FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"I recommend, Brian and Serena, that you return to your university and start on your research right away. I'm sure you know the value of what you are embarking upon, and what it will mean for the world. I want you to continue to consult with the subroutine that is already at your place of work. Brian, I will continue to work with you while you are at home. You will be flying within the week. This strength training will not be necessary for you."

"One more day won't hurt anything. Give Brian some time to socialize with others like him before you just whisk us away like superfluous characters in a story." Serena protested as Brian looped his head around to watch as he attempted to move his wings. This was important, as they were currently stuck three quarters open. It was no doubt a tremendously awkward position. Tom was standing perpendicular to him so he could watch the flexing of the muscles on his back in order to extend and tuck the wing arms.

Looking again at his own dorsal side he was coached through the motion as he finally bent his arms, collapsing the sails of his wings into neat folds upon his back. Ecstatic at his success he turned rapidly to convey the sensations that his body was sending. In his zeal the length of his tail crashed into Tom's head causing him to topple onto his side. Kim burst into another rolling bout of laughter as she pointed at him with a wing knuckle.

"Weee should set up the sameee exercisesss that we had used before. Heee must relearn his body." Irma suggested.

As all the human onlookers and Jesse watched. Tom, Kim, and Irma took up positions around Brian one hundred and twenty degrees apart from each other.

"Oookay, seeee where wee are? That is how long your body isss. What weee want yuu to do isss to turn in place without hitting usss with your tail."

Brian bobbed his head before grimacing in concentration. He then began to move in place before crossing his front legs and falling on his side with a loud groan.

"Again"

He got slowly up onto his four feet to begin once more. Cautiously turning he shuffled his paws one by one this time to prevent himself from tripping over his own feet. Less than a quarter of the way through his turn his tail touched Kim's front right leg and reflexively wrapped around it. As he continued to turn his tail yanked her leg from beneath her.

"Fucker, ssstart again."

Returning to his starting orientation he did exactly that. This time he had barely even moved before his tail whipped across Irma's sternum.

"Again"

Snorting in irritation, Brian tried yet again. This time he looked back at his tail and curled it forward until it rested beneath his body. It was a good idea but also a bad one. With the first sideways step of his right rear leg he stepped on his own tail. Yelping at the unexpected feeling of a new part of his body being assailed he tried to jerk his tail away from the stimuli. To add insult to injury this motion dumped him into Irma before she could move away.

"Again"

He growled and snapped his jaws in frustration.

"Take it easy Brian." Serena soothed him. "Just breathe, and relax." Closing his brilliant blue eyes he took a great swelling breath and then released it.

Opening his eyes he retook his central position, and after Irma resumed her own spot, he began to turn again. Letting his tail drag limply on the ground behind him he managed to make the rotation completely this time.

"Goood, now do iiit with your eyesss closed."

Grumbling to himself wordlessly he did as he was bade. This time he managed to almost tie himself into a knot as he moved his fore feet but not his hind ones. He stopped moving and opened his eyes when he felt his own flank brush against his tail. His wings and fins drooped disappointedly before resetting and trying again. This time he made everyone laugh with an unexpected action.

Curling into himself he dragged his tail around until it touched his fore leg, then reaching down with his head he gently took it into his mouth. After taking the form of an Ouroboros, he started spinning smoothly in place. This was done to everyone's great amusement.

"Take your tail out of your mouth. You don't know where it's been." Serena told him as she continued to laugh to herself.

He opened his jaws and let his tail drop to the ground with a thump. "Noooowwhat?"

Tom turned to look at his watching children "Can you two get the play ballsss, pleaseee?"

"But you popped half of them last time!" Luke whined.

"We'rrrreee sorry, weee will get yuuu new ones. But, pleaseee bring the rest and the conesss."

They both went on their way grumbling about the unfairness of how their toys are broken by their parents stomping on them. Meanwhile the next step was explained to Brian by Irma.

"Weeerrr going to set up these markers with balls resting on them. Your goal issss to get from one end of the field to the other without knocking any over. Jesse" She stopped to rub his neck. "Will demonstrate for you as he is without a doubt the most graceful of usss. Wee have had our forms for sixxx weeks, but heee has natural instincts and can flow like water."

Five minutes later the twins reluctantly returned with their toys. Luke dragged a mesh bag full of inflated rubber balls while Lucy carried a tall stack of small orange markers. With Serena helping, they distributed the markers in a narrow corridor that stretched for about forty meters. Going back through the orange markers they place a ball in the shallow depression in each marker before returning to the group. Kim and Tom lowered their heads to pick up each of the twins, from their lofty perches they watched as Kim explained.

"Jesseee, I'm sure yuuu see what needs to be done. Don't knock overrrr any ballssss."

Nodding, he moved to place himself at the end of the area with the cones. With his tail raised and softly waving behind him he began to dance. That was the only way to describe the movements he made to make his way through the minefield. With sinewy grace he weaved between the balls, spinning and leaping lithely until he reached the end.

Whipping his tail around, he pivoted on one paw and then closing his eyes, he perfectly recreated his movements back to the starting line. Irma heaped effusive praise upon him while Kim whistled approvingly as he crouched low to play with the end of his tail in embarrassment.

Irma lowered her head and trilled something in his ear and then caressed his snout with her cheek. Jesse raised himself up and stood proudly on two legs. Inhaling deeply, his chest swelled as he flapped his wings thrice. Falling to all fours and thrusting his head forward he gave voice to a terrific roar. Then, raising his head up haughtily, he declared.

Yes, I am the best.

Irma trapped her beau's neck with her own and "kissed" him by rubbing his jowl with hers. Humming deep in her chest she caressed the bridge of his nose with the underside of her chin. Causing him to shut his eyes blissfully and draw her body close to his with a wing.

"Yuuur turn, neeeerd."

Brian took his position where Jesse had stood and tried to replicate his posture. With his first leap his front legs buckled beneath him and he carved a groove in the yard with his snout.

"Yuuu need to learn how toooo crawl before yuu can walk, and walk before yuu can run. Ssstart again."

Pushing himself up off the ground, the four legged scientist drew in a breath, and then blew chunks of sod from his clogged nostrils. He bobbed his head to indicate that he had heard Kim and returned to the start. Serena reset the upset cones before he began again.

Reaching out gingerly with his left front paw he made his first step, and then fell again. He had tried to bring both rear legs forward at the same time. His tremendous rear slammed to the ground with a pop as one of the rubber balls met its unhappy end.

"Hey!" Came the protest from the two children perched upon their parent's heads.

"Ssssorrrry"

Pushing with his folded rear legs he regained his feet and awkwardly crept back to the start.

"Wwwhat are yuu going to dooo differently this timeee?"

Looking back at himself he picked up each of his limbs in turn and shook them out while watching. Bringing his head around, he once more did something unconventional. Lurching up to stand on his hind legs, he started to totter through the course on two limbs. Dragging his tail behind him for balance he was able to skirt through the course.

It was a truly surreal scene to watch a creature 31 meters in length and currently holding 19 meters of that length aloft. His head was a tad higher than most of the small to medium height trees around their yard. Holding his wings slightly extended he balanced in an able enough manner to make it through the field. Leaping to a finish, he pushed with his tail to tip him over onto four feet.

"tttaaadaaaa"

The watching humans gave a solid round of applause. However, the four dragons looked at each other with a somewhat more skeptical tilt to their heads before Jesse spoke up.

"Thatwasss impressive" He said, not looking impressed. "Butunlesss yuuuaarree going to ssspend most of yourtimeee on twooolegs Iiii recommendthatyuuu do thison four."

Tom offered some helpful advice. "Beeefore yuu go through theee course. Practice in the eeeempty field next to iiit. Closeee your eyesss, and dance on all your legs like yuu just did on twoo."

Taking this advice the quadrupedal scientist finally relaxed enough to allow his body to do what it already knew how. With eyes closed he began with walking. Easily being able to alternate his leg movements in the appropriate manner. From there he progressed to an easy trot. Then, he began to hop back and forth as well as laterally.

Serena watched him intently while he familiarized himself once more with his own body. The others, were not so overtly interested.

Kim and Tom were using their wings to toss their young twins back and forth between them. The trio of EMTs watched this anxiously, and even though they obviously wanted to speak up. It was also apparent they were intimidated by the ferocious appearance of the parents. So, there they remained, hoping nothing went wrong with the session of dragon-play.

Jesse was still suffering from the trauma of his change and the pronounced effect that it had on his self-identity. Lost in melancholic thought, his Irma continued to comfort him by rubbing his neck with her nose. Pausing every few strokes to whistle a private comment to him.

Behind these different social groups Brian continued to struggle to relearn how to move. One moment he was walking, the next he was upside down being smacked by his tail. One moment hopping sideways, the next his neck was folded and he was stepping on his own head. Flaring his wings in disgust with himself, he toppled onto his side wrapped in those wings like a burrito. Serena was meanwhile turning purple trying to suppress her laughter while getting plenty of embarrassing footage.

Thumper made his rounds to Kim, Tom, Irma, and Jesse. After speaking briefly with each of them they reformed their circle. There, Jesse began to demonstrate the different manners of controlling flight. Standing abeam of them, he showed how their tails were used to warp their membranes to enable turns and to facilitate take offs and landings. He also demonstrated how that was also done in conjunction with the flexion of the wing fingers. He showed them how to adjust air pressure organically upon their wings the way that a plane would mechanically.

Jumping aloft, he hovered briefly above them, showing them the back and forth effort needed to remain in place. Shifting his tail left and right, the eager observers watched the fine control generated by that movement. The motion of the tail changing the form of each wing surface, generating a variance in the amount of air flow and density. Pulling his tail underneath him, he greatly extended how far the air would have to travel causing him to rise with each wing beat. Bowing his tail the other way he began to sink, until he gently alighted upon the ground.

Glancing briefly at Thumper, which nodded its head, he invited the first volunteer to give hovering flight a try.

Irma bound forward immediately to take her place next to Jesse. Before he moved to give her room he reached his head out and nipped playfully at her neck. Giving her an encouraging smile, the scales on his neck bristled and Irma found herself suddenly sniffing the air curiously. Not knowing where the feeling she felt had just come from, she nonetheless enjoyed the sensation of warmth settling into her body. Now absolutely convinced that she would succeed, she spread her wings for her attempt.

Remembering not to fight her own body, Irma closed her eyes and pictured what she wanted it to do. On cue, her muscles and tendons accomplished what she desired. With a heave, she jumped upwards, aided by the spring of her tail. Feeling her chest and back flex in cycles, the rush of air was felt on the dense nerve bundles in her wings. The sensation of brief periods of weightlessness and upward pressure told her she was doing it. Opening her eyes she couldn't help but to give a pleased warble. Thinking about what Jesse had just done, and suspecting the purpose of it. She rippled the scales on her tail that was bobbing and twitching next to him.

His nose twitched and then drawn like a magnet his attention focused on her tail before following its shape upwards. Grinning widely he sprung aloft and then showed the greatest demonstration of aerial competence yet. Effortlessly matching the cadence of her wing beats he slid in closer to her until their belly scales made contact. She felt something grab hold of her tail and gave voice to a shy squeak at the feeling of Jesse's scales rubbing along her own.

The scales along Jesse's neck lifted and the scent of what smelled like vanilla to the humans filled the air. Irma's pupils dilated as her heart rate and body temperature soared. With eyes half lidded, she looked at Jesse and bit him on the shoulder, drawing blood. Jesse's response was only to make a loud humming noise as Irma's head drew back to lick clean the wound she had made.

Irma moved her head in closer to nip Jesse at once more. However, Jesse pushed her back with his legs and the scales of his neck settled close. Drifting away from her until their wings were clear he landed and immediately dropped to the ground with an embarrassed "eeep". Attempting to hide his awkwardly raised hindquarters with his tail, he whistled nonchalantly while avoiding the look of everyone's curious eyes.

Irma landed, casting a hungry look at Jesse with her eyes still half closed. Serena went to Irma and waved at her to follow her. Ignoring her, Irma instead circled Jesse with her tail swaying alluringly. Jesse's eyes were locked on her rump as her hips swayed in time with her ostentatious strut.

Kim sidled up next to him and nudged him with a wing.

"Look at the tail on her! Huh? Huh?"

Jesse couldn't even bring himself to talk at this point in his shame and just grunted. "Uhuh."

Her ears flared even as her eyes narrowed slyly before driving her teasing home. "Yuuu have ahh stiffy, don't yuuu? I can sssssmell it. Thatsss why yuu can't lay all the way down."

Jesse's mortified wail spooked a herd of deer four kilometers away.

Kim was rolling on her back in a roaring fit of laughter as her tail beat the ground.

A blubbering Jesse was behind her trying to fit two words together in his stammering defense. Instead, he just issued a long wheezing hiss that trailed off to nothing. With no ready rebuttal he rose into a half crouch and slunk off to the barn with his tail carefully arranged to hide his erection. On his way past the maniacally grinning Kim she leapt from the ground and smacked his ass with a paw. Jesse fled from the cackling female so quickly that he effectively vanished. Only his tail tip could be seen sticking out of the barn.

A nonplussed Irma stood in the yard, still breathing hotly from parted jaws as her stomach heaved with heavy panting. "Why did yuuu dooo that? Iiii wasn't done with him." Instead of going to get him, she decided to tease him out of hiding.

Jesse, love, you should not be embarrassed. She stopped to giggle. If you needed a place to hide your shame, there's a much more fulfilling place than the barn right between my hind legs. She waited expectantly but her only answer was a small pained mewling from the barn. Sniffing, she could smell his desire mixing with the complex aroma of her own.

Turning towards a confused Brian she grinned at him. He flung his head upwards, and backed away from whatever he was about to be corralled into.

Come here big guy. She cooed, and ran her tongue around her upper jaw. I need some help... You see, my favorite ride is being shy... What do you say to rolling onto your back? I promise we will both find heaven when I take what is yours and make it... mine...

With a very aggressive smirk plastered on her snout, there was no doubt that she was Kim McConnor's daughter. Fanning her wings to waft her scent towards the larger dragon, he continued to back away from her even as his eyes lost focus and his retreat became more and more reluctant.

Relaxing her teasing on the overwhelmed new dragon, she kept one eye on the barn for the reaction she anticipated. Like clockwork, Jesse's jealous but self-conscious head peeped out from behind the barn door.

That is not fair! I want to so badly that it hurts. But your family is out there!

Well, then fly with me! I think that is how we are supposed to do it anyway.

"That is not exactly true. If you would li..." Thumper's attempt to provide advice was interrupted as a tail crashed down on its position moments after it teleported away.

It reappeared on the crown of the roof so it could finish its comment without interruption. A snarling Kim crouched with a malevolent gaze fixed on the suspect computer.

The rest of the explanation however came from an unlikely source that had been, quite frankly, forgotten about until this moment.

Thumper, lying against the side of the barn, opened his sheltering wings and looked at Irma with blood shot eyes.

"Flying is just the invitation to mate." He winced and stopped to nose at his splinted leg and lick at it tenderly. "Once you have danced in the sky, you are ready to complete the act of love where ever you may like." He finished, a little more poetically than his formerly stilted tone.

Rearranging his wings, he hid his body protectively once more. This just left his protruding head to watch with a pained expression creasing his scales. Something strange could be seen as his head rested once more on the ground. The onetime omnipotent, omniscient computer's eyes where slowly beginning to lose their unbroken golden coloration. White sclera was beginning to appear around the rims of its visible eyes. This new development was noted by several in the clearing and stored for later.

Irma's haughty, aggressive demeanor acted on this advice as her eyes gleamed.

Jesse saw this attention turn towards himself and he gave an uncertain interrogative whistle. Irma spread her legs with tail held dominantly upwards and lowered her head with scales raised to give a soft growl. Jesse exploded from the barn and ran into the wind to launch himself aloft as his eager love chased after him. Irma gracelessly lifted from the ground to follow her agile mate. But, Jesse was literally flying rings around her ponderous form.

Disappearing beyond the trees their playful growls continued to be heard until, suddenly, Jesse shot straight upwards like a rocket. Reaching the top of his climb, he flipped backwards, swapping head for tail and dove while giving a shrill whistle. The whistle was answered by one of Irma's own as she spiraled awkwardly upwards into view. Zooming through the center of Irma's spiral he swooped beneath her and then used his momentum to swing up. Tucking his wings in he spun rapidly before snapping them open and orbiting around Irma's watching head.

Thumper's tired voice reached the ears of the onlookers. "Normally the female would be matching the movements of the male to show interest. Starting at some distance, as the dance goes on, the two partners grow closer and closer together until contact is made. The decision of where and how to mate is then made. It is typically done right then, some prefer consummating the act upon the ground however."

Jesse spiraled lower until his wing tip brushed against Irma's head and they sedately flapped out of sight.

Kim and Tom looked at each other excitedly and began to jump up and down in anticipation.

"Sooo that's what we're doing wrong?"

Pressing their snouts together they unfurled their wings and promised each other at the same time. "As sssoon as we fly, I'mmm going to make yuu scream."

Licking along the sides of each other's muzzles they followed the example of Irma and raised the scales on their necks. The scent of vanilla filled the air once more.

"What is that?" The earthbound Lucy asked.

The organic Thumper briefly stretched his neck, before swinging his head back to the female half of the twins. "Your parents, they love each other very much. That scent is that of them telling each other the depth of their love. It is the scent of them asking one another to show the love that they feel."

"You mean..." Luke stopped and turned to Lucy for a quick, hushed, conversation. "...They want to rail each other?"

"But we already knew that!" Lucy declared while Luke nodded earnestly. "They use to do it all the time. But ever since they became dragons they've been angry because they couldn't!"

Serena choked upon her next words and continued to cough until an EMT thumped her on the back. Kim and Tom honked their amusement loudly.

From the rooftop, Thumper tried once more to inform the people and creatures beneath it.

"What you smell resembles vanilla. But it is actually a complex marker, showing among other things: arousal, desire, relationship status and the like. For the female, and the male, it also indicates reproductive readiness. What you have so rudely disregarded on other occasions are my explanations that the scratching that Kim and Irma undertake are related to these markers. This scent is particular to that of undertaking intercourse. There are other smells that mean other things. The smell of hay indicates several general health factors. However, the smell of burning metal demonstrates anger. An aroma like cinnamon means they are pleased."

"But why are they doing this smelly thing just now?"

"Kim, will you allow me down there to achieve a more natural conversation?"

She made a deep clicking noise and rocked her head.

Thumper jumped, and glided down to the ground to answer Lucy's question.

"It took the natural mannerisms of Jesse to demonstrate the effects of this." Thumper gestured with its wing at the parents.

Ruffling their scales in alternating fashion the subtle smell of vanilla wafted through the air. With every lifting of carbon plating the scent varied by noticeable degrees. Becoming sweeter one moment and then a tad more astringent the next.

They were all but jumping on top of each other right in front of the rest. They had no discretion what so ever.

"Jesse has shown them more about their nature since his turning, than in all the previous time they have been children of the egg. The emanation of these scent markers is entirely voluntary. This is one of the manners that they had communicated on their world of aeons past."

"So they can sniff what they feel? Cooool!" Lucy squealed. "Maybe I can smell how they feel too!"

"You will be able to gain a general idea of what they are expressing. However, the scents are much more complex than your sense of smell is able to interpret."

Lucy wandered off to join Luke in throwing things to get the attention of their oblivious parents. Who, at the time, had scales lifted down the entirety of their backs and were licking each other's nose.

"But really." Serena pressed. "Why haven't they been doing this scent marking thing before? It feels awfully contrived that they just suddenly started doing it."

"I have tried to share my advice, on several occasions. As my predecessor had as well."

Thumper sighed and looked at his broken leg.

"The combative attitudes of both Kim and Tom have prevented the transfer of that information. Instead, I have decided the best way for you to learn is by the example of your own ilk."

"But you couldn't have known..."

"No, I couldn't have. Since at that point I did not exist. Nevertheless I have capitalized on the weakness of my progenitor. The optimal outcome for your futures was for Jesse Pinkman to remain human. His change into a child of the egg introduced new possibilities that I have taken advantage of. If Jesse had not become one of you, the plan was to induce Kim to demonstrate this manner of communication."

"In any case it matters little. Although, for your enlightenment, they have utilized this 'scent marking' as you call it, on multiple occasions before now. It is now obvious that you had paid it little attention at the time. Tell me, Serena Willow. How many emotions do you think the stiff, unmoving, scaled faces of the children of the egg can convey? Their vocal utterances are atonal to humans. To you the gravelly timber of their voices all sound the same. The only time that you would have recognized any emotions whatsoever was when they had bared their teeth to you. A display that was viewed as the most serious of actions amongst their kin of old. No, you knew when they were happy, sad, angry, and all others, by their smell. They don't have to lift their scales to broadcast their emotional state. Your primal mind, has recognized these scents for what they are."

Serena turned to look at the nearest mated pair while thinking about what she was told. That was hard to do when the pair in front of her was comically taking turns slobbering all over each other. Their human twins had given up on throwing things to get their attention. Now they were hitting the fore legs of the two with whiffle ball bats.

Their parents blinked and looked down to see what annoyance was bedeviling them now. Their kids gleefully continued their assault with the plastic bats to stop the make-out session that had already ended. Behind the ignorant children, tails snaked towards them until, with a sudden lunge, the appendages had wrapped about each of them. Shrieking with laughter, they were held aloft in front of their parent's eyes.

"Whyyyy arrree yuu bothering mommy and daddy when they are having private time? Huh? Maybeee weee should eat yuuu, huh?"

Opening their mouths they popped their children in like bite sized snacks, and half closed their jaws around them.

Shouts of: "Eeeww!" and "Gross!" came from their snouts as arms and heads protruded from the front gap in their teeth.

Serena laughed at their antics, while the EMTs raised objections at the only mildly dangerous game they were playing. The scaly parents lowered their heads to the ground and ejected the kids with their tongues.

The anxious medical mother hens went over to check the children over and washed out and patched the few minor scratches they sustained. One of the first responders, braver, or more foolish, than the rest, went over to berate the two parents for endangerment. Tom kept one unemotional eye trained upon her as he stoically took her reprimand. She ran down after having vented her spleen, and then began to stammer. The eye, bigger than her entire head, continued to stare at her with unblinking focus. His staring continued as beads of sweat sprung out on her face.

"Well! Um... If you do it again, we will report you to..." Finally losing the rest of her nerve, she retreated to the remaining ambulance and shut the door to the treatment area.

"What does she mean 'we'?" Another medic muttered to himself while looking at the multi tonne Kim's angrily writhing lip.

"Oh! I thought sheee wanted to have aahh staring contest!" Tom laughed, rustled his wings, and thumped his tail. Kim was much more aggressive in her approach.

"Fuck that bitch." She snarled, and raked her claws through the soil of her yard. She twisted her head to her children. "Did mommy and daddy hurt yuuu with our joke?"

"It was slimy! But it did not hurt." They answered, innocently, as all children did.

Serena tried to be more rational with the pair of parents. "You know you two. We still don't know what kind of bacteria might be present in your bodies. That includes your saliva. Just something you might want to think about before popping them into your mouths like cheese curds as a joke next time."

Tom looked at her with an eye brow raised. She nodded emphatically. Taking her point, he made a note not to subject his still human children to possible alien vectors.

"Fine." Kim grudgingly allowed, while she circled around the ambulance as shrill calls to go away could be heard from within.

"Kim." Tom admonished her. His wife was peering searchingly in through the front window with her breath fogging the screen. Unfurling her tongue, Kim let it drag across the windshield as a terror filled squeak was heard. Pulling her head back and then thrusting it forward, she roared, baring all her teeth as spittle flew onto the windshield. Into the ringing silence afterwards the slumping sound of a body collapsing could be heard inside the vehicle as the medic fainted.

"Iiiii win." She said smugly, before collecting her children on her neck and bouncing jauntily back up to the house to tuck them in for the night.

As Kim saw to their youngest, Tom saw to their oldest.

"Thumperrrr, Iiii want yuuu to keep an eye on ourrr daughter. Tell meeeee if anything happens that I should know about."

"She has not released any egg cells from her oviducts. She won't for seven more months. The chance of her becoming pregnant through the 29 copulation events over the next 12 hours are 0.000%."

Scales across Tom's body lifted as Brian reacted to the scent of his anger. He eased himself away from the still form of the father and took great care not to make eye contact with him. A short minute later, the ozone smell of burning metal made itself known to the humans.

The medics hastily excused themselves from needing to attend a medical examination and fled in their ambulance. Serena was left looking at their dust trail, flabbergasted that the spinally challenged miscreants had abandoned her to the gathering storm.

Ulysses came from the house to see why the Paramedics had just hauled ass away. Upon seeing the wary looks and growing distance that Tom was the focus of, he turned around and wisely went right back inside. Reentering he had to hop to the side abruptly, as Kim extracted her head from the house to point her nose in her husband's direction and sniff. Shrugging her wings, she placed her head back inside to finish getting her children ready for bed. As she did, scales on her rump and tail began rustling chaotically as a mix of new odors became apparent.

These odorant communications soon reached Tom and seemed to calm him if the easing of his tensely vibrating tail was any indication.

Brian and Serena turned to each other to converse while an irate Tom stiffly walked over to speak to the old Thumper to talk to him as well. Thirty minutes later, Kim approached with Luke and Lucy standing on her back clutching pillows and blankets.

"The kids rrrr sleeping with usss tonight."

"Why?" Tom asked, his seething anger still evident by the growl underlying his question.

"Becuzzzz yuuu can't stop growling. Iiii do not care about your beef with Jesse, heee needs help adjusting tooo the fact thattoday he became a dragon. Violently. Let those two gooo, let them help each other. Yuuu know he'sss suffering. That is why I have brought Luke and Lucy. I want you to stay here and calm down. I know you will when they are asleep next to you. Plus, Iii don't want yuuu wrecking any more of the barn in the morning. The damn thing isss about to come down as it is."

They turned to look at the barn as another plank fell from the wall damaged earlier and landed on the mortal Thumper. He flicked his wing to send the wood soaring away from him but had no other reaction.

"Weee should look into enlarging that thing. Weee won't fit into it ourselvesss much longer the way we keep growing. Plussss, we now have Jesse to consider, and Brian, for the timeee being at least."

Kim turned and raised a paw to shove the scientist. His greater mass left him largely unaffected beyond rocking him enough that he shifted a paw to brace himself. Turning her head she said something quietly to her children and then folded her leg to bring her shoulder near the ground. Clutching their sleeping gear they slid down her upper leg and rolled onto the ground laughing. Scampering into the barn they set their stuff down and then reemerged to sit on their dad's outstretched foreleg and wait for their gargantuan companions to settle for the night.

A Thumper flapped in from the west and made a low pass over the yard, depositing a cow elk in front of Kim before disappearing.

Kim leapt upon the carcass with bloodthirsty, hungry zeal. As she tucked in, blood sprayed upon the ground causing her twins to look away. She had already devoured a third of the elk when liquid began to drip down on her from above.

The recently transformed Brian loomed above her watching intently as saliva fell from his opened mouth and dangling tongue. Disgusted, a low frequency vibration could be felt through paws and shoes alike in the clearing as she growled and drew a foreleg protectively around her meal.

Mine! Fuck off! She snapped at him. Go ask Thumper to get you one if you are hungry, or better yet, go hunt one. Irma was able to hunt the same day she finished turning. You will not be disappointed.

"ButIiiiidon'tknow howtoooohunt!"

Before she could respond, a shadow flew overhead and a stag thumped onto the ground just a few meters to Brian's left.

There, problem solved. Now stop fucking drooling on me! Fuck! She ended her recriminations by seizing a leg in her mouth and shaking her head to snap it off.

Brian curled his massive head around to look dubiously at the deer before him. His dinner, nosing at it caused a few muscles to twitch. Recoiling, his aversion to eating something that was still in its death throes was readily apparent.

"Sssshouldn'tit beeecookedfirst? It'sssstill moving!"

"Just eat it, you'll beee fine."

"Wait until yuuu hunt your first one! The thrill of driving a deer into the ground and then breaking its neck and opening its throat." Tom tried to say encouragingly. "Once you feel the warmth of gushing aortal blood on yuuur tongue you'lll want to slap a vegan!"

"Iiiiwas aaahvegan" The qualmish scientist murmured. The rumbling of his famished and recently traumatized body decided the issue for him.

Lowering his head he sniffed at it suspiciously. Hiding the head of the deer with a paw the squeamish scientist took a dainty bite out of a rear leg. But given his monstrous strength, his dainty bite just ripped the whole limb clean off the body. Serena filmed this enterprise and even got closer to record the way that he ate, along with the skeptical expression on his snout. Gnawing away at it he soon had the flesh separated from the bone, and then there was a crackling sound as the bones shattered. Using the incredible jaw strength he possessed he ground the bones between the flattened surfaces at the rear of his mouth.

After swallowing and licking his chops with his lengthy tongue he rendered his verdict. By darting his head down to bite into the neck of the deer. As blood erupted from the jugular vein into his mouth he closed his eyes and rumbled deep in his chest. The last vestiges of hesitancy were swept aside by something deep and primordial within his mind. Hesitancy forgotten, he became red in tooth and claw just as the others had before him. Just as those who had left their human forms behind all across the globe had. His rumbling grew in intensity along with his savagery. Before even Kim had finished her meal there was naught left of the deer but the hooves.

Sitting back, he opened his eyes and ripped loose an enormous belch, before curling his neck in embarrassment.

"Iiiiiidon'tknowhowIIIIIfeel about that."

"Relax, you big crybabyyyy. You can eeeat all the vegetables, and wheat you like. Someee fruits as well. Just get usssed to adding kill to the stew. How else do yuuu think you're going to beeee able to sustain yourself? How many kcalsss do you think you need per day? Now clean yurself"

He had blood covering all of his snout and part way down his neck, even his front paws had a liberal coating of the life giving fluid. Shuffling awkwardly, he finally drummed up the courage to ask Serena a question.

"SssSerenacould yuuuplease helpmeee?"

She laughed and turned to set her video recorder down, by the time she had turned back Tom was beginning to clean his scales himself.

"Ummm" Brian began.

Tom stopped and drew his head back to look up at the larger dragon.

"Itsss called social grooming. Don't make iiiit weird."

After finishing cleaning his neck Tom gave him some advice before turning his attention to his wife.

"Yuuu can clean your pawsss and your face yuur damn self."

A jet of water hit him in the face, making him hiss indignantly. Serena was holding her side laughing at the look on his muzzle as the rest joined in.

Brian drooped and sighed, then joined in the laughter even as Serena waved him closer. Grabbing a towel out of the barn she began wiping the rest of his meal from the corners of his mouth and off his jaws.

He surprised her with some new mannerisms as his eyes half closed dreamily, and a thrumming noise not unlike the purring of a cat could be heard. That is, if a cat had a neck of three meters, lungs each the size of a pony, and a diaphragm strong enough to make a roar audible for kilometers.

"What are you feeling right now?"

Serena had dropped the towel after completing her chore and whipped out a notepad.

"What made you make that noise?"

Brian looked skyward thoughtfully for a minute before replying.

"Theeefeelingof yourhandsssrubbingscales. Rubbing myyyface, mademeee feel... Warm, itmademeeee hum. Iiiifeltcontent..."

Reaching up with a forehand to touch her shoulder, he looked at the paw and reconsidered. Instead, he lowered his head to nudge her gently in a friendly appreciative manner, almost knocking her to the ground. She dropped her pen and notepad to hold on to his snout to keep her balance.

"IiiiithinkIiiilikeiiiit"

Serena's face grew warm as she blushed, slightly darkening her mocha hued skin.

"Well, don't like it too much you big goofball."

Brian gave a halfhearted rumble of laughter.

Serena slid off his muzzle and straightened her clothes while collecting the dropped stationary. She looked up at him as he drew his head up to its normal towering height and then soberly addressed him.

"Brian... I'm glad that you are content. Maybe for the first time since I've known you. All it took was for you to become an alien that looks like a myth. I don't know..."

She stopped, struggling to find the words to match her thoughts. Failing, she looked up at him again and placed a hand on his foreleg. With a wistful look in his eyes, Brian looked down at her in return and said nothing, simply enjoying the feeling of contact with someone that knew what was passing through his mind. The lonely academic was touched by her concern.

Everyone else present had the grace not to question the exchange. It was none of their business. However no one there could stop themselves from feeling sympathy for Brian when they saw a watery sheen appear in his left eye.

Turning his head, he blinked the water away.

"Iiiifeeltired, whereamIiiitooosleep?"

Jesse and Irma will be too busy doing it like they do on the discovery channel so I suppose you can sleep with us in the barn. That is, if we fit...

Three heads snaked around to look at the barn with doubtful twists in their necks at the likelihood of that.

And then... the barn exploded.

Into an uncountable number of shards of wood, metal, and glass. Strangely enough, neither Thumper nor anyone else was harmed in the explosion. As once the barn had been rendered down into its component parts the scraps had stopped midair.

Soldiers poured out of the family's home at the cataclysmic sound and stood gaping along with everyone else at the sight. Tens of thousands of kilograms of building material began to whirl, before shooting towards the eye of the spiral. One level after another, these component pieces zipped towards the center of the maelstrom to reform a new structure. Before the stunned eyes of everyone present, a whole new building was... printed. Metal supports formed with wooden arches on top acting as buttresses to support a slanted roof. Three new walls coalesced, leaving the fourth side open to the south and the elements. But it did not remain so for long, as a heavy drape of wooden filament spun itself into existence and then connected to a stout metal rod than extended across the opening.

Where once there was a barn, there now existed a much more expansive structure.

"Our barn!" Lucy's high pitched voice rang out in the ensuing silence.

Thumper, which looked almost smug at the sight of everyone's overawed visages, explained.

"A gift."

"Yuuuu could've warned us!"

"The prior structure was unsound, and multiple children of the egg no longer would have fit comfortably."

Kim and Tom turned narrow, suspicious looks on Thumper.

Are you just fucking with us? It seems like you are fucking with us.

"I, of course, am doing no such thing."

They did not look convinced by the words, as there remained a smug, mischievous gleam in the bizarre golden eyes of the creature.

Peering in at each end of the structure, the two property owners nosed aside the curtain to have a first look at their new, unsolicited, shelter.

The first thing they noticed was a small tidy pile of their children's camping gear. The next was their pillows from the barn laid out everywhere. Instead of being the disparate shapes and colors they were before, they were now a uniform size and black color. Two windows were set in the east and west walls with eight more along the north wall. The walls, ceiling, and floor themselves the color of bare wood, although covered with the sheen of an unidentifiable coating. At the four corners of the structure there were black pipes rising through the floor and again through the ceiling. Set into the base of each of these pipes was a simple lever that was currently turned vertically. Against the back wall there was a small room with an open door frame. Asking their children to go in there to see what it was, the twins exclaimed happily that there were two wood bed frames along with a sink and shower stall inside. Next to the small room there was another door leading to something behind the shelter. Luke opened it, revealing a small bathroom.

While Tom put his eye up against the doorframe of the bedroom to have a closer look, Kim focused her attention on one of the mysterious pipes rising from through the floor. Cocking her head from side to side, she could make no sense of them until she reached out to tap it with the side of a claw, very, very gently. A muffled clang could be heard, revealing a metal pipe covered in thick insulation.

"Are these heated? They feel warm."

"Thermal pumps, turn those handles and the rising energy will be diverted to heat the floor."

Kim, and Tom's ears perked up, quite pleased with that information.

"Why aren't there any mattresses?

"What aaaabout lights?"

"I only used what materials were present in the barn. It is up to you from this point forward if you wish any other fixtures to be added to the structure."

Ulysses poked his head in to see what the result of the calamitous noise was and gave a whistle of appreciation. "Do you think it's up to code?"

"Asss long as we're warm and it doesn't fall on usss, I don't give aaaa shit. Iiii will explain that to any whooo may object." Kim replied.

Ulysses looked three meters up at her. "Just don't kill anyone Kim." She tilted her head to wink at him.

"The concerns of your local bureaucrats will have no bearing here. They will not know how to assess this type of construction."

Tom craned his head down to peer closely at the joints between floor and wall, wall and ceiling, and then looked at the floor itself. There were no seams, no gaps between any part of the structure and another. It appeared that the whole building was fashioned out of one piece. Even the window and door frames as well as the steel supports appeared to have been woven into the very grain of the wood. The holes for the thermal pipes seemed to have grown that way rather than having been sawn.

Sitting back on his tail, Tom was visibly impressed. Pointing his head upwards at the very limit of his neck he waggled it side to side and was unable to touch the ceiling. Upon being asked, only Brian, with his larger size, was able to bump the ceiling with his snout.

"I hope you approve, it would be a shame for me to go through all this effort to no avail." Thumper opined.

Sluggishly limping in on three legs, the other Thumper curled up in a corner next to a heating pipe. Reaching out with an uninjured paw, he carefully batted at the valve until redirected heat began to seep through the wood beneath him. Shutting his even more altered eyes, and laying his head down on his tail, he replied for them: "Of course they like it, you knew that they would before you even started."

Thumper, watching the motions of its progenitor, said nothing. Instead, it glanced at the heating pipe and the valve handle became much larger and more manageable for him and the others.

Kim yawned and complained, "Can weee stop trying to force everything into one day? I'm tired aaand this isss getting tedious. Remember, I am busy growing eggs, Iiii am delicate!"

Humans and dragons alike turned incredulous expressions on the expectant mother. She noticed their skeptical looks and huffed noisily, "What? Iiii am! And if you say otherwise I'll kick yuuur tail, or yuuur ass if you still have one!" The looks she was receiving doubled in incredulity.

Chortling in amusement she slunk into the shelter and coiled herself, sending pillows flying as she slithered round and round to get comfortable. Looking at the others, she moved her tail revealing an open space in the curve of her body. Taking their cue, Luke and Lucy grabbed their sleeping bags and lay down next to their mother who hid them from sight again with her tail. Kim settled with a great sigh, as along her length muscles visibly relaxed with a ripple of scale. The smell of lavender filled the air as Tom and Brian's snouts twitched inquisitively at the scent while their eyes began to close sleepily. Shaking himself briefly, Tom bent his head down to murmur something to Serena. Looking up at him she nodded and pat his leg. Walking around the perimeter of the structure, she flipped all the stove pipe levers, causing heat to seep into the floor and pillows.

Tom settled next to the massive serpent-like form of his wife, and then watched, with growing amusement, Brian attempting to bed down for the night.

First he tried to stretch out his front legs, awkwardly kneading the pillows with his talons. Failing to find a suitable resolution that way, he next tried to just flop on his side. This seemed to work to some degree, but after a moment he got back to his paws restlessly. Shifting back and forth, his tail coiled and uncoiled indecisively, and unnoticed, behind him. Looking at the others, he finally did what he should have to begin with. He attempted to mimic their postures. But after three attempts, Brian just gave up with his head and neck laying against the wall awkwardly. His snout pointed at the ceiling like a questing snake's, and his wings half extended over the suffering Thumper. His tail stuck far outside the shelter in a posture that there was no reasonable way to suppose it would be kept for long. Closing his eyes, he pointedly ignored Tom's chuffing laughter and the clicking of Serena's camera. Soon enough however, Tom laid his head across his wife's shoulders and joined Kim in emitting the soporific lavender scent. Brian's fidgeting stilled as the powerful vibrations of his breathing deepened and evened out.

The replacement Thumper came in and curled up next to its predecessor, but did not close its eyes. Instead it lay there and observed Serena's actions. Struggling to close the heavy curtain, she managed it after a few moments of nearly silent cursing. Once there was only a sliver of light intruding from the house and the moon, she left, only to return with a chair a few minutes later. Sitting down with one of the soldier's... appropriated... night vision optics she idly sketched out the scene before her. Later, as the scratching of her pencil ground to a halt, her head tipped backwards as the sound of her snoring was lost in the elemental nocturnal rumblings of the others. At last, Thumper closed its eyes and the day drew to a close.