Dragonfeathers, p.1
#Dragonfeathers, page 1
#Dragonfeathers
By Toby Yu
Published by JMS Books LLC
Visit jms-books.com for more information.
Copyright 2021 Toby Yu
ISBN 9781646567355
Cover Design: Written Ink Designs | written-ink.com
Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.
All rights reserved.
WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work.
No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.
This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It may contain sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which might be considered offensive by some readers.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Published in the United States of America.
* * * *
No person writes a book alone.
Thank you, Simon Crowell. This book wouldn’t have been possible without your keen editing and your ability to deal with my eccentric butt on a daily basis.
Moria, for helping me realize Lily.
And Anonymous for beta reading.
* * * *
#Dragonfeathers
By Toby Yu
Chapter 1: The Girl on the Other Side
Chapter 2: Dragon Validation
Chapter 3: Touched
Chapter 4: Memories
Chapter 5: Flying from the Past
Chapter 6: Dragon Feathers
Chapter 7: Flying Between Worlds
Chapter 1: The Girl on the Other Side
Alabaster84: I’m really worried about you.
Alabaster84: I know things have been rough, but it will get better. I promise.
Alabaster84: The lockdown has us all on the ropes. Don’t blame yourself for…
Alabaster84: You know what?
Alabaster84: I’m going to come over. Don’t ask me how I’m coming over during the pandemic, but I am. I need to visit my sis anyways.
Lilackz: I have no idea how you’re going to do that, it’s lockdown.
Lilackz: I get that you’re worried about me.
Lilackz: I’m worried about me too.
Lilackz: On the plus side I’ve managed to drag myself outside to buy food for once.
Lilackz: *Insert world’s wimpiest cheer*
I scowled as I closed my phone. I knew my friend was just trying to help, but lying about her ability to comfort me was not the way to do it.
It was the first time I had been out of my dorm in months, and I found myself enjoying the great outdoors. The cool autumn air really helped take my mind off schoolwork and the lack of people made the whole place feel inviting in a way it never was before the pandemic hit. The thought of actually accomplishing anything terrified me, even if I was going to be dealing with people who were financially obligated to be nice. Unlike most of the students in the school, I had opted to stay in the dorms when the lockdown order was issued. Sure, I might catch the pandemic and I might cough my lungs out, but I preferred that to returning home. At least the bug had the decency to just kill me. There wasn’t that combination of seething rage, apathy, and terror that came from parents who didn’t approve of who you are. Was being killed by the pandemic really worse than being harried by their withering glares? Would I be okay sitting at a dinner table secretly dying inside while my parents disapproved of every decision with their judging eyes?
Alabaster is right. I am fucking depressed.
I pulled out my phone again, smiling as I watched the lines of private messages.
Alabaster84: *Hugs*
Alabaster84: Also good for you! Go buy yourself something nice while you’re out, alright?
She had a strange way of making me feel better. Alabaster and I met on Discord when I was still actively questioning my sexuality, and it quickly transitioned to a relationship. The entire server knew we were a thing, no doubt thanks to Alabaster’s public flirting with me. When my medication gave me an intense craving for chocolates, she stared mailing me chocolates. When I was down, she would talk with me and keep me laughing into the midnight hours.
She wasn’t always there, though she did try. Alabaster worked as a professional photographer, taking beautiful photos from around the world. Sometimes she would capture the pristine beauty of windswept mountain landscapes. Another time, it might be the one shot in three thousand of a bustling city, perfectly rendered to capture one emotion among dozens. Still others were wedding photos of two girls putting the ring on each other’s finger, glancing into each other’s eyes like I wanted to glance into hers one day.
A girl can dream the unrealistic dream.
Lilackz: I’m more worried about having to buy shaving supplies so I don’t feel like a monster next time I go out, but I’ll try.
Alabaster84: Leg fuzz bad fuzz :3
I couldn’t help but chuckle. She could be serious, but she also had a way with words that made my problems feel okay. Fightable.
Alabaster84: I’ve told you this before, and I’ll keep telling you until it sticks.
Alabaster84: You’re beautiful, even if you don’t believe it.
Alabaster84: So do whatever you need to do to feel like the beautiful flower you are.
Lilackz: sakjdjgfh thanks
Lilackz: Should I send you a photo?
Alabaster84: Sure!
I raised my phone and snapped her a selfie. If we had a love language, then it was photographs. Mine were nowhere her quality, but I think she felt touched that I was willing to take the time and effort to learn her craft. Her love for a well-captured moment was infectious, and I found myself growing more and more absorbed into her profession. Sadly, I couldn’t afford a camera worth a damn.
Alabaster84: Love the long hair.
Alabaster84: Cute scarf too, especially the dark blues and purple. Made it yourself?
Lilackz: Yeah. Had to find something to do while I was dying inside.
Alabaster84: I think the jacket looks too baggy. Also, you ought to wear more color than the leaves, not less :P
Lilackz: You already convinced me to dye my bangs red. I told you I’m bad at color.
Lilackz: My own color.
Alabaster84: Because you’re learning from me. Heh.
Alabaster84: I still think you would look cute in a shorter skirt though :3
Alabaster84: Skirt season is almost over.
Lilackz: Sure, but confidence levels. Also, the black stockings hides my lack of self care.
Lilackz: Also free goth points
Alabaster84: You have black hair and dark eyes. You are already a goth.
Lilackz: furmurblurg shut up.
Alabaster84: Good thing I like goths. They’re cute :3
By this point I was frantically blushing as I smashed my phone’s keyboard in a frantic attempt to…I didn’t actually know. Part of me wanted her to keep flirting, and the other part of me wanted her to stop since I was walking around in public. The lack of people didn’t matter.
Lilackz: Me specifically or goths in general
Alabaster84: Yes.
I smiled as I put my phone away for a little bit. Whether it was the company or the fresh air, I was feeling a lot better. Spending weeks cooped up in a dorm and barely brushing one’s teeth did not do great things for one’s mental wellbeing, supportive online girlfriend or no.
I pulled out my phone again, typing something quickly before I had to cross the streets.
Lilackz: I can never tell if you’re joking or not (you sent me chocolate bars you mad lass), but you don’t have to come over.
Lilackz: I’m feeling better.
Lilackz: Walking around is doing wonders, especially with nobody around.
I waited a little bit, but no reply back. She was probably busy with her job or something. One of us had a career, while the other was still stuck in university.
Back before the pandemic hit and the lockdown happened, I had a much healthier social life. Now it had been four months, or maybe five, and I’ve barely spoken to anyone other than Alabaster. I’ve noticed that I’ve started asking for emotional support more and more as the months have passed, to the point where the last week of messages were just me trying to use my best friend to starve off the sense of crushing despair whenever I woke up alone.
Before the pandemic hit, we were just two girls who liked the other’s company. I used to support her just as much as she supported me, but now? I was the dead weight, and it hurt. She deserved better.
Alabaster84: No, seriously, it’s alright.
Alabaster84: I have to help my sis, and I fucking hate it.
Lilackz: Isn’t she the spoiled brat? It’s been a while since you’ve talked about her.
Alabaster84: Ya
Alabaster84: I don’t like dragging down the mood.
Lilackz: You don’t always have to be chipper for my sake.
Alabaster84: You’re the one whose been spending the last few nights crying yourself to sleep.
I breathed a sign as I admitted defeat. There was no arguing with her once she got the high ground.
I raised my eyebrow as I saw her uploading a photo. There was her slender fingers, though with nails like hers I never knew why she didn’t paint them. She was holding two boxes of hair dye, still fresh from the store.
Alabaster84: I’m Moming the shit out of you, so what color of highlights do you want? I can see your red one’s fading.
Lilackz: I…
Lilackz: Look, nobody’s here to see me. It’s fucking lockdown.
Alabaster84: I’m here to see you, and you deserve to feel pretty. Now pick a fucking color before I love the shit out of you and make your hair pink.
I could feel my jaw hit the floor as my heart struggled to get a proper response out. Was I supposed to feel scared, embarrassed, or loved, because right now I was feeling the whiplash more than anything.
Lilackz: Okay, fine. Let’s go with platinum blond. Last thing I want to do is run around with bubblegum hair.
Alabaster84: Aw. I thought you were my hot goth gf :3
Lilackz: Fffff…I’m hanging up now.
Lilackz: No seriously though the store’s coming up.
Alabaster84: Love ya.
Alabaster84: (Also I’ve been tested so I’m in the clear! Part of the job and everything)
That did make me a bit more relieved. Alabaster was just at the cusp of maturity that I could trust her to do the right thing, but still cheeky enough that I could never be sure; only a year or two older than me.
Lilackz: Love you too.
I closed my phone again, failing to appreciate the pretty autumn leaves filling up the streets. Alabaster might’ve been the only internet friend that I felt okay meeting, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t scared that she might not like me for who I am.
* * * *
I grumbled as I tossed razors and shaving cream into my shopping basket. I had a deep, primordial fear of shaving, despite it being a basic need to feel feminine. What I really wanted to do was pay for laser hair removal everywhere so that I wouldn’t have to bother, but being a broke university student really limited my options.
I was already looking at having debt for life. Let’s try to not make it an eternity.
The rest of my shopping basket was much less nuanced. I hadn’t been eating well, so I resolved to buy some fruits. Easy to eat stuff, like bananas, apples, and whatever else were on sale. I also bought some chocolates because my medication gave me a constant craving for sweets.
I was too much of a baby to try and carry bottles of pop back to the dorm, so I settled on a cheap bottle of wine. Sure, Alabaster could probably buy much better wine, but I wanted to try and set the scene. Show her that I had totally prepared for a romantic night out, even if she specifically said she was only staying because I was en route to her sister. She was here so that I could stop feeling as if my brain was bleeding onto the floor. She might not even like me.
Fuck it. At least I can drink my own booze after the inevitable rejection.
I snapped a picture before sending the most self-defeating caption I could think of.
Lilackz: I bought you cheap store liquor because I’m a university student and this is all I can afford.
Alabaster84: *Nervous sweating*
Alabaster84: Probably a bad time to tell you I don’t drink.
My heart sunk as I looked at the bottle of wine. I was this close to putting it back, but I decided to keep it in the basket. At least that would give me something to drink during the inevitable anticlimax. With that decided I started walking to the checkout counter, phone still in hand.
Lilackz: Ffs
Lilackz: I give up.
Alabaster84: That desperate for drunk make-out sex huh?
My face lit up like a firecracker, right in front of the baffled cashiers. I didn’t care if they were looking at me or not, because it sure felt like I had every eyeball glued onto me.
Lilackz: I’m at the fucking store!
Lilackz: I’m blushing now.
Lilackz: Feel like a complete idiot.
Alabaster84: :3
Alabaster84: I like it when you blush.
I made an embarrassing squeak through my mask as I tapped my card. I think the cashier was onto me, because she didn’t say anything other then the standard goodbye and greetings. Or maybe that was her usual routine. Regardless, now that I had my stuff, I headed back. Shopping fast like this made me feel uncomfortable, but we didn’t live in a world where we could window shop all day, at least not without ingesting mouthfuls of your own breath for hours.
I’d taken so long that it was now dark outside. Shopping without friends made my indecisiveness come out.
Before the pandemic struck, the third-floor girls and I would stick together and go out every week or two. Despite never feeling like I fit in, I’d have a good time anyways. We’d hit the town, get noodles from the same noodle place every time, and go window shopping for all the pretty dresses that I was too terrified to wear and my roommate too stingy to even consider.
Now I was left to walk back on my own. Alabaster hadn’t sent any new messages either.
For some reason, I checked my phone over and over again. I didn’t want to seem too desperate, too needy, yet my heart was pounding with anticipation. She had pictures of my face. She told me I looked cute repeatedly.
So why was I so anxious?
Still no reply. I must’ve checked it a few dozen times by now, and I was nowhere near home. I was trying to walk as fast as I can, even though I knew she probably wouldn’t be here for a while. It could take her a few days to arrive with all the airports crippled, so why was I like this?
Part of me wanted to break down and tell her everything over the phone, to put my heart at rest. Another part of me knew that it was better to wait until we met in real life, if we met at all. We’d been promising each other we’d meet up, even before the pandemic. It was only a matter of time before she saw the real me.
Suddenly a message popped up.
It was a picture of my dorm building from the outside, too smooth to be from her crappy old cellphone. She was really here!
Alabaster84: Got here as fast as I could. See you at your dorm!
Alabaster84: *Blows a kiss*
I picked up speed and began to run. I couldn’t take it anymore. I raced across the streets, as fast as my legs would take me. I’d stop to take a breath, only to run again as fast as my heart would beat. If I ran far enough, if I pushed myself hard enough, there was a sense that everything would be alright. I knew that it was a lie, yet it was what I felt in the moment, and following my heart made me happy. The city lights blurred past me as my euphoria blocked out the screaming pain coming from my legs. Then I stopped.
Black feathers.
They littered the pathway leading back to my dorm, yet there were no dead birds littering the ground. The sky had nothing either. No bird noises. Only the wind.
I leaned down to pick up one of the feathers and looked up. The only things above were stars in the sky, tiny smudges blurred out by light pollution.
Then my eyes locked onto two massive orbs right above the dorm rooftop. I let out a muffled yelp as I dashed away, only for them to disappear into the skyline. What was that?
I had dropped my shopping bags in the confusion, and upon retrieving them I felt my phone buzz again. This was not the time. I put my mask back on before slipping into the dorm, hopefully far away from whatever hallucinations haunted me now.
I should really read about the side effects on my medication someday.
My hand froze as I read through Alabaster’s questions, more questions than answers filling my mind.
Alabaster84: Sorry I made you drop all your stuff >.<
Alabaster84: On the plus side, hi!
Alabaster84: I’m right outside your window btw.
I felt a lump on my throat as I typed.
Lilackz: What are you.
Alabaster84: A cutie :3
My mind was turning from the possible to the supernatural now. Fallen angel? Secret experiment? An axe murderer covered in feathers?
Yet I couldn’t wait to find out. For the first time in my life, I felt like I’d had something extraordinary. Either that or this was going to be the biggest blowout of my life, which would be its own kind of extraordinary.
Lilackz: Hello massive disembodied eyeballs, let’s try this again.
Lilackz: how long are you staying, and how did you get here so fast?
Alabaster84: I think only two days. Depends on how shitty my sister is being and how many excuses I throw her way.
