Angels with Newfound Hope
Act 1 Chapter 14: Bonds
Alex's Apartment: Day 5 - 5:15PM
Alex stepped out of the bathroom from his recent shower not a second too soon. His phone buzzed with a call the moment he came through the door. Checking the caller ID revealed a completely unfamiliar number. He swore up and down that if he was getting attacked by telemarketers, he'd let the real Viper out to play in this world.
"Who is this?" He growled once he picked it up.
"The Undefeated Champion." Bryce's joking tone was honestly refreshing from the day's activities, and the human couldn't help but smile immediately.
"Funny. So I take it you're off work now?" He asked casually. The sound of shuffling and a slamming door filled the air for a moment.
"Yeah, I just got off about half an hour ago. I'm just hanging around at home now. Thought I'd invite you over if you're up for it." The chief offered.
"Sure. I was thinking about getting a view of the town either way. I'll be over whenever." The brunette shucked off his button-up, tossing it on the sofa. It was far too hot for it anyway.
"Awesome. Do you need directions at all?" Bryce plopped himself down on something relatively soft, quite possibly his sofa.
"Quite possibly. Can you just shoot me your address? I didn't quite catch it last time, what with my pounding headache and all that good stuff." Alex snarked. That got a little chuckle out of the reptile, much to his delight.
"Alright. I'll see you soon then."
"'Later." The man hung up, thinking if he should bring anything. There wasn't much he thought he could bring that Bryce wouldn't have already. He just shrugged and left without much care. He was on the edge of town and all his important stuff was on him anyway...
It took a little longer than Alex thought to reach the apartment complex. It wasn't the most luxurious, looking a bit weathered on the exterior, but it was his home. He checked his phone again to make sure he had the right unit and knocked...
"Hey Alex. Glad you made it." The chief's shining face greeted him as soon as the door opened. The human's smile instantly returned as wide as ever.
"Well thanks for inviting me." The brunette stuttered. He'd have come up with something more witty, had he not suddenly been at a loss for words. He mentally cursed his friend and that murderous handsomeness.
"No need to be so formal. Sure I'm the Chief, but here, I'm just Bryce." The larger male chuckled.
"Hold on a second. Something seems different here." Alex waited for him to catch on, humming in a perplexed manner. "Wait... I got it. We're not plastered." That joke was likely delivered a bit too late, but whatever.
"I thought we weren't going to mention that." Bryce deadpanned. His company shrugged sheepishly without skipping a beat.
"Whoops." The human played innocent. He was hoping the reptile would've joked along with him instead.
"Well, anyway, come on in. Don't mind the chaos. It's just a temporary setup." He shuffled aside for Alex to head inside. The first thing immediately noticeable was how cozy everything seemed to be. Then again, it was a studio, but he couldn't help thinking how cramped it must be for Bryce. They both parked their asses on the sofa with a collective sigh.
"Ah... It feels good to kick back after today." The officer practically sank into the cushions as he relaxed. The sight honestly made the smaller male comfortable just viewing.
"Long day, I take it?" He shuffled around, trying to keep his knife from digging into his waist. Bryce just shook his head at the sorry attempt to get comfy.
"You know how it is, especially with everything going on." The larger reptile stated. Watching his friend grow more annoyed at his own weapon was getting comical at that point.
"Wait, is this even a good time for me to come over? I know we're all still shaken from that firefight and all..." Alex trailed off. He still couldn't help but feel guilty for that. Maybe things would've turned out differently had he not shot back.
"I invited you over, didn't I? Don't worry about feeling like you're a burden. You're welcome here anytime." The chief placed a paw on his shoulder. And now the human couldn't for the life of him wipe the goofy smile off his face.
"So, what do you do for fun in your world anyway?" Bryce spoke up before he could. Of course hobbies would come up eventually. He just didn't expect it so soon.
"I've got my hobbies. Reading, writing, video games, being forced out by friends, working out..." Alex trailed off. Maybe it was a bad idea mentioning exercise.
"Working out? Really? I couldn't tell under all those clothes you wear." The larger male snapped the strap of his tank top for emphasis.
"You'll have to pardon me for not being shredded. I mainly do parkour and airsoft skirmishes." The stormy-eyed man half joked. His company cocked a brow, curious at the mention of the latter.
"Airsoft? Now you've caught my interest. What exactly is that?" The reptile leaned forth, getting uncomfortable with his previous angle.
"That's what caught you? How do I even explain this... You surely remember the firefight." The brunette checked with Bryce, which earned a nod. "It's a lot like that, but with fake guns and mostly harmless plastic pellets." He hoped the brief summary would be enough to slake his companion's thirst for knowledge.
"Mostly? So when are they actually harmful?" Bryce cocked a brow at the statement. His friend had a feeling he was in trouble.
"When you get hit in the balls or the eye." He stated nonchalantly. The reptile wasn't even remotely fazed by it.
"Maybe you could show me sometime. You've piqued my interest at least." He held his paw out, which the human took.
"Consider it done. If you ever visit Terra, I'm taking you to an airsoft field." And so they shook on it. Just thinking about how many times the chief would get hit almost made him chuckle. That guy was going to get so frustrated, and he will laugh his ass off.
"Alright. So we have my hobbies down, how about you? What does Bryce do that I don't know about?" Alex's mind began to wander as to what exactly the officer did when he wasn't around. It was fun to think that he did something badass in his off time.
"Oh, different things. A bit of this and that. You know..." The aforementioned male trailed off. His company gained a smug grin. Maybe he just found out about something embarrassing he could save for later.
"Well that's totally specific. What, are you secretly a male stripper?" He chuckled.
"You wish. Just promise me you won't laugh." Bryce crossed his brows at the brunette, who held his hands up in defense.
"What? Don't look at me like that, we're both mature adults here." He said defensively. If he had to keep doing that every time the chief told him something, he may just have to reconsider having these kinds of conversations at all.
"I hope so. Else, I'll have to kick your ass." The larger reptile grinned menacingly. His razor-sharp teeth glinted in the sunlight, giving them an even scarier appearance. He got up and went over to a shelf that held an assortment of models. One was plucked from it and carried over in his mouth. Alex immediately recognized it as a classical wooden ship. It wasn't well made, what with the globs of dried glue remaining from excessive use. Or even the pieces jutting out or not fitting properly, but it was recognizable as an old world Terran ship.
"Wait a second. You made this?" The stormy-eyed man cocked a brow at his friend, who only glared.
"Alex." Bryce began before being shushed.
"Let me finish first. I was going to say it looks great, especially for someone without dexterous hands like Sebastian. It takes a lot of patience and effort to build something that looks this complicated. I should know, I've built computer cases that were just as bad. The damned things took me hours to complete minus the machine inside. Sure, you can just go and buy some crappy pre-built model, but the real value is the time put into it." The brunette hoped that explained everything without sounding insulting. He'd rather stay on his good side after that spiel with Maverick.
"You know what, thanks for that. It's always nice to receive a compliment for your efforts once in a while. There's still a lot I can improve on, though. I don't always make the best decisions. Heck, I'm not the most patient person either. But you never know what they'll throw at you in my line of work. You always have to be prepared and can't have any exploitable weaknesses. And of course my people look up to me as Chief, so I have to be at my best at all times." The officer paused for a moment to look down at the model.
"We can both tell the model's not actually all that good. I don't exactly have the patience or dexterity for it, as you've mentioned. But I tried my hand at this to better myself as a person. Sure it took longer than I'd intended, and my claws were covered in glue for a week after, but these models were never even intended for us anyway. As you said: they were made for people with proper hands like you or Sebastian. This isn't much, but it's something. And maybe I'll get better if I keep trying." He finished proudly. Alex honestly couldn't have said that better himself. Similar logic applies to his work as Viper as well.
"I couldn't have said that better myself. Wait, I'm a dumbass. I just now realized you guys have ships." The human face-palmed and mentally slapped himself. How did he not realize they had something so crucial to trade and travel.
"Well yeah. Not in this town, but we do have them. Why's that such a surprise?" Bryce deadpanned. He began to wonder exactly what his friend was talking about.
"It's not. I'm just an idiot for not even realizing it. Do you guys have any land or air transport too?" Alex hoped the question wouldn't sound too stupid. He already felt that way enough.
"I can't say we do. As you've seen, some of us can fly, and others can run quickly. Yet nobody can swim beyond the seas. Not ever water type dragons like Naomi, and she has an affinity for it." The larger male jabbed at his coworker. Alex got the feeling that if she were here, she'd likely slap or jab right back at him.
"Wait a second. First, is everyone here a dragon? And second: how the hell can you not even know about your own world?!" The stormy-eyed man griped. His company put his paws up defensively without skipping a beat.
"Don't ask me! All I can answer is the dragon thing. I don't keep track of the other. Ask the occasional explorers who actually go out into uncharted seas." Bryce countered with somewhat ease. That human just had too many questions.
"Maybe I will sometime. So, have you ever thought about visiting if they find one?" Said human tried resetting the tone. This conversation was getting a little too argumentative for his taste.
"I can't say I don't ever entertain the thought. But in the end, I still have my people, and they need their chief." The reptile stated wistfully, going back to what all is out there.
"Maybe we could take a vacation sometime. See just what's out there." Alex half-joked. It wasn't like he'd mind if the officer said yes. That'd just mean more time together.
"We? Hah, sure there, skipper. Maybe if I ever get the time for that." Bryce chuckled. That got his company thinking again.
"Hold up, you can swim, right?" The human questioned with concern.
"Not all that well. I'm not exactly streamlined, as you can see." The chief gestured to his body. Alex admired the rippling muscles below those ruddy brown scales.
"No, you're the absolute pinnacle of masculinity." The brunette hoped that flirting didn't come off as too strong.
"Glad you think so." Bryce winked towards the human, who immediately hid his face. "You know, these muscles are the result of years of hard work. here, put your hand on my forearm." He offered his foreleg confidently.
"Wait, what?" Alex's face caught on fire yet again from the request.
"You heard me. Go ahead, I won't bite." The larger male offered his forearm again, which his companion timidly took. The warmth radiating from those scales comforted him just a little. He took a moment to just admire the feel of the firm muscles and rugged skin.
"You ready?" The reptile checked before flexing. All the human could do was stare in admiration as his muscles rapidly firmed up. In an instant, his arm was turgid and bulging, the scales threatening to pop off at any moment. The smaller male didn't even try to hide anything anymore. It was a pointless endeavor anyway. As quickly as Bryce's arm took on its monstrous shape, it relaxed once more.
"I guess you didn't expect that." He chuckled whilst slapping his friend on the back. At least the motion returned Alex from the depths of a dangerous fantasy.
"Y-yeah..." Was all he could get out. He was still too distracted to think straight, but tried his best.
"You okay there, Alex? You're looking a little red again." The chief cocked a brow with concern. The human jumped meekly in shock and tried to hide his face.
"So! I uh... had a conversation with Maverick earlier today!" His abrupt redirection of the conversation had the stocky reptile a little more worried, but that could be important.
"And how come you didn't say anything before?" Bryce dropped the previous topic... for now.
"It was pretty one-sided. Not much of anything worth mentioning either." Alex was beyond glad his tactic worked at least. He really hated the way that guy did him sometimes.
"Okay, maybe you should start from the beginning." The chief listened intently as his company retold exactly what happened just a few hours ago. He seemed particularly surprised at the threat his coworker made prior to finally leaving.
"And that was that. I guess all Maverick wanted was assurance that I wasn't associated with Reza, and that I wouldn't use my weapon maliciously." The stormy-eyed man finished. Bryce let everything sink in for a moment before speaking.
"I don't want to say he's crazy, but even I have no clue what he's talking about. You should really let the police decide whether or not something like that's worth mentioning next time. Why exactly didn't you tell us about this again?" The officer questioned with concern. Alex could only offer a shrug.
"I just thought that's how Maverick is normally." The human wished he had a better answer, but wasn't willing to go 'question' anyone without his gear.
"Not at all. I don't get it, why has he been acting like this?" Bryce pinched the bridge of his snout. His company couldn't help but be more than a little worried he'd accidentally puncture skin with those claws.
"You think he's onto something here?" The brunette commented. There had to be something he could work with inside that gorgeous head.
"I don't know. There has to be some reason behind all this." The larger male contemplated aloud.
"I don't know. Maybe he's right about Reza. It's at least plausible, considering everything that's happened." Alex speculated further. It wasn't much, but anything was better right now.
"That would put you in a very bad position." Bryce muttered.
"I know, but I can't change what he's done or will do. I can only help you as much as humanly possible. This whole shit-storm would be a lot easier if I had the rest of my gear." The ambassador groaned under his breath.
"Gear? What are you talking about- nevermind. Anyway, I'm just thinking aloud here, but Reza was the first human to ever come here. He arranged this trade and you came over to deliver your end of the deal. Did your people have any further plans here, or is this just going to be a one-off thing?" The stocky officer queried. That... was a good question. One the human had no answer to. He figured he'd just have to wing it now.
"I guess it was supposed to be more of a scouting mission than anything. Just a test to see if this kind of business relationship could work out. It would make us quite happy if it did. But then Reza decided to go and fuck everything up. But yeah, just another reason for me to help you guys out." Alex hoped that would suffice for now. He really didn't like being put on the spot like that.
"However this turns out, no matter what happens, just know I've always got your back." The reptile placed a massive paw on his shoulder in reassurance. The human just sported that goofy grin he'd become familiar with ever since they met.
"Thanks Bryce. And know that the feeling is mutual. Both me and my gun say so." Alex drew his pistol to show him. The dragon face-palmed, mildly annoyed.
"Now why'd you go and bring that here? You know it's dangerous." Bryce chastised. Yes, a gun is dangerous, when it's loaded.
"Not anymore. I unloaded it on the way over." The brunette 'shot' his hand to confirm. His friend was honest to god expecting a chunk of his flesh to go flying out the other end. Instead, all that happened was a little clicking noise each time the trigger was pulled.
"Geez, kid, don't scare me like that." The larger male released the breath he'd been holding whilst Alex had the pistol to his hand.
"Sorry. I was honestly just making an example is all. I meant no harm." The man's tone was sombre. He really didn't mean to scare his friend like that.
"At least I'm not carrying you to the hospital. Man, I could use a beer. You want one?" Bryce checked to see his company nodding slowly. At least he was embarrassed about his actions. With that, he went into the kitchen to fetch the drinks.
Alex, left to his own devices, checked out the main room of the apartment. There wasn't much to it. A few knick-knacks and models sat on the various surfaces strewn about the place. The main thing you noticed upon walking in was the sofa itself. Whilst comfy, its lack of arms certainly turned him off. He personally preferred something a little more supportive should the need for a nap arise.
Sat across from it was a simple coffee table with a magazine. The headlines on it were certainly eye-catching. Picking it up, he read them aloud.
"Stronger, thicker tails? Top tips for burning passion? What even is this?" The weirded-out human thought aloud. Just as his morbid curiosity had him opening it, his host lumbered back through the door. He hid the magazine next to him in the hopes that he wouldn't ask about it.
"There. Help yourself if you li- Alex, did you take my magazine?" Bryce questioned. He froze momentarily before collecting himself.
"What magazine? I have no clue what you're talking about." He lied, attracting a knowing glare from the chief.
"The one that was on the table. Maybe you've seen the people on it? Did they happen to pique your interest?" The way he said that made the human's eye twitch. He had him now, but wasn't quite done with his fun just yet.
"Why would I even think of such? There are-"
"I don't know, those athletes are pretty hot." Bryce joked heartily. He found it hard to hold back laughter watching the smaller male turn red. He was beyond screwed and he knew it. A few more blows and he'd be done for.
"I guess they really get you going, huh? I wouldn't blame you either. Just thinking about those toned muscles and glistening scales would turn anyone on. Or maybe your attention would focus elsewhere. Maybe you found yourself drooling over their rippling abs, or are you more an ass man?" The officer may have been having too much fun with Alex. He had been shut down for a good minute, and deserved every second of this.
"Well? Care to tell me what-"
"Stop! Stop already, I yield! Take your fucking magazine back!" A few would swear they could hear the screaming from down the block. He flung the magazine at Bryce, catching him in the stomach and making him laugh even harder.
"And that concludes this lesson on stealing from me: don't." He stated smugly. The brunette adjacent glowered at him with an intensity strong enough to make anyone else shrink away.
"I hate you so much." The human sourly muttered. He was so done.
"No you don't." The chief snatched him under his arm with no resistance.
"No, I don't." Alex parroted. "You're such a kid. This is the kind of thing Chris would do to Macy." He complained further, giving his company a light shove.
"You bring it out. So I have a question." The smaller human glared suspiciously at the request. "I was just going to ask about this 'Chris' guy you keep talking about. What's he like?" Bryce asked with little regard of how pouty his friend was.
"Fine. He's one of my closest friends. His brand of humor is rather similar to yours, but with more torturous pranks. He works for the police in my town as well. That's about all I'll say for now." Alex cracked open a beer himself and found himself downing it in one go.
"Fair enough. Well, you have any questions for me?" The larger male set his drink down in order to keep it from spilling. It was only then did the brunette notice exactly what they'd been drinking out of. The liquid itself was kept in large plastic bowls, much akin to yogurt containers. How he punched through the seal with his thumb was a pointless mystery to him.
"A few, but I'll stick with the one on my mind. Please don't take offense, but I saw you carrying that basket. I was going to ask how you did daily tasks with four legs. Guess I have my answer now." The ambassador sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. The look Bryce was giving him immediately told him he'd asked a stupid question.
"Yeah. I'm not sure why that's so special, though. It's just how we do things around here." The officer replied nonchalantly. Yep. That was stupid of him to ask.
"It's special because I'm learning about you guys as a whole. All of my world's reptiles are humanoid." Alex rebuked. "It does get me wondering though. I know you can use your forelegs well enough, but how about your hind legs? Can you walk on them at all?" Hopefully that would be less dumb sounding than the last question.
"Well if you just mean earth dragons as a whole, then some of us can to a degree. But I personally wouldn't be able to take two steps that way. Regardless, I wouldn't be entering any competitions anytime soon anyway." Bryce's answer was a little more revealing than anticipated.
"Competitions? What kinds are we talking about here?" The human pressed. Hopefully his curiosity would be sated in a better manner.
"Each species gets their own competition with a few events every other year. I won't go into specifics since there are too many to count." At least that was something out of his favorite officer.
"So it's like the olympics where I'm from. There's the summer and winter with their own specific events. Come to think of it, have you ever thought about joining?" Alex had begun wondering that, and if he'd ever won if he did.
"It's not really my thing. I mean, it's always about who's the best, the strongest, who has the biggest muscles, etcetera. I'm just not into that competitive lifestyle. Some of those events can be dangerous too. One accident and my whole career and everything I've built is out the window." The smaller male knew exactly how he felt. Chris actually told him the same thing before. Just minus the accident part. It was a shame, though. That horse would certainly leave most competitors in the dust.
"Funny. I've seen some stuff that would really make you cringe. Like this one time. There was a marathon meant for cheetahs just last summer. They had to get a medic out on the track since one of the competitors tripped. When they picked her up, she had chunks of skin missing." Alex emphasized the severity by pulling out his phone. He remembered taking a screenshot of the incident during a livestream. Bryce winced as soon as he saw the poor girl.
"Ooh... Yep, point proven. I'm never taking part now." His vow was well noted.
"So come to think of it, what kinds of competitions do you have anyway? It could be fun seeing how ours compare to each other." The charcoal-clad man changed the subject before things got quiet.
"They usually highlight individual species' strengths and abilities. Us earth dragons get strength based stuff, flyers do aerobatics, runners have ground races and so on. Speaking of, it's funny just how upright you are when you move. You're almost like Naomi in a sense. The only difference is that you keep your tail tucked into those pants you're wearing." The chief realized, causing a moment of confusion within his friend.
"We actually don't have tails." The human stated simply. Bryce's nonchalant look turned to shock within a millisecond.
"Seriously? Everything alive has a tail! How can you just defy that logic?" He almost yelled. The mere thought of something like Alex existing dumbfounded him.
"It's just how we are. Chris doesn't have one either, and he's literally a horse." The brunette countered.
"But tails are wonderful. Just look at mine, that's a wicked weapon right there! Also, I have no clue what a 'horse' is." The stocky dragon deadpanned. Now Alex was dumbfounded. How could this guy even?
"It's- screw it. I can't help my biology and that's that." He crossed his arms to reinforce the point.
"And I don't believe you." Bryce fired back simply. He plucked the second to last beer from the table and took a swig.
"Then I don't know how I can clarify this any further." The smaller male swiped his own drink up, gradually filling his mouth.
"Show me." That was it. The refreshing ale was sprayed all over the coffee table. Somehow, it just barely missed the magazine.
"What?!" The human screamed. He was positive he did not just hear that.
"You heard me." Was all Bryce said.
"We do not show that on any casual outing!" Alex spluttered. His complete embarrassment was more than amusing to his host.
"How about a date, then?" And that just made him fall off the sofa. His face was beet red, and the chief could swear he saw steam coming from his ears.
"Quit teasing me already! You've already got me far more flustered than I care to be!" The mortified man yelped. Unfortunately, Bryce was too far gone to reason with.
"Who said I was teasing?" He flashed his friend a flirtatious grin. The poor human just fainted again. When he came to, his 'friend' was laughing his ass off.
"Fuck you with a cactus. Also, you do know I'm a guy, right?" Alex peeled himself off the floor. Bryce sat there with a deadpan look plastered on his face.
"Yeah. I was just screwing with you. The reactions I get out of you: priceless." Bryce polished off his drink and crushed the bowl.
"I reiterate: I hate you so much." The brunette groaned in defeat. His host just laughed it off and pulled him back to the sofa.
"I reiterate: You really don't." He watched as the human hung his head in defeat, grumbling incoherently.
"Fine... Since you asked about my non-existent tail, how about your wings?" Alex questioned with renewed vigor.
"I don't think you can call those puny things on my back wings." Bryce said plainly, poking one of them for emphasis.
"Then what are they? They look like articulate armor plates to me." The smaller male picked at the topmost protrusion. It was honestly surreal to have his hands on such things. Like they just weren't really meant to be there.
"Exactly my guess." The officer shrugged. He let Alex continue inspecting his 'wings' for a little bit.
"I bet you can't flap them." He challenged smoothly. Bryce nonchalantly got up, walking to an open spot.
"If I can, you owe me dinner." He pointed a claw to the human. He grounded his body in preparation for the task. Having never even tried to move his wings before, it was difficult trying to do anything. A groan of effort escaped his lips as he strained heavily.
Nothing happened at first except the groaning filling otherwise dead air. But eventually, the dragon's wings started moving. They merely swayed at first, eventually building to a rhythm that could pass for flapping. The chief sighed in relief as his body relaxed. A single bead of glimmering sweat rolled down his face as he looked to a speechless Alex.
"Guess you owe me a dinner date now." He panted smugly. The human just sat there, stunned. That was honestly an impressive feat. Now he was locked into a proper date with his favorite officer.
"I thought you were fucking with me when you said that!" The brunette managed out. His companion only held his grin.
"I'm not now. I've got a barbecue coming up in a couple days, and you're hereby invited. The only catch is that you get the food. I'll text you what to get the day before so you'll have time to shop." So Bryce was teasing after all. Alex felt like he'd taken a punch to the gut, but was still admittedly pumped. All he could do was grin ear-to-ear now. Maybe he didn't screw up this time.
"You know, I'm glad I took this trip now." The smaller male chirped. Despite the crap that had been pulled on him, he was still quite chipper that someone thought of him as a good enough friend.
"Speaking of, what does it even take to do this kind of thing? You've barely mentioned anything about your work." The stocky dragon questioned casually.
"Honestly, it was just knowledge of the technology and luck for me. We'll see eventually how it turns out." Alex exposed in the same tone.
"And your job before all this? What did you do exactly?" Bryce pressed on.
"I actually fix computers. The work itself, when not dealing with people's crap, is practically soothing. I wouldn't have it any other way." The smaller male explained enthusiastically. He really did like what he did. It really was fun when it was just him and the machine in front of him, especially when he was upgrading it.
"A computer guy as ambassador. Who'd have thought? I guess that makes all this a first for you. Or did you have aliens at your doorstep before?" The scarred officer half-joked. Granted, that may have been more true than he wanted to believe.
"Not necessarily aliens, but we have had contact with dragons before as I said. It was about a month ago in my hometown of Onyx. Some dragon came through a portal near the mountain above town. Police tried to fight it, but only stalled it before someone made it fly off. About a hundred lives were lost that day. Thousands more in damages were dealt. What's weird was that it was a Terran dragon. They're supposed to have been extinct for over 300 years." The brunette summarized in full detail. It was beyond weird, that seige. Nobody even expected a dragon to return to where it fled. But he knew the truth about that one...
"Damn. So some formerly native dragon devastated your town for no apparent reason?" Bryce was almost stunned that someone of his own kin would be considered a terrorist to others.
"What's worse is that I made contact during my first test on the portal. I didn't even recognize her until she caught me. Only then did that very ferocity I witnessed come out. I really don't want to go back to her world unless they all lose their bias against humans." Alex groaned. He still had that bitter reminder tucked away with the rest of his scars.
"Do I even dare?" The larger male cringed. His morbid curiosity got the best of him, and he sorely regretted it.
"Probably better you don't. But hey, enough about my side gig. How about you? You got any work-related stories tucked away in that skull of yours?" The stormy-eyed man tried shifting the tone to something more lighthearted.
"None that wouldn't traumatize you." The chief stated, sipping from the last beer.
"How about a comedy? There has to be something if you look hard enough." Alex pressured. Bryce sat there thinking for a moment before snapping his claws.
"Got one. I don't think you'll get it, but there's that one time I had to catch a flyer whilst on foot. Hilariously painful." Bryce summarized.
"Funny you say that. The same thing actually happened to Chris a while back. We were in the park chatting, when one of his friends swoops down and steals his favorite cadet cap. She had him running all the way to the outskirts of town. I was dead laughing at the whole thing." The smaller male hated to admit that he wanted to see it happen all over again.
"Seriously? Remind me to do that with Zhong: the waiter from the bar sometime. He has this sun hat he wears sometimes, and it would make a perfect target." The stocky reptile gave his friend a sinister grin: one they both shared.
"Oh I will." They both sniggered evilly before returning to normal. Alex checked his watch, dumbfounded at how much time had passed. "How is it 7:00 already?!" Bryce curiously glanced at the time as well. Even he was caught off guard at how late it was.
"Man, it really is that late. And I still have some stuff to prepare for work tomorrow. Think you can find your way back from here?" He saw the charcoal-clad man to the door.
"Oh yeah. It's just a simple walk across town, so I'll be fine. See you soon?" He asked with some hope. Bryce gave him a thumbs up and a 'warning'.
"Two days, dude. Don't forget it." He playfully apprised.
"Forget it? I look forward to it." Both human and dragon shared a laugh before parting. Now that Alex wasn't joking around with his favorite officer anymore, the reality sank in. He was going to be at a social event with a bunch of people he didn't know.
'Shit' Was all that came to mind.