Stone

Yumi paces around his office, the symbols on his clock leaving glowing pink trails in his wake. The thick vines on his wings shake with the weight of the red flowers they support, and every once in a while a petal falls gently to the ground only to be trampled by careless claws moments later. “Wrong, wrong, it’s all wrong!” He mutters, humming words under his breath in thought.

“What’s wrong?” A snapper with blue runes and sludge-like scales ables into the room. He steps around a potted plant on the ground, raising a brow at its contents. “You know, there are other fruits besides strawberries you could do this with.”

“Not interested,” Yumi snaps, frowning and the mess in the pot. A reddish translucent substance covers it, brittle like hard candy with spikes of it sticking up towards the ceiling. In the center, a cluster of strawberries, oddly blackened as if burnt. “I don’t understand. It should be candy! Not… whatever this is.” He pokes at it with a claw. A piece of the ‘candy’ crumbles, shards scattering onto the purple carpet. “Drat. I just cleaned that.”

“Look, I think what you really need is a break. You have the answer, you’re just tired is all.” The snapper coughs. “Also, I think this room could use some ventilation. Mind if I open a window?”

“Sure, sure.” Yumi waves him off, going back to poking at the pot while humming numbers and chemical combinations.

The snapper sighs. “Stone.”

“No, tried that. Makes it too brittle when I add it to the mixture. Sand’s too gritty, iron smells weird, jade exploded for some reason, and clay makes this thing. I’d use honey but the texture’s off when I factor in the rest of the ingredients… hm, what about amber?”

“My name is Stone.”

“Oh.” Yumi blinks. “Mine’s Yumi.”

Stone nods. “I know. I applied to help with your experiments for a reason. You’re well known for your genius.” He coughs. “And your… efficiency with conversations. You’re not big on getting to know dragons, huh.” He coughs again. “Okay, window time. No idea how you survive in this.”

Yumi stares hard at a shard of ‘candy’ stuck to his claw. “Well, most just come by for a week, take their notes, then go write an article or something.” He licks his claw tentatively and gags.

“That doesn't bother you?”

“Hey, it’s free help. I get an assistant that washes beakers, they get to be nosy. Win-win.” Yumi gags again. “Wow, that is awful. I need to add a stronger flavor if I’m gonna mask the taste of that protection spell.”

“Protection spell?”

“Yeah, there’s some march thing going on with the snappers and they’re bringing along a bunch of hatchlings. Figured handing out candy would be easier than trying to get them to sit still long enough for me to cast the spell.”

Stone stares at the pot with newfound respect. “That’s amazing. I’ve never thought of imbuing food with a spell before.”

“Well it’s not really common practice. Takes ages to match a spell’s make-up with ingredients that won’t mess with the function. Takes a few more ages to make it taste good.” Yumi sighs. “I just really thought I had it that time.”

“I’m sure you’ll get it.” Stone’s second set of wings flutter, a white feather drifting loose. “Oh Shadowbinder, sorry about that. They should’ve been done molting by now.”

“No problem, I could always use a new quill, and they’re very nice feathers.”

“You think?”

“Yup, way better quality than the cheap ones I usually order in bulk.”

Stone turns an odd shade of purple. He stares even harder at the pot. “Thank you. No dragon has ever, well, not minded before.”

Yumi just hums something, going back to his desk to tinker with the beakers there.