(Ack, I'm really sorry, I had theater camp and then just blanked on this one lmao)
Gemini raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Why - why would I lie about that? You think I want to be fighting you? No. Not in the least. Literally no part of me wants to fight you. I. Don't. Want. To. Be. Drowned," she explained, pronouncing each of her words carefully.
(Np)
"No one wants to fight me. If I weren't here, people would come and take the gold freely. But they u do not, because my father told me to guard it, and so I do. That's my charge, that's my purpose, and that's that." He said simply, turning his head away. Honestly, he still didn't know why he needed to guard the gold. But, he did follow orders diligently.
"Fine then," Gemini said, plopping herself on the ground. "I can't leave until I have gold, so I'm just going to sit here until you get sick of me. I'd honestly rather be torched than drowned. Water sucks," she said thoughtfully, crossing her arms.
"Alright. I suppose we'll see how long it takes you and your little horse to starve. Humans and their pets, honestly…" Kono scoffed, flicking his tail in irritation again. His wings twitched a bit as well.
"Ok, that'll take like a week. And I'll be muttering. Loudly. Are you sure you wouldn't just prefer to, like, stab me? That'd be a lot easier," she offered.
"No. I'd rather not give you that satisfaction of having won. I don't need to listen to humans. Humans are… corrupt. Vile, lustful little things, aren't they?" Kono said quietly, his words reminding himself of the few lessons taught to him by his father.
Gemini wrinkled her nose. "You haven't met many decent humans, have you? My entire town wants to kill me, but even I know humans don't suck THAT much."
"I think you're forgetting that the only humans I encounter want only my treasure. Many have tried to kill me while I'm only protecting what belongs to me. I don't often even try to kill humans… Why am I telling you this? You don't care. You'll probably just die or leave like the rest of them…" Kono sighed quietly, fidgeting with a gold coin.
"Well, I mean, yes, I'm going to die. Eventually. Or within the week. It depends. It's not my fault I need this treasure. I can't exactly go run off into the woods and live off of poisonous berries, now can I?" She responded, tipping her head.
"If you also had the antidote, you could. It wouldn't be pleasant, but technically possible. Poison berries aren't enough to kill me, though…" Kono let the coin fall to the ground, watching as it settled among the others.
"Yeah, well, you're a DRAGON, so I would hope not. That would be lame," she rolled her eyes and blew a piece of hair out of her face. "This is so boring. I'm supposed to be a warrior, but apparently I don't know how to fight, so… ugh."
"You're bored already? Kid, I've been sitting here, guarding this treasure alone for fifteen years. Humans only occasionally come to try and take things. It gets dull." Kono flicked his tail again, flexing his wings.
"I'M NOT A KI - you know what, nevermind. Maybe it's because you're so fucking terrifying. Maybe you should focus on more than a mountain of gold coins which you don't even use for anything," she suggested flatly.
Kono shrugged. "My father told me to guard it before he left. So, I guard it. I have no other purpose." He supported his head in one hand, his horns shrinking slightly.
Gemini narrowed her eyes. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Your parents don't give you a purpose. You give yourself a purpose. I know that sounds ironic coming from someone who is literally on a mission from her parents, but hey, I could always go become homeless if I wanted to."
"If I left, I would have nothing to do. I would be killed immediately if I went to any village. All the treasure would be taken too, and I'm not allowed to let the treasure be taken." Kono's horns shrank a bit again. They seemed to do this when he became more emotionally open and less worried about simply destroying anyone who came inside this cave.
"Well, that's… probably not true. How would they even be able to tell you were a dragon? You have a human form-thing, right?" She asked.
"I can't stay in human form forever. I would quite literally go insane. The dragon part of me would still be raging on inside my human body. I could only tolerate that for so long before needing to at least half shift." His horns shrunk slightly again.
"That… sucks," she told him, examining her nails. "Well, you could still do other things. You could visit villages?"
Kono shrugged. "I'm… not very likable. Or good at interacting with humans in their 'socially acceptable' way. I'll always just be an outcast. I've… I've accepted that fact."
Gemini shrugged. "Okay, then, I guess. Welcome to the club."
"Club?" Kono glanced over at Gemini, confused. Strangely enough, his golden eyes held far less aggression than they had before. It had been replaced by curiosity and simple caution.
"You know… the social outcast club?" Gemini said, gesturing with her hands.
"What is a 'club'?" Kono cocked his head slightly to the side, his tail swishing to the other side of his body.
"Um… oh, Jesus, how do I explain this? It's like a… gathering? Of people who are similar? Or share similar interests? I - I think that's right?" She said uncertainly, hugging her knees to herself.