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After so much time away, it was nice to be back in the States. Even if it wasn't actually home. But it could hardly be called a world tour if they left it out, the advertising had said. Which didn't explain how they could skip Africa and South America, Xodiac mused to himself, but whatever. If he got lucky, maybe he could go on another trip and visit those places.

Ideally, without periodically getting stuffed into a dress.

The tour company had taken the group on a tour of the deep south, passing through Louisiana and Alabama. It was an odd choice, perhaps, compared to flashier possibilities such as the Grand Canyon, but perhaps it was chosen specifically because it was so unusual. And who could argue with a couple weeks of southern hospitality, barbeque, and comfort food?

Well, Xodiac could, if it included a plantation tour and then a ball, complete with nineteenth-century suits for the men and fancy dresses with hoops skirts for the women. And for him, of course.

"Care for a dance?" Chathran said with a smirk.

"Oh, hell no."

"Well, what are you planning to do, then?" the horse asked. "You just going to stand against the wall all night?"

"I plan to just stay over by the food." He wasn't sure if southern dances served their food buffet style back then, but this one did.

"Bah! What fun is that?"

"Not very," Xodiac admitted.

"You know, after all the other stops, I'd think you'd be used to it by now. The rest of us are." He paused to let Xodiac respond, but the hybrid just grimaced silently. Chathran sighed. "Look, man. This is meant to be a fun evening. Okay, I get it, you're not happy about wearing what they gave you. But you're already wearing it all. There's nothing left to get embarrassed about. So why not just enjoy the night?"

"Easier said than done," Xodiac murmured. But he had to admit, his friend had a point.

"Probably. But when you get home and tell people about this dance, do you really want to say you played the wallflower?"

Xodiac grimaced again. He could lie about it, of course. But he'd never liked lying. It just rubbed him all wrong when others lied to him, and he wasn't about to be a hypocrite and do it to others if he could possibly avoid it.

Besides, he was usually pretty bad at it. If he tried, people would pick at his story until it unraveled.

He set his plate aside and looked up at his friend. "Why, yes, suh. I would be dee-lighted to accept this dance from such a handsome gentleman," he said softly, with an affected southern accent. Then he curtsied gracefully and offered his hand to his friend.

Chathran looked at him agog. "What... the hell?"

Xodiac chuckled. "Oh, man," he said in his normal voice. "That was worth it. The look on your face..."

"Oh... kay," the horse said. "So, shall we dance?"

Xodiac's hand was still extended towards him. He wiggled his fingers invitingly. "Sure."

It turned into a pretty good night, after all.

— * x * —

"How was the flight?" Rille asked as she helped her brother load his luggage into the car's trunk. Dragotes may have wings, but it was much easier to just drive from place to place when there was a lot of things to carry. Just as it was easier to use a plane to fly long distances, rather than doing it under their own power. Flight was not light exercise.

"A bit bumpy," Xodiac said, and slid into the passenger seat. "Otherwise fine."

"Good!" Rille got behind the wheel and started navigating the typical airport traffic madhouse. "And the trip? How was it?"

"Oh, I loved it. Lots of interesting places, good people, great food..." Xodiac spent most of the ride home telling her about all of them.

"Sounds like you had fun," Rille said when he wound down a little.

"Yup. Had a great time."

She turned her head, just a little, so she could see him out of the corner of her eye. "Even the 'Local Experiences'?"

Xodiac looked startled, then slammed his fist against his knee and glared at her. "I knew it! I knew you were the one who did that!"

"Did what?"

"Oh, don't act all coy, sis. You changed the gender on my paperwork to female!"

"I did no such thing!"

"Bull!"

Rille shook her head emphatically. "Nope. I came in and you were asleep at the computer. I checked your paperwork and it was all done. Just needed to be sent. I gave it a quick look-see, and the gender field was already marked for female."

"What?"

"Either you never changed it from the default, or you checked it there yourself." Rille smiled at her brother sweetly, then took the off ramp. "It's not for me to change your paperwork, brother mine. So I simply sent it off to make sure you hit the deadline."

Xodiac struggled to take that in. Ever since that third stop, in the Middle East, he'd been blaming his sister for his paperwork problems. All those dresses! But what if she wasn't behind it?

She could be lying, he reminded himself, but then discarded the notion immediately. Rille indulged the coyote half of her personality far more than he did, but they were alike in how much they tried to avoid outright lying – even if their reasons differed. For him, it was a matter of honor and respect. For Rille, it was more that she felt tricking people would be too darn easy if she allowed herself to lie outright. Far more satisfying to tell them a misleading half-truth. If she said she didn't do it, she probably didn't.

"...Dammit."

"So what happened because of it? Because clearly something did."

Xodiac smiled at his sister. "Maybe I just won't tell you. Let you stew in curiosity, hmm?"

Rille snorted, amused. "You're not that cruel."

"Alas, you are correct." And so Xodiac told her the results of her non-prank. What the Local Experiences were, the clothing he'd been given and worn, and how they'd gone for him as a result. By the time he was done, they were home.

"Well. Sounds like you certainly got your money's worth," she said as they went inside.

"That I did."

"Glad to hear you had a good time."

Xodiac thought back on the trip, and all the fun and fascinating places he'd gone over the last few months. And Chathran's words at the last stop. He nodded slowly.

"That I did."

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---

So yeah, this was all mostly an excuse to show Xodiac in various outfits from around the world. Much as with some of my earlier commissions, the story grew out of a desire to explain why he'd be wearing all these dresses and such. Some of them were surprisingly hard to write; why in the world would anyone wear a toga, for instance, in this day and age? I wanted a nice mix of reasons, too, not just a costume party at each stop, or something.

Art by  crazymelimelo. Story by me.

1,103 words (this part)