Rei was speechless.

  Kow was rubbing his eyes in exasperation.

  Las was giggling.

  Has was thinking about sharing food with his new friend.

  [Rei] “What ?”

  -Rwaa?-

  [Kow] -This again …-

  Kow could only hopelessly release his bow and give in to his friend's actions. Has only did something like this when, in his mind, Kow was being stupid.

  [Kow] “And most of the time he is right … Alright, fine, you win, you big bastard, take the lead”

  With a sight, the Kobold leader put the bow on his back and Sat on the ground.

  [Kow] -All you Las, Has is … Has-ing again-

  Kow gave her a sly smile and a shrug of his Shoulders, whispering a ‘sorry’ but not sorry as he pushed the work on her.

  He received a middle finger in response.

  And everyone could hear the Dragon warble a small laughing sound.

  [Rei] -Rawa rwa-

  “Heya, Ha, i got that, that's a universal sign right there, I know what that meant, the small one just shafted you with work”

  *** *** ***

  The dragon was recovering quickly from his immediate paranoia. As soon as the big one laid on the ground like I was some sort of Cop, the tension thickened, but as soon as the big one said something, it was gone, just ... gone.

  The dragon had a very small amount of trust in them, and it had nothing to do with how cute the team was and acted with each other, nop, not the reason at all … maybe just a tiny bit.

  The small ones were unbelievably cute, and the big one, when not fighting, acted like a gigantic and muscular teddy bear towards his companions.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  He could practically feel the power of friendship in the air every time they talked, and the manner that the Female one just got into the lap of the Big one to think was enough to melt the dragon's heart.

  He was curious, unbelievably curious about them, his wariness was getting pushed to the side by sheer adorableness and then the big one just dropped to the ground and forced everyone to play nice.

  [Rei] “Now I can't refuse without looking like a scummy asshole, great, I hate you, but I can't even get past the fact that you just got up and put yourself in my paws like this, what's wrong with you ? What are you thinking ??”

  The Dragon was ranting in his mind at the Big One on his feet, all the while the Female one could not stop giggling.

  *** *** ***

  Las though the dragon was very weird, he was very good at projecting, so good that he didn't even notice that he was doing it.

  It was like he could imagine everything in his mind and have an entire conversation with his imagination, everything was on display if you knew how to look for it, it was almost like he knew nothing about hiding his mind, and that made no sense, projecting is just, plainly speaking … Harder, and the Dragon did it perfectly.

  What kind of mind would be able to conjure such vivid Intent ? How did it manipulate the Mana like he did ? What … Who is he ?

  She knew her beloved would do something as soon as the veil of dread was lifted and the dragon was no longer projecting unending anger and pain. Her beloved mind worked differently and it never ceased to amaze her how he could find the simplest, most direct answer to problems she and Kow were burning themselves out trying to figure out.

  It always left both of them feeling like idiots, and she could practically hear Kow smacking himself on the head, behind the sly smile and fake sorry.

  It was not fake, he was indeed sorry and probably blaming himself, but with Has taking the lead into solving his mess … again, She just knew that Kow probably spent the rest of their week off, trying to give both of them ‘Sorry Gifts’, as payback for fixing his mess.

  [Las] “Good”

  Las gave Kow a look, pointing at him in a way that said ‘You owe me’. Which was just not true, Las could never pay back what Kow did for her, but all this song and dance made him feel better about himself, so they did it anyway.

  Breathing in Deep, Las approached the Dragon, hands up, head down and a small smile on her face, the Dragon was still ranting at himself and at her Beloved, huffing and puffing at a conversation only he was having.

  It was the same blanket annoyed huff and puff that she would do at Has when he did his thing, it annoyed her to no end but it was also the reason she loved him so much, the Big Lug was also a Big goof, and you just couldn't be mad at him.

  [Las] -Now I get why Kow would always laugh at me when this happened … it is pretty funny …-

  Las muttered to herself, having approached enough so that she couldn't get the dragon's attention.

  [Las] -Err … Howdy mister -

  The Dragon huffed one last time before turning to her, warbling something, Intent sharp as always, she got the gist, she was just asked a plain and dry “What now ?”

  There was no denying, even if the Intent didn't convince her, he was inteligente, the Eyes didn't lie, and his felt like those of an Ancient, but much younger.

  Las didn't know what to say, so she decided to do as her Beloved did, and put trust upfront.

  *** *** ***

  [Rei] “...And why are you so adorable ?? You have no right being this Big strong and muscular but also being such a … a … I don't know, friendly dummy, I want to PET YOU …”

  A noise interrupted his mindless rant, so he turned, seeing the Female Has finally walked here.

  [Rei] -Rwa Rown-

  “What now ?”

  But instead of responding, she just put a hand up front and closed her eyes.

  [Rei] “Alright, this feels oddly familiar, I don't like this, and you must know I don't like this, with your filthy mind reading … that i'm also kinda doing, but shut up and leave me alone in my hypocrisy”

  The dragon was fuming and if he could pace he would pace right now, instead, he was looking at the small Leader seated dead in the eyes.

  Kow was doing the same, both looks saying the same thing. “Don't you try anything smart …”

  The Dragon looked back to the Female one with a huff.

  [Rei] “I hate this, I hate being forced into things, even if it is Friendship, you guys lucky im not petty enough to ruin this, but I still hate it …”

  The dragon took one last look at the Three of them, the Big one now looking at him with big eyes full of friendship and the annoyed look of an impatient bored child.

  The Dragon knew he lost.

  [Rei] -Rwaaaaarwe-

  “Fiiiiiiiiiiiine”

  He pushed his Nose into the Female hand and did his best to not resist the sensation of the Mana as he was doing until now.