Myst pulled him through the gate after her, even as China continued to fight to restrain himself. He didn't want to disappoint master. No, he must not disappoint master. He needed her, more than he ever had his first master. Being abandoned by the Archmage had meant being exposed to a world of unknown dangers and horrible scary things... but being abandoned by the Hell Fairy would mean no more shiny lights that made him feel all good inside... and that was clearly far worse.
The thing was, he was now afraid that he already had disappointed her; he had had such difficulty not eating the touchy-feely girl that he hadn't even noticed that Clownpiece (and that evil, mean, nasty friend of hers, who wouldn't be nice even to someone as wonderful as master) had already headed off for the gate without him... what if she thought he preferred the company of Cassa... Sassa... Indra...? He couldn't remember her first name. It was too long, and not made up of nice, simple words like his master's...
Anyway. Given how upset Clownpiece had been by Dane touching the touchy girl, she really might get angry if she saw China also touching her... what if she started thinking that everyone preferred this other person to her?
She might even think that he was as mean and horrible as Dane was! But what could he do about it? He didn't want to yank his hand away from Myst, unless he accidentally broke her... then the Hell Fairy would certainly be upset; with all her magic, his master surely could have easily killed this person herself if she had actually wanted Cassomething dead. The fact that she had not done so could only mean that she must not want to slay her, even though Myst being around seemed to result only in unhappiness for Clownpiece...
Oh yes, his master was such an amazing and kind person... in fact, she was so generous that China felt the sudden urge to make sure that this touchy-feely girl knew just how lucky she was to have been allowed to accompany the Marvellous Clownpiece and her friend, the Great Dane, on their journey.
“You-you so much-many lucky, yes-yes.” he said in a tone as close to a growl as his breathy, whispering voice could produce, whilst turning to look across at Myst, his one remaining eye narrowed. She walked beside him as they followed the others through these cloudy, wet and windy plains. With him no longer needing to try and stand tall to intimidate the fast one, China had reverted to walking on all six limbs, and so at this point he actually had to look up slightly in order to meet the girl's gaze, “Master is many kind-nice for not kill and-and eat such tasty yum-yum as soon as meet-find. So Myst-person better be good and not steal-steal all touch-touching away from master, okay-yes?”
"Oui... Oui Afrátos..." Casanova replied, her voice timid and soft, as she backed away a little, her small hand slipping from his grasp as she finally seemed to realise that he was actually a dangerous hungry person and not just some adorable little prey food for her to play with.
The others could hardly have failed to notice her sudden change in demeanour, or the way she had backed off rather than continue walking forwards, even if they hadn't all heard the words of the Ceramic Beast for themselves. As they had all been within a couple metres of one another, however, even China's quiet voice could travel that distance, despite the rain falling all around them.
Dane turned slowly to face the Ceramic Beast, one hand falling to the shortsword which hung at his side. Before he could speak, however, the Hell Fairy beat him to the punch.
“Sh-shut up, Afrátos! Don't go saying dumb stuff like that! I'm a fairy of Hell! It's not like I really care about silly little things like head pats. Now, c-come over here like a good boy!” his master's cheeks had turned slightly red as she spoke, which China – who knew nothing of embarrassment – could only assume meant she was angry at him... an assumption which was seemingly supported by the volume of her yells.
Cowering more than a little, the Ceramic Beast slunk forwards after Clownpiece, head hanging dejectedly and both tails between his legs... he had only tried to do good, but had instead managed to point out her enjoyment of physical contact to everyone... he had noticed this himself, so he had simply assumed that it was something everyone would know. How moronic of him! It was absurd to think that in the extremely short period of time he had spent in this strange place, he somehow could have forgotten how much more intelligent he was than the two-leg foods.
Of course people as simple-minded as Dane, Casablanca & Renko would never pick up on something that had taken even a brilliant thinker such as himself so long to deduce... and now he had accidentally given up his master's one and only weakness to these untrustworthy people. Dane, especially, seemed like the sort who would be cruel and callous enough to exploit such knowledge however he could.
“Nooo, silly-silly me, why have go say stupid-fool thing like that! Dumb-idiot people all know super hidden secret-secret now... poor master. Me feel-feel so much bad-nasty...” China muttered to himself as he stared glumly at the muddy grass at his feet, not even seeming to realise that he was speaking aloud.
The Great Dane simply rolled his eyes and turned away, starting moving off towards their destination – wherever that was – once again, whilst Renko did her best to innocuously sidle into a position which put the fast one between her and the Ceramic Beast... just to be on the safe side.
As they followed him, China heard a quiet cough from his master and glanced over and up at her; given the long, wet grass and mud through which the rest of them were striding, she had understandably chosen to fly for the time being. He noticed immediately that she was still slightly red-faced, and then spotted the hand that she held outstretched just a little in his direction... as though inviting him to hold it. Tentatively, and after using a tuft of wet grass to clean mud from his palm, he reached over and took that tiny hand in his own, much larger, one. Though she said nothing in response, she did appear to relax a little, which in turn calmed his own fears of being hated by her...
They didn't have much longer left to travel, though, it turned out, with the plains soon being replaced with abandoned fields, and then, a little later, actual fields, which had clearly seen use recently. From one of these the little group crossed over onto a pathway that quickly led them into some sort of walled city.
Had China been able to read, he would have realised that the signpost just a little way outside proclaimed the place to be named 'Darkshire'.
The thing was, he was now afraid that he already had disappointed her; he had had such difficulty not eating the touchy-feely girl that he hadn't even noticed that Clownpiece (and that evil, mean, nasty friend of hers, who wouldn't be nice even to someone as wonderful as master) had already headed off for the gate without him... what if she thought he preferred the company of Cassa... Sassa... Indra...? He couldn't remember her first name. It was too long, and not made up of nice, simple words like his master's...
Anyway. Given how upset Clownpiece had been by Dane touching the touchy girl, she really might get angry if she saw China also touching her... what if she started thinking that everyone preferred this other person to her?
She might even think that he was as mean and horrible as Dane was! But what could he do about it? He didn't want to yank his hand away from Myst, unless he accidentally broke her... then the Hell Fairy would certainly be upset; with all her magic, his master surely could have easily killed this person herself if she had actually wanted Cassomething dead. The fact that she had not done so could only mean that she must not want to slay her, even though Myst being around seemed to result only in unhappiness for Clownpiece...
Oh yes, his master was such an amazing and kind person... in fact, she was so generous that China felt the sudden urge to make sure that this touchy-feely girl knew just how lucky she was to have been allowed to accompany the Marvellous Clownpiece and her friend, the Great Dane, on their journey.
“You-you so much-many lucky, yes-yes.” he said in a tone as close to a growl as his breathy, whispering voice could produce, whilst turning to look across at Myst, his one remaining eye narrowed. She walked beside him as they followed the others through these cloudy, wet and windy plains. With him no longer needing to try and stand tall to intimidate the fast one, China had reverted to walking on all six limbs, and so at this point he actually had to look up slightly in order to meet the girl's gaze, “Master is many kind-nice for not kill and-and eat such tasty yum-yum as soon as meet-find. So Myst-person better be good and not steal-steal all touch-touching away from master, okay-yes?”
"Oui... Oui Afrátos..." Casanova replied, her voice timid and soft, as she backed away a little, her small hand slipping from his grasp as she finally seemed to realise that he was actually a dangerous hungry person and not just some adorable little prey food for her to play with.
The others could hardly have failed to notice her sudden change in demeanour, or the way she had backed off rather than continue walking forwards, even if they hadn't all heard the words of the Ceramic Beast for themselves. As they had all been within a couple metres of one another, however, even China's quiet voice could travel that distance, despite the rain falling all around them.
Dane turned slowly to face the Ceramic Beast, one hand falling to the shortsword which hung at his side. Before he could speak, however, the Hell Fairy beat him to the punch.
“Sh-shut up, Afrátos! Don't go saying dumb stuff like that! I'm a fairy of Hell! It's not like I really care about silly little things like head pats. Now, c-come over here like a good boy!” his master's cheeks had turned slightly red as she spoke, which China – who knew nothing of embarrassment – could only assume meant she was angry at him... an assumption which was seemingly supported by the volume of her yells.
Cowering more than a little, the Ceramic Beast slunk forwards after Clownpiece, head hanging dejectedly and both tails between his legs... he had only tried to do good, but had instead managed to point out her enjoyment of physical contact to everyone... he had noticed this himself, so he had simply assumed that it was something everyone would know. How moronic of him! It was absurd to think that in the extremely short period of time he had spent in this strange place, he somehow could have forgotten how much more intelligent he was than the two-leg foods.
Of course people as simple-minded as Dane, Casablanca & Renko would never pick up on something that had taken even a brilliant thinker such as himself so long to deduce... and now he had accidentally given up his master's one and only weakness to these untrustworthy people. Dane, especially, seemed like the sort who would be cruel and callous enough to exploit such knowledge however he could.
“Nooo, silly-silly me, why have go say stupid-fool thing like that! Dumb-idiot people all know super hidden secret-secret now... poor master. Me feel-feel so much bad-nasty...” China muttered to himself as he stared glumly at the muddy grass at his feet, not even seeming to realise that he was speaking aloud.
The Great Dane simply rolled his eyes and turned away, starting moving off towards their destination – wherever that was – once again, whilst Renko did her best to innocuously sidle into a position which put the fast one between her and the Ceramic Beast... just to be on the safe side.
As they followed him, China heard a quiet cough from his master and glanced over and up at her; given the long, wet grass and mud through which the rest of them were striding, she had understandably chosen to fly for the time being. He noticed immediately that she was still slightly red-faced, and then spotted the hand that she held outstretched just a little in his direction... as though inviting him to hold it. Tentatively, and after using a tuft of wet grass to clean mud from his palm, he reached over and took that tiny hand in his own, much larger, one. Though she said nothing in response, she did appear to relax a little, which in turn calmed his own fears of being hated by her...
They didn't have much longer left to travel, though, it turned out, with the plains soon being replaced with abandoned fields, and then, a little later, actual fields, which had clearly seen use recently. From one of these the little group crossed over onto a pathway that quickly led them into some sort of walled city.
Had China been able to read, he would have realised that the signpost just a little way outside proclaimed the place to be named 'Darkshire'.
![[Image: chinasig3.png]](https://image.ibb.co/gG00sd/chinasig3.png)