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Dream Factory: A Kobold Story

Episode Two: Picnic Panic

Another bright and sunny day in Pleasant Falls. Pascale could smell the spring air, the scent of flowers and plants as they come back to life after a frozen winter. It was nice and warm outside but aside from picking up the paper from her doorstep, she didn't go out just yet. Instead, choosing to read the early morning paper in her breakroom on the first floor in peace.

With a cup of black coffee and newspaper in hand she stared at it in silence for a long moment. For some reason, she was having a bit of a hard time focusing this early in the morning. It was a bit blurry but she was pretty sure the newspaper read "Wake up." Lucky for her she had her reading glasses nearby, and after slipping them on, what looked like squiggles ended up making more sense. The title actually read "Wake up."

Wait, that was the same exact title.

Reading through the actual article, it made a lot more sense. Apparently, some old historical buildings in Smog City were set to be torn down. A lot of local historians were fuming, literally, over this. She could understand the sentiment honestly, even if places like the Dream Factory, were long ago abandoned and their history dark and unkind, they were part of Draconia's history and should remain standing. After all those who didn't learn from history we're doomed to repeat it and she was fairly certain that was not one thing they wanted to ever repeat.

She heard a soft clucking sound and looked across the table to see Ziggy the chicken walking over to his food bowl. He still had his little nightcap on, meaning he's slept in late. For a male chicken that was strange, or at least it would have been if not for the fact that she'd seen this dozens of times now. He was a lazy chicken sometimes.

"Good morning, Ziggy." She said cheerfully.

He grumbled a response. "Good morning."

She went back to the paper. Other than the tragic loss of history, she found a message about the king and queen. Looked like they were awarding their daughter Sparkle Scale with a medal of bravery for going out to the human lands of Silver Glow to take the fight to the slaving empire. Princess Sparkle didn't deserve that, no Princess Twinkle deserved it, but unfortunately Princess Twinkle was yet to get the attention she so dearly deserved. If only Pascale could help her along that path of fame and fortune, Pascale's life would be complete.

There was also a small mention of the ongoing conflict at the borders, far, far to the west of them. Humans and Dragons skirmishing again. She shook her head and let out a sigh. Why do people keep fighting? There was no point to it. Oh and it looked like the Forked Fang Old Ball team won their game against the Gold Scale Tails. That was good at least. Gray would be happy to hear her team won.

Setting the newspaper down she wondered what else she could do this morning. It was her day off from her usual duties as the librarian, and although she would normally spend the day helpfully staying by the Princess's side and giving Twinkle whatever she desired, Twinkle had asked to have the day alone. So Pascale was not allowed to bother her, unless it was the direst of situations. It was probably some form of temporary depression thanks to that vile Sparkle Scale getting the award. Well Pascale would find a way to cheer up Twinkle tomorrow.

Now she just had to find a way to stop being bored. Perhaps she could reorganize all the books in the library again?

A knock at the front door gave her reason to move. She got up and went to the front door and opened it. Just outside she saw a light gray kobold with yellow spines on her back and a yellow underbelly. The kobold was wearing a blue dress and carrying a satchel at her side. Her wings folded up against her back. She looked down, but her eyes were always a bit off, one of them was looking down at the ground, he other was aimed at the side staring at Pascale's garden. The lazy eye was certainly an odd thing to be certain but something one got used to.

Pascale offered a warm smile. "Deedee, are you lost?"

Deedee raised her head, and her good eye looked right at her. "N-no, I um... I'm so sorry." She pulled out a blue-colored envelope and gave it to Pascale. "I forgot to give this to you yesterday. I was going to leave it with the newspaper today but I forgot again. I'm so sorry."

Pascale kept smiling as she took the letter. "It's okay, always better late than never. You do such a hard job, mistakes happen sometimes. Please be careful out there, Deedee."

Deedee nodded. "I will. O-oh, and Timequill says hello."

Doctor Timequill, was a bundle of joy and insanity who lived outside of town with Deedee. The two of them were an oddly cute pair, but she didn't really know a lot about them other than that. So it was odd he'd tell Deedee to say that. Pascale nodded. "Tell him hi back I guess."

She nodded. "Oh, and he also said to be careful of circles today. I, don't really understand what that means."

Oh, great, more weird and cryptic stuff. "I'll keep that in mind." There was of course no reason to fear circles. By the seven hells, there were circles almost everywhere. Boobs were just circles on a kobold's chest if one wanted to be that abstract with it. She'd promptly forget the warning immediately and focus on real stuff. Watching Deedee leave she wondered once more what it was that was so important and yet forgotten.

Looking at the letter she saw it was sent from Blue. Why, the little kobold girl could have just walked up here and delivered it herself, but chose to have it delivered via mail instead. Going back inside and back to her coffee she decided to open it. Inside she found a very pretty piece of paper covered in pink flowers with a lightly tinted blue background.

"_Dear Pascale. _

I would like to formally invite you to a picnic with me tomorrow. On Morning Dew's Hill I will have a lovely breakfast picnic and I think you'd be just the best person to invite. Thank you so much for listening to my request. If I don't hear from you by then I will assume you are able to join me.

With Love your friend Blue Butter."

Pascale stared at that for a long moment. She was always such a sweetheart with her letters. Even if they were short she put so much time and dedication into them it was heartwarming. Of course she'd love to go. Tomorrow would be an amazing day for a picnic. Or it would have been if it didn't occur to her that this was supposed to be here yesterday. Which meant that today was tomorrow. This meant that due to lack of response Blue was probably already there, and all alone, and heartbroken.

Pascale stood up immediately. She wasn't quite dressed for a picnic. Yet she feared she didn't have time for it. She was in her red wizard robes, and as she ran for the door she grabbed a yellow scarf to throw around her neck, at least she could pretend to be stylish and have put thought into this. She grabbed her broom and leaving the home in Ziggy's capable talons she flew off on her broom toward Morning Due Hill. It wasn't too far away and was a favored picnic spot. It was atop a large hill and right next to an abandoned windmill that had long, long ago lost the ability to turn. The old stonework of the windmill's base was covered in vines and algae. The windmill itself was made of sturdy dark oak, but it had holes in it showing its age.

She saw it there. Blue was leaning over a wooden table, a blue and white checkered cloth had been laid over the table and a picnic basket set up. Blue was all alone and looking down. Of course Pascale had to overshoot the hill on her first pass. Turning around in a circle she began heading back but watched as Blue stood up, and grabbed her basket. No! She wouldn't be that late. She wouldn't ditch Blue. She couldn't break her heart.

Pascale aimed her broom sharply down and swooped toward the earth. She wasn't going to be late, no matter the cost. At the last second, she pulled up. Unfortunately, Pascale was never the best flier, and she pulled up too late. She hit the ground near the picnic table and crashed hard. Her body rolling head over tail as she was tangled up with her broom. Her body went over the edge of the hill and then continued rolling down it, all the way down it.

She was rolling for nearly a straight minute before she landed in the river. Now, covered in mud, soaking wet, and aching all over she pulled herself and her broom out of the water. Looking at the broom she saw a large crack in the middle of it. Great, she was going to need duct tape to fix that. Still, she had a mission and no amount of pain would stop her.

Going back up the hill took even longer and after five grueling minutes of climbing up the hill, she got to the top. Blue, the table cloth, and the picnic basket were all gone. All that was left was the small trench her crash landing had caused. Of course, she had to miss it. Now Blue was heartbroken and it was all her fault. She could have just slowed down, or perhaps shouted out to Blue to let her know she was here? Instead, she tried to pull a Gray and go in for a fast landing, only she wasn't skilled at flying like Gray was and she screwed everything up.

She always screwed things up. Pascale went to the table, sat down and laid her head over the table. She was ready to just give up now. This screw-up was going to cost her too much. A least fifteen minutes had to have gone by as she just lay there feeling sorry for herself and hurting all over. She knew that Blue didn't live too far from here, she was probably home already, especially if she rode her bike.

As her sudden onset of self pity began to fade she realized she had to do something to make up for this. She stood up and made the declaration. "I am going to make this up to Blue!"

Now all she had to do was go straight to Blue's house and she would be just fine. Whereas Pascale lived in a three-story library shaped like three books stacked a little awkwardly on each other. Blue was one of the kobolds who preferred the old ways. She lived underground in a cave, or more precisely, in the cliffside near the farms. Looking at her broom, she realized it would be too dangerous to fly like this. So she wrapped her scarf around the crack in the middle, made sure it was nice and tight and got on. She was going to get there and if she was lucky she'd be just in time to make up to Blue before the poor thing's feelings were too badly hurt.

She got up into the air, and flew past her library and home. Saw the castle standing atop the cliff like a powerful sigil ever present to remind them that their princess, local ruler, and goddess was there for them and their needs. Especially if she got free makeup out of it.

She flew over the cliff and over the lake below. She began to turn her broom to circle around toward the farms built into the cliffside. That was when her broom decided to spark. The crack splintered out further and she dropped. As she plummeted toward the lake below her she really only had one thought. She really needed to avoid circles today.

She hit the water a moment later and as much as it stung, feeling the fish swim around her was even worse. There was one other, much worse problem. Pascale couldn't swim. For a moment she floundered, swallowing water, and coughing as she kicked her legs and tail uselessly. Her broom had enough power to float on the water and like a frog clinging to a log floating in a river she was able to hang herself over the broom and suck in a breath. Overhead she saw something flying past her. A windborne kobold, they had swooped down close enough that she heard their wings as they grabbed the back of her robe, and dragged her out of the water. she held onto her broom for dear life as she was flown over the edge of the water and then dropped unceremoniously onto the sandy shore.

Well that was embarrassing. Now out of the water she stood up, let the water drained around her from her soaked robes. She felt something moving against a piece of her that should never have moving things on it. She reached into her robe and pulled a fish out of her underwear.

Okay, humiliated only began to cover it.

It was then she realized with a broken broom in one hand, soaking wet, and feeling like she weighed another thirty pounds from all the water, she was going to have to walk all the way up to Blue's house. Each step made her feel like the extra weight was just a physical manifestation of her guilt. Blue was the sweetest, and perhaps the most fragile of her friends, hurting her feelings was about the same as stepping on a kitten. It was the worst thing you could do.

She wasn't even halfway to the massive lift that would lead up the cliffside farms when she heard the sound of flapping wings followed by a gray blur hitting the earth in front of her with enough force to kick up a dust cloud. The dirt noticeably sticking to Pascale's wet scales and robe.

Pascale let out a sigh. "Gray, what do you want? I'm busy here."

Gray stood up and glared at her with red eyes. "Oh, yeah, too busy to spend time with Blue are you?"

Pascale's lip quivered. "N-no, that's what I'm try-"

"Oh shut it. You broke her heart, and now I'm going to break your snout." She punched her right fist into her left hand to make her point.

Part of Pascale was willing to accept whatever punishment that Gray wanted to dish out. The majority of Pascale raised her hand and summoned aether energy into it forming three glowing rings around her arm. "Try it, and I will take your wing this time."

Gray growled. "HEY! No threatening the wings again. Remember last time."

Pascale aimed her hand noticeably more south. "Fine, I'll take your ovaries with me then."

"Better. Also, seriously, what the hell? Did you forget about the picnic or something?"

Pascale didn't let go of her spell just yet. "I just got her letter today. And what makes you assume I've agreed to go without agreeing first?"

Gray's growl increased and her tail began wagging. "You seriously don't remember? Blue asked you about this three days ago and you agreed. The letter is just her way of making things feel more formal or whatever."

Pascale was surprised enough by the response to actually let go of her spell and drop her hand. "I... I actually don't remember that at all." She shook her head. "Look, that's not as important right now. I am actually trying to get there right now. I know I missed her picnic but as you can see, I have had a terrible day. I had a fish inside my freaking clothing."

Gray's growl ceased and she gave a shrug. "At least the fish wasn't inside you."

Pascale suddenly didn't want to know any more about that story, not ever. "I'm going to Blue's place right now to make it up to her."

Gray nodded. "Good, and you better make it up or I will break your face. But right now I have bigger fish to fry?"

"Bigger fish?"

"I have an arch nemesis that seems to have raised their head once more and I must catch them."

That was a surprise. "An arch nemesis?"

"Yeah, they follow me wherever I go and taunt me with their saucy dancing. I'll catch them one day and overcome them. Today might just be that day."

Before Pascale could ask for more information, specifically about why dancing was such a bad thing, she watched as Gray looked down at her own tail. Gray growled, got on all fours and then began chasing her tail around in a circle while making barking sounds and snarling with her fang filled mouth. Sometimes it was better to walk away from the crazy. This was one of those times.

Going to the lift she stepped onto it, and pulled the lever that activated the mechanisms. It began slowly rising upwards. This process would take a few minutes, and so she decided to just sit down and watch the sky. A few drakes flew through the air, as well as a few white and blue skyborn kobold. There really weren't that many people here, and she felt she probably just saw the entire population of skyborns today already. Leaning back on her hands she wondered about what she was actually doing. What was the plan here, was she just going to go up to Blue's door looking like a train wreck and apologize? She didn't even want to enter Blue's house looking like this and was likely to be pushed away at the front door. Still she had to try something, it was the only thing she could try right then.

After all, if she didn't at least try to make it up to Blue, Gray was going to break her snout, and probably at least one of her windows again. Gray was a proper kobold warrior, full of spite, energy, and breaking things left and right. She could imagine many kobolds looked up to her example. As brutish as it was, it was the kobold way. The Dragon Guard would be proud to have her, but for some reason Gray kept failing the tests to become a Dragon Guard. Maybe Pascale would help her the next time there was an opportunity for Gray to join.

Once she was finally at the top of the lift she got off and onto the stone floor. The fields built into the cliffside were filled with various vegetables, wheat, and a few fruits. At least on this side of the cliffside farms. On the other side, past the waterfall that cut in the middle of the cliff, there was another farm for animals. Though Blue had helpers for the two farms, they were really her baby. From the automated water system built with a series of gears, levers, and pumps, to the automatic feeders for the livestock, Blue had constructed it all. Her natural ability for tending to both flora and fauna couldn't be understated either. Though it wasn't known what tribe Blue hailed from, Pascale was sure it was both a rural tribe and one that specialized in farming.

Unfortunately, human raids in the last few decades had seen some damage done to farming tribes. Still, they continued on. Those giants weren't going to get the best of them. Kobold's were filled with the kind of indomitable spirit that one couldn't defeat.

Walking along the stone path, dragging her broken broom behind her she came to a series of doors built into the stone face. The stone had been smoothed down, most of it even had designs carved into it to make it look like bricks had been laid down. One of the doors was a wooden door painted blue wiht a green metal handle. The name Blue Butter was hanging from a metal plaque on the door, right under which said, 'Head of Farming Projects'. that was about right, though Blue did a lot more than just projects.

Steeling her courage Pascale knocked on the door a few times. She waited for a response for awhile. There was an odd lens sitting above the door that looked down at anyone standing in front of the door. The rules were if you wanted to have her answer the door you had to stand in the right place and make a symbol with your hand. If Pascale was being serious for a moment she forgot what the symbol was so she simply waved at the lens hoping it would be enough to distill any doubt about it really being her.

The door opened a crack a moment later. Blue's bright green eye stared out. Then the door opened wide and she gasped. "Pascale!"

Pascale lowered her head a little. "Hey, look. I'm sorry I missed the picnic. I tried to show up on time, I really did. But I crashed on my broom, twice." She lifted up the broom which by now was almost entirely broken in half and hanging by a thread.

Blue grabbed Pascale by the collar and dragged her inside. "You're a mess. We need to get you c-cleaned up right away. O-or you might get sick."

Before Pascale could even argue she found herself being shoved through the house as the door closed and locked automatically behind her. The house was nice enough. Green rugs covered the stone floors. The walls were adorned with built in shelves. Strange mechanical contraptions littered the place, most of which she couldn't even fathom to guess at the purpose of. A few different guns were laying about as well from handguns to rifles, to what she could only describe as a portable cannon. Small scaly critters were living in here too. There was even a cat-drake. Roughly cat-shaped but covered with scales and fur in equal measure. it was busy licking its paws and ignored Pascale's intrusion into it's domain.

Soon enough she was shoved into the bathroom, where she also found herself being disrobed by Blue's gentle but fast hands. Once fully naked, and doing her best to hide her shame, She was shoved into a wooden barrel of a bathtub and warm water was being poured into from the faucet. The pipes seemed to lead up to a series of other more complicated pipes before they vanished into the walls. Blue had designed this house herself, including the plumbing, so even if it looked like a mess, it actually somehow worked better than usual plumbing.

Blue left her alone in the tub for a moment. "I'll be right back, we're about the same size so I have some clothes you can wear after your clean."

Pascale let out a sigh. Did this mean Blue wasn't mad at her after all? Or was this some kind of polite retribution for missing the picnic? Did Blue even hear her explanation or did she just see how rough of shape Pascale was in and then fixed it immediately.

Sitting back in the tub she allowed the water to soak her weary bones, minor cuts and bruises. Turning off the water she ended up dunking her whole head underneath and let the magical heat send tingles of pleasure through her entire body. A nice hot bath was usually better than a good schlicking session if she were to be asked. Sticking her head back out of the water she let out a purr of delight at the soothing water.

Blue's voice giggled from behind her.

Pascale sat upright and cleared her throat, attempting to change the purr into something less private. "H-hey, when did you get back?"

"A moment ago. Speaking of backs." A washcloth met Pascale's back as Blue began washing it for her. "Your positively filthy. If Jade had seen you like this, she might have coughed up a hairball."

"Where would she have eaten the hair? If you haven't noticed kobolds are bald."

Blue giggled. "Maybe she went out hunting and ate a ferocious beast."

"Like a dragon would? I... can see that actually."

Blue's hands were like magic on her back. Of course Pascale was careful to keep her chest and in between her legs covered with her arms. But the back wash wasn't unwelcomed. When her fingers went into the shoulders the wash quickly became a massage. Again, not an unwanted turn of events as Blue was almost as good at this as Jade. It was rumored Jade had even taught Blue how to give massages back when they first met as a sort of apprenticeship before the idea of giving random strangers a massage freaked Blue out too much. To Blue it was a powerful sign of trust and bonding. For Pascale to get one must have meant that they were still good friends.

Pascale spoke quietly. "I'm sorry."

Blue replied with a voice as gentle as velvet. "For what?"

"I missed the picnic. I tried to show up on time. I really tried."

Blue let out a small giggle. "It's okay. I'm not mad. I was a little disappointed at first, I love having picnics with my friends after all, but I know how busy you can get at a moment's notice. Being the apprentice to a princess is a really demanding position."

Pascale glanced back at Blue. "I got hurt."

"I know. I'm so sorry. You should never be hurt over me, not for something as small as a picnic. Once your done getting cleaned I'll bandage you and make it all better."

Pascale grinned. "Thank you."

"Don't worry about it. Maybe we couldn't have a picnic today, but we can still bond like this. That's what I really like."

"Bonding?"

"Mm-hmm. Spending time with my friends is the most important thing for me."

Pascale couldn't hold her laughter back. "Thank you. I love spending time with you too."

Blue's hands slipped further down Pascale's back. For a moment Pascale's entire body went rigid, the hand was dangerously close to her tail. What in aether earth was Blue doing? She wasn't, trying to bond, that closely was she? when the hand went further still and brushed her tail. Pascale scooted forward and away from the hand.

Blue's hand wend deeper still but it didn't touch Pascale's naked flesh anymore. A moment later she said, "Aha, there you are." and she pulled out a bar of soap that must have fallen in when Pascale wasn't looking. She looked at Pascale with an odd stare. "Are you okay? D-did I hurt you?"

Pascale let out a sigh and tried to relax. She scooted backward. "I'm fine. Just um, making way for you to grab the soap is all."

Blue smiled. "Good, because you need to do this part yourself." She handed the soap to Blue. "Unless you need me to h-help at all?"

Pascale took the soap in one hand careful to not reveal anything to Blue. "I'm f-fine... thank you for the offer though."

Blue's cheeks turned a little pink as she stood up. "Um, w-well, the um, offer... it um, it stands, if you ever need um, well... a little um, helping hand? B-but I'll leave you alone for n-now. Clothes and towl are on the shelf. I'll leave the door open if you need anything just let me know."

With that Blue left her alone and Pascale was left to finish cleaning herself. She had to wonder what the offer was really for. Was it just to wash her body? Or was there more to it? No, there couldn't be. Pascale knew she wasn't very attractive, and someone like Blue who was adorable could never want to do something inappropriate with her. It must have just been an offer to help wash her, probably as some sort of bonding ritual, that's all.

Only after Pascale was cleaned up, did she get dressed in the clothes provided by Blue. They fit well but they were not at all her style. A pair of gray shorts and a yellow tank top. It felt too casual for her. Still she went out to the dining room and the two of them had a nice private lunch together while Pascale's clothes were running through the washing machine and Blue spent most of the lunch bandaging up the scrapes and cuts Pascale had. It wasn't the exact picnic she was looking for, but it was the exact sort of thing she wanted. The owlraptor sandwiches was tasty too.