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

[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?

[chaoscontroller]

It takes Shadow a couple of seconds to get back on his feet, but this time he stares curiously at the weird lizard, he even sniffles him... Ugh, why even! There is the strong general smell of something he recognizes... was it fish? Anyway, apparently now that he's realized it wasn't going to eat him he decides to examine him.

There he goes, circling him closely and taking every detail, with as sniff here and there and little puffing sounds at some moments. What kind of creature is this?

[no_eels]

Completely fascinated, at this point, Toothless kneels down so that he's sitting on his stomach, full to the ground. He watches Shadow circle him, taking pains not to wag his tail into the little creature, recognizing that he's being inspected.

He does, indeed, smell strongly of fish, at least around his head.

Toothless does so love his favorite food.

It's a little like watching a spiky, fuzzy rock totter around in the dirt, and the Nightfury watches with wide eyes, wings furled at his side.

[chaoscontroller]

Ah, so interesting indeed! Those scales, and the claws and the tail and those wings! Those leathery straps though, he's just noticing them around its body and it makes him even more curious. Once Shadow is done with the ground inspection —that obviously handmade tail-fin doesn't go unnoticed— and he is facing the weird winged lizard again, he decides to climb it! It's all in favor of knowledge of course! He avoids starting on that face because the smell is not so good this close! He tries climbing its frontal leg, but that seems awfully difficult once he gets to the shoulder. Nope. He analyzes it better once he slides down again, then he goes south and he finds a smoother way up on its tail.

Up, up, up he goes! Pawing and smelling those scales that go along its back. Until he finds the saddle—now that smells awfully different, and hell, he knows this aroma. It's definitely human. So this creature is a mount? How nice...

Shadow stops in the middle of that saddle and pats it, impatiently huffing. How do you control this?

[no_eels]

His eyes are very wide indeed as he feels the creature climb onto him. It hasn't been hostile yet, but Toothless isn't sure if it will turn hostile given closer proximity. But he decides to go along with things, for now. He's confident enough in their size difference that he can unseat the thing before it does any damage. If it does any damage.

Turning his head as Shadow reaches the middle of his saddle, he watches closely, rumbling.

If the little thing wants to fly, it's out of luck, as his feet don't reach the stirrups. But still, it does look like it's trying to figure things out.

[chaoscontroller]

Shadow actually sits on his hinder legs and makes a little gesture with his frontal paw—something that looks very much like a shooing gesture—it's too human, coming from a tiny creature like him. But it says it all, doesn't it? Move out lizard!

[no_eels]

Even Toothless makes a note of that tiny little viking gesture. It doesn't fit the rest of him, certainly. He looks at Shadow for a long moment, trying to decide if he's going to humor the little thing or not. He could just continue to sit there, trying to make up his mind about the creature that's taken up residence on his back.

But that wouldn't be nearly as much fun as giving it a small ride, he thinks, and so he very carefully stands up and starts to walk.

Not fast, because he doesn't want to unseat his passenger. Toothless begins to saunter in the direction of the vendors, glancing back ever so often.

[chaoscontroller]

Shadow doesn't even blink, taking the staring as a bit of a challenge. But then, it gets even better and exciting when the lizard starts moving! Hah! He'll take it as a personal win! The little hedgehog does clench from the leathery chair, digging his little claws into it not to fall.

The view from up there was much better than from his new one! Pretty much as his usual one. Good, good... Now how did he tell him where to go? Well, for now the direction is good as well. Specially because some nice smell came from where they were heading, whatever it is is making him drool and his tiny stomach grumble... Oh no, how disgusting. Either way, hurry, winged lizard, hurry!

[no_eels]

Luckily for his tiny passenger, Toothless is also enthralled by the smell. It's been a while since he's eaten, and Hiccup is busy with other important things. While not starving, the Nightfury often thinks with his belly. This is one of those times. He wanders in that direction, keen nose in the air, passing a bunch of different vendors and people as he goes. Some of them notice Toothless, and some of them are too distracted.

He makes a fairly convenient mount in that way, easily able to part the crowd.

Finally, he stops in front of a food vendor, where a number of delicious scents are coming from, and looks at the stand longingly from a few feet away.

[chaoscontroller]

Oh dear Chaos... What are all those smells?! They are divine! Some more than others. And since his mount's big head won't let him see a thing, Shadow opts to actually climb through that long neck, with the help of those scales along its back, until he makes it between its... were they ears?

If Shadow is not careful, he'll end up falling from that long forehead if he keeps approaching to the edge in favor or letting his nose guide him forward. It's that enthralling, specially because he hasn't eaten all day!

[no_eels]

Something will have to be done about their mutual hunger. Hiccup is nowhere around, or the Nightfury would try begging him for something. Seeing as there aren't any real sources of food around here, what with the mansion suddenly vanishing along with its grounds. Not to mention the forest. Toothless already misses it.

He ducks his head low, sneaking around to the side of the stand where there are racks of food still being cooked. Various types of meats sizzle away. Toothless pretends to sit down and be watching something entirely different, for a moment, when the chef gives him a suspicious look. But the very second the chef's back turns, the Nightfury lunges forward and snags a large cut of meat from the flames.

Luckily, Toothless is fireproof on the outside.

He scampers off with his prize, trying not to buck Shadow from his head, and only stops when there's a building in between he and the stand, so that he can pause enough to start eating the stolen deliciousness.