lightning and death [open]

[no_eels]

Who: Toothless, and you.
Where: Along the trail, and then in Denny's. With any luck.
When: Oregon Trail event.
Rating: PGish. A dragon's gotta eat.
Summary: He has no idea what happened to the mansion, but this whole dusty traveling thing is just downright weird even for Wonderland. Still, Toothless is determined to see it to the end, and to follow everyone.
The Story:


Day One: And here the dragon had thought he was maybe, finally getting used to Wonderland, the strange island one cannot swim or fly from. Toothless opens his eyes to find a dusty prairie on all sides and a lot of strange, smelly new people. Everyone is a bustle of activity, most of the grumbling and grumpy nature, and at first Toothless sticks close to Hiccup's side. He doesn't trust any of this.

But later in the day, as wagon trains begin to take shape, Toothless finally branches out on his own, to explore and sniff all of the new objects he's never seen before. He gives the salted meat a wrinkled nose before the butcher chases him away, and accidentally terrifies a woman putting together a clothing display outside of her shop. By the end of the day, Toothless is exhausted, and still very confused.

Day Two: Even without his wings, Toothless doesn't give the river much thought, at first. He easily swims across, thinking everyone else will do the same, and then realizes they have those bulky... wheeled things to deal with. In deeper water, he'd be worried. But the dragon, with a little creativity from his tail, manages to swim well enough. Toothless fords back out in the middle of the river (to the alarm of the ferry people working it), hoping to help in some measure. Though the only way he could help is to stop a drowning.

As for the rest of the day, Toothless becomes separated from his friend early on, in the dark; the dust and strange smells down out Hiccup's scent. He spends his time keeping an even trot, checking each wagon he comes across for his friend. But inevitably, his search comes up empty. When it starts to get dark again, he simply looks for someone who doesn't mind a dragon sleeping next to them.

Day Three: Another trading post isn't of much consequence for Toothless, who's been living largely off of rabbits found off the trail and maybe a few bites of food from kindly Trail goers. He can hunt reasonably well, but the buffalo confuse him more than the oxen. They're more of a meal than he needs, anyway, and he spends the time at the trading post looking for Hiccup again.

Needless to say, the amount of sick vikings around him worries the dragon. But there isn't much he can do, other than hope that the human sicknesses don't pass down to him. He doesn't exactly fit in a wagon. Not without killing the oxen from effort.

Day Four: Cold. Great, just great.

Toothless himself doesn't care. He isn't a true reptile, and he can keep himself warm in the snow. He's from a cold climate, after all. A little time spent running and hopping around like the world's biggest cat gets his blood moving again. But the vikings? The vikings don't seem to be doing so well, and the Nightfury can't do much for them aside from helping them start fires whenever they have to slow for the night.

He really hopes this is going to be over soon.

Day Five: But he didn't expect this.

Toothless spends far, far too much time at the flashing neon sign, after he swims across the river. He nearly gets swept up in the freezing water, but struggles to the shore, coughing water out of his system. For a time, he simply lays on the river bank, tired and disheartened that his search for Hiccup has turned up nothing. But then he spots the sign, and his curiosity wins out.

From there on, it's the smell of food that distracts him. Denny's staff don't mind a black dragon in the building, do they?

Whether they do or not, the dragon totters inside to curl up in a corner of the place, recognizing these particular vikings, and at least has a warm place to spend his time. No matter how much the employees freak out, the miserable Nightfury won't be moved from the premises.

Comments

day two (panne can talk to animals!)

[doesnotplay]

Panne wasn't having a terrible time of this whole forced march thing. If fact, she really rather liked it. For once since she came to Wonderland, she was out in nature, allowed to enjoy the open sky and vast plains that reminded her of her youth in the Warren. She could no longer transform using her Beaststone, but it was a small price to pay for freedom. Her rabbit form would make her travels easier, but she would walk on two legs if she had to.

As the evening came, and the wagons all began to stop for the night, she made her own little camp ready away from the people had been traveling with. There was plenty of brush and old, seasoned wood to make a fire with. After a little bit of slopping in the mud, she also found some baby onion roots to eat. Yes, this would do quite well. Panne used her clawed hands and feet to dig herself a shallow foxhole, and before the sun was finished setting she was all hunkered down to enjoy a quiet evening to herself.

...Until she smelled an intruder approaching. Not a human, but some kind of creature with a burning, sulfurous odor. Panne lifted her head and stared out into the growing darkness with her eyes glowing red, and wondered who or what would bother her on this otherwise peaceful stretch of land.

:D

[no_eels]

Toothless had been doing a little hunting of his own, though his own hunting was for small rodents and any other small creatures he could scare up from the long grass. He'd had some success, simply because he knew how to move silently and nothing in this prairie knew what to do with a dragon. But he was still just a bit hungry as he padded back toward the set up camps, hoping that someone had some extra meat to share with him. Usually, the vikings were very generous with him. He hoped that this situation hadn't put them off their kindness.

On the way, though, he smelled something that he... didn't really know what to do with. A very strange scent, indeed, which made him slow his pace, looking carefully at the area ahead of him. He had exceptional night vision, as a predator who was supposed to hunt at night, but wasn't looking for anything like Panne's foxhole until he noticed the little piles of dirt.

Hesitating only a moment, the Nightfury padded forward to sniff at them curiously.

[doesnotplay]

Hmm. A bold creature indeed. Panne does not move, watching, listening as Toothless' footsteps grew closer, and the sound of his breathing, like a great puffing bellows. His jet-black hide does make it hard to get a good focus on him in the darkness, but she can make out his general outline.

"Wyvern," she speaks to him in nature's tongue, that nearly any beast can understand, "What on Naga's earth are you doing here? The prairies are no place for your kind. You should be flying among the clouds, in the mountains and cliffs. Have you been separated from your pack?"

[no_eels]

This is not at all what he was expecting, and Toothless freezes to stare into the toward the sound of the voice. Hers is the second voice he's been able to understand. The first had been Castiel's, in his mind — at least, that had been what the angel had explained to him.

Finally, though, he shakes his head. He isn't a wyvern, namely. Though he's been separated from Hiccup, that isn't right either. Canines have packs. Dragons have colonies.

He lifts his wings ever so slightly, to expose the leather harness underneath that makes it possible for someone to ride him into the sky. The only reason he ever reaches the sky, ever since the day he'd met Hiccup.

[doesnotplay]

"Ah, so you have a rider."

Panne does not understand why animals like pegasi and wyverns put up with humans they way that they do. They are intelligent, noble creatures; they deserve better than to be someone's beast of burden-- and yet, when given the chance to escape, nearly all would choose to stand beside their rider. Humans do not deserve such steadfast loyalty.

"Where are they? I see that your tail is broken; they should be taking care of you."

[no_eels]

No easy answer to that question. Or any fun answers. Toothless hesitates a moment before his head droops, his ears tilting back just slightly. He's been trying not to let the absence of Hiccup worry him too much. The young viking's probably just in one of these wagons, learning all about how they work, protected by the others.

But there's no guarantee, of course.

He rumbles, low, in his throat, displeased and a tiny bit miserable.

[doesnotplay]

So he's been abandoned. This could be for a myriad of reasons, many of them perfectly reasonable, but Panne does not entertain such thoughts. She feels no kindness towards humans.

"I will give your rider the benefit of the doubt and say that you have been separated by accident," she says, mainly because she does not want to offend Toothless for his choice in taking a partner. "But I have little faith in the spawn of men, so this doubt will not last long."

"If you want to stay here, you are welcome to share my fire for the night."

day one

[chaoscontroller]

Oh good Chaos, this day had been such an eventful one... And apparently it wasn't going to stop there was it? Not only had Shadow been reduced to a tiny animal, but now his instinct — was it even that? — was telling him to roll into a ball and wait until that weird creature that was approaching ahead was gone.

He refused! He wasn't going to let anything humiliate him more than he had already been until then, besides, he had all the right to explore this new... setting of sorts as well! Everything felt so new after all! It was as if someone had turned the volume up, he could hear so much more than when he was his normal self. And the smells! There were also so many new smells! There was also something Shadow had never felt before in his life, he wasn't even sure what it was, but his little stomach kept rumbling and some of the varied smells were making him drool... How disgusting... It was it all so confusing...

Uh oh, that weird crocodile thing was getting even closer! No!

«Don't come any closer if you know what's good for you.» Ah... right... he cannot speak. Thus that warning comes more like a little hiss than anything else.

Damn...

[no_eels]

Bewildered by the outpost and all of the activity, the Nightfury is barely paying any attention to his feet when the hiss comes out of nowhere — for him — and forces him to pay attention. He's looking for something else, perhaps a lizard, when his giant green eyes focus on...

...what is that?

It's spiny, but it isn't a thing from the ocean. It smells warm and furry, but it isn't a mouse or a rabbit. And it hisses, but it's no dragon or lizard. Or cat, even. Toothless has no words for whatever this little creature is.

His curiosity wins out over all other impulses, and he lowers his head to sniff gingerly at the animal a few feet away.

[chaoscontroller]

Oh no! Is this how the now tiny Ultimate Life Form's days will end? Being eaten by some giant lizard? Great, just great... He cannot help but curl into a ball, tightly, all those spines on his back standing up as sharp as his tiny body allows. Of course he regrets it as soon as he does it—this is so unlike him! Perhaps he can still perform a Spin Dash and send a blow on this creature's face!

...

...

Nope, he's a pretty useless land urchin... Pretty chic colored at least, if you ask him...

[no_eels]

... Huh.

That's different. Toothless watches the ball wiggle but stay formed, even more intrigued now. He takes a few more steps closer until his face is just inches from the little creature. It looks far too problematic for him to eat, and so he's content to simply observe it and perhaps figure out what it is.

Though he'll have a hell of a hard time, unless someone else enlightens him.

He sniffs, puffing warm air over those sharp spines.

[chaoscontroller]

...!!

What in the world is this lizard doing?! That feels awfully... weird! Yes, that's it. It does make the hedgehog squeak in surprise. Enough! Shadow actually rolls towards his annoying enemy of sorts, because there is no way that the Ultimate Life Form, even as tiny as he is, would allow this disrespectful behavior against him!

Of course his rolling is nothing as what he was planning, and he only manages to put himself in even more danger, exposing his soft, fluffy side.

Goddammit!

[no_eels]

The Nightfury does take a step back when the creature wiggles toward him, rolling along its side and changing its shape as it does so. He's even more interested, seeing it change right before his eyes. What a clever thing — sharp spines for protection. And they protect a long, strange-looking face. Strange-looking to Toothless, at least, who squints down and then rumbles low in his throat.

Hello, little thing. What are you doing here?

Day One?

[widows_kiss]

Natasha's been one of the grumbling and grumpy travelers, because this is not her idea of fun in the least, but here they are. She has no idea why they're going to Oregon or why they have to do it in a wagon. Not to mention Steve's one of the ones who's fallen sick and half the team's trying to keep him comfortable while she keeps them moving.

Who'd have guessed that oxen are more annoying to drive than an alien aircraft? And so much slower.

But it's dark now and most of the wagons have rolled to a stop - mostly for lack of visibility, despite the bright stars overhead. Clint's gone hunting and there's plenty of food around the Avengers campfire, where everyone's found someplace to make themselves relatively comfortable for the night.

Natasha's still up by the fire, however, keeping watch for a bit and enjoying the quiet. She supposes being in the middle of nowhere has some benefits and it's been ages since she's seen a sky so full of familiar stars, with no city lights to dim them.

:D

[no_eels]

Ordinarily, in the prairie, the biggest thing you have to worry about is a bear. But something much larger and darker is afoot in this particular prairie, and it's searching for someone. So far, the search has been fruitless. But Toothless is a determined creature. He's not going to back down just because he can't find Hiccup within a few hours.

This brings him to this latest fire, the Nightfury trotting with his wings folded against his back. His gait isn't exactly alarming; he's moving more like a dog than anything else. But he's still a dragon, of course. This whole event hasn't taken that much away from him.

For someone on watch, he sticks out like a sore thumb as he draws closer to the Avengers' fire.

[widows_kiss]

She catches the movement of a dark shadow before the fire illuminates it enough to see who's approaching. Or what, for that matter, although she can tell it's rather large. One of the horses maybe, is her first though until she catches sight of gleaming almost cat-like eyes and then there's a dragon across the fire from her.

At least she's assuming that's what it is, because she's never seen anything quite like him, and it has her getting to her feet in a startled motion, because what the hell, why was there a dragon in the prairie? She'd never played this ridiculous game, but she's pretty sure that's historically inaccurate right there.

[no_eels]

Toothless' green eyes are wide as he watches the viking stand up. Any scent not like Hiccup's has almost been ignored, in the Nightfury's determination to locate his friend, and that means more vikings than usual have gotten the drop on him. Luckily, for the most part, reactions to him have been fairly positive.

But this one seems to be more on par with the reactions he'd seen upon first coming to Wonderland.

He slows, sitting down as he looks across the flames at Natasha. If things turn unfriendly, he'll move on. But if he can, he wouldn't mind an opportunity to rest his feet and warm his black scales.

[widows_kiss]

The creature sits down across the fire from her in a move that's both surprising and interesting and she stays where she is for a moment when the dragon just blinks at her patiently. When he doesn't seem inclined to attack, she lets herself relax slightly as she eyes him with curiosity.

"Hello?" she asks, wondering if that's actual intelligence she senses behind his gaze or its just her imagination playing tricks on her.

[no_eels]

That's encouraging. Toothless is already being lulled by the warmth of the fire, on his way to feeling more relaxed, as the viking watches him. She has the same fiery red hair as a few vikings do in Wonderland. It's not uncommon back home in Berk, but the reds that Toothless has seen here are more pronounced. He likes them. Like a dragon breathed fire and it settled down to sleep on a viking's head.

Toothless makes a trill in response, eyes growing a little wider; it sounds like a noise from the world's biggest cat, only lacking a true meow. Hello!

end of day two!

[favourthebow]

Dying, as it turned out, was not quite as awful as Kíli would have expected it. Well, there was the part about getting stuck under the wagon as it toppled and then-- what, a tree fell on his head, or he rolled off a cliff? He can't really remember the details. What he can remember is being back, just not as wholly as before.

And many a things are fascinating as a ghost. For one, the sudden ability to walk through anything and anyone, and of course, being entirely impervious to cold, pain or any kind of injury. On the other hand, his excitement deflates quickly when he realizes - he can't eat. If anyone knows dwarves knows that's nearly torture to him, even if he isn't actually hungry in this form, but that doesn't matter. The will is still there.

He does a fair amount of sulking and whining about that, but after he decides to find something to distract himself with. And oh, he does: he comes to find that pulling pranks on others like this is very satisfying, to simply float through the ground or the side of a wagon, or even poke his head right through someone's chest and laugh as they yell and flail. This time, though, when he decides to pop right up from the ground and shock his next victim, he's not quite expecting to be the one to get shocked instead.

"HAHH!!", he bellows, as he jumps seemingly out of nowhere, arms raised in the air. But soon enough he's the one yelping and stumbling away (if only ghosts could stumble), as he tries to reach for his bow and arrows (which he doesn't have). Unarmed, he takes another step back, though doing his best to be as brave as can be and not show any fear (it doesn't work all that well). "Dragon!!"

[no_eels]

Startling Toothless is not easily done. Hiccup manages, on occasion, by distracting him with fish or some other treat, or simply rousing him out of sleep. But Toothless' senses are particularly keen, and he usually smells or hears things coming before he sees them.

Not today. Today, he's observing the horizon, trying to figure out which wagon to trot after next, and something comes out of nowhere to make the dragon metaphorically jump out of his skin. He makes an undignified, squawky sort of sound, followed quickly by a growl. As if the growl could salvage his dignity, after loosing the other noise.

His eyes are as wide as they can possibly go — which is very wide indeed — as he stares at the...

...the...

Well, Toothless is stumped. He's offhandedly heard the vikings talk about ghost stories, but he wasn't paying any attention and dragons certainly don't think of the afterlife. So he simply stares, before that very familiar cry rends the air.

Oh no, a dragon, where?! seems to flit across his face, and Toothless lurches to the side to look behind him at what horrible, giant dragon seems to have startled the creature. But then... there isn't anything, and slowly it sinks in. He's the dragon the thing is talking about. Oh. But hadn't it frightened him?

Eyes narrowing just a touch, the Nightfury looks back at Kili again and makes a quiet snorting noise. Everything about him suddenly radiates indignation.

[favourthebow]

If Kíli didn't known better, he would say the dragon seemed almost as shocked about his own announcement as he himself was. Reacting almost like a child would, turning around as if to find what horrid creature had scared him so, as if he wasn't aware of what he is.

But Kíli knows better. Though it is a rather small dragon, he thinks, probably because he's just young, that doesn't make him any less dangerous. Dragons are all vile creatures, everyone knows that. He won't be fooled by whatever act he's aiming to put up here, no-- he will fight him in a way that would make his uncle proud.

"Come no closer!!" He puts his hands up as if he's ready to fight, but he has no sword, no weapons. Not that it would matter much, as they would just run right through the creature, and inflict no damage whatsoever. Similarly, the dragon couldn't touch him either - but he hasn't quite thought about that yet. "What do you want from this place?! There is no gold here!"

Except there could be, if one asks it from the closets. But a dragon doesn't need to know that.

[no_eels]

Toothless tenses up as Kili's hands come up, but when he notices he's unarmed, he relaxes just a little. He's still unsure of what this creature is, but at least he doesn't have an axe or a sword. That's something. Or a boomstick — he's seen a lot of those lately. Toothless begins to squint as the creatures goes on. Something about gold.

Gold?

What on Berk would Toothless want with gold?

He stares, puzzled and still slightly indignant. Fish, maybe, yes. Toothless always wants fish. But gold is just shiny and reflective. Nice, maybe, but something Hiccup doesn't let him look at much, or play with. It's important to vikings. Not dragons. Doesn't this short little clear thing know anything?

Snorting, he shakes his head a little and then settles down on his stomach. He needs to be comfortable, so that he can stare indefinitely at this strange thing.

[favourthebow]

Kíli's stance continues to be tense, alert as if he would need to defend himself, though obviously he won't. Even if the dragon decides to attack him, anything he tries to do won't affect him at all in this ghostly shape. But obviously, that doesn't even cross his mind.

And yet, despite Kíli's perfectly justified reaction, the dragon only shakes his head and practically stretches along the floor, eyes still on him though not at all tense or alert, much unlike himself. Which leaves him feeling rather confused, and cautiously he takes a step closer, then another, yet still keeping some distance.

"Don't you talk?" His tone almost curious, though still suspicious, ducking his head to the side as he narrows his eyes at the dragon. "I thought all dragons could talk. And breathe fire."

Maybe he's just too young - he's certainly small enough for that. He might not even have any teeth yet, let alone speak. But that doesn't mean he's not dangerous, in fact it might make him all the more so if he grows up while in Wonderland. Or, well... when they're back in Wonderland after this event.

[no_eels]

He almost doesn't respond, at first, simply watching Kili's ghostly form and trying to determine what he is and why he's acting the way he is. But Toothless doesn't have nearly enough information for that, and so he finally just snorts and shakes his head. Fire, yes. Talking, no. Talking is a viking thing. Dragons have other means of communication.

Better means, he thinks. They're much more universal. Vikings seem to have communication problems all of the time.

But since this thing is so tensed up, he'll gloss over the usual demonstration of his fire-breathing ability. They can cover that later, maybe. If there's going to be a later.