Waking up in an unfamiliar bed is frightening, especially when you barely have any memories from beforehand. Thankfully, a friendly, white-scaled face appears to give you some answers and some comfort.

The first of a series of Visual Novel-esque scenes featuring my main OCs! Both to serve as an introduction to the individual characters and the setting they're in.

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You wake up in a room that smells like a thriving forest. The scent of freshly-overturned soil tickles your nose, then the smell of leaves and the faintest hint of flowers. What you assume to be the ceiling above you is white with the faintest hint of blue, and the light is bright. It’s cool here, like a pleasant autumn afternoon.

As you lean upwards, you feel the soft material under your hands shifting. It takes a moment for you to realize you’re on a bed of some kind. There is a thin, plain white blanket on top of you that slides off as you begin to move. The cot underneath you crinkles softly. Pushing against what feels like a pillow behind you, you’re able to sit up and get a better view of the room.

A few feet away and on both sides of you are metallic tables, each one holding multiple orange clay pots. Most of these pots have some sort of plant sticking out of them, though all of them look fairly young. The walls are bare, but lined with shelves containing gardening equipment, bags of soil, and even a large dog bed, all placed neatly and intentionally. The room’s wall on your left is a window, fragmented by square metal frames and providing the room’s only lighting. On the right side of the cot, a few thick books are stacked on top of one another. When you check the one on top out of curiosity, it reads “Beginner’s Guide to Cold Weather Gardening”.

You have a minute or so to get your bearings before you hear footsteps coming from outside a door on the far side of the room. A moment later, it opens, and a tall, white-scaled reptilian enters, nearly hitting his head on the door. His outfit is simple – a burgundy undershirt and dark blue pants fastened by a leather belt – but there’s something subtly regal about him. His eyes widen as he notices you, and he freezes in the doorway.

“O-oh, you’re up! I, um, didn’t expect that so soon. Do you need anything? Water? Food?”

As he begins to walk closer, you start to note some of his more discreet features. What appeared to only be white scales at first are a variable swath of grays, pales, and light blues. His chest, just barely visible from the low cut of his shirt, is flat but wide and covered in near-reflective scales. Two long black horns poke out from the back of his head, and they curl just a bit before reaching a tip. His cyan eyes appear sharp but kind.

You manage to tell him that you don’t really need anything…which is weird, since you don’t remember how long you’ve been unconscious for. Actually, maybe you should get something to drink just in case. You ask him for a cup of water and he nods quickly before disappearing back through the door. You wait patiently before he eventually returns with a small mug filled almost to the top.

You drink slow and deep from it, at his request. After you’re done, he sets the cup down on the table to your right. He’s silent for a while, switching his gaze between you and the window. It just now occurs to you that you aren’t on the bottom of whatever building this is; you can see treetops.

The quiet man wraps a hand around one of his horns and hangs on to it for a second before he looks back at you. “I um...w-we should introduce ourselves. I’m Wolfgang, of...actually nevermind. Just Wolfgang will do.”

You give Wolfgang your own name, and he grins just a bit. “It’s great to meet you.” He lets the air fill with awkwardness once again before continuing. “We...me and the other people who live here...we found you in a forest. Do you remember what happened?”

Your memory teases you with a few slight hints, but nothing concrete. In fact, a lot of your recent memory seems to be completely missing. All you remember is feeling fine one moment and very, very scared the next. And then everything in your head went quiet.

You relay this information to Wolfgang and he nods before moving around the room, seemingly examining the potted plants. “I see. Well, you were attacked by dangerous creatures, so that might explain the fear. You were unconscious when we found you too actually, surrounded by these beasts who looked seconds away from ea-”

Seeing you shiver a bit, he stops himself and looks down at the floor. “M-my apologies, I shouldn’t have given that much unneeded detail. I guess the, uh, silver lining is that you’re alive. And seemingly didn’t get too hurt by those creatures. I didn’t see any obvious wounds on you, but I did use some healing magic after bringing you back, just in case.”

You thank him for looking after you. He shrugs your appreciation off, literally and figuratively. “If I were in that situation, I’d hope someone would be kind enough to save me.” Once he seems done with the potted plants, he turns his attention to a bit of soil spilled from a bag. He cleans it with his sizable hands and puts it in a trash bin.

“Sorry if it’s a little dirty in here, I need to clean more often.” You disagree, telling him that it’s one of the cleanest rooms you’ve ever seen, because it is. Especially for a space that was, effectively, a greenhouse. Everything seems very orderly, down to plants with similar leaves being placed near one another. Wolfgang hesitates before shaking his head. “I- thank you. I assure you, though, it should be much cleaner.”

You consider telling him to not be so hard on himself, but you stop when he gives a small sigh. It’s not the sigh itself that confuses you, but the fact that you can actually see it. You look a bit closer, and notice it’s in every one of the reptillian’s breaths. The air crystalized just a bit around his angular nostrils as if the room were half its current temperature. Just to check yourself, you exhale quickly. Invisible.

After noticing that, you work up the courage to ask Wolfgang what exactly he is. You think it’s possible you’ve seen a creature like him in the past, but who knows. Your memory was apparently not what it should be.

“You mean as in...my species?”

At your nod, he thinks for a moment before taking a seat on the corner of the bed. Despite his height, he’s not very heavy. “Well, where I am from, we are known as Dragons. You can recognize us by our scales, horns, and even our breath.” He exhales heavily with his mouth, and a cloud of white mist lingers in the air. “Not to be confused with Dragonbeasts. You know, the massive creatures with four legs and wings? A few of the people I’ve met here have already made that mistake…which is odd, since if you look at the history of the words…”

As he rambles, you begin to formulate your first impression of Wolfgang. He’s obviously a bit mysterious due to your amnesia, but at least he seems benevolent. He did apparently save you, and he seems legitimately relieved you’re okay. Above all, you’re sure he’s being earnest.

After a moment, his slit pupils widen. “Oh, I went off topic, didn’t I? My apologies! Um, so I guess you could call me a Dragon. Do you...mind me asking what exactly you are?” When you respond, he nods warmly. “Ah, alright. I’ve heard of most species I think, but I admittedly haven’t met many, so this is a wonderful opportunity!” Wolfgang gives a semi-toothy smile with teeth so white, they might just be iced over.

Anticipating another lull in the conversation, and really just curious about what else there is for you here, you decide to try and rise. Wolfgang moves to help you, but hesitates, holding an arm close enough for you to fall back on if need be. “T-take it slow.” You manage to get up just fine without his help, and for that he looks relieved.

You take steps forward, slowly crossing the room and admiring some of the pots you couldn’t see from the cot. Now that you’re a bit closer to it, you can tell the smell of flowers is coming from the door. Your mind drifts to what might be out there, and eventually to something Wolfgang mentioned. “The others”. You ask about them.

“Oh, yes, there are 5 other…people living here,” he answers, speaking in a hesitant tone on the word ‘people’. “We’ve been living in this tower together for a short while, so if you want to stay here with us, I’m sure we could work something out. It’s a lot safer, I’m sure, than whatever’s out there. You could, uh, even keep using my cot if you want!” He gestures to the dog bed against the wall, as if somehow he could curl his lanky body onto it.

You wait until he finishes before thanking him. Honestly, from the bottom of your heart, thanking him. For rescuing you, for the small conversation he was willing to have, for the invitation to stay longer. Maybe you had an idea of what to do next, and maybe that idea didn’t involve these people and their bastion, but he didn’t need to know that now.

It’s faint, even on his white scales, but you see Wolfgang blush cyan. He takes a moment to respond. “I...like I said, it’s just what I would want someone to do for me.” The Dragon stands up, gesturing towards the door. “So, um, if you want to go meet the others, I can take you around. I should be letting them know you’re awake, anyways.”

That sounds like a wonderful idea to you.