“Zippo! Come on, get out of bed sweetheart!” I called up from the bottom stairs in my neko form. Where is that boy? We’ve got to go down and say happy birthday to Anne! All of his buddy friends are already there. “Zippo!” I started to walk up the stairs. “Zippo, honey may I come in?” I knocked on his door. His voice was muffled.I sighed, walked in, and sat at the edge of the big orange dragon’s bed. “Come on sweetie, we’ve got to go to your Aunt Spaz’s. All of your friends are down there. And afterward, everyone will come up here for a sleep over for your party, isn’t that what you wanted?”
“Mom? Am I…. different?”
“Of course you are. Everyone is.”
“No I mean. Well, I’m a lightning and fireworks dragon, right?”
“Yes.”
“Well, dragons are supposed to be one or the other.”
“Zippo, you have a winged wild cat demon that can change colors for a mother. I’m rather pleased that you came out full dragon. If you came out a fluffy color changing dragon that had a cat face, then there would be issues. But you’re not and I’m very proud of that. And besides, who put those thoughts in your head anyway?”
“Neptune, that water dragon that, quote, ‘stole my heart right out of my chest’, end quote. Posiden was upset and he wanted me to talk to him.”
“So, Posiden likes Aurora.” I grinned.
“Don’t say anything to her, mother.” He begged.
“Oh alright. Now get up, we have to go soon, your father’s waiting outside.” Zippo smiled and got out of bed. I left the room and shut the door.
“He alright?” Griffin asked, in his human form.
“He’s fine; he’ll be down in a few seconds.” My husband hugged me close to his chest. I purred. He was always a comfort to me and I loved digging my head into his chest.
“Hi mom, dad.” Zippo chirped.
“Good morning Zippo, are you ready?” Zippo nodded at his father’s question, still in his dragon form. “Alright, let’s go.” I turned into my wild cat form and Griffin in his dragon form and we flew off to the den.
“CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZZZZZZZZZEEEEEEEEE!” I heard all of a sudden. Before I was even three meters from the ground, Spaz ran and jumped, reaching massive air, and glomped me.
“Oof. Spaz! Get off!” Griffin looked uncomfortable, but remained calm.
“Happy birthday, Spaz.”
“Happy birthday Aunt Spaz!” Zippo smiled and looked off into the den where each of his friends were waiting in their human forms. Aurora, Posiden, Aloe, Carman, Stan, Castor, Pollux, Damiana with Fox, and Olivia. He grinned and waved.
“He-ey! ‘bout time you showed up, Zippo! How’s it going buddy?” Damiana asked, Fox on his shoulder.
“Not bad, Damiana. You?” The ice dragon grinned widely.
“Never better, now come here.” Damiana ended up chasing after Zippo. Aurora was laughing before she contained herself.
“Let’s get this party started!” She smirked.
~Zippo’s POV~
“Never better, now come here.” Damiana grinned.
“Oh no you don’t” I smiled and started running with Damiana chasing me. Aurora laughed and then she shouted for everyone.
“Let’s get this party started!”
After some time (and dinner) everyone attempted to sing (and I do mean attempted).
“Um, Zippo?” Posiden asked from behind me. I looked at the blue water dragon (we all transformed into our real forms at dinner).
“Yeah, Posiden?” I asked. Posiden looked around and starting to walk away. Confused I followed him into the shallow forest.
“How was talking to Neptune?” He asked.
“He’s the stupidest, cockiest, most irritating water dragon on the face of this planet. He knows just how to piss someone off. I don’t think he likes Aurora but is only staying around her to piss you off.” I looked over to Posiden, his eyes showed sadness. This wasn’t my friend. “Of course, I can always get my mom to talk to talk to her.” I looked through the bushes to see Carman taking his fifth serving of the night.
“I know. It’s just… I do feel pride. I know I’m the clown and I only fight when I have to and to defend my friends. I know that I make a fool out of myself to get people to laugh, but I do have a pride. It’s just… flexible.”
“Well, I do hope that you do something and soon. I feel bad but I don’t want anyone else to talk to that dragon, especially not Aurora or Carman.”
“Why Carman?”
“Neptune made fun of me. Carman will blow his top if Neptune talks down to him. There will be a blood bath and you know how bad Carman can get.” Posiden nodded.
“What about Firestar and Spaz?” I grinned imagining how that it will play out. Mom screaming her head off at the dragon and then turning into a brawl. Mom’s one of the most powerful creatures in the whole kingdom and Spaz is really powerful considering that she can control water as much as Neptune can.
“It’s a nice and beautiful thought, Posiden. But I have a feeling it would be better to refrain from fighting.”
“What about Aloe?” I frowned. Aloe does know how to calm down anything and make sense of anything. I can’t allow someone with a fragile personality to talk to that dragon. “Oh, now I finally see what’s going on here. You’ve fallen in love with Aloe!” Posiden grinned.
“I did not!” ‘Well, if it will bring back his good cheer, then I’ll let him think what he wants’ I thought. “C’mon now. We’re going to miss the presents.” I grinned at Posiden, his humor now restored.
“Sure, lover boy.” He laughed. I rolled my eyes.
“Look who’s talking.” I grinned and followed my good friend up the hill.
~My POV~
“Hey, Spaz, have you seen Zippo?” I asked looking at Carmen (his fifth serving of a plate stacked as high as he was) with disbelief (that dragon has no bottom to his stomach!).
“He went in the shallow woods to talk with Posiden. Is everything alright?” Aloe asked.
“I sure hope so. That Neptune creature’s bitten off more than he can chew.”
“What about Neptune?” Aurora asked, suddenly interested in her boyfriend’s name being brought up.
“Nothing important…” I sweat dropped.
“Nothing important? He made Posiden upset, insulted Zippo and everyone else seems to know that he’s dating Aurora just to make Posiden angry. The woman deserves to see the demon her boyfriend really-”
“Yo.” A crackling voice was heard to our left. I looked and both Spaz and I growled. My fur turned black and my eyes a hostile red.
“Neptune! You son of a-”
“I just came for meh chick. Geeze. Chill out, yo.” He grabbed Aurora’s waist/ “I missed you babe.” They kissed and Carman made a gagging noise. I was about to pounce (my size successfully doubled) when Zippo and Posiden went in front of us.
“Not tonight.” Zippo pleaded. I looked from my son to the idiots and growled because behind the clever disguise of a worried face was a smirk. Both Spaz and I could tell this. We both advanced a step. “MOM!” I looked at Zippo. I never want to disobey my son (or husband) but I also didn’t want someone pressing the wrong buttons all over Zippo’s friends. I hissed and I roared in a way it sounded like a lion, but stepped back.
“C’mon Spaz, if she wants to destroy all of the friendships she’s made, let her.” Spaz wouldn’t give in. Insulting Zippo was just as offensive to her as someone insulting me, Tanaka, or any of her pups (well, except Alou and Derek who only want to kill her). “Spaz!” I growled. She wouldn’t back down. I sighed and slashed close to her nose, close enough to feel the wind, far enough to not make a scratch. She whimpered and backed down growling as she glared at the two water dragons fly away.
“I can’t stand that b*tch.” Carman growled, ingesting another piece of pizza. Olivia looked concerned and walked up to Zippo.
"For once we agree on something." Stan sighed, obviously exasperated.
“I can’t believe her! Ditching her good friends for that filth. She will never be accept-”
“She will learn.” Zippo intersected. “I just hope it’s not too late.”
The rest of the night moved slowly and everyone seemed on the edge that night because of the return of the idiot dragon. Soon enough, though, the sun has to rise and what happened is the past. There will be good-byes and hugs. Not today though, at least for me. In my neko form, I sit hugging my legs with Spaz in her wolf-ish anthro form. I wasn’t paying attention to anything in particular. I closed my eyes and tilted my head up to the sky. Being lost in a thick soup of thought, I didn’t hear Grithore come up to me. I felt lips on mine and we kissed lightly.
“Everything okay?” He asked me when I opened my eyes and motivated Spaz to get up and into the den (she had a nasty hangover from too much soda and a stomach ache from competing with Carman for the cake).
“No, but for Zippo and the other’s sake, yes.”
“Will we be able to…” he drifted off, I caught his drift and groaned.
“Grithore!” He smiled. “Are you serious?” he nodded. I couldn’t help myself, the urge was gnawing at me and I got excited. Grithore, pleased with his work, started flying off into the direction of the kingdom of the dragons. I followed in my cat form and soon the whole gang (minus one) was with us.
~Zippo’s POV~
“Hey, Zippo, what’s wrong with your mom?” Castor asked. I shrugged and helped Pollux clean up the dishes (nothing was left on the plates, thanks to Carman).
“She wants to be a good mother and doesn’t want to be over protective, but I can tell, it’s killing her inside. She thinks as all of us as her own children.”
“I don’t blame her. We spend 90% of our time at your place.” Posiden said, emotionless. Ok, now this was starting to kill ME. Posiden was the laughs and the funny of our group. If anyone could get the saddest and worst day to brighten up, it was Posiden. Damiana looked cautiously over at Fox (who had cake last night and now he looked sick) before getting the last trash bag into place (Aloe, Castor, and Pollux are going to make it disappear into a recycling plant because everything is recyclable). Damiana was the one that backed the group up. Aurora was the one that motivated the group, Olivia was the one that prepaired the group for the worst, Aloe was the one that calmed the group and was the judge in fights, Stan's calm self tied with Carman's firey tempor mixed to make everything intersting, Castor and Pollux were the ones that followed along unless the situation seemed desperate. Nobody was in the mood to do their part. The group was falling apart, it was exactly what Neptune wanted.
~flashback~
“Umm, are you Neptune?”
“Yeah, what ‘bout it?”
“I was just wondering because a friend of mine wanted me to talk to you.”
“Tell that no good f*ckin’ water dragon to stay where he belongs, in the mud.”
“Posiden-”
“He has a name? wow. That’s surprising.”
“What is your problem?”
“Your little get together group, that’s what! You damn two-some have no right to just grab someone and get on with your damn life. That fine chick you’ve got there’s mine, ya hear, two-some? What the hell are you anyway? A cat or a dragon?”
“A dragon.”
“Then fight me.”
“No, that’s not in my nature.”
“Whimp. That’s what everything is with you two-somes, huh? You’re all chickens. Damn ****.”
~present~
Being called a two-some in the dragon world is the worst possible thing you could call a dragon, especially if it’s true. I saw my parents fly off and I told the group that it was time to leave.
~Later that night, my POV~
I was laying on my side, unable to sleep, especially after what we just did (Spaz will KILL me) and to the fact that I wasn’t even mentally present for any of it (ok, starting to get PG rated). I sighed and felt a hand go down my bare back.
“You still up?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s wrong? You seem especially troubled tonight.” I was.
“I know. Do you think I’m over protective?” I asked, a sinking feeling went to my heart, knowing what the answer was.
“No. I think you’re trying too hard to be un-over protective. It’s hurting you.” This was not an answer I had expected. Turning around to face my husband, I looked into his deep blue eyes. They showed confusion, an upset feeling, and deep down, pure rage.
“What?” I asked, touching his face with both hands, a sign that told him that I know his deepest, most hidden emotion (Oh lord, I hope it wasn’t because of me).
“He called our son a two-some. If Zippo wouldn’t have intervined, I would’ve helped you and Spaz. Posiden is too much of a good person and now, even as we speak, the whole gang is breaking apart. Everything will go back to the way it was. I don’t want that. You know I don’t.” He brushed his fingers down my side and I could tell he was worried beyond what I saw. Before, when Grithore was a child, you were either in a group (they call it a ‘gang’) or you were ripped to shreads with insults and slander. It separated the whole kingdom, setting it into war before Grithore’s father had to end it forcefully. There was peace, but it seems much more fact than a rumor. Neptune was the son of the opposing side and his father was killed by Grithore himself. He doesn’t like slaughter in his kingdom and I was 3 months pregnant with Zippo then. He did not want his son to grow up with such negativity on him. I stared at his face. Grithore was now looking at my arm and his fingers were going up and down my arm.
“Grithore. It can’t happen again.” He looked at me and sighed.
“I sure hope so.” He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close to him, my head to his chest I felt tears coming to my eyes.
Happy Birthday Zippo, I wish it was, my son.
Rest well, for you have a future ahead
Rest your head on your bed
And let the felons
Fall.
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