First Time in Forever

As much as Ahstonik was enjoying the horror that was most likely going on in the archdukes mind at the moment, he too was in for a major culture shock, which while he was simply a body guard, seemed to be hitting him harder than the archduke himself. Rather, it was the smell of the cafeteria that was hitting the dragon and he found himself holding his nose and sticking his tongue out in disgust as he followed behind the other. Really, it wasn’t that bad but compared to what he was used to as well as with his heightened senses it was absolutely rancid to him and made his stomach churn.

“…Think I’m gonna barf.” He complained as they made their way further into the room, those red on black eyes of his roaming about their surroundings. Unlike the stench of the food, the room itself seemed to old some type of interest to the dragon…particularly the silverware which didn’t appear to be silver at all. His steps slowed as he lagged behind the archduke until he was stopping completely and hadn’t realized the other had gone ahead of him. Eyes narrowing down on a nearby…what was that anyway? He made his way up to the table where it was sitting unattended before snatching it up like a little thief and scampering a little ways away from the table to inspect it.

Once a safe distance away from the table, and now with a few questioning eyes on him, he began turning the object about in his hands. It was odd… some type of eating utensils from what he could tell just by looking around but they didn't look like any eating until he's seen and with some type of really small, really thin napkin, which was wrapped in plastic. He took good whiff of it as though that would tell him more about it and then moved to pulling at the plastic in order to get the utensils out. That proved to be a failure which soon had him frustrated and practically wrestling with the damn thing until he decided to bite down on the plastic and it easily tore against his teeth. As it tore open however, one of the utensils inside was sent flying upward at an angle…an angle to where it would come down to land directly on the young archduke’s head.

Without thinking, the dragon scrambled after the utensil (more so because he wasn’t done investigating it and not because it would hit Aloy’s in the head….no that would be funny but he wasn’t done with it damn it!). In order to catch the utensil, he wound up tackling the young archduke to the ground and landing on top of him. He did catch the utensil though and held it triumphantly in his hand and he pushed himself into a sitting position instead of leaning over the archdukes head with his arm outstretched as he had to reach the utensil. It didn’t seem to dawn on him for a moment until he glanced down at the archduke’s face and his lips twisted into something of an amused but incredibly goofy smile.

“You make a soft landing cushion.” He told the other boy, disregarding the fact that even if he had gone after the utensil solely to keep it from hitting the archduke he was supposed to be protecting, he did a lot more damage himself that the piece of plastic would have done.

Ahstonik’s amusement over the situation faltered as the young archduke he was sitting on gave him a rather creepily sweet smile and his voice dropped a tone. Nothing good ever came out of a look and a tone like that. Ahstonik’s own expression changed as his smile became a bit more sheepish than the goofy grin he wore previously and he raised his hands in a way that almost said ‘I’m innocent’. Before he could explain or lie rather that he had just saved the young archduke’s life and demand that he should be grateful for it, he was suddenly being shoved off and to the side.

He mumbled something incoherently under his breath, seemingly ignoring the other’s complaints about his clothing being ruined. Instead he went right back to inspecting the object he so gallantly tackled his young master to save. Though his curiosity over the odd, cheaply made plastic utensil was easily solved by getting a closer look at it out of its frustrating packaging, he found himself incredibly disappointed in it. Silverware, from his knowledge was silver and this wasn’t even a metal of any kind…he couldn’t keept this! He promptly tossed the utensil to the side and that’s when he noticed his young master’s begging to be helped up. He scoffed in spite of him and turned his back toward him while crossing his arms over his chest.

“For one...I’m not standing yet…dummy.” He retaliated, using the archduke’s insult against him, his tail twitching with annoyance behind him. “And for two…NO!” He declined rather harshly and childishly as he finally took the initiative to pull himself up off the ground. Then, he turned to face the boy on the floor, something of a cheeky but playful smirk on his face.

“You’re living with commoners now, princess...time to act like one.” He sneered, that grin of his only widened as he stared down at the other, somehow taking pride over being able to look down upon him as he was fairly short compared to his young master and was usually looking up at him instead. “And guess what?! Commoners get to pick themselves up off the ground! How exhilarating!” He claimed, mocking the archduke with his own words as though it seemed he wasn’t paying any attention to what he was saying earlier, he had heard it.

Bedivere Fontaine

The library at Starlight Academy was to die for. Which was why at this point, Bedivere was willing to commit culinary suicide in order to spend the whole day researching exotic recipes, some from civilizations that either didn't exist anymore or didn't exist on the planet. It was just more convenient for him to eat at the cafeteria, rather than going through all the trouble of preparing food that would be slightly less delectable by the time lunch came around. Or, at least, that was how he was going to justify his hate based fixation on Starlight Academy's meal plan. Really, after spending a few months not eating there, it was getting pretty easy to forget why exactly he hated it in the first place and he felt a little like he needed the reminder for whatever reason.

It wasn't that the food at the Academy was that bad, actually. It was just strikingly inconsistent. Run out of smoked salmon? Fine, time to put out the hamburgers! Don't have anymore pizza? Just put out dumplings instead! It made absolutely no sense but that was just how the lunch rush seemed to get by. Dinner, too. What really got Bedivere, though, was the quality of the desserts. People would think that if the other courses were good, then surely the desserts would be good, too, right?

WRONG WRONG WRONG.

Dessert was a sacred course, the most divine part of all the meals. It should not merely be good. To be fair, sometimes it was outstanding. But today was not one of those days and even though Bedivere had been mentally preparing himself, to absolutely not look at the display at the end of the line, he just couldn't help himself. He'd been working himself up over that subject for years. He couldn't just not get worked up over it now, just because he had graduated.

But, no. Maybe it would be okay? Maybe people were actually giving desserts the attention they deserved now? With the feeling of watching an oncoming train wreck, Bedivere peered over. Curiously, he rotated a small plate with a slice of white cake on it, shaking it a little to see if he could determine the consistency of the frosting from that. It started to drip a bit. Leaning in to sniff it, he caught a faint scent of vanilla. It was pretty plain.

He held it up to eye level, uncaring that he might be holding up the line. There were only a few other people there anyways, and this was important. After carefully considering the slice of cake, Bedivere glanced back at the array and picked out a few more items to put on half empty tray, causing the edges of the plates to stack together a little clumsily. He took a bowl of cherry jello pudding solely because he needed the bowl. With any luck, he'd be able to salvage something out of all of this... junk.

"I just want to say that as a baker, I am insulted by the lack of quality here," he announced to anybody nearby who might care. "I am astounded, appalled, and I paid to eat here so I might as well see if I can perform surgery and at least salvage a single slice of cake."

The reaction Ahstonik was given for the way he spoke to the young archduke was nothing less than what he was expecting and only caused his smirk to widen in response. While his sworn duty he was assigned to even before birth is to protect the young archduke, the dragon in human form had a preference for teasing him and denying his orders instead. So, he was quite enjoying the frustration he was causing and it was rather amusing to watch the pampered man-child struggle just to stand himself up and declare that Ahstonik was right. Of course he was right, he was a great dragon no less….hold on a second…him a commoner?! It was one thing to be doomed to being the body guard of a bratty archduke but to be compared to a commoner?! He was a great dragon! GREAT! Not some incompetent commoner!

He didn’t have anything to say in response to that at first and only stared at the young archduke with narrowed eyes as he seemed to seethe on the inside. A commoner…how insulting! Much like a child or even a brat, as he had deemed his young master as being, he turned his nose up and gave an audible ‘hmmph’, tail swaying in a defiant manner behind him. He did glance back over at the taller boy and crack an eye open to peer at him when he was being told not to be gloomy and the archduke went on to speak in an optimistic way about the situation. A bit of getting used to? Yeah right, Aloys couldn’t even stomach a simple hamburger from a fast food place and he believed it would all just be a bit of getting used to?

As much as Ahstonik found the idea of his young master trying to fit in as a commoner, he detested the idea of himself sinking lower than the class of ‘body guard’ as well as having to deal with the after math of Aloys ‘getting used to’ the garbage they called food here (and not wanting to himself…eck). He gave a sigh and turned back to face the archduke but before he could answer to being told to pick, something being said out loud and nearby caught his attention. A baker? Perfect solution to this little dilemma! Without saying anything, Ahstonik took the young archduke by the wrist and dragged him off toward the commoner who had caught his attention.

“If I heard correctly, you claim to be a baker, right?” Were the first words to be said to the stranger as the dragon approached him.

Bedivere Fontaine

"Hm? Oh, hello! Yes, that's correct, I’m a baker." Used to having his fuming just blown off by the student body, Bedivere was a little pleasantly surprised to find that some people were actually taking him seriously for once. The faces were strikingly new, because with looks like theirs, Bedivere was sure that he would have already committed them to memory had he seen them even once before. The usual brand of beauty was skewed here but that was fine -so many people came from the same mold these days that it was refreshing to see a difference. Some might call it all shallowness but personally, he preferred to call it a healthy appreciation for aesthetics.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" he asked brightly, always eager to lend a hand. And these people were polite, too! Well, the taller one certainly was, at least, which made Bedivere wonder if a timely graduation was making him miss out on meeting so many interesting people. Frowning lightly to himself in thought, he considered how he say diplomatically that he thought everything being offered right now was pretty mediocre. Then again, they had just heard his public declaration of outrage against the desserts.

"To be perfectly honest, I don't think that you would particularly enjoy any of what's been laid out now," he said with a slight sigh, glaring sidelong at the display. He didn't have anything against fast food, really, except for the fact that it was so greasy. If the burgers were dripping oils all over the place –and they were- then he took that as a sign that they were developing sentience and clearly not to be trifled with. "There's a strange rotation system in place for the food. If you wait long enough, sometimes they'll put out something on the better side." But that took time. Time which Bedivere could better use elsewhere.

"Personally, I do like experimenting with what’s been put out. Just take parts of one and mix them with something else and see if the result is any better. It can be very soothing if you get it right,” he said cheerfully. “I’ve only really tried it with the desserts, though. And the burgers, too.” He swore, those patties were glaring back at him. “I usually just wipe the grease off, cut it up, and mix up some kind of sauce to cover it up with. It’s an awful lot of salt and sugar that goes into it, though, so I don’t do that too often.”