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Posted by Jonah on May 23, 2009, 12:27 am
72.14.184.121
This short story was inspired by the holiday season last year.
The story takes place in Seth's living room. Seth is a man-eating dragon who is conflicted between eating people and not eating people. But in this story it's a realistic account of the dragon enjoying the holiday season with his two human girlfriends. To the dislike of his girlfriends, however, Seth is visited by a number of other dragons, all man-eaters in their own right, one an extremely prolific serial predator who the women fear exceptionally.
It's a casual story - a continuation in my Red in Nature, Tooth & Claw series - with a purposely fun and light-hearted storyline. I wanted the story to be cheerful and to show the lighter side of dragons, but at the same time in keeping with the difference in their nature compared to ours. Dragons are predators, and through-out the subtleties of the story, the women can never forget that they are exactly that.
Please let me know what you think.
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Red in Nature, Tooth & Claw: Dragon Holiday
“I swear Seth looked like he was going to eat that elf!” Valerie giggled, sipping the last of her hot chocolate and placing the empty mug on the end table.
Susan, sitting across from her on the couch, nodded casually. “I can imagine. I’ve seen other dragons at the mall this time of year. As if Christmas shopping wasn’t hassle enough without a bunch of eight-hundred pound scaly gorillas everywhere.”
“Well, some dragons really get into it,” said Val. “I’ve seen a few dressed as Santa around town, ringing Salvation Army bells.”
Susan snorted back a laugh, nearly choking on her hot chocolate. “Oh, sweet lord, can you imagine if they allowed them to be department store Santas? The kids would never stop crying!”
Both women broke into laughter. Seth came lumbering into the room. The big dragon scowled at the two humans. “What’s so funny?”
“Just wondering how many of Santa’s reindeer you’d eat.” Susan teased.
A slow smirk played across his toothy grin. “Bleh, those antlers would make swallowing them whole a problem. Now those elves, they looked pretty tasty.”
“Ha! Told you!” said Val.
Susan smirked. “Maybe we can get a big old pen of them for Christmas and put it by the couch, and he could just munch on them during the game like popcorn.”
Seth slitted his eyes and licked his chops for effect. “That does sound good. Like humans, only smaller and more easy to swallow.”
The mention of eating humans brought the conversation to an abrupt halt. After a few heartbeats of awkward silence, Susan ventured, “So, um, what are you two doing for New Year’s?”
Val shrugged and hooked a thumb at Seth. “Nothing, hon. Sour Scales here doesn’t see much point in it.”
“It’s a poor substitute for the Feast of Dragons, which celebrated the turning of the sun across the sky on our homeworld.”
“I heard about that,” said Susan, taking another sip of hot chocolate, and watching the dragon lumber towards the center of the living room. “You guys celebrate it on March 21st, right? Now, it’s basically the same as our New Year’s celebration?”
Seth nodded. “Close enough. Our celebration was on our world’s spring solstice, and it was marked by both moons transiting the sun on the same day.”
Val raised an eyebrow. “Oh? And that happened every single year on the solstice? That’s quite a coincidence.”
The dragon shrugged. “No more unusual than Earth’s moon appearing to be the same size as the sun in the sky. The universe is always rolling dice and sometimes you get unusual results. But anyway, the Feast of Dragons is much more than just a bunch of drunk monkeys whooping at a falling sparkly ball. It’s a time of reflection, centered on the community and our connection with each other as predators. It was the most important day in the dragon calendar.”
Susan gaped at him.
“What?” he asked, perplexed.
The dark skinned woman chuckled. “That’s the first time I’ve ever heard you say so much all at once.”
Seth settled into his large, steel reinforced easy chair and crossed his meaty arms. “I say what I have to, when I have to. As you should know by now. And the Feast of Dragons is an important day to me.”
“It should be,” Valerie teased. “It’s a day of the year you eat the most.”
Susan snickered, but Seth seemed annoyed. “I see nothing wrong with that.”
“Only that every single dragon holiday seems to revolve around eating,” Val continued. “Your ‘connection with each other as predators’,” she said, using air quotes, “I think really translates to ‘any convenient excuse to stuff our maws.’”
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