by Christy Shorey and you

ARCHIVE: NOV. 5 edited for spelling and grammar

4903 words

Dresden woke to a call from the university English department. A young man was rattling on about scheduling an interview time before he finally understood who was calling. Sitting up in bed, he scrambled about to try to find a pen and paper. When he hung up the phone, he had an interview for the next day.

Rubbing the sleep from his face, he sat staring at his reflection for several moments. He looked at the clock, and realized that he was late, though he supposed that with the imminent threat of loosing job, a tardy day wouldn't kill him.

He made his way to the kitchen, and found Guido cooking eggs, and whistling what sounded like the theme from the love boat. He sat at the table, and his housemate suddenly stopped. Turning to look over his tattooed back, still bandaged from the day before, Guido glared at him.

"You didn't hear anything," he said menacingly.

Dresden sighed. "Not a thing." He wondered how the gruff man knew the tune that well, but knew better than to press the issue. His stomach growled, and he went to the refrigerator. Lional had left half a pepperoni pizza in the fridge, and not much else. Grabbing a slice, he started in on it, and tried to remember where he had put his newly acquired shoes. There was a sound like a cough, and Dresden realized Guido had cleared his throat, and was holding out a plate of eggs to him.

Dresden blinked, and looked down at the plate.

"Take them. And remember, you didn't hear anything." Guido stormed out of the kitchen, and Dresden sat down to finish the eggs.   Suddenly remembering he was late, he rushed back to his room to get his shoes. He found the bag still hidden under the bed. As he left the room, he almost collided, with Raul.

Dresden apologized, and realized he was yet again being growled at, but this time instead of a human sound, it was animal. Tucked under his housemate's arm was an irate looking bird of some kind. It looked like a mix between a vulture and an owl. He gave Raul a questioning look, and got back a shrug.

"Get outta the way."

Dresden blinked, and looked at his roommate. This was the first time in three years being his housemate he had heard him utter a word. When he was quiet, he had seemed more considered.

"Get outta the way, bum," he heard again, and realized that Raul was shaking a scolding finger at the bird. It seemed his new pet had beat him out for conversation. Dresden was going to make a comment, but Raul looked pointedly at the clock, and raised a questioning eyebrow at Dresden.

"Crap, right, I'm late," Dresden agreed, and ran out the door.

When he arrived at the school he saw a parade of pets. It must be biology "show and tell" day. He never understood why teachers would subject their pets to that just for an "interesting " lesson that most students slept through. He opened the door to get out, and found, to his dismay, that one of the dogs had made his business in Dresden's parking space.

"Crap," he said, missing the irony of the statement. Grabbing some old fast-food paper napkins, he cleaned his shoes to the best of his ability, and got out the passenger door of the car.

He walked to the school, and tried to take a calming breath. Then he remembered the words Margot had said to him. It would be okay. And if she believed it, then he knew he could believe it, too.

Gathering his newfound courage, Dresden headed past the tardy kids to the administrative office. As he got there, he saw Mrs. Keller, a well-known substitute, walking into his classroom. So, he wasn't expected for today at least.

Waiting to talk to the vice principal about his fate ended up being an anticlimactic experience. The vice principal said that he was suspended from work without pay for a month, and to return in twenty-five days to fill out the paperwork involved in him coming back. He was relived to learn the principal's eye would be okay, and that Candice, the girl who had slipped, was fine, as well. Better yet, her parent's weren't suing the school. They knew she was a klutz. That is what had saved his job.

With the free day he suddenly found he had, Dresden decided it would be best to stay away from the house. Lional had already gone for the day, but with Guido in a foul mood about the Love Boat theme, and Raul's new, chatty pet it seemed safer to go out.

Then he remembered that Margot had promised to call. Unwilling to stay in the house for long, he determined he would go home, call her, then go out for the rest of the afternoon.

*****

Margot sat curled up on her bed. She felt terrible, and was cursing herself for letting herself go so long without checking her condition. She knew better than to trust Kyle with that duty, so she had no one to blame but herself.

Her human form was the most taxing to maintain, so she tried to mix it up with a smaller animal, closer to her true form, every week or so, in order to rest her abilities. After two weeks straight of maintaining her new human guise, she found that she couldn't even manage the golden retriever she normally reverted to for these breaks. The best she could do was an illusion of the dog over her true form. This managed to fool most people, but to people who were more attuned to her, they would see the small dragon instead of the canine.

She had slept after her transformation, and woke late in the night, full of energy, and furious. She had gone to wake Kyle to take her for a walk, and found he was still up, waiting with the blue leash like she had instructed. While she hated the cooing sounds he made as he attached the harness and leash, she also knew that in her current, unbalanced state, that it really helped.

Luckily no one witnessed their midnight walk, as she wasn't even strong enough to maintain the illusion of the dog over her true form. When they got back to the house, Kyle pulled out a rare steak. Margot gave him a telepathic "thanks" and downed it in a few bites. As dense as the boy could be sometimes, he knew how to take care of her, and she appreciated it.

This morning she was feeling much better, and knew that with a few more hours of rest she would be able to revert back to her human form for a few days. To play it safe, she decided she would spend the evenings as the less-taxing dog, but as it was she was late to her first-day orientation.

She went to the kitchen, and found Kyle sitting at the table waiting for her. "Hungry?" he said.

She nodded, and sat on the floor near the table. I have work today. Will you call them and let them know I am sick, but will be in later she thought at him.

Kyle nodded, and put another steak in a dish and put it on the floor for her. "Are you sure you will be in today? I could tell them tomorrow."

No, first day, I have to be there.

"But if you are sick, and it's a medical center, they won't want you to come in."

Margot blinked her reptilian eyes. Sometimes this boy surprised her. You're right. Ask them if I can come in tomorrow.

Kyle made the call, and came back to say that it was no problem. They had an unexpected tour coming by the medical center of potential donors, so they wouldn't have been able to train her any way.

Margot thanked him, and was about to head back to sleep, when the phone rang. Kyle answered it, and Margot heard him saying, "I'm sorry, but she can't speak right now."

Who is it?

"Hold on just a moment," Kyle put his hand over the mouthpiece. "It's the teacher from yesterday. He says he's suspended, but not fired. He wants to speak to you."

Margot considered. She looked at the phone, and wondered how well it would transmit her thoughts. Let me try. I'll let you know if it doesn't work.

Kyle removed his hand from the mouthpiece and said, "Just a moment," he said, and held the phone out towards Margot. She stepped up to it, putting her long head next to the receiver. Concentrating on a picture of Dresden in her head, she thought to the phone Hello, Dresden.

"Oh, hello. Kyle said you weren't feeling well, are you sick?"

Yes, it's mostly exhaustion Margot thought to him, relieved that he could perceive it. Like most humans, her thought communication in this form was perceived like spoken words. It was a tribute to how attuned Dresden was to her that he could hear her. Perhaps he would be very useful after all.

"I wanted to thank you. I got an interview for tomorrow, and I'll go for fun, but I still have my real job. I'm not sure I'm cut out to be a secretary."

I told you it would be okay.

"Yes. I just have to figure out what to do for the next month. I'm suspended without pay."

Maybe Margot thought at him You could work for me? I have some stuff that I need that I don't have time to do myself .

"Are you sure? You just got a new job yourself, so I don't want you to have to try to pay me, as well."

I really took the job because I'm bored, not for the money. So, if you'd be willing, I'd love your help.

There was no hesitation on the other in. "I'd love to help you out." Margot could just imagine Dresden blushing after that statement, she could hear it in his voice.

Okay then, I'll get Kyle to give you directions to the house. I'm going back to rest. Can you come over tomorrow

"Sure thing. I'm looking forward to it. Thank you, Margot."

Margot let Kyle finish the conversation for her. Transmitting her thoughts over that distance had drained her. Slinking off to her room, she curled back up on the bed, and returned to blessed sleep.

****

Lacey looked across the coffee shop to the corner seat that April had indicated. As she turned, she noticed the shop was one of those homegrown shops, with furniture and attitude that was comfortable for it's regulars. It even seemed to go out of the way to make first time customers feel at home. There, in the corner of the store, looking back at her, was the man she had come to find; her mystery man.

She took in his clothes as she closed the distance to him. Not what she would have pictured. The torn jeans and tee shirt look seemed out of place on him. In her dreams he was always in the dark, and she had assumed that the black clothes he always wore there would translate to the real world. She took consolation that at least his tee shirt was black.

She reached him, and took the stool next to his. She gave him a smile, the best professional one she could manage.

"Hi. I'm Lacey. I'm here on behalf of January. She wanted to file a formal apology for the coffee spilling incident yesterday. I understand some of your affects were possibly damaged? She has offered to pay for the repair or replacement of these items."

The mystery man looked at her for a moment. "I saw you in that dream."

Lacey felt her heart pounding in her chest. Were they sharing dreams? It seemed unlikely, but there was a connection there. Lacey shook off the distraction.

"In order to finalize the formal apology, I'll need your name, and you'll need to fill out some paperwork."

Suddenly he smiled at her, and Lacey stopped.

"If you want my name, you only have to ask. I'm Logan. And you are not an attorney."

Lacey blinked, started to speak, but found she had no words, and blinked again. "I am. I represent January, the woman who spilled the coffee on you yesterday."

Logan shook his head. "No, you don't. I believe that you know her, but you are not an attorney, and you are not representing anyone. You came on your own."

Lacey didn't know what to say. She had settled in her mind how the conversation would go, how she would get his name and file the "formal apology". She had even set aside the tip that January had given her for the tattoo work the day before to pay for whatever it was that had been ruined.

But he didn't believe her. Everyone always believed her. Except her mother. She was the only one that Lacey couldn't fool, no matter how hard she tried. Her heart tightened in her chest, and it felt like there was gravel in her throat. She shook her head, and looked away from Logan.

"I'm sorry. This was a mistake." She turned to leave, to run back to the safety of her shop, to the control of the stories she told, but he put a hand on her arm. It was a gentle motion, and she could have still walked away, but the warmth of it stopped her. She really felt a connection to him.

"I don't mind that you're not a lawyer. I want to talk to you, I have some questions, but I'm not really thinking to clearly right now; I had a rough day yesterday." Lacey turned and was met by a very charming smile.

"Will you stay and talk to me, Lacey?"

Lacey looked around the coffee shop. As comfortable as it was, there were too many people. She shook her head. "Not here, but I will talk with you."

"Wonderful."

****

Logan was intrigued by the woman who had found him. To have been sought out at all was unusual, and his first thought was that this was the missing link, the thing he had been searching for. That Lacey would hold the answers to his numerous past lives, and that he would finally learn why memories of those lives always ended abruptly. As she walked towards him in the coffee shop, he was preparing himself simultaneously for the revelation, the great truth, and for his current life to end.

Neither of these things happened. Instead the attractive woman started feeding him some lie about January. He knew from the dream he had collected from the apologetic girl, that Lacey was not her attorney, but that they did know each other. The image of a drawing surfaced from the borrowed dream, and there was a strong emotional association between the drawing and Lacey.

He wanted to ask her about the drawing, wanted to see if she knew anything about his run of lives. It would have been easy enough to go along with the story of her being an attorney. It was clear that she was going to use that as a ploy to get to know him better, on a personal level, but he didn't like that she was lying to him in order to do so.

He couldn't say why he knew what part of her story was true, and what was a lie, but he did. When he contradicted her, he found he felt sorry for her. His simple observation seemed to throw her off kilter, and almost scared her away.

But he had managed to save the situation, and now he was following her down to her work. After several moments of indecision, ideas offered and tossed out just as quickly, her place was too far, she didn't want to impose and ask to go to his, she determined that her place of work had rooms where they could talk and not be overheard. But he also saw it was a difficult decision to make - that she was letting him in on a part of her life that she wasn't planning on sharing.

When they reached the tattoo parlor, he raised an eyebrow in surprise. It wasn't what he had figured for her, but then he remembered the dream, and it made sense. A large man in a too-small white shirt sat behind the counter. He looked up in surprise.

"Hey honey, I thought you were gone for the day?"

Lacey shrugged. "I was, and I'm still not here, really."

"Is that Jason?" the man asked, standing up from the stool, and stretching a hand across the counter.

Logan noticed Lacey pause. "I'm Logan" he said, before she could contradict him."

"My brother. Logan, this is Rocky."

"Nice to meet you Logan. Lacey, you didn't mention a brother."

"Oh, he's been away in the service. I wasn't sure if he'd be coming back. It makes my parents sad to think about it, so when he's gone, we pretend it's just us. I do it to humor them," Lacey said, with a smile to Rocky.

"Parents. Who can figure'em out." Rocky said, then turned back to Logan, "Glad to see you came home safe."

"Thanks," Logan said, and followed Lacey into one of the rooms.

"We're just going to catch up a bit, before I take him home to the 'rents. They'll hog all his time for two days, and I want a chance to speak to him, too."

"Sure thing, honey" Rocky said, settling back down on the bench. "You're not here."

"Thanks."

Logan gave the other tattoo artist a smile, and followed Lacey into the room. She flopped down into a chair with a sigh.

"Why do you do that?" Logan asked. Lacey shot him a look that drove the follow-up out of his mind. "Never mind," he said, and took the seat across from her, trying to figure out where to start.

****

Dresden left the house shortly after he had gotten off the phone with Margot. He couldn't believe how kind she was being to him, offering him part time work until his suspension was over. It really helped because rent was due next week, and one thing the three men he had moved in with were perfectly clear on was that rent was due when it was due, no exceptions.

As he headed out he heard the new bird squawking and talking from Raul's room and vaguely wondered how he would manage to train the bird without speaking to it. He heard whistling as he passed Guido's room, however, so he beat a hasty retreat as to not earn more of his ire.

Dresden got outside, and decided the weather was nice enough for a walk. Pulling a coin from his pocket, he flipped it, assigning directions to the sides of the coin. Heads. He turned to his left and started walking. It was the middle of the day, and the part of the city where he lived was quiet, but not without people. Follow the pattern of taking left then right at the streets with lights, Dresden ended up at the university campus.

Figuring that he had an interview the next day anyway, Dresden made his way through the campus in order to locate the English department. Once he found the building, he watched the students and professors scuttling in and out, and found he was a bit nostalgic for the life a university offered. He was hardly able to have an intellectual discussion with his high school students. Hell, he was lucky if they showed up, half the time.

The bell tower on campus rang, and Dresden realized it was already early afternoon. He stopped a group of students and asked where the cheapest place to eat was, and two of the girls looked him up and down giggling. A third rolled her eyes, and pointed over her shoulder. "If you hurry, sir, you can get a free lunch on the great lawn. The Krishna's take donations, usually a couple of bucks, but if you're really stingy, you don't have to pay them."

Dresden thanked her, and as the group walked off he heard the helpful girl scolding her friends. "You should be nice to elders," she was saying.

Dresden sighed, running his hand through his hair, once again cursing it's gray color. If he could afford it, he would dye it blond or brown, or another normal color. As it was, if he could make rent and eat on what Margot could afford to give him until his suspension was over.

Dresden headed the way to the great lawn that the girl pointed, but ran into one of the campus-preachers that congregated on the north part of the lawn. A crowd had gathered, as a woman was arguing with the preacher.

"God does not care what clothes you wear," she was saying "It doesn't say it anywhere in the bible that clothing is important."

"Ah, but your body is a temple, so how you present this temple to the lord is important," countered the campus preachers.

"Bull." cried one of the watchers.

"What about shoes?" Dresden asked, suddenly curious.

"OH, shoes are the most important of all, good sir. The worse your shoes, the further your steps take you from God. Simple sandals are best, comedic mockeries of footwear are the tools of the devil!"

The woman who appeared to be his adversary countered. "Oh, so you're saying if you wear weird shoes, you're going to hell?"

"Exactly!"

This riled up the crowd. Dresden quickly looked down at his feet, and was insanely grateful that he was still wearing the new shoes Margot had bought for him, not the dog-shoes his sister had given him.

When he looked back up, the group had split into two, half of them backing the woman, half backing the preacher. Dresden stood alone in the middle of the two groups.

"Which side are you on?" someone called.

"Oh, sorry. I'm not even sure I believe in God," Dresden answered before thinking it through.

"What?"

A student from the front of the preacher's side of the argument reached out to swing at Dresden. Dresden backed up, and was pummeled with a plastic sword from a girl who had taken the woman's side. Suddenly two dozen people were shouting and punching at Dresden. Then the preachers said "Well, that's my time." and turned to the woman. "Well honey, lets go home" he said, giving her a kiss.

Dresden called for them to help him as they walked off, but they ignored him. Finally he managed to pull free from the crowd that had surrounded him. Running off he decided that perhaps he should get off campus before finding a place to eat. Especially if it meant he could loose he crowd that was chasing him.

***

Margot was restless. It was infuriating to her that she had so little control over the change to dragon, or how long she could maintain other forms. She used to be able to maintain even the most difficult of guises for months at a time. But that was before. She got mad thinking about it, pacing around her bed, her claws tearing into the comforter. That pissed her off even more.

Storming from her room, she slunk around the house looking for Kyle, finally having to resort thwacking her tail against his door to knock.   The blonde youth opened the door with a yawn.

Kyle, I need to get out of the house. Let's go for a walk. The boy nodded, then went back into his room to get shoes and a shirt. Margot paced up and down the hall while she waited for him, and almost didn't let him put the harness and leash on her, she was so anxious to go.

When they got outside a pit bull was coming around the corner, pulling his leash ahead of the owner. The pit bull stopped and started to growl, and Margot realized that she had forgotten to put on the guise of the golden retriever. She fixed that before the dog's owner could come around the corner, then lead Kyle off in the other direction. From behind her she could hear the dog's owner trying to get it to move from where it had stopped.

The walk was tedious, and Margot wished she could be at work today, or doing anything else, really. They got to the dog park that Kyle liked to take her to - at least there she could be off the harness for a while, even if it did mean mingling with other dogs.

Today the park was relatively empty. A few puppies, and a toy poodle. The puppies all romped around together, playing some sort of elaborate game that intrigued Margot to watch. It reminded her some of how humans seemed to interact. She sat down to watch them, pondering the similarities, when the poodle ran up and started yapping at her. Margot growled at the offending dog, but it refused to back down. As the only other adult "dog" in the park, the poodle want to assert its place as alpha dog, even over the golden retriever.

Margot bared her teeth, not daring to let her image of a golden retriever slip, even if it would frighten off the toy poodle. There were too many people. But the little dog was nothing if not persistent. It was so small to be trying to assert its dominance, Margot thought. Bite size little dog.

Margot stood up quickly, and the pitch of her growling changed. Kyle? KYLE! she called, unable to see him. A hand settled on her back, and attached the leash to the harness.

"I'm here," Kyle said.

We're leaving. I need to eat, and I need to get away from that bite-sized runt. Now.

Kyle glared at the poodle, and allowed himself to be lead out of the park. Still restless, Margot made Kyle stop at a quick mart, rather than taking her home to eat. She downed three burgers, with the toppings and buns taken off. Kyle ate those without much thought, then asked where she wanted to go.

Anywhere Margot said, letting her feet lead her. She lead him through parts of town she'd never been before, then circled back around, passing by the edge of campus, then back through the surrounding neighborhoods.

She wandered over to the house where Dresden lived, and sat outside for a moment. instructing Kyle to pretend to tie his shoes. When he had trouble with that, she told him to untie and retie them.

As Kyle stalled, she sent her awareness out, towards the direction of the house, careful to not put words to the thoughts. If Dresden were there, she didn't want him to suddenly hear her voice. She didn't have to worry, however, as she did not sense his presence in the building.

A man a head taller than Kyle walked up from the direction of the bus stop with a bag under his arm. "Can I help you?" he said.

Kyle looked up. "No, I think I can manage."

Margot looked over at the man, and hoped that he realized that Kyle was just an idiot, and that he wasn't trying to be witty. Apparently it was pretty obvious, and he settled for saying "Alright then." The man didn't move, though, so when Kyle was done tying his shoe, Margot lead him away. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw the man go into the house, and realized that he was one of Dresden's roommates. She wondered if he was the one who had sold his shoes, or one of the others.

Finally feeling more relaxed, Margot lead Kyle home, and got ready for another nap. Yawning and putting her head on her arms, she did a mental check of her power. She was relieved that by morning she should be fine to return to human form. She made a mental note to find some sort of chore for Dresden to do around the house. It shouldn't be too much trouble, in her restless state she had managed to break a few things, and in the very least, she could set him to work on fixing them, while she worked on figuring out his mind, and the best way to control him.

****

Dresden got home at the end of the day just after Lional. He noticed his housemate carrying something and talking to someone in front of the house. Not wanting to interrupt, not daring to, he waited around the corner. When he heard the door to the house close, he resumed his approach to the house. Glancing down the block he saw a blonde man retreating with his pet. Dresden did a double take. Instead of a dog on the leash, it appeared to be a small, red dragon.

Dresden rubbed his eyes, but when he opened them, the pair was gone. Figuring he had taken a worse beating than he thought at the campus, he went in to lie down.

*****