Just Playin'

Lape followed her nose through a large and abandoned complex. Huge buildings, car parks, falling down office blocks, what seemed like aircraft hangers, all damaged, rusted, dusty, garbage strewn and full of weeds. One of the hanger-like structures was certainly the spot, the burning scent all around it. Lape gingerly slid through a broken basement window, and climbed a few flights of bare concrete stairs, to the top, sunlight greeting her through a missing roof over the stairwell. Perfect entrance for a flier, lape noted, sneaking through hulking masses of mechanical objects of some design or another, avoiding papers on the floor, nose wriggling. Catching movement, lape ducked, peeking over a rotting desk. Nae was cloaked in the darkness, but eventually moved to a window, gazing over the weed-potted span of concrete below, eyes sharp, reptilian. Lape swallowed slowly, gathered up courage, and hopped onto the desk with a dull thud of wood. A grass-green spike flashed to aim at her eye, poised, nae bright as a neon-green bulb, bathed in the midday sun, smooth and glinting, one finger held, flowing to a point threatening lape. Drake was tall, lithe, thin, toned, and giggling. "A bunny.. a sneaky hidy theivy bunny." Lape nodded, slowly, watching those eyes, pale milky white against fluorescent green. "Hi. I'm Adia. How're you?" Drake went to scowl and paused, thrown off by the simple greeting. "Uh.. I uh.. I'm good?" Sinking slowly, lape sat, legs crossed, and beamed up at drake, whom could only tilt naes head. "So wanna ask you some stuff." Drake nodded, unsure, and brought the sharp finger-shape to lapes throat, and nine more, drake-rumbling deeply. "I should kill you. This is my hideout." As lape quietly stared, unmoved by the display, drake deflated, flopping like a bunch of clothes, flat. "You're not scared of me." "Nuh, you're neat! How do you do that stuff with your body like that?" "Wha, like this?" With that, drake grew, six, seven, eight feet, bulky with muscles, bringing lape to clap with glee. "That's so awesome! Pity you have to be so naughty." "I am NOT NAUGHTY," drake snarled, teeth in lapes face, covered in large scales and angry fins. "Yeah, but you are. You steal, and scare the sapes, and you hurt that nice lady, an- eeek!" Drake grabbed at lape, shaking gently. "I-is she okay d-did I hurt her I didn't mean it, I swear, really, I was j-just playin." Lape smiled softly, watching drake return to a more honest shape, lean, small, and smooth, eyes large and desperate. "She got really sick," lape whispered, "and her heart couldn't handle how badly you upset her." Drake looked away, stricken. "I.. I killed.." "No, sape was very old, sweetlight. Sometimes, these things happen. But what you did was wrong, too." Lape reached to pat drakes hand, drake rearing back and roaring. "I am not going to jail! I'll kill you, too!" "There's no jail for you here, star," lape intoned. "You don't deserve it anyway. Why don't you come with me, away from here. Where no one knows you." Drake turned, incredulous. "I thought I was super rockstar famous." "Oh noo," Adia giggled, "I have lots of friends who don't know you." The mention of friends made drake shrink a little more, expression wistful, tail lashing slowly. Hopping up, Adia smoothed down her simple dress, and put hands behind her back, leaning forward. "Wanna meet em?" Drake stalked, slowly, and reached, to arms becoming four, large and long fingered, grasping lape at arms and waist and thigh. "Do I gotta wear clothes?" "Nope. So you gotta stop stealing stuff, though." "No clothes though." "Nuh. Gotta stop hurting people." "Fuck you I'mma dragon." "I know other dragons." Nae froze, face tight, eyes dinner-plates, heavily dilated, still from tail to eyelids, squeezing lape tighter. Drake whispered, a single gasp of overwhelmed, tight emotion. "Y'lyin." "I'll introduce you." "No way." "Right now." While a pigeon messily flapped by, the pair stared at each other, lape calm, drake starting to shake and fidget, eyes darting, mind racing. "Kay."