Work Text:
“Silence, traitor!” Igneous’s voice cracked, making him squeak out his line. He blinked, shifting in his oversized costume, and tried again. “You will lie to me no longer!”
Dreamer squeaked as the other hatchling pulled the far-too-big mask off of him, revealing his cute little face underneath. “I- I- I’m sorry sir!! I promise it wasn’t on purpose!” He scrambled back, trying to hide between the curtains to the side of the stage.
“What shall I do, my lord?” Frost hummed, hovering closer to lean over Igneous’s shoulder.
“Um…” Igneous stammered, forgetting his line for a moment. “Make him explain himself!”
The Spiral continued as though nothing had happened. “You heard him.” Frost flicked her tail.
Dreamer had to try really hard to not break character or burst into a giggle fit. “I- I’m sorry sir! I can’t just reveal my secret! If I did, it wouldn’t be a secret anymore!” He choked on a giggle on that last line and snorted loudly, then blinked shyly and tried to pretend he’d just sneezed. It didn’t look convincing.
Frost broke character and laughed. “You’re doing so well! You two were born for acting, really.”
“Really?” the two hatchlings squeaked in unison.
“Really” the Spiral promised. “I’ll have to ask Sally to make costumes in your size.”
Igneous whined. “But I like the big ones!”
“I know you do, sweetie.” Frost nuzzled him and helped him out of his oversized cloak. “But you can’t wear the big ones when you’re performing, you might trip and fall and we don’t want that.”
Dreamer wriggled himself out of his costume and giggled at the mental image. “Don’t fall on your snoot!!”
“I’m not gonna fall!”
“Are too!”
“Am not!”
“Are too!”
“Kids. Behave.” Frost giggled at their antics and put their costumes away. “What do you think about this? I was thinking we could do a play about a mystery for the Greenskeeper Gathering, everyone always likes those and they’re a great way to start acting because they’re so simple.”
“Oooooo, a mystery!” Dreamer squeaked excitedly. “Can I have secrets? I like having secrets!”
Igneous nodded. “But can we be on the same side? I don’t like it when he lies to me. I wanna be on the same side.”
“Alright, I can ask someone else to be the bad guy” Frost promised. “Or…” She leaned in and gave the two hatchlings a mischievous smirk. “You can both be bad guys.”
“YES!” Now it was Igneous’s turn to squeak excitedly. “Yes yes yes I wanna play a bad guy!”
“We can be bad guys together! Like those two in auntie’s stories!” Dreamer squeaked. “I make the plans and you do the things!”
“Nuh-uh!” Igneous shook his head. “I wanna make the plans.”
“Nuh-uh!” Dreamer was about to argue, but stopped when Frost raised a claw.
“How about I’m the big bad and you are my spies?” she suggested.
Igneous trilled happily. “Yes!”
“Yes!” Dreamer agreed.
Frost giggled. “Then it’s settled. Tomorrow I’ll get the rest of the troupe and we can start learning the script!”
“Okay!” the hatchlings chirped in unison. They couldn’t wait to start!