An Unorthodox Confession

[Ramses Teodov]

So much for keeping in contact. Unbeknownst to both Ramses and Shalamar, they had both come down with dragon pox at approximately the same time. Ramses himself was feeling pretty down in the mouth about being unable to reply to Shalamar, but it wasn't like they were great friends, anyway. He sighed and leant up against the brick wall behind him, feeling a pang of sadness at the thought, then another of surprise at himself. To be fair, meeting once and then corresponding for a few brief months afterwards hardly counted as an important relationship. He shouldn't ought to think of it as one and he definitely shouldn't be thinking about it while standing there, about to meet her. Why was he even bothering, anyway? He was foolish to think that she'd want to see him now after he'd apparently 'ignored her' for so long ... but she'd agreed to meet up, hadn't she? Ramses bit his lip and began twirling a dark lock of hair around his face. Stop being so nervous, he told himself fretfully, You're making me more nervous! As if on cue, he saw Shalamar round the corner and his heart skipped a beat. Was there any way to salvage the situation without her never talking to him again? Maybe it wasn't as bad as he thought.

There was one thing that Ramses knew how to do, and that was to dote. He often gave little presents to his friends and liked to send Shalamar little trinkets from his travels. This time he had come back with a specifically rare present that he knew she'd like. It was the best way he knew how to express affection, coming from a rich family, and it was genuinely meant. Hopefully she would understand the good intent and the mingled apology through the small but fascinating 'item'. All he knew was that she'd never see this coming.

 

[Shalamar Ovanisse]

Shalamar was a nervous wreck, she had waited for what seemed like forever to meet up with Ramses again and that day had finally come. Her stomach was playing cruel tricks on her, convincing her that it's extremities consisted of a thousand butterflies all vying for precedence within her. She felt as if she could take on three maybe four full grown dragons with more confidence that what she felt now going to meet him. She had dressed with care in just a simple outfit a native to her country, the top was a stunning dragon brocade jacket with a detailed flying dragon pants, her hair was artistically done up and the most careful attention paid to the makeup she wore. Her heart continued to beat out of rhythm as her stomach continued to torment her with its nerves as she rounded the corner and saw him waiting.

She did not think she would ever again feel as she had once felt for Henric Lee and perhaps it was too soon to say that was what she felt now for Ramses but it felt close, so much so that it had broken her heart when their fragile contact had been cut short due to her illness. She had hoped that when she left the infirmary that there would have been some letters waiting for her from him but there had been nothing. So she was extremely curious as to why he wanted to meet now. She had gotten him a gift but thought now it was presumptuous of her to do so and wished she had not brought it with her, it would say all the wrong things surely. Especially if all he wanted was to excuse his lack of penmanship and be on his way.
"Hello" she greeted him bowing her head slightly, a smile warm upon her face, "It is good to see you again."
She hated being so formal with him now but until he said or did otherwise she had no reason not to be so.

 

[Ramses Teodov]

Dammit, thought Ramses despairingly as he watched Shalamar get closer. It seemed like she dressed her very best just to torment him. No, she wouldn't have had to do anything more to get his heart jumping like it was now. Time had played tricks on him, making him remember her face but forget the soaring leap that his emotions took whenever she was near. As always, she was so fragile and he felt like a half giant next to her. Somehow, with precision mastering of himself, Ramses stepped forward and smiled like a ray of sunshine, looking a lot more casual than he felt. "Shalamar," he greeted her warmly, and took her hand in a companionable way. He couldn't resist holding it a little longer and swinging back and forth before letting her have her space. China dolls needed space. The ease mixed with delicacy that he treated her with was almost instinctual, as both a male and the gentleman he was brought up as. Just seeing her again was a wonderful feeling ... but she was so formal towards him. Ramses cursed himself inwardly. They'd only met for a moment and he'd already overstepped the mark: in his mind, anyway.

"It's very good to see you too, Shala." he said. Unconsciously he shortened her name in a familiar fashion and didn't seem to notice. "I ... " This was it. The first thing he had to do was to apologise and then explain. Shalamar was probably only tolerating his presence long enough to hear it and then go. "Ah ... I missed you!" You coward. thought Ramses. Some part of him couldn't bear to bring it up so soon in case she left. He tried again. "Sorry if I seem a bit ... "Boneless?"...uptight. I don't know how to explain my not writing to you." Ouch. That was more a sore point for him than it probably was for her. He rubbed his neck and smiled sheepishly at Shalamar. "You wouldn't believe it, but I got the Dpox." he said, using the wizard's abbreviation. It suddenly occurred to Ramses that admitting you'd gotten dragon pox was a very embarrassing thing to admit. He went pink and lost his nerve to say any more. Who would have thought that someone so tall and partially intimidating could be so shy at the best of times?

 

[Shalamar Ovanisse]

Shalamar actually winced when he attempted to abbreviate her name, noticing that though he did so as if they were familiar with one another his entire greeting seemed considerably formal. She sighed a little and knew then to take her cue from him, if this was how it was to be between them then so be it but she would clear something up first.
"Please don't call me Shala. I do like you Ramses but that is just awful. If you must shorten my name then call me Ova like my friends at school or Jeon like my family do or Jade like my father does but not Shala" she grimaced again at how bad it sounded even to her.

She knew he had said he missed her but had been so caught up in the name that she had let it go, possibly choosing not to believe it for a moment. He was getting to the heart of the matter quicker than she thought he would and suddenly she found herself standing there with her fingers clasped tightly about one another behind her back. When his explanation did come she stared at him dumbfounded for a moment, then a moment more before the trace of a smile graced her lips. The smile blossomed into a wide grin until the sound of her gentle laugh peeled about them. When she managed to stop she shook her head her hands covering her mouth a moment to stop her laughter completely so she would not embarrass him. Lowering them again she smiled at him.
"Oh Ramses, I was inflicted too. I spread it around the school like wild fire and loads of others ended up with myself in the hospital wing of the school for months. I couldn't write to you for what seemed like ages because I was simply too weak and finally when I could ... there had been nothing at all from you, so I didn't think you wanted to keep up our correspondence."

She could not be more truthful to him and regarded him more closely, realising there wasn't an inch of his face that she didn't recognise. She had gazed upon it in her dreams for quite some time.

 

[Ramses Teodov]

Ramses went, if possible, even pinker. Shala had sounded quite nice to him and he wondered why she was instantly so adverse to it, but he supposed it was better than her silently hating it while he continued to call her that. It didn't stop him from looking extremely withered, though he attempted an apologetic smile.
"Sorry. I shorten names a lot. My mother doesn't think it's proper, either." Nice going, he told himself inwardly. It was harder to laugh off the tiny mistakes when it was Shalamar that he was talking to. Even worse when she said nothing for a long moment after he'd finished speaking, but to his delight she began to smile, then grin, then finally laugh in an infectious way that forced a smile out of him, too. Ramses was even more flabbergasted to learn that she, too, had had dragon pox and that there they had been, worrying away the days in the hope of receiving a letter from one another, when there was simply nothing to be done about it. It was just bad luck. She didn't dislike him! His relief was total and visible. Ramses opened his mouth to express it so, but got no further as something nearly made him leap out of his skin.

Ramses' present for Shalamar was very much awake and he'd stashed it in the front pocket of his shirt. Before, it was no more than a coiled shadow beneath the cloth, but now it began to wriggle. He clapped his hand over the hidden creature and grimaced, feeling its tiny feet everywhere. Ramses was incredibly ticklish, but to cause a scene in front of Shalamar ... death, instant death! He couldn't bear it! He scrunched up his nose, swallowed, made an extremely strained face, and just before he broke and began laughing, it stopped. Shalamar had to be staring at him. Ramses kept his eyes fixed on the ground. "So, because we weren't able to talk-" he dodged non subtly, "I hardly know what been going on, other than dragon pox. You poor thing, how long did you had it? Mine went for four months."
That would do. Ramses neglected to notice the tiny sticky foot that emerged from the silent pocket, nor the coil of smoke or the flash of red scales. "Won't you tell me how you've been? I can't say how much I've worried," said Ramses kindly.

 

[Shalamar Ovanisse]

She could only smile at him as he spoke about his mother, wanting to reassure him immediately that she was fine and that she should not have taken it so bad. It was after all just a name, but it
was her name. No the more she thought about it, the better she felt that she had spoken up. It wouldn't do for them to meet again and have him call her something she detested.
"Mine was four months too" she grinned shyly at him, as he explained about his own quarantine
with the infernal disease.

Her gaze kept wandering to his top that seemed to have a life of its own now. She saw what appeared to be red scales and glanced up hastily from his shirt to Ramses as a coil of smoke wafted upwards too. Her eyes widened suddenly.
"Never mind me" she told him pointing to his shirt, "tell me that isn't what I think it is?" Didn't he know how much trouble he could get into for having an illegal dragon about and worse again so close to his own body, especially after such an illness. Part of her wanted to jinx him for being so thoughtless and another part of her wanted to see exactly what he had hidden there.

 

[Ramses Teodov]

"It's not what you think!" blurted out Ramses just as Shalamar asked him if it was what she thought. Truthfully it wasn't what she thought it was, but that didn't make it any less illegal. Dragons were illegal for a very good reason however, but this particular surprise was only mildly dangerous and certainly nothing to fear for a dragon keeper. Or so Ramses thought. Even before the idea had formed in his mind, there was a tiny cough from his pocket and he watched in dismay as his white polo shirt caught alight. Clapping a hand over it, he smothered the tiny lick of flames. There was no point hiding the animal now. He was forced to look at his shoes again.
"Stupid lizard," muttered Ramses. "It's supposed to sleep during the day." Sheepishly he raised his eyes to Shalamar's a scooped the reptile out. As if in blatant mockery of him, the creature curled up and fell asleep in his large palm, its tail and feet drooping over the edge. It was a fire salamander. Unlike the none-magical versions, the salamander that Ramses had found for his increasingly skeptical crush was mostly found in and around volcanoes and had been known to breathe fire, themselves.
"It's my present to you." he admitted. "A shalamand- I-I mean, salamander." Perhaps not all girls would appreciate a cold (or rather, hot) blooded animal for a present, but this one was cute and interesting enough to take even the most squeamish girl's fancy, especially Shalamar. It blinked sleepily at Shalamar and blew a smoke ring at her as if to say, 'You'll do'. "I know they ought not to be in human company," Ramses told her guiltily. "But I really thought you might ... I mean, since you work with dragons and ... well you can release it ... but ...". This sort of situation he found impossible to remedy.