Beelzemon was sitting on the bed, looking over his ruined jacket. "Jeez…"

Once he had finished, he removed the bandana from it. It was in surprisingly good condition compared to the rest of the jacket. With some effort, he managed to tie it about his upper arm.

With that out of the way, he went about looking at the room he had been residing in.

Besides the full sized bed pushed against the wall, there were a variety of other furniture pieces: a small desk and chair, several bookcases filled to the brim, and a nightstand. Wall shelves of varying lengths were situated near the bookcases, holding dragon figurines, ranging from small black ceramic to larger full-colored, some were candle holders and one was an hourglass. The wall near the desk was covered in sketches, mainly different angles of a snake's head and body, eye sketches and pattern arrangements, one paper was a spreadsheet of information. The desk itself held a twenty gallon glass terrarium and a small spray bottle filled with water.

Investigation of the terrarium did not reveal its occupant, but showed that it was filled with many different items: the bottom was covered in light brown mulch, one side held a branch reaching up towards the dark bulb located outside the terrarium with a piece of fake log located beneath it, a stone-looking dish filled with water was placed near the side of the log, and a thermometer was close to the hiding place. A small terra cotta pot, upside down, was on the other side of the enclosure with another thermometer close by. The mesh cover had two locks, one on each side, with 3/4ths of it covered by a thin plastic.

"You trying to find Kazel?"

Beelzemon's body jerked involuntarily at the voice, whom he already knew belonged to Valeri.

She laughed lightly. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"Psh, I wasn't scared."

"Mmmhmmm…"

"So there's something actually in here?"

"Yep. My ball python."

"Er? What's that?"

"A ball python is a type of nonvenomous snake. Let me see if I can coax him out." She pulled a key from within her desk drawer and proceeded to undo the locks on the cover.

She pulled the top off, along with the plastic, and set it carefully on the table. "Let's see…where are you hiding, little guy?" She slowly lifted the terra cotta pot, revealing an exotically patterned coiled up snake. "Ah-hah."

Beelzemon watched as she reached down, off to the side of the snake, and started brushing her fingertips gently against its side.

The snake reacted by wiggling around, coiling itself tighter.

"The best way to pick him up, let him know you're not going to hurt him, then very, very gently slide your fingers up under his belly," As she spoke, she slid her fingers beneath the snake until he was within her palm. "And lift him out," She pulled him out slowly and held him up to show Beelzemon. "Isn't he a beauty?"

Now that the python was closer, the Viral was able to see his patterns and colors better. His main body was a peachy-gold with deep orange sides and different patterns of faded grey lines; some were long and straight barbed-wire like, others were like cracks in glass. Between each of the lines was one dot of varying diameters, depending on the thickness of the area, the smallest being but a pinprick size and the thickest the size of a pen-cap. The inner portions and underside had drippings of white. The head had a different pattern with the lines outlining his face and encompassing his neck with two traveling in from his snout and through his eyes to meet with the outer lines. "I've never seen a snake colored like that before."

"He's what they call a 'morph.' Other ball pythons with different dominant and recessive genes were bred to make a new one. This one is called a HoneyBee Ghost. He has Spider and Orange Ghost attributes. They're mainly the colorations and patterns that you see. The patterns come from the Spider, and the colors from the Ghost."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, I read up on it after I got him from a breeder. They told me some about him as they had both his parents."

By now the snake had started moving around, flicking its tongue out occasionally. It moved out towards Beelzemon.

"It seems he's curious about you. I'm usually the only one around him, since Mom and Sis aren't particularly fond of snakes. Do you want to hold him?"

"Urm…I ah, dunna?"

"Here," She held the snake up towards the Viral. "Put out both your hands."

The Viral did as he was instructed.

Valeri carefully uncoiled Kazel from her hand and placed his lower half in Beelzemon's right hand, and the upper portion in his left.

Kazel responded by latching his bottom half around the Viral's hand and arm.

"He's supposed to do that," Valeri said soothingly, seeing the look on Beelzemon's face. "He's just a little frightened by being in someone else's hands." She pet on the snake's sides with her fingertips.

"Feels really weird, too."

"Heh. I guess it does."

"I um…I think he wants you to take him back."

Valeri pet the snake a few seconds more before unlatching him from Beelzemon's hands.

The Viral watched her as she let the snake traverse some around her hands and arms before finally placing him back in the terrarium.

After the locks were shut with definitive clicks, the key was put away and plastic replaced, Valeri gave the inside a good spritzing with the spray bottle.

"I don't know, I guess I'm weird for liking snakes and reptiles. I'd have more if Mom would let me, but I had to beg and promise I'd keep all his feeders out of the freezer upstairs. So I have a mini freezer in the other room."

"Feeders?"

"Yeah, since he's about a thousand and ninety-three grams, he eats a medium rat once or twice a week."

"A rat?" Beelzemon made a face of disgust.

"Well, yes, what else is a snake going to eat? He's a carnivore."

"True but still…ick."

She laughed quietly.

Beelzemon turned his attention towards the statues on the wall. "You have an awful lot of dragons."

"You really think so?" She looked in the same direction. "I suppose I might have a few."

"So what makes you so interested in them?"

"Hm? Oh, well…it's rather hard for me to explain. They're just so magnificent. You can make them however you want, and they can't be wrong. They can be large and frightening with big teeth and claws, or small and adorable with tiny teeth and stubby claws," She made hand gestures to emphasize her points on the sizes. "Guardians or destroyers. Different descents, like American or Oriental. It's just how you perceive them to be."

"Hm. I'm not big on comin' up with things like that. I did notice you had a lot of Digimon, too."

She nodded. "I find their designs intriguing. And I met some of them, too, so it was even better."

"But you're not good with drawing humans?"

"Well I…guess I find them too boring to draw. Yes, there are differences in styles, skin-tones, hair, blemishes, height, weight…but it doesn't…feel the same. It's not as exhilarating as creating a new creature, attaching your own personality to it. Or even just adding your own flairs."

"So, what do you think of human-like?"

"What do you mean?"

"Urm. Like those ones that have hands and stand on two legs."

"I like those, too. It's the same concept. Humans themselves cannot be changed as drastically as a mythical type creature."

"Oh." His whole body relaxed and a small sigh of relief escaped him.

Valeri smiled. "Did you think I didn't find you interesting because you're a humanoid?"

"Er, th-that is not what I meant, I was simply curious!"

"Uh-huh."

"I was!"

"If it's any consolidation, I do find your form interesting. Humanoid but with enough differences to stand out."

"I don't exactly have a body full of scales."

Valeri covered her mouth as she burst into a fit of giggles.

"It's not funny!" he said huffily, folding his arms across his chest.

Both turned towards the location of the stairs when they heard footsteps.

"Oh, no…"

Beelzemon's lips set into a thin line. If it was Valeri's mother, another confrontation was bound to ensue.

"Vaaaaaaaaaaal!" Yuri's bubbly voice echoed through the room.

The pair relaxed.

Yuri's head poked around the corner. "Val, Mom wants to talk to you. Like, right now…oh!" She came to stand in the middle of the doorway, showing off her halter top and skirt that ended just below her thighs. "It's that guy again. Oooh, no shirt. Hehe."

Beelzemon set his hand near his hip. "What she want her for?"

"I don't know, she just had me come get her."

"Which means, that's a bad sign," Valeri said quietly. "I'll be back soon…" She made her way past her sister.

Beelzemon was left with the elder sister, who was looking him over, a glint to her eye.

"So why do you have bandages?"
"Got in a fight."

"With who?"

He shrugged.

"I thought you were sexy before, but even with the bandages, it's a nice view."

Beelzemon rolled his eyes. He took a step back as the elder teenager quickly closed the space between them.

"So what are you reaaaaaaally doing with my sis? Hrm? Can't be that you like her, is it? She's rather bland."

"She's my Tamer." he grunted in reply, trying to keep away from Yuri's probing fingers.

"Your what? Is that some kinda weird…oh, yeah. That's what that kid said he was to that dog thing. What is that, exactly?"

"Erm. I'm not sure, really. Just means we're partners."

"Oooh, so that means you're pretty free, right? Hehe."

He pointed a claw at her warningly. "Hands off, missy. Or you'll lose fingers."

She folded her hands swiftly, pouting profusely. "You're no fun!"

There was a few moments of silence between the pair as Yuri continued looking him over while he kept his gaze on one of the pictures on the wall.

Sudden, quick, heavy footsteps caused them to avert their attention.

Valeri's figure passed quickly by the opening, the slamming of a door soon followed.

Yuri shook her head. "Looks like they got into a fight. I'm just glad it wasn't me this time. Mom's got a bad temper," She pulled out a cellphone and gave its screen a once-over. "Oh well. Kyle wants to meet up with me, so I'll see you 'round." She giggled and disappeared from view.

Once she was gone, Beelzemon went to Valeri's door. "Valeri?"

There was no reply.

He waited for a few more moments before knocking lightly. "Hey, Valeri. It's just me."

Still no response.

He frowned and tried the doorknob to find it would not budge. "Locked. Humph…fine, I'll wait." He returned to the desk in the studio and sat down in the chair.

About an hour passed before Valeri ventured out of her room. She found the Viral asleep in the chair with his head against the knuckles of one hand.

"Sorry for making you wait outside." she said quietly to his sleeping form. She reached out and pushed on his shoulder.

His head snapped up. "What-what? Oh, Valeri! You doin' okay?"

"I'm fine. If you want to sleep, you can go to my bed."

"Nah, I just kinda dozed off," He got to his feet. "You really sure you're okay? Sure don't look it."

Valeri dropped her face towards the floor. "Yes, I'm fine."

Beelzemon stooped down, tilting her head up by her chin with the side of his index finger. "I may've not known you that long, but I can tell you're upset."

Valeri's face scrunched up slightly as tears welled in her eyes. Within moments the tears leaked down her cheeks.

The Viral put his arms about her shoulders to pull her into a comforting hug. He lightly pet on the back of her head when he felt her body start to convulse from sobbing.

After a short while her body became still, only a small amount of sniffling remained.

Valeri pulled away. "Sorry." she mumbled, wiping at the patch of liquid on his shoulder.

"It's fine. You feel a little better?"

She nodded slightly.

"Hey, why don't we go visit with Nan?"

Valeri nodded again.

"Okay, let's go." He straightened up, keeping one hand on her shoulder.