Fhulk

After several hours of flying, the young, draconic kidnapper lands in a cave carved into the side of a cliff.

Inside, there's carpets randomly strewn everywhere, and there's many crates - mostly full of alcohol.

After getting out from his parents thumb, the first thing Fhulk did was go out and try all the things he wasn't allowed to do as a child... in excess. Drinking, oversleeping, and raiding the locals for supplies... Hiding away with all his stolen loot, he felt like a rebel, and he couldn't get enough of the intoxicating feeling.

Unfortunately, Fhulk "isn't cool enough yet" to own a mountain, so he had to make do with an single cave.

Once inside, Faylin is placed gently on a red carpet as the dragon curls its giant body all around her. "Come!" he growls "Sit! Look at my collection!"

He meant for his voice to be pleasant and inviting, but being in such a huge body, he only sounds like he's threatening her.

Not wanting to die, Faylin looks all over the random bits of glass and sparse gold scattered on the floor. The only remotely attractive thing she sees is the cart full of ale barrels near the entrance...

Even if the ale was cheap and tasted like piss, she still likes to drink it... Still, she's on duty, so she just turns her nose up and says, "Hmph! I'm not looking!"

The dragon gets a wounded expression on his face, and he growls, "So... Is my cave not good enough?" He looks up and tries to get rid of the urge to cry or hit something. "I knew it. I'm in a dirty cave, when my father has a giant palace. I must seem like a poor loser to you."

Hearing this, Faylin suddenly gets an idea. "Fine!" she says playfully, "Let's just have a drink. Let's see how good your collection really is."

The dragon brightens up at this, and he enthusiastically complies. Immediately Fhulk cracks open the crates, and he starts drinking like mad...

… Unbeknownst to him, Faylin secretly pulls out some pills that would get rid of the alcohol content in her bloodstream faster. She said she was going to drink, so she has to follow through with her promise to avoid suspicion; however, she doesn't want to get drunk.

Despite her pills working just fine, she ends up drinking so much that she ends up puking; her stomach can only hold so much before her gag reflex is activated.

Fortunately, Fhulk ends up drinking many, MANY times more than her. Unfortunately, his body is so sturdy that he goes through nearly half the alcohol crate before he starts to get drunk.

In the end, he leans on the cart in his humanoid form, and his cheeks starts to get rosy. "Bleh... I think that's enough..."

Despite being allowed to finally drink alcohol now that he's been recognized as an adult, Fhulk still remembers his duties as the bigger and stronger member of the marriage; he has a responsibility to remain sober and alert at all times so that he can defend the cave at any moment and protect his mistress.

That's what his father, Fheldin does, right? Never once has anyone seen Fheldin even try to get drunk before!

Smiling mischievously, Faylin leans in closer and puts her hand on his chest provocatively, "Oh... Look at how much I've drunk? I'm not even drunk yet! Don't tell me you're chickening out?"

This awakens Fhulk's natural competitive spirit. "Hmph! Of course I'm not done! Just a little bit more."

He drinks another barrel, and he holds up his hand. "I'm a responsible adult now. I can't protect the cave when I'm passed out drunk. I'll have to stop now."

"Oh," Faylin smiles flirtatiously, "you're the most handsome when you're drinking..."

"Gah!" He guzzles down more and more alcohol with renewed fervor.

After another barrel is gone, Fhulk finally flops disgracefully to the floor, and he completely passes out.

Knowing she's safe to leave now, Faylin stands up and walks towards the exit. Standing at the edge of the cave, she sees an enchanted pole that blocks spirit threads from extending here. The dragon obviously didn't want to be tracked here after nabbing his prize.

The moment she walks out...

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Resburn immediately respond through their Far-speak bracelets, "I found her! Her thread came back!"

"Just follow her quickly, before she's in anymore danger." Jay doesn't want to lose one of his subordinates over something so stupidly random.

Soon enough, they find Faylin throwing up the contents of her stomach on a nearby tree. "What's wrong girl?" Myra asks with concern.

"Nothing, I-" *BLEH* Vomit is sprays all over the tree, and an unfortunate ant hill receives its first acid rain. "… I'll just tell you later."

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Once they get away, Faylin tells them all about her unhappy adventure, and they all have a good laugh at Fhulk's expense as they travel back home to the Threshold…

… leaving a lonely and abandoned dragon behind.

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When Fhulk DOES wake up, he feels the coldness on his scales, where once there was a warm body resting. Is his Mistress gone!? It only takes Fhulk a moment to deduce how she tricked him…

Sometimes, he doesn't know if he's really clever or really stupid. Maybe love just blinds people?

He then looks over to the empty cot he had prepared for Faylin – just for those nights when she doesn't want to sleep with him. Seeing it cold and unused, Fhulk's heart sinks and his blood goes cold.

"Should I just kidnap her again? Chain her up to the bed and not allow her to leave?"

He seriously considers this, but he ultimately droops his head down and thinks glumly, "No… It's not enough if I just have her physically here, in my treasure vault. I want her to like me too, just like how Mom likes Father."

Sure, Fhulk would be happy to have Faylin with him, but after growing up around loving parents, just having her body isn't enough for him. Dragons are innately greedy, after all; so when he gets it into his head that he has to capture her heart as well, he won't stop until he gets what he wants.

The scary thing about dragons is that if Fhulk didn't have such a good example from his parents, he probably would've just kidnapped Faylin again, locked her in a cage, and had his way with her. They let NOTHING get in the way of what they desire.

Fortunately, Fheldin has always been the civilized sort, and Arla is content with her husband. Remembering the love and contentment between his parents, "Love" became an object that Fhulk wants to obtain for himself at all costs.

(Never mind the fact that if Fhulk EVER did something so vile, his mother would disown him, and his father would slap his body into oblivion. Fhulk considers himself the "brave" [foolish] sort of person, so he openly ignores the dangers his parents would pose him.)

"Sure," Fhulk thinks, "if I do what I can to make her not hate me, then she'll never become my wife and have children with me. However, if I do take her, then I'll be disappointed with myself, and she'll hate me forever. Errm… What to do…?"

Either capture her body and forever lose her heart, or capture her heart and forever lose her body. Even though these seem to be the only options, that isn't enough for Fhulk!

Once again, the Drakin are greedy creatures – so greedy that there's a thousand good reasons why most people in all the worlds on the World Tree HATE them.

Being greedy as they are, the Drakin aren't content with having to compromise with fate; THEY WANT EVERYTHING! … no matter who or what they have to crush to get it.

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Laying lifelessly on the ground, Fhulk doesn't move for a solid hour before he thumps his tail on the ground in agitation. "Ugh... How did father do it? How did he make Mom want to stay with him?"

Now that he thinks about it, he never asked such an important question to his parents while he was growing up.

Since Fhulk has no reliable adults around him right now, he's left to figure this conundrum out on his own.

After thinking long and hard about why Faylin chose to leave him, he finally comes to the 'realization'... "Oh! She obviously didn't like me because I'm too stupid and inexperienced! Plus, I didn't spend long enough filling the den with treasures! My lack of sincerity must have turned her heart away from me!"

Still, even if Fhulk has no mature people to ask these important questions to, he's not THAT stupid; he knows something is wrong with that he just concluded.

After brooding about it for a while, he gets another epiphany. "Obviously, if my Drakin brothers and Felkin sisters think so differently, then humans must have their own unique way of thinking. I'll just have to find a more non-conventional way to get close to her... but how?"

Many more hours are spent puzzling it out, and he nearly gives up... but the memory of her red hair and the scent of blood on her as she fought in her own brutal and sneaky way keeps the gears in his head turning...