Not in Kansas [OPEN]

[Mouldy Jam]

Time and Date:: April 30th (1 Year ago) Mid-day
Weather:: Fairly decent weather, not a storm in sight and only a thin layer of snow.
Previous Threads?:: N/A

The dragon had been flying for hours, their quarrel finally resolved and they were flying a level and straight path. «Look! Land!» One head chirped up. «I don't know.... it smells off. Let's not land there.» The other countered. «Nonsense! It's home, I just know it!» His eagerness sped up the flight considerably, and it was only moments before they landed on snow covered ground. «See! Nothing weird at all.» The first beamed at his victory, but the other looked nervous. «I can't smell any other dragons...»

Nonetheless they walked, a slow but steady pace mostly maintained out of Jams caution. «See there's the village! We are totally fine!» Mouldy quipped. «That's... not Berk.» Jam brought them to a grinding halt. «You remember those stories? That some of the other dragons tell to scare the younglings?» Jam looked spooked. «This isn't Berk, this is...» He held his tongue, willing it to not be true. «This is Hysteria.» Even just saying it brought a chill to his spine. «Don't worry so much man! It's totally home.» But still the dragon remained stationary. «I don't know...» «It's fine! We'll go down, find Bearhands and get this stupid thing off our back.» Their wings shook a bit before folding over the straps of the saddle.

«Right... Bearhands...» Jam glanced back at the saddle. No that couldn't be right, could it? «Mouldy we wouldn't be wearing the saddle if we weren't with Bearhands.» Then it hit him, something Mouldy clearly was missing.

"Stupid dragon! What in the name of Thor are you doing?! Stop spinning!"

He hissed and jerked his head back. «You idiot! He's gone!» Jam snarled and turned his head to face the other. «We have the saddle and not him because he's gone!» Jam clicked his jaws in annoyance. In his anger he let out a bellowing roar. But his eyes grew to slits and the birds left the forests around them. Wings dropping to the ground and his jaw hanging loose. «We're dead...» «Wow, good job.» «Flyflyfly!» Jam urged, panic flowing through him. «Why? Now they can come greet us!» «We don't want their greeting, trust me and fly!»

Location:: Forest neat the coastlines of Hysteria

[Boulder The Blabbermouth]

A small boy was swiftly making his way away from his village. He wasn’t in trouble if that’s what you’re thinking… or at least, not in trouble yet. Earlier he had slipped out from the family forge, his sister was in one of those moods again. Now that on it’s own wouldn’t normally warrant actually leaving the village.

However, Boulder had a problem on his hands right now. Well, actually the problem was in his hands. All he wanted was something new for his collection of various things so he picked up something that wasn’t being used at that very moment. Which would have been all fine and dandy except he was heard, so he dashed away to the only place he thought was safest — the nearby forest.

Finally entering the forest he slowed down, panting as he put the small trinket in a pouch around his neck. Then decided to take out a different trinket: a small star shaped metal object.

He liked looking at it, even if he had no idea what it was, or why the edges were sharp as knives. All he knew was that his father brought it back from one of his travels, and then sort of took it because it was just one thing that wouldn’t be missed. He noted how cool the metal was to the touch, much like the air around him. It was finally nice out, not cold like it had been the rest of winter.

Suddenly something made him nearly drop the object. It was loud, and sounded like it came from something big. The adrenaline rush made him not even notice he had cut his fingers on the star. There weren’t many beasts in the forest that could make a noise like that. Not unless… no, could it really be?

“A… d-dragon?” He shakily whispered to himself. He hastily put the metal star back in the small pouch before making his way towards the source of the noise.

It was probably not the smartest thing for the eleven year old to do, but he was motivated by the fact that he could be the first among his peers to slay a dragon. 'Then they’ll think I’m really cool!'

He moved quietly though the snow powdered bushes before he finally saw the green head of the beast. Then he gasped and practically slammed his back against a nearby tree. Gulping hard, he tried to push away his fear with an internal pep-talk. 'Okay Boulder, you can do this!'

He started pulling his (well, not technically his) sword from the scabbard on his back. ’YOU are a VIKING!’

Then finally mustering all the courage he could to make his legs move he burst from his hiding spot with his best war-cry — which in his mind was amazing but anyone else hearing it would probably laugh at how high pitched it was. He was still a child after all.

In seconds though the boy froze on the spot. This beast had not one, but TWO heads. And it was much bigger than he thought it would be. Staring into the eyes made his breath quicken, and sweat began to pour out of him. He could hear a loud buzzing in his head, vaguely resembling screams and burning wood.

This was the worst idea he’d ever had, and now he was probably going to die.

---

[ooc] To anyone else joining, if you want you can have your character be the victim of Boulder's thieving shenanigans.

[Mouldy Jam]

«Aw look Jam, a tiny kid!» Mouldy almost cooed as the viking child burst from the undergrowth. He cringed a bit and jerked his head as the kid... what was that? A scream? Whatever the shrill noise was the dragon didn't like the sound of it and backed up a bit. «Angry little stinker, ain't he?» Jam's pupils became thin slits and a hiss bubbled in his throat. «Indeed...» He began to paw at the ground, claws tearing up the frozen earth. «Dude, it's just a kid?» Jam began to click his jaws, sparks flying from them. «A Hysterian kid!» He began to lash their tail. «Who know's what he's capable of, or who he might call!»

The began to circle, and while the dragons agreed on the motion their reasons were very different. «So little man, come to welcome us home?» Mouldy had finally pulled his neck out of the tight curve, and his lips were pulled back into a draconic grin. But to the untrained eye, it would likely resemble a snarl. And it didn't help that Jam was actually snarling. «He's here to kill us! A trained assassin!» It seemed as if fight instinct took over the previous desire to flee. «Dude, you are way to tense.» Half-lidded Mouldy bumped his other head. «Calm down! Does he look like a killer?» Jam pulled his head probably a bit closer than he should have and snorted. «I suppose not.» «See, we're home!» Jam closed his mouth, the sparks ceasing to fly. With a snake like curve he pulled his head away from the boy and gurgled in disgust. «Suppose we are in Berk.» He kept circling, eyes on the child. «Where are the other dragons?»

«I don't know man, sleeping?» «All at once?» «Yeah... every one decided to take a nap at exactly the same time.» Mouldy seemed pretty confident with his thoughts. Unfortunately, his first thought was to initiate some sort of game between them and the child. And dragon games, to those who don't live withd dragons, are actually quite terrifying. And in his excitement, gas began to spill out of his jaws. «Let's play with him!» «Eugh, fine. But if he does turn out to be Hysterian, I hope he kills you first.»

[Boulder The Blabbermouth]

Boulder watched as the green dragon demonstrated just how powerful it was by ripping up the hard ground beneath it with it's sharp claws as sparks began to fly from one of it's mouths. If the boy was scared before, what happened next absolutely petrified him. The twin-headed dragon began to circle him, no doubt planning to eat him.

Almost as if to prove him right, both heads began to bear their teeth, obviously preparing to rip him apart. Not even thinking, he threw his sword at the dragon, hoping it would strike the foe down. Unfortunately for him, he is but an untrained viking child (and a terrified one at that) so all that ended up happening was the sword landing just a few feet away from the Zippleback.

'Oh no, no, no, no, no!' He was going to scream, but his voice would not come out. Instead all that came out was a pathetic whimper. His nose began to turn red, which could be mistaken for him being cold. But actually this was the result of him being about to tear up. Then suddenly one of the heads came closer. Of course it would come at him after once he was unarmed, and now it was going to eat him! 'Oh my Thor!'

Not even thinking he clenched his eyes as his arms flailed uselessly towards the dragon's head, no longer able to hold back his tears. He twisted his body away from the beast while sobbing uncontrollably.

This was it. This was the end.

But as the eternally feeling seconds passed by, nothing happened. 'Is it... gone? Did the Gods stop it?' He cautiously opened an eye to see what happened, having to rub the tears away to see properly.

It was most definitely not gone, and while the Zippleback wasn't actually acting aggressively for the moment, all Boulder could see was a foul gas pouring out from the dragon. He had to get out of here. In his haste to run away though he smacked head first into a tree, knocking him over.

[Mouldy Jam]

Both heads blinked as they looked at the boy. Jam snarled slightly as the boy tossed the sword, but the snarling quickly turned to laughter as the sword fell aimlessly to the ground. «What?! Is that all this mighty warrior has to offer?» Mouldy bent down to sniff the sword. «Maybe he's trying to play fetch...» The dragon observed the grounded sword and blinked a bit. 'It certainly didn't feel like play, and he's really tense.' His eyes fixed on the blade, more than just a little confused now.

Preoccupied with the sword, Mouldy didn't even notice the boys flailing. But Jam just laughed more as the arms sailed pointlessly past. «Oh stop, it's too funny.» Mouldy lifting his head closer to Jam glanced down at the boy. «Wow, he confuses me.» And as if on queue the child began to cry. Mouldy jerked back at this reaction, his gas stopping for a moment as he clamped his jaws shut tight as he could. Jam however was still cackling, amazed that he had been scared of this pathetic thing.

Mouldy tilted his head as the boy opened his eyes once more, and wanted to lean in to try and help but the boy turned to bolt. «Wait, you're sharp thing!» Reluctantly he scooped the blade up in his jaws, but needn't worry. The Hysterian child displayed his skills by running full force into a tree. Dropping the sword not to far off, Mouldy actually felt concern. A faint coo escaped him they waddled closer. Even Jam's obnoxious laughter had ceased. 'Is this for real?' Tail twitching he watched as Mouldy hovered over the boy on the ground. «You should really watch where you run.» His jaw's parted as his tongue began to fall from his mouth.

Without thinking, or questioning he pulled his tongue over the head of the fallen boy, likely pulling at him a bit with the force of the coarse dragon tongue. «Oh stop it, he's still Hysterian, don't patronize him.» Jam sneered as he watched the display.

[Boulder The Blabbermouth]

'Ow... what? My head...' While the force he ran at the tree wasn't enough to knock him out for more than a few seconds, it was enough to make him forget what he was doing — at least for a time. He was lying on his back, on what felt like a mixture of dirt, stone and grass. He heard a clattering of metal nearby, but what caused it? All he knew was that he was in pain, but at least there was a warm breeze now — although it stunk terribly. It didn't smell like he was on a farm though.

Before he could think anymore he felt a warm wet sensation on his head which also smeared some of his forehead. This lifted his head enough for it to fall back with a soft thud. His eyes snapped open at this and found himself face to face with the face of a dragon. Slowly his brain pieced together the information.

'Yeah, I was gonna kill this beast...'

'... and then it tried to eat me...'

'...so I ran but then...'

'...'

'...'

'Wait a minute.'

Once he finally realized just what kind of situation he was in he screeched and attempted to slap away the dragon's head. An adrenaline rush surged through as he scrambled to get up.

Tripping his way towards the weapon on the ground, he swiped it up and shakily pointed it towards the two-headed dragon. The world seemed to stop for a while for Boulder as he stared into the eyes of the beast. Something didn't add up. Why didn't it kill him already? Everything he was taught, what he knew, was that dragons never hesitate to kill.

"W-why? Why didn't it kill me?"

No, this was a fluke. It had to be. Or the gods heard his pleading and this was a second chance. Yes, that was it. He was given another chance to live, and he shouldn't waste it.

Slowly he made his retreat into the undergrowth, keeping his eye on the dragon just in case. These beasts were unpredictable, as he just witnessed. He would live another day. And one day he wouldn't fail to kill a dragon.

---

[ooc] For an alternate ending, click here.

[Mouldy Jam]

Still hovering over the boy, Mouldy let out a distressed gurgle as he was knocked aside. He was mostly shocked by the event, shaking his head clear once more. Jam however was deeply offended, and their tails began to lash. «Enough of this!» His jaw's began to spark as the boy made for his weapon once more. «I don't care if you think he's good, or nice, or whatever.» Jam narrowed his eyes, pupils hardly more than thin lines. «He is clearly hostile.»

However before the Zippleback could react, the boy had slunk away into the brush bellow. Fanning out their wings, Mouldy realized that perhaps this situation wasn't quite as jovial as he had initially thought. And he had decided this certainly wasn't Berk. «Okay, fiiiiiine. Let's go home.» He paused and glanced into the shrubs. «Real home.» Turning back on where the child had vanished and with a few powerful downward strokes of their wings and a quick run they were airborne once again.

Neck's and tails pulling closer together, Mouldy let out a sad gurgle as they pulled further away from the land. «To bad that wasn't home, I kind of liked him.» Jam rolled his eyes and growled. «Don't get too friendly with strange humans, it'll be the death of you one day.» «You mean us. Death of us.» «Nope. Just you.» What scared Mouldy the most, was how dead serious his other head sounded about that.

With out a single glance back, the Zippleback tested their navigational skills once again, in an attempt to find home. For real this time.

---

OOC: You could probably do one more post to this if you wanted, to finish it up on your end, but otherwise I have to say it's pretty done. And I'm sad to see this thread end lol

[Boulder The Blabbermouth]

[ooc] I'm also sad to see the thread end, but I have an idea after this thread... hehehe...

---

The boy's pulse was racing as he slowly made his way backwards, away from the twin headed dragon. He was startled when he noticed the creature's wings spread, but was relieved when he saw it fly off. He released a breath he didn't realize he had been holding. Still, he was on high alert as he made his way back towards the village.

While he walked, the events that just happened continued to play through his head. He just survived an encounter with a dragon. A huge one. With two heads! As far as he could remember, nobody else his age had ever been so close to the beasts and lived, or any dragons for that matter. He went to scratch an itch on his head when he came into contact with something wet.

"Ewwww! Yuck!" Dragon spit, that's what he felt when he was on the ground. Which means the beast was just about to eat him. His eyes widened at the implication. 'The gods really are on my side...' It made too much sense. His act of bravery to try taking down such a terrifying and large foe must have caught their attention. Plus his sister was blessed with an awesome power, and now he was living another day. Was there something special about his family?

The thoughts slipped away once the village came into view. He knew there was a more pressing matter. Such as figuring out a way to tell everyone that he didn't just fail to kill a dragon. Maybe he could just say that he scared it off? Yeah, that would work. And so he ran excitedly, ready to pester the nearest viking with his story.