Snek is a Good Boy

Part Thirty-Nine: The Next Step

[A/N: This chapter commissioned by Fizzfaldt and beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]

Dragon

As she slid off Katabatic's back—after Finesse, she'd taken a turn with Cirrus and each of the other members of the Dragonmark—she couldn't keep the grin off her face. Flying under her own power was nice, but nothing even approached the euphoria of soaring on the back of a living organism that was actively working to make the experience fun. It turned out that Riley hadn't been kidding when she'd explained that dragons derived active enjoyment from taking human riders up for a flight.

While in the air, she'd been through every possibly aerobatic manoeuvre they could pull off for her, including a few that mere powered aircraft would never be able to emulate. Her evident delight had encouraged them to push their own limits; the resulting aerial dance that had ensued, with the entire Dragonmark taking to the sky and showing off their skills, would have strained the creative capabilities of the most talented CGI artists in the world (and the processing power of their computers). In the end, all she lacked was a physical record of the experience. Memories, she supposed, would just have to do.

"That was … spectacular and beyond comparison," she said, knowing that all the dragons were listening to her. "Where I come from, the amazing and astounding are commonplace, but you all just put them all in the shade. Thank you for sharing your flight with me. I will never forget this day."

||Your sense of wonder makes us all young at heart, dear one.|| Finesse came close and lowered her head to Dragon's level. ||Will you be returning?||

"As often as I can." She put her hand out and touched Finesse's nose, feeling the immense creature leaning into the contact. "My entire world has changed in the last few hours, and I suspect it hasn't finished doing so. But I want this, and all of you, to be a part of it from now on."

||That is heartening to hear. As for the other matter, I have discussed it with the rest of the Dragonmark and we have decided that yes, we will be contributing toward your new form.|| True to her draconic nature, Finesse raised her head imperiously, but not so much that she broke contact with Dragon's hand. ||I, of course, am the most suited toward such a contribution, but I have graciously allowed all else who wish so, to provide parts of their essence toward this worthy cause.|| A sly dragon-sized smile stole across her muzzle. ||In the end, this turned out to be everyone.||

Cirrus came in alongside his mate, lowering his head in turn to invite the contact. Still taken aback by Finesse's news, Dragon put her hand on his nose, feeling the warmth under his smooth scales. ||I am the strongest flyer in the Dragonmark, am I not? If anyone is the most suited, it is myself.||

"You're definitely the strongest flyer," Dragon agreed, recalling the flight she'd had with him. The powerful acceleration from his wingbeats would've taken her breath away if the artificial body she currently wore had needed to breathe. It had been an experience. "And I'm thrilled and honoured that you're offering to do this, that all of you are okay with this. It means the world to me."

||How could we not?|| Finesse's smile widened. ||You will be as a new hatchling belonging to all of us, taking a part of us into a whole new world where multitudes who have never witnessed a true dragon before can wonder at our magnificence. Through you, they will know of us.||

That definitely tracked with what she'd seen of the dragons so far. "I'll be sure to tell them everything," she promised. "They've already seen hearth-dragons, and the overwhelming opinion is 'cute and cuddly'. I intend to make sure they think more of me than just that I'm 'cute'."

||Well, hearth-dragons are indeed cute. As are humans. You are much the same size, after all.|| That was Cirrus, wearing a dragon-sized mischievous grin.

Without moving her head from where Dragon had a hand on her nose, Finesse shoulder-bumped her mate. Dragon estimated that the impact would've flattened a medium-sized car. ||Have a little respect. She is choosing to become one of us, after all. What other human has ever done that?||

While Dragon felt that she should correct Finesse on the matter of her humanity—she was not, and had never been, a member of that species—three facts stayed her protest. First, Finesse had chosen to call her human, despite knowing of her origins. Second, she was wearing a human-shaped body, and if a dragon wished to consider her as one, who was she to say otherwise? Third, back in the Castle at that very moment, an actual living body was being constructed for her. Once the Master worked his magic (for once, a literal understatement of the process) she would, in fact, be a real live human being.

"No, it's alright." She lifted her shoulder slightly in invitation, and a moment later the lightning-patterned hearth-dragon settled there. Leaning her head sideways, she rubbed it against the hearth-dragon, who laid its head on top of hers affectionately. I'm going to have to give you a name, she thought fondly; it was definitely beginning to grow on her. "I know I'm tiny next to you. Even back where I come from, there are very few creatures that have ever grown anywhere near your size; while they're impressive, they can't beat you in sheer majesty. And they're definitely nowhere near as intelligent and wise as you are."

She was laying it on just a little thick, she knew; the bigger dinosaurs had indeed been imposing, as were blue whales. But the dinos hadn't been much smarter than the plants they chowed down on, and while whales were reportedly quite a bit smarter than that, they still didn't match up to draconic levels of snark and humour. Also, she was (understandably) biased toward dragons.

Every dragon within earshot preened at her words. She caught the edges of telepathic communication, discussing what she had said. While some might call them vain and self-congratulatory, she could kind of understand where they were coming from.

True dragons were the most powerful beings in the world, aside from the Master of the Castle (and possibly Snek). Smart enough to be aware of this, they were also too proud to acknowledge it in others of their kind. The Master of the Castle had removed their instinct toward subservience, but had left just enough regard for humanity for dragons to find them adorable, and to enjoy interacting with them.

This had the (possibly intentional) side effect that whenever a human complimented a dragon, it meant more to them than if another dragon had said the same thing. It also meant that no dragon would deliberately attack humans, and that dragons would intervene if humans were harming other humans: not like overlords, but in the manner of exasperated parents. There was not a would-be conquering army in the world that could withstand a dragon being disappointed at them (especially if the dragon put their commanders in 'time out' on a high and lonely mountain peak for a while).

Reaching up, she lifted the hearth-dragon from her shoulder and cradled it in her arms. It snuggled into her embrace, rumbling happily. No, he. He's a boy. Dragon wasn't sure where that information came from, but somehow she knew it was true.

||What are you going to name the little one?|| asked Finesse. ||He seems quite taken with you.||

Well, of course a fellow dragon would've known that ahead of time. "I hadn't actually decided yet, but perhaps … Sparks?" The lightning motif on the hearth-dragon's scales gave her the idea for the name, and the way Sparks perked up once it was given settled it in her mind. He chirped agreeably and rubbed his head up under her chin.

||It's a good name,|| Cirrus agreed, then raised his head. ||Ah, here comes Riley. I suspect you are the one she seeks.||

Dragon looked around; Riley was indeed coming her way. "Hi!" she called out, making sure Sparks was secure with one arm before raising the other one. "What's up? Did something go wrong?" If it had, she was certain she'd have no particular issue spending more time with the dragons.

"Nope." Riley's grin was as broad as the mountain itself. "It's all ready to go. Hi, Cirrus, Finesse. Dragon hasn't been bothering you too much?"

Cirrus snorted, blowing warm air over Dragon and Sparks. ||Hardly. She is a delightful conversationalist, and she called me majestic.|| He puffed his chest out proudly.

Finesse rolled her eyes, which with a dragon could be quite a production. ||She said we were all majestic, you conceited lizard.||

The male dragon drew himself up, affronted. ||Well, she was looking at me when she said it.||

As Riley came up to them, Dragon asked in a low tone, "Should I say something?"

Riley sighed and raised her voice. "You're all majestic, okay? You're utterly gorgeous, and I love you all. Sorry, but I've got to take Dragon away from you now."

Finesse gave them a draconic smile. ||Of course, dear one. She has been wonderful company. I look forward to flying with you both again.||

||Indeed.|| Cirrus appeared to have gotten over his huff. ||Farewell. May your skies be clear and the winds carry you far.||

"Thank you." Dragon gave them a little wave. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

Turning, she walked away with Riley toward the doorway that would transport them back into the Castle proper. Sparks looked back over her shoulder and gave what sounded like a 'goodbye' chirp, then settled into her arms once more.

The Wizard's Apprentice

As they stepped through the doorway leading back to the boss' workshop, Riley looked Dragon over. She had all the signs of someone who'd just been riding with Cirrus and the others, and from the way the hearth-dragon was snuggling up to her, that side of things seemed to be getting along well too.

The body they'd been constructing in the intervening time lay on the examination table, decently covered by a simple cloth shift. As with Sveta's body, the boss had done the heavy lifting, while Riley ensured that the internal systems were working correctly. When Dragon saw it, she paused as though to catch her breath. "Oh," she said. "That's … that's her. I mean, that's me. The identity I built. Who I pretended to be."

Riley nodded and grinned. "That's the general idea, yes. We've got enough samples to arrange for the phenotype you wanted. How did it go with the dragons? I'm guessing they all wanted to chip in for your secondary form."

Entirely unsurprisingly, Dragon nodded. "You know them well, I see. They were intrigued by the idea, and Finesse said something about how I'll effectively be their hatchling."

"Well, she's not exactly wrong." Riley looked around as the boss came back into the room. "Oh, hey. We were right. All the dragons are donating."

He favoured Dragon with an austere smile. "Congratulations: it seems your secondary form is off to a good start."

"Thank you, sir." She hesitated, then asked the question. "So, uh, what happens now?"

He gestured toward the second examination table. "When you are ready, take your place there, and I shall effect the transfer."

"Right." She paused. "Can I hold Sparks while it's ongoing?"

"Sure, but just remember you'll be in that body by the time it's done," Riley explained gently. "Are you okay with that?"

"Yeah, I think so." Dragon briefly handed the hearth-dragon—Sparks was a good name, Riley had to admit—over to her, then climbed up on the second table. Taking a deep breath that was entirely unnecessary on any level but the emotional, she lay back on it in a good imitation of the pose being held by the living (yet currently insensate) human body alongside her. Riley gave Sparks back to her, and the hearth-dragon lay down on her chest, with his throat up against hers.

Riley looked them over, then stepped back. "All good, boss."

"Thank you, Riley." The boss stepped up and stood where he could best monitor the transfer between the construct body and the living one. Thumping his staff on the flagstone floor just the once, he let it go to remain standing where he'd put it. Then he raised his hands and muttered a few words, allowing his gestures to do most of the work.

Unlike when he'd pulled Dragon's consciousness from her computer banks to the construct body, this was something they'd done before. The only difference with the Sveta swap was that they'd built her new body from her own tissues, while Dragon had had no original tissues to work with. This, however, was less of an issue than it could've been: each of the people who had come through the Master's laboratory had given over tissue samples, and it had been child's play (literally—at twelve, Riley was still legally a child) to mix and match them to get the appearance that Dragon was seeking.

While organ transplants had that whole genetic rejection hassle going on, soul transfers were less problematic. The only real requirement was that the target body not already contain a soul. From what Riley understood, failing in that regard could make matters very messy indeed. Fortunately, they'd managed to avoid that issue. The new body had never spent a moment conscious, much less aware; its brain tissue was as virgin as a field of untrodden snow, just waiting for the imprint of its destined soul and permanent inhabitant.

The ethereal light that flowed from the construct body to the human one was mostly to act as a guide to show that the process was ongoing according to plan. Riley wasn't sure whether this was for the boss' benefit or hers; for damn sure she couldn't take over if something went wrong. Maybe it was just so she wouldn't worry.

Lying on the construct body, Sparks crooned gently. He held his position until the hands holding him went slack, then he sat up and looked over at the living body. Riley wasn't surprised when he made the jump between them and settled into the same pose as before, his chin snuggled into the crook of Dragon's neck. She'd already known that hearth-dragons were smart; this was just confirmation.

On Top of Captain's Hill

Lady Swarm

Vicky laughed out loud as she took up another slice of pizza. "I still can't believe you used that whole 'gotta charge my phone' line on him. Or that I wasn't even there to see the look on his face when you did."

Aisha buffed her nails on her coat, then looked them over complacently. "What can I say? Some people suck at improv, and the rest of us nail it every single time."

I grinned as I snagged another slice for myself. "You sure that pissing off supervillains isn't the thing you nail every time? I seem to recall hearing about how Snek had to rescue you from the Empire, the same night he took them down. Just saying."

"That iss true," Snek agreed. "Purple hair girl wass in trouble."

Aisha wrinkled her nose at both of us. "Hey, who's to say I wasn't deliberately drawing them in?"

Mouse Protector, enjoying her own slice of pizza, shook her head. "Hon, we all know he rescued you, and we love him for it. But it's also a fact that the Empire automatically took offense at minorities doing such things as walking down the same street, breathing, and just plain existing. So even if you were trying to irritate them, you wouldn't have had to try too hard."

Aisha rolled her eyes. "I still say that I woulda gotten away clean if it wasn't for that douchenozzle Stormtiger. But hey, if they didn't catch me, Snek wouldn't've caught them, so win-win."

"Ssnek would sstill have caught them ssometime." The giant snake's tone was definite. "Bad men are bad men."

Vicky nodded. "Well, I'm glad you did it sooner rather than later. The city's definitely a lot nicer now that there's not so many Empire tags around. Or Empire idiots."

"I'm pretty sure they're still around." I took a bite out of my pizza slice. "But they're fully aware that they've got to play by the rules now, because they don't have Kaiser backing them up against us and the cops. I suspect a few of them aren't too thrilled at that, but meh, not my problem."

"'When you're accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression,' or something like that," Mouse Protector quoted. "Or more realistically, 'when you're used to getting away with being a racist asshole, not being allowed to be one sucks."

"I'd play 'Cry Me a River' on the world's smallest violin," Aisha quipped, "but I sent it away to be repaired at the world's smallest violin shop, and now I can't find the shop."

"Sounds about right." Vicky smirked. "So anyway, what's happening with Dragon? You said the Master of the Castle was helping her. I mean, I've seen some of what he can do. Is he really giving her a human body?" She picked up a Fugly's bag and waved it to get Snek's attention.

"That iss what Riley ssaid Masster wass going to do, yess." Snek eyed the bag expectantly.

We all knew what was in the bag: four Challengers, specifically the newly minted Snek Special, loaded down with scorpion peppers. I'd never eat one in a million years; my lips burned just thinking about biting into one. But Snek loved them.

Vicky tossed the bag in the air; Snek's head blurred forward, there was a snap, and the bag was gone. Snek, as it happened, didn't bother with such minor things as unwrapping burgers before he ate them. We all applauded, while Snek looked pleased with himself.

I had to ask the question. "So, if he's giving her a human body, something that I have zero doubt he can pull off, what happens with everything she's currently running? I mean, don't get me wrong, it's great being human, but I can't help feeling that she'd be at a disadvantage being one person in front of a computer instead of being the computer."

"Masster iss very wisse. He will know what to do."

Mouse Protector and Vicky shared a glance, and nodded. "Yeah," agreed Vicky. "I can't see that guy ever missing a trick." She held up her hand to fist-bump Mouse Protector.

"Damn right." Mouse Protector returned the fist-bump, then snoot-booped Snek. "Whatever he's got planned will definitely do the job."

Dragon

Being biological was … weird.

Dragon had done her research, of course, mainly out of curiosity, but also to get a better understanding of the human condition, so she could fit in more readily. She was perhaps the greatest non-human expert on being human (not that she had many competitors), but she would've also been the first to admit that the chasm between 'theoretical' and 'practical' was both broad and deep. Now, she was finding out first-hand just how gargantuan that divide really was.

Waking up in the new body had been odd enough. Her sensorium had been nearly swamped with odd messages, none of which she'd had prior experience with. It was a good thing that many basic actions and processes seemed to be independent of manual control, because she would've been totally overwhelmed otherwise.

First came the eyelids; she couldn't just send a signal to activate or deactivate her optics. Fortunately, wanting to see triggered the autonomic response, and the dull pink-red before her transformed into temporarily blinding light. After a moment or so, she was able to manually adjust them, and squinted upward at the room. Entirely without her input, her chest rose, drawing air into what she belatedly recalled were her lungs.

Ah, yes. Breathing is important. Have to make sure I don't forget that.

There was a warm weight on her chest, which moved as she thought about it. A familiar draconic head, covered in blue scales with white electrical tracings on them, came into view, looking down at her. She felt her pupils contracting so as to focus her eyes on the hearth-dragon, another utterly alien sensation.

"Hi," she breathed—oh, that's right, the voice is dependent on air in the lungs—and willed her arms to reach up and hold him. He chirped happily as her hands encountered his smooth warm scales—the sensation was both similar to and entirely unlike what she'd had with the construct body—and lowered his head to rub it alongside her jaw.

I'm human, she marvelled. I'm really human. Odd internal sensations, analogous to yet distinct from what she'd felt as an AI, were welling up inside her. She felt a prickling in her eyes and a warmth in her face.

Carefully, still holding Sparks, she moved her legs to the side of the table and sat up. Her coordination was coming along nicely, almost certainly thanks to the time she'd spent piloting the construct body. The weirder biological sensations, such as her own heartbeat, were starting to fade into the background.

There was a whole new world available to her now, and she intended to make the most of it.

Right now, however, it was enough to just sit and cuddle Sparks.

End of Part Thirty-Nine