No Place Like Home [Open]

[cantmissfriday]

((OOC: Been around long enough to have met Friday and want to stop by? Someone sent you around because you need some heavy work done? Just wondering what the giant dragon shelter is on the edge of town? Come on by!))

Who: Friday and YOU
Where: Friday's home near the edge of town
When: Any time, any day! She's home most often after sundown, however.
What: Paying a call on the resident mountain of dragon

A house designed for a large, solitary dragon was, by necessity, quite simply designed. The building was large and square, with most of the inside space taken up by an enormous nest. There were a few storage boxes built along the walls like benches, and the only other room was a freezer large enough to be a walk-in for a human. The doors were massive, naturally, but had smaller, human-sized doors set next to them, and even a little human-sized table and a couple chairs set into one corner that saw precious little use.

Friday still had high hopes of visitors, some day.

The strangest part about the place was that it was decorated. Unless you counted hordes, dragons - particularly the large ones - weren't exactly known for interior design. And, well, it wasn't pretty, exactly. But it'd been painted enthusiastically in bright, foresty greens and yellows inside and out, and the walls were adorned with a few pictures, medals, and even a mounted military rifle. Everything was extremely orderly, tidy, and dust-free, perhaps betraying a bit of the dragon behind the dimwitted gentle giant routine she liked to put on.

The dragon herself spent most of her time there sleeping, snoozing, and thinking. But a visitor was always worth attention.

Comments

[doingallthethings]

There were a few people who at least knew who she was and didn't find her terrible company. One of them happened to be a small, fluffy, white dragon, who of course dragged her own person along when she decided to track down that big but fairly polite Regal who they'd talked with off and on before. So once they'd ascertained that she wasn't actually in the barracks, like they'd assumed, they circled the city in search of her.

Spotting the makeshift house from the air wasn't all that hard, once they were flying over the right part of the city. Fluniarlii angled down to the little building and alighted just in front of it, looking up in mild confusion. "Why would she want to live here?"

"Maybe she likes being by herself," Haro suggested, climbing down from her back and hanging on the harness, looking up at it, too.

[cantmissfriday]

Friday might spend a lot of time napping, but she was a light enough sleeper that the conversation outside roused her before long. With a drowsy rumble, she pushed herself to her feet and lazily pushed the door open with her shoulder. It wasn't locked, the way the human-sized one was. What would be the point? Most residents in town wouldn't be able to open the front door easily on their own, just due to the sheer size of it.

The Regal poked her head out and peered around, grinning toothily when she spotted what had disturbed her. "Haro! Flu! What are you doing here?"

[doingallthethings]

"Visiting!" Flunika answered, trotting over to rub, catlike, on Friday's foreleg in greeting. "You didn't think we'd let ya hang around down here by yourself, all the time, didja?"

"I hope you don't mind," Haro said apologetically. "We couldn't find any way to warn you ahead of time."

[cantmissfriday]

"Visiting? Why, I love visiting! And visitors!" Friday beamed and leaned down to nuzzle Flu's back gently. "I think you're my first, that didn't need me for a job! Come in, come in." She ushered them into her little home. "I never mind, not at all!"

[doingallthethings]

"Little" home was a relative term. Haro and Flunika were definitely a little dwarfed by most of the building, though Haro gravitated almost immediately-- after a little looking around and gawping-- towards the chairs that were his size. Flunika was less polite and actually took flight to explore the room.

"You haven't had any visitors?" she asked as she hovered in front of the rifle curiously. "Haven't you made any friends in all the time you've been here working?"

[cantmissfriday]

"Oh, you know." Friday stretched on her nest, rubbing some of the scales along her back on a rough patch of wood on one wall. "People come by, but it's all business. Carry this, dig up that." She scrunched up her nose in a dragonish smile. "I suppose they think I'm kinda funny."

[doingallthethings]

"Well, you are kind of funny," Flunika pointed out, circling the room at ceiling level now. "But it's a good kind of funny, a very strong, dragony kind of funny, so it's not an insult or anything."

Haro rolled his eyes, but with a smile, hoping Friday wouldn't be particularly offended by Flu's attitude. He didn't take a seat, though he did hover by the chairs just in case he was invited to. "I am sorry to hear you haven't made friends, though," he added to her less polite comment. "Maybe now that there are more people here, you will."

[cantmissfriday]

"Most people do not see me as the right sort to be making friends with. I think you two are the funny ones!" Friday chuckled a little, a warm, rumbling noise that filled the place nicely. "It's better than the city. I'm unattached, you know." She figured the pair had noticed, but she thought they might be uncomfortable discussing her lack of human partner until she pointed it out.

[doingallthethings]

"Oh, Haro's not very funny, at all. He's kind of boring, actually." Flunika gave up on the flying about to come land on Friday's shoulder, and despite her words, her tone was still fond.

"I have you to be funny, for me," Haro countered mildly. "Miss Friday, I'd wondered about that... you don't have a partner?" He very much wanted to ask whether she ever had, but he also didn't want to be rude.

[cantmissfriday]

Friday carefully straightened the few bits of memorabilia that Flu's flapping had disturbed. It would bug her like crazy if she didn't. "Oh, no." Her tone was mild. Maybe a little sad. "Not for ages, now."

[doingallthethings]

"I'm sorry," Haro said, ears turned back uncertainly, still not sure how much he should or shouldn't ask. Unlike Flunika, he did care about being rude, and bothering people.

Flunika, of course, barreled on for him. "Did your first one die? That's really sad, if he did. I don't know what I'd do, without Haro, even if he is boring."

[cantmissfriday]

"Oh, yes. Years and years ago, now." It didn't hurt so bad anymore. It'd been almost two decades. More? Maybe. She was better at keeping track of time than most big dragons, but it still slipped away from her sometimes. Of course, it was unusual for any dragon to go so long between partners, particularly the long-lived breeds. "We had a long time together, though. Many good fights. And a lovely little farm, once that was done." She did miss it.

[doingallthethings]

"I'm very sorry," Haro said solemnly. He knew that was a difficult milestone for dragons, but he also thought most of them had something lined up already, unless the death was sudden.... "Was there no one else you liked enough to partner up with, after?"

"Haro, you don't just ask that!" Flunika hissed at him, though since it was from the back of the dragon being asked, it was plenty loud for everyone to hear.

[cantmissfriday]

Friday just chuckled softly. "It's okay, Flu, I don't mind! Most people don't think to ask at all. No, I don't think there's anyone I want to be my partner." She shrugged carefully, trying not to dislodge the little dragon perched on her. "Probably not ever. He was special."

[doingallthethings]

Flunika could cling with the best of them, especially when Friday had such wide scales to cling to. "That's sad," she said, rustling her fluffy wings and actually looking like she felt sad about it. Her tiny little ears even drooped, if Friday could see that much. "You're still pretty young, right? That's a long time to be alone."

[cantmissfriday]

"I'm only in my eighties." Friday shook her head. "But I don't mind as much as everyone else seems to. It'd have been nice if they'd let me keep our farm, though. Or go back to the army without a partner."

[doingallthethings]

"They made you sell your home?" Haro asked with a frown. He was vaguely aware of dragonic property laws, and such things; he'd taken the classes with Flu like everyone else with a dragon partner. But it'd been a long time ago, and he had never honestly expected for Flunika to outlive him, so it hadn't been something he'd paid close attention to.

"Maybe here will be better?" Flunika chirped hopefully. "I mean, we're way out in the middle of nowhere, so maybe they'll want you to do more stuff."

[cantmissfriday]

"Well, no, they repossessed it. Dragons can't own property, so I guess the will was invalid." She scratched at her chin and frowned. "Or something like that. I couldn't really keep up with the lawyers." It was a source of endless frustration, but even she had her limits. "I am liking it better out here! Not so many people care about whether I'm bonded."

[doingallthethings]

"And they shouldn't!" Flunika declared. "Shouldn't care, I mean. You're still the same dragon you were before, just a little lonelier, right? So there's no reason to care."

Haro winced a little; Flunika knew that was practically sedition, just like he did. He thought that might be at least part of why she said things like that, just for the potential reaction.

[cantmissfriday]

Friday tilted her head at them both, for a moment. Then laughed. A deep, delighted belly-laugh that shook the knick-knacks on the shelves a little. "Oh, I like you two." She relaxed, stretching out on her nest. Dropping the meek, dumb brute routine for once.

"Of course it shouldn't matter, Flu. We are not defined by our partners - no offense, Haro. We're thinking, feeling creatures in our own right. But society doesn't agree. Or doesn't know there's another option." She looks peers innocently up at nothing, scratching a dry scale on her neck. "Well. Not yet, anyway."

Maybe she was taking a risk, but Flu seemed like-minded, and Haro was dragon-blood.

[doingallthethings]

Despite being generally a clever little dragon, Flunika was also extremely self-absorbed, so she didn't quite catch on to the change in demeanor. Haro, however, was pretty much trained to catch such things, and he gave her a sidelong look and a little frown. "I'm glad you like us, miss Friday, and I think you do have a point, but you also ought to be careful. Even out here."

"We'll look out for her, whatever the trouble might be," Flunika insisted.

[cantmissfriday]

Friday tilted her head, eyes wide and innocent, expression carefully blank. It was easier to see the mask when one had had a glimpse of what was underneath. "Oh, me? I'm always careful. I just can't stand unnecessary conflict." She might be a radical, but she much preferred peaceful protest and affirmative action to a bloody revolution. She was, after all, quite fond of humans, herself.

[doingallthethings]

Yeah, sorry, Friday, Haro wasn't buying it anymore. He eyed her, but then shook his head with a wry little smile. "That's good, I guess. Because I bet someone like you could probably be pretty good, when it comes to conflict."

[cantmissfriday]

"Well, they don't give out medals for being bad on the battlefield." She gestured vaguely at some of the ribbons hanging from the wall. "But it's... oh, I don't know. I guess there's the saying, you should fight to live and not live to fight? It's always better if no one has to get hurt."

[doingallthethings]

"I agree with that wholeheartedly, miss Friday," Haro said, perhaps a little more fervently than he would have if he wasn't saying it to a dragon who could swallow him in one bite and still be hungry. (Not that he expected such a thing, of course, as she was entirely civil with him and all that, but thinking of how she could be quite devastating if she wanted to made him appreciate her desire not to be.)

"That's boring, but even I can't go up against everybody by my little lonesome," Flunika sighed, flopping down more bonelessly on Friday's lap.

[cantmissfriday]

"There's things none of us can do on our own, little or otherwise," Friday said soothingly, nuzzling Flunika in an affectionate way. She might be a radical, but that didn't mean she had to be barbaric or bloody about it. Unfortunately, even peaceful protests made people nervous, when it was dragons doing the protesting.

[doingallthethings]

"What are you doing, then?" Haro asked. Because she was talking like she was doing something.

"And can I help?" Flunika put in eagerly. She was as bad as Haro sometimes, in her way, with picking up things to do-- she just didn't follow through on them as often as he did.

[cantmissfriday]

"Me?" Friday propped her head in her claws. "I'm just living my life. Maybe some people will see me and learn that dragons can be good citizens even without partners."