Dragon Goddess’s chosen

I ended up sleeping most of the rest of the day, waking up several times in pain and a couple other times for food and other needs. Annoyingly but at the same time also interestingly, I kept getting pop-ups alerting me to my durability going up by a single point every time I woke up. Eventually, sunlight streaming in through my room's window woke me up one last time and my body absolutely refused to let me sleep any more and I was forced to get up despite the pain wracking my back and shoulder.

 I dragged myself out of bed and got my pants back on before making my way to the door, stopping when I saw my reflection in the mirror. It was a certainly a hot mess reflected back, wild hair, the cut across my cheek, and half unbuttoned shirt...I sighed at the sight, reminded yet again of my new body, and went to my bag again to retrieve the brush Rissaeth thankfully included in my starting possessions. 

"Why did I have to like long hair so much" I groaned to myself as I went about brushing out the mess on my head, a task made so much worse when I couldn't raise an arm without causing pain. Before, I wouldn't have cared as much but this was a horrible mess that would draw too much attention for my liking. My task was interupted and snagged my hair when there was a sudden knock at the door. I grumbled in irritation and cracked the door open without a second thought to find the half dogfolk mage I rescued. 

"H-hi Alex..." Max greeted me with a shy smile then his brow furrowed a bit "oh... sorry did I wake you up...?"

"Hey. No, I was already awake, just trying to fix my hair..." I sighed and opened the door the rest of the way. "Come in, this is going to take a bit" 

"Oh ok" he started to say then his eyes visibly drifted down  and a deep blush spread across his face before he quickly looked away. 

"What?" I followed his gaze down to my chest then scrambled to button it back up right away. "Shit. Sorry... it got hot last night, forgot it was like this..."

"Y-yeah... they don't have any frost runes going here... g-gets warm in the summer" he kept looking away from me.

"You can still come in" I sighed and got out of the way of the door. He hesitantly entered and I closed it behind him so that I could use the mirror again and resume brushing my tangled hair. "Sorry that I'm such a mess right now"

"I-its fine... " the dogfolk mumbled softly as I watched him shyly look around in the mirror before settling on the edge of the bed.

"So... not to be rude... but why did you stop by?" I asked, flinching a bit when some of my hair snagged on the brush again.

"Oh... um, I wanted to give you half of the money for the quest yesterday..... a-and I know I was kind of useless but... can I party up with you...?" I glanced away from my task and back at him. 

"You sure? I'll probably be actually useless for awhile with my shoulder like this" he got a cute determined look on his face as he gave a quick nod.

"You were amazing back there though, a-and I really want to work with you..."

"I haven't looked much into forming a party with anyone yet... what does it do anyways? How is it different than just finishing quests together like yesterday?"

"Everyone in a party gets credit for quests they do together for their guild rank" I paused mid-brush.

"So... I got no credit for that?" He shrunk back a little, flustered again.

"N-no..."

"Can't be helped I guess..." I sighed then smiled at him comfortingly to try to show I wasn't too bothered by it "well you said you were bringing me my half so its fine. Ok, we can party up so if I have to save your ass again, I can get credit for it too" I laughed softly and he seemed to relax a bit.

"I-if you're around, I hope I won't need to be saved again..." He mumbled. I finally finished brushing my hair out at that point and set the brush down to move onto trying to tie it up in a ponytail. Try was the key part though, as soon as I raised my left arm to attempt it, pain radiated out from my injury and I dropped my arm back down.

"Fuck..." I growled softly.

"You ok?" Max popped up from the bed and took a step towards me.

"Yep... just not used to having a hole in my shoulder" I glanced at him, noting that his fluffy hair was long for a guy but not nearly enough that he'd tie his own hair up often. I sighed a bit before asking him: "Can you help tie my hair up? Just how I had it yesterday is fine..."

"U-um sure!" He seemed eager to help at least as he got closer. 

"Thanks... the twine I've been using for it is on my pack..." I motioned to my backpack a few feet away.  He quickly retrieved the string and returned to me. His adorable eagerness brought a slight smile to my face as I turned my back to him to let him have access. I continued to talk as I felt him gather up my hair. "So, what, we go down and register as a party with Ida?"

"Mhmm"

"Ok easy enough... so we go down there do that... and I need to go to the alchemist before we head to your mom's... get that healing potion...  I need more clothes and armor... shit that's going to set me back..." I thought out loud.

"The potion might cost more than the armor... depending on what you're looking for..." Max said softly as he finished with my hair and I turned to face him again.

"Maybe, I just need something that doesn't get in the way when I rage...so no more chain..."

"Why did you pick that anyways? You got really big and grew wings through that vest..."

"I wasn't expecting it, the dragon stuff is really new to me" he gave me a confused look. "What? I never had to use the rage before... so I'm used to just the scales..."

"Um ok...?" He looked unconvinced but seemed to shrug it off. He then cocked his head in thought and glanced out the window. "Actually now that I think about it, Mom might already be at her clinic by the alchemist's so we wouldn't have to go back to my house"

"One less thing I guess" I sighed again and retrieved the spare set of shoes from my bag, another thanks to Rissaeth for thinking of that. "We should probably get going then, the sooner we get all that done the sooner we can pick a quest to start together"

"You should still plan to rest more today... I-I'm happy you accepted to form a party with me but you shouldn't push yourself..."

"I'll be fine" I gave the best reassuring smile I could manage as I slipped on the shoes. I then grabbed my sword and threw it and its scabbard on over my good shoulder. "Lets head down and talk to Ida about forming a party" he nodded and I led the both of us out, locking the door behind me. The mage stayed close behind me as I continued to lead the way downstairs and to the dwarf working at the guild counter, who smiled kindly at us when she looked up from a logbook.

"Hiya, you two" she greeted "didn't see ya come back yesterday, Alex, but seeing that ya saved Izumi's pup, it all went well"

"Izumi?" I asked, glancing at Max 

"That's my mom's name..." he said softly 

'She did look like an akita, didn't expect Japanese sounding name though, especially with Max's full name...' I thought to myself before speaking "Oh ok, yeah... I wouldn't say well... last I remember of that job it didn't say anything about a tempest wolf, that thing tossed me around a bit..." Ida frowned a bit and looked at Max

"Ya didn't tell me about the tempest wolf, could've negotiated for more pay with that" she sighed then looked back at me "so, ya look like you came over for more than chit-chat, can I help ya with somethin?"

"We would like to form a party "she gave a broad smile at this

"Ah knew ya were a good pick for em" she laughed and got off her seat to go retrieve something. She eventually came back with a slate similar to what she used to register me into the guild but in the place of the handprint that was on the last one, this one had six rectangular slots in a circle around a slot of the same shape in the center. She pulled out a blank card and put it in the center of the slate. "You two have a name in mind for your party?"

"We're supposed to name it?" I glanced at Max and he shrugged.

"Why wouldn't ya, sweetie?  Helps get you recognized out there, especially if ya start gaining titles as well."
"Any ideas, Max?" I sighed 

"Huh, um... " he cocked his head for a bit, seeming a bit panicked as he responded. "I-I don't know..."

"The runts!" A local dwarf heckled from one of the dining tables nearby, a flicker of my rage ignited from that but I quickly snuffed it out as I ignored him. I sighed again and tried to think of a name for us. Eventually the passive pain in my shoulder gave me an idea.

"What about tempest? That wolf technically brought us together as a party and Tempests are raging storms..." I suggested. The half dogfolk cocked his head for a moment in thought then eventually smiled.

"Ok... that sounds good"

"Tempest then?" Ida asked as she put a hand over the blank card. I glanced at Max again and we both nodded together.

"Yep, let's go with Tempest" I responded and the dwarf smiled at us as a ring of runes appeared in the air around her hand and the name was etched into the top of the card.

"Alright put your guild cards in and the runestone will do the rest" I was the first to fish out the guild card and slot it into one of the spots, Max quickly followed afterwards. As more writing etched into the card in the center, a popup appeared above it that both Max and Ida did not acknowledge. Like last time it listed my race as dragon at first before correcting.

Establishing Tempest Adventuring Party...

Rank: E

Members: 
Alexandra Steele, 25, 1/8 dragon, Dragon-blood Bloodrager Rank:E 

Maximillian Wells, 21, half-inugami, Dragon-blood Sorcerer Rank:E

I glanced at Max when I read his class, looking for any trace of anything draconic, but I saw nothing that stood out, still just a kemonomimi-like dog boy.

'I'll have to ask him about that in a bit, and about the inugami part too, thought he was just beastfolk...' I thought as I studied him. He eventually noticed and his ears folded back shyly.

"W-what?" He mumbled and gave me a confused look.

"Nothing, just knew you were a mage, not a sorcerer" I replied and retrieved my personal card from the slate when the runes disappeared and the writing stopped on the party card.

"Which one of ya is going to be the leader?"

"Alex" Max said quickly and Ida handed the party card to me with a smile. I glanced back at my new party member as I stuffed the card with my own into my pocket. I would have been mortified before to be put into a leadership position, but he was a nervous mess from all that I had seen at that point so he was definitely not going to lead us.

'Kat can be leader when I find her... hopefully that's soon...' I thought with a sigh. "Ok, looks like we're a party now. Anything else we need to do?"

"Nothing else that I need. You can go pick out a new quest if you wanted" Ida chuckled. 

"We might hold off on that, have some errands to run for myself... we'll probably come back later to pick up quests"

"Alright, see ya then, hun" with that I turned and led Max and I out of the guild hall.

"So, dragon blood sorcerer...? Probably should have asked before we made a party" I asked Max as we walked in the direction of the apothecary.

"I-is it going to be a problem...?"he replied, his voice nervous already.

"No? Why would it? Just surprised because you don't have any scales or anything that I can see" he shrugged at first then gave me an odd look as we kept walking.

"You have a lot more dragon in you than me... not everyone with a dragon as their magic source is going to have scales..."

"Ah... should have figured that..." I nervously scratched the back of my head, partially cursing myself for assuming that I'd see dragon traits. "So... out of curiosity what kind of dragon was it?"

"Mom told me it's supposed to be a sun dragon from her side... it was a long... long time ago, I don't even remember the entire story that she told me. Um what about you? I don't think I've ever read or heard about dragons with purple scales..."

"Fire and lightning " I answered but that got an even more confused look.

"You have two different ones?"

"Um yeah, two different great, great grandparents... guess it just gets added together," I lied with a shrug then winced in pain again. 

I regreted lying to him but at the time I figured that I attract enough attention with being 'dragon spawn'. As we continued to walk to our destination, we kept chatting, figuring out each other's skills, mostly what spells he knew. We eventually reached the apothecary and he went ahead and opened the door politely in front of me then followed in after I went in. Like last time, Mr. Iarhorn was nowhere in sight, and the entire shop was reeking of chemicals and herbs. I tracked down the health potion I saw last time in there before heading to the counter and calling out for the elf, who emerged from the back with a draft of more chemical smell.

"Miss Alex, good to see you again, though you look a bit worn down" he greeted me cheerfully.

"You too, please...its just Alex, you don't need the miss..." I replied and put the potion on the counter.

"You sure you want this? I'm always happy for a sale but have you seen the town doctor yet?"
"Mrs. Wells? Yeah, she bandaged me up but my shoulder still hurts too much to do any work"

"No shame in taking rest days" he laughed softly. "I just don't recommend going to potions like this so early as an adventurer"

"....why not?" I felt one of my eyebrows go up on its own in my confusion.

"Relying on these will make your body build a tolerance for them and over time you'll need a stronger one for the same general healing, especially when you take them only orally." He explained. 

"I don't have to drink it to use it?"

"You can use lower amounts topically for targeted healing, it is faster and can help treat certain wounds over others... but because it is faster, it is painful and will leave scarring."

"It'll probably scar anyways" I sigh and put the four gold on the counter to pay for the potion. "I'll still take it. I'll just bring it to Mrs. Wells for her to do that part."

"Probably a good idea... Mom'll probably make sure its clean for you don't get an infection... heard that sometimes happens with potions..." Max chimed in.

"You are not incorrect... there are some reported infections after using potions for targeted treatment if the wound was not cleaned." The elf apothecary agreed as he took only three of the coins before passing the potion and the fourth coin back to me. I looked back up at him in confusion. "You've been helpful, I don't mind taking a bit off for you"

"Oh... thank you" I replied and put the coin back into my coinpurse on my hip before picking up the bottle.

"Anything else I can help with?" I shook my head to answer.

"I-i was thinking on getting a couple things here, Alex, Mom's probably in her clinic next door if you want to go ahead..." Max responded.

"Ok, see you in a bit then" I told him then looked back at the elf "thanks again Mr. Iarhorn."

"Anytime, Alex" he replied with a smile and I turned to head to the clinic I apparently missed the first time I came to the apothecary. 

The inside of the neighboring building had the same fantasy medieval look but blended slightly with what I expected a doctor's waiting room looked like. It definitely smelled better than next door, albiet sterile and hospital-like but still better than the chemical smell burning my nose. There was a human girl inside this waiting area, wiping down one of the wooden seats with a cloth and her head popped up when the door was opening. She gave me a polite smile and greeted me:

"Hello, are you here to see Izumi?" She said in almost sing-song voice.

"Um, yeah, she treated me at her house yesterday..." I replied as I stepped in further.

"Oh you're the girl that saved Max then, Izumi was talking about you earlier" I cringed slightly at being called a girl, again.

'Gonna have to get used to it...' I thought to myself and forced a slight smile."is she available right now? She asked me to come back so she can can take a look at everything..."

"Yep!" She walked to a door in the back and knocked on hit "Izumi, that girl you were talking about came by"

"Thanks, Sophie, you can send her in" Mrs. Wells voice called back from inside and the girl smiled at me before she opened the door.

"You heard her, you can go right in"

"Thanks" I told her then walked through and into what I found to be an office and exam room together. Max's mom was sitting at a desk in that room, wearing something that looked like a labcoat over her casual clothing similar to what I saw her in the day before. 

"Hello again, Alex, I didn't think I'd be seeing you again so early in the day" she said as she put a folder away and smiled at me.

"I thought it would be fine anytime today, you did tell me to come back to you today..."

"I did, but I expected you to come back to my home, not find my clinic" she laughed softly and motioned to the exam table on the other side of the room. "Up on the table, shirt off and lie down please"

"Ok" I sighed and followed her directions, gently folding the shirt she loaned me and setting it off to the side once it was off. I set the potion bottle on top of the shirt afterwards.

"Any fever, chills, nausea? " she asked, coming over to me with bandage scissors in her now-gloved hands. 

"Not that I could tell... " I answered and lied back on the table. She approached and gently cut the bandaging away from my shoulder injury.

"Good, and it doesn't smell infected, no discharge either so you may be in the clear." She observed and I saw her eyes glance to the bottle. "You got a potion. Can't handle sitting still for a few days to heal?"

"Told you before... trying to save up to go to Rookport...and Mr. Iarhorn already warned me about the potion, I only want it for my shoulder"

"You're very polite with how you address us" she laughed softly and gently picked the packing out of the wound but even that stung a bit. "I take that you brought the potion here for me to apply it?"

"If you don't mind... couldn't even put my hair up earlier without Max's help with how much it hurt to raise my arm."

"Oh, Max ended up coming by to see you? He talked about wanting to ask to party up with you," she smiled a bit "did he end up asking?"

"He did" I laughed a bit, used to the nosy mom prodding from my own. "I agreed to it."
"That's good. Just remember to tell me if you two travel to another town or I'll worry" she went and retrieved an empty vial from one of the many drawers around the office before returning to me.

'He's 21 though' I thought but shrugged it off 'Mom is... was the same way' a pang of sadness welled inside me when I accidentally reminded myself that I'd probably never see my family again. "I'll make sure to come by with him if we pick a quest that goes that far"

"Good" she picked the potion bottle up and uncorked it, her muzzle scrunching up in disgust almost immediately. I picked up on the acrid smell barely hidden by a fruity, alcoholic one coming from the bottle a moment later.

"People drink those?" I gagged a bit as I watched her pour off a couple ounces of it into the vial she got out, leaving the bottle 3/4 full when she re-corked it.

"They aren't pleasant... but if you're desperate they're an option... before I do this for you, I have to warn you, this is just as bad as it smells. It will hurt. You will feel every bit of it."

"I... I understand" I sighed and braced myself for her to pour a few drops into the open wound, looking away from it as I did so.

For her to say it hurt was sugarcoating it. The liquid itself burned like I was being branded and it only got weird after that. I could swear I could feel my flesh and skin rapidly stitch itself back together with more searing pain. I could feel a confused flicker of rage come back and my instincts prodded me to find the source of the pain as I dug my nails into the table under me to distract myself from it. The cherry on top was as it subsided, I got another popup that my durability went up by another couple points while I was panting a bit from everything.

"Fuck..." I groaned softly and I caught a slightly bemused look on the inugami's face.

"Warned you that it'll hurt. Sit up now, test your range of motion" she said simply in a professional tone. I groaned again and sat up before I hesitantly tried raising my arm, bracing for more pain that never came. It left an angry red scar where the wound was but I was definitely back to my normal range of motion without any more pain much to my surprise.

"Its back to normal!" I sighed in relief and smiled at her. "Thanks for the help"

"Don't thank me yet, I need to check those bites too" she laughed softly. She went on to check the rest of my injuries, and informed me that they all seemed fine and cleaned and re-bandaged them for me, telling me to come back if they seemed inflamed or if I developed a fever. She sent me on my way to meet back up with her son and refused my attempt to pay for the care and only told me to try to rest for another day at least.