MAN & MONSTER

approval

"Charlotte!" the roar came from downstairs.

Charlotte winced, fumbling her pen out of her hand and staring with dismay at the broad streak of ink it left on her notebook. "Yeah, dad?" she shouted back, unsure what she'd done when she'd been up minding her own business. She walked to the door, cracking it so she could hear her father's voice better. He sounded pissed.

"Remind your damn kobold friend to stop coming around to our house!"

She blinked.

She had heard the doorbell but assumed it was one of the neighbours, but if it had been Tokihi that... made more sense. She hurried to the window, peering out into her yard and saw a glimpse of grey that didn't fit in with the neatly kept greenery, a figure crammed behind one of the trees. Her cell phone buzzed, just on time, and she smothered a laugh at the crying emoji he'd sent to her.

"Sorry, dad," she hollered back. "I swear he's nice!"

"That jar of bugs he cracked open here says otherwise!" her dad sounded more sullen now, grouchy.

"He thought we ate them too!"

Some more grumbles and she heard her dad's feet retreating into the living room. She headed to the window and the grey shape slipped out from behind a tree. It was Tokihi all right, looking about as sad as a dragon boy could, head hanging with dejection at yet another attempt gone bad at winning over her dad.

be right down, she texted.

OK! :) he replied and she saw his dejected head lift up. His thick tail was twitching nervously behind him as though her dad might come storming out at any second, and he just might. She hastily shrugged on a sweater and snuck downstairs, the tv blaring from the living room. She didn't blame her dad, not really, not when kobolds were entire newcomers both to him and their community. There was a lot of uncertainty surrounding how to deal with them.

Tokihi was an odd bird at times, Charlotte thought as she carefully snuck out the front door and trotted to the back, but he was cute, sweet, reverent even.

"Char," he whispered happily as she appeared, his tail lifting. No-one else called her that, that was for sure, and he said it was because her name reminded him of fire, of the mother-dragons they'd descended from... Or something. It was definitely the coolest nickname she'd gotten.

As she stopped in front of him, he grasped her hands in his, clawed digits rough and scaly and very warm. "Sorry, Tokihi, he's getting there," she said sheepishly and leaned in. He leaned in too and his cheek rubbed against hers. His breath puffed warmly into her hair and the sandpaper-rasp of his skin had long grown familiar and beloved. "I'll pick at him some more this week."

"Okay," Tokihi said, though his ears drooped. She palmed his cheek and he sighed a puff of smoke. "I want his approval before 'prom'." He spoke the word as though it was a foreign thing, and foreign it had to be. He said he'd never heard of such a thing outside of courtship and it never involved so many people in one place.

"Gonna tell you, you're not gonna win it with bugs. We're gonna have to come up with something else." She fondly tugged his ears and grinned when he shook his head like an irritated dog.

"I spent forever catching them!" he lamented, throwing his head back theatrically.

Charlotte shoved back the urge to roll her eyes and tapped the tip of his nose. "We're not as happy about bugs as you guys," she said. "I'm used to them by now but dad isn't a fan."

Tokihi straightened his head, his snout scrunched. "I don't know what else to do," he mumbled and Charlotte shook her head fondly, taking his hand firmly in hers. It was difficult and, in the end, his hand about engulfed hers but it was warm and she felt the usual rush of butterflies when he tipped his head and nosed against her cheek affectionately.

"Let's talk about plans for a bit," she suggested and they sat together against her house, his tail circling through the grass behind her to encircle her.

They didn't get much planning done, but she was happy about it anyway.