{"sf1_id":null,"sf2_id":"1VY98V0n","title":"A Ghost in the Hall: Chapter 2: Don't Scream","author":"CaptainMemes","words":16788,"posted_at":"2026-06-25T20:25:56.000Z","tags":["Brain Freeze","Comfort","Demonstration","Dragon","Dragons","Fantasy","Fear","Fluff","Ghost Dragon","Ghost Dragons","Ghost Powers","Ice Cream","Interspecies","Interspecies Relationships","Interspecies Romance","Love","Modern Day","Romance"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1VY98V0n-a-ghost-in-the-hall-chapter-2-don-t-scream","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/1VY98V0n","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"A surprising visit from Sybus with an unexpected gift before he tries the scrumptious delight known as ice cream.","content":"The world was caught at a crossroads in the never-ending sea of time. The day was dying as the Sun felt that its duty was fulfilled, leaving the Moon in its wake to pick up the mantle this side of the celestial sphere that was _Earth_. However, despite the star’s counterpart resuming its eternal purpose, the planet here still felt the aftereffects of the ever-lasting day, leaving this microscopic portion of upper earthen crust in a perpetual state of limbo, but not for long. Here, the sky was just a darkened _blue_, the Moon just barely beyond the horizon while the Sun escaped opposite to it. Like _limbo_, it was a place between universes, somewhere, and yet nowhere. Some may fear it, returning to their shelters to weather the up-and-coming night, but others see it as a balanced transition into the next world, the _Great Beyond_, the _Forever_.\n\nHowever, the crickets and peepers that plagued those not shielded by soundproof walls were disturbed by but a singular, self-contained sound within a world of its own, one’s own slice of life, a _door_. It opened into an expansive mudroom, coat hangers in a horizontal fashion nailed to the wall left of it, although relatively unused besides one hook, as the rest of the darkened metal protrusions held situational clothes that were currently not needed. The door, whitened except for the large glass design of intertwining curves and angles in a work of everyday art, made quite the creak as the round silver knob pushed itself inside, being pulled back from just hitting the navyblue painted wall. Thankfully, it was just thick enough as to not break with even a decently strong thrust with the roundish piece of the mechanism that was the _entranceway_, but, pulled back by what you may ask?\n\nA _hand_, a hand belonging to a human in fact, the one who owned this place, _Shelby Grant_.\n\nA sigh sounded out as she came into her humble abode, the woman making a clop or two with her work shoes upon making her way inside. A switch on the wall to the left of the doorway was flipped, revealing a space to remove unneeded clothes, as heat or coolness desired inside was in effect. She mindlessly closed the door behind without a second thought as it shut by itself. She instead decided to occupy her time taking off her white leather jacket, which concealed her work clothes, and place it on the hook. Shelby started by holding the metal loop that was the zipper with her index finger and thumb of her right hand and pulling it downwards towards the source of gravity, creating that sound characteristic of the human invention. Upon finishing the first task, the woman then held the edge of the right sleeve with her left hand before slipping her arm out like a snake in a log and repeated the other side, albeit with much easier precision. With its removal, she bent the crease and turned it around, letting it go to sit and be strung up by the hook coming off the plaque. This ultimately revealed a plain grew shirt of nothing to note about it as it was worn in conjunction with a set of deep cerulean jeans that could have blended in with the night if it wanted to.\n\nAlright, next was the work shoes. They were rather plain, just woody brown that held the faint smell of her being occupying them within their soles, as she wore these so much to the point of shaping them to be her go-to pair to travel outside with when on business in terms of her job. The human scraped them on the black door mat that was a little dirtied up over the years, but wasn’t that the point of it? Thankfully, the bottoms resembled _sneakers_ as opposed to flat ones, so the grip they held was unmistakable. First, it was the right foot, dragging it with force about three times before the left one repeated the pattern. Then she inevitably had to remove them, so she bent down, her hair of dirty blond color falling with Earth’s gravitational pull as she slipped her fingers in between the double knot of the loops that was the _tie_. First, it was the right, her fingertips slipping underneath the fabric shoestrings rolled into a plastic cylinder on the end, all darker than the shoe itself, into two loose ropes that loosened the vise on her ankle considerably, before aiming to do the same process to allow her left foot to escape as well.\n\nAfter all was said and done, she simply lifted her left foot off the ground over a dark shoe mat with other coverings and simply let the planet do its job, the light _clip_ being sounded out as the shoe fell to the floor. However, of course, it had to be done with the left one, which was promptly delt with, the same results occurring as the now complete pair of work shoes stood to the far right of other similar articles, things such as boots neglected as the season didn’t ask for them.\n\nThe switch was flicked off with a motion she knew like the back of her hand upon her pointer finger gently pushing it down into its “off” state, the light turning off.\n\nPhew.\n\nNow she was open to do whatever for the rest of the night. Despite the possibility of free time, there was shockingly _little_ to do here, as her usual hobbies required more precious hours to enact. Afterall, she _did_ come home after she ended her shift a bit later than usual, hence, the darkening _night_.\n\nHmmmmm…\n\nNow, what could she do? Well, let’s see here.\n\nShe could take a late, or, _er_, _early_ shower the night before another bout of sleeping and getting up to go to work the next day in order to have some more minutes in the morning, although, it goes without saying that with some possible sweating in bed, a bit nice deodorant could go a _long way_. She just hoped to God to _remember_ to apply it before going off to her occupation at the crack of dawn, that is, _if_ she went that route since, well, she could just take it in the _morning_. Baths were also out of the question. They just simply used a bunch of water, more so than being pelted by streams, and only made sense to use when _very_ sick with some lavender, but that rarely happened.\n\nDon’t want to raise the _water bill_, do we?\n\nAnd then there was late night television, although to be blunt, it was really the _only_ activity that made sense after such a late return like this, but what could she possibly watch? History? _Documentaries_? No, neither. Not only would they put her to sleep as if she was under _anesthesia_, but it was sort of _redundant_ since, well, y’know, _dragons_. Such a momentous era of the world had just begun _four_ years ago. Ramblings about the past _had_ to fade away, especially for the new dragon citizens making a home in society. Such information was a novelty, but had little use to even a hatchling. It was simply the truth.\n\nWhat about a _game show?_ \u0026nbsp;\n\nNaw, that was scrapping the _bottom of the barrel_ in terms of actual entertainment. Who the _hell_ greenlit these in exchange for one’s hard-earned time? Ridiculous! Even the thought of dragons getting involved didn’t pique an interest at all! Although, it must’ve been quite humorous to see dragons being confuzzled as to the purpose of these. Welcome to the club. At least they’re not alone in that department, and no, don’t even get her _started_ on _cartoons_. Other than nostalgic joyrides on _Boomerang_ like _Scooby-doo_ and _Tom and Jerry_, everybody knows _that_ is old compared to today’s programs. Besides, they didn’t appeal to her in this phase of her life as of now.\n\nOkay, what of the _News_?\n\nHmmmmm…\n\nNo, no thanks. It was pretty much the _instant noodles_ of television. It was safe and was a clear way to spend a late night to discover recent events either local or around the world, but…\n\nUgh…\n\nIt was something almost everybody watched, especially in the morning, including herself. People were just glued to their screens to see humans and dragons interacting in such unique ways, while also being informed of the current state of the area, both close and abroad. That, and once in a blue moon, you’ll even see a _dragon_ correspondent! How crazy was that? It was just so fascinating that a thought that was once myth was now becoming a reality! It was mind blowing! But…again, it was something _all_ people watched everyday, and like consistently consuming _sweets_, it got _old_ over time. Yes, it was cool, but only in certain doses, that and, well, it was actually kind of _scary_. Not all of these interactions were necessarily positive, and it became rather uncomfortable to watch as, well, _humans_ were mostly what caused such escalations.\n\nSometimes, it was outright _depressing_ that they caused some of this.\n\nEven the sports conversations didn’t help, even with this new _Talon Ball_ game that recently started, involving dragons and dragons _only_. The idea was intriguing, but, like learning _science_, there was no point in getting involved unless it was truly a hobby, as it was a time investment, and time, she did not _have_. She wasn’t even interested in _football_, the so-called ‘_America’s sport_’. \u0026nbsp;\n\nHowever, when all was said and done, she didn’t want to watch the news since, well, _dragons_. It wasn’t that she disliked seeing them, but they…_distracted_ her and, well, _reminded_ her, reminded her of _him_…_Sybus…_the ghost dragon…_drake_…who came to visit her.\n\nIt was about a month since she saw him, and to be rather honest, she was trying her best to convince herself that he actually _came_, actually came to steal her store-bought chicken, only to have him become mortified of her. Then, she gave him solace, a refuge, however long those few hours were, before he left her behind, before she asked him if he would really return. That has not occurred yet. The sight of dragons on television constantly told her that, told her that it was all very much possible that it was all _fake_, that it was all a dream in her mind, something her complex tissue of high intelligence conjured up in a response to nothing more than _sleep deprivation_. However, the question existed, persisting like none other.\n\nDid Sybus, the ghost dragon, actually _exist?_\n\nNow, from an outsider’s perspective, if the world knew, _yes_, but only _if_ they knew. The first thing at this point they’ll say once she had put the information into the public was that she’d lost her marbles. Ah…yes…she imagined all the guffaws accusing her of being a _lunatic_.\n\n_‘A ghost dragon? Ha! Next thing you’ll say is that there are dragons that can travel through_ time!_’_\n\n_‘Surely she’s gone crazy! Perhaps she’s a woman who needs a man in her life! Hahaha!’_\n\n_‘A dragon who’s a ghost? You sure it isn’t your grandpa? Or are you wanting to be one of those_ dragon fuckers? _Hehehehe!’_\n\n_‘Young woman, are just…_ **stressed** _out…?’_\n\nW-What? Stressed out? Was she…_stressed_ out? No, she never did, _never_. It’s just…what…wwhat was it? What was the reason why it always came back to _him?_ Did she…did she actually ask him if he was coming back? No, surely…_wait._ Why was she asking herself this? Sybus was probably a figment of her imagination, a false specter, a dead apparition, nothing more than a _ghost in the hall_. But…was it? Was…did…did…a part of her…\n\n_No, Shelby, you’re ridiculous! You couldn’t possibly want…want_…\n\nYes, she _could_ just turn her brain off and watch some dumb sitcom to fall asleep to, the screen nothing more than something above staticky _electrons_, but…no, there it was _again!_ The dirty blonde kept on thinking about the _impossibility_ that was the white dragon with icy blue eyes that _pierced_ right into her consciousness.\n\nHe just…\n\nWait…waaaaaaaait…_waitwaitwait_…did…d-did…oh…oh _God_…did…she…actually _want_ it to be _true?_ Not only that, but also…want him to come _back?_\n\nNo, this was utter _madness!_ How can a person keep imagining that a _lost dragon race_ came to your front door and that you want him to stay? What is the matter with her? She acted like the _world_ revolves around her! He has his _own_ life! She couldn’t be selfish and take that from him! \u0026nbsp;\n\n_What are you,_ lonely? Ha! _Maybe get some friends and their numbers! Get in a club! Do that for yourself at least!_ And a _dragon_? _Pffft…there’s something seriously wrong with you. Nobody would want to stay with you, especially a_ man! _Why would a drake be any different? Who would want to come back to_ you? _Nobody! That’s who!_\n\nNobody! _Nobody!_ Nobody. N-Nobody. N-No…body…N-N-No…b-b…\n\nNo, she had to stop it. It was all just a story made up in her head, something to keep one’s thoughts occupied, something for a person’s dreams to munch on. Sybus didn’t exist, er, well…Sybus may or may _not_ exist. However, that doesn’t change the fact that it was just a once in a lifetime event, a _fluke_. Life would just keep on going, with or without the thought or idea of that drake. Logically it didn’t make any sense. Why would the strings of fate pull together to have her meet him? Why? It simply _shouldn’t_ have happened.\n\n_You saw someone in trouble, and you wanted to help, then you went your separate ways. Nothing more, nothing less, so…just shut up and grab some snacks to waste the last hours away, and start your daily routine again._\n\nBills can’t pay for themselves y’know! \u0026nbsp;\n\nYes, right, _right_…sure, her mind _did_ want him to come back, and perhaps she _was_ just alone most of her adult life, or…have someone like a coworker stab her in the back. It was a moment, and it was over. Even if all she wanted was perhaps a _friend_, or something to quell her fascinations…like, how could he go through walls, make himself transparent, m-make things _float_ in the air?\n\nIt was like he was a purple _psychic_ drake, _hehe_…\n\nNow that she thought about it…who was he? Why did he act…_sheepish_, like he was always under threat? He was a dragon! How could one of the dragon race be so…_so_…soft-spoken?\n\nScared? _Starving?_ Sybus was…a mystery, one that’d take _forever_ to solve.\n\n_Ugh…_\n\nNo, she needed to put these thoughts away, distract herself with them at work, not in her little free time.\n\nAnd so, that is just what she did.\n\nWith her coat gone and her socks stuck to her ankles, she padded through from the entrance door to…the _kitchen_. She had just the idea to seal away these endless trains of thought. Her palm felt along the right wall, and, like the back of her hand, she found the angled protrusions downwards, her kitchen lights, and, with her index and middle finger, she flipped them up, allowing in gracious light into her retinas. Shelby padded away into those all-too familiar tiles, the ceramic squares glued together by cement glue and polished to a shine that almost gave the illusion of plastic. Her direction was clear.\n\nThe _refrigerator_.\n\nHmmmm…\n\nYeah, she should take a shower tomorrow instead of tonight. Some much needed quiet or lullabylike white noise to soothe her nerves, or, perhaps sleeping on some _White Blood Cells…_\n\nThe woman walked carefully as to not slip. We all know _that_ happened to us _once_ in our lives, right? Upon reaching her destination, the woman turned right as nothing more than silver, the double-doored container of frost-crusted goods to consume was all she needed. The loops that were the handles stood idle, beckoning her to return to reality that we all try to escape from. However, they did not stand untouched for long. Shelby took her left hand, and wrapped it around the bent cylinder, the metal chilling her to the core with how uncomfortably cold it was, but, like any cool material, it was sure to warm up upon great exposure. This was no different, but it wasn’t some leftovers or materials to make a home-cooked meal, no, no it wasn’t. Instead, it was something else. \u0026nbsp;\n\nWhat exactly? \u0026nbsp;\n\nShe sought to open not the fridge, but the _freezer_. The woman pulled, detaching the weak magnet from the shiny container of well-kept goods, like a lid to _Antarctica_. It gave off the never-ending sound of coolant working to keep her consumables alive and well, nurturing them in an environment not meant to suit them. It was like her dog Molly before she passed on to the next life. Poor thing. She was so old that it came to the point that going up the stairs was essentially impossible and was so wasted away that it was better to just give her the dignity of a painless death than to have her suffer more.\n\nShelby, like a pully attached to a rope, retrieved her arm with a bend and removed the freezer door on the refrigerator’s left hinge, then out came the frost-burned chill of the magic of human ingenuity, white mist buffeting out to greet her, like a temptation to indulge herself in its contents. Such a thing was only possible with the might of human curiosity to solve problems everywhere. How else do we improve life as we know it? Sure, we’ve had our mistakes, _hell_, we still get caught up in _wars_ for _Christ’s_ sake, but that doesn’t mean we don’t try to learn and do better. \u0026nbsp;\n\nSuch is the nature of the indomitable human spirit.\n\n_Brrrrr…_\n\nIt was uncomfortable, but it will go away, like yesterday, so Shelby squinted upon the snow flaked air blowing in her face before dissipating into nothing and saw her grand prize. It was a gallon-sized tub, closed with an ice-sealed lid, _ice cream_, a confectionary of the ages. Truly an amazing human creation. Who knew that something so freezing and yet so grand be so delicious?\n\nShe had no doubt the dragons felt the same way.\n\nNow with her objective in sight, she slipped her hand into the cold _Arctic_ of an environment and bent her elbow, aiming to steal her nightly snack from the mouth of the icebox. She raked it towards herself, gently lifting the back of it with her right fingers before removing it from its presence on the grate. Like an invaluable memory, she pulled it towards herself akin to a hug. Her cargo was now safe and secure. With that, Shelby closed the left door, it’s insides no longer needed right now, but what she _did_ need _now_ however…\n\nHer gaze went to the right and a bit lower to wooden drawer of a light trunk, an equally created knob meant to slide back like a toy train. The woman switched arms holding the tub, her left hands feeling the frost-bitten holder of her escapism for the night. She then twisted her right arm until her palm was underhanded, and she gripped the sandy lined holder of her next component to the jigsaw. Like yanking a tablecloth from under kitchenware on a table in a magic trick, she displaced the drawer from its usual hiding place. What was inside was _silverware_, tools to consume food without getting one’s hands dirty and greasy, even if watery sinks alleviated that issue. Afterall, they weren’t animals. Even the least dignified person would want to eat with these. Forks, butterknives, sharpened ones for cutting meat, peeling ones, you name it, and then…_spoons_. From cereal to soup, these were the gold standard for placing foodstuffs within the mouth of humans, and perhaps some more…_caring_ psychic or earth dragons. \u0026nbsp;\n\nShelby mindlessly untangled a spoon from its brethren and, with nothing left to take, took the wrist bone of her hand, and forced the drawer back into its place. Okay, now to set up her method of eating this delectable ice cream, vanilla from the paper wording on the holder of sweet goodness. The human turned to the right and began walking on the tiles. Like a track, she twirled to the side to the edge of the island around the rounded angle of the corner and did the same with the other edge of the uneven rectangle of raised granite. There on the long end of the island were several raised chairs, just sitting there and collecting dust.\n\nPerhaps she _was_ lonely, without anybody in her late twenties to settle down, have a few kids with. Maybe it was better that way, as there was always a possibility that God has already decided her soulmate, but wanted her to meet them later in life. Perhaps she has already met him in her long-winding road, but just never realized what he was meant to be to her, at least not yet, but who would ever want her? She had nobody, and she thought that it might be for the best.\n\n_Take it slow Shelby. You lost your innocence already. Don’t foul up your life for some dumb,_ puppy _love._\n\nIn the middle of the last two chairs on the end, she squeezed by the darkened oak platforms and dragged her left arm that’s secured the ice cream onto the smooth and glossy stone, letting go of it with the unbending of her elbow. She then promptly raised her right hand and gently lied the spoon next to it. Now, she was almost set up.\n\nWhile one could definitely _wolf_ it down straight out of the plastic, especially since she was the only one licking on the spoon to begin with, it was more…_sanitary_ to get a ceramic bowl to scoop it into for consumption’s sake. Afterall, nobody would ever drink _soup_ right out of the _can_, right?\n\nAlright then. She had her second task, now all she needed to do was turn and get a…a…a…\n\nShelby’s eyes went from a _coat button_ to a little _needle thread_ as she so much as drifted her side to the left in the turn before aiming to return to the inner kitchen. She saw…s-she saw…\n\nThere was not an empty space in front of her…no, no, there wasn’t. What was there was a _figure_. It was unmistakable, it was…a…_a_…a _dragon_. The color, or lack thereof, was as clear as crystal to her visual nerves, as they were of white scales and had their front, including the chest plates, all obscured by deep brown, and yet, there was one detail that stood out amongst it all.\n\nThe eyes of an icy-blue _sky_, frost-laden with a wintery sky.\n\nWhy were they hidden? Because they held something in their jaws that covered the sight of them, and it was a creature, and _animal_, a _deer_. It hung from the dragon’s jaws, the creature _limp_ as they grasped onto it by its neck, dead. Its eyes were glassy as it endlessly faced off to Shelby’s right, legs straight like a board, outward like a once-living table. The deceased creature was evidently a male as it had the makings of antlers that grew on its head, but too short to cause any discomfort from raising it up from the planet’s core. Its lifeless hooves of the rear legs just barely sat on the once perfectly clean kitchen floor, and yet despite the dragon being firm on its jugular, no blood came out. They likely killed it quite a bit ago, as the blood would’ve clotted up by now if they didn’t kill it any other way. As it dangled from the snowy dragon’s cage of knives, the mouth was oddly in the shape of a…a…_s-smile_…?\n\n“_Hi Shehey!_”\n\nIt…i-it…-wwas…h…h-hi…m…_Sybus._\n\nThe drake was on his rump, tail on the cookery’s floor, forelegs straight down, and the rear ones bent and lying on the tiles. He greeted her with a happy voice, muffled by the fact that he held something in his mouth, but the woman was anything _but_ happy. In fact, she was welcoming, but was something else entirely, _terrified._\n\n“ **G-GAH,**  **_HAAAAH!!!_** ”, she recoiled in surprise, shock, confusion, and complete and utter _bafflement_. \u0026nbsp;\n\nW-Wha…w- **_what?!?!_** Oh…oh _God!_ T-There was a _deer!_ A _dead_ one_!_ In her _fucking_ kitchen! A _decaying_ animal was in her _damn_ house! A-And…S-Sybus? _Sybus?!_ He…h-he was…_real?_ BBut why did he bring in a whitetail into her…wait. H-How the hell did he get it in here at all?! And how did he get in here with…_that_, and not get noticed by her? It was as if he popped out of _thin air!_ Wha…_w-what_ in God’s name was happening?! Lord have mercy on her! She was too young to have a heart attack _now!_\n\n…\n\nThe drake saw and…felt her reaction. It was…_drastic_ to say the least. She backed off with an uncoordinated step or two and let out a sound that was as if an animal was squealing to live another day upon getting cornered, hands out as if it was some mock defense against nothing. To say that Sybus felt _bad_ from it would be an _understatement_.\n\n_W-Wha…Bahamut…y-you…_\n\n_W-What was the matter with you! Bahamut damn you! She gave you food to survive and you thought that she would want you to come back!? Well? Did you?!_\n\n_W-Well…_\n\n_Excuses, excuses! How dare you scare the one who helped you with your presence? You should know that humans_ hate _dragons!_\n\nB-But…didn’t…d-didn’t she say that he could come back? Why, yes, she did! Yes…yes, she…sshe did…i-it was why he was here. It’s been many Moons, but he always felt indebted to her.\n\nHow couldn’t he be? She saved him and didn’t blow him to bits with a boomstick for Bahamut’s sake! The drake had a growing pit in his heart, for it didn’t matter if she was a good Samaritan, he _had_ to give something back. This guilt of taking a chicken in her possession that had long been processed from his body was forever over his head, always leaving him awake at night, always making him think of this act of good generosity. No, it wasn’t right to just leave this closed for eternity, for the woman deserved his eternal gratitude after all this time. \u0026nbsp;\n\n_You couldn’t leave her like this! What are you, some ungrateful_ wretch? _Bahamut gave you a second lease on life, and you would just…selfishly take it and flee?_\n\nNo, he had to wait! H-He had to…he needed someplace safe, yes, _someplace safe!_ Yes, a place to sleep away from possible executioners! With that already done and over with, all that was left was find her a gift, b-but…but what could a human possibly want?! \u0026nbsp;\n\nA-A shiny _stone?_ No, it’ll take forever to find that! H-He wasn’t an _earth_ drake after all. WWhat about flowers? No, that wouldn’t work either. Which ones would she like? Or…or was she like a _fire dragoness_ and not get into them to begin with? No, no! Again, no answers! But…what about…a _kill?_\n\nHmmm…\n\nY-Yes! Of course! It was a perfect gift! It would not only show his skill as a hunter, but also his dedication to making it up to her in the form of delicious food! He knew humans ate meat too, so what would be the harm?\n\n_Well…_\n\nThe issue here was that it appeared that his appearance startled her.\n\nO-Oh Bahamut…\n\nNow that he thought about it, the inkling of an idea began to spread in his canvas of a mind. SShelby was fine with him before given the circumstances, but _now?_ Now, there was no reason to house him in this _cave_ of hers. The dragon wasn’t welcome, for he shouldn’t be here.\n\nThe grin on his maw as he was chomped down on the dried vital blood vessels of the game animal morphed into a frown, his eyes giving off the look like he offended someone and just realized it. Sybus felt terrible, Bahamut, he felt _terrible_. He was awful, abhorrent, _underserving_…\n\nThere was only one route to go. He should’ve known it. Their little contact was coming to a close. The one of white scales should’ve known that his presence was reviled and unwanted, and yet, he wanted to hold onto that hope, however far off and distance it was. No, he needed to take his leave and remove his body from here, as suddenly, the offering of the deer slowly lost its meaning to him. How could such a gift save this moment? Nothing..._nothing_…\n\nStill, before he fled forever into shadows unknown, he needed to rectify his mistake, his horrible, _horrible_ mistake. A ghost dragon should never plague humans with their presence.\n\nHe sought to _apologize_. The drake bent his head down towards the flooring, the deer hooves making a clop or two as its stiffened limbs pointed forwards to the human. He then released his jaws on its ruined throat and retracted his mouth as he began to lift his head to its usual position.\n\n“_O-Oh, I-I’m sorry, I-I…_”\n\n_Sorry? You think a_ sorry _can save you?_\n\nHe began to have the sense of being _downtrodden_. Horrible. _He_ was _horrible_.\n\n…\n\nWhat? He said…\n\nShelby began to get her bearings as she returned to a more…_shaken_, but more relaxed position as her eyes widened. His frown and bent scaly brows meant that he was not only a bit…regretful, but also…_ashamed?_ Ashamed of what? His…oh God…his…_look?_ His _appearance out of nowhere?_ What…w-why would she feel this way? She’s been around dragons since _2000_ for Christ’s sake! There was no problem with how the dragons appeared, but…d-did Sybus think that she thought that he was…? If she thought about this, it could _also_ be the fact that he brought _dead game_ into her house. No, there was nothing wrong with him, but…\n\nWait…w-why did the drake even kill and bring a deer to her feet? Was it…oh…oh God. H-He was…_giving_ it to her as a _present?_ A present for… giving him a rotisserie just about month ago? Sure, it was a primal way of showing thanks, one of the only ones that Sybus knew because of his lack of contact with humans and all, but she couldn’t help but be…_touched?_ It didn’t change the fact that Sybus reeled in a slain beast and lowered its wasting carcass on her clean and wellkept floor, but it was a gift nevertheless. Still, she saw the offering and got its meaning, but that didn’t change Sybus’ thoughts on it.\n\nHe probably felt so bad inside, oh, _she_ now felt a little horrible too. Her thoughts were broken as she returned her hands to her side and straightened her posture.\n\nWhy, she asked herself…why?\n\nThe drake resumed his apology, even if the woman felt that he didn’t need to say sorry for anything. He began to turn to the left, aiming to leave this place behind, like a memory one wished to forget. And his _eyes_…oh…his eyes…they looked…_sad_…l-like he felt like he didn’t _belong_, like he _never_ did.\n\nAfter the ghost drake made a clack or two with his claws on the floor, Shelby made an effort to make him feel better, because this wasn’t his fault. It was just that she was a human and that they all feared things that didn’t make sense. How else were they to advance into this new era? It may have looked like there wasn’t like there was another way to go forward, but no, they needed to work together, work _together_ with _Dragonkind_ for the new age.\n\n“N-No, i-it’s _fine_, you don’t have to say sorry, i-it’s _just_…”\n\nShelby held firm. She needed to pick her next words carefully, for the dirty blonde had so, _so_ many questions…\n\n…\n\nSybus perked up and stopped. \u0026nbsp;\n\nW-Wait…s-she said it was…no, Bahamut, it wasn’t okay! H-How was this…h-how was _he_ fine? H-He shouldn’t be here, unless…_unless_…she _was_ alright…b-but it seemed impossible! How could a human be perfectly okay around a dragon? Upon hearing the words in his earholes, he let it stew a bit in his brain, not trying to face the woman, but still standing his ground in her kitchen. \u0026nbsp;\n\nMaybe…it was beyond just a generous donation last time they met, and maybe it was true, _true_ kindness, warm and pure. But, then again, why would any creature treat the _ghost dragon_ as anything other than a _cancer?_ There was only one explanation, however unlikely it was.\n\nHe began to relax and soften, but still was turned with his body to the woman.\n\n…\n\nShelby felt a little nervous.\n\nHow could she not? Again, the question bombarded her. Who would ever bring an intact whitetail deer into her abode? It seemed _crazy,_ at least to a _human_.\n\n_Well, maybe you_ were _crazy Shelby._\n\nGod, what were the odds that this all happened?\n\n“J-Just…_w-why_ did you bring in a _deer_?”, she shakily asked, using the fingers of her left hand to pull back some hanging hair the side of her face to behind her neck in nervousness.\n\nBahamut, _what?_\n\nSybus gained a bit of a surprised look before transitioning back into his contemplative and sheepish look on his scaled face and muzzle. \u0026nbsp;\n\nThere were two possibilities. The first was that Shelby didn’t want the symbol of gratitude and felt _repulsed_ by it, as if she wanted a better tribute worth his life. If that was true, then Sybus would not only feel like a fool, but also like a _disgrace_ given that he was a _failure_ in this respect.\n\nHow could he have known that he found the wrong piece to provide her? Yes…awful indeed.\n\nThe second was that, well, she didn’t know _why_ he brought his spoils of the hunt. It didn’t look like she was _clueless_, but felt like…no…B-Bahamut…did…she…not…want anything? No, she _has_ to want something…r-right? No, no! He _had_ to give her something to give his great thanks! What…w-what else was he to do with his second chance? I-It was the only right thing to do…bbut…i-if she didn’t want anything in return…t-then…oh…oh Bahamut…t-then…that would make her truly selfless…caring…generous…respectful…_kind_…like his mother before the ghost dragons…b-before they…\n\nR-Right…\n\nS-She asked a question, which deserved an answer in equal kind, so regardless, his words came out in a jumble and on shaky foundation, like he was afraid of retribution despite the idea that she helped him out of the bottom of her heart.\n\n“_I-I thought that y-you wanted…_s-something_, I-I…_”, he stammered, looking down in embarrassment. \u0026nbsp;\n\nWhat?\n\nH-He thought that she…s-she…required a tribute? L-Like a deer? B-But…w-why…?\n\n“_I-I didn’t know what else to get, t-to get for_ you _f-for_ saving_…_”\n\nHe trailed off after contacting her orbs once, as if his eye contact was something to be disgusted by, his sight veering off to the left. Bahamut, he was a mess of scales, wasn’t he?\n\n…\n\nOh…so he _did_ feel like he was indentured to willingly gift her with something that dragons valued, but…God, this was all _bucket of cold water_, wasn’t it? Sybus wanted to give her something for feeding him in a time of need as a heartfelt thanks, so he killed a deer, likely by snapping its neck or puncturing its vital artery in its throat, and dragged it all into her kitchen without explanation of how he got here without her recognizing it…like a _ghost_…\n\nOh Lord Above…\n\nThe thing was that she understood it, but it was _wrong_, so, _so_ wrong. Dragging a poor critter into a clean household? As much as she got what the drake was going for, it wasn’t right. Still, a gift was a gift, and as such, she didn’t know what to feel about it, although she was leaning on the side of keeping it for his sake, but not _here_.\n\nConfusion, _confusion_…\n\nShe sighed with a slight slumping of her shoulders. This was a mess, one that neither knew how to deal with, but something was for certain. A dead deer had _no_ place in the house.\n\n“_N-No, i-it’s fine,_ just…”\n\nShelby stumbled a bit with her throat. The woman didn’t want to give off the idea that she didn’t accept this tribute. Afterall, her father took her hunting when she was a young girl, but it was better to deal with this someplace else. She knew where it was, but she didn’t know if _Sybus_ did or not.\n\n“A-Are you able to put it in the _garage?_ T-The big square room just outside?”\n\nShe tried to simplify the description as much as possible for a dragon whose experience with the human world and its intricacies was next to nothing much like a preschooler, but _hey_, we were all that person at one point, weren’t we?\n\n…\n\nW-What?\n\nHis eyes brightened up a bit, but with a bit of befuddlement. Wait. S-She…\n\nOkay, on one paw, he should be relieved and perhaps happy that she was taking this gracious gift of his, but on the other…g-garage? W-What was _that?_ And his human savior…wanted it…somewhere else? W-What…w-why? D-Did she secretly not want it? No, no, he didn’t feel the thoughts of disgust or repulsion from him or the food, but…wait. W-Was it…the place? The _location?_\n\nHmmmm…\n\nThe more he let it fester in his mind, it began to make sense. Just…j-just look at the shelter! A cave could be filled to the brim with trinkets and curiosities of things Dragonkind didn’t understand, but _this?_ This little slice of existence was…oh, Bahamut, what was the word for it?\n\n_Clean?_ _St-St-Ster…illlllllll…_\n\nW-What…W-What was the word some dragons used to describe one who was…forever _eggless?_\n\nHmmmm…\n\nIn his mind, it was _that_. The environment around him was very well kept up and glossy, polished like a brand new set of scales, with nothing around to cover or dirty it up. Yes…it all suddenly made sense now. Shelby was like one of those dragonesses, the ones that had every one of their possessions and kills all organized nicely, despising having it switched around. Y-Yes…yes! He got it now! It wasn’t that she _didn’t_ want the beast, but instead wished to have it somewhere else! It was kind of late to do much with it. He doubted that she wanted a bloodied mess here\n\nanyways…\n\nHe made clicks on the stony ground with his claws and turned around from his retreating stance to take back his initial actions, but was still stuck on this idea of this new word and location like sap on a tree. Just…what was a gar…_gar_…gar…_age_…? Wait…was it the gray cube-like structure with plenty of space besides the metal and shiny cage inside with all the colors on it?\n\nThe one with the flat, round and metallic objects stuck to it?\n\nHmmm…\n\nEven Sybus himself had trouble describing it, and he’s been in there! Although, the cold temperature in there was very, _very_ nice…albeit with a brain-tickling droning noise from a white box out there. What could _that_ be? \u0026nbsp;\n\nWas…were they…one of the same? It had to be what she was talking about…right? H-He didn’t know what else it could be. So, his plan was set. His face was once towards the synthesized floor with maw a bit open in clear thoughts tangling and tumbling like a forest’s plants before returning his visage to the bark brown of her pupils.\n\n“O-Oh! Uh…_right_.”\n\nShelby saw that he pieced together why this didn’t belong here, gazing up his eyes of blue upon his tone of understanding. Afterall, she did have experience cutting up venison by her father, but she hasn’t done that in forever. It was also late, _too_ late to do anything without dying of exhaustion and sleep deprivation. Who the _hell_ was playing with a deer corpse at _night?_ However, what happened next shocked her down to the very core, like a mighty earthquake caused by an angry earth dragon of the green scales. The deer…t-the…d-deer…it was…_magic_…\n\nThe beast slowly vanished, like how a sponge cleans grime away from a used plate, the body appearing like it was being yanked away by a rope or a cane….r-right in the direction of her garage.\n\nW-Wha…_whaaaaaaat…_God have mercy on her. Her eyes expanded like a camera and threatened to burst out of her skull. What…God…_speechless_, that was what she was. Speechless, for this was…impossible...inconceivable…ridiculously _improbable_. H-How…\n\nMaybe she _had_ lost her marbles after all…\n\nShe had to restrain a gasp to avoid giving the person across from her the impression that she was scared, because, well, she _wasn’t_, just caught off guard. As Sybus made the catch translucent and intangible, he whisked it away to where he thought Shelby wanted it, facing it as he did. H then returned his glance back to the human’s.\n\nEven though she didn’t say it, he could feel that she was…_shocked_ to say the least. Sybus saw the face on her head bending itself to keep itself sane instead of just…collapsing with her body in the surprise of it all…and yet, she kept to herself, her heartrate going through the roof and her pupils ending up like coins, large and round. Was she…_astonished_ by him?\n\nHmmmmm…\n\nSybus didn’t know what to think, and yet, he looked to the ground and gained a face denoting apology. The poor drake felt that his pride was dwindling. He first scared her with the mere idea of the animal being dropped onto her cold floor, and now she wanted to deal with it later somewhere else. All in all, he felt like his attempt at goodwill from rescuing him from starvation was a bit of a _failure_. He was a mess.\n\n_Bahamut, why did you choose this to happen to me? For me to be a mess of a dragon?_\n\nSybus didn’t get it. He didn’t even understand _himself_ all that well.\n\n“I-I’m sorry Shelby, I-I…”\n\n“No, no. You don’t have to be sorry for anything. It’s okay. Really, it _is_.”\n\nHe perked up. She was…_fine_…with all of this? With _him?_ Him and his fruitless attempts to repay her? The ghost dragon returned his posture of gazing at her at his full height while on his rump, gaining a bit of…_relief_ of sorts.\n\n…\n\nPoor Sybus…\n\nShe sensed he probably felt all nasty inside from all of this with just the sheer lack of form his stance had, with some structure, but with the slightest breathes and visible inflating of his lungs. God, not even a _man_ was like this to her. This just went and showed that Sybus truly _cared_, concerned over every little mistake that could possibly offend her. However, she was humble and understanding, _open-minded_. It was correct that she didn’t know what to feel about the dragons inserting themselves in human society, but she still viewed them as _people_, always striving to do better, make a living, laugh and cry, start up a family, leave a legacy behind. Despite the fact that Sybus appeared to have nothing to his name, he had the utmost kindness, becoming a better person than even some _humans_ she knew, and this was all despite the two meeting only _once_ before! It was truly amazing that this happened in this time and space.\n\nHowever, then there was a bit of silence roaming about the room. Nobody knew what to say, and for good reason. Sybus was too much of a nervous wreck to do anything, and Shelby just simply didn’t know what to do.\n\nLord. Now what? What could…wait. Shelby’s eyes moved over to her left. It was her…tub of…then…her brain laid an egg and hatched an idea. Could…she…? Yes! Of course! It was a win-win situation! Yes, an exchange, a _trade_, her curiosities would be sated, and Sybus will have his courage back, making him feel comfortable! Perfect! The woman’s eyes resumed their contact into his of the brightest of blue, even though he was looking away like a school child that was rather meek around others. However, her humanly vocal cords got him to dive into those hazel eyes of hers again.\n\n“How about _this_…” She started.\n\n“How about you show me all that you can do, and I’ll let you have some _ice cream_ with me.”, she finished, placing her left palm on her chest above her breasts.\n\nSybus’s eyes widened. \u0026nbsp;\n\nW-What? S-She…want…know more…about him? More about what he could do? W-Was it…it because she was…_fascinated_ by him?\n\nHmmmm…\n\nIt only made sense. Afterall, no ghost dragon in memory has ever reached out to humans before since…_you know_…and, in a way, she was right. This whole situation was kind of a fumble on his part, but with this, he could finally give back to his savior all those Moons ago, and…but…\n\n_I-I…i…i…i…sc…sc…_ W-What…?\n\n“_I-I…scream?_”, he questioned.\n\nW-What…what was she talking about?\n\nThe white-scaled drake gained an inquisitive, if somewhat _lost_ look upon himself.\n\n“W-What…is _that_?”\n\nWhat would this…‘_I scream_’…do? D-Did it make you _yell?_ Bahamut, just…what _was_ this…_thing_ she said? He was more confused than a newborn hatchling who just woke up in the world of the living.\n\n…\n\nShelby viewed his tilted horned head and eyebrows shifting to give a face of complete puzzlement, like he saw her grow a second head. Sybus didn’t even…no, he has to be joking, right? Everybody and their mother has heard of _ice cream!_ B-But…no, it had some sense to it. He never had contact outside of the dragon except for _her_. _Of course_ he wouldn’t know, and yet, she couldn’t help herself, help herself talking about this amazing _invention_ by Mankind.\n\n“W-What? You don’t know what _ice cream_ is?”, she said with a slight smile, as if believing that the drake was pulling a gag on her.\n\nSybus just arched his right brow. He was still out of the loop, and despite that, he still listened to the human’s standing morphing into a bit of a spinning jig, her hands going to her chest as she faced the ceiling. Was she…playing?\n\n“Oh, it’s only _best_, _sweetest_, most _scrumptious_ treat Humanity has ever created!”\n\nW-What? Like…like…_berries?_ Such a thing was hard to come by, especially when adding competition into the equation, but…was this…_sweeter_ No, it was impossible! R-Right? So, okay, _now_ Shelby got his interest. His eyes widened a bit, but with a bit of skepticism. However, the offer stood, the woman returning her usual position standing straight with a bit of a grin after wiping her dirty blonde hair a bit from a twist on the tiles.\n\n“A…_t-treat_?”, Sybus asked, curious like a toddler with a new plaything.\n\nHowever, there was the inescapable fact that she was once again giving him something. Yes, it was for something else in return, and his dignity would be returned, but it didn’t change the idea of removing something from her possession once again. \u0026nbsp;\n\n_Oh Bahamut. What fate you have thrusted upon me…_\n\nHe gained an…_apprehensive_ look upon himself again as he turned away in regret that he was in this position once again.\n\n“N-No, I _couldn’t_…I…”\n\n“No, it’s okay.”\n\nHe returned, drowning in the chocolate of her eyes…\n\n“I…”\n\nShelby stopped. Was…w-was she _really_ about to ask him to do this? It probably seemed like insanity at first, but…she couldn’t put her finger on it, but she felt…interested? In him? As a species? As a _person?_\n\nHmmm…\n\nMaybe it was _both_. Afterall, she wanted something _different_ from her mundane life in which nothing was worse than _death_ and _taxes_. No, the truth was the truth, and she couldn’t deny it.\n\nThe human couldn’t help feeling…like a child again in her mind, or the _curiosity_ part anyways… “I-I want to know more about you Sybus.”\n\nOh.\n\nEven saying it made the thought feel…_alien_. She was a grown woman, stuck in reality where she gets up, goes to work, comes home, goes to sleep, and do the same thing again. Such feelings of inquisitiveness felt a bit out of place for a person like her. Perhaps the Lord Above was tugging a thread of fate to make her feel like a girl again, question everything simply because she could, and develop herself as a person. Maybe _that_ was why Shelby said that. She wanted an escape from the coldness of the world to just be in the presence of not an object of fascination, but another fellow person who may want the same thing…like an old childhood friend.\n\n…\n\nWhat? S-Shelby…s-she…\n\nW-Wha…why? Why feign interest in a ghost dragon? Why wasn’t she like the _rest_? It was why they were all terrified of contact, because of…b-because… _No, Sybus, return to the_ present.\n\nThis was _Shelby_ they were talking about, an enigma that defied the seemingly standardized rules of the world, and…there…t-there was a part of him that wanted this too. It only made sense. He would reveal what he could do to this human, and not only earn back his courage, but also maybe, just _maybe_, get a potential friend. But…friend? \u0026nbsp;\n\nWas _that_ what Shelby was becoming? A…_friend?_ Bahamut…perhaps so. Such paths in the tapestry of life would’ve been impossible otherwise. It was the only thing that held any validity to it. Shelby saved him, and even though the thought of an insatiable debt was looming over the drake’s head like a rain storm, he couldn’t help but want it, want someone to just…_talk_ with.\n\nAnd talk, they shall.\n\n“Uh…”\n\n_Really?_ That _was how you started the conversation? Bahamut…_\n\n“O-_Okay_…”\n\nAlright, he agreed!\n\nPhew…\n\nYes…this was _destiny_, them meeting again…but why?\n\nHmmmm…\n\nThat was something to ponder another time, because now, Shelby was going to get a showcase of a lost dragon species. This was truly a magical moment in time…\n\n…\n\nSybus looked around for…well, _something_. He needed something to demonstrate his powers, darting his eyes around for something, anything, an object that was small, unassuming, and perfect for showcasing the might of Bahamut’s grace. In a slither of time his head went to the left, he saw it. It was a small and thick cylinder, open at the top with a loop attached to its side. What…w-what was that? No matter, it appeared like the only thing to use. The spectral being felt it to be relatively light, it was small, and had nothing inside of it, although he felt some residue of a fluid inside. No, it was perfect.\n\nThe ghost drake, locking eyes with the piece of the environment, made a clack or two of his claws on the square ceramics of the floor in a few steps before returning to his seated position.\n\n…\n\nWhat? Sybus was…oh…of course, her cup. It must’ve been left out, completely slipping her mind in terms of putting it away into her dishwasher. Yes…this was all meant to be…She stepped closer, eyes full of a sense of wonder, like finding butterflies for the first time, a gift of\n\nnature…\n\nLetting the human stand close to him, in between the spread chairs, he could place his forepaws and legs, along with his head if he wanted to, on the impossibly glossy and shaped stone that had various speckles of mineral in it, but now, it was time to let Bahamut work his beauty with his paint, for Sybus was nothing more than a humble servant, a _brush_. His cerulean orbs, like a magnifying glass, pinpointed onto the center of the cup, and, with his lifted paws as if he was performing a trick, clamped around the burned and manufactured vessel for liquids, removing it from the counter’s surface.\n\nHe then spoke.\n\n“R-Right. _Ghost dragons_…well, we can do a _lot_ of things.”\n\nShelby paid attention like she was in school again, straigting her legs and eyes and ears stuck on the focus of interest.\n\n“One of things we can do is, well, _float_ ourselves and things around. Like _this_.”\n\nOnce he stated this, he released the mug, but instead of it falling and likely crashing into several pieces and dust, it didn’t. Instead, it levitated, like a string was taped to it and was lifted into hidden rafters. It was pure magic. While Shelby had seen it before, it still didn’t cease to amaze her. Even when he floated it above his head, paw in the air as he stared at it, it was still a feat of nature.\n\nThe work-tired woman gazed on at the gravity-defying power Sybus had.\n\n“I-It’s not as good as a _psychic dragon_, b-but we can still do it.”, he stated.\n\nOh?\n\nHmmmm…\n\nIt made sense. The purple dragons could move matter with their minds, but they didn’t _specialize_ in certain types of elements like others did, and they had an _astonishingly_ difficult time moving _fluids_.\n\nThe cup was then guided to his paw facing the ceiling, the cold and smooth surface being felt by the soft pads of the foot. Sybus then sought to manipulate this object with his paw in a different fashion. With his bright sapphire spheres, he rolled the joint of his paw in order to hook two clawed toes into the loop of the drinking container and gripped on the best he could without thumbs.\n\n“Another thing we can do…”, he began, but didn’t finish as he started using another one of his Bahamut-given gifts to demonstrate for the woman.\n\nHowever, Shelby once again witnessed an additional strength of the drake’s species. The cup, once an obvious and clearly visible _egg white_, had something happen to it. It was once an item of matter, visible to all eyes, but now…it _wasn’t_. Like a towel being covered in grime on the countertop, it slowly but surely _vanished_. It faded into nothingness, as if there was nothing there.\n\n“…is turn and make things we touch become invisible, l-like _this_.”\n\nOh…oh my Lord…he…h-he can make things invisible but just…_touching_ it! I-It was all it took!\n\nAstonishment was the only description, yes, astonished at how such a miracle could happen and forever be obscured by the dragon race! Sure, a psychic dragon could fool people into not recognizing their presence, but it took a great deal of effort to do so, and for the bright yellow light dragons, they could reflect light to give the _illusion_ of transparency, but with a bunch of lights on them and a very keen eye, their façade could easily be distinguished from the environment, as it simply looked like they had a coat of gloss that looked exactly like what was behind them based on perspective, but…_this?_ _This_ was _true_ invisibility, one that could fool even the greatest of physicists. This was such a seemingly impossible and crazy thing a person could do.\u0026nbsp; The best Shelby could do was hold her left hand over her mouth before sliding it down, eyes as huge as a _kickball_ upon witnessing it. Again, it was like a magician was putting up an act, but this wasn’t a falsehood, this was _reality_. The ghost drake then slowly made it reappear, like water was pouring over it, as it eventually became visible as an object in time and space once more. The bone-white dragon grasped onto it tightly, as he needed to hold it in a specific way given his lack of thumbs and prevent it from falling.\n\n“A third thing that we can do…”, Sybus started treading, but not going at full speed, not yet.\n\nHer inverted his paw so that it was facing downwards with the cup clinging onto the soft flesh of the underfoot. Then, another insane accomplishment meant to only be doable by immortals occurred. Once again, it was as if a screen was being painted on the looped pottery, but it didn’t poof itself out of existence, but instead became slightly translucent, the colors of it still able to be made out, but it had a spirited hue about it, the sights behind it visible. It even extended to his paw and a little up his foreleg.\n\n“…is make ourselves and anything we touch to go _through_…_things_.”\n\nThe dragon then lowered it, and…and…\n\nOh…o-oh…G-God…S-Sybus, t-the dragon…h-he…t-the…t-the cup and his lower leg…tthey…went _through_ her countertop. No sound came out as the cup and his paw came out through to the underside of the speckled granite. It was as if a portal had been made that caused them to pop out to the other side.\n\nW-Wha…he…h-he then…retrieved them! The drake retracted his leg, and then…slowly…went right through it again! It was like he was a boy dipping a cookie into some milk, but nervous as to not do it fast and spill it around or break the cookie itself too quickly. Shelby…sshe…was…flabbergasted…shocked…_lost for words._ How…h-how was this possible? No dragon could ever do that! Even _shadow dragons_ had limits as to where they could _shadow walk!_ They needed darkness everywhere! But _ghost dragons_? No, _no_, they seemed like masters of the hidden, able to phase through the solid world like thin air! And _floating_? The sky was the limit! And they could move things with their powers! It was like…a _ghost_, but not just _any_ ghost, but one that was…_shrunken_ down into himself, _afraid_ of the world. \u0026nbsp;\n\nGod, poor Sybus. They would be embraced in the world! But…wait, her train of a thought bubble screeched to a halt as Sybus flipped his paw towards the attic of her house and the ceramic made itself a part of the present again, regaining its solid appearance and likely returning to the realm of the living. But…\n\nWait a hot minute. Sybus could move himself and objects touched through concrete matter, that was very much, but…what if…now, what if…\n\nHmmmm…\n\nA curiosity was what she had, and she doubted it would be satiated until she asked him about, and that, she did.\n\n“W-Wait.”\n\nSybus, almost lost in the manipulation of the world around him, returned facing his snout at the human, eyes piercing behind her eye sockets like lasers, his face perked up. W-What? She was…about to ask something?\n\n“W-What if…you make yourself solid when you’re already _in_ something?”\n\nWhat? Wha…oh...oh Bahamut. Right…_that._ He unhooked his claws from the cup carefully as to not scratch it, Bahamut knows it’s bad to ruin the belongings of the one who gave him hospitality, and calmly turned his paw around its joint and released it on its side on the stone, it rolling a bit to find some semblance of balance.\n\nHe spoke.\n\n“Oh, _that?_ Well…” Sybus started, gazing off into space to the right as he lifted his right paw and slid it along his neck scales the shade of a sheet in trying to come up with an explanation.\n\nAh, yes…it was something that all dragons, including himself, are told about at a very young age. In fact, it was one of the most _important_ things they were taught, even taking precedence over mating, a…_private_ subject all drakes and dragonesses were lectured about in their adolescence. After a slide of his paw towards the back of his throat, he returned it to the tiles below, his maw slightly down at an angle to the left.\n\n“I-It’s something all hatchlings have to be taught at a young age and must be perfected. That’s because if we become physical in something…we get…_stuck_.”\n\nHmmmm…\n\nYes, it made sense. If a shadow dragon melted into a shade or shadows of a structure or person, those less experienced would get partially trapped into the floor until either they or another got them out. It would not only be embarrassing, but also…_uncomfortable_, having a part of your body inside the ground.\n\nRough…\n\nBut then came another question. Shadow dragons could shadow walk with their own being, _that_ was very much certain. However, another thing to note was that they could not only submerge themselves in darkness, but also anyone else they held. Shelby couldn’t even _imagine_ letting somebody go inside of the earth, concrete, metal, or whatever, but whether on purpose or by accident, they could do it. Could…could ghost dragons…?\n\nShe sought to know the truth.\n\n“U-Um…Sybus?”, The woman asked his name. As a response, he curled his eyeballs in their sockets to face her, those icy bolts of pupils drawing a connection with her hazelnut ones.\n\n“C-Can you…h-have you ever tried having…a-a _person_ go through something?” His eyes widened…what?\n\nA…a-as in…a _living person?!_\n\nWhile Sybus was about to shut down the idea, he then began to contemplate its significance within the realm of possibility.\n\nHmmmm…\n\nSurely it couldn’t be done...right? No, _no_, think about it. That was the very way he dragged a deer in this cave of Shelby’s. Sure, it was dead, but this was something he never considered before. The one of boney white plates upon his hide could make himself intangible, and he could do it to objects held, so…why not a person?\n\nHmmmmm…\n\nThere wasn’t anything _against_ the idea, i-it was just…_oh_…oh Bahamut. He let the flame burn more and more on the oil that was his thoughts. No, he…h-he couldn’t. Sybus couldn’t do that on another being. W-What…if…no! He couldn’t imagine messing that up and possibly leaving them uncomfortable going through matter that was once solid. The ghost drake surmised it would’ve felt so, _so_ alien, so _wrong_. He couldn’t and _wouldn’t_ dare do that on a living _dragon_ in his life! He just kept up drawing doubts and fears, of what they would think. T-They would be terrified of him! T-They would kill him! H-He… _No, stop it! You can’t be curious about this!_\n\n_Well…_\n\nNo, the dragon couldn’t stop thinking about it. He’s already mastered his abilities before, so he asked himself…why hasn’t he come up with this yet? How had no other discovered this prospect? It really didn’t help that…t-that…\n\n_No, stop thinking about it Sybus, Bahamut knows it wasn’t your fault._\n\nB-But still, this was like his parents teaching little Sybus something new about himself, about his gifts. It…_intrigued_ him, and yet, it left him scribbling up nothing in terms of an actual answer. \u0026nbsp;\n\nThe scaled and pointed face of draconic nature darted to the left before going back to that awkward angle again.\n\n“Oh! Uh, well, I-I…I-I _don’t know_, I mean…”\n\nShelby saw him _stutter_ and noticed his change in posture right away. When he went on to give her a lesson about himself, she didn’t have a direct definition of it, but he had a sense of…_confidence._ He spoke like he was in an aura he became so comfortable with despite the situation, giving her seedlings of what could be a brave and courageous drake, but was stuck underneath a skin of fear of not knowing what could happen next. \u0026nbsp;\n\nW-Why was he this way? Now, with such point being brought forth to his face, he was that stumbling drake again, as if afraid that he would…disappoint her? God knows he’s done more than enough to do the exact opposite and impress her, even if he didn’t owe her anything, b-\n\nbut…\n\nHmmmm…\n\nSybus…was…_interesting_. That was something she _struggled_ to call anyone in her life, minus her parents. The ghost drake was a _puzzle box_, difficult to break open into the outward prize of satisfaction, and yet, he was a _good_ puzzle box, not like all the people that were simple to figure out. However, the great and quite confusing idea flashed like a burning lightbulb in her mind.\n\n_W-What if…no, no! That’s ridiculous Shelby! He wouldn’t do…that! W-Would he…no, this was selfish! Y-You couldn’t…_\n\n…\n\nBahamut.\n\nW-Was…he…interested by this as well? No, this was an _assumption_ at best! But…i-if he was…no, Sybus, you couldn’t _possibly_ be considering this! Think about it! \u0026nbsp;\n\n_You’ve never done this, or, well, even conceived of knowing this before! Just because it applied to everyday items, that didn’t mean you could turn yourself and another actual being into this phase! Right? R-Right?!_\n\nHe didn’t know. Perhaps _that_ was his _fear_, the fear of _not knowing_. All creatures felt this way. You didn’t go into a dark cave blind and expect not to trip on a stray stone or get mauled by a bear! But then…there was _curiosity_, yes, curiosity, not of what wasn’t, but what it _could_ be.\n\nHmmmmm…\n\nThink about it.\n\n_If this worked, you could share your powers another, your future_ mate! _Sure, it could be a ghost dragoness, but it could also be of_ another _dragon race! Yes! No, Sybus, you need_ courage. _Bahamut is giving you an_ opportunity_, an opportunity to learn, not from a sage, but from_ yourself. _Do it for your own sake and in Bahamut’s name. With_ Him _by your side,_ anything _is possible._\n\nShelby, however, beat him to it. How? Why?\n\nWell, it all started with a _question_.\n\n“C-Can you try it…” W-What?\n\n“…w-with _me_?”\n\nWha…s-she…what? What!? _What?!_ **_What?!?!_** Bahamut, she…s-she…wanted him…to try it…on…no, _no!_ Bahamut no! He couldn’t do that! Not on her! But…\n\nB-But…there was a small part of him, one very tiny, seemingly insignificant part of him that thought…\n\n_I…might want to do this._\n\nIt was blasphemous. Everything could get ruined. What if he messed up? What if he proved that he truly was an _excuse_ for a dragon?\n\n_No, Sybus!_ Damn _you! How could you even consider doing this to_ Shelby?!\n\nB-But…she asked to try this herself! What was going on!? \u0026nbsp;\n\nNo words, no questions…just…_acceptance_. This was meant to be. Perhaps it was a test by\n\nBahamut, all to expand his powers, possibly beyond his draconic brothers and sisters.\n\nMaybe…maybe it was a _blessing_. There was only one way to go.\n\nAll he had to do…was…\n\n“R-Really? I-I don’t know, I…”\n\n_Whelp. Way to foul that up with your own_ self-deprecation._\u0026nbsp;_\n\nShelby saw this in his eyes darting around, as if some spirit had forcibly removed his courage from him. It wasn’t that he was not willing, it was that…he was fearful, fearful…of harming…_her?_ Or…take a blow towards his race. No, he couldn’t be like this, the gracious human needed to give him strength, a reassurance. She _wanted_ this, and was willing to take the brunt of any issues that followed, and yet, even a slither of her mind was uneasy, her heart beating…_faster_, like a life-altering decision was about to be made, for she…also didn’t want her arm to end up stuck in concrete. Actually, now that she thought about it, this kind of sounded funny if it didn’t work.\n\n_What are you worrying about? It’s just your_ damn _kitchen counter._\n\nBut then there was Sybus. The dragon of the lost race was like the drake he was before, always on glass, trying not slip up and make a mistake. No, she needed to do this, for _him_.\n\n“N-No. I…”\n\nA pause…but not for long.\n\n“I-I want to try it.”\n\nSybus’s lenses expanded, arches blowing up as a result.\n\nS-She…it was settled. T-This was a test, or…o-or was it for something else? No, the one of the spectral plane now realized, he needed to do this for Shelby, for Bahamut, for himself. He let out a sigh. It had the aura of nervousness and belief that he had to accept all repercussions from it.\n\n“O-Okay…”, he said softly, slowly shaking his head with a bit of worriedness about him as he twisted his body and rump in the flooring to the left once again, facing the shining rock of human manufacture.\n\n_Okay, well…_\n\nShelby took a couple steps closer, going in front of his left wing and…by his side. This was the _closest_ they’ve ever been, and yet. They were like children, fixated on a butterfly, or a lightning bug outside. The two didn’t care, even if Sybus gave off a bit of coolness emanating from his frozen pale leather plates.\n\nThe drake curled his neck around to her. He saw those eyes of the sweetest of chocolates, even if he never knew what it was yet in this life, and yet…yes…he wanted this. And Shelby…she was afraid, the sensing her increased pulse emanating with his gifts, but didn’t care. \u0026nbsp;\n\n_Shelby_ was special.\n\n_Sybus_ was special.\n\nIt was…_connection?_\n\nHmmmm…\n\nPerhaps…\n\n“Give me your hand.”\n\nHer eyes fell from his and whisked themselves to his left paw, hanging in the air above the granite to hold the overhand belonging to her. The young woman silently gulped. She was glued to her right hand as she straightly maneuvered it over his much bigger three-toed paw. It was just under it, so she lifted it, and…contact. Humanly flesh felt the softness and coziness of those worn pads of flesh on the underside of the paw.\n\nShe…s-she didn’t know, she…what…\n\nShelby felt his toes keep the claws out of the way as he gripped them the best he could around it. Then came his _gift_, the ethereal hue engulfing his paw and lower leg, and…it came over them like a _flood_. The power washed over his leg and…i-it began spreading to her hand, and…and…she had to suppress a wince. What she was instead was _shocked_. Shelby Grant felt her hand and upper arm gain the ghostly aura as it became semi-clear with Sybus, but it became cold, quite cold in fact, like he was dipping into a freezing pond.\n\nThen…they took the _plunge_…together. The drake guided their extensions, angling them straight down into the island. The two different species held their breath, for they were about to…t-\n\nto…then…\n\nGod.\n\nBahamut.\n\nIt happened, i-it…they…the hand and paw…i-it…fell through! Shelby gasped. Her hand and arm…the entire limb…went through the granite! Solid matter! _Rock!_ G-God! She felt the counter itself, but it was like she was feeding her piece into a hole, but…b-but the hole wasn’t there! God, it was a miracle.\n\nSybus was slightly agape. He…did it…h-he did it! Bahamut, he did it!\n\nThe two both gained a bit of a shared smile. T-They couldn’t believe it! It worked!\n\nSybus lifted both his left paw and Shelby’s right hand out. The feeling of physical matter disappeared again. Then, he lowered both into the piece of the kitchen again. It…happened gain! They…were kids again.\n\nThe woman let out a little giggle. Shelby Grant, one human out of billions, was probably the first one to phase through something with a ghost dragon! And…Sybus was probably the first ghost dragon to bring a living person into intangibility! Even though the human and the dragon were just lazily lowing and raising themselves over and under the countertop, unmistakable grins on their faces, truly, this was a special moment in history. Yes…it was…\n\nHow long did this happen? Five, ten minutes? Who cared, this was a monumental discovery! And the _elation!_ Oh, it was _contagious!_ And yet, the time came when it was enough. Shelby’s arm felt very _numb_, and Sybus was tired of lifting his leg up for an extended amount of time. A laugh was let out of Shelby as she returned her hand to her side when the drake let it go, and\n\nSybus did the same, except he placed the paw on the bottom of the kitchen instead.\n\nNow this…_this_ was _magic_, pure, _pure_ magic, amazing and exhilarating! Both parties enjoyed it a great deal. How could they not? Shelby gained the privilege of being under a lost dragon race’s power, and Sybus finally learned something new about himself, and do you want to know the _real_ kicker? It couldn’t have happened with anyone else. Nobody was as brave, understanding, generous, or as open as Shelby and much as nobody was as willing, wanting, or wishing to do it for all like Sybus. _Special_, yes, they were special.\n\nAfter the whole ordeal, a pregnant silence permeated throughout the house, both still with goofy grins, like they finally discovered an early Christmas present. However, the quietness was broken by Shelby.\n\n“So, uh, can you do anything else?”, she asked, using her right hand to brush some stray bits of hair out of her view.\n\nWhen she stared as Sybus, he did the same with his draconic eyes. However, he processed the question rather quickly with a response.\n\n“Oh! Uh, _right_.”, he spoke, looking away to the left while he took his right paw and swept it over his scales over his windpipe. \u0026nbsp;\n\nThen, when he returned it back to its place with his left one, he resumed the conversation and eye contact with the woman.\n\n“We can…uh…read minds and sense emotions, but not nearly as good as a psychic dragon would.”\n\nRight. They could…wait…uh…what…? Before she could respond, Sybus went on, like he was rambling, facing forwards as if he was in a motion.\n\n“W-We can also…how you say…_possess_ things.” Uh…wha…_what_….\n\n“I-It lets us hide in anything, although it is only for just that. Can’t even imagine doing it on _somebody_.”\n\nHe shook his head at that last part.\n\nThat wasn’t even mentioning the fact that a ghost dragon who was most untrained would surely be stuck in an object for a long time unless the object itself was destroyed or if they had help from another one of the dragon species with ghostly white scales.\n\n“We can also do a mixture of this type of stuff, and…”\n\nHe returned his gaze to the human, aiming to meet those eyes that he had slowly but surely became comfortable with, and…he frowned somewhat and became kind of concerned. Why?\n\n_Shelby._\n\nHer eyes were as wide as the planet as she was deathly silent, body frozen like a statue.\n\nR-Read…m-minds? Okay, that wasn’t new, but a dragon who could do _all_ these things…_and_ that? And…p-p…p-_possess?_ L-Like…a _poltergeist_?\n\n_No, Shelby, slow your heart rate down._\n\nThis…this was too much! Wait, no, it wasn’t _too_ much, but it was…a _lot_.\n\n_No. Enough. Stop it. This was Sybus they were talking about. Remember when he was nothing but a_ straining skeleton _last time you saw him, nearly starving to death?_\n\nHe needed all the tools he could to survive! It only made sense, but…so, _so_ many possibilities that could be opened with this type of stuff! Her mind simply couldn’t name them all at the top of her head, and the woman’s attention was somewhere else entirely. Shelby became neutral once again.\n\nShe saw those orbs of his, and they were full of…uneasiness. The muddy blonde understood, for he likely felt that he was overwhelming her with these new revelations, what with those brows bending that way and his light sulking.\n\n“U-Uh, _s-sorry_, I…I probably went on a little too much, _hehe_…”, he admitted, letting out a nervous laugh at the end of his sentence, once again swiping his right paw over his side before placing it back on the floor.\n\nShelby was still a little lost, but she commended Sybus for the apology. _Hell_, she commended the drake for coming back at _all_, bringing her a deer, and demonstrating the secrets of Ghost\n\nDragonkind. He…there was something…about him that…_that_…\n\nApparently the idea got lost in the scuffle, as she focused on what to do next. Right, what would they do…what…oh! That’s right.\n\n“R-Right. T-Thanks…uh…_Sybus_.”\n\nW-What? The drake was…flattered. Most didn’t ever give him gratitude, especially since…ssince…\n\nHis mind drifted off to her, how she praised him for giving her this knowledge and helping him see a bit more into himself, and…there was…there was _just_…it was…neither really noticed, but there was but the faintest of _pink_ on both of their cheeks, somehow not even being all that visible on Sybus’ scales on the sides above his maw. W-Wha…was there…uh…_something…?_\n\n“Uh, _right_.”, Shelby interrupted the moment, faces resuming their normal shade.\n\nSybus faced her once again.\n\n“Uh, _here_, the _ice cream_.”\n\nWell, she _was_ going to get a bowl, but _that_ went up in flames. Whatever. There wasn’t anything wrong with this anyhow if Sybus was going to be the one eating some anyways. The colorless drake was removed from all except Shelby as she walked over to her lifted rock and brought out her hands to hold and cling onto an odd…_bowl_. It wasn’t shaped right, or, well, was shaped _so_ well that he couldn’t compare it to resemble anything at all. It also appeared to have a…latch?\n\n_Cover?_ What was the word for it? And…why did he sense a _chill_ from it? Sybus liked the cold. It was the ghost dragon way, so…why did she have something _freezing_ out of the cold box he opened the last time he was around?\n\nWait…she’s…\n\nThe pale drake saw the human as she took her dexterous thumbs from under the lid on the upper side, and, with a sound akin to a suction, began to break off this covering of…well, whatever this _was_. Yes, _interest_ was what the drake had. Yes…he was _interested_…and those hands…Bahamut.\n\nHe sometimes wished he had _those_. Perhaps it was a way to make him value what he had more. Then, like box of tricks awaiting a reveal, she peeled the top of the container with a _pop_, releasing a coated air out that eventually whisked into nothing. Even the drake could feel the lower temperature already emanating from it. What was inside appeared to be a solid white mass that looked more like snow than anything. However, the ghost dragon was supremely _confused_, cocking his head slightly to the left and raising a skeptical ridge above his eye.\n\nW-What…w-what…was _this?_ It was _cold_, but…_what_ was cold exactly?\n\n“W-What is it?”, Sybus questioned Shelby, adventurous as to what his mysterious…_thing_ was.\n\nThe woman in the same room still faced the same way and shifted her hand to the right to the silver spoon on the counter, feeling the uncomfortably cold utensil as she tangled her fingers around it.\n\n“This…_this_ is _ice cream_.”, she told the dragon, twirling the metal in her joints to hold it properly.\n\nShe then began to lower it into the batter to demonstrate what this elusive object was, but Sybus was still, well, he was still _out of the loop_ to say the least.\n\n“W-What? H-How…”, mumbled out in confusion, interrupting the young woman.\n\nIf he was one thing, he was baffled, scratching his brain as to how _any_ of this worked. Shelby looked over her shoulder to see Sybus slightly shaking his head, unable to grasp just how this was special in any way. However, she then proceeded to continue while also turning a bit on her heels to reveal to the blue eyes of the other how this all played out.\n\n“I-It’s easy. You take _this_…”\n\nShe had her spoon primed and ready, lifting it upwards to outer space to gesture it to him. “And then…”\n\nShe then rolled her wrist to then have it plunge downwards, and…it touched the substance.\n\nHowever, instead of something solid like a block of ice, it instead…t-the shiny object…_dove_ into it. It was like shoveling sand on the beach, but was…more…_solid_. His draconic eyes widened even larger than before with mouth a bit agape as she plowed some of the ice cream a bit forwards, creating a wave in a tiny sea of dessert. Then, she lifted it up, a pile of the sweet cargo occupying the spoon.\n\n“And that’s _it_.”, she concluded.\n\nShe then drew the sugary spoon and guided it to her smaller mouth, opening and releasing it, but not licking it as, well, she was about to pass this on to the drake in her presence. As always, she sensed the tastebuds on her tongue screaming in delicious pleasure. The dragon’s teacher got used to the taste, even if vanilla was, well, a bit plain, but it didn’t change the fact that it was still delightful. So many nights of just laying back on her couch, emptying a tub while watching T.V., or just needed something to destress her blood vessels, body, and mind and relax for a change. Ice cream was always a surefire way to relieve her bones of any weight and just lie on fluff for a little while, even if it was just a temporary fantasy.\n\n…\n\nSybus was…_intrigued_. He saw her as she transferred the semi-solid coolness into her opening and let it go on her tongue before smoothing the tool away, leaving a whitish streak on the bowllike crevice in it, then she swallowed. Sybus was now…well, _wondering_, wondering what this truly was to _her_, what it would be to _him_. Still, he had to remain neutral. Afterall, just because it tasted sweet to a human, that didn’t mean it was certain to feel the same to a _dragon_. At the end of the day, it could be bitter on his tongue instead of anything resembling the _idea_ of being _good_.\n\nHowever, the ghost dragon was shaken out of his thoughts when Shelby brought the silverware forward, as if giving him a trinket some other dragons held in their caves.\n\n“H-Here. _You_ try it.”, she said it with a bit of the cream on her lips, which she subconsciously licked into her entranceway.\n\nW-What?\n\n_Uh…_\n\n_Sybus! Quit being a coward and do it! Who knows? Maybe it would be as great as Shelby is making it out to be? Besides, this was something she was offering you. You can’t squander this opportunity!_\n\nYes. Right. It was the best thing to do.\n\nSybus gulped.\n\nHe then gained a nervous look from his brows and face. It was as if he was walking into a black room and couldn’t see. Here, he was about to eat something alien that may be quite bad for dragons. Regardless, the larger being couldn’t deny that he was fascinated by this, both the treat and Shelby herself. The woman released the spoon and slowly returned her right hand to her side upon relaying the stained utensil into Sybus’ mental grasp. It floated as the drake lowered it like a pully to capture the force of gravity. He felt the shiver-inducing freezing material that was as soft as a pillow nevertheless.\n\nThen…oh…the backside contacted it, not the top.\n\n_Bah…Sybus, get control of yourself for Bahamut’s sake…_\n\nHe rectified the mistake as he pushed it over like a turtle would their shell,\n\nand…oh…this…_sensation_…\n\nThe believer in Bahamut drove it into the ice cream and repeated Shelby’s actions, lifting it up, albeit with a bit of effort. Apparently, either it was so thick, or it was shockingly heavy. Still, he managed, for he calmly made the tide like the human did, and pulled it up with his invisible force, feeling the mass inside it. It…looked like white _mush_. Was…this…really going to be good?\n\n_No, remain strong. You could do this._\n\nSybus then guided it into his jaws, lifting it open like a trap to capture a beast. Shelby saw the knife-like protrusions that made up his teeth and…didn’t know how to feel about it. It was ominous seeing those so close to her, and yet, she couldn’t help but feel like she…_admired_ them.\n\nThey were definitely better than the _excuses_ for incisors humans had…\n\nHowever, as the drake whisked it into his opening, his maw…_quivered_. I-It was right over his tongue. T-This was…this was it. If this was poisonous to dragons, i-it might have been too late.\n\nW-Was this…g-good? B-Bad…? The fear of not knowing gripped his heart.\n\n_N-No! Not now! I-I…_\n\nThen, he acted on an _impulse_. Sybus’ mouth…_shut_. The spoon handle went out the right side of his mouth.H-He didn’t know why he did it but…he held still. Then…the eyelids of the dragon went straight up. His pupils became tiny pins, and…it…i-it…was…the drake’s mind…_exploded_.\n\n“_Mmmmmmhmmmm…~._”, he let out the groan of euphoria as he let this…this…_magic_ grace his tongue, eyes quickly becoming half-lidded. \u0026nbsp;\n\nThe bigger of the two people felt the ice cream on his taste buds, and…and…it…was…the sweetest thing he’s ever tasted, sweeter than all the wild berries combined. The texture, oh Bahamut the _texture!_ It was so…soft and quickly became moist and fluid-like in his draconic maw. It was so weightless that he felt that there was little reason to put it in between his _teeth_. And the temperature! It was…p-_perfect_. Ghost dragons were always attuned to the cold, always keeping to themselves in their caves when the burning Sun came around, and relieving their tenseness in the comforting frost of winter, so to have such a food that complemented their body’s values was but a gift from Bahamut.\n\nOh…h-how had he not known about this before? T-This was simply beautiful! And the taste, oh Bahamut the glorious _taste!_ The ghost dragon race never had it before, but the sugary goodness overwhelmed his senses and began to enlarge his lenses. \u0026nbsp;\n\nS-So…\n\n“S-So…_good_…”, Sybus let out in a whine, sad that he’s never had such a miracle before, the white mush slowly melting on his tongue.\n\nThis was one such thing he’s denied himself. All ghost dragons ought to know about this! This…it was…Bahamut, even _now_ it was difficult to describe. Maybe it was because no words could truly give this little piece of heaven justice. \u0026nbsp;\n\n…\n\nShelby was…proud, proud that Sybus liked this new delicacy of the human, and, well, _dragon_ world, almost feeling the emotions of the pleasure of taste from the dragon, along with the expressions he gave upon feeling something so powerful. It was nice to see such a commonplace item being enjoyed for the first time by a person whose never has knowledge of such a thing, and yet, she was also happy that he loved it, likely more than she will ever. She’s had too much of it over the years that its hypnotizing effects had long but diminished, but _Sybus?_ She had no doubt that he cherished both his and the memory of having tried it for the first time.\n\nBeautiful.\n\nBut then, the young human witnessed something she would never imagine in the many years she was alive. She saw him quickly get…_addicted_.\n\nSybus immediately took the spoon out of his cave of icicles with his ghostly grasp and began diving right back in, now with more strength and conviction than ever. He wanted more, so much _more_…wanted to hold on to this feeling. His brain wanted to delight itself on the never-ending anomaly that was this delicious ice cream. The draconic mind simply neglected to _care_, care about anything around him, even Shelby, for the being the brain belonged to scooped up some more in a flash and brought it back up to his long and textile appendage, letting the cream fall upon his strong muscle forever stuck in his throat. He wished he could just…let loose his tongue to eat it all in one fell swoop. The drake of pale plates felt the cool treat grace his neurons once again, filling his head with chemicals of pleasure once more. \u0026nbsp;\n\nThen he stuck the spoon again into the vat, threw it in his mouth, then back to the tub, then to his mouth, repeat. It went on the on, his senses shutting down to just focus on the experience of\n\nBahamut’s paradise, as if this was created just for him, wanting to never let this go. It even came to the point that Sybus stained his draconic lips with the substance, coating it with melty streams of white, like milk on a man’s mustache, and yet, he couldn’t care less.\n\nShelby didn’t expect him to engorge himself on her container of the lovely vanilla confection so fast. She just didn’t believe that a dragon could turn to this dessert like a drug _this_ quickly.\n\nHowever, she didn’t pay attention to the rapidly diminishing amount of sweet ice cream in her tub as Sybus shoveled it into his maw like a _snowplow_, nor the continuing covering of his mouth with the stickiness that blended in with his scales, greedily consuming more and more of it. No, it was the _rate_ at which he did, and the amount…Shelby…s-she’s never seen a dragon have _this_ much in one sitting! T-This…no, this…this might…wait…no! T-This might be too much! S-She didn’t want him to get _sick!_ And…oh God…no, no! Not _that!_\n\n“S-Sybus, wait! Y-You have to _stop!_”, she pleaded with him, nearly placing her hand on his shoulder joint of his left foreleg.\n\nSurprisingly, he responded, even with a mouthful of man-made magic.\n\n“Hmmm? _Why?_”, he asked it like a boy would when full of curiosity, his words in between another catapulting of the freezing cream into his waiting jaws.\n\nWhy did Shelby want him to stop? This was so, _soooooooo_ good. Why end it here? Bahamut, why didn’t she join in with him? And…why was this…overly cold feeling tickling his brain?\n\nHmmm…\n\nMaybe it was a transfer of icy temperature from his tongue to his head. Regardless, he just went in for another.\n\n…\n\n_N-No! Sybus! Y-You couldn’t!_\n\nH-He…\n\n“N-No! Y-You can’t have too much! Y-You’ll get bra-”\n\nHowever, it was already too late. Sybus stiffened like a board and his eye covers were peeled off as his orbs changed. They went from a _planet_ to thinned, diamond _slits_. The overwhelmed became being enveloped in instinctual pain as he let out an acute yelp and released some growls. The spoon dropped, emptied, but still buried underneath all the liquid-like mess, bouncing with a clang on the counter as he suddenly gave up noticing the world around him. It was because he felt like his brain was engulfed in a frigid _blizzard_. The all-engulfing sensation was like a pounding in his head, but instead of heat, it was cold, just _cold._ Even as a ghost dragon, a race who indulges in the frost-laden temperature, it internally became too much. He angled his head down at an awkward angle to the right as he shut his eyes. The one of the ethereal realm lifted his right paw from the kitchen ceramic and _smacked_ his head with it, like he was trying to pat out some parasite within the fluid of his skull.\n\nIt was _insufferable_.\n\n_B-Bahamut…w-wha…w-what…w-was this? W-Why…is this happening…to me?_\n\nNo explanations, and only extreme discomfort within the confines of his head. He felt like he wanted to remove it and empty it of all the sharp pain and screw it back on after it subsided. This was nightmarish, for not even a psychic dragon would know wish this on their worst enemy.\n\nHow? How could something so delicious, so good…_do_ this to him? Bahamut…_why?_\n\nShelby disregarded the spoon splashing a bit of ice cream on her granite. \u0026nbsp;\n\n“…B-Brain…freeze…”, she stated bluntly in defeat, as if she was too late in preventing disaster.\n\nSybus was in serious pain, so she doubted that he heard her at all. The vigilant biped tried to warn him, but he couldn’t help it. It was like it suddenly became his lifeline to consume the lake of solidified milk, only for it to bite him in the rear. It was what was known as what she called it, _brain freeze_, an acute feeling of uncomfortable cold in the head, the exact opposite of fever. \u0026nbsp;\n\n_Of course_ it was most well-known to happen to those craving ice cream.\n\nSybus, a person who’d never had such a thing before was more susceptible than most, so it only made sense that he got subjected to this. It was all a part of _experience_. Still, she didn’t want the drake to suffer from this. The one close to him saw a bit of help in the form of a the mug, lying on its side slightly to the right of the drake. Sure, water wasn’t the best help, but it was enough to wash down the dessert and get it away from his brain.\n\nShe tip-toed in front of the white dragon and slid her right hand across the island, her hand a claw. Once her eyes found her possession, she drooped and clung onto her cup and brought it to herself, resuming her position to Sybus’s left. Shelby didn’t even recognize that she was quite close to him as she got it. Then she stretched her body over the edge, knowing the sink was on the other side and grabbed the neck of the faucet and turned it to the left where it was closest to her, lowering the manufactured container of water to be filled up once again under the spicket. With her left hand, the flesh upon her digits felt for the handle to the cold water, and turned it upon her nerves giving her a frigid response, turned it. The fluid splashed into the vessel for a few seconds, and, upon gazing at its nearly full status, reversed the direction of the sink’s activation mechanism, leaving only drips leaking out.\n\nTrying her best not to spill anything, she brought the cup to herself and the dragon, her right fingers in the loop as intended and the water bobbing and weaving around.\n\n“H-Here!”, she told Sybus, waving the drink in front of his face, a concerned look within her chocolate pupils.\n\nThe drake momentarily stopped his assault on himself as he opened his eyes. Sybus saw the cylinder with some clear stuff inside. The one with a tail and wings didn’t care, for all that was needed was anything to relive himself of this misery. The dragon of the lost race ripped it out of Shelby’s grasp with his powers and before latching his paws and claws on it and bringing it to his frosty mouth and _downed_ the water, taking big gulps instead of sips as he angled his muzzle upwards with the cup in the talons of his feet. The icy bomb in his cranium slowly went away, but still persisted. Regardless, the liquid quenched what ice cream was left over after _stuffing_ his maw with the stuff, the mush melting away as it went down his throat, a clear contrast to the soft lumps of sweetness that melted shockingly slowly in his cage. He took in every last drop of what felt like sacred wine before suddenly diving his snout downwards to its previous spot while floating the cup to his left on an invisible string.\n\nThe ghost dragon was breathing heavily, slowly placing Shelby’s property onto the countertop while his high and downfall subsided. He felt his own draconic teeth coated in some remnants, his path of travels into his gullet giving a breath of snowflakes and sugar. It was as if he was breathing out _gusts of winter_ when it simply didn’t exist. About a couple minutes passed in which they both stood still while the inexperienced Sybus got his bearings, the brain freeze melting away into just a _buzzing_ sensation, his pupils fattening from the thin slits to rounded ones upon a few good blinks.\n\nB-Bahamut…w-what…was…_that?_ What kind of horror did he unleash? And…_brain freeze?_ WWas…_that_ a thing? D-Did Shelby…_experience_ this too? Was that what _this_ was?\n\n_Ugh…_\n\nHe let out a long exhale with a deep breath after a while, mind no longer in a _frozen lake_ but now in a _lukewarm pond_. Who knew that too much cold could be so terrible? It wouldn’t change the fact that it would be a comfort of the ghost dragons, but…he should think about overtaking a tub of this stuff next time.\n\nW-Wha…wait. Oh…oh no! Bahamut no! H-He…wolfed down her treat! His powerful orbs took a tiny glace for a millisecond in the crevice. There was almost nothing! H-How could he overindulge on such a present?!\n\n_Sybus, you monster! How…ugh…_\n\nHis head felt like it was full of _rocks_, clicking and clacking against each other on a slope. It was terrible, and, in a way, _he_ was terrible too. The powerful throat let out an exhale of disappointment and tiredness, drained from the ordeal and ashamed of himself for letting his mind wonder as he devoured Shelby’s ice cream. The recipient of such a treat had to apologize. He shouldn’t have let himself loose, but his mind just couldn’t deny that it tasted _good_, like, really, _really_ good. _Too_ good for him, in fact.\n\n“I-I’m sorry Shelby. I-I must’ve liked it a bit too much, _hehe_.”, he apologized, the laugh clearly fake as he resumed his nervous and sheepish self.\n\nShelby…didn’t know what to think. Her ice cream was gone for one, but a one-time experience with Sybus was worth it in her book. But on the other hand, she somehow disliked Sybus’ sudden and excessive feasting on her dessert and the breakdown afterwards form the brain freeze. She…hated seeing him like that, and yet, it was quite _humorous_ as well. A dragon, trying ice cream for the first time before having his first brain freeze? Now _that_ was kind of funny if one were to really think about it, but she was happy to see that he was in one piece.\n\nBut another sorry? Poor Sybus. He probably felt bad again for emptying out the tub of the storebought confection meant for after dinner. No, he shouldn’t feel this way, not again.\n\n“I-It’s _alright_…”, she said, albeit quietly, not shaken up, but on the fence as to how to feel about it all, but it was true.\n\nShe thought it was fine, at least for one time, even if her comfort food would be lost tonight. Sybus then turned his head to fall into her hazel and woody eyes, brows in a ridge as he felt…lost. A…lot has happened. And yet, she had…kindness, generosity, compassion…for him, all in those eyes. How could she? He was a dragon, and yet, she did so anyways. Yes…Shelby, the one that saved him from starvation, was something different entirely, but what exactly?\n\nHmmmmm…\n\nSybus didn’t know, but what he did know was that it was getting late. Bahamut, he must’ve spent quite a lot of Shelby’s time in addition to her foodstuff. \u0026nbsp;\n\n…\n\nShelby also bored into the other’s orbs that shot a piercing _laser_ into her consciousness. They were full of…gratitude, gentleness, and…_heart_…why? Why did she feel this way? The tired human couldn’t say. However, her thoughts were torn down by the drake vibrating his vocal cords into audible English.\n\n“T-Thank you…S-Shelby.”, he said, the gratitude genuine and filled with actual happiness and shelter from the cold, providing a soothing warmth into her soul.\n\nW-Wha…\n\nSybus…\n\nThere was…something about this that… Wait. Oh.\n\n“Uh…i-it’s getting late. I-I should go.”\n\nHe said it as he backed up from the flattened stone slab on the island and turned to his left, wings, tail, and all twisting with some clicks of his claws on the hardened floor, head twirled to still stay in contact with the woman.\n\n“O-Oh! _Uh…_”, Shelby began awkwardly.\n\nW-What…w-why did she _stutter?_\n\n“R-Right.”\n\nSybus simply nodded in response a couple of times in quick succession. Tonight was a rough ride, but it was a fascinating one. _Shelby_ was fascinating, that was without a _doubt_, but by now they were both tired and needed to recharge. Sybus was the one to initiate the goodbye, the _farewell_.\n\n“_G-Goodnight Shelby._”, he said, a slight smile on his maw despite his insecurities.\n\nAnd as such, Shelby could do nothing else, but say the same.\n\n“_G-Goodnight Sybus._”\n\nAnd, with that, Sybus bowed his head one last time before turning around, facing the wall as his body became ethereal, becoming semi-translucent as he began to phase into the structure as if it was the sky’s air. The two went their separate ways once again, and yet, they would never forget this experience. It became a core memory for them, as it almost felt like it was the start of something new. Sure, it may have been quite early to call the other a friend, but they felt…\n\nOh…\n\nThey couldn’t describe it. Why did the draw, the interest, the _fascination_, appear amongst the two? Was it Sybus’ unsocial, but well-meaning and caring personality? Was it Shelby’s universal kindness and willingness to make everyone happy, even at the cost of her time? Or…was it just merely curiosity? Curiosity towards the other? Why _of course_ one would have the idea of interacting with an apparition, but Sybus was no ghost, for he was a living and breathing dragon, and yet, Shelby still didn’t have the answers. Why was Sybus the way he was?\n\nHmmmmm…\n\nEither way, this night was _unforgettable_…for the two of them. They both felt…_happy_, like dancing children as the Sun went away, but why was it this way? Was…there a reason? However, the two didn’t have to wait long to find out. They hoped that maybe, just _maybe_…this wouldn’t be the last time they would meet, and to be honest, they _wanted_ to. Why? Afterall, why would one enjoy the presence of another? \u0026nbsp;\n\nBesides, tonight was quite funny, and it was all over a tub of ice cream, even if it left a brain freeze and a bit of a mess…","series":{"name":"The White Unicorn","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/mvwbGlqn-a-ghost-in-the-hall-chapter-1-phantom.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/nGEDQyKe-a-ghost-in-the-hall-chapter-3-stars.json"}}