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A Few Hours Later.
Courtney wakes up from the pillow pile with a big stretch. She's again in her underwear, though changes or no changes the dress would be uncomfortable to sleep in.
She looks confused for a second before remembering why she's sleeping up here. "Oh."
She checks on her feet. "Still the same. If I didn't know better, it looks like extensive makeup..." She feels the bump on her back and the scales along her arms.
She blinks at the last one, but to her credit she doesn't scream this time.
The manor is quiet, as Rebecca is still in her room doing research, having only been a few hours. The Dragon is quite determined to help her girlfriend somehow, searching through every book she owns while waiting on any kind of internet response.
Courtney gets up and stretches again. Despite... everything, she's in a decent mood, at least not feeling lile collapsing into little pieces like she did earlier. She knows she should be afraid for he life, but something in her can't quite bring herself to it.
...at least, until another thought occurs to her. "Shit. Shit shit shit..."
She hastens out of the lounge and towards the study: "R-rebecca?"
Rebecca sits amidst of pile of books, flipping through them one by one. As she hears Courtney calling out, she blinks, glancing towards the hall and frantically starting to get up to find out if something more has gone wrong, "Courtney! I'm here! In the study! What's wrong?"
Courtney glances at her arms, now having a subtle blue sheen and the beginnings of thin scales, but then looks up. "My family. I'm uh... my grandparents, both sets of them, are coming to town this weekend and I'm expected to be there."
Rebecca blinks again, equally unequipped for this kind of problem, "Err... your family? Can... you call in sick? Or... I don't... I don't know. I've not found anything else yet, but give me more time and I'm sure something will turn up."
Courtney looks at her changes, including the newest one: "Well, so far everything here can be covered... guess good thing I like long sleeves in my dresses anyway..." She trails off: "...I can probably hide these."
Rebecca tilts her head downward, getting a better look at Courtney's arms, "It's... getting worse already? Are... are you alright? How do you feel?"
Courtney nods absently: "I feel... if you can believe it, other than the changes obviously being weird, I feel mostly okay? Like nothing is hurting, or making me feel sick, or..." She trails off, looking at the dragon: "I don't know. Feels like it should, well, feel more, but that's not what's happening..."
Rebecca looks worriedly at Courtney, "And... this will sound weird and grim b-but I have to be sure... what would you say if I ordered you to do something you didn't want to do? What would you say if I... ordered you to hurt yourself?"
Courtney blinks, feeling taken aback by the question: "But... you wouldn't." She shakes her head: "No, I don't feel like I would hurt myself to obey you, or to please you."
Rebecca lets out a deep sigh, "Thank goodness. I would never, no. But I'm just... worried. Probably for nothing. Hopefully for nothing. Do you think it'll be safe to try and hide these changes and go home for the weekend?"
Courtney hesitates for a second, then nods. "Safe? Probably. Sane? I'm not sure on that, but... we play with what we get, right?" She realizes she's going to be super tense all weekend and she already knew her grandparents are going to be grilling her about the job. Her mind then jumps to her grandparents grilling Rebecca, not for the changes but for daring to be Courtney's girlfriend, and she lets out a snerk despite the conversation they're having.
Rebecca tilts her head at the unexpected laugh, "You sure you're okay? I... I would offer to join you, but I'm not sure if that would make anything about meeting with your grandparents easier, or harder. I would certainly be distracting."
Courtney waves a hand: "S-sorry! My mind just jumped to the wrong conclusion about the weekend." She looks at the dragon, smirking: "My grandparents grilling you, n-not because of this, but because you're my girlfriend."
Rebecca stares at Courtney, blinking, "O-oh... you... yeah, I guess... this would be hard to explain even without all of that." She motions a claw towards Courtney's feet. Pausing at an unbidden thought coming into her mind, "Do you think they'd like me? Err... no, no that's too ridiculous to ask, what am I even thinking. Not the time."
Courtney blinks, lifting her finger: "Er..." She lowers the finger. "No idea. Since everything would be kinda muddled by you being, well, you, and the sheer impossibility of our relationship." She shifts on her feet, looking at them: "Guess we'll have to see what we end up talking to them about when all this is said and done."
Rebecca settles down on her hind legs, lowering her arms down in front of her to sit on all four, looking strangely dignified compared to her usual lounging. "Do... you plan to tell them? About us? To be honest, I... hadn't even considered it, telling my family."
Courtney looks at Rebecca before sitting down in front of Rebecca. "No. Well, probably not. But... but if I keep changing, sooner or later..." She shakes her head: "I'm getting ahead of myself. We can probably still reverse this, right?"
Rebecca brightens up, forcing a smile, "Oh for sure! I just, well, it's only been a few hours, but I'm sure I'll find something! I'm sure of it..."
Courtney smiles and lets out a small sigh, before touching her hand on Rebecca's front paw. "Yeah. Someone somewhere has to know about this..." She refrains from mentioning that said someone might very well be a dragon with no intention to share that knowledge...
Rebecca glances down, resisting the urge to pull her hand away, and the other equally strong urge to touch Courtney with it further. "I... I'll find someone. I'll just have to be cautious. I'm trying to find things in books first, but I'll try more online, and if I'm asking around about this kind of thing... I don't want to get you into trouble."
Courtney considers: "From certain point of view, you already did." She lifts up her hand: "I don't think so, mind you, but do whatever you need to do in order to find answers. I will... deal."
Rebecca's expression falls, "A-any more trouble... I... s-sorry. I didn't... I..." She looks down at Courtney's hand, then lifts her paw up and extends one finger to touch it. "I'm sorry, regardless, and I will keep looking. You shouldn't have to deal."
Courtney nods: "I think... we know some of what might be coming, or at least have an idea and all signs so far point to there... I would rather figure this out than curl up in the pillows and cry." She pauses. "I already did that, anyway."
Rebecca strains in place, "I... I am sorry. I want to give you reassurance and... a hug. Just support, like a girlfriend should be able to give. But... I don't want to make things worse..."
Courtney looks at Rebecca: "We don't know, Rebecca, what causes this. I think... I'd hurt more if you withdrew from me, than if your hugs were the reason for this."
Rebecca hesitates a moment, but then caresses Courtney's cheek with her finger, "Then... I won't withdraw. I don't know how much I could have done it."
Courtney smiles and leans onto Rebecca's hand: "I... I don't know where this leads, but I feel less afraid of it with you nearby." She glances down: "Even if... that might mean that it's the direct cause of it, somehow."
Rebecca sighs, "I like touching you... and being touched by you. I hope it's not the cause of any of this... but if you want me here... I will be here for you."
Courtney hums: "They say that love will find a way. I'd like to think that no matter what happens, we will get through it." Her hand wanders to touch Rebecca's: "Together."
Rebecca smiles, "After... all the fear and anxiety this morning... I'm glad to hear it. I'm still worried of course, and I'll keep searching until I find something to fix this. But I was afraid, after what I learned, if I am the cause... you would hate me for it."
Courtney sighs, leaning onto the dragon's hand: "...yeah, I could, but... what good would it do? I'm pretty sure I have even worse odds for solving this if I hated you for maybe causing this. Which we don't know."
Rebecca caresses Courtney with her hand, "I wouldn't have blamed you... I almost wish I could take it away from you. If it were me changing instead of you... Well... It seems you have so much to lose. For me... Being less of a dragon might mean less expectations... More chances to express myself as I want. I don't hate being a Dragon, but... I guess change could be good too. For me, at least."
Courtney considers. "I... might lose my humanity." Statement, not really a question. She swallows. "I... I hope it doesn't come to that." It's clear the idea bothers her, but at the same time the goth seems fairly resolute on toughing it out, at least for the moment.
Rebecca isn't sure how to respond, taking a moment to gather her thoughts as her finger gently lifts up Courtney's chin. "Th-that's why I'm going to keep looking and keep searching. You won't lose anything."
Courtney smiles at her girlfriend: "Yeah. If anyone can find it, it's you." She's somewhere in that odd ground between having a panic attack, anger at what happened, and breaking down crying, leaving her just quiet and weirdly calm.
Rebecca slowly pulls her hand back, "Yeah... It's me. Anything you need from me, either to help with your family, or... Or... I don't know. I'm here. Maybe getting out of the manor to visit your family will help?" She opts not to say what she's still thinking, to get away from me.
Courtney nods slowly: "Maybe... Just hope no one notices anything. I don't know how I would explain any of this..."
Rebecca laughs awkwardly, trying to help, "Say your weird boss has you trying make up? Maybe? I... I don't know."
Courtney chuckles softly. "I guess I could just say it's cause of you and any further questioning would be harder..." She shakes her head: "But no. I said I don't see the point in blaming you and I want to stand by that."
Rebecca smiles, chuckling as well, "Even just to get you out of an awkward talk with family...? Okay... I... I know this sounds weird too, but... Thank you."
Courtney winks: "I've been told all my life that I'm a 'clever girl', might as well put that to use." She refrains from mentioning that such statements have usually been accompanied by questioning her wanting to pursue art...
Rebecca chuckles, having been told almost the same thing her whole life, "Clever doesn't always feel like a good thing, though..." She pauses, thinking what she'd wish her parents would tell her, "You're a wonderful person, Courtney. Be yourself. P-probably not the right time for that but... I just had to say it."
Courtney chuckles again: "Or exactly the perfect time. We were worrying about me losing myself, and what better way to try and not drop to that than remember who I am?"
Rebecca nods, smiling , "Yeah, uh, maybe. I just know I've heard that line too. Usually when telling me not to do something I want to do, and instead to just be quiet and do what's best for the family..." She falls silent again, glancing away. "Though I guess that's how we both ended up here, so not all bad. I just know I'd rather you be happy than be... I don't know... Something you're not. That's why I will keep reaching out until we find a way to undo these changes."
Courtney gives a knowing sigh: "Yeah. Be yourself, just do it in the way we tell you to." She smiles at Rebecca right after: "But you are right, sort of doing that got us here."
Rebecca leans her head down to nuzzle Courtney, "I don't think I'm right very often, honestly. But any choice that ultimately brought me to you can't be bad."
Courtney smiles as she leans closer to Rebecca: "At least, not entirely bad. We probably have to see this through before we can make that call. But I don't think my feelings for you are going to change."
Rebecca frowns, "Oh uh, right. Yeah, almost everything... I Know my feelings won't change, at least."
Courtney smiles as she looks at the dragon. "Whatever else, yeah. That." She just holds the dragon's head closer to her, completely not minding at this point that she's in her underwear.
Rebecca sighs as she looks down at Courtney, looking over her nearly naked body as if only just realizing how exposed she is... "You... really are beautiful too."
Courtney blinks and blushes: "I uh... well you are too, so there." Not much of a rebuttal, and certainly no force behind it, she just smiles at the dragon after it.
Rebecca smiles, her head tilting away shyly, but her eyes stick to Courtney, "Y-you um... maybe want to put on some clothes? Not any of your dresses or anything, just... uh..."
Courtney blushes a bit and nods: "Yeah, er... I intended to. Just got distracted."
Rebecca slowly pulls her head away, trying not to be distracted herself, "I- right. Understandable."
Courtney smiles: "I will go find something to put on, and then see about dinner. All this stressing is making me hungry..."
Rebecca grins, "Could always order in again. But I'll leave that up to you. Whatever sounds best."
Courtney hums, lifting a hand to her chin: "Pretty sure we have chicken that's about to go bad so it should be used." She looks at Rebecca: "I want to do something again, even if it's just prepping our dinner. Does that make sense?"
Rebecca nods, "I just don't want you to feel obligated to have to do anything. But I won't hold you back either. Whatever you need to do to feel yourself, I say do it."
Courtney hums: "Well I could blame you... For this constant desire for fried chicken. You know I wasn't that big on it before I started working for you?"
Rebecca manages to giggle, despite the stress of the situation, "It's my favorite! And it's so easy to make, isn't it?" One gets the sense that if completely left to her own devices, Rebecca would just microwave the easiest food possible, regardless of quality, "Well, we can go over the food order for next week and maybe pick out some other stuff."
Courtney giggles softly: "We can do that. Find something good and new to try." She shivers a bit, her lack of clothes catching up with her. "But first I'm going to find some clothes."
Rebecca smiles, waving her hand, "I will be here. Now go on! I still have research to do, and I can't just sit here gawking at you in your underwear all day..." She tilts her head, thinking on that. Although...
Courtney giggles and blushes, before giving a small curtsey despite her lack of a dress, and heads towards her room.
Rebecca watches Courtney go, her gaze lingering on the maid's feet, the blue scales along her back and arms... shaking away the guilty thought of just how pretty the scales are too... and returning to her research with a sigh.
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