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nonhumanresources · 8 months

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Normalcy

Alright y'all, gonna start posting my writing here I think! Starting off with one of my personal favorite stories. I wrote this one a while back and iirc the ending is rough but it was well over the assignment limit oops so here we are lol. I'll streamline the formatting and such as I go so it's not all this clunky.

Summary: Laney is a dragon, which is a new experience for her. Fortunately, dragons can still operate cell phones, so at least she can tell someone else.

What to expect: dragon post-transformation POV, "how does a giant lizard navigate inside of a household," several questions about glass eyes, government agents, poor choices in drinkware, and a few space werewolves.

Length: 5.6k words

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Laney was a dragon.

That was not normal.

She knew normal, somewhat; it was driving a truck, picking up groceries, sitting with friends, watching TV and complaining about corporations ruining TV then watching it some more, buying cheap meals at the lab cafeteria. Being a dragon was exactly none of those things, last time she checked.

The only light in Laney’s room was the bluish glow of a cell phone, flashing on and off. Shards of glass were all over her head from when she’d tried to stand and slammed a horn directly into the lightbulb. Her tail slapped the ground in frustration as the phone shut off again, leaving her in darkness but for the sickly streetlamp glow behind her curtains.

Laney was a dragon, but she wasn’t panicked. She wasn’t. Things were going to turn out okay, she told herself. Over and over. Just like a not-panicked person would do. Okay, maybe a little more than that, but that was just nervousness. It was understandable to be nervous. If she could just get the dang phone to stay on, then things would be alright. The remains of the bed groaned as she shifted side to side, haunches settling into a slightly more comfortable position, reaffirming the discovery that a small room was not, in fact, that most comfortable place for a dragon to sit.

Rest of the story is in the read more! If you'd prefer to read it in a more convenient fashion, the google drive link is here. As always comments, questions, and thoughts are always appreciated.

Lots of discoveries were coming to light, actually. The aforementioned dragon-in-a-small-room theory; the weight limit on a standard Ikea bed frame (plus mattress and mattress pad); and most distinctly, that dragon claws did not, in fact, work on a modern touch screen device.

Growling came from deep inside her sternum, startling her. Another discovery! Laney was finding out so much - her bosses at the lab would be proud, as long as she wrote it all down, of course.

She shook her head. Being decidedly not panicked was getting distracting. She had to keep focused.

The phone screen illuminated the sharp curve of her snout as her claws, many times bigger than the small device, managed to snag the power button. That was a small success - now she just needed to follow it up. Her tail rose up from its position wrapped around her paws, a quick swipe across the screen bringing up the keypad for entering her password. The tip of her tail worked somewhat with a touchscreen - it just required careful precision to actually push what she wanted.

Laney snagged her tail tip in between two fingers, paw curled awkwardly to accomplish the feat. Caution was key, here. The paw shook as she tried to manipulate her tail into pushing the keypad. Lower… closer….

The top of the screen lit up with a glorious, wonderful 5, and Laney nearly roared in triumph. First success, after half an hour of fruitlessly trying to even reach this point! Next was a four, just a touch to the left….

“Oh, GOD wh—”

Laney was a dragon. She was also speaking English. Needless to say, that was more than a little shocking, and she just about choked on her words, letting out a massive, hacking gag, like an oversized, hissy dog. How did that even WORK?

Wh… whatever. Didn’t matter that an enormous reptile was somehow speaking a human language perfectly; if she could just open her phone and contact the lab, they’d help her. Sure, she was just a delivery driver, but they were working on some pretty advanced stuff - there was bound to be something that could… could help….

Her thoughts stuttered as she glanced back down and realized her phone had shut off.

Another discovery: being a dragon did not, apparently, limit Laney’s use of swear words.

It took another fifteen minutes to get back to the lock screen. Granted, five of those were spent panicking as a sharp crack rang out, then calming down as Laney realized it was just her bed frame, and not the phone. Right now, that was way more important.

She took a deep breath, chest almost ballooning outwards, scales rattling against each other. Laney held it for a moment, surprised, before letting it slip out, whistling between teeth and out the sides of her maw. Being a dragon was so… odd. Or something. Laney realized she’d unconsciously been suppressing her physical feelings, or at least forcing them to the back of her mind. Air trickling over her back as she shifted her wings; the wings themselves, like an extra, unruly pair of arms with a rubber flap; her paws on the carpeted floor; her tail shifting and swaying, soft scales on its underside slithering over the carpet. It was all so alien. Some things were familiar, but even brushing a paw against her front, where she expected to feel something like a hand on a stomach, it felt like her old skin was… stretched over this new shape, brain awkwardly trying to reinterpret nerve signals to fit her narrow view of life.

Laney glanced down at her lifted paw. Its green scales gleamed dully in the almost-darkness. It almost didn’t feel like hers.

She looked downwards and almost punched her tail right through her phone screen as it darkened, about to turn off. Too many distractions; she needed to call someone, now.

Focusing hard, she hunched over her phone intently. Using her tail like a stylus again, Laney managed that first five again, and even the four after it, with little trouble. Nine was next; an accidental six showed up, but she managed to hit the delete button this time, snagging the nine with the softest touch from a scale. Just a two left….

As her phone flashed and took her to the home screen, Laney nearly shrieked with joy. It worked! Finally! She was almost saved! The cellphone app was right at the bottom of her screen - another careful tap, and there was a list of contacts. One swipe, two, all the way down to S - and there was the prize: Stentson Laboratories, Inc. She immediately poked it, sighing with relief.

Luckily for her, although she didn’t realize it, she missed. Her phone displayed a name at the top, and it was decidedly not Stentson Laboratories, Inc. It was Sula Reiner. Laney groaned. Sula was a good friend - and also not who she needed right now. She couldn’t risk hanging up, though - obviously, the less actions on her phone, the better. It would go back to her contacts after the phone call went through; besides, it was nearly two in the morning. There was no way Sula would answer this late, so it was totally safe. She could relax for a moment, and—

“Hello?”

She almost choked on her own tongue, again.

“Laney? Everything alright? It, uh. Definitely sounds like you’re choking.”

“F-fine,” Laney choked out in response, clearing her throat (although it sounded more like a cat hacking up something behind the couch). “I’m fine, not choking.”

Sula laughed, her light voice coming through the speaker with a tinny quality. “Good, good. What’s up, then? You need something? You sound kinda sick”

“I…” What were her options, really? Laney was basically stuck in her room, covered in scales, with nowhere to go, and she couldn’t even operate her phone properly. Calling Sula was a mistake—but having someone else to help out… maybe that would be better. Sula was a pretty open person; maybe she’d be able to do something?

“Uh… yeah. It’s a lot to ask, but can you come over and help me? I’m… well, you’ll see. It’s not a prank or anything, promise.”

“Sure, I’ll be over there in a minute. Need me to bring anything?”

Laney blinked, staring at the phone as if by doing so she could see Sula’s face. “Wait, seriously? Just like that? It’s… I mean, it’s important, but—”

“Oh, yeah, no worries. I’m not getting any sleep anyway, trust me.” Sula sounded conversational, but that was a little odd. She acted as if she was nocturnal or something.

“Okay. There’s a key behind the mailbox on the wall.” Laney felt apprehensive, but the more she thought about it, the more this felt like the best solution.

“Be right there.” Click.

The dragon sighed, settled in, and waited.

—

Sula hummed as she walked through the dark towards Laney’s house. Streetlamps and the odd house light threw molten globs of light in all sorts of shades of yellow out onto the sidewalk. Her and Laney lived closer to the edge of town, in the rural neighborhood where they’d grown up. Sula had the patterns and shapes of the streets ingrained in her memory, the way the straight lines bent around the park and its surprisingly large lake.

Lately, though, she was more used to seeing them at night. It was her element—more so than most college students her age staying up late, working on essays. Their taste of the night came from breezes in windows and fleeting jaunts after sports games and club events. Sula had dove into the night head first, becoming a specter in the fleeting lights, a ghost to the daytime world.

That’s how she liked to think of it, anyway. It was a lot more interesting when she thought of it that way. Not that the truth was boring; it was really quite the opposite. ‘Alien by contract’ was a serious job title, but it wasn’t quite the aesthetic she was going for. Plus, she knew she wasn’t really a ‘specter to the daytime world.’ That implied people seeing her; that hardly ever happened, because most people were sensibly asleep at two in the morning. Not to mention she was wearing her oversized pajama top with a bunch of cute rabbits and a fleece bottom. That kinda took away from the whole specter look

The hum became a whistle—she was a great whistler—that echoed off the garage doors and vinyl siding of the neighborhood. A near-perfect rendition of the opening song to an anime she liked bounced off lawns and doors and into the sky. It petered off, though, as Laney’s house came into sight.

All the lights were off, which wasn’t really unusual for this time of night, but Sula already knew Laney was awake. Maybe she was just in the basement? Her parents were gone for the week on a business trip, so it was just her friend there at the moment. Still, her feet slapped against the pavement a little faster, her hands shaking slightly as they lifted the hanging mailbox away from the wall to snag the key underneath.

Maybe nothing was wrong, and it was just a panic attack, or something? Sula knew Laney’s tendency to clutch her emotions tight like they were birds trying to escape, and when one got away, they all erupted into the air in a storm of tears and feathers.

Yeah, it was probably nothing to worry about.

—

It was definitely something to worry about.

When she heard Sula yelling her name, Laney called out from the bedroom. She crouched down in front of the door, trying to look as nonthreatening as possible. Her paws shook - what if Sula….

Stop thinking of what if’s, she commanded herself, gulping a big breath of air and breathing it out slowly. I’m calm. I’m not panicked. I’m calm.

Sula’s ungodly screech upon opening her bedroom door nearly pushed her into being not calm.

“Sula, I—”

“LANEY! ARE YOU IN THERE?!” she screamed over her, hands held up warily, but thankfully not running away yet.

“Yes, I’m—”

“I’M COMING IN THERE!” Sula gritted her teeth, glaring right into Laney’s eyes so fiercely that Laney recoiled, shocked. Was she about to try and fight her? She was… oddly flattered, but no no no this was bad.

“Sula! It’s me! Stop!” Laney’s cries made her friend hesitate.

“I—well yeah, I certainly hope it’s you! I’m gonna come save you from the dragon that’s in your bedroom!” Her voice wavered a little. She was unsure, hovering in the doorway, eyes gleaming. She looked… wild. And the pause was because of Laney’s request, not because of the dragon.

Laney began to question a few things about her friend.

“No, I mean—Sula, I’m the dragon, don’t punch me, okay?” Her voice cracked a little on the word dragon. The smoldering, blue-green heat in Sula’s eyes burst alight into crackling curiosity.

“You’re the dragon?”

“Yes.” Laney hoped she sounded convincing enough.

“And this is… not normal?”

“Of course it isn’t normal, Sula! Are you high?!”

Sula barked out a laugh, to Laney’s chagrin, then put her hands back down to her sides and stepped up to Laney’s snout. “Weird things happen at two AM, dude. For some people this would totally be the opposite of a problem.”

Laney growled. “Doubtful! I can’t see why anyone would view this as anything but directly negative! I can’t even get out of my room!” Something about Sula’s presence kept her talking, as if this were an everyday conversation. Sula did that to everyone, she’d noticed - something about her made it feel like you could let your guard down, for a bit, and talk about whatever weird topic she was obsessed with this week.

“Yeah… this was, uh. Not the greatest place to change, huh?” Sula reached out a hand, hovering it over Laney’s snout. “May I?”

Laney snorted, but nodded. “Obviously not. And sure. Look, I need some serious help.” She felt her muscles tense as Sula’s cold hand lightly ran along the scales on the bridge of her snout, from her nose all the way up between her eyes. She ran her knuckles over it, harder this time, and Laney felt an intense shiver rattle her spine from head to tail. Her scales clicked and clacked lightly against each other like change in a pocket, and she could feel spines bristle across the center of her back. She felt like… how she imagined a cat, or something.

Sula just kept talking as if she didn’t notice Laney’s tail slapping the ground happily (a physical sensation Laney was not feeling emotionally). “Help… yeah. Why’d you call me for it?”

“B-be… becah… S-Sula, ssstop!” She yanked her head up and away from Sula’s hand, who let out a soft eep and stumbled backwards. “I can’t think when you’re doing that, geez… I didn’t mean to call you. You’re just right under the contact for Stentson and I misclicked it with my tail.”

Sula drew in a sharp breath. “Oh. Okay. Thank goodness I’m here and not them.”

“What? What’s wrong with Stentson Labs?” Laney tilted her head, what felt like a natural response to confusion in this form. “You worked there for a month or two last summer - it’s not like they’re THAT bad. Uptight, sure, but….” She trailed off as Sula shook her head.

“Nah. Nah, they’re bad news, Laney. I’d bet a whole lot of money that they were the ones who caused this—and that they’ve got someone sitting at the phone, waiting to pick up when you inevitably call.” Sula sounded… grim. It was unsettling. Laney could feel her scales rising again.

“You… you don’t know what you’re talking about. Just get my phone and, and call them, okay? Please?”

“This happened tonight, right?”

“Sula.”

“So yes, then. And you’re still on delivery duty—what were you delivering?”

“Sula!”

“Something important, then.” Laney stomped a paw, frustrated. Why couldn’t she have less stubborn friends?

“Yes! Fine! I’ll play your game!” Laney snapped, knowing it would be the only way to get Sula off of her tangent. “It was a new experimental compound we were shipping to the military again. It’s a government run lab after all. Probably just some new high-efficiency civilian eliminator. It’s not my job to care about it.”

“Did you like… spill it on yourself, or eat it, or something? Stentson has weird stuff going on behind closed doors, Lan.” Sula using her nickname was uncommon, these days - it was all she’d call her back in high school.

“Yes, Lu. I’m sure. We transported it in one of the freezer boxes. I had to take it out to replace the ice, but it’s not like it spilled—those capsules are air and water tight. I should know, my water bottle is one of the decommissioned ones.”

Sula opened her mouth to respond, then snapped it shut with a clack. “Where’s your water bottle?”

“If I tell you where it is, will you drop the silly idea?” Sula nodded. “Okay. Thank goodness. It’s next to the kitchen sink. I was gonna wash it later.”

Sula slipped out, shoes knocking across the wooden floorboards. She always walked so heavily. Laney’s mom used to tell her that was going to stomp so hard she broke right through the sidewalk one of these days. Well, those days, now.

Sula’s stomping came back in a moment, and she reappeared, illuminated from behind by the hall light, a large, pill-shaped hunk of metal in one hand. “You’re not gonna like this, Lan.” She tapped a finger on the side of the capsule, reading from a label. “3M E.C. (aq). Probably ‘Three molar aqueous Experimental Compound,’ if I had to guess, since scientists aren’t known for creative naming.”

“Give me that!” Laney shifted her weight, holding out a paw. Sula dropped the capsule onto it, and she curled her claws over it, turning it over to read the label herself. 3M E.C. (aq).

Great.

Sula spoke softly. “Did someone do this to you, Lan?”

Laney growled, a deep primal noise. “No.”

“Are you sure…?”

She sighed, nodded, and smacked her head on the ground. “Hopefully that military base appreciates the can of Monster they’re getting in the mail tomorrow.”

—

What a stupid mistake. Laney knew she hadn’t been getting enough sleep, but a slip up this bad could have cost her her life! Drinking out of random laboratory containers—aargh, just thinking about it made her want to slap her past self.

Sula was sitting against her side, humming. Laney’s declaration had caused her to burst out laughing, to which Laney politely requested she shut up for a minute and let her deal with this. Sula apologized and politely did so.

It was just… this mistake might have actually cost her life, in a different way. Laney was officially some sort of lab mutant now, ripe for experimenting on. She knew better than to believe sci-fi movies - she wasn’t going to be immediately dissected or something. That was a token comfort, though, against the reality that she would be locked in a secret lab (which were very much real) and run through test after test after test. More than likely to develop a weapon. That was one thing that sci-fi got right: the US was always looking for another weapon.

More than anything, she just felt… stupid. Her wings drooped on either side, trailing over her ruined bedroom’s floor, and even her tail had stopped moving. She had laid flat on the ground “to pout,” according to Sula.

Sula’s humming stopped. “May I speak now?”

Laney took a deeeeeep breath, in and out. “Permission granted.”

“Nice!” Sula pushed herself off of Laney’s enormous side and up to her feet. “You’re suuuper warm, by the way. I dunno if you can breathe fire, but I’d believe it. Now,” she said, walking over to Laney’s snout, hands on her hips. “Up! Let’s go!” Laney rolled her eyes.

“Where are we going?” she drawled.

“The park!” Sula sounded much too eager about this. What was she trying to do?

“I’m not going to the park when I can’t even make it out of the doorway.” Laney tried to make her words sound as dully disinterested as possible.

“You’re a lot longer than you are tall, Lan. Besides—I’m helping!”

“How.”

Sula winked, and Laney rolled her eyes. “Let’s just say that you’re lucky you called me instead of Stentson.”

“Look, Sula, I appreciate you coming over. I really, really do. But I don’t see how—”

“I’m a werewolf.”

Sula talked over her. Like, actually, honest-to-god just interrupted her mid sentence. She never did that. Not only that—it was also nonsense.

“Sula. Don’t.”

“Lan, you gotta stop being so dreary.”

“Sula, my whole body and life just got upended!”

She had the audacity to shrug. “You get used to it after the third or fourth time.”

“Stop trivializing this!” Laney growled again, the sound rattling hollowly through her throat and chest, powerful and menacing. She started to push herself to her feet - then ground to a halt as something large and furry slapped down on her snout with a wet plap!

Sula tried to keep talking conversationally, but Laney could hear the grin in her voice. “It’s contractual, but it totally wasn’t the first time—”

“Damn it Sula, what the—”

“It’s a pretty nice gig, really—”

“Sula what the ACTUAL hell is on my face?!”

“It’s my paw!” Laney could see where the fur thinned and lead into Sula’s regular, definitely human arm.

“It’s your—SULA. EXPLAIN RIGHT NOW. WHERE IS THIS FROM AND WHY IS IT SOAKING WET.” Laney had to force the words out gruffly, one at a time. This was too much. This… no. What was even going ON?

“I told you. Werewolf. Full shapeshifting, the whole jazz. Plus, I’m an alien werewolf, which is even cooler.” Sula pulled her paw back, revealing glowing green pads on her palm as it quickly turned back into an underwhelming human hand.

“Alien… excuse the hell out of me?” It was gibberish. Nonsense. She was crazy. Laney was stuck as a dragon with her insane friend. Or she herself was crazy. Because that was so… so absolutely, utterly, undeniably dumb.

“It’s awesome,” Sula stated.

—

“Let me—urf—get this straight,” Laney grunted, chest tight as her hind claws scrabbled against the wall of her bedroom, trying to push her sideways through the doorway. It was the only direction her shoulders could hope to fit.

“Go ahead,” Sula replied, splayed out like a starfish over Laney’s back on the other side of the wall, keeping her wings tucked in tight.

“You got abducted and turned into an alien… wolf… squid… thing.” Laney let out a yelp as the shoulder on bottom caught against the doorframe, forcing her to scoot backwards and wrangle it back into position.

“Correct.” Sula’s head poked through the doorway, around the bulk of her shoulders and chest. “Call me a specter of the night, if you so please.” Laney threw a derisive glance at her cheeky smile, and Sula took the hint, popping back into place.

“And the aliens were… rouge scientists.” Gods above, that sounded stupid every time.

“Correct again.” Sula shoved at Laney’s body, succeeding in helping her get one arm through. That was progress.

“So you made a contract with them.” Laney bucked herself upwards and slid the arm through, collapsing onto her side, panting, her whole upper body successfully extricated.

“Yep. Taught them the concept of a long term study, and then offered to participate if they stopped kidnapping people.” She slipped her head back through the doorway again. “It sounds way more noble than it actually is. I just can’t stand bad science.”

That was something Laney understood. They were both STEM majors, and she was just as frustrated by malpractice as Sula. Laney, however, was not insane like her friend apparently was.

Stay calm. No big emotions. They’ll get away from you.

Deep breath. OW wait okay maybe not that deep - she nearly snapped a rib pushing it against the doorframe. She skittered forwards like some sort of awkward crab. Luckily, the hallway split halfway down - if she maneuvered her top half into the split, she could pull her hips and legs through despite their awkward shape, then maybe… pull her top half back, bunch up like a worm, and she was home free. Or free from home, rather. The back of the house had a sliding glass door - it opened wide enough to carry a table through, and was, by extension, wide enough for a dragon. Perhaps not the intended use, but she wasn’t about to complain.

“And now… grk… we’re heading to their lab. Which is a giant fish-spaceship.”

“The Fiship, yeah.” Laney groaned, and Sula giggled somewhere near her tail. “Love calling it that.”

Laney shook her head. “Stupid….” Pulling herself forwards another few feet, she bent her upper body into the L of the hallway, her head pressed upside down against the floor. She was pleased to find that pulling her legs through the door was the one easy task she’d had all night, although she felt like a yoga instructor. While steadying herself after both hind paws made it through, Sula left the bedroom, skirting the wall beside the lengthy dragon.

“I’m gonna go make a path, move anything breakable.” Laney nodded, and Sula placed a hand against her neck, letting it slide along her scales until she was too far away and it slipped off.

They’d been friends since either one could remember. Laney and Sula, or Lan and Lu, or Loony and Sucker, depending on who you asked in middle school. Laney remembered her dad always saying he was shocked they stuck together - he could never tell if they were fighting or not, he said. In fifth grade, Sula called it their “forever-bond” and refused to explain what that meant. Sula’s parents encouraged it, even as Laney’s were skeptical, but neither one could disagree on the positive impact this weird child was having on their poor, shy little thing. Everyone tried to explain the friendship between the two seemingly incompatible children.

Sula never referred to her as a poor little anything. That was good enough an explanation for Laney. She was a chemist, not a psychologist.

Inching her way down the hall, trying not to scratch the paint on either side, Laney was surprised to see Sula before she heard her. Before she could comment on that, though, Sula held a finger to her lips and gestured behind her.

“We got company,” she whispered.

“Stentson?” Laney asked. Sula gave her a thumbs up. “Oh, great….”

“Listen—I’ll distract them.” Sula looked more scared about that than she had facing an actual dragon earlier. “You get yourself outside. Go through the Black’s backyard and turn right, it’s the fastest way to the park, if you shortcut through the irrigation ditch next to Teddy Morris’s house.” Laney was surprised by the detailed instructions, but nodded affirmatively.

“Got it. Stay safe.” What she wanted to say was Thank you, please don’t get hurt, this is my fault, I’m so sorry.

Sula kissed her palm and planted it on Laney’s snout, gave another thumbs up, smiled in a way that crinkled her blue-green eyes, staring back into Laney’s—oh. She… didn’t know her eye color anymore.

She blinked, and Sula was already heading back up the hallway as the front door rang with three sharp knocks. Laney had a sneaking suspicion that somehow, Sula knew exactly what she was thinking, and had already accepted and forgiven her apology. That girl….

Laney let a shiver run from her snout to her tail, letting herself feel her form again, for a moment. Sides brushing the wall as she breathed in and out. Long, forked tongue that picked up the taste of the air. Eyes that pierced every shadow. Powerful muscles flexing and relaxing under her scaled hide. Long, sinuous tail curling and uncurling.

As soon as another, louder knock hit the front door, Laney began to move.

—

Sula faked a yawn and tugged open the door with the slow, contemplative weight of someone who wasn’t always awake at three in the morning.

Cars with lights pointed at the front of the house lined the driveway and road. A man, dressed in a military uniform of some sort, a pair of dark sunglasses on his face, stood stock still on her porch, left hand rest near a hip holster. Sula could see the puff of a bulletproof vest under his shirt.

“Yyyeah? Wuzzat?” she mumbled, eyes half-lidded. The soldier looked her up and down.

“This is the Geralt residence?” he said in short, clipped syllables. It wasn’t a question. Sula let herself ponder what must be going through this man’s mind - stalling, and acting like a tired, mussy-haired student.

“Ma’am?”

“Oh! Uh. Think so, yeah.” Sula’s drunken slur was a direct opposite to the sharply-spoken man.

“You… think so,” he said, raising an eyebrow, hand drifting away from the holster. Good. Sula wasn’t worried about getting shot—the xenocanids had solutions for that sort of thing. She was more worried about Laney’s parents coming home to bullet holes in the walls.

“Thas’ wha’ I said, yeh?” She swayed against the door, clutching it, and spoke again as soon as the man opened his mouth. She saw his eyes crinkle with displeasure under the sunglasses. “Pretty sure, at least. Was las’ time I checked. I can go ask, if ya want…?”

Shades shook his head. “That won’t be necessary. Are you Laney Geralt?”

Sula shook her head. “Why would I be a Geralt? Sssay… wha’s with those shades, anyway? Moonlight too bright for ya?” She hiccuped and giggled, then—hearing the sound of something getting knocked over—broke into a full laugh. Shades tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for her to finish. Finally, wiping her eyes dramatically, she sighed and fell silent.

“If you must know,” Shades said, voice abrasive and irritated, “these are prescription. As it turns out, some people are judgemental about my lazy eye.”

“Oh.” Huh. Sula had figured it was just some sort of… intimidation tactic. “Ssorry, dude. You c… considered surgery? I h-HIC-heard there was a good one developed lae’ly.”

Shades tilted his mouth in a curious frown. “Wait, really? Where do they…” he seemed to catch himself, straightening back up and clearing his throat. “If you’re not a Geralt, what are you doing in their house?”

Sula heard the unmistakable sound of a sliding glass door slipping closed. Anyone in the neighborhood would have recognized it. She grunted, putting on a look of feigned surprise.

“Y… oh, you know what? You’re totally right. I don’t live here. My bad.”

And she slammed the door closed in Shades’ face.

—

Laney paced back and forth on the lakeshore, not caring who saw her. Where was Laney? She’d been waiting for over fifteen minutes. Which didn’t sound like a lot, but she was tired and stressed and NOT PANICKEDand it felt much longer than fifteen minutes, alright?

A splash in the water behind her. Laney spun, growling, and watched as a figure emerged from the water. “Sula?”

The only reply was garbled nonsense.

“L… Laney, don’t mess with me.”

“Grrrlllbrbb,” went the figure.

“I WILL bite you!” Laney yelled, backing up as four glowing green eyes opened along the creature’s vaguely canid face, fins framing it on either side. Its form was shambling and awkward on land, feet hardly more than two masses of tentacles, paws glowing and grasping, hunched over, odd looking tendrils curling from its back.

“Bbbllrbbb,” was her reply.

Laney was about to make a break for it when she heard Sula’s voice calling out. She whipped her head around, hissing, still stumbling backwards away from the monstrosity.

“WHERE WERE YOU?” Laney nearly roared, dragon lungs panting and huffing, smoke pouring from her nostrils. So I can breathe fire, then….

Sula ran out of the treeline, towards Laney and the monster. “Sorry, I had to give a bunch of grunts the slip!” She stopped and smiled that constant smile of hers once she was a few feet away. “And I see you’ve already met Nthrya!”

“Nith-what?” Laney growled, glancing at the monster, which had stopped in place. It was… waving at Sula. “You know this thing?” she asked, incredulous.

“Yeah, it’s Nthrya.” The word came out strange and hissing. It sounded like ‘nith-ri-a’ to Laney, which meant jack squat.

“What is a nith-ra?” Laney questioned. Sula wasn’t listening, though - she was staring at the monster, who was garbling at her.

“Nah, she’s not a normal creature. Yeah, that’s why you haven’t seen her. Yes, she’s a she.” It was like a one sided conversation, interspersed with garbling nonsense. “Yeah. Yes. Oh, yeah, it’s good to see you too! Look, Nthrya - we’re in a hurry. Can I bring her on the ship? I’ll explain it. Please? Yeah, you can.” Sula clapped her hands and turned to Laney. “That’s that, then!” She paused at the blank look on the dragon’s face.

“Oh, I forgot you, uh. Can’t speak their language.” She rubbed an arm sheepishly.

“Not at all,” Laney said dryly.

“Yeeeah. Well, he said you can spend some time on the ship, and they’ll work on a way to help us out. It’s even docked right now!” Sula pointed at the lake, which was very clearly empty.

“...Sula.”

“Oh! Sorry. Uh, these guys see in a different spectrum - the ship is pretty much invisible to you, but it’s right there saying hello for us. Just, uh….” She walked to the lakeshore, then out onto the water, floating above it. “Here, I’ll just guide you in.”

Well. It’s not the weirdest thing to happen tonight.

Laney was standing halfway on an invisible fin before a thought struck her.

“Wait, Sula, you can turn into one of those… things?”

Sula’s grin was as expected as it was cheesy. “I’ll show you sometime. It’s super gross.”

Laney couldn’t help but give a weak smile back, her emotions starting to cave in. She was gonna break down and cry, she thought.

At least Sula was here to let her.

“I’m sure it is,” she said, taking a deep breath and pushing forwards into the Fiship.

Laney was a dragon.

And that wasn’t normal. But it was alright, for the moment.

#writing wyrms #transformation #dragon #dragon tf #writing #fic #post tf #space woofers #sula reiner #laney #she doesn't get a last name <3 #I need to beef up these tags to get more readers tbh #I sincerely apologize #my writing #my stuff

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