Amati and the Dragoness

“I promise I won’t tell anyone about how cute you can be,” Amati assured the dragoness as he resumed giving her head scratches, “I actually wasn’t planning on telling anyone about you, as it seemed like you don’t like people coming up here unannounced”

"Y-yes, that's for the best, don't tell people about me unless you trust them to keep quiet, and they have a reason to see me." Altrea said before leaning into Amati's scratches like the big puppy she was. Despite her pride, her habits and instincts betrayed her here.

Amati dared not to make any comment on how she was totally a big puppy as he gave her all the head scratches she could want, not wanting her to act on her earlier threats… even if she was threatening him with a good time.

Altrea let out more dragon-purrs and got even more cuddly, taking pride in how she must've been a super cute dragon, far more adorable than any other creatures out there. Especially since she was so cute, that Amati couldn't bring himself to stop petting her.

She did a good job of convincing herself of this, at least.

Despite his commitment to not tease her about being puppy like moments earlier, this was too hard to resist. “Who’s a good girl?” He asked as he kept the head scratches going.

"I am~" Altrea declared proudly as she kept nuzzling herself into his hand, bordering on cat levels of affection.

“Yes you are,” He replied as he kept going. Earlier he has to fear what would happen if he scratched her head, now that wasn’t the case, now he probably had to fear what would happen if he stopped scratching her head.

Altrea's content smile was a sign that she wouldn't want him to stop anytime soon. Well, Altrea was a grown woman, so he could always just ask, right? She did seem really happy.

“So… you’re not going to get upset with me or attack me when I stop petting you, correct?” He cautiously asked the dragoness as he continued scratching her head.

"Correct, because it would mean no future pets." Altrea confirmed as if it was already set in stone that Amati would be back to give her more pets.

“I guess that’s sound logic,” He replied. Although he had just gotten confirmation that he wasn’t going to be attacked when he stopped petting, Amati didn’t stop yet. He was planning on leaving today but it was still earlier in the day so he had time to spare, and what would be a better use of that time than petting a cute dragoness.

"Very sound, if I do say so myself. Get behind the ear, right there. Put an arm around me while you do it, if you're gonna pamper me, do it right." Altrea ordered him as she leaned against him almost to the point of sitting on his lap, lightly growling in content bliss.

“You seem to know exactly how you like this, does this happen a lot when you have visitors?” The foreign asked, both in genuine curiosity and a bit of teasing, as he made the adjustments to the dragoness’s commands.

"No, it does not. No need to be jealous of my other friends, Amati, that's not classy. I simply know because I know where I like your fingers." Altrea answered with some teasing in return as she nuzzle into him and sighed from Amati hitting just the right spot.

"Who said I was jealous of them? If anything, they should be jealous of me, as it sounds like they don't get to experience this cute side of you," He retorted as he let the dragoness cuddle against him as much as she liked.

"You're right, they don't. Because, unlike them, you treat me like I deserve." Altrea quipped back as she basked in his attention, clearly loving how she was getting spoiled. "As long as you know how lucky you are, Amati, they can be as jealous as they want." The dragoness closed her eyes, almost like she could fall asleep doing this.

Amati began to ramp down on the petting. He was glad that she was enjoying it so much, but he didn't need her falling asleep on him since that'd make it a little more difficult to leave once he was ready.

"Hey, why are you slowing down?" Altrea complained, seemingly forgetting that she assured him that she wouldn't get mad once he stopped. Although, she wasn't really mad, she just wanted to know what was up. And, she liked being a bit childish just this once.

"I didn't want you going and falling asleep on me. It'd make me feel real guilty having to wake you up when I was ready to leave," Amati explained to the dragoness.

"Oh.... yeah, I was totally going to fall asleep, there. That's fine." Altrea agreed, making herself sit upright so she wouldn't have to worry about nodding off as much. "Amati.... good luck with your curse. A man as neat as you, I hope you find a way to break it for good." She said, making it sound a lot like that was goodbye.

"Thank you... I guess that I should get going now," Amati said as he gave her head a few final good scratches before he got up. Before he left, a final thing crossed his mind. "Eat another herb," He instructed her as he got one out for her, "You were in close contact with me for a little there, so you should eat one to recover what little life the curse may have stolen from you." Seeing how she clearly didn't like the taste and how she was acting a bit childish, Amati felt like he had to make sure she ate the herb.

"Do I have to?" Altrea was complaining again already. "Won't I just... get the life back if I just stay away and rest for a minute? It's not like I'm in danger or anything. I could also just eat an extra rabbit for brunch." She said, trying to come up with an excuse to not eat another herb. Her nose curled up, her eyes squinted, and her lips frowned, as if she was a kid that hated her cold medicine.

"Eat it or I won't pet you as much next time," Amati told the dragoness. She was right that she'd naturally recover if she was away from him and the staff, but that'd take more than a minute and it'd take more than it would take for the bitter taste of the herb to leave her mouth.

"You wouldn't dare, you're kidding!" Altrea growled, trying to call his bluff. The stakes had just risen significantly going by the fiery, sparking look in the lady's eyes. But, she also just betrayed how much she liked the pets, which meant they could be held hostage against her.

"Maybe I am kidding, but are you really willing to risk the loss of pets just to avoid a bitter taste that'll be gone before you have brunch?" Amati replied.