Chapter Text
https://archiveofourown.info/works/43220992/chapters/108631822
got inspiration for this when this story was mentioned in discord and i assumed this might be the pretext since it makes some sense. alas it wasnt. but... i cant let this slide... bc i have a MIGHTY NEED now that i am inspired
qinter? idk qinter isnt my thing. if i wrote it it would be mostly one sided (evil) qibli > winter. bc who doesnt love that dynamic. but it wouldnt wrap up nicely if i didnt so i guess i would. definitely slow build w lots of qibli > winter pining though. also i want moon and the others to be involved somehow. not sure yet but i want it
anyway w/o further ado
winter is an ice cream VENDOR in the scorpion den and qibli is his grandpap vultures heir to his criminal empire
sort of a personality/role swap. winter is happy-ish and kind while qibli is bratty and nasty and uses his smarts for evil and mean spirited pranks
furthermore narwhal too is the opposite of his canon self. havent figured out how tundra and icicle and hailstorm should be atm
-narwhal is a loving and caring father. he and tundra hated icewing noble society and deigned to escape it. however out on their own w/o the resources of their heritage @ their disposal they had to start over from 0. not to mention endure standing out like sore thumbs and discrimination from the other tribes. narwhal tried many ways to make them a living, finally landing on- u guessed it- selling ice cream in the scorpion den. turns out dragons in the desert rly, rly like ice cream- who wouldve guessed? and so they settled there and winter and icicle and hailstorm grew up icewing transplants to the scorpion den and when narwhal deemed them old enough, part time ice cream vendors. its not glamorous and they dont make a ton of money but its better than what they had before, leagues better. narwhal is even close to completely paying off his debt he accrued from his previous failed ventures.
ice cream or snowcones?
qibli is as i said vultures would be successor, enemy of thorn and the outclaws and cobra is... somewhere. i havent figured her out yet either. ah, like in that one fic Rattlesnake and Sirocco were the ones sold to thorn instead of qibli.
-as previously stated thorn and the outclaws are his enemies, including his reformed siblings rattlesnake and sirocco. he is vultures would be successor and doing a great job @ it. he is bratty, imposing, mischievous and conniving, and oc very very smart; in short, a whole lot to handle in a pint sized dragonet aged package. he easily punches far above his weight for being a dragonet.
-and i dont just mean that metaphorically; he is an excellent fighter. he prefers not to get his claws dirty if he doesnt want to, but if he is forced to fight, he is quick, intelligent and wastes little movement. his strikes land accurately and hard. not to mention creative. straightforward fights bore him so he likes to mix things up, like tying his claws behind his back or wearing a blindfold.
>or using acupuncture to do weird things like temporarily paralyze a limb or shuffle his senses around- unrealistic but could work.
-vulture is to him simply an obstacle to overcome. in fact he regularly plots to kill him(which vulture encourages), w/o success oc. the old sandwing is always just a little bit his better in whatever he tries.
-qibli doesnt know it but vulture actually adores him- in a sense. not in a mushy gushy way like a friend or family member but like a favorite toy. bc there is simply no one else who can entertain him when they play. in fact, though i wouldnt say it in the story, qibli is in fact smarter than vulture. vulture just has his years of experience and accrued knowledge over him. plus he loves the way qibli seethes when he loses to him. its like... vulture finds a sort of kinship in him, but not quite emotionally in the typical sense. or maybe it is emotional and he just denies it. idk yet
>gotta come up w a better name for the cartel than talons of power. that is just too blase.
-qibli is a very effective cog in the cartel. whatever jobs vulture gives him he completes expertly and ahead of schedule. even though he is near the top in the chain of command he always has a fair amount of free time on his claws. something that tends to bug his fellow 'captains' and 'commanders'. he spends this time either studying to surpass vulture, studying for fun, pranking and abusing dragons for fun, or just hanging around town- often some combination of those.
-like w his grandfather, he butts heads w the other near-the-top dragons in the cartel food chain, though usually to the resolution of him hoodwinking them and getting away w it. the rest either admire or fear him or are so new they dont know abt him yet.
-visually he looks almost like a mini vulture- their features differ but he has the same taste in jewelry and sinister tattoos. although there is definitely a difference since, he isnt copying his grandpa(he insists on that- in fact he makes an effort to acquire things that vulture doesnt have and taunt him w them)
>he and vulture compete over hordes
-in public he is rude crude and... idk. something goes after that but i cant remember what. basically his biggest hurdle day to day when he isnt doing something for his grandfather or trying to kill him is finding a way to entertain himself. he tends to slack on finding a way to surpass vulture.
>maybe has a pair who are his friends/retainers/lackeys- one is an overzealous musclehead hypeman and the other is like an older sister to them both. officially they both rank far lower than him but he keeps them around bc theyve known eachother since they were hatchlings and are friends
the scorpion den isnt actively controlled by either vultures gang or the outclaws- they are both just 2 of the biggest presences. there are other gangs too but vultures is the strongest. qibli frequently picks clashes w the others for entertainment. its sort of just a seedier than avg town, not a warzone. there are gang wars and murders and robberies and underground fight clubs and betting rings and drugs and all that stuff but its business as usual and by the next day the town has moved on.
how he and winter meet i have yet to figure out. same w how he starts crushing on winter
for some reason winter continually surprises him. And it’s bc winter is kind of airheaded and also nothing like the dragons Qibli is around all the time so he does things that don’t make sense to him
-he suffers from moments of failing to read the room, see the obvious, clumsiness, etc. which never seem to bite him, somehow
-narwhal raised him to be the opposite of what was expected of HIM when he was growing up: kind, tolerant, see the good in dragons, etc. and he nurtured the good traits winter already had.
@ some point somehow moon kink turtle peril and the rest get involved
as previously stated raised by the canon opposite versions of narwhal and tundra winter is almost nothing like his canon self. he is kind, polite.
-his parents retained some traits as their canon selves- tundra more so than narwhal. for instance tundra has an affinity for dignity and grace. however narwhal tends to be somewhat rambunctious and boyish
>same w winter. he is shy and easily embarrassed. almost like turtle, but more animated. basically a sweetheart who must be protected @ all costs
-he has surprising talents that even qibli cant match.
>gambling: winters luck is insane compared to qibli. the sandwing never seems to have good luck when he goes gambling
evil qibli story: https://archiveofourown.info/works/64660753/chapters/166106209
ch1:
qibli punishing a member of the gang for something
jewelry bc dragons but especially vulture and qibli have a natural appetite for it, tattoos to rep the same things real gangsters do - kills, religion, allegiance, family, origins -and baggy clothing to hide weapons in
-qibli has long since stopped carrying around an ordinary prototypical knife- he likes weird things and styles that make fighting entertaining again
winter advertising for his familys ice cream shop again