Long stays at my Lair for a few days, explaining more about dragon history, what we can do, where some of the more social dragons make their territories, etc. She also mentions that one of them is a 'battle-maniac' who'll probably show up in a few months to challenge me to a fight now that I've established a Lair. Fun. Apparently all dragons can just instinctively know where another dragon's Lair is? I don't like that at all, but there's literally nothing I can do about it. I guess that I'll just have to get started on those traps I've been planning to make!
Later though. For now, I've finally said my goodbyes to Long with the promise of reaching out if I have any questions and maybe dropping by her territory for a visit sometime. Which actually sounds nice; I've never been to America before. Maybe I'll ask my friends if there's anything interesting to see in New York next time I see them?
I shake my head to clear my idle thoughts before shifting into my full dragon form and taking off from my Lair's entrance. I circle above the compound where the Wild Wild Pussycats live a few times, peering down to see if I can catch sight of them training, but it looks like they aren't here today so I shrug and start flying in a random direction, musing on whether or not I want to bother heading to a city. Maybe I'll wander around Tokyo for the day?
I don't really have anything in particular planned, but now that Long's gone (heh) I can finally relax! Not that she was anything but pleasant after our disastrous first meeting, but she's still intimidating as hell! It's just sort of difficult to fully relax in the presence of someone who only recently felt like they were moments away from ripping off your limbs. Ooh, there's an idea! Maybe I can find someone to rip the limbs off of and make them try to wiggle their way to safety? That could be fun!
Yeah, maybe what I need is a mental reset through gratuitous violence, to help reaffirm the fact that I'm once again the strongest thing around now that the scary loli-baba went home. Maybe I should look for one of the heroes in the top ten and beat them up? It's an easy way to assert dominance, much more so than searching the Underworld for powerful villains. Mainly because villains aren't technically ranked, but also because they're harder to find.
Then again, I did just wake up a few days ago and haven't really had time to look up the new rankings, what with dealing with my Lair guest… Maybe I'll call Hawks and ask him? Except that I don't think I remembered to get- wait, what did I even do with my phone? I'm pretty sure I had it when I went with Himiko to get rid of some trash, but I can't recall what I did with it after…
I blink, coming out of my thoughts to look around and see if there's a store nearby I can grab a new phone at, just in case mine isn't somewhere in my Lair when I go back later. And also to use for the day since I don't really feel like spending the day searching for my phone. I wonder if there's a new model out yet? Maybe it's time for an upgrade anyways…
Unfortunately, not only do I fail to see a store selling phones, I fail to see any stores at all! In fact, I have no idea what city I'm currently flying above at all. "Did I go in the wrong direction…?" I wonder out loud with a frown, gliding down to land on the ground. Wherever I'm at is filled with nothing but old-school traditional houses, which is pretty rare now, I think. People kind of became cautious of grouping entire family lines together during the quirk wars after strong quirk users started targeting their homes and slaughtering everyone inside. It wasn't particularly rare for them to even kill all the animals just in case one of the members of the family had a transformation quirk!
Anyways, regardless of what the weak have done, the point remains that I am, in fact, lost. Not that I'm really worried about that - worst case scenario I set the neighborhood ablaze and ask whoever shows up to deal with it where I am. After that it would be a simple matter to just fly back to a city that I know! Or I could just follow the innate sense all dragons have of where their Lair is, but that's the boring option. Which means that since I came out to have fun, the boring option doesn't exist today!
I shift before I land so I don't have to resort to landing in somebody's house to avoid damaging the environment - not that I would be upset if I did, I just don't want people to think I'm clumsy and did it by accident. Plus it's difficult to ask people questions when they're panicking.
I turn to the leading to the compound immediately to my left and start jabbing the doorbell over and over while waiting for someone to answer. Thankfully, it doesn't take long before a woman in a kimono yanks the door open and opens her mouth to greet me, only to freeze and stare at me with it hanging open. A quick glance down reveals the problem, that being that I forgot to grow scales to cover the parts of myself that humans think of as 'inappropriate' to show other people.
…I may have forgotten that that's something that I need to keep doing after my sleep? Mei reminded to do it on the day I reunited with Jiro, Hitoshi, and Yui - accidentally, since she doesn't actually have a problem with nudity like other humans - but I don't think I've bothered the last few days with Long, at least I don't remember making scales to cover myself… That's going to be something people are going to be annoying about, isn't it.
A quick moment of focus and the problem takes care of itself, a line of scales growing across my breasts in a band shape matched by a larger line of scales wrapping around my waist and ending at about mid-thigh. I take a quick look, and yep, A thought hits me, and I decide to grow my tail to cover my butt, just to be safe.
Now covered, I give the woman a bright smile that shows off my fangs. "Hi! Can you tell me where I am?"
She just stares at me for a few more moments, her mouth working open and closed soundlessly. Maybe her quirk makes her voice work on different wavelengths? I should be able to shift my ears into a shape that can still catch whatever she's saying if that's the case, but it will take a bit since the internal structure is kind of complicated…
But instead of continuing to try and communicate, she slams the door in my face! I give the large rectangle of wood an offended look before huffing out a breath of flames, watching the insulting piece of dead tree quickly go up in flames and giving a nod of satisfaction. Then I turn away to look for someone polite. Really, what's wrong with that woman? Not even bothering to try and communicate before going back inside. Rude!
I huff to myself and decide to leave the neighborhood before bothering to talk to anybody else. After all, I have no way of knowing if the other people who live here are going to be just as rude as her, and I'd rather not have my good mood ruined by irritating people. Unfortunately, just as that thought goes through my mind a door to my right swings open and someone runs out, crashing into my leg and falling to the floor. I look down… and I'm pretty sure my eyes sparkle.
A little girl with long silver hair that - with a bit of polishing - can easily look like natural silver, bright red ruby-like eyes widened in surprise, and a single ivory horn poking up from the right side of her forehead at the point where her hairline starts. I reach down and grab the child under her armpits and ignore the small sound of distress she makes as I lift her up so I can look directly into her eyes. Those eyes are very similar to the ones I saw in the mirror before my Awakening, but I push that to the side for the moment, it's not important. What is important is-
"I'm keeping you."
"Huh?" She makes a confused noise this time, and tilts her head to the side, her body still limp in my grip. It does nothing but reaffirm that taking this small child with me and adding her to my Hoard is a good idea! I already have Mei, Himiko, Jiro, and Yui, so there's already a precedent for cute things being added! Hitoshi, regrettably, cannot be classified as 'cute', though he probably could be if someone managed to convince him to give it a shot…
Later, maybe. For now I put the girl over my shoulder and start to grow my wings-
Only to be brought to a stop by a brown haired man wearing a red and gold beak over his nose and mouth coming out of the same door my new possession did. "Thank you for catching my daughter; she's not really a fan of doing her homework."
I raise an eyebrow at the much shorter man, noting the difference in hair color, eye color, and no horn. Of course, it's entirely possible for the girl to have a different quirk, but I guess whether this guy is really her father or not doesn't matter. I point at her with the arm not currently holding her on my shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "This? This is mine now."
The man blinks uncomprehendingly for a moment. "…Excuse me?"
"You're excused!" I announce happily before continuing. "This girl belongs to me now, so you can go ahead and turn that fake furred jacket around and come to terms with that fact." I turn around and start walking away, everything that needs to be said having been said. It's only a handful of seconds later that I hear the girl scream "No!", then something warm and wet splatters across my back, accompanied by her whimpering.
I hold the girl by her shift and move her in front of me… and see that she's missing her left arm, blood pouring from her shoulder where the limb should be. I slowly turn around to the sight of the man using a handkerchief to wipe off some blood that got on his face, just under his eye, an air of annoyance about him. "Cursed brat… getting in the way and delaying our research." He glares at me. "And what kind of person says to let them kidnap someone, and expects to be left alone?" He reaches his hand out towards me, and since he's offering…
I growl and grab his wrist with my free hand, using the other to gently put the crying girl on the ground next to me, before putting my foot on his stomach and pushing. It's not a kick, because if I kicked the bastard my foot would have gone through him, no, it's a simple push that sends him flying back through the doorway.
And leaves his arm in my grip.
I dismissively toss it over my shoulder with a curl of my lips before crouching down next to the child and standing her up, pulling her out of the fetal position she was in while cradling her wound. A quick turn and I can bring her shoulder up to my mouth, and I give it several long, deep licks, making sure my saliva gets all over the wound.
This is something I noticed a little back before I went to sleep, but wasn't really aware of. When I gave Giran a calling card, as well as Mei and Himiko, they didn't bleed. Long went into more detail on the oddity, explaining that everything about dragons is immensely magical, no matter what part of them it is. The one pertinent to this situation is that our saliva has healing properties. It won't regrow anything, unfortunately, but get enough on a wound and it will heal up and leave unblemished skin behind.
I nod at her whimpers vanishing as fast as the blood flow, her look of wonder as she pokes at her shoulder forcing a small smile to my face. I reach out and ruffle her hair. "Don't worry, I'll fix you up as good as new. But first I need to kill a bastard."
She flinches and looks at me, clearly worried. "B-b-but he's st-s-strong!"
I chuckle as I get up and turn on my heel, the man's howls of pain having died even quicker than hers. "Oh, little one, I've seen those with strength," my tongue darts out to lick her blood from my lips, "but him? I find him lacking."