The Dragon's Demonic Damsel in Distress

It was a sunless Sunday afternoon. Chilly winds blew by the relatively empty cafe. Chloe sat in one of the outdoor chairs, the only customer outside. Scaly toes pushed into slushy half-melted snow. She was holding a heavily annotated copy of Shakespeare's Hamlet, preparing for her December midterm exams. Even in Starlight Academy, the Bard was considered required reading for their high school English-speakers' literature program. It was the second time she had to read this for a class, but reading it at Starlight made it better for her. It must have been the island's language comprehension spells - they helped her understand Shakespearian language. Not once did she have to check her notes to understand its twists or turns of phrase. She even laughed at its jokes on occasion.

To think, she hated reading this same text the first time.

The cold didn't bother her too much. It was warmer than it had been the last few days, and the black jacket and big red scarf she wore kept her comfortable, especially with the help of her cup of hot cocoa. Her little black dress only reached down to slightly above her knees, but her legs had grown more resistant to the cold with her transformation a few years back.

To think, she used to think that humans were the only sentient life on earth.

'There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.'

She underlined that comment. It would probably show up on the test.

Chloe looked up from her book slowly, calmly. The man who was speaking to her was part dragon, or something like that. It only took her a second to recognize that he was very nearly quoting a line from this very play.

She tilted the book back so that he could get a better look at the title, and smiled. "Words, words, words." She told him.

He was charming, in a way, if a little intimidating.

"Between who?"

Was that a smile? It was difficult for her to tell, with his face being so different from a human's but she could recognize the tug at the corners of his mouth as smile-like. Her own grin grew wider; he was, indeed, quoting Hamlet, if he was going to ask that question.

She would keep playing along, but she would try to keep her wits about her. The fact remained that she was a young girl and a strange older man was approaching her out of the blue. But she was also getting tired; tired of studying or tired in general, she couldn't tell. In any case this was a welcome distraction. She pulled her tail across her lap, mirroring his movement.

"Slanders, sir." She laughed. The half-demon didn't remember the rest of the exchange very clearly, so she stopped it there and extended a hand to shake his. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Chloe."

She yawned when the handshake was complete. Maybe she should have gotten coffee instead of hot chocolate.

Chloe took a deep breath, and sighed. When did she get this tired?

"Firroth," she repeated. "I don't think I've heard a name like that before." She set her book down and took a sip of her hot cocoa. She wondered if his name came from some special dragon-person language. "I'm a student over at Starlight, studying for a final exam. If only I was so sophisticated that I was reading Shakespeare for fun." Chloe propped up her head with a hand and put her book down. Her words were coming out more sluggishly now. She was really getting exhausted. "Though I guess..." she yawned again, "It was never really meant to be read, but performed. So I'd see it performed if I was doing it for fun."

She blinked - no, her eyes were closed a little bit longer than they would be for a blink. Was she resting them, for a moment? "What do you do around here, Firroth?"