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Nominal was exhausted.
However–at the moment he cannot rest, as Owain was talking about helping the queen with something. He lost the plot of the conversation a very long time ago.
His breathing grew heavy–almost like huffs. At one point he even growled a bit, but he hoped that the masked lion didn’t hear him. He felt his anger boiling to the surface as he was forced to stay in the dreadful conversation. He needed some semblance of a way out.
“Look–Owain, I need to go do…something,” said nom, almost breathing it out. His ears rang as Owain replied, he didn’t even hear what he said before he quickly dismissed himself and headed off.
Scott was watching in the background, having seemingly been forgotten in the conversation. Although, he guessed he didn’t mind, as that happened often whenever important conversations are had. No matter–he was still concerned about Nom’s behavior recently. The dragon-shifter had been acting oddly moodier than usual. Don’t get him wrong–everyone’s had their bad days, but he just knew Nom was acting… different.
So, he followed him to what he could only assume was his Well Well Well.
Secretly hidden was another rather slimy man, 4C. He appeared to have overheard Scott’s unknowingly outward monologue, so of course he was worried about his friend. He knew he couldn’t be seen though, unless he wanted his head on a skewer for what he did to the blue kingdom.
He didn’t really know what to do besides watch. This has happened once before back when Nom saved him. He gave the idea that it probably had something to do with his draconic instincts in some way–if the huffing and growling was to be noticed. He figure he might as well follow them to make sure nothing bad happened.
~~~
As Scott followed Nom down, he tried to get the attention of his friend, but he seemed to be in some kind of daze. So he did the second best thing. He knew Nominal would hate his guts for this but he was just too worried.
He made his way to the red kingdom.
~~~
Nom made his way down the water of his home, thinking of some way to secure his hoard instinctively. Although he tried to hide those feelings down. He knew he could just take a small nap in his bed and everything could be fine.
…
However, everything was not fine.
He was now laying in his bed, having to move around because his body needed someone next to him so he could care for them. His instincts screamed, having laid dormant for so long. His body ached as he kept readjusting himself to no avail. He figured it would’ve passed by then, but it seemed he underestimated his true draconic prowess.
Speaking of–what was with the sudden onset of these feelings? He figured it wouldn’t happen so early in his lifespan. It seems he was wrong about that as well.
He remembered his instincts taking over a single time before. And that resulted in not only the slaughter of more than a dozen knights, but also his gain in a companion (that betrayed him). But he didn’t want to think about that, especially since he clearly had much bigger problems than some past incident that had (everything) nothing to do with his current predicament.
Nom sighed–finally getting up in favor of finding something else to distract himself with, seeing as the unsuccessful nap didn’t help whatsoever.
He stretched his still-aching back as he made his way around his small home. It was never really fit for his height, but it was still comfortable for him regardless. He found himself staring outside, his gaze pointed toward his hoard.
He figured he might as well play some farkle to pass the time, and what better way to pass time than to make money off it? It seemed like a good deal.
So he made his way to his hidden hoard, stashed away under a thin layer of moss that he meticulously placed. Digging down, he managed to find the copper chest that held his treasures. Crouching, he opens it, revealing an indescribably abundant amount of minerals.
He took the gold out. Suddenly, he felt faintly happy at the feeling of having something in his hoard with him. It gave him an idea…
Next thing he knew, he was laying in the moss, hand on (his hoard) the copper chest that he was supposed to gamble away. He knew this was what he was meant to do–stay with his hoard until he calms down, but he couldn’t help but crave a person. Honestly, he didn’t even care who it was at that point–but for now, he was content to just lay down.
~~~
In the red kingdom, a certain mage was sneaking around invisible, looking for a particular knight. He made sure to look at everything and everyone, ascertaining who was doing what.
A large group of people were cheering Cherri on in farkle it seems, she was clearly very smug about it. Apo had the most obvious emotion of boredom plastered on her face–it was honestly quite hilarious to watch. But, that wasn’t what he was here to do, he was here to find Katie in the hopes she has answers for whatever was going on with nom.
Katie was in the throne room, writing something down on a book on her lap. She briefly looked around–as if sensing Scott’s presence, but she brushed it off as hearing things that weren’t there. Scott stopped himself from breathing a sigh of relief, he needed to stay as quiet as physically possible.
Scott tip-toed to the large red throne, standing right next to it in order to get the full effect of what he wanted to do.
As Katie spoke to herself about what she was planning for a new building–Scott turned visible and shouted.
“BOO!” The plant mage said, hands up in a roar-like gesture.
Katie screamed so high her voice got caught up in her throat and she ended up wheezing on it. Scott held his stomach as he laughed so hard it hurt. Despite her name, Katie the brave was an easily-scared knight.
After wiping the tears out of his eyes, Scott prepped himself for the explanation. He tried to make it sound less worrying so she wouldn’t storm into the blue kingdom and cause a ruckus. As he finished the explanation, Katie sighed dramatically, leaning back against her chair as she reluctantly stood up.
“I think I know what’s going on, but I need to check him to make sure,” the knight said. Scott nodded in both confusion and acceptance. At least she seemed to know what she was doing he supposed.
~~~
As they continued walking, a certain slime man had been eavesdropping. His suspicions were confirmed by Katie's behavior–but he didn’t know much about it. He was scared that if he went to comfort Nom, he would lose his head (again), and he didn’t want to make the situation any worse than it already was.
So he followed close behind, determined to at least look at what was happening–even if a part of him hated the dragon.
~~~
Scott and Katie made their way down the well well well. As soon as Katie saw the little opening to his house, she turned her head to where she knew his hoard was. Low-and-behold, her brother was laying there, hand on his copper chest, making grumbling sounds as he shifted around.
She knew what he wanted, and was by his side almost immediately, with Scott not so far behind. As soon as the dragon sensed her there, he wasted no time in dragging her towards him, trilling happily as his wings wrapped around her.
Katie tried to shove him away, it was embarrassing having a member of the blue kingdom so close by when he was like this, but she couldn’t get away no matter how hard she tried.
She could feel Scott’s presence, and her brother could too apparently. As he also dragged the mage down with him by the waist. Scott didn’t really fight all that much, knowing that Nom wasn’t really in his right sense of mind at the moment. So, he went limp in his hold, cracking a small smile as the dragon did the same.
~~~
Nom was in heaven, he had his (hoard) friends with him, tightly wrapped around his wings–as they should be (even if it felt like someone was missing).
Katie was a bit reluctant at first, but he managed to calm her down–much to the content of his instincts. Scott was surprisingly willing, so at least that part was easy for him.
He didn’t even want to think about how Katie knew to come down here, or how Scott did either, but that wasn’t important at the moment. What was important was that they were safe and comfortable in his arms (but not the missing person).
A slight rumble erupted from his chest as soon as they were both laid down. He couldn’t be the only one who should do that, so he made it his mission to make them feel just as safe.
He started with Katie. Despite her lack of draconic features, Katie still had some instincts and even bits of anatomy as part-dragon. And Nom knew that included the ability to purr. It was different for every dragon, but judging off of experience–he knew exactly where to go for.
He tilted her head up just a little bit, she obliged, wanting to see what he was up to. He then took his hand and started to rub it between her neck and jaw, almost like a cat.
She melted quickly, her head drooping down onto his hand as he kept up the petting. It didn’t take long for her purring to start syncing with Noms, and it certainly didn’t help that they were siblings–making her feel even more safe.
Once she started, Nom moved over to the half-elf on his other side. Scott was seemingly already comfortable, but not enough for Noms peace of mind. He wasn’t too sure on how elves acted when they were in the same state as him and Katie, but he figured that Scott would probably purr as well.
So Nom did the first thing he could think of, and that was focusing on his non-human features. The only thing that differentiated him from any other human was his ears–so maybe that had something to do with it? Well, it wouldn’t hurt to try.
So he took his free hand and placed it behind the mage’s ear. Scott tensed up at first–making Nom nearly regret his decision–but it wasn’t until he leaned into the hand that Nom realized he was on the right track.
Nom then scratched behind it, rubbing it in a way that applied a bit of pressure onto the back of his ear. It certainly made Scott’s limbs turn to jelly as he kept on going. It didn’t stop him though.
Scott’s ears just kept on drooping lower and lower, to the point where they were perpendicular to his neck. Nom had an inkling that it was out of comfort, so he applied a bit more pressure just to be sure.
Soon, scott started to purr as well, but seemingly not in the way dragons do. His was much smoother, syncing with his breathing and making his body shake just a bit. The vibrations seemed to also have lulled him to sleep, causing nom to lean his head back in resignation as well.
He was so tired… it wouldn’t hurt to sleep right?
That was what he thought, before he heard a slight rusting from somewhere close by. He had a feeling he knew who it was.
So he decided it would be okay if he let them in.
~~~
4C was watching all of this from the opening of the cave, his conscious torn between joining Nom (his brother) or going back to his house beside the lake. He really wanted to stay with Nom, Katie and Scott, but something told him it would break the serenity between the three.
As he was about to exit, he heard a familiar voice call his name.
“4C?…” Nom said groggily, clearly on the verge of sleep. He stopped almost immediately in his tracks, thinking that it might’ve just been his imagination. But it wasn’t, it was clearly him speaking.
4C turned towards them, regret in his eyes–Nom was going to kill him again wasn’t he? He had interrupted what seemed to be something sacred and Nom looked like he was preparing for something.
“…Come closer,” the dragon-shifter said, arm reaching out towards the blue figure.
Something told him to just go towards the person who currently looked like he was too tired to even bother fighting.
So he took his chances and walked over.
Before he could crouch down once he was in front of him, Nom grabbed his armed and yanked him down. The slime didn’t even have any time to process anything before he was resting on Noms chest and Katie’s lap. Nom then took his hand from scritching Scott in favor of rubbing 4Cs scalp.
It admittedly felt really good, and he couldn’t bring himself to leave the pile he was in. The part of him that feared Nom was quickly growing smaller and smaller the longer he was in the knights arms. It didn’t take long before his eyes grew heavy and his limbs felt limp.
He feels Nom’s tail wrap around the four of them, with the end resting on Katie. It made him feel even safer.
He hears Scott make a somewhat small noise of discomfort. Nom takes his hand off Katie and places it back behind the elf’s ear. Scott’s previous rumbling came back ten-fold. Katie was already asleep, so she seemed okay at the lack of touch.
His eyes finally closed, with the sounds of soft purring and being in a pile that gave him the feeling of what he could only describe as the best feeling he’d ever felt.
~~~
Nom was unbelievably content at the moment, with his entire hoard with him, he felt like all was well and he could finally rest without having to move around every so often. It definitely felt a little foreign, especially considering the fact that he hadn’t been like this for a very long time.
The feeling of Scott and Katie’s purrs along with the soft snoring of 4C was pure euphoria.
He could stay like this forever.