Rawr, everybody! Happy Dragon Tuesday! This week sees our dragons beginning to grow up a bit.
Today's dragon of the week is Remy from Angels with Scaly Wings, a dragon visual novel dating sim. (Yeah, that's right. Don't judge!) Remy is probably my favorite romance route out of the four. He's an adorable white dragon with spectacles and a tie, and is the first dragon you meet when your character goes through the portal to their world. I won't explain the whole game, since that would take several pages, but I do recommend it. Warning: There are MANY feels, especially in Remy and Anna's routes.
Anyway, enjoy!
"Isn't this nice, girl?" Ruby asked, patting Storm on the nose as she led her into one of many reinforced stone shelters that sat on the other side of the freshman dorm building. It was about half the size of the team's room. At the moment, it was a relatively-spacious sleeping area for the now pony-sized dragon. By the end of the semester, however, it would be just a little tight.
Storm sniffed curiously at the strange room Ruby was leading her into. It seemed nice enough. She spotted a large bed that was covered with a soft-looking material. The other side had bowls that smelled like food. There was a larger litter box set off to one side. Overall, it looked very habitable.
Though, there was something wrong: Where was her partner's bed?
Ruby checked the large bowls, grateful that the stable hands had filled them with dry dragon food and water. Of course, it would be her responsibility to keep them full and to change the litter. Then, next semester, she would be filling troughs with food and using a shovel to clean up. Having grown up in a broodery, she was used to that. She wondered how the other Riders would adjust.
Blake, meanwhile, was letting out a sigh of relief as she led Pit into his new home. She had ultimately decided to wait and move him into an outdoor shelter at the same time as the others, as it would keep him at her side a bit longer and keep the other dragons from getting confused. She was glad it was today. Pit had started spilling out of his bed in the dorm room and was just on the edge of not being able to fit through doorways.
The stall was pretty basic. There were few differences between it and the others. The stalls for the fire dragons were pure stone, and the water stalls had a few misting machines, but they were otherwise the same.
Pit looked around, noticing the bed immediately. He padded over and curled up, sighing happily at how large it was. This was perfect! He could actually roll around in this bed!
Fang was chewing thoughtfully on his rubber bear, which no longer resembled a bear in the slightest. He wasn't sure if he wanted to go into this building. The others had gone in willingly enough, but something weird was going on.
Yang groaned. "Come on! It's fine. You're getting your own room. Isn't that great?"
Fang flicked an ear. He thought about snapping, but realized that doing so would likely injure his partner. His jaws were definitely bigger than they used to be. Letting out a sigh, he slowly trudged into the building.
Specter was also refusing to go into his stall. He sat on his haunches, chin up, head frills twitching with irritation. He could smell an apple in Weiss's bag, and figured that it was unfair to ask him to go into any unfamiliar establishments until he got it.
"Specter, inside!" Weiss said, pointing in the doorway and snapping her fingers. "In!"
Specter huffed, licking his teeth pointedly.
"You can have the apple once you listen to me. In!"
The ice dragon tossed his head and walked at an exaggerated slow pace. As he passed Weiss, he suddenly turned and touched his chilled tongue to the side of her neck.
"EEK!" Weiss squealed, falling backward. She glared at her dragon from the ground. "That was not funny!"
Blake popped her head out of Pit's stall. "I gotta disagree. Good boy, Specter!"
Specter whistled cheerfully and trotted into his stall without further resistance.
"You little- Yang!" Weiss called. "Fang's teaching Specter bad habits!"
"Hey, don't blame Fang! Your dragon's just a diva."
"Like dragon, like Rider," Blake mused.
"Does that mean Pit enjoys reading perverted books?" Weiss asked, her eyes glittering as she stood up and dusted herself off.
Blake went noticeably pale. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Yang grinned. "I want to know what you're talking about!"
Ruby peeked her head out of Storm's stall. "What about books?"
"Nothing!" the others quickly replied.
….
Twiggy nuzzled Jaune's arm as he fed her a fresh apple. Then, she set about sniffing the ground and walls of this new room she was in. There was food for her, which was good. There was a large bed, which she liked. What she didn't like was the smell. It was too empty, as if nothing had lived here for a long time, or as if all traces of them had been wiped away. The room she shared with her siblings and partner smelled of all of them.
"You'll be okay, girl," Jaune assured her, patting her shoulder. "The others will be close, so you can talk to them. And this will only be for at night and during indoor classes. You'll be with me at the arena classes and when I'm walking around. You'll be just fine."
Twiggy walked over to the bed and curled up, snuffling at the new cloth. Would she be sharing this room with her partner only? That would be nice. She barked out the window, relieved when she heard Titan barking back.
"This is the next step toward being all grown up and independent," Jaune said, sitting down next to Twiggy. He knew that she couldn't understand full, complex sentences yet, but he still liked talking to her. It seemed to calm her down. "Once you move to the earth stables next semester, you'll be able to have free run of the pastures and mud pits. Won't that be fun? This is like the in-between stage."
There were benefits for the Riders as well, of course. Jaune definitely liked the idea of having free evenings again. He and Pyrrha had gone to the Red vs. Blue movie a few days ago, and it had been amazing. She had even enjoyed the marathon he made her sit through beforehand! It would be cool if they could go somewhere else soon.
Titan walked calmly into his stall when Pyrrha asked him to. He took a few bites of food from one of the bowls, noticing that it seemed fixed to the ground, unlike their bowls in the shared room. He could feel a pleasant breeze from the windows, which had hinges on them, allowing them to be opened or closed at will. He experimentally pressed his snout against one, snapping it shut easily. He nudged the edge, pulling it back out again.
Pyrrha watched her dragon, smiling at how easily he was adjusting. "Found the windows, did you?" She looked at the bed, which was made with flame-resistant cloth. Not that it would matter for Titan, who hadn't shown even a sign of smoke coming from his nostrils yet.
She was a little relieved that her dragon was a late bloomer in the same way she had been relieved when he had bitten her that one time. Though she tried not to let it bother her when people referred to her dragon as "perfect," she couldn't help but wonder if Titan really was a textbook dragon with hardly any personality.
There were signs of something going on in his mind, like his ferocity when defending Twiggy. Still, even now, Pyrrha had a hard time reading him. She thought he was happy and that he liked her, but couldn't tell much beyond that.
Maybe, he'll show more of a personality when he gets older, she thought.
A loud thump in the next building over caused her to chuckle. Some dragons had a little too much personality.
"Guang, settle!" Ren yelped, jumping out of the way as his dragon ran past him for the third time and jumped onto his new bed. "Careful!"
Ao Guang rolled around on the cloth, yipping and whimpering with excitement. This bed was so huge! And so bouncy! He ran back to the food dishes to go again.
"Guang, stop!" Ren moved to stand in front of his dragon, who barely skidded to a halt in time to keep from knocking him over. "Good boy." He patted Ao Guang's head and gave him an apple. "I'll exercise you before settling you in for the night, but that bed is for sleeping!"
Guang chomped on his apple, his tail thumping against the ground. His partner could be a killjoy, but at least he didn't skimp on the apples.
Nora, meanwhile, was staring at her sleeping dragon with a bemused expression. "Seriously?"
Freya, upon seeing her new bed, had immediately curled up and fallen asleep without even looking at anything else. Loud, deep breaths and the occasional snore could be heard.
Nora shook her head. "You are such a lazy-butt!" She placed an apple in the food dish and walked out, closing the door behind her. "Guys, Freya fell asleep right away."
"That's good," Pyrrha commented.
"No, it's not! I'm bored! Ren, what's Guang doing?"
Thump! Crash!
"I think I'll hang out with you guys until we're done." Nora skipped over to Ao Guang's stall, opening the door to see a very happy dragon bouncing on the bed and a very irritable, disheveled Ren lying on the floor.
….
"Hey, check out these misters." Neptune pressed a button, which caused a fine mist to come from the ceiling in the middle of the room, not near the food or bed. "This is cool!"
Nymph tilted her head and tried pressing the button, chirping happily at the moistness that followed. This was fun. She looked at the bed, then at the food dishes. Was this where she would be sleeping from now on?
"Good girl," Neptune laughed, shaking his hair out. Why can't this be all the water we need to deal with? he couldn't help but wonder. "Hey, Sun! How's Badass liking his new home?" he called out the window.
"Hrk. He's been happier," Sun gritted from where he was pinned beneath Huo's front paws. As soon as he had referred to this stall as his dragon's new home, he had been knocked over and subjected to an angry gray glare. At least the fire dragon wasn't heating up his scales. Yet.
"Come on, buddy," Sun urged. "This is a nice place. And it's only temporary anyway. You know you can't be in the room anymore."
Huo growled, his eyes blazing. How dare his partner try to place him in some random building and leave him there?
"Ow! Freaking claws… Look, dude. If you'd stayed in our room, you would've just kept growing. You all would've hit each other with your wings and that would've just been annoying, you know? Then, you would've just grown until you got crushed. Is that what you want?"
Huo snarled. His partner was being stupid. How were they supposed to protect each other while separated?
"Need help over there?" Scarlet called. "You're not dying, right?"
"I'll let you know," Sun groaned.
"Kay!" Scarlet turned back to Nimbus, who was blowing bubbles in his new water dish. "Having fun, pal?"
Nimbus snorted, which caused him to inhale water, and proceeded to start coughing loudly.
Scarlet rolled his eyes. "Ho boy…"
Sage was trying to get to the door without being immediately grabbed and pulled back by Zircon's paws. "Zircon, I need to go," he said, keeping his voice firm. "You will be fine." He had already put several of his shirts on the bed, so that Zircon would have his scent when he went to sleep. "I promise that you're safe.
Zircon hugged Sage against his chest, keening loudly. He didn't want to be all alone in the building! He could hear his brothers and sister, but that wasn't enough! They were too far and through more walls! What if it rained? What if there was lightning?
"Ow! Zircon, claws!" Sage yelped when he felt scratches on his chest.
Zircon whimpered as he withdrew his claws, but didn't let go. He didn't like anything about this. He needed his partner, or he wouldn't be safe.
Sage managed to turn around in his dragon's grip. "Zircon, listen to me. You are strong enough to be here without me. You are an earth dragon bred and raised at the greatest Dragonry in all of Remnant. You can handle anything."
Zircon blinked, loosening his claws a little. He understood some words like his name and "strong." What was his partner telling him?
"You need to let me go," Sage continued. "I'll be back tomorrow. I promise."
Tomorrow. Zircon knew that word. Did that mean…he only needed to do this until tomorrow? He slowly loosened his grip.
Sage beamed proudly as he felt his dragon putting him down. "Good boy!" He patted Zircon's nose. "You're going to be fine. I'll see you tomorrow. Be brave." He stepped through the door, glancing back once at Zircon's nervous face and darting eyes, then closed it behind him.
Neptune was already outside of Nymph's stall. "Dude, are you crying?" he asked, keeping his voice hushed.
Sage wiped his eyes. "I'm fine. It's good that Nymph's stall is next to his. She can calm him down if he gets too nervous."
Sun, meanwhile, was trying to shift from under Huo, who was now lying on top of him. "Dude…heavy…breathing…not…" he wheezed.
Neptune peeked in and gasped. "Oh no. Sun, need any help?"
"Yes…please…"
Huo opened an eye as Neptune entered, and snapped angrily in his direction, causing the boy to yelp and jump back. Pathetic.
Sun groaned. He couldn't breathe, his chest was all scratched, and he had had it. Clenching a fist, he brought his hand up to give Huo the hardest bop to the nose he had given him yet.
Huo yelped in pain and surprise, jumping back and rubbing his snout with his paws. That hurt! He was torn between wanting to maul his partner and feeling immensely relieved that he could actually hit.
Sun stood up, dusting himself off before pointing a finger at his dragon. "Okay. Listen here, you little asshole. I've had it! I'm done with you switching between angry lunatic and mopey teenager! You're going to be a grown-ass dragon in a few months, and it's time to start acting like it! You are going to stay in this stall, and you are not going to give me any more bullshit! I'm going to come back tomorrow, and we are going to keep working to become actual freaking partners. You got that?!"
Huo actually had to take a step back during Sun's tirade. His eyes were wide and he was utterly stunned. His partner actually had a backbone. He could roar as well as any dragon. Perhaps, that disastrous fight before had taught him something after all. If that was the case, he could probably go a night without Huo's protection.
Nodding and letting out a satisfied snort, the fire dragon padded over to his bed and curled up.
There was a moment of stunned silence. Neptune was the first to speak. "I will never tick you off for as long as I live."
Sun blinked. He actually felt a little lightheaded after that. "Phew. That was a rush." He turned and grinned at Neptune. "I guess Port was right about him needing a firm hand." He smiled at the now-dozing Huo and led his friend out of the stall.
Scarlet and Sage were waiting, and Scarlet's eyes were wide. "That was scary!"
"Yeah, no kidding," Sun laughed. "I hope he never makes me do that again."
Teams RWBY and JNPR were approaching. Ruby's hands were over her ears as Storm's howls echoed behind her. "I left like half of my clothes with her!"
Weiss sighed. "I tried singing to her, but nothing worked."
"Ozpin did say that the first night would be hard," Blake pointed out. "We just need to stay firm."
"You know…" Yang murmured, a grin coming to her face. "I just realized something. With the stalls, we can actually all be free at the same time. I know this club in town…"
"We're in!" Nora chirped.
Ren groaned, but didn't say anything.
Ruby frowned. "Should we really be celebrating while our dragons are adjusting?"
"Why not?" Neptune shrugged. "It's something they have to go through anyway, and we're not supposed to visit the stalls for the first few nights. It won't make a difference to them whether we're in the dorms or somewhere else."
"As always, the nerd is right," Sun declared. "I'm in."
"Intellectual!"
"Shut up, nerd," Scarlet scoffed. "I'll go too."
In the end, everyone agreed to meet up Saturday night. After all that had gone on so far this semester, a bit of harmless fun would definitely be nice. Still, as they walked away from the stalls, they couldn't help glancing over their shoulders, hoping their dragons would be okay until morning.
A bit of dancing. A bit of clubbing. What could go wrong?
If you like what you see and want to show extra support in exchange for rewards, my P/atreon is Solora Goldsun.
If you'd like to see writing tips, prompts, top 10 lists, and fandom rants from yours truly, check out my blog at soloragoldsun dot wordpress dot com.
Peace out!