3
" Vern did not trust humans was the long and short of it. Not a single one. He had known many in his life, even liked a few, but in the end they all sold him out to the angry mob. Which was why he holed up in Honey Island Swamp out of harm's way.
Vern liked the swamp okay. As much as he liked anything after all these years. Goddamn, so many years just stretching out behind him like bricks in that road old King Darius put down back in who gives a shit BC. Funny how things came back out of the blue. Like that ancient Persian road. He couldn't remember last week, and now he was flashing back a couple thousand years, give or take. Vern had baked half those bricks his own self, back when he still did a little blue-collar. Nearly wore out the internal combustion engine. Shed his skin two seasons early because of that bitch of a job. That and diet. No one had a clue about nutrition in those days. Vern was mostly ketogenic now, high fat, low carbs, apart from his beloved breakfast cereals. Keto made perfect sense for a dragon, especially with his core temperature. Unfortunately, it meant that beer had to go, but he got by on vodka. Absolut was his preferred brand. A little high on alcohol but easiest on the system. "
― Eoin Colfer , Highfire
9
" His little voice piped up, Are you nervous, Wyvern? Holy shit, are you scared?
Vern answered back under his breath, "I ain't scared, asshole. I'm prudent, is all. It's been awhile, and I'm the last dragon, so far as I know. The world can't stand to lose me."
But Vern was nervous, and possibly a smidge scared, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, though he wouldn't admit it to his little voice.
Even Adele gets stage fright, he told himself. Be like Adele and use the energy. "
― Eoin Colfer , Highfire
