Woodsy Retreat (Valgard)

[Summer & Swiftscales]

Time and Date:: November 25th, Noon
Weather:: Light snow fall, inside the forest the snow isn't as heavy as outside but there is a cold breeze.
Previous Threads?:: None

Swiftscales knew there were times that Summer wanted to be alone. But even when the young rider would want to venture off on her own, the Longwing was never to far away. If Summer was ever to get near any danger, the dragon would be able to be there quickly. She didn't doubt her riders skills, no not at all, but if Summer ever did cross tracks with a dragon in an irritable mood, it was better to be around and save her then to have to bring an injured girl back to Berk. This was where you could find Swiftscales today. Summer had wanted to get a little archery and dagger practice in while in the woods.

The young girl had already walked quite a bit into the woods without realizing that Swiftscales was flying just above the treetops. The dragon would stay far enough behind that her rider wouldn't see her shadow if it did happen to break through the trees. When her rider did decide to stop her travels, Swiftscales would circle back and find a way to enter the forest quietly and then stay in hearing range in case something happened. As she saw Summer start to slow down, the dragon knew that her rider was close to stopping. Because of this, she backtracked slightly and was able to get into the forest thanks to a tree that looked as if it had been sliced in half. Probably a Timberjack.

She walked back through the forest slowly and when she could hear her rider again, found a comfortable clearing to be able to lay in as she stayed alert. Summer had found a clearing large enough that she would be able to hit her target, a tree about 50 feet away, with ease. So that's what she set to doing. She hooked the bow that was off her back and placed an arrow from the quiver as she shot and aimed. The first one hit precisely in the middle and a smile took over her features. Perfect. She took aim again, and gave a small frown as the next arrow shifted slightly to the right of that one. Her frown deepened more as the next arrow lifted above that one a good foot. She knew the blame was on the wind that had started picking up slightly. Summer tightened her jacket around herself before lining up another arrow.

She took a deep breathe as she released the next arrow, this one went sailing past the tree though. She let out a groan at the thought of trying to find the arrow. "Dang it." She muttered to herself as draped her empty quiver and bow over her back. She quickly walked over to the tree, basically yanking the three arrows out of the tree. She stashed them in her quiver as she went deeper into the forest. Her eyes stayed to the ground as she looked for her lost arrow. It was only a couple minutes later that she found it. And as she leaned back up from picking up, something strange caught her gaze. "What the-?" She took a couple steps closer to what appeared to be a small cabin in the woods. She walked around a corner slowly, her hand twitching over her leg where her dagger was sheathed and tied to her upper thigh.

Seeing a door, she took a small breath as she walked over to it. She hesitated only seconds before her curiosity got the best of her and she gave a small knock. What she didn't realize was that her dragon had heard her angry mutters and had followed her silently. Swiftscales now stood far enough back that Summer wouldn't necessarily sense her, but whomever opened the door would definitely see the large green dragon.

Words: 635
Tagged: Valgard
Notes: Hope this is good! Let me know if I should change anything. ^.^

[Valgard & Stump]

    After a long night of cutting down trees, Valgard slept out in his shack that night. He still had a lot of work to do, and needed to carry in the three trees that were still out in the woods if they were even still there. Occasionally a dragon or something of the like will take his tree, and he doesn't really mind it. Valgard did not, however, realize that he had slept in until noon. He rubbed his eyes, as he was just getting up. "Stump... where are you..." He groaned. He shifted onto his side, and looked around for his companion. "Stump... what are you even doing..." He yawned and threw his covers off. Feeling a light, and what some would call cold, draft coming in, he threw on his thin tan tunic and brown pants. Stump was staring at the door waiting. "What now Stump? I doubt anything would be out here besides dragons and trees." Valgard rubbed his eyes again. It was far to early in his wake up period to be apart of Stump's Fiascoes.

    Stump ran around in circles in an almost worrying fashion. He started to roll about and stand on his hind legs to imitate something much larger than he was. Stump flew in a quick circle, and then landed in front of the door. He stood there ever vigilant, and waited for Valgard to do something. He even began to hiss a little.
  
    Valgard closed his eyes again to make sure he was actually awake, and then proceeded to the door. "Another dragon perhaps?" He wondered aloud. Then he heard someone knocking. "What... all the way out here?" Valgard thought about kicking the door down, and letting Stump blast whoever was behind it, but instead he just picked up his friend, and made his way to the door. "Who is out this deep in the woods?" He opened the door to find a female viking towering over him. He obviously outweighed her though, as he was obviously much wider. "Erm... Hello? Can I help you?" He was confused on two things. One was the idea of why she was so far out in the woods, and the other was how she got so tall. Stump started to hiss when both he and Valgard saw the big green dragon that was incredibly bigger than Stump. Covering Stump's mouth, Valgard Tried to smile when he asked two additional questions. "What are you doing this far out in the woods, and is that your dragon behind you?" He was quite startled, and mostly intimidated by the large green dragon that stood behind the tall slender woman. It was truly a sight to close the door on.

(452 words, hope it works.)

[Summer & Swiftscales]

As Summer waited, she couldn't help but overhear little sounds coming from insides. Even words, but they only sounded like mumbles; the actual words not being able to understand. She even started to hear a bit of a hiss and for that, she took a couple steps backwards from the door. Her body slightly tense as she got ready to jump out of the way of a rogue shot, just in case. The door finally opened a few minutes earlier and to say Summer was surprised would be a bit of an understatement. The boy whom opened the door, was much shorter, yet quite a bit stockier than she was. He also looked quite young.

Her eyebrows furrowed for a moment wondering what such a young kid was doing this far out in the woods. It was when he started to ask the second series of questions that she sort of shaped out of her thoughts. She turned her head slightly to see what the boy and his Terrible Terror were staring at. Her eyes landed on the Longwing and she gave a huff before turning to Swiftscales completely. "Really?! I ask for some time alone and you still follow me? What does it take girl?" Swiftscales narrowed her eyes slightly on her rider before grumbling back, "Just wanted to make sure you had backup incase you met a wild dragon. You know your family would kill me if you got hurt."

Summer just rolled her eyes and turned back to the young boy. She shook her head and gave another sigh, before giving a small smile. "Sorry about that. A bit rude of me right? I'm Summer. The Longwing behind me is Swiftcales. Yes, she is my dragon. Who doesn't know how to mind her own business at times." The last part was spoken a bit gruffer, and her dragon let out a rumble in response. "As to answer your other questions, I was just shooting some arrows in a small clearing over there," she hooked her thumb over her shoulder, "and one of my arrows overshot and landed near here. Couldn't help but notice the house and wonder if it was inhabited."

She took another look at the house before speaking again. "This is really good work. Did you build it yourself?" Her eyes focused again on the boy and his dragon, noticing that his hand was on the dragons mouth. "Is he intimidated by Swiftscales? Do I need to send her off?" This was their house after all and if her dragon made his dragon uncomfortable, she would send her off.

Words: 435
Notes: It was great! Sorry for taking so long ^.^

[Valgard & Stump]

    Blinking two or three times again, and yawning, Valgard took a step out of his house and closed the door with his elbow. "I did build this. I don't exactly live here, but it helps on the job." Valgard looked down at Stump, who was wriggling in his arms, and smiled. "Nah. He is like this no matter what happens. He's just extremely excitable, and being a Terrible Terror doesn't help very much." He blinked one last time to establish being awake. 

    Stump wriggled loose and ran up to the strange new dragon. Stump rolled around and ran in between whatever he could see. Smelling the scents of the new dragon, and sizing her up. He looked back to Valgard. Valgard nodded, and Stump climbed up a nearby tree and sat up there on a "Vigilant" watch.
    
    Valgard Looked back to the woman. "If it is not rude, might I know your name?" He shrugged slightly. " It's hard to communicate without a name you know?" He was starting to sweat a little despite the cold breeze and snow falling. "And, I slept in a little bit. I have some trees that I need to bring into the village for fire wood and that stuff. I am an apprentice lumberjack, but I usually go out alone."  Stump fired off a small fireball that streaked through the sky. "And he likes to do that stuff, so being out here benefits us both sometimes." Valgard smiled, or tried to, and stepped out to the tree Stump had climbed. He tapped it one or two times, and stump came bounding down. "Care to find those trees with me?" He laughed a little nervously. He picked up Stump and stroked his head for a minute. 

    Stump once more wriggled out of Valgard's arms and ran over to the other viking. Acquiring her scent, he ran back to the other dragon and looked up at her. He sat there for awhile before being called back to Valgard, which was more low hum than an actual calling of his name. He rubbed Valgard's leg and murred.

    Valgard rolled his eyes a little before he remembered something. He went back inside and came back out with his wood cutter's ax. "Always good to have something to do more work in case there is time, and to defend yourself right?" He shrugged and smiled. He started to head off towards the closest tree that he cut down last night. "Let's get it done right?" Stump walked behind Valgard knowing what came next.

(Word count: 423)
(Notes: Yeaaaaah)

[Summer & Swiftscales]

As the young boy closed the door and started speaking, Summer's eyes left the Terrible Terror and drifted back to her dragon, whom she nodded too. Swiftscales walked a few footsteps closer and tapped Summer lightly on the head with her own snout, her own way of saying sorry. Summer just reached up and rubbed her dragons snout once and gave a small smile as she turned back to the boy and small dragon. She gave a slight nod to him. That was good to know then.

When the small dragon went up to Swiftscales, the Longwing ducked her head down to sniff at the little one before he ran to a tree and perched himself there. Her eyes stayed on the new argon for a couple of seconds before drift back to the young boy as he spoke. Summer had just introduced them, did he not hear her? She snorted out as she gave a small roll of her eyes, like human like dragon. Summer just stared at him whilst raising an eyebrow. "Ummm. I'm Summer Rosestrand. My dragon's name in Swiftscales." She repeated herself before shaking her head and letting her eyebrow drop. Whatever, it wasn't that big of a deal to repeat herself. "What are your names?"

She nodded as he talked. That made a lot more sense about why they were out here and why he had built this house. Especially with the dragons attitude. She could only imagine what an attitude like that would cause as far as destruction in the village. To his question, she gave a slight shrug of her shoulders. She looked back to her dragon who gave a slight nod as well. "Why not. We have nothing better to do today really. Plus, the snow isn't as thick in here as it is out there."

As the Terrible Terror ran over to her, she bent down a little and held out her hand for it to sniff before it headed to Swiftscales. After a few minutes it went bounding back to the boy. She nodded to the young boy and patted her bow hanging off her back. "Its why I always carry my bow and arrows or daggers with me." She fell into step, slightly behind and to the side of the boy, Swiftscales following right behind her. "So. How many trees do you have to take in today?" Swiftscales gave out a rumble as her head swiveled bak and forth watching an listening to their surroundings.

Words: 417

[Valgard & Stump]

    Valgard blinked for a minute before suddenly realizing what had happened for a moment there. "I... uh.. er..." He locked up for a solid two minutes before finishing. "I... apologize. I must have spaced. I just uh... asked for your name twice didn't I. Or something like that. I am Valgard, and my dragon that is trailing me is named Stump." He nodded realizing that he finally corrected what he did wrong. He kept walking, and he answered the question. "I have three I cut down last night, but one or two might be missing. Wild dragons and all." He kept a brisk pace moving to the first tree. He sincerely hoped that he wouldn't be hit behind the head or something. Summer was certainly a new face to him, and he didn't like the prospect of being clubbed.


    Stump was darting back and forth. He scouted ahead, and he lingered back behind. He was climbing up trees and sneaking around bushes. Stump actually lit one tree on fire, but Valgard quickly put it out with his shirt, much to the likely disgust of Summer. 

    Valgard was not used to company, so he was rather rigid. When he finally arrived at the tree he was supposed to take into the village, he found half of it gone. "Ah. Well. Looks like some dragon was busy. Oh well. There's still half a tree left. Let's go." Valgard picked up half the tree, which was only about 5 meters in length and about 1 meter in diameter, and heaved it onto his shoulder. "Well. Let's not waste too much time here. I slept in yeah?" He kind of chuckled before noticing stump. He was staring off into space. "What did you find Stump?"
    
    Stump started to hiss before letting off his second shot of the day into the woods. Definitely hitting his target, Stump looked back at Valgard before running off to retrieve or continue fighting whatever it was he found. Valgard nodded a half nod not really knowing what was going on, so Stump ran into the woods.

    "He'll be back in a few moments. I'll give him until I go back into the woods to show back up before I get concerned. He often does this, so I am not too worried. Let's carry on yes?"

(Words: 386. I actually did space out for a minute there.)