The first thing Rachael learned about Lanardo after their initial meeting was that the man didn't seem to have a strong sense of time. Although he had said it would be a day or two before he contacted her, Rachael found herself rolling out of bed at one in the morning to answer her phone. She had tried to ignore it the first two times it went off, but she had a feeling that the caller wasn't going to give up. She groggily stood up and retrieved her phone, flopping back down onto her bed as she answered the call. "Who izit?" She asked sleepily, trying to rub the tired out of her eyes.

"Rachael!" Lanardo's energetic voice sang through the phone, and Rachael held back an irritated groan. "For a moment there I thought you wouldn't pick up. So, about your living accommodations…"

"Lanardo, do you have any idea what time it is?" Rachael asked, massaging the bridge of her nose in annoyance.

"The time?" Lanardo repeated, "Why of course. It's only…" He went silent, and Rachael could hear the distinct sound of rustling window blinds, and then what could only be described as plastic being smacked against a tabletop. "…Well, I was going to say six-oh-five, but now that I think about it, that's what my alarm clock has been saying for the last week." This time, Rachael didn't hold back the groan. "Whoa, hey, if you think this is a bad time, I'll call back later."

Rachael sighed, "No, no, I'm up. What is it you want to talk about? Something about where I live?"

"Yep. I need to make sure that your house is fit for your guest." Lanardo explained. "We probably might maybe have to change a few things in order to-"

"Wait, why wouldn't my house be good enough?" Rachael interrupted. "This is just a Lizardman, right?"

"What? Is there a problem if he isn't your regular run-of-the-mill stereotype?" Lanardo questioned, a hint of worry on his voice.

"Well, yes." Rachael said, beginning to realize that Lanardo wasn't telling her something. "'Lizardman is more of a broad term, right? I want to know the specifics of what Dragur is."

"Kragar." Lanardo corrected her. "And fine, I'll spill. Kragar is a Croctus. Half man, half crocodile." Rachael waited for Lanardo to continue, but he was apparently finished.

"…Wait, is that it? Why would you try to keep that a secret?" She asked, now confused.

"Not everyone enjoys the thought of a crocodile man living with them." Lanardo explained. "Several people have already turned him down because of that fact alone."

"That's stupid." Rachael said firmly. "Why would there be any problem with that at all?" In her head, Rachael was envisioning what she thought Kragar looked like.

Your typical Lizardman looked a lot like a human, with their most notable features being their tails and scaly skin, the latter of which covered their entire body save for their heads. As for their faces, a Lizardman's eyes and ears were their defining points. The eyes of a Lizardman resembled that of an actual lizard with slits replacing rounded pupils. Their ears were also pointed and maintained the scaly texture shared with the rest of the body. The tail is the pride of the species, and they tend to flaunt it as well. Lizardmen tails are borderline prehensile, but not quite a versatile as, say, a Lamia's tail. Still, Lizardmen have the ability to use their tails as a third hand, capable of holding even moderately heavy objects. They also have the ability to detach their tails in moments of danger or surprise, but since the tail also stores a lot of nutrients, detachment of the tail could possibly result in the death of the Lizardman. Fortunately, that does not happen often in this day and age.

Since many Lizardmen interbred with humans, there are many different variations of the Lizardman. Some have a mix of scaly and smooth skin, some have rounded pupils instead of slits, and some have lost the ability to detach their tails, among other minor changes in the DNA patterns.

Lastly, the Lizardman is indeed a broad term. There are several species variants with traits belonging to less generic lizards such as Gila monsters, basilisks, and geckos. That said, why couldn't there be a crocodile version of this? As Rachael mulled the thought over in her head, she imagined a Lizardman with tough, almost plated skin like that of an actual crocodile, along with a thick, powerful tail and sharp teeth. Surely her house wouldn't require more than a few simple changes to allow this crocodilian guest to live with her.

"What exactly would be necessary for him to stay here?" Rachael questioned, as she slipped on a pair of fuzzy slippers and began pacing around her room to keep herself awake. She could hear the rustling of papers as Lanardo rummaged through a box, before the sound of several obviously breakable objects crashing to the floor startled her awake.

"Eh, I needed to clear off that table anyways." Lanardo muttered. "Okay, so for Kragar to stay with you'll, he'll just need adequate living space and a large water source, along with a few other minor necessities."

"A large water source?" Rachael repeated. "You mean like a swimming pool?"

"Yes, exactly that!" Lanardo confirmed happily. "Do you already have one?"

"Does an inflatable pool count?"

"No, that won't do. Lemme see here…" More rustling of paper, followed by Lanardo muttering grumpily to himself about "higher-ups". "…How big is your backyard?"

"My backyard? I guess it's fairly big… Why?" Rachael inquired.

"Company policy." Lanardo scoffed, annoyed by this for some reason. "We'll have to have one installed. My boss will sign for it, and then I'll need your signature on the day of installation. Is that alright with you?"

Rachael was dumbfounded by this. She was just going to receive a swimming pool at no charge? "Of course that's alright!" She exclaimed excitedly. "Oh, wait. What about the water bill? Won't-"

"Don't worry about that." Lanardo interrupted, "I know a trick that'll be able to bypass that."

Rachael tried to think of what one could possibly do to avoid a water bill, but ultimately assumed that he meant something about efficiency. "When is that all going to happen?"

"In a day or two." Lanardo answered. "We're kind of in a lull right now, so we'll be able to send some people over in a couple days, and then bring Kragar over the day after that."

"Who's 'we'?" Rachael questioned. "Your company?"

"Oh, right, I haven't even told you that part!" Lanardo said, audibly facepalming himself. "I work for Helping Hands, an organization dedicated to providing aid to demi-humans in need. It's the company itself that's enabling me to move Kragar in with you and cover all of the expenses necessary for housing him."

"Wow, really? That must be a pretty profitable business to be able to help demi-humans nationwide."

"Hardly, actually. I saved the company a while back when I accidentally won the lottery." Lanardo explained. "Landed me a firm job and gives me some leeway in the decision-making. Now, I'm sure you want to get some sleep, so I'll lay down what needs to get done: The pool, minor renovations, a quick background check because policies, and then the initial meeting of you and Kragar. I'd normally have you come to the office, but given the circumstances, I'll just bring Kragar to you. How's that sound?"

"It's fine with me." Rachael said, sitting back down on her bed. She was starting to get tired again, and just wanted to end the conversation at this point. "So when will the renovators be coming to install the pool and all those other things?" She asked.

"In a day or two, once I get things straightened out on my end." Lanardo replied. "It'll be a piece of cake once I get a couple of signatures. I'll talk to you soon, alright?"

In her grogginess, Rachael nodded. Realizing that Lanardo couldn't see her, she caught herself and said, "Oh, yes. Right. Just not at one in the morning."

Lanardo chuckled. "Understood. T-T-L-Y, as the cool kids say!" And with that, he hung up, leaving Rachael sitting in the dark. Ready to return to the land of dreams, Rachael tipped backwards onto the bed and rolled to wrap herself up in the sheets. Phone still in hand, she drifted back off to sleep with the thought of lounging by her to-be-installed pool ruminating in her head.

----------------------------------------

To Rachael's surprise the next day, Lanardo apparently screwed up the timing for the renovators as well. At just past nine o'clock, a group of about twenty-five renovators arrived to begin work on the house and swimming pool. With that day and the next having been her days off, she was wildly unprepared for any sort of guest. She was still in her bathrobe when she answered the door, and was becoming peeved with Lanardo's inability to time events properly. At least he hadn't brought Kragar yet…

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Trying to ignore the noise of the renovations, Rachael retreated to the backyard with a book to keep an eye on the workers and to catch up on some reading. The men worked with a surprising amount of efficiency, having managed to dig out the space for the pool by noon. The men inside finished with whatever they had been doing and came out to join the others for a lunch break. While they ate, Rachael decided to go inside and see what had been modified in the short three hours.

When Rachael stepped through the back door into the living room, the very first thing that was apparent was that most of the doorways were larger in both height and width.

Maybe Kragar's a little taller than normal? Rachael thought, having assumed up to this point that Kragar was the same size as most Lizardmen. As she walked through the kitchen to the front room, she made note that both of those rooms had been left mostly untouched. The only noticeable change in the front room was that there was a huge easy-chair with a large hole in the back, but too low to be for a massage system. This perplexed Rachael, mostly because the hole was just big enough for a child to squeeze through. After some thought, she realized that the hole must be for a tail. That would make sense, given that a tailed demi-human wouldn't be able to sit on any backed furniture without their tail getting in the way.

The rest of the rooms on the first floor also remained unchanged, and these included the second guest room and bathroom, and Rachael's "Relaxation Room", which held her small book collection and her favorite chair under the stairs. Essentially, it was the place she went when she was either done with the day, or when she just needed some alone time.

As she went upstairs, Rachael noticed that there were still tools and supplies lying about that the renovators had yet to pick up. She entered the guest bedroom first to see what had been changed. When Rachael's parents first left, their room became her room, and her room became the upstairs guest room. Now, her old room was going to be Kragar's room. It had been lonely for the first couple months once when she moved back in after finishing college, and only had herself and her work friends to do things with. Having a guest would probably remove the lonely feeling of being… Well, alone. Like the front room, there was almost no change in the upstairs guest room aside from the bed having almost doubled in size and the addition of… a heat lamp? Rachael had never paid much attention to it, but the fact that reptilian demi-humans were cold blooded now stuck out like a sore thumb. No wonder Lanardo had searched the southern states: Kragar needed someplace warm to stay.

She then left the bedroom and entered the bathroom, and marveled at the change in layout compared to any of the other rooms. The bathtub was now the size of a spa pool, and could hold a whole family at once, and the sink and toilet both had at least doubled in size. Around the sink was Rachael's toiletries, but there was also a giant toothbrush which almost looked more like a brush for backs than one for teeth. Well, he is a crocodile. It would only be natural for him to have a lot of teeth… She thought. However, the size of the toothbrush bugged her. Lizardmen were almost always human-size, so surely Kragar's mouth wouldn't be bigger than normal… Would it?

Having finished her self-tour of the house, Rachael returned downstairs and returned to the backyard, where the workers were starting on the pool once again. Believing they'd finish the job just as well on their own, Rachael retrieved her book from her lawn chair and went back inside to make herself lunch. She was secretly hoping that the workers would finish that day, so she could try out the pool herself. But even though the chances of that weren't likely, she'd still have tomorrow before Kragar came. Certainly, Lanardo couldn't possibly screw that up…

----------------------------------------

He did.

The next day, the renovators returned to finish the pool's plumbing, which is what they failed to complete the day previous. However, who should be tagging along but Lanardo. The Helping Hands employee showed up in a U-Haul truck moments after the men went around back to complete the pool. "Rachael! Perfect timing!" Lanardo greeted enthusiastically, hopping from the cab and jogging up to his client. "Guess who's ready to meet you?" The man's outfit was drastically different from the one Rachael had last seen him in. Instead of a colorful Hawaiian shirt, he was wearing a more normal attire, consisting of a blue polo, jeans, and Nike sneakers.

Rachael almost couldn't believe it. First the early-morning phone call, then the renovators, and now this? "Lanardo," She sighed, "you said you wouldn't bring Kragar until after these workers were done, and before that you said they wouldn't come for a day or two. And before that-"

Wincing, Lanardo held up a finger to silence Rachael. "Look, I'm sorry for rushing things a bit, but I needed to get Kragar here as soon as possible." He ran a hand through his hair and exhaled through his teeth. "Being completely honest, there are people who want Kragar either in jail or dead, but to save him from whatever awful fate the Florida police force had for him required me to move him out of state as quickly as possible. To do that, I had to pull a few strings and appeal to some emotions."

"Wait, did you trick me?" Rachael asked, suddenly feeling deceived.

"What? Trick you? No, of course not!" Lanardo quickly responded, shaking his head rapidly and holding his hands up in defense. "I have withheld no information from you, other than the fact that he might be staying here for just a little bit longer than we normally would have it."

Rubbing her temples as she realized that this whole situation might be more serious than she thought, she asked, "How long is a 'little bit'?"

Lanardo glanced skywards and counted on his fingers. "Um, anywhere from three months to… Uh, from now until… Okay, more than three months."

Rachael stifled a sarcastic laugh. "Are you telling me that you're working against the law to hide Kragar? Does your Helping Hands company even know?"

"Nope." Lanardo answered simply. "Yeah, I've, uh, really been working behind a lot of backs here." He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "With all the racial issues between humans and demi-humans, I've really got my hands tied. It was this, or let Kragar get thrown in the slammer. Or worse."

Rachael sighed. Was this really happening? Was she actually getting roped into an illegal scheme to save the life of a demi-human that she didn't even know? This was insane! What if the cops came knocking on her door the very next day? What if Kragar turned out to be a terrible guest? What if… What if it turned out to be a growing experience?

To her own surprise, Rachael found herself pulling up positive outcomes in her mind for the situation. What if Kragar turned out of be enjoyable to live with? What if this all blew over in a month or two? What if this truly was the experience that she had been searching for? Taking a deep breath and collecting her thoughts, Rachael said, "Okay, I want to meet him. Where is he?"

Seeing Rachael's sudden resolve, Lanardo smiled and turn towards the U-Haul truck. Walking around to the back of the truck, which just so happened to be facing away from the house, Lanardo lifted the door and exchanged words with whomever was inside. Lanardo stepped back a moment later, and the truck's occupant, Kragar, stepped out.

He was not what Rachael was expecting.

All thoughts of Lizardmen were wiped from her mind as she gazed upon what was basically a huge, bipedal…

"Crocodile..." Rachael muttered, that being the only word that came to mind in this moment.

"A Croctus, actually." Lanardo corrected her. Kragar's appearance was jaw-dropping. He stood almost seven feet tall, and wore only a pair of tan cargo shorts that were modified in the back to compensate for his large tail, and a grey zip-up hoodie. Rachael could see his murky, green skin wherever there wasn't clothing, and he was obviously very strong, indicated simply by the way he was built: Very broad, and very muscular. Rachael found herself staring at his head, which was basically a crocodile head, all the way from the eyes to the teeth. The eyes however, looked more human then reptilian, aside from the slits instead of rounded pupils and being a brilliant blue. Kragar yawned and stretched as he exited the truck, and Rachael got a good look at all 54-four of his white, near-razor-sharp teeth, and a tingle flew down her spine at the thought of what he could do with those.

Kragar saw Rachael and approached, and it was all Rachael could do to prevent herself from taking a step backwards. Extending a leathery, clawed hand in greeting, Kragar spoke, "You must be the lady I'm staying with. I'm Kragar Krokten. Nice to meet you." Instead of sounding low and gruff, Kragar's voice was surprisingly natural. In fact, it made Rachael feel a little better to know that Kragar didn't sound as intimidating as he looked, nor did he act that way either.

Taking Kragar's massive hand and shaking it, Rachael replied, "It's nice to meet you too. When Lanardo said you were a Lizardman, I assumed something a little different."

Hearing this, Kragar raised an eye-arch (he had no hair to make it a brow) and looked back at Lanardo. "You told her I was a Lizardman?" He questioned, before bursting into laughter. Without waiting for an answer, he turned back to Rachael and grinned, thumbing at himself. "Lady, I am a Croctus! Separated from the Lizardman species, and proud to be unique." He glanced back at his escort and laughed again. "I'd also take everything this guy says with a pinch of salt. He's the best con-artist I know."

Kragar by Defender-of-Time [https://orig00.deviantart.net/315c/f/2018/021/e/b/kragar_by_defender_of_time-dc0s802.jpg]

Rachael was shocked to hear this, and looked wide-eyed at Lanardo. Of course, with the way he had handled things, she should have noticed it sooner. "A con-artist, huh?" She repeated, placing her hands on her hips and giving Lanardo a look of disappointment. "I should've guessed."

Lanardo gave Rachael a bashful smile as he hauled a large suitcase out of the back of the truck. "What can I say? It's a living." He deposited the suitcase next to Kragar and stepped towards the cab of the truck. "A-a-and I've also got some loose ends to tie up with all of this, so if you'll excuse me…" Before either Rachael or Kragar could say another word, Lanardo hopped back into the driver seat and drove off. Rachael could see now that leaving in order to end a conversation was a habit of his.

Turning back to her new guest, Rachael surveyed the scenario she was in. She was about to start living with someone that was more crocodile than human. She had no idea what Kragar had done to land himself in as much trouble as he was in, she didn't know what else Lanardo was planning in that cleverly deceptive mind of his, and she may have just put herself on the wrong side of the law. What could possibly go wrong?

Remembering her manners, she said with a smile, "Come inside, Kragar. I'll give you a tour of the place."

Returning the smile with one of his own, Kragar nodded and lifted his heavy suitcase with one hand as if it weighed nothing. "Thanks! I'm looking forward to this… Well, honestly, anything's better than the way things were back home…"

Rachael wanted to ask what exactly happened back in Florida, but decided to save that for later. After all, Kragar had only just arrived, and he probably didn't want to talk about why he was on the run.

As the two entered the house, Rachael thought about her situation one last time. My roommate is a reptile… She thought to herself. This is going to be one heck of an adventure.