Shopping Spree in the Dragon City

They were informed nearly two weeks prior, but being busy knights- most saved hunting down fancy clothes right up until the day before the ball.
That was the most absolutely flawless time for her to camp it out in the Library, because certain demons were always hogging up the good arm chairs in there.
She could not remember the last occasion that the Library was so utterly, completely, and outright silent. Which was a lot to say, because not that many people spent as much time as she had in that specific part of the Castle.
The only reason she was there was because she already had a dress from day one, having no need to tag along with whoever would take her.
There were no more than five people still around after nine that morning- She was wondering why everyone left the task to last minute when the only major things they really did were slaying evil, and drinking.
She sat there in the most comfortable seat, a notebook balanced on the left arm of the chair, her legs folded underneath her as she wrote continuously. She stopped every few minutes to stop her hand's burning from clenching the pencil to hard, but otherwise her eyes were an inch from the paper, focusing in on each letters' points. That's not exactly what writing was like- but if you were her, you'd do that too.
It wasn't more than an hour later when everybody's favorite dragon, Shirly, came from around a book shelf, and sat himself down in the place beside.
"So, are you still working on that chapter?" They asked quizzically, stretching their neck-of-a-body over the other's shoulder.
She stuck out her tongue to the paper, "All I have to say is- extreme effort sucks." Then they began scribbling down words again onto the faded blue lines.
It had been a whole two days of just writing and exterminating Evil-Doers.
"Maybe you should take a break?" He suggested,
The pencil was thrown into the spine of the notebook, and slammed shut, "I'll get back to this in a few weeks," the book was tossed onto the low coffee table in front of them, "Hey… uh, are you coming to the Masquerade Ball tomorrow?"
Shirly glanced at her coolly, "I don't think us dragons working for all of you were invited," He brought his great book of Edgar Allen Poe up to his face, where he could hide behind the dog-eared pages and scathed bindings.
Instantly, she brought her feet down to the floor, and hands to her lap where they folded neatly. Her spine straightened up from the back of the seat, while her glossy dark eyes stared forward, "Is it, that, or do you just… not have… something to wear?"
In a moment she realized she was dead, a goner, done for, she shouldn't 've even asked…
That dragon was going to slaughter her.
Though instead, the reptile replied with a grunt of an- "Exactly my point."
It was exactly her point to help out her Dragon-Bro out with the very unusual occurrences of his issues when they showed themselves.
Therefore, being the infrequent Fan-girl she was; she bounded out of her chair, pulling the overly-grown lizard right along with her.
__________________________________________________________________________________________

If you've ever been to the Dragon City, you'd know that this specific Knight was not welcome in their domain on account of the last time she'd been there. Shirly had remembered the event pretty clearly, which was why he at first resisted bringing her to the empire for a really long time.
But because War Hammers hurt, Shirly solemnly agreed, and away they went from the Knightly Castle to the only mall where they sold Dragon-Sized attire. Unfortunately, the mall was Dragon-Sized as well.
"I told you this was a stupid idea," He murmured to the girl seated upon his shoulders as they both stared up at the massive, entirely wooden building. Part of it was burning…
He walked them into the colossal gap which served as a front entrance, gawking at all the other dragons, serpents, and a few basilisks coming and going all around them.
"You just won't shut up, would you?" She replied, stalking anybody with scales that came too close for her comfort. Some of them wanted her dead.
"Let's just get the stuff, and get the heck out of here before YOU get slaughtered," He maneuvered them through the surge of the crowd to the margin where the shops met the outside, "Do you know where the fancy stuff is?"
"Not really," She was busy gazing up at the various fires floating above all their heads inside the forty foot ceilings. The sound actually wasn't that loud, because not all of their reptilian friends were able to speak other than hissing. The sea of serpents   "We should probably ask somebody..."
"NO."
They hurriedly found their way to a map of the mall which was posted in the center of a three-way intersection, only it was even more packed there.
Yet ten minutes later after memorizing the lengthy, winding way to the Men's Wedding Department, he sprinted as fast as he could though the multitude.
Along with the girl riding on his shoulders, plus her war hammer, it was a decently heavy load to try and be agile with. So, on an unexpected sharp turn, comparable to a doll, she was flung off him and into the parade of strangers.
Down, down, down she was shoved, trampled into the ground beneath claw ended feet and slithering bodies. One foot kicked into her abdomen, another to her neck. Only below their figures did the noise begin to beat into her eardrums. Panic was nothing against terror and utter confusion as the three twisted themselves into the only being she was. Where she fell, no light from the fires above shone, blinding her in the darkness of others' shadows.
"SHIRLY!" She could merely shout out his name with the remains of her breath after it being crushed out of her diaphragm.
Instantly, he felt the weight relived from his arms, but instead of heaving forward, he stopped short not even eleven feet from where she laid.
Only she made no sound,  and he couldn't see her either.
"HAMA!"  All he was thinking was how if she was killed, he would be too. "HAMA! YOU BETTER ANSWER ME OR ELSE!"
"Shiry!" Was all that he needed for him to dive for it, and rip her up from the floor by the sleeve of her icy blue hoodie.
He wrapped her in his arms against his chest before grabbing her stupid weapon from just a step away, then darting towards the Men's Wedding Department.
Once they got to Righteous Reptiles, he dropped her down in a bench inside the store, and seated himself next to her.
"You... Are such… A Doofus." She said carefully, resting the hammer on her lap.
"Sorry, you weren't holding on tight enough."
"WELL SO-RRY!" She brought the Hood in Hoodie down around her neck to fix the borrowed bandana from Neverthrive which was tied around her head as a hairband. As she removed the cloth, hundreds of auburn ringlets escaped their confinements, spiraling down her back, "Hey, can we get some Ice-Cream after we're done here? It'll make me feel better about being here with you."
Up went her hood before she rose, hitching the hammer across her shoulders. "Now let's find you a mask to hide your face- I don't wanna look at it more than I have to," She was really, really pissed off at him.
She went into the forest of racks, furious.
He would never fully understand that girl. So, he stood and went after her, watching in all directions for anyone. The Dragon City was one of the few places where at one time they had her face on "Wanted" posters. If she were to do anything stupid, the both of them would be screwed.
In a pretty good amount of time they found the shelf where for some reason they sold masks, right between the hair-ties and Claw-Socks.
"Happy Birthday," She said, gesturing towards the series of ominous masks in perfect 8 by 3 rows, "Choose the one of your desire."
"What?"
"Huh? Nothing."
"Was that a quote or-"
"Shut it and pick one!"
He growled in pure irritation, taking the one closest to him which practically screamed "CLICHÉ!" as it was a gloomy domino-mask.
"You're… sure that's the one you want?" She was one to burn cliché to the ground.
He examined it for only a second, "Yes."
She looked back to the other elegant and vibrant facades, questioning his choice to no ends. "You're… sure?" She knew Shirly hated cliché just as much as she did.
He only held it out to her without saying another word.
"Okay… I guess…" They walked back to the front of the store to pay. Luckily there was no line, so they went right up to the Lady.
"Hello," The woman said, immediately scanning the tag attached, "Fifteen dollars."
She had come prepared with almost five times the amount, surprised by the price, "A'right!" She slammed the two, five dollar bills on the counter. Yes…
Shirly blank in shock, but blew it off quickly.
The worker put the article in a plastic bag, handing it off to the girl, "Thank you."
"And thank you!" She knew stuff in the Dragon City was usually expensive even if it was really cheap looking.
They broke from the store as soon as she had the mask on a search for an Ice-Cream stand.
They waited for only a few minutes before they got their turn to order.
-Vanilla, and Peanut-Butter-
So they took their ice-cream worth twenty-five dollars, ready to break for it.
"Hey, cool hammer," The guy said from behind them.
They spun around to look right in the face of a huge Anole Chameleon, who was glowering upon the word Master engraved into the soul-crushing metal.
"Thanks," She replied cynically, taking a half-step closer to Shirly.
The anole hadn't taken his steady gaze off her idol, "It's actually sort-of familiar, don't you think?"
Her dark eyes narrowed from behind the rim of her hood, fist tightening around the hilt of the weapon, "No. Not really."
"I think it is," He tilted his flat head to the side, staring her down.
"I think you got me mixed up with somebody else, dude."
"No," His tongue flicked out for a moment, "I think you're the girl who blew up the Kiddie-Center."
She ground her teeth, and without thinking she spat out "THERE WAS A DEAMON IN THERE!"
Shirly grabbed the nape of her neck, and flung her up above the ground, "Hold on this time?" He asked sarcastically, dropping her onto his shoulders.
She wrapped her legs around his long throat, keeping her mallet in place, "Ride, my steed! " She yelped, winding her fingers into his mane.
He took off, tearing through the crowd of the innocent right before the creep-o shouted out her identity to everyone within hearing-range.
And all they could do was basically attempt to sprint through sand.
Their ice-creams were blown away with the wind. What a shame.
It only took seconds for the people to figure out that the girl in the blue sweater was the same girl who destroyed a crucial part to their town (entirely by accident). And you can lie all your jellybeans down that a lot of them were not happy to see her again.
"SHIRLY, RUN FASTER!"
"I CAN'T!"
"WHY CAN'T YOU FLY?! I THOUGHT DRAGONS COULD FLY!"
"I DON'T HAVE WINGS!"
She groaned, nervously watching the surge of fanged reptiles trampling in their direction, growing faster than them by the moment.
Oh, why was it her to come along?
"SHIRLY! DON'T LOOK BACK WHEN YOU HEAD SCREAMING!" She yelled in his ear, freeing her hand from his hair and reaching to untwist the point on her hammer.
"WHAT?!"
"JUST DON'T LOOK BACK YOU WANNA-BE-T-REX! THAT'S AN ORDER FROM YOUR GENERAL, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!" She barked, very serious about the order and general part.
He was busy jumping over a baby's carriage.
The instant the tip of the weapon popped off, the tortured cries from the insane and the devoured spilled into the Mall, along with ghostly white mist spewing from the top as remains of the souls she had defeated over the years.
Howls straight from the Night-O-Sphere ripped through area like a sonic boom, tumbling under people's feet, sending them all sinking to the ground, tears streaming down all of their Lizard-Faces.
Shirly hadn't looked back once.
All the way back out the gap in the wall serving as a front entrance, their route was cleared and spotless.
__________________________________________________________________________________________

The next night was eventful for everyone- getting ready hours ahead of time, cursing each other out, yet at the same time complimenting everyone on their outfits or hair or whatever there was to compliment.
Unlike most of the ladies of the Knights, she was the one to prepare for the Ball in the solitude of her room where no one would fall on her, or something.
So, when she was forced to emerge from her cave by a certain clock, she took whatever detour she could with the least amount of people.
But still, she was bound to run into Shirly, no matter what she did.
She was just about to cut into the main way where everyone else was walking in the direction of the front entrance when her favorite dragon of all time found her.
"Hey, Hama!" He called, moving toward her from the other side of the hall, "I haven't seen you all day! What, were you hiding?"
She was about to jump behind a door and lock herself in, but when she realized there weren't any; she just froze in her place with her head bowed down. "Hi… Guy…"
There were two very grave reasons why she did not want to see Shirly that night.
One- You cannot just talk to somebody who witnessed you take down an army of angry lizards with the sure power of the deceased souls in the Night-O-Sphere which came out of your everyday item which also everybody thought couldn't redirect actual souls.
Two- Shirly had never seen her in a dress.
His eyes budged out when he came a little closer, "Whoa, would you just look at you?"  He gestured to… all of her. "Where did you get that?"
"Shut your face, Shirly." Locks of red hair fell past her arms down her back in spirals, forming perfect waves around her face delicately. Her ball-gown fanned out after it went past her hips, all the way down to the floor covering her (bare) feet. The fabric was the kind of black you could only see with your eyes closed at night, which was only obscured by sanguine star-shapes spread about the clothing. Her sleeves were long enough to cover her shoulders, as she made do with matching elbow-length fingerless gloves. She also wore a necklace of stainless steel with no charms or gems to take attention away from her tanned face, glared up at him with pure hatred behind a mask of bloody-red peacock feathers
"I… Like your necklace?" He said lamely, his facial expression hidden behind his cliché domino mask.
She blank with bewilderment, "You're such a weirdo."
He swallowed, getting uncomfortable with the flaming eyes she had fixed on him, "Do you… need a ride to the Ball?"
Actually, no, she didn't- but she nodded anyway as she climbed onto the dragon who was wearing only a mask.