Here's a little background first. In this universe, there exist dragon people, which are humans born into dragon-looking bodies as a result of a fictitious genetic condition, which also rewires their brain. Dragons only make up about 0.25% of the population, or 1 in 400. Because of their vastly different bodies and differently wired brains, they struggle with relating to non-dragon people, and many of them find more comfort with other dragons like them. Dragon people tend to be intellectual, introverted, psychologically androgynous, and relatively asexual when it comes to attraction. Because of this, they value their friendships with each other more so than humans do, and they don't put nearly as much of an emphasis on sex as we do. My story starts when one dragon in particular, a young twenty-something fresh out of college, wants to make friends with other dragons. Growing up, she didn't know many other dragons. She also suffers from anxiety and depression. She thinks that she would feel better if she made close friends with other dragons around her age. There are four other main characters who are all fellow twenty-something dragon people that end up meeting her and becoming her new best friends. The problem is that, story-wise, I haven't figured out how these four strangers would end up meeting her. Do you have any suggestions?
What do the dragons do? Do they engage in a sport, fly, have races, do they have some unique way of supporting themselves, do they eat something different from everyone else, do they like certain regions or areas?
As an old guy I would say they meet in a grocery market, but in reality volunteer service puts you in close proximity and if your lucky you get to see them mad before you have to discover it on your own.
The dragons aren't like a race or ethnic group, they're people with a genetic condition that causes them to develop dragon-like bodies and differently wired brains. Anyone could be born a dragon.
Do dragons stand in line at Starbucks? Go to bars? Work at the same tech firm and go to Taco Tuesday together? Bump into each other at the dog park? ETA: What do they want, and where might they find it?
They do everything humans do, but they also fly. There are platforms set up across cities, towns, and neighborhoods that act as "flying stops" for dragons on their flight. Other than that, they just act like humans (at least eccentric humans). There isn't anything fantastical about them, though. They don't breathe fire or any of that stuff.
Like any other group that was different from the mainstream of people, dragons would have support groups and/or social clubs where they would congregate from a very early age. They might even have separate schools that would be just for dragons. So your characters would probably already know each other since an early age.
You don’t necessarily have to have your character meet all of them at the same time. She can meet one of them who is already friends with the rest and then introduce her into the group. I also think this would be a better approach for your character, considering her anxiety: meeting and befriending several people at the same time could be rather daunting. As others have suggested, maybe have her meet her new friend at a support group, or a waiting area for the doctor/dentist. She’s fresh out of college, she’s going to need a job, she might meet her new friend there, be it as a customer/client or co-worker. There are a lot of ways to go and even if they keep meeting in the same spot, it can work. At least that way they’ll know each other’s routine a bit. And then the group element can be introduced later. I have personally found it to be easier to have a character meet one character and that way get introduced to a group, because it will rarely happen that a group keeps running into the same person.
Maybe every lunar eclipse they're minds reach out across the world and create a telepathic bond, drawing them closer.
Maybe every lunar eclipse they're minds reach out across the world and create a telepathic bond, drawing them closer. *edit: "There isn't anything fantastical about them" Well then say your MC comes upon a wounded dragon at a fly stop and takes him to a dragon doctor. At this point you already have one potential friend in line.
