candle burning slowly by the bed

ooc. leaving details of the intro thread vague since it ain't finished yet lol

The once-prince woke in a cold sweat, flashes of teeth and blood arcing across his vision as the vestiges of his dream passed into the realm of his subconscious. For a few horrible seconds, he did not know where he was. The stone walls on all sides were unfamiliar, and no light from outside reached him. Slowly it trickled in as the tenderness of his battered flesh and screaming ache in his fractured ribs roared to life; a dark beach and thunderous pawsteps pursuing him. Cold cerulean eyes staring down from an impossible height. Pluto was a captive in a blighted pack, charged with making himself useful to find a cure. A long, low groan shuddered through his chest to wheeze past his lips. He needed tea. Immediately. Something light to break his fast, perhaps. Would he be allowed to eat yet?

With herculean effort, the emaciated runaway stumbled and shook until he was standing. Breathing was agony, and he knew dimly that it would continue to do so for quite some time while he healed. What time was it? There was no way to know. So he crept as silently as he could out of the alcove where he'd slept, leaving his cloak on the floor where he'd slept on it. Positively bedraggled and rumpled, this was hardly the man who'd once stood among kings. He stooped to lave his tongue gently over the scabbing wounds that he could reach, to comb his teeth through the tangles in his coat that wouldn't bring him too much pain to tidy. Not much of an improvement, by all accounts. Old habits died hard.

The room opened up dramatically after a few strides, and the wary captive found himself hesitating. Peering about the corner with his good eye in search of danger, his golden ears pressed flat against his skull. Would he be punished for leaving? The customs were unfamiliar here, he knew little more than the language spoken by those he'd met thus far. What was the appropriate manner for a servant? Cream tipped tail tucked against his belly, head low between his frail shoulders as he searched for scraps that he could abscond with before he was caught..

"speaking" -- "in another language"