Arthur phones a friend(side story)

He’d been going nonstop. Honestly Arthur felt like he’d been rushing from one crisis to the next. He’d pulled more tail(literally) in the past few days than he had his entire time in college. College. That got his attention, he graduated a few years back and while most of his friends found jobs locally he’d gotten lucky, and snagged a job in the city. So had Oz. Oz had joined an old school artificer major and was consistently top of the class, a real genius. He’d been too busy with work and the nonstop fuckfest but he hadn’t seen Oz in forever. He pulled his phone.

Hey, going to be at Illuvian’s in an hour, you free? Need you to look at something big

His phone buzzed back almost immediately with a scaled thumbs up followed by phrasing! Illuvian’s was a good hangout. It was a quiet, out of the way spot and he hoped he was making a good choice, letting someone else in on it.

After work Arthur pulled into the parking lot of a short green building, surrounded by an immaculate garden. He pushed through the door. It was slightly more crowded inside than he’d hoped, I guess it was a Friday night but still. “Hey! Over here!” Oz waved at him from a corner booth, and Arthur walked over, careful not to touch anyone. The last thing he needed right now was for some one to get tranced on the dance floor. He sat across from Oz, who slid him a beer. There was already an empty mug on the table and Oz grinned. “They serve them in pints you know.” The grin was a bit toothy, Oz was a kobold after all. Black scales smattered across leathery skin adorned with an equal amount of white splotches on the neck and belly, all the way down to thick thighs hidden in dark black pants. Kobolds had the blood of dragons in them, though Arthur didn’t think there’d been a dragon seen in the world in living history, and in a world that included elves that was a long time past.

Arthur took a pull of his drink. “I got problems.” He said setting his mug back down on the table. “Bitch, no hi Oz, what’s going on Oz? Hey, let me get the next one bud. Please.” Oz tilted their head back exposing their throat. Teasing. Kobold body language was still mostly a mystery to Arthur, but he picked it up. “Fine, fair. I deserve it.” He held up two fingers and the elf behind the bar nodded back. He leaned on the table. “Seriously though. You don’t think I look… different.” Oz squinted. “No? No. What are you talking about?” Arthur sighed. “I didn’t used to look like this.” Oz frowned. “What?” Arthur started filling them in on the last few days, omitting the hot, hot sex and only pausing when a waitress brought their drinks.

“Bullshit.” Arthur drew back. “What?” Oz continued talking “dude you’re fucking with me. It’s funny, ha ha. I don’t get it, but sure. Yeah, it’s kinda funny.” Arthur frowned. “I’m not lying.” They shook their head again. “Okay. Easy to prove then. Prove it.” Arthur hesitated.