Diplomatic Mission (OPEN!!!)

[Ulrika]

Ari dismissed Ulrika, and she didn't need to be told twice. She was ready to go ahead and brag to anyone who would listen of how she survived on Hysteria and whooped their asses.

The wild girl passed the two leaders, glancing at both of them towering over her. Baldr had been pretty neat to her, but she wasn't going to let on that he had been on good terms... She was supposed to hate Hysteria after all! Glancing to Halldor; he was giving daggers right back at her.

She thought she was going to get away with it until he called after her; "I'll have a word with you later."[/color]. Ulrika faltered slightly, gulping. That didn't sound great at all. Ari's presence had already let her know she was in the wrong, she didn't want him to get in on it too! She had only just got home!

She wanted to stick his tongue out at him, but daren't for his authoritative figure. But then she heard the shrill cries of someone familiar - her sister! She looked at the crowds but there were so many grumpy vikings watching. Caedence was still stuck behind the brutes. But eventually they parted, but not on her cause.

Grima burst through the crowds. Ulrika stopped, her eyebrow furrowed slightly in confusion. What? Why had Grima of all people come to greet her? He was a jerk! He didn't like her anymore... Then Ulrika realised, what if her disappearance had made him have a change of heart? What if he was actually glad to see her! That made her feel awkard on the inside, not knowing how to react.

She was quickly and briefly distracted by a red-faced Caedence, who was obviously furious that she left without even a single word, let alone for the reason she left in the first place.

But Grima got to her first.

[Grima, Stahl & Flint]

Grima had been in the crowd the whole time, just watching from behind two burly Vikings as the leaders and healers talked. A part of him had wanted to move the moment that Ulrika had come into view, but he’d held back. Pretty hard to get to her and do what he wanted if the two leaders were in the way.

Grima had taken all that had happened badly, though he did not want to admit it to anyone. Previous half month had felt massively lonely without an Ulrika to mess with. He still held a grudge against Nótt, one he had a feeling he’d have for a while.

In the distance he saw Ulrika finally pass Halldor and the Hysterians. Grima smiled slightly and pushed his way through. He heard Caedence call out as he did so. Part of him wanted to get her through too, she definitely missed her at least as much as he had, though for very different reasons. But she’d probably get in the way of him so Grima ignored it.

As soon as Ulrika saw him she stopped and looked at him confused. He smirked slightly, wondering what her thoughts were at this moment, if there were any. She was still silent and unmoving when he finally got her and, before she could react he proceeded to punch her hard, hard enough that it actually knocked her off balance and into the sea around the dock.

The satisfaction Grima felt from delivering that blow was short lived because, as Ulrika flew sideways, a hand caught him and pulled him along for the ride. As the two of them splashed into the water his inner voice groaned as he realised he’d probably have to help Ulrika out.

[Ulrika]

Nothing had changed at all. Grima still hated her. Why did she think otherwise? The punch completely knocked her off balance, as well as being horribly painful. Her arms flailed to try regain her balanced, but the only thing she grabbed onto was Grima's jacket, but it wasn't enough to stop her from falling off the edge and pulling both of them into the sea.

The water was frigid, and Ulrika was completely disorientated underwater, trying to gasp for air, but got a mouthful of horrible salt water instead. She then panicked and flailed her arms more, trying to get to the surface. She could feel her ribs as her lungs burned for air. She slowly managed to find the surface and spat out the water, desperately trying to tread water and drink as much air as she could.

Only after a little moment did she see Grima not far away either. She was mad and wanted to beat him, but right now the cold waters had sucked a lot of her energy away, and just keeping afloat was all she could do right now.

She finally got her bearings, the jetty wasn't far away and the boat wasn't either. She tried to move towards the jetty, but with her clothes and lack of energy weighing her down, she made little progress.

On the jetty however, Caedence was red in the face, furious. She could see Grima who had surfaced first. "GriMAAAA!" She yelled at him in a similar fashion to her little sister, arms held at her waist. "Get out of the water this INSTANT! She was mad that he'd be like this, especially when Ulrika hadn't even set foot on Berk soil yet! And in front of the Hysterians too! His foolishness had surely made a complete mess of Berk's image. They definitely looked like Hooligans now!

[Grima, Stahl & Flint]

Grima smashed into the water, disorientating him in a similar manner to Ulrika. He was able to stop himself from breathing in and quickly snapped into action and making his way up. Once he’d broken the surface of the water he heard Caedence shout at him. He knew she had reasons to be pissed off with him, but he also knew that there were a lot of people who enjoyed the sight of what happened so he still felt it was a net positive.

He started to swim towards the jetty, but he then noticed the splashing to the left of him. Ulrika was having trouble staying afloat. A part of him wanted to just swim to shore and let her fend for herself, but he knew he’d gotten his retribution and should help her now as she wasn’t a good swimmer. He moved to her and dragged her towards the port.

When Grima got to the Jetty he grabbed onto the wood on it and started to pull himself up. He really noticed the weight of his clothes in that moment and started to struggle himself. It was then he saw an outstretched hand aimed at him. Without thinking he took it and the man who had extended it pulled Grima up.

He collapsed onto the platform and coughed slightly. He looked up to thank the man who had helped him but froze as he looked into the blue eyes of the Hysterian leader, who seemed to be smirking slightly.

[Ulrika]

Where was everyong going? The Night Fury noticed an increase in activity. Everyone seemed to be going to the port. She plodded over to the cliffside to see what the commotion was about. There was a foreign boat at the docks, and a mass of people. She couldn't see much, but daren't go any closer. Her stomach lurched. She recognised the insignia on the mast, briefly glimpsing upon them as she fled that night.

It was a Hysterian ship. She growled. What were they doing here? Timber heard the thud of a foot. She looked behind her to see Smudge, also looking down. Earlier Caedence had burst out the house in a mad rush.

"What's going on?" She asked the golden Nadder.

"Did you not hear?" Timber made a negative movement. She been wallowing about too much to even notice things, her conscience heavy. "The Leader of Hysteria is bringing Ulrika home. Ulrika is still alive."

Timber turned to stone. She was still... Alive? But, she had watched her fall into darkness, watch her be taken away... She realised why Grima had been even more mad at her recently.

She turned, ears flared, watching ever so carefully for her stupid human. Though Timber would admit it was her fault for some part, she was still mad at Ulrika too. Finally getting sight of Ulrika, she growled and clawed the ground, ready to take flight and show her that she shouldn't be taken advantage of like that again. And let her know that what she did was terribly stupid.

"I know you want to punish her, but be careful. You know what she's like. She doesn't percieve punishment like other humans do." Smudge called in the background. Timber snorted.

But then Grima punched her into the water, and that gave her a good excuse. It was time to show her what she was made of. She launched off the cliffside, and dived down, the wind streaming past her body, making the classic whistle when their kind would dive. She heard some Vikings shouting in alarm over the wind, most likely the Hysterians.

But instead of striking like an attack, she opened her wings in time to pluck the soaking weight that was Ulrika and slammed her into the hard wooden surface. The Night Fury proceeded to cry a deafening roar at the child. Ulrika's arms flailed, reaching her ears just in time as she was completely disorientated.

She girl finally opened her dark eyes, seeing the Night Fury above her. The dragon's eyes were slits, angry and teeth baring.

"T-Timber!" She coughed, making to get up and greet the dragon, but Timber pushed her down forcefully with her foot. She was having none of it, still growling.

She heard a cough not far away. She looked up and saw two powerful figures looking at her. Her attitude completely died down. This was the Leader of Hysteria and the Leader of Berk. They were both in trouble. Her ears flattened and her eyes grew wide and she took a more apologetic stance.

"Oh...! I'm so, SO sorry about all this." She gushed in dragonese, more to Halldor, not knowing the Hysterian would know dragonese. She was also afraid of the Hysterians. A Night Fury had a large price on their heads, after all. She could feel some of the accompanying Vikings watching with awe, and fingers curled around their weapons. "I'm sorry, we're sorry, we caused so much trouble... I'll just ah," She dragged Ulrika to her feet like a rag doll. "We'll just go now." She said awkwardly.

Timbersbane didn't give Ulrika the privelege of riding her back. Growls returning, she took a wingbeat to get into the air, and lifted Ulrika off the ground with her hind feet and left for their house.

"W-wait!" Ulrika was starting to feel a little dizzy now from being punched, finding the right way up under water, before suddenly hitting something hard, then lurched into the air. "I haven't finished!"

Caedence was left wordless as she watched the dragon fly off with her sister. It was so sudden! Sense finally got to her and she looked towards the silhouette going back up over the edge of the cliffs. "YOU BETTER KEEP HER IN ONE PIECE!"

[Baldr the Bonkers]

(OOC: I kind of needed Haldor’s responses to write most of his dialogue so I’ll do it next post. I’m gonna start from when Ulrika has passed them)

He smiled as Haldor shouted out to Ulrika; he wondered what kind of punishments would go her way because of her stupid acts. There was a loud shout from the crowd and saw young man leave it, though Baldr didn’t expect that kind of noise to come from a young man. He returned his attention to the Berkian leader, “shall we continue this conversation somewhere more...official, rather than right outside my boat?”[/color]

Haldor was only just able to get his response out when they both heard a loud splash and shouting. They looked over and saw Ulrika and the boy both in the water, with a young woman running down towards the pier. Baldr instinctively quickly walked over to where the incident had happened, watching as the girl flailed in the water and the guy tried to pull her towards the pier. What happened?

As the boy got to the jetty he started to climb up but was finding difficulty and, as Baldr was the closest person, he instinctively went over and helped him up. Grima spluttered slightly then looked up at the smiling Hysterian, who had guessed what had happened. His smile only strengthened when he saw the boy’s embarrassment.

He glimpsed Haldor’s reaction to his actions only for a moment before instincts kicked in again when he heard a swooping sound and saw the black dragon fly down towards them. His immediate reaction was to get into a defensive position until he consciously recognised that the dragon was going to Ulrika and wasn’t who his subconscious assumed it was.

The night fury dragged Ulrika onto the pier and screamed at her, it’s pissed off with Ulrika.[/color] He smiled and slowly stood up straight again, he wasn’t surprised by this. Xxx coughed and the dragon looked at the two leaders. It instantly changed into a submissive pose, and started to blurt out apologies to them.

“Just try to control your human enough to keep her away from my lands, for both your and her safety.”[/i][/color] He didn’t care about people hearing him speak dragonese, it wasn’t a secret in Hysteria (those who could speak it used it to their advantage against dragons back in Hrothgar’s day), and Berk knowing he could speak dragonese wouldn’t be such a bad thing either. Shows a level of breadth they probably wouldn’t expect.

The night fury flew off with Ulrika and he turned back to Haldor.

[Halldor Frodison]

Baldr suggested they move elsewhere. Halldor tore his eyes off the child, of course, back to business. "Certainly, this way." He lead with his hand. They were going to leave when Grima burst through the crowd, and punch Ulrika into the water.

Halldor's face contorted into half angry, half incredulous. If Berk's credibility hadn't gone down the drain as it was with Ulrika's nonsense, Grima just had to come and make Berk even more of a laughing stock.

But then as Grima tried to heave himself from the frigid waters, Baldr took off a split second before him to help the young lad up. He was slightly bemused that the chief of Hysteria himself pulled him out and onto the wooden pier. If the Leader had the instinct to do such a thing, despite the war, despite everything that caused animosity between them, then perhaps, just perhaps, Baldr really wanted to make a difference.

A whistling sound that could only be that of a Night Fury followed not soon after. Halldor flinched slightly in due to a few of the Hysterian sailors' reacting negatively. He glanced to Baldr quickly, hoping he wouldn't show any sign of agression - a Night Fury had an honourable price on their heads, after all. But the dragon was agressive, and his stomach churned, thinking that the dragon was just about to kill Ulrika, but was relieved as it just screamed at her, angrily.

'Justly so,' Halldor thought. A Night Fury wasn't stupid. It was probably smarter than any of the intelligent Vikings on Berk. But this experience would cost a heavy blow to any trust they had, and the second in command knew it would take even longer now for the duo to reach some sort of kinship.The dragon could have left, but it had stayed around Berk. It still somewhat cared for Ulrika, and her 'entourage'.

It suddenly noticed the two authorities and it's personality changed from a killing-machine to a sad kitten as it gushed an apology about their rash actions. Halldor had seen the dragon do this several times already, but now Ulrika was back in safe hands, he was certain the Night Fury would not allow such things happen again. He could trust the Night Fury, at least.

But then he heard someone speaking in Dragonese beside him, to Timber. He twisted his neck so fast he heard it crick in surprise to see Baldr, of all people, talking in the tongues of dragons. Halldor was stunned. He knew Hysteria had a past with dragons, but he didn't know that Dragonese was still used. He figured from what he had heard from Merchants that the previous Chief Hrothgar had forbidden all forms of contact with dragons, which most likely included dragonese too.

What game was Baldr playing? Was he lulling him into a false sense of security? Was their prevoius war effort such a failure that they're trying to come round a second time, with even more tact? It was confirmed that their 'heir', whoever it was, was found dead on their island, from what he had heard. Halldor was too confused. Maybe the talks would be great.

"Uhh..." He started, unsure what to say about this sudden revelation. "So, about that discussion? It seems we have a lot of things that need clarifying." He lead Baldr towards the land, and people began to disperse to make way for the two authorities, some disappearing on their dragons.