#tiny dragon virgil

[anartisticexpression]

The Sides of Sanders and their dragon counterparts!

Ko-fi / Red Bubble / Commissions

[delimeful]

every good intention (4)

warnings: misunderstandings, assumptions, pre-AA, panic attack

-

Roman had been thinking.

Contemplating, really. There were a surplus of mystifying elements to consider as of late, especially now that he’d found out about Logan and Anxiety’s secret tryst.

(He was fairly certain that platonic cuddling between a repressed nerd and an awkward emo didn’t actually qualify as a tryst, but it sounded much more dramatic that way.)

He was no Logic, but as a charming and exceptional denizen of Thomas’s mind, he naturally had wits aplenty of his own.

And so arrived his realization: When it came to the puzzle that was his interactions with Anxiety the past few weeks, there was a pattern.

When Roman ran into the eyeliner-extraordinaire as himself, he was treated to the same prickly reception as always: Anxiety was a creepy, annoying asshole who loved to undermine Roman’s every idea and probably Thomas’s every happy thought, too.

The few occasions that he’d run into Anxiety in his cursed form, however, told a new story. One Roman had never heard before.

When faced with the tiny fire-breathing lizard version of Roman, Anxiety acted entirely differently. Instead of hunched shoulders and purposefully agitating smirks, he wore a casual, slouched posture and wry amusement— even when Roman was actively antagonizing him.

He didn’t act like a villain. When faced with what he believed to be a small, easily-conquered creature, Anxiety hadn’t taken the opportunity to attack, hurt, or even merely frighten him. Not even after Roman had bitten him.

Roman the Side, on the other hand, was given no such grace. He’d even tried to tone down his usual assertiveness in favor of a careful neutrality when running into Anxiety, curious about the strange truce Logan had formed with him, but to no avail.

Without the barrier of barbed bantering between them, Anxiety only seemed to grow more defensive and on-edge, paradoxically enough.

The answer was obvious: Anxiety must have some strange affinity for dragons.

It was the only possible explanation for Roman’s bizarre undersized form garnering a kinder welcome than Creativity, clearly the optimal being between the two. Anxiety simply had an affection for the sharp and scary, and a disdain for Disney Princes.

Of course, that didn’t explain the way he treated Patton with care when nobody was watching, or the lack of backstabbing he’d brought to the midnight cuddlefest. Thus, it all had to be part of some larger plot!

Roman wasn’t as experienced in predicting plotting, seeing as it wasn’t a particularly heroic activity.

Luckily, he had the perfect spy to send in to uncover the truth behind Anxiety’s more bewildering behavior: himself!

Thus, the next time Roman found himself with wings, scales, and a tail, he strode down the hall towards Anxiety’s room with confidence that was only a little faux.

He’d worried for a bit that it wasn’t a very gentlemanly thing to do, invading one’s privacy, but this particular opportunity had come about after a spectacular tiff between the two of them, and Roman found that his reservations had suddenly vanished.

Anxiety certainly hadn’t been holding back when he’d poked at Roman’s every sore spot in the brainstorming today. Roman wanted— no, needed to uncover the motives of his scheme, so he could go back to giving every argument his all too, without wondering how things might be different between them.

Anxiety’s room was usually sealed up tight, but occasionally he would leave it cracked, presumably because the sight of it sitting just slightly ajar at the shadowed end of the hall prompted exactly the sort of unease that he loved to inspire in everyone.

Fortune must have smiled on Roman today, for when he trotted closer, he found that the door was indeed not fully closed.

Taking a deep breath, Roman steeled himself and then headbutted the door firmly, pushing it the slightest bit further open so that he could wriggle his strange little wyrm-like body through.

It made a horrendous creaking sound, eliciting a wince from Roman but absolutely no response from the figure flopped over on the bed in the middle of the shadowed room.

Wary now, Roman crept forward bit by bit, until he spotted the outline of bulky headphones. So that was why his entrance had gone unnoticed by the twitchiest Side in the Mindscape.

Hesitant to grab Anxiety’s attention right away— he would have to be in a foul mood after their altercation today too, wouldn’t he?— Roman instead clambered up the side of a padded armchair, pausing to glance around at the rest of the room curiously.

For such a grimdark and gloomy guy, Anxiety certainly had excellent taste in Disney decor. He would love something like that Nightmare Before Christmas poster in his own room, perhaps an entire section of the wall dedicated to a collage of the more aesthetically appealing Disney classic poster— no, focus!

Shaking himself out of the theoretical redecorating, Roman leapt nimbly to the bedside table, flaring his wings slightly on instinct to muffle the impact of his landing.

When he turned to check that Anxiety was still unaware, however, the sight that greeted him was shocking enough to strike him dumb.

Anxiety’s eyes weren’t on him, because they were cinched tightly closed. He had both hands wound firmly into his hair, face twisted into a panicked grimace as he struggled to inhale a full lungful of air. His panic was practically tangible in the air— Roman felt his own heart rate begin to rise as though in empathy.

His startled question (“Are you okay?!”) came out as a warbling call, one that didn’t make it through the emo soundtrack blasting from those headphones.

After a brief moment of hesitation— why was he so nervous?— Roman made the short leap to the bed, landing with a slight pressure that instantly made Anxiety’s red-rimmed eyes shoot open.

He backpedaled slightly at the way Anxiety sat bolt upright, but in the next moment, the tension seemed to drain slightly from the other Side.

“Bitey,” he greeted, and the wobble in his voice was so alarming that Roman didn’t even snap his teeth in his usual protest of the nickname. “I don’t think you should— should be in here, bud. You may not be affected by the room itself, but I'm… I’m not great company right now.”

Roman kneaded the comforter beneath his talons for a moment indecisively, earning a shaky half-smile from Anxiety. It could be part of some larger plot, but… Roman was the most dedicated actor out of them all, and he didn’t feel like this was an act.

Carefully, his heart pounding in his ears, he crept forward and butted his head against Anxiety’s knee in a meagre attempt at comfort.

Anxiety let out a stuttering, painfully-shallow sounding exhale, and then reached down and picked him up, supporting him with the curve of one arm as he curled around Roman in an unmistakable hug.

The moment they made contact, Roman felt a burst of all-consuming panic that didn’t belong to him, spiked and piercing into every vulnerable bit until there wasn’t any calm left.

It was an echo, emotional feedback from the panic attack that Anxiety was having, and it was a perfect mirror of every fright and fear he’d faced while this size, all at once.

Oh. Oh.

Anxiety hadn’t been kind to him because of reptilian favoritism, after all. It was because he was more than familiar with the sort of flipped-beetle vulnerability that came with feeling afraid, the defensive bared teeth of the fight bit of fight-or-flight. He wasn’t just the cause of Thomas’s anxiety, he was the experience of anxiety itself.

That put… a lot of things into perspective, actually.

Roman pushed his head against Anxiety’s sternum, returning the hug as best he could.

He had a lot of re-thinking to do.

[ashs-random-writing]

a burning feeling

Chapter one

Ao3

--

When Patton, a young-ish human, feels drawn to the mountains that house dragons, he doesn't know why he follows the feeling. He definitely doesn't know why the dragons seem so... protective

--

*note- dragons use it/its as their prominent gender neutral pronouns*

As Patton walked around, he wondered how many people he saw had ever been near the mountains. The mountains were far in the distance, though, for the dragons that lived in them, it wasn’t as big of a distance.

He looked at them, considering. There was nothing stopping him from going closer, barring the multitude of warning signs and verbal warnings he had been given 

He knew the rumours that dragons were bloodthirsty monsters, full of anger and greed. He doubted that was true for the entire species. After all, the same sentiment could be held to humans, and yet, most of the people he had briefly met had purposefully gone out of their way to warn him of potential danger.

He would wait for nightfall, so no one could stop him, and he would go up to the mountains. At best, he would see a dragon in person, and get out unharmed (yay!) and at worst-

Well, they didn’t call him an optimist for nothing. He smiled, buying a cloak to protect him from the harsh cold of the night and got ready to watch the sunset.

He stayed on the roof the inn he was staying in (with the owner’s permission, of course) until the moon was high in the sky, and the only lights were the luminous plants that were scattered haphazardly by mother nature. They were magic, the townsfolk claimed, though didn’t elaborate on what kind. Patton shrugged, letting them light his way.

His cloak was warm, but he was still cold. He always was. He was slowly getting closer to the mountain, and it was getting bigger. He could see a plume of smoke floating out of a cave

He was glad that he was getting close, and he looked at the steep path.

He didn’t quite know why he was doing this. It just... felt right, he supposed. 

The moon was lowered down significantly, by the time he actually got to the mountains, and it took a while for him to get to the cave. He always was weak, so climbing want his strong suit. The sun was long since risen, it’s beauty illuminating the dark mouth of the cave

The smoke came from deep inside, and Patton followed it, passing riches and trinkets galore. This would be more than enough to pay off every single debt he was in

Though, that wouldn’t happen; all of this gold, these jewels, they weren’t his to take, weren’t his to use. He wouldn’t.

He found the dragon a while later, curled up around even more gold. Patton didn’t know why he felt so at peace here, but he did. He felt so right.

The dragon had purple scales, perfectly polished to the point of them being as shiny as all of the gold around them. Patton sat down and watched it. It was sleeping, as Patton should’ve been. It was big, each scale the size of his torso. Patton basked in the warmth that seeped out from the dragon’s body, and yawned, almost subconsciously curling up on the stone ground

When he woke up, the dragon was still asleep. Patton smiled, pulling his cloak further over himself, and waiting

There wasn’t any sunlight in here, and certainly no clocktowers, so he was forced to guess the passage of time. It was maybe an hour later that the dragon started to wake up. The first thing it did was focus its attention onto him, growling lowly. For some reason, Patton wasn’t scared. He giggled slightly.

The dragon sniffed him, and Patton was lifted into the air by the hood of his cloak. The dragon was making little chirping-click noises, though they were still holding him with their teeth. Patton tried to mimic the noises, but found that he couldn’t. He twisted around, as best he could, to look at his... captor? They had started glowing slightly, he realised. 

Patton moved around, deciding that the feeling of being carried like this wasn’t as fun as he would like. The dragon made a noise, and soon, Patton was left in what looked a little bit like a nest. It was too small for the dragon, though, and the edges were too high for Patton to get out of. Patton looked at the dragon

Why was he in a nest?

He stood up, and started going towards the edges, though a large claw pushed him back gently. Patton tilted his head and looked up at the dragon’s face. It was large, with golden eyes staring him down. He still wasn’t intimidated. He couldn’t explain it, but he needed to stay near them.

They retreated from the nest for a few minutes, in which Patton tried to climb out to find them, but he only got partially to the top, before they came back, another dragon with them. This one had dark blue scales, reminding Patton of the night sky. They were larger than Dragon One, their noises deeper

Patton was deposited back in the centre of the nest. He smiled to himself. Something about this made him happy, though most of him was telling him how bad it was to be captured by a dragon. 

He yawned, somehow still feeling tired after his nap earlier. How long ago was that...? The dragons were making noise at each other, perhaps talking. Patton felt like he needed to listen, though he didn’t understand

He fell asleep a while later. The cave was warm, chasing away the persistent chill that followed him. His dreams were strange, full of fire and warmth. 

By the time he woke up, one of the dragons was gone, leaving only the dark blue one. They were the bigger of the two. They were curled up around the nest, though their tail was too long to fit. Patton once again tried to climb out, and this time got to the top of the nest. The dragon looked at him with half-lidded eyes, and gently bit down on his cloak and took him out of the nest. 

Patton smiled. He was soon tucked under a wing. The dragons were warm. He had never been this comfortable, he couldn’t even bring himself to be worried about anything.

The next few days were a blur, and he wasn’t worried at all. Well, until his mind cleared enough to actually think. It was hard to think before, something in his mind too relieved about something that was happening. Now, he thought about it

It was worrying that he was being kept here. But, they weren’t doing it maliciously, he didn’t think. Then again, he had a hard time figuring out if anyone was malicious

They kept him warm, and they gave him food, and he was allowed to walk around the cave, though not too close to the exits, and he had his nest, and he was so much more comfortable here. He had never realised how cold he used to be until he was finally warm.

He was pretty sure most people didn’t need as much warmth as he did; he was always confused on how they found the sun warm enough to wear only one layer. But now, he was finally warm.

He didn’t know what was going on, really, but... he wouldn’t mind if it lasted longer. He was sure that there was something going on, but he didn’t really care. They took care of him

He was fairly certain that they were trying to teach him their language, and they seemed happy when he imitated them, even if he messed up slightly. He knew the greeting chirp they used when they came to his nest

He usually got taken out of the nest about an hour or so after he woke up. The dragons would give him food, make sure he was warm enough, and they would do lots of things. Sometimes they would play hide and seek, though they would find him quickly. Patton found the cave a lot more interesting than anything he would be doing if he had carried on travelling through different towns

He wondered what exactly the dragons wanted, though. That was something he couldn’t figure out. Not that he particularly minded, they were nicer than the people back home, and he was glad to be staying in one place, instead of travelling away forever

In fact, the only reason he had been travelling was because he had been following some sort of feeling, but that feeling had led him here, so he was sure that he was meant to be here. 

The purple dragon entered his section of the cave whilst he was thinking, bringing his thoughts away from why he was there. Patton beamed up at them, mimicking their greeting chirp.

Their darker scales started glowing, a bright purple. Patton had seen such happening plenty of times. The carefully lifted him out of the nest, and Patton climbed onto their back. They made a rumbly noise that Patton compared to something between a purr and a laugh. He was taken off of their back, though was carried into the blue dragon’s side of the cave.

Both dragons watched him for a while. Patton was tucked under a wing for a while. Purple brought some food (when had they left?), and Patton was happy.

Patton was always happy nowadays. 

---

Virgil had been sleeping when the small thing had entered his cave.

At first, he had thought it was a human, it was small enough to be one, and it looked fairly human, except for the fact it had no weapons. He had growled on instinct. But then, he smelled magic. The weak kind, the unhealthy kind, the kind that meant it had almost never been nurtured.

The little creature had not even flinched at him. He had carried it to the nest, usually for hatchlings (every dragon cave had one, whether they wanted hatchlings or not), and on the way over, he pondered the little thing

The little guy had been strangely cold, even for a human. Virgil was concerned

“Why are you so cold?” He grumbled, though finding it adorable when it attempted to imitate him. He couldn’t help the way his darkest scales lit up

It sat in the nest for a few seconds, seeming confused, before trying to go to the edges. He gently pushed them back to the middle, and went to find Logan. Logan would probably know what to do, or why it was in the cave, or why it was so cold

The nest was temperature controlled, so it would hopefully warm the little thing up. When they got back to the nest, the little thing had started climbing out. He gently placed it back in the middle, and the little thing didn’t look upset at him, though it seemed permanently wide-eyed. 

He explained the circumstances around the finding of the little creature; that it had wandered in whilst he was sleeping and had just sat there near him for a while, and that it smelled of magic.

Logan looked at the small thing as it fell asleep, and found the answer within a few minutes

“I believe,” He had started, a startling amount of concern in his voice, “That this is a fire sprite, though the state it is in is truly worrying. It is very young, perhaps twenty years old or younger, and by the looks of it, it was never warm enough for its spark to ignite. It is very lucky to have shown up when it did, if it doesn’t nurture its spark, it could die within the next few years”

Virgil stared at the sprite, his scales darkening to the point of almost blending in with his own shadow. That was a sprite? It was colder than a human. And it was so young...

Sprites didn’t live as long as dragons, but in both life spans, twenty was practically infant-age. 

He and Logan spoke for a while, mostly about the sprite, trying to figure out how and why it ended up in the cave. They deduced that it had probably been living with humans, and Logan thought it might’ve been drawn to the magic that was around the cave and the warmth of the dragons. 

Virgil was going to try his best to look after the little sprite. Logan said that the best way was to introduce magic slowly into its everyday life, so it could absorb some to help it. They were also supposed to keep it warm, though not too warm at first

Apparently, that could hurt it. 

Logan looked after it at first, whilst Virgil went to find food. 

At some point when he was out, it had found it’s way out of the nest, and instead was curled up, under Logan’s wing. Virgil laughed quietly, careful not to wake the little sprite.

“It was seeking warmth, I couldn’t deny it that,” Logan justified, scales shifting the way they did when he was embarrassed

Virgil nodded, a teasing smile on his face. 

Over the next few days, the little sprite was very calm, very clingy, and very sleepy. Virgil wondered how long it would take for its spark to ignite. At the moment, it was getting gradually warmer, but not enough for its own magic to activate. 

Virgil was getting worried.

It was cute, eager to imitate him and Logan, but it hadn’t yet ignited. Logan had said that it would die in a few years if the spark didn’t ignite; what if it didn’t ignite in time?

He huffed some smoke out of his nostrils, trying to stop thinking about what-ifs, and instead think about how the little sprite was in fact getting better.

He gave a tired smile, walking in to the nest area. The sprite looked up at him

“Hi! Hi!” it chirped, a strange accent on the mimicked words. Virgil lit up with the adorableness of the scene, and lifted it out of the nest and onto the ground. It climbed onto his back, and Virgil laughed, taking the playful thing off. Though, he didn’t place it on the ground this time, not trusting it not to climb again. 

It was taken over to Logan’s side of the cave, and they both watched it. It babbled in the language that Logan hypothesised was some sort of human dialect (Virgil didn’t like thinking that their sprite had been living with humans, what would humans have done if they realised it wasn’t one of them?) and they watched it.

It was tucked under Logan’s wing before Virgil went hunting; sometimes it would try to follow him, and it wasn’t a good idea to let it outside yet. 

He hummed in thought, looking at the human town about a mile or two away from his cave. What sort of things would the sprite have done when living with humans?

He wondered what the sprite would name itself. 

The sprite was cheerful, though that was likely due to how young it was.

He brought the food back to the cave, and placed it in front of the sprite, who seemed to just notice he was ever gone. The little one chirped at him again, and he greeted it again, pushing the food closer

He waited until it had fallen asleep again, before carrying it back to the nest and guarding the cave’s exits and entrances

--

Taglist: @a-chilly-pepper​

[tinytracys]

Virgil’s engineer buddy, Hiccup, let the bros borrow his “bird” in return for a trip in TB2…

[gumnut-logic]

Armour

For @sofasurf because of this post.

Only a short thing and not really addressing the challenge as I did a little research and in 700AD there wasn't plate armour and most stuff in Ireland was light. Plus our boys fly dragons, so instead we have padded leather armour. I also stuffed up the removal of even that.

Scott demanded POV even though I wanted to write Virgil's and the scene suffers from his lack of coherence.

But anyway, we have 500 words of something Thunderdragons. I hope you enjoy this tiny bit.

-o-o-o-

“Scott! Scott, look at me! Look at me!”

His brother’s eyes shone from a grotty and blood smeared face.

“Virg…” It was an exhalation, almost a last breath.

“Scott, you stay with me. Stay!” His brother knew how to yell, his deep voice echoing in Scott’s head, back and forth, back and forth.

He realised he was being carried. “Put him down here. I need boiled water and cloths.” Hurried footsteps darted out of the tent.

Something came up behind him and his body sunk onto a hard surface. A wad of soft fabric was tucked under his head as the room spun.

“Brother? Flaith!” His helmet was removed as a hand held his jaw. Scott opened his eyes to find dark eyes glaring at him. “Keep your eyes open, Flaith.”

Curse, Virgil only called him Flaith when he wanted to piss him off.

But it worked. Scott struggled to pull himself together. He had been on the battlefield. There had been an attack. Óen had been beneath him…

“Flaithri!” He sat up, his muscles working on memory before informing him that there was injury, the reason why his healer brother was now yelling again.

Virgil’s voice was so loud!

But arms caught him and lowered him back down to whatever it was he was lying on.

“Scott, please.”

It was his brother’s soft hiss that slammed reality home.

He was injured. But…”Flaithri?”

Virgil’s eyes answered him without words.

So, their grandfather was taken by the Scourge from across the Western Sea.

“Father?” Their father would now be Flaithri. Please.

There was a tear running down Virgil’s face. “The Flaithri has instructed us to prepare to retreat.”

“We are fleeing?” Scott struggled to sit up again, but Virgil held him down.

“You are injured, Flaith. I have been instructed to make you ready for transport.”

“Virg…”

“Please, Scott.” Again with the whispered plea.

When he didn’t respond, Virgil let go of his shoulders and began removing his flight leathers.

Scott swallowed as Virgil gently tugged at the ties at his throat, unlacing his padded armour. His brother’s breathing was tightly controlled, but that tear was still tracking down his cheek.

“Virg…”

His brother wiped his face on his sleeve. “You have injury. We need to clean-“

“Virgil.”

But his brother was looking away as he called for assistance, and the healer’s attendant hurried in, lugging water and cloths. As they removed the leathers from his side, they caught in clotted blood, leaving Scott gasping and barely hanging onto reality.

As if taking the opportunity, hands then poked and prodded and placed pressure on the source of so much fire.

The warmth of his brother’s hand on his cheek slowly drew him back from the edge. Sweat was beaded on his temples; his lungs grabbing for air.

He was bare-chested, still lying on a healer’s pallet. Virgil’s worried eyes still hovered above him.

“You will heal. But you need time and rest.”

“I have neither.” His father would need him.

But Virgil grabbed at his shoulders, again preventing his rise.

And there was something in his brother’s eyes, more than just Scott’s injury.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

Virgil’s eyes closed and his head dropped.

“Virgil?”

Something shuddered through Virgil’s frame and when he looked up, Scott could only feel fear.

“What is it?!”

“Mother was taken also.” The words rasped across his brother’s lips.

Time froze.

“No.”

“I’m sorry, Scott.” There were tears in Virgil’s voice.

“No.”

Virgil closed his eyes again.

Please, no.

-o-o-o-

[grandtimetravelchaos]

Adding to my sanders sides office au!

Roman has his own desk but mostly just chills in Logan's office

He also accompanies Logan to all the big important meetings and networking events

Virgil still finds ways to dress emo in the office

Patton's mum's own a cute bakery so sometimes when they host office events they can book that venue for free

Virgil hates working at the office because of corporate culture and constantly wants to fight the man

Logan always makes sure all his employees leave the minute the clock hits five. He refuses to contribute to an unhealthy work life balance.

Logan inherited the company from his dad

Patton has two young kids who he sometimes brings to work if he can't find a baby sitter

No one minds at all, they all try their best to keep them happy and entertained which is fairly easy. A few Disney songs, colouring books and vending machine snacks do the trick

The older one (5) follows Logan around like a baby duck, always trying to see what he's doing and nodding very seriously when Logan explains. Their also very intent on convincing him he should give them a sip of his coffee

Patton's mortified by his kid disrupting Logan's work and apologises profusely but Logan's very endeared by his tiny apprentice

"Do you like frogs Mr Jam" (Logan's last name is crofter and being five and unable to rember the name they call him mr jam cause crofters is jam) "I do like frogs their very interesting" "me to! I wish I were a frog cause they get to live in ponds with lily pads and dragon flies. And if I were a frog I wouldn't let any princesses kiss me" they shake their head with absolute conviction. "Cause then I couldn't be a frog anymore and that'd be very silly" "very silly indeed" Logan agrees unable to hide the smile growing on his face

There's a tiny "desk" (a small coffee table with a pencil case full of glitter pens and a note book) beside Logan's desk for them to sit at

The younger kid has an inexplicable affinity for Remy. Remy does not like kids but this three year old has inhuman amounts of sass and doesn't understand the concept of privacy yet so is great at sharing gossip. They also have a great no fucks to give attitude so Remy genuinely enjoys talking to this kid

"My friend said fairys were stupid so I pushed her and put on another four sets of fairy wings" "yasss queen,that bitch deserved it"

Roman thinks patton's kids are the most adorable things to ever walk the earth but he has zero clue how to interact with children

Sometimes when he stressed Logan smokes but Patton absolutely refuses to kiss him when he does

Logan and Patton only go on dates outta town because janus is just waiting to catch them on a romantic outing

Roman has passed out at work exactly nine times for various reasons (exhaustion, hunger, sickness, shock)

Logan's actshally kinda clumsy and bad with time management hence him needing Roman so bad. But he's really good at his job

Some of the investors hate Logan for being a nepo baby despite him being good at his job. They formally extend the hatred to Roman as well

Both are very protective of the others reputation. Logan once broke an investor's nose after he called Roman a useless boy toy

[glacierruler]

Lovely Surprises

This is my gift for @the-void-dragons for the @sanderssidesgiftxchange! I hope you like it!

AO3 Link

Summary: The past few days have been rough for Virgil, since he's stayed late at work due to a shortage of staff to unload equipment and put it on the shelves. When he returns home late one night, he practically collapses, thankfully his boyfriends are there to help him through it. During his lunchbreak at work he learns that he'll be getting a raise because of his hard work. Ecstatic with the news, he realizes he can surprise his boyfriends a lot earlier than he planned to.

Pairing: sleepanxceitmus

Rating: Teen, mostly fluff with a very tiny portion of hurt/comfort in the beginning

CWs: murder mention(no actual murder), slight innuendo(it doesn't go anywhere), mutilation mention(no actual mutilation), collapsing

Words: 2448

Virgil all but collapsed after flinging open the door to his house. He was surprised as two pairs of arms caught him and someone else ran into the kitchen, as his boyfriends were usually asleep when he got home.

“Spiderling, are you alright?” Janus asked, his voice overly soft and full of concern, as he leads Virgil to the couch.

“Yeah! Do we gotta murder someone, your employer maybe?” Remus chimed in from directly behind Virgil, his naturally scratchy voice sounding tamer; as if scared he’d make the situation worse.

Now on the couch, Virgil sighed, curling into the warmth surrounding him before attempting to answer the questions that had been asked. “No, it’s fine. I was just asked to stay late again. We had another—”

“Boo,” Remy called from in the kitchen, “you have been staying late all week. At this point, the only way you won’t stay late is if you have a sick day.”

“Oh, well that’s certainly an idea, why don’t you call in sick.”

“Jan, I can’t just call in sick when I’m not! That’s how I’d get fired and then I won’t be able to pay my share of the bills.”

“Has your boss said anything about firing you?”

“I mean no, but—”

“And anywho Babes, you’re not required to stay past your work time.”

“Is your boss making you? If so we could mu—”

“Everyone stop!” Virgil shouted interrupting Remus, his breathing picking up. “Look, I get that I don’t have to stay past but we’ve had so many orders that we need more workers. Which we don’t have! And I’m not the only one staying late. Everyone, including the morning workers, are showing up to get everything done.”

He realized halfway through his anxious ramblings that Remus and Janus were both squishing his sides. Sighing, he sunk into them more, and noticed the smell of hot chocolate; his favorite drink. No longer feeling as stressed as when the conversation started, Virgil kept talking.

“I know that I’m overworked, but I can’t leave stuff for someone else to do, when I’m already there.”

Virgil could feel Remus pouting against his head. “But Virgey, if you overwork yourself you could easily slip, and then whatever you’re carrying will fall on your head, breaking open—”

“I doubt any of that will happen love,” Janus cut in before Remus could spiral any further, “however, Remus is correct, you overworking yourself like this isn’t good for anyone.” Before Virgil could attempt to say something in return, Remy entered the living room with two cups of hot cocoa.

“Plus Boo, you overworking yourself cuts into us time. As much as we love each other it just doesn’t feel the same when you’re not there.”

Groaning, Virgil grabbed his drink as soon as Remy was close enough. “Okay, I get it. I’ll try not to stay late tomorrow.”

Remus cackled as if he had won something, while Janus and Remy shared looks of smug satisfaction. Seeing that Virgil was situated with his drink, Remy handed the other cup to Janus before heading back to the kitchen for two more cups.

During the time it took for Remy to get to the kitchen, Janus leaned into Virgil’s ear and whispered, “if you get back early enough we can watch movies together.”

“We could even watch one of those shows that winds you up,” Remus attempted to purr, wiggling his eyebrows when Virgil snorts and looks at him.

“As tempting as that is, I don’t think I’m up for that. This week has been exhausting. Would cuddles be okay Rat?”

“Absolutely!”

Less than a second later Virgil yelped, doing his best not to spill his cocoa everywhere, as Remus squeezed him harder. Thankfully Janus quickly took the mug from him and put it on the small table next to the couch.

“Babes! I’ve told you to wait for me when we’re suffocating our emo with affection! And here I was getting the both of you some of this hot, liquid, chocolatey heaven.” Remy said, playfully going to take a sip out of Remus’s octopus mug, which prompts Remus into jumping off the couch and almost tackling the larger of the two.

“Both of you!” Janus sighed, which caught the attention of the two squabbling men. “If the drinks spill, both of you will be mopping for a week. Also, Remy, my favorite barista, you can only threaten to steal something of mine when you haven’t given it to me yet. If you’d be so inclined to look, you will find that it is your mug that you are currently holding, not mine.”

Virgil had no choice but to snicker at the affronted faces that both of them made.

“But double d! You know I’m allergic to soap!”

“Well then, maybe you should keep from spilling drinks all over the floor,” came Janus’s reply, and Virgil didn’t have to look to know that he was smirking. Remus growled playfully before jumping into Janus’s lap, getting a small “oomph” out of him. Remy, cackling at the sight, sat down next to Virgil, before handing Remus his hot chocolate. Virgil spent the rest of that night cuddling and joking around with his boyfriends.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Virgil awoke the next day to one of his boyfriends lightly shaking him.

“Huh? Wha’s goin ‘n?” Virgil grunted, groggily looking at whoever was looming over him, and realized that it was Janus. He was smirking, his face holding a faint blush.

“Well dear, I would love to let you sleep longer. Unfortunately, I have work and the others have already left to their jobs as well.”

Stretching, Virgil looked up at his boyfriend, trying not to go back to sleep on the couch. After a few moments, Virgil shook his head, attempting to chase away the drowsiness.

“Alright, do you want me to cook for both of us?”

“Are you sure Spider? I don’t want to add undue stress and—”

“Worrying is my job little Snake,” Virgil said, despite being the smaller of the two, “and anyways, it’s fine, it’ll wake me up more. Which means I won’t have to worry about being late to work.”

“If you’re sure love, but please don’t overtax yourself over this.”

“If it’s too much I’ll call you in. Are we still able to watch movies tonight?”

“Of course, as long as you come home from work early enough.”

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Virgil professionally ran towards the breakroom as soon as it was time for his lunch break, or dinner break as it was often called. While there hadn’t been too many customers, the ones he had interacted with had been less than kind. Most of them being upset with the lack of their specific brand of gesso that they desperately need. Or getting upset because they were out of a specific colour or brand of paint. And Virgil understands the frustration, when he has free time he loves to paint, however he shouldn’t get yelled at because the customer has to wait until the next day to get something.

As he was eating, his boss entered the breakroom. She was overall a good boss, far better than most of his previous ones, but whenever she entered the breakroom it meant staying late.

“Hello Virgil.”

“Good evening Ms. Brooke. I apologize in advance, but I won’t be able to stay late tonight.”

Ms. Brooke blinked a bit before responding, “that isn’t what I came in here to tell you. I’m giving you and everyone else who has stayed late these past few days a bonus and a pay raise. Starting next week you’ll be receiving $17.25 an hour instead of $16.”

Virgil’s eyes were a little bit wider, not having expected any of that. “Thank you! Can I ask how much the bonus is?”

“I’m still figuring it out, but it’ll be at least $50. $100 if I can get corporate to agree,” her voice changing from strictly professional to professionally dry when she said this next part, “of course, since it’s corporate, we can’t expect much.”

Virgil snorted in agreement before turning back to his sandwich. Truthfully he was very ecstatic about the pay raise and bonus. Riding the high of the news he received, he went back to work with a bounce in his step.

If everything went according to plan, he could start looking at rings next week.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A week later Virgil was at the jewelry store, looking around aimlessly as he waited for the person running the place to be free. He had already done the research he needed before entering. After a few minutes he was the only person in the shop, so he approached the person who was behind the counter.

“Uh, hi, I was wondering if I could get some custom made rings?”

“Of course! How many, and can I have measurements?”

“I’ll need three rings. Their measurements are 46.5 millimeters, 49.2 millimeters, and 51.9 millimeters.”

“Alright! Now what would you like them to look like?”

Virgil left the jewelry shop, putting a reminder on his phone to return in two weeks time.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The hardest part about keeping what he was doing a secret was keeping it a secret. Virgil’s boyfriends were terrifyingly perceptive, and he was a terrible liar. Thankfully that problem had been something he’d expected. What he hadn’t expected was for Remy to be the one to confront him, as it was usually Remus who did. And when it wasn’t him it was Janus.

Remy and Virgil were cuddling in their shared bedroom, when the taller of the two broke the silence.

“Hey Boo, we’ve all noticed that you’ve been acting a bit off. Don’t get me wrong, we love that you’re smiling more, we’re just curious as to what’s going on.”

Virgil looked into his boyfriend’s eyes, tempted to ask right then and there. But he couldn’t ruin the surprise. Plus the rings wouldn’t be ready for another week.

“Don’t worry, my Sloth, I promise it’ll make sense soon.”

Remy looked confused, but thankfully he didn’t push it any further, only raising one eyebrow before pulling Virgil closer. “Alright Hun, I’ll tell the others what you told me. I can’t promise they won’t ask questions though. You know how they are.”

“Yeah,” Virgil says wistfully, “I do.”

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was time to go back to the shop, to get the rings. His boss had given him the day off, but he hadn’t told his boyfriends, that way he could inconspicuously leave the house around that time without them getting suspicious. He’d texted Roman, Remus’s brother, to keep those three busy for a few hours when he left the house in order to let Virgil set everything up.

When he got to the jewelry store, the person recognized him immediately.

“I’ve got your rings in the back. Give me one minute and I’ll get them to you.”

Virgil nodded, rocking back and forth on his feet as he waited. Nervous about all the things that might go wrong, yet excited for everything that could happen.

“Alright, here you go! Do you like them? And is it okay if I ask what they’re for?”

Virgil inspected the rings carefully, anxious that he might break them, before putting them back with a huge grin.

“They’re perfect! And yeah, I’m proposing to my boyfriends.”

“Congrats! Let me get you the receipt.”

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Making his way home, Virgil was a little anxious, wondering if his boyfriends had left yet. However that dimmed when he noticed on of their other cars gone.

Once inside the house Virgil started cooking their favorite food, something they called fancy ramen. 

After he was done with that, he got into his favorite outfit, an outfit his boyfriends had only seen him in once. It was a gorgeous black dress with white stitching and purple detailing, paired with black two inch block heels. When he was finished getting into the outfit, he put the rings in his desk and texted Roman to send his boyfriends home, and then he started to put on his makeup. He gave himself smoky eyes, and put purple eyeshadow on his lower eyelids, finishing the look with his dark purple lipstick just before his boyfriends got home.

Carefully speed-walking to the door, he watched as Remus opened his mouth, but Virgil managed to speak first.

“No, you didn’t forget an anniversary, no I’m not fired from my job, and with that out of the way I need you all not to question me,” Virgil paused, taking a deep breath in, “if you do, I won’t be able to do what I planned. Also, if you would all sit at the table, please.”

He assumed his boyfriends heard the quiver in his voice as Remus shut his mouth and he managed to only get slightly worried looks before they complied.

Retreating to the kitchen Virgil filled four bowls with the fancy ramen, taking two at a time to the table. It was surprisingly quiet as they ate, all three of his boyfriends sneaking curious and worried glances at him. They seemed to desperately wish to know what was going on, considering how violently Remus was rocking in his chair, but none of them wanted to spook Virgil.

“Please go to the living room and close your eyes until I say you can open them,” Virgil said while nervously fidgeting with his hands. Janus placed one of his hands on Virgil’s back, right before Remy spoke up.

“Alright hun. But after that please tell us what’s going on.”

“I will.”

Virgil was shaking slightly when he went to collect the rings. Being very careful he made sure to keep them as hidden as possible before heading to the living room, just in case. He was so incredibly grateful to see that his boyfriends each had a blindfold on.

Carefully he put the rings on the table in the room in the same order that his boyfriends were in; Remus’s ring is placed on the very left side, the ring itself looking like a rat on it’s back holding a green bloodstone; Janus’s ring is put in the middle, featuring a snake wrapped around a yellow tourmaline; and finally Remy’s ring is on the very right with a sloth cuddling smoky quartz.

“Alright, you can look now.” Virgil was rubbing his arms while he watched them take off the blindfolds. All three of them gasping when they see the rings. 

“Will you marry me?” Before Virgil could start doubling back and doubting what he’d just asked, Remus spoke.

“Fuck yeah!”

“Of course Babes!”

“Absolutely!”

It only took Virgil a moment to realize that all of them were crying tears of joy.

Taglist(please tell me if you'd like to be added/removed!): @hyperfixated-homo @cutebisexualmess @nebulous-astronaut @uhhh-hi-there-i-am-nervous @thegoldenduckie

[itty-bitty-writes]

Bitty's WIPs

(posted stories masterpost)

Surrounded by His Loved One - Chapter 2: Copulation (Shrinky Sanders Sides Smut Series, aka 5S)

summary:

Remus is up Virgil's butt, and Virgil and Logan are heading to Logan's room to… copulate.

status: intro written. vague ideas for what's after that

Prinxiety cock vore [actual title pending] (5S)

summary:

Remus told Roman that Virgil enjoyed their shrinky sex, and now Roman's got a similar proposition for Virgil

(from a prompt)

status: probably half written

LAMP cock vore + sex [actual title pending] (5S)

summary:

Virgil liked Roman in his dick so much that this time he gets to cock vore two boyfriends. And then fuck Patton with them inside.

(from a prompt)

status: outlined

Dark Sides in Balls (5S)

summary:

Remus cock vored the other two dark sides, and then… forgot.

Oops

status: outlined

I Know You Know I'm Here (5S)

summary:

Janus totally didn't see Remus, shrunken and naked, on the bed. Totally. It's absolutely a complete coincidence that Janus, also naked, sat down directly on top of him. Unfortunate positioning, is all.

(pretend unaware)

(Remus is having the time of his life)

status: concept exists. Intro written

Ritual Sacrifice (5S)

summary:

The dragon witch (Janus, wearing cloth wings) has demanded a sacrifice. The unfortunate Roman has been chosen by lot, and now Logan and Virgil must tie him to a tree (Patton's dick) for the dragon witch to claim.

or

The sides do a fun little roleplay

(Janus has a vagina in this one)

status: outlined

A Game of Cock Vore (Sizeshifter Trio)

summary:

Elliott is often the voice of reason and impulse control for the trio.

This fic does not involve Elliott.

status: opening written

Awkward First Time

summary:

A gt couple decide to try sex for the first time. They're not sure what they're doing, but they find a way to make it good for both of them.

status: outlined, opening written

Insomnia (Josh's Tiny Harem)

summary:

Josh can't sleep. His solution? shove a tiny in his pants, see if that helps

status: barely started

Forgotten Tiny Third

summary:

A couple have been trying out various kinks to see how much they like them, and are trying micro/macro.

They forget there's a tiny involved.

status: outlined

Dick Apartments

summary:

So it turns out that the reason the rent is so low for Gus's new apartment is that the building doubles as a giant dildo.

He really should have read the lease document more thoroughly.

status: barely started

Surprise! Shrunken and Trapped - Part 2 (Poll Story)

summary:

Simon has unexpectedly shrunk, and somehow ended up in an unaware giant's underwear, just before he put it on!

~

Simon's stuck under the giant's junk, and he's causing an unfortunate itch.

status: about a paragraph written

3 sizes - Cock Vore and Cock Fucking [actual title pending]

summary:

One giant. Two sizes of tiny.

The larger tiny fucks the smaller tinies into the giant's dick

status: 99% done

Tournament

summary:

Several contestants in a large maze, each equipped with a device which will shrink someone to only a few inches tall.

The last person full sized wins.

Everyone else gets fucked.

status: outlined

[end-l3ss-v0id]

Virgil [Honkai Version]

Originally posted on Wattpad :')

Virgil is an OC i amde like a couple months ago

Picrew used - I want to be looked down upon by beautiful people. by _Stmtg_ Fandom - Honkai Impact 3rd/Honkai Star Rail Trigger Warnings - Murder, violence, blood, & implied mental problems(?)

Appearance description

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧.·:*¨༺ 🎈 ༻¨*:·.✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

↬ Grey-white hair, curly and long and reaches down to his waist

↬ dark teal eyes with long lashes (deep set eye shape)

↬ cold pale skin with pointy elf ears

↬ Victorian/fancy clothing (mainly in black, white or purple)

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧.·:*¨༺ 🎈 ༻¨*:·.✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

Background information/Backstory (it's a little choppy)

Virgil was around 10 when he first started seeing this string, his life was normal before the string showed up. He told his foster family about it, but they thought he was going crazy and seeing things. The start sort of had a small whisper in his mind to follow the string and follow it to his lead to destiny.

in high school he ended up killing one of his classmates, due to the string. it told him to do it, and people thought he was crazy when he talked about the red line, due to the fact only he can see it.

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧.·:*¨༺ 🎈 ༻¨*:·.✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

Basic information

Age: 500+ sex: Male likes: the dark, night-time, espresso & quiet spaces. dislikes: romance movies height: 6'0 weight: 160 pounds

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧.·:*¨༺ 🎈 ༻¨*:·.✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

Relationships (just random characters)

Stelle & Calleus - Not a fan of the trailblazers but finds their trashcan seeking amusing.

March 7th - terrified her and proud of it. (as in he scared her once on accident and found it hilarious)

Dan Heng - had an hour-long staring contest with him and lost. (they are on okay-terms)

Gepard - often runs away from him due to, well crime reasons.

Serval - has only seen her once, and ran away because she looked like Gepard

Sampo - saw him stealing once, they had a staring contest. (Virgil likes giving people random staring contests if you can't tell) Silver wolf: Never Met her, not yet at least.

Kafka -Never Met her, not yet at least.

Blade - he thinks he's interesting.

Jing Yuan- he (JY) doesn't like him because he fought Yangqing

Yanqing - the child attempted to fight him once and lost. (Virgil bonked him on the head with his cane pretty hard)

Bailu - Tiny dragon child that he finds amusing when she runs away.

Clara - he saved her once, out of pity of course.

Himeko -no words, just strawberry.

Welt - never met him, not yet at least.

Luocha - blonde healer man, he finds him cute.

Otto Apocalypse - he thought his name was funny.

Void archives - never met him, not yet at least.

Kevin Kaslana - never met him, not yet at least.

SU - Plant man, he likes his company.

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧.·:*¨༺ 🎈 ༻¨*:·.✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

Signature battle spell/weapon

'Fate Strings'

A visible red line that wraps around the opponents' limbs and burns into the skin, either stunning them or giving them burn damage.

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧.·:*¨༺ 🎈 ༻¨*:·.✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

Quotes

"Stay out of my way if you know what's best for you."

"Your fate lies in my hands."

"Why must you insist I tell you so much?"

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧.·:*¨༺ 🎈 ༻¨*:·.✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

[anartisticexpression]

Now available on my Red Bubble gallery stickers/prints/cushions of TinyDragon!Sides enjoying their horde of precious treasure and Dragon!Patton offering friendly affection to all the other Dragon!Sides!

Feel free to check them out HERE at:

redbubble.com/people/art-expression

[ashs-random-writing]

a burning feeling

Chapter 3

Ao3

--

When Patton, a young-ish human, feels drawn to the mountains that house dragons, he doesn't know why he follows the feeling.

He definitely doesn't know why the dragons seem so... protective

--

Virgil growled as he approached the front of his cave. The sprite was getting better, in a week or two it would ignite. Which, obviously, was great news. The problem was that when they were playing a game with the still vulnerable and weak sprite, something entered the cave. Virgil had recognised the sound of clashing metal immediately.

A knight, of all things. There hadn’t been a knight trying to invade the cave in perhaps a decade. Knights had always been a nuisance, but this one was worse. Knights couldn’t hurt him much, but he had a soft, squishy, vulnerable sprite to protect.

As far as Virgil knew, knights were like a subspecies of human, ones with metal skin, and big weapons. A little bit harder to fight than regular humans and more aggressive too. Logan was the bigger of the two dragons, and would keep the sprite safe whilst Virgil got rid of the knight. They were harder to fight than regular humans, but that didn’t really matter. Metal was easily melted and humans were too.

He always felt a little bad fighting them with their obvious disadvantages, but they usually were the ones picking the fight, so he always pushed the thoughts away. But now, he faltered. It was the same size as his sprite, and it was making the same noises as the sprite. He knew that it was some kind of human language, but, all he could envision was his sprite. What would happen if the knight managed to influence his soft side?

He shook his head, growling. It swiped its sword at him, and it bounced harmlessly off of his scales. He roared, stalking closer and spreading his wings threateningly. It backed away slowly, like it was going to leave, and Virgil slowly put his wings down, growl dying out. Perhaps he wouldn’t have to kill this one…

He watched it until it left the cave, and then some before he returned back to the sprite and Logan, still keeping his ears peeled for any sign of its return

The little one seemed happy with his reappearance in the section of the cave with the nest. It ran over to him, starting to climb out of the nest. Virgil lifted it out and gently nudged it. It practically latched itself to his side

“I think it might’ve been worried” Logan commented dryly, also coming over to check on him

“You’re both stealing my job as worrier, stop it, I’m fine,” he said, mostly to Logan, though he did nudge the sprite gently

“I’m fine, see!” He said softly

Logan looked at him and cleared his throat.

“What was the knight doing in our cave, may I ask?”

Virgil shook his head, thinking about the knight

“I don’t know. It left quickly, I’m worried it might come back” he said quietly, wary of the sprite next to him picking up on his worry and getting upset

Logan nodded

“Well, there’s no harm in one of us going to guard the entrance tonight. If a knight gets in here, it could hurt our little sprite after all”

Virgil guarded the entrance all night, watching the human town it no doubt came from. The humans were rarely out, but if he guarded the entrance out of their sight, they were a lot more open to being outside.

He eventually fell asleep as the sun rose, and Logan woke him up a few hours later. Virgil didn’t note any knight getting closer, and went to go hunt whilst Logan looked after the sprite

He kept a watchful eye on the human town for a while, but ultimately started focusing on his prey. Humans were slow; if it hadn’t started the journey yet, it wouldn’t get there before he was done hunting. The sprite looked different than it did when it first arrived, it’s skin had gone from a pale greyish-white, to a warm reddish-orange, it had happened gradually, but it was noticeable. If a knight saw it, it would kill the sprite immediately. Humans hated magic.

He came back to the cave and decided to play with the sprite. He and Logan watched it run around and it would hide for them to find it.

Virgil always found the hiding game cute, how happy it would be when he or Logan found it

It was only a week or so later when the knight returned. Virgil had mostly let his guard down, unfortunately. He was still closer to the entrance than Logan, and than the sprite. He was sleeping when the knight arrived. He was the first to notice it

He woke up to the sound of clashing metal, and a sword on his scales.

He immediately growled, eyes opening. It stepped back for a moment. Virgil’s scales darkened, and he stood up, towering over the intruder. He spread his wings, and let his chest spread with warmth that was slowly rising from his second lungs and into his throat. The knight didn’t retreat this time.

Virgil looked down at it, as it tried, much like the week before, to cut him. Unlike the week before, it got through his scales this time. He hissed, as a drop of his blood fell to the stone ground. He looked at the sword.

It had some kind of enchantment on it. He retracted his earlier thought: humans only hated magic that they couldn’t use for their own benefit, and they hated magical beings. Enchantments were fine to them. The knight took another swipe at him, and Virgil dodged this time, fire bubbling up in his throat. He roared, fire exploding towards the knight, who rolled out of the way of the blast.

Virgil wasn’t going to let it hurt his child. It didn’t stop attacking, leaving Virgil mostly on the defensive. He let out the deepest growl yet, knocking the sword out of its grasp. It looked at the sword, and back to him. Virgil made himself block the path between the sword and the knight. He growled again, stalking closer

It looked behind him, at the sword. Virgil noticed a smaller blade in easy reach of them. Perhaps not enchanted, but it still posed a significant threat to his sprite.

Virgil spread his wings once again, and tried to warn it out before he had to kill it. It stayed, stubborn and annoying, and a danger to his sprite. It ran past him recklessly, not towards the sword but toward the inner section of the cave. Virgil felt white hot panic surge through him.

Logan would have to have woken up from the fight, right? Logan could help him. He followed the knight with reasonable panic, he couldn’t fight it properly in here! It would risk hurtling the little one

It couldn’t be exposed directly to fire yet, not until it was ready. Virgil’s claws couldn’t slice through metal, so that was also out. Besides, he really didn’t want the sprite to be exposed to fighting this early on.

He wondered how they were going to keep the sprite away from the fight. Logan showed up in front of the knight, wings spread and teeth bared

—

Patton had noticed a few small changes in his appearance that he couldn’t really explain.

First, his skin had gone reddish, like he’d been sunburnt, but a nicer shade. Then, there were small blue markings climbing from his wrists to his shoulders. Something was going on. He had a feeling that it was the same thing that caused the dragons to be so protective of him

He wondered what happened in the fight he heard. It was short, the purple dragon didn’t come back injured, and he had checked. He was glad.

For the next few days, though, they both seemed on edge. Patton didn’t get any time unsupervised, and he wondered if it was to do with whatever or whoever was attacking. They calmed down after a while, and things went back to normal. They played often, and sometimes one of them would fall asleep around his nest. Patton loved the warmth they gave off

It was a while later that he woke up to the loud sound of roaring and the crackling of a fire. He heard a human-sounding shout. They were calling one of the dragons a beast. He didn’t like that; he had never liked it when people called dragons beasts, and now he hated it even more

The dragons were so nice to him and he wanted to help them. He started to climb out of the nest to investigate, but the blue dragon beat him to it, starting to go towards the noise, though they noticed him climbing. They walked closer, gently placing him back in the nest

Patton looked up as they clicked something and a clear shield surrounded the nest. That wasn’t fair! He wanted to help. He heard a shout of surprise and another roar, some clicking, and then-

It felt like the world stopped for a moment. Something had happened.

He didn’t know what, but he could tell. Someone had gotten hurt. He heard metal (a knight?) and then the knight entered his section of the cave, running. Patton hid down in the nest. The knight wouldn’t be able to see over the edges, nor would they be able to climb with the shield keeping him in (protecting him)

He heard the dragons enter a few seconds later, and he could hear the knight cursing and screaming that they knew there was a human somewhere in the cave, that they were going to rescue them. Patton looked down at his arms. Was he human?

No, he didn’t think so. Not anymore.

—

Tag list: @a-chilly-pepper

[i-am-bitterly-jittery]

Virgil Sanders: Space Ecologist

Based on this post

Word Count: 3024

Rating: Teen

Pairings: none, platonic DLAMPR, familial Anxceit

Warnings: swearing, over-polluted planet (not earth), aliens

This is mostly an excuse for me to be a giant biology nerd, but put it in space

~~~START~~~

“What’s the word, Lo?” Virgil asked as he checked over his instruments one last time before tucking them into his pack.  

“The atmosphere of Illill-ii contains a toxic amount of oxide-rich molecules that could impair the function of the carcinian systems of many species.” Virgil’s helper-bot, L0-G4 series N (Logan, or Lo, for short), reported from where he was currently nested in his charging port.  

The Borstian Mining company had just vacated Illill-ii after having already decimated most of the life the planet had once sustained. Now it was Virgil’s job to see what was left, and assess what could be gone.  

If anything.  

“And now, considering I am a human, and very much without a carcinian system?” 

“The atmosphere presents no health concerns that would require a human to wear a spacesuit, but the relatively high levels of carbon dioxide to O2 could pose possible health concerns if you are planning any activities more strenuous than regular walking. I would suggest bringing an emergency breathing pack, but a regular breathing apparatus will be unnecessary.” 

“Thanks, Logan! Now what about Patton?” 

“Ah!” Patton yipped, the pog bouncing up and down at the mention of his name.  

“I do not recommend exposing a pog to this atmosphere. Nor do I recommend bringing a pog on a scientific outing, especially one that is meant to observe the fauna of this planet.” 

“Aww he won’t disturb anything, will you buddy?” Virgil asked, putting his bag aside in order to pet Patton. “Will you?” 

“Wah ah!” Patton yipped.  

“Yeah? Good boy!” 

“I do not recommend bringing a pog along on this outing,” Logan repeated. “I also do not recommend using a pog as a companion beast, or allowing fratoos to continue their infestation of your ship, but you have made your opinions on my recommendations quite clear.” 

“Patton doesn’t need to be a ‘traditional’ companion beast to be useful,” Virgil replied, used to Logan being a little surly about this topic. “His job is to be cute and cuddly; and besides, he’s part of the family, and so are Roman and Remus!” 

“The pog and fratoos are not part of your family; you are not the same species.” 

“Family comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes, Lo. We’re all family; me, Pat, Ro, Re, and even you.” 

“Illogical,” the robot replied.  

“Your mom is illogical,” Virgil said as he dug around for Patton’s protective bubble. The atmosphere may be unhealthy for him, but he still needed to be able to run around a play somewhere that wasn’t quite as cramped as Virgil’s little ship.  

“I do not have a mother,” Logan stated just as chittering started up in the walls.  

Seconds later, a little green shape shot out from behind Virgil’s atmospheric monitor and flew straight towards the man himself.  

Virgil easily grabbed the fratoo out of the air, pinning his wings to his sides and ignoring it as the little guy began biting at the hapose leather of his glove. A moment later, a red fratoo followed suit, this one landing calmly on Virgil’s shoulder, butting his tiny head against Virgil’s neck.  

“Remus, Roman,” Virgil greeted the pair. They’d lived on the ship longer than Virgil himself, and since they didn’t actually mess with any of the vital systems of the ship, Virgil allowed the small dragon-like creatures to remain. To most of the universe, fratoos were a pest that needed to be dealt with, but to Virgil, the two were just another part of the family.  

Remus continued biting and chittering, content to play-fight with Virgil’s hand.  

“You’re not coming.” 

Roman nipped unhappily at Virgil’s ear in response.  

“I need you two to watch the ship while I’m gone,” Virgil explained.  

“I do not recommend–” 

“They aren’t actually watching the ship, Logan, that’s what the security system is for.” 

“Ah, very good.” 

Virgil rolled his eyes fondly; Logan could be such a worrywart — though he would deny any such claim as he “is a robot, completely incapable of emulating the emotions of organic organisms.” 

One last check to make sure his pack was ready with everything he would, or could need while out in the field, then Virgil placed Remus in a box on the top shelf of his supply cabinet — it would take the two fratoos about ten minutes to get him out, which was more than enough time for Virgil, Logan, and Patton to head out — and placed Patton in his protective bubble.  

“Ready to go, L?” 

“I am fully charged,” Logan replied, disconnecting from his charger and hovering over Virgil’s shoulder.  

“Then let’s go!” 

Virgil opened the hatch and allowed Patton to bounce out first, followed by Logan. He shot one last glance back at the fratoos and found Roman diligently at work trying to release the lid of Remus’s temporary prison. Trapping Remus worked very well to take both brothers out of the equation as Roman would try to free his brother; Remus, on the other hand, would seek revenge first, leaving Roman to stew in his prison for a while.  

Once the hatch was closed behind him, it was time to get to work.  

For about an hour, Virgil and Logan took measurements of air quality, soil content, plant coverage, all the while making note of every organism they came across. Then it was finally time for them to start on the biodiversity tests.  

Not that there was much bio to be seen, let alone a diverse amount; other than some more resilient grass-type vegetation, they’d barely found a single living thing.  

Well… that is, until they found the nest.  

The nest was small, the diameter being barely more than the size of Virgil’s hand. It was nestled within a valley between two large mounds of tailings leftover from the overmining of the planet. The nest was outlined with small rocks, then filled in with dried, brittle plant matter that would probably turn to dust if Virgil tried to touch it. Sitting on top of the dried nesting materials was a single large yellow egg with purple speckles, a green scale-like pattern, and a brown spiral line that ran around the egg looking almost like one long crack.  

“What species lays eggs like that?” Virgil wondered aloud, half to himself and half to Logan.  

“This type of egg is not in my database,” Logan answered, sounding just the slightest bit frustrated at this shortcoming.  

“Is it… alive, do ya think?” Virgil asked, stooping down to look at the egg from another angle, while still keeping a respectful distance from the egg — if an animal-like organism laid this egg, he didn’t want to potentially scare it off.  

“Unlikely,” Logan answered. “There are no signs that anything other than us has come to this area in quite some time; if the egg had been viable, it is likely stillborn.” 

Virgil stared at the egg, then stood to survey their surroundings. There was nothing but piles of tailings and tall, coarse grass as far as the eye could see. The only trails through either the loose dirt or easily bendable grass were those belonging to Virgil or Patton — who was happily bouncing around in his bubble near a tailings pile in between where Virgil and Logan were studying an unknown egg and where Virgil’s small ship was parked — there was nothing to indicate that the egg had any kind of parent, at least not one that checked in on it at all.  

Mind made up, Virgil reached out to grab the egg. He cupped it gently, making note of shape and weight as he raised it up to his face; he couldn’t feel the texture through his gloves, but after closer inspection maybe he’d take the gloves off.  

The egg was heavy for its size, and from what Virgil could tell through the worn hapose leather, it was cold and rough. Virgil brought it up to his face for a closer inspection of the colors and patterns decorating the shell.  

“Are you sure you don’t know–” Virgil started, only to be cut off by the top of the egg lifting off to reveal a small, reptilian face.  

Virgil blinked at it in shock, but before he could do anything, the small head shot forward and small fangs pierced the skin of his nose.  

“GAH!” Virgil screeched, losing his grip on the egg in shock.  

The egg fell to the ground where it uncurled along the brown lines to reveal a small snake-looking creature with thick armor along its back. The snake quickly slithered back to the nest where it curled back up, looking once more like an egg.  

“What the fuck!?” Virgil hissed, clutching his lightly-bleeding nose with one hand.  

Patton, having been attracted by Virgil’s yelps, came bounding over, stopping just short of the nest and huffing indignantly at the “egg”.  

“Ah,” Logan said. “That is a fledgling of a Transformation Viper. Observing them in their fledgling stage is uncommon; this is a rare opportunity.” 

“A transformation viper?” Virgil asked, grabbing the still huffing Patton and holding him out of reach of the alien viper. “Scientific name?” 

“None available,” Logan answered.  

“How can there be no scientific name available?” 

“The planet of origin is unknown; therefore, a scientific name cannot be given. This species is quite difficult to track down, and finding a pure one is so rare that sequencing its original genome and thereby pinpointing its planet of origin has so far proven impossible.” 

“Okay… so can’t we sequence this one?” Virgil asked.  

“No,” the robot replied. “This transformation viper is no longer pure. Already its DNA is changing and integrating your DNA into its own genome.” 

“It’s WHAT!?” 

“A transformation viper gets its English name from its ability to integrate the DNA of other organisms into its own genome much like earth bacteria do when undergoing transformation. They acquire DNA from various donors by biting them — much like this one bit you just moments ago — and are capable of performing a complete overhaul of their physiology while in their fledgling stage; they continue this process after their fledgling stage, but they are no longer capable of making large physiological changes.” 

“…so– I– it’s–” Virgil stuttered, his mind racing to try and keep up with all this new information. “That — that thing– the viper thing — is going to be a human?” 

“There are no known occurrences of transformation vipers biting humans while in their fledgling stage,” Logan answered. “However, based on information from known transformation viper hybrids, this fledgling will become physically, mentally, and emotionally similar to a human young after emerging from its fledgling stage.” 

“It’s gonna be a child?” 

“Statistically speaking, that is the most likely outcome.” 

“…I’m not ready to be a father.” 

~~~ 

“I do not recommend–” 

“I know, Lo,” Virgil sighed. “I know, but if this–” he gestured to the sealed box that he had carefully moved both the transformation viper and its (his, as Logan had informed him would be the most likely outcome) nest into earlier “–is going to become a sentient, partially human child, then I have some responsibility to take care of him, and that means bringing him onto the ship.” 

“You have no such obligation to it,” Logan informed him. “It is a wild animal that was inhabiting a dying planet.” 

“Too late,” Virgil sing-songed as he carefully transferred the ‘egg’ from its box to the terrarium he’d built for it over the last couple days. “He’s my son now; his name is Janus, after an old earth story.” 

“You become attached to other life-forms much too easily,” Logan observed, unimpressed.  

“The human pack-bond instinct is strong,” Virgil joked. He tested the lid of the terrarium to make sure that Janus wouldn’t escape until he’d left his fledgling stage and became less likely to bite the other occupants of Virgil’s ship. “Janus will understand when he’s older… probably.” 

Having devoured every piece of information he could about transformation vipers, Virgil had come to the conclusion that towards the end of his fledgling stage, Janus’s armor would resolidify back into a real egg, which he would then hatch from as a viper/human hybrid baby. The best thing Virgil could do for him for now was keep him safe and warm.  

Hence the terrarium.  

Roman and Remus had landed on the lid of the terrarium and were inspecting their new shipmate carefully. There wasn’t much to see as Janus preferred to take the form of an egg unless he was threatened or hunting, but they were still curious.  

Patton was much less interested in Janus, having decided on that first day that he didn’t like the viper. Mostly he either ignored the terrarium, or glowered at it from a distance.  

Logan remained unimpressed by Virgil’s actions, but still monitored Janus’s development closely (the chance to observe a fledgling transformation viper was rare after all).  

Over the next several weeks, Virgil continued his survey of the planet, moving from location to location every few days. In all the biomes he visited, he found signs of only the most resilient native species; by his estimations, over eighty percent of the native species of Illill-ii were completely extinct, and eighty-seven percent of the biomass was decimated.  

The planet would never return to what it had been before the mining company had moved in; the best they could do was monitor it as it grew back.  

Who knows, maybe new life will emerge from the destruction.  

By the time it was time to depart from Illill-ii, Janus had exited his fledgling stage, and was now a proper egg once more. Though he had searched high and low, Virgil had been unable to find any trace of any other transformation viper on Illill-ii, leaving Janus’s origins as a complete mystery.  

It happened on their tenth day in space.  

They were ten days past Illill-ii, and two days out from Eco-6 (the station that Virgil normally operated out of), when the egg hatched.  

Virgil’s ship was small — just a single person control room, one small living space that he had mostly set up as a lab, and a washroom that was little more than a closet. He hadn’t needed a whole lot of space, seeing as it was just him, a series N robot, a small pog, and two tiny fratoos.  

Now though… Well, one tiny cot in the corner of a lab wasn’t going to be enough space for Virgil and a baby.  

Virgil was lying on his cot — Patton curled up on his chest and Roman and Remus nesting peacefully in the folds of his blanket — when suddenly there were the quiet sounds of cracking, followed by much louder sounds of crying.  

“The transformation viper has hatched,” Logan informed him needlessly from his charging port.  

“Thanks, L!” Virgil pushed himself out of bed (careful not to send anyone flying) and launched himself across the room.  

In the terrarium, the thick shell of the egg was now broken, strewn about the enclosure. Where the egg had once been, a baby — much smaller than a regular human baby, but the right size to have come out of the egg.  

The baby’s skin was the same yellow as the egg shell, with purple freckles and small patches of green scales littering his body. His hair was thick, coarse, and brown, and in his mouth — open as he wailed — were two small fangs.  

“Hi Janus,” Virgil breathed as he set about opening the terrarium.  

Janus stopped crying at the sound of his voice and opened his eyes to blink owlishly up at him. His eyes were mismatched as they stared at Virgil in wonder — one very human, and green like Virgil’s own, and one very snake-like, slitted pupil and yellow iris.  

Finally, Virgil had the terrarium lid open and lifted Janus out of the dirt. He was heavy for his size, and while he was much smaller than a newborn, he was also more developed than one, being able to sit up and support his neck without Virgil’s help.  

“Welcome to the crew, kid.” 

Roman and Remus hovered around Virgil’s head, watching the baby curiously. Roman in particular seemed to have caught Janus’s attention as the baby followed his movement closely.  

“I do not recommend allowing–” 

But Logan didn’t get a chance to finish his statement before Janus’s hand had suddenly shot out and snatched the little red fratoo right out of the air, and stuffed him into the baby’s mouth.  

“NO!” Virgil screeched, prying the little guy out as he chittered and thrashed nervously.  

Once Roman was freed from Janus’s mouth, he shot away, glaring at the baby from a safe distance from over by the monitor bank.  

Patton, having been alarmed by both Virgil’s and Roman’s distress, was yipping frantically, bouncing all around. Remus, on the other hand, seemed amused by his brother’s sudden shock and was continuing to dart around Janus playfully.  

Janus took a moment to realize that his chew toy had been taken away, before breaking into a new bout of wailing.  

“It’s okay! It’s okay,” Virgil said, trying to soothe the upset baby. “We’ll find you something else to chew on. Something that isn’t alive, okay?” 

He scanned frantically around the room, but unfortunately, he didn’t have much to offer that would be safe for a baby (he hadn’t exactly been expecting to acquire one while out doing routine field work). In the end, he had to make do with an old sock rolled up into a ball, and while that did soothe the baby, it wasn’t exactly an ideal solution.  

“I do not recommend–” 

“Then what do you recommend, Lo?” Virgil cut the robot off impatiently.  

Logan did not reply.  

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Look, when we get back to base, I can get some baby-appropriate supplies, but until then, we have to work with what we’ve got, okay?” 

“I recommend applying a clean towel as a diaper; sooner rather than later,” Logan finally said.  

“Thanks, L,” Virgil sighed, the reality of having a — mostly — human baby finally hitting him.  

It was going to be a long two days back to base. 

~~~END~~~

I have a lot more thoughts about the biology of Janus’s species that didn’t fit into their fic, so if you want to hear them just let me know. I’d love be just go super-nerd

I spent a long time debating whether Janus should be a transformation viper or a conjugation viper, but I decided that transformation was closer to what he was doing (but I still think conjugation sounds cooler)

Might make this into a series idk

General taglist:

@royalty-of-all-things-snuggly @pixelated-pineapple @knight-shives @misunderstood-shadowling

[gumnut-logic]

Óen (Part 7)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7

Thunderbirds Are Go and HTTYD crossover.

I finally managed to write some more of this. A scene popped into my head and here we are :D Plotline is evolving and I'm feeling more positive.

Many thanks to @onereyofstarlight and @idontknowreallywhy for the read throughs and support :D And to all those who dare to join me in this insanity.

Have a little Virg and Hiccup. I hope you enjoy.

-o-o-o-

Virgil had a huge dragon.

She was a shifting iridescent green, red and gold, and taller at the shoulder than Hiccup standing twice over and all muscle. Toothless appeared tiny beside her, even Óen was dwarfed.

A massive single horn arched out of her snout, while two more branched into a giant V over her head. Her neck and shoulders were protected by plates of glistening armour.

She glittered as she moved.

They were standing on a high cliff above the sea to the east of the settlement. Virgil claimed that a glide off a high point would be much kinder to Toothless’ wings than a launch from flat ground.

Hiccup agreed, so they had slogged all the way up here immediately after breakfast.

The wind was bitterly cold…but that was nothing new.

“Can I?” Hiccup held up a hand, gesturing for permission to reach out to the large dragon.

Virgil arched an eyebrow. “Dá is strong, but she’s gentle.” A small smirk. “She loves a scratch under her chin.”

The smith was securing an intricate saddle, lined with contraptions that fascinated Hiccup almost as much as the dragon it was strapped to.

But Dá was eyeing Hiccup and he had to respond.

He approached carefully, arm partly outstretched, hand open.

Golden eyes followed his every move.

Toothless warbled at the behemoth and Dá snuffled back, rolling her shoulders, much to protest from Virgil. “Hold still, there, lovely. Toothpick is harmless.”

Oh, great, he was never going to live that one down.

Hiccup took another step closer and offered his hand.

A deep rumble and smooth horn touch his palm.

Hiccup opened eyes he hadn’t realised he had closed to find those golden eyes adoring him.

Toothless rolled his eyes and grumbled.

Tentatively, Hiccup let his fingers slide across her snout and down under her chin. A gentle rub and the great dragon started purring.

Like distant thunder.

“She likes you.” Virgil stood next to her, watching Hiccup’s ministrations.

“She’s beautiful.”

“Aye, she is, and she knows it.” Virgil reached in between her first two plates of armour and did something that set her thunder crackling. One of her back legs started pawing at the ground. “She would sit here all day being admired and petted if she could. Wouldn’t you, lovely?”

That earned both of them a huff with enough warm breath to flap Hiccup’s jacket.

“Yes, yes, I know you want to fly, but I have to check on our patient first.” He retrieved his hand and turned to Toothless. “Now, young one, let’s check those wings of yours.”

To Hiccup’s surprise, Toothless immediately lifted and unfolded his right wing. The smith examined it, working gentle fingers down the length of the wing bone, testing muscle and movement. “You’ve rested well overnight.” He turned to Toothless’ left wing and did the same. “You are looking better, but you are not to strain yourself today. No aerobatics. You’re not my first night fury patient and Dá and I will intervene if you threaten your health or your rider’s”

“Hey!”

Toothless’ grumble echoed Hiccup’s protest.

Virgil turned to Hiccup. “And that goes for you, too. I will not have any hotshot flyboy actions today. Your dragon is injured and needs care.”

“I would never harm Toothless!”

“Eh, you’re a night fury rider. From my experience, there are tendencies to forget that slow and easy wins the race.” Virgil peered down at him. “Love does not negate stupidity. Don’t do anything stupid or Dá and I will pull you from the sky.”

Hiccup’s eyes narrowed. They could try. They would have to catch Toothless first…

And the thought brought him up short. Toothless was injured.

And Hiccup was stupid.

Virgil was eyeing him. “Are we agreed?”

Hiccup straightened and nodded.

“Good.” Virgil turned back to his dragon. “It will be interesting to see your prosthetics in action. I’m impressed with their design.”

“You are?” The words fell from Hiccup’s mouth without thought.

The smith turned back to look at him. “Of course, the work is excellent. Your’s, I presume?”

Hiccup nodded.

“I thought so. Hiram will want to speak to you.”

“Hiram?”

But Virgil had climbed aboard Dá and was securing himself with safety lines to his thick wide belt. The belt was a green that echoed Dá’s brilliance. The smith had swapped out his loose red shirt for what he called flying leathers. A mix of blues and green, similar to those Scott had been wearing when he saved them the day before.

Virgil also had a helmet like the Flaith, but his hinged at his temple and he had it open, flipped above his brow. Green was slicked down its sides.

He patted Da and the great dragon turned towards the cliff edge.

Toothless growled and butted Hiccup…who had frozen in thought, apparently. “Alright, alright, don’t burn your tonsils.”

It was Toothless’ turn to huff.

Hiccup ignored him and climbed onto his shoulders, securing himself. “You ready, bud.”

The dragon scoffed and trotted the both of them to stand beside Virgil and Da.

“I will go first. You follow slowly and carefully.” Virgil looked down at Toothless. “Coic will be watching, young one.”

Toothless barked up at the smith, but Virgil slammed his helmet closed, Da let off a roar, and they launched effortlessly off the cliff.

Toothless spread his wings. “Okay, bud, take it easy.” He patted his friend’s black scales.

The night fury snorted and grumbled, but trotted off the edge into the sky.

And the wind caught them.

It was like letting out a breath he hadn’t known he had been holding.

Black wings sailed them in a gentle curve upwards, recovering from their initial dip and catching the winds pushing up the steep rock.

Oh, yes, it had only been a day, but a day of worry and strangeness and here they were together again, flying.

“Keep it simple. Flat turns. Minimise climbing.” Stern instructions bounced across all the blue. Da’s wings were as vast as her body was massive. Hiccup had no doubt the dragon could grab or lift anything she felt like. The pair were circling Hiccup and Toothless at a respectable distance - enough to give them room to manoeuvre but close enough to use those massive dragon muscles should they need to.

But there was no need. Toothless behaved himself and soon they were gliding above the ocean with smooth and gentle strokes, far slower than their usual pace, but still flying.

The ocean blurred beyond the roar in his ears and the chill of the sky welcomed them.

After their meeting of diplomatic words yesterday, Virgil had excused both Hiccup and Toothless on health grounds bringing the virtual game of maces and talons to a close.

These people were on a mission. They were not relaxed. There was no ale beside the evening fire. There was drink, yes, but no stories or song. the evening had been tense with worry. There was something being unsaid in Hiccup’s presence. He could feel it.

Surprisingly, he didn’t feel threatened. Whatever had the village on edge, it wasn’t Hiccup or Toothless - that was unusual in their experience, a night fury tended to put the average person more over the cliff than on edge.

None of the brothers showed any animosity towards Hiccup or Toothless. In fact, they treated them as welcome guests.

And yes, they were brothers, Scott, Virgil, the mysterious John, and Alan admitted to the relationship. There was even mention of a fifth brother who did not make an appearance last night.

The food was plain, but the company was welcoming and kind. Even Virgil’s stern words appeared to come from a perspective of caring about Hiccup and Toothless rather than any threat.

It was becoming easier to trust these people.

Alan had kept Hiccup company for most of the night. He chattered a lot, mostly about dragons. He was fascinated with Toothless, but admitted that Scott had yet to allow him a dragon of his own. That was followed by blatant sibling complaints despite the fact he obviously idolised the Flaith, Oen, John and Coic…and yes, Alan was very talkative.

Hiccup was grateful for it. While there was enthusiasm, Alan was not clueless. They talked about navigation, how high a dragon could fly and, of all things, mathematics.

There was a possibility that the two of them could become friends - a rare and precious find for Hiccup.

But first there were the politics of the situation.

Hiccup sighed.

Toothless warbled a query.

“It’s okay, bud, just stuff.” Focus. “You feeling okay?”

His dragon warbled a positive.

“Shall we scoot a little closer to Dá? I want some answers.”

Toothless snorted, but between him and Hiccup’s control, they darted sideways, swooping easily into a parallel flight path with the green dragon.

That helmeted head tilted slightly in their direction. “You’re doing well.”

Hiccup dipped his head in acknowledgement.

He swallowed. “Virgil, what is the Commitment?” Alan had mentioned the term several times last night. Something to do with dragons and an oath. But while Alan could talk the winter coat off a yak’s rear end, he was obviously not dumb and changed the topic each time Hiccup asked the question.

He didn’t know whether it was a secret or Alan just didn’t want to talk about it.

So Hiccup asked Virgil.

The smith didn’t immediately answer and for a moment Hiccup thought he was going to be ignored. But then…

“The fight for life. The effort to save what the gods attempt to take, human, dragon, whatever. Our family has drawn a line and chose to fight to save those we can.”

Hiccup blinked. “Why?”

“Why not? So much is taken without protest, some given at the whim of a weapon of war. We have chosen to battle against the loss, to prevent, to save what we can.”

“With dragons?”

“With or without.”

“And Cóic?”

“Cóic is our matriarch.”

“Matriarch?”

“That is all you need to know.” A pause. “It is time to return.  We will fly again tonight.” He patted Dá’s side and the great dragon banked away from the conversation.

Obvious avoidance.

Hiccup sighed as he clicked his foot into the right configuration to let Toothless follow the pair. No wonder Dad was grumpy after diplomatic meetings.

The thought of his father brought him up short. Hiccup hadn’t even managed to work out how far he was away from Berk, yet. His father was likely beside himself with worry and driving everyone insane with it.

Astrid…

The Isle swelled below them, Dá landing smoothly on the Arctic thin grass far beneath them.

Toothless spiralled down into a landing with a determined Viking on his back.

Hiccup needed some answers.

Now.

-o-o-o-

TBC

[sleepyvirgilprompts]

Virgil is a baby dragon who hatched from an egg Patton found alone one day and took home. He’s already fiercely protective of Patton and will snort tiny flames at anyone who seems to pose a danger to him, but Virgil is still just a baby and he spends most of his time curled up asleep in Patton’s pocket or hair.

[tss-storytime-summaries]

1

Expected Rating: Mature

Warnings: Fantasy violence

Characters: Virgil, Roman, Remus, Janus, Logan, Patton, Emile Picani, Shorts Month characters, the Dragon Witch

Romantic relationships: Prinxiety, Dukeceit, Logicality, Remile

Summary: Roman has always been sure he is meant for more than the tiny town of Walton – adventure, glory, heroism. The rest of Walton seems to think he’s got his head in the clouds, and will never amount to more than what he already is – a simple boy who works in the general store.

He’s fallen for the lovely Emile Picani, who, unbeknownst to him, does not return his feeling in the slightest – but who is entirely too nice for his own good, and doesn’t know how to turn him down without hurting his feelings. In his attempt to let Roman down gently, he asks for a fallen star, thinking Roman would never be foolish enough to cross the border wall into the realm of magic to retrieve it. Right?

Wrong.

The magical realm is full of strange creatures, and unfortunately for Roman, the star – who has a name, thank you, it’s Virgil – is not at all interested in being a gift. But between Vikings who roam the sky, Dragon Witches seeking to take Virgil for their own to eat the star’s heart for youth and beauty, and a cadre of royal heirs after the topaz necklace that knocked Virgil out of the sky in the first place, the odds of getting through alive, let alone back to Walton with a chained star in tow are not high.

Because we need a Prinxiety Stardust AU in the world.

[touchtranscendslanguage]

hello!! i’m a newcomer but i just wanted to say that your series is so friggen amazing <3 i fancy myself some self-care snakebois and anxiety-ridden driderbois. though roman might actually kill me and i’m terrified of him having the ability to make people fall out of love. what a horrifying thought kxjsjdheh??? anyway!!! i have some questions regarding magic because magic yay worldbuilding <3 my bad if some of these have been asked! as i said, i’m a newcomer aha;;

so if taking away a witches magic makes them no longer a witch, can an old enough witch just die on the spot, or are they biologically however old they were physically (like how the royal fam stopped at around 30) and begin aging at a rate normal for their species? if taking away a witches magic makes them no longer a witch, does giving someone magic make them a witch? and if so, are they then immortal or age slower than previously? are any species (that we know of so far) unable to naturally be witches, and what happens if they’re *given* magic without biologically being able to have it? can a person have TOO much magic? what species do we know of so far and are any of them/will any of them be relevant? i want virgil to be besties with the waitstaff again :((( (not a question but it needed to be said). was sleep messing with virgil’s circadian rhythm? probably not but i just wanted to confirm because he’s a vindictive little shit who totally would 👀

will sleep and virge be spider besties now?,,,,pls i need little weave-and-relieve sessions between the two where they just chill and rant n maybe do each others nails or share weaving tips :))) can virgil croquet or sew or knit or something? because he’d love, probably. it’s great for anxiety (probably, i’m so bad at it i wouldn’t know LOL)

i. am going to cut myself off here before it gets too long. have a good day! <3

- OnlyRoomForHope (would be unanon but i can’t be bothered logging in on right account lmaoo)

@onlyroomforhope

Thank you and welcome! I'm so happy to have you here in my own tiny corner of the fandom! Yeah, we love our self-care snake and anxious spider here. Also, wow, ya'll really latched onto that fact about Roman. As long as Virgil and Janus keep their protections up around him they'll be fine :)

A lot of good questions here and for the most part it looks like they haven't been answered before! This is exciting! *crackles knuckles* Let's dive in, shall we?

So if a witch loses their magic and therefore their immortality they don't just drop dead. Their body is still physically the age it was when they stopped aging, they just begin to age again. This applies to humans, fae are already immortal on their own their immortality just works a bit differently.

Giving someone magic does make them a witch. I think I've mentioned it before, but Remy wasn't born a witch, he got his magic from King Thomas. Gaining his own magic made him a witch and came with all of the perks of being one including immortality. Remy is indistinguishable from any other witch.

Thus far I've only put a lot of thought into humans and fae being witches, but I'd say most highly intelligent sentient species can have witches. Especially the humanoid or partially humanoid ones. So most monsters such as naga, driders, merepeople, centaurs, and vampires can all be witches. Dragons, kelpies, harpies, and sirens cannot.

it's also important to note that I said highly intelligent sentient species. That means beasts are not included. So there are no pheonix, unicorn, bear of bears, or bassilisk witches.

Could someone give a beast or non-witch monster witch magic? Yes. Chaos would happen.

No, a person couldn't have too much magic. Exibit A: Thomas. King Thomas has a ridiculous amount of magic. Should he have that much magic? Absolutely not. That shouldn't be allowed. But, hey, I didn't make the rules (yes I did) and it is what it is.

Now, if you're asking if a lot magic can have negative side effects then yes, it can potentially be overwhelming. If King Thomas got all of his magic at once it would have taken a serious toll on him and at one point he did aquire too much at once and it did take a toll. That was a the very beginning of Thomas's reign and he depended on Nico a lot to hide it. After an adjustment period he was fine, though. After that he learned to take magic gradually, one or two witches at a time with breaks in between.

Okay, so so far in the series we know of humans (obviously), fae, driders, and naga. We also know that fae are split into seelie and unseelie. Only humans and seelie are going to play major rolls in the series. As tempted as I am to play around with the many subcatagories of fae and the other species, I'm trying to keep this as simple as I can. We may see them play minor roles as in individual characters but that's it.

That being said, I am planning the brief appearance of a third major species.

Now, there are many minor species of monsters but those all defer to either the seelie or unseelie making fae a major species. Humans are also a major species. The third major species that is indepented of and can stand toe-to-toe with fae and humans is spirits. Spirits will barely appear in the series so I don't plan on doing a lot of wolrd building for them.

So all in all, only humans and fae will really be relevant.

I want Virgil to be friends with the staff again, too ;_;

Remy totally would mess with Virgil's sleep, however he was on Earth up until the day he was introduced to Virgil, so no, he didn't have anything to do with Virgil's sleeping problems.

Remy are Virgil are going to be besties! I am firmly team Those Two Getting Along. They are my babies and I love them, they must at least be friends. There will be classic sleep overs and they will get up to shananagins, so stay tuned for that.

Virgil can weave and sew. He's okay at it. he does it more for stress relief than to be good.