11 The Arrival of Rai Lin and her Skank.

Ji Ru noticed his confusion and gave him a wry, apologetic smile. "Her familiar is almost always in heat, so he behaves...Urm... Well frankly, he misbehaves... But he can't help it. As a familiar, it just happe-" Ji Ru started. A pitiful look formed on his face and his eyes became sad as he spoke on behalf of all familiars.

"And why do you think we care? Nobody asked you for your input." Li Jun said, clicking his tongue and cutting him off. "Excuse you, Ji Ru was talking." Li Wei said, glaring at Li Jun. 

"Excuse you, I don't want to lose my appetite hearing about animals and their mating behaviors."

"You uncouth arsehole. Take it back." Li Wei said, grabbing Li Jun's collar first this time. Ji Ru scratched his head and laughed nervously. "She'll be here in ten seconds, your majesties."

The men both pursed their lips. 

"Unfortunately." Li Jun said. Tai Yang tilted his head upward again as the figure of the regal dragon and its rider started to descend. He felt his mouth fall open while his eyes widened. 

"It's a dragon." He said in blank shock. "Of course it is, peasant. Did you expect her to be crossing that many leagues on a chicken?" Li Jun asked with an eyeroll. The red and orange dragon touched four feet to the ground. Its large green, slitted eyes flittered about as its two long whiskers flicked. The person on its back was a busty woman with shapely legs and a pretty, but mischievous face. If Tai Yang had to describe her clothing, she looked to be wearing something that a Viking woman would wear, except with much more leather, a shorter skirt, and a more kempt look about her. Her cape was black, harmonizing with the dark boots on her feet and her puce leather corset.

The dragon offered her its foreleg and helped her hop onto the ground. Once she did, the dragon transformed in a flash of gold.

At that point, if Tai Yang's jaw dropped lower, his chin would scratch the ground. 

The dragon... had turned into a person. A strange, but good-looking person who was definitely not completely human. 

The sides of his face and patches of his skin were covered in glass-like red and orange scales. While he was undeniably of Asian descent, his irises were a mix of forest green, emerald, and gold around the long slit-like pupil. His hair was a fiery red with highlights of orange spanning the mid-back-length strands. 

The muscular man let out a strange sound. It was almost like a growl, but also like a mewl of a cat. Then he twisted his body side to side, stretching; the maroon leather vest fully concealing his torso and black pants he donned seemed to fit him comfortably enough to survive that kind of movement. There were no sleeves covering him up, so his muscles were on display for everyone to envy.

"Tchhhh, my back is killing me! You definitely gained some weight." 

"I did not! Your late-night snacking has caught up with you Wu Ji, don't pin it on me!"

"Look at my body! My snacking has nothing to do with it!"

"All I see is lumps-"

"It's called MUS-CLE, see, touch it, it's firm-" Wu Ji said, poking his bicep.

"Blehhhhhhh-" Rai Lin stuck out her tongue.

Tai Yang glanced at Ji Ru with a questioning look. However, he faltered seeing the look on Ji Ru's face. Ji Ru looked at the pair in a way that Tai Yang could only describe as 'lovingly', despite the conversation that had taken place minutes prior. 

"Why you-" As he spoke his eyes had moved to Ji Ru, and he stopped talking immediately. His pupils dilated to a massive extent and he blinked slowly.

Tai Yang frowned and turned his head back to Ji Ru, but that sudden movement caused Wu Ji to turn his attention to him instead. 

"Ah! Look!" Wu Ji said, catching sight of Tai Yang. He pointed directly at Tai Yang, and Tai Yang could see the scales on the tanned skin of his hands snaking up and under his vambraces.

Rai Lin looked at him too and her eyes widened. 

She let out a loud gasp, covering her mouth. At last, Wu Ji and Rai Lin looked at each other simultaneously, then back at Tai Yang. "That's him." Rai Lin said. 

"Definitely." Wu Ji breathed.

Again, moving simultaneously, they practically scrambled towards him, ignoring everyone else.

"Well, I'll be damned. He really looks like her." Wu Ji said as he got closer. 

"I never expected it to be this much of a resemblance when we got her message." Rai Lin said. They both reached out to grab him, but Ji Ru pulled him closer to his side at the same time that Li Jun dropped down his sheathed sword between Tai Yang and the visitors. 

"To what do we owe this displeasure, Rai Lin?"

Rai Lin and Wi Ji both glanced sideways at Li Jun. 

Both of them coughed and straightened up, feigning composure. "We heard about Tai Yang being alive."

"Actually, Tai Yang is indeed dead. This one is his doppelganger from Earth 72." Li Wei said. 

"Good morning, your majesty, gege. I hope you've had a safe journey. In terms of Tai Yang, I'd like to add that he's mortal, so it would be best not to jostle him. His body is quite much weaker than ours. If you could, please treat him with care." Ji Ru said, bowing.

Li Jun scoffed. "Why are you being so nice to these fools? These troublemakers will blow his head off with their tomfoolery. They shouldn't be allowed near him or anyone else. Step back Ji Ru." 

Rai Lin and Wu Ji blinked and looked at each other. Wu Ji huffed. 

"Didn't I tell you that putting exploding jinxes in their toilets would make them angry?"

"As if your plan of releasing bees in the castle was much better!" Rai Lin retorted. She looked at Li Jun and Li Wei. "You see, my plan was less gruesome. Bee stings would have been too cruel."

"Less gruesome you say? Ji Ru had anal fissure from that, which meant that *I* had anal fissure from that." Li Wei said darkly. 

"Okay, but let's be honest... You with fissure in his place wouldn't affect the dynamic of your relationship since he's always the bo- EEEK!"Wu Ji started but was stopped when Li Wei swung his sword at Wu Ji's neck region, forcing the man to jump back and dodge. 

"It was barbaric." Li Jun hissed, remembering that he'd just barely jumped off the toilet in time. 

"I mean... It was kinda funny, come on." Rai Lin snickered. "Right?" Wu Ji said in agreement as he snickered. Then he suddenly huffed, quite annoyed. "You crazy loon, I told you not to jinx Ji Ru's toilet though!" 

"How could I not? I knew Li Jun wouldn't use the toilet if we were there, and I knew he'd take Ji Ru's damage if Ji Ru did get hurt anyway. It was the only way to get him. I thought about it carefully. Besides, everyone suffering together builds character and camaraderie!" Rai Lin waved a hand.

All the guards and attendants present in the courtyard stared at Rai Lin with stony faces. Indeed, they'd all had to have their legs spread in the infirmary together for a month.

"Why are you here?" Li Jun asked, disrupting them. "Did Xiao Xia tell you about him?" He nodded his head at a fidgety Tai Yang.

"Clever as ever, Li Jun! Crazy that he isn't a Cognitive, right?" Wu Ji said, directing the last part of the sentence to Rai Lin. 

"Right?" She agreed, nodding in response. Then she turned her brown-eyed gaze to Li Jun. "Yes, she did. She'd said that he looked quite a bit like herself and that she was astounded. Naturally, we needed to see it."

Wu Ji nodded. "Yes, we're here on strict observatory business." He said, crossing his heart. His gaze still wandered to Ji Ru as he spoke, and it didn't go unnoticed by Tai Yang, or Li Wei.

Li Jun scoffed. "Great. You've seen him. Now leave."

Rai Lin tsked. "Li Jun, is that any way to treat an ally?"

"Ally? You're an obnoxious, pain in the ass that I despise having in my presence." Li Jun snapped. Wu Ji snorted. "Ohohoho, he's still butthurt, get it? Butthurt!" He snickered to Rai Lin who was snickering too. "Why you little-" Li Jun said, wanting to reach forward and hit Wu Ji, but again, the dragon dodged. 

"Geez! So violent!" Wu Ji said, looking affronted.

"We'll leave after we see Xiao Xia." Rai Lin said, rolling her eyes. "No, no. I'm hungry. I want to stay for breakfast. A dragon has got to eat." Wi Ji said, patting his flat stomach. When he smiled, Tai Yang noticed that Wu Ji and elongated, sharp canines like Ji Ru did. "And I haven't seen Ji Ru in so long-" He pouted, suddenly turning to Ji Ru, blinking slowly with bright and adoring eyes. Li Wei was grinding his teeth, Tai Yang noted in great confusion.