Headcanons for that dragon!Ram 'verse
That I might write once Despacito (Moon Knight) is done.
And I need to write this out before it makes my head explode.
Dragon-hybrids are born from eggs. This is important for later.
The British empire has been methodically killing every dragon and dragon hybrid in their territory since forever, as they don't want anyone more powerful than the Empire getting ideas. So they attacked the Dragon villages first, fast and not leaving any survivor.
Ram is a fire-dragon hybrid, and was rescued from the dragon massacre by Venkatarama's wife, who hid his egg by pretending it was her pregnant belly. While neither her nor Venkatarama knew exactly how to take care of a dragon hybrid, they did their best to encourage him to embrace both sides of his nature, while at the same time teaching him to keep his dragon side hidden from anyone outside of the family for his own safety.
Dragon hybrids usually shift when feeling great emotion or under great duress. Ram has taught himself not to shift no matter what, as he is the king of supressing emotion. All that shifts when he's starting to lose control of those are his eyes, which turn gold/red, and his eyelids that start showing his gold scales. HE is quick to hide those, and usually throwing water on himself or deep breaths calm him enough to shift to full human. In full hybrid form, when he's angry, his hair turns white. Very Super-saiyan.
His first book from his hoard was a fairy tale book that his mother gave to him as a gift. He keeps that book with him always, when he needs to move and create a new hoard for himself.
He has wings and can fly, both in hybrid and full dragon form. But he doesn't really like it as he feels that he could forget his mission because he feels so much joy when flying.
Dragon hybrids have an instinct to protect those weaker than them. This has made Ram very conflicted when he is undercover as all his instincts yell at him to help those he's fighting at all times. (This is also why he absolutely forgets all about chasing Lachuu in order to save the boy in the river)
Ram can breathe fire, but he never did it until Akthar found out he was an hybrid and started using it to make smoke figures to make Akthar laugh.
Dragon hybrids mate for life, and have a pre-destined mate. In order to find them, a small section of their scales -usually where they are to be touched by their mate for the first time- are the color of his mate's. Ram has a circle of green-blue scales, the color of the seas, in his right arm so he knows his future mate is a water dragon. (Yeah, I decided to go angsty and yes, Bheem is a hybrid too. More on him below, but he obviously has a circle of gold-scales in his right arm too, just that he has never seen it)
Dragons hybrids are not easy to kill, as they heal faster than humans (Ram's uncle insists that Ram shifts every night in the privacy of his apartment so that he can heal from the punishment he gives his body), and usually would be immortal. However, they can die from a broken heart if their pre-destined mate rejects them for any reason (The mate doesn't die, just never finds a new mate) or dies after the hybrid has accepted them as mates.
Because Ram is a young dragon-hybrid, his full dragon form is still small. He's about the size of a wolf, which is why he can curl easily in a nest of books or on top of his desk.
Once Akthar discovered Ram being a dragon-hybrid, Ram's favorite place to sleep when shifted is on Akthar's chest. He also likes to curl up around his shoulders. Akthar/Bheem is the only one outside Ram's adopted human family who has ever seen him in his full dragon form, and the only one outside his adopted human village who has seen him in hybrid form.
Sita is Ram's adopted sister. He loves her a lot, but he doesn't love her romantically as dragon hybrids only fall in love with other dragon hybrids.
Here's the angsty part because we need MORE angst besides the whole betrayal thing from the plot: While Bheem IS a dragon hybrid, AND Ram's destined mate... He also has no idea he's a dragon hybrid. In order to protect him (And also, a bit selfishly), the Gonds who found his egg and adopted him as part of the tribe have been feeding him a medicine that suppresses his dragon side completely, and rising him to ignore some of his dragon instincts, such as hoarding, while taking advantage of his protection instincts to have an immortal protector of the tribe. He has never shifted, so he has no idea he can.
SO... Ram instinctively knows that Bheem is his mate, and doesn't get why, if Ram has been so open about his dragon side, Bheem won't even show him his real eyes (By the way, they go blue with a green halo). Bheem, for his side, loves Ram but knows that since Ram is a dragon, he can't love Bheem, so he's trying hard to hide his feelings and pretend he's in love with Jenny, even if he only sees her as a nice british lady and a way to save Maili. Bheem also thinks that the reason why Ram is so affectionate with him is because he's the only one who knows the secret, and so, the only one with whom Ram can be himself.
Lacchu is the one who knows how to make the medicine for Bheem, and at some point may have to decide between telling the truth to Bheem to save Ram's life... or let his torturer die knowing that Bheem might survive the broken heart as he never acknowledged Ram as his mate.
Bheem discovered Ram being a hybrid one day when he just went to his apartment late at night to have dinner with him (notice how when he goes there in the movie after the market with Jenny he just goes to the kitchen and grabs food? He's so used to be there it's home), when Ram was already asleep in his hybrid form. Because Ram already had decided Bheem was his mate (Before Bheem convinced him he was human) he just felt so safe he never woke up nor shifted to human instinctively (as he had gotten in the habit whenever he sensed danger)
Bheem at first thinks Sita is a dragon, the way Ram talks about her as his fiancee (As part of his cover with the Empire). He is VERY surprised when he finds out she's human and thus, can't really be his fiancee.
Bheem can breathe underwater. He has never figured out that that's not something other protectors could do.
Before meeting Ram, due to how the Gond tribe raised him, Bheem never had a hoard. But the day he met Ram, he picked up a small pebble from the river where they rescued the boy, as it reminded him of Ram's human eyes. After that, any pretty rock or crystal that called his attention ended up in his hands. He doesn't realize he is creating a hoard until someone else (Sita or Jenny maybe?) point it to him, and he can already sleep on it in human form.
Jenny is a sort of expert in dragons, as she has collected books about them (Some of which at some point would end up in Ram's hoard if she can find a way to give them to him, when she finds out he's a dragon) She hates that the Empire has killed them and is trying to find one alive to see if it's possible to bring them back from extintion. She also is not that blind to how British people treat natives, and in secret she had also been helping revolutionaries escape. No one ever suspected her as she always acts so innocent. She also speaks Telugu, but pretends not to in order to keep her status (This is why she invites Bheem so quickly to the house. She KNOWS he wants to go, but needs to pretend to be completely oblivious in case her uncle's spies are watching. It is also why she has no angst at her uncle and aunt dying. She was actually thinking of doing the deed herself given how cruel they were.)
The very first time Ram loses control of himself, and needs to run to his place to hide, shift and manage to bring his emotions back under control before anyone sees him is when he sees Bheem leave with Jenny for the market.
Edward and Scott have boasted that they have killed dragons single handedly. This is not true, Edward has never faced a dragon, and Scott only saw the dead bodies after the attack on the Village where Ram would have lived if he had been raised by dragons.
Dragon-hybrids are very, very single minded once they got a prey. That is why Ram's uncle was very surprised that Ram was content with just showing the sketch around instead of looking for more clues to find Lacchu, but then, he meets Bheem and understands why his nephew's focus is so divided.
Snake venom usually does nothing to dragon-hybrids. The reason why the bite of the banded krite almost killed Ram was because he was already fighting his broken heart, thinking that Bheem would rather be friends with a human than accept him as a mate and realizing that Bheem had to be the man he was chasing. He just wanted to be wrong about the second thing and die in Akthar's arms, skipping the whole heartache process.
At the same rate, the only reason why his body fought the venom in the end was because the antidote had been given to him by Bheem. Even if his mind wanted to die before hurting his mate, his body wouldn't let him because Bheem wanted him to live.
Before dying from a broken heart, Dragon-hybrids can go completely feral. Despite knowing his dragon form was too small to cause too much damage, Ram was counting on that happening during his execution -that wouldn't take, as you can't kill a dragon-hybrid by hanging- so that he might kill Scott and as many british soldiers he could, hoping that he'd retain enough of his old self not to kill any more of his people.
If Bheem could shift to his half-form, he could have talked to the animals and explained them why he needed them. Then the massacre would've been a lot bigger.
During the whole fight for his arrest, Ram's eyes were in his dragon form as he couldn't control himself. The anger and betrayal that Bheem felt was so great that his eyes ALMOST shifted, fighting the medicine of the Gonds.
Dragon-hybrid's skin reacts to their element. Ram's is always a higher temperature from humans, so those who don't know his secret think he's running a small fever. Bheem's is always cold to the touch, like a river.
The first time Bheem's eyes shifted was when he saw Ram again, in the solitary cage. The shock of seeing Bheem again, looking at him with love, with his true eyes, brought back Ram from the edge of going feral. Bheem, from his part, was too overtaken by emotions to notice that he was seeing more colors and more clearly than usual (Dragon-hybrids can see in the dark)
Once they get the weapons to Ram's village, Ram starts skulking again because Bheem STILL insists he's human and can't be Ram's mate. It falls on Sita, Jenny and yes, Lacchu who has now started to see why Ram and Bheem belong to each other, to bring Bheem's instincts back up so that he will realize who he is (When told directly, he laughs and tells them to stop joking, so more extreme measures are needed.)
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