Aini

"Stop that," Winston snarls, baring teeth at the goofy smile flushing over Passion. Passion's got this goofily serene expression on his face right now, giggling like he's never done this before, never felt this feeling before. He has; he hasn't. "I keep telling you to stop doing that, yet what of it? You never listen." Winston relaxes his posture and his lips recede over his teeth once more as he looks over in the direction of the dragon Passion just swept over.

There's a contemplative pause before Winston speaks up again. "The lad's bad news, Passion. He's picky in more than one sense of the word -- actually, have you seen his hands?"

"They're like the molting wings of an angel," Passion croons, still swooning over the encounter. "Soft and delicate, vulnerable in its current state, yet capable of felling what it needs to." My heart, he thinks, feels as if Winston needs no further words on the subject, and he's right.

Winston furrows his brow as best as a dog can do. "Right, so you haven't seen his hands." The dog snorts at his keeper's chutzpah. "He's destructive. Even those gloves he wears, you know that there's a reason why he wears gloves. He's hiding his hands, his bloody, bloody hands. Helping him gather his effects doesn't change that. It doesn't change him, and it doesn't change you."

Just like that, Passion's lovestruck semblance fades to a much more somber one. "... I wanted it to," he pouts, the selfishness and wanting apparent in his tone, in his eyes.

Winston catches the hurt note in Passion's tone and closes his eyes to avoid seeing that pouting face Passion does occasionally. He lies down and rests his head on his front paws, inhaling deeply before he continues. "You know," he starts, and then he pauses. Is Passion really ready for this kind of revelation, or, at least, this from Winston's mouth? "Passion, not everybody's like you. And that's... That's okay. Don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise." Winston lazily opens an eye to peer at Passion in hopes that Passion isn't crying. The poor sap is, but it's not due to something that Winston said (or, at least, that's what Winston hopes). "I'm not saying that you need to stop being you. Don't. I'm saying that as your guardian, I don't want you to get yourself into a world of trouble."

Passion snivels and turns to look Winston in the eye. "You're a jerk, but thank you anyway."

"Not everyone meets their destined partners like in fairy-tales, Passion," Winston grumbles as he closes his eye again. "Not everyone needs their destined partners. You're one of them. So then, do me a favor and stop that."

"No," Passion frowns and looks away from Winston, hurt, but both of them know that Passion's going to be thinking about this whenever he tries again.