THE MOMENT
"It was supposed to be a curse," Ennis nodded with a hollow chuckle. A ghost of amusement passed over his face as he thought back to that fateful day. "I knew that going in. It's not a curse if it's welcome, right?...," he sighed and took a sip of his beer. It was rare that he opened up to a stranger like that; but, she did ask. The small patch of green scales on his cheek and neck wasn't his favorite topic by a long shot, yet somehow, he felt exceedingly comfortable in her presence.
It was a standard Tuesday evening at the bar. Too early for the night time crowd and too late for the early bird seniors. It was the perfect time for people like Ennis. He was in his 40s and liked to be in bed by 9:30. He was sitting alone, like most nights, when a younger looking woman with blonde stubble reflecting the neon signage on her head sat down next to him. She introduced herself as Zoe, and she was curious about his scales, if he wasn't offended by the question.
"With a setup like that, you found out something different, huh?" Zoe asked with a smirk.
"I thought to myself, 'hey, it's the modern era, man. I WANT to be a dragon,'" he said. "I wanted to be anyway."
"Seems logical," Zoe helped his story along with a nod. "What happened?"
"It turns out curses have kind of a funny trick to them," he chuckled. "I mean, we live in a world with established, commoditized curse magic. Most people wind up having to deal with random curses for a bit, even if they can ward them off later. I thought I had it figured out, you just have to make the best of the cursed situation once it happened. That's what everyone else in the world does when they get cursed, hell most jobs won't even let you take a cursed day off. It's expected to just carry on normally in any way possible."
"Yeah, it feels like that," Zoe nodded. None of that really applied to her; but, she could attempt to commiserate at least.
"So one day I realize I want to be a dragon. I could arrange someone to curse me to become a dragon. And, I could get away with it because I was cursed," he chuckled. "I thought about it for a bit, didn't jump into it right away. But, I did eventually find a witch and got her to curse me."
"So... it worked?" Zoe asked as she nodded at the patch of scales. Ennis chuckled and sighed with a shake of his head.
"I learned that intent made a world of difference," he said. "Apparently, reality is really nuanced," he added. "It's one thing to be cursed and make peace with it after the fact. But, a curse isn't a wish. And, if you go around asking for a curse, you're gonna get it."
"It looks like it's working?" Zoe shrugged.
"Yeah, it does, doesn't it," he chuckled. "The curse included the keyword 'slowly', and it decided to exploit that meaning...," he brought his hand up to touch the scales on his cheek.
"The curse is working. I know that. Theoretically, one day, I'll actually be a dragon. But, this little patch of scales took about 40 years to grow. So.. it's gonna get a lot worse before it gets better. "