"Excuse me?"

My tail stops mid-swish. Slowly, very slowly, I turn toward the unfortunate soul who has apparently decided that today is an excellent day to test my patience.

"Would you care to repeat that?"

They do.

Cute.

They called my rawr CUTE.

"IT WAS A PERFECTLY RESPECTABLE DRACONIC WARNING!"

My wings flare so violently that a nearby servant nearly drops an entire tray of tea. I plant my claws on my hips, glaring at the offender.

"Do you have ANY idea how many armies have fled at the sound of my roar? How many warriors have trembled before these fangs?!"

The offender smiles.

I narrow my eyes.

"Don't."

They giggle.

"I SAID DON'T!"

An involuntary little rumble escapes my throat.

"...Rrrrawr!"

Silence.

Then another giggle.

My cheeks burn. My tail lashes. Somewhere behind me, a guard makes the catastrophic mistake of snickering.

"THAT'S IT!"

I stomp forward, baring my fangs.

"YOU! GET BACK HERE! AND YOU, GUARD, I HEARD THAT!"

Honestly. Two thousand years of dignity, reduced to this.

...And now they're calling my angry face cute too.

"I AM GOING TO BITE SOMEONE!" 🐉💢💚

"Yes, I'm a dragon. Yes, I bite. And NO, my rawrs are not cute! Now that we've established that, perhaps you'd like to help me govern a country before someone accidentally turns the capital into pudding?" 💚💢

🐉 Yodayo 💚 Moescape