Day 11 of 30 days of Fiction: “11) Prompt: a dragon and a princess.” Dragons Next Door, and fun.

Juniper and Baby Smith were playing Princess and Dragon. To be fair, because Baby Smith was still very young and not quite up on playing yet, Juniper was playing Princess and Dragon with Baby, but Baby seemed to be having fun and, most importantly, had stopped leaking acidy unpleasantness from both ends.

Her friends at school, even Noni the pixie, had gotten bored with make-believe a couple years ago. All the girls were interested in was make-up and dresses and telling each other’s fortunes and, much to her annoyance, boys. Suddenly every word Juniper said about or to or near her guy friends was subject to scrutiny, numerology, criticism, and questioning. It was obnoxious.

The guys weren’t a lot better; on the playground, they treated Juniper like she was a scout for an invading army. Considering the way the girls were acting, she couldn’t really blame them, but you couldn’t say something like I’m not a girl, I’m just Junie without getting them going with a whole different set of teasing. Mostly, these days, she played with Gortan, whose people didn’t have gender, and Andy and Sera, who were just as confused by the whole thing as she was.

But they didn’t like make-believe either, which left her playing with Baby Smith or her kid brother. Baby Smith was better, and the fact that it was a real dragon just made thing that much cooler. And if she had to change the words that were in the story books a little bit, well, mom said that was okay, too. Stories lived to change.

“Avaunt! Come, friend, where should we adventure today?”

Baby babbled back at her, smiling with many tiny teeth showing.

“To the east, you say? I hear there are…” The book said ogres, but Juniper kind of like the ogres she knew, “auditors there! Away we go!” She made flying noises, vwoosh, vwoosh, and the fair princess warrior and her dragon friend flew off to battle foul beasts.

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