HoH Field Trip 2 Electric Boogaloo part 3 (1-year anniversary special)

“Wait, I’m eating here? They serve dragons?” Jarix questioned, not quite sure what to expect. It was nice to be inside for a change, that was for sure. They had partially closed the larger entrance behind him, a kind of rolling door coming down from above. It was much warmer inside than it had any right to be given the lack of large fires.. He wondered if that had something to do with the amount of people running around. They were supposedly all warm after all, and well, he had felt Tom’s body heat a few times before. ‘yeah that must be it.’

The noise and smells though, They were the real party piece of this place. So many people were all talking vividly, and mostly about them. That wasn’t too surprising, he had started getting used to it by now. But the sheer amount of people who questioned if he could breathe fire was just getting annoying. It wasn’t like fire was any better than lightning. He had promised not to do a demonstration though. It didn’t seem like a good idea anyway with this many people around.

“Well, we are going to find out,” Tom replied, looking back over from talking with what must be some kind of waiter, or perhaps they ran the place.

Looking around, he tried to concentrate on some of the various smells. The amount was staggering, but they were so distinct at the same time. He recognized some. Various spices he knew, sizzling beef on a hot pan, there was a really aged cheese in here somewhere, and an impressive amount of things being fried in oil.

“Any idea what you would like to try, big guy?” Tom questioned, looking up at the dragon, the person he had been talking to standing behind Tom with a clipboard at the ready.

“I honestly have no idea… How big are the portions gonna be?”

“I don’t really know that to be honest… I’m not guessing that big. It will probably be something along the lines of a dragon Tapas if I was to hazard a guess.”

“Tapas?” Jarix questioned, tilting his head. He hadn’t heard that one before.

“Eh… Many small portions,” Tom replied with a shrug. “We could just start with one of everything.”

“Uhm… Sure. This sounds very expensive?” Jarix questioned. He hadn’t actually been given any money thus far. Then again, there hadn’t really been anything to spend it on. He had kinda hoped they would visit a large butcher so he could buy some smoked hams. He really liked those, even if they were expensive as hell. Or maybe a brewery to buy a few barrels of something strong, or even just a lot of beer.

“Feeding a dragon is never a cheap thing. Just ask Dakota.”

“I hunt for most of my food and some to spare,” Jarix protested.

“Oh yeah, and as such today you are dining on Bizmati dime, so dig in, big guy. I think this might take a while though.”

“Okay then,” Jarix replied with a content nod. He certainly couldn’t argue with that. The others had scattered to go buy whatever food they fancied from all the various stalls as Jarix waited, the predictable crowd starting to form. Pictures were taken with and without flash, and some of the onlookers were getting perhaps a little too brave.

Sighing, he raised his head up high enough to look over the lot of them and spoke. “I would rather like to just eat in peace… It’s been a long day okay. So, let’s get this over with. I’m Jarix. I’m a blue dragon. I weigh 8 tons. I breathe lightning. I am officially seconded to Bizmati keep. If the kids want to touch, I’ll put my tail around there,” he went, gesturing with his head towards the door. “You may all have a lovely evening, and please don’t hassle my friends. Or I'll fry you alive.”

Looking down to Tom, the human raised a hand, not looking entirely happy—likely on account of that last part. He did lower it again though, settling for just looking at Jarix, seemingly pondering something.

“What? I want to enjoy my meal.”

It took a bit before the plates started arriving, and they all sat down with their food waiting for the stragglers to return with theirs. Fengi was the last to join them, and she had some strange looking little rolls.

“Right then. Dig in,” Dakota went as they all set about their food. Jarix included this time, much to his delight.

His food was on big serving trays, something he had never tried before, nor did he really know how to go about eating it all. They had brought out some white clothes and even cleaned his front talons for him at Tom’s behest, so he set about picking food off the plates, savoring the delicious smells coming off it before putting it in his mouth. He wasn’t gonna lie; he had been rather jealous at lunch that the dragonettes all got to try out all manner of different foods while he had to mostly deal with curious onlookers and adventurous kids.

As he chewed though, that all vanished. He had no clue what he had just eaten, but it was delicious and spicy. It had an almost tingling sensation that spread around his mouth, not unlike when he got a bit of blitz gel in his mouth by accident. He had never tried anything like that before, and he went to lick up the alien yellow sauce from the plate that seemed to be the reason for the spicyness. As he licked the plate, he heard a pair of hands slap together a small cheer ringing out from one of the stands. Turning to look, he saw a pair of human women that seemed darker skinned than most of the people around here but definitely not black like some of the humans he had seen in the movies.

Guessing that they were the ones that had cooked the plate he just cleaned, he nodded to them graciously, the two of them seeming quite surprised before bowing in return. ‘This is amazing,’ he pondered, going back for the next dish which held some of those burger things some of them had gotten for lunch and Jacky was seemingly munching on the same thing right now. He had quite a few though, and they looked just about right to be picked up between two claws.

They weren’t spicy, but they were crunchy and very delicious. Much to his annoyance, the second one fell apart when he tried to pick it up. The last one he just skewered, picking it off his claws in his mouth, which worked rather well. The bowl of soup had required some help, which was not so dignified to say the least. He had never had soup either. He had gotten some portions of stew a few times before, which had been rather nice. This was just next level though. How water of all things could contain so many flavours at once was simply beyond him, but it was certainly worth the indignity of having someone pour it into his mouth.

By the time the others had finished, he only made it through a bit over half the trays that had been brought out for him. There had been a few more spicy things in there, some of them tasting truly awesome, and the warm tingling sensation spread almost up into his nose as he chewed on the odd amalgamation of meats and what he was told were peppers mixed in with some white rice. He had almost gotten a little sad when the trays had finally run out as he licked off the remains of what was without a doubt the best meal he had ever had.

“So, found any favorites?” Tom had questioned, Jarix looking over at him with a contented smile.

“That curry thing was great… Kinda wish there had been more… Think you can get those crunchy french fries somewhere but with a spicy sauce? You know, the ones with minced duck in them?”

“Well, we can certainly ask.”

“Hmm?” Jarix questioned, licking his chops.

“Hey, think they have a dessert for Jarix too?” Jacky spoke up as the dragonettes started to stir, getting up from their seats.

“Dessert?”

“Well, I guess that depends. How hungry are you?” Tom questioned with a shrug.

“Wait. I’m not done?”

“All you can eat my friend. Might as well use it.”

“Uhh,” was all Jarix got out in reply. That was certainly new… He could have anything he wanted from in here and as much as he wanted. ‘Oh, I could get used to this,’ he mused to himself, mulling over the options. “Some more of that curry stuff please. And the fries if they can make them… Does anyone else have something spicy?”

Tom didn’t reply, simply nodding then walking off at a brisk pace towards the stand that had made the first dish and started speaking that ridiculous language.

It took a bit longer before the dishes started coming again, but this time they just kept coming, and he got a big pot of the curry dish all mixed together, which had him licking the container without a care in the world, nearly burning his tongue a few times.

“Careful, you better leave room for dessert,” Tom chuckled once Jarix got his snout back out of the pot, grabbing some more of the duck fries with hot sauce.

“What’s for dessert?” the dragon questioned as he munched away.

“We are all having this softice stuff,” Ray replied with a wide smile and a kind tone as always. “It’s really good.”

“That’s sweet, right?” Jarix questioned, looking to her with a head tilt.

“Yup, very. You’re gonna love it,” she replied, taking another spoonful. The fact that Fengi looked like she was nearly vibrating confirmed that the sugar content was likely substantial.

“That would cost a fortune though, right?” Jarix questioned, looking to Tom and trying not to get his hopes up. He had been allowed to have a bit of sugar back at the keep just to try and get a taste. Even then it had felt wrong eating something that valuable.

“We aren’t back home. Ice cream is cheap here… I’ll find a big bucket or something,” Tom went, turning to leave once more.

“I’m having ice cream?” Jarix questioned almost in disbelief, following Tom with his eyes as the human made his way to what was apparently an ice cream stand.

__________________________________________________________________________________

To say the all you can eat dessert buffet had an effect was a gross understatement. Fengi felt ready to run up the walls with sheer energy. Jarix’s foray into the magical world of ice cream had turned into a betting competition on just how much he could manage and when he had finally thrown in the towel, she swore she could feel electricity in the air.

Tom had wisely decided that they needed to run off some steam, Jarix in particular. The dragon had beaten him to it though. His slightly tired demeanor from before they got here had melted away and been replaced with unbridled enthusiasm. ‘I fucking love this stuff,’ Fengi chittered as the dragon set about giving joyrides to those brave enough, the constant climbing to altitude followed by hard manuvers rather quickly bringing him back to a more resonable energy level. Fengi, Saph, and Jacky even joined in the fun, taking a few kids up too just for the fun of it. Jacky's passenger's bravery had run out during the aerobatics though, leading to a rather awkward moment of handing the crying kid back to the mother. To her credit though, the human mother was very understanding, quickly setting about calming the scared kid down.

This, of course, had the unwanted side effect of increasing the crowd around them tenfold. Their Group all being in one place for this long already resulting in quite a few people coming down to watch. So they had made a break for freedom and flown off to their next destination. This Arcaden, whatever it was, where they were apparently going to play some kind of game. Tom had called it laser tag.

-

Dakota was in charge of their team. They had Dakota, Essy, Ray, and Fengi vs Tom, Jacky, Shiva, and Saph. Fengi wasn’t entirely sure that was fair with Jacky, Tom, and Saph all being on one team, but that was not gonna slow her down. They had been allowed a chance to cool down, and she was still bursting with energy. They had four random schmucks on their team, all seemingly more intent on staring at them, or asking questions, than playing the game. At least that had the advantage of giving her a ready supply of meat shields, which proved very handy.

“Enemy is that way,” she snarled as the guy who had been following her took a hit, taking off a life.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Why are they so fast?” he grumbled, firing blindly around a corner.

“Well, you just told them where you are by sticking your gun out and got nothing out of it.”

“Are you some kind of soldier or something?” he questioned, seemingly not understanding. “The internet said you were all medieval. How are you this good with guns!”

“I’ve killed more people than you can seemingly count. Now move! Jacky will be coming around the right side to kill your ass!”

‘Well, at least he didn’t argue,’ Fengi cursed as he got his slow ass up and started moving left where she gestured, hoping to make an ambush. That was just the thing though; he was slow as fuck, and Jacky wasn’t. The silvered huntress came up over the wall, shooting all the way down and landing in a combat roll. Fengi nailed her twice, which was enough for a kill on the already wounded Jacky, but the guy was dead and Fengi lost a life too. ‘Dammit!’

“Aww, I nearly got both of you,” Jacky laughed, getting up and turning her back to Fengi as she walked back to her side. Fengi took the chance and ran at Jacky, leaping up onto her shoulders and kicking off into the air back over the wall Jacky had just crossed. Surely some of their humans had followed Jacky. Targets ripe for harvest.

“I’m coming for you, humans,” she chuckled, landing gracefully on the other side and setting off down the flank unopposed. Her gamble was rewarded as she rounded a corner, finding two guys with their damn phones out, of all things. She had them both dead before they even got their guns up.

“Come on. How are you this shit!?”

“We want to tweet about this,” one of them protested like she knew what that was… She should probably find out though.

This should be this flank cleared, so hopefully she was behind them now. She made for their spawn, turning back towards the center and moving fast, but trying her best to be quiet. One human still heard her coming, turning around in the nick of time to point at her as she rounded a corner down a short corridor. She dropped down to her knees, sliding along the ground as she kept firing, the guy just sorta standing there looking at her. His gunnery wasn’t even good as he missed her completely.

“Scratch four,” she laughed, springing back to her feet as she started moving more slowly into what was apparently supposed to be a building; she kept her gun high and stance low as she started sweeping, cursing her lack of back up right now. She found nothing though, sticking her head out into another corridor, checking to see if the coast was clear before moving up.

and then her harness started beeping as she froze. She didn’t have cover anywhere, but they hadn’t killed her yet, which likely only meant one thing. “Tom, are you hiding somewhere?”

“No,” the reply came, Fengi's shoulders sagging as she stayed in place, ears starting to swivel to find him.

“Where are you?”

“Hidden.”

“I hate you.”

“Nah… You are in a difficult position though,” the human replied, sounding quite close and seemingly behind her.

“Yup,” Fengi replied as she got a fix. “Tom, what’s twitter?” she asked, giving the human just under a second to get deep enough into thought to be slow on the trigger. Then… she cheated.

Wrapping her wings around her front, she covered the receptors as she turned to face him, backing away into another building, hoping to find a way to come up behind Tom’s little hidey hole. Moving fast through the buildings, she was hoping he didn’t know she had made his position.

‘Gotcha now,’ she snickered as she burst through the door, finding nothing there. Cursing to herself she started looking around and then her vest started blaring again.

“Oh, come on!” she burst out, turning back around to see Tom standing in the doorway she had just come through.

“Too quick. And you cheated,” Tom mused, lowering his gun.

Fengi just grumbled in defeat, walking back to spawn. “I will get you one day.”

“Hah. Not likely.”

__________________________________________________________________________________

“Wooow! This is a big hall!” Ray let out in awe as they stepped into the cinema. All of the running around and pretending to be fighting had certainly calmed the younger women back down , and in true human fashion it seemed the next stop was more food. Shiva had started to grasp this concept rather quickly ever since she visited the steel mill a while back. When the workers there had learned she had never had a hotdog before, it hadn’t even been a consideration whether she should pay for it. Now, Tom had absolutely insisted they try this popcorn. She had to admit, the small puffy nuggets had a delightful crunch, and she did enjoy salty foods. The black drink they had gotten was rather refreshing too, especially since they had gotten rather warm from all the indoor exercise in the laser game.

“What are we watching?” Jacky questioned impatiently.

“Patience. And do try to keep quiet, there are a lot of people in here.”

“Yes mom,” Jacky replied with an entirely uncalled for amount of sass as they found their seats.

“What’s the movie?” she immediately asked Tom once they had sat down, Shiva sighing as she found a decent spot for her popcorn. The seats were very soft and nice, but clearly not built with a dragonette in mind, and she couldn’t fit her tail around her side like Fengi next to her, so she would have to sit on it for however long this was going to take. ‘I should bring my own damn chair in the future.’

Much to her delight, Tom remained silent. As the lights started dimming, a lot of other people came in and sat down around them. In equally traditional fashion, a couple were escorted out for taking pictures, which was apparently not allowed in here. ‘

Fengi had damn near spilled her popcorn as the sound systems roared to life with some kind of logo coming onto the massive screen. “I do say,” Shiva let out, thoroughly impressed. Thus far she had only seen big screens or good screens, but this somehow managed to be both. And those speakers were incredible. If nothing else, this should at least be nice to look at and listen too.

The movie started with a view of an older aircraft circling a large group of ships. According to the text, the ships were a merchant convoy trying to cross an ocean called the Atlantic. Shiva hadn’t done much map studying, but she was relatively sure that was the ocean between them and that America place. ‘So, another war movie then… Okay,’ she mused, leaning back, skewering a popcorn with a claw and delicately putting it in her mouth.

“So like, where are they going… They are sailing in formation, right?” Jacky started questioning as the camera moved to the bridge of the vessel. Shiva just reached a hand over, clamping her mouth shut.

“Shsss.”

Jacky had tried her hand at interrupting a few more times, resorting to whispering to Tom instead, which was an acceptable level of distraction as Shiva took in the scope of the movie.

‘Crazy humans and their boats,’ she mused as the ships made their way across the ocean.

__________________________________________________________________________________

“Why would they do that!” Ray protested to Saph, who had followed her outside the theater doors. The poor woman was breathing quickly and shallowly. “There were people in those metal boxes.”

“Submarines,” Saph corrected. “We knew humans were crazy and they were killing left and right. You can’t feel sorry for people like that.”

“But imagine dying like that! And the people in the water. They only saved nine!”

“But they did try to save them all. You just don’t win every time, and they did make it in the end.”

“But they won against soldiers, Saph… Do you think all the people down below were evil?”

“No, but they were soldiers. You know what that entails. If anything, I think they died quick. Blowing up like that...” Saph replied, voice heavy with apprehension. She had flinched when the first submarine exploded. It had shot water so high in the air… She doubted anything would have survived locked in a tube with that.

“But the guy next to me said they would slip into the deep, trapped in there. And what about the first one? That didn’t blow up, Saph. They would just have sunk slowly, trying to get out.”

‘Why didn’t we put you in the middle?’ Saph cursed, trying to come up with a slightly more sensitive way to put it. That would be a horrible way to go.

“It was just a movie. You know. Like theater. Actors and those effects Tom keeps talking about.”

“I guess... “ Ray relented as the doors swung open again and people started pouring out. They all seemed quite happy to Saph at least. ‘I guess they didn’t give a shit,’ she pondered, looking around, spotting the horns of Jacky sticking up over the crowd. ‘And here comes the number one fan.’

“Yo, Tom, could we go see one of those things for real? The ship, not the little coward boat.”

‘Only Jacky,’ Saph cursed, shaking her head and taking a deep breath, starting to feel just how tired she was. ‘And here comes the sugar withdrawal,’ she cursed. Tom had only let them have a small soda, which was likely a good idea, she had to give him that. But despite not doing much for the last however long that movie had taken, she was exhausted.

To her relief, she hadn’t been the only one as they walked out the cinema half-hanging onto each other. Tom of course seemed utterly unfazed. Fengi had made a halfhearted attempt to convince them they needed to try the night life around here, but she was quickly outvoted. It was time for bed, and they all knew it.

Luckily for all of them, Jarix had seemingly not been as harshly affected by the day’s activities, the blue graciously giving most of them a ride, leaving just Saph and Jacky on their own wings, Saph thought that was rather unfair, but the promise of a nice room and a soft bed was all the motivation she needed as they flew into the night.. She took the time to admire the multitude of lights that had sprung up all over the city. It was hardly dark actually, with every street illuminated vividly.

“I guess navigating at night won’t be much of a problem then,” she mused to herself, letting the cold air keep her awake as she glided in Jarix’s wake, silence reigning in the sky.

It was beautiful actually. The hustle and bustle of the city seemingly was not coming to an end, but far enough away it was still quiet. ‘Maybe Fengi was right that a trip on the town at night here would be worth it,’ Saph pondered, looking at the streams of cars filtering through the streets, distant music playing from a few places. ‘Another time, not like we only have one day.’

They were apparently staying at a hotel, which was like an inn but much larger. She had never actually been to a hotel before. By Tom’s reckoning, they did have some inn’s in the capital that could pass as a hotel, but well, they still called them inn’s.

What they had gotten was a rather nice looking squat white building . To Saph’s surprise, Jarix had headed for the roof where a tent had seemingly been erected, a very large one at that.

She and Jacky had landed first, finding people she assumed worked there already standing ready. They bid them welcome in English, bowing courteously. Saph replied in kind, trying not to seem too surprised at all this before looking up to Jarix, who was having another go at an approach in the dark.

“Hey uhm… Sure this place is built for this?”

“Yes, the helipad is built for things like that,” a very smartly dressed female employee replied.

“... Ookay then,” Saph replied with a shrug, looking up as Jarix came down on the big yellow H, looking around rather confused.

“I was told not to land on roofs?”

“Yes, don’t worry, we have mapped out where you are allowed to step with all the yellow cones. Stay within those and you’ll be fine. We do apologize for not being able to provide more suitable accommodations for you, sir.”

“Uhm… I mean I think this is fine… Is it warm in there?”

“Oh certainly, follow me,” the attendant went, leading Jarix into his tent as everyone got off, all looking rather tired.

More people had started appearing seemingly from nowhere to take their bags for them and start leading them downstairs into what Saph had to admit was a very nicely decorated building, if rather minimalist. To Saph though, the whole 'let's fit in some more gold' mentality was rather grating, but this was nice.

They had been given twin rooms, which fitted Saph just fine. She had bunked up with Ray for the night. Much to Saph’s, relief Tom and Jacky had waddled off down the corridor as Essy and Fengi set up shop next door. Dakota and Shiva were across from them. Saph doubted even Jacky would have any energy left, she certainly didn’t. At least not until they managed to get the door open.

“Holy shit.”

__________________________________________________________________________________

“Are we staying here?... Look at it! It’s beautiful!” Ray Shrieked as the two of them moved through the door, being met with a little hallway with a door on their left. On the right were places to put your armor or clothes before going inside properly with a big soft mat on the floor. They wiped their feet on the mat, Saph going through the door as Ray went down the hallway to have a look around.

“There are paintings on the walls! And they're pretty!” Ray exclaimed, peaking around the corner and gawking at their room proper. “We have chairs, a table... I think those are games. This is amazing!”

“What’s the bed like?” Saph questioned from the room behind Ray.

“Oh. Looks like we’re sharing a bed… It’s big though,” Ray said over her shoulder as she went to touch the huge bed in the center of the room. The sheets looked so soft and were the purest white. There were massive windows with a view of the city and all the pretty lights too.

Pushing on the bed, it was incredibly soft and springy, Ray looked around real quick to see if anyone was watching, more on instinct than anything else, before she climbed onto the bed on all fours and started to bounce a litte. It felt like she wasn’t allowed to be in here, it was surreal, feeling her hands and feet sink into the impossibly soft and thick pillows and duvet… she wasn’t even sure she had ever had a duvet before… It didn't really make sense unless you had hot stones after all, all you would get out of it was a cold morning…

“Think they have hot stones here?”

“I have no clue. You need to see this though!” Saph half-shouted from the other room she had passed coming in. She crawled off the bed, going back and looking inside the smaller room, which honestly still wasn’t that small. It was entirely white with tiles covering everything and some big slabs of black polished granite that looked almost like a night sky. “What is this?”

“The bath room. Look at the shower and bath!” Saph let out in excitement, gesturing at something Ray had never seen before. They had showers back at the keep by now thanks to Tom’s machinations, but this was different. It was metal and polished to the point even Shiva would likely approve, with many places for the water to come out all around; it looked very intricate in fact. The bath was more familiar, a big white slab of, well Ray guessed marble, also polished to the point she could see her face in it. She didn’t even dare think what a marble bath like that would cost back home. This was a room fit for a princess at least.

“This is incredible! And it’s all just for taking a bath?” she had to ask, not sure if maybe there was some hidden function.

“Yes!” Saph replied excitedly. “Well, and there's a toilet over there. I know I don’t need it, but I’m having a bath. You wanna join?”

“Uhm… sure,” Ray replied, inspecting the bath more closely. “What are these for?” she questioned, clinking a claw against some polished metal things down in the bath, Saph coming over to look at it too.

“I have no idea...Eh, we’ll find out. Might have to do with that thing?” Saph replied, pointing at a bunch of buttons on the side. “We need to fill it up first though.”

“Yeah,” Ray replied, taking a second to look around the room, noticing her feet were warm. “Why’s the floor hot?”

“Humans do that in the bathrooms. Don’t know why it’s not more normal to have it everywhere.”

“The floor is heated?!” Ray let out in surprise, going down on her knees to touch it with her hand. It was indeed a nice pleasant warmth.

“Pretty great, right?” Saph questioned as Ray just looked up at her mouth agape.

“This is soo awesome.”

“And it’s all for us. I’ll get the bath running. I don’t even think we need to pay for the water.”

“You pay for water here?” Ray questioned with a head tilt.

“Well, you don’t have to go get it yourself either.”

“Fair point,” Ray conceded, sitting down on the floor and looking into the bath. “We could try out the new swimwear.”

“Great idea. Is the bed nice?” Saph replied as she turned on the water, which just streamed out in a torrent.

“Oh it is just the best,” Ray replied, letting out a little wistful sigh. “So soft and bouncy. And it has all the pillows…”

“Okay, plan time. Fill up the bath, quick pillow fight, then relax in the tub.”

“Yeah!”