FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"We're here; time to get out." The voice broke through the fuzziness in Zip's head. Where was he?...

"Dude, chill. He's asleep; at least give him a minute to wake up." Another voice, one that caused a vaguely protective feeling to come out of the sleepy haze. Jeremy.

The sound of a door opening, then slamming. "Easy for you to say; you're not the one who has to drive all the way back."

Another door slamming, then a closer door sliding open, then quiet mumbling. "Yeah, but being polite won't make the trip any longer." A pause, then the feel of a warm hand on Zip's head. "Hey there Zip. Have a good nap?"

Zip couldn't stop a yawn, and he gradually remembered where he was as he woke up a little more. He had gone with Jeremy to a new home and had fallen asleep on the ride. The soft rumbling of the van's engine had stopped, so they must have arrived. He opened his eyes slowly and blinked a few times to adjust to the warm afternoon light. The side door of the van was open, and Jeremy was standing in the opening with a hand resting on the dragon's head. Zip smiled a little. "Wuz okie. Still sleepy."

"You can get another nap soon, without any of that bumping we had. We're here; it's time to come see your new home - a real one this time." Jeremy brought his hand away and stepped aside.

Zip grumbled, but after a few seconds he rose to his feet, stretching his back to prepare the stiff muscles... then he climbed out of the van and onto the ground beside it.

He was underneath another glass ceiling, but this time the glass was much smaller. It arched upwards from out of the ground to a point on a cliff wall, completely enclosing a good bit of space, but unlike the great dome from before he could see the start and end of the glass. It would take a few minutes to walk from the glass to the cliff, but it wouldn't be that bad of a walk. There was a good bit of space upwards too, so he would have plenty of room to fly before running into it.

Well. If he could fly.

There were a few trees inside the glass, and while they seemed strong and healthy they didn't have many leaves on them. It was also noticeably cooler than the other dome or his last home. Maybe there wasn't as much heat trapped by the smaller dome? The cliff could be part of the reason too - maybe if the sun had been behind it most of the morning, it would take longer to heat up?

There was a door in the glass at ground level - a panel of glass that could obviously shift to one side and create an opening. That must be how the van had gotten in; it was probably meant to deliver supplies for anybody inside. Maybe messages, too, though the glass should allow... allow... what?

Zip frowned at the glass. Allow what? Something related to messages.. something that would let one person talk to another, even over great distances... but what was it? He had an idea of it, something like ripples through water, only through air instead, but the concept was fuzzy, and there should be a word to go with it...

"MISTER GRUMPY!!"

Zip was certain the temperature dropped even more as the shout echoed around him. He looked away from the glass, towards the sound... and saw her running towards him from the cliff. "Newfance."

The yellow dragon spread her wings as she ran, smiling broadly, and then leapt into the air. She flew towards him, doing a loop in the air as she rapidly closed the difference. She came down a few strides away from Zip and transitioned smoothly back into a run, and her wings gave one last half-flap before she tucked them back in to her sides. Zip was certain he was about to be tackled by the enthusiastic dragon... but Jeremy stepped in front of Zip and held up a hand, causing the other dragon to skid to a halt and look up at the teenager.

"Hello - you must be Joy. It's nice to meet you; my name is Jeremy." He lowered his hand and held it out towards the dragon.

Joy looked at the hand for a second, inhaling softly, before butting at it lightly with her head. "Hi Jefemi! I am; it's nice to meet you too. Will you be staying here with us too?" The yellow dragon looked back towards the cliff, where a woman was slowly crossing the distance to them. Zip thought she looked familiar... and after a second it fell into place: it was the same woman who had been with Joy the first time they had met.

The woman waved towards them when she saw they were all looking at her, and Jeremy waved back before smiling again at Joy. "I will! I'm moving in today too."

"Yay! Efen more people! We're going to have lots of fun!" Joy smiled, and Zip felt a shiver of dread go through him at her expression. The yellow dragon stretched out her wings and gave a half-hop to the side. "I've been looking forward to playing tag - Steffie told me stories about it, but says I'll hurt people playing it... but it should be fine to play with another dragon!"

Zip had a vague idea of what 'tag' meant - people running around and chasing each other, usually kids. Somebody... Zip frowned to himself. Somebody had enjoyed the game; he was certain that was true, but... he couldn't remember who. Either way, he was fairly certain he wouldn't like the game, especially not with how tired he was. The nap in the van had been much too short.

He started to respond to Joy, but Jeremy spoke up first. "Sorry Joy, but you'll have to wait a little bit longer. Zip and I had a long trip and are a little too tired to play just now. We also need to get settled so Mark can head back."

"Aw... okie." Joy's face fell even as Zip felt a wave of relief. He might get to go back to sleep after all!

The woman finally reached them, giving Joy a pat to her back as she passed. "Hello Jeremy, Mark." She held out her hand to shake their hand in turn, then looked down to Zip. "And hello again to you too, Zip!" She held a hand out towards Zip's face, right before his nose. Zip focused on it and sniffed a little, taking note of her scent and storing it somewhere in the back of his mind. "Ready to see your new home?" The lady's eyes sparkled with amusement as she added, "And get a better nap?"

Zip thought he caught Jeremy grin from out of the corner of his eye, but it had vanished by the time he looked back at the teen. He nodded up at the woman, who straightened and clapped her hands together. "Great! I'll show you the way - I put a few things together for you but it's just temporary; you can each decorate your rooms however you like."

The woman turned and started walking back towards the cliff and the door she had come out of. Joy looked between the cliff and the van, frowning and seeming uncertain about something, but finally started walking after the woman. Jeremy adjusted the bags he was carrying and reached down to pat Zip's neck. "Let's go - I'll keep you safe from Joy, and you can get that nap."

Zip nodded and followed along beside Jeremy, the two of them walking after the other dragon and her handler. Behind them they heard Mark slam another car door and then bring up the rear, but Zip ignored him. Instead, he focused up on the cliff wall. Looking at it a bit more carefully, he could make something else about it. There were... scrapings? Random scratches in the rock, as if three sharp implements had been dragged through the stone. He spotted a few different instances of the pattern, at various points up the face of the wall, though all of them underneath the half-dome of glass.

He didn't quite understand why, but he kept glancing back at the marks. Most seemed faded from time, but one in particular seemed recent enough and kept pulling at his attention. It seemed to tug at something in him - a little like those strange things he just somehow seemed to know, but also somehow different from those. This was a feeling more than inexplicable knowledge. The sleepiness that had lingered after waking started to fade a little, and he felt his tail begin to swish through wider arcs behind him as he walked. He also had a strange urge to spread his wings and jump into the air, to fly up and... and... and what? Do something, something to the rocks on the cliff, but... what?

Zip was still trying to figure that out when he heard a yelp from behind him. "Hey! Watch it with those things!"

The purple dragon glanced behind him and saw the man scowling down at him. His tail had just swiped very close in front of Mark, and only the man's quick jump backwards had kept him from getting hit by the sharp spikes on Zip's tail. The dragon flinched and took a few quick steps away from Mark. "Sahry."

"Hmph. Just hurry up; I'm ready to leave."

Zip scrambled ahead, making sure to ignore the markings on the cliff this time so as to avoid angering Mark.

The woman arrived at the door with Joy right beside her. The yellow dragon was looking increasingly nervous, though Zip wasn't quite sure why... and when he thought about it, he realized he was feeling a sense of unease himself. Something was off, but what was it?

Zip and Jeremy arrived at the door just as the woman finished touching a panel next to it. The door slid open, and she turned back to Zip with a smile. "Okay, just follow me and we'll get you to your room, and then-"

Zip took an involuntary step back just as Joy stepped forward to block the door. The two of them spoke in unison, though the words were out of Zip's mouth before he even knew he was speaking. "I can't go en dere!"

Joy kept shaking her head even after she ended her startled 'He can't come in here!'. The woman looked back and forth between the two dragons, and Jeremy took a step to the side and frowned down at Zip.

Mark just let out a sigh. "Come on. It's perfectly safe; it's just like the rooms you've already been living in. Just go in already."

The woman frowned up at Mark and spoke before Zip could. "Calm down. We're supposed to be learning about dragons. This is something we didn't expect, so we should try and find out wh-"

"Lady, look; I've got a six hour drive back and a stack of reports to fill out. You can write books on this later once I'm out of here."

Jeremy started to bristle and turn towards Mark. Zip saw his hands clenching into balls, and he had a sudden flicker of memory of a boy swinging his arms wildly at a group of other angry boys...

...but the woman acted first, by stepping forward and slapping Mark's face.

"If you want to go, then go. But this is my home, and Joy's home, and now it's Zip and Jeremy's home too. You aren't in charge here, you don't call me lady in that tone of voice, and you don't tell us when we can or can't do our jobs."

Mark looked shocked at first, but he recovered and narrowed his eyes stubbornly as he set down the bag he had been carrying. "As much as I'd love to leave, it's pro-ced-ure. I can't open the door while the prisoner is out in the open, not without approval. Those are my instructions from the people who are in charge."

"Joy is not a..." The woman started to respond angrily but faltered at the end. Zip caught both her and Jeremy glance quickly towards him before looking awkwardly away, while Joy just edged closer towards the open door to block it. There was silence for a moment, then the woman spoke again. "Just go. I'll take full responsibility; nobody's going to get out when you leave. Joy can stop anybody that tries."

Mark stared back at her for another moment, the spot on his cheek where she had slapped him growing redder... then he shrugged. "Fine. If we have to get police out here to hunt an escapee down it's on you, not me." With that he turned and started walking back towards the van.

Jeremy put the bags he had been carrying down next to the one Mark left, then sat down on the ground. "Zip, why don't you sit down for a minute?"

Zip glanced towards Joy, who was still blocking the entrance nervously, and took a few steps away before sitting up and letting his tail curl around. There was silence while Mark made his way back to the van, then got in and started it up. The van approached the glass wall quickly, then slowed as a part of the wall slid aside.

Zip tilted his head and squinted. How did it do that? The dome was completely clear, and other than the seam where the door met the rest of the wall there didn't seem to be any machinery that could be moving it. Was it maybe underneath, and buried under the dome - maybe a track that the door could slide on? That would help anchor the dome and make it sturdier, if it extended a few feet into the ground...

"Wow. Just... wow." The words came from Jeremy, and Zip glanced back at him. The teen was looking at the glass dome too, but his tone didn't sound impressed. More... disgusted?

Wait, no - Jeremy was watching the van, not the glass dome.

The van was creeping slowly forward through the open doorway, moving much slower than it had on the approach to the door. Was there a reason for that? The van seemed to have a lot of clearance on all sides, so it should have been easy to get through at a faster speed. Maybe it had something to do with the door mechanism? Perhaps going too fast would damage...

Zip blinked as the van stopped completely in the middle of the doorway and began backing up. It did that for a few seconds, then stopped, then pulled forward again. The back of the van finally cleared the doorway... and the van continued to creep forwards for several long seconds. It finally came to a stop, and Zip expected the door to begin to close... but instead it stayed wide open for several long moments.

"That guy is a huge ferk."

"Joy! That's not nice to say..." The woman glared after the van, then pulled a tablet out from a pocket. She tapped on it a few times, and the glass panel finally began to slide back into place...

Only to stop when it was halfway closed. It froze like that for a second, then began opening again.

"Wow, he really is a huge jerk."

"Fold you." Joy grinned up at the woman, who just shook her head and tapped a few more times on the tablet. The door kept sliding open... but then it shuddered in place and began closing. The woman muttered "told" under her breath and kept tapping on her tablet.

The door finally moved back into place, leaving only the faint seams to show any sign that it had been opened. The lights on the van brightened, and it began moving forward, quickly reaching a fast speed and dwindling off into the distance.

Zip stared at the retreating van for a moment before glancing over at Jeremy. "Whut wus dat abowt?"

Jeremy just glared after the van all the harder. "Don't worry about it Zip, Mark is just an as-"

The woman cleared her throat and coughed loudly. Jeremy flinched and looked sheepishly down at the ground. "Sorry, Miss Thomas. Mark was just cranky about the long trip; it's nothing to worry about."

"Now - what's this, about Zip not going inside?" The woman settled down on the ground and looked at Joy curiously.

"He can't!" Joy shook her head determinedly and pointed at the purple dragon... then seemed to grow confused. She frowned and looked back and forth between the woman and Jeremy, then back at Zip. "He shouldn't... it isn't... he just fouldn't." Joy let out a frustrated huff and pouted up at the woman.

The woman looked concerned and reached to touch the yellow dragon's head, rubbing near her horns. "Do you want him to go away? We can find somewhere else for him to live, where he won't be around, if he's a problem..."

Joy shook her head again, bumping the woman's hand with her horns. "No, no, I'd like him to stay! Just... just not... he can't come inside my cave." The dragon frowned and looked back at the entrance, confusion evident in her face and the slow half-swish of her tail.

Jeremy reached out to rest a hand on Zip's head, the motion similar to what the woman had done with Joy. It made Zip feel nervous at first, but after a second or two it began to feel comforting. "What about you? Why don't you want to go inside? There's a nice room; just as big as Joy's. It's nicer than the one you had and with an even bigger bed. Don't you want that?"

Zip looked at the yellow dragon standing in the passage, and the dim tunnel that stretched out behind her. The description didn't sound bad, really, but for some reason... when he thought about going through that doorway, especially with Joy standing in it... being in the lair of a dragoness... it made him uncomfortable for some reason. But... why?

He tried to think, tried to concentrate and understand why the idea bothered him. It wasn't just because it would leave him closer to Joy and any aggravation she would come up with. It was more than that, something he felt, deep down inside... but not in the same way he did with the 'blank spots' in his knowledge that he kept coming across. The concepts and words that he just seemed to know the meaning to, even though he had never learned them or been in the situations he felt attached to the words... that was one thing. And it had a certain sense to it, like there was a part of himself attached to the knowledge. But this was different, as if it came from a completely different part of him, one that was much clearer and certain than the fragments of thought. This was an instinct, a feeling, a certainty that if he went into that tunnel, especially with a female dragon clearly inhabiting the lair, then he would be doing something wrong. It wasn't storming badly enough to justify going in for shelter, even though it was a bit cold, but even then there were other ways to get warm than to...

To... what? Why would it be so bad? What was the problem?

Zip tried to think more, but no answer came, and he looked back at Jeremy helplessly. "I down't knaw. Just... not wite."

Jeremy frowned and glanced back towards the glass dome. "Do you want to go back to the barn? We can try and call Mark, and tell him to turn back..."

"Nao!" Zip shook his head. "No... want to stay hair."

Jeremy turned back to the tunnel and the yellow dragon standing in the way. "But... not inside? That's where your room is; where will you sleep?"

Zip hesitated. He did want to sleep... but... did that mean he had to go in after all?

The feeling of dread grew inside him and he felt cold at the thought. No, that wasn't going to work.

But maybe...

Zip looked around him, scanning over the area under the glass dome. "Watt abutt out hair?"

Jeremy looked surprised at the idea and looked around with Zip. "Huh..." He looked back towards the woman. "Would that be okay, Miss Thomas? Just for tonight?"

"Jeremy, I told you that you don't have to call me that." The woman frowned thoughtfully and looked upwards. "It's been getting colder lately.. the dome will keep any rain off him, but there will still be dew in the morning. It probably won't be good for him to be sleeping on the ground out here when it gets wet."

"Oh... that's a good point." Jeremy looked down at the ground for a moment, then brightened. "Oh! He could sleep on the hammock?"

The woman looked around again, but seemed a bit more excited. "That could work, but I don't think we have any trees that could hold his weight..."

"That's not a problem! I planned to set it up inside, so I got the one with a weighted frame. It can hold up to five hundred pounds, and the reports I read said Joy and Zip weren't anywhere close to that. I can set it up, and Zip and I can spend tonight out here?" Jeremy's eyes were almost sparkling with excitement as he looked between the woman and the bags Mark had set on the ground. "It'll just take a few minutes? I can set a tent up around it too, if it gets too cold?"

The woman grinned slightly and looked down at the yellow dragon beside her. "Glad to see somebody took their homework seriously. It's fine with me, if that's okay with you Joy? Zip will sleep outside for tonight instead?"

Joy shifted in place before nodding. "That feels beffer. Jusf not inside!" She glared at Zip and lifted a paw to point at him. "Mister Grumpy stays out here."

Zip gave an annoyed flick of his left wing. "Dun wanna go inide aniwazs!"

Joy spread her wings and raised her head a little more. "Fine!"

Zip huffed back at her. "Fien!"

Joy started to lift her paw more and respond, but Jeremy interrupted her by crossing to the bags resting on the ground. "Awesome! I'll start setting it up. You're going to love this, Zip; it was built for two people so it's extra wide, which means you'll have plenty of room on it. And the blanket's extra comfortable - here, feel this."

Zip looked down at the bag as Jeremy pulled a bit of fabric out of it. It was a thick red fabric, and it felt soft when Zip ran his paw over it. He thought for a moment that his scales would catch on it, but his paw glided smoothly over it. "Sovf."

"It is! Here, hold it for me." Jeremy kept pulling the fabric out of the bag and passing it to Zip, until the entire blanket rested in the dragon's grip. Strange loops and strings trailed from the edges, and Zip squinted at them and twisted the blanket to try and understand what they were for. Jeremy reached into the bag and began pulling out short metal rods. He sat them on the ground until the bag was empty, then began screwing them together - some were straight and slid into a heavy round base, and others were curved and had hooks on the end.

Jeremy finished his work before Zip made any sense of the blanket - the metal rods joined together to form a long curved metal frame supported by four short legs, two directly under the frame and two slightly longer ones tilted diagonally to support the sides. The frame looked surprisingly sturdy and didn't even budge when Zip gave it an experimental nudge.

Jeremy took one end of the blanket and stretched out the trailing strings at the end. They were attached at different points along the blanket, but they all met at one knot, which then led into a loop. The teen slid the loop over one of the hooks on the frame, then did the same with the other side of the blanket.

Jeremy stepped back and spread his arms. "Tada! What do you think?"

Zip looked over the finished hammock curiously. The blanket dangled before him, swaying gently back and forth, but it looked sturdy enough to climb up on. It was like the makeshift bed he had made, but it looked far more comfortable. If somebody tried to sneak up on him they would have to disturb the blanket, which would wake him up... but at the same time it looked very relaxing and comfortable, even more so than the raised platform that had been his bed before now. The dragon cautiously brought his forepaws onto the blanket, shifting more of his weight onto it... then climbing completely onto it once he was sure it would hold.

The blanket rocked gently beneath him, but it held up without any signs of trouble. Zip grinned and stretched out, letting his wings drape to the sides even as his tail bumped against the frame. "Dis is nice."

"Awesome! I thought you'd like it. If it's too low we can raise it up more, so just let me know if it's a problem on your wings or tail and I'll change that." Jeremy beamed, and Zip could tell the teen was proud of his idea working out.

"He looks really comfortable like that. Joy, would you like to try it out?" The woman walked up to the hammock and felt over the metal frame, as if measuring it in her head.

The yellow dragon took a cautious half-step away from the tunnel to get a closer look at the hammock... but then shook her head. "No thank you... I fink that would make me sick; it's too wobbly, and too thin to stretch my wings out on. I'm happy wif my bed. And I don't think it would be very nice to ask Zip to get up."

Jeremy glanced back over his shoulder. "Hm? Why not?"

Zip thought he might have heard Joy starting to answer... but the hammock was really comfortable. He barely managed to get out a mumbled 'than ewe' before he drifted off into peaceful sleep.

---

---

Zip half woke at the sound of something nearby him. The world was swaying in a gentle, soothing motion that made it very hard to wake up, but he still couldn't help but raise his head to search for the noise.

Oh - the world wasn't moving; it was just the hammock. He hadn't noticed that before, but it drifted from side to side when he moved. He shifted his wings experimentally, until the hammock's motion slowed and grew steady.

"Sorry Zip - did I wake you?"

Zip looked towards the sound of Jeremy's voice, and found the teen unfolding a strange blanket of some kind. He stretched it out on the ground, then stretched out in it and folded it back over.

"Yesh... it'sh okay dough." Zip barely managed to get the sentence out before a yawn interrupted him. He put his head back down, resting it on the soft blanket beneath him, though he kept his eyes open for now. "Hi Jermie."

There were a few more scraping and shifting sounds as Jeremy got comfortable on the ground next to him. "Sorry... I finished getting everything unpacked inside and settled with Ms. Thomas... but I wanted to spend the night out here. I've never been camping before. And this way you're not stuck on your own if something happens."

Zip was nearly at the point where he expected to feel annoyance at the conversation, but Jeremy grew quiet after that. Zip began drifting off again, just vaguely aware of the cooler air and an almost musical sound of muffled, distant wind. And the soft glow of something fuzzy and indistinct floated in the sky...

Zip woke up enough to lift his head and blink a few times, taking another look upwards. The glass dome stretched above him, but it was clouded, as if something was obstructing the view. And tiny lights sparkled in the glass, spread out around that strange, soft yellow blob of light. "Wat's dat?"

Jeremy shifted beside him. "Hmm? What's what?"

"Dat. Up dere, in the glass."

"In the glass... oh. You mean the moon?"

"Moon..." Zip sounded out the word. It felt familiar, like something else he knew, even though he didn't know how he knew. The moon, and... and... "Stars." That was the word that went with moon - those tiny, smaller lights around the moon.

"That's right! Stars - they're like the sun, but much, much farther away, so they look so tiny and only show up at night." There was silence for a moment, then Jeremy spoke again in a softer voice. "They look prettier out here though, away from all the lights back in town. You can really make out the twinkling, even on the smaller ones. Mom says stars do that when they're -"

"- talving to each ozher." Zip didn't know where the words came from, but they filled his mind as the rest of the saying, like something repeated often. He watched, and sure enough some of the smaller lights 'blinked', vanishing for a quick half-second and reappearing immediately after.

"Yeah. Huh, must be more of a common saying than I thought. They aren't really talking to each other - there's just dust up there that blocks the light, and you can't really use light to talk with - but it's fun to think about. There are a lot of stars up there, so they could have quite the conversation."

Zip kept watching the stars and didn't answer. Something about what Jeremy had said seemed wrong. You could talk with light. The dragon wasn't sure how he knew that, but he knew - it was just one more mystery bit of knowledge he had, like the word 'stars'. Something... you could send... not words. Numbers. You could send numbers with it, a lot of them, and those numbers could make things... could mean different things. It could go a long distance really quickly, though it had to be the right type of light, or else dust would mess it up just like Jeremy said. You had to use... use...

"Anyways, sorry to wake you up. It's nice to go 'camping', but I'll let you go back to sleep now. Goodnight, Zip."

Whatever answer he had been searching for was gone now, and his train of thought was thoroughly derailed. The dragon sighed... but maybe it was for the best. He was still really tired. Figuring out how to talk with light could wait until morning.

"Niit, Jermie."

---

---

A strange sense of cold, a numbness all over. White everywhere, even in the sky, with little flecks drifting down towards the ground. Snow. Snow everywhere.

A group of children playing in the snow. A boy, familiar, scooping up snow and throwing it. Another child threw their own snow, hitting the boy in the side. Running, dodging other missiles of snow, scooping up more ammunition and launching it into the air.

The children continued playing in the snow, enjoying themselves in the school yard. No school - not today, not with the snow; no adults, aside from a worker fiddling with wires by an alarm on the side of the building. No lessons or harsh tones of alarms signalling the next class. Only playful laughter and cheers of triumph as snow flew through the air.

Happiness. Pride. Contentment. Cold.

---

Zip gradually woke from his sleep with a feeling of extreme restfulness. The air felt cool around him... but not uncomfortably so. The hammock beneath him rocked gently from side to side and he lay there for a few minutes with his eyes closed, just enjoying relaxing there.

He finally opened his eyes and yawned, stretching his neck and wings to work out the stiff muscles. He stopped mid-stretch as he finally took in his surroundings. The open space on all sides was gone; now a much smaller dome of some sort of orange material surrounded him. Part of the material seemed to be loosely connected to the rest, as if it was some kind of flap that could be nudged aside to let someone pass through. A sleeping bag was nearby, probably the one Jeremy had slept in, but it was empty now.

The only other item inside the dome was an odd mechanical device. It was mostly white and metal, but the top of it seemed to be surrounded by some kind of metal cage, and beneath the cage the device glowed an orange color. It was quite warm, with a steady heat radiating off of it, and Zip couldn't resist the urge to investigate the strange item.

The purple dragon leaned towards the side, preparing to step down and move closer to the object... but the hammock swayed unsteadily under him as he did. The motion that had been soothing and gentle before now seemed wobbly and erratic. He paused, glancing down at the blanket supporting him. This hadn't seemed a problem getting into the hammock; getting back onto the ground shouldn't be the hard part, should it?

Zip shifted again, getting a feel for the shifting under him. This wasn't too bad. He just had to lean a little this way, and maybe stretch his wing out that way, and then he could just...

Zip huffed in annoyed embarrassment as he suddenly found himself dumped on the ground, a dull throbbing in his chest from where he had fallen flat on the ground. The echoes of the crash sound that had resulted from his fall still rang in his ears, and there was an odd sound like something wobbling on the ground... but what hurt most was his pride. "Stoopid ham mock."

There was a strange creaking sound that caused Zip to lift his head up to glance behind him. He barely had time to notice his foot was caught in the blanket...

Then the metal support pole tipped the rest of the way over and smacked him right on the head.

---

The annoyed dragon grumbled to himself as he rubbed his head and walked away from the ruins of the hammock. He didn't care about the strange machine with all its heat anymore; he just wanted to be done with the deathtrap that had been his bed. He was also hungry, if the unhappy rumbling sound from his belly was any indication, and there was a definite lack of anything edible inside the orange 'room'.

He paused at the flap and reached out his arm to feel the wall. It was some kind of stiff fabric - thin, and too flexible to be a serious material to make a wall out of, but at the same time it was thicker and stiff, at least when compared to the fabrics he had seen people wearing. It was noticeably colder by the flap, too, as if the heat was being held in place by the material, and slowly escaping through this area.

Was that the point of this dome? And the glowing machine? Keep a small area warm, even in what would otherwise be the cold 'outdoors'? The fabric did feel thick enough to be a passable insulator - not as good as his scales were at keeping heat out, but for keeping warmth in it might be...

Zip's stomach rumbled again just as a creaking sound came from the other wobbling pole by his hammock. He snorted through his nose and slipped through the 'doorway', feeling the fabric brush over his back as he pushed under it.

Zip shivered as he felt the temperature around him plummet. He blinked when he saw a cloud form in front of him, only realizing after a second or two that it was his own breath... and then the dragon jerked in surprise at the sight that waited for him.

The ground inside the dome looked just like it had when he had first come inside it. Beyond the dome, however, there was snow everywhere, just like from his dream. The glass of the dome was foggy and had patches that were completely obscured by ice, but there was still enough clear space to see through it. And through those spaces Zip could make out the white blanket covering the ground, and the trees, and the van parked just outside of the dome's entrance. The snow was almost painfully bright in the sunlight, and it seemed to glitter as Zip shifted to look at different areas.

The dragon took in the different areas visible through the glass, absorbing the sight and how it looked both similar and somehow different from his dream, as if the colors were all slightly off... then he spotted something on the ground beside him. A few objects were resting next to the orange fabric - a metal container, a small cup with lines painted on it and filled with an annoyingly familiar purple substance, and a piece of paper held in place by the container. There was writing on the paper, so Zip moved the container aside to read it.

"Good morning - or afternoon - Zip! It's snowing, which means I have to leave even earlier than I expected if I'm going to make it to 'school'. I set up a tent and a heater Ms. Thomas had so you should be warm, and she said she would keep Joy inside until you wake up. I'll be back soon so she shouldn't have too much time to annoy you, but you might have to put up with her for a little bit."

"P.S - be sure to drink this. I measured it out for you, but if something is wrong then there's more in the thermos. Just fill the cup up to the third line; that's how much you need to drink today."

Zip finished reading the note and glanced back at the orange dome behind him. Tent? The word sounded familiar. The mechanical device he had seen inside earlier must have been the heater. And the medicine...

Zip glanced at the cup, sniffed at the foul tasting substance, took one more look around him... and tipped the cup over so it all spilled out on the ground. "Oopz."

The dragon grinned to himself and shifted the cup so it hid the damp spot on the ground, then looked back up at the glass. It was interesting how only parts of it looked frozen, and how the snow hadn't covered it like the rest of the ground outside. He could make out snow drifting down from the sky even from here, and he was sure for some reason that the glass normally should be coated with accumulated snow. Something was keeping it from piling up, and he was curious what that was. He headed over to the base of the dome to get a closer look...

---

---

Zip looked up out of the corner of his eye as he heard the sound of footsteps approaching him. He would have turned to look, but that wasn't possible at the moment. He couldn't see anything past his shoulder, except for a little bit of his own purple wing. He huffed in annoyance, certain it was that yellow dragon, and he tugged again... but other than a slight fogging of the glass in front of him and a dull ache in his jaw he accomplished nothing. He whined in annoyance, certain the other dragon was right behind him and preparing to do something horrible... but a sudden flicker of motion on the glass before him caused him to relax. There was a reflection, and as he focused on it he could just barely make out a human, not the yellow dragon. The lady from before - what had Jeremy said her name was? Thomas something?

The footsteps came to a stop beside him, and Zip heard the lady let out a heavy sigh.

"Almost two years, Zip. Did you know that?"

Zip tilted his head a little and flailed with one of his wings. "Knao aat?"

"I've taken care of Joy for two years, almost. Her birthday is in a few months - it's hard to come up with a specific day when she was 'born', but we have one. I've lived with her in this place the entire time, and she's played all over, both inside the bunker and out here in the yard. And do you know what has never happened, not even once, in all of that time?"

Zip drooped his wings until they brushed the ground. He had an idea...

The voice continued, but with a bit of mirth slipping into it. "She has never once tried to lick the glass dome. And she definitely didn't get her tongue stuck to it."

Zip growled and tugged again, but with no better results than last time. "Naa possed tao sticc! Dahdn't da fast tew tiemz!"

The lady just giggled again, then a hand came to rest on his side. "Just a second Zip, I'll get you out. And if you're good and you want, I won't tell Joy either."

Zip nodded as much as he could with his tongue stuck to the glass wall. The sound of something being unscrewed came from beside him, followed by pouring liquid... then he saw the woman walk into view. She brought a cup up to his mouth, then slowly poured warm water over his tongue. Nothing happened at first... but after several long seconds, Zip felt his tongue finally come free of the dome. He pulled away from the wall and closed his mouth, making a 'yuck' face as he tasted something metallic in his mouth. "Yeck... than yuu."

The woman smiled and poured the rest of the water back into a thermos, then screwed the cup back on top of it. "You're welcome, Zip - but really, why were you licking it in the first place?"

The purple dragon took a few steps back from the dome, knocking over a second thermos as he did. "I wanned to fine out why da snow wasn't ticking tew the grass."

The woman frowned as she knelt down and picked up the thermos - Zip suddenly recognized it as the one Jeremy had left out for him, and had mentioned in his note - then she glanced back at the dome. "You know... I've never really thought about that. It should be sticking to it, shouldn't it? I know there's a type of metal making a framework to the dome, something sturdy but clear that keeps everything from collapsing... that's probably what your tongue got stuck to, but I don't think it would keep snow from piling up. Huh." She turned her head a little, as if getting a side view of the glass would help - Zip knew it wouldn't, since he had tried that several times himself - then she shook her head and looked back at the purple dragon. "That's a question for another time though. First, I know Jeremy left a note - did you drink the medicine he left out for you?"

Zip thought back to the foul-tasting purple stuff he had spilled out onto the ground. He gave a quick nod and looked away from the woman. "Yes."

The woman made an unbelieving 'mm-hmm' sound and began unscrewing the top from the second thermos. "Sssooo if I were to look at the feed from that camera right over there - the one pointed towards your tent entrance, and which I had set to send me its feed with an alert when it detected motion, like a dragon waking up and coming out of the tent - then I would see a video of you drinking the medicine, and not a video of you, say, knocking it over and walking off?"

Zip tried not to look too guilty, but it was hard, since he suddenly felt very guilty. "Yesh. Unless your tabvet ish brokehn. Dey can braake liek dat sometimes." The dragon gave another nod...

...but the woman just sighed and kept unscrewing the cap, before pouring some more of the purple liquid into the cup. "Zip, it's not good to lie to me. Or Jeremy. I know this tastes nasty to you, but it's for your own good; you will get very sick if you don't take this regularly. If you keep lying, we won't be able to trust you, and that will mean you won't be able to do as many things on your own. We'll have to keep a close eye on you for your own good, and won't be able to let you make as many of your own choices. I can trust Joy, and that's why she's waiting inside right now. If Jeremy and I can't trust you, you'd have to come inside with me instead of being able to sleep out here. You don't want that, do you?"

Zip grimaced at the thought and shook his head. "No."

The woman nodded. "That's what I thought. So no more lying to me, okay? Or Jeremy. Here." She held the cup towards him and shot him a stern glance. "Drink this."

The purple dragon glanced around... but there didn't seem to be any way out of it. He sighed, then stretched his head towards the cup.

The foul liquid tasted just as awful as Zip remembered, especially with his nose stuck right in the cup and just inches away from the medicine, but he managed to quickly swallow it. He felt his stomach churn, and gave a short retching cough as his stomach made it clear it was not happy... but after a few seconds it passed. He shivered reflexively, then looked back up at the lady. "Dere. Happy?"

"Yes, I am. Normally I give Joy a treat after she takes her medicine..." Zip perked up at the mention of a treat, looking around for any other food the lady might have brought with her. "...but that's when she's good about it, which you weren't today. If you don't lie to me tomorrow about it and take it on your own, I'll let you have some then."

Zip huffed and looked away from the woman, feeling cheated. He started to look back at the glass again, already thinking back to what else could be keeping it clear and see-through even with the snow still falling down around it... but the woman wasn't done speaking, and her next words caused him to shiver even more than the cool air around him.

"Now that we're done with that, we can go ahead and let Joy come out."

He turned back to the lady, already trying to come up with an excuse or reason to keep the other dragon kept inside the cave... but it was too late. She had already tapped a button on her tablet, and he swore he could hear a distant click before the door in the cliff slid open. He could make out the yellow dragon sitting in the dim tunnel, holding something balled up in her grip... and then she was racing towards them. She leapt into the air with a few quick wingbeats, tilting first to one side, then the other as she flew towards them... and then she was back on the ground, her feet running a bit too fast as she tried to slow down. "Hi Mister Grumpfy! Good morning! Did you sleep okay?"

Zip took a half step backwards, bumping into the glass dome, but the other dragon managed to stop before slamming into them. The lady moved to stand beside Joy, giving her a quick pat on the back and rubbing over her wing, but Zip ignored her. "Yes."

"Yay! I was forried, because that hammock looked so wobbly, and Steffie said it got really cold last night. Did you know it snowed?" The yellow dragon glanced around him to look out the glass.

Zip just stared back at her. Of course he knew it had snowed - did she think he was blind? She didn't seem to care that he hadn't answered, though, and just stepped closer to the glass. "I've never seen real snow before, just in movies. And Steffie said we can go out and play in it! But you haf to put this on first, so you don't get cold!"

The yellow dragon shifted and pulled a piece of fabric out of the bundle she was clutching. That piece fell to the ground and unraveled a little, looking like a thick version of the shirts Zip had seen Jeremy and others wearing. It seemed fuzzier than the other shirts, though, and had a strange triangular design on the front. "Whud ish it?"

"It's a sweafer!"

"Sweater."

"It's a sweatefer! It's mine! Err... it used to be mine, I'm told; this lady says she was my aunt, and that she had some of my old stuff; she gave me a box last time we were at the courfhouse, and it had a bunch of stuff in it. I found this, and thought it could help keep you warm if it gets colder."

The purple dragon leaned his head down and nudged at the fabric. It tickled his nose, feeling rough and with random tufts coming out of it, so that it almost looked like a cloud was around the sweater. It shouldn't feel too bad against his scales, but... it still looked funny.

"Ah'm not culd dough." Zip pulled away from the sweater and shook his head.

Joy tilted her head, looking a little... confused? Sad? She nudged the sweater with her head, pushing it closer to him. "But you might get cold, if you stay fout here without it! Come on, just try it?"

Zip started to say no, again, but the lady interrupted him. "I'll help you put it on, and then we can go out in the snow." She stepped up to the sweater and picked it up, shaking it out and brushing off some dirt. With it held up like that Zip could make out more details - a large hole at the bottom, a smaller hole at the top, two dangling legs on the side.

Zip just eyed it dubiously again and stepped back. "Ai dun wanna go outtide; I'll jus stay in hair."

The lady shook the sweater again, then angled it so the larger hole was pointed towards his head. "Hmm... nope! Sorry, Zip, but leaving a dragon alone by itself is the kind of thing I do with dragons I can trust... and that means..." Before he could move, the lady leaned forward and pushed the sweater over his head. He jerked, trying to get away... but the sweater slipped down his neck, continuing over his body until it was stopped by his legs and wings. His head broke through the hole on the other side of the sweater, and he spat out something nasty tasting that had somehow gotten into his mouth.

He thought he heard giggling from the side, but he stayed focused on the woman still tugging on the sweater. "...that you're coming outside to play in the snow with us." She finished her sentence like nothing had happened, then poked his leg. "Lift that up so I can get it around your legs; left one first."

Zip glared back at her... but after a few seconds he sighed and lifted his foreleg up. She tugged on the sweater, pulling it further down his body... then his leg slipped through one of the sweater's legs, allowing his claws to dig back into the ground. They repeated the process with his other legs, then tucked his wings under the sweater... then the woman finally stepped away and clapped her hands together. "There you go! What do you think?"

Zip turned his head and looked over his body. His purple scales were now obscured beneath a dark green patch of fabric, and his wings were stuffed into a lumpy bulge on his back. He tried to spread them, but the sweater was too restrictive to allow him to do anything more than slide them down his sides. The rough fabric scratched at his scales when he moved, which... oddly enough didn't feel all that bad, once he thought about it. It might be nice to just stretch out on something made of the same fabric, and just rub his scales against it. And his legs could move well enough, even if it tugged at them. Zip thought a little longer... then the worst part of the sweater dawned on him.

It actually did make him feel warm.

He was only now realizing how cold he had been before, and he did not want to take it off, but... it was a sweater from Nuisance. It was warm, but it still looked funny on him, and he didn't want her getting a bunch of other things and dressing him up in them too - one was bad enough, and he was sure she would just keep making him try other things on if she wasn't stopped. And she was still holding a bundle of fabric that could have held who knows how many other things in it...

"It's shilly. Can't moob in dis." Zip made a show of trying to stretch his wings again, letting the sweater squeeze around his chest as the fabric stretched up his back.

"You're not suffosed to move in it; keep your wings still and just be warm! You won't need to move them anyways, not for playing in the snow! Come on, let's go!" The yellow dragon dashed away from Zip, heading towards where the glass dome would open and lead to the snow.

Zip looked back at the woman... but she just shook her head at him. "Sorry, Zip. Only dragons we can trust get to stay inside on their own. Come on, you'll have fun."

The purple dragon was quite certain he wouldn't, but he sighed and trudged slowly after the yellow dragon.

They reached the doorway and waited for the woman to catch up; she took a few minutes but finally made it to them and pushed a button on her tablet. The door began to slide open, but she tapped Zip on the nose before it finished. "A couple rules, Zip - if I say it's time to go back in, you come back in. You stay in sight of the dome and myself, and if anybody else shows up aside from Jeremy, you come right back here to the entrance until they leave. Got it?"

Zip glared at the woman from the corner of his eye. He had to go out there with Joy, and he had to follow some silly rules too? "Fine."

"I'm serious, Zip. If you don't follow those rules, Joy will find you, drag you back to the dome, and sit on you. Right, Joy?"

"Right!" The yellow dragon nodded, but was clearly focused on the sliding door and the snow beyond instead of Zip.

"There. But as long as you follow those rules, you can have as much fun as you want." The door continued sliding for a few more seconds... then it stopped, leaving an opening in the glass more than wide enough for the dragons to pass through. "Go on - have fun you two!"

"Yay, snow!" Joy practically shouted and ran out into the snow, her feet leaving imprints in the otherwise unbroken white landscape. Zip followed after at a much slower pace, and he paused when he felt his own foot land in the snow.

It made a soft crunch sound as his paw sank down with only slight resistance, until his paw finally reached the ground under the snow. There was a cool feeling against his scales, along with a strange not-quite damp sensation, but it wasn't unpleasant. He lifted his paw and brought it back down again, feeling out the snow, then lowered his nose to sniff at it. It didn't really smell like anything - a bit like water, maybe, but only barely.

He lifted his paw again, preparing to poke at more of the snow, but stopped when he noticed the snow clinging to his scales. That reminded him of the glass dome, and the mystery of why the snow hadn't stuck to it. He stepped the rest of the way through the doorway, turning to look at the glass, and brought his snow-covered paw up to it. The glass let him see a dim reflection of his purple scales, and he paused to squint at them and make them out... then he shook his paw, letting the snow fall onto the glass. The white powder sat on the glass for a moment... then it dissolved, falling apart and turning into a thin stream of water right before Zip's eyes. It flowed down to the ground, where Zip noticed it pooled onto snow that seemed harder, clearer... no, it was a thin layer of ice, not snow.

What made the snow do that? The glass had been freezing cold on the other side - cold enough to get his tongue stuck to - but on this side it seemed to be hot enough to melt the snow. Or was something else causing it to melt? He didn't want to try licking the glass again to see if it tasted different on this side, but he supposed it could have a coating on this side that kept...

Zip's thoughts crumbled as he heard a half-shouted whine. "Steffie, if's not working!"

Zip turned to look towards the sound, and saw Joy standing beside a pile of snow. No, it was two piles of snow - as he looked closer he saw they were actually separated into two large spherical clumps, but had been rolled together. The yellow dragon had snow all over her arms, one of which was trying to push the clumps even closer together.

Zip found himself strangely interested, and turned around to face her. "Wut are yew doing?"

"I'm building a snowfan!" Joy spread her wings to frame the two clumps, but she didn't look happy about them. "But it's not working; it keeps falling over."

The woman walked past Zip and shook her head. "Snowman. Joy, sweetie, it isn't like the movie; the snowman won't be alive, or be that good of a singer."

The yellow dragon's wings drooped slightly in what Zip thought was disappointment, but she just nodded. "I know, Steffie! But I still want to make one; I brought all the stuff I need for one. I just need the snow to work right!" Joy pointed to the bundle of fabric she had set down on the ground beside her. It looked slightly smaller without the sweater Zip was now wearing, but it still seemed like it could be holding plenty of other things inside it.

Still, the word 'snowman' tugged at something in Zip's thoughts. Three balls of snow, arranged together.. for some reason the word 'carrot' came to mind too, along with the idea of an orange vegetable Zip was quite certain he had never seen before. He almost started to wonder where those thoughts had come from, but the idea of building something shoved those thoughts aside. "It kneeds tew be bigger."

Joy looked back at Zip with a curious expression. "What do you mean? I used a lot of snow; this should be the size of the ones I saw in that movie. With one more like that it'll be as tall as Steffie!"

Zip began walking towards Joy and the clumps of snow, aiming for the side opposite Joy and the woman. "No - da bottum one. It's tew small; dats why it keeps falling ober. The bottum needs to be bigger so it can hold de other one. And the one on top ov dat one."

Joy looked down at the two balls of snow with a frown, then nodded. "Oh... that makes sense. Let's try that!" She lifted her arms and began scooping up more snow from around her to pile onto one of the balls. Zip watched for a moment... then reached down to help scoop up some snow too.

The woman looked like she wanted to help too, at least for a few seconds, but she instead stepped back and smiled at the two dragons as they worked. It took a few minutes, and some awkward shifting to get their paws angled right to be able to pack the snow tightly onto the ball, but in the end they succeeded in making a larger ball of snow for the bottom. Zip nudged it to one side, then glanced at Joy and the slightly smaller ball. "Dere; now try itt."

The yellow dragon nodded and nudged her ball of snow, rolling it slowly and using her head to push it up the side of Zip's snowball. It looked like the snowball might continue rolling over the side and fall back to the ground... but it wobbled, then settled into place.

Joy stepped back and spread her wings in delight. "Yay! It worked!"

Zip nodded and poked the snowball just to be certain, but it stayed in place. "Told yew."

"Now we just need to make the third one!... And then get it on top..."

Zip shook his head and pointed at the top of the second ball. "Too hard. Jus build itt rite dere."

Joy seemed uncertain at first, but after a moment of thought she nodded. "We'll have to be careful not to knock it over, but that could work."

The purple dragon just scoffed at Joy's hesitation and reached down to gather up some snow. He reared up on his hindlegs to put the snow on top, and felt a bit of concern as he wobbled towards the piles of snow. He slowed down - it wouldn't do to knock over the snowman and prove Joy right - but dumped the snow on top, forming the first bit of his head.

Joy followed after him, still looking worried about knocking it over... but before long, a third ball of snow rested at the top of the snowman. Zip finished packing it into shape so it would hold, then walked back to look at it. "Dere! Done."

The woman had been sitting a few paces away and watching silently while they worked, but now she began clapping her hands. "Good job, both of you! You built a snowman! And a good one at that!"

Zip felt a little odd at the praise, caught somewhere between pride at his work and a bit of shyness at having it called out, even in a favorable light. The yellow dragon didn't seem pleased with their work, though, and shook her head enthusiastically. "No, it's not done yet!"

Zip looked back at the piles of snow and frowned. The three piles of snow looked right, and for some reason he was sure that was what made up a snowman. What else did they need to make from the snow? Was something still missing?

His question was answered as Joy turned back to the bundle of fabric she had dropped nearby. He had forgotten about that, but he looked at it again with renewed interest as the yellow dragon unrolled it enough to grab something from inside. The woman laughed lightly as Joy pulled out a strange mat of white, the ends curled up in a way that reminded Zip of hair. She carefully lifted it up to the top of the snowman and stretched it out, and Zip realized his impression was correct - the snowman now had curly white hair covering its head.

Joy wasn't done, though.

She went back to the bundle and pulled out a few more items, though Zip couldn't make them out until she began putting them on the snowman. The first was a gavel - a thin wooden rod stuck into the middle of the snowman's face, with the other end of it screwed into a thicker hammer-like head. It was a crude approximation of a nose, but Zip guessed he could see the idea. Two other items made for 'eyes' - the first was a small wooden pedestal, which Zip imagined was probably for banging the gavel on.

But the second...

"Joy, where did you get that?!" The woman rose to her feet and crossed over to the snowman, staring at the shiny object that Joy had used for the second eye.

"The nice bafiff gave it to me, last time we were at court! He said I could have it, since I couldn't wear my wig in court. He said they made it just for me!"

Zip squinted at the 'eye', finally managing to make it out when the woman shifted out of the way. It was a shiny golden 'badge', in the shape of a circle, and had dark blue letters on it. "Joy - Attorney At Claw".

The woman was shaking her head and sighing to herself, but Joy just beamed proudly. Zip settled back and took in the sight of the entire snowman. It did look sort of like a person, if one didn't have a mouth, or arms, or legs. Which meant the snowman really didn't look like a person at all.. But then, if it was supposed to be Joy, maybe it didn't really have to.

"So dis ish suhposed to be Attourney Joy?"

Joy's head snapped around in a sudden shake of her head. "No, it's Judge Joy! That's way better than an attofey; she gets to make all the decisions and everybody has to listen to her!"

"But da nametag says Attour-"

"It's a badge, not a nametag! That's way better too - and it just says that because I'm not quite a judge yet. The snowman is a judge though! See, it's got the wig, and... oh! I almost forgot!" The yellow dragon looked around, then ran over to the bundle of fabric. She gripped the ends of it and flung it upwards, causing it to unfurl into a long length of black cloth, which she hastily wrapped around the snowman. "And it has a robe! Only judges wear robes!"

"But judgiz will hab badges dat say 'judge' on dem, nat onez dat say atto-"

"OBJECFIN! Witness is badgering the judge!" The yellow dragon started scratching at the ground, gathering the snow up into a ball in front of her. "Witness will show due respect for the honorable judge Snowy!"

Zip huffed and pointed at the snowman. "It's a snowman, and not even a judge snowman! Wut respeck?"

"OBJECTION! Snowball to the FACE!" Joy reared back onto her hindlegs and held out the clump of snow in her forepaws, bringing them to her side even as she stared carefully at Zip.

'Whu-" Zip broke off as a sudden ball of loosely packed snow flew from the yellow dragon's hands to slam against his horns, falling apart and showering his face with bits of snow. "Ow!"

"Tag! The Honorafle Judge Snowy says you are IT!" The yellow dragon grinned and ran off, giggling to herself.

Zip shook his head in annoyance, sending snow flying in all directions. He started to resign himself to ignoring the bothersome yellow dragon, but the dream from before came back to him. If he didn't fight back, the yellow dragon would probably just keep throwing snow at him... but the people in his dream had seemed to enjoy throwing snow around. The lady wasn't likely to let him back into the dome, and he didn't feel as tired as usual... maybe it wouldn't be so bad, just for a little bit.

The purple dragon started gathering up some snow of his own, packing it into a loose ball... but the lady knelt down beside him to grab the snowball. At first he thought she was going to stop him, and started to form a complaint... but she had a wide smile on her face as she packed the snow tighter and handed it back to him. "Stay in sight of the dome - but have fun. I'll make snowballs for both of you back here, when you need more."

Zip stared at her for a moment, surprised to find her helping... but another sudden thump of snow against his scales drew his attention back to Joy. He huffed, holding the snow in one paw, and ran off after the other dragon...

---

---

Zip wasn't sure how long they played tag. He was clumsy at first - it was hard to stand on just his back legs, but it was the only way he could throw a snowball. And Joy was cheating - she could spread her wings for balance, but the stupid sweater he had to wear meant he could only rely on his tail, which helped a little but was nowhere near the same. It took him a lot longer to tag Joy than it took her to tag him, but he did find he was better at dodging her throws than she was. The woman was always ready with a snowball whenever one of them came back to her, and at some point in the game Zip was surprised to find Jeremy was making snowballs too. He started to pause and ask when - and how - the teen had gotten back, but Jeremy just silenced his questions with a finger at his lips as he passed a snowball to Zip. The two dragons played for what must have been hours, ducking between trees and reshaping the previously pristine field of snow into a mess of pawprints and wrecked snowballs. The snowman was the only thing that was safe from the two combatants

Eventually, though, the woman called out to both of them. "Joy, Zip, that's enough; it's getting late! Time to come back in."

Zip dropped the ball he had been about to throw and looked back towards the dome. The yellow dragon didn't seem to want to stop, though, and poked her head out from hiding behind a tree. "Aw... can't we stay out a little bit longer?"

"No, sweetie; it's time to eat dinner. We can play more tomorrow though; you'll have plenty of time then."

"Okaaaay..." Joy's reply sounded more like a whine than agreement, but she dutifully walked back towards the dome. Zip followed after, but paused when Jeremy came up beside him. The teen rested his hand on Zip's neck and scratched gently at the scales there. The hand felt warm after the cold air and snow, and Zip felt his pace pick up a little to match Jeremy's.

"I don't think I've seen you so active before this, Zip! I guess that means you slept really well last night?"

Zip thought back to the relaxing sleep and nodded. "Dwid! The hammock was nice - dough it wus hard tew git out ov."

Jeremy smiled as they walked, nodding. "They can be tricky until you get used to them, but I'm glad it helped. Did you get my note? Any problems with your medicine?"

Zip cringed and shot a glance towards Joy and the woman next to her, but they were working on opening the door to the dome and weren't paying any attention to Zip. He thought about saying everything had gone fine... but the lecture on trustworthiness came back to him, and he sighed. "I saw it. I din't take it att fiwst, but the mean woman made me."

Jeremy nodded, giving Zip a pat on his head. "I know, she told me. I wanted to see what you'd say; thank you for telling me the truth." Zip blinked back up at Jeremy, then glanced over at the woman again, wondering. "She's really not mean though, Zip; she's been very nice to you. Letting you stay here instead of back at the barn, taking interest in you, helping me get assigned to you, so on. She just wants you to take that medicine because she knows bad things will happen to you if you don't. You'll get really sick, and be in a lot of pain, and she doesn't want you to go through that. I don't either." Jeremy paused and looked Zip in the eye, making the dragon flinch a little. "We're just trying to take care of you, okay?"

Zip sighed, but nodded. "Okay. I'll make sure to dwink it next time."

Jeremy smiled and started walking again. "Great! I know it tastes nasty, but I'll make a deal with you - if you drink it, I'll bring you something that tastes good for you to eat after. We'll try different things, until you find something you really like. Deal?"

Zip brightened at that, feeling excited at the prospect of better food. "Dill!"

Jeremy laughed, and the two walked back into the dome.

---

The woman closed the door behind them, then took Joy back into the lair. Jeremy led Zip back into the orange dome - he called it a tent - and took some meat out of a sealed plastic container. The smell of it made Zip's mouth water, and he scarfed it down almost before he even knew what he was doing; all the exercise had caused him to work up quite an appetite. He thought about asking Jeremy how his day had been - where he had gone to, what he had been doing, when he got back... but as soon as the food hit his belly, the purple dragon felt a wave of exhaustion rush over him. He wobbled a little as he climbed back into his hammock, yawning and moving to stretch his wings... and only then realizing he was still wearing the sweater Joy had given him.

He felt a bit of surprise at having completely forgotten about it, and started to ask Jeremy to take it off of him...

...but sleep was calling. And after all the fun today, well, maybe a present from Joy wasn't the worst thing to have.