Artists Curse

"You can play instruments? You can cook!" She seemed far more excited about these prospects than his floating, but then she had seen that when she had strolled up.

Bandit's ears perked and he rose his head as the man began to float. He snorted.

"What instruments do you play? How good is your cooking? What can you cook? Can you bake? Do you make songs? Can you fly? How high can you float?" The questions poured from the girl as she nearly tripped over herself asking them.

Maddie counted off her questions on her fingers as she thought of them. Heck, even she didn't know if he had managed to answer all her questions.

Her eyes shifted back to him and her mouth parted in preparation to respond when she noticed the small dragon on his shoulder. It was a real mark against her that it had taken her this long, but then Maddie had never claimed to be observant or anything. Her eyes widened again.

"Cool! Can I pet him?" she asked as she pointed to the thing, her finger not far from its face.

Her eyes met Laetus and the grin on her face served to make her look younger than she already did. "Erm, I'm asking a lot of questions. Sorry about that! It's just, this place is so cool, and there're all these things I don't know about — and you can float! You actually float in public, and you have, like, a little dragon. It's all just... wow."

Maddie relaxed when she realized the drake wouldn't bite her. She ran her fingers along Zippo's head and neck.

"He feels kind of like a snake," she said absently. "You named him Zippo?"

Bandit was watching the small creature as his master petted it. He stood and rose his head to lightly sniff at it, his tail straight in caution.

Without looking at Laetus, Maddie asked, "How old are you? Are you fifteen, too? I know I don't have any classes with you."

Maddie didn't mention that she probably wouldn't have noticed him had she had a class with him. She tried hard not to stare at anyone.

Maddie didn't know whether to apologize for assuming Laetus was younger or to be amazed at the idea of an eternally youthful appearance. The conflict showed on her face; she had never been any good at hiding her emotions or thoughts.

"I wish I were twenty-one," she said under her breath, just barely loud enough for him to hear.

Realizing she was still petting Zippo, Maddie quickly pulled her hand back.

Louder, she said, "And here I thought I might be lucky enough to have a few classes with you. It would have been nice to have a friend around school."

"That's...true. Erm, the friend part! I don't drink — well, I've never tried it anyway. Alcohol smells disgusting, and I don't like headaches, so, heh."

Maddie took a deep breath to calm herself down again. "Can I borrow a pen and some paper?"

Bandit had since closed his eyes in a state of half sleep. Anytime Laetus or Zippo made any sounds or movements; Bandit would open an eye and gave them a lazy stare before he returned to his rest.