SPN Meant To Be 2021 #2 - Defender Dragon - Artpost
Masterpost on SPN Meant To Be | Art on AO3
Title: Defender Dragon
Artist: aomasade [AomaSade on AO3]
Pairing: Jared Padalecki/Jensen Ackles
Rating: PG-13
Medium: Art (manip)
Warnings: None
Prompt: 22. Defender Dragon
Lucas is a prince and a dragon shifter who left his country to become a bodyguard at Protection, Inc., an all-shifter private security company. Then his past caught up with him, forcing him home for an arranged marriage to a princess who isn't his mate. Neither of them wants ist the match, but they can't escape it… unless one of them finds their true mate first. Journey Jacobson is a free-spirited backpacker traveling the world. When she runs out of money, it looks like her adventuring days have come to an end. Then she attends a lavish ball to celebrate the upcoming engagement of Prince Lucas. Sparks fly between Lucas and Journey until she flees at midnight, leaving behind nothing but a shoe. Lucas sets out to find his mate, but that's just the beginning of his quest. Can he protect her from the mysterious assassins trying to kill her? And can restless Journey and lonely Lucas take the biggest risk of their adventurous lives, and open their wounded hearts to love? [Original story by Zoe Chant]
Summary: Jensen is a prince and a dragon shifter who left his country to become a bodyguard at Protection, Inc., an all-shifter private security company. Then his past caught up with him, forcing him home for an arranged marriage to a princess who isn't his mate. Neither of them wants the match, but they can't escape it… unless one of them finds their true mate first.
Jared Padalecki is a free-spirited backpacker traveling the world. When he runs out of money, it looks like his adventuring days have come to an end. He must return home and face the reasons for his departure. Then he attends a lavish ball to celebrate the upcoming engagement of Prince Jensen. Jensen recognizes his true partner in Jared and like all dragons he is dominant, arrogant and possessive. With this behavior he comes across granite with the freedom-loving Jared. He doesn't believe in love or mystical partnerships.
Sparks fly between Jensen and Jared until he flees after midnight, leaving behind nothing but a locket. Jensen sets out to find his mate. But only when he decodes the riddle of the locket can he locate Jared and chase him. Unfortunately, even for a dragon shifter, it is difficult to capture someone who is running from him, always escaping at the last second. Can Jensen find his mate and protect him from the mysterious assassins who suddenly appearing everywhere and trying to kill him? And can restless Jared and lonely Jensen take the biggest risk of their adventurous lives, and open their wounded hearts to love?
Click on the pictures for view in original size.
Jensen guards Jared's sleep
This is my first SPN Meant To Be Challenge and my second of two prompts. I've always wanted to create a cover for a dragon story and when I read the prompt for "Defender Dragon" I was immediately hooked. I already saw the finished cover in front of me: Jared shirtless with the medallion and Jensen on his search for his mate and in the form of a dragon in the sky in the background. For Jensen's dragon, only the color green came into question. Green just goes with him so well. Whether all dragons are green or just the royal family - it can be speculated about.
Day and night - this is how you could describe the two covers and banners. First I designed the day cover. But a darker cover went better with the storyline. So night cover and banner were created. The night banner shows the dragon constellation, which plays an important role in the story. Here are two early drafts with too small and too transparent fonts.
Luminous emeralds form the dragon constellation on the medallion. Three dragon bodies enclose three larger emeralds. The first locket was very simple and looked machine-made. That's why I chose an unevenly shaped piece of jewelry made of matt, roughly hammered silver, in the day and night variants. That fit better with Jared and the mystical nature of the locket. There are two pictures. On one the medallion is shown with a broken chain, on the other with a new unbreakable chain made of dragon silver. Jensen had the locket repaired and gave it back to Jared.
Another picture Jensen as a dragon in front of the window and a sleeping Jared. Jensen has finally caught up with Jared, but does not want to wake him because he sleeps so peacefully. He secretly keeps guard in the form of a dragon to protect him from the assassin. Of course, Jared disappeared the next morning after Jensen was distracted by a fight. But he takes up the chase.
I created or edited the artwork with PhotoScrape X.
Unfortunately, theatregirl7299 [Theatregirl7299 on AO3] was unable to continue our collaboration and write the story. We already had a little brainstorming beforehand. Here are some of our first ideas and considerations. The works of art were inspired by it.
Jensen left his country because of differences with his father and in order to escape the pressures of the court.
Then his brother, who was the heir to the throne, died in an accident. Jensen is the next contender for the throne and must return.
The bride's kinship promotes this prestigious connection and does everything in its power to ensure that it comes about. True mate or not.
The bride's family murdered Jensen's brother so that they could take control of the Dragon shifter Kingdom after they marry.
Jensen always refused the strict court ceremonies and never showed any interest in governing. The bride's family now hopes that Jensen will remain disinterested and that the bride can rule with her family. Jensen's brother was uncompromising and would never have shared his throne. Jensen's life is safe because the bride family only comes to power and can stay in power if he is alive. The claim would expire on his death because his spouse cannot inherit the throne.
Jared comes from a wealthy family who have a family empire. He fled after a terrible breakup because his ex-boyfriend betrayed and cheated on him. So he travels the world to forget his pain and find new joy in life. His father believes it is finally time for him to get home and he interrupts the flow of money.
Jared has dragon shifter genes in him. But he doesn't know. The dragon side only shows up when he finds his true mate. Whenever he meets Jensen on the return trip, his dragon instincts increase. It scares him because he doesn't understand what is happening to him and he blames Jensen for it. His new powers often save him involuntarily from the assassins, but also bring him into funny situations.
He got the medallion with the dragon constellation from his grandmother, who was a seer and half a dragon shifter.
The stars on the medallion are locations on a map, and the large stone is Jared's hometown. Jensen goes on a scavenger hunt and travels along the star map from place to place in search of Jared and learns a lot about his mate.
The assassinations increase in the course of history. There's another reason: revenge. There was a prophecy concerning Jared's grandmother. One of her grandchildren would rule by marriage with the Dragon King. The grandfather of Jensen's bride wanted to marry Jared's grandmother to secure the line of succession, but she ran away because she detested him. The grandfather recognizes the medallion at the ball and wants to prevent revenge and the marriage of Jensen and his true mate. The grandfather has a vicious argument with Jared at the ball and is also violent, the locket is torn from his neck and falls down. Jensen later finds the locket while looking for Jared in the ballroom.
Jensen previously courted Jared like a dragon, constantly involved in conversations, constantly touched him. Jared found that very intrusive. He is angry after the argument with grandfather and when Jensen explains that he is his true mate, Jared is fed up (two crazy people - grandfather and Jensen - who babble about dragons) and finally disappears from the ball. Jensen does not come to give him back the medallion. The grandfather now also knows who Jared is and where the grandmother can be found and is planning his revenge.
Jensen saves Jared and his family in the end (his security company is a fighting force and as a pretender to the throne he is the second most powerful dragon after the king), clears up the machinations ... and thus secures Jared's affection.
Present or Space Age? A known world (USA, monarchy, planes, bus, backpacking ...) or the creation of a new world with many descriptions and explanations. Both worlds have their charm.
I love Cinderella stories - poor, rich, castle, dance, ball, lose object, prince is chasing his mate. Jared does not attach much importance to wealth, he is a backpacker (= get to know the country and its people), then the castle (= pomp, wealth, power - in the middle of it Jensen), then the paper chase across the country (= both dance around each other, action, Assassinations), then Jared's home. Jared is now in an opposite position (rich), but Jensen is still a prince and dragon who conquer their mate by all means. At the end there is another ball, only Jensen is being followed by Jared. Happy end.
It would have been a wonderful J2 story. Maybe … sometime ...
