{"sf1_id":160930,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Dragon in the Dishwater, Ch 3","author":"comidacomida","words":4801,"posted_at":"2010-07-12T15:44:00.000Z","tags":["Angst","Bad Language","Character Development","Dragon","Highschool","Human","Plot Development","Psychological","Teenager","Trouble","broken home","deep storyline","sociological"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/160930-dragon-in-the-dishwater-ch-3","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/160930","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=160930\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"Dragon in the Dishwater  \nChapter 3  \nCopyright 2007 comidacomida  \n  \n\"Eric, honey?\" he heard his mother's voice call through the blackness.  \nSomewhere, far off, a pounding pain throbbed through the bleary haze and Eric  \nwished strongly that he hadn't begun to regain his senses. He groaned.  \n\"Eric... can you hear me?\" his mother called again. It wasn't the first  \ntime that her voice sounded unpleasant to him but, with the last vestiges of  \ncomforting unconsciousness fading, it was certainly the most painful.\n\n\"Ow.\" he mumbled, his own voice causing the pain in his skull to ache all  \nthe more.\n\n\"You took a pretty nasty bump on the head, Eric.\" Dr. Marlow's voice spoke  \nup, and Eric tensed.\n\n\"I'm fine.\" he gritted, blinking several times before his vision began to  \nfocus on two bleary shapes.\n\n\"Dr. Marlow said that he was getting ready to leave when he heard a thump  \nfrom upstairs.\" explained his mother, resting a hand on his arm, \"He went up to  \ncheck on you and he found you on the floor.\"\n\n\"Well, I guess he does help people, doesn't he?\" Eric attested  \nsarcastically.\n\n\"I'll see you again on Tuesday.\" the doctor mentioned to Eric's mother,  \nresting a hand on her shoulder before he left Eric's blurred sight.\n\n\"Thank you again, Doctor Marlow... thank you... very much.\" Eric's mother  \ncalled after the doctor before turning back to look at her son, \"Eric... Doctor  \nMarlow carried you down here and laid you out on the couch. He called me at  \nwork and stayed here until I could get back.\" \"He'll just put it on your  \nbill... psychiatrists are some damn expensive  \nbabysitters.\" Eric grumbled, slowly moving to sit up. He groaned, clutching his  \nhead as he sank back down to the cushions of the sofa.\n\n\"He cancelled two appointments to stay here and make sure you were  \nalright, Eric... I think you should give him a little more respect than that.\"\n\n\"Remind me to write him a thank you letter.\" the young man replied flatly.\n\nEric's mother just sighed, standing up as he watched her take off her  \ncoat. If she were back then it really was late, and Eric had lost the whole  \nafternoon to the insanity she brought into the house. Gritting his teeth, he  \nslowly sat up again, and winced at the pain in his head while planting his feet  \nfirmly on the floor. The young man remained there for several minutes as he let  \nhis spinning head slow down.\n\n\"Ground Beef Helper?\" his mother inquired from the kitchen.\n\n\"Yea... whatever.\" Eric replied, slowly moving to stand. It only took a  \nmoment before he sat back down on the couch cushions, blinking several times  \nbefore his vision stopped spinning. The blurriness in his gaze cleared after a  \nfew minutes and he tried again, this time with much greater effect. The young  \nman stood once more, balancing on his feet as he let his head readjust to the  \nnew position, and he made his way slowly into the kitchen to rummage around one  \nof the cabinets for something to help with the headache. His search continued  \nas a frown spread its way across his face. \"The pain killer is in the  \nmedicine cabinet in the bathroom.\" his mother  \nvolunteered, not even looking up from the pan that was slowly browning the meat  \nfor dinner.\n\n\"What's it doing there?\" he demanded numbly, \"It's always been in the  \nkitchen.\"\n\nHis mother shrugged in response, \"It shouldn't be in here... medicine  \nbelongs in a medicine cabinet.\"\n\nEric snorted at that, \"I'll believe that when you put the sleeping pills  \nthere too.\" and he made his way to the bathroom to sift through the bottles of  \npills before finding the pain killers. He popped two of the pills and went back  \nto the sofa, collapsing onto it, longing for the headache to abate. He was  \nblessed shortly thereafter with sleep, and the comforting numbness of  \nunconsciousness took over once again.\n\n\\* \\* \\* \\* \\* \\*\n\nEric's stomach awoke him, grumbling in protest at being empty. The young  \nman slowly gauged his ability to stand, moving deliberately from position to  \nposition checking for dizziness or pain; thankfully he did not encounter any.  \nEric stood, again testing his ability to balance, and was pleased to note that  \nhe had no difficulty. His stomach gurgled again as he smelled the familiar  \nscent of the industry-generated, packaged sauce mix that flavored the meal his  \nmother had prepared. He wandered into the kitchen, seeing the pan still on the  \nstove.\n\nGlancing at the microwave, Eric paused; he had not realized that the  \nmicrowave's clock had started working again, and he clearly saw the listed 11:03  \nlit. Not having his watch on him, Eric didn't know if the clock was accurate,  \nbut he paid it no more mind as he grabbed a plate from one of the shelves and  \nscooped a good helping of the Ground Beef Helper onto it. Leaving the pan and  \nspoon on the stove, Eric took a fork out of the drain board and headed straight  \nfor his room.\n\nFriday nights meant he didn't have to worry about school the next day, but  \nit also meant two days at home with his mother... a thought that was bearable  \nonly because Eric knew that his mother was scheduled to work overtime and  \nwouldn't be around. While most of the students his aged looked longingly  \ntowards each and every weekend, Eric only really found enjoyment in the ones  \nwhere he had the entire house all to himself.\n\nEric opened the door to his room, his brain shaking off the last remnants  \nof its unplanned vacation. He flipped on the light using the edge of the plate  \nin his hand and he paused, half inside the room and half outside it. With one  \nhand on the doorknob and one hand on his dinner plate, Eric stared into his  \nbedroom. He looked at the opened toy chest and bits of shell strewn about the  \nfloor.\n\nSetting his plate on the dresser beneath the light switch, Eric slowly  \nshut the door behind himself and slid into his room. From his place at the  \nentryway, Eric looked first around the carpet at his feet. The events of  \nearlier in the afternoon began to come back to him and his heart race started  \nspeeding up.\n\nHe moved away from the door, stalking slowly into the room, purposefully  \ndragging his feet across the carpet, remembering seeing that lizard peel itself  \naway from his bedspread and its color changing with barely a pause for shading.  \nHe spent so much time carefully seeking that he didn't even pay attention to the  \nvideogame playing on the TV. It wasn't for another thirty seconds until it drew  \nhis attention; he hadn't left the TV on.\n\nLooking to the videogame console, Eric's eyes traced the wires from the  \ntelevision to the game system, and from the game system to the controller placed  \non the bed... on the bed directly in front of a greenish lizard the size of an  \namply large cat. Remaining silent, Eric watched as the creature used nimble  \ndigits on its talons to manipulate the buttons-- it was actually playing the  \ngame!\n\nAwestruck, Eric's eyes alternated between watching the screen of the TV  \nand watching the small reptile work the controls. The lizard wasn't just  \nplaying the game... it was playing well. The young man's throat tightened as he  \nwatched the game play out across the screen; the animal at the controller was  \ngetting close to Eric's most dreaded part of the game and, as with many times  \nbefore, Eric tensed as the missile warning sound began to issue forth from the  \ngame.\n\nHands clenching as if seeking a controller, Eric took an involuntary step  \nforward, eyes still glued to the screen. It was as if the lizard were  \ncompletely forgotten, everything going in slow motion as the game took on a  \nwhole new light-- the dreaded missile had not hit the F-16. In the many times  \nEric had played that mission, he had never seen the missile miss.\n\nEric continued staring as the jet completed an expert series of jinx  \nmaneuvers, alternating hard right and left hand turns before the MIG came into  \nclear view within the crosshairs. Eric's fingers reflexively clenched for  \nbuttons that weren't there, and two missiles streaked without error to the  \ntarget; an explosion consumed the opposing aircraft.\n\nThe young man released an exhilarated breath of relief, having finally  \nseen the completion of the objective. Though he himself had not done it, there  \nwas a sense of satisfaction about watching the MIG burst into flames. Eric let  \nout a cry of relief and success, but the young man suddenly froze in place.  \nSlowly turning to his right, Eric stopped as he saw the lizard staring at him.\n\nThe reptile was about a foot and a half tall as it stood there, if  \nstanding were the right term. The creature was perched on its hind legs,  \npartially sitting on its tail, or just using it for balance like a tri-pod. Two  \nsmall horns, more bumps than any real protrusions, poked up from its head. Fan-  \nshaped ears emerged on either side of its head next to the small horn bumps.\n\nThe creature watched Eric, those two ear sails flickering.  \nIts slightly smaller forelegs were tucked up against its body, talons  \ncrossed, almost reminiscent of a young boy folding his hands across his sternum  \nwhile being reprimanded... but the lizard was not looking down, rather, its  \nlarge, amber eyes were staring right at him, large, diamond-shaped pupils  \nlooking directly into his face.\n\nThe small beast blinked once-- not what Eric would consider a normal  \nblink; its eyes closed horizontally instead of vertically, a clear membrane  \nsliding across them rather than what would be considered a real eyelid. \"Um...  \nhi.\" Eric noted, slowly sliding further away from it on the bed.\n\n\"Hi.\" the creature responded.\n\nEric paused for a moment, completely at a loss for words. He sat facing a  \nreasonably large lizard which had just responded to a greeting. He blinked  \ntwice before his brain started up again, and he realized that it had probably  \njust made a sound that he had mistaken for a greeting in return to his own.\n\n\"Did you just...\" he began, pausing for a moment, watching the way the  \nlizard watched him, \"Did you just do that on purpose?\"\n\nThe lizard did not respond, except to slide down to its rump, tail curling  \naround its lower legs as it remained gazing at him. Eric rested his hand atop  \nhis head, gripping his hair in confusion \"I can't believe-- I thought I heard  \nyou talk.\" He looked down at the reptile, \"But... you just beat that game level  \nof F-16 Gulf Attack... that couldn't have been an accident.\"\n\nThe lizard blinked in response, the clear skin sliding out from the corner  \nof its eyes before withdrawing out of sight. It didn't respond to Eric's  \ninquiry, and the young man let out grunt and stood up. \"I can't believe this.\"\n\n\"Can't believe what?\" the lizard inquired.\n\n\"I can't believe I'm talking to some lizard, expecting it will--\"  \nEric froze in mid-sentence, turning numbly to gaze at the creature, mouth agape.\n\n\"Talk back?\" the reptile offered.\n\n\"You CAN talk!\" Eric gasped, disbelievingly.\n\nThe lizard nodded in an entirely humanlike mannerism, \"Yep.\"\n\n\"But-when-how-what-do you...\" Eric failed to generate any cohesive  \nsentence.\n\n\"Oh... wait, real fast.\" the reptile interjected, looking back to  \nthe TV screen before and manipulating the game controller. Eric followed its  \ngaze to the television and watched as the little creature selected the save game  \noption. For a moment, Eric faltered, still perplexed by the turn of events but,  \nat the same time, the young man somehow had the presence of mind to be concerned  \nabout his own game being saved over. He let out a breath as the lizard selected  \na second save game slot, leaving his game untouched.\n\nThe reptile took its talons away from the controller, \"Okay.\" it noted,  \nturning back to regard Eric. The creature folded its talons again across its  \nbody and looked up at him, clear lids sliding out over its eyes again as it  \nblinked in its own, exotic way. \"I think we started off best with 'hi'.\" it  \nrevealed a row of small, pointed teeth... a gesture Eric realized must have been  \na smile.\n\n\"You can talk...\" Eric ventured again, repeating his previous statement as  \nhis brain failed to overcome the earlier surprise.  \nThe lizard nodded, \"Yes.\"\n\n\"And play videogames.\"\n\n\"Yes. Games too.\" The lizard grinned, the tip of its tail beating  \nback and forth on the bed. Eric, who was standing by that point, reached out to  \ngrab the chair at his desk and move it closer to the bed. He took a seat on it  \nas the reptile moved closer to the edge of the bed before sitting down once  \nmore, neck craned up so the two were face to face regarding one another.  \nAfter several long seconds of silence, Eric, at length, finally asked,\n\n\"What... are you?\"\n\n\"I'm a dragon.\" the creature responded.\n\n\"A dragon?\" Eric inquired, incredulously.\n\n\"A dragon.\" The small reptile confirmed, tip of its tail still tapping  \nback and forth on the bed.\n\n\"I didn't think dragons existed.\" Eric offered honestly, unable to think  \nof anything else to say.\n\n\"We do.\" The dragon confirmed, as if its existence were not proof enough,\n\n\"Well... I do. I don't know if there are other dragons out there anymore.\"  \n\"If dragons exist, how come no one else has ever seen them?\" Eric asked,  \nincredulously.\n\n\"Humans used to see dragons, but they haven't for a awhile...\" the dragon  \noffered, glancing from Eric to the Ground Beef Helper on the plate resting near  \nthe young man's door, \"It's a long story... maybe one we can share over dinner?\"  \nthe creature grinned.\n\n\"Do dragons eat Ground Beef Helper?\" Eric questioned, slowly standing, and  \nwalking backwards to where he left his plate.\n\nThe dragon shrugged, \"Not sure,\" it replied honestly, \"I don't think I've  \never had it before... but it smells like food.\"\n\nEric started a half-sarcastic laugh, but cut it short as he brought the  \nplate back to the dragon, \"It's close to food, but I wouldn't call it good  \nfood.\" the young man attested, offering the plate to the dragon.\n\nThe dragon looked up at him, then to the plate, \"You left your fork on the  \ndresser.\" it noted matter-of-factly, glancing past him to where the utensil  \nremained, resting on the wooden panel next to Eric's door.\n\n\"You use a fork?\" Eric inquired, surprised at the remark. He stood up,  \nmoving to get the fork for the dragon before it replied.\n\n\"No,\" the reptile noted as Eric came back to the chair, \"But you do... and  \nwe can't share dinner if you don't have your fork.\"\n\n\"Share?\" Eric asked, not sure he understood, though the concept was simple  \nenough.\n\n\"Right... you have some and I have some. Isn't 'share' the right word?\"  \nthe dragon cocked its head to the side, tilting it like an inquisitive dog.\n\n\"That's what 'share' means, yea.\" Eric responded flatly, \"But, why?\"\n\nThe dragon continued to look at Eric with its head cocked, eyes blinking  \nas it surveyed him, \"What do you mean, 'why'?\" it asked at length, \"You are  \nhungry, and I am hungry. There is food, so we can each have some.\" the dragon  \nexplained in an almost surgical manner, its train of logic seeming so basic and  \nstraight-forward that Eric was left wondering why he had asked the question in  \nthe first place, \"Is that okay?\" the dragon inquired.\n\n\"I... I guess so.\" Eric relented, and he sat the fork down next to the  \nplate as he watched the dragon lay down beside to the dish and survey the meal.\n\nAfter several seconds the dragon used a forepaw to scoop portions of meat and  \nnoodles closer to the edge of the plate, and then nimbly snatched them up in its  \nmuzzle. Eric was so enraptured with watching the creature eat that he nearly  \nforgot that he was still hungry. It took a powerful gurgle from his stomach to  \nremind him of that fact, and he finally picked up the fork which had laid unused  \non the bed.\n\nThe young man gingerly speared a noodle from his side of the plate and  \nfarthest from the dragon. At first, Eric hen-pecked around the dish, taking  \nsingle pieces of pasta but, as the lizard seemed undisturbed by his actions, he  \nslowly began to move into a more normal eating method. Soon enough, surprising  \nhimself, Eric was eating as if the dragon weren't even there. Finished, Eric  \nsat back from the empty plate. He reflected on the fact that he hadn't eaten  \nsince noon, and it only made sense that he was hungry. The dragon, however,  \ntook time to lick the sauce off the plate.\n\n\"That was good food.\" the dragon noted.\n\n\"It's okay, if you call it food.\" Eric replied callously.\n\nThe dragon turned to him and cocked its head to the side, \"If we ate it  \nthen it's food, right?\"\n\n\"You can eat stuff that isn't food.\" the young man countered. He wasn't  \nexactly sure if it was worth arguing the point, but-- Eric paused, \"Never mind.\"  \nhe quickly noted, \"Yea... it's good enough.\"\n\nThe dragon remained looking at him, and blinked again in its strange way.  \nEric shuddered, \"Ugh... what IS that?\" he demanded.\n\n\"What is what?\" the reptile asked, blinking again.\n\n\"THAT!\" Eric insisted, \"Your eyes! You don't blink right.\"\n\nThe dragon cocked its head to the side, and Eric began to look away before  \nthe dragon quickly blinked, scaly lids swiping cleanly across its eyes,  \ndescending from its brow like a human would blink.\n\n\"What is--\" Eric paused, \"That was a blink... so what the fuck was the  \nother thing?\" he questioned.\n\nThe dragon frowned slightly and looked straight at him, \"This...\" the  \ndragon slid its clear eyelids out from the corner of its eyes in a horizontal  \nblink, \"is clearing my eyes.\" it explained, \"and this...\" the dragon closed its  \nscaled eyelids downward, \"is a blink.\"\n\n\"So why not just blink like normal all the time then?\" Eric asked flatly.  \n\"Normal for you isn't normal for everyone.\" the dragon responded simply.\n\nEric thought of any number of snide retorts, but he paused before making a  \nverbal jab. Despite the obvious conversational \"poke\" made at him by the  \nreptile, he couldn't see the use of getting into an argument... especially since  \nthe creature had claws and teeth. Even if it was only 1/6th his size, it was  \nbetter armed. He decided to try a different approach.\n\n\"So what's the difference?\"\n\nThe dragon closed its set of translucent eyelids and kept them closed,  \npeering out at him from behind them, \"These are nictitating membranes.\" it  \nexplained, \"They help me keep my eyes clean and clear but still allow me to see  \nif I have them closed in water or when I'm flying.\"\n\nEric stopped in mid-thought, \"Flying?\" he inquired, \"You can fly?\"\n\nThe dragon shrugged, \"Not now. I'm still too fresh out of my egg... but  \nwhen I am able to fly I can have them closed all the time so my eyes don't dry  \nout. And, when I want to close my eyes-\" the dragon shut his scaled eyelids,\n\n\"The 'normal' eyelids I have can keep light out.\" Eric didn't miss the dragon's  \naccentuated use of the word 'normal', but decided not to comment.\n\nThe young man let out a deep breath, \"Weird.\"\n\n\"Not to me.\" the dragon responded.\n\n\"How would you know what's normal and weird? You hatched less than a day  \nago.\" Eric retorted.\n\n\"Just because I hatched today doesn't mean that I didn't exist before I  \nhatched.\" the dragon offered, \"Dragons can spend a long time in their eggs, and  \nit isn't like we're unconscious.\"\n\nEric pondered that a moment. Was this dragon able to learn while it was  \nin its egg? Did the dragon pick up understanding from the world around it even  \nbefore it hatched? How was it able to know how to speak if not for some kind of  \nunderstanding imparted to it before it broke free of its shell?\n\n\"So that's how you were able to know how to play that videogame.\" he  \naccused.\n\n\"Oh...\" the dragon perked, ear sails rising, \"No... I read the manual.\"\n\n\"The manual?\" Eric paused.\n\n\"Right. It tells you how to play.\" the little lizard explained.\n\n\"I never read the manual.\" Eric admitted.\n\n\"That's why you always died on mission three. You're supposed to press  \ndown and R1 to release a flare. That helps you evade the missile.\" the dragon  \noffered.\n\n\"Wait.\" Eric insisted, standing up from his chair as he put a hand to his  \nforehead, \"Go back a minute.\" he turned again to look at the dragon, \"You read  \ntoo?\"\n\n\"Yes.\" the dragon admitted, \"is that 'weird' too?\"\n\n\"Most people spend the first years of their life learning how to read.\"  \nEric stated, \"but you knew how to within the first hours?\"\n\n\"I'm not a human.\" the dragon reasoned, \"Dragons know a lot of things when  \nthey first hatch.\"\n\n\"Okay... so not weird for a dragon, but weird for a human.\" Eric offered.\n\n\"That's fair.\" the dragon agreed.\n\n\"So that's how you know how to read.\" Eric pondered aloud.\n\n\"Right.\"\n\n\"And how you know about forks and dressers and videogames.\" he offered\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"And that's how you know how to speak English.\" Eric further ventured.\n\n\"Yes, and no.\" the dragon admitted.\n\n\"What do you mean 'yes and no'?\" Eric asked.\n\nThe dragon lay down on the bed, rolling over onto its back as it rotated  \nits sinuous neck so it could continue looking at Eric right-side-up. \"It isn't  \nvery easy to explain... humans don't really have an equivalent to it.\"  \nEric sat back down on the chair beside him, \"So how do you know how to  \nspeak English?\" Eric pressed.\n\n\"I remember it from before.\" the dragon answered.\n\n\"Before what?\" Eric asked.\n\n\"Before I became an egg.\" the dragon offered cryptically.\n\nEric raised an eyebrow, \"Before you were an egg? What kind of shit is  \nthat? How can you be something before you're an egg?\"\n\nThe dragon slowly rolled back over so it could sit back up. It cocked its  \nhead to the side and slid its translucent eyelids closed, \"Why do you use those  \nwords?\"\n\n\"What words?\" Eric demanded, \"And why are you changing the subje--\"\n\n\"I answered your question.\" the dragon interrupted, \"I said it was hard to  \nexplain.\" it retracted its clear eyelids, \"The offensive words; why do you use  \nthem?\"\n\nEric raised an eyebrow as the dragon looked at him. He said nothing for  \nseveral moments as the reptile continued to watch as if waiting for an answer.  \nThe young man finally rolled his eyes, \"God... you sound like my mom.\"  \nThe dragon blinked with its scaled eyelids and cocked its head the other  \nway, \"You said I did not answer your question, but I think you didn't answer  \nmine.\"\n\nThe dragon continued to stare at him, and Eric could feel a sense of  \nfrustration begin to rise within him. The creature was so clueless. For being  \nso smart it really had no idea how life worked or why--\n\n\"You do not have a reason?\" the dragon inquired.\n\n\"Because I want to.\" Eric answered bluntly, \"I can use them, so I do...  \nokay? Fuck. Shit. Ass. Cock. Bitch. Damn. Cunt. Shit.\" Eric crossed his  \narms over his chest in frustration.\n\nThe dragon sighed and lowered its head to the mattress, \"You said Shit  \ntwice.\" Several seconds of silence passed wordlessly in the room. Eric's upper  \nlip quivered for a moment, and his stomach began to convulse, and, suddenly, he  \ncould no longer hold back the laugh.\n\nEric laughed long and hard. Though he couldn't quite figure it out; there  \nwas something about the strange situation that couldn't be classified. The word  \n'absurd' just didn't do it justice, and he could do nothing but laugh. As he  \nslowly regained his composure, he sat up, looking to the dragon who was still  \nsitting up, gazing at him with head cocked slightly to one side.\n\n\"I guess I did.\" Eric responded wiping a tear away from one eye, \"People  \ndon't always know why they do things.\" he offered at last, \"So... I guess... I  \ndon't know why I curse. You're not 18 yet, so I guess I should be keeping it  \nrated G, right?\" he noted snidely.\n\n\"No.\" the dragon replied, \"You don't have to change for me... I just  \nwanted to know is all.\"\n\nEric shrugged, \"Whatever.\"\n\nThe dragon scooted closer to the edge of the bed and looked up a Eric as  \nthe young man sat back into his chair, \"When I said I knew some things since  \nbefore I was an egg, that's because I remember a time before I was an egg.\" it  \ntried explaining, \"Dragons do not live like humans, and we don't die like  \nhumans... we hatch and we expire, but we aren't born and we don't die.\"\n\n\"I think you lost me.\" Eric noted flatly.\n\n\"Hmmm...\" the dragon contemplated for a moment, \"It's like waking up for  \nus is hatching, and expiring is like going to sleep. Between the time we expire  \nand we hatch is like being asleep. Humans remember what happened before they  \nwent to sleep the next day, and dragons remember what happened before they  \nexpired during their previous lives.\"\n\n\"So you're some kind of Jesus-Lizard.\" Eric deadpanned.\n\nThe dragon cocked its head to the side, \"No.\" it blinked its translucent  \neyelids.\n\n\"That was a joke.\" the young man offered.\n\nThe reptile flicked its ear sails and blinked its scaled eyelids, \"You  \nwere not smiling when you said it.\" the dragon noted, \"sometimes humans are hard  \nto understand.\"\n\nEric shrugged in response, \"So... you're saying that you remember things  \nfrom your past lives?\"\n\n\"Yes. The times I have been out of an egg have not been past lives, but  \nthey have been part of my time on the earth.\" the dragon answered.\n\n\"And have you been around humans before?\" Eric asked, many unpleasant  \nimages of housebreaking a dragon going through his mind.\n\n\"A few.\" the dragon replied.\n\n\"And?\" Eric probed.\n\n\"And what?\"\n\n\"I mean... what's it like?\" Eric questioned.\n\n\"Why are you asking me? You should know what being around your own kind  \nis like.\" the dragon countered.\n\n\"That isn't what I meant!\" Eric objected.\n\n\"Then what do you mean?\" the dragon used a hind-talon to scratch behind  \none of its ear sails.\n\n\"I mean... are things different? What's it like meeting different humans  \nall the time? How long between dying and hatching? What does it feel like?  \nHow-\"\n\n\"Those are a lot of questions.\" the dragon interrupted.\n\nEric nodded, stopping in the middle of his thoughts as he contemplated his  \nown questioning. Before earlier that night, Eric had never thought such a thing  \nas a dragon could exist, let alone that he would meet one and have it in his  \nbedroom. The entirety of the situation was almost overwhelming, but the  \nsimplicity of talking to the down-to-earth reptile felt almost easy.\n\n\"Okay... well... how about, 'Do you have a name?'? Is that an okay, or do  \nI just call you 'dragon'?\"\n\nThe hatchling grinned at that, \"I've been called worse.\"\n\n\"Now it's your turn for skipping an answer, huh?\" Eric countered, grinning  \nlikewise.\n\n\"I have met many humans and they have given me many names.\" the dragon  \nreplied, \"Some of them I liked more than others, but they are all me.\"\n\n\"So what should I call you?\" Eric asked.\n\n\"Hiraeth.\" the dragon answered.\n\n\"Heeeer-aith?\" Eric tried to pronounce the name.\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"That sounds kinda Spanish.\" the young man noted.\n\n\"It is Welsh.\" Hiraeth explained.\n\n\"You mean from England?\" Eric asked.\n\nThe dragon snorted, \"No. Wales and England are not the same country.\n\nThey are not now and were not back then.\"\n\n\"Okay.\" Eric shrugged, \"So what does it mean?\"\n\nThe dragon cocked its head to the side, clear eyelids blinking, \"What do  \nyou mean?\"\n\n\"Does your name mean something?\" Eric asked, \"A lot of names have some  \nkind of meaning... does yours?\"\n\nThe dragon nodded after several moments of pause, its eyes gaining a far  \noff quality to their gaze, \"Yes.\"\n\n\"What does it mean?\" Eric inquired.\n\n\"There is no exact translation in English... but it means a powerful grief  \nover losing someone or something.\" Hiraeth answered.\n\n\"How would you get that as a name?\" the young man questioned.\n\n\"It's a long story.\" The dragon replied.\n\n\"I just spent six hours unconscious; I'm not going to bed anytime soon.\"  \nThe little dragon grinned at that, \"Alright... but remember: you asked me  \nto tell it.\"  \n\u0026nbsp;\n\n  \n  \n\n","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/160693-dragon-in-the-dishwater-ch-2.json"}