Don't Mind Me (Quills!)

[Anonymous]

Aori liked the woods close to his home. They were generally quiet and people-free, which left him to read his books in peace. He was currently snuggled up against a tree root, curled in on himself like he had found the heights of luxury. He'd always been a strange one, at least according to his parents. He'd at least had the foresight to bring a blanket to lay beneath him. He didn't want anything to get dirty, after all. That would just be ridiculous.

It had been a warm day, even in the shade, and the forest felt peaceful. Peaceful and relaxing. It was just beginning to get dark, and was the perfect kind of sleepy half-light. Aori's eyes began to close, eyelashes fluttering against his cheeks. Sleep was good. Dreams were better.

[Anonymous]

With a flash of blinding white light, the small grey dragon appeared in yet another location, the latest of today's countless uncontrolled teleportations. Disoriented, he rocketed from tree to tree, crashing into trunks and leaves as he fired off blast after blast of light in a desperate attempt to dump magic. It was easier here, with the horrible thing in the sky only just peeking over the horizon, but the last place he'd been was so hot and bright and he had to get rid of it all!

After a final cleansing pulse of light, he hurtled into another tree and fell, stripping away a cloud of silver dust from his wings along with a chunk of bark. Exhausted, he collapsed to the ground in a sad little heap, twitching slightly with nervous energy. In his panic, he hadn't even noticed the man resting under the tree he'd so rudely skinned. This had just been the worst – no, second worst! - day ever!

[Anonymous]

Aori woke with a start at the sudden flashes of light, unable to process for a moment what was happening.

Lightning? Err...extremely localized lightning?! And then this strange creature-type-thing was hurtling into the tree above his head, flashing so brightly it left dots in front of his eyes and left him stunned. He was just recovering when a piece of tree bark helpfully hit him on the head. He pouted and looked up at the tree, as if willing it to apologize. Rude.

That was when he saw it. A moth. A big, giant moth. Or was it a really tiny dragon? He wasn't quite sure. Completely forgetting all intentions of keeping his clothes clean, he crawled forwards to get a closer look, eyes wide with curiosity.  Lying his head down next to the creature, he stared at it in awe. It was twitching, so he did the only logical thing he could think of. He poked it.

"Hello?"

[Anonymous]

Hearing the human greeting noise, the dragon turned his head to look for the source and finally spotted the sleek person next to his own pathetic form. Who then poked him. Well, that wasn't very nice! Here he was, all dejected on the ground, and this human came over and poked him! To make sure they knew just how he felt right now, he used his telepathy to share his unhappiness in the hope that they might help him out.

Just in case, he tried flapping his wings, succeeding only in stirring up the dirt around him, and then laid his head back down with another psychic wave of sadness. If he could rest for a while he could probably muster up the strength to haul himself over to the tree and try to climb a little way up it, but for now all he was capable of was feeling sorry for himself. He just kind of hoped the human pitied him as much as he did.

[Anonymous]

The waves of unhappiness that radiated from the creature startled Aori, and he instantly started to panic, cheeks flushing with color. Oh god. Psychic connection. Aori's worst nightmare. He embarrassed himself enough as it was. He really didn't need anyone to know what he was thinking. The way his mouth ran-off when he was nervous...his thoughts were just more of the same.

"Gah! I'm sorry! I thought you were dead! Well, not dead, because you were all twitchy, but...erm...dying?!"

He scrambled to pull off his soft, expensive coat and wrapped it around the prone dragon quickly, trying to make it as comfortable as possible. "There. Is that better? I'm sorry! Oh, but you're cute!" He settled the creature across his lap, still talking a mile a minute, face a map of concern.

"Are you okay? I'm sorry I poked you. You were just lying there looking all poke-able. What are you? Can you even understand me? Or am I just talking to myself again?" he whined low in his throat, anxiety coursing through him. This was so not good.

[Anonymous]

The little dragon lay still now, listening to the human making all of its human noises, babbling on soothingly like a stream or maybe rain on trees. It sounded the way humans got when they were nervous, not that he couldn't already tell the person was frantic, as an unmistakeable feeling of panic radiating from them. They couldn't be scared of him, especially not the way he was now, so were they worried for him instead?

Well, they were just a whole lot nicer that he'd thought! It was confirmed when the human wrapped him snugly in their outer fur – the dragon had learnt not to be alarmed when they took their skins off, because they always had another two or three underneath which seemed all kinds of useful! - and his usual soft humming began to sound again. He still wasn't a very happy dragon, but he was feeling much better now that he knew someone was going to make sure he was all right.

The panic in the human's voice was tinged now with curiosity, and he replied with a wave of comfort and gratitude, wriggling slightly to snuggle himself more securely into their arms. All he wanted right now was to rest a while, and recharge slowly in the nice safe moonlight, and with the human here he could do all that without worrying! This person was going to be his friend forever, he just knew it!

[Anonymous]

"Oh." said Aori, making a little shocked noise when the creature started to hum in his arms. He wasn't just cute, he was adorable; and Aori really wanted to keep him, but wasn't sure what his parents would say if they knew they had a dragon living in their attic. The little dragon snuggled closer and Aori smiled, deciding they really didn't have to know. This could all be between him and his dragon.

His dragon. The thought made him feel a little surge of affection, even if it wasn't particularly true. He liked this little guy already.

"What's your name, buddy?" he asked, giving the guy a loving little rub in the space behind his antennae, and listening to the little noises he made with fascination. He was cuddling a dragon.

It was totally weird, but also kind of awesome. He grinned to himself excitedly and then realized he was rocking it a little. Like a baby. He was actually sitting there, cradling a dragon, and rocking it like a baby.

"I probably need some serious mental help." he acknowledged out-loud, but then he went back to smiling like a little boy with a birthday cake. His dragon was awesome. It was kinda like a puppy with wings. Seriously cool. And if he happened to be acting like a giant freak at that moment, who needed to know? He didn't think the dragon was going to tell anyone. At least, he hoped not.

[Anonymous]

The dragon moved his head with the human's petting, encouraging them to get to the itchy spots. With the rocking too, it felt a bit like he was with his mother again, riding on her back through the jungle he hatched in. It was just really nice, and his hum changed pitch from high to low and back.

And then... Name? He knew that sound! It was a thing humans used to tell each other apart, which he could see being useful since they all had such similar faces and while their skins and markings did vary about as much as his species' did, there were just so many more of them! Clearly they needed something extra to go by. Well, he didn't, and he sent out a thought, an image of the shimmering grey tone of his skin.

The human said something about help as well, and the little dragon sent another wave of thanks in reply. Yes, they were helping, and he was very grateful! And if they could just keep helping for a little bit longer, that would be the best thing in the world. At the very least, he'd want some assistance getting into the air again. Oh, and then, if he was feeling well enough, they could play! Wouldn't that be perfect? He was excited already at just the thought!

The nasty big light in the sky was completely gone now, which meant the moon would come out soon and he could feed. This was usually his least favourite part of the day, the agonising wait between waking up and breakfast, but tonight he was just looking forward to seeing his oldest friend. The comfort of the familiar was something he sorely needed right now... Or at least he would, if he hadn't been so lucky!

[Anonymous]

"Silver? Is that your name? Oh, that's pretty." Aori said, feeling strangely relaxed.  Maybe it was because the dragon couldn't talk back (and therefore confirm Aori was an idiot), or maybe it was giving off some kind of relaxing vibes, he didn't know, but it was nice. The humming noise was nice too, almost like the dragon was purring. But that was ridiculous, because dragons didn't purr. Did they? Maybe that piece of tree bark had been heavier than he had thought. It was very possible this was all one big hallucination.

He made a noise suspiciously similar to a giggle when he realized he had said this all out-loud, and blushed even though no one but the dragon was there to see.  He felt another wave of gratitude from the little dragon, and snuggled him even closer in response. He was beginning to feel oddly maternal. Or paternal. One or the other.

The point was, the little dragon had endeared himself to Aori very quickly. He wasn't quite sure how he'd got from poking the thing to picking out colors for a nursery, but apparently he was a giant sap. He was okay with that, he thought, scratching under the dragon's chin absent-mindedly.

[Anonymous]

Nestled in his human's arms, the little dragon dozed peacefully, enjoying the gentle scratching and humming softly along with it. It was nice to spend some time resting after the decidedly non-restful day he'd had. He was happy, the human seemed happy, and everything was perfect! It wasn't as fun as playing, but there was a time for playing and this wasn't it. Yet.

What seemed like hours passed, although it was likely to be more of a matter of minutes, and the little dragon noticed that familiar glow in the sky, the soft cold light of the beautiful moon. It was only a crescent right now and waning, but it still shone enough to feed him. Wanting to get out into the sky and bask in that wonderful glow, he struggled his way out of the human's arms only to find himself flopping helplessly in the dirt again.

Ah, yes. Flying. That was difficult when you were stuck at ground level and had no legs. But he had a new friend, who was bigger and did have legs, and arms, and could help him! Craning his neck to look at the human, he sent out a thought, an image of himself fluttering happily in the air. Hopefully he hadn't hurt his wings in the collision earlier, but they felt fine. He'd be so sad if they weren't!

[Anonymous]

Aori's stomach twisted in fear and concern as the dragon struggled away from him and flopped helplessly in the dirt. Maybe it had hit its head harder than he had originally thought. His heart sank at the thought he might have been poking a brain-damaged dragon. That really didn't say great things about him as a person.

The image of the little silver guy fluttering happily away was soon clear in his mind though, and Aori grinned big and wide, relieved. He scooped the little dragon back up again, getting to his feet and holding him up in the air. Of course the dragon wanted to fly, that was what dragon's did best! He should probably have thought of that before deciding he was going to adopt the little guy and take him to live in his parent's attic. The dragon probably wouldn't have been too happy about that. Aori wasn't thrilled about it himself.

Ah well, some dreams were over before they even began. It didn't mean they couldn't be friends! Not having to talk felt like the best thing ever, and was definitely in his favor.