Title : Old Friends (2008)
Fandom : Primeval
Characters: Connor, Nick, Micanimus (DOC)
Disclaimer: Not mine, well Nick and Connor aren’t. Micanimus is all mine and this universe is inspired by Naomi Novik’s books but none of her characters are in it. Everything else is mine.
Summary: Nick reconciles himself with the changes in the world around him and manages to start asking the right questions to the right ‘people’.
A/N: Unbetead, I know, sorry about the horror but this is also only posted here on my journal, I promise I’ll get it checked over before it gets posted on any community.
Mica thumped his tail in impatience, clicking a talon on the immaculate floor of the ARC’s control room as he craned his neck, trying to see under the panel the human was buried in. “It’s still not working Connor, get out of there and let me have a go at it.”
From under the circuit panel came a muffled noise that could have been a response or most likely, in the dragon’s opinion, more stalling for time. Finally a triumphant shout rose out of the jumble of wires and electronic equipment, just as the large LCD screen above them flickered into life. Connor quickly emerged from under the console, a smug grin splitting his face. “See? I told you I could hack my way in to the satellite. Besides you’d never been able to fit in there.”
“Yes yes, you’re a genius, tiny human with a skull packed to the brim with excitable little brain cells.” Micanimus muttered as he quickly clicked away on his keyboard, joined quickly by a still grinning Connor, fingers and talons flying over keys of impossibly different sizes.
“Ha! I got it!” This time it was the dragon’s deep voice that boomed in the large room, tail thumping in excitement. “One more gateway and we’ve got gold.”
“Hurry up, we’re running out of time.” Connor urged the dragon as he checked the clock on the screen.
Mica didn’t even dignify the argument with a reply, simply hunching closer to the screen, the tip of his long tongue sticking out in concentration. A tongue that nearly got several centimetres chopped off a few moments later when Connor jumped up and yelped in excitement as the interference on the screen cleared up and showed a perfectly clear picture, the sound following only a moment later.
“Great! We made it just in time for the Opening Ceremony, I can’t believe the BBC is going to wait till our 8pm to broadcast it rather than doing it live.” Connor scrambled for the large bag of crisps sitting on one side and sat down on Mica’s front leg comfortably.
“Arseholes. It’s because it’s *just* the Draconic Olympics. You didn’t see them broadcasting anything delayed for the human ones did you?” The dragon used his tail to drag closer a large bowl filled with what appeared to be several bucketful of fried chicken.
The two were quickly engrossed in the flying acrobatics of the Chinese dragons on screen and didn’t immediately notice when someone walked in from the lab area. After all it was the middle of the night and they didn’t expect anyone else to be around.
Connor was the first one to spot the new comer as he turned to make a comment and his face broke into a surprised smile. “Professor! We didn’t know you were still here or we’d have called you.” The young man waved Cutter over, glancing sideways at Mica who was doing his very best to look small and unthreatening… as much as a fifteen tons dragon could. Ever since the accident with the Future Predator in the Forest of Dean the Professor had barely approached any of the dragons on the project, spending long stretches of time locked up in his office whenever there wasn’t an anomaly.
Cutter seemed to hesitate for a moment before making his way towards the two. Mica could feel the human’s eyes travelling over him, from the tip of his spiked tail, over his mottled green and orange hide, to the his long snout, taking in every detail. After a moment he lifted his head and returned the stare before nudging the bowl of still untouched chicken legs towards Nick.
“You can share with me if you want, Connor tends to get a little overprotective over his food,” the dragon spoke quietly, ignoring the young human’s protests of innocence. Cutter had seemed surprised at first but had chuckled and moved closer which could only be an improvement from the way he’d acted so far.
“Let me get you a bowl from the kitchen Professor, I’m sure you don’t want to share dragon drool too.” Connor got up and quickly disappeared through the double doors leading to the rec room and the kitchen, followed by Mica’s loud protestations that he did not drool in his food thank you very much.
When the dragon looked down again Cutter was standing only a few metres away, expression unreadable. He lowered his head till they were both at the same level, resisting the urge to nudge the human gently. “Two weeks to catch up with a few hundreds millions years of history. That’s quite good even for you Nicholas.” Mica’s deep voice spoke gently and Cutter was taken by surprise by the warmth of it. “Have you found all your answers?” The dragon asked, watching him intently.
Cutter shock his head. “I think I’m just beginning to find the right questions. How long have you known me?” The dragon offered a wide grin which showed rows of sharp serrated teeth, no one else but him had ever called Cutter by that name since his grandfather had passed away, at least not in this timeline.
“The first time I saw you were about the size of one of my talons.” Mica made his point by waving said body parts between them and rolling one large eye when Nick flinched at the movement. “Not that you’ve grown much since then in comparison. You were a cute child as humans go and you also had a lot more common sense than you did once you grew up.” He avoided pointing out the fact he’d never liked Helen - for the moment at least.