(no subject)

[shang-dragon.livejournal.com]

Liam sitting just outside the back door of the bar relaxing after his morning exercises and putting the finishing touches on the wooden bull figurine he's been carving for Adam.

Comments

[last_adam]

*Oddly enough, said recipient of present is out and around. And he's got a smile for Liam. Watch out, the world might be ending.*

What's that?

[shang-dragon.livejournal.com]

Liam blows off the last of the shavings and gives the carving a critical eye. "Among other things, what it is is finished."

He tosses it to Adam. "And it's yours."

[last_adam]

*Adam turns it around in his hands, admiring the curves and cuts. It's beautiful.*

You did this?

[shang-dragon.livejournal.com]

Teasing, "There's more to me than a pretty face and devastating kicks, lad. I have layers."

[last_adam]

*Like an onion?*

What's it for?

*Apparently this morning is obvious question time.*

[shang-dragon.livejournal.com]

"Call it a blood ritual gift, I guess. It doesn't do anything, though; not all of us were... 'blessed' with magical abilities."

Liam sheathes his knife. "Alanna got hers yesterday."

[last_adam]

*The smile Adam gives Liam is a little bit embarrassed, and very thankful.*

Thanks. I'm betting I can guess what you gave her. But why this?

[shang-dragon.livejournal.com]

"Because a mule wasn't as aesthetically pleasing."

[last_adam]

*Eyes not leaving the carved figure, Adam sticks his tongue out at Liam and gives him a friendly punch to the shoulder.*

[shang-dragon.livejournal.com]

"I hope you hit Jon harder than that. Otherwise, my opinion of knighthood will plummet."

[last_adam]

*Adam laughs.*

Yes. Significantly harder.

*Adam shrugs.*

Aside from the sheer...

*stupidity*

I don't think I did half bad.

[shang-dragon.livejournal.com]

"Maybe palace life has made him soft."

[last_adam]

And what does that imply about me?

[theprettiestone.livejournal.com]

There is a sleepy-looking young man wandering over to a table that Liam might just recognise.

Perhaps.

If for no other reason than he's dressed in Tirragen black and purple.

[shang-dragon.livejournal.com]

Wandering back in from the cold in search of a warm drink, the colors catch his eye before the face does.

And suddenly he's a lot colder.

He stands there staring for a moment. Alanna says they are friends again, and Liam trusts the Lioness, but there are some gut reactions that can't be helped.

[theprettiestone.livejournal.com]

Absently rubbing a hand over his face as he sips his coffee, Alex perches on the edge of a table and idly glances about the bar.

When he gaze reaches Liam, he freezes.

[shang-dragon.livejournal.com]

He can't very well keep standing there staring, and walking away seems too much like fleeing. The Shang Dragon doesn't flee.

So, instead, he walks slowly over and attempts a conversational tone. "Good morning, Sir Alex."

[theprettiestone.livejournal.com]

Alex's tone, when he replies, is politely formal.

"Dragon. I hadn't realised you'd come to Milliways. Good morning."

[shang-dragon.livejournal.com]

"Alanna had mentioned you were about. I suppose the Black God didn't relish your company either."

Dryly, "I can't imagine why."

[theprettiestone.livejournal.com]

Distantly, "actually, they seemed to quite enjoy my company. They had six months of it before I came here, at that."

[shang-dragon.livejournal.com]

"And since coming here you've realized what a foul traitor you were and renounced your evil deeds, correct?"

[theprettiestone.livejournal.com]

Still distant: "Something along those lines, yes."

The coffee, mostly untouched, is carefully put down on the table.

[shang-dragon.livejournal.com]

"Congratulations."

Levelly, "Alanna has mentioned that the two of you have made peace, and I place a lot of trust her judgement. However, as I told Delia, I remember whose colors those archers wore, and I don't easily forget."

[theprettiestone.livejournal.com]

"I'm not expecting you to forget, nor forgive. Merely to remember that business is not to be done in the bar, and that if you wish to settle accounts duelling has to be done outside."

His voice is very, very calm.

It wouldn't be the first time he faced a far stronger opponent in the snow by the lake, after all. And he has no illusions about the outcome of a fight between himself and the Shang Dragon.

[shang-dragon.livejournal.com]

A tight smile. "'Settle accounts'? We're both dead already, Tirragen."