Shelly PoV
I stopped and smiled as I looked up at a painting of a boy and his dog. It reminded me of Toran and his love for dogs. I had yet to get him his 'Rex'. Maybe I should take him tomorrow to the pet shop to pick one out.
Damien smiled next to me. "You like that one?"
"Yea," I replied.
He hummed. "It's cute. Reminds me of my childhood."
"Did you have a pet?" I asked.
He nodded. "Yea. A fluffy golden retriever."
"What happened to him?"
Damien sighed.
"Great-granny forced me to get rid of her."
"I'm sorry."
He shrugged. "It's alright. At least I found a nice new owner for her. He loved the puppy so much."
I frowned. "So, the old hag hates dogs, huh?" Just one more thing to hate about her.
He sighed. "Yeah, she dislikes how loud and smelly dogs can be. Plus, dogs can bite. So she thinks they're all aggressive. Which is dumb since it's usually a bad owner to blame."
I nodded. "Right, a dog's behavior is almost all based on how it was trained. That said, I took you as more of a cat person."
He laughed. "I love animals in general. Even spiders. They're adorable with their eight wiggly little legs."
I shuddered. "Ick, don't mention their legs!" I could handle dogs, birds, hamsters and even reptiles, but insects? Especially ones that had way too many eyes and legs? No thanks!
He chuckled and grabbed my arm. "Alright, no need for the shivers. We have many more masterpieces to check out."
I grinned. "I guess so."
***
The two of us moved to the next room. Inside, I stared in awe at a statue of a man on his deathbed, surrounded by his loved ones. The detail in his face, the way his hand clutched his chest... it was all so realistic.
Damien stared at it sadly. Was he thinking of Grandpa Alastair? To me he was a stranger, but the old man was very special to him. I wondered why they were so close.
"Say, Damien, how close were you to my grandfather?" I asked, looking at Damien closely.
"Pretty close. As the grandson of his oldest son, he personally groomed me to be his heir." He smiled softly. "We spent so much time together that he ended up feeling like my grandpa, too. He used to play with me too."
"Wait, don't tell me he was into dinos like Toren?"
"He sure was! He loved playing with figurines of them! Although, his favorites were dragons. He thought they were majestic and cool. It's why he became an archaeologists."
I sighed, remembering his tales. "Yup, just like Toren. Dragons and dinos, those are his main interests."
"Well, they're related, so I'm not too surprised."
"Maybe," I replied with a laugh. I just hoped that Toren wouldn't become a player as well, chasing women left and right. One Cassian was enough.
Damien gestured toward another section of the room.
"Come on," he said, his voice regaining its playful edge. "There's more to see—some of these might remind you of Toren's dino obsession."
I chuckled and took out the phone he had gifted me. If so, might as well take pictures of them for Toren to enjoy.
The next room was full of large, towering paintings of different mythical creatures. I gasped as I looked at a painting of an enormous sea monster, tentacles emerging from a churning sea, its gaping maw ready to swallow whole ships.
Damien hummed as he stared at it. "You know, they say this painting was inspired by an actual event."
I turned to him. "An actual event? Hope you don't mean it literally. As much as I'd like to think such things were real, I'd rather they weren't."
He smirked and leaned in, light hitting his chin as he turned on the light of his phone. "Oh, it's real alright. They say a creature rose out from the abyss and attacked the ship, sinking it with most of the treasure. Only one man survived to tell the story."
I gulped. "Really?" I looked back at the image and shivered.
He snickered at my fear. "I'm kidding, Shelly. It's just an old family legend. Supposedly, the guy who survived was our great-great-great... Well, a very distant ancestors of ours."
I blinked and relaxed. "Did he actually find a treasure, though?"
"Yeah, a blue gem. But there was a catch! It was haunted!"
I punched him on the arm, and he burst out laughing.
I sighed and huffed at him, but my anger gave away to amusement. His laugh was contagious. It was so pure, almost childlike, the total opposite of the somber look he had on earlier. And for a moment, he seemed to be nothing more than an innocent boy.
When he finished laughing, Damien gestured to the next painting. "Alright, no more scary stories. This is a lot more cheerful. The birth of a dragon."
The painting he'd gestured to depicted a massive, shimmering egg nestled in a nest on top a forest canopy, its shell cracked open to reveal a baby dragon unfurling its wings for the first time. The dragon's scales were a brilliant emerald green, catching the painted sunlight, creating a green-red contrast. The mother dragon loomed above, her eyes glowing with fierce pride as she watched her hatchling take its first breath outside the egg.
I snapped a quick picture, already imagining Toren's excited squeals when I showed him this tonight.
"He's going to lose it over this one," I said, a grin spreading across my face as I lowered the phone. "He'd probably say this baby dragon is a Rampdos cousin—maybe call it 'Leafwing' or something."
Damien chuckled. "I can certainly see that. So, how about we take a quick break? I'm starting to get the munchies."
My stomach growled at the mention of food.
He snickered. "Seems I'm not the only one who is hungry here."
I puffed my cheeks as my face turned as pink as the hoodie I had on. "S-shut up. Just take me to wherever they sell good food that will fill us both back up."
He chuckled some more and waved at me. "Follow me!"
I couldn't help but smile back, my cheeks still warm as I tucked the phone back into my pocket. Damien was such a goof. But, he sure knew how to make my boring days fun.