forum The Dragon // One on One // Closed

Started July 17, 2019 by @Fraust

tune

Gemini shook her head. "It doesn't work like that. Humans can lie to ourselves, but it won't ever feel true."

"Well, yeah, but you can repress it enough that it's pretty close…" Kono said dreamily, staring blankly at a wall.

"That's not - I don't like doing that either. Because it never works and then I feel like a failure for being able to be hurt," she sighed.

Kono shrugged. "Yep. Better than nothing, though. Trust me on that one."

"No offense or anything, but I trust myself a LOT more than I trust you," she answered.

"That's fair. Either way, I've done my fair share of lying to myself." Kono flicked his tail, still staring at the wall.

"I can tell, " she told him emphatically. "You've made that very clear."

"Mhmm. Do human parents generally stay with their children?" Kono glanced over at Gemini.

Gemini shrugged. "I think so. Most of them die, where I live, so I can't be sure. They usually don't leave in purpose, though. Those that do are what we call 'assholes.'"

"Oh… does that make my father an 'asshole'? My mother would not be… she's dead, so, you know." Kono hummed, picking up a coin again.

"Yeah, basically," she told him, shrugging. "I don't know if it's the same for dragons, though."

"Neither do I… I mean, he taught me that humans are dangerous and I needed to protect the treasure, and that was about it before he flew off. Wonder if he's still alive…?"

Gemini looked away. "The Earth is a big place. It's sort of impossible to know."

Kono shrugged. "Dragons live a long time and are hard to kill, so it's likely. If not likely, then at least possible."

She shrugged blankly, yawning. "Just… don't go looking for him or anything. Had a friend who did that once, and it didn't work out well."

"I don't plan on leaving anytime soon. Then the cave would be entirely unprotected, and I can't do that."

"On second thought, feel free to go look for him," she said, only half joking.

"No thanks." Kono huffed, a bit of smoke coming out of his mouth.

Gemini sighed. "It was worth a try. Why is your mouth smoking?"

"It does that sometimes. I breathe fire, so sometimes I emit smoke involuntarily from my mouth to prevent my body from overheating. This can also be remedied by actually breathing fire, as well, though I don't do that as often." A bit more smoke came from his mouth as he spoke.

Gemini tilted her head. "That's weird. Cool, but weird. Where did your horns go? Do they retract? Do you do that on purpose?"

Kono glanced up. "Hmm… strange. They seem to change size depending on how… human, I'm feeling, I suppose. When I experience sympathy, empathy, or emotions in general, they seem to shrink."

"Do you not normally experience emotion? That's weird, too. Can I touch your horns? Are they like a cow or like a sea urchin? Or a rhinoceros? Actually, I have no idea what any of those feel like so don't answer that," she said, shaking her head.

"Uh… I guess?" Kono transformed into a dragon and lay his head beside Gemini so she could touch him.

(Heck sorry, shit went down)
Gemini tilted her head, then tentatively reached out a finger to pet a horn. "Weird," she commented.