Relaxing with Amaranthe

Relaxing with Amaranthe

A/N: This is the first of a handful of short stories I wrote for a small group online, which I am posting here now. All of them involve sexual content and nudity of some kind, except this one (which at least lightly implies the subject), but given the others follow from it I feel it fits as well. I would say this is one of the better ones I wrote -- it's not fantastic and quite self indulgent, and a little sappy, but overall I am pleased with it. The narrator is a blatant self-insert. Amaranthe is a dragon lady, who I hope you find as attractive as I do in my head. Enjoy!

Note: Amaranthe is 22 and the narrator is 20 in this story.

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Amaranthe flung the door open and strode into the house, panting heavily. Her grin widened when she saw me. "Hey there. How's your day been?"

I turned. "Hello, Ammie. It's been a while, hasn't it? A few months now?" I paused a moment to let her answer, but she merely nodded, still catching her breath. "I'm doing all right. Things have been ...interesting, lately. You know how it is."

Implicit was the statement that, now that she'd returned, things had starter to become just a bit better.

Ammie sat next to me on the couch, her breaths beginning to slow."Yeah, I do know. I am a figment of your imagination, after all. I know everything you do, and you're making up my actions as you go." She laughed. "It's kind of a strange existence, I guess. Still, I'm here now, and that's what matters, right?"

I leaned in to enjoy the sight of her pretty face. "Yeah, I guess it is." I reached around to brush a hand through her long black hair.

She smiled and wrapped a wing around me. I'd forgotten the beauty of her wings in the last few months. The same creamy alabaster of her skin on the outside, the inner wing membranes were darker and impossibly soft.

I took the opportunity to take a closer look at Ammie. She wore a black sports bra and slightly loose-fitting shorts — barely clothed at all, in truth. She didn't even wear shoes, the scales on her feet enough protection for her on the road. Her creamy pale skin, a shade not quite possible for humans, was smooth and unblemished other than the handful of scales around her body, and the line of small gems tracing from her hip to her navel. Tall, slender, but not quite thin, her arms and legs were nicely muscled from her time spent exercising. With her other wing splayed out to her side and her scaled tail lazily lying beside her on the couch, the only hint she'd just been on a run was the thin sheen of sweat that coated her skin.

"Damn, you're beautiful," I whispered.

Ammie responded with a slight giggle, tightening her wing around me. She always did love being complimented on her appearance.

We lay there for a few minutes, uncaring. At some point I found my arms wrapped around her, but could never recall quite when that happened. I had begun to doze when I felt her kiss my cheek, which properly woke me up.

"So how is Beryl?" I asked. "I haven't seen her much lately. Is she taking good care of Daahg?"

"More like Daahg is taking care of her!" We both laughed for a moment at that. "She's doing well. I was a little worried when she first went off to school, but she's doing great there. She's a chemistry major, can you believe that? I guess my little sis is finally growing up..."

The shared glance told us both we were thinking the same thing. We left it unsaid.

"Do you ever wonder why we meet like this sometimes?"

Amaranthe nodded. "As much as you do. I mean, of course as much as you do, but—" She cut herself off. "I mean, you know why, and you know you know why. You're stressed and concerned and I'm comforting. When you're doing poorly my presence can help you get through the day. That's why I was gone for so long, because you were doing better for a while."

She sighed a little. "One day maybe you won't need me or Beryl anymore."

I blinked, but I knew she was telling the truth. I willed her to say it, after all.

"You'll have good friends in real life, and you'll be gainfully employed, and too distracted to worry about us anymore. You reached that point about a year ago, remember? It didn't last, but it will one day. You won't need us for comfort anymore because you'll already be comfortable. It's rather sad, but you'll be better off for it."

I didn't respond. It hurt a little but she was right.

"But until then, never forget. I'm always here to lend a wing, whenever you're feeling upset." Ammie smiled. "No matter what happens, if you need me again you can always ask me. And don't worry, I'm not going anywhere just yet."

Ammie lay her tail across my lap, sighing in pleasure as I rubbed it in the direction of the scales. "I'm more than happy to spend some time just curled up like this. And Beryl can be here too, soon." She winked.

I lay my head against her shoulder and decided to simply enjoy the moment.