(no subject)

[sage_alchemist]

Okay. So this place was weird. All kinds of weird. She'd been inside, outside, covered every part of it she could find. She'd opened doors that went to all kinds of weird places - some just other rooms, some to places that felt so evil she slammed the doors and hadn't looked back. She'd seen Vegas, seen a mouse that could have only been Mickey, seen everything but the cell in Re-education or anything even remotely familiar.

She'd even tried her magic in the greenhouse and the outer grounds. It had worked, a little, but it hadn't felt right. Like there was something inorganic about the world they lived in.

It was information, true, but it was mostly useless. Still, it kept her mind busy and since she wasn't in any real hurry to leave, why overtax herself? She'd just learn, study, and file it away.

Sydney was on one such learning trip when she opened a door and found herself in a very familiar apartment. Adrian's apartment in Palm Springs. It looked just as she'd seen it the last time she'd been there, which told her that whatever timeline shift she and Adrian were on, the one that lived in this apartment belonged to the one she came from.

Since no one wanted the paradox that would erupt if the Adrian that knew her to be in re-education came in and found her here, Sydney decided to ditch right back out again, the same way she had when she'd found the scarier doors. Then something caught the breath in her throat. Hopper, frozen in his captured form, sitting on Adrian's kitchen counter.

She didn't think. She just grabbed him and darted back through the door. This was her timeline, and the dragon was stuck in his stone form until (or if) she was released from re-education. She couldn't leave him like that, frozen and suffering and no doubt starving. She told herself she'd put him back when she was sure he was fed and had stretched his wings.

Apparently, lying to herself was still a thing.

Find Sydney either in a hallway with a dragon statue or in the cafeteria feeding a small dragon pie. Hopper the dragon is the same size in life as it is in statue form and very protective of Sydney and Adrian.

Comments

[mlle_belle]

Belle had spied the strange creature out of the corner of her eye and had resolved to get closer to it, sneaking behind corners and large barriers until she was close enough to watch it being fed, its wings spreading out. It was then that Belle couldn't hold back her delighted breath in. She took a step out from hiding, knowing that she was likely either seen or heard.

"He's beautiful," she raved warmly.

[sage_alchemist]

"Thank you," Sydney said and smiled up at the new face. "He's being a bit of a pie pig at the moment, or he'd probably be paying a little more attention to a newcomer."

Hopper, for his part, was working his way through his fourth piece of pie and only now showing signs of slowing down. "It's not entirely his fault, though. He hasn't been fed in a while."

[mlle_belle]

"What does he eat?" She didn't mind being ignored. After all, it was a small price to pay in order to learn more about the beautiful creature in front of her. She was overly fond of the strange, now, after having lived in the midst of it for so very long. She would still find the ordinary to be delightful, of course, but here she stood, facing a small dragon.

She had a dozen questions and what it ate was only the first.

[sage_alchemist]

"Pie is his favorite, probably because it was the first thing he ate," Sydney replied, "but he isn't really picky. When he's in this form, he's almost always hungry."

She gestured to the seat opposite her. "You can sit down if you want. He's really friendly." The she offered a smile. "I'm Sydney."

[mlle_belle]

"Belle," she introduced herself as she took advantage of the offer and sat down with her. She didn't really know much about dragons outside of the things she'd read in books, but they fascinated her. "You said when he's in this form. So, what happens to him when he's not? Does he just not like pie?" she joked.

[sage_alchemist]

"Nice to meet you, Belle," Sydney smiled, and poured a little water into a small cup for Hopper. "No, when he's not like this, he's a stone statue. He's a callistana, a guardian I summoned. He'll be with me for a year and I can keep him as an active dragon like he is now, or as a stone statue when I don't need him or if I need to keep him hidden."

[mlle_belle]

Her stomach was twisting and turning with excitement as she listened about the inanimate object and how it could go from stone to lifelike with no trouble at all. "That's wonderful," she said reverently. "Is there some kind of magic that lets him do a thing like that?" She had never seen it before, not quite like that.

"I knew some people, at home, who were in the bodies of objects, but never simply stone versions."

[sage_alchemist]

"Exactly that," Sydney smiled. "I used a spell to summon him and I use magic to return him to his stone form."

Intrigued, she cocked her head to the side. "People inside objects? Like cabinets and dressers? That kind of thing?"

[mlle_belle]

"Well, no, it's not that they were hiding inside," Belle felt compelled to clarify, even though her attention was almost strictly on the strange and wonderful little dragon. "It's more that they were the objects." And that sounded a bit funny, too. "They were cursed," she explained. "And that meant they had become things, with their souls inside, I suppose."

[talking_fishbone]

It was Toothless who had taken the abrupt left turn, snuffling and sniffing as he pursued...whatever it was that had caught his attention. Hiccup was left to run and try and keep up, shouting apologies to anyone he might have passed. "Whoa, hey bud, tell me where you're going! We're gonna--"

Meet another dragon, apparently. It couldn't have been any bigger than a Terrible Terror but that was definitely another dragon.

"Whoa, uh. Hi."

[sage_alchemist]

"Hopper!" Sydney cried when the callistana forwent the pie at the end of her fork and ran up her arm to hide behind her hair.

Okay, so the horse-sized thing behind the guy was probably looking at Hopper like he was a fun-sized Snickers bar, but still. That was no reason do go diving behind her hair.

"Hi. Sorry. Someone's a little bashful at the moment."

[talking_fishbone]

"Don't worry about it," Hiccup said, leaning over to pat Toothless on the shoulder. More fascinated than predatory, Toothless tilted his head and blinked slowly like a cat transmitting a message of calm.

[sage_alchemist]

Hopper peered out for a moment and regarded the bigger dragon before climbing back down Sydney's arm to get a closer look. The glance he shot at Sydney was a definite 'you'd better have my back' and nearly made her laugh out loud.

"I'm Sydney, and the little guy here is Hopper," she said, paused, then laughed, "don't ask."

[talking_fishbone]

Hiccup laughed too, thinking that if she thought she had a peculiar name for a dragon then she'd love theirs. "I'm Hiccup and this big guy is Toothless."

Echoing her with a grin, he added, "Don't ask."

[sage_alchemist]

"Wasn't going to," Sydney smiled back, curious but knowing that she'd probably ask someday. Those were about as strange as Hopper's name was, though probably much less embarrassing.

"I'm going to take it that the big guy is friendly." It was a statement that sounded like a question and she tried to not be a helicopter sort of co-parent...especially when Hopper was slowly moving closer.

[talking_fishbone]

"Yeah, I mean unless he tries to steal Toothless' food. Then all bets are off."

At least there weren't any fish around and Toothless had eaten earlier. Hiccup had even brought him a plate of eggs and bacon, which he seemed oddly appreciative to eat.

[sage_alchemist]

"He's protective of me, but I don't think he'd be aggressive enough to go tripping through another's dinner."

Sydney laughed when Hopper turned to look at her, and then HIccup, before turning back to Toothless. "He likes to crawl up my arm to my shoulder. I think he's asking if he can do the same to Toothless."

[royalunderachiever]

Adrian had wandered down to the cafeteria after sleeping in well past noon and when he spotted Sydney at a table, he folded himself into a chair next to her. He was rumpled and smelled like smoke but he had a grin on his face.

"I see you found Hopper. I'm no longer a neglectful parent?"

[sage_alchemist]

The excited little trill Hopper made when he saw Adrian made her smile and she watched him closely when Hopper immediately ditched the pie to crawl up Adrian's arm. "I did. Found a door that opened into your apartment in Palm Springs and he was sitting there, right there on the counter. So I grabbed him and brought him here. He seemed very happy to be out of his stone form."

[royalunderachiever]

"Poor guy," Adrian said, tickling him under the chin a little to say hello. It was weird, maybe, that he and Sydney were "parents" but the little guy was pretty cute.

"No worse for the wear, then?"

[sage_alchemist]

"Oh, he was straight up ticked off when I pulled him from stasis, but then he saw the pie and, well, he's inherited the pie thing from us. It was the first place we took him after I summoned him."

She watched Hopper eating up Adrian's attention. "Best rabbit ever," she said, trying to keep the melancholy from her voice.

[royalunderachiever]

"He is kind of adorable," Adrian conceded. "And that turning him into a rock thing is pretty useful. Is it weird that I'm jealous you went back to my place without me? I haven't gotten a door back yet. I'm stuck."

[sage_alchemist]

"I'd have come to get you but, frankly, I was afraid of causing some kind paradox. I mean, what would you think if you walked into your apartment and saw not only you, but me when I'm supposed to be in re-education." She laughed a little. "You'd think Spirit had finally driven you crazy."

[royalunderachiever]

"It wouldn't be the first time," Adrian said wryly. "I've done and seen a lot of crazy shit when Spirit has its claws in me. Aunt Tatiana used to keep it at bay a little but since she died? Yeah. It hasn't been great."

He missed her, more than he could possibly ever explain to anyone.

[sage_alchemist]

Sydney reached out and took his hand, gave it a squeeze. "I know. I know how much she meant to you."

And because she also knew that when in the depths of Spirit crash, he imagined that she talked to him, Sydney kept her eyes firmly on his face.

"I'm sorry, Adrian. For all you've lost."