a little young for that

[alicornucopia]

There is a red-eyed teenage boy - or so it would seem - positively interrogating the bar.

"Redreed wine?"

Aren't you a little young for that?

"I don't actually want any right now, but you know what it is?"

Of course.

"That... is interesting." He taps his fingers on the bar. "All right - I do, actually, want a chocolate iced planet."

And he gets a little square pastry, frosting on the top, and turns on his barstool to watch the comings and goings.

~~~

with Giles

with Lazarus

Comments

[alicornucopia]

Kaylo hops off the barstool, checks the perimeter of his available space, and - demonstrates.

It is instantaneous, silent, and demonstrative.

He grins with sharp teeth surrounded by wine-red gem-sleek scales.

[jellyinthemix]

"I see," says the human. "Both quadrupedal and winged, yes."

[alicornucopia]

"Yes. Not going to demonstrate the firebreathing in here."

He shifts back, sits down again, and receives a note saying, I do thank you for your restraint. He snorts at it.

[jellyinthemix]

"Thank you," he says, not having read the note.

[alicornucopia]

"I am actually pretty sure I could avoid setting the place on fire, but I am nothing if not - no, actually I would remain lots of things if I were not courteous, but I am anyway, so."

[jellyinthemix]

He laughs.

[alicornucopia]

"Do you have a name, by the way? I'm Kaylo." Kaylo pauses. "Oh, and for a dragon I'm about as mature as I look and I call my teachers Aar this and Aaral that all day long, so if you prefer to be Mister Something I will not be offended in spite of the probably-three-times-your-age thing."

[jellyinthemix]

"It would be Mr. Giles, but you're welcome to drop the Mister, in the tradition of every other adolescent I know."

[alicornucopia]

Kaylo laughs. "Nice to meet you, then, Giles."

[jellyinthemix]

"Likewise."

[alicornucopia]

"Has your world got a name? Mine's called Elcenia."

[jellyinthemix]

"Not as far as I know. The planet, yes, but not the world as a whole. How did yours get one?"

[alicornucopia]

"Draconic," says Kaylo. "It's a language, basically. It does that."

[jellyinthemix]

"Does being 'basically' a language imply that there is some way in which it isn't?"

[alicornucopia]

"It is a language, it just doesn't have all the - dependence on its speakers that other languages do. It will produce words without help. If you show me a selection of magical artifacts from your world that no dragon has ever seen before, I will have words for them, and I will be able to go home and talk about them to other dragons using those words, and those other dragons will have some idea of what I am referring to."

[jellyinthemix]

"That sounds... useful," he says thoughtfully.

[alicornucopia]

"So that's where 'Elcenia' came from. Dragons wanted to talk about our world as opposed to others, and the name was there," shrugs Kaylo. "Most other languages in the world have obvious etymological relationships to it for their own words for the world."

[jellyinthemix]

"Hmm. I wonder if one of our more well-travelled species of demon might have done something similar," he says.

[alicornucopia]

"Couldn't tell you. I'd need more to go on than having met you to see if Draconic has the information tucked away in it for your world too."

[jellyinthemix]

"I wouldn't expect you to. I can look up the likely sources myself if I become sufficiently curious."

[alicornucopia]

Kaylo nods. "I wonder if this place can translate Draconic," he says idly. "Does this sentence make sense to you?"

[jellyinthemix]

"Yes. Do other magical translators usually fail on that language?"

[alicornucopia]

"Like you didn't even cast anything," says Kaylo. "You can be under a sophisticated enough spell that you can listen to crystals in Alteisec and write a letter in Kandaph and speak Sengo and dance Flytwirl and figure out your taxes in Verian glyphs all at the same time and Draconic would be so much nonsense."

[jellyinthemix]

Giles shrugs. "Milliways."

[alicornucopia]

"Apparently!" says Kaylo. "Whatever, your language is interesting, I'll go on speaking it."