Arty} Just a case of girl meets boy... {Kat

Let the breeding programme commence!
Setting: a small town, moderate climate, no idea what else XD

The sun was just starting to set, and the gates were being prepared for closing when a muddy shape made its way back into the town, leaving footprints as she went. Her name was Raffietti (although everyone knew her simply as Raffi) and she was among the few dragons within that town. She had been out near the stream a little way off looking for interesting stones in the clear water, but she seemed to have brought most of the mud from the banks back on her paws.

Flicking off the odd splatter of mud, she made her way into the busier part of town, where people were just starting to light lanterns in preparation for the night time. Things got much busier after sundown, and Raffi still couldn’t decide if she liked it or not. However, the people were lovely, and she quite liked some of the little games they played in bars – she was getting quite good at some of them.

The town was quiet at the moment, but it was only minutes away from a sudden wave of activity as the sun dropped below the horizon. Rokam sat quietly at the corner of the crossroads, watching a man fill and light each lamp on the street. As he departed, leaving a warm glow in his wake, the dragon fluidly stood and stretched himself out slowly, his movements catlike. With this important job done, he began to pad along the cobblestones to his favourite pub.

The buzz of noise reached him as he turned onto the street, the door of the building swinging open as a regular made his way inside. Rokam put on a spurt of speed and managed to catch the door as it swung closed, slipping inside and making his way to the bar as he always did. A game of cards was in progress, the men watching each other's faces assessingly as they tried to figure out what sort of hand their opponents had. The club dragon watched as they finished their round, before sliding into the group.

'Evening,' he greeted them cheerfully. 'Mind if I join in?' They all moaned and rolled their eyes, knowing the dragon, but made space for him and dealt him out a hand. They knew that while he'd whisk their winnings away as he pleased, he'd also make sure that he didn't completely rob them and that some of them would go home with a deserved profit.

Wiping her muddy feet at the entrance to one of the nearest bars, Raffi made her way inside. She was still leaving muddy paw prints wherever she stepped, but she felt less guilty knowing that she had tried to get it off. However, just as she was about to make herself comfortable near one of the card games, she noticed something unusual. Across the bar was another dragon – one she didn’t think she had seen up close before (but had probably seen around town), sitting and playing cards with some of the men. She was far too interested to let it go, and detached herself from her usual group to see the game.

“Hi there, mind if I join in the next round?” she asked quietly, feeling a little nervous since she had never really talked to the others at that table. However, they didn’t seem to mind, so she sat herself down next to the table comfortably and waited for the cards to be dealt again.

As soon as she had been invited to join them, she felt much more relaxed. She was over the awkward greeting stage of conversation, and that meant she could open up a little bit. “I’m Raffietti, by the way.” She added, addressing the whole group. However, she couldn’t help wondering about the black-and-white dragon across from her. It seemed a little unusual that they had never really met, and she found her gaze lingering on him with questions in her eyes.

A general chorus of acceptance was mumured around the table as the new dragon joined, a few curious glances cast her way, but Rokam was far more interested than any of the humans. Lifebloods were far from common. He watched her with curiosity, only keeping half his attention on the game. He was distracted enough that he actually lost by mistake, which shocked him enough to distract him from the newcomer again. The men playing were delighted, and proceeded to tease the card dragon about it excessively, but Rokam brushed off the comments about his unnatural luck not lasting with laughs and jokes. The cards were soon dealt again, this time with the lifeblood included. When she introduced herself, a flurry of names followed, and he added at the end,

'And I'm Rokam. Pleased to meet you; it's not too common to see other dragons round these parts.' He gave Raffietti a curious look, inviting her to tell him something about how she had ended up here. Her own gaze seemed somewhat questioning, so he offered, 'I move around a bit, but I've been here for a few months. I spend a lot of my time in the woods nearby, though.' He turned half of his attention to the snaking paths of fate, untwining the tangled threads of possibility to see which way the cards were likely to turn.

“And the same to you, Rokam. I must admit, I’m surprised we haven’t crossed paths before – I hardy ever stray far from here.” She replied, smiling pleasantly as she surveyed her cards. She went on to acknowledge the other men in turn, but she was too interested in their response to Rokam losing the round to greet any of them properly. Was he really usually that good? He looked lost in thought now that the cards had been laid out, so she simply couldn’t tell.

Her cards were a pathetic spread that hand; and she had a feeling she wasn’t going to do well out of that game. However, she was more than used to slow starts, and preferred to gradually get used to the game anyway. She always lost some gold before gaining any, so there was no point in being bitter about it. This was all fairly normal for her, except the fact that she was not the only dragon taking part that night. Maybe it would be a refreshing, new experience – she did hope so, because the tedious day to day life around here was really starting to bore her.

Raffietti's words made Rokam nod thoughtfully.

'I did think I knew all the dragons round here, but I guess not,' he told her. 'We bumped into each other in the end, though.' He smiled back at her, before glancing thoughtfully down at his untouched cards. He didn't have a particularly good hand, and one of the other men had a pair of aces. 'I'll fold,' he decided after a few moments, lifting one paw to the table to slide the cards towards the middle. Again, the other players looked mildly surprised, but the dragon skipping a round wasn't unheard of. 'Next time,' he decided in a murmur, watching the other players as the stakes rose. Raffietti's hand was no better than his had been, but she didn't look too concerned about it. He wondered what her motivation was for playing; most dragons didn't, but after he had been shown just how effectively he could use his powers to make money, he had taken the opportunity to hunt less often and instead buy meat from the inns he played at. He could hunt for himself, but he preferred not to have to all the time.

“So we did, and I must admit, I’m glad. It’s nice to know a few dragons amongst all the bipeds around here. Not that it’s a problem.” she said quickly, so that the men around the table weren’t offended, before looking at her cards once more.

“I’m out too. Anyone want drinks? I’ll pay the first round if you like.” She smiled, turning her cards face-down on the table and sliding them back to the centre. In her first hand on a new table she would always offer to buy the drinks, just to secure some friendships there. It could be a tough game, if you caught people the wrong way, and she had no intention of falling out with anyone when she was only there to play for fun.

A couple of the men raised a hand to her offer, and asked for various drinks. She smiled feeling for the little leather pouch that was tucked away in the feathery-fur on her chest. That was where she kept her money, and she liked to know it was still safe. She counted up the drinks she was getting, and turned to Rokam. “Anything for you?” she asked with a polite smile. She was aware that most of her attention was on him, but that was mainly down to her unyielding curiosity. She had been so sure she knew the dragons in the area, but maybe she’d spent too long in the mud by the riverbank to actually look around.

Nodding in agreement, Rokam replied,

'It is. I've got plenty of human friends, but it's good to know some of your own species too.' He smiled at the humans, but none of them seemed too interested in what the dragons were saying- at least, not until Raffietti offered to buy a round of drinks. It never failed to amuse him how easily their interest could be captured with the simple offer of free alcohol or some other such thing. 'No, thanks,' he told the lifeblood at her offer. 'I might come with you though, if you don't mind?' He stood and twitched his tail from side to side before recalling that he was inside and stilling it.

'Nearly got me in the eye,' one of the men at the table grumbled, but he flashed a grin at the dragon as he spoke.

'Sorry,' Rokam replied sheepishly, before looking back towards Raffietti. 'I usually get myself a cut of meat, I prefer not to hunt too much,' he explained to her. It was just a lot easier to get it all ready for him- and while a lot of the time cooking ruined meat, it could really improve the flavour if done right.

“Of course I don’t mind – if we’re both out, we may as well leave the men to finish the round.” She smiled, before removing herself from the table and looking towards the bar. She was surprised to hear that he tended to buy meat, since she had a very low opinion on human cooking, but then again she always sampled something or other from the stalls on market days.

“I suppose it would be easier to just buy it, but I’ve never appreciated the way humans serve their meat.” She said, as politely as she could manage. She couldn’t stand cooked meat, and wasn’t sure how to phrase her disapproval. She took a few steps in the direction of the bar, and noticed that she was /still/ leaving muddy paw prints wherever she went. Apparently the river-mud didn’t want to dry as quickly as usual that night, which would probably earn her no favors from the barkeep. Even so, she couldn’t help placing her feet in certain patterns, so that she left little designs on the wooden floor – it was simply too good a game to ignore.

Making her way to the bar (and leaving a crisscrossing pattern of prints), she called to the barkeep in a friendly voice, and rested her front paws on the counter. “I’ll take five ales please – the good kind, not the watery stuff.” She said, retrieving her coin-pouch and laying it down on the counter. That done, she turned her attention back to Rokam, and smiled to him, her head bursting with questions.

Rokam followed Raffietti to the bar, watching with amusement as she placed her feet to leave patterns of mud on the floor. He placed his own paws in the places where she had trodden, trying to mirror her movements as she picked out her way around the tables.

'It's usually not as good, they make it too dry,' he admitted. 'But sometimes it's better. I don't know what they do to it to make it like that, though.' He shrugged. Human cooking involved some bizarre practices, which he couldn't see the point of.

When they reached the bar, he seated himself beside the lifeblood and watched her make her order before tagging onto the end, 'And could I have a cut of raw meat, please? Whatever you've got. I'll pay with some winnings once I've got them.' Used to the dragon, the barkeeper just nodded. Rokam found himself wondering why he had asked for the meat raw; did he not want Raffietti disapproving of him? Well, he didn't- he thought the other dragon was older than him and he always wanted new friends.

When Rokam mentioned the winnings he was sure he would gain, all of the questions Raffietti had been meaning to ask vanished, and she was left wondering why he was so sure of himself.

“Once you’ve got them? That doesn’t sound very reliable…” she said quietly to him, making sure she didn’t put off the barkeep. She had never come across a card dragon before, and had no idea what their powers were. However, the barkeep seemed all too happy to provide the meat based purely on that promise, and set off to fetch it with the drinks.

“Are you usually quite lucky with the card or something? I’ve never seen him give out anything on the promise of payment after a game before.” She said, fascinated. Rokam seemed so unusual after all the quieter dragons she knew in town, and she couldn’t quite work him out.

If dragons could blush, then now would be the time. Rokam shuffled his feet sheepishly as Raffietti asked him the questions. No doubt she now thought him a cocky youngster. And once he explained, she'd think him a cheater. Still, telling the truth seemed the best option.

'I have strong magic,' he explained to her. 'I can... um, I can see into the future. And... I can change fate. Sometimes.' He looked uncomfortably at the floor. 'I'm not as good as Jaden yet. He's the spade, he's a lot older than me. He says I'll get better with practice and that I don't concentrate enough. There can only ever be four cards... Jaden thinks there's a diamond too, but we don't know yet.' Realising that he was babbling, Rokam swished his tail and added, 'I only ever keep enough of my winnings to pay for whatever I've bought that day. I don't want to take all their money, I don't need it.' He glanced hopefully at Raffietti, wondering what she'd make of him now. Of course she wouldn't play cards against him, but maybe she'd still talk to him.

For a moment Raffietti wasn’t sure what to make of that. Anyone serious about making money from the cads would probably have taken a dislike to Rokam for that, but Raffi couldn’t quite decide. He clearly wasn’t using his powers to exploit anyone, and she was still only playing for the fun of it.

“That’s… really cool.” She said after a long pause, “I’ve never heard of powers like that. You’ll have to tell me more about it some time – my powers are nowhere near that interesting.” She smiled. It would have been easy for her to presume that he was just a young cheat, but he seemed like a genuine dragon, and she saw no reason to hold that against him.

As she said that, the barkeep returned with the drinks and meat. He placed it on the counter and took the money for the drinks from the pouch Raffietti had left on the counter. She watched him carefully to make sure he didn’t take any extra coins, before slipping her neck back through the loop of the pouch to slide it over her head. “Can you give me a hand with the tray, Rokam?” she asked, turning her head back to the younger dragon with her head on one side.

Raffietti's words surprised Rokam, to say the least. He looked at her incredulously.
'Really? You don't think I'm a cheat?' he blurted, immediately regretting the words. He dropped his head, shuffling his paws uncomfortably. Oh, this was awkward. He really needed to work on his social skills. 'Um... Well, I can tell you about my powers whenever you want. I... That is, if I... Well.' He looked back up at her, took a breath and then tried again. 'I bet yours are interesting. What are you, a lifeblood? What can you do? I've always wondered... It's the sort of breed name which comes from magic.'

He seized thankfully on the excuse to have something to do.
'Oh, of course! Here, um...' He clamped his jaws firmly around one end of the tray, unable to think of a better way to carry it.

“Of course I don’t – you clearly don’t take much advantage of it, or else the men wouldn’t agree to play against you, would they? And anyway, I’m not interested in the money – it just keeps me busy, and is a little bit more respectable than playing in the river.” She smiled, indicating her muddy paws with a nervous smile. She listened to the rest of Rokam’s awkward worrying, and then added, “That would be nice – I’d love to know more. Here, we can talk later – it looks like they’re ready to deal a new hand over there.” She then mirrored Rokam and clamped the tray in her jaws to carry it back to the table, smiling inwardly. He was a funny young dragon, but seemed charming in his own way, and she thought his awkward reaction was adorable. At any rate, she could tell he wasn’t a bad dragon – she could spot bad dragons a mile off – which was a good enough excuse to stick around for a bit longer and get to know him.

With Raffietti's reassurances, Rokam gave an inward sigh of relief.
'Playing in the river's good too,' he offered. 'It's probably more respectable than cheating.' What an idiot he was! Did he want her to think badly of him? Definitely a good thing that he was picking up the tray. With the two dragons walking side by side and carrying the tray inbetween them, they were too wide to fit inbetween the cramped tables, and so he pivoted carefully before beginning to walk backwards, watching the many possibilites of his accidents carefully to avoid crashing into anything. He put the tray down thankfully when they arrived back at the table, waiting until everyone else had taken their drinks to take the large plate bearing his meat, which he took back to his place.
'I'm in,' he told them quickly, before turning down to his meat. He pinned it down with one paw, claws puncturing the lump of meat and releasing its juices as he tore at it with his catlike teeth. Hopefully Raffietti wouldn't disapprove of his eating methods- surely all dragons ate like this? He knew that all the humans were used to it by now. The barkeeper had even started giving him a towel to clean his front paws on with his meat. Wanting to pay back the tavern quickly, he kept a careful eye on the cards as they were shuffled, influencing them to fall in an order beneficial to him.

Once they had reached the table again, Raffi handed out the drinks as best she could, before placing her own mug on the ground between her feet, to lap at the froth on the top. She nodded to the dealer to say she was back in, and after taking a gulp from her drink, she sat up to watch the game. She smiled a little as Rokam started to chew away at his meat, releasing the smell of the blood inside it. She was just about to look at her cards when an idea came to her, making her long, feather-tipped tail twitch playfully. She looked at the pool of red stuff pooling around the raw steak and focused. She hadn’t actually used her powers properly for a few weeks, but she hadn’t lost the touch. The pool began to wobble, and then slowly rose into a vertical spike. She smiled playfully, turning her eyes to the cards while she built the blood-tower up higher and higher.

As she surveyed her cards, she told the blood to move. It obeyed instantly, and started to sway from side to side. None of the men seemed to have noticed yet, but she could change that. With a twitch of her tail, she shaped the column into the shape of a star, connected to the original pool by no more than a red thread. That would do, she decided, before turning her attention back to the game, leaving the star standing there as she waited for someone to notice. She felt so childish, but she couldn’t help herself.

Chewing on a particularly tough mouthful of meat, Rokam watched the players' faces as they surveyed their cards, checking what his own were as they were dealt. He let a flicker of dismay flash across his face before rearranging it into a flat and neutral expression. Stealing glances at his opponents, he saw them looking at him with satisfaction. He allowed himself a small mental cheer as he bent back down to his plate to take another bite of his meat- only to see the blood which had drained from it mounting itself up into a pillar. He watched in bemusement as the pillar performed some sort of snake dance before spreading itself into a delicate star. A few of the other men noticed his state and followed his gaze to the plate, causing a murmur of confusion around the table.
'What's happening?' one of the players asked warily.
'I... I don't know,' replied Rokam, momentarily forgetting the game. 'It's no magic I've seen before, but magic's what it is.' A sudden thought struck him, and he jerked his head up to gaze at Raffietti. A lifeblood dragon... Surely, the name and this strange occurance could be no coincidence?

Raffietti stayed quiet for a moment, surveying her hand, after the first man asked what was going on, before playfully changing the star into the shape of a question mark. Her cards looked a little better this time, but she couldn’t focus on them. She was trying too hard not to laugh at her own bit of mischief.

“Hey, look, it changed again!” one of the men exclaimed, and that was enough to send Raffietti over the edge. She burst out giggling, and let the blood fall back into the pool around the steak, soaking back into the meat until it was just perfect again. She giggled for a moment longer, snuffling a little as she tried to stop herself, before looking up a little sheepishly. The men didn’t look entirely amused, and she thought that maybe that hadn’t been the best game to play during a card game. “Sorry, I just.. I mean… sorry.” She muttered, ducking her head behind her cards in embarrassment. Well, at least that filled her explanation of her powers to Rokam, didn’t it?

The next change did nothing but further baffle Rokam. He stared at the question mark, wondering if a similar one was floating above his head due to the confusion he felt, and glanced up at Raffietti. However, she was now looking at her cards and her face seemed tight and tense.

At least, it did until the man spoke. The card dragon remained confused for a few seconds as the lifeblood erupted into laughter, before he managed to get his thoughts in order and confirmed his suspicions. A slightly embarrassed grin spread over his face and he, too, laughed, before regarding Raffietti curiously as she hid behind her cards, apologising.
'Sorry for what? It was just a joke, did no harm.' He glanced around at the rest of the players, whose attention was returning to their cards. 'I'm raising,' he informed them, trying to get the game rolling again. Sure enough, everybody else began to make their bets, and he settled back into the familiar awareness of how the game was going.

“I know, but it was silly and childish of me.” Raffietti said, in an attempt to sound serious. However she couldn’t quite keep the amused smile off her face. As Rokam reminded the men of the card game, she too turned back to the cards, focusing for real this time instead of using the cards as a cover-up for her little prank.

“I’ll call, then.” She said, matching the current bet. She wasn’t sure enough of her cards to risk making any larger bet than that – not at that stage in the night anyway, After a few more rounds of drinks maybe, but not then.

As the order of bets continued around the table, she took another gulp from her drink, lapping at it first like a cat, before taking a bigger gulp. Sometimes she thought it would be convenient to have hands like a human, but she didn’t really mind much. Her healing didn’t require it, and her games certainly didn’t, which left her with nothing to complain about.

She then settled down, watching the men’s faces for any little signs as to how their game was going. Every one of them had some little sign that they had failed to conceal – a cocky eyebrow raised ever-so-slightly, or a sudden wince that they couldn’t quite control. Rokam was the only one she couldn’t see anything from – clearly he had more practise at keeping a steady face than the others. That or the fact that he knew to some extent where the cards were meant he didn’t need to worry, she wasn’t sure.

'I don't know, seems like the sort of thing I might do. Er, that is, if I had those powers.' Rokam shrugged, before looking down at the meat and tearing off a chunk, obviously somewhat embarrassed by his awkward words. He chewed on it thoughtfully as everyone contributed their bets, his eyes scanning round and taking in all the flickers of the people's faces just as Raffietti did. She herself seemed more controlled than most of the humans; perhaps dragons had less leaky facial control.

When the next round of betting came up, Rokam raised again, causing a round of groans and several folds. The dragon, however, gave no hint as to his thoughts on his face- not that it mattered. They all knew that he was on a winner here. Nonetheless, a few players good-naturedly matched his bet, knowing that he'd make sure they got a fair cut back later on in the gaming. The betting soon rolled back around to Raffietti, and the card dragon watched with interest to see what she would do.

“Really? Most people think I should stick to healing, really.” She said, genuinely surprised by Rokam’s slightly awkward words. It was nice to find someone else with the same mischievous streak as her – she was so used to being expected to grow up that it was like a breath of fresh air. Smiling at him briefly, she went back to studying the game, tracing the patterns on the backs of the cards with her eyes.

Raffi watched the betting carefully, and smiled a little as everyone groaned at Rokam’s bet. However, it was early in the night, and as long as someone else bought the next round of drinks she was going to see this hand to the end – she had a king in there, and that was worth keeping, even if she was unlikely to beat Rokam. “I’ll call again then.” She said, matching his bet, before ducking down to take another gulp from her drink. She had no taste for human food, but their drinks were magical. She was deeply impressed, even if they didn’t understand nearly as much as they should about the world.

Raffietti didn't seem too confident about her powers. Rokam wondered if it was any particular event which had given her her attitude towards the blood magic, or if it was humans' general opinion towards it. They probably thought it was evil or something; they tended to have that opinion about blood.
'Well, I think that if you've got the powers and you don't use them for harm, then why not use them?' He shrugged, returned her smile, and then returned his attention to the game. Raffietti seemed determined to keep playing- most of the possibilities for the future showed her carrying on until the end. He tilted his head and examined her curiously, wondering what her motives were- but then, she did have a king. Perhaps she'd underestimated his powers? He briefly considered letting her win, but dismissed the idea- he needed to pay back the barman, after all.

“I suppose.” Raffi said absently, too taken in by the game. There was less than one full round of bets to go. This was her favourite bit of the game – the uncertainty; the excitement. Something in the back of her head was telling her that Rokam knew more about what was going on than she did, and that a wise dragon would just fold, cutting their losses, but that wasn’t her style. She almost felt sorry for him – she would hate knowing what was likely to happen, since in her eyes that was the only good bit of the game. Well, that and the occasional fancy bit of shuffling that the men managed to do – those were worth watching.

She quickly checked her thoughts, and straightened up a little trying to look more like an adult. She was supposed to be grown up, and there she was thinking like a hatchling about a bit of fancy shuffling. It struck her that this had never bothered her before – maybe it was the fact that she was on a new table, with people she didn’t know. Or maybe she wanted to look her age in front of Rokam. She couldn’t understand why, but for some reason she didn’t want to look foolish in front of him. She turned back to her cards, holding the straightest face she could, while she turned the idea over in her head.