It Starts With a Bang [OPEN]

[Woodrot & Garlic Surprise]

Time and Date:: Winter, Snoggletog, late evening.
Weather:: Very cold and light snow on the ground
Previous Threads?:: N/A

Cold, bitter, and unpleasant where a few words to describe the night. But in the dimly lit log cabin, none of that seemed to phase the Herbalist. Hands busy, grinding some leaves while putting fresh ones into the mix. A faint hum escaped him, leaving that work to grab a bucket filled with water. "Dinner time my lovelies!" Dumping the ground mix into the water, he took it over to a row of potted plants.

Each one got a carefully measured amount, all the while he hummed happily to himself. One of the larger bulbs quivered slightly as he watered it. "Oh, you liked that!" But when he looked at it's small sprout, and dainty leaves a frown spread across his face. "But you don't look so good." Inspecting the leaves closer, he lifted one gently to feel if it was okay. But a faint sting caused him to look at his hand. "Sfffffouch!" He let go. His finger tips glowing bright red from heat. "That's new!" He darted to grab a small leather bound book. Before he could grab his pencil the egg began to emit a high whining noise.

Before you could say 'Monsterous Nightmare' it had happened. The whining got higher and higher, until the pot shattered. Dirt falling away the bulb glowed red hot before finally it cracked. But not just any crack, it exploded. The force of impact sent the lithe viking flying, slamming into a wall. The force of him hitting it, and the explosion combined collapsed it to rubble beneath him. All the while a rather high, and extremely femine scream escaped him.

Huddled in a pile of debris he clung to his notebook, clothes on fire and face covered in ash. "It was a dragon egg..." He managed to mumble, panting heavily. Standing up, his legs shaking he stared at where the 'plant' had been. "It was a dragon egg..." He repeated, a bit louder and more sure of what had happened. Squinting against the smoke he tried to see the damage. When suddenly a head popped out. "DRAGON." His voice was shrill He stumbled back, tripping over the now destroyed wall. Falling down he grunted as he hit the floor. The green head warbled slightly, and then another head popped out the ash. "T-two dragons!?" They started to move closer, cooing and clicking their jaws. He soon realized it was not two dragons, but one. And it didn't have two heads. It had four. And each one had it's eyes fixed on him.

"N-nonononono!" He shuffled back, pushing away from debris with his feet. "Stay back!" He rolled over and crawled until he could push himself up into a somewhat standing position. Shakily he began to run, his chant following him. "Nononononono!" It didn't take him long to stumble through the door, onto the snow covered streets of the village. His own legs flailing about, kicking himself several times in an attempt to go faster.

The tiny dragon warbled among it's heads. «Mommy!» «Yeah! Mommy!» «Come back mommy!» It stumbled out of the burning dirt, jaws opening and closing. Seeing the man take off, naturally it decided to follow it's 'mommy'. «Wait!» «Come back!» «Hungry!» It stumbled, learning how to use it's new feet as quickly as it could. Tiny wings flapping in hopes it would go faster.

Panting heavily, he began to sway and stumble. Palms resting on his knees until his lungs could get a good bit more air in them. "D-dragon..." One final huff of breathe, and his body decided it would rather be on the ground. Face first into the snow, limbs splayed out to either side. The small dragon caught up to him, climbed onto his back and sat down. Clicking it's jaws, each head swiveled about, surveying the area. Meanwhile Rot simply rolled his head so his cheek rested on the ground instead of his face. "Why do you hate me..." He groaned in an attempt to get on his feet again, but the dragon on his back did not seem to want to move. "Oh please, don't let me freeze here..."

[Sven Vellyn]

Sven and Beorn were heading to the hall to partake in the festivities of berk. He was extra-wrapped up, and even then he could feel the bitter cold. The locals told him this was still winter, unbelievably. The Snoggletog "tree" loomed up above the village in the distance.

"It better be warm inside the hall - I feel like I'm going to lose a limb if we don't hurry up." He muttered bitterly, his jaw chattering

The ground wasn't great either - either the snow was packed up well up to above his knees, othertimes the ground was solid and icy, and sometimes it was both. So of course when he was trying not to slip on this sheet of ice, the other Vikings apparently had no problem walking on.

What was more was the explosion that happened almost right next to them. It caught him by surprise, the gush of warm and a mini-shockwave that sent him slipping to the floor, painfully landing on his butt on the hard ice. He groaned. A small piece of debris hit him in the face. He yelped and groaned louder, throwing off the small plaque of singing wood to the side and slowly wobbled to his feet. He could feel some sort of injury on his forehead, but it was too cold to know whether it was a cut, graze, or just a bruise.

Beorn made a comment and Sven shot him a look, before swearing at him. He brushed himself down and turned to look at what just happened - half the house had been blasted open, some parts on fire.

"What the..." He could only say, with a confused expression. The expression furrowed further as a man escaped the household, yelling about something. Sven watched him collapsed, panting, mumbling something. He approached cautiously, trying not to slip again. Before he could bend down to see what was the matter, he heard the words 'dragon', and he looked back at the destruction.

"A dragon, on Berk?" He glanced at Beorn, before looking at the strange man who fell face first into the snow. "But they're all gone for the winter..." He now bent down, hoping the guy hadn't fainted - it was freezing out here and he was just in a shirt. Sven put a hand on his shoulder to shake him slightly. He then heard clicking and saw a small dragon emerge from the crumbling house.

Sven's expression changed from confusion to absolute joy. He made a slightly broken 'aawwh' noise, before scooting to the side slightly to better see the dragon; "It's a baby! That's what made the explosion!" He recognised the species. "A baby snaptrapper! She's adorable!"

Sven scooted back a little more, before rocking carefully to sit in the snow nearby. The baby dragon sat on the man's back, and he groaned in response. He watched but little happened in the following minutes. Sven tilted his head to the side slightly, in confusion. "I think you've been imprinted as her mother." He stated, with slight concern. "You're going to have to feed her, or she'll die. And Berk weather is no place for a newborn dragon."

It didn't occur to Sven that the guy laying in the ground was not enjoying the presence of a dragon - it seemed a bizarre concept for someone to not like dragons, on Berk of all places.

---

Beorn you're up

[Beornwyn Veen]

    Beorn and Sven were walking along to the hall, and the cold that they were enduring right now made them want to jump into the fire once they got in the great hall. Beorn wasn't too bothered by it all, he was bundled up pretty well, and he had his cloak on so that gave you an indication on how cold it really was. He normally never wears it unless it cold cold. He walked along in the snow and heard Sven complain about how he felt like he was going to loose a limb. Beorn rolled his eyes and smirked to himself, keeping quiet for the moment.

    What really caught him off guard was when there was an explosion from the nearby house. Beorns eyes shot open and ducked down at the sound, all he heard was the boom and after that the crackling of burning wood and Sven yelping as something nailed him in the face. Beorn looked over concerned at first, but seeing Sven alright he chuckled a bit, "Look at that. You got beat up by a piece of wood. How did you survive this long without me?" He smirked as he heard Sven swear back at him and he shrugged.

    Soon a familiar face emerged from the wrecked home. Beorn was able to put a name to the face thanks to the fact that he helped out the character not too long ago. "Woodrot? What the hell is wrong, what just happened?" He asked curiously but was cut off by Sven remarks that soon followed. Beorn glanced over and noticed the baby dragon crawling out of the home now. Hadn't all of the dragons left already? Wait that was a rhetorical question to himself, but why did Woodrot have an egg in his home for the whole time anyways?

    Beorn rolled his eyes and smiled when he heard Sven making awwing noises, if there was one thing Sven was a sucker for it was baby dragons, no matter the species. Beorn let Sven talk as he squatted down beside him and checked the small head injury that he had endured. "Eh. Barley a scratch, you'll be fine my child." He commented and grinned as he rubbed Sven forehead and looked over to Woodrot, "So why did you have a dragon egg in your house Rot?" Beorn asked curiously once again.

[Woodrot & Garlic Surprise]

From her perch upon Woodrots back, the small dragon shrank back from the new people coming towards her. It was quite easy for her to focus on all of them at once, making sure no one was up to anything she didn't like. The dim light was enough to put her on edge, and all these new things at once were a bit much.

Voices. He forced himself to sit up, arms shaking as he tried to support himself and the baby dragon. As his back went vertical, the dragon slid off him landing in the snow behind him. Almost completely hidden, her heads popped out each letting out a faint cry. The cold was too much for her tiny body. With her weight gone however, he could stand up easier. But he wasn't prepared for the onslaught of baby dragon to the knees and stumbled backwards, thankfully catching his balance last second. "A-adorable?! How could you s-say that?" He looked down at the beast crawling up his clothing. Each head opening and closing their jaws, making small clicks and other faint noises. Even the name of the dragon sounded scary. "It's horrible!" It was probably a good thing the dragon didn't understand him, else she would have been upset by that comment. However the sound of Sven's voice was very lovely and made her even more curious about the two.

«Who are they?» «Mommy who?» «Do they have food?» The four heads were all turning, trying to get all three of the humans now present in their vision. «Hungry!» There wasn't much on her minds, food, warm, and staying out of the snow.

"M-me? Mother? N-nononono! I can't!" He flailed his arms for added emphasis. "I d-don't do the whole.... d-dragon thing." His face contorted as the dragon began to knead his head. "C-can't one of you take it? I don't even know w-what they eat!" He yelped and jumped a bit as one of the heads dropped into his vision and began to tug at a strand of hair that had hung down. "P-please?" He turned his head slightly as he was asked about the egg. He frowned a bit. "I didn't know it was an egg! I just t-thought it was a p-plant." He lifted his arms to try and pry the dragon from his head only to get his hands nibbled at in four different locations. "It was t-the bulb I found, y-you were there. T-that one, I had no idea it w-was an egg." He remembered the area just before where he had found the 'bulb'. It had looked like a fight had taken place. Probably an angry mother dragon protecting her egg... it made sense now. And he felt like a moron for not having realized it.

From her perch, the small dragon decided to survey the land. Now that her mommy wasn't trying to remove her, she could focus on actually getting to know the area around them. Everything was new, and she wanted to experience all of it. First of all, the guys who had approached them. Heads began to stretch in various directions, trying to sniff them both at once. In a moment of confusion however, she stepped forward, and fell off her hairy nest. Squeals of surprise escaped, as she dropped once more into the snow. Though she did not quite register the sudden hurt with hitting the ground, and assumed she had been attacked, wings fanning out to try and make her look bigger. A foul stench began to escape the snarling jaws, to protect her and mommy.

But something didn't seem right, mommy wasn't attacking anything. four sets of eyes glanced to her, and then at each other. Had she made a mistake? Jaws closing, but the smell was already drifting upwards by now. «Sorry...» Instead of climbing all the way up this time, she curled around Woodrots boot. Carefully wrapping her split tail around she stared upwards. Maybe this was time for the big ones to talk, and she would just stay out of the way.

[Sven Vellyn]

Sven blushed slightly as Beorn made to check his small injury to the head, but it was hard to tell because it was so cold. He tweaked a brief smile as he ruffled his head. It was a little embarrassing how he babied him, especially in front of other people.

Meanwhile Woodrot began to babble away nervously. Sven hadn't met him before, but Beorn had, as stated by him knowing his name. But what was more surprising than his strange viking-name was his reaction to the dragon.

Sven frowned, concerned for both Woodrot and the baby dragon, who was pleading. It pulled his heartstrings to see the baby dragon upset. Sven had of course met people unused to dragons on his travels, but to find a resident Berkian unsure about dragons was really weird. Sven was determined to show him that the dragon was worth his time.

Besides, it wasn't like Woodrot had much of a choice, unless he let the little thing freeze to death. "You're going to have to, or she's going to die, from cold or hunger." He stood up, wobbling slightly from the ice underneath him. "Or both." He had spotted a convient fish basket nearby and cautiously made his way to it, and pulledout a fish. The baby was little, so she couldn't exactly eat a whole fish, and with four heads, each one would need to be satisfied. So he pulled out a decent-sized bass and wobbled back to where Woodrot was.

Sven watched as Woodrot seemed frozen as the baby dragon inspected him, she had climbed up to around his head by now. Sven dug his fingers into the fish's skin, and pulled out little bits of meat, making sure to avoid bones, and offered it up near Woodrot's face, where the dragon was also residing.

"They like fish." Sven answered. "She's still small, so you'll have to feed her in pieces until she's big enough to take whole fish. Normallly a parent regurgiates a meal, but little bite-sized pieces work fine." He let the baby dragon sniff, hoping she would take the food, even though he wasn't the mother. "Hey there." He said in dragonese. He doubted she would, but maybe if she was hungry enough...

"You're going to have to feed her - she sees you as her mother." Sven was also worried about human scent being transferred to the fish, making her think that human smell also meant food, thus the risk of being bitten a lot. Sven hadn't had that much first hand experience with baby dragons, only from observation. And even then, how dragons raise their young changes between species, so he wasn't sure how Snaptrappers should be looked after. He wondered how the parent dragon would satisfy each head.

[Beornwyn Veen]

    Beorn watched on curiously, listening to what Woodrot had to say in response to his earlier questions. Wood made comments about how one of them should take it, how he didn't know how to take care of the dragon, and the point about how the dragon had hatched from the bulb that he and Woodrot found before. That would help with the oddness that came along with pulling the thing from the ground.

    It wasn't long before it seemed like it was Sven to the rescue, or at least trying to rescue Wood from his own fears. Beorn watched as Sven walked over to a nearby barrel, grabbing a fish and walking back before pulling the fish apart. Beorn looked over to the snaptrapper in curiosity as Sven went on to explain how it was still too young, obviously enough, to be able to eat a fish whole on its own. And about how the dragon saw Woodrot as its own mother. Beorn found that amusing because whether Woodrot would want to keep the dragon or not, he's kind of stuck with it.

    But aside from that he was a little boggled on how a Berkite was uneducated in the sense of how to properly take care of a baby dragon. On an island like Berk it seemed like everyone knew how to deal with dragons, or at least the vast majority did it seemed. Whatever the reasoning for Woodrots lack of knowledge on the common subject, he was going to have to learn it sooner than later now.

    Beorn moved over beside Sven and smiled at the small group that stood slash laid there. "Sven here is probably one of the best people you could have ran into just now." Beorn said as he moved his hand and lightly gripped the back of Svens neck, "I'm not sure there many people, if at all anyone on the island that has more knowledge about dragons than he does." He added in as he looked down to Woodrot, "You're stuck with the dragon now. Try not to think of it as much of a death sentence as you should a learning experience."

[Woodrot & Garlic Surprise]

All this was taking him a while to absorb, eyes darting between the two trying to process the events. And why should he care if one dragon didn't make it? Plenty more would come back when every one elses dragons returned with their babies. "Yeah b-but..." He trailed off staring at the little dragon. He hardly noticed Svens motions, but the little Snaptrapper did.

A soft warbling escaped her jaws, nostrils all flaring at the new scent. It was familiar, and yet not. Heads swerving to get better veiws of what was going on as the strange man approaching again. For some reason he was sticking his hand in the weird dead thing. Curious she pulled her heads closer to his hand, sniffing at the contents. But she shrank back a bit, it smelt like food, but mommy hadn't provided it. Was it okay? Her tiny belly growled louder than she could and the four heads looked at each other concerned.

Woodrot however was not so keen on the raw hunk of flesh. "That's disgusting..." He commented on the regurgitation, there was no way he was doing that for a dragon. "Can't it feed itself? It has teeth!" He already had several tiny teeth marks on his hands from them.

As Sven spoke dragonese, both of them gave him strange looks. Woodrot because it was the strangest thing he'd ever heard but the dragon out of recognition. She had known they were dragons and his speech only proved it. But she was still wary of the food, even if coming from another dragon. Every so often one or more heads would glance at Rot, and when they saw how repulsed he was by the raw fish, she too refused it. If mommy didn't want it, neither did she.

Blinking again, a heavy sigh escaped the simple man. "I-I'm glad for the help, r-really I am." He grabbed the baby, holding her near his chest this time. A dragon... in his home? "B-but I don't think I can do this..." She turned all heads to him, each clicking and nuzzling him. "This wasn't the surprise I was hoping for with that bulb." He tickled a finger under one of the heads chins, and made quite an alarmed face when the bottom jaw split apart in a weird dragon smile. This was also certainly going to halt his progress with any new plants. Maybe it wasn't ... all bad? One tiny dragon wasn't that much a problem, was it?

[Sven Vellyn]

Woodrot didn't seem convinced about Sven's words. However he couldn't help but smile, slightly embarrassed as Beorn pretty much sold Sven to Woodrot about his dragon expertise. "Oh please, Beorn, Berkians have accumulated dragon knowledge for centuries; I've only been studying dragons for five."

Woodrot continued to protest, though it was clear there was no getting out of this. Sven offered the fish to Woodrot, now trying to avoid touching the face side up because of his scent, but the damage was probably done by now anyway. "She needs to know what is food, and what isn't. There's only so much a baby dragon will learn by itself. And then you can avoid getting bitten... I suggest sturdy gloves, so she learns that the hand-like shape isn't also food." He gave a little laugh after that, but that was more for himself.

Sven let the man inspect his dragon. He wasn't surprised the dragon regarded him with wary and distrust - it was only natural.

Woodrot let out another worry. "It'll be fine - they'll be bringing back baby dragons from Snoggletog Island soon, and everyone will be looking after baby dragons. You live on an island full of dragon lovers - heck - your culture revolves around dragons. I'm sure fellow villagers can help. I can help too, of course, it would definitely be an interesting to study a growing dragon up close." He made a move with his hand, to remind him of the fish. "She needs her first meal."

[Beornwyn Veen]

    Beorn gave a slight smirk when Sven played off the compliment he had given him about knowing about dragons. Sven was likely right about the fact that there were people on Berk that had a lot more knowledge about dragons than he did, but even for Svens shorter time of study he was much more rounded than others he had encountered, plus Sven has also travelled around which would give him more of an edge on knowledge to some of the people that have lived on Berk their entire life.

    He left his thoughts behind and listened curiously as Sven continued to speak to Woodrot, trying to get the stubborn Viking to take care of the dragon. Wood was stuck with the dragon now, thanks to the fact it thinks he's its mother. He listened as Sven made comments about wearing gloves to help avoid loosing a finger or two while teaching the baby how to eat from the hand, even though he didn't actually say that it was assumed of course. Or at least Beorn figured that much. He heard Sven made comment about finding it interesting to watch a dragon grow from hatch to a larger size. Beorn began to smirk to himself again as random thoughts came through.

    "Now all I can picture are little baby Hermes and Delemia. Like picture them, two little fluffballs of feathery-ness." Beorn said as he giggled at the thought about it and poked Svens ear abit, "Little ambies nipping at your ear~ Then again Hermes was probably born with the ability to snap a log in half with her maw. Wouldn't surprise me." He smiled.

[Woodrot & Garlic Surprise]

So this many studied dragons for a living? The thought sent shivers down his spine. Who could possible want to know any more about these reptiles than they had too? Woodrot would much rather learn about useful things, like plants. Plant's didn't try any eat you, well he heard rumors of some that ate meat but they were kinds that would never survive the frigid temperatures of Berk.

He made a very distraught face as Sven gave him the fish. His plans for this night had not included raw fish. "I... okay." He did cringe at the last part however, looking at his hand. Swallowing he tore a piece of fish off, hovering it in front of... well the whole dragon. He honestly didn't know how to deal with four heads. Which one did he feed? Faint noises escaped the dragon as the heads inspected the food bit closer. But again, they glanced at Woodrot and noticed he still wasn't eating any. One head picked it up, only to toss it away. «Mommy isn't eating!» «Don't want it.» «Mommy food!» He frowned, and looked at the others for an explanation. "T-that's not normal I'm guessing?"

"Y-yeah, I guess you're right." Examining the dragons strange mouth, he began to spread apart one of the heads jaws, a look of utter terror on his face all the while. 'How does this even work?' He stopped when he heard tiny squeals of complaint, accompanied by a foul stench. "By the Gods, why?!" He clamped the offending mouth shut. "For such a small dragon that is terribly offensive." He let go when the other heads started tugging at his clothing.

He offered a glance to Beornwyn as he spoke about, their dragons apparently. He had seen one of them when out and about, and didn't quite share his fondness for the idea of it as a hatchling. And the final part about the other dragon and snapping logs just put him off even further. But his attention wasn't allowed to linger as the dragon tugged at his hair now. "What do you want? You already rejected the fish." A faint chirp escaped her, soft horns lowering on each head and eyes looking up at him with the saddest gaze they could muster. "N-no, don't do that..."

[Sven Vellyn]

Sven moved away slightly when Beorn pecked at his ear with his fingers. He hadn't seen baby Ambassadors yet, but the idea of them being fluffy was amusing (they're not). As Woodrot gingerly accepted the fish, Sven couldn't help but feel bad for him. It was clearly obvious this was very uncomfortable for him. If Sven could have taken the dragon and raised it himself, he would have in a heartbeat, but the dragon had imprinted herself onto this sorry man. There was little he could do but point him in the right direction.

The dragon was still not eating the fish. The heads were busy tugging and clawing away at Woodrot's clothes, pestering the 'mother' for something to eat. Sven racked his brain - how could they show that the fish meant food?

He watched. Then he realised. "Oh... I don't think you're going to like this idea." He started quietly. "I think you're going to have to show her what is food and what isnt... You're going to have to eat some of that fish."

Sven was afraid that it was probably going to come off as a terrible joke - and thinking about it like that almost made him laugh weren't it for the severity of the moment. He wouldn't be surprised if the baby dragon dropped dead in a few hours if it didn't get anything inside it's belly.

[Curtisboy]

Ima left Paws go ahead cause BeeBee doesn't really have anything to say or do here atm xD ))

[Woodrot & Garlic Surprise]

He swallowed at the thought. "M-me? But it's r-raw..." He stared at the fish, and then at the dragon. "Y-you better be worth it." Scooping out another bit of fish flesh, he stared at the slippery mess in his hand. His stomach complained from him just looking at it. "By the Gods, I can't do this." Shaking his head he looked at the small dragon, still giving him a sad gaze. "Isn't there s-something else it could eat?" Looking at the flesh still clutched in his one hand he scrunched his face up. "Anything at all?"

Cooing sadly she began to curl tightly against Rots chest, heads resting on various areas she could manage. «Cold...» «Nest time?» «Why stand do nothing?» The whines escaped in a slow and low sound, her small wings wrapped as tightly as she could manage around herself in an attempt to remain warm.

While he couldn't understand her squeals and coos, he could recognize holding close for warmth. Frowning a bit he wrapped an arm around her, discarding the hunk of fish meat he had been holding. "M-maybe we should get somewhere warm first..." Sighing a bit he glanced towards where his house was. "W-where were you two going? M-maybe I could join you?" He wouldn't be able to offer the cold dragon any warmth, not with the hole she blew. "My h-house is out of commission right now..." He offered a nervous laugh. The situation was tense and he knew it, but a little bit of humour wouldn't hurt. But he quickly frowned. "T-then maybe I can figure out this food thing."

[I figure one more post from each of us, and we can call this wrapped up]

[Sven Vellyn]

Sven wasn't surprised at the prospect of eating the fish as it was. He asked for an alternative, and Sven thought about it. He knew about baby dragons, but he didn't really have that much first hand experience... He knew they usually eat regurgitated remains from their parents, like birds do. But the Snaptrapper didn't seem to want it, because she didn't know it was food. And the only way to do that would be to show rather than tell.

A furious cold wind ripped at them, and the baby dragon was suffering for it. It panged at his heart that the little thing wasn't getting what she needed. He glanced at Beorn.

Woodrot suggested they move somewhere warm. Sven, rubbing his hands together, agreed. "We were heading to the great hall anyway. Let's stop by the stores to grab some food for the hatchling whilst we're at it."

Sven wrapped himself a bit tighter in his furs and started heading off to the stores to grab some food. As he walked he began to think if there was any good way to teach the dragon to eat. Honestly, he was a bit stumped. He figured that they would just have to experiment. He just didn't want to see the little thing die...