Dark Scales, Soft Stripes

by MrPancakeMan

Wait, What's your name?

‘Let’s see, where do I start? Throbbing head, mostly numb limbs, and eyes that just don’t wanna focus. Yup, I’ve been in this situation one too many times now. Let’s have a go at this, one more time.
Hands: tough and odd, but usable.
Legs: They feel longer and… more bendy, but same as the first, usable.
Head: Ow… Ok I can roll my neck and… twitch my ears? The hell? Oh well, continuing on…
Eyes: Slowly opening and… done! Now to focus. Come on, focus! Ah there we go.’

Staring down on me is an honest to God, dragon. My mind takes a few seconds to process what’s happening before entering panic mode.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” I scream. The dragon now seeming to panic.
“NO, wait shrimp, the dogs can’t hunt you anymore, you’re safe!” The apparent, she, said.
I had no idea what she meant about ‘dogs’ but I needed to calm down. Or at least try
“CALM DOWN!? BUT YOU’RE A DRAGON AND I’M A… What the hell am I?!” I say, now questioning my existence, as well as that man at the restaurant.
“Actually, I’m a drake, and so are you. But you’re special! You’re one of the rarest kind of drakes, The Wingless Tiger Drake!” Ok so the panic is over, but now ensues the confusion.
“Ok, now I have some questions: 1 – Who are you, 2 – Where are we, and 3 – Where did you find me”
“Well, my name is Roxy, and you are currently in my not so very humble home in a town called Cliffhanger. As for where I found you, well you were incapacitated on the outskirts of the Badlands, near Gem Fido. I could only assume the worst.
I took a moment to look around. Her ‘home’ was a cave with a stone oven, fridge, bed, and a small pile of treasure, which is what I assume to be her hoard. The oven was currently burning, and I noticed she had been fanning it with her tail. So I asked the obvious.
“What’s for eats?”
“I was wondering when you’d ask. It’s my famous cobble surprise!” She bellowed and gestured to the dish sitting over the fire. “It still has to cook for a few more hours, so how about a tour of the town?”
I agreed to her offer, and so we set off.

The walk to town was about a half an hour long, and while we talked, I found out, it was much easier to walk on four legs than two. We ended up talking about the many species on this rock, and at the mention of the word pony, I finally recognized this place.
Another subject that was brought up was my personal stats. Usually I don’t let anyone have any information about me, but she seemed harmless… Mostly. And this is where I stand now, on the subject of my name. And then it hit me how Ironic it was. I told her, and that caused about a five minute delay on our trip into Cliffhanger, all because of her hardy laughter.
The next and final subject was my tattoo.
“So what does it even mean” I could tell she was in deep confusion about my tattoo.
I looked at my used-to-be dragon tattoo, which is a now-is dyeing soul marking and said “It was meant to symbolize the pain in my life, as well as the pain I brought to others.”
She looked somewhat dumbfounded by my explanation. “What kind of life did you have, to have had something like THAT scarred onto your arm?!”
At this question, a wave of sadness washed over me. “Most of the time, I just wound up on the wrong end of the knife. But the one who did this to my arm had made no mistake in doing so. (But that is for another chapter!)

After telling her the compelling story of how I almost died, we were at the town. We decided on heading to the market first, and I was surprised to say the least. Usually dragons are brutish an in no possible way civilized, and my guess is the drakes took to adapting that.
At the market they had all kinds of booths of assorted foods, there were many gems, stones, and some fish too. At the end of the market path, we were met by a large cliff face that out looked the two isles in the badlands.
“So how did you end up here anyway?” She had surprised me almost to the point of me falling off the cliff!
“AH! Jeez, give me a heart attack why don’t ya’? And I don’t know what you mean.” And now it’s time to play: Who’s That Scaly Freak.
“I mean, your species is tropical, and reside usually in the Feline Jungle.” She deadpanned.
“Oh, well I’ve never been much of a tropical person. Didn’t like the humidity.” I didn’t lie entirely. I don’t like tropics.
“So you came to the Badlands through Gem Fido? Are you insane!” Was she worried?
“I have no idea, hell I don’t even know who I am MYSELF anymore. I don’t think I would be stupid enough, or weak enough to have been captured. And even if I was captured, being what I am, I would have escaped anyway!” Ok, enough small talk. Time to be blunt!
“Now, we’ve gotten all we need, and by the time we’re there, you should be able to spice your cobble dish, and we can eat”

The entire walk to her cave, she was mostly quiet. And by mostly, I mean letting out the occasional sigh. She refused to look at me too

When we got home the food was still a half an hour from being done, so we began spicing it. She taught me how to shred gems to work as the spices. All you have to do is shred them into chunks with your claws, then add them, or if you want to, you can cut them up about 3 more times to get flakes. We did a little of both, using rubies in chunks, and sapphires in flakes. Then she told me to set the table, and that we need to talk…