tickly. And annoying."
"Yes, you are," muttered the princess as she left to the room that held her wardrobe and more valuable possessions. She came back with two silver backed currycombs. A soft brush, with flexible bristles, and a hard brush, which was much less yielding.
"You keep horse-brushes in your rooms? Are you obsessed with riding?" Amanda pointed to the bed. Kurt came down and perched on the edge of it.
"No, these are the highest quality possible, very valuable to a committed horse rider, and in my room from when I was learning to groom horses."
"Why were you learning to groom horses?" asked Kurt as the young royal picked up the hard brush and his arm.
"I was bored.." she explained vaguely, examining how the grain of his short, fine fur went.
"I could do the brushing myself." Offered Kurt, feeling awkward as she began to run the brush through his fur.
"I have nothing else to do, and you're my pet. Also, your fur is lovely." She said, in an offhand manner, stroking it a bit. Kurt sat stock still, blushing slightly. The itching stopped as she groomed him, and the Forest Demon sighed with the comfort as the hard brush smoothed his lush fur. He lay on the bed, so that she could reach his back. He would do the rest himself later. A low rumbling reached their ears when Amanda did his face with the soft brush, growing louder when she started on his sensitive tail. She stopped as she realized.
"That's you isn't it? Purring? You sound like a cat that's caught a rat, going on like that. Purring. Who'd have thought it..Hey!" She looked at her wrist. The Nightcrawlers tail had entwined around her wrist when she'd stopped, Kurt barely noticing due to being half asleep. The young royal humphed a bit, and decided to graciously forgive him, as it obviously wasn't on purpose. She continued pulling the brush along his tail, even when he fell asleep.
And that was how her entourage found her, to their astonishment; stroking the sleeping, purring demon with a silver brush, and a soft smile.