Sleep (Me/Ieesha)
Night in the Weyr as a man and his dragoness prepare for sleep.
She doesn't like it when I wear night-clothes; pyjamas, dressing-gowns, robes, or what-have-you. As I step towards the center of the room, where she lays upon the Fleece Pile, waiting for me, one enormous, midnight-blue eye opens and she growls softly, before uttering a soft, yet still commanding _chirrup. _"Do I have to?" I ask. "It's going to be cold tonight."
Snorting softly, she nods sharply, then utters that commanding chirrup in her language, Hii'Kirrta. Well, I say commanding chirrup, but the sound she utters is in fact a word that roughly translates as "[away/gone]" as that is what she wants. Giving her a look of long-suffering - to which she snorts and rolls her eyes - I concede to her wishes.
Her eyes are on me as I hastily strip down, but her gaze is neither judgemental, nor lustful; instead, her gentle eyes are concerned as she watches the reveal of my human body; lithe, toned, littered here and there with the odd scar from combat, countless battles against the Zerg. A "gary-stu god" I am not. As naked as the day I was born, shivering in the coolness of the room, I step towards her, her amusement filling my thoughts as she uncurls herself just enough.
Stepping over her tail, I sit down against her enormous, golden-bronze body, then lay back against her side as she "closes" her curl and flops a wing over my body like a blanket, covering my nakedness such that only my head is visible, if at all. Now, surrounded by the warm, musty comfort of her body, I'm no longer cold; the warmth of her higher body temperature suffuses every part of me.
~That's better,~ she states, quietly. _ ~I like the feel of you against me; your skin against my hide. Why is it you still insist on wearing those garments at night? I am with you; you do not need them anymore.~ _ Due to the bond we shared - and her gradual attuning to me as time went on - there was much she understood; or... at least, seemed to understand.
When we were around other humans, she had no quarrel with the human concepts of privacy and modesty; she understood that she could not, for example, follow me into a toilet or a bathroom--and not just due to her size! However, for all the human - or at least human-like qualities she'd gained - I was reminded often that she of course wasn't human; there were times when she seemed utterly alien.
She knew about bathing, taking a bath, for example, and let me do so--but the moment we were away from other humans she would nip, softly, and persistently, at my clothing, wanting me to strip; then when I was nude she would insist on licking me clean, bathing me with her saliva, rubbing her muzzle all over me.
She stated it was because she didn't trust the chemically processed and filtered-clean water of human cities; but I suspected that it was something to do with _scent; _that she wanted her scent on me, perhaps to ward off other female Kirathian Dragons. When I had a quiet word to her about this, she shook her head and laughed--but that was then. Back to now.
Laying there with her, her great body curled, her wing over me, I feel her purr; then I feel the dampness of her tongue as she lick-grooms my hair, licks sweat from my forehead; then the warmth of her breath washes over my head and face as she exhales. As she moves her head such that her eyes meet mine, still to this day I wonder why she is even with me. She could just... fly away and find a dragon lifemate. Why does she stay with me? What on Earth does she see in me?
_ ~Silly human~ _ she chides me, gently, _~we know this. My kind were built... made... - the word you use would be "engineered" - to be the companions of humans. Others, my kin, have their humans, but _** I was designed for you. Engineered for you. Only for you. My human. My lifemate. You are mine, and I am yours--and I love you so very much...~** Drawing her head unto my body I hug her as best I can, kiss her muzzle gently again and again, whisper to her that I love and adore her in return because it is true. Then, a soft good night, and together, we close our eyes and sleep.