She opened her eyes at that, gold sparkling with happy excitement. “Really? Gods, I missed that so much. I didn’t really get why you loved it so much till you took me out with you.” She mused, huffing slightly to try and blow her hair out of her face.
He chuckled at that. "I still remember the look on your face when I first took you." He studied her face for a bit, then slowly pulled away so he could join her on the bed. He sat on the edge, still slightly hesitant, though he didn't shy away from her too much. He curled one leg up, letting the other dangle off the edge, and rested an arm on his knee.
“It was terrifying.” Ali said happily, hopping up from the bed. She slipped behind the dressing screen in the corner of the room to change out of the dress, still talking to him. “I’d never been that far off the ground before, obviously. It was so different and scary and I loved it.” She really had. It made sense, why he loved it so much, once she was in the air with him.
Elijah smiled, the expression hidden from Ali's view as she was behind the dressing screen. "Clearly, seeing how you asked me to take you on more flights." He finally broke down and reached behind him to grasp at the cloth on his back, wanting it off. He'd be much more comfortable without it, even if he was trying to cover more with Ali there. He pulled the tunic over his head, then balled it up and tossed it over at the pile of armor he had in the corner.
“It’s not like I could fly on my own, you know.” Ali pointed out, tossing her dress out from behind the screen and into the corner of the room. The ladies in waiting wouldn’t be happy, but they’d get over it, especially once she picked it up. Their problem was more her mistreatment of the dress itself. “So I couldn’t just-“ Her sentence cut off as she stepped out in a loose pair of trousers and a tunic, cheeks reddening as she caught sight of Elijah. It was funny, that he hated sleeping in shirts. She usually slept without pants, in an oversized tunic, but had compromised because he was here. Shaking off the quickening pace of her heart, she made her way over and climbed into the bed, on top of the blankets.
It wasn't that Elijah hated sleeping in shirts, it was that he didn't like shirts in general. His lowered body temperature made him less tolerant of anything warm, save for Ali's naturally raised body heat. He suspected it was because they balanced each other out, cooled and heated each other until their temperatures were both in a happy medium. Elijah watched her climb into the bed, then turned and adjusted himself so that he was also lying on the bed, on top of the blankets. He didn't get too close to her, as per usual, letting her make the move to come closer if she wanted to.
Ali tucked her arms close to her body, legs sprawled out as she studied Elijah's face. She stayed like that for a few moments, before huffing a breath, scooting closer to him. "Too warm." Was the first thing she muttered, followed by "You always feel nice." Snuggling even closer, her eyes drifted shut, a happy sigh slipping past her lips as she settled.
Elijah rolled his eyes, though there was a soft smile on his lips as he opened his arms and wrapped them around her, pulling her against him as he partially curled around her. He had a feeling she was going to say that, so he wasn't too fazed by her snuggling up against him. "Better?" he murmured, tucking her head beneath his chin.
"Mhm. Much." She hummed happily, the familiarity of being so close to him making her drowsy quickly. He may not have scales anymore, or be over thirty times her size and in the form of a dragon, but it was still Elijah. Her dragon, in human form, finally next to her again. "Missed you." She was a broken record, sure, but she meant it.
"I missed you, too," he whispered, tilting his head to press his lips against the top of her head. He then stared at the wall behind Ali, figuring he would give her a brief rundown of how he was human before she fell asleep. "I knew a dragon wouldn't exactly be the most inconspicuous thing, so I needed a way to get to you that wouldn't raise any alarms—figuratively and literally. I found a sorceress that was willing to give me a second body, a human body. I had to basically relearn everything with this body, and also learn how to properly switch between the two. That's what took me so long." He paused for a brief moment, then sheepishly added as he ducked his head and spoke against her hair, "I was… also afraid you wouldn't like how I look." The words were barely more than a whisper, his cheeks flushing slightly.
"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))