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Cay was bored.

It wasn't like he didn't have things to do. There was this fox he'd ensnared the last time he'd hung at that bar. The dragon had made sure to put a series of dormant triggers in that empty head of his, so making him docile and subservient would be a matter of seconds, probably. Which meant, what would be the fun in that?

He sighed as his clawed fingers tapped on the counter impatiently. Even though the idea didn't completely appeal to him, he'd walked to the bar in hopes of spotting somebody that would catch his interest. However, the dragon had been waiting for the past ten minutes and he hadn't seen anybody that looked remotely interesting. A couple of wolves had walked in, but had left as soon as they'd noticed there wasn't a waiter behind the counter.

This wasn't Cay's doing. He still hadn't lain a single tendril on the waiter's head, although the more he waited, the less appealing the idea was. What was with that stupid fox? He'd make him pay for making him wait so long. The dragon cleared his throat, hoping that'd make the fox come out.

He didn't, but somebody else appeared on the door that led to the staff room.

"Good afternoon, sir," a bored-looking stoat greeted him. He briefly regarded the dragon and then looked away, seemingly disinterested.

Cay looked back at him, not making a big effort to hide his disdain.

"I've been waiting here for fifteen minutes," he hissed.

"Have you?" the stoat asked, raising an eyebrow. "Sorry, I was busy doing stuff back there."

He remained there, apparently deciding that he'd already spoken enough. Cay noticed a tag on his uniform said 'Dilan'.

"Where's the other one? The fox?" the dragon asked.

"Oh, my boss? He's taking another day off, I suppose."

"He's here most of the days," Cay noted. "This is the first time I've seen you."

"Oh. Lucky you, then."

Cay didn't know whether the stoat was talking seriously or that was a joke. He waited patiently, claws tapping on the counter again. And here I was, thinking the day couldn't get any worse, he told himself. Apparently it can. The last thing I need right now is feeling sorry for that fox.

"So aren't you going to ask me if I want something to drink?" he elicited after a few silent seconds.

The stoat blinked heavily.

"Do you want something to drink?"

"No."

That had to prompt a response, Cay was certain. Instead, Dilan just looked at him as if he had said something slightly odd, but there was no reaction on his side.

"Oh, for fuck's sake," the dragon groaned, losing his patience. "I'm so going to enjoy breaking you, idiot."

One of the tendrils hanging from his head reached for the stoat's temple, quick as an arrow. However, much to the dragon's dismay, it never reached its destination. With an agility that Cay would have never thought anybody capable of having, the stoat tilted his head and grabbed the tendril before it touched him.

"Wow," Dilan murmured, a bit surprised now, but still holding the dragon's tendril between his fingers. "This is weird."

"Ugh! Let go, moron!" Cay complained, his head bent in an uncomfortable angle. "How dare you grab my tendril like this?"

Dilan regarded him coldly.

"Just now, you were saying you were going to break me," he reminded the dragon.

"W-what?" Cay asked. He didn't want to struggle too much, afraid that the stoat might pull from his tendril. The dragon had never encountered that kind of obstacle before, but he knew it was bound to be painful. "That was just a joke!"

"Was it, now?" Dilan asked. He took a closer look at the dragon's tendril. "Woooow, there's electricity coming from the tip of this thing. Is that what you were going to do to me? Were you going to zap me?"

"Agh!! I told you to let go, you good-for-nothing bonehead! I'll make you regret this. Just you see!"

He tried to zap Dilan with his other tendrils, but the stoat had already put a safe distance between them and it was in vain.

"So what if I make this tendril touch your head?" he asked, a sly grin spreading across his face. "What will it happen to you?"

"D-don't!! Don't do that!"

"You're right. I've got a much better idea."

The stoat reached for another tendril and Cay groaned as his head was pulled forward.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?! Don't touch my tendrils, idiot! I'll kill you, you hear me?! I'm going to make you beg for your life once I'm done with you, and then I'll..."

He caught a glimpse of the bartender, who was pulling the tips of his tendrils together.

"Wait, no!! Don't do that! Stop!!" he shouted, his heart racing with fear. "STOP!!"

But his voice was wasted on his pleads. Dilan didn't seem to care enough not to do what he had in mind and Cay could only watch as the tips of his tendril got closer, closer, closer...

He wasn't even sure he got to see the tendrils touching each other.

Suddenly, a huge shock went through his body and his muscles tensed. His pupils filled with sparks and the space around him seemed to disintegrate, becoming a senseless amalgam of geometric figures and absolute void. The images his brain was receiving doubled, tripled - then kept multiplying together with his mental processes, which threatened to burn the insides of his head - and then it felt like nothing had happened and each and every process was imploding - and then exploding again with the force of a thousand suns.

He was too overwhelmed by everything happening and un-happening to notice his body had collapsed to the counter, squirming in vain. Nothing made sense anymore. As his mind collapsed on itself, Cay forgot who he was, what had happened and what he'd been doing.

The dragon wasn't a dragon but a shape, floating in an endless sea of shapes that kept convulsing and shivering and fusing together. He tried to latch onto anything happening around, but things kept disappearing before he had time to process them, before he knew.

And then, when it became too much to bear, when things swirled around him like a chaotic, senseless hurricane, everything faded to white.

Dilan took a close look at the dragon lying mindless on the counter. He was still breathing, but a puddle of foamy drool had formed under his open mouth.

"Eeew," he murmured, shaking his head. "I keep telling Jerrett. He's not paying me enough to do this job."