[Jokul] Come Fly To Me

[Fern & Nima]

Time and Date:: December 31rst - Early Morning 

Weather:: Freezing cold, light snow, thick fog all around Berk and surrounding ocean 

Previous Threads?:: N/A 

CURRENT IC SEASON - Winter 

Dreams; it's what filled every vikings mind at night. Some were forgotten, some briefly remembered, some you couldn't shake from your mind for ages upon ages. Some were pleasant, some were as monstrous as a dragons breathe of fire. And upon this night, which was quickly turning to morning, one viking had a horrendous nightmare... Her slumbered mind had come up with the frightening scenario that her beloved dragon had returned, only to kill her new-found friend Jokul by accident.. and sentenced to death. She woke up, shooting straight up in bed crying out, "NO!" It came as a scream, and she breathed heavily, sweat having soaked through her already damp layer of bedding. For in Berk everything was damp, if not by snow then by rain.





She heard footsteps rushing up the stairs, to see her mother rushing in. She asked numerous questions to which Fern replied, "No, no, I'm alright... It was..." She wiped her brow of the sweat that had amounted on it, "... just a dream. A bad one, at that." She sighed, before toppling off her bed. Her mother briefly suggested that she go out and play. "Mom, I'm too old for that! But I do want to go out! Maybe there's some people awake... Maybe..." She saw her mothers big smile and glittering eyes and turned a shade of pink, "No, mom! I meant like Spitnose! Really!" Though she wasn't convincing her.



"Bye mom! Be back later!" She gave her a kiss and ran out the door, heading downstairs quickly. She had hoped her mother hadn't caught on to her wandering mind, but she had. How mothers knew such things was beyond her. Some sort of sixth sense or something, she figured. No, that was crazy. But, before she could further dwell on it, she found herself at Jokuls doorstep. Giving a brief knock, she backed up, looking around. Suddenly a cry from the skies alerted her. "Is that a... " She looked to the skies, raising her hand to her forehead to block out the sunlight. Her jaw dropped, as a huge smile came to her, "DRAGON!" She screeched happily. "That's a dragon!" She searched the skies for more, but only found a few monsterous nightmares returning so far, no signs of a nadder. Perhaps they were somewhere behind? She searched the skies, knocking again on Jokul's door, "The dragons, the dragons!" She cried. People came rushing out of their huts quickly, gathering to peer at the skies. But... Where was her dragon? Where... was Nima?

[Jokul & Starkad]

Mumbling in his sleep wasn't an uncommon occurrence for Jokul. In fact, it happened almost on a schedule. Half an hour before the sun was up, he'd start shifting from one side to another and grumble out inaudible words.

And this was a habit his dragon wasn't very fond of at all. Despite being a hyper-active dragon, she did enjoy her beauty sleep, so when her rider woke her up with his sleep talking, she returned the favor.

Which is why Starkad had pretty much defaced Jokul's headboard. Once he was awoken, he swatted behind his head instinctively, already knowing the noisemaker was there. Starkad hissed at his hand in surprise and hopped onto the bed beside the teen.

A sudden knock caught both of their attentions, but neither could react before a draconic roar echoed through the village. The hobblegrunt's frill flared open at the sound. "Mama!" Jokul didn't try to even hide the smile when he thought of their reunion. Let's just hope Shade doesn't ask if she's gotten into any trouble.

The young viking watched in amusement when the dragon started whining and yipping in distress. "Get up get up get up!!" She nosed his head and nearly pushed him off the bed. "I'm up already!"

Jokul hadn't had the time to put his boats on, or his vest for that matter, when Starkad turned tail and sprinted through the house until she'd reached the front door, which Jokul's mother was just about to answer. Starkad slowed down her run to allow time for the door to open far enough. Unfortunately, she didn't hear the voice on the other side of it until she'd already barreled into her.

The dragon tumbled ungracefully to the ground with a thud.

"STARKAD!"

The jarring commands of both Jokul and his mother made her flinch, but she still managed to see who she crashed into. Oh Odin... Jokul's not going to be happy about this.

"Fern?" He offered a hand to help her up. "What... what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be waiting for Nima at home?"

Starkad crawled as quietly as she could away from the scene, but it did her no good. Jokul had already known her intentions. The waves of anger rolling off of him were percieved effortlessly by her sensitive frill, but it wasn't needed. His clenched fists and steely voice told her enough. "Get your reptilian butt over here."

[Fern & Nima]

Fern had just started knocking on the door, when it suddenly opened; before she could react, she was toppled over forcefully into the snow, a scream escaping her as she was toppled over. For a moment, her world went completely black... Am I dead? She wondered. But if I'm dead how am I still thinking? Wait... She momentarily saw a flickering light and realized her eyes were part way open. Opening them, she blinked a few times to clear her vision, hearing a voice echoing in her ears. "Fern?" She blinked once more, rubbing her head, before realizing his hand was outstretched.

Grabbing his hand, she stood shakily, "Ya, umm.... I'm fine... I just came to see you; right, um I mean so we could wait for the dragons- together!" She said shakily, blushing a little. She looked to him, realizing she was still holding his hand, and withdrew it quickly, placing it in her pocket. Nervously she brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes. After their last encounter, she felt even more awkward around him. She wasn't sure why, but seeing him sent her stomach and knots and a lump in her throat.

She suddenly found it hard to speak, nervously laughing in a futile attempt to break the ice. Momentarily she saw a figure in the sky, a screech meeting her ears. She knew the reptilian voice anywhere, "NIMA!" She cried out, as her dragon landed, running towards her full speed. She ran towards her as well, outstretching her arms. Her dragon ran right to her, slowing so she could slide right into Fern's waiting arms. Nima nuzzled against her. "Good human. Yes, yes, I missed you too. Did you bring me my favorite treats? Chicken?" Nima questioned to Fern as she nosed around her knapsack that lay on the ground. Fern laughed, although she didn't speak dragonese she knew what the dragon wanted. Picking up the knapsack, she took out a piece of chicken and a piece of fish. "Which one do you fancy better, girl?" Nima quickly, yet delicately, snatched the chicken from her hand and swallowed it whole, spitting up the bones momentarily. Fern laughed softly, "Chicken it is then." She looked to Jokul, "Say, you're waiting for a dragon too, right?"

[Jokul & Starkad]

There was rarely a command Starkad would listen to, but she decided it'd be best to be given punishment now instead of later. She crawled across the frozen ground to the boy's legs, trying to make herself as small as possible.

"Yeah... that sounds... good." He replied, a bit surprised she actually came from to his house, of all places, to wait for Nima. "Sorry about Starkad too..." Said dragon cowered into a small ball of blue scales.

As the awkward moment continued, Jokul heard a muffled laughing from inside the house. Oh no. That's just great. Mom's going to be teasing me even more now. He knew very well his mother was watching the scene, and there was no doubt in his mind that she'd bring up everything that'd happened here later.

Thankfully a dragon's call came just in the knick of time before Jokul was going to start stuttering like a numbskull. "NIMA!" And low and behold, a purple nadder landed no farther than a zippleback-length from where they were standing.

While he let her greet her dragon, he spoke lowly to his own, "You're going to be apologizing before the day is up." The hobblegrunt's frill clung to her body, afraid of what she might feel if she were to open it. "I didn't mean to..." Jokul sighed and patted Starkad's shoulder, receiving both a flinch, and a happy click.  

"Say, you're waiting for a dragon too, right?"

HIs answer was drowned out by low-pitched clicking and purring not too far away. Though all he saw in the sun was a blurry silhouette, his dragon's reaction told him who it was.

"MAMA!!" Starkad vanished from Jokul's side in an instant. As the older hobblegrunt made her decent, the smaller of the two tried to close the distance between them. She even tried flapping her wings to get off the ground, only to end up stumbling over her own to feet. "Mama! Mama!"

Shade purred at her daughter's impatience, even though she was just as anxious, if not more. The moment her feet hit the ground, Starkad pressed herself into Shade's legs. "Mama..." Both of the dragons' scales changed, almost as if to match each other in yellow and green hues. "I missed you too, baby." She lied on her side to allow Starkad to curl up next to her chin.

Jokul's grin stretched across his face. His dragon might be an annoying pain all the time, but the reunion reminded him that she was only a baby. And a baby that just got its mother back after weeks of separation, no less.

Jokul's mother bounded out of the hut not too long after Starkad started cuddling against Shade's head. "Shade!" She flung her arms around the hobblegrunt's middle, earning a low grunt from her dragon.

"Now that's not something you see everyday." The teen said referring to the young hobblegrunt lying peacefully next to her mother. "Reminds me when I first met the little nuisance."

He turned and started walking towards the nadder and its rider. "So this is Nima, eh?" He asked rhetorically. Switching to dragonese, the teen raised a hand confidently into her line of sight to stay out of her blind spot. "I hate to say I've never had the pleasure to meet you before." Speaking to dragons always seemed to come out easier for Jokul. Maybe it was having dragonese as his first language?

"I must say, you're a beautiful nadder." He might've not been able to see well, but he knew very well how proud nadders were, and giving them praise would usually get you on their good side. "Seems fitting you've got Fern for a rider." He'd only said the last part aloud because he new very well the girl wouldn't understand him.

[Fern & Nima]

At his words, she smiled, waving her hand, "It's alright!" She said softly, "No worse then being knocked over by Nima..." She said softly. When suddenly her dragon flew down, and she was in her embrace, feeding her, she found herself happier then she'd been in a long time. With Jokul, she had been in a sort of stupor, it had numbed her pain. Now as she looked to him she felt a sudden jolt in her stomach, going straight up to her throat. She thought of the other night and blushed, looking down. Finally she fed her dragon her treats, her dragon choosing the chicken. Suddenly Jokul made odd noises, and she tilted her head as Nima responded in clicks and croons. "Are you... Are you speaking dragonese?" She asked softly, awe in her tones.

Meanwhile Nima chirped shrilly, "Is that a... human... A human boy? Talking to me?" She looked to his outstretched hand, tilting her head, "You can understand me?" She looked to him as he told her she was beautiful, "Well of course I am!" She said proudly, lifting her head up in the air, crooning softly. At his next comment the dragon tilted her head, growling in uncertainty at the emotions radiating off of him. After a long moment of examining him and trying to detect as what the emotions meant, she looked to her rider. "The human girl can't understand me.. so why can you?"

She looked to her dragon, "Can.. Can you teach me?" She asked softly. "I mean, I love talking to Nima with baby talk but to actually understand her I mean.... Wow.. that'd be... a-amazing!" She said softly, as her dragon looked over to her. Her dragons spikes came forward as she inhaled her riders scent, sensing excitement coming off of her. She directed her nose in the direction of Jokul as he outstretched his hand, pressing against it. Fern tilted her head, "Um.. this might sound, erm.. weird.. but.. what's she saying... like... now?"

[Jokul & Starkad]

"Let's just say knowing two languages is like compensation." He scratched his cheek nonchalantly, pointing towards his eyes. "Besides... dragons seem to like having someone to talk to them when their owners can only have one-way conversations." On the outside, he might've looked a bit cocky, but he was feeling more humble at the fact someone was admiring one of his few talents.

"Don't be so surprised, Nima. I'm sure I'm not the only one." He motioned over to his mother and Shade, and spoke in norse, "I pretty much grew up with both human and dragon tongue."

When Fern asked if he'd teach her, he was taken aback. The thought of being a translator was common, but a teacher? He'd never taught anyone anything before. In fact, he didn't usually have a conversation that'd be long enough for such a thing. He didn't even know if he'd even hold up after only a few minutes of talking.

"I-... I don't..." He stuttered. "I'm not exactly the best tutor." His voice was probably too quiet for her to hear, but he was mostly trying to convince himself. "But maybe I could... try, at least..."

"Um.. this might sound, erm.. weird.. but.. what's she saying... like... now?" Glad about the change of topic, Jokul ran his palm up the side of Nima's nose horn. "She's trying to figure out how I can understand her, when you can't" He gave a sideways glance in Fern's direction. "No one in your family knows dragonese, do they." It wasn't in the form of a question. Judging by the nadder's reaction, she'd never even known humans could speak their language.

[Fern & Nima]

She couldn't help but give a smile at his nonchalant reasoning for speaking two tongues. At his next words, she looked to Nima, before approaching her. Her dragon nuzzled against her, cooing softly. Fern smiled, "I bet it really is nice for them, y'know... to have a human speak their tongue." She smiled, stroking her dragons scales, who turned her head to Jokul as he spoke.



At the humans words, Nima huffed, "Well you're the first of your kind to speak to me, human." Fern was surprised with her sudden behavior and put a hand on her to soothe her. As Jokul spoke up again, she frowned a moment, before his words.. the words that he would try.. lit a smile to her face. Rushing towards him, she hugged him, "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!"



Pulling back, she giggled as her dragon tilted her head at her, wondering what she was thinking... or saying. At Jokul's words, she looked down. "Oh.." She said quietly. She had hoped maybe her dragon would tell him what she thought of her, or something like that. A pang of guilt hit her at his next words, "No, we never learned dragonese..." She said quietly. She looked up meekly, "But.. But I'd really like to try..."

[Jokul & Starkad]

The feeling of a dragon's scales underneath his fingers would never cease to amaze him. Nima's nose felt a tad warmer than Starkad's, but that might've been due to the fact the nadder had just returned from the migration.

"Yeah, it's not something they get to hear everyday. Sometimes I think Starkad even forgets that not everyone can understand her." He heard a few happy croons behind him from the small hobblegrunt. "Might be part of the reason she follows me everywhere."

He gave Nima one last scratch under her chin just before Fern flung her arms around him. "Okay! Okay! You're welcome!" Having her this enthusiastic about it heightened his optimism. How hard could it be, right?

"I've got to warn you though, not everyone can get a hang of it, especially the speech part." Before he could get anything more out, he heard Starkad call out, "Jokul! You haven't hugged Mama yet!"

"Hold on a second." He held his hand out to Fern. "How about we have the first lesson right now." A few draconic sounds came from his lips. "It pretty much means hello. But the sound might change a little depending on what species of dragon you're hearing it from." Though the idea of her speaking with dragons was far off in the future, he'd rather her at least understand it first.

And then it occurred to him that teaching her would require visiting each other on a regular basis. Jokul's face heated up at the thought, but he didn't lower his hand away from Fern. Oh Odin... what have I gotten myself into?

[Fern & Nima]

Laughing a little at his initial response, she said softly, "That sounds like fun." She said with a gentle tone of sarcasm. As suddenly as she hugged him he was already trying to get her off, or so it seemed, and so she released rather quickly. She jumped back, dancing in place. As he said not everyone could get the hang of it she nodded, "Okay, okay.. That's alright! Show me a dragon word!"

Next thing she knew he was speaking in a dragon-like tongue and translating it for her. She made a noise from somewhere in her gut and it came out almost like a mumble. Blushing at her poor attempt, she smiled bashfully. "Can you have your dragon say it? So I can get used to it."

Meanwhile Nima perked up at her noise. "Sounds like she is regurgitating for offspring." She said with dragon like laughter. She came forward, nudging against her rider, making the same sound Jokul had made. "Hello." rumbled. Fern turned to look at her, staring at her, her dragon made the same rumble again, repeating the word in dragonese. "Umm... Right... I'm not sure what she's saying... " Frustrated, her dragon flapped her wings, screeching, "Hello!"

[Jokul & Starkad]

Okay.... I've heard worse. Jokul mentally winced at her pronounciations. Can't blame her for not being able to do it the first time round.

"Sounds like she is regurgitating for offspring." It appeared he and Nima shared that opinion in common. He couldn't contain the short cackle that followed the dragon's comment either.

It didn't take long for Starkad to get impatient with her rider. And when she forced herself to pull away from her mother, she was even more eager to get back. "Jokul!" She whined. "Come on!!" She tugged at his sleeves, probably stretching and ripping the seams as she did so. "Stop trying to court the Red Girl, or I'll get Mama to come over here!" She'd purposefully wanted to get him angry in hopes of distracting him away from Fern.

Jokul whipped his head around at the dragon. "Why you little-" He reached down to clamp her mouth shut, but the hobblegrunt slithered around his outstretched arms and towards the other teen. The boy watched as Starkad circled Fern, searching for fish, and then spinning around, showing more interest in the nadder as she kept squawking 'hellos'.

"I don't think she can hear you." The hobblegrunt looked back over to Fern for a second before bringing her eyes back to Nima. "Mama and Jokul say a lot of the humans are like that."

"Can you have your dragon say it? So I can get used to it."

Giving Starkad another glare, he shook his head. "She's not in a listening mood right now... or ever, really." He let another laugh escape him as Fern grew confused. "Nima seems to be better at listening though. She's been saying hello."

[Fern & Nima]

As she attempted to make her dragon call, she could hear a slight chuckle from Jokul. It made her cheeks turn a slight shade of pink, and she bit her lip. "Right, it wasn't that good, eh?" She said softly, giggling a little towards the end. It was then that Starkad started to act up, tugging on Jokul's sleeves, before running over to Fern, circling her and sniffing her. Fern put her hands up, "Sorry girl, no treats today." She said with a tone of honesty. It was true; her knapsack didn't have a single fish in it... More or less because she had come straight from out of bed.

Within a few moments, she started running her fingers through her hair before asking if she could have Starkad say hello to her. Jokul's response made her laugh a little. "Well what now..." She asked softly, before he answered that Nima had been saying hello. Turning to Nima, she looked at her and listened as she chirped out a few dragon-y sounds.

"Hello." Nima chirped, bopping her head up and down. Fern squinted her eyes at her a moment before saying softly, in her best dragon tongue, "Hello." It made Nima perk up and run over, running her tongue over Fern as she enveloped her in one wing. Nuzzling against her, Nima crooned softly, "Hello." As Fern stroked her scales, tears of joy forming in her eyes. "She understands me... This is.. amazing..."

[Jokul & Starkad]

"Right, it wasn't that good, eh?"

"Yeah, you could say that..." Jokul muttered under his breath. "But it's a start."

Starkad's frill twitched open when Fern said 'hello'. Both the nadder and her rider's elation was instant, and it caught the hobblegrunt's attention easily. What are they so happy about? She only said hello, right? The young dragon gurgled curiously, and crawled closer to the pair, sniffing the air for any dragon nip, or any other explanation for the sudden change.

"She understands me... This is.. amazing..."

Jokul let out a sigh-like laugh at the two of them. He had to admit, this teaching thing is already paying off. "And believe me, there's still a lot more to learn."

The smile was wiped off his face when Starkad begin nosing her way closer to the two of them. "Starkad! Leave them alone." The hobblegrunt paid no heed to him and stretched her neck out to sit directly in front of Nima's. Probably not the smartest thing to do, but she needed to know why they were so happy.

"But... she only said hello." Starkad mumbled. "Jokul talks to me all the time..." She was mostly talking to herself, but it was loud enough for the nadder to hear her.

[Fern & Nima]

Fern gave him a sideways glance, with one raised brow. She smirked a little, "Guess I'll just have to learn then." She said softly, before talking in dragonese to her dragon. The excitement that followed was pure bliss, and Fern barely heard him as he told her there was still a lot more to learn. Her heart soared at the thought of being able to one day understand Nima. It already felt like she was getting to know her dragon on a whole other level; a level of understanding, of sheer love, of being able to understand one another more deeply then ever before.

Yet the peace and quiet was not to last, for moments later Starkad made the mistake of approaching, right in Nima's blind spot. The reaction was nearly instantaneous; Nima's wings furrowed around Fern, tackling her to the ground with her claws, while her tail swiped, spines shooting from her tail. Luckily, at the angle that Starkad was at, most of the spines would have likely missed her.

Nima's concerned croon came from her as she checked beneath her wing, to see a scared to death Fern underneath her. It didn't take dragonese to know she had given her a scare, and Nima tilted her head, giving a concered murr before Fern snapped out of it, saying to her dragon harshly, "Nima, what were you thinking! You could have killed them!"

Nima took a moment to stare at her, backing up a step. Fern quickly realized she had been to harsh, but it was too late. Nima gave a quick thrust of her wings and was disappearing onto the horizon before she could say any more. Fern looked to Jokul, "You alright?" She asked softly, striding towards him. "I hate to say it, but maybe I was too harsh with her.. We, er.. I.. Should go looking for her."