A Night Time Jump (Opal)

[Summer & Fireworm]

DATE & TIME : October 25th, Night time
WEATHER CONDITIONS : Clear, but chilly coldness in the air
CHARACTERS INVOLVED : Summer, Fireworm, and Opal
PREVIOUS THREADS ? Not really

As the sun went down over the horizon and its last ray disappeared leaving the sky an inky black, Summer sat up in her bed. It had been five days since she returned from her journey. Many people were glad to see her still alive as she had left without much warning. Creeping silently around the house, she grabbed some warmer clothes along with her jacket, riding gloves, and riding boots. She peeped into her brother’s room and saw his chest rising and falling in a gentle slumber. Night was curled up on the rock which still glowed slightly from the fire Night had used to warm it up.

As she continued her silent trek through the house, she finally made it to the front room. Fireworm laid there curled on her larger rock. As she opened an eye with her riders footsteps near her, she let out a huff and got up. Summer pushed open the door and both she and her dragon sleeked out. The village was quiet. It seemed as if most everyone was asleep, or turning in for the night. Summer breathed in the night air as she and Fireworm broke into a light jog. Summer hopped onto her dragons back and the Monstrous Nightmare took to the skies.

The flight to the cove was wonderful. The night air was crisp and sent a light chill through Summer’s body. One that didn’t seem too cold thanks to the warm body of the beast beneath her. She glanced around as she took in the silence. After the past couple months, the silence had taken a toll on her. She had had almost no one to talk to apart from her dragon and not knowing Dragonese didn’t help matters much. But that time away from everyone had proved successful. She had started to catch on to some of what her dragon was saying. She couldn’t understand it all, but she was able to catch the jist of it. It had made her proud when she realized she could understand it slightly.

She felt her dragon start slowing down and it wasn’t long before she saw the gap in the trees signaling the cove. As Fireworm lowered herself, Summer started to rise. Her hands gripped onto the spike in front of her as she stood on her dragons back. A grin split her face as Fireworm flew over the rim. Summer jumped from her dragons back. As she fell through the air, she flipped her body into a diving position and let out a loud yell before falling through the water. She somersaulted in the water and used the extra push from her boots hitting the rocky bottom to propel her back to the surface. Her head broke the surface and she barley noticed a girl floating in the water a mere few feet away.

As Summer had jumped, Fireworm had landed gracefully on the bank. She watched her rider enter the water and come up only moments later. Seeing that Summer was indeed safe, the large dragon turned towards the spot of cleared area where all that sat was a pile of sticks. The dragon let out a stream of fire and effectively lit the stick causing a warm glow to befall the five feet around it. With her task done, Fireworm curled up on a large rock near the fire as her human continued to swim.

Summer had watched her dragon with a soft smile as she waded through the water. There was a log right near the fire and rock that she would sit on once finished in here. But for now, she let herself relax as she quietly swan around, unbeknownst that not far from where she swam a girl had seen everything.

[Opal Lockheart]

Opal floated peacefully in the water, she had done the same as she had done every night since she had arrived in Berk. She left in the dead of the night tucking some spare boots under her arm as she slipped out the crack in the hut. Opal was sure her Aunt knew of her daily treks out to the cove, but she never said a word against it. Opal never said against her training for the most part. Didn't whine when she was put in a class of other vikings kids where she had to be three times their senior. It was embarrassing but Opal still went...

She hoped her embarrassment was the reason her aunt did little to stop her on her terks. No matter the danger she placed herself in.

The redhead followed her now familiar path and climbed down the rocks till she was in the cove, she dropped the spare boots and untied her belt and tucked her cutlass into the boot for safe keeping. She didn't want some tiny dragon to sneak off her with boots or something and the heavy weight of the cutlass would prevent them from doing so for the most part. She entered the water and just floated, letting her wild red hair spread out behind her as she floated. She had liked to imagine that a red kraken had taken control of her hair during this time.

A small giggle escaped her lips as she floated, just as she was about to close her eyes and just let her mind drift a wave of water washed over her. She ducked under her water, opening her eyes wide she scanned her surroundings from the dark water. Had a dragon finally emerged from the waterfall, here to kill her? However... All Opal saw was a girl. She had dark brown hair like most of the people on Berk, but she seemed a bit more tan then what Opal expected. Being raised on a boat her entire life Opal had seen shades of every color, she herself often turned red in the sunlight.

Opal's eyes and nose slowly rose from the water as she exited the water. Opal watched her carefully and gasped, getting a mouth full of water, when she saw the dragon. Opal had yet to master the art of... 'befriending' dragons. It wasn't that they disliked her, it was that Opal had a hard time liking them.

She stood up as violent coughs escaped her mouth, ridding itself of the murky water she had inhaled. She stood, waist deep in the water as she coughed and sputtered, trying to regain her composure. As she coughed she waved to the girl now by the fire, forcing a awkward smile on her face. Her mother had warned her of outsiders... To trust some people, was this girl one of them? "I am-" Cough, cough, cough. "S-Sorry to int-" Hack, cough, cough. "rupt..." It was common courtesy to apologize if interrupted, right?

[Summer & Fireworm]

The sound of moving water after Summer had gotten out and sat down, made Fireworm look over to the rivers edge. She tilted her head slowly as she took in the small human in front of her. She hadn’t seen her around town, but then again they hadn’t been in town for a couple months. She kept her eyes on the girl as the girl started coughing. She let out a soft snort and kept her eyes on her.

At the sound of coughing and water sloshing around, Summer jumped up from her seat on the log. She cursed herself silently when she realized that she had indeed forgotten her bow. Then again, her mind ha been on trying to sneak around the house. Plus she had her dragon. And although Fireworm wasn’t attacking, she knew her dragon was watching the scene very carefully. When the girl waved to Summer but continued her coughing attack, Summer started walking over to her.

Worry crossed her face as the girl started talking and Summer could barely make it out over the coughing. ”No need to apologize. You must’ve been here first. We must have interrupted you. But stop trying to talk until you finish coughing, you’ll only make it worse. Let’s go near the fire so you can warm up.” She knew that much was true. Her brother would try the same thing. Speaking of brother, she had been watching him the past couple days in the arena and thinking of him made her think that this girl was slightly familiar. She started to walk back over to the log, keeping an eye on the girl as she sat down.

But she shook her head. That could be questioned later once the girl was okay. ”Are you okay? Do you have a jacket nearby?” Her instincts to watch after the young girl were kicking in. The girl looked to be about her age, but watching after her brother only two years younger made her care for anyone who needed help. She waited until the coughing seemed to cease before speaking again. ”My name is Summer and this is my dragon Fireworm,” she motioned back to the Monstrous Nightmare whose only response was to nod her head before putting her head back down on the rock and closing an eye, keeping one eye open for safe keeping.

”We are from Berk. I’m a Viking there. Who might you be?” She couldn’t help but think about how there was something about this girl that was familiar in some way. She hoped a name would make something click.

[Opal Lockheart]

Opal was a bit... shocked at the girls concern. She walked over to Opal will no ill will in her eyes, talked to her as if Opal was her child who had choked on a cup of sheeps milk. It was surprising, shocking and something that Opal was just not used to here. Sure, the people here were nice, they joked and jestered at her pirate like attire and nature, but none of them, not even her aunt could be bothered to act so kind around her.

She walked out of the water, the coughing fit beside her now. She took in some deep breaths, feeling like she had just inhaled far too much to be comfortable with and looked at the dragon with a bit of unease in her eyes. The girl was asking a lot of questions, but Opal kept her eye on the dragon for a bit longer before scanning the ground and finding her boots, belt, and cutlass. She scooped up the items in her hands and carefully walked around the dragon and sat by the fire. Typically, Opal started her own fire... Today, she had just skipped the fire and went right into the water for some reason. Perhaps it had been fate because now she sat with a viking and her dragon.

Opal shivered slightly, but had a small rather uncomfortable smile on her face. As nice as this girl was, Opal still felt a bit unsure around this stranger. She was sure that she had seen her before during the Viking training sessions. Watching them. That could be a good sign, or a bad sign.

After mustering up some courage and coughing once more into her hand Opal started to answer her questions, "Yes, I am fine. No, I don't have a jacket. I'm Opal, Paint's niece, viking in training." Everyone in the village knew Paint for her... Paintings. Strange, but true. Opal looked over at the water, a bit of a real smile on her face. "I've been coming to this cove every night since I got here..." And what fond times she had in this water, it was nice and crystal clear. Sometimes there were fish in the water, so she could grill up some fish if she got hungry. Spend her time relaxing by the fire till the sun started to peek over the edge and then she would have to run back into town. Opal sighed sadly, thinking it would have to come to an end now that a viking had found her.

"Will I have to s-stop coming here?" Opal asked, turning her head to look at the girl once more. Finally taking note of her closeness in age. This girl was a viking already! They had to be close to the same age and yet Opal was without a dragon and any real training. Opal bit her lip and mentally beat herself up...

[Summer & Fireworm]

They sat in silence for sometime. As they sat Summer used this opportunity, to glance at her every once in awhile. She saw no dragon around this girl. Looking as old as she was, it was an odd sight. Usually everyone in the village had some sort of dragon by this age. You wouldn’t get very far in the academy without one. Either this girl was new to the village, or had a fear of dragons. Seeing how the girl never stopped looking at Fireworm Summer would guess it to be the latter. She gave a soft almost unnoticeable sigh.

She wished people didn’t automatically start coming to conclusions about some of the supposed more aggressive breeds of dragons. Fireworm really was a sweet girl, if you held no ill will towards her rider or riders brother of course. Looking over at Fireworm, Summer noticed how almost bored her dragon looked. Of course she would be, hen she wasn’t flying or doing something other than sitting, she looked bored. Or mad. But it was bored. Her faces looked the same. Only Summer could tell by how relaxed she was that it was boredom.

The girl finally speaking broke Summer out of her thoughts. She nodded once. She had seen her at the ViT lessons. She was Paint’s niece? That was a shocker; she looked nothing like the older Viking. And Summer didn’t realize Paint even had a brother or sister. Then again, the only time Summer ever came across her was when looking at her paintings. She had never really stopped to talk to the older woman. As Opal looked out over the water, Summer did the same. The peacefulness of the water made Summer smile. There wasn’t much out here that was peaceful. As the girl sent a question her way, Summer gave a small laugh.

”Of course not! Look at me, I sneak out here at least three times a week. It’s where I get away from my younger brother and his dragon.” She paused a moment to look back at Opal. ”I have to take care of him. Instead of getting stressed out or fighting with him I either go flying or come here.” They sat in silence for a couple moments before the question popped out of Summer’s mouth. ”Do you have a dragon?” If she did have one, once again, it was unusual for a rider and her dragon to be separated for very long.

[Opal Lockheart]

Opal found herself nodding her head. Getting away from it all was one of the reasons she came out to the water on a daily basis! One of many, really. Opal loved to swim, she wrapped her arms around herself not out of cold, but mostly because she felt the need to recall her fathers arms around her. Most people never thought of the water as a place to relax here on berk, others thought of it as a way to freeze to death on a daily basis. Dragons could live in the water year round and Opal was mildly jealous of them.

But of course Opal had to turn her thoughts away from dreamy ideals, swimming as fast as a dragon and the such. She had to look back to the girl, "Most people don't come here... I've been here for a month and I don't think I've seen you before." She wasn't accusing the girl of anything, there was no evil tone in her voice. She was just stating that she hadn't seen the girl before. "Have you been sick?" Maybe the water here had made the girl sick and thats why she hadn't seen her. Of course... She did look a bit familiar...

She squinted at the girl, trying to get some some kind of memory to pop up in her mind. Perhaps she had called Opal a pirate in the streets? Or laughed as she walked away? But no... Opal snapped her fingers, finally recalling where she had seen this girl. "You watch that boy. Your brother. During lessons!" Opal felt mildly proud of herself for being able to recall this. Opal didn't see too many people her own age around Berk, they were mostly off flying with their dragons and as much as Opal liked the kids in her class she could withstand going on so many treasure hunts before wanting to tear her own hair out. It made a bit more sense now, the girl was watching her brother as they trained. She wasn't being creepy or anything like that.

Of course, the conversation turned to dragons. Opal sighed and rubbed her forearms looking over at Fireworm once more. How was she going to put this into words... Sure, Opal was nervous around dragons. Land dragons even more so mainly because they relied on land and sky and Opal had spent her entire life on water and it was hard to take a tidal class dragon when they were fighting the dragons so they wouldn't destroy the ship. Opal bit her lip and wiggled in her seat on the log a bit, trying to gather up enough courage to say something.

"Dragons and I..." Opal could only sigh and shake her head, she couldn't find herself able to put words together to help her case. She would get one eventually, she was sure of it... Just when and how would be a big question for everyone in the village. Her aunt Paint had tired to get her to befriend her husbands dragon, a deadly nadder, but the nadder had almost put spikes into Opal's hand when she reached out to it.

[Summer & Fireworm]

Summer took in what the girl was saying and couldn’t help but give a brief smile. So this girl had been here about a month. That answered her question about how new she actually was. She shook her head and gave a small yawn. ”No. Not sick. I was away on a small vacation. My dragon and I left for a couple months to go out and explore nearby areas. We flew really far. We kept flying until we needed rest. We got back just at the beginning of the week.” It had been tiring and for the first couple days they did nothing but sleep. But of course, they had to pull themselves out of the house.

The girl started squinting at her and Summer tilted her head wondering what she was trying to figure out. Maybe she also seemed familiar to the girl. When the girl snapped her fingers, Summer couldn’t help but give a small jump. She glanced out of the corner of her eye and noticed that Fireworm had both eyes open and was now watching the girl with a slight suspicion. Summer shook her head and Fireworm huffed before closing both eyes again.

Summer smiled again and nodded her head. ”You are correct. I watch my brother Mitch and his dragon Night. I have too. I’ve been told that a lot of the time he likes to skip out on classes. If I’m there and watching he can’t do that.” She paused a moment. ”Someone has to watch after him. If I don’t who does….” She glanced out at the water for a couple minutes, thinking quietly to herself.

But as Opal started to talk again, Summer looked back to her. This would probably be an exciting conversation. Usually talks about dragons were. But Opal’s hesitant start made Summer raise her eyebrow. ”Don’t get along?” Summer finished for her. The way that the girl kept looking at Fireworm uneasily and how she started her answer, well that was the only way that it actually made sense. ”Why?” She kept looking at Opal, head slightly tilted.