The dragoness was relaxing when you came into the lounge, listening to the jazz music playing in the lounge and waiting for her drink to arrive. Reclining on one of the lounge chairs, she was dressed for the occasion in a slitted sleeveless cocktail dress, with separate sleeves and leggings. Her blue hair hung over one shoulder, and her spaded tail-tip curled up in interest as she spotted you approaching, regarding you with an appraising gaze and a small smile.

"Good to see you." she said when you drew close. "Now that you're here, the night can truly begin..."

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I took advantage of Xizzdot's queue being empty to get another picture, this time of Shaaria being highly classy. And SFW, at least, until the alts that are coming up after this.

While looking up references for poses, the backgrounds and the chair, I incidentally stumbled upon a few lists of behaviors of classy women (at least, according to the authors). It was surprising, but validating, to discover that I had already included them into Shaaria's design; especially things like speaking confidently, avoiding vulgar language, and being dignified. It was a totally unexpected, but also very insightful thing to stumble across.

In any case, here's Shaaria again. I know there's been a lot of her recently, but the reasons for that are laid out in the description of the first picture I got of her: unlike Darkmark and Code, who became my representation by accident, Shaaria was actually designed as a character to represent my ideal, who I would be if I could choose to be anyone or anything. This happened at a time when I was really starting to heal from a childhood of emotional abuse. Exploring and refining her as a character and who she really is has been extremely insightful to me, and continues to be so.

Art by  xizzdot.
Shaaria is me.