Gift-Fic: Greeting the Newest Van Dort
by: Flaming Trails

Fweeeeeeeee! ”Here, Ferdinand! Here boy!”

Ferdinand jerked his head up from his feeder, then bounded his way over to Victor, wings fluttering in a way almost akin to a wagging tail. “Hello, Ferdy,” Victor said, stroking his steed between the feelers and chuckling anxiously as Ferdinand “licked” him with his sticky proboscis. “Yech! Yes, yes, I’m happy to see you too…I, um – I need to introduce you to someone.”

Ferdinand rocked from side to side, multifaceted eyes catching the light and gleaming rainbow. “You see – we’ve had a recent addition to the family,” Victor explained, twisting his fingers together. “We love him very much, but – we need to see how you’ll get along with him too. Before anything ends up truly official.” He swallowed. “So, ah – can – c-can you be nice? Please? For my sake?”

Ferdinand just stared at him, wings still twitching. Victor nodded. “Right…” He looked back at the house. “All right, Alice – let him out!”

The back door creaked open – and with no further warning, a beige and white blur shot outside, yapping all the while. Ferdinand shied, sending powerful gusts swirling around the back garden as he fluttered backwards. “Easy, boy! It’s okay!” Victor called, holding up a hand. “Stay, stay…”

The blur zoomed around Ferdinand’s legs, then stopped to sniff at his backside, revealing itself to be a small dog with big bat-like ears, four stumpy paws, and a stubby tail going a mile a minute. “You little monster,” Victor said fondly, scooping him up and holding him close. He traced over the crooked white streak on the pup’s forehead with a finger. “Don’t scare your big brother like that.” He looked back at Ferdinand, waiting for the butterfly to settle before holding out the corgi. “Ferdinand – I would like you to meet Lightning.”

Giant butterfly and tiny dog regarded each other for a long moment. Then Ferdinand’s proboscis flicked out and swirled the fur on Lightning’s face. Lightning yapped and tried his best to lick him back, tail thudding against Victor’s arm. Victor grinned. “So you like each other?”

The proboscis made a brief detour toward Lightning’s rear. “I’ll take that as a yes,” Victor laughed. “Good – I had no idea how we were going to keep him out of the yard anyway.”

The End