[IC] How To Train Your Dragon: Spreading Wings

[AHeartlessNobody]

After the dragons had calmed themselves, she smiled laying back in the hay. It was much more comfortable than where she had slept in the other human village. Those humans had kept her locked away in a dank and dark room with no light what so ever and always kept her in chains. Strong chains that kept her from moving too much. She hated that. It had made her feel so bound. This somewhat free feeling she had right now was much better. She enjoyed it. She was free to do as she wished in these stables. She curled up, still in her human form, burying herself into the hay. The hay pile was so large that she could completely cover herself with it! This fact made the strange human girl giggle and snuggle into it to keep warm during that winter night, acting a second blanket besides her long hair.

Sighing contently she stayed there all night, until finally she feel asleep. It was only when she heard the stable doors open that she began to stir. She opened her eyes in confusion, for a moment surprised to find herself buried in hay in her human form, trying to remember where she was. But then she remembered what had happened the day before. Yes, that was right. She wasn't with those evil humans anymore. She was in a new village, where for some strange reason humans and dragons lived together. Such a weird little village this was. She couldn't help but wonder how these two species had even come to be together so peacefully. And she also wondered, besides that Nightfury mutt, was there another Arcus dragon here as well? She hadn't been in the village yet, just the stables. So, it was a possibility. It very slim possibility, but still there.

Hearing foot steps approach and stop at her stall, the curious girl popped her head up at of the hay, blinking for a moment to adjust to the light of the morning before her rainbow eyes settled on the boy and his dragon. She tilted her head tot he side for a moment, wondering why they seemed so....surprised at her appearance. She thought everyone knew about a Arucs's dragon's ability to change form. But....then again, the last humans she had been with hadn't known either. She shook the hay off of her head, looking at the two innocently, and seeing they had fish with them, waited for her share.

[Toothless]

Hiccup stopped in front of the stall smiling to himself as he thought about how grateful this new dragon wound be to have some food in her stomach only when he looked over the low wall he saw something abnormal. Soft human flesh turning up hay and his mind blanked, his fingers slacking and the barrel sliding out of his hands spilling the fish over his feet as her eyes met his. There was no mistaking them. He couldn’t even stutter, only a weak sound like ’ah’ escaping him as he paled. Toothless lowered and bared his teeth at the girl, not yet recognizing her as more than a stranger that was causing his human distress. Though he was not so sure as to why. His gaze flicked sideways to Hiccup as he uttered that small gasp and he abandoned his tough act to duck his head down and catch him before he crumpled face first into the pile of fish. His body having gone slack as he fainted. Not the first time for it but it’d been awhile since he last lost consciousness do to shock.

He lowered him gently, letting him slid off his snout onto the hay before snapping his gaze back to the girl with her lack of furs and hair that was not the color of a human‘s. Not any human he had ever seen before in any case. He growled at her, crouching over Hiccup so the only way to get to the boy would be by going through him. While an intelligent dragon he was not using his mind beyond ’weird human that freaked out Hiccup’ and as such he needed to keep her away at least until Hiccup recovered.

[AHeartlessNobody]

She blinked even more and surprise when the human dropped the fish. What a waste for food. But, oh well. She could figure out where he got the fish and go there to get some herself. Though when the human boy fell over, going limp as the male dragon caught him with his snout. She gasped softly, her eyes wide with worry and in that instant, changed back into her dragon form, moving quickly forward, trying to get a look at the boy, though the dragon was over him. She began making small chirping noises in her throat to show her concern for the human. She hadn't meant to scare him or shock him or whatever she had done to make him fall over. Far from it. After he had helped her she would have ever meant to harm him.

She attempted to go around the male dragon to get closer to the boy, to check and see if he was okay, but it didn't seem like she was going to be able to do so with Toothless over him. The dragoness huffed in annoyance and maneuvered herself so she slid gracefully under his wing and around him, finally able to get close to the human, though it also meant being close to the Nightfury as well. She sniffed at the boy's face and hair, checking him over for injuries and when she found none, nudged the boys head, soft whines escaping her. Getting no response from that, she tilted her head to the side and then licked him from chin to hair line, hoping maybe that might be enough to wake him up.

[Toothless]

White hair melded into pale scales as bones shifted and grew until the human girl was no more and instead the multicolored dragon stood in her place instead. And Toothless immediately snapped at the dragoness as she attempted to get closer, hunching down with a rumbling growl regardless of her intentions. What this dragon just did wasn’t something that should be possible- what need did their kind have to turn into a physically inferior race anyhow? Even if capable it meant this must be a ploy to get something from Hiccup. He couldn’t fathom what but he wouldn’t let any harm come to his human.

He couldn’t move too quickly without risking stepping on Hiccup though and eventually she slipped under his defenses. He was shocked by the boldness of such a move and rose up as she nudged at the unconscious boy. The wet of her saliva seemed to stir him with a small groan and a mumble of: “Toothless.” The nightfury paid no mind to his name though, lurching at the other dragon and knocking her away from Hiccup, rolling them over in the hay and pinning her uninjured wing beneath one paw while his other pressed against her chest, he opened his mouth wide with a furious roar that shook the barn and caused several of the dragons to crush themselves low to the ground in fear of the stronger dragon’s anger.

“Toothless…” Hiccup sat up slowly to see his dragon leering over the smaller female and the barn’s other occupants distressed by the exchange. He scrambled to his feet. “Toothless!” Reaching out to push his the nightfury’s snout away from the other dragon. “What are you doing?! Stop it!”

[AHeartlessNobody]

She was just making sure the human boy was okay when suddenly she was knocked away from the boy, a yelp escaping her as she was pinned down, only to growl back and roar back at him before the human pushed his nose back. She watched closely and when at the right angle, she pushed up with her front paws, pushing the male off of her and sliding past the human, leaving the boy unharmed and out of the small fight between the two dragons as she lunged at him, growling as she managed to pin him down this time, her tail swishing back and forth, rainbow eyes glaring at him. Snorting at him and blowing a puff of smoke in his face from her mouth, she felt she made her point and got off of him. She was't about to shown up by this mutt and making her point by having fought back and pinned him down she felt proud of herself. Stupid boy dragon. She flicked her tail out as she turned, hitting the male in in the face with it.

Strolling back over to harmless nudge the human to make sure he as okay. He didn't appear to have any injuries and she nudged him lightly, a curious look in her eyes. Such a strange human. He was smaller and seemed more weak than his viking counterparts. Much like herself when she was in her human form. In her human form though, she was rather sure the human boy would be stronger than herself. Her human form was very weak, but it was useful for doing things dragons couldn't do. It was like she had the best of both worlds. And it made her feel special. She had yet to meet another dragon whom could transform like herself. At least, she hadn't met one since she had been snatched away from her herd all those years ago.

Purring softly, she made a small chirping noise to the human, her intelligent rainbow eyes looking into his green ones, as if asking if the human boy was okay after his small fall.

[Toothless]

To attack him while he was being drawn away by his human was a shameful act and Toothless snarled, bristling with anger as he righted himself and snorted with a jerk of his head as her tail smacked him in the face. Hiccup retreated a step as the dragoness nudged him, shaking his head in disapproval of their sudden scuffle- he wasn‘t even sure what it was about. His head still felt foggy and he was pretty certain he took a tumble though he couldn’t quite remember why. He looked her in the eyes and found himself feeling lightheaded again a feeling he discarded by turning away to gather up the fallen fish. He sighed heavily, having thought he’d grown out of those little fainting spells. It was very…. Unviking like. Obviously he interacted with dragons on a regular basis so there wasn’t much that startled him so greatly anymore- he wasn‘t sure what happened.

“Oh boy…” He rubbed one hand at his hair, stressed at his lack of understanding. He knew he’d come to bring this new dragon fish but what happened next- he really only remembered her eyes staring at him. “I’m losing it.”

[AHeartlessNobody]

When Toothless snorted at her she just turned her head slightly to glare at him before moving to the human.

The dragoness whined softly when he shook his head at her and backed away. All she had done was get back at the male dragon. She had been checking to make sure the human was okay when HE attacked her. She sat down silently, watching as the human gathered up the fish, seeming confused and saying he was loosing it. His back was to her now, and she felt somewhat bad. She didn't know what he had done to shock so badly, but it had been her fault he had dropped all the fish. With his back still to her, the dragoness shifted once more. She knew this may not be smart. Her mother had always told her to never let humans see her human side. That her human side was weak and easily hurt or killed. But, this boy had already seen her human form, so what could the harm be? She stood up straight, her long thick hair falling around her body and dragging the floor as she walked over curiously to the human. She slowly reached down to pick up a fish and hold it out to him, her rainbow eyes looking at him once more, as if asking to be forgiven for her actions earlier.

[Toothless]

Toothless flicked the hay from himself and looked up in time to see the ’human’ near Hiccup once more. He snarled as she picked up the fish and flung himself between them. Causing Hiccup to spill the fish once more- this time a few terrors arriving to gobble them up. “Toothless!” Hiccup was pretty sure there had just been a girl here with him, handing him a fish but before he could get any further with that thought he heard his name being called from outside. He turned his head towards the door rather than trying to peer past his bothered dragon again. He wondered what had gotten into him.

“HICCUP!” The voice was one he immediately recognized as Astrid and he mumbled as much.

“Astrid.” The name was uttered beneath his breath as he straightened himself and started towards the entrance of the barn. It was still pretty early in the morning for anyone to be looking at him. She was probably just wanted to see if he was alright after yesterday. It seemed like that battle was so long ago now.

“Hiccup. We’ve been looking all over for you. We need your input.” In the end she was all business though, one hand leaning against his hip as she waited for his response. “Those Vikings had dragons. This is important.”

[AHeartlessNobody]

The girl yelped in surprise when, as she held out the fish to the boy, the dragon thrust himself right between them, causing her to fall back on her back, her vision being blocked by the large dragon. She sat up in annoyance ad was about to speak up when she heard someone call the human's name. Hiccup. She would have to remember that for later. If this stupid male dragon ever allow her to speak with him in her human form anyway. Still, that left who had called out the human boy's name and from the sound of the voice that had called it, she could guess who it was. That human that had showed up the evening before. The one who had been so quick to try to approach her when she had so obviously already been agitated and frightened.

She was visibly annoyed when the human went outside to talk to the human girl and looked to the male dragon, growling slightly, it sounding quite strange and unthreatening in this weaker form. She huffed and strained under the dragon, trying to push him off of her, "Get off! You big lummox!" She exclaimed, her voice muffled against the dragon and she pushed at him more at him before giving up on that. She sighed in annoyance and layed there, waiting until he finally did get off her. Standing up finally, she brushed herself off, taking a few steps, only to get tangled in and trip over her long white hair. Mumbling to herself in annoyance, she sat back up, glaring at the other dragon, "Go ahead laugh. You'll see. One day Im gonna skin you and wear you for a coat."

[Toothless]

“Yeah I get it Astrid, I’m just a bit preoccupied is all.” Hiccup mumbled back averting his gaze and she stepped closer, sensing something was off. It wasn’t that hard to tell with him and so she softened the harsh edge of her tone some, to pose the question:

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Hiccup turned away from her and Astrid expired her patience waiting for him to continue that train of thought. “I’m just worried… Toothless isn’t getting along with this new dragon.”

“Hiccup.” She placed a hand on his shoulder and turned him so she could meet his gaze. “Toothless will be fine. We all know he gets jealous.” She paused and the elaborated. “You’re his rider.”

“He’s never acted like this before.”

Astrid frowned and was unsure of what to say, in the end she just slugged him in the arm. “Don't be stupid. Toothless is just being Toothless, stop worrying.” She finished as he rubbed at the spot she struck.

Toothless just stared down at the girl with owlish eyes as she called him names and taunted her with a gummy smile because her efforts to get free were pathetic. But her struggle eventually grew old and he eased off her to check on his human. That was when he heard the thump and glanced backwards at her with a rumbling laugh, at her threat he just snorted then whacked her with his tail as he turned to trot away. Joining Hiccup outside.

“Just… join us when your ready Hiccup.” Astrid tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and turned away as Toothless approached. After a moment she hurried off, running towards the heart of their village.

[AHeartlessNobody]

She glared at the dragon and fell backwards when she was wacked with his tail. If she thought she couldn't hate this dragon any more then she was wrong. She growled again and stood up on her two legs, brushing herself off before she quietly creeped over to the door, peaking her head out just slightly, watching as indeed the human girl walked away and the male dragon Toothless approached Hiccup the human. Looking at the human, she titled her head tot he side before slowly backing back into the stables before looking down at herself, realizing something. Humans; they wore cloth. Furs. Things like that. And yet, she wore nothing. Wearing nothing was nothing to dragons. But to humans, it must seem rather strange.

She glanced about the stables until she saw a blue cloth. Maybe a blanket for some dragon rider who had spent the night in the stables and forget it or left it there just in case? Why it was there she didn't know, but it would serve her purpose for now until she got some of the clothes these humans wore. She walked over to it and carefully wrapped it around herself before moving back to the doorway. She peaked her head out silently, and was tempted to just walk out there to them. But then thought against it. Last time she had tried that the dragon had stopped her. So, she decided to just wait and let the human see her and for him to say it was okay for her to come out of the stables. Looking shyly toward the two with her bright eyes, she waited patiently now, only half her face viable from peaking out around the corner of the door frame.

[Toothless]

Hiccup watched the girl depart before rubbing his hand down his face- he thought her beautiful and strong but sometimes… Toothless bumped his nose into his side, drawing his attention and he scratched at the nightfury‘s scales with his previous thoughts derailed. “Come on.” Toothless had hoped the dragoness had enough sense to return to her proper form but he was wrong. She was standing there peeking from beyond the doorframe when Hiccup turned in that direction. For a moment Toothless thought he might lose consciousness again but his mind seemed to be making the connection a lot slower this time. It wasn’t often he even saw humans other than his own tribe so no doubt he would be trying to figure out where she came from if nothing else.

His time with this human had taught him that Hiccup got along with dragons swimmingly but had much more trouble connecting with his own kind. The stretch of silence between them was awkward and when he managed to speak he didn’t seem to know what to say. “Oh, hey? Where did you… come from…?” He doubtlessly thought the question sounded stupid and rightfully so. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around here before…”

Toothless snorted because he had seen her plenty. Just not like this.

[AHeartlessNobody]

It was a little encouraging when the human didn't faint at seeing her peaking from around the corner. Maybe it was a good sign? She perked up when he spoke to her and very slowly the girl moved from hiding behind the door frame so she was in full view, keeping the blanket wrapped around herself, her long white hair trailing the ground as she stepped. When the sunlight hit her, her abnormal white hair once again shined a rainbow color and her rainbow eyes looked at the boy confused when he asked where she came from. That was strange. How could he not know where she had come from? She blinked her oddly colored eyes in confusion before speaking quietly, her voice hesitant, "You....you brought me here. Those humans rode me here from their home country, remember? And you saved me." She said thankfully, giving the boy a small smile as she stepped a little bit closer.

She didn't like that the other dragon was so close to him. She almost had a...possessive feeling about it. Like how she had felt when she saw the female human so close to him. It irritated her and made her puff slightly. Still, not wanting to upset the human and make him upset with her like he had been when she tackled the dragon, she looked away from him, appearing disinterested at him for the time being as she looked back at this Hiccup.

She didn't understand why he seemed so....nervous? He wasn't like this when she was in her dragon form. He was so open and happy. Now that she was in her human form he just seemed out of place. She frowned and moved closer to him, and as she would when she was a dragon, rubbed her head under his chin, a soft purring sound coming from her, her white hair getting a bit ruffled from the action.

[Toothless]

There was only confusion in Hiccup’s gaze as she spoke, his eyes trailing over her in an attempt to make sense of the words. What had happened? If he was suppose to know her he couldn’t remember. “I-” He tried to explain as much to her but then the light caught in her hair and shimmered across her skin. “That’s… that’s not… normal…” He uttered faintly and then tensed as she closed to gap and bumped her head under his chin, forgetting to breath as he felt a swell of panic.

“Wh-what-” He stuttered with a gasp, scrambling backwards and tripping over his prosthetic. Toothless narrowed slanted eyes at the girl as Hiccup hit the ground. “I don’t understand, you can’t… it doesn’t… Oh, it’s so messed up…” He tried to focus, to breath. “Dragons can’t turn into humans…”

[AHeartlessNobody]

"Yes they can!" She said, in a way sounding sort to of desperate for him to understand that fact and calm down, "All dragons have this ability, its just very few have unlocked it. Everyone in my herd knew how! I learned ow to from my mother!" This didn't seem to be getting her anywhere anytime fast. He couldn't seem to grasp the fact that while she was a human now, she was still the same being. Just in a different skin.

She looked at him a little hurt when he stumbled away from her and frowned deeply, only to have a look of worry when he tripped backwards falling onto the ground. Though when he seemed to be okay, she let out a sigh of relief and went to move a step forward, only to stop herself and move a few steps backwards instead, turning her gaze from him, afraid she would scare the human more. It really did make her feel bad about herself with him acting that that about her. Maybe her mother had been right. Humans just weren't meant to know about what dragons could do. They would never be accepting of them in this form. Not fully.

Whining softly, she looked down and shifted back now, going into her dragon form, curling up there in the grass and buried her head under her wings. She shouldn't have done this. She should have stayed a dragon. She was hopeless when it came to thinking things through like this. Whimpering more, she curled her long tail tightly around herself, staying curled up in her place sulking.

[Toothless]

Toothless snorted and shook his head at the dragoness’ foolishness because Hiccup had made some great strides but in the big picture this almost all had seemed to be shoved upon him at once. He was the only human that saw there was more to dragons than killing and he changed his entire tribe’s thinking… but it had taken him days to grasp things, a slow crawling process. Not seconds. For some stupid reason this dragoness just thought he’d just be okay with this? Something that was completely new to him. Toothless decided that his human could use some comfort and moved forward, wrapping his tail around Hiccup as he lowered his head and the boy wrapped his arms around his neck. “Toothless… is all that true…”

What could he do but gurgle in response? He had heard legends but that was all they were these days, he flicked his gaze sideways to the other dragon before nudging into Hiccup. He didn’t want him to fret like this though… he had seemed to calm some, his breathing more even and Toothless knew he was finally considering the possibility. So he straightened up on his hind legs, bringing Hiccup to his feet. “If anyone else knew about this…” Hiccup looked about their surroundings with worry but saw no one. He took a step towards the dragon. “I’m sorry… I just didn’t think…” He shook his head. “Dragons and Vikings had been enemies for so long its strange that one could be both…” He reached out to rub her scales with an apology. “Please don’t do that again though… not in the village. They finally have gotten use to having dragons around and if they see this. They might not treat them the same.”

[AHeartlessNobody]

When she heard the human speak to her, the dragoness carefully lifted her head, flinching slightly at the touch of him rubbing her scales, but then leaned into it slight and couldn't help but be comforted by it. Maybe she could trust this human after all. He seemed to be gradually seeing the possibility of her turning into a human was not just a possibility but a fact. She stood up and purred softly, rubbing her head lightly against his hand before she looked back toward the village. So, she couldn't transform when she was near the village. It seemed silly to her. Why would her, or any other dragon for that matter, being able to transform make the humans int he village treat the dragons differently? It just didn't make any sense to her. Still, if it pleased the human then she would do as he said. Looking down at him with her rainbow eyes, she nodded to show she understood and made a happy chirping noise.

Rubbing her head against his once more for a moment, she purred before sitting up straight and she glanced at the village again. She had only been to the stables thus far and was curious to see how these humans and dragons all lived together. She looked back and forth between Hiccup and the village a few times before she nudged him toward the village with her snout and began to walk that way, curiosity getting the better of her. She of course knew now she couldn't transform there. That shouldn't be a problem. So, she figured there would be nothing wrong with her just seeing the village. Making that same chirping noise, he looked back at him and jerked her head toward the village as if telling him she wanted to go there.

[Toothless]

The villagers would be getting up now to start their day and maybe that was what she hoped to see- them interacting with dragons but he still worried about her unease around humans (though that seemed to exclude him). Would she be okay to go in the village where people would surely gawk at her? He was pretty sure that they would listen to him if he told them to keep a distance because he was the expert on dragons around these parts. Though… he hadn’t known dragons had the ability to transform into humans. He wondered if Toothless could do that and if so, why hadn’t he? Maybe their conflict with humans for so long had made dragons forget. “Okay.” Hiccup straightened as the dragoness continuously nudged his attention towards the village. “I get it, I do.”

He started in that direction but paused. “This seems sort of silly now but I did think up a name for you… I realize now you might already have one but dragons have never really been able to tell us theirs before so it’s sort of habit…” He rubbed at the back of his head, realizing he was rambling. “Anyhow. It’s Aurora, you know… after that refraction of light seen on cold winter nights.” Which they certainly had enough of around here and when her scales shined it reminded him of how they flickered. He smiled past embarrassment and brushed it aside by hurrying into the village with a brisk walk.

[AHeartlessNobody]

As Hiccup began going with her to the village, she went along happily, her ears perking up when he told him he had thought of a name for her. and she seemed to even perk up even more when she heard what he wanted to call her, making a soft cooing sound. Aurora. It sounded pretty. She had never seen these rainbow lights he was talking about. But, considering she hadn't seen much of the world she hadn't seen a lot of things before that wasn't a surprise. Still, she had never had a 'name' before. Dragons had no need for names. They had scents and sounds, but never names. Aurora walked happily along until the village came in sight, and she slowed down a little, moving closer to the human boy as the scent of the other humans came to her nose.

Her eyes carefully moved about. It was still somewhat early but the Vikings were out, most with dragons. The thing that made her slow down and look about warily was the eyes on her. The humans seemed to stare at her and she didn't like it. She moved more carefully now, her ears pressed against her head. One human, specifically the one that had saved her, was something she wasn't scared of. All of these human here though, was something she feared. She suddenly wished she had never persisted to come here, but at the same time, her curiosity of these two species living together pushed her on, going slowly, but moving forward, looking around. She looked down at the human with her nervously , crouching down her body somewhat tense and cautious as she moved. As long as this small human kept the bigger humans away, she knew nothing would happen. Everything would be fine.

[Toothless]

While Hiccup had sympathy for this dragon since he understood that (and why) so many humans made her uncomfortable his nightfury was a different story. Snorting at her uneasy state. Hiccup threw a glare at Toothless and placed a reassuring hand upon Aurora’s head. The Vikings for the most part kept a respectful distance, recognizing the dragoness from the aftermath of the battle and those that didn’t heard about it. That didn’t stop them from staring though. “Hey Hiccup!” Then the twins came rushing over, one shoving at the other before the gesture was returned with a trip.

“Whoa, is that a new dragon?”

A punch. “Of course is you idiot. Wow, if that’s another night fury-”

“I think it’d have some trouble with the night bit. Don’t you?” Tuffnut pointed out and earned another punch, the two dissolving into a struggle until Hiccup stepped forward to stop them.

“Ruffnut, Tuffnut… this is Aurora. I’m pretty sure she’s NOT a nightfury.” Though the resemblance was uncanny- maybe they were different branches of the same breed? The idea of subclasses would probably interest Fishlegs. He’d have to see if he knew anything about this later.