#paunk is not having a good time right now

[purrincesskittens]

Cute little gift fic for @muffinlance based on their fic Salvage set in my dragon au featuring Dragon Panuk and Dragon Bato. Panuk normally sheds his scales in winter to grow in new white ones to blend into the snow better and then sheds them again nearing summer to brown. In-between he tends to have a speckled molted look of white and brown. But after going overboard during a storm in Slavage his system is all messed up now.

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Panuk grumbled stretching his long body out the best he could without hitting anything on the deck of the ship. It was hard to sunbath on a ship when you were his size. But he was hoping baking himself in the sun would trick his body into finally realizing it was summer and shed the last of his white scales. Ever since his dip in the ocean during that storm where Zuko the idiot he was had jumped overboard to try and save him his body was convinced that it was winter or approaching winter.

He had already shed the last of his white scales previous to that fun swim in the ocean a few weeks prior but the cold of the water had shocked his system into thinking it was winter again and his scales started to shed once more and grow in white. It was annoying and itchy. They had tried any number of things to get rid of the white scales but it didn’t work.

Plucking them out just left sore spots and made them grow back even faster and spread giving him a molted brown and white look instead of a speckled look. The occasional white scale had grown into patches of white scales among his brown. Zuko had tried warming him up to unbearable levels in human form with his bending and piles of blankets and furs but all that had done was make him sweat. Now they where trying something fire benders did. Sunbathing.

His twenty foot long body was stretched out across the length of the main deck with everything moved as much out of his way as possible. Bato was in his own dragon form swimming alongside the ship occasionally rearing his head out of the water to spray warmed up sea water over him for the sun to bake dry. That had been Toklo’s idea after seeing the hot showers available on Zuko’s uncle’s ship. Between the warm water showers and the sun baking down on him they hoped to trick his body into shedding the white scales again.

He wasn’t too sure if this would work but it was worth the try especially when he had a small black dragonling stretched out along his back between his wings purring happily as he sunbathe himself and warmed up the spot he took up quite nicely. It was kinda nice in some ways just laying there soaking up Agni’s rays. He could see why Zuko enjoyed doing it so much. Although it wouldn’t benefit him the way it would a fire bender or fire dragon it was still nice.

He really wished he could rollover onto his back but that would disturb Zuko. And as much fun as that would be it would also mean sharp claws digging into his scales and squawks of outraged protest that involved a lot of sparks. He was not fire proof and Zuko was very good at digging his claws in-between scales besides he didn’t have the room to roll over not without crushing those who worked around him.

Toklo had climbed up his shoulder and neck to rest sprawled between the horns on his head talking to him and Zuko about all manner of things not minding getting sprayed with water when Bato showered them. Even Zuko didn’t seem to mind the shower. The only thing he wished he could do right now was talk then he could get Zuko or Toklo to scratch that itchy spot just by his hip and tail where some scales itched in a way that meant they would shed soon. Maybe this would work after all and he could finally be rid of his white scales.