Kobold Krafts
Yelz beat her dungeon. She made it. She made it...
For those who have awoken in a tent, they know there are only two states that greet you. Perfectly rested as a kid on Christmas morning, or crusty and wondering what year it was. Yelz found herself in a strange half limbo between the two. Euphoric soreness permeated her scales, the bases of her ears throbbing with delightful strain, her neck tight with the phantom sensation of a man's arm choking her while she begged for more, her paws still shaking from how hard they had curled… Andrew was like a steam engine, oh, how he'd taken some encouragement to get up to speed, but once he did? By the first scale, how he'd ran her over. Just how she liked it. Andrew had been so sweet about it all too, checking on her almost too much through the process, making sure she was happy and content through every mind shattering release.
Stars had been Yelz's night, the cosmos swirling in her head like a blender of pleasure and stress relief that banished far more than the past few months. Weight she didn't know she'd been carrying had been lost in the sands, cast away into the night waves to be carried on ocean tides. Andrew had scooped the kobold, shivering and wonderfully broken, into gentle arms, both falling into exhausted sleep.
Slumber while tangled up with other kobolds was one thing, but in the arms of a lover? One who was so much bigger and stronger, with a body temperature bordering on cozy? Yes. Yes please. Oh, in the arms of a lover was another league entirely. So much warmer. So much more… snuggly. Like a living sleeping bag that could pull her back in if she got too far away.
That being said. Going to sleep right after getting your entire spine realigned and hung up wet, very, very wet, was not the most pleasant thing to wake up to.
"Oh. Oh, ew." Yelz whispered, as if being any louder would disturb the grime that had dried below her waistline. "Oh, I feel like homemade icing forgotten in the back of the fridge."
"Ya not the only one." Andrew groaned, rolling to his back and taking the lizard with him like a sack. "But damn, my neck. My pelvis. My balls. Why did ya bite me so hard?"
Oh! Pride.
"Heeehehehe. Couldn't handle your first kobold?"
"Oh? Gonna try an' be snarky after ya begged me to, quote, fold ya like cheap laundry an' make ya scream 'till people got worried?"
"That… _may _be what happened. Can we go again?" A blush crawled across the man's face, light filtering in through a series of claw cuts in the tent. When had those gotten there?
"Not today. Gotta get ya back."
"Oh. Right, the hospital. Ugh, fine. Can we at least wash up in the ocean?"
"Is that sanitary?" Nonetheless, shaking hands pulled down the barely stable zipper, the cresting sun greeting the duo with warm rays. Other beach sleepers had already risen to start the day, a few nearby winking or snickering at their disheveled appearance. Though, some were in similar states. "I don't think that's sanitary."
"Sitting in love crust isn't sanitary either, Andrew."
"Don't… don't call it love crust." Uncaring of the stares, Yelz waltzed down the shore to plop into the still cool morning tide, paws working to banish the evidence of last nights festivities into the cascading foam. Andrew joined, albeit with far more hesitation. Tanned though his skin was, there were parts that were not used to the touch of the sun, or the gaze of the public.
"Do we have to go back right away? I wanna enjoy the beach as long as we can."
"We've got some time." A touch that was now familiar helped scrub at the scales of the kobold's tail, the appendage wiggling in his grasp. "Cuddle in the tent? We're facing the sunrise."
"Oooh, yes yes. Let's do that." No need to tell Andrew twice. Soon, the slightly soggy lovers were once more bundled up in their tent, this time sequestered in the warm confines of a sleeping bag, to watch the cresting sun kiss away the nighttime chill. Along with it went a weight Yelz had held tight to for far too long; that of loneliness, one she'd almost come to fear familiar. She'd fallen asleep in a man's arms, and woken up in them. Andrew's words from the night before cushioned her heart as she laid her head on his chest; _I gotcha. _A simple, easy promise. "Hmmm… warm."
"Mhm…"
"So… any word on what's up with Wild Greg's?"
"Ah, well it ai'n't Wild Greg's no more. Patricia done bought the building in a bid-"
"What? She actually went through with that?"
"Yup. Expandin' her property management business, I think. Might be draggin' Hershey in on it."
"Huh… and… Greg?" A hand fell between on her ear, rubbing the sensitive flesh to earn the man a purr.
"Nothin' so far. Bunch of the old staff an' dancers been arrested on ol' charges. Them main ones up an' vanished though. The dragon and gryphon."
"Sade and Moonbeam." Memories of the gryphon, a specter of shadow, had haunted Yelz's dreams the weeks following her plea to the authorities. That many of the dancers, just more victims of Greg's web, had been caught in the crossfire? That hadn't been the plan. "I didn't want the staff to get hurt. It was just supposed to be Greg."
"A lot of 'em made their bed. Lot of 'em didn't… weren't gonna be no clean break from all that, lil' lizard."
"I know, but still. I wish I could help them."
"Ya matriarch feel somethin' awful, sendin' ya there without doin' deeper research." Those fingers continued their slow pace, small circles on the kobold's inner ear that had her toes curling and tail coiling around her human's ankle.
"Momma? Ugh, I should have known. How bad?"
"Better than ya think. She be mighty proud of ya, talkin' like ya took down a mythical beast." A squeeze, a squeak, Yelz wrapped her arms around the man as he hugged tight enough to make it uncomfortable. Just how she liked it. "I am too. Ya brave, for a kobold."
"For a kobold, huh? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Ah, ya know," A grin, evil and sly, that made Yelz's ears flop limp to accompany a warning growl. "Small an' fragile an' soft, ai'n't no confidence when y'all out on ya own. Always needin' reassurance an'- ow ow! Ha!" Fangs dug into the same bruises from last night, latching on… less than full force. Perhaps she was as soft as he claimed. Still, the man's warmth melted Yelz into a puddle upon his chest, her eyes falling upon his backpack stuffed into a forgotten corner under a pile of discarded clothes.
Well, he's my boyfriend now. What's his is mine!
Pink paws pulled the conquered bag over, ripping open the zipper to sate her curiosity. Inside was a trove of goods; cups with paper inserts ready to be drawn upon, coloring books dull with their black and white pages, slime kits ready to be mixed into goopy gooey fun, oh, even friendship bracelets! Those were absolutely going to be made into boyfriend-girlfriend bands. She'd bite him if he didn't wear it everywhere.
"Oh yeah, gotcha crafts an' stuff. Didn't know when a good time was to hand it over, though." Ears fell flat across Yelz's skull, her maw splitting into a dopey grin. For all his rough edges, Andrew could be so sweet.
"Andy! These are great, thank you! It'll make the last few weeks so much better."
"Ha, ya know, used to be only Hershey could call me that."
"And now?"
"What do ya think?"
That it sounds much better on my tongue.
Yelz didn't fight the heat that rose across her muzzle, all the way to the tips of her ears, one finding its way between his rubbing fingers as she settled her back against his chest. These crafts… they were special, yes. It was the little things. Little bits of color she could paint back into a world sucked dreary. So much concrete and gray, phone calls and computer screens. The reds and blues and greens of the world had faded with every corporate meeting, every maximized quarterly, every didn't meet expectations despite the back breaking work of so many. Every curated news cast designed to toss down hopes, every scroll with an algorithm made to enrage, every comment crafted to divide…
It was the little things. A colorful cup, a squishy slime, a free burger from a dirty mouthed dragon, a sweet tea from a wise old friend, a helping hand without asking… It was the little things that colored the world again, painting away the drab and the morose and the _weight. _That weight that built up every day, little by little, until you were waking up to go to work only to come back home so you could sleep just to go back to work.
No family…
No friends…
No warmth by your side.
That rut was easy to fall into, because just like the good, the bad started with little things. I'm too tired. Gotta skip this bill, I'll grab it next month. Ramen noodles until next paycheck, again. Dangerous to let them pile up, easy… simple… just crawl into bed and scroll. Just call up your friends and ignore it all. Andrew had been right, you had to do. Only she could have saved herself. Sure, a hospital bed was her reward… no, that's not right, was it?
Yelz sighed, happy and warm as Andrew's heartbeat thumped below her ear.
No, that wasn't her reward at all.
It was the little things….
…it was the little things.
***
Tick
Tock
Tick
Tock
Tick
"I hate clocks." Yelz glared at the disk hanging high on her hospital room wall, once more sequestered in her bed. This time though, the heavy weight of Andrew's sleeping form kept her calm, as did the gaggle of her warren-mates playing dice in the corner. A lap desk sat across the kobold's thighs, her most recent project illuminated by a backlight shining up at her. A diamond painting, some new fangled fad where one colored in a painting with small shining stones using a specialized pen. Many such crafts adorned the once drab room; paintings and drawings, origami and tumblers, cups of slimes and enough friendship bracelets to equip a kindergarten classroom. One of which Andrew wore, a pure pink adornment emblazoned with Yelz's name. Of course, her own wrist bore similar, a bright blue that read 'Andy'.
Another week had passed, another several pounds gained, more musculature recaptured from the grasp of atrophy, her charts green and the doctors pleased. Today was the day… today was the day Yelz would be freed from this prison. At least, she hoped. The cosmos wouldn't deign to keep her here much longer, right? They'd already dodged a bullet… the day Andrew had returned from the beach, Yelz perched on the back of his bike, both security and Patricia had been waiting. True to his word, the wily old crone had dealt with the worst of the legal repercussions that came with kidnapping a patient, but Andrew had been barred from visiting for several days. What Patricia had done to get the hospital staff to sweep a missing patient under the rug was a mystery that would plague Yelz to the end of her days…
"Ngh…" Andrew turned, pressing his face into his kobold's side as she clicked another stone into her painting. "Doctors are… so fuckin' slow."
"Mhm."
"Think I could steal you again?"
"Probably not."
"Ngh."
A paw landed on the man's head. Enough to still him, for now at least. Several more hours, a finished painting, and a nap later, Yelz's ears shot to the sound of her door clicking open. A new nurse, one she hadn't seen before, waltzed in with a smile and a bag, paperwork held fast under an arm.
"Miss Tinker? Discharge paperwork went swimmingly! Got the clothes you came in all cleaned up here." The kobold was up and out of her bed before the woman had even finished, her fellow lizards already packing up the various crafts decorating the walls. "Don't blame ya, sweetheart. Get dressed and we can finish up in outpatient on the ground floor."
Ignored as she was, the nurse left the kobold crew to their devices, considering Yelz was already stripping naked in front of God and everyone, it was also simple courtesy. The proffered bag of cleaned clothes, the same such she'd arrived in, were promptly tossed in the trash, replaced instead with a pair of jean shorts Tolly had provided the day before and yet another of Andrew's oversized shirts. A quick glance from the man showed the discarded bag full of the attire Yelz had been found in, skinny and malnourished on her kitchen floor; business skirt and plain blouse, her office uniform from Wild Gregs.
A glance, a shuffle… Andrew decided not to say anything, silently accompanying his kobold through outpatient and into the parking lot, free at last. Patricia awaited the crew, along with Helk and Hershey, the trio of elderly women chatting over a thermos of tea under the shade of dragon wing beside a small bus. All three clucked like hens, chatting about nothing that mattered yet everything that was other people's business.
"And where is your new boytoy, Hershey?" Patricia smiled, wicked and razor sharp, over the rim of an expensive looking cup, lipstick staining the porcelain.
"He only be in bed, shugah! Oooh, he beg for it so nice, it be fun to make him so happy!" Cackles rose from the three, Helk perched on Hershey's paw like a bench. "Way 'is lil' eyes bulge when he's overwhelmed? So cute."
"Ratkin do have a way about them." Helk's attributions to the gossip was subdued, polite enough to be engaged but just so removed to avoid offense. A triple waltz perfected through the ages, one that died as Yelz and her entourage approached.
"Momma!" The kobold didn't care for onlookers, shame a beast of the past, as she padded across the hospital parking lot to wrap her arms around the shaking old matriarch. An embrace that was returned wholeheartedly. "I'm so glad I don't have to go back in there…"
"See to it that you don't."
"Yes, Momma." Yelz turned her eyes towards the small bus behind her mother, more than large enough to house them all. Even Hershey, if she laid down between the seats. "What's all this?"
"Oh, this is my treat." Patricia's grin had not faded, grown in fact, a set of keys twirling around her finger. "I've a proposition, for one so… unemployed." Yelz felt her ear flick, eyes narrowed, though she didn't say anything. Not yet, at least. "Suspicious? Of little ol' me? Good. Ya learning."
With more spring in her step than Yelz remembered, Patricia hopped up the stairs and into the dark interior, suspension groaning as Hershey followed. Soon, the entire group of kobolds, and two humans, sat in the plush interior of the slightly used short bus. Seats had been refurbished, the floor rubberized, a new AC unit installed, the works! Yelz liked it, though its purpose remained unclear.
"Huh… what do you need a bus for?"
"Well, I'm sure Andrew told ya I bought Wild Gregs. Building went up for auction after its prior owner lost the deed, poor fellow indeed." Snickers rose from the accompanying kobolds, Helk shushing them with a paw. "And I thought, why not expand my business ventures?" Another cackle rose from the woman, the wrinkles around her eyes darkening into pits as she took up the driver's seat.
Business ventures? Was this what Andrew had been talking about? Yelz turned her gaze to the man as he took his place beside her, pulling the lizard into his lap. Claws clung to his shirt, a reflex she did nothing to curb. Helk crossed her legs on the other side of the aisle, Hershey taking up the rear of the bus as kobolds surrounded her, massaging old scales with reverence.
"Your landlord offered us a pretty good deal, Yelz. One I intend to take her up on, but we wanted to wait until you were out of the hospital to offer you the same." An offer… Yelz blinked, mind in overdrive. Patricia buying up the old Wild Gregs building, an offer to Helk, and now her, a bus… what was going on? Andrew seemed to know more too… "You know we've been running out of space. Space, food, money, more besides… Patricia has a way to help us with that and we have what she needs in turn." Helk nodded, leaning her head back against the cushions as trees passed by the windows outside.
They weren't headed towards the city, nor Patricia's Palace.
"Yup. I plan to make that old night club into a shipping warehouse." Patricia smacked the steering wheel, her age replaced with an entrepreneur's fire. "Fix up the loading docks out back for shippin' and receivin'. Kitchens an' changing rooms into storage. Whole upstairs can be made into a kobold warren an' y'all can live there, and run the warehouse for me downstairs. I'll own the building and make some scratch on the side."
"And we solve our job and space scarcity issue." Both crones cackled, dollar signs in their eyes. One slightly selfish, the other with her people in mind. Both, mutually using each other, but with the understanding of it all as a foundation. Scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. "And with plenty of space left for expansion. Just need some ideas."
"That… that's great!" Yelz smiled, truly smiled, looking back at her warren-mates still pampering Hershey who was fast asleep. A home, one not so crowded, and jobs where their labor directly reflected the gains. It would still be hard, still tight, but a marked improvement over the apartment in Alysia. "That's great." All it took was snitching and getting dancers down on their luck and trapped under a predatory freak kicked out of their jobs and behind bars for crimes committed under duress… a poisonous thought, but one Yelz couldn't banish.
"I'll be hangin' around, too. Buildin' maintenance. Gonna get her up to code, I'm sure there be a whole lot o' gremlins in the walls." Andrew's squeeze pulled Yelz from her thoughts, a quick glance reminding the lizards of his promise.
I gotcha.
"So, what about me?" Yelz let her ears flop limp, leaning into Andrew's warmth. "How do I fit in?"
"Glad ya asked." Patricia risked a glance away from the road to pierce the kobold with a hungry stare. "Need someone that knows the numbers an' got a head for ideas. Someone to help run the shippin' business and flesh out that empty space. Sound like your lot?"
Run… the business? Flesh out the space? Management. Leadership. Yelz blinked, chest tight and paws curling. Patricia thought she was a good fit to help run the ship? How did she figure? She was just a kobold… just a kobold… just a struggling fool who landed herself in the hospital because she couldn't remember to eat properly.
Just a fool that ran out Greg himself and got Wild Gregs shut down… no more dancers getting used like flesh puppets, regardless of where they ended up…
Maybe she could do this…
A hand tightened around her paw, warm and rough, wrist bound with a bright pink friendship bracelet bearing her name.
"I've… got some ideas…"
***
Summer heat was brutal on a mammal, it turned them into smelly, moist messes as sweat ran down their skin and soaked their clothes. Kobolds? Oh, they relished the warmth. No huddling needed to survive, only water to keep the limbs moving. It hadn't taken long to get Wild Gregs fixed up, the dance floor no longer a den of debauchery but a lively mess of conveyors and kobolds moving items from receiving to shipping, boxing and transport, and pallets to trucks. More lizards, these in bright vests and new CDL cards, waited by trucks, ready to drive to Alysia and several nearby cities. Music filtered through the din of machinery, warren bonds making the hours short, the crates profitable, and breaks fun.
Their newest addition, craft rooms, were filled to the brim with the companies newest venture; paw made kobold crafts, be it slimes or bracelets, graphic tee's from a press, drawings, diamond paintings, and many more besides. Every shipped package, with a fee of course, came with a surprise craft from a kobold! They had waiting times for those now, the demand was skyrocketing.
Yelz, for her part, was once again exhausted and staring at a computer screen while slurping down coffee. Only… this time, her attire was jean shorts, an oversized shirt she'd stolen, and paws bare of any shoes. Numbers, numbers, numbers… though, now, she didn't mind at all. So much had changed in such a short period, for all intents and purposes, Yelz was _more _tired than before her vacation in the hospital. Yet… a hundred times more satisfied. Greg's office had finally banished the scent of cigarrete smoke, the new paint Andrew had slathered on the walls brightening the space and allowing for a much more vibrant decorating scene of plants and pictures. Johnna and Tolly with their little ones, Kolky and Weny, and Holky and Elky. Hershy and Pringles, the latter absolutely twitterpated, gazing up at his new mate with stars in his eyes, and the latter nuzzling his tiny nose with all the warmth and love she had in every scale. There was so much responsibility on her shoulders, so much trust, loving someone she'd outlived, and he was going to love her with every inch of his soul as her reward. She deserved it, Yelz thought. Patricia as well, on the next frame over, sitting with Helk at the Palace pool, sipping tea, several of the warren kobolds having a grand ol' time in the water.
To think this was once the den of a demon…
No sense dwelling on such things. Yelz rose with a stretch that turned into a screech, her paws reaching for the sky while her toes stretched wide, claws scratching at the floor. Bones popped, mildly concerning, during the descent down the familiar staircase, no longer guarded by security, now coiled by string lights, and the floor busy with focused kobolds who waved at their passing boss. Yelz offered token wags of her tail as she ventured out of the warehouse and into the sunlight, warm beams heating her scales and framing Andrew's wide, bare shoulders.
Focus, girl… not out in the open…
"Andrew! How's the new project going?" Sweat beaded at the man's brow, a remote in his hand as he looked skyward towards the building's roof.
"Just about to test it. Wanna join?"
"You know it!" Paw grasped at hand as the man pressed several buttons, the already bright lot illuminating that much more. There, over the front entrance of what had once been Yelz's dungeon, now shone a bright neon sign….
Kobold Krafts and Shipping Co.…
….open for business.
A smile couldn't have been brighter upon her muzzle. The first time she'd stood in this parking lot, under a pale moon, surrounded by drunkards and dead eyed prostitutes, Yelz had thought this place a portal to hell. Here, flesh was sold as a product, dignity scoffed upon, restraint a weakness. Greg threw women into a grinder and spat their remains into a pyre, their ashes the fuel for his bank accounts, as if every loss of morality was a goal he was trying to achieve. Countless nights she'd spent crying under a desk, begging for a break, a windfall, someone to save her.
No one had came.
She'd had to save herself.
And she had.
At the time, that single act had ripped what little foundation she'd had in her life out from under her paws. Lost everything, or so she thought. It felt like that, sometimes, ripping out the old and the festering and the rotten. It hurts. Especially at first. Sometimes it even hurts those around you.
But looking at that sign… her home… with her mate's hand in her paw…
Kobold Krafts…
Yelz was glad she'd built something here. Even lonely kobolds could make it. From crying in her car to sitting at the top. Still a long way to go, the adventure never really ends. And this time…
….She wasn't alone.
The End.