One-on-One Session
#7 of Fledgling Study Group
Knaster and Reylin enjoy some time together alone.
Reylin stared at Knaster, and he stared back at her. "They really just left me here, not helping to clean up this mess!" she pretended to grumble. The young drakka grinned and gestured across Knaster's semen-splattered chest and underside.
Still lying on his back, Knaster tilted his head. "To be fair, this mess is mostly your doing, not theirs."
"Me?" Reylin's grin widened. "You were the one who... produced all this."
Knaster gave her an innocent, wide-eyed look. "You made me do it! I was merely an accomplice to the crime."
"Hmmmhhh..." With a happy sigh, Reylin stood up and slid forward so that she could lie down right next to Knaster, with her tail still loosely entwined with his. There was barely enough space on the floor cushion, and her weight was pressing down on his unfurled right wing, but the contact was still very welcome.
Pressing her snout against his neck, Reylin made a happy rumbling noise from the back of her throat. "Rrr... Just you and me. Now that the other two are gone, that means we can do whatever we want without having to worry if it's weird or embarrassing. We can hug, we can kiss... I can even..." Moving her head lower, Reylin put her nose right at his underwing--the area right at the joint where his wing connected with his shoulder--and she sniffed at him. "I like the way you smell."
"Hahaha!" Knaster chuckled, but he nuzzled Reylin and gave her a lick on the side of her snout. "I never thought about it before, but I suppose I can say the same thing about you."
"Yess..." Reylin snuggled a bit closer. Knaster was lying on his back while she was lying on her front, with their sides touching. Most of Knaster's semen was still wetting his front only, but some of it was slowly dripping towards his sides--Reylin was therefore dangerously close to getting some of it onto her, not that she seemed to mind. Quite the opposite, in fact, because she used her paw to wipe some of it from his underbelly, getting her paw even dirtier than before. Again she sniffed at it. "That's a weird smell, like the smell of the ocean or a metal, but more concentrated. And now that Caden mentioned it, I am curious about what it tastes like."
Knaster's neck frill twitched, and he raised an eye ridge. "Seriously?" he asked disbelievingly. "Are you really?"
Reylin's gaze darted from her paw over to him. "You think I wouldn't dare?"
"I make no assumptions about what you are or are not capable of doing," Knaster said. "I'm just... surprised you would be that curious about... a bodily fluid."
"Why not? It's not like urine or... or something that was made as a waste product. This is the stuff that... " Reylin made a vague wave towards her own underbelly. "...that can make an egg, if the circumstances are wrong. Or right." She nodded towards him. "What does it taste like? Does it taste like an egg--like a bird egg, for cooking? It sort of looks like uncooked egg white."
Knaster shrugged. "How would I know? I've never tried."
Reylin squinted at him. "Really? Never ever? Because if I could produce this stuff on demand, I would at least be curious to see what it tasted like." With a slow, slightly hesitant movement, Reylin moved her paw towards her mouth, keeping eye contact with Knaster right until she darted out her tongue and licked her paw pads. "Hmm."
"Result?" Knaster asked.
"Hmm," Reylin repeated. She rubbed her paw across his abdomen and licked her paw again, swallowed, then made an uncertain face. "It's... it tastes pretty much how it smells. The taste is a weird mix of... very salty but also slightly sweet and bitter, all blended together with a slimy texture. It's not bad, but it's not good either. I guess it... it wasn't supposed to be eaten, so there would be no need for it to taste good?"
Knaster said nothing, but he raised an amused eye ridge again.
Reylin licked her paw a third time. "No, it's not a good taste. But I don't hate it. Maybe it's an acquired taste." With her tongue still touching her paw, she glanced at Knaster, then grinned and extended her paw towards him. "Here, you try it."
Knaster instinctively recoiled, but then he changed his mind and hesitantly leaned forward and licked Reylin's paw. He would never have done it himself, but if Reylin had, then he could do it too. The flavour was just as Reylin had described, and Knaster made a mildly disgusted face. "Uggh."
Reylin laughed when she saw his expression. "Haha. You don't like how you taste? It's not that bad. I've had plenty of meal which tasted worse."
Knaster responded by sticking his tongue out at her. He gestured across himself. "Fine, then you can clean this mess up by licking it up."
Reylin laughed even harder, and she shook her head. "Hahahaha! That would be too much." Stretching out her other forelimb, she snagged the bottle of juice drink and flicked off the cap with her claw in a smooth motion. Raising the bottle to her jaws, she took a long drag of the beverage before offering it to Knaster, who took a sip of his own, and they passed it back and forth until the bottle was empty. Reylin swallowed, then she put the bottle down. "But seriously speaking, how do we clean this up?"
"I'll just wipe it up." Folding in his left wing, Knaster moved the pennant flag which was tied around his wingtip.
Reylin made a soft horrified gasp, and she grabbed the pennant before it touched his chest. "Huh! Noo! You can't use that! That's a clan flag!"
Knaster was indifferent. "So? It's still just another cloth."
With a quick motion, Reylin untied the pennant from around Knaster's wingtip and snatched it away. "It's got the Taslin insignia! You can't use it like a washrag!"
"It won't stain permanently. It'll wash off afterwards."
"No!" Reylin used her other forepaw to gently tap Knaster on the top of his head in a disapproving manner. "It's not about staining. It's about the fact that the insignia on this flag represents the entire clan, with all its many members and its departments and all the history and significance. That's important. I'm the one who just joined Taslin--shouldn't you be teaching me about respecting the clan, not the other way around?"
Knaster laughed, but he obligingly nodded. "It's only a pennant! Fine, fine." He nodded towards the other side of his bedroom, where there was a doorway leading to a small attached bathroom. "I can just take a shower to wash off all this mess. It's too much to be wiped up anyway."
He moved to sit up, but Reylin pushed him right back down. "Wait, not yet. No point washing up if we're not done yet. Otherwise you're just going to get dirty again."
This possibility intrigued Knaster. "That's very true! How good of you to point that out. So... what else can we do?"
"Hmm. What do you want to do?" Reylin slid her paw down his front, until she was touching his underbelly again. Knaster's erection had softened, but it hadn't yet fully retracted into his genital slit. As Reylin casually grabbed it, even a light touch prompted that organ to start refilling with blood.
This time, though, Knaster didn't lie still. He pulled in his right wing, which Reylin was lying on, rolling her closer to him and making her giggle. "Hehe--ooh!" Her laughter was cut off by a surprised gasp as Knaster rolled onto his side and moved his own paw, sliding it towards _her_underside--he didn't reach far enough to touch her genital slit, but it was close. Reylin curled herself half over and used both her forepaws to clutch at Knaster's paw, though she tried to pull him closer instead of pushing away. Both young fledglings glanced up at each other "Oh wow! Are you going to...?"
"Can I?" Knaster asked.
"Yes, oh yes, please do," Reylin replied eagerly.
"Seems only fair since you did me." Knaster thought for a moment, then he gestured with his paws. "How do we... do this? If I sit up and sit below you just like you did me, all this mess is drip down my front and onto the floor."
Reylin partially extended her claws and scratched her head. "This is more complex and messy than I thought it would be. Maybe we should have just given you a quick wipe down before moving onto something else. Unless... or how about we try... Hmm."
Rolling out of his grasp and standing up, Reylin trotted over to the side of Knaster's bedroom and tugged the release straps on her flight harness, letting her gear slide off her body. With an impatient motion she pulled off the kerchief around her neck and her wingtip pennants, and then she untied the ribbons coiled around her tail, leaving it all in a messy pile by the side of the room. Knaster had raised his head to watch her, but he was about to get a far closer look as Reylin strolled back over--she hesitated once, then she leaned in close and kissed him again. "Mhhm. How should...? Um, um..."
A new, possessive desire ran through Knaster, and suddenly he wanted nothing more than to be even closer with Reylin. "Come here," he growled, and he reached out and pulled her over.
Reylin laughed, and then she stepped over him, carefully placing all four paws so she wasn't stepping on his wings. Standing over him, her underbelly was just a short distance away from his. "Are we? Are we going to...?" Reylin asked, nodding downwards and looking wide-eyed but eager.
"We could," Knaster replied. "First I want to get a closer look. Can you turn around?"
"Ok... uh... sure." Reylin moved, turning around so that she was facing the opposite way as Knaster, with her tail pointing in the direction of his head. This motion put her underbelly right up against his snout, and it gave Knaster the closest look he'd ever had.
Bending her head down, Reylin peered between her four legs to make eye contact with Knaster. Her inverted head position made her neck frill dangle as if it was fully raised, much to his amusement. Reylin looked nervous, but also eager. Like any dragon, neat lines of tessellating, hexagonal scales covered Reylin's body, and on her underside those scale plates grew smaller and finer. Knaster gently pulled on her legs to shift her position, and then he ran his paws up her thighs and her sides. Her scales felt smooth, dry, and warm to the touch.
Right between Reylin's hindlegs and just forward of her tail base, the flat of her underside gave way to one particular area that Knaster found his attention drawn to--her genital slit. The rows of tiny dark-grey scales there were creased as the underlying flesh puffed up in a slight mound, with a narrow line visible where there were no scales at all, exposing the greyish colour of the skin there, and even some pink from sensitive, membranous flesh. Knaster was obviously familiar with what his own genital slit appeared like, and there were some similarities, yet Reylin's slit was longer and lower down, closer towards her tail in comparison to his.
The bedroom lights provided some illumination, but the angle left Knaster in the shadow and Reylin's natural dark-grey colouration meant he had to get close to really examine her underside. He used a paw to adjust the position of her tail, shifting it aside--Reylin obligingly lifted her tail away, then she loosely coiled the end around his neck. "So what do you, uh, what do you think?" asked the young drakka, sounding nervous.
Knaster nodded. "That's a slit. I can confirm you have a genital slit, and that you do appear to be female."
Reylin laughed, and some of her nervousness seemed defused by his joking. "Hahaha. Oh, yes! What a relief to finally know that for sure," she muttered sarcastically. "How observant of you."
"Thank you, thank you." Using his paw, Knaster touched the inside of Reylin's leg, then her abdomen, then he went right for it and touched her slit. The scales of her underbelly were small and thin in their neat rows, but right at her slit Knaster could feel slick moisture wetting the scale plates there, and the area was distinctly warm especially right where the scales stopped and there was exposed skin and flesh. "Wet here," he commented.
"Sorry!" Reylin immediately replied. Still coiled around his neck, her tail twitched slightly. "That just... happens. Is that bad? That's not bad, right?"
"No, it's not bad. In fact I would say it is good?" Knaster replied.
"It was very distracting and exciting what I was doing to you earlier," Reylin said. "It got me... somewhat aroused."
Knaster chuckled from Reylin's phrasing. "Haha. Somewhat aroused?" he queried.
Reylin laughed too. There was something unspeakable intimate and pleasant about the two young dragons just being so close to each other, laughing together. "Hehehe. More than somewhat! Very aroused! Extremely so," Reylin muttered. She still had her head inverted, resting against Knaster's abdomen so she could watch between her legs. The female fledgling moved her hips, pushing slightly closer towards Knaster's head. "Can you... uh... please...?"
"Sure." Knaster could feel the warmth emanating from Reylin's slit, and as some of her arousal got on his paw, he curiously moved his paw to his nose and sniffed. It was a good smell--partially similar to the normal scent of her scales, but also with something muskier about it. Instinctively Knaster put his snout against Reylin's slit and sniffed to get that smell directly from its source, and then he stuck his tongue out and licked. The taste was salty and sharply acidic, with the faint taste of metal.
"Ooh!" Reylin let out a surprised gasp, and she shifted her weight between her paws, recoiling slightly from the feel of Knaster's tongue. "You licked me!"
Knaster nodded. "Yes. Was I... was I not supposed to? I thought you were asking me to?"
"I wasn't expecting that. I thought you were just going to touch," Reylin explained.
"Oh. So should I...?" Knaster started to ask, but Reylin responded by rocking her hips back, pressing closer to him again.
"Don't stop now. Keep going, please?" she prompted, and so he did. "Haha... yes... I like that. Mhhm," she murmured.
Knaster started licking Reylin's vulva, exploring that area of her body with his tongue and his paws. The exterior was vaguely the same as his own genital slit, but within her slit everything was different. Past the surface he could feel the wet warmth of muscular walls parting around his tongue as he tried to push in deep. Knaster stuck his tongue out as far as he could, pressing it into Reylin's slit but not managing to get to the end. He had to hold back a laugh. "Hah. Ma tongue is inside ou," he said, his words muffled.
Reylin was curious and wide-eyed, and her smile had faded slightly, replaced by a needy hunger as she watched Knaster. Now she laughed, grinning widely, and Knaster could even feel her slit clenching down on his tongue. "Haha..." It was an endearing yet atrociously arousing moment when that happened, because he couldn't help but imagine what that would feel like if it wasn't his tongue inside her but instead his penis. That warmth and that wet arousal and the way her muscles could just clench down--Knaster felt a deep desire to ask Reylin to turn around so they could mate properly, yet at the same time he still couldn't get enough of how she tasted and the way she felt against his tongue.
Knaster's erection twitched and firmed up slightly just from the thought of how it might feel if they mated--Reylin noticed this motion and she grabbed his erection with her forepaw to try and rub it. Yet her strokes were half-hearted and she clearly was very distracted, which Knaster found perfectly acceptable.
His current goal was obvious, if not exactly simple. Knaster wanted to give Reylin sexual pleasure just as how she had done to him, though how to best accomplish this objective was something he was actively discovering by continued exploration using his tongue and his paws. Reylin was already reasonably worked up from all they had been doing earlier, and her soft, pleasured moans helped teach him where she was most sensitive. Knaster just tried everything he could even think off--pushing his tongue as deep as he could, moving it from side to side, going in and out, even being more firm and rough with his motions and licking everywhere--to see what got Reylin to react positively.
Her hips shifted and her tail pulled on his neck, guiding his caresses to where she wanted. Right near the top of Reylin's slit, nestled among the folds, there was a small nub of flesh that make her squirm when he licked it. Knaster started sliding his tongue right against her clitoris, and Reylin moaned. "A bit higher? Right there... Just... just like that... Ahh... Please... Oh..."
It created a slurping, messy noise as Knaster continued--it was a silly enough sound that he might have laughed, were he not so very turned on and in the moment focused on pleasuring Reylin. More of that natural, lubricating wetness was dripping from her slit, getting all over his tongue and filling his mouth with the taste and smell of her arousal. Knaster paused for just one brief moment, enough to say, "Reylin, you're incredible." And then he was right back at it, licking and slurping at her underbelly, with his paws holding her legs apart and spreading the folds of her genital slit to provide him better access to the sensitive flesh within.
Reylin's gaze had gone distant, and now her eyelids slid shut as pleasure eclipsed her conscious awareness. She was panting repeatedly, drawing in breath just to exhale it out in soft, steady moans. Her hips were rocking back and forth, moving mostly in time with how Knaster was pleasuring her. "Ah. Ah, ah... oh... oh yes." she murmured. "Just keep doing that. Please, please, please... ahhh... Don't stop. Oh, please don't stop..."
Even as a mild ache started to build in his neck and tongue from the repeated movements, Knaster kept going. Reylin's tail was still coiled around his throat, and that grip was slightly tighter then before as her muscles started to tense up, but it wasn't enough to choke, and Knaster would just have kept going even if it had been strangling him. He wanted to say something--to tell Reylin just how much he was attracted to her, and just how much she meant to him--yet his mouth was fully occupied at the moment, and the only way he could share his adoration was by showing it in the enthusiasm of his actions.
"Oh. Woah..." All of a sudden, a shiver ran over Reylin's body, and her snout scrunched up briefly. "I... Knaster... I'm... ahh... that's... ahkkkk..." Her eyes were still tightly shut, but a choked, overwhelmed moan found its way out her throat, and then her whole body seem to go stiff with every muscle locking up. With no other warning that than, Reylin shuddered through a climax.
Her hips jerked, and a splatter of her liquid arousal caught Knaster across his muzzle. Yet he kept going, trying to keep licking her, but Reylin's tail coiled tight around his neck and pulled him close, mushing his snout against his slit until he couldn't even lick her anymore, and the only motion was her grinding her hips against his snout. Knaster found it deeply arousing about watching Reylin experience such pleasure, unsurprising as that was. Yet it also made him feel oddly proud and happy to know that he had helped her reach the summit of orgasm. What fun they were having with each other, in a way he'd never done with anyone else before.
Reylin's wings had dropped of her back and were just loosely covering them both, putting Knaster even further into the shadow. Even without seeing much, he was still very able to hear and feel as Reylin rode through her climax, humping against his snout and moaning softly. More of her natural lubrication got on his muzzle, making him briefly blink his eyes closed as the liquid splattered over him. The scent--her scent--was all in his nostrils, filling him up with every breath.
Eventually the young drakka was left slumped loosely over his body, panting tiredly as she caught her breath. Knaster could feel a shared mixture of their fluids (mostly his, but with some of hers) squished between their bodies, making a fantastic mess. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, licking his lips and letting his tongue finally rest--though not for very long. Curiosity, instinct, and desire made him dart his tongue out and lick Reylin's slit again, cleaning up all the wet arousal that she had produced. This turned out to be a counterproductive goal because licking her just seemed to cause more of that fluid to be produced, but Knaster didn't complain. Without even saying anything he starting doing it again, using the exact same motions which he knew worked.
"Heh... oh!" Reylin let a soft whimper, but her tail pulled his head closer, and her hips pushed back against him. Before, her moans had been quiet and controlled, rather like she was just breathing heavier--now though, the noises she made sounded more desperate and overwhelmed, as if she could stop herself as pleasure flooded her body again. "Ah! Ah...! Knaster! I already... ugggh, that feels good..."
This time though, Reylin didn't just let him do. Though Knaster couldn't see what she was doing, he felt her paws wrap around his erection and start quickly stroking him. It became a silly little competition to see who could get the other to finish first, which there was no real way to lose.
It couldn't have taken more than a minute, but Reylin let out another long moan and her slit started clenching down again, squeezing on his tongue as she rode out another climax. Feeling her shudder against him pushed Knaster right into his own release, and he made a muffled groan as pleasure spiked through his underbelly again, building up and shooting out of him in a way he couldn't control. Muscles deep in his groin started tensing, releasing yet more of his semen to add to the mess already between their bodies.
It seemed to go on and on, but finally the two fledglings were left loosely entwined, with Reylin lying atop of Knaster. "That was... that was a new experience," Knaster muttered.
"Ngghrahhg..." Reylin made an incoherent moan, and she shakily pushed herself to a stand, getting off Knaster only to turn around and then slump down right beside him, lying on his open wing. Her front and her chest especially were now as messy as his, wet by his fluids after what they'd just done with each other. Blinking her eyes, she peered at Knaster. "That was... this is a mess. We're a mess. But _damn_that was fun."
"It was very fun," Knaster agreed. His eyes met with Reylin's, then he moved his snout forward to kiss her.
Lying on the ground, sprawled out over a pair of floor cushions, the two young dragons just spent the next few minutes lazily hugging and kissing each other, touching and enjoying the warn afterglow after an intense moment of bonding. However, it didn't take long for cosy to become dirty, as Knaster felt increasingly cold, sticky, discharged bodily fluid start to drip down his sides and onto his wings. Some of it was probably already on the cushions.
"We... should go clean up," Knaster decided.
"Rrrr..." Reylin had been making a soft, rumbly purring noise from the back of her throat as she embraced against him, but now she blinked her eyes open, and her dreamy gaze snapped back to sharp alertness. "That's probably a good idea. Doing sex things sure creates a big mess, doesn't it?"
Knaster laughed. "Hah. I think it's worth it?"
"Definitely worth it."
Both fledglings didn't move. After half a minute more Knaster said, "So... are we going to clean up?"
Reylin sighed, but didn't move. "Soon." Moving her head to tilt it at the right angle, Reylin let her snout press against Knaster's, touching her mouth against his in a lazy, slow kiss. "Mhhm. This is the best day of my life." A shiver ran down Reylin's back, which Knaster felt, given how close they were. It made a shudder run down his own back.
"You officially got into a clan today--and you earned it. This is a big moment, and you should be so proud of yourself," Knaster told her.
"I am proud. Getting a Taslin membership and scholarship is huge. I've dreamed about something like this for years. A scholarship means connections, community support, job opportunities, and access to all of Taslin clan's resources and advantages. _That_should have been the most valuable, important thing that happened to me today." Reylin stared at him, watching him with her dark eyes. She made a casual gesture with her paw, towards the both of them lying together. "And yet I... I think I value this just as much. Maybe more? I didn't think I would."
"What do you mean?" Knaster prompted.
"Ugggh. You know what I mean! It's so nice to be lying here with you..." Reylin rested her head against Knaster's shoulder. "I know some people, some classmates who are really obsessed with this relationship stuff. They go on dates with all sorts of people and they have a plan to... to get into a serious relationship by a certain age, and... and then by another age they want to get a mate bond pairing and even start a family and all that mature adult stuff. I was never like that. I just studied as hard as I could, and I never wanted to waste time on a relationship. I was never lonely, or at least I don't think I was? I had friends and classmates, I had my sister, I had the other fledglings in the shelter, and I don't think I was lonely. I still have friends, still have my sister, still have all that. Except now I feel like I can't go back to being happy if I didn't have you." Nuzzling against his neck, Reylin nibbled on his scales before she continued speaking. "Why do I feel this... this mad need for you all of a sudden?"
Knaster chuckled, and he moved his wing to pull Reylin closer against him in a hug. "Because we're social creatures? And there's also this thing called romance and love."
Another soft, satisfied rumble rolled out from Reylin's throat. "Hmrrr... is that what we just did? Romance? Not... lust?"
"There's significant overlap," Knaster replied. "I hope you enjoyed it? I certainly did."
"Oh, yes I enjoyed it. We must do this more often." Reylin's neck frill twitched, and she hesitated for a moment before asking her next question. "Can I claim those head pets I was saving up from earlier?"
Knaster laughed and then he used his paw to start petting Reylin's head, stroking her neck frill and gently scratching her scales. "The supply of head pats is limited only by demand."
"Yes..." Reylin sighed happily, and she leaned into his touch and closed her eyes. Again the two fledglings just lay together, pressed right up against each other and enjoying the proximity. Eventually rationality called, and Reylin blinked her eyes open. "I guess we should go clean up."
"We'll have to handle this mess eventually," Knaster agreed.
"Hmm." Reylin flipped open her wings and stretched, rubbing her body right against his, then she pushed up to her feet. "Oh, it is... it is dripping. Shower?"
"Shower," Knaster agreed. Still lying on his back, a puddle of sticky fluids was coating his chest, so instead of rolling onto his feet he just slid on the floor, shimmying his wings and his hindpaws until he was right up against the door leading the his bedroom's small attached washroom.
Reylin grinned and she followed after him, with wings curled around and held below her underside to catch any dirty droplets.
It really was nice to have membership in a big clan like Taslin, Reylin reflected. The washroom attached to Knaster's bedroom was much smaller than the bedroom itself, yet in terms of floor space it roughly equalled how much space Reylin got back at the sheltered home for the clanless. Reylin didn't even get a bedroom--the clanless shelter just had dormitories, with at least ten beds squeezed into a large room shared by various hatchlings and fledglings.
In comparison, the Taslin communal residential halls had individual rooms for each apartment, even for student accommodation, and Reylin couldn't wait to move in. Admittedly the residential hall bedrooms weren't even as big as Knaster's bedroom, but then Knaster was the son of two Taslin wingleaders--rank brought privilege, and privilege in a flying city meant a little more living space. It meant a comfortable bedroom that even had an attached washroom with enough size that Reylin could flip open a wing and hold it fully extended without hitting the walls.
Reylin peered at the mirror, frowning slightly at the dark grey-scaled young dragon who was staring right back out at her. This bathroom had a huge mirror covering one wall, big enough that she could see her whole body all at once--was that a luxury? It sure seemed like it was. "When I'm older, my life goal is to have a big house with a big bathroom that even has a mirror all across one wall," Reylin murmured.
In the mirror, Reylin could also see movement behind her. The bathroom was split right down the middle with a glass partition. The other half was a shower, and the water was running as a young drake washed himself--Knaster had grey scales, though his were a paler grey closer to white, whereas Reylin's scales were dark and ashen. Knaster was using the shower head to spray water along his underside, rinsing off the mess they had made of each other. He glanced up when he heard Reylin speak, with his ears perking up. "What did you say?" he asked, through the sound of spraying water.
Reylin shook her head. "Nothing important. Just thinking about the future." She stared at Knaster through the mirror, admiring him for a moment. In many ways, Knaster was the person she admired and aspired to be--he was smart, kind, hardworking, and he had a future in front of him. Yet she didn't just respect him as a role model. Deep down it felt like there was a tugging inside her, some sort of physical or psychological pull that made her want to be close to him--in an emotional sense, but also in a literal, physical desire to be close. Thinking about it, Reylin changed her mind and decided that her life goal had to be about more than just having a home to call her own, but also about having someone to share it with.
Knaster noticed Reylin staring at him through the mirror, and he stared right back at her. Their gazes held for a few seconds, then they both grinned and glanced away. Knaster used a washcloth to wipe his chest, continuing to scrub himself off. Sitting back on her haunches, Reylin noted the mess of bodily fluid dirtying her own front. Some of that sticky liquid was hers, but some of it was also Knaster's. That made her feel... sticky. Just a few years ago she would never have imagined doing something like this, but now she was a fledgling. They were both fledglings, exploring and discovering what it even meant to really grow up. And it had been great fun.
All of a sudden, Knaster let out a gasp and he pushed the shower handle to cut off the flow of water. "Oh! Did you hear that?"
Reylin glanced over her shoulder at him. "What? Hear what?"
The two fledglings were completely still and silent for a few seconds, and then Reylin heard it too--the distant, muffled clunk of the apartment's front door being opened. "My parents are home!" Knaster said.
Reylin nervously shifted her weight between her paws as she ran through the ramifications of this fact. At various times over the past academic semester she had come to Knaster's house for a study session, and she had met Knaster's parents before. They were important wingleaders who held leadership positions in one of Taslin clan's many departments, but they also just seemed like normal, kind, friendly people who were welcoming and gracious to the three other fledglings when they came to join Knaster in their study session. Of course, Reylin wasn't sure if that graciousness would still apply given how late at night it was, as well as the fact that she and Knaster most certainly had not been studying.
The bathroom door wasn't closed, and Reylin glanced out through the doorway. Her flight harness was lying by the side of the room. "Should I... go?"
Knaster hesitated once, then shook his head. "You're still all dirty. Stay."
"But your parents...?" Reylin asked.
"My parents don't have to know you're here, and they most certainly don't have to know what we were just doing." Knaster hurriedly shook himself all over from nose to tail, partially drying his scales by sending water flying all over the bathroom in droplets. Reylin grinned, and then she had to hold back a full giggle as Knaster scampered out of the bathroom and quickly clicked the locking latch of his bedroom door.
Knaster's scales weren't very dry and water droplets continued to slide off his body and onto the floor, but he and Reylin glanced at each other and remained quiet and motionless. From outside the bedroom there was the faint murmur of conversation as Knaster parents strolled down the corridor, chatting with each other. It wasn't possible to quite catch what they were saying, right until they passed right in front of the bedroom door.
There was some more discussion outside, and then the sound of voices retreated until Reylin heard the sound of another bedroom door being shut. "Your parents just... let you close and lock your door?" she quietly, curiously asked.
Knaster nodded. "Yes? They lock their room door when they don't want me coming in, and I lock my door when I don't want them coming in. My father used to like barging in, but my mother respects a closed door and I think she persuaded him too."
"Oh. You mean... you mean like when you're..." Reylin made a stroking gesture towards her underbelly, which made Knaster chuckle softly.
"Ha, no! Or yes, but not only for that. Sometimes I just don't want to be disturbed. Such as when I'm sleeping or taking a nap, or concentrating on schoolwork, or when I'm showering, or whatever." Knaster shrugged. "This room is my space."
Reylin nodded quickly, but the concept intrigued her. "Huh. Wow. I wish I could do that! I really_can't wait to move into the Taslin residential hall now. The clanless shelter only has dormitory rooms. I like the idea of... of having a _room."
Knaster went back to the bathroom, and he playfully bumped his snout against Reylin's as he passed by her. Stepping back into the shower he turned the water back on. "When are you doing that, exactly?"
Reylin sat back on her haunches and leaned sideways against the bathroom wall, watching as Knaster starting rubbing soap into his scales. "Uh, I've got an appointment with the hall office to move in next week."
"That's nice." Knaster closed his eyes as he raised his forepaws and rubbed soap over his face. "Let me know when you're moving in. I'll help you carry your things."
"Oh, that's not needed. I don't own much. It's not like I have a lot of things to bring over from the shelter," Reylin admitted.
"I can still come along--to keep you company and take a look around the place, if you want me there?" Knaster suggested, to which Reylin nodded.
"That would be nice..." For a while Reylin turned her head to stare at herself in the mirror, then she stared at Knaster instead--watching as the water spilt off his body, cascading from head to neck to wings to back to sides, washing away soapy suds to leave behind cleaned scales. "Do you mind if I...?" she asked, then she stepped forward and slid open the glass door.
Knaster had been in the midst of rinsing off his wings, but he chuckled as Reylin squeezed into the shower behind him. The bathroom was big enough that this wasn't too tight a fit, with adequate space for them to both stand inside the shower even with a wing open. "Heh. Impatient to get clean?" he asked.
"Not that." Reylin shook her head, then she reared up on her hindlegs to hug Knaster from behind. She put her forepaws around his waist and wrapped her wings around his body, pressing her chin against his shoulder and her cheek against his neck. It felt so good to just hug him, feeling the warm, reassuring solidity of his body against hers. A soft, happy rumbling sigh found its way out her throat. "Hmmrrr..."
Knaster laughed again--a soft, carefree, joyous, easy sound that made Reylin shiver and smile. The young drake leaned back against her, and he curled his neck to bump his snout against hers. "You're getting my back and wings all dirty again," he murmured, and then he raised the shower head to spray water over his shoulder and right at her.
Reylin blinked her eyes closed, but she hugged Knaster even tighter. A deep, primal part of her just wanted to hold Knaster close and never let go. "Getting your back dirty? How about I get your front dirty again too?" she murmured, saying things without even thinking about them. Her paws were around Knaster's waist and she slid them lower, moving her touch towards his underbelly--though she did stop before actually touching his genital slit, and Reylin opened her eyes as some sense of propriety returned to her. "Uh, uh, hmmm. If you want. I'm just... I'm just thinking that we never properly mated, and I... I sort of want to do that?"
Knaster laughed again, and he gently licked the side of Reylin's snout. "Already?" There was a glint in his eyes--a curious, hungry look that Reylin recognized because she had seen it in the mirror, in her own gaze--they both wanted each other, yet still Knaster hesitated. "I think... we've done enough for tonight. We can save some fun for another day. Plus, with my parents at home I don't want to do anything too noisy. They don't even know you're here."
"We can do it quietly!" Reylin insisted, but then she shrugged and nodded her head. "Ok, ok. I understand. We're not in a rush. Some other day, then." She and Knaster kissed in a lazy, casual manner, then she opened her wings and forelimbs and let go off him.
Knaster continued rinsing and washing himself off, and then he used the shower head to spray water on her front too. Reylin grinned and obligingly raised her chin. "You do have to... to do the thing, though..."
"Certainly." Knaster grinned. He put the shower head into its holder on the wall, and then he held Reylin's head with one paw under the chin, using the other paw to pet and gently scratch the top of her head.
Huddled up in a towel, Reylin stepped out of the bathroom. The balcony doors of Knaster's bedroom were still open even though the curtains were drawn, and the cool air made the young drakka shiver and clutch the towel tighter around herself.
Reylin was a nocturnal dragon--roughly one in five of all dragons in the City of Wings were of the nocturnal subspecies, which came with traits such as a darker scale colouration compared to diurnals, as well as light-sensitive eyes that were highly capable at night but easily overwhelmed during the day. But another aspect of being a nocturnal was that their wingbeats were much quieter in flight, though this came with the trade-off of them absorbing water easily and being much slower to dry.
So now Reylin's scales were all still damp from her shower, whereas Knaster had dried off easily and seemed unaffected by the cool air as he strolled out from the bathroom. He was carrying another towel in his jaws, which he used to gently wipe Reylin's neck and head before placing it around her shoulders on top of her first towel. "So... now what?" he wondered.
"I guess I'll just..." Reylin padded over to her flight harness and nudged it with a paw. "Time for me to go? I'll fly home."
"Alright." Knaster walked over to the balcony attached to his bedroom and pulled open the curtains. Knaster and his parents lived near the upper level of a tall apartment tower, yet despite this height, the cityscape outside was surprisingly hard to see. Fog obscured the outside world, and the buildings all around were barely visible--light from other apartments in the surrounding residential towers could barely even cut through the thick layers of cloud. Only the bare outline of buildings was visible, marked out by bright light strips and beacons that were used to allow navigation at night, even while there was low visibility.
It wasn't truly fog that had engulfed all the buildings--it was actually just thick clouds through which the City of Wings was flying, but the effect was the same. Pulling her flight harness behind her with her tail, Reylin trotted forward to sit beside Knaster, and both the fledglings stared out into the soupy, murky darkness. "Cloudy tonight," Reylin murmured. "But I guess no icing or lightning, or the storm shields would be raised."
Knaster glanced at her with a look of mild concern. "Is it safe for you to fly in this weather? There's barely any visibility at all. I can hardly even see the nav lights of the adjacent apartment tower."
"Clouds won't stop me," Reylin muttered. She took a deep breath, inhaling the cool, wet night air that smelled of rain and distant lightning. "I'll make it home just fine."
Knaster was quiet for a moment, then he nodded back towards his room. "Do you want to just... stay here for the night?"
Reylin's neck frill perked up, but she hesitated. Much as she was sure that she could make it back to the clanless shelter, she didn't really want to. It was cold and wet outside, with clouds everywhere that were drizzling tiny droplets of water onto every exposed surface--she would be thoroughly drenched if she flew home, whereas Knaster's bedroom was warm, welcoming, and best of all it also had Knaster. Yet Reylin still hesitated, because such an action was rare for her. "Your parents won't mind?"
Knaster grinned. "We could just... not tell them. They keep talking about how I should be independent now that I'm a fledgling, so I'm making the executive decision to ask if you just want to sleepover for the night. You can leave early in the morning."
"Now that sounds like an intriguing idea..." Reylin said.
Knaster looked thoughtful. "Don't fly in these conditions, especially not alone. There's no visibility at all, and I can't stand the thought of you crashing. At the very least you would be drenched and cold flying through these clouds. Just stay here overnight. You don't snore so loud that my parents would hear you through the walls, do you?"
Reylin laughed, and she shook her head. "Hehe. No, I don't. Back at the clanless shelter we have a special dormitory room just for all the fledglings who snore, so they don't keep everyone else awake." A brief frown crossed her face as she thought through all the implications. "They might have some questions if I don't return back to the shelter by curfew, but then again Glecion will cover for me. She knows I'm here."
Reylin turned away from the balcony and glanced around Knaster's bedroom. Over the course of the last academic semester she had come to this place many times, enough that the room was familiar and comfortable. This was a place she could relax in and get into the flow of studying and learning, yet she had never slept here. "Yes, I'd like to stay over here tonight, if you don't mind," she decided.
"Be my guest." Knaster pulled the curtains shut, and then he gestured around. "You can sleep on my bed, and I'll sleep on the floor cushions?"
Reylin let out a soft, genuinely-amused bark of laughter. "Bahaha. Or we could both sleep on your bed? That's the main reason why I want to sleep over here, honestly."
Knaster grinned and nodded. "I am entirely alright with that."
Scampering forward, Reylin let the bath towels slip off her body and she hopped onto Knaster's bed. She hugged a pillow against her chest, then grabbed the thick quilt blanket and wrapped it around herself. The bed was large in size, perhaps almost double the size of Reylin's own bed back at home. "You have a nice big bed. Clearly this is the pinnacle of clan resources and luxury."
Looking slightly embarrassed, Knaster shook his head. "Not like that. This used to be my parents' bed, but then my mother started getting some backaches so they got a new bed that is somehow better for sleeping support. And so they gave their old bed to me, because my own bed at that time was the same one I'd used since I was just a hatchling, which made it worn out from how much I used to jump up and down on it." Knaster hopped up onto the bed, squeezing right beside Reylin. He used a wing to slap down on the mattress. "So no, I didn't request a big bed because it's some luxury I need. This is just a hand-me-down."
Lying underneath the blanket, Reylin rolled onto her back and sprawled out across the bed. She turned her head to give Knaster a dopey grin. "Still totally a luxury... Even if you got this bed for free, you have the space to use it, which is a luxury. Have you ever realized how big your room is? Caden's the same--she's got a big bedroom, and you two both have way bigger rooms than average. I'm not even talking about compared to the clanless shelter--compared to other fledglings' whose houses I've been in, your house and your bedrooms are larger than average."
Again Knaster looked slightly embarrassed. "What can I say? My parents are wingleaders, and they could afford to buy this apartment even before I'd hatched."
Reylin giggled. "Hehe. You're a fancy upper-class drake in a big powerful clan, and I'm just a poor, underclass, clanless drakka who you've allowed to rest in your room and invited into your bed out of pity..."
Knaster snorted, but he was grinning. "That's not true and you know it. For a start, you aren't clanless anymore--we're in the same clan. And you've also got a first-class scholarship from the clan, so if anything you're higher class than me."
"Hmm. You know, when I was younger I even considered that sort of thing," Reylin admitted. "It's not the recommended way, but getting a bonded mate pairing is a way to get into many clans, and so some clanless dragons do that. I used to think about that option, but I decided that studying hard was probably easier than figuring out how to seduce someone."
Knaster gave her an amused look. "Taking every possible optional subject in school is the easy option for you?"
Reylin nodded. "Yes! It's easy to study. Much harder to make friends, and romance seemed like a confusing, impossible challenge. Honestly, I'm not fully sure how I managed to persuade you to date me..."
"By being yourself, and by being the excellent person you are," Knaster replied, and he bumped his snout against hers. "How did we even get onto this topic?"
"We were discussing beds, and how your bed is nice and big," Reylin decided, then she shifted closer and hugged Knaster. "This last time I ever shared someone's bed was when years ago when I was a hatchling and I would squeeze in with Glecion because I couldn't sleep. You're cosier to hug then her. Yesss..."
Knaster laughed. "Ha. Ready to sleep? Shall I get the light?"
"Yes please," Reylin murmured. "Good night..."
Knaster rolled onto his side and reached out to jab at a light switch on wall above the bedside table, and then all the lights went out. In the darkness, Reylin hugged him from behind, enjoying the reassuring, comfortable sensation of another warm body against hers. The night was cool, but underneath the blanket it was cosy and calm. Reylin had expected to take some time to fall asleep, but her thoughts grew quickly incoherent and before she even realized it she had dozed off.
TO BE CONCLUDED
Final chapter coming up in two, or maybe three days.