02-03-2018, 07:43 AM
Despite lacking a nose, China made sniffing noises and moved his head about as he crouched before he bar, by Dane's side. As much as he may have been frightened by the master's friend, he had finally gotten it into his head that the man was trying to feed him... and China had never been one to say no to an easy meal.
“E-er, sir...” the big, juicy, tasty-looking meat behind the counter said to Dane, licking its lips nervously... sadly, this yum-yum was one of the two-legs variety, so he knew he wouldn't be allowed to eat it. Whatever 'meat' it was that the fast person wanted, it was presumably procured from a type of food with the correct number of limbs for consumption, “I'm afraid we don't, uh, don't allow pets in here. Your... erm... dog... will have to wait outside... please?”
Dane stared at him coolly for a moment before asking, “Does this seriously look like a dog to you?”
Before the frightened two-legs could respond, though, China was all of a sudden up in his face, two of his arms clutching the wooden bartop with enough force that his talons actually dug into the wood slightly... not that the food was of any mind to pay attention to this minor detail, though.
No, its focus was wholly occupied by China's head. Whereas before his face had been flat and expressionless, his mouth had now appeared once again, in the blink of an eye, and had opened wide. Despite the gleaming, blue, razor-sharp teeth, though, the Ceramic Beast couldn't help but notice that the two-legs' gaze seemed just as drawn to his missing eye as to his vast maw.
He had never really considered his injuries as any sort of intimidating feature... yet for some reason this food seemed genuinely scared by the fact that China had a massive hole in his head... perhaps because he seemed not too bothered by it? Now that he thought about it, most foods were actually really fond of screaming and wailing whenever they lost a body part. He didn't like losing pieces either, but he had to admit that it was a little odd how worked up they got about that sort of thing.
“Me is not-not dog-thing, silly yum-yum, me is Chi- no-no, silly-stupid me, not forget nice new name-thing from master. Me-me is Afrátos, not dog-dog, no. Me is master pet, and this-this master friend.” with one of his free hands he pointed towards Dane, whilst bringing up the other to hold up beside his mouth as he ducked his head to the side a little, so that he could whisper into the food's ear, “Master friend not very nice-friendly, though, when me-me make him angry-mad he smash big hole-hole in face. Better watch-look out for that-that if not want same-same happen to you.”
China nodded vigorously to punctuate that last statement, then both he and the yum-yum glanced over at Dane, who was staring at the Ceramic Beast, wearing an expression of mild annoyance.
“Ah-ah!” China suddenly darted back, away from the bar, and sunk down even closer to the ground than usual... almost prostrating himself before the fast person, “Me-me sorry! Me be good-nice! Not do-do anything without Dane say so, promise-promise!”
Before Dane had even had time to formulate a reply, though, the porcelain creature had turned its head to one side and begun muttering to itself, “That-that what he believe-think, anyway. What master and master friend don't know-realise won't hurt-harm them... me just wait-wait for chance then sneaky-sneak off into house-buildings, look for soft-tender baby food, yes-yes, such tiny yum-yums, foods probably not even-even notice it missing. Oh yes, me-me, you such smart-wise hungry person.”
“D-did your pet just say it wanted to eat a baby?” the meat's tone was mostly horrified, though with a hint of genuine confusion... as if he found it difficult to comprehend what he was seeing when he read China's mind! It was bad enough that Dane could apparently do that, but now this food as well? The Ceramic Beast hissed in frustration, before looking back at the swordsman and whimpering and cowering before his glare. Yep, there was no doubt about it, Dane was somehow reading his mind as well. Curse all these two-legs and their magical ways!
“No. You misheard. It didn't say anything like that.” the swordsman stated flatly, then spoke to the golem, “And you, keep your mouth shut unless you want me to break off your jaw.”
That said, he relaxed his tone a little, turning to face the food once more, “Now, back to my first question; you got a menu?”
“O-oh, yes! We do, of course we do, good sir!” the food was sweating now. China's vision may have been hampered slightly by the loss of one eye, but he would have been able to tell that much even if he were completely blind. He could smell it on the yum-yums' skin. As it spoke, the two-legs' terror-stricken gaze darted between Dane and China, whilst its hands fumbled wildly around the counter, in search of a copy of their menu. Eventually, it was forced to avert its eyes long enough to locate the folded piece of parchment which it was looking for, which it then handed off to Dane, noticeably trembling as it did so.
Dane unfolded and peered down at what he'd been given, wearing the sort of focused expression that two-legs often had when looking at those squiggly things on bits of paper or on wooden signs... China knew that this was called 'reading', even though he couldn't do it himself, as his first master, the Archmage, had just loved reading... the Beast wondered if this sort of reading was the same as 'mind reading'... was it simply a matter of understanding these squiggles that allowed the foods to know everything he was thinking?
Before he could decide whether a power like that would actually make it worth putting in the effort to learn to understand squiggles himself, Dane tossed the parchment back at the delicious, meaty prey, “We'll take two steaks. Make his rare... actually, just leave it raw. Oh, and get us some ale while you're at it.”
So saying, he turned his back and headed over to a random table, whilst the yum-yum immediately rushed to busy himself with the task of preparing their meal. The table Dane had chosen was already occupied, which was hardly surprising, given that there were only two of the tables in the place. The one he sat at had three foods there already, one female and two males, as far as China could tell... he was no expert on two-leg biology, but he was fairly sure that only the females had those tasty lumps of fatty tissue that they called breasts...
“Come on, sit up here like a real person.” Dane ordered, patting a chair next to the one he'd taken, completely ignoring the dark glares that the three were giving them both... though mostly China. As he complied with the command – sitting awkwardly, unused to using an actual seat – he glanced across at the other table as well, and got more glares in return.
He hoped that they also hadn't read his mind when he'd been plotting his daring scheme...
“E-er, sir...” the big, juicy, tasty-looking meat behind the counter said to Dane, licking its lips nervously... sadly, this yum-yum was one of the two-legs variety, so he knew he wouldn't be allowed to eat it. Whatever 'meat' it was that the fast person wanted, it was presumably procured from a type of food with the correct number of limbs for consumption, “I'm afraid we don't, uh, don't allow pets in here. Your... erm... dog... will have to wait outside... please?”
Dane stared at him coolly for a moment before asking, “Does this seriously look like a dog to you?”
Before the frightened two-legs could respond, though, China was all of a sudden up in his face, two of his arms clutching the wooden bartop with enough force that his talons actually dug into the wood slightly... not that the food was of any mind to pay attention to this minor detail, though.
No, its focus was wholly occupied by China's head. Whereas before his face had been flat and expressionless, his mouth had now appeared once again, in the blink of an eye, and had opened wide. Despite the gleaming, blue, razor-sharp teeth, though, the Ceramic Beast couldn't help but notice that the two-legs' gaze seemed just as drawn to his missing eye as to his vast maw.
He had never really considered his injuries as any sort of intimidating feature... yet for some reason this food seemed genuinely scared by the fact that China had a massive hole in his head... perhaps because he seemed not too bothered by it? Now that he thought about it, most foods were actually really fond of screaming and wailing whenever they lost a body part. He didn't like losing pieces either, but he had to admit that it was a little odd how worked up they got about that sort of thing.
“Me is not-not dog-thing, silly yum-yum, me is Chi- no-no, silly-stupid me, not forget nice new name-thing from master. Me-me is Afrátos, not dog-dog, no. Me is master pet, and this-this master friend.” with one of his free hands he pointed towards Dane, whilst bringing up the other to hold up beside his mouth as he ducked his head to the side a little, so that he could whisper into the food's ear, “Master friend not very nice-friendly, though, when me-me make him angry-mad he smash big hole-hole in face. Better watch-look out for that-that if not want same-same happen to you.”
China nodded vigorously to punctuate that last statement, then both he and the yum-yum glanced over at Dane, who was staring at the Ceramic Beast, wearing an expression of mild annoyance.
“Ah-ah!” China suddenly darted back, away from the bar, and sunk down even closer to the ground than usual... almost prostrating himself before the fast person, “Me-me sorry! Me be good-nice! Not do-do anything without Dane say so, promise-promise!”
Before Dane had even had time to formulate a reply, though, the porcelain creature had turned its head to one side and begun muttering to itself, “That-that what he believe-think, anyway. What master and master friend don't know-realise won't hurt-harm them... me just wait-wait for chance then sneaky-sneak off into house-buildings, look for soft-tender baby food, yes-yes, such tiny yum-yums, foods probably not even-even notice it missing. Oh yes, me-me, you such smart-wise hungry person.”
“D-did your pet just say it wanted to eat a baby?” the meat's tone was mostly horrified, though with a hint of genuine confusion... as if he found it difficult to comprehend what he was seeing when he read China's mind! It was bad enough that Dane could apparently do that, but now this food as well? The Ceramic Beast hissed in frustration, before looking back at the swordsman and whimpering and cowering before his glare. Yep, there was no doubt about it, Dane was somehow reading his mind as well. Curse all these two-legs and their magical ways!
“No. You misheard. It didn't say anything like that.” the swordsman stated flatly, then spoke to the golem, “And you, keep your mouth shut unless you want me to break off your jaw.”
That said, he relaxed his tone a little, turning to face the food once more, “Now, back to my first question; you got a menu?”
“O-oh, yes! We do, of course we do, good sir!” the food was sweating now. China's vision may have been hampered slightly by the loss of one eye, but he would have been able to tell that much even if he were completely blind. He could smell it on the yum-yums' skin. As it spoke, the two-legs' terror-stricken gaze darted between Dane and China, whilst its hands fumbled wildly around the counter, in search of a copy of their menu. Eventually, it was forced to avert its eyes long enough to locate the folded piece of parchment which it was looking for, which it then handed off to Dane, noticeably trembling as it did so.
Dane unfolded and peered down at what he'd been given, wearing the sort of focused expression that two-legs often had when looking at those squiggly things on bits of paper or on wooden signs... China knew that this was called 'reading', even though he couldn't do it himself, as his first master, the Archmage, had just loved reading... the Beast wondered if this sort of reading was the same as 'mind reading'... was it simply a matter of understanding these squiggles that allowed the foods to know everything he was thinking?
Before he could decide whether a power like that would actually make it worth putting in the effort to learn to understand squiggles himself, Dane tossed the parchment back at the delicious, meaty prey, “We'll take two steaks. Make his rare... actually, just leave it raw. Oh, and get us some ale while you're at it.”
So saying, he turned his back and headed over to a random table, whilst the yum-yum immediately rushed to busy himself with the task of preparing their meal. The table Dane had chosen was already occupied, which was hardly surprising, given that there were only two of the tables in the place. The one he sat at had three foods there already, one female and two males, as far as China could tell... he was no expert on two-leg biology, but he was fairly sure that only the females had those tasty lumps of fatty tissue that they called breasts...
“Come on, sit up here like a real person.” Dane ordered, patting a chair next to the one he'd taken, completely ignoring the dark glares that the three were giving them both... though mostly China. As he complied with the command – sitting awkwardly, unused to using an actual seat – he glanced across at the other table as well, and got more glares in return.
He hoped that they also hadn't read his mind when he'd been plotting his daring scheme...
![[Image: chinasig3.png]](https://image.ibb.co/gG00sd/chinasig3.png)