Changing Image
Changing Image Written by Leo_Todrius Commissioned by Kaoruishere
Pitter pat, pitter pat... The steady reverberation of the train wheels moving along the track was almost hypnotic in a way that Jared was still surprised by. He had always thought that trains were too clunky and loud to be relaxing, but it certainly had been the cheapest and fasted way to travel out into the wilderness of the country side. Jared sat in his seat, his brand new camera resting in his lap, his eyes gazing out of the window toward the vast grassy plains, the mountains in the distant and the groves of trees... as well as his own reflection. He gazed at the image on the glass and reflected about himself.
Jared was a man in his mid twenties of average height, around 180 centimeters. He was lithe and agile but had an alright heft to his shoulders. His hair was a chestnut brown but shorn to a respectable length. One thing Jared had always liked about himself was his choice in clothing. He had elected to wear a black t-shirt with yellow chevrons running down the chest and back. It was bold and stark, a contrast to the fluid quality of his photography style. Jared's eyes slipped away from his reflection and he brushed a hand against his sleek black jeans and big belt before opening up his rucksack to make sure he had everything he was going to need for his outing.
The artist had been in photography for some time, after all it was how he had made his slightly more than modest living, but getting a new camera was a great excuse for a trip and Jared was going to make a day of it. He had his stand, extra batteries, light meters... Everything he'd need. The storage on the new camera was so big he could make an entire portfolio or book on a single outing. His feet tilted forward and back, the black flip flops on his feet flapping as he played with them. His thoughts were brought back to the present as the train started to slow, momentum waning away. The other passengers started to look confused, they were in the middle of nowhere... but Jared knew they were approaching his stop. He'd made a special deal with the train station to be dropped off and picked up at a specific point.
Jared rose to his feet, sliding his camera into his rucksack before he began walking forward. He moved out of the car, through the next and reached one where a conductor was opening up the door. The gravel outside of the train rushed by for a few more moments before the train finally came to a stop. Jared bowed his head before stepping into the doorway, gazing out. Grassy plains, bright trees, rocky mountains... It was an ideal pastoral landscape that stretched out for kilometers before him, and it was steeped in late summer weather; the perfect subject. Jared bowed his head to the conductor before he stepped out and down, taking several steps away from the train.
Outside of the thick walls of his car, he could hear every hissing engine an every rotor as the train started to pick up speed again, the squeaks and squeals giving way to a heavy hum as it picked up speed and continued on. The sounds of the train died away steadily, Jared walking the entire time... and as the last of the train noises disappeared, Jared found himself surrounded by the hum of bugs, the chirps of crickets and the distant song of birds. He smiled as the sun warmed grass brushed against his ankles, tickling his toes. He almost wanted to go barefoot, but that would have made for a very long day.
Jared stopped every so often, bringing out his camera, taking photos. His specialty was extreme close up, catching the impact of a drop of rain on an undisturbed water's surface or a hummingbird hovering above a flower, bringing out every bit of color in the picture to make it seem like another world... But he really did love all forms of photography, from landscapes to portraits... Honestly, as a gay man he did love getting to take photos of male models, but today was all about nature. Jared ventured ever closed towards the mountains, leaving the grassy plains behind and moving into a grove of trees.
The trees were old, the limbs moss covered, curving up and out with a fluid but clunky grace. The leaves rustled in the wind... and to Jared's amazement, the leaves held a wonderful bounty. The tree's canopy was thick with a crop of apples... Large, round, succulent... The skins were glossy, a deep and vibrant green almost with a slight bluish hue. Jared had never seen anything like it. Once more his camera came up and he took a picture of the tree, of several trees together before advancing. He took a picture of a single apple, of other apples reflecting off of the glossy skin of one apple... He caught the angles of the limb and he took pictures of every angle he could... It was the decent thing to do before he did what he truly wanted to do...
Jared reached up, his fingers caressing the surface of one of the plump apples before he pulled on it. With little pressure at all, the apple popped off of its stem and into his hand. Sadly another apple likewise popped off and fell to the ground, rolling along the grass, but many of the apples would meet similar fates in the coming days. Jared thought about brushing the apple off on his shirt, but it was rather organic having grown in the wild. He smiled, bringing it to his lips. As they parted, his teeth sank into the apple with a satisfying crunch. The cool juice flowed out into his mouth and down his face, dripping from his chin. Jared munched the hunk of apple and swallowed it down. Despite being so ripe, the apple was still a bit tart... But it was so succulent, Jared loved it.
Jared turned the apple and took another great bite, chewing for some time before swallowing. As much as he loved the apple, Jared was starting to get worried that he had sat wrong on the train or slept wrong. His limbs were starting to feel a bit stiff, a bit heavy. He hoped that walking would cure him of his ales. He pulled an empty zip lock bag out of his rucksack and deposited the turquoise apple inside for later consumption before he continued his trek into the wilderness.
While the walk wasn't helping Jared feel any better physically, it was quite beautiful. He got pictures of brilliant intricate flowers, spider webs fluttering on branches, birds hopping around the ground. Jared had to admit, he was pretty surprised how close he was getting to the wildlife... It was as if they didn't notice he was there. The one thing that surprised Jared was just how even the grass was... Usually grass didn't grow in the shade of trees r bushes or competed with local weeds, but... it was so lush, so thick. His feet were sinking into the soft sweet smelling grasses. Jared considered for a long moment. He was so compelled to go barefoot ... but then he'd just have to carry them. At last he decided to leave them on and continue.
Jared pushed through a few wayward branches, moving out into a clearing... and the most crystal blue lake he had ever seen. Jared was amazed by the sight, even more that the mountain above was reflecting perfectly on the crystal cool water. Jared brought his camera out and started snapping up countless pictures, gradually advancing towards the water's edge. He was getting fantastic pictures, but his condition was taking a turn for the worse. It was as if the tart apples had settled completely wrong... if they had been apples. Jared started to panic, wondering if they had been something else, something poisonous. As his stomach rumbled and his muscles throbbed, Jared thought the consolation of being in such a pretty place was at least poetic for a death place, if nothing else.
The young man grunted as he fell forward onto his knees, his arms and back aching more than anything ever had before. He fumbled with his computer, managing to beak its fall, setting it softly in the grass. He groaned, his entire body feeling as if it was on fire. He was so hot, so stiff. His clothes felt like they were choking him. His fingers tangled in his shirt as he pulled it off of his head, tossing it aside. Each movement was becoming more difficult than the last. Jared grunted again, reaching for his belt, but the buckle was so big and strong. He then tried to get his hands to his pants, but his fingers couldn't work the button or the zipper. Every effort seemed to be in vain. At last Jared was forced to give up on his pants, crying out as his muscles started to spasm.
His toes curled, his shoulder twitched, his entire body was contorting... and not just externally. Jared let out a muffled scream as his entire torso felt like it was wrenching around. His stomach was moving upwards, his lungs were spreading apart, and his heart was swelling larger... Jared's numb fingers grazed through the grass, his body reacting against his every wish. Jared gazed up at the sun in dismay, feeling like his death was surely there, coming any moment... but as the seconds ticked by it didn't seem to be the case. While the pain racking his system was intense, it certainly wasn't getting any worse. If anything, it seemed to be shifting from system to system. If anything, he felt stronger than before as the pain faded from his chest cavity...
Jared's lungs rose and fell, bringing more oxygen into his lungs than ever before. He murmured softly, trying to come to grips with what was going on. Perhaps the turquoise apples were poisonous... maybe they caused hallucinations, that had to be it... Jared shifted uncomfortably in the grass, his limbs swaying back and forth, but something was starting to feel different... Rater than sharp edged blades of grass grazing along soft skin, the sensation of the sharpness had faded away completely. In its place was the pressure of the blades of grass, the certain feeling that the edges and tips were brushing against his arm... But the risk was gone, almost as if his skin was tougher.
Despite his pain, Jared brought his arm up, trying to make it out in the sun. At first his skin seemed to look dried out, hardening and pale, the skin cracking out... but the cracks were perfectly shaped, almost like a series of chevron cracks in his skin. His epidermal layers thickened more, pushing out... and the cracks seemed to be something far more, like the perimeter of new scales that were forming. The pattern started mid-way down his forearm but they traveled down toward his wrists, creeping across the back of his hands, then his palms. Jared watched in absolute terror as his hand changed. It was worse than death, it was disfigurement... He wanted to just be dead, not hideous. He whimpered and closed his eyes, but that didn't stop the change in his hands.
The scales were shifting more, picking up a new hue. The pale flesh turned blue, then picked up more of a green tone. For a few moments it was the same turquoise as the apples, but the green tone won out. Jared's arm changed more and more until he was as bright of green as the grass beneath him. The scales slipped down his fingers, reaching the nails which were changing color as well. They had grown darker much faster than his hands, leaving green long behind before they turned brown and then black, stretching out. Jared hadn't wanted to watch, but his own morbid curiosity directed him too. He slowly opened his eyes, realizing the scales had spread all the way up to his elbows.
His fingernail had also sunk into his fingers, disappearing for a moment before the dark tip pushed through his finger tip, emerging as true curved claws. Jared whimpered sadly, flexing his fingers. He'd always admired how perfect his hands were. If he hadn't been a photographer he would have been a clay sculptor, now he couldn't imagine working with clay without the claws scoring it... but as bad as his hands were, Jared knew the rest of him had to be worse. He took a deep breath and used all of his strength to lift his leg up, realizing he was completely right... His poor foot was horribly deformed.
The green scales were spreading from his knee down, the muscles swelling a bit under the changing flesh. His flip flop dangled from a mutating foot. His small toe seemed smaller than ever before, barely more than a nub. For a moment he thought he had lost his big toe as well, but it was practically migrating along his foot. His toenails had changed just like the fingernails in his scaly hands, claws extending from the remaining toes. The black flip flop shuddered as the toes shifted more before it fell to the ground. Without that barrier, his feet started changing even faster... and a new wave of pain came crashing over Jared.
Jared had been brave in the face of injuries and illness before, but this was an entirely different matter. He screamed out, his voice echoing into the hills as his knees felt like they were shattering and exploding. The green scales moved up higher on his leg the bulge in the middle of his legs looking like it was wriggling around, shifting. His lower leg felt like t was breaking as well. His ankles shifted and twisted so his feet were at a strange angle... Then Jared's knee seemed to shift back, the slope of the leg becoming far more complex. At first Jared thought it was a nonsensical bastardiation of human anatomy, but as he felt the new zig zagging of his bones, he realized it was something he had photographed before... digitigrades legs... Like on a goat or other animal.
Even as his legs changed, it seemed that Jared's feet were not done. The bones cracked and shuddered, the skin grew taught. The toes pushed forward, the heel pressed back, the arch grew slightly and the soles widened out. As if by some magical ray, his feet were expanding centimeters every few seconds. He surged past some of the largest shoe sizes the shops back home sold and still his feet continued to grow. Jared was on the edge of passing out from the pain, but at the same time he was starting to feel that his changes weren't random. He was hideous and monsterish, but it was starting to look like his changes were following a pattern... His claws, his scales, his legs... They all seemed to blend. Just when Jared thought he had a change to consider what was going on, his feet felt once more like they were exploding. His large toe had migrated all the way to rest at his heel, tilting backwards and curving down. His remaining front toes were long and thick, the scales as thick as metal armor, the black claws glinting in the light. He had to be more than a size twenty in shoe... An obvious indicator that he would never wear shoes again, forced to go barefoot for the rest of his life, however long that was.
Jared still wished that he could be anywhere else, or frankly that he could be dead rather than changing. He absolutely didn't want it, but short of killing himself it seemed more likely that the change would run its course rather than killing him in the process. Jared grunted his clawed hands clawing through the dirt on either side of him... and then blessed relief came as the pain in his feet died away. Jared went limp on the grass, panting for breath. It had been excruciating, but his hands and feet weren't TOO much larger proportionately. His back didn't ache, his neck didn't tingle... It seemed that he wasn't going to get any larger at least. The last thing Jared wanted was to terrorize the town and swing subway cars around like nun chucks.
The scaled continued advancing across the photographer's body, subsuming the rest of his legs and arms, spilling into his torso. Jared lifted his head, tilting it just enough to see the scales start creeping up from the waistband of his pants. There was also a slight uncomfortable itch in his pants, the hair that had been there sloughing off... Jared groaned, closing his eyes, finding it too much to bear... at least into the new sensation came. Jared's back arched and he gasped softly, his eyes snapping open as he forced his head up. He looked at the groin of his pants as a new tent formed, his shaft looking stiffer and harder without him even feeling 'aroused', as if it was going to be hard from then on... But as strange as that felt, the bulge started to disappear again... Not because he was getting softer, but because his manhood was disappearing into a new slit.
The skin around his shaft had parted, revealing the reason his stomach and intestines had shifted upwards... Jared was the proud owner of a brand new pouch, a pouch that his shaft was sinking into. His testicles had pulled back into his body, shifting inside so they were protected. His sack dissipated, the flesh absorbed back in... and in moments Jared's entire groin was lat and smooth once more. Jared couldn't see into his pants, but the scales spreading across his stomach seemed to be a lighter, minty sort of green. He imagined that lighter coloration went all the way across his groin. Once more he hoisted up one of his legs, moving his foot. The soles of his feet were the same lighter, softer green... If he hadn't been a horrendous monster, he would have wanted to take a photo of how the light played off of his scales...
As the pain ebbed back again in his body, Jared went limp against the ground, impacting it with a sizably louder thump. He wasn't any taller and wasn't much more visibly muscled, but at the same time he seemed denser, stronger... Jared just couldn't understand how two bites of apple could have caused such a dramatic change. Then a thought occurred to Jared, a sudden and concerning thought. He reached up with his clawed, scaled fingers to feel his face. He sighed in relief, tit still felt normal... His face was still- And then Jared felt a bone shift under his touch, then another... and another.
Once more discomfort and anguish ripped through the changing photographer as his nose felt like it was breaking and contorting. As Jared's entire jaw erupted in pain he was forced to let it hang open, but he heard every creak and pop and snap as the joint bulged out and became more complex before the jaw itself extended. His tongue brushed some of his teeth and was nearly shredded as they grew sharper, pushing into fangs and growing wider as his mouth extended. Thankfully his tongue soon tingled and then throbbed as it grew thicker and tougher.
Jared's jaw pushed forward, the front gradually narrowing; the teeth reorienting to fit a V shaped mouth instead of a D shape. Not to be left behind, the entire front of Jared's face started aching as well, causing his eyes to clench shut for several moments. When Jared managed to open them again, he went cross eyed to watch as his face extended into his field of vision, becoming a muzzle. His nose sank down into the mass, his nostrils becoming the only remaining detail. The flesh shifted green and hardened into scales, shimmering in the sunlight. The tip of his muzzle grew blunt... but something else was happening, a strange pressure building up along Jared's spine.
It started like a series of pressure points being pressed wrong, equally along his spine... Then the pressure grew until it was painful. His green scales pushed back but were defeated as bony spurs pushed through between the scales, a line of spikes emerging from the hard shell. The spikes reached up all the way from his tailbone to his skull... and then started to push out along the curve of his skull as well, but the shifting of the scales had set something else in motion, something far more painful... so much so that Jared rolled onto his stomach in a desperate attempt to get some relief.
He let out another whelp of pain as the muscles in his shoulders shifted, wrapping around new bone and flesh. Writhing masses of anatomy began pushing out, stretching the scaled skin as it struggled to form. In some ways the growing bone and skin looked almost like a new set of arms, but as much as it moved, the membrane connecting it to Jared's back remained. The bones fanned out more, new ribs slipping into the sheet of stretched lime green skin before in a moment of near triumph, one wing suddenly unfurled. In another few moments the other stretched out as well, though the two were still growing... and something else wasn't far behind.
The number of odd and uncomfortable positions Jared had forced himself into in the name of escaping any amount of pain was reaching the point where he was losing track, but Jared knew that sticking his butt up into the air while laying on all fours was not dignified in the slightest. The reason had come from a sudden stabbing pain at the base of his spine just above his hips. Once more a mass was growing beneath his scaled and harden skin, struggling to get free. The scales were jus as resistant as before, at least at first. New bones extended from where his spike had left off, connecting one to the next with strong bones. Jared's pants grew taut and tight... a mass kept building up inside before a honed green tip managed to start tearing through the pants. Every centimeter that emerged from the hole in the denim was slightly wider than the centimeter before.
Without seeing it, Jared knew exactly what he was developing... A tail. It was the mark of a true beast, what he was becoming. The only silver lining to that particular cloud was that he couldn't think of many other qualities that could change. His transformation had to be nearing an end. The tail continued spilling out much faster than before, the scales and pants proving little obstacle. Before long it was over a meter in length, flexing and coiling... and then the pain stopped. The growth stopped as well. For the first time in what seemed like an eternity, Jared was left with no other sensation but his heart beat, his breathing, and the grass pressing against his tough scales. With no more stimulus of pain, no more adrenaline to shoot... Jared suddenly passed out, lying in a heap in the grass.
When Jared finally regained consciousness he felt that the air had grown cooler, the light had dimmed. He mumbled and moaned, managing to force himself up... realizing that he had done so with clawed hands. It hadn't been a nightmare, it had been reality. Jared's heart sank and he felt lost, forlorn and alone... which was exactly what he was going to be if he missed his train. Glancing back up at the sky, he saw the sun was a lot closer to the horizon, but he still had time to make it back to the pick up point if he hurried.
Jared stumbled quite a bit as he wobbled up to his bare feet. He had to get used to a whole new center of gravity. Everything below his waist was different, though he found after some trial and error that he could move his tail to counter balance how top heavy he had become. His clawed hands snatched up his camera and rucksack and the dragon started wandering back the way he ha come. He passed the turquoise apple tree and crossed the grasses, still finding it hard to orient his feet. It felt as if his toes wee going in every direction, though there was a primal goodness in feeling the ground against the soles of his feet. It felt so soft, so malleable beneath his talons... as if he was the master of all he walked on.
As much as Jared was quick to dismiss benefits of his new body, he had made it back to the train track in a portion of the time it took him to walk to the lake, though he hadn't been taking photographs either. Jared heaved a deep breath, clinging his rucksack to his chest. It wasn't until then that he realized he had left it in the wilderness, not that it would fit over his wings... but Jared felt quite underdressed without a shirt or shoes. He turned his head, hearing the train... though it was still out of eyesight... Quite a distance away. Jared took note of his enhanced senses and heaved a breath before he pulled out his camera and took a picture of himself with the sunset behind him. Maybe it would act as some sort of documentation.
Hastily stuffing his camera away, Jared waited as the train slowed and stopped, hissing and lurching gently. The door opened up and a different conductor peered out. Jared blushed, though the coloring didn't show through his scales. He hoisted out his ticket and displayed it and the conductor stepped out of the way. Hybrids weren't unheard of, though they were extremely rare. Jared stepped up into the train, glad that he hadn't grown any taller or he would have hit his head. He shivered a bit, surprised by how interesting the ribbed rubber floor in-between the train cars felt, then the rough multipurpose carpet. It was a world of new sensation. Jared made his way to his chair and sat down, still using his rucksack to hide his half nakedness, though he let it slide down lower when he realized that a dragon with a rucksack made no sense with the wings...
It wasn't until the train got moving again that Jared had gotten out of his own head to look around at the other passengers in the car. They were all looking at him... The elderly had the looks of shock and disbelief on their faces, a few women looked disgusted as if an animal had been let onto the train. A young boy had his jaw hanging open in awe of seeing a real dragon, and in the corner another male smelled of something more, almost like arousal. Jared's eyes went wide when he realized he had switched from perceptions of his eyes to those of his nose. He could smell better than ever before. Jared turned his head back forward, starting at the wall, just wanting to be home already...
The train ride seemed like yet another eternity but eventually Jared reclined his head and closed his eyes. Even without being able to see, he sensed that most of the car relaxed, content to let him be and go back about his distance, though the young boy was still on the edge of his seat and the older young man still seemed honed in. After forty minutes the train came to a stop in the main stop of the city and the passengers filed out, disappearing into the night... but for Jared, he was destined for the far side of town. Just by the time the train started to get going it was slowing again, stopping at a seldom used gothic train station near the artisan's quarter.
Jared moved out of the train, coming down onto the clean white cement. He could feel every grain of grit and rock in the cement but rather than feeling rough, it felt delightful, as if he was getting a foot massage. Jared walked out of the station and moved to cross the street, finding the asphalt completely different on his large bare feet. It was like clumps of flatter rock... Jared Wandered along, glad at least that his feet were easier to manage. Reaching the true artisans neighborhood, he passed through an old bamboo archway, past wrought iron vintage street lights and buildings with murals painted on them. He walked quickly, not wanting to be seen by his neighbors.
Jared got the door to his apartment open and moved in, dropping his bag on the couch before making it up to his bedroom. The first thing he wanted to rectify was his half nakedness. Bursting in, he threw his closet open and rifled through his favorite garments before he came to a dead stop. None of them would fit... No shirt, no shoes. Even his hats wouldn't really fit anymore. The only thing in his wardrobe that he could still wear were his pants, and they would still need to have a hole cut for his tail.
Jared backed up before slumping down on his bed, looking at his closet. His life had profoundly changed... and it was going to be hard to adjust, but with winter coming up he realized he would have to stay warm... Out of nowhere the idea popped into his head, scarves. Despite losing everything about himself that he had known, a smile crept across his face as he imagined a dragon with a scarf.
***
The door to Jared's apartment eased open, the heat from inside billowing out before Jared stepped out onto the stoop, his eyes wide with the innocent delight so many shared in the season's first snow. Gentle flakes had been falling for some time, accumulating on the cobble stone street and on the tops of the buildings. Jared had been busy framing his pictures but seeing the snow, he had to come outside. Realizing he left the door open, the green dragon pulled the door shut and reached up to pull the silver scarf tighter around his neck. He had worried a bit about becoming cold blooded, but he had learned as fall set in that he was still human enough to generate plenty of body heat. He just preferred the warm... at least when the cold wasn't as splendid as it was at that moment.
Jared moved off his stoop, pausing for a moment as his feet sank through a few centimeters of snow. He could actually feel the ice crystals compacting, the soft turning hard... though it seemed that his feet weren't all that phased by the snow. If anything, they seemed more insulated to the temperature change than his human feet had been. Jared glanced around before he decided to take a stroll. He moved along the street with a steady sway of his tail, his stride practiced and dignified.
"Hey Jared, nice night, isn't it?" Came the call of one of the neighbors.
"It is. How are the kids?" Jared called back.
"Fantastic! They love the winter months. Take care." The neighbor said as Jared passed. The green dragon got several head nods from his other neighbors, all of them smiling. Jared's initial fears coming home had been half well founded. Everyone had taken notice but not in a negative way. He'd become very well known in his neighborhood and had, over the months, adjusted to his new existence. It was different, but there was nothing he could do about it. There was also the fact that hybrids were becoming more and more common.
Jared walked; enjoying the weather, opening his long muzzle and extending his tongue to collect some of the snow flakes and taste them melt. It really was a pleasant evening. He reached the bamboo archway and stepped out into the street at large, glancing over to the pub that sat right next to their district. The windows seemed so warm and inviting, he'd never been before... But as he glanced through the window he saw a few more hybrids like himself and decided to give it a try.
As the dragon entered the pub, a bell hanging from the door jangled a bit, though no one was much disturbed from what was going on. While many pubs were dirty and dark, this establishment had warm hard wood floors that glimmered orange beneath the cream colored lights and a fireplace near the back. A highly polished bar sat before a collection of boundless varieties of drinks. Jared glanced around before making his way to one of the sturdier stools and sat down. A young bartender smiled brightly, finishing up wiping up the bar before he moved over.
"What can I get you?" he smiled. Jared considered.
"What's the house specialty?" Jared asked.
"Hot apple cider, soft or hard." The bartender said. Jared found that strangely fitting.
"It's really good. I always get one." Came a voice next to Jared as a young man sat down, his blond hair silky and soft, almost platinum in color. A green and black scarf was coiled around his neck, it seemed he was warming up as well... but Jared was distracted. The scent was incredibly familiar, and as the dragon thought about it, he remembered all the way back to his first night in his new form... the man on the train that had been interested in him.
"You got off at a different spot the last time we met." Jared commented. The man's eyes shot up in surprise before he grinned.
"You have a good nose." He said. It was Jared's turn to be surprised, but it seemed they would have a lot to discuss. Jared glanced back to the barkeeper.
"I'll take a soft apple cider, as hot as you can get it." Jared said. The bartender smiled, moving off to get the drink. Jared looked back to the stranger, "So you knew I would remember you because of your smell?" he asked.
"It's a trait many hybrids have, stronger sense memory... And I got off a stop early last time because I didn't want to overwhelm you with... how I was feeling." The man said softly.
"You're feeling it now..." Jared said, his eyes glancing down, confirming that the man was indeed turned on.
"You're more used to your senses now; I thought it would be safer." The man replied.
"Then it's only fair we know each other's names... I'm Jared." The dragon introduced himself.
"I'm David." The blond replied. The bartender returned and set their drinks down. Both men lifted their glasses up, sipping at the hot drink. Jared shivered a bit, feeling the warmth radiate out from his throat... and the shiver that went down his spine when he felt like he was falling in love. He gazed into David's eyes, knowing they would have a lot to talk about.