Maleficent

This dragon belongs to HiccupsLeftLeg #132771.

---

Maleficent was born into a clan that made its home near the Twisting Crescendo of the Windswept Plateau. She doesn't speak of her birthclan often, though that is not unusual for Guardians.

Maleficent's Search took her through almost all of the elemental regions in Sornieth, but eventually led her to the far side of the Carrion Canyon (and just shy of the Lightning Farm) in the Shifting Expanse. It was in this desolate land that she found Toothless the Mirror, her Charge.

To say that Maleficent and Toothless had a rough start would be putting it mildly, to say the least. Both personality and culture clash made it nigh impossible for the two dragons to see eye-to-eye on much of anything; and the harsh desert environment wearing on their tempers did nothing to help keep the arguments at bay. (Even now, Maleficent still considers her Charge to be a particularly large thorn in her side.) They spent the first days of their acquaintance in heated disagreements and long silences heavy with mistrust. It wasn't long, however, before the desert forced them to work through their petty squabbling if they wanted to make it to the end of their journey alive. That isn't to say that the arguing ever actually stopped (as to this day, the Guardian and Mirror can agree on very little) merely that it took a backseat to more pressing matters like water, food, and shelter: the basics of survival.

They had made it to the Highland Scrub when the two stumbled over the site that would later become the main lair for the Useless Reptile Clan. Maleficent recognized the towering butte and half-dug well from her earlier travels, and knew they were only a few more days trek from the end of the Shifting Expanse entirely. The thought of finally escaping the harsh environment of the desert was a welcome one. So, of course, Toothless decided he that was going to stay.

The shouting match that followed could have been heard for miles if anyone had been around to hear it. In the end, it came down to Toothless ignoring the larger dragon and Maleficent debating the very tempting option of simply leaving her unwanted Charge to his fate. She nearly did just that, but a Guardian's instincts aren't so easily swayed. Maleficent left the crossroads sixteen different times only to find herself returning after a few days had passed. Eventually, she got tired of leaving the sands behind only to re-enter the desert once more.

Maleficent and Toothless managed to settle into a routine soon after the Guardian's final attempt to abandon her Charge. Sheer determination being one of the few things they have in common, it wasn't long before they had carved a decent-sized lair out of the rockface and finished digging out the well.

Both the lair and clan have grown greatly since those early days. The constant come-and-go of clanmates and other dragons is something that grates on Maleficent's nerves; but such is the nature of any popular crossroads, and there is no changing it. As a result (though it may well have become the norm anyways, simply as a means to get some time away from Toothless) Maleficent spends more than half of her time away from the clan proper. Instead, she spend most days wandering the surrounding sands, looking for dropped trinkets of value, foraging the sparse desert plant life, and harassing the bandits lurking around the edge of the clan's territory with her magic.

When she does return to the lair, it is usually only long enough to drop-off what she has collected from the desert with the appropriate clanmates and check on her Charge. "Checking" on the "Puffed-Up Nuisance" (as she has come to refer to him) typically involves a whack of her tail to some part of Toothless' person and yet another argument, be it long or short.

On one such visit (back during the early days when the clan was still without a name) she managed to convince a group of passing dragons that Toothless' half-heard muttering of "Useless Reptile," was actually the name of the burgeoning clan. Though she hadn't meant for much of anything to come of the incident, word of the desert crossroads' clan and its odd name spread quickly afterwards. The undesired monicker drove Toothless to distraction just as quickly and still annoys the Mirror to this day. Maleficent will never (openly) admit to being the instigator of the misunderstanding, nor is it likely that anyone other than Toothless will ever suspect her of it, but there is no denying that she derives a very real (if silent) pleasure from Toothless' continued irritation.

---

Still Needed:
Complete for now.

---

I know that reference!: 2