(no subject)

[tryingitall]

Who: Balthazar (or Mirror!Balthazar), and OPEN
Where: the gardens
When: Wednesday-ish
Rating: PG-13-ish?
Summary: Balthazar is just having a nice little booze picnic. The Mirror version is looking for information.



Armed with a blanket from his room, a cooler of beer and bourbon, and a set of sidewalk chalk he retrieved from his closet, Balthazar has found a place to settle, amidst the garden he first stumbled through when he arrived. Now he's in a better state to appreciate the beauty. They may all be in a prison, but at least it's a pretty prison, and well-stocked with comforts.

Anyone who comes upon him will be offered a drink, of course. The later in the day he's found, the more elaborate will be the chalk design he's sketching onto the brick path. It's not recognizable as any specific person or item, just a tangle of color and repeating patterns. Maybe it means something to him.





Leviazar is not interested in alcohol, except as a tool to lubricate social interactions and get others' guards down. He's even less interested in chalk art. Today, he's stayed inside, despite having seen his real depart for the open air. There are other people to watch, on both sides of the mirrors. But a close observer on the realside may catch him tracing Enochian sigils in steamed-up glass, with the tip of one finger.

Comments

[tryingitall]

It's a temporary mark, of course. Gone in the next rainshower, or sooner if the place decides it doesn't appreciate Balthazar's efforts. Watching Toothless now, he wonders if dragons can see color in the same spectrum humans do.

He picks up a piece of purple chalk and places his own hand next to the traced dragonprint shape, outlining the perimeter in the same way. "What do you think? Pretty?"

[no_eels]

He appears thoughtful for a moment, before nodding in response to Balthazar's question. Watching him trace his own 'paw', Toothless looks back at his own print and then scratches at a line lightly with one careful claw. He looks surprised when a tiny break appears in the chalk line. So, maybe it isn't that different from sticks in the mud, he thinks, suddenly feeling inspired. He abruptly vaults off in a different direction.

...and comes back not a minute later, with a fairly large stick in his mouth. One he excitedly applies to dirt only a few feet away from where Balthazar's path is. Squiggles are art, right?

[tryingitall]

When Toothless returns, Balthazar's picked a different color of chalk to fill in the prints with, but hasn't quite started. He sits back on his heels to watch the dragon scratch in the dirt with a stick. The results don't seem to have much rhyme or reason, but the angel is in no position to nitpick. Looks like art to him!

Rising, he comes over to watch at the edge of the dirt, privately wondering if there'd be a way he could fashion a chalk holder that the dragon could hold in his mouth and draw with.

[no_eels]

Toothless is drawing the gardens as seen from above, on one of he and D'Artagnan's flights, though at best it can be called an abstract and at worse, well... large, looping circles. In the end his drawing, which is at least as big as he is, more closely resembles a cloud bank, but he seems proud as he steps back onto the path and drops his stick. The dragon, feeling accomplished, looks to Balthazar, wondering what he'll think.

[tryingitall]

Clearly, he's being asked to judge the artistic merit of the dragon's composition. Balthazar's flattered, but he's not sure how to get a proper look at it from where he sits, so he rises and circles the edge of the loops, stepping gingerly around the lines so as not to mar them. He's not getting 'garden' from it, unfortunately, having never seen the place from directly above, but it looks very deliberate, not just random scrawling.

"I've never seen a dragon drawing before," he says at last, returning to Toothless' side. "I quite like it. Do you do that often?"

[no_eels]

The Nightfury shakes his head, tail swishing behind him. Before coming to Wonderland, he and Hiccup had mostly been busy with working on the harness; there had been that one day, where Toothless had been introduced to the idea of drawing, and a few more like it when he had gotten bored waiting for the Viking. Maybe it can be something to pass the time, though, now. The forest has plenty of dirt, ripe for drawing on, even if the forest itself sometimes makes him feel nervous for no discernible reason.

[tryingitall]

"Let me see the stick?" Balthazar reaches to pick up the drawing instrument, looking it over. It shouldn't be hard to tie chalk to the end, although switching colors would be a challenge.

Well, why not make the attempt? He pulls out a handkerchief and nabs a piece of bright pink chalk, wrapping and tying it around one end of the branch.

[no_eels]

Toothless watches him do it with wide, curious eyes, blinking. He's used to a one-color palette, anyhow. When the pink chalk is attached, he regards it warily at first — remembering the sneeze — before he gingerly takes back the stick with great care. He has to use his teeth to hold it securely, and he doesn't want to hurt his wingless Viking friend.

Then, he almost looks confused, like a child with a brand new but incredibly shiny toy, before beginning to apply the pink chalk to a blank section of path.

[tryingitall]

The care is appreciated. Even if he couldn't do permanent damage to Balthazar, he's not interested in finding out what dragon bites feel like. He can't help but light up when Toothless begins drawing. The experiment is a success!

"There you are! Rain will erase it, but you can draw on the pavements, possibly on wood..." It might be a while before it occurs to him to suggest the dragon not make marks inside the mansion.

[no_eels]

Toothless makes a chittering, somewhat bird-like noise in the back of his throat as he marvels at the ability to make bright lines. The first few strokes are just experimental. Then he looks at Balthazar, pleased, and digests the information that he could maybe draw on wood.

Maybe he could draw something near Hiccup's forge... Hmmm. He'll have to try this out, clearly.

For now, though, he looks at Balthazar's art and attempts to copy the shape of some of the markings.

[tryingitall]

Somehow, the noise reminds him of a cat chattering at potential prey through a windowpane. Charmed, Balthazar chuckles softly. "I could make you a set of a few different colors, if you want. Chalk isn't hard to come by."

Noting the copying, he picks up a piece of yellow chalk and scribbles a smiley-face on the brick, to see if Toothless will do the same.

[no_eels]

Owing to his own lack of skill, and the slight awkwardness that couldn't be helped with a stick, his own lines are a lot less precise. Nevertheless, he does manage the basic shapes and marks just fine. A lot can be said for pure curiosity and determination, and Nightfuries have an intelligent eye for detail. What nature had intended for stalking prey is now being used in a bright chalk mural.

...though his demented smiley face could really use some work, as he notices this new pattern of Balthazar's and tries to match it. It looks like more of the Joker's handiwork than anything else.

[tryingitall]

If there were ever any doubt that animals--or at least dragons--have souls of some sort, Toothless seems determined to put it to rest. Even if it's not the most comforting smiley-face, it's a decent first attempt, and Balthazar is pleased to settle into this new game.

He thinks a moment, switching to orange, and draws a very simple outline of a fish.

[no_eels]

For a moment, the Nightfury just stares at it. But dragons of his type were decent at picking out a 2D resemblance to something else, and he realizes that this is the form of his most favorite snack. Maybe, finally, he can draw something when people ask him what he eats.

It's a thought, at least, that Toothless is pleased with as he gives this new shape an enthusiastic attempt. Too enthusiastic, as it turns out; the fish is just a mess of wiggles. But the dragon, determined, tries it a few more times, creating a wiggly school of pink fish on the walkway.

[tryingitall]

Helpfully, the angel sketches the shape over a few times in different sizes to give Toothless something clearer to look at. When the dragon seems to have gotten it well enough, he applauds and sits back on his heels.

"You're really fairly quick at this. I wonder if trying to write letters would be worth it." He's not expecting an answer, necessarily, uncertain whether the dragon will even recognize the word 'letters'. But the wheels are turning.

[no_eels]

Toothless cocks his head to the side, curious, looking more cat-like than ever as he drinks in the compliment. He knows that Vikings have a scratch-mark system to communicate with, as he's seen Hiccup using it. But he's never thought about trying to learn it.

Leaning his head down to experiment some more, the Nightfury starts drawing fish with smiley faces on the side. His chin is looking a bit pink, now, from him blowing on the dust; as is his throat. But he hasn't noticed, yet.

[tryingitall]

Seeing the pink stain on the dragon, Balthazar briefly wonders whether he could use chalk dust to paint color across those dark scales. He's not about to suggest it, though. He's be offended if someone suggested he dye his wings.

The angel switches colors once more and draws the letter mals, similar to a Greek omega. "This is a letter."

[no_eels]

He stares at it for a moment, then takes it as their previous game and sets about copying it, too. It takes him a few tries to get the deliberate shape and it's still wobbly, but no more wobbly than a child learning its first letters. (And pink, in the same way.) He looks up from his work at the wingless Viking next to him, chittering curiously. What does it mean?

[tryingitall]

"Oh, well done!" That answers one question. If he can connect meaning to the symbols, the dragon can definitely learn to write. The question is, how can he explain what letters mean in non-abstract terms.

Balthazar twirls his chalk idly as he thinks the problem over. When the answer comes, he beams. "Right. Letters mean things. This isn't a fish--" he points at the school of pink doodles Toothless drew earlier. "You can't eat it, it's not living, but you know by looking that that shape means 'fish', right?"

He goes back to the mals. "This one is half of the word mahlprg, which means 'fire'. Watch."

He retraces the symbol, then adds another next to it, and sketches a circle around them. As the lines meet, a little flurry of yellow flame springs up around the letters, like a handful of birthday candles lighting up and then fading away.

[no_eels]

Toothless snorts at the tiny puffs of fire, half startled and half excited, blowing pink chalk dust onto his front legs. He was probably going to cover Hiccup in it, later, but for now he looks the circled symbols over very carefully and sniffs where the fire had been.

The Night Fury has to admit, that's a neat trick.

He looks to Balthazar with his wide, green eyes, rumbling interestedly in the back of his throat. Almost as if he was asking if he could do that, too.

[tryingitall]

The lingering scent is spicy-sweet, like sandalwood and cinnamon. Balthazar beams. "It's a simple ritual. Try it, if you like. Do the outer circle last so you don't catch your branch on fire."

Not that there's a lot of danger of injury to either of them.

[no_eels]

Looking back down at the symbols in the circle, Toothless is almost comically the picture of concentration as he really looks at it. There's nothing he'd like more, at this moment, than to be able to summon fire with a stick. None of the other dragons can do that. They'd have to breathe it.

Of course, because of his newborn drawing skills, he draws about a dozen or so very odd things first that fail to summon any fire, looking more like mutated smiley faces than anything else. Even if Balthazar's attention is elsewhere while the dragon works, Toothless keeps on it.

He's rewarded, finally, but a puff of fire, and then jumps around in a quick, excited circle.

[tryingitall]

Balthazar watches for a few moments, then worries he'll make him self-conscious and helps himself to another drink, instead. When he sits back down, he starts coloring checkered patterns on another brick, but he's not completely oblivious to the dragon's progress, and the puff of flame makes him turn fully to look once more.

"Aha! You got it! Well done. Can you do it again?" Wheels are turning. Anyone that can learn a fire sigil can learn warding and banishing, as well, in time...

[no_eels]

Toothless snorts at his sigil, and he finally notices how covered in chalk dust he is. His belly's only been spared because of his moving further and further along the walkway for his drawing. He wonders how a pink Terrible Terror would look, and then tries not to snicker at the thought. Embarrassing — just embarrassing.

At the question, he readies his chalk, which is fairly worn at this point, and then tries again. The first one after is too wobbly, again, but then Toothless concentrates — really concentrates — and he gets it right. His green eyes widen at the spurt of fire, pleased.

[tryingitall]

Balthazar is clearly delighted by all this. He watches the drawing process thoughtfully, and applauds the results. "I wonder if it would be easier to hold onto the branch if it had a horizontal bar at the end, as well?" He suggests, drawing a t-shape on the ground to illustrate.

"Might give you more control over the lines."