Welcome to Gaia! ::

Kotatsu edged into the living room.

It was, she thought, a rather trying time for her right now. When she had looked up from her cornflakes, decided to adopt a child, and made inquiries after several before choosing, she had rather neglected to ask if the child she was going to take in had any pets.

Or, to be specific, large dragons.

This had turned out to be an oversight as large as the mythical reptile glaring at her from the couch, and also just another problem to addd onto the list that had been growing by leaps and bounds ever since Arith had entered the front door and asked how long he was going to be on vacation here until Mia came back. That particular problem had been something that, even after explaining to Arith several times, Kotatsu still was having issues with. So for now, she was focusing on something else. She neared the dragon cautiously. What did dragons eat, anyway? According to the traditional legends she had heard, they ate people and livestock. Kotatsu had several neighbours, none of whom liked her, but she didn't quite dislike them enough to feed them to Arith's pet. As for livestock, she had a stuffed sheep in her living room and some ground beef in the fridge for hamburgers. Somehow, she doubted that was quite enough, even for a very small dragon. And even though this dragon was small enough to deal with, what would happen when it got older? She gave an inward shudder.

Arith had said it was called Konig, after he had informed her that his name was Arith, vigorously shook her hand at the door, informed her of everything he liked, which was a long list, everything he didn't like, which was a short list, generally acted excited to be going on a trip to a new place, and totally misunderstood the entire reason Kotatsu had shown up to visit him. Konig. It sounded barbaric. Kotatsu peeked over the edge of the couch at the dragon who lazily flicked an eye at her. She wasn't shiny enough to attract his attention. But he was certainly odd enough to attract hers. Every time she looked at the thing, she felt a million very pressing questions leap into her mind. 'Was it litterbox trained?' always seemed to be foremost in her mind. If not, would she have to carry a shovel with her every time she took it for a walk? She had no idea what Arith did with it. But she had no idea what Arith did in general, either. Once he had got to the house he had begun exploring almost at once. She hadn't seen him since an hour ago, when he had asked her...

When Mia was coming to get him.

Looking back, asking whether the child she was adopting knew he was being adopted was another thing Kotatsu should have asked about. She had never adopted anyone before, apart from a wheezy old cat, which had been kidnapped by Mr. Finchley, the old man next door, and a budgeriar which flew away after an incident involving an open window and a freak wind. She had never even had children before, never dreamed about having children before, or even met a nice man who she could possibly have had the option to have children WITH before.

Hell, she had just barely learned that you could make food without a microwave, even. The problems were, now that Kotatsu looked back... They were dragonic. Of epic proportions. The dragon itself was dwarfed by the immensely massive problems that she herself were the cause of. She was tempted to turn around and tell Arith to go home, tell Konig to go home, tell Mr. Finchley, who had been stealthily trying to peer into her window ever since he saw a furry boy on her front step, to go home and just sit on the dragon-free couch to calm her jangled nerves.

But then she'd be alone again. All alone in this house, the house that she had bought alone and decorated alone and then inhabited all by herself with no one but Mr. Finchley occassionally trying to spy on her. When she had met Arith, she had been drawn to him immediately for that very reason. Anyone meeting Arith for the first time could never feel alone. He chattered and laughed and made a lot of racket, even in a car with nothing but the rolling window to keep him occupied. He was vibrant. And even though his parent was gone, even though he was just coasting until someone new came along, Kotatsu had the feeling he had never felt really, really lonely. It had enthralled her. And no matter what trouble he caused, no matter how hard it was going to be to walk Konig or explain things to Mr. Finchely or pull husky fur out of the shower drain, she didn't want to let him go. She didn't want to be in the empty house again. She would have to explain to him about Mia and help him adjust, and explain to the gardener about Konig and help him adjust, and cook more, and clean more, and sleep less, but it was okay.

Finally, she reached out and patted Konig's back gently. He was cold. She drew her hand back and the dragon gave her a long, measured stare. It twisted its mouth at her and rolled over.

Kotatsu fancied it had smiled.