will zimmerman + narriative/open
PG-13 | narriative/open If you'd like to tag it head over HERE
Work was a little slow as Will flipped through the pages of the Atlantis Daily News. There wasn't much he didn't already know but he did find the piece on the early snow interesting.
Sighing he looked around deciding it was time for a coffee break. Heading out of the lab and towards the elevator, he was feeling a little hot but figured it was just the heat in the base. By the time he was out of the base and headed towards Footsteps he started to get a really weird feeling.
Looking down at his feet they weren't really his feet any more, Will couldn't place what his feet were as his mind tried to race to catch up with what was happening to him.
"OH SHI-" his words were stopped with a mighty roar and a flash of fire from his mouth. He opened it again to say something but heard a crash behind him and turned quickly seeing a tail, a blue tail with spikes. "ROAR" he'd meant to say shit and sorry but it didn't come out.
Panic started to fill him and before he knew it he was standing naked in the middle of the street. It looked like his coat was still intact, snatching it he wrapped it around himself and ran into Footsteps. Leaning against the door the moment it was closed his breathing was heavy as he looked around seeing wide eyes.
"Please tell me I'm going to wake up now."
William Laurence had already stood up with his coffee in hand, pastry abandoned behind on the table as he moved forward to the glass to get a good look at the commotion on the streets. Temeraire was just around the corner, talking to one of his favorite vendors, as Laurence took his break, though now people were starting to gather and it was only a matter of time before the dragon caught up to them.
“Ah-” Very little shocked him these days, and having been in the body of his own dragon for several days just recently, he couldn’t help but grace Will with an amused smile. “I’m afraid you are very awake.” He gestured to the door that Will had entered from, “I’d be happy to walk with you to get some more clothing, but I think it might be better if you aren’t in a small building with a lack of control.”
Clinching his eyes shut Will let out an annoyed sigh he could hear the wind whipping just outside the door. He was almost willing himself to wake up, but he knew William was right he wasn't asleep, he wasn't going to wake up in his bed, or all of a sudden have clothing on.
Opening his eyes, he looked at him and nodded.
"Right, destroying the go-to coffee stop wouldn't go over well with anyone would it?" It was more a rhetorical question as he sighed.
Grudgingly he nodded and headed towards the door pushing it open he cringed as he felt a cold breeze in all the wrong places.
"Fuck." He murmured.
Laurence chuckled again and immediately shrugged off his own coat for Will to utilize as he needed. “Not a very good time of the year to be losing your clothing, unfortunately.” He had no desire to make them stand there on the cold street for a long time, but had to glance around for Temeraire before willingly walking towards a more open area, or housing.
“I take it this is a new problem for you? I saw fire, and you have never struck me as a person willing to put others in danger willingly.” He glanced over his shoulder as he heard a gust of wind, and Temeraire glided over them, peering down with his smaller frame.
The dragon spoke out, dropping in altitude so he was just a few feet above them. “Oh, I say, aren’t humans usually cold in this weather without trousers on?”
Will grumbled a thanks as he took the offered coat he was freezing and still trying to figure out what the heck was happening he didn’t hear the first part of what Laurence said which became clear as he blinked a couple of times but finally managed to respond.
“Nope, I turn into a dragon with a spikey tail weekly.” There was fear in his voice as he spoke. “Yeah, it’s new.” He added feeling like he should probably be nice.
Looking at the dragon Will felt a wave of anger and the blue tail thing popped out his rear again. “Yeah, I’m turning into a blue icicle with thorns.” The fear had grown in his voice but he managed not to look as terrified as he felt.
Laurence was usually unflappable in the worst of circumstances, and he shook the returned sarcasm off with a small grin. It was welcome, since he knew his question to be rather obvious in answer.
“I suppose one never knows when another might be a were-dragon.” Laurence directed the partially-shifted dragon to the pavillion ahead, near the houses. It was inviting, with a few warm magical braziers Laurence had requested when the weather turned cold. Temeraire didn’t feel it, often, but Laurence slept out here enough that he needed the warm. And at least the covered space was large enough that Will wasn’t going to destroy the whole thing if he shifted right there.
Temeraire had followed behind them, and peered curiously at the half-man, head tilted to the side. “I can teach you how to fly, though you will have to be very careful not to breathe fire on the citizens of Atlantis. Oh- This will be like Iskerika all over!”
“Were-dragon, no, not a were-anything.” Will shook his head unable to believe that he might actually be a were-dragon it was insane to even think about. “This better just be some Atlantis shit that goes away in 24 hours.” He did relax a little bit once he didn’t feel like he was going to freeze to death, the comfort had him back to well, human.
“Fly?!” His eyes got wide and he didn’t shift but he felt like he was about to. “Who is Iskerika? And this won’t last long. Will it? You don’t have an answer, neither of you do.” He groaned. “Okay…” Will wasn’t really sure what to say next,
Temeraire answered before Laurence could even open his mouth, his wings wrapping around himself comfortably as he settled in to watch the were-dragon. “She is my occasional-- mate. She can breathe fire, it is a nuisance, but,” the dragon looked as if he was biting the next compliment out, “she is not entirely useless, I suppose.”
Laurence chuckled and turned a more serious expression over to Will. “I am no professional at this, the shifting back and forth, but I think between Temeraire and Charlie Weasley, we should get you the help you need. The first step may be to find what keeps you focused and grounded, so that you are not shifting without warning.”
“A nuisance?” Will gave a harsh laugh as smoke came out of his mouth. “Nuisance? It’s a disaster.” He looked around, the space reminded him of the Sanctuary which was both comforting and scary all at the same time.
“Weasley? Right, one of the Potter people.” He didn’t mean it as rude as it probably came off he just was placing the guy. “He’s not a dragon,” he paused. “Man.” He sighed. “So how safe is this,” he waved his hand around. “Area?”
Laurence perched himself at the end of a chair, a good few feet away from Will just in case anything went awry. If the smoke coming out of the other man’s mouth was any indication, anyway. “Yes, I suppose. He arrived recently, is a Dragon Keeper, and the dragons from his world are less manageable than Temeraire.”
The dragon in question huffed at the word “manageable”, but Laurence gave him a smile and he unruffled his feathers. The human continued, gesturing. “Quite safe. We had it built specifically with the knowledge that things could go wrong here for Temeraire just as easily as they can for all of us, so everything is enchanted to be fairly indestructible. Except me, of course.”
Will nodded as he told him about the dragon keeper but he didn’t really know what to say. Sure, abnormals made sense, but somehow dragons didn’t? Well, him being one more than anything else.
“You should get a, what you want to call it, a protection spell, there are people here who can do stuff like that right?” Will sighed as he took a seat on the ground, he didn’t trust himself around anything else but as he sat his body started to transform, he managed to drop the jackets he’d been using for protection before being his full self.
Even as Laurence was about to brush off the idea of a protection spell - he’d managed against dangerous dragons in the past - Will was transforming, and Laurence was backing away a little to give him space. And to the side, to avoid any stream of fire that might shoot towards his face.
Temeraire took off into the air, waiting to see if he would have to grab his Captain out of the way, but also curious to see what the shifting dragon would do. He was still in ear shot, though, and his wings hovered as only Temeraire could do. He spoke low, and calm. “I can show you to the mountains, if you would like. Teach you how to properly fly so you aren’t trampling about on everyone.”
The body, well, his body was blue again and pointy and he had wings that he really didn't understand he opened his arms, or well, wings and hit something with the left one but he wasn't even sure what he'd hit and quickly brought them back.
Good news, he still understood the talking dragon, bad news, every time he opened his mouth smoke seemed to come out instead of words. Raising his head in frustration he growled as a couple little sparks shot out. Dropping his head he shook it before shrugging, at least he thought it was a shrug.
Flying, he thought, not trampling. Opening his wings again he managed not to hit anything but he wasn't sure if he needed a running start or not so just stood there awkwardly.
As it reminded Laurence of Temeraire’s hatching and the dragon not knowing how to fly without a little practice, the dragon captain couldn’t help but smile fondly. He backed away, out of the pavillion, and grabbed the coats with him. “I’ll grab some clothing, and meet you both at the edge of the city. I should warn you that you may end up even larger outside of city limits, Will, Temeraire’s true size is… large.”
Temeraire landed in front of Will, and tilted his head. “Hm. We’ll work on the speech. Dragons in my world learn before they’ve hatched, and you didn’t have that - you’ll want to take a leap into the air, and flap your wings once, then again, and again. The higher, the better.” He demonstrated, his feet launching off the ground in a little hop that put him in the air.
Will looked down at himself and he already felt huge, he was bigger than he was normally anyways, wasn’t that big enough? He sighed a bit of smoke as he thought about his potential true size. Would Atlantis keep him smaller in the city? Yeah, it was possible.
Looking at Temeraire he nodded as he stepped backwards awkwardly before hunching down and pushing up as he jumped and flapped his wings once, twice, okay he was sort of…
BAM.
Rolling onto the ground Will wanted to curse but managed not to, the fire thing kinda made him wary of trying the speaking thing. Standing back up he tried again this time managing to stay in the air but very wobbly.
“Well done!” Laurence shouted from below, cheering Will on from below. He gave a little wave and headed towards the edge of the city, clothing in hand.
Temeraire himself gave a noise of triumph, but was far more matter-of-fact about the whole thing. He was a far stricter teacher, his wings flapping smoothly. “Now- yes, good, that. Continue doing that. If you can manage to go forward, you’ll have the hardest part down.” Temeraire glided forward just a little, looking back at him. “Shall we?”
It took a couple of tries but Will finally managed to get himself to move forward, awkwardly at first, but slowly a little bit better.
Nodding, which nearly sent him flying, Will followed the dragon as his mind started to wonder how long he’d be stuck as a dragon.