His tail, dangling from the branch, sweeps from side to side.

"Hello," he says, a little dryly.

“...You are beautiful.”

"...That's... not what I was expecting to hear," says the scaly apparition, blinking confusedly down at her.

“Well, there must not be many mirrors here, then!”

Snort. "I've made my peace with this form but I was human once and I think most people would say I was much prettier then."

"People have terrible taste."

"Except you, apparently."

"It's more fun to be the single person in the world who likes the best things than to be a sad lunatic."

He giggles.

"That sounds like you know what I'm talking about!"

"I just can't believe you'd call this," he gestures at himself with a glittering clawed hand, "a 'best thing'!"

"You're gorgeous and glittery and you could probably pick me up and throw me in one hand. What's confusing?"

He shakes his head and laughs again, and then drops from the tree to the ground. The thump when he lands is nearly seismic.

...he's even bigger up close. Definitely ten or twelve feet tall, and not much farther away than that.

She needs more words for "wow".

(She also steps forward, rather than back.)

"So...two thousand years...?"

He tilts his head and studies her thoughtfully. "Yes?"

"How'd you manage that?"

"Someone tried to kill me and it didn't quite work out how they expected."

"–yeah, that seems like it backfired pretty bad."

"Well, it did stop me being the emperor of the world."

"–the what."

Snort. "Don't they teach history anymore? Tarakova Imerin, Emperor of Artelindaion. I might not have had the entire world in my grasp, but I was very close to it. And then someone decided they were tired of watching me abuse all the power I could get my hands on, and tried to kill me, and succeeded in destroying my capital and trapping me in its ruin, and there went the empire."

Well, she might as well believe him.

“...were you as bad as they say you are?”

"Worse, if anything."

”...so, when you said you wouldn’t tear me to pieces...”

"I haven't changed my mind, if you were worrying." He tilts his head thoughtfully. "Or... not worrying."