[Snow, Rot?] Forest Stroll

[Ulrika&Timber]

Time and Date:: Some time between Snoggletog and Ulrika's Birthday
Weather:: Light snow, lots of snow underfoot, chilly and a small chilling breeze.
Previous Threads?:: Snoggletog rps

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It was a few days after the dragon had returned, and Ulrika was practically glued to Timber the whole time. She would confide in everything that had happened over the holiday with the dragon, as she would stand or lie there and listen to her.

Timber had, naturally, enjoyed the break, but the time away made her realise how much she had become attached to the young human. She sort of enjoyed her rambling... Sometimes. She hoped that her and Ulrika would become better fliers together, especially if she could coax some more lessons from Curtis.

Today they made their way into the forest. Ulrika wanted to practice her archery, it had been a while and with her trauma she had been hesitant, but her pride and mostly Sundra forced her to go out and practice. She and Timber were trying to find a nice clearing to practice in.

Because of the escapades in the forest that caused Ulrika so much trouble, Timber stayed close to Ulrika. Ulrika was enjoying the company, anyway. But she did have concerns still.

"I hope I don't accidentally shoot a Timberjack like last time I practised... Though, that's when we properly met, remember?" Ulrika said. Timber made a noise and nuzzled Ulrika's empty hand. It was the best way she could communicate with her.

They were having no luck in finding a clearing... yet.

[Deleted]

Snow sat in the branched of a tree, high enough to be out of the line of sight of anybody who may pass by. His actual reasons for being out in the snow in a tree varied as he had wandered further into the forest. The teen’s original intention had been to find a fabled lost item he’d heard about elsewhere. The descriptions had been vague so he wasn’t entirely certain what the thing actually was, but the location had been clear so he’d headed out there anyway.

Unfortunately, when he’d actually gotten to the cave that the thing was said to be in he’s found it blocked by a huge fallen tree. Snow thought that if he found a higher vantage point he might be able to spot an alternate entrance, which is what lead him up the tree he currently was sitting in. After not finding anything he planned to find an alternate solution, but was pleased by one apparently finding him.

He heard a voice from the ground, faint though it was with how high up he was.

"I hope I don't accidentally shoot a Timberjack like last time I practised... Though, that's when we properly met, remember?"

Snow peered down at the girl and her dragon. He couldn’t tell much about her from where he was but it sounded like she was here to practice her skill with a bow. If she had real intention of learning then perhaps this could benefit them both. Now, to get her attention.

He grabbed his bow from its place on his person and pulled an arrow from his quiver. He aligned the thin sharp object against the bone weapon, pulling back on the string and arrow and getting his target in sight. He aimed a few feet in front of the girl at the ground then let the arrow fly.

[Woodrot & Garlic Surprise]

The chilled air bit through Woodrots clothing, his arms folded and numb fingers wrapped around his upper arms. "G-Garlic where did you go?" He had been taking advantage of the lessened snow and went out to get some fresh air. Unfortunately as soon as he stepped into the forest the small dragon had bolted. "W-why do you m-make me do this..." He felt like he had a duty to the dragon now, and letting it freeze to death wasn't exactly a good way of raising it. His attention was darting from tree to tree, every sound causing him to flinch. And yet any one of them could easily be the bouncing four headed baby.

But while he wandered through the trees, the tiny green dragon had found her way to a sparse section of the forest. Each head turning and taking in the surroundings. She had grown use to the snow faster than she had expected, and grown to enjoy it. There was so much of it too, that only her heads poked out above it occasionally followed by a forked tail. «No get why mommy hate this.» One head buried itself into the snow, licking at it all the while. «So nice, damp!» But all heads snapped to attention at the new noise. «Who there?» «Is mommy?» A foul odor began to emit from the dragons mouths. «Danger?» It smelt like... another dragon. And something else that she couldn't quite figure out.

But then the second scent hit her, and she knew exactly who it was. «Big black dragon!» She bounced in the snow, hopping and flapping her tiny wings. «And her friend!» Leaving the odor behind, she made her way towards the scents.

Woodrot however, was not so blessed with a sensitive nose and was still wandering. He had heard faint voices on the wind but choose to pretend he hadn't heard them purely out of fear it meant something bad. "Come on s-stupid dragon..." He kicked the snow indignantly and continued on his fruitless search.

[Ulrika&Timber]

She might have not been hunting for a while, but Ulrika's reactions were still fast. As the arrow show in front of her, she swept her bow, drawing an arrow as she turned, in the direction of where the arrow came from - it wasn't hard, in the dark trees it wasn't hard to spot a pale, white-haired man in the branches. Timber also reacted accordingly, almost in time with Ulrika, baring her teeth, arching her back and curling her tail around her human. A guttural growl emanated from the dragon, which vibrated the ground around them.

"Who're you?" Ulrika said loudly, but her voice broke slightly. Here she was again, defending herself. Forget Timberjacks. Was she going to kill another person? "Why are you attacking me? I'll shoot you!" She called out, readjusting her stance.

Timber's claws dug into the ground, ready to strike at the slightest threat against Ulrika. Though her ear plates were flattented, one of them twitched slightly, as she could hear the soft crunch of footsteps nearby. She decided to stick with the current threat at hand, and if this was a distraction, extended her large wings a bit more to shield Ulrika, from their flanks, just in case.

[Deleted]

Well, that certainly did the trick. Snow thought, observing the girl’s reaction with a slight smirk. He put his weapon away and held his hands up to show that he didn't mean her any harm.
“I can see you’re on edge. Sorry about that, but I couldn't help but notice that you seem to be out here to practice your archery. “
Snow climbed down the tree with relative ease, far too used to doing so. When he got to the ground he brushed himself off and crossed his arms over his chest. The pale boy tilted his head to the side slightly, scrutinizing the girl. He took in the defensive stance the dragon had taken in sync with its master. Any wrong move and I’ll most likely be dead. He concluded.
“I may be willing to assist you with that. I've been honing my archery skills for quite some time.” Snow offered, shrugging. He let his arms fall to his sides and glanced at the dragon. He was aware of faint footsteps, but didn't pay them much heed, preferring to focus on the conversation he was currently in.
Snow put a small smile on his face and forced a soft tone into his voice, both of which having not portrayed much through the whole encounter before this point, as he said “The two of you seem rather close. How long have you known each other?”

[Woodrot & Garlic Surprise]

A chirp of surprise escaped the small dragon as another seemed to drop from the sky. And when the much larger black dragon began to growl Garlic couldn't help but begin to feel fear taking control. There didn't seem to be any fighting, but it was enough to cause her to release the noxious gas, quickly surrounding her on it's spreading path. «Fight?» Split tail lashing through the snow, knocking it up around her. «Help!» She tried to growl as she jumped through the snow towards the group.

But when she got there, the only hostile thing seemed to be the gas still leaking from her mouths. «No bad?» She stopped the gas flow, heads shrinking and bobbing in confusion. She tried to appear as small as she could, inching back. «Sorry.» Tail wrapping around her back leg. «Thought danger...» At least one head still held the sky stranger in it's gaze, unblinking and weary. They were clearly well adapted to the cold wet blanket, while the larger dragon was not. It was a unfair advantage, and she couldn't help but worry. The other heads weren't so focused on one thing, trying to keep everything in check.

But the scent of the small dragon carried farther than she had thought, the wind flicking it further into the forest. And Woodrot had caught it, or well was rather caught off guard by it. Gagging slightly he turned his head. "Where are you?" Shuffling his feet he began to make his way towards the smell. Apparently she hadn't gone as far as he had expected because he found himself heading back towards Berk once more. "This is w-why I shouldn't h-have a dragon..."

[Ulrika&Timber]

Ulrika didn't loosen her grip just yet. She was wary of this man who shot an arrow at her - who wouldn't be? He acted like it was nothing, which unsettled her. She also didn't like how much he knew of her intentions, either.

He offered to help her with her skills. "What? You suck at archery. You missed me when you tried to shoot at me then. You haven't seen me hunt, I can't afford to miss the first shot. I'm pretty good." Ulrika growled at the young man, still keeping the bowstring taught.

Suddenly a foul odor permeated the air, causing Ulrika to back up and lower her bow, taking a free hand to her nose. "Ew! Is that you? Did you fart? That is disgusting!" Timber reacted as well, shaking her head, the smell was giving her instincts to flee, but she had a duty to Ulrika. It was then as she shook herself that she saw the little four-headed dragon. Oh, it was the snaptrapper that made the smell. Ulrika hadn't noticed the dragon yet, giving the newcomer looks that could kill.

Timber made a noise, briefly distracted, but alert in case the stranger was up for funny business. She recognised the little dragon from in the village, she was usually glued to a lanky awkward human being, but he was nowhere to be found.

Approaching without compromising her position, she crooned at the little one. "Where is your human hatchling? Stay close to me I will keep you safe." Now Timber had two children to look out for. Oh boy.

[Deleted]

Snow watched the girl as she reacted, growing rather bored of the conversation already. He kept a blank expression at her accusations and waited for her to finish.

“If I wanted to hit you, I would have.” He said simply. Snow pulled an arrow from his quiver and used the point to make a small cut in in his palm, just enough to draw blood. He held up his hand to show her the cut then walked to a tree sixty yards away. On his way there he nodded to the small dragon that had joined them and said to the girl, “Oh, and if you’re looking for the source of the garlic scent I believe it’s that little one there.”

Arriving at the tree sixty yards from where he’d been he used the red on his hand to draw a small circle on the tree as high as he could reach then used his thumb to make a dot at the center. The small cut had stopped bleeding by that point as it hadn’t been very deep, so he wiped the remaining red off on his shirt, not worrying about a stain since the fabric was black.

Snow walked back toward her, following his foot prints back to the exact spot he’d been standing. He withdrew his bow and aligned the arrow he’d used to open his palm. He took aim and fired the arrow directly into the red dot in the center of the circle on the tree. Then he put his bow back and looked to the girl again, “Shooting an arrow down is far simpler than shoot a target in front of you or above you because you need to take the wind into account instead of both the wind and the arch of the arrow. The average distance one shoots while practicing is generally twenty yards. That was sixty. If I had any intention of hitting you I would have.”

He decided to give the girl time to wrap her head around what he’d told her and headed back over to the small dragon. He knelt down in front of it and held his hand out to in, smiling warmly.

“Shhh. It’s alright. I won’t hurt you.” Snow said to it in a soft, calm tone. He reached out slowly, careful not to startle the dragon, and scratched lightly under one of its chins then gestured for it to climb up to his shoulder.


((ooc//: Red, what did you mean by "approaching without compromising her position"? i didn't understand that but i assumed it meant that Timber turned toward the Garlic without moving from Ulrika's side.)) 

[Woodrot & Garlic Surprise]

The situation seemed stable, and the young dragon wasn't quite sure what to do with herself now. The two legged ones were talking now, except it didn't sound like happy talking. But then Timber spoke. One head turned her attention fully onto the other dragon. «In forest! Not sure where...» The other heads clicked and chirped in agreement. She hopped through the snow, but halted her progress as the other one began to speak. And this time to her. A faint cooing noise escaped each mouth. Unsure of them, she shrank back a bit as they reached towards her.

Cautiously she inched a bit towards them, two heads glancing back at Timber. She had shown distrust and so she didn't want to be to gentle with this new person. Spreading her wings up to appear bigger and jaws split slightly in a warning. «No hurt!» But she couldn't help but let out a squeak of delight as one head received scratches. The head rubbed against his hand, wanting more attention. But she didn't understand what he was motioning for her to do. So instead she began to nip and tug at any clothing she could get her jaws on.

But as she began to play, Woodrot could make out the sounds of conversation. "H-hello? G-Garlic?" First thing that came into his view was the large black wings of a Night Fury. The sight alone was enough to cause him to stop breathing for a moment. But then he saw Garlic just off to the side of the much larger dragon. She was small against the large wings next to her, and he wasn't so sure he wanted to call out any more for fear of something bad happening. Because of his vantage point, he couldn't tell there was any one here but the two dragons, and well it left him very uncertain about his actions.

"U-uh, Garlic. Over here." He knelt down and waved his hands a bit, hoping he got the smaller dragons attention. And boy did he get it. She let out the squeakiest roar she could muster, as all four heads turned their attention on to him. The other one no longer interested her with their dark clothes, mommy had arrived! «Found me!» «Hurray!» She bounced and ran in a circle before darting over to Woodrot, grabbing hold off his boot straps and began to pull. Unfortunately for her that wasn't enough to actually pull him, and he looked down unamused. "Shh! Quiet down." But instead, she made more noise. «New friend!» «Found mommy!»

[Ulrika&Timber]

Ulrika wrinkled her nose as the outsider cut himself, and walked away. She stared incredulously until she saw he had marked a tree with his blood, drawing what was apparently a target. But it was so far away. Further than Ulrika was used to. He returned, and pointed to a baby Snaptrapper tha Timber had apparently found. Ulrika turned and recognised the baby dragon - though not by name, she had seen it scampering about the village, it was hard not to spot a dragon during snoggletog when the rest had left for the season.

Her attention was back on the older boy as he took his own bow and fired at the target. She was going to scoff as he aimed high, but his mark hit true. He proceeded to explain long distance archery. Ulrika mulled over what he said, but she wasn't ready to trust him.

While he was distracted, Ulrika lined herself up with the target, accepting the challenge. She doubted her long-range ability, but she was sure of her archery skills.

Meanwhile Timber had been occupying herself with the little dragon. The white haired boy approached and Timber was still wary, arching her back and growling again as he came close. Timber observed the interaction, ready to strike at a moment's notice if this stranger made any ill deed.

Suddenly a new noise called out, making Timber's ears perk up and look in the direction of the source. It was Garlic's human! The human stopped dead in it's tracks as the Night Fury and the man locked eye contact. Her pupils were partially slitted still, wary of the pale man beside her, and the other human, though a familiar figure. He daren't approach, calling to his dragon, who bounded towards him gleefully. Was he afraid of her?

Thunk.

Ulrika had tried to make the distance, but fell short, landing in a fallen log a lot closer. She had aimed like she usually would for hunting, but failed, since she was used to getting in close to her targets for a sure shot. She remembered how the man had aimed higher than usual, so she tried it. She wasn't sure how high to go,but she did know arrows moved in an arc, so she tried to imagine where the arrow would land.

She did it! She got the tree! But it was too high. The arrow got caught in the lower branches and clattered down to the forest floor. She groaned a bit. But it was just like testing the sights on a new bow. It was something she'd have to get used to. She tried one more time, and this time she got it stuck in the tree, but still away from the target. She noticed how the arrow seemed to carreen to the side slightly. Did the wind really do that?

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Lol Sorry about not interacting that much with ya, Woodrot - Ulrika's distracted and timber is being super-duper cautious xD

[Deleted]

Snow turned his attention to the boy that had approached. While he didn’t know this Viking and could not understand the dragons’ language he could tell by the small dragon’s reaction that this new arrival was its owner. The other seemed frightened by the girl’s dragon, and a quick glance at the reptile told him exactly why.

“It’s harmless.” The white haired teen said to the other. The looked back at the large black dragon and nodded toward the Viking, gesturing for the Night Fury to show him it wasn’t a danger.

With that he moved back to the girl, having been aware of the sound of her practicing in the background. He spotted her arrows around that had missed his mark.

A more direct approach may be necessary… he concluded. She’s getting better though.

He sighed and stood next to her, “You didn’t take the wind into account with that last shot. Both the speed and direction of the wind will affect where you arrow ends up.” Snow pointed to her stance and asked, “If I may?” then waited a moment before acting. After that moment though he lightly took the hand on the bow and guided it up and a little to the side while carefully nudging her feet into a better position with one of his. Then he stepped back a foot or two and instructed, “Shoot.”

[Woodrot & Garlic Surprise]

Staring at Timber he had found himself rather unwilling to move, even as Garlic egged him on. The bigger the dragon, the more likely he was to want to avoid it. And standing here, this dragon was of the size he didn't want to mess around. Garlic was bad enough, but at least she was small and he could easily knock aside if he had to. But he heard a voice, apparently there were others out here? And he had been spotted somehow. "H-harmless? N-no dragon is h-harmless." He looked down at Garlic. "N-not even one this s-size..." He added under his breath, nudging her away from his boots.

Scooping up the snaptrapper, he held her tight for fear she might wander off again. "S-she hasn't b-been a bother has she?" Already the small dragon began tugging at his hair and clothes. He noticed the cut on their hand, cringing slightly. 'What are they doing out here?' But then the twang of a bow quickly gave away what was happening. But it also alerted him to the fact there was in fact another human here. Likely hidden behind the black bulk of the dragon. But in the midst of it all he stopped, the one who had spotted him. They most certainly weren't from Berk. Their mannerisms, dress and overall appearance gave that away. Lowering his brows a bit, Rot began to feel concerned. "S-sorry to interrupt, but who are you?" This was probably the most confidence any one would ever get from him however.

Garlic seemed to however be fine with the situation. Squirming and nipping at her mommy, but not complaining. «Hey!» «Heeeeey!» She cooed towards Timber, hoping to catch her attention once more. «What happening?» Her split tail swishing under her and she tilted one head slightly.

[Ulrika&Timber]

Timber realised she was being lulled into a false sense of security. She still didn't know what intention this boy had, whether good or evil. He called her harmless, so decided to unsheath her teeth and give him a guttural and dangerous growl, arching her back once again. They weren't friends yet. And she certainly wouldn't let neither of the humans touch her yet either. She was glad that the newcomer agreed.

She followed the boy with her head as he moved back to Ulrika. He corrected her, which she did not like at all.

"I can aim fine! Just gotta get used to it, is all." She protested, but then he entered her personal space to correct her physically. Ulrika gulped, not sure how to react. "Hey!"

But before she could totally protest, he backed off, and told her to shoot with her new configurement. Grumbling, she did so, and was satisfied that it hit the mark. "Hmmph. I totally could have got that by myself, you know. I was almost there last time as well."

Just then Woodrot piped up, and Ulrika turned around, but glad to see this familiar face. Ulrika backed up and edged closer to the fellow berkian. Woodrot was right - who was he?

"Yeah... Yeah! For all we know you could be a Hysterian spy, or something. Or a dragon hunter!" She backed up Woodrot's claim. Ulrika did not like the idea of that. She was not planning on getting into another fight any time soon.

Timber's initial snarl died down slightly, but there was still a persistent grumble going on. The little dragon in the black-haired human's arms was wriggling about, desperate to know what's going on.

"It's a Stranger." Timber said, simply. "We don't know if he is good or bad." She would have told her to be ready to protect their humans, but it was clear this little dragon was too young to even consider defending itself, let alone a human.

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Hey ApocalypseArisen if you want to keep your character safe make sure to register your name and characters in the current Activity Check!

[Deleted]

Her gulp was unexpected. Snow had thought she might strike at him, but was pleased that she didn't. He wasn't looking to bring another injury on himself. He’d done that to himself already. He held no interest in her posturing though. Yes. You probably would have gotten it… eventually. He thought to himself. He watched as she got closer to the other Viking that had joined the duo of humans, turning it into a trio. They seemed wary of him. Hmm… they really do have no reason not to be. He mused to himself.

Then came the questions and accusations: questions from the male and accusations from the girl. Perhaps she commonly jumps to conclusions? He wondered briefly. Then he decided to address the question he’d been asked. “My name is Snow. I’m a traveler. No, I am not a spy and no, I am not a dragon hunter. That, frankly, I find to be a ridiculous assumption. I am, in fact, a treasure hunter of sorts… I was actually out here in search of a rumored object but ran into an obstruction in my path of reaching it.”

He casually walked over to the black haired Viking and reached out to scratch the small dragon in his arms lightly under one of its chins again. “I was actually getting to know this little one before you arrived. Does she have a name?”

[Woodrot & Garlic Surprise]

While it was clear Woodrot was not confident in his position, his knees knocking together slightly as he shivered, he kept a firm gaze. This was something serious, and he was glad Ulrika picked up on that fact. "That doesn't sound awfully convincing." Treasure hunter? Sounded like bad news to him, like a pirate almost. All Berk had was it's belongings, and their dragons. But one of the two it really could do without. "We h-have to be cautious of outsiders. You w-would be surprised how often we get attacked."

Rot stumbled backed a step when he was approached. "Y-you really sh-shouldn't be so open around s-strange dragons." As he watched them reach out towards Garlic he wondered if they were stupid, or just plain crazy. "S-she does." He complete forgot to say what it was however. And he didn't quite get a chance to.

As Garlic saw the hand coming she turned her attention to it. She knew she would like what was coming, but also picked up on the fear almost radiating from her mommy. He was terrified, and that meant something wasn't right. And the low rumble coming from Timber made the situation more clear to the small dragon. And to confirm it, the larger dragon mentioned they didn't know about the new person. They seemed good, but every one else wasn't so sure. «Oh.» «Okay!» She pulled herself about in Rots grasp until she was stood on his arms. Flaring her orange spotted wings, she let out the scariest snarl she could muster. It was somewhat squeaky, but the deep underlying rumble was still there.

Her reaction surprised Woodrot more than anything, she usually loved every one. But it was good, she seemed to understand the situation enough to know it wasn't time for making friends with strange new people. "W-what ever you are looking for can w-wait I'm sure."