The Hidden Nest

[Scorn]

Time and Date:: December 11th, early morning

Weather:: Snowing, bitterly cold

Previous Threads?:: N/A

CURRENT IC SEASON - Winter

It started out as a normal day; well, as normal as anyone would expect. The dragons had long ago left for Snoggletog Island... or at least.. most of them. One tame monstrous nightmare, who was very pregnant, had stayed behind. She had circled the grounds and found the perfect spot in a yaks hay pile to lay her eggs. But, realizing her mistake, she scooped them up in her jaws and flew to Snoggletog Island. And so instinct took over, and the last of the dragons seemed to have disappeared. Or had they?

For in that hay pile lay a large, red and orange thing; a peculiar thing that seemed to shake as time went on. Steam seemed to be let off from the hay pile, and before long a few strands had caught fire. The egg sat inside the surrounding flames as they rose, a soft rumbling coming from it. As it sat there, it seemed almost completely hidden; that is, until, the hay was burnt up and the egg was left to sit in the ashen ground, for the snow had all but melted surrounding it. In its place was mud and burnt hay.

As the yak put up their fuss, the flames seemed to end as they hit the snow.. the fire had put itself out. Yet the odd, peculiar thing was still steaming; it rocked side to side, and every now and again a rumble could be heard. Slowly, ever so slowly, a crack was forming. Just what was this thing? And what did it hold? Truth be told, it held nothing less then a living being; a dragon to be precise. The yak seemed acutely aware that this was no ordinary thing. This.. this.. was an egg. And as every moment passed, it came closer and closer to hatching.

But of course, how long could an egg survive in the bitter cold of Berk? And if it did survive and manage to hatch.. how long could a baby thrive in this snow-ridden environment? Only time would tell, but perhaps the fact that this baby, who would soon be known to the world, had the ability to light itself afire... could help in its survival. Only, this baby would need much more; a friend, a partner.. a rider. Then again, who would possibly know that as all the festivities went on.. a dragon egg sat in a yak pen; waiting to hatch?

[Sigrid and Smudge]

"No, no! Don't decapitate her!" Sigrid yelped, grabbing Sneezewort's arm to stop him chopping Catgut clean in two.
"She was the fool who accused me of stealing her haystack!"
"Because you did!" the buxom woman snarled furiously. "It was there and the next day it wasn't All that was left was a scorch mark and a bunch of pebbles!"
"Do you think maybe it was a dragon?" Sigrid said cautiously. Catgut glared.
"Of course not! Dragons don't eat hay!"
"No," Sigrid sighed, "but they do burn it."
"It was HIM! He took my haystack! I know he did! Just because he can't afford to feed his own lousy yaks!"
"You two-faced son of a troll!" Sneezewort bellowed. "How dare you!"
Sigrid was forced to pull his axe out of his hand before someone was seriously hurt.
"How about this," she said quickly. "I'll go have a look at where the haystack was to see if there are any clues?"
"They'll show he's guilty!" Catgut insisted.
Sigrid groaned.
o~0~O~0~o
The diplomat swore colourfully as she stomped through the yak pens.
"Stupid Catgut! How does one steal a bundle of hay anyway? Where on Midgard would you put it, for Thor's sake!"
She looked around as the yak lowed anxiously.
"What's up with you?" she muttered, scratching one's horns. There was one patch of the field that every yak was avoiding like the plague.
"What?" she murmured, stepping closer. There was a round circle with no snow, only melted slush and mud. It stunk to Asgard.
"That's gross," she muttered. She heard a snuffling sound and looked to her left to see Smudge chewing on something.
"Ew! Drop it!" she yelped. Smudge whined and let it fall to the ground. Sigrid looked closer.
"Is that... burned hay? I knew it! It was a-"
And then she saw it and blanched.
"Oh, no," she swore.

[Scorn]

The egg lay in the hay, seemingly un-noticed. A lot of commotion was going on outside its shell, and the young dragon seemed almost hesitant to hatch. Still, there remained a crack in the shell, an orange glow coming from the inside. As a human approached, the egg rocked from side to side, as one claw scraped at the shell. Just then a dragon was gnawing on it, as steam came from the egg. The crack grew with the dragons chewing, it seemed to help it along its way of hatching, or perhaps just anger the dragon inside the egg. All the same, the crack grew, and grew... and as the human approached, swearing at the egg, a fiery explosion suddenly boomed; leaving smoke, ash and flames flying everywhere.

As the egg exploded, a baby dragon flew through the air, hitting straight into a yak. It's eyes were closed, and if one looked close enough, they could tell that it was a baby monstrous nightmare. It appeared to be a male, and as the dragon lay there, seemingly lifeless after hitting the yak, the yak all backed away.. aware of the danger; even if it was just a baby.

Just then the dragon screeched and bolted upright, turning around to see what had happened. It's eyes first landed on the girl, the human girl; the hatchling stared at her for a long moment, before crooning and wobbling forward, moving to climb on her boot. Making a grunting sound, the baby dragon opened his jaws in an attempt to chew on her boot; even at a newborn stage, he still had razor sharp teeth and claws. Looking at the human, he tilted his head. "Mama?" He spoke in dragonese, unaware that she couldn't understand him. "Mama!" The dragon screeched, licking at her boot. "Hungry! Food! Water! Now!" Giving his demands in baby like screeches, his eyes went to the yak. Licking his chops, he moved towards a yak, which backed away. Lunging, he bit onto its leg, chewing on it. The yak screamed to the top of its lungs, bolting around the pen with the hatchling hanging on, growling "Hunngrryyyy..." He growled louder and louder, "Foooddd!" agitated that there was just fur. Still to young to hunt, he would need help with food until he could learn to hunt properly.

[Sigrid and Smudge]

Sigrid was thrown feet backwards, head over heels and skidding to a stop on her face.
"Ow," she muttered into the snow. Smudge clamped his jaws on the strap across her back and lifted her upwards.
"You okay?" he asked. Sigrid nodded.
"Yes. Ow." she responded, getting her feet back under her. She looked at the blur of red bolting after the yak, bellowing in dragonese.
"Oh, gods," she said. "We can't let him eat that yak. Catgut will have my head. Smudge! Stop dragon eat yak!"
Smudge bolted after the Nightmare and seized him in his front claws, and Sigrid bent low.
Then Smudge let out a roar of indignation.
"What?" Sigrid asked.
"He called you 'Mama'. You're MY human! No scrawny pipsqueak Fire-scale can have my human!"
"Thank you, Smudge. I am 'yours', am I?"
The Nightmare was kind of cute, but she had a duty to Smudge. She bent down to face the dragon.
"Listen, boy," she said, checking to make sure the wriggling wyrm was indeed male, "I'm not your mother. Okay? Definitely NOT your mother. For one thing, I'm human and you're a dragon. I can't be your mother, even though you're very very cute."

She crossed her fingers and prayed the dragon would accept the explanation.

[Scorn]

The baby clung to the yaks leg as the yak flew around the pen. Although his tiny teeth couldn't do much damage other then a cut up leg, another dragon pulled him off. Screaming his anger, sparks rose from his scales as he squirmed. "Mama! Help!" Cried out the dragon. He heard a roar from the dragon, hearing him talk to the human. "My mama!" He snapped his jaws at the dragon, before running to the human; as she checked him he squirmed and licked her hand. He looked to her with huge puppy dog eyes, pupils fully dilated and head slightly bent, as she told him she wasn't his mama.



"No mama?" He cried out. "Why does my mama no want me no more!" He cried out. He hobbled out of her hands to the edge of the pen, going underneath its bars. "I go find new mama. MAMA! MAMA!" He squawked, before looking back to the girl. He came hobbling back with his head down. "Why you no want me? You my mama. No other mama here. If you not my mama.. Who.. Who is my mama?" He moved to curl around her leg, and if a dragon could cry he would likely be bawling. "You be my mama." He looked up at her, "Pleaasseeee?"

[Sigrid and Smudge]

Sigrid looked at the hatchling. It looked sticky, wet and miserable, still covered in whatever that disgusting slime was that had been inside its egg. Its eyes were just too big and yellow and sad. When he curled around her leg she nearly broke. She tried to tell herself it was just because it was a cute baby dragon, but she had a suspicion that her own motives were quite different. As in, she saw this as one way to make up for her lack of children. After all, it was still a child, wasn't it? Just... slightly more scaly and spiky and reptilian. But in the end, it wasn't really her decision. She looked at her dragon. Smudge regarded Scorn looking very high and mighty.
"Oooh! Aren't you scary?" he said dryly, looking at the hatchling clawing its way up Sigrid's leg while she grimaced and attempted to remove its talons. "Are you sure you want to be doing that? Snarling and glaring at me? Well, that's too bad... I was planning on helping you... if you were nice."
He caught Scorn's eye as he whined.
"That's much better!" Smudge said. "You Nightmares are obedient to a fault, aren't you? Oops! But you AREN'T a Nightmare yet, are you? You're a beastly little hatchling!"
"Smudge!" Sigrid said, sounding scandalized.
Smudge rolled his eyes.
"Fine. You can keep him. But keep him out of my nest!"

[Scorn]

As the other dragon seemed to mock the young baby, the dragon growled before quieting to a whimper, scooting closer to the human girl. Yet as he insulted him by saying he wasn't a nightmare yet the young hatchling flapped his wings, "Me dragon! Me nightmare! You see, yes you see!"  He felt a flame spark from his scales as he flapped his wings, barring his teeth at the other dragon before the human scolded him; this left a smug expression on the young hatchlings face, as he momentarily snickered. Just then the dragon calmed, looking back to the human. His flames extinguished, and he looked down at his claws.

The hatchling suddenly went towards the other dragon, sniffing him, his pupils slits, before scampering back to his new human friend. He curled around her leg, hiding behind her once more as he sat shaking, perhaps from all the excitement or perhaps just from the cold. Closing his eyes tightly, he clung around her leg, gnawing on her boot in a sorry attempt to find food.

"Me sorry. Me good dragon. Me promise." He said quietly, before looking back up at the human as the other dragon said he could be kept. The baby dragon looked at the human as she peered down at him. His own big eyes met hers, and he crooned as he suddenly climbed up her leg in an attempt to curl into her arms. "Mama..." He crooned softly. "My mama."

[Sigrid and Smudge]

Sigrid groaned. What had she gotten herself into? First things first, though, she would have to explain to Catgut what had happened to his hay... and, she supposed, now that she was responsible for the tiny dragon, she would have to replace it, or at least pay for it.
"Dammit all to Hel," she muttered angrily. She lifted her head and looked at her new charge. He would, she thought, need a name.
"What do I call you?" she wondered, picking him up under the wings and balancing him on her hips like she would a real baby. "Hayburner? Yakmuncher? Terry?" She caught the insulted face of Smudge and the glare he cast the Nightmare, his eyes full of scorn...
"That's it," she decided. "I'm going to call you Scorn. Do you like that name? I hope so, because it's that or Terry."
She gave Scorn a scratch around his short horns before climbing one-handed into Smudge's saddle, swinging frantically for a moment before regaining her balance and knocking her bandanna askew with Smudge's wing. Finally astride the dragon, she straightened the eye covering and took off towards the village, before turning towards her house.
Stuff Catgut, she thought. He can deal with his own hay. I'll let him know later/

[Scorn]

The little dragon peered up at her, hearing her curse words he tilted his head, "Mama upset? Is mama angry at me?" He felt her pick him up beneath the wings, placing him on her hip. He wrapped his wings around her, rather by natural instinct then anything else. Two claws on the tips of his wings dug into her clothing, tail twitching as she talked about a name. "What a name?" He said innocently. He listened as she listed off names, before landing on Scorn. And upon hearing the name, he felt his skin heat, yet it didn't flame. Catching the dragons glare, almost as if he hated the name, the little dragon looked to her. Scorn, scorn..  He ran it over in his fragile young mind as best he could. Scorn... Scorn sounded fierce, tough, like being burned. Finally his chipper screech hurled from his lungs, "Scorn, Scorn! I like Scorn!"

Next thing the dragon, now named, Scorn, did, was press himself closer to her. One could realize that it was still snowing, almost in a blizzard like way by now. Scorn felt his scales instinctively heat up, flames coming off his tail and smoke coming out of his nostrils. "What this.. thing... Weird white, cold thing. Me don't like it." As he was talking one of the snowflakes landed on his tongue. It was a sensation that was new to him, and he stuck out his tongue, opening and closing his mouth, before rolling his tongue around. As he stuck out his tongue again and chomped on snowflakes by the mouthful, or as many as he could catch, he purred, "Maybe white cold thing not SO bad."

[Sigrid and Smudge]

Sigrid rolled her eyes.
"It's snow, Scorn. Get used to it; it snows nine months of the year."
"What an idiot," Smudge muttered. "Doesn't even know what snow is."
"Hey!" Sigrid admonished. "He's a newborn, Smudge! I'd bet my favourite spear that YOU didn't know what snow was when you hatched!"
Smudge twisted his head to look at her, wide wings beating the snow in a furious tornado.
"At least I knew the difference between my parents and some random person walking past. You do realise his REAL mother is probably going to kill you when she finds you took her hatchling."
Sigrid frowned. She hadn't thought of that.
"Oh..." she murmured to herself. "Unless his mother didn't notice him. I mean, if she had laid a clutch of eggs on Berk and known about them all before she left, she wouldn't have left Scorn behind."
"You have a point," Smudge grumbled. "I was getting hopeful that we could lose the lump of irritation."
"I don't see what your problem is," Sigrid threw her free hand in the air, her other wrapped around Scorn to keep him from falling. "It's just a baby,"
Smudge landed-more forcefully than usual-on the wooden skyloft outside their house and wriggled through the opening. Sigrid wasn't altogether sure that when he smacked her head against the frame it was an accident. Ignoring her grumpy dragon, she placed Scorn on the ground.
"Welcome home," she said.

[Scorn]

Scorn paused his chomping of the foreign white snowflakes to look at her. "Snow..." He repeated. "Me like snow!" He chirped, before hearing the other dragons comment. He stuck his nose up a little, "Least me know now." He growled, "Me learn, you see, you see." He growled. At their next conversation he tilted his head, "What you mean? You my mama! You here when so call other mama is not. I have no mama but you, mama." He was getting more and more confused by their conversation. "Wait. There other like me?" He looked to the dragon, before looking at himself, holding one wing and examining it, before looking to Sigrid and running his eyes over her.

"You my mama, but you no look like me. Do other look like me?" He listened as he heard that his mother might be furious if she found out he'd been stolen. All this was very confusing. "No worry! Me protect you! Me fierce!" He growled as he flamed up on his spine and tail, smoke coming from his two slit like nostrils.

Soon they came to a strange building, and he eagerly took in everything about it. When they went through a door he did a double take to look at the door, wondering how it worked. As she welcomed him home, he climbed down. Beneath his claws was something unfamiliar.. Cold, solid, yet not like this thing called snow. He would later learn it as wood; the wooden floor. For now he crawled around, sniffing around before finding the kitchen, nosing his snout into the cupboard. "Mmmm! What smell so good!" He crawled into the cupboard, searching for the source of the smell. There before him was foreign objects, yet something caught his eye; the source of the smell. Meat. Mouth drooling, he pulled out the piece of raw meat and gnawed on it, mumbling through his chewing, "What be this.. great.... delicious.. thing...!?"

[Sigrid and Smudge]

"Whoa, whoa! Don't eat that! That's not for you!" Sigrid yelped, tugging the meat out of Scorn's mouth. She looked at the lump of preserved meat and sighed. It was covered in dragon slobber now, and she sure as Hel couldn't feed THAT to any self-respecting human.
"Fine," she muttered, throwing it back to the dragon. She glanced backwards to see an offended-looking Smudge.
"Okay, you big lump, you can have one too," she groaned, throwing a second steak at her dragon. The Flabbermunch caught it in his mouth, not even stopping to chew. Sigrid hesitated. Should she cut up Scorn's steak or something? Was it too big for his little throat? Probably, which meant she would have to wrestle it free again. Sighing, she bent down and again tugged the steak from between Scorn's vice-like jaws and pulling her knife from her belt. Slapping the well and truly mutilated steak on the table, she sliced it slightly aggressively, then swept the chunks onto the floor back in front of the hatchling.
"Here you go, Mr. Fierce," she said softly, pinching his tiny nose horn affectionately and straightening up. She looked around her house and hoped that it was a suitable environment for a baby dragon...
"Oh Thor," she breathed. "What's my husband going to say?"

[Scorn]

Scorn was quick to dig into the meat, tearing into it as best he could with his tiny jaws and razor sharp teeth and claws. Yet he was more or less playing with the meat rather then eating it. He still didn't know this whole concept of eating meat yet, but as his newly found friend took the meat away from him he let a shrill cry. "Mine! Mine! MINE!" Came his cries as he jumped, trying to get it. Something about the meat drove him crazy for more; the juiciness of its flavor, perhaps, or some inner instinct to eat meat. Whatever it is, he wanted it and he wanted it now.

So when she dropped it back down he ravenously jumped onto it, growling as he dug into it. From the corner of his eye he noticed the other dragon get one as well. Normally he would go for that too, but he was too preoccupied with his own slice of meat to care. That is, until, the human he knew as mama took it away from him again.

This time he flamed up, spreading his wings as he jumped at the counter crazily trying to reach it. Yet upon her putting sliced up pieces on the floor, he stopped to look at her as she pinched his horn. Anger fading, he nuzzled against her hand, cooing softly his apology, before turning and eating the scraps of meat. Every now and again he'd turn an eye to look at her, before he heard her mention the word husband. "Who.. hus..ba..nd?" He asked curiously. "What IS.. a.. hus..band..."

[Sigrid and Smudge]

Sigrid blinked.

“Hus…band…” Scorn mumbled. “What is a hus…band?”

“Erm…” she looked helplessly at Smudge, who smirked and kept eating. She looked back at Scorn, who was peering up at her with disproportionate yellow eyes. “It’s… he’s… like, Mama’s, uh, the person Mama loves most in the world,”

She quickly amended the statement, hoping Scorn wouldn’t chuck a temper tantrum.

“AFTER you, of course. To you, though, he’s Papa. I married him, see?”

She showed Scorn the metal wedding band on her finger, pointing out the futhark runes engraved along its width. “Those say that we are forever bonded. Like mates, for dragons. We’re mates. And, in absence of human babies, we’ve got you… oh, Thor, he’s going to kill me. A baby dragon in the house!”

“Your fault,” Smudge got out from his mouthful. Sigrid glared at him. Not the right time, the glare said. Smudge just gave her an impertinent look. The diplomat rolled her eyes. The normally serious dragon was apparently having a ball taunting her about her makeshift baby.

“Make sure he doesn’t bite you,” Smudge warned as Sigrid held up another piece of meat. She raised an eyebrow.

“What, like you did?”

Smudge narrowed his eyes. He hated being reminded of what he had done to Sigrid’s hand. To rub it in, she waved the left hand at him, the fourth finger limp as always, and poked out her tongue.

[Scorn]

Upon hearing her hesitance, he stared at her blankly, though a curiosity was forming. As she said that this husband was the one she loved most in the world he flamed up a little, huffing from is nostrils. However once she amended her statement he relaxed a bit, but as she showed him her golden band, placed securely on her finger, he tilted his head... before testing the gold with his tongue; but at the taste he pulled back sharply, "Blech! Why you keep that! Tastes horrible!" However momentarily she showed him the odd markings on it, and told him what it meant.

"Forever... bonded..." He repeated. "Like mama and me!" He screeched happily, before she went on to say that they were like mates. Tilting his head, he stared at her. "This human... your mate..." He repeated, before pacing around a little bit. "Does human like me? Is papa like mama? When I meet papa?" He looked around, calling, "Papa! Papa! Where this papa at?"

Finally he came over. "Mama reeks of fear. Why you afraid?" He nuzzled against her, climbing up her boot in an attempt to rest in her arms. He licked at her hands as she waved it, moving to lick her limp finger. "Me won't bite. Me never hurt mama.. or papa... or that one." Staring at the other dragon a moment, he tilted his head, "What I call it? He not my mama.. or papa.. so what he to me?"