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The first time it happened, Videre thought she was seeing things.
There was no other explanation for the brief flash of something green and serpentine darting around the corner out of her line of sight. It happened so fast, there was barely any time to register it before it was gone. And if she had imagined it, it wasn’t a huge deal - people saw things at the edge of their vision all the time that turned out to be nothing but their mind being weird. She was sure this was the case when turning the corner and seeing nothing there.
The second time it happened, it wasn’t so easy to dismiss. Not when it was in her direct line of sight. You don’t just see what appeared to be a small Eastern dragon long enough to make eye contact with it before it scurried off, and brush it off as a corner-of-the-eye disturbance. This time she started to worry a little; about her state of mind, about if the base was possibly haunted by a weird geographically-misplaced dragon entity, about if that were the case if anyone else had seen it…
She still would keep it to herself, though. If it happened again, she might consider how to bring it up to someone without sounding off.
The third time had her reconsider telling anyone. She’d been outside in one of the secluded courtyard areas, on a tablet digging through whatever history she could find about the area, when that green glow caught her eye. She looked up, and there, peering out from just beneath the bench she sat on, was a pair of very judgmental green eyes. All she could do was stare back. This was the closest it had ever been; if she wanted to she could lean over and reach out and be able to touch it. But she wouldn’t do that. The last two times it seemed very easily spooked, so she tried to refrain from any sudden movements.
They both stayed locked in a staring contest for a good while. The dragon extended its head out from its hiding place, and Videre was able to get a good look at it this time. Shimmering green scales accented by fur ridges along its jaw and its spine, flowing whiskers, tiny swiveling ears just beneath a set of horns. It definitely wasn’t solid, though. She could see right through it to the ground beneath, and the green glow it gave off just made it seem even more ethereal.
She slowly tilted her head to one side.
The dragon did the same.
Videre pressed her lips together to keep from smiling. She tilted her head the other way, and sure enough, the dragon followed suit, ears flicking. It reminded her of a cat somehow. Speaking of cats... that made her want to try something. It might not work and just drive it away again, but considering the dragon had appeared twice before, it might not be the last time she’d see it.
Slowly, very slowly, she moved to set the tablet to the side. The dragon immediately fixed its gaze on the movement and tensed, rising up onto its feet. She carefully put her hand down on the bench beside where she sat and tapped her fingers on the surface, like how she’d beckon cats she’d had as pets when she was younger.
The dragon watched her fingers moving intently, and Videre could have sworn she saw its eyes get bigger - but out of curiosity or caution, she couldn’t tell.
Just as slowly as she had moved, the dragon inched towards her tapping fingers. Her eyes widened, a thrill skittering up her spine seeing the progress. It felt like an eternity watching the green entity creep its way closer to the source of the sound, and seeing more and more of its long body appear from its hiding place. In all reality it was probably just a minute or two.
It took all of Videre’s power not to make a sound when the dragon’s snout was a few inches from her hand. She stopped tapping her fingers. It snuffled curiously, and turned its wary gaze up to look at her. With it so close she could see its face much better, and the intelligence behind its eyes.
It was so tempting to try and reach out to touch the dragon. If she could manage to feel something solid about it then maybe she could figure out if it was a mind thing or an actual reality-based thing. Maybe, since she had gotten this far, it was worth a try…? Videre honestly didn’t think she’d get to this point in the first place, so had no better idea as far as what to do next.
But despite her attempted slow movements, the act of lifting her hand even the slightest while the dragon was looking elsewhere was enough to ruin it. It startled as if it had been shocked by something - startling Videre into flinching - and before she knew it, it had flung itself away and vanished in a swirl of green scales into thin air.
Oh.
Well then.
She stared at the spot it had been moments before. Well that went… actually, she hadn’t known what to expect, so “well” was as good a descriptor as any. It was a far longer encounter than the past two.
Time to turn her research to paranormal interactions. She still had no idea what the dragon actually was or why it was here, but it was a good starting place considering the supernatural vibe it gave off. It might give her ideas for how to properly interact if she got another chance. She’d hold off on telling anyone just yet about this thing she was seeing. And hey, it gave her something to do and look forwards to when she wasn’t spending time helping maintain some of the coding for various on-base programs while she was out of commission from actually moving forward in the spatial manipulation project, or in physical therapy for her new legs that put her on standby in the first place.
She paused mid-thought. Speaking of physical therapy… the way the dragon glared at her reminded her a lot of a certain Shimada that she’d wound up in therapy with a few times. And who she’d also recently made ramen for as a sort of peace offering. He’d returned the favor later, which was a pleasant surprise. He still glared all the time at her despite being on better terms, and it was very reminiscent of the tiny scaly being she’d just faced off with. She wondered why.
Over the span of the next few weeks, Videre had more encounters with the strange ethereal dragon. She’d come to a dead end as far as any historical reason the area would be haunted by a dragon spirit, and try as she might she couldn’t find anything about spirits or other dragon-shaped paranormal entities that weren’t just weird people swapping ridiculous stories or showing off very obviously fake pictures. It must be a mental thing going on with her. She found way more about people having glorified imaginary friends, or friendly hallucinations that didn’t at all hinder day-to-day life or their mental faculties. That must be it.
Whatever it was, she was making progress.
It always appeared when she was alone. Really alone. When nobody else was even close by. And it was always hiding at first, but in spots like it actually did want to be seen - signaled by green flashing until she looked towards it. For the next few appearances, all she would do was glance at it and continue on with what she was doing. If it was going to approach her again, it would have to do so on its own terms before she’d interact again. It clearly wanted some kind of interaction, why else would it follow her like this? She also didn’t want to risk scaring it off again like last time when she’d instigated everything.
And that seemed to do the trick.
It started out slinking slowly towards wherever she was, almost like it was trying to be nonchalant about it. She found it would be especially interested if she had food around, especially noodles of some kind. It was a little funny, considering it kinda looked like a big green noodle at times. Setting aside a small portion of whatever food she had on hand seemed to be the best draw, even if all it did was sniff at it and never attempt to eat any.
Very quickly it got to the point that the dragon would not just wander nearby, but it would settle down and watch what she was doing, food or no food. It would intently watch the screen of her tablet if she was filling out forms there, or the movement of her pencil as she sketched in a notebook. Sometimes she’d quietly talk to the dragon about whatever she was doing at that moment, and it would just look at her like it wasn't sure what to think about being spoken to in the first place. The most interested she ever saw it in anything was when it appeared on the counter when she was in the middle of making another batch of ramen, part of which was for her and the other was for another delivery to Genji. It crouched down and watched with the dinner-plate-sized eyes, little green tongue jutting out of its mouth and its tail swishing around behind it, like a cat ready to pounce on a toy.
The first time it hoisted itself up onto a bench she sat on to curl up there just inches from her thigh, she nearly squealed. She must’ve made a funny face still, because it looked at her like it was slightly offended - but it didn’t flee.
She even gave the dragon a nickname - Wasabi. Because it was green and off-putting at first, but after some getting used to it wasn’t bad at all. Which was how she felt about the green paste of the same name.
Videre also noticed she was getting more looks - well, glares - from Genji these days. More than usual. They didn’t seem angry, though. More puzzled, with some suspicion mixed in. He rarely spoke as was, so it was highly unlikely he’d ever say why he was giving her looks. He actually spoke less around her than he did before. Whatever was going on with him, it made her uneasy, and it hurt. She thought she’d come to a sort of amicable understanding with him, and now this? Did she do something? Did he hear something about her? Did he decide he was tired of being friendly? What was it?
She found out later.
Videre was in her room when she heard a scratching at the door. It was very late - the only reason she was even awake was her legs were bothering her and keeping her from sleeping. So up she sat in bed, fiddling with the hem of her pajama shirt, prostheses sitting propped up by the nightstand where she could reach them. At first she shrugged off the scratching. It sounded like when she had been a child and there were roof rats in the wall between her room and the attic. There wasn’t really anything she could do, besides report it the next day.
The scratching got more insistent, but her attention was definitely snatched when a sharp, muffled yelp sounded through the closed door. She snapped her head up to stare. That wasn’t a rat. And now that she was looking, she thought she could see a faint green glow seeping through the bottom edge of the door.
Oh god.
It found out where she lived.
The scratching grew more furious as Videre scrambled to attach her legs and make her way towards the door. She took a few uneasy steps after hoisting herself upright, and walked as fast as she could to open the door. The scratching was interspersed with impatient whines and grunts, and what sounded like scurrying. She could practically see the dragon twisting around waiting for a response.
She finally reached the command panel, and the door swished open. In tumbled the a pile of writhing scaly coils and legs, like he had been leaning against the door and had suddenly forgotten how to stand correctly. Videre covered her mouth and snickered at it as it righted itself, huffing and giving its head a shake. It turned its gaze to her, ears pricked and whiskers twitching.
“What the hell are you doing here, Wasabi?” She crouched down to be more eye level with the creature, who stretched its neck out curiously in response. It had been doing that whenever she used its nickname, and it was almost like it understood it was a name she’d given it.
It blinked at her a few times, snuffling just inches from her face, and turned to wander past further into her quarters.
“Soba.”
Both Videre and the dragon jumped at the stern voice, and Videre fell flat on her rear when the silhouette of a man punctuated with glowing red features stood in the doorframe.
Genji…?
The dragon scrambled towards the figure as he muttered something in low, stern Japanese. And just as it approached him, there was a flash of green that overtook the dragon and Genji's red eyes, and it was gone.
Wh...what.
Videre sat awkwardly on the floor, staring off into space, brain trying to process everything. The dragon wasn't just her having a benign mental issue. It wasn't a ghost either. The dragon was real. The dragon was attached to Genji. Things somehow made more sense and became utterly confusing all at once.
A synthesized voice brought her flinching back to reality.
“So you're who Soba has been sneaking off to see. I had my suspicions.”
Videre slowly shifted and stared up at the cyborg. He leaned against the doorframe now, arms folded almost casually. Soba…? Oh.
“Soba’s… the dragon?”
He nodded slowly.
Videre looked towards her mechanical feet.
“I had no idea it was real and not just me having… you know.” She waved vaguely at her forehead as if that would make it clearer what she meant. She heard Genji sigh softly.
“Yes, Soba is very real. Though at times I wish he wasn't.”
Videre looked up questioningly. Genji looked past her into the dark room.
“Doesn't behave very well.”
Videre chuckled. She braced herself on her hands and awkwardly stood up, swaying slightly as she redistributed her weight. Genji unfolded his arms and seemed ready to offer a hand to help her steady herself, but she managed to become stable on her own. He retracted his unspoken offer and stuffed his hands into the pockets of the hoodie he wore.
“I have so many questions. About W-- I mean… Soba.”
Genji tilted his head at her correction, looking at her questioningly. Videre glanced away from his gaze and down at her hands.
“I kinda… started calling him Wasabi a while back. Because he's… green and a little much to deal with sometimes… It's dumb.”
Genji made a noise that sounded like a stifled laugh. She looked up, and sure enough she could see the corners of his eyes crinkled slightly like he was smiling under his mask. It was… a very good look on him.
She shook herself away from that thought when he spoke.
“That would explain the hoard.”
“Hoard?”
“Soba has been stealing wasabi-flavored snacks from other agents.”
Videre barely covered her mouth in time to hide her teeth as she laughed. Genji chucked quietly, a pleasant synthesized hum.
When the silence returned, it was comfortable. For a while, at least. It quickly became awkward the longer it stretched. Genji shifted his weight and turned to leave.
“I am sorry for the inconvenience this late at night.”
Videre waved her hand dismissively.
“It's fine, I was up anyways. My uh… legs wouldn't let me sleep.”
Genji slowed and turned back towards her, eyes darting to look down at her mechanical legs and then back up at her face.
“...I understand.”
Videre gave a brief smile at him. If anyone would be able to understand phantom limb pain, it was Genji. Though he must have it so much worse, and she quickly felt guilty for even mentioning her own situation. She shuffled backwards on her feet to retreat into her room.
“I’m going to go make some tea and… see if that helps at all. Would you like some?”
Oh dear god, why did that last part come out? She was trying to escape the situation and now she'd just invited him in and that was going to make things weird. Weirder than they already were. Dammit.
“What kind of tea?”
“Um… mint? Not peppermint, spearmint.”
Genji nodded and walked towards her, stepping over the threshold.
“That sounds nice.”
Videre put her head down and thanked whatever deity that the room wasn't well lit at this time of night, so the flush on her cheeks was harder to see.
She moved to close the door to her quarters, and then made her way towards where she kept her small box of teas and electric kettle.
As she switched it on and began to pull out the loose tea leaves to put in a strainer, a familiar green glow appeared in her peripheral.
With a grin she turned her head towards it, and coiled around Genji's shoulder was the little green dragon she'd come to know. He stared back at her, little green tongue poking out of his mouth. Genji shook his head and rolled his eyes, but in a good-natured way.
“So, if you don't mind me asking… what's the story behind Wasab- I mean, Soba?”
The dragon sucked his tongue back into his mouth and sharply pulled back his head upon hearing his nickname forgone for his real name from her. He hadn't looked this offended since her first encounters with him. Genji snorted.
“You may continue to call him Wasabi, if you like. He seems to prefer it.”
Wasabi relaxed hearing his nickname in full again. He huffed, licking at his tiny claws contentedly, like a scaly green cat grooming itself. Videre pulled out two mugs and a sugar bowl from a cabinet nearby the counter.
“Good to hear. So anyways… why do you have a green dragon spirit attached to you?”
Genji took a slow seat on a chair nearby, leaning his head back as he gathered his thoughts.
“...there’s an old story my family has…”