Character Study
A nice thing that timeandtimor was kind to make me~
"Dragon!"
Adrian stopped putting sunscreen on his arms and turned around at the sudden high-pitched cry. He saw a little girl in yellow flip flops and a bright pink swimsuit pointing at him with an awed expression. His brow furrowed for a moment in confusion, but he quickly connected the dots and realized she was enamored with his back tattoo.
"Yes," he responded with a small smile, "It's a dragon."
"I love them!" She declared bravely, putting her hands on her hips and offering a toothy grin. "That's a big dragon you have."
He absently touched the back of his shoulder where the crest of the dragon rested. He never felt alone when he thought his tattoo, and how it represented his dear sister. This little girl had the same love of myth that she had had.
He twisted so he could look at the girl over his shoulder without inhibiting her view of his tattoo. She started babbling about the dragons that she read about with her mom at nighttime, but Adrian's thoughts had already wandered. He focused on the beauty mark below her left eye, how she would probably grow to hate that feature later on. He thought about whether or not she would get bullied, since the world didn't treat passionate people well. His thoughts grew darker as he thought about the kind of children that would bully such a bright eyed girl when he was startled out of them.
The girl had come closer to lay a hand on his tattoo, and that had grounded him enough to evade his internal thoughts. She giggled and patted his back as if patting the dragon itself. "What's his name?"
Adrian almost laughed. "I guess I didn't think of giving him a name."
She made a funny face at that, and it took him a moment to realize it was her thinking face. "What about Scaley?"
Her creativity made him think of his sister even more. His heart ached, but there was still a smile on his face. Before he could respond to her, though, her mother approached, grabbing her daughter and apologizing for letting her wander. "It's no trouble," he assured with his signature charisma.
As the girl was pulled away, he couldn't help thinking about what his sister would name a dragon, given the chance.