Chapter 38.1: Sweet Dreams

Blackthorne looked up from his meal of freshly slain Leaper and frowned. There were over a dozen carcasses nearby. It was hard to understand where all of the meat he had consumed was currently going. His stomach was large, but this level of gorging was ridiculous.

He sat back on his haunches and frowned. Bits of Leaper fell from his clawed paws and he sighed. "I need to figure out what's wrong with me."

Before his coming assault on Archer's he had decided to rest for a short time in the hopes that his constant exhaustion would be abated. The problem with that solution was that he felt tired even when he was asleep, and it was directly tied to his current form.

The more he ate, the sleepier he became. At times it was difficult to even keep his eyes open. At the rate that things were going, he would crash hard, soon.

He decided that after the mission to cleanse the zombies that night, he would let the girls know his need to rest for a while. Perhaps he was overworked? "Maybe Shara knows something? I should just ask her later."

The wee dragon went back to work on his meal, eventually finishing up. The left over parts were saved for later as he had discovered something interesting about various bits and pieces of monster bodies when he had begun to dabble in the usage of his other skills.

Mystic chemistry, specifically, allowed him to created specialty items. The bones of a leaper could be used to create a bone powder that had a peculiar ability to slightly increase leaping capacity. It allowed people to jump slightly farther.

He had used his synergy skill to combine bone powder with a set of boots and now he could create permanent use jump boots that reduced stamina drain when running and jumping. Though, the effects were minimal. In all honesty, they were next to useless for him. They might prove useful for others in the future, however.

His production skills had not increased at all during his various attempts to train them, but he was not surprised. He had a severe limitation on that sort of thing. His combat and magical abilities grew at a much higher rate. However, that did not limit his magically oriented production abilities. Synergy and mystic chemistry were magical in nature. His other skills such as jewelry crafting were severely limited, however.

Blackthorne finished packing the left overs then sighed. "What am I even doing, right now?"

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had never wanted to be responsible for people. Living the life of some sort of apocalyptic Baron was not something he had ever truly desired. Most of his life had been spent alone after the passing of his father and the events that led to his sister's death. Recently, he had started to allow a few chosen people in, but now he was constantly bombarded by the needs of others.

His forepaws curled into tight little scaled fists while he continued to keep his eyes closed. "When did I start giving a damn about people?"

It was almost obscene, the way he concerned himself with the needs of others nowadays. No one in recent memory had given a damn about him before he had run across Sonja. Now he had three ladies in his life who had pushed, and pulled, and pried their way into his life whether he truly wanted it or not. He still was not certain that he did want that. The only thing that he knew for certain that he wanted was to grow stronger.

His desire for strength had been side-tracked by the events of the last few weeks, but it was still there. If anything it was a stronger desire than ever before. Blackthorne released his hands from their black-knuckled death grip and then released a slow, deep breath. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him.

There was a deeper concern, however. His desire for strength had continued to grow, but he was uncertain about his reasoning until this moment. He already knew that he needed to become more powerful due to the previous home invaders and the existence of the one who owned the dragon Melisandre.

"What sort of man orders a hit on someone then fades away from the situation entirely." Blackthorne frowned in a way that only a dragon could frown. Was that the true source of his disquiet and uncertainty? Boss King had simply faded away and had made no moves in the few weeks since the attack.

His stepfather had disappeared from the county jail under mysterious circumstances that no one had wanted to admit to, and other than a few idiots who thought themselves strong there had been little in the way of opposition to his growing empire.

"He's planning something, the guy who came after us. He has to be." The sort of guy who enslaved dragons and used mind-control based compulsion to convince an honest man to commit murder was not the sort of man to let things go.

Thoughts of Boss King and his desire to grow stronger in case the evil-hearted bastard made an appearance caused a strange reaction within his body. Blackthorne began to shake, to tremble. His stomach began to gurgle and growl. An overwhelming hunger began to make itself known. The dragon began to pant a little then struggled to pull a bit of meat out of one of the bags that he had brought along. "So hungry..." he whispered before biting into the hunk of lizard meat. It was a bit like a chicken eating a cockatiel, really.

After finishing his impromptu meal, he shifted to human form then gathered and tied his bags at his belt, or slung them over his back. He headed back toward town and then transported his loot through the node before returning to the dream world. He allowed his dream body to rest and awoke inside his true form.

Scott yawned lightly then blinked. Furry ears flicked lightly at the sudden noise of his yawn. "The hell? Ashton?" What was she doing cuddled up to him? At most Sonja might be do that, but only if she planned to join him in the dream.

The fox girl remained asleep, but still seemed to actively fight his attempt to slip away from her cuddlesome embrace. Slowly, she awoke then blinked slowly due to the constant movement. "Oh? Hey. You're up."

"Yeah... Sorry to wake you, I guess..." said Scott evenly.

Ashton leaned forward and gave him a warm kiss on the nose. "So, since you're awake.... I was thinking..."

"That's a horrifying way to start a conversation." replied Scott.

She snorted at him lightly then shook her head. "Silly. No, it's nothing bad."

"What is it then?"

"Well, I was thinking that we should have a discussion." she said softly.

"About...?"

Ashton bit her lower lip then chewed on it a little. "Look, I like you a lot, but I'm not really... I mean."

Scott listened carefully as Ashton fidgeted and fumbled over her words for a moment. After a few false starts, she eventually managed to say, "I'm not really into group sex. Can we just have time to each other on occasion?"

He reached over and lightly stroked her cheek. "Sure, if that's what you want. Though, you do know that I am not exactly comfortable with that sort of thing. Most of my attempts before I met you girls, well they ended badly and with screaming. Mostly mine."

"Yeah, I get that. You couldn't even look at Shara and Sonja when they... you know." said Ashton softly before she looked down and away from him a little.

"What I still don't get is why you girls even want to bother with me. I vaguely understand certain things about Sonja. I doubt I'll ever really understand Shara..."

Ashton laughed a little then snorted in amused derision. "You've decided to go out and start your own little refugee kingdom in order to save as many people as possible. Isn't that at least worth consideration?"

"That's incredibly recent." remarked Scott.

"Well, true..." Ashton reached up and lightly stroked his cheek. "Can't a girl just like a guy? Do I need to make you a power point presentation or a pie chart to explain things?"

Scott actually laughed a little at that, not his fake retail service laugh, but a soft and genuine one. "You have no idea how much that would help." His laughter died not long after it had begun, however. "I'm not usually this clueless, but it's probably never going to be easy for me to believe that I'm living in some sort of post-apocalyptic LARP harem-based romantic comedy."

"Larp?" asked Ashton.

"Live-action roleplaying, and don't judge me for knowing about that." replied Scott.

"What, like dungeons and dragons with real people?" asked Ashton.

"Well, we have the dragon part at least." He thought about the situation briefly. "Actually, we'll have the dungeon part soon as well."

"Are you going to take me down to roleplay in your dungeon?" she asked coyly, a beautiful smile upon her lips.

"Dunno, did you eat your vegetables and do all your homework?" he asked her with a snort.

Ashton pouted at him lightly. "That's a bit misogynistic, you know."

"What is?"

"Assuming that I want you to be my daddy like I'm some slutty co-ed on the Internet." replied Ashton.

Scott nodded. "True, I suppose that means I can't spank you or anything."

Her nostrils flared slightly and her eyelids dropped slightly. "Never said that..."

"No, no. I wouldn't want to offend your feminine dignity. Girl power, and not wearing white after labor day, and all that."

She snorted at him then burst into a brief laugh. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Do I really seem like the sort of guy who knows what he's talking about?" replied Scott.

"You always have something smart to say." she retorted with a chuckle.

"I always leave myself a way out, even if I look like an idiot doing it."

Ashton lunged forward and embraced him tightly, a grin on her face. "I suppose not, but what are you going to do now? Hmm? Where's your way out, Mr. Funny Dragon."

Scott flashed a soft smile at her then shifted into his dragon form. "Give me some sugar, baby." He flicked his serpentine tongue at her like a snake and tried his best not to laugh.

Ashton gasped loudly and let him go in surprise. She had seen him transform many times, but not like this. "Not fair!"

He laughed loudly then wiggled his head back and forth in victory. "Dragon one, cuddle-fox zero."

"Oh yeah? Well two can play at the adorable monster game!" cried Ashton.

Scott started to ask her what she meant, but to his surprise a cloud of pink smoke exploded outward from her direction followed by a popping noise. He waved the smoke away and saw a small golden fox peeking out at him from inside of Ashton's T-shirt.

"The hell! Since when can you do that?" he asked her in surprise.

Fox-Ashton wriggled out of her shirt. Once free, she lashed her fluffy tail to the side and raised up one paw, turning it upward. "A lady has to keep a bit of mystery about her."

Scott glanced at the almost absurdly adorable fox then snorted. "Nope."

"Nope?" asked Ashton curiously.

"I'm the official adorable animal mascot. You have to be the silver medal." he replied imperiously, his draconic head rose into the air for emphasis.

"Oh, hell no! I am no one's silver medal pal." cried Ashton. She hopped up then performed a short spin that caused her tail to gently flap against his chest. She looked back at him over one furry shoulder. "Behind every girl is a man who should know his place."

Scott pounced forward atop her with a little growl. "So, you like it when a man takes his place behind you, huh?"

Ashton laughed lightly. "What are you doing?"

"Hell if I know." said Scott before he had a nice lie down atop his furry friend.

She immediately began to claw at the bed. "Hey! You're heavy."

"That's the weight of my manly responsibilities."

"That's too much cake!" exclaimed Ashton as she tried to break free.

Scott wrapped his forepaws around the struggling fox then rested his chin atop her head. "Tell me a story."

Ashton groaned loudly. "I'm gonna die."

"It's cool, you have a token." replied Scott cheerfully. "Wow, you're so comfortable. I could just take a nap right now."

"Don't you dare you oversized gecko!" wailed Ashton. She bit him on the foreleg as hard as she could.

"Hmm, strange. It is like something is trying to tickle me. Tell me, is something tickling you as well?" he asked obnoxiously, a smile upon his draconic lips.

"Damned lizard... Let me go." she muttered.

"Nope. Mine. I'm going to take a nap."

"I thought dragons only slept on beds of gold!"

"Well, you do have such lovely golden fur..." replied Scott.

"This isn't working out like I imagined it at all!" wailed Ashton cutely.

"Quiet puppy, daddy needs a nap." Scott nuzzled his scaled chin atop her head and she whimpered pitifully for a moment.

They were bother silent for a brief moment before Ashton said, "I have to go to the bathroom."

"Sounds like a personal problem." said Scott with a yawn.

"It'll be a problem for both of us in a minute." she said.

Scott's eyes cracked open. "You're just trying to escape."

"No..." she said softly.

Scott knew she was lying, but he did not want to take the risk. He set her free.

"Ha! I escaped your evil clutches!" exclaimed Ashton before she ran forward a bit.

Scott grinned and gave chase. Soon they were running around the room nipping at each other playfully like a couple of cute little animals at play.

It was inevitable that Scott would catch her again, however. He leapt atop her in mid-air and tackled her skillfully to the ground. Ashton's back was pressed to the floor while Scott held her down with his greater weight.

They panted a little and looked at each other, a certain sparkle in their eyes. Despite their nature as a dragon and a fox, the sides of their faces reddened. Scott's scales had become a deep scarlet hue, and Ashton's fur had changed to match her emotional state as well, laws of physics and biology be damned.

Scott's eyelids lowered slightly. Ashton's head dipped down a little and her she batted her foxy eyelashes once before revealing a sweet and innocent look that would have been right at home in a Disney film.

The dragon forgot himself for a moment. He leaned his head down and lightly touched his muzzle to hers, and then rubbed her there gently. Ashton made a soft whimpering noise like a happy little puppy and her tail began to wag. The only thing missing was the romantic music, and a plate of spaghetti.