He offered what he hoped was a comforting smile and turned his head towards him. It was much easier before the change, but he tried all the same. “I wouldn’t worry too much about it right now,” he said, trying to still any fear he might have stoked. “Your relationship, even if it is parasitic in nature, as of now seems more symbiotic.” Though describing something within you as a ‘sleeping dragon’ can’t help but stir concern.

Removing oneself from the metaphor, if the dragon ever did wake up then what would happen? He smiled around his name as he repeated it back to him, “Drake. Whatever may be dwelling inside of you could possibly be more victim than I would have previously thought. You say it never stirs, have you tried to communicate properly with this other?” With Minasé it had been as easy as talking to another person. Too easy in fact. Then again, Minasé wasn’t in constant slumber.

“Communing with your dragon soul might be your best route. If they’re in constant slumber then maybe contact through dreams is your best bet,” he suggested, trying to remain unbiased. Even if dreams weren’t his realm now it would have been something he’d proposed. “What’s important is that you feel safe…” He and Minasé were forced together, but there had still been a slim chance of them growing close. It of course hadn’t happened, but things wouldn’t have been so bad if they’d been amiable towards one another.

He had avoided his question for as long as he could and looked forward, thinking on how best to expand on his answer while keeping it simple and short. “Mine was a curse through my bloodline,” he answered simply, looking over at him again with as nonchalant a smile as he could manage.

“Somewhere along the line my father ticked off the wrong daemon and said daemon cursed his blood. Both my sister and I were born with a twin inside of us: a daemon like the one that cursed our birth father,” he explained. “We had it, our children will have it, we’ll all share bodies with a daemon. Sometimes they have control, sometimes we do. We look identical save for our hair and eyes and markings.”

A sad smile flitted across his lips, “I was fortunate enough to be…let’s call it ‘cured’. My children won’t suffer the curse. My sister…not so lucky,” he looked forward again, the smile having faded. He of course left out how the whole reason he was ‘cured’ was due to ascending into deity hood. It had split he and Minasé, and his daemon was out wandering somewhere with his own body ever since. Hiromi wouldn’t be as lucky…Even after his children were born he worried that something might have passed, but they were past the age of it showing now and were safe.

“That’s a long story though. You my friend have something quite unique that might be worth embracing so long as it proves safe,” he said with an honest smile, his eyes glowing brighter: shining emeralds. “Your name is Drake and you have a dragon within you eh? Seems the fates had this in store for you from your birth as well,” he teased, trying to lighten the somber moment.