Rooftop Dragons
After a few hours of eating wonderful food, gazing at the beautiful skyline, chatting and having fun, someone that looks like a noble, together with some people carrying weapons, enter our room.
“I have checked the records. There is no mention of someone named Rose or Rayla in the royal family of Blaze. Who are you really?”
“I am Scarlet Resplandor, Crown Princess of the Blaze empire and your records are outdated.”
“Is that so? Then I’m sure you won’t have any trouble paying us, correct?”
“Of course not.” Scarlet says while putting out what looks like a cheque book, “How much is it?”
He narrows his eyes, “I’m sorry to say we don’t accept cheques from suspicious individuals. The bill is eight gold dollars and seven gold pennies. Room not included.”
“Good, because I don’t think I want to stay in a room here after hearing such insolence. You dare doubt my credibility and my money and have even brought people to intimidate me, my little sister and my cousin. I recommend you make amends now or my parents will hear of this.”
“I don’t take threats from vagabonds. You have ten seconds to cough up the money or my people will take care that we find out your real identity. 10, 9, 8…”
“Sigh This is ridiculous,” Scarlet says as her hand vanishes inside her dress, despite it not having any pockets. She then produces what looks like an expensive coin purse, opens it and pulls out a green coin, “I believe that should cover the expenses. Give the change to the waiters who served us today, especially that Owl and Deer-Beastfolk.”
The mercenaries seem confused at this and expectantly look at the noble who cautiously walks to the coin, inspects it and says, “It’s real…Minted in Blaze as well…Are…Are you actually…?”
She smiles at him, “Like I said, your records are outdated. When the new portraits come out you’ll be able to look at them and regret your life choices.” Scarlet then transforms her arms into dragon ones and picks both Rayla and me up.
Staring down the noble and the mercenaries, she walks out on the balcony and jumps off the ledge with us causing Rayla to scream bloody murder. She then fully transforms midfall and flies away with us towards the roof of the hotel we were staying in these last few days in full view of the noble and his group.
Arriving at the roof of the hotel, Scarlet lets go of us and Rayla starts kissing the ground beneath her.
“Oh sweet, sweet ground. How I missed you…”
“Are you okay Prima?”
“Yes…Just…Give me a second…”
“Don’t worry manya, ane gets like that every time she has to be up high somewhere.”
“Huh…”
Scarlet then transforms back and gets ready to leave the roof.
“Hey, Scarlet?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you stay in your dragon form for a bit? “
“Sure!” She says while transforming back, “Is there a particular reason?”
“Well…I rarely get to see you like this so I’d like to spend a bit of time with you like this too. It feels like I only know half of you.”
“Pfft, it’s me in both forms though.”
“Not to interrupt you two but I need to get closer to ground level, see ya later,” Rayla says as she walks down the stairs on shaky legs looking like she might throw up any second.
“Do you need help getting down, ane?”
“Nope, you two have fun, I just need to lay down somewhere.”
“Pfft, looks like it’s just us now, Rose.”
“Yep…Would you mind if I climb on your back?”
She begins to laugh as she lays down on her belly, “Kikikiki, of course not, go ahead.”
Having gained her permission, I climb on top of her and inspect her wings.
“Can I touch your wings too?”
“Sure!”
I marvel at her as she spreads her wings majestically while I touch them. The bony part feels like an arm while the wings kinda feel like stretched out skin.
“Woah…Do you think I’ll be as big as you one day too?”
“Of course! You’ll get a lot bigger than that too. We actually never stop growing as long as we live!”
“Really? How long do Dragons live?”
“Well, we don’t die from old age but there is a time where we get so big that we can’t feed ourselves anymore. That’s when we fly to Dragonia, the land of the Dragons, where we reside for the rest of time.”
“Is it a nice place?”
“Yes, I hear it’s like paradise.”
“Can I come with you to Dragonia when you need to go even when I’m still able to eat enough?”
“Pfft…We’ll see when the time comes.”
“...”
“Hey Scarlet, what does your underside look like? Can I see?”
“Oh? You want me to expose my belly to you? Aren’t you demanding~”
“Sorry, was that rude?”
“Pfft, not at all. It’s fine for family and close friends but you must not expose your belly to strangers.”
“Why not?”
“Because if a lady exposes her belly it means she wants to find a mate. It’s seen as very seductive!”
“Then why does your…Our dad have his belly exposed in the royal portrait you showed me?”
“Ah! That’s because it’s different for males. For them it’s the other way around. When they show their belly it means they are in a committed relationship. Also it’s considered shameful for a male to not be very muscly when they show their belly and it can cause other men to start approaching their girlfriend or wife if they are particularly weak looking.”
“That sounds really dumb.”
“Oh it is, but men are like that. Many of them think love is some sort of competition and it doesn’t help that there are women who leave their mates for others just because they’re stronger. The only muscle that should matter is the heart! Remember that Rose.”
“Okay. I’m not really interested in men or women like that though.”
“Pfft, of course not, it would be weird if you were. Now get off so I can turn around without crushing you.”
Not wanting to be crushed, I quickly jump off and watch manya turn over to her side with a thump. Her belly seems to be a lighter red than the rest of her body. There also seems to be a weird skin flap right under her neck, “What’s this Scarlet?”
“It’s a pouch. It's for carrying around your babies. But it can also be used to store snacks, or at least that’s what I do kikikiki. Would you like to get in?”
“I don’t think I fit inside there.”
“Pfft not like this of course but you can in your draconic form!”
“But what if I fall asleep inside and go back to normal? Wouldn’t I destroy your pouch if that happens?”
“Hmm…That’s a good point actually. Let’s wait until we get that blasted curse off you.”
“...”
“Can I ask you to do something a little weird?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“Can you press down on my back so we can be together in our draconic forms? I don’t think we’ve ever both been together like that.”
“Kikikiki. Sure!”
I then turn around as Scarlet uses one of her claws to gently push into my back causing me to go blind and be surrounded by my way too big clothes. I then feel myself picked up by a giant scaly but warm hand.
“Gosh…How can you be this cute, Rose!?”
“Gao~”
“Can you do a big roar for me?”
I tilt my head for a bit then take a deep breath and scream as loud as I can, “GAOOOO~!” but only a high pitched squeal comes out.
“Soooo cuuuuute!!!”