~§¥ The Outcasts: A Haven for Outsiders ¥§~ do not post yet

Alfonse, sensing he may have gone too far with his boasting, apologized once more. "I do not mean to appear arrogant. This must all be very unbelievable. I wouldn't quite believe it myself, if I had not experienced it firsthand." He chuckled nervously. "I must admit, your offer is outstandingly kind. By that, I mean, allowing me to stay here. I had simply planned to wander around aimlessly for awhile until I decided to go home." He paused for a moment, and glanced between the girl and her wolf. "I won't be any trouble at all, you have my word, miss."

(BRB)

Aurora acted as if she hadn't heard the rumbling, and nodded. "We have plenty of fruits and vegetables, and today there's fish. You can pick out what you want from the garden, and I'll fix it, or you can pick something in the kitchen that's already made." What she neglected to mention, was that in the absence of refrigeration (which she had never heard of) vegetables and fruit had to be preserved with copious amounts of salt and sugar, respectively. For someone unused to the high salt or sugar content, it could be a 'little' jarring.

Aurora gave a curt nod and resumed her original course for the castle, leading the way to the kitchen. Catori followed close behind her, but carelessly walked right in front of Alfonse, not unlike the way dogs are bad about.

(I'm going to have Peter continue on his earlier mission, but there will be other characters for Mako to interact with.)

Peter gestured towards where the kitchen was, "Kitchen is that way. Clothes are on the third floor—" He suddenly stopped, remembering his earlier promise to bring the dragon some clothes. Was he still there? Gee, I'd better hurry. He's going to think I forgot about him. With that thought, the boy suddenly tore away up stairs to get the dragon a change of clothes. He couldn't decide what he might like, so he got several things. He wasn't sure how large the dragon's human form was, so he erred on the side of caution with the size of the clothes. With clothes in hand, he raced back outside — nearly stumbling into Aurora again on his way out — and broke away into the forest.

Aurora gave him an odd look, but he was gone before she had time to ask him any questions.

Alfonse suddenly turned as the boy bolted past, and he recognized Peter as the child whom he had been tracking before. Although Alfonse had already assumed the boy lived at the castle, since he had found Catori in its garden, he was somewhat surprised; he wondered what exactly the boy could be attending to, rushing around in such a manner. Could it have something to do with that odd creature from earlier? Which brought back the question: how was he relocated here? The scientist wondered about the nature of this odd new world. He said nothing to Aurora concerning the boy, however, but followed along behind her as she entered the kitchen, marvelling at the castle's interior. "May I ask, is all your world's architecture this elegant?"

Alfonse nodded understandingly. He stood in the doorway of the kitchen as he and Aurora conversed, so as not to get in the way as she prepared their dinner. "I presume your home is far from civilization, then?" He crossed his ankles, and leaned against the stone wall.

Sasha opened one eye when he sensed the hatchling close by. So he did remember. Funny. Most hatchlings and humans forget about what they do. He has rarely seen a person that doesn't get confused or forgetful on something in their lives. Well, he guessed you do learn something new each day. now if that was a good or bad thing was still to be figured out.

Peter grinned sheepishly, "I brought you some clothes." He awkwardly lay them on the ground a few feet from the dragon's face, "I wasn't sure what you would like... I brought two of everything so you could choose." Aside from socks and undergarments, the clothes included two pairs of pants - one black and one brown, two shirts - one red and one green, a belt, two pairs of shoes of different sizes, and a brown hat with a red feather stuck in the side of it. He wasn't sure how to excuse himself. He didn't want to appear rude, but he didn't think the dragon would want him sticking around while he changed. And if the wise old dragon wanted to come to the castle, Peter would have to stay relatively nearby so he could lead him there.

After sharing the castle with a sometimes-hyperactive kid, Aurora's patience had grown somewhat, and Alfonse's maturity was a welcome reprieve, "I'm not sure what you mean by primitive, but we do have a library. Take the stairs at the end of the corridor, turn right, then a left, and it's the room at the very end. There's no door. It should be easy to find. If you want fish, I'll come get you when it's done." Fortunately, she was done with cleaning the slimy creatures, and now she could move on to cooking them. For all of the castle's primitivity, everything required for cooking and preparing food could be found in one form or another in the kitchen. There was a stone oven, a large roasting spit, and a stone sink with a pump to release water. Storage cabinets lined two sides of the room, filled with preserved food and a large array of spices of every sort. The fish would be coated in oil and spices, then roasted in the spit with various vegetables.

(Note: Some may wonder how she keeps everything stocked. She doesn't use very much at a time. Anything that she can't grow or get at the castle - like salt and oil - is brought to her about every six months from a reclusive relative. Aside from him and her parents, the other characters are the only people she's ever met.)

Sasha looked at the clothing before raising his head up and closed his eyes. It was then Peter got to witness a dragon's magic. His body began to grow smaller, and his scales slowly disappeared as his forepaws began to rearrange, the talons became fingers, and paws hands. The limbs lost much of their muscle but changed into strong arms. And while that happened the dragon's long neck shrunk as did the horns on his head, they also soften and turned into long red hair as his head reshaped into that of handsome humans.

His body went under much change as well; it went from the massive animal body into a well built human body. And once he finished changing all that was left of his dragon self, was his wings and tail. He shrugged his shoulders and picked on the clothes to get changed. After he made the tail and wings disappeared.

(I was not distracted by youtube and spent way to much time on my reply)

(haha, it happens. I actually fell asleep at some point tonight and only woke up around 11. I'll be good to carry on for about another hour, and then I'll need more rest. I'm trying to change my schedule so that I'm on more.)

Peter turned at his cough, and afterwards stood there wearing a 'O.O...' expression. (Can't think of any other way to describe it, heh. I wonder what Sasha would think of a flying - but wingless - human.) Peter openly wondered if Sasha was interested in following him back to the castle, but was having a tough time figuring out how to ask.

Peter chuckled, "Understandable." He sloppily folded the clothes that the dragon didn't use and hung them over his arm, "I don't think I told you my name. I'm Peter."

Peter's face lit up, "Catchy. And hey, your last name sounds like 'dragon'. Pretty ironic." He mirrored the smirk. "You're still welcome to follow me home, if you want. There's plenty of rooms, and you don't have to stay if you don't find it to your liking." He didn't mention the two newcomers, as he didn't want to discourage him.