Bk Adopts Kobolds Bk huffed a plume of smoke from his nostrils while settling into a curled up pose, like a cat resting with tail curled around for comfort. The dragon hummed softly to himself, lost in contemplation. Thoughts swirled in his head as he weighed the benefits and problems of a kobold harem. It wasn’t something he’d planned on starting up for another few decades but… He’d been presented with an opportunity, but also a challenge. Yesterday the set of three kobolds fell into his lap unexpectedly, literally fallen into his lap from the open skylight to Bk’s cave lair. The landing didn’t hurt BK of course; he was far larger than a kobold. It was still a surprise to be visited by other scaled folk rather than the typical adventuring party or questing knight. All three of the kobolds began screeching at each other, yelling, fighting in a tangled mass without noticing they’d landed on Bk’s torso. Only when Bk cleared his throat and shook the cave with a rumbling growl did the lizards stop fighting and simultaneously look up. “Guys! Our search is over, we found a dragon!” an orange-scaled kobold said, his head perking up out of the pile of his warren mates. All three gave a cheer, then set about untangling limbs, horns, and tails from each other. It took them a few moments, and plenty of cursing at each other, but soon the three lined up in a row staring up at the dragon. They all had similar body types at a few feet tall, with chromatically colored scales, tan underbellies that traced from their neck to the end of their tail, and each fairly scrawny in their own unique way. That last part made sense for dragon-less kobolds unable to fend for themselves. “I’m Ruby, our leader,” the orange kobold said pointing at his chest with a thumb. The other two didn’t seem to agree though as the green and yellow kobolds each punched the orange in his shoulder. “I’m Citrine,” the yellow kobold said, holding the end of his tail in both hands and rubbing it like a favorite toy. “And I’m Peridot,” the last of the trio said, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes. He’d been sizing up Bk for the few minutes they were acquainted and apparently wasn’t impressed. Sitting in stunned silence for a moment, Bk finally came to his senses. Leaning his head down low to be at eye level, he replied, “Hello. I’m Bk, and you’re interrupting my meal.” A still-smoking, perfectly flame-broiled hunk of meat awaited him on a stone platter as wide across as a wagon. He ended up tearing small bits of the meat off for the trio, unable to look at their hungry eyes directly without feeling a little sympathy. That was yesterday though. Today, they hadn’t left, choosing instead to fall asleep close by the protection of a much larger draconic form. Three ‘bolds was more than enough for a dragon his size. The problem came about in what to DO with them. Could he adopt and take care of three hyperactive, competitive, and unknown kobolds? He never did get a straight answer out of the little lizards for how they were peeking into his lair. Bk guessed they probably looked for a dragon, kobold instincts drew them here, and none of them considered the danger or difficulty of getting inside. Kobolds weren’t well known for common sense or wisdom after all. The red dragon gnawed on the bones from his dinner, lost deeply in thought. Three of them were laid out on his torso, Ruby closest to his package, Citrine in the crook of his arm, and Peridot sprawled on the snoot. Maybe a trial period? They did make a cute trio of potential pets. He wouldn’t commit to taking on more than he could handle without trying it first. But something in his head was whispering that he would never be able to throw away cute little lizards without a home of their own. --- Peridot tumbled free from Bk’s muzzle when the dragon yawned. Morning sun had woken the dragon, but Peridot falling to bounce off his chest banished any drowsiness right away. “AAH-” the kobold cried before landing atop Ruby. The landing-pad kobold rolled over and went straight back to sleep, but Green was thoroughly awake. And taking his attention was the morning wood Bk wore. Peridot landed right next to the dragon’s balls and was having trouble maintaining his anger over falling. He looked distracted, while his face turned a bright red. Pointing a hand at Bk’s face looming above, Peridot said, “Don’t get any ideas! I’m still in charge of our dragon choice, and just because you’re hot I’m not gonna just pick because of that!” The kobold’s face tinged with red blush gave away any sense of mystery over Peridot’s feelings. Raising an eyebrow, Bk pressed a clawtip into Peridot’s back forcing the kobold forward. Peridot half-stuttered a question before realizing what Bk meant to do. The kobold spread his arms out, trying to push back on Bk but the only surface available was the same place Bk wanted him to be. Pressed against dragon balls, Peridot squeaked with his remaining moment of complaining. The red, kobold-sized nuts raised in the air briefly as Bk adjusted to push Peridot beneath them. “Need a little more rest time before dealing with you. So loud,” he said, closing his eyes to lay down again. Ruby and Citrine had shifted slightly, but were still largely resting in the same places. Thankfully that movement hadn’t woken the other babies up. No, stop that, he thought. They hadn’t been adopted yet, this was still a trial at most. Bk couldn’t afford to start thinking of them as babies already. It didn’t seem that any of the kobolds had a lick of sense so far. Falling in on a dragon wasn’t typical of adventurers with common sense. And he couldn’t keep track of three little gremlins running around- Ruby rolled over onto his back, tail tip wagging and legs twitching as if running. He was caught deep in a dream chasing after a snack or something, Bk thought. Watching that dreaming kobold melted his heart from sheer cuteness. It would be hard to turn back now. He couldn’t deny their cuteness. Maybe not calling them baby yet, but the instinctual bond between dragon and kobold couldn’t be denied as easily as he assumed. So, better to think of ways the kobolds could serve rather than worry about getting rid of kobolds. --- Citrine stood at attention in a line with his brothers, looking up at their new dragon with wide, awe-struck eyes. This red dragon was gargantuan compared to… well anything he’d seen before, really. He and his packmates weren’t old enough to have seen other dragons, or anything he could compare to. Thanks to that lack of experience, the yellow scaled kobold wasn’t sure what he should be doing. Worshipping? Like, down on hands and knees maybe? He’d heard stories of ancient dragons with hundreds of kobolds in a warren demanding tribute and worship. That didn’t sound like the right thing to do but how would he know? Bk coughed into a hand to get their attention. Citrine practically jumped out of his scales; without meaning to he’d spaced-out wondering what to do for the dragon. “So, it’s breakfast. If you’re going to live here, we need to work together for getting food and cooking,” he said, crossing his arms like a parent giving a lesson. “There is a lot of food in the forests around this mountain. I’ve lived here for years and never gone hungry. So your first task is to bring enough food for all four of us to be happy. Understand?” All three kobolds raised their hands at once. Bk nodded, pointing to Ruby, “You have a question first?” All three kobolds tried to talk over each other, regardless. “How much food do we need to get you?” “What’s your favorite meal you ever had?” “Why aren’t you getting your own food?” Bk chuckled but quieted them down with a pat on the head each. “Calm down, calm down. Just bring me as much food as you can, I’ll eat anything you make!” Peridot huffed, about to repeat his question, but his packmates grabbed either arm and rushed out the cave’s entrance. This would buy Bk a few hours of privacy and quiet. In the meantime, there was reorganization for the den to finish. Three new companions would need spaces of their own. Outside, Ruby was filling his arms with food. Peridot and Citrine were trying their hand at fishing, but Ruby thought picking plants or berries would be a good way to contribute other flavors. Their dragon was so smart; every berry he could think of was found on bushes or vines out here. There was no way to tell what his packmates would bring back to the cave, so matching flavors wouldn’t work. Instead Ruby picked as wide a variety of berries as he could find. Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, each were held gently in his arms in order to avoid breaking the tender berries on his chest. With a mix of these someone would make a good meal, he was certain of it. But this wouldn’t work without an actual meal to go with the berries. That task fell with the other two kobolds. Most of the fish in this river knew better than to bite a hook with no bait, but that information was lost on Peridot and Citrine. With a string and hook at the end of a stick, their fishing setup couldn’t be much simpler. The important thing was the effort though. They had hours to wait for fish, plenty of time to bring something home for Bk. “Do you think we’ll catch enough for a dragon to be happy?” Citrine asked, trying to make conversation while waiting. Peridot bit his lip while waiting for anything to approach the hook. “I’ll be happy with catching even one fish at this point. We don’t have any bait to use, there’s no way any fish will get caught.” Oh, that did make sense. Citrine looked around the river’s shoreline. Maybe there would be something around he could repurpose? The forest’s ground was damp and squishy after rainfall. A few worms crawled through the grass and remaining puddles. Perfect! Citrine grabbed two of them in a quick swipe off the ground. Fishing went much better after that. “Well, you wouldn’t have caught the fish without my bait, right? So I helped. I want to bring back the fish!” Peridot said, grabbing at Citrine’s hands. “No, please don’t! I caught the fish on my line so it should be mine to give to Bk,” Citrine argued back, unwilling to share his catch. He couldn’t deny that Peridot helped, but he wanted to be the first to give food to his dragon. He could help Peridot catch one of his own too, but not this one! --- The argument didn’t go well. At the cave, Peridot and Citrine held up half a fish each. Citrine had the head while Peridot took the tail end. After they tore the fish in half a few minutes ago the argument ended. Citrine hoped that the fish would still taste good. Peridot averted his eyes while holding up the fish, unwilling to address why it was a half-fish rather than whole. A pile of berries dropped in front of the duo. Ruby beamed proudly, hands on his hips and chest puffed out. “We’re back, Bk! Fish and berries for breakfast. Are you impressed, or impressed?” Bk looked down at the paltry amount of food, blowing out a gust of air with a sigh. He needed to lay flat to the ground so that his face could get close enough to lick the offerings of food in a single gulp. Well it’s still tasty, even if it wouldn’t really fill a whole dragon and three kobolds. “You did good, but you’ll need to get more next time. I’m like, way bigger than a kobold. It takes a lot of food for me to go flying or to breathe fire. Lots of energy,” Bk said, unfurling his wings to their full length for emphasis. All three kobolds gasped in unison when the light was suddenly covered. “We did good? So… does that mean we can stay?” Citrine asked, tail held in hand like a fidget toy. Bk waited for a moment, letting the silence drag out. The three kobolds looked up expectantly, unwilling to interrupt the dragon’s thinking. Bk mentally chuckled; sometimes it paid to be theatrical just for the sake of some fun. “Wellll, I did make a space for each of you to have a bed. It would be a shaaame to not use them now. For now yes, you can be my kobolds. You’ll get better with practice. Right?” There was probably a ‘yes’ and a ‘of course!’ said, but the main thing Bk heard was an overwhelming amount of yipping and cheers. It was hard to make out who said what at any given moment. That was okay though. Bk enjoyed the feeling of three lizards crawling across him, getting into nooks and crannies over his body. They apparently wanted to find the best spot for hugging or cuddling the new dragon. He rumbled a deep, resonating hum from his chest. That reward of seeing their satisfaction and the feeling of tiny bodies on him for cuddles… Bk could definitely enjoy this. He would still need to keep a close eye on this trio of energetic lizards but maybe the trade off wouldn’t be so bad. Peridot was the first to realize a problem though. “But what are we going to eat then?” he asked, perking up away from a red scaled tummy. They spent all morning getting enough food for Bk and now none was left for the ‘bolds. Aww, suddenly sad kobold eyes were all looking up at their dragon. “W-Well, that’s okay. Here watch this.” Luckily, Bk already had a plan for this. Standing up on his hind legs made him tall enough to reach out the top of the cave. The same hole Peridot, Citrine, and Ruby fell through earlier. The kobolds could not see the fire breath, but they could definitely feel the heat from above. A second later and he returned to a sitting position with a dead deer in his mouth. Suspecting that there might be trouble with a first attempt at foraging, Bk took the initiative to make sure there was something filling to eat while the kobolds were away and prepared it for a meal. Hooray, and thank god for having a dragon around to think of things like that. With each kobold nibbling on their own small portion of flame-charred deer the yipping quieted down to something more manageable. Bk took a deep breath in, and out. For now this was good. Maybe they could help with more personal, physical matters next too. Each one was awfully cute in their own way, after all. --- It turned out, the kobolds were very interested in physical affection. They just needed a little help sometimes. Bk didn’t need to ask them to cuddle. That came naturally. Ruby found a spot resting on Bk’s chest while the others were much happier against his belly. Every time their dragon’s belly rumbled, Ruby was the first up to grab another snack. Dragging entire bags filled with multicolored candies, the red kobold threw Bk the treats regularly. Basically whenever Bk asked or his stomach grumbled with hunger. But after a day spent resting, lazing away with cuddling, the dragon decided they would need a push. He wasn’t the sort of dragon to try getting clothes made in his own size. A tailor could spend days just putting together one shirt or pair of pants. And they just always ripped anyway… dragons weren’t known to get smaller with time after all. So he spent most of the time in the cave clothes-less. Realistically all Bk had to do was wait for the next morning, and the throbbing morning wood that accompanied it. Bk’s tail curled with every nut, finding that once the kobolds were riled up they kept teasing for hours on end. One hour turned into all morning of getting off repeatedly. And by the end of it all, Bk knew there was no way he’d get rid of these kobolds. His lust was overriding any other thought. --- Days later, the trio of kobolds and their dragon ride went to the nearest city in Heroica for picking up supplies. The kobolds figured out that even if the forest could supply their needs, there were certain cooking ingredients that it was impossible to scavenge. They sat two on the right shoulder and the third on the left. Bk focused on pushing directly through the trees, making a path of his own with stepping on trees or bumping them out of the way with his belly (The usual path people traveled wouldn’t be large enough after all). That left the kobolds to yip, climb, and generally be noisy messes. They pointed out anything interesting on the trip since they’d never seen the forest from this high perspective. A strangely shaped tree… a clearing of rolling hills filled with dandelions… interesting clouds floating above head… It was noisy but Bk could get some quiet by providing pieces of deer jerky. The chewy meat was perfect for keeping kobold muzzles idle. With them sitting as riders, Bk couldn’t fly like usual. Too much speed and wind might knock one of the kobolds off, and a tiny lizard was not as durable on a fall. They might learn to hold on tighter with time. Bk hoped so only so he could share the joy and adrenaline of flight someday. Heroica was an easy country to travel for a flying, giant dragon but the closest town named Arkala by walking was a few hours. Arkala’s river traveled straight through the town center. It made the town, small by most standards, still the most important in the region for its access to trade up and down river. The tallest building was 2-storeys at the most, and most property was single-family or shared living spaces. Bk liked coming here for that reason. He could see over all the buildings without issue. And if he could see over them, he could make sure that no buildings were caught underfoot, since each one came roughly up to his knees. Black claws hovered mere centimeters above rooftops with every step. Bk scraped a few shingles or pieces of hay to the ground occasionally. Despite that, the kobolds were awestruck by how cautious their dragon was being. Citrine put a hand to their chin, thinking deeply. Was this the way all dragons acted? Practically sensing the question, or maybe hearing the muttering under Citrine’s breath, Bk answered the question right away. “I don’t want to break anything here TOO often. If I broke everyone’s house, they would move away. And I still need somewhere to come for food or drinks. Plus, breaking houses brings guards and the king’s army if you become a menace.” The town’s market had carts or stalls surrounding either side of the riverwalk, dozens of people hawking meat, veggies, seasoning and herbs. The herbs were the main source of interest for the kobold trio. Bk helped Ruby down to the ground with a hand but let them handle the negotiation anyway. After picking up half the merchant’s stock Bk put Ruby back to start leaving. Bk’s stomach grumbled angrily, betraying that he wasn’t looking forward to walking the way home too. “How much jerky do we still have left?” Peridot looked into their inventory, pulling his head out of the bag after a few seconds or pushing his arms through coins and rations. “Not much! Think we ate all of it on the way here. We should have packed more for 4 people…” “If you’re still hungry,” Citrine started talking, speaking slowly as if he had to chew through each word. “There are lots of carts filled with food, Bk. Why not just eat the whole cart?” Bk looked where Citrine pointed, to a cart filled to the brim with cuts of meat. The merchant beat a quick retreat with a puff of smoke, realizing that attracting a hungry dragon’s attention would probably not lead to good results. “W-Well, I’m pretty hungry. And that cart there has a BUNCH of food,” Bk answered with emphasis. “So eat it!” all three kobolds said in unison. Not thinking harder about it, Bk picked up the cart in one hand. Claws dug into the wooden supports splintering it with resounding ‘crack’s. He bit straight through the middle of the cart as if it were a sandwich. Each of the kobolds’ tails curled up in a different way at the show of munching. Ruby’s tail stood straight out, Citrine’s tail curled into a spiral, and Peridot’s tail squirmed in place like it was wagging. The remaining merchants around the riverwalk packed up their items early and ran. Seeing one stall get plucked up in the other hand before Bk finished with the cart convinced everyone watching that it was time to leave. At best their entire stock could get obliterated, and at worst there would be no pay. Bk chewed over the last piece of a wooden sign advertising ‘Fruit For Sale’, gulping deeply and setting a hand on top of his tummy. Still completely flat with only the faint hints of a gurgle. The kobolds each tilted their head to the side, sure that they’d seen it be eaten but not also seeing the results. Dragons must have a lot of capacity to fuel their magical resources. He sighed happily, patting his tummy once. “That definitely filled me up. Good idea-” BWAAARP, Bk interrupted his own sentence with a belch. An entire wheel flew out of his mouth, gnaw marks and all. “C-Come on, let’s get going. Don’t need to talk about that to anyone else,” Bk said, scooping up the three kobolds in one hand as if collecting toys to be put away. Each one yipped their surprise or complaint, but they couldn’t fight that level of size difference. Bk dropped a (relatively) tiny pouch filled with copper and silver pieces to the ground and beat a hasty retreat. He wasn’t planning to stick around long enough for counting out the appropriate amount of coin; there was plenty more back in his hoard. “Just walk through the buildings already, it’s the quickest path and they want to see it,” Peridot huffed, while pointing at Citrine and Ruby. The green ‘bold wasn’t wrong… just saying it caused Citrine to cover his face, and Ruby’s eyes to practically sparkle while his tail wiggled. Bk shrugged, but gave a sly grin to Peridot. “Alright, if you’re sure~” No longer worried about the path, he stepped directly toward a wooden home with hay roofing. His paw crashed through the front of that house knocking away material as if it were a hill of dirt. No one was inside, but having someone inside wouldn’t have stopped him either way. The town started shaking more heavily with each step. Bk purposely let his steps land forcefully, then turned them into stomps. All three kobolds’ tails wiggled and squirmed from their shoulder perch on Bk. --- Bk coughed into his hand, clearing his throat before addressing his brand new warren of kobolds. “So if you’re going to be here, we should try to have something more… official than just living here without labels.” “Why? This hasn’t been to bad so far-” Peridot started to ask, but Ruby slammed a hand over the green kobold’s mouth. “Okay! What did you have in mind?” Ruby asked. On each of three fingers that Bk held out, a small, colored collar was tied in place. Citrine’s purple collar looked more like a scarf, with purple beads added to the end of the yarn strands to tie them off. And Peridot’s red collar had metal spikes studding the outside of it. He brought the clawed fingertips close to the ground to present for the trio of kobolds. Ruby and Citrine pulled the collars off carefully, almost reverently. Peridot instead squinted at the collar suspiciously, before deciding that it was probably safe to take. Citrine put it on his neck tentatively, flipping one end of the scarf over his shoulder and pulling it tight to his neck. “Where did you get this anyway? It’s comfy.” “When we were at the city last time, I asked a leather worker to make something custom. The scarf was already made for kids in town though.” Ruby put both hands on his hips and thrust his chest out, showing off the green collar on his neck. “I feel so comfy with this on! Thank you dragon master.” Peridot wasn’t as enthused, instead putting it on his upper arm to sit flush against his bicep. “It’s official now. You aren’t going anywhere, so stay here and take care of me. Please?” Bk added at the end. All three of the kobolds rushed forward to hug Bk, one after another against the dragon’s lower belly. Bk wrapped arms as thick as a tree trunk around the trio of kobolds to hold them tight. He gave each a smooch on the top of their heads in turn. Finally it seemed that the trial period was finished, officially. This family of kobolds would be… different. But it wasn’t all that uncommon for dragons to adopt kobolds. Three sweet little babies to take care of.