[ He'd fully expected Xingchen to join in the masses of recoiling at the sight of his tail. Instead, the kind man actually reaches out and strokes gently over some of his scales. It steals his breath away and he has to swallow as his cheeks pink.

Then sigh. ]

They fear me now. For good reason, though I haven't allowed myself to do anything wicked in centuries. I...our true forms follow bloodlines. My brother is a phoenix, after his mother. I am Father's first born, and so only I could be a dragon. Father was the Heavenly Emperor before me, Xiao Xingchen.

[ Congrats on snuggling said Heavenly Emperor! ] But it was Mother, Father's wife, who would cause trouble if I was shown too many favors above her son.