#dragon tangotek

[ice-cap-k]

Just Gold CH 1

Didn't have time to think of a better title.

Cross-posted to AO3 Here: Just Gold

Chapter 2 Here

___________________________________________________

Tango was a dragon.

That's not to say he was very good at being a dragon, but that was what he was. Unlike most dragons, he was not content to sit in a cave all day and hoard gold. 

Sure, he didn’t mind sticking to one place for very long, but he enjoyed company. He enjoyed going out into the world on occasion to see how the world grew and changed. The idea of slow-roasting knights and hunters didn’t have much appeal to him.

He cared not for precious metals or diamonds either. Gold's value didn't account for much more than pretty trinkets and jewelry. It was too soft and flimsy. The metal itself could conduct heat and electricity, but there other materials that could do it far better. Diamonds had an impressive hardness but were difficult to shape. 

He would much rather hoard iron and this interesting crystal that appeared to glow red in the depths of his mountain. They were useful if you just took the time to learn about it. As a dragon, he was immortal. He had all the time in the world to learn and tinker and create.

 And oh the things he could create. His lair was built of redstone powder laid out in intricate networks that sent signals around his home. He had discovered automated doors and electric lights long before humans could have. With iron, a highly conductive material that was both durable and easily shaped, these components could be rearranged to make just about anything possible. As a bonus, he could venture out into the world to find it. 

Unfortunately, Tango was still a dragon. 

The gold and red scales were kind of hard to miss. And dragons had reputations.

When humans saw Tango, they didn’t stop to get to know him. They didn’t take the chance to realize he wasn’t interested in burning down towns or kidnapping unsuspecting victims. They drew their swords so they could attack him first. 

Some were just afraid. Some wanted the glory of slaying a dragon. Some just thought he had gold to steal. 

He supposed he might have ventured out a few too many times. There had been whispers among the human villages of a dragon exploring the cliff sides with eyes as red as burning coals and a fire in its belly that wilted the plants as it flew past. Where there were rumors, there were those willing to bet on their truth and capitalize on it.

One day, while roaming the base of a nearby mountain, Tango stumbled into a trap. He was there checking the mountain for anything of use: be it coal for burning and lighting spaces, iron to shape in his forge, or even a copse of trees to cut down and fashion into tools. There hadn’t been any humans nearby for days and he thought that they might have finally forgotten about him until he stepped under an overhanging granite ledge. It was a quick fuse trap that was built to go off when something as large and warm as he came in close proximity. The moment he passed under the rocky outcropping, the fuse lit. There was one small moment where he heard the sizzle, his heart stopped as he realized his mistake, and then everything went white.

The blast tore a hole into the very side of the mountain. Fire and ash hit his side. It burned his throat and lungs as he instinctively drew in breath. The obliterated stone bounced off his scales. The force of the explosion knocked him rolling down the mountain to the valley below. He batted his wings in a vain attempt to slow himself down but only managed to catch them painfully against the sides of the trees as he rolled past. 

Tango passed out before he had even come to a stop. 

__________________________________________________

“Hey, are you alright?”

Tango was most certainly not alright. Everything hurt. His eyes felt heavy. Please, just let him sleep a little longer…

“Oh man, don’t go to sleep now. Not when you’re hurt like that. Geezus, can you even hear me?”

Yeah. He could hear that voice, but he wished he didn’t. He wished he could go back to the sweet, oblivious darkness. However, whatever that thing was poking at his shoulder wasn’t making it easy. 

Tango rolled slightly, hoping to knock whatever it was off of himself. That slight motion sent dull aches rolling throughout his back and legs in waves. He groaned and braced himself against the pain, all his muscles tensing against the awful feeling. 

“Alright. Good. You’re waking up. You’re pretty hurt, but maybe you can move. Can you move, huh?”

Could Tango move? He tried opening his eyes first. Just cracking open the lids felt like an uphill battle. The world outside looked blurry. At first, he was afraid maybe the blast had gotten something in his eyes and blinded him, but to his relief, the smear of colors began to slowly sharpen back into focus. 

He was lying at the bottom of a valley out in the open. There weren’t any trees for miles. Just rocky outcrops and grassy patches. From this position, he could make out the scar in the Earth leading from where he lay to the crater halfway up the mountain. 

“I’m fine.” The dragon’s voice sounded shaky to his own ears. He flexed one arm to reach out with a claw and winched as the motion sent shocks of pain up his shoulder. Gold ichor dripped down into torn-up soil beneath him. 

“No, you’re not. You are most definitely not fine.”

Where was that voice coming from? Tango looked back and forth, careful not to pull on the open wounds on his side. Turns out, he had a lot. 

“Look, I’ll admit I don’t know much about dragons, but I don’t think anything with wings is supposed to come crashing down a mountain so violently.”

Tango’s red eyes snapped to the place over his shoulder where the voice was coming from. To his surprise, the only thing that was there was a small yellow bird. It sat on the place where his arm met the shoulder. The yellow feathers along its back and head were puffed up and its wings splayed out in distress as it hopped around a gap in Tango’s scales large enough for the little bird to fit into. The gold blood around its feet streaked down Tango’s side. “Hey, shoo! Shoo!” Tango snorted, sending a breath of hot air at the little bird to scare it off. He didn’t want it getting too close to the open wound and making it worse.

“Rude!” the bird squawked.

Tango nearly jumped out of his scales in surprise when the bird spoke, which he instantly regretted when all the bruised and sore muscles screamed in protest. Some of the charred scales on his back even fell away, looking more like withered black petals than the lustrous armor they had once been. “You can talk!?”

“Of course I can talk,” the bird snapped, hopping further up Tango’s shoulder. “Just like I can see, and even a blind man could see that you’re in a bad spot here. What happened?”

The bird was talking. The bird was talking and he wanted to know how a dragon had gotten itself hurt. Tango answered, too baffled to do much else. “I was going through the crevice, and then something exploded behind me.” The dragon’s eyes went back up to the gouge in the mountain where he had been standing not long ago. “There was no avoiding it.”

“Right, well, you definitely crashed into my nest.” The bird’s feathers began to smooth themselves. It spread its wings further before beating them down in unison, flying up to Tango’s horn in a flutter of bright yellow.

“I’m sorry,” Tango said almost instantly, fighting the urge to shake his head. The bird didn’t weigh much, but it made his head feel ever-so-slightly off balance. 

“It’s alright. You have bigger things to worry about, like that human village on the other side of the valley.” With a crick in his neck, Tango turned to where the bird was pointing with a wingtip. Sure enough, he could make out a few rooftops poking up out of a spruce-covered edge of the mountain lining the opposite side of the valley. Now, mountain ranges have a tendency to make things seem closer than they actually are. That village was probably half a few hour’s flight from where he lay at the bottom of the valley. Maybe a few day’s travel if he were to go by foot, but there wasn’t much cover down here. Someone had probably seen him by now. And if they hadn’t seen him, they would have heard the explosion.

One of the people from that village had probably set up the trap.

“Oh, man. Not good. How long was I out for?”

“Maybe half an hour, but about five minutes ago I saw someone climbing down that cliff. A human. If I remember correctly, humans and dragons don’t really mix.”

Tango sighed. “No. No they don’t.” He had to move. He didn’t want to, but it was better than waiting and risking the alternative. So he dug his claws into the ground and heaved. The bird fluttered with the motion but managed to hang on to his horn. The burn on his back flared up like a bonfire. The gouges in his scales left shallow glittering pools of his blood along the ground. And when he finally managed to right himself, he finally became aware of a dull throbbing sensation along the arm of his wings. 

He attempted to spread his wings. The motion sent pins and needles running down the muscles of his shoulder and wing fingers. It was so sharp that Tango had to immediately pull them back to rest against his back. 

“Oh, mate…” The bird ran one of its own wings along Tango’s head comfortingly.

“It’s Tango,” the dragon huffed, trying to keep his nervousness from leaking into his voice. When he looked over his shoulder, he realized that he wouldn’t be flying for a long while.

The forearms were misshapen, bent at wrong angles where they had been broken in different places. It was harder to tell with the wing fingers, but by the throbbing coming from at least two of them, it was likely there were a few bones broken there as well. The membrane stretched between each finger was ragged, ripped, and bleeding. 

“I can’t fly. I can’t fly!” Despite the soreness, Tango nervously shuffled his feet. He looked all around as if expecting angry humans to start appearing all around him. “How am I going to get back home?”

“You live far from here?”

“On the other side of that mountain.” Tango tilted his head back the way he had fallen for the bird to see. That explosion was uncomfortably close to the mouth of his cave. His thoughts went to his own hoard of red dust and hoppers and dispensers. The ice-cold cavern felt good against his warm scales. A cozy dip in the stone worn smooth from centuries of him curling up to sleep. It would take days to get back there on foot. 

“Well, I know a place you can go to stay until you get yourself healed up, Tango.”

“You do?”

It hopped down onto Tango’s nose and pointed with one wing towards a grassy shelf reaching out from the east side of the mountain. “Yeah! There’s an abandoned building large enough for you to fit inside nestled between those rocks over there. Trust me, nobody goes there anymore. It should be fine until your wings can heal up a little.”

Tango nearly went cross-eyed trying to meet the bird’s gaze. “How do you know that?”

“Because I’ve been there before,” the bird trilled. “Now come on. You gotta get a move on before that human comes back.”

It had a point.

It was a bird. A talking bird, but still just a bird. He had no reason to believe it would be leading him into another trap.

“Okay, okay, I’m going. You’re right.” Tango stopped his nervous shuffling and started off in that direction. 

The bird looked pleased with itself as it waddled its way back up the bridge of Tango’s nose to its previous perch on his horn. It wrapped its toes around the ridges and settled down, looking content to ride along. Finally, Tango’s brain stopped to wonder why.  “Why are you here,” he asked as he plodded along.

“I told you, you crashed through my nest. I was already here.”

“Right. You did say that. Sorry about that again. But I’m still confuzzled. Why aren’t you mad? Why are you so worried about helping me?”

“I guess I sympathize,” the bird twittered. “Between the broken wings and that nasty fall… I couldn’t just fly away. You know?”

“I appreciate that.” Tango nodded slowly so as to not startle the bird. “Do I also take that to mean you’ve broken a wing before, uh-”

“Jimmy,” it offered quickly. “The name’s Jim. Heh, and yeah. Something like that.”

___________________________________________________________

The abandoned building Jimmy had mentioned turned out to be an old farmhouse and a barn. It looked like nobody had been there in years. The grassy shelf it stood on was lined with a collapsing fence that circled the overgrown field. The wood barn was greyed with age but had been built sturdily. It didn’t so much as groan when Tango bumped against the massive doorway with his tail. 

It smelled musty. The soft hay lining the ground had been there for years and was half rotten, but it was dry. When Tango settled down at the back of the structure, he found it oddly comfortable. 

As soon as he laid back down, Jimmy leaped from his place on Tango’s horn. His yellow wings caught the air and carried him to the post marking the corner of a nearby stall. “Now what did I tell you? This ranch is perfect for you to hide in.”

“It is really nice,” Tango rumbled, taking in his surroundings. “If I stay here for a while and get my hands on some iron and oak, I could really make something out of this place.”

“You know how to build?” Jimmy sounded shocked at that.

“A little,” Tango admitted, suddenly feeling a little sheepish. “You pick up a thing or two over the centuries.”

 “I didn’t know dragons did that sort of thing. Is that something that the rest of your kind do?”

“Oh, not really. Not that I know, at least. But I find it fun. There’s something really nice about making things that others will enjoy.”

“Like what?”

“Oh, like a library.” Tango’s thoughts turned to old memories made fond from nostalgia. If he closed his eyes, he could see rows and rows of books stacked under a dome of glittering stars. “I made one once, a long time ago. Back when I lived far from here. It was supposed to be a massive collection of everything. There were glittering lights and sweeping archways, and massive wings that seemed to lead from one side of the world to the other. When I was done building it, I moved on and people moved in. Humans mostly, but I remember seeing them from a distance. They had such big smiles on their faces when they first stepped through the doors. It was nice.”

“It sounds like it. Did those people know who made it?”

Tango shook his head. “There’s no way they would believe a fire-breathing beast built up a place for books. I don’t need the credit anyway. They’d probably just come after me.”

“Well, that’s a shame.” Jimmy readjusted his wings and narrowed his bright little eyes as he thought about what Tango had just said. “At least you sound proud of it. I’m no builder. I’m trying my best to get better at making things look nice, but I’ve still got a long way to go.”

“What about your nest?”

Jimmy’s head twitched back up. He tilted his beak to one side as he looked at Tango questioningly. “What about my nest?”

“You’ll have to rebuild it, won’t you? That’s a good place to start.”

The feathers on Jimmy’s head puffed up. “I suppose it is. Ey, would it be alright if I set it up here?”

“At this ranch?”

“In this barn! With you. I could keep you company, and help you find materials. I can try to help you build too, but no promises that what I make will turn out nice. Maybe I could learn a thing or two from you.” The words spilled out of his beak quickly as the little bird got caught up in his own excitement. He flitted from one stall to the other as if he couldn’t sit still. “If that’s okay with you, that is,” he says a little more nervously as he glides past Tango’s nose.  

Tango chuckled. “Sure. You can show me what you’ve got. Maybe there are some tips and tricks I can teach you.” He said that, but he wasn’t sure how that would work. Jimmy was a bird. Tango was a dragon. How a bird built with wings and a beak and claw-tipped feet would be vastly to what a dragon could do with claws and fangs and a tail. But Tango could appreciate the company. It had been a while since he had someone to talk to. 

Well… someone who didn’t want to stick a sword in his side, at least. 

“But are you sure,” Tango asked, starting to fiddle with a strand of hay caught under one of his scales. He didn’t want the bird to stay here out of pity or guilt. “You don’t have to stay here if you don’t want to. I’m sure a bird like you has a whole flock of friends waiting for you somewhere.”

“No way!” Now Jimmy shook his head. Despite everything Tango had ever thought he knew about beaks, it almost looked like Jimmy was smiling up at him. “It’s not every day someone like me gets to know a dragon like you.”

__________________________________________________________

Life on the ranch was peaceful. Idyllic, even.

It was the first time in a long time that Tango had been out in the open so much. Jimmy had been right, humans didn’t really come near here. That meant Tango had free reign to explore the stretches of tall grass and the gravelly side of the mountain behind them. 

Jimmy often came with him on these long walks. The odd pair often found themselves talking about what they could do to fix the place up. And those conversations often spiraled into stories from their past. 

“No way.”

“Yes, way.”

“No way. There’s just no way a little bird like you survived getting hit with an arrow.”

“I did so! I am perfectly capable of handling myself, thank you very much.”

“Sure you are,” Tango snorted hot air, suppressing a chuckle at the indignant way the little bird turned up its beak at him. 

“I am. Those feathers didn’t grow back along my side for a week. It nearly messed up my ability to fly.”

“Well by the sound of it you weren’t the best at that either…”

“You take that back!”

Tango let himself laugh at that one.

Despite the odd start, the dragon found himself growing fond of the yellow bird. Jimmy was bright and cheery and took himself a little too seriously. He was also brash, forgetful, and had the worst luck Tango had ever seen. 

It wasn’t just you’re typical bird hijinks, though Jimmy was guilty of that too. It wasn’t just his odd need to bob in place, peck at something incessantly, or even pull at Tango’s smaller horns like they were some sort of toy. It was like he was accident-prone. 

The first time Jimmy had accidentally flown into the broken window into the side of the barn, Tango had chalked it up to bird eyes. He couldn’t blame Jimmy for not being physically capable of seeing glass. But then Jimmy had done it again. And then Jimmy had jumped off one of the stall posts and forgot he could fly. And then Jimmy got his foot caught under one of Tango’s scales. And then he hit the window again…

After about a week of rest and recuperation, Tango decided the main reason was that it was just Jimmy being Jimmy. Who was he to judge? It wasn’t like he was some sort of bird expert. 

It was Jimmy who first came up with the idea of making this place into a real ranch again. There were other animals that called the mountain home. Sturdy goats traversed the most sheer cliff faces. Mountain cattle with long horns plodded along the scrubby terrain. They could be raised for beef, milk, and mutton. Tango thought it was a great idea. He was already having difficulty hunting them on foot. Keeping plenty in a pen sounded much easier.

So they set out.

Jimmy went ahead and got a bird’s eye view, then returned to Tango’s horn to point the dragon in the right direction. He circled around the goats and cows. The animals already feared the growl of a dragon, so it was easy for Tango to spook them in the direction of their fields. Then Jimmy would step in, alighting from his perch to circle around goats and cows they had managed to get running in the right direction. They worked well together, running and flying along the herd, driving it down the mountain to the gate waiting open on the shelf.

________________________________________________________

The ranch was beautiful. 

Jimmy felt he was learning more every day he spent with Tango. The dragon was such a good builder! It made Jimmy’s jaw drop to see what he was capable of. The farmhouse now had an entire tower built up along the back, and a newly minted storage system lining what used to be a living room. 

And the dragon was so nice. Jimmy hadn’t wanted to do much building once he saw what Tango was capable of, but Tango insisted Jimmy work alongside him. He was grateful for the dragon’s coaching. As small as he was, it was difficult for him to lift some of the timber boards with his two wings, but Tango would be there to help him with the heavy lifting as soon as the dragon saw him trying. He talked Jimmy through the harder points, and explained why he thought different types of stone were good for decorative purposes and how you could follow certain patterns to create depth when layering wooden planks. 

Jimmy felt like he was actually learning something from Tango.

But there were also times when Jimmy had to wonder if Tango did things because he was a dragon, or because he was Tango.

He seemed to have a tendency to get caught up in big projects. That shouldn’t have surprised Jimmy, considering all the stories Tango had told of the buildings he had made, the inventions that had taken years to put together. He was patient. But Jimmy was surprised to learn that when Tango threw himself into a project, it engulfed him. 

“Tango, are you sure we need this?”

“Of course! With a new shed, we can start housing more tools and milk buckets.”

“We don’t have any milk buckets.”

“We will once I make some.”

“But Tango, I can’t milk a cow. Can you even milk a cow?”

The wings on Tango’s shoulders shifted. His version of a shrug. They were healing nicely after two weeks of being grounded. The homemade splints lining the bones up were holding strong but looked a little dingy from all the wear. “We’ll figure it out as we go.” 

And with that, Tango had walked off. Sometimes, it seemed to Jimmy like Tango couldn’t even hear him when he got like that. 

But when he finished work for the day and trudged back to his bed of hey in the barn, it was back to being all laughs and jokes.  They bounced wild ideas back and forth off of each other, turning the silliest things into something impressive in their own mind.

“That’s it,” Jimmy said, puffing up his chest feathers. “We’re going down to the valley tomorrow to find you some iron.”

“For a monument?” Tango sputtered, laughing so hard his tail was sweeping back and forth. “I love it. It’s so ridiculous, and such a waste of iron.”

“We can afford it,” Jimmy insisted. “And we’ve got the time to work on it. It’ll be fun. I’ll dig it up, and you’ll carry it.”

“How, pray tell, are you going to dig up iron, Jimmy?”

Tango’s red eyes went down to Jimmy’s clawed feet still wrapped around the wooden post. Jimmy nearly shrunk into his own feathers as he realized he might have gotten ahead of himself. “Ah, well, I will help dig up the iron.”

His friend chuckled. “That sounds about right.”

______________________________________________________

The ranch was under attack. 

Tango threw his side into the barn doors, keeping as far away as possible from the flames licking at the corners of the building. The boards buckled under his weight, but didn’t budge. The human’s outside must have blocked it.

They must have been spotted when they went on that mining trip in the valley. That was the only explanation he could think of. He should have known better. His gold scales would have stuck out like a sore thumb to anyone passing by amongst all that green and grey.

Jimmy flew in through the broken window and landed on his horn. “Come on, Tango,” he shouted. “You can do it! They’re right outside. If you can just get out of here-”

“I’m trying,” Tango hissed as he threw himself at the door once more. The freshly lacquered wood started to splinter and crack. He could hear shouts outside of the men with their pitchforks and torches at the ready. 

“You should fly, Jimmy. It’s me they’re after.”

“No way. You can’t fly yet. I’m not leaving you.”

“I’ve got my fire and my claws.”

“And you’ve got me!!”

With that, Jimmy shot like a yellow bullet out the window once more. Tango didn’t like the way the little bird had said that. It put a bad feeling in his gut. Once more, he threw himself against the door. Gaps appeared between the warped wood as it split further apart. He could see his attackers through them. Some tried poking iron swords and spears into the gaps, hoping to catch his side with their points.

He couldn’t throw himself against the door like that anymore with those blades poking out. So he switched tactics. He leaned back onto his tail and kicked out, careful to hit his heels against the parts of the door that didn’t have sharp objects pointed at him. 

Suddenly, some of the weapons fell away. They clattered to the ground on the other side of the door as shouts of anger turned into shouts of surprise. 

When Tango peaked through one of the gaps, he saw a little yellow blur dive-bombing some of the men’s heads.

“Jimmy!!”

“If you want to get at him, you’ll have to go through me first,” the little bird was crying.

Tango had had enough. Now that there were no swords in his way, nothing stopped him from flinging himself against the door one last time. The ruined hinges finally gave out, and the massive doors fell outward. There were screams as they landed on some of the humans outside. Tango could feel the uneven lay of the wood and the people underneath through his claws.

As soon as he was out, Jimmy returned to his horn. “We have to get to high ground!”

“I can’t climb the cliffs! They’re too steep!”

“The tower!”

The tower.

The humans were already starting to regain their footing as Tango made a break for the tower looming over the rest of the ranch. The one he had added to the old farmhouse. 

The humans were in hot pursuit when they reached the base. 

With a great leap, Tango launched himself up. His claws snagged on the uneven wooden planks as he hauled himself up.

“They’re gaining on us Tango!”

“I know! I know!”

Fiery arrows flashed through the night sky and buried themselves in the side of the farmhouse. The whole ranch would burn at this point. But the humans wouldn’t be able to get to them through the flames. If the structure could hold out until they left, Tango could hold off against the fire. Jimmy could always fly away to avoid the worst of the heat. 

Tango hauled himself to the top, sides heaving from the effort. He almost didn’t notice Jimmy fly from his horn. 

“They’re still here, Tango,” the bird twittered. “They’re circling the bottom. They’re burning the ranch. And our goats! They’ve taken the goats.”

Tango’s eyes followed the path of glowing arrows streaking through the night sky as he caught his breath. His lungs were burning from the effort of all that climbing. “Jimmy, get back down,” he managed after finally finding his words. “It’s dangerous along the edge.”

“But someone has to keep an eye on-”

The arrow hit Jimmy in the wing.

There was a burst of yellow feathers. Broken primaries and secondaries caught the rush of warm air coming from the blaze below like a puff of smoke, and then Jimmy fell from sight.

“JIMMY!”

Tango crawled to the edge of the tower wall just to watch the little bird drop into the patch of fire eating at the roof below. He didn’t even notice the arrows streaking past him as he dared poke his head over the side. He watched the little bird until Jimmy disappeared in the bright flicker of yellow and orange.

And then the yellow and orange faded as Tango saw red.

He dug his claws into the wood as he leaned out over the ledge of the tower. A massive roar built from the bottom of his belly and echoed out over the valley with all the ferociousness of a dragon out for blood. With it came a column of fire that lit the night and caught a forest on fire the next mountain over. 

Tango ignored the arrow that buried itself in his arm as he leaped down from the tower with claws outstretched. He was breathing so hard that he was wheezing. The fire in his belly burned bright when he opened his mouth. Fangs and claws glinted red from the light of the midnight fires as he lunged forward with more single-minded focus than he had ever had for a given project.

He was going to make them pay.

__________________________________________

“Tango…. Tango!”

He was breathing so hard that his chest hurt. Or was that another arrow? No, he couldn’t feel that yet. The adrenaline had yet to wear off. But the red was fading.

“Tango, stop! It’s over.”

It was over. Tango stood with claws dripping in blood. Red from the humans. Gold from his own wounds. There were charred lumps scattered across the front yard, no longer screaming from the burns. 

So much for avoiding humans.

Tango was vaguely aware of something pulling on his horn. When he rolled his eyes back, his stomach dropped at the sight of a familiar yellow bird.

“Jimmy,” he breathed. Red-hot tears of anger, relief, and confusion welled up in the corner of his eyes. That couldn’t be possible. Even if the arrow hadn’t killed Jimmy, the fall or the fire would have. “That’s not… I didn’t… How… How? You were dead.”

“I’m fine, Tango. See. I’m right here. You can stop now. I’m ok.”

“I don’t understand…”

“I’m a phoenix, ok?!”

Tango reached up, and Jimmy let go of his horn. The little yellow bird hopped onto the dragon’s wrist so Tango could hold him out and they could look each other in the eye. Jimmy looked flustered and a little scared. Scared of Tango, or scared of what he was about to say? It drove a stake of guilt through Tango’s own heart. He looked around the charred bodies littered around the yard, but not with shame. He wasn’t ashamed of his anger and what it had wrought. But he felt bad that he might have scared Jimmy.

“So… when you fell…?”

“I died,” Jimmy said shakily. “Wasn’t pleasant, I’ll tell you, but I came back. I always come back.”

Funnily enough, Tango believed him. So many of Jimmy’s stories involved such horrible mishaps, and on one or two occasions the little bird had hit the barn window so hard Tango had been surprised that he had been able to just shake it off.

It was strange to think about, but it wasn’t the weirdest thing Tango had ever heard of.

“I always thought Phoenix's were supposed to be big and fancy,” he said with a nervous chuckle. “You know…” He wiggled the fingers of his free hand as if that could help illustrate his point.

“I’m big,” Jimmy huffed indignantly. “And look at these feathers. They’re gorgeous!”

That got a real laugh out of Tango. “Sure thing, buddy.”

Jimmy ruffled his feathers and pouted, but didn’t try to argue any further. Instead, his bright black eyes turned to the charred remains of the farm house smoldering behind them.

“The ranch is gone, though. They’ve gone and burned it to the ground.”

“Well then,” Tango said, raising his hand back above his head. Jimmy hopped off so he could sit on his usual perch on Tango’s horn. The dragon began plodding towards the smoking remains of the barn with a smile on his face. “I suppose we’ll just have to rebuild.”

[tubbytarchia]

I'm bloody and sweaty and still don't know how to scale people!!!! But I'm done drawing all the lifers so now I have a reference for animation as needed wahoo!! Also boss mobs because I'll need them too

[kipsa-hoy]

Pov your the floor

[arisveah]

i made a relationship chart for all the still-mentioned groups in the life series

its very tangled.

[silverskye13]

In which a challenge is overcome

[sm0lshr00m]

Silly art dump!!

[ladyevol]

Last night I dreamed that some of the hermits had decided to play DND on stream. Since too many Hermits wanted to play, they ended up making multiple parties divided in the different groups of season 10. Tango was the DM, of course. For magical mountain, Scar was a bard wood elf, Grian was a wizard aasimar, Mumbo was an artificer drow, Joel was a half orc sorcerer, Gem was a sea elf ranger, impulse was a dwarf barbarian, and skizz was a human rogue that Scar kept joking was a spy. At first they were going to have it be just a one shot, but the fans loved it so much they decided to play once a month. Half of the party was named either exactly what the player's user names were and variations of it and the other half were the hardest, nerdiest names you can imagine that people would end up forgetting and the group would just call them their user names instead.

[dragooned-speaks]

It's the thickest Sunday roast gravy! (aka boat shenanigans)

(Pearl doesn't want to lose her netherite)

[alittlebitofwonk]

Chapters: 1/?

Fandom: 3rd Life | Last Life SMP Series

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death

Relationships: Charles | Grian & Jimmy | Solidarity, Jimmy | Solidarity/TangoTek, Jimmy | Solidarity & Scott Major | Smajor1995, Jimmy | Solidarity & Martyn Littlewood | InTheLittleWood, Martyn Littlewood | InTheLittleWood/Rendog

Characters: Jimmy | Solidarity, TangoTek (Video Blogging RPF), Charles | Grian, Steffen Mössner | Docm77, Kris | ZedaphPlays, GeminiTay (Video Blogging RPF), Pearl | PearlescentMoon, Anthony Viviano | Bigbst4tz2, Martyn Littlewood | InTheLittleWood, Rendog (Video Blogging RPF), Ryan | GoodTimesWithScar, Oliver Brotherhood | Mumbo Jumbo, Lizzie | LDShadowLady (Video Blogging RPF), Joel | SmallishBeans, EthosLab (Video Blogging RPF), John Booko | BdoubleO100, impulseSV (Video Blogging RPF), Skizzleman (Video Blogging RPF), ZombieCleo (Video Blogging RPF), Scott Major | Smajor1995, Katy | FalseSymmetry

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Dragon Riders, Background Relationships, Murder, Inspired by The Hunger Games, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, Alliances, Prince Rendog, Pirate Geminitay, Fae & Fairies, Unseelie Court, Seelie Court, Netherborn TangoTek (Video Blogging RPF), Watcher Lore (Evolution SMP), Watcher Charles | Grian, Fae TangoTek (Video Blogging RPF), Fae Ryan | GoodTimesWithScar, Fae Scott Major | Smajor1995, A couple other fae too, Married Joel | SmallishBeans/Lizzie | LDShadowLady, Slow Burn, Japanese Culture, The main capital is heavily inspired by Japanese architecture and folklore, BAMF Ryan | GoodTimesWithScar, Hurt Martyn Littlewood | InTheLittleWood, Assisted Suicide, Depression, Hurt Jimmy | Solidarity, BAMF Jimmy | Solidarity, POV Jimmy | Solidarity, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Additional Warnings In Author's Note

Summary:

“Word is that the capital is sending a delegation here, to our tiny village,” Doc explains.

“Kumoichi? The capital? Are you sure?” Jimmy asks.

“I mean, it’s just a rumor now, but that’s what they’ve been saying,” Doc says with a shrug, taking a long drink of his own mug.

“It’s not for a crime or anything, I don’t think,” Zed mentions. “We’d have heard if someone had committed some offense awful enough to warrant capital intervention. But we aren’t exactly a notable place, either, so it’s a mystery as far as I’m aware.”

“Well…” Doc begins, looking around to make sure no one is eavesdropping before he leans in close, beckoning for Jimmy and Zedaph to do the same. “I heard someone mention the Dragon Games…”

“You’re kidding,” Jim responds, gaping. “The Dragon Games?”

Jimmy has spent his entire life in the same town, with the same people, doing the same job, and quite frankly, he's sick and tired of it. So when an opportunity comes up in the form of a delegation for Kumoichi, the capital city, alongside the opportunity to compete in the Dragon Games, the prize being nothing less than godhood, well, what else is Jimmy to do?

[ice-cap-k]

Just Gold: CH2

Soooo, I forgot to cross-post here that I've written a chapter 2 for the team ranchers au fic I wrote up back in October. Tango's a dragon. Jimmy's a bird. Good fun.

Read it on AO3: Just Gold

Chapter 1 on Tumblr

__________________________________________________

Jimmy was a Phoenix.

That's not to say he was very good at being a phoenix, but that was what he was. Phoenixes were supposed to be all about death and rebirth and eternal life. It’s hard to be good at the ‘eternal life’ portion of the job, though, when he keeps dying all the time. 

Not like most phoenixes, though. There was almost never a cycle of burning to ash at a ripe old age and emerging as a newly hatched chick from the ashes. Even when he literally burned to death. He never got that far. It was more like he just woke back up having never aged or unaged a day. That wasn’t normal for his kind, but he supposed that after so many repeated deaths so close together over such an extended period of time, he must have somehow stunted his growth. Ungrowth? Aging, maybe? Whatever it was supposed to be, it was messed up for him. 

It had its ups and downs. Dying wasn’t necessarily pleasant, but at least he still came back. He always came back… eventually. And unlike other phoenixes, he didn’t have to deal with the crippling discomfort of old age, or the helplessness of reverting back to a chick. But he also could never grow back the brilliant plumage that people associated with his kind. The bright yellow feathers he was left with made him look no different than a larger than average canary. 

To be honest, he was a little self-conscious about it. 

It was partially his fault, as much as he hated to admit it. He was pretty accident-prone. Bird brains, ya know? It was hard living in a world with glass windows. You’d think after all these years he would have learned a thing or two about self-preservation.

But here’s the thing about immortality, when you know that nothing can actually do any permanent damage, you start to lose sight of the inherent threat. And when you don’t notice a threat, it’s easy to underestimate the world around you. And to overestimate yourself.

Case in point, Jimmy’s newest friend was a dragon. 

Dragons are meant to be big scary beasts with razor-sharp claws and fangs. They were meant to be merciless, and prideful, and very very dangerous. 

It never really occurred to Jimmy that Tango could be all of those things… Well, at least not until he watched Tango burn over a dozen people to ash. So yeah, now he supposes Tango could be all those things. 

But what he first saw when the golden dragon came crashing through his nest at the base of the mountain, after the initial annoyance began to fade, was someone suffering from the kind of bad luck he was all too familiar with. Someone who wouldn’t come back from the fraying edges of death like he would have.

Fortunately, Jimmy was still a phoenix. 

He had a long memory that reached back eons across his many previous lives. And in one such life, there had been an old ranch not too far from here. One large enough that the dragon could hide indoors. One that was out of sight of the nearby village. One that Jimmy knew had been left vacant. 

Someone with a healthy dose of self-preservation probably would have kept their distance until the dragon awoke, so as not to startle it into attacking. Or maybe they would have pointed the poor beast in the direction of shelter and been on their way. If they were feeling really reckless, they might have tested to see if the dragon would have let them help it get up, or bandage some of its many wounds. 

Not Jimmy. If Tango had burned him or clawed him off or rolled over and crushed him, he would have just come back anyway. And cleaning wounds or helping the dragon leverage itself up wasn’t in the phoenix’s wheelhouse at the moment. Tango was so big compared to the phoenix that Jimmy could fit in the palm of his hand comfortably. And what would he stem the blood flow with? His feathers? He didn’t have nearly enough to go around. 

Of course, Tango didn’t do any of those things when he woke up. He had done nothing to hurt Jimmy, except maybe the Phoenix’s pride when the dragon tried to shoo him away like a common pigeon. 

And while he didn’t have to go with Tango, Jimmy wanted to go back to the ranch with the dragon. The old building housed a lot of fond memories. That was one reason. The other was Tango himself.  

The truth was, Jimmy had been setting up his nest at the base of that mountain because he knew that people were nearby. Maybe not necessarily a giant gold and red dragon, but the humans of the village weren’t too far away. Phoenixes worked best in a flock. Especially Jimmy. He could handle being on his own, sure, but he thrived amidst others. And what a ‘flock’ looked like to Jimmy had changed over the lifetimes. Sometimes that meant coexisting with humans. Sometimes it meant flying with large groups of your more typical, non-magical birds. Sometimes a flock was only him and one other, and sometimes it was a large group of friends and family. He had been looking for his next flock. Had been planning on finding a nice family to settle down with for a while and play the part of a typical pet canary. 

And then came Tango.

Really, dragons and phoenixes were pretty similar if you think about it. Depending on how you define immortality, both species were technically immortal. Dragons could live forever as long as they weren’t killed. And sure, Jimmy died all the time, but death wasn’t permanent for him. A phoenix couldn’t breathe fire, but they still had the same fire in their belly that dragons did. They both could fly. They both could burn. They both could bleed gold…

According to that train of thought, dragons were practically big scaly phoenixes in their own right.

And as the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together.

______________________________________________________________

“Tango Tango Tango TANGO TANGO TANGO!!!”

The lump of stone is heavy in Jimmy’s claws. He’s not used to feeling so imbalanced while flying. Not for this long. He kept having to remind himself that it would be worth the effort once he saw the look on his buddy’s face. 

That doesn’t make the uneven strain on his wings better, though. It’s so bad, he nearly missed the window entirely. The backside of his wing brushed against the wooden frame. A stray splinter caught at his coverts. There’s a painful twinge as a few feathers are pulled loose and he over-corrects, sending him spiraling to the floor inside. 

The little bird lands in a messy heap on the floorboards, losing his grip on the pretty rock. It went rattling across the floor in front of his beak. 

He tested his toes, gingerly flexing each one to make sure he hadn’t broken anything in the crash. Nothing appeared out of place outside of a few wisps of broken yellow feathers. That would probably leave a bruise or two, but nothing more severe. Jimmy wasn’t about to die this time around. Even the rock looked completely intact after its little tumble.

He had landed in the old ranch house kitchen. It looked warm and inviting in the late evening haze, despite the unused furniture strewn across the floor. The smell of smoke still clung to the walls and floor. Enough time had passed that the uncomfortable burn of brimstone had begun to fade. The ruined walls had been stripped away and patched up with new oak and spruce timber. The smell of the hewn wood boards mixed with the lingering scent of ash. It almost reminded him of sitting alongside a nice warm bonfire under the stars on a cool summer night.

“Tango?”

The dragon wasn’t answering, but something was creaking nearby. Floorboards groaned. Hinges squeaked. Jimmy had a good idea of where his friend could be, but he wasn’t about to go flying around indoors while carrying that stone around. So he hopped to his feet and took flight. The kitchen floor was as good a place as any to leave it for now. 

“Can you hear me, buddy? I brought you something?”

With the slightest shift of his wingtips, he banked around an open archway into the living room. Sure enough, there was Tango. The dragon had his back to him. His claws scraped at the inside of a makeshift hopper he had managed to fashion out of an old shovel head and a little fire-breath metalworking. Looked like something had gotten stuck in the sorting system again. 

“I can’t believe this. This is ridiculous,” Tango was saying as Jimmy landed on his favorite perch; one of the ridges of the dragon’s right horn. It was just so nice and warm; glossy and easy to nestle against. It shifted as Tango tried to look up at him, his head tilting to compensate for the slight weight change. “Oh! Hey Jimmy.”

“Hey, I’m back. How’s the progress coming along?”

A wisp of smoke wafted out of Tango’s nostrils. He turned back to the funnel in his claws. “Well, it was going pretty fantastic for a while there until this thing decided to jamificate the whole operation.” Jimmy tightened his grip on the horn as the dragon beneath him let out a sigh. The delicate swirls of smoke turned into a turbulent stream as he breathed in then out. “These quick fixes just aren’t cutting it.”

“Quick fixes?” Jimmy chuckled. “Tango, you know you can take all the time in the world, right? Automatic sorting will be nice and all, but we don’t absolutely need it right now. We barely got the house patched up. The barn’s not even rebuilt yet.”

If anything, the sheer amount of work that he had managed over the last few days had been impressive. With the barn gone, the two had taken shelter in the farmhouse. In that time, Tango had thrown himself into making the place as easy to live in as possible. The ruined portions of the wall had been stripped away and replaced. A door had been renovated so that there was an entrance large enough for the dragon to pass through. Bedrooms had been ransacked and rearranged so that they had a place to sleep at night. For Tango, that meant a padded stretch of floor space for him to curl up in. For Jimmy, a simple shelf with a nest he had put together all on his own.

And then there were the projects! The redstone projects were in every room. The sorting system, a trash dispenser, a line of automatic cooking furnaces. Whatever materials he and Tango had gathered into a tiny hoard while the dragon had been grounded were gone, put to use in whatever idea his friend had thrown himself into. 

But they hadn’t touched the barn. 

Jimmy could tell that the memory of the attack was still a bit of a sore spot for Tango. Sometimes, the barn served as a reminder. Even after all the bodies had been cleared away. 

The stream of smoke coming from Tango’s nostrils petered out. He could hear the dragon's claws clicking against the shovel head as it turned in his claws. Gold wings still trussed up in their splints stretched ever so slightly, nearly knocked over a dusty grandfather clock they had shoved into the corner of the living room. The contact was enough to make Tango wince beneath him. 

“You’re right,” Tango relented. He placed the funnel down on the hardwood floor at his feet. It rolled unevenly away to bump against one of the chests. “There’s not enough room for us here.” 

The feathers along Jimmy’s shoulders puffed up. “Us? Excuse me. I find this place rather cozy. I think what you meant to say is that there’s not enough room for the two of us.” He almost tented his wings to make himself bigger. A show of fluffed feathers and bravado as if he could square up against the massive creature beneath him, but his friend wouldn’t be able to see that. Not as long as he was perched on the horn. “I’m a big man. The big man!” 

 There was a jolt below as Tango shook his head. The sudden movement knocked Jimmy’s feet out from under him. With a shrill cry, he went tumbling down the glittering gold slope of Tango’s head until he skittered to a halt hanging halfway from his nose. Yellow wings stretched and pressed against scales as his feet dangled uselessly over open air. “TANGO! HELP!”

“You know you can fly, right?” the dragon huffed, a smile evident in his voice. Still, he reached up and scooped Jimmy up in his claws. 

“Y-yeah. Of course I do,” he sputtered, adjusting his jostled feathers back into place. It took a bit of time, considering how ruffled they were from the tumble. The wave of embarrassment washing over him did not help. 

“Sure thing, buddy.” The corners of Tango’s mouth pulled up for a moment, before his head swung back and forth to take in his surroundings. “You’ve got a point, though. This place isn’t big enough for us. I should just settle down until my wings finish healing. It’s not like I have to wait much longer.” As if to illustrate his point, he shuffled his wings against his back. He didn’t recoil from the movement. His eyes didn’t crinkle at the corners from strain. He seemed fine. 

The only apparent problem was that there wasn’t enough room to risk spreading them out. Just that little motion knocked a faded family portrait off the wall with a thumb claw. 

It had been more than Tango had been able to manage without wincing in pain a couple of weeks ago. The membrane between the wing fingers had healed over a while ago. Dull scars pitted the skin, stubborn reminders of how badly the dragon had been hurt. The bones were less obvious, but beneath the scales and muscle, they were well on their way through the healing process. Tango had been good about keeping them still and letting them mend. And when he had been tempted to put pressure on them early and take a risk, Jimmy had made sure he was there and ready to give him a solid peck upside the head to chase those thoughts away.

“You… you want to leave?” The question hung in the empty air. There was a moment of silence. Not even the grandfather clock ticked with the passing seconds. They had never bothered to wind it.

Eventually, Tango shrugged. “It’s an option. Beats accidentally busting this joint up. Feels like I’m trying to put a square peg through a round hole, and I’m the peg.” He held his claw up to his head for Jimmy to hop back up onto his horn. The small bird gratefully settled down against his perch while Tango reached down to scoop the picture off the hardwood floor. He watched the two smiling faces centered in the frame as Tango hung it back up on the wall. One a woman. One a man. Both familiar to the phoenix.

When the dragon’s claws pulled away, the frame was crooked. “This place is made for humans.” There was a sad note in his voice. Something distant. Something angry. A shiver ran down Jimmy’s spine as he thought of men on fire. People rendered down screaming smudges of light on a dark night.

He didn’t like where that train of Tango’s thought seemed to be going.  “Or human-sized people,” Jimmy blurted in a rush, trying to bring the conversation around to something more his speed. Something that didn’t involve Tango leaving. Or humans. “Or me-sized birds.”

“Or that,” the dragon agreed with a snort. 

“You know, we could get back to finishing up the barn. It was a lot of fun. You know, before it burnt down… And there was a lot more room for the both of us.” 

Tango’s head swayed thoughtfully. Jimmy rocked along with him, shifting with the movement instinctually. “Yeah, we could do that,” Tango hummed. They turned towards the door. “That’s another option.” 

“I say we just focus on getting the roof back up and then worry about the walls after.”

“That’s not going to protect us from much.”

“I’m not concerned.”

“Well of course you’re not, mister ‘I can’t die.’”

“Hey, I don’t appreciate that coming from you, mister ‘immortal.’ You very well know I can die.”

“That doesn’t count.”

“EXCUSE ME?!”

By now, Tango had lumbered back into the kitchen. It was the only way he could go to get to the only door big enough for him to fit through. There was the stone in the middle of the floor, right where Jimmy had left it. “Here I am, all excited, bringing you a gift, even,” he twittered, alighting from his perch. This time, the little bird landed on the floor with much more grace and intention next to the glittering red gift. “And you’re bad-mouthing me. I will not stand for such slander.”

Jimmy watched with satisfaction as Tango’s eyes glittered. He had just noticed the large chunk of redstone. “Wait-a-minute…”  The dragon had to hunker down, practically resting his head on the floor so that they were eye level. “Where did that come from?”

“I found it.” Pride warmed Jimmy over from head to tail tip. Chest feathers puffed out as he pushed the rock forward with one foot. “Had to go pretty far out for it to. We’ve picked the nearby valley and mountain clean, but I know how much you’ve been wishing for more. You practically used up everything we were using for your temporary hoard, so I brought you back the biggest piece I could find.”

There had been more past the villages, but Jimmy hadn’t been physically equipped to tackle an entire ore vein, even if it was on the surface. Mining was out of the question, and what was readily available was usually no bigger than fine grains of dust. What was he supposed to do with dust? Sweep it up with his wings? But this! This he could bring back on his own.

“And it’s for me?!?”

He gave the rock another tap with his clawed toes. It rocked, then rattled and rolled to its side. “Well, I sure ain’t gonna use it.” 

“Oh my gosh. I don’t even know what to say.” With careful claws, Tango plucked the stone off the floor. He held it gingerly, like he was afraid he was going to break it. Knowing Tango’s strength, it was entirely possible he could have crushed it to dust if he wanted to. “Thank you, Jimmy.”

It felt good. It felt good to see Tango smile like that. “Don’t worry about it. Just use it towards something cool, ya hear?”

He nodded. “I don’t even know what I’d do with it. Or if I’d even do anything with. I think I’m just gonna hold onto it for now.” Then, to Jimmy’s horror, he tucked it into one of the folds of his bandages.

“No!”

Tango whipped his head around, eyes wide, pupils shrunk down to hairline slits, thrown utterly off guard by Jimmy’s outburst.“What- What? What??  WHAT?!?”

“No. No. NO,” he repeats unhelpfully. “You’re not putting it there,” he chirped. “That’s just asking to aggravate your injury. I’m not letting you go and do that.”

The phoenix hopped towards the dragon, who scrambled away with wide eyes. Considering their size difference, it would have been a comical sight to see the little bird scaring the dragon. But Jimmy wasn’t laughing. He was too concerned for that.

“But I-”

“No buts!”

“Fine!” Tango still looked a bit baffled as he pried the rock back out from a layer of gauze. 

It had only gone beneath the first layer of clean linen. There were plenty of layers that would have separated the rock from skin and scale. There were also plenty of spare bandages to replace it if necessary. As far as the phoenix was concerned, it still wasn’t worth the risk.

“I’ll just stash it in my nest or something instead,” the dragon huffed. “Just gotta find a spot where I won’t roll over and crush it first.”

“You don’t have to do that. Why don’t we find you something to help you carry it? A safe place to put it until you decide.”

The sharp scales making up the ridge of his eye raised in a way that Jimmy thought looked uncomfortable, what with all those sharp edges. Tango made no sign that it was uncomfortable in any way, though. “You’ve got something in mind?”

“I’ve got an idea.” Jimmy bounced forward, craning his neck so he could see past his friend through the kitchen door. There was a trapdoor in the hallway ceiling. Cobwebs dusted the corners and the wood looked warped and faded from years of disuse, but it was still there. “If memory serves me correctly, I bet ya there’s something in the attic we can use.”

“The attic?” Tango turned, following Jimmy’s gaze to the hatch in the ceiling. “Oh no way. I’m never going to fit through that.”

“That’s why you’ve got a big strong man like me to help.” With a sweep of his wings, Jimmy took off. “Mind lifting the door for me a smidge, though?”

He was too busy circling the hall to get a good look at Tango’s expression, but he could still hear his friend’s voice. “Will you even be able to see up there?” 

“Sure I will.” 

A golden tail snaked its way to the ceiling, pushing the trapdoor open a few centimeters. That was all Jimmy needed. With a twitch of his tail and a twitter, he pulled his wings in tight and swooped through the opening. Almost immediately, he crashed headfirst into the long thin wires of an old bird cage.

Bam!

“What was that?! Is everything alright?”

“Fine! It’s fine Tango!” It was fine. There were a few more bruises added to the number he already had from crashing into the kitchen, but his wings weren’t broken and he hadn’t hit his head. Another potential death avoided. Another win in his book. 

The birdcage was ruined, though. It had toppled to its side after the impact and rolled into a forgotten rat trap. He looked it over as he settled feathers back into their places. There were massive dents in the wires now. One gap was big enough for someone his size to easily pass through.

The sight sent a twinge through his chest. What a shame. 

“Could you hold the door for me, Tango? I need a minute to look around.”

“Yeah. I got it.”

“Thank you!”

Well, there was no reason to dwell on an old cage. It hadn’t been used in years anyway. Instead, Jimmy turned his attention to the rest of the attic. Trunks and boxes and chests, oh my. The space was piled high with more junk than he recalled. The abandoned items were dusty from years of neglect. It made what should have been a brightly colored, overstuffed room feel dull and hollow. 

Again, there was no reason to dwell on that now. The old inhabitants were long gone. It was him and Tango now. So Jimmy flew, passing over a dress form with a long wedding gown and a crate painted with a hot air balloon. He instead began his search with the piles of boxes on the other side of the room.

_____________________________________________________________

Night had fallen.

Jimmy felt nice and snug in his nest. It was perched in the Y-bend of the support beams holding up the newly built barn roof. If you could call it that. Slats of timber had been screwed together and raised onto the supports at an angle. There weren’t any shingles or insulation to keep the water out if it were to start raining. There definitely weren’t any walls. Tango was right, it wouldn’t protect them from much. It wasn’t much, but it was still a lot for a day’s work.

At least it was a nice night outside. Almost like they were sleeping under the stars. The twinkling lights were just visible through the spaces where walls would eventually go up. And it was spacious. Jimmy didn’t have to try very hard to coax his friend into sleeping there for the night. He had a feeling that the dragon hadn’t been excited about spending another night cooped up in one of those too-small bedrooms. In a show of solidarity, he had even helped the dragon carry his nest out. That is, if ‘helped’ meant ‘asked Tango to do it.’ What could he say? Tango could carry the whole thing in his claws. If Jimmy had tried doing it himself, he would have had to carry it twig by twig.

Still, the dragon hadn’t seemed to mind. He was in good spirits, curled up beneath Jimmy in the bedding they had pulled from the linen closet. The leather coin pouch Jimmy had found in the attic was tied around one of his wrists, the redstone rock nestled inside.

“Okay, my turn,” he was saying. With one claw, he traced a line from one star to another, to another, and another as if connecting the dots. 

Jimmy followed the motion, trying to find a pattern in the movements. “Looks like a triangle with a line down the middle. Is that supposed to be one of your hoppers?”

Tango shook his head. “I was going more for a cross shape. I’m also ninety-nine percent certain that it’s a real constellation I’m pointing at. Come on. Try again.” He traced the line of stars once more. Jimmy’s head twitched, following its path intently. Left, right, center, a small swipe up, and then a long trail down. A real constellation, huh? He’d never been very good with those. He wasn’t some lowly pigeon that had to worry about keeping track of directions.

Wait a minute…

“Is it a bird?”

“Ding ding ding! We have a winner!” With a grin, Tango knocked his tail into the base of the Y-beam. The shockwave made Jimmy’s nest shiver around him. “Pretty sure it’s supposed to be a hawk or something, but I don’t remember the name of it.”

“Well, don’t look at me,” he said, pushing the twigs back into place. “I wouldn’t know the first thing about that sort of thing.”

“Really?”

Jimmy peered over the edge of his nest. There was Tango, staring up at him with red eyes brimming with curiosity. His friend tilted his pointy head as if seeing him from a new perspective would help him understand. “Well, yeah,” he mumbled. “I’ve never really needed it.”

“Then how’d you navigate?”

He didn’t. Jimmy shrugged his wings, a motion that probably wasn’t visible to the dragon below. Not over the ledge of his nest. “Usually my other flock mates handled that.”

“Flock?” 

“I’m a bird, Tango. That shouldn’t be so weird.”

“I don’t know! You’re the first Phoenix I've met. For all I know, you’re all meant to be hermits.” With that, Tango pushed himself up to a seat in his makeshift bed. Bandaged wings trailed at his sides as he craned his neck back to get a better look at Jimmy. “Besides, you’ve never talked about a flock before. Where are they now?” Scales scraped the bare dirt as the dragon worried at it with his claws. “I’m not keeping you from them, am I?”

“Of course not,” Jimmy exclaimed. He almost laughed at the thought. “Far from it.” 

Those big red eyes narrowed at him. “I don’t understand.”

 Jimmy wanted nothing more than to sink further into his nest out of sight. Of course Tango wouldn’t get it. It's not like Jimmy had ever talked about it. It was his own fault of course, but had his reasons. The main one being that it had simply never come up in conversations. Another one was that he had gotten his hopes up about Tango sticking around, and with it came the fear that if he voiced his feelings about flocks, it would only make things awkward and ensure Tango would leave.  Now he wasn’t sure what to do with the sudden rush of self-consciousness. “Sorry. I guess this is kind of confusing. What I mean is, I don’t really have a flock right now. Not anymore.”

“Oh…”

A shadow passed over Tango’s eyes and Jimmy realized that his wording probably hadn’t been the best. “It’s not like anything bad happened to them,” he quickly added, trying to set the record right before his friend got the wrong idea. “It’s just, every so often, time passes and you’ve gotta move on. Kinda comes with the territory of being tangentially immortal when everyone else around you isn’t, you know?”

Tango blinked. “So it’s not a flock of phoenixes, like you?”

“Nah.” Jimmy waved his question off with a flick of his wingtip. “I haven’t flown with my kind for a very long time. I guess flock might be the wrong word for what I’m trying to say. I’ve lived with flocks made up of birds, sure, but I’ve also stayed with people. Humans. All sorts. Could probably call it family, or friends, but ‘flock’ feels right. Like it works the best for what I mean.”

He expected Tango to start shooting off more questions, or to laugh at him. Maybe even squint at him with those brightly colored eyes as if that could help the dragon figure him out. To his surprise, his friend instead looked back at the farmhouse through one of the many gaps in the barn’s foundation. His wings slumped to the ground as he let himself fall back into his bedding. “Humans, huh?” While it was technically a question, there was no hint of curiosity in his voice. If anything, it sounded strained.  

The two sat in silence. Tango stared out at the other building, tail-tip twitching, and Jimmy picked himself over to the edge of his nest, not sure what to do or say.  Now he’d gone and done it. This was exactly the type of reaction he had been trying to avoid. At least since the barn burned down. The little bird wasn’t sure what else to do, so he decided to fill the silence himself.

“They’re not all like that, buddy. I swear. And the ones I hung out with…” Jimmy found his own gaze drifting towards the barn house as well. It had changed so much but was still so similar. “They’re long gone. I promise you. And even if they weren’t, I can also promise you that they weren’t the type to go around harassing folks like us.” He blinked and saw green eyes and a cheeky smile in the empty space behind his eyelids. “Well, not like those fools who showed up here,” he corrected himself. “Harmless. Good people living a good life and I was there helping them out. Rooting ‘em on-”

“Hey, Jimmy.”

Jimmy blinked. He shrank down against his nest a little lower. “Yeah?”

Tango didn’t look at him. Just kept his eyes locked on the farmhouse, his head propped up on a lump of fabric. “Is that how you knew about this place? When you first found me? Is this your human friends’ home?” 

The little bird sighed. “Yeah.”

“What were they like?”

Oh. “Um, really nice actually,” Jimmy twittered. “There were two of them. You know that portrait in the living room, right?”

“Mmhmm.”

“That was them. The man, the- uh- the one with the green streak in his hair, he liked to annoy me. Kept reminding me I was small and rubbed it in my face, but he also threatened to punch a guy in the face for almost breaking my wing. He had a big head, but he was a really good friend…

“And the woman with the pink hair, that was his wife. She was the one who found me. I had just gotten tossed around in a nasty storm. Wasn’t pretty. I was probably just as hurt back then as you were when I found you. She picked me up and took me back here. Took care of my bandages and gave me plenty of seeds to eat while I was on the mend. We got along really well. It was just how I’d imagine having a sibling is like.”

“And they knew what you were?”

Jimmy couldn’t help the little chuckle that escaped his beak. “Yeah. Yeah. They thought I was a normal bird at first, just like you. Didn’t take them long to realize that wasn’t the case after I started talking.” Another thing they had in common with Tango. “They were good flockmates once they figured it out, though.”

“I see…”

Was that an invitation to talk more? Or a dismissal? Jimmy couldn’t tell. He wasn’t sure what to say. He could talk about old memories of this house. Of the ranch. Of the people inside. Would it help? Would it only make things worse? Tango didn’t say anything else, either. He just kept looking at that farmhouse, away from Jimmy.

More silence. More of that infuriating quiet that made it feel like time had stopped around them. There wasn’t even a breeze. No whisper of grass or whistle of wind. Empty. Jimmy hated it. And after what felt like hours but couldn’t have been more than a minute, he decided he had enough of it.  

The little bird jumped off of the beam to glide down to Tango. At the last second, he pulled in his wings and dropped, clawed toes catching on Tango’s horn.

“Tango I-”

Jimmy cut himself off. The dragon’s eyes were glistening. Tears pooled at the corners of his eyes. Wet streams left streaks from his eyes down to his chin. As soon as he noticed Jimmy looking, he tucked his face beneath his claws. 

“Tango, are you alright?”

“I’m sorry.”

“What?”

“I’m so sorry Jimmy.” Bright little droplets began to fall from between his claws. 

“For what?” The phoenix leaned down closer, patting one wing against his friend’s head. He wasn’t sure if Tango could feel the brush of feathers through the scales, but he hoped that the pressure and motion could comfort him. “What on Earth do you have to be sorry for?”

“I messed up. I lost my temper. I ruined everything.”

“What are you on about? Of course you didn’t.”

“But I did. It’s because of me the ranch burnt down. Here you are telling me that this was your home, that you lived here and had family here and they were humans, and I- And I went messed it all.”

Jimmy couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Tango, you’re being silly. They were trying to kill you,” he said, exasperated. “And they were the ones who started the fires.”

“Exactly! They wouldn’t have been here if it wasn’t for me. They wouldn’t have shot you or ruined your home if it wasn’t for me. I led those people here, and then I killed them. Humans, just like your friends.”

This was ridiculous. Jimmy hopped off the horn. Tango moved his claws away automatically, making room for the little bird to avoid accidentally bumping or crushing him. With the space cleared, Jimmy perched instead on the end of the dragon’s nose so that he could look his friend in those big, teary eyes. “It’s fine, really. And it’s not your fault by a long shot. The ranch, the house, it’s been vacant for years. I haven’t been there for years. Neither have my old flockmates. They’re gone. This hasn’t been home to me for years. Not until I came back here with you. And it’s not because I lived here before. It’s because I’m here with you and these past few weeks have been a blast. And yeah, I’m sad it burned, but I’d rather those guys burn the place down than get you.”

Tango sniffed. The rush of air and smoke nearly knocked Jimmy from his perch. It certainly left his feathers in a mess. But he stood strong as his friend wiped at an eye. “Really?” he asked.

“Really.”

“But- but what about the humans?”

“What about them? Far as I’m concerned, they got what was coming to ‘em.”

Tango’s eyes widened. “But… but I thought… The way you’ve been avoiding talking about the fire, and we don’t ever mention the humans… I thought I really scared you.”

Well…

“I mean, I won’t lie, you’re temper took me by surprise. But you thought I was dead. And like I said, they were out to get you. I don’t hold it against you if that’s what you're thinking. I’m not scared of you.”

Tango seemed to melt beneath him. Massive wings that were once wound against his sides untensed and pooled across the ground. A massive sigh escaped his nose. It was less violent this time, though, sending the oddly comforting smell of bonfire smoke wafting over Jimmy. The guilty glisten in his eyes turned into a reassured glitter. “Oh thank goodness. I thought we were avoiding talking about all this time because I scared you. You would keep mentioning it and then dropping it right away. I felt so guilty all this time, you don’t understand.”

“What? No,” Jimmy huffed, settling his feathers back into place. “Is that really why you’ve been shutting down every time I bring up the fire or humans?”

“Uh… yeah…” he said sheepishly, trying to look away. It was a difficult task, considering Jimmy was right on his nose. 

“I thought it was because you didn’t want to think about it. Every time I mentioned it you got that look in your eye and I thought you were still angry at them or something. And then you were talking about leaving today-”

Tango cut him off. “I thought you’d want me out for ruining your place and losing my temper!”

“Of course NOT!” That was the farthest thing from what he wanted. “If anything, I’d hope you might stick around for a while after your wings were healed. It was finally starting to feel like-” Jimmy snapped his beak shut, realizing what he was just about to say. Was it too soon?

“What? What what what?!” Tango asked. He pushed his head forward, trying to lean in, but Jimmy was perched on his nose. The little bird just moved with him. He blinked, realizing his mistake before reaching out with his claws to scoop Jimmy up. “What were you going to say?”

He debated. He warred within himself, thinking so hard there was probably smoke coming out the sides of his head in a similar fashion to the smoke coming from Tango’s nose. If there was ever a time to say it, now was that time.

“It was starting to feel like we were flockmates.” 

[doodl3]

raaaa more noodle!

More of the noodle design of tangomango the dragon from @shaklyart

Close ups under cut

If you couldnt tell, I love noodles

[vivianquill]

there's another ranchers/zits/giggs au story concept in my head i've been playing with, so let's-- just call this a demo.

Feel free to send asks or just give general feedback, not only will it help me to flesh out the au more, it'll also give me more ideas on where to go. I've seen similar aus out there, but nothing quite like this one-- or having all the same concepts as this one. If people like it, I might turn it into an actual longfic. but i tend to run out of steam on my longfics (mostly due to a lack of interaction tbh. if no one else is excited about my au, then it's not worth pursuing, right? but that's my problem and something I have to work through myself, not something for anyone else to fix)

Anyway.

This is a thing.

The moment Jimmy laid eyes on Tango, he knew something was-- off-- about him.

They'd met him in a tavern, in the small town that lay below the abandoned Deepfrost Citadel. Jimmy's adventuring troupe had been commissioned with finding an artifact in the Citadel, and bringing it back to its rightful owner. The bounty offered would be enough to pay off the troupe's debts and much much more. When they'd asked around for any sort of maps, or a guide, the tavern keeper had pointed them over to Tango.

"He's the only one to have ever made it out of that cursed place alive." The dwarf had told them, pointing to where their future guide was sitting in the corner, "If you want a guide, he's the only one who can."

Jimmy's sense for danger had shivered up his spine and stolen his breath the moment he looked over. But-- no one in his troupe paid any attention to him anyway.

Besides, the negotiations had gone well, Tango seemed amical enough, and no one else seemed to have a problem with him. It was only Jimmy, and his overzealous avian anxiety. They would pay Tango half his fee up front, and half when they got back to the village safely.

It took them half a week to get up to the Citadel, and that was with the help and knowledge of Tango as their guide. Jimmy kept him at arms' length, not quite knowing why but deciding to trust his gut on this one. Tango was dangerous, in a way that he couldn't figure out. He'd brought it up to the others in his troupe, but none of them believed him. They all loved Tango. He was clever, quick to laugh and even quicker to crack a joke, and ever so useful.

By the time they made it to the door of the Citadel, Tango had become an invaluable member of the troupe.

Tango disappeared that first night, spent barricaded in an outlying tower and hoping not to freeze to death. Jimmy had been on watch, and between one glance and the next, Tango hadn't been in his bedroll anymore.

But-- he'd been right back in the morning, acting like Jimmy didn't know what he was talking about.

It was the little things that kept setting Jimmy on edge. Tango knew a little too much about the Citadel, he'd found the 'hidden' door to the crypts too easily, had pushed the troupe to descend into the depths faster than was safe, not letting them scout it with a familiar like they normally would. He could pick the locks almost like he had a silent knock spell in his fingers, and somehow knew his way through the maze of icy caverns like the back of his hand.

And every night, after everyone was asleep, he disappeared. Jimmy was the only one who noticed. No one else believed him either, did they just-- not notice the empty bedroll when they were on watch?

When they finally believed him, it wasn't until Tango disappeared for good. One morning, he just-- didn't come back.

Then the monsters started appearing.

One thing lead to another as they pressed deeper and deeper into the dungeon under the Citadel, icy crypts full of wraiths and furry beasts morphing into wet caverns covered in mushrooms and a pirate ship complete with it's undead crew; leading down into black mines that had supposedly been blocked off by cave ins over a hundred years ago-- and before they knew it they'd lost a member of the troupe-- their healer-- and then they were tripping tail over teakettle into a maze so dark and cold that even those in the troupe with darkvision couldn't see.

It spat them out into a chamber not unlike the throne room found mirrored high above in the Deepfrost Citadel. It was full of gold and magic and things that would make any adventurer drool at the prospect of having them to keep.

Jimmy hadn't felt 'safe'-- not since he'd first met Tango in that tavern all those weeks ago-- but the sense of someone watching them stayed his hand.

The rest of the troupe had gotten busy, plundering everything in reach and searching for the artifact they'd been sent to collect.

But not Jimmy.

When asked why he wasn't stuffing his pockets with gold, he waved off the troupe with the excuse of keeping watch. After all, there were the monsters to contend with still--

Tango's giggle seemed to come from everywhere at once.

"Oh, you really should have listened to poor, sweet Jimmy when you had the chance~"

And suddenly Tango was there, on the throne in the center of the room, but instead of the blond, brown-eyed and rough-hewn guide they'd come to know and trust, it was a creature made of frost and shadows.

Jimmy's heart dropped out his stomach.

"Dragon--!"

Oh, they were dead.

Scratch that. Apparently everyone but Jimmy was dead.

Not like that was much better.

[keyslox]

and keep me company, I said oh-

[tallaroo]

I can't believe you abandoned your boys... You should talk about dragon Tango for 10 paragraphs to make up for it :D

From the journal of M. Littlewood:

12/08

I had my first encounter with a red fireback today - Jimmy says he calls himself 'Tango'. There's never been a sighting of one so far north, curious as to what brought it him this way. He's very temperamental, common trait for these beasts, approach with caution.

═════════════════════

16/08

Firebacks are territorial creatures, Tango's no exception, he seems to have fully made Jimmy's ranch his new home and takes guarding it very seriously. His relationship with the livestock is fascinating, Jimmy says he's not once tried to hunt or eat any of the animals. The chickens especially seem to be enamoured with him.

Apparently Tango hunts outside the ranch grounds, so Jimmy says. They can communicate mentally, something he conveniently left out in my first round of questions.

═════════════════════

17/08

Ever since our party's arrival Tango has been more on edge Jimmy says, the merchant and his dragon seem to be on bad terms with the two. Tango doesn't like the other dragons here, makes him twitchy. Keep distance.

═════════════════════

25/08

Tango has deemed me worthy of speaking to, have to admit, not how I expected him to sound at all.

═════════════════════

05/09

Tango's been following Jimmy around like a puppy, he won't let people near him either without Jimmy's consent. It'd be cute if he wasn't an 8ft. dragon capable of burning you. There was a spat between Tango and two other dragons and it seems to have hit his pride hard. I should have tried to stop Cleo

Best keep this one in the book for now

[watcher-with-burned-wings]

Bad Thoughts Give Me Bad Dreams

(Dragon Scott au with flower ranchers)

Many years ago, dragons, humans, and hybrids lived in peace. The humans had land and farms, and the dragons had mountains and skies. The hybrids were free to pass through either domain. That was until dragons discovered magic. When the humans found out, they got increasingly jealous. Soon the humans convinced the hybrids that the dragons were too powerful. The hybrids and humans attacked the unsuspecting dragons, wiping out many of them. The remaining dragons refused to fight and turned to hide. The dragons disappeared without a trace. No one knew where they fled as they did not return to the mountains. Even after all these years, many humans were still set on hunting them down.

Somewhere in the sea on the coast, is a cave. Deep within this underwater cave, leads to a hidden civilization. Once a lush cave had grown into a sanctuary for the remaining of the fallen race. The walls shifted from stone alto diorite to calcite. Glow from berries glimmered in the amethyst clusters dotted around the cave.  Vines hung from ledge to ledge, from stalactite to stalagmites, and decorated nests. Moss and azaleas were used as bedding and padding, magic growing the azaleas into trees. Using the same magic, crops were grown. Fresh spring water flowed down one side of the cave. Dragons walked around and glided through the air as they chatted and lived peacefully. A market was in the middle of the refuge. Many sold fish, or the more darning ones sold game from the surface.

A pair of dragons watched the bustle of their kind from a small ledge. On the ledge was their nest. Two eggs were resting in the center. A crack appeared on the shell of the larger egg. Both parents turned eagerly and watched as two tiny legs pushed out of the shell, cracking the egg fully. A purple-haired hatching sat in the middle of the eggshell, its black wings were visibly strong, and its horns shone proudly. The parents only admired their hatchling momentarily before the other egg cracked.

Unlike the first hatchling, a small hole was formed, and a small face poked out. The hatchling pushed hard against the shell and popped his head out as the top of the egg cracked. A startled squeak came as he rolled out of the egg. This hatching had cyan hair, small horns, and weak wings, but his claw-like hands were webbed with a fin-like tail. The parents were ecstatic that they had a sky-borne and a sea-borne hatchling.  They dubbed them Xornoth and Scott.

As the years passed, the siblings soon grew from hatchlings to fledglings. Xornoth was the first to learn how to fly. Scott struggled to fly due to his features but could glide for long periods. When it came to learning how to swim, Scott flew through the depths, while Xornoth struggled to stay afloat. The cyan-fledging soon learned he had gills on the side of his neck, allowing him to breathe underwater.

While being different, both brothers were extremely close. They played, fought, and shared everything. But one thing they both loved was the days of homecoming. Every six months, they would race to the cave Gate and wait for the exploration team to return. The Gate was the water passage that led to the cavern. It was protected by a strong magic to only allow dragons through.   When the older dragon appeared from the water, everyone cheered as they brought new technologies or food for the colony. Scott would watch with stars in his eyes as he admired the team. He made himself a promise they when he was old enough, he would be on that team.

===========

A purple and black blur shot through the cavern air space, a blue flash following beneath. Wedded claws gripped at store roofs, springing across gaps and streets.  A fin-like tail flashed behind as he glided from roof to roof.  Calling out apologizes as he dodges around clotheslines or startled elders. His sibling’s laughs echo above him as they grips their stomach at their brother’s dilemma. A smirk graces his face as they slam back first into a stalactite. They fell onto a nearby roof.

“You deserved that!” Scott snickered as he stepped around Xornoth’s fallen form. They groaned in response to Scott’s jab. Scott fondly rolled his eyes. “Come on, we’re going to be late for homecoming.” Grabbing his sibling’s arm, he pulled them up. They wobbled before shaking themselves off.

Scott leaped off the building with a laugh as he heard an agitated ‘Hey!’ come from his nestmate. He descended into the middle of the street and took off running towards the Gate. Dragon folks of all ages started to converge on the plaza. Scott slipped into the front of the crowd, tail swaying eagerly as he watched the Gate. Xornoth dropped beside him and pushed his shoulder.

“Jerk! I could have missed it,” They complained, crossing their arms over their chest. “And here you would have been.”

“Oh shush! You were fine.” He responded as he rubbed his shoulder with a cheeky grin. “I’ve seen you take worse falls than that. You’re just being dramatic.” Xornoth pouted at him before a gurgling caught both of their attention.

The water in the Gate began to swirl in a vortex and changed in color as the magic reacted. From the vortex, a sea-borne dragon shot up into the air, followed by two sky-borne dragons and then a nature-born dragon. The group landed in front of the crowd of dragons, their arms full of supplies and new shiny objects. But something was off.

A solemn air surrounded the group of newly returned dragons. A wave of confused whispers and murmurs passed through the crowd. Everyone watched the pool, waiting for the other two members to appear. Like everyone else, Scott and Xornoth were concerned by the absence of two of their kind. The sea-borne stepped up with a solemn air to him, hushing every dragon in the process.

“To my dismay, I must inform you Tilly and Dan have sadly perished during our adventure.” The leader informed. A stunned shock settled on the shoulders of the community. “They sacrificed themselves to allow the rest of us to escape from the humans. So let us not waste their sacrifice and forever remember them and celebrate the supplies they allowed us to forge.” The leader tried to lighten the mood.

The crowd agreed, dispersing around the market. A band had begun to play songs of remembrance to grieve their loss, then switched to a more upbeat one. Couples dance in the square, while game stalls begin to shout for players. Soon laughter lifted the solemn mood. Scott watched from a shadowed corner, sitting on a barrel, Xornoth finding him after spending some time enjoying the festivities.

Approaching cautiously, Xornoth asked, “Scott? What are you doing here? You should be out there, having fun.” They sat down on a crate next to him.

“Just thinking.” He replied, watching a bat fly around. Xornoth gave an unimpressed look.

“Scott.”

He didn’t answer for a moment, fidgeting with his tail. His sibling rested a hand on his shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze. “I promise, you can tell me anything.”

Scott looked at them finally, taking a deep breath. “I am thinking of joining the group to the outside world.” He admitted, not looking them in the eyes. “I know how dangerous it is, but I want to do something good for the colony.” He closes his eyes, expecting a backlash. Instead, he got a gentle hug.

“I know,” Xornoth whispered. “I will never stop you from pursuing your dream. Just come back to me safe, that's all I ask.” Scott hugged him back tightly, burying his face into his sibling's shoulder.

“I will promise.”

Xornoth cradled his younger brother close to his chest. “You better or I’m hunting you down myself and turning you into a rug.” Scott laughed wetly as he pulled away. Xornoth grinned and grabbed his hand. “Now let’s go play some games, I’m going to beat you so bad!”

Scott smiled as he walked with them, “No you’re not, I’ll win easily.”

===============

It was the third anniversary of the passing of two of the members of the adventure group. It was also the day when Scott joined the team. All the group was reluctant to let the fledging join their ranks but agreed. The first year was spent learning and observing, and Joel made sure of that. Joel was the leader of the group and a sea-borne like Scott. He was a natural-born leader as he gave instructions flawlessly and proficiently.  Scott learned many skills from him. Hunting, fighting, and stealing are the main ones.

His partner was Lizzie, one of the two sky-borne dragons. She oversaw planning missions and was a rather good fighter. Many of the plans the group chose were approved by Lizzie. When not prepping for a mission, she was rather protective of their newest member. She would cook great meals and sing songs when they were resting. Scott enjoyed her company late at night when she would point out constellations. Her scales were a shimmering sea green.

Next, Grian. He was the other sky-borne dragon of the group. He was a master of disguise and deception. He loves causing confusion and distraction to humans as much as possible. The red-scaled dragon loved any explosive he could get his hands on. Anything shimmery or a button to be pressed, he pushes or takes. When not on a mission, he plays pranks on them. No matter what, Grian is there to make Scott smile. Learning how to set traps had to be Scott’s favorite memory with him.

Last, but not least, was Scar. The nature-borne dragon was Grian’s significant other. While clumsy, he was a master at magic. All dragons knew of some magic, but Scar could outdo them any day. His skill with a bow was incredible and well-practiced. Scar had taught him how to use magic and recite important spells as well as potion making. Scott’s favorite memory is when he accidentally turned the emerald, green dragon into a vivid lavender purple. Everyone had a great laugh.

The second year he mostly allowed Scott to branch out. Engaging the skills, he had studied into practice. The fledging of seventeen rotations soon expanded his reach. He battled in missions with Joel, stole alongside Grian, cast and prepped spells with Scar, and cooked with Lizzie. Scott couldn’t have been happier.

By the spring of the third season, Scott had nearly surpassed all his teachers. He won a duel against Joel. He created a spell all on his own. He even picked up strategizing from Lizzie, helping her to come up with backup plans and escape routes. Everyone was proud of him. Xornoth and their parents were over the moon every time he came home with stories to tell when he visited.

Homecoming had just wrapped up. The team, minus Scott, was planning where they would go next.  Scott walked beside Xornoth, who had grown as well. They were the captain of the guardian force. He was proud of his sibling for making such momentous progress. The two were making idly chit-chat as they headed towards the building where they were residing for the night before heading out the next morning.

Xornoth spoke up suddenly, “Scott… maybe you should hang back this time.”

“What?”

“Just for this year, you know mom is sick so I was just thinking you should be here in case something happens.” They explained, his gaze turned away.

“Xornoth, she has a cold,” Scott deadpanned. “She’s already nearly fully recovered. If something bothers you, just let me know. Don’t dance around it.” He stated bluntly, stopping in his tracks to look at his sibling.

Laughing, “You know me too well. Okay, I guess…” They relent. “I just… have been having horrible dreams about you. In the nightmares, you would be locked in a cage, humans surrounding you. They just seemed so real…” They grabbed his hands, staring him dead in the eyes. “I don’t want to lose you, Scott.”

He pulled his sibling close and engulfed them in a hug. “I vow that I will return to you no matter what. I’ll be careful, I swear.” He pulled away. “Besides, if I’m gone, who’s going to be your annoying little brother?” He gave in a cheeky grin.

Despite looking reassured, Xornoth still seemed troubled. Sighing, Scott compromised, “How about every few weeks I send a letter through flame mail? Will that help?”

“Yeah, just to hear from you.” They agreed.

“Great, now I need to head to the grand hall to meet and plan with the others.” Scott hugged his older sibling once more before letting go.

“Stay safe,” Xornoth called as he walked off. Scott rolled his eyes and called back, “Okay mother hen!” Xornoth squawked in outrage as Scott ran off laughing.

Slipping inside the grand hall, Scott found his companions discussing a map.  

“But Lizzie, we can’t go back to Crystal Cliffs, we were just there,” Joel explained. “It would be best if we went to the Southlands.” Lizzie shook her head.

“It’s too far of a journey this time of year. The tides aren’t in our favor.” She pointed to another place; a city built at the mouth of a river. “Midnight Valley is relatively close.”

Grian piped up. “Oh, heck no! We nearly got caught because of that bottlenecked trap!” Using feather-light steps, Scott crept over and gazed at the map. Lizzie huffed in frustration. “Then where do you suggest we head too?”

Grian studied the map and then pointed to a small group of islands. “What about the Coral Isles? They have good resources.”

Scar frowns. “Don’t they have a pufferfish infestation they are taking care of?”

“Ah, I forgot that part…” He slumped in his seat.

“What if we were to head to Ranch Town?” Scott suggested, alarming everyone.

Scar clutched his chest and panted, “Don’t do that! You nearly gave me a stroke!” Scott had the decency to look ashamed. “Sorry Scar.”

Joel looked at the map, considering Scott’s suggestion. “Why would you say that place?” Scott looked up at him and then at the map. “Well, if we were to travel there, we could camp on the small uninhabited shores near the bottom of the edge of civilization without having to cast huge spells. And Joel and I will always have seawater.” Lizzie nodded slowly.

“I see your point, there are plenty of escape routes if we choose to swim upstream.” She traces the river divides, then taps the docks. “They also have the largest world trade port, allowing us to steal some rare necessities.” Joel nodded.

“I agree. We haven’t been there for ages. Looks like we’re heading to Ranch Town.” The leader declared, “We leave in the morning, so prepare accordingly.  Ranch Town is a week’s worth of travel.”

Everything was settled, so the adventurers headed off to bed, unknowing of the strife ahead.

==============

Weaving through the crowds, Joel and Scott dashed through the dock. Shouts followed them as knights gave chase. Tucked in Scott’s claws was an book, he had stolen from a royal merchant ship. Twin cloaks flailed behind them as they fled the scene. The chase had been going on for around a good twenty minutes by now.

Scott was starting to tire as Joel gave a nod, signaling to split up.

Scott turned down a small side street, trying to lose the guards. As he ran, he wondered how this had happened. It was supposed to be a simple operation. Get in and out. But everything went wrong right away. The ship that was supposed to be there was a simple merchant ship, not a royal one. Then the guards swamped the boat. Everyone scattered, guards tailing them. This brings us to where he is currently.

Four guards sprinted after him. He glanced at the book and wondered why they wanted it so obsessively. Shotting out of the alley, he ran into the road, sliding under a cart that nearly trapped him. He snickered as he heard a few cusses, dashing swiftly around a corner, only to nearly run into a horse.

He stumbles into the dirt on his butt. He looked up to yell, only to pale, seeing the head of the royal guard. The head of the royal guard was the prince’s fiancé, Tango. He was a hot head blaze hybrid, fiercely protective of the kingdom. Nearly no one had escaped him before, minus his group. But he was about to clean his record. Scott tried to scramble away, but his boots couldn’t get a grip on the sediment.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Tango hopped down and placed his knee into Scott’s spine, nearly on his hidden wings. The book, long forgotten, fell into the dirt as Scott struggled against Tango, trying to escape. Tango manages to wrangle him into chains as the other knights rounded the corner. Falling limp, Scott realized he was outmatched and outnumbered.

He yelped as his hood was grabbed and he tossed over the horse's back. Tango patted him down, confiscating his small, enchanted dagger and a few regenerating potions. Then the royal knight reached for his cloak clasp. Scott stiffened in fear as he was powerless to prevent the inevitable. He curled slightly as his wings and dragon heritage were revealed. Tango seemed to short-circuit for a moment before recovering, placing the cloak down he turned to his men.

In a commanding voice, “Find the other thieves I need to bring this one to the castle.” Tango orders. “Do not kill. Especially if they are anything like him.” The knights saluted before spreading out to search for his friends.

Scott’s stomach dropped when he heard castle. He couldn’t be serious. But as Tango saddled up, and pushed his horse into a trot, he knew he was in big trouble.

==============

 Scott cursed as he was thrown roughly into the cell. He hisses at the guard as the wooden door slams and locks, causing the tower to rumble around him. He glares as he brushes himself off, checking himself over. The cyan-scale Dragonborn had been stripped of nearly everything he owned, left with only the clothes on his back. Sadly, his cloak was confiscated, leaving him only in his trousers.

Glancing around, Scott grimaced.

The cell was circular with a barred lancet window situated above his head, allowing fresh air and sea breeze to filter in. Moonlight cased long shadows but provided enough light to see. The tropical summer humidity caused the cobbled stone to gleam with condensation, making the cell damp. A small wooden bench hung, posing as a poor substitute for a bed, under the window. A tiny wooden bucket filled with murky questionable water was placed beside it—the whole cell smelt of mildew.

Trudging over to the bench, Scott sat down heavily. He closed his eyes as he rested his head against the wall, feeling so stupid about getting caught. Opening his eyes, he stared up at the cone-like ceiling with despair. He should have listened to Xornoth.  He could have spent six months with him. It wouldn’t have killed him to spend time with his family. Now he might not ever see them again.

Ignoring the burning in his eyes, Scott looked at his hands. He looked at his scaly hands and sharp nails. He cupped them together and mumbled under his breath a spell. A ball of light formed and drifted from his hands. A sudden thought came to him, causing him to spring up for the worn old bench. The light drifted above his head as he approached the door.

He nearly laughed at his idiocy. He crouched down and pressed a hand to the cell door. He smirked as he pronounced the lock-pick spell. A click echoed around the small room as the door unlocked. Relief washes over Scott as he pulls open the cell door. He stepped out of the cell, and a narrow staircase leading downward met him. Eager to leave, the dragon leaped down the stairs, taking them two at a time. Scott couldn’t help but feel victorious as he dashed down the stairs.

However, the feeling didn’t last long.

Halfway down the stairs, Scott turns one of the many curves of the staircase. He was in such a rush, that he didn’t realize until it was too late, hitting the prince directly in the chest. They both tumbled, pushing the second person, Tango, down the stairs as well. The trio rolled down in a jumble of limbs and curses. Finally, they stopped near the bottom of the stairs, very bruised and sore.

Scott groaned as he pulled himself out of the pile, groaning as he held his chin where he hit it. He rubbed it, checking for blood, which thankfully there didn’t seem to be. Another groan caught his attention, and he turned to see Tango rubbing his head a bit. The prince just lay on the stairs, looking dazed. He and Tango locked eyes.

Scott bolted. He heard a curse before another pair of footsteps followed him.

Scrambling down the rest of the stairs, Scott practically fell out of the stairway, Tango hot on his heels. Picking a direction, he fled. Much to his dismay, he met two guards right away. Tango called from behind him, causing the knights to notice him. He dodged out of their reach, before continuing down the hallway.

He turned another corner, only to run into a dead end. Come on, Scott thought. I can’t catch a break. He spun around to meet his pursuers, pressing himself back into the wall of the hallway, wings twitching. Tango stepped in front of the two other guards.

“No one needs to get hurt. The prince and I only wanted to ask you some questions and offer you a deal.” He had his hands in a passive position in front of him.

Getting defensive, Scott snarled, “Let me go. Like I would ever help you.” He barred his teeth, at the blaze hybrid. Tango's face fell in a scowl.

“You were caught stealing. Normally, thieves would be sent to work in the mines for a few years. But you’re a special case.” Tango explained.

“And why’s that?” He snapped, his tail whipping aggressively. Footsteps came from behind the group. The guards moved, revealing a disheveled looking prince. A low growl rumbled from Scott’s throat.

“Because we need your magic knowledge.” The prince stated as he fixed his crown. Scott’s eyes scanned him as he towered over him. The canary hybrid stood nearly head over him. Golden feathers ruffled on his head wings. He had sandy blond hair with muddy tried brown eyes. He was clearly near Scott’s age but his eyes mirrored an elders.

“Why?” The dragon asked suspiciously.

“Please. Humans have begun to invade our land. Many hybrids are dying, like many of your kind did.” To Scott’s surprise, the prince knelt and bowed to him. “Please. We’re desperate. I sincerely apologies for the treatment you had this far. I promise, as Jimmy Solitary, so to be king of Ranch Town, that you and your kind will have protection here for as long as I live.” Jimmy had his forehead practically touching the floor. All the knights copied his movements.

To say Scott was lost was an understatement. First, they imprisoned him, then they asked him for help. He shook his head a bit, feeling overwhelmed. “How do I know this isn’t a sick trick?” Scott deflected.

“Please, if it was trick, do you think we would be bowing and not just torturing you?” Tango said with a bit of an eye roll, but something felt off as Jimmy shot him a glare. Scott gulped at that. It was a good point.

“Fine,” Scott admitted, “But what would you need me to do?” Scott questioned.

Relieved, Jimmy stood up from the floor. “If possible, we need more of those potions you had on you. Plus, if you could perhaps make our weapons enchanted as well.” Jimmy thought for a moment. “We’ll provide everything you need to create them as well.”

Scott couldn’t believe he was hearing. It was like something from a dream. Those simple everyday things dragons could do, but the problem was supplies to create them. So having access to everything was a blessing. Biting his lip, his ear fins flicking with thought.

Scott sighed, “My group and I will help you out as a trial run, until we can trust you.” He spoke. “But know, we will never show you where we hide.” He promised.

“Deal!” Jimmy exclaimed excitedly as he took Scott’s claw and shook it. “Thank you, thank you so much.” Scott awkwardly patted his shoulder, feeling as though he made a deal with the devil.

“Yeah, well as long as we remain behind the scenes, I don’t mind helping.” He added on. “And free meals and comfortable rooms.”

Jimmy laughed, his personality doing a one-eighty. “Of course! In the morning, you can go out to find your friends. But please, allow me to show you to your proper room.” Jimmy grabbed his hand and guided him down a corridor. A staircase later and another hallway later, they reached a door.

Tango opened it, revealing a small bedroom. To be honest, it wasn’t much bigger than the cell had been, but it was furnished with a bed and a dresser. A rug covered the stone floor, but there was no window, only touches for light. Scott reluctantly stepped through the doorway.

“Oh, by the way. Tomorrow we will also discuss your punishment, after all, you still stole royal property.” Jimmy added slyly. “Don’t worry about it too much, Cutie. We can add it into the contract that we’ll create we all your friends are here.” Jimmy gave a Cheshire grin. “Sleep well, little dragon.”

With that the door was slammed closed and locked. Scott could hear something being put in front of the push door, locking him in with no way out. Standing in the dark of the room with only torchlight as company, Scott had a feeling he had just sold his soul.

Scott crawled into the bed and cried himself to sleep that night.

=============

It was four years later; Scott found himself sitting on the arm of King Jimmy’s throne, dressed in the finest clothes, sitting beside the king himself. The war had finally ended. With the dragons’ help enslavement, the hybrids were able to conquer over the humans, restoring balance. During the war, many dragons had moved from the cave to Ranch Town, having decided to be forced to help.  After dragons were able to begin normal lives in Ranch Town and live happily above ground, free to fly or swim wherever they please. But as per the agreement, Scott must serve an extra two years for his crime.

Jimmy and Tango had married before the war was announced, officially making Jimmy king. Scott was worked to the bone through the first year in captivity. Many potions and weapons nonstop, his hands would blister from how much nether wart he had to touch. His scales would be dry and flaky by the end of the day due to the heat of the brewing stands. Tango had taken notice one day and had him moved.

From then on, he was Jimmy’s personal servant and guard, much to his friends’ protests. Scott simply told them not to worry and continued with his job. Jimmy soon took a liking to Scott, becoming friendly with him rather quickly while Tango was on the front lines. When Tango was sent back due to an injury, he also had taken to a liking to Scott, but much more slowly. Scott, oblivious to royals’ affection, was focused on protecting everyone he endangered. Even when the war ended, Tango and Jimmy agreed that Scott was theirs.

The royals decided to host a ball celebrating the victory, which is where they are now.

Jimmy leaned over and murmured into Scott’s ear, “Come on Scott, don’t look so glum. I know you want to go be with your family and sibling but we’re your family now as well.” A shiver when down his spin at the hot breath on his ear.

A choked off squeak escaped the cyan dragon as Tango petted his wing. “Yeah, we could have lock you in your room for the night, but we graciously allowed you to be here with us.” Tango gave him a small kiss on the forehead. “So don’t be so ungrateful.” Tango chastised lightly.

Scott early on had learned how to get under their skins. “Yes sirs.” He replied sadly. Both frowned instantly.  Neither of them wanted to cause their little dragon to be mad or upset. But they both agreed that sometimes it was needed. But this wasn’t one of those times.

Jimmy tried to recover, “Maybe later you can hang out with Xornoth, they are staying the weekend. But we haven’t seen much of you all week.” He whined, holding Scott’s hand.

“Yeah, and I was only teasing about you room.” Tango added. “We just missed you, cutie.”

Scott smirked internally, having admittedly, started to gain feels of his own towards his to captors. He nodded a bit on the outside, “Okay…” He yawns as he rubs his eyes, having decorated and planned most of the ball himself.

Both Jimmy and Tango melted. Pulling the sleepy dragon into his lap, Jimmy rested him against his chest. Said dragon barely noticed, having done this millions of times, snuggled into Jimmy’s chest. He closed his eyes, falling asleep to the lull of the conversation in the ballroom.

“Sleep well, little dragon.” Both whispered with soft possessive eyes.

[soulsmadworld]

for the wonderful @callmerose0 's "How to train your.... Avian?"

Quick NOTE!

as of yet, this has neither happened nor is it confirmed to happen

nor is this incentive or pressure for the author to make this happen

this is just my hyperactive imagination needing this vision to exist

if u love the ranchers and haven't read their fics yet

what are u doing

go read them

individual panels after cut