Chapter 1

We all heard the stories, told by the crazed weirdos and cultists, as we laughed them off into the shadows.  About the race of lizard people who live underground and control the world in secret.  The scaly illuminati and their plans for humanity.
The truth as it turns out came as a surprise, particularly to the tinfoil hat brigade.
In the year 2020 a series of earthquakes hit across the world.  A tectonic shift the likes of which had never been seen before.
The damage surprisingly to civilization as we know it turned to be minimal.  The effects were felt across the world yet apart from some trenches and fissures opening up there was little in the way of structural damage or loss of life, at least not in the more developed parts of the world anyway.  It would be what came after that truly changed everything.
From underground emerged the lizard people.  A whole separate civilization of them that had been living miles beneath our feet for time unknown.  
Similar in size and stature to humanity but covered in dark scales and possessing a physical strength beyond that of the average human, yet also sharply intelligent.  
They rose up through the opened fissures and trenches, fleeing the destruction of their own underground world, only to find a whole new one filled with fearful and angry humans.
War seemed inevitable.  The militaries of the various countries playing host to these unwanted guests ready to defend against the monsters from below.
Yet...
Somehow war never came.  Apart from a few skirmishes the defenders found the lizard people to be surprisingly unwilling to engage.  Somehow a dialogue began, with 'ambassadors' coming forth from the scaled hordes, making every attempt to communicate.
It took time, tensions remained high, but understanding eventually followed.  Agreements were reached, concessions made, peace somehow held its fragile balance.
As the lizards quickly learned the language of the humans an offer was made, they may live among us as, within their hosting countries only to start with, but they would need to leave their old 'primitive' ways behind.
There was of course those who objected, on both sides.  The lizards had lived a simple life below ground, free of the technology of humanity but finding other innovative ways to survive and flourish.  To live as the humans did would mean the sacrifice of many traditions and practices.  They would essentially be forced to begin anew.
The humans didn't want these 'monsters' taking up space and resources.  We as a species were struggling to coexist with each other as it is, skin colour, religion and geographical location causing friction and hate even today, how could we cope with an entirely new race living along side us?
Time would tell if we could live as a single society.  For now at least, the lizards lived either in their own settlements in designated areas or in enclaves within certain larger human cities.
As the years began to slowly roll by, some progress was made and new problems arose.
In the earlier days of this new cohabitation however, one particular chain of events caused something of a stir.  The tale of a human and a lizard, caught between old tradition, new ideas, and this crazy old human notion called love.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
As you recline lazily on the old park bench and enjoy the afternoon sun, you watch the other visitors go about their day to pass the time.  You are a bit early after all and there's nothing like a bit of people watching to busy the idle mind, it's a Saturday too so there's plenty of other park goers to choose from.
Let's see...  First up?  There's an elderly woman sitting a little ways down from you, wrapped up in a flowery shawl despite the warm weather.  She's listlessly tossing breadcrumbs out onto the path, one or two birds hop around the perimeter but few venture closer.  Perhaps she's a widow?  Recently bereaved and at a loss with what to do with herself?
Next?  A trio of joggers pass by, two men and a young woman.  As one of the guys is puffing and wheezing at the rear, the fitter looking guy and the woman are a few steps ahead.  You notice their arms brush against one another seemingly at random, their pace in perfect sync.  As they pass you see another little touch of their hands, and a secret glance between them...
As the third jogger passes he suddenly stops, bending over with his hands on his thighs as he struggles to catch his breath.
"Honey?" he calls weakly.  "Y-you and Terry keep going...  I just need a minute.  I'll catch up in a sec ok?"
The others keep going without so much as a backwards glance.
Oh...  If he's the boyfriend then that means...
As he stands there panting and clutching at his side, he looks over at you.  Perhaps he's wondering what you're staring at?
The pitying look you give him back says it all.  "Seriously?  You really going to leave Chad there alone with your girl like that?"
The unspoken message causes him to furrow his brow in confusion before the sudden realisation hits him like a very slow moving truck.  He is quickly off after them.  It's probably too late anyway, that glance told you they were most likely already at it behind his back but you never know...
As you chuckle with a mix of mirth and pity, the little gremlins hiding at the back of your mind begin to make themselves known once more.  'Oh that's funny huh?  Then what about you big man?  What does everyone else here think when they see you sitting here by yourself in the middle of the afternoon?'
Well, who are you to be sitting here like this then?  Your name is Anon.  You're in the latter part of the twenty something category, reasonably tall and we'll built thanks to your physical job over at the warehouse and despite the warm sunshine you are dressed in some smart jeans, a shirt and a jacket.
Why are you here on your lonesome at the park?  You're waiting for someone, a special someone actually.  For the last couple of months you have been spending quite some time with a girl named Opal, neither of you had to work this weekend so you had arranged to meet for some lunch and spend the day together.
Well, spending time with her wasn't quite accurate.  It had taken some time for you both to realise it but in fact, you were dating.
Why had this come as a shock?  Was it that you were a beta manlet with zero sex appeal, charisma or self confidence?  Hell no!  (At least in regards to the first few parts anyway...)
Was it that she was some kind of she-beast harpy set upon the subjugation of mankind by means of testicular reassignment?  Also hell no!
She was the sweetest girl you had ever met.  Funny, smart, inquisitive and with a smile that could both melt your heart and freeze the blood in your veins depending on how prepared you were for it...
No, the reason why it had happened so unexpectedly was, well...  She was a freaking lizard.
Despite all the progressives patting each other on the back and working to include the lizard people into society, the general public avoided them and they avoided the humans.  There was some interaction in joint work ventures designed to foster 'integration' but we were still strangers to them and they were still monsters to us.
That was until you bumped into Opal that day in the rain...
Trips down memory lane would have to wait.  She was here.

The figure making her way up the path towards you was a real head-turner, just not for the usual reasons.  She stands a good head taller than most human women, covered from head to toe in mottled white and silver scales.  With her people having come from deep underground some had lost the pigmentation traditionally found on the surface dwelling counterparts we were used to.  Some still had brown or black patterns but hers was to your eye, breathtaking.
She wore a charcole blouse and a dark knee length skirt, human designed clothes was another thing they had to adopt, but some did so exceedingly well.
Her scaled legs ended in a pair of large clawed feet, each with three large toes.  Despite attempts made to create shoes for the new residents there had been little success, so instead they went with painting their nails or adorning themselves with decorative anklets or the like.  Today she had painted the large curved claws a dark red and wore a small golden chain around her left ankle, it had been a gift from you after your first visit to the mall together.  It hadn't been an expensive purchase and wasn't as flashy as perhaps she deserved but she had loved it the moment she saw it in the window and wore it whenever you met.
Her legs were digitigrade so her ankle was a bit higher up and her lower legs quite thin, but it also meant that her thighs were thick and her hips wider still, despite her ample rear being an eye magnet all by itself it was her long tail protruding through a slit in her skirt that tended to get people's attention.  What you noticed more these days was how it would sway slightly as she walked, causing her hips to swing out that little bit more too as she moved.
At the end of her long arms was a pair of clawed hands, three fingers and an opposable thumb on each one.  Again the claws were painted to match her toes but she had also filed them down somewhat too, an attempt to appear slightly less threatening.  You didn't have the heart to tell her that the red colouring kind of reminded people of blood, just discreetly suggested how perhaps other colours might be worth a try one day or how a certain one matched her eyes...  She just loved that red though.
Speaking of her eyes...  The pupils were slits like you would expect to see on a reptile, but they were surrounded by a startling golden iris.  Having evolved underground her eyes were large and she missed nothing, you could easily lose yourself in them as she talked, sometimes to her annoyance.
She had a long white snout, two nostrils poking up at the end and a thin set of scaled lips barely covering her dazzling array of sharp pointed teeth.  What her people had eaten for sustenance while underground for all those generations was still a mystery, one they seemed to have little inclination to reveal.  Those were not the teeth of a moss farming herbivore however.
At the very front of her snout, over her lips she had placed a small amount of lipstick.  Perhaps a wasted effort considering they were incapable of kissing as humans do, but she had said it, and a set of fake eyelashes of all things, helped humans tell she was a she.  Apparently the clothes weren't enough of a clue for some, for you however it was unnecessary.  You could tell from the moment you met that she was most certainly a she...
Which is what made the last of her accessories all the more bewildering to you; a wig.  While wearing it she sported some straight, black and shoulderlength hair that covered the back and sides of her head.  Apparently it was something that some of the lizards had taken to wearing in order to 'blend in'.  They felt that somehow having a head of hair would help them when speaking with other hair sporting humans.  It tend to get a bit awkward however whenever a wig equipped lizard came across a bald human...
To you it looked strange, having seen Opal right at the beginning without one, but she wouldn't go out without it.

As she made her way over you rose from your seat and moved to meet her.  The looks that the other park goers gave as you planted a peck on her scaled cheek could have melted steel.  As it happens though it was something that you were both used to by now, having spent much of your time together exploring the city and bumping into all sorts of angry nuts with something to say.
She returned the favour with a little rub of her nose to your cheek, her people's equivalent you had learned.
"Anon!" she chirped.  "Sorry I'm a bit late, I got held up at the checkpoint.  I wanted to check on something before coming."
"Don't worry, you're not late at all!" you reply happily.  "Was everything okay though?  Did you have trouble getting through?"
The checkpoint was the only entryway and exit to the city's lizard enclave, all lizards had to register before they left and the same for humans trying to get in.  There weren't all that many humans allowed in really but there were a lucky few that could come and go as they pleased. 
"No not really..."  She hesitated for a second before pulling something from her purse.  It looked like a piece of carved stone, round and adorned with a crisscrossing pattern on the front.  On the reverse was an obviously human made label with a barcode.
She handed it over to you quickly, dropping it in your hands like she was afraid you might refuse it or something.
"What's this?" You enquire, unsure what has got her looking so flustered.
"It's a pass, to the enclave." she answered slowly.  "You keep taking me to different places around the city, showing me all those new and interesting things...  I thought maybe you would like to come and see where I live."
She seemed to realise the implications of what she had just suggested and broke into a stammering explanation.
"I don't mean come back to my place!  I-I meant see where my people live and things.  Not to say I wouldn't want you to come to my place but I thought..."
You grab a hold of her hand, stopping the nervous wringing it was involved in with its partner.
"That sounds great!  I didn't think they were letting all that many people in so I didn't ask but I would love to see what's behind those walls."
She gives you a little smile of relief, perhaps she had been worrying you would refuse?
"Oh, great!"  She seemed to almost bounce in place with excitement before spinning on the spot and walking back the way she came.  She still had your hand on hers so you had little choice but to go along with her or lose an arm.
You smiled as she began chattering excitedly about the various things she wanted to show you.  It sounded like she had quite the day planned.
If you had known then however where you would be by this time tomorrow...  You may have suggested hitting that steak joint that had just opened instead and never going beyond that damned wall.  Much like your scaled girlfriend however, fate had you in its grip and there was no escaping now.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 2

The checkpoint was the only way in or out of the lizard enclave, or 'Jurassic Park' As the locals had taken to calling it.  A large concrete gate hastily erected by the local authorities to section off the broken opening to a whole network of old subway and maintenance tunnels, rendered uninhabitable by the quakes but the perfect place for the new tenants to feel at home.
The entrance was manned by two teams, a human contingent and a lizard one.  Rather than the expected arrangement however, it had been agreed that the human team would work on the inside guarding the exit and the lizards would watch the entrance outside.  This was supposedly to give the residents on both sides a taste of what lay beyond the gates.  In truth however you suspected it was to intimidate rather than encourage, lizards were less likely to leave with the burly humans giving them the evils while the city inhabitants were more likely to stay away with a group of scary scalies standing guard outside.
Today though you would be getting a chance to see the inside, only a few had done so and none had spoken of their experiences so the prospect of getting to explore this hidden place had you feeling more excited than you cared to admit.  
Opal led you by the hand right up until you were both in sight of the guards, becoming less bouncy and more... professional looking, if you had to pick a word to describe it.  Your fellow humans hadn't been best pleased to see you both wandering around together so perhaps she was expecting something similar from her own kind.  You were happy to play along, it would just make stealing the odd kiss here and there that much more exciting.
She walked just ahead of you up to the main gates, giving you a nice view of her swaying behind, but you did your best to keep your eyes off of anywhere that might cause trouble.
The guard stood behind a glass screen with a little alcove at the bottom for documentation.  He was a big looking brute, scales that were a mix of onyx and copper.  His teeth were too big to hide away like Opal's which gave the impression of a never ending grin of self satisfaction.  He wore what could almost have been a typical security guard uniform if it wasn't for the patches and holes on his shirt, apparently he was still getting used to the idea of clothes.
He first addressed Opal through the glass with a series of hisses and grunts, you had learnt that they tended to communicate this way along with scent and body language, which was why they had opted to adopt human words instead of waiting for us to try pick up their more complex system.
As Opal responded he noticed you standing to the side.  His slitted eyes narrowed and he changed to what was either a valiant attempt at, or a deliberate mockery of English.
"Bah!  No pink softs today!  Gate closed.  Go back to own hole."
As you looked to Opal questioningly, worried that there was a problem, she too switched to English for your benefit and addressed the guard.
"He is with me, a guest of the enclave.  He has a pass."
The guard snorted, not really believing her it seemed.
"No passes handed out today, would know.  Take soft one and go!"
Remembering the stone she gave you earlier, you take it from your pocket and offer it to the guard.
"I have this, can I come in or..."
He held up a clawed hand as he took the stone with the other.  First he sniffed it suspiciously, perhaps thinking it a trick.  Finding nothing at fault he then gently run a long claw across the scratches carved into the front.  For the first time, you realise that it might have been more than just a pattern, perhaps it was a unique form of writing, like a lizard form of braille to be read by touch.
Finally satisfied, he handed it back with a huff and waved you through.
"Fine, you go.  No trouble though!  Or come find and eat bones."
As a chill runs down your spine at the sight of his deadpan expression, Opal pulls you through the gate with a nervous chuckle.
"Oh don't mind him Anon!  Just a bit of lizard humour..."
Her nervous glance back over her shoulder does little to ease your nerves.

Once inside the somewhat dilapidated entrance all thoughts of bone crunching take a back seat, the sight of the enclave proper replaces all thought with awe.
From the guesswork of the media, artists impressions of the broken tunnels and general rumour, it had been believed that the lizards had taken to the tunnels and set up a slum.  The truth however was almost scary in how different it was to expectation.  The lizards had been busy in the short years they had been here.  What had once been a collapsed set of subway tunnels had been cleared, reinforced, and carved into what you could only describe as an underground micro-city.
Stone pillars rose from the floor up to the ceiling and provided support for the expansion.  They were each carved into intricate designs, giant lizards holding up the stone sky, massive snake like creatures with colossal fangs bared at any and all and more.  
Large stone bricked buildings lined a central road leading further in, some looked to be the equivalent of small houses or shelters, thick stone doors and slitted windows surrounded by carved designs and decorations.  
Some of the bigger ones spiralled upwards and around each other, marvels and monuments in their own right.  
It should have been pitch black you realise, but great stone lanterns hung from on high or smaller lamps from each doorway, bathing everything in a constantly moving and shimmering light.
How could they have built this so quickly you wonder?  Without anyone above realising or being any the wiser?  
Opal gave your arm a gentle squeeze and broke the spell, drawing your attention back to her golden eyes.
"What do you think?" she asked quietly, there didn't seem to be any other lizards immediately around but she still looked kind of nervous.
"It's... amazing!" was about all you could say, truly taken in by the wonder of the place.
Her expression softened and you could see the happy lizard girl you knew returning.
"I'm glad!  I was starting to worry you wouldnt like it here...  With all those tall buildings out there and that big empty sky I thought it may look too small in comparison."
A hundred questions about this strange and wonderful place come to mind but a more serious look on her face waylays them for the time being.
"You have to promise me something though Anon...  I took a bit of a risk bringing you here so I need you to promise not to tell anyone outside what you see."
Your brow wrinkles in confusion at this.
"Of course you can trust me, I won't say a thing, promise.  Just...  What do you mean you took a risk?  I thought you got me a pass for the day?"
She looked to the ground a bit sheepishly at this, and then proceeded to stare up at you with those big adorable eyes of hers.
"Well...  I did get you a pass...  It's just I may have told a few fibs about who you are exactly and how I know you..."
Oh dear...  
"What did you tell them exactly?" you ask, suddenly a bit more concerned about bone crunching guards again.
"You know how I work as a part of the outreach in town?  With the residential permit division at town hall?  Well I told them you were from there too and interested in a tour.  The officials over there have all signed these big confidentiality agreements about this place so they have access if needed.  I couldn't get you in otherwise..."
"So I'm impersonating an elected official then?" you ask calmly.
"I guess you are..." she responds, looking down at the floor again.
She's caught off guard when you suddenly wrap your arms around her and grab a smooth scaly ass cheek in each hand, giving a little squeak as you squeeze.
"I didn't know you had a naughty side Opal..." you whisper.  "I think I like it."
She quickly pulls herself from your grasp and straightens her skirt and blouse, obviously afraid someone might come along and catch you.  There's a grin on her face however, revealing those pointy teeth, and a sparkle in her eye.
"C-come on n-now Anon..." she stutters, slowly regaining her composure.  "There's a lot I wanted to show you today and the pass is for a limited amount of time so we better get moving."
As you continue down the path and into the enclave she walks slightly ahead and to your side, not wanting to give anyone else here the impression that you are anything more than some stiff on an official tour.  You can't help but notice her give you the odd sly glance however and there is definitely a spring in her step...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Over the following couple of hours you explored the strange yet beautiful lizard enclave together in relative peace.  She led you from one wondrous structure to the next, explaing what it was built for and bit about how they built them.  Turns out that living all their lives underground gave them a knack for stone crafting, who knew?
The disapproval that you had met with in the city above hadn't followed, probably because you weren't hand in hand with Opal but you still got some dirty looks.  Guess this is how she feels when walking alone among humans...
Eventually however you tire, the increasing heat had long caused you to take off your jacket and carry it over your shoulder.  It was past time for something to eat too.
Opal leads you to what looks like a little eatery of some sort, little seats and tables are set outside and the smell of some sort of spice unknown to you floats through an open hatch.  She insists you sit down at one of the free tables while she orders something, apparently she knows something they serve here that should be... palatable for you.  During your time in the city you had taken her to a number of human restaurants in an effort to show her as much about surface food as possible.  Some of it had been okay, some of it had been outright bad, but she had discovered a good many new favourites too.  Sushi being one of them.  She liked the taste of cooked meats but could only stomach so much at a time, apparently lizards liked their food rare, still bleeding and twitching rare if possible.
When she returned you were treated to a plate of... something?  She had asked the chef (or whatever the lizard equivalent was called) to cook yours while hers came rolled in an orange spice.  The smell was... interesting, the spice was earthy and whatever the actual food itself was seemed to be a kind of squishy meat.  
"Come on Anon, give it a try!" she urged, all the while chewing happily on her own.  "Its rare for a human to come down here and I don't know of any that have actually eaten a Kliks steak, you might even be one of the first!"
"What exactly is a 'Kliks'?" you ask dubiously, poking at the steaming meat with a finger.
"I'll tell you once you've tasted it.  Just try it, for me?  Pllleeeaassee..."
You couldn't deny those eyes...
With a sigh you pick it up and take a bite.  After a few thoughtful moments of chewing you finally swallow and face the expectant lizard.  She's waiting for your opinion.
"It kinda tastes like squid..." you eventually say.  "Is that what it was?  How did you get fresh seafood down here?"
In response she just laughs, an almost musical sound that devolved into some amused hissing as she tried in vain not to draw attention from the other patrons.
"No Anon it's not squid, silly!" she hisses breathlessly.  "A Kliks is... well...  It's kind ok like the bug you have up there called a centipede?  We have something similar we used to farm time ago, but a lot bigger.  Not so many around now that we moved closer to the surface though..."
You had been in the process of taking a second bite when you stopped.
"Wait...  This is bug meat?  As in giant creepy bug meat?"
The semi horrified look on your face set off another bout of laughter and hissing, after few seconds you couldn't help but join in too.
To be honest it wasn't actually half bad...  You like squid after all.  As you attempt to take another bite however Opal shoots up out of her seat, a mortified look on her face and her tail sticking out into the air.
"Oh no...  No no no!  Look at the time!  I forgot!"
You stand up yourself and try calming her down.
"Opal what is it?  You're not making any sense here.  Do you have to be somewhere?"
She holds her two hands to her snout and gives you a panicked look.
"Anon I was supposed to pick up the lotion today!  I was having so much fun with you though I forgot..."
You try to ask her why it is so important when she gives you a look of sudden hope.
"No wait!  There still might be time!  I know the keeper and she doesn't leave right away.  If I run now then I can still catch her!  Can you wait here for me?  I won't be able to take you the that store...  It's girls only..."
The implications of her words are still circling your head when she nearly vaults over the table and shoots off.  She shouts a "Just wait there and finish your food!  I'll be back in a minute!"  Then she's gone.
Shaking your head in bewilderment, you sit back down and decide to finish off your squid/bug.  She said she would be back soon so might as well.
As you chow down however, you become aware that you are being watched.  There's a set of large red coloured eyes staring at you from another table.
You choose to ignore it, with Opal gone away temporarily you really don't need to be getting into staring contests with strange and possibly murderous lizards.
The owner of the eyes however doesn't agree, they get up from their seat and sit themselves down where Opal had been just a minute before.
"Don't see many humans down here..." 
The voice glides across the table like silk, causing you to look up take notice.
Sitting across from you is another female lizard.  Her scales are a mix of ash grey with speckles of red.  She's wearing a one piece scarlet dress and a curly blond wig.  Her eyes are big like Opal's, but the iris of each one is almost as ed as her dress.
"What's a nice boy doing down here with a little slip like that hmm?" she asks, her chin now resting on a hand while the other idly scratches at the table.
"I'm uh... on a tour, for the city council."  Your answer doesn't sound convincing to your own ears, and she doesn't look convinced either.
"Really?  What part?  I have some dealings up there myself from time to time and I don't remember seeing you there..."
Swallowing slowly, you try and compose yourself.
"I'm here with uh... well that's to say I work with her and she kindly offered to-"
A girlish little laugh from the lizard stops you in your tracks.
"Don't worry dear, I'm not going to tell on you.  I was just wondering how I could have missed a strapping human like you wandering around up there with all those stuffed suits...  My name is Velvet, what's yours?"
Your mind stops and starts again as you try to keep up.  Was she... hitting on you?
"Anon." you mutter uncomfortably.
"Well Anon it's very nice to meet you." she almost purred.  "How about you ditch the small fry there before she gets back and I take you someplace... fun?"
Oh crap.  It's taken months for you and Opal to get to a point where you are comfortable sharing a quick embrace and a kiss, so why is this lizard apparently ready to jump you after five minutes?
"That's very kind of you... Velvet.  I have to be going now though so, uh, nice meeting you!"
You turn to go, hoping to head in the direction Opal scooted off to and find her again, but a dark scaled hand with really very big claws settled on your shoulder, firmly holding you in place.
"Oh don't go yet Anon...  I don't get a chance to talk with humans up there like this, there's always someone watching...  If you just come with me over there for a moment I'm sure I can convince you to stick around for a while, if you know what i mean?"
She was gesturing over to a small opening leading down between some neighbouring buildings, an alleyway essentially.
Before you can try and extract yourself from this bizarre situation a noise cuts through the air like a chainsaw.  What can only be described as the evil love child of a growl and a snarl.
Opal is back, and she looks pissed.
"Finally!" you exclaim, relief washing through you.  She ignores you completely however, her golden gaze switching between Velvet and the hand on your shoulder.
"Back away from him." she hisses.  "Now!"
Velvet's grip tightens on your shoulder as she returns a snarl.
"He is no longer your concern little girl.  There are plenty of other humans up there for you to bore with a tour.  Anon and I were just getting to know each other better weren't we?"
She had moved her snout right next to your ear for that last part, her closeness causing Opal to visibly bristle with anger.
"I said back off!" she roared, and leapt forward towards you.
In the blink of an eye Velvet it staggering backwards, holding the end of her snout in her hand.
Even as she recovered and bared her teeth, Opal was in front of you, hissing violently.
"He.  Is.  Mine!"
No sooner had the words left her mouth, the gathering crowd of spectators gasped in shock.  Even Velvet widened her eyes in surprise.
"He is yours?" she asked.  "You have claimed him?"
Opal seemed to realise what she was doing and stood back a step, almost bumping into you.
"Y-yes, yes he is and I have!"
This was all moving too quickly.  How had things gone from squid/bug surprise to handbags at dawn so quickly?
"Then I issue the challenge!" Velvet announced suddenly.  "I claim this male as mine!  Do you resist?"
"Yes I resist!" Opal shouted back, much to the excitement of the growing lizard crowd.
"Then we will settle this in the pit!  There the winner will take the prize!"
The surrounding lizards roared in approval.  You found yourself suddenly lost in a sea of scales as they started pushing and shoving you towards some unseen goal.
Both Opal and Velvet had also been swallowed up, no one listened as you shouted to be heard, as you shouted for Opal.
Whereas the thought of two dangerous women fighting over you had been kinda... hot, this was going all kinds of crazy.  You needed to grab your lizard from this madness and get out of here, fast!  There was no resisting the sea of shouting, hissing and chanting lizards however.  They were taking you to 'the pit', whatever it may be, for some sort of contest and for better or for worse it seemed you were the prize.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 3

Somehow, your day had gone from an exciting exploration of the mysterious underground enclave to... something a whole lot weirder.
You found yourself in what looked like some sort of arena.  A ring of seating hewn from stone circled a round pit about ten feet deep by about twenty feet wide.  As the assorted lizards had sorted themselves into the seats you had been directed to a slightly elevated section, a single stone bench with a perfect view.  At first you had thought it was perhaps a place reserved for some honoured guest, but you soon discovered it was for something far less flattering.
There was a lone lizard there with you in your 'private box', a shorter brown scaled male dressed in what could only be described as a cross between a onesie and a toga.  Whether it was some sort of traditional lizard garb to mark whatever the occasion was supposed to be or a misguided and woefully failtastic attempt at human clothes would be a mystery that you would never solve.  He wasn't sporting a wig thankfully, some in the crowd were, including what looked like a Beatles mullet or two and what suspiciously resembled a clown's afro.  No, his scaled head was adorned with a series of protruding brow spikes, something that the female of the species lacked, and some thicker looking clusters here and there of scales breaking up what you thought would have been smooth.
"Excuse me?" you ask, struggling to make yourself heard over the excited lizard crowd.  "What is all this?  What's going on?"
He gave you an odd look, his green eyes studying you for a second before answering.
"A challenge has been issued." he grumbled in a gravely voice.  "There will be a fight.  It will be starting soon.  You must wait here."
A fight?  Was it going to be between Opal and that other lizard Velvet?  
"Why?" you ask, thouroghly perplexed by all this already.  "What are they fighting over?"
His look turned angry, or was it disgust you saw there?
"They are fighting over you human." he spat.  "Why I do not know...  You are a soft pink thing, we do not value soft here."
So she was going to fight!  That was not in the day plan for fun activities...  You had to stop it somehow.
You move towards the stairs, intent on leaving.  The lizard however moved quickly and blocked the way.
"No." he stated simply.  "You watch from here until it's finished."
"Let me past!" you demand.  "I don't plan on watching from some fancy box seat while they go all gladiator down there!"
He gave you a toothy smile, causing you to take an involuntarily step back.
"Box seat?" he scoffed.  "No, this is the display for the prize!  They are fighting over who gets to keep you!"
So it wasn't a guest seat...  It was the prize podium.  You wouldn't have been surprised to discover a set of new dishes and a cuddly toy around here somewhere for the runner up.
He stopped your next question with the answer, and another funny look.
"You can't leave.  You have to wait here to be claimed by the victor.  I am here to make sure no other females try and take you while they fight.  Not that any would want to..."
You flip him off as he muttered that last part under his breath.   
Further argument would have to wait however, as a low sounding horn blow announced the arrival of the competitors.
To your left entered Velvet.  Her dark scales now covered only by a slip of cloth, her wig and dress nowhere to be seen.  She had a scratch on the end of her nose where Opal had swiped her before, and she looked angry.
To your right came Opal.  She too was devoid of human clothes and accessories and wearing nothing but a similar cloth to Velvet' s to cover her modesty.  As she walked into the pit however a glint of metal caught your eye, she was still wearing the anklet.  Either she had forgotten to take it off or...
Another blow of the horn halted your musings and silenced the crowd.  The two lizards moved to the center and faced each other.
From the crowd stood another lizard, he wore something akin to a robe giving him a certain air of importance as he started to address the others.
You were disappointed as he started hissing, grunting and snapping his jaws.  You couldn't speak lizard...
Either taking pity, or wanting to rub it in, your short 'guard against the female menace' decided to translate.
"He's telling everyone that the fight is official and sanctioned, as is tradition.  No one may interfere.  The females are to fight to the death and the winner claims the prize.  That's you!" he finished with a snort.
"To the death!?!" you croak.  "No.  I don't agree to this!  Let me talk to-"
The lizard's thick tail whipped across the back of your legs and knocked them out from under you.  With a bump you land on the bench, your anger and surprise held in check only by the set of long claws suddenly on your shoulders.
"You don't have a say in this human." he growled.  "Sit and watch.  That's all a male can do when the females fight."
Any further discussion became moot as the two lizards in the pit started hissing at each other.  As they hissed, their tails whipped back and forth aggressively and they clawed at the dirt with their large feet.
You couldn't tell if they were actually saying anything to one another or just trying to intimidate their opponent, but it brought a few things to light as they moved.
For one thing, you could see Velvet stood taller than Opal.  She lacked the same wide hips as the white and silver scaled lizard but she had a broader chest and slightly thicker arms.  For another thing, while Opal had been filing down her claws to try be a bit less intimidating around the humans above, Velvet had seemingly let hers grow freely.  The difference was noticeable, even from this elevated height.
There was no stopping it now though, trapped as you were, all you could do was watch and hope.

The first move was a dirty one.  Velvet turned her attention from Opal and, somehow, blew you a kiss and flashed you a wink.  This of course caused Opal to turn to look up at you too, perhaps fearful that you would respond.  
That was when Velvet struck.
She lashed out with her claws and left a gash across her opponent's long neck.  If Opal hadn't pulled back at the last second then it might have connected with her eye.
Your heart jumped to your throat as you watched your lizard stumble back, a hand to her wounded neck.  Velvet smiled, and licked the blood from her claws.
Opal wasn't out though, not by a long shot.  She lunged forwards with frightening speed and pounced on the still gloating lizard, sinking her sharp teeth into her shoulder and eliciting a scream of pain and rage.
The two wrestled for a moment that refused to end, teeth and claws tearing at the other's hide as they struggled to get the upper hand.
It was difficult to watch, but you couldn't turn away.  You couldn't tell just how much damage Opal was doing as the darker scales and splashes of red coloration on her opponent hid the wounds she was inflicting.
The damage to Opal however stood out clearly on her white scales.  Streaks of red across her back marked the passage of Velvet razor claws, punctures on her arms marked where the snapping jaws of her larger foe had hit home.
She was losing.
As they broke their frenzied grappling, they stood apart, their chests heaving as they panted for breath.  Opal stood ready for more but her shoulders hunched forward slightly and her tail whipped about as if agitated.  Velvet too looked a bit worse for wear, holding her left arm in her hand, a patch of scales hanging free.
The peace didn't last, they quickly charged back in.
Yet as Opal reached out to grapple once again, Velvet went low and swiped at her legs.  It was enough to derail Opal's charge and make her stumble, which was all the opening the larger lizard needed.
She quickly grabbed hold and swung her smaller opponent heavily across the pit, directly into the wall below you.  The guard released you enough to peer over, to hopefully see Opal get back up and counter.
She wasn't getting up though.  The collision with the stone wall had winded her, she tried in vain to pull herself up against the wall but Velvet smelled victory.
She pounced on Opal and began kicking, landing brutal blow after blow on her prey as you watched in horror, as the crowd hissed and cheered.
You could see Opal was beat, her shining ivory scales stained red and her arms pulled up to cover her head.  She was doing her best to shrink into a ball, but Velvet wasn't stopping, and no one was moving to make her.
"To the death..."
The guard's translated words rang in your ears.
You screamed down at Velvet, to the guard, the crowd!  Called for them to stop!
No one listened.  They all wanted blood.
So you took the only option left to you.
With the guard distracted by the fight, you pull forward and vault down into the lower seats.  From there it was a more manageable drop into the pit itself.  As you move towards the lizards however, you can see you're too late.  Opal wasn't moving, and Velvet had her arms held high in celebration.  She had won.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The world seemed to fade away, the noise of the crowd, the smell of blood and dirt.  Only Opal remained, curled up on the floor, bleeding and broken.
As if in some strange nightmare you move to her side.  Your legs feel as though they are trapped in thick mud, each step a battle in its own right.
Dropping to your knees you reach down to her, holding her hand gently in your own.  You don't know how to check for a pulse, or more accurately where to look for one.  As a requirement in work you once took a basic first aid course but lizard anatomy wasn't exactly part of the programme.
A twitch!  Her finger just moved!  She's still alive!
The world comes flooding back into focus, a looming figure above seemed to be saying something.
"I said get up human!  You are mine now, come with me!"
It was Velvet.  She had noticed you over by Opal and come over to claim her prize.
She reached down to grab you, but she wasn't expecting you to suddenly jump to your feet.  Her grin slipped somewhat when she saw the fire in your eyes.
"No!  I am not yours or anyone else's!" you spit.  "I came here with Opal and I'm only leaving here with her, not you!"
She blinked and stared at you, not quite comprehending what you had just said.
"I am the victor here human." she hissed dangerously.  "You by rights are my mate to take as I please!  Leave that strip for the Kliks and follow!"
Again, you stared her in the eye and said "No."
You turned away from her and back down to Opal, she was bleeding from a number of wounds and her breathing was shallow, but she was alive.
"I need some help down here!" you shout.  "Someone get a doctor or something...  Anyone?"
As you look around you see no one moving.  If anything they are looking at you rather angrily...
The short guard from before leaps down from above and comes over.
"Human!  What are you doing?  She lost!  The victor has claimed mating rights!  You go with her now!"
When you still don't leave Opal's side, he moves to grab you.  A swing of your fist is what he gets in return however.
Your punch misses its mark as he leaps back but your point is made.
"I don't care about your lizard tradition!  I'm not a lizard!  If you people aren't going to help her then get out of my way!"
The pit had fallen silent, no one quite believing what was happening.  It would seem that you were breaking some important cultural rule or law here, but you didn't care.
Kneeling back down you gently scoop up the limp lizard and turn to leave.  No one stops you as you head out through the rightmost exit, but Velvet's disbelieving voice follows you through as you go.
"Get back here!  I won so you are mine!  Mine!  This is wrong!"
As you look for the exit proper, you see Opal's things in a tidy pile.  This must be the pit's equivalent of a locker room.  You don't know what she keeps in there but you suspect that there might be something important in her purse that she might need later so you make the effort to carefully place Opal on a bench, gather up her things and sling the bag over your shoulder before gently retrieving her.
Once outside you try finding help.  The place was a maze but there had to be a doctor or a healer around here somewhere, right?
As you try approaching passers by for help however they all retreat away from you, not a one willing to offer so much as a pointer in the right direction.
The reason soon becomes clear however as to why.  Behind you is the crowd from the pit.  They are obviously following you and there is a palpable air of outrage in their wake.
You keep moving, trying not to let them intimidate you into running or anything.  You suspect they will be on you in a second if you do.
Several lizards from the back make an odd coughing call up and out through the cavern, one that is soon returned by more out of sight.
Soon you notice more angry looking lizards appearing from the paths and alleyways either side of the road, the group following is slowly growing into a mob, not a happy dancing flash one though, the stabby kind.
As you try to quicken your steps slightly, hoping not to set them off, you try and work out a plan.  This is going to get bad, fast, if you stay here much longer.  There's nowhere to get Opal help and you don't want to think about what would happen if you left her here.  Where else can you go?
The exit.  Outside to the city.  It was your only option.
Following the main road inevitably brought you back to the entrance, and in turn the checkpoint.  Opal hadn't moved or reacted at all during the walk here, laying limply in your arms the entire way.  Only the flutter of het heartbeat against you and the faint movement of her breathing kept you calm, she was still alive and she needed you.
When at the checkpoint the lizard mob hesitated.  They wanted to follow, to slowly wear you down with their scorn, and probably their teeth, but they wouldn't be able to follow you through the gates without a pass.
The human guard in the booth didn't look pleased to see you, or your precious cargo, and certainly not the hissing mob behind.
"What the hell?" he asked angrily.  "What did you do in there?  Why is this one all cut up and why are they so pissed?  Did you do this?"  He thought you had hurt her, that they were coming to get you for it.
"No!  She got hurt in a fight!  Let me through.  I've got to go get her some help.  Please!"
He didn't look convinced.
"Sorry sir but I can't let anyone out of here without a pass, no matter the circumstances.  I can try calling the embassy for you but..."
You somehow manage to get a hand in your pocket and retrieve the stone, quickly tossing it through the slot.
"Here!  I got a pass now let us through!"
He flips the stone and reveals the barcode sticker on the back.  Running it under a small scanner causes a little green light to flicker on.
"Okay it's valid." he mutters.  "It shows you've overstayed though so I'm going to have to confiscate it, if you have-"
Whatever he was going to say next is interrupted by the crash of a large rock hitting you on the shoulderblade.  The strap from Opal's purse robs it of some of its force but you still grunt in pain and almost stumble.
The mob had started hissing louder and throwing stones.
"Aww crap you got the damn lizards all riled up!" curses the guard.  The expression on his face isn't angry however, he's afraid.
"Go on through and get out of here!  Maybe once you're out of sight they will calm down.  Hopefully.
As he releases the gate from within you almost jog through.  The guard is already on the phone and reporting to his superiors.
Outside you keep moving.  The sky has already started to darken and you don't have much time.  Your best bet is going to be the hospital, if there's to be any help then it would have to be there.
You can feel a sticky wetness down your front where you are carrying Opal.  You don't dare look down closer at it, you know it's blood.
As the sound of alarm bells and angry lizards start to emerge from the checkpoint behind, you march off into the advancing twilight with your wounded girlfriend held tightly in your arms.  Either you were going to have to find a phone (yours had died, taking too many pictures of Opal...) or walk to the nearest ED yourself, either way you were a man on a mission, and with a very limited amount of time.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 4

 The world had ground to halt, an unnatural stillness and near silence surrounded you, both suffocating and desperately lonely.
You are sitting in the small waiting area at the St Mary's Hospital and Medical Centre, only the sound of an old wall clock ticking away unevenly dared to keep you company.
After fleeing from the enclave you had carried Opal for several blocks before reaching help, the few people you had come across on the way had crossed over to the other side of the road or flat out ignored you.
Either the world was as empty and pitiless as you had once feared or the sight of a man carrying a bleeding lizard had been too much to risk getting involved in.
She had been taken from your arms nearly two hours ago by a lab coat wearing lizard who served as a doctor here.
She was not in the main ED of the hospital as they had refused to treat her there, you had to take her through a maze of corridors to a small side ward set up for lizards.
Apparent!y not enough non human patients were admitted to warrent the medical staff training to treat them so they had this small area set aside just in case manned by one of their own.
The idea was that he would treat any lizards that came in and help with human treatments when not needed, an exchange programme of sorts allowing the human doctors to learn from him and vice versa.
None of that mattered to you right now though.
As he had taken her from you and rushed off you had been afforded a clearer look at her injuries.
Deep gashes glistened where her opponent had slashed with razor claws.
The once bright scales were dyed crimson from the blood, dirt from the floor of the pit had marred what little surface that remained untouched by gore.
You had been told to wait, to sit and be driven to mad with worry and dispair as they worked on her.
Looking around the empty waiting area for something to distract yourself, a broken old umbrella left abandoned in a rack draws your attention.
The checkered pattern on it brought up a stirring of memories, specifically the ones of how you met Opal in the first place...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
It had been a particularly grim night, dark, unseasonably chilly and pouring with rain.
 You had been making your way home from work and doing your best to keep the worst of the elements back with your umbrella.
Up until recently you had been able to carpool with a guy who lived a short way from your own apartment, until of course he left and moved in with his girl across town.
Now you were stuck walking.
It had been late, some of the street lighting had been switched off as a means of saving money on the city's energy bills, and the particular neighbourhood you had to walk through had a reputation of being 'unfriendly' towards nightime travellers.
This of course meant keeping a hold of a switchblade in your pocket and a weary eye over anything and everything in sight.
So when you had heard a commotion coming from an alleyway ahead, your first thought had been to cross the street and increase your pace.
Not going to get involved in whatever the hell that was.
The sight of a broken umbrella on the floor at the entrance caused you to stall however, the checkered pattern and the bright colouring made it look very much like something a woman might carry.
From the dark recesses of the alley you could hear sounds of a struggle.
Grunts and curses coming from more than one source along with a strange hissing and scraping...
Uncertainty kept you at the entrance until you heard voices.
"Shit!  I said hold her still!" 
A gruff voice of a man, strained and angry.
"I'm tying I'm trying!"
A second guy.
Then more of that strange hissing followed by a -
"I said no!  Get off of me!"
That voice was definitely female.  
The last of your self preserving caution fell away and you found yourself advancing towards the voices.
Your umbrella hits the ground as you pull out your phone with one hand and unfold the knife in the other, the darkness retreating as the flashlight app kicks in and illuminates the alleyway.
"What's going on here!?!" you shout in your most commanding voice.
You see five figures locked in a struggle suddenly freeze in the glare of the light and and the sound of your voice.
Two men doing their best to restrain someone between them, another leaning against the wall with a torn raincoat wrapped around his hand.
There was blood seeping through.
Another man stood before the restrained figure, a hoodie hid his features but the fact his pants were around his ankles made it clear what he was up to.
The woman being held however wasn't what you had expected to see.
Your mind had told you to expect some lost college girl or a waitress on her way home from a late shift at the diner down the street.
What you saw however was a lizard, an honest to God actual lizard woman like from the news!
The sight of her held there caused you to take a step forward, knife raised and ready to act, but your shout had given her the distraction needed to retaliate.
As the guy with his pants down turned his head to face you, the lizard kicked out with one of her large clawed feet, a flash of white and silver suddenly turned crimson as she hit right between his legs.
Her attacker's high pitched shriek of pain pierced the night and echoed down the alley as he crumpled to the floor, the two holding the lizard recoiling in horror.
She lashed out with her hands at the other's now their grip had faltered, you have just enough time to see the razor talons at the ends of her fingers before they disappeared through the outstretched arms of the men.
They screamed and fell back, the sound of something a touch heavier than blood dropping to the floor hit you as they paused for breath.
The last guy, the one already injured, had decided to bail.
Either there was such a thing as honour between would be rapists or perhaps they were related, whatever the reason he had grabbed the screaming pantsless man by the scruff with his good hand and proceeded to drag him down the alley.
The other two soon followed suit, scrabbling to get away from the angry lizard and her snapping jaws.
As the screams died away into the night, you found yourself alone with her.
In the light of your phone she looked like something from another world, hell, she technically was.
Her golden eyes bore into you, but despite her strange appearance you were surprised to recognise what could pass as human emotions playing across her scaled features.
Anger, uncertainty and... fear?
It was then you took in the rest of her.
She was wearing a pink blouse with a little purple silk scarf around her neck, a long dark skirt fell from her hips and hid most of her legs.
Or it should have. 
Her attackers had made quite a mess of her.
The skirt was torn along one side, exposing a white scaled thigh to the night air while the rain pasted the rest to the other.
Her blouse was torn along the arms and spotted with blood, hopefully not hers, and some of the top buttons had been snapped off.
The tattered remains of a raincoat sat around her feet, the last of her protection from the rain stripped away in the struggle.
Realising that you still had your knife out you hastily fold it away back to your pocket and raise your hands.
"It's ok, I'm not with those guys!"
She narrowed her eyes slightly in response but otherwise made no move.
You decide to push on.
"I heard shouting and I came to help, are you alright?"
Either she saw the honesty in your eyes or she was just desperate for a friendly face in this dark place, but in that moment she chose to believe you.
"You came to help?"
Hearing human words come from her fanged maw should have shocked you more than it did, but today was turning out to be a strange sort of day.
"I did."
She considered your response before relaxing her stance, those big talons of hers no longer pointed in your direction at least.
"I don't know if you can help..." she muttered sadly.
"Those men tried to... and then I..."
Her voice, as soft to your ears as velvet despite everything, began to falter as she tried to speak.
"Did they... hurt you?"
Part of you didn't want to know the answer, but she needed your help so you had to ask.
"No, but they wanted to." 
Only the rain pounding down onto the concrete floor broke the uncomfortable silence that followed, but as she started to sob softly into her red stained hands you found yourself moving to help.
"Is there someone I can call for you or -"
You actually jumped with the way she jerked in response to your suggestion.
"What?  No!  Don't call anyone please!"
Your confused expression seemed to coax further explanation from her.
"I shouldn't be out this late, and I hurt humans!  If the elders find out I'll get in trouble!"
How someone who just survived such an attack could be afraid of getting in trouble evaded you but the worry on her scaled face convinced you to try something else.
"Ok, ok!  No calling anyone I get it." you say hurriedly.  "I can't just leave you here though, is there somewhere I can take you?"
She thought for a second before answering.
"I live at the enclave, but I'm sort of lost..."
The enclave, of course that's where a lizard would live...  
Problem was that it was all the way across town any you were only just making enough money to pay the rent, no funds for a taxi or bus ride.
"Ok... I know where that is from here.  I could walk you there if you want at least?"
She perked up a bit at your suggestion, eager to be gone from this place.
"You know the way?" she asked hopefully.
Damn that meme...
You nod, and she moves to follow you.
After only a step however she stops, suddenly looking back and to the ground in a panic.
"Wait!  I can't leave without it!  Can you shine the light down here?"
With a shrug you comply, and immediately wish you hadn't.
As she searched the floor you get to see what had fallen during the scuffle, several severed fingers pointed accusingly this way and that.
The pained screams of her attackers made more sense now.
She nudged a slightly smaller one aside with her foot as she searched, sending it rolling in your direction.
Was it a thumb or...?
With a lurch of your stomach you realise it's not a thumb, and that one guy was not going to be having any kids anytime soon.
When finally she came back with her prize she clutched what you first thought was a drowned rat.
Turns out it was a waterlogged wig.
After a couple of attempts to wear it, and failing, you cut in.
"If that's what I think it is then you might need to let it dry out a bit before trying to wear it."
She glared at you for a second before dropping her hands down to her sides in slumping defeat.
As you leave the alley together you retrieve your umbrella and hold it up over you both.
When she drew closer to get out of the rain however you see just how soaked she really is, her tattered clothes are completely sodden and stuck to her scales.
You don't know if reptiles are supposed to shake like mammals do when cold but she certainly is.
"Here, hold this a second."
She stands dumbfounded as you pass her the umbrella, not sure what sort of human trickery she was going to be subjected to next.
When you remove your jacket however and drape it over her smaller shoulders she tenses up.
"What are you -?"
Taking back the umbrella you give her a smile.
"It's cold out here and you need it more than I do, just promise to give it back ok?"
Thoroughly perplexed but grateful for the body heat still trapped inside she pulls it in tightly around herself.
"Thank you..."
As you start walking you catch her watching you, her golden eyes focusing intently.
"What is your name human?" she asked, something other than fear or sadness in her voice.
"People call me Anon." you reply chirpily.  "Can I ask your name?"
She shrunk down slightly into the collar of your jacket before answering.
"My name isn't actually pronouncable by human tongue, but I am known as Opal."
A smile spreads across your lips as you walk.
"Opal huh?  It suits you."
A shy smile formed on her lips in response, causing her shivering to subside slightly.
That wouldn't be the last of that night's events, but the present intruded on your recollection of the past as the lizard doctor returned, hopefully with news of your dear Opal...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You snap out of your memories as the doors open and the lizard who took Opal returns.
As you stand and look at him expectantly, he stares at you with a mix of surprise and bewilderment.
"Oh, your still here?" he mutters.
"Uh, yes of course I'm still here!" you respond angrily.
"How is she?  Is she ok?"
"She's stable." he answered flatly.
When no further answers were forthcoming you begin to lose your cool.
"And?  Where is she?  Can I see her?"
He looked at you with a confused expression for a while before answering.
"You're the human who found her yes?  It's good that you brought her here but why are you so concerned?  It's unusual for one of your kind to act as such towards mine..."
Gritting your teeth, you ask again.
"Can I see her?  Please?"
With a shrug he beckoned you to follow him and led you through the doors.

You had been expecting a full medical ward, like on the tv shows with all the frantic activity and sexy nurses.
What you saw was a small grouping of cupboards and storage rooms that had been transformed into a treatment area.
It's sole occupant was of course, Opal.
She lay on the bed, a heart monitor beeping steadily at her side.
At first you are flooded with relief to see her alive, this soon turns to confusion and concern as you see her laid out in a typical hospital smock but lacking the covering of bandages you had expected.
Her wounds were still visible, lines of red cutting across the white of her scales but no longer bleeding.
A fine shining sheen coated the worst of them while the lesser scratches and scrapes looked to have been cleaned and left as is.
"What is this!?!" you demand.
"Why are her wounds still out in the open like that?  Why aren't you treating her?"
The lizard responded with a yawn and a scratch of his chin.
"I have done what I can.  Our kind do not require bandages like humans do, our scales become irritated when bandaged or stitched."
He pointed to one of the larger gashes on her arm, one that had the coating upon it.
"The best I can do is clean the wound and make sure there's no infection.  I glued the more serious ones with something your human doctors use but the rest will have to heal themselves or be dealt with by shedding."
Not much of this was making sense to you, but if this reptilian quack knew what he was talking about then she was going to be ok?
You move to her bedside, desperate to reach out and touch her but afraid of she might shatter if you do.
"So, where did you find her?"
The doctor's question didn't register at first, only the steady rise and fall of Opal's chest beneath the thin bedsheets.
"What?"
"I asked where you found her." he repeated.
"From the extent of her wounds I'd say she was in a fight over a mate, and lost.  Those don't happen outside the enclave so where'd you find her?"
"I was at the enclave when it happened." you respond.  "I brought her straight here."
The lizard's face falls.
"You mean she's the one who... and you...?"
It would seem news from what had happened had spread out from the enclave after all, how he hadn't put two and two together sooner however didn't say much for his powers of observation or deduction.
"Is that a problem?" you ask.
His face took on a panicked look.
"She can't be here.  Not now, and I can't be found treating her!"
Even as you tried formulating a response the doctor dashed off and grabbed a wheelchair.
"You have to go, now, And take her with you!"

That was how you found yourself standing at the rear exit to the ED, with an unconscious Opal sitting in a wheelchair, wondering just how bad things were going to get before what was supposed to have been a nice day out with your girlfriend finally ended.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 5

As the old elevator creaked and clanged its way up the shaft, you stand dead on your feet.
The last twelve or so hours had taken their toll and it was all you could do now not to simply fall over and call it a day.
You were almost home.
Somehow you had managed to get the still non-responsive Opal from the hospital to your crappy apartment complex, wheeled her in through the front undetected, and slipped into the rickety elevator.
Even with the wheelchair it would have been too far to walk so you had broken into your bank account and used what little you had available to spring for a cab.
Considering the meagre income from your job you had to budget for everything, rent, utilities, food...
The cab would mean either no groceries before the next pay check or advertising a kidney over the internet.
Still, if you could just get Opal inside and safe then it would be worth it.
One of the last things the so-called doctor from the hospital had told you before freaking out was that he had kept Opal sedated for the time being so he could monitor her condition, now that she was solely in your care however you had no idea how long she would be out for or what to do when she woke up.
At least you could keep her somewhere quiet and out of immediate harm’s way for now.

With a forlorn 'ding' the elevator finally came to a stop at your floor, thankfully it hadn’t broken down again this week so getting trapped in a metal box with a sedated lizard wasn’t something you had to worry about.
A short walk down the hall and a clinking of keys meant you were home, nothing more than a few box rooms nailed together and a door but you took pride in making it more than just a living space.
Looking at the clock it was now almost 6pm, it had taken all night getting her to the hospital, treated and then back to yours.
You desperately needed to sleep, but first things first you would need to make sure Opal was safe and secure.
Wheeling her into your bedroom you decide that your bed is the best place for her to be resting, despite some of the less than wholesome thoughts you had previously entertained about having her join you there it was now going to be a sickbed.
Gently, you lift her from the wheelchair, making sure not to put too much pressure on any of her wounds or catch her long tail in anything.
She was still wearing the smock from the hospital with only your jacket to keep out the morning chill, so as you settle her on the soft mattress and pull the covers up you can’t help but notice how cold she feels.
You know from experience that the cold is not her friend so you make a decision.
Climbing in with her and sharing your body heat sounded like a good plan, but the last thing you wanted to do was fall asleep and knock into her wounds or anything so it would have to be a hot water bottle.
Under your bed you had one conveniently stashed, with the walls being what you could only charitably describe as insulated, the winters were cold and unforgiving.
For those such as yourself who couldn’t afford to keep a heater running all night it meant hiding one of the rubbery things under the covers and pretending you weren't spending another cold winter night alone...
Shaking the thoughts of self-pity from your tired head you set about boiling the kettle in your kitchenette and getting it all ready, it didn’t take long and with it in place with her she soon began to feel warmer.
With your charge now safely tucked up in your bed you consider your options.
You can either try fight off the stalking spectre of sleep circling you and watch over Opal, scrape around in the cupboards to see if you have any coffee left, or take a quick nap on the small sofa in your living room until she wakes up.
Despite your desire to watch over her, you decide on the nap.
You won’t be much used to her when she wakes up if you are little more than an exhausted mess anyway, so laying yourself down sofa you set about trying to catch forty winks.
It’s not long at all before you feel yourself drifting off.
Sleepily you remember that this isn’t the first time Opal has visited your apartment, and that the last time hadn’t been under the best of circumstances either...
----------------------------------------------------------------
That night, when you had offered to walk the soaked lizard back to her enclave.
That should have been it, you should have performed your civic duty and then gone back to your boring old life.
It wasn't to be however.

The enclave was across town, a long walk from where you had found her and one that would take you tantalizingly close to home.
Getting her there and making it back would likely be an all nighter.
As you walked through the dark and rain struck street, you try a bit of small talk.
"So... I haven't seen any of your people around here before, what brings you out to this part of town?"
She was doing her best to huddle inside your loaned jacket, but she brought her snout up to face you while answering.
"I a-am part of the work programme, t-to send my people out and be a part of the city."
You remember hearing about that in the news, never thought you would bump into one like this though.
"Really?  Where do you work?"
Either she was still nervous or the cold was slowing her down as it took a bit for her to answer and her speech seemed to stall and stutter at points.
"I w-was sent to work in T-town Hall, I am good with n-numbers so they asked me to help out as a clerk i-in the City Finance Department."
Time and distance seemed to fly by as you talked.
You told her about your job and life in the city while she mostly listened and asked the odd stuttering questions.
It wasn't long before you reached familiar territory, the intersection that led to your street in one direction and the path back towards the enclave in the other.
Despite your offer to walk her back you weren't sure it would even be possible now, it was starting to rain harder and the lizard was definitely slowing down.
She was practically dragging those big feet of hers with each step, and where she had been holding that long tail above the floor before it now just hung limply behind her and scraped along the wet pavement.
Indecision took you for a moment, should you try calling someone on your phone to come help, against her wishes?
Should you keep going and hope she lasts long enough to get help from her own people?
Or perhaps there was a third option...
"Hey Opal?" you ask carefully.
"I don't think we're going to be able to make it back to your enclave tonight, the rain is getting worse and to be honest you're not looking so good."
She gave you a pained look with those golden eyes of hers, but she either saw the truth in your words or didn't have the strength left to disagree.
"I live just down here, if you want you can stay there tonight and we can go the rest of the way in the morning."
Considering her experience with strange human men so far tonight you half expected her to refuse, instead she gave you a little nod and followed your lead.

Once safely inside you had to try and get her warm... and clean.
Apart from her clothes being soaking wet you notice the scales on her hands are still tinged with red.
The umbrella had shielded her from the rain so the blood from earlier hadn't washed off.
She was looking a little drowsy so you had to think quick...
The shower!
It was hot and would clean her up at the same time!
"We need to get you warm so why don't you use my shower?" you ask, really hoping she doesn't think this is an attempt to get her naked.
She looks at you strangely for a few seconds until you realise she may have no idea what a shower is, do lizards have those?
You decide to show her.
Taking her to your small bathroom you show her your modest shower cubicle, nothing special but probably one of the few utilities installed here within the last decade...
You switch on the stream of water and wait, it would take a minute for it to heat up.
She actually took a step back once the water started to flow and gave you a look that suggested she was starting to doubt your sanity.
"I am already wet.  Why would I want to get wet again?"
"Trust me, this will help." you respond.
Eventually steam starts to rise as the shower finally does its thing, putting your hand under the stream confirms its ready.
"It's hot water, it'll warm you up and help clean off some of... that." you say, pointing at her hands.
"Put your hand under, I'll show you."
Tentatively she complies, reaching out slowly into the shower and keeping an eye on you all the while.
She gasps sharply as the hot water streams across her scales, pulling back and bumping into you.
"Are you ok?" you ask, concerned.
"Is it too hot?  Did it burn you?"
When she turns around to face you however she's positively beaming.
"It's perfect!  Just like the steam lakes back home!"
You have no idea what she means by 'steam lakes' but you see it's your cue to leave when she turns to go back in.
"You might want to do something about those wet clothes first though..." you suggest, taken aback by her apparent intention to jump in fully dressed.
"There's some towels over there on the rail and I'll go see if I can find something dry for you to wear while you're in here."
At your words she stops at the threshold and looks down at herself sheepishly, realising what she was doing in her excitement.
As you turn to leave however she stops you, placing a wet (and thankfully less bloody) hand on your arm.
She carefully removes your now wet jacket and hands it back to you, holding it like it was a fine robe instead of your cheap old jacket.
"Thank you Anon, you've really helped me a lot tonight."
You give her a smile, take your jacket and leave.

While she showered, you set about digging through your closet to look for something a lizard could wear.
You had always been one of those odd people who never really felt the cold, it was the heat that bothered you more.
You once had a job working in a small office, during the colder months your colleagues would have the heating on full while also crowding around a small portable heater too.
You happily sat there in a t-shirt, a lack of required formal wear or uniform was a perk you still missed.
This was reflected in your choice of clothes, mostly short sleeved things with jeans or other casual things...
Eventually however you struck gold, a set of joggers and a long sleeve jumper that you had stashed as part of an attempt to take up jogging.
Suffice to say, they were as new.
When you were satisfied that you had enough for your guest, you set the folded bundle down on your bed and moved back to your small living room to wait.
Much to your surprise she was already there waiting for you, wrapped in towels and inquisitivly poking at your small tv.
"Your done already?  Ok, I've got some clothes for you to wear in the other room whenever your ready."
She graced you with another toothy smile.
"Thanks Anon."
As she walked past you couldn't help but notice her curves, with the white towel wrapped around her it gave the impression she wasn't wearing anything at all...
There was something about those wide hips that drew your eyes like a magnet, but considering all she had been through tonight already, now was not the best time to be giving that oddly deviant part of your mind any leeway so you turn away.
Once she was in your room and changing you turned your attention to other matters, more specifically the growling coming from your stomach.
This raised another slight dilemma, your kitchen was actually quite well stocked with food, if you only ate instant noodles that is.
You had been lucky enough to find a bunch on sale recently and got as much as you could carry, fine for you but what about Opal?
Your noodle musing was interrupted by the sound of the bedroom door opening, damn she was fast...
"Um, Anon?" she called shakily.
You turned to find her standing in the doorway looking thouroghly embarrassed.
She had the jumper on ok and had fit both of her big feet through the legs of the jogging pants but was holding them up tightly at the waist with one hand and holding on to the door frame with the other.
 You stare at her in confusion, until she explains the issue.
"It's my tail,  there wasn't anywhere for it to go through so it ended up getting stuck down in the leg and now I can't get at it without falling over..."
She turned to show you.
Her long tail had pushed its way down the leg of her pants and the tip was poking out by her ankle, this had left a thick loop out by her rear pushing against the waist.
The result was that she had lost her balance but couldn't sit down without crushing her tail at an awkward angle.
"Can you give me a hand... please?"
"Oh... ok." you mumble, not quite sure what was going on.
"What do you need me to do?"
"Could you maybe... pull my tail out from there?" she asked.
"If I let go of the door I'll fall over, if I let go of the waist then the pants might fall down..."
The scales on her face seemed to be bristling almost.
Was that the lizard version of blushing?
Carefully, you move behind her and take hold of her tail.
At your touch she has a sharp intake of breath and she jumps slightly.
"S-sorry!" you stutter, pulling your hands away suddenly.
"Did I hurt you?"
"No..." She responds slowly, not turning to meet your gaze.
"Your hands are... cold."
Crap, she's right.
You are still in the clothes you were wearing out in the rain, your pants are wet and you haven't warmed up yet.
"Sorry, I'll try be quick ok?"
When she nods you again gently hold her tail, marvelling at how the scales there can be somehow slick and hard against your skin but somehow soft and yielding too.
Gently you pull her tail up and out of its awkward position, freeing it from her pants and soliciting a sigh of relief from the now tense lizard.
"Thanks Anon." She sighs.  "That was really uncomfortable."
You realise after a few seconds that there is something of an awkward silence in the room now, and Opal is looking at you with that bristling blush again.
"Um Anon?" she asks quietly.
"You can let my tail go now."
With a start you realise you still have her tail held loosely in your hands.
Quickly you drop it and take a step back.
"Oops sorry!" you say hurriedly.
Then just like that she had retreated back into the bedroom and closed the door.
Idiot...
You then notice the pants on the floor, they must have fallen as you dropped her tail.
Picking them up you examine the back, and another idea comes to you.
Grabbing your little knife from the now hung up jacket, you poke a hole in the rear below the waist band.
Heading back to the door, you tentatively call through to her.
"Opal?  I fixed the pants.  I'll leave them out here for you ok?"
There's no immediate answer so you leave them by the door and go back to the kitchen.
You hear the door quickly open and close again behind you and smile.

Returning to the problem at hand, you break out the pot of noodles and boil some water.
You decide to make up one serving and see if Opal wants any, if she does then it would be nothing to make up a second pot for yourself.
Your guest soon returns, fully dressed at last and with her long white tail swishing behind her through the newly made hole.
Rather than give another awkward silence the chance to grow, you present her with the noodles and a fork.
"Are you hungry?  This is all I have and I didn't know if it's something you could eat but..."
Her golden eyes light up at the mention of food and she is quickly giving the pot a sniff.
After a few seconds she has it in her hands and is slurping at the noodles hungrily, there is still enough boiled water left for a second pot so you have your own soon enough.
You both move back to the living room and take a seat, content to enjoy your hot meal after the evening's trials.
You end up sitting on the edge of a fold up chair rather than the sofa, with your still wet clothes on and all.
Eventually though your curiosity gets the better of you and some questions come to mind.
"So you're ok eating these?  I wasn't sure if instant noodles would be palatable for you, I thought perhaps you needed meat or something..."
No sooner had the words left your mouth you realise you're assuming a lot, just because she has sharp teeth and looks vaguely like a dinosaur doesn't mean she only eats meat...
Instead of taking offense she smiles, slurping a stray noodle through her teeth she fills you in.
"My people used to live off of meat alone, or so the stories say, but there isn't so much of it underground so we adapted to survive off of other things too.  We can stomach just about anything."
You press her for some examples, curious as to what kinds of things her people used to eat under ground but a lot of what she tries to describe doesn't really have a human word for it, having yet to be seen by human eyes, so the conversation dies out after a while.
It's already late and you will have to make an early start tomorrow if you're going to walk her back to the enclave and get back to your own job in time too so you make a move towards cleaning up.
Opal's voice stops you however, a note of uncertainty giving her soft voice an almost vulnerable quality.
"Anon?  Thank you again for helping me today, with those men and for bringing me here."
"It was my pleasure Opal." you respond.  "Although it looked like you could have dealt with those guys from the start with the way you took them apart."
She dropped her gaze to the floor before answering.
"Yes but... my people are under strict instruction not to hurt humans like that while out in the city.  We know your skin is thinner than our scales and that we can do far more damage with our claws than we let on, as you saw."
Your brow wrinkles in confusion at this.
"They were going to hurt you, why wouldn't you defend yourself?"
"We are strangers here Anon.  We fled our home below ground to find the surface already dominated by your kind, there's not enough of us left to pick a fight."
Odd logic, but it would explain the lizard's eagerness to fit in rather than stake a claim.
Although it suggested they wouldn't be above a bit of insurrection should their numbers improve...
"I shouldn't have been out in that street at that hour, I got lost on the way home hours ago.  It was my first day too..."
So, that's what she meant about getting in trouble.
If she got caught mauling humans in a place she shouldn't be, at a time she shouldn't be out, it might look like she was out causing trouble deliberately, at least that would be how a few of the local news agencies would portray it.
"Well whatever the case, I'm just glad I could help." you say with a smile.
"It's time to get some sleep though I think, we've still got a ways to go before you can get home tomorrow."
A thought occurs. 
"There's only the one bedroom so you can have my bed, I'll sleep out here on the sofa.  Just give me a minute to get changed and-"
You didn't get a chance to finish, as she had leapt to her feet in apparent panic and started talking.
"What, your bed?  I-I couldn't!"
The amount of panic now pouring off of her threatened to melt a hole through the floor, so you tried calming her down.
"Ok, ok!  I didn't mean to upset you! If it worries you that much then you take the sofa and I'll go get you a blanket, ok?"
It wouldn't be until much later that you would learn why she had reacted so, apparently lizards only shared their personal sleeping space with mates.
Your suggestion of her taking your bed, even with you not occupying it, had been almost as lewd as dropping your pants there and then showing her an elephant impression...
So, with all misunderstandings swept under the carpet and her bedding provided, you both went to sleep.

The next morning you had fixed her a noodle breakfast and fulfilled your promise of walking her home, it had been a long trek and you had been knackered getting in to work later but you didn't regret helping her.
If anything you had been saddened by the thought that you wouldn't see her again, it had been a while since you had made any new friends and she would have made for an interesting one.
She didn't have a phone however as her people didn't trust them yet (or perhaps the fact their claws played holy he'll with the touch screens might have been a factor), so with a final goodbye outside the entrance to the enclave that had been that.
So when she had turned up outside your apartment a few days later, wearing a fresh skirt/blouse combo and a new wig to boot, you had been pleasantly surprised.
From then on you had agreed to meet up on various days and times, where you would show her the city and she would tell you about her people.
Until eventually, friendship had blossomed into something more...
----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

With a start, you wake from your half asleep quasi-dreaming.
A noise from the other room had roused you.
The clock said it had only been a few hours but there was already daylight pouring in through the window, and Opal was awake.
She was groggily kicking at the covers of your bed and trying to pull herself up, it was all you could do to pull the water bottle out from under the sheets before she could burst it.
"Opal?" you ask, slowly and clearly.  "Calm down, your safe ok?"
At the sound of you're voice the thrashing subsided and she tried to focus a bleary golden eye on you.
"A-anon?" she asked, her voice wavering.
"I'm here, you're ok." you soothe.
She actually cracks a small smile at the sight of you, causing you to wince slightly as a cut on her lip reopens.
"Where am I?" she asks.  "What happened?"
"It's ok, we're safe.  I brought you back to mine for a while, just until you feel better."
"Her relieved expression soon falters as her memory returns, of the last things to happen before pain and darkness took her start to play across her vision.
"Wait, the fight!  What happened!?!  If I'm here with you then does that mean... I won?"
You pick up her hand and hold it in yours gently.
"No sweet, you didn't win.  That other lizard knocked you down hard.  I had to get you out and to a hospital."
She still must have been out of it a bit as she didn't look all that relived at your words, if anything she looked worse.
"I-I lost?  Then that means I should be dead!"
"What?" you ask, dumbfounded.
"That other girl, Velvet?  She hurt you yes, but I stopped her and took you away."
Her face was a picture of horror now, your words causing her more pain than her actual wounds somehow.
"If she won then that means she claimed you as hers!  Why are you here?  You have to be with her now!"
You remember the other lizard's anger back at the enclave...
"You're not making sense here Opal, what do you mean claimed?  I went there with you because I wanted to be there, with you, not as so much luggage to be swapped or claimed!"
She was in tears now, starting to pull at the covers again and even opening up some of her smaller wounds.
"You have to go Anon!" she bawled.  "Its our law!  If a mate is claimed through challenge then he has to go!"
You were getting angry now.
"Why are you saying this?  What's happening here?"
Suddenly her thrashing stopped and she turned away, covering her head up with the covers as she did.
"You are her mate now Anon.  I lost, I don't deserve you any more."
The abject misery in her normally happy voice stuck a knife of ice into your stomach, whatever had happened back there looked to be a bit more serious than two women having a throwdown...
Before you could say anymore your phone went, the merry jingle of the ringtone mocking the blanket of tension covering the room.
Deciding to take it outside, you move to the living room and answer.
It's your boss Brian.
"Anon?  You there?"
"Yeah I'm here, a bit busy right now so..."
He didn't give you a chance to finish.
"The he'll have you been doing!?!  Have you seen the news?"
"No, not today... why?"
"Turn it on and see for yourself ya idiot!" he shouted.
Taken aback by the anger, you switch on the little tv.
You don't need to ask what channel he means, they're all the same.
News reports of unrest at the lizard enclave.
Apparently a mob tried to leave through the checkpoint by force yesterday, causing structural damage to the gates and sending several human security staff to the hospital.
The cause?
A grainy cctv picture of an unidentified human exiting the scene just before the incident with an unconscious lizard in his arms.
Some thought it was a kidnapping gone bad, some thought far worse things...
Everyone agreed the man was the cause.
The lizard's wanted him handed over.
The humans wanted to either gift wrap him or make him a saint depending who the cameras asked.
The consensus was clear however, everyone wanted to know who he was and where he was hiding.
"I know that's you Anon!" bellowed your boss, snapping your attention from the screen.
"You've been hanging around with those lizards for a while now and I recognise that crappy jacket of yours!"
Aw hell...
Your stunned silence was all the answer he needed.
"Listen, there's talk of those lizards breaking out and going on the warpath out there, looking for you.  I can't risk having that here so don't you come in until you've sorted this mess out!"
"Wait, your firing me!?!" you ask incredulously.
"Yeah, guess I am!" he responded.
"Oh and if any angry mobs come knocking down here, I'm sending them your way.  Got a business and jobs to protect here."
You try fire off a response, a retort, a threat or a plea, anything!
Your mouth simply gapes uselessly instead.
"Sorry Anon, it's your mess."
With a beep and a click he was gone, as was your life apparently.
You really wish there was something stronger in the cupboard than noodles right about now...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 6

It had been about an hour or so since the call from your former employer, his final words defying time and lingering long after the conversation ended.
"Sorry Anon, it's your mess."
You had sat yourself down on the sofa and just tried to think of a way out of this mess, a way to go back to how it had been just twenty-four hours previous.
Yet the news reports continued to run, your phone screen became flooded with alerts and texts from people you barely knew demanding to know if it was you.
Worst of all?
Opal was refusing to talk to you.
At all.
You had attempted to question her some about what was going on with the lizards at the enclave, about their reaction and her outburst.
She couldn't even look at you.
She just lay there in bed, snout hidden under the covers and facing away.
So you had left her to it, not knowing if you should be angry at her for giving you the silent treatment, angry at the lizards in general for going nuts in the first place, at your boss for sacking you so quickly or...
Just sad that you had somehow landed yourself here for trying to do the right thing.
Your confused jumble of thoughts, recriminations and self pity fell apart at the sound of someone knocking on your front door.
Your first thought was that it was the lizards, come to drag you back to the arena and make you pay for running.
Although you couldn't picture the angry scaled hoard rampaging through the streets only to stop and politely knock.
Curiously, you tip toe over to the door and try take a look through the peep hole, and remember that it had been next to useless ever since one of the local kids got the bright idea to stick gum on the outside of everyone on this floor's doors for shits and giggles.
Little bastards...
"Who is it?" you call, a fresh bout of more insistent knocking telling you that whoever it was had no plans on leaving.
"Mr Mous?" came a man's somewhat nasel response.
"I've come from City Hall, can I come in?"
That didn't sound good.
"What does City Hall want with me?" you ask nonchalantly, hoping against hope he's just here to sell cookies.
"I think you know why Anon." the voice replied flatly.
"It would be in everyone's best interest to just open the door."
With a stream of internal curses both creative and nonsensical, you comply.

Standing in the hall is a man who looked like something out of a comic strip.
Short, bald apart from a slight fluffing of hair clinging above each ear and a comb over that was fooling no-one.
A tiny pencil thin moustache clung desperately to his upper lip, sheltering under a pointed nose with what looked to be a set of slightly differing sized nostrils.
To complete the look he wore a set of Magoo strength glasses, the rims a tarnished silver, and a pressed brown suit, complimented by a drab black tie.
He practically screamed "look at me I'm a bureaucrat" just by standing there.
In his hand he carried a small briefcase, black and scuffed.
To his side however, in what would have been just out of sight of your peep hole should it have been usable, stood a pair of the City's finest.
He had brought backup.
"My name is Mr Picklers and I've been sent as a representative of the Mayor's Office."
You opened your mouth to respond but he was already on to his next sentence.
"It's about the lizard situation, there is much we need to discuss.  May I?"
Without waiting for a reply he shuffled on in through the door, the two cops moving to follow.
Finding your voice, you move to block them.
"There's not much room in here, do you boys mind waiting outside?"
They gave you a stern look but stopped.
"These fine gentlemen are here for our protection Anon." chimed your uninvited guest from behind.
"Both yours, and mine..."
In other words, any funny business and you'd be downtown in a heartbeat and fumbling for soap on the shower floor soon after.
"I get it, but I'd be more comfortable if they do their protecting from out here." 
With a sigh Picklers relented.
"Very well, time's short and we don't have the luxury of arguing before we even get started."
With a nod, the cops each took a position in the hall outside your door and waited.
In truth, your place wasn't so small as to not fit a few people inside but you didn't know what would happen if they stumbled on Opal when she was in this strange mood so the less visitors the better.
You close the door and see that Picklers has already made himself comfortable on your sofa, so you switch off the tv and sit on the folding chair instead.
"So..." you begin.  "Why are you here Mr... Pickles, was it?"
"Pickler, Mr Pickler." he responded shortly.
Looks like you struck a nerve already, oops.
"I'm here because of your actions yesterday at the enclave, we know it was you so please don't waste any more time denying it."
Your mouth had opened to give him some denials, alibis and general protestations of innocence, but he had already reached into his case and pushed some papers into your hand.
Some pictures of you with Opal, both going into the enclave and of you hastily leaving.
They were a damned sight clearer than what the news was showing...
Taking your expression of a sign you understood, he continued.
"We know you entered using improper documentation, most likely supplied by the lizard accompanying you, but we need to know what happened inside the enclave."
His expression was morbidly serious.
"The lizards are in uproar, almost all of the Mayor's staff are tied up trying to calm down their leadership and we can't even get a clear answer from them on what happened.  Just that they want you handed over."
With a sigh you sit back wearily in your chair, causing it to squeak painfully.
"So, are you going to hand me over then?" you ask.
"Is that what the guys outside are really for?"
"Not necessarily Anon." he replied.
"It will ultimately depend on what has actually happened and if we can calm them down, so please, tell me what you know."
So, you told him, keeping certain aspects of your relationship with Opal out of it for now at least.
You told him how you had become friends, that she had got the pass so she could show you the enclave in return for showing her the city.
You described how the other lizard Velvet had picked a fight and hurt Opal in some sort of lizard battle, and of how you had grabbed your stricken friend and taken her to the hospital.
To his credit, Pickler sat and listened without interrupting, only asking the odd question when you stopped to think or recall a certain point.
When you were finished however, his grim and pointed features had become almost pasty.
He didn't look happy.
"Thank you for the information Anon, it has filled in some of the blanks we had about the events leading us here."
He seemed reluctant to continue, so you pressed him.
"I didn't do anything wrong in there as such, I didn't attack anyone or anything so do you think you could tell me what this is really all about?"
He didn't answer, instead he just flipped through the notes he had taken of your account and tried to look busy.
"Well?" you ask impatiently.  
Finally, he responded.
"The lizard you described, the one called Velvet?  She is known to us."
He paused, causing you to consider shaking the answers out of him, but he soon picked back up himself.
"She is the daughter of one of the lizard Elders, their leadership, one of the most influential actually."
That didn't sound good.
"If you slighted her it would explain why they are so agitated."
"So what do I do then, apologise and hope they calm down?"
The words sounded a bit desperate, even to your own ears, but you had to ask.
"I'm afraid not Anon." he sighed.
"There are things about their culture that even we do not fully understand yet, but we know enough to surmise that you have broken a particularly important law for them and involved an Elder's daughter no less..."
Your heart sank as he gave you a pitying look through the thick glasses.
"We don't really have much choice but to hand you over, the Mayor's already been contacted by the State Governor about this and there's talk of word spreading further afield."
You blink at him, not quite comprehending.
"We need to deal with this before it causes more widespread problems, the last thing we need is the unrest spreading to other enclaves."
"Wait, so your answer is to throw me to the wolves, I mean lizards?"
He gathered his things and stood.
"I'm sorry Anon but as this happened inside the enclave the Mayor is going to defer to the lizard leadership, if you could just come with us now and surrender yourself at the gates then we should be able to-"
"Defer to the lizards?  You can't do that!"
The absurdity of what he was saying had started to sink in, a cocktail of anger and disbelief doing little for your attempt to stay calm.
A random lizard had come savaged your girlfriend for reasons you still couldn't quite understand and now your own people were going to toss you in there to suffer possibly the same fate because the Mayor wanted to play nice?
"No!"
Your one word answer caused Pickler to stop and stare at you.
"Come now Anon, it's for the greater good.  Just come with us willingly and all of this can-"
His choice of wording struck you as odd, even with your temper fraying it seemed to stand out.
"What if I don't come willingly?"
He stopped mid speech, his magnified eyes peering at you carefully from behind the thick lenses.
"There are two officers outside, just come with us and we will make sure this all gets sorted out properly."
You gave him a particularly unkind smile.
"You keep telling me to come willingly, to 'surrender' myself...  If it's so open and shut why don't you just arrest me and drag me there in cuffs?"
He continued to watch you as the seconds ticked by, mulling over his response carefully.
"I'll be honest with you..." he eventually began.
"There haven't been any other cases like this before, with a human actively breaking a lizard law within lizard territory, there's no precedent."
So that was it, they were making it up as they went.
"I get it." you grumble.  "There's no law to deal with this either way is there?"
He remained silent.
"I heard about something like this before, if you break a law inside an embassy on foreign soil, in most cases they will hand you over to the local authorities for prosecution."
He dropped his gaze to the floor.
"If that happened here then the city can't prosecute because what happened doesn't even break any of our laws, but if they don't then the lizards will get angry and go nuts."
"Which is why it would be better for you to just surrender yourself Anon, think about what might happen if you don't!"
He had a point, but there was still one glaring omission...
"If I did hand myself in to the lizards, what exactly would they do to me?"
Again, he remained silent, giving you the answer as loud and clear as if he'd started shouting it.
"You don't know, do you?"
He finally brought his eyes up from the floor.
"It took a lot of work to bring the lizards into our society peacefully Anon, there are people far higher up than City Hall watching this mess unfold.  If it all falls apart now then a lot of heads a going to roll."
You had no doubt his would be one of them, but it still didn't explain why they were so keen to give you up.
"I need to know something." you ask, the calmness in your voice surprising you both.
"I saw in the news a few months ago about that woman who got into trouble abroad, the one who got sent to jail and sentenced to a public flogging, remember?"
He nodded.
"I remember there being a big stink being caused by it, the foreign office demanded her release, they threatened sanctions, they ejected the ambassador, there was even rumours of military action being planned behind closed doors."
Pickler kept a straight face as he listened, until finally he interrupted you.
"Yes I remember, what's your point?"
"My point, Mr Pickles is-"
"Pickler!" he interjected.
"Whatever!  Anyway, they released her shortly after, no charges, no flogging!"
His expression still didn't change, he was determined not to get your point.
"Why did some twobit amateur drug mule get the support of the government abroad, but I'm being told to take one for the team inside our own boarders?"
He looked away before giving his answer.
"There are... other considerations in play, things that can't be disclosed at this time but rest assured Anon, our continued cooperation and good will with the lizards in very much necessary."
You had heard enough.
"Tell you what?" you say through gritted teeth.
"I'll think about it.  Now please leave."
He looked like he intended to protest, but you weren't exactly the smallest of men and dwarfed him in comparison.
So with a few sputtering attempts at words he found himself directed back to the front door and ushered out of it.
Before you could shut the door on him though he jammed his foot in the opening and stopped you.
"Please think carefully about this Anon, there's more at stake here than you know!"
"Ok, thank you, buh-bye!"
His foot again stopped the door as you swung it closed, no doubt giving him a nice set of bruises to wake up to tomorrow, yet he hung on in there.
"One last thing, please!?!"
"What?" you barked at him in response, your patience spent.
"At least could you tell us where the other lizard went!  The one known as Opal?"
"What?  Why?"  
A bad feeling crept up from the pit of your stomach.
"The enclave want her back as badly as they want you, if we could at least return her to them it would go a long way towards placating their leadership."
Attempting to keep your now bubbling anger in check, you make a big show of preparing to slam the door one last time.
"Goodbye, Mr Pickles."
As he opens his mouth to correct you, your own foot kicks his back out of the way and you slam the door in his face.
In truth you had expected the cops to have done something to assist him, but they had just stood there watching.
Even as you walk back to the living room you could hear him complaining to them, but they didn't seem to pay him any mind.
The sound of heavy footsteps down the hall followed by a set of smaller shuffling ones signalled they were done, for now.

Your mind raced as you slowly walked towards your sofa, questions shot this way and that, you were lost in your own home.
So when a small cough broke the silence, you damned near jumped out of your skin.
It was Opal, and she was sat there waiting for you.
"Opal?  What are you doing up?  You should be in bed!"
She still looked terrible, the smaller wounds had stopped bleeding but she was stained with the dried blood from her outburst earlier.
She sat on the sofa unsupported but she was hunched over slightly, as if unable to sit up straight without pain.
"We have to talk Anon." she croaked.
"Then you have to take me home, to the enclave."
Your mind, near broken with exhaustion and worry, found itself finally beginning to hit its limit.
"What?  Take you back?  They tried to kill you!"
She gave you a sad little look, her normally sparkling golden eyes somehow taking on the hue of rusty bronze and devoid of their usual life and wonder.
"I told you Anon, you're not mine anymore, and I have to go back."
That was it, the moment you would later remember as the point where your heart finally couldn't take any more.
You walked over to her slowly, got to your knees, and looked her in the eyes.
"Opal?" you ask sadly.
"Yes Anon?" she responds, tears starting to fall down her scaled cheeks.
Your finger shoots out quickly, and boops her softly on the nose.
With a blink of surprise she snorts and pulls backwards.
"Anon what are you-?"
It's your turn to talk however.
"Nope, you shush."
Your finger rises up slowly and she stops her protests.
"I've had enough of everyone telling me who I belong to or where I have to go, so listen up."
She looks at you quizically, but says nothing.
"I don't belong to you, I don't belong to that other lizard, I'm not a prize to be claimed and I'm not a criminal to be handed over by my own damned government to keep the peace."
All the crazy things you had been through over the last day were now catching up with you, it had to come out.
"These last couple of months we've spent together have been the best times I've had for as long as I can remember, spending each day with you, showing you my world while learning about yours and you..."
Her tears were starting to well up again, but you weren't done.
"I don't care what the law says, or what Mr freaking Pickles says, I'm still here with you because I want to be.  I care about you, and I'm not taking you back anywhere."
She had started sobbing now, her eyes hidden behind her hands.
"Anon... I-"
"Here's what's going to happen." you interrupt.
"Your going to tell me everything.  What that fight was about, what this law we broke is, why they're so pissed with us, and why you were so quick to give up on us."
She took her hands from her face slowly, so you held them tightly in your own.
"Then we're going to figure out a way to get through this.  I'm not going to go anywhere, and I'm going to make sure you get better again.
Between sniffles, she tried to speak, a spark of gold flashing in her watery eyes.
"I'm not yours to lose in a fight Opal." you whisper.  "But my heart is yours to keep, if you want it."
At that she broke down completely, pulled you into a tight hug and wept into your shoulder.
You stayed there with her for what felt like hours, holding her in your arms.
When finally you parted, you could see it in her eyes.
She was ready to talk.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 7

After Anon's speech, quite firmly asserting himself as more than a trophy to be won and lost, Opal had found herself in a very strange state of being.
She didn't know what to do.
What few humans realised was that the lizards weren't just a bunch of scaly savages from deep underground, they were not the super advanced bogeymen that the conspiracy nuts warned of either.
They actually lived their lives by a strict set of codes and traditions.
Some changed and evolved with each new generation while others were seemingly carved into the very soul of their society.
Each lizard knew where they stood, what was theirs, what they could claim from others and what they can't.
Even with the exodus to the surface and the attempt to blend in with humanity, everyone knew their place.
Until now however.
Unknowingly, Anon had interfered with one of the older traditions.
He had spat in the eye of something none dared to even question.
So as he knelt there, holding her clawed hand in his own, Opal felt that at the very least she owed him an explanation.
By rights she should be dead, for a time she had even wished it after realising what had happened.
Yet this human that she had grown really quite close to during her time on the surface had, with stubborn persistence, shown her something that had shaken everything she knew.
He wanted to stay with her, even after losing him to another...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I think I'm going to have to teach you a bit of our history..." she began.
"If any of what's happening right now is going to make sense to you then you're going to need a bit of context."
You sit yourself down next to her, not letting go of her hand, and nod.
"The old tales say that we came from the surface originally, that we were driven underground by some great disaster."
Her eyes took on a faraway quality as she began to recall the teachings of her childhood.
"We sought out the warmer places deep down below the surface, our forebearers finding new sources of food to sustain them and adopting new ways to survive."
"No one knows exactly when it happened, or why, but as time went on our numbers grew and became uneven."
You furrow your brow in confusion.
"What do you mean by uneven?"
She smiled sadly before answering.
"It soon became apparent that there was an imbalance in the number of hatchlings, for every four or five females hatched there was only one male."
"Oh."  you respond, starting to see where this was going.
"Eventually the males of our species became a minority, it caused strife as the few we had set about trying to assert themselves as kings or dictators, or got killed by warring factions, it was chaos."
"Eventually they realised that to continue in that way would mean the death of us all, if we lost the males then there would be no more us as a species."
"So what did they do?" you ask, not sure if you are really wanting to know the answer.
"The females took control."
You knew she was going to say that.
"It wasn't that they enslaved the males or anything so harsh, they simply took up the positions of power and tried to organise themselves in a way to keep us viable."
She stopped then, and looked down towards her feet.
"Hopefully you will be able to see after what I tell you next why things happened as they did, and that you won't judge us too harshly..."
You give her hand a little squeeze, prompting her to continue.
"It was still a problem deciding who mates with who, the males didn't respond too well to being... forced... into anything, and when too many females were left without a clutch for too long they started to band together and get violent."
The image of an entire war band of Velvets chasing down an unwilling mate suddenly played across your mind, an image both strangely alluring yet pant wettingly scary...
"So it was decided that the males could still choose their mate, who they wanted to breed with, but if another female felt she would be a superior mate then she had the right to challenge."
"So that's why you had an arena built down there?" you ask.
"Yes, it was decided that it would be better that way."
You stare at her questioningly, but not quite sure what to ask first, but she continued to explain by herself.
"If the original mate won, then she would keep breeding rights with that male until her first clutch was birthed, then he would be free to choose another mate or stay."
She looked sad again.
"Among the people of my enclave, not many males choose to stay."
"They move on, usually to another group so as to maximize diversity."
"What happened to the losers?" you ask, a good idea of how she woukd respond already in mind.
"The females who lost their mate would normally be killed in the duel outright, but those who somehow survived, or were spared, exiled themselves rather than bare the shame."
You perk up at this.
"So the exiles could just go live somewhere else right?  Not attacked again or anything?"
"No..." she answered slowly.
"Those who left were always found dead eventually, to leave the group and wander the caves alone is a death sentence."
Silence hung unsteadily between you for a moment as you considered her words, but something didn't quite fit with how your current predicament was unfolding.
"Opal, the man from Town Hall just now said that your people were just as eager to get you back as they were me."
She looked up at you in surprise, confusion now marking her features as much as yours.
"Really?"
"If after one of these challenges the one who lost can exile herself, why are they trying to get you back?"
She looked away again, prompting another question.
"Why did you say I had to take you back?  The fight was over and you survived."
"It wasn't over." she muttered.
"She didn't spare me out of spite, I didn't survive by chance or dumb luck, you interrupted the fight and got me out of there before she could finish it."
One of the final pieces clicked into place, the tradition you had stomped all over...
It wasn't just that you had refused Velvet's claim over you, it was that you had made off with her opponent too before she could claim a complete victory.
Another torrent of questions threatened to spill forth, but they would have to wait.
Opal now sagged in her seat, the effort of getting herself from your room to the sofa, coupled with your intense line of questioning had left her fatigued.
"Ok I think that's enough for now, time for you to get back to bed."
She offers no resistance as you scoop up her smaller form and take her back, careful not to trip over her trailing tail in the process.
Her wounds you notice, have stopped bleeding.
The larger ones were still sealed by the medical glue while the smaller ones that she had reopened were crusted over with dried blood.
You would need to see about cleaning those up soon, but she was in no condition to be pulled about now and needed rest.
Gently you place her back into your bed, pull up the covers and retrieve the water bottle.
It only takes a minute for the kettle to boil so you soon have the bed nice and warm for her.
As you turn to leave, she reaches out from under the covers and grabs your wrist.
Her grip is weak but the claws dig in painfully.
"Anon?" she whispers sleepily.
"Why did you say those things?  About your heart?"
You can see be her glazed look that the water bottle was doing its work, but you kneel down to answer her best you can before she nods off completely.
"Because I meant them."
She gave you a sleepy little smile.
"But I'm small...  Can't make so... many... eggs..."
Sleep took her before she could finish, her thought left incomplete.
With a smile, you tuck her hand back under the covers and plant a soft kiss on her nose.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sitting down heavily on your sofa, your mind whirls.
Somehow, if what Opal had been telling you was right, saving her from the fight had actually been a bigger deal than you had thought.
It still didn't explain why the good folks running the city were so eager to throw you under the bus but at least you were getting a handle on the situation now...
Opal's last sleepy words still lingered to, about being small and something about eggs?
It was true, once inside the enclave you had noticed that she was indeed smaller than some of the others there, although not by much.
That Velvet however...
She had been bigger, than Opal, than you, and pretty much most people you know.
So was it a social thing?
Did size denote standing in lizard society or was it a superficial thing like human women comparing breast size?
What had she been muttering about eggs even?
You shake the confused thoughts from your tired mind and try work out a plan.
Now that you were jobless, public enemy number one of the local lizard population and of your own elected officials to boot...
First things first, think about tomorrow.
Work out how best to care for Opal, then worry about the rest of your crumbling world.
For the first time since coming home earlier that day, you notice the bag that had been left crumpled in the corner.
You had dropped it there after bringing her home, it was Opal's handbag.
When making your escape from the arena you had stuffed her clothes inside and taken it with you, carried it all around town to the hospital and eventually here.
The thought of looting through a lady's handbag would normally have made you twitch, the memories of the hiding your mom had given you as a child following a poorly advised expedition, steering you well clear.
With things as they stood though, you needed something to do.
Her clothes were still balled up in there so you could take them out so they don't crease any worse than they probably already had.
That and there could be something useful in there, like some emergency contact info or something.
Tentatively, you retrieve the bag and set it down on the sofa.
The clothes are where you left them, stuffed in the top, so you carefully pull them out and try to straighten them the best you can.
Her skirt, her blouse and cardigan, and finally her tangled wig.
She seemed to take quite a bit of pride in maintaining it, there was never a hair out of place when you met, she had never been without it either since that first night you met... and yesterday.
It was sad to see it like this, much like it's owner, battered and discarded.
You set it to one side and make a mental note to try find a brush or a comb, maybe you could fix it up a bit later?
Inside the bag there is surprisingly little.
You had expected all the usual clutter that a woman carries around, a purse, make-up, bundles of receipts and other useful items they always seem to come prepared with.
Instead you find her work ID, a small pouch with a number of carved stones and crystals, a clip with some human bank notes, a comb and a stone bottle.
The bottle takes your interest, it's roughly the size of a 500ml drink container and sounds like it's filled with dome sort of liquid.
Despite the temptation to open it, there is a fine coating of a hard wax like substance around the stopper keeping it sealed.
It would be a dick move to force it open so you set it aside, briefly wondering if it was the 'lotion' that she had sped off to go collect before.
You keep the comb for later but return the other things, there's nothing here that contains any useful information so there's little point in pawing through it any longer.
A noise from the bag stops you however as you drop in the pouch, the sound of stone hitting something wooden.
Checking again, you eventually find a hidden pocket concealed at the side.
There's something within.
Curious, you fish it out to see. 
It's a small wooden box, slightly wider than a ring case but not as tall, it fits neatly into the palm of your hand.
Despite your reservations about breaching Opal's privacy, you decide to open it.
It might very well be the missing something that can help you sort this out after all.
Inside however, you find something unexpected.
A small, dried out flower.
One with white petals that almost shone in the darkened room.
She kept it?
She kept it and carries it around with her in a special little box?
It was the flower you had given her just after you started to feel something more than friendship with her.
You had taken her to the park, the greenery of nature that you had come to take for granted had been a marvel to her.
Watching her take in the colours of the planted flower beds and the sound of the wind rustling through the trees for the first time had been almost magical, her wonder and excitement had been contagious.
So on the way out, you had bought a flower from one of the sellers set up by the exit, a white one, and presented it to her.
You still remembered the smile she gave you as she sniffed it, how it had sparkled in the sunlight almost as dazzlingly as her scales...
Your forgotten little gesture... she had dried it, kept it in a little wooden box, and took it everywhere with her.
Carefully, you close it, place it back where you found it, and put the bag away safely.
Then, with the memories of recent events clashing with those of happier times, you shed a single tear, and promise you will see her smile that way again.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 8

Before falling asleep, you had devised a plan of action for the following day.
1.  Make sure Opal was settled, had something to eat and as comfortable as possible.
2.  Try and sneak out from your apartment building and try get some advice, from a lawyer, advocate, anybody that might be able to help.
3.  Find a way of accessing some cash.
Granted this was all a bit ambitious but there was little point in hiding inside while the rest of the city was apparently plotting your demise.
Number 3 of your plan was going to be a bit on the problematic side though, with only a few long-held items and trinkets worth anything more than sentimental value it was looking like you might have to start researching the going rate for human kidneys...
As it turned out however, your immediate plans hit a snag.
Mainly that you had fallen asleep on your sofa again instead of getting anything prepared.
So, when you woke up, it was dark, the middle of the night, and both too late and early to go out and achieve points 2 through 3.
Apart from your conversations with Pickle guy and Opal, your first day had been something of a waste.
Still, there was no time for disappointment however as movement from your room brought you back to focus on the here and now.
It sounded like Opal was up.
Moving over to the door, stretching out the aches from hours on a cramped sofa instead of a bed as you go, you knock the door and call in.
"Opal?  Are you ok in there?"
The movement stopped, and the door opens a second or so later.
It was indeed her making the noise, she had climbed out of bed and seemed to have been pacing the floor.
"Oh hey Anon." she muttered, still not looking to be ready for a round of night time wanderings but doing her best all the same.
"I'm fine, just needed to get up and stretch my legs."
You couldn't help but worry that she might be overdoing things though.
"You really shouldn't be up and about just yet, how about you get back in bed and I'll bring you something to drink, or something to eat even if you want?"
Her reaction surprised you however, instead of that sweet (for a razor toothed lizard anyway) smile, she glared at you menacingly and her face contorted into a snarl.
“I’m not an invalid Anon and I don’t need you fussing over me like I’m a new hatchling!”
Before you could recover and respond, she slammed the door shut and resumed her stomping.
It took you a minute to process her outburst, you had been fussing over her since bringing her home but considering the mess she was in after the fight you really couldn’t help but worry.
You sat yourself back down on the sofa, a growing sense of despondency and anger welling up within.
You could perhaps see why she was frustrated, from what she had told you before about lizard society the female had evolved into the more dominant sex since their numbers got all messed up.
It must be hard to now find herself having lost a fight with another female, rendered helpless and away from home, and now to have a human guy telling her when she could and couldn’t get out of bed.
It was hard on you too however.
Since pulling her tail out of the fire you had lost your job and only source of income, there were now two separate races of people either out for your blood or your freedom, the few hours of sleep that had been available to you had been spent on an uncomfortable sofa while you worried about it all…
Still…
Taking a deep breath, you try and let it wash over and through you, getting mad now would only make things worse.
Despite everything, you cared for the grumpy lizard next-door stomping around your bedroom and you had made a decision to take care of her.
Well, if she was feeling well enough to punish your floorboards with her clawed feet like that then she should be feeling well enough to come out here and get something to eat and drink, it had been a while since she had drunk anything to your knowledge so it was important that she at least stay hydrated.
Your kitchen was only moderately better stocked than the last time she had dropped in unexpectedly, she hadn’t been back since that first time (despite your offers) strangely enough but you had prepared a couple of things for when she hopefully might.
Apart from an Armageddon’s worth of dried noodles stuffed in your cupboards you had also found a few cans of corned beef and some pita breads, hardly a five-star feast but a childhood spent in straights much like this you had learnt a few things about making food from nothing.
You had remembered when Opal had tried a pastry on one of your days out together, a corned beef pasty the guy had called it.
Although she couldn’t eat much in the way of cooked meats she had loved the taste of it and had actually gone back for a second helping, so you had worked out a cheap but similar alternative.
Slicing the pita bread open, you spoon in some of the beef from the can and add a few other small seasonings for flavour.
Then you place the creation in the microwave and heat it up for a little while, careful to not make it too hot but just enough for the smell to get the taste buds tingling.
With two meaty packages prepared, you pour a large glass of water and head back to the sofa, setting down the food on the little coffee table.
It didn’t take long for the smell to get a reaction.
The thumping footstep noises stopped, and a not quite stealthy sniffing and snorting sound replaced them.
It didn’t take long for the door to open and for Opal to poke her head through the gap, focusing those golden eyes of hers on the prize.
She made no move to leave your room however, and you made no move to take it to her, instead taking a bite out of your own and watching.
She got the message.
Eventually she came out and shuffled forward, a sheepish look on her face as she tried to avoid eye contact with you.
“I made you something.” you say softly, taking another bite as you do.
With a sigh, she sat herself down slowly next to you and took the plate.
She spent a few seconds staring at it before she spoke, still not looking at you.
“I’m… sorry for snapping at you just now, I know you’re only trying to help.”
You remain silent, still chewing.
“Everything has just gone so wrong and I’m not used to feeling so helpless.”
“I get it, I do.”
She looks up at you finally as you speak.
“Things aren’t too peachy for me right now either, and I had to take the only person I care about in this city to the hospital covered in blood not so long ago.”
She looked away again.
“I thought I was going to lose you, so forgive me if I’ve been a little… worried.”
She continued to stare at the hastily cooling meaty packet on the plate, lost in silent thought.
“Don’t worry about it ok?  We’ll get through this, get your strength back and things will start to look better before you know it.”
You weren’t actually feeling the confidence you injected behind those words, but when you placed your hand softly on her knee at the end of them, the look she gave you said that she had.
It only took her a moment to wolf down her food and to drain the glass of water thereafter, it wasn’t much but it was a start.
With a satisfied smack of her scaled lips she was done.
Before you knew it however she had pulled you into a hug, one that you found yourself gingerly returning in fear of opening a cut anywhere.
“Thank you Anon, it helps knowing you are here for me and I’s sorry again for everything…”
You give her a peck on her cool scaly cheek and dare to squeeze her a little tighter.
“That’s alright, just remember I’m on your side here ok?”
Finally breaking the hug, she looks up at you and sighs again.
“So what now?  I know its late but I don’t really want to go back to bed just yet and this smock thing is starting to get a bit uncomfortable.”
Despite the darker parts of your mind taking this as an opportunity to disrobe her, you soon realise what she means.
Where the blood that had leaked from her wounds had dried, it had stuck in places to the hospital clothes she was still wearing, so with each movement it must be pulling on her still healing cuts and gashes.
“If you want I can find you a change of clothes and help you clean up?” you suggest, remembering this had been in your already too soon abandoned plan of action.
The scales on her cheeks and atop her head do that odd little ‘bristling blush’ thing again as she considers your offer.
“That would be great but… I’m not really wearing anything under here and… my clothes are…”
You hold up a hand to stop her.
Despite you both growing closer these last few months and actually considering yourselves in a relationship, things had progressed slowly.
Very slowly.
With the whole different species thing and her unwillingness to come back to your place again, it had meant that apart from a few risqué embraces and some stolen kisses/nuzzles there had been little opportunity to take things further.
In truth, you didn’t even know if that was something she had even considered with you.
It was certainly something you had considered with her, although there were a lot of blanks for your imagination to fill in admittedly and the reality might be different to what it had come up with.
Still, now wasn’t the time for those thoughts, she needed help cleaning up before her wounds got infected or reopened or something.
“I am not going to do anything that you don’t want me to do or are not comfortable with.” you soothe.
“I just want to make sure your wounds are clean and that your comfortable while you recuperate, I managed to save your clothes from the enclave on my way out and I still have the ones you borrowed last time too so I’m not suggesting you wander around here naked or anything.”
…
(You do your best to think of sombre and serious things to combat the images attempting to surface in your mind at this point, and somehow succeeding.)
She fidgets with her hands for a moment as she mulls over her options, the base of her claws you notice are still flecked with dried blood from the fight, until she finally answers.
“Ok, I’d like that.”
Nodding your head, you rise up from the sofa and start trying to form a plan.
One that involves helping her while somehow not getting an eyeful, copping a feel or otherwise enraging the sleeping beast in your pants that was threatening to make things very awkward indeed…
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 9

After a bit of a think, you decided against a full shower.
You didn't yet know the full extent of her injuries so a full body scrubdown, no matter how gentle, would most likely do more harm than good.
So you opted for something a bit more personal, but also a lot easier on damaged scales.
The equivalent of a soft scaly spongebath.
At first Opal seemed reluctant to the idea, but she couldn't suggest an alternative that she could easily perform herself or didn't involve you getting too close so ended up agreeing.
You kind of felt a little hurt by her reticence, that the thought of you being in close contact with her, after all the time you spent in each other's company, somehow made her uncomfortable.
You would soon learn why however.

There just wasn't enough room in your little bathroom or shower cubicle for you both to sit (Opal standing through the entire process wasn't really something you were prepared to accept) so she sat upon the little folding chair in the living room, some towels underneath and her tail poking out the back through the gap.
As for your part, you stood with a steaming hot bowl of water, some soft cloth and more dry towels.
The idea was for you to work your way across her extremities, down her back, and stop before hitting anything sensitive.
She would then take over and finish the rest, protecting her modesty but helping deal with the places she couldn't reach without trouble or undue stretching.
With everything ready, you kneeled down in front of her and waited.
"We're all set, just tell me if your wounds start to hurt or if you want me to stop and we'll take a break, ok?"
Her scales were still doing their bristling thing but she gave a little nod and a smile, so you carefully got to work.
First, you started with her hands.
Despite being her main weapons of choice in the fight they had seen little in the way of damage, except for a small scratch across the back of her left wrist.
The main reason you had started there however was because of the dried gore still present, the clotted lines of almost blackened red that probably belonged to Velvet that seemed to cling to the gaps between her scales..
With your cloth you set about dabbing along the ivory and silver scales along and inbetween her fingers, marvelling all the while at how they seemed to that much longer than a humans, and thickening slightly towards the tips to where the claws erupted forth.
Opal barely seems to breathe as you work, her hands held completely still.
As you work towards her claws you notice two things, first that red nail varnish she had been wearing was all chipped and scratched to hell, and secondly that there was a noticeable line at the base where the claws had actually grown since she had applied the last coat.
Your cloth came away red, but after a few rounds of wiping and soaking in the water, her hands were once again pristine, bar a healing scratch and some tarnished varnish.
Next you worked on her forearms, gently repeating the process of dabbing and wiping, being careful with the slightly larger scratches and cuts there.
Once you were done with her two outstretched arms it was time for her feet, she seemed particularly nervous about this part, so you tried talking to her to maybe take her mind off it.
"How are you feeling so far?  Any pain or do you want to take a break?"
She seemed to snap from whatever trance she was in, eventually looking down as you tried vainly to find some clean water in the bowl left to wash the cloth.
"N-no I'm o-ok."
Her feet were bigger than a human's, three large toes and a smaller one just on the inside of each foot.
Each toe ended in a large hooked claw, much like the ones on her hands, but bigger and far more lethal looking.
Each claw also had been coated with red varnish, and each was as worn and chipped too.
It still made your head spin somewhat, gently wiping the trapped gore from in between her large toes, just how different she was to you.
These feet had been made for running, pouncing, and mauling, yet here they were, curling slightly in your hands as you gently washed them clean.
Opal for her part was still doing her best to sit still and stoic, but her eyes were almost completely closed and her mouth was drooping open slightly.
After the second foot was done you had to stop, the water had cooled down and was already too grimy to continue.
Before getting up for a fresh bowl you make sure to wipe the moisture from her feet with a towel, there was little point in cleaning her up just to help her catch a chill.
To your surprise, your slightly firmer efforts with the towel were met by a strange noise from Opal.
Still in her almost trance like state, a gurgling rumble started to sound from her throat, her face a picture of almost bliss.
When you stopped your wiping to look however she stopped, suddenly clearing her throat and blinking her eyelids quickly.
"What was that just then?" you ask her curiously.
The bristling came back with a vengeance as she seemed to flounder slightly for an answer, she soon rediscovered her composure though.
"W-what, do you mean that noise just then?  That was nothing, just clearing a bit of food that got stuck there from earlier!"
You were unconvinced, but the job at hand was unfinished so you let it drop for now.
It only took a moment to get a fresh bowl of water, so you resumed where you had left off, from her ankles up.
With her legs being digitigrade it was another exercise in strangeness to try and clean them, she had knees and ankles etc but they just seemed to be set at odd angles and proportions...
You couldn't help but admire their aesthetics though...
Up past the knees, her thighs, were a no man's land without Opal's express permission.
The further up you moved her smooth, scaled legs, the stiffer she sat in her seat.
She wasn't giving you any indication to stop but you feel it would be a bad idea to let your wandering hands journey too far on their own, this wasn't really the time.
With the grime cleaned from her arms and lower legs, and the most immediately accessible wounds tended to, it was time to try remove the hospital gown and get to work on the more serious wounds.
Another steaming bowl prepared and ready, you place your hand on hers to get her attention once more.
"We need to get that gown off so I can tend to your back, I'll stay behind you so I won't see anything you don't want me to."
She still looked a little pensive but she didn't make any objections.
"Remember what I said, if it gets too much or you want to stop then just say so ok?"
She nodded quickly, but her jaw you notice is clenched tightly shut.
Slowly, you untie the little strings behind her back that held the stained hospital gown in place and reveal her bare scales, with her arms she held the front firmly in place.
You were not sure what you had expected to see there, but you couldn't help but gasp at what waited.

Several large gashes and jagged cuts marred the smooth scales of her now uncovered back, each telling the tale of Velvet's brutal assault.
The worst were covered by a shining layer of dried glue, the dark red locked behind the protective covering but open for all the world to see.
The shallower cuts that hadn't warranted gluing had crusted over, her exertions having opened them up previously, it would be difficult, but necessary to clean them.
Mixed in with the dried blood was a concoction of dust and dirt from the arena floor, when the doctor had treated her he had focused on stopping the bleeding, nothing else.
Cleaning would have come later, if he hadn't kicked her out so suddenly that is.
You couldn't find the words to reassure the still silent lizard, the severity of her injuries choking you of clarity.
Opal just sat there, hunched forward slightly and hugging the ruined gown to herself, shivering.
So you did the only thing you could.
Slowly and carefully, you lean forward and plant a gentle kiss on the back of her neck.
She froze, once again stone still.
Her head moved to the side and she tried to speak but you held a finger up and stopped her.
"Shhh, you don't have to say anything."
She blinked, her golden eye fixed on you.
"Let me take care of you, please."
A single tear formed and fell, before she turned back away to let you continue.
It was slow going, the crusted blood mixed with dirt had settled between the slightly larger scales on her back, coupled with the fact that you didn't want to reopen any wounds, meant being extra careful.
She had shifted her legs to the side so that the back of the chair was now go her right, this gave you unblocked access to her back.
Eventually, you had cleared the worst of it, but instead of finding clear white scales however you found something else.
A thicker set of ridged scales followed the line of her spine from her neck to the end of her tail, similar to that of a crocodile or alligator but not as pronounced.
That wasn't what caught your eye though.
It was the intricate patterns flowing along from them, swirling lines of silver arcing out from each point that decorated her newly cleaned back like curved lightning put to canvas.
Even with the cuts and wounds marking them, their beauty ensnared your eye and refused to let go.
"Is... everything ok?"
Opal's voice knocked you from your stupor, you had been just standing there and staring.
"Huh?  Oh, yes sorry!"
You quickly finish up your work on her back and get the towel.
"It's just... I've never seen these markings on your back before, you're always wearing a blouse or top."
You stop drying her for a second.
"They're beautiful."
She looked back to you again, surprise on her features.
"What?  Don't be silly."
"No, I mean it, they're something else." you respond earnestly.
She glares at you, as if expecting some joke or platitude from you.
When your expression didn't change however the glare gave way to more blushing.
"Really?  But..."
"But what?" you intercede, genuinely puzzled as to why she was so sceptical.
"All of our women develop markings once they come of age, normally bright colours like red or purple, but mine never really showed..."
You try and imagine how those shining silver lines might show up in the darkness of the underground but couldn't see them any other way than you did now.
"My markings don't show so well as the others do, so I covered them up."
With your fingers, you find an uninjured part of her back and start to slowly trace along one of her marks, following the intricate pattern as it spread out from the ridge, causing her to shiver slightly, but not from any cold.
"I can see it just fine up here, and I truly think it's beautiful."
Once you reached the end you stop, once again pulling yourself (under protest) back to the task at hand.
The next part was going to be delicate.
Her chest and abdomen had also taken a good portion of Velvet's rage but Opal had made it clear that she didn't want you to see.
Still, something had to be done.
So, you head off and once again refill the bowl with clean water and a fresh cloth.
Returning you see that she has shifted around to face you, the gown still clutched to her chest.
"Anon?" she asked uncertainly, an odd look on her long face.
"I know." you respond.
"The next part is a bit delicate so if you want me to leave the water here and go to the other room then that's just fine, just tell me what you want to do."
It took a moment before she answered.
"Actually... could you stay... and help me a bit more?"
You smile, but suppress the little thrill of excitement that followed.
She didn't drop the gown however, instead she looked at you sheepishly again.
"Before I show you... everything, you have to promise not to laugh, ok?"
Laughter hadn't been something you had expected to be a factor tonight, so her question had you somewhat confused.
"I promise not to laugh, but I'm not sure what you would think is so embarrassing... so far every part of you I've seen has been just wonderful..."
With a little shiver and an embarrassed grimace, she dropped the gown from her chest...

It took you a second to register what you saw...
Which was nothing.
Her chest was covered in the layer of white and silver scales you had expected, along with a series of nasty wounds, but nothing else.
There was a noticeable lack of... boobs.
She was flat, not so much as a mound or even a nipple.
The logical part of your brain understood, why would a race of lizards who hatch from eggs need mammeries?
They don't breastfeed as mammals do so why would they evolve them?
The less logical part of your brain threw a hissy fit.
How could your otherwise gorgeous girlfriend not have tits?
That was where a lot of the fun happened during the typical pre game warm up so to speak...
Yet...
Despite the lack of assets...
She sat there, shyly avoiding your eye and scale blushing furiously.
She had put herself out there for you, and only you, to see, and secondly was waiting for your response.
"I still don't see what you think I should be laughing at..." you say eventually.
Her gaze snaps back to you suddenly, cutting deep as she searches for any hint of sarcasm or mocking.
"Wait, you don't mind?"
Your determinedly puzzled look prompts further explanation.
"You don't mind that I don't have... what human girls have?"
She punctuated the question with her hands, cupping a pair of large but non-existent breasts.
"No of course not, why would I?" you ask, not quite sure why a lizard would be worried about such a thing.
"Since I realised that you liked me as in... 'liked me' liked me, I started looking at ways that might help you like me more..." she explained.
"I looked up at work what traits human men seek in a mate and well... all the women that came up on the computer thing had boobs, like really big ones..."
A vision of Opal at her desk in Town Hall googling boobs fluttered across your mind...
Why couldn't you get away with that at work?
"I tried stuffing my blouse but it didn't work so well, then when the fight happened I tried putting rocks in the ceremonial battle-dress but that didn't work out so well either."
The lengths she had gone to trying to impress you boggled the mind, but a healthy dose of shame crept in too as to how little of her effort you had actually noticed.
Finally, you set the water down and grab her hand again.
"Opal, I already told you that I think you're wonderful, in fact, I think that from the tip of your nose to the end of your tail, your perfect."
You hesitated for a second as you tried to decide between another kiss, a boop to the nose or something else, but she beat you to it.
Leaning forwards suddenly she nuzled her cheek against yours, grunting slightly at the effort as it pulled on her wounds.
This knocked you back into care mode and you gently push her back into the sitting position.
"Ok, let's get this done and then we can work out what comes next ok?"
Slowly, but purposefully, you begin washing her chest and midsection.
Starting at her neck you work your way down, taking time to drift across her flat navel and dab at the scabs and clustered dirt.
In response her head lifted up, her nose pointing to the ceiling as you gently caressed her slightly smaller frame.
It again took time, working around and over the more serious wounds but paying attention to her more sensitive areas, but soon you were done.
The last port of call was her tail.
She took a cloth and worked on her own thighs and more 'intimate' areas, but she couldn't reach the muscular protrusion from her rear.
It didn't take as long as her other areas, with there being little to no damage there, but you couldn't help but notice her shudder slightly under your touch and that gurgling rumble coming back...
As you finished however so had she, so as you took the last of the water away, she set about drying herself.
When you returned she looked a big more relaxed, the dirt and grime around her wounds had gone and she was able to move a bit easier.
Despite her continued embarrassment, you eventually managed to finish drying her off and got her dressed in the baggy work out clothes she had borrowed last time.
She hadn't said much, but she had locked eye contact with you as you helped her dress.
You couldn't deny that there was a lot more ease there than before, and perhaps something more...
Eventually though, it was done.
So leaving her sat on the sofa, you clean up the used towels and strip your bed of the bloodied sheets, replacing them with your only other clean set.
When you returned Opal was still sitting where you had left her, 
She had leaned herself against the side however and seemed to be trying to doze off.
You knew from experience though how uncomfortable that sofa was however, so you decide to put her back to bed.
"Come on Opal, I think it's time for you to get some proper rest again, we can sort out the rest in the morning."
She offered no resistance as you picked her up in your arms and placed her gently in bed once more.
As you turned to go find her water bottle again though, she grabbed your arm, much like before.
This time however, it was far more gentle.
"Anon?" she whispered softly.
"I'm here." you respond.
"I don't want the water bottle this time... can you keep me warm instead?"
The sight of her wounds and the amount of blood tipped down the sink was still fresh in your mind, so you know there was no hidden meaning behind her request tonight.
She was hurt, tired and cold, and she just wanted you to hold her.
You take a moment to change out of your wet clothes into some fresh boxers and a shirt, aware she was slyly watching from her almost but not quite shut eyelids, and then climb into bed next go her.
It only takes a moment before she wraps herself around you, her arms around your chest, her legs intertwined with yours, and her tail snaking its way somehow into the mix.
You feel her relax instantly in your arms, finally at peace.
"New sheets are nice, but they didn't smell like you..." she muttered, drifting off to sleep soon after.
You kiss the tip of her snout and hold her close, sighing in contentment.
"Goodnight Opal, I'm glad your here..."
Sleep takes you soon after, your dreams a mix of spiralling silver and the constant touch of silken scales across your skin...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 10

It had taken some doing, but when the morning came you managed to disentangle yourself from the blissfully sleeping Opal next to you and get out of bed.
At first, you couldn't bring yourself to move at all.
Her peaceful face was the first image taken in by your bleary eyes, her soft raspy breath on your neck the first sensation.
It had taken every ounce of willpower stored in your being to not just stay there, simply being close to her like that under the covers granted you a sense of peace long forgotten, or maybe one that hadn't been there before at all.
There were things you needed to do however, some that could probably wait, but others that really couldn't.
The problems from yesterday hadn't gone away, they remained there still, threatening to fester if you didn't make some attempt to address them.
So with a cup of coffee in hand, you switch on the tv (lowest volume available of course) and check the news to see if there were any new developments.
To your surprise there was little being said about the incident, or you, as the paparazzo were busy live monitoring an armed robbery turned exciting car chase on the other side of town.
You were thankfully yesterday's news, at least for now.
Perhaps it would make sorting things out a bit easier if a grainy image of your mug wasn't flickering across everyone's screens.
First things first, the pile of bloodstained sheets and towels sitting in the basket from yesterday couldn't really stay there forever, you would need to make a trip down to the laundry room.
Even at this early hour it wasn't wise to walk the halls openly looking like you were cleaning up a murder scene so you bagged it all up first before heading to the building basement.
You left a note for Opal in case she woke up before you got back and made your way down.
It didn't take all that long, despite the rest of the building facilities left wanting the owners had installed a series of large washers that could accommodate large loads for the residents to use.
This allowed you to put the whole lot in at once and leave it to do itself, you would need to come back later to put it in the dryer but at least it wouldn't take multiple trips, you could get back to Opal for now.
When you got back, you were surprised to hear movement, more specifically the sound of some clawed feet padding around your kitchen.
What you found was Opal had woken up, read your note, and decided to make you both breakfast before you got back.
It was a sweet thought considering she should be resting, but it seemed her idea of breakfast was a steaming pot of instant noodles...
"You're up?  I hope I didn't wake you..."
She smiled warmly in response and walked over with the noodles.
"No, it didn't really feel the same without you there with me so I got myself up."
You took the offered noodles, the strange breakfast suddenly taking a backseat to her last sentence.
Before you could press her on it though she had sat herself down on the sofa, a lot less gingerly than she had been moving around yesterday too.
Taking a seat next to her, you start chowing down on your noodles and note she had actually switched on your tv and was watching the news intently.
You don't remember telling her how it worked so you were a bit perplexed as to how she had done it, were they secretly watching tv down in those tunnels?
Watching the world above with interest perhaps while the humans thought they were banging rocks together in the dark?
She was watching a recap of the week's events on the news channel, specifically the part where the cctv of you carrying her off was looping.
So much for being forgotten...
Guess the cops had already caught the robbers so it was back to good old fashioned gossip mongering and rehashing older news.
After a few minutes of watching and silently eating her noodles, she switched it back off, handling your old remote like a veteran channel surfer.
"You ok?"
Your question seemed to knock her from whatever silent introspection had taken her, bringing her attention back to you.
"Yeah I'm fine, just wondering how bad it is back home right now."
You remembered the palpable anger felt during your flight from the mob, the spot where the rock had struck still smarted, but you chose to remain silent for now.
"I can't believe all of this happened because I took you down there...  I just wanted to show you around my home for a while, not start... this!"
The sudden wave of her hands nearly tipped what was left of your breakfast, but by luck or devine intervention, you kept the contents from spilling across the sofa.
She recoiled as soon as she had knocked the pot, tears welling up in her eyes even after you prevented any spillage.
"I-Im sorry Anon..." she almost whimpered.
"I shouldn't even be here, I've caused so much trouble already..."
With her on the verge of breaking down again, you set the pot somewhere safe and try pull her into a hug, hoping to provide a little comfort and reassurance if nothing else.
At first she leaned into it, allowing herself to be drawn in towards you, only to stop before the point of comfortable no return and springing off the sofa completely.
"No!" she cried sharply, her teeth bared and snapping.
You could only sit and stare, her sudden moodswing catching you off guard.
"What, did I press on one of your wounds?  Are you hurt?"
She was shaking now and had started pacing like she had been before.
"No, no no no I won't!"
Your confusion found itself now second to concern, it didn't sound like she was talking to you and she was getting increasingly agitated.
"Opal... calm down, your safe here ok?"
Your attempts to sooth her didn't seem to make much of an impact, in fact she didn't even seem to register you had spoken at all.
"No no no no!  Can't won't don't shouldn't!"
Her words were starting to slur and she was hissing slightly between breaths, something was very wrong.

As she paced, hissing and muttering, quickly receding into some sort of internal struggle.
It wasn't long before you decided to try and do something, she wasn't acknowledging your attempts to talk to her and her movements were becoming more erratic.
A vague mental map from last night in mind, you try visualise where the worst of her wounds were before acting.
If the plan that had sprung to mind failed, or backfired even, it would take more than a hot bowl of water to fix the damage an out of control lizard could to to your softer exterior...
The memory of those maimed would be attackers from that first night you met had never really left you.
Her golden eyes burned as she tried to hold her snout in her hands, her tail whipping this way and that and the hissing was getting worse.
So you took off your shoe and threw it as hard as you could towards the bedroom door.
You were rewarded with a mighty clap as the flying footwear hit the frame, causing Opal to turn and face the noise instinctively.
With her back now facing you, it was time to act.
Springing forward you wrap your arms around the tensed lizard and pull her backwards onto your lap.
She immediately began flailing and hissing in your arms as she struggled to get away.
It was all you could do, with your arms positioned away from her worst wounds, to hold on tight and whisper reassurances in the hopes it would get through.
"Shhh it's ok, your safe!"
"It's ok, you're ok, it's me..."
You repeated these lines for what felt like an eternity, with much in the way of snarling and thrashing before finally she started to calm down.
Her movements began to slow and the hissing subsided, until she was eventually sitting still and quiet upon your lap panting softly.
Even then you continued to sooth her, trying to ignore the growing pain in your arms.
"It's ok Opal, it's going to be ok."
It wasn't going to be completely ok however, as from your position behind her you could just make out the unmistakable sight of fresh blood soaking its way up her sleeves.
She must have reopened her wounds... or so you thought.
It really hadn't occurred to you that the blood might actually have been yours.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Opal's world spun and simmered around her, an intense burning behind her eyes had blocked all thought, and allowed only desperate emotion through.
But even as her surroundings has bucked and broiled, even as she felt herself being pulled down into the maw of some great nameless beast, she had heared something else beyond the howling of non-existent wind.
She had started to hear someone speaking, not in the traditional words of her people, but in those of the humans.
Words spoken in a voice that she recognised, that provided a stable point in the maelstrom of her emotions that she could cling onto.
"Shhh it's ok, your safe!"
She found herself slowly drifting to a calmer place, her surroundings starting to solidify into more reassuringly familiar shapes and hues, the roaring of the wind from within tapering off and blocked out by the soothing words.
No longer was she being pulled in and being devoured, but held tightly and safely in the warm arms of someone she trusted.
Anon...
As she gasped for breath, eyes closed and aching muscles relaxing, she became aware of another sensation.
A warm  stickiness under her hands, that had clenched around something tightly as she had weathered the storm from within.
That, and the unmistakable smell of blood.
Slowly she opened her eyes and looked down, Anon's gentle words never ceasing.
Her hands had found purchase on his bare forearms, her claws had cut a path of crimson fury across them before she had calmed.
"A-Anon?" she whispered shakily, the horror of what she had just done sinking in.
"I-Im so sorry!  I didn't mean..."
He had stopped his soothing and loosened his grip from around her waist, but not let her go completely yet.
"Are you back?" he asked shakily.
"I'm... better, but your arms... I didn't...  I'm..."
He simply pulled them back and looked at them, causing some fresh blood to run from the wounds and drip down on his chest.
"Damn... guess we're going to be having some matching scars then huh?"
Despite his attempt at humour she could see he was hurting.
She hadn't been trying to harm him so it could have been worse, but it didn't change the fact he was now bleeding because of her.
"You need to see a doctor!" she nearly shouted at him, the relaxed sensations of only a moment ago falling away to near panic.
Anon's calm voice cut through the mounting dispar however and drew her back into focus.
I don't need a doctor, really, just go get me the medical kit from the kitchen would you?"
She knew from the orientation at her work in Town Hall what to look for so it didn't take long to find the one he kept, and under his direction she soon had the correct items out and was working to clean the cuts.
She was surprised to see that once the blood had been wiped away the wounds were actually not as severe as first thought.
Her claws had cut and jabbed him mercilessly but they were still in the process of growing back to full length after her last trimming and most of the punctures and slashes were pretty shallow.
Eventually she managed to clean, sterilize, gauze and bandage both arms to a point where she was satisfied she could do no more.
Still, it didn't change the fact she had just flipped out and near mauled him, the only person in the world that actually seemed to care for her and she had freaked and cut him up like a wild animal.
Yet somehow he wasn't recoiling in fear, or bursting with anger.
He had simply sat there and directed her on how best to patch him up, and even now was just looking at her worried.
Not worried if she was going to hurt him again, but about her and how she had flipped out in the first place...
This human...
This man...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"What happened just then?"
Your question hung uneasily in the air between you for a second, you wanted to understand, needed to.
The world as you knew it had already started falling apart, it was the thought that you still had Opal and that she needed you that was keeping you afloat.
If she was sick...
The tears were flowing freely down her smooth scaly cheeks but she was looking at you with a strangely intense expression, a far cry from the crazed creature she had been before.
"I lost control..." she muttered, her voice barely above a whisper and her face a picture of shame.
"Was it something I did?" you ask uncertainly, still not sure if the attempted hug had hurt her somehow.
"No, not really, but... it was because of you, sort of."
Her answer did little to provide you with an actual, well... answer.
Realising this she continued.
"Do you remember what I told you about my people?  About how the females get sort of violent if they don't get the opportunity to... mate?"
You remembered the vivid visions of female warbands on the prowl, and nod.
"Well, it gets a bit more complicated than that..."
She stopped and composed herself, seemingly preparing for some big revelation.
"It's part of how we evolved down in the caves, with so few males around we began to fight and compete for mates, it became instinctual, vital."
You weren't sure you liked where this was headed...
"Couplings are short, with the male moving on in most cases after a clutch is sired."
"For the females who want to claim a viable mate before that happens, they get angry, competitive, violent, but the same goes for the female defending her claim."
You nodded sagely and wait for her to continue.
"Usually the victor would claim their mate, and soon after get their desire of children, and the loser would perish, this was not always the case however."
Her head hung low for the next part.
"If the loser survived, or was spared out of spite, their anger, their urge to fight would not leave them, not without mating, so they would become an exile and seek ways to vent their frustrations in the empty caves."
"I thought you said they always turned up... dead?" you ask wearily.
"Yes, usually because they keep hunting and fighting the larger creatures out in the wilderness until they die, or their rage renders them quite mad and they no longer possess the capacity to even feed or care for themselves anymore."
"That's... kind of brutal..." you surmise.
"It is." she agreed sadly.
"With the difference in our population numbers though it was too difficult to try and stop it, our elders simply did what they could to maintain links with other settlements and allow the males that were there access to travel."
"Allowing the females to fight in arenas stopped conflict from spilling into the streets and a return to the old ways..."
You ponder her words for a second or two, before a question rears its head.
"If you're telling me all this then... does that mean you have this 'rage' thing?"
She nods again sadly.
"It started shortly after we started seeing each other, when you weren't around I started getting snappy, angry over nothing...  I tried to shrug it off as nerves or something but..."
You were not sure you quite understood.
"So, I'm making you sick?"
She shook her head, a bit more forcibly than was probably necessary.
"No, it's just... how do I explain this..."
Eventually, after some deep thought and an awkward silence, she continued.
"Remember I said that couplings were short lived?  Well that's because they usually... get it over, if you know what I mean (she started scale blushing again), the female gets her clutch, then the male goes elsewhere to start again."
You still couldn't quite catch what she was leading to...
"When I started feeling like that with you, I didn't want to just... 'get it over with'."
Wait, is she saying...
"The longer we spent together the worse it got, but the more I didn't want it to end."
She is...
"So I fought it, I thought that if I worked hard enough at hiding it then it would go away and we could just keep spending time together."
The pieces somehow fit together to form an odd picture.
The female lizards apparently got violent if they didn't find a mate, if they did find one then they would get violent unless promptly... fertilized.
Even then, if another female discovered a viable already claimed mate she too would get violent and challenge the first female...
The loser would then either die or get so full of shame and rage they would go off and die somewhere, and the winner would lose her mate as soon as she was properly pregnant.
You took a second to first wonder how the lizards had managed to maintain a viable population under such circumstances, and secondly, what this meant for Opal.
If she was starting to lose her mind to, well... basicly the need to breed that your relationship had stirred within her, what had to happen?
Would she have to go home and find a suitable male to essentially knock her up?
Would that even be an option now considering everything that had happened?
Would you feel comfortable if it was even an option?
The welling of emotion in your chest at the though of that last question gave you your answer.
Looking back over to her, you could see her shaking slightly as she wept, her once perfect hands once again stained with blood, yours this time.
It was a small miracle that she hadn't opened up her wounds again with all that thrashing she did,  but you couldn't see any other patches of blood on her clothes other than yours.
You reach out your hand and gently give her arm a squeeze, drawing her teary golden eyes back to yours.
 "Come here."
She shuffled without a word back onto the sofa, then your lap, and sat there in your embrace.
"We're you afraid that if we tried... getting close, that what we have would be over?  That I'd leave like the men of your people do?"
She seemed to have fallen to a point below words, only managing another sniffle and a nod.
"You know some humans are like that too, they get together for a while and then break up again when they want to, but not all humans."
"R-really?" she asked, her head resting against your shoulder now.
"Yeah, really, some of us even spend the rest of our lives together too."
She gave a sad little chuckle, her weight shifting slightly as she settled in against you, your arm now around her shoulders.
"I didn't know that about humans, the few things I have seen and read while up here away from the enclave always made out typical relationships to be short and shallow like ours, or the stuff of stories and song."
You give her a slightly tighter hug, careful not to irritate your fresh bandages.
"Well, some of us spend our lives looking for that special someone, and when we do, we don't let go again, not til our dying day."
She seemed to pull in even tighter against you.
Then her hand came up and rested against your cheek, caressing it softly despite the claws stained with your still fresh blood.
"Anon?"
"Yes Opal?" you respond softly.
"If I lay with you, would you stay with me afterwards?"
"We spent last night laying in bed together didn't we?" you whisper gently, a bit confused that she had to ask.
"No, not like last night..."
You felt her tense up again, as if building towards some great trial.
"I mean, if we were to lay together... as one, would you stay with me then?  As my... mate?"
You got the distinct impression that she was asking more than just if you still want to go out together, there was also the suggestion of more, of things that she hadn't dared to ask of another before now.
"Yes my sweet Opal, I would stay."
She didn't make any further response, but you felt her expression change  slightly as her face still pressed tightly to your shoulder, and a little pool of wetness around where her eye should be formed.
Fresh tears soaked your already ruined shirt, as you held her close and wondered if your future really would be that simple, or if there was yet some final twist of fate waiting to keep you apart...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 11

It felt like hours had passed since Opal had freaked out, since you had calmed her down and found out what had been bothering her.
Yet you were still sat there on the sofa, with Opal upon your lap and sleeping soundly.
After you had told her that you would stay, that you wouldn't just up and leave like she had feared, she had remained pressed up against you until falling into a deep sleep.
You suspected that the exertion of her 'episode' had sapped what energy her healing body had been able to recover and she was now resting peacefully.
There was no peaceful napping for you though.
On one hand, the feeling of having her smooth body pressed so close to yours, her snout tucked in under your chin, and the rhythmic beating of her heart next to yours...
It was bliss.
Yet a storm of thought was brewing within.
The things she had told you, the implications of it all for both of you...
If she was feeling all that anger inside, because of your relationship, then it was you that was actually hurting her, even if it was unintentionally.
Among her own people she would work it out by fighting, mating or dying.
Two of those options filled you with dread, while the other brought about a terrible feeling of guilt.
The idea had crossed your mind, quite frequently in fact, about perhaps helping her in that regard.
Maybe the simple act of you and her getting intimate would reset whatever hormonal time bomb that was currently exploding in her.
Yet you couldn't shake the feeling that you were taking advantage in some way.
To your knowledge, there hadn't been any reported physical relationships between your peoples as of yet, although there might very well had been.
You had spent more than a little time fantasizing about what it would be like, of softly caressing those fine smooth hips and showing her just how much you needed her...
In your head, it had been... special.
A night of two lovers tenderly exploring one another intimately for the first time...
To just have at her, to scratch some primal itch growing beyond her control, sounded damn hot in theory but the apparent necessity of it over her truly wanting it, wanting you, seemed to just feel wrong somehow.
Then again, perhaps you were overthinking it.
If she was eager for a good seeing to then who were you to deny her based needs?
Yet there was a part of you that couldn't let it go...
To think, you were being cock blocked by your own romantic side.
Then there were the other problems that ever gnawed at you, the lack of work, money, all the political crap being thrown around.
The longer you sat here hugging your sleeping lizard, although a balm for the soul, was only making matters worse.
Thanks to careful budgeting you had survived on your small income, paid your bills and even had enough to treat Opal sometimes on your days out together.
With you now being unemployed, your stock of cheap food now shared between two and the inevitable building of further expenses a second occupant would bring...
Perhaps it was the way you were unconsciously tensing up, or maybe it was the general vibe of fast approaching despair that did it...
Opal stirred in your arms and awoke.

With a big yawn, showing off all of her very sharp and pointy teeth in the process, she roused from her comfortable nap.
It only took her a moment or two before she remembered where she was and why her sleeping spot was so warm and soft, causing her to slowly stretch and lift herself off of you and back onto the sofa instead.
"Mmmm... what time is it?" she asked sleepily.
"It's nearly twelve." you respond, your arm resting over her shoulders as she shifted to sitting up against rather than on you.
"Do you mind if I just stay here like this for a while longer?" she mumbled, like a sleepy teenager unwilling to leave her comfy bed to start the day.
"Ok..." you sigh.
"Just for a little while longer, but then I might have to go out and sort out some things."
"Like what?" 
She had tried to adjust the position of her head to look up at you, but only succeeded in wedging the end of her snout up under your ear.
Despite your growing anxiety, you couldn't help but let out a chuckle and turn your head.
The result was for the side of her long nose to slowly glide along the line of your jaw to your chin in what felt like a particularly sensual nuzzle. 
When it reached close enough you gave her nose a little kiss, before she returned her head to your shoulder.
"With me now being out of work I've got to go find some other way to get some money in, either a new job... or something."
She pulled away to look at you properly this time, a touch of confusion on her scaled features.
"Money?"
You couldn't quite work out why that would be so surprising to her.
"Yes, I was never really earning much to start with but I need some sort of income to keep this place and buy stuff like food for us."
A little smile formed as she watched you stress over your impending destitution, causing you to twitch in irritation.
"I'm looking at financial ruin here my dear so why are you smiling like that?"
The smile graduated up to a toothy grin.
"Don't worry too much about money Anon, I've got something that we can use that should help."
You remember the few meagre notes in her purse that you had spotted earlier.
"That's great Opal but you're here to recuperate, I can't and won't have you paying the bills while I'm looking after you."
Her next move surprised you.
With another smile she reached up and returned what you had given her previously, a boop to the nose.
It was actually quite disconcerting being on the receiving end of one of those...
"I'm actually starting to feel a whole lot better as it happens, and I have some things that should help with the money situation."
To demonstrate, she pulled herself up and out of the sofa seat, and started stretching.
To your amazement, she seemed really very... limber, for someone who had a series of life threatening gashes sealed with glue not all that long ago.
"Wait... you're feeling better already?"
The disbelief on your face caused her to chuckle and lift up her shirt, giving you a view of her smooth scaly abdomen.
There were still obvious lines covered over with glue but the others that had been cleaned and left to heal themselves were no longer scabbed and angry looking.
If anything, the flesh under the torn scales looked far better than it had even last night, having gone from dark red to pink.
"How is that even possible?" you breathe in amazement.
She dropped the shirt back down and continued to smile proudly.
"We heal faster than humans do, or at least our wounds do."
Your still confused expression causes her to continue, showing you one of the deeper but unglued cuts on her arm.
The wound was pink like the others had been, the scales surrounding it cut and torn.
"The flesh heals quickly but the scales stay broken, in time we naturally shed the damaged scales while a new layer develops underneath."
You were of course pleased that she would be back to normal soon, at least in the physical sense, but you were actually a little disappointed too.
Having her here, hurt and needing you... somehow gave you a sense of purpose inside that you were ashamed to admit.
Still, if she was mobile then that was one less thing to worry about.
"Wow, great!  Just how exactly does that help with the money situation though...?"
Obviously pleased to have found a way to surprise you she goes ahead and does it again.
Retrieving her handbag that you had stashed away safely, she pulled out the little pouch of stones you had spotted in there before and sat herself back down next to you.
With some prompting she had you cup your hands so that she could pour some of the pouch contents out, what fell into your hands wasn't just the pile of carved stones and crystals you had seen in your cursory examination though.
You gasped, as a stream of glittering gems tumbled from the pouch and came to rest in front of you.
Even to your untrained eye you spotted rubies, sapphires, emeralds... pretty much most kinds of precious stone that humanity had fought and bickered over for generations, each the size of a lozenge.
"Where did you even get something like this?" you practically wheezed.
"We live underground remember?" she responded happily.
Something that your visitor from yesterday had said came back to mind, about how there had been other things to consider regarding the lizards than just politics...
Perhaps it was this?
Maybe Opal's people were sitting on a fortune in gems, gold or perhaps more and the powers that be were desperate to either trade as much of it as they could without anyone else knowing, or even trying to stop the lizards from flooding the markets with it all.
Whatever the reasoning, it would explain why they would prefer to throw you to the lizards without a fuss over actually sticking up for you.
As you stared at the jewels probably worth more than you could ever hope to earn sitting in your hands, Opal placed her own hand over them and drew your gaze to hers.
"I know that humans go a bit crazy for these old things so we should be able to sell some of these to get by, at least for a while."
You lean forward and do something that you hadn't really dared to try before, mostly because stealing a peck on the cheek in public was difficult enough without drawing attention.
You place a kiss directly on her scaled lips.
She didn't really have the human shaped equivalent features to respond, her own lips only really a thin set of scales covering up her pointed array of teeth, but she understood the gesture.
It only lasted for a second or two, but as you pulled away she followed, rubbing her smooth cheek against yours in her own sign of affection.
Once you had parted, you took great care in returning the stones to the pouch.
This really wasn't the kind of pocket change that you could afford to loose down the back of the sofa.
"This would really help us while we work out what to do, you sure that you want to use it like that though?"
She cocked her head to the side, confused.
"Why wouldn't I use them like this?" she asked in return.
"I mean, these are really valuable, it must have taken you a while to save up this many...  Won't you get in even more trouble for taking them up here?"
She let out a musical little chuckle in response.
"For taking these?  Nope."
Your expression told her quite clearly that there was still some doubt floating around so she explained further, taking out an example from the pouch to show you.
"These aren't as valuable down there to us as they are to you."
"This red one is used by our young to decorate their scales when playing tunnel monsters."
"The green ones usually get cut into little spheres and are used to play games, like your marbles."
She carried on showing you more examples, describing more and more mundane uses for the gemstones that humans had killed each other over to get since forever.
Eventually you stop her, holding your hands up in surrender and accepting the truth.
"Ok I believe you, your trash is actually worth more than pretty much everything I own..."
She beamed and stashed the pouch back in her bag.
"So what are we going to do with them, can we sell them somewhere?"
Her question was a good one.
How did one sell a bag full of stones like that without getting shopped to the cops as suspected thieves or screwed over by some con artist who would buy them from you cheap and sell them on for more...?
A few seconds of wordlessly staring off into space and an idea came to you.
Take them to a professional appraiser first, then find a suitable buyer.
"Ok, here's the plan!" 
Quickly you explain it to Opal.
Take a sample to an appraiser first for a quote, identify some reputable jewellers, sell the stones off to different places in small amounts at a time and bank the proceeds before anyone in this town has a chance to try mugging you for it.
It was still only early afternoon so there would be enough time left today to go out and do some scoping out of suitable buyers...
You were practically bouncing in your seat by this point, Opal getting caught up in the excitement and bouncing along with you.
The acquisition of money had never really been a driving force in your life, you either had enough to get by or you didn't.
Opal's unexpectedly quick recovery however, coupled with the whole going broke thing being as good as resolved had made you feel that for the first time in days, things might actually be alright after all.

The minutes following the concoction of your plan were a blur, as you tried to think up useful ways to use the sudden windfall, and attempted to persuade Opal that you wouldn't need to buy more instant noodles...
Apparently she had developed a taste for them...
She still had some stains on her hands from what she had done to your arms before so she had excused herself to the bathroom to clean up a bit.
You meanwhile went to your room for a change of clothes.
Getting a new shirt on was a bit of a trial with your bandaged arms, but you managed.
Upon leaving your room again however, you found Opal back by the sofa and rummaging franticly through her bag.
The way her tail was swishing about told you she was not in the same relaxed mood she had been in a minute ago, and for a moment you started to worry she was starting to perhaps get agitated again.
"Where is it?!?" she muttered, her rump swaying alluringly as her tail squished.
"Is everything alright?" you ask, wondering if the sofa had taken offence to your denying it your pocket change by swallowing the entire pouch of riches...
She spun around at the sound of your voice, huffing in exasperation.
"I lost it!  I must have dropped it somewhere!"
You smile and start making a joke to lighten the mood, until you see the actual distress on her face.
"What did you lose?  I had to go in there earlier to fetch your clothes so maybe I dropped something?"
She looked at you in surprise but not anger.
"Tell me what's missing and maybe I can help find it."
She plopped the bag down on the sofa and faced you properly.
"It's the thing that I went to go get when we were having lunch at the enclave... a little bottle of lotion."
That sealed bottle you found...
"Oh that?  It's fine, I found it yesterday and put it somewhere safe so it didn't smash or anything."
She brightens up immediately, opens her mouth as if to say something... and stops dead.
Instead she snapped her maw shut and her scales started to do their now familiar little dance that you had associated with blushing.
"It's just over there in the bathroom, in the medicine cabinet."
She didn't move.
"I can go grab it if you want, or if it's a... personal thing, then we can just go out and sort out this stone stuff and deal with it later?"
She still didn't respond, so you felt compelled to ask.
"So... what's it for anyway?  Is it important?"
She hesitated before answering, causing your curiosity to pique that much more.
"I can't really go outside without it..."
You had been moving over to where you had stored it when she spoke, but her words caused you to stop and turn back.
"Huh?  What do you mean?"
She cleared her throat, looking a little more embarrassed now.
"Well, my people live underground, we got on without any sunshine for generations."
You nod.
"For some of us, moving around above ground in direct sunlight can be... painful, particularly for those without a dark pigment to our scales."
Of course, hers were a stunning mix of white and silver, almost like an albino effect you suppose...
"We cannot burn like humans do with your... skin, but it is really unpleasant at times, which is why we have the lotion."
It twigs.
"So the lotion acts like a sunblock or something, right?" you ask.
"Yes!  Like that!" she replied happily, apparently relieved that you got it.
"I can't really go with you out there without applying it first."
Finally getting it, you go grab the little bottle and bring it back.
"Here we go, safe and sound."
She took the bottle and studied it intently, the intact seal at the top seemed to satisfy her.
"I hung up your clothes in my room to try air out the creases a little, if you want to go get ready in there then I'll wait out here until you're set."
Perhaps you could take the opportunity to work on that wig of hers while you waited, she would appreciate the effort you think...
"Actually Anon... Do you think you could... help me again?"
Her request stalls the plans running through your mind.
"Wait, you mean getting dressed or..."
She waved the little bottle around in her hand for you, before retreating yo your bedroom.
"I'm still not completely healed and... I would appreciate your help applying this..."
Oh...
Considering the time you spent yesterday bathing her wounds it shouldn't be so daunting a request, but after what she had told you, and inflicted on your arms...
Not to mention that strange glow now in her eyes as she waited for you...
As you move back towards your bedroom and the waiting lizard, you suspect that going out into the afternoon sun might not actually be on the cards today at all...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 12

You had dreamt of this moment.
Not idle daydreams or small flights of fantasy, actual visits in the night by a white and silver scaled goddess who held you tight and caressed your very soul.
Actually having Opal here, sitting on your bed, and giving you what could only be described as a pair of crazy bedroom eyes however, had you feeling a little uneasy.
After what had happened before...
What if she flipped out again?
You had the space and the jump on her last time and your arms still got caught by those claws of hers, what would happen if she brought those teeth to bear in the confines of your small room?
Despite the little thrill shooting through you at the thought of getting closer to her, you decide to try and keep things simple for now.
Keeping her calm would be in everyone's best interests for the time being, especially yours.
Anyway, if she just needed what was essentially a bit of sunblock then it was only really the parts directly in contact with sunlight that needed treating, like her arms, face, ankles and such.
Surely a quick application of the lotion would be ok if just to those areas and then you would be outside in the fresh air.
She would be fine out there.
Right?
With your mind set to a strict pg13 on the lewdomiter, you found yourself in your room with Opal.

She had sat herself on the end of your bed, the covers still unmade from last night.
She had already broken the seal with her claw and had the little bottle held out expectantly.
"So..."
The question on your lips stalled, a poor start to proceedings, but the little voice in your head dedicated to survival was screaming incoherently at you now and keeping your thoughts straight was getting hard.
Clearing your throat, you start again.
"Alright, so how do you want to do this?"
She didn't answer.
"If you want I can apply some to the top of your head perhaps to start with and you can do the rest, or I can wait for you to get dressed first and then help you put some on the parts still showing?"
Still nothing.
"Opal?  You listening?"
Finally she seemed to shake herself out of whatever had taken hold and answered.
"Oh, sorry... just seemed to have lost myself for a second there."
It took her a second or so to focus and respond you your questions, she seemed to be having some trouble getting her own thoughts in order.
Perhaps she was just as worried about flipping again and hurting you as you were.
"It doesn't really work if it gets put on small patches, it needs to be applied... sort of everywhere."
You pause and consider that for a moment.
"Everywhere?"
She nodded, now kind of freaking you out a bit with the way she seemed to be trying to hold eye contact with you but also avoid it at the same time....
"Yeah, it needs to cover as much of my scales as possible in case of any accidental exposure."
She continued, not even waiting for you to ask for clarification.
"Like when you took me to the hospital before, you carried me all the way there and I was only really wearing the ceremonial gear."
That's right, she had been wearing that weird loincloth type ensemble from the arena, if it hadn't already been getting dark or if she hadn't had her block on then it would have been that much more painful a trip for her.
"Ok, I get it, so should I go get some towels like yesterday or something so we can do it bit at a time or..."
She surprised you by thrusting the bottle into your hands quickly and spinning around.
"Hold this and wait a second, I think the best way is just to get it all over and done with in one go if we can, then we can go out and deal with the stones."
While saying this she had started making the bed, flipping the quilt to make sure it was flat and smooth and spreading the last of your towels over the top.
You must have left the closet open a touch, otherwise you weren't sure how she had known where you kept them.
Then without any further warning, she sent her top sailing across the room and kicked off her bottoms.
The latter had been kicked with enough force to hit the partly open door behind you and knock it closed.
That was just a coincidence... right?
It wasn't like she'd been aiming for it or anything...
Briefly, you caught sight of her naked form before she flipped onto the bed.
As your mind tried to process the fleeting vision before the memory inevitably faded, you were greeted with a new one.
Opal was laid out on your bed face down, the towel between her and your sheets but nothing between her and you.
Her chin was resting on her folded arms atop the pillow, her legs stretched down towards the end of the bed with her long tail snaking along the top of them.
"Ready when you are..."
Her words seemed to echo across the small distance between you.
Sweet Lord...

You had seen most of her wondrous body yesterday, during her makeshift spongebath, so the sight of her laying out in front of you like this really shouldn't affect you.
That's what you kept telling yourself anyway.
Yet her long scaly body laying there like that, waiting for your touch...
Attempting to banish your increasingly lewd thoughts and focus on the task at hand you take a deep breath and try thinking of anything and everything else, mostly about how badly she would maul you if things went too far...
With this in mind you pour a little bit of lotion into your hand and get to work.
Once pooled in the palm of your hand you start to wonder just what this so called 'lotion' actually was.
It seemed to have an almost oily texture, but without the greasy residue one would normally expect with it.
The liquid carried a faint aroma of cherry, but it didn't truly smell like any fruit you were familiar with, perhaps because it had been made using something that the lizards cultivated underground.
In a small and suspicious part of your mind, the thought occurred to you...
If Opal couldn't go outside without a thorough application of this stuff to her scales, why hadn't you detected it's scent on her before?
You pushed the creeping suspicions down for now, her tail was starting to twitch in what was either impatience or annoyance while you stood there pondering.
So with a sigh you sat down on the edge of the bed and started to rub the lotion onto her back.
She tensed slightly at your touch, but relaxed again almost instantly, a little sigh of her own escaping her lips in the process.
You started slow.
There were a few cuts and scratches that you had to try and avoid, the flesh was healing nicely but her scales were still torn and you didn't want to get anything in the openings.
With one hand you slowly started to spread the lotion across her upper back, between her shoulder blades and towards her neck.
It was difficult going however, stretching across her with one hand, so you soon brought the other into the equation.
Gently you began to rub and knead the lotion into her scales, your fingers drifting across the ridges running along her spine and tracing the shapes they seemed to make.
Unlike before, you were not using a cloth to clean, but your bare hands to apply.
The mix of rough and smooth beneath your fingertips, the fruity smells of the lotion itself, and the pleased little noises the lizard made with each motion...
It drew you further into the moment, lost in the act and no longer thinking of stones or appraisals, only her.
You worked your hands along the back of her neck, your thumbs massaging the base as your fingers sank down to her nape.
Slowly you worked your way down, making sure to lavish as much attention to her upper and lower back as possible without irritating the cuts there, until you reached the point just above her tail.
"Opal?"
Your voice came out as barely a whisper.
"How far do you want me to go?"
She had been laying there with her eyes closed and her face turned away from you, so when she didn't respond straight away you began to think that perhaps she had nodded off.
So when she did speak, her voice slurred slightly, it almost made you jump.
"Keep going... pleasssse..."
With a fresh drop of lotion you complied, working your hands along either side of her shapely hips and down her outer thighs.
For now you deliberately avoided her rump and tail, instead focusing on her legs and feet.
Both hands working slowly but in tandem, you caressed your way down to her knees, making sure to cover each leg individually so you didn't miss a spot.
She twitched slightly as you approached her feet, either a reflex action kicking in or this area was particularly sensitive for her...
You stopped though as you reached her ankle, the sight of her little anklet still adorning it.
Despite everything it had survived, a cheap trinket compared to what you had really wanted to buy her that day, but she still treasured it as if it were priceless...
Carefully, you continue past it, coating the scales beneath as you went, and reached her feet.
What followed was less a quick application of lotion and more a full foot massage.
You couldn't help yourself, your fingers and thumbs rubbing the soles of her large feet as she twitched and made that odd but pleased sound in her throat again.
Her large toes proved challenging to coat properly on account of the sharp claws attached to each one but eventually you were done, and she had melted into the sheets somewhat in bliss.
As if sensing what you intended to work on next however, she lifted her tail up, giving you access not only to the appendage itself however, but to the smooth scaly cheeks that had been hidden beneath.
Slowly, you work your hands up along the back of her legs until they each reach their target.
As you slowly rub and caress her rump, she began to twitch more noticeably, before burying her snout into your pillow and hissing profusely.
She didn't tell you to stop however.
Still, you had vowed try and not work her up too much, so with some reluctance you left her now shining cheeks and started work on her tail.
From the wide base you slowly worked your way upwards, making sure not to miss any spots by using both hands to rub and squeeze your way right to the tip.
She continued to twitch and hiss the entire time, leading you to believe that her tail was in fact a lot more sensitive than you had first thought.
As you finished however, you noticed something strange.
An odd scent now permeated the room and threatened to overpower the fruity smell of the lotion.
It was... musky, yet almost sweet...
Whatever it was, you found it intoxicating.
Looking down you identify the source, causing you to shudder with both excitement and a touch of foreboding.
The towel underneath her crotch was soaked, and you were pretty sure it wasn't by the lotion.
The irrational desire to plunge your face down closer to the source of the forbidden scent fought to be realised, only to be closed down by your still desperate desire to get through this unscathed.
It was close though, prompting you to hurry on up and finish your job, before it was too late.

With a bit of prompting, you managed to rouse Opal from her happy hissing trance and got her to flip back over to a sitting position.
She was as you remembered from yesterday.
Her chest was a flat board of silvery scales and lacking the typical genitalia that should be found on a human woman.
In short, she still lacked boobs.
Yet that may make things easier on you perhaps...
With nothing there to tempt you into getting 'grabby' you might just get this done after all...
She was eye to eye with you now, the scales on her face not doing their 'blushing' motion as you thought they might have been, but she had a slightly unfocused look about her instead, like she was still in the process of waking up from a particularly pleasant dream or something.
"You ok there Opal?"
No response.
"Do you want to take a break maybe, get a drink or something?"
Slowly, she shook her head, then motioned for you to continue.
So continue you do.
Taking the opportunity, you give her head and face a good rubdown with the lotion.
You were hoping that this dazed sort of mood she was in would mean less chance of her snapping at you or something and taking off a finger or something.
The top of her head and under her chin were easily done, she barely reacted other than lifting her head slightly.
When you run your hand along the line of her jaw however, she turned her head suddenly and started nuzzling against it.
You freeze as her fangs brush against your skin briefly, her lip catching on one of your fingers...
It's only a passing contact though, so after a few seconds of further nuzzling you continue onwards.
There's a noticeable tightness to your pants now that was becoming harder to hide, so you decide to try and speed things up a bit and get this done before anything escalates.
Her arms were next, in your mind an easy enough part that she could even do herself if she was so inclined.
When you offered the bottle to here though she simply responded with a displeased little grumble, and laid back down upon the towel face up.
She wanted you to continue it seemed.
So you set about rubbing the sweet smelling lotion along her arms yourself, working down from her shoulders, and finally ending up at her hands.
Much like with her feet, you needed to give special attention to her large fingers and palms, rubbing along each digit and the spaces inbetween, until every scale was properly coated.
All the while she held them out for you, cooing almost, and hissing happily as you worked.
Once done, you realise that there's really only one area left...
Her chest and abdomen to be more precise.
As you hesitate, you see her lounging there on the bed.
She looks thouroghly relaxed, her legs are crossed and her now free hands are resting on her stomach.
Her eyes were half lidded, giving the impression that she is blissfully unaware of her surroundings...
Except that you can see quite clearly this is not the case.
Her golden eyes are fixed on you, her slitted pupils steady and unflinching.
Involuntarily, you freeze.
It was as if some primal instinct had kicked in.
You were a small mouse, pinned in place by the sight of a seemingly sleeping reptile blocking your path, pretending to sleep and waiting for the first sign of movement from you to strike.
That sly look wasn't something you were used to seeing from Opal, she was always smiling, or wrinkling her nose slightly as she inquisitivly investigated some strange human food or design.
The Opal in front of you now was a predator, and it was starting to unnerve you something fierce.
"You know what, I think we should stop right about here..."
She didn't react to your words, you couldn't even see if she was breathing or not as she was so still.
"How about I leave the bottle here for you and I will go get myself cleaned up a little."
Still nothing, even the walls now seemed to be holding their breath.
"Yeah... that lotion kind of gets everywhere so I'm just gonna..."
As you made to rise from your seat on the bed (turning away from her in the process to hide what was attempting to escape your pants), she struck.
Faster than you could track, her hand flashed out in a blur of white and silver, catching your arm in a surprisingly firm and inescapable grip.
"No... not finished yet..."
Every word she spoke seemed laboured, her 's' in particular struggling to not devolve into full on hisses.
"Musssst finish...  almossst there..."
Her grip was like iron, but you could feel her trembling slightly all the same.
"O-ok..."
She let go only once you had sat back down again, but her eyes were now wide and watchful.
It was only as you poured some of the now dwindling amount of lotion onto your hand that you truly started to appreciate how much trouble you were in.

She hissed and muttered nonsensical nothings as your hands danced their way down her smooth but scarred chest, yet those suddenly very intense eyes of hers never left you.
This whole thing had changed from trying to help her put on some sunblock for a trip out to something very different, Opal herself in fact seemed to have changed.
She watched you with a hunger that you couldn't fathom, if it was for the meat between your legs or the more literal meat attached to your bones.
Little did you know, the tinge of both excitement and bone chilling fear running through you was doing unspeakable things to Opal's sense of self control...
Her smooth stomach hid a toned array of musculature, the intricate pattern of scales rippled beneath your touch even as your fingers glided across her curves.
At last however, having avoided the cuts in her scales and covered every visible point on her body with the lotion, you were done.
Somehow, you were still in one piece.
Perhaps going for a pleasant stroll out into the afternoon sun was an option after all.
"Ok Opal, all done!"
Once more you tried to rise up of the bed, sporting an even more painfully hidden package than before.
Again she grabbed hold and stopped you, and again she made it clear she thought there was more that needed doing.
"Um, did I miss something?"
She hissed quietly, and nodded.
"But I thought I got everywhere, there's nothing left to cover..."
She shook her head this time, her golden eyes almost aflame with the intensity of her stare.
Your innocent look of confusion was met with more movement as she looked down and un-crossed her legs.
"Down there?"
She nodded.
"I don't think that's an area you have to worry about the sun light getting to..."
She smiled, one so wide and full of mischief that it showcased all of her pearly white fangs.
Then it hit you, like a freight train full of writhing porn stars...
"This 'lotion' has nothing to do with sunlight, does it."
Her head shook again and a downright needy hiss slipped through her teeth.
"Then what-"
Your question found itself cut off quite suddenly by yet more hissing, some very impatient hissing.
"No more... talk...!"
Her grip had tightened almost painfully on you now, she needed you to apply the last of the mystery lotion desperately...
If this was about her luring you into sex however, why didn't she just jump you now?
Why all of this?
Still, it was clear she wasn't to be denied.
So, pouring the last of the bottle contents into your hand, you slowly reach down to the last place left untouched by your ministrations.
Her needy hissing exploded into a gasp as you made contact, as your fingers slowly caressed her silken opening.
You lost track of how much lotion remained as it mixed with her plentiful juices, the heat coming from her trembling nethers radiated readily against you.
She writhed and moaned as you worked, her gasps and hisses punctuating her pleasure.
Your other hand remained caught in her grasp, one she had little intention of releasing it seemed.
With a final swirl against the soft scales where the base of her tail met her undercarriage, you withdrew, leaving a now thouroghly coated quivering lizard and your hand soaked through with her liquid scent.
In turn, she released your arm.
With your task complete you wondered what happened now.
There was more going on here than what you had originally intended, the grinning, shaking lizard laid out on your bed had not been honest but she hadn't flipped out either...
Perhaps now you could get some answers.
"Ok, now it's done so how about you tell me what's going on?"
She twitched slightly but otherwise didn't move.
"Opal, you owe me some answers, what was this all about?"
Finally she roused, her grin remaining in place but her eyes now almost feral in their intensity.
"Done... finally done, now we can... can...:
She couldn't seem to string a full sentence together, but she started to shift her position and crawl towards you.
"Opal?"
Your panicked look and worried question did nothing to stall her advance.
You tried to open the bedroom door, to get yourself some dodging space if nothing else, as you reached and pulled the handle the bottom caught on the discarded pants Opal had left there.
There was no time to move it...
A strong pair of clawed hands clamped on your shoulders and pulled you back, causing you to fall onto the bed and into the lubricated embrace of the crazed lizard lusting for you.
"Opal?" you whispered, not sure what exactly she had planned.
"Mine!" was all she could say, before leaping atop you, her still dripping nethers soaking into your shirt.
"Mine.  Mine!  Mine!!!"
Oh crap.
------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 13

With a weary groan you finally roused from your slumber, the steady thump of a headache telling you that last night must have been either very good or very bad...
By the way the rest of your body was aching as you begin to stir, you start to think it most likely was the latter.
Grumbling, you try and pull yourself from your bed, a difficult task as you had apparently got tangled up in the sheets somehow during the night.
Except something wasn't quite right about the situation...
For one, it was still too dark to be the morning just yet.
Secondly, you had no memory of actually going to bed in the first place, or even drinking last night.
Hell, most of yesterday was a blur.
What was causing you the most confusion however was the fact that you were lying in bed but somehow also in close proximity to the floor.
Your hand was free next to you but resting on the cold of the floorboards...
Slowly, you pull yourself from the warmth of the covers and out onto your feet, it was slow going though.
Not so much because of the bed sheets but more due to the small fact that almost every muscle in your body had started protesting at once.
As you stand however, you step on something pointy on the floor, causing you to curse and hop back against the wall.
Was there something broken down there?
What had you been doing last night?
Blindly you begin patting the wall in the hopes of finding the switch for the lights, stumbling around in the dark wasn't going to get you anywhere.
As your fingers find their target and flick it though, nothing happens.
Huh, no lights...
Luckily, the switch is next to the door so it doesn't take you long to open up (despite some other mystery thing on the floor blocking it) and get to the light in the living room.
Once the electric glow flickers on you peer back into your bedroom to try and find out what was on the floor.
The sight that greeted you however nearly knocked you on your ass.
Your bedroom was a war zone.
Pretty much everything was either broken or in considerable disarray.
Your closet had toppled over sideways and had its doors caved in, the little bedside table lay smashed on the floor with the lamp that had sat on it, there were things scattered everywhere...
You realise that the light hadn't responded simply because the fixture was missing, a dangling strip of wiring was all that remained.
Actually, the ceiling had been adorned with something else in place of the lights, a series of gouges and what looked like claw marks where something big had been climbing around up there...
Then of course, there was the centrepiece to the whole mess.
The remains of your bed, and the sleeping form still occupying it.
Next go where you had been sleeping lay Opal, wrapped up in the tattered remains if your bed sheets, snoozing peacefully.
The bed itself had seen better days, the four legs had collapsed somehow, leaving the mattress flat on the floor and a series of deep rivets in the floorboards from where the feet had been pushed down into them with apparent great force.
Somehow, a gear must have slipped out of place in your head, as by the looks of things (and the way your body ached) you and Opal had gotten up to something quite wild in here last night but you had no recollection of it...
The hell...

After a few minutes of staring dumbly at the carnage you decided to go get some coffee.
You had decided to let Opal keep sleeping for now, at least until you had time to try and get your head straight anyway.
Slowly you hobbled over to the kitchen, noting that it was a little after 4pm on the clock as you did, and brewed up.
What exactly had happened last night?
How had... whatever happened in there, happen, without you remembering?
So, taking a sip of steaming caffeinated goodness, you try and retrace your steps.
You remember Opal being here, of sleeping next to her the night before, of talking some things through with her...
Something about some precious stones...
Then... squat.
No, wait.
There was a faint odour on your hand, noticeable as you brought your mug up close to your lips...
The scent of cherry perhaps?
Something clicks into place in your mind, and you remember the lotion, and exactly what you had done with it.
You nearly drop your mug as it comes rushing back, the rub down, the feel of her smooth scales, the way she had watched you as you worked...
Still blank after that though...
What had happened next though?
How had you gotten from there to the devastation that was now your bedroom?
Nothing else seemed to be forthcoming, and you had to pee, so downing what was left of your swiftly cooling coffee you head off to the bathroom, still only able to hobble rather than walk properly yet.
As you switch on the bathroom light however, you get treated to the sight of yourself in the mirror for the first time.
Seriously, the fuck happened last night!?!

The man standing in the mirror had your tired face, the look of shock that you felt, but from the neck down it was just something else.
Your chest was a patchwork of bruises, cuts, scrapes, what looked like a friction burn and some other marks that just failed to compute.
The bandages on your arms were still there, but now marred by dried blood patches where the wounds underneath had reopened and bled through.
On the previously uninjured parts of your arms though was a series of fresh claw marks, not as deep as the bandaged ones, and what looked like a couple of large bite marks...
Something else hit home too, something that should have registered much sooner upon waking.
You were butt naked.
Closer examination revealed a series of dark bruises on your crotch area too, ones that caused you to wince in pain if touched.
Your legs, much like your arms, had been just as abused.
It looked like you had decided to take up crocodile wrestling, reached the final round of the championship, and lost spectacularly.
It was as you were trying to get a look at your back that some shards of memory started to reveal themselves.
Each cut and bruise had a story to tell, each more terrifyingly arousing than the last...
As you traced one particular set of cuts with your fingers, the events of last night started coming back...
It was in flashes and bursts, but you began to piece parts of it together.
---------------------------------------------------------------- 
The night before-
Opal straddled you upon the bed, her eyes blazing and her grin wide.
Before you could think of a way out she had started tearing into you, her claws raking your chest mercilessly.
You felt pain as her sharp claws sent pieces of your shirt in all directions.
With everything you had, you tried to grab hold of her arms, to stop the onslaught, but the lotion had made her scales slick and not all that easy to grip.
So in desperation you instead push up against her and knock her back, sending her staggering into the wall with a crash.
You take the chance to roll off the bed onto the floor, the remains of your shirt either having fallen off or taken in Opal's clutched claws.
You took a moment to check your bare chest, expecting to see blood and cruel slashes from her mauling.
Instead however you see some criss crossing shallow scratches, a few beads of blood oozing up from the worst of them but a far cry from what you know her to be capable of.
If she wasn't trying to kill you then...
You rise up and turn around, expecting to see Opal laying where she fell.
Except she wasn't there.
Apart from some broken stuff that she had hit there was no lizard.
Looking around you can't work out where she had gone, the door was still shut and the window was untouched.
Had she gone under the bed or something?
As you slowly advance, you hear it.
A low hissing snigger.
It was coming from...
You slowly look up, and see the naked white lizard hanging from the ceiling, that hungry smile back on her face.
"Oh sweet lo-"
The last of your prayer was interrupted by Opal springing down upon you and once more pinning you to the bed, this time with considerably more force and knocking the wind out of you.
Her claws sank into you painfully but she made sure not too deeply.
As you wheezed and tried to struggle she bent her head down close, just above your stomach.
Her long tongue snaked out from her toothy maw and slowly made its way along your skin, up your exposed chest, and withdrawing once reaching your cheek.
She smacked her scaly lips appreciativly, savouring your taste.
Oh my...
---------------------------------------------------------------- 
Abruptly your recollection ends, leaving you standing in the bathroom with your hand touching the point on your cheek where her tongue had been.
The rest was still a blur, but at least now you had a better idea of what had happened last night.
You take care of business and fish out a pair of boxers from the laundry basket, you didn't much feel like trying to dig out a clean pair from the remains of your bedroom right now.
It was a bit of a struggle pulling them on, it seemed that your whole groin area had taken quite a fair bit of flack last night and was feeling a little... tender.
More coffee was needed.
After brewing up a second cup you head on over to the sofa in your living room, you needed to work out a plan on how to handle Opal when she woke up.
With a hiss of discomfort you slowly slip down onto the sofa cushion, but the cool fabric went some small way to soothing some of the aches in your lower back at least.
What had happened to Opal last night?
The sweet lizard you had gotten to know so well had been replaced by a crazed beast intent on jumping your bones, and quite possibly fractured a few of them in the process too.
That freaking lotion too, if it wasn't for sun protection then what was it for?
She had waited until you had covered her completely in it before 'unleashing the beast' on you, so had it served some other purpose?
What will happen once she woke up?
Would she be back to normal or would she trash the rest of your place in the pursuit of a frantically violent round two?
As you ponder the future implications for your already battered pelvis, you notice Opal's wig still sitting on the table with the comb.
You hadn't had the opportunity to do anything with it since yesterday so perhaps now was a good time...
There was nothing else you could do right now anyway until Opal woke up.
Carefully you get to work, running the teeth of the comb through the messy strands of fake hair and pulling at the tangles that had formed.
There was something in the rhythm of it though that began to tickle your memory, the way that the teeth of the comb scraped along your bare leg that pulled at something familiar.
Another part of last night's activities began to untangle itself from your confused memories...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Opal had moved her attentions down to your crotch, or more specifically, the troublesome belt buckle that supported the pants that hid said crotch from her.
Things had taken on a surreal aspect to them.
There was a readily violent lizard literally salivating inches away from your manhood, razor sharp teeth and wicked claws poised to strike, yet you just sat there unable to move.
Plus you were still somehow sporting a boner that had started to evolve towards previously unrecorded levels of stiffness.
Opal tried to pull the belt apart with shaking hands but couldn't seem to grip it quite right, with each unsuccessful attempt her actions got a little rougher.
Concerned for your manhood in the face of her growing agitation, you try and reach down there yourself.
Only for her to snap her jaws at you, inspiring a hasty retreat.
"O-Opal?"
You try to get her attention, but she only has eyes for the parts of you south of the border.
Her next move damn near ended you there and then.
Her frustration boiling over, she brought her maw to bare on your belt.
You could only watch and hold on to the bed for dear life as she tore your belt and pants to shreds with her teeth, pulling and yanking your crotch in multiple directions all the while.
Somehow, your belt held out, even as the pants disintegrated.
This just made her even madder still.
Despite your now panicked protests she actually picked you up by your belt, with her teeth, and started to shake you, like a dog with a chew toy.
There of course could only be one result.
The belt finally gave, which sent you flying across the room and smashing into the closet, buckling the thin doors in the process.
Stars flashed and sparkled across your vision, the room seemed to spin slightly as you lay there in the debris.
When Opal's concerned face appeared back over you, her face looked calm, concerned, like the sweet girl you knew and loved...
"Are... I'm... ok?"
Your jumbled attempt at a sentence didn't get the reaction you expected.
She smiled, but not in relief or joy.
It was that wicked grin again.
Your vision cleared enough to see that she was actually just trying to drag you from the ruins of the closet.
She wasn't finished with you yet...
Grabbing your legs, she easily pulls you up off the floor and drops you heavily back on the bed.
A loud crack from below signals the loss of one of the legs from the bed frame, her leap from before and your being tossed about on it proving too much.
Only the tattered remains of your boxers stand between you and her full attentions.
You don't know if you will be able to survive the night once she runs out of clothes to destroy.
As she bares down on you, jaws once again open and bared, you take drastic action.
Reaching up, you wrap your arms around her and hold on tight, pulling her into an all or nothing hug like yesterday.
"Opal!  Stop for a minute!  Please!"
It was difficult to hold on with her scales still being all slick but she didn't actually try to fight you off this time.
"Stop, this is getting out of hand!"
She hisses into your ear for a second before words start to form.
"Sssstop?"
Oh thank all that's holy!
"Yeah, your hurting me just a bit with all the clawing and throwing me around here..."
She seemed to relax slightly, her taut frame easing in your embrace.
It looked like you were getting through to her.
You might just survive this after all...
Your thoughts of a last minute reprieve however found themselves dashed as something interrupted the moment.
As Opal started to melt into your arms she came to rest on top of you, where her hip came into contact with something hard, diamondium hard.
Your traitorous boner had, instead of deflating like you wanted, jabbed the still unbalanced lizard right by her most sensitively intimate parts.
She froze, tensing up again in your arms.
Her gaze shifted from your face downwards, to the offending member tenting your ruined boxers.
You tried to hold on but she easily slid out of your grip and down to face your crotch again.
With a flick of her claws she set the hidden beast you had been hiding free, and it sprung to attention before her eyes.
You held your breath, daring not to move so close to those teeth and in front of those scarily focused eyes.
She got closer, the end of her snout nearly touching your tip.
It took you by surprise when instead of getting bitey or violent down there, she instead inhaled through her nose deeply, sniffing at your erect member as if it was some blooming flower blossom.
When finally she stopped, you saw it in her eyes.
The almost crazed intensity in those golden orbs told you that the small window you had for calming her down had now expired.
She had your scent now, and she wasn't going to stop until she had the rest.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
You once more find yourself back in the present, blinking away the afterimage of that feral grin and breathing heavily.
Despite knowing full well you were still in one piece you needed some reassurance, so with great care you take a peek down the front of your boxers to make sure.
Yup, a little battered looking but still there.
Slowly you manage to calm yourself down, the fresh memories of last night were both terrifying yet oddly... arousing.
You realise that the wig is now once more presentable, the long black hair was now straight and as it had been before.
Proud of your work you carefully place it on top of an old ornament on your shelf so it would be safely out of the way in the event of any... happenings.
Despite the aches and pains crying out for rest within, you decide to check on Opal and see if she was still sleeping.
If you were feeling like this then how was she doing?
Her wounds had healed faster than a human's would but after the chaos of last night what if she had overdone it or caused a fresh injury?

When you get to the door and peek inside, you see the bundled up lizard in much the same position that you had left her in.
She was almost completely covered in the torn remains of your bed sheets, curled into a little ball almost with her tail poking out the side.
Carefully you manage to tiptoe over to the slumbering sex fiend and get a closer look, noticing in the process that it was the broken remains of the lotion bottle that had caught your bare foot earlier.
You expected to see a ravenous face belonging to a snoozing predator, the wild huntress from last night held back from jumping you again by the flimsy chains of sleep.
What you saw however was the serenely sleeping face of your Opal.
Her eyes were closed but she wore the satisfied look of a scaly angel, a warm smile lightly touching upon her lips as she dreamed peaceful dreams.
What somehow completed the little picture of sleepy happiness however was what she clutched tightly in her hand.
Held close and pressed lightly against her nose was a piece of your torn shirt.
With each breath she took in, she got a snoutful of, well... you.
It was a strange contrast, from the vision of tooth and claw last night to the gentle creature now.
You found yourself yearning to reach out and touch her, to run your fingers along the line of her scaled jaw...
The feeling shook loose something more from your battered memory, of something gentler than the story your wounds were telling...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
With the possibility of calming your crazed girlfriend down no longer an option you try plan B, retreat in as manly a fashion possible.
This unfortunately turned into you scrabbling backwards in the direction of the headboard seeing as she had all other avenues covered.
It made no difference however to her.
With a mighty leap she was in the air over your bed... and crashing down upon you once more.
You vaguely register the sound of another leg to your bed snapping free, but your main concern is the lizard now straddling your stomach.
Her clawed hands once again raked your skin, her hot breath on your neck, and her eyes burning into yours.
"Mmiiiiinnnnneeeee!"
Her barely understandable growling of that single word was all the warning you got that the chase was over, and that she wanted her prize.
She rose up from your still shellshocked stomach and plonked herself down forcefully on your cock, leading to an explosion of excited hissing from her and a shock of pain mixed with pleasure from you.
Despite the substantial lubrication down between her legs, both natural and that which you had earlier applied, it had not been a faultless entry.
For one thing, she was as tight as a vice, every inch of your length had been swallowed and clamped upon immediately, plus she had come down with some force on your groin and balls.
It was a kind of hellish ecstasy you had never experienced before.
You barely managed a grunt before she had pulled herself up and slammed down again, her hissing growing in volume as a result.
As she began repeating the motion and got into a rhythm you couldn't work out where to put your hands, as you wanted to grab hold of her hips to try and guide her motions a bit but her claws were jabbing at your chest and shoulders painfully...
Did you continue to let her pound your pelvis to dust or claw your torso to ribbons?
The rate in which she was working you however made it difficult to think, let alone decide anything...
As it happened though, you soon found an opening to change things up.
She was starting to get frustrated.
Simply bouncing on your immobile form didn't seem to be scratching that itch of hers the way she wanted, you could tell by the way she was starting to try shift her position and the decreasing volume of her hisses.
So when she stopped to try and reposition herself, you made your move.
Quickly, and with the grace of a man who really doesn't want to be screwed to death, you buck your hips upwards and turn to the left.
The result was a surprised lizard rolling off of you and the opportunity to gain the upper hand for a change.
Quick as a flash you had hold of her hips again, no small feat considering her top half had already left the bed and reached the floor.
The result was her legs trapped on the bed with you while her arms scrambled for purchase on the floor, her tail meanwhile thrashed about with a mind of its own and added to your growing collection of bruises.
Even as she thrashed however, she looked back at you expectantly.
No stopping now so might as well give her exactly what she wants...
Her tight little hole is held up and ready for you, so you head back into the breach like the trooper you are.
Access was easier this time, but your new position allowed for something new...
You plunge yourself deep within her, her angled position allowing you to keep going until you had managed to truly bottom her out.
She bucked and writhed in pleasure as her hisses turned to cries and moans, her claws now digging trenches into the wooden floor instead of your chest.
As you began to settle into your own rhythm her tail loses interest in hitting you and instead works it's way around the side of you, apparently trying to find a way to wrap itself around your chest.
She doesn't have much luck however, as with each thrust she seems to lose her fine motorcontrol and the tail simply spasms and twitches.
It doesn't take long for her to reach her limit, your merciless attentions and her already heightened state of arousal helping to speed her to her peak.
With a final squawk like sound of bliss, she finds release.
You however, are still left unsatisfied.
Either you had more stamina than you thought, or the pain from where you had been manhandled earlier was dampening your experience somewhat.
Achy balls didn't really work for you.
As you stop to consider what exactly you should do now, she slinks out of your grasp, the slickness of her scales as well as the new purchase her claws had found on your mauled floorboards giving her an opening.
She stands and turns to face you, her eyes still burning with the intensity from before.
You had half expected her to have calmed down after getting what she wanted from you, but by the look she was giving you she must have been more pent up than you thought.
She stood tall, her hands slowly moving up and down her smooth abdomen as she panted softly, apparently enjoying the aftereffects of her climax a little too much.
"That... was..."
She started to speak, until her eyes fixed upon your still throbbing and erect member.
Her eyes widened.
"More?"
You gave her a smile of your own and nodded.
"More!" she roared and pounced at you with enough force to send you clean off the other side of the bed...

The following few hours were a blur of furious lovemaking.
You gave her all you had and she took it eagerly.
She rode you there on the floor, screaming and hissing like a crazed scaly cowgirl.
You held her off the ground, her legs kicking out into the air, as you thrusted her against the wall.
She damn near tore one of your floorboards clean up as she crawled on all fours, you pumping hard against her rump and pulling her tail.
Yet...
You still couldn't find release.
Your inner thighs were soaked where she had squirted upon you in her ecstasy, you ached all over both inside and out, your room was trashed...
Yet still you couldn't... finish.
So as you lay on the flattened ruins of your bed, tangled up in the torn sheets and slick scaly limbs, you decided to stop.
Opal for her part looked finally spent.
She lay there facing you panting, her tongue hanging from her maw and her golden eyes now almost glowing with contentment instead of burning with need.
Each time she had seen you were not finished she had come at you again with renewed vigour, but it seemed even she had her limits.
As she moved to snuggle up to you though, seemingly happy now to call it a night too, she again noticed a certain part of you still standing to attention, like a weary and battle worn soldier refusing to stand down and disarm even though the war was over.
She looked you in the eye quizically, perhaps wondering if you were planning a round... whatever number you were on.
You look back at her wearily though and smile.
"It's ok, I think we've both had enough..."
The girl who responded however wasn't the ravenous creature who had rode you ragged however, it finally looked like the Opal you knew.
"You still haven't..."
Her voice was soft and controlled, and concerned.
"It's fine..." you mutter, lacking the energy to face another round of frantic activity.
She had other ideas though, ones that you hadn't expected.
"Silly man, let me take care of you, like you took care of me..."
With that she was down by your crotch again, snout inches from your beleaguered manhood.
You tensed up, expecting her to hop back on.
Instead though, she poked out her long slimy tongue and gently wrapped it around your twitching member.
In comparison to the rodeo from before, this gentle embrace of you was bliss.
Slowly she worked on your aching member, slurping and massaging you with surprising care and attention.
She only stopped after you started gasping slightly, to wet her tongue and to make a request.
"Tell me when you're close,  ok?"
You nodded, and she got back to work.
The frantic pounding from before had done little to bring you to release, the growing discomfort from overexertion keeping you from finding your nirvana, but her gentle ministrations seemed to soothe you to the point where you could feel it building.
With a gasp you mutter that you're almost there, and she reveals why she asked.
Releasing you from her dexterous tongue, she climbs up back next to you and pulls you in close.
"I want it... inside, all of it."
Who are you to deny a lady her wish...
You turn to face her and she gently guides herself back on to you.
Unlike before however, she is gentle, her opening welcoming you in slowly rather than trying to swallow you whole.
She began to work herself upon you, slowly, tenderly, and all the while holding you and nuzzling into your neck lovingly.
Somehow, this is what you needed.
Where the rough and almost brutal movements had been damn exhilarating and like nothing else you had experienced, it was this tender moment of intimacy that finally brought you to your limit.
With a shuddering groan of pleasure, you release inside of her, rope after rope of your seed that had until now been denied her.
She felt it, the warmth of your load filling her, and it drove one final hissing climax from her exhausted form.
That was how you had both found release, from your mutual burdens both physical and emotional.
As you drifted off to sleep in each other's arms, you heared her whisper.
"I love you Anon..."
"I love you too Opal." you whisper back.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Finally, with your recollections of last night complete, you  breathe a soft sigh of contented relief.
Last night had been insane, your bedroom, your furniture, even your body, were a near broken mess...
But looking down at the blissfully sleeping lizard, you regretted nothing.
Bending down, you plant a soft kiss upon her snout and leave her to rest.
You were tempted to climb back in beside her and get more sleep, but you needed a shower first and to change your dressings.
As you reach the bathroom however, a realisation hits.
You have no towels, or spare bedsheets.
They are still in the washer down at the building washroom.
You had put them in yesterday but hadn't gone to collect or dry them!
Opal had ended up... distracting you.
Cursing you pull on a robe and some slippers.
If you were lucky the stuff would still be in the washer where you left it and you can just chuck them in the dryer.
If you were unlucky, one of your neighbours had stolen the lot.
It had happened once before...
Leaving Opal another quick note in case she wakes up, you head out the door and make your way down, with a slight limp and a grumble but otherwise unconsciously grinning like an idiot.

When you got to the washroom you were in for a surprise.
You're stuff was still there!
That, and someone had already put it in the dryer for you and folded it!
Granted, they might have just done that to make it easier to swipe but why leave it here and not take it?
Checking the pile you confirm it's yours, the bed sheets you had put in with the towels still had the holes Opal had made...
A soft cough from the corner causes you to jump.
Spinning around you see a tired looking figure sitting on one of the little plastic chairs set for people to wait on.
It's the guy from Town Hall.
"Ah, Anon, there you are!"
He got up and stretched, a relieved smile on his face.
"I was beginning to worry that you weren't going to come down here and collect your laundry, it's been something of a long night so I ended up finishing it off for you, I hope you don't mind?"
You just stare at him for a moment, not really comprehending why he was down here folding your unmentionables.
"Mr Pickles wasn't it?  Why are you down here?"
His forced smile drops and he gives you a tired look.
"It's Pickler, and we've been waiting for you."
You blink at him in confusion, before a hiss from behind causes you to turn slowly.
Standing behind you is a pair of very large, very angry looking lizards.
Both had scales of almost coal black and what seems to be an attempt at a business suit.
They were indeed intimidating, but any fear up you might have felt was offset by the fact that one was wearing a flamboyant powdered wig that Mozart would have been proud of while the other seemed to be going for an afro type look...
"Uh... hi?"
It was all you could get out, before a thick sack was forced over you and plunged your world into darkness.
----------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 14

You had never before considered the plight of the humble potato, of how it must feel to be harvested, bundled up and transported to places unknown at the whim of others...
Yet that's exactly how you felt right now.
Like a sack of potatoes.
Your captors had stuffed you into a large sack, thrown you over their shoulder and taken you to places unknown.
The lizards had not been gentle, your last memory had been of a heavy scaled fist smacking you upside the head, then of being dragged into what felt like the trunk of a car.
When you awoke, you found that like the humble spud, you had been upgraded from the sack to finding yourself very much in hot water.

It was once again you regarded your surroundings with an aching head, once again as a result of lizard manhandling.
Only this time without the afterglow.
You found yourself in a dimly lit yet spacious room, tied to a cold chair made of what felt like smooth stone.
Despite the chill of your enforced resting spot however, the air swam with a humidity that bordered on the feverish.
Sweat dripped from your forehead even as your asscheeks went numb.
What meager light that was available came from a single stone lamp in the corner.
The flickering light cast a series of barely visible shadows that danced and dodged along the floor, like a line of imps teasing you with how close they could get before darting away again.
Even as your head still spun you knew where they had taken you.
This was somewhere in the depths of the Enclave, but the higher temperature suggested it was deeper than the section from your previous visit.
As you begin to struggle against your bonds, the tinkle of what sounded like a small set of bells came from behind, each pull and twist setting off a louder and more prolonged jingling.
With a sharp curse you realise that you had just set of an alarm, a crude one, but designed to let your captors know when it was time to come back and give you a seeing to.
It didn't take long.
It started with the sound of something dripping from the ceiling, a thick liquid trickling out of hidden hollows and into more stone lanterns hidden in the dark.
As one they burst to life, the liquid somehow igniting and filling the room with flickering light.
You had just enough time to take in your surroundings, to see the intricately carved stone longtable splitting the room and the oddly colourful tapestries lining the wall, before the clicking of clawed feet made their way towards you.
From behind you stalked a large figure flanked by a smaller but no less intimidating one.
The 'smaller' one was one of the goons who had jumped you in the laundry room, no longer wearing his iffy suit and instead dressed in a set of greyish robes.
You might not have recognised him if it hadn't been for the small fact he was still wearing his powdered wig...
The larger figure dwarfed every other lizard you had so far seen, a good eight foot tall at least, a set of almost familiar ashen scales with slashes of red cutting across here and there.
This lizard wore no wig but bore a strange headdress that looked to be woven from silk and... lizard teeth. 
They too wore a robe, but unlike the smaller lizard it was inset with colourful gems and flashy patterns, the universal pomp of one in authority.
"Awake at last little human?"
You were surprised to realise that the booming voice was in fact, female.
"Forgive the need for restraints, but the last time you wandered our caverns freely it caused much trouble."
She bent slightly to face you properly, giving you a full view of her polished (and freshly sharpened) fangs and her unflinching scarlet eyes.
She was smiling as she spoke, but it was a smile cold enough to chill you to the bone.
Swallowing nervously, you follow in the footsteps of the countless men tied to chairs and faced with an uncertain impending doom that had come before you, and try to talk your way out.
"Who are you?"
She rose back up but didn't break the icy grip her eyes had on you as she answered.
"I am known simply as Rouge, and I am of the Enclave Elders."
Something tugged at your memory, her words painting a picture that your aching head couldn't quite understand yet...
"Why did you bring me here like this?"
You already knew the answer but it couldn't hurt to make sure.
"You interrupted a very old and very import ceremony human, not only making a mockery of our traditions but harming an important member of our community in the process."
Wait, making off with Opal and interrupting the fight was something you had indeed done but harming someone?
Your confused expression showed her that you had no idea what she was talking about.
Instead of promoting your perceived innocence however, it caused her cold smile to distort into a much angrier looking scowl.
"Don't try to play the fool human, you know what damage you have caused!"
Your bonds jingle again as you attempt to shrug.
"All I did was take my friend to a doctor after that other girl attacked her, no one told me about any ceremonies and I certainly didn't hurt anyone!"
It would have been a reasonable argument if your captor had been a reasonable person, unfortunately for you however this Rouge was as far away from reasonable as  could be, and with a surprisingly good reason too.
She hissed and bore her teeth at you.
"Didn't hurt anyone!?!" she spat.
"Behold the ruin you have made of my daughter!"
With a wild hiss and a snarl she sent the smaller lizard at her side running off out of the room, barking orders in a language you couldn't understand.
The words you did get though twirled through your mind, what did she mean by her 'daughter'?
Then it hit you, even before the noisy retinue of lizards entered the room.
The pattern of Rouge's scales, what Pickles had said about one of the more influential lizard leaders being involved...
With mounting horror, you watched as four pretty stocky looking lizard guards dragged a heavily restrained figure into the room.
Even though the lizard in the middle was shackled and bound, it took all that they had to keep her from bursting free.
It was Velvet, still wearing the ceremonial garments from her fight with Opal, but... feral.
Even with a thick rope around her maw she managed to hiss and spit, her eyes wide and wild.
She pulled at her restraints like a beast possessed, and her guards bore many a proof of her fury.
"Look at what you have done human!" Rouge hissed.
It was then that the wild Velvet spotted you, her hisses falling silent and her eyes focusing.
She screeched through her forcefully sealed maw and tried to lunge at you, pulling one guard off his feet and dragging the others in her wake.
They stopped her inches from your face, trails of saliva dripping from her straining lips down upon your lap.
She took a big huffing snort of you before they had her back under control.
Under Rouge's command they dragged her literally kicking and screaming from the room, writhing and twisting as she tried to fight her way back in.
When finally she was gone, when the room was once more silent, the furious matriarch turned on you once more.
"You did that to her human, and for that you will pay!"
You could but gawp silently as the shock of what had just happened struck you dumb.
Rouge had fixed you in a silent stare, the scarlet of her eyes promising the untold levels of retribution to come.

It took a good few minutes of waiting for her to tear your face off before you worked up the nerve to speak, despite the smouldering death stare she hadn't made any other moves.
"How...  I mean just..."
She snorted impatiently but otherwise didn't respond.
"What happened to her?"
She backed off a little, but you still felt seconds away from a mauling.
"You happened to her human, you disrupted the natural order of things and now she's rampant!"
You blink, not getting it at all.
"Rampant?  I don't know what that even means and I haven't done anything to your daughter!"
Your protests fell on deaf ears as she continued to snarl at you.
"Your ignorance is no excuse human, but I will educate you anyway so that you at least understand the depth of your folly."
She finally released you from her gaze as she started pacing the floor, but your physical bonds remained.
"When that pale scuttler brought you down here she was all but flaunting you in front of her kin, showing off her exotic play thing for all to see, of course she would be challenged."
You didn't like where this was going.
"Hey, Opal and I are friends and she offered to show me around that's all!"
She suddenly drew up close, her snout almost touching your nose.
"Don't think me a fool human!" she spat.
"I can smell her stink on you, your skin reeks of her."
...
You really should have tried harder to find a fresh towel for that shower earlier...
"It is little known outside of our kind that we do not take a single mate during our lifetimes, we have evolved to do things a bit differently to you primate people."
She was all set to explain the whole mating thing to you again, but rather foolishly, you interrupt.
"Is that because there's more females than males?"
The look she gave you was one part surprise and at least three parts 'say another word and I'll eat you'.
"How do you know this?" she demanded angrily.
Aware that you might be getting Opal in more trouble here you decide to tell a little white lie.
"Oh, uh... I heard it from that guy... Pickles?"
The repulsed look that replaced the angry one meant she at least knew who you were talking about.
"Did he now...  It seems we will have to remind him of that confidentiality agreement he made..."
Before you could respond she continued.
"Did he also tell you about what happens when one of our females is denied the opportunity to mate?"
You nod, weary of trick questions now.
"They get violent?"
It was her turn to nod.
"Yes, what perhaps he didn't tell you was why we decided to allow our people to fight in a pit rather than just pick another mate."
The thought had crossed your mind...
"When the 'need' is upon one of us we imprint upon the one we choose as a mate, emotionally and physically we connect with that male until he sires a clutch.  Until that time he will be all we think about, all we desire.  So when another female imprints upon him also there can be only one course of action, either the mate is claimed through challenge or the female dies.  To let the loser live on afterwards is both cruel and dangerous which is why she is normally killed, or in extreme circumstances exiled."
It still hadn't twigged.
"Wait, if Opal lost then it was right that she left, by your logic anyway she wouldn't be a danger to the enclave anymore so why-"
Her sudden iron grip lifted both you and the stone chair clean off the floor as she pulled you in close, her eyes burning with anger.
"You took her away before she could be killed or exiled, but more importantly, you left my daughter without the mate she had chosen and imprinted upon!"
Oh crap.
"She imprinted upon you!  She can only mate with you, as filthy and soft as you are!"
Now it started to make sense.
Somehow, Velvet had imprinted on you.
If you had been a lizard then she would simply have done away with Opal and had her way with you.
Once the deed was done, the imprinting would go away and you would be free.
Instead, you had snatched Opal from the jaws of defeat and left the victorious Velvet both still imprinted and very much unsatisfied.
No other male would be able to set her straight and no amount of ice cream or cheesy romcoms would help her get over you.
She would be 'rampant' until either she screwed you to death or died trying...
You had a really nasty suspicion as to the real reason why this angry scaled momma had brought you here, still in nothing but your boxers and a robe, and tied you up.
"What are you going to do with me?"
She dropped you back down with a bang.
"You, human, are going to release my daughter from her rampancy."
Oh hell no...
"At the end of the Day of Scavenging, you will be taken back to the pit, where my daughter will be set loose on you."
...
She smiled at your dawning look of horror.
"She will then take what is hers and reclaim her senses.  You will most likely not survive."
"But there has to be...  I mean can't we just..."
She cut you off.
"Those who reach rampancy rarely let their mates survive a coupling, it is why the loser is killed in the pit or sent away, but I will not let that happen to my daughter...  Not to my Velvet."
With a click of her scaled fingers the Mozart wannabe goon reappeared, and promptly started dragging your seat away out of the room.
"You can't do this damn it!" you yell at her in desperation.
"I'm not just a piece of meat to be used like this!"
Her smile had returned, but with a malicious twist to it now.
"That's exactly what you are down here now human, you will give her what she needs or I'll gut you myself and feed you to the crowd!"
As her echoing words follow you down the hall their implication hits home.
"Wait, there will be a crowd watching too!?!"
Only her cackling laughter can be heard in response...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 15

The pit where Opal had fought with Velvet had been just that, a pit.
A sunken oval of dirt surrounded by raised seating and a little stand for the 'prize'.
The place where you found yourself now however was a veritable stadium in comparison, not quite as large as the actual human equivalent but dwarfing the pit all the same.
Particularly from your new perspective standing right in the middle of it.
The lizards had dragged you off from the cackling Rouge straight down to the arena, across the hard dusty clay surface and smack bang into the center of what looked to be a scaly gladiator reenactment.
Instead of some raised seating there were rows upon rows of stone benches all around, rising up like a set of giant stairs.
Each row was filled with lizards, of all sizes, colours and wig types...
They all chattered and hissed as you had been brought in.
It looked like this was where all the important events took place, not just fights but for other gatherings and announcements, as it looked like most of the Enclave could fit in here.
Your guards held you firmly in place, dressed in nothing still but the day before yesterday's boxers and a now tattered robe, awaiting whatever fate they had in store for you. 
They didn't keep you waiting long.
Rouge had taken her place upon the upper levels, surrounded by a group of similarly clad Elder lizards, stood tall with her arms outstretched as she motioned for silence.
Without speaking so much as a word she somehow got it, with the crowd ceasing their interactions and awaiting her address as one.
You were surprised when she spoke to them in English rather than lizard-speak, but not for long...
"Sisters!  Brothers!  Hear me!"
The gathered crowd seemed to gasp as one, shocked that she spoke to them so.
"I speak to you not in our way, but in that of the humans, so that our 'esteemed guest' might understand"
You felt an ungodly number of reptilian eyes turn and stare, and not in a way that gave you the warm and fuzzies.
"As you know, this human came to our Enclave a few days past under false pretences, disrespected our traditions, and ground our ways beneath his hidden feet!"
As the crowd hissed and spat in response you began to wonder just how much offense you had actually caused.
Apparently simply wearing shoes was grounds for a lynching down here if Rouge was to be believed, but this was only the beginning.
She hadn't finished working them up yet.
"For generations we have honoured the right of challenge, the right to keep and claim a mate, as it kept the chaos of our more primal instincts from overcoming us."
She paused, casting her slitted eye across the gathered crowd.
"Yet this human, this soft and ignorant creature from the surface, dared to disrupt our ways for no reason other than because he could!"
She punctuated her last word by slamming a scaled fist into a stone column beside her, sending a sharp crack of noise across the arena.
"Now see what he has done!"
"See what his meddling has caused!"
"See what awaits us all if we stand still and let the humans overtake us with their surface ways!"
As her final words screeched across the gathered crowd her underlings took their cue.
From the opening opposite to where you had been dragged they brought Velvet, or at least the rampant mess of what used to be her.
The retinue had almost doubled since the last time, the extra lizard-power obviously required to keep their charge under control and unable to lash out at them.
The still dripping gashes on the arms of the frontrunners told you they had only been partially successful.
The arena erupted into a chattering fury when they realised who had been revealed, the sight of an Elder's own daughter dragged out in chains, kicking and screaming like a wild beast, was more than they could bare.
Velvet somehow looked worse than before.
When you had seen her back in the chamber she had looked powerful and menacing, but in the well lit open of the arena?
Froth oozed from the corners of her bound maw as she tried to struggled against her bonds, her eyes were unfocused and bloodshot, raw patches glistened painfully around her wrists where her struggles against the binding rope and chains had scraped away some of her scales...
There were also fresh cuts and gashes on other parts of her that caught your eye.
You were no expert on lizard biology but...
They looked kind of self inflicted by the angle of them.
In short, she was almost completely unrecognizable as the cocky blond wig wearing creature that had so brazenly propositioned you but a few days previous.
A pang of guilt actually echoed through your chest at the sight of her.
The guards had stopped a fair distance from you, but had spread out a bit while still holding the ropes and chains in order to show their captive to the crowd.
The anger from the gathered lizards was almost palpable, washing over you in waves as they shouted and stomped their feet from their seats.
Rouge had her eyes fixed on Velvet, sadly watching her daughter squirm and struggle, before finally raising her arms up for silence once more.
"The rage has taken her, my daughter..."
Even as her powerful voice quavered with emotion, her eyes had moved to you.
Despite the distance between you, the cold hate that crackled from within her gaze could be easily felt.
This wasn't going to end well for you.
Whatever happened next, she would do her best to guarantee that much at least.
"She was set to travel out to the Enclave far to the east, where she was to take the son of an Elder there as her mate and renew our ancient bonds."
The crowd had started rumbling in anger again, the talk of ancient allies and traditions getting the desired reaction.
"She had already started to feel the call of her duty, the need to raise a clutch and bring forth the next generation..."
Velvet had by now caught your scent again, and started to disrupt her mother's speech with little growls and hisses as she pulled against the guards.
"Before she could make the journey however, this human came and corrupted her need!  Took advantage of her desire to strengthen her people and turned her from her path!"
At this point, you really should have been trying to shout out in your own defence...
A stone bit had been strapped between your teeth however, stalling all but the most basic of noises from you.
"Then, as if that was not enough for him, he interrupted her fight with the deviant that he had tricked into helping him enter, and stole away before my daughter's victory was complete!"
More hissing from the crowd, and a chunk of stone skipping across the clay in front of you from a poorly aimed shot...
"Deprived of her prize, deprived of her victory, my daughter was taken by madness and has become the creature you see before you!"
The crowd were about ready to tear you apart now by the sounds of their reaction.
"By rights my daughter should have sated her need or been killed in combat, yet she was denied it all, even exile!"
Rouge once more motioned for calm before continuing.
"Today I ask you, the people, not only for the chance to punish this human interloper, but for a final chance to save my daughter."
The angry crowd lapsed into a confused silence, they had come for blood after all...
"Soon, the guards will unleash my daughter upon the human, where she will do with him as she pleases."
She pressed ahead, even as the muttering started amongst her listeners.
"Our laws are simple, those who have turned rampant must either choose exile or be put to death for the good of all... but she can no longer choose for herself."
What was she...
"It is my hope, that in feasting on the flesh of this human, the one who corrupted her so, she might be able to return to us as she once was."
Wait, feast!?!
She had said Velvet was going to try and crazy fuck you!
Granted, it would most likely have ended with much pelvic pain and considerable disfigurement, but you had survived a night with Opal...
Getting eaten though?
Then you saw it.
Rouge was staring at you again.
She knew there was no helping Velvet now.
This was just her opportunity to see you pay, as violently, publicly and above all, painfully as possible.
The crowd seemed to have some reservations about all this, their hate of you muted somewhat by some grumbling of discontent.
You could only hope it was some as of yet seen lizard mercy towards you...
In truth though you suspected it was something to do with Velvet.
The guards had already started moving however, seemingly not waiting for a vote or some show of approval.
The ones holding Velvet had started hammering some stakes into the clay, using them to hold the ropes and chains restraining the lizard in place as they retreated.
The ones holding you simply let you loose, but not without a very clear warning.
"Stand here and wait human, or we will tear out the tendons from your legs and leave you to crawl in the dirt."
You considered running, or hitting out at them, but didn't fancy your chances against the large scaly walls of muscle and claws either way.
That and the taller of the two was watching you very closely indeed, and licking his lips...
So you waited.
In nothing but your boxers and robe.
You waited, as the guards surrounding Velvet retreated, leaving her pinned in place and trailing a single rope along with them that was tied somewhere behind her back.
They hadn't said anything about your gag though, so you took the opportunity to remove it at least.
You had intended to perhaps appeal to the crowd but they were making too much noise, either chanting something that sounded suspiciously like "Rip and Tear!  Rip and Tear!" or arguing amongst themselves animatedly.
Either way they couldn't hear you.
You could only stand and watch as finally only the two of you remained on the clay, as she pulled and twisted against her bonds with renewed vigour.
Then, as a mighty clash of a gong sounded out across the arena, the now safely hidden guards yanked on the rope still connected to Velvet.
It pulled some sort of rod out from the bindings behind her back, and caused the whole thing to fall apart.
She stood still and stared at you for a long few seconds, before tearing off the last binding around her maw, and charged.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

It was an interesting mix of emotions that followed.
Or at least thats what the detached and analytical part of your mind thought as the world seemed to slow to a crawl.
You needed to run, to make like a totally innocent banker man during a recession and get the fuck to Mexico.
Yet your legs wouldn't move.
Even as fear pinned your feet in place as surely as a set of iron nails, you felt a thrill of... something else.
The sight of the enraged lizard baring down on you, teeth and claws ready, tongue lolling out the side of her mouth, eyes burning with a desire reminiscent of Opal...
Yet the moment could only last so long.
Time could only stretch so far before snapping back to hard reality.
With barely half a second to spare you dived to the side, and watched the rampant lizard sail right through the space you had just inhabited and keep going.
She had launched herself with such force that her attempt to stop and change direction actually caused her to loose her footing and tumble to the ground.
The time it would take for her to scramble back to her feet was all you would have.
So you pull yourself up and break into a sprint, heading back to the gate they had brought you from.
Of course it was locked up tight.
When you turn back around you see that Velvet had disentangled herself from her own flailing limbs and had started running your way again.
Her head was low, her clawed hands outstretched to either side, and her tail whipping back and forth behind her as she ran.
If you survived the impact of her crushing you against the gate, you probably wouldn't through what would come next.
The crowd screamed and chanted in s mix of broken English and lizard, Rouge's voice somehow rising above the others in calling for your blood.
So be it.
If this was where you died then you wouldn't turn from it.
Instead you did your best to lock eyes with the crazed lizard and think of Opal.
You'd never get to walk through the park with her again, or pick her another flower...
At the last second you close your eyes and tense up for the collision.

Only for it not to come.
Your eyes snap back open as a mighty crash erupts from in front of you, along with the sound of a screeching lizard.
Velvet is on the ground, scrabbling at the clay floor while her head is pinned upon it.
A large white and silver scaled foot, laden with claws, is holding her down.
An inexpensive but otherwise priceless to its owner anklet shines brightly from the ankle.
Looking back up fully, you see that it's Opal!
Your Opal!
Decked out in her blouse and skirt from before and wearing her neatly combed wig proudly, standing between you and certain death as you had for her.
"Opal... you came?"
It was about all you could say, choked up as you were by relief and joy.
She had dropped down from above as Velvet had charged, catching her beneath her own large feet and slamming her down.
It would take more than that to finish her though, the element of surprise had gone a long way in Opal's favour but the larger lizard was far from done.
"Of course I came silly..." she cood back at you smiling.
"Came as soon as I realised they had taken you, I smelled them down in the basement when I came looking for you so I figured they had brought you here."
You reached out and planted a kiss on her smooth nose, smiling for what felt like the first time in an age.
She smiled back happily.
"I had to come, because I am yours now... and you are mine!"
You briefly consider reminding her of what you said before about not belonging to anyone when Opal pushed you back.
Velvet had found her senses again and had started pulling herself from where she had been held.
She immediately tried to focus on you again, determined to finally get her claws on you once and for all.
Opal was having none of it though.
With a hiss of her own she sent a swipe in the larger lizard's direction.
It had looked to have been a feint, without any power in it but more intended to pull her attention away from you and easily avoided.
Surprisingly however, Velvet didn't even try to evade.
The swipe knocked her across the snout with a dull 'thwap' sound.
Regardless, it succeeded in drawing her gaze from you and back to Opal.
Your relief was short lived however as you remembered the last time these two went toe to toe...
The two had sprung away though before you could say a word, powerful legs carrying them across the arena as Velvet charged and Opal dodged.
It was strange though.
The last fight had been tragically one sided with Velvet having the superior strength and size over Opal, quickly overpowering her and beating her smaller opponent down with relative ease.
This time though it was different.
Velvet seemed to cut the very air itself with her powerful sweeping claws and the walls echoed with the sounds of her snapping jaws, but nothing was connecting.
Opal seemed to just flow around each strike, weaving in and out of range as she dodged and jabbed in return.
From what you could tell, Opal seemed to be more at ease with herself than last time, calmly assessing her opponent and using her smaller size and greater agility to her advantage.
Of course...
She had been fighting off the effects of her 'need' before, struggling to stay in control as she fought.
It seemed your frantic efforts last night had succeeded in not only in garnering you some scars but also, in every sense of the word, pounding the crazy out of her.
Velvet on the other hand...
She was slower, lashing out with crushing blows that just never connected and ultimately just wearing herself down.
Where Opal had fought her madness tooth and claw, Velvet had seemingly fallen into hers completely.
She was no longer a skilled fighter but a wild beast consumed by rage.
It was another thing you had inadvertently taken from her...
While the fight went on you realise the crowd was going hysterical.
It wasn't in a rage to get Opal though like you feared.
They seemed to be arguing amongst themselves, bickering and scuffling in some cases, as the guards struggled to restore order.
Rouge hissed and snarled in her own tongue as she tried to regain control but her attention was split.
She had seen Opal, and she looked worried.
From what you saw of the ongoing fight she was right to be.
Velvet was slowing down, her attacks starting to look sluggish and her breathing laboured.
Opal was still gliding this way and that, dodging and striking at the bigger lizard with ease.
Despite being in a fight for her life she looked calm, there wasn't so much as a hair out of place on her wig even.
Then it was done.
Not so much that Opal delivered a final blow, if anything she seemed to be holding back from using her claws or anything surprisingly, but it was as if Velvet realised she had lost.
With a frustrated hiss she turned from Opal and locked on to you again, a mad, desperate look in her exhausted eyes as she made one last attempt to claim you as hers.
She broke into a sprint, charging at you with everything she had left...
Only for you to step aside at the last second.
With an earth shaking crash, she collided with the stone gate that had been behind you and sent it splintering inwards in pieces.
For her part, she staggered backwards, clutching at her head.
She had hit the locked stone gate head first and with considerable force, you could already see a line of red working it's way down from one of her nostrils.
Then with a final shuddering cry of pain and despair, her eyes rolled back and she crumpled to the floor.
Opal by now had jogged back over to you, a look of concern on her face as looked down on the now immobile Velvet at your feet.
"Are you ok Anon?  I can't believe I let her get away from me like that..."
"I'm fine..." you respond shakily.
Any further talk was interrupted by a shrill scream from the arena seating, one that cut through both the air and fighting lizards like an icepick.
It was Rouge, and she was staring in horror at the defeated Velvet at your feet.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

In retrospect, that point when everyone was confused, shocked or otherwise engaged, would have been the ideal time to make a run for it through the broken gate.
In reality though, Opal had other plans.
"Deviant!" the angry matriarch screamed.
"What have you done!?!"
The crowd had stopped fighting now, all turning to see what new drama was unfolding.
"How dare you interfere!  Guards!  Take them!"
As the beleaguered guard lizards started disentangling themselves from the crowd however, Opal spoke.
At first in a series of growls an snapping teeth, but then in English, for your benefit no doubt.
"I have interfered with nothing, only finished what was interrupted!"
The crowd fell silent again and the guards halted their approach.
"The fight between this one and myself had not been properly finished, as Anon unknowingly intervened."
You could feel the anger of the crowd focus on you again.
"Opal... what are you doing?" you ask, getting a little worried.
"I returned to finish what was started, and have won!"
The crowd began to hiss and grumble again, mulling over her words.
"Nonsense!" Rouge roared.
"You fled the pit before my daughter could claim her rightful victory!  You cannot simply return now and fight again!"
"I did not leave, I was taken by Anon who didn't know any better." Opal responded calmly.
"I came back and finished it, the laws state a defeated cannot return to challenge again if they survive, but you said it in your own words - 'she could not claim her victory', so I was not defeated."
From across the distance you could see Rouge visibly shaking with rage.
This was not going down well.
"You...  How dare you!"
Before either of them could continue there was a shout from the benches just above where you stood, it had come from an irate older looking lizard that seemed to have been listening intently.
Her scales looked rougher and more faded than those around her, and she was shouting and hissing something towards Rouge in a far from friendly manner from what you could tell.
As she finished her mysterious rant, others stood and seemed to call out in agreement, while others tried to shout her down.
None of it made sense if course, with you not understanding the language they used at all.
Luckily, you had Opal to translate.
"What's happening up there, and what are they saying?" you ask, not sure if you really want to know the answer.
"The crowd is torn." she muttered absently, doing her best to focus on the increasingly loud exchange forming above.
"The older one who was shouting just now wanted to know why any of this was happening, why the Elder had made a spectacle of her daughter."
"Oh..." you replied, guiltily eying the unconscious Velvet at your feet.
"The others are calling for you to be punished anyway, regardless of the outcome here, and others are just getting riled up in the middle."
"There was some arguing earlier that I had thought might be some mercy... is that part of the argument?"
Strangely, your question caused a snorting chuckle to escape Opal.
"I'm afraid not Anon, from what I can tell they were arguing over letting a rampant loose this far inside the Enclave."
So much for lizard mercy then...
"It is known that once one of my people are too far gone there is no coming back, and there just aren't enough males to risk the attempt with how violent we can get."
You absently rub at the now grubby bandages on your arms.
"It can't be permanent though right?" you ask suddenly.
"I mean, you were pretty far gone last night and now you are, well... you again."
She opened her mouth to answer but stopped, a thoughtful look falling over her.
"I...  Well...  I did my best to hold on so I wasn't all that far gone but..."
She sighed and grabbed your hand.
"I guess you just found a way to bring back to my senses then didn't you... clever human..."
Further shouting from the crowd cut off any further talk.
You didn't need Opal to tell you that the gathered lizards were getting out of control.
The guards had pulled back to protect the section surrounding the Elders, while the others had separated into groups that had started fighting and hissing at each other.
"It's getting pretty hairy up there..." you observe solemnly.
It looked like while you had been talking Rouge had ordered the guards to restore order, mostly by grabbing anyone that questioned what she had been trying to do here.
When someone had suggested setting things right by putting the rampant Velvet to death, as was tradition, the Elder had freaked and demanded the offending female's head.
Rioting of course ensued.
"Anon we need to leave, things are getting nasty up there."
You had to agree.
"Yeah I don't think I want to be caught in the middle of that anytime soon...  Do you know the way out?"
She nodded.
"This way!"
She turned and made her way through the smashed gate.
You moved to follow but your foot caught on something and you stumbled.
Thankfully you regained your balance before doing yourself an injury but as you turned to see what you had tripped on, you stop.
It had been the unconscious Velvet's limp tail.
She was still laying where she had fallen, out cold but breathing at least.
The pang of guilt came back in spades.
"Hey Opal, hold up!"
Your shout brought her back, confusion on her face.
"What is it?  We can't stay here!"
"What about her?" you ask, pointing at the battered lizard.
"Velvet?  What do you mean?"
You kneel down and give her a poke.
No response.
"What will happen to her after we escape?  Will she be exiled?"
Opal squatted down next to you.
"Now that it is known she is rampant there is little anyone can do, her mother can try but the law is clear..."
You already knew the answer, Rouge had already said it.
As she was to far gone to choose exile, they would execute her.
"Isn't there anything we can do?  Like take her to a doctor or something?"
Opal looked at you with what looked like a glimmer of jealousy in her golden eyes.
"Why?  She's the reason we are in this mess at all!  Why would you help her now?"
You returned her look, hiding nothing in your response.
"We're in this mess because of me too, somehow I had an effect on her and started her down this road."
You drop your gaze.
"Now look at her, she's a mess, and going to be killed too and I feel responsible."
Opal's expression softened slightly.
"You got hurt up in that pit because of me and now she's hurt because I ran off with you in my arms without a second thought."
The clamour up above was getting louder, time was short.
"I don't regret helping you, of course not, but I don't know if I can just walk away and let her die like this..."
Opal placed a hand on your shoulder and squeezed.
"I don't think there's anything we can do Anon, if there was a cure for this we would have found it by now."
You look up again.
"What about my people?  Maybe a human doctor can find something?"
A scream and a crash from above signals the end of your time.
"We have to go Anon, and the checkpoint got sealed after I made it in so there's no way to get her out to the surface.
Just as you begin to accept defeat, Opal suddenly stiffens, sinking her claws into your shoulder painfully.
"I just had an idea!"
You look to her hopefully, but the wicked grin on her face stopped you cold.
"I think I know a way to help Velvet and ourselves out of this mess!"
The grin was a bit too reminiscent of last night for your liking...
"Quickly, help me get her up and back to my place!"
Before you knew it, you had one of Velvet's arms around your shoulder while Opal took the other, propping up the unconscious lizard between you and making your escape from the arena.
You were glad that Opal was helping but...
The smile hadn't left her face and she had a definite spring in her step.
What exactly was she planning?
As the sound of angry lizard rioting mounted behind you, there was little you could do now but follow Opal's lead and hope Velvet didn't wake up before you got wherever you were going...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> For chapter 16, see part two.
https://pastebin.com/XQtKKayF