Of All Places (Stormy Wake)

[tinyehp3000]

Ryan's house wasn't much anymore. It never had been since the tree collapsed. The boy had tried to make it and repair it the best he could, but it wasn't that good. It kept out the rain and the snow, and that's all it really did. His parents hadn't ever taught him how to build a house, really. They had probably taught him everything else he needed to know... except how to build a shelter. After the storm, Ryan had worked for a month to try to get enough large logs to rebuild his wall for his one room house.

Both dragon and human were outside their meager shelter. Dusty was sniffing some bushes with a few berries while Ryan was restocking on some herbs. They were at home, at peace and in their own territory. Ryan knew this forest and this forest knew him... he was calm. For now.

[snowfire96]

Stormy Wake was taking one of her usual walks in the forest with Holly by her side. The young zippleback was watching its surroundings with fear. "Don't worry Holly. No one will hurt you." Her words seemed to calm the dragon down slightly. Storm took in a deep breath and continued to walk.
She accidentally stepped on a small rock. Though she wasn't wearing shoes, she kept moving, letting the slight pain die away. Storm was about to turn back to the village, when Holly froze. Her two heads looked in the same direction. Her dragon may have had half blind, but her hearing and small were keen. Storm looked into the same direction and saw nothing but some bushes. "There's nothing there Holly. Let's go home."
But the zippleback didn't move. It just continued to watch the bushes. Storm was about to yell at the dragon for doing so... until the bush moved to side. "Stay here."Storm instructed her dragon. Sometimes Storm's curiosity got her into more trouble than she could get out of. She moved the bush with her hand, and saw two small eyes staring back at her.
She jumped back and into Holly, who was opening her wings to make herself look larger. Storm moved closer to Holly, and the two waited for whatever had been staring at them...

[tinyehp3000]

Ryan looked down the sack. Their current inventory was alright, for now. In the future, Ryan wanted to build a small box to put the herbs in. The thirteen year old picked a marigold and put it in the sack. Yes, they defiantly needed to separate herbs from food. Perhaps that could be his next project. The boy looked up and started to gather some bark from fallen trees. He had all the time in the world here, why not start now?

Dusty sniffed a particular bush, biting off a ripe berry. He went to take another sniff to see if there were any things he could collect for Ryan when he smelled another dragon, along with a human. His ears pricked in excitement. He wiggled and shoved his nose through further. The Brown heard a female voice give a stay command and tilted his head. Looked like they were going to get a visitor! He hurred in excitement and gave a glance back.

His human had his back to him and was picking up thick sticks. Dusty snorted sightly, wondering what Ryan was up to this time. Ah well, he'd investigate and then drag Ryan into. He went back to shoving the bracken with his head. A few moments later, the bush's leaves were pulled back by a hand and he was staring at a girl.

The girl took fright and jumped back into a dragon with two heads. Dusty's parents had told him about these sort of dragons. Zipplebacks, two heads. Right.... carnivores. Great... now Dusty was thinking that he should of waited for Ryan. Then again, the human couldn't even hurt a fly. The teen could catch a fish for dinner, but not anything outside of that. Dusty had seen Ryan "fight" only once; in all honesty, the boy hadn't fought at all to be precise.

All Dusty could think about doing now, was not getting himself into big trouble. He came out of the bushes and merely sat, tilting his head in the slightest. "I am not a threat to you," he hurred quietly, looking submissive.

[snowfire96]

Holly's muscles were tensed, and ready to spring at the first sign of danger. The dragon may have been skittish and shy, but would become battle ready in a split second if needed to protect Storm. The two heads growled in the same direction.
A small, bown dragon stepped out of the bushes. Holly was about to leap at the foe, when she heard a voice, "I am not a threat." It said. Both the heads looked at each other, unsure of what to do.
Storm had also heard it. Growing up with dragons (literally) had its upsides, like half understanding their language, and not being burdened by others. But there also downsides. Storm had also been scratched heavily down her cheek. Fighting 3 on one with Tiny Terrors wasn't a good idea. Therefore, she had become less social with others, not wanting to be teased about her face.

When she heard the voice, she could only tell it was male, and it sounded submissive. "Come on Holly. Let's go meet them." The dragon refused to let her go. She didn't enjoy being with others just as much as Storm did. "Let me go Holly. It'll be okay. I don't think he wants to hurt us." Storm said in a soothing tone.One head snorted in disbelief, while the other other whined weakly, but Holly released her, and Storm crawled over to the dragon...

[tinyehp3000]

By this time, Ryan had noticed that Dusty had gone missing. He didn't really think much of it. The dragon had free reign in this forest and could come and go whenever he pleased, just like himself. They had eachother's trust that the other would come back if it was for pleasure. If something bad happened... well, it hadn't happened, yet. The boy took a glance around with a very slight grin, wondering where his Brown had gone off to and wondering if it was just to play a trick. He shook his head in amusement and sat down, starting to carve off the bark and cut the pieces that he'd use for the box.

Dusty huffed and took a slight back step when he saw that the Zippleback was getting ready to defend its human. Both he and Ryan were the shy, not wanting to fight types. Ryan wouldn't go on the offensive for his life and Dusty only had flat, herbivorous teeth. Put them together, and they weren't going to win any fights anytime soon. The Zippleback finally let the girl go and she came over to Dusty. He wriggled with excitement. Ryan wasn't going to be happy, but Dusty was thrilled to have company. He gave a gentle hurr to the girl, who seemed to have understood him. Dusty and Ryan were still working on the language barrier, but were getting better and better with each day. He gently took her sleeve, gave a slight tug and then ran over the bush, back to where his and Ryan's territory was.

[snowfire96]

Storm heard the small dragon make a low, purring sound, and she interpreted it as an invitation. The brown dragon looked excited, and as if it were to bounce on top of her. Holly kept growling quietly, as a warning to the newcomer, to stay their distance. Storm ignored her dragon, and moved closer.
The brown dragon purred again, and grabbed Storm's sleeve. Holly hissed, but it was short, because the small dragon only tugged it slightly, and ran back into the bushes.

Storm turned back to Holly, who was still in a defensive stance. "You're such a baby sometimes Holly." She turned back to he bushes, and heard Holly give a high pitch whine. It was quiet, but loud enough so Storm could hear it clearly. The sound was only given when Holly was truly scared. Holly walked back and hugged both of her dragon's heads. "I know you remember when the Nightmare attacked your family, but you're stronger now. Nothing can hurt either of us. Okay?" Her dragon purred and pushed its heads further into her arms. "Now come on! Before the dragon disappears!"

Holly followed her rider through the bushes, and immediately searched its surroundings. It was a small clearing in the trees, where a few flowers bloomed. What caught the dragon's attention the most, was a human nest. It looked sturdy, but half looked uneven compared to the other side. Storm had seen it too, but she was more interested to find the brown dragon they had seen. They didn't have many friends, so Storm desperately needed some. Holly couldn't argue, so she helped search for the dragon...


PS-(I was unsure of what the area around the house looked like, so I thought of something.)

[tinyehp3000]

Dusty was sure to keep his respective distance from the rider and her dragon. The Zippleback seemed rather fond and protective of her human, Dusty respected that. Sort of odd for a completely strange dragon to approach another human and dragon with such enthusiasm. The Zippleback had every right to be cautious. All Dusty wanted to do was get some new friends and to get Ryan to be around more humans. Hopefully he could fix his stuttering problem.

At once, the small brown dragon was glad that he decided to make that tug short, because the girl's dragon hissed at him afterwards. Making sure he wasn't going to over stay his welcome in their presence and on no-man's land, the Brown slipped through the bush from which he came with ease. He looked around his and Ryan's territory for his own human. He really hoped that his human hadn't gone that far. Dusty gave a slight look over his shoulder to see if the girl and her dragon were going to follow or not.

Soon, the dragon had spotted his owner. Ryan had his head down and was apparently scraping some branches down. Dusty gave a whine and Ryan looked up. "Oh, there you are," he laughed, giving his dragon a pat. "Thought you had gone off to-" The thirteen year old's eyes snapped up as he saw another human and dragon come though the bushes. "D-Dusty..." he groaned quietly. The Brown merely looked at its human with innocent eyes and flicked his attention to the new comers. "So you decided to follow!" he hurred in excitement, wiggling happily.

[snowfire96]

From Storm's view, the brown dragon was just friendly and cautious, but to her own dragon, the smaller dragon was a threat.
Storm broke her gaze from the house, to the dragon. It had bounced happily over to someone sitting down. It seemed as though they were holding something, but Storm never got a good look at it. Holly walked up from behind Storm, and snarled at the other human. Storm held her hands out, and calmed her dragon. Storm hadn't seen anyone out in these woods, and she wondered where he came from. By the looks of the house, he's been here a while.
Holly interpreted the situation much differently however. The human to her, was much more dangerous than the brown dragon. The dragon quickly opened its wings, making itself appear much larger, and growled. Storm held her arms up, and Holly reluctantly lowered her wings. The brown dragon turned around and started to bounce again. "So you decided to follow!" It said excitingly. Holly snorted at them, unwilling to let her guard down. The boy looked surprised to see another dragon, let alone another human. Storm took a step forward, even though she was shy.
Storm was thinking of what to do when she greeted them. She was rarely around other people her age, let alone talking to them. She took in a deep breath, and swallowed heavily, as she waited for the boy to do something...

[tinyehp3000]

Ryan stared at the two new comers and quickly shoved the materials, with which he was working with, back, his hands shaking. Dusty gave a huff and nudged his human, keeping a docile eye on the other girl's dragon. It seemed wary to him, but hopefully, she'd see that they were no threat to them. Ryan apparently saw and it too and lowered his eyes. A growl from the other dragon came and the young boy backed away slightly. Dusty twitched his nose, the human seemed to have her dragon under control. Instead of getting hostile and making the other dragon get even more on edge, Dusty tried to act as submissive as his human. It seemed like the human was happier to see them than her dragon, by a lot. The Zippleback seemed the very cautious type.

The thirteen year old heard a swoosh of air and imagined the dragon opening its wings, then he heard another growl come out of its throat. It was defiantly not happy to see him, Ryan had been living in the forest long enough to realize that. His ears picked up the slightest sound. To light to be a dragon, it must of been the other girl taking a step forward. He had no idea how to act around other humans. Ryan had grown up in the forest his whole life. He didn't know how to act around humans; he had never been around any before, other than his parents. Dragons, animals? Sure, he was right at home with them. He even acted like them sometimes. They could teach a human a lot about hiding and surviving. He had grown up smack in the middle of nature, and he had learned a lot from it.

Ryan shakily got to his feet, feeling his whole body shaking slightly. Dusty walked over to him and nuzzled his hand. "H-h-hi..." the boy stammered quietly and shyly, still not looking up at either of them. The new dragon, and maybe even the new human, saw him as an enemy. From Ryan's past experience, enemies stared and analyzed. That's what it felt like from the Zippleback. It felt like if he made one wrong move, it'd jump him.

[snowfire96]

The boy stood up slowly, keeping his gaze on the ground. Storm sensed that he was afraid of them. She quickly understood. He was similar to her in some ways. Both probably lived away from others. Storm had never seen him in the village when she was there, so again, she wondered where he came from.
"H-hi" he stuttered the welcome. Storm connected another similarity between them. They both stutter in front of people. Though Storm's stuttering vanished when she was alone with Holly. The dragon understood her, and listened, but right now, Holly was intently watching the boy. Only a small fraction of her anger seemed to have disappeared towards the two strangers.

Storm wondered if his childhood years were the same as hers. Growing up with dragons was definitely one of those things that make you different from others. She hoped he were the same, but those chances were low. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, but she knew her stuttering would overcome her normal speech.
"H-h...hey." She answered him. She sensed Holly watching from behind her. Though the dragon was overprotective, she could be friendly too. Storm wanted her to connect with others to help her with her separation anxiety. Storm was scared for her at times. She truly hoped the boy and the brown dragon would help both of them.

[tinyehp3000]

Growing up away from society had had its impact on the thirteen year old. Ryan was uncomfortable around large groups of people and normally hid whenever anyone came around. Stuttering was also an issue. Even though it left when he was with Dusty and nature, it was made pretty evident when talking with other humans. He still felt a hostile glare from the girl's dragon, he didn't mind; he'd just keep his gaze submissive, he didn't want to give the dragon any ideas that he was a threat.

Since he hadn't grown up around people, Ryan's social skills weren't that great. The only conversations he had had was with his parts and with limited amounts of people. This was his stretch of forest, and had almost never seen anyone else come around it. "S-so...w-wh-what b-br-brings y-y-you t-t-to th-this p-p-part o-o-of t-th-the f-fo-forest?" he stammered out, still looking at the ground and shifting uncomfortably.

[snowfire96]

The boy had asked why Storm was there, and in all honesty, she didn't really know. Usually she just walks randomly into the forest, knowing she'll find her way back eventually, even if it took a couple of days.
Storm turned to Holly before answering. The dragon had stopped growling, and lowered her wings, but kept a steady gaze on them in case one of them even moved.
Storm took in a deep breath, keeping her breathing low and steady. Thankfully, her stuttering wasn't as bad as she thought it would be.
"I-I was j-just... w-walking in t-the f-forest w-with my d-dragon, H-Holly."
The dragon behind Storm took a few steps forward, and wrapped one of her necks around Storm's waist. Holly placed the head on Storm's shoulder. Storm used her arm to stroke the top of the head. Only that head purred, but the other was still watching the boy and the other dragon.

[tinyehp3000]

It wasn't that Ryan didn't want her here, it was actually sort of nice to have another human and dragon's company. Even though Ryan would stammer the whole time, he had to admit it was nice to see another human's face. Usually it was just him and Dusty. They'd walk half way though the forest and then come home whenever they felt like it. It was nice being free like that... Dusty kept an eye on Holly's protective nature and tilted his head, trying to be the more submissive one since that's all he really was in his nature. Like his human, Dusty was shy for a dragon and usually more on the submissive side. That changed if anyone outwardly threatened his human though.

"O-oh... w-well, we-welcome t-to o-our s-sm-small h-home t-th-then," Ryan said, his face twitching up in a nervous smile in an attempt of being some what host like. "O-oh..." Ryan said softly as his gaze when to the dragon, slightly lowered so she would think that he was a predator. "S-she's l-lovely..." Dusty flicked his ears and looked at the separated heads. They apparently both had minds of their own.

[snowfire96]

Holly's more agressive head, became calmer when the smaller brown dragon tilted its head in submission. From Holly's perspective, the dragon was less of a threat than it was. Without leaving eye contact with the other dragon, Holly lowered her other head.

Storm turned to Holly, and whispered "See, they're not going to hurt me, now calm down." The zippleback blinked, and moaned sadly, as if it was an apology. Storm turned around again when the other boy complemented Holly. The dragon hummed happily for a moment, but still watched the boy in nervousness. "Th-thanks. N-not a lot of p-people say anything t-to her. W-we usually s-stay away from o-others." Storm was beginning to control her stammering the more she talked.

Holly's nervousness seemed to fade when the boy said she was beautiful. The heads also tilted, but not in submission. They were becoming more curious towards the two unknown strangers... living in the middle of nowhere.

[tinyehp3000]

Dusty gave a slight purr as the other head became calmer. They were all on the same side here, right? Just dragons fighting for their humans and for survival. There was no need for fighting; they could all live in peace. Besides, Dusty wasn't much of a fighter at any rate. It wasn't in his genes and it wasn't something he wanted to do. All he had was dull claws for digging up roots and flat teeth made for eating foliage. His ears flicked at he blinked calmly at the seemingly more aggressive head.

Ryan's blue-grey eyes went to the girl as she addressed her dragon. She was like him, she didn't stammer when talking to her dragon but was shaky when talking to him. He totally understood where she was coming from, since he did the exact same thing. The dragon seemed to like his comment, but she still looked fairly wary of him. That was fine with him, Ryan was still wary of both heads. "O-oh...n-no... n-no pr-problem..." Ryan said quietly. "So... so d-do w-we..." he said, giving his head a nervous nod.

He looked at her curiously, they seemed very much the same. "L-lately we-we've b-been w-wandering an-and we-we've s-seen s-some o-oth-other p-people around..." Ryan stammered quietly. It wasn't that he was that anti-social, although sometimes it did seem to be the case since he still wasn't used to interaction at all.

Character Name: Ryan Simons//Dusty
Mood: Nervous//Calm
To: Stormy Wake the Outsider
Holly the Zippleback
IC Word Count: 264

Legend:
"Ryan Speaking"
Ryan Thinking
"Dusty Speaking in Dragonese"
Dusty Thinking

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