Prompt: Freedom at DragonCon

DragonCon CosPlay 2013

Zeblax anxiously groomed his black and red fur, curling his yellow lips and running his long rasping tongue over his forearms and along his rear flanks with nervous energy. He sharpened his black curled horns against the whetstone and held the wooden brush in his clumsy claws to pull it through his wild white mane. Sarah would arrive soon and take him to the dragoncon.

She would fuss if he didn’t look his best. She brought him every year, and she said this was the one time he didn’t have to hide. If only she didn’t insist he wear the hated collar and chain. She was very careful, but every brush of the metal against his flesh made him tremble as he remembered the dungeons of his youth.

It was his escape from there that ultimately led to his crash landing here, and Sarah’s discovery of him when she had been a young child playing in the woods. They had recognized each other as kindred spirits, and she had hidden and fed him ever since. Their farm was large enough for him to hunt deer and foxes, and to tear apart the occasional tree as he scratched his claws and horns.

Sarah had come home from visiting friends glowing with excitement and talking about the dragoncon, a great gathering of people who dressed up in costumes. She said he could go and see other people, and they wouldn’t be afraid of hi. They would even admire him! She chose a costume and made up a little story for them to act out. She insisted that people would be more relaxed if he wore the chains. He did like the noise, the scent, the energy of all the people around. He didn’t like the flashing lights from their cameras, but they seemed to prove Sarah right – they were very popular.

So every year, they went to the dragoncon, and for both of them it was a kind of relief and a joy to not hide, to be admired, to be wanted. Sarah often found mates. Zeblax was glad for her, but it also made him sad and a little lonely, reminding him that he had never found one on this planet, and likely never would. Fortunately, without a female to stimulate him, his need for a mate was never triggered. But he still felt lonely, even with Sarah. Sometimes especially with Sarah, because she was in many ways the mate he would never have.

But tonight, the loud music, the hot air, the heady scent of humans, the endless flashing lights, and freedom, almost, to wander among people without their fear or horror…

Time writing:	20 minutes
August word count:	16,944