ganked from hydr0phobia

[moonsheen]

...man, anyone remember those days when the drabble memes were the new black?

Give me the names of two characters and I will tell you why character A loves or wants to jump character B. I might answer with a drabble, a quick bit of meta, or a list, just to make things that tiny bit more OMGSOEXCITING!

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When Wagner Met Hindel

[moonsheen.livejournal.com]

The great dragon was already old by the time the last scale at the tip of Wagner’s tail had hardened. Wagner was young, young and impetuous, and had come with flame spouting between his fangs, tail lashing. He had thought the mountains a fine place to set up a lair. He had thought the old dragon fat and soft from years of trading wisdom in exchange for human pampering. He had thought it laughable. Hindel had dispatched him with a simple roll of his wing and Wagner’s scales, impervious to all forms of steel, had screeched painfully against the rock face. Hindel rested his foreleg over the soft place where Wagner’s membrane met his flank. He pressed lightly, to let him know precisely what he could do, and precisely what he was choosing not to do. His talons were yellowed, but the tip was no less sharp.

“Why,” hissed Wagner, “Why do you not rip out my throat.” Wagner had come from the Northern lands, where such bouts ended thus. The old dragon regarded him with a slight cock of his head, and blew smoke from his nostrils.

“That would be a waste,” he said, easing back. Wagner wrenched his pinned wing back from against the mountain face. He flexed his joints, curled his wing claws. He watched the larger dragon warily. Hindel was vast, but his voice had no fire in it. His voice was milder than any self-respecting dragon’s ought to be, Wagner thought, but his strength had been unmistakable. “Our numbers are ever dwindling. Whom would it serve, to take your life?”

The young dragon spat petulantly, tail tip cracking. “It matters not! It is how these things are done! Or has so many years at the beck and call of man softened you?” he taunted, spared and shamed by it. Hindel swung his snout forward, catching Wagner under the jaw, and pressing him back into the stones. It was not death he brought, just admonishment.

“Humans live brief lives. And thus they value those brief lives. Tell me, my young friend, could you shout for death again and claim to do the same?”

Wagner clacked his teeth in strangled reply.

“No, I shall not kill you for this,” Hindel drew away, “Nor shall I drive you back from whence you came. I offer you my hospitality. Hunt these grounds, if you like, and tell me if shame of it is truly so unbearable.”

“Hmph,” said Wagner. Young, impetuous, and terribly hungry, he agreed to these terms.