Summary: She's assimilated herself easier than she thought she would have. Maybe that has to do with her thick skin? Now, quite literally.
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me except my OC/SI
Warning: Might be a bit of an AU, some meetings changed up, language, may contain spoilers
Chapter 1
Azure light appeared as the relaxed lid slid half open, right eye glancing sideways to the smaller creature full of bright orange and small tiny hard spines currently attempting to disrupt her current state of zen by pawing innocently at her crossed paws.
Her eye narrowed. And closed right afterwards. That's a universal No, no matter where one may be.
Few seconds of peaceful undisturbed silence, with the cool wind and the sounds of nature flowing past her only companion.
A growl left her throat unconsciously, feeling the same pawing, only now on her other side and more insistent accompanied by high pitched growls of their own.
Little brats.
Alright, so she liked to play around with the younglings when she could, but every now and then she liked to have her alone time, where she could just chill, and have her existential crisis in peace, for Heavens sake.
Left lid slid open all the way this time, clear turquoise freezing the baby dragon in its place with a piercing reproaching look, its siblings behind him following in domino affect.
"Where's your mother, little ones?" She rumbled softly, both eyes now open and staring at the more colorful dragons but still not raising her head because she was not going to leave her position. Do you know how difficult it is to persuade this giant of a dragon to let her rest on top of him? She had to degrade herself to dilated large puppy dog eyes and constantly croon like a pup, she was still surprised at how much he allowed her to get away with.
Such a kind gentle beast.
The autumn colored baby dragon (because she, for the life of her, could not remember each of these species' names, nor did she attempt to), blinked large dilated amber hues at her, cooing softly right afterwards (as if he wasn't just pestering her with high pitched impatient growls alongside his siblings, the little shi-)
"Food."
She hummed quietly, her look softening at the multiple soft coos behind following after his barked word, god damn it those coos.
But, she knew they could take care of themselves without her input. Their mother wasn't too far as well, undoubtedly getting food for them like he said, they just wanted a playmate at the moment; they saw her napping on top of him, again, decided to take their chance, again.
Fortunately for her, he wasn't having it, at least at this moment.
Huffing in slight amusement at how they scattered out to the open air in a sort of playful panic when the Alpha turned his massive head to shake them off, her paws gently grabbed down where she was laying behind long sturdy sharp ended spikes, not moving from her position, watching curiously the way they chattered to themselves in high pitched warbles and barks of innocent excitement, but all simultaneously turned their heads back where a familiar call was heard, flying off while bumping in to one another, ah the call for food from their mother.
Regardless. Sleek tail curling more around her body, the tip tapped gently beside her where she was laying, silently thanking the giant being beneath her.
She was in the midst of her existential crisis mode, where she usually had it on top of the Gentle Beast, and no one was going to interrupt her.
"Shya!"
The ears that were slightly high in curiosity from before lowered instantly against her head at the unfortunately now familiar voice, unconsciously raising her head and straightening her neck out of slow rising tension.
And that name. That blasted blasted name.
"Shyaa!"
Oh my god.
Features twisted to what she was sure would be a human cringing expression full of pain and whys before successfully smoothing out to a near blank state if it weren't for her small pursing snout and lowered ears.
"I know you can hear me up there."
She turned her head to the opposite side from where the voice rang out, hear what?
The female's voice didn't shout for she knew the dragon could hear her from afar, chuckling quietly when the white Fury turned her head away directly to the opposite side in childish retaliation.
"Why must you still be this stubborn after all this time?" Turquoise and azure snapped to the dragon (CloudThunder? CloudHugger? Something Cloud), who hovered near by with gentle flaps of his large wings, exasperation and hidden curiosity in tone though face staring at her calmly and not daring to land anywhere on the Gentle Beast.
"Answer me this, Cloud," she leisurely uncrossed her paws, crossing them again in the opposite directions, not leaving her gaze from his, "out of the thousands of thousands of dragons in this environment, why must the two legged one choose to continuously disturb the one dragon that wants absolutely nothing to do with her?" The ridges where her eyebrows would be if she was human raised in question, patiently waiting for the other to answer. Honestly, it wasn't the first, nor would it be the last time they would have this conversation. She was almost as exasperated as him. Could he not leave the topic be? No, of course not, he had to be kind (and nosy).
His head tilted almost cutely, and she refused to let the cooing sound within her to be voiced aloud.
"She is a curious one, ever since the beginning. You have not allowed your instincts to do what they will, to trust in her even with all she has learned from and of us. That makes you an exception, a curiosity. One she aims to understand more of." His voice smoothly explained, not once hesitating in his speech.
Her ears flickered upwards without her permission, eyes narrowing once more. "She can live without understanding one dragon."
He seemed to rumble lowly, not in threat but in thought.
"That is true."
It couldn't be that easy.
"However," She knew it, "Human curiosity has no bounds." And didn't she know that.
"We agree to disagree." Her pitch was low but tone with a set of finality. That's how it always was, when it came to this topic between them. Not that she usually talked with Cloud, but when she did it was either a normal conversation or this more recent frequent one of him trying to have her open up a bit more to the new edition of this environment and her attempting to ignore or misdirect his approach on the topic. Was it because they had formed a sort of bond, she briefly pondered.
She was solitary by nature and only sometimes conversed with a few when needed, otherwise you could find her usually either playing with younglings, or laying peacefully over the top of the Gentle Beast; (when she didn't disappear for unknown lengths of time in the far nature and creations surrounding them).
And now he wanted her to just nilly willy accept a random (she knew this human, she remembered this human from her Other), new edition? It's not like shes the Alpha or some important powered being in this place. The Gentle Beast accepts the human, that's all that matters.
"Shya!"
Apparently not to the human.
Huffing out through her nostrils in exasperation, there was no chance anymore of lamenting her existential crisis in peace with the female human sniffing around her. And who told the human she could name her? She had a name!...Even if she couldn't remember it..
Grumbling to herself the slim form stood up calmly, shaking herself similar to a dog instead of the feline form she resembled and stretching her leathery wings out lazily, first her left wing to the side, then her right one to that side, then her neck upwards, shaking minutely as the tension uncoiled through her in seconds from top to bottom. Soft coos came out along with warm exhalation, head lowering and giving the pacific Cloud still watching a more warmer glance as she prepared herself for flight by extending her wings out, "Just, don't worry too much over this topic. What will be will be, and what won't be won't."
Gentle wind flowed, becoming a minute cool pad for her warmer body. His head tilted again, and this time since she was more relaxed she allowed the gentle purr to slip out, also tilting her head in response.
"Perhaps all it takes is time." His smooth baritone voice rumbled. Her ears on her head twitched slightly, a soft warble of apprehensiveness coming out of her.
Perhaps.
It's not as if she hated the human or anything like that. It was just... she reminded her too much of what she had lost, therefor she preferred to avoid the female to not feel the now distant pangs of her Other.
Adding to the fact that she doesn't feel as mournful as when she first arrived here makes her feel guilty that she's getting better at not feeling miserable over it. Therefor she's been trying to not forget her Other and has been religiously attempting to lament over her existence here and her Other life there. While at the same time she's explored and seen so many different places and the variety of dragons, she doesn't want to get too attached, to learn anything specifically from the Here because she feels like she's betraying her life and herself from the Other. It was a process of condition, wash, rinse, and repeat. She felt like a bundle of contradictions.
To be honest, she was a bit weary of it.
But she didn't want to just forget her other life and live this one happily, it wouldn't be fair to those who she loved and loved her in her Other.
She's stuck.
Without her notice, her ears had drooped down glumly, body drooping ever so slightly.
Clenching her eyes shut, she shook her head hard. No no, it's not time for that mode anymore.
Azure and turquoise surrounding thin oval black pupils appeared under curved ridges shaping cat like features, flying appendages snapping upright again and giving a swift beat downwards propelling her swiftly upwards and backwards right pass a curling his head to watch her Cloud.
Her head instantly felt lighter as she flowed gracefully in the air over the abundant floral greenery and other active dragons flying, purring quietly to herself in contentment. She's always felt the most freedom whenever she took to the sky.
Ignoring the voice yelling out that name from far behind, she slowed a bit when she saw up ahead in one of the foliage concaves familiar pairs of colorful baby dragons. Each of them with different colors of light blues, oranges, greens and yellows but with the same stature of build, she crooned softly as she flew down gently, landing gracefully without a sound while then nudging the biggest one, the light blue one with her snout as he tried to nudge her back in warm greeting, the others attempting to play with her tail, she moving it this way and that way avoiding their persistent paws with a glance behind her and an amused snort.
However, she only came to give a small greeting, not stay for too long.
Easily turning her lower body away from the pups with a twirl, she gave a short but warm headbutt to each of them, one by one reciprocating her actions (they were used to it after so long of her doing the same each time).
Giving a warm croon to them, her wings pressed against her body tightly and without faltering jumped over the mossy hard ledge, enjoying the fast wind all over her pushing against her as she went down and down and down.
Her pleased hums got lost within the harsh current, snapping her wings abruptly open and gliding smoothly towards a direction she knew all too well.
Sailing pass and avoiding oncoming larger and smaller dragons with dexterity that came with the time and practice she's spent here, ears perked up when she heard from far beyond her the humans low voice, whipping her head back in disbelief, she gave the amused looking Cloud a deadpanned bitch face.
This wasn't the first time the human has done this, and she couldn't help but admire the female a Tiny bit for her courage to ride creatures larger than herself, and for her tenacious will.
Turning her head back forward, she huffed out through snout, snapping her wings harder against the wind, eyes narrowed as her speed upped and she zoomed easily away from the laughing out loud human.
On the other hand, she also wondered if she should thank the human. Considering that her speed ability went up thanks to her always running away and out flying them. (The two legged usually rode on Cloud more often than any other dragons around).
Easily losing them thanks to the agile sharp turns around giant green edges and swirls she did to outmaneuver Cloud, a chuckle escaped her.
Even she was getting a bit tired from the push and pull of this particular situation. Hmm.
Spotting her small cove up ahead beneath a small waterfall from the above concave, she slowed her flying until she was in front of the waterfall, falling gently to the ground and beginning to walk ahead, letting herself be drenched in the rather refreshing clear water as she slipped beneath and then behind the waterfall to her Now home. Shaking her head to clear the dripping water from atop her, maybe, just Maybe, next time she wouldn't run away.
Maybe.
And yes, she knew she was a tad more dramatic than her Other when the female human has been here for more than two years, but she couldn't help it.
It's not easy.
How she Wishes it were harder for her to forget her Other.
She needed to repent, yet the human made it harder. And Cloud.
Grumbling to herself, Damn nosy dragon.