Me and Lepris spent quite a long time talking and conversing about various matters, mostly related to the world I now find myself into: I doubt I will be able to remember each single thing he said, but I think I can now understand most of the basic slang I will hear in my... sojourn here. As we are amicably chatting, his 'phone', which I found out is a human device used to talk to other people remotely, among many other functions (and, now that I know what it is, Karma's sudden burst of ire yesterday actually makes a lot more sense), rings an annoying tune for a few seconds: upon checking it out, he finds out it's already thirteen o'clock; the saying that 'time passes quickly when you are having fun' once again proves its validity...

“Man, it's already lunch time..." he sighs as he gets up from the sofa we were both sitting on; he then turns to me and inquires, somewhat displeased “So, uh... you wanna go eat? You sure you're not already full? Because I can wait if you're not hungry..."

“Why, thank you, but I am indeed quite empty-bellied..." I reply, unsure of whether I should be honest or not “It may be because I am not used to human cuisine, or perhaps it is a direct effect of waking up so lately, but... it may not be a bad idea to have lunch right now: at least that will take care of my appetite for the remainder of the day... hopefully."

“Oh, great! I was worried I had ruined your routine..." he rubs the back of his fluffy head embarrassed “Okay, you want me to cook for you again or..."

“Your offer is quite generous, but I would like to visit the city if possible." I ask him, an ingenious plan in mind “From the looks of it, I will stay here for a whole week... and the more exploration I do early on, the better I will fare on my own if we ever get separated."

“Oh, right! Yeah, sorry for not thinking about it before... well, I'm gonna go prepare myself: if you need me, I'm in the bathroom over there!" he smiles at me as he runs towards, and subsequently enters, the door I saw yesterday and never bothered to inspect... apparently, that is the bathroom. A useful piece of information, I think, in case I desperately need to use the toilette.

While I wait for my friend to return, I take a look at myself and attempt to figure out whether I need to clean myself or change my clothes: a quick inspection reveals that not only has sleeping with my clothes not ragged them whatsoever, but that I do not require cleansing either. I also do not seem to be emitting any foul smells: whether that is a side effect of the transformation or a mere unseen oddity, I care not.

I then realize there is a mirror attached to the wall next to the bathroom's door, which I approach in order to better see my face: although my visage has changed to fit in with the humans around me, some features of my real body persist in this one as well. My hair is still as red and jagged as it once was, but a small fraction of it right above my right eye, which is as long as a few of the spikes that make out my hair, has turned silver grey, a change that I do not despise at all; my eyes, although they have rounded quite a bit, are still sharp in form and blood red in colour; what changed the most are my ears, apparently, and not in a way I like... but, thankfully, my hair covers them completely, saving me from their more than ungraceful sight. All things considered, I could look much worse than the way I do at the moment.

“Hey, do you need the bathroom for something?" Lepris, in his human form, opens the door to the blue room, wearing the same clothes he did yesterday; I tell him I do not need anything in particular, to which he answers “Alright then! We can go anytime you want! Even right now if you're feeling like it!"

My name... is Red. I am a fire dragon, and the only survivor of the massive surprise attack that completely destroyed the capital of my kingdom. After a troublesome night of rough encounters I met Lepris, a human 'teenager' with a friendly attitude and uncommon characteristics; he has already proven himself to be a valuable friend and ally, but I have a feeling he is going to be more useful to me in the long run than I originally thought...

The bar he is bringing me to is, from the looks of it at least, just around the corner of the street: Lepris informs me that he goes to said locale almost every day, due to it being in the near vicinity and also because the food there is cheap and delicious. Although I do miss my usual lunch packed with the most amazing delicacies my chefs can think of, that thought is soon suppressed by my great curiosity towards human cuisine: just what sorts of treats will I have the opportunity to taste in my time here, I wonder? My mouth is already watering...

“So... do you have any money on you?" the shape-shifter asks me as we walk towards our destination.

“Unfortunately, no: pardon me if I did not consider bringing with me my whole treasure as I desperately tried to save my kingdom..." I reply, quite annoyed by the 'rabbit' (at least that is what Lepris told me he can morph into) and his foolishness.

“Wow, that burns... though I deserve it, after what I said last night..." he laughs off my remark before adding “It's just that, since you don't have any money on you, I'll have to pay for your food too: sorry if I can't bring you to... I dunno, super-deluxe restaurants or something like that, but I have a pretty tight budget..."

“That is fine by me: I am not very picky when it comes to food, and I will make sure to repay and compensate you for your generosity after I manage to secure my homeland." I reassure Lepris, whose face suddenly reddens as soon as I mention a compensation “W-Well, I mean... y-yeah, some extra money would be nice..." I am afraid I might have scared him... but I cannot just let him aid me without giving anything back, can I?

We reach the locale even more quickly than I originally imagined, and the place somewhat matches my expectations: the edifice is quite small compared to those around it, and the only two things that make it stand out from the others are its prominent green colour and the words 'The Old Abbey' written in huge white letters on a black sign right above the entrance door, which is made of beautiful brown wood. The space in front of the entrance is mostly desert, though there are two small flowerbeds filled with small plants between the door and the road; there is no way to tell what lays inside from our current position, as the only two windows that look towards the street are so dirty it is impossible to describe anything... someone should definitely clean them...

I decide not to pester the human about it and to, instead, enter said restaurant, hoping it looks better from within: the floor appears to be made of wood, but I quickly realize it is only a trick and that the floor is made of... ceramic or something similar; the walls also seem to be made out of wood at first, but touching them reveals they are an imitation too... I now cannot help but wonder if the door is but a fake as well. There are ten tables or so inside the locale, and around thirty chairs to accompany them... and thankfully, both of them appear to be made out of real wood: half of them are taken by adults and kids alike, so we decide to claim for ourselves the only table for two people that still remains empty.

As we sit, I immediately notice three shady men with odd hairstyles and creepy clothes eyeing us suspiciously from the table right next to us: as soon as they realize I am looking at them, they turn away and return to their inaudible chat. Hopefully they keep their business to themselves... but I have a strange feeling they were staring more at Lepris than me... just to be sure, I tell my friend to sit on the chair most far away from them, in case they try something funny. Although he obeys my directive, he does not understand why I told him to do so... perhaps it is better this way.

“Hey, check it out!" my comrade says as he points his index finger towards the corner of the room: a charming woman is singing aloud a song I have never heard before, but that is quite good to hear nonetheless “Someone's singing over there! She's pretty good too..." I do recall him telling me people are allowed to sing in this eating place as they wait for their food, but I am quite surprised someone actually had the courage to begin singing so freely and outstandingly at this hour of the day. The woman is more or less Lepris's age but she looks, acts and behaves as if she were double that amount: no dragoness, not even Sol, ever showed so much femininity and comeliness at once... in fact, I never saw anyone enjoying themselves, what they are and what they do as much as this woman is doing right now. She is wearing a long red coat secured to her waistline by three tight black leather belts, red fingerless leather gloves and, from what I can tell, red boots with somewhat high heels; she has long straight black hair enveloped by a worn silver and black ribbon, enchanting purple eyes that are sparkly just like the nightly sky and lips as dark as obscurity itself... the skin around her eyes is too dark to be normal though, which makes me believe for an instant this woman is horribly ill or even undead: upon telling Lepris, though, he immediately dismisses my theories and instead insists that she is only wearing 'make-up', or 'artificial facial decorations'. Quite interesting, I tell myself... perhaps it is this semi-artificial beauty of hers that is intoxicating my eyes so strongly.

Her singing is accompanied by many odd instruments and a manly voice, but I cannot see who is producing either of them... the only thing I can do is listen spellbound as she chants what appear to be the last words of her song “ After all the darkness and sadness... soon comes happiness... if I surround myself with positive things... I'll gain prosperity! I'm a survivor, I'm gonna make it, I'm not gon' stop, I'm gon' work harder! I'm a survivor, I'm gonna make it, I'm a survivor, keep on survivin'! " the rest of her audience claps audibly as she ends her performance and, were it not for a sudden feeling of shyness, I would be clapping louder than all of them combined: singers so good are rare in my kingdom, and even rarer are songs so powerful and meaningful... though I suspect this is but one of many, and I cannot wait to hear more. The woman realizes I was staring at her and seductively winks at me, causing my cheeks to burn with red fire... to avoid further embarrassment, I turn towards Lepris and discover our waiter is already here and ready to take our orders.

“I'll take a Cornish pasty, thanks." he tells the man dressed formally in white, who then turns to me and asks, in a very formal tone “And you, sir?"

“I will order..." although it was quite nice to listen to that woman, now that I did I cannot recall what was on the menu... in fact, I never even read the menu! That is so shameful... there is only one thing to do in a situation like this “...Yes, I will order a Cornish pasty as well, thank you." when you do not know what to take, let others decide for you... indirectly, of course: the worst thing that could happen is I will not like my dish... but that is a much better alternative than suffering the humiliation of opening the menu in front of the waiter.

“Get me one of those as well." the mysterious woman says as she suddenly appears behind me; she then grabs a chair from a nearby empty table and sits next to the both of us, a gesture that neither of us expected at all “Don't you worry you two, I can pay for myself... and for you two as well if you want." her voice is just as beautiful in person as it was from a distance, but her beauty does not seem to be enchanting Lepris in the same way it did with me “N-No, don't worry: I'll pay for us all... who are you again?" he asks as the waiter leaves to bring our orders to his colleagues in the kitchen.

“Someone who thought it'd be nice to have a little chat with you boys." she simply says as she grabs the water the waiter brought us and pours it into my glass; before drinking the liquid, she asks, almost entertained by our surprised expressions “Why are you looking at me like that? A lady can't be seen eating alone: it'd make me like look like a total loner!" she does have a point... but Lepris is still not convinced “You haven't answered my question: who are you?"

“ That's a good question... " she says as she puts down the glass and caresses her lips with her right index finger “ My, I haven't thought of that yet... give me a sec, dears... " she then begins whispering repeatedly the letter 'F', before finally concluding “Yeah, that should be good enough! Name's Fortune, 'Miss' Fortune... and you?" she turns to face us both “What are your names, dears?"

“Greetings, Miss Fortune: my name is Red, and the boy here is Lepris. We are both pleased to make your acquaintance." I politely respond as the waiter comes to our table once again to deliver the woman her silver cutlery... and another glass for me, since she stole the one I once had.

As the man leaves, my comrade asks the lady, very suspicious “Yeah, that's totally not crazy: what do you want from us?" to be honest, his suspicion is entirely legitimate: this woman is very shady, and even I cannot understand why she decided to join us.

“As I said, I just want to chat... is that so wrong?" she smirks as her intriguing gaze perforates the rabbit's eyes; she then whispers us, making sure nobody else can hear her “Besides, you two seem very... interesting people. Trust me, dear, I can tell when someone's special... and you two don't look like ordinary people at all: so, if someone here should be asking the other to show their hand, it'd be me." Lepris begins sweating copiously as soon as she finishes her sentence, immediately panicking upon realizing our cover has been instantaneously blown: feeling a bit sorry for causing that reaction, but still maintaining her composure, she then reassures him “Oh, darling, please don't start crying! I'm your friend, see? You can trust me: you're not the only two weirdos I've ever seen in my life... but you definitely have the coolest hair out of all of 'em." she chuckles, probably referring to me “ I ain't with the government, the police or some sort of secret organization... I just want to get to know you two better, and afterwards I'll be gone. I promise not to reveal your secrets to anyone. Alright? "

“Alright..." Lepris mumbles, still scared “I don't know how much we can trust you, but... I guess we don't have a choice..." I check on the people around us, making sure nobody can hear my friend's explanation: the three hooded men have apparently already eaten their lunch, but they do not seem eager to leave the restaurant... and they still look at our table from time to time. Definitely suspicious.

“I don't trust those guys..." Fortune whispers me in my ear as she darts a ferocious gaze at the three men, who immediately divert their eyes from ourselves “Keep an eye on 'em." she advises me as our waiter finally arrives with our food: it appears to be some sort of bread-thing full of meat and vegetables... it looks simple, but the flavour it emanates is enough to make me instantly forget about the three hoodlums.

As we eat our lunch undisturbed, me and Lepris explain to our new acquaintance what we are and what we can do: I also tell her about Draconia, my kingdom and what happened to my home-town the previous day... but, strangely enough, Lepris refrains from mentioning anything about his past life, probably unwilling to reveal such personal information to a stranger. The woman seems satisfied with our statements and comments, looking at me “So, you're a dragon..." she then turns to Lepris “...And you're an 'otherkin', right? Can't say I've ever heard that word before... and it's kinda hard to imagine it too, but alright."

“You mean you find a human who can turn into a rabbit more strange than a literal freaking dragon?" Lepris asks, almost offended “Seriously, what's wrong with you? And didn't you say you had experience with people like me?"

“You misunderstood: I never said that." she says as she drinks another glass full of water “And the only reason why I find his story a bit easier to believe is because I've already stumbled upon kingdoms full of mythical creatures who shouldn't exist..." before the shape-shifter can make another question, she silences him “Just because you've never heard of something, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist at all... you should know this better than anyone else, mister shape-shifter."

After a brief time spent wondering, Lepris asks the woman, uncertain “So, you've never heard of people who can turn into animals before? Even under a different name?" he appears to be resigned, and I can perfectly understand why.

“Look, I won't lie to you: I'm not the right person to ask that question to." Fortune almost seems sad for the rabbit, but she is trying to comfort him the best she can “I'm sorry darling, but it's only been a few hours since I arrived: finding out if there are others like you will be hard, and there's a lot of research I need to do... but don't freak out, alright? Give me some time, and I promise I'll return with some answers." she begins tapping her lower lip with her right index finger, thinking about something “Though, knowing how it usually works... you can bet you'll figure it out much faster than me: trust me, that's usually how it goes." this human is being far too cryptic for my taste... an attitude that reminds me quite a lot about Karma. I wonder if the two are connected, in some way... it would definitely explain some aspects of her behaviour, but making hasty assumptions has never helped anyone before.

“Alright, at least that's something..." Lepris sighs as he stands up “I'm going to the bathroom, be right back!" he then quickly runs to a door on the opposite side of the restaurant and disappears inside.

I am about to continue discussing with the Miss when she signals me to turn around, clearly displeased “Look over there..." as soon as I turn, I spot the three suspicious men walking slowly towards the bathroom and entering the same door my comrade did... that cannot be good at all.

“I assume it is not a human custom for men to all go to the bathroom together, is it?" I ask ironically as I get up, ready for action.

“Nope: only snobby little girls do that nowadays." she says as she proceeds to follow me, a fierce expression on her elegant visage “I'm going in."

“Are you sure? Last time I checked, that was the men's bathroom." I reply as I walk towards the toilets, Fortune in tow “Rules are meant to be broken: some stupid social customs never stopped me from rolling." from what I can gather, this is not even the first time she so blatantly ignored the rules... I already like this girl: she reminds me of myself in this sense.

As we enter the room, we immediately hear loud noises coming from the men section of the toilets: we rush inside only to find the three goons yelling and threatening my friend, who is quickly being forced into the corner of the room... the situation could escalate at any given moment, and I still do not understand why they are doing this.

“Hey, you three!" Fortune yells at the three men in a tone that clearly presages her repressed fury; the trio immediately turns towards her, surprised... they probably were not expecting anyone to stop them “Leave that poor guy alone, will you? He doesn't deserve this kind of treatment." Fortune adds, ready to brawl. After a brief time spent processing her request, the three guys laugh audibly, not unsettled in the least.

“Oh, come on, we're just having fun, you see?" what appears to be the leader, a man slightly smaller than his two companions, leaves Lepris in the 'care' of his two allies and starts making his way towards the woman at my side; he is standing right in front of her when he finally says “Don't tell me you really care about this darn fa-" before he can finish uttering his sentence, the lady slaps the man in the forehead with outstanding speed and strength, sending him flying towards the other end of the room... until his flight is abruptly ended by the wall behind him, which painfully stops him. Lepris takes advantage of the confusion of his two captors to dash to our side of the room, grateful to the woman for having come to his rescue.

Even though the crisis has been averted, Fortune does not seem to be willing to let the three evildoers go unpunished “Sorry dear, but I don't appreciate this kind of humour... I'm afraid I'll have to teach you three gentlemen how to speak to a lady such as myself." the humans do not appear to be scared of the lady at all... in fact, they seem rather eager to make her eat her words; I do not understand how they can be so confident... especially if even I am now scared of the woman's rapidly building rage.

As the two parties prepare to engage, the door to one of the five toilets on our right suddenly opens and a grown wide man comes out of it, his face filled with pure terror, before running towards the exit... wait, what is that tail of white paper that is sticking out of his pants?

“You got toilet paper sticking out of your trousers, dear!" Fortune shouts at the man, who throws that thing away embarrassed before finally leaving the room... now it's just us and them “It's time to be bad..." the lady whispers as she prepares to take all the men on at once. She is not requesting for our help, and probably does not even need it, so I whisper Lepris to not interfere in the battle at all: I wish to see what the woman can do, and he does not seem to be objecting.

The closest of the three thugs runs towards Fortune before lunging at her with his right clenched fist: she easily stops the incoming attack by deviating it with the help of her forearm, and repeats this operation a second time as he attempts to hit her once more with his other fist. Realizing his current tactic is flawed, the hoodlum attempts to hit her upper parts with a well-placed kick... but the woman's lightning reflexes once again prove superior and she instantaneously blocks his incoming attack by holding his leg tightly between her left arm and armpit: she then proceeds to break the enemy's femur right in the middle by thrusting it with her right hand alone, causing the man to loudly cry in pain; she then further breaks his leg by rotating it rightwards in a way I did not think possible, doubling the power of his cry... before finally silencing her opponent for good with another thrust of her right hand, this time on his right shoulder, which immediately makes him drop to the ground unconscious... at least I want to believe he is unconscious. I do not want to imagine how he will feel upon waking up...

“Who's next?" Fortune asks ironic as she sets her sight on the other goon: the person at issue loses no time and reaches out for the nearby ceramic wash basin, grabs the metallic spout on top of it, uses all his strength to pull it out and then throws it at the Miss as water starts jetting out of the broken sink... a useless feat, since Fortune grabs the object mid-air with one hand alone just before it could hit her in the face. As the human trembles in fear before the lady's prowess, she throws the metallic pipe in the air above the man, who follows it with his gaze, preoccupied by the lady's gesture... but fails to notice Fortune sliding right below him and upper-cutting him hard in his thighs: a very dishonourable move, but one that completely eliminates the thug from the game. Seeing the spout land right on his face after he collapsed only added the insult to the injury.

“And now, you..." she refers to the leader of the small gang as he shivers in the corner of the room, a few drops of blood coming out of his nose “Have you learned your lesson, bad boy?" she inquires provocative as she walks up to him; the leader of that bunch of fools, who clearly did not learn anything from the horrible ends of his partners, attempts to punch the woman by surprise... but he, too, is stopped by the Miss, who blocks the incoming fist with her own hand before slowly crushing it between her palm and fingers; the noise of bones cracking and breaking can be heard perfectly even from where I am standing right now, along with the silenced whimpers of that laughable human.

“Now, say that you won't do this ever again." she says as more bones shatter “Say it!"

“I won't do this again! I swear!" he shouts, begging for this torture to stop; at first the lady lets him go and pretends to leave, but then unexpectedly turns around and finishes him off with one powerful kick to the face, which sends him flying once again towards the left-most wall and finally knocks him unconscious.

“My, what a mess I've made today..." she says as she finally takes notice that the water from the broken sink is beginning to pour on the floor “Good thing I won't be paying for any of this..." she decides to leave the unconscious bodies of her assailants behind and to nonchalantly return to me and my friend with a gleeful look on her face “Seriously, this was far too easy... maybe I should've let you two boys handle it... which reminds me..." she then turns to face Lepris before asking “Why were they picking on you? They were staring at you ever since you entered this horrible place: did you do something to upset them?" I, too, am eager to hear his explanation... which he eventually manages to spit out, but not without a whole lot of difficulty “They just... cornered me and started making fun of me for how I look... and then they began calling me names and stuff..." he seems to be on the verge of crying, and I do not know how to help him... Gods, am I useless in this situation...

“Oh, darling..." Fortune smiles sympathetic as she hugs the poor man, who seems to be on the verge of crying “And let me guess, you didn't want to hurt them back, right? You thought that, if you did fight back, you would've only made matters worse..." he nods, but does not answer anything “Poor thing... you're just like her... too precious for this world..." she holds him by the chin and gently forces him to look at her in the eyes “Look, it's alright to defend yourself if you're attacked by idiots like these: if you can't protect even yourself, how are you going to protect your friend if he ever needs your help?" she winks at him, for whatever reason, and afterwards she lets him go “ Well, I'm outta here: I don't wanna be here when the police arrives... and frankly, neither should you." before she can leave the room, I stop her by shouting “Tell Karma I said hi."

She stops, turns around and replies, unconcerned “You're a smart one, aren't you? I guess I could do that... if I could find them, that is."

“Wait, you mean this 'Karma' really does exist!?" Lepris inquires, far too surprised... did he really still have doubts? I suppose uncertainty really is hard to suppress.

“Of course darling... and you should feel lucky you haven't met that madman yet: he knows full-well how to take advantage of innocent cinnamon rolls like you..." her sentence makes me wonder for a brief moment if I did the right thing trusting them, but Fortune quickly snaps me out of my confusion “See you later, dearies! Hope you both live long enough to see me again!" she then disappears through the door, leaving us to ourselves.

“What... what was that?" the shape-shifter asks me, not knowing what to say “Who was she?"

“Most likely, an agent of Karma: they did say they wanted to keep me in check... I bet they are constantly observing us, even without recurring to people like her. Moreover, it looked like she was only using a fraction of her power: I cannot help but wonder just how powerful she is..." I answer the main questions my friend must be asking himself “Now, let us move: as she said, remaining here would not be very wise... in fact, we should leave this place post-haste." and so, after hastily paying our bill to a waiter who is clearly oblivious to what just occurred in the bathroom of his own restaurant, we leave 'The Old Abbey', never to return... hopefully we will not have this kind of treatment everywhere we go..