FSE

Furry search engine

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The lair of her mark could be found, as is often the case with dragons, beyond the entrance to a cave. Beyond the jagged opening went Celes, renowned Dragon Sage and Hoard Hunter, clad in trademark purple tunic, plumed helmet, bronze-inlaid breast plate. Her martial ensemble was completed with matching greaves and pauldrons, and she armed herself with bow and lance, the favoured weapons of dragon hunters. She certainly looked the part, striking a fine balance of style and practicality.

Drip...drip...drip...

Icy rivulets of cave water trickled and dripped from the mouth of the cave, landing into carefully carved channels that carried them deeper into the subterranean dwelling. She did not need to venture very far inside to see that there had been some effort expended in prettying up what otherwise would be a gloomy and dank cavern system.

"Huh."

Celes was puzzled by their presence, but nevertheless impressed. At various intervals, shallow planters had been carved into the rocky ground into which the channels drained their fresh rain-water. In them bloomed various shrubs and flowering plants, all given the light of life by glowing crystals and gemstones strategically embedded in an attempt to replicate sunlight and allow them to grow. It seemed to be working.

With her curiosity satisfied and a little pleasant floral fragrance--one had to be careful when it came to sniffing strange plants--Celes stood, stretched, and yawned. Adventure-honed senses prickled with suspicion at the sudden weariness following inhaling the flowers' natural perfume, but quickly set them aside as no sudden compulsion to lay down there and then followed; the journey from the town to the cave had, after all, been long and wearying. With luck, she would lay down that evening nestled next to something big and scaly.

So, she pushed on. The tunnels continued on for quite some time, during which Celes had the opportunity to finally consider something that had been tugging at her subconsciously: the tunnels were much too small for most dragons to fit through. She stopped and looked around as the penny dropped. The ceiling was perhaps...twice her height...maybe three? She could place her arms out to their full width and only just about touch the walls with the tips of her fingers...like so. It would have to be a very small dragon, perhaps_dragonkin_ rather than a true dragon, to fit in such a relatively restrictive space to enter and exit their lair.

"Oh."

Celes tried not to feel disheartened. Perhaps the rumour of a dragon dwelling here were just that...rumours. The embellished accounts of coming face to face with a dragonnewt, the pet of whoever called the caves home and planted the flowers. It certainly wouldn't be the first time something like that had happened to her and others of her profession. She sighed and idly plucked at one of the flowers in the omnipresent planters that lined her route and sullenly crushed it and tossed it at her feet. Then followed suit with several more as she sulked.

"Perhaps..."

---

"Well I never!"

AnHanora, aka 'Nora', was incensed. She was well aware that someone was poking around in her home and had even gone so far as to prepare a little welcome for them--if they turned out to be a friendly visitor and not one of those damn fool adventurers after her or her 'hoard'. Now though, after deciding to sneak a first-hand peek at the interloper, she could see for herself just what kind of person her visitor was!

"It took me three months to coax those into blooming and _she_comes along and starts plucking them out!"

The cobalt dragoness grumbled to herself as she watered her favourite pot plants within the spacious cavern she considered to be her 'living room'. Like all her 'True Dragon' kin, she could morph her native feral form into anthro at will, and had chosen to do so this day, which made indulging in a hobby of botany so much easier. It also allowed her to wear more than just simple adornments, such as the blue head scarf she loved dearly, the colour of which complimented the natural blue gemstone at the centre of her forehead which allowed true dragons to focus their latent magical powers into shape-shifting. Nora snorted a jet of heated air through her nostrils and swished her tail in a display of irritability.

"Grr!"

She had also seen that the canine interloper was armed and armoured. So, combining that with the flagrant vandalism of helpless, beautiful plants she had witnessed...

She was in just that kind of mood now too. It wasn't often that she_devoured_ adventurers who incurred her ire, but she...she was incensed enough to do just that! She'd roar and be all big and menacing and with luck--for unexpected 'guest' at least--scare_Ms Flower-Murderer_ away! If not and the damn fool attacked her, then...it was chomping time! No, screw that! It _is_chomping time!

She had a little while to go yet before the interloper reached her. Long enough to plan a little ambush for her future dinner and to finish watering her flowers, then pluck a few choice full-grown ones to lovingly arrange in a display. She would not however savagely rip them from their soil and stamp on them!

---

"H-Hello?"

It was stubborn curiosity that had kept Celes walking further down the tunnels to find some clue of just who or what lived down here. Before long, the tunnel had started widening, and then opened out completely into to a breathtakingly beautiful natural cavern lit by light streaming in from above and radiating magical globes that hovered in the air and gave off a very natural and warm light. The floral themed continued in carefully-pruned vine tendrils encircling natural pillars and the cauldron-like flower pots hanging from rocky outcrops. With its furnishings at various nooks and crannies flanking a clearer central area big enough for a feral dragon to comfortably curl up in, and which ranged from scholarly desks and shelves lined with jars of various herbs, seeds and plant clippings, to a small kitchen and a comfortably appointed bedchamber, there was an air of_domesticity_ about it that Celes really hadn't expected to find. Clearly she had intruded upon the home of someone who was, well, definitely not a dragon.

But who could it be?

"Hello? Is there anyone there?"

Silence was the only response she received. Little did she know as she began investigating the cavern and its incongruous comfortableness, that from behind her where Nora had sneaked around to and was quietly assuming her natural form, she was being watched--and judged. Well, more than she had already been judged!

"THIEF!"

The voice, noticeably feminine and terrifyingly loud, boomed out across the cavern as Celes picked up a jar from the desk and turned it back and forth in her hand as she scrutinised its contents. The startled adventurer very nearly dropped the jar as she practically jumped out of her skin in response to the sudden roar and turned to face the source.

"Oh my gosh..."

Celes's canid features contorted into a myriad of expressions and emotions: shock, surprise, fear...and then awe and wonder. Approaching her from when she had entered the cavern was a feral dragon, whose scaled hide was the most brilliant blue that she had ever seen. She was many times larger than Celes, a full-grown specimen of her reptilian breed, with pure-white horns and webbed frills sprouting from her head. She was...gorgeous. A true draconic beauty.

"PLANT-MURDERER!"

That accusation shook Celes out of her awe-struck reverie--as did the dangerous glaring look that the dragon was giving her. She shook her head, dazed as survival instinct shook her out of a state of mind that could prove to be deadly if the dragon was as hostile as it sounded. But still, what did it call her? Plant-murderer?

"Wha-"

"NOT CONTENT WITH STEALING MY FLOWERS, YOU STEAL MY HERBS!" roared the elegant, but still beastly dragon with a nose-flaring snort. "ARE YOU GOING TO CRUSH THOSE TOO?"

Celes guiltily dropped the jar back onto the desk behind her as it belatedly dawned on her what it might look like she was doing, i.e. exactly that. It also dawned on her the source of the other accusation: when she had earlier sulkily took out her dismay on the planter flowers. Did they...belong to the dragon?

"WELL?" the dragon, at the end of its patience as Celes owlishly blinked at her and was lost in her own considerations. Nora then flashed her oh-so-sharp teeth in a savage grin. "WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?"

"Y-You're beautiful."

The admission just spilled out before Celes could halt them. They caught her by surprise as much as it did the dragon. Nora, leaning forward and fulling intending to menace the would-be thief before gobbling her up whole, froze. An expression of immediate puzzlement, exceedingly expressive as all draconic ones are, softened her angry features and lowered her voice from a roar to what in comparison was a confused murmur.

"I'm...what?"

"Y-You're beautiful," Celes repeated. She was caught between fear and deepening awe at the scaled wonder before her. Truly, the blue-skinned beauty was one of the most lovely dragons she had ever seen, a female one if her guess was correct. "G-Gorgeous."

Nora was...she didn't know what. She had been caught completely off-guard by what her intended prey had suddenly blurted out. She had never been called beautiful before, certainly not by a non-dragon.

You're beautiful...

There it was, the blush that threatened to rob of her ferociousness. Spreading across her cheeks and very noticeable, Nora keenly felt the rosy-tinted warmth of sudden embarrassment for the first time in...she really couldn't remember! She had to find out more about this strange, complimenting intruder who found dragons...her...beautiful.

Maybe I'll not devour you right away, little dog...