Content
Being ‘clean’, as you might consider it, was a rather unusual state for Toby. He was generally a sort of ‘clean’, in his own strange way: his skin tended to be free of nasty things like parasites and germs, thanks to his little habit of acid baths. And the enzyme-filled waves he often soaked in carried away any significant buildup of dirt and even digested excess oils right off him.
But that didn’t exactly leave him ‘clean’. Mostly, it left him slimy.
Not that Toby minded. Being more or less slick on an almost constant basis made it that much easier to slip down the throats of his playful relatives. In fact, he’d gotten so used to it after years of living with his adoptive family, that being otherwise felt fairly strange.
Besides that, washing the goop from his skin wasn’t exactly pleasant. He had to wade into little streams or stand under tiny falls. And in their home, high up the mountain, the water was horribly cold; so cold that he could only stay in it for a few minutes at most, and then he would need to spend at least ten times as long warming himself by a fire, or pressed up against a comforting sibling, or both. And all this just so that same sibling could get him all slimy again only a few hours later.
Yes, Toby much preferred to simply keep his affectionately obtained coating.
But there were some times when being clean and dry were important. And this was one of those times.
Having stopped shivering not too long ago, a recently washed Toby was on his way from the fire pit where he’d been drying, through the winding tunnels toward the mouth of the cave. He ran his fingers along his arm as he walked, taking in the strange sensation and unusual texture, as the thoughts of what was to come began to gradually restore some of the excitement the cold water had washed away.
Before too long he heard the voices of his kin, and not long after that he could see them. Several dragons were gathered near the tunnel that led outside, in a range of ages and sizes. The older, larger relatives waited silently or made sparse or subdued conversation, while the youngests chatted excitedly and occasionally spread their wings in contest.
Coming out of another nearby tunnel, and approaching the group as he was, he spotted his big sister Averi. She noticed him as well and her expression quickly brightened as she changed course to greet him.
“Hey Toby, you get cleaned up?” she asked.
“Mm-hm,” he replied with a nod and a grin.
She brought her warm smile down to his level so she could examine, her chin basically on the ground. Air puffed in and out of her nostrils, and the boy’s hair, not weighed down as it commonly was, fluttered wildly around his head.
He giggled, and she chuckled in response- a much deeper sound given her size.
“What’s so funny?” he asked playfully.
“You smell,” she teased. “Your scent is always strange after you wash like this.”
“What do I smell like?” he asked curiously. She withdrew her head and pondered for a moment.
“Hm… like you, but like a different kind of you. Just kinda strange.”
Toby raised his arm to his nose and took a big whiff. And while he could smell something he thought might be a little out of the ordinary, his nose was nothing compared to a dragon’s.
“Yeah, definitely a little strange,” he concluded in agreement anyway. Averi chuckled again.
Of course, a normal human might consider that for a boy, constantly smelling like a dragon’s thoroughly digested dinner would be the ‘strange’ scent. But that fact seemed largely lost on the two of them.
“I’m going to go over our route with Aunt Lorr,” his big sister told him. “I’ll meet you over there when we’re ready to go.”
“Okay, Averi,” Toby agreed happily.
The smiling dragoness turned and trod toward the forming group with her long stride. The boy continued at his own pace, and as he got closer, more of his kin began to notice him, specifically the younger ones.
“Hey, it’s Toby.”
“Is he coming over here?”
One young dragon started toward him, and several others quickly followed. One of them even put two and two together.
“Wait, are you coming with us?”
“Uh-huh,” Toby replied happily.
The collective response was surprise and excitement:
“Really, you’re coming?”
“Cool!”
“Are you gonna be a belly-weight?” one of them asked, maybe a bit hopefully.
“No, Averi is gonna take me on her back so I can see and start learning where things are. The Elders said I should know the lands now that I’m going outside.” Boy was he happy to say that last part; he’d been happy to tell everyone over and over. And the joy on the little boy’s face might have been contagious, because the excitement only seemed to spread and multiply.
“Good for you!”
“No way!”
“Great!”
And one particularly energetic: “Yay Toby!” followed by a nice, long, affectionate lick.
Toby giggled, and once one of them had had a taste, well, the rest were quick to follow the example. The boy found himself enveloped in a chorus of cheers and wet, friendly tongues, coming one after the next after the next. He broke into laughter and quickly lost track within the sea of pink of how many young dragons were even there and how many times each had gone for an affectionate taste.
When the excitement finally began to die down, he found himself face to face with his cousin Sky, who gave him one last big, happy swipe of her tongue before speaking.
“I’m glad you’re coming. It’s nice you get to, you know, see everything with the rest of us.” Her tone and expression showed a unique hint of fresh excitement and appreciation. She’d only herself recently gotten skilled enough at flying to be let out, and Toby had helped her practice on a few occasions to get her up to that point. It made her happy to know he’d get to feel that sense of adventure too, even if he couldn’t fly himself.
“Me too,” Toby replied with a big grin. “How many times have you been out now?”
“Just two, but I’m getting so much better, you’ll see.”
“Not as good as me!” came a confident response. And very soon an avalanche of similar claims and ever-increasing brags erupted, evolving into a lengthy conversation/debate that playfully carried on as the adults finalized their plans and the last of the group arrived.
It was Averi walking over that eventually broke things up.
“Come on, Toby,” she called over the noise, “we’re about to leave.”
The little boy squeezed his way out of the rowdy huddle and quickly over to his big sister. She curved her neck around and lowered her head down to the ground. Scaling his scaly sister wasn’t easy; she was so much bigger than her little adoptive brother. Even with her head lowered, he still needed to climb up on her foot before he could reach high enough to pull himself atop her snout. From there, she quickly ferried him up to her back, where he slid off and into place at the base of her neck.
As she began to move, he heard the familiar thuds of a dragon walking and felt them as well, but unlike when he was inside, now he felt the gentle breeze as he was carried along, and heard more of the subtle details of each footfall. Not that he would usually take those things over a nice, soft belly- a much comfier experience than having to sit on hard scales- but today that gentle breeze brought with it an air of excitement as Toby imagined what was about to come.
“Alright, Toby’s all set,” Averi told their aunt, who nodded in return before calling out:
“Time to go, everyone.”
There was a flutter of excitement, mostly from the younger members who made up a majority of the group (after all, they were the ones who needed to learn). Toby saw a few passing by, running or gliding low below him, overtaking Averi, each trying to be the first one to the mouth and maybe into the open air.
The sound of large wings grabbed his attention, and he looked forward to see Aunt Lorr standing at the opening of the cave, blocking out most of the view as she unfurled. And then she dove off and was gone, say for the rhythm of her flapping.
Several young dragons quickly followed, tailed by an older relative or two- who would be keeping an eye on them. And then very quickly Toby found the cave mouth had grown to fill most of his view, and he was standing at the precipice with his sister. He looked out over her neck at the big, wide world before him, eyes a-sparkle.
“You ready, Toby?” Averi asked her passenger.
“Yeah!”
“Okay, hold on,” she replied.
Toby felt the sudden rush of air, pushed an inch back. Then almost weightless for just a moment. And then suddenly crammed down against the firm scales as she took her first wingbeat. It was a bit jarring and uncomfortable, but he was fairly used to it by now. True, he hadn’t been out flying often, and almost never like this, but he got crammed in tight against necks daily- except usually it was inside them and the cramming was from an eager swallow.
Things calmed down a bit once she settled on an altitude and speed and started flapping a bit more softly. And Toby lifted his head a bit higher and leaned over a touch to look down at the world below. They were still very high, and the harsh winds chilled him, but he was almost too enamored to care. Plus, unlike his recent wash, he had the warmth of his big sister below him to draw from.
“Wooooaaah…”
He gazed down at the trees moving by. It seemed almost slow from this height, but Toby could tell it was far faster than any speed on foot. He spotted the little clearing where Clak had taken him on his first outing and saw how quickly they were approaching it. He remembered looking up at the mountain from there and thinking how far away it seemed, but now they were closing the distance with only a few wingbeats.
A few familiar noises reached Toby’s ears, sounding like a voice. He could tell it was Aunt Lorr’s but couldn’t make out any words.
“What’d she say?!” he asked over the wind.
“Two peaks,” Averi answered, sounding like she was repeating something.
“Huh?!” Toby asked, confused.
“That mountain over there,” Averi gestured briefly with her snout. The boy looked in that direction and did see another mountain with two peaks, but that didn’t give him any answers.
“What’s special about that?!” he asked loudly.
“You didn’t hear?” she asked, now a bit confused herself.
“No, the wind is too loud!”
“What do you-” but then Averi seemed to understand. “I guess human ears aren’t so good at hearing while flying. You’re the only loud thing to us,” she joked. But she reasoned he didn’t seem to have a hard time hearing her, probably because she was so close by, so she said, “Don’t worry, I’ll tell you what she’s saying.
“That mountain over there is the nearest tall peak to ours. You can use it to help tell where you are, but in case you get confused and think that’s our mountain, remember that that one has two peaks, ours only has one.”
“Oh!” the little boy said, nodding.
Up ahead, Lorr banked, and the rest of the group followed. Toby looked to the side now and saw their mountain, with its single summit. The rocky face seemed so far away, even though they’d only been airborne for a few seconds. He followed the steep landscape down with his eyes as it broadened and leveled. His gaze passed over the tops of green trees, and the multicolored backs of family members flying below him.
That’s when Toby noticed something. He felt himself slide just a tiny touch against Averi’s scales.
It was at that particular moment that the light blue dragoness carrying him leveled off from her turn, following the rest of the group. Toby instinctively gripped the wide neck tighter, but he didn’t move with her as her body turned. He finally noticed the thin layer of slime covering his body, something so familiar it almost didn’t even register, and he realized what had happened. The scales beneath him had gotten just a little too slick, covered in the drool of dozens of affectionate licks dripping off him.
And now he was slipping. Before he knew it, he was sideways and then-
“Oh no!! Averiiiii!!” Poor Toby closed his eyes as he felt the warm touch of familiar scales slip away. The wind grew even louder in his ears, the air whipping by him as gravity pulled. He pressed his arms and legs in tight, as if he could still find something left to hold onto.
“Toby!!” she yelled back a moment later, farther away now, but loud enough that he could very much hear.
The call grabbed his attention and he opened his eyes with a gasp. But he didn’t see her. He saw blue sky whishing by as he tumbled and spun and then suddenly a flash of red and white and-
*SMACK-glorp*
He landed hard on something soft. Soft and wet and familiar. He thought maybe he was imagining it at first, but then came another sound:
*glurk*
And with it the familiar feeling of firm muscles pressing around him, guiding him, holding him, enveloping his entire body and carrying him deeper into another. His rapid breathing quickly settled in the presence of the steady, firm pressure of the throat. Wingbeats, dulled through the layers of flesh and scale, slowed and then stopped as the dragon who’d caught him settled into a glide. He could hear their racing heart beginning to slow down along with his own.
*sp-lursh*
Out the little boy slipped into the waiting belly. With his arms and legs still held in tight, he couldn’t even feel the walls, but he felt himself sink deeply into the stomach floor, the folds supple and yielding, welcoming and extra squishy.
“Toby!? By the- Please tell me you’re okay!”
The words vibrated all around him, and the walls pressed in tight with a *squelch*. As shaken as he was, he hated to hear so much fear and worry in his big sister’s voice. He pushed lightly with his arms and legs, pressing out against the tense walls which hugged him, letting her feel he was alive. And as the muscular grip relaxed from that concerned clench, he let his limbs loosen along with it, sinking deeply into the squishy, warm folds.
“It’s okay, Kyla,” he managed to say. Though her voice helped clue him in, it was her stomach, even in his dazed state, that had told him which of his family members had managed to catch him. Kyla’s had a soft squishiness that he was always fond of, but never quite appreciated as much as right then.
From one sister’s back to another one’s belly.
He felt a wave of relief pass through her- literally- relaxing every muscle around him, letting out a heavy breath and a few gurgles as well.
“It’s okay, Averi! I’ve got him! He’s okay!” she called.
A few moments later Toby heard something else, another voice. Averi’s voice. But he caught only barely a word or two; his ears just couldn’t make out anything more over the sounds of the wind rushing by the muffling layers of his soft, safe sanctuary. He could guess what she was saying, though and his emotions shifted; having just gone from wonder to terror and then relief, he now grew concerned. He realized she must be flying pretty close if he could hear her at all, so he mustered his voice and shouted back:
“It’s okay, Averi! It wasn’t your fault! Please don’t be upset!”
He thought he could hear some sort of distant reply, but some much clearer words from Kyla interrupted them.
“Averi, stop flying so close! You’re gonna- …I know, I know, me too, but I think he’s okay… No, I didn’t taste any blood… Yeah, alright.”
Toby felt gravity shift as Kyla turned, and heard the rhythmic rushing of air as she beat her wings, the light remains of her most recent meal sloshing around him.
“Are we going back to the cave?” Toby asked.
“Yeah,” Kyla answered.
He might have sounded a little disappointed- after all, he had been looking forward to this outing quite a bit- except now he was focused on something much more important.
“Is Averi following us?”
“…Yes,” the dragoness confirmed.
“Can you tell her I said I’m okay and she doesn’t have to worry or feel bad?”
She gave a tiny, unexpected, humorous snort, despite the situation. “Okay,” she replied, and he could just about hear the faint smile he’d brought to her face. Then she called Averi’s name, and relayed his message just about word for word. He couldn’t hear his other sister’s response, but he hoped he had helped.
Not a minute later and Toby was jostled by the thud of landing, then rocked back and forth by steps before they stopped.
“I’m gonna let you out now, you gonna be okay on your feet?” Kyla asked. Toby stretched his little legs, pushing testingly against the far wall. His back was a little sore from crashing into her tongue, but his legs seemed fine. Regardless, though, he was determined to get out.
“Yeah,” he replied confidently.
He heard his sister take a breath, and then the walls pushed in against him. The pressure grew and shifted until he felt himself slipping against the slick muscle. Upside-down he was turned and up he was pushed, squeezed along, back up the long neck inside his little bulge until his feet once again poked out above the red tongue that had caught him.
Toby slid down and landed firmly on his feet as the red and white of the maw pulled away from him. He looked at the ground for just a moment, like he couldn’t quite take it for granted, but he quickly looked up when he heard the approaching thuds.
“Toby!” Averi called, practically charging at him. She stopped just short of him and nearly plowed her muzzle into his chest, having just enough restraint to keep from knocking him over.
He threw his arms as far around her snout as they would go in a big hug, and she stayed right there.
“Oh, Toby!” she said again, her voice wracked with guilt.
“I’m sorry,” he said, trying to be comforting. “Please don’t feel bad. It wasn’t your fault. Everyone got excited when they found out I was coming and started licking me. It got me all slimy again.”
“They-” the dragoness began to say, processing his words. Though she didn’t quite admit it, a little puff of relief blew from her nostrils, past the now quite slimy Toby. She had been thinking for a moment that she’d just managed to fly so poorly that she’d flung her little brother right out into the air. Still, that consolation only did so much. “…I should have noticed,” she said after a moment, still pressed into his tiny embrace.
“…Me too,” he agreed, in about as serious a voice as a little boy could muster.
A somber moment filled the cave.
…*burrp*!
They both turned and looked at Kyla, Averi’s snout slipping in Toby’s tiny grip as it rotated.
“Um, Sorry,” Kyla offered, a bit embarrassed. “But you try having something his size shoot right down your throat at flight speed and not getting a little gassy,” she defended.
That set Toby off giggling, a sound that was fairly contagious. It even got Averi to smirk.
“Hey, you should be thanking me, not laughing at me,” she joked in mock objection. “I did just catch- BWUURP.”
She went abruptly quiet and curled her tail in humiliation, but Toby broke out laughing. Averi felt a bit embarrassed for their sister, but couldn’t resist chuckling alongside him.
“You know, you keep laughing like that and I’ll eat you,” the uncomfortable dragoness muttered almost threateningly, but her growing smirk showed she was still taking it all in good humor.
“You wanna?” Toby asked happily.
“Ugh, that never works with you,” she teased.
Averi smiled down at him, feeling at least enough relief that her mind started to return to her duties.
“…At least one of us should get back out there, help watch everyone else.”
“Yeah, you’re right. We probably both should,” Kyla agreed.
“You sure you’re alright, Toby?” Averi asked, a bit reluctant to go. He nodded with his usual smile and his glow seemed just about up to its usual brightness. She was just about to turn to leave when some determination entered his expression and he spoke up.
“Thanks for taking me today, Averi,” he said earnestly. “I really liked getting to see everything like that, even if it was pretty short. You’re a great big sister.”
*ah-hem*
“Hehe, and you too Kyla.”
Averi’s smile returned and grew, and her big eyes, looking down on him, grew perhaps a touch misty. She bent in closer again and gave him a quick, affectionate lick, her tongue wider than his whole body. She felt him giggle against it.
“Thanks Toby,” she said sincerely. “When I get back, we can do something fun, make up for it being so short,” she promised.
“Okay!” he replied cheerily.
Averi, still smiling, turned and started away.