Reese had been pacing her apartment for the last ten minutes when she finally heard a knock. She quietly approached the front door, considering looking through the peephole but worried that it would be visible from the other side. She pinched her eyes tight and steeled herself, counting to ten to make it seem like she hadn't been waiting right by the door, and opened up, leaning on the door frame as casually as she could manage. "Hey. Ari?"

The
big presentation was today. Geoff had been working on it for the
last several months, and it was important that it go well should he
ever want that promotion at his company. That's not all that was at
stake as well; his girlfriend Maria had been pestering him to get
married. He loved her, he just wanted to make sure that they were
financially ready before making that plunge.

He
was standing in the open in their shabby studio apartment, adjusting
his tie with no mirror. “Here, let me

A dragoness sat in one of two appropriately sized chairs in a waiting room. She was a striking specimen, black and gray scales along her sides and back, broad cream scales on her underbelly. They were all gleaming with a healthy shine. A mane of flowing, silky black hair ran from the top of her head and down her long neck, cascading to one side like a curtain. She seemed to huddle behind the hair, turning it to the world to obscure her face as she sniffed and whimpered lightly, eyes glistening w