[Spitnose/Crystal] An Unexpected Discovery

[Fern & Nima]

Time and Date:: January 5th - Early Morning
Weather:: Foggy, damp, snow in some areas.
 Previous Threads?:: N/A

It had been a while since Fern had seen Spitnose, and after their awkward encounter about training dragons, she hadn't really seen her since. Although there had been one time she had happened upon her, and they had agreed to meet on this early morning near the docks. Thus Fern skipped happily along the cold, frost ridden beach, her tones cheerful as she went; for she was looking forward to seeing her friend.  In the back of her mind she recalled she had mentioned befriending a scauldron, but as time passed Fern began to believe it was more a fishers tale then anything. Thus Fern went down skipping down to the docks, humming a tune as she went.

Her humming stopped short as she reached the beach; for where she had expected Spitnose's short, gap toothed figure to be waiting for her.. there was no one.  Looking around, she soon found that Spitnose was nowhere nearby. She looked around a moment, circling the island, before she whistled for her dragon, who landed nearby momentarily. "Hey girl, can you help me find my friend?" She asked softly, "I know you can't understand me yet, but here..." She pointed a foot print in the sand that did not belong to her. She could only hope it belonged to Spitnose. Hopping atop her dragons back, she held on as her dragon started circling and sniffing before taking off into flight.

Nima roared in her excitement, looking at the ground as she flew low. Just then she lifted her head to the skies, sniffing the air, before taking off at an alarming pace and taking her rider for a nose dive. "NIMA! AHHH!" Fern held on tightly, yet she slipped from the saddle. She was free falling through the air, and just before she hit the ground she felt claws envelope her. Perhaps only forty feet above the ground, Nima hovered until she was only a few feet above the ground, before gently placing Fern on the ground, wrapping a wing around her, her pupils slits. Fern didn't realize the danger yet; she could have no idea the very thing that had alarmed her dragon so violently was the very beast that her friend had been hiding from her... from everyone.

[Crystal the Scauldron]

Crystal's whereabouts were always around Berk these past few weeks. She never ventured too far in case Spit decided to surprise her and visit the water. The sea dragon circled the coast nearest to the docks to locate her friend, careful to stay submerged in case she came across someone else.

Plus, she wouldn't be searching by sight. Instead, she was listening for her. Spit always seemed to make her presence known to the scauldron through... what was it humans called it? Oh yeah! Singing! It was almost like what dragons did to woo a mate, but Crystal sensed that humans' meaning of singing was a bit more complicated.

A muffled tune soon reached her ears, making her perk her head out of the water to find where it was coming from. She didn't hesitate once she spotted the girl's clothing contrasting with the ground. Crystal let out a gleeful roar and propelled herself with a powerful thrust of her wings, which even made her body airborne for a few seconds.

When the depth of the water grew too small to swim in, the scauldron was forced to waddle awkwardly onto the rocky beach. She flicked any excess water off of her wings before tucking them neatly by her side.

"I hope you haven't been waiting too long." She cooed and leant her head down to push her nose into the girl's chest. The human's scent would never be able to leave the dragon's memory. Even if the two were to be separated for years, Crystal was certain that she'd still be able to pick out Spit's unique smell.

A sudden shout from above echoed around them. Crystal peered around the viking and saw a nadder land not too far away. She failed to see the dragon's rider behind her wing, making the sea dragon even more wary of its bird-like counterpart.

The scauldron didn't know whether to run or defend Spit, so instead, she hefted her friend up in her mouth by the collar of her clothing. Crystal was sure it wouldn't be something she'd enjoy, but once she was off the ground, it allowed the scauldron to start backing away from whatever danger had presented itself while still keeping Spit safe.

[Spitnose]

You know that feeling you get sometimes, the feeling you are forgetting something that might be important? Well, Spit didn't have that feeling right now. A spring to her step as she crossed the shore line, looking around for any signs of her scaled sea friend. She hadn't intended it at first, but singing seemed to be her way of calling out to the dragon. It was fun, and cheerful and always made her feel great. "~Through time and tide," She glanced around as she began her song. "~Through waters wide." It wasn't long before the water broke, and a grin spread wide across her face. She raised her arms and laughed. "~By blood and bone, by stock and stone!" She hardly had time to finish before she heard the scrabbling of large feet across the shore. She laughed as she got hit with the water shaken from her wings, and not long after that had a dragon nose pressed into her chest. "I should be saying that. It's so good to see you!" She hugged the horn that curved away from her face and let out a content sigh.

But that sigh turned into a yelp when she heard screaming. She hardly had time to process what was going on when she was hoisted into the air. "W-woah! Where are we going?! I like walks as much as the next girl, but this isn't exactly my idea of fun!" Her legs kicked and spun about, while her hands where pulling down on the neck of her tunic to avoid being choked by it. "Uhm so, why are we doing this?" She tried to wriggle free of the dragons grasp, but failed. But in a moment of spinning she noticed something. "Wait..." She squinted her eyes and tried to see in that direction again. Sure enough, it was a purple Nadder. "Wait! Don't back up, I know her! She wouldn't hurt us..." By this point she was shouting, she didn't mean to be but she couldn't help it. 'I hope...' "Nima! Calm down, it's me!" She let go with one arm and waved the other one, hoping to catch the Nadders eye. She didn't yet know Fern was also there, so for now stuck to addressing the dragon.

[Fern & Nima]

Fern screamed as her dragon raced through the air, and as she fell she found herself clawing and grasping for something to hold onto, only to find the wind and air around her. Yet just then her dragons claws surrounded her, and they landed, "Nima, what's gotten into you?!" She hissed in a hushed voice at her dragon, but at her dragons protective behavior she turned slowly to see what she was seeing. There before her was a massive figure, backing away slowly into the seas. She could hear a rumbling from the beast, and just then she noticed.. something peculiar..

For there, in the dragons jaws, was a much smaller figure; which was twisting and turning every which way, as if to escape. "Hold on, I'll help you!" Fern cried out, running forward. Nima flapped her wings and ran forward to protect her rider, a growl coming from her as she did so. Yet suddenly Nima tilted her head, skidding to a halt, her growls fading. With a mighty beat of her wings, she lifted off the ground and grabbed her rider by the clothes in one swift swoop, picking her up off the ground by a few feet and hovering there. For in that moment Nima picked up on the dragonese from Spitnose.

Fern struggled, "Nima, she needs our help! Nima, let- go!" She grunted as she struggled, yet just then she noticed who the person was. "S-Spitnose?" She asked, in sheer shock. In that moment Nima released her grip, as Fern, laying on her backside, took a few crawling steps back.

Even so, her eyes were glued to the duo; and she found that the dragon was indeed a scauldron. And to Fern's amazement, the dragon hadn't harmed her, and was actually backing up with her in her grasp. As if.. protecting her... "Great Odin's beard, it is true!" She whispered hoarsely, "Spitnose... this.. this is your dragon?" She asked, amazement growing in her voice. She looked to her, "Is.. is this your scauldron...?"

[Crystal the Scauldron]

"W-woah! Where are we going?! I like walks as much as the next girl, but this isn't exactly my idea of fun!"

As predicted, Spit was less than enthusiastic about being off the ground. Her squirming form was harder to hold onto s previously thought, but the scauldron clamped down on the fabric harder to keep from dropping her. Crystal only managed to get her tail into the water before the girl in her mouth started shouting to stop. Another friend of hers? The scauldron couldn't help but recoil back when a smaller figure appeared next the nadder.

By now, her whole back end was submerged in the shallow water, and with no where else to go, Crystal was preparing herself to flee. That is, until the opposing dragon suddenly stopped its growling and held the other human back. Tadpole must've said something to her... The dragon thought.

"Spitnose... this.. this is your dragon? Is.. is this your scauldron...?"

WIth a huff of air the back of Spit's head, Crystal hesitantly lowered her back onto the ground, still wary of the newcomers. Clearly, they were, in fact, friends of Spit, but the sea dragon worried they would not be hers as well. 

[Spitnose]

The sound of water sloshing around them as Crystal continued her backwards escape caused her to hope that the Scauldron didn't really plan on vanishing back into the ocean with her in mouth. "I'm sorry, I didn't know any one would follow me..." And why it would be Fern of all people? "I would have told you if I had known!" She tried to reach up ad vaguely pat where she thought the dragons nose would be. She was super excited that she was willing to abscond into the water to save her, but Spit didn't need saving from this.

She seemed to shrink as the warm air ruffled the back of her hair, laughing nervously. For a brief moment she did ignore Fern, resting on Crystals snout for a moment. "Okay the Nadder is Nima, and the human is Fern." She blinked a bit, brushing her hair aside. "They are friends too... that I made have accidentally told about you..." She scratched the back of her neck. "I guess people need to find out sooner or later..." Spit trailed off and skewed her face up a bit. Finally turning her attention back to Fern she moved away from the waters edge. "I... uhm, yeah this is Crystal..." She stumbled a bit on loose stones on the beach. "She's not really... you know my Scauldron." Her head tilted to the side. "My friend, you know." She offered a grin up at the sea dragon. In their time together she had even managed to learn to speak some Dragonese. «My best friend, right?»

Blinking a bit something hit her. "Hey Fern, do know Dragonese?" She had never thought to ask. Spit had always understood it, and never seemed to question if others didn't. "I mean... I never see you talking to Nima, like... a conversation with her." She wandered back over to Crystal and patted her nose. But the more she thought about the current conversation. "Oh son of a half-troll. I was going to visit you today wasn't I?" She smacked her forehead and sighed. "I'm so sorry, I completely forgot!"

[Fern & Nima]

Nima tilted her head as she held her rider in her jaws, before dropping her. She heard the girl talking to her dragon in her language and snorted. Another one..? She growled softly, referring to the fact that Spitnose knew dragonese. She couldn't help but be a tad jealous, for her rider only knew one word. It was then that Fern started questioning if this was Spitnose's dragon, and Spitnose finally turned her attention to them.

Fern squinted her eyes to get a better view of Spitnose against the monstrously huge dragon, before the dragon put her down. She could hear muffled sounds, but didn't know that they were dragonese until the dragon started rumbling back to her. It made her feel a pang of guilt that she didn't yet know dragonese. At Spitnose's words she nodded, "Of course." She said softly, "Nima's my friend, too.. Even though I can't always understand her..."

As she asked if she knew dragonese she looked down, shaking her head, "No, only one word.. And that's.. " She turned to her dragon, speaking in a fairly good dragonese voice, "Hello." At this Nima shuffled closer, laying her head over her shoulder. I know, young one, I know... She said softly. Nima gently ran her tongue over Fern, tenderly, almost like a mother would a child, and she looked to Spitnose. A boy is to be teaching her. But two is better then one. What say you?

Moments passed, before a realization seemed to hit Spitnose and she told Fern she had been supposed to meet her. Fern nodded, "Yeah, I know.. It's alright though. I don't mind meeting Crystal.. In fact, why don't we let our dragons meet each other? I'm not sure how many nadders Crystal has met, nor how many scauldrons Nima has seen."

[Crystal the Scauldron]

Spitnose's mumbled apologies at least kept Crystal's mind focused away from Fern and Nima. And without any threatening postures, she was warming up to the pair faster due to how casually Spit spoke with them.

"My best friend right?"

The scauldron's eyes were immediately drawn to the viking in front of her. There were very few times she'd talk her native language, so it was something that always caught Crystal's attention. "As long as you'll be mine as well, yes." She purred with her chin resting atop Spit's head.

"Hey Fern, do know Dragonese?"

So not all humans can understand dragons? Crystal huffed at the girl's hand. Then I guess I was lucky that I bumped into someone who did. Nima showered her rider in licks after a simple hello. The scauldron hummed at the duo. Unlike the last dragon-viking pair they ran into, these two were more relatable. The young hobblegrunt was more of a littermate than a friend to the boy, really.

"A boy is to be teaching her. But two is better then one. What say you?"

Giving a quiet grunt, Crystal began waddling back onto the hard ground, resting beside the girl instead of behind her. "I'd been under the impression they could all understand us." Her wing tips twitched in an attempt to free themselves of water. "But since that's not the case, then I believe you're right." With a quick flick of her wings, she hummed softly, "Two is much better than one."

"Oh son of a half-troll. I was going to visit you today wasn't I? I'm so sorry, I completely forgot!"

A chortle-like laugh escaped the scauldron. Leave it to Spit to forget meeting her friend by meeting another.

"Yeah, I know.. It's alright though. I don't mind meeting Crystal.. In fact, why don't we let our dragons meet each other? I'm not sure how many nadders Crystal has met, nor how many scauldrons Nima has seen."

Upon hearing the suggestion, the scauldron perked her head up in curiosity. It wasn't at all common for a land and sea dragon to see each other, much less become aquainted. Crystal forced her small legs to carry her a few feet forward, far enough away from Nima to not be a threat.

"If you are indeed, Spit's friend, then I hope you'll be mine as well. I've only met one other of your kind... and it was quite a while ago, so I'm sorry if you have a custom I'm not aware of. Living in the sea pretty much cuts anyone off from the land or sky."

She hadn't meant to sound so formal, but she'd rather come off as calm than being too friendly.

[Spitnose]

The contact made Spit smile wider than should be possible, glad for the Scauldrons affection. Still grinning, she knew being friends was on a level deeper than language. "It's okay, I am only just learning to speak it now." Stumbling a bit as she tried to regain a proper stance in the shifting beach.

But she seemed a bit shocked as Nima began to speak to her. Thinking about her response she could feel the ground shifting around her feet a bit as it was displaced by the added weight of the dragon behind her. Turning her head, Spit looked up at her. "Oh, no. There's not actually that many... even less who don't have dragons." A frown creased her face, for the longest time that had been her. "Oh oh! We could totally help!" Pausing, Spit furrowed her brow a bit and gnawed her lip. "I mean I'm still learning to speak it, but I can understand it! And I'm learning to speak it too!" Grinning once more she felt like she had accomplished something major.

"I... probably would have brought you to see her too." A faint laugh escaped her. Looking back to the Scauldron she smiled. "Nima took me for my first flight! I'm sure you'll get along great!" The idea was brilliant, and Crystal seemed quite alright with it as well. However she couldn't help but stiffle a giggle, the sea dragon seemed so... Spit couldn't quite find the word for it besides fancy. It was amusing to see this, it was so different from their first meeting, and yet so very similar. Wobbling on the gravel once more Spit decided to move out of the way, give the dragons some space. She motioned for Fern to come over and join her. "So how are you any ways?" With that she flopped down, sitting on the soggy shore. "You've been learning Dragonese, but who from?" Head tilting to the side, she was curious. Who was good enough with the dragon-tongue to teach it?

[Fern & Nima]

Fern watched as the two seemed to speak in tongue, and for a moment she felt bad. She had just said hello to her dragon, who seemed to respond with joy and affection, yet she didn't know much else. She looked to Spitnose as she seemed to communicate effortlessly with her dragon friend. It made Nima turn and nuzzle against Fern, before lifting her snout up and tilting her head at the scauldron before her.

The comment made Nima give a dragon huff, "Plenty of them don't know our tongue. Those that do are few, and even so they often know little of it." Nima wrapped a wing around Fern, who leaned into her dragon. "Sometimes I wish she could understand me. It would be nice to know all that she is thinking."

Meanwhile Fern heard Spitnose's offer to help and smiled, "Really?! That'd be... That'd be great!" She listened as Spitnose explained that she didn't know much and laughed, "Me either. Just one word. You know more then me, though." She said with a chuckle. Just then she was asked how she was, and she responded softly, "Fine, fine.." Her mind went to Jokul just then, and she turned a shade of pink as she asked who she was learning dragonese from. "Um.. It's nothing, really.." She said quietly, shuffling her feet, "Jokul... is... teaching me..."

At this Nima saw that space was now there to approach the dragon, she wobbled forward and gave a sound much like dragon laughter, "My human seems fond of this... Jokul... I'm not sure why, but it is amusing to watch. I wonder what it's all about, anyway."

[Crystal the Scauldron]

Not that many? The scauldron's head tilted to the side. How do other dragons communicate with them then? When her eyes wandered over to Spit, she suddenly realized just how lucky they'd been to find one another. "Not only do I meet a dragon-speaker, but one who has yet to have one of us as a friend as well? It must've been fate that day." Crystal pondered quietly to herself.

The sea dragon let out a quick hissed laugh at the girl's sudden enthusiasm. She seemed to be one who always shared her opinion on the topic without holding back. Crystal gave a short, curt nod to agree. But if the other viking didn't know dragonese very well, the dragon didn't think she'd be of much help in teaching it.

"Nima took me for my first flight! I'm sure you'll get along great!"

At that, Crystal had newfound respect for the nadder across from her. A twinge of jealousy followed not long after, but the scauldron was sure it was only because she and Spit had yet to fly together. But then again... scauldrons aren't really known for their ability to fly, and for good reason. Usually their body weighed them down and made them fatigued shortly after leaving taking flight.

Knowing Nima had shown her the sky above, Crystal purred and waddled closer, blatantly in striking range for both dragons.

"My human seems fond of this... Jokul... I'm not sure why, but it is amusing to watch. I wonder what it's all about, anyway."

That name... wasn't that what the young hobblegrunt's boy was called? Crystal recoiled her head back in surprise. "Jokul?" She glanced over at Spit for a brief moment before turning her head to face the nadder again. "I think I've actually met him before. Tad-...Spit, I mean, stopped me from boiling him not long ago." She snorted at the memory. "After we gave each other a scare, he seemed decent. And from what I've heard, he speaks our language fluently."

[Spitnose]

Spit smiled wide. "Always here to help!" Helping was pretty fun, especially when it involved learning new things. Tilting her head a bit. "Just fine?" A simple shrug of her shoulders. "Oh really? That grumpy goat?" She laughed a bit, not even noticing Fern's obvious emotions towards speaking about him. "I guess he is pretty good at it." Recovering from her laughter she rubbed her face a bit. "But he's teaching you? Wow, that must be awesome. I think it's still upset that I stole his dragon." She giggled a bit at the thought. Her gaze went back to Crystal. Back then she hadn't even dreamt of having her own dragon, so much had changed.

She couldn't hear the dragons from this distance, likely only because of her bad ear. But she didn't mind, they were getting along well and it made her smile. Her feet swaying from side to side on the ground, feet tapping together at the toes. "I'm glad they like each other. I mean I would be sad if my dragon didn't like my friends and their dragons." With Crystal's personality, Spit found it hard to believe she could dislike any one. And yet she had seen the side of her that proved she was still a dragon, willing to fight if the need came to it. There was so much she was still learning about them, and seeming Nima and Crystal interacting was very much like a lesson. And she enjoyed, and knowing they were too made her all the happier about it all.

[Fern & Nima]

Nima gave a cackle of dragon laughter, "Oh yes. You'd be lucky to meet one that can hold a decent conversation with us. In all reality, their language is much more complicated then ours. All kinds of scale colors and showing their fangs all the time. It's no wonder they don't understand our language." What Nima was referring to was the simple human nature of smiling, blushing, flushing of color, and the various ways in which each person expressed it. For one never blushed just like another; some had a lot of color, others not so much. How the humans did this fascinated the dragon sometimes; it didn't seem to be any defense mechanism... Rather it seemed to trigger all sorts of dramatic emotional changes that the nadder couldn't understand.

At the scauldrons hiss, Nima huffed, "You'll have to excuse her. She is still very cub like." She looked to her human, who seemed to be be enthusiastically agreeing to learn more. Fern laughed softly, "Really, how'd that happen?" She asked as she metioned stealing his dragon. Just then a pang of worry hit her. Had Spitnose been hanging around Jokul? She couldn't be sure, but she wondered if Spitnose had a crush on him or not. Little did she know Spitnose had a very different connection with him, and was actually slowly becoming interested in another one of her classmates.

Fern brushed it aside, saying softly, "It seems they get along. Dragons are amazing creatures..." She trailed off, the thoughts about Jokul bugging her once more. She fidgeted, trying to think of how to word it, before taking a deep breathe and finally asking her, "Hey, um.. you don't, erm... have a crush on anyone... do you?"

[Crystal the Scauldron]

Crystal was warming up to these two so easily, it was as if they were already friends. Fern almost reminded the scauldron of herself. Of course, she knew little about her, but the way she spoke with so little hostility brought Crystal back to her younger, more peaceful years with her younger siblings.

The nadder apologized for her human's behavior, but the sea dragon didn't mind at all. "Spit's nearly the same. It's never ending questions with her." She made a humorous snort at all the times she'd had to answer her friend's interrogation upon their meetings at sea.

"I see..." She said to herself as Nima went on about the humans' language. "It must be difficult with your friend then... H-how... how do you communicate if it's only one-way?"

The sea dragon's massive head swung around when she heard Spit's laugh. Without looking away, she added, "I can't imagine what would've happened if Tad-... Spit didn't understand me that day..." When she saw the girl in question look over at her, she waddled over, plopping herself down on the rocks behind her friend.

Crystal's uneasiness was nearly gone, and she'd only met these two a few minutes before. Compared to her encounter with Jokul and Starkad though, it's no wonder she found Fern and Nima less of a threat. Circling her head around, she rested her chin against on the ground, and having the rest of her head lie against on the viking's body.

"Hey, um.. you don't, erm... have a crush on anyone... do you?"

Crush? What was she asking? That Tadpole sat on anyone? The nadder is right... humans are strange.

[Spitnose]

Grinning she leaned back, trying to think back. "I had no idea she was on the boat with me, and I was just about to go out fishing!" Laughing at the memory. "He blamed me and tried to jump into my boat." Her retelling of the story was a bit... off, but she still grinned at the thought none-the-less. Tilting her head to the side she notice Crystal approaching. 'I wonder what those two were talking about...' She hadn't been paying attention to them, it was hard enough to keep up with one conversation let alone two.

Following the dragon with her eyes, she let out a content sigh as the Scauldron's head rested against her. She put a hand on her head, stroking the still damp scales. "The really are." She began to hum, happy to simply be near her reptilian friend. But the next question caught her a bit off guard. "Huh? What you mean like like some one?" She used her hand not rested on the dragon to pull her bangs aside. She gave a glance to the green eyes not far from her, she hadn't even thought to mention it to Crystal yet...

Instead of giving a response, she just broke into an awkward laughter. The kind you do when you are trying to pretend something hilarious just happened but it wasn't funny at all. Or when you are trying to avoid something. Her eyes went slightly cross-eyed in the process, her lips pulled into a smile that looked almost painful. "W-why do you ask?"